{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_37774/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_37774","id":"gutenberg_37774","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37774","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: History - Modern (1750+)","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Category: Teaching & Education","Catholic Church -- England -- Clergy -- History -- 18th century","Christianity and politics -- History -- 18th century","Dupont, Jacob, 1755-1813","French -- England -- History -- 18th century","Immigrants -- England -- History -- 18th century","Women -- Great Britain -- Conduct of life"],"text":"Produced by Chris Curnow, Carla Foust, Joseph Cooper and\nthe Online Distributed Proofreading Team at\nhttp://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n    CONSIDERATIONS\n    ON\n    RELIGION AND PUBLIC EDUCATION,\n    WITH\n    REMARKS\n    ON THE _SPEECH_ OF\n    _M. DUPONT_,\n    DELIVERED IN THE\n    NATIONAL CONVENTION\n    OF\n    FRANCE.\n    TOGETHER WITH\n    AN ADDRESS TO THE LADIES, &c.\n    OF\n    _GREAT BRITAIN and IRELAND_.\n\n    [Decoration]\n\n    BY HANNAH MORE.\n\n    FIRST _AMERICAN_ EDITION.\n\n    PRINTED AT _BOSTON_,\n    BY WELD AND GREENOUGH.\n    SOLD at the MAGAZINE OFFICE, No. 49, State Street.\n    MDCCXCIV.\n\n\n\n\n[Decoration]\n\nA PREFATORY ADDRESS TO THE LADIES, &c. of GREAT BRITAIN and IRELAND, IN\nBEHALF OF THE FRENCH EMIGRANT CLERGY.\n\n[Decoration]\n\n\nIf it be allowed that there may arise occasions so extraordinary, that\nall the lesser motives of delicacy ought to vanish before them; it is\npresumed that the present emergency will in some measure justify the\nhardiness of an Address from a private individual, who, stimulated by\nthe urgency of the case, sacrifices inferior considerations to the\nardent desire of raising further supplies towards relieving a distress\nas pressing as it is unexampled.\n\nWe are informed by public advertisement, that the large sums already so\nliberally subscribed for the Emigrant Clergy, are almost exhausted.\nAuthentic information adds, that multitudes of distressed Exiles in the\nisland of Jersey, are on the point of wanting bread.\n\nVery many to whom this address is made have already contributed. O let\nthem not be weary in well-doing! Many are making generous exertions for\nthe just and natural claims of the widows and children of our brave\nseamen and soldiers. Let it not be said, that the present is an\n_interfering_ claim. Those to whom I write, have bread enough, and to\nspare. You, who fare sumptuously every day, and yet complain you have\nlittle to bestow, let not this bounty be subtracted from another bounty,\nbut rather from some superfluous expense.\n\nThe beneficent and right minded want no arguments to be pressed upon\nthem; but I write to those of every description. Luxurious habits of\nliving, which really furnish the distressed with the fairest grounds for\napplication, are too often urged as a motive for withholding assistance,\nand produced as a plea for having little to spare. Let her who indulges\nsuch habits, and pleads such excuses in consequence, reflect, that by\nretrenching _one_ costly dish from her abundant table, the superfluities\nof _one_ expensive desert, _one_ evening's public amusement, she may\nfurnish at least a week's subsistence to more than one person,[A] as\nliberally bred perhaps as herself, and who, in his own country, may have\noften tasted how much more blessed it is to give than to receive--to a\nminister of God, who has been long accustomed to bestow the necessaries\nhe is now reduced to solicit.\n\nEven your young daughters, whom maternal prudence has not yet furnished\nwith the means of bestowing, may be cheaply taught the first rudiments\nof charity, together with an important lesson of economy: They may be\ntaught to sacrifice a feather, a set of ribbons, an expensive ornament,\nan idle diversion. And if they are thus instructed, that there is no\ntrue charity without self denial, they will _gain_ more than they are\ncalled upon to _give_: For the suppression of one luxury for a\ncharitable purpose, is the exercise of two virtues, and this without any\npecuniary expense.\n\nLet the sick and afflicted remember how dreadful it must be, to be\nexposed to sufferings, without one of the alleviations which mitigate\n_their_ affliction. How dreadful it is to be without comforts, without\nnecessaries, without a home--_without a country_! While the gay and\nprosperous would do well to recollect, how suddenly and terribly those\nfor whom we plead, were, by the surprising vicissitudes of life, thrown\nfrom equal heights of gaiety and prosperity. And let those who have\nhusbands, fathers, sons, brothers, or friends, reflect on the\nuncertainties of war, and the revolution of human affairs. It is only by\nimagining the possibility of those who are dear to us being placed in\nthe same calamitous circumstances, that we can obtain an adequate\nfeeling of the woes we are called upon to commiserate.\n\nIn a distress so wide and comprehensive, many are prevented from giving\nby that common excuse--\"That it is but a drop of water in the ocean.\"\nBut let them reflect, that if all the individual drops were withheld,\nthere would be no ocean at all; and the inability to give much ought\nnot, on any occasion, to be converted into an excuse for giving nothing.\nEven moderate circumstances need not plead an exemption. The industrious\ntradesman will not, even in a political view, be eventually a loser by\nhis small contribution. The money raised is neither carried out of our\ncountry, nor dissipated in luxuries, but returns again to the community;\nto our shops and to our markets, to procure the bare necessaries of\nlife.\n\nSome have objected to the difference of _religion_ of those for whom we\nsolicit. Such an objection hardly deserves a serious answer. Surely if\nthe superstitious Tartar hopes to become possessed of the courage and\ntalents of the enemy he slays, the Christian is not afraid of catching,\nor of propagating the error of the sufferer he relieves.--Christian\ncharity is of no party. We plead not for their faith, but for their\nwants. And let the more scrupulous, who look for desert as well as\ndistress in the objects of their bounty, bear in mind, that if these men\ncould have sacrificed their conscience to their convenience, they had\nnot now been in this country. Let us shew them the purity of _our_\nreligion, by the beneficence of our actions.\n\nIf you will permit me to press upon you such high motives (and it were\nto be wished that in every action we were to be influenced by the\nhighest) perhaps no act of bounty to which you may be called out, can\never come so immediately under that solemn and affecting description,\nwhich will be recorded in the great day of account--_I was a stranger\nand ye took me in_.----\n\n\n\n\n[Decoration]\n\n_The following is an exact Translation from a_ SPEECH _made in the\nNational Convention at Paris, on Friday the 14th of December, 1792, in a\nDebate on the Subject of establishing Public Schools for the Education\nof Youth, by Citizen_ DUPONT, _a Member of considerable Weight; and as\nthe Doctrines contained in it were received with unanimous Applause,\nexcept from two or three of the Clergy, it may be fairly considered as\nan Exposition of the Creed of that Enlightened Assembly. Translated\nfrom_ Le Moniteur _of Sunday the 16th of December, 1792_.\n\n[Decoration]\n\nWhat! Thrones are overturned! Sceptres broken! Kings expire! And yet the\nAltars of GOD remain! (Here there is a murmur from some Members; and the\nAbbe ICHON demands that the person speaking may be called to order.)\nTyrants, in outrage to nature, continue to burn an impious incense on\nthose Altars! (Some murmurs arise, but they are lost in the applauses\nfrom the majority of the Assembly.) The Thrones that have been reversed,\nhave left these Altars naked, unsupported, and tottering. A single\nbreath of enlightened reason will now be sufficient to make them\ndisappear; and if humanity is under obligations to the French nation for\nthe first of these benefits, the fall of Kings, can it be doubted but\nthat the French people, now sovereign, will be wise enough, in like\nmanner, to overthrow those Altars and _those Idols_ to which those Kings\nhave hitherto made them subject? _Nature_ and _Reason_, these ought to\nbe the gods of men! These are my gods! (Here the Abbe AUDREIN cried out,\n\"There is no bearing this;\" and rushed out of the Assembly.--A great\nlaugh.) Admire _nature_--cultivate _reason_. And you, Legislators, if\nyou desire that the French people should be happy, make haste to\npropagate these principles, and to teach them in your primary schools,\ninstead of those fanatical principles which have hitherto been taught.\nThe tyranny of Kings was confined to make their people miserable in this\nlife--but those other tyrants, the Priests, extend their dominion into\nanother, of which they have no other idea than of eternal punishments; a\ndoctrine which some men have hitherto had the good nature to believe.\nBut the moment of the catastrophe is come--all these prejudices must\nfall at the same time. _We must destroy them, or they will destroy\nus._--For myself, I honestly avow to the Convention, _I am an atheist_!\n(Here there is some noise and tumult. But a great number of members cry\nout, \"What is that to us--you are an honest man!\") But I defy a single\nindividual, among the twenty-four millions of Frenchmen, to make against\nme any well grounded reproach. I doubt whether the Christians, or the\nCatholics, of which the last speaker, and those of his opinion, have\nbeen talking to us, can make the same challenge.--(Great applauses.)\nThere is another consideration--Paris has had great losses. It has been\ndeprived of the commerce of luxury; of that factitious splendour which\nwas found at courts, and invited strangers hither. Well! We must repair\nthese losses.--Let me then represent to you the times, that are fast\napproaching, when our philosophers, whose names are celebrated\nthroughout Europe, PETION, SYEYES, CONDORCET, and others--surrounded in\nour Pantheon, as the Greek philosophers where at Athens, with a crowd of\ndisciples coming from all parts of Europe, walking like the\nPeripatetics, and teaching--this man, the system of the universe, and\ndeveloping the progress of all human knowledge; that, perfectioning the\nsocial system, and shewing in our decree of the 17th of June, 1789, the\nseeds of the insurrections of the 14th of July and the 10th of August,\nand of all those insurrections which are spreading with such rapidity\nthroughout Europe--So that these young strangers, on their return to\ntheir respective countries, may spread the same lights, and may operate,\n_for the happiness of Mankind_, similar revolutions throughout the\nworld.\n\n(Numberless applauses arose, almost throughout the whole Assembly, and\nin the Galleries.)\n\n[Decoration]\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[Footnote A: Mr. Bowdler's letter states, that about Six Shillings a\nweek included the expenses of each Priest at Winchester.]\n\n\n\n\n[Decoration]\n\nREMARKS\n\nON THE\n\nSPEECH of Mr. DUPONT,\n\nON THE SUBJECTS OF\n\nReligion and Public Education.\n\n[Decoration]\n\n\nIt is presumed that it may not be thought unseasonable at this critical\ntime to offer to the Public, and especially to the more religious part\nof it, a few slight observations, occasioned by the late famous Speech\nof Mr. Dupont, which exhibits the Confession of Faith of a considerable\nMember of the French National Convention. Though the Speech itself has\nbeen pretty generally read, yet it was thought necessary to perfix it to\nthese Remarks, lest such as have not already perused it, might, from an\nhonest reluctance to credit the existence of such principles, dispute\nits authenticity, and accuse the remarks, if unaccompanied by the\nSpeech, of a spirit of invective and unfair exaggeration. At the same\ntime it must be confessed, that its impiety is so monstrous, that many\ngood men were of opinion it ought not to be made familiar to the minds\nof Englishmen; for there are crimes with which even the imagination\nshould never come in contact.\n\nBut as an ancient nation intoxicated their slaves, and then exposed them\nbefore their children, in order to increase their horror of\nintemperance; so it is hoped that this piece of impiety may be placed in\nsuch a light before the eyes of the Christian reader, that, in\nproportion as his detestation is raised, his faith, instead of being\nshaken, will be only so much the more strengthened.\n\nThis celebrated Speech, though delivered in an assembly of Politicians,\nis not on a question of politics, but on one as superior as the soul is\nto the body, and eternity to time. The object here, is not to dethrone\nkings, but HIM by whom kings reign. It does not here excite the cry of\nindignation that _Louis_ reigns, but that _the Lord God omnipotent\nreigneth_.\n\nNor is this the declaration of some obscure and anonymous person, but an\nexposition of the Creed of a public Leader. It is not a sentiment hinted\nin a journal, hazarded in a pamphlet, or thrown out at a disputing club:\nbut it is the implied faith of the rulers of a great nation.\n\nLittle notice would have been due to this famous Speech, if it had\nconveyed the sentiments of only _one_ vain orator; but it should be\nobserved, that it was heard, received, _applauded_, with two or three\nexceptions only--a fact, which you, who have scarcely believed in the\nexistence of atheism, will hardly credit, and which, for the honour of\nthe eighteenth century, it is hoped that our posterity, being still more\nunacquainted with such corrupt opinions, will reject as totally\nincredible.\n\nA love of liberty, generous in its principle, inclines some good men\nstill to savour the proceedings of the National Convention of France.\nThey do not yet perceive that the licentious wildness which has been\nexcited in that country, is destructive of all true happiness, and no\nmore resemble liberty, than the tumultuous joys of the drunkard,\nresemble the cheerfulness of a sober and well regulated mind.\n\nTo those who do not know of what strange inconsistences man is made up;\nwho have not considered how some persons, having at first been hastily\nand heedlessly drawn in as approvers, by a sort of natural progression,\nsoon become principals;--to those who have never observed by what a\nvariety of strange associations in the mind, opinions that seem the most\nirreconcileable meet at some unsuspected turning, and come to be united\nin the same man;--to all such it may appear quite incredible, that well\nmeaning and even pious people should continue to applaud the principles\nof a set of men who have publicly made known their intention of\nabolishing Christianity, as far as the demolition of altars, priests,\ntemples, and institutions, _can_ abolish it; and as to the religion\nitself, this also they may traduce, and for their own part reject, but\nwe know, from the comfortable promise of an authority still sacred in\nthis country at least, that _the gates of hell shall not prevail against\nit_.\n\nLet me not be misunderstood by those to whom these slight remarks are\nprincipally addressed; that class of well intentioned people, who favour\nat least, if they do not adopt, the prevailing sentiments of the new\nRepublic. You are not here accused of being the wilful abetters of\ninfidelity. God forbid! \"we are persuaded better things of you, and\nthings which accompany salvation.\" But this _ignis fatuus_ of liberty\nand universal brotherhood, which the French are madly pursuing, with the\ninsignia of freedom in one hand, and the bloody bayonet in the other,\nhas bewitched your senses, and is in danger of misleading your steps.\nYou are gazing at a meteor raised by the vapours of vanity, which these\nwild and infatuated wanderers are pursuing to their destruction; and\nthough for a moment you mistake it for a heaven-born light, which leads\nto the perfection of human freedom, you will, should you join in the mad\npursuit, soon discover that it will conduct you over dreary wilds and\nsinking bogs, only to plunge you in deep and inevitable ruin.\n\nMuch, very much is to be said in vindication of your favouring in the\nfirst instance their political projects. The cause they took in hand\nseemed to be the great cause of human kind. Its very name insured its\npopularity. What English heart did not exult at the demolition of the\nBastile? What lover of his species did not triumph in the warm hope,\nthat one of the finest countries in the world would soon be one of the\nmost free? Popery and despotism, though chained by the gentle influence\nof Louis XVIth, had actually slain their thousands. Little was it then\nimagined, that anarchy and atheism, the monsters who were about to\nsucceed them, would soon slay their ten thousands. If we cannot regret\nthe defeat of the two former tyrants, what must they be who can triumph\nin the mischiefs of the two latter? Who, I say, that had a head to\nreason, or a heart to feel, did not glow with hope, that from the ruins\nof tyranny, and the rubbish of popery, a beautiful and finely framed\nedifice would in time have been constructed, and that ours would not\nhave been the only country in which the patriot's fair idea of well\nunderstood liberty, and of the most pure and reasonable, as well as the\nmost sublime and exalted Christianity might be realized?\n\nBut, alas! it frequently happens that the wise and good are not the most\nadventurous in attacking the mischiefs which they perceive and lament.\nWith a timidity in some respects virtuous, they fear attempting any\nthing which may possible aggravate the evils they deplore, or put to\nhazard the blessings they already enjoy. They dread plucking up the\nwheat with the tares, and are rather apt, with a spirit of hopeless\nresignation,\n\n    \"To bear the ills they have,\n    \"Than fly to others that they know not of.\"\n\nWhile sober minded and considerate men, therefore, sat mourning over\nthis complicated mass of error, and waited till God, in his own good\ntime, should open the blind eyes; the vast scheme of reformation was\nleft to that set of rash and presumptuous adventurers, who are generally\nwatching how they may convert public grievances to their own personal\naccount. It was undertaken, not upon the broad basis of a wise and well\ndigested scheme, of which all the parts should contribute to the\nperfection of one consistent whole: It was carried on, not by those\nsteady measures, founded on rational deliberation, which are calculated\nto accomplish so important an end; not with a temperance which indicated\na sober love of law, or a sacred regard for religion; but with the most\nextravagant lust of power, and the most inordinate vanity which perhaps\never instigated human measures; a lust of power which threatens to\nextend its desolating influence over the whole globe; a vanity of the\nsame destructive species with that which stimulated the celebrated\nincendiary of Ephesus, who being weary of his native obscurity and\ninsignificance, and prefering infamy to oblivion, could contrive no\nother road to fame and immortality, than that of setting fire to the\nexquisite Temple of Diana. He was remembered indeed, as he desired to\nbe, but only to be execrated; while the seventh wonder of the world lay\nprostrate through his crime.\n\nIt is the same over ruling vanity which operates in their politics, and\nin their religion, which makes Kersaint[B] boast of carrying his\ndestructive projects from the Tagus to the Brazils, and from Mexico to\nthe shores of the Ganges; which makes him menace to outstrip the\nenterprises of the most extravagant hero of romance, and almost\nundertake with the marvelous celerity of the nimbly footed Puck,\n\n    \"To put a girdle round about the earth\n    \"In forty minutes.\"----\n\nIt is the same vanity, still the master passion in the bosom of a\nFrenchman, which leads Dupont and Manuel to undertake in their orations\nto abolish the Sabbath, exterminate the Priesthood, erect a Pantheon for\nthe World, restore the Peripatetic Philosophy, and in short revive every\nthing of ancient Greece, except the pure taste, the wisdom, the love of\nvirtue, the veneration of the laws, and that degree of reverence which\neven virtuous Pagans professed for the Deity.\n\nIt is surely to be charged to the inadequate and wretched hands into\nwhich the work of reformation fell, and not to the impossibility of\namending the civil and religious institutions of France, that all has\nsucceeded so ill. It cannot be denied, perhaps, that a reforming spirit\nwas wanted in that country; their government was not more despotic, than\ntheir church was superstitious and corrupt.\n\nBut though this is readily granted, and though it may be unfair to blame\nthose who in the _first outset_ of the French Revolution, rejoiced even\non religious motives; yet it is astonishing, how any pious person, even\nwith all the blinding power of prejudice, can think without horror of\nthe _present_ state of France. It is no less wonderful how any rational\nman could, even in the beginning of the Revolution; transfer that\nreasoning, however just it might be, when applied to France, to the case\nof England. For what can be more unreasonable, than to draw from\ndifferent, and even opposite premises, the same conclusion? Must a\nrevolution be equally necessary in the case of two sorts of Government,\nand two sorts of Religion, which are the very reverse of each other?\nopposite in their genius, unlike in their fundamental principles, and\nwidely different in each of their component parts.\n\nThat despotism, priestcraft, intolerance, and superstition, are terrible\nevils, no candid Christian it is presumed will deny; but, blessed be\nGod, though these mischiefs are not yet entirely banished from the face\nof the earth, they have scarcely any existence in this country.\n\nTo guard against a real danger, and to cure actual abuses, of which the\nexistence has been first plainly proved, by the application of a\nsuitable remedy, requires diligence as well as courage; observation as\nwell as genius; patience and temperance as well as zeal and spirit. It\nrequires the union of that clear head and sound heart which constitute\nthe true patriot. But to conjure up fancied evils, or even greatly to\naggravate real ones, and then to exhaust our labour in combating them,\nis the characteristic of a distempered imagination and an ungoverned\nspirit.\n\nRomantic crusades, the ordeal trial, drowning of witches, the torture,\nand the Inquisition, have been justly reprobated as the foulest stain of\nthe respective periods, in which, to the disgrace of human reason, they\nexisted; but would any man be rationally employed, who should now stand\nup gravely to declaim against these as the predominating mischiefs of\nthe present century? Even the whimsical Knight of La Mancha himself,\nwould not fight wind mills that were pulled down; yet I will venture to\nsay, that the above named evils are at present little more chimerical\nthan some of those now so bitterly complained of among us. It is not, as\nDryden said, when one of his works was unmercifully abused, that the\npiece has not faults enough in it, but the critics have not had the wit\nto fix upon the right ones.\n\nIt is allowed that, as a nation, we have faults enough, but our\npolitical critics err in the objects of their censure. They say little\nof those real and pressing evils resulting from our own corruption,\nwhich constitute the actual miseries of life; while they gloomily\nspeculate upon a thousand imaginary political grievances, and fancy that\nthe reformation of our rulers and our legislators is all that is wanting\nto make us a happy people.\n\nThe principles of just and equitable government were, perhaps, never\nmore fully established, nor public justice more exactly administered.\nPure and undefiled religion was never laid more open to all, than at\nthis day. I wish I could say we were a religious people; but this at\nleast may be safely asserted, that the great truths of religion were\nnever better understood; that Christianity was never more completely\nstripped from all its incumbrances and disguises, or more thoroughly\npurged from human infusions, and whatever is debasing in human\ninstitutions.\n\nLet us in this yet happy country, learn at least one great and important\ntruth, from the errors of this distracted people. Their conduct has\nawfully illustrated a position, which is not the less sound for having\nbeen often controverted, That no degree of wit and learning; no progress\nin commerce; no advances in the knowledge of nature, or in the\nembellishments of art, can ever thoroughly tame that savage, the natural\nhuman heart, without RELIGION. The arts of social life may give a\nsweetness to the manners and language, and induce, in some degree, a\nlove of justice, truth, and humanity; but attainments derived from such\ninferior causes are no more than the semblance and the shadow of the\nqualities derived from pure Christianity. Varnish is an extraneous\nornament, but true polish is a proof of the solidity of the body; it\ndepends greatly on the nature of the substance, is not superinduced by\naccidental causes, but in a good measure proceeding from internal\nsoundness.\n\nThe poets of that country, whose style, sentiments, manners, and\nreligion the French so affectedly labour to imitate, have left keen and\nbiting satires on the Roman vices. Against the late proceedings in\nFrance, no satirist need employ his pen; that of the historian will be\nquite sufficient. Fact will put fable out of countenance; and the crimes\nwhich are usually held up to our abhorrence in works of invention, will\nbe regarded as flat and feeble by those who shall peruse the records of\nthe tenth of August, of the second and third of September, and of the\ntwenty first of January.\n\nIf the same astonishing degeneracy in taste, principle, and practice,\nshould ever come to flourish among us, Britons may still live to exult\nin the desolation of her cities, and in the destruction of her finest\nmonuments of art; she may triumph in the peopling of the fortresses of\nher rocks and her forests; may exult in being once more restored to that\nglorious state of _liberty and equality_, when all subsisted by rapine\nand the chace; when all, O enviable privilege! were equally savage,\nequally indigent, and equally naked; may extol it as the restoration of\nreason, and the triumph of nature, that they are again brought to feed\non acorns, instead of bread. Groves of consecrated misletoe may happily\nsucceed to useless corn fields; and Thor and Woden may hope once more to\nbe invested with all their bloody honours.\n\nLet not any serious readers feel indignation, as if pains were\nungenerously taken to involve their religious, with their political\nopinions. Far be it from me to wound, unnecessarily, the feelings of\npeople whom I so sincerely esteem; but it is much to be suspected, that\ncertain opinions in politics have a tendency to lead to certain opinions\nin religion. Where so much is at stake, they will do well to keep their\nconsciences tender, in order to do which they should try to keep their\ndiscernment acute. They will do well to observe, that the same restless\nspirit of innovation is busily operating under various, though seemingly\nunconnected forms. To observe, that the same impatience of restraint,\nthe same contempt of order, peace, and subordination, which makes men\nbad citizens, makes them bad Christians; and that to this secret, but\nalmost infallible connexion between religious and political sentiment,\ndoes France owe her present unparalleled anarchy and impiety.\n\nThere are doubtless in that unhappy country multitudes of virtuous and\nreasonable men, who rather silently acquiesce in the authority of their\npresent turbulent government, than embrace its principles or promote\nits projects from the sober conviction of their own judgment. These,\ntogether with those conscientious exiles whom this nation so honourably\nprotects, may yet live to rejoice in the restoration of true liberty and\nsolid peace to their native country, when light and order shall spring\nfrom the present darkness and confusion, and the reign of chaos shall be\nno more.\n\nMay I be permitted a short digression on the subject of those exiles? It\nshall only be to remark, that all the boasted conquests of our Edwards\nand our Henrys over the French nation, do not confer such substantial\nglory on our own country, as she derives from having received,\nprotected, and supported, among multitudes of other sufferers, at a time\nand under circumstances so peculiarly disadvantageous to herself, _three\nthousand priests_, of a nation habitually her enemy, and of a religion\nintolerant and hostile to her own. This is the solid triumph of true\nChristianity; and it is worth remarking, that the deeds which poets and\nhistorians celebrate as rare and splendid actions, and sublime instances\nof greatness of soul, in the heroes of the Pagan world, are but the\nordinary and habitual virtues which occur in the common course of action\namong Christians; quietly performed without effort or exertion, and with\nno view to renown; but resulting naturally and necessarily from the\nreligion they profess.\n\nSo predominating is the power of an example we have once admired, and\nset up as a standard of imitation, and so fascinating has been the\nascendency of the Convention over the minds of those whose approbation\nof French politics commenced in the earlier periods of the Revolution,\nthat it extends to the most trivial circumstances. I cannot forbear to\nnotice this in an instance, which, though inconsiderable in itself, yet\nceases to be so when we view it in the light of a symptom of the\nreigning disease.\n\nWhile the fantastic phraseology of the new Republic is such, as to be\nalmost as disgusting to sound taste, as their doctrines are to sound\nmorals, it is curious to observe how deeply the addresses, which have\nbeen sent to it from the Clubs[C] in this country, have been infected\nwith it, as far at least as phrases and terms are objects of imitation.\nIn other respects, it is but justice to the French Convention to\nconfess, that they are hitherto without rivals and without imitators;\nfor who can aspire to emulate that compound of anarchy and atheism which\nin their debates is mixed up with the pedantry of school boys, the\njargon of a cabal, and the vulgarity and ill-breeding of a mob? One\ninstance of the prevailing cant may suffice, where an hundred might be\nadduced; and it is not the most exceptionable.--To demolish every\nexisting law and establishment; to destroy the fortunes and ruin the\nprinciples of every country into which they are carrying their\ndestructive arms and their frantic doctrines; to untie or cut asunder\nevery bond which holds society together; to impose their own arbitrary\nshackles where they succeed, and to demolish every thing where they\nfail.--This desolating system, by a most unaccountable perversion of\nlanguage, they are pleased to call by the endearing name of\n_fraternization_; and fraternization is one of the favourite terms which\ntheir admirers have adopted. Little would a simple stranger, uninitiated\nin this new and surprising dialect, imagine that the peaceful terms of\nfellow-citizen and of brother, the winning offer of freedom and\nhappiness, and the warm embrace of fraternity, were only watch-words by\nwhich they in effect,\n\n                  Cry havoc,\n    And let slip the dogs of war.\n\nIn numberless other instances, the fashionable language of France at\nthis day would be as unintelligible to the correct writers of the age of\nLouis the XIVth, as their fashionable notions of liberty would be\nirreconcileable with those of the true Revolution Patriots of his great\ncontemporary and victorious rival, William the Third.\n\nSuch is indeed their puerile rage for novelty in the invention of new\nwords, and the perversion of their taste in the use of old ones, that\nthe celebrated Vossius, whom Christine of Sweden oddly complimented by\nsaying, that he was so learned as not only to know whence all words\ncame, but whither they were going, would, _were he admitted to the\nhonours of a sitting_, be obliged to confess, that he was equally\npuzzled to tell the one, or to foretel the other.\n\nIf it shall please the Almighty in his anger to let loose this\ninfatuated people, as a scourge for the iniquities of the human race; if\nthey are delegated by infinite justice to act, as storm and tempest\nfulfilling his word; if they are commissioned to perform the errand of\nthe destroying lightning or the avenging thunder-bolt, let us try at\nleast to extract personal benefit from national calamity; let every one\nof us, high and low, rich and poor, enter upon this serious and humbling\ninquiry, how much his own individual offences have contributed to that\nawful aggregate of public guilt, which has required such a visitation.\nLet us carefully examine in what proportion we have separately added to\nthat common stock of abounding iniquity, the description of which formed\nthe character of an ancient nation, and is so peculiarly applicable to\nour own--_Pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness_. Let every\none of us humbly inquire, in the self-suspecting language of the\ndisciples to their Divine Master--_Lord, is it I?_ Let us learn to fear\nthe fleets and armies of the enemy, much less than those iniquities at\nhome which this alarming dispensation may be intended to chastize.\n\nThe war which the French have declared against us, is of a kind\naltogether unexampled in every respect; insomuch that human wisdom is\nbaffled when it would pretend to conjecture what may be the event. But\nthis at least we may safely say, that it is not so much the force of\nFrench bayonets, as the contamination of French principles, that ought\nto excite our apprehensions. We trust, that through the blessing of GOD\nwe shall be defended from their open hostilities, by the temperate\nwisdom of our Rulers, and the bravery of our fleets and armies; but the\ndomestic danger arising from licentious and irreligious principles among\nourselves, can only be guarded against by the personal care and\nvigilance of every one of us who values religion and the good order of\nsociety.\n\nGOD grant that those who go forth to fight our battles, instead of being\nintimidated by the number of their enemies, may bear in mind, that\n\"there is no restraint with GOD to save by many or by few.\" And let the\nmeanest of us who remains at home remember also, that even he may\ncontribute to the internal safety of his country, by the integrity of\nhis private life, and to the success of her defenders, by following them\nwith his fervent prayers. And in what war can the sincere Christian ever\nhave stronger inducements to pray for the success of his country, than\nin this? Without entering far into any political principles, the\ndiscussion of which would be in a great measure foreign to the design of\nthis little tract, it may be remarked, that the unchristian principle of\nrevenge is not our motive to this war; conquest is not our object; nor\nhave we had recourse to hostility, in order to effect a change in the\ninternal government of France[D]. The present war is undoubtedly\nundertaken entirely on defensive principles. It is in defence of our\nKing, our Constitution, our Religion, our Laws, and consequently our\n_Liberty_, in the sound and rational sense of that term. It is to defend\nourselves from the savage violence of a crusade, made against all\nReligion, as well as all Government. If ever therefore a war was\nundertaken on the ground of self-defence and necessity--if ever men\nmight be literally said to fight _pro_ ARIS _et focis_, this seems to\nbe the occasion.\n\nThe ambition of conquerors has been the source of great and extensive\nevils: Religious fanaticism of still greater. But little as I am\ndisposed to become the apologist of either the one principle or the\nother, there is no extravagance in asserting, that they have seemed\nincapable of producing, even in ages, that extent of mischief, that\ncomprehensive desolation, which _philosophy, falsely so called_, has\nproduced in three years.\n\nChristians! it is not a small thing--it is _your life_. The pestilence\nof irreligion which you detest, will insinuate itself imperceptibly with\nthose manners, phrases, and principles which you admire and adopt. It is\nthe humble wisdom of a Christian, to shrink from the most distant\napproaches to sin, to abstain from the very appearance of evil. If we\nwould fly from the deadly contagion of Atheism, let us fly from those\nseemingly remote, but not very indirect paths which lead to it. Let\nFrance choose this day whom she will serve; _but, as for us and our\nhouses, we will serve the Lord_.\n\nAnd, O gracious and long suffering God! before that awful period\narrives, which shall exhibit the dreadful effects of such an education\nas the French nation are instituting; before a race of men can be\ntrained up, not only without the knowledge of THEE, but in the contempt\nof THY most holy law, do THOU, in great mercy, change the heart of this\npeople as the heart of one man. Give them not finally over to their own\ncorrupt imaginations, to their own heart's lusts. But after having made\nthem a fearful example to all the nations of the earth, what a people\n_can_ do, who have cast off the fear of THEE, do THOU graciously bring\nthem back to a sense of that law which they have violated, and to\nparticipation of that mercy which they have abused; so that they may\nhappily find, while the discovery can be attended with consolation, that\n_doubtless there is a reward for the righteous; verify, there is a_ GOD\n_who judgeth the earth_.\n\n\nTHE END.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[Footnote B: See his Speech, enumerating their intended projects.]\n\n[Footnote C: See the Collection of Addresses from England, &c.\nPublished by Mr. Mc. KENZIE, _College Green_, DUBLIN.]\n\n[Footnote D: See the Report of Mr. Pitt's Speech in the House of\nCommons on Feb. 12, 1793.]\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTranscriber's note\n\n\nPrinter errors have been changed and are listed below. All other\ninconsistencies are as in the original.\n\nCharacters that could not be displayed directly in Latin-1 are\ntranscribed as follows:\n\n_ - italics\n\n\nThe following changes have been made to the text:\n\nPage 18: Changed \"involve their religous\" to \"involve their religious\".\n\nPage 18: Changed \"in order to which they\" to \"in order to do which\nthey\".","title":"Considerations on Religion and Public Education: With remarks on the speech of M. Dupont delivered in the National Convention of France, together with an address to the ladies, &c. of Great Britain and Ireland","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":6331}