Indeed, there are spirits among all peoples who still
cannot believe that the great promises made to the human race of a
reign of justice, of reason, and of truth can be a vain and an empty
phantom, and who assume, therefore, that the present iron age is but
a transit to a better state. They--and all modern humanity in
them--count on you. A great part of this humanity is descended from
us; the rest have received from us religion and culture. The former
adjure us by the soil of our common fatherland, which is also their
cradle, and which they have bequeathed free to us; the latter adjure
us by the culture which they have acquired from us as a pledge of a
higher happiness--they adjure us to maintain ourselves as we have ever
been, for their sake; and not to suffer this member, which is of so
much importance, to be torn from the continuity of the race that is
newly budded, lest they may painfully miss us if they some time need
our counsel, our example, our cooperation toward the true goal of
earthly life.
All generations, all the wise and good who have ever breathed upon
this earth, all their thoughts and aspirations for something higher
mingle in these voices and surround you and lift to you imploring
hands. Even Providence, if we may so say, and the divine plan of the
universe in the creation of a human race--a plan which, indeed, exists
only to be thought out by man and to be realized by man--adjures you
to save its honor and its existence.
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