I fancy that we stick too closely to our own snug corners, and to our own ideas. Yes, we stand apart! ... and, regarding the world's progress from thence, we naturally find that it goes on most unsatisfactorily. {289} Very likely: ... we suffer it to be led by evil passions; ... whereas we should take our stand in the breach as Moses did; confront the invading vices and lusts, come to a hand-to-hand struggle with them, and cry out to them with the mighty voice of God:--"Stop! stop! you shall not carry away these souls, for they are not yours, but Christ's; He has bought them, and redeemed them with his blood!" ... If such courage, such resolution, such vigor as this was more common amongst us, the aspect of the world would speedily be changed. But, alas! our good qualities are feeble; we have lost the power to will; we allow ourselves to be carried away in the stream. What is wanted nowadays to direct the world is not knowledge so much as it is _will_. ... Where, indeed, are we to look for men with a will? ... If we needed any additional consideration to stimulate our zeal, we might say to ourselves:--"Let us observe the world; let us see how the wicked act." The wicked, indeed, afford us Christians some most humiliating and painful lessons, enough to make us hide our faces from very shame; so much so, that we can wish nothing better than that the best amongst us might possess that zeal for what is good which the wicked evince for what is evil. {290} We censure the wicked, and are right in doing so; but let us at any rate do them this justice, that they are adepts in their profession: ... they profess their opinions boldly; ... they are zealous and active; ... they are energetic, and ready to sacrifice every thing, repose, money, liberty, even life itself. ... Then, how adroit they are! how expert in making themselves great with the great, and little with the little! A pernicious book appears ... forthwith it is put into an attractive shape and embellished with fine engravings ... There it is, to suit the rich and the drawing-room. ... Next, an ordinary edition at a moderate cost is prepared for the middle classes, for reading-rooms, and for the counter; and then a popular edition--copies to be had at four sous each--for the workshop and the cottage. A man recently converted, avowed that he had contributed in three years no less a sum than 30,000 francs in the dissemination of such books. And we! ... we Christians, who know the worth of men's souls, whose duty it is to save them, rest satisfied with a few slender efforts, directed often by mere routine! Shall we continue any longer inactive at the sight of the torrents of vice and error which are hurrying our brothers on to the abyss? Would that be to have faith? Would that be to have charity? Would that be to love God and our neighbor? ... But how should this zeal be carried out into practice? That is the important question. ...