REMARKS ON THE SPEECH of Mr. DUPONT, ON THE SUBJECTS OF Religion and Public Education.

IT is preſumed that it may not be thought un⯑ſeaſonable at this critical time to offer to the Public, and eſpecially to the more religious part of it, a few ſlight obſervations, occaſioned by the late famous Speech of Mr. Dupont, which exhibits the Confeſſion of Faith of a conſiderable Member of the French Na⯑tional Convention. Though the Speech itſelf has been pretty generally read, yet it was thought neceſſary to perfix it to theſe Remarks, left ſuch as have not al⯑ready peruſed it, might, from an honeſt reluctance to credit the exiſtence of ſuch principles, diſpute its au⯑thenticity, and accuſe the remarks, if unaccompanied by the Speech, of a ſpirit of invective and unfair ex⯑aggeration. At the ſame time it muſt be confeſſed, that its impiety is ſo monſtrous, that many good men were of opinion it ought not to be made familiar to the minds of Engliſhmen; for there are crimes with which even the imagination ſhould never come in contact.

[11] But as an ancient nation intoxicated their ſlaves, and then expoſed them before their children, in order to increaſe their horror of intemperance; ſo it is hop⯑ed that this piece of impiety may be placed in ſuch a light before the eyes of the Chriſtian reader, that, in proportion as his deteſtation is raiſed, his faith, inſtead of being ſhaken, will be only ſo much the more ſtrengthened.

This celebrated Speech, though, delivered in an aſ⯑ſembly of Politicians, is not on a queſtion of politics, but on one as ſuperior as the ſoul is to the body, and eternity to time. The object 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 the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.

Nor is this the declaration of ſome obſcure and a⯑nonymons perſon, but an expoſition of the Creed of a public Leader. It is not a ſentiment hinted in a jour⯑nal, hazarded in a pamphlet, or thrown out at a dis⯑puting club; but it is the implied faith of the rulers of a great nation.

Little notice would have been due to this famous Speech, if it had conveyed the ſentiments of only one vain orator; but it ſhould be obſerved, that it was heard, received, applauded, with two or three excep⯑tions only—a fact, which you, who have ſcarcely be⯑lieved in the exiſtence of atheiſm, will hardly credit, and which, for the honour of the eighteenth century, it is hoped that our poſterity, being ſtill more unac⯑quainted with ſuch corrupt opinions, will reject as to⯑tally incredible.

A love of liberty, generous in its principle, inclines ſome good men ſtill to favour the proceedings of the National Convention of France. They do not yet per⯑ceive that the licentious wildneſs which has been excit⯑ed in that country, is deſtructive of all true happineſs, and no more reſemble liberty, than the tumultuous joys of the drunkard, reſemble the cheerfulneſs of a ſober and well regulated mind.

[12] To thoſe who do not know of what ſtrange inconſiſt⯑ences man is made up; who have not conſidered how ſome perſons, having at firſt been haſtily and heed⯑leſsly drawn in as approvers, by a ſort of natural pro⯑greſſion, ſoon become principals;—to thoſe who have never obſerved by what a variety of ſtrange aſſocia⯑tions in the mind, opinions that ſeem the moſt irrecon⯑cileable meet at ſome unſuſpected turning, and come to be united in the ſame man;—to all ſuch it may appear quite incredible, that well meaning and even pious people ſhould continue to applaud the principles of a ſet of men who have publicly made known their intention of aboliſhing Chriſtianity, as far as the de⯑molition of altars, prieſts, temples, and institutions, can aboliſh it; and as to the religion itſelf, this alſo they may traduce, and for their own part reject, but we know, from the comfortable promiſe of an authority ſtill ſacred in this country, at leaſt, that the gates of hell ſhall not prevail againſt it.

Let me not be miſunderſtood by thoſe to whom theſe ſlight remarks are principally addreſſed; that claſs of well intentioned people, who favour at leaſt, if they do not adopt, the prevailing ſentiments of the new Republic. You are not here accuſed of being the wilful abetters of inſidelity. God forbid! ‘we are perſuaded better things of you, and things which accompany ſalvation.’ But this ignis fatuus of li⯑berty and univerſal brotherhood, which the French are madly purſuing, with the inſignia of freedom in one hand, and the bloody bayonet in the other, has bewitched your ſenſes, and is in danger of miſleading your ſteps. You are gazing at a meteor raiſed by the vapours of vanity, which theſe wild and inſatuat⯑ed wanderers are purſuing to their deſtruction; and though for a moment you miſtake it for a heaven-born light, which leads to the perfection of human free⯑dom, you will, ſhould you join in the mad purſuit, ſoon diſcover that it will conduct you over dreary wilds and [13] ſinking bogs, only to plunge yon in deep and inevi⯑table ruin.

Much, very much is to be ſaid in vindication of your favouring in the firſt inſtance their political pro⯑jects. The cauſe they look in hand ſeemed to be the great cauſe of human kind. Its very name inſured its popularity. What Engliſh heart did not exult at the demolition of the Baſtile? What lover of his ſpecies did not triumph in the warm hope, that one of the fineſt countries in the world would ſoon be one of the moſt free? Popery and deſpotiſm, though chained by the gentle influence of Louis XVIth, had actually ſlain their thouſands. Little was it then imagined, that anarchy and atheiſm, the monſters who were about to ſucceed them, would ſoon ſtay their ten thouſands. If we cannot regret the defeat of the two former ty⯑rants, what muſt they be who can triumph in the miſchiefs of the two latter? Who, I ſay, that had a head to reaſon, or a heart to feel, did not glow with hope, that from the ruin's of tyranny, and the rubbiſh of popery, a beautiful and finely framed edifice would in time have been conſtructed, and that ours would not have been the only country in which the patriot's fair idea of well underſtood liberty, and of the moſt pure and reaſonable, as well as the moſt ſublime and exalted Chriſtianity might be realized?

But, alas! it frequently happens that he wiſe and good are not the moſt adventurous in attacking the miſchiefs which they perceive and lament. With a ti⯑midity in ſome reſpects virtuous, they fear attempting any thing which may poſſible aggravate the evils they deplore, or put to hazard the bleſſings they al⯑ready enjoy. They dread plucking up the wheat with the tares, and are rather apt, with a ſpirit of hopeleſs reſignation,

While ſober minded and conſiderate men, there⯑fore, ſat mourning over this complicated maſs of er⯑ror, [14] and waited till God, in his own good time, ſhould open the blind eyes; the vaſt ſcheme of reformation was left to that ſet of raſh and preſumptuous adven⯑turers, who are generally watching how they may con⯑vert public grievances to their own perſonal account. It was undertaken, not upon the broad baſis of a wiſe and well digeſted ſcheme, of which all the parts ſhould contribute to the perfection of one conſiſtent whole: It was carried on, not by thoſe ſteady mea⯑ſures, founded on rational deliberation, which are calculated to accompliſh ſo important an end; not with a temperance which indicated a ſober love of law, or a ſacred regard for religion; but with the moſt extravagant luſt of power, and the moſt inor⯑dinate vanity which perhaps ever inſtigated human meaſures; a luſt of power which threatens to extend its deſolating influence over the whole globe; a van⯑ity of the ſame deſtructive ſpecies with that which ſtim⯑ulated the celebrated incendiary of Epheſus, who being weary of his native obſcurity and inſignificance, and prefering infamy to oblivion, could contrive no other road to fame and immortality, than that of letting fire to the exquiſite Temple of Diana. He was remem⯑bered indeed, as he deſired to be, but only to be exe⯑crated; while the ſeventh wonder of the world lay proſtrate through his crime.

It is the ſame over ruling vanity which operates in their politics, and in their religion, which makes Kerſaint^* boaſt of carrying his deſtructive projects from the Tagus to the Brazils, and from Mexico to the ſhores of the Ganges; which makes him menace to outſtrip the enterpriſes of the moſt extravagant hero of romance, and almoſt undertake with the mar⯑velous celerity of the nimbly footed Puck,

—

It is the ſame vanity, ſtill the maſter paſſion in the boſom of a Frenchman, which leads Dupont and [15] Manuel to undertake in their orations to aboliſh the Sabbath, exterminate the Prieſthood, erect a Panthe⯑on for the World, reſtore the Peripatetic Philoſophy, and in ſhort revive every thing of ancient Greece, ex⯑cept the pure taſte, the wiſdom, the love of virtue, the veneration of the laws, and that degree of reve⯑rence which even virtuous Pagans profeſſed for the Deity.

It is ſurely to be charged to the inadequate and wretched hands into which the work of reformation fell, and not to the impoſſibility of amending the civ⯑il and religious inſtitutions of France, that all has ſuc⯑ceeded ſo ill. It cannot be denied, perhaps, that a reforming ſpirit was wanted in that country; their government was not more deſpotic, than their church was ſuperſtitious and corrupt.

But though this is readily granted, and though it may he unfair to blame thoſe who in the firſt outſet of the French Revolution, rejoiced even on religious motives; yet it is aſtoniſhing, how any pious per⯑ſon, even with all the blinding power of prejudice, can think without horror of the preſent ſtate of France. It is no leſs wonderful how any rational man could, even in the beginning of the Revolution, transfer that reaſoning, however juſt it might be, when appli⯑ed to France, to the caſe of England. For what can be more unreaſonable, than to draw from different, and even oppoſite premiſes, the ſame concluſion? Muſt a revolution be equally neceſſary in the caſe of two ſorts of Government, and two ſorts of Religion, which are the very reverſe of each other? oppoſite in their genius, unlike in their fundamental principles, and widely different in each of their component parts.

That deſpotiſm, prieſtcraft, intolerance, and ſuper⯑ſtition, are terrible evils, no candid Chriſtian it is preſumed will deny; but, bleſſed be God, though theſe miſchiefs are not yet entirely baniſhed from the face of the earth, they have ſcarcely any exiſtence in this country.

[16] To guard againſt a real danger, and to cure a final abuſes, of which the exiſtence has been firſt plainly proved, by the application of a ſuitable remedy, re⯑quires diligence as well as courage; obſervation as well as genius; patience and temperance as well as zeal and ſpirit. It requires the union of that clear head and found heart which conſtitute the true patri⯑ot. But to conjure up fancied evils, or even greatly to aggravate real ones, and then to exhauſt our la⯑bour in combating them, is, the characteriſtic of a diſ⯑tempered imagination and an ungoverned ſpirit.

Romantic cruſades, the ordeal trial, drowning of witches, the torture, and the Inquiſition, have been juſtly reprobated as the ſouleſt ſtain of the reſpective periods, in which, to the diſgrace of human reaſon, they exiſted; but would any man be rationally em⯑ployed, who ſhould now ſtand up gravely to declaim againſt theſe as the predominating miſchiefs of the preſent century? Even the whimſical Knight of La Mancha himſelf, would not fight wind mills that were pulled down; yet I will venture to ſay, that the a⯑bove named evils are at preſent little more chimerical than ſome of thoſe now fo bitterly complained of a⯑mong us. It is not, as Dryden ſaid, when one of his works was unmercifully abuſed, 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 in the objects of their cenſure. They ſay little of thoſe real and preſſ⯑ing evils reſulting from our own corruption, which conſtitute the actual miſeries of life; while they gloomily ſpeculate upon a thouſand imaginary po⯑litical grievances, and fancy that the reformation of our rulers and our legiſlators is all that is wanting to make us a happy people.

The principles of juſt and equitable government were, perhaps, never more fully eſtabliſhed, nor pub⯑lic juſtice more exactly adminiſtered. Pure and un⯑defiled [17] religion was never laid more open to all, than at this day. I wiſh I could ſay we were a religious people; but this at leaſt may be ſafely aſſerted, that the great truths of religion were never better under⯑ſtood; that Chriſtianity was never more completely ſtripped from all its incumbrances and diſguiſes, or more thoroughly purged from human infuſions, and whatever is debaſing in human inſtitutions.

Let us in this yet happy country, learn at leaſt one great and important truth, from the errors of this diſ⯑tracted people. Their conduct has awfully illuſtrated a poſition, which is not the leſs found for having been often controverted, That no degree of wit and learn⯑ing; no progreſs in commerce; no advances in the knowledge of nature, or in the embelliſhments of art, can ever thoroughly tame that ſavage, the natural human heart, without RELIGION. The arts of ſocial life may give a ſweetneſs to the manners and lan⯑guage, and induce, in ſome degree, a love of juſtice, truth, and humanity; but attainments derived from ſuch inferior cauſes are no more than the ſemblance and the ſhadow of the qualities derived from pure, Chriſtianity. Varniſh is an extraneous ornament, but true poliſh is a proof of the ſolidity of the body; it depends greatly on the nature of the ſubſtance, is not ſuperinduced by accidental cauſes, but in a good meaſure proceeding from internal foundneſs.

The poets of that country, whoſe ſtyle, ſentiments, manners, and religion the French ſo affectedly labour to imitate, have left keen and biting fatires on the Roman vices. Againſt the late proceedings in France, no fatiriſt need employ his pen; that of the hiſtorian will be quite ſufficient. Fact will put fable out of countenance; and the crimes which are uſu⯑ally held up to our abhorrence in works of invention, will be regarded as flat and feeble by thoſe who ſhall peruſe the records of the tenth of Auguſt, of the ſecond and third of September, and of lie twenty firſt of January.

[18] If the ſame aſtoniſhing degeneracy in taſte, princi⯑ple, and practice, ſhould ever come to flouriſh among us, Britons may ſtill live to exult in the deſolation of her cities, and in the deſtruction of her fineſt monu⯑ments of art; ſhe may triumph in the peopling of the fortreſſes of her rocks and her foreſts; may ex⯑ult in being once more reſtored to that glorious ſtate of liberty and equality, when all ſubſiſted by rapine and the chace; when all, O enviable privilege! were equally ſavage, equally indigent, and equally naked; may extol it as the reſtoration of reaſon, and the tri⯑umph of nature, that they are again brought to feed on acorns, inſtead of bread. Groves of conſecrated miſletoe may happily ſucceed to uſeleſs corn fields; and Thor and Woden may hope once more to be in⯑verted with all their bloody honours.

Let not any ſerious readers feel indignation, as if pains were ungenerouſly taken to involve their relig⯑ous, with their political opinions. Far be it from me to wound, unneceſſarily, the feelings of people whom I ſo ſincerely eſteem; but it is much to be ſuſ⯑pected, that certain opinions in politics have a tenden⯑cy to lead to certain opinions in religion. Where ſo much is at ſtake, they will do well to keep their con⯑ſciences tender, in order to which they ſhould try to keep their diſcernment acute. They will do well to obſerve, that the ſame reſtleſs ſpirit of innovation is buſily operating under various, though ſeemingly un⯑connected forms. To obſerve, that the ſame impa⯑tience of reſtraint, the ſame contempt of order, peace, and ſubordination, which makes men bad citizens, makes them bad Chriſtians; and that to this ſecret, but almoſt infallible connexion between religious and political ſentiment, does France owe her preſent un⯑paralleled anarchy and impiety.

There are doubtleſs in that unhappy country mul⯑titudes of virtuous and reaſonable men, who rather ſilently acquieſce in the authority of their preſent tur⯑bulent government, than embrace its principles or [19] promote its projects from the ſober ccnviction of their own judgment. Theſe, together with thoſe conſci⯑entious exiles whom this nation ſo honourably pro⯑tects, may yet live to rejoice in the reſtoration of true liberty and ſolid peace to their native country, when light and order ſhall ſpring from the preſent darkneſs and confuſion, and the reign of chaos ſhall be no more.

May I be permitted a ſhort digreſſion on the ſub⯑ject of thoſe exiles? It ſhall only be to remark, that all the boaſted conqueſts of our Edwards and our Henrys over the French nation, do not confer ſuch ſubſtantial glory on our own country, as the derives from having received, protected, and ſupported, a⯑mong multitudes of other ſufferers, at a time and un⯑der circumſtances ſo peculiarly diſadvantageous to herſelf, three thouſand prieſts, of a nation habitually her enemy, and of a religion intolerant and hoſtile to her own. This is the ſolid triumph of true Chriſtianity; and it is worth remarking, that the deeds which poets and hiſtorians celebrate as rare and ſplendid actions, and ſublime inſtances of greatneſs of ſoul, in the he⯑roes of the Pagan world, are but the ordinary and habitual virtues which occur in the common courſe of action among Chriſtians; quietly performed with⯑out effort or exertion, and with no view to renown; but reſulting naturally and neceſſarily from the reli⯑gion they profeſs.

So predominating is the power of an example we cave once admired, and ſet up as a ſtandard of imita⯑tion, and ſo faſcinating has been the aſcendency of the Convention over the minds of thoſe whoſe approba⯑tion of French politics commenced in the earlier peri⯑ods of the Revolution, that it extends to the moſt triv⯑ial circumſtances. I cannot forbear to notice this in an inſtance, which, though inconſiderable in itſelf, yet ceaſes to be ſo when we view it in the light of a ſymp⯑tom of the reigning diſeaſe.

[20] While the fantaſtic phraſeology of the new Repub⯑lic is ſuch, as to be almoſt as diſguſting to ſound taſte, as their doctrines are to ſound morals, it is curious to obſerve how deeply the addreſſes, which have been ſent to it from the Clubs ^* in this country, have been in⯑fected with it, as far at leaſt as phraſes and terms are objects of imitation. In other reſpects, it is but juſ⯑tice to the French Convention to confeſs, that they are hitherto without rivals and without imitators; for who can aſpire to emulate that compound of anarchy and atheiſm which in their debates is mixed up with the pedantry of ſchool boys, the jargon of a cabal, and the vulgarity and ill-breeding of a mob? One inſtance of the prevailing cant may ſuffice, where an hundred might be adduced; and it is not the moſt exceptionable.—To demoliſh every exiſting law and eſtabliſhment; to deſtroy the fortunes and ruin the principles of every country into which they are carry⯑ing their deſtructive arms and their frantic doctrines; to untie or cut aſunder every bond which holds ſocie⯑ty together; to impoſe their own arbitrary ſhackles where they ſucceed, and to demoliſh every thing where they fail.—This deſolating ſyſtem, by a moſt unaccountable perverſion of language, they are pleaſ⯑ed to call by the endearing name of fraternization; and fraternization is one of the favourite terms which their admirers have adopted. Little would a ſimple ſtranger, uninitiated in this new and ſurpriſing dia⯑lect, imagine that the peaceful terms of fellow-citizen and of brother, the winning offer of freedom and happineſs, and the warm embrace of fraternity, were only watch-words by which they in effect,

In numberleſs other inſtances, the faſhionable lan⯑guage of France at this day would be as unintelligible to the correct writers of the age of Louis the XIVth, as their faſhionable notions of liberty would be irrec⯑oncileable [21] with thoſe of the true Revolution Pat⯑riots of his great contemporary and victorious rival, William the Third.

Such is indeed their puerile rage for novelty in the invention of new words, and the perverſion of their taſte in the uſe of old ones, that the celebrated Voſſi⯑us, whom Chriſtine of Sweden oddly complimented by ſaying, that he was ſo learned as not only to know whence all words came, but whither they were going, would, were he admitted to the honours of a ſitting, be o⯑bliged to confeſs, that he was equally puzzled to tell the one, or to foretel the other.

If it ſhall pleaſe the Almighty in his anger to let looſe this inſatuated people, as a ſcourge for the ini⯑quities of the human race; if they are delegated by infinite juſtice to act, as ſtorm and tempeſt fulfilling his word; if they are commiſſioned to perform the er⯑rand of the deſtroying lightning or the avenging thun⯑der-bolt, let us try at leaſt to extract perſonal benefit from national calamity; let every one of us, high and low, rich and poor, enter upon this ſerious and humbling inquiry, how much his own individual of⯑fences have contributed to that awful aggregate of public guilt, which has required ſuch a viſitation. Let us carefully examine in what proportion we have ſeparately added to that common ſtock of abounding iniquity, the deſcription of which formed the charac⯑ter of an ancient nation, and is ſo peculiarly applica⯑ble to our own—Pride, fulneſs of bread, and abundance of idleneſs. Let every one of us humbly inquire, in the ſelf-ſuſpecting language of the diſoiples to their Divine Maſter—Lord, is it I? Let us learn to fear the fleets and armies of the enemy, much leſs than thoſe iniquities at home which this alarming diſpen⯑ſation may be intended to chaſtize.

The war which the French have declared againſt us, is of a kind altogether unexampled in every re⯑ſpect; inſomuch that human wiſdom is baffled when it would pretend to conjecture what may be the event. [22] But this at leaſt we may ſafely ſay, that it is not ſo much the force of French bayonets, as the contami⯑nation of French principles, that ought to excite our apprehenſions. We truſt, that through the bleſſing of GOD we ſhall be defended from their open hoſtilities, by the temperate wiſdom of our Rulers, and the brave⯑ry of our fleets and armies; but the domeſtic danger ariſing from licentious and irreligious principles among ourſelves, can only be guarded againſt by the perſonal care and vigilance of every one of us who values religion and the good order of ſociety.

GOD grant that thoſe who go forth to fight our battles, inſtead of being intimidated by the number of their enemies, may bear in mind, that "there is no reſtraint with GOD to ſave by many or by few." And let the meaneſt of us who remains at home remem⯑ber alſo, that even he may contribute to the internal ſafety of his country, by the integrity of his private life, and to the ſucceſs of her defenders, by following them with his ſervent prayers. And in what war can the ſincere Chriſtian ever have ſtronger inducements to pray for the ſucceſs of his country, than in this? Without entering far into any political principles, the diſcuſſion of which would be in a great meaſure for⯑eign to the deſign of this little tract, it may be re⯑marked, that the unchriſtian principle of revenge is not our motive to this war; conqueſt is not our ob⯑ject; nor have we had recourſe to hoſtility, in order to effect a change in the internal government of France ^*. The preſent war is undoubtedly undertak⯑en entirely on defenſive principles. It is in defence of our King, our Conſtitution, our Religion, our Laws, and conſequently our Liberty, in the found and rational ſenſe of that term. It is to defend ourſelves forn the ſavage violence of a cruſade, made againſt all Religion, as well as all Government. If eve [...] therefore a war was undertaken on the ground [...] ſelf-defence and neceſſity—if ever men might be li [...] ⯑rally [23] ſaid to fight pro ARIS et ſocis, this ſeems to be the occaſion.

The ambition of conquerors has been the ſource of great and extenſive evils: Religious fanaticiſm of ſtill greater. But little as I am diſpoſed to become the apologiſt of either the one principle or the other, there is no extravagance in aſſerting, that they have ſeem⯑ed incapable of producing, even in ages, that extent of miſchief, that comprehenſive deſolation, which philoſo⯑phy, falſely ſo called, has produced in three years.

Chriſtians! it is not a ſmall thing—it is your life. The peſtilence of irreligion which you deteſt, will in⯑ſinuate itſelf imperceptibly with thoſe manners; phraſes, and principles which you admire and adopt. It is the humble wiſdom of a Chriſtian, to ſhrink from the moſt diſtant approaches to ſin, to abſtain from the ve⯑ry appearance of evil. If we would fly from the deadly contagion of Atheiſm, let us fly from thoſe ſeemingly remote, but not very indirect paths which lead to it. Let France chooſe this day whom ſhe will ſerve; but, as for us and our houſes, we will ſerve the Lord.

And, O gracious and long ſuffering God! before that awful period arrives, which ſhall exhibit the dreadful effects of ſuch an education as the French nation are inſtituting; before a race of men can be trained up, not only without the knowledge of THEE, but in the contempt of THY moſt 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 heart's luſts. But after having made them a fearful example to all the nations of the earth, what a people can do, who have caſt off the fear of THEE, do THOU graciouſly being them back to a ſenſe of that law which they have violated, and to participation of that mercy which they have abuſed; fo that they may happily find while the diſcovery can be attended with conſo⯑lation, that doubtleſs there is a reward for the righteous: verily, there is a God who judgeth the earth.