A Cynic Looks at Life by Ambrose Bierce
page 29 of 59 (49%)
page 29 of 59 (49%)
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M. Flammarion says:
"I don't repudiate the presumptive arguments of schoolmen. I merely supplement them with something positive. For instance, if you assumed the existence of God this argument of the scholastics is a good one. God has implanted in all men the desire of perfect happiness. This desire cannot be satisfied in our lives here. If there were not another life wherein to satisfy it then God would be a declever. _Voila tout_." There is more: the desire of perfect happiness does not imply immortality, even if there is a God, for (1) God may not have implanted it, but merely suffers it to exist, as he suffers sin to exist, the desire of wealth, the desire to live longer than we do in this world. It is not held that God implanted all the desires of the human heart. Then /why hold that he implanted that of perfect happiness? (2) Even if he did--even, if a divinely implanted desire entail its own gratification--even if it cannot be gratified in this life--that does not imply immortality. It implies _only_ another life long enough for its gratification just once. An eternity of gratification is not a logical inference from it. (3) Perhaps God _is_ "a deceiver" who knows that he is not? Assumption of the existence of a God is one thing; assumption of the existence of a God who is honorable and candid according to our conception of honor and candor is another. (4) There may be an honorable and candid God. He may have implanted in |
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