letters who have no God, but who would have a
religion for the people. Other men there are who would have a religion
for the people, being themselves the while without restraint, because
they are without religious convictions. They abandon themselves to the
ardent pursuit of riches, excitements, worldly pleasures. These are they
who have made a fortune by disgraceful means, perhaps the public sale of
their consciences, and who by their luxurious extravagance overwhelm the
honest and economical working-man. These are the courtesans who parade
in broad daylight the splendid rewards of their own infamy. Let not such
deceive themselves! The people see these things; they form their
judgment of them, and if they give way to the bad instincts which are in
us all, where God is not in the heart to restrain them, to their hatred
is added contempt. If they are forcibly kept back from realizing their
cherished hopes, they adjourn them, but without renouncing them.

Put away all belief in God, and you will see the action and reaction of
human passions forming, as it were, a mass of opposite electricities,
and preparing the thunder-peal and the furies of the tempest. Then
appear those disorganized societies which are terrified at their own
dissolution, until a strong man comes, and, taking advantage of this
very terror, takes and chastises these societies, as one chastises an
unruly child. It is a story at once old and new, because, in proportion
as God withdraws from human society, in that same proportion the power
of the sword replaces the empire of the conscience. There must be a
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 a