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 and not  too  credulous,  but  determined  in  all  other matters to  make  a  judicious  use  of  our  reason. Still, of the  two,  the  spirit  of  unbelief  is  much  the  more dangerous, and  its  effects  on  the  world  have  been much more  disastrous. For when  a  man  has  thoroughly succeeded  in  forgetting  or  disbelieving  that there is  a  God  in  heaven,  that  he  has  a  soul  to  save, and that  there  is  on  earth  a  religion  and  a  Church  to help  him  to  save  it, — (very  soon  the  voice  of  conscience dies  within  him  and  from  that  moment  that  man  is  ripe for  mischief,  a  dangerous  member  of  society.  And when  he  looks  around  the  world  and  sees  the  poverty and  misery  of  the  masses,  and  the  riches  and  happiness of  the  favored  few — when  he  sees  the  incessant toil  of  the  wage-earner,  and  the  equally  incessant leisure  of  the  aristocrat;  when  he  sees  the  power wielded  by  the  ruling  classes,  and  the  abject  submission of  those  that  they  rule — the  natural  man  rises up  in  rebellion  and  with  no  supernatural  restraint  he clamors  for  reform.  Of  these,  some  clamor  for  the abolition  of  civil  government,  and  others  demand  the destruction  of  the  rich,  and  others,  again,  claim  that private property  is  a  crime  and  urge  that  all  wealth be confiscated  and  equally  distributed  among  all. These are  the  men  whom  we  call  variously  Anarchists or  Communists  or  Socialists.

Brethren, there  is,  at  first  sight,  something  certainly very  specious  and  seductive  about  the  arguments of  a  Socialist. For when  we  consider  that  the earth and  the  fulness  thereof  is  the  Lord's,  created by God  for  man — not  for  this  or  that  man  but  for  all