All human intelligences are more or less enlightened and cultivated. By
what fatality is it that the science of God has never been explained?
The most civilized nations and the most profound thinkers are of the
same opinion in regard to the matter as the most barbarous nations and
the most ignorant and rustic people. As we examine the subject more
closely, we will find that the science of divinity by means of reveries
and subtleties has but obscured it more and more. Thus far, all religion
has been founded on what is called in logic, a "begging of the
question;" it supposes freely, and then proves, finally, by the
suppositions it has made.
XX.--TO SAY THAT GOD IS A SPIRIT, IS TO SPEAK WITHOUT SAYING ANYTHING AT
ALL.
By metaphysics, God is made a pure spirit, but has modern theology
advanced one step further than the theology of the barbarians? They
recognized a grand spirit as master of the world. The barbarians, like
all ignorant men, attribute to spirits all the effects of which their
inexperience prevents them from discovering the true causes. Ask a
barbarian what causes your watch to move, he will answer, "a spirit!"
Ask our philosophers what moves the universe, they will tell you "it is
a spirit."