TESTAMENT Memoir oe rm Thoughts and Sextemexts or Jeax Mesi ier Jean Meslier The First Ena/Hsb Translation of the Complete Work by Michael Shreve WITH A PRE EACE BY MlCHEE OXERAY You won’t find neologisms here or obscure thought or entangled demonstrations: to read f it is to understand it; you feel the rhy^S^ [ and its anger, the speed and its violence, the brutality of its moral suffocation. It is a sermon on fire, an endless monologue, an incandescent philippic, a copious speech. —from Michel Onfray’s preface, “The War Song of an Atheist Priest” ■ ’ ‘ ■ ■ ■ ■ • w. *, Though Jean Mesiier did not gain no­ toriety until after his death and may be only known by some as a mere footnote to the prerevolutionary period in France, the posthumous release in the early eighteenth century of his blazing manifesto shocked the establishment and aroused the passions of such famed Enlightenment thinkers as Voltaire, Diderot, and Baron d’Holbach. Indeed, some historians have claimed that Meslier’s work played a pivotal role in un­ leashing the rebellious anarchist sentiment that led to the French Revolution and the groundbreaking work of Karl Marx. What profoundly influenced those thinkers will amaze today’s fans of Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and other noted New Atheists because Meslier’s words, though centuries old, still maintain their unflinching, ribald sting. With analytic precision Mesiier decon­ structs Christianity and its use by govern­ ment to lord over the people while urging his readers to accept the truth of God’s nonexistence and to work toward liberty, equality, and happiness: “Do not fool your­ selves, my dear friends, open your eyes to this and in general to everything that your pious morons or mocking, self-interested priests and scholars are eager to tell you and make you believe on the false pretext of the infallible certainty of the so-called Continued on back flap holy and divine religion.” He lampoons the great prophets, blasts the scriptures of the apostles and the miracles of the saints, and exposes Jesus and Muhammad as fanatics and imposters. He stumps for women’s rights and argues the benefits of divorce. He de­ rides the Cartesians for likening animals to machines and rejects the disturbing belief that they feel no pain. He ridicules Catho­ lics for “worshipping little idols of dough and flour”—the holy sacrament—and for SGod created a hell for sinners to bum in. Shocking, stimulating, and oftentimes up­ roarious, Jean Meslier’s Testament is an original and enduring work. MICHAEL SHREVE works as a France. He has taught Greek, Latin, French, Spanish, English, and classical civilization courses in universities and private schools in the United States, Canada, Lebanon, Mexico, Malaysia, and France over the past fifteen years. TESTAMENT / / \ \ Memoir of the Thoughts and Sentiments of Jean Meslieh Jean Meslier The First English Translation of the Complete Work By Michael Shreve with a preface by Michel Onfray Prometheus Books 59 John Glenn Drive Amherst, New York 14228-2119 Published 2009 by Prometheus Books Testament: Memoir of the Thoughts and Sentiments of Jean Meslier. English-language translation copyright © 2009 by Michael Shreve. All rights reserved. No part of this pub­ lication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, digital, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or conveyed via the Internet or a Web site without prior written permission of the pub­ lisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Inquiries should be addressed to Prometheus Books 59 John Glenn Drive Amherst, New York 14228-2119 VOICE: 716-691-0133, ext. 210 FAX:716-691-0137 WWW.PROMETHEUSBOOKS.COM 13 12 11 10 09 54321 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Meslier, Jean, 1664-1729. Testament : memoir of the thoughts and sentiments of Jean Meslier / by Jean Meslier ; the first English translation of the complete work by Michael Shreve. p. cm. ISBN 978-1-59102-749-2 (hardcover: alk. paper) 1. Religion—Controversial literature. 2. Christianity'—Controversial literature. I. Title. BL2773.M4513 2009 200—dc22 2009020491 Printed in the United States on acid-free paper Jean Meslier, Parish Priest of Etrepigny and Balaives on the Errors and Abuses of the Conduct and Government of Men, Wherein We Can See Clear and Evident Proofs of the Vanity and Falsity of All the Divinities and of All the Religions of the World to Be Addressed to His Parishioners after His Death and to Serve as a Witness of Truth to Them and Their Fellow Men Contents Preface: The War Song of an Atheist Priest 17 by Michel On fray Note on the Text 25 1. Preface: Plan of the work 27 2. Thoughts and sentiments of the author about the 31 religions of the world 3. All religions are nothing but errors, illusion, 45 and imposture 4. First proof: Of the vanity and falsity of religions, 47 which are all only human inventions 5. Reasons why politicians use the errors and 51 abuses of religion 6. The ancients were used to putting emperors and 55 important men in the ranks of the gods. The pride of rulers, the flattery of some men, and the ignorance of others introduced and authorized this abuse 7. They believed that men could become gods after 57 their death 8. Origin of idolatry 61 9. Second proof: Of the vanity and falsity of said religions: 71 Faith, which is a blind belief that serves as the foundation of all religions, is only a principle of errors, illusions, and impostures 7 8 CONTENTS 10. It is also a source and fatal cause of eternal troubles and 75 divisions among men 11. Weakness and vanity of the so-called motives of credibility 79 to establish any truth about religion 12. Uncertainty and vanity of the so-called miracles to authorize 81 any truth of religion 13. Uncertainty of the histories on the subject 87 14. Uncertainty of the so-called Holy Scriptures, which 93 were falsified and corrupted 15. Uncertainty of the Gospels 97 16. The wisdom and learning contained in the so-called 101 Holy Scriptures are only human 17. Contradictions among the Gospels 105 18. The miracles reported are unbelievable and the 115 reason why 19. Accordance of the so-called miracles of Christianity 129 with the so-called miracles of paganism 20. Neither one is more credible than the other 135 21. Third proof: Of the vanity and falsity of religions, 141 drawn from the vanity and falsity of the so-called visions and divine revelations 22. Madness of men to attribute to God the institution of cruel 145 and barbaric sacrifices of innocent beasts and to believe that these kinds of sacrifices were pleasing to him Contents 9 23. Origins of these kinds of sacrifices 149 24. Of the so-called commandment God made to 155 Abraham to sacrifice his son 25. Vanity and falsity of the so-called promises made by 159 God to the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob 26. Fourth proof: Of the falsity of the said religions, 161 drawn from the vanity and falsity of the so-called prophecies of the Old Testament 27. Falsity of the so-called promises and prophecies of the 167 books of the New Testament 28. Vanity and falsity of the spiritual, allegorical, and mystical 183 interpretations that our Christ-cultists make of their so-called Holy Scriptures, as also the spiritual and mystical sense they give to the promises and prophecies contained therein 29. Fifth proof: Of the vanity and falsity of the Christian 193 religion drawn from the errors of its doctrine and morality 30. First error of its doctrine, concerning the trinity of one 195 God in three persons 31. Second error, concerning the incarnation of God 203 become man 32. What was the mind and character of Jesus Christ? 207 33. What was his preaching? 209 34. Christianity was only a vile and despicable fanaticism 217 in the beginning 10 CONTENTS 35. Third doctrinal error: The idolatry and adoration of gods 221 of dough and flour in their so-called holy sacrament 36. Comparison of the consecration of the gods of dough and 225 flour with the consecration of the gods of wood and stone or gold and silver that the pagans worshipped 37. The Christians’adoration of gods of dough opens the 231 door wide for all kinds of idolatry 38. Fourth error, concerning the creation and the sin 241 of the first man 39. Fifth error, concerning the so-called injury and offense 243 that the sins of men give to God, his so-called anger and indignation that is aroused, and the temporal and eternal punishment that he exacts 40. Three principal errors of Christian morality 263 41. Sixth proof: Of the vanity and falsity of the Christian 271 religion, taken from the abuse, the unjust persecutions, and the tyranny of rulers, which it tolerates or authorizes 42. The first abuse. Dealing with the important and enormous 273 disproportion of the state and conditions of men who by nature are equal 43. Origin of the nobility 277 44. Second abuse. To tolerate and authorize so many kinds 281 of states and conditions of lazy men or men whose work and occupations are completely useless in the world, several of which serve only to trample, pillage, ruin, and oppress the people