the three imposters 6

the three imposters 6

A TREATISE

ON

THE THREE IMPOSTORS.

 

 

CHAP. I.--OF GOD.

 

 

§ 1.

 

Although it is important that all men should know the truth, there

are nevertheless few who enjoy this advantage; some are incapable of

finding it out unassisted, and others will not put themselves to the

trouble. It is not to be wondered at therefore, if the world is filled

with vain and absurd opinions; and nothing is more adapted to spread

them than ignorance, which is the sole originator of the false ideas

which prevail as to the Divinity, the Soul, the existence of Spirits,

and almost all the other subjects which go to make up Theology. Custom

is powerful--men rest contented in the prejudices of their birth, and

leave the care of the most essential matters to interested parties, who

make it a rule to uphold with bigotry the received opinions, and who

dare not overturn them lest in so doing they should destroy themselves.

 

 

 

§ 2.

 

What renders the evil without remedy is this, that, after having

established these false ideas of the Divinity, they neglect no plan

to compel the people to believe in them, without permitting any one

to examine for himself. On the contrary, they have excited a hatred

against philosophers--the truly learned, lest the doctrines which they

would teach should lead to the exposure of those errors in which they

have plunged mankind. The advocates of these foolish notions have

succeeded so well, that it is dangerous to combat them. It is too

much the interest of those impostors that the people be ignorant,

to permit them to become enlightened. Thus the truth must either

be kept in abeyance, or its promoters be prepared to be sacrificed

at the shrine of a false philosophy, and to suffer from the rage of

grovelling and interested minds.

 

 

 

§ 3.

 

If the people could understand into what an abyss they are sunk by

ignorance, they would speedily shake off the yoke of their unworthy

leaders, for it is impossible not to discover the truth when reason

is left to its unrestrained exercise.

 

These deceivers are so well aware of this, that to prevent the good

effects which Truth would infallibly produce, they have painted it

as a monster incapable of giving rise to any virtuous sentiment;

although, in general terms, they condemn unreasonable people, they

would nevertheless be much disconcerted if the truth were heard. Thus

these sworn enemies to common sense are perpetually falling into

contradictions, and it is difficult to discover at what they are

aiming. If it be true that reason is the only light which men ought

to follow, and if the people are not so incapable of judging as they

wish us to believe, it ought to be the object of those who instruct

them to endeavour to rectify the false reasonings, and to uproot their

prejudices; then their eyes would be gradually opened and their minds

convinced that the Deity is by no means what is generally supposed.

 

 

 

§ 4.

 

To attain this, there is no need for lofty speculations, nor for

penetrating far into the mysteries of nature. It requires only a

little common sense to perceive that the Deity is neither choleric

nor jealous; that justice and mercy are alike falsely considered as

his attributes; and that, all that the Prophets and Apostles have

said give us no information either as to his nature, or to his essence.

 

In short to speak plainly and to put the matter on its proper footing,

it will be allowed that these teachers were neither more able nor

better instructed than the rest of mankind; so far from that being

the case, what they advance regarding the Deity is so gross that

the people must be altogether ignorant to credit it. Although this

is apparent enough we will attempt to explain it more at length, by

inquiring, if there is any evidence that the Prophets and Apostles

were differently constituted from other men.

 

 

 

§ 5.

 

It is agreed, that as far as descent, and the common duties of life are

implicated, they possessed no quality to mark them out from the rest

of mankind. They were begotten by men, they were born of women, and

they sustained themselves as we do in the present day. In reference

to their minds, people would have us believe that God dealt with

these prophets in a way differing from that wherein he deals with

ordinary mortals, and that he disclosed himself to them in a manner

quite exclusive. Many persons consider this matter as a proved and

ascertained fact, without reflecting that every man may meet his

counterpart, and that we have one common origin; endeavouring at the

same time to persuade us that these men were cast in no common mould

and that they were selected by the Deity to proclaim his oracles. Now,

apart from the consideration that these inspired people were gifted

with only an average intellect, and with an understanding not much

above the common, what do we find in their writings to justify us

in forming so exalted an opinion of them? The matter of which they

treat is for the most part so obscure that no one can comprehend

it, and thrown together with so little order that it is easy to

perceive they did not understand it themselves; the whole showing

that they were both knaves and fools. Their impudence in boasting

that whatever they announced to the people came immediately from God,

gave rise to the respect which was paid to them. This assertion on

their part was equally absurd and ridiculous, seeing that according

to their own declaration God only spoke to them in dreams. There is

nothing more natural than that a man should dream; but a man must

be very impudent, very vain, and very stupid, to say that God speaks

to him in this manner, and a poor and credulous fool must he be who

should yield credence to such an assertion, and receive the dreams

of such visionaries for heavenly oracles. Suppose for a moment that

the Deity were to hold intercourse with a man by dreams, or visions,

or in any other way we can think of; nobody is obliged to believe

this on the mere assertion of a fellow-creature equally subject to

error with himself, and moreover, fallible in the way of lying and

imposture. Accordingly we find that under the ancient law, the prophets

were held in far less repute than they are at the present day. When

people got wearied of their babble, which often only tended to spread

revolt and to turn aside subjects from obedience to their sovereigns,

they silenced them by punishment. Jesus Christ himself did not escape

chastisement, for he had not, like Moses [22], an army at his back

to defend his opinions. Add to this, that the prophets were so much

accustomed to contradict each other, that out of four hundred of them

not one true or truth-speaking man could be found. [23] Moreover it

is certain that the drift of their prophesies, like that of the laws

promulgated by the most celebrated legislators, was to immortalize

their memory by persuading people that they had conferences with the

Divinity. The most subtle politicians have invariably played the same

game, although this ruse has not succeeded with every one as it did

with Moses.

 

 

 

§ 6.

 

This being settled, let us examine for a little the idea which the

Prophets have formed of the Deity. According to their account, God is

a being purely corporeal. Michael saw him seated; Daniel beheld him

clothed in white, and under the form of an Old Man; Ezekiel perceived

him as a Fire: so much for the Old Testament. With respect to the

New, the disciples of Jesus Christ imagined that they saw him in

the form of a Dove; the Apostles, like Tongues of Fire; and finally,

St. Paul beheld him as a Light, which dazzled and blinded him. Then

as to their contradictory statements; in the Book of Genesis [24]

we are informed that man is the master of his own actions, and that

it only depends upon himself to do what is right. St. Paul on the

other hand asserts that man has no control over his evil propensities

without the particular grace of God. Samuel [25] declares that the

Deity repented of the evil which he had brought on men: and Jeremiah

[26] affirms that he repented, or on certain conditions that he would

repent, of the good which he had done them. Such are the false and

contradictory ideas which those pretenders to inspiration give us of

the divinity; and which they wish us to adopt without reflecting that

they represent the Deity as a sensitive Being, material, and subject

to like passions with ourselves. Next they inform us that God has

nothing in common with matter, and that his nature is altogether

incomprehensible by us. It would be important to learn how these

manifest and irrational contradictions can be reconciled; and whether

we ought to put much faith in the evidence of a people who, in spite

of the sermons of Moses, were stupid enough to believe that a calf

was their God! Without dwelling on the reveries of a people cradled

in bondage and brought up in absurdity, it is sufficient to remark,

that ignorance has produced a belief in all the impostures and errors

which prevail amongst us at the present day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHAP. II.

 

ON THE REASONS WHICH HAVE LED MANKIND TO BELIEVE IN A DIVINITY.

 

 

§ 1.

 

Those who are ignorant of physical causes have a natural fear

[27], proceeding from a restlessness in their minds, as to whether

there exists a Being or an Agency invisible to them, who has the

power to injure them or to do them good. Hence the tendency which

they have to feign unseen causes, which are only the phantoms

of their imagination--whom they deprecate in adversity and thank

in prosperity. They make Gods of them for this purpose; and this

chimerical fear of invisible Powers is the source of those Religions

which every one forms after his own fashion. Those whose interest it

is that the people should rest contentedly fettered by such reveries,

have fostered their spread--have founded laws upon them--and finally