Letter to Beaumont, Letters Written from the Mountain, and Related Writings

Fragments of the Letter to Christophe de Beaumont

Fragments of the Letter to Christophe de Beaumont 1 They must not imagine that by always telling me to be humble they will Wnally force me to be false, to retract what I think and to say what I do not think. Your writings full of prejudices, of partiality, of bile are personal attacks1 ; they are not censures but satires, the most openly avowed enemy would judge with less passion. Based on your Pastoral Letter, based on this strange indictment, I myself would have been horriWed by my book if I had not been acquainted with it.2 If I were founding a republic, I would like Religion and peace there. That is why I would banish the theologians from it with as much care as Plato banished the Poets from his.3 2 Judging him to be without defense anyone and everyone makes haste to give him the last kick. An author who is Catholic and French the same as crowds of others has spoken in his books about kings and about your Church with a diVerent freedom than I have. Instead of burning his book and issuing a warrant against his person, he was received for that very reason into the French academy. It is true that this was not a poor Foreigner.4 I acknowledge that you need very much to be enlightened, Your Grace, pardon my frankness; but your book appears to me to have been before the illumination. 3 Isn’t it clear that he would have put his head into his mouth and that consequently the part was greater than the whole. This objection, Your 84 Grace, is clear, simple, and even crude. Nevertheless if you Wnd some good solution to it have the charity to teach it to us; but for mercy’s sake let it be clear, simple in its turn, in conformity with the Gospel, and intelligible to the poor in spirit. With a peremptory word you deprive him of liberty, honor, you put his life in danger. But what do I have to retract then? I have aYrmed nothing but the existence of God, his attributes, his providence, everything that is essential to religion; doubtless that is not what they want me to retract. About all the rest I have only proposed objections and one does not retract objections , one resolves them. Now if I had known how to resolve mine I would not have made them. They aYrm that I make light of all religion and the sole proof is that I respect all religions. I do not despair of seeing someone who scoVs at them, who insults them, who despises all and above all his own, pass for an extremely pious man. 4 You deceive yourself, Your Grace, you yourself are mistaken, there is not a single point in your Pastoral Letter in which you are not wrong. Nevertheless that is not what I reproach you for. It does not depend at all on us not to deceive ourselves but it does depend on us to be moderate and just. Why have you not been so toward me? What, because there has been a redeemer for men they must be dragged to the torture, because the messiah has come to save them they must be persecuted? Eh, is there anything more abominable in the world than to put injustice and violence into a system and to make them Xow from God’s clemency . Yes, all those who in the torments they cause men to suVer dare to mix the name of the supreme Being are monsters unworthy of living. And it is their bloody doctrines that are truly abominable. 5 Unable to resolve my objections you have attacked my person, you believed you degraded me by mistreating me and you were mistaken. Pl., IV, 1010–1011 85 Without weakening my reasons, you have inspired good will toward my person in all generous hearts. You have made sensible people believe that by judging the author so badly one could judge the book badly; by wishing to complete my ruin you have made me famous. Yes, Your Grace, far from debasing me, persecution has raised up my soul, I feel myself honored to suVer for the truth. If I deserved insults was it up to you to tell me some? You had only to abandon me to the disdain I had deserved. If I was worthy of you...