known to him only by the fabulous accounts given by his ministers, who,
after binding each unhappy mortal in the chains of prejudice, remain
his masters, or else abandon him defenceless to the absolute power
of tyrants, no less terrible than the gods, of whom they are the
representatives.

Oppressed by the double yoke of spiritual and temporal power, it
has been impossible for the people to be happy. Religion became sacred,
and men have had no other Morality, than what their legislators and
priests brought from the unknown regions of heaven. The human mind,
confused by theological opinions, ceased to know its own powers,
mistrusted experience, feared truth and disdained reason, in order
to follow authority. Man has been a mere machine in the hands of
tyrants and priests. Always treated as a slave, man has contracted
the vices of slavery.

Such are the true causes of the corruption of morals. Ignorance and
servitude are calculated to make men wicked and unhappy. Knowledge,
Reason, and Liberty, can alone reform and make men happier. But
every thing conspires to blind them, and to confirm their errors.
Priests cheat them, tyrants corrupt and enslave them. Tyranny ever
was, and ever will be, the true cause of man's depravity, and also
of his calamities. Almost always fascinated by religious fiction,
poor mortals turn not their eyes to the natural and obvious causes
of their misery; but attribute their vices to the imperfection of
their natures, and their unhappiness to the anger of the gods.
They offer to heaven vows, sacrifices, and presents, to obtain the
end of sufferings, which in reality, are attributable only to the
negligence, ignorance, and perversity of their guides, to the folly
of their customs, and above all, to the general want of knowledge.