y,
which in their turn beget robberies, assassinations, and crimes of every
description. Had sovereigns more humanity, charity, and equity, their
dominions would not be peopled by so many wretches, whose misery it
becomes impossible to alleviate.

Christian and Mahometan states are full of large hospitals, richly
endowed, in which we admire the pious charity of the kings and sultans,
who erected them. But would it not have been more humane to govern the
people justly, to render them happy, to excite and favour industry and
commerce, and to let men enjoy in safety the fruit of their labours, than
to crush them under a despotic yoke, to impoverish them by foolish wars,
to reduce them to beggary, in order that luxury may be satisfied, and then
to erect splendid buildings, which can contain but a very small portion
of those, who have been rendered miserable? Religion has only deluded men;
instead of preventing evils, it always applies ineffectual remedies.

The ministers of heaven have always known how to profit by the calamities
of others. Public misery is their element. They have every where become
administrators of the property of the poor, distributors of alms,
depositaries of charitable donations; and thereby they have at all times
extended and supported their power over the unhappy, who generally compose
the most numerous, restless, and seditious part of society. Thus the
greatest evils turn to the profit of the ministers of the Lord. Christian
priests tell us, that the property they possess is the property of the
poor, and that it is therefore sacred. Consequently they have eagerly
accumulated lands, revenues, and treasures. Under colour of charity,
spiritual guides have become extremely opulent, and in the face of
impoverished nations enjoy wealth, which was destined solely for the
unfortunate; while the latter, far from murmuring, applaud a pious
generosity, which enriches the church, but rarely contributes to the
relief of the poor.

According to the principles of Christianity, poverty itself is a virtue;
indeed, it is the virtue, which sovereigns and priests oblige their slaves
to observe most rigorously. With this idea, many pious Christians have of
their own accord renounced riches, distributed their patrimony among the
poor, and retired into deserts, there to live in voluntary indigence. But
this enthusiasm, this supernatural taste for misery, has been soon forced
to yield to nature. The successors of these