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

10ADVANTAGE ОГ FAITH OVER DOUBT.

fortress. The saints are sometimes rather inattentive, but on this day they were on the look-out: the Kremlin Avas saved; and Russia lias continued to acknowledge, by a mark of respect renewed every moment, the remembrance of the divine protection in which she glories. There is in these public manifestations of a religious sentiment, more practical philosophy than in the incredulity of the nations who call themselves the most enlightened on earth; because, after having used and abused the faculties of intelligence, and lost all taste and relish for the true and the simple, they doubt the end of existence, as well as every thing else, and glory in such a state that others may be encouraged to imitate them, as though their perplexity were worthy of envy. These redoubtable sages deprive the nations of the springs of activity, v\ ithout being able to give any substitute for what they destroy : for a thirst for riches or pleasure inspires man with nothing more than a sensation as passing and feverish as his life is short. It is the temperament and the physical feelings, rather than the light of intellect, which guide the materialists in their wavering march, ever opposed by doubt: for the reason of a man, though he be the first in his country, though a Goethe himself, has not yet reached a height placed beyond the influence of doubt. Now doubt inclines the heart to tolerance, but it deters it from sacrifice. In the arts, in the sciences, as in politics, sacrifice is the basis of every durable work, of every sublime effort, This, people do not like to own —they accuse Christianity of preaching self-denial: — to act thus is to blame virtue. The priests of Jesus Christ open to the multitude a road which was once