Good Sense

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Good Sense by Paul Henri Thiry, Baron D'Holbach (08?-Dec-1723 to 21-Jan-1789)
Originally published in French in 1772.

Transcribed by the Freethought Archives

Transcriber's note: this e-text is based on an undated English
translation of "Le Bon Sens" published c. 1900. The name of the
translator was not stated.

GOOD SENSE
WITHOUT GOD:

OR

FREETHOUGHTS
OPPOSED TO
SUPERNATURAL IDEAS

A TRANSLATION OF BARON D'HOLBACH'S
"LE BON SENS"

"_Atheism_ leaves men to Sense, to Philosophy, to Laws, to Reputation,
all which may be guides to moral Virtue, tho' Religion were not: but
Superstition dismounts all these, and erects an absolute Monarchy in
the Minds of Men. Therefore, Atheism did never perturb States; but
Superstition hath been the confusion of many. The causes of Superstition
are pleasing and sensual rights, and Ceremonies; Excess of Pharisaical
and outside holiness, Reverence to Traditions and the stratagems of
Prelates for their own Ambition and Lucre."--_Lord Bacon._

"FREETHINKER'S LIBRARY" SERIES

LONDON:
W. STEWART & CO.

PUBLISHER'S NOTE

The chief design in reprinting this translation, is to preserve
"_the strongest atheistical work_" for present and future generations
of English Freethinkers.

The real author was, unquestionably, Paul Thyry; Baron D'Holbach,
and not John Meslier, to whom this work has been wrongly attributed,
under the title of "Le Bon Sens" (Common Sense).

In 1770, Baron D'Holbach published his masterpiece, "Systeme de la Nature,"
which for a long time passed as the posthumous work of M. de Mirabaud.
That text-book of "Atheistical Philosophy" caused a great sensation,
and two years later, 1772, the Baron published this excellent
abridgment of it, freed from arbitrary ideas; and by its clearness of
expression, facility, and precision of style, rendered it most suitable
for the average student.

"Le Bon Sens" was privately printed in Amsterdam, and the author's name
was kept a profound secret; hence, Baron D'Holbach escaped persecution.

THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE

When we examine the opinions of men, we find that nothing is more
uncommon, than common sense; or, in other words, they lack judgment
to discover plain truths, or to reject absurdities, and palpable
contradictions. We have an example of this in Theology, a system
revered in all countries by a great number of men; an object regarded
by them as most important, and indispensable to happiness. An
examination of the principles upon which this pretended system
is founded, forces us to acknowledge, that these principles are
only suppositions, imagined by ignorance, propagated by enthusiasm
or knavery, adopted by timid credulity, preserved by custom which
never reasons, and revered solely because not understood.

In a word, whoever uses common sense upon religious opinions, and
will bestow on this inquiry the attention that is commonly given to
most subjects, will easily perceive that Religion is a mere castle
in the air. Theology is ignorance of natural causes; a tissue of
fallacies and contradictions. In every country, it presents romances
void of probability, the hero of which is composed of impossible
qualities. His name, exciting fear in all minds, is only a vague
word, to which, men affix ideas or qualities, which are either
contradicted by facts, or inconsistent.

Notions of this being, or rather, _the word_ by which he is designated,
would be a matter of indifference, if it did not cause innumerable
ravages in the world. But men, prepossessed with the opinion that
this phantom is a reality of the greatest interest, instead of
concluding wisely from its incomprehensibility, that they are not
bound to regard it, infer on the contrary, that they must contemplate
it, without ceasing, and never lose sight of it. Their invincible
ignorance, upon this subject, irritates their curiosity; instead of
putting them upon guard against their imagination, this ignorance
renders them decisive, dogmatic, imperious, and even exasperates
them against all, who oppose doubts to the reveries which they have
begotten.

What perplexity arises, when it is required to solve an insolvable
problem; unceasing meditation upon an object, impossible to understand,
but in which however he thinks himself much concerned, cannot but
excite man, and produce a fever in his brain. Let interest, vanity,
and ambition, co-operate ever so little with this unfortunate turn
of mind, and society must necessarily be disturbed. This is the reason
that so many nations have often been the scene of extravagances of
senseless visionaries, who, believing their empty speculations to
be eternal truths, and publishing them as such, have kindled the zeal
of princes and their subjects, and made them take up arms for opinions,
represented to them as essential to the glory of the Deity. In all
parts of our globe, fanatics have cut each other's throats, publicly
burnt each other, committed without a scruple and even as a duty, the
greatest crimes, and shed torrents of blood. For what? To strengthen,
support, or propagate the impertinent conjectures of some enthusiasts,
or to give validity to the cheats of impostors, in the name of a being,
who exists only in their imagination, and who has made himself known
only by the ravages, disputes, and follies, he has caused.

Savage and furious nations, perpetually at war, adore, under divers names,
some God, conformable to their ideas, that is to say, cruel, carnivorous,
selfish, blood-thirsty. We find, in all the religions, "a God of armies,"
a "jealous God," an "avenging God," a "destroying God," a "God," who
is pleased with carnage, and whom his worshippers consider it a duty
to serve. Lambs, bulls, children, men, and women, are sacrificed to him.
Zealous servants of this barbarous God think themselves obliged even
to offer up themselves as a sacrifice to him. Madmen may everywhere
be seen, who, after meditating upon their terrible God, imagine that to
please him they must inflict on themselves, the most exquisite torments.
The gloomy ideas formed of the deity, far from consoling them, have
every where disquieted their minds, and prejudiced follies destructive
to happiness.

How could the human mind progress, while tormented with frightful phantoms,
and guided by men, interested in perpetuating its ignorance and fears?
Man has been forced to vegetate in his primitive stupidity: he has
been taught stories about invisible powers upon whom his happiness was
supposed to depend. Occupied solely by his fears, and by unintelligible
reveries, he has always been at the mercy of priests, who have reserved
to themselves the right of thinking for him, and of directing his actions.

Thus, man has remained a slave without courage, fearing to reason,
and unable to extricate himself from the labyrinth, in which he has
been wandering. He believes himself forced under the yoke of his gods,
known to him only by the fabulous accounts given by his ministers, who,
after binding each unhappy mortal in the chains of prejudice, remain
his masters, or else abandon him defenceless to the absolute power
of tyrants, no less terrible than the gods, of whom they are the
representatives.

Oppressed by the double yoke of spiritual and temporal power, it
has been impossible for the people to be happy. Religion became sacred,
and men have had no other Morality, than what their legislators and
priests brought from the unknown regions of heaven. The human mind,
confused by theological opinions, ceased to know its own powers,
mistrusted experience, feared truth and disdained reason, in order
to follow authority. Man has been a mere machine in the hands of
tyrants and priests. Always treated as a slave, man has contracted
the vices of slavery.

Such are the true causes of the corruption of morals. Ignorance and
servitude are calculated to make men wicked and unhappy. Knowledge,
Reason, and Liberty, can alone reform and make men happier. But
every thing conspires to blind them, and to confirm their errors.
Priests cheat them, tyrants corrupt and enslave them. Tyranny ever
was, and ever will be, the true cause of man's depravity, and also
of his calamities. Almost always fascinated by religious fiction,
poor mortals turn not their eyes to the natural and obvious causes
of their misery; but attribute their vices to the imperfection of
their natures, and their unhappiness to the anger of the gods.
They offer to heaven vows, sacrifices, and presents, to obtain the
end of sufferings, which in reality, are attributable only to the
negligence, ignorance, and perversity of their guides, to the folly
of their customs, and above all, to the general want of knowledge.
Let men's minds be filled with true ideas; let their reason be
cultivated; and there will be no need of opposing to the passions,
such a feeble barrier, as the fear of gods. Men will be good, when
they are well instructed; and when they are despised for evil, or
justly rewarded for good, which they do to their fellow citizens.

In vain should we attempt to cure men of their vices, unless we
begin by curing them of their prejudices. It is only by showing
them the truth, that they will perceive their true interests,
and the real motives that ought to incline them to do good.
Instructors have long enough fixed men's eyes upon heaven; let
them now turn them upon earth. An incomprehensible theology,
ridiculous fables, impenetrable mysteries, puerile ceremonies,
are to be no longer endured. Let the human mind apply itself to
what is natural, to intelligible objects, truth, and useful knowledge.

Does it not suffice to annihilate religious prejudice, to shew,
that what is inconceivable to man, cannot be good for him?
Does it require any thing, but plain common sense, to perceive,
that a being, incompatible with the most evident notions--that
a cause continually opposed to the effects which we attribute
to it--that a being, of whom we can say nothing, without falling
into contradiction--that a being, who, far from explaining the
enigmas of the universe, only makes them more inexplicable--that
a being, whom for so many ages men have vainly addressed to obtain
their happiness, and the end of sufferings--does it require, I say,
any thing but plain, common sense, to perceive--that the idea of
such a being is an idea without model, and that he himself is merely
a phantom of the imagination? Is any thing necessary but common sense
to perceive, at least, that it is folly and madness for men to hate
and damn one another about unintelligible opinions concerning a being
of this kind? In short, does not every thing prove, that Morality
and Virtue are totally incompatible with the notions of a God,
whom his ministers and interpreters have described, in every
country, as the most capricious, unjust, and cruel of tyrants,
whose pretended will, however, must serve as law and rule the
inhabitants of the earth?

To discover the true principles of Morality, men have no need of
theology, of revelation, or of gods: They have need only of common
sense. They have only to commune with themselves, to reflect upon
their own nature, to consider the objects of society, and of the
individuals, who compose it; and they will easily perceive, that
virtue is advantageous, and vice disadvantageous to themselves.
Let us persuade men to be just, beneficent, moderate, sociable;
not because such conduct is demanded by the gods, but, because it
is pleasant to men. Let us advise them to abstain from vice and
crime; not because they will be punished in another world, but
because they will suffer for it in this.--_These are,_ says Montesquieu,
_means to prevent crimes--these are punishments; these reform manners--
these are good examples._

The way of truth is straight; that of imposture is crooked and dark.
Truth, ever necessary to man, must necessarily be felt by all upright
minds; the lessons of reason are to be followed by all honest men.
Men are unhappy, only because they are ignorant; they are ignorant,
only because every thing conspires to prevent their being enlightened;
they are wicked only because their reason is not sufficiently developed.

By what fatality then, have the first founders of all sects given to
their gods ferocious characters, at which nature revolts? Can we
imagine a conduct more abominable, than that which Moses tells us
his God showed towards the Egyptians, where that assassin proceeds
boldly to declare, in the name and by the order of _his God_, that Egypt
shall be afflicted with the greatest calamities, that can happen to
man? Of all the different ideas, which they give us of a supreme
being, of a God, creator and preserver of mankind, there are none
more horrible, than those of the impostors, who represented themselves
as inspired by a divine spirit, and "Thus saith the Lord."

Why, O theologians! do you presume to inquire into the impenetrable
mysteries of a being, whom you consider inconceivable to the human
mind? You are the blasphemers, when you imagine that a being,
perfect according to you, could be guilty of such cruelty towards
creatures whom he has made out of nothing. Confess, your ignorance
of a creating God; and cease meddling with mysteries, which are
repugnant to _Common Sense_.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

GIVEN IN THE FRENCH EDITION

Section

1. APOLOGUE

2, 3. What is Theology?

4. Man is not born with any ideas of Religion

5. It is not necessary to believe in a God

6. Religion is founded on credulity

7. All religion is an absurdity

8. The idea of God is impossible

9. On the Origin of Superstition

10. On the Origin of all Religion

11. Religious fears expose men to become a prey to imposters

12, 13. Religion seduces ignorance by the aid of the marvellous

14. There would never have been any Religion, if there had not been
ages of Stupidity and Barbarism

15. All Religion was produced by the desire of domination

16. What serves as a basis to Religion is most uncertain

17, 18. It is impossible to be convinced of the existence of a God

19. The existence of God is not proved

20. It explains nothing to say, that God is a spirit

21. Spirituality is an absurdity

22. Whatever exists is derived from Matter

23. What is the metaphysical God of modern Theology?

24. It would be less unreasonable to adore the Sun, than to adore
a spiritual Deity

25. A spiritual Deity is incapable of volition and action

26. What is God?

27. Some remarkable Contradictions in Theology

28. To adore God, is to adore a fiction

29. Atheism is authorised by the infinity of God, and the impossibility
of knowing the Divine essence

30. Believing in God is neither safer nor less criminal than not
believing in him

31. Belief in God is a habit acquired in infancy

32. Belief in God is a prejudice established by successive generations

33. On the Origin of Prejudices

34. On the effects of Prejudices

35. The Religious principles of modern Theology could not be believed
if they were not instilled into the mind before the age of reason

36. The wonders of nature do not prove the existence of God

37, 38. Nature may be explained by natural causes

39, 40. The world has never been created: Matter moves of itself

41. Additional proofs that motion is essential to Matter, and that
consequently it is unnecessary to imagine a Spiritual Mover

42. The existence of Man does not prove the existence of God

43. Nevertheless, neither Man nor the Universe are the effects of chance

44, 45. The order of the Universe does not prove the existence of a God

46. A Spirit cannot be intelligent it is absurd to adore a divine
intelligence

47, 48. All the qualities, which Theology gives to its God are contrary
to the Essence which is attributed to him

49. It is absurd to say that the human race is the object and end
of the formation of the Universe

50. God is not made for Man, nor Man for God

51. It is not true that the object of the formation of the Universe
was to render Man happy

52. What is called Providence is a word without meaning

53. This pretended Providence is the enemy of Man

54. The world is not governed by an intelligent being

55. God cannot be considered immutable

56. Good and evil are the necessary effects of natural causes.
What is a God that cannot change any thing?

57. The consolations of Theology and the hope of paradise and of
a future life, are imaginary

58. Another romantic reverie

59. It is in vain that Theology attempts to clear its God from human
defects: either this God is not free, or else he is more wicked
than good

60, 61. It is impossible to believe that there exists a God of
infinite goodness and power

62. Theology makes its God a monster of absurdity, injustice,
malice, and atrocity

63. All Religion inspires contemptible fears

64. There is no difference between Religion, and the most somber
and servile Superstition

65. To judge from the ideas which Theology gives of the Deity, the
love of God is impossible

66. An eternally tormenting God is a most detestable being

67. Theology is a tissue of palpable contradictions

68. The pretended works of God do not prove Divine Perfections

69. The perfection of God is not rendered more evident by the
pretended creation of angels

70. Theology preaches the Omnipotence of its God, yet constantly
makes him appear impotent

71. According to all religious systems, God would be the most
capricious and most foolish of beings

72. It is absurd to say that Evil does not proceed from God

73. The foreknowledge attributed to God would give men a right
to complain of his cruelty

74. Absurdity of the theological stories concerning Original Sin,
and concerning Satan

75. The Devil, like Religion, was invented to enrich the priests

76. If God has been unable to render human nature incapable of sin,
he has no right to punish man

77. It is absurd to say, that the conduct of God ought to be a mystery
for man

78. Ought the unfortunate look for consolation, to the sole author
of their misery

79. A God, who punishes the faults which he might have prevented,
is a mad tyrant, who joins injustice to folly

80. What is called Free Will is an absurdity

81. But we must not conclude that Society has no right to punish

82, 83. Refutation of the arguments in favour of Free Will

84. God himself, if there were a God, would not be free: hence the
inutility of all Religion

85. According to the principles of Theology, man is not free a
single instant

86. There is no evil, no disorder, and no sin, but must be attributed
to God: consequently God has no right either to punish or recompence

87. The prayers offered to God sufficiently prove dissatisfaction of
the divine will

88. It is the height of absurdity to imagine, that the injuries and
misfortunes, endured in this world, will be repaired in another world

89. Theology justifies the evil and the wickedness, permitted by its God,
only by attributing to him the principle, that "Might makes Right,"
which is the violation of all Right

90. The absurd doctrine of Redemption, and the frequent exterminations
attributed to Jehovah, impress one with the idea of an unjust and
barbarous God

91. Can a being, who has called us into existence merely to make us
miserable, be a generous, equitable, and tender father?

92. Man's life, and all that occurs, deposes against the liberty of Man,
and against the justice and goodness of a pretended God

93. It is not true, that we owe any gratitude to what is called
_Providence_

94. It is folly to suppose that Man is the king of nature, the favourite
of God, and unique object of his labours

95. A comparison between Man and brutes

96. There are no animals so detestable as Tyrants

97. A refutation of the excellence of Man

98. An oriental Tale

99. It is madness to see nothing but the goodness of God, or to think
that this universe is only made for Man

100. What is the Soul?

101. The existence of a _Soul_ is an absurd supposition; and the existence
of an _immortal_ Soul still more absurd

102. It is evident that Man dies _in toto_

103. Incontestible arguments against the Spirituality of the Soul

104. On the absurdity of the supernatural causes, to which Theologians
are constantly having recourse

105, 106. It is false that Materialism degrades

107. The idea of a future life is only useful to those, who trade on
public credulity

108. It is false that the idea of a future life is consoling

109. All religious principles are derived from the imagination.
God is a chimera; and the qualities, attributed to him,
reciprocally destroy one another

110. Religion is but a system imagined in order to reconcile
contradictions by the aid of mysteries

111, 112, 113. Absurdity and inutility of all Mysteries, which were only
invented for the interests of Priests

114. An universal God ought to have revealed an universal Religion

115. What proves, that Religion is unnecessary, is, that it is
unintelligible

116. All Religions are rendered ridiculous by the multitude of creeds,
all opposite to one another, and all equally foolish

117. Opinion of a famous Theologian

118. The God of the Deists is not less contradictory, nor less chimerical
than the God of the Christians

119. It by no means proves the existence of God to say, that, in every
age, all nations have acknowledged some Deity or other

120. All Gods are of a savage origin: all Religions are monuments of
the ignorance, superstition, and ferocity of former times: modern
Religions are but ancient follies, re-edited with additions and
corrections

121. All religious usages bear marks of stupidity and barbarism

122. The more a religious opinion is ancient and general, the more it
ought to be suspected

123. Mere scepticism in religious matters, can only be the effect of
a very superficial examination

124. Revelations examined

125. Where is the proof that God ever shewed himself to Men, or ever
spoke to them?

126. There is nothing that proves miracles to have been ever performed

127. If God has spoken, is it not strange that he should have spoken
so differently to the different religious sects?

128. Obscurity and suspicious origin of oracles

129. Absurdity of all miracles

130. Refutation of the reasoning of Pascal concerning the manner in which
we must judge of miracles

131. Every new revelation is necessarily false

132. The blood of martyrs testifies _against_ the truth of miracles, and
_against_ the divine origin attributed to Christianity

133. The fanaticism of martyrs, and the interested zeal of missionaries,
by no means prove the truth of Religion

134. Theology makes its God an enemy to Reason and Common Sense

135. Faith is irreconcilable with Reason; and Reason is preferable
to Faith

136. To what absurd and ridiculous sophisms every one is reduced, who
would substitute Faith for Reason!

137. Ought a man to believe, on the assurance of another man, what is
of the greatest importance to himself

138. Faith can take root only in feeble, ignorant, or slothful minds

139. To teach, that any one Religion has greater pretensions to truth
than another, is an absurdity, and cause of tumult

140. Religion is unnecessary to Morality

141. Religion is the weakest barrier that can be opposed to the passions

142. Honour is a more salutary and powerful bond than Religion

143. Religion does not restrain the passions of kings

144. Origin of "the divine right of kings," the most absurd, ridiculous,
and odious, of usurpations

145. Religion is fatal to political ameliorations: it makes despots
licentious and wicked, and their subjects abject and miserable

146. Christianity has propagated itself by preaching implicit obedience
to despotism

147. One object of religious principles is to eternize the tyranny
of kings

148. How fatal it is to persuade kings that they are responsible for
their actions to God alone

149. A devout king is the scourge of his kingdom

150. Tyranny sometimes finds the aegis of Religion a weak obstacle
to the despair of the people

151. Religion favours the wickedness of princes by delivering them
from fear and remorse

152. What is an enlightened Sovereign?

153. Of the prevailing passions and crimes of the priesthood

154. The quackery of priests

155. Religion has corrupted Morality, and produced innumerable evils

156. Every Religion is intolerant

157. The evils of a state Religion

158. Religion legitimates and authorizes crime

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