strongholds; not merely to
oppose his argument by a counter-argument, but to explode his sophism, and
exhibit the cause of God in cloudless splendour.

This false principle, this concealed fallacy, of which the atheist has
been so long allowed to avail himself, has been the source of many
unsuspected errors, and many lamentable evils. It has not only given power
and efficacy to the weapons of the sceptic, but to the eye of faith itself
has it cast clouds and darkness over the transcendent glory of the moral
government of God. It has prevented a Leibnitz from refuting the sophism
of a Bayle, and induced a Kant to declare a theodicy impossible. It has,
indeed, as we shall see, crept into and corrupted the whole mass of
religious knowledge; converting the radiant and clearly-defined body of
truth into a dark, heterogeneous compound of conflicting elements. Hence
we shall utterly demolish it, that neither a fragment nor a shadow of it
may remain to darken and delude the minds of men.

Section IV.

The argument of the atheist--The reply of Leibnitz and other theists--The
insufficiency of this reply.

Sin exists. This is the astounding fact of which the atheist avails
himself. He has never ceased to contend, that as God has permitted sin to
exist, he was either unable or unwilling to prevent it. God might easily
have prevented sin, says he, if he had chosen to do so; but he has not
chosen to do so, and therefore his love of virtue is not infinite, his
holiness is not unlimited. Now, we deny this conclusion, and assert the
infinite holiness of God.

This assertion may be true, says Voltaire, and hence God would have
prevented all sin, if his power had not been limited. The only conceivable
way, says he, to reconcile the existence of sin with the purity of God, is
"to deny his omnipotence." We insist, on the contrary, that the power of
God is absolutely without bounds or limits. Though sin exists, we still
maintain, in opposition to every form of atheism, that this fact implies
no limitation of any of the perfections of God.

Before proceeding to establish this position, we shall consider the usual
reply of the theist to the great argument of the atheist. "The greatest
love which a ruler can show for virtue," says Bayle, "is to cause it, if
he can, to be always practised without any mixture of vice. If it is easy
for him to procure this advantage to his subjects, and he nevertheless