Russia in 1839 -Empire of the Czar: A Journey Through Eternal Russia

tune or misfortune of a man, it has always the same weight in the eternal balance. Neither the perversity of an individual nor the crimes of a government can ever coincide with the will of Providence. God can no more excuse the offences of a prince and his people than He can those of a captain of banditti and his troop. But if he has not willed guilty actions, the results of occurrences ever accord with the views of his justice ; for this justice has willed the consequences, though it has not willed the crime. God is carrying on the education of the human race, and all education consists of a series of trials.

The conquests of the Roman empire have not shaken the Christian faith; the oppressive power of Russia will not prevent the same faith from subsisting in the hearts of the just. Faith will remain upon earth as long as will the inexplicable and the incomprehensible.

In a world where every thing is mystery, from the rise and fall of nations to the production and the disappearance of a leaf (in which leaf the microscope shows us as much of the intervention of God, as the telescope does in the heavens, or as great events do in history), faith strengthens herself by the experience of each day, for faith is the only light that comports with the necessities of a being surrounded with clouds, and who, in his own nature, cannot rise above doubt.

If we were destined to suffer the ignominy of a new invasion, the triumph of the conquerors would only prove to me the faults of the vanquished. In the eyes of a man who thinks, success is indicative of nothing, unless it be that the life of earth is not the