EFFECTS OF IRRELIGION IN FRANCE. 



155 



religious opinions differed from the system 

 adopted by the state. While infidelity was 

 enthroned in power, it wielded the sword of ven 

 geance with infernal ferocity against the priests 

 of the Romish church, who were butchered 

 wherever found hunted as wild beasts fre 

 quently roasted alive, or drowned in hundreds 

 togsther, without either accusation or trial. At 

 Nantz, no less than 360 priests were shot, and 

 460 drowned. In one night, 58 were shut up in 

 a barge, and drowned in the Loire. Two hun 

 dred and ninety-two priests were massacred 

 during the bloody scenes of the 10th August, 

 and the 2d September, 1792 ; and 1135 were 

 guillotined under the government of the Na 

 tional Convention, from the month of September 

 1792, till the end of 1795, besides vast numbers, 

 hunted by the infidel republicans, like owls and 

 partridges, who perished in different ways, 

 throughout the provinces of France. 



Such were some of the dismal effects which 

 flowed from the attempt to banish religion from 

 science, from government, and from the inter 

 courses and employments of society. Were 

 such principles universally to prevail, the world 

 would soon become one vast theatre of mischief 

 and of misery an immense den of thieves and 

 robbers a sink of moral pollution a scene of 

 impiety, injustice, rapine, and devastation ; a 

 Golgotha, strewed with carcasses and &quot; dead 

 men s bones.&quot; All confidence and friendship 

 between intelligent beings would be destroyed ; 

 the dearest and most venerable relations would 

 be violated by incestuous pollutions; appetite 

 would change every man into a swine, and pas 

 sion into a tiger ; jealousy, distrust, revenge, 

 murder, war, and rapine would overspread the 

 earth, and a picture of hell would be presented 

 wherever the eye roamed over the haunts of men. 

 During the period when the atrocities to which 

 we are adverting were perpetrating, the ruffians 

 who bore rule in France were continually imput 

 ing to the illumination of philosophy, the ardour 

 which animated them in the cause of liberty ; and, 

 it is a truth, that science was enlarging its boun 

 daries even amidst the horrors with which it was 

 surrounded. Chemistry was advancing in its 

 rapid career of discovery, and the celebrated 

 Lavoisier, one of its most successful cultivators, 

 was inter- ipted in the midst of some interesting 

 experiments, and dragged to the guillotine, where 

 lie suffered in company with 28 farmers-general, 

 merely because he was rich. Physical astrono 

 my, and the higher bianches of the mathematics 

 were advancing under the investigations of La 

 Place ; geodetical operations were carrying for 

 ward, on an extensive scale ; and the physical 

 sciences, in general, under the hands of nume 

 rous cultivators, were going on towards perfec 

 tion. But, while this circumstance shows, that 

 science may advance in the midst of irreligion 

 it proves, at the same time, that, without being 



combined with religion, it cannot, of itself, melio 

 rate the morals of mankind, or counteract the li 

 centiousness of society. Though it may be con 

 sidered as a ray of celestial light proceeding from 

 the original Source of intelligence, yet it will 

 fail in producing its most beneficial effects, un 

 less it be combined with &quot; the light of the know 

 ledge of the glory of God,&quot; as it shines in the 

 word of Divine Revelation. Had such a con 

 nexion been formed between science and reliaioq, 

 certain it is, that the bonds which unite the social 

 system would never have been burst asunder, 

 nor the foundations of morality overturned by 

 such a violent explosion as happened at the 

 French revolution. And, although I am aware, 

 that a variety of political causes combined to 

 produce that great convulsion, and the effects 

 which flowed from it, yet it cannot be denied, 

 that the principles of atheism, and a false philo 

 sophy which had thrown off its allegiance to 

 Christianity, were the chief causes which produc 

 ed the licentiousness and impiety which charac 

 terized the rulers and citizens of France, under 

 &quot;the reign of terror.&quot; 



It is therefore to be hoped, that those wno now 

 patronise the intellectual improvement of man 

 kind, and who wish to promote the best interests 

 of society, will take warning from the occurren 

 ces which so lately happened in the French na 

 tion, during the reign of infidel philosophy and 

 impiety, and not suffer religicn to be dissevered 

 from those pursuits which should lead the mind 

 to the contemplation of a Supreme Intelligence, 

 and of the glories of an immortal existence. The 

 moral Governor of the world has set before us 

 the horrid scenes to which we have alluded, as a 

 beacon to guard us from similar dangers, that so 

 ciety might not again be exposed to a ship vreck 

 so dreadful and appalling. We have, surely, no 

 reason to repeat the experiment, in order to as 

 certain the result. It is written in characters 

 conspicuous to every eye, and legible even to the 

 least attentive observer, and may serve as a 

 warning both to the present age, and to every 

 future generation. Its effects are felt even at 

 the present moment, in the country where the 

 experiment was tried, in the irreligion and pro 

 fligacy which, in its populous cities, still abound, 

 especially among the middle and higher ranks of 

 society. Its effects are apparent even in our 

 own country ; for the sceptical principles and im 

 moral maxims of the continental philosophy 

 were imported into Britain, at an early period of 

 the French Revolution, when the Bible was 

 discarded by multitudes, as an antiquated impos 

 ture, and committed to the flames ; and it is, 

 doubtless, owing in part, to the influence of these 

 principles, that, in organizing institutions for 

 the diffusion of knowledge a-nong the lower ranks, 

 attempts have been made to separate science 

 from its references to the Creator, and from all 

 its connexions with revealed religion, it is, 



