ble; fire is of all things
that which produces in man the most pungent sensation; not finding
anything more cruel, the enemies to the several dogmas were to be
everlastingly punished with this torturing element: fire, therefore, was
the point at which their imagination was obliged to stop; the ministers
of the various systems agreed pretty generally, that fire would one day
avenge their offended divinities; thus, they painted the victims to the
anger of the gods, or rather those who questioned their own creeds,
as confined in fiery dungeons; as perpetually rolling into a vortex of
bituminous flames; as plunged in unfathomable gulfs of liquid sulphur;
making the infernal caverns resound with their useless groanings, with
their unavailing gnashing of teeth. But it will, perhaps, be inquired,
how could man reconcile himself to the belief of an existence
accompanied with eternal torments; above all, as many according to their
own superstitions had reason to fear it for themselves--Many causes
have concurred to make him adopt so revolting an opinion: in the first
place, very few thinking men have ever believed such an absurdity,
when they have deigned to make use of their reason; or, when they have
accredited it, this notion was always counterbalanced by the idea of
the goodness, by a reliance on the mercy, which they attributed to their
respective divinities: in the second place, those who were blinded by
their fears never rendered to themselves any account of these strange
doctrines which they either received with awe from their legislators,
or which were transmitted to them by their fathers; in the third place,
each sees the object of his terrors only at a favorable distance;
moreover, superstition promises him the means of escaping the tortures
he believes he has merited."

We conclude by quoting the following eloquent passage:--

"Oh! Nature! sovereign of all beings! and ye, her adorable daughters,
Virtue, Reason, and Truth! remain forever our reverend protectors. It is
to you that belong the praises of the human race; to you appertains the
homage of the earth. Show us, then, oh! Nature! that which man ought
to do, in order to obtain the happiness which thou makest him
desire.--Virtue! animate him with thy beneficent fire! Reason! conduct
his uncertain steps through the paths of life. Truth! let thy torch
illumine his intellect, dissipate the darkness of his road.... Banish
error from our mind, wickedness from our hear