s, by the use he makes of his free will.

A liberal doctrine, yet severe, it would seem: you are free,
consequently responsible, and punishable. You sin, and you expiate.

The jurisconsult, who is in earnest, requires here a serious
expiation--the personal chastisement of the guilty party. "He must
forfeit his head," says he: "the law will cure him of his malady of
iniquity by the sword."

We should fare better by going to the Jesuit, and get off much cheaper.
The expiation he requires is not so terrible. He will often prove that
there is no necessity for any expiation. The fault, properly
interpreted, will turn out, perhaps, to be a merit. At the worst, if
found to be a fault, it may be washed out by good works; now, the very
best work of all is to devote one's self to the Jesuits, and espouse
the Ultramontane interest.

Do you perceive all the skill of the Jesuits in this manoeuvre of
theirs? On the one hand, the doctrine of liberty and justice, with
which the middle ages had reproached the jurisconsults as pagan and
irreconcilable with Christianity, is now adopted by the Jesuits, who
show themselves to the world as the friends and champions of free will.
On the other hand, as this free will brings on the sinner
responsibility and justice according to his works, he finds himself
very much embarrassed with it. The Jesuit comes very seasonably to his
relief; he takes upon himself the task of _directing_ this inconvenient
liberty, and reduces works to the capital one of serving Rome. So that
moral liberty, professed in theory, will turn practically to the profit
of authority.

A double lie. These people who give themselves the title of Jesuits,
or men of Jesus, teach that man is saved less by Jesus than by himself,
by his free will. Are, then, these men philosophers, and friends of
liberty? Quite the contrary; they are at once the most cruel enemies
of philosophy and liberty.

That is to say, with the word free will they juggle away Jesus; and
only retain the word Jesus to cheat us of the liberty which they set
before us.

The thing being thus simplified on both sides, a sort of tacit bargain
was made between Rome, the Jesuits, and the world.

Rome gave up _Christianity_, the principle which forms its basis
(salvation by Christ). Having been called upon to choose between this
doctrine and the contrary one, she durst not decide.

The Jesuits gave up _morality_ after religion; reducing the moral
mer