The votaries of Christ would like to make us regard as a miracle the
establishment of their religion, which is in every respect contrary to
nature, opposed to all the inclinations of the heart, an enemy to
physical pleasures. But the austerity of a doctrine has a tendency to
render it more wonderful to the ignorant. The same reason which makes us
respect, as Divine and supernatural, inconceivable mysteries, causes us
to admire, as Divine and supernatural, a morality impracticable and
beyond the power of man. To admire morals and to practice them, are two
very different things. All the Christians continually admire the morals
of the Gospel, but it is practiced but by a small number of saints;
admired by people who themselves avoid imitating their conduct, under
the pretext that they are lacking either the power or the grace.
The whole universe is infected more or less with a religious morality
which is founded upon the opinion that to please the Deity it is
necessary to render one's self unhappy upon earth. We see in all parts
of our globe penitents, hermits, fakirs, fanatics, who seem to have
studied profoundly the means of tormenting themselves for the glory of a
Being whose goodness they all agree in celebrating. Religion, by its
essence, is the enemy of joy and of the welfare of men. "Blessed are
those who suffer!" Woe to those who have abundance and joy! These are
the rare revelations which Christianity teaches!