Superstition in all agesHolbach, Paul Henri Thiry, baron d'
Religion
Superstition in all ages
Holbach, Paul Henri Thiry, baron d'
Atheism
thirst; very soon a green plot invites him to take sweet repose. As he
awakens he performs the holy cleansing; and in a transport of ecstasy,
he exclaimed: "O Allah! HOW GREAT IS THY GOODNESS TO THE CHILDREN OF
MEN!" Well rested, refreshed, full of life and gayety, our holy man
continues on his road; it conducts him for some time through a
delightful country, which offers to his sight but blooming shores and
trees filled with fruit. Softened by this spectacle, he worships
incessantly the rich and liberal hand of Providence, which is everywhere
seen occupied with the welfare of the human race. Going a little
farther, he comes across a few mountains, which were quite hard to
ascend; but having arrived at their summit, a hideous sight suddenly
meets his eyes; his soul is all consternation. He discovers a vast plain
entirely devastated by the sword and fire; he looks at it and finds it
covered with more than a hundred thousand corpses, deplorable remains of
a bloody battle which had taken place a few days previous. Eagles,
vultures, ravens, and wolves were devouring the dead bodies with which
the earth was covered. This sight plunges our pilgrim into a sad
reverie. Heaven, by a special favor, had made him understand the
language of beasts. He heard a wolf, gorged with human flesh, exclaim in
his excessive joy: "O Allah! how great is Thy kindness for the children
of wolves! Thy foreseeing wisdom takes care to send infatuation upon
these detestable men who are so dangerous to us. Through an effect of
Thy Providence which watches over Thy creatures, these, our destroyers,
murder each other, and thus furnish us with sumptuous repasts. O Allah!
HOW GREAT IS THY GOODNESS TO THE CHILDREN OF WOLVES!"
XCIX.--IT IS FOOLISH TO SEE IN THE UNIVERSE ONLY THE BENEFACTIONS OF
HEAVEN, AND TO BELIEVE THAT THIS UNIVERSE WAS MADE BUT FOR MAN.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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