It is, undoubtedly, because a similar authority appears absolutely necessary to the maintenance of public order, that several philosophic writers have endeavoured to introduce it as a principle of atheism. In such a system the whole is fictitious; they speak of our blushing at the recollection of our follies, of dreading our own secret reproaches, and of being afraid of the condemnation, which, in the calm of reflection, we shall pronounce against ourselves; but these sentiments, which have so much force with the idea of a God, they know not what to unite them with, when they would give only for a guide the most active personal interest, and when all the grand communications, established between men by religious opinions, are absolutely broken; conscience is then an expression void of meaning, a useless word in the language. We may still feel remorse, that is to say, regret at being deceived in the pursuits of ambition, in promoting our interest, in the choice of means which we employ to obtain the respect and praise of others; in short, in the various calculations of our worldly advantage: but such remorse is only an exaltation of our self-love; we deify, in some measure, our judgment and understanding, and we make at last all our actions appear before these false idols, to reproach us with our errors and weaknesses; we thus voluntarily become our own tormentors; but when this perfection is too importunate, we have it in our power to command our tyrants to use more indulgence towards us. It is not the same with the reproaches of conscience; the sentiments which produce them have nothing compounded or artificial in them, we cannot corrupt our judge, nor enter into a compromise with him; that which seduces men never deceives him, and amidst the giddiness of prosperity, in the intoxication of the greatest success, his looks are inevitably fixed on us; and we cannot but with terror enjoy the applause and the triumphs which we have not merited.