so. An enthusiast in dying proves nothing
but that religious fanaticism is often stronger than the love of life.
An impostor can sometimes die with courage; he makes then, as is said,
"a virtue of necessity." We are often surprised and affected at the
sight of the generous courage and the disinterested zeal which have led
missionaries to preach their doctrine at the risk even of suffering the
most rigorous torments. We draw from this love, which is exhibited for
the salvation of men, deductions favorable to the religion which they
have proclaimed; but in truth this disinterestedness is only apparent.
"Nothing ventured, nothing gained!" A missionary seeks fortune by the
aid of his doctrine; he knows that if he has the good fortune to retail
his commodity, he will become the absolute master of those who accept
him as their guide; he is sure to become the object of their care, of
their respect, of their veneration; he has every reason to believe that
he will be abundantly provided for. These are the true motives which
kindle the zeal and the charity of so many preachers and missionaries
who travel all over the world.

To die for an opinion, proves no more the truth or the soundness of this
opinion than to die in a battle proves the right of the prince, for
whose benefit so many people are foolish enough to sacrifice themselves.
The courage of a martyr, animated by the idea of Paradise, is not any
more supernatural than the courage of a warrior, inspired with the idea
of glory or held to duty by the fear of disgrace. What difference do we
find between an Iroquois who sings while he is burned by a slow fire,
and the martyr St. Lawrence, who while upon the gridiron insults his
tyrant?

The preachers of a new doctrine succumb because they are not the
strongest; the apostles usually practice a perilous business, whose
consequences they can foresee; their courageous death does not prove any
more the truth of their principles or their own sincerity, than the
violent death of an ambitious man or a brigand proves that they had the
right to trouble society, or that they believed themselves authorized to
do it. A missionary's profession has been always flattering to his
ambition, and has enabled him to subsist at the expense of the common
people; these advantages have been sufficient to make him forget the
dangers which are connected with it.

CXXXIV.--THEOLOGY MAKES OF ITS GOD AN ENEMY OF COMMON SENSE AND OF
ENLIGHTENMENT.