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Front Page  Titles (by Subject) OF THE COUNSELS OF RELIGION. - Complete Works, vol. 4 Familiar Letters; Miscellaneous Pieces; The Temple of Gnidus; A Defence of the Spirit of Laws
OF THE COUNSELS OF RELIGION. - Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu, Complete Works, vol. 4 Familiar Letters; Miscellaneous Pieces; The Temple of Gnidus; A Defence of the Spirit of Laws [1777]Edition used:The Complete Works of M. de Montesquieu (London: T. Evans, 1777), 4 vols. Vol. 4.
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- Familiar Letters. By President De Montesquieu.
- Letter I.: To Father Cerati * of the Congregation of the Orators of Saint Philip At Rome.
- Letter II.: To the Same.
- Letter III.: To Monsieur L’abbé Venuti * , At Clerac.
- Letter IV.: To the Abbé Nicolini * , At Florence.
- Letter V.: To Mr. Cerati, At Pisa.
- Letter VI.: To Abbé Venuti At Clerac.
- Letter VII.: To Abbé De Guasco, At Turin.
- Letter VIII.: To the Count of Guasco, Colonel of Foot.
- Letter IX.: To the Abbé De Guasco.
- Letter X.: To the Same.
- Letter XI.: To the Same.
- Letter XII.: To the Countess De Pontac.
- Letter XIII.: To Mr. Cerati.
- Letter XIV.: To Abbé De Guasco At Clerac.
- Letter XV.: To the Same.
- Letter XVI.: To the Same.
- Letter XVII.: To the Same.
- Letter XVIII.: To the Same.
- Letter XIX.: To the Same Abbé De Guasco.
- Letter XX.: To the Same.
- Letter XXI.: To Mr. Cerati.
- Letter XXII.: To Abbé De Guasco, At Aix.
- Letter XXIII.
- Letter XXIV.: To the Same.
- Letter XXV.: To the Same.
- Letter XXVI.: To the Same.
- Letter XXVII.: To Mr. Cerati.
- Letter XXVIII.: To Prince Charles Edward.
- Letter XXIX.: To the Grand Prior Solar, Ambassador From Malta, At Rome.
- Letter XXX.: To the Abbé and Count De Guasco, At Paris.
- Letter XXXI.: To Mr. Cerati.
- Letter XXXII.: To Abbé Venuti.
- Letter XXXIII.: To the Abbé Count De Guasco.
- Letter XXXIV.: To the Abbé Venuti, At Bourdeaux.
- Letter XXXV.: To Mr. Cerati.
- Letter XXXVI.: To Abbé Venuti.
- Letter XXXVII.: To Abbé Venuti.
- Letter XXXVIII: To the Abbé Count De Guasco.
- Letter XXXIX.: To Abbé De Guasco.
- Letter Xl.: to the Same.
- Letter Xli.: to the Same.
- Letter Xlii.: to the Same, At Bourdeaux.
- Letter Xliii.: to the Same.
- Letter Xliv.: to the Same Abbé De Guasco.
- Letter Xlv.: to the Same At Vienna.
- Letter Xlvi.: to the Same Abbé De Guasco At Vienna.
- Letter Xlvii.: to the Same, At Verona.
- Letter Xlviii.: to the Same.
- Letter Xlix.: to the Same, At Naples.
- Letter L.: to the Same.
- Letter Li.: to Mr. Cerati.
- Letter Lii.: to the Abbé Marquis Nicolini.
- Letter Liii.: to Abbé Count De Guasco.
- Letter Liv.: to the Same.
- Letter Lv.: to the Auditor Bertolini, At Florence.
- Letter Lvi.: to Abbé Count De Guasco.
- Letter Lvii.: a Billet to the Same.
- Letter Lviii.: to the Grand Prior Solar, At Turin.
- Letter Lix.: the Fragment of a Letter From M. De Montesquieu, to the King of Poland, Duke of Lorraine, to Solicit His Majesty For a Place In the Academy of Nantz.
- Letter Lx.: Fragment of the King of Poland’s Answer, to the Foregoing Letter.
- Letter Lxi.: to M. De Solignac, Secretary to the Literary Society At Nantz.
- Letter Lxii.: From M. De Montesquieu. to the Author of a Short View of the Philosophical Works of Lord Bolingbroke.
- Letter Lxiii.: to the Dutchess of Aiguillon.
- Letter Lxiv.: From the Dutchess of Aiguillon, to Abbé De Guasco.
- Letter Lxv.: an Article Taken From a Letter of Baron Secondat De Montesquieu, to the Abbé Count De Guasco.
- Letter Lxvi.: Article of a Letter to the Same.
- Miscellaneous Pieces of M. De Secondat, Baron De Montesquieu.
- An Oration Pronounced the 24th of January, 1728. By President Montesquieu: When He Was Received Into the French Academy, In the Room of the Late M. De Sacy.
- An Essay Upon Taste, In Subjects of Nature, and of Art.
- Of the Pleasures of the Soul.
- Of the Mental Faculties * .
- Of Curiosity.
- Of the Pleasures of Order.
- Of the Pleasures of Variety.
- Of the Pleasures of Symmetry.
- Of Contrasts.
- Of the Pleasures of Surprize.
- Of Different Causes That Produce Sensation.
- Of Sensibility.
- Of Delicacy.
- Of the Je Ne Scais Quoi.
- The Progression of Surprize.
- Of Beauties Which Result From an Embarrassment of the Soul.
- The Temple of Gnidus.
- The Preface.
- Canto I.
- Canto II.
- Canto III.
- Canto IV.
- Canto V.
- Canto VI.
- Canto VII.
- Cupid Distressed.
- Lysimachus.
- The Analysis of the Spirit of Laws. By M. D’alembert.
- A Defence of the Spirit of Laws. to Which Are Added, Some Explanations.
- Part I.
- Part II.
- The General Idea.
- Of the Counsels of Religion.
- Of Polygamy.
- On Climate.
- Of Toleration.
- Of Celibacy.
- A Particular Error Committed By the Critic.
- Of Marriage.
- Of Usury.
- “of Maritime Usury.
- Part III.: Some Explanations of the Spirit of Laws.
OF THE COUNSELS OF RELIGION.
The Author, in the book on religion, has attacked the errors of Bayle. These are his words : “Mr. Bayle, after having abused all religions, endeavours to sully Christianity. He boldly asserts, that true Christians cannot form a government of any duration. Why not? Citizens of this profession, being infinitely enlightened with respect to the various duties of life, and having the warmest zeal to fulfil them, must be perfectly sensible of the rights of natural desence. The more they believed themselves indebted to religion, the more they would think due to their country. The principles of Christianity, deeply engraven on the heart, would be infinitely more powerful than the false honour of monarchies, the humane virtues of republics, or the servile fear of despotic states.
“It is astonishing that this great man should not be able to distinguish between the orders for the establishment of Christianity, and Christianity itself: and that he should be liable to be charged with not knowing the spirit of his own religion. When the legislator instead of Laws gave counsels, it was because he knew, that if those counsels were ordained as Laws, they would be contrary to the spirit of the Laws themselves.”
What has the Critic done to deprive the Author of the honour of having thus attacked one of Bayle’s errors? He has taken the following chapter, which has nothing to do with Bayle . “Human Laws made to direct the will, it is there said, ought to give precepts, and not counsels: religion, which is formed to influence the heart, ought to give many counsels, and few precepts.” Whence it is concluded, that the Author considers all the precepts of the Gospel only as counsels. He in return, might also say, that he who made this criticism considers all the counsels of the gospel as precepts: but this is not his manner of reasoning, and still less is it his manner of acting. Let us come to the point. It will here be proper to lengthen out a little what the Author has represented in a manner extremely concise. Mr. Bayle had maintained, that a society of Christians could not subsist; and alledged as the reason the order of the Gospel, When thou art smote on one cheek, turn the other also; the command to leave the world to retire into desarts, &c. The Author says, that Bayle took for precepts what were only counsels; for general rules what were only particular ones. In this the Author has defended religion. But what has this occasioned? It is laid down as the first article of his creed, that all the books of the Gospel contain only counsels.
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