THE FALLEN STAR, or, THE HISTORY OF A FALSE RELIGION

by E. L. Bulwer

AND

A DISSERTATION ON THE ORIGIN OF EVIL

by Lord Brougham







PUBLISHER'S PREFACE

RELIGION, says Noah Webster in his _American Dictionary of the
English Language_, is derived from "Religo, to bind anew;" and,
in this _History of a False Religion_, our author has shown how
easily its votaries were insnared, deceived, and mentally bound
in a labyrinth of falsehood and error, by a designing knave, who
established a new religion and a new order of priesthood by
imposing on their ignorance and credulity.

The history of the origin of one supernatural religion will,
with slight alterations, serve to describe them all. Their claim
to credence rests on the exhibition of so-called miracles--that
is, on a violation of the laws of nature,--for, if religions