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.