roys his own handiwork.

"After the bloodshed of war, mankind, wearied with slaughter, will take a
few moments' repose, and then their venomous hatred will be displayed in
petty and private bickerings. Some, indeed, will every now and then
raise piles of wood and fagot, and burn those alive who disagree with
them in religion; others will attempt the solution of inexplicable
riddles; and those born for darkness will dare to struggle for light;
their imaginations will become inflamed, and their desires insatiable.
Truth, simplicity, and religion will be trodden under foot, for the sake
of writing a book. Yes, yes, book-writing will become a universal
employment, by which fools and men of genius will alike seek fame and
emolument; caring very little whether they confuse the heads of their
fellow-creatures, and hurl firebrands into the hearts of the innocent.
The heaven, the earth, the secret strength of nature, the dark causes of
her phenomena, the power which rules the stars and bowls the comets
through space,--every thing visible and invisible,--they will wish to
handle, measure, and dive into. They will invent, for all that is
incomprehensible, words and numbers; and heap system upon system, till
they have brought deeper darkness upon the earth, through which doubt,
like the fen-fire, will only shine to allure the wanderer into the
morass. Only then will they think to see clearly, and then I expect
them. After they have shovelled away religion, and are forced, out of
the remains, to patch together a new and monstrous mixture of human
wisdom and superstition, then I expect them. And then open wide the
gates of hell, that the race of man may enter. The first step is already
taken; the second is near. But this must be preceded by a horrible
revolution upon the face of the earth. Soon will the inhabitants of the
old world emigrate, for the purpose of discovering new, and to them
unknown, regions of the globe. They will there attack and slaughter
millions, to possess themselves of that gold which the innocents value
not. They will fill this new world with all their crimes, and then
return with materials for corrupting even the old one. Thus will nations
become our prey, whom till now innocence and ignorance have protected
from us. And thus shall we, by the assistance of the favourites of
heaven, triumph.

"This, then, O potentates! is what I wished to communicate to you; and
now rejoice with me over this mighty