with any regard to the circumstances in which they were written.  ‘The mistake,’ as Devas says,[1] ’of representing the early Christian Fathers of the Church as rank socialists is frequently made by those who are friendly to modern socialism; the reason for it is that either they have taken passages of orthodox writers apart from their context, and without due regard to the circumstances in which they were written, and the meaning they would have conveyed to their hearers; or else, by a grosser blunder, the perversions of heretics are set forth as the doctrine of the Church, and a sad case arises of mistaken identity.’  A careful study of the patristic texts bearing on the subject leads one to the conclusion that Mr. Devas’s view is without doubt the correct one.[2]

[Footnote 1:  Dublin Review, Jan. 1898.]

[Footnote 2:  Dr. Hogan, in an article entitled ’The Fathers of the Church and Socialism,’ in the Irish Ecclesiastical Record, vol. xxv. p. 226, has examined all the texts relative to property in the writings of Tertullian, St. Justin Martyn, St. Clement of Rome, St. Clement of Alexandria, St. Basil, St. Ambrose, St. John Chrysostom, St. Augustine, and St. Gregory the Great; and the utterances of St. Basil, St. Ambrose, and St. Jerome are similarly examined in ’The Alleged Socialism of the Church Fathers,’ by Dr. John A. Ryan.  The patristic texts are also fully examined by Abbe Calippe in ’Le Caractere sociale de la Propriete’ in La Semaine Sociale de France, 1909, p. 111.  The conclusion come to after thorough examinations such as these is always the same.  For a good analysis of the patristic texts from the communistic standpoint, see Conrad Noel, Socialism in Church History.]

The passages from the writings of the Fathers which are cited by socialists who are anxious to support the proposition that socialism formed part of the early Christian teaching may be roughly divided into four groups:  first, passages where the abandonment of earthly possessions is held up as a work of more than ordinary devotion—­in other words, a counsel of perfection; second, those where the practice of almsgiving is recommended in the rhetorical and persuasive language of the missioner—­where the faithful are exhorted to exercise their charity to such a degree that it may be said that the rich and the poor have all things in common; third, passages directed against avarice and the wrongful acquisition or abuse of riches; and fourth, passages where the distinction between the natural and positive law on the matter is explained.

The following passage from Cyprian is a good example of an utterance which was clearly meant as a counsel of perfection.  Isolated sentences from this passage have frequently been quoted to prove that Cyprian was an advocate of communism; but there can be no doubt from the passage as a whole, that all that he was aiming at was to cultivate in his followers a high detachment from earthly wealth, and that, in so far