Lord of the World | Page 4

happen?"
The old Tory statesman smiled.
"God knows," he said. "If the Eastern Empire chooses to move, we can do nothing. I
don't know why they have not moved. I suppose it is because of religious differences."
"Europe will not split?" asked the priest.
"No, no. We know our danger now. And America would certainly help us. But, all the
same, God help us--or you, I should rather say--if the Empire does move! She knows her
strength at last."

There was silence for a moment or two. A faint vibration trembled through the deep-sunk
room as some huge machine went past on the broad boulevard overhead.
"Prophesy, sir," said Percy suddenly. "I mean about religion."
Mr. Templeton inhaled another long breath from his instrument. Then again he took up
his discourse.
"Briefly," he said, "there are three forces--Catholicism, Humanitarianism, and the Eastern
religions. About the third I cannot prophesy, though I think the Sufis will be victorious.
Anything may happen; Esotericism is making enormous strides--and that means
Pantheism; and the blending of the Chinese and Japanese dynasties throws out all our
calculations. But in Europe and America, there is no doubt that the struggle lies between
the other two. We can neglect everything else. And, I think, if you wish me to say what I
think, that, humanly speaking, Catholicism will decrease rapidly now. It is perfectly true
that Protestantism is dead. Men do recognise at last that a supernatural Religion involves
an absolute authority, and that Private Judgment in matters of faith is nothing else than
the beginning of disintegration. And it is also true that since the Catholic Church is the
only institution that even claims supernatural authority, with all its merciless logic, she
has again the allegiance of practically all Christians who have any supernatural belief left.
There are a few faddists left, especially in America and here; but they are negligible. That
is all very well; but, on the other hand, you must remember that Humanitarianism,
contrary to all persons' expectations, is becoming an actual religion itself, though
anti-supernatural. It is Pantheism; it is developing a ritual under Freemasonry; it has a
creed, 'God is Man,' and the rest. It has therefore a real food of a sort to offer to religious
cravings; it idealises, and yet it makes no demand upon the spiritual faculties. Then, they
have the use of all the churches except ours, and all the Cathedrals; and they are
beginning at last to encourage sentiment. Then, they may display their symbols and we
may not: I think that they will be established legally in another ten years at the latest.
"Now, we Catholics, remember, are losing; we have lost steadily for more than fifty years.
I suppose that we have, nominally, about one-fortieth of America now--and that is the
result of the Catholic movement of the early twenties. In France and Spain we are
nowhere; in Germany we are less. We hold our position in the East, certainly; but even
there we have not more than one in two hundred--so the statistics say--and we are
scattered. In Italy? Well, we have Rome again to ourselves, but nothing else; here, we
have Ireland altogether and perhaps one in sixty of England, Wales and Scotland; but we
had one in forty seventy years ago. Then there is the enormous progress of
psychology--all clean against us for at least a century. First, you see, there was
Materialism, pure and simple that failed more or less--it was too crude--until psychology
came to the rescue. Now psychology claims all the rest of the ground; and the
supernatural sense seems accounted for. That's the claim. No, father, we are losing; and
we shall go on losing, and I think we must even be ready for a catastrophe at any
moment."
"But---" began Percy.

"You think that weak for an old man on the edge of the grave. Well, it is what I think. I
see no hope. In fact, it seems to me that even now something may come on us quickly.
No; I see no hope until---"
Percy looked up sharply.
"Until our Lord comes back," said the old statesman.
Father Francis sighed once more, and there fell a silence.
* * * * *
"And the fall of the Universities?" said Percy at last.
"My dear father, it was exactly like the fall of the Monasteries under Henry VIII--the
same results, the same arguments, the same incidents. They were the strongholds of
Individualism, as the Monasteries were the strongholds of Papalism; and they were
regarded with the same kind of awe and envy. Then the usual sort of remarks began about
the amount of port wine drunk; and suddenly people said that they had done their work,
that the inmates were mistaking means for ends; and there was