SUPERSTITION IN ALL AGES
By Jean Meslier
1732
A ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST, WHO, AFTER A PASTORAL SERVICE OF THIRTY YEARS AT ETREPIGNY IN CHAMPAGNE, FRANCE, WHOLLY ABJURED RELIGIOUS DOGMAS, AND LEFT AS HIS LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT TO HIS PARISHIONERS, AND TO THE WORLD, TO BE PUBLISHED AFTER HIS DEATH, THE FOLLOWING PAGES, ENTITLED: COMMON SENSE.
Translated from the French original by Miss Anna Knoop
1878
CONTENTS
LIFE OF JEAN MESLIER BY VOLTAIRE.
PREFACE OF THE AUTHOR.
COMMON SENSE.
I. APOLOGUE.
II WHAT IS THEOLOGY?
III.
IV MAN BORN NEITHER RELIGIOUS NOR DEISTICAL.
V IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO BELIEVE IN A GOD
VI RELIGION IS FOUNDED UPON CREDULITY.
VII EVERY RELIGION IS AN ABSURDITY.
VIII THE NOTION OF GOD IS IMPOSSIBLE.
IX ORIGIN OF SUPERSTITION.
X ORIGIN OF ALL RELIGION.
XI IN THE NAME OF RELIGION CHARLATANS TAKE ADVANTAGE
XII RELIGION ENTICES IGNORANCE BY THE AID OF THE MARVELOUS.
XIII CONTINUATION.
XIV THERE WOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN ANY RELIGION IF . . .
XV ALL RELIGION WAS BORN OF THE DESIRE TO DOMINATE.
XVI THAT WHICH SERVES AS A BASIS FOR ALL RELIGION IS VERY UNCERTAIN.
XVII IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO BE CONVINCED OF THE EXISTENCE OF GOD.
XVIII CONTINUATION.
XIX THE EXISTENCE OF GOD IS NOT PROVED.
XX TO SAY THAT GOD IS A SPIRIT, IS TO SPEAK WITHOUT SAYING ANYTHING
XXI SPIRITUALITY IS A CHIMERA.
XXII ALL WHICH EXISTS SPRINGS FROM THE BOSOM OF MATTER.
XXIII WHAT IS THE METAPHYSICAL GOD OF MODERN THEOLOGY?
XXIV IT WOULD BE MORE RATIONAL TO WORSHIP THE SUN THAN A SPIRITUAL GOD.
XXV A SPIRITUAL GOD IS INCAPABLE OF WILLING AND OF ACTING.
XXVI WHAT IS GOD?
XXVII REMARKABLE CONTRADICTIONS OF THEOLOGY.
XXVIII TO ADORE GOD IS TO ADORE A FICTION.
XXIX THE INFINITY OF GOD AND THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF KNOWING THE DIVINE
XXX IT IS NEITHER LESS NOR MORE CRIMINAL TO BELIEVE IN GOD THAN NOT TO
XXXI THE BELIEF IN GOD IS NOTHING BUT A MECHANICAL HABITUDE
XXXIII ORIGIN OF PREJUDICES.
XXXIV HOW THEY TAKE ROOT AND SPREAD.
XXXV MEN WOULD NEVER HAVE BELIEVED IN THE PRINCIPLES OF MODERN THEOLOGY
XXXVI THE WONDERS OF NATURE DO NOT PROVE THE EXISTENCE OF GOD.
XXXVII THE WONDERS OF NATURE EXPLAIN THEMSELVES BY NATURAL CAUSES.
XXXVIII CONTINUATION.
XXXIX THE WORLD HAS NOT BEEN CREATED, AND MATTER MOVES BY ITSELF.
XL CONTINUATION.
XLI OTHER PROOFS THAT MOTION IS IN THE ESSENCE OF MATTER
XLII THE EXISTENCE OF MAN DOES NOT PROVE THAT OF GOD.
XLIII HOWEVER, NEITHER MAN NOR THE UNIVERSE IS THE EFFECT OF CHANCE.
XLIV NEITHER DOES THE ORDER OF THE UNIVERSE PROVE THE EXISTENCE OF A GOD
XLV CONTINUATION.
XLVI A PURE SPIRIT CAN NOT BE INTELLIGENT
XLVII ALL THE QUALITIES WHICH THEOLOGY GIVES TO ITS GOD ARE CONTRARY
XLVIII CONTINUATION.
XLIX IT IS ABSURD TO SAY THAT THE HUMAN RACE IS THE OBJECT AND THE END
L GOD IS NOT MADE FOR MAN, NOR MAN FOR GOD.
LI IT IS NOT TRUE THAT THE OBJECT OF THE FORMATION OF THE . . .
LII WHAT IS CALLED PROVIDENCE IS BUT A WORD VOID OF SENSE.
LIII THIS PRETENDED PROVIDENCE IS LESS OCCUPIED IN CONSERVING . . .
LIV NO! THE WORLD IS NOT GOVERNED BY AN INTELLIGENT BEING.
LV GOD CAN NOT BE CALLED IMMUTABLE.
LVI EVIL AND GOOD ARE THE NECESSARY EFFECTS OF NATURAL CAUSES
LVII THE VANITY OF THEOLOGICAL CONSOLATIONS
LVIII ANOTHER IDLE FANCY.
LIX IN VAIN DOES THEOLOGY EXERT ITSELF TO ACQUIT GOD OF MAN'S DEFECTS.
LX WE CAN NOT BELIEVE IN A DIVINE PROVIDENCE
LXI CONTINUATION.
LXII THEOLOGY MAKES OF ITS GOD A MONSTER OF NONSENSE, OF INJUSTICE
LXIII ALL RELIGION INSPIRES BUT A COWARDLY AND INORDINATE FEAR
LXIV THERE IS IN REALITY NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN . . .
LXV ACCORDING TO THE IDEAS WHICH THEOLOGY GIVES OF DIVINITY
LXVI BY THE INVENTION OF THE DOGMA OF THE ETERNAL TORMENTS OF HELL
LXVII THEOLOGY IS BUT A SERIES OF PALPABLE CONTRADICTIONS.
LXIX THE PERFECTION OF GOD DOES NOT SHOW TO ANY MORE ADVANTAGE . . .
LXX THEOLOGY PREACHES THE OMNIPOTENCE OF ITS GOD
LXXI ACCORDING TO ALL THE RELIGIOUS SYSTEMS OF THE EARTH
LXXII IT IS ABSURD TO SAY THAT EVIL DOES NOT COME FROM GOD.
LXXIII THE FORESIGHT ATTRIBUTED TO GOD
LXXIV ABSURDITY OF THE THEOLOGICAL FABLES UPON ORIGINAL SIN
LXXV THE DEVIL, LIKE RELIGION, WAS INVENTED TO ENRICH THE PRIESTS.
LXXVI IF GOD COULD NOT RENDER HUMAN NATURE SINLESS, HE HAS NO RIGHT . . .
LXXVII IT IS ABSURD TO SAY THAT GOD'S CONDUCT MUST BE A MYSTERY TO MAN
LXXVIII IT IS ABSURD TO CALL HIM A GOD OF JUSTICE AND GOODNESS
LXXIX A GOD WHO PUNISHES THE FAULTS WHICH HE COULD HAVE PREVENTED
LXXX FREE WILL IS AN IDLE FANCY.
LXXXI WE SHOULD NOT CONCLUDE FROM THIS THAT SOCIETY HAS NOT THE RIGHT . . .
LXXXII REFUTATION OF THE ARGUMENTS IN FAVOR OF FREE WILL.
LXXXIII CONTINUATION.
LXXXIV GOD HIMSELF, IF THERE WAS A GOD, WOULD NOT BE FREE
LXXXV EVEN ACCORDING TO THEOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES, MAN IS NOT FREE
LXXXVI ALL EVIL, ALL DISORDER, ALL SIN, CAN BE ATTRIBUTED BUT TO GOD
LXXXVII MEN'S PRAYERS TO GOD PROVE SUFFICIENTLY THAT THEY ARE NOT . . .
LXXXVIII THE REPARATION OF THE INIQUITIES AND THE MISERIES OF THIS
LXXXIX THEOLOGY JUSTIFIES THE EVIL AND INJUSTICE PERMITTED BY ITS GOD,
XC REDEMPTION, AND THE CONTINUAL EXTERMINATIONS ATTRIBUTED TO JEHOVAH
XCI HOW CAN WE DISCOVER A TENDER, GENEROUS, AND EQUITABLE FATHER
XCII THE LIFE OF MORTALS, ALL WHICH TAKES PLACE HERE BELOW
XCIII IT IS NOT TRUE THAT WE OWE ANY GRATITUDE TO WHAT WE CALL . . .
XCIV TO PRETEND THAT MAN IS THE BELOVED CHILD OF PROVIDENCE
XCV COMPARISON BETWEEN MAN AND ANIMALS.
XCVI THERE ARE NO MORE DETESTABLE ANIMALS IN THIS WORLD THAN TYRANTS.
XCVII REFUTATION OF MAN'S EXCELLENCE.
XCVIII AN ORIENTAL LEGEND.
XCIX IT IS FOOLISH TO SEE IN THE UNIVERSE ONLY THE BENEFACTIONS OF GOD
C WHAT IS THE SOUL? WE KNOW NOTHING ABOUT IT
CI THE EXISTENCE OF A SOUL IS AN ABSURD SUPPOSITION
CII IT IS EVIDENT THAT THE WHOLE OF MAN DIES.
CIV THE ABSURDITY OF SUPERNATURAL CAUSES
CV IT IS FALSE THAT MATERIALISM CAN BE DEBASING TO THE HUMAN RACE.
CVI CONTINUATION.
CVII THE DOGMA OF ANOTHER LIFE IS USEFUL BUT FOR THOSE WHO PROFIT BY IT
CVIII IT IS FALSE THAT THE DOGMA OF ANOTHER LIFE CAN BE CONSOLING
CIX ALL RELIGIOUS PRINCIPLES ARE IMAGINARY
CX EVERY RELIGION IS BUT A SYSTEM IMAGINED FOR THE PURPOSE . . .
CXI ABSURDITY AND INUTILITY OF THE MYSTERIES
CXII CONTINUATION.
CXIII CONTINUATION.
CXIV A UNIVERSAL GOD SHOULD HAVE REVEALED A UNIVERSAL RELIGION.
CXV THE PROOF THAT RELIGION IS NOT NECESSARY
CXVI ALL RELIGIONS ARE RIDICULED BY THOSE OF OPPOSITE . . .
CXVII OPINION OF A CELEBRATED THEOLOGIAN.
CXVIII THE DEIST'S GOD IS NO LESS CONTRADICTORY . . .
CXIX WE DO NOT PROVE AT ALL THE EXISTENCE OF A GOD BY SAYING . . .
CXX ALL THE GODS ARE OF A BARBAROUS ORIGIN; ALL RELIGIONS ARE . . .
CXXI ALL RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES BEAR THE SEAL OF STUPIDITY OR BARBARITY.
CXXII THE MORE ANCIENT AND GENERAL A RELIGIOUS OPINION IS . . .
CXXIII SKEPTICISM IN THE MATTER OF RELIGION
CXXIV REVELATION REFUTED.
CXXV WHERE, THEN, IS THE PROOF THAT GOD DID EVER SHOW HIMSELF TO MEN
CXXVI NOTHING ESTABLISHES THE TRUTH OF MIRACLES.
CXXVII IF GOD HAD SPOKEN, IT WOULD BE STRANGE THAT HE HAD SPOKEN
CXXVIII OBSCURE AND SUSPICIOUS ORIGIN OF ORACLES.
CXXIX ABSURDITY OF PRETENDED MIRACLES.
CXXX REFUTATION OF PASCAL'S MANNER OF REASONING
CXXXI EVEN ACCORDING TO THE PRINCIPLES OF THEOLOGY ITSELF . . .
CXXXII EVEN THE BLOOD OF THE MARTYRS, TESTIFIES . . .
CXXXIII THE FANATICISM OF THE MARTYRS
CXXXIV THEOLOGY MAKES OF ITS GOD AN ENEMY OF COMMON SENSE
CXXXV FAITH IS IRRECONCILABLE WITH REASON
CXXXVI HOW ABSURD AND RIDICULOUS IS THE SOPHISTRY OF THOSE . . .
CXXXVII HOW PRETEND THAT MAN OUGHT TO BELIEVE VERBAL TESTIMONY
CXXXVIII FAITH TAKES ROOT BUT IN WEAK, IGNORANT, OR INDOLENT MINDS.
CXXXIX TO TEACH THAT THERE EXISTS ONE TRUE RELIGION IS AN ABSURDITY,
CXL RELIGION IS NOT NECESSARY TO MORALITY AND TO VIRTUE.
CXLI RELIGION IS THE WEAKEST RESTRAINT THAT CAN BE OPPOSED . . .
CXLII HONOR IS A MORE SALUTARY AND A STRONGER CHECK THAN RELIGION.
CXLIII RELIGION IS CERTAINLY NOT A POWERFUL CHECK UPON THE PASSIONS
CXLIV ORIGIN OF THE MOST ABSURD, THE MOST RIDICULOUS, AND . . .
CXLV RELIGION IS FATAL TO POLITICS; IT FORMS BUT LICENTIOUS . . .
CXLVI CHRISTIANITY EXTENDED ITSELF BUT BY ENCOURAGING DESPOTISM
CXLVII THE ONLY AIM OF RELIGIOUS PRINCIPLES IS TO PERPETUATE . . .
CXLVIII HOW FATAL IT IS TO PERSUADE KINGS THAT THEY HAVE ONLY GOD . . .
CLXIX A RELIGIOUS KING IS A SCOURGE TO HIS KINGDOM.
CL THE SHIELD OF RELIGION IS FOR TYRANNY
CLI RELIGION FAVORS THE ERRORS OF PRINCES
CLII WHAT IS AN ENLIGHTENED SOVEREIGN?
CLIII THE DOMINANT PASSIONS AND CRIMES OF PRIESTCRAFT.
CLIV CHARLATANRY OF THE PRIESTS.
CLV COUNTLESS CALAMITIES ARE PRODUCED BY RELIGION
CLVI EVERY RELIGION IS INTOLERANT, AND CONSEQUENTLY DESTRUCTIVE OF
CLVII ABUSE OF A STATE RELIGION.
CLVIII RELIGION GIVES LICENSE TO THE FEROCITY OF THE PEOPLE
CLIX REFUTATION OF THE ARGUMENT, THAT THE EVILS ATTRIBUTED TO RELIGION
CLX ALL MORALITY IS INCOMPATIBLE WITH RELIGIOUS OPINIONS.
CLXI THE MORALS OF THE GOSPEL ARE IMPRACTICABLE.
CLXII A SOCIETY OF SAINTS WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE.
CLXIII HUMAN NATURE IS NOT DEPRAVED
CLXIV OF JESUS CHRIST, THE PRIEST'S GOD.
CLXV THE DOGMA OF THE REMISSION OF SINS HAS BEEN INVENTED
CLXVI THE FEAR OF GOD IS POWERLESS AGAINST HUMAN PASSIONS.
CLXVII THE INVENTION OF HELL IS TOO ABSURD TO PREVENT EVIL.
CLXVIII ABSURDITY OF THE MORALITY AND OF THE RELIGIOUS VIRTUES
CLXIX WHAT DOES THAT CHRISTIAN CHARITY AMOUNT TO
CLXX CONFESSION, THAT GOLDEN MINE FOR THE PRIESTS
CLXXI THE SUPPOSITION OF THE EXISTENCE OF A GOD IS NOT NECESSARY
CLXXII RELIGION AND ITS SUPERNATURAL MORALITY ARE FATAL TO THE PEOPLE
CLXXIII HOW THE UNION OF RELIGION AND POLITICS IS FATAL TO THE PEOPLE
CLXXV RELIGION PARALYZES MORALITY.
CLXXVI FATAL CONSEQUENCES OF PIETY.
CLXXVII THE SUPPOSITION OF ANOTHER LIFE IS NEITHER CONSOLING TO MAN . . .
CLXXVIII AN ATHEIST HAS MORE MOTIVES FOR ACTING UPRIGHTLY
CLXXIX AN ATHEISTICAL KING WOULD BE PREFERABLE TO ONE WHO IS RELIGIOUS
CLXXX THE MORALITY ACQUIRED BY PHILOSOPHY IS SUFFICIENT TO VIRTUE.
CLXXXI OPINIONS RARELY INFLUENCE CONDUCT.
CLXXXII -REASON LEADS MEN TO IRRELIGION AND TO ATHEISM
CLXXXIII FEAR ALONE CREATES THEISTS AND BIGOTS.
CLXXXIV CAN WE, OR SHOULD WE, LOVE OR NOT LOVE GOD?
CLXXXV THE VARIOUS AND CONTRADICTORY IDEAS WHICH EXIST EVERYWHERE
CLXXXVI THE EXISTENCE OF GOD, WHICH IS THE BASIS OF ALL RELIGION
CLXXXVII PRIESTS, MORE THAN UNBELIEVERS, ACT FROM INTEREST.
CLXXXVIII PRIDE, PRESUMPTION, AND CORRUPTION OF THE HEART
CLXXXIX PREJUDICES ARE BUT FOR A TIME, AND NO POWER IS DURABLE
CXC HOW MUCH POWER AND CONSIDERATION THE MINISTERS OF THE GODS . . .
CXCI WHAT A HAPPY AND GREAT REVOLUTION WOULD TAKE PLACE . . .
CXCII THE RETRACTION OF AN UNBELIEVER AT THE HOUR OF DEATH
CXCIII IT IS NOT TRUE THAT ATHEISM SUNDERS ALL THE TIES OF SOCIETY.
CXCIV REFUTATION OF THE ASSERTION THAT RELIGION IS NECESSARY
CXCV EVERY RATIONAL SYSTEM IS NOT MADE FOR THE MULTITUDE.
CXCVI FUTILITY AND DANGER OF THEOLOGY. WISE COUNSELS TO PRINCES.
CXCVII FATAL EFFECTS OF RELIGION UPON THE PEOPLE AND THE PRINCES.
CXCVIII CONTINUATION.
CXCIX HISTORY TEACHES US THAT ALL RELIGIONS WERE ESTABLISHED . . .
CC ALL RELIGIONS, ANCIENT AND MODERN, HAVE MUTUALLY BORROWED . . .
CCI THEOLOGY HAS ALWAYS TURNED PHILOSOPHY FROM ITS TRUE COURSE.
CCII -THEOLOGY NEITHER EXPLAINS NOR ENLIGHTENS ANYTHING IN THE WORLD
CCIII HOW THEOLOGY HAS FETTERED HUMAN MORALS AND RETARDED THE PROGRESS
CCIV CONTINUATION.
CCV WE COULD NOT REPEAT TOO OFTEN HOW EXTRAVAGANT AND FATAL RELIGION
CCVI RELIGION IS PANDORA'S BOX, AND THIS FATAL BOX IS OPEN.
ABSTRACT OF THE TESTAMENT OF JOHN MESLIER
I OF RELIGIONS.
III SIMILARITY BETWEEN ANCIENT AND MODERN MIRACLES.
IV OF THE FALSITY OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.
V THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. (1) OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
VI THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. (2) THE NEW TESTAMENT.
VII ERRORS OF DOCTRINE AND OF MORALITY.
PUBLISHER'S PREFACE.
PREFATORY NOTE BY THE TRANSLATOR
PREFACE OF THE EDITOR OF THE FRENCH EDITION OF 1830.
LIFE OF JEAN MESLIER BY VOLTAIRE.
Jean Meslier, born 1678, in the village of Mazerny, dependency of the duchy of Rethel, was the son of a serge weaver; brought up in the country, he nevertheless pursued his studies and succeeded to the priesthood. At the seminary, where he lived with much regularity, he devoted himself to the system of Descartes.
Becoming curate of Etrepigny in Champagne and vicar of a little annexed parish named Bue, he was remarkable for the austerity of his habits. Devoted in all his duties, every year he gave what remained of his salary to the poor of his parishes; enthusiastic, and of rigid virtue, he was very temperate, as much in regard to his appetite as in relation to women.
MM. Voiri and Delavaux, the one curate of Varq, the other curate of Boulzicourt, were his confessors, and the only ones with whom he associated.
The curate Meslier was a rigid partisan of justice, and sometimes carried his zeal a little too far. The lord of his village, M. de Touilly, having ill-treated some peasants, he refused to pray for him in his service. M. de Mailly, Archbishop of Rheims, before whom the case was brought, condemned him. But the Sunday which followed this decision, the abbot Meslier stood in his pulpit and complained of the sentence of the cardinal. "This is," said he, "the general fate of the poor country priest; the archbishops, who are great lords, scorn them and do not listen to them. Therefore, let us pray for the lord of this place. We will pray for Antoine de Touilly, that he may be converted and granted the grace that he may not wrong the poor and despoil the orphans." His lordship, who was present at this mortifying supplication, brought new complaints before the same archbishop, who ordered the curate Meslier to come to Donchery, where he ill-treated him with abusive language.
There have been scarcely any other events in his life, nor other benefice, than that of Etrepigny. He died in the odor of sanctity in the year 1733, fifty-five years old. It is believed that, disgusted with life, he expressly refused necessary food, because during his sickness he was not willing to take anything, not even a glass of wine.
At his death he gave all he possessed, which was inconsiderable, to his parishioners, and desired to be buried in his garden.
They were greatly surprised to find in his house three manuscripts, each containing three hundred and sixty-six pages, all written by his hand, signed and entitled by him, "My Testament." This work, which the author addressed to his parishioners and to M. Leroux, advocate and procurator for the parliament of Meziers, is a simple refutation of all the religious dogmas, without excepting one. The grand vicar of Rheims retained one of the three copies; another was sent to Monsieur Chauvelin, guardian of the State's seal; the third remained at the clerk's office of the justiciary of St. Minehould. The Count de Caylus had one of those three copies in his possession for some time, and soon afterward more than one hundred were at Paris, sold at ten Louis-d'or apiece. A dying priest accusing himself of having professed and taught the Christian religion, made a deeper impression upon the mind than the "Thoughts of Pascal."
The curate Meslier had written upon a gray paper which enveloped the copy destined for his parishioners these remarkable words: "I have seen and recognized the errors, the abuses, the follies, and the wickedness of men. I have hated and despised them. I did not dare say it during my life, but I will say it at least in dying, and after my death; and it is that it may be known, that I write this present memorial in order that it may serve as a witness of truth to all those who may see and read it if they choose."
At the beginning of this work is found this document (a kind of honorable amend, which in his letter to the Count of d'Argental of May 31, 1762, Voltaire qualifies as a preface), addressed to his parishioners.
"You know," said he, "my brethren, my disinterestedness; I do not sacrifice my belief to any vile interest. If I embraced a profession so directly opposed to my sentiments, it was not through cupidity. I obeyed my parents. I would have preferred to enlighten you sooner if I could have done it safely. You are witnesses to what I assert. I have not disgraced my ministry by exacting the requitals, which are a part of it.
"I call heaven to witness that I also thoroughly despised those who laughed at the simplicity of the blind people, those who furnished piously considerable sums of money to buy prayers. How horrible this monopoly! I do not blame the disdain which those who grow rich by your sweat and your pains, show for their mysteries and their superstitions; but I detest their insatiable cupidity and the signal pleasure such fellows take in railing at the ignorance of those whom they carefully keep in this state of blindness. Let them content themselves with laughing at their own ease, but at least let them not multiply their errors by abusing the blind piety of those who, by their simplicity, procured them such an easy life. You render unto me, my brethren, the justice that is due me. The sympathy which I manifested for your troubles saves me from the least suspicion. How often have I performed gratuitously the functions of my ministry. How often also has my heart been grieved at not being able to assist you as often and as abundantly as I could have wished! Have I not always proved to you that I took more pleasure in giving than in receiving? I carefully avoided exhorting you to bigotry, and I spoke to you as rarely as possible of our unfortunate dogmas. It was necessary that I should acquit myself as a priest of my ministry, but how often have I not suffered within myself when I was forced to preach to you those pious lies which I despised in my heart. What a disdain I had for my ministry, and particularly for that superstitious Mass, and those ridiculous administrations of sacraments, especially if I was compelled to perform them with the solemnity which awakened all your piety and
The abbot Meslier had written two letters to the curates of his neighborhood to inform them of his Testament; he told them that he had consigned to the chancery of St. Minnehould a copy of his manuscript in 366 leaves in octavo; but he feared it would be suppressed, according to the bad custom established to prevent the poor from being instructed and knowing the truth.
The curate Meslier, the most singular phenomenon ever seen among all the meteors fatal to the Christian religion, worked his whole life secretly in order to attack the opinions he believed false. To compose his manuscript against God, against all religion, against the Bible and the Church, he had no other assistance than the Bible itself, Moreri Montaigne, and a few fathers.
While the abbot Meslier naively acknowledged that he did not wish to be burned till after his death, Thomas Woolston, a doctor of Cambridge, published and sold publicly at London, in his own house, sixty thousand copies of his "Discourses" against the miracles of Jesus Christ.
It was a very astonishing thing that two priests should at the same time write against the Christian religion. The curate Meslier has gone further yet than Woolston; he dares to treat the transport of our Saviour by the devil upon the mountain, the wedding of Cana, the bread and the fishes, as absurd fables, injurious to divinity, which were ignored during three hundred years by the whole Roman Empire, and finally passed from the lower class to the palace of the emperors, when policy obliged them to adopt the follies of the people in order the more easily to subjugate them. The denunciations of the English priest do not approach those of the Champagne priest. Woolston is sometimes indulgent, Meslier never. He was a man profoundly embittered by the crimes he witnessed, for which he holds the Christian religion responsible. There is no miracle which to him is not an object of contempt and horror; no prophecy that he does not compare to those of Nostredamus. He wrote thus against Jesus Christ when in the arms of death, at a time when the most dissimulating dare not lie, and when the most intrepid tremble. Struck with the difficulties which he found in Scripture, he inveighed against it more bitterly than the Acosta and all the Jews, more than the famous Porphyre, Celse, Iamblique, Julian, Libanius, and all the partisans of human reason.
There were found among the books of the curate Meslier a printed manuscript of the Treatise of Fenelon, Archbishop of Cambray, upon the existence of God and His attributes, and the reflections of the Jesuit Tournemine upon Atheism, to which treatise he added marginal notes signed by his hand.
DECREE
of the NATIONAL CONVENTION upon the proposition to erect a statue to the curate Jean Meslier, the 27 Brumaire, in the year II. (November 17, 1793). The National Convention sends to the Committee of Public Instruction the proposition made by one of its members to erect a statue to Jean Meslier, curate at Etrepigny, in Champagne, the first priest who had the courage and the honesty to abjure religious errors.
PRESIDENT AND SECRETARIES.
SIGNED—P. A. Laloy, President; Bazire, Charles Duval, Philippeaux, Frecine, and Merlin (de Thionville), Secretaries.
Certified according to the original.
MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE OF DECREES AND PROCESS-VERBAL.
SIGNED—Batellier, Echasseriaux, Monnel, Becker, Vernetey, Pérard, Vinet, Bouillerot, Auger, Cordier, Delecloy, and Cosnard.