Translation:Treaty of the Three Fraudsters
CHAPTER I.—Of God. False ideas some have of Divinity, because instead of consulting common sense & reason, they have the weakness of believing in opinions, in imaginations, in visions of those interested in cheating the people & in maintaining it in ignorance & in superstition.
CHAPTER II.—Of the reasons that have pushed men to imagine an invisible Being commonly named God. Of the ignorance of the physical causes, & of the fear caused by natural accidents, though extraordinary or terrible, has come the idea of the existence of some invisible power; idea of which politics & imposture have profited. Examination of the nature of God. Opinion of final causes refuted as contrary to healthy Physics.
CHAPTER III.—What the word religion means. How & why they have appeared in such a great number in the world. All religions are the work of politics. Conduct of Moses to establish the Judaic religion. Examination of the birth of Jesus-Christ, of his Politics, of his Moral & of his reputation after his death. Devices of Mahomet to establish his Religion. Success of that Impostor, greater than that of Jesus-Christ.
CHAPTER IV.—Sensible & obvious truths. Idea of the universal Being. The attributes given to him in all religions are for most incompatible with his essence & belong only to man. Opinion of a life to come & of the existence of Spirits fought & rejected.
CHAPTER V.—Of the soul. Different opinions of the Philosophers of antiquity on the nature of the Soul. Impression of Descartes refuted. Expression of the Author's.
CHAPTER VI.—Of the Spirits named Demons. Origin & falsehood of the opinion we have of their existence.
This work was published before January 1, 1930, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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