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1 2 3

\Vt-

.;;'■*•

REMARK S

- O N T HE

SPEECH of M. DUPONT,

■ ' 4 ■ ■ •

MADE IVt THE

NATIONAL CXDNVENTION OF FRANCE, ,

'- ON THE SUBJECTS OF

Religion and Public Education.

- By HANNAH more.

THE SECOND EDITION.

LONDON:

jpRINTED FOR T. CADELL IN THE STRAND,

M Dec XCIII.

[Price Two Shillings and Sixpence.]

,- "1

■■''.f-

■ Hill !<■

("^'

C5- The Profits of this Publication are to he given
to the French Emigrant Clergy.

• * It 18 hop^d the high Price of this Pamphlet
win*bc excufed, in eonfideration of the Objeft to
which it is dedicated.

■>

I. A'

«p

■•:"}■->-

Prefatory Addrefs

TO THE

LADIES, &c. of GREAT BRITAIN,

IN BEHALF OF THE

FRENCH EMIGRANT CLERGY.

ir m

IF it be allowed that there may arife oc-
f .cafions Co extraordinary, that all the leflcr
motives of delicacy ought to vanifh before
them ; .it is prefumed that the prefent emer- '
gency will in fome meafure juftify the har-
dinefs of an Addrefs from a private indivi-
dual, who, ftimulated by the urgency of
the cafe, facrifices inferior confiderations

A 2

mBSSi^ssaasmssm

( iv )

to the ardent defire of raifing further Tup*
plies towards relieving a diftrefs as prcfling
as it is unexampled.

We are informed by public advertife*
ment, that the large fums already fo libe-
rally fubfcribed for the Emigrant Clergy are
almoft exhaufted. Authentic information
adds, that multitudes of diftrefled Exiles
in the ifland of Jerfey, are on the point of
wanting bread.

Very many to whom this Addrefsismade
have already contributed. O let them
not be weary in well-doing ! Many are
making generous exertions for the juil and
natural claims of the widows and children
of our brave feamen and foldiers. Let it
not be faid, that the prefent is an interfering
claim. Thofe to whom I write, have bread
enough, and to fpare. You, who fare fump-
tuoufly every day, and yet complain you
have little to beftow, let not this bounty be

fubtraded

*-••

m^m^i^mir

( V )

fubtradled from another bounty, but rather
from fome fuperfluous e^pence.

■t
The beneficent and right-minded want
no arguments to be prefled upon them ; but
I write to thofe of every defcription. Luxu-
rious habits of living, which really furnifh
the diftrefled with the faireft grounds for
application, are too often urged as a motive
for withholding afliftance, and produced
as a plea for having little to fpare. Let
her who indulges fuch habits, and pleads
fuch excufes in confequence, reflect, that
by retrenching one coftly difh from her
abundant table, the fuperfluities of one ex-
penfive defert, one evening's public amufe-
ment, fhe may furnifh at lead a week's
fubfiftence to more than one perfon*, as
liberally bred perhaps as herfelf, and who.

* Mr. 6owdler*s letter dates, that about Six Sbillings a
week includes the expences of each Prieft at Winchefter.

;

( vi )

in his own country, may have often tafted
hew much more bleffed it is to give than

to receive to a minifter of God,

who has been long accuflomed to bedow
the ncceflkries he is now reduced to
Xolicit.

Even your young daughters, whom ma-
ternal prudence has notyet fumifhed with the
means of bellowing, may be cheaply taught
the firft rudiments of charity, together with
an important lefTon of oeconomy : they may
be taught to facrifice :; feather, a fet of
ribbons, an expenfive ornament, an idle
diverfion. And if they are thus inftruded,
that there is no true charity without felf-
denial, they will gain more than they are
called upon to give : for the fuppreflion of
one luxury for a charitable purpofe, is the
exercife of two virtues, and this without
any pecuniary expence.

Let

( vu )

Let the Tick and afflided remember hovr
dreadful it muft be, to be expofed to fuf-
ferings, without one of the alleviations which
mitigate their afflidlion. How dreadful it is
to be without comforts, without neceflaries,
without a home, — without a country ! While
the gay and profperous would do well to
recolIecSt, how fuddenly and terribly thofe
for whom we plead, were, by the furprif-
ing vicifTiiudes of life, thrown from equal
heights of gaiety and profperity. And let
thofe who have hufbands, fathers, fons,
brothers, or friends, refledl on the uncertain-
ties of war, and the revolution of human
affairs. It is only by imagining the pofli-
bility of thofe who are dear to us being
placed in the fame calamitous circumftances,
that we can obtain an adequate feeling of
the woes we arc called upon to com-
miierate. - -■■. : ■ ::>/^■ -^^ 1- ' :l .- . ■ -; ^

In a diftrefs fo wide and comprehenfive,
many are prevented from giving by that

common

^imi,^

( vlii )

common excufe — " That it is but a drop
of water in the ocean." But let them re-
fledl, that if all the individual drops were
withheld, there would be no ocean at all ;
and the inability to give much ought not,
on any occafion, to be converted into an
excufe for giving nothing. Even moderate
circumftances need not plead an exemption.
The induftrious tradefman will not, even in
a political view, be eventually a lofer by
his fmall contribution. The money ratfed
is neither carried out of our country, nor
diflipated in luxuries, but returns again to
the community; to our (hops and to our
markets, to procure the bare necefTaries of
life.

Some have objected to the difference of
religion of thofe for whom we folicit. Such
an objeftion hardly deferves a ferious an-
fwer. Surely if the fuperflitious Tartar
hopes to become poffefled of the courage
and talents of the enemy he flays, the

Chriftian

4fi A*

( « )

Chriftlan is not afraid of catching, or of
propagating the error of the fufferer he re-
lieves. — Chriftian charity is of no party.
We plead not for their faith, but for their
wants. And let the more fcrupulous, who
look for defert as well as diftrefs in the ob-
jects of their bounty, bear in mind, that if
thefe men could have facrificed their confci-
ence to their convenience, they had not now
been in this country. Let us (hew them
the purity of our religion, by the beneficence
of our actions.

If you will permit me to prefs upon you
fuch high motives, (and it were to be
wiflied that in every adion we were to be
influenced by the higheft,) perhaps no adt of
bounty to which you may be called out, can
ever come fo immediately under that folemn
and afFeding defcription, which will be re-
corded in the great day of account, — / was
a Jlranger^ and ye took me in.

Lately PtihUJhedf

By the fame Author,

Printed for T. Cadell in the Strand,

1. An Eftimate of the Religion of the Fafliionable

World. 4th Edition. 3 s. fewed,

2. Thoughts on the Importance of the Manners of
the Great to general Society. 8th Edition. 2S. fewe<J.

3. Sacred Dramas, chiefly intended for young Per-
fons. The Subjeds taken from the Bible. The 7th
Edition. 4s. boards. . , <

4. EfTays on various Subjefts, principally deHgned
for young Ladies. 5th Edition. 3s. 6 d.

5. Village Politics, by Will Chip. Price ad, .,

t: ■.'V, -■ ■

V
%,

«»j^ >\

( ^i )

er-

7th

ned

^he following is an exaEt 'Tranjlation from a
SPEECH made in the National Conven-
tion at Parisy on Friday the 14//& of De-
.^ , cember 1792, in a Debate on the Subje£i
of ejiablifljing Public Schools for the Edu-
cation of Touthy by Citizen Dupont, a
Member of confiderable Weight; and as
the Doctrines contained in it were received
('''■■:'^ with unanimous Afplaufey except from two
" or three of the Clergy y it may be fairly

■ conftdered as an Expofition of the Creed of
;f that Enlightened y^Jembly. TranJIated from
.'^ Lc Moniteur of Sunday the i6th of De-
■ cember 1792. . ^" ; , : 1

WHAT! Thrones are overturned!
Sceptres broken ! Kings expire !
And yet the Altars of God remain \ (Her^
there is a murmur from fome Members;
and the Abb^ Ichon demands that the
perfon fpeaking may be called to order.)

Tyrants,

Tyrants, m outrage to nature contbue",

burn an impious incenfe on thofe AU^-

(Some murmurs arife. but they arc loft^n

he applaufes from the majority of the Af

7 w ^ The Thrones that have been re-
SiJ':ft there Altars naked, un^p-

rorted and tottering. A fingle breath of
ledreafon^iUnowbefufficientto..

Jethemdifappear-.andifhumant^^

«.der obligations to the ^r-h "atton for
The firft of thefe benefits, the fall of Kmgs.

'litbe doubted but that the French peo-

.tw fovereign. wiU be .ife enough
L Uke manner, to overthrow thofe Altar

.nd tbofe IdoU to which thofe Kings have
irto made them fubjea. ^..- -

Thefearemygods! IHere i

• A «,if " There is no oearmb
T^uEiN cried out, auci^

"to" and rufhed out of the Affembly.-
A^eat laugh.) Admire «./«.-- -
r And vou. Legiflators, if you de-

( atiii )

py, make hafte to propagate thefe princi-
ples, and to teach them in your primary
fchools, inftead of thofe fanatical principles
which have hitherto been taught. The ty-
ranny of Kings was confined to make their
people miferable in this life — but thofe other
tyrants, the Priefts, extend their dominion
into another, of which they have no other
idea than of eternal punifhments ; a doc-
trine which fome men have hitherto had
the good nature to believe. But the mo-
ment of the cataftrophe is come— all thefe
prejudices tnuft fall at the fame time. B^<s
muji dejlroy them^ or they will dcflroy us, —
For myfelf, I honeftly avow to the Con-
vention, / am an atheifl ! (Here there is
fome noife and tumult. But a great num-
ber of members cry out, " What is that to
" us — you are an honefl man!*') But I
defy a fingle individual, amongft the
twenty-four millions of Frenchmen, to
make againft me any well-grounded re-
proach. I doubt whether the Chriftians,

( xiv )
.. r,thoUc9. of which the laftfpeaker,

tot can make the fame challenges
ing to us, c ^^jj,

(Great applaufes.) There ^^

f T'TdTS^^d of th coUce of '.u.-
r.'^fttSt^ousfplendou.W.h.a.

T^ '/ .ourt8 and invited ftrangers hi-
r W rWe-a^epalrthefelolfes.

!!Letmethenreprefenttoyouthet.mes.

that are faa approaching, when our ph.-

i,„f» names are celebrated
lofophers. whofe names

throughout Europe, Petion, o> ,

T!L,icET and other^-furrounded in
CoNDORCET, an phUofophers

:i; from an parts. E^.;--

'^' ^L fjr :fVuniS., and de-

TiXogrefs of all human know^

ledgl. that, perfeaioning the focal fy -

em,and£hewinsinourdecreeofh >7th

Tt TaRT the feeds of the mfurrec-
of June 1789. ^^^ jions

( XV )

tions of the 14th of July, and the loth of
Auguft, and of all ihofe infurredions which
are fpreading with fuch rapidity through-
out Europe — fo that thefe young ftrangers,
on their return to their refpedive countries,
may fpread the fame lights, and may ope-
rate, yor the bappinefs of mankind^ fimilar
revolutions throughout the world.

(Numberlefs applaufes aro(e, almoft
throughout the whole Aflembly, and ia
the Galleries.)

REMARKS

A.i'-i

REMARKS

?]-,:..

ON THE

SPEECH of Mr. DUPONT,

ON THE SUBJECTS OF

Religion and Public Education.

IT is prefumed that it may not be thought
unfeafonable at this critical time to offer
to the Public, and efpecially to the more
religious part of it, a few flight obferva-
tions, occafioned by the late famous Speech
of Mr. Dupont, which exhibits the Con-
feflion of Faith of a confiderable Member of
the French National Convention. Though

B th^

( 2 )

the Speech itfelf has been pretty generally
read, yet it was thought neceflary to prefix
it to thefe Remarks, left fuch as have not
already perufed it, might, from an honeft
reludlance to credit the exiftence of fuch
principles, difpute its authenticity, and ac-
cufe the Remarks, if unaccompanied by
the Speech, of a fpirit of invedive and
unfair exaggeration. At the fame time it
muft be confefled, that its impiety is fo
nionftrous, that many good men were of
opinion it ought not to be made fami«
liar to the minds of Englifhmen ; for there
are crimes with which even the imagina-
tion fhould never come in contad.

But as an ancient nation intoxicated their
flaves, and then expofed them before their
children, in order to increafe their horror
of intemperance ; fo it is hoped that this
piece of impiety may be placed in fuch a
light before the eyes of the Chriftian reader,
that, in proportion as his deteftation is

raifed,

( 3 )

ralfed, his faith, inftead of being (haken,
wiU be only fo much the more ftrength-
ened.

^ , , ■'

This celebrated Speech, though delivered

in an afTembly of Politicians, is not ou a

queflion of politics, but on one as fuperior

as the foul is to the body, and eternity ta

time. The objed here, is not to dethrone

kings, but him by whom kings reign. It

does not here excite the cry of indignation

that Louis reigns, but that fJbe Lord God

omnipotent reigneth.

Nor is this the declaration of fome ob-
fcure and anonymous perfon, but an expo-
fition of the Creed of a public Leader. It
is not a fentiment hinted in a journal, ha-
zarded in a pamphlet, or thrown out at a
difputing. club ; but it is the implied faith
of the rulers of a great nation,

f Little notice would have been due to this

famous Speech, if it had conveyed the fen-

^^ •- B 2 timents

■H

( 4 )

timent8 of only one vain orator; but k
ihould be obferved, that it was heard, re-
ceived, applauded^ with two or three ex-
ceptions only — a fadk, which you, who
have fcarcely believed in the exigence of
atheifm, will hardly credit, and which, for
the honour of the eighteenth century, it is
hoped that our poderity, being dill more
unacquainted with fuch corrupt opinions,
will reject as totally incredible.

A love of liberty, generous in its prin-
ciple, inclines fome good men dill to fa-
vour the proceedings of the National Con-
vention of France. They do not yet per-
ceive that the licentious wildnefs which has
been excited in that countiy, is deftrudtive
of all true happinefs, and no more refem-
bles liberty, than the tumultuous joys of the
drunkard refemble the cheerfulncfs of a
fober and well-regulated mind.

To thofe who do not know of what
ftrangc inconfifteacies man is made up;

who

( 5 )

who have not confidered how fome per-
ions, having at firft been haftily and heed-
lefsly drawn in as approvers, by a fort of
natural progrefHonjfoon become principals ;
—to thofc who have never obferved by
what a variety of (Irange aiTociations in the
mind, opinions that feem the moil irrecon-
cilable meet at fome unfufpe^ed turning,
and come to be united in the fame man ;— ^
to aP fuch it may appear quite incredible,
that well-meaning and even pious people
(hould continue to applaud the principles
of a fet of men who have publicly made
known their intention of abolifhing Chrifli-
anity, as far as the demolition of altars,
prieds, temples, and inftitutions, can abolifh
it; and as to the religion itfelf, this alfo
they may traduce, and for their own part
rejedt, but we know, from the comfort-
able promife of an authority ftill facred in
this country at leaft, that tl^e gates of hell
(ball not prevail againjl it.

. ,» ^- ,,

Let

( 6 )

Let me not be mifunderftood by thofe to
whom thefe flight remarks are principally
addrefTed ; that clafs of well-intemionecl
people, who favour at leaft, if they do not
adopt, the prevailing fcntiments of the new
Republic. You are not here accufed of
being the wilful abettors of infidelity. God
forbid ! " we are perfuaded better things of
*' you, and things which accompany fal-
** vation." But this igtiis Jattius of li-
berty ahd univerfal brotherhood, which the
French are madly purfuing, with the in-
fignia of freedom in one hand, and the
bloody bayonet in the other, has bewitched
your fenfes, and is in danger of miflead-
ing your fteps. You are gazing at a me-
teor raifed by the vapours of vanity, which
thefe wild and infatuated wanderers are
purfuing to their deftrudion ; and though
for a moment you millake it for a heaven-
born light, which leads to the perfei^iom
of human freedom, you will, fhould you
join in the mad purfuit, foon difcover that

( 7 )

it will conduct you over dreary wilds and
finking bogs, only to plunge you in deep
and inevitable ruin.

Much, very much is to be faid in vindi-
cation of your favouring in the firft inftance
their political projedls. The caufe they
took in hand feemed to be the great caufe
of human kind. Its very name infured
its popularity. What English heart did not
exult at the demolition of the Baftile ? What
lover of his fpecies did not triumph in the
warm hope, that one of the fined countries
in the world would foon be one of the moft
free ? Popery and defpotifm, though chain-
ed by the gentle influence of Louis the
fixteenth, had actually Hain their thou-
iands. Little was it then imagined, that
anarchy and atheifm, the monfters who
were about to fucceed them, would foon
flay their ten thoufands. If we cannot re-
gret the defeat of the two former tyrants,
what muft they be who can triumph in the
milchiefs of the two latter ? Who, I fay,

B4 _ that

( 8 )

that had a head to reafon, or a heart to
feel, did not glow wiih the hope, that from
thi; ruins of tyranny, and the rubbilh of
popery, a beautiful and finely- framed edi-
fice would in time have been conftruded,
and that ours would not have been the only
country in which the patriots' fair idea of
well-underftood liberty, and of the moft
pure and reafonable, as well as the moft
fublime and exalted Chriftianity, might be
realized?

But, alas ! it frequently happens that the
v/ife and good are not the moft adventu-
rous in attacking the mifchiefs which they
perceive and lament. With a timidity in
fome refpeds virtuous, they fear attempt-
ing any thing which may poflibly aggra-
vate the evils they deplore, or put to ha-
zard the bleflings they already enjoy. They
dread plucking up the wheat with the tares,
and are rather apt, with a fpirit of hope-
lefs refignation, , - • .

*< To bear the ills they have,
** Thau fly to others that they know not of."

^-V While

( 9 )

While fober-minded and confideratc
men, therefore, fat mourning over thi$
complicated mafs of error, and waited till
God, in his own good time, {hould open
the blind eyes ; the vaft fcheme of reform-
ation was left to that fet of rafli and pre-
fumptuous adventurers, who are generally
watching how they may convert public
grievances to their own perfonal account.
It Wi:s undertaken, not upon the broad
ba'is of a wife and well-digefted fcheme,
of which all the parts Ihould contribute to
the perfe(flion of one confiftent whole : it
was carried on, not by thofe fteady mea-
fures, founded on rational deliberation,
which are calculated to accomplifh fo im-
portant an end ; not with a temperance
which indicated a fober love of law, or a
facred regard for religion ^ but with the
moft extravagant luR of powfir, and the
moft inordinate vanity which perhaps ever
inftigated human meafures — a luft of
power which threatens to extend its de-

folating

( 10 f

folating influence over the whole globe;
—a vanity of the fame deftrudive fpecies
with that which ftimul^.ted the celebrated
incendiary of Ephefus, who being weary
of his native obfcurity and infignificance,
and preferring infamy to oblivion, could
contrive no other road to fame and immor-
tality, than that of fetting fire to the exqui-
fite Temple of Diana. He was remem-
bered indeed, as he defired to be, but only to
be execrated ; while the feventh wonder of
the world lay proftrate through his crime.

It is the fame over-ruling vanity which
operates in their politics, and in their re-
ligion, which makes Kerfaint* boaft of
carrying his deftrudive projects from the
Tagus to the Brazils, and from Mexico
to the fhores of the Ganges ; which makes
him menace to outftrip the enterprizes of
the moft extravagant hero of romance,

* Sec hii Speech, enumerating their intended projefts.

and

and almofl: undertake with the marvel**
Jous celerity of the nimble-footed Puck,

■ft

«« To put a girdle round about the earth
** In forty minuces."

It is the fame vanity, ftill the mafter-
pafiion in the bofom of a Frenchman,
which leads Dupont and Manuel to un-
dertake in their orations to abolifh the
Sabbath, exterminate the Priefthood, ere^^
a Pantheon for the World, reftore the Peri,
patetic Philofophy, and in fliort revive
every thing of ancient Greece, except the
pure tafte, the wifdom, the love of virtue,
the veneration of the laws, and that degree
of reverence which even virtuous Pagans
profefied for the Deity. - - n^

nr'^i^t'.

"5 <Tt'.,

■■ .*'♦ * '

• It is furely to be charged to the inade-
quate and wretched hands into which the
work of reformation fell, and not to the
hnpoffibility of amending the civil and re-'

ligious

jigious inftitutioDR of Frsince, that all has
fucceeded fo ill. It cannot be dented per^
haps, that a reforming fpirit was wanted in
that country; their government was not
more defpotic, than their church was fuper-
ditious and corrupt.

But though this is readily granted, and
though it may be unfair to blame thofe who
in ihtjirjl outfet of the French Revolution,
rejoiced even on religious motives ; yet it
is aftonifhing, how any pious perfon, even
with all the blinding power of prejudice, can
think without horror of the prefent ftate
of France. It is no lefs wonderful how
any rational man could, even in the be-
ginning of the Revolution, transfer that
reafoning, however juft it might be, when
applied to France, to the cafe of England.
For what can be more unreafonable, than
to draw from different, and even oppoiite
premifes, the fame conclufion \ Mufl a re-
volution

( '3 )

volution be equally necelTary in the cafe of
two forts of Government, and two forts of*
Religion, which are the very reverfe of
each other? — oppofite in their genius, un-
like in their fundamental principles, and
widely different in each of their component
parts, ,.,'—' ■ '->:. ■ . r.

, That defpotifm, prieftcrafr, intolerance,
and fuperftition, are terrible evils, no can-^
did Chriftianitis prefumed will deny; but,^
bleffed be God, though thefe mifchiefs are
not yet entirely banifhed from the face of
the earth, they have fcarcely any exiftence
in this country.

To guard againfl: a real danger, and to -
cure actual abufes, of which the exiftenca?
has been firft plainly proved, by the ap- -
plication of a fuitable remedy, requires di-
ligence as well as courage ; obfervation as
well as genius ; patience and temperance as
well as zeal and fpirit. It requires the union

( H y

g£ that clear bead and found heatt whith
conftitute the true patriot. But to conjure
up fancied evils, or even greatly to aggravate
r«al ones, and then to exhauft our labour
in combating them, is the charadteriftic of
a diftempered imagination and an ungo-
verned ijpirit. .jii^q

Romantic crufades, the ordeal trial,
drowning of witches, the torture, and
the inquifition, have been juftly repro-
brated as the fouleft ftain of the refpedtive
periods in which, to the difgrace of human
reafon, they exifted ; but would any man be
rationally employed, who fhould now ftand
' gravely to decbim againft thefe as the
predominating mifchiefs of the prefent cen-
tury ? Even the whimfical Knight of La
Mancha himfelf, would not fight windmills
that were pulled down ; yet I v;ill venture
to fay, that the above-named evils are at
prefent little more chimerical than fome of
thofe now fo bitterly complained of among

( >5 ) . '

us. It is not as Dry den faid, when one of
his works was unnxercifully abufed, that
the piece has not faults enough in it, but
the critics have not had the wit to fix upon
the right ones.

It is allowed that as a Nation, we have
faults enough, but our political critics err ia
the objeds of their cenfure. They fay little
of thofe real and preffing evils refulting
from our own corruption, which conftitute
the adual miferies of life ; while they
gloomily fpeculate upon a thoufand ima*-
ginary political grievancea, and fancy that
the reformation of our rulers and our le-
giflators is all that is wanting to make us a
happy people. ^. ■ - . ■ >• |v'-i

The principles of juft and equitable go-
vernment were, perhaps, never more fully
eftablifhed, nor public juftice more ex-
adly adminiftered. Pure and undefiled
religion was never laid more open to all,
13 than

( i6 )

than at this day. I wifh I could fay we
were a religious people ; but this at leaft
inay be fafely aflerted, that the great truths
of religion were never better underftood ;
that Chriftianity was never more complete-
ly dripped from all its incumbrances and
difguifes, or more thoroughly purged from
human infufions, and whatever is debafing
in human inllitutions.

In vain we look around us to difcover the
^ravages of religious tyranny, or the triumphs
of prieftcraft or fuperftition. Who at-
tempts to impofe any yoke upon our rea-
fon ? Who feeks to put any blind on the
eyes of the moft illiterate ? Who fetters the
judgment or enflaves the confcience of the
meanefl: of our Proteftant brethren ? Nay,
fuch is the power of pure Chriftianity to
enlighten the underftanding, as well as to re-
form the heart, and fuch are the advantages
which the moft abject in this country poflefs
for enjoying its privileges, that the pooreft

peafant

( '7 )

^^eafant among us, if he be as religious as
multitudes of his ftation really are, has
clearer ideas of God and his own foul,
purer notions of that true liberty wherewith
Chrift has made him free, than the mere
difputer of this world, though he poflefs
every fplendid advantage which education,
wifdom, and genius can bellow. I am
not fpeaking either of a perfect form of
Government, or a perfect Church Eftablifh-
ment, becaufe I am fpeaking of Inflitutions
which are human ; and the very idea of
their being human, involves alfo the idea
of imperfedion. But I am fpeaking of the
bell conftituted Government, and the beft
conflituted National Church with which
we are yet acquainted. Time, that filent
inftruilor, and Experience, that great rec-
tifier of the judgment, will more and more
difcover to us what is wanting to the per-
fedion of both. And if we may truft to
the adtivc genius of Chriftian Liberty, and

C to

( 18 )

to that liberal and candid fpirit v^hich is
the charaderidic of the age we live in,
there is little doubt but that a tem-
perate and well-regulated zeal will, at
a convenient feafon, corre^ whatfoever
found policy (hall fuggeft as wife and
expedient.

« . ». -^

If there are errors in the Church, and it
does not perhaps require the fharp-fighted-
nefs of a keen oppol'er to difcover that there
are, there is at lead nothing like fierce in-
tolerance, or fpiritual ufurpation. A fiery-
zeal and an uncharitable bigotry might have
furnifhed matter for a well-defervcd ecclefi-
adical philippic in other times ; but thanks
to the temper of the prefent day, unlefs
we conjure up a fpirit of religious chivalry,
and Tally forth in queft of imaginary evils, we
fliall not apprthend any danger from perfe-
cution or enthufiafm. If grievances there
are, they do not appear to 4e thofe which

- - refult

( »9 )

refiilt from polemic pride and rigid bigotry,
but are of a kind far different.

If the warm fun of profperlty has un*
happily produced its too common efFedt,
in relaxing the vigour of religious ex*
crtion ; if, in too many inftances, fecu-
rity has engendered Hoth, and affluence
produced diflipation i let us implore the
Divine grace, that the prefent alarming cri^
fis may roufe the carelefs, and quicken the
fupine ; that our paftors may be con-
vinced that the Church has lefs to fear from
external violence, than from internal de-
cay 5 nay, that even the violence of attack
is often really beneficial, by exciting that
adivity which enables us to repel danger^
fmce increafe of diligence is the trued ac-
ceffion of ftrength : that the love of power,
with which their enemies perhaps unjuftly
accufe them, is not more fatal than the love
of pleafure : that no degree of orthodoxy
in opinion can atone for a too clofe aflimi-
' ^ C 2 lation

( JO )

lation with the manners of the world ; that
herefy without, is Icfs to be dreaded than
indifference from within : that the moft
regular clerical education, the moft fcrupu-
lous attention to forms, and even the ftrideft
conformity to the cftabliXhed opinions of
the Church, will avail but little to the en-
largement of Chrift's kingdom, without a
ftri£t fpirit of perfonal watchfulnefs, ha-

bitual ftlf- denial, and laborious exertion. •

Though it is not here intended to animad-
vert on any political complaint which is not
in Ibme fort conneded with religion ; yet
it I?, prefumed it may not be thought quite
foreign to the prefcnt purpofe to remark,
that among the reigning complaints againft
our civil adminiftration, the moft plaufible
feems to be that excited by the fuppofed
danger of an invafion on the Liberty of the
Prefs. Were this apprehenfion well-found-
ed, we fliouid indeed be threatened by one
of the moft grievous misfortunes that can
ii i» ■: \ ' i: : befal

( "« )

befal a free country. It is not only a mod
noble [Privilege itlelf, but the guardian of
all our other liberties ; and, notwithftand-
ing the abufe which has lately been made
of this valuable poflinion, yet every man
of a found unprejudiced mind is well
aware that true liberty of every kind is
fcarcely inferior in importance to any
object for which human a<ftivity can con- "
tend. Nay, the very abufe of a good,
often makes us more fenfible of its value.
Fair and well-proportioned Freedom will
ever retain all her native beauty to a judi-
cious eye, nor will her genuine form be
the lefs prized for our having lately con-
templated the diftorted features and falfe
colouring of her caricature, as prefented to
us by the daubing hand of Gallic patriots.

But highly as the Freedom of the Prefs
ought to be valued, would it really be fo
very heavy a misfortune, if corrupt and
inflaming publications, calculated to deftroy

C s that

{ " )

that peace which every good man Is anxious
to preferve, fhould, juft at this alarming
period, be fomewhat difficult to be ob*
tained? Would it be fo very grievous a
national calamity, if the crooked progeny
of treafon and blafphemy fljould find it a
little inconvenient to venture forth from
their lurking-holes, and range abroad ia
open day ? Is the cheapnefs of poifonj or
the facility with which it may be obtained,
to be reckoned among the real advantages
of medicinal repofitories ? And can the
eafmefs v-^f accefs to fediuous or atheiftical
writings, be numbered among the fubftan-
tial bleflings of any country ? Would
France, at this day, have had much folid
caufe of regret, if many of the writings of
Voltaire, Roufleau, and d*AIembert, (the
prolific feed of their wide-fpreading tree,)
had four.d more difficulty in gettii.g into
the world, or been lefs profufely circulated
when in it ? And might not England at
this moment have been juft as happy in her

ignorance,

ignorance, if the famous orations of Ci-
tizen Dupont and Citizen Manuel had been
confined to their own enlightened and phi-
loibphical countries * ? . >' •

* Extracl from Monf. Manuel's Letter to the National Couven-^
tion, dated January 26, 179j.
" The piiefts of a republic are its nr.. jiftrates.thelaw its
gofpel. What mlffion can be more auguft tha?» that of the
inilruftors of youth, who having themfelves efcaped from the
hereditary prejudice of ali fefts, point out .0 the human race
their inalienable rights, founded upon that fublime wifdom
which pervades all nature. Religious faith, imprefled on
the mind of an infant fcven years old, will lead to perfect
flavery; for dogmas at that age are only arbitrary com-
mands. Ah ! what is belief, wilhcat examination, without
cohvidlion? It renders men either melancholy or mad, &c.

•»■ .•

Legiflators ! Virtue wants neither temples nor fyna-
gogues. It -- not from prieft* we learn to do good or no-
ble adlion:. No religion muft be taught in fchools which
are to be national ones. To prefcribe on'^, vv-ould be to pre-
fer it to all others. There hiftory mult fpeak of feds, as Ihe
fpeaks o*" '".uer events. It would become your v.iilloni, per-
hr.ps, to order that the pupils of the republic (hould not en-
ter the temples before the age of fevcnte^n. Reafon moft
not be taken by furprife, &c. Hardly were children
born before they feli into the hands of prielts, who firft
blinded their eyes, and then delivered them over to kings.
Wherever kings ceafe to govern, priefts muli ceafe to edu-
ca*e.'*

( H )

To return to thefe orations: — We have
to© often, in our own nation, feen and de-
plored the mifchiefs of irreligion, arifing
incidentally from a neglected or an abufed
education. But what mifchiefs will not
irreligion produce, when, in the projected
fchools of France, as announced to us by
the two metaphyfical legiflators above-men-
tioneu, impiety (hall be taught by fyAem ?
When out of the mouths of babes and fuck-
lirrs the monftrous opinions, exhibited by
Dupont and Manuel, fliall be perfeded ?
When the fruits of atheifm, dropping from
their newly-planted tree of liberty, fhall
pollute the very fountains of knowledge ?
When education, being poifoned in all her
fprings, the rifing generation will be taught
to look on atheifm as decorous, and religion
as eccentric ? When atheifm fliall be con-
fidered as a proof of accompliflied breed-
ing, and religion as the ftamp of a vulgar
education? When the regular courfe of

obedience

obedience to mafters and tutors will be to
renounce the hope of everlafting happinefs,
and to deride the idea' of future punifh-
ment? When every man and every child,
in conformity with the principles profefled
in the Convention, fliall prefume to fay
with his tongue, what hitherto even the
fool has only dared to fay in his heart, T/jat
there is no God '^.

* It is a remarkable clrcumftance,that though the French
are continually binding themfelves by oaths, they have not
mentioned the name of God in any oath which has beea
invented fince the revolution. It may alfo appear curious to
the Englilh reader, that though in almoft all the addrefles of
congratulation, which were fent by the aflbciatcd clubs from
this country to the National Convention, the fuccefs of the
French arms was in p^rt afcribed to Divine Providence, yet
in none of the anfwers was the leaft notice ever taken of this.
And to fliew how t'-e fame fpirit fpreads itfelf among evety
dcfcription of men r i .•K.Ke, their Admiral Latouche, after
having defcribed £ht t. nf rs to which his fhip was expofed
in a llorm, fays, nue iwe i'"r exiflence to the tutelary Geuiut
nvhich 'watches o-ver the dejliny of the French republic » andthg
'fitj^mdirs of lihirty and equality.

( 26 )

My fellow Chriftians I This is not a
ftrife of words ; this is not a controverfy
about opimons of comparatively. fmall im-
portance, fuch as you have been accu(^
tomed at home to hear even good men dif-
pute upon, when perhaps they would have
a£ked a more wife and amiable part had they
remained filent, facrificing their mutual dif-
ferences on the altar of Chrif '^n charity :
But this bold renunciation of the i great
fundamental article of faith, this daring r£>»
jedion of the Supreme Creator and Ruler of
the World, is ftriking with a vigorous ftroke
at the root of all human happineis. It is
tearing up the very foundation of human
hope, and extirpating every true principle
of human excellence. It is annihilating the
very exiftence of virtue, by annihilating its
motives, its fan€tions, its obligations, and
its end.

That atheifm will be the favoured and
the popular tenet in France feems highly

probabU ;

St-

probable ; whilft in that wild contempt of
all religion, which has lately had the arro^^
gance to call itfelf toleration, it is not ina-
proLable that Chriftianity itfelf may be to-
lerated in that country, as a fed not perfe-
cuted indeed, but derided. It is, however,
far from clear, that this will he the cafe, if
the new doctrines fhould become generally
prevalent; although the great apoftles of
infidelity, Voltaire and his difciples, have
employed all the acutenefs of their wit to
convince us that' irreligion never perfe-
GUtes. To prove this, every art of felfe
citation, partial extra dt, fupprefled evi-
dence, and grofs mifreprefentation has
been put in pradice. But if this unfup-
ported aflertion were true, then Polycarp,
Ignatius, Juftin, Cyprian, and Bafil, did
not fufFer for the faith once delivered to the
Saints. Then the famous Chriftian apo*
logifts, moft of them learned converts fronx
the pagan philofophy, idly employed their
zeal to abate a clamour which did not exift,

and

■■Ml

( '-8 >

and to propitiate emperors who did not
perfccute. Then Tacitus, Trajan, Pliny,
and Julian, thofe bitter enemies to Chrifti-
anity, are fuborned witneffes on her iide.
Then Ecclefiaftical Hiftory is a feries of
falfehoods, and the Book of Martyrs a le-
gend of romance *. i
^.''■■- I
That one extravagant mifchief fhould
produce its oppofite, is agreeable to the or-
dinary courfe of human events. That
to the credulity of a dark and fuperflitious
religion, a wanton contempt of all de-
cency, and an unbridled prophanenefs,
ihould fucceed ; that to a government abfo-

• It u.ay be objefted here, tliat this is not applicable to
the ftate of France ; for that the Roman Emperors were not
•theifls ordeifts, butpolytheills, with an eftabliflied religion.
To this it may be anfwered, that modern infidels not only
deny the ten pagan perfecutions, but accufe Chriftianity of
being the only perfecuting religion ; and affirm, that onTy
thofe who refufe to embrace it, vlifcover a fpirit of tole-
rauon.

lutely

( 39 )

lutely defpotic, an utter abhorrence of all
reftraint and fubordination fhould follow;
though it is deplorable, yet it is not ftrange.
The human mind, in flying from the ex-
treme verg€ of one error, feldom ftops
till flie has reached the oppofite extremity.
She ger Tally pafles by with ^lofty difdain
the obvious truth which lies directly in her
road, and which is indeed commonly to be
found in the mid-way, between the error
(he is flying from, and the error fhe is
purfuing.

\ h it a breach of Chriftian charity to
conclude, from a view of th£ prefent ftate of
the French, that fince that deluded people
have given up God, God, by a righte-
ous retribution, feems to have renounced
them for a time, and to have given them
over to their own hearts lufts, to work Inl^
quity wkb gnedinefs f If fuch is their pre-

lent

( 30 )

fcnt career, what is li'';ely to be tlieir ap-
pointed end I H v fea'- 'ully applicable to
them leems th..l :*wful enunciation againd
an . ncieiTt, offending people — " The Lord
" Ihall fmite thee with madnefs, and blind-
" nefs, and aftonifliment of heart V*

It is no part of the prefent defign to
enter into a detail of their political condud ;
but I cannot omit to remark, that the very-
man in their long lift of kings, whofeemed
beft to have deferved their aflumed appella-
tion of mojl CbrlJliaUy was alfo moft favour-
able to their acquifition of liberty * : his
moderation and humanity facilitated their
pow^er, which, with unparalleled ingrati-
tude, they employed to degrade his per-
fon and character in the eyes of mankind.

• Of this the French themfclves were fo well perfuaderf,
that the title of Rcjitrutcur de la Liberie Franfoi/e, was fo-
lemnly given to Louis the XVlth b/ the Conftituent
Affembly. , „

-,■■*'

( 3« )

by the blackeft and moft deteftable arts,
and at length to terminate his calamities
by a crime which has excited the giief
and indignation of all Europe.

On the trial and murder of that mofl:
unfortunate king, and on the inhuman pro-
ceedings which accompanied them, I fliall
purpofely avoid dwelling, for it is not the
defign of thefe remarks to excite thepaffions*
I will only fay, that fo monftrous has been
the inverfion of all order, law, humanity,
juftice, received opinion, good faith, and
religion, that the condudt of his bloody
executionei;:6 feems to have exhibited the
moft fcrupulous conformity with the prin-
ciples announced in the fpeeches we have
been confidering. In this one inftance we
muft not call the French an inconfequent
people. Savage brutality, treafon, and
murder have been the noxious fruit ga-
thered from thefe thorns ; the baneful pro-

9 duce

--('■

■■

( 3* )

duce of thefe thirties . An overturn of alt
morals has been the well-proportioned off-
spring of an inverfion of all principle*

But, notwithfianding the confiftency,
in this inftance, between caufe and con-
feqiience, fo new and furprifing have
been the turns in their extraordinary pro-
jeds, that to foretel what their next en-
terprife would be from what their laft has
been, has long bafHed all calculation, and
bid defiance to all conjedure. Analogy
from hiftory, a ftudy of paft events, and
an inveftigation of prefent principles and
paflions ; judgment, memory, and deduc-
tion, afford human fagacity but very flendef
affiftance in Its endeavours to develope their
future plans. We have not even the data
of confiftent wickednefs on which to build
rational conclufions. Their crimes, though
vifibly connected by uniform depravity, are
yet fo furprifingly diverfified by interfer-
ing

y\-i

( 33 )

Ing abfurdltles, as to furniili no ground ou
which reafonable argument can be founded.
Nay, iuch is their incredible eccentricity,
that it is hardly extravagant to affirm,
that improbability is become rather an
additional reafon for expeding an event
to take place.

' But let us, in this yet happy country,
learn at lead one great and important '
truth, from the errors of this diftra£led
people. Their conduct has awfully illuf-
trated a pofition, which is not the lefs
found for having been often contro-
verted. That no degree of wit and learn-
ing ; no progrefs in commerce ; no ad-
vances in the knowledge of nature, or in
the embellifhments of art, can ever tho-
roughly tame that favage, the natural^
human heart, without religion. The
arts of focial life may give a fweetne^

■!!r>

( 34 ) ■

to the manners and language, and induce,
in fome degree, a love of juftice, truth, and
humanity ; but attainments derived from
fuch inferior caufes are no more than the
femblance and the fhadow of the qualities
derived from pure Chriftianity. Varnifh
is an extraneous ornament, but true polifh
is a proof of the folidity of the body; it de-
pends greatly on the nature of tl i fub-
flance, is not fuperinduced by accidental-
caufes, but in a good meafure proceeding
from internal foundefs. » ,.

The poets of that country, whofe ftyle,
fentiments, manners, and religion the
French fo affededly labour to imitate, have
left keen and biting fatires on the Roman
vices. Againft the late proceedings in

France, no fatirift need employ his pen ;
that of the hiftorian will be quite fufficient.
Fad will put fable out of countenance ;
and the crimes which are ufually held up to

our

{ 35 )

our abhorrence in works of invention, will
be regarded as flat and feeble by thofe who
(hall peruOs the records of the tenth of Au-
guft, of the fecond and third of September,
and of the twenty-firft of January.

If the fame aftonifhing degeneracy in
tafte, principle, and practice, fliould ever
come to flourifli among tts^ Brita^in may
ftill live to exult in the defolation of her
cities, and in the deftrudicn of her fined
monum*^ ">ts of art; fhe may triumph in the
peoplir ^ the fortrefles of her rocks and
her forefts ; may exult in being once more
reftored to that glorious ftate of liberty and
equality^ when all fubfifted by rapine and
the chace ; when all, O enviable privilege !
. were equally favage, equally indigent, and
equally naked ; may extol it as the refto-
ration of reafon, and the triumph of na-
. ture, that they are again brought to feed
on acorns, inftead of bread. Groves of
? ;>. ' D 2 ' confccrated

( 36 )

confecrated mifletoe may happily fiicceed
to ufelefs corn-liclds; and Thor and Woden
may hope once more to be invefted with all
their bloody honours.

Let not an^^ ferious readers feel indig-
nation, as if pains were ungeneroufly taken
to involve their religious, v/ith their poli-
tical opinions. Far be it from me to wound,
. unneceflarily, the feelings of people whom
I fo fincerely efteem ; but it is much to be
fufpeded, that certain opinions in politico
have a tendency to lead to certain opinions
in religion. Where fo much is at flake,
they will do well to keep their confciences
tender, in order to which they fhould try
to keep their difcernment acufe. They will
do well to obferve, that the fame reftlefs
fpirit of innovation is bufily operating un-
der various, though feemin^ly unconnected
forms. To obferve, that the fame im-
patience of reftraint, the fame contempt of
order, peace, and fubordination, which
5 . . " makes

( 37 )

makes men bad citizens, makes them bad
Chriftians ; and that to this fecret, but al-
moft infallible connection between reli-
gious and political fentiment, does France
owe her prefent unparalleled anarchy and
impiety.

There are doubtlefs in that unhappy
country multitudes of virtuous and reafon-
able men, who rather filently acquiefce ia
the authority of their prefent turbulent go-
vernment, than embrace its principles or
promote its projedls from the fober con-
viction vif tlieir own judjjment. Thefe,
together ;?ith thcfe (ionfcientious exiles
whom this nation fo honourably proteds,,
may yet live to rejoice in the reftoration oi:
true liberty and folid peace to their nati^/c
country, when light and order fhall fpring
from the prefent darknefs and confufion,
and the reign of chaos fhall be no more.

May I be permitted a fliort digreflion on
the fubje^t of thefe exiles ? It ihall oaly be

D 3 to

( 38 )

to remark, thw.i all the boafted conquefts of
our Edwards and our Henrys over the
French nation, do not confer fuch fubftan-
tial glory on our own country, as ihe de-
rives from having received, proteded, and
fupported, among multitudes of other fuf-
ferers, at a time and under circumftances
fo peculiarly difadvantageous to herfelf,
three thoujand prtejls^ of a nation habitually
her enemy, and of a religion intolerant and
hoftile to her own. This is the folid tri-
umph of true Chriftianity ; and it is worth
remarking, that the deeds which poets and
hiftorians celebrate as rare and fplendid ac-
tions, and fublime inftances of greatnefs of
foul, in the heroes of the Pagan world, are
hut the ordinary and habitual virtues which
occur in the common courfe of adion
among Chriftians; quietly performed with-
out effort or exertion, and with no view to
renown ; but refulting naturally and ne-
ceflarily from the religion th-" profefs.

)■ '

( 39 )

. So predominating is the power cf an ex-
ample we have once admired, and fet up
as a ftandard of imitation, and fo fafci-
nating has been the afcendancy of the Con-
vention over the minds of thofe whofe ap^
probation of French politics commenced in
the earlier periods of the Revolution, that
it extends to the moft trivial circumftances.
I cannot forbear to notice this in an in^
fiance which, though inconfiderable in it-
felf, yet ceafes to be fo when we view it in
the light of a fymptom of the reigning
dileafe.

--».*---

** While the fkntaftic phrafeology of the
new Republic is fuch, as to be almoft as
difgufting to found tafte, as their doctrines
are to found morals, it is curious to obferve
how deeply the addreiTes, which have been
fent to it from the Clubs * in this country.

• See the Colledlionof Addrefies from England.

f»„;

have

vrf. '

■■■■■■■i

{ 40 )

have been infected with it, as far at kkft as
phriifes and terms are objeds of imitation.
In other refpeds, it is but juftice to the
French Convention to confefs, that they are
-hitherto without rivals and without imita-
tors i for who can afpire to emulate that
compound of anarchy and atheifm which
in their debates is mixed up with the
pedantry of fchool-boys, the jargon of
a cabal, and the vulgarity and ill-breed*

ing of a mob ? One inilance of the pre-
vailing cant may fufHce, where an hundred
might be adduced ; and it is not the moil
exceptionabie.-^To demoli(h every exift-
ing law and eftablifhment; to deflroy the
fortunes and ruin the principles of every
country into which they are carrying
their deftrudive arms and their frantic doc-
trines ; to untie or cut afunder every bond
which holds fociety together; to impofe
their own arbitrary fhackles where they
fucceed, and to demolifh every thing
where they fail; — 'This defglating fyftem,

{ 4i )

by t moll unaccountable perVerfidn 6f lan-
guage, they are pleafed to call by the «l-
dearing name oi fraternization \ and fra-
ternization is one of the favourite terims
iivhich their admirers have adopted. Lit-
tle would a fimple ftranger, uninitiated in
this new and furprifmg dialect, imagine
that the peaceful terms of fellow-citizen and
of brother, the winning offer of freedoitt
and happincfs, and the warm embrace of
fraternity, were only watch-words by whicli
they, in effe«St,

Cry havoc,

■f- '-^^ •

And let flip the dogs of war.

i In numberlefs other inftances, the fafhioii*

.-■V

able language of France at this day would
be as unintelligible to the correct writers of
the age of Louis the XlVth, as their fafhion-
able notions of liberty would be irreconcilc-
able with thofe of the true Revolution Pa-
V triots

mam

( 4J )
tiriots of his great contemporary and vic-
toriouft rival, William the Third*

Such is indeed their puerile rage for
novelty in the invention of new words,
and the perverfion of their tafte in the
life of old ones, that the celebrated VoC-
fius, whom Chriftine of Sweden oddly
complimented by faying, that he was fo
learned as not only to know whence all
words came, but whither they were going,
would, were he admitted to the honours of a
fitingy be obliged to confefs, that he was
equally puzzled to tell the one, or to foretel
the other.

' If it (hall pleafe the Almighty in his
anger to let loofe this infatuated people, as
a fcourge for the iniquities of the human
race; if they are delegated by infinite
juftice to a£l, as ftorm and temped fulfilling

' his

■ J' •■. •» <

( 43 )

his word ; if thty are commiflioned to per*
form the errand of the deftroying lightning
or the avenging thunder-bolt, let us try at
leaft to extradt perfonal benefit from national
calamity ; let every one of us, high and
Ipw, rich and poor, enter upon this ferious
and humbling inquiry, how much his own
individual offences have contributed to that
awful aggregate of public guilt, which has
required fuch a vifitation. Let us carefully
examine in what proportion we have fe-
parately added to that common ftock of
abounding iniquity, the defcription of which
formed the charafter of an ancient nation,
and is fo peculiarly applicable to our own —
Pridej fulnefs of bread^ and abundance of
idlenefs. Let every one of us humbly in-
quire, in the felf-fufpeding language of the
difciples to their Divine Mafter — Lord^ is
it If Let us learn to fear the fleets and

V armies

^.r;'.,

( 44 )

armFes of the enemy, much lefs than thofe
iniquities at home which this aiarming
difpenfation may be intended to chaflize.

The war which the French have declared
againft us, is of a kind altogether unexam-
pled in every refped ; infomuch that human
wifdom is baffled when it would pretend
to conjedure what may be the event. But
this at lead we may fafely fay, that it is not
fo much the force of French bayonets, as
the contamination of French principles, that
ought to excite our apprehenfions. We
truftj that through the bleffing of God we
ihall be defended from their open hoftilities,
by the temperate wifdom of our Rulers, and
the bravery of our fleets and armies ; but
the domedic danger arifmg from licentious
and irreligious principles among ourfelves,
can only be guarded againft by the perfonal
care and vigilance of every one of u&

' who

( 45 )
who values religion and the good order of
fociety,

God grant that thofe who go forth to
fight our battles, indead of being intimi-
dated by the number of their enemies, may
bear in mind, that *' there is no reftraint
with God to fave by many or by few." And
let the meaneft of us who remains at home
remember alfo, that even he may contri-
bute to the internal fafety of his country, by
the integrity of his private life, and to the
fuccefs of her defenders, by following them
with his fervent prayers. And in what
war can the fmcere Chriftian ever have
ftronger inducements to pray for the fuccefs
of his country, than in this? Without en-
tering far into any political principles, the
.difcuilion of which would be in af great
meafure foreign to the defign of this littk
tra^, it may be remarked, that the un-
. chriftian principle of revenge is not our
motive to this war; connngft is not our
" '•- object ;

( 46 )

obje^ ; nor have we had rccourfe to hof-
tility, in order to efFedt a change in the in-
ternal government of France *. The pre-
fent war is undoubtedly undertaken entirely
on defenfive principles. It is in defence of
our King, our Conftitution, our Religion,
our Laws, and confequently our Liberty^
in the found and rational fenfe of that term.
It is to defend ourfelves from the favage
viohnce of a crufade, made againll all
Religion, as well as all Government. If
ever therefore a war was undertaken on the
ground of felf-defence and neceflity — if ever
men might be literally faid to fight/ro ARIS
cificisy this feems to be the occafion.

The ambition of conquerors has been the
fource of great and extenfive evils: reli-
gious fanaticifm, of ftill greater. But little
as I am difpofed to become the apologiil of

♦ See the Report of Mr. Pitt's Speech in the Houfe of
Commons on Feb. 12, 1793, publilhed by Woodfall.

either

( 47 )

Cither the one principle «. the other, there
18 no extravagance in afTerting, that they
have feemed incapable of producing, even
in ages, that extent of mifchief, that com-
prehenfive defolation, which philofophy^
falfelyfo called^ has produced in three years.

Chriftians ! it is not a fmall thing — It is
your life. The peftilence of irreligion
which you deteft, will infinuate itfelf im-
perceptibly with thole manners, phrafes,
and principles which you admire aud adopt.
It is the humble wifdom of a Chriftian,
to (hrink from the moft diftant approaches
to fin, to abftain from the very appearance
of evil. If we would fly from the deadly
contagion of Atheifm, let us fly from thofc
feemingly remote, but not very indire£l:
paths which lead to it. Let France chufc
this day whom ihe will ferve ; but^ osfor us
and our houfes^ we wi/i ferve the Lord,

And, O gracious and long-fufFering
God ! before that awful period arrives,

which

..,«'.«» ymti-r

•+ -lt*j

-hi'

|1» ,.

|f^h ihall exhibit the dreadful efie^s q£
fticu an education as the French nation are
inllituting; before a race of men can be
trained up^ not only without the knowledge
of THEE, but in the contempt of thy mofl
holy law, do thou, in great mercy,
change the heart of this people as the
heart of one man. Give them not finally
over to their own corrupt imaginations, to
their own hearts* lufts. But after having
made them a fearful example to all the
laations of the earth, what a people cart
do, who have call off the fear of thee, do
THOU gracioufly bring them back to a fenfe
of that law which they have violated, and
to a partici'^ation of that mercy which they
have abufeu ; fo that they may happily
find, while the difcovery can be attended
with confolation, that dotihtkfs there is a re*
ward for the righteous \ verily^ there is a
Goo whojudgetb the earth.

TH£ £KX>.

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