Page:Essays on Catholicism, Liberalism, and Socialism.djvu/189

he speaks of Catholicism, he sometimes feels in his soul, without knowing it, its serene and sanctifying influence. Then his martyrdom ceases, as if by enchantment; a gentle and refreshing breeze, sent from heaven, cools his fevered brow and calms the accesses of his epileptic convulsions. Then he blandly utters these words: “Ah, how much wiser has Catholicism showed itself, and what an advantage has it gained over all—over St. Simonians, republicans, universitarians, and economists—in the knowledge of society and of man! The priest knows that our life is only a pilgrimage, and that entire perfection 1s denied us in this world; and because he knows this he is satisfied to commence an education on earth which can be completed only in heaven. The man who has been trained by religion, satisfied with knowing, doing, and obtaining what is sufficient for this life, will never prove an obstacle to the powers of the earth; he would rather be a martyr. Oh, beloved religion, by what inconceivable caprice of reason does it happen, that those who need thee most are precisely those who most obstinately reject thee?”

We have already cursorily alluded to the reputation of Mr. Proudhon for consistency. It now seems not only proper, but likewise necessary, to say something further on this subject, which is of much greater consequence than would at first sight appear. The fact of his reputation is public and notorious, and for this very reason unquestionable. It is nevertheless altogether inexplicable, if we consider that Mr. Proudhon has successively adopted every system relating to the Divinity, and that there is no one among the socialists so given to contradictions as he is. We must admit, therefore, that his reputation for consistency is entirely unfounded.