It is, however, in places that remained subject to the Roman pontiff,
that the clergy have wallowed in the greatest profusion of riches and
power. Credulity has even enlisted kings among their subjects, and
debased them into mere executioners of their will. They were in
readiness to unsheath the sword whenever the priest commanded it. The
monarchs of the Roman sect, blinder than all others, had an unbounded
confidence in the clergy of their church that generally rendered them
mere tools of that body. This sect, by means of furious intoleration
and atrocious persecutions, became more numerous than any other one; and
their turbulent and cruel temper has justly rendered them odious to the
most reasonable, that is to say, least Christian nations.
The Romish system was, in fact, invented to throw all the power into
the hands of the clergy. Its priests have had the address to identify
themselves with God. Their cause was always his; their glory became the
glory of God. Their decisions were divine oracles; their possessions
appertained to the kingdom of heaven. Their pride, avarice, and cruelty,
were rendered lawful, because they were never actuated by other motives
than the interest of their heavenly master. In this sect, the priest saw
his king at his feet, humbly confessing his sins, and beseeching the
holy man that he might be reconciled to his God. Seldom was the priest
known to render his sacred ministry subservient to the good of mankind.
He thought not of reproaching monarchs with the abuse of their power,
the misery of their subjects, and the tears of the oppressed. Too timid,
or too much of a courtier to thunder truth in their ears, he mentioned
not to them the insupportable oppressions, the galling tyranny, and
useless wars under which their subjects groaned. But such objects never
interest the church, which might indeed be of some utility, if its
influence were exercised in bridling the excesses of superstitious
tyrants. The terrors of the other world would not be unpardonable
falsehoods, could they make the herd of wicked kings to tremble. This,
however, has not been the object of the ministers of religion. They
never stickled for the interest of mankind. They always burned incense
at the altar of tyranny, looked upon its crimes with indulgence, and
devised for them easy means of expiation. Tyrants were sure of the
pardon and favour of heaven, if they entered warmly into the quarrels
of the clergy. Thus, among the Catholics, priests governed kings, and
consequently all their subjects. Superstition and despotism formed an
internal alliance, and united their efforts, to plunge mankind into
slavery and wretchedness. Priests frightened nations with religious
terror, that they might be preyed upon by their sovereigns at leisure;
and, in return, those sovereigns loaded the priests with opulence and
power, and undertook, from time to time, to exterminate their enemies.
What shall we say of those subtle geniuses which Christians call
casuists, those pretended moralists who have computed the number of sins
against God which a man can commit without risking his salvation?
These men of profound wisdom have enriched Christian morality with a
ridiculous tarif of sins; they know precisely the degree of wrath which
each excites in the breast of the Almighty. True morality has but one
criterion for judging the sins of man; the greatest are those that
injure society most. The conduct which injures ourselves is imprudent
and unreasonable. That which injures others is unjust and criminal.
Every thing, even to idleness itself, is rewarded in Christian priests.
Multitudes of these drones are maintained in ease and affluence, while,
instead of serving society, they only prey upon it. They are paid with
profusion for useless prayers which they make with negligence. And while
monks and lazy priests, those blood-suckers of society, wallow in an
abundance shameful to the states by whom they are tolerated, the man
of talents, the man of science, and the brave soldier are suffered to
languish in indigence, and poorly exist on the mere necessaries of life.
In a word, Christianity makes nations accomplices in all the evils which
are heaped upon them by the Clergy. Neither the uselessness of their
prayers demonstrated by the experience of so many ages, the bloody
effects of their fatal controversies, nor even their licentious
excesses, have yet been sufficient to convince mankind how shamefully
they are duped by that infallible Church, to the existence of which,
they have had the simplicity to believe, their salvation.