Enfantin himself received a post as director of the Lyons Railway and became wealthy. He never lost faith in Saint-Simonism, but thought that as much had been done for the system as was then possible, since its doctrines had been proclaimed far and near, and were slowly leavening the mass of society. Many of the principles taught by the Saint-Simonians must receive our hearty approbation. We sympathize with their endeavors to improve the lot of the poor and oppressed, and assent to them when they preach the dignity and sacredness of labor, the reverence due woman, and the duty of maintaining peace between nation and nation. When Chevalier proposes that the armies of Europe, “instead of being applied to the destruction of property and life, should be employed upon works of public utility,”[61] we are reminded that the coming of a time has been prophesied when “nations shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”[62] Saint-Simon has ceased to be the prophet of a religious school, but he did not sacrifice life and happiness in vain. He still lives in the lives and actions of men, and to-day possesses an historical importance which has been well expressed in these words: “Saint-Simon first taught us to consider the history of labor and property as an essential element of human development, and consequently to investigate the history of society. “He first discerned clearly the separation of the two great classes of industrial society, and implanted bitter hatred in the consciousness of the lower classes. Saint-Simon’s word that the party of the laborers would be formed, has been fulfilled. Saint-Simonism is the first expression of the proletariat. “He first represented social reform as the only true function of government. “Finally, he first brought forward the question of inheritance, the question upon which the entire future of the social form of Europe will rest during the next two generations. “Thus through Saint-Simon is society, in its power, its elements, and its contradictions, for the first time half understood, half vaguely conjectured. He is the boundary of a new era in France. He left the beaten track and laid down his life in discovering and opening for society a new path. In it we have as yet taken only a few steps, and no human eye is able to discern the goal whither we are tending.”[63] CHAPTER V. FOURIER.