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