Superstition In All Ages (1732) Part 15

CLIX.--REFUTATION OF THE ARGUMENT, THAT THE EVILS ATTRIBUTED TO RELIGION ARE BUT THE SAD EFFECTS OF THE Pa.s.sIONS OF MEN.

When we complain about the violence and evils which generally religion causes upon earth, we are answered at once, that these excesses are not due to religion, but that they are the sad effect of men's pa.s.sions. I would ask, however, what unchained these pa.s.sions? It is evidently religion; it is a zeal which renders inhuman, and which serves to cover the greatest infamy. Do not these disorders prove that religion, instead of restraining the pa.s.sions of men, does but cover them with a cloak that sanctifies them; and that nothing would be more beneficial than to tear away this sacred cloak of which men make such a bad use? What horrors would be banished from society, if the wicked were deprived of a pretext so plausible for disturbing it!

Instead of cheris.h.i.+ng peace among men, the priests stirred up hatred and strife. They pleaded their conscience, and pretended to have received from Heaven the right to be quarrelsome, turbulent, and rebellious. Do not the ministers of G.o.d consider themselves to be wronged, do they not pretend that His Divine Majesty is injured every time that the sovereigns have the temerity to try to prevent them from doing injury?

The priests resemble that irritable woman, who cried out fire! murder!

a.s.sa.s.sins! while her husband was holding her hands to prevent her from beating him.

CLX.--ALL MORALITY IS INCOMPATIBLE WITH RELIGIOUS OPINIONS.

Notwithstanding the b.l.o.o.d.y tragedies which religion has so often caused in this world, we are constantly told that there can be no morality without religion. If we judge theological opinions by their effects, we would be right in a.s.suming that all morality is perfectly incompatible with the religious opinions of men. "Imitate G.o.d," is constantly repeated to us. Ah! what morals would we have if we should imitate this G.o.d! Which G.o.d should we imitate? Is it the deist's G.o.d? But even this G.o.d can not be a model of goodness for us. If He is the author of all, He is equally the author of the good and of the bad we see in this world; if He is the author of order, He is also the author of disorder, which would not exist without His permission; if He produces, He destroys; if He gives life, He also causes death; if He grants abundance, riches, prosperity, and peace, He permits or sends famines, poverty, calamities, and wars. How can you accept as a model of permanent beneficence the G.o.d of theism or of natural religion, whose favorable intentions are at every moment contradicted by everything that transpires in the world? Morality needs a firmer basis than the example of a G.o.d whose conduct varies, and whom we can not call good but by obstinately closing the eyes to the evil which He causes, or permits to be done in this world.

Shall we imitate the good and great Jupiter of ancient Paganism? To imitate such a G.o.d would be to take as a model a rebellious son, who wrests his father's throne from him and then mutilates his body; it is imitating a debauchee and adulterer, an incestuous, intemperate man, whose conduct would cause any reasonable mortal to blush. What would have become of men under the control of Paganism if they had imagined, according to Plato, that virtue consisted in imitating the G.o.ds?

Must we imitate the G.o.d of the Jews? Will we find a model for our conduct in Jehovah? He is truly a savage G.o.d, really created for an ignorant, cruel, and immoral people; He is a G.o.d who is constantly enraged, breathing only vengeance; who is without pity, who commands carnage and robbery; in a word, He is a G.o.d whose conduct can not serve as a model to an honest man, and who can be imitated but by a chief of brigands.

Shall we imitate, then, the Jesus of the Christians? Can this G.o.d, who died to appease the implacable fury of His Father, serve as an example which men ought to follow? Alas! we will see in Him but a G.o.d, or rather a fanatic, a misanthrope, who being plunged Himself into misery, and preaching to the wretched, advises them to be poor, to combat and extinguish nature, to hate pleasure, to seek sufferings, and to despise themselves; He tells them to leave father, mother, all the ties of life, in order to follow Him. What beautiful morality! you will say. It is admirable, no doubt; it must be Divine, because it is impracticable for men. But does not this sublime morality tend to render virtue despicable? According to this boasted morality of the man-G.o.d of the Christians, His disciples in this lower world are, like Tantalus, tormented with burning thirst, which they are not permitted to quench.

Do not such morals give us a wonderful idea of nature's Author? If He has, as we are a.s.sured, created everything for the use of His creatures, by what strange caprice does He forbid the use of the good things which He has created for them? Is the pleasure which man constantly desires but a snare that G.o.d has maliciously laid in his path to entrap him?

CLXI.--THE MORALS OF THE GOSPEL ARE IMPRACTICABLE.

The votaries of Christ would like to make us regard as a miracle the establishment of their religion, which is in every respect contrary to nature, opposed to all the inclinations of the heart, an enemy to physical pleasures. But the austerity of a doctrine has a tendency to render it more wonderful to the ignorant. The same reason which makes us respect, as Divine and supernatural, inconceivable mysteries, causes us to admire, as Divine and supernatural, a morality impracticable and beyond the power of man. To admire morals and to practice them, are two very different things. All the Christians continually admire the morals of the Gospel, but it is practiced but by a small number of saints; admired by people who themselves avoid imitating their conduct, under the pretext that they are lacking either the power or the grace.

The whole universe is infected more or less with a religious morality which is founded upon the opinion that to please the Deity it is necessary to render one's self unhappy upon earth. We see in all parts of our globe penitents, hermits, fakirs, fanatics, who seem to have studied profoundly the means of tormenting themselves for the glory of a Being whose goodness they all agree in celebrating. Religion, by its essence, is the enemy of joy and of the welfare of men. "Blessed are those who suffer!" Woe to those who have abundance and joy! These are the rare revelations which Christianity teaches!

CLXII.--A SOCIETY OF SAINTS WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE.

In what consists the saint of all religions? It is a man who prays, fasts, who torments himself, who avoids the world, who, like an owl, is pleased but in solitude, who abstains from all pleasure, who seems frightened at every object which turns him a moment from his fanatical meditations. Is this virtue? Is a being of this stamp of any use to himself or to others? Would not society be dissolved, and would not men retrograde into barbarism, if each one should be fool enough to wish to be a saint?

It is evident that the literal and rigorous practice of the Divine morality of the Christians would lead nations to ruin. A Christian who would attain perfection, ought to drive away from his mind all that can alienate him from heaven--his true country. He sees upon earth but temptations, snares, and opportunities to go astray; he must fear science as injurious to faith; he must avoid industry, as it is a means of obtaining riches, which are fatal to salvation; he must renounce preferments and honors, as things capable of exciting his pride and calling his attention away from his soul; in a word, the sublime morality of Christ, if it were not impracticable, would sever all the ties of society.

A saint in the world is no more useful than a saint in the desert; the saint has an unhappy, discontented, and often irritable, turbulent disposition; his zeal often obliges him, conscientiously, to disturb society by opinions or dreams which his vanity makes him accept as inspirations from Heaven. The annals of all religions are filled with accounts of anxious, intractable, seditious saints, who have distinguished themselves by ravages that, for the greater glory of G.o.d, they have scattered throughout the universe. If the saints who live in solitude are useless, those who live in the world are very often dangerous. The vanity of performing a role, the desire of distinguis.h.i.+ng themselves in the eyes of the stupid vulgar by a strange conduct, const.i.tute usually the distinctive characteristics of great saints; pride persuades them that they are extraordinary men, far above human nature; beings who are more perfect than others; chosen ones, which G.o.d looks upon with more complaisance than the rest of mortals. Humility in a saint is, is a general rule, but a pride more refined than that of common men. It must be a very ridiculous vanity which can determine a man to continually war with his own nature!

CLXIII.--HUMAN NATURE IS NOT DEPRAVED; AND A MORALITY WHICH CONTRADICTS THIS FACT IS NOT MADE FOR MAN.

A morality which contradicts the nature of man is not made for him. But you will say that man's nature is depraved. In what consists this pretended depravity? Is it because he has pa.s.sions? But are not pa.s.sions the very essence of man? Must he not seek, desire, love that which is, or that which he believes to be, essential to his happiness? Must he not fear and avoid that which he judges injurious or fatal to him? Excite his pa.s.sions by useful objects; let him attach himself to these same objects, divert him by sensible and known motives from that which can do him or others harm, and you will make of him a reasonable and virtuous being. A man without pa.s.sions would be equally indifferent to vice and to virtue.

Holy doctors! you constantly tell us that man's nature is perverted; you tell us that the way of all flesh is corrupt; you tell us that nature gives us but inordinate inclinations. In this case you accuse your G.o.d, who has not been able or willing to keep this nature in its original perfection. If this nature became corrupted, why did not this G.o.d repair it? The Christian a.s.sures me that human nature is repaired, that the death of his G.o.d has reestablished it in its integrity. How comes it then, that human nature, notwithstanding the death of a G.o.d, is still depraved? Is it, then, a pure loss that your G.o.d died? What becomes of His omnipotence and His victory over the Devil, if it is true that the Devil still holds the empire which, according to you, he has always exercised in the world?

Death, according to Christian theology, is the penalty of sin. This opinion agrees with that of some savage Negro nations, who imagine that the death of a man is always the supernatural effect of the wrath of the G.o.ds. The Christians firmly believe that Christ has delivered them from sin, while they see that, in their religion as in the others, man is subject to death. To say that Jesus Christ has delivered us from sin, is it not claiming that a judge has granted pardon to a guilty man, while we see him sent to torture?

CLXIV.--OF JESUS CHRIST, THE PRIEST'S G.o.d.

If, closing our eyes upon all that transpires in this world, we should rely upon the votaries of the Christian religion, we would believe that the coming of our Divine Saviour has produced the most wonderful revolution and the most complete reform in the morals of nations. The Messiah, according to Pascal, [See Thoughts of Pascal] ought of Himself alone to produce a great, select, and holy people; conducting and nouris.h.i.+ng it, and introducing it into the place of repose and sanct.i.ty, rendering it holy to G.o.d, making it the temple of G.o.d, saving it from the wrath of G.o.d, delivering it from the servitude of sin, giving laws to this people, engraving these laws upon their hearts, offering Himself to G.o.d for them, crus.h.i.+ng the head of the serpent, etc. This great man has forgotten to show us the people upon whom His Divine Messiah has produced the miraculous effects of which He speaks with so much emphasis; so far, it seems, they do not exist upon the earth!

If we examine ever so little the morals of the Christian nations, and listen to the clamors of their priests, we will be obliged to conclude that their G.o.d, Jesus Christ, preached without fruit, without success; that His Almighty will still finds in men a resistance, over which this G.o.d either can not or does not wish to triumph. The morality of this Divine Doctor which His disciples admire so much, and practice so little, is followed during a whole century but by half a dozen of obscure saints, fanatical and ignorant monks, who alone will have the glory of s.h.i.+ning in the celestial court; all the remainder of mortals, although redeemed by the blood of this G.o.d, will be the prey of eternal flames.

CLXV.--THE DOGMA OF THE REMISSION OF SINS HAS BEEN INVENTED IN THE INTEREST OF THE PRIESTS.

When a man has a great desire to sin, he thinks very little about his G.o.d; more than this, whatever crimes he may have committed, he always flatters himself that this G.o.d will mitigate the severity of his punishments. No mortal seriously believes that his conduct can d.a.m.n him.

Although he fears a terrible G.o.d, who often makes him tremble, every time he is strongly tempted he succ.u.mbs and sees but a G.o.d of mercy, the idea of whom quiets him. Does he do evil? He hopes to have the time to correct himself, and promises earnestly to repent some day.

There are in the religious pharmacy infallible receipts for calming the conscience; the priests in every country possess sovereign secrets for disarming the wrath of Heaven. However true it may be that the anger of Deity is appeased by prayers, by offerings, by sacrifices, by penitential tears, we have no right to say that religion holds in check the irregularities of men; they will first sin, and afterward seek the means to reconcile G.o.d. Every religion which expiates, and which promises the remission of crimes, if it restrains any, it encourages the great number to commit evil. Notwithstanding His immutability, G.o.d is, in all the religions of this world, a veritable Proteus. His priests show Him now armed with severity, and then full of clemency and gentleness; now cruel and pitiless, and then easily reconciled by the repentance and the tears of the sinners. Consequently, men face the Deity in the manner which conforms the most to their present interests.

An always wrathful G.o.d would repel His wors.h.i.+pers, or cast them into despair. Men need a G.o.d who becomes angry and who can be appeased; if His anger alarms a few timid souls, His clemency rea.s.sures the determined wicked ones who intend to have recourse sooner or later to the means of reconciling themselves with Him; if the judgments of G.o.d frighten a few faint-hearted devotees who already by temperament and by habitude are not inclined to evil, the treasures of Divine mercy rea.s.sure the greatest criminals, who have reason to hope that they will partic.i.p.ate in them with the others.

CLXVI.--THE FEAR OF G.o.d IS POWERLESS AGAINST HUMAN Pa.s.sIONS.

The majority of men rarely think of G.o.d, or, at least, do not occupy themselves much with Him. The idea of G.o.d has so little stability, it is so afflicting, that it can not hold the imagination for a long time, except in some sad and melancholy visionists who do not const.i.tute the majority of the inhabitants of this world. The common man has no conception of it; his weak brain becomes perplexed the moment he attempts to think of Him. The business man thinks of nothing but his affairs; the courtier of his intrigues; worldly men, women, youth, of their pleasures; dissipation soon dispels the wearisome notions of religion. The ambitious, the avaricious, and the debauchee sedulously lay aside speculations too feeble to counterbalance their diverse pa.s.sions.

Whom does the idea of G.o.d overawe? A few weak men disappointed and disgusted with this world; some persons whose pa.s.sions are already extinguished by age, by infirmities, or by reverses of fortune. Religion is a restraint but for those whose temperament or circ.u.mstances have already subjected them to reason. The fear of G.o.d does not prevent any from committing sin but those who do not wish to sin very much, or who are no longer in a condition to sin. To tell men that Divinity punishes crime in this world, is to claim as a fact that which experience contradicts constantly The most wicked men are usually the arbiters of the world, and those whom fortune blesses with its favors. To convince us of the judgments of G.o.d by sending us to the other life, is to make us accept conjectures in order to destroy facts which we can not dispute.

CLXVII.--THE INVENTION OF h.e.l.l IS TOO ABSURD TO PREVENT EVIL.

No one dreams about another life when he is very much absorbed in objects which he meets on earth. In the eyes of a pa.s.sionate lover, the presence of his mistress extinguishes the fires of h.e.l.l, and her charms blot out all the pleasures of Paradise. Woman! you leave, you say, your lover for your G.o.d? It is that your lover is no longer the same in your estimation; or your lover leaves you, and you must fill the void which is made in your heart. Nothing is more common than to see ambitious, perverse, corrupt, and immoral men who are religious, and who sometimes exhibit even zeal in its behalf; if they do not practice religion, they promise themselves they will practice it some day; they keep it in reserve as a remedy which, sooner or later, will be necessary to quiet the conscience for the evil which they intend yet to do. Besides, devotees and priests being a very numerous, active, and powerful party, it is not astonis.h.i.+ng to see impostors and thieves seek for its support in order to gain their ends. We will be told, no doubt, that many honest people are sincerely religious without profit; but is uprightness of heart always accompanied with intelligence? We are cited to a great number of learned men, men of genius, who are very religious. This proves that men of genius can have prejudices, can be pusillanimous, can have an imagination which seduces them and prevents them from examining objects coolly. Pascal proves nothing in favor of religion, except that a man of genius can possess a grain of weakness, and is but a child when he is weak enough to listen to prejudices. Pascal himself tells us "that the mind can be strong and narrow, and just as extended as it is weak."

He says more: "We can have our senses all right, and not be equally able in all things; because there are men who, being right in a certain sphere of things, lose themselves in others."

CLXVIII.--ABSURDITY OF THE MORALITY AND OF THE RELIGIOUS VIRTUES ESTABLISHED SOLELY IN THE INTEREST OF THE PRIESTS.

What is virtue according to theology? It is, we are told, the conformity of men's actions with the will of G.o.d. But who is G.o.d? He is a being whom no one is able to conceive of, and whom, consequently, each one modifies in his own way. What is the will of G.o.d? It is what men who have seen G.o.d, or whom G.o.d has inspired, have told us. Who are those who have seen G.o.d? They are either fanatics, or scoundrels, or ambitious men, whose word we can not rely upon. To found morality upon a G.o.d that each man represents differently, that each one composes by his own idea, whom everybody arranges according to his own temperament and his own interest, is evidently founding morality upon the caprice and upon the imagination of men; it is basing it upon the whims of a sect, faction, or party, who, excluding all others, claim to have the advantage of wors.h.i.+ping the true G.o.d.

To establish morality, or the duties of man, upon the Divine will, is founding it upon the wishes, the reveries, or the interests of those who make G.o.d talk without fear of contradiction. In every religion the priests alone have the right to decide upon what pleases or displeases their G.o.d; we may rest a.s.sured that they will decide upon what pleases or displeases themselves.