CLXXV.—­RELIGION PARALYZES MORALITY.

Religion, which claims to be the firmest support of morality, evidently deprives it of its true motor, to substitute imaginary motors, inconceivable chimeras, which, being obviously contrary to common sense, can not be firmly believed by any one.  Everybody assures us that he believes firmly in a God who rewards and punishes; everybody claims to be persuaded of the existence of a hell and of a Paradise; however, do we see that these ideas render men better or counterbalance in the minds of the greatest number of them the slightest interest?  Each one assures us that he is afraid of God’s judgments, although each one gives vent to his passions when he believes himself sure of escaping the judgments of men.  The fear of invisible powers is rarely as great as the fear of visible powers.  Unknown or distant sufferings make less impression upon people than the erected gallows, or the example of a hanged man.  There is scarcely any courtier who fears God’s anger more than the displeasure of his master.  A pension, a title, a ribbon, are sufficient to make one forget the torments of hell and the pleasures of the celestial court.  A woman’s caresses expose him every day to the displeasure of the Most High.  A joke, a banter, a bon-mot, make more impression upon the man of the world than all the grave notions of his religion.  Are we not assured that a true repentance is sufficient to appease Divinity?  However, we do not see that this true repentance is sincerely expressed; at least, we very rarely see great thieves, even in the hour of death, restore the goods which they know they have unjustly acquired.  Men persuade themselves, no doubt, that they will submit to the eternal fire, if they can not guarantee themselves against it.  But as settlements can be made with Heaven by giving the Church a portion of their fortunes, there are very few religious thieves who do not die perfectly quieted about the manner in which they gained their riches in this world.

CLXXVI.—­FATAL CONSEQUENCES OF PIETY.

Even by the confession of the most ardent defenders of religion and of its usefulness, nothing is more rare than sincere conversions; to which we might add, nothing is more useless to society.  Men do not become disgusted with the world until the world is disgusted with them; a woman gives herself to God only when the world no longer wants her.  Her vanity finds in religious devotion a role which occupies her and consoles her for the ruin of her charms.  She passes her time in the most trifling practices, parties, intrigues, invectives, and slander; zeal furnishes her the means of distinguishing herself and becoming an object of consideration in the religious circle.  If the bigots have the talent to please God and His priests, they rarely possess that of pleasing society or of rendering themselves useful to it.  Religion