unheralded altruism of private life, must ever be as welcome in the
sight of God as the prayers of the recluse, who scorns the world of
secular affairs.

True religion, the highest religion, is possible beyond the walls of
churches and convents. The so-called secular employments of business and
politics, of home and school, may be conducted in a spirit of lofty
consecration to the Eternal, and so carried on, may, in their way,
minister to the highest welfare of humanity. The old distinction,
therefore, between the secular and the sacred is pernicious and false.
There are some other sacred things besides monasteries and prayers.
Human life itself is holy; so are the commonplace duties of the untitled
household and factory saints.

"God is in all that liberates and lifts,
In all that humbles, sweetens, and consoles."

Modern monasticism has forsaken the column of St. Simeon Stylites and
the rags of St. Francis. It has given up the ancient and fantastic feats
of asceticism, and the spiritual extravagances of the early monks. The
old monasticism never could have arisen under a religious system
controlled by natural and healthful spiritual ideas. It has no
attractions for minds unclouded by superstition. It has lost its hold
upon the modern man because the ancient ideas of God and his world, upon
which it thrived, have passed away.

Such are some of the effects of the monastic institution. Its history is
at once a warning and an inspiration. Its dreamy asceticism, its gloomy
cells, are gone. Its unworldly motives, its stern allegiance to duty,
its protest against self-indulgence, its courage and sincerity, will
ever constitute the potent energy of true religion. Its ministrations to
the broken-hearted, and its loving care of the poor, must ever remain as
a shining example of practical Christianity. In the simplicity of the
monk's life, in the idea of "brotherhood," in the common life for common
ends, a Christian democracy will always find food for reflection. As the
social experiments of modern times reveal the hidden laws of social and
religious progress, it will be found that in spite of its glaring
deficiencies, monasticism was a magnificent attempt to realize the ideal
of Christ in individual and social life. As such it merits neither
ridicule nor obloquy. It was a heroic struggle with inveterate ignorance
and sin, the history of which flashes many a welcome light upon the
problems of modern democracy and r