An Enquiry into an Origin of Honour; and the Usefulness of Christianity in War

by Bernard Mandeville

Hor. If the Reason I alledge is insufficient, pray give me a better.

Cleo. I'll endeavour it. The First Business of all Governments, I mean the Task which all Rulers must begin with, is, to make Men tractable and obedient, which is not to be perform'd unless we can make them believe, that the Instructions and Commands we give them have a plain Tendency to the Good of every Individual, and that we say Nothing to them, but what we know to be true. To do this effectually, Human Nature ought to be humour'd as well as studied: Whoever therefore takes upon him to govern a Multitude, ought to inform himself of those Sentiments that are the natural Result of the Passions and Frailties which every Human Creature is born with.

Hor. I don't understand what Sentiments you speak of.

Cleo. I'll explain my self. All Men are born with Fear; and as they are likewise born with a Desire of Happiness and Self-Preservation, it is natural for them to avoid Pain and every Thing that makes them uneasy; and which, by a general Word, is call'd Evil. Fear being that Passion which inspires us with a strong Aversion to Evil, it is very natural to think that it will put us up on enquiring into the means to shun it. I have told you already, in our Fifth Conversation, how this Aversion to Evil, and Endeavour to shun it, this Principle of Fear, would always naturally dispose Human Creatures to suspect the Existence of an intelligent Cause that is invisible, whenever any Evil happen'd to them, which came they knew not whence, and of which the Author was not to be seen. If you remember what I said then, the Reasons why no Nations can be govern'd without Religion, will be obvious. Every Individual, whether he is a Savage, or is born in a Civil Society, is persuaded within, that there is such an invisible Cause; and should any Mortal contradict this, no Multitude would believe a Word of what he said. Whereas, on the other Hand, if a Ruler humours this Fear, and puts it out of all Doubt, that there is such an invisible Cause, he may say of it what he pleases; and no Multitude, that was never taught any Thing to the contrary, will ever dispute it with him. He may say, that it is a Crocodile or a Monkey, an Ox, or a Dog, an Onion, or a Wafer. And as to the Essence and the Qualities of the invisible Cause, he is at Liberty to call it very good or very bad. He many say of it, that it is an envious, malicious, and the most cruel Being that can be imagin'd; that it loves Blood and delights in Human Sacrifices: Or he may say that there are two invisible Causes; one the Author of Good, the other of Evil; or that there are Three; or that there is really but One, tho' seemingly there are Three, or else that there are Fifty Thousand. The many Calamities we are liable to, from Thunder and Lightning, Hurricanes and Earthquakes, Plagues and Inundations, will always make ignorant and untaught Men more prone to believe, that the invisible Cause is a bad mischievous Being, than that it is a good benign one; as I shew'd you then in that Fifth Conversation.

Hor. On this Head I own I must give up Mankind, and cannot maintain the Excellency of Human Nature; for the absurdities in Idolatrous Worship, that have been and are still committed by some of our own Species, are such as no Creatures of any other could out-do them in.

Cleo. The Protestant and the Mahometan are the only National Religions now, that are free from Idolatry; and therefore the Absurdities in the Worship of all the Rest are pretty much alike; at least, the Difference in the Degrees of Mens Folly, as Idolaters, is very inconsiderable. For how unknown soever an invisible Cause, Power, or Being may be, that is incomprehensible, this is certain of it, that no clear intelligible Idea can be form'd of it; and that no Figure can describe it. All Attempts then, to represent the Deity, being equally vain and frivolous, no One Shape or Form can be imagin'd of it, that can justly be said to be more or less absurd than another. As to the temporal Benefit which Religion can be of to the Civil Society, or the Political View which Lawgivers and Governours may have in promoting it, the chief Use of it is in Promises of Allegiance and Loyalty, and all solemn Engagements and Asseverations, in which the invisible Power, that, in every Country, is the Object of the Publick Worship, is involved or appeal'd to. For these Purposes all Religions are equally serrviceable; and the worst is better than none: For without the belief of an invisible Cause, no Man's Word is to be relied upon, no Vows or Protestations can be depended upon; but as soon as a Man believes, that there is a Power somewhere, that will certainly punish him, if he forswears himself; as soon, I say, as a Man believes this, we have Reason to trust to his Oath; at least, it is a better Test than any other Verbal Assurance. But what this same Person believes further, concerning the Nature and the Essence of that Power he swears by, the Worship it requires, or whether he conceives it in the singular or plural Number, may be very material to himself, but the Socicty has Nothing to do with it: Because it can make no Alteration in the Security which his Swearing gives us. I don't deny the Usefulness which even the worst Religion that can be, may be of to Politicians and the Civil Society: But what I insist upon, is, that the temporal Benefit of it, or the Contrivance of Oaths and Swearing, could never have enter'd into the the Heads of Politician, if the Fear of an invisible Cause had not pre-existed and been supposed to be universal, any more than they would have contrived matrimony, if the Desire of Procreation had not been planted in Human Nature and visible in both Sexes. Passions don't affect us, but when they are provoked: The Fear of Death is a Reality in our Nature: But the greatest Cowards may, and often do, live Forty Years and longer, without being disturb'd by it. The Fear of an invisible Cause is as real in our Nature, as the Fear of Death; either of them may be conquer'd perhaps; but so may Lust; and Experience teaches us, that how violent soever the Desire of Propagating our Species may be whilst we are young, it goes off, and is often entirely lost in old Age. When I hear a Man say, that he never felt any Fear of an invisible Cause, that was not owing to Education, I believe him as much as I do a young married Woman in Health and Vigour, who tells me, that she never felt any Love to a Man, that did not proceed from a Sense of her Duty.

Hor. Does this Fear, this Acknowledgment of an invisible Cause, dispose or excite men any more to the true Religion, than it does to the grossest and most abominable Idolatry?

Cleo. I don't say it does. But there is no Passion in Human Nature so beneficial, that, according as it is managed, may not do Mischief as well as good. What do you think of Love? If this Fear had not been common to the whole Species, none could have been influenc'd by it; the Consequence of which must have been, that Men would have rejected the true Religion as well as the false. There is Nothing that Men may differ in, in which they will ever be all of the same Opinion: And abstruse Truths do often seem to be less probable than well dress'd Fables, when they are skilfully accommodated to our Understanding, and agreeable to our own Way of thinking. That there is but one God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, that is an all-wise and perfectly good Being, without any Mixture of Evil, would have been a most rational Opinion, tho' it had not been reveal'd. But Reasoning and Metaphysicks must have been carried on to a great Height of Perfection, before this Truth could be penetrated into by the Light of Nature. Plutarch, who was a Man of great Learning, and has in many Things display'd good Sense and Capacity, thought it impossible, that one Being should have been the Cause of the Whole, and was therefore of Opinion, that there must have been Two Principles; the one to produce all the Good; and the other all the Evil that is in the World. And Some of the greatest men have been of this Opinion, both before and since the Promulgation of the Gospel. But whatever Philosophers and men of Letters may have advanced, there never was an Age or a Country where the Vulgar would ever come into an Opinion that contradicted that Fear, which all men are born with, of an invisible Cause, that meddles and interferes in Human Affairs; and there is a greater Possibility, that the most Senseless Enthusiast should make a knowing and polite Nation believe the most incredible Falsities, or that the most odious Tyrant should persuade them to the grossest Idolatry, than that the most artful Politician, or the most popular Prince, should make Atheism to be universally received among the Vulgar of any considerable State or Kingdom, tho' there were no Temples or Priests to be seen. From all which I would shew, that, on the one Hand, you can make no Multitudes believe contrary to what they feel, or what contradicts a Passion inherent in their Nature, and that, on the other, if you humour that Passion, and allow it to be just, you may regulate it as you please. How unanimous soever, therefore, all Rulers and Magistrates have seem'd to be in promoting some Religion or other, the Principle of it was not of their Invention. They found it in Man; and the Fear of an invisible Cause being universal, if Governours had said nothing of it, every Man in his own Breast would have found Fault with them, and had a Superstition of his own to himself. It has often been seen, that the most subtle Unbelievers among Politicians have been forced, for their own Quiet, to counterfeit their Attachment to religion, when they would a Thousand Times rather have done without it.

Hor. It is not in the Power then, you think, of Politicians, to contradict the Passions, or deny the Existence of them, but that, when once they have allow'd them to be just and natural, they may guide Men in the Indulgence of them, as they please.

Cleo. I do so; and the Truth of this is evident likewise in another Passion, (viz) that of Love, which I hinted at before; and Marriage was not invented to make Men procreate; they had that Desire before; but it was instituted to regulate a strong Passion, and prevent the innumerable Mischiefs that would ensue, if Men and Women should converse together promiscuosly, and love and leave one another as Caprice and their unruly Fancy led them. Thus we see, that every Legislator has regulated Matrimony in that Way, which, to the best of his Skill, he imagin'd would be the most proper to promote the Peace Felicity in general of Those he govern'd: And how great an Imposter soever Mahomet was, I can never believe, that he would have allow'd his Mussulmen Three or Four Wives a piece, if he had thought it better, than one; Man should be contented with and confin'd to One Woman; I mean better upon the Whole, more beneficial to the Civil Society, as well in Consideration of the Climate he lived in—, as the Nature and the Temperament of those Arabians he gave his Laws to.