It does not appear, as we have already observed, that the Jews had
any precise ideas of the Holy Ghost similar to those of the Christian
theologians. Moreover there is reason to believe, that the Apostles had
not yet imagined such subtle notions of it, as the church has invented
since their time. Amongst the Hebrews, every man who, during his sleep,
had dreams, every enthusiast who had, or pretended to have visions,
believed himself inspired by the Lord, or at least gave himself out as
such. He regarded the fancies of his brain, as warnings from heaven; he
delivered his pious nonsense as oracles to credulous hearers, who did
not doubt for an instant, that the unintelligible delirium of these
harangues, was the effect of some divine illumination from the Almighty.
As in dreams, madness, in ebriation, in enthusiasm, man does not appear
master of himself, they believed that what he uttered in these divers
states must, of necessity, spring, from some supernatural force acting
in him, without his knowledge, and in spite of himself; the sentences
and discourse, which issued from his mouth, were regarded as
inspirations from on high, and received as divine commands. Their
obscurity only served to excite curiosity, redouble terror, and confuse
the imagination. It was supposed that God, who spoke by these demoniacs,
did not choose to express himself in a clearer manner.
These reflections founded upon the nature of credulous, ignorant, and
superstitious men, may serve to fix our ideas of so many prophets and
jugglers, that we see play such a prominent part, not only in Jewish
history, but in all Pagan antiquity, and even among all savage and
uninformed people that are now scattered over the globe. The trade of
prophesying, appears to have been very lucrative and respectable amongst
the Jews, a people degraded by superstition, and whose priests always
took care to keep them in a state of profound ignorance, and credulity,
well-suited for the ends of those who sought to direct them after
their own fancies. Whoever desired to gain the attention of the Jews,
announced himself as inspired, threatened or promised them in the name
of the Lord, prophesied to them of evils calculated to intimidate, or
of happy events which seduced them into belief. To draw the attention of
the public, and frequently to produce revolutions in the state, it was
enough for a prophet to say gravely, that the Lord had spoken to him;
and assure them that heaven had intrusted him with its designs in a
vision; thus the brains of the Jews were put into a fermentation. The
Apostles desirous of establishing reform, or exciting a revolution, in
men's minds, felt the necessity of conforming to the prevailing liste of
the nation. In consequence they erected themselves into prophets,
gave themselves out for inspired, spoke in an obscure manner, uttered
oracles, predicted the end of the world, they preached a messiah, they
announced a kingdom in which their followers would enjoy a happiness,
which their subjugated country had long since been deprived of. In short
to prove the truth of their predictions, and the legitimacy of their
mission, they performed miracles, i.e. works calculated to astonish so
credulous a people as the Jews.
The Jews, however, in spite of all their ignorance, did not suffer
themselves to be convinced by either the harangues and miracles of
Jesus, nor by the preachings and prodigies of his Apostles. All their
efforts failed against the hardness of heart of a people so often the
dupe of the numberless inspired who had so successfully deceived them.
There is then reason to think that Jesus and his disciples did not
perform their part well, or else that in their time, the Jews become
more cautious, had not so much faith as their ancestors had formerly
exhibited. Indeed we do not find that the first preachers of
Christianity made much impression upon their fellow citizens; they had
much more success, and Paul especially amongst idolators, for whom their
enthusiastic harangues, their preachings, and miracles was a more novel
spectacle. Amongst the Gentiles preaching was an unknown thing, the
people was held in disdain by the priests; each formed such ideas of
religion as he choose, there was no theological system that they were
compelled to adopt; in short, with the exception of Esculapius, the Gods
worked but few miracles for their worshippers.
Thus, as we have already observed, circumstances were favourable for the
mission of our Apostle amongst the Gentiles; they were more disposed
to listen than the Jews, and to regard him who performed such wonders
before them, as an extraordinary man favoured by heaven. In fact St.
Paul gave himself out for such. And how can we doubt the veracity of a
man who performs miracles? It was then necessary to give him credit;
and without having seen these miracles we believe the same thing, and
especially his divine inspiration, upon the authority of the writings,
attributed to him, and upon the word of him who has transmitted to us
an account of his actions in the Acts of the Apostles, works which the
church enjoins us to regard as divinely inspired. It would be, I think,
useless to make any long reflections on the validity of the titles of
the church, and the right, that the writings which she has adopted have
to the claim of divine inspiration. It is enough to remark, that if we
admit those titles and rights, we have no reason to refuse also to admit
those of any man, or body of men, which shall give themselves out as
divinely inspired. If, on the word of Paul, we believe that he was
inspired, why shall we not have the same deference for the word of
Mahomet, who pretended to be the sent of the most high? If, after the
decision of the Christian church, we regard the books contained in
the New Testament as dictated by the Holy Ghost; what right have we to
refuse our assent to the decision of the body of Imans and Mollahs,
that the Koran was revealed by the angel Gabriel to Mahomet? if it be
permitted to one man, or body of men, to invest themselves with titles,
and at the same time forbid the titles to be investigated, we shall be
obliged to admit all the reveries, extravagancies, and fables that we
see spread over the various countries of the earth. Priests every where
show us books, which they say were inspired by the divinity, and weak
and silly people adore and and follow without examination books thus
announced. All religions in the world are founded upon sacred hooks
which contain the divine will, and whose truth is proved by miracles.