altogether arbitrary, and which they have abused in the most extravagant and most absurd manner. Thus, one set persuaded their clients that, in order to obtain paradise, they ought to lacerate their bodies; others, that it was by wearing a hair-cloth that they ought to martyrise themselves; others, that they ought to deprive themselves of nourishment; others, that it was fish they ought to eat, and that they ought to abstain from meat; others, that they ought to read every day a frightful quantity of prayers, almost all insignificant, and written in a language unknown to the great majority of the faithful; others, that they ought to pass a great part of the day on their knees in the church: things, none of which could by any means contribute to the amelioration of the condition of the poor.
"This conduct of the clergy was unavoidable during the infancy of Christianity; but now that our ideas upon these subjects are enlightened and defined, the prolongation of such mystifications would be dishonourable to the court of Rome. Certainly, all Christians aspire to life eternal; but the only means of obtaining it consists in working, during this life, to increase the well-being of the human race.
"Most holy father, the human race experiences at this moment a great intellectual crisis; three mighty intellectual powers present themselves—the fine arts re-appear, the sciences now begin to supplant every other branch of knowledge; and the great industrious combinations tend more directly to the amelioration of the condition of the poor, than any of the measures hitherto taken by the temporal or spiritual power.
"These three powers belong to the pacific order. It is consequently your interest, as well as the interest of the clergy, to combine with them. By means of this combination, you will, in a short time, and without experiencing great obstacles, organize the human race in a manner the most favourable to the amelioration of the moral and physical condition of the most numerous class. By this means, the power of Cæsar,
