[WT Sharpe]

I just finished the Librivox version of Benedictus de Spinoza's Theologico-Political Treatise read by Chiquito Crasto. Mr. Crasto was a good speaker, but as he's obviously not a native English speaker, certain pronunciations raised an eyebrow more than once (especially his pronunciation of the word "Pentateuch"), but as his annunciation was always clear and strong there was never any doubt as to what was meant and I have no qualms about recommending this version.

This book was a mixed bag for me. The Treatise was very forward thinking for it's time, but still contained much theological rubbish. Granted, Spinoza lived in a day when it was dangerous to speak certain opinions too plainly, and it was clear that he was hardly a fundamentalist by any stretch of the imagination, but I felt he accorded too much authority to the Hebrew and Christian scriptures.

That being said, there were some real gems between its covers. In the Preface, he had this to say about hypocrisy:

"I have often wondered, that persons who make a boast of professing the Christian religion, namely, love, joy, peace, temperance, and charity to all men, should quarrel with such rancorous animosity, and display daily towards one another such bitter hatred, that this, rather than the virtues they claim, is the readiest criterion of their faith. Matters have long since come to such a pass, that one can only pronounce a man Christian, Turk, Jew, or Heathen, by his general appearance and attire, by his frequenting this or that place of worship, or employing the phraseology of a particular sect—as for manner of life, it is in all cases the same."

And from Chapter 20 (the final chapter) comes this stirring appeal for free speech:

"It is far from possible to impose uniformity of speech, for the more rulers strive to curtail freedom of speech, the more obstinately are they resisted; not indeed by the avaricious, the flatterers, and other numskulls, who think supreme salvation consists in filling their stomachs and gloating over their money-bags, but by those whom good education, sound morality, and virtue have rendered more free. Men, as generally constituted, are most prone to resent the branding as criminal of opinions which they believe to be true, and the proscription as wicked of that which inspires them with piety towards God and man; hence they are ready to forswear the laws and conspire against the authorities, thinking it not shameful but honourable to stir up seditions and perpetuate any sort of crime with this end in view. Such being the constitution of human nature, we see that laws directed against opinions affect the generous minded rather than the wicked, and are adapted less for coercing criminals than for irritating the upright; so that they cannot be maintained without great peril to the state. Moreover, such laws are almost always useless, for those who hold that the opinions proscribed are sound, cannot possibly obey the law; whereas those who already reject them as false, accept the law as a kind of privilege, and make such boast of it, that authority is powerless to repeal it, even if such a course be subsequently desired."