63-79-137-161. Vol. 10. pp. 10-27. Vol. 13. pp. 427-462. Vol. 16. pp. 20-30.

The great statesmen who conduct this extraordinary journal appear to consider the Revolution, in France, to have been caused by the exclusion of all but the privileged orders from the government of that country; and to pronounce with confidence that the inevitable effects of that Revolution will be the entire and permanent subjugation of continental Europe; and perhaps, of the British Empire, under the dominion of Napoleon Buonaparte; unless Britain shall adopt a system of policy different from that which has been uniformly pursued by the late Mr. Pitt, and his successors in office, with the single ex-^ ception of those few months when the reins were held by Mr. Fox.

Mr. Burke in Vol. 8. pp. 235-250, of his works, states the causes of the French Revolution to have consisted in the efforts of the philosophers of France to destroy the christian religion; and in the efforts of her politicians to establish the universal domination of their own country, upon the ruins of all other governments. The effects of that Revolution Mr. Burke appears to dread as the almost unavoidable means of extinguishing the last remaining sparks of liberty and civilization in Europe.

No man can possibly entertain a more entire veneration than I do for the opinion of Mr. Burke on every subject, illumined by his incomparable understanding, qui pæne omnia tractavit, et nihil tetigit quod non ornavit. It is therefore with extreme reluctance that I venture for a moment to dissent from his conclusions as to the causes of the French Revolution.

Mr. Burke was entirely correct in his opinion that the French philosophists were a herd of shallowbrained politicians, mainly bent upon the utter extirpation of all religion; and that the French statesmen, being much longer-sighted than the philosophers used

them for their own purposes, all of which were directed towards the exterior aggrandizement of France. And yet these two classes of men, the politicians and the philosophists, were not the causes of, but only main movers in, the French Revolution. These causes were laid broad and deep in the preexisting state of society on the continent of Europe, and more particularly in France, of which these two orders of men availed themselves for the purpose of promoting their respective designs. This predisposing state of society was brought about by the decay and almost entire extinction of the Christian religion, which had been progressively and rapidly declining for a full century previous to the French Revolution, all over the European continent. The heart of man is prone to infidelity, and all those institutions which encourage this propensity, of necessity lay the axe to the root of public prosperity by destroying the basis of moral obligation.

Popery naturally and necessarily conducts a nation into practical and speculative atheism. The few men of sense who happen to live in any one country during the same age, for the most part, after detecting its numberless mummeries, frauds, and absurdities, disbelieve it altogether; and being ignorant of any purer religion, they plunge themselves at once into speculative atheism, and as a necessary consequence, free themselves from all moral restraint. For certainly if there be no God, and no future state, man cannot be accountable hereafter for any of his deeds done in the flesh; and is therefore at full liberty to do whatever he is willing and able to do, provided that he does not endanger his own personal safety or convenience. Thus the whole system of morals is reduced to a mere calculation of individual expediency; there is no longer any general rule of morality, but every different individual has a different moral code which he is perpetually fitting, as cir

cumstances arise, to his own convenience, caprice, and inclination.

In the many, who never think, popery, by its ready absolution of all sin on the payment of a stipulated sum, produces with tolerable and sufficient uniformity a course of practical atheism; and equally sets them loose from all the bonds of moral restraint, as it does their more reflecting and speculative brethren. With the disregard of all moral obligation are inseparably connected great depravation of manners, and want of all productive industry. The slightest glance at the actual condition of popish and of protestant countries will fully prove the truth of this position. The industry, civilization, and virtue of England, Scotland, and protestant Ireland are incalculably superior to those of the popish part of Erin. The contrast is also peculiarly striking in Germany and Switzerland, where the different territories being intermingled, the traveller continually passes from a protestant to a popish country. For an account of the condition of popery in these United States, see "State of the Catholic Religion and Missions in North America," published in the Mercure de France, 5th July, 1806.

Poverty, filth, idleness, and profligacy uniformly point out the influence of papal superstition; and opulence, cleanliness, industry, and good order as invariably result from the florishing condition of protestantism. There is the same contrast between the intellectual character of the two religions. Intelligence is generally diffused through protestant districts while the darkness of error overspreads the regions of popery. The number of malefactors and criminals in popish far outweighs that in protestant countries, other things being equal. For a full and ample investigation of this subject consult "An Essay on the Spirit and Influence of the Reformation of Luther," the work which obtained the prize on the

question proposed in the year 1802, by the National Institute of France; written by M. Villers, and published at Paris in 1804. N. B. Mr. Villers himself was a revolutionary atheist, as his work sufficiently proves, particularly where he tells us "that Christ was not aware of the extent of his own religious system, which must inevitably have speedily perished if the greater capacity and zeal of Paul had not espoused and protected the new doctrine," &c. Frederic the Second of Prussia, who doubtless was no great fanatic, who labored under no prejudices in favor of christianity, and who never looked at religion except in a political point of view, bears ample testimony to the superior civil and social tendencies of protestantism over those of popery, in his "Derniers Pensées," &c. 8vo. published at Paris in the year 1800.

The progress of declining protestantism in a country is somewhat different, but its practical termination is the same; namely in entire profligacy. Witness the very degraded state of morals in Holland, Prussia, Poland, &c. during the last fifty years. For the mode by which protestant churches continue to preach themselves gradually into deism, see "The History of the Church of Christ," by Joseph Milner, M. A. American Edition, published in 1809, Vol. 1. pp. 99-129.

It is to be remembered, that although nominally protestant countries often contrive to degenerate from christianity into what they call deism, yet the practical effects to society are the same as those of atheism, between which and deism there is only some slight speculative difference about a First Cause or no First Cause. But both the deist and the atheist hold themselves to be alike free from all moral obligation; neither of them considers himself as accountable to any divine tribunal hereafter for his actions on earth. And consequently, both deists and atheists are equally prone to commit any species of immorality and

crime that may suit their convenience or comport with their inclination.

This practical identity of deism and atheism must however be understood as confined to countries where Divine Revelation is known, and where the gospel is or may be preached; for in pagan countries where the sacred scriptures are unknown, the men who believe in the existence of a God, but reject the popular superstitions, are much more under the influence of moral obligation than are the atheists, in consequence of following more steadily and with greater honesty the dictates of natural conscience, which they in common with all men, whether sitting under the light of revelation or not, possess as a monitor within their own bosoms. The celebrated Dr. John Owen, in his Treatise on Spiritual Mindedness, p. 176, 12mo. edition, observes, that the greatest iniquity and corruption are not to be sought for, neither will they be found among the heathens, whether of savage or of comparatively civilized life. These idolatrous nations are kept within some bounds of wickedness by the light of reason, and by the operations of natural conscience. But the greatest corruption and iniquity, the most horrible blasphemy, the most atrocious crimes, are to be found in the thoughts, words, and actions of infidels in those countries where the blessings of revelation are accorded to All the crimes of all the pagans on the whole earth during the lapse of an entire century do not equal in magnitude and horror the atrocities committed in France during the last twenty years.

man.

The reason assigned by Dr. Owen for the greater wickedness of men in christian than in pagan countries is, that Divine Providence suffers the lesser, the natural light of conscience to be extinguished in those who wilfully reject all belief in the greater light of revelation; whence they give themselves up