avert, and resist some things, and to seek, desire, and procure others.
In a world, where every thing is necessary, a God, who remedies nothing,
who leaves things to run in their necessary course,--is he any thing
but destiny, or necessity personified? It is a deaf and useless God,
who can effect no change in general laws, to which he is himself
subject. Of what importance is the infinite power of a being, who
will do but very little in my favour? Where is the infinite goodness
of a being, indifferent to happiness? Of what service is the favour
of a being, who, is able to do an infinite good, does not do even
a finite one?


57. When we ask, why so many miserable objects appear under the
government of a good God, we are told, by way of consolation, that
the present world is only a passage, designed to conduct man to a
happier one. The divines assure us, that the earth we inhabit, is
a state of trial. In short, they shut our mouths, by saying, that
God could communicate to his creatures neither impossibility nor
infinite happiness, which are reserved for himself alone. Can such
answers be satisfactory? 1st. The existence of another life is
guaranteed to us only by the imagination of man, who, by supposing it,
have only realized the desire they have of surviving themselves,
in order to enjoy hereafter a purer and more durable happiness.
2ndly. How can we conceive that a God, who knows every thing, and
must be fully acquainted with the dispositions of his creatures,
should want so many experiments, in order to be sure of their
dispositions? 3rdly. According to the calculations of their
chronologists, our earth has existed six or seven thousand years.
During that time, nations have experienced calamities. History
exhibits the human species at all times tormented and ravaged by