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TITLE: GOOD SENSE
AUTHOR: BARON D'HOLBACH
EBOOK: E06652 (O'Briens Book Cellar)
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

Good Sense by Paul Henri Thiry, Baron D'Holbach (08?-Dec-1723 to 21-Jan-1789)
Originally published in French in 1772.

Transcribed by the Freethought Archives <freethought@despammed.com>

Transcriber's note: this e-text is based on an undated English
translation of "Le Bon Sens" published c. 1900.  The name of the
translator was not stated.

GOOD SENSE
WITHOUT GOD:

OR

FREETHOUGHTS
OPPOSED TO
SUPERNATURAL IDEAS

A TRANSLATION OF BARON D'HOLBACH'S
"LE BON SENS"

"_Atheism_ leaves men to Sense, to Philosophy, to Laws, to Reputation,
all which may be guides to moral Virtue, tho' Religion were not: but
Superstition dismounts all these, and erects an absolute Monarchy in
the Minds of Men.  Therefore, Atheism did never perturb States; but
Superstition hath been the confusion of many.  The causes of Superstition
are pleasing and sensual rights, and Ceremonies; Excess of Pharisaical
and outside holiness, Reverence to Traditions and the stratagems of
Prelates for their own Ambition and Lucre."--_Lord Bacon._

"FREETHINKER'S LIBRARY" SERIES

LONDON:
W. STEWART & CO.

PUBLISHER'S NOTE

The chief design in reprinting this translation, is to preserve
"_the strongest atheistical work_" for present and future generations
of English Freethinkers.

The real author was, unquestionably, Paul Thyry; Baron D'Holbach,
and not John Meslier, to whom this work has been wrongly attributed,
under the title of "Le Bon Sens" (Common Sense).

In 1770, Baron D'Holbach published his masterpiece, "Systeme de la Nature,"
which for a long time passed as the posthumous work of M. de Mirabaud.
That text-book of "Atheistical Philosophy" caused a great sensation,
and two years later, 1772, the Baron published this excellent
abridgment of it, freed from arbitrary ideas; and by its clearness of
expression, facility, and precision of style, rendered it most suitable
for the average student.

"Le Bon Sens" was privately printed in Amsterdam, and the author's name
was kept a profound secret; hence, Baron D'Holbach escaped persecution.

THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE

When we examine the opinions of men, we find that nothing is more
uncommon, than common sense; or, in other words, they lack judgment
to discover plain truths, or to reject absurdities, and palpable
contradictions.  We have an example of this in Theology, a system
revered in all countries by a great number of men; an object regarded
by them as most important, and indispensable to happiness.  An
examination of the principles upon which this pretended system
is founded, forces us to acknowledge, that these principles are
only suppositions, imagined by ignorance, propagated by enthusiasm
or knavery, adopted by timid credulity, preserved by custom which
never reasons, and revered solely because not understood.

In a word, whoever uses common sense upon religious opinions, and
will bestow on this inquiry the attention that is commonly given to
most subjects, will easily perceive that Religion is a mere castle
in the air.  Theology is ignorance of natural causes; a tissue of
fallacies and contradictions.  In every country, it presents romances
void of probability, the hero of which is composed of impossible
qualities.  His name, exciting fear in all minds, is only a vague
word, to which, men affix ideas or qualities, which are either
contradicted by facts, or inconsistent.

Notions of this being, or rather, _the word_ by which he is designated,
would be a matter of indifference, if it did not cause innumerable
ravages in the world.  But men, prepossessed with the opinion that
this phantom is a reality of the greatest interest, instead of
concluding wisely from its incomprehensibility, that they are not
bound to regard it, infer on the contrary, that they must contemplate
it, without ceasing, and never lose sight of it.  Their invincible
ignorance, upon this subject, irritates their curiosity; instead of
putting them upon guard against their imagination, this ignorance
renders them decisive, dogmatic, imperious, and even exasperates
them against all, who oppose doubts to the reveries which they have
begotten.

What perplexity arises, when it is required to solve an insolvable
problem; unceasing meditation upon an object, impossible to understand,
but in which however he thinks himself much concerned, cannot but
excite man, and produce a fever in his brain.  Let interest, vanity,
and ambition, co-operate ever so little with this unfortunate turn
of mind, and society must necessarily be disturbed.  This is the reason
that so many nations have often been the scene of extravagances of
senseless visionaries, who, believing their empty speculations to
be eternal truths, and publishing them as such, have kindled the zeal
of princes and their subjects, and made them take up arms for opinions,
represented to them as essential to the glory of the Deity.  In all
parts of our globe, fanatics have cut each other's throats, publicly
burnt each other, committed without a scruple and even as a duty, the
greatest crimes, and shed torrents of blood.  For what?  To strengthen,
support, or propagate the impertinent conjectures of some enthusiasts,
or to give validity to the cheats of impostors, in the name of a being,
who exists only in their imagination, and who has made himself known
only by the ravages, disputes, and follies, he has caused.

Savage and furious nations, perpetually at war, adore, under divers names,
some God, conformable to their ideas, that is to say, cruel, carnivorous,
selfish, blood-thirsty.  We find, in all the religions, "a God of armies,"
a "jealous God," an "avenging God," a "destroying God," a "God," who
is pleased with carnage, and whom his worshippers consider it a duty
to serve.  Lambs, bulls, children, men, and women, are sacrificed to him.
Zealous servants of this barbarous God think themselves obliged even
to offer up themselves as a sacrifice to him.  Madmen may everywhere
be seen, who, after meditating upon their terrible God, imagine that to
please him they must inflict on themselves, the most exquisite torments.
The gloomy ideas formed of the deity, far from consoling them, have
every where disquieted their minds, and prejudiced follies destructive
to happiness.

How could the human mind progress, while tormented with frightful phantoms,
and guided by men, interested in perpetuating its ignorance and fears?
Man has been forced to vegetate in his primitive stupidity: he has
been taught stories about invisible powers upon whom his happiness was
supposed to depend.  Occupied solely by his fears, and by unintelligible
reveries, he has always been at the mercy of priests, who have reserved
to themselves the right of thinking for him, and of directing his actions.

Thus, man has remained a slave without courage, fearing to reason,
and unable to extricate himself from the labyrinth, in which he has
been wandering.  He believes himself forced under the yoke of his gods,
known to him only by the fabulous accounts given by his ministers, who,
after binding each unhappy mortal in the chains of prejudice, remain
his masters, or else abandon him defenceless to the absolute power
of tyrants, no less terrible than the gods, of whom they are the
representatives.

Oppressed by the double yoke of spiritual and temporal power, it
has been impossible for the people to be happy.  Religion became sacred,
and men have had no other Morality, than what their legislators and
priests brought from the unknown regions of heaven.  The human mind,
confused by theological opinions, ceased to know its own powers,
mistrusted experience, feared truth and disdained reason, in order
to follow authority.  Man has been a mere machine in the hands of
tyrants and priests.  Always treated as a slave, man has contracted
the vices of slavery.

Such are the true causes of the corruption of morals.  Ignorance and
servitude are calculated to make men wicked and unhappy.  Knowledge,
Reason, and Liberty, can alone reform and make men happier.  But
every thing conspires to blind them, and to confirm their errors.
Priests cheat them, tyrants corrupt and enslave them.  Tyranny ever
was, and ever will be, the true cause of man's depravity, and also
of his calamities.  Almost always fascinated by religious fiction,
poor mortals turn not their eyes to the natural and obvious causes
of their misery; but attribute their vices to the imperfection of
their natures, and their unhappiness to the anger of the gods.
They offer to heaven vows, sacrifices, and presents, to obtain the
end of sufferings, which in reality, are attributable only to the
negligence, ignorance, and perversity of their guides, to the folly
of their customs, and above all, to the general want of knowledge.
Let men's minds be filled with true ideas; let their reason be
cultivated; and there will be no need of opposing to the passions,
such a feeble barrier, as the fear of gods.  Men will be good, when
they are well instructed; and when they are despised for evil, or
justly rewarded for good, which they do to their fellow citizens.

In vain should we attempt to cure men of their vices, unless we
begin by curing them of their prejudices.  It is only by showing
them the truth, that they will perceive their true interests,
and the real motives that ought to incline them to do good.
Instructors have long enough fixed men's eyes upon heaven; let
them now turn them upon earth.  An incomprehensible theology,
ridiculous fables, impenetrable mysteries, puerile ceremonies,
are to be no longer endured.  Let the human mind apply itself to
what is natural, to intelligible objects, truth, and useful knowledge.

Does it not suffice to annihilate religious prejudice, to shew,
that what is inconceivable to man, cannot be good for him?
Does it require any thing, but plain common sense, to perceive,
that a being, incompatible with the most evident notions--that
a cause continually opposed to the effects which we attribute
to it--that a being, of whom we can say nothing, without falling
into contradiction--that a being, who, far from explaining the
enigmas of the universe, only makes them more inexplicable--that
a being, whom for so many ages men have vainly addressed to obtain
their happiness, and the end of sufferings--does it require, I say,
any thing but plain, common sense, to perceive--that the idea of
such a being is an idea without model, and that he himself is merely
a phantom of the imagination?  Is any thing necessary but common sense

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