It examines the proof, and detects flaws in it.

It discusses, with a severe and critical logic, the arguments that have been employed to establish the first and most fundamental article of Theology, the existence of God; and discarding them one by one, it reaches the conclusion that, whether true or not, it cannot be proved.

Strange as it may appear, these sentiments have been embraced and avowed by men who still continue to profess their belief in God and Religion.

Some have held that proof by reasoning is impossible, but only because it is superfluous.

They distinguish between _reason_ and _reasoning_; and hold that while the latter is incompetent to the task of proving the existence of God, the former spontaneously suggests the idea of a Supreme Cause, and imparts to it all the certainty which belongs to a direct intellectual intuition.