Page:A Brief History of Modern Philosophy.djvu/122

 All ideas proceed from sensations and sensations in turn proceed from matter. What is matter? We do not know, —we are quite as ignorant on this point as on the question concerning the nature of the soul. The Creator endowed us with understanding to the end that we might thereby govern our actions, not for the purpose of penetrating into the nature of things. The eternity of matter represents the limit of our knowledge; and this rests upon the universally accepted principle that nothing can proceed from nothing. The teleology of nature is proof of the existence of God. But the presence of sin and evil in the world (facts which Voltaire describes with rare acumen in his Poeme sur le desastre de Lisbonne) makes it impossible to believe in the omnipotence of God if we wish to retain our belief in His goodness. Voltaire espouses natural religion, but opposes revealed religion by every available means (frequently of course indirectly and secretly). Voltaire now applies the principle of simplicity to the explanation of the supernatural in the same way as the thinkers of the Renaissance applied it to the natural world. He refers everything which transcends natural religion to stupidity and deception. Stupidity gives rise to the idea of the supernatural and deceivers afterwards take advantage of this stupidity in order to gain control over men by means of their superstition. The best religion is the one that contains a large measure of ethical culture, but few dogmas.

Montesquieu (1689-1755) is of greater historical significance than Voltaire. In his Esprit de lois (1748) he advocates the mutual dependence of institutions and of laws upon the natural and moral conditions of the nations. A constitution cannot therefore be transferred from one nation to another without modification. The historical