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About Hesperian student / (Lincoln [Neb.]) 1872-1885 | View Entire Issue (March 15, 1890)
- tfrmi THE HESPERIAN. If. suggest the benefit of the publication of literature expressly for mlulls; literature which will be more expressive of nctunl life, and will not reach the hands ol the young. They con trast the great productions of the past with the works of fic tion of the present, and cry out for the return of the day when the artificial restraints now thrown about English fiction shall be removed. These writers, in asserting such liberal yet guarded opinions arc to be commended. There is little merit in expatiating in action upon lighter offenses to the ex clusion of the grosser, while the newspaper is allowed almost unlimited permission in recounting the actualities of life. A novel, treating subjects preferably undiscussed, may if writ ten by a judicious author be a power for good in pointing some great moral; and thus be of far greater worth than the novel that systematically shuns everything but airy nothings. To desire the introduction of more reality into fiction is thus not the exhibition of a certain grossness oi taste, but rather of a healthy sentiment in pleasing contrast with the fastidiousness that has been for some time predominant. If the question were propounded, "What debt of grati tude docs the present age owes to Voltaire?" the replies would be various. Some persons would deny that any grati tude is due him; that on the other hand the influence he ex erted was wholly evil; that he merits, in consequence nothing but condemnation. Others hold that he did a great and be ncficient work in combating the pretensions of the church of the last century in France. Those who hold the latter view arc few; to the horrified view of the many Voltaire appears as a veritable demon incarnate, an enemy of mankind. He who should wish to go down to postcntuym unpop ular wretch would find no more effectual wayHKsompltsh his strange desire than to oppose the religions prejudices of his time. If his opposition should be merely factious he would be deservedly condemned. If, instead, he should be the hciald of a better day, he might rest assured that some future generation would appreciate his services. Voltaire vi olently opposed the ecclesiastical regime under which France struggled in the eighteenth century. Vet more, he mocked at religion itself. In return, he has received the condemna tion of clergy and laity from his own time to the present. Hearing that he opposed the church and religion many hon est men have seemingly not the patience to study his life he attacked the church and religion therefore there was no good in him. However, it is well worth the while to study the life of a man whose influence has been so profound. He may have been shallow, he was undoubtedly a mocker, but shallowness and mockciy arc not bonds that draw men to a leader. Had thcic been no occasion for the career of a Voltaire, it would not now be necessary to denounce him; his influence would have been ephemeral. It is true he is to be blamed for his levity while treating the most sacred subjects, and for his ap parently total lack of reverence. But where jnijjht the icono clast ply his trade more justifiably than in the France of the eighteenth century? Surely men were then "wedded to their idols." It required the wit, the mocking raillery of Voltaire to show mankind the inefficacy of the dead forms and rituals which for them constituted the life of religion. The condition of France in Voltaire's lime was deplorable. The grinding poverty of the poor and the opulence and fri volity of the privileged classes were bringing the state to. dissolution. Not this phase, however, of the social disease caused Voltaire sorrow; he was always an aristocrat, a court ier. And for this lack of sympathy with sonwr is he more to be blamed than the clergy of that age? They, too, were sycophants living i trom the peasant. It wa strovc to overthrow. He hw&A under which he lived; he resenting an insult put uf ekes they wrung EocspotisRi that he ce of the regime i'omiMwA: front Me land for Me rm gone to England, had there seen a people freeJLw erilcize thek rulers,- tgtant' toward an opinions; a people enjoying the benefits otjalrcc government. What a contrast to his .native land! There men were imprisoned for the mildest criticism of the ruling powers. There the unorthodox writer saw from behind his prison bars his book publicly burned. There, subsequently, Diderot, for no other offence than writing a book in which he said that people who arc born blind have some ideas different from those who have their eyesight, was arrested and without even the form of a trial, was confined in the dungeon of Vin cenncs! What persecution could be more intolerable? If Voltaire hastened the day when such censors were hurled from power, is he not deserving of some praise? He was at once broughtinto conflict.with the church. It was the force that held the people in intellectual bondage; it nerved the king o the suppression of all literature that criti cised the existing powers. Hence the first work of a man who wished to free thought from its trammels was to under mine the influence of triumphant ecclesiasticism. The extent of that influence was remarkable. At present many will sub mit to the guidance of ccclcsiasticsJjMmattcrs pertaining to religion. Hut few, however, w'dl,MgKUo that guidance in other departments of life. Iu thoSejaBSpweh was the extent of the peoples' degradation and. igftoraKffihat the French clergy backed by the terrors of both civH and sacred law, guided the thoughts aad actions: of the people in almost ev ery department of life. TVey in ?ct made themselves re ligion. Tote,lg,ako1riMNMMfcK. Individuality of senUnrnntsjjMjjaisipta oat; dnmt tow to the dictates of those wmMfit'a monopoly. aV4frfc, -grace. In those who made mob sweeping piitsasiuns oat would be justified in ex pecting the pseSKC of the highest virtue and goodness. On the otltsr hand the clergy, particularly the higher, were dis solute,' unprincipled, unscrupulous; some of them were atheists at heart, persecuting others for asserting openly what they themselves believed in secret. The lower clergy exem plified somewhat the influence of divine precepts; between the higher and lower clergy thre was little fraternal feeling; among the body of the higher clergy there was some fraternal feeling, that which holds together, while promise of boodle is held out, a band of public parasites. Such was the intellectual state of France during the greater part of Voltaire's life. Voltairism, though a heroic remedy, was well suited to the disease it eradicated. By the -introduction of the philosophy of Newton into France, and by holding up to ridicule the pretentions of ecclesiastics, he hastened the downfall of absolute authority in matters of opin ion. Notwithstanding all the criticism that has been directed against him, much of the intellectual development of the present century received its first impetus from the movement with which Voltaire's name has been so prominently con nected. Intelligent doubt is far better than ignorant, indo lent belief. Voltaire taught men to question a proposition before they assented to it. If one chooses to attribute only to the teaching of him and his colleagues the violence of the revolution that came soon after his death, the good he did should also be remembered. He was not above his age in morals; but, considering the extraordinary condition of France in bis time, it is safe to assert that the evil he wrought was in no mean measure offset by the good. Those whom pious fear restrains from admitting the good rs