Any man who reflects can not fail of knowing his duties, of discovering
the relations which subsist between men, of meditating upon his own
nature, of discerning his needs, his inclinations, and his desires, and
of perceiving what he owes to the beings necessary to his own happiness.
These reflections naturally lead to the knowledge of the morality which
is the most essential for society. Every man who loves to retire within
himself in order to study and seek for the principles of things, has no
very dangerous passions; his greatest passion will be to know the truth,
and his greatest ambition to show it to others. Philosophy is beneficial
in cultivating the heart and the mind. In regard to morals, has not he
who reflects and reasons the advantage over him who does not reason?
If ignorance is useful to priests and to the oppressors of humanity, it
is very fatal to society. Man, deprived of intelligence, does not enjoy
the use of his reason; man, deprived of reason and intelligence, is a
savage, who is liable at any moment to be led into crime. Morality, or
the science of moral duties, is acquired but by the study of man and his
relations. He who does not reflect for himself does not know true
morals, and can not walk the road of virtue. The less men reason, the
more wicked they are. The barbarians, the princes, the great, and the
dregs of society, are generally the most wicked because they are those
who reason the least. The religious man never reflects, and avoids
reasoning; he fears examination; he follows authority; and very often an
erroneous conscience makes him consider it a holy duty to commit evil.
The incredulous man reasons, consults experience, and prefers it to
prejudice. If he has reasoned justly, his conscience becomes clear; he
finds more real motives for right-doing than the religious man, who has
no motives but his chimeras, and who never listens to reason. Are not
the motives of the incredulous man strong enough to counterbalance his
passions? Is he blind enough not to recognize the interests which should
restrain him? Well! he will be vicious and wicked; but even then he will
be no worse and no better than many credulous men who, notwithstanding
religion and its sublime precepts, continue to lead a life which this
very religion condemns. Is a credulous murderer less to be feared than a
murderer who does not believe anything? Is a religious tyrant any less a
tyrant than an irreligious one?