Superstition In All Ages (1732)

Superstition In All Ages (1732)

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Title: Superstition In All Ages (1732) Common Sense
Author: Jean Meslier
Commentator: Voltaire
Translator: Anna Knoop
Release Date: January 25, 2006 [EBook #17607]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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SUPERSTITION IN ALL AGES (1732) ***

Produced by Gary Klein

SUPERSTITION IN ALL AGES
By Jean Meslier

1732
A ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST, WHO, AFTER A PASTORAL
SERVICE OF THIRTY YEARS AT ETREPIGNY IN CHAMPAGNE,
FRANCE, WHOLLY ABJURED RELIGIOUS DOGMAS, AND
LEFT AS HIS LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT TO HIS
PARISHIONERS, AND TO THE WORLD, TO BE PUBLISHED
AFTER HIS DEATH, THE FOLLOWING PAGES, ENTITLED:
COMMON SENSE.
Translated from the French original by Miss Anna Knoop
1878

LIFE OF JEAN MESLIER BY VOLTAIRE.
Jean Meslier, born 1678, in the village of Mazerny, dependency of the
duchy of Rethel, was the son of a serge weaver; brought up in the
country, he nevertheless pursued his studies and succeeded to the
priesthood. At the seminary, where he lived with much regularity, he
devoted himself to the system of Descartes.
Becoming curate of Etrepigny in Champagne and vicar of a little
annexed parish named Bue, he was remarkable for the austerity of his
habits. Devoted in all his duties, every year he gave hat remained of his
salary to the poor of his parishes; enthusiastic, and of rigid virtue, he
was very temperate, as much in regard to his appetite as in relation to
women.
MM. Voiri and Delavaux, the one curate of Varq, the other curate of
Boulzicourt, were his confessors, and the only ones with whom he
associated.
The curate Meslier was a rigid partisan of justice, and sometimes
carried his zeal a little too far. The lord of his village, M. de Touilly,
having ill-treated some peasants, he refused to pray for him in his
service. M. de Mailly, Archbishop of Rheims, before whom the case

was brought, condemned him. But the Sunday which followed this
decision, the abbot Meslier stood in his pulpit and complained of the
sentence of the cardinal. "This is," said he, "the general fate of the poor
country priest; the archbishops, who are great lords, scorn them and do
not listen to them. Therefore, let us pray for the lord of this place. We
will pray for Antoine de Touilly, that he may be converted and granted
the grace that he may not wrong the poor and despoil the orphans." His
lordship, who was present at this mortifying supplication, brought new
complaints before the same archbishop, who ordered the curate Meslier
to come to Donchery, where he ill-treated him with abusive language.
There have been scarcely any other events in his life, nor other benefice,
than that of Etrepigny. He died in the odor of sanctity in the year 1733,
fifty-five years old. It is believed that, disgusted with life, he expressly
refused necessary food, because during his sickness he was not willing
to take anything, not even a glass of wine.
At his death he gave all he possessed, which was inconsiderable, to his
parishioners, and desired to be buried in his garden.
They were greatly surprised to find in his house three manuscripts, each
containing three hundred and sixty-six pages, all written by his hand,
signed and entitled by him, "My Testament." This work, which the
author addressed to his parishioners and to M. Leroux, advocate and
procurator for the parliament of Meziers, is a simple refutation of all
the religious dogmas, without excepting one. The grand vicar of
Rheims retained one of the three copies; another was sent to Monsieur
Chauvelin, guardian of the State's seal; the third remained at the clerk's
office of the justiciary of St. Minehould. The Count de Caylus had one
of those three copies in his possession for some time, and soon
afterward more than one hundred were at Paris, sold at ten Louis-d'or
apiece. A dying priest accusing himself of having professed and taught
the Christian religion, made a deeper impression upon the mind than
the "Thoughts of Pascal."
The curate Meslier had written upon a gray paper which enveloped the
copy destined for his parishioners these remarkable words: "I have seen
and recognized the errors, the abuses, the follies, and the wickedness of

men. I have hated and despised them. I did not dare say it during my
life, but I will say it at least in dying, and after my death; and it is that it
may be known,