Supposing God to be the author and the motor of nature, there could be
no disorder relating to Him; all causes which He would have made would
necessarily act according to their properties the essences and the
impulsions that He had endowed them with. If God should change the
ordinary course of things, He would not be immutable. If the order of
the universe--in which we believe we see the most convincing proof of His
existence, of His intelligence, His power, and His goodness--should be
inconsistent, His existence might be doubted; or He might be accused at
least of inconstancy, of inability, of want of foresight, and of wisdom
in the first arrangement of things; we would have a right to accuse Him
of blundering in His choice of agents and instruments. Finally, if the
order of nature proves the power and the intelligence, disorder ought to
prove the weakness, inconstancy, and irrationality of Divinity. You say
that God is everywhere; that He fills all space; that nothing was made
without Him; that matter could not act without Him as its motor. But in
this case you admit that your God is the author of disorder; that it is
He who deranges nature; that He is the Father of confusion; that He is
in man; and that He moves man at the moment when he sins. If God is
everywhere, He is in me; He acts with me; He is deceived when I am
deceived; He questions with me the existence of God; He offends God with
me. Oh, theologians! you never understand yourselves when you speak of
God.
XLVI.--A PURE SPIRIT CAN NOT BE INTELLIGENT, AND TO ADORE A DIVINE
INTELLIGENCE IS A CHIMERA.
To be what we call intelligent, we must have ideas, thoughts, will; to
have ideas, thoughts, and will, we must have organs; to have organs, we
must have a body; to act upon bodies, we must have a body; to experience
trouble, we must be capable of suffering; from which it evidently
follows that a pure spirit can not be intelligent, and can not be
affected by that which takes place in the universe.
Divine intelligence, divine ideas, divine views, you say, have nothing
in common with those of men. So much the better! But in this case, how
can men judge of these views--whether good or evil--reason about these
ideas, or admire this intelligence? It would be to judge, to admire, to
adore that of which we can form no idea. To adore the profound views of
divine wisdom, is it not to worship that of which it is impossible for
us to judge? To admire these same views, is it not admiring without
knowing wry? Admiration is always the daughter of ignorance. Men admire
and worship only what they do not understand.
XLVII.--ALL THE QUALITIES WHICH THEOLOGY GIVES TO ITS GOD ARE CONTRARY TO
THE VERY ESSENCE WHICH IT SUPPOSES HIM TO HAVE.
All these qualities which are given to God are not suited to a being
who, by His own essence, is devoid of all similarity to human beings. It
is true, they think to find this similarity by exaggerating the human
qualities with which they have clothed Divinity; they thrust them upon
the infinite, and from that moment cease to understand themselves. What
is the result of this combination of man with God, or of this
theanthropy? Its only result is a chimera, of which nothing can be
affirmed without causing the phantom to vanish which they had taken so
much trouble to conjure up.
Dante, in his poem of Paradise, relates that the Divinity appeared to
him under the figure of three circles, which formed an iris, whose
bright colors arose from each other; but having wished to retain its
brilliant light, the poet saw only his own face. In worshiping God, man
adores himself.