Natural religion, criticism of religions and anti-Jesuitism. Important collection of the Enlightenment (1737-1758).

Sermon preached in the great assembly of the Quakers of London... ; The Muhammadan Religion compared to the pagan religion of Indostan... [RADICATI (Alberto, attrib.)] – ELWALL (Edward, pseud.) London, at the expense of the Company, 1737. Followed by: The Republic of the Jesuits in Paraguay overthrown, or Authentic account of the war... [Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, Marquis of Pombal, attri.) – ALI-EBN-OMAR (pseud.) The Hague, Daniel Aillaud, 1758. Sextodecimo (16 x 10 cm), 19th-century salmon boards, bumped corners. Smooth spine with title inscribed in ink. Factitious collection gathering three works particularly representative of the philosophical and political literature of the Enlightenment. Volume embellished with a copperplate frontispiece, signed in the plate, engraved by J Clark and drawn by Grays. Under a phylactery "vexat dum fulget", "It strikes while shining", Reason, in the guise of Justice, guides Holiness between the temptations of mortal beauty and the Antichrist, while avoiding ignorance and superstition. Good condition, interior very fresh, free of foxing. The first work includes: Sermon preached in the great assembly of the Quakers of London, by the famous brother E. Elwall, called the Inspired. Translated from the English. London, at the expense of the Company, 1737, pp. 1-47. It is immediately followed, with continuous pagination, by a second piece preceded by its own title: The Muhammadan Religion compared to the pagan religion of Indostan, by Ali-Ebn-Omar, Moslem. Epistle to Cinkniu, Brahmin of Visapour. Translated from the Arabic. London, at the expense of the Company, 1737, pp. 49-104. These two texts actually constitute the same editorial set published in 1737 under a fictitious London address, today generally attributed to Alberto Radicati, Count of Passerano (1698-1737). They belong to the clandestine philosophical literature of the Enlightenment. The first text exposes a religion based on reason, natural morality and freedom of conscience in the form of a sermon fictitiously attributed to the Quaker Edward Elwall; The second text develops a critical comparison between Islam, Brahmanism and Christianity, using the process of "oriental letters", in order to relativize the exclusive claims of revealed religions. Catalogues consider this set as the First Edition of these two texts, probably printed in the Netherlands, despite the false London address. The collection is completed by: The Republic of the Jesuits in Paraguay overthrown, or Authentic account of the war that these Religious dared to sustain against the Monarchs of Spain and Portugal in America... The Hague, Daniel Aillaud, 1758, pp. 1-68. Published in the context of the Guaraní Reductions war (1754-1756), this work constitutes one of the main pamphlets directed against the Society of Jesus. It presents the Jesuit missions of Paraguay as a true independent republic and participated in the vast European campaign that led to the expulsion of the Jesuits from several States and then, a few years later, to the suppression of the Order. The Daniel Aillaud edition belongs to the first French editions of this important political text. The present collection gathers works whose assembly appears particularly coherent. The volume illustrates successively the philosophical critique of revealed religions, the rational comparison of religious systems and the denunciation of the power of religious orders. The set presents a particular interest both for the history of clandestine philosophy and for that of European anti-Jesuitism. The themes addressed fit well into the central themes of the Enlightenment and the work of Masonic societies: religious tolerance; the primacy of reason over dogma; the comparison of religions; the search for a universal morality; the critique of fanaticism; mistrust of ecclesiastical powers.