Page:Rousseau - Profession of Faith of a Savoyard Vicar, 1889.djvu/14

 and this benign doctrine of religions liberty is also commended and advocated by the Savoyard Vicar. “God forbid,” says he, “that I should ever preach up the cruel tenets of persecution,—that I should ever induce my auditors to hate their neighbors, or to consign others to damnation. Had I any protestants in my neighborhood, or in my parish, I would make no distinction between them and my own flock in every thing that regarded acts of Christian charity. I would endeavor to make them all love and regard each other as brethren—tolerating all religions, while peacefully enjoying their own.”

This is a religion that few will oppose. It consists of deeds rather than of words. It has counsel for the ignorant, sympathy for the erring, charity for the oppressed; and is, in short, a religion of humanity.

There is in the inmost heart of poor Rousseau,” says Carlyle, in Heroes and Hero Worship, a spark of real heavenly fire. With all his drawbacks, and they are many, he has the first and chief characteristic of a hero: he is heartily in earnest. In earnest, if ever man was ; as none of these French philosophers were. He could be cooped into garrets, laughed at as a maniac, left to starve like a wild-beast in a cage;—but he could not be hindered from setting the world on fire.”

The beautiful and profound allegory—A Search for Truth,—that follows the Vicar’s Profession of Faith, though written by a young lady scarce beyond the years of childhood, seems inspired by the embodied wisdom of ages—inspired alike by the subtle power of genius and the pure and immutable spirit of truth.

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