In truth, each one of these institutions was born
in former times, from a definite need of the soul. And at first they
responded exactly to it, and that is why they prevailed; all their
strength came from the fact that they were necessary; their weakness
comes from the fact that they are no longer so. At first the religious
community was formed of the imperious necessity of a deliverance from
evil; it was not for ornament, not for the charm of burning incense
under arches; ... neither was it formed to do what kings, warriors, and
judges are sufficient to do; these last would have absorbed it, but they
cannot,--although they try to do so every day; but they can never do so,
unless the Church abandons her own functions to usurp theirs. She would
then, by forgetting her destination, commit suicide. But even then,
another church would form in response to the spiritual hunger and thirst
which never ceases. Thus the whole problem of the existence of an
institution is to remain forever necessary, and therefore faithful to
its original source.

Let us add that civil society cannot maintain itself without also
constant rejuvenation,--becoming young again; it also exists only by the
active consent of willing minds. It is essential for the harmony of the
whole that each person should be an individual and not an automaton. As
men, divided by the external accidents of habit, condition, fortune, and
united by that which is fundamental within them, the weakening of that
which is within them disintegrates them; and thence the principal cause
of our divisions comes from hardly any one to-day being in his heart
that which he appears to be. Therefore, to bring back diverse
conditions to their original source and to the reason of their being, to
re-establish the principle in the centre of the life of each, is to do
the work of unification. To say to the priests, "Be primitive
Christians, imitate the chosen Master," is, socially speaking, a good
action which all Christians and non-Christians should applaud, for the
salvation of all depends upon it. The remedy of our malady, without
doubt, lies not in having all France to mass, but first that all should
make their faith the rule of their actions. That which lies at the
bottom of our consciences is the thing by which we are brothers.

TWO IMPRESSIONS

From 'Notes Contemporaines'

Two impressions have remained with me. They date from a month's
wandering in Switzerland, at a time wh