"The proper study of mankind is man;" and man remains an enigma for man, if he do not rise to God. So it is that our very nature is a living protest against atheism, and never allows its triumphs to be either general, or of long duration. A solid limit is thus set to our wanderings; and, to the errors of the understanding, as to the tides of the ocean, the Master of things has said, "Ye shall go no further." Therefore atheists may become famous, but, destitute of the ray which renders truly illustrious, humanity refuses them the aureole with which it encircles the brows of its benefactors. This aureole it reserves for the sages which lead it to God, for the artists which reveal to it some of the rays of the immortal light, for all those who remind it of the titles of its dignity, the pledges of its future, the sacred laws of the realm of spirits. Humanity desires to live; and to live it must believe; for it must believe in order to love and to act. Atheism is a crisis in a disease, a passing swoon over which the vital forces of nature triumph. Now the vital forces of humanity are neither extinct nor stupefied in our time. The world of literature is sick, and grievously sick in some of its departments; but even there again are manifesting themselves noble and powerful reactions. Then look in other directions. Contemplate the religious movement of society at large, the wide efforts making in the domain of active beneficence, the progressive conquests of civilization, the awakening of conscience on many subjects:--I could easily instance numerous facts in proof of what I advance, and say to you: Know, by these speaking signs, a God to-day As yesterday the same--the same for aye: Veiling, revealing, at His sovereign will, His glory,--and His people guarding still.[96] Wrestle then against the invasion of deadly doctrines, wrestle and do not fear. If men rise against God in the name of the modern mind, of the science of the age, of the progress of civilization, do not suffer yourselves to be stunned by these clamors. Let the past be to you the pledge of the future! To make of atheism a novelty, is an error. To make of it, in a general way, the characteristic of our epoch, is a calumny. FOOTNOTES: [40] Xenophon, _Memorab. of Socrates_, Bk. iv. 10. [41] _La Religion naturelle_. Preface. [42] Emile Saisset, in the _Revue des Deux Mondes_, of March, 1845. [43] See the _Lettres sur les verites, les plus importantes de la revelation_, by Albert de Haller, translated into French by one of his grandsons. Lausanne, Bridel, 1846. [44] _La Metaphysique et la Science_, 2 tom. Oct. 1858. [45] _Notice sur M. Littre_, page 57. [46] _Paroles de philosophie positive_, page 33. [47] _Idem_, page 30. [48] _Paroles de philosophie positive_, page 34.