by Jean Meslier
98. CONCLUSION.
All these arguments are conclusive; giving them even a slight or moderate amount of attention is enough to convince anyone; and thus, it is clearly demonstrated, by all the arguments I’ve provided above, that all religions in the world are, as I said at the beginning of this Book, nothing but human inventions, and that everything they teach and compel us to believe are nothing but errors, illusions, lies, and imposture, invented, as I’ve said, by mockers and hypocritical frauds to lead men astray, or by shrewd and cunning politicians as a way to keep men in check and make them do whatever they were told, as the Gods’ own orders, and pretending, these shrewd and cunning politicians, that it is useful and expedient to make the common people believe it, on the pretext that it is necessary, they say, for the common people to be ignorant of many things that are true, and to believe many things that are false.
And, as these kinds of errors, illusions, and imposture are the source and cause of innumerable evils, of an infinite amount of abuses, and an infinite amount of wickedness in the world, and that tyranny itself, which causes so many people on earth to groan, dares cover itself with this specious, but false and contemptible pretext of religion, that it was quite right for me to call the whole welter of religious and political laws the mysteries of iniquity. No, my dear friends, they are in fact nothing but mysteries of iniquity, and quite detestable mysteries of iniquity. All of you, you and your fellows, should only consider them as mysteries of iniquities; since it’s by means of them that your priests hold you as miserable captives beneath the odious and unbearable yoke of their vain and stupid superstitions, on the pretext of leading you happily to God, and since it’s by means of them that the princes and nobles of the Earth rob you, tread on you, oppress you, ruin you, and tyrannize over you, on the pretext of governing you and maintaining the public good.
I wish I could make my voice heard from one end of the Kingdom to the other, or rather from one end of the Earth to the other; I would shout as loudly as I could: “You are mad, O men! you are mad to let yourselves be led this way, and to believe so much absurdity so blindly! I would make them heard that they are in error, and that their rulers abuse them and impose on them. I would show them this mystery of iniquity which makes them so miserable and so unhappy everywhere, and will inevitably, in the centuries to come, make us be seen with shame and contempt. I would castigate their madness and stupidity in letting themselves blindly believe in so many errors, so many illusions, and such ridiculous and gross imposture. I would blame their cowardice in allowing tyrants to live for so long, and for not completely shaking off the odious yoke of their tyrannical government.
An ancient writer once said that nothing was rarer to see an old Tyrant, and the reason for this was because people were then not weak and cowardly enough to let Tyrants either live long or reign for long. They had the intelligence and the courage to get rid of them when they abused their authority; but in our time it’s no longer a rarity to see tyrants living and reigning for a long time. Men have gradually become habituated to slavery, and now they are so used to it that they almost never think about recovering their liberty; they feel as if slavery were a natural condition. This is also why the pride of the tyrants will always increase, and that’s why they constantly weigh down, ever further, the insufferable yoke of their tyrannical government[945], superbia eorum ascendit semper. You might say that their iniquity and wickedness come from the abundance of their fat and the excess of their prosperity[946], prodiit quasi ex adipe iniquitas eorum. They have come to the point of taking pleasure in their vices and wickedness[947]: transierunt in affectum cordis. And this is also why the masses are so miserable and unhappy under their tyrannical domination.
Where are these generous murderers of Tyrants who were seen in past ages? Where are the Brutuses and Cassiuses? Where are the generous murderers of a Caligula and so many others? Where are the Publicolas? Where are the generous defenders of public liberty, who expelled the Kings and Tyrants from their country, and who gave license to every individual to kill them? Where are the Cinnas, and so many others who wrote and openly declaimed against the tyranny of the Kings? Where are those Emperors, those worthy emperors Trajan and Antoninus the good, the former who gave the sword to the first officer of the Empire, telling him to kill him with this sword if he turned into a tyrant, the latter of whom said that he would rather save the life of one of his subjects, than kill a thousand of his Enemies? Where, I ask, are these good Princes and these worthy Emperors? Their equals are nowhere to be found; but in their absence, where are men like Jacques Clement and Ravaillac in our France? Why can’t they come back to devastate or put a dagger through the heart of all these detestable monsters and enemies of mankind, and to free, by this means, the people from their tyranny? Why can’t they come back, these noble and generous defenders of public liberty? Why can’t they live again today, to drive all kings out of the earth, to oppress the oppressors and restore liberty to the people? Why can’t all those brave Writers and all those brave Orators live again, who criticized the tyrants, who declaimed against their tyranny, and who wrote bitterly against their vices, against their injustice, and against their misrule? Why can’t they live again, today, to loudly criticize all the tyrants who oppress them, to declaim loudly against their vices and against all their vices and against all the injustice of their misrule, to render, through their public writings, their persons odious and contemptible in the sight of all, and finally to encourage the masses to shake off the unbearable yoke of their tyrannical domination. But no, they are no longer with us, those great men, their noble and generous souls are no longer visible, who risked death for the welfare of their country, and who preferred the glory of a generous death than the shame and displeasure of living as cowards. And, to the shame of our century, it must be said that, in recent centuries, in our times all we see is cowards and miserable slaves to the greatness and extraordinary power of the tyrants. In our time we no longer see among those among those of more elevated rank and character anything but cowardly flatterers of their persons; nothing but cowardly approvers of their unjust aims and cowardly executors of their evil intentions and their worst orders. Of such stock are, in our France, all the Judges and the Magistrates of the Kingdom, including those of the largest and most important cities, who serve no purpose in our time but to judge the cases of individuals and blindly affirm all their Kings’ orders, and who wouldn’t dare contradict them. This is also the nature of all the Stewards of the provinces and all the Governors of the cities and chateaux, who do nothing but carry out the same orders everywhere. This also describes all the commanders of the armies, all the officers and all the soldiers, who do nothing but uphold the authority of the Tyrant and strictly enforce his orders against the poor people, who would even set fire to their own fatherland if, by whim or some vain pretext the tyrant commanded them to do so, and who on the other hand are so mad and so blind as to boast of being completely devoted to his service like wretched slaves, who are forced at times of war to risk, every day, and nearly at every hour, their lives for him, for the sake of a small daily wage, without mentioning a multitude of other scoundrels like office clerks, controller, tax-men, archers, guards, clerks, bailiffs and sergeants, all of whom, like ravenous wolves, seek only to devour their prey, and love to plunder and tyrannize the poor in the name of and by the authority of the King, strictly carrying out the most unjust orders against them, sometimes by seizure, sometimes by execution, sometimes by confiscation of property, and, even more obnoxiously, often by imprisonment of their bodies and all manner of violence and mistreatment, and ultimately, by the whip and punishment in the galleys, and sometimes even by the imposition of a shameful death.
Behold, my dear friends, how those who govern you establish, with force and power, over you and your fellows, a despicable mystery of iniquities. It’s in favor of all these errors and all these abuses, which I’ve discussed, that they establish, so powerfully and concertedly, to keep you captive under
their tyrannical laws; you will be miserable and unhappy, you and your descendants, as long as you allow the dominion of the Earth’s princes and kings, you’ll be miserable and unhappy as long as you follow the errors of religion subject yourselves to its superstitions. Completely cast off, then, all the vain and superstitious practices of religions; banish from your mind this mad and blind belief in these false mysteries; accept none of it as true; laugh at everything your self-seeking priests tell you about it. They don’t believe it themselves, at least most of them, so why should you believe it more than they do? Set your minds and your hearts completely at ease on this point, and even abolish these vain and superstitious offices of priests and sacrificers, and reduce them to living and working like you do. But this is not all, try to join forces as much as you can, to completely shake off the yoke of the tyrannical rule of your princes and your kings; topple everywhere all these thrones of injustice and of impiety; break all these crowned heads, confound the pride and the arrogance of all your tyrants and never let any of them to reign over you.
It’s up to the wisest to guide and rule the rest, it’s up to them to establish good laws and ordinances which always tend, at least, according to the demands of the times, places, and circumstances, to the advancement and preservation of the public good. “Woe,” says one of these so-called Holy Prophets, “woe to those who make unjust laws[948]”: Vae condunt leges iniquas. But woe also to those who submit too cowardly to the unjust laws; woe to those who cowardly submit to the unjust laws; woe to the peoples who, like cowards, blindly make themselves the slaves of tyrants, and who blindly make themselves the slaves of the errors and superstitions of religion... etc. Only the light of natural reason is capable of guiding men to the perfection of science and human wisdom, as well as the perfection of the arts; and these are capable of bringing them, not only to the practice of all the moral virtues, but to the practice of all the most beautiful and generous deeds in life; for example, what was done in the past by all these great personalities[949] of antiquity, who excelled in all the virtues, and of whom an author says that they went further in virtue than all the most pious and the greatest bigots of the age. Magnanimi heroes nati melioribus annis. Indeed, it’s not religious bigotry that perfects men in the sciences or the arts. This is not what reveals the secrets of nature, or who inspires great aims in men, but it’s intelligence, it’s wisdom, it’s probity, it’s magnanimity that makes men great, and makes them undertake great things; and thus, men have no need for bigotry, or the superstitions of religion to be perfected in the sciences or in good morals.
Similarly, they have no need for this wonderful display or the pompous, proud and arrogant grandeur of the Princes and Kings of the Earth, to be well governed. Good judges can rule the people well; they can establish good laws and regulations. Wisdom[950] says Job, is with the ancients, and prudence only comes with time. In antiquis est sapientia et in multo tempore prudentia. If that be so, as seems likely, then it’s in the wise men of antiquity that we should seek this wisdom and this prudence which are so necessary for good governance, and thus it’s the ancients, full of wisdom and prudence, that are needed to properly rule the people and not young fools, young hotheads, young proud and arrogant types, or men who are vicious, wicked, any more than young children, as the lottery of birth ordains things. It’s by human folly and wickedness that so many princes and tyrants hold sway on Earth. One of the wise men of holy antiquity said[951]: propter peccata terrae multi principles ejus. One of the same number said: “Woe to the state whose king is only a child, and whose princes are voluptuaries and slaves of their passions”[952]: Vae tibi terra cujus rex puer est et cujus principles mane comedunt. And since there are only voluptuaries and men who are enslaved to their passions, it is truly unfortunate for the masses to find themselves under their rule.
Be persuaded, dear people, that the errors and superstitions of your religion and that the tyranny of your kings and all those who govern you under their authority, are the dire and detestable cause of all your ills, all your troubles, all your worries, and all your misery. You would be happier if you were freed from these two unbearable yokes, of superstitions and tyranny, and if you were only governed by good and wise magistrates. This is why, if you’re brave enough for it, and if your wish to rid yourself of your ills, shake off, with a common accord, the yoke of tyranny and superstitions; reject with a common consent all your priests, all your monks, and all your tyrants, to establish among you good, wise, and prudent magistrates, who would be in place to govern you peacefully, to faithfully dispense justice to some as to others, and to carefully oversee the preservation of the good and public peace and to which you would wish, for your part, to obey quickly and faithfully; your salvation is in your own hands, your deliverance depends only on you, if you could only be of one mind, you have all the means and all the forces necessary to set yourselves free and to make slaves of your tyrants, even; for your tyrants, as powerful and formidable as they may be, would have no power over you without yourselves; all their greatness, all their riches, all their forces, and all their power come only from you. It’s your children, your relatives, your allies, and your friends who serve them both in war and in all the roles they put them into; they could do nothing without them and without you. They make use of your own forces against you and to reduce all of you under their slavery, and they would even use it to destroy you all, each in turn, if only one of their cities or one of their provinces dared to resist them and shake off their yoke. But it would not be this way if all the people, if all the cities and all provinces had a mutual understanding, and they all conspired together to rid themselves of their common slavery. The tyrants would soon be confused and annihilated.
Come together, peoples! If you have any wisdom; come together, if you’re brave enough to free yourselves from your common miseries! Encourage each other in such a noble, generous and important undertaking. Begin by secretly sharing your thoughts and desires. Spread everywhere, as cleverly as possible, writings like this one, for example, which show everyone the vanity and the errors and the superstitions of religion, and which render the tyrannical governments of the princes and kings of the Earth odious everywhere. Help each other in such a justa and necessary cause, which has to do with the common interests of all people. Whatever you lose in these sorts of situations and occasions is that you will destroy each other, on these occasions fighting each other, instead of fighting together in the same cause. You can do no better in such conditions than to follow with common consent the example, for example, of those brave Dutchmen or those brave Swiss, who so generously shook off, some the yoke of the Duke of Alba, while the others also generously shook off the tyranny of the cruel government of those whom the dukes of Austria established in their country. You have no fewer reason to do the same with respect to your princes and your kings, and with respect to all those who govern you and tyrannize over you on their behalf and with their authority, since their tyranny is carried to the utmost degree of excess. It’s said in one of your so-called holy and divine books that God will overthrow the thrones of the proud princes, and He will place gentle and peaceful men there instead[953]: Sedes ducum superborum destruxit Deus et sedere mites pro eis. It says there that He will dry up the roots of the proud nations, and will plant humble ones in their place: Radices gentium superborum arefecit, et plantavit humiles ex ipsis gentibus. Who are these proud and arrogant princes, spoken of in these so-called holy and divine Books? They are your sovereigns, your dukes, your princes, your kings, your monarchs, your potentates, etc. Overturn, then, as it says, all these proud and arrogant tyrants on their thrones, and replace them with good and gentle, wise and prudent magistrates to govern you mildly and keep you happily in justice and peace. Which are the proud nations, which in the same books it says that God will dry their roots? None other than the proud and arrogant nobility among you, you who trample and oppress you, none other than all the proud officers of your princes and your kings; all those proud stewards and
governors of the cities or provinces; all the proud tax collectors; all those proud tax officials and officers, and finally, all these haughty prelates and ecclesiastics, bishops, abbots, monks, the great parasites, and all the other rich gentlemen, ladies and damsels, who do nothing on Earth but play and have all sorts of fun, while you, poor peoples, are busy day and night at work, while you carry all the weight of the day and its heat, and the whole burden of the State is placed on your back. Those, my dear friends, those are the true proud nations, whose roots you certainly should dry up, like those of plants that can no longer get any juice from the ground. The juice which nourishes all these arrogant nations is the great wealth and the great revenues they take every day from the hard work you your hands; it’s from you and its’ by your industriousness and your work, that the abundance of all the goods and riches of the earth comes. It’s this abundant juice, which they take from your hands, that maintains you, feeds, them, fattens them, and makes them as strong, powerful, arrogant, and proud as they are. But if you would completely dry up their roots, only deprive them of this abundant juice, which they get by your hands and your troubles and your labors. Keep for yourselves with your hands all the riches and all these goods that you make so abundantly to come forth by the sweat of your body; keep them for yourselves and for all your comrades; give nothing to all these arrogant and useless idlers who do nothing useful in the world, give nothing to all these monks and ecclesiastics, who live unnecessarily on earth: give nothing to the proud and haughty nobility who despise and trample on you. And finally, give nothing to these arrogant and proud tyrants who ruin and oppress you. Tell your children, even, all your relatives, and all your friends and allies to leave their service completely; excommunicate them entirely from your company, consider them as excommunicated from among you, and by this means you’ll soon see them drying up, like herbs and plants whose roots are unable to get any moisture from the ground. You don’t need people like that, you can easily do without them, but they can’t do without you. If, then, you would be wise, peoples of the earth, since nobody speaks up for you and nobody tells them what they need to hear, and since I would be glad to tell them, all of you, I say, who don’t understand, learn at last to see your own interests, learn to see your true interests, and you fools, now learn wisdom[954]. Intelligite insipientes in populo, et stulti aliquando sapite. And if you will be wise, set aside all the hatred and animosity between any of you: turn all your hatred and your anger against your common enemies, against these proud and arrogant races of people who tyrannize over you, who make you so miserable, and who steal all the best fruits of your labor. Come together with the same views, to deliver yourselves of this odious and detestable yoke of their tyrannical rule, as well as the vain and superstitious practices of their false religions. And so, no other religion among you but that of wisdom and probity in morals; none but that of uprightness and decency; none other than that of heartfelt frankness and generosity of soul; none but that of completely abolishing tyranny and the superstitious worship of the Gods and of their idols; none but that of upholding justice and equity everywhere; none other than that of working well and living in an orderly fashion, in common; none but that of maintaining public liberty, and finally, none but that of loving one another and inviolably keeping peace and unity among yourselves.