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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Atheism Among the People + +Author: Alphonse de Lamartine + +Translator: Edward E. Hale + Francis Le Baron + +Release Date: May 5, 2008 [EBook #25339] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ATHEISM AMONG THE PEOPLE *** + + + + +Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Sam W. and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net +(This file was made using scans of public domain works +from the University of Michigan Digital Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<p class="center">LAMARTINE ON ATHEISM.</p> + +<h1 style="padding-top: 3em;">ATHEISM<br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: small;">AMONG</span><br /> +<br /> +THE PEOPLE</h1> + +<p class="center" style="padding-top: 3em;">BY</p> + +<h2 style="padding-top: 3em;">ALPHONSE DE LAMARTINE.</h2> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<p class="center" style="padding-top: 5em;">BOSTON:<br /> +PHILLIPS, SAMPSON AND COMPANY,<br /> +110 <span class="smcap">Washington Street</span>.<br /> +1850.</p> + + + +<p class="center" style="padding-top: 7em;"> +Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1850,<br /> +<small>BY PHILLIPS, SAMPSON AND COMPANY,</small><br /> +In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of Massachusetts.</p> + + +<p class="center" style="padding-top: 5em; font-size: small;">STEREOTYPED BY<br /> +CHARLES W. COLTON,<br /> +No. 2 Water Street.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>ADVERTISEMENT.</h2> + + +<p>Through the past year, M. de Lamartine has +published a monthly journal, called The People’s +Counsellor, “<i>Le Conseiller du Peuple</i>.” Each +number of this journal contains an Essay, by him, +on some specific subject, of pressing interest to +the French people,—generally, some political +subject.</p> + +<p>As a companion to one of these numbers, he +published the Essay which we here translate. +We have thought that its interest and merit are +by no means local; but, that it will be read with +as much interest in America, as in France.</p> + +<p class="sig"><span class="smcap">Edward E. Hale</span>,<br /> +<span class="smcap">Francis Le Baron</span>.</p> + +<p class="address"><i>Worcester, Mass. March 7, 1850.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p> + +<h1 style="padding-top: 3em;">ATHEISM AMONG THE PEOPLE.</h1> + + + +<h2 style="padding-top: 3em;">I.</h2> + + +<p>I have often asked myself, “Why +am I a Republican?—Why am I the +partizan of equitable Democracy, organized +and established as a good and +strong Government?—Why have I a +real love of the People—a love always +serious, and sometimes even tender?—What +has the People done for me? I +was not born in the ranks of the People. +I was born between the high +Aristocracy and what was then called +<em>the inferior classes</em>, in the days when +there were classes, where are now +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> +equal citizens in various callings. I +never starved in the People’s famine; +I never groaned, personally, in the +People’s miseries; I never sweat with +its sweat; I was never benumbed with +its cold. Why then, I repeat it, do I +hunger in its hunger, thirst with its +thirst, warm under its sun, freeze under +its cold, grieve under its sorrows? +Why should I not care for it as little +as for that which passes at the antipodes?—turn +away my eyes, close my +ears, think of other things, and wrap +myself up in that soft, thick garment of +indifference and egotism, in which I can +shelter myself, and indulge my separate +personal tastes, without asking whether, +below me,—in street, garret, or cottage, +there is a rich People, or a beggar People; +a religious People, or an atheistic +People; a People of idlers, or of workers; +a People of Helots, or of citizens?”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> +And whenever I have thus questioned +myself, I have thus answered myself:—“I +love the people because I believe in +God. For, if I did not believe in God, +what would the people be to me? I +should enjoy at ease that lucky throw +of the dice, which chance had turned +up for me, the day of my birth; and, +with a secret, savage joy, I should say, +‘So much the worse for the losers!—the +world is a lottery. Woe to the +conquered!’” I cannot, indeed, say +this without shame and cruelty,—for, +I repeat it, <em>I believe in God</em>.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>II.</h2> + + +<p>“And what is there in common,” you +will say to me, “between your belief in +God and your love for the People?” I +answer: My belief in God is not that +vague, confused, indefinite, shadowy +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> +sentiment which compels one to suppose +a principle because he sees consequences,—a +cause where he contemplates +effects, a source where he sees +the rush of the inexhaustible river of +life, of forms, of substances, absorbed +for ever in the ocean, and renewed unceasingly +from creation. The belief in +God, which is thus perceived and conceived, +is, so to speak, only a mechanical +sensation of the interior eye,—an +instinct of intelligence, in some sort +forced and brutal,—an evidence, not +reasonable, not religious, not perfect, +not meritorious; but like the material +evidence of light, which enters our eyes +when we open them to the day; like +the evidence of sound which we hear +when we listen to any noise; like the +evidence of touch when we plunge our +limbs in the waves of the sea, and +shiver at the contact. This elementary, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> +gross, instinctive, involuntary belief in +God, is not the living, intelligent, active, +and legislative faith of humanity. It is +almost animal. I am persuaded that if +the brutes even,—if the dog, the horse, +the ox, the elephant, the bird, could +speak, they would confess, that, at the +bottom of their nature, their instincts, +their sensations, their obtuse intelligence, +assisted by organs less perfect +than ours, there is a clouded, secret sentiment +of this existence of a superior +and primordial Being, from whom all +emanates, and to whom all returns,—a +shadow of the divinity upon their +being, a distant approach to the conception +of that idea, which fills the +worlds, and for which alone the worlds +have been made,—the idea of God!</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>This may be a bold, but it is not an +impious supposition. For God, having +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> +made all things for himself alone, must +have placed, upon all that he made, an +impress of himself; more or less clear, +more or less luminous, more or less +profound, a presentiment or a remembrance +of a Creator. But this faith, +when it stops here, is not worthy of the +name. It is a species of <em>Pantheism</em>, +that is to say, a confused “visibility,” a +physical working together into indissoluble +union of something impersonal, +something blind, something fatal, and +something divine, which, in the elements +composing the universe, we may +call <span class="smcap">God</span>. But this “visibility” can +give to man no moral decision,—can +give to God no worship. The Pantheism +of which I am accused as a philosopher +and poet, that Pantheism which +I have always scorned as a contradiction +and as a blasphemy, resembles +entirely the reasoning of the man who +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> +should say, “I see an innumerable +multitude of rays, therefore there is no +sun.”</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>III.</h2> + + +<p>Faith, or reasonable and effective +belief in God, proceeds, undoubtedly, +from this first instinct; but in proportion +as intelligence develops itself, and +human thought expands, it goes from +knowledge to knowledge, from conclusion +to conclusion, from light to light, +from sentiment to sentiment, infinitely +farther and higher, in the idea of God. +It does not see him with the eyes of +the body, because the Infinite is not +visible by a narrow window of flesh, +pierced in the frontal bone of an insect +called Man; but it sees Him, with a +thousand times more certainty, by the +spirit, that immaterial eye of the soul, +which nothing blinds; and after having +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> +seen him with evidence, it reasons upon +the consequences of his existence, upon +the divine aims of His creation, upon +the terrestrial as well as eternal destinies +of His creatures, upon the nature +of the homage and adoration that God +expects, upon his moral laws, upon the +public and private duties which he +imposes on his creatures by their consciences, +upon the liberty He leaves +them; so that with the sufferings of +conflict He may give to them the merits +and the prize of virtue. Thus in +man does the instinct of God become +Faith. Thus man can speak the greatest +word that has ever been spoken +upon the earth or in the stars, the word +which fills the worlds by itself alone, +the word which commenced with them, +and which can only end with them;—</p> + +<p>“I believe in God!”</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p> + +<h2>IV.</h2> + + +<p>It is in this sense, my friends, that I +say to you, “I believe in God.”</p> + +<p>But, once having said this word with +the universe of beings and of worlds, +and blessed this invisible God for having +rendered himself visible, sensible, +evident, palpable, adorable in the mirror +of weak human intelligence, made gradually +more and more pure, I reason +with myself on the best worship to be +rendered Him in thought and action. +Let me show how, by this reasoning, I +am forcibly drawn to the love of the +People.</p> + +<p>I say to myself, then, “Who is this +God? Is he a vain <em>notion</em>, which has +no effect on the thoughts and acts of +man, his creature; who inspires nothing +in him; who gives him no commands; +who imposes nothing upon +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> +him; who does not reward, and who +does not punish?—No! God is not a +mere <em>notion</em>, an idea, an evidence;—God +is a <em>law</em>,—the living law, the supreme +law, the universal law, the eternal +law. Because God is a law on +high, he is a duty on the earth; and +when man says, ‘I believe in God,’ he +says, at the same time, ‘I believe in my +duty towards God,—I believe in my +duty towards man.’ God is a government!”</p> + +<p>And what are these duties? They +are of three sorts:—</p> + +<p><em>Duty towards God</em>,—that is to say, +the duty of developing, as much as +possible, my intelligence and my reason, +to arrive at the purest idea and the +highest worship of the Supreme Being, +by whom and for whom all is, all exists:—<em>Religion</em>.</p> + +<p><em>Private Duties</em>,—that is to say, the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> +exact and tender discharge of all sentiments +to which form has been given, +either in written or unwritten laws, +which bind me to those, to whom, in +the order of nature, I hold most closely,—the +nearest to myself in the human +group—father, mother, brothers, sisters, +wife, children, friends, neighbors:—<em>the +Family</em>.</p> + +<p><em>Collective Duties</em>,—that is to say, devotions, +even to the sacrifice of myself, +even to death, to the progress, the well-being, +the preservation, the amelioration +of this great human family, of which +my family, and my country, are only +parts; and of which I myself am only +a miserable and vanishing fraction, a +leaf of a summer, which vegetates +and withers on a branch of the immense +trunk of the human race:—<em>Society</em>.</p> + +<p>Let us speak to-day only of these last +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> +duties,—because, now we are occupied +with politics alone.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>V.</h2> + + +<p>God, when one believes in Him as +you and I do, imposes then on man a +duty towards the society of which he +makes a part. You admit it, do you not?</p> + +<p>Then follow, and analyze with me +this society. Of whom, and how, is it +composed?</p> + +<p>It is composed, at the same time, of +strong and weak, conquerors and conquered, +victors and vanquished, oppressors +and oppressed, masters and slaves, +nobles and serfs, of citizens and bondmen +or subjects disinherited and enslaved, +considered as living furniture, +as tools and laughing-stocks to their +fellow-men, as were the Blacks in our +colonies before the Republic.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> +Thanks to the increase of general +reason, to the light of philosophy, to +the inspiration of Christianity, to the +progress of the idea of justice, of charity, +and of fraternity, in laws, manners, +and religion, society in America, in +Europe, and in France, especially since +the Revolution, has broken down all +these barriers, all these denominations +of caste, all these injurious distinctions +among men. Society is composed only +of various conditions, professions, functions, +and ways of life, among those +who form what we call a Nation; of +proprietors of the soil, and proprietors +of houses; of investments, of handicrafts, +of merchants, of manufacturers, +of farmers; of day-laborers becoming +farmers, manufacturers, merchants, or +possessors of houses or capital, in their +turn; of the rich, of those in easy circumstances, +of the poor, of workmen +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> +with their hands, workmen with their +minds; of day-laborers, of those in +need, of a small number of men enjoying +considerable acquired or inherited +wealth, of others of a smaller fortune +painfully increased and improved, of +others with property only sufficient for +their needs; there are some, finally, +without any personal possession but +their hands, and gleaning for themselves +and for their families, in the +workshop, or the field, and at the +threshold of the homes of others on +the earth, the asylum, the wages, the +bread, the instruction, the tools, the +daily pay, all those means of existence +which they have neither inherited, +saved, nor acquired. These last are +what have been improperly called <em>the +People</em>. This name is extended now; +it embraces really all the People; but +still it is used as the name of the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> +indigent and suffering part of the People.</p> + +<p>It is more especially of this class that +I intend to speak, in saying to you, “To +love the People, it is necessary to believe +in God.”</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>VI.</h2> + + +<p>The love of the People, the conscience +of the citizen, the sentiment +which induces the individual to lose +himself in the mass, to submit himself +to the community, to sacrifice himself +to its needs,—his interest, his individuality, +his egotism, his ambition, his +pride, his fortune, his blood, his life, his +reputation even, sometimes, to the safety +of his country, to the happiness of the +People, to the good of humanity, of +which he is a member in the sight of +God,—in one word, all these virtues, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> +necessary under every form of government,—useful +under a monarchy, indispensable +under a republic,—never +have been derived, and never can be +derived, from any thing but that single +sentence, pronounced with religious +faith, at the commencement, in the +middle, at the end of all our patriotic +acts:—“I believe in God!”</p> + +<p>The People who do not believe +strongly, efficaciously in this first principle, +in this supreme original, in this +last end of all existence, cannot have +a faith superior to their individual selfishness.</p> + +<p>The People who cannot have a +principle superior to their individual +selfishness, in their acts as citizens, +cannot have national virtue.</p> + +<p>The People who cannot have national +virtue cannot be free; for they +can have neither the courage which +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> +enables them to defend their own liberty, +nor the conscience which forces +them to respect the liberty of others, +and to obey the laws, not as an outward +force, but as a second conscience.</p> + +<p>The People who can neither defend +their liberty, nor restrain it, may be, by +turns, slaves or tyrants, but they can +never be republicans.</p> + +<p>Therefore, Atheism in the People is +the most invincible obstacle to the +establishment and consolidation of that +sublime form of government, the idol +of all ages, the tendency of all perfect +civilization, the dream of every sage, +the model of all great souls,—the government +of the entire People by the +reason and conscience of each citizen,—otherwise +called the <span class="smcap">Republic</span>.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p> + +<h2>VII.</h2> + + +<p>Must I demonstrate to you so simple +a truth? Can you not comprehend, +without explanation of mine, that a +nation, where each citizen thinks only +of his own private well-being here below, +and sacrifices constantly the general +good to his personal and narrow +interest;—where the powerful man +wishes to preserve all the power for +himself alone, without making an equitable +and proportional division to the +weak;—where the weak wishes to +conquer at any price, that he may +tyrannize in his turn;—where the +rich wishes to acquire and concentrate +the greatest possible amount of wealth, +to enjoy it alone, and even without circulating +it in work, in wages, in assistance, +in benevolence, in good deeds to +his brothers;—where the poor wishes +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> +to dispossess violently and unjustly +those who possess more than himself, +instead of recognizing that diversity +of chances, of conditions, of professions, +of fortunes, of which human +life is composed,—instead of acquiring +prosperity for his family, in his turn +and degree, by effort, by order, by +labor, by economy, by the assistance +of borrowed capital, by the law of inheritance, +by the free transfer of real +estate, by free entrance into different +callings and trades, by free competition +in the money market;—where each +class of citizens declares itself an enemy +to every other, and heaps upon each +other all manner of evil, instead of +doing all the good in its power, and +uniting in the holy harmony of social +unity;—where each individual draws +around him, for himself alone, the +common mantle, willing to tear it in +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> +pieces for himself, and thus leave the +whole world naked,—do you not understand, +I say, that such a People, +having no God but its selfishness, no +judge but interest, no conscience but +cupidity, will fall, in a short time, into +complete destruction, and, being incapable +of a Republican government, because +it casts aside the government of God +himself, will rush headlong into the +government of the brute: the government +of the strongest, the despotism +of the sword, the divinity of the cannon,—that +last resort of anarchy, +which is at once the remedy and the +death of nations without God!</p> + +<p>Now has not this weakening of the +sentiment of God in the soul of the +People been, from year to year, from +century to century, indeed, I might say, +the most discouraging and threatening +symptom, in the eyes of those who +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> +desire the progress of their race, who +aspire to the moral perfection of the +human spirit, who hope in Republican +institutions, who love the People, who +wish to cultivate their reason, who desire +that the People should understand +themselves, respect themselves, and, +finally, by their enlightenment, their +conscientiousness, their moderation and +virtue, give the lie to those who declare +them in a state of perpetual infancy, +perpetual madness, or perpetual weakness?</p> + +<p>Yes, this is but too true: men have +been blotting out God, for a century +past, from the souls of the People, and +more especially in latter years. The +masses have been driven to Atheism, +they have been driven on every side +and by every hand.</p> + +<p>Sometimes, by blasphemies, such as +were never heard upon the earth, until +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> +an insult to the Creator became a +means of popularity among His creatures; +blasphemies which would have +darkened the sun and extinguished the +stars, if God had not commanded His +creation to pass unnoticed the revolt +of a blind and foolish insect against +Infinity, and refused Himself to sink to +the foolishness of avenging impiety! +Read those lines which I dare not +write, those lines where an apostle of +Atheism effaces the name of God from +the beautiful creation and endeavors to +substitute his own! * * *</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>VIII.</h2> + + +<p>Sometimes the masses have been +driven to Atheism by science. There +are some geometers great in paradox, +men who, of all the senses that the +Creator has given to his creatures, have +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> +cultivated only one, the sense of touch,—leaving +out entirely that chief sense, +which connects and confirms all others,—<em>the +sense of the invisible</em>, the <em>moral +sense</em>. These <em>savans</em>, geometers, physicians, +arithmeticians, mathematicians, +chemists, astronomers, measurers of +distances, calculators of numbers, have +early acquired the habit of believing +only in the <em>tangible</em>. These are the +beings who, so to speak, live and think +in the dark; all, which is not palpable, +does not exist for them. They measure +the earth, and say, “We have not met +God in any league of its surface!” +They heat the alembic, and say, “We +have not perceived God in the smoke +of any of our experiments!” They +dissect dead bodies, and say, “We have +not found God, or thought, in any bundle +of muscles or nerves in our dissection!” +They calculate columns of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> +figures, long as the firmament, and say, +“We have not seen God in the sum of +any of our additions!” They pierce, +with eye and glass, into the dazzling +mysteries of night, to discover, across +thousands and thousands of leagues, +the groups and the evolutions of the +celestial worlds, and say, “We have not +discovered God at the end of our telescopes! +The existence of God does not +concern us; it is no affair of ours!”—Madmen! +They do not suspect that +the knowledge and adoration of God +are, at bottom, the only business of the +creature; and that all these distances, +these globes, these numbers, these mysteries +of the living being, this dissected +mechanism of the dead, these compositions +and decompositions of combined +elements, these hosts of stars, and these +eternal evolutions of suns around the +divine hand which guides them, have +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> +no other reason for existence, for movement, +and for duration, than to compel +the acknowledgment, fear, admiration, +and adoration of God, by that supreme +sense, that sense superior to all other +senses, that sense imponderable and +impalpable, invisible yet beholding all +things,—that sense which we call <em>intelligence</em>!</p> + +<p>Alas! it is not that God has denied +this sense to these men of figures, of +science, and calculation; but they have +blinded themselves, they have cultivated +the other senses so much, that they +have weakened this. They have believed +too much in matter, and so they +have lost the eye of the spirit. These +men, we are told, have made great +progress in experimental science, but +they have made good, evil, to the +People, by saying to them, “We, +who are so high, we cannot see +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> +God!—blind men! what do you see, +then?”</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>IX.</h2> + + +<p>Besides these men, there is still +another class,—inventors of another +science, which they call “<em>Political +Economy</em>.” This is the class of <em>Economists</em>. +I do not, indeed, speak of all +of them: there are among them some +who are as spiritual as Fenelon, and +these are, perhaps, at this day, the +greater number. I speak only of those +who, considering this world alone, have +been driven, voluntarily or involuntarily, +to Atheism in another way. Leaving +the eternal and fastidious metaphysical +and religions disputes in which the +theologians of past centuries wasted +the time, the good sense, and the blood +of men, to honor their pretended God +by immolating to Him the enemies of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> +their faith, these <em>false economists</em> have +said to governments and people, “Leave +all this; there is only one science which +is good for any thing: it is the science +of Wealth. All else is vanity and vexation +of spirit.” This is the famous +cry, the cry of a materialistic society:—“<em>Grow +rich!</em>” The economists of +this school, now highly enlightened, +legitimate children of the materialists +of the Eighteenth Century, see in humanity, +only matter and the things that +belong to matter; in men, only consumers +and producers; in the social +functions, only labor of the hands:—to +labor, to sow, to reap, to hew, to +build, to forge, to weave, to barter, to +exchange, to sell, to buy, to acquire, to +beget,—this is, according to these disciples +of Malthus, the whole of man! +These are the Lycurguses and the +Moseses, the legislators of a trading +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> +People: the moral, intellectual, spiritual, +religious man does not exist for +them. They love liberty, not because +it ennobles human nature; exercises +free will, the most sublime of man’s +vital functions; cultivates his highest +faculty,—conscience; purifies religion, +the fundamental idea of mankind, from +the superstitions that debase and dishonor +it; sanctifies human society, by +leading it to the knowledge and worship +of God;—they love it because it abolishes +Custom House duties! All legislation, +all civilization, all religion, is +reduced by them to a well-balanced +account! <em>To have</em> and <em>to owe</em>, these +are the only two words in their language! +What matter to them the +spirit, the soul, virtue, sentiment?—What +the moral and consoling beliefs, +the divine hopes, the supernatural certainties, +revealed or proved, or the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> +immortal destiny, of man?—What the +present intellectual life, and the future +immaterial life of these harvests of human +generations, which God sows that +they may bear fruit in his name, may +adore his grandeur,—which Death cuts +down to bear them, ripe in faith and +virtue, up to Heaven? All this can +neither be bought nor sold; all this has +neither stated price nor net revenue; +all this is not current on the Exchange,—therefore +it is nothing!</p> + +<p>Thus these men count for nothing +the forms of worship and the forms of +government. They are neither followers +of Brama, of Confucius, of Mahomet, +of Plato, or of Rousseau; neither +absolute monarchists, constitutional +royalists, nor republicans. They are of +the politics, and of the religion, in +which they can manufacture most, buy +and sell easiest, trade the best, multiply +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> +fastest! Their civilization is traffic; +their God is the dollar! This sect, +useful in administering intelligently the +affairs of commerce, has been a shadow +over intellectual civilization; for it has +forgotten heavenly things, and, in forgetting +them, has contributed to make +the People also forget them.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>X.</h2> + + +<p>But that People which forgets God, +forgets itself. What right has it to be +a People, if it have not its origin and +hope in Him? How can the men of +any nation expect tyrants to remember +and respect its destiny, if they themselves +debase this destiny to that of a +machine with ten fingers, destined to +weave the greatest possible number of +yards of cloth in seventy years, to people +as many hundred acres as possible +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> +with creatures as much to be pitied +and as miserable as themselves, and to +serve, from generation to generation, +as human manure for the land, to fertilize +the soil of their birth, their life, +and their graves? How can the moral +spiritualism of a People long resist such +theories? Where can they find God in +this workshop of matter?</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>XI.</h2> + + +<p>But even this is nothing. The +French Revolution came in 1789. It +came to put an end to a double philosophy,—the +spiritual philosophy of +Rousseau’s school, founded in reason +and religion, the material philosophy of +the school of Helvetius, Diderot, and +their disciples, atheistic and cynical. +The thought of the first of these philosophies +was religious at bottom. It +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> +consisted merely in freeing the luminous +idea of God from the shadows by +which ignorance, intolerance, the inquisition +of temporal dynasties and times +of barbarism had falsified it,—in freeing +this idea, debased as it was,—obscured, +and enchained to thrones,—so +as to restore reason to its liberty, to +inquiry, to the free conscience of every +worship and of every soul; to revive it +in the eyes of the People, by leading +them to the broad light of day, the evidence +of nature, the dignity and efficacy +of free worship.</p> + +<p>But, for this, it was necessary to +dispossess the Middle Ages of their +temporal power, of their <i>mort-main</i> +possessions, of their civil jurisdictions, +of their exclusive privileges, of their +legal intolerance against all other divine +thoughts, and all other individual or +national faith, all other forms of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> +adoration and worship than what were imposed +by the exclusive and established +religion. To rally the people to this +work, a work legitimate in itself, a work +which the abuses of a crafty priesthood +had made necessary, seven times, and +whose accomplishment they had seven +times partially and gradually undertaken, +since the time of Charlemagne,—the +philosophers of the second +school, the irreligious school, the atheistic +school, of Diderot and Helvetius, +drove the masses from stupidity even +to impiety, and the demagogues of ’93 +forced them from impiety to Atheism, +and from Atheism to blood. Demagogues, +those poisoners of liberty, corrupt +every revolution in which they +mingle; they defile every thing that +they touch; they dishonor every truth +which they profess, by polluting or perverting +it. The age and philosophy, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> +Heaven and earth, desire what we too +desire,—freedom of conscience, voluntary +worship,—liberty of the human +mind in matters of faith,—the fraternity +of altars, invoking, each in its own +language, that God whom the whole +earth is spelling out, and who reveals, +from age to age, still another letter of +His divine name.</p> + +<p>Instead of this, Atheists and demagogues +united to persecute religion, to +revenge themselves for the old persecutions +of the priesthood. They profaned +the temples, violated conscience, +blasphemed the God of the faithful, parodied +the ceremonies, cast to the winds +the pious symbols of worship, and persecuted +the ministers of religion.</p> + +<p>In the name of the Revolution, +and under the menace of terror, they +dragged the People to these Saturnalia. +They corrupted the eyes, the hands, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> +the minds, the souls of the populace. +These violences to the altar were cast +back on the religious idea itself. The +People, seeing the temple fall, believed +that Heaven itself crumbled; and that, +following the profaned image of a vanishing +worship, God himself would vanish +from the world, with conscience, +the supernatural law, the unwritten +moral law, the soul and the immortality +of the human race!</p> + +<p>When the ignorant People no longer +saw God between them and annihilation, +they plunged into the boundless +and bottomless abyss of Atheism, they +lost their divine sense, they became +brutal as the animal, who sees in the +earth only a pasture ground, instead of +the footstool of Jehovah.</p> + +<p>But these irreligious abominations, +and these Saturnalia of Atheism, however +much injury they inflicted on the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> +religious spirit of the People, did not +effect so much, perhaps, as the reign +which followed this anarchy, the reign +of Bonaparte, the so-called restorer of +worship. And how?</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>XII.</h2> + + +<p>The Republic had passed its paroxysm +of fever, of demagoguical madness, +of persecution. The Directory had +finally concentrated and regulated the +republican power. This government +was composed of men, naturally moderate +and tolerant, or made so by the +experience and the lassitude of anarchy; +the moderate principles of the +Revolution of 1789, and of the constituted +Assembly, regained their level, +thanks to a natural reaction, limited by +good sense, as happens after every revolution +that overshoots its mark. The +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> +priests officiated, without obstacle, in +the temples restored by the municipalities +to the faithful, religion was entirely +free, even favored by public respect, +and by that care for good morals which +all serious governments feel. Faith, +taking refuge in men’s consciences, +was, moreover, more sincere and more +active, because it was neither constrained, +nor favored, nor altered, nor +profaned by the hand of government.</p> + +<p>This was, perhaps, the moment when +there was the most religion in France,—for +this was the moment when, after +having had its martyrs, the religious +sentiment had a life in itself, and owed +nothing to the partial and interested +protection of the powers of the State. +For, the less the State imposes upon +you a God of its own fashion, or its +own choice, the more does your conscience +rise, and the more does it attach +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> +itself to the God of your own reason, +or your own faith!</p> + +<p>Bonaparte, whose genius was entirely +military, but who, in affairs of moral, +civil, and religious government, made +it a matter of policy to contradict and +extinguish all the truths of the Revolution, +hastened to change all this. He +wished to parody Charlemagne.</p> + +<p>Charlemagne had been the philosopher +and revolutionary organizer of his +time; Charlemagne had bound together +the spiritual and temporal, crowning +the Pontiff that he might be crowned +by him in turn. Bonaparte desired a +State religion, an agreement in which +religion and the empire should mutually +engage and mutually check each +other; a Pope to subdue, to caress, to +drive away, to recall, to persecute, by +turns; a coronation by the hand of an +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> +enslaved Church; then a Church to +chastise, when it did not obey;—in +one word, all that shameful and scandalous +<em>simony</em> of ancient times, when +the temporal power played, in the sight +of the nations, with the idea and name +of God, in a manner as contemptuous +as it was odious.</p> + +<p>The People, who saw clearly through +this intrigue of an indifferent sovereign,—an +Atheist at Toulon, a crafty politician +at Marengo, a Mussulman in +Egypt, a persecutor at Rome, an oppressor +at Savona, a schismatic at +Fontainbleau, a saint at Notre Dame +de Paris,—protector of religion and +profaner of consciences by turns,—felt +their belief shaken anew. They asked +themselves, “What then is God for us, +poor souls, since God is such an instrument +of power for great men, and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> +such a police machine for governments?” +Scorn threw them back +into Atheism. This was natural.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>XIII.</h2> + + +<p>This system was continued, with +more sincerity on the part of government, +under the dynasty of the Restoration. +But the interested favors of +the Court, for the higher clergy of a +particular worship, irritated the minds +of the populace against the priesthood.</p> + +<p>The more it lavished power and human +dignities upon priestly superiors, +the more the mind of the People turned +from the religious sentiment. Each +favor of royal authority to the privileged +Church cast thousands of souls +into Atheism.</p> + +<p>The Revolution of July suppressed +the religion of the State: it was a +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> +progress towards the religion of conscience. +But it favored the religion of +the majority; it still leaned towards +the supremacy of numbers in matters +of faith. However, from the moment +the State religion was suppressed, the +religion of conscience gained ground in +men’s hearts. From 1830 to this day, +every intelligent observer gladly acknowledges +an immense progress in +the religious sentiment in France.—Why? +Because the suppression of +the official religion of the State was a +progress in the liberty of conscience, +and all progress in liberty of conscience +is a progress of human thought +toward the idea of God. Go farther +still, and complete liberty will destroy +Atheism in the People!</p> + +<p>But the evil done was immense. +The cynicism of Diderot, materialism, +scepticism, revolutionary impiety, the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> +false and hypocritical piety of the empire, +the concordat, the restoration of +an imperial religion, and of an official +and dynastic God by Napoleon, the +tendency of the two Bourbon reigns to +reconstruct a political church, everlastingly +endowed with a monopoly of +goods and of souls,—and, finally, the +industrialism of the reign of Louis Philippe, +turning every thought to trade, +to manual labor, to worldly wealth, and +making gold the true and only God of +the century;—all this has borne its +fruits.</p> + +<p>Look at these fruits at the present +day, and say, if practical Atheism does +not devour the souls of this People. +But let us proceed.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></p> + +<h2>XIV.</h2> + + +<p>For eighteen years, new sects, or, +rather, posthumous sects, have disputed +for the soul of the People, under the +names of Fourierism, of Pantheism, of +Communism, of Industrialism, of Economism, +and, finally, of Terrorism. Look +at them, listen to them, read them, +analyze them, sift them, handle them; +and say, if, with the exception of a +vague deifying of every thing,—that +is to say, of nothing, by the Fourierites,—there +is a single one of these philosophical, +social, or political sects, which +is not founded on the most evident +practical Atheism; which has not matter +for a God; material enjoyments for +morality; exclusive satisfaction of the +senses for an end; purely sensual gratifications +for a paradise; this world for +the sole scene of existence; the body +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> +for the only condition of being; the +prolonging of life a few more years for +its only hope; a sharpening of the +senses to material appetites for a perspective; +death for the end of all +things; after death, an assimilation with +the dust of the earth for a future; +annihilation for justice, for reward, and +for immortality!</p> + +<p>No, there has not been since 1830, +there has not been since the Revolution, +there is not at this moment, one +of these schools of pretended apostles, +prophets of the future, and saviors of +the present, which is not Materialism in +action. It is the deadly seed of the +century of Helvetius, producing its +poisons in the dregs of another century. +It is man, deprived of his spiritual and +immortal sense, reduced to a solid +measure of organized matter, and seeking, +not virtue, that key to his future +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> +destiny, in his soul; but, in his senses, +mere enjoyment, that end of the brute, +who only believes in what he can eat +and drink.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>XV.</h2> + + +<p>Analyze with me, if you are not +overwhelmed with humiliation, the five +or six Revelations of the latter days; and +ask yourselves, as I have often asked +myself, while listening to them, if these +revealers of pretended human felicity +do indeed address themselves to men, +or to herds of fatted cattle! And are +they astonished that the intellectual +world resists them? Do they complain +that the ignorant are their only disciples? +Are they indignant that the +ideas they attempt to spread, creep, like +fetid mists, along the abysses of society, +and excite, instead of enthusiasm, only +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> +the fanaticism of hunger and thirst? +I can well believe it! What People is +there who would become fanatics, only +for their own destruction; renounce their +moral nature, their divine souls, their +immortal destinies, only for a morsel +of more savory bread upon their table, +for a larger portion of earth under their +feet? No! no! enthusiasm soars aloft, +it does not fall to earth. Bear me up +to Heaven, if you wish to dazzle my +eyes; promise me immortality, if you +would offer to my soul a motive worthy +of its nature, an aim worthy of its +efforts, a price worthy of its virtue! +But what do your systems of atheistic +society show us in perspective? What +do they promise us in compensation for +our griefs? What do they give us in +exchange for our souls? You know,—we +will not speak of it.</p> + +<p>But, indeed, if these sects survive the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> +month which sees and which produces +them; and, if these questions which +they debate, and these systems which +they bring before the astonished People, +are destined to serve as enigmas to posterity; +what will the future say of us? +It will only explain the Materialism, +Atheism, and brutality of the doctrines +and sects by which we have been +disturbed for ten or twelve years, as the +nightmare of a starving People, whose +dreams have, for an object, only a frantic +satisfaction of the senses. All these +philosophies, or all these deliriums, are +the deliriums or philosophies of the +stomach! “All this epoch,” future historians +will say, “the French must have +been a nation distressed by a terrible +famine, to have forgotten, in so total an +eclipse of the intellectual nature, the +great and immortal ideas which have +alone inspired even these, the human +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> +race, and rendered the revolutions of +the People worthy of the regard of posterity, +and of the blood of man. The +Eighteenth Century must have been a +time when avaricious Nature shut up +her bosom, and the earth brought forth +neither fruit nor harvests, that this +great intellectual People, formerly +called the French People, should have +forgotten their souls for a morsel of +bread, their immortality for an income, +and their God for a dollar! Let +us turn away our eyes and weep over +that age.”</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>XVI.</h2> + + +<p>See where we were when the Republic +arose: happy was it that the People +had at bottom more of the true sentiment +of God than these masters and +heads of sects. For, what would have +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> +become of us, if, in that total eclipse +of government, of armed force, and of +law, which followed the 24th of February, +the People, masters of all, of the +fortunes and lives of the citizens, of +Heaven and earth, had been a People +of Materialists, of Terrorists, and of +Atheists? The Revolution would have +been a pillage, the Republic a scaffold, +the dynasty of the People a deluge of +blood. But there was no such thing. +God was there. He revealed Himself +in the multitude; Materialism disappeared +in enthusiasm, which always +exhibits the divinity of the human heart.</p> + +<p>We heard but one cry,—“Honor to +God! Respect for the altars! Liberty +to their ministers! Self-denial, harmony, +protection to the weak, inviolability +of property, assistance to the miserable!” +Yes,—on the first day, and +during the whole time that the People +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> +was alone and burning with excitement, +it was religious! It was not until after +the cooling of this enthusiasm that the +materialistic sects, who waited their +opportunity afar off, and who now torment +the People, dared to offer their +sensual symbols, and to set up Capital +and Interest, the organization of labor, +the increase of wages, and equality of +conditions in this human manger, as the +sole Divinities,—dared to infuse envy +against the happy, the breath of hatred +as the only consolation to the hearts +of the miserable, lightning vengeance +against the wrongs of Providence, imprecations +against society, blasphemies +against the existence of God, the enjoyments +and bestialities of the corporeal +nature, purchased by complete forgetfulness +of the moral nature, and enjoyed +in a debauch of ideas, and in a deification +of matter.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> +This cannot last; the People will not +allow themselves to be changed into +hogs by the Circes of Atheism. Their +souls will flash indignation against their +transformers. A day will come when +they will see that they are impoverished +under the pretext of being enriched; +that, when they are robbed of their +souls and of God, both their titles to +liberty are stolen from them. Atheism +and Republicanism are two words which +exclude each other. Absolutism may +thrive without a God, for it needs only +slaves. Republicanism cannot exist +without a God, for it must have citizens. +And what is it that makes +citizens? Two things,—the sentiment +of their rights, and the sentiment +of their duties as a republican People. +Where are your rights, if you have +not a common Father in Heaven? +Where are your duties, if you have not +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> +a Judge between your brothers and +you? Republicanism draws you in +both these ways to God.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>XVII.</h2> + + +<p>Thus, look at every free People, from +the mountains of Helvetia to the forests +of America; see even the free British +nation, where the Aristocracy is only +the head of liberty, where the Aristocracy +and Democracy mutually respect +each other, and balance each other by +an exchange of kindnesses and services +which sanctify society while fortifying +it. Atheism has fled before liberty: in +proportion as despotism has receded, +the divine idea has advanced in the +souls of men. Liberty lives by morality. +What is morality without a God? +What is a law without a lawgiver?</p> + +<p>I know well, and I shall give you the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> +reason hereafter; I know well, and I +mourn to think of it, that, even up to +the present time, the French People +have been the least religious People in +Europe.</p> + +<p>Is this because the intelligence of +France has not that force, and that +severity, which are needed to carry long +enough and far enough the idea of +God,—the greatest idea of the human +soul;—that idea, as it comes from all +the evidences of nature, and all the +depths of reflection, being the most +powerful and the most grave of human +intelligence,—and the intelligence of +France being the most superficial, the +most light, and the least reflecting of +the European races?</p> + +<p>Is it because our governments have +always been charged with thinking, +believing, and praying, for us?</p> + +<p>Is it that they have always given us +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> +gods of the Court, worship according to +Etiquette, and religions of State, instead +of letting us form, make, and practise +our faith for ourselves, by reason, by +free-will, by voluntary piety, by association, +by tradition, by the sympathies of +the community, of worship, and of the +family?</p> + +<p>Is it because we are, and always have +been, a military People, a nation of +soldiers and adventurers, led by kings, +heroes, ambitious men, from battle-field +to battle-field, making conquests +and not keeping them, ravaging, dazzling, +charming, and corrupting Europe, +and bearing the manners, vices, bravado, +lightness, and impiety of the camp into +the homes of the People?</p> + +<p>I do not know; but it is certain that +the nation has an immense progress to +make in serious thought, if it wishes to +maintain its liberty. If we look at the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> +comparative character, in matters of +religious sentiment, of the great nations +of Europe, America, and even Asia, the +advantage is not on our side. While +the great men of other nations live and +die upon the scene of history, looking +towards heaven, our great men seem +to live and die in entire forgetfulness +of the only idea for which life or death +is worth any thing; they live and die +looking at the spectators, or, at most, +towards posterity.</p> + +<p>Thus, even at the present time, while +we have had the greatest men, other +nations have had the greatest citizens. +It is great citizens that a Republic +needs!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>XVIII.</h2> + + +<p>Open the history of America, the +history of England, and the history of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> +France; read the great lives, the great +deaths, the great sufferings, the sublime +words, when the ruling passion of life +reveals itself in the last moments of +the dying,—and compare them!</p> + +<p>Washington and Franklin fought, +spoke, suffered; rose and fell, in their +political life, from popularity to ingratitude, +from glory to bitter scorn of their +citizens,—always in the name of God, +for whom they acted; and the liberator +of America died, committing to the +Divine protection, first, the liberty of +his People,—and, afterwards, his own +soul to His indulgent judgment.</p> + +<p>Strafford, dying for the constitution +of his country, wrote to Charles I., to +entreat his consent to his punishment, +that he might spare trouble to the +State: “Put not your trust,” wrote he, +after this consent was obtained, “put +not your trust in princes, or in the son +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> +of man, because salvation is not in +them, but from on high.” While walking +to the scaffold, he stopped under +the windows of his friend, the Bishop +of London; he raised his head towards +him, and asked, in a loud voice, the +assistance of his prayers in the terrible +moment to which he had come. The +primate, bowed with age, and bathed in +tears, gave, in a stifled voice, his tender +benedictions to his unhappy friend, and +fell, without consciousness, into the +arms of his attendants. Strafford continued +his way, sustained by the Divine +force, descending from this invocation +upon him: he spoke with resignation +to the People assembled to see him die. +“I fear only one thing,” said he, “and +that is, that this effusion of innocent +blood is a bad presage for the liberty +of my country!” (Alas! why did not +the Convention recall these words +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> +among us, in ’93?) Stafford continued:—“Now,” +said he, “I draw near +my end. One blow will make my +wife a widow, my children orphans, +deprive my poor servants of an affectionate +master, and separate me from +my dear brother, and my friends. +May God be all of these!” He disrobed +himself, and placed his head on +the block. “I give thanks,” said he, +“to my heavenly Master for helping me +to await this blow without fear; for not +permitting me to be cast down for a +single instant by terror. I repose my +head as willingly on this block as I ever +laid it down to sleep.” This is faith in +Patriotism! See Charles I., in his +turn,—that model of a kingly death. +At the moment that he was to receive +the blow of the axe, the edge of which +he had coolly examined and touched, +he raised his head, and addressed the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> +clergyman who was present:—“Remember!” +said he; as if he had said, +“Remember to advise my sons never to +revenge their father!”</p> + +<p>Sidney, the young martyr of a patriotism, +guilty, because too hasty, died to +expiate the dream of the freedom of +his country. He said to the jailer, +“May my blood purify my soul! I +rejoice that I die innocent toward the +king, but a victim resigned to the King +of Heaven, to whom we owe all life.”</p> + +<p>The republicans of Cromwell sought +only the way of God, even in the blood +of battles. Their politics is nothing +but faith; their government, a prayer; +their death, a holy hymn;—they sang, +like the Templars, on their funeral-pile. +We see, we feel, we hear God, above +all, in these revolutions, in these great +popular movements, and in the souls +of the great citizens of these nations.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> +But recross the Atlantic, traverse the +Channel, approach our own time, open +our annals; and listen to the great +political actors in the drama of our +liberty. It would seem as if God was +hidden from the souls of men; as if his +name had never been written in the +language. History will have the air +of being atheistic, while recounting to +posterity these <em>annihilations</em>, rather than +<em>deaths</em>, of the celebrated men of the +greatest years of France. The victims +alone have a God; the tribunes and +lictors have none.</p> + +<p>See Mirabeau on his death-bed. +“Crown me with flowers,” said he, +“intoxicate me with perfumes, let me +die with the sound of delicious music.” +Not one word of God, or of his soul! +A sensual philosopher, he asks of death +only a supreme sensualism; he desires +to give a last pleasure even to agony.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> +Look at Madam Roland, that strong +woman of the Revolution,—upon the +car that carries her to death. She +looks with scorn upon the stupid People, +who kill their prophets and their sibyls. +Not one glance to Heaven; only an +exclamation for the earth she leaves:—“O, +Liberty!”</p> + +<p>Approach the prison door of the +Girondines: their last night is a banquet, +and their last hymn is the <i>Marseillaise</i>!</p> + +<p>Follow Camille Desmoulins to punishment:—a +cold and indecent pleasantry +at the tribunal; one long imprecation +on the road to the guillotine;—those +are the last thoughts of this +dying man, about to appear on high!</p> + +<p>Listen to Danton, upon the platform +of the scaffold, one step from God and +immortality:—“I have enjoyed much; +let me go to sleep,” he says;—then, to +the executioner, “You will show my +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> +head to the People; it is worth while!” +Annihilation for a confession of faith; +vanity for his last sigh: such is the +Frenchman of these latter days!</p> + +<p>What do you think of the religious +sentiment of a free People, whose great +characters seem to walk thus in procession +to annihilation; and die, without +even death, that terrible minister, recalling +to their minds the fear or the +promises of God?</p> + +<p>Thus the Republic,—which had no +future,—reared by these men, and +mere parties, was quickly overthrown +in blood. Liberty, achieved by so +much heroism and genius, did not find +in France a conscience to shelter it, a +God to avenge it, a People to defend it, +against that other Atheism called Glory! +All was finished by a soldier, and by the +apostacy of republicans travestied into +courtiers! And what could you +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> +expect? Republican Atheism has no +reason to be heroic. If it is terrified, +it yields. Would one buy it, it sells +itself; it would be most foolish to +sacrifice itself. Who would mourn for +it?—the People are ungrateful, and +God does not exist.</p> + +<p>Thus end atheistic revolutions!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>XIX.</h2> + + +<p>If you wish that this revolution +should not have the same end, beware +of abject Materialism, degrading Sensualism, +gross Socialism, of besotted +Communism; of all these doctrines of +flesh and blood, of meat and drink, of +hunger and thirst, of wages and traffic, +which these corruptors of the soul of +the People preach to you, exclusively, +as the sole thought, the sole hope, as +the only duty, and only end of man! +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> +They will soon make you slaves of ease, +serfs of your desires.</p> + +<p>Are you willing to have inscribed on +the tomb of our French race, as on that +of the <em>Sybarites</em>, this epitaph: “This +People ate and drank well, while they +browsed upon the earth?” No! You +desire that History should write thus: +“This People worshipped well, served +God and humanity well,—in thought, in +philosophy, in religion, in literature, in +arts, in arms, in labor, in liberty, in +their Aristocracies, in their Democracies, +in their Monarchies, and their Republics! +This nation was the spiritual +laborer, the conqueror of truth; the +disciple of the highest God, in all the +ways of civilization,—and, to approach +nearer to him, it invented the Republic, +that government of duties and of rights, +that rule of spiritualism, which finds in +<em>ideas</em> its only sovereignty.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> +Seek God, then. This is your nature +and your grandeur. And do not seek +Him in these Materialisms! For God +is not below,—he is on high!</p> + +<p class="center">LAMARTINE,</p> + +<p class="center"><i>Representative of the People</i>.</p> + + +<p class="center" style="padding-top: 5em; padding-bottom: 3em;">THE END.</p> + + + +<div class="bbox"> +<p><b>Transcriber's Note:</b></p> + +<p>This text uses some variant spelling—for example, partizan, demagoguical, apostacy, +corruptors. This has been preserved as printed.</p> + +<p>The ellipsis in this text uses asterisks rather than dots.</p> + +<p>On page <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, the semicolon following 'rose' has been moved to follow 'suffered'—"... fought, +spoke, suffered; rose and fell ..."</p> + +<p>A repetition of the book title has been deleted.</p> +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Atheism Among the People, by Alphonse de Lamartine + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ATHEISM AMONG THE PEOPLE *** + +***** This file should be named 25339-h.htm or 25339-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/3/3/25339/ + +Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Sam W. and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net +(This file was made using scans of public domain works +from the University of Michigan Digital Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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