ited. investigation are universally prohib- | ist have to fear, who should unexpectedly find himself in the presence of a being whom, during life, he had misconceived and neglected? Is the conviction of the existence of a God, so important to all men, reserved only to priests and the inspired? Do we find the same unanimity among them as with those occupied with studying the knowledge of useful arts? If God wishes to be known to all men, why does he not show himself to the whole world, in a less equivocal and more convincing manner than he has hitherto done in those relations which seem to charge him with partiality? Are fables and metamorphoses the only means which he can make use of? Why have not his name, attributes, and will, been written in characters legible by all men? By ascribing to him contradictory qualities, theology has put its God in a situation where he cannot act. Admitting that he existed with such extraordinary and contradictory qualities, we can neither reconcile to common sense nor to reason the conduct and worship prescribed towards him. if If infinitely good, why fear him? if infinitely wise, why interest ourselves about our fate? if omniscient, why tell him of our wants, or fatigue him with our prayers? if every where, why erect to him temples? if master of all, why make him sacrifices and offerings? just, whence has arisen the belief that he will punish man, whom he has created weak and feeble? if reasonable, why be angry with a blind creature like man? if immutable, why do we pretend to change his decrees? and if inconceivable, why presume to form any idea of him? But if, on the other hand, he be irascible, vindictive, and wicked, we are not bound to offer up to him our prayers. If a tyrant, how can we love him? How can a master be loved by his slaves, whom he has permitted to offend him that he might have the pleasure of punishing them? If all-powerful, how can man fly from his wrath? If unchangeable, how can man escape his fate? Thus, in whatever point of view we consider God, we can neither render him prayers nor worship. Even admitting the existence of a Deity, full of equity, reason, and benevolence, what would a virtuous athe "O, God!" he might say, "inconceivable being, whom I could not discover, pardon, that the limited understanding thou hast given me has been inadequate to thy discovery! How could I discover thy spiritual essence by the aid of sense alone? I could not submit my mind to the yoke of men, who, confessedly not more enlightened than I, agreed only among themselves in bidding me renounce the reason which thou hast given! But, O God! if thou lovest thy creatures, I have also loved them! If virtue pleaseth thee, my heart ever honoured it. I have consoled the afflicted; never did I devour the substance of the poor. I have ever been just, bountiful, and compassionate." In spite of reason, men are often, by disease, brought back to the prejudices of infancy. This is most frequently the case with sick people: upon the approach of death, they tremble, because the machine is enfeebled; the brain being unable to perform its functions, they of course fall into deliriums. Our systems experience the changes of our body. MEN tremble at the very name of an atheist. But who is an atheist? The man who brings mankind back to reason and experience, by destroying prejudices inimical to their happiness; who has no need of resorting to supernatural powers in explaining the phenomena of nature. It is madness, say theologians, to suppose incomprehensible motions in nature. Is it madness to prefer the known to the unknown?-to consult experience and the evidence of our senses?-to address ourselves to reason, and prefer her oracles to the decision of sophists, who even confess themselves ignorant of the God they announce ? When we see priests so angry with atheistical opinions, should we not sus CHAPTER XXVII. pect the justice of their cause? Spirit- On the other hand, if piety consists in serving our country, in being useful to our fellow-creatures, and in observing the laws of nature, an atheist is pious, honest, and virtuous, when his conduct is regulated by the laws which reason and virtue prescribe to him. Men, we are told, who have reason to expect future happiness, never fall into atheism. The interest of the passions and the fear of punishment alone make atheists. But men who endeavour to enlighten that reason which imprints every idea of virtue, are not calculated to reject the existence of a future state, from an apprehension of its chastisements. THOUGH the atheist denies the existence of a God, he neither denies his own existence nor that of other men; he cannot deny the existence of relations which subsist between men, nor the duties which necessarily result from those relations. He cannot doubt the existence of morality, or the science of the relations which subsist between men living in society. Though he may sometimes seem to forget the moral principles, it does not follow that they do not exist. He may act inconsistently with his principles, but a philosophical infidel is not so much an object of dread as an enthusiastic priest. Though the atheist disbelieves in the existence of a God, can it be thought that he will indulge to excesses dangerous to himself and subject to punishments? Whether would men be happier under an atheistical prince, or a believing tyrant, continually bestowing presents upon priests? Would we not have to fear religious quarrels from the latter? Would not the name of God, of which the monarch avails himself, sometimes serve as an excuse for the persecutions of the tyrant? Would he not at least hope to find in religion a pardon for his crimes? It is true, the number of atheists is inconsiderable, because enthusiasm has dazzled the human mind, and the progress of errour has been so very great, that few men have courage to search for truth. If by atheists are meant those who, guided by experience and the evidence of their senses, see nothing in nature but what really exists; if by atheists are meant natural philosophers, Much inconveniency may arise from who think every thing may be account-making morality depend upon the existed for by the laws of motion, without ence of a God. When corrupt minds having recourse to a chimerical power; discover the falsehood of those suppoif by atheists are meant those who know sitions, they will think virtue itself, not what a spirit is, and who reject a like the Deity, a mere chimera, and see phantom whose opposite qualities only no reason to practise it in life. It is, disturb mankind; doubtless, there are however, as beings living in society, many atheists: and their number would that we are bound by morality. Our be greater, were the knowledge of duties must always be the same, whethphysics and sound reason more gener-er a God exist or not. ally disseminated. If some atheists deny the existence of good and of evil, it only proves their own ignorance. Á natural sentiment causes man to love pleasure and hate pain. Ask the man who denies the existence of virtue and vice, would he An atheist does not believe in the existence of a God. No man can be certain of the existence of an inconceivable being, in whom inconsistent qualities are said to be united. In this sense, many theologians would be athe-be indifferent at being robbed, calumists, as well as those credulous beings who prostrate themselves before a being of whom they have no other idea than that given them by men avowedly comprehending nothing of him themselves. niated, betrayed, and insulted? His answer will prove that he makes a distinction between men's actions; that the distinctions of good and evil depend neither upon human conventions nor the idea of a Deity; neither do they depend upon the rewards or punishments of a future state of existence. The atheist, believing only in the present life, at least wishes to live happy. Atheism, says Bacon, renders man prudent, as it limits his views to this life. Men accustomed to study and meditation never are bad citizens. Some men, undeceived themselves in religious matters, pretend that religion is useful to the people, since, without it, they could not be governed. But has religion had a useful influence upon popular manners? It enslaves, without making obedient; it makes idiots, whose sole virtue consists in a blind submis sion to paltry and silly ceremonies, to which more consequence is attached than to real virtue or pure morality. Children are only frightened for a moment by imaginary terrours. It is only by shoving men the truth that they can appreciate its value, and find motives for cultivating it. It is chiefly among nations where superstition, aided by authority, makes its heavy yoke be felt, and imprudently abuses its power, that the number of atheists is considerable. Oppression infuses energy into the mind, and occasions a strict investigation into the causes of its evils. Calamity is a powerful goad, stimulating the mind to the side of truth. CHAPTER XXVIII. Motives which lead to Atheism-Can this be tion will never prove the existence of a Deity. If the God of superstition be a disgusting being, that of deism must always be inconsistent and impossible. The depraved devotee finds in religion a thousand pretexts for being wicked. The atheist has no cloak of zeal to cover his vengeance and fury. No sensible atheist thinks that the cruel actions caused by religion are capable of being justified. If the atheist be a bad man, he knows when he is committing wrong. Neither God nor his priests can then persuade him that he has been acting properly. The indecent and criminal conduct of his ministers, say some men, proves nothing against religion. May not the same thing be said of an atheist of good principles and a bad practice? Atheism, it is said, destroys the force of oaths; but perjury is common enough with those nations who boast the most of their piety. Are the most holy kings faithful to their oaths? Does not religion itself sometimes grant a dispensation from them, especially when the perjury is beneficial to the holy cause? Do criminals refrain from swearing, when necessary to their justification? Oaths are a foolish formality, which neither impose upon villains nor add any thing to the engagements of good men. It has been asked, whether a people ever existed that had not some idea of a Deity; and could a nation of atheists exist? A timid and ignorant animal, like man, necessarily becomes superstitious under calamity. He either creates a God himself or takes that which is offered him by another. But the savage does not draw the same conclusion from the existence of his Gods as the content themselves with a rude worship, and never reason about the Divinity. It is only in civilized states that men subtilize those ideas. WHAT interest, we are asked, can men have to deny the existence of God? But are the tyrannies exercised in his name, and the slavery in which men groan under priests, sufficient mo-polished citizen. A nation of savages tives for determining us to examine into the pretensions of a class that occasions so much mischief in the world? Can there be a stronger motive than the incessant dread excited by the belief in a being who is angry with our most secret thoughts, whom we may unknowingly offend, who is never pleased with us, who gives man evil inclinations that he may punish him for them, who eternally punishes the crime of a moment? The deist will tell us that we only paint superstition; but such a supposiNo. XII.-46 A numerous society, without either religion, morality, government, laws, or principles, doubtless cannot exist, since it would only be an assemblage of men mutually disposed to injure one another. But, in spite of all religions in the world, are not all human societies nearly in that state? A society of atheists, governed by good laws, whom rewards excite to virtue, and punishments deter from crime, would be infinitely more virtuous than those religious societies in which every thing tends to disturb the mind and to deprave the heart. We cannot expect to take away from a whole nation its religious ideas, because they have been inculcated from the tenderest infancy. But the vulgar, in the long run, may reap advantages from labours, of which they at present have no idea. Atheism, having truth on its side, will gradually insinuate itself into the mind, and become familiar to man. CHAPTER XXIX. Abridgement of the System of Nature. O YE, says Nature, who, according to the impulse which I have given you, tend every instant towards happiness, do not resist my sovereign law! labour at your felicity; enjoy without fear; be happy. don injuries, as vengeance eternizes hatred. Do good to him who injures thee, that thou mayest show thyself greater than he, and also gain his friendship. Be moderate, temperate, and chaste, since voluptuousness, intemperance, and excess, destroy thy being, and render thee contemptible. It is I who punish the crimes of this world. The wicked man may escape human laws, but mine he can never fly from. Abandon thyself to intemperance, and man will not punish thee, but I will punish thee, by shortening thy existence. If addicted to vice, thou wilt perish under thy fatal habits. Princes, whose power surpasseth human laws, tremble under mine. I punish them by infusing suspicion and terrour into their minds. Look into the hearts of those criminals, whose smiling countenances conceal an anguished soul. See the covetous miser, haggard and emaciated, groaning under wealth, acquired by the sacrifice of himself. View the gay voluptuary, secretly writhing under a broken constitution; see the mutual hatred and contempt which subsist between the adulterous pair! The liar, deprived of all confidence; the icy heart of ingratitude, which no act of kindness can dissolve; the iron soul of the monster whom the sight of misfortune could never soften; the vindictive being, nourishing in his bosom the gnawing vipers which are consuming him! Envy, if thou darest, the sleep of the murderer, the iniquitous judge, or the oppressor, whose couches are surrounded by the torches of the furies! But no! humanity obliges thee to partake of their merited torments. Comparing thyself with them, and finding thy boBe just, since equity supports the som the constant abode of peace, thou human race. Be good, as bounty at- wilt find a subject of self-congratulataches every heart. Be indulgent, since tion. Finally, behold the decree of thou livest among beings weak like destiny fulfilled on all! She wills that thyself. Be modest, as pride hurts the virtue shall never go unrewarded, but self-love of every human being. Par-crime be ever its own punishment. Return, O devotee, to Nature! She will banish from thy heart the terrours which are overwhelming thee. Cease to contemplate futurity. Live for thyself and thy fellow-creatures. I approve of thy pleasures, while they neither injure thee nor others, whom I have rendered necessary to thy happiness. Let humanity interest thee in the fate of thy fellow-creature. Consider that, like him, thou mayest one day be miserable. Dry up the tears of distressed virtue and injured innocence. Let the mild fervour of friendship, and the esteem of a loved companion, make thee forget the pains of life. |