This comes from a letter of 1665 written in Dutch by Spinoza to Willem van Blijenbergh, a grain broker with an interest in theology. Spinoza tried to prevent the appearance of a Dutch translation of the Theological- Political Treatise, no doubt for reasons connected with what he had said in its Preface: ‘I know how deeply rooted in the mind are the prejudices embraced under the guise of piety. I know, too, that the masses can no more be freed from their superstition than from their fears.’ But a translation appeared anyway. Blijenbergh, in 1674, went on to compose his Truth of the Christian Religion and the Authority of Holy Scripture, Stated Against the Arguments of Ungodliness, or a Refutation of that Blasphemous Book Called Tractatus Theologico-Politicus.