know of no other, replied CLEANTHES. And the liker the better, insisted
PHILO. To be sure, said CLEANTHES.

Now, CLEANTHES, said PHILO, with an air of alacrity and triumph, mark the
consequences. First, By this method of reasoning, you renounce all claim
to infinity in any of the attributes of the Deity. For, as the cause
ought only to be proportioned to the effect, and the effect, so far as it
falls under our cognisance, is not infinite; what pretensions have we,
upon your suppositions, to ascribe that attribute to the Divine Being?
You will still insist, that, by removing him so much from all similarity
to human creatures, we give in to the most arbitrary hypothesis, and at
the same time weaken all proofs of his existence.

Secondly, You have no reason, on your theory, for ascribing perfection to
the Deity, even in his finite capacity, or for supposing him free from
every error, mistake, or incoherence, in his undertakings. There are many
inexplicable difficulties in the works of Nature, which, if we allow a
perfect author to be proved a priori, are easily solved, and become only
seeming difficulties, from the narrow capacity of man, who cannot trace
infinite relations. But according to your method of reasoning, these
difficulties become all real; and perhaps will be insisted on, as new
instances of likeness to human art and contrivance. At least, you must
acknowledge, that it is impossible for us to tell, from our limited
views, whether this system contains any great faults, or deserves any
considerable praise, if compared to other possible, and even real
systems. Could a peasant, if the Aeneid were read to him, pronounce that
poem to be absolutely faultless, or even assign to it its proper rank
among the productions of human wit, he, who had never seen any other
production?