Let us see if you know your catechism. Why do you pray God?
Because it is right to worship the Supreme Being from whom we hold everything.
Not bad for a barbarian! And what do you ask of Him?
I thank Him for the benefits I enjoy, and even for the ills with which He tries me; but I take good care not to ask Him for anything; He knows better than us what we need, and besides, I am afraid to ask Him for good weather when my neighbour is asking for rain.
Ah! I thought he was going to say something silly. Let us start again farther back. Barbarian, who has told you there is a God?
That does not suffice. What idea have you of God?
The idea of my creator, of my master, who will reward me if I do good, and who will punish me if I do ill.
Trash, nonsense all that! Let us come to essentials. Is God infinite _secundum quid_, or in essence?
Brutish fool! Is God in one place, beyond all places, or in all places?
Dolt! Is it possible for what has been not to have been, and can a stick not have two ends? Does He see the future as future or as present? how does He draw the being out of non-existence, and how annihilate the being?
What a blockhead! Come, one must humble oneself, see things in proportion. Tell me, my friend, do you think that matter can be eternal?
What does it matter to me whether it exists from all eternity or not? I do not exist from all eternity. God is always my master; He has given me the notion of justice, I must follow it; I do not want to be a philosopher, I want to be a man.
These blockheads are troublesome. Let us go step by step. What is God?
That's not what I'm asking you. What is His nature?
Not in the least: of what use would it be to me? should I be more just? should I be a better husband, a better father, a better master, a better citizen?
It is absolutely essential you should learn what a spirit is. It is, it is, it is ... I will tell you another time.
I'm very much afraid that you may tell me less what it is than what it is not. Allow me to put a question to you in my turn. I once saw one of your temples; why do you depict God with a long beard?
That's a very difficult question which needs preliminary instruction.
Before receiving your instruction, I must tell you what happened to me one day. I had just built a closet at the end of my garden; I heard a mole arguing with a cockchafer. "That's a very fine building," said the mole. "It must have been a very powerful mole who did that piece of work."