Page:Twelve Years in a Monastery (1897).djvu/272

266 lethargy, with the din and roar of a vital battle in her ears.

Finally, an answer is also ready to that other question which is not infrequently heard in these days: What is the relation of the monastic orders to Socialism? Socialising Christians, or Christian Socialists, frequently hold up the monastic orders as embodiments of a true social spirit. The argument rests, of course, on a very superficial analogy; there is really no parallel between monasticism and Socialism. On the contrary, they are at the very opposite poles of economics. Monasticism, in the first place (except the modified monasticism of the Jesuits), does not counsel a community of goods; neither in individual nor in common does it permit ownership. But it parts company with Socialism very emphatically when it goes on to impose extraordinary limits on production; Socialism urges a common use of the conveniences produced, and urges the production of as many as possible. And lest it should seem that monasticism at least sympathises with the Socialists of simpler life, such as Mr. E. Carpenter, it must be remembered that it limits production on an exactly opposite principle. Mr. Carpenter thinks simplicity (and sandals) conducive to comfort and happiness; monasticism trusts that they are productive of discomfort and mortification. In fine, it wishes its votaries to be uncomfortable in this world, which is the very antithesis of the socialistic aim.