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Jean-Baptiste Chemin-Dupontès

Contributions

  1. Il calendario repubblicano translation publisher
  2. Instruction élémentaire sur la morale religieuse, par demandes et par réponses has translation author
  3. Le calendrier républicain, poëme. Avec la traduction en italien, précédé d'une lettre du citoyen Lalande, suivi de trente-six hymnes pour les trente-six décadis de l'année, d'une Ode au Vengeur, accompagnée d'une lettre au citoyen Saint-Ange, et de plusieurs autres poëmes has translation publisher
  4. Morale des sages de tous les pays et de tous les siècles, ou Collection épurée des moralistes anciens et modernes has translation author publisher
  5. Sonetto di G. Povoleri, per celebrare il giorni in cui fu proclamato l'atto del Popolo sovrano, nella piazza del Campidoglio, in presenza del generale Berthier has translation publisher
  6. Sonnet du citoyen Povoleri, pour célébrer le jour ou fut proclamé l'acte de souveraineté du Peuple Romain, sur la place du Capitole, et en présence du général Berthier translation publisher

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Chemin-Dupontès was the official printer for the department of Paris and its electoral assembly from 1791-93. A dedicated freemason, he was one of the founders of Theophilanthropy ("Love of God and Man") in the autumn of 1796, an austere, new religious cult that sought to combine Rousseau's Deism with Robespierre's notion of 'civic virtue'. Initially confined to a handful of families, they resolved at a meeting in January 1797 to set up two committees for moral direction and financial administration.

Following the coup of 18 Fructidor (4 September) 1797, when the Directory seized power, the nascent sect found an influential protector in Louis Marie de La Révellière-Lépeaux, who advocated its adoption as a state religion in a speech to the Institut des Arts et Sciences on 1 May 1797. It was soon being practised in some of Paris' great churches, such as Notre Dame, taking a leading role in national celebrations, and spreading out to the provinces, especially in the Department of Yonne. Despite strong opposition from Catholics and the constitutional clergy, including abbé Grégoire, the movement gained some popularity until the Directory, under Napoleon Bonaparte's influence, brought it to an abrupt end.

Chemin-Dupontès was the author of its manifesto, 'Manuel des théopanthropophiles' (1796). It proposed a governing body consisting of a spiritual ('comité de direction morale') and administrative committee. Its underlying dogmas regarding belief in the existence of God and the immortality of the soul were considered sentimental beliefs ("croyances de sentiment") necessary for the preservation of society and the welfare of individuals, while its main focus was on moral teaching. Its guiding principle was the promotion of good actions over evil ones in order to preserve and perfect humankind.

Thomas Paine's speech to the Society of Theophilanthropists was published by the English Press in Paris in, 'A Letter to the Hon. Thomas Erskine, on the Prosecution of Thomas Williams for publishing the Age of Reason. By Thomas Paine, Author of Common Sense, Rights of Man, etc. With his discourse at the Society of the Theophilanthropists' (Sep 1797). The prosecution, while not technically brought by the Crown, was made in collusion with it by the newly formed 'Society for carrying into effect His Majesty's Proclamation against Vice and Immorality''. Erskine had previously successfully defended Paine at his trial for sedition for publishing the 'Rights of Man' .