The grand principle by which society is held together, in a free country, is religious and moral influence controlling and directing physical force to the good of the whole community. Emancipate physical force from the salutary restraints and guidance by which its violence and turbulence are checked, and its mighty energies beneficially directed and employed, and the same results will ensue, as would occur, were that mighty engine,—the proudest boast of modern science,—the steam-engine, deprived of the nice adjustments and counterbalances which have rendered its formidable powers of easy, safe, and useful application. The frightful destruction which attends the explosion of a steam-engine, would be more than paralleled by the sudden rending asunder of the bands of society, when physical force, released from the government of religious and moral influence, bursts forth with the full sweep of its tremendous powers. Abstract principles, and philosophical theories, weigh not a feather with the great bulk of mankind, who are far more under the direction of their passions than their judgment. Suppose the case of one man rich,—and it may be, possessing more than he appears to require,—surrounded by many who are poor and needy. What prevents the many from plundering the one? not abstract principles of natural justice, not a philosophical respect for the rights of property, but regard for Divine and human laws: remove the restraints of conscience, and the fear of punishment, and the many poor will rush upon the rich few, like a pack of hungry wolves upon, scattered and defenceless sheep.
This admits of easy proof: it is an undeniable axiom in morals, that vice brings with it its own punishment; how then does it come to pass that it abounds to such a fearful extent in society? It needs not any very extensive acquaintance with life to return the answer, which appears to be the true one,—that where there is not religious principle the truths of morality are less powerful than the impulses of passion, and present gratification is willingly purchased, even at the expense of much after suffering. Suppose, then, both religion and morals discarded; and man left, not merely to the unrestrained indulgence of his evil passions, but those passions excited by intoxicating and maddening stimulants, what then would be the consequences? The heart sickens whilst the mind pictures to itself some of the frightful excesses, the horrible enormities, of which one man may be capable under such circumstances. Suppose, further, not one man only, but a large proportion of the labouring population of a country exposed to the artful and wicked devices of infidel and seditious demagogues, corrupting the principles, by profane and blasphemous writings; exciting angry and vindictive feelings by exaggerated or false tales of injustice and wrong; fostering hatred and malignity towards the rich, by representing them as the oppressors and robbers of the poor, by whose labour they live; and stimulating their natural cupidity and sensuality by hopes of plunder, of ease, and of enjoyment; what, then, would be the consequences? Let the history of France return the answer, for it is written in characters of blood, in her annals, when, through the influence of a party, at first small, and apparently contemptible, she became revolutionised, demoralised, unchristianised. Birth, rank, and wealth, were alone sufficient to expose their possessors to democratic violence and fury; when all laws, human and Divine, broken,—all institutions, civil and religious, overturned, regicide and apostate France subverted the throne, and trampled upon the cross; and the demons of disorder, spoliation, and butchery, stalked through her land, deluged with the best blood of her children.
The conclusion, then, at which the impartial and dispassionate enquirer will arrive,—a conclusion which has received the terrible sanction of experience,—is, that the most horrible consequences will result to society when physical force is released from the salutary restraints of religious and moral influence.
When unchristianised, man becomes a sort of demon: he riots in the licentiousness of his assumed freedom from obligations Divine and human; and if leagued in a diabolical conspiracy against religion, laws, and property,—against all that is virtuous, noble, and praiseworthy,—he is involved as he advances, deeper and deeper in danger and guilt; as the crisis approaches, he is impelled forward in his headlong career, with a rapidity which allows no time for reflection, with a force which defies resistance, until at last he is swallowed up in the wide ruin of universal tumult and disorder: like one who commits himself to the guidance of a stream, ignorant or regardless of the distant cataract, towards which it is flowing: borne along by its powerful current, he is, at first, delighted with his swift and unchecked progress, but as he proceeds, the rapidity and force of the stream fearfully increase, until at last, drawn within the full influence of the fall, he is swept along with tremendous violence towards the verge of precipitation, whence he shoots into the boiling gulf below—a gulf which is no unfit emblem of society, heaving, foaming, and roaring, under the domination of physical force.
Let not, however, the useful and awful lesson which the French revolution teaches be thus hastily dismissed: human nature is always the same, and similar causes will produce similar results, however modified by circumstances. A length of time was required in that country to sow the seeds of infidelity, but as soon as they had taken deep root in the public mind, their effects were apparent; their growth was as rapid as it was luxuriant, and they bore such a deadly crop as fills the mind with disgust and horror. Nor was the field of operation of the antichristian conspiracy confined to France, the great object of which was, every where to accomplish the defamation and discredit of the Christian religion, where it could not effect its entire overthrow.
Let the portrait, therefore, be examined which Bishop Horsley has supplied us with of those times, which must be still fresh in the recollection of some; it is drawn with the power and effect of a master in his art; would it were only interesting as a vivid sketch by a contemporary, of dangers passed away! it speaks even now with a warning voice to this country.
“The whole of Europe, with the exception of France only, and those miserable countries which France has fraternized, is yet nominally Christian: but for the last thirty years or more, we have seen in every part of it but little correspondence between the lives of men and their professions; a general indifference about the doctrines of Christianity; a general neglect of its duties; no reverent observance of its rites. The centre from which the mischief has spread is France. In that kingdom the mystery of iniquity began to work somewhat earlier than the middle of the century which is just passed away. Its machinations at first were secret, unperceived, disguised. Its instruments were persons in no conspicuous stations. But by the persevering zeal of an individual, who, by an affectation of a depth of universal learning which he never possessed—by audacity in the circulation of what he knew to be falsified history—by a counterfeit zeal for toleration; but above all, by a certain brilliancy of unprincipled wit, contrived to acquire a celebrity for his name, and a deference to his opinions, far beyond the proportion of what might be justly due either to his talents or attainments, though neither the one nor the other were inconsiderable;—by the persevering zeal, I say, of this miscreant, throughout a long, though an infirm and sickly life of bold active impiety, a conspiracy was formed of all the wit, the science, the philosophy, and the politics, not of France only, but of many other countries, for the extirpation of the Christian name. The art, the industry, the disguise, the deep-laid policy with which the nefarious plot was carried on; the numbers of all ranks and descriptions which were drawn in to take part in it—men of letters first, then magistrates, nobles, ministers of state, sovereign princes: last of all, the inferior ranks, merchants, attornies, bankers’ clerks, tradesmen, mechanics, peasants; the eagerness with which, under the direction of their chief, all these contributed their power, their influence, their ingenuity, their industry, their labour, in their respective situations and occupations in life, to the advancement of the one great object of the confederacy, are facts that are indeed astonishing.” [134a]
“The success of this vast enterprise of impiety was beyond any thing that could have been expected by any but the first projector, from the littleness of its beginnings.” [134b] “The apostacy of the French nation, and the subversion of the Gallican Church, however unexpected at the time in Europe, was not a sudden event: it was not one of those spontaneous revolutions in public opinion which are to be traced to no definite beginning, to no certain cause: it was not the effect of any real grievance of the people, proceeding as hath been falsely pretended, from the rapacity and the ambition of their clergy: it was the catastrophe and accomplishment of a premeditated plot—a plot conceived in mere malice, carried on with steady, unrelenting malignity, for half a century.” [134c]
Such is the account which one of the ablest writers England ever produced has left behind him, of the origin and progress of a conspiracy against Christianity, the effects of which he also witnessed in this country, but by the blessing of God on the labours of himself and others, lived to see happily counteracted. There is much, it is true, which does not correspond with the aspect of the present times; with which, however, a very superficial acquaintance will satisfy every enquiring mind that there is also much which applies to them too well. It is not likely that the operations of infidelity will be precisely the same at different periods, though the object remains unaltered: still even in their plans and machinery, there will often be found great resemblance. The infidel scheme in France was commenced by men of letters; in this country at present, its most open and fierce advocates are amongst the low and half-educated classes: still we have seen that in the middle and higher classes there is gaining ground not “a direct attack on the evidences of Christianity or on the value of its doctrines;” but “the distinctive character of modern unbelief is the attempt to supersede Christianity, and to make men moral without its guiding and restraining influence.” [135] There is here a much greater resemblance than might be at first supposed, between the two plans of operation, now and at the close of the last century. The attack was then made with the most masterly skill: care was taken that the prejudices of education, as they were considered, should at first be treated with tenderness; and the way gradually prepared for the reception of opinions, which, if at once presented to the uncorrupted mind, would have been rejected with horror. To use an illustration in perfect accordance with their views, the light of impiety was to be gradually let in upon an eye, which had long been clouded by the cataract of superstition, lest it should prefer the darkness of error to the full blaze of truth. We find, therefore, no premature development of immoral and impious doctrines: superstition, bigotry, intolerance, were strongly condemned; clerical abuses and exactions fiercely inveighed against; but pure religion and morality were commended. “In this country,” writes Horseley, “I believe they know very well that bold undisguised atheism, proceeding directly and openly to its horrid purpose, will never be successful. They must have recourse, therefore, to cautious stratagem; they must pretend that their object is not to demolish, but reform: and it was with a view of giving colour to this pretence, that the impudent lie—for such I have proved it to be—has been propagated in this country of their reverence for pure Christianity, and for the Reformation.” But there was one invariable feature of all their proceedings, never lost sight of, a rancorous and malignant hostility to the established Church; and unwearied exertions “to alienate the minds of the people from the established clergy, by representing them as sordid worldlings, without any concern about the souls of men, indifferent to the religion which they ought to teach, to which the laity are attached, and destitute of the Spirit of God.” [137a] Here, then, we have a direct parallel between those times and the present, in which, indeed, the balance of evil is against us, for, “the Church of England,” observes a living prelate, [137b] “never, perhaps, hitherto has had to contend with so great a number of open and avowed enemies; who, in their reiterated and persevering attacks, stop short of no misrepresentations, however flagrant, which tend to hold it up to public scorn and indignation.”
After making every allowance, indeed, for the popular excitement, which may be of only temporary duration; for the resentful feelings, which may pass away with the occasion which has excited them; still there remains sufficient to justify the worst apprehensions, and to demand the most strenuous exertions at counteraction of the friends of order and religion. It is not merely that there is a want of veneration, love and value for the Church; but a rancorous hatred, spurred on by eager desire of spoliation, is manifested, wherever infidel teachers have made proselytes to their wicked creed. Respect, also, for constituted authorities, is destroyed, by their inculcating the audacious falsehood, that civil government has been framed, to enable the few to rule the many. Value for the laws has been lessened, by their declaring, there is one law for the rich, and another for the poor. And the bonds of affection and kind offices, which united the pastor and the parishioner, the landlord and the tenant, have been almost every where weakened, and in some places broken, by more than the base insinuation, by the assertion, that the forbearance and kindness shown, originate not in friendly regard and Christian charity, but in the ignoble wish of buying golden opinions,—in the pusillanimous desire of propitiating men roused to a sense of their injuries,—of disarming of their angry passions men panting for retaliation and revenge. Thus the force of the public and social obligations of life has been impaired, and those kind ties and sympathies, which bind man to man in their several relations, are converted by the poison of infidel principles, into food for malignant feelings, which inwardly rankle in the heart, and which outwardly evince themselves by discontent, distrust, and dislike; and when the opportunity presents itself, by violence, aggression, and outrage. The effects of such a state of things, if not counteracted, cannot be contemplated, without the most painful apprehension, for, as it has been powerfully expressed, “fatal must be the consequences, if the monstrous fiends of blasphemy and disorganization now going about seeking whom they may devour, and stalking openly through the land, with menace and defiance, be suffered to take undisturbed possession of our peasants and artificers, or of those on whom they immediately depend for their support.”