MEDITATION I.

...to Man, distinguished from that which is only the Accessory, original: "à l'Homme, distinguée de ce qui n'en est que l'Accessoire" intending to smooth the way for convincing the Unbelievers, he asserts that nothing more right could be done than if we should concede for a time to the Unbelievers that, for the sake of holding faith in the Christian Religion, there is no need to admit Mysteries and miracles. (*) However, how little suited these methods are, I shall show in a separate dissertation by way of a digression, with God's help.

To perceive the force of arguments fighting for the truth of the Christian Religion, there is need not only of attention, but also of a mind free from all prejudiced opinions and depraved desires.VI. Among other things that hinder the growing vice of Unbelief from being repressed, this stands out most of all: that the minds of very few are rightly disposed to weigh the arguments fighting for the Truth of the Christian Religion. This is because Unbelievers are imbued with many prejudiced opinions against Christian discipline; many of them do not know how to reason correctly; and most do not consult reason, but rather their own depraved passions. I shall pass over in silence for now the other points which I am about to bring forward in the progress of these meditations, if God grants further life. Certainly, to undertake an Examination of Religion—specifically the Christian one—which is a matter of the gravest importance, there is required a sincere heart, most loving of truth, and one that is led to either side only by the force of arguments. When a man is empty of these virtues, yet intends to examine Religion, it cannot happen by the nature of things that arguments exert their power. Lactantius Lactantius (c. 250–325 AD) was an early Christian advisor to Constantine I; he is known as the "Christian Cicero" for his elegant Latin style. speaks rightly and elegantly on this subject when he is about to prove the immortality of the human soul and explain the nature of the final judgment. In Book VII, Chapter 1, among other things, he says: In the meantime, I think it necessary to warn my Readers that these things which we hand down, wicked and corrupt minds will either not understand at all (for their sharp edge is blunted by earthly desires, which weigh down all the senses and render them weak), or even if they do understand, they will nonetheless ignore them and be unwilling for these things to be true. This is because they are dragged away by vices, and knowingly they favor their own evils, by whose sweetness they are captured; thus they desert the way of virtue, by whose bitterness they are offended. For those who burn with avarice and a certain insatiable thirst for wealth—because they cannot live a life of meager means after selling or giving away the things they love—doubtless prefer that to be a fiction which forces them to renounce their desires. Likewise, those incited by the stings of lust who (as the Poet says) rush into furies and fire, assuredly

(*) Rumor has it that this little book was written by a learned Matron, likely Marie Huber (1695–1753), a Swiss theologian who wrote "The World Foolish preferred to the World Wise." who also published other small works—for example, on the state of minds after death; on the foolish world being preferred to the world of the Learned, or as the title has it: le monde fou preferè au monde sage [the foolish world preferred to the wise], to the noble. Later, it became known to me by most certain evidence that several people joined their minds to write that book, which even the notes placed below the text, when compared with the book itself, sufficiently prove.

ON THE CAUSES OF UNBELIEF.

assuredly say that we bring forward incredible things; because the precepts of self-control wound their ears, prohibiting them from those pleasures to which they have sentenced their soul along with their body. Truly, those who are puffed up with ambition or inflamed by the love of power, and have applied all their study to acquiring honors, will not grant faith—not even if we should carry the sun itself in our hands—to that doctrine which commands them to live humbly, despising all power and honor, and to be so humble that they can both receive an injury and be unwilling to return it if they have received one. Such are the men who bark against the Truth with closed eyes in every way. But those who shall be healed—that is, those not so immersed in vices that they are incurable—they will both believe and freely approach these things. Whatever we say will seem open, plain, simple, and (what is most necessary) irreproachable to them. No one favors virtue except he who can follow it; but to follow is not easy for everyone.

But I seem to hear the Unbeliever responding, not without indignation, that this demand of ours is inept and worthy of laughter; namely, that we demand of Unbelievers that they have a mind ready to receive our opinions—that is, a credulous mind. He might say this is the same as if someone, intending to reason with another and lead him to his own opinion, demanded that he first admit the conclusion of the argument, and only then examine the premises.

But the Unbelievers misunderstand our sentiment, or they deliberately twist it into a foreign sense. For we do not demand from Unbelievers that, before the examination of the reasons which we are accustomed to bring forward to prove the truth of the Christian Religion, they should have faith in us and think magnificently of Religion. We would without doubt be foolish if we wished this to be granted to us. We demand nothing else than what all the wise men of all ages require from those who wish to know the truth when the gravest questions are to be weighed: namely, this one thing, that they bring to the examination of the question an attentive mind, free from the zeal of parties, and uniquely intent on perceiving and pondering the force of reasons. The greater the importance of inquiring after the truth—the more the solution of the question is joined with the salvation or detriment of the human race—the more necessary it is that those about to examine those questions be attentive and free from bias. A corrupt judge examines the truth poorly. We demand nothing here but what the Unbelievers themselves are accustomed to demand of us when they bring forward their doubts and objections against Religion: they cry out, forsooth, that for a time we must set aside opinions drunk in almost with our mother’s milk, inculcated by our teachers, and firmly fixed in the mind by long habit as if they were axioms.