to speak of him. As soon as he has said a word upon the subject, the
least reflection will convince us, that his observations are totally
incompatible with the essence he ascribes to his God. What then is God?
It is an abstract word, denoting the hidden power of nature; or it is
a mathematical point, that has neither length, breadth, nor thickness.
David Hume, speaking of theologians, has ingeniously observed, _that
they have discovered the solution of the famous problem of Archimedes--
a point in the heavens, whence they move the world_.


27. Religion prostrates men before a being, who, without extension,
is infinite, and fills all with his immensity; a being, all-powerful,
who never executes his will; a being, sovereignly good, who creates
only disquietudes; a being, the friend of order, and in whose government
all is in confusion and disorder. What then, can we imagine, can be
the God of theology?


28. To avoid all embarrassment, we are told, "that it is not necessary
to know what God is; that we must adore him; that we are not permitted
to extend our views to his attributes." But, before we know that we
must adore a God, must we not know certainly, that he exists? But,
how can we assure ourselves, that he exists, if we never examine
whether the various qualities, attributed to him, do really exist
and agree in him? Indeed, to adore God, is to adore only the fictions
of one's own imagination, or rather, it is to adore nothing.


29. In view of confounding things the more, theologians have not
declared what their God is; they tell us only what he is not. By