CHAPTER IX.

Of the Rites and mysterious Ceremonies or Theurgy of the

Of the Practice and Duties of the Christian Religion...... 93

THE

IMPORTANT EXAMINATION

OF

The Holy Scriptures.

ATTRIBUTED TO

LORD BOLINGBROKE,

BUT

WRITTEN BY M. VOLTAIRE,

AND FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1736.

NOW FIRST TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH.

London:

PRINTED AND published BY R. CARLILE, 55, fleet street.

PREFACE.

THE ambition of domineering over the mind, is one of the strongest passions. A theologian, a missionary, or a partisan of any description, is always for conquering like a prince, and there are many more sects than there are sovereigns in the world. To whose guidance shall I submit my mind? Must I be a Christian, because I happened to be born in London, or in Madrid? Must I be a Mussulman, because I was born in Turkey? As it is myself alone that I ought to consult, the choice of a religion is my greatest interest. One man adores God by Mahomet, another by the Grand Lama, and another by the Pope. Weak and foolish men! adore God by your own reason.

The stupid indolence which takes possession of the generality of men, and sets aside this most important of all concerns, seems to intimate to us that they are nothing but stupid machines, endowed with animal functions, whose instinct never occupies itself beyond the present moment. We make use of our understandings in the same way as we use our bodies; both are frequently abandoned to quacks, whose chief concern is to get possession of our money.

The prodigious multitude of Christian sects already forms a great presumption that they are all founded on erroneous systems. The wise man says to himself"If God had intended us to render him any particular worship, this worship would have been necessary to our species. If this worship were necessary, he him

self would have communicated it to each of us, as invariably as he has given us two eyes and one mouth.' This worship would likewise have been uniform, since we have not been able to discover any thing necessary to the human race that does not possess this uniformity. The universal principles of reason are common to all civilized nations; all acknowledge a Deity; and they may thence infer, that this belief is founded in truth. But each nation has a different religion; they ought, therefore, to conclude, that reason tells them to adore a God; but that they have uniformly fallen into errors by wishing to overstep the bounds prescribed them.

The principle, then, in which the whole universe is in agreement, appears to be true; other principles whose consequences are diametrically opposite must appear to be false, and it is natural for us to mistrust them. We have a still greater diffidence when we find that the sole aim of those at the head of each sect is to domineer and enrich themselves as much as they can; and that from the Dairis of Japan to the Bishop of Rome, they are occupied in raising to the Pontiff a throne founded on the misery of the people, and often cemented with their blood.

Let the Japanese, then, examine how long the Dairis have held them in subjection; let the Tartars make use of their reason in order to judge whether the Grand Lama be immortal; give the Turks permission to judge their Alcoran, and let us, as Christians, examine our Gospels.

I have learnt that a French Vicar, of the name of John Meslier, who died a short time since, prayed on his death-bed that God would forgive him for having taught Christianity. I have seen a Vicar in Dorset-, shire relinquish a living of £200 a year, and confess to his parishioners, that his conscience would not permit him to preach the shocking absurdities of the Christians. But neither the will or testament of John