belief can for a moment be entertained by those who see in nature the
cause of all effects, and treat with the contempt it merits, the
preposterous notion that out of nothing at the bidding of something, of
which one can make anything, started everything.

The famous Mr. Law, in his 'Appeal to all that doubt or disbelieve the
truths of the Gospel,' gratuitously allows 'it is the same impossibility
for a thing to be created out of nothing as by nothing,' for which
sensible allowance 'insane philosophy' owes him much. Indeed the dogma,
if true, proves all religion false, for it strikes full at belief in a
God, a belief which, it cannot be too often repeated, is to religion
what blood is to the brain and oxygen to the blood.

Materialism is hated by priests, because no consistent Materialist can
stop short of disbelief in God. He believes in Nature and Nature alone.
By Nature he understands unity. The ONE which; includes all, and is all.

That it pertains to the nature of substance to exist; and that all
substance is necessarily infinite, we are told by Spinoza, who
understood by substance that which exists in itself, and is conceived
through itself; _i.e._ the knowledge of which does not require the
knowledge of anything antecedent to it.

This substance of Spinoza is just the matter of Materialists. With him
most likely, with them certainly, matter and substance are convertible
terms. They have no objection to the word substance so long as it is the
sign of something substantial; for substantiality implies materiality.
Whether we say--Substance exists, and is conceived through itself;
_i.e._ the knowledge of which does not require the knowledge of anything
antecedent to it, or--Matter exists and is conceived through itself;