ABSTRACT
Felicity is the great end of human existence; a supposition therefore, to be actually useful to man, should render him happy. The goodness of God cheers the wicked; his rigour disturbs the honest man. Thus, the qualities with which theology clothes its immaterial substances, themselves turn out disadvantageous to sound morality. The morality of these systems varies in each individual; differs in one country from another; in fact, those actions which some men look upon as sacred, which they have learned to consider meritorious, make others shudder with horror—fill them with the most painful recollections. The rights of the citizen, or the man in society, are less injured by superstition, which is always in contradiction with sound politics. Nature says distinctly to man, thou art free; no power on earth can justly deprive thee of thy rights, without thine own consent; and even then, thou canst not legitimately make thyself a slave to thy like.".
