"THE FOOL HATH SAID" 269 



So conspicuous are the proofs that among unallied races 

 in different parts of the globe progress in civilization has gone 

 along with development of a religious system . . . that there 

 seems no escape from the inference that the maintenance of 

 social subordination has peremptorily required the aid of such 

 an agency. 8 



Materialism, therefore, means everywhere the 

 ruin of civilization. It may live for a time upon 

 its Christian inheritance, but sooner or later must 

 sink down to the level of the cruelty and vice of 

 decadent pagan Rome, whose corruption had ad- 

 vanced so far that even Christianity but delayed 

 its fall. The Church could save it to just the 

 extent that her doctrines were practically received. 

 Materialism means the abolition of right and 

 wrong. Let but the masses seize upon this idea and 

 anarchy is the order of the day. Materialism as 

 a creed for a few intellectuals in university chairs, 

 for the brazen things of fashion that coddle a 

 lap-dog to their heartless breast, or for the men 

 of wealth who would grasp the resources of na- 

 tions or govern the destinies of the world in ac- 

 cordance with their ambitions, may be deemed 

 good enough as a working policy that dispenses 

 them from all conscience and religion. But it were 

 prudent for them not to whisper this to others: 

 "Hush let's not say that aloud. Let us keep 

 that as our secret." Woe to them once the 

 masses follow out the logic of the false principles 



8 "Autobiography," II, p. 467. Quoted by Prof. O'Rahilly in 

 Irish Ecclesiastical Review, Dec., 1919. 



