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Untitled Article
which he is said to have let in upon his readers . What then would be the full illumination , but a powerful invective against Christianity ia general ? The reviewers have indeed explained themselves in this sense when they speak of cc the plans which the genius of letters dared to suggest in the age of philosophy . ' It is notorious to the whole world , that these plans , aimed at the
subversion of all Christian altars . The organs of the French ruler , disclose a secret of no small importance , when they tell us so formally and authoratively , that the
plans of the age of philosophy , ( that is ofTthe age of Voltaire , &c . ) are iC adopted , executed and extended by the genius of victory . " By the meditated extension of these 'plans , we must understand , thesubstititfum of some new creed , for the dogmas of Christianity ; otherwise there would be " no amplification of the projects of the age of philosophy , which went very fully to the extinction of
Christianity , but did not provide for the establishment of another faith . The sword then is to accelerate the progress of the human mind , not only to the rejection of its present belief , but to the adoption of some other creed . The
sword in the hand of Mahomet was once successful , in achieving 7 O a similar purpose , and it is imagined , that its agency may be equally efficacious in this instance . *
* There is a striking coincidence between the doctrine of the French reviewers and that of the prophet of Mecca . " The sword 3 " says Mahomet , is the Key of heaven and of hell : a drop of blood shed in the cause of God , a night . spent in arms , is of more avail than
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Wte have for some time pas { entertained a suspicion that Buonaparte meditatessome extraordina , ry changes in the religion of the European continent . He has , in his replies to some of the addresses made to him on the occasion of his marriage openly declared himself against the papal power , and even indulged in severe invectives against the catholic religion in general .
The press at Pans teems with . publications levelled against the papal power , the celibacy of the priests , the intolerance of the religious spirit , &c . f—We observe
two months of fasting or prayer : whosoever falls in battle , his sins arc forgiven : at the day of judgment his wounds shall be resplendent as vermillion and odoriferous as musk ; and the loss of his limbs shall be N supplied by the wings of angels and cherubim . ' See Gibbon , ch . ]• for a full exposition of the martial tenets of the Koran .
+ The portion of freedom left to the clergy of Franee and the light in which they are viewed by the government , may be illustrated by the following extraordinary provisions , which we translate from the new penal code of the JSmpire .
" Any minister of worship who , m the exercise of his ministry , or in any public assembly shall pronounce a discourse containing a criticism or censure on the government , or on any law or Imperial decree , or any other act of pubiic authority , shall suffer imprisonment for a space of time not less than three months , and not exceeding two
years . " If the discourse should contain a direct provocation to a disobedience of the laws , or other acts of public authority , pr tend to arm one part of the community against the other , the minister of worship pronouncing it , shall be punished by an imprisonment of from two to five years , even should the provocation prove nugatory ; but should it be followed by any effect , then the punishment shall be banishment , if that effect be but a simple act of disobedience : but if it amount to sedition , t ^
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330 Buonaparte ' s Religions Projects .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1811, page 330, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2417/page/10/
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