[154] published 1767), he begins by observing that a man who accepts his religion (as most people do) without examining it is like an ox which allows itself to be harnessed, and proceeds to review the difficulties in the Bible, the rise of Christianity, and the course of Church history; from which he concludes that every sensible man should hold the Christian sect in horror.  “Men are blind to prefer an absurd and sanguinary creed, supported by executioners and surrounded by fiery faggots, a creed which can only be approved by those to whom it gives power and riches, a particular creed only accepted in a small part of the world—­to a simple and universal religion.”  In the Sermon of the Fifty and the Questions of Zapata we can see what he owed to Bayle and English critics, but his touch is lighter and his irony more telling.  His comment on geographical mistakes in the Old Testament is:  “God was evidently not strong in geography.”  Having called attention to the “horrible crime” of Lot’s wife in looking backward, and her conversion into a pillar of salt, he hopes that the stories of Scripture will make us better, if they do not make us more enlightened.  One of his favourite methods is to approach Christian doctrines as a person who had just heard of the existence of Christians or Jews for the first time in his life.

[155]

His drama, Saul (1763), which the police tried to suppress, presents the career of David, the man after God’s own heart, in all its naked horror.  The scene in which Samuel reproves Saul for not having slain Agag will give an idea of the spirit of the piece.  Samuel:  God commands me to tell you that he repents of having made you king.  Saul:  God repents!  Only they who commit errors repent.  His eternal wisdom cannot be unwise.  God cannot commit errors.  Samuel:  He can repent of having set on the throne those who do.  Saul:  Well, who does not?  Tell me, what is my fault?  Samuel:  You have pardoned a king.  Agag:  What!  Is the fairest of virtues considered a crime in Judea?  Samuel (to Agag):  Silence! do not blaspheme. (To Saul).  Saul, formerly king of the Jews, did not God command you by my mouth to destroy all the Amalekites, without sparing women, or maidens, or children at the breast?  Agag:  Your god—­gave such a command!  You are mistaken, you meant to say, your devil.  Samuel:  Saul, did you obey God?  Saul:  I did not suppose such a command

[156] was positive.  I thought that goodness was the first attribute of the Supreme Being, and that a compassionate heart could not displease him.  Samuel:  You are mistaken, unbeliever.  God reproves you, your sceptre will pass into other hands.