Christians endeavour to prove the divine origin of their religion by
certain writings, which they believe to be sacred, and to have been
inspired by God himself. Let us then see if these writings do really
exhibit marks of that wisdom, omniscience, and perfection which we
attribute to the Divinity.
The Bible, every word of which Christians believe to have been dictated
by inspiration, is composed of an incongruous collection of the sacred
writings of the Hebrews, called the Old Testament; to which are added, a
number of works, more recent indeed, but of equal inspiration, known by
the name of the New Testament. At the head of this collection are five
books which are attributed to Moses, who was, it is said, in writing
them, the secretary of God. He therein goes back to the origin of
things. He attempts to initiate us into the mystery of the creation of
the world, of which he has only the most vague and confused ideas. He
betrays at every word a profound ignorance of the laws of Nature. God,
according to Moses, created the sun, which, in our planetary system, is
the source of light, several days after he had created the light. God,
who can be represented by no image, created man in his own image. He
creates him male and female; but, soon forgetting what he had done, he
creates woman from one of the ribs of the man. In one word, we see,
at the very entrance of the Bible, nothing but ignorance and
contradiction.1 It appears, at once, that the cosmogony of the Hebrews
is only a tissue of fables and allegories, incapable of giving any true
idea of things, and calculated to please only a savage and ignorant
people, destitute of science, and unqualified for reasoning. In the rest
of the writings of Moses, we see little but a string of marvellous and
improbable stories, and a mass of ridiculous and arbitrary laws. The
author concludes with giving an account of his own death. The books
posterior to Moses exhibit equal ignorance. Joshua stops the sun, which
did not move. Sampson, the Jewish Hercules, has strength to overthrow
a temple.--But we should never finish the enumeration of the fables and
falsehoods of these books, which are audaciously attributed to the Holy
Ghost. The story of the Hebrews presents us only with a mass of tales,
unworthy the gravity of history and the majesty of Divinity ridiculous
to reason, it appears to have been invented only to amuse the credulity
of a stupid and infant people.
1 St. Augustin confesses that there is no way of preserving
the true sense of the three first chapters of Genesis
without wronging religion and attributing things to God
which are unworthy of him; and declares, that recourse must
be had to allegory. Aug. de Genesi, contra Machineos.
Origen, also, grants, if we take the history of the Bible
literally, it is absurd and contradictory.--Philos. p. 12.
This strange compilation is intermingled with obscure, and unconnected
oracles, with which different prophets have, from time to time,
enriched Jewish superstition. Every thing in the Old Testament breathes
enthusiasm, fanaticism, and delirium, often decorated with pompous
language. There, every thing is to be found, except good sense, good
logic, and reason, which seems to be absolutely excluded from the books
which guide the conduct of the Hebrews and Christians.
We have already mentioned the abject, and often absurd ideas of God,
which are exhibited in the Bible. In this book, all his conduct appears
ridiculous. He blows hot and cold, and contradicts himself every moment.
He acts imprudently, and then repents of what he had done. He supports
with one hand, and destroys with the other. After having punished all
the human race with death, for the sins of man, he declares, by Ezekiel,
that he is just, and will not render children responsible for the
iniquities of their fathers. He commands the Hebrews, by the mouth of
Moses, to rob the Egyptians. In the decalogue, published by Moses, theft
and murder are forbidden. In short, Jehovah, ever in contradiction with
himself, varies with circumstances, preserves no uniformity of conduct,
and is represented in the books, said to be inspired by his spirit, as a
tyrant, which the most decided villain would blush to be.
When we cast our eyes over the New Testament, there, also, we see
nothing characteristic of that spirit of truth which is said to have
dictated this work. Four historians, or fabulists, have written the
marvellous history of the Messiah. Seldom agreeing with respect to the
circumstances of his life, they sometimes contradict each other in the
most palpable manner. The genealogy of Christ, given us by Matthew,
differs widely from that given us by Luke. One of the Evangelists says,
that Christ was carried into Egypt; whilst, by another, this event is
not even hinted at.
One makes the duration of his mission three years, while another
represents it as only as many months. We do not find them at all better
accord respecting the facts in general which they report. Mark says
that Christ died at the third hour, that is to say, nine o'clock in the
morning: John says that he died at the sixth hour, that is, at noon.
According to Matthew and Mark, the women who, after the death of Jesus,
went to his sepulchre, saw only one angel; whereas, according to Luke
and John, they saw two. These angels were, by some, said to be within
the tomb; by others, without. Several of the miracles of Jesus are also
differently reported by the Evangelists. This is likewise the case with
his appearances after his resurrection. Ought not all these things to
excite a doubt of the infallibility of the Evangelists, and the reality
of their divine inspirations? What shall we say of the false and forged
prophecies, applied to Christ in the gospel? Matthew pretends that
Jeremy foretold that Christ should be betrayed for thirty pieces of
silver; yet no such prophecy is to be found in Jeremiah. Nothing is
more singular than the manner in which Christian divines evade these
difficulties. Their solutions are calculated to satisfy only those who
conceive it their duty to remain in blindness.1
1 Jerome himself says, that the quotations of Matthew do not
agree with the Greek version of the Bible. Erasmus is
obliged to confess that the Holy Spirit permitted the
Apostles to go astray.
Every man of sense must feel, that all the industry and sophism on earth
can never reconcile such palpable contradictions; and the efforts of
interpreters serve only to shew the weakness of their cause. Is it,
then by subterfuges, subtilties, and falsehoods, that we are to render
service to God?
We find equal errors and contradictions in the pompous gasconade and
declamatory bombast of St. Paul. The epistles and harangues of this man,
inspired by the Spirit of God, appear to be the enthusiastic ravings of
a madman. The most laboured commentaries have, in vain, endeavoured to
reconcile the contradictions with which his work are filled, and the
inconsistency of his conduct, which sometimes favoured and sometimes
opposed Judaism.1 We do not find ourselves more enlightened by the works
attributed to the other Apostles. It seems as if these persons, inspired
by the Holy Ghost, came on the earth only to prevent their disciples
from comprehending what they had been sent to teach them.
1 St. Paul himself informs us, that he was ravished up to
the third heaven. Why was he transported thither, and what
did he learn by his journey? Things unspeakable, which no
man could, comprehend. What advantage are mankind to derive
from all this? St. Paul, in the Acts of the Apostles, is
guilty of a falsehood, in saying before the high-priest,
that he is persecuted, because he is a Pharisee, and on
account of the resurrection. Here: are two untruths. First,
because Paul was, at that time, the most zealous Apostle of
the Christian religion, and consequently a Christian.
Secondly, because the accusations brought against him did
not refer to his opinion on resurrection. If we know that
the Apostles sometimes wandered from the truth, how shall we
believe them at others? Further, we see this great Apostle
continually changing his counsels and conduct. At Jerusalem,
he point-blank opposes Peter, who favoured Judaism; whereas
he himself afterwards complied with Jewish rites. In fine,
he always accommodates himself to the circumstances of the
time, and becomes all things to all men. He seems to have
set an example to the Jesuits, of their conduct in the
Indies, with which they are reproached, where they unite the
worship of the Pagans to that of Christ.
At the foot of the collection, which forms the New Testament, we find
the mystic work known by the name of the Revelation of St. John. This is
an unintelligible thing, in which the author has endeavoured to collect
and concentrate all the gloomy and dreadful ideas contained in the rest
of the Bible. It exhibits to the wretched race of Man the awful and
approaching end of a perishing world. It is filled with horrid pictures,
by gazing on which, the trembling Christian becomes petrified with
fear and wonder, indifferent to life, and useless, or an incumbrance
to society. Thus, in a manner not unworthy of itself, terminates this
compilation, so inestimable and adorable to Christians, so ridiculous
and contemptible to the man of reason, so unworthy of a good and
bounteous God; so detestable to him who contemplates the unparalleled
evils it has occasioned on the earth.
Having taken for the rule of their conduct and opinions a book so full
of blasphemous fables and striking, contradictions concerning God,
Christians have never agreed in the interpretation of his will, or
precisely known what he exacted from them. Thus they have made this
obscure work a bone of contention, an inexhaustible source of quarrels,
a common arsenal, where all contending parties have supplied themselves
with arms for mutual destruction. Geometricians dispute not concerning
the fundamental principles of their science. By what fatality does it
happen that Christian revelation, the foundation of a religion on which
depends the eternal felicity of man, should be unintelligible, subject
to disputes, and often deluge the earth with blood? To judge by effects,
such a revelation ought rather to be thought the work of a malign
spirit, a genius of darkness and falsehood, than of a God desirous to
preserve, enlighten, and beautify mankind.