he other? The great popes seem
to have settled the question; they thought popedom implied empire;
and the pope himself, besides his sway over consciences, was king
in temporal matters.

* * * * *

"Afterwards comes the vile refinement of the Quietists:--'If the
inferior part be without sin, the superior grows proud, and pride
is the greatest sin; consequently the flesh ought to sin, in order
that the soul may remain humble; sin, producing humility, becomes a
ladder to ascend to heaven.'

"Sin!--But is it sin? (depraved devotion finds here the ancient
sophism:) _The holy by its essence_, being holiness itself, _always
sanctifies_. In the spiritual man, every thing is spirit, even what
in another is matter. If, in its superior flight, the holy should
meet with any obstacle that might draw it again towards the earth,
let the inferior part get rid of it; it does a meritorious work,
and is sanctified for it.

"Diabolical subtilty! which few avow clearly, but which many brood
over, and cherish in their most secret thoughts."

We feel assured that, as Michelet himself has said, this last act of the
dreadful drama is but seldom represented. But enough may be done,
without actual or conscious guilt, to pervert the feelings, and, above
all, to destroy the peace and the unity of the family.

"Six hundred and twenty thousand girls are brought up by nuns under
the direction of the priests. These girls will soon be women and
mothers, who, in their turn, will hand over to the priests, as far
as they are able, both their sons and their daughters.

"The mother has already succeeded as far as concerns the daughter;
by her persevering importunity, she has, at length, overcome the
father's repugnance. A man who, every evening, after the troubles
of business, and the warfare of the world, finds strife also at
home, may certainly resist for a time, but he must necessarily give
in at last; or he will be allowed neither truce, cessation, rest,
nor refuge. His own house becomes uninhabitable. His wife, having
nothing to expect at the confessional but harsh treatment as long
as she does not succeed, will wage against him every day and every
hour the war they make against her; a more gentle one, perhaps;
politely bitter, implacable, and obstinate.

"She grumbles at the fireside