De Tribus Impostoribus, A. D. 1230: The Three Impostors: Translated (with notes and comments) from a French manuscript of the work written in the year 1716, with a dissertation on the original treatise and a bibliography of the various editions
Religion
De Tribus Impostoribus, A. D. 1230: The Three Impostors: Translated (with notes and comments) from a French manuscript of the work written in the year 1716, with a dissertation on the original treatise and a bibliography of the various editions
De tribus impostoribus -- Bibliography; Rationalism
In a note to par. II. occur the following lines which translated read:
"How many changes a revolution makes:
Heaven has brought us forth in happy time
To see the world----Here the weak Italian
Is frightened at the sight of a stole:
The proud Frenchman astonished at nothing
Boldly goes to defy the Pope at his capital
And the grand Turk in turban, like a good Christian,
Recites the prayers of his faith
And prays to God for the pagan Arab,
Having no thought of any kind of expedient
Nor means to destroy altars and idol worship.
The Supreme Being his only and sole support,
Does not exact for offering a single coin
From any sect, from Jew nor plebeian:
What need has He of Temple or archbishop?
The heart of the just and the general good
Shines like a brilliant sun on the halo of glory."
Then follows a "Bouquet for the Pope":
"Thou whom flatterers have invested with a vain title,
Shalt thou at this late day become the arbiter of Europe?
Charitable pontiff, and friend of humanity,
Having so many sovereigns as fathers of families,
The successors of Christ, in the midst of the sanctuary
Have they not placed unblushingly, incest and adultery?
Be this the last of imposture and thy last sigh.
Do thyself more honor, esteem and pleasure,
Than all the monuments erected to the glory
Of thy predecessors in the temple of memory.
Let them read on thy tomb 'he was worthy of love,
The father of the Church and oracle of the day.'"
On the following page is a copper plate profile portrait of Pius
VI. surrounded by the words "Senatus Populus Que Romanus." At
the side Principis Ecclesiae dotes vis Cernere Magni. (Senate and
People of Rome--Prince of the Church endowed with power and great
wisdom.) Beneath:
"The talents of the learned and the virtues of the wise,
A noble and beneficent manner with which all are charmed,
Depict much better than this image
The true portrait of Pius VI."
Facing page fifty-one is a copper plate portrait of Mahomet, and
beneath this tribute:
"Know you not yet, weak and superb man,
That the humble insect hidden beneath a leaf
And the imperious eagle who flies to heaven's dome,
Amount to nothing in the eyes of the Eternal.
All men are equal: not birth but virtue
Distinguishes them apart."
Then there are inserted a number of verses, some of the titles reading:
"Homage to the Supreme Being."
"Voltaire Admitted to Heaven."
"Homage to the Eternal Father."
"Bouquet to the Archbishop of Paris."
"Infinite Mercy--Consolation for Sinners."
"Lots of Room in Heaven."
"The Holy Spirit Absent from Heaven," etc.
Concluding with "A Picture of France at the Time of the Revolution."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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