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16 I live under a dominant nation that in terms of power and wisdom is probably the greatest on earth. This nation boasts of having reliable testimony that through extraordinary means its ancestors received from God the most convincing assurances of its eternal felicity. The wisest, most venerable men speak of this with such firm conviction that I cannot possibly doubt their sincerity. Their application of so much philosophy and eloquence to obtaining approval of their religious doctrine must naturally have sufficed for completely winning over the most rational portion of the human race to their side. Insofar as this faith contains the assurance that a blissful future is in store for the human race, it completely agrees with reason as well as with the religious doctrine revealed by God. And I do not see what should prevent me from accepting testimony that is so useful, so beneficial, and so gratifying to the human race. Yet I see that the teachers of this faith do not actually assure the whole human race of eternal felicity as some of them seem to promise, but rather only those who accept their historical testimony. The rest they threaten with eternal damnation . We should not only believe that human beings will be saved, but we must also believe that the founder of their faith has given them the assurance thereof. If we do not [believe this], then we should expect eternal suffering, rather than eternal felicity. This idea is repugnant. Given such a limitation, this faith ceases to be a benefit to the human race and instead becomes a burden that presses human reason to the ground. Sacred reason gives me the most certain conviction that God calls humanbeingstosalvationthroughthepracticeofvirtue.Thedivinereligioninto which I was born teaches me that all the peoples of the earth are saved if they live in accordance with the laws of reason, that is, if they practice virtue; and that for special purposes God has imposed on my nation alone certain special beliefs and obligatory actions of which He has absolved the rest of the human race. This doctrine is divine; it is worthy of the wisdom, justice, and infinite goodness of that being who is worthy of worship, full of compassion, and has not created [even] the most contemptible worm for [a life of] misery. Out of compassion for the weakness of human reason, this gracious God could, through an appointed 3 | From “Counter-Reflections to Bonnet’s Palingenesis” (1770) The Lavater Affair and Related Documents | 17 emissary, give His rational creatures special assurance that they are destined for salvation. But how could He have linked this salvation to the condition that they [must] recognize the authority of His emissary? This consideration would not, however, frighten me off completely. I know that there are philanthropic teachers among the adherents of this religion who do not find this harsh restriction in the writings of their faith, or who at least know how to ease it in such a way that one sees that they do not intend to take possession of the kingdom of heaven for themselves alone. But I also hear that the founder of this faith [Jesus] is supposed to have abolishedthelawsofMoses .ThelawsconfirmedbyGodHimself?How?Thisfounder does not even explicitly proclaim in the name of God that he intends to repeal a portion of those laws or which ones. Rather, on the basis of ambiguous words and actions we should come to this conclusion, and we should survey the laws consecrated by God, rejecting these, limiting those, altering these, and keeping those? And this procedure is supposed to be respectful of divine wisdom? This God who communicated His laws to an entire people through a special emissary with so many public acts, this God will now repeal the very same laws, not publicly, not by means of an explicit declaration, but rather tacitly, as it were? Inconceivable! The more I come to know this religion so highly recommended to me, the more frightful it is to my reason. The eternal felicity of the human race is indeed the final goal of this religion, as it is of all religions, but under what conditions is this felicity offered to me! What fetters for my reason! If the [following] propositions are not true, then God did not send Jesus of Nazareth. And if I do not believe them, then He did not send him for my sake. In the doctrinal books of the Christians I find the following propositions brought forward as...

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