and does not wish to, or He cannot nor does he wish to, or He does wish
to and can. If He wishes to and cannot, He is impotent; if He can and
does not wish to, He is perverse; if He cannot nor does He wish to, He
is impotent and perverse; if He does wish to and can, why does He not,
tell me that, Father!"--and Brotteaux cast a look of triumph at his
interlocutor.

"Sir," retorted the Monk, "there is nothing more contemptible than these
difficulties you raise. When I look into the reasoning of infidels, I
seem to see ants piling up a few blades of grass as a dam against the
torrent that sweeps down from the mountains. With your leave, I had
rather not argue with you; I should have too many excellent reasons and
too few wits to apply them. Besides, you will find your refutation in
the Abbe Guenee and twenty other apologists. I will only say that what
you quote from Epicurus is foolishness; because God is arraigned in it
as if he was a man, with a man's moral code. Well! sir, the sceptics,
from Celsus down to Bayle and Voltaire, have cajoled fools with
such-like paradoxes."

"See, Father," protested Brotteaux, "to what lengths your faith makes
you go. Not satisfied with finding all truth in your Theology, you
likewise refuse to discover any in the works of so many noble intellects
who thought differently from yourselves."

"You are entirely mistaken, sir," replied Longuemare. "On the contrary,
I believe that nothing could ever be altogether false in a man's
thoughts. The atheists stand on the lowest rung of the ladder of
knowledge; but even there, gleams of sense are to be found and flashes
of truth, and even when darkness is thick about him, a man may lift up
his eyes to God, and He will put understanding in his heart; was it not
so with Lucifer?"

"Well, sir," said Brotteaux, "I cannot match your generosity and I am
bound to tell you I cannot find in all the works of the Theologians one
atom of good sense."

At the same time he would repudiate any desire to attack religion, which
he deemed indispensable for the nations; he could only wish it had for
its ministers philosophers instead of controversialists. He deplored the
fact that the Jacobins were for replacing it by a newer and more
pestilent religion, the cult of liberty, equality, the republic, the
fatherland. He had observed this, that it is in the vigour of their
youth religions are the fiercest and most cruel, and grow milder as they
grow older. He was anx