My object is not to teach this idea, but to defend it:  it is not, I say, to teach it, for we all possess it.  There is no one here who has not received his portion of the sacred deposit.  This sacred idea may be veiled by our sorrows, perverted by our errors, obscured by our faults; but, however thick be the layer of ashes heaped together in the depth of our souls—­look closely:  the sacred spark is not extinguished, and a favorable breath may still rekindle the flame.

We have considered the essential elements of which our idea of God is composed.  And whence comes this idea?  What is its historical origin?  I do not ask what is the historical origin of religion, for religion does not take its rise in history; it is met with everywhere and always in humanity.  Those who deny this are compelled to “search in the darkness for some obscure example known only to themselves, as if all natural inclinations were destroyed by the corruption of a people, and as if, as soon as there are any monsters, the species were no longer any thing."[4] The consciousness of a world superior to the domain of experience is one of the attributes characteristic of our nature.  “If there had ever been, or if there still anywhere existed, a people entirely destitute of religion, it would be in consequence of an exceptional downfall which would be tantamount to a lapse into animality."[5] I am not therefore inquiring after the origin of the idea and sentiment of the Deity, in a general sense, but after the origin of the idea of the only and Almighty Creator as we possess it.  In fact, if religion is universal, distinct knowledge of the Creator is not so.

Our own past strikes its roots into the historic soil which, in the matter of creeds, is known by the name of paganism or idolatry.  At first sight what do we find in the opinions of that ancient world?  No trace of the divine unity.  Adoration is dispersed over a thousand different beings.  Not only are the heavenly bodies adored and the powers of nature, but men, animals, and inanimate objects.  The feeling of the holiness of God is not less wanting, it would seem, than the idea of His unity.  Religion serves as a pretext for the unchaining of human passions.  This is the case unfortunately with religion in general, and the true religion is no exception to the rule:  but what characterizes paganism is that in its case religion, by its own proper nature, favors the development of immorality.  Celebrated shrines become the dens of a prostitution which forms part of the homage rendered to the gods; the religious rites of ancient Asia, and those of Greece which fell under their influence, are notorious for their lewdness.  The temples of false deities, too often defiled by debauchery, are too often also dishonored by frightful sacrifices.  The ancient civilization of Mexico was elegant and even refined in some respects; but the altars were stained, every year, with the blood of thousands of human beings; and the votaries of this sanguinary