A Memoir- the Testament Read online

  A MEMOIR

  A.K.A. “THE TESTAMENT”

  JEAN MESLIER

  1729

  TRANSLATED BY

  KIRK WATSON

  2018

  Contents

  TRANSLATOR’S INTRODUCTION

  A MEMOIR

  AVANT-PROPOS AND OUTLINE OF THE WORK.

  2. THE AUTHOR’S THOUGHTS AND VIEWS ON THE WORLD’S RELIGIONS.

  3. THAT ALL RELIGIONS ARE NOTHING BUT ERRORS, ILLUSIONS, AND IMPOSTURE.

  4. FIRST PROOF OF THE VANITY AND OF THE FALSEHOOD OF RELIGIONS: THAT THEY ARE ONLY HUMAN INVENTIONS.

  5. REASONS WHY POLITICIANS MAKE USE OF THE ERRORS AND ABUSES OF THE RELIGIONS.

  6. THE ANCIENTS HAD A CUSTOM OF RANKING THEIR EMPERORS AND GREAT MEN AMONG THE GODS. THE PRIDE OF THE POWERFUL, THE FLATTERY OF SOME, AND THE IGNORANCE OF OTHERS HAVE PRODUCED AND AUTHORIZED THIS ABUSE.

  7. THEY BELIEVED THAT MEN COULD BECOME GODS AFTER THEIR DEATH.

  8. THE ORIGIN OF IDOLATRY.

  9. NONE OF THE WORLD’S RELIGIONS IS OF DIVINE INSTITUTION.

  10. THE SECOND PROOF OF THE VANITY AND FALSENESS OF THE RELIGIONS. FAITH, WHICH IS A BLIND BELIEF AND WHICH SERVES AS A BASIS FOR ALL THE RELIGIONS IS ONLY A PRINCIPLE OF ERRORS, ILLUSIONS, AND IMPOSTURE.

  11. THUS, IT IS ONLY AN UNAVOIDABLE SOURCE AND CAUSE OF ETERNAL DISTURBANCES AMONG MANKIND.

  12. THE WEAKNESS AND VANITY OF THE SUPPOSED GROUNDS FOR BELIEF TO ESTABLISH ANY RELIGIOUS TRUTH WHATSOEVER.

  13. THE UNCERTAINTY AND VANITY OF THE SUPPOSED MIRACLES AUTHORIZE ANY RELIGIOUS TRUTH WHATSOEVER.

  14. THE UNCERTAINTY OF THE HISTORIES ON THIS SUBJECT.

  15. THE UNCERTAINTY OF THE SO-CALLED HOLY SCRIPTURES, WHICH ARE WHOLLY FALSIFIED AND CORRUPTED.

  16. THE UNCERTAINTY OF THE GOSPELS.

  17. THE SO-CALLED HOLY SCRIPTURES BEAR IN THEMSELVES NO CHARACTERISTICS, EITHER OF WISDOM, OR OF SUPER-HUMAN ERUDITION.

  18. ON THE CONTRADICTIONS IN THE GOSPELS.

  19. THAT THE SUPPOSED MIRACLES, WHICH ARE REPORTED IN THEM, ARE NOT TRUE, AND THE REASON WHY.

  20. THE CONFIRMITY OF THE SUPPOSED MIRACLES OF CHRISTIANITY WITH THE SUPPOSED MIRACLES OF PAGANISM.

  21. NONE OF THEM ARE ANY TRUER THAN THE REST.

  22. THE THIRD PROOF OF THE VANITY AND FALSEHOOD OF THE SO-CALLED DIVINE VISIONS AND REVELATIONS.

  23. THE FOLLY OF MEN IN ATTRIBUTING TO GOD THE INSTITUTION OF THE CRUEL AND BARBARIC SACRIFICES OF INNOCENT BEASTS, AND BELIEVING THAT THESE SORTS OF SACRIFICES ARE AGREEABLE TO HIM.

  24. THE ORIGIN OF THE SACRIFICES.

  25. THE SUPPOSED COMMANDMENT THAT GOD SUPPOSEDLY GAVE ABRAHAM TO SACRIFICE HIS SON TO HIM.

  26. THE VANITY AND FALSENESS OF THE SUPPOSED PROMISES MADE BY GOD TO THE ANCIENT PATRIARCHS ABRAHAM, ISAAC, AND JACOB.

  27. THE FOURTH PROOF OF THE FALSENESS OF THE RELIGIONS TAKEN FROM THE VANITY AND FALSENESS OF THE ALLEGED PROMISES AND PROPHECIES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.

  28. THE FALSENESS OF THE SUPPOSED PROMISES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.

  29. THE VANITY AND FALSENESS OF THE SPIRITUAL, ALLEGORICAL, AND MYSTICAL SENSES THAT THE CHRIST-CULTISTS GIVE TO THEIR SO-CALLED HOLY SCRIPTURES AND TO THE PROMISES AND PROPHECIES IN THEM.

  30. FIFTH PROOF: THE ERRORS OF ITS DOCTRINE AND ITS MORALITY.

  31. THE FIRST ERROR IN ITS DOCTRINE: THE TRINITY OF A SINGLE GOD IN THREE PERSONS, WHICH IT RECOGNIZES AND WORSHIPS.

  32. THE SECOND ERROR: THE INCARNATION OF A GOD-MADE-MAN.

  33. CONCERNING THE ESSENCE AND PERSON OF JESUS.

  34. HIS PREACHING AND HIS SPEECHES.

  35. PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY WAS ONLY A BASE AND CONTEMPTIBLE FANATICISM.

  36. THE THIRD ERROR OF THE DOCTRINE AND IDOLATRY AND WORSHIP OF GODS OF DOUGH AND FLOUR IN THEIR SO-CALLED HOLY SACRAMENT.

  37. A COMPARISON WITH THE CONSECRATION OF THE GODS OF WOOD AND STONE, OR THE GODS OF SILVER AND GOLD.

  38. THE ROMANS’ WORSHIP OF GODS OF DOUGH OPENS A LARGE AND SPACIOUS DOOR TO ALL MANNER OF IDOLATRY.

  39. THE FOURTH ERROR: THE CREATION AND SIN OF THE FIRST MAN.

  40. THE FIFTH ERROR: THE SUPPOSED INSULT AND OFFENSE THAT SIN CAUSES TO GOD; HIS SUPPOSED WRATH AND INDIGNATION, AND THE SUPPOSED TEMPORAL AND ETERNAL PUNISHMENT HE WILL ISSUE.

  41. THE THREE MAIN ERRORS IN CHRISTIAN MORALITY.

  42. THE SIXTH PROOF OF THE VANITY AND FALSENESS OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, TAKEN FROM THE ABUSES, THE UNJUST VEXATIONS, AND THE TYRANNY OF THE POWERFUL, WHICH IT ALLOWS AND AUTHORIZES.

  43. THE FIRST ABUSE: THE GREAT AND ENORMOUS DISPROPORTIONALITY BETWEEN THE ESTATES AND CONDITIONS OF MEN, WHO ARE ALL EQUAL BY NATURE.

  44. ON THE ORIGIN OF THE NOBILITY.

  45. THE SECOND ABUSE: ALLOWING AND AUTHORIZING ALL SORTS OF ESTATES AND CONDITIONS OF MEN WHO EITHER DO NOTHING, OR WHOSE EMPLOYMENTS AND OCCUPATIONS ARE OF NO UTILITY IN THE WORLD, AND MANY OF WHOM DO NOTHING BUT PILLAGE, DESPOIL, AND OPPRESS OTHERS.

  46. ANOTHER ABUSE: ALLOWING AND AUTHORIZING SO MANY ECCLESIASTICS, ESPECIALLY DO-NOTHING AND USELESS MONKS.

  47. THE ABUSE OF ALLOWING THEM TO OWN SO MUCH, DESPITE THEIR VOWS OF POVERTY.

  48. IT’S ALSO AN ABUSE TO ALLOW SO MANY MENDICANT MONKS, WHO COULD WORK IN SOCIETY AND MAKE AN HONEST LIVING.

  49. THE THIRD ABUSE, THAT MEN APPROPRIATE, EACH TO THEMSELVES, THE GOODS OF THE EARTH, INSTEAD OF OWNING AND ENJOYING THEM IN COMMON, WHICH LEADS TO AN INFINITY OF EVILS AND MISERY IN THE WORLD.

  50. THE FOURTH ABUSE: THE VAIN AND INJURIOUS DISTINCTIONS OF FAMILIES, AND THE EVILS THIS BRINGS.

  51. ANOTHER ABUSE: THE INDISSOLUBILITY OF MARRIAGES AND THE EVILS THIS BRINGS.

  52. ON THE GREAT BLESSINGS THAT WOULD COME TO MEN IF THEY LIVED IN PEACE, ALL OF THEM ENJOYING THE GOODS AND COMFORTS OF LIFE IN COMMON.

  53. THE COMMUNION OF THE FIRST CHRISTIANS WAS DESTROYED AMONG THEM.

  54. THE SIXTH ABUSE: ON THE TYRANNICAL GOVERNMENT OF THE KINGS AND RULERS ON EARTH.

  55. ON THE TYRANNY OF THE KINGS OF FRANCE, WHO MADE THEIR PEOPLE MISERABLE AND UNHAPPY.

  56. ON THE ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF THE TAXES.

  57. ON THE STATE OF EUROPE IN THE YEAR 1694.

  58. NO KING IS PERMITTED TO TYRANNIZE OVER THE PEOPLE, OR TO AUTHORIZE ANY TAX ON THEM WITHOUT THE CONSENT OF THE ESTATES.

  59. WHAT THE FLATTERERS OF KINGS AND RULERS HAVE TO SAY ON THIS SUBJECT.

  60. THE SEVENTH PROOF OF THE VANITY AND FALSENESS OF RELIGION, TAKEN FROM THE VERY FALSENESS OF MEN’S OPINIONS ON THE SUPPOSED EXISTENCE OF THE GODS.

  61. MOST OF THE LEARNED AND WISE MEN OF ANTIQUITY DENIED OR QUESTIONED THE EXISTENCE OF THE GODS.

  62. WHERE THE FIRST BELIEF AND KNOWLEDGE OF THE GODS COMES FROM.

  63. THE GOD-CULTISTS HAVE, ULTIMATELY, HAD TO RECOGNIZE THE FALSENESS OF THE OPINION OF THE PLURALITY OF THE GODS.

  64. THEY ARE NO BETTER GROUNDED IN THEIR BELIEF IN THE EXISTENCE OF A SINGLE GOD.

  65. NEITHER THE BEAUTY, NOR THE ORDER, NOR THE PERFECTIONS FOUND IN THE WORKS OF NATURE PROVE THE EXISTENCE OF A SINGLE GOD, WHO WOULD HAVE MADE THEM.

  66. ON THE GOD-CULTISTS’ CHIMERICAL IDEA OF THEIR GOD.

  67. IT IS FUTILE TO RECUR TO THE EXISTENCE OF AN OMNIPOTENT GOD TO EXPLAIN THE NATURE AND FORMATION OF NATURAL THINGS.

  68. EXISTENCE CAN’T HAVE BEEN CREATED.

  69. THE POSSIBILITY OR IMPOSSIBILITY OF THINGS DOESN’T DEPEND ON THE WILL OR THE POWER OF ANY CAUSE.

  70. SIMILARLY, THE FIRST AND FUNDAMENTAL TRUTHS ARE ETERNAL AND DON’T DEPEND ON ANY BEING.

  71. THE CREATION IS IMPOSSIBLE; NOTHING CAN HAVE BEEN CREATED.

  72. TIME CAN’T HAVE BEEN CREATED, NOR CAN EXTENSION, PLACE, AND SPACE: CONSEQUENTLY, THERE IS NO CREATOR.

  73. EXISTENCE OR MATTER, WHICH ARE THE SAME THING, CAN ONLY HAVE BEEN SET
IN MOTION BY ITSELF.

  74. IT IS RIDICULOUS AND ABSURD TO SAY THAT A BEING WHO IS VERY POWERFUL AND INFINITELY PERFECT WOULD NEVERTHELESS HAVE ANY VISIBLE AND PERCEPTIBLE PERFECTION.

  75. THE SUPREME BLESSEDNESS THAT OUR CHRIST-CULTISTS EXPECT IN HEAVEN WOULD BE, ACCORDING TO WHAT THEY SAY, ONLY AN IMAGINARY BLESSEDNESS.

  76. THE EVILS, THE MISERY, THE VICES, AND THE WICKEDNESS OF MEN PLAINLY SHOW THAT THERE IS NO INFINITELY SUPREME, OR INFINITELY WISE BEING WHO COULD PREVENT THEM.

  77. IF THERE WERE SOME DIVINITY WHO WISHED TO BE LOVED, WORSHIPED, AND SERVED BY MEN, HE WOULDN’T FAIL TO MAKE HIMSELF, AT LEAST, SUFFICIENTLY WELL KNOWN TO THEM, AND TO MAKE HIS WILL SUFFICIENTLY WELL-KNOWN.

  78. THERE ARE MANY FALSE PROPHETS AND FALSE MIRACLES.

  79. UNDER THE GUIDANCE AND DIRECTION OF AN OMNIPOTENT GOD, WHO WOULD BE INFINITELY GOOD AND INFINITELY WISE, NO CREATURE WOULD BE DEFECTIVE, FLAWED, OR UNHAPPY.

  80. A REFUTATION OF THE ARGUMENTS OF THE CARTESIANS, WHICH SUPPOSEDLY DEMONSTRATE THE EXISTENCE OF A SUPREMELY PERFECT GOD.

  81. WE HAVE NATURALLY ACQUIRED KNOWLEDGE OF INFINITE EXTENSION, DURATION, OR TIME, AND NUMBER, AND IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR EXTENSION, TIME, AND NUMBERS NOT TO BE INFINITE.

  82. CONSEQUENTLY, THEY SHOULD ALSO RECOGNIZE THAT MATTER RECEIVED ITS MOTION FROM ITSELF, WHICH IS, HOWEVER, CONTRARY TO THEIR VIEWS.

  83. IT’S AN ERROR AND AN ILLUSION TO CONFUSE THE INFINITE BEING WHICH DOES EXIST WITH A SUPPOSEDLY INFINITELY PERFECT BEING WHICH DOES NOT EXIST, AND AN ILLUSION TO CONCLUDE THAT SINCE THE FIRST EXISTS THEN THE SECOND ONE DOES TOO.

  84. ALL THESE NATURAL THINGS ARE FORMED AND SHAPED OF THEMSELVES BY THE MOTION AND CONCOURSE OF VARIOUS PARTS OF MATTER; WHICH ARE CONNECTED, UNITED, AND MODIFIED IN VARIOUS WAYS IN ALL THE BODIES MADE OF THEM.

  85. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE WORKS OF NATURE AND WORKS OF ART, AS TO THEIR FORMATION.

  86. EVEN THE CARTESIANS ARE OBLIGED TO RECOGNIZE THAT THE WORKS OF NATURE COULD HAVE BEEN FORMED AND BROUGHT BY THEMSELVES INTO THEIR PRESENT STATE, BY THE MOVEMENT OF THE PARTS OF MATTER.

  87. CONSEQUENTLY, THEY MUST ALSO RECOGNIZE THAT MATTER SET ITSELF IN MOTION, WHICH IS, HOWEVER, CONTRARY TO THEIR VIEW.

  88. THE WEAKNESS AND VANITY OF THE ARGUMENTS OF OUR GOD-CULTISTS TO EXCUSE, ON GOD’S BEHALF, THE IMPERFECTIONS, FLAWS, AND WICKEDNESS, THE DEFECTS AND DEFORMITIES, WHICH ARE FOUND IN THE WORKS OF NATURE.

  89. THE EIGHTH PROOF OF THE VANITY AND FALSENESS OF THE RELIGIONS, TAKEN FROM THE VERY FALSENESS OF THE OPINION THAT MEN HAVE OF THE SPIRITUALITY AND THE IMMORTALITY OF THEIR SOULS.

  90. THE WEAKNESS AND VANITY OF THE ARGUMENTS OF THE GOD-CULTISTS TO PROVE THE SUPPOSED SPIRITUALITY AND IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL.

  91. A REFUTATION OF THEIR VAIN ARGUMENTS.

  92. THE VIEWS OF THE ANCIENTS ON THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL.

  93. THE THOUGHTS, THE DESIRES, THE WILL, THE GOOD AND BAD FEELINGS ARE ONLY INTERNAL MODIFICATIONS

  94. NEITHER MOSES NOR THE ANCIENT PROPHETS BELIEVED IN THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL.

  95. PLINY, THE FAMOUS NATURALIST, DIDN’T BELIEVE IN IT; HIS VIEWS ON THIS SUBJECT.

  96. THE INEVITABLE NECESSITY OF EVIL IS ANOTHER KIND OF DEMONSTRATION THAT THERE IS NO SUPREME BEING WHO CAN PREVENT EVIL.

  97. THE HARMONY OF ALL THE PROOFS ALLEGED ON THIS SUBJECT, WHICH FOLLOW, SUSTAIN, AND CONFIRM EACH OTHER, CONSTITUTES A PROOF THAT THEY ARE TRULY SOUND AND SOLID.

  98. CONCLUSION.

  99. AN APPEAL BY THE AUTHOR

  TRANSLATOR’S INTRODUCTION

  This book is the life’s work and legacy of a priest who blew the whistle on Christianity, starting with the preface: “My dear friends, all the world’s religions are only human inventions, and there is nothing but error, abuse, vanity, illusion, deceit, lies, and imposture in all that is said, and all that is practiced in the world in worshipping the Gods.” In a remote corner of France, Jean Meslier (1664-1729) did his job as a village priest by day, and spent his evenings composing a long, thorough refutation of religion.

  While a strong critique of Christianity and a body of secular, rational thought had already been developing from the Renaissance onward, and this had become especially influential among the elite in France[1], Meslier was notable in his effort to bring this Enlightenment to the masses, instead of addressing the literate elite. Geneviève Moëne notes that, since the title of ‘Memoir’ was used in its time for legal defense speeches, Meslier may be declaring himself “the advocate of the oppressed”[2]: blowing the whistle on the regime of the day, which used religion to impose on the worst off, in favor of the most powerful.

  His fear is easy to understand: Church and State gave ample examples of what happens to freethinkers in those days. Lucilio Vanini (1585-1619), the most famous accused atheist of the previous century, for example: after torture, he was taken to the public square where his tongue was cut out, followed by strangling, and then his body was burned. Meslier knew that the best way to keep his tongue was to hold it. He made preparations for the preservation and diffusion of his book (multiple copies were made and sent to different places), after which, he writes: “let them do what they will, at that time, with my body; let them hack it into pieces, let them roast it or fricassee and even devour it, if they want; they can use their favorite sauce, I won’t let it bother me at all.”

  The French philosopher Michel Onfray reminded the world of Meslier in 2005 in his Atheist Manifesto. He claimed that Meslier was the first philosopher to dedicate a book to the question of atheism[3]. But this isn’t quite true; several anonymous writers had openly declared and explored materialistic atheism during the 1600s. Nor was he the first to write under his own name; the German theology student Matthias Knutzen (1646-1760s) printed three pamphlets proclaiming atheism in the 1670s[4]. However, Meslier’s extensive book, which in its three main parts, is an important milestone which critically analyzes religious doctrine, social conditions, and metaphysics; as one scholar put it, “other treatises…attacked the Christian religion in one or more of its aspects…the Testament is one of the few which criticized it in all of its aspects at the same time…[it is] beyond doubt the most complete and detailed treatise ever written in criticism of the Christian Religion”[5]. Meslier has been called a “key personality of the eighteenth century”[6]. His book made a strong and enduring impact on Voltaire, who considered the Memoir, especially in his own printed edition (which was abridged and partially re-written as a deistic text), as the most powerful tool for the progress of Enlightenment. He wrote to his fellow philosophers:

  My dear brothers, carry on enlightening the world, which must despise you so much. How much good could come about if we understood each other! Jean-Jacques would have been a Paul, if he hadn't opted to be a Judas instead. Helvétius had the misfortune of avowing authorship of a book which will keep him from writing any useful ones; but I always come back to Jean Meslier. I think that nothing could be more effective than the testament of a priest who begs God's forgiveness, on his deathbed, for having deceived mankind...[7]

  Across the span of this book, Meslier not only deconstructs Christian civilization, he also offers proposals and hints at what it could be replaced with; politically there should be “just subordination” with “good magistrates” and equality for all citizens; economically, society would undergo a communal, even communistic transformation; as for religion, “atheism is not as strange, monstrous, and unnatural a belief as our superstitious God-cultists would have us believe”, and society can do quite well without it.

  As an amateur translator, I usually work with books that have never been translated into English. But when I recently noticed how inaccessible the existing mass-market English translation of Meslier is (I can’t find a copy for under $100), I decided to finish my own version, which had been in an incomplete state for several years.

  This translation follows the French text as printed in the Rudolf Charles edition of 1864, occasionally relying on the manuscript scan hosted online by the Bibliothèque nationale de France[8], a
long with Charles’ useful chapter heading titles.

  A MEMOIR

  OF THE THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS OF J... M… PRIEST, C... OF ESTREP. AND OF BUT… ON A PART OF THE ABUSES AND ERRORS OF THE CONDUCT AND GOVERNMENT OF MEN, IN WHICH ARE SEEN CLEAR AND EVIDENT DEMONSTRATIONS OF THE VANITY AND FALSENESS OF ALL THE DIVINITIES AND ALL THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD. TO BE ADDRESSED TO HIS PARISHIONERS AFTER HIS DEATH, AND TO SERVE AS A WITNESS OF THE TRUTH TO THEM AND TO ALL THEIR FELLOWS. IN TESTIMONIUM ILLIS ET GENTIBUS[9].

  AVANT-PROPOS AND OUTLINE OF THE WORK.

  My dear friends, since I wouldn’t have been allowed, and since it would have been too dangerous for me to have openly said, during my life, what I thought about the conduct and government of men, and their religions and morals; I resolved to tell it to you after my death. It was certainly my preference to proclaim it loudly, before dying, if I found myself nearing the end of my days and I still in use of my words and judgment. But, since I am not sure that, in my last days, or even my last moments, I will have either the time or the presence of mind to declare my feelings to you; this has led me to declare here in writing, and to give you, at the same time, clear and convincing proofs of everything that I mean to tell you, to try and disabuse you, late, at least, and as much as I can, of the vain errors, in which all of us have had the misfortune of being born into and living under; and in which I was unfortunately obligated to keep you. I say “unfortunately”, since it truly was a displeasure to find myself under this obligation. This is also why I only ever carried out my duties with great repugnance and great negligence, as you might have noticed.

  This, frankly, is what first led me to conceive the plan I mean to carry out. Since I naturally felt within[10] that nothing seemed as sweet, pleasant, lovely, or desirable in men as peace, magnanimity, equity, truth, and justice, which should, as it seemed to me, be the inestimable sources of all men’s good and happiness, if they carefully preserve among themselves such desirable virtues as these. I also quite naturally found nothing as odious, detestable, and pernicious as the disturbances and divisions, the malice of lies, injustice, imposture, and tyranny which destroy and annihilate, in men, the best parts of themselves: and which, for this reason, are fatal sources, not only of all the vices and wickedness which they’re full of, but also the unhappy causes of all the evils and miseries which overwhelm their lives.