to a vain spectacle, to ceremonies: going to mass, the sermon and vespers, which is all very well; but confession, the communion, fasting, doing without meat, is not common anywhere....

In the country, where there are no priests, the village schoolmaster officiates, and people are content; they would prefer bells without priests rather than priests without bells."-- This regret for bells is very frequent and survives even in the cantons which are lukewarm .-- (Creuse, Pluviose 10, year IV.) "They persist in replanting the crosses which the priests have dug up; they put back the ropes to the bells which the magistrate has taken away."] [Footnote 3184: Archives nationales, cartons 3144 and 3145, No.

1004, missions of the councilors of state, year IX .-- (Report by Fourcroy.) "The keeping of Sunday and the attendance on the churches, which is seen everywhere, shows that the mass of Frenchmen desire a return to ancient usages, and that the time has gone by for resisting this national tendency...

The mass of mankind require a religion, a system of worship and a priesthood.

It is an error of certain modern philosophers, into which I have myself been led, to believe in the possibility of any instruction sufficiently widespread to destroy religious prejudices; they are a source of consolation for the vast number of the unfortunate....