e in the present state of things?

Let us not accuse the Jesuits, who carry on their Jesuitical trade, nor
the priests, who are dangerous, restless, and violent, only because
they are unhappy. No; we ought rather to accuse ourselves.

If dead men return in broad daylight, if these Gothic phantoms haunt
our streets at noon-day, it is because the living have let the spirit
of life grow weak within them. How is it that these men re-appear
among us, after having been buried by history with all funeral rites,
and laid by the side of other ancient orders? The very sight of them
is a solemn token and a serious warning.

This has been allowed to take place, O ye men of the present day, to
bring you to your senses, and to remind you of what you ought to be.
If the future that is within you were revealed in its full light, who
would turn his eyes towards the departing shadows of darkness and
night? It is for you to find, and for you to make, the future. This
is not a thing that you must expect to find ready made. If the future
is already in you as a bud, transmitted from the most distant ages, let
it grow there as the desire for progress and amelioration, a paternal
wish for the happiness of those who are to follow you. Love in
anticipation your unknown son, for he will be born. Men call him "The
time to come." Then work for him.

The day when fellow-mortals will perceive in you the man of future and
a magnanimous mind, families will be rallied. Woman will follow you
everywhere, if she can say to herself, "I am the wife of a strong man."

Modern strength appears in the powerful liberty with which you go on
disengaging the reality from the forms, and the spirit from the dead
letter. But why do you not reveal yourself to the companion of your
life, in that which is for you your life itself? She passes away days
and years by your side, without seeing or knowing the grandeur that is
within you. If she saw you walk free, strong, and prosperous in action
and in science, she would not remain chained down to material idolatry,
and bound to the sterile letter; she would rise to a faith far more
free and pure, and you would be as one in faith. She would preserve
for you this common treasure of religious life, where you might seek
for comfort when your mind is languid; and when your various toils,
studies, and business have weakened the vital unity within you, she
would bring back your thoughts and life to God, the true, t