Page:Essays on Catholicism, Liberalism, and Socialism.djvu/276

is still more ancient, and his race so illustrious, that in order to trace it to its source it is necessary to ascend still higher, and to arrive at an epoch not included in the narrow circle of history, and to beings who are infinitely superior to man by the elevation and perfection of their nature. At present it suffices to assert that the socialist schools are irrevocably condemned to contradictions and absurdity; that each one of their principles is in opposition to that which precedes and that which follows it; that their practice is the complete refutation of all their theories, and that their theories are the radical refutation of their conduct.

Let us attempt to form an approximate idea of what the socialist edifice would be without those defects of proportion which so disfigure it, and deprive it of all regularity of architecture. After having seen what it is in the present day, with its contradictory dogmas, it would seem not to be inappropriate to examine briefly what it will become in the future, when the latent virtue which is in every theory being developed by the action of time, will triumph over its contradictions and inconsistencies. The method of doing this is very simple. It suffices to take any proposition, no matter which one, that is unanimously accepted by the socialists of all the schools, and to draw from this proposition the inferences it comprises.

The fundamental negation of socialism is the negation of sin, which is the grand affirmation, and considered as the center of all Catholic affirmations.

From this negation a series of negations logically result, some respecting the divine being, others respecting the human being, and others still respecting the social being. It would be impossible to investigate this entire