JAMES GIBBONS 197 prejudice in this country. Mr. Allen S. Will in his lAfe of Cardinal Gibbons observes truly that He has not only made Catholics tolerant of Protestants, and vice versa, but he has made the different Protestant denominations more tolerant of each other.'* While this broad-spirited divine has never compromised one jot or tittle of his Catholic doctrine in the slightest way to any purpose whatever, he has not believed that it is either wise or just to vituperate those who differ from him in religious belief. During his missions in North Carolina and Virginia he preached regularly to more non- Catholics than Catholics, many of whom had been educated in mistrust of the Mother Church and her ministers, but of those who had once heard him there was none to find fault with the attitude and spirit of Bishop Gibbons. It was ever the in- stinct of his nature to grant to others the sincerity of convic- tion that he claimed for himself. Among the vast number of his personal friends are men and women of every denomina- tion and of no denomination. And the fact is that the car- dinal's genuine tolerance in all things that admit of tolerance has made more converts to his religion than many religious sects number adherents. In the midst of his manifold activities the cardinal has found time to write four notable books. The Faith of Our Fathers, Our Christiar^ Heritage, The Ambassador of Christ, and a volume entitled Sermons and Discourses. The first of these, produced while he was Bishop of Richmond, would alone have been sufficient to immortalize the name of its au- thor. It is a popular exposition and defense of the Catholic doctrine, and is the masterpiece of its kind in English. A million copies have been sold, and the demand for it is as great to-day as when it was first published. It has been translated into twelve languages. Written for non-Catholics who wish to know the truth concerning the Catholic Church, it has probably made more converts than it contains words. The deamess, logic, and charity of the book, and its perfect adap- tation in matter and manner to those for whom it was written are the chief sources of its appeal. It does not seem that the extraordinary success of Cardinal
