A Memoir- the Testament

by Jean Meslier

  However, it is clear and evident that all these supposed revelations and all these miracles, by which religious authority so heavily rests, are truly of no weight at all, and are not sufficient to prove any truth; for, since they are performed equally in all sorts of Religions, this constitutes a sure sign they don’t come from the Omnipotence of a God, and therefore they are insufficient testimonials of truth; for there is no reason to believe that an infinitely good and infinitely wise God would communicate His power to impostors and work any miracles to confirm or promote error and falsehood, are found in all the false Religions; or if it’s said that it wouldn’t be against the goodness or wisdom of an infinitely perfect God to communicate His power to impostors, or to work miracles in favor of error and lies, as the so-called Holy Scriptures of our Christ-cultists seem to testify, when they say that God had placed a lying spirit in the mouths of all the prophets of Ahab, who were 400 in number[792]. And as it says elsewhere that God will send a spirit of error to certain people, who, by powerful trickery, will win them over to lies, by working all sorts of wonders, signs, and deceptive miracles, by the power of Satan[793]. If, I say, it’s claimed that this would not be contrary to the goodness and wisdom of a God to perform miracles and wonders in favor of errors and lies, then with all the more certainty I draw this conclusion, that the miracles and wonders and the supposed revelations won’t be sufficient testimonies of truth, since they’re meant to be done both in favor of lies and in favor of the truth; and if they are insufficient testimonies of truth, then it cannot be said that God makes His will sufficiently well known to men by their means, and if He doesn’t make them sufficiently well known by this means, or by any other unquestionable means, this is a sure proof that there is no Divinity who wants to be worshiped and served by men, because it would be, as I’ve said, completely against the goodness and the infinite wisdom of God to wish to be worshiped and served by men, without making Himself sufficiently known to them, and without making them sufficiently and certainly know His intentions and wishes.

  Our God-cultists feel distressed by this argument and, unable to deny that there are many false prophets and many false miracles, they are necessarily obliged to say that it’s not by the false Prophets or the false miracles that God makes His will known to men, but that it’s only by the true Prophets the true miracles that He makes it known to them. But it is also easy to show the weakness and vanity of this response. 1). Because it’s an illusion to assume, as they do, that there were more true Prophets and more true miracles than the other sort, in the sense that our God-cultists mean this, since it’s claimed that there is no Prophet who was truly sent or inspired by God and that there is no miracle which is performed by a supernatural and divine power, it is not to be believed or presumed that there ever were such things, in light of the great and prodigious amount of imposture on display in the world, and the prodigious number of lies, errors, illusions, and impositions in all these supposed miracles and the stories told about them; such that there is every reason to consider all these supposed Prophets as impostors and fanatics, from the moment they claim to be sent from or inspired by God, and it’s a sure bet that there is nothing supernatural and divine in all these alleged miracles that are supposedly witnessed. I do not mean to absolutely deny what is said of certain events and certain extraordinary wonders, which in the past have been witnessed to great astonishment, and which may be seen again in the future, nor do I want to absolutely deny what is said of certain extraordinary people, who have received a certain and special gift from nature, or who have likewise done absolutely extraordinary and shocking things, I would like to think that there is something in them; but I only wish to say that all these wonders, that all these alleged miracles, and that the most wondrous things performed by these certain people, are truly nothing other than natural effects, produced by purely natural and human causes, but which nevertheless appear to be supernatural and miraculous, since they only happen rarely and at unusual times, and have many causes, and come by a certain extraordinary effect of nature, which sometimes seems to surpass itself, or finally by the industry, subtlety, skill, and artifice of some people who have some knowledge of the particular secrets of nature, who skillfully take advantage of the weather and certain occasions, and who are able to subtly perform all they undertake to do: indeed, there is no doubt but that nature, which is an excellent artisan and makes such astonishing pieces of work every day, is also occasionally able to produce extraordinary wonders, nor is there any doubt either that certain people, who have the skill to adeptly take advantage of occasions, should be capable of extraordinary things. The same thing applies to those wonders and extraordinary and surprising effects that are usually attributed to black and devilish magic. Most of the amazing things said about them are, in substance, only lies, illusions, and deceptions, just like these false miracles I’ve spoken of: for it would be utter stupidity to believe what is said about the power of these supposed magicians; they only boast of having such great powers to win the fear or admiration of idiots and ignoramuses, and with respect to those things they truly are capable of doing, if there is anything miraculous and surprising in what they do, they’re certainly nothing but the natural effects of various secret natural virtues, or they’re things done by the industriousness, skill, or subtlety of those who learn the trade.

  The same thing goes with this supposed black and diabolic magic as with the supposed holy and divine magic; they are as vain and as false as each other: and this is why I’ve said that there were no truer prophets or truer miracles than the other kind. But if it were posited, as our God-cultists do, that there were some prophets and some miracles which were truer than others, by which sign and by which emblem should these supposedly true prophets and miracles be recognized, since both the true and the false prophets all speak alike, they all claim to be sent and inspired by God and they all claim to provide convincing proofs of their supposedly true miracles? It is clear that even our God-cultists can’t distinguish between them; and an evident proof of that is that, after many thousands of years since these supposed prophets began to appear in the world, they haven’t yet been able to agree to recognize any as true, by common acclamation: which has obliged them at all times to divide, as we see them doing, into various parties, which are all opposed to each other and which don’t recognize any of them as true prophets, except those who have given them their laws and ceremonies, regarding all the rest as false prophets and impostors.

  Moses, for example, that great Egyptian Moses, the Lawgiver of the Jewish people, who, it’s said, performed such great miracles in his time, and who spoke, he said, to God, or to whom God spoke as familiarly as He would have spoken with a friend, was regarded by the Jewish people as a great and true Prophet. His astonishing deeds, if accurately told, were considered by the Jews as true miracles, but he has always been rejected by all the other Nations as an emblematic impostor, and his alleged miracles were regarded as nothing but fables and imposture. In his own day he wasn’t even acknowledged so generally by his own as a true prophet, that many of his band didn’t contest this glory[794]. Witness the murmuring of his brother Aaron and his sister Miriam, as well as the murmuring of the whole people he was leading, and especially the uprising against him by Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, supported by 250 of the most important people; for if they had truly considered him as a great prophet, it is unlikely that they would have dared to rebel as they did against him, and resist him as brazenly as they did.

  The Galilean Jesus Christ, whom the Christians call their divine savior and whom they worship as a true God incarnate, was considered by the Jews and Gentiles as nothing but an insane fanatic and a miserable wretch, destined to be hung: even the Christians themselves can’t deny this, since even the first and most zealous preachers of their faith confessed that the crucified Jesus Christ, whom they preached and proclaimed to the world, was only a scandal for the Jews[795], and an object of mockery for the Gentiles, who looked upon what they heard of
him as madness; which was no way of acknowledging him as a true prophet, or a true incarnate God.

  The Arab Muhammad, this prophet who was so famous throughout the East, who is revered by so many peoples, as the greatest, the most zealous, and the most holy servant and friend of God, is regarded by Christians and Jews as nothing but a false prophet and an emblematic impostor.

  Confucius, who is recognized and revered in China as a holy legislator, is not recognized as such in the other countries of the world, where even his name is unknown. Kaia and Amida, who are revered in Japan, are also not recognized in the other parts of the world.

  A man named Apollonius of the city of Tyana in Cappadocia and one named Simon of the city of Samaria, both of whom were such great workers of miracles and wonders, that although one of them acquired the opinion of divinity in Rome and in many other places, and the other was referred to in Samaria as “the great virtue of God”, however, they have been considered everywhere else as false prophets and impostors. I won’t talk about countless other prophets, who set out at various times and places to play the prophet, such as, for example, the supposed prophets of Judea and Samaria, and the 450 prophets of Baal, who are more like madmen than wise men. Nor will I talk about these supposed prophets who have become famous in recent centuries, such as Merlin of England, Nostradamus of France, the Abbot Joachim of Calabria, Savonarola of Florence, and many like them, who have become renowned in their own countries, and who never even gained all the approbation they would have desired.

  By which it’s evident that the God-cultists and the Christ-cultists, as zealous as they are for the glory and worship of their God, have as yet been unable to unanimously recognize any one among all these supposed prophets as true prophets, or any of their supposed miracles as true miracles, and the fact that they still haven’t been able to come to a unanimous agreement, as I’ve shown, is a clear and evident proof that, if there were or might be among them certain prophets or certain miracles that were truer than the rest, i.e., which they were unable to distinguish between the true and the false ones, and if they can’t tell them apart, it’s vain and baseless for them to say and claim that their God gives sufficient knowledge of His will to men by His true prophets and by the true miracles that He performs by means of them: it is, I say, vain and baseless for them to say so, and for them to make this claim, since even they can’t know, with a common accord, exactly who are these supposed true prophets and which are these supposed true miracles. For it is not possible to know the truth of something that is unknown by means of something else that one knows no better; and nobody can bring light to a more obscure problem, or even a certain thing by another one which is uncertain.

  Our idolatrous God-cultists will certainly respond at this point that those prophets who live in the holiest fashion, and who do the most miracles, must be regarded and held as the only true prophets and not the rest; but this response is no less vain than the others. 1). As for the holy lives, who can make such a claim? Nothing could be more deceptive than this appearance of holiness. Wolves, as Christ says, often dress in sheep’s clothing, and vices often wear the mantle of virtue. This is why men often assume disguises, to better trick others. Thus, this appearance of virtue which is sometimes noted in some of these supposed prophets, more than others, is not necessarily a proof that they are any more truly sent from God, or more truly inspired by God than the rest. 2). As for the miracles that would be greater, more frequent, or more amazing and more surprising on one hand than the other; it’s certainly not, once more, by these that we’ll know if they’re truer miracles than the rest: for just as in all sorts of arts and sciences, some workers and doctors are more learned, more capable, more skillful and more subtle than others, likewise, among these supposed workers of miracles and wonders, which are at bottom only the natural effects produced by natural causes, some might be more capable, skilled, and subtle than others. In the same way also, among these supposed prophets, which are, all of them, nothing but impostors, there might be some who are more refined and cunning than others; and if this is so, as can’t be doubted, it’s no surprise if some seem to do greater miracles than others.

  Besides, only the natural circumstances of the times, the places where these sorts of alleged miracles are performed, and their audience, can contribute a great deal also to make them seem greater and more amazing than they would be in other circumstances of times, in other places, or for other people; that is unquestionable, thus, in no way can the supposedly true prophets be distinguished from the false ones by this token, and therefore it can’t be said that God truly and sufficiently makes His will known to men by this means, and that is so true that even our Christ-cultists can’t prudently disagree with it, since their Christ explicitly forbade his disciples from believing in anything these so-called Prophets and miracle- and wonder-workers might tell them, no matter how great and frequent their miracles and wonders might be. “There will arise,” he told them, “false Christs and false Prophets, who will seduce many, who will work such miracles and wonders that the very elect will be in danger of being seduced. I warn you of these things,” he told them”[796], “because, if they tell you to do this or that, to come here or go there, do nothing and do not believe them.” So, according to the clear and evident witness of the greatest Prophet of the Christians, whom they even call their God and their divine savior, the greatest miracles should not be sufficient witnesses of the truth, since even he recognized that they can be performed by false Prophets and since he forbids belief in them. We shouldn’t say, therefore, that God makes His will sufficiently well-known to men by means of these supposedly true miracles; for, in the end, nobody can be sure that He makes His will sufficiently known by miracles, which can be performed by impostors, and by the miracles which should not be believed.

  But even if we assumed that certain miracles truly were performed by the omnipotence of a God, these supposed miracles still wouldn’t constitute testimonies of truth, except with respect to those who saw them done and who were their eyewitnesses; again, they would need to have a sufficient knowledge of the probity of those who worked them, and to truly know all the particular circumstances of the facts were supposed to be miraculous; for if those even who were their eyewitnesses lacked a sufficient knowledge of the virtue and probity of those who performed them, they couldn’t prudently trust their words, or their deeds; and if, besides, they had an inadequate knowledge of all the particular circumstances of these supposed miraculous deeds, they couldn’t offer any guarantees, or prudently judge that they were truly both miraculous and supernatural: for it’s certain that the true knowledge of a particular fact depends on the true knowledge of the particular circumstances related to it. All it takes, therefore, is to add to a particular fact a circumstance that has no connection to it, to make it seem quite different than things really seemed to be. Similarly, all it takes is to omit or change a circumstance of a fact, to make it also appear quite different from it really seemed. This is why, if one doesn’t truly know all the particular circumstances surrounding a fact, which is said to be miraculous, or if it isn’t considered in light of various circumstances which are absent from the telling, then one cannot truly or prudently judge it, and if one wishes to judge or infallibly risks falling into error and making a false judgment, and there is no doubt that this is why so many great personalities have been misled in this regard, by too readily accepting as miraculous and supernatural certain facts which they themselves would have recognized as natural or simple, if they had properly known and noted the circumstances, or if, on the narration of another, they hadn’t considered them in light of certain circumstances that were not mentioned.

  So, even by postulating the supposed truth of these miracles, they would, at best, be testimonies of truth only for those who saw them performed and who were, as I’ve said, eyewitnesses, but not for anyone who hasn’t seen them and who aren’t eyewitnesses with a full and complete knowledge of all the circumstances that must be known to for
m a prudent judgment about them, as I’ve noted, and, since this is true, nobody can say that God has made Himself sufficiently known to men, since so few people ever see these sorts of miracles performed, and are able to recognize them and understand all the circumstances surrounding them, that it would be unwise to accept their validity; I say so few, with respect to the all those who never see them happen. There are, I say, so few who see them happen and who can recognize and grasp all the circumstances, that it’s hardly worth the trouble of talking about this: and among this little number of those who witness them, even fewer, or rather, maybe not a single one, is able to be sure they have a sufficient grasp on the virtue and probity of those who perform them, or who can be sure of truly knowing all the particular circumstances of these miracles, as they must be known to judge them wisely. There are, I say, truly so few who truly know such things and who can prudently judge them, that it would be folly to trust what they say about them, and folly to imagine that an all-powerful, infinitely good, and infinitely wise God could make His will sufficiently well known to men by means that are so obscure, so suspect, so uncertain, and misleading as these are, it would even be utter folly to think that an infinitely good and infinitely wise God would do things this way.