rds as perverse those that
accept only a God who is yielding and easily won over. Heresies,
quarrels, and schisms are necessary. Can men differently organized and
modified by diverse circumstances, agree in regard to an imaginary being
which exists but in their own brains? The cruel and interminable
disputes continually arising among the ministers of the Lord, have not a
tendency to attract the confidence of those who take an impartial view
of them. How can we help our incredulity, when we see principles about
which those who teach them to others, never agree? How can we avoid
doubting the existence of a God, the idea of whom varies in such a
remarkable way in the mind of His ministers? How can we avoid rejecting
totally a God who is full of contradictions? How can we rely upon
priests whom we see continually contending, accusing each other of being
infidels and heretics, rending and persecuting each other without mercy,
about the way in which they understand the pretended truths which they
reveal to the world?

CLXXXVI.--THE EXISTENCE OF GOD, WHICH IS THE BASIS OF ALL RELIGION, HAS
NOT YET BEEN DEMONSTRATED.

However, so far, this important truth has not yet been demonstrated, not
only to the incredulous, but in a satisfactory way to theologians
themselves. In all times, we have seen profound thinkers who thought
they had new proofs of the truth most important to men. What have been
the fruits of their meditations and of their arguments? They left the
thing at the same point; they have demonstrated nothing; nearly always
they have excited the clamors of their colleagues, who accuse them of
having badly defended the best of causes.

CLXXXVII.--PRIESTS, MORE THAN UNBELIEVERS, ACT FROM INTEREST.

The apologists of religion repeat to us every day that the passions
alone create unbelievers. "It is," they say, "pride, and a desire to
distinguish themselves, that make atheists; they seek also to efface the
idea of God from their minds, because they have reason to fear His
rigorous judgments." Whatever may be the motives which cause men to be
irreligious, the thing in question is whether they have found truth. No
man acts without motives; let us first examine the arguments--we shall
examine the motives afterward--and we shall find that they are more
legitimate, and more sensible, than those of many credulous devotees who
allow themselves to be guided by masters little worthy of men's
confidence.

You say, O p