it is sophistical.

Let us separate the idea of God from the whole body of Christian
doctrine of which it forms part, in order that we may give it particular
consideration. What is this hypothesis which bears the names of Moses
and Jesus Christ? It is that the principle of the universe is the
Eternal and Infinite Being. His power is the cause of all that exists;
the consciousness of His infinite power constitutes His infinite
intelligence. In Himself, He is _He who is_; in His relation with the
world, He is the absolute cause, the Creator. This explanation of the
universe is not the privilege of a few savants; it is taught and
proposed to all; and this is no reason why we should despise it. If we
further observe that this thought has renovated the world, that it
upholds all our civilization, that thousands of our fellow-creatures
raise their voice to tell us that it is only from this source they have
drawn peace, light, and happiness, we shall understand perhaps that
contempt would be foolish, and that everything on the contrary invites
us to examine with the most serious attention an hypothesis which offers
itself to us under conditions so exceptional.

The hypothesis is stated. We must now submit it to the test of facts.
Where shall we find the elements of its confirmation? Everywhere, since
it is the first cause of all things which is in question: we shall find
them in nature and in humanity; in the motions of the stars as they
sweep through the depths of space, and in the rising of the sap which
nourishes a blade of grass; in the revolutions of empires, and in the
simplest elements of the life of one individual. There is no science of
God; but every science, every study must terminate at that sacred Name.
I shall not undertake, therefore, to enumerate all the confirmations of
the thought which makes of the Creator the principle of the universe: to