CONSEQUENCES OF THE EXECUTION OF JOHN CALAS.
If the order of white penitents had been the cause of the punishment
of an innocent person, and of the utter ruin and dispersion of a
whole family, and of branding them with that ignominy which is
annexed to those who suffer, when it ought properly to fall only
upon those who pass an unjust sentence; if the frantic hurry of
these penitents in celebrating as a saint one whom they ought to
have treated as a self-murderer, brought a virtuous, an innocent
fellow-citizen to the scaffold, surely this fatal mistake ought to
make them true penitents for the rest of their lives, and they and
the judges ought to have their eyes continually filled with tears,
without wearing a white cloak or a mask on their faces, to hide
those tears. We have a proper respect for all religious orders—they
are edifying; but will all the good they have ever been able to do
the state compensate for the shocking disaster of which they have
been the cause? Their institution seems to have been the work of
that zeal which animates the Catholics of Languedoc against those we
call Huguenots. One would be tempted to imagine that they had made
a vow to hate their brethren; and that, though men have religion
enough to hate and persecute, they have not sufficient to love and
cherish one another. But what would be the case if these orders were
governed by enthusiastic superiors, as were certain congregations,
among whom, to use the words of one of our most eloquent and learned
magistrates, the custom of seeing visions was reduced to an art and
system? Or that their convents had in them those dark rooms, called
meditation rooms, which were filled with pictures of frightful
devils, armed with long horns and talons, flaming gulfs, crosses, and
daggers, with the holy name of Jesus in a scroll over them? Edifying
spectacles, doubtless, for eyes already blinded with fanaticism, and
for imaginations no less filled with mistaken zeal than with abject
submission to the will of their directors!
There have been times, and we know it but too well, in which
religious orders have been dangerous to the state. The Frérots and
the Flagellants have excited troubles in the kingdom. The League owed
its origin to such associations. But wherefore should any set of men
thus distinguish themselves from the rest of their fellow-citizens?
Is it that they think themselves more perfect? If so, it is offering
an insult to the rest of the community; or are they desirous that
every Christian should become a member of their society? Truly, it
would be a curious sight to see all the inhabitants of Europe in long
hoods and masks, with two little round holes to peep through! Or,
lastly, do they seriously think that this dress is more acceptable to
God than the coats and waistcoats we usually wear? No, no, there is
something more at the bottom; this habit is a kind of controversial
uniform, a signal for those of a contrary opinion to stand upon their
guard, and might in time kindle a kind of civil war in our minds
that would terminate in the most terrible consequences, were not the
wisdom of the king and of his ministers as great as the folly of
these fanatics.
Every one is sufficiently sensible what fatal effects have arisen
since Christians have begun to dispute among themselves concerning
modes of belief; the blood of the subjects has flown in torrents
either on the scaffold or in the field, from the fourth century to
the present time. But let us confine ourselves only to the wars and
disasters which the disputes concerning reformation have excited in
France, and examine into their source. Perhaps a short and faithful
portrait of these numberless calamities may open the eyes of some who
have not had the advantage of education, and touch those hearts which
are not by nature callous.