external form was still Lamennais' hope. He had ideal- ized the Church, and would now seek a like panacea in a social reorganizati(jn (see Brit, and For. Evangel. Re- view, Oct. 18G3, p. 731). This work was severely con- demned by a special decree of Gregory XVI, Aug. 7, 1834. In the 'Affaires de Home (Paris, 1836) Lamennais en- ters fuUy upon the fnial period of his life. He here breaks cop^pletely and irrevocably with the Church; de- clares the Roman hierarchy, of which he had long been the champion, to be incompatible with a true Christian- ity and a true humanism, and hereafter Lamennais was regarded by the Church authorities as an apostate. Like Luther, Ulrich von llutten, and many other great men, Lamennais had been completely disenchanted by the sight of the corruptions of Rome in her very strong- hold. " His strong and clear vision saw in her but a corpse whicli it was vain to attempt to resuscitate ; a conglomerate religion made up of Christianity perverted by Jewish symbolism, and degraded and sensualized by Oriental and classical mythology and philosophy. Yet he hesitated long before he could make >ip his mind ti) deny his whole previous life, to forsake and repudiate what he had formerly defended, to become an antago- nist of the Church of which he had formerly been the bulwark and the champion; and it required a year's meditation and self-examination, amid the woods of his paternal domain of La Chesnaye, before he resolved final- ly and forever to break with the Church of Rome. In a worldly point of view, be had everything to lose and nothing to gain by the course which he pursued, and it required no ordinary courage, no small portion of the martyr-spirit to act as he acted" {For. and Brit. Erang. Review, Oct. 18G3, p. 730). In 1837 he began to edit a daily journal, Le livre du Peiiple. His work, Le Pai/s et le Gouvernement (1840), was obnoxious to the authorities, and caused the author two years' imprisonment and a tine of 2000 francs. The most important and elaborate work of the latter days of Lamennais is his Esqtiisse d'line Philosophie, in 4 volumes (Paris, 1840-4G) ; a w^rk elo- quent and religious in tone, and exhibiting the author's general philosophical conceptions in this later period of his life. Here the authoritative ground of certainty is found, not in the common testimony of mankind, but in the common reason. Pliilosophy is understood in a broad sense, having for its range the facts of general being ; it is not merely a matter of psychology or metaphysics. The method of this philosophy is the assumption of cer- tain foundation truths which all mankind admit. Al)- solute existence is not capable of proof, and in like man- ner God and the world are two fundamental assump- tions. God has in his own essence necessity and varie- ty. He is an eternal conscious Ego. He has the tri- une attributes of power, intelligence, and love, uhicli in Scripture language are exi)ressed as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God has society within himself, v.i the type of a'u society, and the three attributes produce and ex- plain the laws of whatever is outside of God. These attributes are recognised as controlling elements through every development of tiiis idiilosophical system. Crea- tion is not emanation, hut the original divine ideas are made real by CnKX»J'rce poiver. This is not Pantheism or Dualism. IMatter arises under the mysterious power of God in the limitation of individuals. Properly speak- ing, matter is not a distinct entity ; it is but a limitation of that which exists. Time and space, the modes of our existence, are the limitations of eternity and im- mensity, which are tlie modes of God's existence. The nature of the universe is to be determined by the aid of the disclosures of science, but the laws of its existence and operation in the forms of inorganic, organic, and in- tellectual being are determined by the applicati<in of the principles inherent in the three divine attributes, ilan is the most elevated of the beings known to us. The great ]iroblem concerning man is the origin of moral evil. This is to be explained as a limitation of the free moral agent in his connnunion with (iod. Thus, al- though iuirtfid to the subject, the actuality of moral evil
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does not introduce any positive disorder into the nni- vcrse regarded as a realization of the divine ideas. The true purpose of man's life is to free himself from this state of isolation, of negation in self, and come into en- tire harmony with the divine will. The application of this svstem to the several faculties and pursuits of man is developed at large. Hope for the world thus lies in the development of the people. Religion and nature will issue in one when fully disclosed. Everything in the \vork seems to proceed from a religions, but no lon- ger churchly stand -point.
Lamennais' Discussions Critiques et pensees diverses sur III Rcliniim et la Philosophie (Paris, 18-11) gives the author's views on social questions. In place of the Church autliority whose claims he formerly advocated, he would now have the democratic theocracy honored. This is in great measure a retraction of his work Sur V iiuliffe rence en maiiere de Religion. Of similar im- port is La Relifjion du piosse et de Farenir du Penple (1842). It is no longer the future of the Church of which he speaks, but of the people. His Church is now the religion of brotherly love, and he will have it rise upon the ruins of both Komanism and Protestantism. Amschaspaiuls et Darvans (1843), and Les evangiles, tra- duction nouvelle avec des notes et des reflexions (184G), were issued professedly as a defence for the people against a mythological and superstitious credulity. La- mennais was greatly interested in the February Kevolu- tion, and exerted his intluence to prevent acts of vio- lence against the Church and religious interests. Grat- itude for his services in this regard led to his election to the Assembly from the department of the Seine, and in his seat he ahvays sided with the Left. He is said to have spoken but once, and that in opposition to the dic- tatorship of Cavaignac. He undertook the editorship, conjointly with I'ascal Duj)rat, of the journal Le Peuple Consiitudiit. He was grieved by the violence of the Red Republicans, though still steadfast in his hope of the democracy; and was forced into retirement by the coup d'etat, meeting with disappointment in this direction likewise. Nothing, however, availed to change the views he had in later years adopted, and the Church sought in vain, through the intluence of relatives, to re- call him to her ftiith on his dying bed. He died at Par- is, in the Rue du Grand Chartres, Feb. 27, 1854. He had refused to see a minister, and his wiU ordered that no fonnal ceremony sho\dd attend his burial. He wished his holly to be placed in the corbillard des pauvres, or pauper's hearse, and this direction was complied with. His remains were followed by a few friends, as Beran- ger and Gamier Pages, and also, notwithstanding the police prohibition, by a large number of the people, who gatheretl at the cemetery Pere la Chaise. No prayer was uttered, nor last word said, and the remains were placed in the common grave, without cross or stone to mark their resting-place. Lamennais was small of stature, though of attractive physiognomy; somewhat slow and hesitating in speech, with something of the Bretagnc dialect; less able with his tongue than with his pen. His family had lost most of their property in the lirst Revolution, and he himself a large part of his own through misplaced confidence. In later j'ears he resided mostly on a small estate in Lachesnaye, near Dinau, in Hretagne.