Ideas of virtue entertained by the Monks.

promise he obtained the lawful patrimony of a great number of heirs; the idea of robbery and injustice, must have been then included in the notion of virtue (9).

What other idea could the Spaniards form of virtue, when the church permitted them to attack Montezuma, and the Incas, to despoil them of their riches, and seat themselves on the thrones of Mexico and Peru? The monks, then masters of Spain, could have forced them to restore to the Mexicans and Peruvians (10) their gold, their liberty, their country, and their prince: they might at least have loudly condemned the conduct of the Spaniards. What did the theologians? remain silent. Have they at other times shown more justice? No father Hennepin, the Franciscan, reports incessantly, that the only way to convert the savages is to reduce them to slavery*. Could a method so unjust and barbarous have been imagined by the Franciscan Hennepin, if the theologians of the present day had the same idea of virtue as Jesus? St. Paul expressly says, that persuasion is the only method to be used in converting the Gentiles. Who has recourse to violence to prove the truths of geometry? Who does not know that virtue recommends itself? In what case, therefore, ought prisons, tortures, and butcheries to be used? When they preach crimes, errors, and absurdities.

* See Description of the Manners of the Savages of Louisiana, page 105.

Intolerance of some of the professors of Christianity.

It was sword in hand, that Mahomet proved the truth of his dogmas. A religion, said the Christians, on this occasion, that permits man to compel the belief of man, is a false religion. They condemned Mahomet in their discourses, and justified him by their conduct. What they call vice in him, they call virtue in themselves. Could they believe that the Mussu!man, so severe in his principles, was more gentle in his manners than the Catholics. Must the Turk be tolerant toward the Christian (11), the infidel, the Jew, and Gentile; and the monk, whose religion makes a duty of humanity, burn in Spain his brethren, and in France throw into prisons the Jansenist and the Deist?

Could the Christian commit so many abominations, if he had the same idea of virtue, as the son of God; and if the priest, obedient to the advice of his ambition only, were not deaf to that of the gospel? If to the word Virtue there had been annexed a clear, precise, and invariable idea (12), men could not have always had such different and extravagant ideas concerning it.

VOL. I.

CHAP.

Interested spirit of religious bodies.

CHAP. XVII.

THE WORD VIRTUE, EXCITES IN THE CATHOLIC CLERGY NO OTHER IDEA THAN THAT OF THEIR OWN ADVANTAGE.

If almost all religious bodies, said the illustrious and unfortunate attorney-general cf the parliament of Brittany, are by their institution animated with an interest, contrary to that of the public welfare, how can they form sound ideas of virtue? Among the prelates, there are few Fenelons (18), few that have his virtues, his humanity, and his disinterested spirit. Among the monks, may be counted, perhaps, a great many saints, but few honest men. Every religious body is greedy of riches and power: no bounds are set to their ambition*. A hundred ridiculous bulls, issued by the

* The humble clergy declare themselves to be the first body in the state however, (as is observed by a man of much discernment) there are but three bodies absolutely essential to the administration: the first, is the body of magistrates, who are to defend my property against the usurpation of my neighbour. The second, is the body of the army, charged in like manner to defend my property against the invasion of foreigners. The third, is the body of the citizens, who, appointed to receive the revenues, furnisha main

popes,

Ambition of the Romish church.

popes, in favour of the Jesuits, prove this fact. But if the Jesuits are ambitious, is the church less so? Let any one open its history: that is, the history of the errors and disputes of the fathers, the enterprises of the clergy, and the crimes of the popes: he will every where find the spiritual power an enemy to the temporal, forgetting that its kingdom is not of this world, and

tenance for the two others. Now, to what purpose is the order of the clergy, more expensive to the state, than the three others put together? To maintain the morals of the people. But there are morals in Pennsylvania, and no clergy.

* The church by declaring itself the sole judge of what is, and what is not sin, has thought under that title to be able to assume the supreme jurisdiction. In fact, if no one has a right to punish a good action, and recompense one that is bad; a judge of their goodness or badness is the sole lawful judge of a nation: princes and magistrates are nothing more than the executioners of the sentences of others; their function is reduced to that of the hangman's. The project was great; it was covered with the veil of religion : it did not at first alarm the magistracy. The church was, in appearance, subject to their authority, and waited to deprive them of it, till it should be acknowledged the sole judge of the merit of human actions; that acknowledgment would universally legitimate its pretensions. What power could sovereigns have opposed to that of the church? No other than the force of arms. The people, then slaves to two powers, whose will and laws would have been frequently contradictory, must have waited till force had decided between them, which should be obeyed.

This project, I confess, has not been fully executed. But it is however true, notwithstanding the insignificant distinction of temendeavouring

02

Injustice of the Romish church.

endeavouring continually, by fresh efforts, to possess himself of the riches and power of the earth, and not only to take from Cæsar that which is Cæsar's, but to attack him with impunity. If it were possible, that the superstitious Catholics could preserve any idea of just and unjust, they would be shocked, on reading such a history, and hold the sacerdotal power in horror.

Does a prince promise, in such a year, to suppress such a tax? Does the year pass over, and he boldly break his word? Why does not the church reproach him publicly, with the violation of his promise? Because, indifferent to the public welfare, to justice, and humanity, it is solely employed in promoting its own interest. If the prince be a tyrant, it absolves him. But if he be what they call a heretic, it anathematises, deposes, assassinates him. What, however, is this crime of heresy: the word, when pronounced by judicious and dispassionate men, signifies nothing more than a particular opinion. It is not from such a church that we must expect clear ideas of cquity. The clergy will never give the title of virtuous, but to such actions as tend to the increase of its power and revenues. To what cause, but the interest of the priesthood, can we attribute the contradictory decisions of

poral and spiritual, that in every Catholic State there are really two kingdoms, and two absolute masters over every inhabitant.

the