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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Letters to Eugenia, by Baron d'Holbach
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Letters to Eugenia
+       or, a Preservative Against Religious Prejudices
+
+Author: Baron d'Holbach
+
+Translator: Anthony C. Middleton
+
+Release Date: February 14, 2010 [EBook #31275]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS TO EUGENIA ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div class="trnote">
+<h2>Transcriber's note</h2>
+<ul>
+<li>The <a href="#footnotes">footnotes</a> have been collected and
+  compiled in a list at the end of the book.</li>
+<li>Some shortcuts are provided here for ease of navigation:
+<ul>
+<li><a href="#NAIGEONS_PREFACE">Naigeon's Preface.</a></li>
+<li><a href="#TRANSLATORS_PREFACE">Translator's Preface.</a></li>
+<li><a href="#CONTENTS">Main Table of Contents.</a></li>
+</ul></li>
+</ul>
+</div>
+
+<div class="front">
+<h1 class="caps">Letters to Eugenia;</h1>
+
+<p class="center caps"><span class="smaller">or,</span><br /><br />
+A Preservative<br /><br />
+<span class="larger">Against Religious Prejudices.</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="caps">by Baron d'Holbach,</h2>
+<p class="blockcenter caps smaller">Author of The System of Nature, The Social System, Good
+Sense, Christianity Unveiled, Ecce Homo, Universal
+Morality, Religious Cruelty, <span class="uncap">&amp;c., &amp;c., &amp;c.</span></p>
+
+<p class="center caps"><span class="smaller">Translated from the French, by</span>
+<span class="larger"><br />Anthony C. Middleton, M. D.</span></p>
+
+<p class="center"><span style="margin-left: 20%">... "Arctis</span><br />
+Religionum animos nodis exsolvere pergo."<br />
+<span class="smaller" style="margin-left: 30%"><span class="smcap">Lucretii</span> <i>De Rerum Natura</i>, lib. iv. <i>v.</i> 6, 7.</span></p>
+
+<p class="center caps">Boston:<br />
+Published By Josiah P. Mendum,<br />
+<span class="smaller">At The Office Of The Boston Investigator.</span><br />
+1857.</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+<hr class="w65" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[Pg iii]</a></span></p>
+<h2 class="caps"><a name="NAIGEONS_PREFACE" id="NAIGEONS_PREFACE"></a>Naigeon's Preface.</h2>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="smcap">1768.</p></div>
+<hr class="w15" />
+
+<p>For many years this work has been known
+under the title of <i>Letters to Eugenia</i>. The secretive
+character of those, however, into whose hands
+the manuscript at first fell; the singular and yet
+actual pleasure that is caused generally enough in
+the minds of all men by the exclusive possession
+of any object whatever; that kind of torpor, servitude,
+and terror in which the tyrannical power of
+the priests then held all minds&mdash;even those who
+by the superiority of their talents ought naturally
+to be the least disposed to bend under the odious
+yoke of the clergy,&mdash;all these circumstances
+united contributed so much to stifle in its birth,
+if I may so express myself, this important manuscript,
+that for a long time it was supposed to be
+lost; so much did those who possessed it keep it
+carefully concealed, and so constantly did they
+refuse to allow a copy to be taken. The manuscripts,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[Pg iv]</a></span>
+indeed, were so scarce, even in the libraries
+of the curious, that the late M. De Boze, whose
+pleasure it was to collect the rarest works belonging
+to every species of literature, could never
+succeed in acquiring a copy of the <i>Letters to Eugenia</i>,
+and in his time there were only three in
+Paris; it may have been from design, <i>propter
+metum Jud&aelig;orum</i>;<a name="FNanchor_1" id="FNanchor_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> it may have been there were
+actually no more known.</p>
+
+<p>It is not till within five or six years that MSS.
+of these letters have become more common; and
+there is reason to believe that they are now considerably
+multiplied, since the copy from which
+this edition is printed has been revised and corrected
+by collation with six others, that have been
+collected without any great difficulty. Unhappily,
+all these copies swarm with faults, which corrupt
+the sense, and comprehend many variations, but
+which also, to use the language of the Biblical
+critics, have served sometimes to discover and to
+fix the true reading! More often, however, they
+have rendered it more uncertain than it was before
+what one ought to be followed&mdash;a new proof of
+the multiplicity of copies, because the more numerous
+are the manuscripts of a work, the more
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span>
+they differ from each other, as any one may be
+fully convinced by consulting those of the <i>Letter
+of Thrasybulus to Leucippus</i>, and the various readings
+of the New Testament collected by the
+learned Mill, and which amount to more than
+thirty thousand.</p>
+
+<p>However this may be, we have spared no pains
+to re&euml;stablish the text in all its purity; and we
+venture to say, that, with the exception of four or
+five passages, which we found corrupted in all the
+manuscripts that we had an opportunity to collate,
+and which we have amended to the best of our
+ability, the edition of these letters that we now
+offer to the reader will probably conform almost
+exactly with the original manuscript of the
+author.</p>
+
+<p>With regard to the author's name and quality
+we can offer nothing but conjectures. The only
+particulars of his life upon which there is a general
+agreement are, that he lived upon terms of great
+intimacy with the Marquis de la Fare, the Abb&eacute;
+de Chaulieu, the Abb&eacute; Terrasson, Fontenelle, M.
+de Lasser&eacute;, &amp;c. The late MM. Du Marsais and
+Falconnet have often been heard to declare that
+these letters were composed by some one belonging
+to the school of Seaux. All that we can pronounce
+with certainty is the fact, that it is only
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span>
+necessary to read the work to be entirely convinced
+the author was a man of extensive knowledge,
+and one who had meditated profoundly concerning
+the matters upon which he has treated. His style
+is clear, simple, easy, and in which we may remark
+a certain urbanity, that leads us to be sure that he
+was not an obscure individual, nor one to whom
+good company and polished society were unfamiliar.
+But what especially distinguishes this
+work, and which should endear it to all good
+and virtuous people, is the signal honesty which
+pervades and characterizes it from the very beginning
+to the end. It is impossible to read it
+without conceiving the highest idea of the author's
+probity, whoever he may have been&mdash;without
+desiring to have had him for a friend, to have
+lived with him, and, in a word, without rendering
+justice to the rectitude of his intentions, even
+when we do not approve of his sentiments. The
+love of virtue, universal benevolence, respect to
+the laws, an inviolable attachment to the duties
+of morality, and, in fine, all that can contribute
+to render men better, is strongly recommended in
+these Letters. If, on the one hand, he completely
+overthrows the ruinous edifice of Christianity, it is
+to erect, on the other hand, the immovable foundations
+of a system of morality legitimately established
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span>
+upon the nature of man, upon his physical
+wants, and upon his social relations&mdash;a base infinitely
+better and more solid than that of religion,
+because sooner or later the lie is discovered, rejected,
+and necessarily drags with it what served
+to sustain it. On the contrary, the truth subsists
+eternally, and consolidates itself as it grows old:
+<i>Opinionum commenta delet dies, natur&aelig; judicia
+confirmat</i>.<a name="FNanchor_2" id="FNanchor_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p>
+
+<p>The motto affixed to many of the manuscript
+copies of these letters proves that the worthy man
+to whom we owe them did not desire to be known
+as their author, and that it was neither the love
+of reputation, nor the thirst of glory, nor the ambition
+of being distinguished by bold opinions,
+which the priests, and the satellites subjected to
+them by ignorance, denominate <i>impieties</i>, which
+guided his pen. It was only the desire of doing
+good to his fellow-beings by enlightening them,
+which actuated him, and the wish to uproot, so
+to speak, religion itself, as being the source of all
+the woes which have afflicted mankind for so many
+ages. This is the motto of which we spoke:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p style="margin: 0px auto; width: 18em;">
+"Si j'ai raison, qu'importe &agrave; qui je suis?"<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(If reason's mine, no matter who I am.)</span><br />
+
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It is a verse of Corneille, whose application is
+exceedingly appropriate, and which should be upon
+the frontispiece of all books of this nature.</p>
+
+<p>We are unable to say any thing more certain
+concerning the person to whom our author has
+addressed his work. It appears, however, from
+many circumstances in these Letters, that she was
+not a supposititious marchioness, like her of the
+<i>Worlds</i> of M. de Fontenelle, and that they have
+really been written to a woman as distinguished
+by her rank as by her manners. Perhaps she was
+a lady of the school of the Temple, or of Seaux.
+But these details, in reality, as well as those which
+concern the name and the life of our author, the
+date of his birth, that of his death, &amp;c., are of
+little importance, and could only serve to satisfy
+the vain curiosity of some idle readers, who avidiously
+collect these kind of anecdotes, who receive
+from them a kind of existence in the world, and
+who feel more satisfaction from being instructed
+in them than from the discovery of a truth. I
+know that they endeavor to justify their curiosity
+by saying that when a person reads a book which
+creates a public sensation, and with which he is
+himself much pleased, it is natural he should desire
+to know to whom a grateful homage should
+be addressed. In this case the desire is so much
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span>
+the more unreasonable because it cannot be satisfied;
+first, because when death and proscription is
+the penalty, there has never been and there never
+will be a man of letters so imprudent, and, to
+speak plainly, so strangely daring, as to publish,
+or during his life to allow a book to be printed,
+in which he tramples under foot temples, altars,
+and the statues of the gods, and where he attacks
+without any disguise the most consecrated religious
+opinions; secondly, because it is a matter
+of public notoriety that all the works of this character
+which have appeared for many years are the
+secret testaments of numbers of great men, obliged
+during their lives to conceal their light under a
+bushel, whose heads death has withdrawn from
+the fury of persecutors, and whose cold ashes, consequently,
+do not hear in the tomb either the importunate
+and denunciatory cries of the superstitious,
+or the just eulogiums of the friends of truth;
+thirdly and lastly, <i>because this curiosity, so unfortunately
+entertained, may compromise in the most
+cruel manner the repose, the fortune, and the liberty
+of the relatives and friends of the authors of these
+bold books!</i> This single consideration ought, then,
+to determine those hazarders of conjectures, if they
+have really good intentions, to wrap in the inmost
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</a></span>
+folds of their hearts whatever suspicions they may
+entertain concerning the author, however true or
+false they may be, and to turn their inquiring
+spirits to a use more beneficial for both themselves
+and others.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="w65" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[Pg xi]</a></span></p>
+<h2 class="caps"><a name="TRANSLATORS_PREFACE" id="TRANSLATORS_PREFACE"></a>Translator's Preface.</h2>
+<hr class="w15" />
+
+
+<p>In 1819 an anonymous translation of the <span class="smcap">Letters
+To Eugenia</span> was published in London by
+Richard Carlile. This translation in some of its
+parts was sufficiently complete and correct, but in
+others it was at absolute variance with the original
+work; in other parts, also, it was interlarded with
+matter not written by d'Holbach; and in others,
+large portions of the original Letters were entirely
+omitted, as were likewise a number of notes and
+the whole of the preliminary observations, with
+which the volume was introduced to the public by
+Naigeon, so long the intimate friend of both d'Holbach
+and Diderot. In again presenting the work
+in an English dress, the London translation has
+been made the foundation of this, but the whole
+has been thoroughly revised and collated with the
+original. The omitted portions have been translated
+and inserted in their proper places, and though
+some passages of the London work, not entirely
+faithful to the original, have been allowed to stand,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[Pg xii]</a></span>
+yet the book, as it now appears, is essentially a
+new one, and is the most accurate and complete
+translation of the <span class="smcap">Letters to Eugenia</span> which has
+ever been made into the English language.</p>
+
+<p>The work at first came anonymously from the
+press, and the mystery of its authorship was sedulously
+maintained in the introductory observations
+of Naigeon, in consequence of the danger which
+then attended the issue of Infidel productions, not
+only in France but throughout Christendom. The
+book was printed in Amsterdam, at d'Holbach's
+own expense, by Marc-Michael Rey, a noble printer,
+to whom the world is greatly indebted for the inestimable
+aid he rendered the philosophers. But bold
+as he was, and then living in a country the most
+free of any in the world, he dared not openly send
+these <span class="smcap">Letters</span> from his own press. They were
+issued in 1768, in two duodecimo volumes, without
+any publisher's name, and with the imprint of
+<i>London</i> on the title page, in order to set those persecutors
+at bay who were prowling for victims,
+and who sought to burn author, printer, and book
+at the same pile. The prudence of the author and
+printer saved <i>them</i> from this fate; but the book had
+hardly reached France before its sale was forbidden
+under penalty of fines and imprisonment, and it
+was condemned by an act of Parliament to be
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">[Pg xiii]</a></span>
+burnt by the public executioner in the streets of
+Paris, all of which particulars will be narrated in
+the <span class="smcap">Biographical Memoir of Baron d'Holbach</span>,
+which I am now preparing for the press.</p>
+
+<p>Of the excellence of the <span class="smcap">Letters to Eugenia</span>,
+nothing need here be said. The work speaks for
+itself, and abounds in that eloquence peculiar to
+its author, and overflows with kindly sentiments of
+humanity, benevolence and virtue. Like d'Holbach's
+other works, it is distinguished by an ardent
+love of liberty, and an invincible hatred of despotism;
+by an unanswerable logic, by deep thought,
+and by profound ideas. The tyrant and the priest
+are both displayed in their true colors; but while
+the author shows himself inexorable as fate towards
+oppressive hierarchies and false ideas, he is tender
+as an infant to the unfortunate, to those overburdened
+with unreasonable impositions, to those who
+need consolation and guidance, and to those searching
+after truth. Addressed, as the <span class="smcap">Letters</span> were,
+to a lady suffering from religious falsehoods and
+terrors, the object of the writer is set forth in the
+motto from Lucretius which he placed on the title
+page, and which may thus be expressed in English:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Reason's pure light I seek to give the mind,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And from Religion's fetters free mankind."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p class="sig0">A. C. M.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xiv" id="Page_xiv">[Pg xiv]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The name of the lady was designedly kept in
+secrecy, and was unknown, except to <i>a very few</i>,
+till some years after d'Holbach's death. We now
+know from the <i>Feuilles Posthumes</i> of Lequinio,
+who had it from Naigeon, that the <i>Letters</i> were
+written several years before their publication, for
+the instruction of a lady formerly distinguished at
+the French Court for her graces and virtues. They
+were addressed to the charming Marguerite, Marchioness
+de Vermandois. Her husband held the
+lucrative post of farmer-general to the king, and
+besides inherited large estates. He possessed excellent
+natural abilities, and his mind was strengthened
+and adorned by culture and letters. Had his
+modesty permitted him to appear as such, he would
+now be known as a poet of genius and merit, for
+he wrote some poems and plays that were much
+admired by all who were allowed to peruse them.
+He was married in 1763, on the day he completed
+his twenty-first year, to Marguerite Justine d'Estrades,
+then only nineteen years of age, and whom
+he saw for the first time in his life only six weeks
+before they became husband and wife. Like most
+of the matches then made among the higher classes
+in France, this was one of a purely mercenary
+character. The father of the Marquis de Vermandois,
+and the father of Marguerite, as a means of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xv" id="Page_xv">[Pg xv]</a></span>
+joining their estates, contracted their children without
+deigning to consult the wishes of the parties,
+and obedience or disinheritance was the only alternative.
+When the compact was concluded, Marguerite
+was taken from the convent where for five
+years she had lived as a boarder and scholar, and
+commenced her married life and her course in the
+fashionable world at the same time. The match
+was far more fortunate than such matches then
+generally proved to be. Marguerite's husband was
+passionately attached to her, and that attachment
+was returned. The Marquis was a friend of Baron
+d'Holbach, and soon after his marriage introduced
+his wife to him. Among all the beauties of Paris
+the Marchioness was one of the most lovely and
+fascinating. Her features were remarkably beautiful,
+and the bloom and clearness of her complexion
+were such as absolutely to render necessary the old
+comparison of the rose and the lily to do them
+justice. To these were added a voluptuous figure,
+agreeable manners, the graces and vivacity of wit,
+and the still more enduring attractions of good
+humor, purity, and benevolence. A female like
+her could not but be dear to all who enjoyed her
+intimacy, and a strong friendship sprang up between
+her and Baron d'Holbach. Greatly pleased
+with him at first, Marguerite was afterwards as
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xvi" id="Page_xvi">[Pg xvi]</a></span>
+greatly shocked. When their intercourse had become
+so familiar as to permit that frankness and
+freedom of conversation which prevails among intimate
+friends, she discovered that the Baron was
+an unbeliever in the Christian dogmas which she
+had learned at the convent, where, in consequence
+of her mother's death, she had been educated. She
+had been taught that an Infidel was a monster in
+all respects, and she was astounded to find unbelievers
+in men so agreeable in manners and person,
+and so profound in learning, as d'Holbach, Diderot,
+d'Alembert, and others. She could deny neither
+their goodness nor their intellectual qualities, and
+while she admired the individuals she shuddered at
+their incredulity. Especially did she mourn over
+Baron d'Holbach. He had a wife as charming as
+herself, formerly the lovely Mademoiselle d'A&iuml;ne,
+whose beautiful features and seductive figure presented</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"A combination, and a form, indeed,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Where every god did seem to set his seal."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Nothing was more natural than that two such
+women should imbibe the deepest tenderness for
+each other. But alas! the Baron's wife was tainted
+with her husband's heresies; and yet in their home
+did the Marchioness see all the domestic virtues
+exemplified, and beheld that sweet harmony and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xvii" id="Page_xvii">[Pg xvii]</a></span>
+unchangeable affection for which the d'Holbachs
+were eminently distinguished among their acquaintances,
+and which was remarkable from its striking
+contrast with the courtly and Christian habits of
+the day. At a loss what to do, the Marchioness
+consulted her confessor, and was advised to withdraw
+entirely from the society of the Baron and
+his wife, unless she was willing to sacrifice all her
+hopes of heaven, and to plunge headlong down to
+hell. Her natural good sense and love of her
+friends struggled with her monastic education and
+reverence for the priests. The conflict rendered
+her miserable; and unable to enjoy happiness, she
+brooded over her wishes and her terrors. In this
+state of mind she at length wrote a touching letter
+to the Baron, and laid open her situation, requesting
+him to comfort, console, and enlighten her.
+Such was the origin of the book now presented in
+an English dress to the reader. It accomplished
+its purpose with the Marchioness de Vermandois,
+and afterwards its author concluded to publish the
+work, in hopes it might be equally useful to others.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Letters</i> were <i>written</i> in 1764, when d'Holbach
+was in the forty-second year of his age. Twelve
+different works he had before written and published,
+and all without the affix of his name. <i>Eleven</i>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xviii" id="Page_xviii">[Pg xviii]</a></span>
+were upon mineralogy, the arts and the sciences,
+and <i>one</i> only upon theology. That <i>one</i> had been
+secretly printed in 1761, at Nancy, with the imprint
+of London, and was <i>honored</i> with a parliamentary
+statute condemning its publication and forbidding
+its sale or circulation. Christian hatred bestowed
+upon it the additional honor of causing it to be
+burned in the streets of Paris by the public executioner.
+But the prudence of the author protected
+his life. He attributed the book to a dead man,
+who had been known to entertain sceptical views.
+It was entitled <span class="smcap">Christianity Unveiled</span>, and bore
+on its title page the name of <span class="smcap">Boulanger</span>. This
+was d'Holbach's first contribution to Infidel literature,
+and the second similar work written by him
+was the <span class="smcap">Letters to Eugenia</span>. These were the preludes
+to more than a quarter of a hundred different
+productions numbering among them such books
+as <i>Good Sense</i>, <i>The System of Nature</i>, <i>Ecce Homo</i>,
+<i>Priests Unmasked</i>, &amp;c., &amp;c., all printed anonymously
+or pseudonymously at his own expense, without a
+possibility of pecuniary advantage, and with such
+extraordinary secrecy as to show that he was actuated
+by no desire of literary fame. It was love of
+truth alone that impelled d'Holbach to write. Brilliant,
+profound, eloquent and excellent as were his
+writings, attracting notice as they did from the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xix" id="Page_xix">[Pg xix]</a></span>
+civil and religious powers, commented upon as they
+were by such men as Voltaire and Frederick the
+Great, admired as they were by that class who felt
+and combated the evils of tyranny as well as of
+religion, of kings as well as of priests,&mdash;that class
+who almost drew their life from the books of him
+and his compeers,&mdash;he was never seduced from
+the rule he originally laid down for his literary
+conduct.</p>
+
+<p>A very few persons he was obliged to trust in
+order to get his writings printed, and but for that
+fact Baron d'Holbach would now only be known
+as a gentleman of great wealth, extensive benevolence,
+and uncommon liberality, as a man of profound
+learning and agreeable colloquial powers,
+as the bountiful friend of men of letters, as the
+soother of the distressed, as the protector of the
+miserable, and as the affectionate husband and
+father. So much of him we should have known;
+but that he was the author of those books which
+roused intolerant priests and corrupt magistrates,
+consistories and parliaments, monarchs and philosophers,
+the people and their oppressors,&mdash;that
+he was the Archimedes that thus moved the
+world,&mdash;would not have been known had he
+not employed another philosopher, by the name of
+Naigeon, to carry his manuscripts to Amsterdam,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xx" id="Page_xx">[Pg xx]</a></span>
+and to direct their printing by Marc-Michel Rey.
+It was Naigeon who carried the manuscript of the
+<span class="smcap">Letters to Eugenia</span> to Holland, together with a
+number of others by the same author, which also
+appeared during the year 1768,&mdash;an eventful year
+in the history of Infidel progress. The <i>Letters</i>
+were carefully revised by d'Holbach before they
+were sent to press. All the passages of a purely
+personal character were omitted, some new matter
+was incorporated, and some sentences were added
+purposely to keep the author and the lady he
+addressed in impenetrable obscurity. To raise the
+veil from a man of so much worth and genius, as
+well as to carry out his idea of doing good, is one
+of the reasons which have led to the present preparation
+and publication of this book.</p>
+
+<p class="sig0">A. C. M.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="w65" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxi" id="Page_xxi">[Pg xxi]</a></span></p>
+<h2 class="caps"><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>Contents.</h2>
+<hr class="w15" />
+
+<ol class="toc">
+<li><h3><a href="#LETTER_I">Letter I.</a></h3>
+<p class="smcap"><span class="tocdesc">Of the Sources of Credulity, and of the Motives which
+should lead to an Examination of Religion,</span>
+<span class="num"><span class="page">Page</span> 1</span></p></li>
+
+<li><h3><a href="#LETTER_II">Letter II.</a></h3>
+<p class="smcap"><span class="tocdesc">Of the Ideas which Religion gives us of the Divinity,</span>
+<span class="num">29</span></p></li>
+
+<li><h3><a href="#LETTER_III">Letter III.</a></h3>
+<p class="smcap"><span class="tocdesc">An Examination of the Holy Scriptures, of the Nature
+of the Christian Religion, and of the Proofs upon
+which Christianity is founded,</span>
+<span class="num">46</span></p></li>
+
+<li><h3><a href="#LETTER_IV">Letter IV.</a></h3>
+<p class="smcap"><span class="tocdesc">Of the fundamental Dogmas of the Christian Religion,</span>
+<span class="num">76</span></p></li>
+
+<li><h3><a href="#LETTER_V">Letter V.</a></h3>
+<p class="smcap"><span class="tocdesc">Of the Immortality of the Soul, and of the Dogma of
+another Life,</span>
+<span class="num">91</span></p></li>
+
+<li><h3><a href="#LETTER_VI">Letter VI.</a></h3>
+<p class="smcap"><span class="tocdesc">Of the Mysteries, Sacraments, and Religious Ceremonies
+of Christianity,</span>
+<span class="num">120</span></p></li>
+
+
+<li><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxii" id="Page_xxii">[Pg xxii]</a></span>
+<h3><a href="#LETTER_VII">Letter VII.</a></h3>
+<p class="smcap"><span class="tocdesc">Of the pious Rites, Prayers, and Austerities of
+Christianity,</span>
+<span class="num">136</span></p></li>
+
+<li><h3><a href="#LETTER_VIII">Letter VIII.</a></h3>
+<p class="smcap"><span class="tocdesc">Of Evangelical Virtues and Christian Perfection,</span>
+<span class="num">154</span></p></li>
+
+<li><h3><a href="#LETTER_IX">Letter IX.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="smcap"><span class="tocdesc">Of the Advantages contributed to Government by
+Religion,</span>
+<span class="num">184</span></p></li>
+
+<li><h3><a href="#LETTER_X">Letter X.</a></h3>
+<p class="smcap"><span class="tocdesc">Of the Advantages Religion confers on those who profess
+it,</span>
+<span class="num">211</span></p></li>
+
+<li><h3><a href="#LETTER_XI">Letter XI.</a></h3>
+<p class="smcap"><span class="tocdesc">Of Human or Natural Morality,</span>
+<span class="num">233</span></p></li>
+
+<li><h3><a href="#LETTER_XII">Letter XII.</a></h3>
+<p class="smcap"><span class="tocdesc">Of the small Consequence to be attached to Men's Speculations,
+and the Indulgence which should be extended
+to them,</span>
+<span class="num">255</span></p></li>
+</ol>
+
+
+<hr class="w65" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>
+<h2 class="caps">Letters to Eugenia.</h2>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chapbreak" />
+<h2 class="caps"><a name="LETTER_I" id="LETTER_I"></a>Letter I.</h2>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="smcap">Of the Sources of Credulity, and of the Motives
+which should lead to an Examination of Religion.</p></div>
+
+
+<p>I am unable, Madam, to express the grievous
+sentiments that the perusal of your letter produced
+in my bosom. Did not a rigorous duty retain me
+where I am, you would see me flying to your succor.
+Is it, then, true that Eugenia is miserable?
+Is even she tormented with chagrin, scruples, and
+inquietudes? In the midst of opulence and grandeur;
+assured of the tenderness and esteem of a
+husband who adores you; enjoying at court the
+advantage, so rare, of being sincerely beloved by
+every one; surrounded by friends who render sincere
+homage to your talents, your knowledge, and your
+tastes,&mdash;how can you suffer the pains of melancholy
+and sorrow? Your pure and virtuous soul can
+surely know neither shame nor remorse. Always
+so far removed from the weaknesses of your sex,
+on what account can you blush? Agreeably occupied
+with your duties, refreshed with useful reading
+and entertaining conversation, and having within
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span>
+your reach every diversity of virtuous pleasures,
+how happens it that fears, distastes, and cares come
+to assail a heart for which every thing should procure
+contentment and peace? Alas! even if your
+letter had not confirmed it but too much, from the
+trouble which agitates you I should have recognized
+without difficulty the work of superstition.
+This fiend alone possesses the power of disturbing
+honest souls, without calming the passions of the
+corrupt; and when once she gains possession of a
+heart, she has the ability to annihilate its repose
+forever.</p>
+
+<p>Yes, Madam, for a long time I have known the
+dangerous effects of religious prejudices. I was
+myself formerly troubled with them. Like you I
+have trembled under the yoke of religion; and if a
+careful and deliberate examination had not fully
+undeceived me, instead of now being in a state to
+console you and to reassure you against yourself,
+you would see me at the present moment partaking
+your inquietudes, and augmenting in your mind
+the lugubrious ideas with which I perceive you to
+be tormented. Thanks to Reason and Philosophy,
+an unruffled serenity long ago irradiated my understanding,
+and banished the terrors with which I
+was formerly agitated. What happiness for me if
+the peace which I enjoy should put it in my power
+to break the charm which yet binds you with the
+chains of prejudice?</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, without your express orders, I should
+never have dared to point out to you a mode of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span>
+thinking widely different from your own, nor to
+combat the dangerous opinions to which you have
+been persuaded your happiness is attached. But
+for your request I should have continued to enclose
+in my own breast opinions odious to the most part
+of men accustomed to see nothing except by the
+eyes of judges visibly interested in deceiving them.
+Now, however, a sacred duty obliges me to speak.
+Eugenia, unquiet and alarmed, wishes me to explore
+her heart; she needs assistance; she wishes to fix
+her ideas upon an object which interests her repose
+and her felicity. I owe her the truth. It would be
+a crime longer to preserve silence. Although my
+attachment for her did not impose the necessity of
+responding to her confidence, the love of truth
+would oblige me to make efforts to dissipate the
+chimeras which render her unhappy.</p>
+
+<p>I shall proceed then, Madam, to address you with
+the most complete frankness. Perhaps at the first
+glance my ideas may appear strange; but on examining
+them with still further care and attention, they
+will cease to shock you. Reason, good faith, and
+truth cannot do otherwise than exert great influence
+over such an intellect as yours. I appeal,
+therefore, from your alarmed imagination to your
+more tranquil judgment; I appeal from custom and
+prejudice to reflection and reason. Nature has
+given you a gentle and sensible soul, and has imparted
+an exquisitely lively imagination, and a certain
+admixture of melancholy which disposes to
+despondent revery. It is from this peculiar mental
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span>
+constitution that arise the woes that now afflict
+you. Your goodness, candor, and sincerity preclude
+your suspecting in others either fraud or
+malignity. The gentleness of your character prevents
+your contradicting notions that would appear
+revolting if you deigned to examine them. You
+have chosen rather to defer to the judgment of
+others, and to subscribe to their ideas, than to consult
+your own reason and rely upon your own understanding.
+The vivacity of your imagination
+causes you to embrace with avidity the dismal
+delineations which are presented to you; certain
+men, interested in agitating your mind, abuse your
+sensibility in order to produce alarm; they cause you
+to shudder at the terrible words, <i>death</i>, <i>judgment</i>,
+<i>hell</i>, <i>punishment</i>, and <i>eternity</i>; they lead you
+to turn pale at the very name of an inflexible <i>judge</i>,
+whose absolute decrees nothing can change; you
+fancy that you see around you those demons whom
+he has made the ministers of his vengeance upon
+his weak creatures; thus is your heart filled with
+affright; you fear that at every instant you may
+offend, without being aware of it, a capricious God,
+always threatening and always enraged. In consequence
+of such a state of mind, all those moments
+of your life which should only be productive
+of contentment and peace, are constantly poisoned
+by inquietudes, scruples, and panic terrors, from
+which a soul as pure as yours ought to be forever
+exempt. The agitation into which you are thrown
+by these fatal ideas suspends the exercise of your
+faculties; your reason is misled by a bewildered
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span>
+imagination, and you are afflicted with perplexities,
+with despondency, and with suspicion of yourself.
+In this manner you become the dupe of those men
+who, addressing the imagination and stifling reason,
+long since subjugated the universe, and have actually
+persuaded reasonable beings that their reason
+is either useless or dangerous.</p>
+
+<p>Such is, Madam, the constant language of the
+apostles of superstition, whose design has always
+been, and will always continue to be, to destroy
+human reason in order to exercise their power with
+impunity over mankind. Throughout the globe
+the perfidious ministers of religion have been either
+the concealed or the declared enemies of reason,
+because they always see reason opposed to their
+views. Every where do they decry it, because they
+truly fear that it will destroy their empire by discovering
+their conspiracies and the futility of their
+fables. Every where upon its ruins they struggle
+to erect the empire of fanaticism and imagination.
+To attain this end with more certainty, they have
+unceasingly terrified mortals with hideous paintings,
+have astonished and seduced them by marvels
+and mysteries, embarrassed them by enigmas and
+uncertainties, surcharged them with observances
+and ceremonies, filled their minds with terrors and
+scruples, and fixed their eyes upon a future, which,
+far from rendering them more virtuous and happy
+here below, has only turned them from the path of
+true happiness, and destroyed it completely and forever
+in their bosoms.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Such are the artifices which the ministers of religion
+every where employ to enslave the earth and
+to retain it under the yoke. The human race, in
+all countries, has become the prey of the priests.
+The priests have given the name of <i>religion</i> to
+systems invented by them to subjugate men, whose
+imagination they had seduced, whose understanding
+they had confounded, and whose reason they
+had endeavored to extinguish.</p>
+
+<p>It is especially in infancy that the human mind
+is disposed to receive whatever impression is made
+upon it. Thus our priests have prudently seized
+upon the youth to inspire them with ideas that they
+could never impose upon adults. It is during the
+most tender and susceptible age of men that the
+priests have familiarized the understanding of our
+race with monstrous fables, with extravagant and
+disjointed fancies, and with ridiculous chimeras,
+which, by degrees, become objects that are respected
+and that are feared during life.</p>
+
+<p>We need only open our eyes to see the unworthy
+means employed by <i>sacerdotal policy</i> to stifle the
+dawning reason of men. During their infancy they
+are taught tales which are ridiculous, impertinent,
+contradictory, and criminal, and to these they are
+enjoined to pay respect. They are gradually impregnated
+with inconceivable mysteries that are
+announced as sacred truths, and they are accustomed
+to contemplate phantoms before which they
+habitually tremble. In a word, measures are taken
+which are the best calculated to render those blind
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span>
+who do not consult their reason, and to render
+those base who constantly shudder whenever they
+recall the ideas with which their priests infected
+their minds at an age when they were unable to
+guard against such snares.</p>
+
+<p>Recall to mind, Madam, the dangerous cares
+which were taken in the convent where you were
+educated, to sow in your mind the germs of those
+inquietudes that now afflict you. It was there
+that they began to speak to you of fables, prodigies,
+mysteries, and doctrines that you actually
+revere, while, if these things were announced to-day
+for the first time, you would regard them as
+ridiculous, and as entirely unworthy of attention.
+I have often witnessed your laughter at the simplicity
+with which you formerly credited those tales
+of sorcerers and ghosts, that, during your childhood,
+were related by the nuns who had charge of your
+education. When you entered society where for
+a long time such chimeras have been disbelieved,
+you were insensibly undeceived, and at present
+you blush at your former credulity. Why have
+you not the courage to laugh, in a similar manner,
+at an infinity of other chimeras with no better
+foundation, which torment you even yet, and which
+only appear more respectable, because you have
+not dared to examine them with your own eyes,
+or because you see them respected by a public who
+have never explored them? If my Eugenia is enlightened
+and reasonable upon all other topics,
+why does she renounce her understanding and her
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>
+judgment whenever religion is in question? In
+the mean time, at this redoubtable word her soul is
+disturbed, her strength abandons her, her ordinary
+penetration is at fault, her imagination wanders,
+she only sees through a cloud, she is unquiet and
+afflicted. On the watch against reason, she dares
+not call that to her assistance. She persuades herself
+that the best course for her to take is to allow
+herself to follow the opinions of a multitude who
+never examine, and who always suffer themselves
+to be conducted by blind or deceitful guides.</p>
+
+<p>To re&euml;stablish peace in your mind, dear Madam,
+cease to despise yourself; entertain a just confidence
+in your own powers of mind, and feel no chagrin at
+finding yourself infected with a general and involuntary
+epidemic from which it did not depend on
+you to escape. The good Abb&eacute; de St. Pierre had
+reason when he said that <i>devotion was the small pox
+of the soul</i>. I will add that it is rare the disease
+does not leave its pits for life. Indeed, see how
+often the most enlightened persons persist forever
+in the prejudices of their infancy! These notions
+are so early inculcated, and so many precautions
+are continually taken to render them durable, that
+if any thing may reasonably surprise us, it is to see
+any one have the ability to rise superior to such
+influences. The most sublime geniuses are often
+the playthings of superstition. The heat of their
+imagination sometimes only serves to lead them
+the farther astray, and to attach them to opinions
+which would cause them to blush did they but
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span>
+consult their reason. Pascal constantly imagined
+that he saw hell yawning under his feet; Mallebranche
+was extravagantly credulous; Hobbes had
+a great terror of phantoms and demons;<a name="FNanchor_3" id="FNanchor_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> and the
+immortal Newton wrote a ridiculous commentary
+on the vials and visions of the Apocalypse. In a
+word, every thing proves that there is nothing more
+difficult than to efface the notions with which we
+are imbued during our infancy. The most sensible
+persons, and those who reason with the most
+correctness upon every other matter, relapse into
+their infancy whenever religion is in question.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, Madam, you need not blush for a weakness
+which you hold in common with almost all
+the world, and from which the greatest men are not
+always exempt. Let your courage then revive,
+and fear not to examine with perfect composure
+the phantoms which alarm you. In a matter which
+so greatly interests your repose, consult that enlightened
+reason which places you as much above
+the vulgar, as it elevates the human species above
+the other animals. Far from being suspicious of
+your own understanding and intellectual faculties,
+turn your just suspicion against those men, far
+less enlightened and honest than you, who, to vanquish
+you, only address themselves to your lively
+imagination; who have the cruelty to disturb the
+serenity of your soul; who, under the pretext of
+attaching you only to heaven, insist that you must
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>
+sunder the most tender and endearing ties; and in
+fine, who oblige you to proscribe the use of that
+beneficent reason whose light guides your conduct
+so judiciously and so safely.</p>
+
+<p>Leave inquietude and remorse to those corrupt
+women who have cause to reproach themselves, or
+who have crimes to expiate. Leave superstition to
+those silly and ignorant females whose narrow
+minds are incapable of reasoning or reflection.
+Abandon the futile and trivial ceremonies of an
+objectionable devotion to those idle and peevish
+women, for whom, as soon as the transient reign
+of their personal charms is finished, there remains
+no rational relaxation to fill the void of their days,
+and who seek by slander and treachery to console
+themselves for the loss of pleasures which they can
+no longer enjoy. Resist that inclination which
+seems to impel you to gloomy meditation, solitude,
+and melancholy. Devotion is only suited to inert
+and listless souls, while yours is formed for action.
+You should pursue the course I recommend for the
+sake of your husband, whose happiness depends
+upon you; you owe it to the children, who will
+soon, undoubtedly, need all your care and all your
+instructions for the guidance of their hearts and understandings;
+you owe it to the friends who honor
+you, and who will value your society when the
+beauty which now adorns your person and the voluptuousness
+which graces your figure have yielded
+to the inroads of time; you owe it to the circle in
+which you move, and to the world which has a
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>
+right to your example, possessing as you do virtues
+that are far more rare to persons of your rank than
+devotion. In fine, you owe happiness to yourself;
+for, notwithstanding the promises of religion, you
+will never find happiness in those agitations into
+which I perceive you cast by the lurid ideas of
+superstition. In this path you will only encounter
+doleful chimeras, frightful phantoms, embarrassments
+without end, crushing uncertainties, inexplicable
+enigmas, and dangerous reveries, which
+are only calculated to disturb your repose, to deprive
+you of happiness, and to render you incapable
+of occupying yourself with that of others. It
+is very difficult to make those around us happy
+when we are ourselves miserable and deprived of
+peace.</p>
+
+<p>If you will even slightly make observations upon
+those about you, you will find abundant proofs of
+what I advance. The most religious persons are
+rarely the most amiable or the most social. Even
+the most sincere devotion, by subjecting those who
+embrace it to wearisome and crippling ceremonies,
+by occupying their imaginations with lugubrious
+and afflicting objects, by exciting their zeal, is but
+little calculated to give to devotees that equality
+of temper, that sweetness of an indulgent disposition,
+and that amenity of character, which constitute
+the greatest charms of personal intercourse.
+A thousand examples might be adduced to convince
+you that devotees who are the most occupied
+in superstitious observances to please God are not
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>
+those women who succeed best in pleasing those
+by whom they are surrounded. If there seems to
+be occasionally an exception to this rule, it is on
+the part of those who have not all the zeal and
+fervor which is exacted by their religion. Devotion
+is either a morose and melancholy passion, or it is
+a violent and obstinate enthusiasm. Religion imposes
+an exclusive and entire regard upon its slaves.
+All that an acceptable Christian gives to a fellow-creature
+is a robbery from the Creator. A soul
+filled with religious fervor fears to attach itself to
+things of the earth, lest it should lose sight of its
+jealous God, who wishes to engross constant attention,
+who lays it down as a duty to his creatures
+that they should sacrifice to him their most agreeable
+and most innocent inclinations, and who orders
+that they should render themselves miserable here
+below, under the idea of pleasing him. In accordance
+with such principles, we generally see devotees
+executing with much fidelity the duty of tormenting
+themselves and disturbing the repose of others.
+They actually believe they acquire great merit with
+the Sovereign of heaven by rendering themselves
+perfectly useless, or even a scourge to the inhabitants
+of the earth.</p>
+
+<p>I am aware, Madam, that devotion in you does
+not produce effects injurious to others; but I fear
+that it is only more injurious to yourself. The
+goodness of your heart, the sweetness of your disposition,
+and the beneficence which displays itself
+in all your conduct, are all so great that even religion
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>
+does not impel you to any dangerous excesses.
+Nevertheless, devotion often causes strange metamorphoses.
+Unquiet, agitated, miserable within
+yourself, it is to be feared that your temperament
+will change, that your disposition will become
+acrimonious, and that the vexatious ideas over
+which you have so long brooded will sooner or
+later produce a disastrous influence upon those who
+approach you. Does not experience constantly
+show us that religion effects changes of this kind?
+What are called <i>conversions</i>, what devotees regard
+as special acts of divine grace, are very often only
+lamentable revolutions by which real vices and
+odious qualities are substituted for amiable and
+useful characteristics. By a deplorable consequence
+of these pretended miracles of grace we
+frequently see sorrow succeed to enjoyment, a
+gloomy and unhappy state to one of innocent gayety,
+lassitude and chagrin to activity and hilarity,
+and slander, intolerance, and zeal to indulgence
+and gentleness; nay, what do I say? cruelty itself
+to humanity. In a word, superstition is a dangerous
+leaven, that is fitted to corrupt even the most
+honest hearts.</p>
+
+<p>Do you not see, in fact, the excesses to which
+fanaticism and zeal drive the wisest and best meaning
+men? Princes, magistrates, and judges become
+inhuman and pitiless as soon as there is a question
+of the interests of religion. Men of the gentlest
+disposition, the most indulgent, and the most equitable,
+upon every other matter, religion transforms to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>
+ferocious beasts. The most feeling and compassionate
+persons believe themselves in conscience obliged
+to harden their hearts, to do violence to their better
+instincts, and to stifle nature, in order to show
+themselves cruel to those who are denounced as
+enemies to their own manner of thinking. Recall
+to your mind, Madam, the cruelties of nations and
+governments in alternate persecutions of Catholics
+or Protestants, as either happened to be in the
+ascendant. Can you find reason, equity, or humanity
+in the vexations, imprisonments, and exiles
+that in our days are inflicted upon the Jansenists?
+And these last, if ever they should attain in their
+turn the power requisite for persecution, would not
+probably treat their adversaries with more moderation
+or justice. Do you not daily see individuals
+who pique themselves upon their sensibility unblushingly
+express the joy they would feel at the
+extermination of persons to whom they believe
+they owe neither benevolence nor indulgence, and
+whose only crime is a disdain for prejudices that
+the vulgar regard as sacred, or that an erroneous
+and false policy considers useful to the state?
+Superstition has so greatly stifled all sense of
+humanity in many persons otherwise truly estimable,
+that they have no compunctions at sacrificing
+the most enlightened men of the nation because
+they could not be the most credulous or the most
+submissive to the authority of the priests.</p>
+
+<p>In a word, devotion is only calculated to fill the
+heart with a bitter rancor, that banishes peace and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>
+harmony from society. In the matter of religion,
+every one believes himself obliged to show more
+or less ardor and zeal. Have I not often seen you
+uncertain yourself whether you ought to sigh or
+smile at the self-depreciation of devotees ridiculously
+inflamed by that religious vanity which
+grows out of sectarian conventionalities? You
+also see them participating in theological quarrels,
+in which, without comprehending their nature or
+purport, they believe themselves conscientiously
+obliged to mingle. I have a hundred times seen
+you astounded with their clamors, indignant at
+their animosity, scandalized at their cabals, and
+filled with disdain at their obstinate ignorance.
+Yet nothing is more natural than these outbreaks;
+ignorance has always been the mother of devotion.
+To be a devotee has always been synonymous to
+having an imbecile confidence in priests. It is to
+receive all impulsions from them; it is to think
+and act only according to them; it is blindly to
+adopt their passions and prejudices; it is faithfully
+to fulfil practices which their caprice imposes.</p>
+
+<p>Eugenia is not formed to follow such guides.
+They would terminate by leading her widely astray,
+by dazzling her vivid imagination, by infecting her
+gentle and amiable disposition with a deadly poison.
+To master with more certainty her understanding,
+they would render her austere, intolerant,
+and vindictive. In a word, by the magical power
+of superstition and supernatural notions, they
+would succeed, perhaps, in transforming to vices
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>
+those happy dispositions that nature has given you.
+Believe me, Madam, you would gain nothing by
+such a metamorphosis. Rather be what you really
+are. Extricate yourself as soon as possible from
+that state of incertitude and languor, from that
+alternative of despondency and trouble, in which
+you are immersed. If you will only take your
+reason and virtue for guides, you will soon break
+the fetters whose dangerous effects you have begun
+to feel.</p>
+
+<p>Assume the courage, then, I repeat it, to examine
+for yourself this religion, which, far from procuring
+you the happiness it promised, will only
+prove an inexhaustible source of inquietudes and
+alarms, and which will deprive you, sooner or later,
+of those rare qualities which render you so dear to
+society. Your interest exacts that you should render
+peace to your mind. It is your duty carefully
+to preserve that sweetness of temper, that indulgence,
+and that cheerfulness, by which you are so
+much endeared to all those who approach you.
+You owe happiness to yourself, and you owe it to
+those who surround you. Do not, then, abandon
+yourself to superstitious reveries, but collect all the
+strength of your judgment to combat the chimeras
+which torment your imagination. They will disappear
+as soon as you have considered them with
+your ordinary sagacity.</p>
+
+<p>Do not tell me, Madam, that your understanding
+is too weak to sound the depths of theology. Do
+not tell me, in the language of our priests, that the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>
+truths of religion are mysteries that we must adopt
+without comprehending them, and that it is necessary
+to adore in silence. By expressing themselves
+in this manner, do you not see they really proscribe
+and condemn the very religion to which they are so
+solicitous you should adhere? Whatever is supernatural
+is unsuited to man, and whatever is beyond
+his comprehension ought not to occupy his attention.
+To adore what we are not able to know, is
+to adore nothing. To believe in what we cannot
+conceive, is to believe in nothing. To admit without
+examination every thing we are directed to
+admit, is to be basely and stupidly credulous. To
+say that religion is above reason, is to recognize
+the fact that it was not made for reasonable beings;
+it is to avow that those who teach it have no more
+ability to fathom its depths than ourselves; it is to
+confess that our reverend doctors do not themselves
+understand the marvels with which they daily entertain
+us.</p>
+
+<p>If the truths of religion were, as they assure us,
+necessary to all men, they would be clear and
+intelligible to all men. If the dogmas which this
+religion teaches were as important as it is asserted,
+they would not only be within the comprehension
+of the doctors who preach them, but of all those
+who hear their lessons. Is it not strange that the
+very persons whose profession it is to furnish themselves
+with religions knowledge, in order to impart
+it to others, should recognize their own dogmas as
+beyond their own understanding, and that they
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>
+should obstinately inculcate to the people what
+they acknowledge they do not comprehend themselves?
+Should we have much confidence in a
+physician, who, after confessing that he was utterly
+ignorant of his art, should nevertheless boast of
+the excellence of his remedies? This, however, is
+the constant practice of our spiritual quacks. By
+a strange fatality, the most sensible people consent
+to be the dupes of these empirics who are perpetually
+obliged to avow their own profound ignorance.</p>
+
+<p>But if the mysteries of religion are incomprehensible
+for even those who inculcate it,&mdash;if among
+those who profess it there is no one who knows
+precisely what he believes, or who can give an
+account of either his conduct or belief,&mdash;this is
+not so in regard to the difficulties with which we
+oppose this religion. These objections are simple,
+within the comprehension of all persons of ordinary
+ability, and capable of convincing every man
+who, renouncing the prejudices of his infancy, will
+deign to consult the good sense that nature has
+bestowed upon all beings of the human race.</p>
+
+<p>For a long period of time, subtle theologians
+have, without relaxation, been occupied in warding
+off the attacks of the incredulous, and in repairing
+the breaches made in the ruinous edifice of religion
+by adversaries who combated under the flag of
+reason. In all times there have been people who
+felt the futility of the titles upon which the priests
+have arrogated the right of enslaving the understandings
+of men, and of subjugating and despoiling
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>
+nations. Notwithstanding all the efforts of the
+interested and frequently hypocritical men who
+have taken up the defence of religion, from which
+they and their confederates alone are profited, these
+apologists have never been able to vindicate successfully
+their <i>divine</i> system against the attacks of
+incredulity. Without cessation they have replied
+to the objections which have been made, but never
+have they refuted or annihilated them. Almost in
+every instance the defenders of Christianity have
+been sustained by oppressive laws on the part of
+the government; and it has only been by injuries,
+by declamations, by punishments and persecutions,
+that they have replied to the allegations of reason.
+It is in this manner that they have apparently
+remained masters of the field of battle which their
+adversaries could not openly contest. Yet, in spite
+of the disadvantages of a combat so unequal, and
+although the partisans of religion were accoutred
+with every possible weapon, and could show themselves
+openly, in accordance with <i>law</i>, while their
+adversaries had no arms but those of reason, and
+could not appear personally but at the peril of
+fines, imprisonment, torture, and death, and were
+restricted from bringing all their arsenal into service,
+yet they have inflicted profound, immedicable,
+and incurable wounds upon superstition. Still,
+if we believe the mercenaries of religion, the excellence
+of their system makes it absolutely invulnerable
+to every blow which can be inflicted upon it;
+and they pretend they have a thousand times in a
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>
+victorious manner answered the objections which
+are continually renewed against them. In spite
+of this great security, we see them excessively
+alarmed every time a new combatant presents
+himself, and the latter may well and successfully
+use the most common objections, and those which
+have most frequently been urged, since it is evident
+that up to the present moment the arguments have
+never been obviated or opposed with satisfactory
+replies. To convince you, Madam, of what I here
+advance, you need only compare the most simple
+and ordinary difficulties which good sense opposes
+to religion, with the pretended solutions that have
+been given. You will perceive that the difficulties,
+evident even to the capacities of a child, have
+never been removed by divines the most practised
+in dialectics. You will find in their replies only
+subtle distinctions, metaphysical subterfuges, unintelligible
+verbiage, which can never be the language
+of truth, and which demonstrates the embarrassment,
+the impotence, and the bad faith of those
+who are interested by their position in sustaining
+a desperate cause. In a word, the difficulties
+which have been urged against religion are clear,
+and within the comprehension of every one, while
+the answers which have been given are obscure,
+entangled, and far from satisfactory, even to persons
+most versed in such jargon, and plainly indicating
+that the authors of these replies do not
+themselves understand what they say.</p>
+
+<p>If you consult the clergy, they will not fail to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>
+set forth the antiquity of their doctrine, which has
+always maintained itself, notwithstanding the continual
+attacks of the Heretics, the Mecreans, and
+the Impious generally, and also in spite of the
+persecutions of the Pagans. You have, Madam,
+too much good sense not to perceive at once that
+the antiquity of an opinion proves nothing in its
+favor. If antiquity was a proof of truth, Christianity
+must yield to Judaism, and that in its turn
+to the religion of the Egyptians and Chaldeans,
+or, in other words, to the idolatry which was greatly
+anterior to Moses. For thousands of years it was
+universally believed that the sun revolved round
+the earth, which remained immovable; and yet it
+is not the less true that the sun is fixed, and the
+earth moves around that. Besides, it is evident
+that the Christianity of to-day is not what it formerly
+was. The continual attacks that this religion
+has suffered from heretics, commencing with its
+earliest history, proves that there never could have
+existed any harmony between the partisans of a
+pretended divine system, which offended all rules
+of consistency and logic in its very first principles.
+Some parts of this celestial system were always
+denied by devotees who admitted other parts. If
+infidels have often attacked religion without apparent
+effect, it is because the best reasons become
+useless against the blindness of a superstition sustained
+by the public authority, or against the torrent
+of opinion and custom which sways the minds
+of most men. With regard to the persecutions
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>
+which the church suffered on the part of the pagans,
+he is but slightly acquainted with the effects of
+fanaticism and religious obstinacy who does not
+perceive that tyranny is calculated to excite and
+extend what it persecutes most violently.</p>
+
+<p>You are not formed to be the dupe of names
+and authorities. The defenders of the popular
+superstition will endeavor to overwhelm you by
+the multiplied testimony of many illustrious and
+learned men, who not only admitted the Christian
+religion, but who were also its most zealous supporters.
+They will adduce holy divines, great
+philosophers, powerful reasoners, fathers of the
+church, and learned interpreters, who have successively
+advocated the system. I will not contest
+the understanding of the learned men who are
+cited, which, however, was often faulty, but will
+content myself with repeating that frequently the
+greatest geniuses are not more clear sighted in matters
+of religion than the people themselves. They
+did not examine the religious opinions they taught;
+it may be because they regarded them as sacred,
+or it may be because they never went back to first
+principles, which they would have found altogether
+unsound, if they had considered them without
+prejudice. It may also have happened because
+they were interested in defending a cause with
+which their own position was allied. Thus their
+testimony is exceptionable, and their authority
+carries no great weight.</p>
+
+<p>With regard to the interpreters and commentators,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>
+who for so many ages have painfully toiled to
+elucidate the divine laws, to explain the sacred
+books, and to fix the dogmas of Christianity, their
+very labors ought to inspire us with suspicion concerning
+a religion which is founded upon such
+books and which preaches such dogmas. They
+prove that works emanating from the Supreme Being
+are obscure, unintelligible, and need human
+assistance in order to be understood by those to
+whom the Divinity wished to reveal his will. The
+laws of a wise God would be simple and clear.
+Defective laws alone need interpreters.</p>
+
+<p>It is not, then, Madam, upon these interpreters
+that you should rely; it is upon yourself; it is
+your own reason that you should consult. It is
+<i>your</i> happiness, it is <i>your</i> repose, that is in question;
+and these objects are too serious to allow their decision
+to be delegated to any others than yourself.
+If religion is as important as we are assured, it
+undoubtedly merits the greatest attention. If it is
+upon this religion that depends the happiness of
+men both in this world and in another, there is no
+subject which interests us so strongly, and which
+consequently demands a more thorough, careful,
+and considerate examination. Can there be any
+thing, then, more strange than the conduct of the
+great majority of men? Entirely convinced of the
+necessity and importance of religion, they still
+never give themselves the trouble to examine it
+thoroughly; they follow it in a spirit of routine
+and from habit; they never give any reason for its
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>
+dogmas; they revere it, they submit to it, and they
+groan under its weight, without ever inquiring
+wherefore. In fine, they rely upon others to examine
+it; and they whose judgment they so blindly
+receive are precisely those persons upon whose
+opinions they should look with the most suspicion.
+The priests arrogate the possession of judging exclusively
+and without appeal of a system evidently
+invented for their own utility. And what is the
+language of these priests? Visibly interested in
+maintaining the received opinions, they exhibit
+them as necessary to the public good, as useful
+and consoling for us all, as intimately connected
+with morality, as indispensable to society, and, in
+a word, as of the very greatest importance. After
+having thus prepossessed our minds, they next prohibit
+our examining the things so important to be
+known. What must be thought of such conduct?
+You can only conclude that they desire to deceive
+you, that they fear examination only because
+religion cannot sustain it, and that they dread
+reason because it is able to unveil the incalculably
+dangerous projects of the priesthood against the
+human race.</p>
+
+<p>For these reasons, Madam, as I cannot too often
+repeat, examine for yourself; make use of your
+own understanding; seek the truth in the sincerity
+of your heart; reduce prejudice to silence; throw
+off the base servitude of custom; be suspicious of
+imagination; and with these precautions, in good
+faith with yourself, you can weigh with an impartial
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>
+hand the various opinions concerning religion.
+From whatever source an opinion may come,
+acquiesce only in that which shall be convincing to
+your understanding, satisfactory to your heart,
+conformable to a healthy morality, and approved
+by virtue. Reject with disdain whatever shocks
+your reason, and repulse with horror those notions
+so criminal and injurious to morality which religion
+endeavors to palm off for supernatural and divine
+virtues.</p>
+
+<p>What do I say? Amiable and wise Eugenia,
+examine rigorously the ideas that, by your own
+desire, I shall hereafter present you. Let not your
+confidence in me, or your deference to my weak
+understanding, blind you in regard to my opinions.
+I submit them to your judgment. Discuss them,
+combat them, and never give them your assent
+until you are convinced that in them you recognize
+the truth. My sentiments are neither divine oracles
+nor theological opinions which it is not permitted
+to canvass. If what I say is true, adopt my
+ideas. If I am deceived, point out my errors, and
+I am ready to recognize them and to subscribe my
+own condemnation. It will be very pleasant,
+Madam, to learn truths of you which, up to the
+present time, I have vainly sought in the writings
+of our divines. If I have at this moment any
+advantage over you, it is due entirely to that tranquillity
+which I enjoy, and of which at present you
+are unhappily deprived. The agitations of your
+mind, the inquietudes of your body, and the attacks
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>
+of an exacting and ceremonious devotion,
+with which your soul is perplexed, prevent you, for
+the moment, from seeing things coolly, and hinder
+you from making use of your own understanding;
+but I have no doubt that soon your intellect,
+strengthened by reason against vain chimeras, will
+regain its natural vigor and the superiority which
+belongs to it. In awaiting this moment that I
+foresee and so much desire, I shall esteem myself
+extremely happy if my reflections shall contribute
+to render you that tranquillity of spirit so necessary
+to judge wisely of things, and without which there
+can be no true happiness.</p>
+
+<p>I perceive, Madam, though rather tardily, the
+length of this letter; but I hope you will pardon it,
+as well as my frankness. They will at least prove
+the lively interest I take in your painful situation,
+the sincere desire I feel to bring it to a termination,
+and the strong inclination which actuates me to restore
+you to your accustomed serenity. Less
+pressing motives would never have been sufficient
+to make me break silence. Your own positive
+orders were necessary to lead me to speak of objects
+which, once thoroughly examined, give no uneasiness
+to a healthy mind. It has been a law
+with me never to explain myself upon the subject
+of religion. Experience has often convinced me
+that the most useless of enterprises is to seek to
+undeceive a prejudiced mind. I was very far from
+believing that I ought ever to write upon these
+subjects. You alone, Madam, had the power to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>
+conquer my indolence, and to impel me to change
+my resolution. Eugenia afflicted, tormented with
+scruples, and ready to plunge herself into gloomy
+austerities and superstitions, calculated to render
+her unamiable to others, without contributing happiness
+to herself, honored me with her confidence,
+and requested counsel of her friend. She exacted
+that I should speak. "It is enough," I said; "let
+me write for Eugenia; let me endeavor to restore
+the repose she has lost; let me labor with ardor
+for her upon whose happiness that of so many others
+is dependent."</p>
+
+<p>Such, Madam, are the motives which induce me
+to take my pen in hand. In looking forward to the
+time when you will be undeceived, I shall dare at
+least to flatter myself that you will not regard me
+with the same eyes with which priests and devotees
+look upon every one who has the temerity to
+contradict their ideas. To believe them, every man
+who declares himself against religion is a bad citizen,
+a madman armed to justify his passions, a
+perturbator of the public repose, and an enemy of
+his fellow-citizens, that cannot be punished with too
+much rigor. My conduct is known to you; and
+the confidence with which you honor me is sufficient
+for my apology. It is for you alone that I
+write. It is to dissipate the clouds that obscure
+your mental horizon that I communicate reflections
+which, but for reasons so pressing, I should
+have always enclosed in my own bosom. If by
+chance they shall hereafter fall into other hands
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>
+than yours, and be found of some utility, I shall
+felicitate myself for having contributed to the establishment
+of happiness by leading back to reason
+minds which had wandered from it, by making
+truth to be felt and known, and by unmasking impostures
+which have caused so many misfortunes
+upon the earth.</p>
+
+<p>In a word, I submit my reasoning to your judgment,
+I confide fully in your discretion, and I allow
+myself to conclude that my ideas, after you are disabused
+of the vain terrors with which you are now
+oppressed, will fully convince you that this religion,
+which is exhibited to men as a concern the most
+important, the most true, the most interesting, and
+the most useful, is only a tissue of absurdities, is
+calculated to confound reason, to disturb the
+understanding, and can be advantageous to none
+save those who make use of it to govern the human
+race. I shall acknowledge myself in the wrong if
+I do not prove, in the clearest manner, that religion
+is false, useless, and dangerous, and that morality,
+in its stead, should occupy the spirits and animate
+the souls of all men.</p>
+
+<p>I shall enter more particularly into the subject in
+my next letter. I shall go back to first principles,
+and in the course of this correspondence I flatter
+myself I shall completely demonstrate that these
+objects, which theology endeavors to render intricate,
+and to envelop with clouds, in order to make
+them more respectable and sacred, are not only
+entirely susceptible of being understood by you,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>
+but that they are likewise within the comprehension
+of every one who possesses even an ordinary
+share of good sense. If my frankness shall appear
+too undisguised, I beg you to consider, Madam,
+that it is necessary I should address you explicitly
+and clearly. I now consider it my duty to administer
+an energetic and prompt remedy for the malady
+with which I perceive you to be attacked.
+Besides, I venture to hope that in a short time you
+will feel gratified that I have shown you the truth
+in all its integrity and brilliancy. You will pardon
+me for having dissipated the unreal and yet
+harassing phantoms which infested your mind.
+But let my success be what it may, my efforts to
+confer tranquillity upon you will at least be evidences
+of the interest I take in your happiness, of
+my zeal to serve you, and of the respect with which
+I am your sincere and attached friend.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chapbreak" />
+<h2 class="caps"><a name="LETTER_II" id="LETTER_II"></a>Letter II.</h2>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="smcap">Of the Ideas which Religion gives us of the
+Divinity.</p></div>
+
+
+<p>Every religion is a system of opinions and
+conduct founded upon the notions, true or false,
+that we entertain of the Divinity. To judge of
+the truth of any system, it is requisite to examine
+its principles, to see if they accord, and to satisfy
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>
+ourselves whether all its parts lend a mutual support
+to each other. A religion, to be <i>true</i>, should
+give us <i>true</i> ideas of God; and it is by our reason
+alone that we are able to decide whether what
+theology asserts concerning this being and his
+attributes is true or otherwise. Truth for men is
+only conformity to reason; and thus the same
+reason which the clergy proscribe is, in the last
+resort, our only means of judging the system that
+religion proposes for our assent. That God can
+only be the true God who is most conformable to
+our reason, and the true worship can be no other
+than that which reason approves.</p>
+
+<p>Religion is only important in accordance with
+the advantages it bestows upon mankind. The
+best religion must be that which procures its disciples
+the most real, the most extensive, and the most
+durable advantages. A false religion must necessarily
+bestow upon those who practise it only a
+false, chimerical, and transient utility. Reason
+must be the judge whether the benefits derived are
+real or imaginary. Thus, as we constantly see, it
+belongs to reason to decide whether a religion, a
+mode of worship, or a system of conduct is advantageous
+or injurious to the human race.</p>
+
+<p>It is in accordance with these incontestable principles
+that I shall examine the religion of the
+Christians. I shall commence by analyzing the
+ideas which their system gives us of the Divinity,
+which it boasts of presenting to us in a more perfect
+manner than all other religions in the world.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>
+I shall examine whether these ideas accord with
+each other, whether the dogmas taught by this
+religion are conformable to those fundamental
+principles which are every where acknowledged,
+whether they are consonant with them, and whether
+the conduct which Christianity prescribes answers
+to the notions which itself gives us of the Divinity.
+I shall conclude the inquiry by investigating the
+advantages that the Christian religion procures the
+human race&mdash;advantages, according to its partisans,
+that infinitely surpass those which result from
+all the other religions of the earth.</p>
+
+<p>The Christian religion, as the basis of its belief,
+sets forth an only God, which it defines as a pure
+spirit, as an eternal intelligence, as independent
+and immutable, who has infinite power, who is the
+cause of all things, who foresees all things, who
+fills immensity, who created from nothing the
+world and all it encloses, and who preserves and
+governs it according to the laws of his infinite
+wisdom, and the perfections of his infinite goodness
+and justice, which are all so evident in his
+works.</p>
+
+<p>Such are the ideas that Christianity gives us of
+the Divinity. Let us now see whether they accord
+with the other notions presented to us by this
+religious system, and which it pretends were revealed
+by God himself; or, in other words, that these
+truths were received directly from the Deity, who
+concealed them from the remainder of mankind,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>
+and deprived them of a knowledge of his essence.
+Thus the Christian religion is founded upon a
+special revelation. And to whom was the revelation
+made? At first to Abraham, and then to his
+posterity. The God of the universe, then, the
+Father of all men, was only willing to be known
+to the descendants of a Chaldean, who for a long
+series of years were the exclusive possessors of the
+knowledge of the true God. By an effect of his
+special kindness, the Jewish people was for a long
+time the only race favored with a revelation equally
+necessary for all men. This was the only people
+which understood the relations between man and
+the Supreme Being. All other nations wandered
+in darkness, or possessed no ideas of the Sovereign
+of nature but such as were crude, ridiculous, or
+criminal.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, at the very first step, do we not see that
+Christianity impairs the goodness and justice of
+its God? A revelation to a particular people only
+announces a partial God, who favors a portion of
+his children, to the prejudice of all the others;
+who consults only his caprice, and not real merit;
+who, incapable of conferring happiness upon all
+men, shows his tenderness solely to some individuals,
+who have, however, no titles upon his consideration
+not possessed by the others. What would
+you say of a father who, placed at the head of a
+numerous family, had no eyes but for a single one
+of his children, and who never allowed himself to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>
+be seen by any of them except that favored one?
+What would you say if he was displeased with
+the rest for not being acquainted with his features,
+notwithstanding he would never allow them to approach
+his person? Would you not accuse such a
+father of caprice, cruelty, folly, and a want of
+reason, if he visited with his anger the children
+whom he had himself excluded from his presence?
+Would you not impute to him an injustice of
+which none but the most brutal of our species
+could be guilty if he actually punished them for
+not having executed orders which he was never
+pleased to give them?</p>
+
+<p>Conclude, then, with me, Madam, that the revelation
+of a religion to only a single tribe or nation
+sets forth a God neither good, impartial, nor equitable,
+but an unjust and capricious tyrant, who,
+though he may show kindness and preference to
+some of his creatures, at any rate acts with the
+greatest cruelty towards all the others. This admitted,
+revelation does not prove the goodness, but
+the caprice and partiality of the God that religion
+represents to us as full of sagacity, benevolence,
+and equity, and that it describes as the common
+father of all the inhabitants of the earth. If the
+interest and self-love of those whom he favors
+makes them admire the profound views of a God
+because he has loaded them with benefits to the
+prejudice of their brethren, he must appear very
+unjust, on the other hand, to all those who are the
+victims of his partiality. A hateful pride alone
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>
+could induce a few persons to believe that they
+were, to the exclusion of all others, the cherished
+children of Providence. Blinded by their vanity,
+they do not perceive that it is to give the lie to
+universal and infinite goodness to suppose that
+God was capable of favoring with his preference
+some men or nations, to the exclusion of others.
+All ought to be equal in his eyes if it is true they
+are all equally the work of his hands.</p>
+
+<p>It is, nevertheless, upon partial revelations that
+are founded all the religions of the world. In the
+same manner that every individual believes himself
+the most important being in the universe,
+every nation entertains the idea that it ought to
+enjoy the peculiar tenderness of the Sovereign of
+nature, to the exclusion of all the others. If the
+inhabitants of Hindostan imagine that it was for
+them alone that Brama spoke, the Jews and the
+Christians have persuaded themselves that it was
+only for them that the world was created, and that
+it is solely for them that God was revealed.</p>
+
+<p>But let us suppose for a moment that God has
+really made himself known. How could a pure
+spirit render himself sensible? What form did he
+take? Of what material organs did he make use
+in order to speak? How can an infinite Being
+communicate with those which are finite? I may
+be assured that, to accommodate himself to the
+weakness of his creatures, he made use of the
+agency of some chosen men to announce his wishes
+to all the rest, and that he filled these agents with
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>
+his spirit, and spoke by their mouths. But can we
+possibly conceive that an infinite Being could unite
+himself with the finite nature of man? How can
+I be certain that he who professes to be inspired
+by the Divinity does not promulgate his own
+reveries or impostures as the oracles of heaven?
+What means have I of recognizing whether God
+really speaks by his voice? The immediate reply
+will be, that God, to give weight to the declarations
+of those whom he has chosen to be his interpreters,
+endowed them with a portion of his own omnipotence,
+and that they wrought miracles to prove
+their divine mission.</p>
+
+<p>I therefore inquire, What is a miracle? I am
+told that it is an operation contrary to the laws of
+nature, which God himself has fixed; to which I
+reply, that, according to the ideas I have formed of
+the divine wisdom, it appears to me impossible that
+an immutable God can change the wise laws which
+he himself has established. I thence conclude that
+miracles are impossible, seeing they are incompatible
+with our ideas of the wisdom and immutability
+of the Creator of the universe. Besides, these miracles
+would be useless to God. If he be omnipotent,
+can he not modify the minds of his creatures according
+to his own will?</p>
+
+<p>To convince and to persuade them, he has only
+to will that they shall be convinced and persuaded.
+He has only to tell them things that are clear and
+sensible, things that may be demonstrated; and to
+evidence of such a kind they will not fail to give
+their assent. To do this, he will have no need
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>
+either of miracles or interpreters; truth alone is
+sufficient to win mankind.</p>
+
+<p>Supposing, nevertheless, the utility and possibility
+of these miracles, how shall I ascertain whether the
+wonderful operation which I see performed by the
+interpreter of the Deity be conformable or contrary
+to the laws of nature? Am I acquainted with all
+these laws? May not he who speaks to me in
+the name of the Lord execute by natural means,
+though to me unknown, those works which appear
+altogether extraordinary? How shall I assure myself
+that he does not deceive me? Does not
+my ignorance of the secrets and shifts of his art
+expose me to be the dupe of an able impostor, who
+might make use of the name of God to inspire me
+with respect, and to screen his deception? Thus
+his pretended miracles ought to make me suspect
+him, even though I were a witness of them; but
+how would the case stand, were these miracles said
+to have been performed some thousands of years
+before my existence? I shall be told that they
+were attested by a multitude of witnesses; but if
+I cannot trust to myself when a miracle is performing,
+how shall I have confidence in others, who may
+be either more ignorant or more stupid than myself,
+or who perhaps thought themselves interested
+in supporting by their testimony tales entirely
+destitute of reality?</p>
+
+<p>If, on the contrary, I admit these miracles, what
+do they prove to me? Will they furnish me with
+a belief that God has made use of his omnipotence
+to convince me of things which are in direct opposition
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>
+to the ideas I have formed of his essence,
+his nature, and his divine perfections? If I be persuaded
+that God is immutable, a miracle will not
+force me to believe that he is subject to change. If
+I be convinced that God is just and good, a miracle
+will never be sufficient to persuade me that he is unjust
+and wicked. If I possess an idea of his wisdom,
+all the miracles in the world would not persuade me
+that God would act like a madman. Shall I be told
+that he would consent to perform miracles that destroy
+his divinity, or that are proper only to erase
+from the minds of men the ideas which they ought
+to entertain of his infinite perfections? This, however,
+is what would happen were God himself to
+perform, or to grant the power of performing, miracles
+in favor of a particular revelation. He would,
+in that case, derange the course of nature, to teach
+the world that he is capricious, partial, unjust, and
+cruel; he would make use of his omnipotence purposely
+to convince us that his goodness was insufficient
+for the welfare of his creatures; he would
+make a vain parade of his power, to hide his inability
+to convince mankind by a single act of his
+will. In short, he would interfere with the eternal
+and immutable laws of nature, to show us that he
+is subject to change, and to announce to mankind
+some important news, which they had hitherto been
+destitute of, notwithstanding all his goodness.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, under whatever point of view we regard
+revelation, by whatever miracles we may suppose
+it attested, it will always be in contradiction to the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>
+ideas we have of the Deity. They will show us
+that he acts in an unjust and an arbitrary manner,
+consulting only his own whims in the favors he
+bestows, and continually changing his conduct;
+that he was unable to communicate all at once to
+mankind the knowledge necessary to their existence,
+and to give them that degree of perfection
+of which their natures were susceptible. Hence,
+Madam, you may see that the supposition of a
+revelation can never be reconciled with the infinite
+goodness, justice, omnipotence, and immutability
+of the Sovereign of the universe.</p>
+
+<p>They will not fail to tell you that the Creator of
+all things, the independent Monarch of nature is
+the master of his favors; that he owes nothing to
+his creatures; that he can dispose of them as he
+pleases, without any injustice, and without their
+having any right of complaint; that man is incapable
+of sounding the profundity of his decrees;
+and that his justice is not the justice of men. But
+all these answers, which divines have continually in
+their mouths, serve only to accelerate the destruction
+of those sublime ideas which they have given
+us of the Deity. The result appears to be, that
+God conducts himself according to the maxims of
+a fantastic sovereign, who, satisfied in having rewarded
+some of his favorites, thinks himself justified
+in neglecting the rest of his subjects, and to
+leave them groaning in the most deplorable misery.</p>
+
+<p>You must acknowledge, Madam, it is not on such
+a model that we can form a powerful, equitable,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>
+and beneficent God, whose omnipotence ought to
+enable him to procure happiness to all his subjects,
+without fear of exhausting the treasures of
+his goodness.</p>
+
+<p>If we are told that divine justice bears no resemblance
+to the justice of men, I reply, that in this
+case we are not authorized to say that God is
+<i>just</i>; seeing that by justice it is not possible for
+us to conceive any thing except a similar quality
+to that called justice by the beings of our own
+species. If divine justice bears no resemblance to
+human justice,&mdash;if, on the contrary, this justice
+resembles what we call injustice,&mdash;then all our
+ideas confound themselves, and we know not either
+what we mean or what we say when we affirm
+that God is just. According to human ideas,
+(which are, however, the only ones that men are
+possessed of,) justice will always exclude caprice
+and partiality; and never can we prevent ourselves
+from regarding as iniquitous and vicious a sovereign
+who, being both able and willing to occupy
+himself with the happiness of his subjects, should
+plunge the greatest number of them into misfortune,
+and reserve his kindness for those to whom
+his whims have given the preference.</p>
+
+<p>With respect to telling us that <i>God owes nothing
+to his creatures</i>, such an atrocious principle is destructive
+of every idea of justice and goodness,
+and tends visibly to sap the foundation of all
+religion. A God that is just and good owes happiness
+to every being to whom he has given existence;
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>
+he ceases to be just and good if he produce
+them only to render them miserable; and he would
+be destitute of both wisdom and reason were he to
+give them birth only to be the victims of his caprice.
+What should we think of a father bringing children
+into the world for the sole purpose of putting their
+eyes out and tormenting them at his ease?</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, all religions are entirely
+founded upon the reciprocal engagements which
+are supposed to exist between God and his creatures.
+If God owes nothing to the latter, if he is
+not under an obligation to fulfil his engagements
+to them when they have fulfilled theirs to him, of
+what use is religion? What motives can men
+have to offer their homage and worship to the Divinity?
+Why should they feel much desire to love
+or serve a master who can absolve himself of all
+duty towards those who entered his service with
+an expectation of the recompense promised under
+such circumstances?</p>
+
+<p>It is easy to see that the destructive ideas of
+divine justice which are inculcated are only founded
+upon a fatal prejudice prevalent among the
+generality of men, leading them to suppose that
+unlimited power must inevitably exempt its possessor
+from an accordance with the laws of equity;
+that force can confer the right of committing bad
+actions; and that no one could properly demand an
+account of his conduct of a man sufficiently powerful
+to carry out all his caprices. These ideas are
+evidently borrowed from the conduct of tyrants,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>
+who no sooner find themselves possessed of absolute
+power than they cease to recognize any other
+rules than their own fantasies, and imagine that
+justice has no claims upon potentates like them.</p>
+
+<p>It is upon this frightful model that theologians
+have formed that God whom they, notwithstanding,
+assert to be a just being, while, if the conduct they
+attribute to him was true, we should be constrained
+to regard him as the most unjust of tyrants, as the
+most partial of fathers, as the most fantastic of
+princes, and, in a word, as a being the most to be
+feared and the least worthy of love that the imagination
+could devise. We are informed that the
+God who created all men has been unwilling to be
+known except to a very small number of them, and
+that while this favored portion exclusively enjoyed
+the benefits of his kindness, all the others were
+objects of his anger, and were only created by him
+to be left in blindness for the very purpose of punishing
+them in the most cruel manner. We see
+these pernicious characteristics of the Divinity penetrating
+the entire economy of the Christian religion;
+we find them in the books which are pretended
+to be inspired, and we discover them in the
+dogmas of predestination and grace. In a word,
+every thing in religion announces a despotic God,
+whom his disciples vainly attempt to represent to us
+as just, while all that they declare of him only proves
+his injustice, his tyrannical caprices, his extravagances,
+so frequently cruel, and his partiality, so pernicious
+to the greater portion of the human race.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>
+When we exclaim against conduct which, in the
+eyes of all reasonable men, must appear so excessively
+capricious, it is expected that our mouths
+will be closed by the assertion that God is omnipotent,
+that it is for him to determine how he will
+bestow benefits, and that he is under no obligations
+to any of his creatures. His apologists end
+by endeavoring to intimidate us with the frightful
+and iniquitous punishments that he reserves for
+those who are so audacious as to murmur.</p>
+
+<p>It is easy to perceive the futility of these arguments.
+Power, I do contend, can never confer the
+right of violating equity. Let a sovereign be as
+powerful as he may, he is not on that account less
+blamable when in rewards and punishments he
+follows only his caprice. It is true, we may
+fear him, we may flatter him, we may pay him
+servile homage; but never shall we love him sincerely;
+never shall we serve him faithfully; never
+shall we look up to him as the model of justice and
+goodness. If those who receive his kindness believe
+him to be just and good, those who are the
+objects of his folly and rigor cannot prevent themselves
+from detesting his monstrous iniquity in
+their hearts.</p>
+
+<p>If we be told that we are only as worms of earth
+relatively to God, or that we are only like a vase in
+the hands of a potter, I reply in this case, that there
+can neither be connection nor moral duty between
+the creature and his Creator; and I shall hence
+conclude that religion is useless, seeing that a
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>
+worm of earth can owe nothing to a man who
+crushes it, and that the vase can owe nothing to
+the potter that has formed it. In the supposition
+that man is only a worm or an earthen vessel in
+the eyes of the Deity, he would be incapable either
+of serving him, glorifying him, honoring him, or
+offending him. We are, however, continually told
+that man is capable of merit and demerit in the
+sight of his God, whom he is ordered to love, serve,
+and worship. We are likewise assured that it was
+man alone whom the Deity had in view in all his
+works; that it is for him alone the universe was
+created; for him alone that the course of nature
+was so often deranged; and, in short, it was with
+a view of being honored, cherished, and glorified
+by man that God has revealed himself to us. According
+to the principles of the Christian religion,
+God does not cease, for a single instant, his occupations
+for man, this <i>worm of earth</i>, this <i>earthen
+vessel</i>, which he has formed. Nay, more: man is
+sufficiently powerful to influence the honor, the
+felicity, and the glory of his God; it rests with
+man to please him or to irritate him, to deserve his
+favor or his hatred, to appease him or to kindle his
+wrath.</p>
+
+<p>Do you not perceive, Madam, the striking contradictions
+of those principles which, nevertheless,
+form the basis of all revealed religions? Indeed,
+we cannot find one of them that is not erected on
+the reciprocal influence between God and man,
+and between man and God. Our own species,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>
+which are annihilated (if I may use the expression)
+every time that it becomes necessary to whitewash
+the Deity from some reproachful stain of injustice
+and partiality,&mdash;these miserable beings, to whom
+it is pretended that God owes nothing, and who,
+we are assured, are unnecessary to him for his own
+felicity,&mdash;the human race, which is nothing in his
+eyes, becomes all at once the principal performer
+on the stage of nature. We find that mankind
+are necessary to support the glory of their Creator;
+we see them become the sole objects of his care;
+we behold in them the power to gladden or afflict
+him; we see them meriting his favor and provoking
+his wrath. According to these contradictory notions
+concerning the God of the universe, the source
+of all felicity, is he not really the most wretched of
+beings? We behold him perpetually exposed to
+the insults of men, who offend him by their
+thoughts, their words, their actions, and their neglect
+of duty. They incommode him, they irritate
+him, by the capriciousness of their minds, by their
+actions, their desires, and even by their ignorance.
+If we admit those Christian principles which suppose
+that the greater portion of the human race excites
+the fury of the Eternal, and that very few of
+them live in a manner conformable to his views,
+will it not necessarily result therefrom, that in the
+immense crowd of beings whom God has created
+for his glory, only a very small number of them
+glorify and please him; while all the rest are occupied
+in vexing him, exciting his wrath, troubling
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>
+his felicity, deranging the order that he loves, frustrating
+his designs, and forcing him to change his
+immutable intentions?</p>
+
+<p>You are, undoubtedly, surprised at the contradictions
+to be encountered at the very first step we
+take in examining this religion; and I take upon
+myself to predict that your embarrassment will
+increase as you proceed therein. If you coolly
+examine the ideas presented to us in the revelation
+common both to Jews and Christians, and contained
+in the books which they tell us are <i>sacred</i>,
+you will find that the Deity who speaks is always
+in contradiction with himself; that he becomes his
+own destroyer, and is perpetually occupied in undoing
+what he has just done, and in repairing his
+own workmanship, to which, in the first instance,
+he was incapable of giving that degree of perfection
+he wished it to possess. He is never satisfied
+with his own works, and cannot, in spite of his
+omnipotence, bring the human race to the point of
+perfection he intended. The books containing the
+revelation, on which Christianity is founded, every
+where display to us a God of goodness in the commission
+of wickedness; an omnipotent God, whose
+projects unceasingly miscarry; an immutable God,
+changing his maxims and his conduct; an omniscient
+God, continually deceived unawares; a resolute
+God, yet repenting of his most important
+actions; a God of wisdom, whose arrangements
+never attain success. He is a great God, who
+occupies himself with the most puerile trifles; an
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>
+all-sufficient God, yet subject to jealousy; a powerful
+God, yet suspicious, vindictive, and cruel;
+and a just God, yet permitting and prescribing the
+most atrocious iniquities. In a word, he is a perfect
+God, yet displaying at the same time such imperfections
+and vices that the most despicable of
+men would blush to resemble him.</p>
+
+<p>Behold, Madam, the God whom this religion
+orders you to adore <i>in spirit and in truth</i>. I reserve
+for another letter an analysis of the holy
+books which you are taught to respect as the
+oracles of heaven. I now perceive for the first
+time that I have perhaps made too long a dissertation;
+and I doubt not you have already perceived
+that a system built on a basis possessing so
+little solidity as that of the God whom his devotees
+raise with one hand and destroy with the
+other, can have no stability attached to it, and can
+only be regarded as a long tissue of errors and contradictions.</p>
+
+<p class="sig">I am, &amp;c.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chapbreak" />
+<h2 class="caps"><a name="LETTER_III" id="LETTER_III"></a>Letter III.</h2>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="smcap">An Examination of the Holy Scriptures, of the
+Nature of the Christian Religion, and of the
+Proofs upon which Christianity is founded.</p></div>
+
+
+<p>You have seen, Madam, in my preceding letter,
+the incompatible and contradictory ideas which this
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>
+religion gives us of the Deity. You will have seen
+that the revelation which is announced to us,
+instead of being the offspring of his goodness and
+tenderness for the human race, is really only a
+proof of injustice and partiality, of which a God
+who is equally just and good would be entirely
+incapable. Let us now examine whether the ideas
+suggested to us by these books, containing the
+divine oracles, are more rational, more consistent,
+or more conformable to the divine perfections.
+Let us see whether the statements related in the
+Bible, whether the commands prescribed to us in
+the name of God himself, are really worthy of God,
+and display to us the characters of infinite wisdom,
+goodness, power, and justice.</p>
+
+<p>These inspired books go back to the origin of the
+world. Moses, the confidant, the interpreter, the
+historian of the Deity, makes us (if we may use
+such an expression) witnesses of the formation of
+the universe. He tells us that the Eternal, tired of
+his inaction, one fine day took it into his head to
+create a world that was necessary to his glory. To
+effect this, he forms matter out of nothing; a pure
+spirit produces a substance which has no affinity
+to himself; although this God fills all space with
+his immensity, yet still he found room enough in
+it to admit the universe, as well as all the material
+bodies contained therein.</p>
+
+<p>These, at least, are the ideas which divines wish
+us to form respecting the creation, if such a thing
+were possible as that of possessing a clear idea of a
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>
+pure spirit producing matter. But this discussion
+is throwing us into metaphysical researches, which I
+wish to avoid. It will be sufficient to you that you
+may console yourself for not being able to comprehend
+it, seeing that the most profound thinkers, who
+talk about the creation or the eduction of the world
+from nothing, have no ideas on the subject more
+precise than those which you form to yourself. As
+soon, Madam, as you take the trouble to reflect
+thereon, you will find that divines, instead of explaining
+things, have done nothing but invent
+words, in order to render them dubious, and to confound
+all our natural conceptions.</p>
+
+<p>I will not, however, tire you by a fastidious display
+of the blunders which fill the narrative of
+Moses, which they announce to us as being dictated
+by the Deity. If we read it with a little
+attention, we shall perceive in every page philosophical
+and astronomical errors, unpardonable in
+an inspired author, and such as we should consider
+ridiculous in any man, who, in the most superficial
+manner, should have studied and contemplated
+nature.</p>
+
+<p>You will find, for example, light created before
+the sun, although this star is visibly the source of
+light which communicates itself to our globe. You
+will find the evening and the morning established
+before the formation of this same sun, whose presence
+alone produces day, whose absence produces
+night, and whose different aspects constitute morning
+and evening. You will there find that the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>
+moon is spoken of as a body possessing its own
+light, in a similar manner as the sun possesses it,
+although this planet is a dark body, and receives
+its light from the sun. These ignorant blunders
+are sufficient to show you that the Deity who
+revealed himself to Moses was quite unacquainted
+with the nature of those substances which he had
+created out of nothing, and that you at present possess
+more information respecting them than was
+once possessed by the Creator of the world.</p>
+
+<p>I am not ignorant that our divines have an answer
+always ready to those difficulties which would attack
+their divine science, and place their knowledge far
+below that of Galileo, Descartes, Newton, and even
+below that of young people who have scarcely
+studied the first elements of natural philosophy.
+They will tell us that God, in order to render himself
+intelligible to the savage and ignorant Jews,
+spoke in conformity to their imperfect notions, in
+the false and incorrect language of the vulgar. We
+must not be imposed upon by this solution, which
+our doctors regard as triumphant, and which they
+so frequently employ when it becomes necessary to
+justify the Bible against the ignorance and vulgarities
+contained therein. We answer them, that a
+God who knows every thing, and can perform every
+thing, might by a single word have rectified the
+false notions of the people he wished to enlighten,
+and enabled them to know the nature of bodies
+more perfectly than the most able men who have
+since appeared. If it be replied that revelation is
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>
+not intended to render men learned, but to make
+them pious, I answer that revelation was not sent
+to establish false notions; that it would be unworthy
+of God to borrow the language of falsehood and
+ignorance; that the knowledge of nature, so far
+from being an injury to piety, is, by the avowal of
+divines, the most proper study to display the greatness
+of God. They tell us that religion would be
+unmovable, were it conformable to true knowledge;
+that we should have no objections to make to the
+recital of Moses, nor to the philosophy of the Holy
+Scriptures, if we found nothing but what was continually
+confirmed by experience, astronomy, and
+the demonstrations of geometry.</p>
+
+<p>To maintain a contrary opinion, and to say that
+God is pleased in confounding the knowledge of
+men and in rendering it useless, is to pretend that
+he is pleased with making us ignorant and changeable,
+and that he condemns the progress of the
+human mind, although we ought to suppose him
+the author of it. To pretend that God was obliged
+in the Scriptures to conform himself to the language
+of men, is to pretend that he withdrew his
+assistance from those he wished to enlighten, and
+that he was unable of rendering them susceptible
+of comprehending the language of truth. This is
+an observation not to be lost sight of in the examination
+of revelation, where we find in each page
+that God expresses himself in a manner quite unworthy
+of the Deity. Could not an omnipotent
+God, instead of degrading himself, instead of condescending
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>
+to speak the language of ignorance, so
+far enlighten them as to make them understand a
+language more true, more noble, and more conformable
+to the ideas which are given us of the Deity?
+An experienced master by degrees enables his
+scholars to understand what he wishes to teach
+them, and a God ought to be able to communicate
+to them immediately all the knowledge he intended
+to give them.</p>
+
+<p>However, according to Genesis, God, after creating
+the world, produced man from the dust of
+the earth. In the mean while we are assured that
+he created him <i>in his own image</i>; but what was
+the image of God? How could man, who is at
+least partly material, represent a pure spirit, which
+excludes all matter?</p>
+
+<p>How could his imperfect mind be formed on the
+model of a mind possessing all perfection, like that
+which we suppose in the Creator of the universe?
+What resemblance, what proportion, what affinity
+could there be between a finite mind united to a
+body, and the infinite spirit of the Creator? These,
+doubtless, are great difficulties; hitherto it has been
+thought impossible to decide them; and they will
+probably for a long time employ the minds of those
+who strive to understand the incomprehensible
+meaning of a book which God provided for our
+instruction.</p>
+
+<p>But why did God create man? Because he
+wished to people the universe with intelligent
+beings, who would render him homage, who should
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>
+witness his wonders, who should glorify him, who
+should meditate and contemplate his works, and
+merit his favors by their submission to his laws.</p>
+
+<p>Here we behold man becoming necessary to the
+dignity of his God, who without him would live
+without being glorified, who would receive no homage,
+and who would be the melancholy Sovereign
+of an empire without subjects&mdash;a condition not
+suited to his vanity. I think it useless to remark
+to you what little conformity we find between
+those ideas and such as are given us of a self-sufficient
+being, who, without the assistance of any
+other, is supremely happy. All the characters in
+which the Bible portrays the Deity are always borrowed
+from man, or from a proud monarch; and
+we every where find that instead of having made
+man after his own image, it is man that has always
+made God after the image of himself, that has conferred
+on him his own way of thinking, his own
+virtues, and his own vices.</p>
+
+<p>But did this man whom the Deity has created
+for his glory faithfully fulfil the wishes of his Creator?
+This subject that he has just acquired&mdash;will
+he be obedient? will he render homage to his
+power? will he execute his will? He has done
+nothing of the kind. Scarcely is he created when
+he becomes rebellious to the orders of his Sovereign;
+he eats a forbidden fruit which God has placed in
+his way in order to tempt him, and by this act
+draws the divine wrath not only on himself, but on
+all his posterity. Thus it is that he annihilates at
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>
+one blow the great projects of the Omnipotent,
+who had no sooner made man for his glory than
+he becomes offended with that conduct which he
+ought to have foreseen.</p>
+
+<p>Here he finds himself obliged to change his
+projects with regard to mankind; he becomes their
+enemy, and condemns them and the whole of the
+race (who had not yet the power of sinning) to
+innumerable penalties, to cruel calamities, and to
+death! What do I say? To punishments which
+death itself shall not terminate! Thus God, who
+wished to be glorified, is not glorified; he seems to
+have created man only to offend him, that he might
+afterwards punish the offender.</p>
+
+<p>In this recital, which is founded on the Bible,
+can you recognize, Madam, an omnipotent God,
+whose orders are always accomplished, and whose
+projects are all necessarily executed? In a God
+who tempts us, or who permits us to be tempted,
+do you behold a being of beneficence and sincerity?
+In a God who punishes the being he has
+tempted, or subjected to temptation, do you perceive
+any equity? In a God who extends his vengeance
+even to those who have not sinned, do you
+behold any shadow of justice? In a God who is
+irritated at what he knew must necessarily happen,
+can you imagine any foresight? In the rigorous
+punishments by which this God is destined to
+avenge himself of his feeble creatures, both in this
+world and the next, can you perceive the least appearance
+of goodness?
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It is, however, this history, or rather this fable,
+on which is founded the whole edifice of the
+Christian religion.</p>
+
+<p>If the first man had not been disobedient, the
+human race had not been the object of the divine
+wrath, and would have had no need of a Redeemer.
+If this God, who knows all things, foresees all
+things, and possesses all power, had prevented or
+foreseen the fault of Adam, it would not have been
+necessary for God to sacrifice his own innocent Son
+to appease his fury. Mankind, for whom he created
+the universe, would then have been always happy;
+they would not have incurred the displeasure of
+that Deity who demanded their adoration. In a
+word, if this apple had not been imprudently eaten
+by Adam and his spouse, mankind would not have
+suffered so much misery, man would have enjoyed
+without interruption the immortal happiness to
+which God had destined him, and the views of
+Providence towards his creatures would not have
+been frustrated.</p>
+
+<p>It would be useless to make reflections on notions
+so whimsical, so contrary to the wisdom, the
+power, and the justice of the Deity. It is doing
+quite enough to compare the different objects which
+the Bible presents to us, to perceive their inutility,
+absurdities, and contradictions. We there see, continually,
+a wise God conducting himself like a
+madman. He defeats his own projects that he
+may afterwards repair them, repents of what he
+has done, acts as if he had foreseen nothing, and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>
+is forced to permit proceedings which his omnipotence
+could not prevent. In the writings revealed
+by this God, he appears occupied only in blackening
+his own character, degrading himself, vilifying
+himself, even in the eyes of men whom he would
+excite to worship him and pay him homage; overturning
+and confounding the minds of those whom
+he had designed to enlighten. What has just been
+said might suffice to undeceive us with respect to
+a book which would pass better as being intended
+to destroy the idea of a Deity, than as one containing
+the oracles dictated and revealed by him.
+Nothing but a heap of absurdities could possibly
+result from principles so false and irrational; nevertheless,
+let us take another glance at the principal
+objects which this divine work continually offers to
+our consideration. Let us pass on to the Deluge.
+The holy books tell us, that in spite of the will of
+the Almighty, the whole human race, who had
+already been punished by infirmities, accidents, and
+death, continued to give themselves up to the most
+unaccountable depravity. God becomes irritated,
+and repents having created them. Doubtless he
+could not have foreseen this depravity; yet, rather
+than change the wicked disposition of their hearts,
+which he holds in his own hands, he performs the
+most surprising, the most impossible of miracles.
+He at once drowns all the inhabitants, with the
+exception of some favorites, whom he destines to
+re-people the earth with a chosen race, that will
+render themselves more agreeable to their God.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>
+But does the Almighty succeed in this new project?
+The chosen race, saved from the waters of the
+deluge, on the wreck of the earth's destruction,
+begin again to offend the Sovereign of nature,
+abandon themselves to new crimes, give themselves
+up to idolatry, and forgetting the recent effects of
+celestial vengeance, seem intent only on provoking
+heaven by their wickedness. In order to provide a
+remedy, God chooses for his favorite the idolater
+Abraham. To him he discovers himself; he orders
+him to renounce the worship of his fathers, and
+embrace a new religion. To guarantee this covenant,
+the Sovereign of nature prescribes a melancholy,
+ridiculous, and whimsical ceremony, to the
+observance of which a God of wisdom attaches his
+favors. The posterity of this chosen man are consequently
+to enjoy, for everlasting, the greatest
+advantages; they will always be the most partial
+objects of tenderness, with the Almighty; they will
+be happier than all other nations, whom the Deity
+will abandon to occupy himself only for them.</p>
+
+<p>These solemn promises, however, have not prevented
+the race of Abraham from becoming the
+slaves of a vile nation, that was detested by the
+Eternal; his dear friends experienced the most
+cruel treatment on the part of the Egyptians. God
+could not guarantee them from the misfortune that
+had befallen them; but in order to free them again,
+he raised up to them a liberator, a chief, who performed
+the most astonishing miracles. At the
+voice of Moses all nature is confounded; God
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>
+employs him to declare his will; yet he who could
+create and annihilate the world could not subdue
+Pharaoh. The obstinacy of this prince defeats, in
+ten successive trials, the divine omnipotence, of
+which Moses is the depositary. After having vainly
+attempted to overcome a monarch whose heart
+God had been pleased to harden, God has recourse
+to the most ordinary method of rescuing his people;
+he tells them to run off, after having first
+counselled them to rob the Egyptians. The fugitives
+are pursued; but God, who protects these robbers,
+orders the sea to swallow up the miserable
+people who had the temerity to run after their
+property.</p>
+
+<p>The Deity would, doubtless, have reason to be
+satisfied with the conduct of a people that he had
+just delivered by such a great number of miracles.
+Alas! neither Moses nor the Almighty could
+succeed in persuading this obstinate people to
+abandon the false gods of that country where they
+had been so miserable; they preferred them to the
+living God who had just saved them. All the
+miracles which the Eternal was daily performing
+in favor of Israel could not overcome their stubbornness,
+which was still more inconceivable and
+wonderful than the greatest miracles. These wonders,
+which are now extolled as convincing proofs
+of the divine mission of Moses, were by the confession
+of this same Moses, who has himself transmitted
+us the accounts, incapable of convincing
+the people who were witnesses of them, and never
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>
+produced the good effects which the Deity proposed
+to himself in performing them.</p>
+
+<p>The credulity, the obstinacy, the continual depravity
+of the Jews, Madam, are the most indubitable
+proofs of the falsity of the miracles of Moses,
+as well as those of all his successors, to whom the
+Scriptures attribute a supernatural power. If, in
+the face of these facts, it be pretended that these
+miracles are attested, we shall be compelled, at
+least, to agree that, according to the Bible account,
+they have been entirely useless, that the Deity has
+been constantly baffled in all his projects, and that
+he could never make of the Hebrews a people submissive
+to his will.</p>
+
+<p>We find, however, God continues obstinately
+employed to render his people worthy of him; he
+does not lose sight of them for a moment; he
+sacrifices whole nations to them, and sanctions
+their rapine, violence, treason, murder, and usurpation.
+In a word, he permits them to do any thing
+to obtain his ends. He is continually sending them
+chiefs, prophets, and wonderful men, who try in
+vain to bring them to their duty. The whole history
+of the Old Testament displays nothing but
+the vain efforts of God to vanquish the obstinacy
+of his people. To succeed in this, he employs
+kindnesses, miracles, and severity. Sometimes he
+delivers up to them whole nations, to be hated,
+pillaged, and exterminated; at other times he permits
+these same nations to exercise over his favorite
+people the greatest of cruelties. He delivers
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>
+them into the hands of their enemies, who are likewise
+the enemies of God himself. Idolatrous nations
+become masters of the Jews, who are left
+to feel the insults, the contempt, and the most
+unheard-of severities, and are sometimes compelled
+to sacrifice to idols, and to violate the law of their
+God. The race of Abraham becomes the prey of
+impious nations. The Assyrians, Persians, Greeks,
+and Romans make them successively undergo the
+most cruel treatment and suffer the most bloody
+outrages, and God even permits his temple to be
+polluted in order to punish the Jews.</p>
+
+<p>To terminate, at length, the troubles of his cherished
+people, the pure Spirit that created the universe
+sends his own Son. It is said that he had already
+been announced by his prophets, though this was
+certainly done in a manner admirably adapted to
+prevent his being known on his arrival. This Son
+of God becomes a man through his kindness for
+the Jews, whom he came to liberate, to enlighten,
+and to render the most happy of mortals. Being
+clothed with divine omnipotence, he performs the
+most astonishing miracles, which do not, however,
+convince the Jews. He can do every thing but
+convert them. Instead of converting and liberating
+the Jews, he is himself compelled, notwithstanding
+all his miracles, to undergo the most
+infamous of punishments, and to terminate his life
+like a common malefactor. God is condemned to
+death by the people he came to save. The Eternal
+hardened and blinded those among whom he sent
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>
+his own Son; he did not foresee that this Son
+would be rejected. What do I say? He managed
+matters in such a way as not to be recognized,
+and took such steps that his favorite people
+derived no benefit from the coming of the Messiah.
+In a word, the Deity seems to have taken the
+greatest care that his projects, so favorable to the
+Jews, should be nullified and rendered unprofitable!</p>
+
+<p>When we expostulate against a conduct so
+strange and so unworthy of the Deity, we are told
+it was necessary for every thing to take place in
+such a manner, for the accomplishment of prophecies
+which had announced that the Messiah should
+be disowned, rejected, and put to death. But why
+did God, who knows all, and who foresaw the fate
+of his dear Son, form the project of sending him
+among the Jews, to whom he must have known
+that his mission would be useless? Would it not
+have been easier neither to announce him nor send
+him? Would it not have been more conformable
+to divine omnipotence to spare himself the trouble
+of so many miracles, so many prophecies, so much
+useless labor, so much wrath, and so many sufferings
+to his own Son, by giving at once to the
+human race that degree of perfection he intended
+for them?</p>
+
+<p>We are told it was necessary that the Deity
+should have a victim; that to repair the fault of
+the first man, no expedient would be sufficient but
+the death of another God; that the only God of the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>
+universe could not be appeased but by the blood
+of his own Son. I reply, in the first place, that
+God had only to prevent the first man from committing
+a fault; that this would have spared him
+much chagrin and sorrow, and saved the life of his
+dear Son. I reply, likewise, that man is incapable
+of offending God unless God either permitted it or
+consented to it. I shall not examine how it is possible
+for God to have a Son, who, being as much a
+God as himself, can be subject to death. I reply,
+also, that it is impossible to perceive such a grave
+fault and sin in taking an apple, and that we can
+find very little proportion between the crime committed
+against the Deity by eating an apple and
+his Son's death.</p>
+
+<p>I know well enough I shall be told that these
+are all mysteries; but I, in my turn, shall reply, that
+mysteries are imposing words, imagined by men
+who know not how to get themselves out of the
+labyrinth into which their false reasonings and
+senseless principles have once plunged them.</p>
+
+<p>Be this as it may, we are assured that the Messiah,
+or the deliverer of the Jews, had been clearly
+predicted and described by the prophecies contained
+in the Old Testament. In this case, I demand
+why the Jews have disowned this wonderful
+man, this God whom God sent to them. They
+answer me, that the incredulity of the Jews was
+likewise predicted, and that divers inspired writers
+had announced the death of the Son of God. To
+which I reply, that a sensible God ought not to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>
+have sent him under such circumstances, that an
+omnipotent God ought to have adopted measures
+more efficacious and certain to bring his people into
+the way in which he wished them to go. If he
+wished not to convert and liberate the Jews, it was
+quite useless to send his Son among them, and
+thereby expose him to a death that was both certain
+and foreseen.</p>
+
+<p>They will not fail to tell me, that in the end the
+divine patience became tired of the excesses of the
+Jews; that the immutable God, who had sworn
+an eternal alliance with the race of Abraham,
+wished at length to break the treaty, which he had,
+however, assured them should last forever. It is
+pretended that God had determined to reject the
+Hebrew nation, in order to adopt the Gentiles,
+whom he had hated and despised nearly four thousand
+years. I reply, that this discourse is very
+little conformable to the ideas we ought to have of
+a God who <i>changes not</i>, whose mercy is <i>infinite</i>,
+and whose goodness is <i>inexhaustible</i>. I shall tell
+them, that in this case the Messiah announced by
+the Jewish prophets was destined for the Jews, and
+that he ought to have been their liberator, instead
+of destroying their worship and their religion. If
+it be possible to unravel any thing in these obscure,
+enigmatical, and symbolical oracles of the prophets
+of Judea, as we find them in the Bible,&mdash;if there
+be any means of guessing the meaning of the obscure
+riddles, which have been decorated with the
+pompous name of prophecies, we shall perceive
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>
+that the inspired writers, when they are in a good
+humor, always promised the Jews a man that will
+redress their grievances, restore the kingdom of
+Judah, and not one that should destroy the religion
+of Moses. If it were for the Gentiles that the
+Messiah should come, he is no longer the Messiah
+promised to the Jews and announced by their
+prophets. If Jesus be the Messiah of the Jews, he
+could not be the destroyer of their nation.</p>
+
+<p>Should I be told that Jesus himself declared that
+he came to fulfil the law of Moses, and not to
+abolish it, I ask why Christians do not observe the
+law of the Jews?</p>
+
+<p>Thus, in whatever light we regard Jesus Christ,
+we perceive that he could not be the man whom
+the prophets have predicted, since it is evident that
+he came only to destroy the religion of the Jews,
+which, though instituted by God himself, had
+nevertheless become disagreeable to him. If this
+inconstant God, who was wearied with the worship
+of the Jews, had at length repented of his
+injustice towards the Gentiles, it was to them that
+he ought to have sent his Son. By acting in this
+way he would at least have saved his old friends
+from a frightful <i>deicide</i>, which he forced them to
+commit, because they were not able to recognize
+the God he sent amongst them. Besides, the Jews
+were very pardonable in not acknowledging their
+expected Messiah in an artisan of Galilee, who
+was destitute of all the characteristics which the
+prophets had related, and during whose lifetime
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>
+his fellow-citizens were neither liberated nor
+happy.</p>
+
+<p>We are told that he performed miracles. He
+healed the sick, caused the lame to walk, gave
+sight to the blind, and raised the dead. At length
+he accomplished his own resurrection. It might be
+so believed; yet he has visibly failed in that
+miracle for which alone he came upon earth. He
+was never able either to persuade or to convert the
+Jews, who witnessed all the daily wonders that he
+performed. Notwithstanding those prodigies, they
+placed him ignominiously on the cross. In spite
+of his divine power, he was incapable of escaping
+punishment. He wished to die, to render the Jews
+culpable, and to have the pleasure of rising again
+the third day, in order to confound the ingratitude
+and obstinacy of his fellow-citizens. What is the
+result? Did his fellow-citizens concede to this
+great miracle, and have they at length acknowledged
+him? Far from it; they never saw him.
+The Son of God, who arose from the dead in
+secrecy, showed himself only to his adherents.
+They alone pretend to have conversed with him;
+they alone have furnished us with the particulars
+of his life and miracles; and yet by such suspicious
+testimony they wish to convince us of the
+divinity of his mission eighteen hundred years
+after the event, although he could not convince his
+contemporaries, the Jews.</p>
+
+<p>We are then told that many Jews have been
+converted to Jesus Christ; that after his death
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>
+many others were converted; that the witnesses
+of the life and miracles of the Son of God have
+sealed their testimony with their blood; that men
+will not die to attest falsehood; that by a visible
+effect of the divine power, the people of a great
+part of the earth have adopted Christianity, and
+still persist in the belief of this divine religion.</p>
+
+<p>In all this I perceive nothing like a miracle. I
+see nothing but what is conformable to the ordinary
+progress of the human mind. An enthusiast, a
+dexterous impostor, a crafty juggler, can easily find
+adherents in a stupid, ignorant, and superstitious
+populace. These followers, captivated by counsels,
+or seduced by promises, consent to quit a painful
+and laborious life, to follow a man who gives them
+to understand that he will make them <i>fishers of
+men</i>; that is to say, he will enable them to subsist
+by his cunning tricks, at the expense of the multitude
+who are always credulous. The juggler, with
+the assistance of his remedies, can perform cures
+which seem miraculous to ignorant spectators.
+These simple creatures immediately regard him as
+a supernatural being. He adopts this opinion himself,
+and confirms the high notions which his partisans
+have formed respecting him. He feels himself
+interested in maintaining this opinion among his
+sectaries, and finds out the secret of exciting their
+enthusiasm. To accomplish this point, our empiric
+becomes a preacher; he makes use of riddles,
+obscure sentences, and parables to the multitude,
+that always admire what they do not understand.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>
+To render himself more agreeable to the people, he
+declaims among poor, ignorant, foolish men, against
+the rich, the great, the learned; but above all,
+against the <i>priests</i>, who in all ages have been <i>avaricious</i>,
+<i>imperious</i>, <i>uncharitable</i>, and <i>burdensome</i> to
+the people. If these discourses be eagerly received
+among the vulgar, who are always morose, envious,
+and jealous, they displease all those who see themselves
+the objects of the invective and satire of the
+popular preacher.</p>
+
+<p>They consequently wish to check his progress,
+they lay snares for him, they seek to surprise him
+in a fault, in order that they may unmask him and
+have their revenge. By dint of imposture, he outwits
+them; yet, in consequence of his miracles and
+illusions, he at length discovers himself. He is then
+seized and punished, and none of his adherents
+abide by him, except a few idiots, that nothing can
+undeceive; none but partisans, accustomed to lead
+with him a life of idleness; none but dexterous
+knaves, who wish to continue their impositions on
+the public, by deceptions similar to those of their
+old master, by obscure, unconnected, confused, and
+fanatical harangues, and by declamations against
+<i>magistrates</i> and <i>priests</i>. These, who have the power
+in their own hands, finish by persecuting them, imprisoning
+them, flogging them, chastising them, and
+putting them to death. Poor wretches, habituated
+to poverty, undergo all these sufferings with a fortitude
+which we frequently meet with in malefactors.
+In some we find their courage fortified by the zeal
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>
+of fanaticism. This fortitude surprises, agitates,
+excites pity, and irritates the spectators against
+those who torment men whose constancy makes
+them looked upon as being innocent, who, it is supposed,
+may possibly be right, and for whom compassion
+likewise interests itself. It is thus that
+enthusiasm is propagated, and that persecution
+always augments the number of the partisans of
+those who are persecuted.</p>
+
+<p>I shall leave to you, Madam, the trouble of
+applying the history of our juggler, and his adherents,
+to that of the founder, the apostles, and the
+martyrs of the Christian religion.</p>
+
+<p>With whatever art they have written the life of
+Jesus Christ, which we hold only from his apostles,
+or their disciples, it furnishes a sufficiency of materials
+on which to found our conjectures. I shall
+only observe to you, that the Jewish nation was
+remarkable for its credulity; that the companions
+of Jesus were chosen from among the dregs of the
+people; that Jesus always gave a preference to the
+populace, with whom he wished, undoubtedly, to
+form a rampart against the <i>priests</i>; and that, at
+last, Jesus was seized immediately after the most
+splendid of his miracles. We see him put to death
+immediately after the resurrection of Lazarus, which,
+even according to the gospel account, bears the
+most evident characters of fraud, which are visible
+to every one who examines it without prejudice.</p>
+
+<p>I imagine, Madam, that what I have just stated
+will suffice to show you what opinion you ought
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>
+to entertain respecting the founder of Christianity
+and his first sectaries. These have been either
+dupes or fanatics, who permitted themselves to be
+seduced by deceptions, and by discourses conformable
+to their desires, or by dexterous impostors, who
+knew how to make the best of the tricks of their
+old master, to whom they have become such able
+successors. In this way did they establish a religion
+which enabled them to live at the people's
+expense, and which still maintains in abundance
+those we pay, at such a high rate, for transmitting
+from father to son the fables, visions, and wonders
+which were born and nursed in Judea. The propagation
+of the Christian faith, and the constancy
+of their martyrs, have nothing surprising in them.
+The people flock after all those that show them
+wonders, and receive without reasoning on it every
+thing that is told them. They transmit to their
+children the tales they have heard related, and by
+degrees these opinions are adopted by kings, by the
+great, and even by the learned.</p>
+
+<p>As for the martyrs, their constancy has nothing
+supernatural in it. The first Christians, as well as
+all new sectaries, were treated, by the Jews and
+pagans, as disturbers of the public peace. They
+were already sufficiently intoxicated with the fanaticism
+with which their religion inspired them, and
+were persuaded that God held himself in readiness
+to crown them, and to receive them into his eternal
+dwelling. In a word, seeing the heavens opened,
+and being convinced that the end of the world
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>
+was approaching, it is not surprising that they had
+courage to set punishment at defiance, to endure it
+with constancy, and to despise death. To these
+motives, founded on their religious opinions, many
+others were added, which are always of such a
+nature as to operate strongly upon the minds of
+men. Those who, as Christians, were imprisoned
+and ill-treated on account of their faith, were visited,
+consoled, encouraged, honored, and loaded with
+kindnesses by their brethren, who took care of and
+succored them during their detention, and who
+almost adored them after their death. Those, on
+the other hand, who displayed weakness, were
+despised and detested, and when they gave way to
+repentance, they were compelled to undergo a rigorous
+penitence, which lasted as long as they lived.
+Thus were the most powerful motives united to
+inspire the martyrs with courage; and this courage
+has nothing more supernatural about it than that
+which determines us daily to encounter the most
+perilous dangers, through the fear of dishonoring
+ourselves in the eyes of our fellow-citizens. Cowardice
+would expose us to infamy all the rest of our
+days. There is nothing miraculous in the constancy
+of a man to whom an offer is made, on the
+one hand, of eternal happiness and the highest
+honors, and who, on the other hand, sees himself
+menaced with hatred, contempt, and the most
+lasting regret.</p>
+
+<p>You perceive, then, Madam, that nothing can
+be easier than to overthrow the proofs by which
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>
+Christian doctors establish the revelation which
+they pretend is so well authenticated. Miracles,
+martyrs, and prophecies prove nothing.</p>
+
+<p>Were all the wonders true that are related in the
+Old and New Testament, they would afford no
+proof in favor of divine omnipotence, but, on the
+contrary, would prove the inability under which
+the Deity has continually labored, of convincing
+mankind of the truths he wished to announce to
+them. On the other hand, supposing these miracles
+to have produced all the effects which the
+Deity had a right to expect from them, we have no
+longer any reason to believe them, except on the
+tradition and recitals of others, which are often
+suspicious, faulty, and exaggerated. The miracles
+of Moses are attested only by Moses, or by Jewish
+writers interested in making them believed by the
+people they wished to govern. The miracles of
+Jesus are attested only by his disciples, who sought
+to obtain adherents, in relating to a credulous people
+prodigies to which they pretended to have been
+witnesses, or which some of them, perhaps, believed
+they had really seen. All those who deceive mankind
+are not always cheats; they are frequently
+deceived by those who are knaves in reality. Besides,
+I believe I have sufficiently proved, that
+miracles are repugnant to the essence of an immutable
+God, as well as to his wisdom, which will not
+permit him to alter the wise laws he has himself
+established. In short, miracles are useless, since
+those related in Scripture have not produced the
+effects which God expected from them.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The proof of the Christian religion taken from
+prophecy has no better foundation. Whoever will
+examine without prejudice these oracles pretended
+to be divine will find only an ambiguous, unintelligible,
+absurd, and unconnected jargon, entirely
+unworthy of a God who intended to display his
+prescience, and to instruct his people with regard
+to future events. There does not exist in the Holy
+Scriptures a single prophecy sufficiently precise to
+be literally applied to Jesus Christ. To convince
+yourself of this truth, ask the most learned of our
+doctors which are the formal prophecies wherein
+they have the happiness to discover the Messiah.
+You will then perceive that it is only by the aid of
+forced explanations, figures, parables, and mystical
+interpretations, by which they are enabled to bring
+forward any thing sensible and applicable to the
+<i>god-made-man</i> whom they tell us to adore. It
+would seem as if the Deity had made predictions
+only that we might understand nothing about them.</p>
+
+<p>In these equivocal oracles, whose meaning it is
+impossible to penetrate, we find nothing but the
+language of intoxication, fanaticism, and delirium.
+When we fancy we have found something intelligible,
+it is easy to perceive that the prophets intended
+to speak of events that took place in their
+own age, or of personages who had preceded them.
+It is thus that our doctors apply gratuitously to
+Christ prophecies or rather narratives of what happened
+respecting David, Solomon, Cyrus, &amp;c.</p>
+
+<p>We imagine we see the chastisement of the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>
+Jewish people announced in recitals where it is
+evident the only matter in question was the Babylonish
+captivity. In this event, so long prior to
+Jesus Christ, they have imagined finding a prediction
+of the dispersion of the Jews, supposed to be
+a visible punishment for their <i>deicide</i>, and which
+they now wish to pass off as an indubitable proof
+of the truth of Christianity.</p>
+
+<p>It is not, then, astonishing that the ancient and
+modern Jews do not see in the prophets what our
+doctors teach us, and what they themselves imagine
+they have seen. Jesus himself has not been more
+happy in his predictions than his predecessors. In
+the gospel he announces to his disciples in the most
+formal manner the destruction of the world and the
+last judgment, as events that were at hand, and
+which must take place before the existing generation
+had passed away. Yet the world still endures,
+and appears in no danger of finishing. It is true,
+our doctors pretend that, in the prediction of Jesus
+Christ, he spoke of the ruin of Jerusalem by Vespasian
+and Titus; but none but those who have
+not read the gospel would submit to such a change,
+or satisfy themselves with such an evasion. Besides,
+in adopting it we must confess at least that
+the Son of God himself was unable to prophesy
+with greater precision than his obscure predecessors.</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, at every page of these sacred books,
+which we are assured were inspired by God himself,
+this God seems to have made a revelation only
+to conceal himself. He does not speak but to be
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>
+misunderstood. He announces his oracles in such
+a way only that we can neither comprehend them
+nor make any application of them. He performs
+miracles only to make unbelievers. He manifests
+himself to mankind only to stupefy their judgment
+and bewilder the reason he has bestowed on them.
+The Bible continually represents God to us as a
+seducer, an enticer, a suspicious tyrant, who knows
+not what kind of conduct to observe with respect
+to his subjects; who amuses himself by laying
+snares for his creatures, and who tries them that he
+may have the pleasure of inflicting a punishment
+for yielding to his temptations. This God is occupied
+only in building to destroy, in demolishing to
+rebuild. Like a child disgusted with its playthings,
+he is continually undoing what he has done,
+and breaking what was the object of his desires.
+We find no foresight, no constancy, no consistency
+in his conduct; no connection, no clearness in his
+discourses. When he performs any thing, he
+sometimes approves what he has done, and at
+other times repents of it. He irritates and vexes
+himself with what he has permitted to be done,
+and, in spite of his infinite power, he suffers man
+to offend him, and consents to let Satan, his creature,
+derange all his projects. In a word, the revelations
+of the Christians and Jews seem to have
+been imagined only to render uncertain and to
+annihilate the qualities attributed to the Deity, and
+which are declared to constitute his essence. The
+whole Scripture, the entire system of the Christian
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>
+religion, appears to be founded only on the incapability
+of God, who was unable to render the human
+race as wise, as good, and as happy as he wished
+them. The death of his innocent Son, who was
+immolated to his vengeance, is entirely useless for
+the most numerous portion of the earth's inhabitants;
+almost the whole human race, in spite of the
+continual efforts of the Deity, continue to offend
+him, to frustrate his designs, resist his will, and to
+persevere in their wickedness.</p>
+
+<p>It is on notions so fatal, so contradictory, and so
+unworthy of a God who is just, wise, and good,
+of a God that is rational, independent, immutable,
+and omnipotent, on whom the Christian religion is
+founded, and which religion is said to be established
+forever by God, who, nevertheless, became disgusted
+with the religion of the Jews, with whom he had
+made and sworn an eternal covenant.</p>
+
+<p>Time must prove whether God be more constant
+and faithful in fulfilling his engagements with the
+Christians than he has been to fulfil those he made
+with Abraham and his posterity. I confess, Madam,
+that his past conduct alarms me as to what he may
+finally perform. If he himself acknowledged by
+the mouth of Ezekiel that the laws he had given
+to the Jews <i>were not good</i>, he may very possibly,
+some day or other, find fault with those which he
+has given to Christians.</p>
+
+<p>Our priests themselves seem to partake of my
+suspicions, and to fear that God will be wearied
+of that protection which he has so long granted to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>
+his church. The inquietudes which they evince,
+the efforts which they make to hinder the civilization
+of the world, the persecutions which they
+raise against all those who contradict them, seem
+to prove that they mistrust the promises of Jesus
+Christ, and that they are not certainly convinced
+of the eternal durability of a religion which does
+not appear to them divine, but because it gives
+them the right to command like gods over their
+fellow-citizens. They would undoubtedly consider
+the destruction of their empire a very grievous
+thing; but yet if the sovereigns of the earth and
+their people should once grow weary of the sacerdotal
+yoke, we may be sure the Sovereign of
+heaven would not require a longer time to become
+equally disgusted.</p>
+
+<p>However this may be, Madam, I venture to hope
+the perusal of this letter will fully undeceive you
+of a blind veneration for books which are called
+<i>divine</i>, although they appear as if invented to degrade
+and destroy the God who is asserted to be
+their author. My first letter, I feel confident, enabled
+you to perceive that the dogmas established
+by these same books, or subsequently fabricated to
+justify the ideas thus given of God, are not less
+contrary to all notions of a Deity infinitely perfect.
+A system which in the outset is based upon false
+principles can never become any thing else than a
+mass of falsehoods.</p>
+
+<p class="sig">I am, &amp;c.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chapbreak" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span></p>
+<h2 class="caps"><a name="LETTER_IV" id="LETTER_IV"></a>Letter IV.</h2>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="smcap">Of the fundamental Dogmas of the Christian
+Religion.</p></div>
+
+
+<p>You are aware, Madam, that our theological
+doctors pretend these revealed books, which I summarily
+examined in my preceding letter, do not
+include a single word that was not inspired by the
+Spirit of God. What I have already said to you
+is sufficient to show that in setting out with this
+supposition, the Divinity has formed a work the
+most shapeless, imperfect, contradictory, and unintelligible
+which ever existed; a work, in a word,
+of which any man of sense would blush with
+shame to be the author. If any prophecy hath
+verified itself for the Christians, it is that of Isaiah,
+which saith, "Hearing ye shall hear, but shall not
+understand." But in this case we reply that it was
+sufficiently useless to speak not to be comprehended;
+to reveal <i>that</i> which cannot be comprehended
+is to reveal <i>nothing</i>.</p>
+
+<p>We need not, then, be surprised if the Christians,
+notwithstanding the revelation of which they assure
+us they have been the favorites, have no precise ideas
+either of the Divinity, or of his will, or the way in
+which his oracles are to be interpreted. The book
+from which they should be able to do so serves
+only to confound the simplest notions, to throw
+them into the greatest incertitude, and create eternal
+disputations. If it was the project of the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>
+Divinity, it would, without doubt, be attended with
+perfect success. The teachers of Christianity never
+agree on the manner in which they are to understand
+the truths that God has given himself the
+trouble to reveal; all the efforts which they have
+employed to this time have not yet been capable
+of making any thing clear, and the dogmas which
+they have successively invented have been insufficient
+to justify to the understanding of one man
+of good sense the conduct of an infinitely perfect
+Being.</p>
+
+<p>Hence, many among them, perceiving the inconveniences
+which would result from the reading of
+the holy books, have carefully kept them out of the
+hands of the vulgar and illiterate; for they plainly
+foresaw that if they were read by such they would
+necessarily bring on themselves reproach, since it
+would never fail that every honest man of good
+sense would discover in those books only a crowd
+of absurdities. Thus the oracles of God are not
+even made for those for whom they are addressed;
+it is requisite to be initiated in the mysteries of a
+priesthood, to have the privilege of discerning in
+the holy writings the light which the Divinity destined
+to all his dear children. But are the theologians
+themselves able to make plain the difficulties
+which the sacred books present in every page? By
+meditating on the mysteries which they contain,
+have they given us ideas more plain of the intentions
+of the Divinity? No; without doubt they
+explain one mystery by citing another; they scatter
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>
+new obscurities on previous obscurities; rarely do
+they agree among themselves; and when by chance
+their opinions coincide, <i>we</i> are not more enlightened,
+nor is our judgment more convinced; on the
+other hand, our reason is the more confounded.</p>
+
+<p>If they do agree on some point, it is only to tell
+us that human reason, of which God is the author,
+is depraved; but what is the purport of this coincidence
+in their opinions, if it be not to tax the Deity
+with imbecility, injustice, and malignity? For
+why should God, in creating a reasonable being,
+not have given him an understanding which nothing
+could corrupt? They reply to us by saying
+"that the reason of man is necessarily limited;
+that perfection could not be the portion of a <i>creature</i>;
+that the designs of God are not like those of
+man." But, in this case, why should the Divinity
+be offended by the necessary imperfections which
+he discovers in his creatures? How can a just
+God require that our mind must admit what it
+was not made to comprehend? Can he who is
+above our reason be understood by us, whose reason
+is so limited? If God be infinite, how can a
+finite creature reason respecting him? If the mysteries
+and hidden designs of the Divinity are of
+such a nature as not to be comprehended by man,
+what good can we derive from their investigation?
+Had God designed that we should occupy our
+thoughts with his purposes, would he not have
+given us an understanding proportionate to the
+things he wished us to penetrate?
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>You see, then, Madam, that in depressing our
+reason, in supposing it corrupted, our priests, at
+the same time, annihilate even the necessity of
+religion, which cannot be either useful or important
+to us, if above our comprehension. They do more
+in supposing human reason depraved; they accuse
+God of injustice, in requiring that our reason should
+conceive what cannot be conceived. They accuse
+him of imbecility in not rendering this reason more
+perfect. In a word, in degrading man they degrade
+God, and rob him of those attributes which compose
+his essence. Would you call him a just and
+good parent, who, wishing that his children should
+walk by an obscure route, filled with difficulties,
+would only give them for their conduct a light too
+weak to find their way, and to avoid the continual
+dangers by which they are surrounded? Should
+you consider that the father had adequately provided
+for their security by giving them in writing
+unintelligible instructions, which they could not
+decipher by the weak light he had given them?</p>
+
+<p>Our spiritual directors will not fail to tell us that
+the corruption of reason and the weakness of the
+human understanding are the consequences of sin.
+But why has man become sinful? How has the
+good God permitted his dear children, for whom he
+created the universe, and of whom he exacts obedience,
+to offend him, and thereby extinguish, or,
+at least, weaken the light he had given them? On
+the other hand, the reason of Adam ought to be,
+without doubt, completely perfect before his fall.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span>
+In this case, why did it not prevent that fall and
+its consequences? Was the reason of Adam corrupted
+even beforehand by incurring the wrath of
+his God? Was it depraved before he had done
+any thing to deprave it?</p>
+
+<p>To justify this strange conduct of Providence,
+to clear him from passing as the author of sin, to
+save him the ridicule of being the cause or the
+accomplice of offences which he did against himself,
+the theologians have imagined a <i>being</i> subordinate
+to the divine power. It is the secondary
+being they make the author of all the evil which
+is committed in the universe. In the impossibility
+of reconciling the continual disorders of which the
+world is the theatre with the purposes of a Deity
+replete with goodness, the Creator and Preserver of
+the universe, who delights in order, and who seeks
+only the happiness of his creatures, they have
+trumped up a destructive genius, imbued with
+wickedness, who conspires to render men miserable,
+and to overthrow the beneficent views of the
+Eternal. This bad and perverse being they call
+<i>Satan</i>, the <i>Devil</i>, the <i>Evil One</i>; and we see him
+play a great game in all the religions of the world,
+the founders of which have found in the impotence
+of Deity the sources of both good and evil.
+By the aid of this imaginary being they have been
+enabled to resolve all their difficulties; yet they
+could not foresee that this invention, which went
+to annihilate or abridge the power of Deity, was a
+system filled with palpable contradictions, and that
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>
+if the Devil were really the author of sin, it would
+be he, in all justice, who ought to undergo all its
+punishment.</p>
+
+<p>If God is the author of all, it is he who created
+the Devil; if the Devil is wicked, if he strives to
+counteract the projects of the Divinity, it is the
+Divinity who has allowed the overthrow of his
+projects, or who has not had sufficient authority to
+prevent the Devil from exercising his power. If
+God had wished that the Devil should not have existed,
+the Devil would not have existed. God could
+annihilate him at one word, or, at least, God could
+change his disposition if injurious to us, and contrary
+to the projects of a beneficent Providence.
+Since, then, the Devil does exist, and does such
+marvellous things as are attributed to him, we are
+compelled to conclude that the Divinity has found
+it good that he should exist and agitate, as he does,
+all his works by a perpetual interruption and perversion
+of his designs.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, Madam, the invention of the Devil does
+not remedy the evil; on the contrary, it but entangles
+the priests more and more. By placing to
+Satan's account all the evil which he commits in
+the world, they exculpate the Deity of nothing;
+all the power with which they have supposed the
+Devil invested is taken from that assigned to the
+Divinity; and you know very well that according
+to the notions of the Christian religion, the Devil
+has more adherents than God himself; they are
+always stirring their fellow-creatures up to revolt
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>
+against God; without ceasing, in despite of God,
+Satan leads them into perdition, except one man
+only, who refused to follow him, and who found
+grace in the eyes of the Lord. You are not ignorant
+that the millions that follow the standard of
+Beelzebub are to be plunged with him into eternal
+misery.</p>
+
+<p>But then has Satan himself incurred the disgrace
+of the All-powerful? By what forfeit has
+he merited becoming the eternal object of the
+anger of that God who created him? The Christian
+religion will explain all. It informs us that
+the Devil was in his origin an angel; that is to say,
+a pure spirit, full of perfections, created by the
+Divinity to occupy a distinguishing situation in
+the celestial court, destined, like the other ministers
+of the Eternal, to receive his orders, and to
+enjoy perpetual blessedness. But he lost himself
+through ambition; his pride blinded him, and he
+dared to revolt against his Creator; he engaged
+other spirits, as pure as himself, in the same senseless
+enterprise; in consequence of his rashness, he
+was hurled headlong out of heaven, his miserable
+adherents were involved in his fall, and, having
+been hardened by the divine pleasure in their foolish
+dispositions, they have no other occupation
+assigned them in the universe than to tempt mankind,
+and endeavor to augment the number of the
+enemies of God, and the victims of his wrath.</p>
+
+<p>It is by the assistance of this fable that the
+Christian doctors perceive the fall of Adam, prepared
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>
+by the Almighty himself anterior to the
+creation of the world. Was it necessary that
+the Divinity should entertain a great desire that
+man might sin, since he would thereby have
+an opportunity of providing the means of making
+him sinful? In effect, it was the Devil who, in
+process of time, covered with the skin of a
+serpent, solicited the mother of the human race to
+disobey God, and involve her husband in her rebellion.
+But the difficulty is not removed by these
+inventions. If Satan, in the time he was an angel,
+lived in innocence, and merited the good will of his
+Maker, how came God to suffer him to entertain
+ideas of pride, ambition, and rebellion? How
+came this angel of light so blind as not to see the
+folly of such an enterprise? Did he not know that
+his Creator was all-powerful? Who was it that
+tempted Satan? What reason had the Divinity
+for selecting him to be the object of his fury, the
+destroyer of his projects, the enemy of his power?
+If pride be a sin, if the idea itself of rebellion is
+the greatest of crimes, <i>sin was, then, anterior to sin</i>,
+and Lucifer offended God, even in his state of
+purity; for, in fine, a being pure, innocent, agreeable
+to his God, who had all the perfections of which
+a creature could be susceptible, ought to be exempt
+from ambition, pride, and folly. We ought,
+also, to say as much for our first parent, who, notwithstanding
+his wisdom, his innocence, and the
+knowledge infused into him by God himself, could
+not prevent himself from falling into the temptation
+of a demon.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Hence, in every shift, the priests invariably make
+God the author of sin. It was God who tempted
+Lucifer before the creation of the world; Lucifer,
+in his turn, became the tempter of man and the
+cause of all the evil our race suffers. It appears,
+therefore, that God created both angels and men
+to give them an opportunity of sinning.</p>
+
+<p>It is easy to perceive the absurdity of this system,
+to save which the theologians have invented
+another still more absurd, that it might become the
+foundation of all their religious revelations, and by
+means of which they idly imagine they can fully
+justify the divine providence. The system of truth
+supposes the <i>free will</i> of man&mdash;that he is his own
+master, capable of doing good or ill, and of directing
+his own plans. At the words <i>free will</i>, I
+already perceive, Madam, that you tremble, and
+doubtless anticipate a metaphysical dissertation.
+Rest assured of the contrary; for I flatter myself
+that the question will be simplified and rendered
+clear, I shall not merely say for you, but for all
+your sex who are not resolved to be wilfully blind.</p>
+
+<p>To say that man is a free agent is to detract
+from the power of the Supreme Being; it is to
+pretend that God is not the master of his own
+will; it is to advance that a weak creature can,
+when it pleases him, revolt against his Creator,
+derange his projects, disturb the order which he
+loves, render his labors useless, afflict him with
+chagrin, cause him sorrow, act with effect against
+him, and arouse his anger and his passions. Thus,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>
+at the first glance, you perceive that this principle
+gives rise to a crowd of absurdities. If God is the
+friend of order, every thing performed by his creatures
+would necessarily conduce to the maintenance
+of this order, because otherwise the divine will
+would fail to have its effect. If God has plans,
+they must of necessity be always executed; if man
+can afflict his God, man is the master of this God's
+happiness, and the league he has formed with the
+Devil is potent enough to thwart the plans of the
+Divinity. In a word, if man is free to sin, God is
+no longer Omnipotent.</p>
+
+<p>In reply, we are told that God, without detriment
+to his Omnipotence, might make man a free
+agent, and that this liberty is a benefit by which
+God places man in a situation where he may merit
+the heavenly bounty; but, on the other hand, this
+liberty likewise exposes him to encounter God's
+hatred, to offend him, and to be overwhelmed by
+infinite sufferings. From this I conclude that this
+liberty is <i>not</i> a benefit, and that it evidently is inconsistent
+with divine goodness. This goodness
+would be more real if men had always sufficient
+resolution to do what is pleasing to God, conformably
+to order, and conducive to the happiness of
+their fellow-creatures. If men, in virtue of their
+liberty, do things contrary to the will of God, God,
+who is supposed to have the prescience of foreseeing
+all, ought to have taken measures to prevent
+men from abusing their liberty; if he foresaw they
+would sin, he ought to have given them the means
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>
+of avoiding it; if he could not prevent them
+from doing ill, he has consented to the ill they have
+done; if he has consented, he should not be offended;
+if he is offended, or if he punish them for
+the evil they have done with his permission, he is
+unjust and cruel; if he suffer them to rush on to
+their destruction, he is bound afterwards to take
+them to himself; and he cannot with reason find
+fault with them for the abuse of their liberty, in
+being deceived or seduced by the objects which he
+himself had placed in their way to seduce them, to
+tempt them, and to determine their wills to do
+evil.<a name="FNanchor_4" id="FNanchor_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p>
+
+<p>What would you say of a father who should
+give to his children, in the infancy of age, and
+when they were without experience, the liberty of
+satisfying their disordered appetites, till they should
+convince themselves of their evil tendency? Would
+not such a parent be in the right to feel uneasy at
+the abuse which they should make of their liberty
+which he had given them? Would it not be accounted
+malice in this parent, who should have
+foreseen what was to happen, not to have furnished
+his children with the capacity of directing their
+own conduct so as to avoid the evils they might be
+assailed with? Would it not show in him the
+height of madness were he to punish them for the
+evil which he had done, and the chagrin which
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>
+they occasioned him? Would it not be to himself
+that we should ascribe the sottishness and
+wickedness of his children?</p>
+
+<p>You see, then, the points of view under which
+this system of men's free will shows us the Deity.
+This free will becomes a present the most dangerous,
+since it puts man in the condition of doing
+evil that is truly frightful. We may thence conclude
+that this system, far from justifying God,
+makes him capable of malice, imprudence, and injustice.
+But this is to overturn all our ideas of a
+being perfectly, nay, infinitely wise and good, consenting
+to punish his creatures for sins which he
+gave them the power of committing, or, which is
+the same, suffering the Devil to inspire them with
+evil. All the subtilties of theology have really
+only a tendency to destroy the very notions itself
+inculcates concerning the Divinity. This theology
+is evidently the tub of the Danaides.</p>
+
+<p>It is a fact, however, that our theologians have
+imagined expedients to support their ruinous suppositions.
+You have often heard mention made
+of <i>predestination</i> and <i>grace</i>&mdash;terrible words, which
+constantly excite disputes among us, for which
+reason would be forced to blush if Christians did
+not make it a duty to renounce reason, and which
+contests are attended with consequences very dangerous
+to society. But let not this surprise you;
+these false and obscure principles have even among
+the theologians produced dissensions; and their
+quarrels would be indifferent if they did not
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>
+attach more importance to them than they really
+deserve.</p>
+
+<p>But to proceed. The system of predestination
+supposes that God, in his eternal secrets, has resolved
+that some men should be elected, and, being
+thus his favorites, receive special grace. By this
+grace they are supposed to be made agreeable to
+God, and meet for eternal happiness. But then an
+infinite number of others are destined to perdition,
+and receive not the grace necessary to eternal salvation.
+These contradictory and opposite propositions
+make it pretty evident that the system is
+absurd. It makes God, a being infinitely perfect
+and good, a partial tyrant, who has created a vast
+number of human beings to be the sport of his
+caprice and the victims of his vengeance. It supposes
+that God will punish his creatures for not
+having received that grace which he did not deign
+to give them; it presents this God to us under
+traits so revolting that the theologians are forced
+to avow that the whole is a profound mystery, into
+which the human mind cannot penetrate. But if
+man is not made to lift his inquisitive eye on this
+frightful mystery, that is to say, on this astonishing
+absurdity, which our teachers have idly endeavored
+to square to their views of Deity, or to
+reconcile the atrocious injustice of their God with
+his infinite goodness, by what right do they wish
+us to adore this mystery which they would compel
+us to believe, and to subscribe to an opinion that
+saps the divine goodness to its very foundation?
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>
+How do they reason upon a dogma, and quarrel
+with acrimony about a system of which even themselves
+can comprehend nothing?</p>
+
+<p>The more you examine religion, the more occasion
+you will have to be convinced that those
+things which our divines call <i>mysteries</i> are nothing
+else but the difficulties with which they are themselves
+embarrassed, when they are unable to avoid
+the absurdities into which their own false principles
+necessarily involve them. Nevertheless, this word
+is not enough to impose upon us; the reverend
+doctors do not themselves understand the things
+about which they incessantly speak. They invent
+words from an inability to explain things, and they
+give the name of <i>mysteries</i> to what they comprehend
+no better than ourselves.</p>
+
+<p>All the religions in the world are founded upon
+predestination, and all the pretended revelations
+among men, as has been already pointed out to
+you, inculcate this odious dogma, which makes
+Providence an unjust mother-in-law, who shows a
+blind preference for some of her children to the
+prejudice of all the others. They make God a tyrant,
+who punishes the inevitable faults to which
+he has impelled them, or into which he has allowed
+them to be seduced. This dogma, which served
+as the foundation of Paganism, is now the grand
+pivot of the Christian religion, whose God should
+excite no less hatred than the most wicked divinities
+of idolatrous people. With such notions, is it
+not astonishing that this God should appear, to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>
+those who meditate on his attributes, an object
+sufficiently terrible to agitate the imagination, and
+to lead some to indulge in dangerous follies?</p>
+
+<p>The dogma of another life serves also to exculpate
+the Deity from these apparent injustices or
+aberrations, with which he might naturally be accused.
+It is pretended that it has pleased him to
+distinguish his friends on earth, seeing he has amply
+provided for their future happiness in an abode
+prepared for their souls. But, as I believe I have
+already hinted, these proofs that God makes some
+good, and leaves others wicked, either evince injustice
+on his part, at least temporary, or they
+contradict his omnipotence. If God can do all
+things, if he is privy to all the thoughts and actions
+of men, what need has he of any proofs? If he
+has resolved to give them grace necessary to save
+them, has he not assured them they will not perish?
+If he is unjust and cruel, this God is not immutable,
+and belies his character; at least for a time he
+derogates from the perfections which we should
+expect to find in him. What would you think of
+a king, who, during a particular time, would discover
+to his favorites traits the most frightful, in
+order that they might incur his disgrace, and who
+should afterwards insist on their believing him a
+very good and amiable man, to obtain his favor
+again? Would not such a prince be pronounced
+wicked, fanciful, and tyrannical? Nevertheless,
+this supposed prince might be pardoned by some,
+if for his own interest, and the better to assure
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>
+himself of the attachment of his friends, he might
+give them some smiles of his favor. It is not so
+God, who knows all, who can do all, who has
+nothing to fear from the dispositions of his creatures.
+From all these reasonings, we may see that
+the Deity, whom the priests have conjured up,
+plays a great game, very ridiculous, very unjust, on
+the supposition that he tries his servants, and that
+he allows them to suffer in this world, to prepare
+them for another. The theologians have not failed
+to discover motives in this conduct of God which
+they can as readily justify; but these pretended
+motives are borrowed from the omnipotence of this
+being, by his absolute power over his creatures, to
+whom he is not obliged to render an account of his
+actions; but especially in this theology, which professes
+to justify God, do we not see it make him a
+despot and tyrant more hateful than any of his
+creatures?</p>
+
+<p class="sig">I am, &amp;c.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chapbreak" />
+<h2 class="caps"><a name="LETTER_V" id="LETTER_V"></a>Letter V.</h2>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="smcap">Of the Immortality of the Soul, and of The
+Dogma of another Life.</p></div>
+
+
+<p>We, have now, Madam, come to the examination
+of the dogma of a future life, in which it is supposed
+that the Divinity, after causing men to pass
+through the temptations, the trials, and the difficulties
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>
+of this life, for the purpose of satisfying
+himself whether they are worthy of his love or his
+hatred, will bestow the recompenses or inflict the
+chastisements which they deserved. This dogma,
+which is one of the capital points of the Christian
+religion, is founded on a great many hypotheses or
+suppositions, which we have already glanced at,
+and which we have shown to be absurd and incompatible
+with the notions which the same religion
+gives us of the Deity. In effect, it supposes us
+capable of offending or pleasing the Author of
+Nature, of influencing his humor, or exciting his passions;
+afflicting, tormenting, resisting, and thwarting
+the plans of Deity. It supposes, moreover, the
+free-will of man&mdash;a system which we have seen incompatible
+with the goodness, justice, and omnipotence
+of the Deity. It supposes, further, that God
+has occasion of proving his creatures, and making
+them, if I may so speak, pass a novitiate to know
+what they are worth when he shall square accounts
+with them. It supposes in God, who has created
+men for happiness only, the inability to put, by one
+grand effort, all men in the road, whence they may
+infallibly arrive at permanent felicity. It supposes
+that man will survive himself, or that the same
+being, after death, will continue to think, to feel,
+and act as he did in this life. In a word, it supposes
+the immortality of the soul&mdash;an opinion unknown
+to the Jewish lawgiver, who is totally silent
+on this topic to the people to whom God had manifested
+himself; an opinion which even in the time
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>
+of Jesus Christ one sect at Jerusalem admitted,
+while another sect rejected; an opinion about which
+the Messiah, who came to instruct them, deigned
+to fix the ideas of those who might deceive themselves
+in this respect; an opinion which appears
+to have been engendered in Egypt, or in India, anterior
+to the Jewish religion, but which was unknown
+among the Hebrews till they took occasion to instruct
+themselves in the Pagan philosophy of the
+Greeks, and doctrines of Plato.</p>
+
+<p>Whatever might be the origin of this doctrine, it
+was eagerly adopted by the Christians, who judged
+it very convenient to their system of religion, all
+the parts of which are founded on the marvellous,
+and which made it a crime to admit any truths
+agreeable to reason and common sense. Thus,
+without going back to the inventors of this inconceivable
+dogma, let us examine dispassionately
+what this opinion really is; let us endeavor to penetrate
+to the principles on which it is supported;
+let us adopt it, if we shall find it an idea conformable
+to reason; let us reject it, if it shall appear
+destitute of proof, and at variance with common
+sense, even though it had been received as an established
+truth in all antiquity, though it may have
+been adopted by many millions of mankind.</p>
+
+<p>Those who maintain the opinion of the soul's immortality,
+regard it&mdash;that is, the soul&mdash;as a being
+distinct from the body, as a substance, or essence,
+totally different from the corporeal frame, and they
+designate it by the name of <i>spirit</i>. If we ask them
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>
+what a spirit is, they tell us it is not matter; and
+if we ask them what they understand by that which
+is not matter, which is the only thing of which we
+cannot form an idea, they tell us it is a spirit. In
+general, it is easy to see that men the most savage,
+as well as the most subtle thinkers, make use of the
+word <i>spirit</i> to designate all the causes of which
+they cannot form clear notions; hence the word
+spirit hath been used to designate a being of which
+none can form any idea.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding, the divines pretend that this
+unknown being, entirely different from the body,
+of a substance which has nothing conformable with
+itself, is, nevertheless, capable of setting the body
+in motion; and this, doubtless, is a mystery very
+inconceivable. We have noticed the alliance between
+this spiritual substance and the material
+body, whose functions it regulates. As the divines
+have supposed that matter could neither think, nor
+will, nor perceive, they have believed that it might
+conceive much better those operations attributed
+to a being of which they had ideas less clear than
+they can form of matter. In consequence, they
+have imagined many gratuitous suppositions to
+explain the union of the soul with the body. In
+fine, in the impossibility of overcoming the insurmountable
+barriers which oppose them, the priests
+have made man twofold, by supposing that he contains
+something distinct from himself; they have
+cut through all difficulties by saying that this union
+is a great mystery, which man cannot understand;
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>
+and they have everlasting recourse to the omnipotence
+of God, to his supreme will, to the miracles
+which he has always wrought; and those last are
+never-failing, final resources, which the theologians
+reserve for every case wherein they can find no
+other mode of escaping gracefully from the argument
+of their adversaries.</p>
+
+<p>You see, then, to what we reduce all the jargon
+of the metaphysicians, all the profound reveries
+which for so many ages have been so industriously
+hawked about in defence of the soul of man; an
+immaterial substance, of which no living being can
+form an idea; a spirit, that is to say, a being totally
+different from any thing we know. All the theological
+verbiage ends here, by telling us, in a round
+of pompous terms,&mdash;fooleries that impose on the
+ignorant,&mdash;that we do not know what essence the
+soul is of; but we call it a spirit because of its
+nature, and because we feel ourselves agitated by
+some unknown agent; we cannot comprehend the
+mechanism of the soul; yet can we feel ourselves
+moved, as it were, by an effect of the power of
+God, whose essence is far removed from ours, and
+more concealed from us than the human soul itself.
+By the aid of this language, from which you cannot
+possibly learn any thing, you will be as wise,
+Madam, as all the theologians in the world.</p>
+
+<p>If you would desire to form ideas the most precise
+of yourself, banish from you the prejudices of
+a vain theology, which only consists in repeating
+words without attaching any new ideas to them,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>
+and which are insufficient to distinguish the soul
+from the body, which appear only capable of multiplying
+beings without reason, of rendering more
+incomprehensible and more obscure, notions less
+distinct than we already have of ourselves. These
+notions should be at least the most simple and the
+most exact, if we consult our nature, experience,
+and reason. They prove that man knows nothing
+but by his material sensible organs, that he sees
+only by his eyes, that he feels by his touch, that he
+hears by his ears; and that when either of these
+organs is actually deranged, or has been previously
+wanting, or imperfect, man can have none of the
+ideas that organ is capable of furnishing him with,&mdash;neither
+thoughts, memory, reflection, judgment,
+desire, nor will. Experience shows us that corporeal
+and material beings are alone capable of being
+moved and acted upon, and that without those
+organs we have enumerated the soul thinks not,
+feels not, wills not, nor is moved. Every thing
+shows us that the soul undergoes always the same
+vicissitudes as the body; it grows to maturity,
+gains strength, becomes weak, and puts on old age,
+like the body; in fine, every thing we can understand
+of it goes to prove that it perishes with the
+body. It is indeed folly to pretend that man will
+feel when he has no organs appropriate for that
+sentiment; that he will see and hear without eyes
+or ears; that he will have ideas without having
+senses to receive impressions from physical objects,
+or to give rise to perceptions in his understanding;
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>
+in fine, that he will enjoy or suffer when he has no
+longer either nerves or sensibility.</p>
+
+<p>Thus every thing conspires to prove that the soul
+is the same thing as the body, viewed relatively to
+some of its functions, which are more obscure than
+others. Every thing serves to convince us that
+without the body the soul is nothing, and that all
+the operations which are attributed to the soul
+cannot be exercised any longer when the body is
+destroyed. Our body is a machine, which, so long
+as we live, is susceptible of producing the effects
+which have been designated under different names,
+one from another; sentiment is one of these effects,
+thought is another, reflection a third. This last
+passes sometimes by other names, and our brain
+appears to be the seat of all our organs; it is that
+which is the most susceptible. This organic machine
+once destroyed or deranged, is no longer
+capable of producing the same effects, or of exercising
+the same functions. It is with our body as
+it is with a watch which indicates the hours, and
+which goes not if the spring or a pinion be broken.</p>
+
+<p>Cease, Eugenia, cease to torment yourself about
+the fate which shall attend you when death will
+have separated you from all that is dear on earth.
+After the dissolution of this life, the soul shall
+cease to exist; those devouring flames with which
+you have been threatened by the priests will have
+no effect upon the soul, which can neither be susceptible
+then of pleasures nor pains, of agreeable or
+sorrowful ideas, of lively or doleful reflections.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It is only by means of the bodily organs that
+we feel, think, and are merry or sad, happy or miserable;
+this body once reduced to dust, we will
+have neither perceptions nor sensations, and, by
+consequence, neither memory nor ideas; the dispersed
+particles will no longer have the same qualities
+they possessed when united; nor will they any
+longer conspire to produce the same effects. In a
+word, the body being destroyed, the soul, which is
+merely a result of all the parts of the body in
+action, will cease to be what it is; it will be reduced
+to nothing with the life's breath.</p>
+
+<p>Our teachers pretend to understand the soul
+well; they profess to be able to distinguish it from
+the body; in short, they can do nothing without
+it; and therefore, to keep up the farce, they have
+been compelled to admit the ridiculous dogma of
+the Persians, known by the name of the <i>resurrection</i>.
+This system supposes that the particles of
+the body which have been scattered at death will
+be collected at the last day, to be replaced in their
+primitive condition. But that this strange phenomenon
+may take place, it is necessary that the
+particles of our destroyed bodies, of which some,
+have been converted into earth, others have passed
+into plants, others into animals, some of one species,
+others of another, even of our own; it is
+requisite, I say, that these particles, of which some
+have been mixed with the waters of the deep,
+others have been carried on the wings of the wind,
+and which have successively belonged to many
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span>
+different men, should be reunited to reproduce the
+individual to whom they formerly belonged. If
+you cannot get over this impossibility, the theologians
+will explain it to you by saying, very briefly,
+"Ah! it is a profound mystery, which we cannot
+comprehend." They will inform you that the resurrection
+is a miracle, a supernatural effect, which is
+to result from the divine power. It is thus they
+overcome all the difficulties which the good sense
+of a few opposes to their rhapsodies.</p>
+
+<p>If, perchance, Madam, you do not wish to remain
+content with these sublime reasons, against which
+your good sense will naturally revolt, the clergy
+will endeavor to seduce your imagination by vague
+pictures of the ineffable delights which will be enjoyed
+in Paradise by the souls and bodies of those
+who have adopted their reveries; they will aver
+that you cannot refuse to believe them upon their
+mere word without encountering the eternal indignation
+of a God of pity; and they will attempt to
+alarm your fancy by frightful delineations of the
+cruel torments which a God of goodness has prepared
+for the greater number of his creatures.</p>
+
+<p>But if you consider the thing coolly, you will
+perceive the futility of their flattering promises and
+of their puny threatenings, which are uttered merely
+to catch the unwary. You may easily discover
+that if it could be true that man shall survive himself,
+God, in recompensing him, would only recompense
+himself for the grace which he had granted;
+and when he punished him, he punished him for
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>
+not receiving the grace which he had hardened him
+against receiving. This line of conduct, so cruel
+and barbarous, appears equally unworthy of a wise
+God as it is of a being perfectly good.</p>
+
+<p>If your mind, proof against the terrors with
+which the Christian religion penetrates its sectaries,
+is capable of contemplating these frightful
+circumstances, which it is imagined will accompany
+the carefully-invented punishments which
+God has destined for the victims of his vengeance,
+you will find that they are impossible, and totally
+incompatible with the ideas which they themselves
+have put forth of the Divinity. In a word, you
+will perceive that the chastisements of another life
+are but a crowd of chimeras, invented to disturb
+human reason, to subjugate it beneath the feet of
+imposture, to annihilate forever the repose of slaves
+whom the priesthood would inthrall and retain
+under its yoke.</p>
+
+<p>In short, Eugenia, the priests would make you
+believe that these torments will be horrible,&mdash;a
+thing which accords not with our ideas of God's
+goodness; they tell you they will be eternal,&mdash;a
+thing which accords not with our ideas of the justice
+of God, who, one would very naturally suppose,
+will proportion chastisements to faults, and
+who, by consequence, will not punish without end
+the beings whose actions are bounded by time.
+They tell us that the offences against God are infinite,
+and, by consequence, that the Divinity,
+without doing violence to his justice, may avenge
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>
+himself as God, that is to say, avenge himself to
+infinity. In this case I shall say that this God is
+not good; that he is vindictive, a character which
+always announces fear and weakness. In fine, I
+shall say that among the imperfect beings who
+compose the human species, there is not, perhaps,
+a single one who, without some advantage to himself,
+without personal fear, in a word, without folly,
+would consent to punish everlastingly the wretch
+who might have the misfortune to offend him, but
+who no longer had either the ability or the inclination
+to commit another offence. Caligula found,
+at least, some little amusement to forsake for a
+time the cares of government, and enjoy the spectacle
+of punishment which he inflicted on those
+unfortunate men whom he had an interest in destroying.
+But what advantage can it be to God
+to heap on the damned everlasting torments? Will
+this amuse him? Will their frightful punishments
+correct their faults? Can these examples of the
+divine severity be of any service to those on earth,
+who witness not their friends in hell? Will it not
+be the most astonishing of all the miracles of
+Deity to make the bodies of the damned invulnerable,
+to resist, through the ceaseless ages of eternity,
+the frightful torments destined for them?</p>
+
+<p>You see, then, Madam, that the ideas which the
+priests give us of hell make of God a being infinitely
+more insensible, more wicked and cruel
+than the most barbarous of men. They add to all
+this that it will be the Devil and the apostate angels,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>
+that is to say, the enemies of God, whom he will
+employ as the ministers of his implacable vengeance.
+These wicked spirits, then, will execute
+the commands which this severe judge will pronounce
+against men at the last judgment. For
+you must know, Madam, that a God who knows
+all will at some future time take an account of
+what he already knows. So, then, not content
+with judging men at death, he will assemble the
+whole human race with great pomp at the last or
+general judgment, in which he will confirm his
+sentence in the view of the whole human race,
+assembled to receive their doom. Thus on the
+wreck of the world will he pronounce a definitive
+judgment, from which there will be no appeal.
+But, in attending this memorable judgment,
+what will become of the souls of men, separated
+from their bodies, which have not yet been resuscitated?
+The souls of the just will go directly to
+enjoy the blessings of Paradise; but what is to
+become of the immense crowd of souls imbued
+with faults or crimes, and on whom the infallible
+parsons, who are so well instructed in what is passing
+in another world, cannot speak with certainty
+as to their fate? According to some of these wiseacres,
+God will place the souls of such as are not
+wholly displeasing to him in a place of punishment,
+where, by rigorous torments, they shall have
+the merit of expiating the faults with which they
+may stand chargeable at death. According to this
+fine system, so profitable to our spiritual guides,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>
+God has found it the most simple method to build
+a fiery furnace for the special purpose of tormenting
+a certain proportion of souls who have not been
+sufficiently purified at death to enter Paradise, but
+who, after leaving them some years united with
+the body, and giving them time necessary to
+arrive at that amendment of life by which they
+may become partakers of the supreme felicity of
+heaven, ordains that they shall expiate their offences
+in torment. It is on this ridiculous notion
+that our priests have bottomed the doctrine of <i>purgatory</i>,
+which every good Catholic is obliged to
+believe for the benefit of the priests, who reserve to
+themselves, as is very reasonable, the power of
+compelling by their prayers a just and immutable
+God to relax in his sternness, and liberate the captive
+souls, which he had only condemned to undergo
+this purgation in order that they might be made
+meet for the joys of Paradise.</p>
+
+<p>With respect to the Protestants, who are, as
+every one knows, heretics and impious, you will
+observe that they pretend not to those lucrative
+views of the Roman doctors. On the contrary,
+they think that, at the instant of death, every man
+is irrevocably judged; that he goes directly to
+glory or into a place of punishment, to suffer the
+award of evil by the enduring of punishments for
+which God had eternally prepared both the sufferer
+and his torments! Even before the reunion of
+soul and body at the final judgment, they fancy
+that the soul of the wicked (which, on the principle
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>
+of all souls being <i>spirits</i>, must be the same in
+essence as the soul of the elect,) will, though deprived
+of those organs by which it felt, and thought,
+and acted, be capable of undergoing the agency or
+action of a fire! It is true that some Protestant
+theologians tell us that the fire of hell is a spiritual
+fire, and, by consequence, very different from the
+material fire vomited out of Vesuvius, and &AElig;tna,
+and Hecla. Nor ought we to doubt that these
+informed doctors of the Protestant faith know very
+well what they say, and that they have as precise
+and clear ideas of a spiritual fire as they have of
+the ineffable joys of Paradise, which may be as
+spiritual as the punishment of the damned in hell.</p>
+
+<p>Such are, Madam, in a few words, the absurdities,
+not less revolting than ridiculous, which the
+dogmas of a future life and of the immortality of
+the soul have engendered in the minds of men.
+Such are the phantoms which have been invented
+and propagated, to seduce and alarm mortals, to
+excite their hopes and their fears; such the illusions
+that so powerfully operate on weak and feeling
+beings. But as melancholy ideas have more
+effect upon the imagination than those which are
+agreeable, the priests have always insisted more
+forcibly on what men have to fear on the part of a
+terrible God than on what they have to hope from
+the mercy of a forgiving Deity, full of goodness.
+Princes the most wicked are infinitely more respected
+than those who are famed for indulgence
+and humanity. The priests have had the art to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>
+throw us into uncertainty and mistrust by the twofold
+character which they have given the Divinity.
+If they promise us salvation, they tell us that we
+must work it out for ourselves, "with fear and
+trembling." It is thus that they have contrived to
+inspire the minds of the most honest men with dismay
+and doubt, repeating without ceasing that
+time only must disclose who are worthy of the
+divine love, or who are to be the objects of the
+divine wrath. Terror has been and always will be
+the most certain means of corrupting and enslaving
+the mind of man.</p>
+
+<p>They will tell us, doubtless, that the terrors
+which religion inspires are salutary terrors; that
+the dogma of another life is a bridle sufficiently
+powerful to prevent the commission of crimes and
+restrain men within the path of duty. To undeceive
+one's self of this maxim, so often thundered
+in our ears, and so generally adopted on the authority
+of the priests, we have only to open our
+eyes. Nevertheless, we see some Christians thoroughly
+persuaded of another life, who, notwithstanding,
+conduct themselves as if they had nothing
+to fear on the part of a God of vengeance, nor any
+thing to hope from a God of mercy. When any
+of these are engaged in some great project, at all
+times they are tempted by some strong passion or
+by some bad habit, they shut their eyes on another
+life, they see not the enraged judge, they suffer
+themselves to sin, and when it is committed, they
+comfort themselves by saying, that God is good.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>
+Besides, they console themselves by the same contradictory
+religion which shows them also this same
+God, whom it represents so susceptible of wrath,
+as full of mercy, bestowing his grace on all those
+who are sensible of their evils and repent. In a
+word, I see none whom the fears of hell will restrain
+when passion or interest solicit obedience. The
+very priests who make so many efforts to convince
+us of their dogmas too often evince more wickedness
+of conduct than we find in those who have
+never heard one word about another life. Those
+who from infancy have been taught these terrifying
+lessons are neither less debauched, nor less proud,
+nor less passionate, nor less unjust, nor less avaricious
+than others who have lived and died ignorant
+of Christian purgatory and Paradise. In fine, the
+dogma of another life has little or no influence on
+them; it annihilates none of their passions; it is a
+bridle merely with some few timid souls, who,
+without its knowledge, would never have the hardihood
+to be guilty of any great excesses. This
+dogma is very fit to disturb the quiet of some
+honest, timorous persons, and the credulous, whose
+imagination it inflames, without ever staying the
+hand of great rogues, without imposing on them
+more than the decency of civilization and a specious
+morality of life, restrained chiefly by the
+coercion of public laws.</p>
+
+<p>In short, to sum all up in one thought, I behold
+a religion gloomy and formidable to make impressions
+very lively, very deep, and very dangerous on
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>
+a mind such as yours, although it makes but very
+momentary impressions on the minds of such as
+are hardened in crime, or whose dissipation destroys
+constantly the effects of its threats. More lively
+affected than others by your principles, you have
+been but too often and too seriously occupied for
+your happiness by gloomy and harassing objects,
+which have powerfully affected your sensible imagination,
+though the same phantoms that have
+pursued you have been altogether banished from
+the mind of those who have had neither your virtues,
+your understanding, nor your sensibility.</p>
+
+<p>According to his principles, a Christian must
+always live in fear; he can never know with certainty
+whether he pleases or displeases God; the
+least movement of pride or of covetousness, the
+least desire, will suffice to merit the divine anger,
+and lose in one moment the fruits of years of devotion.
+It is not surprising that, with these frightful
+principles before them, many Christians should
+endeavor to find in solitude employment for their
+lugubrious reflections, where they may avoid the
+occasions that solicit them to do wrong, and embrace
+such means as are most likely, according to
+their notions of the likelihood of the thing, to
+expiate the faults which they fancy might incur
+the eternal vengeance of God.</p>
+
+<p>Thus the dark notions of a future life leave those
+only in peace who think slightly upon it; and they
+are very disconsolate to all those whose temperament
+determines them to contemplate it. They
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>
+are but the atrocious ideas, however, which the
+priests study to give us of the Deity, and by which
+they have compelled so many worthy people to
+throw themselves into the arms of incredulity. If
+some libertines, incapable of reasoning, abjure
+a religion troublesome to their passions, or which
+abridges their pleasures, there are very many who
+have maturely examined it, that have been disgusted
+with it, because they could not consent to
+live in the fears it engendered, nor to nourish the
+despair it created. They have then abjured this
+religion, fit only to fill the soul with inquietudes,
+that they might find in the bosom of reason the
+repose which it insures to good sense.</p>
+
+<p>Times of the greatest crimes are always times
+of the greatest ignorance. It is in these times, or
+usually so, that the greatest noise is made about
+religion. Men then follow mechanically, and
+without examination, the tenets which their priests
+impose on them, without ever diving to the bottom
+of their doctrines. In proportion as mankind become
+enlightened, great crimes become more rare,
+the manners of men are more polished, the sciences
+are cultivated, and the religion which they have
+coolly and carefully examined loses sensibly its
+credit. It is thus that we see so many incredulous
+people in the bosom of society become more
+agreeable and complacent now than formerly, when
+it depended on the caprice of a priest to involve
+them in troubles, and to invite the people to crimes
+in the hope of thereby meriting heaven.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Religion is consoling only to those who have no
+embarrassment about it; the indefinite and vague
+recompense which it promises, without giving ideas
+of it, is made to deceive those who make no reflections
+on the impatient, variable, false, and cruel
+character which this religion gives of its God. But
+how can it make any promises on the part of a
+God whom it represents as a tempter, a seducer&mdash;who
+appears, moreover, to take pleasure in laying
+the most dangerous snares for his weak creatures?
+How can it reckon on the favors of a God full of
+caprice, who it alternately informs us is replete
+with tenderness or with hatred? By what right
+does it hold out to us the rewards of a despotic and
+tyrannical God, who does or does not choose men
+for happiness, and who consults only his own fantasy
+to destine some of his creatures to bliss and
+others to perdition? Nothing, doubtless, but the
+blindest enthusiasm could induce mortals to place
+confidence in such a God as the priests have
+feigned; it is to folly alone we must attribute the
+love some well-meaning people profess to the God
+of the parsons; it is matchless extravagance alone
+that could prevail on men to reckon on the
+unknown rewards which are promised them by
+this religion, at the same time that it assures us
+that God is the author of grace, but that we have
+no right to expect any thing from him.</p>
+
+<p>In a word, Madam, the notions of another life,
+far from consoling, are fit only to imbitter all the
+sweets of the present life. After the sad and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>
+gloomy ideas which Christianity, always at variance
+with itself, presents us with of its God, it then
+affirms, that we are much more likely to incur his
+terrible chastisements, than possessed of power by
+which we may merit ineffable rewards; and it proceeds
+to inform us, that God will give grace to
+whomsoever he pleases, yet it remains with themselves
+whether they escape damnation; and a life
+the most spotless cannot warrant them to presume
+that they are worthy of his favor. In good truth,
+would not total annihilation be preferable to such
+beings, rather than falling into the hands of a Deity
+so hard-hearted? Would not every man of sense
+prefer the idea of complete annihilation to that of
+a future existence, in order to be the sport of the
+eternal caprice of a Deity, so cruel as to damn and
+torment, without end, the unfortunate beings whom
+he created so weak, that he might punish them
+for faults inseparable from their nature? If God
+is good, as we are assured, notwithstanding the
+cruelties of which the priests suppose him capable,
+is it not more consonant to all our ideas of a being
+perfectly good, to believe that he did not create
+them to sport with them in a state of eternal damnation,
+which they had not the power of choosing,
+or of rejecting and shunning? Has not God treated
+the beasts of the field more favorably than he has
+treated man, since he has exempted them from sin,
+and by consequence has not exposed them to suffer
+an eternal unhappiness?</p>
+
+<p>The dogma of the immortality of the soul, or of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>
+a future life, presents nothing consoling in the
+Christian religion. On the contrary, it is calculated
+expressly to fill the heart of the Christian,
+following out his principles, with bitterness and
+continual alarm. I appeal to yourself, Madam,
+whether these sublime notions have any thing consoling
+in them? Whenever this uncertain idea
+has presented itself to your mind, has it not filled
+you with a cold and secret horror? Has the consciousness
+of a life so virtuous and so spotless as
+yours, secured you against those fears which are
+inspired by the idea of a being jealous, severe,
+capricious, whose eternal disgrace the least fault is
+sure of incurring, and in whose eyes the smallest
+weakness, or freedom the most involuntary, is
+sufficient to cancel years of strict observance of all
+the rules of religion?</p>
+
+<p>I know very well what you will advance to support
+yourself in your prejudices. The ministers of
+religion possess the secret of tempering the alarms
+which they have the art to excite. They strive to
+inspire confidence in those minds which they discover
+accessible to fear. They balance, thus, one
+passion against another. They hold in suspense
+the minds of their slaves, in the apprehension that
+too much confidence would only render them less
+pliable, or that despair would force them to throw
+off the yoke. To persons terribly frightened about
+their state after death, they speak only of the hopes
+which we may entertain of the goodness of God.
+To those who have too much confidence, they
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>
+preach up the terrors of the Lord, and the judgments
+of a severe God. By this chicanery they
+contrive to subject or retain under their yoke all
+those who are weak enough to be led by the contradictory
+doctrines of these blind guides.</p>
+
+<p>They tell you, besides, that the sentiment of the
+immortality of the soul is inherent in man; that
+the soul is consumed by boundless desires, and that
+since there is nothing on this earth capable of satisfying
+it, these are indubitable proofs that it is
+destined to subsist eternally. In a word, that as
+we naturally desire to exist always, we may naturally
+conclude that we shall always exist. But
+what think you, Madam, of such reasonings? To
+what do they lead? Do we desire the continuation
+of this existence, because it may be blessed and
+happy, or because we know not what may become
+of us? But we cannot desire a miserable existence,
+or, at least, one in which it is more than probable
+we may be miserable rather than happy. If, as
+the Christian religion so often repeats, the number
+of the elect is very small, and salvation very difficult,
+the number of the reprobate very great, and
+damnation very easily obtained, who is he who
+would desire to exist always with so evident a risk
+of being eternally damned? Would it not have
+been better for us not to have been born, than to
+have been compelled against our nature to play a
+game so fraught with peril? Does not annihilation
+itself present to us an idea preferable to that
+of an existence which may very easily lead us to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>
+eternal tortures? Suffer me, Madam, to appeal to
+yourself. If, before you had come into this world,
+you had had your choice of being born, or of not
+seeing the light of this fair sun, and you could have
+been made to comprehend, but for one moment,
+the hundred thousandth part of the risks you run
+to be eternally unhappy, would you not have
+determined never to enjoy life?</p>
+
+<p>It is an easy matter, then, to perceive the proofs
+on which the priests pretend to found this dogma
+of the immortality of the soul and a future life.
+The desire which we might have of it could only
+be founded on the hope of enjoying eternal happiness.
+But does religion give us this assurance?
+Yes, say the clergy, if you submit faithfully to the
+rules it prescribes. But to conform one's self to
+these rules, is it not necessary to have grace from
+Heaven? And, are we then sure we shall obtain
+that grace, or if we do, merit Heaven? Do the
+priests not repeat to us, without ceasing, that God
+is the author of grace, and that he only gives it to a
+small number of the elect? Do they not daily tell
+us that, except one man, who rendered himself
+worthy of this eternal happiness, there are millions
+going the high road to damnation? This being
+admitted, every Christian, who reasons, would be a
+fool to desire a future existence which he has so
+many motives to fear, or to reckon on a happiness
+which every thing conspires to show him is as uncertain,
+as difficult to be obtained, as it is unequivocally
+dependent on the fantasies of a capricious
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>
+Deity, who sports with the misfortunes of his creatures.</p>
+
+<p>Under every point of view in which we regard
+the dogma of the soul's immortality, we are compelled
+to consider it as a chimera invented by men
+who have realized their wishes, or who have not
+been able to justify Providence from the transitory
+injustices of this world. This dogma was received
+with avidity, because it flattered the desires, and
+especially the vanity of man, who arrogated to
+himself a superiority above all the beings that
+enjoy existence, and which he would pass by and
+reduce to mere clay; who believed himself the
+favorite of God, without ever taxing his attention
+with this other fact&mdash;that God makes him every
+instant experience vicissitudes, calamities, and
+trials, as all sentient natures experience; that
+God made him, in fine, to undergo death, or dissolution,
+which is an invariable law that all that
+exists must find verified. This haughty creature,
+who fancies himself a privileged being, alone agreeable
+to his Maker, does not perceive that there
+are stages in his life when his existence is more
+uncertain and much more weak than that of the
+other animals, or even of some inanimate things.
+Man is unwilling to admit that he possesses not
+the strength of the lion, nor the swiftness of the
+stag, nor the durability of an oak, nor the solidity
+of marble or metal. He believes himself the greatest
+favorite, the most sublime, the most noble; he
+believes himself superior to all other animals
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>
+because he possesses the faculties of thinking, judging,
+and reasoning. But his thoughts only render
+him more wretched than all the animals whom he
+supposes deprived of this faculty, or who, at least,
+he believes, do not enjoy it in the same degree with
+himself. Do not the faculties of thinking, of remembering,
+of foresight, too often render him unhappy
+by the very idea of the past, the present, and
+the future? Do not his passions drive him to excesses
+unknown to the other animals? Are his judgments
+always reasonable and wise? Is reason so
+largely developed in the great mass of men that the
+priests should interdict its use as dangerous? Are
+mankind sufficiently advanced in knowledge to be
+able to overcome the prejudices and chimeras
+which render them unhappy during the greatest
+part of their lives? In fine, have the beasts some
+species of religious impressions, which inspire continual
+terrors in their breast, making them look upon
+some awful event, which imbitters their softest
+pleasures, which enjoins them to torment themselves,
+and which threatens them with eternal damnation?
+No!</p>
+
+<p>In truth, Madam, if you weigh in an equitable
+balance the pretended advantages of man above
+the other animals, you will soon see how evanescent
+is this fictitious superiority which he has arrogated
+to himself. We find that all the productions
+of nature are submitted to the same laws;
+that all beings are only born to die; they produce
+their like to destroy themselves; that all sentient
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>
+beings are compelled to undergo pleasures and
+pains; they appear and they disappear; they are
+and they cease to be; they evince under one form
+that they will quit it to produce another. Such are
+the continual vicissitudes to which every thing that
+exists is evidently subjected, and from which man
+is not exempt, any more than the other beings and
+productions that he appropriates to his use as <i>lord
+of the creation</i>. Even our globe itself undergoes
+change; the seas change their place; the mountains
+are gathered in heaps or levelled into plains;
+every thing that breathes is destroyed at last, and
+man alone pretends to an eternal duration.</p>
+
+<p>It is unnecessary to tell me that we degrade man
+when we compare him with the beasts, deprived of
+souls and intelligence; this is no levelling doctrine,
+but one which places him exactly where
+nature places him, but from which his puerile vanity
+has unfortunately driven him. All beings are
+equals; under various and different forms they act
+differently; they are governed in their appetites
+and passions by laws which are invariably the
+same for all of the same species; every thing
+which is composed of parts will be dissolved;
+every thing which has life must part with it at
+death; all men are equally compelled to submit to
+this fate; they are equal at death, although during
+life their power, their talents, and especially their
+virtues, establish a marked difference, which, though
+real, is only momentary. What will they be after
+death? They will be exactly what they were ten
+years before they were born.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Banish, then, Eugenia, from your mind forever
+the terrors which death has hitherto filled you with.
+It is for the wretched a safe haven against the
+misfortunes of this life. If it appears a cruel alternative
+to those who enjoy the good things of this
+world, why do they not console themselves with
+the idea of what they do actually enjoy? Let
+them call reason to their aid; it will calm the inquietudes
+of their imagination, but too greatly
+alarmed; it will disperse the clouds which religion
+spreads over their minds; it will teach them that
+this death, so terrible in apprehension, is really
+nothing, and that it will neither be accompanied
+with remembrance of past pleasures nor of sorrow
+now no more.</p>
+
+<p>Live, then, happy and tranquil, amiable Eugenia!
+Preserve carefully an existence so interesting
+and so necessary to all those with whom you live.
+Allow not your health to be injured, nor trouble
+your quiet with melancholy ideas. Without being
+teased by the prospect of an event which has no
+right to disturb your repose, cultivate virtue, which
+has always been your favorite, so necessary to your
+internal peace, and which has rendered you so dear
+to all those who have the happiness of being your
+friends. Let your rank, your credit, your riches,
+your talents be employed to make others happy, to
+support the oppressed, to succor the unfortunate,
+to dry up the tears of those whom you may have
+an opportunity of comforting! Let your mind be
+occupied about such agreeable and profitable employments
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>
+as are likely to please you! Call in the
+aid of your reason to dissipate the phantoms which
+alarm you, to efface the prejudices which you have
+imbibed in early life! In a word, comfort yourself,
+and remember that in practising virtue, as you
+do, you cannot become an object of hatred to God,
+who, if he has reserved in eternity rigorous punishments
+for the social virtues, will be the strangest,
+the most cruel, and the most insensible of beings!</p>
+
+<p>You demand of me, perhaps, "In destroying the
+idea of another world, what is to become of the
+remorse, those chastisements so useful to mankind,
+and so well calculated to restrain them within the
+bounds of propriety?" I reply, that remorse will
+always subsist as long as we shall be capable of
+feeling its pangs, even when we cease to fear the
+distant and uncertain vengeance of the Divinity.
+In the commission of crimes, in allowing one's self
+to be the sport of passion, in injuring our species,
+in refusing to do them good, in stifling pity, every
+man whose reason is not totally deranged perceives
+clearly that he will render himself odious to others,
+that he ought to fear their enmity. He will blush,
+then, if he thinks he has rendered himself hateful
+and detestable in their eyes. He knows the continual
+need he has of their esteem and assistance.
+Experience proves to him that vices the most concealed
+are injurious to himself. He lives in perpetual
+fear lest some mishap should unfold his
+weaknesses and secret faults. It is from all these
+ideas that we are to look for regret and remorse,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>
+even in those who do not believe in the chimeras
+of another world. With regard to those whose
+reason is deranged, those who are enervated by
+their passions, or perhaps linked to vice by the
+chains of habit, even with the prospect of hell open
+before them, they will neither live less vicious nor less
+wicked. An avenging God will never inflict on any
+man such a total want of reason as may make him
+regardless of public opinion, trample decency under
+foot, brave the laws, and expose himself to derision
+and human chastisements. Every man of sense
+easily understands that in this world the esteem
+and affection of others are necessary for his happiness,
+and that life is but a burden to those who by
+their vices injure themselves, and render themselves
+reprehensible in the eyes of society.</p>
+
+<p>The true means, Madam, of living happy in this
+world is to do good to your fellow-creatures; to
+labor for the happiness of your species is to have
+virtue, and with virtue we can peaceably and
+without remorse approach the term which nature
+has fixed equally for all beings&mdash;a term that your
+youth causes you now to see only at a distance&mdash;a
+term that you ought not to accelerate by your
+fears&mdash;a term, in fine, that the cares and desires
+of all those who know you will seek to put off till,
+full of days and contented with the part you have
+played in the scene of the world, you shall yourself
+desire to gently re&euml;nter the bosom of nature.</p>
+
+<p class="sig">I am, &amp;c.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr class="chapbreak" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p>
+<h2 class="caps"><a name="LETTER_VI" id="LETTER_VI"></a>Letter VI.</h2>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="smcap">Of the Mysteries, Sacraments, and Religious Ceremonies
+of Christianity.</p></div>
+
+
+<p>The reflections, Madam, which I have already
+offered you in these letters ought, I conceive, to
+have sufficed to undeceive you, in a great measure,
+of the lugubrious and afflicting notions with which
+you have been inspired by religious prejudices.
+However, to fulfil the task which you have imposed
+on me, and to assist you in freeing yourself from
+the unfavorable ideas you may have imbibed from
+a system replete with irrelevancies and contradictions,
+I shall continue to examine the strange mysteries
+with which Christianity is garnished. They
+are founded on ideas so odd and so contrary to
+reason, that if from infancy we had not been familiarized
+with them, we should blush at our species in
+having for one instant believed and adopted them.</p>
+
+<p>The Christians, scarcely content with the crowd
+of enigmas with which the books of the Jews are
+filled, have besides fancied they must add to them
+a great many incomprehensible mysteries, for which
+they have the most profound veneration. Their
+impenetrable obscurity appears to be a sufficient
+motive among them for adding these. Their
+priests, encouraged by their credulity, which nothing
+can outdo, seem to be studious to multiply the
+articles of their faith, and the number of inconceivable
+objects which they have said must be
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>
+received with submission, and adored even if not
+understood.</p>
+
+<p>The first of these mysteries is the <i>Trinity</i>, which
+supposes that one God, self-existent, who is a pure
+spirit, is, nevertheless, composed of three Divinities,
+which have obtained the names of <i>persons</i>.
+These three Gods, who are designated under the
+respective names of the <i>Father</i>, the <i>Son</i>, and the
+<i>Holy Ghost</i>, are, nevertheless, but one God only.
+These three persons are equal in power, in wisdom,
+in perfections; yet the second is subordinate to the
+first, in consequence of which he was compelled to
+become a man, and be the victim of the wrath of
+his Father. This is what the priests call the mystery
+of the <i>incarnation</i>. Notwithstanding his innocence,
+his perfection, his purity, the Son of God
+became the object of the vengeance of a just God,
+who is the same as the Son in question, but who
+would not consent to appease himself but by the
+death of his own Son, who is a portion of himself.
+The Son of God, not content with becoming man,
+died without having sinned, for the salvation of
+men who had sinned. God preferred to the punishment
+of imperfect beings, whom he did not
+choose to amend, the punishment of his only Son,
+full of divine perfections. The death of God became
+necessary to reclaim the human kind from
+the slavery of Satan, who without that would not
+have quitted his prey, and who has been found sufficiently
+powerful against the Omnipotent to oblige
+him to sacrifice his Son. This is what the priests
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>
+designate by the name of the mystery of <i>redemption</i>.</p>
+
+<p>It is assuredly sufficient to expose such opinions
+to demonstrate their absurdity. It is evident, if
+there exists only a single God, there cannot be
+three. We may, it is true, contemplate the Deity
+after the manner of Plato, who, before the birth of
+Christianity, exhibited him under three different
+points of view, that is to say, as all-wise, as all-powerful,
+as full of reason, and as infinite in goodness;
+but it was verily the excess of delirium to personify
+these three divine qualities, or transform them
+into real beings. We can readily imagine these
+moral attributes to be united in the same God, but
+it is egregious folly to fashion them into three different
+Gods; nor will it remedy this metaphysical
+polytheism to assert that these three are one. Besides,
+this revery never entered the head of the
+Hebrew legislator. The Eternal, in revealing himself
+to Moses, did not announce himself as triple.
+There is not one syllable in the Old Testament
+about this Trinity, although a notion so <i>bizarre</i>,
+so marvellous, and so little consonant with our
+ideas of a divine being, deserved to have been formally
+announced, especially as it is the foundation
+and corner stone of the Christian religion, which
+was from all eternity an object of the divine solicitude,
+and on the establishment of which, if we
+may credit our sapient priests, God seems to have
+entertained serious thoughts long before the creation
+of the world.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, the second person, or the second
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>
+God of the Trinity, is revealed in flesh; the Son
+of God is made man. But how could the pure
+Spirit who presides over the universe beget a son?
+How could this son, who before his incarnation
+was only a pure spirit, combine that ethereal essence
+with a material body, and envelop himself with it?
+How could the divine nature amalgamate itself
+with the imperfect nature of man, and how could
+an immense and infinite being, as the Deity is
+represented, be formed in the womb of a virgin?
+After what manner could a pure spirit fecundate
+this favorite virgin? Did the Son of God enjoy
+in the womb of his mother the faculties of omnipotence,
+or was he like other children during his
+infancy,&mdash;weak, liable to infirmities, sickness, and
+intellectual imbecility, so conspicuous in the years
+of childhood; and if so, what, during this period,
+became of the divine wisdom and power? In fine,
+how could God suffer and die? How could a just
+God consent that a God exempt from all sin should
+endure the chastisements which are due to sinners?
+Why did he not appease himself without immolating
+a victim so precious and so innocent? What
+would you think of that sovereign who, in the
+event of his subjects rebelling against him, should
+forgive them all, or a select number of them, by
+putting to death his only and beloved son, who had
+not rebelled?</p>
+
+<p>The priests tell us that it was out of tenderness
+for the human kind that God wished to accomplish
+this sacrifice. But I still ask if it would not
+have been more simple, more conformable to all
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>
+our ideas of Deity, for God to pardon the iniquities
+of the human race, or to have prevented them
+committing transgressions, by placing them in a
+condition in which, by their own will, they should
+never have sinned? According to the entire system
+of the Christian religion, it is evident that God
+did only create the world to have an opportunity
+of immolating his Son for the rebellious beings he
+might have formed and preserved immaculate.
+The fall of the rebellious angels had no visible end
+to serve but to effect and hasten the fall of Adam.
+It appears from this system that God permitted
+the first man to sin that he might have the pleasure
+of showing his goodness in sacrificing his "only
+begotten Son" to reclaim men from the thraldom
+of Satan. He intrusted to Satan as much power
+as might enable him to work the ruin of our race,
+with the view of afterwards changing the projects
+of the great mass of mankind, by making one God
+to die, and thereby destroy the power of the Devil
+on the earth.</p>
+
+<p>But has God succeeded in these projects to the
+end he proposed? Are men entirely rescued from
+the dominion of Satan? Are they not still the
+slaves of sin? Do they find themselves in the
+happy impossibility of kindling the divine wrath?
+Has the blood of the Son of God washed away
+the sins of the whole world? Do those who are
+reclaimed, those to whom he has made himself
+known, those who believe, offend not against
+heaven? Has the Deity, who ought, without
+doubt, to be perfectly satisfied with so memorable a
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>
+sacrifice, remitted to them the punishment of sin?
+Is it not necessary to do something more for them?
+And since the death of his Son, do we find the
+Christians exempt from disease and from death?
+Nothing of all this has happened. The measures
+taken from all eternity by the wisdom and prescience
+of a God who should find against his plans
+no obstacles have been overthrown. The death
+of God himself has been of no utility to the world.
+All the divine projects have militated against the
+free-will of man, but they have not destroyed the
+power of Satan. Man continues to sin and to
+die; the Devil keeps possession of the field of
+battle; and it is for a very small number of the
+elect that the Deity consented to die.</p>
+
+<p>You do indeed smile, Madam, at my being
+obliged seriously to combat such chimeras. If
+they have something of the marvellous in them, it
+is quite adapted to the heads of children, not of
+men, and ought not to be admitted by reasonable
+beings. All the notions we can form of those
+things must be mysterious; yet there is no subject
+more demonstrable, according to those whose interest
+it is to have it believed, though they are as incapable
+as ourselves to comprehend the matter.
+For the priests to say that they believe such absurdities,
+is to be guilty of manifest falsehood;
+because a proposition to be believed must necessarily
+be understood. To believe what they do not
+comprehend is to adhere sottishly to the absurdities
+of others; to believe things which are not comprehended
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>
+by those who gossip about them is the
+height of folly; to believe blindly the mysteries of
+the Christian religion is to admit contradictions of
+which they who declare them are not convinced.
+In fine, is it necessary to abandon one's reason
+among absurdities that have been received without
+examination from ancient priests, who were either
+the dupes of more knowing men, or themselves the
+impostors who fabricated the tales in question?</p>
+
+<p>If you ask of me how men have not long ago
+been shocked by such absurd and unintelligible
+reveries, I shall proceed, in my turn, to explain to
+you this secret of the church, this mystery of our
+priests. It is not necessary, in doing this, to pay
+any attention to those general dispositions of man,
+especially when he is ignorant and incapable of
+reasoning. All men are curious, inquisitive; their
+curiosity spurs them on to inquiry, and their imagination
+busies itself to clothe with mystery every
+thing the fancy conjures up as important to happiness.
+The vulgar mistake even what they have
+the means of knowing, or, which is the same thing,
+what they are least practised in they are dazzled
+with; they proclaim it, accordingly, marvellous,
+prodigious, extraordinary; it is a phenomenon.
+They neither admire nor respect much what is
+always visible to their eyes; but whatever strikes
+their imagination, whatever gives scope to the
+mind, becomes itself the fruitful source of other
+ideas far more extravagant. The priests have had
+the art to prevail on the people to believe in their
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>
+secret correspondence with the Deity; they have
+been thence much respected, and in all countries
+their professed intercourse with an unseen Divinity
+has given room for their announcement of things
+the most marvellous and mysterious.</p>
+
+<p>Besides, the Divinity being a being whose impenetrable
+essence is veiled from mortal sight, it
+has been commonly admitted by the ignorant, that
+what could not be seen by mortal eye must necessarily
+be divine. Hence <i>sacred</i>, <i>mysterious</i>, and
+<i>divine</i>, are synonymous terms; and these imposing
+words have sufficed to place the human race on
+their knees to adore what seeks not their inflated
+devotion.</p>
+
+<p>The three mysteries which I have examined are
+received unanimously by all sects of Christians;
+but there are others on which the theologians are
+not agreed. In fine, we see men, who, after they
+have admitted, without repugnance, a certain number
+of absurdities, stop all of a sudden in the way,
+and refuse to admit more. The Christian Protestants
+are in this case. They reject, with disdain,
+the mysteries for which the Church of Rome shows
+the greatest respect; and yet, in the matter of mysteries,
+it is indeed difficult to designate the point
+where the mind ought to stop.</p>
+
+<p>Seeing, then, that our doctors, better advised,
+undoubtedly, than those of the Protestants, have
+adroitly multiplied mysteries, one is naturally led
+to conclude, they despaired of governing the mind
+of man, if there was any thing in their religion that
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>
+was clear, intelligible, and natural. More mysterious
+than the priests of Egypt itself, they have found
+means to change every thing into mystery; the very
+movements of the body, usages the most indifferent,
+ceremonies the most frivolous, have become, in the
+powerful hands of the priests, sublime and divine
+mysteries. In the Roman religion all is magic, all
+is prodigy, all is supernatural. In the decisions
+of our theologians, the side which they espouse is
+almost always that which is the most abhorrent to
+reason, the most calculated to confound and overthrow
+common sense. In consequence, our priests
+are by far the most rich, powerful, and considerable.
+The continual want which we have of their
+aid to obtain from Heaven that grace which it is
+their province to bring down for us, places us in
+continual dependence on those marvellous men who
+have received their commission to treat with the
+Deity, and become the ambassadors between Heaven
+and us.</p>
+
+<p>Each of our sacraments envelops a great mystery.
+They are ceremonies to which the Divinity,
+they say, attaches some secret virtue, by unseen
+views, of which we can form no ideas. In <i>baptism</i>,
+without which no man can be saved, the water
+sprinkled on the head of the child washes his spiritual
+soul, and carries away the defilement which is
+a consequence of the sin committed in the person
+of Adam, who sinned for all men. By the mysterious
+virtue of this water, and of some words
+equally unintelligible, the infant finds itself reconciled
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>
+to God, as his first father had made him
+guilty without his knowledge and consent. In all
+this, Madam, you cannot, by possibility, comprehend
+the complication of these mysteries, with
+which no Christian can dispense, though, assuredly,
+there is not one believer who knows what the virtue
+of the marvellous water consists in, which is
+necessary for his regeneration. Nor can you conceive
+how the supreme and equitable Governor of
+the universe could impute faults to those who have
+never been guilty of transgressions. Nor can you
+comprehend how a wise Deity can attach his favor
+to a futile ceremony, which, without changing the
+nature of the being who has derived an existence
+it neither commenced nor was consulted in, must,
+if administered in winter, be attended with serious
+consequences to the health of the child.</p>
+
+<p>In <i>Confirmation</i>, a sacrament or ceremony, which,
+to have any value, ought to be administered by a
+bishop, the laying of the hands on the head of the
+young confirmant makes the Holy Spirit descend
+upon him, and procures the grace of God to uphold
+him in the faith. You see, Madam, that the efficacy
+of this sacrament is unfortunately lost in my person;
+for, although in my youth I had been duly
+confirmed, I have not been preserved against smiling
+at this faith, nor have I been kept invulnerable
+in the credence of my priests and forefathers.</p>
+
+<p>In the sacrament of <i>Penitence</i>, or confession, a
+ceremony which consists in putting a priest in possession
+of all one's faults, public or private, you will
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span>
+discover mysteries equally marvellous. In favor of
+this submission, to which every good Catholic is
+necessarily obliged to submit, a priest, <i>himself a
+sinner</i>, charged with full powers by the Deity, pardons
+and remits, in His name, the sins against
+which God is enraged. God reconciles himself
+with every man who humbles himself before the
+priest, and in accordance with the orders of the
+latter, he opens heaven to the wretch whom he had
+before determined to exclude. If this sacrament
+doth not always procure grace, very distinguishing
+to those who use it, it has, at all events, the advantage
+of rendering them pliable to the clergy, who,
+by its means, find an easy sway in their spiritual
+empire over the human mind, an empire that enables
+them, not unfrequently, to disturb society, and
+more often the repose of families, and the very conscience
+of the person confessing.</p>
+
+<p>There is among the Catholics another sacrament,
+which contains the most strange mysteries. It is
+that of the <i>Eucharist</i>. Our teachers, under pain
+of being damned, enjoin us to believe that the Son
+of God is compelled by a priest to quit the abodes
+of glory, and to come and mask himself under
+the appearance of bread! This bread becomes
+forthwith the body of God&mdash;this God multiplies
+himself in all places, and at all times, when and
+where the priests, scattered over the face of the
+earth, find it necessary to command his presence in
+the shape of bread&mdash;yet we see only one and the
+same God, who receives the homage and adoration
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>
+of all those good people who find it very ridiculous
+in the Egyptians to adore lupines and onions. But
+the Catholics are not simply content with worshipping
+a bit of bread, which they consider by the conjurations
+of a priest as divine; they eat this bread,
+and then persuade themselves that they are nourished
+by the body or substance of God himself.
+The Protestants, it is true, do not admit a mystery
+so very odd, and regard those who do as real idolaters.
+What then? This marvellous dogma is,
+without doubt, of the greatest utility to the priests.
+In the eyes of those who admit it, they become
+very important gentlemen, who have the power of
+disposing of the Deity, whom they make to descend
+between their hands; and thus a Catholic priest
+is, in fact, the creator of his God!</p>
+
+<p>There is, also, <i>Extreme Unction</i>, a sacrament
+which consists in anointing with oil those sick persons
+who are about to depart into the other world,
+and which not only soothes their bodily pains, but
+also takes away the sins of their souls. If it produces
+these good effects, it is an invisible and
+mysterious method of manifesting obvious results;
+for we frequently behold sick persons have their
+fears of death allayed, though the operation may
+but too often accelerate their dissolution. But our
+priests are so full of charity, and they interest themselves
+so greatly in the salvation of souls, that they
+like rather to risk their own health beside the sick
+bed of persons afflicted with the most contagious
+diseases, than lose the opportunity of administering
+their salutary ointment.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>Ordination</i> is another very mysterious ceremony,
+by which the Deity secretly bestows his invisible
+grace on those whom he has selected to fill the
+office of the holy priesthood. According to the Catholic
+religion, God gives to the priests the power of
+making God himself, as we have shown above;
+a privilege which without doubt cannot be sufficiently
+admired. With respect to the sensible
+effects of this sacrament, and of the visible grace
+which it confers, they are enabled, by the help of
+some words and certain ceremonies, to change a
+profane man into one that is sacred; that is to say,
+who is not profane any longer. By this spiritual
+metamorphosis, this man becomes capable of enjoying
+considerable revenues without being obliged
+to do any thing useful for society. On the contrary,
+heaven itself confers on him the right of deceiving,
+of annoying, and of pillaging the profane
+citizens, who labor for his ease and luxury.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, <i>Marriage</i> is a sacrament that confers
+mysterious and invisible graces, of which we in
+truth have no very precise ideas. Protestants and
+Infidels, who look upon marriage as a civil contract,
+and not as a sacrament, receive neither more
+nor less of its visible grace than the good Catholics.
+The former see not that those who are married
+enjoy by this sacrament any secret virtue, whence
+they may become more constant and faithful to the
+engagements they have contracted. And I believe
+both you and I, Madam, have known many people
+on whom it has only conferred the grace of cordially
+detesting each other.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>I will not now enter upon the consideration of a
+multitude of other magic ceremonies, admitted by
+some Christian sectaries and rejected by others, but
+to which the devotees who embrace them, attach
+the most lofty ideas, in the firm persuasion, that
+God will, on that account, visit them with his invisible
+grace. All these ceremonies, doubtless, contain
+great mysteries, and the method of handling
+or speaking of them is exceedingly mysterious. It
+is thus that the water on which a priest has pronounced
+a few words, contained in his conjuring
+book, acquires the invisible virtue of chasing away
+wicked spirits, who are invisible by their nature. It
+is thus that the oil, on which a bishop has muttered
+some certain formula, becomes capable of communicating
+to men, and even to some inanimate substances,
+such as wood, stone, metals, and walls,
+those invisible virtues which they did not previously
+possess. In fine, in all the ceremonies of
+the church, we discover mysteries, and the vulgar,
+who comprehend nothing of them, are not the less
+disposed to admire, to be fascinated with, and to
+respect with a blind devotion. But soon would
+they cease to have this veneration for these fooleries,
+if they comprehended the design and end
+the priests have in view by enforcing their observance.</p>
+
+<p>The priests of all nations have begun by being
+charlatans, castle builders, divines, and sorcerers.
+We find men of these characters in nations the
+most ignorant and savage, where they live by the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>
+ignorance and credulity of others. They are regarded
+by their ignorant countrymen as superior
+beings, endowed with supernatural gifts, favorites
+of the very Gods, because the uninquiring multitude
+see them perform things which they take to be
+mighty marvellous, or which the ignorant have always
+considered marvellous. In nations the most
+polished, the people are always the same; persons
+the most sensible are not often of the same ideas,
+especially on the subject of religion; and the
+priests, authorized by the ancient folly of the multitude,
+continue their old tricks, and receive universal
+applause.</p>
+
+<p>You are not, then, to be surprised, Madam, if
+you still behold our pontiffs and our priests exercise
+their magical rites, or rear castles before the eyes
+of people prejudiced in favor of their ancient illusions,
+and who attach to these mysteries a degree
+of consequence, seeing they are not in a condition
+to comprehend the motives of the fabricators.
+Every thing that is mysterious has charms for the
+ignorant; the marvellous captivates all men; persons
+the most enlightened find it difficult to defend
+themselves against these illusions. Hence you
+may discover that the priests are always opinionatively
+attached to these rites and ceremonies of
+their worship; and it has never been without some
+violent revolution that they have been diminished
+or abrogated. The annihilation of a trifling ceremony
+has often caused rivers of blood to flow.
+The people have believed themselves lost and undone
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>
+when one bolder than the rest wished to innovate
+in matters of religion; they have fancied that
+they were to be deprived of inestimable advantages
+and invisible but saving grace, which they have
+supposed to be attached by the Divinity himself to
+some movements of the body. Priests the most
+adroit have overcharged religion with ceremonies,
+and practices, and mysteries. They fancied that
+all these were so many cords to bind the people to
+their interest, to allure them by enthusiasm, and
+render them necessary to their idle and luxurious
+existence, which is not spent without much money
+extracted from the hard earnings of the people, and
+much of that respect which is but the homage of
+slaves to spiritual tyrants.</p>
+
+<p>You cannot any longer, I persuade myself, Madam,
+be made the dupe of these holy jugglers, who
+impose on the vulgar by their marvellous tales.
+You must now be convinced that the things which
+I have touched upon as mysteries are profound absurdities,
+of which their inventors can render no reasonable
+account either to themselves or to others.
+You must now be certified that the movements of
+the body and other religious ceremonies must be
+matters perfectly indifferent to the wise Being whom
+they describe to us as the great mover of all things.
+You conclude, then, that all these marvellous rites,
+in which our priests announce so much mystery,
+and in which the people are taught to consider the
+whole of religion as consisting, are nothing more
+than puerilities, to which people of understanding
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>
+ought never to submit. That they are usages calculated
+principally to alarm the minds of the weak,
+and keep in bondage those who have not the courage
+to throw off the yoke of priests. I am, &amp;c.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chapbreak" />
+<h2 class="caps"><a name="LETTER_VII" id="LETTER_VII"></a>Letter VII.</h2>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="smcap">Of the pious Rites, Prayers, and Austerities of
+Christianity.</p></div>
+
+
+<p>You now know, Madam, what you ought to attach
+to the mysteries and ceremonies of that religion
+you propose to meditate on, and adore in
+silence. I proceed now to examine some of those
+practices to which the priests tell us the Deity attaches
+his complaisance and his favors. In consequence
+of the false, sinister, contradictory, and incompatible
+ideas, which all revealed religions give
+us of the Deity, the priests have invented a crowd
+of unreasonable usages, but which are conformable
+to these erroneous notions that they have framed
+of this Being. God is always regarded as a man
+full of passion, sensible to presents, to flatteries,
+and marks of submission; or rather as a fantastic
+and punctilious sovereign, who is very seriously
+angry when we neglect to show him that respect
+and obeisance which the vanity of earthly potentates
+exacts from their vassals.</p>
+
+<p>It is after these notions so little agreeable to the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>
+Deity, that the priests have conjured up a crowd of
+practices and strange inventions, ridiculous, inconvenient,
+and often cruel; but by which they inform
+us we shall merit the good favor of God, or disarm
+the wrath of the Universal Lord. With some, all
+consists in prayers, offerings, and sacrifices, with
+which they fancy God is well pleased. They forget
+that a God who is good, who knows all things,
+has no need to be solicited; that a God who is the
+author of all things has no need to be presented
+with any part of his workmanship; that a God
+who knows his power has no need of either flatteries
+or submissions, to remind him of his grandeur,
+his power, or his rights; that a God who is
+Lord of all has no need of offerings which belong
+to himself; that a God who has no need of any
+thing cannot be won by presents, nor grudge to his
+creatures the goods which they have received from
+his divine bounty.</p>
+
+<p>For the want of making these reflections, simple
+as they are, all the religions in the world are filled
+with an infinite number of frivolous practices, by
+which men have long strove to render themselves
+acceptable to the Deity. The priests who are always
+declared to be the ministers, the favorites, the
+interpreters of God's will, have discovered how
+they might most easily profit by the errors of mankind,
+and the presents which they offer to the
+Deity. They are thence interested to enter into the
+false ideas of the people, and even to redouble the
+darkness of their minds. They have invented
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span>
+means to please unknown powers who dispose
+of their fate&mdash;to excite their devotion and their
+zeal for those invisible beings of whom they
+were themselves the visible representatives. These
+priests soon perceived that in laboring for the Gods
+they labored for themselves, and that they could
+appropriate the major part of the presents, sacrifices,
+and offerings, which were made to beings who
+never showed themselves in order to claim what
+their devotees intended for them.</p>
+
+<p>You thus perceive, Madam, how the priests have
+made common cause with the Divinity. Their
+policy thence obliged them to favor and increase
+the errors of the human kind. They talk of this
+ineffable Being as of an interested monarch, jealous,
+full of vanity, who gives that it may be restored
+to him again; who exacts continual signs
+of submission and respect; who desires, without
+ceasing, that men may reiterate their marks of
+respect for him; who wishes to be solicited; who
+bestows no grace unless it be accorded to importunity
+for the purpose of making it more valuable;
+and, above all, who allows himself to be appeased
+and propitiated by gifts from which his ministers
+derive the greatest advantage.</p>
+
+<p>It is evident that it is upon these ideas borrowed
+from monarchical courts here below that are
+founded all the practices, ceremonies, and rites
+that we see established in all the religions of the
+earth. Each sect has endeavored to make its God
+a monarch the most redoubtable, the greatest, the
+most despotic, and the most selfish. The people
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>
+acquainted simply with human opinions, and full
+of debasement, have adopted without examination
+the inventions which the Deity has shown them as
+the fittest to obtain his favor and soften his wrath.
+The priests fail not to adapt these practices, which
+they have invented, to their own system of religion
+and personal interest; and the ignorant and vulgar
+have allowed themselves to be blindly led by these
+guides. Habit has familiarized them with things
+upon which they never reason, and they make a
+duty of the routine which has been transmitted to
+them from age to age, and from father to child.</p>
+
+<p>The infant, as soon as it can be made to understand
+any thing, is taught mechanically to join its
+little hands in prayer. His tongue is forced to lisp
+a formula which it does not comprehend, addressed
+to a God which its understanding can never conceive.
+In the arms of its nurse it is carried into
+the temple or church, where its eyes are habituated
+to contemplate spectacles, ceremonies, and pretended
+mysteries, of which, even when it shall have
+arrived at mature age, it will still understand nothing.
+If at this latter period any one should ask
+the reason of his conduct, or desire to know why
+he made this conduct a sacred and important duty,
+he could give no explanation, except that he was
+instructed in his tender years to respectfully observe
+certain usages, which he must regard as sacred, as
+they were unintelligible to him. If an attempt
+was made to undeceive him in regard to these
+habitual futilities, either he would not listen, or he
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span>
+would be irritated against whoever denied the
+notions rooted in his brain. Any man who wished
+to lead him to good sense, and who reasoned against
+the habits he had contracted, would be regarded by
+him as ridiculous and extravagant, or he would
+repulse him as an infidel and blasphemer, because
+his instructions lead him thus to designate every
+man who fails to pursue the same routine as himself,
+or who does not attach the same ideas as
+the devotee to things which the latter has never
+examined.</p>
+
+<p>What horror does it not fill the Christian devotee
+with if you tell him that his priest is unnecessary!
+What would be his surprise if you were to prove
+to him, even on the principles of his religion, that
+the prayers which in his infancy he had been taught
+to consider as the most agreeable to his God, are
+unworthy and unnecessary to this Deity! For if
+God knows all, what need is there to remind him
+of the wants of his creatures whom he loves?
+If God is a father full of tenderness and goodness,
+is it necessary to ask him to "give us day by day
+our daily bread"? If this God, so good, foresaw
+the wants of his children, and knew much better
+than they what they could not know of themselves,
+whence is it he bids them importune him to grant
+them their requests? If this God is immutable and
+wise, how can his creatures change the fixed resolution
+of the Deity? If this God is just and good,
+how can he injure us, or place us in a situation to
+require the use of that prayer which entreats the
+Deity <i>not to lead us into temptation</i>?
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>You see by this, Madam, that there is but a very
+small portion of what the Christians pretend they
+understand and consider absolutely necessary that
+accords at all with what they tell us has been dictated
+by God himself. You see that the Lord's
+prayer itself contains many absurdities and ideas
+totally contrary to those which every Christian
+ought to have of his God. If you ask a Christian
+why he repeats without ceasing this vain formula,
+on which he never reflects, he can assign little other
+reason than that he was taught in his infancy to
+clasp his hands, repeat words the meaning of which
+his priest, not himself, is alone bound to understand.
+He may probably add that he has ever been taught
+to consider this formula requisite, as it was the
+most sacred and the most proper to merit the favor
+of Heaven.</p>
+
+<p>We should, without doubt, form the same judgment
+of that multitude of prayers which our teachers
+recommend to us daily. And if we believe
+them, man, to please God, ought to pass a large
+portion of his existence in supplicating Heaven to
+pour down its blessings on him. But if God is
+good, if he cherishes his creatures, if he knows
+their wants, it seems superfluous to pray to him.
+If God changes not, he has never promised to alter
+his secret decrees, or, if he has, he is variable in his
+fancies, like man; to what purpose are all our petitions
+to him? If God is offended with us, will he
+not reject prayers which insult his goodness, his
+justice, and infinite wisdom?
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>What motives, then, have our priests to inculcate
+constantly the necessity of prayer? It is that
+they may thereby hold the minds of mankind in
+opinions more advantageous to themselves. They
+represent God to us under the traits of a monarch
+difficult of access, who cannot be easily pacified,
+but of whom they are the ministers, the favorites,
+and servants. They become intercessors between
+this invisible Sovereign and his subjects of this
+nether world. They sell to the ignorant their intercession
+with the All-powerful; they pray for the
+people, and by society they are recompensed with
+real advantages, with riches, honors, and ease. It
+is on the necessity of prayer that our priests, our
+monks, and all religious men establish their lazy
+existence; that they profess to win a place in
+heaven for their followers and paymasters, who,
+without this intercession, could neither obtain the
+favor of God, nor avert his chastisements and the
+calamities the world is so often visited with. The
+prayers of the priests are regarded as a universal
+remedy for all evils. All the misfortunes of nations
+are laid before these spiritual guides, who generally
+find public calamities a source of profit to themselves,
+as it is then they are amply paid for their
+supposed mediation between the Deity and his
+suffering creatures. They never teach the people
+that these things spring from the course of nature
+and of laws they cannot control. O, no. They
+make the world believe they are the judgments of
+an angry God. The evils for which they can find
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>
+no remedy are pronounced marks of the divine
+wrath; they are supernatural, and the priests must
+be applied to. God, whom they call so good, appears
+sometimes obstinately deaf to their entreaties.
+Their common Parent, so tender, appears to
+derange the order of nature to manifest his anger.
+The God who is so just, sometimes punishes men
+who cannot divine the cause of his vengeance.
+Then, in their distress, they flee to the priests, who
+never fail to find motives for the divine wrath.
+They tell them that God has been offended; that
+he has been neglected; that he exacts prayers,
+offerings, and sacrifices; that he requires, in order
+to be appeased, that his ministers should receive
+more consideration, should be heard more attentively,
+and should be more enriched. Without
+this, they announce to the vulgar that their harvests
+will fail, that their fields will be inundated,
+that pestilence, famine, war, and contagion will
+visit the earth; and when these misfortunes have
+arrived, they declare they may be removed by
+means of prayers.</p>
+
+<p>If fear and terror permitted men to reason, they
+would discover that all the evils, as well as the
+good things of this life, are necessary consequences
+of the order of nature. They would perceive that
+a wise God, immutable in his conduct, cannot
+allow any thing to transpire but according to those
+laws of which he is regarded as the author. They
+would discover that the calamities, sterility, maladies,
+contagions, and even death itself are effects
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>
+as necessary as happiness, abundance, health, and
+life itself. They would find that wars, wants, and
+famine are often the effects of human imprudence;
+that they would submit to accidents which they
+could not prevent, and guard against those they
+could foresee; they would remedy by simple and
+natural means those against which they possessed
+resources; and they would undeceive themselves
+in regard to those supernatural means and those
+useless prayers of which the experience of so many
+ages ought to have disabused men, if they were
+capable of correcting their religious prejudices.</p>
+
+<p>This would not, indeed, redound to the advantage
+of the priests, since they would become useless
+if men perceived the inefficacy of their prayers,
+the futility of their practices, and the absence of
+all rational foundation for those exercises of piety
+which place the human race upon their knees.
+They compel their votaries always to run down
+those who discredit their pretensions. They terrify
+the weak minded by frightful ideas which they
+hold out to them of the Deity. They forbid them
+to reason; they make them deaf to reason, by conforming
+them to ordinances the most out of the
+way, the most unreasonable, and the most contradictory
+to the very principles on which they pretend
+to establish them. They change practices,
+arbitrary in themselves, or, at most, indifferent and
+useless, into important duties, which they proclaim
+the most essential of all duties, and the most
+sacred and moral. They know that man ceases to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>
+reason in proportion as he suffers or is wretched.
+Hence, if he experiences real misfortunes, the
+priests make sure of him; if he is not unfortunate
+they menace him; they create imaginary fears and
+troubles.</p>
+
+<p>In fine, Madam, when you wish to examine with
+your own eyes, and not by the help of the pretensions
+set up and imposed on you by the ministers
+of religion, you will be compelled to acknowledge
+the things we have been considering as useful to
+the priests alone; they are useless to the Deity, and
+to society they are often very obviously pernicious.
+Of what utility can it be in any family to behold
+an excess of devotion in the mother of that family?
+One would suppose it is not necessary for a lady
+to pass all her time in prayers and in meditations,
+to the neglect of other duties. Much less is it the
+part of a Catholic mother to be closeted in mystic
+conversation with her priest. Will her husband,
+her children, and her friends applaud her who loses
+most of her time in prayers, and meditations, and
+practices, which can tend only to render her sour,
+unhappy, and discontented? Would it not be
+much better that a father or a mother of a family
+should be occupied with what belonged to their
+domestic affairs than to spend their time in masses,
+in hearing sermons, in meditating on mysterious
+and unintelligible dogmas, or boasting about exercises
+of piety that tend to nothing?</p>
+
+<p>Madam, do you not find in the country you inhabit
+a great many devotees who are sunk in
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>
+debt, whose fortune is squandered away on priests,
+and who are incapable of retrieving it? Content
+to put their conscience to rights on religious matters,
+they neither trouble themselves about the
+education of their children, nor the arrangement
+of their fortune, nor the discharge of their debts.
+Such men as would be thrown into despair did
+they omit one mass, will consent to leave their
+creditors without their money, ruined by their negligence
+as much as by their principles. In truth,
+Madam, on what side soever you survey this
+religion, you will find it good for nothing.</p>
+
+<p>What shall we say of those f&ecirc;tes which are so
+multiplied amongst us? Are they not evidently
+pernicious to society? Are not all days the same
+to the Eternal? Are there <i>gala</i> days in heaven?
+Can God be honored by the business of an artisan
+or a merchant, who, in place of earning bread on
+which his family may subsist, squanders away his
+time in the church, and afterwards goes to spend his
+money in the public house? It is necessary, the
+priests will tell you, for man to have repose. But
+will he not seek repose when he is fatigued by the
+labor of his hands? Is it not more necessary that
+every man should labor in his vocation than go to
+a temple to chant over a service which benefits
+only the priests, or hear a sermon of which he can
+understand nothing? And do not such as find
+great scruple in doing a necessary labor on Sunday
+frequently sit down and get drunk on that day,
+consuming in a few hours the receipts of their
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>
+week's labor? But it is for the interest of the
+clergy that all other shops should be shut when
+theirs are open. We may thence easily discover
+why f&ecirc;tes are necessary.</p>
+
+<p>Is it not contrary to all the notions which we
+can form of the goodness and wisdom of the Divinity,
+that religion should form into duties both
+abstinence and privations, or that penitences and
+austerities should be the sole proofs of virtue?
+What should be said of a father who should place
+his children at a table loaded with the fruits of the
+earth, but who, nevertheless, should debar them
+from touching certain of them, though both nature
+and reason dictated their use and nutriment? Can
+we, then, suppose that a Deity wise and good
+interdicts to his creatures the enjoyment of innocent
+pleasures, which may contribute to render life
+agreeable, or that a God who has created all things,
+every object the most desirable to the nourishment
+and health of man, should nevertheless forbid him
+their use? The Christian religion appears to doom
+its votaries to the punishment of Tantalus. The
+most part of the superstitions in the world have
+made of God a capricious and jealous sovereign,
+who amuses himself by tempting the passions and
+exciting the desires of his slaves, without permitting
+them the gratification of the one or the enjoyment
+of the other. We see among all sects the
+portraiture of a chagrined Deity, the enemy of innocent
+amusements, and offended at the well being
+of his creatures. We see in all countries many
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span>
+men so foolish as to imagine they will merit
+heaven by fighting against their nature, refusing
+the goods of fortune, and tormenting themselves
+under an idea that they will thereby render themselves
+agreeable to God. Especially do they believe
+that they will by these means disarm the fury
+of God, and prevent the inflictions of his chastisements,
+if they immolate themselves to a being who
+always requires victims.</p>
+
+<p>We find these atrocious, fanatical, and senseless
+ideas in the Christian religion, which supposes its
+God as cruel to exact sufferings from men as death
+from his only Son. If a God exempt from all sin is
+himself also the sufferer for the sins of all, which
+is the doctrine of those who maintain universal
+redemption, it is not surprising to see men that are
+sinners making it a duty to assemble in large
+meetings, and invent the means of rendering themselves
+miserable. These gloomy notions have
+banished men to the desert. They have fanatically
+renounced society and the pleasures of life,
+to be buried alive, believing they would merit
+heaven if they afflicted themselves with stripes
+and passed their existence in mummical ceremonies,
+as injurious to their health as useless to their
+country. And these are the false ideas by which
+the Divinity is transformed into a tyrant as barbarous
+as insensible, who, agreeably to <i>priestcraft</i>,
+has prescribed how both men and women might
+live in ennui, penitence, sorrow, and tears; for the
+perfection of monastic institutions consists in the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>
+ingenious art of self-torture. But sacerdotal pride
+finds its account in these austerities. Rigid monks
+glory in barbarous rules, the observance of which
+attracts the respect of the credulous, who imagine
+that men who torment themselves are indeed the
+favorites of heaven. But these monks, who follow
+these austere rules, are fanatics, who sacrifice
+themselves to the pride of the clergy who live in
+luxury and in wealth, although their duped, imbecile
+brethren have been known to make it a point
+of honor to die of famine.</p>
+
+<p>How often, Madam, has your attention not been
+aroused when you recalled to mind the fate of the
+poor religious men of the desert, whom an unnecessary
+vow has condemned, as it were voluntarily,
+to a life as rigorous as if spent in a prison! Seduced
+by the enthusiasm of youth, or forced by the
+orders of inhuman parents, they have been obliged
+to carry to the tomb the chains of their captivity.
+They have been obliged to submit without appeal
+to a stern superior, who finds no consolation in the
+discharge of his slavish task but in making his
+empire more hard to those beneath him. You have
+seen unfortunate young ladies obliged to renounce
+their rank in society, the innocent pleasures of
+youth, the joys of their sex, to groan forever under
+a rigorous despotism, to which indiscreet vows had
+bound them. All monasteries present to us an
+odious group of fanatics, who have separated
+themselves from society to pass the remainder of
+their lives in unhappiness. The society of these
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>
+devotees is calculated solely to render their lives
+mutually more unsupportable. But it seems
+strange that men should expect to merit heaven
+by suffering the torments of hell on earth; yet so
+it is, and reason has too often proved insufficient
+to convince them of the contrary.</p>
+
+<p>If this religion does not call all Christians to
+these sublime perfections, it nevertheless enjoins
+on all its votaries suffering and mortifying of the
+body. The church prescribes privations to all her
+children, and abstinences and fasts; these things
+they practise among us as duties; and the devotees
+imagine they render themselves very agreeable
+to the Divinity when they have scrupulously fulfilled
+those minute and puerile practices, by which
+they tell us that the priests have proof whether
+their patience and obedience be such as are dictated
+by and acceptable to Heaven. What a
+ridiculous idea is it, for example, to make of the
+Deity a trio of persons; to teach the faithful that
+this Deity takes notice of what kinds of food his
+people eat; that he is displeased if they eat beef
+or mutton, but that he is delighted if they eat
+beans and fish! In good sooth, Madam, our
+priests, who sometimes give us very lofty ideas of
+God, please themselves but too often with making
+him strangely contemptible!</p>
+
+<p>The life of a good Christian or of a devotee is
+crowded with a host of useless practices, which
+would be at least pardonable if they procured any
+good for society. But it is not for that purpose
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>
+that our priests make so much ado about them;
+they only wish to have submissive slaves, sufficiently
+blind to respect their caprices as the orders
+of a wise God; sufficiently stupid to regard all
+their practices as divine duties, and they who scrupulously
+observe them as the real favorites of the
+Omnipotent. What good can there result to the
+world from the abstinence of meats, so much
+enjoined on some Christians, especially when other
+Christians judge this injunction a very ridiculous
+law, and contrary to reason and the order of things
+established in nature? It is not difficult to perceive
+amongst us that this injunction, openly violated
+by the rich, is an oppression on the poor,
+who are compelled to pay dearly for an indifferent,
+often an unwholesome diet, that injures rather than
+repairs the natural strength of their constitution.
+Besides, do not the priests sell this permission to
+the rich, to transgress an injunction the poor must
+not violate with impunity? In fine, they seem to
+have multiplied our practices, our duties, and our
+tortures, to have the advantage of multiplying our
+faults, and making a good bargain out of our pretended
+crimes.</p>
+
+<p>The more we examine religion the more reason
+shall we have to be convinced that it is beneficial
+to the <i>priests alone</i>. Every part of this religion
+conspires to render us submissive to the fantasies
+of our spiritual guides, to labor for their grandeur,
+to contribute to their riches. They appoint us to
+perform disadvantageous duties; they prescribe
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>
+impossible perfections, purposely that we may transgress;
+they have thereby engendered in pious minds
+scruples and difficulties which they condescendingly
+appease for money. A devotee is obliged to observe,
+without ceasing, the useless and frivolous
+rules of his priest, and even then he is subject to
+continual reproaches; he is perpetually in want of
+his priest to expiate his pretended faults with which
+he charges himself, and the omission of duties that
+he regards as the most important acts of his life,
+but which are rarely such as interest society or
+benefit it by their performance. By a train of religious
+prejudices with which the priests infect the
+mind of their weak devotees, these believe themselves
+infinitely more culpable when they have
+omitted some useless practice, than if they had
+committed some great injustice or atrocious sin
+against humanity. It is commonly sufficient for
+the devotees to be on good terms with God, whether
+they be consistent in their actions with man, or in
+the practice of those duties they owe to their fellow
+beings.</p>
+
+<p>Besides, Madam, what real advantage does society
+derive from repeated prayers, abstinences,
+privations, seclusions, meditations, and austerities,
+to which religion attaches so much value? Do all
+the mysterious practices of the priests produce any
+real good? Are they capable of calming the passions,
+of correcting vices, and of giving virtue to
+those who most scrupulously observe them? Do
+we not daily see persons who believe themselves
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>
+damned if they forget a mass, if they eat a fowl on
+Friday, if they neglect a confession, though they
+are guilty at the same time of great dereliction to
+society? Do they not hold the conduct of those
+very unjust, and very cruel, who happen to have
+the misfortune of not thinking and doing as they
+think and act? These practices, out of which a
+great number of men have created essential duties,
+but too commonly absorb all moral duties; for if
+the devotees are over-religious, it is rare to find
+them virtuous. Content with doing what religion
+requires, they trouble themselves very little about
+other matters. They believe themselves the favored
+of God, and that it is a proof of this if they are
+detested by men, whose good opinion they are
+seldom anxious to deserve. The whole life of a
+devotee is spent in fulfilling, with scrupulous exactitude,
+duties indifferent to God, unnecessary to
+himself, and useless to others. He fancies he is
+virtuous when he has performed the rites which
+his religion prescribes; when he has meditated on
+mysteries of which he understands nothing; when
+he has struggled with sadness to do things in which
+a man of sense can perceive no advantage; in fine,
+when he has endeavored to practise, as much as in
+him lies, the Evangelical or Christian virtues, in
+which he thinks all morality essentially consists.</p>
+
+<p>I shall proceed in my next letter to examine these
+virtues, and to prove to you that they are contrary
+to the ideas we ought to form of God, useless to
+ourselves, and often dangerous to others. In the
+mean time, I am, &amp;c.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chapbreak" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span></p>
+<h2 class="caps"><a name="LETTER_VIII" id="LETTER_VIII"></a>Letter VIII.</h2>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="smcap">Of Evangelical Virtues and Christian Perfection.</p></div>
+
+
+<p>If we believe the priests, we shall be persuaded,
+that the Christian religion, by the beauty of its
+morals, excels philosophy and all the other religious
+systems in the world. According to them, the unassisted
+reason of the human mind could never
+have conceived sounder doctrines of morality, more
+heroical virtues, or precepts more beneficial to society.
+But this is not all; the virtues known or
+practised among the heathens are considered as
+<i>false virtues</i>; far from deserving our esteem, and
+the favor of the Almighty, they are entitled to
+nothing but contempt; and, indeed, are <i>flagrant
+sins</i> in the sight of God. In short, the priests labor
+to convince us, that the Christian ethics are purely
+divine, and the lessons inculcated so sublime, that
+they could proceed from nothing less than the
+Deity.</p>
+
+<p>If, indeed, we call that divine which men can
+neither conceive nor perform; if by divine virtues
+we are to understand virtues to which the mind of
+man cannot possibly attach the least idea of utility;
+if by divine perfections are meant those qualities
+which are not only foreign to the nature of man,
+but which are irreconcilably repugnant to it,&mdash;then,
+indeed, we shall be compelled to acknowledge
+that the morals of Christianity are divine; at least
+we shall be assured that they have nothing in common
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>
+with that system of morality which arises
+out of the nature and relations of men, but on
+the contrary, that they, in many instances, confound
+the best conceptions we are able to form of
+virtue.</p>
+
+<p>Guided by the light of reason, we comprehend
+under the name of virtue those habitual dispositions
+of the heart which tend to the happiness
+and the real advantage of those with whom
+we associate, and by the exercise of which our fellow-creatures
+are induced to feel a reciprocal interest in
+our welfare. Under the Christian system the name
+of virtues is bestowed upon dispositions which it is
+impossible to possess without supernatural grace;
+and which, when possessed, are useless, if not injurious,
+both to ourselves and others. The morality
+of Christians is, in good truth, the morality of
+another world. Like the philosopher of antiquity,
+they keep their eyes fixed upon the stars till they
+fall into a well, unperceived, at their feet. The
+only object which their scheme of morals proposes
+to itself is, to disgust their minds with the things
+of this world, in order that they may place their
+entire affections upon things above, of which they
+have no knowledge whatever; their happiness here
+below forms no part of their consideration; this
+life, in the view of a Christian, is nothing but a
+pilgrimage, leading to another existence, infinitely
+more interesting to his hopes, because infinitely
+beyond the reach of his understanding. Besides,
+before we can deserve to be happy in the world
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span>
+which we do not know, we are informed that we
+must be miserable in the world which we do know;
+and, above all things, in order to secure to ourselves
+happiness hereafter, it is especially necessary
+that we altogether resign the use of our own reason;
+that is to say, we must seal up our eyes in
+utter darkness, and surrender ourselves to the guidance
+of our priests. These are the principles upon
+which the fabric of Christian morals is evidently
+constructed.</p>
+
+<p>Let us now proceed, Madam, to a more detailed
+examination of the virtues upon which the Christian
+religion is built. These virtues are Evangelical,
+&amp;c. If destitute of them, we are assured that
+it is in vain for us to seek the favor of the Deity.</p>
+
+<p>Of these virtues the first is <span class="smcap">Faith</span>. According
+to the doctrine of the church, faith is the gift of
+God, a supernatural virtue, by means of which we
+are inspired with a firm belief in God, and in all
+that he has vouchsafed to reveal to man, although
+our reason is utterly unable to comprehend it.
+Faith is, says the church, founded upon the word
+of God, who can neither deceive nor be deceived.
+Thus faith supposes, that God has spoken to man&mdash;but
+what evidence have we that God has spoken
+to man? The Holy Scriptures. Who is it that
+assures us the Holy Scriptures contain the word of
+God? It is the church. But who is it that assures
+us the church cannot and will not deceive us? The
+Holy Scriptures. Thus the Scriptures bear witness
+to the infallibility of the church&mdash;and the church,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>
+in return, testifies the truth of the Scriptures.
+From this statement of the case, you must perceive,
+that faith is nothing more than an implicit belief in
+the priests, whose assurances we adopt as the foundation
+of opinions in themselves incomprehensible.
+It is true, that as a confirmation of the truth of
+Scripture, we are referred to miracles&mdash;but it is
+these identical Scriptures which report to us and
+testify of those very miracles. Of the absolute impossibility
+of any miracles, I flatter myself that I
+have already convinced you.</p>
+
+<p>Besides, I cannot but think, Madam, that you
+must be, by this time, thoroughly satisfied how absurd
+it is to say that the understanding is convinced
+of any thing which it does not comprehend; the
+insight I have given you into the books which the
+Christians call sacred, must have left upon your
+mind a firm persuasion, that they never could have
+proceeded from a wise, a good, an omniscient, a
+just, and all-powerful God. If, then, we cannot
+yield them a real belief, what we call faith can be
+nothing more than a blind and irrational adherence
+to a system devised by priests, whose crafty selfishness
+has made them careful from the earliest
+infancy to fill our tender minds with prepossessions
+in favor of doctrines which they judged favorable
+to their own interests. Interested, however, as they
+are in the opinions which they endeavor to force
+upon us as truth, is it possible for these priests to
+believe them themselves? Unquestionably not&mdash;the
+thing is out of nature. They are men like ourselves,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>
+furnished with the same faculties, and neither
+they nor we can be convinced of any thing which
+lies equally beyond the scope of us all. If they
+possessed an additional sense, we should perhaps
+allow that they might comprehend what is unintelligible
+to us; but as we clearly see that they
+have no intellectual privileges above the rest of the
+species, we are compelled to conclude, that their
+faith, like the faith of other Christians, is a blind
+acquiescence in opinions derived, without examination,
+from their predecessors; and that they
+must be hypocrites when they pretend to <i>believe</i> in
+doctrines of the truth of which they cannot be <i>convinced</i>,
+since these doctrines have been shown to
+be destitute of that degree of evidence which is
+necessary to impress the mind with a feeling of
+their probability, much less of their certainty.</p>
+
+<p>It will be said that faith, or the faculty of believing
+things incredible, is the gift of God, and
+can only be known to those upon whom God has
+bestowed the favor. My answer is, that, if that be
+the case, we have no alternative but to wait till the
+grace of God shall be shed upon us&mdash;and that in
+the mean time we may be allowed to doubt whether
+credulity, stupidity, and the perversion of reason can
+proceed, as favors, from a rational Deity who has
+endowed us with the power of thinking. If God
+be infinitely wise, how can folly and imbecility be
+pleasing to him? If there were such a thing as
+faith, proceeding from grace, it would be the privilege
+of seeing things otherwise than as God has
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>
+made them; and if that were so, it follows, that the
+whole creation would be a mere cheat. No man
+can believe the Bible to be the production of God
+without doing violence to every consistent notion
+that he is able to form of Deity! No man can believe
+that one God is three Gods, and that those
+three Gods are one God, without renouncing all
+pretension to common sense, and persuading himself
+that there is no such thing as certainty in the
+world.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, Madam, we are bound to suspect that
+what the church calls a gift from above, a supernatural
+grace, is, in fact, a perfect blindness, an irrational
+credulity, a brutish submission, a vague
+uncertainty, a stupid ignorance, by which we are
+led to acquiesce, without investigation, in every
+dogma that our priests think fit to impose upon us&mdash;by
+which we are led to adopt, without knowing
+why, the pretended opinions of men who can have
+no better means of arriving at the truth than we
+have. In short, we are authorized in suspecting
+that no motive but that of blinding us, in order
+more effectually to deceive us, can actuate those
+men who are eternally preaching to us about a virtue
+which, if it could exist, would throw into utter
+confusion the simplest and clearest perceptions of
+the human mind.</p>
+
+<p>This supposition is amply confirmed by the conduct
+of our ecclesiastics&mdash;forgetting what they
+have told us, that grace is the gratuitous present of
+God, bestowed or withheld at his sovereign pleasure,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>
+they nevertheless indulge their wrath against
+all those who have not received the gift of faith;
+they keep up one incessant anathema against all
+unbelievers, and nothing less than absolute extermination
+of heresy can appease their anger wherever
+they have the strength to accomplish it. So
+that heretics and unbelievers are made accountable
+for the grace of God, although they never received
+it; they are punished in this world for those advantages
+which God has not been pleased to extend
+to them in their journey to the next. In the
+estimation of priests and devotees, the want of
+faith is the most unpardonable of all offences&mdash;it
+is precisely that offence which, in the cruelty of
+their absurd injustice, they visit with the last rigors
+of punishment, for you cannot be ignorant, Madam,
+that in all countries where the clergy possess
+sufficient influence, the flames of priestly charity
+are lighted up to consume all those who are deficient
+in the prescribed allowance of faith.</p>
+
+<p>When we inquire the motive for their unjust and
+senseless proceedings, we are told that faith is the
+most necessary of all things, that faith is of the
+most essential service to morals, that without faith
+a man is a dangerous and wicked wretch, a pest to
+society. And, after all, is it our own choice to
+have faith? Can we believe just what we please?
+Does it depend upon ourselves not to think a proposition
+absurd which our understanding shows us
+to be absurd? How could we avoid receiving, in
+our infancy, whatever impressions and opinions our
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>
+teachers and relations chose to implant in us?
+And where is the man who can boast that he has
+faith&mdash;that he is fully convinced of mysteries
+which he cannot conceive, and wonders which he
+cannot comprehend?</p>
+
+<p>Under these circumstances how can faith be serviceable
+to morals? If no one can have faith but
+upon the assurance of another, and consequently
+cannot entertain a real conviction, what becomes
+of the social virtues? Admitting that faith were
+possible, what connection can exist between such
+occult speculations and the manifest duties of
+mankind, duties which are palpable to every one
+who, in the least, consults his reason, his interest,
+or the welfare of the society to which he belongs?
+Before I can be satisfied of the advantages of justice,
+temperance, and benevolence, must I first believe
+in the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Eucharist,
+and all the fables of the Old Testament? If I
+believe in all the atrocious murders attributed by
+the Bible to that God whom I am bound to consider
+as the fountain of justice, wisdom, and goodness,
+is it not likely that I shall feel encouraged to
+the commission of crimes when I find them sanctioned
+by such an example? Although unable to
+discover the value of so many mysteries which I
+cannot understand, or of so many fanciful and
+cumbersome ceremonies prescribed by the church,
+am I, on that account, to be denounced as a more
+dangerous citizen than those who persecute, torment,
+and destroy every one of their fellow-creatures
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span>
+who does not think and act at their dictation?
+The evident result of all these considerations must
+be, that he who has a lively faith and a blind zeal
+for opinions contradictory to common sense, is more
+irrational, and consequently more wicked than the
+man whose mind is untainted by such detestable
+doctrines; for when once the priests have gained
+their fatal ascendency over his mind, and have
+persuaded him that, by committing all sorts of
+enormities, he is doing the work of the Lord, there
+can be no doubt that he will make greater havoc
+in the happiness of the world, than the man whose
+reason tells him that such excesses cannot be acceptable
+in the sight of God.</p>
+
+<p>The advocates of the church will here interrupt
+me, by alleging that if divested of those sentiments
+which religion inspires, men would no longer live
+under the influence of motives strong enough to
+induce an abstinence from vice, or to urge them on
+in the career of virtue when obstructed by painful
+sacrifices. In a word, it will be affirmed that
+unless men are convinced of the existence of an
+avenging and remunerating God, they are released
+from every motive to fulfil their duties to each
+other in the present life.</p>
+
+<p>You are, doubtless, Madam, quite sensible of the
+futility of such pretences, put forth by priests who,
+in order to render themselves more necessary, are
+indefatigable in endeavoring to persuade us that
+their system is indispensable to the maintenance of
+social order. To annihilate their sophistries it is
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span>
+sufficient to reflect upon the nature of man, his
+true interests, and the end for which society is
+formed. Man is a feeble being, whose necessities
+render him constantly dependent upon the support
+of others, whether it be for the preservation or the
+pleasure of his existence; he has no means of interesting
+others in his welfare except by his manner
+of conducting himself towards them; that
+conduct which renders him an object of affection
+to others is called virtue&mdash;whatever is pernicious
+to society is called crime&mdash;and where the consequences
+are injurious only to the individual himself,
+it is called vice. Thus every man must
+immediately perceive that he consults his own
+happiness by advancing that of others&mdash;that
+vices, however cautiously disguised from public
+observation, are, nevertheless, fraught with ruin to
+him who practises them&mdash;and that crimes are sure
+to render the perpetrator odious or contemptible in
+the eyes of his associates, who are necessary to his
+own happiness. In short, education, public opinion,
+and the laws point out to us our mutual duties
+much more clearly than the chimeras of an incomprehensible
+religion.</p>
+
+<p>Every man on consulting with himself will feel
+indubitably that he desires his own conservation;
+experience will teach him both what he ought to do
+and what to avoid to arrive at this end; in consequence
+he will shrink from those excesses which
+endanger his being; he will debar himself from
+those gratifications which in their course would
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>
+render his existence miserable; and he would make
+sacrifices, if it was necessary, in the view of procuring
+himself advantages more real than those of
+which he momentarily deprived himself. Thus he
+would know what he owes to himself and what he
+owes to others.</p>
+
+<p>Here, Madam, you have a short but perfect summary
+of all morals, derived, as they must be, from
+the nature of man, the uniform experience and the
+universal reason of mankind. These precepts are
+compulsory upon our minds, for they show us that
+the consequences of our conduct flow from our actions
+with as natural and inevitable a certainty as
+the return of a stone to the earth after the impetus
+is exhausted which detained it in the air. It is natural
+and inevitable that the man who employs himself
+in doing good must be preferred to the man
+who does mischief. Every thinking being must be
+penetrated with the truth of this incontrovertible
+maxim, and all the ponderous volumes of theology
+that ever were composed can add nothing to the
+force of his conviction; every thinking being will,
+therefore, avoid a conduct calculated to injure either
+himself or others; he will feel himself under the
+necessity of doing good to others, as the only
+method of obtaining solid happiness for himself,
+and of conciliating to himself those sentiments on
+the part of others, without which he could derive
+no charms from society.</p>
+
+<p>You perceive, then, Madam, that <i>faith</i> cannot in
+any manner contribute to the correction of social
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>
+conduct, and you will feel that the popular supernatural
+notions cannot add any thing to the obligations
+that our nature imposes upon us. In fact,
+the more mysterious and incomprehensible are the
+dogmas of the church, the more likely are they to
+draw us aside from the plain dictates of Nature
+and the straight-forward directions of Reason,
+whose voice is incapable of misleading us. A
+candid survey of the causes which produce an
+infinity of evils that afflict society will quickly
+point out the speculative tenets of theology as
+their most fruitful source. The intoxication of
+enthusiasm and the frenzy of fanaticism concur in
+overpowering reason, and by rendering men blind
+and unreflecting, convert them into enemies both
+of themselves and the rest of the world. It is impossible
+for the worshippers of a tyrannical, partial,
+and cruel God to practise the duties of justice
+and philanthropy. As soon as the priests have
+succeeded in stifling within us the commands of
+Reason, they have already converted us into slaves,
+in whom they can kindle whatever passions it may
+please them to inspire us with.</p>
+
+<p>Their interest, indeed, requires that we should
+be slaves. They exact from us the surrender of
+our reason, because our reason contradicts their
+impostures, and would ruin their plans of aggrandizement.
+Faith is the instrument by which they
+enslave us and make us subservient to their own
+ambition. Hence arises their zeal for the propagation
+of the faith; hence arises their implacable
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>
+hostility to science, and to all those who refuse
+submission to their yoke; hence arises their incessant
+endeavor to establish the dominion of Faith,
+(that is to say, their own dominion,) even by fire
+and sword, the only arguments they condescend to
+employ.</p>
+
+<p>It must be confessed that society derives but
+little advantage from this supernatural faith which
+the church has exalted into the first of virtues. As
+it regards God, it is perfectly useless to him, since
+if he wishes mankind to be convinced, it is sufficient
+that he wills them to be so. It is utterly unworthy
+of the supreme wisdom of God, who cannot
+exhibit himself to mortals in a manner contradictory
+to the reason with which he has endowed
+them. It is unworthy of the divine justice, which
+cannot require from mankind to be convinced of
+that which they cannot understand. It denies the
+very existence of God himself, by inculcating a
+belief totally subversive of the only rational idea
+we are able to form of the Divinity.</p>
+
+<p>As it regards morality, faith is also useless.
+Faith cannot render it either more sacred or more
+necessary than it already is by its own inherent
+essence, and by the nature of man. Faith is not
+only useless, but injurious to society, since, under
+the plea of its pretended necessity, it frequently
+fills the world with deplorable troubles and horrid
+crimes. In short, faith is self-contradictory, since
+by it we are required to believe in things inconsistent
+with each other, and even incompatible with
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span>
+the principles laid down in the books which we
+have already investigated, and which contain what
+we are commanded to believe.</p>
+
+<p>To whom, then, is faith found to be advantageous?
+To a few men, only, who, availing
+themselves of its influence to degrade the human
+mind, contrive to render the labor of the whole
+world tributary to their own luxury, splendor, and
+power. Are the nations of the earth any happier
+for their faith, or their blind reliance on priests?
+Certainly not. We do not there find more morality,
+more virtue, more industry, or more happiness;
+but, on the contrary, wherever the priests are powerful,
+there the people are sure to be found abject in
+their minds and squalid in their condition.</p>
+
+<p>But Hope&mdash;Hope, the second in order of the
+Christian perfections, is ever at hand to console us
+for the evils inflicted by Faith. We are commanded
+to be firmly convinced that those who have faith,
+that is to say, those who believe in priests, shall be
+amply rewarded in the other world for their meritorious
+submission in this. Thus hope is founded
+on faith, in the same manner as faith is established
+upon hope; faith enjoins us to entertain a devout
+hope that our faith will be rewarded. And what
+is it we are told to hope for? For unspeakable
+benefits; that is, benefits for which language contains
+no expression. So that, after all, we know
+not what it is we are to hope for. And how can
+we feel a hope or even a wish for any object that
+is undefinable? How can priests incessantly speak
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span>
+to us of things of which they, at the same time,
+acknowledge it is impossible for us to form any
+ideas?</p>
+
+<p>It thus appears that hope and faith have one
+common foundation; the same blow which overturns
+the one necessarily levels the other with the
+ground. But let us pause a moment, and endeavor
+to discover the advantages of Christian hope
+amongst men. It encourages to the practice of
+virtue; it supports the unfortunate under the stroke
+of affliction; and consoles the believer in the hour
+of adversity. But what encouragement, what
+support, what consolation can be imparted to the
+mind from these undefined and undefinable shadows?
+No one, indeed, will deny that hope is sufficiently
+useful to the priests, who never fail to call
+in its assistance for the vindication of Providence,
+whenever any of the elect have occasion to complain
+of the unmerited hardship or the transient
+injustice of his dispensations. Besides, these
+priests, notwithstanding their beautiful systems,
+find themselves unable to fulfil the high-sounding
+promises they so liberally make to all the faithful,
+and are frequently at a loss to explain the evils
+which they bring upon their flocks by means of
+the quarrels they engage in, and the false notions
+of religion they entertain; on these occasions the
+priests have a standing appeal to hope, telling their
+dupes that man was not created for this world,
+that heaven is his home, and that his sufferings
+here will be counterbalanced by indescribable bliss
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>
+hereafter. Thus, like quacks, whose nostrums have
+ruined the health of their patients, they have still
+left to themselves the advantage of selling hopes
+to those whom they know themselves unable to
+cure. Our priests resemble some of our physicians,
+who begin by frightening us into our complaints,
+in order that they may make us customers for the
+hopes which they afterwards sell to us for their
+weight in gold. This traffic constitutes, in reality,
+all that is called religion.</p>
+
+<p>The third of the Christian virtues is Charity;
+that is, to love God above all things, and our neighbors
+as ourselves. But before we are required to
+love God above all things, it seems reasonable that
+religion should condescend to represent him as
+worthy of our love. In good faith, Madam, is it
+possible to feel that the God of the Christians is
+entitled to our love? Is it possible to feel any
+other sentiments than those of aversion towards a
+partial, capricious, cruel, revengeful, jealous, and
+sanguinary tyrant? How can we sincerely love
+the most terrible of beings,&mdash;the living God, into
+whose hands it is dreadful to think of falling,&mdash;the
+God who can consign to eternal damnation
+those very creatures who, without his own consent,
+would never have existed? Are our theologians
+aware of what they say, when they tell us that the
+fear of God is the fear of a child for its parent,
+which is mingled with love? Are we not bound
+to hate, can we by any means avoid detesting, a
+barbarous father, whose injustice is so boundless
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span>
+as to punish the whole human race, though innocent,
+in order to revenge himself upon two individuals
+for the sin of the apple, which sin he himself
+might have prevented if he had thought proper?
+In short, Madam, it is a physical impossibility to
+love above all things a God whose whole conduct,
+as described in the Bible, fills us with a freezing
+horror. If, therefore, the love of God, as the Jansenists
+assert, is indispensable to salvation, we
+cannot wonder to find that the elect are so few.
+Indeed, there are not many persons who can
+restrain themselves from hating this God; and the
+doctrine of the Jesuits is, that to abstain from
+hating him is sufficient for salvation. The power
+of loving a God whom religion paints as the most
+detestable of beings would, doubtless, be a proof of
+the most supernatural grace, that is, a grace the
+most contrary to nature; to love that which we do
+not know, is, assuredly, sufficiently difficult; to
+love that which we fear, is still more difficult; but
+to love that which is exhibited to us in the most
+repulsive colors, is manifestly impossible.</p>
+
+<p>We must, after all this, be thoroughly convinced
+that, except by means of an invisible grace never
+communicated to the profane, no Christian in his
+sober senses can love his God; even those devotees
+who pretend to that happiness are apt to deceive
+themselves; their conduct resembles that of hypocritical
+flatterers, who, in order to ingratiate themselves
+with an odious tyrant, or to escape his
+resentment, make every profession of attachment,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>
+whilst, at the bottom of their hearts, they execrate
+him; or, on the other hand, they must be condemned
+as enthusiasts, who, by means of a heated
+imagination, become the dupes of their own illusions,
+and only view the favorable side of a God
+declared to be the fountain of all good, yet, nevertheless,
+constantly delineated to us with every feature
+of wickedness. Devotees, when sincere, are
+like women given up to the infatuation of a blind
+passion by which they are enamoured with lovers
+rejected by the rest of the sex as unworthy of their
+affection. It was said by Madame de S&eacute;vign&eacute;
+that she loved God as a perfectly well-bred gentleman,
+with whom she had never been acquainted.
+But can the God of the Christians be esteemed a
+well-bred gentleman? Unless her head was turned,
+one would think that she must have been cured of
+her passion by the slightest reference to her imaginary
+lover's portrait as drawn in the Bible, or as it
+is spread upon the canvas of our theological artists.</p>
+
+<p>With regard to the love of our neighbor, where
+was the necessity of religion to teach us our duty,
+which as men we cannot but feel, of cherishing
+sentiments of good will towards each other? It is
+only by showing in our conduct an affectionate
+disposition to others that we can produce in them
+correspondent feelings towards ourselves. The
+simple circumstance of being men is quite sufficient
+to give us a claim upon the heart of every
+man who is susceptible of the sweet sensibilities
+of our nature. Who is better acquainted than
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>
+yourself, Madam, with this truth? Does not your
+compassionate soul experience at every moment
+the delightful satisfaction of solacing the unhappy?
+Setting aside the superfluous precepts of religion,
+think you that you could by any efforts steel your
+heart against the tears of the unfortunate? Is it
+not by rendering our fellow-creatures happy that
+we establish an empire in their hearts? Enjoy,
+then, Madam, this delightful sovereignty; continue
+to bless with your beneficence all that surround
+you; the consciousness of being the dispenser of
+so much good will always sustain your mind with
+the most gratifying self-applause; those who have
+received your kindness will reward you with their
+blessings, and afford you the tribute of affection
+which mankind are ever eager to lay at the feet of
+their benefactors.</p>
+
+<p>Christianity, not satisfied with recommending
+the love of our neighbor, superadds the injunction
+of loving our enemies. This precept, attributed to
+the Son of God himself, forms the ground on which
+our divines claim for their religion a superiority of
+moral doctrine over all that the philosophers of
+antiquity were known to teach. Let us, therefore,
+examine how far this precept admits of being reduced
+to practice. True, an elevated mind may
+easily place itself above a sense of injuries; a noble
+spirit retains no resentful recollections; a great soul
+revenges itself by a generous clemency; but it is
+an absurd contradiction to require that a man shall
+entertain feelings of tenderness and regard for
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>
+those whom he knows to be bent on his destruction;
+this love of our enemies, which Christianity
+is so vain of having promulgated, turns out, then,
+to be an impracticable commandment, belied and
+denied by every Christian at every moment of his
+life. How preposterous to talk of loving that
+which annoys us!&mdash;of cherishing an attachment
+for that which gives us pain!&mdash;of receiving an
+outrage with joy!&mdash;of loving those who subject
+us to misery and suffering! No; in the midst of
+these trials our firmness may perhaps be strengthened
+by the hope of a reward hereafter; but it is a
+mere fallacy to talk of our entertaining a sincere
+love for those whom we deem the authors of our
+afflictions; the least that we can do is to avoid
+them, which will not be looked upon as a very
+strong indication of our love.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding the solemn formality with
+which the Christian religion obtrudes upon us
+these vaunted precepts of love of our neighbor,
+love of our enemies, and forgiveness of injuries, it
+cannot escape the observation of the weakest
+among us, that those very men who are the loudest
+in praising are also the first and most constant in
+violating them. Our priests especially seem to
+consider themselves exempt from the troublesome
+necessity of adopting for their own conduct a too
+literal interpretation of this divine law. They have
+invented a most convenient salvo, since they affect
+to exclude all those who do not profess to think as
+they dictate, not only from the kindness of neighbors,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>
+but even from the rights of fellow-creatures.
+On this principle they defame, persecute, and destroy
+every one who displeases them. When do
+you see a priest forgive? When revenge is out of
+his reach! But it is never their own injuries they
+punish; it is never their own enemies they seek to
+exterminate. Their disinterested indignation burns
+with resentment against the enemies of the Most
+High, who, without their assistance, would be incapable
+of adjusting his own quarrels! By an unaccountable
+coincidence, however, it is sure to
+happen that the enemies of the church are the
+enemies of the Most High, who never fails to
+make common cause with the ministers of the
+faith, and who would take it extremely ill if his
+ministers should relax in the measure of punishment
+due to their common enemy. Thus our
+priests are cruel and revengeful from pure zeal;
+they would ardently wish to forgive their own enemies,
+but how could they justify themselves to the
+God of Mercies if they extended the least indulgence
+to his enemies?</p>
+
+<p>A true Christian loves the Creator above all
+things, and consequently he must love him in preference
+to the creature. We feel a lively interest
+in every thing that concerns the object of our love;
+from all which, it follows that we must evince our
+zeal, and even, when necessary, we must not hesitate
+to exterminate our neighbor, if he says or does
+what is displeasing or injurious to God. In such
+a case, indifference would be criminal; a sincere
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>
+love of God breaks out into a holy ardor in his
+cause, and our merit rises in proportion to our
+violence.</p>
+
+<p>These notions, absurd as they are, have been
+sufficient in every age to produce in the world a
+multitude of crimes, extravagances, and follies,
+the legitimate offspring of a religious zeal. Infatuated
+fanatics, exasperated by priests against
+each other, have been driven into mutual hatred,
+persecution, and destruction; they have thought
+themselves called upon to avenge the Almighty;
+they have carried their insane delusions so far as
+to persuade themselves that the God of clemency
+and goodness could look on with pleasure while
+they murdered their brethren; in the astonishing
+blindness of their stupidity, they have imagined
+that in defending the temporalities of the church,
+they were defending God himself. In pursuance
+of these errors, contradicted even by the description
+which they themselves give us of the Divinity,
+the priests of every age have found means to introduce
+confusion into the peaceful habitations of
+men, and to destroy all who dared to resist their
+tyranny. Under the laughable idea of revenging
+the all-powerful Creator, these priests have discovered
+the secret of revenging themselves, and that,
+too, without drawing down upon themselves the
+hatred and execration so justly due to their vindictive
+fury and unfeeling selfishness. In the name
+of the God of nature, they stifled the voice of nature
+in the breasts of men; in the name of the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>
+God of goodness, they incited men to the fury of
+wild beasts; in the name of the God of mercies,
+they prohibited all forgiveness!</p>
+
+<p>It is thus, Madam, that the earth has never
+ceased to groan with the ravages committed by
+maniacs under the influence of that zeal which
+springs from the Christian doctrine of the love of
+God. The God of the Christians, like the Janus
+of Roman mythology, has two faces; sometimes
+he is represented with the benign features of mercy
+and goodness; sometimes murder, revenge, and
+fury issue from his nostrils. And what is the
+consequence of this double aspect but that the
+Christians are much more easily terrified at his
+frightful lineaments than they are recovered from
+their fears by his aspect of mercy! Having been
+taught to view him as a capricious being, they are
+naturally mistrustful of him, and imagine that the
+safest part they can act for themselves is to set
+about the work of vengeance with great zeal;
+they conclude that a cruel master cannot find fault
+with cruel imitators, and that his servants cannot
+render themselves more acceptable than by extirpating
+all his enemies.</p>
+
+<p>The preceding remarks show very clearly, Madam,
+the highly pernicious consequences which
+result from the zeal engendered by the love of
+God. If this love is a virtue, its benefits are confined
+to the priests, who arrogate to themselves the
+exclusive privilege of declaring when God is offended;
+who absorb all the offerings and monopolize
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>
+all the homage of the devout; who decide
+upon the opinions that please or displease him;
+who undertake to inform mankind of the duties
+this virtue requires from them, and of the proper
+time and manner of performing them; who are
+interested in rendering those duties cruel and intimidating
+in order to frighten mankind into a
+profitable subjection; who convert it into the instrument
+of gratifying their own malignant passions,
+by inspiring men with a spirit of headlong
+and raging intolerance, which, in its furious course
+of indiscriminate destruction, holds nothing sacred,
+and which has inflicted incredible ravages upon all
+Christian countries.</p>
+
+<p>In conformity with such abominable principles,
+a Christian is bound to detest and destroy all
+whom the church may point out as the enemies of
+God. Having admitted the paramount duty of
+yielding their entire affections to a rigorous master,
+quick to resent, and offended even with the involuntary
+thoughts and opinions of his creatures,
+they of course feel themselves bound, by entering
+with zeal into his quarrels, to obtain for him a vengeance
+worthy of a God&mdash;that is to say, a vengeance
+that knows no bounds. A conduct like
+this is the natural offspring of those revolting
+ideas which our priests give us of the Deity. A
+good Christian is therefore necessarily intolerant.
+It is true that Christianity in the pulpit preaches
+nothing but mildness, meekness, toleration, peace,
+and concord; but Christianity in the world is a
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span>
+stranger to all these virtues; nor does she ever
+exercise them except when she is deficient in the
+necessary power to give effect to her destructive
+zeal. The real truth of the matter is, that Christians
+think themselves absolved from every tie of
+humanity except with those who think as they
+do, who profess to believe the same creed; they
+have a repugnance, more or less decided, against
+all those who disagree with their priests in theological
+speculation. How common it is to see persons
+of the mildest character and most benevolent disposition
+regard with aversion the adherents of a different
+sect from their own! The reigning religion&mdash;that
+is, the religion of the sovereign, or of the
+priests in whose favor the sovereign declares himself&mdash;crushes
+all rival sects, or, at least, makes
+them fully sensible of its superiority and its hatred,
+in a manner extremely insulting, and calculated to
+raise their indignation. By these means it frequently
+happens that the deference of the prince
+to the wishes of the priests has the effect of alienating
+the hearts of his most faithful subjects, and
+brings him that execration which ought in justice
+to be heaped exclusively upon his sanctimonious
+instigators.</p>
+
+<p>In short, Madam, the private rights of conscience
+are nowhere sincerely respected; the leaders of the
+various religious sects begin, in the very cradle, to
+teach all Christians to hate and despise each other
+about some theological point which nobody can
+understand. The clergy, when vested with power,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>
+never preach toleration; on the contrary, they
+consider every man as an enemy who is a friend
+to religious freedom, accusing him of lukewarmness,
+infidelity, and secret hostility; in short, he
+is denominated a false brother. The Sorbonne
+declared, in the sixteenth century, that it was
+heretical to say that heretics ought not to be
+burned. The ferocious St. Austin preached toleration
+at one period, but it was before he was
+duly initiated in the mysteries of the sacerdotal
+policy, which is ever repugnant to toleration.
+Persecution is necessary to our priests, to deter
+mankind from opposing themselves to their avarice,
+their ambition, their vanity, and their obstinacy.
+The sole principle which holds the church
+together is that of a sleepless watchfulness on
+the part of all its members to extend its power,
+to increase the multitude of its slaves, to fix odium
+on all who hesitate to bend their necks to its yoke,
+or who refuse their assent to its arbitrary decisions.</p>
+
+<p>Our divines have, therefore, you see, very good
+reasons for raising humility into the rank of virtue.
+An amiable modesty, a diffident mildness of demeanor,
+are unquestionably calculated to promote
+the pleasures and the advantages of society; it is
+equally certain that insolence and arrogance are
+disgusting, that they wound our self-love and excite
+our aversion by their repulsive conduct; but
+that amiable modesty which charms all who come
+within its influence is a far different quality from
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span>
+that which is designated humility in the vocabulary
+of Christians. A truly humble Christian despises
+his own unworthiness, avoids the esteem of others,
+mistrusts his own understanding, submits with docility
+to the unerring guidance of his spiritual masters,
+and piously resigns to his priest the clearest
+and most irrefutable conclusions of reason.</p>
+
+<p>But to what advantage can this pretended virtue
+lead its followers? How can a man of sense and
+integrity despise himself? Is not public opinion
+the guardian of private virtue? If you deprive men
+of the love of glory, and the desire of deserving the
+approbation of their fellow-citizens, are you not
+divesting them of the noblest and most powerful
+incitements by which they can be impelled to benefit
+their country? What recompense will remain
+to the benefactors of mankind, if, first of all, we are
+unjust enough to refuse them the praise they merit,
+and afterwards debar them from the satisfaction of
+self-applause, and the happiness they would feel in
+the consciousness of having done good to an ungrateful
+world? What infatuation, what amazing
+infatuation, to require a man of upright character,
+of talents, intelligence, and learning, to think himself
+on a level with a selfish priest, or a stupid
+fanatic, who deal out their absurd fables and incoherent
+dreams!</p>
+
+<p>Our priests are never weary of telling their flocks
+that pride leads on to infidelity, and that a humble
+and submissive spirit is alone fitted to receive the
+truths of the gospel. In good earnest, should we
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>
+not be utterly bereft of every claim to the name of
+rational beings, if we consent to surrender our judgment
+and our knowledge at the command of a
+hierarchy, who have nothing to give us in exchange
+but the most palpable absurdities? With what face
+can a reverend Doctor of Nonsense dare to exact
+from my understanding a humble acquiescence in
+a bundle of mysterious opinions, for which he is
+unable to offer me a single solid reason? Is it,
+then, presumptuous to think one's self superior to a
+class of pretenders, whose systems are a mass of
+falsities, absurdities, and inconsistencies, of which
+they contrive to make mankind at once the dupes
+and the victims? Can pride or vanity be, with
+justice, imputed to you, Madam, if you see reason
+to prefer the dictates of your own understanding
+to the authoritative decrees of Mrs. D&mdash;&mdash;,
+whose senseless malignity is obvious to all her
+acquaintance?</p>
+
+<p>If Christian humility is a virtue at all, it can be
+one only in the cloister; society can derive no sort of
+benefit from it; it enervates the mind; it benefits
+nobody but priests, who, under the pretext of rendering
+men humble, seek, in reality, only to degrade
+them, to stifle in their souls every spark of science
+and of courage, that they may the more easily impose
+the yoke of faith, that is to say, their own
+yoke. Conclude, then, with me, that the Christian
+virtues are chimerical, always useless, and sometimes
+pernicious to men, and attended with advantage
+to none but priests. Conclude that this
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>
+religion, with all the boasted beauty of its morality,
+recommends to us a set of virtues, and enjoins a
+line of conduct, at variance with good sense. Conclude
+that, in order to be moral and virtuous, it is
+far from necessary to adopt the unintelligible creed
+of the priests, or to pride ourselves upon the empty
+virtues they preach, and still less to annihilate all
+sense of dignity in ourselves, by a degrading subjection
+to the duties they require. Conclude, in
+short, that the friend of virtue is not, of necessity,
+the friend of priestcraft, and that a man may be
+adorned with every human perfection, without possessing
+one of the Christian virtues.</p>
+
+<p>All who examine this matter with a candid and intelligent
+eye, cannot fail to see that true morality&mdash;that
+is to say, a morality really serviceable to mankind&mdash;is
+absolutely incompatible with the Christian
+religion, or any other professed revelation.
+Whoever imagines himself the favored object of the
+Creator's love, must look down with disdain upon
+his less fortunate fellow-creatures, especially if he
+regards that Creator as partial, choleric, revengeful,
+and fickle, easily incensed against us, even by our
+involuntary thoughts, or our most innocent words
+and actions; such a man naturally conducts himself
+with contempt and pride, with harshness and
+barbarity towards all others whom he may deem
+obnoxious to the resentment of his Heavenly King.
+Those men, whose folly leads them to view the
+Deity in the light of a capricious, irritable, and unappeasable
+despot, can be nothing but gloomy and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span>
+trembling slaves, ever eager to anticipate the vengeance
+of God upon all whose conduct or opinions
+they may conceive likely to provoke the celestial
+wrath. As soon as the priests have succeeded in
+reducing men to a state of stupidity gross enough
+to make them believe that their ghostly fathers are
+the faithful organs of the divine will, they naturally
+commit every species of crime, which their spiritual
+teachers may please to tell them is calculated to
+pacify the anger of their offended God. Men, silly
+enough to accept a system of morals from guides
+thus hollow in reasoning, and thus discordant in
+opinion, must necessarily be unstable in their principles,
+and subject to every variation that the interest
+of their guides may suggest. In short, it is
+impossible to construct a solid morality, if we take
+for our foundation the attributes of a deity so unjust,
+so capricious, and so changeable as the God
+of the Bible, whom we are commanded to imitate
+and adore.</p>
+
+<p>Persevere, then, my dear Madam, in the practice
+of those virtues which your own unsophisticated
+heart approves; they will insure you a rich harvest
+of happiness in the present existence; they will insure
+you a rich return of gratitude, respect, and
+love from all who enjoy their benign influence;
+they will insure you the solid satisfaction of a well-founded
+self-esteem, and thus provide you with that
+unfailing source of inward gratification which arises
+from the consciousness of having contributed to the
+welfare of the human race. I am, &amp;c.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chapbreak" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span></p>
+<h2 class="caps"><a name="LETTER_IX" id="LETTER_IX"></a>Letter IX.</h2>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="smcap">Of the Advantages contributed to Government by
+Religion.</p></div>
+
+
+<p>Having already shown you, Madam, the feebleness
+of those succors which religion furnishes to
+morals, I shall now proceed to examine whether
+it procure advantages in themselves really politic,
+and whether it be true, as has so often been urged
+by the priests, that it is absolutely necessary to the
+existence of every government. Were we disposed
+to shut our eyes, and deliver ourselves up to the
+language of our priests, we should believe that their
+opinions are necessary to the public tranquillity,
+and the repose and security of the State; that princes
+could not, without their aid, govern the people, and
+exert themselves for the prosperity of their empire.
+Nor is this all; our spiritual pilots approach the
+throne, and gaining the ear of the sovereign, make
+him also believe that he has the greatest interest in
+conforming to their caprices, in order to subject
+men to the divine yoke of royalty. These priests
+mingle in all important political quarrels, and they
+too often persuade the rulers of the earth that the
+enemies of the church are the enemies of all power,
+and that in sapping the foundations of the altar,
+the foundations of the throne are likewise necessarily
+overthrown.</p>
+
+<p>We have, then, only to open our eyes and consult
+history, to be convinced of the falsity of these
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>
+pretensions, and to appreciate the important services
+which the Christian priests have rendered to their
+sovereigns. Ever since the establishment of Christianity,
+we have seen, in all the countries in which
+this religion has gained ground, that two rival powers
+are perpetually at war one with the other. We
+find <i>a</i> government within <i>the</i> government; that is
+to say, we find the Church, a body of priests, continually
+opposed to the sovereign power, and in
+virtue of their pretended <i>divine</i> mission and <i>sacred</i>
+office, pretending to give laws to all the sovereigns
+of the earth. We find the clergy, puffed up and
+besotted with the titles they have given themselves,
+laboring to exact the obedience due to the sovereign,
+pretending to chimerical and dangerous
+prerogatives, which none are suffered to question,
+without risking the displeasure of the Almighty.
+And so well have the priesthood managed this
+matter, that in many countries we actually see the
+people more inclined to lean to the authority of the
+Vicars of Jesus Christ than to that of the civil
+government. The priesthood claim the right of
+commanding monarchs themselves, and sustained
+by their emissaries and the credulity of the people,
+their ridiculous pretensions have engaged princes
+in the most serious affairs, sown trouble and discord
+in kingdoms, and so shook thrones as to compel
+their occupants to make submission to an
+intolerant hierarchy.</p>
+
+<p>Such are the important services which religion
+has a thousand times rendered to kings. The people,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>
+blinded by superstition, could hesitate but little
+between God and the princes of the earth. The
+priests, being the visible organs of an invisible monarch,
+have acquired an immense credit with prejudiced
+minds. The ignorance of the people places
+them, as well as their sovereigns, at the mercy of
+the priests. Nations have continually been dragged
+into their futile though bloody quarrels; princes,
+for a long series of years, have either had to dispute
+their authority with the clergy, or become their
+tools or dupes.</p>
+
+<p>The continual attention which the princes of Europe
+have been forced to pay to the clergy has prevented
+them from occupying their thoughts about
+the welfare of their subjects, who, in many instances
+the dupes of the priesthood, have opposed
+even the good their rulers desired to procure them.
+In like manner, the heads of the people, their kings
+and governors, too weak to resist the torrent of
+opinions propagated by the clergy, have been forced
+to yield, to bow, nay, even to caress the priesthood,
+and to consent to grant it all its demands. Whenever
+they have wished to resist the encroachments
+of the clergy, they have encountered concealed
+snares or open opposition, as the <i>holy</i> power was
+either too weak to act in the face of day, or strong
+enough to contend in the sunshine. When princes
+have wished to be listened to by the clergy, these
+last have invariably contrived to make them cowardly,
+and to sacrifice the happiness and respect of
+their people. Often have the hands of parricides
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>
+and rebels been armed, by a proud and vindictive
+priesthood, against sovereigns the most worthy of
+reigning. The priests, under pretext of avenging
+God, inflict their anger upon monarchs themselves,
+whenever the latter are found indisposed to bend
+under their yoke. In a word, in <i>all</i> countries we
+perceive that the ministers of religion have exercised
+in all ages the most unbridled license. We
+every where see empires torn by their dissensions;
+thrones overturned by their machinations; princes
+immolated to their power and revenge; subjects
+animated to revolt against the prince that ought to
+give them more happiness than they actually enjoyed;
+and when we take the retrospect of these,
+we find that the ambition, the cupidity, and vanity
+of the clergy have been the true causes and motives
+of all these outrages on the peace of the universe.
+And it is thus that their religion has so often produced
+anarchy, and overturned the very empires
+they pretended to support by its influence.</p>
+
+<p>Sovereigns have never enjoyed peace but when,
+shamefully devoted to priests, they submitted to
+their caprices, became enslaved to their opinions,
+and allowed them to govern in place of themselves.
+Then was the sovereign power subordinate to the
+sacerdotal, and the prince was only the first servant
+of the church; she degraded him to such a
+degree as to make him her hangman; she obliged
+him to execute her sanguinary decrees; she forced
+him to dip his hands in the blood of his own subjects
+whom the clergy had proscribed; she made
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span>
+him the visible instrument of her vengeance, her
+fury, and her concealed passions. Instead of occupying
+himself with the happiness of his people,
+the sovereign has had the complaisance to torment,
+to persecute, and to immolate honest citizens,
+thus exciting the just hatred of a portion of his
+people, to whom he should have been a father, to
+gratify the ambition and the selfish malevolence of
+some priests, always aliens in the state which nourishes
+them, and who only style themselves members
+of the realm in order to domineer, to distract,
+to plunder, and to devour with impunity.</p>
+
+<p>How little soever you are disposed to reflect, you
+will be convinced, Madam, that I do not exaggerate
+these things. Recent examples prove to you
+that even in this age, so ambitious of being considered
+enlightened, nations are not secure from the
+shocks that the priests have ever caused nations to
+suffer. You have a hundred times sighed at the
+sight of the sad follies which puerile questions have
+produced among us. You have shuddered at the
+frightful consequences which have resulted from the
+unreasonable squabbles of the clergy. You have
+trembled with all good citizens at the sight of the
+tragical effects which have been brought about by
+the furious wickedness of a fanaticism for which
+nothing is sacred. In fine, you have seen the sovereign
+authority compelled to struggle incessantly
+against rebellious subjects, who pretend that their
+conscience or the interests of religion have obliged
+them to resist opinions the most agreeable to common
+sense, and the most equitable.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Our fathers, more religious and less enlightened
+than ourselves, were witnesses of scenes yet more
+terrible. They saw civil wars, leagues openly
+formed against their sovereign, and the capital
+submerged in the blood of murdered citizens; two
+monarchs successively immolated to the fury of the
+clergy, who kindled in all parts the fire of sedition.
+They afterwards saw kings at war with their own
+subjects; a famous sovereign, Louis XIV., tarnishing
+all his glory by persecuting, contrary to the
+faith of treaties, subjects who would have lived
+tranquil, if they had only been allowed to enjoy in
+peace the liberty of conscience; and they saw, in
+fine, this same prince, the dupe of a false policy,
+dictated by intolerance, banish, along with the
+exiled Protestants, the industry of his states, and
+forcing the arts and manufactures of our nation to
+take refuge in the dominions of our most implacable
+enemies.</p>
+
+<p>We see religion throughout Europe, without cessation,
+exerting a baleful influence upon temporal
+affairs; we see it direct the interests of princes;
+we see it divide and make Christian nations enemies
+of each other, because their spiritual guides
+do not all entertain the same opinions. Germany
+is divided into two religious parties whose interests
+are perpetually at variance. We every where perceive
+that Protestants are born the enemies of the
+Catholics, and are always in antagonism to them;
+while, on the other hand, the Catholics are leagued
+with their priests against all those whose mode of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span>
+thinking is less abject and less servile than their
+own.</p>
+
+<p>Behold, Madam, the signal advantages that nations
+derive from religion! But we are certain to
+be told that these terrible effects are due to the passions
+of men, and not to the Christian religion,
+which incessantly inculcates charity, concord, indulgence,
+and peace. If, however, we reflect even
+a moment on the principles of this religion, we
+should immediately perceive that they are incompatible
+with the fine maxims that have never been
+practised by the Christian priests, except when they
+lacked the power to persecute their enemies and
+inflict upon them the weight of their rage. The
+adorers of a jealous God, vindictive and sanguinary,
+as is obviously the character of the God of the
+Jews and Christians, could not evince in their conduct
+moderation, tranquillity, and humanity. The
+adorers of a God who takes offence at the opinions
+of his weak creatures, who reprobates and glories
+in the extermination of all who do not worship him
+in a particular way, for the which, by the by, he
+gives them neither the means nor the inclination,
+must necessarily be intolerant persecutors. The
+adorers of a God who has not thought fit to illuminate
+with an equal portion of light the minds of
+all his creatures, who reveals his favor and bestows
+his kindness on a few only of those creatures, who
+leaves the remainder in blindness and uncertainty
+to follow their passions, or adopt opinions against
+which the favored wage war, must of necessity be
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span>
+eternally at odds with the rest of the world, canting
+about their oracles and mysteries, supernatural precepts,
+invented purely to torment the human mind,
+to enthral it, and leave man answerable for what he
+could not obey, and punishable for what he was
+restrained from performing. We need not then be
+astonished if, since the origin of Christianity, our
+priests have never been a single moment without
+disputes. It appears that God only sent his Son
+upon earth that his marvellous doctrines might
+prove an apple of discord both for his priests and
+his adorers. The ministers of a church founded by
+Christ himself, who promised to send them his
+Holy Spirit to lead them into all the truth, have
+never been in unison with their dogmas. We have
+seen this infallible church for whole ages enveloped
+in error. You know, Madam, that in the fourth
+century, by the acknowledgment of the priests
+themselves, the great body of the church followed
+the opinions of the Arians, who disavowed even
+the divinity of Jesus Christ. The spirit of God
+must then have abandoned his church; else why
+did its ministers fall into this error, and dispute
+afterwards about so fundamental a dogma of the
+Christian religion?</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding these continual quarrels, the
+church arrogates to itself the right of fixing the
+faith of the <i>true believers</i>, and in this it pretends to
+infallibility; and if the Protestant parsons have
+renounced the lofty and ridiculous pretensions of
+their Catholic brethren, they are not less certain in
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span>
+the infallibility of their decisions; for they talk
+with the authority of oracles, and send to hell and
+damnation all who do not yield submission to their
+dogmas. Thus on both sides of the cross they
+wish their assertions to be received by their adherents
+as if they came direct from heaven. The
+priests have always been at discord among themselves,
+and have perpetually cursed, anathematized,
+and doomed each other to hell. The vanity of each
+holy clique has caused it to adhere obstinately to its
+own peculiar opinions, and to treat its adversaries
+as heretics. Violence alone has generally decided
+the discussions, terminated the disputes, and fixed
+the standard of belief. Those pugnacious, brawling
+priests who were artful enough to enlist sovereigns
+on their side were <i>orthodox</i>, or, in other
+words, boasted that they were the exclusive possessors
+of the true doctrine. They made use of
+their credit to crush their adversaries, whom they
+always treated with the greatest barbarity.</p>
+
+<p>But, after all, whatever the clergy may say, we
+shall find, even with a small share of attention,
+that it has ever been kings and emperors who, in
+the last resort, fixed the faith of the disputatious
+Christians. It has been by downright blows of
+the sword that those theological notions most
+pleasing to the Deity have been sustained in all
+countries. The true belief has invariably been that
+which had princes for its adherents. The faithful
+were those who had strength sufficient to exterminate
+their enemies, whom they never failed to treat
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span>
+as the enemies of God. In a word, princes have
+been truly infallible; we should regard them as the
+true founders of religious faith; they are the judges
+who have decided, in all ages, what doctrines should
+be admitted or rejected; and they are, in fine, the
+authorities which have always fixed the religion
+of their subjects.</p>
+
+<p>Ever since Christianity has been adopted by
+some nations, have we not seen that religion has
+almost entirely occupied the attention of sovereigns?
+Either the princes, blinded by superstition,
+were devoted to the priests, or the rulers of
+nations believed that prudence exacted a concession
+on their part to the clergy, the true masters
+of their people, who considered nothing more
+sacred or more great than the ministers of their
+God. In neither case was the body politic ever
+consulted; it was cowardly sacrificed to the interests
+of the court, or the vanity and luxury of the
+priests. It is by a continuation of superstition on
+the part of the princes that we behold the church so
+richly endowed in times of ignorance; when men
+believed they would enrich Deity by putting all their
+wealth into the hands of the priests of a good God
+the declared enemy of riches. Savage warriors, destitute
+of the manners of men, flattered themselves
+that they could expiate all their sins by founding
+monasteries and giving immense wealth to a set
+of men who had made vows of poverty. It was
+believed that they would merit from the All-powerful
+a great advantage by recompensing laziness,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span>
+which, in the priests, was regarded as a great good,
+and that the blessings procured by their prayers
+would be in proportion to the continual and pressing
+demands their poverty made on the wealthy.
+It is thus that by the superstition of princes, by
+that of the powerful classes, and of the people
+themselves, the clergy have become opulent and
+powerful; that monachism was honored, and citizens
+the most useless, the least submissive, and the
+most dangerous, were the best recompensed, the
+most considered, and the best paid. They were
+loaded with benefits, privileges, and immunities;
+they enjoyed independence, and they had that great
+power which flowed from so great license. Thus
+were priests placed above sovereigns themselves by
+the imprudent devotion of the latter, and the former
+were enabled to give the law and trouble the
+state with impunity.</p>
+
+<p>The clergy, arrived at this elevation of power and
+grandeur, became redoubtable even to monarchs.
+They were obliged to bend under the yoke or be
+at way with clerical power. When the sovereigns
+yielded, they became mere slaves to the priests, the
+instruments of their passions, and the vile adorers
+of their power. When they refused to yield, the
+priests involved them in the most cruel embarrassments;
+they launched against them the anathemas
+of the church; the people were incited against
+them in the name of heaven; the nations divided
+themselves between the celestial and the terrestrial
+monarch, and the latter was reduced to great extremities
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span>
+to sustain a throne which the priests could
+shake or even destroy at pleasure. There was a
+time in Europe when both the welfare of the prince
+and the repose of his kingdom depended solely
+upon the caprice of a priest. In these times of
+ignorance, of devotion, and of commotions so favorable
+to the clergy, a weak and poor monarch,
+surrounded by a miserable nation, was at the mercy
+of a Roman pontiff, who could at any instant
+destroy his felicity, excite his subjects against him,
+and precipitate him into the abyss of misery.</p>
+
+<p>In general, Madam, we find that in countries
+where religion holds dominion, the sovereign is
+necessarily dependent upon the priests; he has no
+power except by the consent of the clergy; that
+power disappears as soon as he displeases the self-styled
+vicegerents of God, who are very soon able
+to array his subjects against him. The people, in
+accordance with the principles of their religion,
+cannot hesitate between God and their sovereign.
+God never says any thing except what his priests
+say for him; and the ignorance and folly in which
+they are kept by their spiritual guides prevent them
+from inquiring whether God's ambassadors faithfully
+render his decrees.</p>
+
+<p>Conclude, then, with me, that the interests of a
+sovereign who would rule equitably are unable to
+accord with those of the ministers of the Christian
+religion, who in all ages have been the most turbulent
+citizens, the most rebellious, the most difficult
+to render subservient to law and order, and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span>
+whose resistance has extended to the very assassination
+of obnoxious rulers. We shall be told that
+Christianity is a firm support of government; that
+it regards magistrates as the images of the Deity;
+and that it teaches that <i>all power comes from on
+high</i>. These maxims of the clergy are, however,
+best calculated to lull kings on the couch of slumber;
+they are calculated to flatter those on whom
+the clergy can rely, and who will serve their ambition;
+and their flatterers can soon change their
+tone when the princes have the temerity to question
+the pernicious tendency of priestly influence,
+or when they do not blindly lend themselves to all
+their views. Then the sovereign is an impious
+wretch, a heretic; his destruction is laudable;
+heaven rejoices in his overthrow. And all this is
+the religion of the Bible!</p>
+
+<p>You know, Madam, that these odious maxims
+have been a thousand times enforced by the priests,
+who say the prince has <i>encroached upon the authority
+of the church</i>; and the people respond that <i>it is
+better to obey God than man</i>. The priests are only
+devoted to the princes when the princes are blindly
+led by the priests. These last preach arrogantly
+that the former ought to be exterminated, when
+they refuse to obey the church, that is to say, the
+priests; yet, how terrible soever may be these
+maxims, how dangerous soever their practice to the
+security of the sovereign and the tranquillity of
+the state, they are the immediate consequences
+drawn from Judaism and Christianity. We find
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span>
+in the Old Testament that the regicide is applauded;
+that treason and rebellion are approved. As
+soon as it is supposed that God is offended with
+the thoughts of men,&mdash;as soon as it is supposed
+that heretics are displeasing to him,&mdash;it is very
+natural to conclude that an impious and heretical
+sovereign, that is to say, one who does not obey a
+clerical body that set themselves up as the directors
+of his belief, who opposes the sacred views of
+an infallible church, and who might occasion the
+loss and apostasy of a large part of the nation,&mdash;it
+is natural that the priests should conclude it to
+be legitimate for subjects to attack such a prince,
+alleging their religion to be the most important
+thing in the world, and dearer than life itself. Actuated
+by such principles, it is impossible that a
+Christian zealot should not think he rendered a
+service to heaven by punishing its enemy, and a
+service to his country by disembarrassing it of
+a chief who might interpose an obstacle to his
+eternal happiness.</p>
+
+<p>The obedience of the clergy is never otherwise
+than conditional. The priests submit to a prince,
+they flatter his power, and they sustain his authority,
+provided he submits to their orders, makes no
+obstacles to their projects, touches none of their
+interests, and changes none of the dogmas upon
+which the ministers of the church have founded
+their own grandeur. In fine, provided a government
+recognizes, as divine, clerical privileges that
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>
+are plainly opposed to popular rights, and tend to
+subvert them, the hierarchy will submit to it.</p>
+
+<p>These considerations prove how dangerous are
+the priesthood, since the end they purpose by all
+their projects is dominion over the mind of mankind,
+and by subjugating it to enslave their persons,
+and render them the creatures of despotism
+and tyranny. And we shall find, upon examination,
+that, with one or two exceptions, the pious
+have been the enemies of the progress of science
+and the development of the human understanding;
+for by brutalizing mankind they have invariably
+striven to bind them to their yoke. Their avarice,
+their thirst of power and wealth, have led them to
+plunge their fellow-citizens in ignorance, in misery,
+and unhappiness. They discourage the cultivation
+of the earth by their system of tithes, their extortions,
+and their secret projects; they annihilate
+activity, talents, and industry; their pride is to
+reign on the ruin of the rest of their species. The
+finest countries in Europe have, when blindly submissive
+to the priest, been the worst cultivated,
+the thinnest peopled, and the most wretched. The
+<i>Inquisition</i> in Spain, Italy, and Portugal has only
+tended to impoverish those countries, to debase the
+mind, and render their subjects the veriest slaves
+of superstition. And in countries where we see
+heaven showering down abundance, the people are
+poor and famished, while the priests and monks
+are opulent and bloated. Their kings are without
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>
+power and without glory; their subjects languish
+in indigence and wretchedness.</p>
+
+<p>The priests boast of the utility of their office.
+Independently of their prayers, from which the
+world has for so many ages derived neither instruction
+nor peace, prosperity nor happiness, their pretensions
+to teach the rising generations are often
+frivolous, and sometimes arrogant, since we have
+found others equally well calculated to the discharge
+of those functions, who have been good
+citizens, that have not drawn from the pockets of
+their neighbors the tenth of their earnings. Thus,
+in what light soever we view them, the pretensions
+of the priests are reduced to a nonentity, compared
+to the disservice they render the community by
+their exactions and dissolute lives.</p>
+
+<p>In what consists, in effect, the education that
+our spiritual guides have, unhappily for society,
+assumed the vocation of imparting to youth?
+Does it tend to make reasonable, courageous, and
+virtuous citizens? No; it is incontestable that it
+creates ignoble men, whose entire lives are tormented
+with imaginary terrors; it creates superstitious
+slaves, who only possess monastic virtues,
+and who, if they follow faithfully the instructions
+of their masters, must be perfectly useless to society;
+it forms intolerant devotees, ready to detest
+all those who do not think like themselves; and it
+makes fanatics, who are ready to rebel against any
+government as soon as they are persuaded it is
+rebellious to the church. What do the priests
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span>
+teach their pupils? They cause them to lose
+much precious time in reciting prayers, in mechanically
+repeating theological dogmas, of which, even
+in mature life, they comprehend nothing. They
+teach them the dead languages, which, at the best,
+only serve for entertainment, being by no means
+necessary in the present form of society. They
+terminate these fine studies by a philosophy which,
+in clerical hands, has become a mere play of words,
+a jargon void of sense, and which is exactly calculated
+to fit them for the unintelligible science called
+<i>theology</i>. But is this theology itself useful to nations?
+Are the interminable disputes which arise
+between profound metaphysicians of such a character
+as to be interesting to the people who do not
+comprehend them? Are the people of Paris and
+the provinces much advanced in heavenly knowledge
+when the priests dispute among themselves
+about what should really be thought of grace?</p>
+
+<p>In regard to the instruction imparted by the
+clergy, it is indeed necessary to have faith in order
+to discover its utility. Their boasted instruction
+consists in teaching ineffable mysteries, marvellous
+dogmas, narrations and fables perfectly ridiculous,
+panic terrors, fanatical and lugubrious predictions,
+frightful menaces, and above all, systems so profound
+that they who announce are not able to
+comprehend them. In truth, Madam, in all this I
+can see nothing useful. Should nations feel any
+extraordinary obligations to teachers who concoct
+doctrines that must always remain impenetrable
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span>
+for the whole human race? It must be confessed
+that our priests, who so painfully occupy themselves
+in arranging a pure creed for us, must signally
+lose all their labor. At any rate, the people
+are not much in the situation to profit by such
+sublime toils. Very frequently the pulpit becomes
+the theatre of discord; the sacred disclaimers launch
+injuries at each other, infusing their own passions
+into the bosoms of their <i>Christian</i> auditors, kindling
+their zeal against the enemies of the church,
+and becoming themselves the trumpets of party
+spirit, fury, and sedition. If these preachers teach
+morality, it is a kind of supernatural morality, little
+adapted to the nature of man. If they inculcate
+virtue, it is that theological virtue whose inutility
+we have sufficiently shown. If by chance some
+one among them allows himself to preach that
+morality and virtue which is practical, human, and
+social, you know, Madam, that he is proscribed by
+his confederates, and becomes an object of their
+acrimonious criticisms and their deadly hatred.
+He is also disdained by devotees who are attached
+to evangelical virtues that they cannot comprehend,
+and who consider nothing as more important
+than mysterious forms and ceremonies, in which
+zealots make morality to consist.</p>
+
+<p>See, then, in what limits are entertained the important
+services that the ministers of the Lord have
+for so many centuries rendered to nations! They
+are not worth, in all conscience, the excessive price
+which is paid for them. On the contrary, if priests
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>
+were treated according to their real merit, if their
+functions were appreciated at their just value, it
+would, perhaps, be found that they did not merit a
+larger salary than those empirics who, at the corners
+of the streets, vend remedies more dangerous
+than the evils they promise to cure.</p>
+
+<p>It is by subjecting the immense revenues, lands,
+abbeys, and estates, which clerical bodies have
+levied upon the credulity of men, to just and equal
+taxation, as with other property; it is by rendering
+the church and state entirely distinct; it is by
+stripping the hierarchy of immunities not possessed
+by other citizens, and of privileges both chimerical
+and injurious; it is by rigorously exacting the same
+civil obedience alike from priests and people,&mdash;that
+government can be rightly administered, that
+justice can be impartially rendered, and that the
+nation, as a whole, can be trained to courage,
+activity, industry, intelligence, tranquillity, and patriotism.
+So long as there are two powers in a
+state, they will necessarily be at variance, and the
+one which arrogates the favor of the Almighty will
+have immense advantages over that which claims
+no authority above the earth. If both pretend to
+emanate from the same source, the people would
+not know which to believe; they would range
+themselves on each side; the combat would be
+furious, and the power of the government would
+be unable to maintain itself against the many
+heads of the ecclesiastical hydra. The magicians
+of Pharaoh yielded to the Jewish priests, and in
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span>
+conflicts between the church and state, the immunities
+of the priests,</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Like Aaron's serpent, swallowed all the rest."</p></div>
+
+<p>If such is the case, you will inquire, Madam, how
+can an enlightened civil power ever make obedient
+citizens of rebellious priests, who have so long possessed
+the confidence of the people, and who can
+with impunity render themselves formidable to any
+government? I reply, that in spite of the vigilant
+cares and the redoubled efforts of the priesthood,
+the people have begun to be more enlightened;
+they are becoming weary of the heavy yoke, which
+they would not have borne so long had they not
+believed it was imposed upon them by the Most
+High, and that it was necessary to their happiness.
+It is impossible for error to be eternal; it must
+give way to the power of truth. The priests, who
+think, know this well, and the whole ecclesiastical
+body continually declaim against all those who
+wish to enlighten the human race and unveil the
+conspiracies of their spiritual guides. They fear
+the piercing eyes of philosophy; they fear the
+reign of reason, which will never be that of tyranny
+or anarchy. Governments, then, ought not to share
+the fears of the clergy, nor render themselves the
+executors of their vengeance; they injure themselves
+when they sustain the cause of their turbulent
+rivals, who have ever been the enemies of civil
+polity and perturbers of the public repose. The
+magistrates of a state league themselves with their
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>
+enemies when they form an alliance with the
+priesthood, or prevent the people from recognizing
+their errors.</p>
+
+<p>Governments are more interested than individuals
+in the destruction of errors that often lead to
+confusion, anarchy, and rebellion. If men had not
+become gradually enlightened, nations would now,
+as formerly, be under the yoke of the Roman pontiff,
+who could occasion revolution in their midst,
+overturn the laws, and subvert the government.
+But for the insensible progress of reason, states
+would now be filled with a tumultuous crowd of
+devotees, ready to revolt at the signal of an unquiet
+priest or a seditious monk.</p>
+
+<p>You perceive, then, Madam, that men who think,
+and who teach others to think, are more useful to
+governments than those who wish to stifle reason
+and to proscribe forever the liberty of thought.
+You see that the true friends of a stable government
+are those who seek most sedulously to enlighten,
+educate, and elevate the people. You feel
+that by banishing knowledge and persecuting philosophy,
+government sacrifices its dearest interests
+to a seditious clergy, whose ambition and avarice
+push them to usurp boundless authority, and whose
+pride always makes them indignant at being in
+subjection to a power which they contend should
+be subordinate to themselves.</p>
+
+<p>There is no priest who does not consider himself
+superior to the highest ruler of any country.
+We have often seen the priesthood avow pretensions
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>
+of this character. The clergy are always
+enraged when an attempt is made to subject them
+to the secular power. Such an attempt they regard
+as profane, and they denounce it as tyranny
+whenever it is sought to be enforced. They pretend
+that in all times the priesthood has been
+sacred, that its rights come from God himself, and
+that no government can, without sacrilege, or without
+outraging the Divinity, touch the property, the
+privileges, or the immunities which have been
+snatched from ignorance and credulity. Whenever
+the civil authority would touch the objects considered
+inviolable and sacred in the hands of the
+priests, their clamors cannot be appeased; they
+make efforts to excite the people against the government;
+they denounce all authority as tyrannical
+when it has the temerity to think of subjecting
+them to the laws, of reforming their abuses, and
+neutralizing their power to injure. But they consider
+authority legitimate when it crushes <i>their</i>
+enemies, though it appears insupportable as soon
+as it is reasonable and favorable to the people.</p>
+
+<p>The priests are essentially the most wicked of
+men, and the worst citizens of a state. A miracle
+would be necessary to render them otherwise. In
+all countries they are the <i>spoiled children</i> of nations.
+They are proud and haughty, since they
+pretend it is from God himself they received their
+mission and their power. They are ingrates, since
+they assume to owe only to God benefits which
+they visibly hold from the generosity of governments
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span>
+and the people. They are audacious, because
+for many ages they have enjoyed supremacy
+with impunity. They are unquiet and turbulent,
+because they are never without the desire of playing
+a great part. They are quarrelsome and factious,
+because they are never able to find out a
+method of enabling men to understand the pretended
+truths they teach. They are suspicious,
+defiant, and cruel, because they sensibly feel that
+they may well dread the discovery of their impostures.
+They are the spontaneous enemies of truth,
+because they justly apprehend it will annihilate
+their pretensions. They are implacable in their
+vengeance, because it would be dangerous to pardon
+those who wish to crush their doctrines, whose
+weakness they know. They are hypocrites, because
+most of them possess too much sense to believe
+the reveries they retail to others. They are
+obstinate in their ideas, because they are inflated
+with vanity, and because they could not consistently
+deviate from a method of thinking of which
+they pretend God is the author. We often see
+them unbridled and licentious in their manners, because
+it is impossible that idleness, effeminacy, and
+luxury should not corrupt the heart. We sometimes
+see them austere and rigid in their conduct
+in order to impose on the people and accomplish
+their ambitious views. If they are hypocrites and
+rogues, they are extremely dangerous; and if they
+are fanatical in good faith, or imbecile, they are not
+less to be feared. In fine, we almost always see
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>
+them rebellious and seditious, because an authority
+derived from God is not disposed to bend to authority
+derived from men.</p>
+
+<p>You have here, Madam, a faithful portrait of the
+members of a powerful body, in whose favor governments,
+for a long time, have believed it their
+duty to sacrifice the other interests of the state.
+You here see the citizens whom prejudice most
+richly recompenses, whom princes honor in the eyes
+of the people, to whom they give their confidence,
+whom they regard as the support of their power,
+and whom they consider as necessary to the happiness
+and security of their kingdoms. You can
+judge yourself whether the likeness delineated is
+correct. You are in a position to discover their intrigues,
+their underplots, their conduct, and their
+discourse, and you will always find that their constant
+object is to flatter princes for the purpose of
+governing them and keeping nations in slavery.</p>
+
+<p>It is to please citizens so dangerous that sovereigns
+mingle in theological questions, take the part
+of those who succeed in seducing them, persecute
+all those who do not submit, proscribe with fury
+the friends of reason, and by repressing knowledge
+injure their own power. Because the priests, who
+urge princes to sacrilege when they combat for
+them, are indignant against the same princes when
+they refuse to destroy the enemies of their own
+particular clerical body. They likewise denounce
+sovereigns as impious if the latter treat theological
+disputes with the indifference they merit.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>When hereafter, reclaimed from their prejudices,
+princes wish to govern for the good of all, let them
+cease to hear the interested and often sanguinary
+councils of these pretended divine men, who, regarding
+themselves as the centre of all things, wish
+to have sacrificed for this object the happiness, the
+repose, the riches, and the honors of the state.
+Let the sovereign never enter into their dissensions,
+let him never persecute for religious opinions,
+which, among sectaries, are commonly on both
+sides equally ridiculous and destitute of foundation.
+They would never involve the government
+if the sovereign had not the weakness to mingle in
+them. Let him give unlimited freedom to the
+course of thinking, while he directs by just laws the
+course of acting on the part of his subjects. Let
+him permit every one to dream or speculate as he
+pleases, provided he conducts himself otherwise as
+an honest man and a good citizen. At least let
+the prince not oppose the progress of knowledge,
+which alone is capable of extricating his people
+from ignorance, barbarity, and superstition, which
+have made victims of so many Christian rulers.
+Let him be assured that enlightened and instructed
+citizens are more law-abiding, industrious, and
+peaceable than stupid slaves without knowledge
+and without reason, who will always be ready to
+take all the passions with which a fanatic wishes
+to inspire them.</p>
+
+<p>Let the sovereign especially occupy himself with
+the education of his subjects, nor leave the clergy
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span>
+unobstructedly to impregnate his people with mystic
+notions, foolish reveries, and superstitious practices,
+which are only proper for fanatics. Let him
+at least counterbalance the inculcation of these follies
+by teaching a morality conformable to the good
+of the state, useful to the happiness of its members,
+and social and reasonable. This morality
+would inform a man what he owed to himself, to
+society, to his fellow-citizens, and to the magistrates
+who administered the laws. This morality
+would not form men who would hate each other
+for speculative opinions, nor dangerous enthusiasts,
+nor devotees blindly submissive to the priests. It
+would create a tranquil, intelligent, and industrious
+community; a body of inhabitants submissive to
+reason and obedient to just and legitimate authority.
+In a word, from such morality would spring
+virtuous men and good citizens, and it would be the
+surest antidote against superstition and fanaticism.</p>
+
+<p>In this manner the empire of the clergy would be
+diminished, and the sovereign would have a less
+portentous rival; he would, without opposition, be
+assured of all rational and enlightened citizens;
+the riches of the clergy would in part re&euml;nter society,
+and be of use in benefiting the people; institutions
+now useless would be put to advantageous
+uses; a portion of the possessions of the church,
+originally destined for the poor, and so long appropriated
+by avaricious priests, would come into the
+hands of the suffering and the indigent, their legitimate
+proprietors. Supported by a nation who
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span>
+were sensible of the advantages he had procured
+them, the prince would no longer fear the cries of
+fanaticism, and they would soon be no longer
+heard. The priests, the lazy monks, and turbulent
+persons living in forced celibacy, could no longer
+calculate on the future, and, aliens in the state
+which nourished them, they would visibly diminish.
+The government, more rich and powerful, would
+be in a better situation to diffuse its benefits; and
+enlightened, virtuous, and beneficent men would
+constitute the support, the glory, and the grandeur
+of the state.</p>
+
+<p>Such, Madam, are the ends which all governments
+would propose who opened their eyes to
+their own true interests. I flatter myself that these
+designs will not appear to you either impossible or
+chimerical. Knowledge and science, which begin
+to be generally diffused, are already advancing
+these results; they are giving an impulse to the
+march of the human mind, and in time, governments
+and people, without tumult or revolution,
+will be freed from the yoke which has oppressed
+them so long.</p>
+
+<p>Do we see any thing useful in the pious endowments
+of our ancestors? We find them to consist
+of institutions invented to continue a lazy, monastic
+life; costly temples elevated and enriched by
+indigent people to augment the pride of the priests,
+and to erect altars and palaces. From the foundation
+of Christianity the whole object of religion has
+been to aggrandize the priesthood on the ruins of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span>
+nations and governments. A jealous religion has
+exclusively seized on the minds of men, and persuaded
+them that they live upon earth merely to
+occupy themselves with their future happiness in
+the unknown regions of the empyrean. It is time
+that this prestige should cease; it is time that the
+human race should occupy itself with its own true
+interests. The interests of the people will always
+be incompatible with those of the guides who believe
+they have acquired an imprescriptible right to
+lead men astray. The more you examine the
+Christian religion, the more will you be convinced
+that it can be advantageous only to those whose
+object it is easily to guide mankind after having
+plunged them into darkness. I am, &amp;c.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chapbreak" />
+<h2 class="caps"><a name="LETTER_X" id="LETTER_X"></a>Letter X.</h2>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="smcap">Of the Advantages Religion confers on those who
+profess it.</p></div>
+
+
+<p>I  dare flatter myself, Madam, that I have clearly
+demonstrated to you, that the Christian religion,
+far from being the support of sovereign authority,
+is its greatest enemy; and of having plainly convinced
+you, that its ministers are, by the very nature
+of their functions, the rivals of kings, and adversaries
+the most to be feared by all who value or
+exercise temporal power. In a word, I think I have
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>
+persuaded you, that society might, without damage,
+dispense with the services they render, or at least
+dispense with paying for them so extravagantly.</p>
+
+<p>Let us now examine the advantages which this
+religion procures to individuals, who are most
+strongly convinced of its pretended truths, and who
+conform the most rigidly to its precepts. Let us
+see if it is calculated to render its disciples more
+contented, more happy, and more virtuous than
+they would be without the burden of its ministers.</p>
+
+<p>To decide the question, it is sufficient to look
+around us, and to consider the effects that religion
+produces on minds really penetrated with its pretended
+truths. We shall generally find in those
+who the most sincerely profess and the most exactly
+practise them, a joyless and melancholy disposition,
+which announces no contentment, nor that
+interior peace of which they speak so incessantly,
+without ever exhibiting any undoubted manifestations
+of it. Whoever is in the enjoyment of peace
+within, shows some exterior marks of it; but the
+internal satisfaction of devotees is commonly so
+concealed, that we may well suspect it of being
+nothing but a mere chimera. Their interior peace,
+which they allege gives them a good conscience,
+is visible to others only by a bilious and petulant
+humor, that is not usually much applauded by those
+who come under its influence. If, however, there
+are occasionally some devotees who actually display
+the serene countenance of satisfaction and
+enjoyment, it is because the dismal ideas of religion
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span>
+are rendered inoperative by a happy temperament;
+or that such persons have not fully become impregnated
+with their system of faith, whose legitimate
+effect is to plunge its devotees into terrible
+inquietudes and sombre chagrins.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, Madam, we are brought back to the contradictory
+discourses of those priests who, after
+having caused terror by their desolating dogmas,
+attempt to reassure us by vague hopes, and exhort
+us to place confidence in a God whom they have
+themselves so repulsively delineated. It is idle for
+them to tell us the yoke of Jesus Christ is light. It
+is insupportable to those who consider it properly.
+It is only light for those who bear it without reflection,
+or for those who assume it in order to impose
+it upon others, without intending to suffer its
+annoyances themselves.</p>
+
+<p>Suffer me, Madam, to refer you to yourself.
+Were you happy, contented, or gay, when you
+made me the depository of the secret inquietudes
+inflicted upon you by prejudices, and which had
+commenced taking that fatal empire over your mind
+which I have endeavored to destroy? Was not
+your soul involved in woe in spite of your judgment?
+Were you not taking measures to wither
+all your happiness? In favor of religion, were you
+not ready to renounce the world, and disregard all
+you owe to society? If I was afflicted, I was not
+surprised. The Christian religion inevitably destroys
+the happiness and repose of those who are
+subjected by it; alarms and terrors are the objects
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span>
+of its pleasures; it cannot make those happy who
+fully receive it. It would certainly have plunged
+you into distress. All your faculties would have
+been injured, and your too susceptible imagination
+would have been carried to such dangerous extremes,
+that many others would have grieved at the
+result. A gentle and beneficent spirit, like yours,
+could never receive peace from Christianity. The
+evils of religion are sure, while its consolations are
+contradictory and vague. They cannot give that
+temper and tranquillity to the mind which is necessary
+to enable men to labor for their own happiness
+and that of others.</p>
+
+<p>In effect, as I have already observed, it is very
+difficult for an individual to occupy himself with
+the happiness of another when he is himself miserable.
+The devotee, who imposes penances on his
+own head, who is suspicious of every thing, who is
+full of self-reproaches, and who is heated by visionary
+meditation, by fasting and seclusion, must
+naturally be irritated against all those who do not
+believe it their duty to make such absurd sacrifices.
+He can scarcely avoid being enraged at those
+audacious persons who neglect practices or duties
+that are claimed as the exactions of God. He will
+desire to be with those only who view things as he
+does himself; he will keep himself apart from all
+others, and will end by hating them. He believes
+himself obliged to make a loud and public parade
+of his mode of thinking, and he signalizes his zeal
+even at the risk of appearing ridiculous. If he
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span>
+showed indulgence, he would doubtless fear he
+should render himself an accomplice in a neglect of
+his God. He would reprehend such sinners, and it
+would be with acrimony, because his own soul
+was filled with it. In fine, if zealous, he would
+always be under the dominion of anger, and would
+only be indulgent in proportion as he was not
+bigoted.</p>
+
+<p>Religious devotion tends to arouse fierce sentiments,
+that sooner or later manifest themselves in a
+manner disagreeable for others. The mystical devotees
+clearly illustrate this. They are vexed with
+the world, and it could not exist if the extravagances
+required by religion were altogether carried
+out. The world cannot be united to Jesus Christ.
+God demands our entire heart, and nothing is allowed
+to remain for his weak creatures. To produce
+the little zeal for heaven which Christians
+have, it is requisite to torment them, and thus lead
+them to the practice of those marvellous virtues in
+which they imagine is placed all their safety. A
+strange religion, which, practised in all its rigor,
+would drag society to ruin! The sincere devotee
+proposes impossible attainments, of which human
+nature is not capable; and as, in spite of all his
+endeavors, he is unable to succeed in their acquisition,
+he is always discontented with himself. He
+regards himself as the object of God's anger; he
+reproaches himself with all that he does; he suffers
+remorse for all the pleasures he experiences, and
+fears that they may occasion a fall from grace.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span>
+For his greater security, he often avoids society
+which may at any moment turn him from his pretended
+duties, excite him to sin, and render him
+the witness or accomplice of what is offensive to
+zealots. In fine, if the devotee is very zealous, he
+cannot prevent himself from avoiding or detesting
+beings, who, according to his gloomy notions of
+religion, are perpetually occupied in irritating God.
+On the other hand, you know, Madam, that it is
+chagrin and melancholy that lead to devotion. It
+is usually not till the world abandons and displeases
+men that they have recourse to heaven;
+it is in the arms of religion that the ambitious seek
+to console themselves for their disgraces and disappointed
+projects; dissolute and loose women
+turn devotees when the world discards them, and
+they offer to God hearts wasted, and charms that
+are no longer in repute. The ruin of their attractions
+admonishes them that their empire is no
+longer of this world; filled with vexation, consumed
+with chagrin, and irritated against a society where
+they were deprived of enacting an agreeable part,
+they yield themselves up to devotion, and distinguish
+themselves by religious follies, after having
+run the race of fashionable vices, and been engaged
+in worldly scandals. With rancor in their hearts,
+they offer a gloomy adoration to a God who indemnifies
+them most miserably for their ascetic
+worship. In a word, it is passion, affliction, and
+despair to which most conversions must be attributed;
+and they are persons of such character
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span>
+who deliver themselves to the priests, and these
+mental aberrations and physical afflictions are the
+marvellous strokes of grace of which God makes
+use to lead men to himself.</p>
+
+<p>It is not, then, surprising if we see persons subject
+to this devotion most commonly ruled by sorrow
+and passion. These mental moods are perpetually
+aggravated by religion, which is exactly
+calculated to imbitter more and more the souls
+thus filled with vexations. The conversation of a
+spiritual director is a weak consolation for the loss
+of a lover; the remote and flattering hopes of
+another world rarely make up for the realities of
+this; nor do the fictitious occupations of religion
+suffice to satisfy souls accustomed to intrigues,
+dissipation, and scandalous pleasures.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, Madam, we see that the effects of these
+brilliant conversions, so well adapted to give pleasure
+to the Omnipotent and to his court, present
+nothing advantageous for the inhabitants of this
+lower world. If the changes produced by grace
+do not render those more happy upon whom they
+are operated, they cannot cause much admiration
+on the part of those who witness them. Indeed,
+what advantages does society reap from the
+greater part of conversions? Do the persons so
+touched by grace become better? Do they make
+amends for the evil they have done, or are they
+heartily and generously engaged in doing good to
+those by whom they are surrounded? A mistress,
+for example, who has been arrogant and proud,&mdash;does
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span>
+conversion render her humble and gentle?
+Does the unjust and cruel man recompense those
+to whom he has done evil? Does the robber
+return to society the property of which he has
+plundered it? Does the dissipated and licentious
+woman repair by her vigilant cares the wrongs that
+her disorders and dissipations have occasioned?
+No, far from it. These persons so touched and
+converted by God ordinarily content themselves
+with praying, fasting, religious offerings, frequenting
+churches, clamoring in favor of their priests,
+intriguing to sustain a sect, decrying all who disagree
+with their particular spiritual director, and
+exhibiting an ardent and ridiculous zeal for questions
+that they do not understand. In this manner
+they imagine they get absolution from God, and
+give indemnification to men; but society gains
+nothing from their miraculous conversion. On the
+other hand, devotion often exalts, infuriates, and
+strengthens the passions which formerly animated
+the converts. It turns these passions to new objects,
+and religion justifies the intolerant and cruel
+excesses into which they rush for the interest of
+their sect. It is thus that an ambitious personage
+becomes a proud and turbulent fanatic, and believes
+himself justified by his zeal; it is thus that
+a disgraced courtier cabals in the name of heaven
+against his own enemies; and it is thus that a
+malignant and vindictive man, under the pretext of
+avenging God, seeks the means of avenging himself.
+Thus, also, it happens that a woman, to indemnify
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span>
+herself for having quitted rouge, considers
+she has the right to outrage with her acrid humor
+a husband whom she had previously, in a different
+manner, outraged many times. She piously denounces
+those who allow themselves the indulgence
+of the most innocent pleasures; in the belief
+of manifesting religious earnestness, she exhales
+downright passion, envy, jealousy, and spite; and
+in lending herself warmly to the interests of
+heaven she shows an excess of ignorance, insanity,
+and credulity.</p>
+
+<p>But is it necessary, Madam, to insist upon this?
+You live in a country where you see many devotees,
+and few virtuous people among them. If
+you will but slightly examine the matter, you will
+find that among these persons so persuaded of
+their religion, so convinced of its importance and
+utility, who speak incessantly of its consolations,
+its sweets, and its virtues,&mdash;you will find that
+among these persons there are very few who are
+rendered happier, and yet fewer who are rendered
+better. Are they vividly penetrated with the sentiments
+of their afflicting and terrible religion? You
+will find them atrabilious, disobliging, and fierce.
+Are they more lightly affected by their creed? You
+will then find them less bigoted, more beneficent,
+social, and kind. The religion of the court, as you
+know, is a continual mixture of devotion and pleasure,
+a circle of the exercises of piety and dissipation,
+of momentary fervor and continuous irregularities.
+This religion connects Jesus Christ with
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span>
+the pomps of Satan. We there see sumptuous
+display, pride, ambition, intrigue, vengeance, envy,
+and libertinism all amalgamated with a religion
+whose <i>maxims</i> are austere. Pious casuists, interested
+for the great, approve this alliance, and give
+the lie to their own religion in order to derive advantage
+from circumstances and from the passions
+and vices of men. If these court divines were too
+rigid, they would affright their fashionable disciples
+seeking to reach heaven on "flowery beds of
+ease," and who embrace religion with the understanding
+that they are to be allowed no inconsiderable
+latitude. This is doubtless the reason why
+Jansenism, which wished to renew the austere
+principles of primitive Christianity, obtained no
+general influence at the Parisian court. The
+monkish precepts of early Christianity could only
+suit men of the temper of those who first embraced
+it. They were adapted for persons who were abject,
+bilious, and discontented, who, deprived of
+luxury, power, and honors, became the enemies of
+grandeurs from which they were excluded. The
+devotees had the art of making a merit of their
+aversion and disdain for what they could not
+obtain.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, a Christian, in consonance with his
+principles, should "take no thought for the morrow;"
+should have no individual possessions; should flee
+from the world and its pomps; should give his
+coat to the thief who stole his cloak; and, if smitten
+on one cheek, should turn the other to the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span>
+aggressor. It is upon Stoicism that religious fanatics
+built their gloomy philosophy. The so-called
+perfections which Christianity proposes place man
+in a perpetual war with himself, and must render
+him miserable. The true Christian is an enemy
+both of himself and the human race, and for his
+own consistency should live secluded in darkness,
+like an owl. His religion renders him essentially
+unsocial, and as useless to himself as he is disagreeable
+to others. What advantage can society
+receive from a man who trembles without cessation,
+who is in a state of superstitious penance,
+who prays, and who indulges in solitude? Or
+what better is the devotee who flies from the world
+and deprives himself even of innocent pleasures, in
+the fear that God might damn him for participation
+in them?</p>
+
+<p>What results from these maxims of a moral
+fanaticism? It happens that laws so atrocious
+and cruel are enacted, that bigots alone are willing
+to execute them. Yes, Madam, blameless as you
+know my whole life to have been, consonant to
+integrity and honesty as you know my conduct to
+be, and free as I have ever been from intolerance,
+my existence would be endangered were these letters
+I am now writing to you to appear in print, or
+even be circulated in manuscript with my name
+attached to them as author. Yes, Christians have
+made laws, now dominant here in France, which
+would tie me to the stake, consume my body with
+fire, bore my tongue with a red hot iron, deprive
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span>
+me of sepulture, strip my family of my property,
+and for no other cause than for my opinions concerning
+Christianity and the Bible. Such is the
+horrid cruelty engendered by Christianity. It has
+sometimes been called in question whether a society
+of atheists could exist; but we might with more
+propriety ask if a society of fierce, impracticable, visionary,
+and fanatical Christians, in all the plenitude
+of their ridiculous system, could long subsist.<a name="FNanchor_5" id="FNanchor_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a>
+What would become of a nation all of whose inhabitants
+wished to attain perfection by delivering themselves
+over to fanatical contemplation, to ascetical
+penance, to monkish prayers, and to that state of
+things set forth in the Acts of the Apostles? What
+would be the condition of a nation where no one
+took any "thought for the morrow"?&mdash;where all
+were occupied solely with heaven, and all totally
+neglected whatever related to this transitory and
+passing life?&mdash;where all made a merit of celibacy,
+according to the precepts of St. Paul?&mdash;and
+where, in consequence of constant occupation in
+the ceremonials of piety, no one had leisure to devote
+to the well-being of men in their worldly and
+temporal concerns? It is evident that such a
+society could only exist in the Thebaid, and even
+there only for a limited time, as it must soon be
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>
+annihilated. If some enthusiasts exhibit examples
+of this sort, we know that convents and nunneries
+are supported by that portion of society which they
+do not enclose. But who would provide for a
+country that abandoned every thing else for the
+purpose of heavenly contemplations?</p>
+
+<p>We may therefore legitimately conclude that the
+Christian religion is not fitted for this world; that
+it is not calculated to insure the happiness either
+of societies or individuals; that the precepts and
+counsels of its God are impracticable, and more
+adapted to discourage the human race, and to
+plunge men into despair and apathy, than to render
+them happy, active, and virtuous. A Christian is
+compelled to make an abstraction of the maxims
+of his religion if he wishes to live in the world;
+he is no longer a Christian when he devotes his
+cares to his earthly good; and, in a word, a real
+Christian is a man of another world, and is not
+adapted for this.</p>
+
+<p>Thus we see that Christians, to humanize themselves,
+are constantly obliged to depart from their
+supernatural and divine speculations. Their passions
+are not repressed, but on the contrary are
+often thus rendered more fierce and more calculated
+to disturb society. Masked under the veil of religion,
+they generally produce more terrible effects.
+It is then that ambition, vengeance, cruelty, anger,
+calumny, envy, and persecution, covered by the
+deceptive name of zeal, cause the greatest ravages,
+range without bounds, and even delude those who
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span>
+are transported by these dangerous passions. Religion
+does not annihilate these violent agitations
+of the mind in the hearts of its devotees, but often
+excites and justifies them; and experience proves
+that the most rigid Christians are very far from
+being the best of men, and that they have no right
+to reproach the incredulous either concerning the
+pretended consequences of their principles, or for
+the passions which are falsely alleged to spring
+from unbelief.</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, the charity of the peaceful ministers of
+religion and of their pious adherents does not prevent
+their blackening their adversaries with a view
+of rendering them odious, and of drawing down
+upon their heads the malevolence of a superstitious
+community, and the persecution of tyrannical
+and oppressive laws; their zeal for God's glory permits
+them to employ indifferently all kinds of
+weapons; and calumny, especially, furnishes them
+always a most powerful aid. According to them,
+there are no irregularities of the heart which are
+not produced by incredulity; to renounce religion,
+say they, is to give a free course to unbridled passions,
+and he who does not believe surely indicates
+a corrupt heart, depraved manners, and frightful
+libertinism. In a word, they declare that every
+man who refuses to admit their reveries or their
+marvellous morality, has no motives to do good,
+and very powerful ones to commit evil.</p>
+
+<p>It is thus that our charitable divines caricature
+and misrepresent the opponents of their supremacy,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>
+and describe them as dangerous brigands, whom
+society, for its own interest, ought to proscribe and
+destroy. It results from these imputations that
+those who renounce prejudices and consult reason
+are considered the most unreasonable of men; that
+they who condemn religion on account of the
+crimes it has produced upon the earth, and for
+which it has served as an eternal pretext, are
+regarded as bad citizens; that they who complain
+of the troubles that turbulent priests have so often
+excited, are set down as perturbators of the repose
+of nations; and that they who are shocked at the
+contemplation of the inhuman and unjust persecutions
+which have been excited by priestly ambition
+and rascality, are men who have no idea of justice,
+and in whose bosoms the sentiments of humanity
+are necessarily stifled. They who despise the false
+and deceitful motives by which, to the present time,
+it has been vainly attempted through the other
+world to make men virtuous, equitable, and beneficent,
+are denounced as having no real motives to
+practise the virtues necessary for their well-being
+<i>here</i>. In fine, the priests scandalize those who
+wish to destroy sacerdotal tyranny, and impostures
+dangerous alike to nations and people, as enemies
+of the state so dangerous that the laws ought to
+punish them.</p>
+
+<p>But I believe, Madam, that you are now thoroughly
+convinced that the true friends of the human
+race and of governments cannot also be the friends
+of religion and of priests. Whatever may be the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>
+motives or the passions which determine men to
+incredulity, whatever may be the principles which
+flow from it, they cannot be so pernicious as those
+which emanate directly and necessarily from a
+religion so absurd and so atrocious as Christianity.
+Incredulity does not claim extraordinary privileges
+as flowing from a partial God; it pretends to no
+right of despotism over men's consciences; it has
+no pretexts for doing violence to the minds of mankind;
+and it does not hate and persecute for a
+difference of opinion. In a word, the incredulous
+have not an infinity of motives, interests, and pretexts
+to injure, with which the zealous partisans
+of religion are abundantly provided.</p>
+
+<p>The unbeliever in Christianity, who reflects, perceives
+that without going out of this world there
+are pressing and real motives which invite to virtuous
+conduct; he feels the interest that he has in
+self-preservation, and of avoiding whatever is calculated
+to injure another; he sees himself united
+by physical and reciprocal wants with men who
+would despise him if he had vices, who would
+detest him if he was guilty of any action contrary
+to justice and virtue, and who would punish him
+if he committed any crimes, or if he outraged the
+laws. The idea of decency and order, the desire
+of meriting the approbation of his fellow-citizens,
+and the fear of being subjected to blame and punishment,
+are sufficient to govern the actions of
+every rational man. If, however, a citizen is in a
+sort of delirium, all the credulity in the world will
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span>
+not be able to restrain him. If he is powerful
+enough to have no fear of men on this earth, he
+will not regard the divine law more than the hatred
+and the disdain of the judges he has constantly
+before his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>But the priests may perhaps tell us that the fear
+of an avenging God at least serves to repress a
+great number of latent crimes that would appear
+but for the influence of religion. Is it true, however,
+that religion itself prevents these latent crimes?
+Are not Christian nations full of knaves of all
+kinds, who secretly plot the ruin of their fellow-beings?
+Do not the most ostensibly credulous
+persons indulge in an infinity of vices for which
+they would blush if they were by chance brought
+to light? A man who is the most persuaded that
+God sees all his actions frequently does not blush
+to commit deeds in secret from which he would
+refrain if beheld by the meanest of human beings.</p>
+
+<p>What, then, avails the powerful check on the
+passions which religion is said to interpose? If
+we could place any reliance on what is said by our
+priests, it would appear that neither public nor
+secret crimes could be committed in countries
+where their instructions are received; the priests
+would appear like a brotherhood of angels, and
+every religious man to be without faults. But men
+forget their religious speculations when they are
+under the dominion of violent passions, when they
+are bound by the ties of habit, or when they are
+blinded by great interests. Under such circumstances
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span>
+they do not reason. Whether a man is
+virtuous or vicious depends on temperament, habit,
+and education. An unbeliever may have strong
+passions, and may reason very justly on the subject
+of religion, and very erroneously in regard to
+his conduct. The religious dupe is a poor metaphysician,
+and if he also acts badly he is both imbecile
+and wicked.</p>
+
+<p>It is true the priests deny that unbelievers ever
+reason correctly, and pretend they must always be
+in the wrong to prefer natural sense to their authority.
+But in this decision they occupy the place of
+both judges and parties, and the verdict should be
+rendered by disinterested persons. In the mean
+time the priests themselves seem to doubt the
+soundness of their own allegations; they call the
+secular arm to the aid of their arguments; they
+marshal on their side fines, imprisonment, confiscation
+of goods, boring and branding, with hot irons,
+and death at the stake, at this time in France, and
+in other and in most countries of Christendom;
+they use the scourge to drive men into paradise;
+they enlighten men by the blaze of the fagot; they
+inculcate faith by furious and bloody strokes of
+the sword; and they have the baseness to stand in
+dread of men who cannot announce themselves or
+openly promulgate their opinions without running
+the risk of punishment, and even death. This
+conduct does not manifest that the priests are
+strongly persuaded of the power of their arguments.
+If our clerical theologians acted in good
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span>
+faith, would they not rejoice to open a free course
+to thorough discussion? Would they not be gratified
+to allow doubters to propose difficulties, the
+solution of which, if Christianity is so plain and
+clear, would serve to render it more firm and solid?
+They find it answers their ends better to use their
+adversaries as the Mexicans do their slaves, whom
+they shackle before attacking, and then kill for
+daring to defend themselves.</p>
+
+<p>It is very probable unbelievers may be found
+whose conduct is blamable, and this is because
+they in this respect follow the same line of reasoning
+as the devotee. The most fanatical partisans
+of religion are forced to confess that among their
+adherents a small number of the elect only are
+rendered virtuous. By what right, then, do they
+exact that incredulity, which pretends to nothing
+supernatural, should produce effects which, according
+to their own admissions, their pretended divine
+religion fails to accomplish? If all believers were
+invariably good men, the cause of religion would
+be provided with an adamantine bulwark, and
+especially if unbelievers were persons without
+morality or virtue. But whatever the priests may
+aver, the unbelievers are more virtuous than the
+devotees. A happy temperament, a judicious education,
+the desire of living a peaceable life, the
+dislike to attract hatred or blame, and the habit of
+fulfilling the moral duties, always furnish motives
+to abstain from vice and to practise virtue more
+powerful and more true than those presented by
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>
+religion. Besides, the incredulous person has not
+an infinity of resources which Christianity bestows
+upon its superstitious followers. The Christian
+can at any time expiate his crimes by confession
+and penance, and can thus reconcile himself with
+God, and give repose to his conscience; the unbeliever,
+on the other hand, who has perpetrated a
+wrong, can reconcile himself neither with society,
+which he has outraged, nor with himself, whom he
+is compelled to hate. If he expects no reward in
+another life, he has no interest but to merit the
+homage that in all enlightened countries is rendered
+to virtue, to probity, and to a conduct constantly
+honest; he has no inducement but to avoid the
+penalties and the disdain that society decrees
+against those who trouble its well-being, and who
+refuse to contribute to its welfare.</p>
+
+<p>It appears evident that every man who consults
+his understanding should be more reasonable than
+one who only consults his imagination. It is evident
+that he who consults his own nature and that
+of the beings who surround him, ought to have
+truer ideas of good and evil, of justice and injustice,
+and of honesty and dishonesty, than he who,
+to regulate his conduct, consults only the records
+of a concealed God, whom his priests picture as
+wicked, unjust, changeable, contradicting himself,
+and who has sometimes ordered actions the most
+contrary to morality and to all the ideas that we
+have of virtue. It is evident that he who regulates
+his conduct upon sacerdotal morality will only follow
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span>
+the caprice and passions of the priests, and
+will be a very dangerous man, while believing himself
+very virtuous. In fine, it is evident that while
+conforming himself to the precepts and counsels
+of religion, a man may be extremely pious without
+possessing the shadow of a virtue. Experience
+has proved that it is quite possible to adhere to all
+the unintelligible dogmas of the priests, to observe
+most scrupulously all the forms, and ceremonies,
+and services they recommend, and orally to profess
+all the Christian virtues, without having any
+of the qualities necessary to his own happiness,
+and to that of the beings with whom he lives.
+The saints, indeed, who are proposed to us as
+models, were useless members of society. We see
+them to have been either gloomy fanatics, who
+sacrificed themselves to the desolating ideas of
+their religion, or excited fanatics, who, under pretext
+of serving religion, have perpetually disturbed
+the repose of nations, or enthusiastic theologians,
+who from their own dreams have deduced systems
+exactly calculated to infuriate the brains of their
+adherents. A saint, when he is tranquil, proposes
+nothing whose accomplishment will benefit mankind,
+and only aims to keep himself safe and secluded
+in his retreat. A saint, when he is active,
+only appears to promulgate reveries dangerous to
+the world, and to uphold the interests of the
+church, that he confounds with the interest of
+God.</p>
+
+<p>In a word, Madam, I cannot too often repeat it,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span>
+every system of religion appears to be designed for
+the utility of the priests; the morality of Christianity
+has in view only the interests of the priesthood;
+all the virtues that it teaches have solely for
+an object the church and its ministers; and these
+ends are always to subject the people, to draw a
+profit from their toil, and to inspire them with a
+blind credulity. We ought, therefore, to practise
+morality and virtue without entering into these conspiracies.
+If the priests disapprove of those who
+do not agree with them, and refuse to award any
+probity to the thinkers who reject their injurious
+and useless notions, society, which needs for its
+own sustenance real and human virtues, will not
+adopt the sentiments nor espouse the quarrels of
+these men, visibly leagued together against it. If
+the ministers of religion require their dogmas, their
+mysteries, and their fanatical virtues to support
+their usurped empire, the civil government has a
+need of reasonable virtues, of an evident, and above
+all, of a pacific morality, in order to exercise its
+legitimate rights. In fine, the individuals, who compose
+every society, demand a morality which will
+render them happy in <i>this</i> world, without embarrassing
+themselves with what only pretends to
+secure their felicity in an imaginary sphere, of which
+they have no ideas except those received from the
+priests themselves.</p>
+
+<p>The priests have had the art to unite their religious
+system with some moral tenets which are
+really good. This renders their mysteries more
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span>
+sacred, and lends authority to their ambiguous dogmas.
+By the aid of this artifice, they have given
+currency to the opinion that without religion there
+can be neither morality nor virtue. I hope, Madam,
+in my next letter, to complete the exposure of this
+prejudice, and to demonstrate, to whoever will reflect,
+how uncertain, abstract, and deceitful are the
+notions which religion has inspired. I shall clearly
+show, that they have often infected philosophers
+themselves; that up to the present time, they have
+retarded the progress of morality; and that they
+have transformed a science the most certain, plain,
+and sensible to every thinking man, into a system
+at once doubtful and enigmatical, and full of
+difficulties. I am, Madam, &amp;c.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chapbreak" />
+<h2 class="caps"><a name="LETTER_XI" id="LETTER_XI"></a>Letter XI.</h2>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="smcap">Of Human or Natural Morality.</p></div>
+
+
+<p>By this time, Madam, you will have reflected on
+what I had the honor to address to you, and perceived
+how impossible it is to found a certain and
+invariable morality on a religion enthusiastic, ambiguous,
+mysterious, and contradictory, and which
+never agreed with itself. You know that the God
+who appears to have taken pleasure in rendering
+himself unintelligible, that the God who is partial
+and changeable, that the God whose precepts are
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span>
+at variance one with another, can never serve as
+the base on which to rear a morality that shall become
+practicable among the inhabitants of the
+earth. In short, how can we found justice and
+goodness on attributes that are unjust and evil;
+yet attributes of a Being who tempts man, whom
+he created, for the purpose of punishing him when
+tempted? How can we know when we do the
+will of a God who has said, <i>Thou shalt not kill</i>,
+and who yet allows his people to exterminate whole
+nations? What idea can we form of the morality
+of that God who declares himself pleased with the
+sanguinary conduct of Moses, of the rebel, the
+assassin, the adulterer, David? Is it possible to
+found the holy duties of humanity on a God whose
+favorites have been inhuman persecutors and cruel
+monsters? How can we deduce our duties from
+the lessons of the priests of a God of peace, who,
+nevertheless, breathes only sedition, vengeance, and
+carnage? How can we take as models for our
+conduct <i>saints</i>, who were useless enthusiasts, or
+turbulent fanatics, or seditious apostates; who,
+under the pretext of defending the cause of God,
+have stirred up the greatest ravages on the earth?
+What wholesome morality can we reap from the
+adoption of impracticable virtues, from their being
+supernatural, which are visibly useless to ourselves,
+to those among whom we live, and in their consequences
+often dangerous? How can we take as
+guides in our conduct priests, whose lessons are a
+tissue of unintelligible opinions, (<i>for all religion is
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span>
+but opinion</i>,) puerile and frivolous practices, which
+these gentlemen prefer to real virtues? In fine,
+how can we be taught <i>the truth</i>, conducted in an
+unerring path, by men of a changeable morality,
+calculated upon and actuated by their present interests,
+and who, although they pretend to preach
+good-will to men, humanity, and peace, have, as
+their text-book, a volume stained with the records
+of injustice, inhumanity, sedition, and perfidy?</p>
+
+<p>You know, Madam, that it is impossible to found
+morality on notions that are so unfixed and so contrary
+to all our natural ideas of virtue. By virtue,
+we ought to understand the habitual dispositions
+to do whatever will procure us the happiness of
+ourselves and our species. By virtue, religion
+understands only that which may contribute to
+render us favorable to a hidden God, who attaches
+his favor to practices and opinions that are too
+often hurtful to ourselves, and little beneficial to
+others. The morality of the Christians is a mystic
+morality, which resembles the dogmas of their religion;
+it is obscure, unintelligible, uncertain, and
+subject to the interpretation of frail creatures. This
+morality is never fixed, because it is subordinate to
+a religion which varies incessantly its principles,
+and which is regulated according to the pleasure
+of a despotic divinity, and, more especially, according
+to the pleasure of priests, whose interests are
+changing daily, whose caprices are as variable as
+the hours of their existence, and who are, consequently,
+not always in agreement with one another.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span>
+The writings which are the sources whence the
+Christians have drawn their morality, are not only
+an abyss of obscurity, but demand continual explications
+from their masters, the priests, who, in explaining,
+make them still more obscure, still more
+contradictory. If these oracles of heaven prescribe
+to us in one place the virtues truly useful, in another
+part they approve, or prescribe, actions entirely opposed
+to all the ideas that we have of virtue. The
+same God who orders us to be good, equitable, and
+beneficent, who forbids the revenging of injuries,
+who declares himself to be the God of clemency
+and of goodness, shows himself to be implacable
+in his rage; announces himself as bringing <i>the
+sword, and not peace</i>; tells us that he is come to
+set mankind at variance; and, finally, in order to
+revenge his wrongs, orders rapine, treason, usurpation,
+and carnage. In a word, it is impossible to
+find in the Scriptures any certain principles or sure
+rules of morality. You there see, in one part, a
+small number of precepts, useful and intelligible,
+and in another part maxims the most extravagant,
+and the most destructive to the good and happiness
+of all society.</p>
+
+<p>It is in punctuality to fulfil the superstitious and
+frivolous duties, that the morality of the Jews in
+the Old Testament writings is chiefly conspicuous;
+legal observances, rites, ceremonies, are all that
+occupied the people of Israel. In recompense for
+their scrupulous exactness to fulfil these duties,
+they were permitted to commit the most frightful
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span>
+of crimes. The virtues recommended by the Son of
+God, in the New Testament, are not in reality the
+same as those which God the Father had made observable
+in the former case. The New Testament
+contradicts the Old. It announces that God is not
+pacified by sacrifices, nor by offerings, nor by frivolous
+rites. It substitutes in place of these, supernatural
+virtues, of which I believe I have sufficiently
+proved the inutility, the impossibility, and the incompatibility
+with the well-being of man living in
+society. The Son of God, by the writers of the
+New Testament, is set at variance with himself;
+for he destroys in one place what he establishes in
+another; and, moreover, the priests have appropriated
+to themselves all the principles of his mission.
+They are in unison only with God when
+the precepts of the Deity accord with their present
+interest. Is it their interest to persecute? They
+find that God ordains persecution. Are they themselves
+persecuted? They find that this pacific God
+forbids persecution, and views with abhorrence the
+persecution of his servants. Do they find that
+superstitious practices are lucrative to themselves?
+Notwithstanding the aversion of Jesus Christ from
+offerings, rites, and ceremonies, they impose them on
+the people, they surcharge them with mysterious
+rites: they respect these more than those duties
+which are of essential benefit to society. If Jesus
+has not wished that they should avenge themselves,
+they find that his Father has delighted in vengeance.
+If Jesus has declared that his kingdom is not of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span>
+this world, and if he has shown contempt of riches,
+they nevertheless find in the Old Testament sufficient
+reasons for establishing a hierarchy for the
+governing of the world in a spiritual sense, as kings
+do in a political one,&mdash;for the disputing with
+kings about their power,&mdash;for exercising in this
+world an authority the most unlimited, a license
+the most terrific. In a word, if they have found in
+the Bible some precepts of a moral tendency and
+practical utility, they have also found others to
+justify crimes the most atrocious.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, in the Christian religion, morality uniformly
+depends on the fanaticism of priests, their
+passions, their interests: its principles are never
+fixed; they vary according to circumstances: the
+God of whom they are the organs, and the interpreters,
+has not said any thing but what agrees best
+with their views, and what never contravenes their
+interest. Following their caprices, he changes his
+advice continually; he approves, and disapproves,
+of the same actions: he loves, or detests, the same
+conduct; he changes crime into virtue, and virtue
+into crime.</p>
+
+<p>What is the result from all this? It is that the
+Christians have not sure principles in morality: it
+varies with the policy of the priests, who are in a
+situation to command the credulity of mankind,
+and who, by force of menaces and terrors, oblige
+men to shut their eyes on their contradictions, and
+minds the most honest to commit faults the greatest
+which can be committed against religion. It
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span>
+is thus that under a God who recommends the love
+of our neighbor, the Christians accustom themselves
+from infancy to detest an heretical neighbor,
+and are almost always in a disposition to overwhelm
+him by a crowd of arguments received from
+their priests. It is thus that, under a God who
+ordains we should love our enemies and forgive
+their offences, the Christians hate and destroy the
+enemies of their priests, and take vengeance, without
+measure, for injuries which they pretend to have
+received. It is thus, that under a just God, a God
+who never ceases to boast of his goodness, the
+Christians, at the signal of their spiritual guides,
+become unjust and cruel, and make a merit of
+having stifled the cries of nature, the voice of
+humanity, the counsels of wisdom, and of public
+interest.</p>
+
+<p>In a word, all the ideas of justice and of injustice,
+of good and evil, of happiness and of misfortune, are
+necessarily confounded in the head of a Christian.
+His despotic priest commands him, in the name of
+God, to put no reliance on his reason, and the man
+who is compelled to abandon it for the guidance
+of a troubled imagination will be far more likely
+to consult and admit the most stupid fanaticism as
+the inspiration of the Most High. In his blindness,
+he casts at his feet duties the most sacred, and he
+believes himself virtuous in outraging every virtue.
+Has he remorse? his priest appeases it speedily,
+and points out some easy practices by which he
+may soon recommend himself to God. Has he
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span>
+committed injustice, violence, and rapine? he may
+repair all by giving to the church the goods of
+which he has despoiled worthy citizens; or by repaying
+by largesses, which will procure him the
+prayers of the priests and the favor of heaven. For
+the priests never reproach men, who give them of
+this world's goods, with the injustice, the cruelties,
+and the crimes they have been guilty, to support
+the church and befriend her ministers; the faults
+which have almost always been found the most
+unpardonable, have always been those of most disservice
+to the clergy. To question the faith and
+reject the authority of the priesthood, have always
+been the most frightful crimes; they are truly the
+sin against the Holy Ghost, which can never be
+forgiven either in this world or in that which is to
+come. To despise these objects which the priests
+have an interest in making to be respected, is
+sufficient to qualify one for the appellation of a
+blasphemer and an impious man. These vague
+words, void of sense, suffice to excite horror in the
+mind of the weak vulgar. The terrible word sacrilege
+designates an attempt on the person, the
+goods, and the rights of the clergy. The omission
+of some useless practice is exaggerated and represented
+as a crime more detestable than actions
+which injure society. In favor of fidelity to fulfil
+the duties of religion, the priest easily pardons his
+slave submitting to vices, criminal debaucheries,
+and excesses the most horrible. You perceive, then,
+Madam, that the Christian morality has really in
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span>
+view but the utility of the priests. Why, then,
+should you be surprised that they endeavor to make
+themselves arbitrary and sovereign; that they deem
+as faults, and as criminal, all the virtues which agree
+not with their marvellous systems? The Christian
+morality appears only to have been proposed to
+blind men, to disturb their reason, to render them
+abject and timid, to plunge them into vassalage, to
+make them lose sight of the earth which they inhabit,
+for visions of bliss in heaven. By the aid
+of this morality, the priests have become the true
+masters here below; they have imagined virtues
+and practices useful only to themselves; they have
+proscribed and interdicted those which were truly
+useful to society; they have made slaves of their
+disciples, who make virtue to consist in blind submission
+to their caprices.</p>
+
+<p>To lay the foundations of a good morality, it
+is absolutely necessary to destroy the prejudices
+which the priests have inspired in us; it is necessary
+to begin by rendering the mind of man energetic,
+and freeing it from those vain terrors which
+have enthralled it; it is necessary to renounce those
+supernatural notions which have, till now, hindered
+men from consulting the volume of nature, which
+have subjected reason to the yoke of authority; it
+is necessary to encourage man, to undeceive him
+as to those prejudices which have enslaved him;
+to annihilate in his bosom those false theories which
+corrupt his nature, and which are, in fact, infidel
+guides, destructive of the real happiness of the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span>
+species. It is necessary to undeceive him as to
+the idea of his loathing himself, and especially that
+other idea, that some of his fellow-creatures are not
+to labor with their hands for their support, but in
+spiritual matters for his happiness. In fine, it is
+necessary to influence him with self-love, that he
+may merit the esteem of the world, the benevolence
+and consideration of those with whom he is associated
+by the ties of nature or public economy.</p>
+
+<p>The morality of religion appears calculated to
+confound society and replunge its members into
+the savage state. The Christian virtues tend evidently
+to isolate man, to detach him from those to
+whom nature has united him, and to unite him to
+the priests&mdash;to make him lose sight of a happiness
+the most solid, to occupy himself only with
+dangerous chimeras. We only live in society to
+procure the more easily those kindnesses, succors,
+and pleasures, which we could not obtain living by
+ourselves. If it had been destined that we should
+live miserably in this world, that we should detest
+ourselves, fly the esteem of others, voluntarily afflict
+ourselves, have no attachment for any one, society
+would have been one heap of confusion, the human
+kind savages and strangers to one another.</p>
+
+<p>However, if it is true that God is the author of
+man, it is God who renders man sociable; it is
+God who wishes man to live in society where he
+can obtain the greatest good. If God is good, he
+cannot approve that men should leave society to
+become miserable; if God is the author of reason,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span>
+he can only wish that men who are possessed of
+reason should employ this distinguishing gift to
+procure for themselves all the happiness its exercise
+can bring them. If God has revealed himself,
+it is not in some obscure way, but in a revelation
+the most evident and clear of all those supposed
+revelations, which are visibly contrary to all the
+notions we can form of the Divinity. We are not,
+however, obliged to dive into the marvellous to
+establish the duties man owes to man, since God
+has very plainly shown them in the wants of one
+and the good offices of another person. But it is
+only by consulting our reason that we can arrive
+at the means of contributing to the felicity of our
+species. It is then evident that in regarding man
+as the creature of God, God must have designed
+that man should consult his reason, that it might
+procure him the most solid happiness, and those
+principles of virtue which nature approves.</p>
+
+<p>What, then, might not our opinions be were we
+to substitute the morality of reason for the morality
+of religion? In place of a partial and reserved
+morality for a small number of men, let us substitute
+a universal morality, intelligible to all the
+inhabitants of the earth, and of which all can find
+the principles in nature. Let us study this nature,
+its wants, and its desires; let us examine the
+means of satisfying it; let us consider what is the
+end of our existence in society; we shall see that
+all those who are thus associated are compelled by
+their natures to practise affection one to another,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span>
+benevolence, esteem, and relief, if desired; we
+shall see what is that line of conduct which necessarily
+excites hatred, ill-will, and all those misfortunes
+which experience makes familiar to mankind;
+our reason will tell us what actions are the
+most calculated to excite real happiness and good
+will the most solid and extensive; let us weigh
+these with those that are founded on visionary
+theories; their difference will at once be perceptible;
+the advantages which are permanent we will
+not sacrifice for those that are momentary; we
+will employ all our faculties to augment the happiness
+of our species; we will labor with perseverance
+and courage to extirpate evil from the earth;
+we will assist as much as we can those who are
+without friends; we will seek to alleviate their
+distresses and their pains; we will merit their
+regard, and thus fulfil the end of our being on
+earth.</p>
+
+<p>In conducting ourselves in this manner, our
+reason prescribes a morality agreeable to nature,
+reasonable to all, constant in its operation, effective
+in its exercise in benefiting all, in contributing
+to the happiness of society, collectively and individually,
+in distinction to the mysticism preached
+up by priests. We shall find in our reason and in
+our nature the surest guides, superior to the clergy,
+who only teach us to benefit themselves. We
+shall thus enjoy a morality as durable as the race
+of man. We shall have precepts founded on the
+necessity of things, that will punish those transgressing
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span>
+them, and rewarding those who obey
+them. Every man who shall prove himself to be
+just, useful, beneficent, will be an object of love to
+his fellow-citizens; every man who shall prove
+himself unjust, useless, and wicked will become
+an object of hatred to himself as well as to others;
+he will be forced to tremble at the violation of the
+laws; he will be compelled to do that which is
+good to gain the good will of mankind and preserve
+the regard of those who have the power of
+obliging him to be a useful member of the state.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, Madam, if it should be demanded of you
+what you would substitute for the benefit of society,
+in place of visionary reveries, I reply, a sensible
+morality, a good education, profitable habits, self-evident
+principles of duty, wise laws, which even
+the wicked cannot misunderstand, but which may
+correct their evil purposes, and recompenses that
+may tend to the promotion of virtue. The education
+of the present day tends only to make youth
+the slaves of superstition; the virtues which it inculcates
+on them are only those of fanaticism, to
+render the mind subject to the priests for the
+remainder of life; the motives to duty are only
+fictitious and imaginary; the rewards and punishments
+which it exhibits in an obscure glimmering,
+produce no other effect than to make useless enthusiasts
+and dangerous fanatics. The principles
+on which enthusiasm establishes morality are
+changing and ruinous; those on which the morality
+of reason is established are fixed, and cannot be
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span>
+overturned. Seeing, then, that man, a reasonable
+being, should be chiefly occupied about his preservation
+and happiness&mdash;that he should love virtue&mdash;that
+he should be sensible of its advantages&mdash;that
+he should fear the consequences of crime&mdash;is
+it to be wondered I should insist so much on the
+practice of virtue as his chief good? Men ought
+to hate crime because it leads to misery. Society,
+to exist, must receive the united virtue of its
+members, obedience to good laws, the activity and
+intelligence of citizens to defend its privileges and
+its rights. Laws are good when they invite the
+members of society to labor for reciprocal good
+offices. Laws are just when they recompense or
+punish in proportion to the good or evil which is
+done to society. Laws supported by a visible
+authority should be founded on present motives;
+and thus they would have more force than those
+of religion, which are founded on uncertain motives,
+imaginary and removed from this world, and
+which experience proves cannot suffice to curb the
+passions of bad men, nor show them their duty by
+the fear of punishments after death.</p>
+
+<p>If in place of stifling human reason, as is too
+much done, its perfectibility were studied; if in
+place of deluging the world with visionary notions,
+truth were inculcated; if in place of pleading a supernatural
+morality, a morality agreeable to humanity
+and resulting from experience were preached,
+we should no longer be the dupes of imaginary
+theories, nor of terrifying fables as the bases of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span>
+virtue. Every one would then perceive that it is
+to the practice of virtue, to the faithful observation
+of the duties of morality, that the happiness of individuals
+and of society is to be traced. Is he a
+husband? He will perceive that his essential happiness
+is to show kindness, attachment, and tenderness
+to the companion of his life, destined by
+his own choice to share his pleasures and endure
+his misfortunes. And, on the other hand, she, by
+consulting her true interests, will perceive that they
+consist in rendering homage to her husband, in
+interdicting every thought that could alienate her
+affections, diminish her esteem and confidence in
+him. Fathers and mothers will perceive that their
+children are destined to be one day their consolation
+and support in old age, and that by consequence
+they have the greatest interest in inspiring
+them in early life with sentiments of which they
+may themselves reap the benefit when age or misfortune
+may require the fruits of those advantages
+that result from a good education. Their children
+early taught to reflect on these things, will
+find their interest to lie in meriting the kindness of
+their parents, and in giving them proofs that the
+virtues they are taught will be communicated to
+their posterity. The master will perceive that, to
+be served with affection, he owes good will, kindness,
+and indulgence to those at whose hands he
+would reap advantages, and by whose labor he
+would increase his prosperity; and servants will
+discover how much their happiness depends on
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span>
+fidelity, industry, and good temper in their situations.
+Friends will find the advantages of a kindred
+heart for friendship, and the reciprocity of
+good offices. The members of the same family
+will perceive the necessity of preserving that union
+which nature has established among them, to
+render mutual benefits in prosperity or in adversity.
+Societies, if they reflect on the end of their association,
+will perceive that to secure it they must observe
+good faith and punctuality in their engagements.
+The citizen, when he consults his reason,
+will perceive how much it is necessary, for the good
+of the nation to which he belongs, that he should
+exert himself to advance its prosperity, or, in its
+misfortunes, to retrieve its glory. By consequence
+every one in his sphere, and using his faculties for
+this great end, will find his own advantage in restraining
+the bad as dangerous, and opposing enemies
+to the state as enemies to himself.</p>
+
+<p>In a word, every man who will reflect for himself
+will be compelled to acknowledge the necessity of
+virtue for the happiness of the world. It is so obvious
+that justice is the basis of all society; that
+good will and good offices necessarily procure for
+men affection and respect; that every man who respects
+himself ought to seek the esteem of others;
+that it is necessary to merit the good opinion of
+society; that he ought to be jealous of his reputation;
+that a weak being, who is every instant exposed
+to misfortunes, ought to know what are his
+duties, and how he should practise them for the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span>
+benefit of himself and the assembly of which he is
+a member.</p>
+
+<p>If we reflect for one moment on the effects of the
+passions, we shall perceive the necessity of repressing
+them, if we would spare ourselves vain regrets
+and useless sorrows, which certainly always afflict
+those who obey not the laws. Thus, a single reflection
+will suffice to show the impropriety of
+anger, the dreadful consequences of revenge, calumny,
+and backbiting. Every one must perceive
+that in giving a free course to unbridled desires, he
+becomes the enemy of society, and then it is the
+part of the laws to restrain him who renounces his
+reason and despises the motives that ought to
+guide him.</p>
+
+<p>If it is objected that man is not a free agent, and
+therefore is unable to restrain his passions, and that
+consequently the law ought not to punish him, I
+reply that the community are impelled by the same
+necessity to hate what is injurious, and for their
+own conservation and happiness have the right to
+restrain an unhappily organized individual who is
+impelled to injure himself and others. The inevitable
+faults of men necessarily excite the hatred of
+those who suffer from them.</p>
+
+<p>If the man who consults his reason has real and
+powerful motives for doing good to others and abstaining
+from injuring them, he has present motives
+equally urgent to restrain him from the commission
+of vice. Experience may suffice to show him that
+if he becomes sooner or later the victim of his
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span>
+excesses, he ceases to be the friend of virtue, and
+exists only to serve vice, which will infallibly punish
+him. This being allowed, prudence, or the desire
+of preserving one's self free from the contamination
+of evil, ought to inculcate to every man his
+path of duty; and, unless blinded by his passions,
+he must perceive how much moderation in his
+pleasures, temperance, chastity, contribute to happiness;
+that those who transgress in these respects
+are necessarily the victims of ill health, and too
+often pass a life both infirm and unfortunate, which
+terminates soon in death.</p>
+
+<p>How is it possible, then, Madam, from visionary
+theories to arrive at these conclusions, and establish
+from supernatural phantasms the principles of private
+and public virtue? Shall we launch into unknown
+regions to ascertain our duty and to keep our
+station in society? Is it not sufficient if we wish
+to be happy that we should endeavor to preserve ourselves
+in those maxims which reason approves, and
+on which virtue is founded? Every man who
+would perish, who would render his existence miserable,
+whoever would sacrifice permanent happiness
+for present pleasure, is a fool, who reflects not
+on the interests that are dearest to him.</p>
+
+<p>If there are any principles so clear as the morality
+of humanity has been and is still proved to be,
+they are such as men ought to observe. They are
+not obscure notions, mysticism, contradictions,
+which have made of a science the most obvious
+and best demonstrated, an unintelligible science,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span>
+mysterious and uncertain to those for whom it is
+designed. In the hands of the priests, morality has
+become an enigma; they have founded our duties
+on the attributes of a Deity whom the mind of man
+cannot comprehend, in place of founding them on
+the character of man himself. They have thrown
+in among them the foundations of an edifice which
+is made for this earth. They have desired to regulate
+our manners agreeably to equivocal oracles
+which every instant contradict themselves, and
+which too often render their devotees useless to
+society and to themselves. They have pretended
+to render their morality more sacred by inviting us
+to look for recompenses and punishments removed
+beyond this life, but which they announce in the
+name of the Divinity. In fine, they have made
+man a being who may not even strive at perfection,
+by a preordination of some to bliss, and consequent
+damnation of others, whose insensibility is the result
+of this selection.</p>
+
+<p>Need we not, then, wonder that this supernatural
+morality should be so contrary to the nature and
+the mind of man? It is in vain that it aims at the
+annihilation of human nature, which is so much
+stronger, so much more powerful, than imagination.
+In despite of all the subtile and marvellous speculations
+of the priests, man continues always to
+love himself, to desire his well being, and to flee
+misfortune and sorrow. He has then always been
+actuated by the same passions. When these passions
+have been moderate, and have tended to the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span>
+public good, they are legitimate, and we approve
+those actions which are their effects. When these
+passions have been disordered, hurtful to society, or
+to the individual, he condemns them; they punish
+him; he is dissatisfied with his conduct which
+others cannot approve. Man always loves his
+pleasures, because in their enjoyment he fulfils
+the end of his existence; if he exceeds their just
+bounds he renders himself miserable.</p>
+
+<p>The morality of the clergy, on the other hand,
+appears calculated to keep nature always at variance
+with herself, for it is almost always without
+effect even on the priesthood. Their chimeras serve
+but to torture weak minds, and to set the passions
+at war with nature and their dogmas. When this
+morality professes to restrain the wicked, to curb
+the passions of men, it operates in opposition to
+the established laws of natural religion; for by
+preserving all its rigor, it becomes impracticable;
+and it meets with real devotees only in some few
+fanatics who have renounced nature, and who
+would be singular, even if their oddities were injurious
+to society. This morality, adopted for the
+most part by devotees, without eradicating their
+habits or their natural defects, keeps them always
+in a state of opposition even with themselves.
+Their life is a round of faults and of scruples, of
+sins and remorse, of crimes and expiations, of
+pleasures which they enjoy, but for which they
+again reproach themselves for having tasted. In a
+word, the morality of superstition necessarily carries
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span>
+with it into the heart and the family of its devotees
+inward distress and affliction; it makes of
+enthusiasts and fanatics scrupulous devotees; it
+makes a great many insensible and miserable; it
+renders none perfect, few good; and those only tolerable
+whom nature, education, and habit had
+moulded for happiness.</p>
+
+<p>It is our temperament which decides our condition;
+the acquisition of moderate passions, of honest
+habits, sensible opinions, laudable examples, and
+practical virtues, is a difficult task, but not impossible
+when undertaken with reason for one's guide.
+It is difficult to be virtuous and happy with a temperament
+so ardent as to sway the passions to its
+will. One must in calmness consult reason as to
+his duty. Nature, in giving us lively passions and
+a susceptible imagination, has made us capable
+of suffering the instant we transgress her bounds.
+She then renders us necessary to ourselves, and we
+cannot proceed to consult our real interest if we
+continue in indulgence that she forbids. The passions
+which reason cannot restrain are not to be
+bridled by religion. It is in vain that we hope to
+derive succors from religion if we despise and refuse
+what nature offers us. Religion leaves men
+just such as nature and habit have made them;
+and if it produce any changes on some few, I believe
+I have proved that those changes are not always
+for the better.</p>
+
+<p>Congratulate yourself, then, Madam, on being
+born with good dispositions, of having received
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span>
+honest principles, which shall carry you through
+life in the practice of virtue, and in the love of a
+fine and exalted taste for the rational pleasures of
+our nature. Continue to be the happiness of your
+family, which esteems and honors you. Continue
+to diffuse around you the blessings you enjoy; continue
+to perform only those actions which are esteemed
+by all the world, and all men will respect
+you. Respect yourself, and others will respect you.
+These are the legitimate sentiments of virtue and
+of happiness. Labor for your own happiness, and
+you will promote that of your family, who will love
+you in proportion to the good you do it. Allow
+me to congratulate myself if, in all I have said, I
+have in any measure swept from your mind those
+clouds of fanaticism which obscure the reason; and
+to felicitate you on your having escaped from vague
+theories of imagination. Abjure superstition, which
+is calculated only to make you miserable; let the
+morality of humanity be your uniform religion;
+that your happiness may be constant, let reason be
+your guide; that virtue may be the idol of your
+soul, cultivate and love only what is virtuous and
+good in the world; and if there be a God who is
+interested in the happiness of his creatures, if
+there be a God full of justice and goodness, he will
+not be angry with you for having consulted your
+reason; if there be another life, your happiness in
+it cannot be doubtful, if God rewards every one
+according to the good done here.</p>
+
+<p class="sig">I am, with respect, &amp;c.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chapbreak" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span></p>
+<h2 class="caps"><a name="LETTER_XII" id="LETTER_XII"></a>Letter XII.</h2>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="smcap">Of the small Consequence to be attached to Men's
+Speculations, and the Indulgence which should
+be extended to them.</p></div>
+
+
+<p>Permit me, Madam, to felicitate you on the
+happy change which you say has taken place in
+your opinions. Convinced by reasons as simple as
+obvious, your mind has become sensible of the futility
+of those notions which have for a long time
+agitated it; and the inefficacy of those pretended
+succors which religious men boasted they could
+furnish, is now apparent to you. You perceive the
+evident dangers which result from a system that
+serves only to render men enemies to individual
+and general happiness. I see with pleasure that
+reason has not lost its authority over your mind,
+and that it is sufficient to show you the truth that
+you may embrace it. You may congratulate yourself
+on this, which proves the solidity of your judgment.
+For it is glorious to give one's self up to
+reason, and to be the votary of common sense.
+Prejudice so arms mankind that the world is full
+of people who slight their judgment; nay, who resist
+the most obvious pleas of their understanding.
+Their eyes, long shut to the light of truth, are unable
+to bear its rays; but they can endure the glimmerings
+of superstition, which plunges them in still
+darker obscurity.</p>
+
+<p>I am not, however, astonished at the embarrassment
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span>
+you have hitherto felt, nor at your cautious
+examination of my opinions, which are better understood
+the more thoroughly they are examined
+and compared with those they oppose. It is impossible
+to annihilate at once deep-rooted prejudices.
+The mind of man appears to waver in a void
+when those ideas are attacked on which it has long
+rested. It finds itself in a new world, wherein all
+is unknown. Every system of opinion is but the
+effect of habit. The mind has as great difficulty
+to disengage itself from its custom of thinking,
+and reflect on new ideas, as the body has to remain
+quiescent after it has long been accustomed
+to exercise. Should you, for instance, propose to
+your friend to leave off snuff, as a practice neither
+healthful nor agreeable in company, he will not
+probably listen to you, or if he should, it will be
+with extreme pain that he can bring himself to
+renounce a habit long familiarized to him.</p>
+
+<p>It is precisely the same with all our prejudices;
+those of religion have the most powerful hold of
+us. From infancy we have been familiarized with
+them; habit has made them a sort of want we
+cannot dispense with: our mode of thinking is
+formed, and familiar to us; our mind is accustomed
+to engage itself with certain classes of objects; and
+our imagination fancies that it wanders in chaos
+when it is not fed with those chimeras to which it
+had been long accustomed. Phantoms the most
+horrible are even clear to it; objects the most
+familiar to it, if viewed with the calm eye of reason,
+are disagreeable and revolting.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Religion, or rather its superstitions, in consequence
+of the marvellous and bizarre notions it
+engenders, gives the mind continual exercise; and
+its votaries fancy they are doomed to a dangerous
+inaction when they are suddenly deprived of the
+objects on which their imagination exerted its
+powers. Yet is this exercise so much the more
+necessary as the imagination is by far the most
+lively faculty of the mind. Hence, without doubt,
+it becomes necessary men should replace stale
+fooleries by those which are novel. This is, moreover,
+the true reason why devotion so often affords
+consolation in great disgraces, gives diversion for
+chagrin, and replaces the strongest passions, when
+they have been quenched by excess of pleasure and
+dissipation. The marvellous arguments, chimeras
+multiply as religion furnishes activity and occupation
+to the fancy; habit renders them familiar, and
+even necessary; terrors themselves even minister
+food to the imagination; and religion, the religion
+of priestcraft, is full of terrors. Active and unquiet
+spirits continually require this nourishment; the
+imagination requires to be alternately alarmed and
+consoled; and there are thousands who cannot
+accustom themselves to tranquillity and the sobriety
+of reason. Many persons also require phantoms
+to make them religious, and they find these
+succors in the dogmas of priestcraft.</p>
+
+<p>These reflections will serve to explain to you the
+continual variations to which many persons are
+subject, especially on the subject of religion. Sensible,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span>
+like barometers, you behold them wavering
+without ceasing; their imagination floats, and is
+never fixed; so often as you find them freely given
+up to the blackness of superstition, so often may
+you behold them the slaves of pernicious prejudices.
+Whenever they tremble at the feet of their priests,
+then are their necks under the yoke. Even people
+of spirit and understanding in other affairs are not
+altogether exempt from these variations of mental
+religious temperament; but their judgment is too
+frequently the dupe of the imagination. And others,
+again, timid and doubting, without spirit, are in
+perpetual torment.</p>
+
+<p>What do I say? Man is not, and cannot always
+be, the same. His frame is exposed to revolutions
+and perpetual vicissitudes; the thoughts of his
+mind necessarily vary with the different degrees of
+changes to which his body is exposed. When the
+body is languid and fatigued, the mind has not
+usually much inclination to vigor and gayety. The
+debility of the nerves commonly annihilates the
+energies of the soul, although it be so remarkably
+distinguished from the body; persons of a bilious
+and melancholy temperament are rarely the subjects
+of joy; dissipation importunes some, gayety
+fatigues others. Exactly after the same fashion,
+there are some who love to nourish sombre ideas,
+and these religion supplies them. Devotion affects
+them like the vapors; superstition is an inveterate
+malady, for which there is no cure in medicine.
+And it is impossible to keep him free from superstition,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span>
+whose breast, the slave of fear, was never
+sensible of courage; nay, soldiers and sailors, the
+bravest of men, have too often been the victims of
+superstition. It is education alone that operates
+in radically curing the human mind of its errors.</p>
+
+<p>Those who think it sufficient, Madam, to render
+a reason for the variations which we so frequently
+remark in the ideas of men, acknowledge that there
+is a secret bent of the minds of religious persons to
+prejudices, from which we shall almost in vain endeavor
+to rescue their understandings. You perceive,
+at present, what you ought to think of those
+secret transitions which our priests would force on
+you, as the inspirations of heaven, as divine solicitations,
+the effects of grace; though they are, nevertheless,
+only the effects of those vicissitudes to which
+our constitution is liable, and which affect the robust,
+as well as the feeble; the man of health, as
+well as the valetudinarian.</p>
+
+<p>If we might form a judgment of the correctness
+of those notions which our teachers boast of, in
+respect to our dissolution at death, we shall find
+reason to be satisfied, that there is little or no
+occasion that we should have our minds disturbed
+during our last moments. It is then, say they, that
+it is necessary to attend to the condition of man;
+it is then that man, undeceived as to the things
+of this life, acknowledges his errors. But there is,
+perhaps, no idea in the whole circle of theology
+more unreasonable than this, of which the credulous,
+in all ages, have been the dupes. Is it not at
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span>
+the time of a man's dissolution that he is the least
+capable of judging of his true interest? His bodily
+frame racked, it may be, with pain, his mind is
+necessarily weakened or chafed; or if he should be
+free from excruciating pain, the lassitude and yielding
+of nature to the irrevocable decrees of fate at
+death, unfit a man for reasoning and judging of the
+sophisms that are proposed as panaceas for all his
+errors. There are, without doubt, as strange notions
+as those of religion; but who knows that
+body and soul sink alike at death?</p>
+
+<p>It is in the case of health that we can promise
+ourselves to reason with justness; it is then that the
+soul, neither troubled by fear, nor altered by disease,
+nor led astray by passion, can judge soundly
+of what is beneficial to man. The judgments of
+the dying can have no weight with men in good
+health; and they are the veriest impostors who lend
+them belief. The truth can alone be known, when
+both body and mind are in good health. No man,
+without evincing an insensible and ridiculous presumption,
+can answer for the ideas he is occupied
+with, when worn out with sickness and disease;
+yet have the inhuman priests the effrontery to persuade
+the credulous to take as their examples the
+words and actions of men necessarily deranged in
+intellect by the derangement of their corporeal
+frame. In short, since the ideas of men necessarily
+vary with the different variations of their
+bodies, the man who presumes to reason on his
+death bed with the man in health, arrogates what
+ought not to be conceded.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Do not, then, Madam, be discouraged nor surprised,
+if you should sometimes think of ancient
+prejudices reclaiming the rights they have for a long
+time exercised over your reason; attribute, then,
+these vacillations to some derangement in your
+frame&mdash;to some disordered movements of mind,
+which, for a time, suspend your reason. Think that
+there are few people who are constantly the same,
+and who see with the same eyes. Our frame being
+subject to continual variations, it necessarily follows
+that our modes of thinking will vary. We
+think one custom the result of pusillanimity, when
+the nerves are relaxed and our bodies fatigued.
+We think justly when our body is in health; that
+is to say, when all its parts are fulfilling their
+various functions. There is one mode of thinking,
+or one state of mind, which in health we call uncertainty,
+and which we rarely experience when
+our frame is in its ordinary condition. We do not
+then reason justly, when our frame is not in a condition
+to leave our mind subject to incredulity.</p>
+
+<p>What, then, is to be done, when we would calm
+our mind, when we wish to reflect, even for an
+instant? Let reason be our guide, and we shall
+soon arrive at that mode of thinking which shall
+be advantageous to ourselves. In effect, Madam,
+how can a God who is just, good, and reasonable,
+be irritated by the manner in which we shall think,
+seeing that our thoughts are always involuntary,
+and that we cannot believe as we would, but as our
+convictions increase, or become weakened? Man
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span>
+is not, then, for one instant, the master of his ideas,
+which are every moment excited by objects over
+which he has no control, and causes which depend
+not on his will or exertions. St. Augustine himself
+bears testimony to this truth: "There is not,"
+says he, "one man who is at all times master of
+that which presents itself to his spirit." Have we
+not, then, good reason to conclude, that our thoughts
+are entirely indifferent to God, seeing they are excited
+by objects over which we have no control,
+and, by consequence, that they cannot be offensive
+to the Deity?</p>
+
+<p>If our teachers pique themselves on their principles,
+they ought to carry along with them this truth,
+that a just God cannot be offended by the changes
+which take place in the minds of his creatures.
+They ought to know that this God, if he is wise,
+has no occasion to be troubled with the ideas that
+enter the mind of man; that if they do not comprehend
+all his perfections, it is because their comprehension
+is limited. They ought to recollect, that
+if God is all-powerful, his glory and his power cannot
+be affected by the opinions and ideas of weak
+mortals, any more than the notions they form of
+him can alter his essential attributes. In fine, if
+our teachers had not made it a duty to renounce
+common sense, and to close with notions that carry
+in their consequences the contradictory evidence of
+their premises, they would not refuse to avow that
+God would be the most unjust, the most unreasonable,
+the most cruel of tyrants, if he should
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span>
+punish beings whom he himself created imperfect,
+and possessed of a deficiency of reason and common
+sense.</p>
+
+<p>Let us reflect a little longer, and we shall find that
+the theologians have studied to make of the Divinity
+a ferocious master, unreasonable and changing,
+who exacts from his creatures qualities they have
+not, and services they cannot perform. The ideas
+they have formed of this unknown being are almost
+always borrowed from those of men of power, who,
+jealous of their power and respect from their subjects,
+pretend that it is the duty of these last to
+have for them sentiments of submission, and punish
+with rigor those who, by their conduct or their
+discourse, announce sentiments not sufficiently respectful
+to their superiors. Thus you see, Madam,
+that God has been fashioned by the clergy on the
+model of an uneasy despot, suspicious of his subjects,
+jealous of the opinions they may entertain
+of him, and who, to secure his power, cruelly chastises
+those who have not littleness of mind sufficient
+to flatter his vanity, nor courage enough to resist
+his power.</p>
+
+<p>It is evident, that it is on ideas so ridiculous, and
+so contrary to those which nature offers us of the
+Divinity, that the absurd system of the priests is
+founded, which they persuade themselves is very
+sensible and agreeable to the opinions of mankind;
+and which is very seriously insulted, they say, if
+men think differently; and which will punish with
+severity those who abandon themselves to the guidance
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span>
+of reason, the glory of man. Nothing can be
+more pernicious to the human kind than this fatal
+madness, which deranges all our ideas of a just
+God&mdash;of a God, good, wise, all-powerful, and
+whose glory and power neither the devotion nor
+rebellion of his creatures can affect. In consequence
+of these impertinent suppositions of the priesthood,
+men have ever been afraid to form notions agreeable
+to the mysterious Sovereign of the universe, on
+whom they are dependent; their mind is put to the
+torture to divine his incomprehensible nature, and,
+in their fear of displeasing him, they have assigned
+to him human attributes, without perceiving that
+when they pretend to honor him, they dishonor
+Deity, and that being compelled to bestow on him
+qualities that are incompatible with Deity, they
+actually annihilate from their mind the pure representation
+of Deity, as witnessed in all nature. It
+is thus, that in almost all the religions on the face
+of the earth, under the pretext of making known
+the Divinity, and explaining his views towards
+mortals, the priests have rendered him incomprehensible,
+and have actually promulgated, under the
+garb of religion, nothing save absurdities, by which,
+if we admit them, we shall destroy those notions
+which nature gives us of Deity.</p>
+
+<p>When we reflect on the Divinity, do we not see
+that mankind have plunged farther and farther into
+darkness, as they assimilated him to themselves;
+that their judgment is always disturbed when they
+would make their Deity the object of their meditations;
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span>
+that they cannot reason justly, because they
+never have any but obscure and absurd ideas; that
+they are almost always in uncertainty, and never
+agree with themselves, because their principles are
+replete with doubt; that they always tremble, because
+they imagine that it is very dangerous to
+be deceived; that they dispute without ceasing,
+because that it is impossible to be convinced of any
+thing, when they reason on objects of which they
+know nothing, and which the imaginations of men
+are forced to paint differently; in fine, that they
+cruelly torment one another about opinions equally
+uninteresting, though they attach to them the greatest
+importance, and because the vanity of the one
+party never allows it to subscribe to the reveries
+of the other?</p>
+
+<p>It is thus that the Divinity has become to us a
+source of evil, division, and quarrels; it is thus that
+his name alone inspires terror; it is thus that religion
+has become the signal of so many combats,
+and has always been the true apple of discord
+among unquiet mortals, who always dispute with
+the greatest heat, on subjects of which they can
+never have any true ideas. They make it a duty
+to think and reason on his attributes; and they can
+never arrive at any just conclusions, because their
+mind is never in a condition to form true notions
+of what strikes their senses. In the impossibility
+of knowing the Deity by themselves, they have recourse
+to the opinion of others, whom they consider
+more adroit in theology, and who pretend to an
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span>
+intimate acquaintance with God, being inspired by
+him, and having secret intelligence of his purposes
+with regard to the human kind. Those privileged
+men teach nothing to the nations of the earth, except
+what their reveries have reduced to a system,
+without giving them ideas that are clear and definite.
+They paint God under characters the most
+agreeable to their own interests; they make of
+him a good monarch for those who blindly submit
+to their tenets, but terrible to those who refuse to
+blindly follow them.</p>
+
+<p>Thus you perceive, Madam, what those men are
+who have obviously made of the Deity an object so
+bizarre as they announce him, and who, to render
+their opinions the more sacred, have pretended that
+he is grievously offended when we do not admit
+implicitly the ideas they promulgate of God. In
+the books of Moses God defines himself, <i>I am that
+I am</i>; yet does this inspired writer detail the history
+of this God as a tyrant who tempts men, and
+who punishes them for being tempted; who exterminated
+all the human kind by a deluge, except a
+few of one family, because one man had fallen; in
+a word, who, in all his conduct, behaves as a despot,
+whose power dispenses with all the rules of
+justice, reason, and goodness.</p>
+
+<p>Have the successors of Moses transmitted to us
+ideas more clear, more sensible, more comprehensible
+of the Divinity? Has the Son of God made
+his Father perfectly known to us? Has the church,
+perpetually boasting of the light she diffuses
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span>
+among men, become more fixed and certain, to do
+away our uncertainty? Alas! in spite of all
+these supernatural succors, we know nothing in
+nature beyond the grave; the ideas which are communicated
+to us, the recitals of our infallible teachers,
+are calculated only to confound our judgment,
+and reduce our reason to silence. They make of
+God a pure spirit; that is to say, a being who has
+nothing in common with matter, and who, nevertheless,
+has created matter, which he has produced
+from his own fiat&mdash;his essence or substance.
+They have made him the mirror of the universe,
+and the soul of the universe. They have made
+him an infinite being, who fills all space by his immensity,
+although the material world occupies some
+part in space. They have made him a being all
+powerful, but whose projects are incessantly varying,
+who neither can nor will maintain man in
+good order, nor permit the freedom of action necessary
+for rational beings, and who is alternately
+pleased and displeased with the same beings and
+their actions. They make him an infinite good
+Father, but who avenges himself without measure.
+They make of him a monarch infinitely just, but
+who confounds the innocent with the guilty, who
+has mingled injustice and cruelty, in causing his
+own Son to be put to death to expiate the crimes
+of the human kind; though they are incessantly
+sinning and repenting for pardon. They make of
+him a being full of wisdom and foresight, yet insensible
+to the folly and shortsightedness of mortals.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span>
+They make him a reasonable being who
+becomes angry at the thoughts of his creatures,
+though involuntary, and consequently necessary;
+thoughts which he himself puts into their heads;
+and who condemns them to eternal punishments
+if they believe not in reveries that are incompatible
+with the divine attributes, or who dare to doubt
+whether God can possess qualities that are not
+capable of being reconciled among themselves.</p>
+
+<p>Is it, then, surprising that so many good people
+are shocked at the revolting ideas, so contradictory
+and so appalling, which hurl mortals into a state
+of uncertainty and doubt as to the existence of the
+Deity, or even to force them into absolute denial
+of the same? It is impossible to admit, in effect,
+the doctrine of the Deity of priestcraft, in which
+we constantly see infinite perfections, allied with
+imperfections the most striking; in which, when
+we reflect but momentarily, we shall find that it
+cannot produce but disorder in the imagination,
+and leaves it wandering among errors that reduce it
+to despair, or some impostors, who, to subjugate
+mankind, have wished to throw them into embarrassment,
+confound their reason, and fill them with
+terror. Such appear, in effect, to be the motives
+of those who have the arrogance to pretend to a
+secret knowledge, which they distribute among
+mankind, though they have no knowledge even of
+themselves. They always paint God under the
+traits of an inaccessible tyrant, who never shows
+himself but to his ministers and favorites, who
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span>
+please to veil him from the eyes of the vulgar;
+and who are violently irritated when they find any
+who oppose their pretensions, or when they refuse
+to believe the priests and their unintelligible
+farragoes.</p>
+
+<p>If, as I have often said, it be impossible to believe
+what we cannot comprehend, or to be intimately
+convinced of that of which we can form no
+distinct and clear ideas, we may thence conclude
+that, when the Christians assure us they believe
+that God has announced himself in some secret
+and peculiar way to them that he has not done to
+other men, either they are themselves deceived, or
+they wish to deceive us. Their faith, or their belief
+in God, is merely an acceptance of what their
+priests have taught them of a Being whose existence
+they have rendered more than doubtful to
+those who would reason and meditate. The
+Deity cannot, assuredly, be the being whom the
+Christians admit on the word of their theologians.
+Is there, in good truth, a man in the world who can
+form any idea of a spirit? If we ask the priests
+what a spirit is, they will tell us that a spirit is an
+immaterial being who has none of the passions of
+which men are the subjects. But what is an immaterial
+spirit? It is a being that has none of the
+qualities which we can fathom; that has neither
+form, nor extension, nor color.</p>
+
+<p>But how can we be assured of the existence of
+a being who has none of these qualities? It is by
+<i>faith</i>, say the priests, that we must be assured of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span>
+his existence. But what is this <i>faith</i>? It is to adhere,
+without examination, to what the priests tell
+us. But what is it the priests tell us of God?
+They tell us of things which we can neither comprehend
+nor they reconcile among themselves. The
+existence, even of God, has, in their hands, become
+the most impenetrable mystery in religion. But
+do the priests themselves comprehend this ineffable
+God, whom they announce to other men? Have
+they just ideas of him? Are they themselves sincerely
+convinced of the existence of a being who
+unites incompatible qualities which reciprocally exclude
+the one or the other? We cannot admit it;
+and we are authorized to conclude, that when the
+priests profess to believe in God, either they know
+not what they say, or they wish to deceive us.</p>
+
+<p>Do not then be surprised, Madam, if you should
+find that there are, in fact, people who have ventured
+to doubt of the existence of the Deity of the
+theologians, because, on meditating on the descriptions
+given of him, they have discovered them to
+be incomprehensible, or replete with contradiction.
+Do not be astonished if they never listen, in reasoning,
+to any arguments that oppose themselves to
+common sense, and seek, for the existence of the
+priests' Deity, other proofs than have yet been
+offered mankind. His existence cannot be demonstrated
+in revelations, which we discover, on examination,
+to be the work of imposture; revelations
+sap the foundations laid down for belief in a
+Divinity, which they would wish to establish.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span>
+This existence cannot be founded on the qualities
+which our priests have assigned to the Divinity, seeing
+that, in the association of these qualities, there
+only results a God whom we cannot comprehend,
+and by consequence of whom we can form no certain
+ideas. This existence cannot be founded on the
+moral qualities which our priests attribute to the
+Divinity, seeing these are irreconcilable in the same
+subject, who cannot be at once good and evil, just
+and unjust, merciful and implacable, wise and the
+enemy of human reason.</p>
+
+<p>On what, then, ought we to found the existence
+of God? The priests themselves tell us that it is
+on reason, the spectacle of nature, and on the
+marvellous order which appears in the universe.
+Those to whom these motives for believing in the
+existence of the Divinity do not appear convincing,
+find not, in any of the religions in the world, motives
+more persuasive; for all systems of theology,
+framed for the exercise of the imagination, plunge
+us into more uncertainty respecting their evidence,
+when they appeal to nature for proofs of what they
+advance.</p>
+
+<p>What, then, are we to think of the God of the
+clergy? Can we think that he exists, without reasoning
+on that existence? And what shall we
+think of those who are ignorant of this God, or
+have no belief in his existence; who cannot discover
+him in the works of nature, either as good or
+evil; who behold only order and disorder succeeding
+alternately? What idea shall we form of
+those men who regard matter as eternal, as
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span>
+actuated on by laws, peculiar to itself; as sufficiently
+powerful to produce itself under all the
+forms we behold; as perpetually exerting itself in
+nourishing and destroying itself, in combining and
+dissolving itself; as incapable of love or of hatred;
+as deprived of the faculties of <i>intelligence</i> and <i>sentiment</i>
+known to belong to beings of our species, but
+capable of supporting those beings whose organization
+has made them intelligent, sensible, and
+reasonable?</p>
+
+<p>What shall we say of those Freethinkers who
+find neither good nor evil, neither order nor disorder,
+in the universe; that all things are but relative
+to different conditions of beings, of which they
+have evidence; and that all that happens in the
+universe is necessary, and subjected to destiny?
+In a word, what shall we think of these men?</p>
+
+<p>Shall we say that they have only a different
+manner of viewing things, or that they use different
+words in expressing themselves? They call that
+<i>Nature</i> which others call the <i>Divinity</i>; they call
+that <i>Necessity</i> which all others call the <i>Divine
+decrees</i>; they call that the <i>Energy</i> of <i>Nature</i> which
+others call the <i>Author</i> of <i>Nature</i>; they call that
+<i>Destiny</i>, or <i>Fate</i>, which others call <i>God</i>, whose laws
+are always going forward.</p>
+
+<p>Have we, then, any right to hate and to exterminate
+them? No, without doubt; at least, we
+cannot admit that we have any reason that those
+should perish, who speak only the same language
+with ourselves, and who are reciprocally beneficial
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span>
+to us. Nevertheless, it is to this degree of extravagance
+that the baneful ideas of religion have carried
+the human mind. Harassed, and set on by their
+priests, men have hated and assassinated each
+other, because that in religious matters they agree
+not to one creed. Vanity has made some imagine
+that they are better than others, more intelligible,
+although they see that theology is a language
+which they neither understand, nor which they
+themselves could invent. The very name of Freethinker
+suffices to irritate them, and to arm the
+fury of others, who repeat, without ceasing, the
+name of God, without having any precise idea of
+the Deity. If, by chance, they imagine that they
+have any notions of him, they are only confused,
+contradictory, incompatible, and senseless notions,
+which have been inspired in their infancy by their
+priests, and those who, as we have seen, have
+painted God in all those traits which their imagination
+furnished, or those who appear more
+conformed to their passions and interests than to
+the well-being of their fellow-creatures.</p>
+
+<p>The least reflection will, nevertheless, suffice to
+make any one perceive, that God, if he is just and
+good, cannot exist as a being known to some, but
+unknown to others. If Freethinkers are men void
+of reason, God would be unjust to punish them for
+being blind and insensible, or for having too little
+penetration and understanding to perceive the force
+of those natural proofs on which the existence of
+the Deity has been founded. A God full of equity
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span>
+cannot punish men for having been blind or devoid
+of reason. The Freethinkers, as foolish as they are
+supposed, are beings less insensible than those who
+make professions of believing in a God full of qualities
+that destroy one another; they are less dangerous
+than the adorers of a changeable Deity, who,
+they imagine, is pleased with the extermination of
+a large portion of mankind, on account of their
+opinions. Our speculations are indifferent to God,
+whose glory man cannot tarnish&mdash;whose power
+mortals cannot abridge. They may, however, be
+advantageous to ourselves; they may be perfectly
+indifferent to society, whose happiness they may
+not affect; or they may be the reverse of all this.
+For it is evident that the opinions of men do not
+influence the happiness of society.</p>
+
+<p>Hence, Madam, let us leave men to think as they
+please, provided that they act in such a manner as
+promotes the general good of society. The thoughts
+of men injure not others; their actions may&mdash;their
+reveries never. Our ideas, our thoughts, our systems,
+depend not on us. He who is fully convinced
+on one point, is not satisfied on another. All men
+have not the same eyes, nor the same brains; all
+have not the same ideas, the same education, or the
+same opinions; they never agree wholly, when they
+have the temerity to reason on matters that are
+enveloped in the obscurity of imaginative fiction,
+and which cannot be subject to the usual evidence
+accompanying matters of report, or historic
+relation.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Men do not long dispute on objects that are
+cognizable to their senses, and which they can submit
+to the test of experience. The number of self-evident
+truths on which men agree is very small;
+and the fundamentals of morality are among this
+number. It is obvious to all men of sense, that
+beings, united in society, require to be regulated
+by justice, that they ought to respect the happiness
+of each other, that mutual succor is indispensable;
+in a word, that they are obliged to practise virtue,
+and to be useful to society, for personal happiness.
+It is evident to demonstration, that the interest of
+our preservation excites us to moderate our desires,
+and put a bridle on our passions; to renounce dangerous
+habits, and to abstain from vices which can
+only injure our fortune, and undermine our health.
+These truths are evident to every being whose passions
+have not dominion over his reason; they
+are totally independent of theological speculations,
+which have neither evidence nor demonstration, and
+which our mind can never verify; they have nothing
+in common with the religious opinions on which
+the imagination soars from earth to sky, nor with
+the fanaticism and credulity which are so frequently
+producing among mankind the most opposite principles
+to morality and the well-being of society.</p>
+
+<p>They who are of the Freethinkers' opinions are
+not more dangerous than they who are of the priests'
+opinions. In short, Christianity has produced effects
+more appalling than heathenism. The speculative
+principles of the Freethinkers have done no
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span>
+injury to society; the contagious principles of
+fanaticism and enthusiasm have only served to
+spread disorder on the earth. If there are dangerous
+notions and fatal speculations in the world,
+they are those of the devotees, who obey a religion
+that divides men, and excites their passions, and
+who sacrifice the interests of society, of sovereigns,
+and their subjects, to their own ambition, their avarice,
+their vengeance and fury.</p>
+
+<p>There is no question that the Freethinker has
+motives to be good, even though he admit not
+notions that bridle his passions. It is true that the
+Freethinker has no invisible motives, but he has
+motives, and a visible restraint, which, if he reflects,
+cannot fail to regulate his actions. If he doubts
+about religion, he does not question the laws of
+moral obligation; nor that it is his duty to moderate
+his passions, to labor for his happiness and
+that of others, to avoid hatred, disdain, and discord
+as crimes; and that he should shun vices which
+may injure his constitution, reputation, and fortune.
+Thus, relatively to his morality, the Freethinker has
+principles more sure than those of superstition and
+fanaticism. In fine, if nothing can restrain the
+Freethinker, a thousand forces united would not
+prevent the fanatic from the commission of crimes,
+and the violation of duties the most sacred.</p>
+
+<p>Besides, I believe that I have already proved that
+the morality of superstition has no certain principles;
+that it varies with the interests of the priests,
+who explain the intentions of the Divinity, as they
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span>
+find these accordant or discordant to their views
+and interests; which, alas! are too often the result
+of cruel and wicked purposes. On the contrary,
+the Freethinker, who has no morality but what he
+draws from the nature and character of man, and
+the constant events which transpire in society, has
+a certain morality that is not founded either on the
+caprice of circumstances or the prejudices of mankind;
+a morality that tells him when he does evil,
+and blames him for the evil so done, and that is
+superior to the morality of the intolerant fanatic
+and persecutor.</p>
+
+<p>You thus perceive, Madam, on which side the
+morality of the Freethinkers leans, what advantages
+it possesses over that inculcated on the superstitious
+devotee, who knows no other rule than the
+caprice of his priest, nor any other morality than
+what suits the interest of the clergy, nor any other
+virtues than such as make him the slave of their
+will, and which are too often in opposition to the
+great interests of mankind. Thus you perceive,
+that what is understood by the natural morality of
+the Freethinker, is much more constant and more
+sure than that of the superstitious, who believe
+they can render themselves agreeable to God by
+the intercession of priests. If the Freethinker is
+blind or corrupted, by not knowing his duties which
+nature prescribes to him, it is precisely in the same
+way as the superstitious, whose invisible motives
+and sacred guides prevent him not from going
+occasionally astray.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>These reflections will serve to confirm what I
+have already said, to prove that morality has nothing
+in common with religion; and that religion
+is its own enemy, though it pretends to dispense
+with support from other sources. True morality
+is founded on the nature of man; the morality of
+religion is founded only on the chimeras of imagination,
+and on the caprice of those who speak
+of the Deity in a language too often contrary to
+nature and right reason.</p>
+
+<p>Allow me, then, Madam, to repeat to you, that
+morality is the only natural religion for man; the
+only object worthy his notice on earth; the only
+worship which he is required to render to the Deity.
+It is uniform, and replete with obvious duties, which
+rest not on the dictation of priests, blabbing chit-chat
+they do not understand. If it be this morality
+which I have defined, that makes us what we are,
+ought we not to labor strenuously for the happiness
+of our race? If it be this morality that makes us
+reasonable; that enables us to distinguish good from
+evil, the useful from the hurtful; that makes us
+sociable, and enables us to live in society to receive
+and repay mutual benefits; we ought at least to
+respect all those who are its friends. If it be this
+morality which sets bounds to our temper, it is that
+which interdicts the commission in thought, word,
+or action, of what would injure another, or disturb
+the happiness of society. If it attach us to the
+preservation of all that is dear to us, it points out
+how by a certain line of conduct we may preserve
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span>
+ourselves; for its laws, clear and of easy practice,
+inflict on those who disobey them instant punishment,
+fear, and remorse; on the other hand, the
+observance of its duties is accompanied with immediate
+and real advantages, and notwithstanding
+the depravity which prevails on earth, vice always
+finds itself punished, and virtue is not always
+deprived of the satisfaction it yields, of the esteem
+of men, and the recompense of society; even if
+men are in other respects unjust, they will concede
+to the virtuous the due meed of praise.</p>
+
+<p>Behold, Madam, to what the dogmas of natural
+religion reduce us: in meditating on it, and in
+practising its duties, we shall be truly religious,
+and filled with the spirit of the Divinity; we shall
+be admired and respected by men; we shall be in
+the right way to be loved by those who rule over
+us, and respected by those who serve us; we shall
+be truly happy in this world, and we shall have
+nothing to fear in the next.</p>
+
+<p>These are laws so clear, so demonstrable, and
+whose infraction is so evidently punished, whose
+observance is so surely recompensed, that they
+constitute the code of nature of all living beings,
+sentient and reasoning; all acknowledge their authority;
+all find in them the evidence of Deity,
+and consider those as sceptics who doubt their
+efficacy. The Freethinker does not refuse to acknowledge
+as fundamental laws, those which are
+obviously founded on the God of Nature, and on
+the immutable and necessary circumstances of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span>
+things cognizable to the faculties of sentient natures.
+The Indian, the Chinese, the savage, perceives
+these self-evident laws, whenever he is not
+carried headlong by his passions into crime and
+error. In fine, these laws, so true, and so evident,
+never can appear uncertain, obscure, or false, as
+are those superstitious chimeras of the imagination,
+which knaves have substituted for the truths of
+nature and the dicta of common sense; and those
+devotees who know no other laws than those of the
+caprices of their priests, necessarily obey a morality
+little calculated to produce personal or general
+happiness, but much calculated to lead to extravagance
+and inconvenient practices.</p>
+
+<p>Hence, charming Eugenia, you will allow mankind
+to think as they please, and judge of them
+after their actions. Oppose reason to their systems,
+when they are pernicious to themselves or
+others; remove their prejudices if you can, that
+they may not become the victims of their caprices;
+show them the truth, which may always remove
+error; banish from their minds the phantoms which
+disturb them; advise them not to meditate on the
+mysteries of their priests; bid them renounce all
+those illusions they have substituted for morality;
+and advise them to turn their thoughts on that
+which conduces to their happiness. Meditate
+yourself on your own nature, and the duties which
+it imposes on you. Fear those chastisements which
+follow inattention to this law. Be ambitious to be
+approved by your own understanding, and you will
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span>
+rarely fail to receive the applauses of the human
+kind, as a good member of society.</p>
+
+<p>If you wish to meditate, think with the greatest
+strength of your mind on your nature. Never
+abandon the torch of reason; cherish truth sincerely.
+When you are in uncertainty, pause, or
+follow what appears the most probable, always
+abandoning opinions that are destitute of foundation,
+or evidence of their truth and benefit to
+society. Then will you, in good truth, yield to the
+impulse of your heart when reason is your guide;
+then will you consult in the calmness of passion,
+and counsel yourself on the advantages of virtue,
+and the consequences of its want; and you may
+flatter yourself that you cannot be displeasing to a
+wise God, though you disbelieve absurdities, nor
+agreeable to a good God in doing things hurtful
+to yourself or to others.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving you now to your own reflections, I shall
+terminate the series of Letters you have allowed
+me to address you. Bidding you an affectionate
+farewell,</p>
+
+<p class="sig">I am truly yours.</p>
+
+
+<div class="footnotes">
+<h2 class="caps"><a name="footnotes" id="footnotes"></a>Footnotes</h2>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1" id="Footnote_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> <i>On account of fear of the Jews</i>, or, in other words, the intolerant
+clergy of the despotic government.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2" id="Footnote_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> "Time effaces the comments of opinion, but it confirms the judgments
+of nature."&mdash;<span class="smcap">Cicero.</span></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3" id="Footnote_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> On this subject see Bayle's <i>Dict. Crit.</i>, art. <i>Hobbes</i>, Rem. N.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4" id="Footnote_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> See what Bayle says, <i>Dict. Crit.</i>, art. <i>Orig&egrave;ne</i>, Rem. E., art.
+<i>Pauliciens</i>, Rem. E., F., M., and tom. iij. of the <i>R&eacute;ponses aux Questions
+d'un Provincial</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5" id="Footnote_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Upon this topic consult what Bayle says, <i>Continuation des Pens&eacute;es
+diverses sur la Com&egrave;te</i>, Sections 124, 125, tome iv., Rousseau de Gen&egrave;ve,
+in his <i>Contrat Social</i>, l. 4, ch. 8. See also the <i>Lettres &eacute;crites de la
+Montague</i>, letter first, pp. 45 to 54, edit. 8vo. The author discusses
+the same matter, and confirms his opinions by new reasonings, which
+particularly deserve perusal.&mdash;<i>Note of the Editor</i>, (<span class="smcap">Naigeon</span>.)</p></div>
+
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
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+</pre>
+
+</body>
+</html>
author	Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org>	2025-10-14 19:55:30 -0700
committer	Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org>	2025-10-14 19:55:30 -0700
commit	aca6ce0a8ac800ca8be629fb4eb4fd0325d160b0 (patch)
tree	7d07fe43cd9e968b8c7db0c359758b4afa22654c /31275-h