rt of their work. The other class would uproot from men's
minds every principle of faith, in order the more readily to obtain the
realization of their theories. These two classes of men seem at times to
be fighting all together in the _melee_ of opinions. They meet, as, in
the doubtful glimmer of the dawn, might meet together laborious workmen
who are anticipating the daylight, and evil-doers who are fleeing from
the sun.

In order to form a just estimate of the labors of the socialist schools,
it would be necessary to make a bold and straightforward inquiry into
the object of their studies, and to discern, in the midst of mad-brained
and guilty dreams, whatever flashes of light might disclose some
prophetic vision of the future. This is no task of ours. It is enough
for us to remark that in France, as also in the other countries of
Europe, the negation of God discovers itself in this order of ideas. It
discovers itself at one time by an idolatry of humanity, at another by a
materialistic enthusiasm for corporeal indulgences. Disregarding the
sensual imaginations which disgrace the works of Fourrier, let us turn
our attention elsewhere.

M. Vacherot, a sober philosopher, of high intellectual power and
elevated sentiment, has lately published, unhappily, twelve hundred
pages destined to maintain the thesis that God does not exist.[44] Man
conceives the idea of perfection, and not finding that perfection
realized either in the world or in himself, he rises to the conception
of a real and perfect being: such is the usual process of metaphysical
reasoning. For M. Vacherot, reality and perfection mutually exclude one
another; this is one of his fundamental theses. This thesis does but
interpret the result of our experience, by refusing us the right to
raise ourselves higher. The world with which we are acquainted is
imperfect; therefore--say Plato, Saint Augustine, and Descartes--the
perfection of which we have the idea is realized in a Being superior to
the world. The world with which we are acquainted is imperfect,
therefore there is a contradiction between the ideal and the real, says
M. Vacherot, who makes thus of the general result of experience the
absolute rule of truth. To say therefore of God that He is perfect, is
to affirm that He does not exist, inasmuch as the ideal is never
realized. Thought thus finds itself placed in a situation at once odd
and violent. If God is perfect, He does not exist. If God exists, He