We have seen, in the preceding chapters, what just reasons there are to
doubt the authenticity of the revelation of the Jews and Christians.
And further, relative to this article, Christianity has no advantage
over any other religion.
All the religions on earth, notwithstanding their discordance, declare
that they have emanated from God, and pretend to possess an exclusive
right to his favours.
The Indian asserts, that the Brama himself is the author of his worship.
The Scandinavian derives his from the awful Odin. If the Jew and the
Christian have received theirs from Jehovah by the ministry of Moses and
Jesus, the Mahometan affirms, that he has received his from his prophet,
inspired by the same God. Thus, all religions pretend to a divine
origin; and they all interdict the use of reason in the examination
of their sacred titles. Each pretends to be the only true one, to the
exclusion of all others. All menace with the wrath of heaven those who
refuse to submit to their authority, and all acquire the character of
falsehood by the palpable contradictions with which they are filled; by
the mis-shapen, obscure, and often odious ideas which they give of the
Godhead; by the whimsical laws which they attribute to him, and by the
disputes which they generate among their sectaries. In fine, they all
appear to be a mass of impostures and reveries, equally disgusting to
reason. Thus, on the score of pretensions, the Christian religion has no
advantage over the other superstitions with which the world is infected;
and its divine origin is contested by all others with as much propriety
as theirs is denied by it.
How then shall we decide in its favour? How prove the validity of its
pretensions? Has it any superior qualities, by which it merits the
preference? And if so, what are they? Does it, better than any other,
make us acquainted with the nature and essence of God? Alas! it only
renders them more incomprehensible. It represents him as a capricious
tyrant, whose whimsies are sometimes favourable, but more commonly
injurious to mankind. Does it render mankind better? Alas! it arms them
against each other, renders them intolerant, and forces them to butcher
their brethren. Does it render empires flourishing and powerful?
Wherever it reigns, do we not see the people debased, destitute of
energy, and ignorant of true morality? What then are the proofs which
are to establish the superiority of the Christian religion over all
others? We are answered, "miracles, prophecies, and martyrs." But these
are to be found in all religions of the earth. There are in all nations
men, who, being superior to the vulgar in science and cunning, deceive
them with imposture, and dazzle them with performances which are judged
to be supernatural, by men ignorant of the secrets of nature and the
resources of art.
If the Jew cite the miracles of Moses, I see them performed before a
people most ignorant, abject, and credulous, whose testimony has no
weight with me.
I may, also, suspect that these pretended miracles have been inserted in
the sacred books of the Hebrews long after the death of those who
might have testified the truth concerning them. If the Christians cite
Jerusalem, and the testimony of Gallilee, to prove the miracles of
Christ, I see them attested only by an ignorant populace; or I demand
how it could be possible that an entire people, who had been witnesses
to the miracles of Christ, should consent to his death, and even
earnestly demand it? Would the people of London, or Paris, suffer a man
who had raised the dead, restored the blind to sight, and healed the
lame and paralytic, to be put to death before their eyes? If the Jews
demanded the death of Jesus, all his miracles are at once annihilated in
the mind of every unprejudiced person.
May not we, also, oppose to the miracles of Moses, and Christ, those
performed by Mahomet in presence of all Mecca and Arabia assembled? The
effect of his miracles was, at least, to convince the Arabians that
he was a divine person. The miracles of Jesus convinced nobody of his
mission. Saint Paul himself, who afterwards became the most ardent of
his disciples, was not convinced by the miracles, of which, in his
time, there existed so many witnesses. A new one was necessary for
his conviction. And by what right do they at this day demand belief of
miracles; which could not convince even in the time of the Apostles;
that is to say, a short time after they were wrought?
Let it not be said that the miracles of Christ are as well attested as
any fact in profane history, and that to doubt them is as ridiculous as
to doubt the existence, of Scipio or Cæsar, which we believe only on the
report of the historians by whom they are mentioned. The existence of a
man, of the general of an army, or an hero, is not improbable; neither
is it a miracle.1 We believe the probable facts, whilst we reject,
with contempt, the miracles recounted by Titus Livius. The most stupid
credulity is often joined to the most distinguished talents. Of this,
the Christian religion furnishes us with innumerable examples. In
matters of religion, all testimony is liable to suspicion. The most
enlightened men see but ill, when they are intoxicated with enthusiasm,
and dazzled by the chimeras of a wild imagination. A miracle is a thing
impossible in the order of nature. If this be changed by God, he is not
immutable.
It will probably be said, that, without changing, the order of things,
God and his favourites could not find resources in nature unknown
to mankind in general. But then their works would no longer be
supernatural, and would have nothing of the marvellous. A miracle is
an effect contrary to the established laws of nature. God himself,
therefore, cannot perform miracles without counteracting the
institutions, of his own wisdom A wise man, having seen a miracle, might
with propriety doubt the evidence of his own senses. He ought carefully
to examine, whether, the extraordinary effect, which he does not
comprehend, proceeds not from some natural cause, whose manner of acting
he does not understand.
1 A supernatural event requires, in order to be believed,
much stronger proofs than a fact in no-wise contradictory to
probability. It is easy to believe, upon the testimony of
Philostrates, that Appollonius existed, because his
existence has nothing in it that shocks reason; but I will
not believe Philostrates, when he tells me, that Appollonius
performed miracles. I believe that Jesus Christ died; but I
do not believe that he arose from the dead.
But let us suppose, for a moment, that miracles may exist, and that
those of Christ were real, or, at least, that they were inserted in the
Gospels by persons who imagined they had seen them. Are the witnesses
who transmitted, or the Apostles who saw them, extremely deserving of
credit? And have we not a right to refuse their testimonies? Were
those witnesses very deserving men? By the confession of the Christians
themselves they were ignorant men, taken from the dregs of the people,
and consequently credulous and incapable of investigation. Were those
witnesses disinterested? No; it was, undoubtedly, their chief interest
to support those miracles, upon which were suspended the divinity of
their master, and the truth of the religion they were endeavouring to
establish. Are those miracles confirmed by the testimony of cotemporary
historians? Not one of them has mentioned those extraordinary facts. We
find not a single Jew or Pagan in the superstitious city of Jerusalem
who heard even a word of the most marvellous facts that ever were
recorded, and facts which happened in the midst of them. The miracles
of Christ were ever attested by Christians only. We are requested to
believe that, at the death of the Son of God, the earth quaked, the
sun was darkened, and the dead arose. How does it happen that such
extraordinary events have been noticed only by a handful of Christians?
Were they the only persons who perceived them? We are told, also, that
Christ arose from the dead; to prove which, they appeal to the testimony
of his Apostles and followers. Would not one solemn apparition, in some
public place, have been more decisive than all those clandestine ones,
made to persons interested in the formation of a new sect? The Christian
faith, according to St. Paul, is founded on the resurrection of Christ.
This, then, ought to have been demonstrated to mankind, in the clearest
and most indisputable manner.1
1 The Barilidians and Corinthians, heretics who lived in the
infancy of Christianity, maintained that Jesus was not dead,
and that Simon the Cyrenian was crucified in his place. See
Epiph. Haer. c. 28. Thus, there were men, from the birth of
the church, who doubted the crucifixion, and, consequently,
the resurrection of Christ; and yet we are exhorted to
believe them at the present day.
Have we not room to accuse the Saviour of the world with want of
benevolence, in shewing himself only to his disciples and favourites? It
seems that he did not desire that all the world should believe in him.
The Jews, it is said, deserve to be blinded for putting Christ to
death. But, if this be the case, why did the apostles preach to them the
gospel? Could it be expected that the Jews would believe the report of
the apostles, rather than their own eyes?
Miracles appear to have been invented to supply the want of good
reasons. Truth and evidence have no need of miracles to ensure their
reception. Is it not very astonishing that God Almighty should find
it easier to derange the order of nature, than to convince mankind of
truths the most evident, and calculated to force their assent? Miracles
were made to prove things which it is impossible to believe. There is
no need of miracles when we talk of reason. Things incredible are here
adduced in proof of incredible things. Almost all impostors who have
fabricated religions, have announced incredibilities to mankind. They
have afterwards fabricated miracles in proof of those incredibilities.
"You cannot comprehend," said they, "what I tell you; but I will clearly
prove to you that I tell the truth, by doing things that you cannot
comprehend." People have in all ages been overcome by this brilliant
reasoning. A passion for the marvellous has prevented enquiry. Mankind
have not perceived that miracles could neither prove impossibilities,
nor change the essence of truth. Whatever wonders a man, or, if you
please, a God may perform, they can never prove that two and two are
not four, or that three are no more than one. They cannot prove that
an immaterial being, destitute of organs, has spoken to man; or that
a good, wise, and just Being has commanded the execution of injustice,
folly, and cruelty. It appears, therefore, that miracles prove nothing,
unless it be the address and impostures of those who are desirous of
profiting by the stupid credulity of mankind, and endeavour to seduce
them into a belief of the most extravagant falsehoods. Such men have
always began by falsely pretending to have an intimate commerce with
God, in order to prove which, they have performed wonders that they
attribute to the Being by whom they say they were commissioned. Every
man, who performs miracles, endeavours to establish, not truth, but
falsehood. Truth is simple and evident; the marvellous is ever to be
suspected. Nature is always true to herself; she acts by unvarying
laws. To say that God performs miracles, is to say that he contradicts
himself, and violates the laws which he has prescribed to nature. It is
to say, that he renders useless human reason, of which he is the author.
Impostors alone can pronounce it necessary to discredit experience and
reject reason.
Thus, the pretended miracles of the Christian, as well as all other
religions, have no foundation, but the ignorance, credulity, and
enthusiasm of mankind, and the cunning of impostors. The same may be
said of prophecies. Mankind are ever anxious to pry into futurity;
and there are always some kind individuals disposed to aid them in the
gratification of this desire. There have been enchanters, diviners,
and prophets, in all the nations of the earth. The Jews have not been
happier, in this respect, than others. Tartars, Negroes, and Indians
have their share of impostors, All societies will find deceivers enough,
so long as they are willing to pay for deception.
These inspired men have not been ignorant, that their prophecies ought
to be extremely vague and ambiguous, in order that they might not, in
process of time, appear to have been falsehoods. We need not, therefore,
be surprised, that the Jewish prophecies are very dark, and of such a
nature, that any thing may be found in them which interpreters think
proper to seek. Those which are attributed to Christ, by his followers,
are not considered in the same light by the Jews, who still expect
the Messiah, whom the former believe to have been on earth eighteen
centuries ago. The Jewish prophecies uniformly announce the deliverer of
a discontented and oppressed nation. Such a one was also expected by
the Romans, and almost all the nations of the earth. All mankind have a
natural propensity to hope for a termination of the evils they suffer,
and believe that Providence cannot, in justice, fail to render them, one
day, happy. The Jews, the most superstitious nation on earth, building
upon the supposed promise of their God, have always expected the coming
of a monarch or conqueror, who is to elevate them from disgrace,
and crown them with triumph. It was impossible for them to see this
deliverer in the person of Jesus, who, instead of being the restorer of
the Hebrew nation, was its destroyer; and since whose coming, they seem
to have lost all favour with God.
It is asserted, that the destruction of the Jewish nation, and the
dispersion of the Jews, were themselves foretold, and that they furnish
a convincing proof of the truth of Christian prophecy. To this I answer,
it was easy to foretel the dispersion and destruction of a restless,
turbulent, and rebellious people, continually torn and convulsed by
intestine divisions. Besides, this people was often conquered and
dispersed. The temple destroyed by Titus, had previously suffered the
same fate from Nebuchadnezzar, who carried the captive tribes into
Assyria, and spread them through his territories. The dispersion of the
Jews is more perceptible than that of other conquered nations, because
they have generally, after a certain time, become confounded with
their conquerors; whereas the Jews refuse to intermingle, by domestic
connections, with the nations where they reside, and have religiously
maintained this distinction. It is not the same with the Cuebres or
Parsis, of Persia and Indostan, as well as the Armenians, who dwell
in Mahometan countries. The Jews remain dispersed, because they are
unsocial, intolerant, and blindly attached to their superstitions.1
Thus Christians have no reason to boast of the prophecies contained in
the books of the Jews, nor to make invidious applications of them to
that nation, because they detest its religion.
Judea was always subjected to priests, who had great influence over
affairs of state. They were always meddling with politics, and undertook
to foretel the events, fortunate or unfortunate, which were to befal the
nation. No country was ever more fertile in prophets.
This description of men instituted schools, where they initiated into
the mysteries of their art those who proved themselves worthy of that
honour, by discovering a wish to deceive a credulous people, and by such
honest means acquire riches and respect.2
The art of prophesying was then an actual profession, or an useful and
profitable branch of commerce in that miserable nation, which believed
God to be incessantly busied in their affairs. The great gains resulting
from this traffic of imposture must have caused divisions among the
Jewish prophets. Accordingly, we find them crying down each other. Each
one treated his rivals as false prophets, inspired by evil spirits.
There have always been quarrels among impostors, to decide who should
have the exclusive right of deceiving mankind.
1 The Acts of the Apostles evidently prove, that, even
before the time of Jesus, the Jews began to be dispersed.
Jews came from Greece, Persia, Arabia, &c. to the feast of
Pentecost. Acts, c. ii. 8. So that, after Jesus, the
inhabitants of Judea only were dispersed by the Romans.
2 Saint Jerome says, that the Sadducees did not adopt the
prophets, but contented themselves with believing the five
books of Moses. Dodwell, De Jure Laicorum, asserts, that the
prophets prepared themselves to prophesy by drinking wine.
See page 259. It seems they were jugglers, poets, and
musicians, who had made themselves masters of their trades,
and knew how to exercise them profitably.
If we examine the conduct of the boasted prophets of the Old Testament,
we shall find them far from being virtuous persons. We see arrogant
priests continually meddling with affairs of state, and interweaving
them with religion. We see in them seditious subjects, incessantly
caballing against all sovereigns, who were not sufficiently submissive
to them. They cross their projects, excite their subjects to rebellion,
effect their destruction, and thus accomplish the fatal predictions,
which they had before made against them.1 Such is the character of most
of the prophets, who have played a part in the history of the Jews.
The studied obscurity of the prophecies is such, that those which are
commonly applied to the Messiah, or the deliverer of Israel, are equally
applicable to every enthusiast or prophet that appeared in Jerusalem or
Judea. Christians, heated with the idea of Christ, think they meet him
in all places, and pretend to see him in the darkest passages of the
Old Testament. Deluding themselves by force of allegories, subtilties,
commentaries, and forced interpretations, they have discovered the most
formal predictions in all the vague oracles and nonsensical trash of the
prophets.2
1 The prophet Samuel, displeased with Saul, who refused to
second his cruelty, declared that he had forfeited the
crown, and raised up a rival to him in the person of David.
Elias appears to have been a seditious subject, who, finding
himself unable to succeed in his rebellious designs, thought
proper to escape due punishment by flight. Jeremiah himself
gives us to understand that he conspired with the Assyrians
against his besieged country. He seems to have employed
himself in depriving: his fellow-citizens of both the will
and the courage to defend themselves. He purchased a field
of his relations, at the very time when he informed his
countrymen that they were about to be dispersed, and led
away in captivity. The king of Assyria recommends this
prophet to his general, Nebuzaradan, whom he commands to
take great care of him.--See Jeremiah.
2 Any thing may be found in the Bible, if it be read with
the imagination of Saint Augustine, who pretended to see all
the New Testament in the Old. According to him, the death of
Abel is a type of that of Christ; the two wives of Abraham
are the synagogue and the church; a piece of red cloth held
up by an harlot, who betrayed Jericho, signifies the blood
of Christ; the lamb, goat, and lion, are figures of Jesus
Christ; the brazen serpent represents the sacrifice on the
cross. Even the mysteries of the Christian religion are
announced in the Old Testament. Manna represents the
Eucharist, &c. See S. Aug. Serm. 78. and Ep. 156. How can a
man, in his senses, see, in the Immanuel announced by
Isaiah, the Messiah, whose name is Jesus? Isaiah c. vii. v.
14. How discover, in an obscure and crucified Jew, a leader
who shall govern Israel? How see a royal deliverer and
restorer of the Jews, in one, who, far from delivering his
nation, came only to destroy their laws; and after whose
coming their land was desolated by the Romans? A man must
be sharp-sighted indeed to find the Messiah in their
predictions. Jesus himself does not seem to have been more
clear, or happy, in his prophecies. In the Gospel of Luke,
chap. xxi. he speaks of the last judgment: he mentions
angels, who, at the sound of the trumpet, assemble mankind
together before him. He adds, "Verily I say unto you, this
generation shall not pass away, until these things are
accomplished." The world, however, still stands, and
Christians have been expecting the last judgment for
eighteen hundred years.
Men are not scrupulous respecting things which accord with their
desires. When we examine, without prejudice, the prophecies of the
Hebrews, we find them to be a mis-shapen mass of rhapsodies, the
offspring of fanaticism and delirium. We find them obscure and
enigmatical, like the oracles of the Pagans. In fine, it is evident that
these pretended divine oracles are the vagaries and impostures of men,
who imposed on the credulity of a superstitious nation which believes in
dreams, visions, apparitions, and sorceries, and received with avidity
any deception, provided it were sufficiently decorated with the
marvellous. Wherever mankind are ignorant, there will be found prophets
and workers of miracles, and these two branches of commerce will always
decay in the same proportion as mankind become enlightened.
Among the proofs of the authenticity of their religion, Christians
enumerate a multitude of martyrs, who have sealed with their blood their
belief of the opinions they had embraced. There is no religion destitute
of ardent defenders, who would sacrifice their lives for the opinions to
which they believe their eternal happiness attached. Superstitious and
ignorant men are obstinate in their prejudices. Their credulity prevents
them from suspecting any deception in their spiritual guides. Their
vanity persuades them that they are incapable of wavering; and if, in
fine, their imaginations be strong enough to see the heavens open, and a
recompense prepared therein for their courage, there is no torment they
will not brave and endure. In their intoxication they will despise all
torments of short duration; they will smile upon their executioners; and
their souls, alienated from earthly things, will become insensible to
pain. In such scenes, the hearts of spectators are softened; they admire
the astonishing firmness of the martyr; they catch his enthusiasm, and
believe his cause just. His courage appearing to them supernatural and
divine, becomes an indubitable proof of the truth of his opinions.
Thus, by a sort of contagion, enthusiasm communicates itself. Men are
always interested in the fate of those who shew the greatest firmness;
and tyranny always multiplies the friends of those whom it persecutes.
The constancy of the first Christians must, therefore, have produced
proselytes, by a natural effect of their conduct. Martyrs prove nothing,
unless it be the strength of the enthusiasm, error, and obstinacy
produced by superstition, and the barbarous folly of those who persecute
their fellow-creatures for religious opinions.
Every violent passion has its martyrs. Pride, vanity, prejudice, love,
patriotism, and even vice itself, produces martyrs; or, at least,
a contempt of every kind of danger. Is it, then, surprising, that
enthusiasm and fanaticism, the strongest passions of mankind, have
so often enabled men, inspired with the hopes they give, to face and
despise death? Besides, if Christians can boast a catalogue of martyrs,
Jews can do the same. The unfortunate Jews, condemned to the flames by
the Inquisition, were martyrs to their religion; and their fortitude
proves as much in its favour, as that of the Christians can do in favour
of Christianity. If martyrs demonstrate the truth of a religion, there
is no religion or sect which may not be looked upon as true.
In fine, among the perhaps exaggerated number of martyrs, boasted by
Christians, many were rather the victims of an inconsiderate zeal, a
turbulent and seditious spirit, than a real love of religion. The church
itself does not presume to justify some, who, transported by a volcanic
zeal, have troubled the peace of the earth, and poured out flaming
destruction on all who differed in opinion from themselves; until
mankind, consulting their own tranquillity and safety, have destroyed
them. If men of this description were to be considered as martyrs,
every disturber of society, when punished, would acquire a right to this
title.