Page:Popular Works of Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1889) Vol 2.djvu/233

 which gives birth to great crimes, the horror of inward sinfulness and dread of the Gods;—who, I say, in their open character and simple relations, had not hitherto much concerned themselves about the Divinity, and in particular, were very far from fearing Him. The conversion of such men gave to the Church, in her old character of an expiator of Sin and a propitiator of God, a wholly new task;—this namely, artificially to excite among this second class that superstitious fear of God, and need of an atonement, which she had found already existing among her first converts. Unquestionably this latter was a much more difficult business, and,—with the exception of single individuals who may have felt peculiarly conscious of sin, and certain epochs which may have been particularly favourable to the dominion of the Ecclesiastical Power,—it has never been, in my opinion, so perfectly and so universally accomplished among the nations of modern Europe as it was in the Roman Empire; for proof of which the student may examine in particular the history of the Byzantine Monarchy, in which the Ecclesiastical Power played its part throughout a long series of years. In Modern Europe the religious superstition at all times enjoyed the privilege of unwearied preaching, and was freely admitted to the community as a foreign ingredient; but it never struck its root so deeply in the heart, and whenever a more powerful interest arose it was shaken off. The whole course of Modern History proves this; and particularly the Age since the Reformation, in which the national character of Modern Europe has developed itself more freely. The Church has indeed almost ceased to preach this doctrine; and even where it still does so it is without fruit for no one lays it to heart.

It was farther necessary that the fundamental elements of the New State should bear the general European National Characteristic,—a keen sense and love of Right