VERITAS IN LUCEM PROLATA: adversus hujus aetatis pseudo-philosophos et incredulos.

8vo, pp. xxviii, 384; engraved arms of Henry Stuart, Cardinal Duke of York, on verso of a3, numerous woodcut initials and head- and tailpieces; some light foxing in places, but largely clean and fresh; in contemporary carta rustica; title in ink on spine, along with old shelf-label at head; some wear, but still a good copy.

First edition, rare, of this attack on the deism of the enlightenment, with detailed criticisms of Voltaire and Rousseau, by the Capuchin friar Sigismondo de Musson.

The work is divided into three parts, dealing in turn with natural theology, the Old Testament, and the New Testament, and is written in response to the 'Pseudo-Philosophorum turba [which] hisce temporibus ubique locorum erumpat'. In the first, the author discusses the notion of God as creator, human origins, the rationality and immortality of the soul, free will, natural law, and revelation, regularly citing authors including La Mettrie, Helvétius, Rousseau, and Hobbes. The second part opens with a discussion of whether Moses is the true author of the Pentateuch, and examination of miracles, revealed religion, and toleration, before addressing the deists' treatment of several books of the Old Testament, while the third examines the truth of the Incarnation, the existence of Christ and the Apostles, Jesus's miracles, the resurrection, and the role of the Church.

Throughout, de Musson addresses the arguments of many of his philosophical contemporaries, with particular attention paid to Rousseau and the Encyclopédie, but it is Voltaire who permeates the work most thoroughly, with many references to works ranging from the Philosophie de l'histoire to the Dictionnaire philosophique. The book, which saw a second edition the following year and another in 1787, is dedicated to Henry Stuart, Cardinal Duke of York; we are unaware of any further published works by de Musson.

Outside Continental Europe, OCLC records physical copies at St Bonaventure University, Princeton, the Javeriana University in Bogotá, and the V&A.