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Posted by on January 14, 2008, 5:15 pm
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of Moses, of Jesus Christ, and of the
Apostles, because they do not at first seem convincing, and because I only
wish here to put in evidence all those foundations of the Christian religion
which are beyond doubt and which cannot be called in question by any person
whatsoever. It is certain that we see in many places of the world a peculiar
people, separated from all other peoples of the world and called the Jewish
people.
I see then a crowd of religions in many parts of the world and in all times;
but their morality cannot please me, nor can their proofs convince me. Thus
I should equally have rejected the religion of Mahomet and of China, of the
ancient Romans and of the Egyptians, for the sole reason that none having
more marks of truth than another, nor anything which should necessarily
persuade me, reason cannot incline to one rather than the other.
But, in thus considering this changeable and singular variety of morals and
beliefs at different times, I find in one corner of the world a peculiar
people, separated from all other peoples on earth, the most ancient of all,
and whose histories are earlier by many generations than the most ancient
which we possess.
I find, then, this great and numerous people, sprung from a single man, who
worship one God and guide themselves by a law which they say that they
obtained from His own hand. They maintain that they are the only people in
the world to whom God has revealed His mysteries; that all men are corrupt
and in disgrace with God; that they are all abandoned to their senses and
their own imagination, whence come the strange errors and continual changes
which happen among them, both of religions and of morals, whereas they
themselves remain firm in their conduct; but that God will not leave other
nations in this darkness for ever; that there will come a Saviour
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