r to discover that
which is due to him and to others. I feel, and another feels, like
myself; this is the foundation of all morality.

CLXXII.--RELIGION AND ITS SUPERNATURAL MORALITY ARE FATAL TO THE PEOPLE,
AND OPPOSED TO MAN'S NATURE.

We can judge of the merit of a system of morals but by its conformity
with man's nature. According to this comparison, we have a right to
reject it, if we find it detrimental to the welfare of mankind. Whoever
has seriously meditated upon religion and its supernatural morality,
whoever has weighed its advantages and disadvantages, will become
convinced that they are both injurious to the interests of the human
race, or directly opposed to man's nature.

"People, to arms! Your God's cause is at stake! Heaven is outraged!
Faith is in danger! Down upon infidelity, blasphemy, and heresy!"

By the magical power of these valiant words, which the people never
understand, the priests in all ages were the leaders in the revolts of
nations, in dethroning kings, in kindling civil wars, and in imprisoning
men. When we chance to examine the important objects which have excited
the Celestial wrath and produced so many ravages upon the earth, it is
found that the foolish reveries and the strange conjectures of some
theologian who did not understand himself, or, the pretensions of the
clergy, have severed all ties of society and inundated the human race in
its own blood and tears.

CLXXIII.--HOW THE UNION OF RELIGION AND POLITICS IS FATAL TO THE PEOPLE
AND TO THE KINGS.

The sovereigns of this world in associating the Deity in the government
of their realms, in pretending to be His lieutenants and His
representatives upon earth, in admitting that they hold their power from
Him, must necessarily accept His ministers as rivals or as masters. Is
it, then, astonishing that the priests have often made the kings feel
the superiority of the Celestial Monarch? Have they not more than once
made the temporal princes understand that the greatest physical power is
compelled to surrender to the spiritual power of opinion? Nothing is
more difficult than to serve two masters, especially when they do not
agree upon what they demand of their subjects. The anion of religion
with politics has necessarily caused a double legislation in the States.
The law of God, interpreted by His priests, is often contrary to the law
of the sovereign or to the interest of the State. When the princes are
firm, and sure