§ 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.