346. Excessive Devotion Criticised.—What beautiful lessons Condillac also addresses to his pupil to induce him to enfranchise himself from ecclesiastical tutelage! Written by an abbot, the eloquent page we are about to read proves how the lay spirit tended to pronounce itself in the eighteenth century.
“You cannot be too pious, Sir; but if your piety is not enlightened, you will so far forget your duties as to be engrossed in the little things of devotion. Because prayer is necessary, you will think you ought always to be praying, not considering that true devotion consists first of all in fulfilling the duties of your station in life: it will not be your fault that you do not live in your heart as in a cloister. Hypocrites will swarm around you, the monks will issue from their cells. The priests will abandon the service of the altar in order to be edified with the sight of your holy works. Blind prince! you will not perceive how their conduct is in contradiction with their language. You will not even observe that the men who praise you for always being at the foot of the altar, themselves forget that it is their own duty to be there. You will unconsciously take their place and leave to them your own. You will be continually at prayer, and you will believe that you assure your salvation. They will cease to pray, and you will believe that they assure their salvation. Strange contradiction, which turns aside ministers from the Church to give bad ministers to the State.”[180]
347. Diderot (1713-1784).—To him who knows nothing of Diderot save his works of imagination, often so licentious, it will doubtless be a surprise to see the name of this fantastic writer inscribed in the catalogue of educators. But this astonishment will disappear if we will take the trouble to recollect with what versatility this mighty spirit could vary the subject of his reflections, and pass from the gay to the solemn, and especially with what ardor, in conjunction with D’Alembert, he was the principal founder of the Encyclopédie, and the indefatigable contributor to it.
348. His Pedagogical Works.—But there is no room for doubt. Diderot has written at least two treatises that belong to the history of education: first, about 1773, The Systematic Refutation of the Book of Helvetius on Man, an incisive and eloquent criticism of the paradoxes and errors of Helvetius; and, in the second place, about 1776, a complete scheme of education, composed at the request of Catherine II., under the title, Plan of a University.[181]
349. His Merits as an Educator.—Doubtless Diderot did not have sufficient gravity of character or sufficiently definite ideas to be a perfect educator; but, by way of compensation, the natural and acquired qualities of his mind made him worthy of the confidence placed in him by Catherine II. in entrusting him with the organization, at least in theory, of the instruction of the Russian people. First of all, he had the merit of being a universal thinker, “sufficiently versed in all the sciences to know their value, and not sufficiently profound in any one to give it a preference inspired by predilection.” Engaged in the scientific movement, of which the Encyclopédie was the centre, he at the same time cherished an enthusiastic passion for letters. He worshipped Shakespeare and modern poetry, but he was not less enamored of classical antiquity, and for several years, he says, “he thought it as much a religious duty to read a song of Homer as a good priest would to recite his breviary.”
350. Necessity of Instruction.—Diderot, and this is to his praise, is distinguished from the most of his contemporaries, and especially from Rousseau, by his ardent faith in the moral efficacy of instruction:—
“Far from corrupting,” he exclaims, “instruction sweetens character, throws light on duty, makes vice less gross, and either chokes it or conceals it.... I dare assert that purity of morals has followed the progress of dress, from the skin of animals to fabrics of silk.”
Hence he decides on the necessity of instruction for all:—
“From the prime minister to the lowest peasant, it is good for every one to know how to read, write, and count.”