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.