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Good Sense by baron d' Paul Henri Thiry Holbach
page 55 of 206 (26%)
means, which he employs to attain his proposed object. The object
of God, is the happiness of a man. Yet, a like necessity governs
the fate of all sensible beings, who are born only to suffer much,
enjoy little, and die. The cup of man is filled with joy and bitterness;
good is every where attended with evil; order gives place to disorder;
generation is followed by destruction. If you say, that the designs
of God are mysterious and that his ways are impenetrable; I answer,
that, in this case, it is impossible to judge whether God be intelligent.


55. You pretend, that God is immutable! What then produces a continual
instability in this world, which you make his empire? Is there a
state, subject to more frequent and cruel revolutions, than that
of this unknown monarch? How can we attribute to an immutable God,
sufficiently powerful to give solidity to his works, a government,
in which every thing is in continual vicissitude? If I imagine
I see a God of uniform character in all the effects favourable to my
species, what kind of a God can I see in their continual misfortunes?
You tell me, it is our sins, which compel him to punish. I answer,
that God, according to yourselves, is then not immutable, since the
sins of men force him to change his conduct towards them. Can a being,
who is sometimes provoked, and sometimes appeased, be constantly the same?


56. The universe can be only what it is; all sensible beings in it
enjoy and suffer; that is, are moved sometimes in an agreeable, and
sometimes in a disagreeable manner. These effects are necessary;
they result necessarily from causes, which act only according to
their properties. These effects necessarily please, or displease,
by a consequence of nature. This same nature compels me to avoid,
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