er of the ancients could move, build up, destroy, and
propagate beings similar to himself; but the God of modern theology is a
sterile being. According to his supposed nature he can neither occupy
any place, nor move matter, nor produce a visible world, nor propagate
either men or Gods. The metaphysical God is a workman without hands; he
is able but to produce clouds, suspicions, reveries, follies, and
quarrels.

XXIV.--IT WOULD BE MORE RATIONAL TO WORSHIP THE SUN THAN A SPIRITUAL GOD.

Since it was necessary for men to have a God, why did they not have the
sun, the visible God, adored by so many nations? What being had more
right to the homage of mortals than the star of the day, which gives
light and heat; which invigorates all beings; whose presence reanimates
and rejuvenates nature; whose absence seems to plunge her into sadness
and languor? If some being bestowed upon men power, activity,
benevolence, strength, it was no doubt the sun, which should be
recognized as the father of nature, as the soul of the world, as
Divinity. At least one could not without folly dispute his existence, or
refuse to recognize his influence and his benefits.

XXV.--A SPIRITUAL GOD IS INCAPABLE OF WILLING AND OF ACTING.

The theologian tells us that God does not need hands or arms to act, and
that He acts by His will alone. But what is this God who has a will? And
what can be the subject of this divine will? Is it more ridiculous or
more difficult to believe in fairies, in sylphs, in ghosts, in witches,
in were-wolfs, than to believe in the magical or impossible action of
the spirit upon the body? As soon as we admit of such a God, there are
no longer fables or visions which can not be believed. The theologians
treat men like children, who never cavil about the possibilities of the
tales which they listen to.

XXVI.--WHAT IS GOD?

To unsettle the existence of a God, it is only necessary to ask a
theologian to speak of Him; as soon as he utters one word about Him, the
least reflection makes us discover at once that what he says is
incompatible with the essence which he attributes to his God. Therefore,
what is God? It is an abstract word, coined to designate the hidden
forces of nature; or, it is a mathematical point, which has neither
length, breadth, nor thickness. A philosopher [David Hume] has very
ingeniously said in speaking of theologians, that they have found the
solution to the famous problem of Archimede