CHAPTER XXI.
PROBLEM OF RELIGIOUS CONTRADICTIONS.
The various groups having taken their places, an unbounded silence succeeded to the murmurs of the multitude; and the legislator said: Chiefs and doctors of mankind! You remark how the nations, living apart, have hitherto followed different paths, each believing its own to be that of truth.

If, however, truth is one, and opinions are various, it is evident that some are in error.

If, then, such vast numbers of us are in the wrong, who shall dare to say, "I am in the right ?" Begin, therefore, by being indulgent in your dissensions.

Let us all seek truth as if no one possessed it.

The opinions which to this day have governed the world, originating from chance, propagated in obscurity, admitted without discussion, accredited by a love of novelty and imitation, have usurped their empire in a clandestine manner.