Preface.

Reader, you who fulfill your duties toward God, toward the state, toward your neighbor, and toward yourself solely because Christianity original: "Christenthum" commands you to do so: I beg of you, set this book aside at first glance. Do not say: "Ha! You only make me curious; I must read it!" Believe me, you will lose your peace of soul original: "Seelenruhe"; a state of spiritual and mental tranquility over it, and I shall then wash my hands in innocence, for I have told you so beforehand. If you still refuse to take this advice, then read the Appendix as well, and read it again. Study it, and grasp it entirely, if you have the strength for it. Then you will find your peace of soul once more, and you will fulfill all duties toward God, toward the state, toward your neighbor, and toward yourself with double the joy.

I divide the thinking and reading public, in regard to my book, into three classes. To the first, I reckon those who search for truth with an unbiased mind and accept it, whether it has long been recognized or only recently discovered. I say, to this class I reckon all those who set themselves above the prejudice The author refers here to the "Vorurtheil" of tradition—the habit of believing things simply because they are old or widely accepted. that opinions and doctrines should be true merely because they have been considered established truths by many for millennia. To the second, I count those who praise Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (1694–1778), a leading figure of the French Enlightenment known for his criticism of organized religion. and his like as genuine lights of the world, and about things,