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Book, page 41 / 107 6. In 1769 Holbach published two short treatises on the doctrine of eternal punishment which claimed to be translations from English, but the originals are not to be found. The titles are _De l'intolerance convaincue de crime et de folie_ as it is sometimes given, and-- 7. _L'Enfer detruit ou Examen raisonne du Dogme de l'Eternite des Peines_. Londres, Amsterdam, 1769. This letter was translated into English under the title _Hell Destroyed!_ "Now first translated from the French of d'Alembert without any mutilations," London 1823, which led Mr. J. Hibbert to say, "I know not why English publishers attribute this awfully sounding work to the cautious, not to say timid d'Alembert. It was followed by Whitefoot's _'Torments of Hell,'_ now first translated from the French." [47:8] Of Holbach's remaining works on religion two, _Histoire critique de Jesus Christ_ and _Tableau des Saints_, date from 1770 when he began to publish his more philosophical works. 8. The _Histoire critique de Jesus Christ ou Analyse raisonnee des Evangiles_ was published without name of place or date. It was preceded by Voltaire's _Epitre a Uranie_. It is an extremely careful but unsympathetic analysis of the Gospel accounts, emphasizing all the inconsistencies and interpreting them with a literalness that they can ill sustain. From this rationalistic view-point Holbach found the Gospels a tissue of absurdities and contradictions. His method, however, would not be followed by the critique of today. 9. The _Tableau des Saints_ is a still more severe criticism of the heroes of Christendom. Holbach's proposition is "La raison ne connait qu'une mesure pour juger et les hommes et les choses, c'est l'utilite reelle et permanente, qui en resulte pour notre espece," (p. 111). Judged by this standard, the saints with their eyes fixed on another world have fallen far short. "Ils se flatterent de meriter le ciel en se rendant parfaitement inutile a la terre" (p. xviii). Holbach much prefers the heroes of classical antiquity. The book is violent but learned throughout, and deals not only with the Jewish patriarchs from Moses on but with the church fathers and Christian Princes down to the contemporary defenders of the faith.
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