Note 87 — Chapter VIII

This Emperor, who, to use his own words, “with the best intentions, never carried a single project into execution,” in his laudable attempts to purify religion from the dregs of superstition, reduced the number of convents in Austria from two thousand and twenty-four, to seven hundred. Vide Coxe’s History of the House of Austria. The learned Archdeacon has justly and eloquently described the character of the kind-hearted but inconsistent Joseph; but I am at a loss to know why a Christian minister should include the following ordinance amongst “the childish and ridiculous regulations” of the Emperor. “Thou shalt forbear all occasions of dispute relative to matters of faith; and thou shalt, according to the true principles of Christianity, affectionately and kindly treat those who are not of thy communion.” (Ord. October 24, 1781.)