religion for the people! Yes, Sirs, but for that people, wide as
humanity, which includes us all.

If the existence of God is denied, man falls into despair, and society
into dissolution. What then is my inference? That atheism is false. Such
a mode of arguing produces an outcry. "A matter of sentiment!" men
exclaim. "You would build up a doctrine according to your own fancy! You
do not discuss the question calmly, but appeal to interests and
prejudices: you quit the domain of science, which takes cognizance only
of facts and reasoning." Such expressions are common enough to make it
worth while to study their value. Of course, science must not be an
instrument of our caprice. We are bound to search for truth; and we are
unfaithful to our obligations if we try to establish doctrines which
serve our passions, or favor our interests, or flatter our tastes and
our prejudices. But the conscience, the heart, the conditions of the
existence of human society, are neither prejudices nor personal
interests; they are eternal and living realities. We speak of the
conscience, of the heart, of society, and they answer us: "We do not
believe that there are true sciences in that domain; we only wish for
facts." Occasionally we hear naturalists speak in this way. We only wish
for facts! Then our thoughts, our feelings, our conscience are not
facts! The man who will give the closest observation to the steps of a
fly, or to a caterpillar's method of crawling, has not a moment's
attention to give to the impulses of the heart, to the rules of duty, to
the struggles of the will; and when addressed on the subject of these
realities of the soul, the most certain of all realities, he will reply:
"That is no business of mine, I want nothing but facts." Let us pass
from this aberration, and listen for a moment to other objectors.

We do not deny, it is often said, the reality of our feelings. Man