|
(page 55 thru 64)
Powerful must have been the operation
of such abilities, subtlety, and zeal,
With Frederic of Prussia,
Voltaire classes, in the number of his adepts,
Joseph II, emperor of Germany,
Catharine II, empress of Russia;
Christiern VII, king of Denmark,
Gustavus III, king of Sweden,
Ulrica, queen of Sweden, and
Ponoiatowski, king of Poland.
Among the princes and princesses,
Frederic, landgrave of Hesse Cassel,
the Duke of Brunswick,
Lois Eugene, duke of Wirtemberg,
and Lois, prince of Wirtemberg,
Charles Theodora, elector palatine,
the princess Anhault Zerbst, and
Wilhelmina, margravine of Barieth,
are also ranked with the initiated. *
* That these personages were in the habits
of a friendly correspondence with Voltaire,
were captivated with his abilities,
and charmed with the pleasing sounds
of reason and philosophy, is undoubted;
but that they wished the destruction of religion,
separate from the abuses of popery, does not appear,
unless from the boastings of the conspirators.
Frederic, Christiern of Denmark, the landgrave of Hesse,
Wilhelmina of Barieth, if no more,
are however to be excepted from this remark.
__ Barruel's Memoirs, Vol. I. Chap. 12 and 13
A great part of the ministry,
the nobles, and higher class of citizens in France,
and, (excepting the clergy,
who for the most part remained firm in the cause of religion)
the literati, not of France only, but of Europe in general,
appear to have been ensnared with this fascinating philosophy.
Nor was it confined to men of science.
Voltaire boasts,
"That there was not a Christian to be found from Geneva to Bern;
that Germany gave him great hopes;
Russia still greater,
and that in Spain as well as Italy
a great revolution was operating in ideas."
It was these prospects of success, probably,
which led him to utter that most blasphemous prediction,
"That in twenty years more, God will be in a pretty plight." *
* Barruel's Memoirs, Vol. I. Chap. 18
The amazing influence of these writings is to be found,
not in their superior excellence of any kind,
but in the magic sounds of reason and philosophy.
The historian justly remarks,
that had Voltaire and D'Alembert
called themselves enemies of Christianity,
they would have been the execration of Europe.
But while only calling themselves philosophers,
they are mistaken for such.
Voltaire, by his superior abilities,
had gained such ascendency in the literary world,
that whatever he was pleased to call philosophy,
became current with all whose abject minds
depended on the opinions of others;
and Voltaire was very liberal in applying the term
to whatever was impious.
He boasts of many philosophers in Paris "behind the counter." *
*
If Voltaire's judgment was not entirely perverted by his enmity to religion,
whenever he reflected upon his curious herd of philosophers,
he must have been diverted with the ridiculous idea.
A man may, indeed, be ignorant of philosophy, and the liberal arts,
and yet be highly respectable,
while his professional employment
does not render an acquaintance with these subjects necessary.
But for such a man to claim the title of philosopher,
and to claim it simply upon the foundation
of his ridiculing that holy religion as absurd,
which a Newton, a Locke, an Addison, a Jones,
and some of the greatest men of every age have believed and defended;
if any thing is a proper object of disgust,
it is such a wretched compound of pride and ignorance.
Of such, philosophers it is emphatically true,
"That professing themselves to be wise, they become fools."
What ! shall every wanton coquette;
shall every husband or wife who scoffs at conjugal fidelity;
shall every son, who denies the authority of a parent;
the courtier destitute of morals,
and the man who is a slave to his passions;
shall these be styled philosophers ? *
* Barruel's Memoirs, Vol. I. Chap. 19
As a useful comment
on the foregoing exhibition of successful wickedness,
we are now called to witness
the closing scene of the tragic actors.
I beg leave here to remark for myself,
that I feel a sensible concern in republishing this scene,
not to offend against that reverence
which becomes an imperfect creature,
intracing the awful footsteps of Jehovah;
nor would I willingly become accessary
in promoting an undue use of providential dispensations.
Ever odious to me is the practice
of supporting our particular opinions and party distinctions,
by a bold and unwarranted application
of God's high and mysterious providence;
and far am I from wishing to encourage this sentiment,
that men will receive, in this world, according to their works;
but, that many events in providence may be,
and ought to be considered,
as confirmations of revealed truth,
and that God is sometimes
to be known by the judgments which he executes,
none, I presume, who admit the truth of revelation, will deny.
The conspiracy exhibited an instance
unparalleled in the history of man.
In Voltaire we behold, not simply an unbeliever,
a man hurried into sinful indulgences
by the impulse of violent appetites,
but the bold, active, determined enemy of God and religion,
deliberately devoting his uncommon abilities
to the dishonor of the giver,
and the seduction of his fellow creatures
from their allegiance to their Maker.
Did not this mischief, this communicated poison
seem to require a powerful antidote?
And may we not imagine compassion
as imploring the Father of his creatures,
to afford some extraordinary means
for delivering the minds of men
from the violence they had suffered,
by the perversion of such uncommon talents?
Such is the tendency of the following interesting scene.
Let the world draw near and receive instruction!
Let mankind duly estimate the boasted powers of human reason,
and the fruits of that philosophy,
which proudly rejects the offered comforts of the gospel!
The French government had testified
their disapprobation of Voltaire's writings,
by prohibiting his visiting Paris.
His numerous partisans, at length,
succeed in procuring a suspension of this sentence;
and their chief, now in the eighty fourth year of his age,
is once more permitted to make his appearance at the capital.
The academies and theatres confer on him their richest honors;
and the adepts, in his triumph, celebrate their own.
So sensibly did he enjoy this adulation, that he exclaimed,
"You then wish to make me expire with glory."
But whatever was their design,
the will of Providence was very different from this;
for, in the midst of his triumphs,
he was seized with a violent hemorrhage, *
* a violent flux of blood
and his conscience was alarmed
with the more insupportable terrors of the Almighty.
In the first part of his sickness,
he applied to a Romish priest,
and gave in a declaration of his repentence;
but the sophisters interfered,
and prevented its being completed
according to the ritual of that church.
Remorse and rage filled the remainder of his wretched days;
now supplicating, and now blaspheming
that Savior whom he had sworn "to crush";
and in plaintive accents he would cry out,
"Oh Christ! Oh Jesus Christ!"
And then complain that he was abandoned by God and man.
The hand which had traced the sentence of an impious, revelling king,
seemed to trace before his eyes,
"Crush then, do crush the wretch."
"Begone," he would exclaim
to the conspirators who approached him,
"It is you who have brought me to my present state,
and what a wretched glory have you procured me!"
His physicians and attendants were compelled,
by the horrors of the scene, to retire.
Mr. Tronchin, his principal physician, declared, that
"the furies of Arestes could give but a faint idea of those of Voltaire."
Thus died, on the 30th of May, 1778,
three months after his first seizure,
worn out by his own fury,
rather than by disease and the decay of years,
the most malignant conspirator against Christianity
that had lived since the time of the apostles. *
* The above facts are grounded on juridical (court) minutes,
deposited at Paris, in the hands of Monf. Momet, Notary Public,
and on the testimony of the celebrated Mr. Tronchin.
This testimony is confirmed by a letter from M. De Luc, sent to Abbe Barruel,
after the appearance of the first volume of these Memoirs,
and which may be seen in the appendix to the third volume.
After the death of Voltaire,
D'Alembert conducted the affairs of the conspiracy,
of which he was proclaimed chief.
He died November 1783, five years after his patron;
and from what can be collected, it appears,
that he derived no better comforts from his boasted philosophy.
Condorcet undertook to render him inaccessible
to all who would willingly declare the truth,
and in particular, violently excluded the Rector of St. Germain's,
who presented himself in the quality of a pastor;
yet when first relating the circumstances of his death,
he hesitated not to add,
"Had I not been there he would have flinched also." *
* Historical Dictionary, article D'Alembert
The adept, Grim, writing an account of his death to Frederic, says,
"That sickness had greatly weakened D'Alembert's mind in his last moments."
Diderot in his last sickness,
upon being faithfully admonished of his danger
by a young man who attended him,
melted into tears;
applied to a clergyman, Mr. De Tersac,
and was preparing a recantation of his errors,
when his situation was discovered by the sophisters.
With much difficulty they persuaded him
that a country air would relieve him.
The wretches concealed his departure,
and supported him with these delusive hopes,
when they knew his last hour was fast approaching.
They watched him till they had seen him expire,
and then represented that he died in all his atheism,
without any signs of remorse.
Frederic alone succeeded in persuading himself
that death was an everlasting sleep.*
* Barruel's Memoirs, Vol. I. Chap. 18
|
|
