nspired, have told us. Who are those who
have seen God? They are either fanatics, or scoundrels, or ambitious
men, whose word we can not rely upon. To found morality upon a God that
each man represents differently, that each one composes by his own idea,
whom everybody arranges according to his own temperament and his own
interest, is evidently founding morality upon the caprice and upon the
imagination of men; it is basing it upon the whims of a sect, faction,
or party, who, excluding all others, claim to have the advantage of
worshiping the true God.

To establish morality, or the duties of man, upon the Divine will, is
founding it upon the wishes, the reveries, or the interests of those who
make God talk without fear of contradiction. In every religion the
priests alone have the right to decide upon what pleases or displeases
their God; we may rest assured that they will decide upon what pleases
or displeases themselves.

The dogmas, ceremonies, the morality and the virtues which all religions
of the world prescribe, are visibly calculated only to extend the power
or to increase the emoluments of the founders and of the ministers of
these religions; the dogmas are obscure, inconceivable, frightful, and,
thereby, very liable to cause the imagination to wander, and to render
the common man more docile to those who wish to domineer over him; the
ceremonies and practices procure fortune or consideration to the
priests; the religious morals and virtues consist in a submissive faith,
which prevents reasoning; in a devout humility, which assures to the
priests the submission of their slaves; in an ardent zeal, when the
question of religion is agitated; that is to say, when the interest of
these priests is considered, all religious virtues having evidently for
their object the advantage of the priests.

CLXIX.--WHAT DOES THAT CHRISTIAN CHARITY AMOUNT TO, SUCH AS THEOLOGIANS
TEACH AND PRACTICE?

When we reproach the theologians with the sterility of their religious
virtues, they praise, with emphasis, charity, that tender love of our
neighbor which Christianity makes an essential duty for its disciples.
But, alas! what becomes of this pretended charity as soon as we examine
the actions of the Lord's ministers? Ask if you must love your neighbor
if he is impious, heretical, and incredulous, that is to say, if he does
not think as they do? Ask them if you must tolerate opinions contrary to
those which they profess? As