any one who had read the theological articles, whether
the more or the less important among them. Whether Diderot had himself
advanced definitely to the dogma of atheism at this time or not, it is
certain that the Encyclopaedia represents only the phase of rationalistic
scepticism. That the criticism was destructive of much of the fabric of
popular belief, and was designed to destroy it, is undeniable, as it was
inevitable. But when the excesses of '93 and '94--and all the
revolutionary excesses put together are but a drop compared with the
oceans of bloodshed with which Catholicism and absolutism have made
history crimson--when the crimes and confusion of the end of the century
are traced by historians to the materialism and atheism of the
Encyclopaedia, we can only say that such an account is a
misrepresentation. The materialism and atheism are not there. The
religious attack was prompted and guided by the same social feeling
that inspired the economic articles. The priest was the enemy of
society, the patron of indolence, the hater of knowledge, the mutineer
against the civil laws, the unprofitable devourer of the national
substance, the persecutor. Sacerdotalism is the object of the
encyclopaedic attack. To undermine this, it was necessary first to
establish the principle of toleration, because the priest claims to be
recognised as the exclusive possessor of saving doctrine. Second, it was
necessary to destroy the principle of miracle, because the priest
professes himself in his daily rites the consecrated instrument of
thaumaturgy. "Let a man," says Rosenkranz very truly, "turn over
hundreds of histories of church, of state, of literature, and in every
one of them he will read that the Encyclopaedia spread abroad an
irreligious spirit. The accusation has only a relative truth, to the
extent that the Encyclopaedia assailed the belief in miracles, and the
oppression of conscience supported by a priestly aristocracy."[170]

It must be admitted that no consistent and definite language is adhered
to from beginning to end. D'Alembert's prophecy that time would disclose
to people what the writers really thought, behind what fear of the
censorship compelled them to say, is only partially fulfilled.

The idea of miracle is sapped not by direct arguments, but by the
indirect influences of science, and the exposition of the successes of
scientific method. It was here that the Encyclopaedia exerted really
destructive power, a