| p. 2722d. (File at Hotel: 5.[Frid?]10th)
Rec'd [alive?] I was glad to greet my insufferable [couch?]
at an early hour & commence my promenade on the
town. [Ablence?] is now in the hands of the [supiders?], whose
making extensive fortifications in it's neighbourhood. The
streets are narrow, & wretchedly paved, & altogether it was
one of the most miserably & uncomfortable towns I had seen
on my tour. The Prussians have adopted one of it's Churches
for a depositary of military stores, & another has been con-
-verted into a Granary. It is really lamentable to see such
fine buildings so degraded, with many of their side altars
still standing, & the columns & pictures as yet bearing mourn-
-ful testimony to their former grandeur & design. But per-
-haps it does not follow, that either the Religion or the morals
of the people of Coblence, should be on the decline, because the
number of their useless Priests are diminished, on the altars
of their idolatrous mode of worship be made subserviant
to secular purposes. It is not from the number of sacred edifices,
or from the wealth of a Priesthood, that we are to form an estimate
of the spiritual condition of a people, but from those virtues,
the fruits of sound & real Religion, which shew themselves
daily in the common circumstances of life, & give a sacred
character to the moral energies of a state. But I have observed,
among the R. C.. of the Continent, generally speaking, a piteable
absence of that industry activity & above all their cleanliness,
& good order, which, themselves [?] next to Godliness, are con-
-stantly to be found among Prodestants of all Nations. In
a protestant village, or town, the houses were clean, wholesome,
well arranged, the people industrious & cheerful, their lands
well-cultivated & their dress neat. Among the R. C. are
found on the contrary idleness, dirt, beggary & misery in their
extreme, in fact quite the reverse of what I have said
of the Protestant. I conclude therefore, in the teeth of their
Many gilded Churches, & imperious Ministry, wallowing
in the [sick/rich?] mire of their religious impositions
| p. 2722d. (File at Hotel: 5.[Frid?]10th)
Rec'd [alive?] I was glad to greet my insufferable [couch?]
at an early hour & commence my promenade on the
town. [Ablence?] is now in the hands of the [supiders?], whose
making extensive fortifications in it's neighbourhood. The
streets are narrow, & wretchedly paved, & altogether it was
one of the most miserably & uncomfortable towns I had seen
on my tour. The Prussians have adopted one of it's Churches
for a depositary of military stores, & another has been con-
-verted into a Granary. It is really lamentable to see such
fine buildings so degraded, with many of their side altars
still standing, & the columns & pictures as yet bearing mourn-
-ful testimony to their former grandeur & design. But per-
-haps it does not follow, that either the Religion or the morals
of the people of Coblence, should be on the decline, because the
number of their useless Priests are diminished, on the altars
of their idolatrous mode of worship be made subserviant
to secular purposes. It is not from the number of sacred edifices,
or from the wealth of a Priesthood, that we are to form an estimate
of the spiritual condition of a people, but from those virtues,
the fruits of sound & real Religion, which shew themselves
daily in the common circumstances of life, & give a sacred
character to the moral energies of a state. But I have observed,
among the R. C.. of the Continent, generally speaking, a piteable
absence of that industry activity & above all their cleanliness,
& good order, which, themselves [?] next to Godliness, are con-
-stantly to be found among Prodestants of all Nations. In
a protestant village, or town, the houses were clean, wholesome,
well arranged, the people industrious & cheerful, their lands
well-cultivated & their dress neat. Among the R. C. are
found on the contrary idleness, dirt, beggary & misery in their
extreme, in fact quite the reverse of what I have said
of the Protestant. I conclude therefore, in the teeth of their
Many gilded Churches, & imperious Ministry, wallowing
in the [sick/rich?] mire of their religious impositions
|
EN