Page:A defence of atheism.pdf/12

 ence does not prove a Creator. Then how came the Universe into existence? We do not know; but the ignorance of man is certainly no proof of the existence of a God. Yet upon that very igno­rance has it been predicated, and is maintained. From the little knowledge we have, we are justi­fied in the assertion that the Universe never was created, from the simple fact that not one atom of it can ever be annihilated. To suppose a Uni­verse created, is to suppose a time when it did not exist, and that is a self-evident absurdity. Besides, where was the Creator before it was creat­ed? Nay, where is he now? Outside of that Universe, which means the all in all, above, be­low, and around? That is another absurdity. Is he contained within? Then he can be only a part, for the whole includes all the parts. If only a part, then he could not be its Creator, for a part cannot create the whole. But the world could not have made itself. True; nor could God have made himself; and if you must have a God to make the world, you will be under the same necessity to have another to make him, and others still to make them, and so on until reason and common sense are at a stand-still.

The same argument applies to a First Cause. We can no more admit of a first than a last cause. What is a first cause? The one immediately pre­ceding the last effect, which was an effect to a cause in its turn—an effect to causes, themselves effects. All we know is an eternal chain of cause and effect, without beginning as without end.

But is there no evidence of intelligence, of de­sign, and consequently of a designer? I see no evidence of either. What is intelligence? It is not a thing, a substance, an existence in itself, but simply a property of matter, manifesting itself