دانلود کتاب Testament: Memoir of the Thoughts and Sentiments of Jean Meslier

فهرست مطالب :

Preface: The War Song of an Atheist Priest 17
by Michel Onfray
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

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 himContents 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

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

45. Another abuse. To tolerate and authorize so many clergy 283
and especially so many useless monks

46. Abuse, to allow them to possess such great wealth 285
although they make a vow of poverty

47. Also an abuse to allow so many mendicant monks who 287
are able to work and earn their living

48. The third abuse is that everyone takes for himself the goods 295
of the earth instead of possessing and enjoying them in
common, wherefrom is born countless evils and miseries
in the world

49. Another abuse, concerning the vain and insulting 299
discrimination of families and the evils that arise from it

50. Abuse concerning the indissolubility of marriages and 301
the evils that result

51. Great benefits and advantages would come to men if they 303
all lived peacefully, enjoying in common the goods and
commodities of life

52. The communion of the first Christians is now destroyed 309
among them

53. Abuse of the tyrannical government of the rulers and 313
princes of the earth

54. Tyranny of the kings of France whose people are miserable 319
and unhappy

55. Origin of the duties and taxes in France 321

56. What an author says about the tyrannical government 325
of the kings of France

57. Kings are not permitted to tyrannize the people or to 331
impose any taxes on their own authority without the
consent of the states

58. What the flatterers of kings and princes say about it 333

59. Seventh proof: Of the vanity and falsity of religions taken 341
from the falsity of the opinion of men concerning the
so-called existence of gods

60. Most of the learned and wisest of antiquity denied or 343
doubted the existence of the gods

61. Where do the first belief and knowledge of the 347
gods come from?

62. In the end the God-cultists have been forced to 349
recognize the falsity of the plurality of gods that the
ancients worshipped

63. They are not better founded in their belief in the existence 353
of one God

64. The beauty, order, and perfection that are found in the 355
works of nature do not at all prove the existence of a God
who made them

65. Chimerical idea that the God-cultists form of their God 361

66. It is useless to resort to the existence of an all-powerful 365
God to explain the nature and formation of natural things

67. Being cannot have been created; time cannot have been 369
created. Likewise, extension, location, and
space cannot have been created and, consequently,
no creator

68. The possibility or impossibility of things does not depend 371
on the will or power of any other cause

69. Likewise, the first and fundamental truths are eternal and 379
depend on no other cause

70. Creation is impossible and nothing can ever have been 383
created

71. Being or matter, which are the same thing, can only 399
have its existence and movement from itself

72. It is ridiculous and absurd to say that a being that is 419
all-powerful and infinitely perfect nevertheless has no
visible and perceptible perfection

73. The sovereign beatitude of our Christ-cultists, 429
according to what they say, is only an imaginary beatitude

74. The evils, miseries, vices, and viciousness of men clearly 433
show that there is no all-powerful, infinitely good and
wise being who could prevent or relieve them

75. If there were some divinity worshipped, and 445
served by men, would it fail to make itself sufficiently
known to them and to make its will sufficiently
known to them?

76. There are many false prophets and many false miracles 451

77. Under the conduct and direction of an all-powerful, 465
infinitely good and wise God, no creature would be
defective, mean, or unhappy

78. Refutation of the so-called conclusive arguments of the 473
Cartesians for the existence of an infinitely perfect God

79. We naturally know the infinite in extension, in duration 475
or time, and in number, and it is impossible that
extension, time, and number not be infinite

80. In a sense there are several infinites, but there is and 481
can only be one absolute infinite, which is the all

81 It is an error and illusion for de Cambrai and the author of 483
The Search after Truth to want to confuse, as they do, the
infinite being that exists with a so-called infinitely perfect
being that does not exist, and it is an illusion for them to
conclude, as they do, the existence of one from the
existence of the other

82. All natural things form and fashion themselves by the 497
movement and combination of the different parts of matter,
which are joined, united, and modified in different ways
in all bodies that they compose

83. Difference between the works of nature and the works of art 501

84. The Cartesians themselves are forced to recognize that 505
the works of nature have been formed and put in the state
they are by the force of the natural laws of movement

85. Consequently they also have to acknowledge 507
that matter has its movement in itself, which is,
nevertheless, against their sentiment

86. Weakness and vanity of the reasoning of our God-cultists 509
to make excuses for their God for the imperfections,
vices, viciousness, defects, and deformities found in the
works of nature

87. Eighth proof: Of the vanity and falsity of religions taken 531
from the falsity of men’s opinion about the spirituality and
immortality of their souls

88. Weakness and vanity of the arguments the God-cultists 533
make to prove the so-called spirituality and immortality
of the soul

89. Refutation of their vain arguments 535

90. Sentiments of the ancients on the immortality of the soul 545

91. The thoughts, desires, will, and sensations of good and 547
evil are only internal modifications of the person or
animal that thinks, knows, or feels good or evil;
and although men and beasts are composed only of
matter, it does not follow that the thoughts, desires,
or sensations of good or evil should be round or
square, as the Cartesians imagine them, and in this they
appear ridiculous, as well as for such a vain reason
they claim that beasts are deprived of knowledge and
sentiment, which opinion is very reprehensible and why

92. Neither Moses nor the ancient prophets believed in the 565
immortality of the soul

93. Pliny, the famous naturalist, did not believe the sentiments 569
on the subject

94. The inevitable necessity of evil is another kind of proof 573
that there is no being that can prevent evil

95. The agreement of all the proofs put forward on the 575
subject, which follow, support, and confirm each other,
is a proof that they are really solid and decisive

96. Conclusion of the whole work 577

97. The author calls an abuse all the injuries, mistreatments, 591
and unjust procedures that they can do to him after his
death, and appeals only to the court of human reason
before all the wise enlightened people, rejecting as judges
in this affair all the ignorant bigots, all the partisans and
instigators of errors and superstitions, also all the flatterers
and favorites of tyrants and all their pawns