Pagina 260 di 1391

And while weaker or coarser characters will extract good out of

evil, say in a corrupt state of the church or of society, and

live on happily, allowing the evil to remain, the finer or

stronger natures may be crushed or spoiled by surrounding

influences-may become misanthrope and philanthrope by turns; or

in a few instances, like the founders of the monastic orders, or

the Reformers, owing to some peculiarity in themselves or in

their age, may break away entirely from the world and from the

church, sometimes into great good, sometimes into great evil,

sometimes into both. And the same holds in the lesser sphere of a

convent, a school, a family.