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ALUMNI LIBRARY, 
 
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 BR 305 .V745e 
 
 Villers, Charles de, 1765- 
 
 1815. 
 An essay on the spirit and 
 
 influence of the 
 
 
AN 
 
 ESSAY 
 
 ON 
 
 THE SPIRIT AND INFLUENCE 
 
 OF 
 
 THE KEFORIMATIOW- 
 
 WORK WHICH OBTAINED THE PRIZE ON THE FOLLOWING QUESTION, 
 PROPOSED BY THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF FRANCE : 
 
 " WHAT HAS BEEN THE INFLUENCE OF THE REFOiyMATION BY LUTHER 
 THE POLITICAL SITUATION OF THE DIFFERENT STATES* OF EUROPE, AND ON 
 THE PROGRESS OF KNOWLEDGE?" "• • 
 
 BY C. VILLERS, 
 
 SOME TIME PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF GOTTINGEN. 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH. 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 
 
 SAMUEL MILLER, D. D. 
 
 lOFESSOR IN THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, AT PRINCETON, N. J. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA : 
 KEY & BIDDLE, 23 MINOR STREET. 
 
 1833. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PART 1. 
 
 PAG?. 
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY, .... 1 
 
 Sect, I. On the State oftlie Question, - - 13 
 
 II. On the Essence of Reformations in general, 13 
 
 III. On that of Luther in particular, - - 28 
 
 Sketch of the Political, Religious, and Lite- 
 rary State of Europe at the Commence- 
 ment of the sixteenth century. 
 
 I. Politics, - - - - 32 
 
 II. Religion, - - - 36 
 
 ni. Knowledge, - - - - 40 
 
 THE REFORMATION, - .... 43 
 
 Sect. IV. Conjectures on what might have happened in 
 Europe, if the Reformation had not taken 
 place. Would the spirit of the Hierarchy 
 have changed i" - - - - 53 
 
 PART 11. 
 
 Influence of the Reformation. 
 
 First head. On the PoUtical Situation of the States of 
 
 Europe, - - - -62 
 
 Sect. I. Of the Church in itself, and in its Political Re- 
 lations, - ' ' - ' 63 
 II. On the principal Christian States, - - 70 
 
 FIRST POINT OF VIEW. 
 
 Internal Situation of the States. 
 
 I. Protestant States, - - - ib, 
 
 Germany, - - - -77 
 
 Denmark, - - - - 83 
 
 Sweden, - - - - S4 
 
 Switzerland, - - - 85 
 
 Geneva, - - - - 87 
 
 Holland, .... 89 
 
 England, - - - - 91 
 
 United States of America, - - 97 
 
IV CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 II, States, the Governments of which did not 
 
 embrace the Reform, - - 98 
 
 Spain, - - . . if). 
 
 France, - - - - 100 
 
 Italy, .... 104 
 
 Poland, - - - - - 105 
 
 Russia, .... 106 
 
 SECOXD POINT OF TIEW. 
 
 External and Respective Situation of the States of Eu- 
 rope with each other. 
 System of Equihbrium, ... - 107 
 
 First Period, from 1520 to 1556, - - 112 
 
 Second Period, from 1556 to 1603, - - ib. 
 
 Third Period, from 1603 to 1648, - - 114 
 
 Summary recapitulation of the Results of the Reformation 
 
 with respect to Politics, - - - - 115 
 
 Second head. On tlie Prog-ress of Knowledge, - 118 
 
 Sect. I. Results of the Moral Impulse given by the Re- 
 formation, - - - - 119 
 With respect to Liberty of Thought, 120 
 With respect to the Study of Religion — an- 
 cient Languages, Exegesis, Archseologia, 
 History, - - - - 124 
 W^ith respect to Philosophy — to the Moral 
 
 and Political Sciences, - - - 132 
 
 With respect to the Mathematical and Phy- 
 sical Sciences, ... 145 
 With respect to the Belles Lettres, and to 
 
 Modern Languages, - - . 147 
 
 With respect to the Fine Arts, . 152 
 
 Sect. II. Results of the Events whicli have accompa- 
 nied and followed the Reformation, - 155 
 Troubles and Wars in tlie Political World-^ 
 
 Controversies in tlie Theological World, ib. 
 Secret Societies — Free Masons — Rosicru- 
 
 cians — Mystics — Illuminati, - 161 
 
 Jesuits, Jansenists, &c. . - . 167 
 
 Reflection on the Employment of the Eccle- 
 siastical Possessions, - - 176 
 Summary Recapitulation of the Results of the 
 Reformation, as they relate to the Progress 
 of Knowledge, - - . . 178 
 Conchision, - . - - 179 
 Dr. Maclaine's Note on a received Calumny 
 V agaihst the Person and Views of Luther, 184 
 
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 
 
 -tC&^ 
 
 The Reformation from Popery is a theme which can never 
 ' grow old. To the scholar, the statesman, and the moralist, 
 as well as to the Christian, it presents an aspect of the most 
 intense interest. The situation in which that great event 
 found Christendom, it is impossible, even at this distance of 
 time, to contemplate without astonishment and horror. Li- 
 terature was discouraged, as hostile to religion. Free inquiry 
 was utterly interdicted, as dangerous to the plans and interests 
 of a tyrannical priesthood. The rights of private judgment 
 were not only denied, but the exercise of them prohibited. 
 The Holy Scriptures were locked up from the common peo- 
 ple. All the avenues to liberal knowledge were, as far as 
 possible, closed. Claims of authority over all rulers and sub- 
 jects were advanced, which made the haughtiest kings and 
 emperors to tremble. A large part of the wealth of Europe 
 was in the hands of profligate ecclesiastics ; — yet such was 
 the blind devotion of the people, and also of the princes and 
 nobles, that, although they saw the gross abuse of this wealth, 
 they were ready to furnish increasing means of splendour and 
 sensual gratification. Indulgences to commit every kind 
 of iniquity w^ere as publicly sold for money as any other spe- 
 cies of merchandise. The lives of the clergy, as well as the 
 body of the people, were not only dissolute, but abominable ; 
 a scandal to religion and an outrage on common decency* 
 The clergy professed celibacy, but generally indulged in the 
 grossest and most unbridled lewdness ; — a lewdness which 
 did not even attempt to save appearances. Of this the evi- 
 dences were as loathsome as they were enormous. One exam- 
 ple will serve at once to illustrate and confirm the meaning 
 1 
 
2 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 
 
 here intended. It is stated by grave historians that, at the 
 celebrated Council of Constance, there came to that city to 
 attend its sessions, besides many hundreds of cooks, musicians, 
 barlers, and other ministers to appetite and luxury, at least 
 fifteen hundred common prostitutes, for the open accommodation 
 of the members of the Council ! Nor was this the only sin 
 for which they were distinguished. Their gluttony; their 
 drunkenness ; their avarice, rapacity and ambition ; their 
 incessant struggles for power; and their system of wicked 
 extortion, and imposition on the easy credulity of the people 
 — altogether presented a scene which beggars description ! 
 
 Against this monstrous system of corruption and oppression 
 no one Vv-as allowed to whisper a syllable. Every avenue by 
 which truth might enter was closed and carefully guarded. If 
 an}^ one began to hint the least dissatisfaction with z.viy doctrine 
 or practice of the Church, and to propose reformation, in any 
 form, he was immediately stigmatized as a " heretic ;" and, 
 if he did not consult his safety by flight, was immured in 
 prison, or committed to the flames, and his property trans- 
 ferred to the coffers of his persecutors. 
 
 In this deplorable state of things. Christian doctrine, in 
 anything like its simple and Scriptural character, was nearly 
 banished from the Church. Christianity, instead of being 
 found as its Master left it, a pure, vital, holy, and sanctifying 
 system, was perverted into a disgusting round of outw^ard 
 observances, superstitions, and idolatry. Instead of the only 
 living and true God, the great body of those who called them- 
 selves Christians, worshipped images, the workmanship of 
 men's hands. Instead of a divine enthroned Saviour, they 
 adored the bread and wine in the eucharist. Instead of the 
 Sacred Oracles as a rule of faith and practice, the command- 
 ments of men were set up. Instead of the Bible, the bulls 
 of Popes, and the collections of Canon Law were substituted. 
 Instead of the authority of Christ, and his inspired apostles, 
 the miserable legends, the vain traditions, and the despotic 
 will of wretched pontiffs, who are represented, by the gravest 
 historians, as monsters, or rather " devils" than men, decided 
 
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 3 
 
 everything-. The sacred volume was little read, and less 
 understood. The character of Christ was much talked of, 
 but totally misrepresented. The "blood of Christ," and the 
 "merits of Christ," were phrases in every one's mouth; but 
 nothing more than solemn mockery was made of either. While 
 the terms "mercy" and " grace" were loudly chanted, the 
 most unblushing system of self-righteousness was everywhere 
 not only held, but avowed and gloried in ; and the blessed 
 Saviour, though holy, harmless, and undefiled, openly made 
 " the minister of sin." In short, the most gloomy supersti- 
 tion, the most unrelenting spiritual tyranny, and the most re- 
 volting moral profligacy formed the essential character of that 
 system which the Reformers w^ere happily made instrumental 
 in removing from a large portion of Christendom. 
 
 The editors of the " Christian Observer," w^ell known as 
 members and warm friends of the established Church of 
 England, when speaking on this subject, make the following 
 just and weighty remarks : 
 
 "Another principle, strong enough to be called a passion 
 in the w^hole band of Reformers, was that of proclaiming to 
 mankind the doctrine oi justification by faith in the merits of 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 " Some modern writers are fond of representing the Refor- 
 mation as a mere effort on the part of the Reformers to shake 
 off the burden of papal ceremonies. But it ought rather to be 
 contemplated as the re-assertion of this grand principle, the 
 establishment of which was sure to level to the ground all the 
 gingerbread fabric of cerem_onies which the Church of Rome 
 had substituted in its place. The image of Dagon must fall 
 when the Ark of God is introduced. It was not the mere 
 desire to abolish ceremonies that influenced the Reformers ; 
 for a ceremonial religion is better than none. But it was to 
 substitute the Saviour for real or fancied saints ; it was to 
 elevate Him to the throne which they had so long usurped. 
 It was to teach men to " glory," not in themselves, or in 
 canonized men or bones, but in the cross of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, that they lived and died. The Reformation is ever 
 
4 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 
 
 to be considered as the triumph of principle over force ; and 
 of the particular principle of justification by grace, through 
 faith in a crucified Redeemer, over every device which priest- 
 craft, or pride, or superstition, had conceived for propitiating 
 an offended God. We are convinced that a vast majority of 
 the errors in religion may be traced to that unremitting and 
 indefatigable desire of the natural mind to do without Christ. 
 In this respect, Popery is to be considered, not as the mere 
 chance-religion of a country or an age; — as a church acci- 
 dentally founded and cemented by the labours or arts of a few 
 cardinals and pontiffs. It is to be considered as the real anti- 
 christ, the religion of human nature ; as the great confedera- 
 tion of mankind to get rid of Christ: as an organized effort 
 to substitute a sort of gilded machinery for that grand pillar 
 of salvation, pardon by the free grace of God, and through the 
 atoning blood of his Son. It was to such a confederation, 
 then, deeply intrenched and guarded by its rich temporalities, 
 and invested by its mere age with a factitious sanctity, that 
 Zuingle and his brethren opposed themselves. Carried by 
 the grace of God, and the force of this their master-principle, 
 through every obstacle, they triumphed, in defiance of the 
 strength of their enemies, and even of their own deficiencies, 
 and built up that Church which is the mother of us all."* 
 
 In another volume of the same valuable work, the follow- 
 ing just and strong views are exhibited. 
 
 " Popery may be termed, in few words, a system of pagan- 
 ized Christianity. Every religious institution of paganism 
 had a tendency to chain down the understandings of its vo- 
 taries to visible and corporeal objects; to distract their atten- 
 tion between a vast variety of such objects ; and thus to keep 
 their minds from aspiring to just conceptions of the Creator, 
 and their hearts from rendering to him the fear, love, and 
 homage which are his due. This was the general effect pro- 
 duced upon mankind by all the lying vanities of the gentile 
 world — their demi-gods, their deified heroes, their local and 
 
 * Vol. XI. p. 169. 
 
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. O 
 
 household divinities, their temples, auguries, and oracles. 
 After the establishment of Christianity throughout the Roman 
 empire, much of the leaven of heathenism still prevailed. Its 
 spirit was gradually transfused into all the doctrines, institu- 
 tions, and ceremonies of our holy religion; and being power- 
 fully aided by the general corruption of human nature, and by 
 the ignorance and barbarism of those dark ages which fol- 
 lowed the irruption of the Northern conquerors, it succeeded 
 eventually in building up that fabric of superstition and un- 
 scriptural theology which was, at length, formally consecrated 
 by the Council of Trent."* 
 
 It was against this enormous system of antichristian dark- 
 ness, profligacy, and tyranny that the Reformers felt them- 
 selves called upon to wage war. And, accordingly, the be- 
 nefit which they were enabled, by the grace of God, to confer 
 upon their generation, and, indeed, on the Church and the 
 world in all succeeding ages, was by no means of a confined 
 or narrow character. Literature, science, civil liberty, and 
 good morals were all essentially promoted by that great moral 
 miracle which we denominate the Reform.ation, no less than 
 the disenthralment and the reign of the gospel. While it 
 electrified and convulsed, it, at the same time, enlightened 
 and purified a large portion of Europe. 
 
 I have called this event a moral miracle. And, truly, 
 when we consider, on the one hand, the strong and deep-root- 
 ed prejudices which were almost universally prevalent, when 
 the Reformers went forth to their work ; the wealth, power, 
 and interest which were leagued against them ; the deep and 
 almost invincible authority which the force of habit, and of 
 inveterate usurpation had imparted to the corrupt opinions' 
 and practices of the times; and the consequent formidable 
 danger attending any attempt to shttke that authority, and to 
 demolish the unhallowed fabric which it had built up ; and 
 when we reflect, on the other hand, upon the seemingly acci- 
 
 Vol. XXIII. p. 135. 
 1* 
 
6 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 
 
 dental causes from which the Reformation originated ; and 
 the apparently inconsiderable means by which it was carried 
 on, contrasted with its irresistible progress, and its mighty 
 results, — ^results in which the Church and the world yet re- 
 joice, — we cannot but see abundant reason for wonder, grati- 
 tude and praise. That thick darkness which had been so 
 long brooding over the nations was in a great degree dissi- 
 pated. The human mind, which had been for ages, as tame 
 and passive as if it had been formed to believe whatever it 
 was ordered to believe, and to bear whatever an unprincipled 
 and tyrannical priesthood thought proper to lay upon it; was 
 unexpectedly roused, became conscious of its dignity and 
 rights, and disdainful of the yoke of mere authority. The 
 fetters with which men had been bound for ages were, exten- 
 sively, broken. The rights of private judgment began to be 
 understood and asserted. The religious freedom which now 
 began to dawn upon the nations gave a new impulse to lite- 
 rature and science ; and, on the other hand, the lights and the 
 emancipation of literature imparted a favourable influence to 
 the study and the reign of a sound theology. In short, we 
 may say, that human society, in all its relations and interests, 
 was benefited by the event of which we speak to an extent 
 which it is not easy to estimate, and which is daily unfold- 
 ing itself more and more. 
 
 The attentive observer of human affairs, however, will 
 perceive, that rich as were the services of the Reformers, 
 and great as are, undoubtedly, the obligations we owe them — 
 the all-wise and almight}?^ King of Zion had been preparing 
 the way for their ministry, and its results, for a considerable 
 time before they appeared. A variety of circumstances con-- 
 tributed to this happy effect. The impolitic and ferocious 
 violence of some of the Popes in the fifteenth, and beginning 
 of the sixteenth centuries ; the openly profligate lives of some 
 others of these high functionaries, the abominable licentious- 
 ness which generally characterized their court and capital; — 
 the shockingly corrupt manners of the clergy everywhere ;. 
 the gross ignorance, and shameless effrontery of the several 
 
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 7 
 
 orders of Mendicants; the seventy years " Babylonish cap- 
 tivity," as it v/as called, at Avignon ; — the grand Western 
 Schism, of forty years continuance, which followed it, in 
 which two and sometimes three Popes appeared, abusing and 
 excommunicating each other, — loading each other with the 
 most revolting insults, and reproaching each other, and not 
 unjustly, with the most degrading vices — the grievous papal 
 exactions of every kind, and especially the profligate system 
 of INDULGENCES, that monstrous abuse of the most monstrous 
 of all usurped powers ; the intolerance and cruelty of the In- 
 quisition ; and the grievous wounds inflicted on the cause of 
 truth and decorum by the ferocious wars carried on by some 
 of the monastic orders, more especially by the Dominicans 
 and Franciscans, among themselves. Surely, all these, which 
 the writer of the important work before us strongly depicts, 
 are quite sufficient to account for the hatred and contempt 
 which appeared to be lurking in the breasts of so many at 
 the beginning of the sixteenth century. The friends of the 
 papacy, at the opening of the century, thought that all was 
 not only tranquil, but safe. But it was only the portentous 
 calm which precedes the heaving earthquake. The only 
 wonder is that the explosion had not occurred years before ; 
 that the superstitious reverence of the people had not much 
 sooner given place to a settled abhorrence and indignation, 
 prompting them to rise as one man and throw off their 
 chains. 
 
 At length, however, the time, even the " set time to favour 
 Zion" had come. The Papal fabric, built up and cemented 
 by the superstitions and the prejudices of ages, was destined, 
 with respect to a large portion of Europe, to be prostrated in 
 the dust. Instruments were raised up for the accomplish- 
 ment of the work ; and means apparently insufllicient were 
 made to prevail, with a power, and to an extent, which those 
 whose instrumentality was employed, were by no means pre- 
 pared to anticipate. 
 
 Every Christian owes it to himself, to his Master, and to 
 tjie Church of God to study this great Revolution, in its rise, 
 
8 INTRODITCTORY ESSAY. 
 
 progress, instruments, establishment, and immeasm-able ef- 
 fects. We are too apt to forget the toil, the dangers, and 
 the privations which our fathers of the Reformation under- 
 went, in securing those privileges in which we still rejoice. 
 Few portions of history can be better adapted to instruct in 
 truth, to animate in duty, and to excite Christians to be 
 " followers of them who through faith and patience inherit 
 the promises." 
 
 I do not forget that many who glory in the name of " Pro- 
 testant," appear to have but little sympathy with those no- 
 ble-minded Christian heroes who braved all the terrors of 
 martyrdom for the sake of delivering the Church from the 
 thraldom of error and superstition under which she had so 
 long groaned. Some of these appear to imagine that, al- 
 though the corruptions of the Papacy, as they were then ex- 
 hibited, were such as fully to justify the Reformers in all that 
 they said and did for their removal, yet that the character of 
 the Romish Church has essentially altered since that time, and 
 is now a system, if not entirely harmless, at least little adapt- 
 ed to inspire apprehension in the mind of an enlightened and 
 liberal Christian. 
 
 This view of the subject I believe to be entirely erroneous. 
 The system of Romanism is, in its nature, spirit, and purposes, 
 precisely what it was when Luther, Melancthon, Calvin, and 
 Cranmer, went forth in the name of the Lord, and lifted up 
 their banner against her. She has not abated "one jot or 
 tittle" of either her t5^rannical claims, or her pestiferous cor- 
 ruptions. Lideed, considering the essential nature of her 
 claims, they cannot be either mitigated or altered without being 
 totally abandoned. That this has never been done, we have 
 evidence of the most conclusive kind on every side. 
 
 The following remarks on this subject, in a work lately 
 published, by the Rev. John Scott, a pious divine of the 
 Church of England, and a son of the venerable Dr. Thomas 
 Scott, author of a well known Commentary on the Bible, 
 are worthy of the attention of those Protestants who imagine 
 
INTRODUCTORY ESSA"Y. 9 
 
 that all desire to examine and refute the claims of Romanists 
 at the present day, are unnecessary if not improper. 
 
 " Does either piety or charity require us to keep any mea- 
 sures with that system, which, laying hold of God's best 
 gift to the human race, the religion of Jesus Christ, converted 
 it through successive centuries, into the very reverse of all 
 for which it was designed ; making it the instrument of dark- 
 ness instead of light; of impurity instead of holiness; of ty- 
 ranny, both spiritual and civil, instead of freedom ; and even 
 of renewed idolatry, instead of the pure and spiritual worship, 
 which was to have subverted superstition, and banished all 
 false religion from among men. Surely, in consistence with 
 the most perfect good-will even to its votaries, we may de- 
 sire to see such a system consumed by the spirit of the Lord's 
 mouth, and destroyed by the brightness of his coming." Yes, 
 whatever indulgence we may be desirous of extending to the 
 professors of the Roman Catholic religion, (and let them have 
 every indulgence, every privilege that they can enjoy con- 
 sistently with the common safety,) 3ret let us never forget 
 what popery ivas^ and is essentially in itself, and what it will 
 ever show itself to be in proportion as it is enabled to act 
 freel}?^, and to display its true character. It is one of the 
 fashionable and threatening errors of the present day, that, 
 in their zeal to show themselves liberal, and candid, and in- 
 dulgent toward Roman Catholics, men are aptto soften down, 
 and lose sight of the enormities, doctrinal and practical, of 
 the papal system. Persecution, it is true, is a crime to which 
 our fallen nature is prone, and into which all parties have, in 
 different degrees, fallen ; but let us not on that ground, with 
 affected philosophy, but with real indolence and indiscrimi- 
 nation, and in defiance of all historic verity, pretend that 
 popery stands, in this respect, on the same footing with other 
 religious systems. No : persecution is inherent in the 
 
 VERY principles AND CONSTITUTION OF THE RoMISH ChURCH : 
 
 — She has been in this, as in so many other respects, " the 
 mother of abominations to the earth." If other professedly 
 Christian bodies long retained the persecuting spirit, it was 
 
10 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 
 
 mainly because thej^ found it so difficult wholly to eradicate 
 the seeds of instruction which they had received from her 
 hand ; and while they have undoubtedly been occasionally 
 stained with the blood of those who dissented from them, 
 SHE HAS BEEN EVEN STEEPED IN IT — in the Strong language of 
 Scripture prophecy, drunk with the blood of the saints and 
 THE MARTYRS OF Jesus. And the testimony which has fallen 
 in my way, from the pen of her sanctioned and remunerated 
 advocate, Pallavidni^ to her unaltered and unalterable princi- 
 ples, however she may, from policy, suffer her unaccredited 
 members for a time to deviate from them, or even to deny 
 them — is so striking, that I cannot but here transcribe it. 
 " The whole of our faith," he says, " rests upon one indivi- 
 sible article, viz : the infallible authority of the Church. 
 The moment^ therefore^ we give up any part ivhatever^ ilieiohole 
 falls ; for what admits not of being divided, must evidently stand 
 entire, or fall entire^* 
 
 The truth is, as long as the Romish Church continues to 
 maintain the universal supremacy and infallibility of the 
 Pope ; as long as she openly teaches the antichristian doc- 
 trine of merits, and sanctions the unhallowed traffic in indul- 
 gences ; as long as she represents heaven as a part of the 
 domain, so to speak, of St. Peter, to be parcelled out, and 
 made over to men for money, just as the avarice or the caprice 
 of the Pope and his emissaries may dictate ; as long as she 
 maintains transubstantiation, auricular confession, penance, 
 the celibacy of the clergy, the worship of images, prayers to 
 the saints, and for the dead ; especially as long as she locks 
 up the Scriptures from the common people, and obliges them 
 to take both the contents and the meaning of the word of God, 
 as she herself chooses to deal it out to them ; as long as she 
 " binds heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lays 
 them on men's shoulders, while she herself refuses to touch 
 them with one of her fing-ers" — she cannot cease to be Anti- 
 
 Scott's History of the Church of Christ, I. 228, 229. 
 
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 11 
 
 CHRIST — Babylon the great — the mother of harlots and 
 
 ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH." 
 
 If we wish to know what the papacy really is, let us con- 
 template the system in those countries where it is armed 
 with power, and where its spirit is acted out. Let us go to 
 Spain, to Portugal, and to a few other portions of Europe, 
 where the reins are, without restraint, entirely in popish 
 hands. There we shall find the reign of superstition wonder- 
 ful, nay incredible, to those who have not seen it; the moral 
 jprofligacy not only of the people, but of the clergy also, per- 
 fectly scandalous ; and the spiritual tyranny over the con- 
 sciences, and indeed over all the rights and privileges of 
 men clothed with a gloom and a terror of which we, in this 
 land of liberty, cannot even conceive. Such, however, diffi- 
 cult as many Protestants find to believe it, is the native spirit 
 of Romanism ; and such, undoubtedly, would be the spirit 
 acted out in our own country, if the character of our govern- 
 ment, and the state of society admitted of such enormous 
 abuse. Those who, for a moment, doubt this, must be as 
 blind to the facts daily attested by the voice of travellers, as 
 they are to all the instructions of authentic, unquestionable 
 history. 
 
 Yet there are those serious Protestants who cannot be per- 
 suaded that there is anything dangerous in the character of 
 Romanism ! That it is an erroneous system, they acknow- 
 ledge ; but imagine that its errors are of a very harmless 
 nature I And hence they disapprove of all preaching and 
 writing against that system. They can hear Romish priests 
 preach in favour of their highest and most offensive claims, 
 without one feeling of revolt. But if a Protestant divine un- 
 dertake to defend his religion against the denunciations of 
 the Romanists, and to expose the antichristian and profligate 
 errors of " the man of sin," he must expect to be censured 
 by many as a "persecutor!" Let such read with seriousness 
 and care the following work; and if they are not convinced 
 of their mistake, we may consider their case as hopeless ! 
 
 It will be perceived that this work was a Prize Essay, to 
 
12 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 
 
 which this award was adjudged by the National Institute of 
 France. The author was Charles Francis Dominic de Vil- 
 LERS, a native of France. He was born at Belchen, in Lor- 
 raine, in the year 1764. He became a lieutenant of artillery 
 at the age of eighteen; but in the revolution he joined the 
 prince of Conde at Triers, in consequence of which, on the 
 failure of the royal cause, he was obliged to seek an asylum 
 in Germany. After repeated removals, he settled at Lubec, 
 Vv^here he wrote several valuable and popular works, particu- 
 larly this " Essay on the Influence of the Reformation by 
 Luther." He was afterwards professor of philosophy in the 
 University of Gottingen ; but was deprived of the ofSce on 
 the restoration of peace. He obtained, however, a pension 
 from the Hanoverian government, and was made a knight of 
 the polar star by the king of Sweden. He died in 1815. 
 
 As Mons. Villers was not an ecclesiastic ; as the National 
 Institute, when the prize was adjudged to his Essay, was 
 very far from being under any ecclesiastical thraldom ; 
 and as the award was made in the midst of a predomi- 
 nant Roman Catholic population, we cannot imagine that 
 there was any temptation to indulge in gratuitous bitterness 
 respecting the subject of it, or to venture on any misstate- 
 ment of facts. It has generally received, from competent 
 judges, high commendation, and will well reward an atten- 
 tive perusal. In regard to the opinions expressed by the 
 writer in the various parts of his work, I cannot be supposed 
 to vouch for them all. But it strikes me as an important 
 work, ably executed, the general tendency of which is highly 
 salutary. 
 
 Princeton. Jane 2Uh, 1833. 
 
Vir.I.£RS' ESSAY. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. 
 
 SECT. I. 
 
 On the State of the Question. 
 
 If, during any of the centuries which preceded the six- 
 teenth, and while no opposition had been raised against the 
 supremacy of the Roman pontiffs, a learned assembly had 
 been desirous of calculating the results of a schism, of a con- 
 trary opinion to that of Rome, the question would doubtless 
 have been framed thus : " What are the evils and the scan- 
 dal with which the church has been afflicted, on account of 
 such an impious and pernicious doctrine ]" At this time, 
 when several respectable nations have separated from the 
 Romish church ; when the intimate connection by which all 
 Europe is united has convinced Christians of that persua- 
 sion, that others are as virtuous, as well regulated, as en- 
 lightened as themselves, the question must necessarily as- 
 sume another form. An assembly of philosophers, in the 
 bosom of France, restored to the Catholic worship, proposes 
 to ascertain the influence of Luther's reformation on the state 
 of European society, on the progress of knowledge. This 
 change in language implies a great one in opinion ; and, in 
 this point of view, the question may be said to answer itself. 
 
 As the institute have not added any explanatory outline to 
 the question, the following considerations, the intention of 
 which is to determine the object and the latitute of the an- 
 swer, will not appear misplaced. 
 
 By a superficial observer, it may be thought that a reli- 
 gious revolution should only exercise its influence on mat- 
 ters connected with religion ; on the worship and the disci- 
 2 
 
14 VILLERS ESSAY. 
 
 line of the church : but long before Luther's reformation, the 
 church and the state were so assimilated in every political 
 body in Europe; their rights and their constitutions were so 
 blended, that one of them could not be convulsed without 
 the other experiencing- the shock. The church, which had uni- 
 versally formed a state within a state, had carried its usurpa- 
 tions over the latter so far, that it threatened to swallow it up. 
 All Europe was for a length of time in danger of yielding 
 to the dominion of an absolute theocracy. The emperors of 
 the new empire of the west, who saved it from that des- 
 tiny, afterwards menaced it with the project of an univer- 
 sal monarchy. The kings of France, England, Sweden, and 
 Denmark, the princes and free cities of Germany and Italy 
 offered only a partial and alternate opposition to the preten- 
 sions of either of the competitors. A new impulse ; a new 
 and powerful tie, which united the oppressed against both 
 the oppressors at the same time ; an event which awakened 
 every passion ; the love of liberty ; a religious and political 
 fanaticism, which augmented the power of princes in a ten- 
 fold degree, by exalting the people, which, in short, offered to 
 the leaders both independence and the rich prey of the spoils 
 of the clergy ; such an event, I say, must, in such a period, 
 have produced an universal agitation in Europe. The sys- 
 tems of the modern states were shook by it to their founda- 
 tions. During the long and grievous struggle which fol- 
 lowed, everything acquired a different form, and a different 
 establishment. A new political order arose from the ferment 
 and general confusion : the different elements of which it 
 was composed, long agitated by contending forces, yielding, 
 at length, to the laws of gravitation of the moral world, took 
 the places in it assigned to them by their respective weights, 
 but which, in most instances, were not those they had 
 formerly occupied. A new series of ideas also arose from 
 this conflict of opinions ; men dared to think, to reason, to 
 examine those things which, before, required only a blind 
 submission. Thus a simple attack on ecclesiastical disci- 
 pline produced a considerable change in the political situa- 
 tion of the states of Europe, and in the morals of its inhabi- 
 tants. The institute was therefore inspired with the true 
 spirit of history in encouraging the solution of the problem 
 which it has so ably proposed. It is honourable to a writer 
 tD be called upon to treat of religion and politics, the two 
 cardinal points of human life, before such an assemlsly. One 
 of the first fruits of true liberty is the power of discussing 
 these important objects without restraint, and the country 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 15 
 
 where this privilege is exercised must incontrovertibly be 
 free. 
 
 In inquiring what has been the influence of the reformation 
 of Luther, the institute shows clearly that it does not consi- 
 der this influence as existing, at this time, in an active man- 
 ner. In fact, near three centuries have elapsed since the first 
 explosion. The agitation occasioned by it became gradually 
 calmed ; the power which originally gave the impulse, and 
 which produced so many new events, has ceased to act as a 
 moving force, as a productive principle. The greater part of 
 the institutions which it created, and of those which it modi- 
 fied, have been preserved; some are extinct; but those 
 which remain are now guided by the universal course of 
 events, and the reformation is no longer the immediate cause 
 which directs their progress. It has nearly accomplished 
 everything of which it is capable ; its influence is now per- 
 ceived only mediately, without convulsions, and by the 
 course of the institutions originating from it. The time is 
 therefore arrived when the advantages or disadvantages 
 which have resulted to the human race from it, may be 
 inquired into, enumerated, and discussed. It will doubtless 
 be conformable to the views of the institute to confine myself 
 to an exact specification of all the proximate consequences 
 of the reformation, and to be satisfied with a slight notice of 
 the remote ones. To engage in the details of these last, it 
 would be necessary to draw the immense picture of the his- 
 tory of Europe subsequent to that period, since there is 
 scarcely any great event, in which some result of the reform- 
 ation, such as the present constitution of the Germanic body, 
 for example, or the republic of the United Provinces, has not, 
 in its turn, exercised a greater or less degree of influence. 
 We should never get freed from this labyrinth of mediate 
 consequences ; for, in this point of view, the influence of 
 every political or religious commotion extends to infinity. 
 To this da}^ we are more or less affected by what passed in 
 India, Arabia, Greece, and Italy, in very remote times : we 
 still live very perceptibly under the influence of the irruption 
 of the northern tribes, of the crusades, and of other political 
 movements which have become the principles of action to the 
 people. The line of deviation, often crooked, sometimes re- 
 trograde, in the improvement of nations, is produced by the 
 complicated action of many different forces: to mark its 
 escapes, its aberrations, by putting a just value on the powers 
 which have contributed to it, is the province of the philoso- 
 phy of history. The author of the present essay will esteem 
 
16 VILLERS ESSAY. 
 
 himself fortunate, if his judges are of opinion that he has per- 
 formed this task, with respect to that period of modern his- 
 tory in which the reformation was the predominant power. 
 
 Nevertheless, it is not possible to engag-e in an inquiry into 
 the effects of the reformation, without being-, in some degree, 
 obliged to give way to this reflection ; " Is not the great event 
 which I consider as a cause, in itself so much a simple result 
 of other causes, which have preceded it, that the true origin 
 of all that has followed it must be referred to them, and not 
 to it, which has only been an intermedium ?" Without doubt 
 such is the situation of the mind in these researches. While 
 it looks forward, its point of departure seems to be the fixed 
 base from whence all the successive steps proceed. If its looks 
 are turned back, the first point appears to it only the neces- 
 sary consequence of those which have preceded it, and as a 
 passage to arrive at those which follow. To the mental eye, 
 every cause, in ascending, becomes a simple effect ; each 
 effect becomes, in its turn, a cause, in descending. The in- 
 clination which we feel to attribute everything which follows 
 an event to the event itself, as though it was the cause of it, 
 is the clew which guides us in the arrangement of historical 
 facts ; it is the law of cohesion by which the present is united 
 to the past. To proceed in this manner from the effect to the 
 cause, until we reach a first cause, subsisting by itself, and 
 which cannot be the effect of any other cause, is a necessary 
 consequence of our knowledge, which seeks an absolute prin- 
 ciple to build its speculations on. It is on this slippery path 
 that metaphysics is lost. A man who, without knowing the 
 nature of the course of a river, should arrive on its banks, 
 seeing it here gliding through an extensive plain, there con- 
 fined within narrow valleys, in another place foaming beneath 
 the precipice of a cataract ; this man would take the first 
 turning where it might be concealed by a projection, for the 
 origin of the river ; ascending higher, a new turn, the cataract, 
 will occasion the same illusion ; at length, he reaches its 
 source, he takes the mountain from which it issues for the first 
 cause of the river; but he will soon think that the sides of 
 the mountain would be exhausted by so continual a torrent ; 
 he will see clouds collected, the rains, without which the 
 dried mountain could not supply a spring. Then the clouds 
 become the first cause ; but it was the winds which brought 
 these here, by passing over vast seas ; but it was the sun who 
 attracted the clouds from the sea; but whence arises this 
 power of the sun 1 Behold him then soon entangled in the 
 researches of speculative physics, by seeking a cause, an ab- 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 17 
 
 solute foundation, from which he may, finally deduce the ex- 
 planation of so many phenomena. 
 
 Thus, the historian who inquires what was the cause which 
 led to the reduction of the authority of the popes, to the ter- 
 rible thirty years' war, to the humiliation of the house of 
 Austria, the establishment of a powerful opposition in the 
 heart of the empire, the foundation of Holland as a free state, 
 and so of other occurrences, will, at first, see the origin of all 
 these events in the reformation, and will attribute them abso- 
 lutely to its influence. But urging his inquiries farther, he 
 discovers that this reformation itself is evidently only a ne- 
 cessary result of other circumstances, which precede it, an 
 event of the sixteenth century, with which the fifteenth, to use 
 the expression of Leib7iitz, was pregnant ; at most, the cata- 
 ract of the river. How many are there who are still of opinion 
 they have found the first cause of the French revolution in 
 the deficit, in the con-vocation of the states-general, in the tiers- 
 etat, in the curates ! Others, who carry their views a little 
 farther, attribute it to the parliament 3Icmpeou, the extinction of 
 the Jesuits, &c. They are all right in that limited point of view 
 which they have taken. Those, however, who contemplate 
 the progress of human nature during a succession of ages, see 
 this enormous mass of individual cases roll on, each of which, 
 animated by its interest, its passions, and its peculiar spirit, 
 seems desirous to counteract the progress of all the others ; but 
 notwithstanding their infinite diversity, all these motives have 
 common features tending towards certain ends, which, finall}^ 
 are the same ; these features, these tendencies common to all, 
 form a collection of powers, or rather a single power, which 
 is that of the human race, that of a universal spirit, which, 
 concealed through ages, guides and governs them. Under the 
 dominion of providence, (that sun of the moral world, to use 
 again the expression of a philosopher,) this spirit of humanity, 
 by its continual action, prepares and disposes events. This 
 great revolution which surprises us, is only a product, a re- 
 sult, a striking manifestation. Is it therefore to it, is it not 
 rather to the influence of the causes, which have themselves 
 preceded and led to it, that the events which have followed it 
 should be attributed 1 
 
 In the case in question, therefore, it is requisite for the his- 
 torian to attend to what had passed before the great event 
 which he examines ; to ascertain the influence of the causes, 
 by which the event itself was brought about, and in what de- 
 gree these same causes have influenced the series of subse- 
 quent events. It is also requisite for him to consider wha^ 
 2* 
 
18 VILLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 would have happened through the slow and progressive course 
 of humanit}?^, which is sometimes called the natural course of 
 things, if the great event, if the convulsion in question, had 
 not supervened. Finally, he must determine what particular 
 modifications in its results have heen occasioned by the pro- 
 per and individual character of this event ; the character of 
 the age and of the nation in which it occurred, and that of the 
 men who had the principal share in it. 
 
 SECT. II. 
 Oji the Essence of Reformations in General. 
 
 As the mind rises through the series of events, and passes 
 from each effect to its cause, to attain, at length, to a first 
 cause, which serves it as a principle, and w^here it forms the 
 first link of its chain ; in the same manner it descends from 
 causes to effects, eager to arrive at a last result, an absolute 
 effect, which is satisfactory of itself, and is not required to 
 become a cause or to act the part of a simple medium leading 
 still further. This effect which must terminate everything, 
 the last link of the chain, and final result of all which has 
 preceded it, is the object sought by the mind, the place of re- 
 pose at which it finally consents to stop. All its speculations 
 on human events are divided into this double inquiry of prin- 
 ciple and object .• from what do they arise, and to what do they 
 tend ] It is within these two points that the action of the 
 mind is restrained, and it chooses them more or less proxi- 
 mate, or more or less remote, according to its capacit}^, or to 
 its existing wishes. But when it has not attained, on the one 
 hand, to a cause which it feels warranted in taking for a pri- 
 mitive one, and, on the other, to an object which it considers 
 as final, the mind of man remains in suspense, it vacillates 
 within a compulsory equilibrium, and experiences the inqui- 
 etude of an unaccomplished purpose. It is true, it may be 
 possible for it to give up that space which it has determined 
 not to investigate, and to assign a boundary within which the 
 entire exercise of its power shall be restrained ; but even this 
 resignation is not in the power of every mind, nor is it, per- 
 haps, in the primitive nature of any. 
 
 Let us therefore allow him who reflects on the history of 
 the human race to ask, to what tends this succession of tu- 
 multuous events., of commotions, of transmutations in things 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 19 
 
 and in opinions? Let him dare to give free vent to his 
 thoughts in the investigation of the final end of so many pro- 
 gressive revolutions. He can only find it in that sublime 
 idea of a state of things, in which the destination of human- 
 ity, in the aggregate, being perfectly accomplished, all its 
 physical and moral pov^^ers having attained the highest degree 
 of developement, men would be as good, as enlightened, as 
 happy as the original dispositions of their nature would ad- 
 mit of. Not that he will be able to show that this golden 
 age of morality, this chiliasm of philosophy, can ever be re- 
 alized, such as a beneficent dream represents it to us. But 
 in the efforts of men, in those of nations, we cannot miscon- 
 ceive that tendency to improvement, to an order of things 
 more just, more humane, in which the rights of all shall be 
 better secured, and these rights be more equally distributed. 
 Let us acknowledge that absolute perfection will never be 
 the lot of mortals ; but let us, at the same time, avow that 
 this perfection forms the ideal object of their wishes, that it 
 is the desire of their reason. It is not asserted that they will 
 reach it, but it is unquestionable that they aspire to it. Per- 
 haps the geometrical phenomenon of the assymptote is re- 
 peated in the moral world, and that, continually approaching 
 to a point of meeting on the curve, we shall never touch it. 
 Nevertheless the hope of the approximation alone is sufficient 
 to inflame exalted minds, and is an object worthy of them. 
 Alas ! what would be the fate of the generations which suc- 
 ceed each other, what the despair of him who meditates upon 
 them, if the laws of a creation, incessantly active, were not 
 discoverable through the chaos of human affairs ; if, in the 
 darkest commotions which threaten to engulf all things, the 
 light of providence did not permit the distant view of a hap-» 
 pier futurity 1 It is certainly true that in the unbridled tem- 
 pests, the whirlwinds raised by the passions on the ocean of 
 time, the direct road to this object cannot always be strictly 
 followed ; and to deviate, to pause, become too frequently ne- 
 cessary. The observer, sometimes deceived, may suppose 
 the progress retrograde, while, at the same time, it is not so ; 
 for all are not provided with a compass sufficiently correct to 
 point out the path it ought to follow. But he who asserts 
 that it is retrograde, by so doing admits the existence of the 
 object; for to retrograde is only to remove farther from it. 
 And admitting that this backsliding takes place for a time, 
 can it, from thence, result that afterwards the approximation 
 shall not be made with greater celerity? Is not that a con- 
 tracted sight which cannot penetrate beyond the point at 
 
 
 
20 VILLERS ESSAY. 
 
 which it is checked] To judg-e of all the road, it must be 
 contemplated entire. That part of it which humanity must 
 pass through after us, is unknown to us ; but we may form 
 an opinion of it by what has been already done. Until our 
 time mankind have advanced on it, and it is to be expected 
 that our successors will also advance ; Greece and Italy, sa- 
 vage at the first, were far behind Greece and Italy in the re- 
 fined period of their improvement. But however eminent 
 this amelioration maj', in many respects, have been, it was 
 individual to each of these nations, exclusive to all others ; 
 it belonged to the citizen of Rome, to the citizen of Athens, 
 but it did not belong to man. All the rest of the globe was 
 barbarous and enslaved, slaves in fact to a few thousand in- 
 dividuals. Could the developement of civilization be always 
 restrained to a few cities, to so contracted a corner of the 
 earth? Could the millions of human beings, who vegetated 
 in the nations from the Oby to the Elbe remain eternally 
 strangers to it, and serve only as a supply to the armies and 
 the galley-slaves of the privileged people? Doubtless no. 
 There must be a dispersion of knowledge among them ; there 
 must be a mixture, which would convey the spirit of Latium 
 and Achaia into Cimbria. The means of accomplishing this 
 was, either that the small body, in possession of knowledge, 
 must overcome these innumerable tribes, and penetrate to the 
 extremity of continents almost inaccessible; or, otherwise, 
 that the multitude of these rude nations should conquer the 
 small people and become blended with them in the very focus 
 of knowledge. After the employment of the first alternative, 
 the Romans having penetrated as far as their strength, and a 
 bravery worthy of eternal admiration, permitted them, the 
 second, and more natural method, was brought into action by 
 the mysterious arbiter of human destiny. The people of the 
 north overran the south of Europe, and brought their igno- 
 rance into it. Chaos seemed restored ; knowledge twinkled 
 faintly and with difficulty here and there in the midst of pro- 
 found night, which lasted for a time proportionate to the 
 foreign mass which had newly appeared : it required ten cen- 
 turies of fermentation to assimilate such a quantity of hete- 
 rogeneous elements with the superior ones which had been 
 blended among them. At length knowledge burst forth again 
 on all sides. During three centuries since its re-appearance, 
 it has spread and made an unheard of progress. The civili- 
 zation of Athens and of Rome have been rediscovered, not 
 only through all Europe, but at Philadelphia and Calcutta. 
 Rome and Athens which our arts and our knowledge would 
 
21 
 
 astonish, would also admire the humanity of the European, 
 whose boast is that he is a man, and who no longer suffers 
 slavery to taint his soil. This then has resulted from the 
 horrible irruption of the barbarians in the fourth century, and 
 thus at length time has justified Providence, the power of 
 which, for one, or even for several g'enerations, appears some- 
 times to have wholly ceased to act. I have selected this ex- 
 ample because the apparent degradation of humanity, during 
 the long interval of the barbarism of the middle ages, is, ge- 
 nerally the favourite theme brought forward by the opponents 
 of perfectability in support of their opinion. 
 
 And if we enter into the detail of the gradual civilization 
 of these barbarians, who are the progenitors of the most po- 
 lished nations of the present day, what will first engage the 
 attention? Power, the only right: each individual; each 
 master of a castle, at war with all his neighbourhood ; 
 and these wars, which may be said to have been fought 
 man to man, deluging the land with blood, carrying deso- 
 lation into every corner of it, taking place without any law 
 but the ferocity of thp, conqueror. What a dismal picture 
 is that of the Gauls, for example, in this anarehial state ! 
 By degrees, the valour, or the fortune of some of the chiefs 
 brought extensive provinces under their dominion, in which 
 they introduced order and discipline, and the inhabitants were 
 relieved from the horrors of a universal and unceasing war- 
 fare : finally, these provinces themselves became united un- 
 der a single government ; millions of men, formerly sepa- 
 rated into a multiplicity of hordes, which massacred each 
 other indiscriminately, were from thenceforward compatriots, 
 brothers, subject to the same laws, restrained by the same 
 discipline. Where murder and unchecked pillage held their 
 sway, safety, harmony, and order are now seen ; Gaul has be- 
 come one homogeneous whole, over all the extent of which 
 reigns that perpetual peace which is felt, but not acknowledged. 
 Will our civil wars be brought forward 1 These, at least, have 
 been the effect of accidents, of crisis against nature ; they 
 can no longer be said to be the permanent and constitutional 
 state of the whole of a country. The curative power of the 
 entire body speedily brings a remedy, and experience has 
 proved that they become more and more easy to extinguish. 
 We may therefore conclude, in despite of that gloomy dis- 
 position which occasions so many to be ardent admirers of 
 the past, merely that they may more freely depreciate the 
 present, that our time is far superior to that of the Goths and 
 Vandals ; and although humanity has risen through all the 
 
22 
 
 distance which separates them, the consoling- prospective, 
 that our posterity will reach a better and happier state, is not 
 denied to us. 
 
 I solicit the indulgence of my judges for this, almost invo- 
 luntary, effusion of my soul. I know the language of specu- 
 lation may be hazarded before sages, whose intention is to 
 add the consolatory views of philosophy to the study of histo- 
 ry. But is it possible to avoid directing the attention towards 
 an amelioration of hiiman affairs, while meditating on the 
 consequences of those sanguinary revolutions, of which the 
 reformation effected by Luther, offers so memorable an ex- 
 ample 1 At each of these great convulsions of nations, should 
 we not accuse the divine providence of tyrannical absurdity, 
 if the result of so many evils was only to precipitate mankind 
 into a worse state than that from which they had been freed ? 
 But no ; after these deplorable crises, in which so many in- 
 dividuals have been sacrificed, it is not uncommon to see a 
 better order of things arise, to seethe whole species advance, 
 with more freedom, towards the great object pointed out by 
 reason, and attain to anew developement of its improvement, 
 at each new explosion of its powers. 
 
 From these premises we may consider the gradual improve- 
 ment of the human race as consisting in an uninterrupted 
 succession of reformations ; some of them silent and slow, 
 the lingering results of ages, of the individual persuasion of 
 powers, and of opinion, which, in the end, supersedes errors ; 
 others, striking and powerful, the sudden results of a burst 
 of light which strikes all eyes, of the lassitude of long op- 
 pression of an excessive necessity of restoring an equilibrium 
 in some part of the political or religious system. The latter 
 are the periods, the military stones to the human race in their 
 progress through time. History numbers them with care, in- 
 vestigates their results, and determines by them the divisions 
 of her work. 
 
 Men of meek minds, warmed by a mild philanthropy with- 
 out enthusiasm, who are more affected by a horror of present 
 evils than they are flattered with a hope of future good ; those 
 moderate minds which are terrified at a violent procedure 
 and the fury of revolts ; these, I say, adhering to the amelio- 
 rations, the reforms which time brings round without agita- 
 tion, desire, and with justice, that good should never be 
 manifested but under a beneficent form. Wherever they per- 
 ceive the burst of passions, arms provoked by arms, thunder 
 answering thunder, they sigh, they are grieved, they protest 
 equally against both parties. Frequently they declare against 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 23 
 
 that which has first broken the repose so dear to them ; al- 
 though, very often, this is in reality innocent, in reality driven 
 to extremity by oppression. May we not rank in this class 
 a great number of the adversaries of our last revolution, so 
 many worthy and upright men who have been crushed in the 
 shock of parties ? In this manner, the aversion of some dis- 
 tinguished men of the sixteenth century, not to the doctrine, 
 but to the events of the reformation, may be explained. 
 Erasmus called it the Lutheran tragedy ; and it was, in fact, 
 because the drama marked its issue as tragic, that this wise 
 and circumspect man, whose favourite motto was otium cum 
 dignitate, refused to act a part in it.* But to desire that good 
 should only be effected by good, is to make humanity a ro- 
 mance ; it is to convert history into an idyl, and the universe 
 into an Arcadia. Unfortunately it does not happen thus. 
 Nature, among the multiplicity of benefits which it bestows 
 on the earth, afflicts it with hurricanes, inundations, subter- 
 raneous fires, the types of the dreadful scourges which are 
 sometimes found in society, and which are often occasioned 
 by the faults of our predecessors, sometimes by our own. It 
 is necessary, therefore, for the man who would enjoy his own 
 period to submit to them, and to consider them as the ac- 
 complishment of the profound laws which guide the great 
 whole ; laws which we can never misinterpret, except when 
 we presume to judge of their operation too partially, and in 
 too contracted a point of view. 
 
 The amelioration of his institutions, whether political or 
 religious, which man unceasingly aspires to, consists in 
 bringing and keeping them as near as he possibly can to the 
 peculiar spirit which constitutes their essence. The exterior 
 forms with which they are clothed are seldom so agreeable 
 to the spirit as to admit of its entire action and accomplish- 
 ment. It too frequently happens that the clogged wheels of 
 the machine suspend and render the impulse of the main- 
 spring irregular. It is the nature of man himself, who is a 
 
 * It is known besides that Erasmus was not of a disposition 
 to sacnfice his interest to his opinions. He aspired to a cardi- 
 nal's hat, and although he might not succeed, his anxiety for it 
 ^^ives a clew to his conduct towards the reformers. The Catholic 
 clergy still retained more dignities and more riches than the 
 protestant clergy : with tlie people of the stamp of Erasmus, 
 this reason was sufficient to i)iduce them to declare in favour of 
 the first. 
 
24 tillers' essay. 
 
 compound of soul and body closely united, which subjects 
 all human institutions to this discordant duplicity. Contained 
 in, and, as it were, shackled by the corporeal organs given 
 to him for its manifestation, his understanding cannot give 
 freedom to the exercise of its ideas, nor produce them as 
 ethereal as it conceived them. To act and be perceptible, 
 externally, thought must be allied with a body, to which it 
 gives its form, and which is communicated in its stead. Hence, 
 for example, arise the extreme importance of language, the 
 faculty of thinking and the truth of this position, that with- 
 out language w^e should be unable to combine our ideas. 
 Thus, for the use of man, every institution requires to be pro- 
 vided with a body, a physical and sensible form. The spirit 
 of all religions is, v/ithout doubt, originally the same, as 
 well as that of all governments. The one consists in acknow- 
 ledging, as laws imposed by God himself, the moral laws 
 and rules of duty engraved on the hearts of all men ; the 
 other, in securing his natural rights to every member of so- 
 ciety. But what would that religion be, what that govern- 
 ment, w^iich depended only on this simple idea, w^hich should 
 only 136 a pure spirit] It would not be an organized machine, 
 capable of acting in the human world ; it would not be a hu- 
 man institution. To become so, it must have an external 
 form, organs, a visible and material consistence. 
 
 Nevertheless, the unalterable eternal spirit, which forms 
 the soul of these institutions, remains always what it was, 
 always similar to itself. But this is not the case with the 
 body, the external form. This, subject to the influence of 
 the physical world, of human passions, variable, perishable, 
 is modified by accident and by events. In proportion as its 
 configuration becomes changed, as its organs become cramp- 
 ed, thickened, overcharged, the oppressed and shackled spirit 
 loses its primitive action and direction; sometimes stifled 
 under a monstrous aggregate, it entirely ceases to manifest 
 itself; the phantom no longer has life or pliancy ; it possesses 
 only the rigidity and heaviness of death. Thus the pure and 
 sublime spirit of Christianity, to which no form less pure 
 and less simple than itself is fitting, *= was successively 
 
 * Fenelon, in his Lettre sur I'existence de Dieu et sur le culte 
 digne de lui (in the second volume of (Euvres Philosophiques) 
 repeats several times, that the Christian religion is only the love 
 of God. At pag-e 16, he quotes Tertulian, who, with the same 
 idea says, that the soul is naturally Christian ; and at page 28, 
 
VILLERS ESSAY. 25 
 
 smothered, during a long series of ages, until the sixteenth 
 century, by a continual load of foreign elements, which had 
 vitiated its action, and, gradually, produced a misshapen body, 
 from whence issued all the ills which the errors and the pas- 
 sions were capable of generating. Thus history, the deposi- 
 tory of woful experience, shows us almost always, that the 
 political constitutions, established to maintain natural justice 
 among the people, degenerate in the end, and finish by being 
 clogged with a mass, inimical to liberty and to the public 
 welfare. This opinion, almost always confirmed by the event, 
 is therefore very generally received by those w^ho reflect on 
 the fate of nations, " that a government, democratic in its 
 principle, is successively, and in a shorter or longer period, 
 converted into an oligarchy, or monarchy, and finishes by de- 
 generating into despotism." 
 
 Hence, at certain epochas, springs the desire generally felt 
 by all upright and disinterested minds, of a reform in the 
 great human establishments. The external form is in general 
 too revolting to the spirit. What must be the issue when, no 
 longer harmonizing with it, it constrains, oppresses, para- 
 lyzes it"? It must, in the end, burst forth, itmust free itself 
 from a body which no longer supplies it with organs cal- 
 culated to second its developement. Mankind, who all, in 
 a greater or less degree, possess a correct idea, a type of this 
 spirit, are enraged against the haughty and pernicious colos- 
 sus ; they crush it in their indignation, and compel it to give 
 back the holy flame which it concealed ; light and vacillating, 
 they are unable to seize it; they must enclose it in a vessel 
 formed by their hands, they must unite it to a new sensible 
 form. Thus after having destroyed the old edifice of the Ro- 
 man communion, the confession of Augsburg, and other simi- 
 lar codes were requisite for the Christians separated from it ; 
 after the destruction of the French monarchy, it was neces- 
 sary to fix the spirit of government, and that of the natural 
 rights of man, in the positive forms of a new constitution. 
 
 But in forming a judgment of these reformations, how ne- 
 cessary is it to attend to the general spirit of the time and of 
 
 St. Augustine, according" to whom, there can be no other wor- 
 ship but love, nee colitur ille nisi amaudo. " This," according 
 to Fenelon, " is the reign of God within us ; it is tlie worship in 
 spirit and in truth ; it is the sole end for which God has made 
 us." It is obvious that the Holy See would find this mode of 
 being a Christian not very agreeable. 
 3 
 
26 VILLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 the country in which they have been effected 1 From this 
 double circumstance, as well as from the individual character 
 of their author, and of his principal co-operators, from the de- 
 sign and the local object of these persons, &c. they receive 
 their modifications, their peculiar colouring-. 3Ioses, leaving- 
 Egypt at the head of a troop of mutinous, superstitious, sen- 
 sual slaves, whom he had to reduce to submission, to make 
 soldiers capable of every enterprise, and animated against 
 every nation which might occupy the territory on which he 
 purposed to establish them ; in such circumstances, Moses di- 
 rected the reform of his people so as to conduce to the accom- 
 plishment of his designs. Mahomet, reforming a free and 
 proud nation, sensual to excess, but capable of exaltation, 
 and of virtue, succeeded in investing himself with a great 
 character, and reduced the exterior form of the pure deism he 
 preached to very simple terms. Both of them blended the 
 religious constitution, which should be suitable to all men, 
 with the political constitution, which can only be calculated 
 for one nation ; they confounded the church and the state, and, 
 by that, rendered their religion purely local. With respect 
 to Jesus, in conformity to his celestial origin, he separated the 
 cares of the state from those of the church, whose empire he 
 proclaimed was not of this world. In the midst of the Jewish 
 nation, which had received from Moses, during their forty 
 years' residence in the desert, a legislation suitable to the 
 w^ants of their first establishment, in Palestine, but which 
 had reached the highest pitch of the necessity for reform, Jesus 
 undertook that of all mankind, inasmuch as he rejected the 
 forms which were only calculated for a local spirit, and call- 
 ed them to the universal spirit of religion, which is the same 
 to all men. Thus the work of his reformation, from the truly 
 divine spirit which is the soul of it, and the simplicity of the 
 forms in which it is clothed, would be adopted by every up- 
 right man, whose single heart was unsophisticated by the re- 
 straint of local forms. The divine reform effected hj Jesus 
 is therefore essentially, and in opposition to the other two, 
 cosmopolite, or catholic, according to the true etymology of 
 that term. Perhaps the form given to it by him was too sim- 
 ple, and v/heii the religious society founded in his name 
 spread over the whole earth, it might be necessary to add to 
 this form. Hence also the power which the legislator might 
 on this point, have transmitted to the future church. But the 
 right of applying a'suitable form was not that of vitiating it, 
 of overloading it, of rendering it opposite to the spirit itself, 
 of which it should have only been the organ. The spirit of 
 
27 
 
 Christ was no longer perceptible in the constitution of the 
 western Ohristian church, in the fifteenth century. The sub- 
 ordination of the church to the state, in human and terrestrial 
 matters ; the difference of the two, in that relating to the earth 
 and in that relating to heaven, that primitive distinction, had 
 been violently effaced ; the extraneous spirit of some fanciful 
 institutions had crept into the incoherent phantom of modern 
 Christianity ; all was blended and falsified ; a reformation was 
 required, a restoration of the primitive spirit, a simplifica- 
 tion of the external form. This reformation was effected in 
 the sixteenth century, in a part of the west ; and it was called 
 by the name of Luther, who M'as the courageous and principal 
 promoter of it. 
 
 It may also be observed that the exterior form of religious 
 institutions, being the part which more immediately affects 
 the senses of man, and, consequently, engages his passions, 
 and, on the contrary, that the spirit wdiich animates these in- 
 stitutions, corresponding strictly with his understanding, it 
 results, first, that the more a society is composed of ignorant, 
 sensual men devoted to matter, the more does it require of ex- 
 ternal practices, of precepts purely ceremonial, in its worship ; 
 and the passionate attachment for such a worship, arising from 
 the senses, may be carried to an excess, at which it sets all 
 attempts, even of the most convincing nature, at nought ; 
 and, secondly, that the more a society of men is enlightened, 
 the more the intellectual faculties are cultivated in it, prefer- 
 ably to the sensual ones, the more the spirit of its other in- 
 stitutions has remained pure, the less superfluity will it ad- 
 mit in the constitution of its worship, and the more will it be 
 disposed to a reformation in this respect. 
 
 The passionate attachment for what is simply the body and 
 form of religion, the attachment which produces a misappre- 
 hension of tiie spirit, and transfers to the accessories, the dog- 
 mas, the exterior of a worship, that veneration which belongs 
 only to the divinity, this deviation, so common among igno- 
 rant and sensual men, is the origin of superstition. Pernicious, 
 fatal disposition, which, fixing the focus of enthusiasm in the 
 centre of the senses, and the passions, leads to the greatest ex- 
 cesses, and the most horrible cruelties. 
 
 The contrary inclination, that by which man, following the 
 impulse of his spiritual nature, is disposed to reject all form 
 and body in religion, to be devoted only to its spirit; this ex- 
 clusion of an outward and visible worship, is the road which 
 leads to mysticism. It is frequently the portion of thoughtful 
 and solitary men, who, not feeling a necessity to influence 
 
28 VILLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 Other men, think they can dispense with the senses, and keep 
 to the pure spirit of religion. This attachment to the spirit, 
 divested of everything local and accidental, must produce 
 sentiments nearly similar, in all who indulge in it. Hence 
 the singular conformity observed between the opinions of our 
 mystical Christians, Quesnel and Fenelon, and of some Spa- 
 niards and Germans, with those of the Bramins of India. Mys- 
 ticism, the common lot of mild and contemplative minds, may 
 very readily produce an intellectual fanaticism, but it is at- 
 tended with no danger to society, provided the mysticism is 
 sincere, and not brought into action by hypocrites- Our revo- 
 lution, during its short existence, had its superstitions, its 
 mystics, and its hypocrites. The dryness of this digression, 
 which must now be brought to a conclusion, can only be ex- 
 cused by the necessity which the author felt to throw everj^ 
 light on the point of view, in which, as it appeared to him, it 
 was requisite to consider the influence of a revolution which 
 began with the domains of religion, and to bring it thus for- 
 ward as the first lineaments of his work. 
 
 SECT. III. 
 
 Gn that of Luther in particular. 
 
 Two objects are principally dear to the heart of man, and 
 it is not uncommon to see him sacrifice all his other interests, 
 even life itself, to them. The one is the preservation of his 
 social rights, the other, the independence of his religious 
 opinions ; liberty in his civil actions, and liberty in the opera- 
 tions of his conscience. To both of them he affixes a value 
 equal to that of his existence. The idea of recovering them, 
 when lost, carries him to the highest pitch of enthusiasm; 
 that of losing them, throws him, while he possesses them, into 
 a despair, which fits him for any undertaking. Both these 
 dispositions lurked silently in almost every part of Europe, 
 at the beginning of the sixteenth century. One nation, which 
 had lost its civil and religious liberty, began to feel the 
 weight and indignity of its chains; another which still en- 
 joyed a portion of independence, shuddered at seeing it on the 
 point of being taken away. Every state in this part of the 
 world, and more particular! )'' the confederation of states which 
 formed the empire of Germany, had long been tormented with 
 the opposite opinions arising from the obstinate contest be- 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 29 
 
 tween the emperors, successors to the Caesars, and the Popes, 
 successors to Sf. Peter, a contest, of which the prize would 
 have been an unlimited monarchy over all the ancient terri- 
 tory of the Roman empire. Both competitors asserted, or 
 claimed equal rights to Rome, and it was clear in their eyes, 
 as well as in those of all Europe, that the master of Rome, 
 would be equally so of the empire, so difficult is it to eradi- 
 cate vulgar prejudices ! This magical name of Rome still 
 charmed for ages after its real glory had vanished, and its 
 power is not wholly extinct even in our days. One of the 
 most unfortunate habits among men is, that of being mechani- 
 cally persuaded, that what has endured for a long time must 
 endure for ever ; that an existence of one day establishes a 
 right for that which follows ; that history can only be a period- 
 ical repetition of the same events, and that every age miist 
 resemble other ages.* Rome had long been the capital of the 
 world, and therefore it followed, that it must always remain 
 so. At first no one thought of denying this consequence, or 
 of leaving the mastery of Rome to itself. They fought for a 
 long time to know who should keep possession of the sove- 
 reign cit)^, and to which of the two rivals they should submit; 
 they disputed with vehemence for a choice of tyrants. 
 
 The pretended right of filiation, which the princes who had 
 succeeded Charlemagne thought they had over Rome and over 
 the empire, is well known. They called themselves Casars, 
 because the ancient Caesars had been emperors in Rome, and 
 Rome was mistress of the better part of Europe ; the prince, 
 therefore, who was called Caesar, ought incontestably to reign 
 over Rome and over Europe, in his quality of emperor. This 
 was long thought an undeniable argument. 
 
 The right of the Popes was not quite so clear, but it was 
 not the less revered. Since Rome was the natural mistress 
 of all the universe, and the prince who had resided so long at 
 Rome was the head of the empire, it was evident that the 
 Bishop of Rome must also be the head of the church. By 
 degrees, through the medium of machinations, of measures 
 skilfully commenced and obstinately followed, this primacy 
 of the Roman pontiff was established, though not without 
 difficulties and troubles. When Rome was afterwards with- 
 
 * Past examples, were they even true, prove nothing for 
 futurity. This assertion is more certain, " whatever is possible 
 may happen." Frederick II. Histoire de mon terns, CEuvr. 
 Posth. Tom. ii. p. 70. 
 
 3* 
 
30 VILLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 out an emperor, the dignity of the"pontifF naturally increased ; 
 from the second rank which he had till then held, he found 
 himself in the first. And when the Frank and Roman princes 
 adopted the singular ambition of being crowned emperors in 
 the city of the Caesars, the Popes did the honours of the em- 
 pire, and, in crowning its new heads, appeared to bestow 
 them. From the time the Pope acquired the privilege of 
 crowning the emperor, infatuated Europe would acknowledge 
 no other but him who had received the crown from the hands 
 of the Pope. Hence the flatteries, the submissions, the con- 
 cessions of the princes claiming the empire, to obtain the good 
 will of the pontiff. Disposing of the principal crov/n, he 
 concluded that the others wxre also in his gift. Sovereign of 
 an innumerable clergy, rich, active, and dispersed through 
 every nation; reigning by this means over all consciences, it 
 was easy for him to establish the opinion that he was charged 
 with the poW' er of God on earth, the vicar of Jesus Christ, the 
 ruler of kings.* If a prince attempted to withdraw from this 
 authority, received from heaven, the pontiff anathematized 
 him, expelled him out of the communion of the faithful, and 
 his deluded subjects avoided him like a pestilence. In general 
 he went and solicited the pardon of the irritated vice-god, ap- 
 peased him by the most abject submissions, and by the ac- 
 knowledgment af all the rights which the arrogant pontiff 
 demanded : after which, the repentant sovereign w^as re-es- 
 tablished in his charges and his honours ; and at each similar 
 
 * This is not only the language of the bulls issued from Rome at 
 this and subsequent periods, but is also that of the most popular 
 and most disseminated writings of that time, which proves that 
 the prejudice was pretty generally established. In the preface 
 to the Miroir de Souabe, a work of the latter part of the thirteenth 
 century, we read, " Since the time that God took upon himself 
 to be Pr'nce of Peace, he sent the two swords wliich he had in 
 heaven for the protection of Christianity, to the earth, and gave 
 them both to St. Peter, the one for temporal, the other for 
 spiritual justice; that of temporal justice, the Pope entrusts to 
 the Emperor, for the service of tlie church, and according to 
 the will of the Pope, &c." The remainder is the exact words 
 of Boniface YIII. in his fam.ous bull Unam Sanctam, issued in 
 1302, and which finishes thus; Porro subesse Romano Pontifici 
 omni humanee creaturoc declaramus, dicimus, definimus, et pro- 
 nounciamus omnino esse de necessitate salutis. Such a declara"- 
 tion may be allowed to pass without a commentaiy. 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 31 
 
 attempt, the power of the Popes, sanctioned and increased, 
 became still more streng-thened. 
 
 God forbid that I should be suspected of the vile design of 
 insulting- the clergy, and the head of the Roman church in 
 this work. Now, when ag-es of humiliation, of despoliation, of 
 persecution itself, have expiated ages of pride, covetous- 
 ness, and intolerance, it would be barbarous to charge the 
 successors with the crimes of their predecessors. The pre- 
 sent members of the priesthood are not those of former days. 
 How grateful would it also be, to be able to believe that the 
 ancient spirits, which, after a period of vain-glory, brought 
 so many days of disgrace on the church, was wholly extin- 
 guished in its ministers! Let us, however, hope that the 
 greater number of them participate in the knowledge of their 
 cotemporaries, that the harshness of modern orthodoxy has 
 g:iven place to a spirit, milder and more conformable to 
 the ancient spirit of the gospel. Neither the latter pontiffs, 
 who have manifested virtues truly apostolical in the Holy 
 See, nor a multiplicity of modest and learned priests, are in- 
 volved in the severe judgments which the vices and miscon- 
 duct of the pontiffs and priests of the fourteenth and fifteenth 
 centuries merit. Who will impute the crimes of Nero to 
 Marcus Aurelius^ the enormities of Alexander VI. to Pius VIJ. ? 
 But this observation made, the historian, whose task is to 
 paint events as they happened, must be allowed to explain the 
 causes of the indigfnation and revolt of nations in a period 
 already far from ours ; he must be allowed, I say, to cast off 
 dissimulation, and to think and speak with the cotemporaries 
 of the facts which he details, to expose the disgrace, of those 
 who have merited disgrace, and to justify the fury of the op- 
 pressed, by an undisguised recital of the oppression. 
 
 The consideration of the essence of the revolution effected 
 by Luther, in Europe, involves three principal points, which 
 satisfactorily determine its nature and subsequent influence. 
 By not attending to all the three, we should probably mis- 
 conceive the real essence of this great event, and should not 
 discover, in its aggregate, the general action and spirit of 
 mankind in the sixteenth century, a spirit, every power of 
 which was developed on this occasion. 
 
 The^rs^ of these three points is the political state of the 
 European nations, their internal position, their situation with 
 respect to each other, and with respect to the head of the em- 
 pire and the head of the church. 
 
 The secoiid is the religious state of these nations, their 
 
32 VILLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 greater or less obedience to the decrees of the pontifical 
 throne, and the disposition of princes in this respect. 
 
 The thirds which is intimately connected with the two first, 
 and more immediately with the second, is the state of the 
 sciences and of letters in Europe, which, having become bar- 
 barous in the fifth century, had been plunged in darkness and 
 chaos during the succeeding period, but which, for about 
 three centuries, had been progressively, though slowly, im- 
 proving in knowledge. 
 
 It is only by a thorough investigation of these three points 
 of view that we can arrive at a satisfactory knowledge of the 
 general spirit and position of the European states in the six- 
 teenth century, and, by it, to an exact acquaintance with all 
 the consequences of the reformation. But how will it be pos- 
 sible, here, to enter into the immense detail, the researches, 
 and the developements which this triple picture would re- 
 quire 1 The author must confine himself to a slight indica- 
 tion of the principal objects, and to showing what an histo- 
 rian might do. 
 
 Sketch of the Political, Religious, and Literary State of Europe 
 at the commencement of the Sixteenth Century. 
 
 A MULTITUDE of governments had been formed in Europe, 
 out of the wreck of the Roman western empire, at the head 
 of which were, for the most part, the leaders of the northern 
 tribes v\'hich had overturned the empire. Alternately weak 
 and povrerful, these states, which were long without consist- 
 ence, changed their masters and their form, according to the 
 chance of events ; they were raised, aggrandized, fell and were 
 extinguished ; and through all these vicissitudes, few ideas 
 of a union, of an agreement among the weak to oppose the 
 more powerful, could be perceived ; there was not as yet any 
 trace of that grand and fruitful thought of a balance of power. 
 Nevertheless the feudal aristocrasy had gradually lost its 
 strength ; the crusades and the other wars which had impo- 
 verished the nobility ; commerce and industry, which had 
 enriched the trading class ; the knowledge which had been 
 disseminated in it, and which had awakened it to a senti- 
 ment of the prerogatives of man, and of his natural rights, at 
 length, led to the establishment of a civil existence for the 
 third state, and to its influence on governments. The inha- 
 
VILLERS" ESSAY. 33 
 
 bitants of some of the cities, which were constituted free, 
 even dared to assume the sovereignty in them, which would 
 not fail ^o produce some effect on opinion, at that time so 
 much enveloped in darkness, and so much the offspring of 
 prejudice. 
 
 Italy^ divided into a great number of feeble states, some 
 monarchical, others republican, distracted internally by the 
 jealousy and hatred of these petty states to each other, and 
 by the insubordination of the individual barons and lords 
 who aspired to independence, was still the unhappy theatre 
 of the invasions of its powerful neighbours, the French, the 
 Germans, and the Spaniards, who all aimed at obtaining a 
 firm footing in it, some at Naples, others at Milan, Man- 
 tua, &c. This beautiful country was a prey to desolations, 
 which succeeded each other without intermission. Its weak 
 sovereigns, now taking part with a powerful conqueror, now 
 jealous of his progress, and conspiring to expel him from 
 their country, in general, only saved themselves by perfidy, 
 fraud, and a crafty policy, which has ever since been one of 
 the most prominent traits in the Italian character. This coun- 
 try, long the richest in Europe, and the centre of all its com- 
 merce, w as on the point of seeing the source of its opulence 
 dry up, on account of the new outlets which had been open- 
 ed to commerce on the ocean, by the Spanish and Portu- 
 guese vessels. 
 
 The Turks had just possessed themselves of the seat of the 
 eastern empire, and carried their victorious arms westward, 
 into Calabria, Hungary, and to the very gates of Vienna. 
 
 Poland, freed during the course of the fifteenth century 
 from the convulsions of an anarchial aristocrasy, exhausting- 
 all its strength within itself, was almost nothing without. 
 In the northern part of it, the Knights of the Teutonic Order, 
 under pretence of converting the infidels, had formed them- 
 selves into a government, which was the first origin of the 
 kingdom of Prussia. 
 
 Russia can scarcely be said to have had an existence, to 
 the west of Europe, where it has since acquired so much 
 ascendency. 
 
 Sweden and Denmark were also nearly nullities to the 
 states situated to the south of them. The kings of Denmark, 
 after many wars and vicissitudes of fortune, had subjected to 
 their dominion, Sweden, impatient, and constantly disposed 
 to throw off this foreign yoke. A hero, sprung from its bo- 
 som, accomplished this undertaking. Gustavus Vasa became 
 the legitimate sovereign of the country he had delivered. 
 
34 
 
 VILLERS ESSAY, 
 
 The North of Germany^ which might have been called Sax- 
 on Germany, since the ancient Saxon race were its governors, 
 was divided into states, most of which were of small extent 
 and not rich. They were united to the south of the empire 
 only b)^ the bond, at that time so loose and so ill-defined, of 
 the Germanic confederation. However, the emperor being 
 incessantly harassed b)^ the Ottomans, had the most power- 
 ful motives for keeping on friendly terms with these Saxon 
 princes, who were able to afford him some assistance. This 
 part of the empire had seen a formidable league of commer- 
 cial cities, united by a common interest, formed in its bosom. 
 The Teutonic Hanse was raised to oppose the pillaging of 
 the feudal plunderers, whD, from their castles, or rather from 
 their retreats, infested the roads in their neighbourhood, and 
 despoiled the merchants travelling from fair to fair. The 
 cities of Lombardy, and those on the Rhine, had formed simi- 
 lar confederations, and these associations of free men, whose 
 activity was so beneficial, were of the small number of esta- 
 blishments, really humane, in these early days, which modern 
 nations may be proud of. 
 
 ; Bohemia had more particularly shown the example of a 
 i republican spirit to Europe, though it was only applicable to 
 the liberty of conscience. The partisans of the Bohemian 
 martyr, John Huss^ had maintained their religious creed by 
 prodigies of valour and perseverance. The Austrian princes 
 had not been able to make them renounce it. An agreement 
 had been entered into between the prince and his subjects, on 
 the article of worship. This example seemed to invite the 
 remainder of the Christian world to free itself in the same 
 manner. It was not because the brave Bohemians made use 
 of the chalice in their communion service that the}^ were com- 
 mendable and worthy of imitation, but rather because, in 
 this respect, they did that which their consciences directed 
 them, and had by their courage obtained it as a right. 
 
 The South of Germany was nearly subjected to the same 
 partition as the north ; but the strongest half of this country 
 made part of the states of the colossal house of Austria, 
 which, invested with an almost hereditary claim to the im- 
 perial dignity, enriched with all the states of Burgund)^ un- 
 der Maximilian,, with the crowns of Spain under his succes- 
 sor Charles the Fifth, and with a portion of Italy, no longer 
 disguised its plan of universal monarchy. This power was 
 predominant at the beginning of the sixteenth century, and 
 threatened to swallow up all the others. 
 
 Nevertheless, its noble rival, France, which contributed so 
 
35 
 
 powerfully to save Europe from this disorace, France had at 
 length repulsed from her territories the English, who had so 
 long contended for a part of it. The permanent and hired 
 army, which the kings were obliged on this occasion to keep 
 on foot, was of singular utility to them in uniting to the 
 crown the provinces which had their peculiar lords, in des- 
 poiling these great and small vassals, and enriching the state 
 at their expense. Louis XI. had nearly completed this in- 
 crease of the royal power. Charles VIII. and Louis XII. had 
 tried their arms in Italy against the imperialists. Notwith- 
 standing their reverses, they had at least shown them that 
 they might become formidable. After them, Francis I. found 
 himself at the head of a powerful force, without doubt the 
 first in Europe after that of Austria. 
 
 Between these two powers, and at the expense of the first, 
 a republic of simple energetic mountaineers were formed, 
 who were the first to teach modern Europe to believe what 
 is related of the courage of the Spartans at Thermopyla, 
 and of their virtues in Laconia. The Swiss had resumed the 
 right, which every man will seize whenever he is able, that 
 of living independent and being masters of themselves. They 
 supported themselves against the jealousy of Austria, by re- 
 lying on the protection of the Kings of France. 
 
 England,, which had so long neglected the station to which 
 nature had called it, that of a maritime power ; which had 
 so long v/asted its most valuable means on the conquest and 
 defence of a few provinces in the west of France, had, at 
 length, had the good fortune, as it may be called, to see its 
 armies driven from the continent, and forced to return to their 
 island. This apparent loss became a real advantage to the 
 nation, which, in the end, directed its activity to the esta- 
 blishment of its liberty and of its fleets. England was not, 
 in the sixteenth century, what it has become since ; but it 
 was, at that tim.e, in the rank of the chief powers of Europe, 
 and Henry VIII. a violent and unsteady prince, who com- 
 menced by writing against Luther like an angry theologian, 
 and finished by copying him, would have played a much 
 more important part in Europe than he did, if, less occupied 
 with his passions, his amours, and his cruelties, he had made 
 a wise use of his powder in foreign countries. 
 
 Spain had long consumed its strength, on its own soil, in 
 contending with the IVIoors, who, for ages, had occupied the 
 best and finest parts of it. At length these conquerors wer8 
 expelled. Ferdinand of Arragon, who had acquired the glor}? 
 of accomplishing this deliverance of Spain, married Isabella, 
 
36 VILLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 and, thus, joined Castile and Arragon. These united states 
 fell to Charles the Fifth, and, under him, Spain was only a 
 province of the vast Austrian monarchy. 
 
 At the same time, the political system, and the new species 
 of warfare which was now introduced, became more and more 
 favourable to the great powers. The invention of artillery 
 rendered castles and simple walls useless, and required the 
 erection of fortresses which were too costly for the small 
 princes and states. Their standing armies also gave the great 
 sovereigns a decided advantage over those who were unable 
 to support the expense of them. The princes of the empire 
 had more reason than ever to dread that Charles V. would 
 serve them as Louis XI. had treated the lords of France. 
 But notwithstanding this danger, they weakened themselves 
 still more by dividing their states among their heirs, and by 
 assigning portions of them to all their sons, as though the 
 people and the provinces were their property ; this right had 
 not then been called in question. 
 
 The Europeans, who, till this time, had been confined 
 within the limits of the old world, had just launched beyond 
 it; the road to India and to America had been discovered. 
 While enterprising navigators were, in this manner, subduing 
 an ocean which had been thought unconquerable, every mind 
 seemed also desirous of being liberated from the narrow cir- 
 cle of ideas within which they had been confined for ages. 
 The human race advanced perceptibly towards the point of 
 maturity of a new epoch. A change in the order of things, 
 an approaching commotion seemed at hand ; a rumbling was 
 heard in the bowels of the volcano ; ardent vapours burst 
 forth, and streamed through the obscurity. Such was the 
 menacing fermentation which appeared in the political state 
 of nations from the commencement of the sixteenth cen- 
 tury. 
 
 II. RELIGION. 
 
 Religious superstition, which had tormented all these na- 
 tions in a greater or less degree, began to moderate in some 
 of them ; and enlightened men were met with in every coun- 
 try who opposed it with effect. The doctrine of the Vadois 
 and that of the Albigenses, in France, were not forgotten. 
 Wickliff'e had raised his voice in England, and had been 
 heard. The Hussites, and their success in Bohemia, have 
 been mentioned above. 
 
 Every prince bore the insolence and ambition of the Ro- 
 
VILLERS ESSAY. 37 
 
 man Pontiff with a greater or less degree of impatience. 
 Some of them dared to oppose it openly, and the university 
 of Paris had, more than once, been made the organ of sove- 
 reign power to answer the menaces of Rome. They had the 
 courage to appeal to a future council, which they, wdthout 
 ambiguity, deemed superior to the Pope. Other princes, 
 whether from conviction or policy, still bent the knee to 
 Rome, and appeared to make a common cause with the head 
 of the church. Charles V. for example, could not avoid re- 
 maining attached to the holy see, whose support in Italy, a 
 country over which he wished to reign, it was his interest to 
 procure. His subjects in Spain, where the Inquisition had 
 been lately introduced, and where the long terror inspired by 
 tl\e Moors had kept the people in the most superstitious Ca- 
 tholicism, would instantly have revolted against him had he 
 appeared a less zealous Catholic than themselves. 
 
 The countries which possessed a republican constitution, 
 and which maintained in themselves a greater inclination for ' 
 liberty, were also those least timid towards Rome. It is 
 known with what noble firmness the senate of Venice con- 
 stantly opposed a bulwark to its usurpations. There are 
 some cantons, essentially republican, of Holland, Holstein, 
 and of all Lower Germany, which have never been really 
 papists, and which the reformation found ready reformed. 
 
 Besides, the eyes of men began to open. The impolitic 
 violence of some Popes; the scandalous life of others ; the 
 shameless licentiousness of their court, and their capital ; the 
 corrupt manners of the clergy; the ignorance and effrontery 
 of several orders of mendicants, the faithful satellites of the 
 holy see ; the seventy years captivity at Avignon ; the schism 
 of forty other years which followed it, in which two and 
 sometimes three Popes appeared, each having a party, abus- 
 ing and excommunicating each other, loading each other with 
 the most revolting insults, and reproaching each other with 
 the lowest vices; unexpected disclosures which covered both 
 rivals with ignominy at the same time; the exactions of 
 every description, but particularly the indulgences, a mon- 
 strous abuse of the most monstrous t)f powers ; the intolerance 
 and cruelties of the Inquisition ; all these will surely account 
 for the hatred and contempt which everywhere lurked se- 
 cretly against the Romish hierarchy. What then must be 
 the fate of a power built solely on opinion, the moment that 
 opinion is withdrawn from it ] To doubt its rights, was to 
 take them away; to probe its foundations, was to sap them; 
 to examine, was to destroy. 
 
38 VILLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 The Popes, however, who were perhaps most sensible of 
 the deep wounds inflicted on their kingdom, suffered no out- 
 ward signs of it to appear, but affected that security which 
 imposes on the mind. They yielded sometimes, and gave 
 way when necessity compelled them ; but they changed their 
 tone as little as possible, always hoping that a better time 
 would come, a time of bigotr)'- and obscurity, in which they 
 could display, in all its magnificence, their obstinate system 
 of Lamaism. The irritable Paul III. as daring as Hildebrand, 
 cited the king of England to appear before him, and, on the 
 refusal of the no less irritable Henry VIII. he declared him 
 deposed from, his crown,* him and his descendants to perpe- 
 tuity. Pius IV. treated the Queen of Naples in the same 
 manner; Pius V. pronounced the same sentence on the proud 
 Elizabeth, of England; and on each of these occasions, the 
 vicar of J. C. displayed, with assurance, his incontestible 
 rights over all crowns and over the whole globe. He dis- 
 posed of America as it w^as discovered, and even before it 
 was discovered ;f and he had his legion of writers, of theo- 
 
 * "Nos...Henricum privationis regni incurrisse psenam decla- 
 ramus...Ejus et complicum, etc. Filii poenarum particlpes sint. 
 Omnes et singalos Henrici reg-is, et aliorum praedictorum filios 
 natos et nascituros, aliosque descendentes...(nemine excepto, 
 nullaque minoris xtatis, aut sexus vel ig-norantioe, vel alterius 
 cuiusvis causae habita ratione) dignitatibus, dominiis, civitatibus, 
 castris, privatos, et ad ilia ac alia in posterum obtinenda inha- 
 biles esse decernimus et inhabilitamus, Decernimus quod Henri- 
 cus rex et complices et sequaces, nee non pr?esati descendentes, 
 ex tunc infames existant, ad testimonium non admittantur, testa- 
 menta facere non possint, etc." (Bullar. Magn.) This may 
 truly be called pontifical rage ! He is not contented with pur- 
 suing and declaring them infamous to the fourth generation, he 
 stretches to eternity, and strikes the last descendants of the great 
 grandchildi-en. 
 
 j- Nos motu proprio...de nostra liberalitate... omnes insulas et 
 terras firmas inventus et inveniendas, detectas et detegendas 
 versus occidentem et mei'idiem, fabricando et construendo vmam 
 lineam a polo arctico, scilicet septentrione, ad polum antarcti- 
 cum, scilicet meridiem, sive sint versus Indiam, aut versus aliam 
 quamcunque partem, quae linea distet a qualibet insularum quse 
 vulgariter nuncupantur De los Azores y cabo vierde, centum 
 leucis versus occidentem et meridiem ; ita quod omnes insulae et 
 terrae firmae repertae et reperiendoe a prefata linea versus occi- 
 dentem et meridiem, quae per alium regemautprincipem chris- 
 tianum non fuerint actualiter possessae auctoritate omnipotentis 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 39 
 
 logians and civilians who demonstrated with intrepidity, all 
 the sanctity and the proofs of these rig-hts. The grateful church 
 has placed the names of several of them in the calendar.* 
 
 This gloomy system, which brought civil society under 
 the iron dominion of an exclusive church, without the pale of 
 which there was no salvation,f must have gradually alienated 
 the most sensible men from it. Complaints and murmurs 
 arose on every hand ; thousands of voices united in demand- 
 ing a reformation of the church, in its head and its members, 
 its fait k and its manners ,• these were the consecrated terms. 
 Three councils in succession, at Pisa, Constance, and Basle, ' 
 had unveiled the wounds of this decayed body, and had 
 probed iheir depth. The falling off and discontent had be- ; 
 
 Dei, et vicariatus J. C. qua fung-imui' in terris, cum omnibus 
 illarum dominiis, civitatibus, castris, locis, et villis, jurisque et 
 jurisdictionibus, ac pertinentiis universis, vobis, hxredibusque 
 vestris, in perpetuum, tenore prxsentium donamus, vosque et 
 hseredes illarum dominos facimus et deputamus." (Bullar. Magn. 
 T. 1. p. 454.) Sing'ular public right of Europe at that time, 
 which was founded on such instruments ! It may be observed 
 that the apostolic chancery, which in other respects does not 
 plume itself on its gi'eat accuracy in g-eog-raphy, cloes not ac- 
 knowledg-e any leg-itimate sovereig-ns on the earth but Christian 
 princes. All the others may be dispossessed, without even the 
 necessity of g-iving them notice of it. 
 
 * St. Thomas, St. Anthony, St. Bonave_nture, St. Ramond, 
 &c. For the same reason, otliers were invested with the purple 
 of the cardinals ; Turrecremata, Reginald Pole, Albert Pighius, 
 Sylvestre Prielras, Navarrus; Bellarmin, &c. 
 
 f The quality of Roman Catholic had wholly superseded that 
 of man, and even of Christian. He who was not a Roman Ca- 
 tholic, was not a man, he was less tlian a man ; and, were he a 
 sovereign, it was a good action to deprive him of life. This was 
 the ordinary language of the casuists of Rome, on this subject : 
 I quote, at random, the words of one of them ; " Ostendhnus 
 jam satis aperte justum esse, ut hoereticus occidatur ; quo autem 
 genere mortis sit occidendus, parcm ad rem facit- Nam quo- 
 cunque modo occidatur, semj)er consulitur ecclesioe." Al- 
 phonsus a Castro. (Dejusta Hsereticorum Poena, Lib. II. cap. 12.) 
 This Castro wa-ote at a time when tlie commencement of the 
 reformation might have taug'ht gentlemen of his profession 
 to have been a little more circums])ect. Volumes might be filled 
 vsith similar passages, and the perusal of them brings to mind 
 the horrible joy expressed by Gregor}' XIII. at the news of the 
 massacre of St. Bartholomew. 
 
40 VILLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 come more than ever perceptible at the beginning of the six- 
 teenth century, and it was in this state of things that the 
 young and voluptuous Medlcis ascended the pontifical throne. 
 An admirer of the fine arts, from which he sought only fame 
 and gratification, a crafty but presuming politician, prepos- 
 sessed with contempt for the German rudeness of manners, 
 under which he was unable to discover that strength and 
 manliness of character, all the energy of which he had to 
 encounter, Leo X. was not qualified to enter the lists with 
 Luther ; and the arrogant weakness of the one, opened num- 
 berless advantages to the intrepid firmness of the other. 
 
 III. KNOWLEDGE. 
 
 The ignorance which the barbarians of the north had 
 brought with them, seconded by the wars and continual de- 
 vastations, which, subsequent to their appearance desolated 
 Europe, had nearly effaced every trace of improvement. The 
 small portion of instruction which was languid!)^ propagated 
 during several centuries of the middle age, was only found 
 among the ecclesiastics, and principally in cloisters. It was 
 in these sanctiiaries, which were frequently respected by the 
 ferocious combatants, who respected nothing else, that a few 
 manuscript books were copied and preserved, the annals at 
 the time were written, a mixture of theology, most frequently 
 extravagant, but sometimes astonishing by its subtlety and 
 its happy elucidations, of logic, and of metaphysics, almost 
 wholly disfigured and misunderstood, was taught. It will be 
 obvious that scholastic divinity, which has had so man)'' pe- 
 riods and such various fates, is alluded to ; a desert uninha- 
 bitable by common sense, but here and there presenting fer- 
 tile spots, on which the hand of beneficent nature may be 
 recognized, and the mind dwells with enchantment. 
 
 If churchmen preserved the slight tradition of knowledge 
 in this manner, it must also be confessed that, in their hands, 
 it sometimes became dangerous, and was converted to perni- 
 cious uses by its depositaries. The domination of Rome, 
 erected upon a scaff'olding of false historical proofs, required 
 the aid of these faithful auxiliaries, who, on the one side, 
 were to employ their half-knowledge in fascinating every eye, 
 and, on the other, to prevent these eyes from discovering the 
 true light, or being illuminated by the torch of criticism. The 
 local usurpations of the clergy, being, in many places, founded 
 on similar titles, stood in need of similar means of support. 
 It therefore followed, that the small portion of knowledge 
 
VILLERS ESSAY. 41 
 
 which was permitted, must have been mingled with errors, 
 and that nations must have been kept in profound ignorance, 
 the foster-parent of superstition. Study was rendered as in- 
 accessible as possible to the laity : that of the ancient lan- 
 guages was treated as a monstrosity and an idolatry. The 
 reading of the holy writings, that sacred patrimony of all 
 Christians, was particularly and severely interdicted : to read 
 the Bible, without permission of the superiors, was a crime ; 
 to translate it into the vulgar tongue was a temerity deserving 
 of extreme punishment. The popes had very good reasons 
 for preventing the words of Jesus Christ from reaching the 
 people, and for interrupting the direct communication between 
 
 !the gospel and the Christian. When objects of such import- 
 ance as public belief and public worship are kept in mystery 
 by compulsion, the darkness must be universal and impene- 
 trable. The numerous legions of mendicant monks not being 
 sufficient for this purpose, the horrible inquisition was de- 
 vised, to extinguish every spark of knowledge which might 
 appear through the gloom of night, in blood and in tears. 
 
 But the efforts of man cannot prevail eternally against the 
 course of nature. The dawn must infallibly appear; the day 
 must follow, and, with its rays, illuminate the phantom of 
 darkness, which had become, at once, the ridicule and the 
 admiration of mankind. The university of Paris alreadj^had 
 offsets and rivals worthy of it, in Germany and in England. 
 That of Wittemberg where Luther and Melancthon first came 
 into notice as professors, had been lately founded. Princes, 
 carried away by the general spirit, by an emulation of glory, 
 by the ravishing splendour of so many new lights, promoted 
 this regeneration by such establishments. It became impos- 
 sible to impose silence on so many schools, which sought 
 celebrity by striving to excel each other. The ancient lan- 
 guages, history, criticism, were publicly taught in them, not- 
 withstanding the clamours of the partizans of ignoranc?. In 
 them science was liberated from its leading-strings, and broke, 
 by degrees, its antiquated paction with error. A commerce 
 with distant countries, the knowledge of a new world, had 
 disposed men to receive new ideas. The art of printing, an 
 incalculable advantage to the human race, and the highest 
 which the mind ever received from industry, lately invented 
 in Germany, on thebanksof the Rhine, multiplied knowledge 
 to infinit}^ and took away all means of hiding it, from thence- 
 forward, under a bushel. At the other extremity of Germany, 
 on the banks of the Vistula, Copernicus had been examining 
 the heavenly bodies, and unveiling their true courses, which 
 4* 
 
43 VILLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 the pon tJficalJjullsJhaYe not beensince capable j)f altering. \ 
 
 On investigating the history of the earl}"" years of the sixteenth 
 century, it is impossible to avoid considering tliis period as 
 one of the most decisive for the improvement and ameliora- 
 tion of onr species. 
 
 During this first conflict between light and darkness, both 
 parties became more inflexible, more fixed in their opinions, 
 and prepared for the encounter. At the head of the party 
 friendly to knowledge, the public opinion had placed the 
 spirited Erasmus of Rotterdam. His keen satires against the 
 dissoluteness of the clergy, and against monastic stupidity, 
 had produced a lively sensation. He contributed powerfully 
 to the birth of a taste for erudition and criticism. Reuchlin, 
 a philologist and very learned writer, who had taught in al- 
 most every part of Europe, was, at that period, settled in his 
 native country, Germany, and excited an enthusiastic eager- 
 ness for the study of languages, particularly Greek and He- 
 brew, for reading the sacred works in the original, and for 
 the illustration of the Bible. The theologian-inquisitors of 
 Cologne, and among others the fiery Dominican^ Hochstraten, 
 who had solicited and obtained an imperial edict, command- 
 ing the burning and exterminating of every Hebrew book, en- 
 tered into a dispute with ReuchVm^ and endeavoured to de- 
 monstrate that the study of Greek, as well as of Hebrew, was 
 pernicious to the faith.* Perhaps, according to their mode 
 of judging, they were right, and every species of study was 
 dangerous to the inquisition, and to the power which employ- 
 ed such auxiliaries. However that may be, this dispute made 
 
 * Even the faculty of theology of Paris, about this time main- 
 tained before the Parliament, "that religion was undone, if the 
 study of Greek and Hebrew was permitted." The mendicant 
 monks held a very different language; on this subject one of the 
 private soldiers of the army of Hochstraten gives the following 
 explanation. It is Conrad de Heresbach, a very serious and very 
 respectable writer of this period, who employs the true terms of 
 a monk; "a new language has been invented, which is called 
 Greek; g'uard carefully against it, it is the mother of every spe- 
 cies of heresy. I observe in the hands of a gi-eat many people, 
 a book written in tliis language, which they call the New Testa- 
 ment; it is a book full of thorns and serpents. With respect to 
 Hebrew, it is certain, my dear brethren, that all who learn it are 
 instantly converted to Judaism." Here is a specimen of the spirit 
 of papacy d\iring this century. Would it have been right oi* 
 proper to have suffered it to proceed thus unobsti'ucted? 
 
VILLERS ESSAY. 43 
 
 a prodig-ioiis noise, and terminated by covering- the abettors 
 of ignorance with shame. The Hebraists triumphed, Ulrich 
 de Hutten, a young gentleman of Franconia, warm and of great 
 talents, a warrior, poet, scholar, and also theologian, on this 
 occasion wrote the celebrated Letters from obscure Men 
 {Epistolse virorum obscurorum), a satire replete with spirit 
 and point, which brought indelible disgrace on the opposite 
 party. BeuchBi, and som.e others, were suspected of having 
 contributed to them. 
 
 Such were nearly the principal features in the picture of 
 Europe, in respect of politics, religion, and intellectual im- 
 provement, at the time of the reformation. 
 
 T7ie Reformation. 
 
 Catholicism was not a religion which had been given, 
 completely formed, and at once, to a new people, where it 
 might have acquired a uniform aspect. Christianity intro- 
 duced at different times, into nations which differed greatly, 
 had received a local modification from each, arising from the 
 peculiar disposition of the nation. Thus the Roman language, 
 introduced into the several countries of the empire, here met 
 with the language of the Goths and Lombards; there, with 
 that of the Celtee and Teutonic: in other places, with the 
 Gallic, Saxon, or Cantab rian ; and thus gradually became 
 Italian, French, English, or Spanish. Cliristianity itself, 
 during its successive transmutation into Roman Catholicism, 
 changed in its essence by the innovations of the court of Rome, 
 and of the monks and theologians, did not ever)^where undergo 
 uniform variations. With a fundamental similitude in the 
 principal dogmas, it acquired a different physiognomy in dif- 
 ferent places. Thus, even in our own times, the Catholicism 
 of Madrid does not entirely agree with that of Paris ; nor is 
 that of Rome similar to that of Vienna. In some places it 
 had acquired a greater tendency to superstition, a form more 
 overloaded, more material, more calculated to stifle the spirit; 
 in others, on the contrary, it was less clogged v»-ith material 
 bonds, and had preserved more of a disposition to mysticism; 
 the spirit had remained more free, and more perceptible. 
 These varieties on the character of the religion proceeded 
 from those in the characters of the nations ; some were more 
 sensual, more dissipated, more exterior, if the term may be 
 admitted ; others, on the contrary, more reflecting, more 
 serious, more retired. Italy on the one hand, and Saxony, on 
 the other, will furnish us with an instance of this "diversity ; 
 
44 
 
 VILLERS ESSAY. 
 
 and it is natural to select these two countries, since one was 
 the seat of Catholicism, and the other became that of the re- 
 formation. 
 
 Italy had long been the residence of the chiefs of the Ro- 
 man empire. The luxury and the corruption of the Asiatics 
 had penetrated into the city of the Caesars, and into the rest 
 of the country. The riches of the whole world abounded and 
 circulated there. The effeminacy of the latter time of the 
 empire fixed the Italian character. Subdued afterwards by 
 a number of conquerors, who succeeded each other without 
 interm.ission, this fine country was, for ten centuries, the 
 theatre of continual wars between foreigners, w^ho came there 
 to contend for it. The Italian, never master of his own ter- 
 ritory, always oppressed and subjugated, naturally became 
 deceitful, cunning, dissimulating, selfish. Commerce con- 
 stantly enriched him; but he hastened to consume, in enjoy- 
 ment, the wealth which he foresaw might soon be snatched 
 from him by violence. A taste for luxury, pomp, and volup- 
 tuousness, with that of the fine arts, became his consolation. 
 The magnificence of the ancient ruins which surrounded 
 him, influenced that which he gave to all his works, to all 
 his religious edifices. Worship became the business of the 
 senses, and religion a mythology ; splendid ceremonies su- 
 perseded simple prayers; saints and images became the 
 intercessors with an almost forgotten God, and the imme- 
 diate objects of devotion. No doubt the populace, and unin- 
 formed men, would adhere very strongly to this system of 
 superstition, which captivated their senses, and lulled all 
 their vices ; but what wonder if he, who began to think and 
 examine, should at once and entirely reject this system, 
 where he could discover only the work of man, and that he 
 should remain without a spark of religion'? It was a neces- 
 sary consequence that the Italian must be a papist or an 
 atheist; he must either adore our Lady of Loretto, or not 
 adore at all; hence there never was so many atheists as in 
 the country and neighbourhood of the sovereign poiiliffsT* 
 
 * We may add to these the reasons g-iven by Machiavel, an 
 eye-witness, for the Italian impiety and corruption ; and it will 
 not be denied that he had sufficient penetration to see very 
 clearly from what the evil arose. He expresses himself thus: 
 " The greatest prognostic of the approaching* ruin of Chris- 
 tianity is, to see that the nearer people are to Rome, which 
 is the capital of Christianity, the less devotion they have. The 
 scandalous examples, and the crimes of the court of Rome, have 
 
45 
 
 The most violent bigotry, or the incredulous libertinism of 
 Jlretin^ is the inevitable lot of those who no longer give cre- 
 dit to all their religion, or no longer discern its spirit. An 
 old proverb says : "When the water of the bath is thrown 
 out of the window, the child is thrown with it." A religious 
 reformation was impossible in this country. Those who 
 were good Catholics would not have permitted the removal 
 of a single relic ; those who were not, were nothing; they 
 acquiesced in the external forms, but had neither moral nor 
 religious interest in them, nor had they any desire for an 
 amelioration, which they neither thought of or believed in.* 
 What a different appearance was offered by Saxony ! Its 
 people had never been softened either by luxury and opu- 
 lence, or by too mild a climate. There resided an indigenous 
 nation, energetic, open, who, from the ninth century to our. 
 era, had never been subjugated. On the banks of the Elbe 
 they stopped the flight of the Roman eagle, which was unable 
 to penetrate into their provinces. In later times this nation 
 had given conquerors to Europe; the Angles, the Normans, 
 the Burgundians, the Franks, swarms broke off from Sax- 
 ony, had subdued Great Britain, Gaul, and other provinces 
 of the west. Those who continued on their own territory, 
 attached to their ancient and simple national worship, had 
 allowed the remainder of Europe to embrace Christianity, 
 without being tempted to imitate it, and to quit a creed, with 
 which was interwoven the memory of the illustrious actions 
 
 occasioned Italy to lose entirely every principle of piety, and 
 every sentiment of religion. The rest of us Itahans have there- 
 fore 'this first oblig-ation to the church and the priests, for hav- 
 ing" become impious and profligute." Disc, sur la prem. De- 
 cade de Tite-Live, lib. i. cliap. 12. 
 
 * The Italians proved clearly by the event, that they were 
 wholly incapacitated for a reformation. Some years before 
 Luther, the ardent Savonarole j)reacbed nearly in the same 
 manner at Florence, as the Saxon reformer preaclied after- 
 wards, against the indulgences, the misconduct of the papal 
 court, &c. The infl^nous Alexander VI. reigned at that period; 
 far from declaring for Savonarole, as the people of Wittemberg 
 declared for Luther, those of Florence fell upon the unfortu- 
 nate, but too honest man for liis time and his country, dragged 
 him to the pile wbich was kindled by the executioners of the 
 inquisition, and saw him burnt, uttering exclamations of joy, 
 and crying, Long live Pope Borgia ! 
 
46 VILLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 of their forefathers. When, after a desperate resistance of 
 three and thirty years, Charlemagne succeeded in compelling 
 them to receive Christianity, they adopted it with sincerity 
 and simplicity ; but it may be supposed that it never would 
 become to them what it had become to the Italians. Here it 
 attracted the eye less, and affected the heart more ; there it 
 was more of worship ,- here it was more of religion. Serious 
 men, of manners generally pure, naturally practised a purer 
 and more spiritual Christianity. They always bore the yoke 
 with which the court of Rome had burthened them with 
 secret impatience, and they threw it off on the first opportu- 
 nity which offered ; but, in rejecting this parasitical covering, 
 which was grafted on the gospel, the gospel itself remained 
 to them ; they had not stifled its spirit; papism was not the 
 total of religion to them ; it was still of importance to them 
 to have a religion ; an interest in religious concern was alive 
 and active in them ; they were capable of a reformation. 
 
 The intellectual improvements of the two people differed 
 in the same proportion. The fine arts, everything conducive 
 to the enjoyments of taste, everything flattering to the sensi- 
 bility, physical or moral, had become the objects of Italian 
 activity. The calm, equal, persevering activity of the 
 Saxons, was directed to the abstract sciences, to philosophy, 
 to historical researches. When the reformation burst forth, 
 there was not a single theologian of Italy capable of encoun- 
 tering those of Saxony; some of them had the presumption 
 to attempt it, a presumption always the associate of igno- 
 rance; they were defeated, and covered with confusion. In 
 revenge, Italy boasted loudly of her poets and her painters ; 
 she had not produced a LiUher^huX Saxony had not produced 
 an Ariosto. 
 
 To the peculiar dispositions which have been indicated, 
 Saxony also joined the indignation and discontent, which was 
 common to it with the rest of Europe. To support the ex- 
 penses of a luxurious court, Leo X. had lately imposed upon 
 Christianity the heavy burthen of a new indulgence. The 
 pretext was the edification of the superb basilick of St. 
 Peter; but a proof that this motive was not, at least, the only 
 one is, that Leo had lately made a present to a greatly beloved 
 sister of the sums which were to arise from the levy on 
 Lower Saxony, as far as the Baltic Sea. This circumstance 
 M^as known to everybody; and the Dominican Tetzel had 
 the audacity to come into the neighbourhood of Wittemberg 
 to open his traffic in indulgences, to advertise his venal mis- 
 
VILLERS ESSAY. 47 
 
 sion, and to trust to sermons, so extravagant and so gross, as 
 scarcely to be credited at the present day. 
 
 Martin Luther, a doctor, priest, and Augustine monk, was, 
 at that time, professor of philosophy and theology in the new 
 university of Wittemhcrg, where an excellent and rigid spi- 
 rit of assiduity, of love of the sciences, of true religion, and 
 of liberty of thought prevailed. Luther'' s parents were poor; 
 his talents alone had raised him to the situation he filled. 
 He was among the first who applied with ardour to the stu- 
 dy of the new knowledge, which was cultivated by the most 
 eminent geniuses of this century. The first rays of the rising 
 sun had no sooner struck the high places, and most elevated 
 summits, than Luther discovered, before the multitude, the 
 new day which began to break. He devoted all his intel- 
 lectual powers to the success of reviving letters, watched 
 their progress, and rejoiced at the victory obtained by the 
 partisans of the ancient languages over the inquisitors of Co- 
 logne ; he had also acquired celebrity by some good produc- 
 tions of this description. Supported by an indefatigable 
 zeal, by a wonderful memory, he had acquired the most per- 
 fect acquaintance with the holy writings, the fathers, and 
 other ecclesiastical antiquities. One of his principal objects 
 was to overturn the scholastic divinity, by banishing Aristotle 
 from the domains of theology, and by demonstrating from 
 this singular compound of the logic of pagan philosophy 
 with the doctrine of Christianity,- how much the first had 
 been misunderstood and both had been corrupted. In every 
 encounter he overwhelmed the scholastics with his arguments 
 and his wit, and covered their science with confusion and ri- 
 dicule. His individual character, which has had such in- 
 fluence on that of the reformation, was energy and upright- 
 ness. Ardent and calm, high spirited and humble at the same 
 time ; irritable and warm in his language, when provoked by 
 injurious treatment ; mild, and inimical to every species of vio- 
 lence in action ; jovial, open, of ready wit, and even a pleasant 
 companion at the table of the great ; studious, sober, and 
 a stoic in himself; courageous and disinterested, he exposed 
 himself with tranquillity to every risk, in support of what he 
 believed to be the truth. Commanded to appear before the 
 diet of Worms, he presented himself there, notwithstanding 
 the terrible and very recent example of John Hiiss, with dig- 
 nity, simplicity, and firmness. Far from setting Rome at de- 
 fiance in the outset, he wrote submissively to the Pope, and 
 exhibited no other appearance of superiority but that of his 
 immense knowledge over Cajetan and the other theologians, 
 
48 
 
 deputed by Rome to convert him. Harassed aftenvards with 
 insults and outrages, he replied to them with animation; ex- 
 communicated by the Pope, he publicly threw the bull of 
 anathema into the fire. Luther knew all the intrinsic weak- 
 ness and abuses of the pontifical court. He had been sent 
 to Rome on the business of his order, some years before, and 
 there ever}' thing- which struck his e5'e filled his heart with 
 indignation. It is very probable that from that time, he se- 
 rCretly conceived, if not the design, at least the wish, for 
 ; the deliverance of his country ; and, like his ancient coun- 
 tryman Arminius^ who had served in the Roman legions 
 in Ital)?-, before he repelled the same legions from Germa- 
 ny, it was in Rome that he learned to despise that Rome, 
 which, at a distance, appeared so formidable. From such 
 characteristics w^e cannot misconstrue one of those supe- 
 rior beings, w^ho, though participating in some of the de- 
 fects of their age, are made to govern it, and carry it with 
 them on the road to perfection. I may also add that, after 
 having refused the offers of the court of Rome ; after having 
 been so many years the founder and almost patriarch of a 
 new church ; after having been the friend, the adviser, the 
 spiritual father of so many princes, w^ho, through the refor- 
 mation, had been enriched with all the possessions of the 
 clergy, of which he might have obtained a rich share, Luther 
 lived and died in a state bordering on poverty, and left to his 
 wife and children only the esteem due to his name. 
 
 Such a man must have been filled with indignation at the 
 approach of the shameless Tetzel, In the sermons, w^hich 
 he usually preached, Luther exposed the abuse of a traffic in 
 indulgences, and the danger of believing that heaven, and 
 the remission of all crimes, could be bought with money, 
 w^hile a sincere repentance, and an amended life were the 
 only means of appeasing the Divine Justice. The Domini- 
 can answered these sermons wdth fury ; Luther replied ; ad- 
 vanced another step ; called in question the authority of 
 the Pope, and gave the signal of revolt. Thus began the 
 reformation.* It found a multitude of minds prepared to 
 
 * Tlie acrimony witli which the fury of parties throws calum- 
 ny upon men of eminence is well known. Luther experienced 
 this more than any other. For example, it w^as attempted 
 to attribute the cause of liis zeal to the discontent of the 
 Augustins, who, as it was said, were envious, because the 
 Dominicans were entrusted by the Pope with the preaching- of 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 49 
 
 receive it, and also some enlightened and eloquent men 
 disposed to become its apostles. The learned and moderate 
 Melancthon, and the hasty Carlstadt, both at Wittembero- ; 
 in Switzerland, Zwingle; in France, Calvin soon appeared, 
 and communicated their particular opinions to the work of 
 reform. The great majority of the German nation, (which 
 must not be confounded with the preponderance of certain 
 governments, such as Austria, &c. ;) that of the Swiss na- 
 tion ; a very great number of individuals in France, Poland, 
 and Hungary; Denmark, Sweden and England separated in 
 a few years from the Roman church, and refused all obedi- 
 ence as well as tribute to its head. 
 
 However, notwithstanding the general dispositions already 
 mentioned; notwithstanding the universally acknowledged 
 want of a reform in the church; notwithstanding the elo- 
 quence and the strength of Luther, this memorable revolu- 
 tion would, doubtless, never have been consolidated, it never 
 would have acquired a political consistence, if another inte- 
 rest besides that of religion and truth had not lent it support, 
 and made it an interest of state. The princes of the north 
 of the empire, to whom resistance to ambitious Austria was 
 next to impossible with their ordinary means, saw, in the new 
 enthusiasm of their people, an unhoped-for opportunity of ob- 
 taining extraordinary succours, and of opposing the whole 
 mass to the imperial arms. An intimate union between each 
 prince and his people, as well as an alliance between the 
 whole of these provinces, and these people, which before 
 
 There is nothing surprising in this fable, the in- 
 vention of Cochlseus, being given by Maimbourg; but it is in- 
 conceivable how Voltaire and Hume should have repeated it as 
 a certain fact. This commission had long become so odious, 
 and so disreputable, that no man, and Luther least of all, could 
 have envied the Dominicans, who, besides, were almost exclu- 
 sively in possession of these indulgences, as well as of the in- 
 quisition. Doctor Maclaine has added a note to his English 
 translation of Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, vol. iv. chap. 2, 
 in which he shows beyond dispute, the folly of this imputation. 
 It may not be useless to insert it iiere, where it has been thought 
 necessary to open the true sources of the reformation, that a 
 more correct judgment may be formed of its nature and its in- 
 fluence. To remove every doubt on Maclaine's authority, as 
 well as on the falsity of the allegation, and to give an example 
 of a good historical criticism, this note shall be inserted at length 
 at the end of this volume. 
 
 5 
 
50 VILLERS ESSAY. 
 
 would have been a chimerical enterprise, became a necessary 
 consequence of the common interest which spoke to all hearts. 
 Besides the temptation of the treasures of the clergy, which 
 each prince added to his own revenue, the allurement of in- 
 dependence, the gratification of an inveterate hatred against 
 the court of Rome, all contributed to force the acquiescence 
 of the chiefs, and to hurry them down the same torrent with 
 , their people. Whatever might have been their motives, it 
 yjannot be denied that the league of Smalcald was the first ef- 
 fective union of free princes and states against their oppres- 
 sors, in modern Europe; that it laid the foundation of a 
 better conduct, and of liberty of conscience. Some of the rea- 
 sons which were capable of diverting Charles V. from em- 
 bracing the reformation have been already mentioned. It was 
 enough for him to see it adopted b}'' those princes of whom 
 he was the natural adversary. Francis I. migbt have declared 
 for it and introduced it into France. His conduct was guided, 
 partly by his own religious opinions, partly by his politics 
 and his projects on Italy. But finding a formidable party 
 arising in the empire against his Austrian rival, he seconded 
 it efficaciously, and with all his power. 
 
 This is not the place to enter into the detail of the events 
 which have accompanied, followed, and consolidated this 
 memorable revolution. Besides, the Institute has demanded 
 its results and not its progress. It will therefore be sufficient 
 to observe, that this important affair almost wholly occupied 
 all the powers of Europe, from the year 1520 to the middle of 
 the following century. Amidst various (successes, triumphs, 
 and defeats, alliances and desertions, the Protestant states 
 succeeded in giving a constitutional existence to their confes- 
 sion, and in dividing the empire with Catholicism. While 
 Luther lived, he supported the character of a minister of peace, 
 and emplo3/ed all iiis influence to maintain it. The civil war 
 of the peasants of Saabia and Franconia troubled the early 
 days of the reformation. Sects of fanatics were formed in 
 different places, but principally in the circle of Burgundy, 
 and in Westphalia. The short reign of the Anabaptists of 
 Munster, and oftiieir king, Johii of Ley den ^ offered a spectacle 
 of horrid disorders. The Protestants witnessed the excesses 
 of these false brethren Avith sorrow. Luther and Melandhon 
 wrote against them, and demonstrated that these enormities 
 were, at the same time, contrary to Christianity and to the true 
 spirit of the reformation. After an almost uninterrupted peace 
 under the four emperors who succeeded Charles V., duringall 
 the remainder of the sixteenth, and first years of the seven- 
 
VILLERS ESSAY. 51 
 
 teenth century, the war which kindled fiercely under Ferdi- 
 nand II. on the subject of the religious capitulations of Bohe- 
 mia, was soon converted into a furious struggle between the 
 two parties. The object was no less than the utter extirpa- 
 tion of Protestantism, the annihilation of the Germanic con- 
 stitution and liberty, and the absolute dominion of Austria 
 over the empire, which would have given the means of extend- 
 ing it still further. This horrible conflagration, which for 
 thirty successive years, ravaged Europe, from the confines of 
 Poland, to the mouth of the Scheldt, and from the banks of 
 the Po to the Baltic, depopulated whole provinces, annihila- 
 ted agriculture, commerce, and industry in them, cost the 
 lives of many millions of men, and retarded the study of the 
 sciences in Germany, which, at first had made such rapid pro- 
 gress, for nearly a century. This fatal war had lasted twelve 
 years, and notwithstanding the prodigies of constancy and 
 valour of the confederate princes, they were on the point of 
 sinking before their powerful adversaries, when a hero, the 
 successor of Vasa, the immortal Gustuvus Adolphiis, left his 
 kingdom, at the head of an invincible army, and, at the ex- 
 pense of his own life, which he lost victorious at Lutzen, saved 
 the liberty of Germany, perhaps of all Europe, and the creed 
 which he possessed in common with the princes of the Evan- 
 gelical hody^ which was the name given to those who had se- 
 parated from Rome. Denmark, which had previously been 
 willing to engage in this quarrel, was soon constrained to 
 abandon it. The assistance of Sweden was more effectual. 
 It is doubtful whether the military annals of any nation offer 
 a period more worthy of admiration than the eighteen cam- 
 paigns of the Swedish army in Germany. France also joined 
 her victorious arms to those of Sweden, in support of the 
 Protestant party ; it was in the course of this war that the 
 names oiGuebriant^ of Fuysegur, of Turenne, andi Conde, were 
 rendered illustrious, and it was through it that the monarchs 
 of France began to acquire a marked preponderance in the af- 
 fairs of the empire. 
 
 France itself, however, had not been wholly free from the 
 internal troubles and commotions which revolutions of such 
 magnitude bring with them. After an obstinate civil war be- 
 tween the reformed party and the Catholic party, the reigning 
 dynasty was renewed in the person of a reformed prince, who 
 became, however, a Catholic on ascending the throne. 
 
 Spain, after the abdication of Charles V. had its own kings, 
 to whom the Low Countries were obeJient. But the spirit of 
 the reformation had introduced its ally, the spirit of liberty, 
 
52 tillers' essay. 
 
 among them. The United Provinces threw off the yoke of 
 Philip II. withcourag-e ; and founded in their morasses, a con- 
 federation, very nearly resembling that which had been formed 
 on the mountains of Helvetia. The Hollanders became what 
 a free people near the sea will become, what nature had in- 
 terdicted to the Swiss ; they became rich and powerful, and 
 took rank among the principal states of Europe. 
 
 England, amidst troubles, also occasioned by religious 
 innovations, resumed its true destination, that of maritime 
 power. 
 
 At length the reformation produced the two most celebra- 
 ted assemblies which the history of modern times affords. 
 The one on the affairs of religion, the Council of Trent, in 
 which so much intrigue, eloquence and knowledge were dis- 
 pla3^ed, and of which, the decrees, more or less modified, have 
 become the principal basis of the canon law to the states of 
 the Roman communion. The other, political, the Co7igressof 
 Mmuter and Osnabiirgh, which put an end to the dreadful 
 thirty years war by the treaty of Westphalia, the master-piece 
 of human prudence and sagacity, which, for the first time, 
 brought the European nations into a connected system of po- 
 litical bodies. It was during the continuance of this long 
 congress that the art of negotiation was brought to perfection, 
 that the necessity for a balance of powers, of a w^eight and 
 a counterpoise, b 5'' which the strong might be restrained, and 
 the weak protected and upheld, was recognized. 
 
 After this too rapid view of the principal events which im- 
 mediately followed the reformation, we imj hazard a few 
 conjectures on what, most probably, would have happened in 
 Europe, if this had not supervened. In fact a little more pru- 
 dence and reserve on the part of the court of Rome, or a little 
 less inflexibility in our reformer, or more indifference on 
 the part of the princes, and, perhaps, this great explosion 
 might have been strangled in its birth. It required a Luther 
 to effect it, but a multitude of favourable circumstances were 
 also required, that his efforts might not be vain. How many 
 voices had been raised before, without being heard, without 
 reaching the ears of those they were intended to move ! 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 53 
 
 SECT. IV. 
 
 Conjectures on lokat might have happened in Europe^ if the lie- 
 formation had not taken place. Would the Spirit of the 
 Hierarchy have changed? 
 
 If, in the sixteenth century, and during- those which fol- 
 lowed it, the torrent of events had pursued the same course 
 as it had previously taken, nothing- could have saved Europe 
 from an approaching subjugation, from the yoke of an univer- 
 sal monarchy. This danger, although imminent, was not, 
 however, very perceptible to the multitude. The people had 
 not made common cause with the princes, against it; the 
 princes had not made common cause with each other: in- 
 trigue and interest had too easily divided them. But by 
 what means could the men, who in those days had almost 
 forgotten they were men, be moved and directed to one com- 
 mon object? the clergy possessed riches wliich they sought 
 to retain ; the third estate, still little better than bondmen, 
 had their traders and merch-ants, who sought to enrich them- 
 selves. Between these two classes there was another, jea- 
 lous of both, robbing them sword in hand, whenever it had 
 the power, and against which, these two were obliged to be 
 guarded. Besides, the gentleman v/as proud of being unable 
 to read, and the clerk was but little better instructed. How 
 distant were they from anj'- notion of a police, or a regular 
 society, from the rights common to all men, and from 
 equality with each other ! How much more distant were these 
 ideas from the niinds of the peasantry ! These were so io-no- 
 rant and so occupied with popes and clergy, with emperors 
 and nobilit}^, with saints, miracles, and feudal duties, that 
 sound reason, or a consideration of their rights, could find no 
 access to them. Excessive oppression produced, here and 
 there, and at different times, occasional revolts, which, for 
 want of concert, were of no advantage. Each time some 
 thousands were massacred, and the chains of those who 
 escaped the butchery were riveted faster. In general, they 
 were ignorant that it was possible to exist in any other way 
 than in performing the corvee* for their lords, and beino- 
 phmdered by the soldiery. Nothing but religion remained, in 
 
 * A day's work due from the vassal to his lord, to be done in 
 person, or by his team or ploug-h, T. 
 
 5* 
 
54 VILLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 which there was a common and an active interest of all the 
 classes. 
 
 The popes and the emperors, in the long and obstinate 
 struggle for their claims, had, happily, counterbalanced each 
 other during the first centuries, and the efforts of one party- 
 had frequently neutralized those of the contrary party. If 
 the Pope was not as powerful, the House of Austria met 
 with more obstacles to the subjugation of Europe ; while at 
 the same time, but for the resistance of the Emperor, the 
 Pope would have succeeded, with great facility, in constituting 
 himself, without a power of altering it, the great Lama of the 
 AVest. Thus one evil was long a remedy for the other; but, 
 this struggle could not continue for ever, and one of the two' 
 must, in the end, prevail. One Pope had already conceived! 
 the idea of placing the imperial crown on his own head, and- 
 an Emperor that of placing the tiara on his. At the acces-' 
 sion of Charles F., the power lodged in his hands was so pre- 
 ponderant, that he might easily have triumphed over all his 
 adversaries, and carried the favourite project of his predeces- 
 sors, of bringing the whole western Roman empire under his 
 dominion, into execution. If, by their unity, and by that 
 alone, weak states have been seen resisting powerful coali- 
 tions, what might not have been achieved by so formidable a 
 force, vested in one hand, and with such a leader as Charles V. 
 against E urope divided, and without concert. The policy of 
 this Emperor is so well known that there can be no doubt 
 but he would, in furtherance of this great design, have com- 
 promised with the head of the church, and, the more effec- 
 tually to subdue the other nations, by his means, would have 
 allowed him the second place in the empire, with an unli- 
 mited power over consciences. The holy inquisition was 
 \ become the tool of both despots, and had, for some centuries, 
 j maintained superstition, political slaver}'-, and slavery of 
 \ thought, over the whole of Europe. The reformation alone 
 r would check this torrent; it, at once, extinguished the ambi- 
 ' tion of the two projectors, who had aimed at giving chains to 
 Europe. Arrogant Austria is for ever sunk and repressed. 
 The Roman pontiff has lost a part of his dominion, and has 
 retained only a precarious power in what is left. Finally, 
 powerful governments have arisen ; rivals in everything 
 which can contribute to the glory or welfare of nations, they, 
 for tlie most part, second the action of the new spirit which 
 animates the people, and strive to efface, by degrees, all 
 traces of the barbarism of the middle age. 
 
 It is said by some that " the successive progress of know* 
 
VILLERS ESSAY. 55 
 
 ledge would insensibly have led to the same results, and 
 have avoided all the evils which arose from so terrible a com- 
 motion, and such long- wars." But they must not have con- 
 sidered that in the system of an infallible church, all the 
 decisions of which are dictated by the Holy Spirit, a reforma- 
 tion, such as was necessary, becomes impossible, and that it 
 is even contradictory to the spirit of Roman Catholicism. It 
 is also doubtful whether the wished-for change would have 
 happened so soon, or have been so complete. It is certain 
 that, at the time of the reformation, the heads of the Catholic 
 religion, who, at first, saw only fame and gratification, or a 
 disposition to elegance of manners, in the renovation of let- 
 ters, and, with these views, had encouraged them, began to 
 perceive their danger, from too great a portion of knowledo-e 
 being infused into men's minds ; and, that a very striking 
 reaction was manifested on their part. This reaction was 
 not soon checked in the states belonging to the house of Aus- 
 tria in Germany, in vSpain, in Italy, and in Belgium, where 
 all the means of the inquisition, and of censure, were put in 
 action to shackle the flight of thought, and to repel the pro- 
 gress of knowledge. Let the political, religious, and literary 
 state of the greater part of these countries, during the follow- 
 ing centuries, be compared with the state of Protestant Ger- 
 many, Holland, and England, in the same points of view, 
 and let a judgment be formed, free from prejudice, of what 
 would have been the consequence, if the same conduct had 
 become universal and despotic in Europe.* 
 
 * Let the same comparison be made at the present time ,• in 
 all those countries which were long- under the Austrian lash, 
 we shall find big-otry and superstition, instead of religion and 
 morality 5 ignorance and prejudice, instead of sound and solid 
 instruction ; gross sensuality, instead of alt tlie noble qualities 
 which distinguish a man, when he has received a more elevated 
 and moi-e liberal education. Whoever lias observed Austria, 
 Spain, and Belgium narrowly, will feel the truth of this remark. 
 There is no doubt but the universal spirit of our time has pene- 
 trated here and there, and given rise to some exceptions. 
 Lombardy in particular, situated between France, Germany, 
 Venice and Genoa, and which submitted with reluctance to the 
 Austrian yoke, could not be entirely brutalized. A remarkable 
 testimony, which exposes the barbarism still existing at the 
 close of the eighteenth century, in Catholic Germany, is the 
 narrative of liis adventures^ lately pubhshed by M. Schad, Pro- 
 
56 
 
 TILLERS ESSAY. 
 
 As to what miffht have been expected, in the end, from the 
 popes and the clergy, if the}^ had been allowed to act sponta- 
 neously, in all their power and credit, a judgment may be 
 formed from the moral and physical state of most of the 
 domains, subject, immediately, to ecclesiastial princes.* It 
 must be acknowledged that the spirit of papism is exclusive 
 and intolerant ; now the spirit of an institution cannot cease 
 to act, unless the institution cease also. A very decisive 
 observation is that the virtuous and humane Innocent XI. 
 during a pontificate of tw^elve years, was scarcely able to 
 execute any of his meritorious designs. The popes, more 
 prudent since the reformation, weakened, almost nonentities, 
 have yielded, unwillingl}^, in different contests; but it was the 
 power, not the will thai was wanting. Many attempts have 
 been made to unite the reformed church with that of Rome; 
 the latter has rendered all these endeavours abortive by 
 refusing to relax in any of her claims. Tow^ards the close of 
 the seventeenth centur}'', the Emperor Leopold I. took much 
 pains on this subject, and plenipotentiaries were named on 
 both sides. The negotiations also extended into France, be- 
 tw^een Leibnitz on the part of the Protestants, and Pelisson 
 and Bossuet for the Catholics. The latter displayed all his elo- 
 quence, but, at the same time, all the inflexibility of his own 
 mind, and that of his church: according to him, there could 
 not be any question of accommodation, but only of submis- 
 sion. When we reflect on the haughty and violent language 
 then held by so enlightened a man as Bossuet was, it is not 
 possible to prevent a belief, that if, perchance the Romish 
 clergy should regain their power and wealth, they would be- 
 come as fanatic and persecuting as heretofore.f The in- 
 
 fessor of Philosophy, of the university, of Jena, who was form- 
 erly a Benedictine in the convent of Banz, from whence, hap- 
 pily for himself, and for that philosophy which he cultivates 
 with success, he escaped. Nevertheless, these monks of Bantz 
 passed for the luminaries of Catliolic Germany. The excess of 
 their superstition would scarcely obtain credit, were it not re- 
 lated by an eye-witness, who was long the victim of it. 
 
 * It is g-rateful to me to be able to instance a striking- excep- 
 tion. All Europe will join me in naming" the illustrious Elector 
 Archchanccllor of Dulberg-, whom history will record among 
 the best of princes; who is proudly claimed by the sciences; 
 and who fills a station in the literary world, analogous to that 
 which his high dignity secures him in tlie political, 
 
 t Every year in the service of Holy Thursday, the Pope 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 57 
 
 trigues of the Catholic party to bring- back the princes of the 
 reformed party to the Roman communion, would be deserv- 
 ing of being known ; such, for example, as those they put in 
 practice with the Elector of Saxony, and with Queen Chris- 
 tiana^ of Sweden. The evil disposition towards those sove- 
 reigns who remain separated from Rome is very visible ; and, 
 to this day,* the Holy See has not formally acknowledged 
 
 still excommunicates and curses all the heretics, and partlcular- 
 , ly the Lutherans, in these terms: "Nosig-itur, vetustum et so- 
 \lemnem hunc morem sequentes, excommunicamus et anathema- 
 ■tisamus ex parte Dei omnipotentis, Patrds et Filii et Sph-itus 
 Sancti, ac nostra, omnes hereticos, nee non damnatum, impiam 
 et abominabilem Martini Lutheri hserasin sequentes, ac omnes 
 . fautores et receptatores, librosque ipsius Martini aut quorumvis 
 aliorum legentes, et g-eneraliter quoslibet defensores." (Bullea 
 ., Magn. Luxemb. 1741, T. I, p. 718.) Who would have thought, 
 after even the most zealous Catholics had blamed the impolitic 
 I revocation of the edict of Nantes, by Louis XIV. that a prince 
 I should still be found in Europe capable of resolving on a pro- 
 ceeding so inhuman and so fatal to his states. The Archbishop 
 olSalzbourg, Baron of Firmain, in the year 1732, afflicted his 
 \ country with a similar desolation. After unheard-of persecutions 
 1 exercised on those who were not Catliolics, he at length ordered 
 'them to quit their country, to the number of 30,000, without 
 \ daring to carry anything aw^ay, or to take their families with 
 ; them. Such an emigration exhausted this s;r.all territory. The 
 ■ unhappy fugitives were received by the Protestant states of 
 /Europe, who provided for their subsistence: a great part of 
 them went to people and clear districts in North America, where 
 the descendents of these Salzbourgian emigrants are still to be 
 met with, 
 
 * The reigning Pope has just declared, in a brief addressed to 
 Prince Riispoli, that he ought to be considered as the supreme 
 head of all the orders of knighthood: in this he has been guided 
 by the example of his predecessors. In the thirteenth century, 
 when the Teutonic Knights had conquered Ducal Prussia, and 
 established themselves in it as sovereigns, Innocent IV. declared 
 by a bull, dated 1243, that this conquest belonged, of right to 
 his see. His word are as follows; " Terram Prussioe .... in jus 
 et proprietatem B. Petre suscipiinus, et eam sub speclali apos-^ 
 tolicae sedis protectione ac defensioneperpetuistemporibus per- 
 manere sancimus . . . ." (Acta Borrussica. T. I. p. 423). A; 
 sovereignty so well acquired, will not be willingly abandoned.' 
 When the Electors of Brandenburg took the title of Kings of 
 Prussia, and all the powers of Europe, with the exception of 
 
58 
 
 VILLERS ESSAY. 
 
 the King of Prussia. Long after the reformation, Cle- 
 ment VIII. prepared the form of an oath to be taken by the 
 
 Spain, acknowledged them in that quality, Pope Clement XI. 
 exclaimed loudly, and wrote to every prince to rouse him against 
 the unheard-of temerity of the Marquis of Brandenburg-. In the 
 brief of the 16th April, 1701, addressed to the King of France, 
 are the following passages. " Etsi nobis persuasum sit, majest. 
 tuam nullo modo probare consilium, deterimo in Christiana re- 
 publicaexemplo, a Fridericomarcboine Brandeburgensi suscep- 
 tum, dum regium nomen publice usurpare prsesumpsit .... 
 factum hujus modi apostolicarum sanctionum dispositioni con- 
 trarium, et hujus sanctae sedis auctoritati injuriosum, .... ex 
 quo scilicet sacra regalis dignitas ab homine a^atholico non sine 
 ecclesia contemptu assumitur, et quidem marchio seregem dicere 
 non dubitat ejus partis Prussiae, quoe ad militarem teutonicorum 
 ordinem antiquo jure pertinet; nos rem silentio prseterrire non 
 possumus, ne muneri nostro deesse videamur .... expetimus, 
 ne videlicet regios honores illi tribuqs, qui illorum numero nimis 
 incaute se junxit, quos increpat simul et reprobat sermo ille di- 
 vinus : ipsi regnaverunt et non ex me, principes existerunt etnon 
 cognovi . . . ." And in the Orationes consistor. dementis XI. 
 it is seen that this Pope, giving an account of this event, and of 
 his bull to the college of cardinals, relates, "that the Margrave 
 Frederick has arrogated to himself the title of king in a manner 
 at once impious and unheard-of among Christians; it being well 
 known that, according to the pontifical laws, an heretic prince 
 should rather lose his ancient dignities, than acquire a new one." 
 Is not this the languarge and the principles of Hildebrand, the 
 same pretensions, the same abuse of passages of the Bible, sin- 
 grilarly applied to modern times? It might, perhaps, be sup- 
 posed that the Holy See had afterwards retracted this protesta- 
 tion, and acknowledged a monarch who treats his Catholic sub- 
 jects with an exemplary equality of rights. Nothing' less. When, 
 in 1782, Pius VI. took a journey to Germany, a Prussian minister 
 used some endeavours Avith him to obtain a formal recognition 
 of the crown of Prussia, Pius, who, at that time, did not wish to 
 embroil himself with a German prince, answered politely, and 
 promised that, on his return to Rome, he would assemble a con- 
 gregation of cardinals, without vvhom he could not come to any 
 determination, to deliberate on the subject. This congregation 
 has never been called, and the Pope has forgotten his promise. 
 The pontifical calendar, printed at Rome, with the approbation 
 and privilege of the Holy Father, has continued, as before, to 
 make no mention either of the kingdom or the duchy of Prussia, 
 nor even of the electorate of Brandenburg. In the genealogical 
 
 \Jv< 
 
VILLERS ESSAY. 59 
 
 bishops and archbishops, in which are laid down all the prin- 
 ciples of despotism and intolerance of Rome.* Without pre- 
 
 table of this house, (1783) the g-reat Frederick is thus described: 
 Charles Frederick, (Marchese,) Marquis ; a title so trifling' at 
 Rome as to be ridiculous. Prince Henry of Prussia is described 
 as brother to the Marquis. Neither is there any mention of an 
 electorate of Hanover in this calendar. In g-eneral, everything' 
 determined on by the odious treaty of Westphalia, is of no value 
 at Rome. The thundering" bull of Innocent X. ag^ainst this in- 
 strument of peace to tlie Cliristian people is well known ; and 
 his successors have, from time to time, renewed tliese anathemas. 
 In this respect, the pmitifical court_lives outlawed in the midst 
 of Europe, and is separate JTrbm the political communion. In 
 1782, on occasion of some differences relating to the Prussian part 
 of the diocese of Cologne, the King of Prussia relied on an article 
 of this celebrated treaty; the Pope replied, in unquahfied terms, 
 I that the treaty of Westphalia was of no value to him, a)id could 
 \ not bind him in any^manner, not having been acknowledg'ed by 
 ■; his see ; " Non put) valuttirsi a quest' oggetto la separazione che 
 \si suppone satta in virtu dell' art. V. della Pace Westphahca; 
 giacche e noto, che la S. Sede non ha mai riconosciuta questa 
 Pace contro di cui Innocenzo X. si protesto, non solo in voce . . 
 
 ma anche con due sue constituzioni cosi permetera che 
 
 il S. Padre non convenga in une ragione la quale s'opporebbe a 
 tutto cio." This letter is well known in Berlin. The same 
 calendar of state, quoted above, under the head of the popula- 
 tion of Rome, enumerates also the foreigners, and amongst the 
 rest, states "Heretics, Turks, and other Infidels about 100!" — 
 •These are recent facts; and a thousand others might be brought 
 /forward. I ask every impartial judge if they are of a nature to 
 / inspire a very great confidence in the voluntary amendment of 
 the system of the pontifical court and of the spirit of papism? 
 
 * " Fidelis et obediens ero domino nostro paper, ej usque suc- 
 cessoribus. Consilium quod mihxtradituri suntnemini pandam,Pa- 
 patumRomanum et regalia S. Petri adjutor eis ero adretinendum 
 et defendendum contra omnem hominem. Jura, honores, privi- 
 legia et auctoritatem S . Rom. ecclesije, domini nostri papae et suc- 
 cessorum. conservare,def'endere, augere, promovere curabo. Quae 
 si talia a quibuscumque tractari vel procurari novero, quant6 
 citius potero, significabo. Hcereticos, schismaticos, et rebelles 
 eidem domino nostro, pro posse persequar." (Pontificale Ro- 
 manum, Clem. A^III. Pontif max. Jussueditum, Antwerp, 1627, 
 p. 59.) A word more on the famous bull, In Caena Domini, 
 which contains the whole elixir of ultramontane orthodoxy, and 
 in which are deposited the principles which make, and always 
 
60 VILLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 judice, what could be expected from such regulations 1 What 
 would absolute popes have done, when supported by bigoted 
 and jealous emperors, who would have been united in spirit 
 and interest with Rome. 
 
 There is not anything, therefore more vague, more uncer- 
 tain, more destitute of real foundation, than the assurance, 
 gratuitously given by the antagonists of the reformation, that 
 the renovation of knowledge would, insensibly, have correct- 
 ed all the abuses in the church and in policy. We most as- 
 suredly see few traces of this pretended amelioration in the 
 government of the ultramontane states, or of those who have 
 remained most immediately subjected to the yoke of papism. 
 What has, for several centuries, kept our neighbours, the Ot- 
 tomans, with whom also we have so much commercial inter- 
 course, in a barbarism similar to that of the Christian nations 
 during the middle age? It is religious superstition; it is 
 their muftis, their faquirs, their dervises, who have kept 
 among them a dislike to true knovrledge, and to philosophy. 
 We occidentals had plenty of such opponents, and even 
 worse than the orientals ; we had an inquisition, which they 
 have not, the terrible reign of which we should, perhaps have 
 seen perpetuated to our days, but for the reformation. Charm- 
 ing road to a better state of things ! In the sixteenth century, 
 . some of the European states, and a great number of indivi- 
 
 will make, the secret basis of the conduct of the Holy See. This 
 bull, written in 1610 by Paul V. and promulg-ated in 1627, by 
 Urban YIII. is a complete collection of the anathemas issued 
 centuries ag-o against those who are refractory to the orders of 
 the vicar of J. C. It excommunicates heretics, schismatics, 
 pirates, and corsairs; all who dare to appeal to a future council 
 ag-ainst the bulls and briefs of the Pope, princes who establish 
 new taxes without the permission of the Pope; those who make 
 treaties of alliance with Turks or Heretics; those who complain 
 to the secular judg'es ag'ainst the wrongs and injuries received 
 from the court of Rome, etc. etc. These revolting terms were 
 rpng the law in the Roman dominion, and even in some provinces 
 ®f France, such as Roussilon and Cerdagne, until, at length, the 
 courageous M. de Cappot, advocate-general to the superior 
 council of Roussilon, in the month of Maj-ch, 1763, took mea- 
 . sures against this abuse of the ecclesiastical power, and put a 
 ^stop to the annual publication of the bull. See the work en- 
 I titled Jurisprudence du grand-conseil examinae dans les maxi- 
 mes du royaume, Avignon, 1775. 
 
VILLERS ESSAY. 61 
 
 duals, thought it right to take another. The Catholic princes, 
 agents of Rome, endeavoured to deprive them of that liberty. 
 They waged a vrar of extermination against the Protestants 
 who could take up arms : they burnt and massacred, with 
 incredible fury, those who could not. They then exclaimed : 
 " See, of how many evils are those refractory wretches the 
 cause ! What a flame have they kindled in Europe ! They 
 are guilty of all their blood which we have shed, of all the 
 scaffolds which we have prepared for them !" Strange re- 
 criminations, which many people have given, and still do 
 give credit to ; so easy is it to dose in the career of an esta- 
 blished order of things which has endured for centuries! 
 And since the order established in the sixteenth century was 
 supported by a double power, by the secular arm, and by re- 
 ligious fanaticism, which would neglect nothing to maintain " 
 it, it is very evident that time would not have produced a sa- 
 lutary change, without a commotion, at least equal to that 
 which took place. 
 
 Is not this mode of considering what might have happened 
 and what has not happened, in some respects a description of 
 the influence which the reformation has had on the state of 
 things in Europe? But let us examine more in detail, what 
 its positive results have been. 
 
 i-i./ir vlr 
 
( 62 ) 
 
 PART II. 
 
 INFLUENCE OF THE REFORMATION. 
 
 FIRST HEAD. 
 
 On the Political Situation of the States of Europe. 
 
 Mens j^gitat Jifolem. 
 The active power of thought is superior to the inert power of a mass. 
 
 Before the reformation, Europe was, in general, subject 
 to two powers, the spiritual and the temporal. On the one 
 hand, the head of the church extended his authority and his 
 pretensions over every state indiscriminately ; on the other, 
 a great number of bishops and prelates had become temporal 
 sovereigns of the flocks, which, at first, were entrusted to 
 their spiritual guidance, and there was not any country in 
 which the clergy, high and low, secular and regular, did not 
 possess considerable wealth and privileges, and enjoy great 
 authority. The church constituted a powerful body which 
 pressed hard upon the political bodies, and, in a greater or 
 less degree, influenced their existence. Hence every remarka- 
 ble alteration in the church occasioned a change in the poli- 
 tical order ; now a revolution wliich had commenced in the 
 domain of religion, must have exerted its first influence on 
 the church. It is therefore natural to treat first of this, as 
 well with regard to itself and its head, as to its relations, and 
 those of its members, with the difterent governments ; next 
 we shall examine what influence the reformation, considered 
 in a political point of view, has exercised on the states of 
 Europe, both Protestant and Catholic; finally, we shall take 
 an historical view of the system of equilibrium introduced 
 into Europe since that epocha, of its variations, and of the 
 powers which have alternately acted the principal parts in it, 
 until the period at which the influence of the reformation on 
 it ceased. 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 63 
 
 SECT. I. 
 
 Of the Church in itself, and in its Political Relations. 
 
 The popes lose half the empire, more than half Switzer- 
 land, all Denmark, Sweden, Holland, and England, the rich 
 tributes which flowed from these countries to Rome cease en- 
 tirely. The credit of the sovereig-n pontiff with all these 
 Christian powers is annihilated. Still if it had only been a 
 new irruption of barbarians, an earthquake, an inundation, or, 
 in short, any physical cause which had ravished these delight- 
 ful possessions from the Holy See! But it was an active 
 force, a dangerous epidemy, which produced such evils to it. 
 It was nations and princes, who of their own free will, 
 through conviction, had dared, to withdraw themselves in 
 this manner from the pontifical authority. The example was 
 to be dreaded, both at tlie time present, and for the time to 
 come. It was easy to foresee that sooner or later this exam- 
 ple would be universally followed. The church which had 
 seceded from Rome, subsisted with decency and honour ; re- 
 ligion, the gospel, morals were respected in it ; the rights 
 which had been arrogated by Rome were allowed their just 
 value in it; good writings on this subject were everywhere 
 disseminated; they were even read in the Catholic countries, 
 and produced an effect on them ; and even on the steps of the 
 pontifical throne, more than one ironical sneer contemned the 
 Tiara. It was this which rendered the wound deep and in- 
 curable, and which the popes would not suffer themselves, at 
 4 first, to believe, in all its extent. E ven after this terrible 
 
 Iblow, the pride of Hildebrand and the vices of Borgia were 
 seen, for an instant, in the Christian world. But at length, 
 time and hard experience have convinced them of their real 
 situation ; they are resigned, at least in appearance, to the 
 station of humility and of submission which has ever since 
 been their lot among the powers of the earth. The Catholic 
 sovereigns, on their part, have from that time considered the 
 pope as a political spring, to bring into action for the accom- 
 plishment of their designs, and as a means for converting the 
 credulity of their subjects to their own benefit : hence the 
 conduct held to him ; but the apparent respect has since then 
 been only idle etiquette. It is too well known that the Vati- 
 can is but an extinguished volcano. The spontaneous acts 
 of Rome have had no effect, while a simple courier, secretly 
 expedited from Paris, Vienna, or Lisbon, to this ancient ca- 
 pital of the world, procured, sometimes a bull for the extinc- 
 
64 VILLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 tion of a religious order, sometimes a reform, sometimes a 
 regulation, so many proofs of submission given by the weak 
 successor of so many arrogant pontiffs, who only purchases 
 his precarious existence at the price of every complaisance 
 which is required of him. 
 
 So considerable a portion of the riches and credit of 
 Rome having disappeared, the excessive luxury, the flatterers, 
 the parasites also disappeared by degrees. This gave birth 
 to a reform of manners, to a change of life, which was become 
 quite indispensable to the Roman clergy. Those of the Pro- 
 testant Church were, in general, poor, learned, and exem- 
 plary. So many eyes opened upon the contrast of the two 
 bodies, created an imperious necessity for lessening it, and 
 even for removing it wholly. Besides the Popes and all the 
 members of the Roman clergy, living in their time, and par- 
 ticipating in their lights, would, themselves, have blushed at 
 a conduct similar to that of many of their predecessors. Those 
 particularly who have filled the functions of pastors in times 
 nearer to our own, have generally lived in the exercise of the 
 most eminent virtues. The head and the clergy of the Ro- 
 mish church have, in a great measure, become what they 
 always ought to have been. It is very true that this church 
 has commenced a reform ; but it is also true that this reform 
 is only an immediate consequence, and perhaps, a compul- 
 sory one, of that effected by Luther, who, in this view of it, 
 must also be considered as the reformer of the Catholic 
 clergy. 
 
 What has been just said of the weakness and humiliation 
 of the Roman clergy, must not, as has been already observed, 
 be understood of the time immediately subsequent to the re- 
 formation. Since the political troubles which arose in Eu- 
 rope, in consequence of it, had all a religious character, and 
 originated in religious disputes, it is natural that the eccle- 
 siastics should act an important part in them, and that princes 
 should consider them as necessary agents in these affairs, 
 and employ their counsels and their ministry. 
 
 In f-act, during this period, we find a number of church- 
 men holding the principal situations, and becoming of weight 
 in the state. The famous Council of Trent, which occupied 
 and agitated every court, from 1545 to 1563, also rendered 
 ecclesiastics indispensable in the cabinets of their sovereigns. 
 On the other hand, the high opinion at that time entertained 
 of the refined politics of the Roman court, was a prejudice 
 very favourable to priests of every description. The political 
 importance which was acquired by some members of the clergy. 
 
VILLERS ESSAY. 65 
 
 could not but affect the whole body in a degree, and doubtless 
 the church is indebted to it for the consolidation and mainte- 
 nance of many of the rig-hts which it would have lost from 
 that time. Many of the violent measures entered into by sove- 
 reigns, and of which the history of the sixteenth and seven- 
 teenth centuries offers numerous examples, also arose, with- 
 out doubt, from the inquisitorial zeal of such counsellors. 
 Nevertheless some of these priest-ministers conducted them- 
 selves more as servants of the state, than as servants of the 
 altar, and the minister sometimes got the better of the priest. 
 At length, this last period of sacerdotal importance vanished. 
 It was annihilated in an instant, after the treaty of Westpha- 
 lia, where religion ceased to be the main-spring of politics, 
 and the action of governments was directed by other priiici- \ 
 pies ; such, for example, as a financial and commercial spirit,^ ; 
 the in^ueTTC'eoT "which still cTjhtinues,' and may continue for 
 a length of time. 
 
 To the same motives may be attributed the rapid elevation 
 and immense credit of the new order of Jesuits, who, born 
 by the side of Protestantism, and, at the same time, were 
 destined from their birth to combat and counterbalance it. 
 These new soldiers of the church, constituted in a much more 
 formidable manner than the army of mendicants, raised in 
 the barbarous ages, and inventors of a system of tactics much 
 more suitable to the spirit of the new one, did everything for 
 the enfeebled church which could be hoped for from human 
 powers, directed by the most profound prudence, zeal, perse- 
 verance, genius, and a combination of talents. They got 
 possession of courts, of nations, of confessionals, of pulpits, 
 of the education of youth, of missions, and of the deserts of 
 the two worlds. Nothing appeared to them impossible in 
 extending the dominion of the Holy See to places where it 
 did not exist, or in consolidating it where it was still maintain- 
 ed. In pursuit of this object they dreaded neither persecutions 
 nor calumnies. Represented as ambitious, fomenters of trou- 
 bles, corrupt men, and even, as regicides, by their adversa- 
 ries, they opposed the stoical severity of their lives, their 
 services, and their studious austerity, to these accusations. 
 This is not the place to enter into the detail of the move- 
 ments produced in the politics of Europe by this celebrated 
 societ}^, the influence of which arose only from the reaction 
 of Catholicism against the reform. It is sufficient to observe, 
 that if the latter could have sunk, and experienced a counter- 
 revolution, the Jesuits would doubtless have effected the 
 great work. So far from this, that the enemy, whom they 
 6* 
 
66 
 
 flattered themselves they could crush, gave them the mortal 
 blow: the genius of modern times declared against the spiri- 
 tual tyranny of Rome, and, formed by the reformation into an 
 effective power, has reduced those audacious defenders of 
 papism to a nonentity. To consummate, and, at the same 
 time, to bear testimony to the humiliation of his party, it was 
 necessary that the pope himself should be compelled to dis- 
 card them. A victim to the general spirit of humanity, which 
 in its progressive advancement decrees the ruin of every in- 
 stitution inimical to it, Ganganelli signing with humid eye 
 the bull for the extinction of the Jesuits, was only the pre- 
 cursor of the unfortunate Louis XVI, who, in less than 
 tw^enty years after, was forced to send away his army, his 
 nobility, his guards. Whoever reflects on history cannot 
 withhold admiration from a society which has constantly 
 shown such courage, concert, perseverance, and address in 
 its plans : while acknowledging the ill it may have done, he 
 will be unable to avoid doing justice to all of great or useful 
 which it has produced. Its radical vice, and the principle 
 of its destruction, lay in the institution itself. Destined to 
 support the edifice of the hierarchy, which imperceptibly 
 mouldered away, on every side, tbe hand of time, and opinion 
 which guides it, must necessarily overturn this last rampart, 
 attached to a vast ruin which nothing could uphold.* 
 
 The aspect of tbe clergy in the countries which have adopt- 
 ed the reform, is totally different, its members do not wish 
 to be other than what they can, and ought to be, the ministers 
 of the word of God, the guardians of the public morals. 
 i Freed from all obedience foreign to the country from which 
 1 they receive their stipend, become husbands, fathers, citizens ; 
 t they have no longer any interest but that of the state in which 
 
 * Some individuals, animated by a blind zeal, still make 
 weak and vain efforts to revive tbe order of Jesuits. They will 
 not succeed. A moral impossibility opposes them. Their order 
 was a natural product of the time in which it arose ; to the pre- 
 sent time, it can only be a foreig'u and parasitical plant, which 
 must wither for want of nourishment. Our ag-e cannot acknow- 
 ledg-e the sons of Loyola for its children. A few retreats, in 
 which their feeble remains may be concealed, where they may 
 secretly propag-ate superannuated principles, will be their only 
 rehaiice. They must never more quit them to domineer over 
 opinion, and throug-b it, over the world ; it is opinion which 
 will wound them there, and will change even the spirit of their 
 sectaries. 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 67 
 
 they live. They are appointed either by the prince, or by the 
 magistrate, or by the people : Luther brought the Saxon 
 church, in what relates to its internal government, to the de- 
 mocracy of the first age, and the hierarchy to a moderate sys- 
 tem of subordination. The churches which have followed 
 Calvin are still more democratically constituted. But the 
 clergy no longer form a civil corporation in any of them. 
 Some public marks of honour and deference are the only pri- 
 vileges of the ministers. According to the words of their 
 master they give unto Caesar that which is C'a-^arV, by render- 
 ing unto God that which they owe him. The abolition of 
 auricular confession* cuts off, at one stroke, the infinite rami- 
 fications by which the hierarchical despotism had taken root 
 in all parts, and deprives the clergy of their incalculable influ- 
 ence over princes, grandees, and women, and over all fami- 
 lies. 
 
 The constitution of the church, in Denmark, in Sweden, 
 and more especially in England, has continued more confor- 
 mable in appearance to the Roman hierarchy, for reasons pe- 
 culiar to these three countries, and which are to be found in 
 their history. One of the principal was the attachment of 
 their sovereigns to the system of episcopal subordination, 
 which they thought more favourable to their authority. The 
 'Euiitans, Presbyterians, and others, had given sufficient indi- 
 cations of republicanism, to alarm their princes for the con-; 
 sequences of this spirit, so nearly connected with that of Pro-- 
 testantism. The favourite motto of the Stuarts, "No Bishop,, 
 no King," is well known. Thus these kingdoms have re- 
 tained Protestant bishops, who enjoy moderate revenues, and 
 some civil prerogatives attached to their situations, as being 
 members of the states, or of the House of Peers., etc. But 
 these prerogatives are individual, and it would be wrong to 
 to suppose from this circumstance, that the clergy still forms 
 a distinct order in these nations.")" In some parts of Germany 
 
 * It is necessary to giiard against blending" the auricular con- 
 fession of the Roman Catholics, with til e particular confession, 
 still in use with some Protestants. They are two very different 
 things, which scarcely have any resemblance to each other, ex- 
 cept in name. 
 
 •\ It is useless to notice the only two evangelical bishops of 
 Germany, that of Osnaburgh, and that of Lubeck. These two 
 bishoprics have been secularized in favour of the houses which 
 have long- possessed them. 
 
68 VILLERS ESSAY. 
 
 the principal guardians of worship are caWed general superi7i- 
 tendents. Ecclesiastical affairs are discussed by tribunals, 
 called consistories. They are established by the prince, and 
 it is by no means uncommon for their president to be a lay- 
 man ; as, for example, in the free towns, it is the syndic of 
 the senate. 
 
 The Protestant princes have everywhere become the su- 
 preme heads of the church. This circumstance has contribu- 
 ted greatly to the increase of power which has followed the 
 reformation in most of the governmentsof Europe, and which 
 may be considered as a consequence of its influence. In the 
 Protestant countries, the immense vacuum occasioned by the 
 sudden cessation of all ecclesiastical authority and jurisdic- 
 tion, was immediately filled by the civil power, which in- 
 creased in ])roportion. In the Catholic countries, the church, 
 terrified and menaced, also gave some ground to the authority 
 of government. The wars, both civil and external, which, 
 in most states, were the consequence of the religious animo- 
 sity, in the end, enabled princes to render their power unlimit- 
 ed, as will be shown in speaking of each state in particular. 
 
 A proximate consequence of the reformation, and of the op- 
 positions, the actions, and reactions, it set in motion, was also 
 the establishment of various sects of Christianity as dominant 
 religions in tlie countries where they had taken root. For- 
 merl)', w4ien only one communion was known, such an idea 
 could not have existed. Papism governed by its own power, 
 and not by the law. When heretics were persecuted, it was 
 not by a law of the state, but by a requisition from the Pope, 
 to whom the prince gave his aid. One effect of the reciprocal 
 jealousy and opposition of these sects was to exclude from 
 all the places of state, and frequently, even from the throne, 
 all who did not profess the same faith, or had not the same 
 creed, as that adopted by the bulk of the nation and by the 
 government. From this legal arrangement arose a new spe- 
 cies of intolerance, which, hitherto, had remained unknown, 
 and which was established in the different Protestant com- 
 munions, as well as among the Catholics. Hence the revo- 
 cation of the edict of Nantes and the civil disability which 
 weighed so heavily on every citizen of a confession different 
 from that which was predominant. In some Catholic coun- 
 tries this disability amounted to a civil death. A reformist 
 could not possess goods in his own right, nor bequeath them, 
 nor marry, nor have legitimate children ; happy if he was not 
 hunted by dragoons, and did not perish by their hands, or by 
 those of the executioner : for it must be confessed that the 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 69 
 
 Catholic stales pushed this intolerance much further than the 
 most intolerant reformists. 
 
 Finally, there are very few of the states of Europe that 
 have adhered to the Holy See, in which it has retained all its 
 prerogatives. Venice and Portugal have always shown 
 themselves refractory ; and so has Spain at times. A multi- 
 tude of Protestants, Socinians, and Dissenters of every con- 
 fession, have sprung up in Poland, Hungary, and Austria. It 
 has been the same in the ecclesiastical principalities of Ger- 
 many. In France, besides a very great number of individuals 
 who have adopted the reform, the kings and the parliaments 
 have on many occasions, shown themselves but little favour- 
 able to the ultramontane pretensions ; and, in more instances 
 than one, the monarchs have threatened Rome to follow the 
 example of J^e/zry VIII. The courageous Galilean church has 
 had more than one worthy successor of Gerson and Richer ; 
 and it has required great management to keep it an integrant 
 part of the patrimony of St. Peter. I'he council assembled 
 at Trent to reconcile all the church of Christ, only marked its 
 divisions more strongly. This assembly issued a multiplicity 
 of decrees which the greater part of the Catholic states did 
 not adopt without great modifications, and which soon fell into 
 disuse, for want of a power to enforce their execution. This 
 council, which was to reinstate the Popes, produced SarpPs 
 book, which has done them more harm than ten councils can 
 remedy. M. de Marca, Archbishop of Toulouse, in his 
 Treatise Be concordid sacerdotii et imperii^ and more especially 
 M. de Honthiem^ suffragan Bishop of Treves, in his work* 
 published under the feigned name of Justnius Febronius, have 
 completed what Sarpi so happily began. The successive 
 efforts of the Christian states to attain independence, are con- 
 nected by an uninterrupted chain with those of the first reform- 
 ers. Thus we must consider, as consequences of the same 
 influence, the reforms attempted, and, in part, effected, in the 
 clergy of Austria by Joseph II. ,- as well as the total dispos- 
 session of the clergy of France, and its political annihilation 
 by the constituent assembly ; and, finally, the general secu- 
 larization which has been lately effected in Catholic Ger- 
 many.| It is obvious how easy it would be to show that the 
 
 * De statu Ecclesije et leg-itima potestate Romani Pontlficvs. 
 A conciliandos dissidentes in Religione christianos. Bullioni, 
 1763. 
 
 f More terrible attacks perhaps still await the Papal authority 
 and the Roman clerg'y, in this country. What friend of know- 
 
70 VILLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 remote source of these great events is in the reformation, 
 which alone, as is very evident, could have made them pos- 
 sible ; and that the fall of the Roman clergy, which began at 
 that time, has only been completed in our days. 
 
 SECT. 11. 
 
 On the principal Christian States. 
 
 Here a double point of view manifestly offers itself ; that 
 of the interior situation of the different states in themselves, 
 and that of the exterior situation in respect of each other. The 
 first must exhibit the proportion of their strength ; that of 
 their prosperity ; the power of their princes ; the liberty of 
 the people : the second relates solely to the system of equili- 
 brium introduced into Europe since the reformation. 
 
 FIRST POINT OF VIEW. 
 Internal Situation of the States. 
 
 The influence of the reformation has been more perceptible 
 on the states in which it arose, and acquired consistence, than 
 on those which have not adopted it. It therefore appears na- 
 tural to begin here with the former. 
 
 And in the first place, let us attend to their common desti- 
 nies, as Protestant states. 
 
 I. PROTESTANT STATES. 
 
 The immense sums which, under every name and pretext, 
 these states sent continually to Rome, and which exhausted 
 their currency, have ceased to leave the country : they circu- 
 late in it; they give a new activity to commerce and industry; 
 
 ledge and of humanity but observes with interest the measures 
 taken in Bavaria by an enlightened and benevolent prince, who 
 will regenerate this fine country, by promoting learning and in- 
 dustry at the expense of superstition and monarchism i* May all 
 his beneficent views be accomplished without opposition! The 
 immortality which awaits him, the homage of every good man, 
 the benedictions of his subjects, will be his certain recompense. 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 71 
 
 a new prosperity to the subjects ; and an increase of strength 
 to the government; while, on the other hand, public credit 
 experiences temporary checks in them. Treasures are con- 
 cealed or buried, from a dread of the future, the standard of 
 coin is changed, emigrations become frequent, the insecurity 
 which is a consequence of the uncertainty of a triumph of 
 parties, lessens the credit of landed property ! money being 
 more transportable, is in greater estimation than it; but man, 
 in himself, more particularly acquires a price superior to both 
 of them ; his intrinsic value being more useful is more felt, 
 and becomes the most esteemed of all property. 
 
 This is one of the best effects of these terrible commotions 
 which, deranging all rights, the offspring of social institutions, 
 leaves, in their stead, only greatness of soul, virtue, and ta- 
 lents, the produce of nature alone. 
 
 The immense possessions of the clergy, as w^ell secular as 
 regular, are placed at the disposal of the governments. Most 
 of them wisely turn this good fortune to advantage, pay their 
 debts, fill their coffers, apply the property of whole abbies, 
 and other ecclesiastical possessions, in useful establishments, 
 in schools, universities, hospitals, orphan houses, dwellings, 
 and rewards for the old servants of the state ; measures, by 
 which this property is restored to its primitive destination : 
 and finally these governm.ents are placed in a state to sup- 
 port the wars, in which every one sees that the existing crisis 
 must inevitably plunge them. Some of them, however, dissi- 
 pate the wealth they have acquired, without thought : others 
 are obliged to leave the better part of it to the nobility, Den- 
 mark for instance, as will be noticed hereafter. 
 
 Governments not only dispose of the wealth of the church, 
 but they also find that they have the disposition of the wealth, 
 the persons, and all the strength of the people. The cause of 
 religion is become that of every individual : the resources 
 which this disposition offers to princes are incalculable. We 
 have seen what it was able to effect in the first war against 
 Charles V. and afterwards in the thirty years war against the 
 two Ferdinands. What the most imminent danger of the state 
 could not have obtained from the individuals of it, religious 
 zeal brought about without difiiculty ; for it, artizans, trades- 
 men, farmers ran to arms ; no one attempted to screen him- 
 self from the taxes though they had become triple their for- 
 mer amount. In the violent agitation in which the danger of 
 their religion had put all minds, life and property were 
 devoted, and the efforts and the burthen, which in a state of 
 greater tranquillity, would have been insupportably distress- 
 
72 VILLERS ESSAY. 
 
 ing, were not felt. The dread of an inquisition, of the scenes 
 of St. Bartholomew, opened sources of power to the league of 
 Smalcald, to the Prince of Orange, to Queen Elizabeth, to Ad- 
 miral Coligny, which would have been closed in every other 
 state of things. ' 
 
 When once a people of their own accord, enthusiastically, 
 and for several successive generations, have made common 
 cause with their princes, a public spirit of concert and har- 
 mony is produced between the people and the government, 
 between the head and the members, which is salutary to the 
 country, and is sometimes continued in it for ages. We cannot 
 err with respect to this disposition in the Protestant nations, 
 if we examine them narrowly ; and the histories of them, that 
 of Prussia in particular, exhibit many instances wherein it 
 was manifested. 
 
 But if through his quality of head of the church, and 
 through the confidence of his people, a Protestant prince ac- 
 quires more stability and more authority, the very nature of 
 the event which puts this new power into his hands, requires 
 that he should make the most legitimate and most equitable 
 use of it. He has only acquired power to serve and to de- 
 fend the nation, not to oppress it. The most accurate ob- 
 servers have noticed, that nature has particularly fitted the 
 people of the North to be republicans ; and it cannot be de- 
 nied that several of those who have embraced the reforma- 
 tion have always been actuated by this spirit, as for example, 
 the Saxons, the Swiss, the Dutch, and the English: it may 
 even be said, that the reformation itself was only a positive 
 application of it. This shock in its turn, awakened all the 
 energy and the accessory ideas of it. The will to be free 
 in matters of conscience, is, at the bottom, the same as the 
 will to be free in civil matters. Now this will can accom- 
 plish all that is required, and there are no slaves, but those 
 who wish to be so, or who have not the strength of will to 
 put an end to it. The energy of men's minds at length con- 
 stitutes true liberty, as their effeminacy makes tyranny neces- 
 sary. The calm and sober sentiment of the high dignity of 
 man, is the only solid foundation of true republicanism ; it 
 is by it alone that equality of rights, and reciprocity of 
 duties are established. Christianity, in the purity of its 
 essence, inspires this sentiment ; for which reason it is very 
 common and general, in the evangelical countries. The con- 
 stitution of England has been much admired, I shall not 
 dispute on its value; but that which renders this uncouth 
 constitution so good, is the patriotism, the dignity, the inde- 
 
VILLERS ESSAY. 73 
 
 pendence of the peasant, the citizen, the gentleman of Eng- 
 land. Introduce the sentiments of slaves into all those hearts 
 which now swell with freedom, and you will soon sec the 
 use of this fine palladium of a constitution. Prussia and 
 Denmark have no parliaments, nor any visible barriers to the 
 royal authority, yet they enjoy the most admirable liberty, 
 but there, the invisible barriers are in the mind, even in that 
 of the prince, nursed and trained in the spirit which animates 
 the nation ; they are in the great simplicity of manners, the 
 most remote from luxury and pride. There we see power- 
 ful princes habited like their subjects, going like them on 
 foot or in a plain carriage, without attendants, without eti- 
 quette; during their youth, simple officers in the national 
 army which they are one day destined to command. What 
 modern state can boast of a king like the immortal Frederick 
 IL? what nations of a union of princes so distinguished and 
 so vdse, as the Protestant nations of Germany 1 Sweden 
 instances with pride the four Gustavuses. Two extraordina- 
 ry women, Elizabeth awd Catharine have filled thrones in Eu- 
 rope during the last centuries; both of them were reared in 
 the principles of Protestantism. Finally, can France forget 
 the best of her kings, and the best minister of that king, 
 were both disciples of the reform. 
 
 Having spoken of this disposition of the public spirit 
 amongst the Protestants, ought I to notice here the pro- 
 gress they have made in the science of legislation, and the 
 other sciences connected with it, such as administration, sta- 
 tistics, &c. 1 or, should I reserve these considerations for the 
 section in which I am to treat of the progress of know- 
 ledge'? 
 
 The uncertainty which I feel in this respect proves that 
 everything that concerns man, in society, has a very inti- 
 mate connection, and that the great business of his liberty 
 depends very closely upon the true culture of his mind. 
 
 It will be therefore sufficient to observe that the ecclesias- 
 tical authority being, before the reformation, closely interwoven 
 with the civil authority, in man}^ places, and wholly blended 
 with it in many others, it was impossible to probe and discuss 
 the rights of the one, without the examination being extended 
 to the rights of the other. It was asked, by what authority 
 the popes claimed the power of setting up, and dethroning 
 kings : this naturally led to an inquiry into the first authori- 
 ty by which the kings were instituted. These respective 
 rights of the church and the state being brought into discus- 
 sion, it was not impossible to touch on this important ques- 
 7 
 
74 VILLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 tion, without a speedy recurrence to the rights of the people. 
 It was found that society, considered as a religious union, 
 that is to say, as a church, had a right of choosing its minis- 
 jters, and fixing its creed : it was very easy to conclude from 
 ithis, that, with regard to its political union, it had also a right 
 ito elect its own magistrates, and to give itself a new consti- 
 /tution. The emperor opposed the new religious creed; it 
 was therefore asked, whether in matters of belief the empe- 
 i ror ought to be obeyed. In 1531, the faculty of right, and 
 \ that of theology of the university of Wittemberg unaniraous- 
 ;ly replied in the negative. From thenceforv^rard, there was 
 Inothing but debates on the limits of obedience due to sove- 
 reigns, and on those of the resistance which might be offered 
 to them. Zwingle pronounced his severe cum Deo 'potest de- 
 poni against the oppression. Before Luther, such a language^ 
 had never been loudly and explicitly heard in Europe. He' 
 dared to speak great truths, and he led the way for many 
 others.* The writings of the first reformers on politics most- 
 ly breathe this spirit. When the long wars of Germany and 
 Flanders were terminated, the same spirit was developed in 
 some excellent work still received as classical, and in which 
 the rights of the two powers, those of the princes, and the peo- 
 ple ; those of political bodies with each other, are discussed 
 with spirit and precision, very different both from the ancient 
 spirit of the schools, and the demagogic exaggeration of the 
 eighteenth century. Germany, Switzerland, Holland, Eng- 
 
 * In his book, de la g-uerre contre les Tures, Luther himself 
 says, *• No one had yet taught or understood; no one knew any 
 thing concerning' the secular power, neither whence it came, 
 nor what was its office, nor how it could be agreeable to God, 
 The best informed held the temporal power and authority to be 
 worldly and profane, nay, pagan and Impious, and a state of 
 danger of salvation. In a word, g'oud princes and lords (being 
 otherwise so disposed to piety) considered their state and digni- 
 ty as less than nothing, and in no respect agreeable to God; and 
 therefore became true priests and monks, thougli without cap 
 and cowl. Moreover the po]>e and clergy, were all in all, over 
 all and everything, like God himself, in the world; and the civil 
 authority was in darkness, oppressed and misunderstood. At 
 present I am reproached with being seditious; although I have 
 (by the grace of God) written wisely and usefully on the secu- 
 lar power, so as has not been done by any teacher since the time 
 of the Apostles, (unless perhaps St. Aug'ustine;) this I can say 
 with a safe conscience, and the world can testify it. 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 75 
 
 land, even France, in which the reform had spread consider- 
 ably, although the government did not adopt it, produced a 
 number of similar writings about this period. Some of the 
 principal ones will be noticed in one of the articles of the 
 second section. 
 
 The reformation, therefore, which, at first, was only a re-^, 
 turn to lilDerty ia-tlie order of- religious affairs, became, for all 
 these reasons, also a return to liberty in the political system. 
 Princes relied on this liberty, they sought it, and embraced 
 it, as well as their subjects. For this reason the Protestant 
 sovereigns have constantly held a different language towards 
 their people ; they have professed other principles of libera- 
 lity and humanity, than the Catholic sovereigns, their cotem- 
 poraries. Their people have been long familiarized to the 
 language and the principles of reason ; they know that it is 
 the basis of their government, and they are accustomed to the 
 discussion of their interests and their rights, which produces 
 no emotion in them ; the liberty of thinking and writing is . 
 as natural to them as the air they breathe. This may induce t 
 a reasonable belief that a political revolution, similar to that / 
 of France, is not practicable in the states which are not Ca- 
 tholic ; the most essential results of such a revolution are al- 
 ready completely established in them, and cupidity cannot 
 now be stimulated by the possessions of the church. Con- 
 sequently there are no people more submissive to their princes 
 and to the laws of their country than the Protestants, because 
 these laws are conceived in a right spirit ; princes and sub- 
 jects are equally patriots and republicans, and every one 
 knows by experience the moderate medium proper to be kept 
 between speculative democracy and practical democracy. 
 
 It is asserted that, at first, Francis I. appeared very favour- 
 able to the doctrine of the reformers of the church.* His 
 beloved sister Margaret, Queen of Navarre, protected it pub- 
 licly. At that instant, the fate of the kingdom depended on 
 the party which he should embrace. If he had adopted the re- 
 form, all France would have followed his example : the fate of 
 Protestantism, in Europe, would have been sooner decided; 
 the civil wars in France would doubtless not have taken 
 place, nor would the revolution of the eighteenth century. 
 Everything assumed a contrary aspect, because the prince 
 
 * lie even wrote to Melancthon to request him to come to 
 Paris. Me'ancthon was unable to comply with this request, be- 
 cause the Elector of Saxony refused his permission. 
 
76 VILLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 conceived lively apprehensions of the political consequences 
 of the reformation. Brantome relates that one day, in a con- 
 versation on this subject, the king- accidentally said, " That 
 this novelty tended principally to the overthrow of monarchy, 
 both divine and human."* In fact, this prince showed, in 
 the end, an irreconcilable hatred to Protestantism, of which 
 his successors inherited too much : the lesson remains. 
 
 But if Francis I. thought in this manner, is it not permitted 
 to take his opinion for an authority, and to consider the esta- 
 blishment of the French republic as a remote, but necessary, 
 corollary to the reformation, as tlie republic of the United 
 Provinces was a proximate corollary, and that of America 
 another, nearer than ours 1 
 
 In some of the extravagant sects which arose from the 
 reformation, such as that of the Anabaptists, w^e may observe 
 the same pretensions to absolute equality and liberty, as 
 occasioned all the excesses of the Jacobins of France : the 
 agrarian law, the pillage of the rich, made part of their creed, 
 and war with ihe castles, and peace to the cottages, might have 
 been inscribed on their ensigns. At first these enthusiasts 
 gave great uneasiness to the princes of Germany. Luther 
 was much hurt at their excesses, and frequently reproached 
 himself with having, though innocently, given rise to them. 
 However they were soon repressed. England was not so 
 soon freed from the disturbance of its Presbyterians and Inde- 
 pendents, as will be seen in the article relating to that power, 
 in the detail to which we are about to proceed. 
 
 It may be added, that all the Protestant princes and states 
 benefited more or less by the labour and industry of a multi- 
 tude of the proscribed, who emigrated from the Catholic 
 countries, where they were persecuted, as happened particu- 
 larly to the Protestants of France, at the revocation of the 
 edict of Nantes ; while the Catholics, tranquil and tolerated, 
 under the dominion of the Protestants, never thought of quit- 
 ting and impoverishing their native land. 
 
 * Did not Francis T. imbibe this opinion from ecclesiastical in- 
 sinuations i* This king', (says the president Henault, under the 
 year 1534) complaining- of the pope to his nuncio, wished to 
 make him fear the example of Henry VIII. to which the nun- 
 cio replied: "Truly, sire, you will be the first sufferer; a new 
 religion g-iven to a nation requires afterwards only the change 
 of the prince." Francis might Iiave replied, that'neither Hen- 
 ry VIII. nor Gastavus Vasa, nor any of the Saxon princes, were 
 dethroned, after having embraced the reform. 
 
VILLERS ESSAY. 77 
 
 We may also observe, that in the Protestant countries, 
 ag-ricultiire and industry were enriched by the suppression of 
 numerous holidays, lost to labour in Catholic countries, and 
 which are, in reality, negative quantities, that diminish, by 
 all their amount, the aggregate of national industry and 
 riches. 
 
 Germaiiy. 
 
 Before the reformation, the German empire was an irregu- 
 lar aggregate of states, which chance, convenience, or events 
 had united into an ill-formed confederation, the constitution 
 of which was a true chaos. The individual forces of these 
 different states, without direction, without unity, were almost 
 a nullity as confederate forces, and incapable of acting exter- 
 nally. The Golden Bull, a strange production of the four- 
 teenth century, fixed, it is true, some of the relations of the 
 head with the members ; but nothing was less clear than the 
 public right of all these independent, though united states. 
 The personal character and power of the emperor were 
 generally the only motives M^hich decided the degree of 
 respect paid to him by the other princes. During the long 
 reign of the indolent Frederick III., called the Pacific, who 
 slept on the imperial throne from 1440 to 1492, this throne 
 lost nearly all its consequence. Maximilian /., notwithstand- 
 ing all the efforts he employed, had much difficulty in restor- 
 ing it. Among the most powerful of the electors and other 
 princes, there was not a single one sufficiently so to make him- 
 self respected ^ternally. They all lived at home, more like 
 private gentlemen and fathers of families than like sovereigns, 
 and were scarcely anything more than the richest proprie- 
 tors in their provinces. There was no likelihood that any of 
 the reigning families would raise themselves from this gene- 
 ral lethargy above the rest. Each prince divided his states 
 among his children, who were often very numerous, which, 
 instead of strengthening, weakened the dynasties. None of 
 the lands were indivisible but those particularly attached to 
 to the electoral dignity. From these divisions, and from 
 other causes, wars between prince and prince, troubles and 
 disorders, frequently arose, which were not put an end to 
 without much difficulty. The younger branches, who were 
 v/orst provided for, and the lords, frequently gave themselves 
 up to depredations, which at present would meet with ex- 
 treme punishment, but to which, in those times, a kind of 
 chivalrous honour was attached. Nothing can be weaker 
 
78 VILLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 than a body thus constituted. They met in diet, it is true, 
 to deliberate on their common concerns; but Frederick, dur- 
 ing more than half a century, which he reigned, had never 
 appeared there, and Maximilian, his son, seldom came, ex- 
 cept to ask for money, of which he was always in want, for 
 the execution of his numuerous projects. If, during the first 
 years of Frederick's reign, the Turk, at that time the irrecon- 
 cilable enemy of all Christianity, had not planted the cresent 
 in Europe, and incessantly menaced the empire with inva- 
 sion, it is not easy to judge how the feeble bond which united 
 this body could have remained unbroken. The terror inspired 
 by Mahomet II. and his ferocious troops, was the first com- 
 mon interest which obliged the princes of Germany to form a 
 more solid connection with each other, round the imperial 
 throne. 
 
 It was in these circumstances that Charles, already in the 
 possession of the flourishing kingdom of Spain, of part of 
 Italy, of the states of the houses of Burgundy and Austria, 
 acceded to this throne. The boundless power of this new 
 emperor soon occasioned an inquietude in most of the states 
 for their future existence, which was menaced by the ambi- 
 tion of their young chief. The reformation offered them a 
 rallying point, new powers, and the possibility of forming a 
 respectable opposition; they embraced it, as much from poli- 
 tical motives as from religious persuasion. Charles Y. did 
 not embrace it, and, on his part, saw only in it the fortunate 
 event, which, furnishing him with the pretext and the right 
 to combat the new opposition with all his povrer, offered the 
 most desirable opportunity of accomplishing his designs with- 
 out difficulty, and in a plausible manner. TKis is the main 
 idea which forms the ground-work of the whole history of his 
 reign. The Protestant princes and states entered into a 
 solemn league, in a sort of peculiar diet, held at Smalcald, 
 under the two most considerable princes of the leag-ue ; Fre- 
 derick the Wise, elector of Saxony, the protector of Luther, 
 and his first disciple among the sovereigns; and Philip, 
 Landgrave of Hesse, called the Generous. This league re- 
 mained long in a menacing and independent attitude, in the 
 presence of Charles. The continual attacks, as well of the 
 French, the Venetians, the Milanese, and the popes, as of the 
 Turks under Soliman II. and which gave the emperor suffi- 
 cient employment in the south and east, prevented the rup- 
 ture from taking place sooner. During this interval, the Pro- 
 testants demaiided concessions from the emperor, and Charles, 
 
VILLERS ESSAY. 79 
 
 who required their assistance, was compelled to yield to most 
 of them. 
 
 At length the moment arrived (in 1546, the very year of 
 Luther's death, who had constantly endeavoured to prevent 
 every sanguinary catastrophe) in which, being- freed from his 
 other enemies, Charles V. was enabled to engage in a contest 
 with the party of the Protestants. At first he was successful; 
 the strength and the military talents of the princes of the 
 league were unequal to their courage ; and the brilliant vic- 
 tory of Muhlberg, in the second year of the war, in which 
 the principal of them were made prisoners, seemed to have 
 put an end to it. But scarcely had Charles begun to enjoy 
 his triumph w^hen Maurice of Saxony snatched from him, by 
 a blow as impossible to foresee as to guard against, the lau- 
 rels he had so lately acquired, and nearly all those he had 
 gained in his laborious career. The Saxon prince had very 
 nearly made prisoner of the emperor himself, in Inspruck. 
 The latter, by the peace signed at Passau, in 1552, strength- 
 ened more than ever the existence of the evangelical body, 
 and saw the fine projects he had conceived for bringing Ger- 
 many under his dominion, annihilated. The king of France, 
 Henry II. who had assisted the Protestants in this war, pub- 
 licly took the title of Protector of the Germanic liberty^ and 
 avenger of the captive princes. Assisted by these civil troubles 
 in the empire, he also made himself master of the bishoprics 
 of Metz, Toul and Verdun. Charles V. did not lose an in- 
 stant in hastening to retake these cities. He miscarried be- 
 fore Metz, and this was one of his last reverses. 
 
 Germany now ceased to be what it had been before this 
 crisis. Its ancient indolence was changed into an active vigi- 
 lance. The princes of the league had tried their strength, 
 and acquired confidence in themselves. The general confe- 
 deration, which continued to subsist, was composed of two 
 opposite parties, jealous of each other, both possessed of a con- 
 stitutional existence, mutually watching each other, and con- 
 tinually appearing ready to come to blows. This marked 
 opposition, this reciprocal irritability became a new principle 
 of life to the whole body, and developed all its powers. Not- 
 withstanding the peace, (too sudden to be well secured,) the 
 empire resembled the ocean after a tempest, the waves of 
 which are still terrible. The universal agitation made a new 
 rupture apparent, and it would certainly be an inexplicable 
 phenomenon in history that this was retarded until 1618, if 
 the personal characters of the three emperors who succeeded 
 Charles V, did not assist us in penetrating the causes of it. 
 
80 
 
 VILLERS ESSAY. 
 
 At leng-th, Ferdinand II. on ascending the imperial throne, 
 found that devastating war already commenced, which con- 
 tinued during all his reign and great part of that of his suc- 
 cessor. Austria took advantage of its open rupture wdth the 
 Protestant party, its frequent successes, and the presence of 
 its armies, to annihilate in the archduchy, Silesia and Mora- 
 via, not only the privileges previously granted to numerous 
 Protestants, who had oftener than once given uneasiness to 
 their suspicious sovereigns, but also those privileges of the 
 states which ameliorated their constitutions. She did the 
 same in Bohemia and Hungary, where she not only destroyed 
 all religious liberty, but also took possession of the inheritance 
 to the crown, which had been formerly elective. The Austrian 
 monarchs are indebted to the reformation for the definitive 
 establishment of their real power within their states; the 
 hope which they lost of ruling other states was certainly not 
 so valuable to them as the real advantage of being absolute 
 and uncontrolled masters of their own, and of acquiring, as 
 patrimonial inheritances, two kingdoms, so inexhaustible in 
 resources and natural riches. The fate of Bohemia was de- 
 cided in 1620, after the bloody battle of Prague. That of 
 Hungary, it is true, was not definitively settled until nearly 
 sixty years later, but it was not the less an immediate conse- 
 quence of the religious war, and of the oppression of the Pro- 
 testant party in this country. After the treaty of Westphalia, 
 the Austrian power retained no other internal weakening 
 principle except the division of its possessions in Suabia, 
 Belgium, and Italy, which by that means became too difficult 
 to defend, as was very evident in her subsequent wars. The 
 last which she had with France deprived her of these fine 
 but burthensome domains. She has acquired others in Ger- 
 many and Poland, which are much more agreeable to her real 
 interests. Austria cannot longer conceive projects inimical to 
 the liberty of Europe, because rivals, of too great weight, 
 have sprung up around her, and confine her on all sides ; but 
 she may always hold an honourable rank among the principal 
 powers, if she makes a wise use of the lessons of external de- 
 gradation, and internal consolidation, taught her by the re- 
 formation. 
 
 During this long and cruel civil discord in the nations of 
 Germany, the ancient bond which subsisted among them was 
 never broken. Some of them were desirous that the whole 
 should be Catholic ; the others would remain Protestants ; but 
 nearly all of them wished to remain united with each other 
 and with their head. Had the empire been divided into two 
 
VILLERS ESSAY. 81 
 
 empires, these two weak confederations would have fallen a 
 prey to the strongest, or to some stranger. On the contrary, 
 experience has shown that the existence of an evangelical 
 body, and its definitive organization, has become a salutary 
 institution to the empire in general, and a strong security for 
 its constitution ; and, that both parties have an equal interest 
 in guarding and supporting it. Even at the present day, 
 when so many of its members have changed their form and 
 their name, the life which supports the whole body will, in 
 all probability, become the more active for it. Whatever may 
 happen hereafter, all w^as disorder and disorganization in this 
 extensive country before the reformation; since that, and 
 through its influence, every state has become order and or- 
 ganization. 
 
 Protestant Germany subsisted at first by its federative force, 
 with considerable equality between its principal members; 
 and, as these states, with the exception of one, have not since 
 been raised so as to produce any sensible influence on the 
 political situation of the states of Europe, they may be passed 
 over here in silence. That a succession of religious troubles 
 has placed the house of Brunswick on the throne of Great 
 Britain, is a circumstance of considerable interest in different 
 points of view ; but on the whole it rather concerns an indi- 
 vidual house, than a state. The King of England being a 
 member of the empire, has sometimes found greater facility 
 in exciting the mass according to his interests ; he has been 
 enabled to draw some regiments from Hanover. But, if 
 what the defence of this country, and the attachment of the 
 kings of the house of Brunswick for their German states, has 
 cost England, to be taken into the account; and if the sort of 
 dependence on Prussia and France which this royal crowm, 
 by its amalgamation wath the electorate, ahvays must be in, 
 and the state of humiliation to which it has sometimes been, 
 consequently, reduced, be added to it, it will be acknowledg- 
 ed that the disadvantages are at least equal to the advantages. 
 The true strength of England is in its riches, and its riches 
 proceed from its fleets. Farther on we shall see what influ- 
 ence the reformation has had on the first developement of 
 this marine. A more important circumstance to the manner 
 in which Germany is settled, was the establishment of the 
 Prussian monarchy, the foundation of which was laid by the 
 reformation. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, 
 Prussia was an ecclesiastical country, governed by the grand 
 master of the Teutonic order. Albert of Brandenburg, who 
 was grand master at that time, soon followed the example 
 
82 
 
 VILLERS ESSAY. 
 
 which had been set him by more than one ecclesiastical 
 prince. He secularized Prussia in 1525, and made it an he- 
 reditary duchy for himself and descendants, under the seignor- 
 age of the kings of Poland. He married and had children, 
 and the last heiress of this branch, named Anne, espoused 
 the hereditary prince, who was afterwards Elector of Bran- 
 denburgh, by the name of John Sigismond. Prussia ceased 
 to be a fief of Poland, in 1657, by the treaty of Wehlau, and 
 definitively by that of Oliva, three years after. In 1701, it 
 was erected into a kingdom, and has since raised itself to the 
 rank of the first powers of Europe. It is very true that the 
 future grandeur of the Prussian monarchs could not be fore- 
 seen at the time of the secularization of the duchy of Prussia; 
 it is, however, equally true, that without this event, we 
 should at present find an elector of Brandenburgh, but not a 
 king of Prussia among the sovereigns of Europe. 
 
 This power, in its developement, retained that kind of dis- 
 position which we have, before, attributed generally to all 
 the Protestant states ; a very marked public spirit, a fervent 
 patriotism, great reciprocal attachment between the prince 
 and his subjects, a spirit of liberty and of true republicanism, 
 which extends from the throne to the people. It ma}'- be 
 added that a great part of the ancient possessions of the cler- 
 gy is also united to the domains of the crown, and another 
 part is employed in establishments useful to the country, we 
 shall therefore find no difficulty in accounting for the inter- 
 nal strength manifested by Prussia in several trials, and 
 which so effectually seconded the genius of the great Frede- 
 rick, in the seven years' war. It cannot be questioned that 
 the circumstance of being a Protestant added something to 
 the successes of this prince, while it also diminished the 
 number of his enemies among his co-estates in the empire. 
 The number of those who secretly adhered to the reforma- 
 tion, in Silesia, Bohemia, and other Austrian countries, was 
 great. When the tolerant banners of Prussia appeared, all 
 these sects would be more favourable to them than to the 
 Catholic colours of intolerant Austria. 
 
 Since, by a concurrence of many other causes, foreign 
 to the object of this essay, Prussia has attained to the rank 
 of a power of the first order, its sovereigns have replaced 
 the electors of Saxony in the important station of head of 
 the Protestant party in Germany. They have attained a 
 double influence in Europe, that of counterbalancing Austria 
 in the empire, and that of contributing powerfully exter- 
 
VILLERS ESSAY. 83 
 
 nally to the support of an equilibrium in the general system 
 of states. 
 
 It may be also observed, that the treaties of Augsburg and 
 Munster, while they consolidated the body of the evangelical 
 states in the empire, left, nevertheless, a certain priority and 
 preponderance to the Catholics, as well in the electoral col- 
 lege as in the remainder of the joint concerns.* No Protes- 
 tant prince has yet been decorated with the imperial crown. 
 Since the religious interest has been, by degrees, replaced by 
 a political interest, the evangelical body might be more aptly 
 called the Prussian party, and the rest the Austrian party ; 
 although more than one Catholic prince has found it conve- 
 nient to join with Prussia, and some Protestant states have 
 also been seen attached to Austria. It is probable that the 
 imperial dignity will continue, for a considerable length of 
 time, and perhaps to its extinction, to be enjoyed by the head 
 of the latter house. 
 
 The custom of some German princes of selling their troops 
 to foreign powers, also originated in the time of the wars of 
 the reformation, and of the long intervals of peace which fol- 
 lowed them. These troops, raised on a temporary occasion, 
 disciplined, accustomed to live in camps, to plunder, to ex- 
 cesses, became, during peace, exceedingly burthensome to 
 their master and to the country. They were very happy 
 to dispose of them to whoever would pay them, and they 
 even turned this traffic to advantage. Philip II. attacked 
 Holland with German soldiers, and it was with Germans 
 that Holland defended itself. It is notorious that this cus- 
 tom has been since continued to the great disgrace of hu- 
 manity. 
 
 Denmark, 
 
 Since the celebrated Margaret, called, before Catharine II. 
 the Semiramis of the North, Denmark has been aggran- 
 dized by Norway ; and the states of Sweden had also placed 
 the sceptre of their country in her hands. Her successors 
 endeavoured to make this election valid as an hereditary 
 title ; which occasioned vigorous wars between the Danish 
 monarchs and the Swedish aristocrasy. The first lost the 
 
 * Were it only by the clause which provides that if an eccle- 
 siastical prince changes his relig-ion, so far from being* enabled 
 to seculai'ize his states, he is declared to have forfeited them. 
 
84 VILLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 throne of Sweden by them, and benefited by not having fur- 
 ther occasion to waste their strength externally. The clergy 
 and principal nobility of their own states gave them sufficient 
 employment at home. In 1527 they, with their people, 
 adopted the reformation ; but it was not completely consoli- 
 dated, by the wife Christian III., until twelve years after. 
 He w-as obliged to divide the spoils of the clergy with the 
 great men of his kingdom, and to keep only the smallest 
 share to himself. The income of the prelacies alone were 
 adjudged to the crown, and these were also charged with 
 the expenses of several establishments. Besides the regal 
 dignity remained elective. It required the warlike reign of the 
 enterprising Christian IV. — it required more especially the 
 ascendancy which the order of the citizens began to acquire, 
 to reduce the nobility, and lead things to that state in which 
 Frederick III. found them in 1660, to enable him to render 
 the kingdom hereditary and his authority uncontrolled. The 
 only fundamental law which remained express and untouch- 
 ed was that which established Lutheranism as the predomi- 
 nant religion of the state.* During the thirty years' war the 
 king of Denmark was, for an instant, the Agamemnon of the 
 Protestant army ; this was the first attempt made by this 
 government to the southward, in the general affairs of Eu- 
 rope. 
 
 Sweden, 
 
 The reformation found also an elective crown, and a pow- 
 erful aristocrasy in Sweden. But Vasa was a conqueror; 
 he had lately raised himself to the throne by a revolution, 
 and delivered his country from the Danish yoke. It was 
 therefore in his power to make a better use of the reforma- 
 tion than his neighbour, Christian, had done. In 1527, he 
 appropriated the greatest part of the possessions of the clergy 
 to his own use, and only allowed small shares to the nobi- 
 lity. His wise and vigorous administration, directed these 
 new riches to the maintenance of the royal authority, and he 
 procured to him.self a constitutional grant of the succession. 
 
 This power, which is naturally weaker than any other of 
 
 * M. Spittler formerly professor at Gottingen, and minister 
 of the Duke of Wirtemburg-Ii, has given a very g-ood history of 
 this revolution ; it i^ translated into French, under the inspection 
 of the author, by M. Artaud; and will be published shortly. 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 85 
 
 the great European powers, soon raised itself, however, by 
 the senilis of its kings and its ministers, as well as by the 
 benefits of the reformation, to a sort of supremacy in Europe. 
 Its armies saved Protestantism, and, at almost every en- 
 counter, beat the imperial armies. She had the glory of 
 presiding at Osnaburgh in the European congress of West- 
 phalia, as France presided at that of Munster. A sum of 
 money was given to her to withdraw her troops from Ger- 
 many, where they became as burthensome to their friends 
 as they had been to their enemies, and only a part of Pome- 
 rania, instead of the whole, which she demanded, with some 
 other small districts in the north of the empire, were ceded to 
 her. By this cession the kings of Sweden have become 
 members of the Germanic body as the king of Denmark is 
 for Holstein, and that of England for Hanover. Since that 
 period exhausted Sweden has constantly declined. Twenty 
 years after the peace of Westphalia, in 1668, notwithstand- 
 ing the obligations of this country to France its ally, the 
 interest of religion, or perhaps jealousy, induced it to unite 
 with England and Holland, against that power, in the war 
 of Flanders and Franche Comte. Christiana, whose only 
 merit as a queen was that of having protected men of science, 
 and in particular, having honoured our great Descartes, con- 
 tributed very much to the decay of Sweden. Charles XU. 
 completed its ruin. A gallant and weak queen, a despotic 
 and conquering king, neutralized the advantages which the 
 reformation had procured to this country ; if the successors 
 of Gustavus Adolphus, and Oxenstiern had always been 
 worthy of them, the czars, in all probability, would not 
 have built their imperial city on the Neva; they would not 
 have gained the banks of the Baltic ; and the aspect of the 
 north, and consequently that of Europe, would, without 
 doubt, have been different from what it is at present. But 
 Sweden shone only for an instant ; and, like one of those 
 sudden meteors which just gave a transient splendour to its 
 long nights, it soon disappeared from the political horizon. 
 
 Switzerla7id. 
 
 Switzerland had its reformer in the person of Zwingle, 
 a monk, like Luther, and like him, irritated by the oppro- 
 brium of the hawkers of indulgences, and who appeared al- 
 most at the same instant. Republicans, ardent friends to 
 liberty, it was expected the Swiss v/ould have outstripped 
 all others in the reform ; seven cantons, however, remained 
 
86 
 
 Catholic ; and, what is more remarkable, the cantons most 
 decidedly republicans were of this number. This phenome- 
 non would not be easily explained without a knowledge of 
 the localities. It has already been observed above,* that 
 Catholicism is not, nor can it be everywhere the same, mo- 
 dified as it is in ditferent places by the peculiar spirit and 
 character of each. The Catholicism of the small cantons of 
 Schwitz, Uri, and Underwald, precisely because it was es- 
 tablished among- these mountaineers, republicans by nature, 
 had taken the forms which suited their character, and was 
 interwoven with their manners. Besides, the inhabitants of 
 these mountains have a lively imagination, on which exter- 
 nal objects produce a powerful influence, the indolence of the 
 pastoral life makes religious spectacles and feasts necessary 
 to them. A worship accompanied by many forms and cere- 
 monies would, therefore, please them, in preference to one 
 which is too simple and too sedate. It was here that the 
 founders of the Helvetic liberties resided ; and the remem- 
 brance of all the events and all the great men of that period, 
 was intimately blended with the Catholic worship, and its 
 ceremonies. It was not obelisks, it was chapels which, in 
 this country, marked the renowned fields of battle, the acts 
 of their ancestors. Who has travelled in Switzerland, and 
 not seen the chapel of William Tell 1 It was an idolatry, a 
 national fanaticism, which excited this mixture of the wor- 
 ship of liberty with that of religion, in these small cantons. 
 Such is their Catholicism at the present day ; they have no 
 idea of any other. The abuses of the church were scarcely 
 felt among them. The popes could not exact tribute from 
 these poor mountaineers ; and their priests, being the only 
 men a little informed, in their hamlets and towns, had ac- 
 quired, and still retain to the present day, a great ascendency 
 over the deliberations of the assemblies, and of all their af- 
 fairs. It may be added, that knowledge had made less pro- 
 gress among them, than among their rich neighbours in the 
 plain ; and that having formerly given them, as it were, their 
 liberty, they were not disposed to allow them to prescribe a 
 change in their religion. Other localities kept Lucerne, Fri- 
 bourg, and Soleure in the Catholic faith. Sanguinary con- 
 flicts and a religious civil war, several times suspended, but 
 prolonged at intervals, until the eighteenth century, ensued 
 
 * In the first part, at the commencement of the paragraph, 
 Reformation. 
 
VILLERS ESSAY. 87 
 
 between the members of this modern Achaia ; and a germ of 
 division still remains undestroyed among them. 
 
 Spain, the pope, and Austria gave effectual support to the 
 Catholic party. France and England alternately supported 
 the Protestant cantons. Hence the sympathies and antipa- 
 thies of the different members of the Helvetic confederation 
 to one or other of these powers. The late events have also 
 exhibited an example of the animosities of the small cantons 
 against the French, the ancient protectors of the reformed 
 cantons, and of the attachment of the Bernois to the same 
 French. 
 
 Switzerland, employed and weakened by these civil dis- 
 cords, has, since the reformation, lost the little external in- 
 fluence which it had previously had in the affairs of Europe. 
 But its Protestant cantons were in the number of those coun- 
 tries to which the revocation of the edict of Nantes procured 
 the greatest advantages. The refugees flocked there in con- 
 siderable numbers with their industry and their property. 
 
 The high pitch to which the sciences and good manners 
 had reached in these cantons, favoured by a long peace, and 
 that species of inviolability which this respectable confedera- 
 tion so long enjoyed, is well known. 
 
 Geneva. 
 
 While in this faint outline I have neglected to devote par- 
 ticular articles to considerable states such as Bavaria, for ex- 
 ample, it will doubtless appear astonishing that I pause at a 
 simple town, a city of a few thousand inhabitants. But this 
 imperceptible point on the physical map of Europe is of very 
 great importance on that of European morals. It w^as there 
 that the two Frenchmen, Calvin and Theodore de Beze, re- 
 jected by their country, established a new and powerful focus 
 of religious reform. The first fruit of it was the liberty of 
 Geneva, which expelled its prince bishop, and afterwards 
 governed itself for almost three centuries. It found sufheient 
 resources in the energy of its inhabitants, and sufficient 
 strength in the benefits of the reformation, to support long 
 wars and to defend itself by force against the princes of the 
 house of Savoy, its dangerous neighbours, who had long en- 
 deavoured to reduce it under their dominion, and did not de- 
 finitively acknowledge its independence till towards the 
 middle of the last century. The influence of this small de- 
 mocracy sprung from the reformation ; replete with know- 
 ledge, patriotism, and activity, its influence, I say, on some 
 
88 VILLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 of the great states, particularly on France, England, and 
 Russia, is incalculable. 
 
 Geneva was the cradle of the religion professed by Hen- 
 ry IV. and which the ambition of the house of Guise, the sub- 
 tlety of a Medicis, the interest and the secret practices of 
 Rome and Spain, prevented him from carrying vvith him to 
 the throne of France. 
 
 It was to Geneva that all the proscribed Singlish exiles, 
 , who were driven from their island by the intolerance of the 
 first Mary, the wife of Philip II. came, to get intoxicated 
 with republicanism and independence. From this focus 
 issued the sects of Presbyterians and Independents who so 
 long agitated Great Britain and conducted the unfortunate 
 Charles I. to the scaffold. In the works of Dr. Swift, there 
 is a sermon which he delivered on the anniversary of the 
 death of this martyr king (for so the English have since 
 named him,) in which he explains, like a man of good infor- 
 mation, the progress of this order of events. 
 
 Finally, it is well known that a multitude of men of talents 
 have issued from Geneva, who, as writers, as men in office, 
 have, in the most decided manner, influenced the different 
 states of Europe, their political and moral situations, their 
 opinions and their knowledge. To mention Le Fort, the 
 friend and counsellor of Peter I. is to bring toYecollection all 
 which one of its citizens has done for the civilization and 
 prosperity of the most extensive empire in existence. Be- 
 sides the great men which it has formed, Geneva, has, at 
 all times, been visited by the numerous travellers of every 
 country who have come to Italy and Switzerland. It has 
 communicated more or less of its spirit to all those who were 
 calculated to receive it ; and from all these considerations, it 
 may be truly said, that this small republic has had as great a 
 share in the destiny, and in the moral and political ameliora- 
 tion of Europe, as many great monarchies. 
 
 This is an additional proof of the immense advantage of 
 small states to humanity, and of the use, which, by means of 
 them, is made of the central power of every district of the 
 earth. These proofs are continually renewed in Germany, 
 where we meet with free cities, and principalities, of a mode- 
 rate extent, all of which have an active, peculiar, and inde- 
 pendent existence. Every one is emulous that industry and 
 the arts and sciences should flourish in his small capital. 
 Universities and schools are multiplied, and instruction con- 
 sequently becomes more general through the nation. If truth 
 is persecuted by fanaticism in any place, it is only necessary 
 
VILLERS ESSAY. 89 
 
 to make one step, and it finds a secure asylum on passing the 
 nearest frontier. In a word, every small state of this con- 
 federate system feels that it has some consequence in itself, 
 and therefore really possesses that consequence. Each town 
 of a moderate size is not paralyzed by the idea that it is no- 
 thing- ; that at a distance of one or two hundred leagues there 
 is another larger city, which is everything, a gulf in which 
 all its labours are to be absorbed : a city in which all the 
 glory of the empire centres in a single point, out of which 
 there is no prosperity, out of which there is only a political, 
 moral, and literary insulation, through the whole extent of an 
 immense territory. 
 
 If Athens, if Delphos, if Corinth, Pisa, liacedemon, Myti- 
 lene, Smyrna, had not enjoyed this peculiar individuality, 
 and if one queen-city had attracted to itself all the glory of 
 Greece, would so many great men and great virtues have 
 blazed forth in every part of it 1 If the arts, if the muses of 
 Italy, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, had not per- 
 ceived its courts and its flourishing republics smiling on them 
 everywhere and at hand : if genius had not been aroused by 
 immediate fame and encouragement at Ferrara, ]\Iantua, Flo- 
 rence, Venice, Guastalla, and Sienna, as well as at Rome 
 and Naples : if, in all Italy, there had been but one centre, 
 one point, one city, would it have become the most classical 
 country of the arts in modern times 1 
 
 Holland. 
 
 Another creation, of more immediate importance to the 
 politics of Europe, and which arose out of the reformation, 
 was the republic of the United Provinces. This new state 
 was a part of the possessions of the house of Austria, and 
 was retained by the Spanish branch, that is to say, by 
 PMlip 11. after the death of Charles V. Here the same solid \ 
 foundation of national spirit, liberty, and rectitude prevailed, \ 
 as in Lower Saxony: it had the same manners, nearly the * 
 same language, and the same origin. Before their indepen- I 
 dence, the Low Countries made part of the empire, and of 
 the circle of Burgundy. The reformation made rapid strides 
 in it. Its mortal enemy, Philip II. endeavoured to stifle it in 
 a country where it was cherished, and opposed force to 
 opinion, without discretion. But opinion is a secret file 
 which wears away the iron that is rubbed against it. The 
 inquisition, that was intended to preserve Holland to Spain i 
 and the Catholic faith, only hastened its revolt against both 
 
90 VILLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 of them. After fifteen years of troubles, resistance, and suf- 
 ferings, the exasperated Batavians declared themselves free 
 from the yoke of Philip * 
 
 The idea or forming an independent republic does not 
 seem to have occurred to them at first : they only wished to 
 preserve their franchises and privileges. The confederate 
 provinces offered the patronage of their country to several of 
 the neighbouring princes, upon the condition of their ancient 
 capitulations. The duke of Alenqon^ brother to Henry III. 
 quitted this station from incapacity and want of conduct : 
 Queen Elizabeth refused it through a policy which penetrated 
 beyond the apparent advantage of a day. At length, not 
 knowing who to give themselves to, the Batavians resolved 
 upon being their own masters. Each province formed itself 
 into a republic, and entered into the terms of confederation 
 with the others. The body which resulted from this, was a 
 complicated and uncouth form ; but the spirit was good, and 
 its good effects prevailed notwithstanding the faulty machine 
 in which it was enclosed. Men of talents, animated by this 
 spirit, carried the republic to that height of greatness and 
 prosperity to which it is known to have attained. Having to 
 struggle against Spain, which at that time, was the first 
 maritime power, and which brought its fleets to the attack, 
 it was necessary that the new state should also be maritime, 
 to make head against its enemy, and to obtain resources by 
 commerce. The Dutch fleets soon ranked among the first in 
 Europe; the genius of patriotism and liberty wrought the 
 same miracles on the sea as on the soil of Belgium. Thus, 
 it is to the reformation that Holland is, mediately, indebted 
 for this source of power and prosperity. Let us return to 
 what passed in its interior. 
 
 Religious enthusiasm had been the principle of the revolu- 
 tion. Can it therefore be thought strange, if, in a new and 
 free state, it should continute to manifest itself, to exercise a 
 powerful influence on the body of the state, and to give rise 
 
 * Some of the wise counsellors of this prince wished him to 
 employ milder and more salutary measures against the Bata- 
 vians: he mig'ht, perhaps, have adopted them but for the oppo- 
 site and violent advice of Pope Pius V. who also induced him 
 to intrust the expedition to the execrable and ferocious Duke 
 of Alva. It was Clement XI. who, in canonizing Pius V. ap- 
 plauded him for this great zeal in support of the faith. The bull 
 of canonization is dated 22d May, 1712. 
 
VILLERS ESSAY. 91 
 
 to a multitude of fanatic and formidable sects 1 It was not 
 here as in the states of Germany, for example, where the 
 prince had become a Protestant, as well as his subjects, and 
 was enabled to maintain very nearly the old g-overnment with 
 the new religion. Here, every one thought all was free, and 
 the theologians acted very important parts. It was from this 
 cause that the bigotry of Protestantism was carried to a 
 greater excess in Holland than in any other country, and, 
 that religious controversies always led to political convul- 
 sions, and revolutions in its government : the history of this 
 republic offers many such examples. It is known how much 
 the Prince stadtholders, in order to extend their own autho- 
 rity and lower that of the states, made use of the dissensions 
 between the sect of Arminians and that of the Gomarists. 
 The animosity of Maurice of Orange was carried to such a 
 a pitch that he took advantage of his triumph to bring Barne- 
 veld, an old patriot, who had rendered the most signal ser- 
 vices to his country, and who supported the party of the 
 states, to the block. These troubles form the ground-work 
 of the internal history of the republic, from the time it has 
 had a settled existence. They originated in the religious 
 opinions : though, it is true, they were afterwards kept alive 
 both by the defects of the constitution itself, and by external 
 causes, the developement of which does not belong to our 
 subject. 
 
 England. 
 
 Among the passions of Henry VIII., king of England, 
 must be reckoned that which he had for St. Thomas Aquinas. 
 His veneration for this vigorous champion of the Roman 
 orthodoxy was carried so far, that Luther having contradicted 
 St. Thomas with acumen, Henr}' thought himself bound to 
 enter the lists and defend his master. He therefore wrote a 
 treatise, or assertion of the seven sacraments, against Luther, 
 who admitted of no more than two. The latter treated his 
 new adversary as his equal, and ridiculed him. The king 
 doctor conceived a violent hatred against him. The Pope, 
 who perhaps laughed as much at the book as Luther did, 
 gave its author all the consolation he was able, and conferred 
 on him the title of defender of the faith. Six years had not 
 elapsed when Henry, unfaithful to the Pope, separated with 
 his kingdom from the holy see, preserving however, his title of 
 defender of the faith, which his successors still retain. This 
 first step was the foundation of a series of revolutions and 
 
92 VILLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 evils, which have scaicely ceased, at this time, to distract 
 the three kingdoms : for the late revolts in Ireland were also 
 a consequence of it. The reformation has not produced such 
 extravagant and contradictory effects in any other country. 
 The insulated situation of Great Britain, as well as the satur- 
 nine and invincible character of its inhabitants, contributed to 
 them. The neighbouring nations were unable to give effec- 
 tive assistance to either party, and the internal activity could 
 not act externally. When a conflagration takes place in a 
 building so inaccessible, it must burn within it, and the flame 
 only ceases when it cannot find aliment. Other causes have 
 also contributed to these vigorous and long discords in the 
 English church, and it is necessary to point them out. 
 
 In the first place, Henry did not intend to become a Pro- 
 testant ; he only wanted to espouse the beautiful Anne Bo- 
 leyn. But to accomplish this the pope's consent to the di- 
 vorce of Henry from his first wife, sister to the emperor 
 Charles V. was necessary. The pope, who, in other circum- 
 stances, would doubtless have been more complaisant, decid- 
 ed in favour of him, who, of the two princes, appeared the 
 most formidable, and refused his consent to the divorce. 
 Henry, enraged that the pope should dare to thwart his love, 
 declared himself head of the church of England, and prohi- 
 bited all intercourse with Rome ; he was excommunicated, by 
 way of reprisal. But he hated Luther at least as much as 
 the pope ; and during his reign, it was as dangerous to pass 
 for a Protestant as for a Catholic. He gave an episcopal con- 
 stitution to the church, in which, with little more exception 
 than the monks, whose possessions he seized, the ancient edi- 
 fice of the hierarchy remained almost entire, and, in which 
 he, very closely and very despotically acted the part of the 
 sovereign pontiff. This v/as doing either too much or too lit- 
 tle. The universal crisis did not admit of half measures. 
 The German reform had found many partizans in England, 
 and a considerable number of minds were devoted to it. The 
 greater part of them were discontented to find their attempt 
 frustrated, and made very little difference between the Catho- 
 lics and the Episcopalians. The signal of rebellion against 
 Rome was given ; it was easy to foresee that it would not 
 willingly stop half way. This was the first cause of the 
 troubles. The determined Protestants, as well as the Catho- 
 lics, became sworn enemies to the Episcopalians, and to the 
 government which supported them. 
 
 Second cause. Far from a constant perseverance in this half 
 reformation of Henry VIII., nothing was seen in the succeed- 
 
VILLERS' ESSAV. 93 
 
 ing- reigns but retractions and sudden and violent transitions 
 from Protestantism to Papism and from Papism to Episcopacy. 
 After Edward VI., whose reign was too short, had made a step 
 towards the reformation, followed the reign of the Catholic 
 and bigoted Mary, daughter of the princess who had been re- 
 pudiated by Henry, brought up in Spain, under the eye of her 
 mother, in hatred to Protestantism and Episcopacy. She had 
 scarcely ascended the throne when she married her relation, 
 the sanguinary Philip, afterwards king of Spain. All that 
 had been done by Henry VHI. and Edward VI. was over- 
 turned ; the Protestants and Episcopalians were displaced, ex- 
 pelled, persecuted and inhumanly massacred. Four bishops, 
 among whom was the virtuous patriot Cranmer, arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, were burnt alive. Every place was 
 filled with the most intolerant Catholics. The animosity of 
 the different parties was carried to its utmost pitch. A reign 
 of five years, from 1553 to 1558 was sufficient for Mary and 
 her popish theologians to disperse the venom of civil wars, 
 and the most implacable hatreds, over unhappy England. 
 The Protestants, persecuted by her, fled in multitudes to 
 Germany, Switzerland, and more particularly to Geneva, 
 from whence they afterwards carried back the republican ideas 
 of the Anabaptists and Calvinists which, combined with the; 
 acrimony of exile, rendered the explosion so fatal to their' 
 country. 
 
 If Henry VIII. had prudently adopted Luther's reform, and 
 his successors had persisted in it, the island would probably 
 have remained as tranquil as Sweden and Denmark did in the 
 end. Elizabeth succeeded Mary, and re-established the re- 
 form, retaining the episcopacy. The new ecclesiastical sys- 
 tem was published in London, by a national council, in 1563, 
 and called the act of unifurmify . It w^as intended to bring all 
 parties to an union by its means; but the time had passed ; 
 the minds of men had become too ulcerated, their heads too 
 eccentric. The separation of Nonconformists, Puritans, and 
 Presbyterians, from the Episcopal Church, became more obvi- 
 ous and more injurious. To complete the confusion, the Irish 
 had remained Catholics. It was here that Philip of Spain, 
 enraged against Elizabeth, who had refused him her hand, 
 and supported his rebellious subjects in the Low Countries, 
 employed his intrigues, scattered gold, and endeavoured to 
 stir up a revolt ; he was seconded by Rome, France, and Mary, 
 Queen of Scotland, who afterw^ards perished by the axe of the 
 executioner, in the hands of her rival. 
 
 The long war, replete with animosity, which from that time 
 
94 
 
 VILLERS ESSAY. 
 
 raged furiously between England and Spain, rendered the 
 first of these powers ambitious of ravishing all its advantages 
 from her adversary, and of rivalling it in all points. The 
 English marine takes date from this period of inimical emu- 
 lation. Subsequent to the discovery of America, Spain rode 
 triumphant on the seas, which she covered with her vessels. 
 Elizabeth constructed fleets, formed sailors, and endeavoured 
 to make head against Philip on this element. The latter, who 
 believed himself to be king of England, because the pope had 
 conferred its crown upon him, and Elizabeth, being excom- 
 municated and a heretic, could no longer possess it, prepared 
 a fleet, which still retains the nickname of invincible, but 
 which was destroyed by the English and the winds, for the 
 conquest of his kingdom. Thus, with an action of such 
 splendour, began the marine of England ; and it is with reason 
 that its foundation, as well as that of the Dutch marine, is 
 attributed to the events produced by the reformation, while 
 the spoils of the clergy assisted both governments in this ex- 
 pensive undertaking. 
 
 To the immortal Elizabeth succeeded James I. king of 
 Scotland, an enemy to the Presbyterians, who predominated 
 in that kingdom, andrevolteJagainslhim, for having attempt- 
 ed to put them on the footing of the Episcopal Church. His 
 reign is a tissue of erroneous measures, which displeased all 
 parties. He married his son to a Catholic princess of the house 
 of France, after having offended the nation by a project of 
 marriage between the same son and a Spanish princess. His 
 faults prepared all the misfortunes of the reign of Charles I. 
 When the latter came to the throne, every disposable part of 
 the possessions of the clergy had been lavished in the prece- 
 ding reigns, either on favourites or enemies of the throne, 
 whose minds it had been employed in seducing and retaining ; 
 or applied to the expenses of the new^ marine, or the wars 
 with Spain. The unfortunate Charles found himself without 
 resources, and constrained incessantly to demand imposts 
 from a lower house, which, having become almost wholly 
 Presbyterian, insolently refused them, or shackled him with 
 intolerable conditions, to obtain them. Hence his necessity 
 for having recourse to every illegal method of establishing 
 new levies. Favourable to the Catholics, like his father, and 
 consequently, a greater friend to the Episcopalians than to 
 the Presbyterians, he endeavoured to complete the work of 
 James, by establishing Episcopacy in Scotland. By this step, 
 he drove the inhabitants of that kingdom into open rebellion, 
 and he made war upon his subjects of Scotland with an army 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 95 
 
 of English, who were very nearly as little attached to him ; 
 leaving behind him, in London, a parliament as greatly to be 
 dreaded by him as the Scotch convention. From this religious 
 and political fermentation, arose a powerful sect of Independ- 
 ents, who made themselves masters of the commons, expel- 
 led the lords from the upper house, and began by compelling 
 the unfortunate Charles, already at his last resource, to give 
 up his faithful minister Strafford, to the executioner. The 
 new parliament declared itself exempt from the royal proro- 
 gation ; deposed and persecuted the Episcopalians, disposed 
 of the places, civil, military, and ecclesiastical, to the most 
 violent, to men without conduct, without shame, and, fre- 
 quently, of the lowest class of the people ; they secretly ex- 
 cited the rebels of Ireland, and, at the same time, refused the 
 king every means of reducing them ; and when, at length, 
 [exhausting his last resources, Charles assembled an army to 
 jive them battle, the Independents had the address to bring 
 this army over to oppose the unfortunate king. Abandoned 
 )y it, he threw himself into the hands of the Scotch, who de- 
 livered him up to the English. The weak party of the roy- 
 alists took up arms in vain. Cromwell subdued them, and 
 reigned more despotically than any monarch would have dared 
 to do ; and, as the parliament, already mutilated by him, did 
 not conduct itself to his liking, he dissolved, and dismissed 
 them. The crowned head fell upon the scaffold. The impla- 
 cable and inveterate hatred w^hich had been restrained by the 
 soldiers of the protector, while he lived, broke out during the 
 anarchy which succeeded his reign. The most discordant 
 political opinions were united wdth the most extravagant and 
 religious opinions. Massacres, executions, and civil war, 
 desolated the face of three kingdoms. From having abused 
 every religious principle, and carried them to excess, they 
 all fell indiscriminately into discredit ; atheism, libertinism, 
 and a contempt for every law, divine or human, succeeded 
 them. In this state of things Charles II. ascended the throne ; 
 favoured^Catholicism again in secret, and Episcopacy openly ; 
 married a Catholic princess, who drew a multitude of foreign- 
 ers of this sect into the kingdom ; and made war upon Pro- 
 testant Holland, the ancient ally of England. 
 
 At each of these changes, so sudden and so numerous, and 
 which were the principal source of all the misfortunes of 
 England, those who adhered to the oppressed party, took re- 
 fuge in vast numbers beyond the seas ; the Protestants, as 
 has been said, in Germany, Holland, Switzerland, and 
 America; the Catholics, in France and Italy, where their 
 
96 VILLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 fanaticism acquired new strength, and whither they were 
 followed by the Episcopalians, who, in that situation, gene- 
 rally became Catholics. In fact, it was there that James 11. 
 who succeeded Charles 11. became so. His impolitic at- 
 tempts to establish Popery in England only served to carry 
 the animosity and confusion to its height; he lost his crown, 
 and died in exile. His daughter Mary, a true Protestant, 
 and his son-in-law, William of Orange, were called by the 
 nation to fill the throne. Their wisdom began to still this 
 long tempest. It was a longtimebeforetheroaringof the waves 
 ceased ; but a solemn act of succession having excluded the 
 Catholic princes, the Protestant house of Hanover came to 
 the throne of England; and by a mild and uniform govern- 
 ment, has gradually calmed the agitation of the ancient par- 
 ties. 
 
 Now when this terrible crisis is appeased, what remains 
 to the nation from it] The energy arising from long civil 
 commotions ; the melancholy produced by the recollection of 
 them ; the profound love of liberty, for which so much blood 
 has been shed : the tendency to mediation left by religious 
 exaltation ; and the toleration of all opinions, which is the 
 natural successor of the intoxication of fanaticism. 
 
 One great error in the English monarchs, was the belief 
 that the episcopal system was a support to the throne ; a 
 feeble prop, which so easily carried with it, in its fall, the 
 throne which d^ended upon it, and of which it could not in 
 any case retard the ruin. In the dark period which preceded 
 Luther, the support of the clergy was of importance to princes ; 
 but since his appearance, the church, protected in its external 
 government by the civil power, should limit its activity to 
 the simple encouragement ofgoojj: morals in the state, through 
 the influence of religion. 
 
 The reformation, which has been a benefit to other coun- 
 tries, was the most grievous of scourges to unfortunate Ire- 
 land. Treated as a conquered people, and for a long time at 
 the discretion of the English, the Irish remained obstinately 
 Catholic, precisely because their oppressors wanted them to 
 be Protestant. Their chains became consequently heavier : 
 their island was filled with rapacious English, who possessed 
 themselves of almost all the estates. The despair of these 
 irritated men, at length broke out with fury in 164:1. The 
 consequence was a massacre through the island, of upwards 
 of one hundred thousand Protestants. Cromwell afterwards 
 took vengeance on them, and gave nearly the whole of Ire- 
 land to his soldiers. William III. founded a legal and con- 
 
 I 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 9? 
 
 stitiitional tyranny there. The Catholics were deprived of 
 civil life, of property, of instruction itself; it was his plea- 
 sure to convert them into hordes of rude, barbarous beggars ; 
 and they have revenged themselves like barbarians when- 
 ever an opportunity has offered. Such resentments last, and 
 are transmitted to remote generations. During the last war, 
 the Irish gave many strong proofs that several reigns of tole- 
 ance had not been able effectually to eradicate their strong 
 animosity against the English. 
 
 United States of America. 
 
 It is sufficient to name this new state, which is wholly 
 European upon the soil of America, to bring to mind that it 
 was created by the partisans of reform and of liberty, flying 
 from the oppression and intolerance of parties. If the En- 
 glish emigrants who had sought shelter on the continent of 
 Europe, during the course of the troubles which have been 
 spoken of, brought back with them the seeds of discord and of 
 hatred, those who took refuge in the solitudes of Pennsyl- 
 vania, acquired peace and toleration there. They founded 
 Philadelphia, the city of brothers ,- certainly the most pleasing 
 name that ever was borne by the residence of man. Escaped 
 from the tempests to this distant coast, restored to nature and 
 the primitive destination of the human race, these colonists, 
 who had taken their knowledge with them, had leisure to re- 
 flect on the origin and rights of societies ; on the respective 
 duties of governments and nations. Having besides an en- 
 tirely new political body to organize, the elements of legisla- 
 tion must necessarily engage their attention first. We have 
 consequently received from thence some admirable precepts, 
 and still more admirable examples. It is known that after 
 having returned under the dominion of the mother country, 
 this association of ftee and energetic men, of almost all coun- 
 tries, afterwards determined to resume the rights of governing 
 themselves. Louis XVI. seconded them in this enterprise, 
 and sent an army thither. The French who composed 
 it came as friends among these republicans, were admitted 
 into their confidence, and, for the first time, saw this spec- 
 tacle to them so surprising, of simplicity of manners, of evan- 
 gelical peace, among men who supported their rights. Re- 
 flection arose within them ; they compared the principles and 
 the government of their own country, with what they observed 
 among the descendants of Penn, and TTis notorious how emi- 
 nently these Frenchmen, who were thus made soldiers of 
 9 
 
y» VILLERS ESSAY. 
 
 /liberty by a monarch, showed themselves to be so in effect^ 
 
 ■ during the first years of the revolution. Among- the great 
 
 number of proximate and remote causes which contributed to 
 
 it, the American republic, and the reformation from which it 
 
 sprang-, must not be forgotten. 
 
 This state, still weak, at a distance from Europe, has not 
 hitherto had much direct influence, on the political system. 
 But who can calculate that which it may one day acquire on 
 the colonial and commercial system so important to Europe? 
 Who can foretell all that may result in the two worlds, from 
 the seductive example of the independence conquered by the 
 Americans ? what new position would the world assume, if 
 this example was followed 1 and without doubt it will be in 
 the end. Thus two Saxon monks will have changed the face 
 of the globe. The Dominican Tetzel, came impudently to 
 preach indulgences at the gates of Witternberg ; the open and 
 vehement Luther was indignant at it; he raised his voice 
 against the indulgences, and all Europe was affected, put 
 into a ferment, and inflamed. A new order of things was the 
 result ; powerful republics were founded. Their principles, 
 still more powerful than their arms, were introduced into all 
 nations. Hence arose great revolutions, and those which 
 may yet arise are, doubtless, incalculable. 
 
 II. STATES, THE GOVERNMENTS OF WHICH DID NOT EMBRA^ 
 THE REFORM. 
 
 Spain. 
 
 This country, governed by one of the branches of the house 
 of Austria, had a principal share in the party opposed to the 
 reformation. The mortal wars which its kings carried on, 
 first against Holland, then against England, and afterwards 
 against both at the same time, was pernicious to it. Besides 
 exhausting it of men and money, these two rival powers, 
 being obliged to provide themselves with arms, similar to 
 those made use of by Spain, raised a marine, which soon 
 crushed hers. From that time a considerable portion of the 
 sources of its prosperity were dried up. A rivalry once esta- 
 blished in this manner between Spain and England, necessa- 
 rily obliged Portugal, in the end, to throw itself into the arms 
 of the latter power ; the right of patronage thus acquired by 
 England still exists, and procures it great commercial advan- 
 tages. 
 
 The terrible struggle, which Spain supported externally, 
 
tillers' essay. 99 
 
 could not however, be continued without exactions and ri- 
 gorous proceedings at home. The people, wearied and indig- 
 nant, prepared to repel oppression. However ignorant the 
 Spaniards might have been, the double example of the Bohe- 
 mians, who had conquered their religious liberty, and of the 
 Dutch, who had conquered their political liberty, from the 
 despotic house of Austria, was so well known to them, and 
 so seducing, as to induce them to follow it. Hence arose the 
 revolts of Andalusia, of Catalonia, of Portugal, and of the 
 Italian states. Portugal was strong enough under its new 
 kings to maintain its independence. But what was the con- 
 sequence to the other revolted provinces, to Catalonia in par- 
 ticular, which cost a war of nineteen years to reduce it 1 Thej" 
 lost all their rights and privileges by it, and were treated as 
 conquered countries. The authority of the kings of Spain 
 was in reality increased and strengthened at the termination 
 of this crisis ; the numerous armies w^iich returned into the 
 interior, at the peace, served to complete the subjugation of 
 the nation. It must, however, be observed, that these inter- 
 nal revolts, and the war of Catalonia, compelled Spain to 
 agree to very hard conditions as the price of peace. She be- 
 came sooner disposed to acknowledge the republic of the 
 United Provinces, and was obliged to yield Rousillon, Per- 
 pignan, Conflans, and a considerable part of the Low Coun- 
 tries to France, and the important island of Jamaica to Eng- 
 land. 
 
 In other respects, the religious reformation had little or no 
 effect in Spain. Its geographical position, and, still more, 
 its language being different from the other nations of Europe, 
 were obstacles to it. At that period the inquisition, intro- 
 duced into the kingdom by Ferdinand, was more strictly on 
 its guard than ever; and there is no doubt but many of the 
 cruelties then exercised by it, resulted from the terror in- 
 spired by the noise of the storm which grumbled at a dis- 
 tance. Nevertheless the general influence of the reformation 
 and the progress of knowledge on the spirit of humanity, has 
 already terminated in the extinction of the inquisition itself. 
 Now, when perhaps there are more heretics and unbelievers 
 in Spain than at any former period, there are also fewer re- 
 ligious executions. Great reforms seem to be in preparation 
 there ; and the kings of French origin who are placed on the 
 throne, act differently toM'ards the church than Philip II. 
 did. 
 
100 VILLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 France. 
 
 While the reform spoke German, it made but few prose- 
 lytes in France : when the French-Swiss of the canton of 
 Berne, Avhen Calvi?i, lent it their organs to enable it to ex- 
 plain itself in French, it penetrated into every part of the 
 king-dom, and made itself known, particularly under the new 
 form it had taken at Geneva. The nation was too enlighten- 
 ed, too vivacious for the new ideas to be retarded in their 
 progress. From the steps of the throne to the most remote 
 cottages, the doctrines of the reformers found numerous par- 
 tisans, and the Roman communion would doubtless have 
 been overturned in France, if the monarch had consented to 
 it. All the weak minds, who compose the multitude, and 
 the great majority of the people, would have been drawn into 
 it. The Catholics who chose to continue so, would have re- 
 tained the free exercise of their worship ; the country would 
 not have been torn by a long civil war; an edict of Nantes 
 would not have been revoked; the immense force which, at 
 that time, might have been freely displayed by France, would, 
 without difficulty, and at its pleasure, have stopped the com- 
 motions of Germany and England ; France would have re- 
 mained tranquil within ; and, without, would have been the 
 arbiter of Europe. 
 
 Francis I. remained a Catholic ; something has been said 
 of the reasons which determined him to act thus.* From 
 that time he pretended to show his consequence, and to era- 
 dicate the roots of the heresy. He therefore, without pity, 
 burned and massacred those of his subjects who openly em- 
 braced the reform. Externally, he supported it, and formed 
 alliance with the princes of Germany. This double and in- 
 consistent conduct of the French government deprived it of 
 the best part of its strength, and obstructed its operations. 
 Within, it was requisite to guard against the reformed ; these 
 refused their assistance, or served with regret, and preferred 
 deserting, emigrating, and combating with their brethren of 
 Germany, Switzerland, or Holland, to remaining exposed to 
 punishment, while fighting on the side of their persecutors. 
 Hence, it became impossible for France to acquire all the 
 preponderance which would have been her portion in another 
 state of things. 
 
 * At the end of that article of this section, intituled, First 
 Point of View. Inttrual situation of States. 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. lOl 
 
 It has become a trite axiom, that the blood of martyrs ex- 
 tends a rising sect. Henry II. showed himself still more in- 
 tolerant than his father, and the reformed entered into a 
 closer connection with each other for their mutual support, 
 and to prevent their total ruin. Thus they began to raise a 
 formidable opposition in the kingdom, which raged during 
 the sanguinary course of the three succeeding reigns. The 
 throne ceased to be the tribunal of justice and of peace to the 
 people; the king to be a father to his subjects. France 
 mangled its own bosom, and the aggression which was the 
 child of authority, compelled the unfortunate objects of its 
 oppression to become rebels. The horrible scenes of Saint 
 Bartholomew will for ever be an afflicting and irrevocable 
 proof of the perfidy and implacable hatred which actuated the 
 court in its conduct towards the Protestants. Thus the latter 
 acquired the form of a political party; princes, nobles were 
 at their head ; they had armies, allies, posts in the kingdom. 
 The history of the intestine wars, which, on this occasion, 
 desolated France from 15G2 to 1598, when the edict of Nantes 
 put an end to them, is too well known for it to be necessary 
 to give even a sketch of them here. 
 
 I3ut animosities and commotions, of such violence, do not 
 take place without leaving deep traces in the constitution of 
 the government, as well as in the character of the nation ; 
 hence they determine, for a length of time, the mode of ex- 
 istence of the latter, and its political situation. Let us en- 
 deavour to show the principal result of the religious troubles 
 in France, at the end of the sixteenth century, both with re- 
 spect to the government, and to the political character of the 
 nation. 
 
 The most fortunate event that can happen to a monarch 
 whose authority in his states is limited by the power of his 
 nobles, or of any civil corporation whatever, is that which 
 produces a marked opposition, an open rebellion, which he 
 may combat and reduce by force of arms. At this moment of 
 general dread and submission, everything is allowed to him; 
 no one dares to urge rights or privileges, and the prince has 
 an open field to render his power more absolute in future. 
 History furnishes frequent examples of similar issues to re- 
 volts and commotions in states. Without doubt this is not 
 always the case, and the prince, if, on the contrary, he is 
 obliged to compound, loses a part of his authority, oris wholly 
 deprived of it. We have seen the house of Austria in these 
 two different situations, at the same time, in the thirty years' 
 war ; having the worst with the German princes whom it 
 9* 
 
102 VILLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 hoped to reduce to vassallage, and the upper hand in its states, 
 particularly those of Hungary and Bohemia, where it es- 
 tablished an unlimited and hereditary monarchy. But that 
 which succeeded so badly with the Emperors in respect of the 
 German Protestant princes had the most happy issue with 
 the kings of France against the reformed party. Tho result of 
 it was a great consolidation and extension of the regal power. 
 At the moment when it became unlimited, and when the 
 strength of government was the most energetic, if France had 
 had a Louis XI. or a Philip II. of Spain, on the throne, with 
 what despotism mio-ht not our annals have been stained T But 
 at that period Providence placed a Henry IV. on it, who, 
 having so many outrages to aveng-e, so many crimes to punish, 
 thought only of burying all animosity in oblivion, of healing 
 all wounds. Then, which is very rare in the government of 
 nations, absolute power was employed only in promoting the 
 prosperity of ihe state, and the felicity of every individual. 
 The Catholic religion remained dominant: but the edict of 
 Nantes effaced intolerance, and soothed the irritation of the 
 conquered party, to whom liberty of conscience, and a politi- 
 cal existence were secured. 
 
 These wise dispositions were satisfactory to good sense 
 and equity ; they were not enough for fanaticism ; it made 
 several attempts on the life of the saviour of France, and, at 
 length, succeeded in assassinating him. From this day of 
 mourning (May 14th 1610) the Protestant party, alarmed, 
 with justice at the intrigues of the new court, and at the of- 
 fensive steps taken against it, revolted again, took up arms, 
 and prepared for the defence of its rights. The impartiality 
 of history cannot blame this conduct; but neither can it blame 
 that of Richelieu, in not suffering an armed faction, which 
 formed a state within a state, which called in foreigners, fre- 
 quently thwarted the best projects of the administration, and 
 incessantly threatened the existence of the government. In 
 the existing situation of things, he was obliged to oppose 
 them ; his success is known, as well as the new increase which 
 the royal authority obtained from his victories. The legal 
 despotism of the three subsequent reigns, which terminated in 
 the terrible catastrophe of the last revolution, may be attri- 
 buted to the definitive reduction of the religious opposition 
 under Louis XIII. 
 
 But though the government succeeded in rendering its au- 
 thority absolute, the nation, nevertheless, retained a ferment, 
 a principle of irritation, resistance, and contradiction, which 
 was manifested here and there against the arrangements which 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 103 
 
 emanated from the throne. From the edict of Nantes to the 
 period which preceded its revocation, when the open violation 
 of it beg"an to be manifested, the parliaments had been partly 
 composed of Huguenots. During this period, it was natural 
 that these bodies should show themselves refractory, and be 
 animated with a certain spirit of republicanism and opposition 
 to the court. When the Huguenots were expelled, this spirit 
 did not go with them ; the parliaments were proud of their 
 influence, and of the essay which they had sometimes made 
 of their strength. This w^as not the only cause of the ulterior 
 conduct of the parliaments ; but it contributed greatly to it. 
 It was therefore in tiiem that the spirit of independence re- 
 maining in the nation took refuge, and there it was found in 
 1788, when the exhausted finances, an effeminate court, the 
 principles of republican liberty propagated by some writers 
 from the books of the English and other Protestants, or 
 brought from Pennsylvania by the French army ; in short, 
 when a thousand circumstances gave it the impulse it then 
 took, and which was so rapidly communinated to the whole 
 nation. It is known what influence was produced on the gene- 
 ral revolt by the old resentments of the Huguenot party, which 
 were far from being extinguished, and which had often been 
 too wantonly envenomed before the reign of Louis XVI. 
 
 In fact, Richelieu only wishedjto subdue the dissidents, not 
 to annihilate them. The peace of Rochelle, in 1629, had left 
 them some privileges, with the free exercise of their religion. 
 From a contempt of the royal word, all these promises were 
 soon violated. Secret and open persecutions increased from 
 day to day, until the formal revocation of the edict of Nantes 
 gave them free vent ; a deplorable epocha, which reduced a 
 multitude of families to beggary, gave rise to the emigration 
 of the best and the most industrious citizens, whose descend- 
 ants are still to be met wath in every Protestant state in 
 Europe, where they have carried prosperity to the prejudice 
 of their own unjust country. Such of these unfortunate people 
 as remained in France, lost all civil existence, were pursued 
 without remission, without pity, and like wild beasts ; their 
 blood frequently streamed under the steel of the executioner, 
 or of the soldiery. Such treatment made a deep impression 
 on men's hearts, and indignation was propagated from father 
 to son.* This last explosion of popish intolerance at length 
 
 * Should it not be permitted here to consider the punishment 
 of Galas as one of those events, which, from the notoriety given 
 
104 VILLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 ceased. The unfortunate Louis XYI. who had not been ren- 
 dered inhuman by a great share of Catholicism, laboured to 
 heal all these wounds,* when the storm arose, of which he 
 was the most illustrious victim. Since religion has become 
 tolerant and the friend of liberty, in France, the dissidents of 
 this country have rebuilt their peaceful temples, and enjoy 
 the right of professing- the gospel in their own way. By this 
 wise measure, if it is well adhered to, the new government 
 will for ever eradicate the tares of religion, the most fatal 
 sources of discord, from the nation. 
 
 Italy. 
 
 We have already noticed the reasons which rendered a 
 religious reform impracticable in Italy. We may also add 
 the vicinity of the holy see ; the interest of all the small Ita- 
 lian states to be on good terms with it; and, more especially, 
 the dread of the imperial arms, which would, instantly, and 
 without a possibility of resistance, have sacked the first state 
 which should have dared to show itself favourable to Luther. 
 Besides, the elegant Italian considered these people of the 
 north with whom the reformation was effected, as little bet- 
 ter than barbarians. The most enlightened of them applaud- 
 ed it in secret; more than one prince rejoiced to see the Pope 
 humbled ; but none of them durst risk appearing openly. 
 Those who took a liking to the reform, went into Switzer- 
 land, or into other countries, where they might adopt it at 
 ease, like the two Socini, natives of Sienna. Italy, which 
 had already lost so great a part of its commercial importance, 
 by the discovery of America, and of the Cape of Good Hope, 
 wholly lost that by the reformation which the capital of the 
 church gave it. The first of these events had deprived it of 
 its commerce in spices, and the other productions of the east ; 
 the second took from it, in part, that of indulgences and of 
 benefices, and dried up several of the sources of its riches. 
 The arts of painting and of music, attached to this enchanting 
 
 to it by Voltaire, and from the animated writings he published 
 on the occasion, contributed the most to sour all minds against 
 the fanatacism of Catholic priests, and against the authority which 
 supported them ? 
 
 * It will be recollected that the king did not pay any atten- 
 tion to the intolerant Memoire de I'Assemblee generale du clerge, 
 m irSO, against the reformed. 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 105 
 
 soil, continued to flourish there ; but in true civilization, and 
 the superior cultivation of the understanding-, its people 
 remained generally behind the other European nations. The 
 events which have since agitated Italy, and even those which 
 have changed its aspect, depend very little, if at all, upon the 
 influence of the reformation. 
 
 Poland. 
 
 The vicinity of Bohemia and Germany, and the Latin 
 generally spoken in Poland, gave the reformation an easy 
 access into that country. There it made rapid and daring 
 strides during the last half of the sixteenth century. The 
 lax police of the small towns, and of the flat country, where 
 every magnate, every individual lord, claimed a sort of sove- 
 reignty, made this country the refuge of the most audacious 
 sectaries, who were not suffered even in the Protestant states. 
 They came hither in crowds from Moravia, Silesia, Bohemia, 
 Sweden, Germany, and even from Switzerland. The two 
 Socini, uncle and nephew, but particularly the latter, made 
 a great number of proselytes here, and founded the sect 
 which bear's their name ; a sect which has spread very much 
 in Poland, the principal tenet of which is to honour J. C. 
 as a sage sent by God, but not as one of the persons of the 
 Divinity itself. All these different sects, which, in Poland, 
 experienced neither assent nor opposition from the central 
 government, could not, at first, on account of this toleration, 
 acquire the life, the importance, and the developement which 
 they acquired elsewhere : they remained individual opinions 
 among the nobles, and did not produce any beneficial fer- 
 mentation among a people composed of ignorant serfs. In 
 principle, everything was limited to the disputes of theo- 
 logians with each other, and to the name of dissidents, 
 given generally to all who were not Catholics. But when 
 Charles XII. undertook the conquest of Poland, and made a 
 few partisans there, although perhaps the smallest number 
 of these were dissidents, still, the king of Sweden being a 
 Lutheran, the suspicions of the Catholics turned to that sect, 
 their hatred was kindled, and the dissidents from thence 
 forward became a political party, obliged to take arms in its 
 own defence, and for the support of its rights. Dissident and 
 partisan of Sweden became synoymous. This event soon 
 produced discord in a country the constitution of which ex- 
 posed it too much to the animosity of factions, and in which 
 it was not forgotten that Gustavus Adolphus had been the 
 
106 VILLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 hero of the reform. When Charles XII., the promoter of 
 these ne^y divisions, was conquered and weakened, the Ca- 
 tholics became persecutors, and the dissidents were oppress- 
 ed. The diet of 1717 also beg-an to deprive them of their 
 civil rights. Hence the acrimony of the two parties could 
 not be assuag-ed, even when the idea of a Swedish faction 
 had ceased. To crush the dissidents, became a maxim of 
 the government and of the Catholic party. The Jesuits were 
 principally employed for this purpose, and acquitted them- 
 selves with a method and a connected system which does 
 honour to their sagacity. Thus at a period Avhen the reli- 
 gious troubles of all Europe had ceased they began in 
 wretched Poland. Its neighbours had long been accustomed 
 to interfere in its domestic concerns. The advantages which 
 her policy might derive from these divisions among the 
 Poles did not escape the penetrating eye of the great Catha- 
 rine, when she came to the throne of Russia. In 1764 and 
 1766, she declared herself protectress of the dissidents. In 
 1768, a Russian minister and Russian soldiers gave laws to 
 the diet, and arrested several of its principal members. The 
 Catholics, in despair, formed a confederation at Bar. They 
 applied to the Turks and French for assistance. Only the 
 first appeared to wage an unfortunate war against Russia. 
 The French contented themselves with sending some officers 
 to the confederates, w^ho prosecuted the civil war they had 
 commenced with fury. At length Russia, which had brought 
 Prussia and Austria into its views, proceeded to a first parti- 
 tion of Poland, which was followed by a second, and shortly, 
 as is known, by a third, which definitively erased this country 
 from the list of European states. The sanguinary expedi- 
 tion which led to this last catastrophe recalls to mind the 
 time when the right of war consisted in the annihilation and 
 general massacre of the conquered ; it is a worthy termina- 
 tion to the history of a societ}' wherein civil wars, intestine 
 convulsions, and the delirium of political and religious fac- 
 tions, were the ordinary scenes which each generation saw 
 renewed. 
 
 Russia. 
 
 The lion's share which Russia obtained from Poland is 
 the most important political event by which the influence of 
 the reformation and of the religious troubles in Europe was 
 felt in this country. We must, however, take into the ac- 
 count some of the ideas of administration, and government 
 which Peter I. acquired in Holland and England ; more par- 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 107 
 
 ticiilarly, it must not be forgotten that his genius was roused 
 and his mind enlightened by a child of the reform, the Gene- 
 vese Le Fort, who may, in fact, be considered as the real 
 legislator of Russia. Besides, at the time of the reformation, 
 this empire being within the pale of the Greek church, took 
 no part in the dissentions of the western church. But Peter I. 
 having seen what was passing among the Protestant princes, 
 at his return, effected a reform in the Russian church, of 
 which he declared himself the supreme head, withdrawing 
 his obedience from the patriarch of Constantinople, as the 
 kings of England had separated from Rome. Perhaps it may 
 also be necessary to consider the influence v»hich the pro- 
 testant and liberal education of the young princess of Zerbst, 
 at the court of Brunswick, may have had on the ever memo- 
 rable reign of this princess, under the name of Catharine II. 
 The toleration of the czars drew colonies of sectaries into 
 many parts of the vast empire of Russia, as well from our 
 southern countries, as from Poland, Germany, and Holland. 
 The Anabaptists, and the Moravian brethren, have several 
 establishments there. There are also propagated the sects of 
 Ascetic Christians, who lead a sort of conventual life, under 
 the name of Theodosians, Phillipons, and Raskolnicks, and 
 who have all the enthusiasm and fervour of the ancient Ceno- 
 bites. Some Dutchmen' had also established several flour- 
 ishing colonies on the banks of the Wolga, in the early part 
 of the reign of Catharine II. The brigand Pugatschef soon 
 afterwards exterminated them. 
 
 SECOND POINT OF VIEW. 
 
 External and Respective Situation of the States of Europe with 
 each other. — System of Equilibrium, 
 
 Before the fifth century of our era, the greatest part of Eu- 
 rope was Roman, and consequently subjected to a certain uni- 
 formity of action. What was not Roman endeavoured to 
 maintain its independence against the common enemy of all 
 nations, and to this was confined all the political system 
 of that age. When the various nations of the north and 
 north-east invaded the south and west, a chaos which 
 lasted several centuries confounded the whole of Europe. 
 The wandering hordes of new conquerors founded empires of 
 a day, which were quickly destroyed by new hordes who 
 
108 tillers' essay. 
 
 drove the first farther on. By degrees, however, these irre- 
 gular oscillations slackened; dominations were settled; and 
 groups of small states were established on the soil of the 
 ancient divisions of Europe. In German}^, Gaul, Italy, Ibe- 
 ria and England, these species of confederations were formed, 
 the limits and constitution of which varied often, and, in 
 which the right of the strongest was almost the only public 
 right. This new state was but one step towards another, 
 better regulated. The leaders of these anarchial aggregates, 
 in which every possessor of a fief set up for a sovereign, at 
 length strengthened their paramount authority, reduced a num- 
 ber of small princes to the condition of subjects, and thus 
 founded durable powers, monarchies, and empires. But 
 during the infancy of this new order, the confusion and anar- 
 chy were still great. The Gothic kings of Spain, contended 
 with the Moorish kings, who had come from Africa; the 
 kings of France fought against the kings of England, who 
 had invaded a part of their provinces, against the dukes of 
 Brittany, Burgundy, Lorraine, and others ; Italy was the 
 prey of eternal invasions ; of conquests followed by de- 
 feats : of a flux and reflux of armies which succeeded each 
 other. Hungary was contended for by the Mussulmen and 
 the Imperialists ; Germany saw civil wars incessantly arising, 
 without object and without end, between its diflferent princes. 
 There were, therefore, as many political systems in Europe, 
 as groups of states within the limits of -each country ; and 
 in each of these systems ignorance and disorder generally 
 reigned. The interest of the moment, or the local interest, 
 determined everything; each one thought only of his own 
 danger, or his own design ; their ill-arranged alliances were 
 of short duration ; the attention of their statesmen seldom 
 passed the boundaries of one country ; Hungary was nothing 
 to England, Sweden was nothing to Spain ; the political bo- 
 dies had not acquired that universal contact which now makes 
 a confederation of states in Europe, already embracing al- 
 most all the old and the new world. It is true, momentary 
 alliances were formerly entered into ; but they were mostly 
 without consistence, without any fixed and durable plan. To 
 be convinced of this, we need only attend to the history of 
 the greater part of these alliances ; that for example, of the 
 absurd and ridiculous league of Cambray, of which our guile- 
 less Louis XII. was the dupe. It must however be acknow- 
 ledged that the multiplicity of negotiations, of transient 
 leagues of this period, exposed the necessity, which began 
 to be generally felt, of a union, a reciprocal support, a stabi- 
 
109 
 
 lity of principles. The partial systems had nearly found 
 their centres of gravity ; that of the total system was to be 
 sought. 
 
 It has been already said that the crusades had, for the first 
 time, accustomed the western nations to a general union, 
 a sort of European fraternity. Catholicism produced this 
 good effect for a continuance. The pontifical monarchy taught 
 princes and nations to consider themselves as compatriots, 
 being all equally subjects of Rome. This centre of unity 
 was, for some centuries, a real benefit to the human race. 
 But it derived its power from opinion, and from the acquies- 
 cence of princes. But from the time when abuses of too 
 great magnitude had disgusted opinion ; when princes had 
 humbled popes ; when a long schism had offered to undirect- 
 ed Christianity the spectacle of several popes at once, who 
 claimed the same power, and, of councils, which in their turn, 
 aspired to be superior to all these pontiffs, this centre of unity 
 lost its attractive force, and the general system, which was 
 insensibly detaching itself from it, was menanced with fall- 
 ing again into a chaos. Masses, however, had been formed, 
 sufficiently powerful to become centres of action in a new 
 order. Austria, which then predominated, France, England, 
 and Spain had acquired great internal consistence ; these 
 powerful bodies were in presence of each other, and it re- 
 quired only one decisive occurrence to bring them into con- 
 tact, to render them rivals or friends ; in a word, to connect 
 them closely. This event was the reformation, and the wars 
 to which it gave rise.* 
 
 * A writer of great talents says, *' The interests which had 
 hitherto been national, ceased to be so, in proportion as a reli- 
 gious interest united men of diflferent countries, and subjects of 
 different governments, who had formerly been strangers to each 
 other. The difference in language, manners, and character had 
 raised a wall of separation between the nations of Europe which 
 nothing had been able to shake. It was destroyed by the re- 
 formation of the church. A sentiment of greater power over 
 the heart of man than even the love of his country, had ren- 
 dered him capable of seeing and feeling beyond the limits of 
 his country. The French Calvinist felt a greater relation with 
 the English, German, Dutch, or Genevese Calvinist, than with 
 his Catholic countrymen. The triumph of the Batavian armies 
 was more grateful to him than the triumph of the armies of his 
 sovereign, who fought for the papacy. Thus the men who were 
 formerly troops employed by princes in their personal affairs, 
 10 
 
110 VILLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 The new interests to both princes and nation, produced in 
 men's minds by this religious reformation, became a general 
 concern of Christianity in the aggregate, and no longer de- 
 pended on the localities of any country in particular, but ex- 
 ceeding them all in importance. States which had scarcely 
 existed to each other, then began to feel a sympathy which 
 led to a union. France formed an alliance with Sweden ; 
 England with Holland ; Bavaria with Spain. Their views, 
 being enlarged, enlarged also their foresight, and gave birth 
 to precautions. Their interest having become common, re- 
 quired common measures. The designs of the house of Aus- 
 tria were discovered and openly resisted. To find a counter- 
 poise which could balance this ambitious power, and prevent 
 it from rising at pleasure, became an affair of the utmost im- 
 portance to the newly coalesced Europe. Hence the fruitful 
 idea of an equilibrium between the European powers; an 
 idea which w^as the soul of the negotiations in Westphalia, 
 and has become a principal consideration in all the public af- 
 fairs of Europe, since the treaty which was the result of it. 
 
 Austria and the Catholic states were then placed in one 
 scale, and, in the other, all the powers which had fought for 
 the reform, including also France. The principle of the Eu- 
 ropean equilibrium was therefore, in reality, only the opposi- 
 tion of the Catholic party and the reformed party. New cir- 
 cumstances soon supervened, which gave it a totally different 
 
 became gradually the judges of their own destinies, and were 
 actuated by views arising from their dearest affections. The 
 assistance which would not have been granted without repug- 
 nance to a simple neighbom', was lavished with zeal on an as- 
 sociate in the same creed. The Palatine quitted his own coun- 
 try to defend, against the enemy of his religion, the French- 
 man who had adopted it. The Frenchman quitted a country 
 where his conscience was not at liberty, and he was subjected 
 to a thousand vexations, to slied his blood for the salvation of 
 Holland. On the banks of the Loire and the Seine, Swiss and 
 Germans were seen lighting against Swiss and Germans, for the 
 order of succession to the throne of Finance. The Dane quit- 
 ted his marshes, the Swede his icy regions, to come and break 
 the chains prepared for Germany. By these new bonds all 
 were taught to extend their good-will beyond the narrow limits 
 of their coimtry, and to mix with the great human family; and, 
 ceasing to be attached to the glebe of a certain district of the 
 earth, they become Europeans, citizens of the world." Schil- 
 ler's history of the thirty years war, vol. i. 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. lU 
 
 aspect ; but, in general, it may be considered as the division 
 ofthe political bodies of Europe into two croups, nearly equal 
 in strength, and in each of which sometimes one and some- 
 times another of the powers bears the principal sway. 
 
 Before the states of Europe entered into an aggregate sys- 
 tem of connection, Italy and Germany had, for a long time, 
 formed individual systems, or confederations, in which the 
 common policy of each of the states endeavoured to maintain 
 a certain equilibrium, and to restrain one party by another. It 
 is possible that this partial equilibrium may have been the 
 type from which the idea of a general equilibrium was formed : 
 but how much more extensive and accurate were the views 
 which flowed from this ! Politics, which, in Italy especially, 
 had hitherto been a tissue of lov/ craft, petty perfidies, in- 
 trigues, cruelties, and meannesses, became more expanded 
 and more liberal ; its principles were more evident, and better 
 known ; the greater part of the powerful governments who 
 took part in negotiations by their ministers, mutually enlight- 
 ened each other. Among these governments, some were ani- 
 mated by frankness and good faith : the mean Italian spirit 
 was gradually banished from cabinets. There is no doubt 
 but a little knavery still enters into politics, and that deceit 
 is practised here and there ; but reciprocal deceit is neither 
 so easy, nor even so necessary as formerly. Since the long 
 and universal war in which every power was involved by the 
 reformation, it has been found that true politics consisted in 
 real strength ; and that this had its origin in the prosperity of 
 the state, in commerce, a good public spirit, and the attach- 
 ment of the citizens to the government. The strength and re- 
 sources of each state were known to all the others. Statistics 
 renders this knowledge more and more exact, and mutual im- 
 position is now scarcely practicable. Every one feels that it 
 is necessary to protect his ally against inimical enterprises ; 
 that the weak must be protected against the powerful, who 
 would become too much so by aggrandizement. An exclusive 
 egotism has therefore ceased to be the dominant spirit of Eu- 
 ropean politics : the state which aims at raising itself is watch- 
 ed and repressed ; that which is on the point of falling is 
 supported: the disproportionate elevation of any power only 
 tightens the bonds which unite the others. Even the small- 
 est states have acquired a real importance in this system. 
 Precaution and good will, externally ; within, the develope- 
 ment of the total strength by a good administration : such is, 
 in general, the new tendency which politics have taken since 
 the great conflict produced by the reformation. 
 
112 VILLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 First period of the equilibrium of Europe, from 1520 to 1556. 
 
 Charles V. and Francis I. were the two principal actors in 
 the events of this period. The colossal increase of the Aus- 
 trian power was the first cause which showed other states the 
 necessity of a closer alliance among- them. From thencefor- 
 ward the situation of France was fixed, and, from the nature 
 of things, its monarch became the most formidable rival to 
 Charles. But it was not easy to bring- about an alliance of 
 interested states, and to make this confederation act with the 
 requisite effect and energ-y. The reformation came and sup- 
 plied the means ; and, by its assistance, the European oppo- 
 sition was organized with facility. Henry VIII., who might 
 have held an honourable rank in it, drew back ; he dreaded 
 appearing subordinate to Francis I., and at length was too 
 much engaged with his mistresses and theology. In revenge, 
 France introduced the Ottoman power into the new system. 
 France, Turkey, and the Protestant princes of the north, were 
 the first united mass destined to be a counterpoise to German 
 Austria, Spain, and Burgundy. These two masses, formed 
 themselves, one around the Protestant party, and the other 
 around the Catholic party, in Germany. It was generally 
 felt that the equilibrium in the empire would decide that of 
 the rest of Europe ; and, that if Charles V. triumphed over 
 the Protestant princes, his power would become irresistible. 
 Henry II., who succeeded Francis I., formed a close alliance " 
 with Maurice of Saxony. At length, in 1556, the formida- 
 ble Charles V. disappeared from the theatre of events, and 
 shut himself up in a cloister; his German states were separa- 
 ted from the Spanish monarchy and Burgundy, Avhich were 
 the lot of his son Philip. A change became perceptible in the 
 European system. 
 
 Second period, from 1556 to 1603. 
 
 Philip II. of Spain, and Elizabeth of England, became the 
 two ostensible personages ; the one at the head of the Catho- 
 lic, the other at the head of the Protestant party. The peace- 
 ful Rodolph 11. suffered Austria and the rest of Germany to 
 take breath. The scene of events was transported to a new 
 theatre. Great Britain was Protestant, and the Low Coun- 
 tries revolted against Philip. Spain, on the one hand, fight- 
 ing for Popery ; England and the United Provinces, on the 
 other, fighting for the reform, fill the history of this period. 
 The new republic, scarcely born, attains to the rank of the 
 
VILLERS ESSAY. 113 
 
 first powers. The overstrained spring of oppression had pro- 
 voked the reaction of the spring- of liberty in it; the efforts 
 made to subdue it had no other effect than accelerating the 
 developement of all its strength. If France had not then lan- 
 guished under weak princes, who seemed to be devoid of en- 
 ergy, except in feeding factions, yielding to fanaticism, and 
 persecuting their Protestant subjects ; if it had not been re- 
 duced to support the miserable, contradictory, and difficult 
 character of a protector of the reform, without, and its enemy 
 within, no doubt it might easily have supported the Batavian 
 league with a powerful hand, and attached it to itself forever, 
 to the prejudice of England. The latter has since made good 
 use of this attachment of Holland, which France neglected. 
 It would be superfluous to detail here all we have lost by it 
 during two centuries, and all which our rivals have gained ; 
 every body knows it too well. 
 
 In the preceding period, land armies decided the fate of the 
 war ; in this, the geographical position of the two countries 
 required fleets: and the phenomenon of maritime powers con- 
 tending on the seas, was seen for the first time in modern 
 Europe. Since this time, the superiority of naval armies has 
 become of still more decisive consequence than that of land 
 armies. The merchants of Holland have possessed themselves 
 of a considerable part of the navigation of the two worlds, 
 and show what a commercial state may become by the sole 
 aid of its vessels. The religious spirit had given rise to the 
 new republic ; but it also gave rise to the spirit of commerce, 
 which, by degrees, made the first lose its influence, and, at 
 length, wholly disappear ; and took its place in politics. Thus 
 everything is connected in the destiny of states, and yields 
 to a mutual developement. 
 
 In the struggle which employed all this period, the oppo- 
 sition of the two religious parties was more marked than be- 
 fore, since one was wholly Catholic, and the other Protestant 
 without mixture. Now, as the Catholic party fought for the 
 royal authority against rebellious subjects, and the Protestants 
 fought in support of these same rebels, and for the foundation 
 of a republic, it has been since received as an avowed and 
 fundamental maxim of state, that Catholicism was the best 
 support of absolute power, while Protestantism favoured 
 rebellion and a republican spirit. Even at the present day, 
 this maxim is not relinquished by many statesmen. It may 
 have its true side; but we have already shown in what man- 
 ner. 
 
 The powerful Elizabeth died after Philip; the United 
 10* 
 
114 tillers' essay. 
 
 Provinces subsisted by themselves ; a nevr period was pre- 
 paring in the European ec|uilibrium. 
 
 Third Period, from 1603 to 1648. 
 
 The preceding period had only been an interlude to the 
 long commotions in Germany ; an interlude which supplied 
 the stage with the liberty of Holland, and the civil wars of 
 France. After six 5^ears of war, and three of trouble and un- 
 certainty, the league of Smalcald had obtained from Charles 
 v., tired and enfeebled, the peace of Augsburgh, which was 
 dated in 1553, but was not entirely consolidated by the empe- 
 ror until 1555, a few months before he abdicated the throne. 
 In 1 6 1 8, the war between the emperor and the Protestant princes 
 broke out again with more violence than ever, and lasted for 
 thirty successive years, until the treaty of Westphalia put an 
 end to it in 1618. 
 
 Spain had again become inert. England was agitated by 
 terrible convulsions, which have been already noticed in the 
 article appropriated to that power. Henry IV. had ascended 
 the throne of France ; but the early years of the reign of this 
 great prince were consumed in the re-establishment of what 
 had been overturned in the interior of the kingdom, by so many 
 shocks. If Providence had thought it right to leave him 
 longer to his people, v/hose idol he was, from what evils 
 might his genius have relieved Europe! The war of thirty 
 years would either have been prevented by him, or it would 
 have been sooner terminated. He had already restored France 
 to her rank, and her importance. Thus he had again brought 
 it into its natural place, that is to say, with respect to Austria, 
 which he had resolved to curb. He was become the protector of 
 the Protestant party in Germany, and had resolved to maintain 
 the peace and equilibrium of the European republic. Who 
 can ascertain how much the will of such a hero, seconded by 
 such a minister as Sully, might have influenced the world T 
 The project for peace is known ; this in the head of the Abbe 
 St. Pierre could only be a dream ; but in that of a powerful 
 monarch there were, at least, some means of realizing it. 
 Henry was snatched from the world in the midst of his bril- 
 liant career. France, after his time, fell again into a paroxysm 
 of weakness and anarchy, under a minor king. She formed an 
 alliance with Spain which had done her so much injury, and 
 became the sport of all the petty intrigues of the Italian court 
 of Mary de Medicis. It was not until 1624 that the skilful 
 hand of Richelieu was effectually applied for its welfare. 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 115 
 
 Thus it was disabled from having any weight at the com- 
 mencement of this period. 
 
 In 1630, Sweden appeared on the theatre of war in Ger- 
 many ; and France was not long in joining her. The armies 
 of the two countries rivalled each other in courage, as did 
 their leaders, in talents. It must not, however, be concealed, 
 that the part of the Swedes, who fought boldly in the cause 
 of their religion, was better supported, and more uniformly 
 heroic ; and the intrinsic weakness of Sweden rendered these 
 efforts more worthy of admiration. Austria, Spain, the Pope, 
 Bavaria, and some of the small Catholic states, on the one 
 side ; France, Sweden, and the Protestant states of Germany, 
 on the other, formed the two principal groups of the European 
 equilibrium, towards the close of this period. They remained 
 the same at the celebrated negotiations for peace. Austria 
 there saw its fate determined. France and Sweden became 
 the guarantees of a treaty which regulated the future order of 
 the empire. Both of them acquired portions of that Germany 
 which they had come to defend : the first, the three Bishoprics, 
 and Alsace ; the second, the bishoprics of Bremen and Ver- 
 dun, a part of Pomerania, and some ports and islands on the 
 Baltic. 
 
 Sweden soon declined ; France rose ; and new variations 
 supervened in the equilibrium of Europe. But it is not ne- 
 cessary to follow them. From this time the influence of the 
 reformation, at least the immediate influence, cease to be 
 manifested in it. Religious interest is no longer the domi- 
 nant principle of activity in cabinets. The ambition of Louis 
 XIV., the Spanish succession, the'colonies, the establishment 
 of Prussia, the intervention of Great Britain in the affairs of 
 the continent, and other events also occurred to fill the scene. 
 Nevertheless, the support of the equilibrium continues to be 
 the fundamental law of the politics of Europe; and, now, 
 when new events have, for a short time, disordered this bal- 
 ance, we see the heads of nations eagerly seeking to re-es- 
 tablish it, not, it is true, with the same materials, but still on 
 the same basis as before. Individuals change in the political 
 order, as in the other parts of nature, but the laws of the great 
 whole remain constantly the same. 
 
 Summary Recapitulation of the results of the Reformation with 
 respect to Politics. 
 
 Europe, plunged for several centuries in a stupor and apathy, 
 interrupted only by wars, or rather by incursions and rob- 
 
116 
 
 beries, without any beneficial object to humanity, received at 
 once a new life and new activity. An universal and deep 
 interest agitated the nations ; their powers were developed, 
 their minds expanded by new political ideas. Former revolu- 
 tions had only exercised men's arms; this employed their 
 heads. The people who, before, had been only estimated as 
 flocks passively subject to the caprice of their leaders, now 
 began to act for themselves, and to feel their importance and 
 utilit}^ Those who embraced the reform, made common cause 
 with their princes for liberty j and hence arose a closer bond, 
 a community of interest and of action, between the sovereign 
 and his subjects. Both M^ere for ever delivered from the ex- 
 cessive and burthensome power of the clergy, as well as from 
 the struggle, so distressing to all Europe, and which had 
 endured so long between the popes and the emperors, to know 
 which of them should retain the supreme power. Social order 
 was regulated and brought near to perfection. The Austrian 
 power was confined within proper limits; that of France was 
 raised and made head against it; the necessit)'- of durable 
 alliances began to be felt; the political bodies of Europe 
 formed a connected S5'^stem of equilibrium, a regularly organ- 
 ized aggregate, of which even the idea was not formerly en- 
 tertained. States, such as Sweden and Turkey, which had 
 scarcely had an existence for the others, gained a rank and an 
 importance in this system. Some, such as Holland, originated 
 from this great shock, and acquired much preponderance from 
 their origin. The foundations of the Prussian monarchy and 
 the American republic were laid. A general spirit arose in 
 politics, and embraced all Europe. The art of negotiation 
 was improved and became more liberal and more certain; the 
 progress of aff'airs, clearer and more simple. In this state of 
 intercourse and contact, commotions and wars became more 
 general, but they were also sooner terminated, and their rigour 
 was lightened by a more humane law of nations. 
 
 If France had been Protestant, she would have fought 
 more zealously for the cause of Protestantism, and the strug- 
 gle might, perhaps, have been shorter. But an equivalent 
 advantage to humanity might nevertheless result from her 
 being Catholic : that is, men became gradually habituated 
 to toleration and to the fraternity of sects, more especially 
 when they saw a very powerful minister habited in the 
 Roman purple. Cardinal Richelieu, make common cause ; and 
 enter into strict alliance with Protestant Sweden, and all the 
 league of heretic princes of Saxony. 
 
 In one part of Europe the church ceased to form an extra- 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 117 
 
 neous state within the state; from which it was easy to fore- 
 tell that this change would one day be effected through the 
 whole of it, and that its head would be reduced to the simple 
 spiritual primacy. At length the Catholic clergy reformed 
 their conduct on the example of the Protestants, and gained 
 in manners, knowledge, and esteem, as much as they lost in 
 power and riches. 
 
 Almost all the European governments, however, increased 
 in their power, and internal strength; the Protestant ones, 
 because they were united with the mass of the people, and 
 had appropriated to themselves the wealth, prerogatives, and 
 jurisdiction of the church ; the Catholics, because they had 
 placed themselves on a formidable war establishment, had 
 overthrown the Protestants in their own states, and thus sub- 
 jugated one part of their people by another, the citizens by 
 the soldiers. 
 
 After the discovery of America and the Cape of Good 
 Hope, the commerce of the two worlds was concentrated in 
 the hands of Spain and Portugal. But these two countries, 
 like almost all others, before the sixteenth century, had only 
 a throne and no people ; all the national activity resided in 
 the government. The ignorance of princes was employed 
 in conducting a commerce as greedy as it was ill understood, 
 the profits of which were absorbed by the luxury or unskil- 
 fulness of the court. How much longer might a true com- 
 mercial spirit, navigation, the exploring of seas, have lan- 
 guished, had not two states, actuated by the reformation 
 (states in which the whole nation exerted all its powers, lav- 
 ished its resources, and seconded the action of the govern- 
 ment,) found themselves led, and, as it were, forced to seize 
 the trident? Without the religious commotion produced by 
 Luther, the order of events would have been different ; Hol- 
 land, a poor portion of the Austrian states, would have re- 
 mained without a marine and without commerce; England 
 would not have had that volcanic force, or that direction 
 which turned its against Spain. On the contrary, the mari- 
 time and commercial systems of Europe ha^e, by means of 
 these two powers, attained to a developement and a range, 
 proportionate to the internal force which animates them. 
 Their fleets, their skilful mariners have traversed all seas, 
 and encircled the globe in their course ; this example has 
 been followed by France, the constant emulator of every- 
 thing great and useful. Thus the fermentation excited in 
 Europe by religious opinions, has created in it a new order 
 
118 
 
 of things more beneficial to humanity, and has even aifected 
 the two worlds. 
 
 SECOND HEAD. 
 
 ON THE PROGRESS OF KNOWLEDGE. 
 
 "It is about two hundred years since a man of genius, 
 having discovered and collected incontestable proofs of the 
 motion of the earth, was condemned, as an heretic, to per- 
 petual imprisonment, by the tribunal of the inquisition. 
 Now, a complete treatise on the celestial mechanism is freely 
 published. Its illustrious author sees the sciences honoured 
 in his person, by the most dignified men of the state. What 
 a progress in so short a time, and what a career has been 
 gone over since Galileo !" 
 
 This was the language of Citizen Biot, lately, in announc- 
 ing the third volume of the immortal work of the senator 
 Laplace. This ingenious observation of a distinguished vo- 
 tary of the sciences, who, in writing it perhaps had no thought 
 of Luther's reformation, contains, nevertheless, in an implicit 
 manner, this certain result ; that is to sa}?-, that the ancient 
 system of Roman Catholicism was diametrically opposite to 
 the progress of knowledge; and that an event which has 
 contributed to free the human mind from such an adversar}?", 
 ought to be considered as one of the most fortunate epochs 
 in the intellectual culture of modern nations. The opposite 
 system of liberality, of examination, of free criticism, esta- 
 blished by the reformation, has become the ^Egis under which 
 the Galileos, of subsequent ages, the Keplers, the Newtons, 
 the Leibnitzes, the Hevels, and finally the Laplaces, have 
 been enabled securely to develope their exalted conceptions. 
 
 But in this really immense career, passed through by the 
 human mind, during three centuries, how can we distinguish 
 the progress which the reformation alone has enabled it to 
 make? So many causes have contributed to the intellectual 
 culture of this period ! The reformation, as has been already 
 observed, was itself only a first effect of the restoration of 
 knowledge. This effect, however, must have become a cause 
 in its turn ; it must have influenced subsequent events. But 
 in what degree, and in what manner? Has the reformation 
 accelerated, or has it retarded the progress of the human 
 mind ] Has it been favourable or injurious to it ] Writers of 
 eminence have supported each opinion. Must one of the two 
 be adopted without reserve 1 Is it more expedient to take a 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 119 
 
 middle course ? The author of this essay will freely avow his 
 opinion, and endeavour to justify it. 
 
 A daughter of renovating knowledge, the reformation 
 could doubtless be no other than favourable to its progress. 
 But this child of light was conceived in an age still gloomy, 
 in a world still in a chaos, and in which a multitude of oppo- 
 site principles fermented. Abandoned to all the passions 
 which then prevailed ; frequently disfigured in its exterior 
 forms by the ignorance and by the superstition of those who 
 contributed to its establishment; the reformation which ori- 
 ginally tended only to good, has been the source of many 
 evils. The good which it produced is a result of the spirit 
 which constitutes its essence ; the evils it has occasioned 
 depend in a great diegree on the incidents with which it was 
 accompanied, on the resistance opposed to it, and on the 
 foreign motives joined to it. It is therefore necessary to 
 consider two things here, which cannot be blended without 
 injustice ; the one is the moral impulse given, primitively, by 
 the reformation ; the other is the commotion which resulted 
 from it, when to this primitive impulse, so many other things 
 were added, which modified it in different ways and changed 
 its nature ; in a word, in the reformation, the spirit and the 
 event, the intention and the effect must be considered. 
 
 SECT. I. 
 
 ResuligJifthe Moral Impulse given by the Reformation, 
 
 From what has been said in several passages of this work, 
 on the nature of the reformation, the direction which its moral 
 impulse must have had, and the objects to which it extended, 
 may be easily presumed. The intention of the reformers was, 
 in principle, to free themselves from the despotism and infal- 
 libility of the popes ; to depend only on the sacred writings 
 for the grounds of their belief; and, in short, to overthrow 
 the scholastic divinity which has become the soul of the Ro- 
 man theology, and the firm support of the hierarchy. Hence 
 it follows, that in its essence, the reformation must have had 
 an influence on the liberty of thought, so precious to man, 
 and the basis of his civil liberty ; on the manner of contem- 
 plating religion, establishing the proofs of it, and of interpret- 
 ing the Scriptures; in the third place, on philosophy, and on 
 the ramifications of the tree of science, arising from any of 
 
120 VILLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 these three principal points. Order and perspicuity require 
 that each of these articles should be separately treated of. 
 
 With respect to Liberty of Thought. 
 
 I should think myself deficient in respect to my judges, 
 and to the enlightened part of the public, were I to go into a 
 long enumeration of the advantages which the human mind 
 derives from the unlimited faculty of exercising its powers 
 with freedom. Let us only reflect on the immense train of 
 censures, prohibitions and inquisitors employed by the Ro- 
 mish church to keep every eye closed, at a period in which 
 every new truth became a heresy, that is to say, a crime de- 
 serving the severest punishment, and Against which all the 
 rigour of the secular arm was demanded ; and we shall shud- 
 der at the danger incurred by humzftiity before the sixteenth 
 century. If, through a most happy and most unexpected con- 
 currence of favourable circumstances, thought had not re- 
 ceived, one after another, neM- supports and new food for its 
 activity, what would the feeble spark of light which began 
 to shine have become, with the system of oppression and oh', 
 scurantism adopted by the court of Rome '? If the Greeks of' 
 Constantinople had not emigrated towards the west; if Co- 
 pernicus in the heavens, and Columbus upon the earth, had 
 not enlarged the limits of knowledge ; if the art of printing 
 and the reformation of the church had not issued from the 
 bosom of industrious Germany; if the colossal power which 
 fettered consciences, and oppressed minds, had not experi- 
 enced rapid and perceptible attacks, how many ages, perhaps, 
 might the culture of the human race and the amelioration of 
 the social state have been retarded 1 Let it be asked in the 
 south of Germany, of the people of the two Sicilies, of Spain, 
 of Ireland. After having freely examined the state of know- 
 ledge in these countries, let an impartial observer satisfy him- 
 self to what degree it has attained in Switzerland, the two 
 Saxonies, Holland and England ; the contrast will not escape 
 him. It is not asserted that in the Catholic countries named 
 above, men of superior talents, and eminent in their age, have 
 not been met with ; but they are rare, and it is the masses of 
 the nations which are to be compared. Without doubt, con- 
 sidering the close connection in which the nations of our little 
 Europe live together, it is impossible that the knowledge of 
 some should be prevented from penetrating a little among 
 the rest. The wall of separation cannot be sufficiently 
 strengthened, nor so strictly guarded as that the individuals 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 121 
 
 on each side cannot have communication. But certainly on 
 the part of the Catholics, the precautions for repelling the 
 liberal ideas of Protestantism from the limits of their territo- 
 ries, like a dang-erous epidemy, have not been neglected. It 
 was at Rome that the first censures of books were invented, 
 and the example was religiously followed by the govern- 
 ments devoted to Rome. Leo X., this vaunted protector of 
 the arts, in 1515, promulgated some severe regulations against 
 the printing and publishing of books translated from the 
 Greek, Hebrew, or Arabic. Almost at the same instant, in 
 which five years after, he fulminated that famous bull against 
 the reform, beginning thus ; Exurge, JJeus, judica causam 
 tuarn^ in which Luther and all his adherents are assailed with 
 the most terrible anathemas ; in which it is indiscriminately 
 prohibited to read all their books, on whatsoever subject they 
 may treat ; at the same instant, I say, this pontiff did net 
 blush to publish, in the name of Jesus Christ, a bull in favour 
 of the profane poems of Ariosto, menacing with excommuni- 
 cation all who should blame them or impede their circulation. 
 What could be expected from such a spirit, from such an 
 abuse of things which they wished to be respected as holy, 
 and received as the oracles of heaven itself? France, the 
 most enlightened of all the Catholic countries, and wherein 
 papacy had never prevailed indefinitely, notwithstanding its 
 attempts to get footing there and to introduce the inquisition ; 
 France, where a half reform existed under the title of the 
 Galilean liberties, was not entirely free from that stifling 
 system.* In Spain, Italy, and Austria, prohibitions and 
 
 * The history of all the books which have been juridically 
 condemned would be hig-hly interesting' were it philosophically 
 wi'itten. AVe should find many stig-matized for having" dared to 
 say that every honest man oug-ht to glory in thinking. Let us 
 take one instance among a thousand. Towards the close of the 
 seventeenth century the missionary I^ecomte published his Ne- 
 veaux Memoires sur I'etat present de la Chine, in which lie had 
 the candour to say, that, " the Chinese had adored the true God 
 for two thousand years ; that, among the nations, they were the 
 first wiio had sacrificed to then- Creator, and taught a true mo- 
 rality." We cannot, at this time, conceive what a clamour this 
 simple assertion of an historian then excited. The abbe Boileau, 
 brother to the celebrated satirist, thundered in the Sorbonne, 
 and denounced the good missionary as a blasphemer. In 1700, 
 the Sorbonne condemned the book, which the parliament had 
 also the weakness to order to be torn and burnt by the hand? of 
 the hangman. 
 
 11 
 
122 VILLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 censures were carried much farther, and even yet impose 
 heavy shackles on the liberty of writing and thinking. Se- 
 veral of the governments of southern Germany, from time to 
 time, renew these salutary regulations against reading books 
 written by heretics or by wits. The public libraries lock up 
 the works of Rousseau, Voltaire, Helvetius, Diderot, etc. 
 and it is expressly ordered " that they be not communicated, 
 except to those who will undertake to refute them ;" these 
 are the words of a very recent edict. > A professor of a Ba- 
 varian university was deprived of his employment, some 
 years before the French revolution, for having required that 
 a copy of Dictionnaire critique de Bayle should be placed in 
 the common library. These facts, and an infinity of others 
 which are daily making their appearance, characterize the 
 spirit of Catholicism, with respect to the propagation of 
 knowledge and the freedom of instruction. This maxim of 
 the centuries of the middle age still lives in it, and is kept 
 up as much as it is possible to do so in these times ; " to 
 keep men's minds in perfect stupidity on certain subjects ; to 
 keep as many empty spaces in them as possible, in order to 
 be able to fill them up afterwards at pleasure, and that super- 
 stition may be more conveniently instilled into them." Has 
 it happened that any pope has retracted the bull In Caena 
 Domi7ii, by which all those are excommunicated who read 
 books composed by heretics 1 Fra Paolo, mentioning the first 
 index of prohibited books which was published at Rome, in 
 1559, says, among other things, " that in it, under pretext of 
 religion, the pope had condemned to excommunication the 
 authors of writings solely because the authority of princes 
 and magistrates was supported in them against the usurpa- 
 tions of the ecclesiastics. Besides this, the Roman inquisi- 
 tors prohibited en masse all the books printed by sixty-two 
 printers, without regard to their contents ; adding also a ge- 
 neral prohibition against reading any book coming from the 
 press of a printer who should, once in his life, have printed 
 any writing coming from the pen of a heretic. So that, con- 
 tinues the historian, nothing was left to read. A more ex- 
 cellent secret for stupifying and corrupting mankind by reli- 
 gion, will never be discovered. (^Histoire du Candle de 
 Trente, Lib. VI.) 
 
 The reformation broke all these chains imposed upon the 
 human mind, and overthrew all the barriers which prevented 
 the free communication of thoughts. Nothing remains pro- 
 hibited by it but such productions as public morality or mo- 
 desty would blush at. 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 123 
 
 To have recalled the remembrance of these chains and 
 these barriers, to have examined the long barbarism which 
 they would have supported upon earth ; is not this to have 
 shown sufficiently how much the reformation has contributed 
 to the progress and the universality of knowledge ? In fact, 
 as soon as the career was open by it, men dared publicly to 
 discuss the most valuable interests of humanity, and to 
 speak, as men, of everything human. 
 
 The Roman church said ; " Submit yourselves to authority, 
 without examination,'''' The Protestant church says, " Ex- 
 amine, and submit yourselves only to conviction. '^^ The one 
 commanded a blind belief; the other teaches with the apos- 
 tle* "to reject the bad, and to adopt only that which is 
 good." 
 
 " Protestantism," says an esteemed writer,f " is the re- 
 pulsive power with which reason is endowed, throwing from 
 her, and repelling everything which would usurp her place." 
 I shall abstain from saying more, and from indulging in idle 
 declamations on this subject. It is sufficient to reflect a sin- 
 gle instant on the immense opposition of these two princi- 
 ples, adopted respectively, by the two parties, as the basis 
 of moral culture : on the one side, believe ! on the other 
 examine ! Most assuredly on the supreme authority of 
 these two contrary principles everything must wear a very 
 different aspect, on the two sides. The principle of exami- 
 nation provokes that knowledge of which it is the friend, as 
 that of blind submission is the votary of ignorance. And by 
 what means shall we calculate how far the infinite influence 
 of a fundamental principle which is admitted for the basis of 
 religious instruction, and, consequently, also, for the moral 
 instruction of a nation, may extend % The man who is free 
 in his inmost soul, looks freely and boldly around him ; he 
 becomes enterprising, active, capable of all that is great and 
 useful. He that is a slave in his conscience, a slave in the 
 centre of his being, is so, wdthout perceiving it, in every 
 part of his conduct, debased as he is by the stupefaction and ' 
 apathy which enervates his faculties. 
 
 * Spiritum nolite extinguere . . Omnia autem probate ; quod 
 bonum est tenate. Quench not the spirit. Prove all things ; 
 hold fast that which is good. 1 Thess. v. 19, 21. 
 
 \ The Rev. M. Greiling, in a very good German work, enti- 
 tled Hieropolis, on the reciprocal relations of the church and 
 state. 
 
124 VILLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 With respect to the Study of Religion — ancient Languages, 
 Exegesis, Jirchseologia, History » 
 
 Conformably to the terms of the question proposed by the 
 National Institute, the study of religion can only be consider- 
 ed here, in as far as the mode of this study has had an imme- 
 diate influence on literature and the sciences. It will be un- 
 necessar}", therefore, to attend to the doctrine of the differ- 
 ent reformed churches, or to their method of relig-ious instruc- 
 tion, which belongs to the science called catechetic, or to the 
 science of sacred oratory, called homiletic, etc. . . . which, in 
 other respects, and under other circumstances, might, per- 
 haps, furnish matter for a very extensive and very interesting 
 work. 
 
 In the time when the Roman church reigned alone in the 
 west, the absence of all contradiction led to that of all in- 
 quiry, and of all study of religious antiquities. Besides, the 
 church, as we have already seen, opposed an active resistance 
 to all investigations into these matters. It prohibited with 
 all its power the teaching of the oriental languages, and the 
 reading of the books of the Old and New Testaments. Its 
 system was founded on passages and terms in these books, 
 which it interpreted according to its views; and on tradi- 
 tions, passages from the holy fathers, decisions of councils, 
 pontifical bulls, decretals, charters, and other historical monu- 
 ments, true or counterfeit. To attack this system with effect, 
 and in all parts, as well as to establish their own on sure 
 foundations, the Protestant theologians were com.pelled to 
 penetrate into all the depths of criticism, as well in regard to 
 the idioms in which the originals of the sacred books were 
 written, as to the different branches of sacred history and 
 ecclesiastical history. It was of the utmost importance to 
 them to show with precision that this passage was mutilated, 
 or not well interpreted ; that that expression had, at the time 
 in which it was written, a totally different meaning from that 
 which was now attributed to it, and so of the rest. Hence, 
 to them the study of orientalism, of the sacred antiquities, 
 (which are intimately connected with the profane antiquities 
 of the east) and, finally, that of languages, which are the ne- 
 cessary key to them, became indispensable. They were 
 obliged to investigate and attain an exact knowledge of the 
 places, manners, events, ideas, the whole intellectual culture, 
 the political and private state of the different nations during the 
 periods when this prophet or that evangelist had written. 
 We have seen already that the principal leaders of the re- 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 125 
 
 formation were very strongly attached to studies of tliis 
 nature, which required the assiduity and phlegm of the north. 
 Is it necessary here to remind my judges of the immense ser- 
 vices rendered by the reformists of ditferent communions, from 
 Luther, Melancthon, Camerarius, Zwingle, Calvin, the Bux- 
 torfs, ect. to Michaelis, Eichhorn, Schultens, Lowth, Kenni- 
 cott, and others, to oriental literature and antiquities'? The 
 study of Greek, so important on account of the New Testa- 
 ment, the fathers, and the version of the septuagint, was pur- 
 sued with at least equal ardour. An acquaintance with the 
 ancient master-pieces written in this language, gave it a new 
 attraction. Shall I name here all the celebrated Hellenists 
 W'hich Protestant Europe has produced 1 Shall I display a 
 list of their labours 1 This v/ould require a work of pure 
 nomenclature, more voluminous than all this dissertation. 
 Who that has trod on classic ground is unacquainted with 
 Ernesti, Heyne, Heeren, Schlitz, Wolf, Hemsterbuys, Bent- 
 ley, Voss, and Spanheim 1^ Who does not know that in the 
 Protestant countries, the knowledge of Greek is, perhaps, 
 more common than that of Latin, in most Catholic countries 1 
 In England, Holland, and Germany, every man who has re- 
 ceived an education, is as well acquainted with the language 
 of Homer as with that of Virgil. With respect to the eccle- 
 siastics, this knowledge is indispensable to them, and it is 
 not uncommon to find them versed in the culture of the orien- 
 tal languages and antiquities. Thus the impulse was given 
 by the necessity which the Protestants felt, at the first, of 
 acting offensively against the church of Rome. They were 
 the aggressors, and their existence depended upon conquer- 
 ing the Catholic theologians. Thus their attention and their 
 eff'orts were turned towards historical criticism, and philo- 
 logy. Public education was consequently organized : and 
 this study became as much more esteemed and more gene- 
 rally in vogue, as the advances of the learned men of the na- 
 tion became more eminent. j" 
 
 * The greatest number of men of erudition in France, in the 
 sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, were the reformists, Robert 
 and Henry Etienne, Jos. Scalig-er, Casaubon, Saumaise, Bo- 
 chart, Tanegui-Lefebvre, J. Morin, (who afterwards abjured, 
 and joined the Congregation of the Oratory,) Bayle, etc. etc. 
 
 f The great attention given in Protestant countries to the 
 study of the ancient languages, is without doubt one reason of 
 the facility with which they also learn the modern and living lan- 
 guages. In general, a Protestant, of the informed class, com- 
 monly understands two or three languages besides his own. 
 11* 
 
126 tillers' essay. 
 
 The study of languages, and of the sacred and ecclesias- 
 tical antiquities, could not, however, belong exclusively to 
 the Protestants. The Catholics were obliged to take mea- 
 sures to defend themselves, and to prove, in opposition to 
 their learned adversaries, that the passages and expressions, 
 charged by them to be falsely interpreted, were, on the con- 
 trary, explained with justice and truth. Besides, the im- 
 pulse once given in the republic of European literature, no 
 one could remain behind, and submit to the disgrace of ap- 
 pearing less informed than the adverse party.* A great 
 number of Catholics distinguished themselves as much in 
 criticism, and philosophy, as the Protestants. But it must, 
 nevertheless, be acknowledged that this study was never so 
 much encouraged and so universal in the nations attached to 
 Rome, as in those who had separated from it.f Here they 
 gave themselves up to these sciences with the ardour of 
 desire and enthusiasm ; they were revered as the protectors 
 of the public welfare, as the sources of religious and politi- 
 cal independence : there they were only handled like danger- 
 ous weapons, from which the first attack had been received ; 
 and they were only cultivated by compulsion, and through a 
 necessity of defending themselves upon equal terms. 
 
 It was thus tliat Protestantism, by its new method of stu- 
 dying religion, of examining it, and establishing its evidences, 
 gave birth in Europe, and more especially in its own bosom, 
 to a more profound culture of sacred, profane, and ecclesi- 
 astical antiquity. Even in our own days we see striking 
 proofs of it in the erudition of the learned men of the north, 
 who, more remote than the other Europeans from the coun- 
 tries in which the beauties of antiquity have flourished, seem 
 nevertheless to secure to themselves the domination over them, 
 in their scientific excursions. The Italians tread upon Her- 
 
 * The Jews were also aroused by the general activity, and 
 during this period published several grammars and lexicons of 
 the Hebrew tongue. They remained, in general, more learned 
 and more enlightened in the Protestant countries, than else- 
 where. Spinoza lived in Holland, as did Moses Mendelshon at 
 Berlin, where they still reckon several learned men and philo- 
 sophers of the first order among the Jews. 
 
 f It is very evident that this has no reference to the works 
 pulDlished by the propagandists or foreign missions, nor to the 
 works of some other Catholics, the objects of whicli are only 
 the languages and state of the modern east, or of India, China, 
 &c. The particular subject in question is biblical orientalism. 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 127 
 
 culaneum, and disinter its wonders ; they multiply museums 
 and collections ; it is for Winklemann they amass these ma- 
 terials : by their assistance, he rediscovers the thread of the 
 art; he writes the annals of it; he becomes its legislator. 
 
 From this acute study of the oriental and Greek archeeolo- 
 gia by the Protestant theologians, applied to the interpreta- 
 tion of the sacred books, a perfection and richness, which it 
 was very far from having before, has resulted to the science 
 called Exegesis^ or a critical examination of the text of the 
 scriptures, which forms an important part of their studies. 
 Exegesis has several branches. That which relates particu- 
 larly to languages and antiquities, to a knowledge of times, 
 places, and authors, is called hermeneutic. The English in 
 particular, the Swiss, the Dutch, and the Germans have car- 
 ried this science very far. There the various fragments, 
 books, poems, or treatises which compose the Bible (in as far 
 as they are considered as w^orks written in a certain age and 
 in a certain nation) are interpreted, commented on, and re- 
 stored to their true meaning. There the Pentateuch is ex- 
 plained with the same care and the same penetration as the 
 poems of Hesiod or Homer, in profane archaeologia. The 
 scholia written on the book of Job ; on those of Isaiah and 
 Jeremiah ; on the Psalms ; on Solomon's Song, &c. throw an 
 entire new light on these precious remains of oriental anti- 
 quity, on their authors, and on the spirit of the age in which 
 they were written. The mythology of tlie nation and of the 
 neighbouring people is developed and unfolded in them. The 
 hermeneutic labours on the books of the New Testament 
 are not less important. The gospels, the acts and the epis- 
 tles of the Apostles, the apocalypse itself, submitted to cri- 
 ticism like historical passages, give rise to inquiries and 
 dissertations which cannot be read without the most lively 
 interest. In thus tracing the sacred historians and poets 
 through the Egyptian, Arabian, Syriac, Chaldean, Samari- 
 tan, Persian, Greek and Roman antiquity ; in analyzing their 
 language, their manners, their dispositions, the culture and 
 ideas of their cotemporaries, they have cultivated an exten- 
 sive region of the domain of antiquity, and have thrown a 
 light upon a part of the archives of the human race, which 
 is greatly essential to us.* 
 
 • See on this subject a Discourse delivered on the opening" 
 of the Protestant academy of Strasburgh, on the 15th Brumaire, 
 in the year XII. by M. Haffner, professor of theology, the title 
 
128 VILLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 All the Protestant universities have professors, by whom 
 exegesis, the hermeneutic, and other sciences which depend 
 upon it, are in general taught with credit. Such a course, 
 the object of which is the interpretation of the Proverbs, or 
 of the epistle to the Galatians, is very frequently a complete 
 picture of the political, literary, and religious history of the 
 period in w^hich these writings were composed ; a picture in 
 which the erudition, critical knowledge, and philosophy 
 which have contributed to its composition, often command 
 admiration. The Protestant states, as well as individuals, 
 neglect nothing to carry this science of the interpretation of 
 the sacred books to the highest possible degree of perfection. 
 The libraries of the old monasteries of the east and w^est 
 were for a long time visited without intermission by indefa- 
 tigable English, German, and Danish philologists. Manu- 
 scripts and monuments of every kind were sought there, de- 
 ciphered and compared ; obscure passages were elucidated ; 
 knowledge flashed from these old dusty depositories : it was 
 for the intelligent and experienced eye of the Protestant that 
 the indolent Cenohite had preserved these treasures. What 
 rich and invaluable discoveries have the adversaries of Rome 
 made in these receptacles of knowledge which the Catholic 
 monks are doubtless entitled to the honours of having kept 
 shut up during so many ages, but which the greater part of 
 them were unable to make any use of, and the most learned 
 of them too frequently disfigured in their writings. Itw^ould 
 be inconsistent with the plan of this slight essay to enter 
 into the endless details which a thorough investigation of this 
 subject would require, or to collect all the justificative docu- 
 ments which would be necessary to it. Since the zealous 
 Pocock, how many others have been sent for the same pur- 
 pose, by the Protestant princes, and even by simple societies, 
 to traverse all the Levant, Asia, Palestine, the vicinity of 
 Thebes, and Ethiopia] I shall only mention the expedition 
 in which Niebuhr, a Dane, already known by his travels in 
 
 of which is: Des secours que 1' etude des langues, de I'histolre, 
 de la philosophic, et de la literature ofFre a la theolog-ie. This 
 excellent piece has been too little read; the journals have taken 
 too little notice of it; in a word it may be said of it, as Condor- 
 cet also said of a very good discourse on the reformists which 
 appeared in his time; •' It would make a great noise if the peo- 
 ple of Paris employed themselves seriously with anything but 
 pleasure, intrigues, and money.'* (Tom. X. of liis CEuvres, 
 p. 289.) 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 129 
 
 Arabia and Egypt, was concerned, and which had no other 
 object. All who were acquainted with Niebuhr's relation, 
 know also the interesting- series of questions prepared for him 
 by the celebrated Michaelis of Gottingen before his depar- 
 ture, and which such a man as him alone could conceive. 
 
 Before terminating this article relative to the sublime and 
 profound science of exegesis among the Protestants, I can- 
 not avoid noticing, cursorily, how greatly the whole system 
 of the study of Protestant theology differs from that of Ca- 
 tholic theology. They are two antipodean worlds to each 
 other, having nothing in common, except the name. But, un- 
 happily, this is sufficient to deceive all who judge by the 
 name.* The Catholic theology rests on the inflexible au- 
 thority of the decisions of the church, and, consequently, 
 prohibits to the student every free use of his reason. It has 
 retained the jargon and the barbarous accompaniments of the 
 scholastic divinity ; in it may be discovered the works of 
 darkness of the monks of the tenth century ; in short, the 
 greatest happiness that can be experienced by him who has 
 had the misfortune to learn it, is to forget it as soon as pos- 
 sible. The Protestant theology, on the contrary, rests on a 
 system of examination, on the unlimited use of reason. The 
 most liberal exegesis opens to it the knowledge of sacred an- 
 tiquity; and criticism, that of the history of the church; a 
 simplified and pure doctrine is, to it, only the body, the posi- 
 tive form necessary to religion ; it is supported by philosophy 
 in its examination of the law of nature, of morality, and of 
 the relation of man to the divinity. Whoever is anxious to 
 be well informed in history, in classical literature, in philo- 
 sophy, can use no better method than a course of Protestant 
 theology. Ecclesiastics, so instructed, quit the universities 
 to fulfil the functions of pastors, of ministers, in the small 
 towns through the country. There they frequently establish 
 
 * Some years ago I read in a French journal called le Propa- 
 gateur, a sharp reprimand to these inconsiderate people who 
 praised the German literature. Among- others, under the arti- 
 cle of theology, the journalist observed, ironically, that at the 
 last fair of Leipsic, above a hundred works on this subject had 
 appeared. " Thanks to heaven," added he, " we no longer have 
 such folly among us." Those who know the subjects of Protestant 
 theology, those also who have a little knowledge of the literary 
 history of the two last centuries in France, under Nicole, Ar- 
 nauld, Bossuet, Fenelon, J'leury, kc. can set a just value upon 
 this ignorance in the journalist. 
 
130 
 
 excellent schools, and disseminate around them that know- 
 ledge with which their masters enriched them. The class 
 of our village curates and vicars has generally been very 
 respectable, and very exemplary, at all times ; it must, how- 
 ever, be acknowledged, and all who have had an opportuni- 
 ty of making the observation will acknowledge it, without 
 difficulty that this class is not less exemplary among the 
 Protestants, and that it receives much more and much better 
 instruction.* 
 
 Another advantage which the new mode of religious studies 
 introduced by Protestantism has procured to the sciences, is 
 its having contributed so powerfully to take ecclesiastical 
 history, and also a great part of civil history, out of the hands 
 of the monks, the usual chroniclers of the centuries preceding 
 the sixteenth. These recluses, very ill-informed respecting 
 the transactions of the world, seldom impartial, gave merit to 
 princes only in proportion as they had endowed their con- 
 vents, or rendered services to the church. They mixed a 
 multitude of fables, superstitions, and maledictions against 
 heretics, with these deformed annals. Where was then the 
 muse of history with such ministers T In a few instances they 
 have done some service ; but how much more would human 
 reason, which they held in bondage for ages, have done for 
 itself, if it had been suffered to act without constraint! At 
 length Reineccius, Melancthon, Sleidan, Buchanan, Grotius,| 
 
 • In some Protestant countries, the ministers who are to be 
 stationed in the country, are required to g-o throug"h a course of 
 agriculture and rural economy, as well as to have some know- 
 ledge of medicine and pharmacy. At Geneva, the young ec- 
 clesiastics are examined on their progress in grammatical know- 
 ledge, the ancient languages, &c. before they begin their 
 theological studies; and after these, which last four years, they 
 are subjected to another examination in the same, to ascertain 
 whether they have lost anything in that species of instruction. 
 This good custom has been preserved at Geneva, ever since the 
 re-establishment of learning. The same regulation is also in 
 force in all the academies of Protestant Switzerland. 
 
 ■\ It must be confessed that the only modern historians whom 
 we dare to compare with the ancients, such as Burnetj_ Claren- 
 don, Robertson, Hume, Gibbon, J. Muller, Scliiller, etc. are all 
 Protestants. The abbe de Mably, in his Maniere d'ecrire I'his- 
 toire, directly places Grotius far above Tacitus; and in many 
 places he gives the Protestant historians the preference over 
 those of the Cathohc persuasion. The reason of this preference 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 131 
 
 De Thou, PufFendorf restored history to its true form ; it has 
 since their time been united to criticism and philosophy, from 
 which it ought never to be separated. Bayle, and many others 
 of the Protestant historians, wrote with a freedom, a critical 
 knowledge, and a spirit, which many of the Catholics after- 
 wards imitated. 
 
 The history of the church, as well that of its doctrine, as 
 that of the exterior events which connected this church, as a 
 society, with the other political bodies, acquired a consistence, 
 a truth, an impartiality, and an accuracy, which have made 
 it one of the most important branches of human knowledge. 
 The essays of the two Basnages, of Lenfant, of Beausobre, 
 Le Bret, and others, are knov^^n in France ; there are also 
 known the works, already become ancient, of the Centuriators 
 of Magdeburgh, the fathers of true ecclesiastical history, those 
 of Seckendorf, and Mosheim, in Latiri; but those of Walsh 
 and Cramer in German, are less known. These have had 
 worthy successors in the later historians of their country, the 
 
 is clearly expressed in these words of Mably; *' in fact, it is not 
 worth while to write history to make it only a poison, like Strada, 
 who, sacrificing the dig-nity of the Low Countries to that of the 
 court of Spain, invites its subjects to servitude, and thus prepares 
 the progress of despotism. If this historian is to be credited, 
 Philip II. might trample under his feet all the laws, all the trea- 
 ties, all the agreements with his subjects, because he held his 
 crown from God; and tliis dangerous casuist condemns the Low 
 Countries to suffer patiently the ruin of their privileges and the 
 most cruel oppression, that they may not render tliemselves 
 culpable of a sacrilegious disobedience. It is to this ignorance 
 of natural rights, or to tliat baseness with which the greater part 
 of modern historians betray their consciences by flattery, that 
 the disgusting insipidity of their works is owing. AVhy is Grotias 
 so superior to them? It is because, having meditated deeply 
 on the rights and the duties of society, I find in him the elevation 
 and the energy of the ancients. I dwell with avidity on his his- 
 tory of the war of the Low Countries; and Strada, who has per- 
 haps more skill in narrating, f\\lls continually from my hands. 
 Buchanan is anotlier example of that power of study which I 
 speak of After having read liis learned production bearing the 
 title of De jure regni apud Scotos, we are not surprised that this 
 writer shoukl have composed a history which breathes an air of 
 dignity, generosity, and elevation." (Page 18 etseq. of the Pa- 
 ris edition, 1783, in 12mo.) Here is the great secret disclosed; 
 the one liave Hberallty and philosophy in theirmanner of think- 
 ing and writing; the others have not. 
 
132 
 
 only one in which this history, so full of noble lessons and 
 ideas, has been ably treated b};- men of profound information, 
 such as INI. M. Semler, Plank, Schraeck, Spittler, Henke, 
 Munter, and Thym; and with respect to the history of the 
 gospel, in itself and in its critical history, by M. Paulus, the 
 Michaelis of the New Testament. In conclusion, we may add 
 that literary history, that species of history which is employ- 
 ed to show the picture of the progress or the variations of the 
 human mind in the sciences and the arts, is also indebted to 
 this same impulse for a new life. The first example of such 
 a picture was given at Kiel by the illustrious MorhofF, in his 
 book entitled, Polyhistor. 
 
 With Respect to Philosophy — to the Moral and Political Sciences. 
 
 A revolution began by a reform in religious opinions, could 
 not fail to awaken the philosophical spirit in man, which is 
 so intimately connected with mystical speculations, with the 
 ideas of a divinity, of a future life for him in another world, 
 and of his moral duties in this. It has been already suffi- 
 ciently shown above, what an imperfect philosophy reigned 
 in the schools before the reformation, and what an extravagant 
 and puerile dialectic was amalgamated with the sj^stem of the 
 Roman theology, which maintained itself by its aid. To sup- 
 port this system was, in fact, for many centuries, the only 
 end of all philosophy; the theologians, who were generally 
 monks, were the only philosophers. Their subtle, and some- 
 times risible arguments, tended only to the support of ortho- 
 doxy, against innovators and heretics; it never entered their 
 heads to teach a useful morality to human society ; they only 
 employed themselves in establishing the rights of the pope 
 and the clergy, but never those of the people, nor of indivi- 
 duals. To reason conformablj'" to the views of the Roman 
 church, at that period, it is evident that it must only be done 
 in a certain manner, and on certain subjects. To reason in a 
 new manner, and to extend the reasoning of subjects consider- 
 ed, till then, sacred and inviolable, was to loosen the bases 
 of the edifice. A firm, independent philosoph)'-, which aspired 
 at becoming universal, was, in this state of things, a mon- 
 strosity, consequently nothing of this description existed before 
 the reformation. A strange mixture of disguised propositions 
 of peripatetism, which was applied in the strangest manner to 
 matters of faith and controversy, formed all the ground-work 
 of the doctrine of the schools. 
 
 Subsequent to the renovation of letters, some men of talents. 
 
331 
 
 with the famous Erasmus at their head, had opposed this 
 monkish barbarism. But, remaining in the bosom of a church 
 to which scholastic divinity had become an indispensable aux- 
 iliary, how could they labour eflectually to destroy this sup- 
 port. Such an undertaking could only be accomplished by 
 reformers bold enough to quit this church, and to establish 
 one separate from it on the pure principles of the gospel and 
 of reason. It was in this manner that the reformation de- 
 throned the scholastic divinity. 
 
 Protestants and Catholics, having entered into a competi- 
 tion in the study of Greek to acquire a knowledge of the ori- 
 ginal writings in this language, read also the works of Aris- 
 totle, which they procured from among the dust of the libra- 
 ries. With what surprise did they find that their contents 
 were totally different from what had been, for centuries taught 
 in the name of this great man ! They discovered that the 
 grotesque pagoda, so revered in the schools under the impo- 
 sing name of Aristotle, did not in any manner resemble the 
 philosophy of the Stagyrite. Melancthon laboured to obtain 
 evidence of this new conviction. He laid down the true doc- 
 trine of Aristotle, in favour of which he declared, and he al- 
 lowed it to be valid in everything which came within the ju- 
 risdiction of human reason, but at the same time, contended 
 most strenuously, that it ought to be excluded from the domain 
 of theology. They did not confine themselves to reading the 
 original books of Aristotle : the discoveries they had made in 
 them inspired the learned men of this century with the desire 
 of extending their investigations to all that remained of the 
 monuments of the ancient philosophy. The writings of the 
 Pythagoreans, those of the two schools of Plato, the old and 
 the new academies, those of the stoic and epicurean schools, 
 were read, interpreted, and their different doctrines publicly 
 taught. Then began a philosophical period, during which 
 the interest in truths of a superior order, in the discussion of 
 the most sublime rules of logic, metaphysics, and morality, 
 acquired an activity which had been lost to it for many cen- 
 turies. The perusal of the precious remains of antiquity, 
 from its connection with the speculative sciences, became 
 again to the moderns, what it had been in the age of Petrarch, 
 from its connection with poetry. 
 
 It would be necessary to follow all the deviations of the 
 philosophical spirit during this period ; to show all the vari- 
 ous forms which it assumed, either in the systems alternately 
 borrowed and modified from the ancients, or in those created 
 by modern genius ; it would be necessary to state what these 
 12 
 
134 VILLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 deviations had been in so many comprehensive minds as those 
 of Agrippa, Bacon, Cherbury, Descartes, Spinosa, Gassendi, 
 Pascal, Mallebranche, Locke, Leibnitz, Wolf, Bayle, Berke- 
 ley, &c. &c, to g-ive a complete idea of this period ;* but so 
 extensive a picture cannot enter into the narrow limits of this 
 work. It is sufficient to our purpose to have shown the share 
 which the reformation had in this great agitation of the hu- 
 man mind.f 
 
 It must, however, be observed that this agitation could only 
 receive a free and full expansion in Protestant countries : it 
 was foreign and contradictory to the system established in 
 the Catholic states. In the latter, philosophy could only be 
 considered as a sort of disturber of the public peace, ot rather 
 of, the public apathy, which, in the eyes of a considerable 
 number of people, amounts to the same thing. In Austria, 
 Italy, and Spain, this philosophical flash was soon extin- 
 guished, and the usual torpidity resumed the upper hand. 
 Even in France, a country, which as we have several times 
 shown, is by no means to be put on a level with the other 
 Catholic countries, the philosophical spirit was at an end soon 
 after Descartes, who, as is known, found the greatest number 
 of partisans and opponents in Holland. The interest in truths, 
 or in the philosophical systems, on the contrary, far from 
 losing any part of its activity, seemed to be constantly increa- 
 sing among the English, the Dutch, the Swiss, and the Ger- 
 mans of the north. London, Halle, and Geneva, became the 
 schools from whence the French derived their erudition : Locke 
 
 * It is to be observed, that, at that time, philosophy had its 
 martyrs. Bruno was burnt alive at Rome, in 1600 ; Vanini at 
 Toulouse, in 1619 ; and Kuhlmanat Moscow, in 1686 ; the two 
 former, Italians by birth, as atheists. 
 
 f It would be too easy to make this essay, which can be no 
 more than a simple sketch, a voluminous history, filled with de- 
 tails and compilations. In this article, for example, which re- 
 lates to the influence of the reformation on philosophical studies, 
 it would only be necessary to copy everything interesting on this 
 subject, inserted by Brucker in the fourth volume of his history 
 of philosophy, lib. II. cap. I. De causis mutat^e, tempore emen- 
 data Religionis, Philosophioe ; and afterwards to lay under con- 
 tribution the learned works of Rexinger and Edzard, (Dissert, 
 quantum reformatio Lutheri logica profuerit;) of Lehmann, ("De 
 utditat^e quam morali disciphnx reformatio Lutheri attuHt ;) of 
 Seeleri, (De incrementis quae studium politicum e reformatione 
 Lutheri cepit,) and a multiplicity of writings of this kind. 
 
135 
 
 and Hume, Wolfe and Bonnet became our masters ; the mo- 
 dest plurality of the small number of the national thinkers, 
 attached themselves sometimes to one, sometimes to another 
 of these great men, and more particularly to the first. Their 
 works, the produce of a Protestant soil, became our classical 
 and fundamental works in philosophy. 
 
 When, however, for some lustres, the philosophical spirit 
 seemed deadened in England and Holland, it revived in Ger- 
 many more powerfully than ever, and with a depth and en- 
 ergy which it had not had since the best times of Greece. It 
 is indebted to the immortal Kant for this new flight. Kant 
 has laid down principles, and arrived at immutable results, 
 which will remain for ever, as the cardinal points of the mind, 
 as brilliant light-houses in the darkness of metaphysical re- 
 searches. The schools, the offspring of his, are powerful ad- 
 herents of his doctrine when they follow and examine it ; 
 they often lose themselves when they deviate from it. How- 
 ever this may be, it is demonstrated to every one who observes 
 the progress of the intellectual culture of nations with atten- 
 tion, that the doctrine of the philosopher of Kcenigsburgh could 
 not, on the one hand, excite so profound an enthusiasm, and 
 on the other, so vigorous an opposition, such powers of rea- 
 soning, except in a country where the grand questions on the 
 relations of human reason to nature, and to universal reason, 
 were habitual to its inhabitants, that is to say, in a country 
 where they think with freedom on the objects of a purified 
 religion, and where the most exalted ideas of the high desti- 
 nation of man, are universally diffused. Nothing is more pure, 
 more religious, more strict, more stoical, than the moral doc- 
 trine of the most celebrated schools of Germany, whether that 
 of Kant, or that of Jacobi. The superficial lessons, the errors 
 of Helvetius and his associates, were never able to take root 
 in this soil. For the influence of the reformation on the study 
 of morality has been as decisive, as on that of the other 
 branches of philosophy. This science, which is the same to 
 the conduct of man, as metaphysics is to his knowledge, had, 
 after the last of the Roman moralists, fallen into an almost 
 total oblivion. It is known that the fathers of the church, who 
 exerted every resource of their minds in the controversies on 
 tenets, did very little or even nothing, for the moral sciences. 
 The scholastics did still less ; and under their long domina- 
 tion, true morality disappeared entirely, and gave place to a 
 casuistic degenerated morality, in which the duties of man to- 
 wards God and towards his fellows, were almost wholly re- 
 duced to his duties to the church; here a multiplicity of prac- 
 
136 VILLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 tical superstitions and subtleties corresponded but too well 
 to the superstition and subtleties of the theolog-y of these dark 
 ages. When the gospel had regained its rank, and displaced 
 casuistry, the pure and divine morality announced in-it, also 
 resumed its place in the pulpits and the writings of the spiri- 
 tual pastors. Besides, thereadingof the ancient philosophers 
 in the original works, must have familiarized men to their 
 different moral principles. They compared these principles 
 with each other, and with that of Christianity. Hence the 
 study of morality acquired a high degree of interest, to which 
 it would never have attained, if casuistry had remained domi- 
 nant, and the pulpits of the churches, and the schools, had 
 remained in the power of the monks. Now it has become, to 
 the ministers of the Protestant worship, the most essential, 
 and almost the only ground of their precepts to the people, the 
 inexhaustible text of their discourses. It makes one of the 
 most important objects of the public instruction in the univer- 
 sities. It is well known what a number of excellent writings 
 on this subject have been produced by the different Protest- 
 ant churches, particularly in the last centurj^ ; what a spirit 
 of purity, of humanity, and of religion, they display ; at the 
 same time equally remote from the ascetic fanaticism of the 
 ages of ignorance, as from the stern and cyrenaic egotism of 
 the ages which are called more enlightened.* 
 
 With respect to that morality of states, which, rising supe- 
 rior to individual relations, fixes the respective rights of so- 
 cieties and of their members, those of princes and of citizens, 
 as also those of nations Avith each other ; which gives the 
 theory of the laws, that of the right of nature, and that of 
 positive right, in a civil state ; the progress which the refor- 
 mation has enabled it to make has been already mentioned, 
 in different passages of this work.f The great questions, 
 which for the first time, in modern times, were at length 
 discussed, and appeared before the European public, turned 
 their minds to this subject, of such universal interest. Lu- 
 
 * M. Stoeudlin, professor of theology at Gotting-en, has given 
 a very s^ood history of the attempts which have been made by 
 philosophers, to treat morality scienLifically. The elevation of 
 religious morality to the rank of a science, is owing to Calixtus, 
 a Protestant theologian, v/ho collected into one body the scat- 
 tered precepts of the gospel and of reason, and ai-ranged them 
 s}'stematically. 
 
 fit was particularly noticed, in the article on the Internal Situ- 
 ation of the Protestant States in general. 
 
tillers' essay. 137 
 
 ther wrote his Treatise of the civil magistrate ; his Appeal 
 to the German nobility, &c. Melancthon, Zwingle, John 
 Stourm, and other reformers, discussed similar subjects, and 
 brought them within the reach of the less informed.* Buch- 
 anan published his famous and bold libel, de jure regni, in 
 Scotland : while on the continent, Hubert Languet wrote 
 his Vindicioe contra tyrannos, and Etienne de la Boetie, his 
 Discours sur la servitude volontaire. Milton, who laboured 
 to defend the long parliament of England, and to justify the 
 punishment of Charles I. to the human race, composed se- 
 veral political books, which breathed the most ardent repub- 
 licanism, and among others his Defence of the people of 
 England, against Saumaise. Some of these productions, full 
 of the vehemence and anger of the parties which then clashed 
 with such fury, too frequently overshot their object; but 
 they, at least, served to point it out, to inspire the wish of 
 attaining it, and effectually to attract attention. These short- 
 ly gave way to the superior productions of W' ise and penetrat- 
 ing minds, which re-created the science of the right of na- 
 ture and of people. Bacon foresaw the necessity ; he pro- 
 jected the basis of it, as well as almost all the parts of the 
 philosophical edifice. It w^as reserved for the immortal 
 Grotius to carry light into the midst of darkness, to class 
 and arrange the principles, and to offer to Europe the first 
 book in which the rights and duties of men in society were 
 laid down with energy, precision and wisdom. Why did 
 Jean Jacques, so great, so much a friend to truth, w^ithout a 
 shadow of reason, in his Contrat Social, calumniate Grotius 
 in so strange a manner] Had he not read the Law of Peace 
 and War ; or, had he forgotten what he had read ] 
 
 After Grotius, shall I speak of his rival Selden, of his com- 
 mentator Baecler, of Puffendorf, who published a Law of 
 
 * It is scarcely necessary to observe, that the canon law was 
 subjected to a total reform in the Protestant countries. It was 
 there rigorously separated from the civil law, on which it had hith- 
 erto been continually encroaching', and it was made subordinate 
 to the local law of each particular state. While the Protestants 
 simplified their ecclesiastical law, and reduced it to a very small 
 number of indispensable reguladons, the popes augmented still 
 further the immense code of the apostolic law, incorporating 
 with it all the decrees of the council of Trent, the Institutes 
 which they had caused to be composed by Lancelot of Perouse, 
 their bulls, decisions, &c. Nevertheless the Cathohc civilians, 
 endeavoured to give their code a better form, and more connec- 
 tion and consequence. 
 
 12* 
 
138 tillers' essay. 
 
 Nature, superior, perhaps to the Law of Peace;* of Barbey- 
 rac, tFie able translator and Aristarchus of these two works I 
 Hobbes, however, in England, supporting another system, 
 was not less useful to the science, both by the truths which 
 he published, and b3r the refutations Vv^hich he provoked 
 against him. Algernon Sydney followed the opposite prin- 
 ciples to those of Hobbes, in his Treatise on Government, 
 and died a martyr to his attachment to the cause of the 
 people. It is necessary to cease these citations, notwith- 
 standing the importance of similar works ; and although I 
 might still bring forward such names as Conring, Forstner, 
 Locke, Leibnitz, Wolf, Thomasius, Jurieu, Burlamaqui, Va- 
 tel, Bolingbroke, and so many others more modern, in the 
 north of Europe and in America, this may suffice to show 
 how greatly the moral impulse given by the reformation has 
 influenced the progress made in the science of legislation, 
 formerly plunged in a Scholastic barbarism, equal to that 
 ■which prevailed in theology. But though we may, with 
 justice, attribute this influence on the minds of Europeans 
 to the reformation, we must guard against the belief that it 
 was an exclusive cause, confining its effects to those coun- 
 tries alone in which the reformation has become dominant. 
 Italy has had its Machiavel, Spain its Mariana, France its 
 Bodin, (suspected, it is true, of being secretly the partisan 
 of the reform.) The ardour of these studies was also in- 
 creased by the polemical disputes which took place between 
 the different parties. We have in the eighteenth century, 
 seen writers on public law eclipse those of the sixteenth and 
 seventeenth ; but they are only able to surpass them from 
 benefiting by their labours. ^ Would Montesquieu have be- 
 come so much the pride of our political literature, if he had 
 not had so many laborious predecessors to smooth his path 1 
 
 From all these facts it is not difficult to deduce this evi- 
 dent truth; that the reformation, which from its birth was 
 so intimately in contact with politics, and with every object 
 of public utility, must have directed the minds of men to the 
 sciences connected with the economy and the administration 
 of states. 
 
 Men, on the contrary, who, in their own countrj'', lived un- 
 der the continual influence of a foreign authority; who saw 
 around them a powerful secular and regular clergy, in the 
 
 * The book of Puffendorf, like that of Grotius, was put into 
 the Index, and prohibited in certain Catholic countries, at 
 Rome, in Austria, Spain, &c. 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 139 
 
 possession of the finest domains ; in addition to this, raising 
 tithes, the most unincumhered produce of the labours of the 
 cultivator ; these men became incapable of any generous 
 effect : the interest they took in the culture of the soil was 
 without energy. Besides, the members of this clergy were 
 the pastors, the founders, the depositaries of all the know- 
 ledge, the masters of all souls. Employed in the exterior 
 practice of devotion, and in supporting the rights of the 
 church, these were also nearly the only objects on which 
 they instructed the people. From this resulted a profound 
 ignorance and indolence respecting the most precious inte- 
 rests of men in society. Agriculture, economy, and its 
 various branches were in a deplorable state of degradation. 
 Such is nearly the present condition in the fine provinces of 
 Naples and Rome, in Spain and in Portugal ; poverty, indo- 
 lence, immorality, all sorts of vices are engendered among 
 people of such dispositions ;* the state remains weak and 
 badly governed. What activity, on the contrary, what im- 
 provements in agriculture, in rural economy, in the govern- 
 ment, strike the attention of an observer in the midst of the 
 cold and infertile fields of Scotland, in England, and in Hol- 
 land ! There, the hand of man creates everything, because it 
 labours for itself ; there it is all powerful, because it is free, 
 and a suitable instruction guides it. The contrast of these 
 indubitable effects of the two religions is more particularly 
 perceptible in Germany and Switzerland, where the different 
 
 * It is a certain fact that more crimes are committed in Ca- 
 tholic than in Protestant countries. The author mig-ht instance 
 many facts which he has collected on this subject. He will be 
 satisfied with foreign authorities. Cit. Rebmann, president of 
 the special tribunal of Mayence, in his Coup-d'oeil sur Petat des 
 quatres departements du Rhin, says that the number of male- 
 factors in the Catholic and Protestant cantons, is in the propor- 
 tion of four, if not six to one. At Augsburg-h, the territory of 
 wliich offers a mixture of the two religions, of 946 malefactors, 
 convicted in the course often years, there w^ere only 184 Pro- 
 testants, that is to say, less than one in five. The celebrated 
 philanthropist Howard observed that the prisons of Italy were 
 incessantly crowded : at Venice, he has seen three or four hun- 
 dred prisoners in the principal prison ; at Naples, 980 in the 
 succursal prison alone, called Vicaria ; while he affirms that the 
 prisons of Berne are almost always empty; that in those of Lau- 
 sanne he did not find any prisoner ; and only three individuals 
 in a state of arrest at Schaff hausen. Here are facts ; I do not 
 draw anv conclusion. 
 
140 VILLERS ESSAY. 
 
 territories which are intermixed, cause the traveller to pass 
 continually from a Catholic to a Protestant country. Does 
 he meet with a miserahle mud cottage, covered with thatch, 
 the fields badly kept, wretched rude peasants, and many beg- 
 gars ; he will be in little danger of erring, if he conjecture 
 that he is in a Catholic country. If, on the contrary, neat, 
 pleasant houses* are seen, offering the spectacle of affluence 
 and industry, the fields well enclosed, a culture well under- 
 stood, it is very probable that he is among Protestants, Ana- 
 baptists, or Mennonites. Thus nature seems to change her 
 aspect, as he who gives her laws enjoys his liberty more or 
 less, and exercises all his powers in a greater or less degree : 
 while, at the same time, nature appears to have delighted in 
 endeavouring to bestow all her gifts upon the Catholic na- 
 tions, which inhabit the finest countries of Europe. This 
 singularity is very evident in the limited territory of Helve- 
 tia. Let the fertile plains of Soleure be compared with the 
 much less favoured soil of Argovia ; the rocky sterile land, 
 unprotected from the northern blasts, of the Pays de Vaud, 
 with the magnificent Italian Switzerland, or the well sheltered 
 Valais ;■}" the territory of Neufchatel, with the fruitful fields 
 of the country lately subjected to the Abbe of Saint-Gall; 
 and, finally, even in the states of this monk-prince, let that 
 portion which follows the Roman worship be compared with 
 that, much smaller, which, under the protection of Zurich and. 
 Berne, has been able to adhere to the reform; and it will 
 everywhere appear that the activity and knowledge of man is 
 superior to even the liberalities of prodigal nature, while all 
 her benefits are as though they were lost, to idleness and 
 want of care. Agriculture is carried to such a height of per- 
 fection in the canton of Berne, that many of the methods of 
 the Bernois farmers are adopted in England, and the econo- 
 mical society established by them are the authors of the true 
 
 * Who has travelled and not been struck with the slovenh- 
 ness which reig-ns, almost universally, in the Catholic countries, 
 and which contrasts so strongly with the extreme neatness of 
 the Protestant countries of the north, of Holland, and of England? 
 Whence arise the apathy on the one side, and the activity on 
 the other ? Whence the spirit of order and industry to the one, 
 to the others, carelessness and indolence ? The reason is ver}' 
 evident. 
 
 f Haller found all the plants of Europe, from those of the 
 southernmost countries to those of Lapland, in the Valais. 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 141 
 
 irrigation, the importance of which is very well known to 
 every agriculturalist.* 
 
 The activity impressed on the public spirit of each state by 
 the reformation, was therefore naturally directed to the 
 objects of public interest of the state. The science of came- 
 ralistics taught the administration of the national revenues ; 
 agriculture and commerce had their libraries, and were raised 
 above a daily routine, by the inquiries of genius, and the 
 assistance derived from the other sciences, such as geogra- 
 phy and navigation, which, in their turn, also received im- 
 provement. The knowledge of the mechanical arts, and of 
 all the objects of human industry, under the name oi techno- 
 logy, resumed a rank among the sciences which it had lost 
 since Pliny; finally it must not be forgotten that, on the Pro- 
 testant soil, was born and brought to perfection, statistics, a 
 science which forms an account of the resources of every 
 country, and of which, statesmen, even of Catholic countries, 
 begin to perceive all the importance. The study of all these 
 objects has long been a part of the public instruction among 
 the Protestants ; and their universities, at which all the sub- 
 jects who fill posts in the state, of greater or less importance, 
 are formed, are provided with professors of the political and 
 cameralistic sciences, of public and rural economy, com- 
 merce, technology, and statistics. It is known how many 
 
 * If we pass from the culture of lands to that of minds, Swit- 
 zerland will offer the same contrasts. How many celebrated 
 men of letters have sprung- from Geneva, whom literature and 
 the sciences called Vidth pride among- us ! Berne, Lausanne, 
 Basle, Zurich, Schaffhausen, have their literary annals filled 
 with celebrated names. The antiquarian Morel; Haller, the 
 creator of physiolog-y, and also a g-reat poet ; Crouzas ; the Bux- 
 torfs ; the Werenfels ; Bernouini ; Euler ; Iselin, the first who 
 conceived the idea of writing- a philosophical history of the hu- 
 man race ; the AVettsteins, (and all the booksellers and printers 
 of Basle who, from the dawning- of the sixteenth century, have 
 midertaken enterprises so immense and so fruitful in results,) 
 Gessner, the naturalist and restorer of the natural sciences : 
 Gessner, the bucolick poet : some other German poets, such as 
 Bodmer, etc. who have contributed so much to the restoration 
 of elegant literature in Germany, who have restored it to na- 
 tional independence and originality : in short, a multiplicity of 
 authors whom it would be superfluous to name. Catholic Swit- 
 zerland, on the contrary, has not a single man of eminence, of 
 any description, to mention. 
 
142 
 
 good works, on these subjects, were produced by the Ger- 
 mans, English, Scotch, Dutch, and Swiss, before they were 
 generally cultivated in the remainder of Europe. It was 
 among the Dutch that Colbert acquired the greatest part of 
 his knowledge ; Peter I. learnt much of the art of governing 
 in their school ; no one is ignorant that it was from the ex- 
 ample of the great Frederick that Joseph II. and his brother 
 Leopold conceived the plans of regeneration, which one 
 formed for his Austrian states, and the other for Tuscany.* 
 
 Almost all the S3^stem of knowledge to be acquired having 
 changed its aspect, it was very necessary that a considerable 
 change should also be effected in the system of public in- 
 struction. Luther was the first who felt the necessity of a 
 reform in this department, and who laboured effectually to 
 produce it.| Melancthon, and the other principal reformers 
 being also, like Luther, professors of universities, turned their 
 attention to these establishments, and to the secondary schools. 
 They purged them, as far as circumstances would admit, from 
 the vices of that monarchal and scholastic period. That 
 which they could not themselves effect, was brought about, 
 by degrees, and very naturally, in the end, by the proper 
 spirit which they had introduced. It is remarkable that, during 
 the three last centuries, besides a great number of gymnasia, 
 lycea, and other schools, Germany has been enriched with 
 upwards of twenty universities, three-fourths of which are 
 Protestant.:|: England has founded three, and Holland 
 
 * This is the place to observe that the more liberty of think- 
 ing and public spu'it are diffused throug-h a nation, the more 
 also the communications become fi'ee and active between all the 
 parts which compose the public, and between all the classes of 
 the nation. The journals, newspapers, and periodical writings 
 in the Protestant countries exhibit those general dispositions in 
 the highest degree, which are common both to the authors and 
 readers of these productions. There they are the objects of an 
 attention much more universal and more serious, than they are 
 in Spain or Italy, and than they were in France until 1789, For 
 whicli reason I do not fear being contradicted by facts, when I 
 state that the journals, wdiether political or literary, of England, 
 Holland and Saxon Germany, have a consistence and organiza- 
 tion, of wliich, perhaps, a very just idea is not generally formed 
 in other countries. 
 
 ■}• Seelen has wTitten a very good treatise entitled, Lutlierus 
 de scholis optime meritus, 1716. 
 
 4: If the Protestants have founded and endowed a great num- 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 143 
 
 five.* On the Catholic side, six have been, founded in Italy, 
 eight in Spain, and three in France. The Protestants have not ', 
 only the advantage of the plurality, which might be equivocal; \ 
 but no reasonable person will doubt that they have also the ' 
 advantage in respect of the instruction which is given at these i 
 universities. It will not, I am of opinion, be thought a very 
 inconsistent paradox, to say that there is more real know- ' 
 ledge in one single university, as that of Gottingen, or Halle, i 
 or Jena, than in the eight Spanish universities of San Jago ? 
 de Compostella, Alcala, Orihuela, etc. In these, they teach | 
 what must, with or without the consent of reason, be be- 
 lieved: in the others they teach how a reasonable belief may , 
 be acquired, on any subject whatever. Here, the Decretals ; 
 are given for infallible oracles; there, no other oracle is ac- ', 
 knowledged but reason, and the best supported facts. From// 
 all these considerations, it is natural that pedantry, the off- 
 spring of scholastics, must be infinitely more uncommon in 
 the Protestant schools than in the others. Some external 
 forms, differing from those in use with us, have given rise to 
 a generally received, though very ill founded prejudice, that 
 a German professor is a pedant: but manners dijEferent from 
 ours ; Latin or Crreek quotations in a book where they may 
 be very necessary, and other similar things, do not constitute 
 pedantry ; neither do the long robe and furred cap. The true 
 essence of a pedant is to be an enemy to reason, and to liberal 
 inquiry in the sciences; to have a slavishbelief in the au- 
 thority of some other person, and, in his turn, to put in a des- 
 potic claim to make his own arbitrarily valid. If such is, in 
 fact, a pedant, it will be acknowledged that the learned Pro- 
 testants can have little title to the appellation; they, whose 
 principal maxim is inquiry, the free use of his own reason to 
 every reasonable being, and a liberation from all authority. 
 This disposition tends rather to literary humanity, and should 
 be considered as the direct antipode of pedantry. The science 
 of instruction and that of education therefore must have gain- 
 ed from the new spirit which regulated learning. The pede- 
 
 ber of schools, it is because their existence depends upon being- 
 the best informed; it is because the reformation is essentially 
 learned ; it has received its impulse from science, and can only 
 be supported by science. Knowledge is an affair of state in the 
 reformed nations. 
 
 * I also omitnoticinGf those which ha.ve been erected in Swit- 
 zerland, Sweden and Denmark, the Protestant university of 
 Dorpa in Livonia, etc. 
 
144 
 
 gogic* science was brought to perfection. Bacon, who is 
 always referred to when abetter discipline for the intellectual 
 man is in discussion; Comenius, the celebrated author of the 
 Janua linguarum ; Stourm, Locke, and several others, laid 
 the foundations of a better system of education. It is from 
 their examples that theFenelons, Lachalotais, Schlcczers and 
 Pestalozzi have spoken ; it is their language which the citi- 
 zen of Geneva has overcharged in his sublime hyperboles. In 
 short, it is to all these great men, it is to the memorable event 
 which unfettered their tongues, that the present and future 
 generations are indebted for the mildest, and, at the same 
 time, the most efficacious methods of their culture and their 
 instruction. 
 
 It has been shown, in the preceding article, how much his- 
 tory had gained since the reformation, by the freedom of criti- 
 cism, and by the depth of research. It remains to be added 
 that, since that period, it has been treated in a more philoso- 
 phical manner. Great lessons and great precepts have been 
 drawn from it. The mind, become more scrutinizing, has 
 endeavoured to bring together the unformed aggregate of scat- 
 tered facts ; it has seized a guiding clew in the labyrinth of 
 ages ; in it, it has discovered the progress of humanit}- ; and 
 hence arose the philosophy of history. The Scotch and the 
 English productions, of this description, are known particu- 
 larly in France, as those of France are to all Europe. Those 
 of the Germans are less so, although they have a very con- 
 siderable number of works worthy of being known, and in- 
 cluded in the general classification of the history of improve- 
 ment, which holds a medium between political and literary 
 history, participating of both. Opinions are, however, divi- 
 ded in these meditations on the destiny of the human race. 
 Some only see in it the tempestuous fluctuations of a bound- 
 less ocean ; a blind and endless series of crimes, absurdities, 
 and barbarisms ; some fortunate moments succeeded by terri- 
 ble relapses ; chance dictating its pauses, necessity executing 
 them, and crushing with its iron hand the successive genera- 
 tions which it plunges into the gulf of oblivion. Others, of 
 a more consolatory opinion, see, in the progressive course of 
 the human race, a conducting Providence, an approach to- 
 wards a better state, towards a civil and moral perfection. 
 
 * I beg pardon for this word ; it means simply the science of 
 education in some countries of Europe, where useful and re- 
 spectable tiling's are not given up to the sarcasms of frivolity. 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 145 
 
 There are many Protestants who abide by the latter opinion, 
 and endeavour to demonstrate its certainty. Those who think 
 that a more reasonable and a more liappy state has, through 
 the influence of the reformation, been the consequence of a 
 commotion so terrible, so universal, and so long-, in Europe, 
 must be permitted to give credit to this sublime conception of 
 the perfectibility of our species. Perhaps those who are of a 
 contrary opinion owe it to being placed in contrary circum- 
 stances, or else to some individual disposition, which does not 
 allow them to suppose any possible perfection in their fellow- 
 creatures. 
 
 With respect to the Mathematical and Physical Sciences. 
 
 At the first glance it appears that the reformation, the im- 
 mediate impulse of which w^ould be very perceptible in the 
 study of the historical and philosophical sciences, could not, 
 on the contrary, exercise any direct influence on that of the 
 methodical and natural sciences. But if it be considered 
 that a redoubled activity, an investigating disposition, im- 
 planted in the human mind by some great event, cannot re- 
 main inactive on anything within its scope, conviction will 
 soon follow that the study of these sciences must also have 
 been advantageously affected by the moral impulse given 
 by the reformation. To this presumption, indicated by the 
 nature of things, may also be joined this historical and local 
 consideration, that, at the moment when Luther effected the 
 reformation of the theological system at Wittemburg, at sixty 
 miles from it, in another city of the north, Copernicus pre- 
 pared that of the astronomical system. These two revolu- 
 tions, being effected by two contemporaries, it is not easy to 
 discover, with precision, how much the one promoted the other, 
 what have been the results of their combination, nor w^hat are 
 the effects which belong strictly to each of them. For this 
 it would have been necessary to have penetrated into the re- 
 cesses of all thoughts, and to have followed the most hidden 
 steps of the progress of the human mind, of which, at present 
 few traces and memorials remain. We may, however, ob- 
 serve, as we did at the commencement of this second part, 
 that sheltered by the ^Bgis of the reform, the Galileans were, 
 at the least, freed from the dread of chains, and from the 
 disgrace of recantations. It was under the protection of this 
 iEgis that Kepler completed the work of Copernicus, and 
 gave geometrical certainty to the new system, which, pro- 
 bably in the eyes of its author, rested on a conviction purely 
 13 
 
146 tillers' essay. 
 
 logical. It is also remarkable, whatever may have been the 
 cause, that the two inventors of the differential calculation 
 Leibnitz and Newton lived, the one in Protestant Germany, 
 and the other in England. The Catholic countries, as well 
 as the Protestant, have since had an equal number of great 
 mathematicians and great philosophers. It is, however, just 
 to suppose that the superior guidance of study and the greater 
 freedom of investigation, are among the causes which have 
 contributed most powerfully to make these beautiful branches 
 of the tree of human knowledge flourish.* But above all, 
 it is certain that the philosophical spirit, fomented, as has 
 been shown, by the reformation, exercised its influence in 
 a very marked manner on the study of mathematics and 
 physics. It was not enough to extend and perfectionate 
 these sciences in themselves, it was also washed to unveil 
 the sublime theory, to scrutinize their foundations, and fix 
 their bases ; scientific men of the Protestant persuasion at- 
 tached themselves more to these species of investigation than 
 those of Catholic countries, who do not seem to have set so 
 high a value on them.f 
 
 The philosophy of nature, a science distinct from that call- 
 ed general physics, also acquired a consistence and develope- 
 ments which make it one of the most sublime branches of 
 knowledge of which the genius of man can boast. It is to 
 Kant also that it is indebted for its renovation and its princi- 
 pal bases. The intrepid Schelling has enriched it with the 
 most sublime ideas. The system of Brown, which is only 
 an organized philosophy of nature originated in Scotland ; 
 has been cultivated and developed in Germany ; and is de- 
 spised in France, where it is hitherto only imperfectly known. 
 
 With respect to the military science, which is usually 
 treated as an appendix to the mathematical sciences, the 
 north of Germany seems, in modern times, to have been des- 
 tined to furnish it with its principal additions. The infant 
 state of tactics before the thirty years' war is known, Gusta- 
 vus Adolphus was its reformer, and under him, this art ac- 
 quired a new aspect in the fields of Saxony and Bohemia. 
 On this same soil, Frederick II. King of Prussia, nearly a 
 
 * See the dissertation of Wucherer on this subject; De in- 
 crementis pbysices a reformationis tempore. 
 
 f It was Kant who first established the principles of a theory 
 of mathematical certainty, and the evidence which is admitted 
 in metaphysics, on occasion of the question proposed on this 
 subject, in 1771, by the academy of Berlin, 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 147 
 
 century later, also contending against the same house of 
 Austria, which had been humbled by the Swedish hero, 
 completed the work of Gustavus Adolphus, and brought 
 modern tactics to a degree of perfection, at which it will no 
 doubt remain for the future, as far as regards its essential 
 elements. 
 
 J^^ith respect to the Belles Lettres^ and to Modern languages. 
 
 Since the reformation redoubled the ardour for a know- 
 ledge of the ancient languages, the study of which it rendered 
 more necessary and more general, as well among the Catho- 
 lics as among the Protestants, it cannot be denied that it 
 contributed greatly to the culture of the belles lettres, and to 
 the restoration of a good taste. In proportion as the classic 
 w^orks of antiquity, those eternal models of the beautiful; 
 genuine and sublime as nature, were more dispersed and 
 read, men's minds were gradually elevated to their pitch, 
 and shook off the barbarism of the Gothic ages.* This re- 
 volution had been commenced in Italy by the Greek refu- 
 gees, who had fixed themselves there in particular. The 
 reformation assisted in propagating its benefits to the Euro- 
 pean nations farthest distant from this focus. 
 
 Nevertheless, a language in which they might give vent to 
 their ideas, a flexible and living organ, by which they might 
 express their living conceptions, was necessary to those, in 
 whom the spark of ancient genius had kindled an enthusiasm. 
 The modern idioms were in the uncultivated, rude state in 
 which long want of use had plunged them. In the south 
 alone, the Italian, and, perhaps, the Proven9al, its ally, had 
 assumed a purer form. In the rest of Europe they wrote in 
 Latin ; Latin was the language of the schools and the books; 
 and what Latin ! a jargon bearing all the blemishes of eleven 
 centuries of corruption and bad taste. Although the reading 
 of Cicero, and the other masters of good Latin might have 
 ameliorated and purified this jargon, whether good or bad, as 
 in fact it did, this Latin was only the language of a very 
 small number of individuals, and remained a dead letter to 
 the people. Now the higher sciences may, without inconve- 
 nience, be well expressed in the language of the adepts ; the 
 learned might treat on subjects in Latin, which only the 
 learned were to read ; in this manner mathematics, physics, 
 
 * See Stock's work, entitled De bonamm literarum Palin- 
 genesia, sub et post Reformationem. See also Morhoff, &c. 
 
148 VILLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 philosophy, might be tolerably cultivated. But how could 
 they have a literature, without a vulgar tongue, without a 
 people, or, as it may be said, without a public 1 Every one 
 has a right to decide on productions of taste and sentiment : 
 the auditory of a wit or a poet cannot be restrained to Latin 
 scholars ; he requires all classes, all ages, all sexes ; he must 
 speak the language of courts and of taverns, of closets and 
 camps, of citizens and peasants; his business is with all 
 minds, all hearts, and more particularly those most ingenu- 
 ous, most open to all impressions, with those who know least 
 cf Latin. While Vaniere can scarcely number a hundred 
 readers, Delille vAW find thousands. In order, therefore, 
 that each nation might have a literature, it was necessary to 
 write in its language ; it was necessary that all classes 
 should be accustomed to read; a great event, a powerful in- 
 terest, a subject which should become the favourite topic of 
 every one, which should agitate all minds, which should find 
 access everywhere, was wanted ; then alone would authors 
 be found willing to write for the people, and a people who 
 woflld read their writings with eagerness. The reformation 
 was such an event, and became the active source of a general 
 and inexhaustible interest to all classes. 
 
 The reformation, conceived by men of learning, and 
 brought forth within the narrow boundary of a Latin speak- 
 ing public, could never have been consummated, if it had 
 remained within these limits. It was requisite that it should 
 quit them, that it should become the cause of the multitude, 
 that it should gain millions of heads, to arm millions of 
 hands in its favour. An appeal to the people was the first 
 step of th^ reformist, and this must necessarily be made in 
 their language. When once the people were, in this manner, 
 called upon and made judges, the opponents of the reform 
 were also compelled to appear and plead at this tribunal, and 
 were not sparing in their efforts to retain or bring back the 
 multitude to their side- This controversy, which had left the 
 schools, and become the great business of the whole of Eu- 
 rope, was the first active principle by which modern lan- 
 guages were really fertilized. Before they were only jargons, 
 as rude as the vulgar who made use of them. A few amo- 
 rous sonnets were not enough to give them that richness and 
 flexibility which they required, to become capable of treating 
 on all descriptions of subjects. The universal animosity be- 
 tween the Papists and the Reformists ; the long troubles of 
 Germany and Swizerland ; those of the league in France ; 
 those of the Low Countries; those of Scotland and England, 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 149 
 
 became so many furnaces in which the different languages of 
 these countries were elaborated and purified. In his Histoire 
 de r Esprit Humain,* the Marquis D'Argens, after having 
 described the state of letters previous to the sixteenth century, 
 says, "In these times of ignorance Luther appeared, like 
 one of those cheering lights, which after a long tempest, 
 announces to mariners an approaching calm. This great man 
 did as much good to science, as he did injury to the court of 
 Rome. He showed the absurdity of the errors which long 
 respect and ancient custom had rendered sacred ; he not only 
 ridiculed the opinions of the theologians, but their language 
 and their manner of writing. He was seconded in his under- 
 takings by Calvin, and it is to these disputes on religion that 
 we are indebted for the restoration of the fine and good style. 
 The theologians of the different parties eagerly strove with 
 each other to write correctly, and to prejudice their readers 
 by the purity of their style." 
 
 The German nation acknowledges Luther for the reformer 
 of its literature and its idiom. One of his first cares was 
 to publish a faithful translation of the Bible in the vulgar 
 tongue, executed by him and some of his co-operators, from 
 the original. It may be conceived with what avidity this 
 immense work was received, and what a general sensation it 
 excited. It is still taken as authority, and is the principal 
 classic foundation of what is called high German. In this 
 idiom he wrote the greater part of his treatises, letters, dis- 
 courses, and poems, the collection of which forms twenty- 
 two quarto volumes. One of his first writings was that en- 
 titled. Of the Christian Liberty^ at the head of which he 
 placed an epistle dedicatory, as decent as open and liberal, 
 to Pope Leo X. " No writer for many ages (says M. Georges 
 Muller, of Schaflfhausen, in his Lettres sur les Sciences,) 
 had seen his writings bought up with such avidity, and so 
 universally read from the throne to the cottage. They were 
 all reprinted several times, pirated, hawked over all the em- 
 pire. The popularity, the natural ease, the energy of expres- 
 sion which prevailed in them, a doctrine which cheered and 
 elevated the soul, gained him the most upright and judicious of 
 all classes. A multiplicity of pamphlets, loose sheets, songs, 
 which have reached us from that period, testify the universal 
 ecstasy which this vivifying light inspired." Wickliff had 
 previously translated the New Testament into English; as 
 soon as the reformation had rendered the reading of the 
 
 * Tom I. p. 258. 
 13* 
 
150 VILLERS' EgSAY. 
 
 sacred books of the first necessity to the people of England, 
 Tindal, Roye* and others published a version of them. The 
 same thing- occurred in France, where the reformation multi- 
 plied the French Bibles, and placed them in the hands of 
 every one.f When the Catholic theologians saw these great 
 mysteries of religion become the prey of the ignorant, they 
 resolved to countermine them, and to publish also their trans- 
 lations, their commentaries, their explanations of the sacred 
 books. We shall content ourselves with observing, gene- 
 rally, that the European languages were perfectionated by 
 these religious and political controversies, by these transla- 
 tions and explanations, w^hich is sufficient to the object in 
 discussion. i: 
 
 It would, doubtless, be hazarding too much, to say more 
 of the influence exerted on the belles lettres, by the reforma- 
 tion.§ So many different causes have contributed to their 
 
 * This is probably intended for Rogers, who in conjunction 
 with Coverdale, revised Tindal's translation, and added the pre- 
 faces and notes from Luther's Bible. This translation was dedi- 
 cated to Henry VIII. in the feig-ned name of Thomas Matthews, 
 and is known by the name of Matthews's Bible, T. 
 
 •j- It is true that in his Histoire Critique du Yieux Testament, 
 p. 332, Father Simon asserts that the first French Bible was 
 that of Anvers, of 1530, revised by the theologians of Louvain, 
 and that thus "it was the Catholics who were the first authors 
 of the French Bibles read at present,'* But Father Simon did 
 not know that that Bible was the work of Jacques Lefebvre of 
 Estaples, commonly called Father Stapulensis, the confidant of 
 the queen of Navarre, suspected with good reason of being a 
 partisan of Luther, declared to be a heretic by tlie Sorbonne, 
 and deprived of his doctorate. Tliis translation of the Bible -was 
 also used as the basis of that of Geneva. 
 
 t We must not omit here the real services rendered by Bayle 
 to the Frencli language, which he contributed gi-eatly to the 
 production of a taste for, which he made capable of being mo- 
 delled to every subject, and even of treating on matters which 
 before had only been treated of in Latin. 
 
 § Nevertheless it may also be added, that the inhabitants of 
 the towns and the country, who hear divine service reg'ularly ikV 
 their own tongue, who sing psalms, canticles, and rich pieces of 
 poetry in it, written, as they are in Germany, by tlie best na- 
 tional poets, acquire by that means a crowd of ideas, a taste and 
 a notion of tlie beautiful, which can never be attained by those 
 who assist at a service performed in bad Latin, which they do 
 not understand. 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 151 
 
 culture, and to the different modifications they have experien- 
 ced, in the various European nations, that whoever enters this 
 labyrinth will be in danger of missing his track, of blending 
 objects, and of giving ingenious conjectures instead of certain 
 results. The Protestant nations, which may be called the 
 Germanic race, have such a similarity of features among themi 
 in their manners, language, and climate, that we must be 
 careful of taking a conformity in the characters or genius 
 of their literary productions, for the immediate effects of the 
 great revolution which was common to them. The spirit of 
 each people, so powerfully modified by such a number of 
 events, and of generations, has its own tendencies, its natural 
 dispositions, which cannot be attributed to one insulated cir- 
 cumstance. Without doubt, the unanimity with which the 
 Protestant nations of the present day adopted the reform as 
 soon as it presented itself, was only a result of this mutual 
 conformity of their spirit. Their progress in this respect (the 
 matter being adopted in general) has always tended to sim- 
 plif)^ religion, to render it more strict and more intellectual, 
 remaining inviolably attached to deism, and to that morality 
 which is the basis of it. The manners of the Protestant are , 
 are also incontestibly better and more grave, than those of the 
 Catholic nations. Is it because these nations are Protestant, 
 that they have acquired this character ; or, is it because they 
 have this character that they became Protestant 1 I must 
 leave the decision of this question to others. 1 am only de- 
 sirous of showing the influence of this character on the cul- 
 ture of the belles lettres. The French and Italian literature is 
 rich in a multitude of works, in which love is treated with the 
 most exquisite delicacy and grace ; such a number of these 
 agreeable productions would be sought for in vain, among the 
 English or Germans; I might even dare to assert, that the 
 few they have are merely imitative, and that they are not in- 
 digenous plants in their soil. Among them, love would not 
 dare to appear escorted by the desires, and associated with 
 voluptuousness. Their Bocaces, Grecourts and Lafontainea, 
 have not yet been born. Should they appear they would be 
 coldly received ; and it was not by the softened imitations of 
 this description, which Wieland hazarded, that he concilia- 
 ted the most of the esteem of his countrymen. In a word, 
 their songs, their romances, the ideal world of their poets, are 
 totally different from what is seen among their neighbours. 
 I dare not give this as a consequence of the reformation, but 
 rather as a coincidence. It is, however, very deserving of 
 notice, that the two most sublime epic poems, in which 
 
152 VILLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 the God of Christians, and the inhabitants of heaven are the 
 actors, and in which these actors speak a language worthy of 
 them ; the two most wonderful pictures of celestial innocence 
 and virtue, that of the fall of the first human beings, and that 
 of their redemption, are Protestant productions. If the too 
 short golden age of Italian poetry had not produced the Jeru- 
 salem of Tasso, Paradise Lost and the Messiah would have 
 been the only two epic poems of which modern literature 
 could have boasted. 
 
 Finally, the investigating and reasoning spirit, to which 
 the reformation opened a free career, as has been shown 
 above, was also introduced into the domain of the imagina- 
 tion, and took such a post in it as it was capable of, that is 
 to say, it took refuge in the theoretic department of the belles 
 lettres, in the systems connected wuth sentiment, taste, the 
 beautiful and sublime, &c. 
 
 It is known, that in proportion, the Protestant literati have 
 done more on these subjects, and perhaps, have penetrated 
 more deeply into them than the others. It is among them 
 that the rational part of literary criticism has assumed the 
 form of a science, under the name of Esthetics. This name 
 was given to it by Baumgarten, a German, from a Greek 
 word signifying sentiment. Lessing, as well as Sulzur and 
 his followers, have published some valuable pieces of this 
 description. Kant has founded a new^ esthetic school, in his 
 Criticism on the Judgment. He has had numerous and in- 
 genious disciples ; the most remarkable among them, both in 
 theory and in practice, is the illustrious Schiller. 
 
 With respect to the Fine Arts. 
 
 It is when a pompous worship requires magnificent tem- 
 ples, imposing ceremonies, and a striking appearance; it is 
 when religion exhibits the sensible images of the objects of 
 public veneration, when it rests on a sacred mythology ; 
 when the earth and the heavens are peopled wdth supernatu- 
 ral beings, to whom the imagination can lend a form ; it is 
 then, I say, that the arts, encouraged, ennobled, reach the 
 summit of their splendour and their perfection. The architect, 
 called to honours and wealth, conceives the plan of these 
 basilisks, these cathedrals, the appearance of which inspires 
 a religious awe ; of which the rich walls are decorated with 
 the niaster-pieces of art. This temple, these altars are adorn- 
 ed with marble and the precious metals, out of which sculp- 
 ture has formed angels, the blessed, and images of illustri- 
 
VILLERS ESSAY. 
 
 153 
 
 ous men. The choirs, the galleries, the chapels, the sacristies, 
 are decorated with pictures hung in all parts. Here, Jesus 
 dies on the cross; there he appears on Tabor, in all the re- 
 splendence of divine majesty. Art, so much the friend of the 
 imagination, which can find gratification only in the heavens, 
 goes there in search of its most sublime creations ; a St. 
 John, a Cecilia, and more particularly, a Mary, that patroness 
 of all tender and ardent minds, that virgin model of all mo- 
 thers, the mediatrix of mercy between man and his God, the 
 august and touching Elysian being, of which no other reli- 
 gion offers a resemblance or a model. During the solemni- 
 ties, the choicest stuffs, precious stones, and embroidery- 
 cover the altars, the vessels, the priests and even the parti- 
 tions of the holy place. By the most exquisite songs, by the 
 harmony of orchestras, music completes the charm. These 
 encouragements, of such powerful efficacy, are renewed in a 
 hundred" different places; the metropolises, the parishes, the 
 numerous convents, the simple oratories, vie in splendour, 
 and captivate all the powers of the religious and devout soul. 
 Thus the taste- for the arts, assisted by such a powerful lever, 
 becomes general ; artists are multiplied, and rival each other 
 in their efforts. Through this influence, the celebrated schools 
 of Italy and Flanders flourished, and those most beautiful 
 productions of them which remain to us, testify the richness 
 of the encouragement lavished on them by the Catholic wor- 
 ship. 
 
 From the natural course of things, it cannot be doubted 
 that the reformation was unfavourable to the fine arts, and 
 laid a considerable restraint upon the exercise of them. It 
 broke the bond which united them to religion, which render- 
 ed them sacred, and secured them a share in the veneration 
 of the people. The liturgy of the Lutherans, and still more 
 that of the Calvinists, is simple and strict. A stone, a cloth, 
 form the altar ; a pulpit and benches are all the decoration 
 necessary to the temple. Here nothing is thought of but the 
 gospel, and some divine songs on morality and the Christian 
 duties, sung by the congregation. All is devoid of ornament, 
 pomp and elegance. The priest is clothed in a modest black 
 garment; no veneration of a saint or an angel, and still less 
 of their images, is recommended to pious souls. It might be 
 said that this worship is~ melancholy and dry, in comparison 
 with that of the Catholics, if, however, an assembly of per- 
 sons collected to worship in common, can really correspond 
 with the idea of melancholy. Nevertheless it is certain, that 
 this worship which can elevate the soul, tends to disenchant 
 
154 
 
 riLLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 the imagination ; it renders superb-churches, and statues, and 
 paintings superfluous ; it depopulates the arts, and deprives 
 them of one of their most powerful resources. 
 
 Besides this general disposition peculiar to a worship 
 which keeps so rigidly close to the pure spirit of the primi- 
 tive church, and which does not admit of any coquetry with 
 the senses, the particular disposition of the nations which 
 have embraced the reform must be considered. The greater 
 part of them inhabit the severest climate of Europe. They 
 are colder, more phlegmatic, more thoughtful than those of 
 the south ; they have not nature before their eyes in so beau- 
 tiful a form ; they do not respire that voluptuous, soft, intoxi- 
 cating air of the Italian atmosphere. Independent of the re- 
 formation, therefore, they are not so well placed, so well 
 constituted for the practice of the arts, as the Italians for 
 example. Without doubt they have had, and still have, 
 esteemed artists, but not such as to excel those of Italy, or 
 even to counterbalance them. Their real merit in the arts, 
 and which arises from their reflecting, scrutinizing spirit, is 
 that of treating the theory with more penetration ; of observ- 
 ing and investigating the principles w4iich, unknown to 
 them, direct the great artists ; of tracing the course of the 
 imagination, and the understanding in their productions ; of 
 discovering the connections between the ideal nature of the 
 arts, and real nature ; in a word, of developing the principles 
 and philosophy of the arts. The Italian feels and produces ; 
 Hemsterhuys, Kant, Burke, Goethe, think, analyze the pro- 
 duction, and the faculty of producing. The one has the in- 
 stinct of art ; the other, the intelligence. The one creates ; 
 the other judges of the creation, and calculates its laws. 
 These two functions equally presuppose genius. The first 
 displays it externally, in visible forms ; the second, in the 
 depths of the understanding. This may be named the legis* 
 lative power; that, the executive power of the fine arts. 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 155 
 
 SECT. II. 
 
 RESULTS OF THE EVENTS WHICH HAVE ACCOMPANIED AND FOL- 
 LOWED THE REFORMATION. 
 
 Troubles and Wars in the Political World. — Controversies in 
 the Theological World. 
 
 If the reformation had only affected doctrine, and Luther 
 had only attacked transubstantiation, or pardons, such an 
 obscure quarrel would have remained in the schools, and 
 scarcely have obtained the honours of a bull of condemnation. 
 The holy father, would, unconcernedly, have treated the new 
 heretic like a thousand others who have passed by without 
 creating- an epocha. The nations and the princes would have 
 been wholly ignorant of a quarrel which was not theirs. But 
 Luther not only attacked the spirit, or the doctrine of popery ; 
 he from the first, struck at the most sensible part of the tem- 
 porals of the church, and began the heresy with the apostoli- 
 cal finances. From thenceforward no one could remain in- 
 different ; those who raised the tribute made a great outcry ; 
 those who were freed from the payment of it, declared stre- 
 nuously for the innovators. The most powerful of the Chris- 
 tian princes, however, those who have threatened the inde- 
 pendence of all the others, thought proper to support the 
 rights of Rome. The others, who, in this conjuncture saw 
 the double opportunity of freeing themselves at the same 
 time, from the papal despotism, and from the yoke of Austria, 
 resolved to arm in defence of the reform, and suffered them- 
 selves to be carried down the torrent with their people. 
 Hence also resulted this double misfortune, that the wars 
 which arose, took a religious and a fanatic character ; conse- 
 quently, more animated, more dreadful, and more sanguinary 
 than that of other wars ; and that the controversies of the the- 
 ologians acquired a political importance, a universality which 
 rendered their effects more fatal, more durable, and more ex- 
 tensive than those of all the numerous controversies which 
 had, at any former time, agitated the Christian church. 
 
 These were the sources of the evils, of the horrible catas- 
 trophes, which accompanied and followed the reformation ; 
 such were the causes of a century and a half of a mortal cri- 
 sis, of sanguinary wars, of revolts, and of troubles in Europe. 
 A spark which Luther had struck to light a torch, fell among 
 heaps of powder, in a country wholly mined. The explosion 
 
156 
 
 shook all the west, and seemed likely to brincr back the night 
 of barbarism which had been becrun to be dissipated ; but 
 fortunately the torch had been lig-hted ; and when the clouds 
 of vapour emitted from the volcano began to disperse, its 
 beneficent light shone like a star which had been darkened by 
 a tempest, but, on the return of serenity, serves to restore the 
 pilot to his course. 
 
 It may, therefore, be truly said, with some of the opponents 
 of the reformation, that, at the moment, it forced the reign of 
 knowledge and the culture of the sciences to retrograde. Let 
 us figure to ourselves the unheard-of devastations to which 
 unfortunate Germany became a prey ; the war of the peasants 
 in Suabia; that of the Anabaptists of Munster; that of the 
 league of Smalcald against Charles V. Finally, that dread- 
 ful one which lasted until the treaty of Westphalia, and 
 also after this treaty, until its complete execution. The em- 
 pire was changed by it into a vast cemetery, in which two 
 generations were swallowed up, where cities were only 
 smoking ruins, and heaps of ashes : the schools deserted and 
 without masters ; agriculture destroyed; manufactures burnt. 
 To this may be added, that, on this desolated land, men's minds 
 were soured, disunited, exasperated by their long divisions ; 
 Catholics, Lutherans, Calviiiists, Anabaptists, Moravians, all 
 accused and attributed to each other the lamentable wounds 
 of their common country, of that country which was not only 
 torn by its own children, but so long exposed to the troops 
 of Spain and Italy, to the fanatics of Bohemia, to hordes of 
 Turks, to the French, Swedish and Danish armies, who vied 
 with each other in bringing into it the carnage and desola- 
 tions of war, such as was carried on in the seventeenth cen- 
 tury, and which had the characters of a civil and religious 
 war. A country requires a very long space of time to reco- 
 ver from such a commotion and so deep a ruin. Conse- 
 quently we see the German nation, after having, at first, made 
 verj'^ great strides in the sciences, during the peace which 
 was maintained while Luther lived, fall, for a part of the 
 seventeenth century, into a sort of stupor, into an almost total 
 want of culture. In this period, its literature remained be- 
 hind that of the Italians, the French, and the English ; and 
 from thence may be dated the unfavourable prejudice against 
 German talents, which is not 5"et wholl)'- extinguished in the 
 latter nations. Since this period the aspect of things has been 
 greatly changed ; but prejudices last longer than things ; and 
 the love of our own country, strengthened by a habit disposed 
 
157 
 
 to "believe, and an indolence which checks examination, will, 
 perhaps render this opinion very difficult to destro3^ 
 
 It was not on its native soil alone, where its cause was 
 contested with such inveteracy, that the reformation occa- 
 sioned these destructive convulsions. France could not 
 escape them ; but the troubles of this county were neither so 
 long nor so mischievous as those of Germany. The latter 
 country was in the most deplorable state, when France had 
 healed all her wounds, under Sully, Richelieu, and Maza- 
 rine, and had attained the summit of her literary and political 
 glor}'. The Low Countries were the theatre of the convul- 
 sive struggle of Spain against the new Dutch republic. The 
 evils resulting from it to this part of Europe, nearly equalled 
 those of the rest of the empire. Finally, England became the 
 prey of intestine commotions, which have been detailed 
 above, in the article appropriated to that power. It is enough 
 to be obliged to acknowledge that, since the irruption of the 
 northern tribes into the Roman empire, no event had provoked 
 such long and such universal ravages in Europe, as the war 
 kindled in the furnace of the reformation. In this point of 
 view, it is too true that it retarded the progress of the general 
 culture ; but when the conflagration was at an end, all the 
 solid benefits derived from it appeared, in the better direction, 
 the new activity, the liberty, it had given to the human mind, 
 in the immense obstacles it had removed from its path, and 
 which so invincibly shackled its progress. 
 
 I ask, besides, was it the reformation which called the 
 princes and the nations to the combat ] In its principle, the 
 reformation was only the act by which reason declared itself 
 emancipated, and freed from the yoke of arbitrary authority ; 
 an emancipation which was the natural and unavoidable con- 
 sequence of the renovation of knowledge. Its object was to 
 restore the gospel to Christians in its purity, to renounce the 
 exorbitant claims of the popes. The adversaries of this 
 reform were so enraged, so iniquitous, as to wish to stifle it 
 in the blood of its sectaries. They alone are guilty of all the 
 evils which followed. The terrible efforts made to annihi- 
 late the reform prove, to every reflecting mind, its great 
 necessity. 
 
 A more direct reproach, and apparently a more just one, 
 which may be brought against the reformation, is that of hav- 
 ing rekindled, with inconceivable fury, the theological dis- 
 putes, which interested all minds, were introduced into all 
 places, and consumed so much knowledge, talents, assiduity 
 and erudition, as were lavished in feeding their fire. The 
 14 
 
158 VILLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 attention of the learned world was directed for upwards of n 
 century to these calamitous quarrels of dogmas and forms, 
 which became a new and powerful obstacle to the progress 
 of the sciences. They strengthened the disposition for reve- 
 ries and the extravagant mysticism of some ardent imagina- 
 tions. Polemical disputations naturally arose, from the first, 
 between the theologians of Rome and those of the reform; 
 they were violent on both sides, and accompanied by con- 
 tumely and insults.* The acrimony, too natural to such dis- 
 
 * Luther is greatly reproached, and by Voltaire among others, 
 for some invectives and contemptuous terms Avhich he used 
 ag-ainst the Pope. Voltaire has employed much more indecent 
 language himself, and with less reason, against his opponents. 
 At the beginning, Luther showed himself very submissive and 
 very respectful to the head of the church. He expressed him- 
 self at first, and also frequently afterwards, with great moderation 
 and decency. But let us reflect on the horrible abuse with 
 which he was loaded ; let us read the libels of Hochstraten, 
 Eckius, Tetzel, &c. and we shall see whether Luther ought to 
 be condemned for the anger and indignation he occasionally 
 manifested. If he had not been ardent and irritable, how could 
 he have become the leader of so great a revolution ? If his ene- 
 mies had had him in their power, they would have burned him 
 as tliey did John Huss. For his \i&.r{, he was satisfied with turn- 
 ing them into ridicule, but he did not burn any one. Against 
 adversaries who employ tortures and fire, is it an offence so 
 heinous to employ sarcasms even though they should be in a 
 bad taste ? There was very little good taste in the sixteenth cen- 
 tury. Besides, leisure and tranquillity are necessary to taste; and 
 could leisure be aUied with the clashing of all interests, and all 
 passions ? The language of Luther, sometimes violent, was 
 never cruel and ferocious, like that of some of the popes. Cle- 
 ment VI. in the bull of anathema which he issued against the 
 emperor Louis of Bavaria, expresses himself thus ; "May God 
 strike him with imbecility and madness; may heaven overwhelm 
 him with its thunders ; may the anger of God, with that of 
 St. Peter and St. Paul, fall upon him in this world and in the 
 next; may the whole universe revolt against him; may the earth 
 swallow him up alive; may his name perish from the earliest 
 generation; and may his memory disappear; may all the ele- 
 ments be adverse to him; may his children, delivered into 
 the hands of his enemies, be crushed before the eyes of their 
 father, &c." (Rainaldi, Ann. Eccles. ) Such language did not 
 prevent Petrarch, playing on the name of this pope, from say- 
 ing that he was clemency itself; while Garasse and all liis wor- 
 
fillers' essay. 159 
 
 cussioRS and such circumstances, was propagated from year 
 to year, and from controversy to controversy, and contributed 
 greatly to g"iving the literary disputes of the times that fol- 
 lowed, that strain of animosity which is more observable in 
 this than in any other age. 
 
 It was not between the Catholics and the innovators alone 
 that the combat raged ; but very ardent contests soon arose 
 in the bosom of the reform itself, and between its partisans. 
 1 cannot here relate the history of all the sects and all the 
 opinions which the unlimited liberty established by the 
 reform gave rise to, in such numbers. These sects, all ene- 
 mies of Rome, did not treat each other better than they treat- 
 ed the Papists. Besides the fanatic brotherhoods of Ana- 
 baptists ]\Ieunonites, Adamites, Mantzerians, Puritans, &c. ; 
 besides the violent contests on the doctrine of the sacraments, 
 which Luther, Melancthon, and others had to support against 
 Carlstadt, OEcolampadius, &c. there arose important schisms 
 in the Evangelical Church, which were also allied to politics 
 and were not without mtiuence on the fate of the people. 
 The Swiss reform declared itself against the Saxon reform, 
 and the English. church was established independent of both. 
 The struggle between Lutheranism and Calvinism was vio- 
 lent and long.* So man)'" vain disputes could not take place 
 but at the expense of beneficial studies and useful know- 
 ledge, the culture of which was neglected on account of 
 them. 
 
 This does not contradict what I have said above of the 
 happy results of the moral impulse given by the reformation. 
 
 thy successors delight in repeating' that Luther was a clownish 
 monic, a hot-headed heresiarch, and other pitiful things. Strange 
 blindness of ignorance and fanaticism! 
 
 * If I have not taken greater notice of the schism between 
 the Lutherans and Calvinists, it is because I had not to give an 
 account of the influence of the reform on the religious doctrine 
 and belief. There have been few results of this schism of 
 any importance to the states, because the Calvinists have ob- 
 tained the same rights as the Lutlierans in the empire. It has 
 only produced some misunderstandings and internal dissentions 
 in the evangelical party, to which it has, for that reason, been 
 hurtful. The electoral houses of Saxony and the Palatinate, 
 among others, have had severe contests on t!iis subject : but I 
 cannot speak of them ; my only object has been to g'ive results 
 of importance to the rest of Europe, these domestic bickex'ings 
 of the refoi-m are not of that description. 
 
160 
 
 I have given these results such as they really were in the 
 end, and without confining myself to the order of time. It 
 is thus that what may appear contradictory in that which I 
 have formerly said, in favour, and that which I now say to 
 the disadvantage of the reform, is to be understood and inter- 
 preted. 
 
 We may observe, however, that these religious disputes^ 
 which related only to the different opinions on theology and 
 matters of faith, have contributed to keep up that living spirit 
 of religion, and that attachment to Christianity in the Protes- 
 tant countries, which is much less visible in Catholic coun- 
 tries. After all, it is better to dispute on religion than to 
 agree quietly not to have any; to contend on the manner of 
 adoring God, than not to believe in him at all, and to remain 
 indifferent and lukewarm on what relates to our connection 
 with the Divinity. It is also better, without doubt, to adore 
 God sincerely, and to leave each individual at liberty to per- 
 form this high action in his own manner. This is precisely 
 what, some sooner, and others later, the different reformed 
 nations have come to. They began with wrangling and con- 
 troversy; tliey finished with philosophy and toleration ; and 
 the spirit of religion remained with them.* 
 
 We may also observe, that this theological inquietude, 
 which has produced so many useless and even injurious con-, 
 troversies among the Reformists, was not in any respect es- 
 sential to the reformation, but belonged to the age, and to 
 Christianity in general. The first Reformers were Catholic 
 theologians, trained in the bosom of the Roman Church, and 
 
 * The religious discussions had also some otlier good eflTects, 
 from the favourable disposition to philosophical and speculative 
 subjects wliich they kept up in men's minds. Would our great 
 Descartes have founded a school ; would his doctrine have occa- 
 sioned tlie sensation it did, or, would it have produced the good 
 it did produce, if he had not found both opponents and disci- 
 ples, equally ardent, in Holland ? Holland was the true focus 
 of Cai-tesianism. It was there also that all those sheltered theo- 
 logians, Saurin, Jurieu, Basnage, (as vrell asBeausobre, Lenfant 
 and others at Berlin,) discussed and wrote, and wliose books 
 warmed the zeal of our Arnauld, Bossuet, and Nicole, in their 
 answers, from which, as well as from the replies of their adver- 
 saries, we might select more than one master-piece, in works 
 remarkable for the eloquence arising from a warmth of soul, for 
 the beauty of style, and the erudition which is displayed iu 
 them. 
 
161 
 
 had communicated a captious irritability to their new doc- 
 trine. It was not because they were Lutherans or Calvinists 
 that these new doctors were full of subtleties, were vain and 
 petulent; it was because they had been Catholics, and were 
 compelled to defend themselves without remission against the 
 Catholic doctors. This spirit of disputation was, as we may 
 suppose, transmitted to their immediate successors ; but it 
 was at length subdued and overpowered by the true spirit of 
 the reform, which is the same as that of the Gospel, and by 
 that of knowledge and philosophy, so powerfully seconded 
 by the reform, which are not different from those of humani- 
 ty and toleration. 
 
 Abelard and St. Bernard were not ReiOTmists ; neither were 
 the two parties of the Franciscans, in the thirteenth and four- 
 teenth centuries. To what a deluge of controversies and 
 scholastic barbarisms did these two give rise ! Since the 
 time of the apostles, the Christian church has been constantly 
 afflicted with this mania of sects, and debates on doctrine. 
 From Simon the magician, Cerinthus and Ebbion to Janse- 
 nius, Quesnel, and the last days of the Sarbonne, nothing 
 has been seen but disputes, the acrimony of parties, hatreds, 
 condemnations. How could a sudden revolution be effected 
 in this church, without bearing the same characters'? How 
 could such a volcano break out without discharging torrents 
 of lava] Poor human reason had been so long captive in the 
 schools of theology, that, at first, it was unable to make the 
 most proper use of its liberty. A prisoner whose chains are 
 struck off, the door of whose dungeon is thrown open, quits 
 it with unsteady steps; his benumbed feet are unable to sup- 
 port him ; the blaze of day, destined to enlighten him, makes 
 him blind ; he wanders about at hazard, strikes against every 
 obstacle, falls and destroys himself. — Would it have been 
 better, for this reason, to have left the man in his dungeon] 
 Tiie opponents of the reform say yes. 
 
 Secret Societies — Free-Masons — Rosicrucians — Mystics — ///w- 
 mi7iati. 
 
 When a certain number of individuals, forming a feeble 
 minority of a nation, feel themselves the depositories of opin- 
 ions which they believe to be of importance, and which they 
 dare not make public, because they think them dangerous to 
 the multitude, or because they would expose themselves to 
 persecutions by professing them openly, or from any other 
 cause : then arises to these individuals the necessity of secret 
 
162 VILLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 unions, in which they may profess their doctrine with free- 
 dom ; an intimate fraternity between all the members of the 
 association, oaths not to betray it, tests, signs to know each 
 other in the midst of strangers, are necessary to them. 
 Hence the mysteries of Egypt, of Greece, those of Pytha- 
 goras, &c. 
 
 There is no doubt that many of these mysterious fraterni- 
 ties have existed in Europe since the fall of the Roman em- 
 pire, and that some of them may have passed through the 
 middle age to reach us. But without attending to all the re- 
 citals, true or fabulous, which several of them give of their 
 origin, and which frequently have no other foundation but a 
 romantic tradition, deceitful symbols, and suppositious monu- 
 ments, we shall only stop to observe that the nature of things 
 never made these societies so necessary and so mysterious as 
 tliey were rendered by the abuses of the hierarchial despo- 
 tism, the inquisition, and the vexations of every kind exer- 
 cised by the agents of Rome in the period which preceded 
 the reformation. There was a considerable number of all 
 classes whose eyes were opened to these abuses, and who 
 perceived their enormity ; but they carefully concealed in 
 their souls, a secret, which, had it been divulged, would have 
 condemned them to the flames. It was onl}?^ when they met 
 a tried friend apart, that they could communicate their senti- 
 ments; then tlieir oppressed breasts were unburthened, they 
 consoled each other, in a low voice, on the load with which 
 they were borne down, and consulted on the means of unit- 
 ing, and supporting themselves, and of forming a small circle 
 within which the tyrants of the mind could not reach them. 
 It is more than probable that such societies existed at the 
 time of the reformation. The Wickliffites in England and 
 Scotland, the Hussites in Bohemia, Silesia and Moravia, as 
 well as the remains of the Albigenses in France, must, doubt- 
 less, have felt the want of a mutual communication, and also 
 of a careful concealment; two conditions which are princi- 
 pally instrumental in the formation of these societies. How 
 much more pressing and general must these circumstances 
 have become, when the reformation broke out openly in Sax- 
 ony, and everywhere redoubled the activity and watchfulness 
 of the spies and inquisitors of Rome] There was not any 
 Catholic country in which the principles of Luther had not 
 gained a great number of partisans. The situation of these 
 secret adherents of the reform was exceedingly perilous. A 
 simple suspicion would have undone them, w^ould have given 
 them over to punishment. The extreme constraint they 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 163 
 
 were under could only cease and receive some alleviation in 
 the hidden conventicles of the most profound mystery. If 
 the order of free-masons did not then take its rise, (that is to 
 say, towards the close of the sixteenth, or beginning- of the 
 seventeenth century,) at least it received both new modifica- 
 tions and a new extension at that period. They have not yet 
 found titles which are completely sheltered from criticism, or 
 in which a formal mention of them is made, prior to the year 
 1610. The temple of Jerusalem, the strict filiation of the 
 templars, belong probably to the mythology of this order, 
 rather than to its history. There are ancient laws in exis- 
 tence which exclude the Catholics, and confine the order 
 to the Protestants alone. The principles of equality and fra- 
 ternity between the members, are very conformable to that seen 
 at that time in several open and avowed sects. The geo- 
 graphical position of Bohemia and Saxony, from whence 
 issued the light of reform, with respect to Scotland, England, 
 and France, seems to explain the denomination of the East 
 commonly used in their lodges. In the state of confusion and 
 advancement of all nations, a conformity of opinion was of 
 more importance to them than a conformity of country. A 
 Lutheran of Bavaria was more attached to a Lutheran of 
 Saxony, than to a Bavarian Catholic. The Swiss Calvinist, 
 become the enemy of the Swiss Catholic, considered the 
 French and Dutch Calvinist, as his true countrymen. The 
 Scotch Puritan fraternized with the Englishmen of his sect, 
 in despite of the national antipathy. Nevertheless the civil 
 wars, those of nation against nation, long and sanguinary, 
 which followed, particularly in England and Scotland often 
 brought these brothers, the secret allies, to blows, and expos- 
 ed them to the mutual danger of taking each other's lives. 
 Each followed at random the colours under which his for- 
 tune had thrown him. How many soldiers, zealous Protest- 
 ants at the bottom of their hearts, served in the imperial 
 armies of Ferdinand, and in those of Philip II.! How many 
 Calvinists in the army of the league, and Presbyterians in 
 the ranks of the episcopals ! A mysterious sign was, there- 
 fore, required, by which brother might be revealed to brother 
 in the midst of the confusion and carnage. It is known that 
 the Free-Masons have one destined to accomplish this object ; 
 and this alone seems evidently to prove that this order be- 
 longs to the sanguinary period of the wars of the seventeenth 
 century, during which there are numerous examples of indi- 
 viduals being saved amidst the greatest perils, by their ene- 
 
164 
 
 mies themselves, who, by this sign, recognized them for fel- 
 lows and brothers. 
 
 The state of disorder and fermentation in which the hu- 
 man mind was, in general, at the moment of Luther's ap- 
 pearance ; the efforts which it made in various directions to 
 arrive at the light, and escape from the darkness of the mid- 
 dle age, gave rise to several coincident events in the reign 
 of science, which were mingled in a thousand different ways, 
 both with the ideas of the religious sects of this period, and 
 with the mysterious doctrine of the secret societies. A fan- 
 ciful assemblage of aphorisms, called of Hermes, Pythago- 
 ras, and Plato, adapted to the Hebrew text of the books of 
 the old Testament, and of those of some Rabbis, had renewed 
 the Judaical reveries, known by the name of Cabbala. The 
 sectaries of this obscure doctrine, called also by them the 
 Hermetic, the Pythagorean, etc. philosophy, expected to find 
 in them the sources of knowledge, of universal wisdom. 
 Reuchlin, Zorzi and Agrippa gave it its consistence in the 
 sixteenth century. Cardan and others added judicial astro- 
 logy to it. The celebrated Swiss, Theophrastus Bombast 
 de Hohenheim, better known by the name of Paracelsus, 
 united his knowledge to the cabbala, and aimed at penetrat- 
 ing all the secrets of God, or of nature, which to him was the 
 same thing. To find the primitive element, the great men- 
 struum ; to fix the light, and subject it to his operations ; in a 
 word, to find the philosopher's stone, to cure all diseases and 
 to make gold, by its means, was the end, the great work of 
 the new science, which its numerous partisans sometimes 
 called theosophy, the philosophy of fire, etc. He who, after 
 Paracelsus, gained it the most popularity, was the celebrated 
 Englishman, Robert Fludd. In the laboratories of this sect 
 were propagated the Oriental ideas of magic, of apparitions, 
 of genii ; ideas which prevailed about this time, and have not 
 yet entirel}'- ceased. The common doctrine of the ground- 
 work of all these cabbalists, astrologers, and alchemists, was 
 the pantheism of the school of Alexandria ; and, consequent- 
 ly, through all its variations, a sort of Platonism, which, as 
 such, would oppose, with all its powers, the famous Aris- 
 totleism, defended by the scholastics, and the principal sup- 
 port of the Roman theology.* The Protestant sects, the 
 
 * It cannot be denied that tliese theosophists, as well as the 
 reformist theologians, prepared the way for Descartes, in the 
 mortal war which he waged against the remains of the scholas- 
 tic philosophy. It is impossible to undei-stand the writings of 
 
VILLERS ESSAY. 
 
 165 
 
 enemies of Rome, received therefore, and gave ^eat credit to 
 all these novelties, introduced, principally, in the secret asso- 
 ciations of which M^e have spoken, and which sometimes 
 were open to these magicians, blowers of gold, etc. 
 
 The religious ideas of every description, from the most ex- 
 travagant cabbala, to the most rational Protestantism ; the 
 moraf ideas of equality, of fraternity, and of beneficence among 
 all men; those of judicial astrology, of theosophy and alche- 
 my, with all their shades and consequences ; such were the 
 elements, so various and so heterogeneous, of which the mys- 
 terious basis of the secrets of all these new associations was 
 composed. According as an individual or a lodge adopted 
 more particularly one or other of these views, its doctrine 
 tended more to religious mysticism, or to political mysticism, 
 or to astrology, or to alchemy, etc. Gradually, however, the 
 elements purely moral were separated entirely from the mys- 
 teries of alchemy, and of the philosopher's stone. They took 
 refuge in the society so well known by the name of Free-Ma- 
 sonry^ which, xx'hothor its origin ascends higher than the re- 
 formation or not, received a new growth and a new vigour from 
 it. For a long time, since the religious troubles have been 
 calmed in Europe, and all the Christian sects are allowed in 
 it, this estimable society has only retained some of the mys- 
 terious forms of its infancy, a secret which only seems to be 
 preserved to render the association more connected or more 
 enticing, and a great respect for the sacred books, which was 
 the characteristic feature of Protestantism. The remainder 
 became the portion of the Rosicrucians, who notwithstanding 
 the imposing history of their pretended founder, Rosencreutz, 
 and of his interment; notwithstanding the rose surmounted 
 with a cross borne by Luther on his seal, according to all ap- 
 pearance, owes its origin to a Wittembergian theologian, Va- 
 lentine Andrece, who established it there with a good design, 
 but afterwards withdrew from it.* 
 
 this philosopher, oi* those of his disciples or adversaries, such 
 as, Voeitus, Gassendi, Poiret, etc. and, generally of all the phi- 
 losophical works of this period, witliout a perfect acquaintance 
 with the key of the labours of the reformers, and of those of the 
 sectaries of Paracelsus. 
 
 * A work will shortly be published in Germany by the learn- 
 ed M. Buhle, professor of philosophy in the university of Got- 
 tipgen, which will make what is advanced here on the origin of 
 Masonry evident, and will exhibit all the proofs. M. Bulile haa 
 
166 VILLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 Sometimes the religious ideas of the theosophists remained 
 united with their metaphysical pantheism, with their m5nho- 
 logy of supernatural beings, with their chemistry, with their 
 manner of seeing- nature. From this the most eccentric and 
 sometimes the most whimsical doctrine was produced in some 
 heads which gave way to this medley. The most famous of 
 these mystical theosophists was a shoemaker of Goerlitz in 
 Lusatia, Jacob Boehm, whose writings, being read with avi- 
 dity, created him a mnltitiide of sectaries over all the north 
 of Europe ; there are also among them', some very illustrious 
 for their knowledge ; I shall only instance the tv/o Van Hel- 
 monts, father and son, of Brussels, and Peter Poiret, of Metz. 
 At a period very near our own, we also reckon Swedenbourg, 
 and all the sect of JNIartinists, among whom Paracelsus and 
 Bcehm are likewise held in great esteem. It is certain that 
 this Boehm, and some other mystics, have been men of extra- 
 ordinary genius ; and that some of their ideas merit as ho- 
 nourable a rank in the sublime philosophy, as certain discove- 
 ries of Paracelsus deserve in cherai^try. If, as Seneca says, 
 there is no great genius without some mixture of folly, per- 
 haps, also, there is no great folly without some mixture of 
 genius. 
 
 However this may be, these secret societies were not with- 
 out some influence on the moral culture, and also on the events 
 which have occurred in Europe since the reformation. It was, 
 therefore, to our purpose to notice the influence which this 
 had on their existence. On. these have been grafted and mo- 
 delled some more recent associations, of which the best 
 known is the order of the Illuminati, a general denomination 
 which have served as a mask and a pretext to much knavery. 
 The purpose of the real Illuminati, as I believe, was no other 
 than to propogate knowledge and to realize liberal ideas of 
 the rights of nature, by founding a society of energetic, and 
 well meaning men, who miglit labour with all their united 
 strength against a certain system of obscurantism which tend- 
 ed towards a return to barbarism, and which was eflicaciously 
 supported by some courts. The Illuminati, during the short . 
 period of their existence, neglected no means to make their 
 intentions triumph, and to subject all the great men of the 
 
 already read a Latin dissertation on the same subject to the 
 Royal Socie<:y of Sciences at Gottingen, at the end of 1802, and 
 an extract from this piece appeared in the literary papers of the 
 same city, in January, 1803, Nos. 7 ai^.d 8. 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 167 
 
 earth to them. In this view they may be considered as the 
 Jesuits of philosophy, and the apostles of a political sect 
 whose belief is founded on this agreeable dream, that virtue 
 and talents should have precedency and authority among 
 men. 
 
 JesuitSf JansenistSj etc. 
 
 The sixteenth century saw Luther and Loyola arise almost 
 at the same instant, the one in the north, and the other in the 
 south of Europe: the latter, sprung from Spain, seems to be 
 a natural product of the soil and of the spirit of Saxony. A 
 century earlier, Loyola would probably only have founded an 
 order like many others, a fraternity of worshippers of the Vir- 
 gin, for whom he had a great veneration. The religious in- 
 novations which, at this time, menaced the existence of the 
 Roman church, gave the enthusiasm of the devout and war- 
 like Ignatius, another direction; he conceived the idea of a 
 sort of spiritual crusade against heresy. After some doubts 
 his plan was vigorously adopted at Rome, and they thought 
 seriously of this new society as of a formidable phalanx, 
 which might be opposed to the most violent champions of the 
 reform. It is, therefore, as has been already observed, to the 
 reaction provoked by the latter, that the species of existence 
 which the company of Jesus had, must be attributed. It will, 
 perhaps, be agreeable to seethe identical words of Damianus, 
 one of the first historians of the society, who expresses him- 
 self thus, in his Synopsis Historise Soc. Jes. primo faeculo, 
 printed in 1640.* 
 
 * " Eodem anno vigesuno-primo, adulta jam nequi'da, palam 
 ecclesize bellum indixit Lutherus : Izesus in Pampelonensi area 
 Ig"i"iatiu.s, ahus ex vulnere, fortlorque quasi defendendse relig-io- 
 nis sig-num sustulit. 
 
 " Lutherus Petri sedem probris, convitilsque lacessere ag'gre- 
 ditur : Ig-natius quasi ad suscipiendam causam,a S, Petro prodi- 
 giose curatur. 
 
 *' Lutherus ira, ambitione, llbidine victus, a religiosa vita 
 desciscit : Ignatius Deo vocante impigre obsecutus, a profana ad 
 religiosam transit. 
 
 *' Lutherus cum sacra Deo vergine incestas nuptias init sacri- 
 legus : perpetuae continentiae voto se adstringit Ignatius. 
 
 " Lutherus omnem superiorum contemnit auctoritatem : 
 prima Igniitii monila sunt, plena christians denissionis, subesse 
 et parere. 
 
168 VILLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 "In the same year, 1521, Luther, moved by a consummate 
 malice, declared war openly against the church : wounded in 
 the fortress of Pampeluna, having become better, and, as it 
 were, stronger, from his wound, Ignatius raised the standard 
 in defence of religion. 
 
 " Luther attacks the see of St. Peter, with insults and 
 blasphemies: Ignatius, as if to undertake his cause, is mira- 
 culously cured by St. Peter. 
 
 " Luther, subdued by rage, ambition, and lust, quits a re- 
 ligious life: Ignatius, eagerly obeying the call of God, 
 changes from a profane to a religious life. 
 
 " Sacrilegious Luther contracts an incestuous marriage 
 with a holy virgin of God : Ignatius binds himself by a vow 
 of perpetual continency. 
 
 " Luther contemns all the authority of his superiors : the 
 first precepts of Ignatius, full of Christian humility, are to 
 submit and obey. 
 
 " Luther declaims like a fury against the Holy See : Ig- 
 natius everywhere supports it. 
 
 " Luther draws as many from it as he can : Ignatius con- 
 ciliates and brings back as many to it as he can. 
 
 "All Luther's studies and enterprises are directed against 
 it: Ignatius, by a special vow, consecrates his labours, with 
 those of his associates, to it. 
 
 " Luther detracts from the veneration and worship of the 
 sacred rites of the church : Ignatius maintains all veneration 
 for them. 
 
 " The sacrifice of the mass, the eucharist, the mother of 
 
 *' In sedem apostolicam, furentis in morem, declamat Luthe- 
 rus : illam ubique tuetur Ig-natius. 
 
 " Ab ea quotquot potest Lutherus avertit : quotquot potest 
 conciliat, reducitque Ig-natius. 
 
 *' Adversus illam ninentur omnia Lutheri studia atque conatus : 
 Ignatius suos, suorumque labores peculiari voto illi consecrat. 
 
 *' Lutherus sacris ecclesi?e rittibus venerationem, cultumque 
 deti'axit : Ignatius omnem illis reverentiam assent. 
 
 *' Missoeque sacrificio, eucharistioe, Ueiparx, tutelaribus divis, 
 etilHs, tanto Lutheri furore impugnatis, pontificum indulgentiis ; 
 in quibus novo semper invento celebrandis Ig-natii sociorumque 
 desudat industria. 
 
 " Lutliero illo Germanioe probro, Epicuri porco, Europs exitio, 
 orbis infelici portento, Dei atque hominum odio, etc....2eterno 
 consilio Deus opposuit Ignatium." 
 
 (Synopsis, etc. — Lib. 1. Diss. VI. p. 18.) 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 169 
 
 God, the tutelary saints, the indulgences of the pontiffs, and 
 the things attacked by Luther with such fury, were objects 
 which the industry of Ignatius and his companions was 
 eagerly and continually employed in seeking new modes of 
 celebrating. 
 
 "To this Luther, the disgrace of Germany, the hog of 
 Epicurus, the destroyer of Europe, the accursed portent of 
 the universe, the abomination of God and men, etc.... God, 
 in his eternal wisdom, opposed Ignatius." 
 
 In fact, the new order performed the functions, prescribed 
 for it from its cradle, with fidelity. A great number of Ca- 
 tholic associations and fraternities, to which the general 
 unquiet gave rise about that epocha, appeared, and were 
 eclipsed without glory, like those meteors which blaze for an 
 instant in the atmosphere, and leave no trace behind them. 
 The society of Jesus rose above the horizon like a formidable 
 comet which spreads terror through the nations. Scarcely 
 established, it rendered important services to the Holy See 
 during the sitting of the Council of Trent, and powerfully 
 influenced the decrees of that assembly. The ancient orders, 
 and, in particular, the mendicants, were very envious of 
 these new comers, who began with such lustre, and drew all 
 consideration and all favours to themselves. This emulation 
 redoubled the activity of those who were not Jesuits, and par- 
 licularly of the Dominicans, who exercised the arm of the 
 inquisition, entrusted to their direction, in a more dreadful 
 manner than ever. Nevertheless, the Jesuits eclipsed all their 
 rivals, and acquired the unlimited favour of the pontiffs, and 
 an immense power over all the Catholic world. The mis- 
 sions were, to them and the popes, what colonies are to civil 
 governments, a source of riches and power. At length this 
 militia of the Holy See gradually became formidable to their 
 masters. They were suspected of harbouring a secret design 
 to appropriate to themselves the universal monarchy they 
 were intended to reconquer for the popes. From this arose 
 discussions, in which the society, oftener than once, showed 
 themselves intractable, and made it appear that it knew the 
 value of its services. But let us return to the immediate ob- 
 ject of this article, to the influence of the Jesuits on the pro- 
 gress of knowledge. 
 
 It has been already said that they were intrusted with the 
 greater part of the public instruction, in the Catholic states. 
 Europe had already tasted of the tree of knowledge ; its light 
 had spread into all parts, and had made a rapid progress ; it 
 had become impossible to oppose it openly. The safest ex- 
 15 
 
170 VILLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 pedient now was, not to combat the science, but to get pos- 
 session of it, to prevent it from being injurious; not being 
 able to stop the torrent, it was necessary to dig a channel for 
 it where it might fertilize the soil of the church instead of 
 destroying it. To well informed adversaries, therefore, they 
 determined to oppose men as well informed ; the crafty com- 
 panions of Ignatius were appointed to satisfy the universal 
 desire to acquire knowledge manifested by the age. It was 
 here that the inconceivable talent of the new preceptors of 
 humanity was displayed. Their leading maxim was to cul- 
 tivate, and bring to the highest possible degree of perfection, 
 every species of knowledge from which no immediate dan- 
 ger could arise to the system of the hierarchical power, and 
 by that means to acquire the estimation and celebrity of being 
 the most able and most learned men of the Christian world. 
 Assisted by this supremacy over opinion, it became easy for 
 them either to paralyze the branches of knowledge which 
 might bear fruit dangerous to the papacy, or to bend, direct, 
 and graft these branches at pleasure. Thus, in inspiring a 
 taste for the liberal sciences, the Greek and Roman classics, 
 profane history, mathematics, they could conveniently stifle 
 that of inquiring into matters of religion and state, the philo- 
 sophical and investigating spirit. The philosophy taught in 
 their schools was calculated to make this science repulsive 
 and disgusting. It was no other than the scholastic, revised 
 and corrected by them and applied to circumstances, particu- 
 larly to the polemical controversy with the Reformists, whose 
 arguments, as may readily be supposed, were brought for- 
 ward in them so as to be destroyed by the artillery of the 
 school. With respect to religion, the study of it was con- 
 fined to the books of theology composed purposely by mem- 
 bers of the society, to Jesuit casuists and moralists. The 
 study of the original books of religion was withdrawn; or if 
 the gospels and other pieces appeared sometimes in their 
 w^orks of devotion (and this was very necessar)^ since the 
 translations, made by the reformed, were public,) it was with 
 interpretations and even alterations conformable to the prin- 
 cipal object of the society. Their grand rallying word was 
 the utility of the sciences, and the lustre of the belles lettres. 
 As to everything relating to a moral amelioration or the en- 
 nobling of mankind, as well as everything connected with the 
 philosophical and theological sciences, the Jesuits strove 
 eagerly, and, in fact succeeded, in making them be totally for- 
 gotten ; in rendering theology and philosophy barbarous and 
 full of difficulties, and even ridiculous, in the eyes of the 
 
171 
 
 bulk of mankind. Who can determine how much this Je- 
 suitic mode of instruction, which became the reigning mode 
 in the Catholic countries, and which differs so widely from 
 the mode of instruction of the Protestants ; how much, I say, 
 this procedure, obstinately followed during several succes- 
 sive generations, might have influenced the species of cul- 
 ture and particular turn of mind among the Catholics, so 
 different, in general, from what is seen among the Protes- 
 tants 1 
 
 It, however, results from all this (and I believe this con- 
 sideration is the key to the contradictory judgments formed 
 on the method of the Jesuits, in the Culture of the sciences), 
 that this society has rendered immense services to certain 
 parts of literature, on which it has thrown light ; but that, 
 on the other hand, it has purposely kept certain other impor- 
 tant parts in obscurity ; or, it has so scattered the avenues 
 with difficulties, that men were not tempted to engage in 
 them; so that, taken in general, the instruction given in 
 tbeir schools, very brilliant on the one side, remained very 
 dark on the other, was a partial and incomplete instruction, 
 and put the mind in a wrong track ; for, as on the one side, 
 all was clear and bright, and, on the other, all was dark 
 and mysterious, the eye naturally turned to that side which 
 alone was luminous, and disdained to rest on the other, 
 of which they were even habituated not to suspect the ex- 
 istence. 
 
 To model science according to the interests of the pontifi- 
 cal power, and even to render it ignorant where it was requi- 
 site it should be ignorant; to produce certain objects in open 
 da}^ and to keep others in a profound night ; to fertilize the 
 reign of the memory and wit, by rendering that of the mind 
 and the reason barren ; to form enlightened, but submissive 
 spirits, ignorant only of that which might lessen their sub- 
 mission, like those valuable slaves of the great men of anti- 
 quity, who were grammarians, poets, rhetoricians, skilful 
 dancers, and musicians, knowing everything, but to be free ; 
 I do not dread being contradicted by any impartial man, in 
 asserting' that such were the tactics of instruction adopted by 
 the Jesuits. They were profound and supremely calculated 
 for their object. They could form illustrious and polished 
 writers, learned men, orators, good Roman Catholics, nay, 
 Jesuits, but not men, in the extensive acceptation of the 
 term ; whoever became a man under their regulations, became 
 
172 VILLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 SO, independent of these regulations, and, I shall add, almost 
 in despite of them.* 
 
 Besides, if this system of papal infallibility and blind sub- 
 mission to the apostolic see, was incompatible with reason 
 and the progress of knowledge, (which no moderate Catholic 
 makes any difficulty of acknowledging at the present day,) 
 ought we not to consider the existence of a learned society, 
 the sole object of whose labours is to make reason itself and 
 acquired knowledge subservient to the consolidation of a sys- 
 tem inimical to reason and knowledge, as the most pernici- 
 ous thing which can happen 1 If an ignorant Franciscan 
 proclaimed ultramontane propositions from his pulpit, the 
 danger was not great, and they might be refuted without dif- 
 ficulty ; but when the learned and ingenious Jesuits of the 
 college of Clermont proclaimed publicly in Paris, "that 
 the pope was as infallible as Jesus Christ himself;" when 
 they displayed all their knowledge and their talents;to incul- 
 cate this principle, and to make it an article of faith,f it must 
 be acknowledged, that then the danger became imminent, and 
 that opinion was in danger of being irrevocably sophisti- 
 cated. As nothing can be more fatal to the liberty of a peo- 
 ple than a despotism which can render itself amiable and 
 plausible, neither is anything more capable of vitiating the 
 minds of men radically, than the knowledge of the art of 
 rendering falshood, truth ; and irrationality, reasonable. 
 It may be conceived how much the universal employment 
 
 * This is one of the secrets of the society, for it had secrets ; 
 it had its tests, its degrees, its apprentices, and its masters ; if 
 it had an open and legal existence, it was because its principles 
 were agreeable to the authority which protected them. From 
 its nature it was in opposition to the society of Free-Masons, to 
 that of the Illuminati, &c. which it strove against with all its 
 power. Formerly, while the Jesuits triumphed with a high 
 hand, the^ Free-Masons concealed themselves, and assembled by 
 stealth. Now the times are greatly changed 5 the Free-Masons 
 have scarcely any secrets but what an enlightened public parti- 
 cipate with them ; their society appears freely and openly ; that 
 of the Jesuits, on the contrar}^, conceals its feeble remains fi'om 
 publicity through almost the whole of Europe, and has really 
 become a secret society of anti-illaminali. Of the two centuries, 
 that in which they s3io\\'ed themselves, and tliat in which they 
 are concealed, we may decide which had the best spirit. 
 
 f See what the celebrated Arnaud wrote on this occasion, 
 under the title of La Nouvelle heresie des Jesuites. 
 
VILLERS' JESSAV. 173 
 
 and the pretensions of the Jesuits must have excited envy 
 and ill will in all classes. The}^ wished to be the preachers, 
 the theologians, the supporters of the hoi}" see ; and they came 
 in collision with the Dominicans, and almost all the other 
 religious orders ; they aspired to the direction of consciences, 
 particularly those of princes, and of all those who had any 
 influence on the politics of courts ; and they inflamed the 
 hatred of courtiers and ministers ; they sought to be masters 
 of all the institutions for education and public instruction ; 
 and they irritated against them the ancient universities, the 
 masters and professors of all the schools which they did not 
 succeed in bringing under their domination. Neither is it to 
 be doubted that the powerful rivalry of the Jesuits, the erec- 
 tion of their new schools, their methods, their writings, 
 and still more their silent machinations, were the secret 
 poison which from that time, affected the universities of 
 France, which caused them to languish, decay, and finally 
 fall into a nullity which places them far beloAV those of Pro- 
 testant countries. 
 
 The most formidable enemies which the Jesuits made, and 
 those most capable of opposing them, were the Jansenists. 
 They thought they saw in the pains taken by the latter to 
 spread the principles of St. Augustin on grace, and to render 
 them acceptable, a secret design of ruining their society, 
 whose doctrine did not agree with that of this father of the 
 church. Whatever might have been the secret design of these 
 partisans of Jansenius with respect to the Jesuits, it is not 
 the less true that all this disputation on grace is immediately 
 connected with the religious quarrels produced by the refor- 
 mation. This terrible shock, which had separated a great 
 part of the western Christians from the Roman church, had 
 shook this church itself to its foundations, and had long left 
 there the leaven and the germs of fermentation. The spirit 
 of inquiry, of chicane, and of controversy, were also awaken- 
 ed in it. The greater number of Catholics would have been 
 pleased with certain reforms in the essence itself of the 
 church, with amendments and regulations in the doctrine and 
 discipline which did not take place, or were not conceived as 
 they wished ; there were many discontented Catholics ; a 
 great many of the abuses attacked by the Protestants appear- 
 ed very culpable to these Catholics; and several points of 
 doctrine disputed by the first had given rise to consideration 
 in these last. The Council of Trent had not nearly satisfied 
 any but the ultramontanes. In it, whatever related to the 
 rights of the pope and the hierarchv were carefully determin- 
 15- 
 
174 VILLERS ESSAY. 
 
 ed ; but the essential points of doctrine still remained in a 
 painful uncertainty ; as, for example, what should be believed 
 on grace, which held so important a place in the doctrine of 
 the Lutherans, and that of the Calvinists. Baius, a theolo- 
 gian and professor at Louvain, who had assisted at the coun- 
 cil, raised a discussion on this subject, and occasioned it to 
 be much talked of in his time. After him, Jansenius, pro- 
 fessor in the same university of Louvian, followed the same 
 deviations, wrote his book entitled Augustinus, was the 
 friend of the Abbe of St. Cyran, and of some other leaders of 
 this party, which from him, took the name of Jansenist. The 
 number of illustrious defenders of this party is known, and 
 also that Port Royal became its chief place. The w^ar of 
 opinion which broke out between the Jansenists and Jesuits 
 v^as the most violent that ever agitated the Roman church 
 internally. The Jansenists, who, at the bottom had so many 
 opinions in common wdth Luther and the other reformers, 
 who with all their heart resisted the pretensions of Rome, 
 and those of the satellite Jesuits of Rome, dreaded above all 
 things the reproach of heresy, which was directed against 
 them . They made it a sort of point of honour to write vigo- 
 rously against the reformed, to give a signal proof that they 
 were as good Catholics as their adversaries. At the same 
 time they wrote at least as vigorously against the Jesuits, 
 and acquitted themselves of this essential task, con amore, 
 with still greater eloquence than the other. Thus as the 
 Jesuits had entered the lists of science and wit with the Pro- 
 testants ; their adversaries, the Jansenists, w- ere, for the same 
 reason, eager to show themselves superior to the Jesuits in 
 every department in which these shone ; they composed gram- 
 mars, books of education and piety, treatises of logic, mo- 
 rality, history and erudition.* 
 
 The names of Lancelot, Arnauld, Tillemont, Nicole, Pas- 
 cal, Sac}", etc. are as immortal as the remembrance of the 
 services they have rendered to the sciences and to our litera- 
 ture. 
 
 * It is curious to observe in these books, when they are read 
 attentive!}' by one acquainted with the literary history of the 
 times, iiow mucli they aj-e bestrewed (and even those which 
 seem least adapted for that species of controversy, such as 
 grammar-: and others) with strokes directed against the Jesuits, 
 tlieir classical books, their method of instruction, without their 
 being' once named or pointed at openly. 
 
VILLERS ESSAY. 17 5 
 
 It was to arrive at this result that I introduced the preceding 
 digression, which may, perhaps, appear to have led me out 
 of my subject. But if it be considered that the society of 
 Jesuits became what it was, only because the popes wished 
 to make it a counterpoise to Protestantism, and a militia ca- 
 pable of perpetually opposing it, and also to re-establish the 
 tottering holy see, it will be acknowledged that the existence 
 of this society, as well as the principal events to which it has 
 given rise, and the oppositions which it has excited, must be 
 considered among the important results of the reformation. 
 No reformation, no Jesuits ; and no Jesuits, no Jansenists, 
 nor a Port Royal. Now, it is to the rivalry of the one against 
 the other, and to the activity it gave to their minds, that we 
 are indebted for a multitude of good works which appeared 
 during the 17th century; works, in which our language, and 
 French prose in particular, attained a richness, a flexibility, 
 a perfection, which it was far from having before. The polem- 
 ical writings bent the language into all the forms of reasoning, 
 and gave it precision, strength and delicacy. I need only 
 name the Provinciales, the Cleanthe of Barbier d'Aucour, and 
 I shall not dread being contradicted. All these literary events, 
 so important to us, depend on the great event of the reforma- 
 tion ; it is not a chain which I have arbitrarily formed to at- 
 tach them to it; it is the natural series of historical facts 
 which I have ingeniously followed. 
 
 Until their destruction, the Jesuits constantly continued to 
 perform a principal part in all the disturbances which arose 
 on religious or ecclesiastical, and, not unfrequently, on politi- 
 cal subjects. In China and Japan, jealous of the missionaries 
 unconnected with their society ; in Europe, enemies of the 
 learned and modest fathers of the Oratory, they provoked 
 both the quarrel of the missions, and the condemnation of 
 Father Quesnel, other troubles, which do not belong to our 
 subject, except as they relate to letters, by the writings which 
 they gave rise to. In this point of view we must also place 
 the disputes among the party of the mystics, towards the 
 close of the seventeenth century, at the head of which appear 
 the Abbe de Ranee, Mesdames Bourignon and Guyon, but 
 particularly, the noble and pious Fenelon, who was impli- 
 cated, by this circumstance, in a very animated controversy 
 with Bossuet. The name of these two illustrious adversaries 
 is sufficient to bring within the number of events which have 
 been of importance to literature, this Quietism, a sect which 
 belongs, perhaps, as much to pliilosophy as to tiieology, 
 
176 VILLERS* ESSAY. 
 
 and which is not foreign either to the troubles of Jansenism, 
 or to those of the church, in general, since the reformation. 
 
 Rejiedion on the Employment of the Ecdesiasiical Possessions, 
 
 It is very evident, that the financial administration is the 
 object which governments believe most deserving of their 
 whole attention ; and the most important employment made 
 of the finances of a state is commonly war; to attack or to 
 defend itself; to restrain its neighbours by a formidable army, 
 always on foot, by fortresses, by arsenals. There is nothing 
 in this but what is very laudable. Nevertheless, war is not 
 the only object of men in society; all war itself has peace for 
 its object, and that of peace, is the furnishing the citizens of 
 each state with the possibility of ennobling and ameliorating 
 their existence, of developing all their powers of morality and 
 industry. Study and knowledge, which direct the efforts of 
 mankind to the perfectioningand ennobling everything which 
 constitutes their nature, are, therefore, as a last result, the 
 final objects of the labours of finance, of war, and of peace. 
 But here, as frequently happens, the means overpower the 
 end. How much is lavished on war! What parsimony is 
 practised on the success of study and the advancement of 
 morals ! 
 
 In what order of things, in what age, in what country of 
 the earth, could the culture of the sciences be more promoted 
 than in a Catholic country] Without the established govern- 
 ment having new charges to defray, without the nation having 
 new burthens, there is an entire cast of rich citizens, whose 
 destination removes them from all the professions of civil life, 
 who are in their essence devoted to a contemplative life, to a 
 leisure which they might render learned and useful. A mul- 
 titude of benefices, of prebends, of chapels, instead of being 
 bestowed on the indolent, might secure a maintenance to men 
 of activity devoted to the sciences. Each monastery provided 
 with an ample librar}'-, instead of pious sluggards, might con- 
 tain studious recluses, whose labours would belong to the 
 state. If the Spanish nation, for example, had the will, it 
 would be in its power, by the touch of the v/and, to transform 
 the whole system of its superstitious clergy, into a corporation 
 of learned men and philosophers. In short, it would be con- 
 secrating to the mind what has been so long consecrated to 
 the senses ; and God knows what advantage such an order, 
 who would people the chapters and abbeys, who might be 
 excused from matins, but not from labour, or study, or mcdi- 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 177 
 
 tation, might in ten years procure to the stock of sciences ! 
 This is not altogether a dream. We have seen what could be 
 effected by a congregation of Saint Maur, an oratory, a Port 
 Royal, etc. From what they have done well, and even from 
 what they have done ill, a judgment may be formed of what 
 they might have done had they been actuated by a power 
 having no other object but the progress of knowledge ! and 
 how often have our kings recompensed literary merit with 
 bishoprics ; how many literary men, assisted by a priory, a 
 benefice, have lived in France, sheltered from want and ena- 
 bled to apply themselves to labours, which have enlightened 
 and done honour to the nation 1 Under the modest title of 
 Abbe, which a simple tonsure rendered common to them, 
 they became, in fact, the priests of the temple of science ; 
 from Amyot to the author of Anacharsis, how has this title of 
 Abbe been ennobled and dignified ! It has been borne by a 
 multitude of worthy and learned men of letters, who probably 
 would have remained obscure and inactive, without that por- 
 tion of the wealth of the church, which warmed them, and 
 permitted them, free and exempt from cares, to enter upon the 
 career. 
 
 With us, the revolution has dried up this beneficent source, 
 which might have been rendered so useful to the progress of 
 knowledge.* Several of the reformed states have retained 
 some means of encouragement to letters. In Sweden and in 
 England there are still certain ecclesiastical dignities which 
 the sovereigns commonly give to micn eminent for their 
 knowledge. More than one archbishop of Upsal or of York, 
 more than one bishop of Abo or of Chester, etc. hold a dis- 
 tinguished rank in literature. Holland, Switzerland, and 
 Germany have fewer of these honourable and lucrative posts 
 
 * It has done more; it has swallowed up almost all the patri- 
 mony of the ancient establishments of instruction, and has thus 
 deprived the new, which they are labouring to establish, of that 
 material and indispensable basis, without which, such establish- 
 ments can neither subsist solidly, with honour or efficacy. An 
 endowment and a real property, to be managed by a local ad- 
 ministration, are absolutely necessary to every school which would 
 prosper; it requires a security, an existence different from what 
 may arise from the casualty of uncertain boarders, or the assist- 
 ance of government, which having to provide for a multitude of 
 other wants, will, very frequently, be compelled to leave such 
 objects unattended to. 
 
178 VILLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 for men of letters. The possessions of the church have been 
 there, principally employed in the endowment of universities 
 and other schools ; so that the greater part of their writers are 
 professors, very scantily paid, or superiors or inferiors of 
 schools, who, frequently burthened with a numerous famil)^ 
 seta value on the recompense of an author; and whom this 
 stimulus too frequently induces to write quick, that they may 
 write a great deal. 
 
 Summary recapitulation of the Results of the Reformation, as 
 they relate to the Progress of Knowledge. 
 
 The human mind is freed both from the external con- 
 straint imposed upon it by the hierarchical despotism, and 
 from the internal constraint of the apathy in which it was 
 kept by a blind superstition. It is wholly emancipated from 
 guardianship, and begins to make a more free, and, conse- 
 quently a more energetic, and more proper use of its facul- 
 ties. The documents of religion, the titles of the hierarchy 
 sire subjected to a severe and profound criticism ; and as the 
 study of the holy books, that of the fathers, of the councils, 
 of the decretals are connected with that of antiquity, history, 
 the languages, the masterpieces of Greece and Rome, all these 
 great objects of classical learning assume a new aspect, and 
 are illuminated with a new light. The scholastic philosophy, 
 the ally and supporter of the ancient system, finds, in these 
 innovaters, formidable adversaries, who unveil its vices and 
 attack its weak sides. The torch of reason, which the edi- 
 fice of the scholastics kept in concealment, begins to shine 
 again. The empty science of the casuists vanishes before 
 the morality of the gospel, the reading of which is restored 
 to all Christians. The human mind delivered from the ob- 
 stacles which stopped its progress during the centuries of the 
 middle age, displays all its activity, probes the foundations 
 of the tottering societies, discusses the rights of the people, 
 those of governments, those of the state and of the church. 
 
 This activity makes its happy influence to be felt on every 
 branch of human knowledge ; and the scrutinizing disposi- 
 tion impressed on all minds by the reformation, puts philoso- 
 phical inquiries and the most sublime theories of the sciences 
 and the arts in motion. D'Alembert has sketched this pic- 
 ture with a masterly hand, and at a single stroke. He says, 
 " the middle of the sixteenth century saw a rapid change in 
 the religion and the system of a great part of Europe ; the 
 new doctrines of the reformers, supported on the one hand 
 
 
179 
 
 and opposed on the other, with that warmth which the inter- 
 ests of God, well or ill understood, can alone inspire, equally 
 compelled their partisans and their adversaries to seek in- 
 struction : the emulation excited by this great motive multi- 
 plied knowledge of every kind ; and the light produced in 
 the bosom of error and trouble spread itself to those objects 
 also which seemed most foreign to these disputes."* 
 
 The long, multiplied, and desolating wars which this com- 
 motion gave rise to, retarded some of the effects which should 
 have resulted from it. The moral culture of the people 
 which was on the point of taking a new flight, was, for a short 
 period, driven backward. But shortly, their souls, steeped 
 in misfortune, resumed their energy, and the imperishable 
 spirit which had been awakened, displayed all its activity. 
 At first, it wandered among the devious paths of theological 
 controversies, but, at length, it returned more supple and more 
 accustomed to meditation. Nevertheless, the necessity the 
 different parties felt to gain over the multitude of nations, 
 causes them to cultivate the vulgar languages, and multiplies 
 good writings in them; the French, English, and German 
 prose is developed, perfectionated, and enriched, amidst the 
 disputes of sects and the conflicts of religious opinions. 
 
 Particular associations arise, or are strengthened on the 
 different sides, either for attack or for defence ; some mys- 
 terious and persecuted, the others open and privileged. The 
 order of Jesuits, the most important of them all, is placed in 
 opposition to the reform. It requires a preponderance pro- 
 portionate to the enormous mass it is destined to counter- 
 balance. Dragged forward by the torrent of the universal 
 spirit, this order, which should only have supported the hie- 
 rarchy and the scholastic philosophy, contributes, by itself, 
 and by its formidable adversaries the Jansenists, to the pro- 
 gress of knowledge. It falls when the time arrives, at which 
 it should give place to institutions more suitable to the new 
 age. Thus by its action, and its reaction, the religious 
 commotion effected by Luther, carries the European nations 
 forward in the career of knowledge and of intellectual cul- 
 ture. 
 
 Conclusion. 
 
 Such are the principal results which, I am of opinion, ori- 
 ginated in the influence exercised on Europe by Luther's re- 
 
 Elemens de Philosophic, I. 
 
180 
 
 formation. In analyzing the complicated causes of the most 
 considerable events which have occurred during three cen- 
 turies in the political world, and in the literary world, it 
 is easy to go astray, to mistake some causes, to lose sight of 
 some effects. Amidst the confusion of all these entangled 
 threads of European politics and culture, he who seeks to 
 unravel those immediately connected with the quarrels on 
 religion, however careful he may be, will too often be in 
 danger of erring. Some of them issue from the establishment 
 itself, from the preaching of the alcoran, from chivalry, the 
 crusades, the use of artillery, the discovery of a new world, 
 the renovation of letters, the institutions of Peter I., the suc- 
 cession war, and the other major events. Were it required 
 to determine the influence of some one of these events, per- 
 haps such of the consequences as I have attributed to the re- 
 formation might be claimed as belonging to it. Historians 
 who narrate facts, are generally silent on their causes, and 
 frequently also are unacquainted with them. Sometimes they 
 give those which are false and contradictory. The writers 
 of the opposing parties are exclusive, and render the truth 
 uncertain. To whom must credit be given ; the Catholics, 
 or the Protestants; to Duperron or Dumoulin; to Platina or 
 Mornay 1 How shall we decide between Varillas and Maim- 
 bourg, on the one side, Sleidan, Bayle, and Seckendorf, on 
 the other; between Pallavicini and Fra Paolo; between 
 Bossuet and Claude ? In the work of the reformation, the 
 one sees only an infinite source of errors and calamities ; the 
 others see in it only knowledge and benefits to the human 
 race. Among so many different opinions, each must have 
 his own. We are at present better situated than ever to judge 
 of a revolution which broke out three hundred years ago ; let 
 us consider what was before it, and what has happened since ; 
 let us hear all parties, look around us, see what exists at the 
 present day, and judge. 
 
 When after the long sleep of the European nations and of 
 their reason, during the middle age, we turn our attention to 
 the state of the human race in this fine part of the world, in 
 the fifteenth, and at the beginning of the sixteenth centuries, 
 we shall see it recover from its stupefaction, rise, move un- 
 steadily in all directions, seize instruments for its activity, 
 forge new ones, try them, develope its powers, take posses- 
 sion of the field of science, throw from it the swaddling 
 clothes which embarrass it, and begin a new epocha. How 
 is this interval crowded with decisive occurrences and inven- 
 tions. The happy employment of the mariner's compass, 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 181 
 
 the telescope, printing, the taking of Constantinople, the new 
 world, the submission of the great vassals to the crown of 
 France, the golden age of poetry and the arts in Italy, the 
 foundation of numerous schools, the books of the ancients re- 
 vived in it, the establishment of posts, which render all com- 
 munications rapid, the salutary peace of the empire and the 
 imperial chamber, the extravagant increase of the Austrian 
 power which terrifies Europe, and compels it to arm, Coper- 
 nicus who reforms the heavens, Luther and Loyola who 
 arose nearly at the same time ! The crisis must necessarily 
 have a term, the state of things must change in the order of 
 civil societies, and in that of human knowledge. 
 
 '-'^Better is an enemy to luell,^'' says a proverb of modern 
 Italy. This ridiculous adage, which ought never to have 
 quitted the language in which it appeared, is the unsophisti- 
 cated expression of an ultramontane character. Happily it 
 is not in the power of a dtrspised cast, nor of a maxim against 
 nature, thus to fetter the destinies of science and civilization. 
 Men pass them, and give no credit to such reclamations, the 
 reclamations, says Chenier,* of those idle and jealous spirits, 
 whose reason, without stimulus, would jjarabjse the human 
 mind. None of the institutions of the middle age were cal- 
 culated for the new humanity. As lances and shields had 
 been laid aside for fire-arms, so must the scholastic philoso- 
 phy be removed by the new arms of reason ; the inextricable 
 circles of Ptolemy, by the simple idea of the motion of the 
 earth ; and the false decretals must fall at the first looks of 
 criticism. The external form of religion no longer corres- 
 ponded with the new culture, any more than the representa- 
 tion of mysteries corresponded with the scene on which 
 Moliere and Corneille were about to appear ; any more than 
 Gothic architecture with the basilick of St. Peter. It was 
 requisite that everything should change; the new spirit 
 could not subsist in the ancient form ; a harmony, an agree- 
 ment must be established between it and things ; and since it 
 had in itself the energy of a new life, the omnipotence of 
 youth, it acted in all directions with strength and efficacy, 
 and was everywhere seconded by enthusiasm. 
 
 It is therefore under this point of view that the reformation 
 must be considered as a necessary product of a new age, as a 
 manifestation of a new spirit. What Dante and Petrarch 
 
 • In his Discours sur le Progres des Connoissances, An. IX. 
 Printed by Didot. 
 
 16 
 
182 VILLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 were to poetry, Michael Angelo and Raphael to the arts of 
 drawing-, Bacon and Descartes to philosophy, Copernicus 
 and Galileo to astronomy, Columbus and Gama to the 
 science of the earth, such was Luther to religion. Organs of 
 the universal mind, these eminent men expressed correctly 
 what was lurking in a great number of their cotemporaries, 
 and at one stroke satisfied the wants of their time. As soon 
 as the spark flashed from their genius, the flame, ready to 
 appear, spread in all directions. What was only a prescience, 
 a vague idea, insulated in a number of heads, acquired a con- 
 sistence, a fixed direction, appeared externall)'', was commu- 
 nicated from individual to individual, and a continued chain 
 connected all thinking minds. Such is the natural mode of 
 the tacit conspiration which governs all reformations. Those 
 effected in the dominion of the arts and of the major part of 
 the sciences, being foreign to the passions and to the volcanic 
 commotions of the mass of the people, are generally accom- 
 panied by peace, and are accomplished without causing the 
 tears of humanity to flow. It could not be thus with that 
 provoked by Luther. Religion was not then a simple opinion, 
 a simple moral being ; it had an immense body, which 
 oppressed all the political bodies which laid claim to all 
 thrones, to all the possessions of the earth. At the first 
 wound it felt, the collossus shuddered, and the world was 
 shaken. Princes and nations flew to arms and engaged in a 
 dreadful struggle, a struggle of opinions and interests, the 
 results of which were so varied and so important. 
 
 The Institute has demanded an account of such of these 
 results as have influenced the political situation of the states 
 of Europe, and the progress of knowledge. This task was 
 enormous, and far above my powers. What would it have 
 been if the Institute, besides the political and literary conse- 
 quences, had required an exposition of the influence of the 
 reformation on the morality of the E uropean nations, on their 
 belief and their religious dispositions'? But this new point of 
 view might be the subject of a work, perhaps more extensive 
 and more difficult than mine. I was obliged to confine my- 
 self within the prescribed limits, which circumscribe a field 
 of vast extent. It has not been my intention to disguise 
 either the evil or the good produced by the reformation. I 
 have only sought to prove that, everything being balanced, 
 and the definitive account closed, this revolution offers a sur- 
 plus of good to humanity ; and, finally, that it must be rank- 
 ed in the number of the major events which have contributed 
 most powerfully to the progress of civilization and know- 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 183 
 
 ledge, not only in Europe, but in every part of the earth 
 where Europeans have carried their culture. 
 
 I have also thought I might express myself with the open 
 freedom of an historian, who, if possible, should not belong 
 to any age or any country ; supporting myself with an opi- 
 nion that prejudice could not find access into the sanctuary of 
 the sciences ; and that an illustrious society so philosophical 
 as to choose such a subject, and to ask ^for the truth respect- 
 ing it, would, doubtless, be disposed to listen to it. 
 
184 VILLERS' ESSAY 
 
 DOCTOR MACLAINE'S NOTE 
 
 ON A RECEIVED CALUMNY AGAINST THE PERSON AND VIEWS OF 
 LUTHER. 
 
 From his translation of Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, Vol. iv. page 31, 
 Edit. 1803. 
 
 Dr. MosHEiM has taken no notice of the calumnies invent- 
 ed and propagated by some late authors, in order to make Lu- 
 ther's opposition to the publication of indulgences, appear to 
 be the effect of selfish and ignoble motives. It may not, there- 
 fore, be improper to set that in a true light ; not that the cause 
 of the reformation (which must stand by its own intrinsic dig- 
 nity, and is in no ways affected by the views or characters of 
 its instruments) can derive any strength from this inquiry ; 
 but as it ma}' tend to vindicate the personal character of a man, 
 who has done eminent service to the cause of religion. 
 
 Mr. Hume, in his history of the reign of Henry VHI., has 
 thought proper to repeat what the enemies of the reformation, 
 and some of its dubious and ill-informed friends, have advan- 
 ced, with respect to the motives that engaged Luther to oppose 
 the doctrine of indulgences. This elegant and persuasive histo- 
 rian tells us, that the " Austin friars had usually been employ- 
 ed in Saxony to preach indulgences, and from this trust had 
 derived both profit and consideration ; that Arcemboldi gave 
 this occupation to the Dominicans ;* that Martin Luther, an 
 Austin friar, professor in the university of Wittemberg, re- 
 senting the affront put upon his order, began to preach against 
 the abuses that were committed in the sale of indulgences, 
 and, being provoked by opposition, proceeded evea to decry 
 indulgences themselves. "f It were to be wished that Mr. 
 Hume's candour had engaged him to examine this accusation 
 better, before he had ventured to repeat it. For, in the first 
 place, it is not true that the Jlu.stin friars had bee?! usually 
 employed in Saxony to preach indulgences. It is well known, 
 that the commission had been oifered alternately, and some- 
 times jointly, to all the mendicants whether Austin friars. 
 
 * Hume's history of England, under the house of Tudor, vol. 
 
 p. 119. 
 
 t Id. ib. p. 120. 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 185 
 
 Dominicans, Franciscans, or Carmelites. Nay, from the year 
 1229, that lucrative commission was principally entrusted 
 with the Dominicans ;* and in the records which relate to in- 
 dulgences, we rarely meet with the name of an Austin friar, 
 and not one single act by which it appears, that the Roman 
 pontiff ever named the friars of that order to the office under 
 consideration. More particularly it is remarkable, that for 
 half a century before Luther, (i. e, from 1450 to 1517,) du- 
 ring which period indulgences were sold with the most scan- 
 dalous marks of avaricious extortion and impudence, we 
 scarcely meet with the name of an Austin friar employed in 
 that service, if we except a monk named Palazius, who was no 
 more than an underling of the papal questor Raymond Peral- 
 dus ; so far is it from being true, that the Augustin order 
 were exclusively, or even usually employed in that service, j" 
 Mr. Hume has built his assertion upon the sole authority of a 
 single expression of Paul Sarpi, which has been abundantly 
 refuted by De Prierio, Pallavicini and Graweson, the mortal 
 enemies of Luther. But it may be alleged, that, even sup- 
 posing it was not usual to employ the Augustin friars in the 
 propagation of indulgences, yet Luther might be offended at 
 seeing such an important commission given to the Domini- 
 cans exclusively, and that, consequently, this was his motive 
 in opposing the propagation of indulgences. To show the in- 
 justice of this allegation, I observe. 
 
 Secondly. That in the time of Luther the preaching of in- 
 dulgences was become such an odious and unpopular matter, 
 that it is far from being probable, that Luther would have been 
 solicitous about obtaining such a commission, either for him- 
 self, or for his order. The princes of Europe, with many 
 bishops, and multitudes of learned and pious men, had open- 
 ed their eyes upon the turpitude of this infamous traffic; and 
 even the Franciscans and Dominicans, towards the conclu- 
 sion of the fifteenth century, opposed it publicly, both in their 
 discourses, and in their writings.:}: Nay, more, the very com- 
 mission winch is supposed to have excited the envy of Luther, 
 was offered by Leo to the general of the Franciscans, and was 
 
 * See Weismanni. Memorabilia Historise SacraeN, T.p. 1051, 
 1115. 
 
 f See Harpii Dissertat. de Nonnulis Indulgentiarum, Saec. xiv. 
 et XV. Questoribus, p. 384, 387. 
 
 % See Walch opp. Luther, torn. xv. p. 114, 283, 312, 349, 
 SeckendorfF, Hist. Lutheranismi, lib. i. sect. vi. p, 13. 
 
186 VILLERS' ESSAY. 
 
 refused both by him and his order,* who gave it over en- 
 tirely to Albert, bishop ofMentz and Magdeburg. Is it then 
 to be imagined, that either Luther or the other Austin friars 
 aspired after a commission of which the Franciscans were 
 ashamed ? Besides, it is a mistake to affirm, that this office 
 was given to the Dominicans in general, since it was given 
 to Tetzei alone, an individual member of that order, who had 
 been notorious for his profligacy, barbarity, and extortion. 
 
 But that neither resentment nor envy were the motives that 
 led Luther to oppose the doctrine and publication of indul- 
 gences, will appear with the utmost evidence, if we consider 
 in the third place, That he was never accused of any such 
 motives, either in the edicts of the pontiffs of his time, or 
 amidst the other reproaches of the contemporary writers, who 
 defended the cause of Rome, and who were far from being 
 sparing of their invectives and calumnies. All the contem- 
 porary adversaries of Luther are absolutely silent on this head. 
 From the year 1517 to 1546, when the dispute about indul- 
 gences was carried on with the greatest warmth and animo- 
 sity, not one writer ever ventured to reproach Luther with 
 those ignoble motives of opposition, now under consideration. 
 I speak not of Erasmus, Sleidan, De Thou, Guicciardini, and 
 others, whose testimony might be, perhaps, suspected of par- 
 tiality in his favour, but I speak of Cajetan, Hogstrat, De 
 Prierio, Emser, and even the infamous John Tetzei, whom 
 Luther opposed with so much vehemence and bitterness. 
 Even Cochleeus was silent on this head during the life of 
 Luther; though after the death of that great reformer, he 
 broached the calumny I am here refuting. But such was the 
 scandalous character of this man, who was notorious for fraud, 
 calumny, lying, and their sister vices, | that Pallavicini, Bos- 
 suet, and other enemies of Luther, were ashamed to make use 
 either of his name or testimony. Now, may it not be fairly 
 presumed, that the contemporaries of Luther were better judges 
 of his character, and the principles from which he acted, than 
 those who lived in after times 1 Can it be imagined, that 
 motives to action, which escaped the prying eyes of Luther's 
 contemporaries, should have discovered themselves to us, 
 who live at such a distance of time from the scene of action, 
 to M. Bossuet, to Mr. Hume, and to other abettors of this ill- 
 
 * See Walch. loo. cit. p. 371. 
 
 f Sleidan, De statu Rel. et Reip. in Dedic. Epist. ad Augiist 
 Elector. 
 
VILLERS' ESSAY. 187 
 
 contrived and foolish story. Either there are no rules of 
 moral evidence, or Mr. Hume's assertion is entirely ground- 
 less. 
 
 I might add many other considerations to show the unrea- 
 sonableness of supposing that Luther exposed himself to the 
 rage of the Roman pontiff, to the persecutions of an exaspe- 
 rated clergy, to the severity of such a potent, and despotic 
 prince as Charles V., to death itself, and that from a principle 
 of avarice and ambition. But I have said enough to satisfy 
 every candid mind. Whoever is desirous of knowing more 
 on this subject need only consult Historie du Renouvelle- 
 ment I'Evangile, par Gerdes, Tom.. I. p. 96, quoted by La 
 Courayer, in his translation of the History of the Reformation, 
 by Sleidan, Tom. L p. 1 ; and finally. Letter XL of L'En- 
 fant's book, entitled, Preservatif contre la reunion avec le 
 siege de Rome, ou apologie de notre separation d'avec ce 
 siege. Amsterdam, 1723, 4 vols. This letter is in the first 
 volume, page 37, and following ones. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
NEW AND POPULAR WORKS, 
 
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4 NEW AND 
 
 AN ADDRESS TO THE YOUNG, ON THE IM- 
 PORTANCE OF RELIGION. By John Foster, au- 
 thor of Essays on Decision of Character, &c. 
 
 This is a good publication, well conceived and admirably 
 executed, full of important truths and beautifully enforced. 
 
 Our readers know, or ought to know John Foster, the Au- 
 thor of "Essays on Decision of Character," one of the best 
 writers that England has produced, suited to be compared in 
 many things with Robert Hall, he needs no higher praise. — 
 U. S. Gazette. 
 
 This work comprises a series of eloquent and affectionate 
 exhortations, which, if carefully attended to, will make wise 
 and good men of all who lay them to heart, and endeavour 
 to accord with them in life and conversation. The author 
 has acquired great celebrity by his former writings. — Satur- 
 day Courier. 
 
 We are not going to hold a rush-light up to a book of John 
 Foster's, but only mean to tell what is its intent. It is an 
 awakening appeal to youth of the refined and educated sort, 
 upon the subject of their personal religion. There can be no 
 doubt as to its currency. — The Presbyterian. 
 
 John Foster is allowed by men of all parties, political and 
 religious, to be one of the most original and vigorous think- 
 ers of the age. His well tried talents, his known freedom 
 from cant and fanaticism. And the importance of the sub- 
 ject discussed, strongly commend this Book to the attention 
 of that interesting class to whom it is addressed. All his 
 writings are worthy of careful and repeated perusal; but his 
 essay on " Decision of Character" and this " Address to the 
 Young," should be the companions of all young persons who 
 ■ are desirous of intellectual and moral improvement. 
 
 Foster's Address to the Young. — Perhaps no reli- 
 gious book has issued from the American press which 
 commanded more general and abundant patronage than 
 one from the pen of the Rev. Jared Waterbury, called 
 " Advice to a Young Christian." Aside from its intrinsic 
 excellence, it was rendered valuable by the fact that it was 
 exactly adapted to a particular class of society ; and all who 
 wish to make an impression upon that class, was apprised 
 by its very title that it was designed to be subservient to such 
 a purpose. A work of precisely such a character from the 
 pen of the celebrated Foster, and designed to operate upon a 
 
POPULAR WORKS. 5 
 
 different class of persons, will be found in the one of which 
 the caption of tliis article is tlie title-page. Tlie name of its 
 author will supersede the necessity for all eulogium to those 
 who have not read it, and to those who have, the hook will 
 abundantly coniinend itsrlf Permit me to direct to it the 
 attention of such of your readers as may have careless young 
 friends, into whose hands they would desire to place a so- 
 lemn, affectionate, and fervent appeal on the indispensable 
 necessity of religion. It is just published by Key and Bid- 
 die, of this city, and can, 1 presume, l»e procured at any of 
 the book-stores. May the great Head of tiie Church make 
 it instrumental in the conversion of many souls. — Episcopal 
 Recorder. 
 
 A MOTHER'S FIRST THOUHGTS. By the au- 
 thor of "Faith's Telescope." 
 
 This is a brief miniature, from an Edinburgh edition. 
 Its aim is to furnis!) religious Meditations, Praij^rs, and 
 Devotional Poetry for pons mothers, it is most highly 
 commended in tlie iidmburgli Presbyterian Review, and in 
 the Christian Advocate. I'he autiior, who is a Lady of 
 Scotland, unites a deep knowledge of sound theology, witii 
 no ordinary talent for sacred poetry. — 'I he Presbyterian. 
 
 "A Mother's First Thoughts," is a tittle work of great 
 merit. It breatlies a spirit of pure and fervent piety, and 
 abounds in sound and salutary instruction, it contains also 
 some excellent poetry. — Saturdai/ Courier. 
 
 A Mother's First Thoughts. By the author of "Faith's 
 Telescope," 12 mo. p. 223. Key "& Biddle, Piiiladelphia, 
 1833. A neat pocket edition which will conunend itself to 
 all parents who have the right direction of the minds of their 
 children at heart. It is dedicated to religious mothers, " and 
 may He," says the autiior, •' wlio alone can, render it, in 
 some degree, conducive to their ediiication.'' — Jouraal of 
 Belles Ldtres. 
 
 BRIDGE'S ALGEBRA, 12 mo. In this work the 
 hitherto abstract and diffitiult science of Algebra is fcimplified 
 and illustrated so as to be attainable by the younger class of 
 learners, and by those who have not the aid of a teacher. It 
 is already introduced into the University of Pennsylvania, at 
 Philadelphia } and the Western University at Pittsburgh 
 ♦ I 
 
6 NEW AND 
 
 It is also the text book of Gummere's School at Burlington, 
 
 and of a great number of the best schools throughout the 
 
 United States. It is equally adapted to common schools and 
 
 colleges. 
 
 Messrs. Key & Eiddle have published in a very neat form, 
 the 1st American, from the 6th London Edition of Bridge's 
 Algebra; a treatise, which from a cursory examination, we 
 think superior to any of the text bocks now in use, for perspi- 
 cuity, simplicity of method, and adaptation to the comprehen- 
 sion of learners. It contains several chapters on Logarithms 
 and the subjects connected thereto, which, though interesting 
 and important, are not usually appended to works on the 
 subject. — Frederickshurg Political Arena. 
 
 The publishers take great pleasure in presenting the ac- 
 companying opinion of Profesor Adrain, of the University 
 of Pennsylvania, who has introduced the work into that 
 Institution. 
 
 University of Pennsylvania, March 30, 1833. 
 Gentlemen — 
 
 In compliance with your request, that I would give 
 you my opinion respecting your edition of Bridge's Algebra, 
 I beg leave to say, that the work appears to me to be well 
 adapted to the instruction of students. The arrangement of 
 the several parts of the science is judicious, and the exam- 
 ples are numerous and well selected. 
 
 Yours respectfully, 
 
 ROBERT ADRAIN. 
 
 Philadelphia, March 1th, 1833. 
 Bridge's Algebra is the text book in the school imder my 
 care ; and I am better pleased with it than with any which 
 I have heretofore used. 
 
 The author is very clear in his explanations, and system- 
 atic in his arrangement, and has succeeded in rendering a 
 comparatively abstruse branch of science, an agreeable and 
 interesting exercise both to pupil and teacher. 
 
 JOHN FROST. 
 
POPULAR WORKS 7 
 
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8 NEW AND 
 
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POPULAR WORKS. 9 
 
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10 NEW AND 
 
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POPULAR WORKS. 11 
 
 prospectus, antl recommendations which we had seen, we 
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 ance of the first nuinher far exceeds our expectations. It 
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 and commences a valuable work on the " Refprinatii>n ia 
 France,'' by the Rev. Edward Smedley, of Cambridge, 
 England, Jn the cheapness, and solid value of its materials, 
 this work promises to surpass every thing of the kind hith- 
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12 NEW AND 
 
 PHILOSOPHY OF A FUTURE STATE. 
 PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION. 
 CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. 
 
 By Thomas Dick. 
 Philadelphia, Key <^ Biddle. 
 
 In the first of the works whose titles head this article, 
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 provement, with the state of future existence. 
 
 Mr. Dick has displayed in this work, considerable extent 
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 arranging his numerous and diversified materials, will meet 
 with the decided approbation of every intelligent Christian. 
 
 The Philosophy of Religion is a production of no less 
 value than the preceding, it is an attempt by the pious and 
 indefatigable author, to illustrate the moral being of the uni- 
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 gion are, and how well they are adapted to the condition of man, 
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 and joy, and how bright under all circumstances are the 
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 and contemplation of the laws of the natural world, elevate 
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 discovery in science, tends to confirm our faith, exalt our 
 views and refine our dispositions, and thus improve us in 
 moral and religious feelings and principles. 
 
 Mr. Dick very justly observes that "the man who would 
 
POPULAR WORKS. 13 
 
 discard the eflbrts of the human intellect, and the science of 
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 of that moral renovation which the Gospel effects, to qualify 
 us for contemplating aright the displays of Divine Perfection 
 which the works of creation exhibit, that the visible works 
 of God are the principal medium by which he displays the 
 attributes of this nature to intelligent beings — that the study 
 and contemplation of these works employ the faculties of in- 
 telligences of a superior order — that man, had he remained 
 in primeval innocence, would have been chiefly em[iloyed in 
 such contemplations — that it is one main design of divine re- 
 velation to illustrate the operations of Providence, and the 
 agency of God in the formation and preservation of all things — 
 and that the scriptures are full of sublime descriptions of the 
 visible creation, and of interesting references to the various ob- 
 jects which adorn the scenery of nature. In these opinions we 
 entirely concur, and we are certain that every believer in the 
 Gospel of Christ, will have his soul expanded, his energies 
 awakened, and all his faculties and powers enlarged by in- 
 vestigating the laws of the Universe. God is every where; 
 we perceive his wisdom in the organization of a man, and 
 a tree; every animal on earth, all objects in nature, organized 
 or unorganized, exhibit the power, the skill, and the benevo- 
 lence of the Creator. 
 
 Mr. Dick's book contains many important facts in relation 
 to the laws of matter and motion, illustrated by familiar ex- 
 positions, and well adapted to the comprehension of the gen- 
 eral reader. We have rarely perused a work with more 
 pleasure and profit, and we are confident that it will prove 
 a valuable and useful addition to every family library. To 
 the young divine just commencing his ministerial labours, it 
 will be of much benefit, it will supply him with topics for ex- 
 emplification, upon which he can expatiate with the fervour 
 and eloquence of genius, and all the enthusiasm of a finer, 
 but rational and ardent Christian. 
 
 In dismissing these productions of Mr. Dick, we cordially 
 commend them to the attention of our readers. 
 
 EXAMPLE; OR FAMILY SCENES.— This is one 
 of those useful and truly moral publications which can not 
 fail to be read with delight by the youth of both sexes, who, 
 as their hearts expand, and they advance in years, have need 
 of some instructor to point out the path they. should follow 
 for their future happiness. The author has been triumphantly 
 2 
 
14 NEW AND 
 
 successful in attaining these laudable objects in this interes- 
 ting publication." Weekly Times. 
 
 The form of a domestic story is here judiciously selected 
 for imparting a purity of religious feeling to juvenile readers; 
 and the purpose as fully answered. Adults may also read this 
 interesting volume with much benefit. United Kingdom. 
 
 FOX'S BOOK OF MARTYRS. A Universal His- 
 tory of Christian Martyrdom, from the Birth of our Blessed 
 Saviour to the latest Periods of Persecution. Originally com- 
 posed by the Rev. John Fox, A. M., and now corrected 
 throughout; with copious and important additions relative to 
 the Recent Persecutions in the souih of France. In 2 vols. 
 8vo., beautifully printed on fine and remarkably strong pa- 
 per. Being the only complete and unmutilated edition of 
 this work ever presented to the American Public. Embel- 
 lished with a Portrait of the venerable Fox, and Sixty En- 
 gravings illustrative of the suffering Martyrs in all ages of 
 the world. 
 
 " We commend the enterprise of the publishers, which has 
 induced them to incur the heavy expense requisite for tlie pro- 
 duction of this costly and elegant book. I'liey have therehy 
 rendered a service to the cause of true Christianity; and we 
 can not doubt that they will meet with ample remuneration 
 in the approbation of the public. An additional recommen- 
 dation IS furnished in the extreme lowness of the price, 
 thereby rendering the book accessible to the pocket of every 
 class of Christians. It is a work of intense interest; and 
 whether as a volume of Ecclesiastical History, or for occa- 
 sional perusal, richly merits a place on the shelves of every 
 family library." Ckristian Advocate. 
 
 GUY ON ASTRONOMY, AND AN ABRIDGE- 
 MENT OF KEITH ON THE GLOBES, 2 volumes 
 in 1, 18mo. 
 
 A school book of this sort has long been a desideratum in 
 our seminaries. It comprises a popular Treatise on Astrono- 
 my; together with the admirably clear definitions, and nearly 
 aJl the problems of Keith. The whole is contained in a neat 
 volume, and aflbrded at a very low price. The publishers 
 
POPULAR WORKS. 15 
 
 would particularly call the attention of parents and teachers 
 totlie above work. 
 
 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, in 1 vol. 
 12mo. By Thomas Hughs. Embellished with a great 
 number of beautiful wood cuts. 
 
 The publishers announce this work with the hightest feel- 
 ings of satisfaction. The three objects they have had in view 
 are cheapness, beauty of embellishment, and novelty of mat- 
 ter, combined with accuracy of research. The name of the 
 author (who isalieady favonrably known by several previous 
 ■works for scliools) is a snfficitMit guarantee of the manner in 
 which this book will be executed. It will not be uninterestinrr 
 to state that the sources from which some of the materials of 
 this school book are derived, are inaccessible to any except 
 the present writer; whose business it has also been to attempt 
 the attainment of that wliich has hitherto been overlooked, 
 as of no importance, viz: elegance of style, which may in- 
 terest at the same time that it will aid in forming the taste of 
 the youthful reader. 
 
 A HARMONY OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 
 Founded on the A rrangement of the Harmonia Evangeliea, 
 bv the Rev. Edward Greswell. With the Practical Reflec- 
 tions of Dr. Doddridge. Designed for the use of Families 
 and Schools, and for Private Edification. By the Rev. 
 E. Bickersfeth, Rector of Wolton, Herts." 
 
 A beautifnl duo<Ieciino of about four iiundred pages; and 
 one of the best books which has appeared for many years, 
 with respect to personal and domestic edification. It is» next 
 to iiTipossibl(» to read the ordinary Harmonies. The current 
 of the narrative is broken by constant interruptions. In this, 
 we have in convenient sections, the four Gosf)el his^tories, 
 made up into one, in proper order, in the words of the com- 
 mon English translation. I'he devotional notes of Dodd- 
 ridge are better than any we have seen for reading in the 
 closet or at family worsliip. The name of Bickersteth, pre- 
 fixed to a book, is enouirh to show that it is written simply to 
 serve the cause of Christ. The Presbyterian. 
 
 Messrs. Key & Biddle of this city, have published a beautiful 
 edtionof a popular Harmony of the FourGos[)els. A l)ook giv- 
 imr a connected and chronological view of the History of our 
 Saviour, w ithout an array of critical apparatus which is useless 
 and repulsive to the common reader, has long been a desider- 
 
16 NEW AND 
 
 atum in our religious literature. It is now supplied by the 
 labours of Mr. Bickersteth, who is well known as an able, 
 judicious and pious writer. Each section of the text is fol- 
 lowed by brief practical reflections, from the pen of Dr. 
 Doddridge. The volume is well adapted to the purposes for 
 which it was designed by the author. — " The use of families 
 and schools, and for private edification." Phila. Gaz. 
 
 The religious community will take delight in reading a 
 work just published, entitled "A Harmony of the Four 
 Gospels." Scarcely any thing has so much puzzled a certain 
 order of minds, as the apparent disagreement of parts of the 
 JSTew Testament. Nothing so much weakens Christian 
 faith as an impression of this sort — whilst nothing tends 
 more directly to confirm and strengthen it, than evidence of 
 the entire oneness, and harmony of the Gospels. — Com. 
 Herald. 
 
 THE HUMOURIST'S OWN BOOK. A cabinet of 
 original and selected anecdotes, bon mots, sports of fancy, and 
 traits of character; intended to furnish occasion for reflec- 
 tion as, well as mirth. By the author of the Young Man's 
 Own Book, &c. 
 
 It is good to be pleased ; and the book which can chase a 
 care, or enliven a brow, provided it be pure, is worthy of 
 honest recommendation. Such is the character of the volume 
 entitled The Humourists Own Book, recently published 
 by Messrs. Key and Biddle. The work is made of good 
 things, carefully culled ; and the man who can run over them 
 all, without a laugh or a smile, is fit for treason.— PA,t/a. 
 Gazette. 
 
 Ha! ye merry dogs, if you want to shake your sides with 
 laughter buy this book, for here you have the most delightful 
 and varied collection of bon mots, anecdotes, &c., that we 
 have ever seen. — And ye ! ye! melancholic, hypochondriacal 
 beings, whose countenances are always demure — imagina- 
 tions always gloomy, and whose risible muscles are never 
 excited to a smile, to say nothing of a laugh, get the book, 
 and your souls will be gladdened with joy — your hearts will 
 swell with rapture, and if you don't hold your sides tight, 
 you'll run the risk of bursting them with laughter. 
 
 It is a charming little work, and the collections have been 
 made with much care and judgment. — Saturday Courier. 
 
 Messrs. Key & Biddle have published a neat little volume 
 
POPULAR WORKS. 17 
 
 entitled, The Humourist's Own Book. It is a feast of fat 
 
 things.— C/hiferf States Gazette. 
 
 This is a neat volume of original and selected anecdotes, 
 bon mots, &c. They are well chosen, and in every respect 
 unexceptionable, fit for the perusal of the most delicate and 
 fastidious. — Bait. American and Com. Advertiser. 
 
 THE HAPPINESS OF THE BLESSED, consid- 
 ered as to the particulars of their state; their recognition of 
 each other in that state; and its difference of degrees. To 
 which are added, Musings on the Church and her services. 
 By Richard^ Mant, D. D. M. R. I. A. Lord Bishop of Down 
 and Connor. 
 
 The design of the Rev. author in this production, is to 
 adduce from scriptural autliority, the most satisfactory evi- 
 dence, of the happiness and joy of tiiose who by faith follow 
 Christ, and who in the exercise of those virtues required by 
 the Gospel, are emphatically denominated the children of 
 God. The author has touched upon several topics connected 
 with the subject, which must afibrd much consolation to the 
 Christian, who from the very nature of his organization, is 
 liable to doubts and fearful forebodings as to the state of his 
 heart and the grounds of his faith. 
 
 Christian hope, confidence, and charity, are stamped upon 
 every page, and the writer deserves well of the Christian 
 inquirer, lor the industry which he has displayed in collecting 
 and arranging so many important and valuable arguments in 
 favour of tlie glorious and resplendent state of the faithful and 
 humble disciple of Jesus. 
 
 In this world, mankind have need of consolation— of the 
 cup of sorrow ail must drink — happiness is a phantom, a 
 nitteor, beautiful and bright, always alluring us by its glow — 
 forever within our reach, but eternally eluding our grasp — 
 but this state of things was designed by our Creator for our 
 benefit — it was intended to withilraw our affections from the 
 shadowy and unsubstantial pleasures of the world, to the 
 Fatiier of all in Heaven, and to prepare by discipUne and zeal, 
 for a state, beyond the grave, of felicity, which eye hath not 
 seen, ear hath not heard, neither hath it entered into the 
 heart of man to conceive of To our readers we cheerfully 
 commend this deliglitful volume, confident that by its perusal 
 the faith of the doubtful will be confirmed, and the anticipa- 
 tive hope of the confident increased. Christian's Magazine. 
 3* 
 
IS 
 
 NEW AND 
 
 We take the earliest opportunity of introducing to our 
 readers this excellent iHle book, to which the deepif inVere" 
 ng nature of the subject and the well earned reputation of 
 
 01 attention. The vast importance of the topics herein treated 
 and the valuable practical effects they may assist in producS 
 induce us to call thus early the puhlic ittention VoT^ol' 
 
 t^fii'ip-^'ruS^^zrSprraS^f 
 5tesrt^'SsS--t::t^-t& 
 Jifdi^sfr ,e cta'pS^ !:Ar^ r^'^ 
 
 tions-each section beint. conflMd to h? ?"? "'\^- 
 coupi of «;!-» ■e.ters''m'^sfdel&7yrth:t',,,!:er" '" » 
 
 .he^a«r:tsTS".'';t"'4r*h '^■^^"^'^^'■'i 
 
 wholesome 'waters will lonXv^to rifr h "T/"'! ""J^ 
 
 Do?„%?d''tror-p'uSf i V^ Mant, Bishop of 
 workisgotupStle ",'a'^f' '^ ^"^ f •'"'"''• ™» 
 publisbefs. Ft 7s a work of ^T" ,f "'"*<' ^'fl-pHsing 
 search; is wr t™i„7/tt|elf,T"'';™,"''- '"'''»P''>^ical re° 
 to the protessi„rCbristiln of, h "''*'''',''''''•''■ ''"'^ "hethet 
 repay a perusal^-^"S7"cA™ '^r"^' '^"'"' ""' '^-Ji'y 
 
 JOURNAL OF A NOBLEMAN.-Being a narrali™ 
 of his residence at Vienna, during Congress. 
 
 The author is quite spirited in his remark, on occur. 
 
POPULAR WORKS. 19 
 
 fences, and his sketches of character are picturesque and 
 amusing. We commend tliis volume to our readers as a very 
 entertaining production. — Daily Intelligencer. 
 
 We presume no one could take up this little volume and 
 dip into it, without feeling regret at being obliged by any 
 cause to put it down before it was read. The style is fine, 
 as are the descriptions, the persons introduced, together with 
 the anecdotes, and in general, the entire sketching is by the 
 hand of a master. Every thing appears natural — there is no 
 affectation of learning — no overstraining — no departure from 
 "what one would expect to see and hear — all is easy — all 
 graceful." — Commercial Herald. 
 
 The volume is a beautiful one; and the matter of it, judg- 
 ing from more than a cursory perusal, is well worthy a re- 
 commendation, as offering a fair insight into the doings and 
 follies of the great, in one of the celebrated capitals of Eu- 
 rope. — Sat. Eve. Post. 
 
 LIFE OF A SAILOR— By a Captain in the Navy. 
 Two very interesting volumes. — U. S. Gaz. 
 
 "It is from the pen of Captain Chamier, and contains many 
 powerful sketches. — PenrVa. Inquirer. 
 
 "The Sailor, who has thus given his \ife to the world, 
 spins as clever a yarn as any landsman or marine would like 
 to see recorded. He seems to have been almost every where 
 and to have seen nearly every body; and he describes with 
 such earnestness and perspicuity, that you are sure he must 
 have depicted things just as he found them — penning his re- 
 cord when his recollections were fresh, and preserving through- 
 out, an aim to be graphic and impressive. He has succeed- 
 ed fully, in his effort; and all who procure his "log," will 
 find it as exciting a piece of work, as they ever had the felicity 
 to meet with..— P/^iZ. Gaz. 
 
 Key & BiDDLE, Philadelphia, have published The Life 
 OF A Sailor, by Captain Frederick Chamier, R. N. in 2 
 vols. 12 mo. neatly bound in embossed cloth. 
 
 Most various and amusing volumes, embodying the real 
 Adventures of a Captain of the Navy. — Lit. Gaz. 
 
 Captain Chamier has had a full share of adventure and 
 undoubtedly possesses a facility of style, and a playful man- 
 ner. If there ever was a story to excite sympathy, to interest 
 the feelings, and awaken the imagination of the reading 
 
20 NEW AND 
 
 world, it is the story of Sharks in this Autobiography. — 
 
 Spectator. 
 
 LIVES OF BANDITTI AND ROBBERS— By C. 
 Macfarland, Esq., together with a sketch of the Lives of 
 BLACKBEARD, and CAPTAIN KID, by the Ame- 
 rican editor. 
 
 This work is deeply interesting tliroughout ; it is full of 
 anecdote, bold adventure, darinij enterprise, and the narra- 
 tive is clear and vigorous — and such are the characters of 
 these reckless outcasts of society ami the interest in which 
 their lives are invested, that we commend it to our readers, con- 
 fident that they will be higlily entertained. — Sat. Cour. 
 
 These lives, and indeed the whole volume, are of the 
 deepest interest — there is nothing in this edition which would 
 exclude it from the eyes of the ladies, some improper remarks 
 and a very few uninteresting details, having been excluded, 
 which are more than compensated for, even as regards quan- 
 tity of reading, by the addition made by the American Edi- 
 tor. The volume itself is one of the neatest we have lately 
 seen, having in fact the appearance of an English Edition — 
 it is on very fine white paper^ and the impression of the type 
 clear and distinct. — Saturday Evening Post. 
 
 Many of the stories in this volume are exceedingly inter- 
 esting. — Nat. Gaz. 
 
 We have before us Lives of Banditti and Robbers, in 
 one volume, including the lives of Blackbeard and Captain 
 Kidd, prepared for the American Edition. These lives, and 
 indeed the whole volume are of the deepest interest. — 17. S. 
 Gazette. 
 
 The dangers, hardships, and reckless daring of these 
 lawless depredators, often impart an intense interest to the 
 relation of their dei ds, and this interest is not unfrequently 
 increased, by their adding generosity to heroism. — N. Y. 
 Com. Advertiser. 
 
 LEGENDS OF THE WEST--By James HaU, se- 
 cond edition, containing the following beautifal told tales: 
 
 The Backwoodsman The Intestate 
 
 The Divining Rod Michael De Lancey 
 
 The Seventh Son The Emigrants 
 
 The Missionaries The Indian Hater 
 
POPULAR WORKS. 21 
 
 A Legend of Carondelet The Isle of the Yellow Sands 
 
 The Barrack master's Daughter. 
 
 The Indian Wife's Lament. 
 
 We are glad to see a new edition of these well told tales 
 of Ju<1ge Hall, has recently been published. — Boston Eve. 
 Gazette. 
 
 The deserved popularity of these tales of Judge Hall, 
 have secured to it the pubiication of a second edition. His 
 sketches are admirably drawn, and his personal familiarity 
 with scenery and life in the West have furnished him with 
 incidents of peculiar ititerest, greatly increased by felicitous 
 description. — N. Y. Com. Advertiser. 
 
 A second edition of Legends of the West has just been 
 published ; a work to which we have before alluded in de- 
 served f)raise. The favour which the work has found with 
 the public, may be seen in the demand for its repetition. It 
 deserves, in every respect, the reception it has met with. — 
 Sat. Eve. Post. 
 
 Legends of the West. By James Hall. 
 
 Philadelphia. Key tf* Biddle. 
 
 The rapid sale of the first, has created a demand for a se^ 
 cond edition of the work, whose title heads this article. 
 
 The "Legends" comprise twelve articles, one of which 
 is })oetic. The scenes of these tales are all located in the 
 „ far, far West," and the characters are taken from the abo- 
 rigines and early emigrants. The difficulties and dangers 
 which the first settlers had to undergo, ere they were esta- 
 blished in security, are depicted in glowing colours, and with 
 a master hand. 
 
 The rude and savage warfare of the Indians, the secret 
 ambuscade, the midnight slaughter, the conflagration of the 
 log hut in the prairie and forest, the shrieks of consuming 
 women and children, are presented to our minds by the au- 
 thor in vivid and impressive language. These tales possess 
 much interest, as they are founded in fact, and are illustra- 
 tive of the habits of the Indian, and the life of the hunter. 
 As a writer, Judge Hall is more American than any other 
 we possess; his scenes are American ; his characters are Ame- 
 rican, and his language is American. His personages are 
 invested with an individuaUty which can not be mistaken, 
 and his conceptions and illustrations are drawn from the 
 great store house of nature. — Daily Intelligencer, 
 
22 NEW AND 
 
 LIFE OF WILLIAM COWPER, Esa.— Compiled 
 from his correspondence and other authenticated sources of 
 information, containing remarks on his writings, and on the 
 peculiarities of his interesting character, never before pub- 
 lished. By Thomas Taylor. 
 
 Extract from the Preface. 
 
 Many Lives of Cowper have already been published. 
 "Why then, it may be asked, add to their number? Simply 
 because in tlie opinion of competent judges, no memoir of him 
 has yet appeared that gives a full, fair, and unbiassed view 
 of his character. 
 
 It is remarked by Dr. Johnson, the poet's kinsman, in his 
 preface to the two volumes of Cowper's Private Correspon- 
 dence, "that Mr. Haley omitted the insertion of several 
 interesting letters in his excellent Life of the poet out of 
 kindness to his readers.'' In doing this, however amiable 
 and considerate as his caution must appear, the gloominess 
 which he has taken from the mind of Cowper, has the effect 
 of involving his character in obscurity. 
 
 Jn alluding to these suppressed letters, the late highly es- 
 teemed Leigh Richmond once emphatically remarked — 
 "Cowper's character will never be clearly and satisfactorily 
 understood without them, and should be permitteii to exist 
 for the demonstration of the case. 1 know the importance 
 of it from numerous conversations 1 have had, both in Eng- 
 land and Scotland, on this subject. Persons of truly reli- 
 gious principles, as well as those of little or no religion at 
 all, have greatly erred in their estimate of this great and 
 good man." 
 
 In this work all that is necessary and much that is painful 
 to know, is told of Cowper, and well told too. — Elis life was 
 much wanted, and we have no doubt that it will be univer- 
 sally read and become, like the poems of the man it com- 
 memorates, a standard work. Mr. Taylor has our hearty 
 thanks for having produced this work, and our commenda- 
 tions no less hearty for having produced it so well.— ik/eiro- 
 politan. 
 
 LETTERS TO AN ANXIOUS INaUIRER, DE- 
 SIGNED TO RELIEVE THE DIFFICULTIES OP 
 A FRIEND, UNDER SERIOUS IMPRESSIONS. 
 Bv T. Carlton Henry, D, D. late Pastor of the Second 
 
 
POPULAR WORKS. 23 
 
 Presbyterian Church, Charleston, S. C. With an Intro- 
 ductory Essay, (in which is presented Dr. Henry's Preface to 
 his Letters, and his Life, by a friend.) By G. T. Bedell, 
 D. D. Rector of St. Andrew's Church, Philadelphia. 
 
 MEMOIRS OF HORTENSE BEAUHARNAIS, 
 
 DUCHESS OF ST. LEU AND EX-aUEEN OF 
 
 HOLLAND. 
 
 This is an interesting account of a conspicuous character. 
 She was the daughter of Josephine Beauliarnais, alias, or af- 
 terwards, Josephine Buonaparte, former wife of Napoleon of 
 France ; and she became tlie wife of Louis Buonaparte, the 
 ex-king of Holland. Of those who have figured as large on 
 the great theatre of life, at one of the most memorable eras 
 in history, many interesting anecdotes are given. We can 
 safely recommend this work to the reading public. — Ameri- 
 can Sentinel. 
 
 No one of all those distinguished personages who occupied 
 so large a space in the world's eye, from their connexion with 
 Napoleon, presents a story of deeper interest than the amia- 
 ble and accomplished subject of these memoirs. Possessing 
 all the grace and fascination of manner, which so eminently 
 characterized her mother the Empress Josephine, she has a 
 strength and cultivation of intellect; an extent an<l variety of 
 knowledge; and a philosophic fortitude which the empress 
 never could boast. Unhappy in her marriage, she was yet 
 a devoted wife and fond mother; and though gifted with 
 every quality to adorn royalty, she wilHngly withdrew to the 
 shades of private life, resigning the crown she had embellished 
 "without a murmur. 
 
 Many of the details of this work will be found deeply inter- 
 esting, and the notes are copious and instructing. The 
 translator has faithfully preserved the spirit of his original. — 
 Saturday Courier. 
 
 Sometime ago we read this little volume in French, and 
 found it strongly attractive. We regard it as an autobiog- 
 raphy in great part. The historical as well as the personal 
 details reward attention. — National Gazette. 
 
 No one of all those distinguished personages who occupied 
 so large a space in the world's eye, from their connexion with 
 Napoleon, presents a story of deeper interest, than the amia- 
 
24 NEW AND 
 
 ble and accomplished subject of these memoirs. " Possessing 
 all the grace and fascination of manner, which so eminently 
 characterized her mother, the Empress Josephine, she has a 
 strength and cultivation of intellect, an extent and variety 
 of knowledge, and a philosophic fortitude, which the empress 
 never could boast. Unhappy in her marriage, slie was yet 
 a devoted wife and fond mother; and though gifted with 
 every quality to adorn royalty, she willingly withdrew to the 
 shades of private life, resigning the crown she had embellished 
 without a murmur." The work belongs to the many me- 
 moranda we have of that extraordinary man, whose family 
 history is not complete without it. — American Traveller. 
 
 We have nevertaken up a book containing anecdotes of the 
 eventful period of which this little volume treats, and especi- 
 ally of the great actors in that wonderful drama, without ex- 
 periencing some of the sensations which attend upon the 
 sight of some mighty ruin ; or beholding the place in the 
 ocean where fleets and armies have been swallowed up. Some- 
 times they appear to us like those distant and dark clouds, 
 whose edges are fringed with the red light of the setting sun, 
 and in whose bosom is seen to struggle the pent upliglitning. 
 This work will be read, we are certain, with great interest. — 
 Commercial Herald. 
 
 NEW AMERICAN SPEAKER, being an entirely 
 new selection of Speeches, Dialogues, and Poetry, for the 
 use of Schools. By Thomas Hughs, Compiler of the Uni- 
 versal Class Book and the American Popular Reader. 
 
 A rich collection of pieces from some of the first writers 
 in the English language, furnishing a most abundant supply 
 of exercises in elocution and declamation. It should find ad- 
 mission into every academy, college, and high school, where 
 it is an object to form the taste, as well as teach the art of 
 speaking. 
 
 American Speaker. — A volume with this title, com- 
 prising upwards of two hundred pages, has just been issued 
 l3y Messrs. Key & Biddle, of this city. It has been com- 
 piled by Thomas Hughs, Esq., the compiler of the ' Univer- 
 sal Class Book' and the ' American Popular Reader,' and is 
 designed for the use of schools. It embraces a selection oi 
 speeches, dialogues and poetry, made up with great discern- 
 
POPULAR WORKS. 25 
 
 ment, we think, from the best authors, foreign and domestic, 
 ancient and modern. Mr. Hughs is well calculated to ren- 
 der such a book valuable, and from the perusal we have given 
 many of the articles, we should suppose this ' Speaker' would 
 soon find a place in most of our public seminaries. 
 
 Among the American writers, whose productions have 
 been introduced into this volume, we observe with pleasure 
 the names of Hopkinson, Brown, Canning, Payne, Web- 
 ster, Everett, Ames, Clay, Randolph, Halleck, Bryant, 
 Adams, and others. We shall enrich our first page with ex- 
 tracts from it in a day or two, and take pleasure in commend- 
 ing it to those having charge of our public and private 
 schools. — Pennsylvania Inquirer. 
 
 IRISH ELOaUENCE.— The Speeches of the cele- 
 brated Irish Orators, Phillips, Curran, and Grattan ; to 
 which is added, the Powerful Appeal of Robert Emmett, 
 at the close of his trial for high treason. In 1 vol. 8vo. 
 
 The above work forms a complete and unique school of 
 Irish oratory. To every member of the bar, to every clergy- 
 man, to every aspirant to political influence and admission 
 into the legislative halls of his country, this practical text 
 book of eloquence will be an honoured manual ; and scarcely 
 less does it recommend itself to every lover of literature, and 
 each promoter of his country's good, who will both be re- 
 warded for the purchase, the one by its high literary merits, 
 and the other in the glowing pictures it presents to him of per- 
 sonal sacrifice on the altar of puhlic weal. — United States 
 Gazette. 
 
 The Speeches of Phillips, Curran, Grattan, and Emmett, 
 have been published in a neat octavo volume, by Key & Bid- 
 die, of this city. 
 
 It is unnecessary for us to say any thing as to the merit of 
 these splendid displays of eloquence, which have stam|)ed an 
 immortality on the above named orators. Their merits are 
 well known, and wherever these speeches have been read, 
 they have been admired. 
 
 The volume is neatly " got up," the paper is good, the type 
 is clear, bold and legible, and the binding is substantial and 
 durable. — Daily Intelligencer. 
 
 THE SOLDIER'S BRIDE, AND OTHER TALES, 
 by James Hall, Esa., author of •' Legends of the West," 
 &c. 
 
 3 
 
26 NEW AND 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 1. The Soldier's Bride, 
 
 2. Cousin Lucy and the Village Teacher. 
 
 3. Empty Pockets. 
 
 4. The Captain's Lady. 
 
 5. The Philadelphia Dun. 
 
 6. The Bearer of Despatches. 
 
 7. The Village Musician. 
 
 8. Fashionable Watering-Places. 
 
 9. The Useful Man. 
 10. The Dentist. 
 
 IL The Bachelor's Elysium. 
 
 12. Pete Featherton. 
 
 13. The Bilhard Table. 
 
 We have just risen from the perusal of the Soldier's Bride. 
 The impression it leaves upon the mind is like that which 
 we receive from the sight of a landscape of rural beauty and 
 repose — or from the sound of rich and sweet melody. Every 
 part of this delightful tale is redolent of moral and natural 
 loveliness. The writer belongs to the same class with Irving 
 and Paulding ; and as in his descriptions, characters and 
 incidents, he never loses sight of the true and legitimate 
 purpose of fiction, the elevation of the taste and moral cha- 
 racter of his readers, he will contribute his full share to the 
 creation of sound and healthful literature. — United States 
 Gazette. 
 
 Key & Biddle have recently published another series of 
 Tales — the Soldier's Bride, &c. by James Hall. The approba- 
 tion every where eUcited by Judge Hall's Legends of the 
 West, has secured a favourable reception for the present vo- 
 lume ; and itsvaried and highly spirited contents, consisting of 
 thirteen tales, will be found no less meritorious than his pre- 
 vious labours. — National Gazette. 
 
 We have found much to admire in the perusal of this in- 
 teresting work. It abounds in correct delineation of charac- 
 ter, and although in some of his tales, the author's style is 
 familiar, yet he has not sacrificed to levity the dignity of his 
 pen, nor tarnished his character as a chaste and classical 
 writer. At the present day, when the literary world is flooded 
 with fustian and insipidity, and the public taste attempted to 
 be vitiated by the weak aod effeminate productions of those 
 
POPULAR WORKS. 27 
 
 whose minds are as incapable of imagininjj the lofty and 
 generous feelings they would pouitray, as their hearts are of 
 exercising them, it is peculiarly gratifying to receive a work, 
 from the pages of which the eye may cater with satisfaction, 
 and the mind feast with avidity and benefit. — Pittsburg 
 Mercury. 
 
 THE TESTIMONY OF NATURE AND REVE- 
 LATION TO THE BEING, PERFECTIONS AND 
 GOVERNMENT OF GOD. By the Rev. Henry Fer- 
 gus, Dunfermline, Author of the History of the United 
 States of America, till the termination of the War of In- 
 dependence, in Lardners' Cyclopedia. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Fergus's Testimony of Nature and Reve- 
 lation to the Being, Perfection and Government of God, is 
 an attempt to do in one volutne what the Bridgwater Trea- 
 tises are to do in eight. We wish one-eighth of the reward 
 only may make its way to DunfermUne. Mr. Fergus's 
 Treatise goes over the whole ground with jervour and ability; 
 it is an excellent volume, and may be had for somewhere 
 about half the price of one Bridgwater octavo. London 
 Spectator. 
 
 TALES OF ROMANCE, FIRST SERIES. This 
 is not only an uncommonly neat edition, but a very enter- 
 taining book ; how could it be otherwise when such an array 
 of authors as the following is presented. 
 
 The work contains All's Bride, a tale from the Persian, by 
 Thomas Moore, interspersed with poetry. The Last of the 
 Line, by Mrs. S. C. Hall, an author who sustains a reputa- 
 tion which every succeeding production greatly enhances. 
 The Wire Merchant's Story, by the author of the King's 
 Own. The Procrustinator, by T. Croften Croker. The 
 Spanish Beadsman. The Legend of Rose Rocke, by the 
 
 author of Stories of Waterloo. Barbara S , by 
 
 Charles Lamb. A Story of the Heart. The Vacant Chair, 
 by J. M. Wilson; and the Gtueenof the Meadows, by Miss 
 Mitford. 
 
 This volume has no pretentions to the inculcation of 
 mawkish sensibility. We have read every word of it, and 
 can confidently recommend it to our friends. — Journal of 
 Belles Letters, 
 
28 NEW AND 
 
 YOUNG MAN'S OWN BOOK.— A Manual of Po- 
 liteness, Intellectual Improvement, and Moral Deportment, 
 calculated to form the character on a solid basis, and to in- 
 sure respectability and success in life. 
 
 Its contents are made up of brief and well written essays 
 upon subjects very judiciously selected, and will prove a use- 
 ful and valuable work to those who give it a careful reading, 
 and make proper use of those hints which the author throws 
 out. — Boston Traveller. 
 
 We cheerfully recommend a perusal of the Young Man's 
 Own Book to all our young friends, for we are convinced that 
 if they read it faithfully, they will find themselves both wiser 
 and better. — The Young Man's Advocate. 
 
 In the Young Man's Own Book, much sound advice, 
 upon a variety of important subjects is administered, and a 
 large number of rules are laid down for the regulation of con- 
 duct, the practice of which can not fail to ensure respecta- 
 biUty. — Saturday Courier. 
 
 YOUNG LADY'S OWN BOOK, a Manual of Intel- 
 lectual Improvement and Moral Deportment. By the author 
 of the Young Man's Own Book. 
 
 Messrs. Key and Biddle, of this city, have published a 
 very neat little volume, entitled. The Young Lady's Own 
 Book. Its contents are well adapted to its useful purpose. — 
 
 National Gazette. 
 
 The Young Lady's Own Book seems to us to have 
 been carefully prepared, to comjtrehend much and various 
 instruction of a practical character, and to correspond in its 
 contents with its title. — Young Man's Advocate. 
 
 The Young Lady's Own Book, embellished with beauti- 
 ful engraviniis, should be in the hands of every young fe- 
 male. — Inquirer. 
 
 All the articles in the Young Lady's Own Book are of 
 a useful and interesting character, — N. Y. Com. Adv. 
 
 WACOUSTA, OR THE PROPHECY; A Tale 
 
 OF THE CaNADAS, 2 vols. 
 
 This work is of a deeply interesting character, and justly 
 lays claim to be of the highest cast. We think it decidedly 
 
POPULAR WORKS. 29 
 
 superior to any production of the kind which has recently 
 emanated from the press. It abounds with tlirilling scenes, 
 and the author has displayed a power of delineation rarely 
 surpassed. — Daily Intelligencer. 
 
 We have read it, and unhesitatingly pronounce it one of 
 the most deeply interesting works of fiction which has met 
 our eye for many a month. It is a historical novel — the 
 scenes of wliich are laid principally at Detroit and Macki- 
 na — and some of the tragic events which tliose places wit- 
 nessed in the early settlement of the country, are given with 
 historic accuracy — particularly the massacre of Mackina. — 
 The author is evidently conversant with Indian strategem 
 and with Indian eloquence ; and has presented us with spe- 
 cimens of both, truly characteristic of the untutored savage. 
 We would gladly present our readers with an extract from 
 this interesting work, did our limits permit. In lieu of an ex- 
 tract, however, we commend the work itself to them. — Com- 
 mercial Herald. 
 
 The principal personage of this novel is a savage chief, 
 and the story of his retreat, bearing off captive the daughter 
 of the Governor, is told with thrilling effect. It is well 
 written throughout, and abounds with interesting scenes. — 
 Commercial Advertiser. 
 
 ZOE, OR THE SICILIAN SAYDA.'-As an his- 
 torical romance, embellished with the creations of a lively 
 imagination, and adorned with the beauties of a classic mind, 
 this production will take a high rank, and although not so 
 much lauded as a Cooper or an Irving, he may be assured 
 that by a continuance of his efforts, he will secure the ap- 
 probation of his countrymen, and the reward of a wide spread 
 fame. — Daily Intelligencer. 
 
 We do not call attention to this on account of any previ- 
 ous reputation of its author; it possesses intrinsic merit, and 
 will obtain favour because it merits it. It is historical, and 
 the name and circumstances are to be found in the records of 
 tliose times. The plot is ably conceived, the characters are 
 vividly, and some are fearfully drawn. — Boston American 
 Traveller. 
 
 We lately spoke in terms of approbation of a new novel 
 from the pen of a young American, entitled -'Zoe; or the 
 Sicilian Sayda." A friend, who has read it with great 
 pleasure, and who speaks of its merits in strong terms of 
 praise, has furnished us with the following notice : — 
 3* 
 
30 NEW AND 
 
 "The book wherever read is admired, and among a con- 
 siderable variety of persons, learned and ignorant, grave and 
 gay, sad and serious, all have but one manifestation of feel- 
 ing — and that feeling delight. 
 
 Cooper has been called the Scott, and Irving the Addison 
 of America ; and the author of Zoe, without any imputation 
 of vanity or arrogance, can justly lay claim to some of the 
 attributes of both. With all the description, energy, and 
 grandeur of the former, he possesses the classic graces, and 
 elegant refinements of the latter. Comparisons, it is said, 
 are always odious, but, as in this instance, we have brought 
 forward the names of two of our most distinguished country- 
 men in the field of American letters, not for the purpose of 
 detracting from their high and justly appreciated merits, but 
 for adding another one to the number of this small but bril- 
 liant galaxy, we shall be acquitted of any sinister attempt to 
 elevate another at the expense of those whose fame is 
 widely spread and firmly established. 
 
 Zoe is a production, which will rank among the highest and 
 most successful creations of the imagination. It is replete 
 with interest, from the first chapter to the last; the story 
 never flags, the dialogues never tire ; and the varied charac- 
 ters who figure in the plot, are invested with an individuality 
 which at once impresses upon the mind the graphic skill, and 
 vivid conceptions of the author. Interesting and all absorb- 
 ing as the personages are, there is one, however, of whom to 
 read is to love; the dark-eyed, feeling, beautiful and self-sacri- 
 ficing Zoe. It is she that appears embodied before our eyes, 
 in all the fascination of beauty ; and it is she that we part 
 with in all the combined feelings of affection, admiration and 
 regret. 
 
 But it is not our purpose to pourtray the charming heroine 
 of the story. 
 
 For the nameless attraction of her mind, the glowing ardour 
 of her feehngs, and the thousand fascinating charms with 
 which she was invested, — we must refer our readers to the 
 book itself. 
 
 In conclusion, we commend Zoe to all who are fond of an 
 interesting romance — to all who desire to become acquainted 
 with and encourage the merits of our native literature."-r- 
 Pennsylvania Inquirer. 
 
POPULAR WORKS. 91 
 
 NEW WORKS, 
 
 IN PRESS, 
 
 BY KEY ^ BIDDLE, 
 
 THE HOME BOOK OF HEALTH AND MEDI- 
 CINE, being a popular treatise on the means of Avoiding 
 and Curing Diseases, and of Preserving the Health and 
 Vigour of the Body to the latest period: including a full ac- 
 count of the Diseases of Women and Children. 
 
 THE YOUNG MAN'S SUNDAY BOOK.— In con- 
 tinuation of the Series commenced by the Young Man's 
 Own Book. 
 
 THE WORLD AS IT IS, AND OTHER TALES. 
 
 THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN'S BOOK. By G. T. 
 Bedell, D. D. 
 
 THE JOURNAL OF A LUNATIC. 
 
 PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE OF THE 
 HEART. By Mrs. Stevens. 
 
 YOUNG LADY'S SUNDAY BOOK. By the Au- 
 thor of the Young Lady's Own Book. 
 
 THE FAMILY BOOK; a series of Discourses, with 
 Prayers for each Sunday evening in the year; with an In- 
 troductory Essay. By the Rev. John Breckinridge. 
 
 HARPE'S HEAD. A Legend of Kentucky. By th» 
 Author of Legends of the West 
 
 LETTERS FROM THE NORTH OF EUROPE. 
 
 By Charles Boileau Elliott, Esq. 
 
 This is one of those remarkably pleasant tours which an 
 intelligent gentleman, who has seen much of the world, is 
 
32 NEW AND 
 
 alone calculated to write — one of those productions which 
 engacre the attention and do not fatigue it, and which we 
 read from first to last with the agreeable sensation, that we 
 are gathering the information of very extensive travel easily, 
 by our own fireside. — London Literary Gazette. 
 
 One striking evidence of the rapid progress we are making 
 in civilization is the constant and increasing demand for tra- 
 vels and voyages. We are no longer contented to live within 
 ourselves. The whole world is our theatre. We explore all 
 its regions; nor is there a spot visited by the sun that is 
 wholly unknown to us. Our enterprising countrymen go 
 forth to collect their intellectual treasures, and return home 
 to enrich us with their stores. Every month adds something 
 valuable to the general stock. We enjoy the benefit without 
 encountering the peril. We sympathise with danger, while 
 we feel that it is past, and luxuriate in pleasurable emotions, 
 while our hearts thrill with the interest which the daring ad- 
 venturer has thrown round himself. This species of writing 
 has also a charm for every reader. The man of science and 
 the rustic, the scholar and the mechanic, sit down with equal 
 zest to participate in the mental feast; and thus knowledge 
 is widely diffused — knowledge which invigorates the inward 
 man, enlarging his capacity, and extending the sphere of his 
 enjoyments, and which prepares a whole nation for liberal 
 institutions, which invests them with political and commercial 
 importance, and thus raises them in the scale of nations. The 
 success of works of this description stimulates enterprise, 
 and opeos the largest field for the useful employment of en- 
 ergies which might otherwise be vvasted. 
 
 Mr. Elliott justly ranks among the most enlightened and 
 intelligent of his class. His unpretending volume discovers 
 an enthusiastic love of nature, and the most liberal views of 
 man in all his diversified conditions. We scarcely ever read 
 a work in which there is so little to censure and so much to 
 approve. Unhke many of his brethren, he is a good writer: 
 his style is pure and classical. He is likewise a philosopher 
 and a Christian. We first become his willing associates, 
 and our intercourse soon ripens into friendship. We close 
 the book with reluctance, and take leave of him with a sigh 
 of regret.— London New Monthly Magazine. 
 
 Key & BiDDLE have now in press THE RELIGIOUS 
 SOUVENIR— A Christmas, New Year and Birth Day 
 Present for 1834. Edited by Gregory T. Bedell, D. D. 
 
POPULAR works: 33 
 
 Most of the engravings are already finished, and we feel no 
 
 hesitation in saying the volume will be much superior in every 
 
 respect to that of the present year, the success of which may 
 
 be learned from the perusal of the following literary notices, 
 
 A gift book which unites the embellishments of fancy and 
 imagination, with a strictly religious and moral tendency in 
 the whole texture of the work — a Souvenir which no person 
 of strictly religious principles, would hesitate to place in the 
 hands of a valued friend. Such a work has been pronounced 
 a desideratum by many, whose opinions are regarded with 
 deference by the religious community. — The Revivalist. 
 
 The literary character of this Souvenir is of a high order, 
 many of the pieces breathe a pure, devotional spirit and Chris- 
 tian fervour, and the whole are entirely devoid of sectarianism, 
 and clothed in attractive unexceptionable language. Taken 
 altogether, the Religious Souvenir is a work that may be 
 warmly and generally commended. Mechanically it is a 
 beautiful volume, and intellectually, such as does credit to all 
 who have contributed to its pages. — Boston Traveller. 
 
 This is an elegant Annual. The pieces are generally of 
 a moral and religious tendency, but not the less interesting on 
 that acount. — Journal of Commerce. 
 
 The Religious Souvenir is a very beautiful holiday pre- 
 sent, is Edited by the Rev. G. T. Bedell, and is devoted to 
 moral and religious subjects, all original but one by the artist 
 illustrating his own picture. In the initials subscribed to the 
 articles, we recognize several writers who have heretofore 
 distinguished themselves by contributions to our periodical 
 literature. — N. Y. Covimercial Advertiser. 
 
 This is really a superb volume; and one which we hope 
 will be widely circulated throughout the community. Dr. 
 Bedell has shown considerable judgment in the selection and 
 disposal of his matter, and we thank him for presenting to 
 the public in so inviting a form, a work which is well calcula- 
 ted to form pious feelings, and establish religious principles, — 
 JFamily Journal. 
 
 We doubt not, but many people of piety and taste, who 
 wish to ornament their parlour and instruct those who may- 
 read ; or who desire to bestow a religious remembrancer on 
 some beloved friend, will call at some book store for Dr. 
 Bedell's " Souvenir." — The Philadelphian. 
 
34 NEW AND 
 
 A volume, too, which does not degrade or disgrace the sub- 
 ject — a volume destined, not to pass away with the winter 
 greens that adorn our Christmas parlours, but to maintain a 
 lasting hold on the attention of the christian community, at 
 least so long as good taste and good sense shall have any vote 
 in the selection of books. We have read the volume care- 
 fully, and do not hesitate to pronounce it one of unusual in- 
 terest as well as solid merit. — United States Gazette. 
 
 Messrs. Key & Biddle have made a valuable present to 
 religious parents, guardians and friends, in this elegant little 
 volume. Why should all our gifts on these occasions be 
 worldly or worse'? And why should religious truth always 
 shun the aids of beautiful ornament'? The embellishments 
 are attractive, well selected, and well executed. The various 
 papers which compose the volume are serious, tasteful, allur- 
 ing, imbued with the spirit of the Gospel, in a word, sucli as we 
 should have expected from one so zealous for the cause of 
 Christ, and so inventive of happy thoughts as the Rev. Edi- 
 tor. This annual may be safely recommended to the Chris- 
 tian public. — The Presbyterian. 
 
 To all, therefore, who desire intellectual improvement, and, 
 at the same time, the gratification of a true taste — and to all 
 who would make a really valuable present to their friends, we 
 would say, in conclusion, go and procure the Religious Sou- 
 venir, it is not merely a brilliant little ornament for the 
 parlour centre table, but a book worthy of a place in every 
 sensible man's library. — Cincinnatti Enquirer. 
 
 The typography, embellishments, and general appearance 
 of the work, render it fully equal in these respects to any 
 of the kind published in our country, while its subjects are far 
 more suitable for the contemplation of christians than the 
 light reading with which most of them are filled, — Episcopal 
 Recorder. 
 
 The articles are not only interesting, but calculated to pro- 
 duce a beneficial effect upon the minds of those who read it, 
 therefore, a very proper work for the purpose for which it 
 is desiL'ned, and hope it may meet with an extensive sale. — 
 Baltimore Republican. 
 
 We hail with much pleasure this attempt to convey religious 
 truth in a garb at once pleasing and instructive. The popu- 
 lar form of the annual is well adapted to the purpose, and 
 may often invite the attention and make a salutary impres- 
 
POPULAR WORKS. 35 
 
 sion, where works of a graver character would fail of effect 
 when perused, or more probably be never perused at all. We 
 commend, therefore, this new effort of Christian philanthro- 
 py, and think it likely to be followed by useful results. — 
 Charleston Courier. 
 
 In the general character of those fashionable, and as to ap- 
 pearance, attractive volumes, the annuals, there is so much 
 that is trashy and unprofitable, that it was with no little mis- 
 giving we looked into the pages of one which is now before 
 us, entitled " The Religious Souvenir." Tl)e matter is 
 altogether of religious and moral tendency, not chargeable 
 with sectarian bias, and such as the most scrupulous need 
 not hesitate to admit mto family reading. — The Friend. 
 
 This little work is intended to furnish what was heretofore 
 wanted — a Christmas and New Year's offering, which may 
 be bestowed and accepted by the most scrupulous. — Pitts- 
 burg Gazette. 
 
 We are happy to announce the tasteful appearance and 
 valuable matter of the Religious Souvenir for 1833. Dr. 
 Bedell is as much distinguished for his belles-lettres attam- 
 ment, as for the profoundness of his scholarship and the pu- 
 rity of his motives. He has found hins^If at home in this 
 tasteful enterprize and in good company with the associated 
 talent of the contributors to his beautiful pages. — N. Y. 
 Weekly Messenger. 
 
 The engravings for the work are chiefly from English de 
 signs, by the best American artists, and may challenge com- 
 
 [)arison with any contemporary works of this country. The 
 iterary contributions to the volume are in strict accordance 
 with the name. — United States Gazette. 
 
 This work is got up in an unusual style of neatness and 
 beauty, and ornamented with engravings of great elegance. 
 The contents of the work are, as might have been expected 
 from the high character of the Editor, of a moral and religious 
 description, intended to produce the best effects upon the 
 minds of its readers. — Daily Advertiser. » 
 
 Messrs. Key & Biddle have published a. handsome little 
 volume, entitled Religious Souvenir, and edited by the Rev. 
 Dr. Bedell. It is embellished with beautiful engravings, and 
 printed with elegance. The literary contents are very good — 
 soundly pious, and free of all invidious remark or allusion. 
 True Christianity is that which purifies the heart, liberalizes 
 the feelings, and amends the conduct. — National Gazette. 
 
36 POPULAR WORKS. 
 
 MEMOIRS OF DR. BURNEY, arranged from his 
 own Manuscript, from family papers, an J from personal re- 
 collections, by his daughter, Madame D'Arblay. 
 
 The Monthly Review in noticing the Memoirs of Dr. 
 Burney, expresses the opinion " that a more amusing and 
 profitable production has not appeared for many years." 
 
 Several literary gentlemen on this side of the Atlantic who 
 have examined the work, declare that next to Boswell's Life 
 of Johnson, it is the most attractive and interesting memoir 
 ever published. 
 
 TRANSATLANTIC SKETCHES, comprising visits 
 to the most interesting scenes in North and South America, 
 and the West Indies, with notes on negro slavery and Cana- 
 dian emigration, by Capt. J. E. Alexander, 42d Royal Higb- 
 landers, F. R. G. S. M. R. A. S. etc. author of Travels in 
 Asia, Persia, etc. 
 
 THE ARISTOCRAT, by the author of Zoe,&c. 
 
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