There were once many atheists among the Christians3; they are now much fewer. It at first appears to be a paradox5, but examination proves it to be a truth, that theology often threw men’s minds into atheism6, until philosophy at length drew them out of it. It must indeed have been pardonable to doubt of the Divinity, when His only announcers disputed on His nature. Nearly all the first Fathers of the Church made God corporeal7, and others, after them, giving Him no extent, lodged8 Him in a part of heaven. According to some, He had created the world in Time; while, according to others, He had created Time itself. Some gave Him a Son like to Himself; others would not grant that the Son was like to the Father. It was also disputed in what way a third person proceeded from the other two.
It was agitated9 whether the Son had been, while on earth, composed of two persons. So that the question undesignedly became, whether there were five persons in the Divinity — three in heaven and two for Jesus Christ upon earth; or four persons, reckoning Christ upon earth as only one; or three persons, considering Christ only as God. There were disputes about His mother, His descent into hell and into limbo10; the manner in which the body of the God-man was eaten, and the blood of the God-man was drunk; on grace; on the saints, and a thousand other matters. When the confidants of the Divinity were seen so much at variance11 among themselves anathematizing one another from age to age, but all agreeing in an immoderate thirst for riches and grandeur12 — while, on the other hand, were beheld13 the prodigious14 number of crimes and miseries15 which afflicted16 the earth, and of which many were caused by the very disputes of these teachers of souls — it must be confessed that it was allowable for rational men to doubt the existence of a being so strangely announced, and for men of sense to imagine that a God, who could of His own free will make so many beings miserable17, did not exist.
Suppose, for example, a natural philosopher of the fifteenth century reading these words in “St. Thomas’s Dream”: “Virtus c?li, loco spermatis, sufficit cum elementis et putrefactione ad generationem animalium imperfectorum.” “The virtue19 of heaven instead of seed is sufficient, with the elements and putrefaction18, for the generation of imperfect animals.” Our philosopher would reason thus: “If corruption20 suffices with the elements to produce unformed animals, it would appear that a little more corruption, with a little more heat, would also produce animals more complete. The virtue of heaven is here no other than the virtue of nature. I shall then think, with Epicurus and St. Thomas, that men may have sprung from the slime of the earth and the rays of the sun — a noble origin, too, for beings so wretched and so wicked. Why should I admit a creating God, presented to me under so many contradictory21 and revolting aspects?” But at length physics arose, and with them philosophy. Then it was clearly discovered that the mud of the Nile produced not a single insect, nor a single ear of corn, and men were found to acknowledge throughout, germs, relations, means, and an astonishing correspondence among all beings. The particles of light have been followed, which go from the sun to enlighten the globe and the ring of Saturn22, at the distance of three hundred millions of leagues; then, coming to the earth, form two opposite angles in the eye of the minutest insect, and paint all nature on its retina. A philosopher was given to the world who discovered the simple and sublime23 laws by which the celestial24 globes move in the immensity of space. Thus the work of the universe, now that it is better known, bespeaks25 a workman, and so many never-varying laws announce a law-giver. Sound philosophy, therefore, has destroyed atheism, to which obscure theology furnished weapons of defence.
But one resource was left for the small number of difficult minds, which, being more forcibly struck by the pretended injustices26 of a Supreme28 Being than by his wisdom, were obstinate29 in denying this first mover. Nature has existed from all eternity30; everything in nature is in motion, therefore everything in it continually changes. And if everything is forever changing, all possible combinations must take place; therefore the present combinations of all things may have been the effect of this eternal motion and change alone. Take six dice31, and it is 46,655 to one that you do not throw six times six. But still there is that one chance in 46,656. So, in the infinity32 of ages, any one of the infinite number of combinations, as that of the present arrangement of the universe, is not impossible.
Minds, otherwise rational, have been misled by these arguments; but they have not considered that there is infinity against them, and that there certainly is not infinity against the existence of God. They should, moreover, consider that if everything were changing, the smallest things could not remain unchanged, as they have so long done. They have at least no reason to advance why new species are not formed every day. On the contrary, it is very probable that a powerful hand, superior to these continual changes, keeps all species within the bounds it has prescribed them. Thus the philosopher, who acknowledges a God, has a number of probabilities on his side, while the atheist2 has only doubts.
It is evident that in morals it is much better to acknowledge a God than not to admit one. It is certainly to the interest of all men that there should be a Divinity to punish what human justice cannot repress; but it is also clear that it were better to acknowledge no God than to worship a barbarous one, and offer Him human victims, as so many nations have done.
We have one striking example, which places this truth beyond a doubt. The Jews, under Moses, had no idea of the immortality33 of the soul, nor of a future state. Their lawgiver announced to them, from God, only rewards and punishments purely34 temporal; they, therefore, had only this life to provide for. Moses commands the Levites to kill twenty-three thousand of their brethren for having had a golden or gilded35 calf36. On another occasion twenty-four thousand of them are massacred for having had commerce with the young women of the country; and twelve thousand are struck dead because some few of them had wished to support the ark, which was near falling. It may, with perfect reverence37 for the decrees of Providence38, be affirmed, humanly speaking, that it would have been much better for these fifty-nine thousand men, who believed in no future state, to have been absolute atheists and have lived, than to have been massacred in the name of the God whom they acknowledged.
It is quite certain that atheism is not taught in the schools of the learned of China, but many of those learned men are atheists, for they are indifferent philosophers. Now it would undoubtedly39 be better to live with them at Pekin, enjoying the mildness of their manners and their laws, than to be at Goa, liable to groan40 in irons, in the prisons of the inquisition, until brought out in a brimstone-colored garment, variegated41 with devils, to perish in the flames.
They who have maintained that a society of atheists may exist have then been right, for it is laws that form society, and these atheists, being moreover philosophers, may lead a very wise and happy life under the shade of those laws. They will certainly live in society more easily than superstitious42 fanatics43. People one town with Epicureans such as Simonides, Protagoras, Des Barreux, Spinoza; and another with Jansenists and Molinists. In which do you think there will be the most quarrels and tumults45? Atheism, considering it only with relation to this life, would be very dangerous among a ferocious46 people, and false ideas of the Divinity would be no less pernicious. Most of the great men of this world live as if they were atheists. Every man who has lived with his eyes open knows that the knowledge of a God, His presence, and His justice, has not the slightest influence over the wars, the treaties, the objects of ambition, interest or pleasure, in the pursuit of which they are wholly occupied. Yet we do not see that they grossly violate the rules established in society. It is much more agreeable to pass our lives among them than among the superstitious and fanatical. I do, it is true, expect more justice from one who believes in a God than from one who has no such belief; but from the superstitious I look only for bitterness and persecution47. Atheism and fanaticism48 are two monsters which may tear society in pieces; but the atheist preserves his reason, which checks his propensity49 to mischief50, while the fanatic44 is under the influence of a madness which is constantly urging him on.
§ II.
In England, as everywhere else, there have been, and there still are, many atheists by principle; for there are none but young, inexperienced preachers, very ill-informed of what passes in the world, who affirm that there cannot be atheists. I have known some in France, who were quite good natural philosophers; and have, I own, been very much surprised that men who could so ably develop the secret springs of nature should obstinately51 refuse to acknowledge the hand which so evidently puts those springs in action.
It appears to me that one of the principles which leads them to materialism52 is that they believe in the plentitude and infinity of the universe, and the eternity of matter. It must be this which misleads them, for almost all the Newtonians whom I have met admit the void and the termination of matter, and consequently admit a God.
Indeed, if matter be infinite, as so many philosophers, even including Descartes, pretend, it has of itself one of the attributes of the Supreme Being: if a void be impossible, matter exists of necessity; it has existed from all eternity. With these principles, therefore, we may dispense53 with God, creating, modifying, and preserving matter.
I am aware that Descartes, and most of the schools which have believed in the plenum, and the infinity of matter, have nevertheless admitted a God; but this is only because men scarcely ever reason or act upon their principles.
Had men reasoned, consequently, Epicurus and his apostle Lucretius must have been the most religious assertors of the Providence which they combated; for when they admitted the void and the termination of matter, a truth of which they had only an imperfect glimpse, it necessarily followed that matter was the being of necessity, existing by itself, since it was not indefinite. They had, therefore, in their own philosophy, and in their own despite, a demonstration54 that there is a Supreme Being, necessary, infinite, the fabricator of the universe. Newton’s philosophy, which admits and proves the void and finite matter, also demonstratively proves the existence of a God.
Thus I regard true philosophers as the apostles of the Divinity. Each class of men requires its particular ones; a parish catechist tells children that there is a God, but Newton proves it to the wise.
In London, under Charles II. after Cromwell’s wars, as at Paris under Henry IV. after the war of the Guises55, people took great pride in being atheists; having passed from the excess of cruelty to that of pleasure, and corrupted56 their minds successively by war and by voluptuousness57, they reasoned very indifferently. Since then the more nature has been studied the better its Author has been known.
One thing I will venture to believe, which is, that of all religions, theism is the most widely spread in the world. It is the prevailing58 religion of China; it is that of the wise among the Mahometans; and, among Christian4 philosophers, eight out of ten are of the same opinion. It has penetrated59 even into the schools of theology, into the cloisters60, into the conclave61; it is a sort of sect without association, without worship, without ceremonies, without disputes, and without zeal62, spread through the world without having been preached. Theism, like Judaism, is to be found amidst all religions; but it is singular that the latter, which is the extreme of superstition63, abhorred64 by the people and contemned65 by the wise, is everywhere tolerated for money; while the former, which is the opposite of superstition, unknown to the people, and embraced by philosophers alone, is publicly exercised nowhere but in China. There is no country in Europe where there are more theists than in England. Some persons ask whether they have a religion or not.
There are two sorts of theists. The one sort think that God made the world without giving man rules for good and evil. It is clear that these should have no other name than that of philosophers.
The others believe that God gave to man a natural law. These, it is certain, have a religion, though they have no external worship. They are, with reference to the Christian religion, peaceful enemies, which she carries in her bosom66; they renounce67 without any design of destroying her. All other sects68 desire to predominate, like political bodies, which seek to feed on the substance of others, and rise upon their ruin; theism has always lain quiet. Theists have never been found caballing in any state.
There was in London a society of theists, who for some time continued to meet together. They had a small book of their laws, in which religion, on which so many ponderous69 volumes have been written, occupied only two pages. Their principal axiom was this: “Morality is the same among all men; therefore it comes from God. Worship is various; therefore it is the work of man.”
The second axiom was: “Men, being all brethren, and acknowledging the same God, it is execrable that brethren should persecute70 brethren, because they testify their love for the common father in a different manner. Indeed,” said they, “what upright man would kill his elder brother because one of them had saluted71 their father after the Chinese and the other after the Dutch fashion, especially while it was undecided in what way the father wished their reverence to be made to him? Surely he who should act thus would be a bad brother rather than a good son.”
I am well aware that these maxims72 lead directly to “the abominable73 and execrable dogma of toleration”; but I do no more than simply relate the fact. I am very careful not to become a controversialist. It must, however, be admitted that if the different sects into which Christians have been divided had possessed74 this moderation, Christianity would have been disturbed by fewer disorders75, shaken by fewer revolutions, and stained with less blood.
Let us pity the theists for combating our holy revelation. But whence comes it that so many Calvinists, Lutherans, Anabaptists, Nestorians, Arians, partisans76 of Rome, and enemies of Rome, have been so sanguinary, so barbarous, and so miserable, now persecuting77, now persecuted78? It is because they have been the multitude. Whence is it that theists, though in error, have never done harm to mankind? Because they have been philosophers. The Christian religion has cost the human species seventeen millions of men, reckoning only one million per century, who have perished either by the hands of the ordinary executioner, or by those of executioners paid and led to battle — all for the salvation79 of souls and the greater glory of God.
I have heard men express astonishment80 that a religion so moderate, and so apparently81 conformable to reason, as theism, has not been spread among the people. Among the great and little vulgar may be found pious82 herb-women, Molinist duchesses, scrupulous83 seamstresses who would go to the stake for anabaptism, devout84 hackney-coachmen, most determined85 in the cause of Luther or of Arius, but no theists; for theism cannot so much be called a religion as a system of philosophy, and the vulgar, whether great or little, are not philosophers.
Locke was a declared theist. I was astonished to find, in that great philosopher’s chapter on innate86 ideas, that men have all different ideas of justice. Were such the case, morality would no longer be the same; the voice of God would not be heard by man; natural religion would be at an end. I am willing to believe, with him, that there are nations in which men eat their fathers, and where to lie with a neighbor’s wife is to do him a friendly office; but if this be true it does not prove that the law, “Do not unto others that which you would not have others do unto you,” is not general. For if a father be eaten, it is when he has grown old, is too feeble to crawl along, and would otherwise be eaten by the enemy. And, I ask, what father would not furnish a good meal to his son rather than to the enemies of his nation? Besides, he who eats his father hopes that he in turn shall be eaten by his children.
If a service be rendered to a neighbor by lying with his wife, it is when he cannot himself have a child, and is desirous of having one; otherwise he would be very angry. In both these cases, and in all others, the natural law, “Do not to another that which you would not have another do to you,” remains87 unbroken. All the other rules, so different and so varied88, may be referred to this. When, therefore, the wise metaphysician, Locke, says that men have no innate ideas, that they have different ideas of justice and injustice27, he assuredly does not mean to assert that God has not given to all men that instinctive89 self-love by which they are of necessity guided.
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1
sect
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| n.派别，宗教，学派，派系 | |
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atheist
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| n.无神论者 | |
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Christians
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| n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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paradox
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| n.似乎矛盾却正确的说法；自相矛盾的人(物) | |
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atheism
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| n.无神论，不信神 | |
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corporeal
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| adj.肉体的，身体的；物质的 | |
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lodged
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| v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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limbo
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| n.地狱的边缘；监狱 | |
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variance
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| n.矛盾，不同 | |
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grandeur
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| n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华 | |
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beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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prodigious
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| adj.惊人的，奇妙的；异常的；巨大的；庞大的 | |
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miseries
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| n.痛苦( misery的名词复数 )；痛苦的事；穷困；常发牢骚的人 | |
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afflicted
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| 使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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putrefaction
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| n.腐坏，腐败 | |
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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corruption
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| n.腐败，堕落，贪污 | |
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contradictory
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| adj.反驳的，反对的，抗辩的；n.正反对，矛盾对立 | |
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Saturn
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| n.农神，土星 | |
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sublime
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| adj.崇高的，伟大的；极度的，不顾后果的 | |
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celestial
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| adj.天体的；天上的 | |
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bespeaks
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| v.预定( bespeak的第三人称单数 )；订（货）；证明；预先请求 | |
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injustices
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| 不公平( injustice的名词复数 )； 非正义； 待…不公正； 冤枉 | |
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injustice
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| n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利 | |
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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obstinate
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| adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的 | |
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eternity
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| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
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dice
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| n.骰子；vt.把（食物）切成小方块，冒险 | |
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infinity
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| n.无限，无穷，大量 | |
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immortality
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| n.不死，不朽 | |
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purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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gilded
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| a.镀金的，富有的 | |
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calf
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reverence
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| n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬 | |
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providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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groan
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| vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
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variegated
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| adj.斑驳的，杂色的 | |
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superstitious
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| adj.迷信的 | |
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fanatics
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| 狂热者，入迷者( fanatic的名词复数 ) | |
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fanatic
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| n.狂热者，入迷者；adj.狂热入迷的 | |
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tumults
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| 吵闹( tumult的名词复数 )； 喧哗； 激动的吵闹声； 心烦意乱 | |
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ferocious
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| adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的 | |
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persecution
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| n. 迫害,烦扰 | |
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fanaticism
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| n.狂热，盲信 | |
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propensity
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| n.倾向；习性 | |
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mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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obstinately
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| ad.固执地，顽固地 | |
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materialism
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| n.［哲］唯物主义，唯物论；物质至上 | |
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dispense
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| vt.分配，分发；配(药)，发(药)；实施 | |
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demonstration
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| n.表明，示范，论证，示威 | |
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guises
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| n.外观，伪装( guise的名词复数 )v.外观，伪装( guise的第三人称单数 ) | |
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corrupted
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| （使）败坏( corrupt的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）腐化； 引起（计算机文件等的）错误； 破坏 | |
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voluptuousness
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| n.风骚，体态丰满 | |
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prevailing
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| adj.盛行的；占优势的；主要的 | |
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penetrated
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| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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cloisters
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| n.（学院、修道院、教堂等建筑的）走廊( cloister的名词复数 )；回廊；修道院的生活；隐居v.隐退，使与世隔绝( cloister的第三人称单数 ) | |
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conclave
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| n.秘密会议，红衣主教团 | |
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zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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superstition
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| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
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abhorred
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| v.憎恶( abhor的过去式和过去分词 )；（厌恶地）回避；拒绝；淘汰 | |
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contemned
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| v.侮辱，蔑视( contemn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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renounce
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| v.放弃；拒绝承认，宣布与…断绝关系 | |
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sects
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| n.宗派，教派( sect的名词复数 ) | |
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ponderous
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| adj.沉重的，笨重的，(文章)冗长的 | |
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persecute
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| vt.迫害，虐待；纠缠，骚扰 | |
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saluted
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| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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maxims
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| n.格言，座右铭( maxim的名词复数 ) | |
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73
abominable
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| adj.可厌的，令人憎恶的 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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disorders
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| n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 )；凌乱；骚乱；（身心、机能）失调 | |
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partisans
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| 游击队员( partisan的名词复数 )； 党人； 党羽； 帮伙 | |
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persecuting
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| （尤指宗教或政治信仰的）迫害(~sb. for sth.)( persecute的现在分词 )； 烦扰，困扰或骚扰某人 | |
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78
persecuted
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| （尤指宗教或政治信仰的）迫害(~sb. for sth.)( persecute的过去式和过去分词 )； 烦扰，困扰或骚扰某人 | |
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79
salvation
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| n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困 | |
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80
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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81
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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82
pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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scrupulous
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| adj.审慎的，小心翼翼的，完全的，纯粹的 | |
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devout
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| adj.虔诚的，虔敬的，衷心的 (n.devoutness) | |
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85
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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86
innate
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| adj.天生的，固有的，天赋的 | |
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87
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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instinctive
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| adj.(出于)本能的；直觉的；(出于)天性的 | |
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