of this kind, we go to amuse ourselves, etc. Let us
inquire of this same religion whether it does not give a reason for this
obscurity; perhaps it will teach it to us.
227. Order by dialogues.--What ought I to do? I see only darkness
everywhere. Shall I believe I am nothing? Shall I believe I am God?
"All things change and succeed each other." You are mistaken; there is...
228. Objection of atheists: "But we have no light."
229. This is what I see and what troubles me. I look on all sides, and I see
only darkness everywhere. Nature presents to me nothing which is not matter
of doubt and concern. If I saw nothing there which revealed a Divinity, I
would come to a negative conclusion; if I saw everywhere the signs of a
Creator, I would remain peacefully in faith. But, seeing too much to deny
and too little to be sure, I am in a state to be pitied; wherefore I have a
hundred times wished that if a God maintains Nature, she should testify to
Him unequivocally, and that, if the signs she gives are deceptive, she
should suppress them altogether; that she should say everything or nothing,
that I might see which cause I ought to follow. Whereas in my present state,
ignorant of what I am or of what I ought to do, I know neither my condition
nor my duty. My heart inclines wholly to know where is the true good, in
order to follow it; nothing would be too dear to me for eternity.
I envy those whom I see living in the faith with such carelessness and who
make such a bad use of a gift of which it seems to me I would make such a
different use.
230. It is incomprehensible that God should exist, and it is
incomprehensible that He should not exist; that the soul should be joined to
the body, and that we should have no soul; that the world should be created,
and that it should not be created, etc.; that original sin should be, and
that it should not be.
231. Do you believe it to be impo
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