hold upon one part of the Paris school of medicine. We do find in France
a good many physicians who, like Boerhave, render homage to religion,
and a good many physiologists who, like the great Haller, are ready to
defend beliefs of the spiritual order;[43] but, among men specially
devoted to the study of matter, many succumb to the temptation of
refusing to recognize anything as real which does not come under the
experience of the senses. This however is not one of the points which
offer themselves most strikingly for our examination. The atheistic
manifestations of the socialist schools have more novelty, and perhaps
more importance.

Man is naturally a social being. Good and evil have their primitive seat
in the heart of individuals, but good and evil are transferred into
institutions of which the influence is morally beneficial or pernicious.
If socialism consists in recognizing the importance of social
institutions, in cherishing ideas of progress and hopes of reform, I
trust that we are all socialists. Do we desire progress by the ever
wider diffusion of justice and love? From the moment that, across the
conscience whereon divine rays are falling, we have descried the eternal
centre of light, we understand that God is the most implacable enemy of
abuses. How is it then that atheism sometimes manifests itself in
attempts at social reform? We may explain it, without so much as
pointing out the influence, but too real, of the faults committed by the
representatives of religion. Faith is a principle of action; it is, as
history testifies, the grand source of the progress of human society;
but faith is also a principle of patience. The brow of every believer is
more or less illumined by the rays of His peace who is patient because
He is eternal. Eager to effect good to the utmost extent of his ability,
he accomplishes his work with that calm activity to which are reserved
durable victories. In the impossible (for if the word impossible is not