after which
the body is taken down from the cross and put into a sepulchre, and men
stand to watch it.

CRUEL MAXIMS.] Papists hold that heretics may not be termed children and
kindred; that no faith is to be kept with heretics; and that it is
lawful to torture or kill them for the good of their souls.

CHAPTER XXIII.

SKETCH OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1789, AS CONNECTED WITH THE HISTORY
OF PERSECUTION.

The design of those who were the primary agents in originating the
causes of the French Revolution, was the utter subversion of the
christian religion. Voltaire, the leader in this crusade against
religion, boasted that "with one hand he would pull down, what took
twelve Apostles to build up." The motto on the seal of his letters was,
"Crush the wretch," having reference to Jesus Christ, and the system of
religion, which he promulgated. To effect his object he wrote and
published a great variety of infidel tracts, containing the most
licentious sentiments and the most blasphemous attacks upon the religion
of the Bible. Innumerable copies of these tracts were printed, and
gratuitously circulated in France and other countries. As they were
adapted to the capacity of all classes of persons, they were eagerly
sought after, and read with avidity. The doctrines inculcated in them
were subversive of every principle of morality and religion. The
everlasting distinctions between virtue and vice, were completely broken
down. Marriage was ridiculed--obedience to parents treated as the most
abject slavery--subordination to civil government, the most odious
despotism--and the acknowledgement of a God, the height of folly and
absurdity. Deeply tinged with such sentiments, the revolution of 1789,
found the popular mind in France prepared for all the atrocities which
followed. The public conscience had become so perverted, that scenes of
treachery, cruelty and blood were regarded with indifference, and
sometimes excited the most unbounded applause in the spectators. Such a
change had been effected in the French character, by the propagation of
Infidel and Atheistical opinions, "that from being one of the most light
hearted and kind tempered of nations," says Scott, "the French seemed
upon the revolution to have been animated, not merely with the courage,
but with the rabid fury of wild beasts." When the Bastile was stormed
"Fouton and Berthier, two individuals whom they considered as enemies of
the people, were put to dea