wading in water

i read a book last night. title: the veil lifted; or the romance & reality of convent life. author: eliza smith richardson. year of publication: 1869. <-- no wonder it was in the library's annex.

it is an interesting little thing. it describes convent life in 16 chapters, each one centered around a particular nun, novice or postulate. and each chapter is entirely devoted to describing a seclusionary convent as a hellishly, anti-godly, place of perversion against the human ésprit.

what is funny is that what the author describes as being particular to convent life, can equally apply to religious life in general. the same aspects of soul-trampling, domineering, objectifying, and idolatry, are not specific to any religious group, something that this author, a proud protestant who thinks that romanists cultivate the spirit of the anti-christ, totally ignores.