Voltaire · Complete work
Letter II
Letter II of 24. Read it here for reference, or continue through the entire work without leaving the reader.
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sur les quakers.
Telle fut à peu près la conversation que j’eus avec cet homme singulier; mais je fus bien plus surpris quand, le dimanche suivant, il me mena à l’église des quakers. Ils ont plusieurs chapelles à Londres; celle où j’allai est près de ce fameux pilier qu’on appelle le Monument. On était déjà assemblé lorsque j’entrai avec mon conducteur. Il y avait environ quatre cents hommes dansl’église, et trois cents femmes: les femmes se cachaient le visage;les hommes étaient couverts de leurs larges chapeaux; tousétaient assis, tous dans un profond silence. Je passai au milieud’eux sans qu’un seul levât les yeux sur moi. Le silence dura unquart d’heure. Enfin un d’eux se leva, ôta son chapeau, et, aprèsquelques soupirs, débita, moitié avec la bouche, moitié avec lenez, un galimatias tiré, à ce qu’il croyait, de l’Évangile, où nilui ni personne n’entendait rien. Quand ce faiseur de contorsionseut fini son beau monologue, et que l’assemblée se futséparée tout édifiée et toute stupide, je demandai à mon hommepourquoi les plus sages d’entre eux souffraient de pareilles sottises,« Nous sommes obligés de les tolérer, me dit-il, parce quenous ne pouvons pas savoir si un homme qui se lève pour parlersera inspiré par l’esprit ou par la folie; dans le doute, nous écoutonstout patiemment, nous permettons même aux femmes deparler. Deux ou trois de nos dévotes se trouvent souvent inspiréesà la fois, et c’est alors qu’il se fait un beau bruit dans la maisondu Seigneur. — Vous n’avez donc point de prêtres? lui dis-je.— Non, mon ami, dit le quaker, et nous nous en trouvons bien. »Alors, ouvrant un livre de sa secte, il lut avec emphase cesparoles: « À Dieu ne plaise que nous osions ordonner à quelqu’unde recevoir le Saint-Esprit le dimanche à l’exclusion de tous lesautres fidèles! Grâce au ciel, nous sommes les seuls sur la terrequi n’ayons point de prêtres. Voudrais-tu nous ôter une distinctionsi heureuse? Pourquoi abandonnerions-nous notre enfant àdes nourrices mercenaires, quand nous avons du lait à lui donner?Ces mercenaires domineraient bientôt dans la maison, etopprimeraient la mère et l’enfant. Dieu a dit: Vous avez reçugratis, donnez gratis. Irons-nous, après cette parole, marchanderl’Évangile, vendre l’Esprit-Saint, et faire d’une assemblée de chrétiensune boutique de marchands? Nous ne donnons point d’argentà des hommes vêtus de noir pour assister nos pauvres, pourenterrer nos morts, pour prêcher les fidèles: ces saints emploisnous sont trop chers pour nous en décharger sur d’autres.
— Mais comment pouvez-vous discerner, insistai-je, si c’estl’esprit de Dieu qui vous anime dans vos discours? — Quiconque,dit-il, priera Dieu de l’éclairer, et qui annoncera des vérités évangéliquesqu’il sentira, que celui-là soit sûr que Dieu l’inspire. » Alors il m’accabla de citations de l’Écriture qui démontraient,selon lui, qu’il n’y a point de christianisme sans une révélationimmédiate, et il ajouta ces paroles remarquables: « Quand tufais mouvoir un de tes membres, est-ce ta propre force qui leremue? Non, sans doute, car ce membre a souvent des mouvementsinvolontaires. C’est donc celui qui a créé ton corps quimeut ce corps de terre. Et les idées que reçoit ton âme, est-ce toiqui les formes? Encore moins, car elles viennent malgré toi.C’est donc le Créateur de ton âme qui te donne ces idées; mais,comme il a laissé à ton cœur la liberté, il donne à ton esprit lesidées que ton cœur mérite; tu vis dans Dieu, tu agis, tu pensesdans Dieu: tu n’as donc qu’à ouvrir les yeux à cette lumière quiéclaire tous les hommes, alors tu verras la vérité, et la feras voir.— Eh! voilà le P. Malebranche tout pur! m’écriai-je. — Je connaiston Malebranche, dit-il, il était un peu quaker, mais il nel’était pas assez. »
Ce sont là les choses les plus importantes que j’ai apprisestouchant la doctrine des quakers. Dans la première lettre, vousaurez leur histoire, que vous trouverez encore plus singulièreque leur doctrine.
Musean translation
Mouseia’s complete machine-assisted Musean translation, made directly from the French text of all twenty-four letters (Garnier edition, 1879, French Wikisource) for fidelity, the author’s force and cadence, and modern clarity.
On the Quakers
Such, more or less, was the conversation I had with this singular man; but I was far more surprised when, the following Sunday, he took me to the Quakers' church. They have several chapels in London; the one I visited is near that famous column called the Monument. The congregation had already gathered when I entered with my guide. There were about four hundred men in the church and three hundred women: the women hid their faces; the men wore their broad hats; all were seated, all in profound silence. I passed among them without a single person raising his eyes to me. The silence lasted a quarter of an hour. At last one of them stood up, removed his hat, and, after a few sighs, delivered, half through his mouth and half through his nose, a jumble drawn, so he believed, from the Gospel, of which neither he nor anyone else understood a word. When this contortionist had finished his fine monologue and the congregation had dispersed, thoroughly edified and thoroughly stupefied, I asked my man why the wisest among them tolerated such foolishness. “We are obliged to tolerate it,” he told me, “because we cannot know whether a man who rises to speak will be inspired by the spirit or by madness; in doubt, we listen patiently to everything, and we even allow women to speak. Two or three of our devout women often find themselves inspired at the same time, and then a fine noise breaks out in the house of the Lord.” “So you have no priests?” I asked. “No, my friend,” said the Quaker, “and we are all the better for it.” Then he opened a book of his sect and read these words with emphasis: “God forbid that we should presume to appoint someone to receive the Holy Spirit on Sunday to the exclusion of all the other faithful! Thank heaven, we are the only people on earth without priests. Would you take so happy a distinction from us? Why should we entrust our child to hired nurses when we have milk to give it ourselves? Those hirelings would soon rule the house and oppress both mother and child. God has said: Freely you have received, freely give. After hearing that, are we to haggle over the Gospel, sell the Holy Spirit, and turn an assembly of Christians into a merchant's shop? We pay no money to men in black to care for our poor, bury our dead, or preach to the faithful: these sacred offices are too dear to us to hand over to others.
“But how can you tell,” I pressed him, “whether it is the spirit of God that moves you when you speak?” “Whoever prays to God for enlightenment,” he said, “and proclaims Gospel truths that he feels within himself may be sure that God inspires him.” Then he overwhelmed me with quotations from Scripture which, in his view, proved that there is no Christianity without immediate revelation, and he added these remarkable words: “When you move one of your limbs, is it your own strength that moves it? Certainly not, for that limb often moves involuntarily. It is therefore the one who created your body who moves this body of earth. And the ideas your soul receives—do you form them yourself? Still less, for they come in spite of you. It is therefore the Creator of your soul who gives you these ideas; but since he has left your heart free, he gives your mind the ideas that your heart deserves. You live in God, you act and think in God: you have only to open your eyes to that light which illuminates all men, and then you will see the truth and show it to others.” “Why, there is Father Malebranche pure and simple!” I exclaimed. “I know your Malebranche,” he said. “He was somewhat of a Quaker, but not enough of one.”
These are the most important things I learned about the doctrine of the Quakers. In the first letter you will have their history, which you will find still more singular than their doctrine.
Plain English translation
Mouseia’s complete Plain English edition, made independently and directly from the French text of all twenty-four letters (Garnier edition, 1879, French Wikisource).
On the Quakers
That was roughly the conversation I had with this unusual man. But I was much more surprised when he took me to a Quaker meetinghouse the following Sunday. They have several chapels in London. The one I visited is near the famous pillar called the Monument. The congregation had already assembled when I entered with my guide. There were about four hundred men and three hundred women in the church. The women hid their faces; the men wore their broad hats. Everyone sat in deep silence. I walked through them without anyone looking up at me. The silence lasted a quarter of an hour. At last one of them stood up, took off his hat, sighed a few times, and delivered through his mouth and nose a jumble supposedly drawn from the Gospel. Neither he nor anyone else could make sense of it. When this man had finished his fine monologue, full of contortions, and the congregation had dispersed, both edified and bewildered, I asked my guide why the more sensible members put up with such foolishness. “We have to tolerate it,” he told me, “because we can’t know whether someone who stands up to speak is inspired by the spirit or by madness. Since we can’t be sure, we listen patiently to everything. We even allow women to speak. Two or three of our devout women are often inspired at once, and then the house of the Lord gets quite noisy.” “So you have no priests?” I asked. “No, my friend,” said the Quaker, “and we’re better off that way.” He opened one of his sect’s books and read these words emphatically: “God forbid that we should dare appoint someone to receive the Holy Spirit on Sundays, to the exclusion of all other believers! Thank heaven we are the only people on earth without priests. Would you take away such a happy distinction? Why should we hand our child over to paid nurses when we have milk to feed it ourselves? Those hired nurses would soon rule the house and oppress both mother and child. God said: ‘You received freely; give freely.’ After hearing that, shall we bargain over the Gospel, sell the Holy Spirit, and turn a gathering of Christians into a merchant’s shop? We pay no men dressed in black to help our poor, bury our dead, or preach to believers. These sacred duties matter too much to us to pass them on to others.”
“But how can you tell,” I pressed him, “whether the spirit of God is moving you when you speak?” “Anyone who asks God for enlightenment,” he said, “and proclaims Gospel truths he feels within himself can be sure God inspires him.” He then overwhelmed me with scriptural quotations which, he said, proved that Christianity cannot exist without direct revelation. He added these remarkable words: “When you move a limb, is it your own strength that moves it? Surely not, since that limb often moves without your willing it. So the one who made your body moves that body of earth. And do you form the ideas that come into your mind? Even less so: they come whether you want them or not. So the maker of your soul gives you these ideas. But since he has left your heart free, he gives your mind the ideas your heart deserves. You live in God; you act and think in God. All you need to do is open your eyes to the light that shines on everyone. Then you’ll see the truth and show it to others.” “Why, that’s Father Malebranche exactly!” I cried. “I know your Malebranche,” he said. “He was a bit of a Quaker, but not enough of one.”
Those are the most important things I learned about the Quakers’ beliefs. In the next letter you will hear their history, which you will find even stranger than their beliefs.