hend himself. But, at the
bottom, what does this religion explain to us? The more we examine it,
the more we find that theological notions are fit but to perplex all our
ideas; they change all into mysteries; they explain to us difficult
things by impossible things. Is it, then, explaining things to attribute
them to unknown agencies, to invisible powers, to immaterial causes? Is
it really enlightening the human mind when, in its embarrassment, it is
directed to the "depths of the treasures of Divine Wisdom," upon which
they tell us it is in vain for us to turn our bold regards? Can the
Divine Nature, which we know nothing about, make us understand man's
nature, which we find so difficult to explain?

Ask a Christian philosopher what is the origin of the world. He will
answer that God created the universe. What is God? We do not know
anything about it. What is it to create? We have no idea of it! What is
the cause of pestilences, famines, wars, sterility, inundations,
earthquakes? It is God's wrath. What remedies can prevent these
calamities? Prayers, sacrifices, processions, offerings, ceremonies,
are, we are told, the true means to disarm Celestial fury. But why is
Heaven angry? Because men are wicked. Why are men wicked? Because their
nature is corrupt. What is the cause of this corruption? It is, a
theologian of enlightened Europe will reply, because the first man was
seduced by the first woman to eat of an apple which his God had
forbidden him to touch. Who induced this woman to do such a folly? The
Devil. Who created the Devil? God! Why did God create this Devil
destined to pervert the human race? We know nothing about it; it is a
mystery hidden in the bosom of the Deity.

Does the earth revolve around the sun? Two centuries ago a devout
philosopher would have replied that such a thought was blasphemy,
because such a system could not agree with the Holy Book, which every
Christian reveres as inspired by the Deity Himself. What is the opinion
to-day about it? Notwithstanding Divine Inspiration, the Christian
philosophers finally concluded to rely upon evidence rather than upon
the testimony of their inspired books.

What is the hidden principle of the actions and of the motions of the
human body? It is the soul. What is a soul? It is a spirit. What is a
spirit? It is a substance which has neither form, color, expansion, nor
parts. How can we conceive of such a substance? How can it move a body?
We know nothing a