



Produced by Freethought Archives and Distributed Proofreaders







THE SYSTEM OF NATURE;

or,

_THE LAWS_ of the MORAL AND PHYSICAL WORLD.



TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL FRENCH OF M. DE MIRABAUD



VOL. II.





PRODUCTION NOTES: First published in French in 1770 under the pseudonym
of Mirabaud. This e-book based on a facsimile reprint of an English
translation originally published 1820-21. This e-text covers the second
of the original two volumes.





CONTENTS


      PART II.  Of the Divinity.--Proofs of his existence.--
      Of his attributes.--Of his influence over the happiness of man.


CHAP. I. The origin of man's ideas upon the Divinity.

CHAP. II. Of mythology.--Of theology

CHAP. III. Of the confused and contradictory ideas of theology.

CHAP. IV. Examination of the proofs of the existence of the Divinity, as
given by Clarke.

CHAP. V. Examination of the proofs offered by Descartes, Malebranche,
Newton, &c.

CHAP. VI. Of Pantheism; or of the natural ideas of the Divinity.

CHAP. VII. Of Theism--Of the System of Optimism--Of Final Causes

CHAP. VIII. Examination of the Advantages which result from Man's
Notions on the Divinity;--of their Influence upon Morals;--upon
Politics;--upon Science;--upon the Happiness of Nations, and that of
individuals.

CHAP. IX. Theological Notions cannot be the Basis of
Morality.--Comparison between Theological Ethics and Natural
Morality--Theology prejudicial to the Human Mind.

CHAP. X. Man can form no Conclusion from the Ideas which are offered him
of the Divinity.--Of their want of just Inference.--Of the Inutility of
his Conduct.

CHAP. XI Defence of the Sentiments contained in this Work.--Of
Impiety.--Do there exist Atheists?

CHAP. XII. Is what is termed Atheism, compatible with Morality?

CHAP. XIII. Of the motives which lead to what is falsely called
Atheism.--Can this System be dangerous?--Can it be embraced by the
Illiterate?

CHAP. XIV. A summary of the Code of Nature.


A Brief Sketch of the Life and Writings of M. de Mirabaud





MIRABAUD'S SYSTEM OF NATURE

Translated from the Original BY SAMUEL WILKINSON





     PART II.

     ON THE DIVINITY:--PROOFS OF HIS EXISTENCE:--OF HIS ATTRIBUTES:
     OF HIS INFLUENCE OVER THE HAPPINESS OF MAN.



CHAP. I.

_The Origin of Man's Ideas upon the Divinity._


If man possessed the courage, if he had the requisite industry to recur
to the source of those opinions which are most deeply engraven on his
brain; if he rendered to himself a faithful account of the reasons which
make him hold these opinions as sacred; if he coolly examined the basis
of his hopes, the foundation of his fears, he would find that it very
frequently happens, those objects, or those ideas which move him most
powerfully, either have no real existence, or are words devoid of
meaning, which terror has conjured up to explain some sudden disaster;
that they are often phantoms engendered by a disordered imagination,
modified by ignorance; the effect of an ardent mind distracted by
contending passions, which prevent him from either reasoning justly, or
consulting experience in his judgment; that this mind often labours with
a precipitancy that throws his intellectual faculties into confusion;
that bewilders his ideas; that consequently he gives a substance and a
form to chimeras, to airy nothings, which he afterwards idolizes from
sloth, reverences from prejudice.

A sensible being placed in a nature where every part is in motion, has
various feelings, in consequence of either the agreeable or disagreeable
effects which he is obliged to experience from this continued action and
re-action; in consequence he either finds himself happy or miserable;
according to the quality of the sensations excited in him, he will love
or fear, seek after or fly from, the real or supposed causes of such
marked effects operated on his machine. But if he is ignorant of nature,
if he is destitute of experience, he will frequently deceive himself as
to these causes; for want of either capability or inclination to recur
back to them, he will neither have a true knowledge of their energy, nor
a clear idea of their mode