It is the genius of Sophism which paralyzes this resistance.

The sword which the spirit of evil places in the hands of the aggressor, would fall powerless, if the shield of him who is attacked were not shattered in his grasp by the spirit of Sophism.

Malbranche has, with great truth, inscribed upon the frontispiece of his book this sentence: _Error is the cause of human misery_.
Let us notice what passes in the world.

Ambitious hypocrites may take a sinister interest in spreading, for instance, the germ of national enmities.

The noxious seed may, in its developments, lead to a general conflagration, check civilization, spill torrents of blood, and draw upon the country that most terrible of scourges, _invasion_.