III. I think that the impreffion which the in-

iincerity of condud: of thole inftructors will leave on the mind, mud be highly ufeful. They are evi- dently teaching vv'hat they do not believe them- felves — and here I do not confine my remark to their preparatory doctrines, which they after- wards explode. I make it chiciiy with refpect to their grand odenfible principle, which per- vades the whole, a principle whicii they arc obliged to adopt againd their will, -They knovy that the principles of virtue are rooted in the
heart, and that they can only be fmothered
but did they pretend to eradicate them and pro- claiai bominem homini lupura. all would fourn at their
irircruidion
#
33'2 TME FRENCH REVOLL'TION. CHAP. iVi
inflrudion. We are wheedled, by tickling our fan- cy with a notion that facred virtue is not onjy fecure, but that it is only in fuch hearts that it exerts its na- tive energy. Senfible that the levelling maxims now fpoken of are revolting to the mind, the Illumina- tors are under the neceffity of keeping us from look- ing at the fhocking pidure, by difplaying a beauti- ful fcene of Utopian happinefs — and they rock us afleep by the eternal lullaby of morality and univer- fal phitanthropyi Therefore the foregoing narra- tion of the perfonal condud of thefe inftrudorsand reformers of the worlds is highly ufeful. All this is to be brought about by the native lovelinefs of pure virtue, purged of the corruptions which fuperfli- tious fears have introduced, and alfo purged of the leififh thoughts which are avowed by the advocates of what their opponents call true religion. This is faid to hold forth eternal rewards to the good, and to threaten the wicked with dreadful punifhment. Ex- perience has fhovvn how inefficient fuch motives are. Can they be otherwife? lay our Illuminators. Are they not addrelTed to s principle that is ungene- rous and felfilh ? But our dodrines, fay they, touch the hearts of the worthy. Virtue is beloved for her own fake, and all will yield to her gentle fway. Bu6 look, Reader, look at Spartacus the murderer, at Cato the keeper of poifons and the thief— Look at Tiberius^ at Alcibiades, and the relief the Bavarian Pandemonium. Look at poor Bahrdt. Go to France — look at Lequinio, at Condorcet*. Look
* De la Metherie fays, (Journ. de Phyf. Nov. 1792,) thaE CondQrcet was brought up in the houfe of the old Duke of Ro- thefoucault, who treated him as his fon — -got Turgot to create a hicrative office for him, and raifed him to all his eminence — yet he purfued him with malicious reports — and adlually employed ruffians to afTaffinate him Yet is Condorcet's writing a model of Aimianity and tcndernefs.
at
kllAP. iVi THE FRENCH REVOLUTIONTw
333
at the Monfter Orleans, 'All were liars. Their
Hivinity had no influence on tht^ir profligate minds. They only wanted to wheedle yon, by touching the? firings of huraanity and goodnefs which are yet braced up in your heart, and which ftill yield fweet harmony if you wil! accompany their notes with thofe of religion, and neither clog them vvith the groveling pleafures of fenfe, nor damp the whole with the thouscht of eternal lilence.
A moil worthy and accomplifhed gentleman, who took refuge in this country, leaving behind him his property, and friends to whom he was moft tenderly attached, often faid to nie that no'hirig fo much af- fecled him as the revolution in the hearts of men. ^M^haraders which were unfpotted, hearts thorough- ly known to himfelf, having been tried by many things which fearch the inmoll folds of felfifhnefs or malevolence — in (hcrt, perfens whofe judgments were excellent, and on whofe worth he could have relied his honour and his life, fo fafcinated by the contagion, that they came at lall: to behold, and even to commit the moft atrocious crimes with delight. — He ufed foraetimes to utter a figh which pierced my heart, and would fay, that it was caufed by fome of thofe things that had come acrofs his thoughts. He breathed his laft among us, declaring that it was im- poflible to recover peace of mind, without a total ob- livion of the wickednefs and miferies he had beheld. —What a valuable advice, '* Let him that thinketh he ftandeth, take heed left he fall."— When the pro- phet told Hazael that he would betray his Prince, he exclaimed, '' Is thy fervant a dog, that he fhould do fuch a thing ?" Yet next day he murdered him.
Never lince the beginning of the world, has true religion received fo complete an acknowledgment of her excellence, as has been extorted from the fana- tics who have attempted to deflroy her. Religion
2 T ftood
;^54 TfiE FRENCH REVOLUTION, CHAI*. 11%
ftood in their way, and the wretch Marat, as well as the fteady villain Weifliaupt, faw that they could nor. proceed till they had eradicated all fentiments of of the moral government of the univerfe. Human nature, improved as it has been by religion, flirunk from the tafks that were impofed, and it mufl: there- fore be brutalized — The grand conlederation was fo- lemniy fworn to by millions in every corner of France— -but, as Mirabeau faid of the declaration of the Rights of Man, it mult be made only the '* Al- manack of the bygone year"— Therefore Lequinio muft write a book, declaring oaths to be nonfenfe, unworthy of San Culottes, and all religion to be a farce. Not long after, they found that they had fome ufe for a God — but he was gone-— and they could not nnd another. Their conflitution was gone— and they have not yet found another. What is now left them on which they can depend for awing a man into a refpecl for truth in his judicial declarations ? what but the honour of a Citizen of France, who laughs at all engagements, which he has broken again and again ? Religion has taken off with her every fenfe of human duty. What can we expecl: but villainy from an ArchbiQiop of Paris and his chapter, who made a public profefTion that they had been playing the villains for many ^ears, teaching wdiat they thought to be a bundle of lies ? What but the very thing which they have done, cutting each other's throats ? — Have not the enlightened ci- tizens of France applauded the execution of their fa- thers ? Have not the furies of Paris denounced their own children ? But turn your eyes from the horrifying fpeciacle, and think on your own noble defcent and alliance. You are not the accidental productions of a fatal chaos, but the w'ork of a Great Artift, creatures that are cared for, born to noble profpeds, and conduded to them by the plaineil
and
CHAP. IV. THE FRSNSH REVOLUTION. 33^
and moil fimple precepts, " to do juftly, to love " mercy, and to walk humbly before God," not be- ivlldered by the falfe and fluttering glare of French Philofophy, but conduced by this clear, tingle light, perceivable by all, "Do to others what you (hould " reafonably expedl them to do to you."
Think not the Mufe whofe fober voice you hear, , Contra(?ts with bigot fr©\vn her fullen brow, Cafts round Religion's orb the mills of Fear,
Or (hades with horror what with fmiles fhould jHow.
No — (he would warn you with feraphic fire,
Heirs as ye are of Heaven's eternal day. Would bid you boldly to that Heaven afplre,
Not link and fiumber in your cells of clay.
Is this the bigot's rant ? Away, ye vain,
Your doubts, your fears, in gloomy dulnefs fteep ;
Go — foothe yeur fouls in ficknefs, death, or pain, With the fad folace of eternal fleep.
Yet know, vain fceptics, know, th' Almighty Mind,
Who breath'd on man a portion of his fire, Bade his free foul, by earth nor time confin'd.
To Heaven, to immortality afpire.
Nor ihall this pile of hope his bounty rear'd, . By vain philofophy be e'er deftroy'd ; Eternity, by all or hop'd or fear'd, Shall be by all or fuffer'd or enjoy'd^
Mason.
The unfortunate Prince who has taken refuse iri this kingdom, and whofe fituation among us is an iiiuflrious mark of the generofity of the nation, and of the fovereignty of its laws, faid to one of the Gentleman about him, that '' if this country was to *' efcape the general wreck of nations, it would " owe its prefervation to Religion." — -When this was doubted, and it was obferved, that there had not been wanting many Religionifls in Fnuice :
- Tiue,^-''
336 THE FRENCH REVOLUTJON. €HAP, iVc
*' True," faid the Prince, " but they were not in *' earned.— I fee here a ferious intereft in the thing, *' The people know what they aie doing when they *' go to church — they underilaod fomething of ir, " and take an intereil in it." May his obfervation be jutt, and his expedations be fulfilled !