The majority of men rarely think of God, or, at least, do not occupy
themselves much with Him. The idea of God has so little stability, it is
so afflicting, that it can not hold the imagination for a long time,
except in some sad and melancholy visionists who do not constitute the
majority of the inhabitants of this world. The common man has no
conception of it; his weak brain becomes perplexed the moment he
attempts to think of Him. The business man thinks of nothing but his
affairs; the courtier of his intrigues; worldly men, women, youth, of
their pleasures; dissipation soon dispels the wearisome notions of
religion. The ambitious, the avaricious, and the debauchee sedulously
lay aside speculations too feeble to counterbalance their diverse
passions.
Whom does the idea of God overawe? A few weak men disappointed and
disgusted with this world; some persons whose passions are already
extinguished by age, by infirmities, or by reverses of fortune. Religion
is a restraint but for those whose temperament or circumstances have
already subjected them to reason. The fear of God does not prevent any
from committing sin but those who do not wish to sin very much, or who
are no longer in a condition to sin. To tell men that Divinity punishes
crime in this world, is to claim as a fact that which experience
contradicts constantly The most wicked men are usually the arbiters of
the world, and those whom fortune blesses with its favors. To convince
us of the judgments of God by sending us to the other life, is to make
us accept conjectures in order to destroy facts which we can not
dispute.