life of my life--to thee are bent the thoughts of my
mind, and they will remain bent to thee, though all the world may frown.
To thee are pledged all the affections of my heart, and they will be
pledged to thee as long as one drop of blood throbs within this heart.
Thine are the cares of my waking hours; thine are the dreams of my
restless sleep. Shall I forget thee, but for a moment! Never! Never!
Cursed be the moment, and cursed be I in that moment, in which thou
wouldst be forgotten by me!

Thou art oppressed, O my fatherland! because the principles of
Christianity have not been executed in practice; because the duties of
Christianity have not been fulfilled; because the precepts of
Christianity have not been obeyed; because the law of Christianity did
not control the policy of nations; because there are many impious
governments to offend the law of Christ, but there was none to do the
duties commanded by Christ.

Thou art fallen, O my country, because Christianity has yet to come; but
it is not yet come--nowhere! Nowhere on earth! And with the sharp eye of
misfortune piercing the dark veil of the future, and with the tongue of
Cassandria relating what I see, I cry it out to high Heaven, and shout
it out to the Earth--"Nations, proud of your momentary power; proud of
your freedom; proud of your prosperity--your power is vain, your freedom
is vain, your industry, your wealth, your prosperity are vain; all these
will not save you from sharing the mournful fate of those old nations,
not less powerful than you, not less free, not less prosperous than
you--and still fallen, as you yourself will fall--all vanished as you
will vanish, like a bubble thrown up from the deep! There is only the
law of Christ, there are only the duties of Christianity, which can
secure your future, by securing at the same time humanity."

Duties must be fulfilled, else they are an idle word. And who would
dispute that there is a positive duty in that law, "Love thy neighbour
as thou lovest thyself. Do unto others as thou wouldst that others do
unto thee." Now, if there are duties in that law comprised, who shall
execute them, if free and powerful nations do not execute them? No
government can meddle with the private relations of its millions of
citizens so much as to enforce the positive virtue of Christian charity,
in the thousand-fold complications of private life. That will be
impossible; and our Saviour did not teach impossibilities. By