establish it.  Since every one comes in contact only with his immediate neighbor, but, at the same time, has an immediate neighbor on all sides and in every direction, he is, in fact, indissolubly linked in with the whole.  Mystics and Naturalists in religion, they to whom the Godhead is a personal Being, and they to whom it is not, they who have arrived at a systematic view of the Universe, and they who behold it only in its elements or only in obscure chaos—­all, notwithstanding, should be only one, for one band surrounds them all and they can be totally separated only by a violent and arbitrary force; every specific combination is nothing but an integral part of the whole; its peculiar characteristics are almost evanescent, and are gradually lost in outlines that become more and more indistinct; and at least those who feel themselves thus united will always be the superior portion.

Whence, then, but through a total misunderstanding, have arisen that wild and disgraceful zeal for proselytism to a separate and peculiar form of religion, and that horrible expression—­“no salvation except with us.”  As I have described to you the society of the pious, and as it must needs be according to its intrinsic nature, it aims merely at reciprocal communication, and subsists only between those who are already in possession of religion, of whatever character it may be; how then can it be its vocation to change the sentiments of those who now acknowledge a definite system, or to introduce and consecrate those who are totally destitute of one?  The religion of this society, as such, consists only in the religion of all the pious taken together, as each one beholds it in the rest—­it is Infinite; no single individual can embrace it entirely, since so far as it is individual it ceases to be one, and hence no man can attain such elevation and completeness as to raise himself to its level.  If any one, then, has chosen a part in it for himself, whatever it may be, were it not an absurd procedure for society to wish to deprive him of that which is adapted to his nature—­since it ought to comprise this also within its limits, and hence some one must needs possess it?

[Illustration:  THE THREE HERMITS Moritz Von Schwind]

And to what end should it desire to cultivate those who are yet strangers to religion?  Its own especial characteristic—­the Infinite Whole—­of course it cannot impart to them; and the communication of any specific element cannot be accomplished by the Whole, but only by individuals.  But perhaps then, the Universal, the Indeterminate, which might be presented, when we seek that which is common to all the members?  Yet you are aware that, as a general rule, nothing can be given or communicated, in the form of the Universal and Indeterminate, for specific object and precise form are requisite for this purpose; otherwise, in fact, that which is presented would not be a reality but a nullity.  Such a society, accordingly, can never find a measure or rule for this undertaking.