volunteers in poverty sold to
the devout people their prayers, and their intercessions with the Deity.
They became rich and powerful. Thus monks and hermits lived in indolence,
and under colour of charity, impudently devoured the substance of the
poor.

The species of poverty, most esteemed by Religion, is _poverty of mind_.
The fundamental virtue of every Religion, most useful to its ministers,
is _faith_. It consists in unbounded credulity, which admits, without
enquiry, whatever the interpreters of the Deity are interested in making
men believe. By the aid of this wonderful virtue, priests became the
arbiters of right and wrong, of good and evil: they could easily cause the
commission of crimes to advance their interest. Implicit faith has been
the source of the greatest outrages that have been committed.

170.

He, who first taught nations, that, when we wrong Man, we must ask pardon
of God, appease _him_ by presents, and offer _him_ sacrifices, evidently
destroyed the true principles of Morality. According to such ideas, many
persons imagine that they may obtain of the king of heaven, as of kings
of the earth, permission to be unjust and wicked, or may at least obtain
pardon for the evil they may commit.

Morality is founded upon the relations, wants, and constant interests
of mankind; the relations, which subsist between God and Men, are either
perfectly unknown, or imaginary. Religion, by associating God with Man,
has wisely weakened, or destroyed, the bonds, which unite them. Mortals
imagine, they may injure one another with impunity, by making suitable
satisfaction to the almighty being, who is supposed to have the right of
remitting all offences committed against his creatures.

Is any thing better calculated to encourage the wicked or harden them in
crimes, than to persuade them that there exists an invisible being, who
has a right to forgive acts of injustice, rapine, and outrage committed
against society? By these destructive ideas, perverse men perpetrate the
most horrid crimes, and believe they make reparation by imploring divine
mercy; their conscience is at rest, when a priest assures them that heaven
is disarmed by a repentance, which, though sincere, is very useless to the
world.

In the mind of a devout man, God must be regarded more than his creatures;
it is better to obey him, than men. The interests of the celestial monarch
must prevail over those of weak mortals. But the interests of