THE SYSTEM OF NATURE, OR, LAWS OF THE MORAL AND PHYSICAL WORLD. BY BARON D'HOLBACH, AUTHOR OF good sense, ETC. A NEW AND IMPROVED EDITION, WITH NOTES BY DIDER'f, NOW TRANSLATED FOR THE FIRST TIME BY H. D. ROBINSON. TWO VOLS. IN ONE. VOL. I. <FREE ENQUIRERS' FAMILY LIBRARY EDITION. NEW YORK: PUBLISHED BY G. W. & A. J. MATSELL, 94 CHATHAM STREET. 1836. 102 ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1835, by H. D. ROBINSON, for G. W. & A. J. MATSELL, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New York. ADVERTISEMENT. TO THE PUBLIC. To expose superstition, the ignorance and credulity on which it is based, and to ameliorate the condition of the human race, is the ardent desire of every philanthropic mind. Mankind are unhappy, in proportion as they are deluded by imaginary systems of theology. Taught to attach much importance to belief in religious doctrines, and to mere forms and ceremonies of religious worship, the slightest disagreement among theological dogmatists is oftentimes sufficient to inflame their minds, already excited by bigotry, and to lead them to anathematize and destroy each other withoùt pity, mercy, or remorse. The various theological systems in which mankind have been misled to have faith, are but fables and falsehoods imposed by visionaries and fanatics on the ignorant, the weak, and the credulous, as historical truths; and for unbelief of which, millions have perished at the stake, or pined in gloomy dungeons: and such will ever be the case, until the mists of superstition, and the influence of priestcraft, are exposed by the light of knowledge and the power of truth. Many honest and talented philanthropists have directed their powerful intellects against the religious dogmas which have caused so much misery and persecution among mankind. Owing, however, to the combined power and influence of kings and priests, many of those learned and liberal works have been either destroyed or buried in oblivion, and the characters of the writers assailed by the unsparing and relentless rancour of pious abuse. To counteract and destroy, if possible, these sources of mischief and misery, is the intention of the publishers of the FREE ENQUIRER'S FAMILY LIBRARY. It is proposed to publish in a form which shall unite the various advantages of neatness of typography and cheapness of price, the works of those celebrated authors whose writings, owing to religious intolerance, have been kept in obscurity. We have commenced the library with a translation of BARON d'HOLBACH'S SYSTEM OF NATURE, because it is estimated as one of |