6. That therefore it is ridiculous to believe that a man
lives after death any more than a beast; unless perchance, for some days
after his decease, in consequence of an exhalation of the life of the
body, he may appear as a mist under the form of a spectre, before he is
dissipated into nature; just as a shrub raised up from its ashes,
appears in the likeness of its own form. 7. Consequently that religion,
which teaches a life after death, is a mere device, in order to keep the
simple inwardly in bonds by its laws, as they are kept outwardly in
bonds by the laws of the state." To this they added, that "people of
mere ingenuity reason in this manner, but not so the intelligent:" and
they were asked, "How do the intelligent reason?" They said they had not
been informed; but they supposed that they must reason differently.
152.* On hearing this relation, all those who were sitting at the tables
exclaimed, "Alas! what times are come on the earth! What changes has
wisdom undergone? How is she transformed into a false and infatuated
ingenuity! The sun is set, and in his station beneath the earth is in
direct opposition to his meridian altitude.
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