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diff --git a/old/50534-8.txt b/old/50534-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 97e2132..0000000 --- a/old/50534-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3587 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Three Impostors, by -Anonymous and Jean Maximilien Lucas - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Three Impostors - -Author: Anonymous - Jean Maximilien Lucas - -Release Date: November 22, 2015 [EBook #50534] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE THREE IMPOSTORS *** - - - - -Produced by Jeroen Hellingman and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net/ for Project -Gutenberg (This file was produced from images generously -made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - - - - - - - - THE - THREE IMPOSTORS. - - - - TRANSLATED - (WITH NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS,) - FROM THE FRENCH EDITION OF THE WORK, - PUBLISHED AT AMSTERDAM, 1776. - - - - RE-PUBLISHED BY - G. VALE, "BEACON" OFFICE, 3 FRANKLIN-SQUARE, - NEW-YORK: - 1846. - - - - - - - -NOTE BY THE AMERICAN PUBLISHER. - - -We publish this valuable work, for the reasons contained in the -following Note, of which we approve:-- - - - -NOTE BY THE BRITISH PUBLISHER. - -The following little book I present to the reader without any -remarks on the different opinions relative to its antiquity; as the -subject is amply discussed in the body of the work, and constitutes -one of its most interesting and attractive features. The Edition -from which the present is translated was brought me from Paris by -a distinguished defender of Civil and Religious Liberty: and as my -friend had an anxiety from a thorough conviction of its interest and -value, to see it published in the English Language, I have from like -feelings brought it before the public; and I am convinced that it is -an excellent antidote to Superstition and Intolerance, and eminently -calculated to promote the cause of Freedom, Justice, and Morality. - - -J. MYLES. - - - - - - - -PREFACE BY THE TRANSLATOR. - - -The Translator of the following little treatise deems it necessary to -say a few words as to the object of its publication. It is given to -the world, neither with a view to advocate Scepticism, nor to spread -infidelity, but simply to vindicate the right of private judgment. No -human being is in a position to look into the heart, or to decide -correctly as to the creed or conduct of his fellow mortals; and the -attributes of the Deity are so far beyond the grasp of limited reason, -that man must become a God himself before he can comprehend them. Such -being the case, surely all harsh censure of each other's opinions and -actions ought to be abandoned; and every one should so train himself -as to be enabled to declare with the humane and manly philosopher - - - "Homo sum, nihil humania me alienum puto." - - - Dundee, September 1844. - - - - - - - -CONTENTS OF THE PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. - - -DISQUISITIONS on the book entitled "The Three Impostors." - -ANSWER to the dissertation of M. de la Monnoye on the work entitled -"The Three Impostors." - -COPY of Part 2d, Vol. 1., Article ix. of "Literary Memoirs," published -at the Hague by Henry du Sauzet, 1716. - - - - - - - - DISQUISITIONS - ON THE BOOK ENTITLED - THE THREE IMPOSTORS. - - -It has long been a disputed point if there was at anytime a book -printed and bearing the title of "The Three Impostors." - -M. de la Monnoye, having been informed that a learned German [1] -intended to publish a dissertation the object of which was to prove -that this work had really been printed, wrote a letter, in refutation, -to one of his friends; this letter was given by M. Bayle to M. Basnage -de Bauval, who in February 1694, gave an extract from it in his -"History of the works of celebrated and learned men." At a later -period M. de la Monnoye entered more fully into the subject, in a -letter dated at Paris 16th of June, 1712, and addressed to President -Bouhier, in which letter, he says, will be found an abridged but -complete account of this remarkable book. - -He condemns at once the opinion of those who attribute the work -to the Emperor Frederick. The false charge, he says, took its rise -from a passage in the appendix to a discourse concerning Antichrist, -and published by Grotius, wherein he speaks as follows [2]: "Far -be it from me to attribute the book called 'The Three Impostors,' -either to the Pope, or to the opponents of the Pope; long ago the -enemies of the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa set abroad the report -of such a book, as having been written by his command; but from that -period nobody has seen it; for which reason I consider it apocryphal." - -Colomiez quotes this, page 28 of his "Historical Miscellanies;" -but he adds that there are some blunders--that it was not Frederick -I. (Barbarossa,) on whom they intended to fix the authorship, -but Frederick II. his grandson. This he says, is apparent from the -letters of Pierre des Vignes, the secretary and chancellor of the -second Frederick, and from Matthew Paris; inasmuch as they record, -that this monarch was blamed for having said that the world had been -led aside by "Three Impostors;" but by no means that he had written a -book having such a title. The Emperor denied in the strongest terms, -that he ever made use of any expression to that effect. He detested -the blasphemy with which they charged him, and declared that it was -an atrocious calumny; more shame to Lipsius and other writers who -have condemned him without sufficiently looking into the evidences. - -Averroes, nearly a century previous, had jeered at the three religions, -saying [3]; that "the Jewish religion was a law for children; the -Christian religion a law which it was impossible to follow; and the -Mahometan religion a law in favor of swine." [4] - -Since then, many people have written with great freedom on this -same subject. - -We read in the works of Thomas de Catimpre, that M. Simon de Tournay -had said that "Three Seducers"--Moses, Jesus Christ, and Mahomet, -had "mystified mankind with their doctrines." This is evidently -the M. Simon de Churnay, of whom Matthew Paris relates some other -improprieties, and the same individual whom Polydore Virgil styles -de Turwai, the orthography in both instances having been mismanaged. - -Amongst the manuscripts of the Abbe Colbert's library, obtained -possession of by our sovereign in 1732, there is one numbered 2071, -written by Alvaro Pelagius, a Spaniard of the Cordelian order, -bishop of Salves and Algarve, and well known on account of his work, -"The Lamentation of the Church." He states that an individual named -Scotus, of the same order as himself and a Jacobin, was at that time a -prisoner at Lisbon on a charge of blasphemy. Scotus, it would appear, -had said that he considered Moses, Jesus Christ and Mahomet as "Three -Impostors;" for that, the first had deceived the Jews; the second -the Christians; and the third the Saracens. [5] - -Gabriel Barlette, in his sermon upon St. Andrew, alludes to Porphyry -in this way; "and therefore the notion of Porphyry is absurd, when -he says that there had existed three individuals who had turned -over the world to their own opinions; the first being Moses amongst -the Jewish people--the second Mahomet, and the third Christ." [6] -A strange chronologist to stamp the era of Christ and Porphyry after -that of Mahomet! - -The Manuscripts of the Vatican, quoted by Odomir Rainoldo in the -nineteenth volume of his Ecclesiastical Annals, mention one Jeannin -de Solcia, a canon at Bergame, a doctor of civil and canon law, -known from a decree of Pope Pius II., as Javinus de Solcia. He -was condemned on the 14th November 1459 for having maintained this -impiety--that Moses, Jesus Christ, and Mahomet had ruled the world -at their pleasure. "Mundum pro suarem libito voluntatum rexisse." - -John Louis Vivaldo de Mondovi, who wrote in 1506, and amongst whose -works there is a treatise on "The Twelve persecutions of the Church -of God," says, in his chapter upon the sixth persecution, that there -were people who dared to dispute, which of the three law-givers had -been most followed, Jesus Christ, Moses, or Mahomet. [7] - -Herman Ristwyk, a Dutchman, burned at the Hague in 1512, sneered at -the Jewish and Christian religions. He does not speak of the Mahometan -creed; but a man who could regard Moses and Jesus Christ as impostors, -could entertain no better opinion of Mahomet. - -Now we must turn to an author, name unknown, but accused of -blasphemy against Jesus Christ. The charge was founded upon some -papers discovered at Geneva in 1547, amongst the documents belonging -to M. Gruet. An Italian, named Fausto da Longiano, had begun a work -which he entitled "The Temple of Truth," in which he undertakes -no less than to overturn all religions. "I have," he says, "begun -another work entitled 'The Temple of Truth.' It is probable that I may -divide it into thirty books. In this work will be found the extinction -of all sects--Jews, Christian, Mahometan, and other superstitions; -and matters will be brought back to their first principles." - -Now, amongst the letters of Aretino addressed to Fausto, there is -not one to be met with which alludes in any way whatever to this -work. Perhaps it had never been written, and although it had been -published, it must have been a very different book from the one in -question; of which, they pretend that there are some copies in the -libraries in Germany, printed in folio, and written in High Dutch. - -Claude Beauregard, better known under his Latin appellation -Berigardus, a professor of philosophy, first at Paris, next at Pisa, -and latterly at Padua, quotes or forges a passage from the work, -"The Three Impostors," in which the miracles which Moses performed in -Egypt are attributed to the superiority of his demon [8] over that -of the Magicians of Pharoah. Giordano Bruno who was burned at Rome, -17th Feb. 1600, was accused of having advanced something much to the -same effect. But although Beauregard and Bruno have indulged in such -reveries, and have thought proper to assert that they quoted from -the work in question, is this a certain proof that they had read -the book? If so they would doubtless have stated whether it was in -manuscript, or in print, and referred to the size and the place where -they found it. - -Tentzelius, trusting to one of his friends, a pretended ocular witness, -gives a description of the book, and specifies the number of leaves -and sheets; and attempting to prove in chap. III. of his work that -the ambition of legislators is the only source of all religions, -he gives as examples Moses, Jesus Christ, and Mahomet. Struvius, -after Tentzelius, enters into the same subject, but finding nothing -but what a clever fabulist might invent, he seems much inclined to -disbelieve in the existence of the book. - -A journalist at Leipsic, in his "acta eruditarum," dated Jan. 1709, -pp. 36 and 37, gives the following extract from a letter addressed to -him: "Having occasion to be in Saxony I saw, in the Library of M..., -a book entitled "The Three Impostors." It is an 8vo volume, in Latin, -without the name of the printer or the date of its publication; -but to judge from the letter it appears to have been published in -Germany. It was to no purpose that I tried to obtain permission to -read the whole work. The proprietor of the book, a man of sensitive -piety, would not consent to it. I have since learned that a celebrated -professor at Stuttgard had offered a great sum of money for the -volume. Shortly afterwards I went to Nuremberg, and in talking of -this work to M. Andre Mylhdorf, a man respectable alike for his -age, and from his learning, he assured me he had read it, and that -M. Wolfer a clergyman had lent it to him. From the manner in which -he spoke, I thought it might be a copy of the one alluded to above, -and I concluded that it was unquestionably the book referred to; -but not that it was in octavo, nor of so old a date, nor perhaps so -accurate." The writer of the foregoing was able to throw more light -upon the subject and ought to have done so; for it is not enough to -say that he had seen the book--he must produce evidence that he had -seen it, otherwise he ought to be classed with those who promulgate -opinions founded on mere report; in which category we must include -all the authors to whom reference is made in this disquisition. - -The first who makes mention of the book as it existed in 1543, -is William Postel, in his treatise on the agreement of the Alcoran -with the doctrines of the Lutherans or the Evangelists. He calls -the work "Anevangelistes," and attempts in it to bring the Lutheran -doctrines into utter disrepute by proving that they lead straightway -to Atheism. To support his argument he instances three or four -productions written, as he says, by Atheists, whom he declares to have -been the first disciples of this new Gospel. He adds, "my opinion -can be vindicated by reference to an infamous pamphlet written by -Villanovanus relative to three works respectively entitled 'The Cymbal -of the World,' 'Pantagruel,' and the 'New Islands;' the authors of -which works were the standard-bearers of the Atheistical party." - -This Villanovanus, whom Postel asserts to be the author of the book -"The Three Impostors," was Michel Servetus the son of a notary, -born in 1509, at Villanueva in Aragon, who assumed the name of -Villanovanus, in a preface to a Bible which was printed for him -at Lyons, 1542, by Hugues de la Porte. In France his designation -was Villeneuve, under which title he was impeached, after he had -published at Vienna, in Dauphiny, 1553, (the year before his death) -the work entitled "Christianity restored;" a book extremely rare, -on account of the trouble which they took at Geneva to find out the -copies of the work and get them burned. In the authentic list of the -writings of Servetus, however, we do not find mention made of "The -Three Impostors." Neither Calvin nor Beza, nor Alexander Morus, nor -any other defender of the Huguenot party who wrote against Servetus, -and whose interest it was to justify his punishment, and to convict -him of having written this work, has laid it to his charge. Postel, -an ex-Jesuit, was the first to do so, without grounds. - -Florimond de Remond, a councillor in the Senate at Bordeaux, writes -decidedly that he had seen this book in print. His words are; -"James Curio, in his Chronology 1556, asserts that the Palatinate -was filled with scoffers at religion, the Lievanistes, viz. a sect -who considered the Sacred Writings as fabulous, and more especially -those of Moses, the great Lawgiver of God. Is there not a book, 'The -Three Impostors,' defaming the three religions which alone acknowledge -the true God--the Jewish, the Christian, and the Mahometan?--a book -composed in Germany, but printed elsewhere at the exact moment when -these heretics are employing this individual to spread abroad their -doctrines? The very title shows the character of the age which has -dared to publish so impious a treatise. I would have referred to -it unless Osius and Genebrard had spoken to me on the subject. I -recollect that in my earlier days I saw a copy of this work at the -College of Presle. It belonged to Ramus, a man distinguished for his -extraordinary learning, and who was then employed in deep researches -into the mysteries connected with religious belief; which subject he -intended to treat in a philosophical manner. At this time they were -circulating this iniquitous work amongst the learned, who were very -desirous to see it." A curious inquirer into secrets! - -Everybody knows Florimond de Remond as an insignificant -scribbler. There are three remarkable sayings in currency against him; -that "he built without money, that he was a judge without principle, -and an author without knowledge. [9]" We know also that he always lent -his name to P. Richeaume, a Jesuite much hated by the Protestants, -who cloaked his own name by assuming that of the councillor of -Bordeaux. Now, if Osius and Genebrard had spoken as decidedly as -Florimond de Remond, there might have been somewhat to rest upon; -but see what Genebrard says in the thirty-ninth page of his answer -to Lambert Danan, printed (octavo) at Paris 1581. [10] "They (his -own party) have not driven Blandratus, nor Alciatus, nor Ochinus -into Mahometanism; nor have they induced Valleus to profess himself -an Atheist; neither have they enticed any one whatever to circulate -the work called "The Three Impostors," wherein Christ the Lord is -alluded to as the second, the other two being Moses and Mahomet." - -Is that the way to identify this impious book? and Genebrard, forsooth -had seen it! And can it be, that in the present day people will -attempt to get up regular proof to show that such a work exists? It -is a well known fact that, in all ages, many lies have been palmed -off in reference to books which could never be discovered, although -individuals declare that they had seen them and even went so far as -to mention the places where they had been favoured with their perusal. - -It has been said that this work was in the library of M. Salvius, the -Swedish ambassador, at Munster, and that Queen Christina, unwilling -to ask it of him while he lived, immediately sent M. Bourdelet, -her chief physician, to entreat his widow to satisfy her curiosity, -when he was informed that M. Salvius, having been seized with remorse -of conscience on the night of his death, made them burn the work in -his presence. A short time afterwards Christiana enquired eagerly -after the "Colloquium Heptaplomers" by Bodin, a manuscript, at that -period extremely rare; after a long search it was found, but whatever -desire the Queen had to see the work in question, and although it was -sought after in all the libraries of Europe, she died without having -discovered it. Ought we not therefore to conclude that it was never -in existence? Without doubt the pains taken by Christina would have -led to the discovery of that book which Postel declares was printed -in 1543, and which Florimond de Remond says appeared in 1556. Since -then different individuals have assigned to it other dates. - -In 1654, Jean Baptiste Morin, a celebrated doctor and mathematician, -wrote a letter under the name of Vincent Panurge, which he addressed -to himself in this way, "An epistle to that most eminent physician, -John Baptist Morin, concerning the 'Three Impostors'. [11]" The -three impostors to whom he refers were Gassendi, Neure, and Bernier, -whom he wished to satirize under this title. Christian Kortholt in -1680 employed the same terms in his work against Hebert, Hobbes, -and Spinoza. Such has been the use which the learned have made of -this work when they wrote against their opponents, and in this way -have they drawn upon the credulity of comparatively ignorant people, -who, caring little to examine the evidences, have been deceived at -once. Is it possible, that if such a work had really existed, it would -not have been refuted; just as they refuted the work concerning the -Pre-Adamites, [12] written by M. de la Peyrere,--the discourses of -Spinoza, and the publications of Bodin? The "Colloquium Heptaplomeres," -although in manuscript, has been answered; would "The Three Impostors" -have met with more favour? How comes it that it has not been condemned, -and placed in the Index Expurgatorius, and how has it escaped cremation -by the hands of the common hangman? Books against morality have been -sometimes tolerated, but those which strongly attack Religion do not -escape with impunity. Florimond de Remond, who says that he had seen -the book, asserts that he was at that time a youth, old enough perhaps -to write fairy tales; he quotes Ramus who had been dead for thirty -years, and could not convict him of falsehood; he quotes Osius and -Genebrard, but in in vague terms, and without pointing out the passage -in their works. He says that they were circulating this work--a work -which if it existed, would unquestionably have been put under lock -and key. Our opponents may produce a passage from Sir Thomas Browne, -who, in the 19th sec. part I. of his work styled "Religio Medici," -translated from English into Latin by a distinguished scholar, uses -the following words; "this impious man, the author of this blasphemous -work, 'The Three Impostors,' although a stranger to every religion, -inasmuch as he was neither a Jew, a Mahometan, nor a Christian, was -nevertheless evidently not an Atheist. [13]" From this they would -infer that he must have seen the book, when he speaks in such terms -of its author. Now, Sir Thomas only says that Bernard Ochinus, who -in his opinion was the author of the work, (as he hints in a foot -note,) was more of a Deist than an Atheist, and that any Deist of -ordinary average intellect and information, was capable of planning -and executing such a design. Molikius, in a note upon the passage, -denies and justly, that this work was written by Ochinus, for they -assert that it was written in Latin, and we know that Ochinus never -wrote but in Italian; moreover if he had been suspected of having -any connection with this work, his enemies, who made so much clamour -against his dialogues concerning the Trinity and Polygamy, would not -have spared him. But how can we reconcile Browne and Genebrard who -consider Ochinus as a Mahometan, and at the same time declare that he -was neither a disciple of Moses, nor of Jesus Christ, nor of Mahomet! - -Naude, by a strange mistake attributes the work to Villeneuve, -a comparatively ignorant writer, and Ernstius declares that at -Rome he had learned from Campannelle, that Muret, a polished and -accomplished author, had written the work more than two centuries after -Villaneuve. Ernstius is mistaken. Campannelle also refutes himself, -for in the preface to his work, "Atheism overthrown," and still more -explicitly in his discourse, "Paganism indefensible," he affirms -that this work came from Germany, but that it was the composition of -Muret; a statement entirely opposite to that of Florimond de Remond -alluded to before, which holds that the work was written in Germany -but published elsewhere. Muret has therefore been falsely accused, -and stands in need of no apology. They have judged of his religion -from his life. The Huguenot party, vexed that after embracing their -doctrines he had abandoned them forever, did not spare him on this -occasion, and Beza, in his "Ecclesiastical History," reproaches -him with two crimes, the second being Atheism. Julius Scaliger, -nettled by a jeu d'esprit of Muret's against him, has been led to do -him injustice [14]. "Muret," he says maliciously, "would have been -a better Christian if he had believed in God; I am aware that he -tried to persuade others to do so." In this way have originated false -impressions against Muret. Instead of respecting his exemplary piety, -of which he gave striking evidence in the last years of his existence, -they set themselves half a century after his death, to blacken his -character by accusing him of crimes which were unknown to his most -avowed enemies, and with which, in his life-time, we are certain that -he never was charged. Some ignorant writers who possess no critical -acumen, have impeached without any reason whatever the first individual -who occurred to their memory. Stephen Dolet of Orleans, Frances Pucci -of Florence, John Milton of London, and Merula, a renegade Mahometan, -have done so; they have accused Peter Aretin, merely because he was -a fearless and licentious writer, without reflecting that he was an -uncultivated man, of no learning and scarcely master of his native -tongue. For similar reasons they have blamed Poggio and others, and -have even gone so far back as Boccaccio, most likely on account of -the third tale in his Decameron, where he recounts the fable of three -similar rings, of which he makes a dangerous application to the Jewish, -Christian, and Mahometan religions, as if insinuating that they might -be embraced indifferently, since it was impossible to decide which -of them ought to have the preference. Neither have these writers -forgot Machiavel; and Decker impeaches Rabelais. The Dutchman also -who translates into French the "Religio Medici" of Sir Thomas Browne, -in the notes to his 20th chap. accuses Erasmus as well as Machiavel. - -With more apparent reason they attack both Pompanacius and Cardan. The -former, in his treatise on the immortality of the soul, where he -reasons as a philosopher and speaks abstractly of the Catholic -faith--in which (at the end of his work) he solemnly professes -himself a believer--is bold enough to add that the doctrine of the -immortality of the soul had been propounded by the originators of -every religious creed in order to keep their followers in thrall, and -that therefore the majority of the human race had been duped. "If -the Jewish, Christian, and Mahometan religions," he continues, -"are all three of them impostures, it follows that the half of -mankind are mistaken." This absurd reasoning, in spite of the -precautions of Pompanacius, reached Jacques Carpentier, and induced -him to exclaim, "Can any thing be conceived of more truly pernicious -than this scepticism, coming as it does from a Christian school of -theology. [15]" - -Cardan goes still farther wrong in the eleventh of his discourses -"On Sophistry," where, after minutely comparing Paganism, Judaism, -Christianity, and Mahometanism, and setting the one to contradict -the other, without expressing belief in any of them, he finishes -rashly in this way; "his igitur arbitrio victoriæ relictes," that is, -he leaves it to chance to decide the victory; an expression however -which he himself corrected in the second edition of his work.--This -retraction did not save him from being most bitterly attacked three -years afterward by Joseph Scaliger, on account of the fearful import -of the language he had made use of, and of the indifference it showed -on the part of Cardan as to which of the four parties might gain -the victory, and as to whether that victory were gained by argument -or arms. - -In the last article of the work "Naudiana," which is a rhapsodical -compound of blunders and falsehood, there are some confused references -to "The Three Impostors." The author asserts that Ramus had attributed -it to Postel; nothing whatever can be found in the writings of Ramus -to establish this. Postel was a singular visionary. Henry Stephanus -relates that he had been heard to say, that out of the three religions, -the Jewish, the Christian, and the Mahometan, a good one might be -made. However, in no part of his work does he call in question the -mission of Moses, or the divinity of Christ; neither does he venture -to maintain in exact terms that the devout Venetian Hospitaller, -whom he calls "his mother Jeanne," would be the Redeemer of women, -as Christ had been the Redeemer of men. After explaining that in -men there is a masculine part, the animus, and a feminine part, the -anima, he has the absurdity to add that both parts were corrupted -by sin and that "his mother Jeanne" might restore the feminine as -Christ had restored the masculine. The book in which he utters this -absurdity was printed at Paris in 1553, and is by no means so rare but -that copies may easily be found. From it we can gather that he would -have published the other works also, if it had been true that he had -reached this pitch of blasphemy. So far from this being the case, -he writes (1543) that the book was written by Michael Servetus; -and long afterwards he does not scruple to avenge himself on his -Huguenot calumniators, by accusing them, in a letter addressed to -Masius, (1563) of having themselves printed the work at Caen: "this -infamous commentary or discourse against Moses, Christ, and Mahomet, -was lately printed at Cæn, by those who profess themselves the keenest -supporters of the Calvinistic doctrines. [16]" In the same chapter of -"Naudiana," mention is made of one Barnaud, but in terms so perplexed -that little can be drawn from them except that he had seen an octavo -work of 98 pages, printed in 1613, entitled "The Geneva Booby." It -did not bear where it had been printed, neither was the author's -name given. Perhaps it might have been written by Henri de Sponde, -afterwards Bishop of Pamier; who says, that at that period there lived -a physician named Barnaud an Arian, who had composed this treatise. Now -this would make it of a comparatively recent date. The only sensible -article in "Naudiana" is towards its conclusion, where Naude, a man -of vast experience as a bibliologist, is made to declare that he had -never seen the work alluded to, that he did not believe such a work -had ever been printed, and that he considered every thing which had -been said on this subject as mere invention and fable. - -To this list may be added that notable atheist Julius Cæsar Vanini, -burned at Toulouse under the name of Lucilius Vaninus, who was accused -of having circulated this vile work in France some years before he -was put to death. - -If there are writers so credulous and devoid of common sense as to -believe in these incoherencies, asserting that the book was publicly -sold in many quarters of Europe, they ought to set the matter at rest -by producing a single copy; for it cannot be in the case supposed, that -the work is so rarely to be met with. But no person has seen a copy, -neither of the edition said to have been published by Christian Wechel -at Paris, about the middle of the 16th century, nor of that which they -attribute to Nachtegal, as printed at the Hague, 1614 or 1615. Father -Theophylus Reynaud states that the former had sunk into extreme poverty -from the visitations of heaven; and Muller relates of the latter that -he was banished from the Hague with infamy. Bayle in his dictionary -(article Wechell) clearly refutes the calumny against this printer; -and in regard to Nachtegal, Spizelius informs us that he was a native -of Alkmaer, and banished, not for having published this suppositious -work, but for having given utterance to other blasphemies. Now, when -we look over with attention and patience what Vincent Placcius says in -the folio edition of his immense work concerning "Anonymous writers, -and authors who write under false names," and what Christian Kertholt -says in his work revised by his son Sebastian regarding "The Three -Impostors," and finally what Struvius advances in his treatise (1706) -on "Learned Impostors," we can find nothing at all to prove that such -a work ever existed; and it is astonishing that Struvius, who in spite -of the most specious evidence which Tentzelius had offered him to -prove its existence, had always maintained the contrary, was at last -persuaded to believe that there really was such a work; and that too, -for the most frivolous reason which it is possible to conceive. - -In the preface of "Atheism Overthrown," he discovers that the author -of this work, in order to vindicate himself from the crime laid to -his charge, declares that "The Three Impostors" had been published -thirty years before he was born. This is a strange discovery, but -it appeared so satisfactory to Struvius that he ceased to doubt -in the existence of such a book, because he knew the year in which -Campannelle was born (1568.) and knew also that the book was printed -thirty years before this, viz. in 1538. Afterwards in pushing their -researches farther, they resolved to consider Boccaccio as the author -of the work, from a misinterpreted passage in Chap. 2, No. 6, in the -"Atheism Overthrown" where the following words occur; "Hence Boccaccio -in his impious fables, contends that there is no distinction between -the law of Moses, of Christ and of Mahomet, because they are as like -each other as the three similar rings. [17]" But does Campannelle, -in this passage intend to say that Boccaccio was the author of "The -Three Impostors?" So far is this from being the case, that he answers -elsewhere the objections of the Atheists against Boccaccio and the -book in question; and Struvius himself, in the 9th paragraph of his -dissertation on "Learned Impostors" quotes a passage from Ernstius, -which states that Campannelle had told him that the book was written by -Muret; now Muret having been born in 1526, and the book been printed -in 1538, he could only have been 12 years of age; at which time of -life we cannot suppose it possible that he was able to write a work of -this description. It follows therefore that this book, said to have -been written in Latin and printed in Germany, never existed. At no -period has there been a printed work, however rarely to be met with, -in reference to which very authentic and circumstantial information -could not be found. - -Although the works of Michael Servetus may never be met with, it has -always been well known that they were printed, and moreover where they -were printed. Before the publication of the two modern editions of the -"Cymbalum Mundi," composed by Bonnaventure de Perrieres, writing under -the assumed name of Thomas du Clevier, who says that he had translated -it from the Latin, and of which work only two ancient copies remain, -the one in the King's library and the other in that of M. Bigot at -Rouen;--before the publication of the the modern editions, it was an -ascertained fact that the work had been printed, and the date and -name of the bookseller were known. The case is exactly the same as -regards "The Blessings of Christianity, or the Scourge of the Faith," -the author of which, Geoffrey Vallee a native of Orleans, was hanged -and burned at Greve, on the 9th February 1573, after having adjured -his errors. It is a small octavo work of thirty pages, without date, -or the name of the place where it was printed; a trifle, feebly -reasoned, and now become so rare that perhaps the copy belonging to -Monsieur the Abbe d'Estrees is the only one to be found. But although -all these works had absolutely perished, no one could doubt their -previous existence, the facts on record concerning them being as true, -as those concerning 'The Three Impostors' are apocryphal. - - - - - - - - ANSWER - TO THE DISSERTATION OF MONSIEUR DE LA MONNOYE ON THE WORK ENTITLED - "THE THREE IMPOSTORS." - - -An attempt at discussion, which you will find at the end of the new -edition of "Menagiana," which has just been published in this country, -affords me the opportunity of giving some information to the public on -a subject which appears to call into exercise the ingenuity of almost -all the learned; and at the same time of vindicating the character -of many eminent men, and men of distinguished merit, who have been -attacked as the authors of the work which forms the subject of a -disquisition attributed to M. de la Monnoye. Without doubt this new -book is already in your possession; you will perceive that I allude -to "The Three Impostors." The author of the dissertation upholds the -non-existence of such a book, and attempts to establish his point by -bringing forward conjectures, without advancing any evidence capable -in the smallest degree of influencing the opinions of those who are -accustomed to examine before they decide. I will not undertake to -refute seriatim the articles contained in a dissertation, the substance -of which is to be found in a Latin discourse by M. Burkhard Gotthelf -Struve, on "Learned Impostors," printed for the second time at Geneva, -by Muller in 1706, and which M. de la Monnoye must have seen, because -he quotes from it. He will acknowledge that I am quite prepared -to overturn his arguments, when I inform him that I have read this -celebrated little work, and that I have it in my library. I will give -you and the public an account of the way in which I discovered it, -and as it is in my possession, I will subjoin a short but faithful -description of it. - -Being at Frankfort on the Main in 1706, I called one day in company -with a Jew, and a friend named Frecht, at that time a student in -Theology, on an eminent bookseller in whose establishment almost -every work was to be met with. We were examining his catalogue -when there entered a German officer, who addressed himself to the -proprietor in German, and asked him if he was ready to agree to his -proposals, or if another merchant should be sought after. Frecht, -who formerly was acquainted with the officer, saluted him and was -recognised. This gave an opportunity to my friend of asking the -officer, whose name was Trawsendorff, what transaction he had with -the bookseller. Trawsendorff told him that he had two manuscripts and -a very old book in his possession, by the sale of which he expected -to raise a sum of money against the approaching campaign, and that -the bookseller higgled on 50 Rix-dollars, being unwilling to advance -more than 450 for the three works, which he, (the officer), valued -at 500. This great sum of money demanded for two manuscripts and a -little book excited the curiosity of Frecht, who asked of his friend -if he might see the productions which he wished to sell at so dear -a rate. Trawsendorff immediately drew from his pocket a parchment -envelope, tied with a silk thread, which he opened, and from which -he took the three books. We went into the parlour of the bookseller -to examine them at our leisure, and the first which Frecht looked -at had been printed, but had a title written in Italian instead of -its real title, which had been defaced. It ran thus; "Spaccio della -Bestia triumphante," and did not appear to be of an ancient date. It -struck me as being the same work which Toland translated into English, -and printed some years ago, and the copies of which sell very high. - -The second we looked at was an old Latin manuscript written in a -character very difficult to decypher, without any title; but at the top -of the first page there were written these words, "Fredric the Emperor -wishes health to Otho, his most illustrious and dearest friend. [18]" - -The work opens with a letter, the first lines of which are as follows; -"I will send you as soon as possible a copy of the work on the three -most celebrated deceivers of mankind, a work written at my request -by a very learned man, and transcribed by my order for my library; -and along with it another work written in the same pure and polished -style, for, &c." [19] The third was also a Latin manuscript without -a title, commencing with a quotation from Cicero. - -Frecht having glanced over the books in a hurried way, fixed his -attention upon the second, of which he had often heard, and in respect -to which he had read many conflicting histories; and without looking -into the other two, he took Trawsendorff aside and told him that he -would easily find purchasers of the three works. He spoke little of -the Italian work, and by reading a few passages he showed him that -the other was a demonstration of Atheism. As the bookseller still -held to his terms, and would not come up to the officer's demand, -we went all three to the lodgings of Frecht, who having an object in -view called for wine, and while begging Trawsendorff to inform us how -he came by the works, he made him swallow so many bumpers that he -soon became half intoxicated, so that Frecht had little difficulty -in persuading him to leave with him the manuscript of "The Three -most celebrated Deceivers of Mankind;" but he made him take a solemn -oath that he would not copy it. On this condition, the work was to be -left with us from Wednesday till Sunday night, when Trawsendorff was -to call again and take his share of a few bottles of Frecht's wine, -which seemed to be much to his taste. - -As I had quite as much desire as Frecht to be acquainted with the -book, we sat down immediately to read it over, determining to sleep -very little until Sunday night. It was not very large--an octavo -work of ten sections, exclusive of the prefatory letter, but in so -small a character, and so full of contractions, besides being without -points, that we had much difficulty in decyphering the first page -in two hours. After this however we read it more easily, which made -me suggest to my friend a plan (rather Jesuitical) whereby he might -obtain a copy of this celebrated work without breaking his oath which -he had taken on compulsion;--that it was likely that Trawsendorff, -when he insisted that it should not be copied, only meant that he -should not transcribe the words--in short that we were quite at liberty -to translate it. To which Frecht consented after some scruples, and -we set to work immediately. On Sunday we were in possession of the -work a little before midnight. Trawsendorff afterwards got his 500 -rix-dollars for the work from a bookseller who had been commissioned -by a Prince of the House of Saxe to purchase it. The Prince knew that -it had been stolen from the Royal Library at Munich, when the Germans -obtained possession of the city after the defeat of the French and -Bavarians at Hochstet, and Trawsendorff acknowledged to us that, being -alone in the library of the Elector, the parchment envelope with its -yellow silk thread attracted his attention, and that he could not -resist the temptation to steal it: expecting that it contained some -rare production, in which he was not disappointed. - -To complete the history of this treatise, I will give you the -conjectures which Frecht and I made as to its origin. We agreed at -once that the "Illustrissimo Otho" to whom it was sent, was "Otho -the Illustrious," Duke of Bavaria, son of Louis I. and grandson of -"Otho the Great," Count of Schiven and Witelspach, to whom the Emperor -Frederick Barbarossa had given Bavaria as a reward for his fidelity, -after he took it away from "Henry the Lion," as a punishment for his -ingratitude. "Otho the Illustrious" succeeded his father Louis I., -in 1230, under the reign of Fredrick II., grandson of Frederick -Barbarossa, who had at that time quarrelled with the Count of -Rome on his return from Jerusalem. This led us to think that the -letters F. I. S. D. which followed the "Amico meo carissimo," denoted -Fredericus Imperator Salutem Dicit, and that the treatise was written -posterior to the year 1230, by the order of this Emperor, inflamed -as he was against all Religions in consequence of the bad treatment -he had met with from the head of his own, viz. Pope Gregory IX. by -whom he had been excommunicated before he set out, and who persecuted -him even in Syria by intriguing to such an extent, that the Emperor's -army refused to obey his orders. This Prince on his return besieged -the Pope at Rome, after having ravaged the neighboring territory, -and thereafter made a peace with him which was of no long duration, -and which was followed by an animosity so bitter between him and -the Holy Pontiff, that it only ceased at the death of the latter, -who died heart-broken that Frederick triumphed in spite of his -empty fulminations, and that he had unmasked the vices of the Papal -Chair in satirical verses which he circulated in every quarter,--in -Germany, Italy, and France. But we could not discover who was the -"doctissimus vir," with whom Otho appears to have held converse on -the subject in the library, and apparently in the company of the -Emperor; unless indeed it were the celebrated Pierre des Vignes, the -secretary, or as others maintain, the chancellor of Frederick II. His -discourse "On Sovereign Power," and his "Letters," give proof of his -learning, and the zeal which he had for the interests of his master, -and of his own hatred of Pope Gregory IX, and the Ecclesiastics and -established Churches of his day. It is true, that in one letter -he attempts to exculpate his master from the charges against him -as the author of this book: but this strengthens the supposition, -and inclines us to think he only pleaded for Frederick, to cloak his -own share in so scandalous a work. At all events we must believe that -he would have confessed the truth when Frederick, on suspicion that -he had conspired against his life, condemned him to lose his eyes, -and handed him over to the inhabitants of Pisa, his cruel enemies; -and where despair hurried on his death in an infamous dungeon where -he could hold intercourse with no one. - -In this way we can repel the false charges brought against Averroes, -Boccaccio, Dolet, Aretino, Servetus, Ochinus, Postel, Pompanacius, -Campannelle, Poggio, Pulci, Muret, Vanini, Milton, and many others; -the book having been written by a learned man in high repute at the -court of this Emperor, and by his order. As to the printing of the -book they can bring forward no proof whatever; and it is impossible -to conceive that Frederick, surrounded as he was by enemies, would -have circulated a work which gave fair opportunity of proclaiming his -infidelity. It is probable therefore that there are only two copies, -the original one and that sent to Otho of Bavaria. - -This will suffice as to the discovery of the book, and its date; -we come now to what it contains. - -It is divided into six books or chapters, every one of which contains -several paragraphs. The first Chapter has for its title "Of God," and -contains six paragraphs in which the author, wishing to appear free -from party or educational prejudices, shows that although mankind -have a real interest in ascertaining the truth, nevertheless they -found upon opinions and imaginations alone; and meeting with people -whose interest it is to keep them in this state, they are made to -rest, contented in it, although they could easily shake off the yoke -by making the slightest use of their reason. He passes next to the -ideas which men entertain of the Divinity, and prove that they are -injurious, inasmuch as they have led to the creation of the most -fearful and imperfect being whom it is possible to conceive of; and -he then blames the ignorance of the people, or rather their foolish -credulity in putting faith in the visions of Prophets and Apostles, -of whom he draws a portrait suited to the ideas which he entertains -of them. - -The second Chapter treats of the reasons which have led men to -believe in a divinity. It is divided into eleven paragraphs, where -he proves that the ignorance of physical causes has given birth to -a fear natural enough at the sight of a thousand terrible accidents, -and has led them to believe in the existence of some invisible Power; -a doubt, and a fear, of which subtle politicians have taken advantage, -for their own interest, and which have given rise to a belief in this -Existence, which has been confirmed by others who have found it for -their own benefit to maintain it; although it is merely grounded on -the folly of the common people, always admirers of the extraordinary, -the sublime, and the marvellous. He next inquires into the nature -of the Divinity, and overturns the vulgar belief in final causes, as -contrary to sound philosophy. In fine, he makes it appear that such -ideas of the Divinity are only formed after having decided what is -perfect, good, evil, virtue, vice, according to imagination, and often -as false as possible. In his tenth paragraph the author explains his -own opinion as to the Divinity, which is conformable to the system -of the Pantheists, saying that the word God represents an infinite -Being, one of whose attributes is that he is of unlimited extension, -and consequently that he is infinite and eternal. In the eleventh -paragraph he treats with ridicule the popular opinion which is given -to the Deity, a resemblance to the kings of the earth; and passing -to the sacred books, he speaks of them in a very unfavourable manner. - -The third Chapter has for its title "The signification of the word -Theology, and how, and for what purpose so many religions have been -introduced into the world."--This chapter contains twenty-three -paragraphs. In the ninth he examines the origin of religions; -and brings forward examples and reasonings which, so far from -being divine, are altogether the work of politicians. In the tenth -paragraph he undertakes to expose the imposture of Moses, showing -what he was, and how he managed to establish the Jewish religion. In -the eleventh paragraph he inquires into the impostures of several -politicians such as Numa, and Alexander the Great. In the twelfth he -examines the birth of Jesus Christ; in the thirteenth and following -he considers his morality, which he does not think more pure than -that of a great number of ancient philosophers; in the nineteenth -he inquires whether his reputation after his death is sufficient to -warrant his believing in his divinity. Lastly, in the twenty-second -and twenty-third paragraphs, he considers the imposture of Mahomet, -of whom he does not say so much, because he has not to encounter so -many advocates of his doctrine as that of the two others. - -The fourth Chapter treats of truth evident and obvious to the senses, -and consists only of six paragraphs, where he demonstrates what really -is the divinity, and what are his attributes: he rejects the belief -in a life to come, and the existence of spirits. - -The fifth Chapter treats "Of the Soul." It consists of seven paragraphs -in which, after having exposed the vulgar opinions, he gives those -of the Philosophers of antiquity, and concludes by showing the nature -of the Soul according to his own system. - -In the sixth and last Chapter of seven paragraphs, he discourses on the -Spirits called Demons, and shows the origin and falsity of the opinions -as to their existence.--Such is the anatomy of this celebrated work. I -might have given it in a manner more extended and more minute; but -besides that this letter is already too long, I think that enough has -been said to give insight into the nature of its contents. A thousand -other reasons which you will well enough understand, have prevented -me from entering upon it to so great a length as I could have done; -"Est modus in rebus. [20]" - -Now although this book were ready to be printed with the preface -in which I have given its history, and its discovery, with some -conjectures as to its origin, and a few remarks which may be placed -at its conclusion, yet I do not believe that it will live to see the -day when men will be compelled all at once to quit their opinions and -their imaginations, as they have quited their syllogisms, their canons, -and their other antiquated modes. As for me I will not expose myself -to the Theological stylus [21], which I fear as much as Fra-Poulo -feared the Roman stylus, to afford to a few learned men the pleasure of -reading this little treatise; but neither will I be so superstitious, -on my death bed, as to make it be thrown into the flames, which we -are informed was done by Salvius, the Swedish ambassador at the -peace of Munster. Those who come after me may do what seems them -good--they cannot disturb me in the tomb. Before I descend to that, -I remain with much respect, your most obedient servant, - - -J. L. R. L. - -Leyden, 1st January 1716. - - -[This letter was written by M. Pierre Frederick Arpe, of Kiel in -Holstein; the author of an apology for Vanini, printed in octavo at -Rotterdam, 1712] - - - - - - - -COPY OF THE SECOND PART, VOL. I, ARTICLE IX. OF, "LITERARY -MEMOIRS." PUBLISHED AT THE HAGUE BY HENRY DU SAUZET, 1716. - - -It is impossible in the present day to doubt the existence of "The -Three Impostors," since we find several manuscript copies of it. If -M. de la Monnoye had observed the agreement of it with an extract -published at Leyden, 1st. Jan. 1716,--the same division into six -chapters--the same titles, and the same subjects of which they treat, -he would have exclaimed against the forgery of this work, improperly -attributed to Pierre des Vignes, the Secretary and Chancellor of -Frederick II. This judicious critic long ago observed the difference -between the Gothic style of Pierre des Vignes in his Epistles, and -that of the letter pretended to be addressed to the Duke of Bavaria, -"Otho the illustrious," when they sent him the work. A more important -point has not escaped the notice of the learned. This treatise is -written and argued in the method and upon the principles of the New -Philosophy, which was not introduced until about the middle of the -seventeenth century, after Descartes, Gassendi, Bernier, and some -others had explained its principles in a juster and clearer way than -did the ancient philosophers, who wished to preserve their secrets, -as they affected a mysterious obscurity in favor of the initiated. The -author himself, in the fifteen chapter of his work, names Descartes, -and combats the arguments of this great man on the subject of the -soul. Neither Pierre des Vignes, nor any of those whom they have -attempted to pass off as the author of this book, could have reasoned -according to the principles of the new Philosophy, which was not -introduced till after they had written. To whom then must the work -be attributed? We must conclude that it cannot be of the same date -as the short letter printed at Leyden, 1717. But another difficulty -occurs. Tentzelius, who wrote in 1689, also gives an extract from -this book upon the credit of a pretended ocular witness. But without -attempting to fix the date of this book, which is said to have been -composed in Latin and printed; the small French manuscript treatise, -whether it had ever been written in that language or whether it is -translated from the Latin, (which is difficult to believe,) cannot -be of a very ancient date. - -This is not the only book composed under this title and upon the same -subject. A man whose character and profession ought to have led him -to engage in matters more decorous, composed a great work (in French) -under the same title. In his preface he says that it is long since he -had heard of "The Three Impostors," but that he had never found any -part of it, whether there had never existed such a work, or whether -it be lost; therefore he attempts to restore it by writing on the -same subject. His work is very long, very wearisome, and very badly -written; with little principles and less argument. It is a confused -jumble of all the invectives and calumnies circulated against the -Three Legislators. The manuscript was in two volumes folio, thick, -and legible enough, although in small characters--the book is divided -into a great many chapters. Another similar manuscript was found after -the death of a nobleman. This gave rise to an attempt to seize the -author who having been informed of it took care that nothing should -be found among his papers to convict him. Afterwards he lived in a -monastery under penance. In 1733 he recovered his liberty and enjoyed -a revenue of 250 livres from the Abbey of St. Liquarie, in addition -to a reserved one of 350 livres from his benefice. His name was -Guillaume, Cure of Fresne-sur-Berny, and the brother of a labourer in -the Netherlands. He was at one time Regent of the College of Montaigu; -in his youth he had been a dragoon, and then he became a Capuchin. - - - - - - - -CONTENTS OF TREATISE. - - -CHAP. I. Of God. The false ideas which men have formed of the -Divinity. Instead of consulting reason and common sense, they have -had the weakness to believe in the opinions, reveries, and visions -of parties whose interest it was to deceive them, and to keep them -in ignorance and superstition. - -CHAP. II. On the reasons which have led men to believe in a -Divinity. From the ignorance as to physical causes, and the terror -produced by accidents, rational enough but extraordinary or fearful, -has arisen the belief in some invisible power; a belief, of which -Politicians and Impostors have not failed to take advantage. Enquiry -into the nature of God. Belief in final causes refuted as contrary -to sound Natural Philosophy. - -CHAP. III. On the meaning of the word Theology. How, and for what -purpose, so many Religions have been introduced into the world. All -Religions the work of Politicians. Method which Moses took to establish -the Jewish Religion. Enquiry into the Nativity of Jesus Christ. His -Politics--his Morality--and his Reputation after his death. Artifices -of Mahomet to established his Religion. Success of this impostor -greater than that of Christ. - -CHAP. IV. Truth evident and obvious to the senses. Idea of an -universal Being. Attributes ascribed to him in all religious systems, -generally incompatible with his essence, and unsuited to the nature -of man. Notion of a life to come and of the existence of Spirits, -combated and rejected. - -CHAP. V. On the Soul. Different opinions of the Ancient Philosophers -on the nature of the Soul. Arguments of Descartes refuted. Author's -exposition on the subject. - -CHAP. VI. On the Spirits named Demons. Origin and falsity of the -opinions as to their existence. - - - - - - - - A TREATISE - ON - THE THREE IMPOSTORS. - - -CHAP. I.--OF GOD. - - -§ 1. - -Although it is important that all men should know the truth, there -are nevertheless few who enjoy this advantage; some are incapable of -finding it out unassisted, and others will not put themselves to the -trouble. It is not to be wondered at therefore, if the world is filled -with vain and absurd opinions; and nothing is more adapted to spread -them than ignorance, which is the sole originator of the false ideas -which prevail as to the Divinity, the Soul, the existence of Spirits, -and almost all the other subjects which go to make up Theology. Custom -is powerful--men rest contented in the prejudices of their birth, and -leave the care of the most essential matters to interested parties, who -make it a rule to uphold with bigotry the received opinions, and who -dare not overturn them lest in so doing they should destroy themselves. - - - -§ 2. - -What renders the evil without remedy is this, that, after having -established these false ideas of the Divinity, they neglect no plan -to compel the people to believe in them, without permitting any one -to examine for himself. On the contrary, they have excited a hatred -against philosophers--the truly learned, lest the doctrines which they -would teach should lead to the exposure of those errors in which they -have plunged mankind. The advocates of these foolish notions have -succeeded so well, that it is dangerous to combat them. It is too -much the interest of those impostors that the people be ignorant, -to permit them to become enlightened. Thus the truth must either -be kept in abeyance, or its promoters be prepared to be sacrificed -at the shrine of a false philosophy, and to suffer from the rage of -grovelling and interested minds. - - - -§ 3. - -If the people could understand into what an abyss they are sunk by -ignorance, they would speedily shake off the yoke of their unworthy -leaders, for it is impossible not to discover the truth when reason -is left to its unrestrained exercise. - -These deceivers are so well aware of this, that to prevent the good -effects which Truth would infallibly produce, they have painted it -as a monster incapable of giving rise to any virtuous sentiment; -although, in general terms, they condemn unreasonable people, they -would nevertheless be much disconcerted if the truth were heard. Thus -these sworn enemies to common sense are perpetually falling into -contradictions, and it is difficult to discover at what they are -aiming. If it be true that reason is the only light which men ought -to follow, and if the people are not so incapable of judging as they -wish us to believe, it ought to be the object of those who instruct -them to endeavour to rectify the false reasonings, and to uproot their -prejudices; then their eyes would be gradually opened and their minds -convinced that the Deity is by no means what is generally supposed. - - - -§ 4. - -To attain this, there is no need for lofty speculations, nor for -penetrating far into the mysteries of nature. It requires only a -little common sense to perceive that the Deity is neither choleric -nor jealous; that justice and mercy are alike falsely considered as -his attributes; and that, all that the Prophets and Apostles have -said give us no information either as to his nature, or to his essence. - -In short to speak plainly and to put the matter on its proper footing, -it will be allowed that these teachers were neither more able nor -better instructed than the rest of mankind; so far from that being -the case, what they advance regarding the Deity is so gross that -the people must be altogether ignorant to credit it. Although this -is apparent enough we will attempt to explain it more at length, by -inquiring, if there is any evidence that the Prophets and Apostles -were differently constituted from other men. - - - -§ 5. - -It is agreed, that as far as descent, and the common duties of life are -implicated, they possessed no quality to mark them out from the rest -of mankind. They were begotten by men, they were born of women, and -they sustained themselves as we do in the present day. In reference -to their minds, people would have us believe that God dealt with -these prophets in a way differing from that wherein he deals with -ordinary mortals, and that he disclosed himself to them in a manner -quite exclusive. Many persons consider this matter as a proved and -ascertained fact, without reflecting that every man may meet his -counterpart, and that we have one common origin; endeavouring at the -same time to persuade us that these men were cast in no common mould -and that they were selected by the Deity to proclaim his oracles. Now, -apart from the consideration that these inspired people were gifted -with only an average intellect, and with an understanding not much -above the common, what do we find in their writings to justify us -in forming so exalted an opinion of them? The matter of which they -treat is for the most part so obscure that no one can comprehend -it, and thrown together with so little order that it is easy to -perceive they did not understand it themselves; the whole showing -that they were both knaves and fools. Their impudence in boasting -that whatever they announced to the people came immediately from God, -gave rise to the respect which was paid to them. This assertion on -their part was equally absurd and ridiculous, seeing that according -to their own declaration God only spoke to them in dreams. There is -nothing more natural than that a man should dream; but a man must -be very impudent, very vain, and very stupid, to say that God speaks -to him in this manner, and a poor and credulous fool must he be who -should yield credence to such an assertion, and receive the dreams -of such visionaries for heavenly oracles. Suppose for a moment that -the Deity were to hold intercourse with a man by dreams, or visions, -or in any other way we can think of; nobody is obliged to believe -this on the mere assertion of a fellow-creature equally subject to -error with himself, and moreover, fallible in the way of lying and -imposture. Accordingly we find that under the ancient law, the prophets -were held in far less repute than they are at the present day. When -people got wearied of their babble, which often only tended to spread -revolt and to turn aside subjects from obedience to their sovereigns, -they silenced them by punishment. Jesus Christ himself did not escape -chastisement, for he had not, like Moses [22], an army at his back -to defend his opinions. Add to this, that the prophets were so much -accustomed to contradict each other, that out of four hundred of them -not one true or truth-speaking man could be found. [23] Moreover it -is certain that the drift of their prophesies, like that of the laws -promulgated by the most celebrated legislators, was to immortalize -their memory by persuading people that they had conferences with the -Divinity. The most subtle politicians have invariably played the same -game, although this ruse has not succeeded with every one as it did -with Moses. - - - -§ 6. - -This being settled, let us examine for a little the idea which the -Prophets have formed of the Deity. According to their account, God is -a being purely corporeal. Michael saw him seated; Daniel beheld him -clothed in white, and under the form of an Old Man; Ezekiel perceived -him as a Fire: so much for the Old Testament. With respect to the -New, the disciples of Jesus Christ imagined that they saw him in -the form of a Dove; the Apostles, like Tongues of Fire; and finally, -St. Paul beheld him as a Light, which dazzled and blinded him. Then -as to their contradictory statements; in the Book of Genesis [24] -we are informed that man is the master of his own actions, and that -it only depends upon himself to do what is right. St. Paul on the -other hand asserts that man has no control over his evil propensities -without the particular grace of God. Samuel [25] declares that the -Deity repented of the evil which he had brought on men: and Jeremiah -[26] affirms that he repented, or on certain conditions that he would -repent, of the good which he had done them. Such are the false and -contradictory ideas which those pretenders to inspiration give us of -the divinity; and which they wish us to adopt without reflecting that -they represent the Deity as a sensitive Being, material, and subject -to like passions with ourselves. Next they inform us that God has -nothing in common with matter, and that his nature is altogether -incomprehensible by us. It would be important to learn how these -manifest and irrational contradictions can be reconciled; and whether -we ought to put much faith in the evidence of a people who, in spite -of the sermons of Moses, were stupid enough to believe that a calf -was their God! Without dwelling on the reveries of a people cradled -in bondage and brought up in absurdity, it is sufficient to remark, -that ignorance has produced a belief in all the impostures and errors -which prevail amongst us at the present day. - - - - - - - -CHAP. II. - -ON THE REASONS WHICH HAVE LED MANKIND TO BELIEVE IN A DIVINITY. - - -§ 1. - -Those who are ignorant of physical causes have a natural fear -[27], proceeding from a restlessness in their minds, as to whether -there exists a Being or an Agency invisible to them, who has the -power to injure them or to do them good. Hence the tendency which -they have to feign unseen causes, which are only the phantoms -of their imagination--whom they deprecate in adversity and thank -in prosperity. They make Gods of them for this purpose; and this -chimerical fear of invisible Powers is the source of those Religions -which every one forms after his own fashion. Those whose interest it -is that the people should rest contentedly fettered by such reveries, -have fostered their spread--have founded laws upon them--and finally -reduced the people by the terrors of futurity to a blind obedience. - - - -§ 2. - -The origin of the Gods being discovered, men next imagined that they -resembled themselves, and that they invariably acted with a certain -end in view. Thus they unanimously said and believed, that God only -works for man's behoof; and reciprocally, that man is only created -for God. This prejudice is general even in the present day, and when -we reflect on the influence which it must necessarily have on the -manners and opinions of men we may clearly perceive that from it -have arisen those false ideas which men have formed to themselves, -of good and evil, of merit and demerit, of praise and blame, of -order and confusion, of beauty and deformity, and a thousand other -similar matters. - - - -§ 3. - -It must be agreed that all men are in a state of profound ignorance -at their birth, and that their only natural wish is to seek that -which is pleasant and profitable to them.--Hence it follows, 1st, -That they believe it sufficient for them that they are free, and -that they feel within themselves the power of volition and desire, -without troubling themselves as to the causes which effect this -volition and this desire; because they know them not. 2dly, As men -only aim at one object when they prefer it to all others, they sought -to ascertain the final causes of their actions, imagining that after -these were discovered there would be little room for doubt; and as -they found within themselves and without themselves abundant means -of arriving at the end proposed--the eye constructed for vision, the -ear for hearing; a sun above them to give them light and heat; they -concluded that there was nothing in nature which was not made for them -and which they could not enjoy and dispose of; but as they well knew -that they were not the creators of these things, they thought that -they were justified in imagining a Supreme Being, the author of all; -in one word they conceived that everything in existence was the work of -one, or of more Divinities. On the other hand, the nature of the Gods -whom men acknowledged being unknown to them, they believed that they -were susceptible of like passions with themselves; and as the natural -dispositions of men are different, every one rendered to his Divinity -a worship according to his fancy, with the view of drawing down his -blessings, and making universal nature subservient to his own desires. - - - -§ 4. - -In this manner prejudice was changed into superstition. It was rooted -in such a way that the most ignorant people believed themselves -capable of explaining the doctrine of final causes, as if they had -an entire knowledge of them.--Thus, instead of proving that Nature -did nothing in vain, they imagined that God and Nature thought after -the manner of men. Experience taught them that an infinite number -of calamities disturbed the pleasures of life--storms, earthquakes, -plagues, hunger, thirst, &c. They attributed all these evils to -divine wrath, and believed that the Deity was irritated against -mankind for their offences; nor could the daily occurring examples -which prove that good and evil happen alike to the just and unjust, -disabuse them of their prejudices. This error prevailed, because they -found it easier to remain in their natural ignorance, than to divest -themselves of notions established for so many ages; and to adopt -something in their stead, having at least the appearance of truth. - - - -§ 5. - -This prejudice conducted them straightway to another, which was, that -all the judgments of God were incomprehensible; and that consequently -they were beyond the cognizance of truth, and above the strength of -human reason; a mistake which would have existed at the present day, -if mathematical knowledge, natural philosophy, and other sciences -had not extinguished it. - - - -§ 6. - -There is no necessity for a long dissertation to prove that nature -never aims at any definite end, and that all these final causes are -only human fictions. It is sufficient to show that this doctrine -deprives the Deity of all the perfections which have been attributed -to him; and this we will endeavor to do. - -If God acts for an end, either for himself or for any other being, he -desires that which he does not possess; and it must be granted from -these premises that, as there was a time when God had no object for -which to act, he wished to have one; that is to say, that he stood in -need of something. But not to overlook anything which may strengthen -the arguments of those who maintain the opposite opinion, suppose, -for a moment, that a stone detached from a battlement fell upon an -individual and killed him; it proves, say our opponents, that this -stone fell for the purpose of killing this person, because it could not -so have happened unless God had wished it. If we reply that it was the -wind which caused its fall at the time when the unfortunate individual -was passing, they demand at once, how it happened that he was passing -exactly at the time when the wind brought down the stone. We answer, -that he was on his way to dine with a friend who had invited him; -they wish to know why his friend had invited him on that day rather -than on any other. They put in this manner an infinitude of absurd -questions to force you to confess that the will of God alone (which -is the refuge of the ignorant) was the real cause of the fall of -this stone. When they examine the structure of the human body, they -fall into ecstacies; but because they are ignorant of the causes of -those effects which appear to them so marvellous, they conclude that -it must be a supernatural effect, when the causes which are known to -us account for it. This is the reason why the man who wishes deeply -to examine the works of creation, and like a true philosopher to -penetrate into their natural causes, irrespective of those prejudices -which ignorance has created, is branded as an infidel, or speedily -clamoured down by the malice of those whom the vulgar acknowledge as -the interpreters of Nature and of the Gods. These mercenary spirits -are well aware that the ignorance which holds the people in wonderment, -is that which gives them bread, and upholds their credit. - - - -§ 7. - -Men being thus imbued with the ridiculous opinion that every thing -which they behold is created for themselves, have made it a point -of religion to engross every thing, and to judge of its value by the -profit which it brings. Accordingly they have invented notions which -do them service in explaining the nature of things, and enable them -to judge of good and evil, order and disorder, heat and cold, beauty -and ugliness, &c. which are by no means what they imagine. Because -they are able to frame their ideas in this way, they think that they -are in a position to judge of praise and blame; of good and evil. They -call that good which respects their divine worship, and turns to their -own profit; and that which does neither the one nor the other they -denominate evil; and because the ignorant are incapable of judging, -and have no conception of any thing save through the medium of their -imagination, which they mistake for judgment, they tell us that -nothing can be learned from nature, and forthwith invent a particular -arrangement of the world. In short they think that matters are ill or -well constituted according to the facility or the difficulty which they -have in conceiving of them when presented to them through the medium -of their senses. People are best pleased with what gives least fatigue -to the brain. These individuals have wisely resolved to prefer order -to confusion, as if order were any thing else than a pure fiction of -the imagination. Thus to say that the Deity has made every thing with -order, is to pretend that it is in favour of the human imagination -that he has created the world in a manner the most easy for it to form -a conception of;--or, which is the same thing, that they know with -certainty all the relations and all the designs of whatever exists; -an assertion too absurd to merit any serious refutation. - - - -§ 8. - -With respect to their other opinions, they are purely the result of -this same imagination, having no basis in reality, and being only -different modifications of which that faculty is susceptible. Thus, -when the impressions made upon the nervous system through the medium -of the eyes are agreeable, they pronounce that the objects viewed -are beautiful. Smells are good or bad; tastes are sweet or bitter, -things touched are hard or soft, according as the sensation produced -is unpleasant or otherwise--as scents, and tastes, and contact, and -sounds affect the system. Following up these ideas, men have believed -that the Deity is pleased with melody, while others have believed that -all the movements of the celestial bodies were one harmonious concert; -a proof, that these men are persuaded that things are really such as -they conceive them to be, or that the world is entirely ideal.--It -is not to be wondered at therefore, if we scarcely ever meet with -two individuals of the same opinion: indeed some make it their boast -to doubt of every thing; for, although all men have a similar bodily -conformation, and resemble each other in many respects, there are still -as many respects in which they differ. Accordingly it must follow, -that what pleases this party displeases that; and what appears good -to one man appears evil to another.--We must conclude therefore, -that their various opinions must be attributed to their different -organizations and the diversity of their co-existences--that reason -has little connection with them; and in short, that their conceptions -of the material world are the decided results of imagination. - - - -§ 9. - -It is therefore evident, that all the reasonings which the generality -of mankind are accustomed to employ when they set themselves to -explain what nature is, are only their own modes of imagining that -which is most uncalculated to make good their own position. They give -names to their ideas, as if they existed in any other quarter than in -their own prejudiced brain; but instead of calling them mere chimeras, -they designate them Beings. There is extremely little difficulty in -refuting the arguments grounded on such opinions. - -If it is true, as they advance, that the universe is nothing more -than an emanation from, or simply a necessary consequence to, -the Divine nature, whence spring those imperfections and defaults -which we perceive in it? This objection is easily answered. It is -impossible for men to judge of the perfection or imperfection of any -Being, without a thorough knowledge of his nature and essence [28], -and it is a strange abuse of terms to assert that any thing is more -or less perfect according as it pleases or displeases, or as it is -useful or noxious to human nature. To terminate the argument with -those who demand why God has not created all men good and happy, it -is sufficient to state that every thing is necessarily what it is; -and that, in nature there is no imperfection, since all flows from -the necessity of things. - - - -§ 10. - -This being established, if it is asked, "What then is God?" I answer -that the word imports that universal Being "in whom," as St. Paul says, -"we live, and move, and have our being. [29]" This opinion conveys -no unworthy notions of the Divinity, for if all things are in God, -all things must necessarily flow from his essence, and consequently be -of such essence as he himself; for it is impossible to conceive that -beings entirely material should be maintained and comprehended in a -Being who is not so. This opinion is not new. Tertullian, one of the -most learned of the Christian fathers, maintained in his discourse -against Appelles, that whatever is not corporeal is nothing; and in -that against Praxeas that every Existence is a body. He adds, "who -will deny that God is a body, although God is a Spirit [30]?" It is -of importance to observe that this doctrine was not condemned in any -of the four first OEcumenical or General Councils of the Christian -Church. [31] - - - -§ 11. - -These ideas are clear and simple, and the only ones which an unbiased -mind can form of God. However, there are few contented with this -simplicity. A gross people accustomed to the gratification of their -senses, have conceived that God resembles the kings of the earth. That -pomp and splendor which surround the latter have dazzled them so much, -that to uproot the idea that God has no resemblance whatever to earthly -sovereigns, would be to deprive them of the hope of meeting celestial -courtiers, and of enjoying in their company, the same pleasures -which they had tasted at regal courts; it would take from them the -only consolation which keeps them from despair amidst the miseries of -this life. They assert that God must be a just and avenging Being who -punishes and recompenses--they represent him as susceptible of every -human passion--they depict him with feet, with hands, with eyes and -with ears, and yet maintain that he is an immaterial Being. They quote -Scripture to prove that man is chief of God's works below, and formed -in his own image; and deny that the copy has the slightest resemblance -to the original. In short, the God of the people in the present day, -as represented by themselves, is subject to more transformations than -the Pagan Jupiter. What is still more strange is this, that the more -these opinions contradict each other and outrage common sense, the more -are they revered by the vulgar, who uphold with bigotry whatever their -prophets have enounced, although these visionaries only held the same -place among the Hebrews, as did the augurs and soothsayers amongst the -pagans. They consult the Bible as if God and Nature had explained it to -them exclusively, although it is only a tissue of fragments gathered -together at various periods, and by different persons, and published -under the censorship of the Rabbis. [32] These, at their pleasure, -decided as to what ought to be approved of, and what, rejected; -according as they found it agreeable or opposed to the law of Moses. - -Such is the malice and the folly of mankind. They spend their lives -in quibbles, and persist in reverencing a book which has scarcely -more arrangement than the Alcoran of Mahomet--a book which from its -obscurity nobody understands, and which has only served to foment -divisions. The Jew and Christians love far better to consult this -legerdemain book, than to listen to that which God, that is to say -Nature (inasmuch as it is the origin of all things) has written on -their hearts. All other laws are merely human figments--palpable -illusions set abroad, not by demons or evil spirits, which are the -creations of the fancy, but by the policy of princes, and the craft of -priests. The former have striven in this way to add weight to their -authority; and the latter have been contented to enrich themselves -by the sale of an infinitude of chimerical notions, which they vend -at a dear rate to their ignorant followers. - -No other code of laws which has followed that of Moses, except the -Christian, has been based upon that Bible the original of which -could never be discovered, which relates to things supernatural and -impossible, and which speaks of rewards and punishments for actions -good or bad, but wisely postpones them till an after life, lest the -imposture should be detected; for no one has ever returned from the -grave. Thus the people, kept always fluctuating between hope and -fear, are held in bondage by the belief that God has created mankind -for no other purpose than that of rendering them eternally happy or -everlastingly miserable. This is the origin of the vast number of -religions which prevail in the world. - - - - - - - -CHAP. III. - -ON THE MEANING OF THE WORD RELIGION; HOW, AND FOR WHAT PURPOSE, -SO MANY RELIGIONS HAVE BEEN INTRODUCED INTO THE WORLD. - - -§ 1. - -Before the term Religion was introduced into the world, mankind -followed the law of Nature, that is, they lived conformably to -Reason. Instinct was the only bond by which men were united; and this -bond, simple as it is, was so strong that divisions were rare. But -after terror led them to suspect that there were Gods and invisible -Powers, they built altars to the imaginary beings, and shaking off -the yoke of reason and of Nature, they bended themselves by foolish -ceremonies, and by a superstitious worship of the idle phantoms which -themselves had imagined. - -Such was the origin of the word Religion, which has made so much -noise in the world. After having admitted the existence of these -invisible Agencies, men worshipped them to depreciate their anger, -and moreover they believed that nature was under the control of these -Powers. Afterwards they came to regard themselves as inert matter, -or as slaves who could only act under the commands of these imaginary -beings. This false idea having obtained possession of their minds, -they began to exhibit more contempt for nature, and more respect -for those whom they called their Gods. Hence sprung that ignorance -in which so many nations were immersed--an ignorance from which, -however profound, the true philosophers might have freed them, -if they had not been always thwarted by those who led the blind, -and throve by their own impostures. - -Now, although there were little appearance of success in our -undertaking, we must not forsake the cause of truth. A generous -mind will speak of things as they really are, out of regard to those -who exhibit symptoms of this malady. The truth, whatever its nature -may be, can never be injurious; whereas error, although at the time -apparently innocent and even useful, must finally terminate in the -most disastrous results. - - - -§ 2. - -Terror having thus created the Gods, men wished to ascertain their -nature, and conceiving that they must be of the same substance as -the Soul, which they thought was like the appearances in a mirror, -or the phantoms of sleep, they believed that their Gods were real -substances, but so thin and subtle that to distinguish them from Bodies -they named them Spirits; although Bodies and Spirits are in truth one -and the same thing, for it is impossible to imagine an incorporeal -Spirit. Every spirit has its proper shape, which is inclosed in some -body; that is, it has its limits, and consequently it is a body, -however subtle its nature. [33] - - - -§ 3. - -The ignorant, that is the majority of mankind, having thus determined -the nature and substance of their Gods, endeavoured next to discover -the means by which these invisible agents acted; and unable to arrive -at this because of their ignorance, they had recourse to their own -conjectures, judging blindly of the future from the past. How is -it possible to draw rational conclusions from any thing which has -formerly happened in a certain way, as to what will happen hereafter, -seeing that all the circumstances and all the causes which necessarily -influence events and human actions, are so exceedingly different. They -persisted however in contemplating the past, and they augured well -or ill as to the future, according as any former similar undertaking -had been successful or otherwise. On this principle, because Phormis -had defeated the Lacedemonians at the battle of Naupactus, the -Athenians, after his death appointed another commander of the same -name. Hannibal having been conquered by Scipio Africanus, the Romans, -on account of his success, sent to the same province, Scipio Cæsar, -who was unsuccessful both against the Greeks [34] and the native -forces. Thus have many nations, after two or three experiments, -only attributed their bad or good fortune to places, to objects, -and to names. Others employed certain words which they denominated -spells, which they considered efficacious enough to make trees speak, -to create a man or a God from a morsel of bread, and in short to -metamorphose whatever appeared before their eyes. [35] - - - -§ 4. - -The empire of these invisible powers being now established, men at -first did homage to them as their sovereigns, by marks of submission -and respect; by gifts, prayers, &c. I say, at first, for nature -does not enjoin bloody sacrifices for this purpose; these were only -instituted for the subsistence of priests, and others set apart for -the services of these imaginary Gods. - - - -§ 5. - -These originators of Religion, viz. Hope and Fear, aided by the -different opinions and passions of men, have given rise to a vast -number of phantastical creeds, which have been the cause of so much -mischief and of so many revolutions among the nations. - -The honor and the revenues attached to the priesthood, or to the -ministers of the Gods, have encouraged the ambition and avarice of -cunning men who knew how to profit by the stupidity of the vulgar, -whom they have got so much entangled in their snares that they have led -them insensibly into the habit of loving a lie and hating the truth. - - - -§ 6. - -A system of falsehood being established, ambitious men, intoxicated -with the pleasure of being elevated above their fellow mortals, -attempted to add to their reputation by feigning that they were -the friends of those invisible Beings whom the common people so much -feared. The better to succeed in this every one represented them after -his fashion, and they all took the liberty of multiplying them to an -extent almost incredible. - - - -§ 7. - -The rude unformed matter of the world was called the God Chaos. In -the same way they deified the Heavens, the Earth, the Sea, Fire, the -Winds and Planets. The same honor was conferred on men and women; -birds, reptiles, the crocodile, the calf, the dog, the lamb, the -serpent and the swine, in fact, all sorts of plants and animals were -worshipped. Every river, every fountain, bore the name of some deity; -every house had its lares and penates, and every man his genius--all -was filled above and below the earth with Gods, Spirits, Shadows, and -Demons. Neither was it enough to feign divinities in every imaginable -place. They outrage in the same way, Time, the Day, the Night, Victory, -Strife, Honor, Virtue, Health, and Sickness. They invented these -Divinities that they might represent them as ready to take vengeance -on those who would not be brought up in temples and at altars. Lastly, -they took to worshipping their own Genii; some invoked theirs under -the name of the Muses, while others, under that of Fortune, worshipped -their own ignorance. Some sanctioned their licentiousness under the -name of Cupid, their wrath under that of the Furies, their natural -parts under the name of Priapus; in one word there was nothing to -which they did not give the name of a God or a Demon. - - - -§ 8. - -The founders of these Religions, knowing well that their impostures -were based upon the ignorance of the people, took care to keep them in -it by the adoration of images in which they feigned that the Divinities -resided. This rained gold into the coffers of the priesthood, and -their benefices were considered as sacred things because they belonged -to holy ministers; no one having the rashness or audacity to aspire -to them. The better to deceive mankind, the priests pretended to be -divinely inspired Prophets, capable of penetrating the mysteries of -futurity, boasting that they had intercourse with the Gods; and, as the -desire is natural to learn one's destiny, they by no means failed to -take advantage of it. Some were established at Delos, others at Delphi, -and in various places, where in ambiguous language they answered the -questions put to them. Even women took a part in these impostures, -and the Romans in their greatest difficulties consulted the Sybilline -books. These knaves were really considered inspired. Those who feigned -that they had familiar commerce with the dead were called Necromancers; -others pretended to ascertain the future from the flight of birds -or the entrails of beasts; in short they could draw a good or bad -augury from almost every thing, the eyes, the hands, the countenance, -or any extraordinary object. So true it is that ignorance will receive -any impression, when men know how to take advantage of it. [36] - - - -§ 9. - -The ambitious, who have always been great masters in the art of -deceiving, have followed this method in promulgating their laws; -and to induce mankind to give a voluntary submission to them, they -have persuaded them that they received them from some God or Goddess. - -However great the multitude of Divinities, amongst those who -worshipped them, and who were denominated Pagans, there was never -any generally established system of religion. Every republic, every -kingdom, every city, and every individual had their own proper rites, -and conceived of the Divinity after their own phantasy. But afterwards -there arose legislatures more subtle than the former, and who employed -more skilful and sure plans in giving forth the laws, the worship, -and the ceremonies calculated to nourish that fanaticism which it -was their object to establish. - -Amongst a great number, Asia has produced THREE, distinguished as -much by their laws and the worship which they established, as by -the ideas which they have given of the Divinity, and the methods -which they employed to confirm these ideas, and to render their laws -sacred.--Moses was the most ancient. After him Jesus Christ appeared, -who wrought upon his plan and kept the fundamental portion of his laws, -but abolished the remainder. Mahomet, who appeared the last upon the -scene, borrowed from each of the Religions in order to compose his -own, and thereafter declared himself the sworn enemy of both.--We -shall consider the character of the three legislators, and examine -their conduct, that afterwards we may be enabled to decide whose -opinions are best grounded--those who reverence them as inspired men, -or those who regard them as impostors. - - - -§ 10. - -MOSES. - -The celebrated Moses, a grandson of a distinguished Magician, [37] -(according to Justin Martyr) possessed every advantage calculated -to render him that which he finally became. It is well known that -the Hebrews, of whom he became the chief, were a nation of shepherds -whom Pharaoh Osiris I. admitted into his kingdom in gratitude for the -services which one of them had rendered during a period of severe -famine. He assigned them a territory in the East of Egypt, rich in -pasturage, and admirably adapted for the rearing of cattle; where, -during two centuries, they very much increased in numbers, either, -that being regarded as strangers they were not liable to military -service, or on account of the other privileges which Osiris had -conferred upon them. Many natives of the country joined themselves -to them, among others, bands of Arabs who regarded them as brethren -and of the same origin. However this may be, they multiplied so -exceedingly, that the land of Goshen being unable to contain them, -they spread over all the land of Egypt; giving just occasion to Pharaoh -to dread that they would undertake some dangerous enterprise if his -kingdom were attacked by the Ethiopians, his inveterate enemies, -as had frequently happened. Reasons of state, therefore, compelled -this monarch to take away their privileges, and to devise some means -of weakening them and keeping them in subjection. - -Pharaoh Orus, surnamed Busirus on account of his cruelty, succeeded -Memnon, and followed up his plans with respect to the Hebrews; -and wishing to eternalize his memory by building the Pyramids, and -fortifying the walls of Thebes, condemned the Hebrews to the task of -making bricks, for which purpose the earth of that country was well -adapted. During their bondage the celebrated Moses was born, the same -year in which the king commanded that all the male Hebrew children -should be thrown into the Nile, as the surest method of ridding his -country from this host of strangers. Moses was in this way exposed -to perish in the waters, his mother having placed him in a wicker -basket among the willows on the banks of the stream. It happened that -Thesmutis, the daughter of the king, was walking by the river, when, -hearing the cries of the infant, that compassion so natural to her sex, -inspired her with a wish to save it. Orus being dead she succeeded him, -and Moses having been presented to her she commanded that he should -receive the highest instruction which could be procured, as a son of -the Queen of a people at that time the most learned and civilized in -the world. "He was learned in all the learning of the Egyptians." This -implies that he was the ablest Politician, the greatest philosopher, -and the most distinguished Magician of his time; and besides, it is -very evident that he had been initiated into the Egyptian Priesthood, -which resembled those of the Druids among the Gauls. Those who are -ignorant of the nature of the Egyptian government, must learn that -the whole territory was subject to one sole sovereign, but that it -was divided into many provinces of but limited extent. The governors -of these provinces were designated Monarchs, and were generally of -the powerful order of the Priesthood, which in fact possessed almost -the third part of Egypt. The king nominated these Monarchs; and if -we compare what others have written concerning Moses, and what he has -written himself, we must conclude that he was Monarch of the Province -of Goshen, and that he owed his appointment to Thesmutis, to whom also -he owed his life. Such was the status of Moses amongst the Egyptians, -where he had full time and every opportunity of studying their manners -and those of his own nation, and of obtaining a knowledge of their -dominant inclinations and passions; a knowledge, of which he failed -not to avail himself in that revolution of which he was the originator. - -After the death of Thesmutis, her successor renewed the persecution -against the Hebrews, and Moses having fallen from the honor in which -he had been formerly held, was afraid that he would find it difficult -to justify a homicide of which he had been guilty. He accordingly -resolved on flight, and retired into Arabia Petrea. Chance led him to -the house of the chief of some native tribe, to whom he rendered so -many services, and by whom his talents were so highly appreciated that -he gave him one of his daughters in marriage. It must here be remarked -that Moses was so little of a Jew, and had so limited a conception of -the Deity whom he afterwards imagined, that he married an idolatress, -and did not even think of circumcising his children. - -It was in the Arabian deserts, when watching the flocks of his -father-in-law, that he formed the design of taking vengeance upon the -King of Egypt for the injuries he had met with. He flattered himself -that he would easily succeed in this, as well on account of his own -talents, as from the feeling which he knew was general amongst those -of his own nation, irritated against the government on account of -the cruel treatment which they had experienced. - -It appears from the history which he has left us of this revolution, -or at all events, from the history which the author of the books -attributed to Moses, has left us, that Jethro, his father-in-law, was -in the plot, as were Aaron his brother, and sister Marion, who remained -in Egypt, and with whom, no doubt, he maintained a correspondence. - -However that may be, we perceive from the result, that he had with -the utmost policy schemed out a great design; and that he knew how -to bring to bear against the Egyptians that learning which he had -acquired amongst them. I allude to magic, in the exhibition of which -he showed himself more subtle and expert than all those who attempted -the same tricks at the court of Pharaoh. - -It was by these pretended prodigies that he gained over those of -his nation whom he wished to carry off, and to whom disaffected and -revolutionary Egyptians, Ethiopians and Arabs joined themselves. By -boasting the power of his Divinity, and the frequent communions -which he had with him; and by declaring that he had his sanction -for all the steps which he took with the leaders of the revolution, -he succeeded so well that there followed him 600,000 fighting men, -besides women and children, across the Arabian deserts, of which he -well knew the localities. After six days painful flight, he ordained -to his followers that they should consecrate the seventh day to his -God by a general and public rest, for the purpose of persuading them -that the Deity favored him and approved of his authority; and to -deter any one from having the audacity to dispute his statements. - -There never existed a more ignorant people than the Hebrews, nor -consequently more credulous. To be assured of this we have only to look -to their condition in Egypt when Moses caused them to revolt. They -were detested by the Egyptians on account of their profession as -shepherds, they were persecuted by the sovereign, and employed in the -most degrading toil. Amongst a people thus situated it could not be -very difficult for a man with the abilities of Moses to exercise a -vast influence. He persuaded them that his God, (whom he sometimes -merely styles an angel), the God of their fathers, had appeared -to him--that it was at his command that he had taken them under his -guidance--and that they would be a people highly favored of the Deity, -provided they believed in him. The expert employment of deceit, and his -knowledge of science, and of human nature, fortified his injunctions; -and he strengthened his position by prodigies, which are always sure -to make a deep impression on the minds of an imbecile populace. - -It must here be attended to with especial care, that he thought he -had discovered a sure method of keeping the Hebrews in subjection to -himself, by persuading them that God himself was their conductor--that -he preceded them by night as a pillar of fire, and by day as a -cloud. It can be proved that this is perhaps a more gross deceit on -the part of this leader than any he had ever practised. During his -sojourn in Arabia, he had learned that, as the country was of vast -extent and uninhabited, it was the custom of those who travelled in -caravans to take guides, who conducted them under night by means of a -brasier filled with burning wood, the flame of which they followed; -and the smoke of which by day equally prevented the parties of the -caravan from straggling. Moses took advantage of this and proclaimed -it miraculous, adducing it as an evidence of divine protection. No -person is called upon to regard this as cheat, on my authority; -let them believe Moses himself, who in the book of Numbers, chap, -x, v. 31, is represented as beseeching his brother-in-law Habab to -journey with the Israelites and show them the way, because he knew the -country. [38] This is proof positive. If it were really God who went -before the people of Israel by night and by day, as a pillar of cloud -and of fire, could they have desired a better guide? Notwithstanding -here is this leader entreating his brother-in-law in the most urgent -manner to act as his guide; the pillar of cloud and fire, it would -seem, being only a God for the people and not for Moses. - -The unfortunate dupes being delighted to find themselves adopted by -the chief of the Gods on their escape from a cruel bondage, cheerfully -put faith in Moses, and swore to obey him blindly. His authority being -confirmed, he wished to render it perpetual; and under the specious -pretext of establishing the worship of that God whose Viceregent he -said he was, he appointed at once his brother and his sons to high -authority in the Royal Palace, that is the place whence he thought -proper to give forth his oracles; this place being altogether out of -the view of the people. Lastly he practised that which is always done -at the formation of new institutions; that is, he exhibited prodigies, -miracles, whereby some were dazzled, and others confounded, but which -only excited pity in those who could see through his impostures. - -However crafty Moses might have been, he would have had considerable -difficulty in securing obedience, without the aid of his armed -followers. An impostor without physical force rarely succeeds. - -But in spite of the great number of dupes who submitted themselves -blindly to the will of this clever legislator, there were found people -bold enough to reproach him for bad faith; declaring that, under false -appearances of justice and equality, he had engrossed the whole--that -the sovereign authority was confined to his own family, who had no -more right to it than any other individuals--and that he was less the -father than the tyrant of his people. But on these occasions Moses, -with profound policy, put to death those daring spirits and spared -no one who disputed his authority. - -It was by similar precautions, and by always declaring that his -punishments were instances of divine vengeance, that he reigned an -absolute despot; and to end as he had begun--that is to say, as a knave -and an impostor--he was in the habit of retiring to a cave, which he -had caused to be dug in the centre of a waste, under the pretext of -having conferences with the Divinity, that he might secure in this -way the respect and submission of his followers. His end was like that -of other similar impostors. He cast himself from a precipice which he -knew of in the remote wilderness, to the end that his body might not -be discovered, and that it might be thought the Deity had carried him -off. He was not ignorant that the memory of the patriarchs which had -preceded him was held in great veneration, although they knew their -sepulchres; but this was not enough for an ambition like his--it was -necessary that he should be revered as a god, over whom death had no -control. This is the explanation of what he said at the commencement -of his reign, when he said that God had declared that he was to be -a God unto his brother. [39] Elijah in like manner, and Romulus, -[40] and Zamolxis, and all those who have had the foolish vanity to -wish to eternalize their names, have concealed the time and manner -of their death, in order that they might be thought immortal. - - - -§ 11. - -But to return to the legislators. There have never been any who -did not assert that their laws did not emanate from some divinities -[41], and who have not attempted to persuade their followers that they -themselves were more than mortal. Numa Pompilius, after having tasted -the sweets of retirement, was with difficulty persuaded to leave them, -although it was to fill the throne of Romulus; but compelled by the -acclamations of the people, he profited by the devotedness of the -Romans, and insinuated to them that if they really wished him to -be their king, they must be prepared to obey him without enquiry, -and to observe religiously the laws and divine institutions which -had been communicated to him by the goddess Egeria. [42] - -Alexander the Great had? no less vanity. Not content with seeing -himself master of the world, he wished to persuade mankind that he -was the son of Jupiter. Perseus pretended also to have derived his -origin from the same god and the virgin Danae. Plato also insisted -on a virgin nativity, regarding Apollo as his father. There have been -many other personages who have been guilty of the same absurdity. No -doubt all these great men believed in the opinion of the Egyptians, -who maintained that the Spirit of God was capable of having intercourse -with the female sex, and rendering them pregnant. - - - -§ 12. - -JESUS CHRIST. - -Jesus Christ, who was acquainted with the maxims and the science of -the Egyptians, gave currency to the belief alluded to above, because -he thought it suitable to his purposes. Reflecting how Moses had become -renowned by his command of an ignorant people, he undertook to build on -this foundation, and got some few imbecile people to follow him, whom -he persuaded that the Holy Ghost was his father, and that his mother -was a virgin. These simple folks, accustomed to give themselves over -to dreams and reveries, adopted his opinions, and believed whatever he -wished: indeed, something considerably beyond this miraculous birth -would by no means have been too miraculous for them. A beautiful -dove overshadowed a virgin: there is nothing surprising in that. It -happened frequently in Lydia; and the swan of Leda is the counterpart -of the dove of Mary. [43] That a man should be born of a virgin, by the -operation of the Holy Spirit, is neither more extraordinary nor more -miraculous that that Genghis Khan should be born of a virgin, as the -Tartars assert; or that Foh, according to the Chinese belief, derived -his origin from a virgin rendered pregnant by the rays of the sun. - -This prodigy appeared at a time when the Jews, wearied with their -God as they had formerly been with their Judges, [44] were desirous -to have some visible ruler among them, as was the case with other -nations. As the number of fools is infinite, Jesus Christ in a short -time had many followers; but as his extreme poverty was an invincible -obstacle to his elevation, the Pharisees--at one time his admirers, -and at another time startled at his boldness--forwarded or thwarted -his interests, according to the inconstant humour of the populace. The -report of his divine origin was spread about; but without forces, -as he was, it was impossible that he could succeed, although some -cures which he performed, and some resurrections from the dead to -which he pretended, brought him somewhat into repute. Without money -or arms he could not fail to perish: if he had been in possession of -these, he would have been no less successful than Moses or Mahomet, -and all those who, with like advantages, have elevated themselves -above their fellow-men. If he had been more unfortunate, he would -not have been less adroit; and several traits in his history prove -that the principal defect in his policy was his carelessness in not -sufficiently providing for his own security. Otherwise, I do not find -that his plans were less skilfully devised than those of the other -two: at all events his law has become the rule of faith to people -who flatter themselves that they are the wisest in the world. - - - -§ 13. - -ON THE POLITICS OF JESUS CHRIST. - -Can anything be more subtle than the answer of Jesus concerning -the woman taken in adultery? The Jews having demanded of him if -they should stone her, instead of answering the question directly--a -negative answer being directly contrary to the law, and an affirmative -convicting him of severity and cruelty, which would have alienated -their minds from him--instead, therefore, of replying as an ordinary -individual would have done on the occasion--"Let him," said he, -"who is without sin amongst you cast the first stone at her." [45] -A shrewd reply, and one evincing great presence of mind. On another -occasion, being shown a piece of money with the emperor's image and -superscription upon it, and asked if it were lawful to pay tribute -money unto Cæsar, he eluded the difficulty of answering: "Render -unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar's." [46] The false position -in which they wished to place him was this: that if he denied that -it was lawful, he was guilty of high treason; and if he said that -it was, he went directly against the law of Moses, which he always -protested that he never intended to do--knowing no doubt that he was -too helpless to do so with impunity at that time. Afterwards, when he -became more celebrated, he endeavoured to abrogate it almost totally: -acting in this way not unlike those princes, who, until their power -is thoroughly established, always promise to confirm the privileges -of their subjects, but who, after that has been secured, care little -for their promises. - -When the Pharisees asked him by what authority he taught the people -and preached to them, he penetrated their intention--which was to -convict him of falsehood; whether he answered that it was by human -authority--he not being of the order of the priesthood, who alone were -charged with the instruction of the people; or whether he preached -by the express orders of God--his own doctrine being opposed to the -law of Moses; he avoided their snare, and embarrassed themselves, -by asking them in what name John baptised. [47] - -The Pharisees, who from political motives, rejected the baptism of -John, would have condemned themselves if they had said that it was in -the name of God; and if they had not said so, they would have exposed -themselves to the rage of the populace, who maintained the opposite -opinion. To get out of this dilemma, they answered that they could -not tell: on which Jesus Christ replied, that neither was he obliged -to tell them by what name or authority he taught the people. - - - -§ 14. - -Such was the character of the destroyer of the ancient law, and the -founder of the new religion that was built upon its ruins; in which -religion a disinterested mind can perceive nothing more divine than -in any of those which preceded it. Its founder, who was not altogether -ignorant, having witnessed extreme corruption in the Jewish republic, -judged that its end was near, and thought it a favorable opportunity -for forwarding his own designs. - -The fear of being anticipated by men more able than himself, made -him hasten to secure his ground by means entirely opposite to those -adopted by Moses. The former began by rendering himself terrible to -other nations. Jesus Christ, on the contrary, attracted mankind to -himself by the hope of blessings in a life beyond the grave, which he -said they would obtain by believing in him. Whilst Moses only promised -temporal benefits to the observers of his law, Jesus Christ led his -followers to hope for those which would never end. The laws of the one -only regarded exterior observances; those of the other looked into -the heart, influenced the thoughts, and stood on opposite grounds -to the law of Moses. Whence it follows, that Jesus Christ believed -with Aristotle, that it is the same with religion and nations as with -individuals who are born and who die; and as there is nothing which -is not subject to dissolution, there is no law which must not in turn -give place to another. [48] But as there is difficulty in passing from -one law to another, and as the greater part of men are stubborn in -religious matters, Jesus Christ, in imitation of other innovators, -had recourse to miracles, which have at all times confounded the -ignorant, and advanced the projects of ambitious and designing men. - - - -§ 15. - -Christianity having been founded in this way, Jesus Christ wisely -imagined that he could profit by the errors in the politics of Moses, -and render his new law eternal--an undertaking in which he finally -succeeded a little perhaps beyond his expectation. The Hebrew prophets -intended to do honour to Moses, by predicting a successor who should -resemble him--a Messiah great in virtues, powerful in wealth, and -terrible to his enemies. These prophecies, however, produced altogether -a different effect from what they expected; a number of ambitious -demagogues having embraced the opportunity of palming themselves off -for the coming Messiah, which led to those insurrections and civil -convulsions which lasted until the entire destruction of the ancient -republic of the Hebrews. Jesus Christ, more subtle than the prophets -who succeeded Moses, predicted that a man of this description would -appear--the great enemy of God--the favorite of the demons--the -aggregation of all the vices and the cause of all the desolation in -the world. After such a splendid eulogy, one would think that nobody -could resist the temptation of calling himself Antichrist; and I do -not believe that it is possible to discover a secret equal to it for -eternalizing a law, although there can be nothing more fabulous than -what we read of concerning this pretended Antichrist. St. Paul says -that he was a ready born; whence it follows that he must have been -on the watch for the coming of Jesus Christ: nevertheless, more than -sixteen years rolled on after the prediction of the nativity of this -formidable personage, without any one having heard of his appearance. I -acknowledge that some have applied the terms to Ebion and Cerinthus, -two great adversaries of Jesus Christ, whose pretended divinity they -disputed. But if this interpretation be the meaning of the Apostle, -which is far from being credible, the words referred to must point -out a host of Antichrists in all ages--it being impossible that truly -learned men should think of injuring the cause of truth, by declaring -that the history of Jesus Christ was a contemptible fable, [49] and -that his law was nothing but a series of dreams and reveries, which -ignorance had brought in repute, which self-interest had encouraged, -and which tyranny had taken under its especial protection. - - - -§ 16. - -They pretend, nevertheless, that a religion built upon so weak -foundations is divine and supernatural, as if it were not an -ascertained fact that there is no class of people more fitted to give -currency to the most absurd opinions than women and lunatics. It is -not to be wondered at that Jesus Christ reckoned none of the learned -amongst his followers. He well knew that his law was inconsistent with -common sense; and therefore he always declaimed against the sages, -excluding them from that kingdom into which he admitted the poor -in spirit, the simple and the imbecile. Rational minds ought to be -thankful that they have nothing to do with such insanities. - - - -§ 17. - -ON THE MORALITY OF JESUS CHRIST. - -We find nothing more divine in the morality of Jesus Christ than what -can be drawn from the works of ancient authors; for this reason, -perhaps every text in his code of morals is either borrowed from -their's or is an imitation of it. St. Augustine [50] acknowledges that -in one of the so-called heathen writers, he discovered the whole of -the commencement of the gospel according to St. John. We must remark -also, that this apostle was so much accustomed to plunder others, -that he has not scrupled to pillage from the prophets their enigmas -and visions, for the purpose of composing his Apocalypse. Again, -whence arises that agreement between the doctrines of the Old and -New Testament and those of Plato, unless the Rabbis and others who -composed the Jewish Scriptures had stolen from that distinguished -man. The account of the creation of the world given in his Timaeus, -is much more satisfactory than that recorded in the book of Genesis; -and it will not do to say that Plato, in his tour through Egypt, had -read the books of the Jews, since, by the confession of St. Augustine, -king Ptolemy had not ordered them to be translated till long after -the philosopher had left the country. - -The landscape which Socrates describes to Simias (Phæton,) possesses -infinitely more beauty than the Paradise of Eden: and the fable of -the Hermaphrodites [51] is beyond comparison a better invention than -that which we read of in Genesis, where we are told that one of Adam's -ribs was taken from him for the purpose of creating a female out of it. - -Can any more plausible account of the overthrow of Sodom and -Gomorrah be given, than that it was caused by Phaeton? Is there no -resemblance between the fall of Lucifer and that of Vulcan, or of -the giants struck down by the thunderbolts of Jove. How close the -resemblance between Sampson and Hercules; Elijah and Phaeton; Joseph -and Hypolitus; Nebuchadnezzar and Lycaon; Tantalus and the rich man -in torment; [52] the manna in the wilderness and the ambrosia of the -gods! St. Augustine, [53] St. Cyril, and Theophilactus, compare Jonah -with Hercules, called Trinoctius, because he had been three days and -three nights in the belly of a whale. - -The river which Daniel speaks of in chap. vii, v. 10, of his -Prophecies, is palpably drawn from that Pyriphlegethon to which -Plato alludes in his dialogue on the immortality of the soul. The -idea of "Original Sin" is taken from the account of Pandora's box; -and the interrupted sacrifices of Isaac and of Jephtha's daughter are -borrowed from that Iphigenia, in whose room a hind was offered up. What -we read of concerning Lot and his wife, is nearly the same as that -which fabulous history informs us occurred to Bancis and Philemon. The -histories of Perseus and of Bellerophon are the foundation of Michael -and the demon whom he vanquished. In short, it is abundantly manifest -that the authors of the Scriptures have copied the works of Hesiod, -Homer, and some other ancient writers, almost word for word. - - - -§ 18. - -With respect to Jesus Christ himself, Celsus, by appealing to his -opponent Origen, shows that he had taken some of his most approved -apothegms from Plato--Such as this: "It is easier for a camel to go -through the eye of a needle, than a rich man to enter into the kingdom -of God." [54] It was owing to the sect of the Pharisees, to which he -belonged, that his followers believed in the immortality of the soul, -the resurrection, and the torments of hell; and also in the greater -part of his morality, [55] the whole of which I find in Epictetus, -Epicures, and a few others. This last mentioned philosopher was -referred to by St. Jerome, as a man whose virtues ought to put the -best Christians to the blush; and whose mode of life was so temperate -that a morsel of cheese, with bread and water constituted his highest -repast. Leading a life so frugal, this philosopher, heathen as he -was, declared that it was far better to be unfortunate and gifted -with reason, than to be rich and opulent without it; adding, that -wealth and wisdom were rarely found united in the same individual, -and that it was impossible to enjoy happiness or contentment unless -our conduct were guided by prudence, justice and honesty, which are -the qualities whence flow all true and lasting enjoyments. - -As to Epictetus, I do not believe that there ever existed a man, -not even excepting Jesus Christ, more firm, more self-denying, -more equable, or who at any time gave forth to the world a more -sublime system of morality. Were it not that I should exceed the -limits which I have prescribed to myself in this treatise, I could -recount many beautiful traits in his character; but the reader must be -contented with one example. When a slave to Epaphroditus, a captain of -Nero's guards, his master took the brutal fancy to writhe his limbs, -Epictetus, perceiving that it gave the monster satisfaction, said with -a smile, that he saw clearly that the joke would not end until he had -broken one of them, which happened accordingly. The philosopher with -the same equanimity and the same smile, merely said, "Did I not tell -you that you would certainly break the limb?" Where is there on record -another instance of like firmness? How would Jesus Christ have acted -in the circumstances?--he who wept and trembled at the least alarm, -and who in his last moments exhibited a pusillanimity altogether -contemptible, and which was never shown by the martyrs for his faith. - -If the work which Arian wrote concerning the life and death of our -philosopher had been preserved, I have no doubt that we would have -been in possession of many more examples of his equanimity than we -have at present. I know that the priests will speak of the example -which I have instanced, as they speak of the virtues of philosophic -minds in general, and assert that it is based on vanity, and that -it is by no means what it appears to be; but I know also, that those -people are accustomed to speak ex cathedra whatever suits their purpose -and to think they sufficiently earn the money which is given them for -instructing the people, by declaiming against every man who knows what -sober reason and real virtue are. Nothing in the world can be less in -congruity with the actions of these superstitious men who decry them, -than the manner of the truly learned. The former, having studied for -no other end than to obtain a place to give them bread, become vain, -and congratulate themselves when they have obtained it, as if they had -arrived at the state of perfection; whereas it is nothing else to them -than a state of idleness, pride, voluptuousness, and licentiousness,--a -condition in which the great majority of them hold in no respect -whatever the maxims of that religion which they profess. But we will -leave these men, who have not the remotest conception of real virtue, -and examine the evidences for the divinity of their master. - - - -§ 19. - -Having considered the politics and the morality of Jesus Christ, -wherein we find nothing so useful or so sublime as we find in the -writings of the ancients, let us now consider if the reputation which -he acquired after his death be a proof of his divinity. - -The generality of mankind are so much accustomed to what is irrational, -that it is astonishing to find people endeavouring to draw a rational -inference from their conduct. Experience teaches us that they are -always running after shadows, and that they neither do nor say anything -betokening common sense. These fanatical notions on which they found -their belief will always be in vogue, in spite of the efforts of the -learned who have invariably set themselves against them. So rooted are -their follies that they had rather be crammed with them to repletion -than make any effort to be rid of them. - -It was to no purpose that Moses boasted that he was the interpreter -of God, and attempted to prove his mission and his authority by -extraordinary signs. If he absented himself for a short time (as he -did occasionally, to hold conference with the Divinity, by his account, -and as in like manner did Numa Pompilius and many other legislators), -it was only to find on his return strong traces of the worship of the -gods whom the Hebrew people had seen in Egypt. It was in vain that -he had led them for forty years through the desert, that they might -lose recollection of the divinities which they had left behind. They -had not forgot them, and they always wished for some visible symbol -to precede them, which, if they had got, they would have worshipped -obstinately, at the risk of being exposed to extreme cruelty. - -The pride-inspired contempt alone which led them to the hatred of -other nations, made them insensibly forget the gods of Egypt, and -attach themselves to that of Moses. They worshipped him for some time -with all the outward observance of the law; but with that inconstancy -which leads the vulgar to run after novelty, they deserted him at -last to follow the God of Jesus Christ. - - - -§ 20. - -The most ignorant alone of the Hebrews followed Moses--such also -were they who ran after Jesus Christ; and their name being legion, -and as they mutually supported each other, it is not to be wondered -at if this new system of error was widely circulated. The teaching of -these novelties was not without danger to those who undertook the task, -but the enthusiasm which they excited extinguished every fear. Thus, -the disciples of Christ, miserable as they were in his train, and -even dying of hunger--(as we learn from the necessity under which they -were, together with their leader, of plucking the ears of corn in the -fields to sustain their lives)--these disciples never despaired till -they saw their master in the hands of his executioners, and totally -incapable of gifting them with that wealth, and power, and grandeur, -which he had led them to expect. - -After his death, his disciples being frustrated in their fondest hopes, -made a virtue of necessity. Banished as they were from every place, -and persecuted by the Jews, who were eager to treat them as they had -treated their master, they wandered into the neighboring countries; in -which, on the evidence of some women, they set forth the resurrection -of Christ, his divinity, and the other fables wherewith the gospels -are filled. - -It was their want of success among the Jewish people which led to -the resolution of seeking their fortune among the Gentiles; but as -a little more knowledge than they possessed was necessary for the -accomplishment of their design--the Gentiles being philosophically -trained, and consequently too much the friends of truth and reason -to be duped by trifles--the sectaries of Jesus gained over to their -cause a young man [56] of ardent temperament and active habits, -somewhat better instructed than the illiterate fishermen of Galilee, -and more capable of drawing audiences to listen to his talk. He being -warned from heaven (miraculously of course), leagued himself with -them, and drew over some partizans by the threat of "fabled hell," -(a plagiarism from the ancient poets), and by the hope of the joys of -paradise, into which blessed abode he was impudent enough to assert -that he had at one time been introduced. - -These disciples then, by strength of delusion and lying, procured -for their master the honor of passing for a god--an honor at which, -in his life-time, Jesus could never have arrived. His destiny was -no better than that of Homer, nor even so good; inasmuch as seven -cities which had despised and starved the latter in his lifetime, -struggled and fought with each other, in order to ascertain to which -was due the merit of having given him birth. - - - -§ 21. - -It may be judged now, from what has been advanced, that Christianity, -like every other religion, is only a complicated imposture--the success -and progress of which would astonish the inventors themselves, could -they revisit this world. Without bewildering ourselves, however, in -a labyrinth of error and contradiction, such as we have alluded to, -we go to Mahomet, who founded his law on maxims entirely opposite to -those of Jesus Christ. - - - -§ 22. - -MAHOMET. - -Scarcely had the disciples of Jesus Christ torn down the Mosaic fabric -for the purpose of establishing Christianity, when men, led by force -of circumstances, and influenced by their usual inconstancy, followed -the new legislator, who had elevated himself by means similar, as far -as possible, to those which Moses employed. Like the Jewish lawgiver, -Christ usurped the title of prophet, and ambassador of God; like him -he pretended to perform miracles, and took advantage of the passions of -the multitude. He soon found himself escorted by an ignorant populace, -to whom he explained the new oracles of heaven. These miserably misled -people, from the promises and fables of this new impostor, spread -his renown far and wide, as having eclipsed all his predecessors. - -Mahomet, on the contrary, was a man who did not appear at all competent -to lay the foundation of an empire. He was distinguished neither as -a politician nor a philosopher: he could neither read nor write. [57] -At first he exhibited so little firmness, that he was frequently upon -the point of abandoning his enterprise; and he would have done so, had -it not been for the address of one his followers. When he was rising -into celebrity, Corais, a powerful Arab chief, being irritated that -a man of yesterday should have the boldness to mislead the people, -declared himself his enemy, and attempted to thwart his designs; -but the people, believing that Mahomet had continued intercourse -with God and his angels, supported him till he had an opportunity of -being avenged upon his adversary. The tribe of Corais was worsted; -and Mahomet seeing himself surrounded by a host of fanatics, thought -that he stood in no need of a coadjutor. However, lest Corais should -expose his impostures, he took the initiative; and to make sure, he -loaded him with promises, and swore that he only wished to become -great in order to share with him that power, to the establishment -of which he might so much contribute. "We can agree," said he, -"when we reach our proper elevation; we can depend, in the meantime, -on that great multitude whom we have gained over, and it only remains -that we make sure of them by the employment of that artifice which -you have so happily invented." At the same time he persuaded him to -descend into the Cave of Oracles. - -This was a dried-up sunk well, from the bottom of which Corais spoke, -in order that the people might believe that it was the voice of God -declaring himself in favour of Mahomet who was in the midst of his -proselytes. Deceived by the blandishments of the leader, his associate -regularly descended into the well, to counterfeit the oracle. Whilst -Mahomet was passing one day at the head of an infatuated multitude, -they heard a voice, which said--"I am your God, and I declare that -Mahomet is the prophet whom I have appointed for all nations; he will -instruct you in my law of truth, which the Jews and Christians have -altered." For a long time the accomplice played this game; but at last -he met with the blackest ingratitude. The voice being heard, as usual, -proclaiming him an inspired personage, Mahomet turned to the people, -and commanded them, in the name of that God who had recognised him -as his prophet, to fill up the well with stones, that it might be an -enduring witness in his favour, like that pillar which Jacob set up -to mark the place where God had appeared to him. [58] Thus perished, -miserably, the chief who had most contributed to the elevation of -Mahomet. It was upon this heap of stones that the last of the three -most celebrated impostors established his religion, and so solid -and stable is its foundation, that after the lapse of twelve hundred -years there is little appearance at present of its being overthrown. - - - -§ 23. - -In this way was the power of Mahomet established; and he was more -fortunate than Jesus, inasmuch as he lived to see the wide diffusion -of his doctrines, which Christ on account of his want of resources, -was unable to do. He was even more fortunate in this respect than -Moses, who from excess of ambition brought himself to a premature -end.--Mahomet died in peace, and loaded with blessings. He had, -moreover, a well-grounded hope that his religion would last, because -it was accommodated to the nature of a people born and brought up -in ignorance; an adaptation in which men more learned than himself, -but less accustomed to associate with the lower orders, might have -entirely failed. - -The reader is now in possession of the most remarkable facts concerning -the three most celebrated legislators, whose religions have brought -into subjection a great part of the human race. They were such as -we have represented them; and it is for you to consider if they -are worthy of your respect, and if you are justified in allowing -yourselves to be led by those whom ambition alone conducted to power, -and whose dreams have been perpetuated by ignorance. The following -observations, if read with a free and unprejudiced mind, may lead to -the discovery of truth, by clearing away those mists wherewith you -have been blinded and beguiled. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -TRUTHS EVIDENT AND OBVIOUS TO THE SENSES. - - -§ 1. - -Moses, Jesus Christ, and Mahomet, being such as we have represented -them, it is evident that it would be useless to search in their -writings for a new idea of the Divinity. The conferences of Moses -and Mahomet with the Deity, and the miraculous conception of Jesus -Christ, are the greatest impostures that have ever met the face of day, -and you must shun their contemplation as you love the truth. - - - -§ 2. - -God, as we have seen, being only Nature, or in other words the -combination of all beings, all properties, and all energies, is -necessarily the cause from which emanates every thing, and of course -not distinct or different from its effects. He cannot be termed good, -nor evil, nor just, nor merciful nor jealous: these attributes belong -only to mankind. The Deity therefore can neither punish nor reward. The -opposite idea may lead aside the ignorant, who, conceiving the Divinity -to be an uncompounded essence, represent him to themselves under -images altogether unsuited to his nature. Those alone who exercise -their judgment without confounding its operations with those of their -imaginative faculty, and who have sufficient strength of mind to -cast away the prejudices of infancy, can form a clear and distinct -conception of the subject. They regard him as the author of every -being, producing them without distinction, and giving no preference -to one over another, and whose power is such that he created man with -as much ease as he did the meanest worm, or the humblest plant. - - - -§ 3. - -We must therefore believe that this universal Being whom we generally -name God, takes no greater care of a man than of an ant, nor pays more -attention to a lion than to a stone; neither regards the beauty or -deformity, good or evil, perfection or imperfection. He cares not to -be praised, beseeched, sought alter, or flattered; he is not affected -by what men say or do; he is not susceptible of love or hatred: -[59] in one word he is not more occupied with man than he is with the -rest of the other creatures, whatever may be their nature. All these -distinctions are merely the inventions of a limited understanding: -they originate in ignorance, and self-interest keeps them up. - - - -§ 4. - -Thus, therefore, no rational man can believe in God, nor in hell, -nor in spirits, nor in devils, in the sense in which the terms -are generally understood. These big words have only been coined to -intimidate and blind the vulgar. Those who wish to convince themselves -of this truth would do well to devote particular attention to what -follows, and accustom themselves to suspend their judgment until -after mature reflection. - - - -§ 5. - -The infinity of stars which we see above us has not escaped the -fictions of presumptive credulity. Amongst the glittering hosts, there -is one said to have been set apart for the celestial court, where God -holds regal state in the midst of his courtiers. This place is the -residence of the blessed, wither the souls of the virtuous are conveyed -after leaving the body. We need not dwell upon an opinion so frivolous -and so contradictory to common sense. It is well enough ascertained -that what we denominate the heavens is merely a continuation of the -air which surrounds us--a fluid through which the other planets move, -like the earth which we inhabit, unsustained and unconnected with -any solid mass whatever. - - - -§ 6. - -The priests having, like the pagans with their Gods and goddesses, -invented a heaven, where God and the blessed might dwell; after the -same example next they contrived a hell, or subterranean place, -to which, they assure us, the spirits of wicked men go down for -the purpose of being everlastingly tormented. Now, the word hell, -in its original sense, imports no more than a place dark and deep; -and the poets invented it as the opposite to the residence of the -blessed, which they represented as high and bright. This is the exact -signification of the Latin terms inferus and inferi, and the Greek -hades; any dark place such as a sepulchre, or whatever was fearful -from its depth and obscurity. The whole sprung from the imagination -of the poet and the knavery of the priests--the former knowing how to -make an impression in this way, on weak, timid, and melancholy minds; -and the latter having rather more substantial reasons for continuing -the delusion. - - - - - - - -CHAP. V.--ON THE SOUL. - - -§ 1. - -This is rather a more delicate subject to handle than the last which we -had occasion to treat of, viz: Heaven and Hell. For the reader's sake, -therefore, it must be treated at greater length; but before defining -it, an exposition of the opinions of the most celebrated philosophers -is necessary, which will be given in a few words, in order that the -reader may be the better enabled to carry it along with him. - - - -§ 2. - -Their opinions are exceedingly varied. Some have pretended that the -soul is a spirit or immaterial essence; others have maintained that -it is a part of the Divinity; others assert that it is the concord of -all parts of the body; and some uphold that it is the most subtle -part of the blood, separated into the brain, and thence distributed -through the nervous system. If this is established, the soul must -take its origin from the heart which creates it; and the place where -it exercises its noblest functions must be the brain, as that organ -is the most purified from the grosser parts of the blood. - -Such are a few of the different opinions which have been given to -the world in regard to the soul. The better to develop them, we shall -divide them into two classes. In the one will be found the statements -of those philosophers who considered the soul as material; and in -the other those of the opposite party, who maintained the doctrine -of its immateriality. - - - -§ 3. - -Pythagoras and Plato have both maintained the doctrine that the -soul was immaterial in its nature; that is, a being existing without -aid from the body, and capable of action uncontrolled by any thing -corporeal. They hold that all the individual spirits of animals were -emanations from the universal Soul of the World, and that these -off-givings were incorporeal, immortal, and of the same nature as -the pervading Essence itself. They illustrated their doctrine well, -by the analogy of a thousand little lights which are all of the same -nature as the great flame at which they were kindled. - - - -§ 4. - -These philosophers believed that the universe was animated by an -immaterial Essence, immortal and invisible, knowing everything, -and acting always; and which is the cause of every movement, and the -origin of all spirits, these being merely emanations from it. Then, as -spirits are very subtle, they cannot unite (they observe) unless they -can find a body subtle as the light, or as that expanded air which the -vulgar take for heaven. They therefore assume a body less subtle, then -another somewhat gross; and thus by degrees they come to be enabled to -unite themselves to the bodies of animals, into which they descend as -into dungeons or sepulchres. The death of the body, according to them, -is the life of the soul, which was in a manner buried, and could only -in a feeble way exercise its noblest functions. At the death of the -body, the soul shakes off materiality, comes forth of its prison-house, -and unites itself to the Soul of the World from which it emanated. - -According to this opinion then, all the spirits of animals are of the -same nature; and the diversity of their functions and faculties arises -solely from the difference of the bodies into which they descend. - -Aristotle supposes an universal intelligence, acting on particular -intelligences, as light acts upon the eye; and that as light renders -objects visible, so does this universal intelligence render the -others intelligent. - -This philosopher defines the soul as that whereby we live, feel, -think, and move; but he is unsatisfactory as to the nature of that -Being which is the source of its noblest functions. It is needless, -therefore, to search in his writings for a solution of the difficulties -which exist upon this subject. - -Dicearchus, Asclepiades, and Galienus, have also, to a certain extent, -believed that the soul was immaterial, but in a different way from -that already alluded to. They suppose that the soul is nothing else -than the harmony of all the parts of the body: that is, the result -of an exact blending of its elements and disposition of its parts, -its humours, and its essences. Thus, they say, as health is not a part -of that which is healthy, although it is connected with it, so neither -is the soul a part of the animal, although it be within it, but simply -the harmony of all those parts which go to form the containing body. - -On these opinions we must, remark, that their defenders believe -in the immateriality of the soul on self-contradictory principles; -for to maintain that, the soul is not a body, but merely something -inseparably attached to a body, is to say that it is corporeal. We -not only term that corporeal which is a body, but everything which -has form and accident, and which cannot be separated from matter. - -Such are the opinions of those philosophers who maintain that the -soul is incorporeal or immaterial. We see that they are discordant and -contradictory to each other, and consequently little to be heeded as -points of faith. We now come to the opposite party, who have upheld -the doctrine of its materiality. - - - -§ 5. - -Diogenes believed that the soul was composed of air, whence he deduces -the necessity of respiration. He defines it as an air which passes -through the mouth into the pulmonary vessels, whence it becomes warm, -and whence it is distributed to every part of the system. - -Leucippus and Democritus assert that it is fire, and that, like fire, -it is composed of atoms which readily penetrate all parts of the body, -and communicate motion to it. - -Hippocrates said that it was composed of water and of fire. Empedocles -thought that it was compounded of the four elements. Epicurus believed -with Democritus that the soul is composed of fire, but he adds that -there enter into its composition, air, a vapour, and an indescribable -substance, which is the principle of thought. Out of these four -different substances he makes to himself a very subtle spirit, -pervading all the body, and which, he says, we ought to term the soul. - -Descartes reasons also, but in a very wretched manner, that the -soul is not material. I say in a very wretched manner, for never -did philosopher reason so badly on this subject as did this great -man. Here is his argument. He sets outs by saying that he must doubt -in the existence of his own body, believing that there exists no such -thing as a body at all, and then he reasons in this fashion: "There -exists no body; I exist nevertheless: I am therefore not a body, -and consequently I can only be a substance which thinks." Although -this fine reasoning destroys itself sufficiently, I will yet take -the liberty of giving my opinion of it in two words. - -1. The doubt which M. Descartes assumes is indefensible; for although -one may sometimes think that he does not think that he has a body, -it is true nevertheless that he has a body, since he thinks of it. - -2. Whoever believes that there exists no body, ought to be well -assured that he is not one himself; for no one can doubt in his own -existence. If he is assured in this matter, his doubt is useless. - -3. When he says that the soul is a substance which thinks, he tells -us nothing new. Every person agrees in this; but the difficulty is -to ascertain the nature of that substance which thinks, and in this -respect M. Descartes is no wiser than his predecessors. - - - -§ 6. - -That we may not go crooked as he has done, and that we may form the -soundest conception possible of the soul of all animals, without -excepting man, who is of the same nature, and who only exercises -different functions from the difference in his organization, it is -important to attend to the following remarks. - -It is certain that there exists in the universe a very subtle fluid, -a substance extremely attenuated, whose source is the sun, and which -pervades all other bodies, less or more, according to their nature -and their consistence. Such is the soul of the world, which governs -and vivifies it, and of which some portion is distributed to all the -creatures in the universe. [60] - -This soul is the purest fire. It burns not of itself, but by different -movements, which it communicates to the particles of other bodies -into which it enters, it burns and makest its warmth be felt. Our -visible fire contains more of this matter than air; air, more than -water; and earth, considerably less than any of them. Plants have -more of it than minerals, and animals more than either. In fine, -this fire pervading the body renders it capable of thought, and is -that properly termed the soul, although it sometimes receives the -appellation of animal spirits, which permeate the whole body. It is -certain therefore that this soul being of the same nature as that -of animals, is annihilated at the death of man, as it is at that of -the other creatures. It follows that whatever poets and divines have -told us of a future state, is only the chimerical offspring of their -own brain, begotten and nourished by them for purposes which is by -no means difficult to fathom. - - - - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -ON THE SPIRITS CALLED DEMONS - - -§ 1. - -We have explained in another place how the notion of spirits came to -be introduced among men, and proved that they were merely phantoms -which existed only in their disordered imagination. - -The first instructors of mankind were not very explicit in their -"lessons to the million" as to the nature of these phantoms, but they -could not help saying what they thought of them. One class, reflecting -that these shadows melted into thin air and had no consistence, -described them as immaterial or incorporeal, having shapes without -matter, but coloured and defined. At the same time however, they denied -that they were corporeal existences, or that they were coloured or -figured; adding that they could clothe themselves with air as with -a garment, when they wished to become visible to the eye of men. A -second class assert that they were animated bodies, but that they were -composed of air, or some still more subtle matter, which they could -thicken at their pleasure, when they chose to make their appearance. - - - -§ 2. - -If the two sorts of philosophers were opposed to each other in their -opinion as to those shadows, they agreed as to their name, viz., -Demons; in which respect they were as those who, when dreaming, believe -that they see the souls of people departed, and that it is their own -soul which they behold when they look into a mirror--or, in short, -those who can believe that the reflections of the stars which they see -in the water are the souls of the stars themselves. Out of this truly -ridiculous belief they wandered into an era no less absurd; believing -that these phantoms possessed unlimited power--an idea sufficiently -devoid of reason, but current among the ignorant, who suppose that -these beings, whom they know not, can exert a fearful influence. - - - -§ 3. - -This most absurd creed was invented and promulgated by legislators, -in order to support their own authority. They established this -belief in spirits under the name of religion, hoping that the dread -of these invisible powers which the people would entertain, might -keep them to their duty. To give the more weight to their dogma, they -classified those spirits or demons as good and bad; the one species -being intended to stimulate men to the observance of their laws, -and the other to act as a check and prevent their breaking them. - -To ascertain what these demons really were, it is only necessary to -read the works of the Greek poets and historians, and above all, the -Theogany of Hesiod, where he dwells at great length on the origin of -the gods. - - - -§ 4. - -The Greeks invented them. From that people they passed by means of -their colonies into Asia, Egypt, and Italy. In this way the Jews, -who were dispersed in Alexandria and elsewhere became acquainted with -them. They made the same happy use of them as other nations did--with -this difference, that, unlike the Greeks, they did not call them -demons, or regard them as good and bad spirits indifferently. They -considered them all as bad with one single exception, to whom they gave -the name of the Spirit, or God; and they termed those men prophets who -said that they were inspired by the good Spirit. Farther, they viewed -as the operations of this divine Spirit whatever they considered as -a great blessing; and on the other hand, they looked upon whatever -they thought to be a great evil, as proceeding from some cacodemon -or evil spirit. - - - -§ 5. - -This distinction between good and evil led them to the use of -the appellation demoniacs, which they applied to lunatics, madmen, -furious persons, and epileptics, as also to those who made use of "the -unknown tongues." A man deformed and somewhat deranged, was said to be -possessed of an unclean spirit; and a dumb man by a dumb spirit. These -words, spirit and demon, became so familiar to them that they used -them on every occasion. It follows that the Jews believed with the -Greeks, that these phantoms were neither chimerical nor visionary, -but real and substantial agents. - - - -§ 6. - -Hence it is that the Bible is filled with tales of spirits, and demons, -and demoniacs; but in no place of that book is it said how and when -they were created--an omission scarcely pardonable on the part of -Moses, who undertakes to give an account of the creation both of the -heavens and of the earth. Christ who speaks very frequently of angels -and spirits, good and bad, does not inform us whether they are material -or immaterial. This makes it evident that both of them were ignorant -of the fact that the Greeks had instructed their ancestors in this -strange belief. Were the case otherwise, Jesus Christ would be no less -culpable for his silence on the subject, than he is for his refusal -to grant to the majority of the human race, that grace, that faith, -and that piety, which he assures them it is in his power to bestow. - -But to return to the subject of Spirits. It is certain these words -Demons, Satan, Devil, are only proper names intended to apply to any -obnoxious individual of our own species; and that, at no period did -any but the most ignorant believe in their existence, either amongst -the Greeks who invented, or the Jews who adopted the terms. After -the latter became infected with such notions, they applied these -words which signify enemy, accuser, and destroyer, at one time to -invisible Powers, and at another, to those which are visible. Thus, -they declared of the Gentiles, that their dwelling was in the kingdom -of Satan; there being none other than themselves (by their own account -of the matter) who dwelt in the kingdom of God. - - - -§ 7. - -Jesus Christ being a Jew, and consequently imbued with these opinions, -we need not be surprised when we meet in the gospels and the writing -of his disciples the words Devil, Satan, and Hell, as if they were -anything real or substantive. We have showed before that there can be -nothing more chimerical; but although what was said might suffice to -satisfy rational men, we are not the less necessitated to add a few -words, in an attempt to convince the bigotted. - -All Christians agree that God is the source of everything; that -he created all things--that he sustains them, and that without his -support they would drop into annihilation.--From these principles, -it is certain that he created that being whom they call the Devil, or -Satan. Whether he were created good or evil is nothing to the argument; -he is incontestibly the work of the great Head, and if he continue -to exist, all wicked as they represent him to be, it must only be at -the good pleasure of God. Now, how is it possible to conceive that God -would preserve one of his creatures, who not only hates him mortally, -and blasphemes him without end, but who sets himself to seduce the -friends of the Almighty for the sole purpose of mortifying him. How -is it possible, I repeat, that God can permit this Devil to exist, -who turns aside from his worship the favored and the elect, and who -would dethrone him were it in his power? - -This is what we wish to say in speaking of God, or rather in -speaking of the Devil and Hell. If God is almighty, and if nothing -can happen without his permission, how comes it that the devil hates -him, blasphemes him, and seduces his worshippers? The Deity either -consents to this or he does not. If he consents to it, the Devil -in blaspheming him is only doing his duty, since he can do nothing -but what God wishes, and consequently it is not the Devil, but God -himself who blasphemes himself,--a fearfully absurd supposition. If -he does not consent to it he cannot be omnipotent, and there must -be two principles, the one of good, and the other of evil--the one -aiming at one thing, and the other at its direct opposite. - -To what then leads our reasoning? To this; that neither God, -nor the Devil, nor Paradise, nor Hell, nor the Soul, are such as -religion has represented them to be, and as most reverend divines -have maintained. These latter sell their fables for truths, being -people of bad faith who abuse the credulity of the ignorant by making -them believe whatever they please; as if the vulgar were absolutely -unfitted to hear the truth and could be nourished by nothing but -those absurdities, in which a rational mind can only discover a vast -of nothing, and a waste of folly. - -The world has been long infected with these most absurd opinions, -yet in every age men have been found--truth-loving men--who have -striven against the absurdities of their day. This little treatise has -been written from like motives, and in it the lovers of truth will -doubtless meet with some things satisfactory. It is to them that I -appeal, caring little for the opinion of those who substitute their -own prejudices in place of infallible oracles. - - - Happy the man, who, studying Nature's laws, - Through known effects can trace the secret cause; - His mind possessing in a quiet state, - Fearless of Fortune, and resigned to Fate. - - Dryden's Translation of Virgil, Georgics, Book II. l. 700. - - - - - - - -NOTES - - -[1] Daniel George Morof, who died suddenly on the 30th of June 1691. - -[2] Librum de tribus impostoribus absit ut Papæ tribuam, aut Papæ -oppugnatoribus; jam olim inimici Frederici Barbarossæ Imperatoris -famam sparserant libri talis, quasi jussu ipsius scripti, sed ab eo -tempore, nemo est qui viderit; quare fabulam esse arbitror. - -[3] Apud Nevizanum 1. Sylvae nupt. 2. n. 121. - -[4] Doubtless Averroes here alludes to that law of Mahomet -which wisely prohibits the use of pork in a hot and pestilential -climate.--Translator's Note. - -[5] Disseminavit iste impius haereticus in Hispania, [such is the -language made use of by Alvaro Pelagius], quod tres deceptores fuerunt -in mundo, scilicet, Moises, qui decepterat Judaeos, et Christus, -qui decepterat Christianos, et Mahometus, qui decepit Sarrazenos. - -[6] Et sic falsa est Porphirii sententia, qui dixit tres fuisse -garrulatores qui totum mundum ad se converterunt; primus fuit Moises -in populo Judaico, secundus Mahometus, tertius Christus. - -[7] Qui in quæstionem vertere presumunt, dicentes; quis in hec mundo -majorem gentium aut populorum sequelam habuit, an Christus, an Moises, -an Mahometus? - -[8] Every classical scholar must have heard of the demon -of Socrates. The belief in the existence of such agencies was -sufficiently prevalent in the East 2000 years ago, and the Jews were -in this respect, as credulous as their neighbors. We read in Acts, -c. iv. v. 7, that the leaders of the Sanhedrim enquired of the Apostle -Peter, "By what power or by what name, have ye done this;" evidently -acknowledging their belief that it was possible to work miracles by -the invocation of some mysterious power. The Apostle, himself a Jew, -seems to understand their creed; but he answers them in a way for -which they were not altogether prepared.--Translator's Note. - -[9] Ædeficabat sine pecunia, judicabat sine conscientia, scribebat -sine scientia. - -[10] Non Blandratum, non Alciatum, non Ochinum ad Mahotnetismum -impulerunt; non Valleum ad atheismi professionem induxerunt; non alium -quemdam ad spargendum libellum de tribus impostoribus, quorum secundus -esset Christus Dominus, duo alii Moises et Mahometes, pellexerunt. - -[11] Vincentii Panurgii epistola tribus impostoribus, ad clarissimum -virum Joannem--Baptistam Morinum Medicum. - -[12] Isaac de Peyrere published his Pre-Adamite doctrine in 1655. This -set of fanatics, who were persuaded by their lenders that the general -race of mankind had lost nothing of their innocence by the fall of -Adam, made their appearance, (both men and women) in the streets of -Munster, and elsewhere, in the same robeless condition as our first -parents were, when they wandered in the bowers of Paradise before -the eating of that forbidden fruit, which - - - "Brought death into the world and all our woe." - - -The magistrates of the city attempted to put them down but failed; -and the military had some difficulty in extinguishing this -absurdity.--Translator's Note. - -[13] Monstrum illud hominis, diis inferis a secretis scelus, nefarii -illius tractatus de tribus impostoribus author quantumvis ab omni -Religione alienus, adeo ut nec Judaeus, nec Turca, nec Christianus -fuerit, plane tamen athoeus non erat. - -[14] Consult Bayle's Dictionary on this subject, article, "Trabea." - -[15] Quid vel hac sola dubitatione in Christiana schola cogitara -potest perniciosius? - -[16] Nefarium tillud rium impostorum commentum sen liber contra -Christum, Moisem et Mahometan Capomi nuper ab illis qui Evangelo -Calvini so adductissimos profitentur typis excussus est. - -[17] Hinc Boccaccius in fabellis probare contendit non posse discerni -inter legem Christi, Moisis et Mahometis, quia eadem signa habent -uti tres annuli consimiles. - -[18] F. I. S. D. namely, Fredericus Imperator Salutem Dicit Othoni -illustrissimo amico meo carrissimo. - -[19] Quod de tribus famosissimis nationum deceptoribus in ordinem -jussu meo digessit doctissimus ille vir quorum sermonem de illa re in -museo meo habustiæ exscribi curavi; atque Codicem illum stylo aeque -vero ac puro scriptum ad te quam primum mitto; etenum, &c. - -[20] There is a measure in every thing. - -[21] This phrase is frequently employed to express ecclesiastical -criticism. Its first application however had a more pungent -meaning.--The individual here alluded to having boldly assailed the -errors of the Church was attacked one evening by an assassin. -Fortunately the blow did not prove fatal; but the weapon (a stylus, -or dagger, which is also the Latin name for a pen) having been left -in the wound--on his recovery he wore it in his girdle labelled, -"The Theological Stylus," or Pen of the Church. The trenchant powers -of this instrument have more frequently been employed to repress truth, -than to refute argument. - -[22] Moses put to death in one day 24,000 men, because they resisted -his laws. - -[23] We read in the Book of Kings, chap. xxii, v. 6, that Ahab, -the King of Israel consulted 400 prophets who were all false, as the -result of their vaticinations showed. - -[24] Genesis, chap. iv, v. 7. - -[25] I. Samuel chap. xv, v. 11. - -[26] Jeremiah, chap. xviii, v. 10. - -[27] Cætera, quæ fieri in terris, Coeloque tuentur - Mortales pavidis cum pendent mentibus sæpe - Efficiunt animos humiles formidine Divum, - Depressosque premunt ad terram, propterea quod - Ignorantia causarum conferre Deorum - Cogit ad imperium res, et concedere regnum: et - Quorum operum causas nulla ratione videre - Possunt hæc fieri Divino numine rentur. - - Lucret. de Rer. Nat. Lib. VI. v. 49 et seq. - -[28] "What appears to our limited conceptions to be evil or apparently -unjust, is entirely owing to our having no commensurate ideas either -of the goodness or the justice of the Deity."--Bolingbroke's Works, -Vol. iv, p. 117.--Translator's Note. - -[29] Acts, chap. xvii, v. 28. - -[30] "Qui autem negabit Deum esse corpus, etsi Deus Spiritus?" Tertul -adv. Prax. cap. vii. - -[31] These four Councils were, First, that of Nice, (325) under -Constantine and Pope Sylvester: Second, that of Constantinople, 381, -under Gratian, Valentinian, Theodosius, and Pope Damasus: Third, that -of Ephesus, 431, under Theodosius II, Valentinian, and Pope Celestin: -and Fourth, that of Chalcedon, 451, under Valentinian, Marcianus, -and Pope Leo I. - -[32] The Talmud informs us that the Rabbis deliberated whether they -ought not to strike from the list of Canonical writings the books -of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, and that they only spared them because -they made favourable mention of Moses and his law. The prophecies of -Ezekiel (which the Jews were not permitted to read until they were -thirty years of age) would to a certainty have been expunged from the -sacred Catalogue, if a learned Rabbi had not undertaken to reconcile -them with the same Law. - -[33] Consult Hobbes' Leviathan "De Homine," chap. xli, pages 56, -57 and 58. - -[34] Philip of Macedon had sent auxiliaries and money to Hannibal in -Africa. "Infensos Philippo, ob auxilia cum pecunia nuper in Africam -missu Annibale." Levy, Book xxxi. chap. 1.--Translator's Note. - -[35] Hobbe's Leviathan, "De Homine," chap. xii, pp. 56 and 57. - -[36] Hobbes, ubi supra "De Homine," chap. xii. pages 58 and 59. - -[37] This word must not be taken in its usual acceptation. What -rational men understand by the term is a dexterous man, an able -cheat, and a master of jugglery, which requires great readiness and -address; and not by any means a person in compact with the Devil as -the vulgar suppose. - -[38] "And he said, Leave us not, I pray thee; for as much as thou -knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou mayest be -to us instead of eyes."--Num. chap. x, v. 31. - -[39] Exodus iv. 16. - -[40] When Romulus was reviewing his forces in the plain of Caprae, here -suddenly arose a thunder-storm, during which he was enveloped in so -thick a cloud that he was lost to the view of his army; nor thereafter -on this earth was Romulus seen.--Liv. 1. I. c. 16.--Translator's note. - -[41] Hobbes' Leviathan; de homine, chap. xii. pp. 59 and 60. - -[42] It is recorded by Livy, that "there is a grove, through which -flowed a perennial stream, taking its origin in a dark cave, in which -Numa was accustomed to meet the goddess, and receive instructions as -to his political and religions institutions."--Liv. 1. I. c. 21. - -[43] Qu'un beau Pigeon a tire d'aile - Vienne obom brer une Purcelle, - Rien n'est sur prenant en cela; - L'on en vit autant en Lydie. - Et le beau Cygne de Leda - Vaut bien le Pigeon de Marie. - -[44] I. Samuel, chap. viii. vs. 5 and 6. - -[45] The Gospel according to John, chap. viii. v. 7. - -[46] Matthew's Gospel, chap. xxii. v. 21. - -[47] Matthew's Gospel, chap. xxi. v. 27. - -[48] Saint Paul, Hebrews, chap. viii. v. 13 speaks in these terms: -"In that he saith a new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that -which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away."--Translator's -note. - -[49] This was the opinion of Pope Leo X. as appears from an expression -of his, which, considering that it was made use of at a time when -the philosophical spirit of inquiry had made little progress, was -remarkably bold. "It has been well known in all ages," he observed -to Cardinal Beinbo, "how much this fable of Jesus Christ has been -profitable to us and ours." Quantum nobis nostrisque sa de Christo -fabula profuerit, satis est omnibus saeculis notum. - -[50] Confessions, 1. VII. c. ix. v. 28. - -[51] See the discourse of Aristophanes, in the "Banquet of Plato." - -[52] Luke's Gospel, chap. xvi. v. 24. - -[53] "The City of God," book I. chap. xiv. - -[54] Orig. adv. Cels. 1. VIII. chap. iv. Compare with, Matthew, -chap. xix. v. 24. - -[55] Op. adv. Jorin. 1. II. chap. viii.--"In indication of their -refusal to take an oath, the Society of Friends quote the words -of Christ, "Swear not at all;" unaware, or overlooking, that this -expression is descriptive of a state of social perfection, when the -word of a man will be as good as his oath. Many others of Christ's -precepts besides this are unobserved by Christians, such as 'Lay not -up for yourselves treasures on earth,' 'Give to every one that asketh, -and from him that would borrow of you turn not thou away.' The morality -of Christ is a beau ideal so far from being realized, that there is -not even a similitude of it in the Christian world. The Quakers who -vauntingly obey this precept regarding oaths, has no hesitation in -breaking the other precepts respecting the hoarding of money, and -refusing to give it away."--Translator's Note. - -[56] St. Paul. - -[57] "I can believe," observes the Count de Boulainvilliers, -"that Mahomet was ignorant of the common elements of education. But -assuredly he was not ignorant in respect to that vast knowledge which -a far travelled man of great natural powers may acquire. He was not -ignorant of his native tongue, although he could not read it, being -master of all its subtleness and all its beauties. He was thoroughly -qualified to render hateful whatever was truly blameworthy, and to -paint truth in colours so simple and vivid, that it was impossible -to misunderstand it. All that he has said is true, as regards the -essential dogmas of Religion; but he has not said all that is true, -and in this respect alone does our religion differ from his." Farther -on he adds, that "Mahomet was neither ignorant nor a barbarian; he -conducted his enterprise with all the skill, delicacy, perseverance, -and intrepidity, which was necessary to ensure its success. His views -were as lofty as any which Alexander the Great, or Julius Cæsar, -were capable of entertaining, had they been in his position."--Life -of Mahomet by Count de Boulainvilliers, book II. pp. 266-8. Amsterdam -edit. 1731. - -[58] Genesis chap. xxviii. v. 18. - -[59] Omnis enim per se divum natura necesse est - Immortali aevo summa cum pace fruatur, - Semota ab nostris rebus, sejunctaque longe; - Nam privata dolore omni, privata periclis - Ipsa suis pollens opibus: nihil indiga nostri, - Nec bene promeritis capitur, nec tangitur ira. - - Lucretius de Rerum Nat. Book I. v. 57, and following. - -[60] If a work be translated, it always receives a colouring, which -is more or less faint or vivid according to the opinions and ability -of the Translator.--Volney's Lectures on History. - - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Three Impostors, by -Anonymous and Jean Maximilien Lucas - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE THREE IMPOSTORS *** - -***** This file should be named 50534-8.txt or 50534-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/0/5/3/50534/ - -Produced by Jeroen Hellingman and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net/ for Project -Gutenberg (This file was produced from images generously -made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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