adow, inseparable from it, viz., its social and
political usefulness. And this was the subject to which I devoted the
preceding Discourse.

One portion of the subject remains:--this intellectual culture, which is so
exalted in itself, not only has a bearing upon social and active duties,
but upon Religion also. The educated mind may be said to be in a certain
sense religious; that is, it has what may be considered a religion of its
own, independent of Catholicism, partly co-operating with it, partly
thwarting it; at once a defence yet a disturbance to the Church in
Catholic countries,--and in countries beyond her pale, at one time in open
warfare with her, at another in defensive alliance. The history of Schools
and Academies, and of Literature and Science generally, will, I think,
justify me in thus speaking. Since, then, my aim in these Discourses is to
ascertain the function and the action of a University, viewed in itself,
and its relations to the various instruments of teaching and training
which are round about it, my survey of it would not be complete unless I
attempted, as I now propose to do, to exhibit its general bearings upon
Religion.

2.

Right Reason, that is, Reason rightly exercised, leads the mind to the
Catholic Faith, and plants it there, and teaches it in all its religious
speculations to act under its guidance. But Reason, considered as a real
agent in the world, and as an operative principle in man's nature, with an
historical course and with definite results, is far from taking so
straight and satisfactory a direction. It considers itself from first to
last independent and supreme; it requires no external authority; it makes
a religion for itself. Even though it accepts Catholicism, it does not go
to sleep; it has an action and development of its own, as the passions
have, or the moral sentiments, or the principle of self-interest. Divine
grace, to use the language of Theology, does not by its presence supersede
nature; nor is nature at once brought into simple concurrence and
coalition with grace. Nature pursues its course, now coincident with that
of grace, now parallel to it, now across, now divergent, now counter, in
proportion to its own imperfection and to the attraction and influence
which grace exerts over it. And what takes place as regards other
principles of our nature and their developments is found also as regards
the Reason. There is, we know, a Religion of enthusiasm, of su