ven. We notice in
this attitude an unconscious recognition of the sanctity of the
religious state; but we see behind it a Pharisaic spirit that
exaggerates evil at the expense of justice.

Now, if the principle that abuse destroys use is applied to all things,
nothing will remain standing, and the best will go first. Corruptio
optimi pessima. Everything human is liable to abuse; that which is
not, is divine. Religious and laymen, mortals all, the only time it
is beyond our power to do wrong is when we are dead, buried, and
twenty-four hours underground. If in life we make mistakes, the fault
lies, not in our being of this or that profession, but in being human.
Whatever, therefore, the excesses that religious can be proven guilty
of, the institution itself must not be held responsible, unless it can
be shown that there exists a relation of cause and effect. And whoever
reasons otherwise, abuses the intelligence of his listeners.

We desire, in the name of honesty and fairness, to see less of that
spirit that espies all manner of evil beneath the habit of a religious;
that discovers in convents and monasteries plotting against the State
in favor of the Papacy, the accumulation of untold wealth by oppression
and extortion for the satisfaction of laziness and lust, iniquity of
the deepest dye allied to general worthlessness. Common sense goes a
long way in this world. If it were only a less rare commodity, and if
an effective tribunal could be erected for the suppression of
mendacity, the religious would appear for the first time in history in
their true colors before the world, and light would shine in darkness.

CHAPTER XLII.
THE VOW OF POVERTY.

ONE objection to the vow of poverty that has a serious face on it, and
certainly looks wicked, is that it does not prevent the accumulation of
great wealth, as may be seen in the cases of the Philippine Friars and
the French orders. This is one difficulty; here is another and quite
different: the wealth of the religious is excessive, detrimental to the
well-being of the people and a menace to the State. Taken separately,
it is easy to dispose of these charges and to explain them away. But if
you put them together in one loose, vague, general imputation of
avarice, extortion and injustice, and hurl the same at a person unable
to make distinctions, the shock is apt to disconcert him for a moment.

The first indictment seems to hint at a contradiction, or at least an
inco