Suppression of The Histoire Critique
At the time of the printing of Simon's Histoire critique du Vieux Testament, the work passed the censorship of the Sorbonne, and the chancellor of the Oratory gave his imprimatur. Simon hoped, through the influence of Père la Chaise, the king's confessor, and the duc de Montausier, to be allowed to dedicate the work to Louis XIV; but the king was absent in Flanders.
The freedom with which Simon expressed himself, especially where he declared that Moses could not be the author of much in the writings attributed to him, gained attention. The influence of Bossuet, at that time tutor to the dauphin, was invoked; the chancellor, Michael le Tellier, lent his assistance; a decree of the council of state was obtained, and after a series of intrigues the whole impression, consisting of 1300 copies, was seized by the police and destroyed.
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“Rationalists are admirable beings, rationalism is a hideous monster when it claims for itself omnipotence. Attribution of omnipotence to reason is as bad a piece of idolatry as is worship of stock and stone believing it to be God. I plead not for the suppression of reason, but for a due recognition of that in us which sanctifies reason.”
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“Rationalists are admirable beings, rationalism is a hideous monster when it claims for itself omnipotence. Attribution of omnipotence to reason is as bad a piece of idolatry as is worship of stock and stone believing it to be God. I plead not for the suppression of reason, but for a due recognition of that in us which sanctifies reason.”
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948)