, 1874-03-22
ecientious care. In the union of simplicity,
precision, and brevity, it is absolutely
yG1T1Innr 4 rAnI11r1

precision, and breyity, it is absolutely
| WITHOUT PARALLEL.
It is true he has none Of tue modern colorino
none Of those foca!izing words and tulns q
| expressions in which later writer's condens
many rays Of thought into one burning phrase
but that Is only saying that thought was les
complex in his day than it is to = more subicc.
Ire generation. =" He is the most trencban
writer in the world" says AIr. Molley. i've
there is not sentence Of strained emphasis O
oVerwrousht antithesia; he is tho wittiest. We
there is not line Of true buffoonery. His stvl
| 1s like translucent stream of purest mountain
| water. moving with swift and animated flow IN
der flashing sunbeams." Even an ,enomy con
fessed that he WAS the very first man in til,
world at writing down what other men thought
II Voltairs vas overrated during the eighteenth
century, when the Encyclopedists dominated tn,
world Of literature, his hatred and fippant de
nunciatlon OF what he mistook for Ch1istianit,
nase doubtless caused q proportionate under
rating OF his literary merits in this nineteenth
Century; and hence, except by scholars, the dust
Is rarely brushed of his mapy-tomej works
Some English poet,-Wordsworth We believe
speaking of the Candide, calls it "tho dull pro
duct OF acoTer's pen" Dull Couldst thou
Opoet, find in thy vocabulary no epithat but this
by which to characterize that masterpiece Of
satire, STEPPED in the very essence OF wit atbiet
with "hell-broth" coumingled, over Which
thousands Of inhde!s and believers, scoffers and
devotees, have hung fascinated7 skeptic, atne-
fst, mocker,-heap upon his head these and get
more hateful names; call him even buffoon, as
he has painted himself,
Toujours TN pied dams le cercucel, =
De lautte fatsant des garnbades,
and laughing, as the French say, ''over q
needles point - call him what else you will,
but
NEVER, NEVER DULL!
II the s. Candide is dull, then Is Drelin-
court on Death " merry, Wostlsworth's s. t'Excur-
sion" witty, and Bossuet's 70 Oraisons Fune-
bres" ere prodigies of facetiousness. Tho
truth is, the excesa Of wit is tue grand fault Of
Voltaire's writings it il the sun pouring down
his rays on the entire landscape, without bit Of
shade to relieve the dazzled eye. Christianity
gains nothing by these sweeping denunciations
that outrage truth. Voltaire, deeply as ne may
deplore his disbelief, and Justly as va may de-
nounco the fury and bitterness Of his assaults
upon tho Church, was neither dull writer, how
ever superficial, NOT that monster Of depravity,
that d Gorgon or Chimera dire" which he has
been so often painted. Ths noble word Of his
concerning the three years in which he laborod
without remission for Justice to the widow
and descendants OF CALAIS, is alono enough to
show that, like the rest of his race, he was '.of
mingled yarn n"-blending with his fauits one at
least Of the most redee1ning traits OF human
nature. .sDuring that tizne," says he. "nos
smile escaped nc without my teproaching N.Y.
self for it, as for crime" Had Voltaire been
mere mocker,-a skeptio proclaiming nothing
but Degatiops,-be would not baye been the
most puissant writer Of his time. or caught tho
ear OF series Of generations. Mau cannot live
u q vacuum, and no prophet who is wholly
False,-no mere pyrrhonist, who feeds him With
doubts only,-wu be long accepted b.. him as his
eader.
The truth is, Voltaire contributed to human
progress in spite OF his faults,-in spite of his
evity, mockery, cynicisn, and Bitterness
THR VERY PRINCIPLES OF THE GOSPEL.
n unchristian language he preached Chris
ian Kindness Christian liberation, Christian
Christian hatred Of hypocrisy anj
'ricstly oppression. In like manner, Rousseau
1so, who began where Voltare left OF, and |
Fhose ardent temperament impelled him to pro |
est against the concrete wrongs and misories OF |
nen. rather than to vlndcate the abstract rights
It their intelligence, contributed to human pro- !
,ress in spite Of his egotism and impurity. by |
Christian brotherhood and Christian |
implicitly Of Life. Roussean's writings are satu- |
ated With the very spirit Of the Gorpel; In all |
literature there is not to bo found another 20 /
nhsterly, elegant, and revezentiaI tribute to |
rr Savior as that in the 'Emile." 1t was not !
gainss Christianity that Yoltairo inreighed; but t
gainst what he naistook for Christianity, which |
'as a vile caricature. It was tho pseudo
Christianity Of the corrupt, jesuitical, and per
ecutiug State-Church; the Christianity which |
tfauyled French civilization, which recalled the
dict OF Nantes, which inspired the Dragon
ados, and which, in the name of the religion Of
we, murdered Calas and La Barre. 1t is
1rious fact that neither Voltaire nor Rousseau, |
,ough classed By our theologiaus in one cate
ory us ,nfdcls, had any liking for the other.
oltaire denounced the son OF the Geneva
atchuaker as the arch-scoundrel and chief. of
1arlarans, the iineal descendant OF the dog OF
iogenes. the cynic; while Rousseau had 40
tic faith in the plenary efficacy Of rational
srsuasiou, as to insist upon the determination
atheists, Voltaire included, BY Law.
The finest conquest Of Voltaire's genius, as
rsene Houssaye has remarked, WAS liberty OF
ought. The light, ut the breath Of tho phi
sopher, las consumed the bushel- The French
he never dreamed Of it's
clal etfects-was
HIS rosrHuuo5s WORK.
: II he struck violently against the Church. says
eloquent apologist. 'si il certainly WAS not to
tack the Deity; it WIS to cruEn the priest the ,
pure priest. OF the eighteenth century, who,
the avowl Of Cardinal, crept up in the ::