by Jean Meslier
88. THE WEAKNESS AND VANITY OF THE ARGUMENTS OF OUR GOD-CULTISTS TO EXCUSE, ON GOD’S BEHALF, THE IMPERFECTIONS, FLAWS, AND WICKEDNESS, THE DEFECTS AND DEFORMITIES, WHICH ARE FOUND IN THE WORKS OF NATURE.
And what confirms this truth all the more is, as I’ve already noted, the imperfections, the defects, and the deformities that appear so often in the works of nature, particularly the vices and wickedness that re so evident in men and beasts, and the multitude of infirmities, pains, and ills that so often afflict and torment them in life, and finally, the painful and lingering death which is inevitable for them. For it’s far from credible that as excellent an artisan as an all-powerful, infinitely good, infinitely wise, and infinitely perfect God would be, would never consent to make or allow any imperfection, any defect, or any deformity in his products. That would be too contrary and too opposed to His beneficent nature. Nor is it credible that He would wish to let or allow any vice, or any wickedness in men, or in beasts, or that He would have wished to subject them to so many evils and infirmities, which make them so miserable in their lives, because that would also be too contrary and too opposed to His infinite goodness and to His sovereign wisdom, which would be unable to go astray by allowing any evil, or any flaw in His works.
Since, then, we find imperfections, defects, and deformities so clearly and so often in the products of nature, and since we obviously and frequently see many flaws and wickedness in men and beasts, and even now, we see that both are subject to an infinite stream of evils and infirmities, which make them miserable in life, it’s also a clear and evident demonstration that they are not the works of an infinitely perfect Being, but only the works of some blind and defective causes, as the various parts of matter, of which they are composed, are, their various shapes, their various movements, their various combinations, their various assemblages and their various modifications. As evident as that may be, our idolatrous God-cultists are so prejudiced and so infatuated, not only of the existence, but also the goodness and the infinite wisdom of their God, that, this notwithstanding (as clever as they are in self-deception and blinding themselves), they imagine and absolutely want to be convinced that not only the imperfections, defects, and deformities found in the works of nature, but also that the greatest vices, the worst wicked deeds, and the greatest evils ever seen in the world are also the nothing but the individualized effects of His goodness and His infinite wisdom, which is such, according to what they say, that He preferred to make something good from the evil than to abolish all evil. This is precisely what their great Mirmadolin St. Augustine[851] says: “God,” he says, “is so good and so wise that He found it better to make good from evil, than to abolish all evil. Melius enim, he says, judicavit de malis bona facere, quam mala nulla esse permittere.
Mr. de Cambrai passes lightly over this point, and he’d even like to avoid it altogether; this is surely because he was well aware that he had no good arguments to bring to the table; for if he’d had any, he wouldn’t have missed the opportunity to share and take advantage of them in his book de l’Existence de Dieu[852]. “Let man admire, then,” he says on this point, “what he understands” (i.e., what he finds beautiful and good in nature) “and let him hold his tongue”, he says, “about what he doesn’t understand” (i.,e, its flaws and imperfections), “but after all, even the true flaws in this workmanship” (i.e., the world) are only the imperfections that God has left in it, to show us that He made it from nothing. There is nothing in the universe,” he adds, “which doesn’t bear or which shouldn’t also bear these two features, as opposed as they are; on one hand, the seal of the artisan on his work, on the other hand, the mark of the void, from which it was made and into which it can fall back at any moment. It is,” he says, “an incomprehensible mixture of meanness and greatness, of fragility in matter and artistry in its formation… The flaws found therein come from the free and unruly will of man, who produces them by his disorderliness or by that of God, always holy and always just, who sometimes punishes infidels and sometimes uses them to perfect the good[853].
Which comes back precisely to the usual language of the simple minded and the credulous, who say and who simply believe that the ills and afflictions of this life are Heaven’s favors, and that God sends them to humble them, to mercifully punish them for their vices or to exercise and test their virtue, just as it’s normal practice to test gold in a furnace, and by such means to make them all the more worthy of the rewards of Heaven, and that, ultimately, God would never permit any evil, except to produce some greater good. “Never think,” says their great Mirmadolin St. Augustine, “that the wicked are unnecessary in the world, and that God never does anything good, for if He lets them live,” he says, “this is only to allow them to mend their ways, or to allow them to try the patience of the good. Ne putetis, he says, gratos esse malos in hoc mundo et nihil boni de illis agere Deum. Omnis malus aut ideo vivit ut corrigatur, aut ideo vivit, ut per illum bonus exerceatur. Is this not a rather subtle and decisive argument[854]? Even our iniquities, say our pious Christ-cultists, point to God’s justice, our vices and wickedness render His goodness, His patience, and His mercy all the more commendable to us; our lies make God’s truth all the more visible by contrast, to His glory. If there had been no tyrants, they say, Jesus Christ wouldn’t have had so many glorious martyrs; if there had been no demons to fight against, there wouldn’t have been victories or any crown to aspire to. If men had no evil to suffer in life, they would be too happy and content there, and wouldn’t ever want to leave it. If there hadn’t been anything to humble them, they would be too proud and haughty. If God never punished men in this world, they would think there was no divine Providence, and if He always punished them, they would imagine that there was nothing further to fear, or to hope in another life, but by punishing some as He does, He reveals His divine providence, and by not always punishing vices, as well as by not always rewarding virtue in this world, He makes humans understand that there are rewards and punishments in the other one. Finally, say our Christ-cultists, if virtue had nothing to combat against the vices, or against the wicked, it would never triumph, and thus it wouldn’t have as much by way of glory, or as much by way of merit, as it has. It’s only by these or other similar vain and frivolous reasons, it’s only by these or similar vain and frivolous arguments that our superstitious God-cultists and Christ-cultists would convince themselves and others that all the defects in the works of nature, that all the vices and all the wickedness of men, and in general, all the evil in the world, are in no way contrary, or opposed to the goodness or justice, any more than to the infinite wisdom of an all-powerful God who is able, at will, to turn evil into good, and who, indeed, only allows all the defects, all the vices, and all the wickedness and all the other evils in the world in order to bring some greater good from them, whether to manifest His glory, or for the greater good and the greater happiness of His creatures; and consequently, they say, we neither can nor should draw from that any conclusion against the truth of the existence of an all-powerful Creator God, who is infinitely good and infinitely wise.
That is about all that our superstitious God-cultists can say to try and save and rescue the supposed goodness and infinite wisdom of their God, who has always allowed, who allows, and who still permits so many ills, defects, vices, and so much wickedness to exist in the world. Those preachers who would employ their zeal and eloquence in fine speeches on this point, might perhaps say and promote these sorts of arguments and in this way satisfy the ignorant masses who listen to them, and who only consider the matter superficially, without thinking too deeply about it. But when Philosophers, Theologians, and Doctors talk and argue as Philosophers and Doctors, and who ought to think things out more thoroughly, teaching and maintaining nothing without good and sound arguments, instead idly content themselves with such nonsense and claim, on such frivolous and vain grounds, that they’re providing an adequate response to an argument that presses on them and hems them in completely, they deserve mo
ckery and not serious refutation. But still, the vanity and weakness of this response needs to be put on display. For 1). If it were only a case of saying that God allows such defects and imperfections in the works of nature to achieve these greater goods, and that He allows and permits so many evils, vices, and wickedness in the world in order to produce certain greater goods, this pretext is too simple. If it truly were well founded, then nothing would be easier to conceive than this argument, for it would be easy to conceive that human wisdom and prudence prompts us to allow and permit certain mild evils to avoid greater ones, or to produce a greater good. And thus, Mr. de Cambrai only needed to say, as he says with respect to the flaws, vices, and evils in the world, that it’s an incomprehensible mixture of meanness and greatness, since it’s not an incomprehensible mystery to wish to make or wish to allow certain slight evils in order to avoid worse things, or for make better things from them. But even when he says that the world is an incomprehensible mixture of meanness and greatness, he is insulting the honor of its author, since he is accusing Him of having made meanness as well as greatness, i.e., of having made contemptible things as well as respectable things. Now, it’s far from suitable to an all-powerful and infinitely perfect being to create meanness among greatness, i.e., to make contemptible things alongside respectable things. And so, since what Mr. de Cambrai finds greatest and most estimable in nature is only, according to him, an incomprehensible mixture of greatness and meanness, this is no way proves the existence of an all-powerful, infinitely good, and infinitely wise God.
2. When our Christ-cultists say that God only allows or permits all the flaws, all the vices, all the wickedness, and all the other evils we find in the world in order to make greater goods from them, they must mean by these alleged greater goods, certain greater physical or temporal goods, such as the goods of this world, or bodily goods, or the goods of the soul or mind, or they must mean the supposed goods of another life; and without doubt, they mean both of these, in their view, the most valuable and important ones. With respect to these alleged greater goods that are spiritual and relating to grace, or these alleged greater goods of another life, it is sheer illusion to say or think that an infinitely good, infinitely wise God, would intentionally to leave defects and deformities in His creations, or that for this reason He would permit and allow so many vices, wickedness, and other evils in the world. It is, I repeat, sheer illusion to imagine this, not only because none of these supposed spiritual goods of divine grace or of another life than this one actually exist, but also, even if all these sorts of alleged spiritual goods of the grace of a God (which would need to be proved and not simply assumed), and that there truly were eternal blessings after this life, this wouldn’t constitute a reason or a motivation for an all-powerful, infinitely wise God to intentionally allow so many imperfections, so many defects, and so many deformities in His works; and it wouldn’t be a reason or a motivation for Him to wish to permit or allow so many evils, vices, and wickedness in the world, since all these evils, all these defects, all these vices, and all this wickedness have no relation per se to these supposed spiritual goods of grace, or these alleged eternal blessings of another life. They are completely unnecessary for this, and they can’t, of themselves, contribute anything to the production or acquisition of these alleged blessings; on the contrary, the imperfections and defects, especially the vices and wickedness of men would be obstacles and impediments standing in the way of these kinds of blessings, since it’s obvious that those who have the imperfections and defects are less worthy of merit, favor, and consideration than those who are perfect, and those who are vicious and wicked are more worthy of punishment than reward.
And, with respect to the righteous and the good, or the innocent who suffer patiently and with constancy the evils and afflictions of life, I admit that they are very commendable and praiseworthy in this, that they deserve compassion, and they certainly deserve to receive the reward of their virtue. But to say that an all-powerful, infinitely good, and infinitely wise God would intentionally send them these evils and afflictions on the pretext of a greater good, on the pretext of exercising their patience and meaning to purify and perfect them in virtue, to make them all the happier and glorious in Heaven, is, I say, yet another illusion, not only for the reason I just stated, but because such a pretext of these supposed greater blessings is only a fiction of the human mind, which is ingenious in deceiving itself when it wants to. And, as a clear proof of that, there is the fact that they can’t give any proofs of what they say, and it would also be easy (for our God-cultists and our Christ-cultists), it would be, to repeat, as easy for them to put this forward as a false pretext as to put it forward truthfully; and that it might, this false pretext, be as easily produced by deceivers, by scoffers, and by impostors as by people of probity, which would tell the truth or who would believe it as a statement of the truth. But, an argument which might also be put forward as a truth and which could also easily by put forward by deceivers, by scoffers, and by impostors as by people of probity and good faith, is of no weight, or any consideration, and can’t serve as any sort of proof, or testimony of truth; consequently, it’s an illusion for our God-cultists to think they’ve responded sufficiently to an argument which bears down on them, with such a vain argument which is based on nothing but their imagination, and which is truly only a vain fiction of their mind. In a way, by speaking like this about their God, they’re acting like people who, finding that they can’t achieve what they want to do, act like they don’t want to do it, or who, find themselves unable to prevent what they would like to prevent, pretend they’re okay with it, and don’t want to prevent it, and say, to cover their weakness and powerlessness, that they’re happy as things are, for this or that reason. Our God-cultists are, I say, doing, in a certain way the same thing in favor of their God. They can’t absolutely deny that the defects and deformities in creation aren’t clear evidence of the inadequacies or shortcomings of the artisan who made them; they can’t absolutely deny that the evils and afflictions are contrary to the welfare of nature; they can’t absolutely deny human vice and wickedness are contrary to true wisdom and goodness; neither can they deny that many defects and deformities are often found in the works of nature; they can’t deny that there are many evils and afflictions in the world, which make men miserable and unhappy in life; and finally, they can’t deny that there are many vices and much wickedness among men. It would be the business of a Master who is all-powerful, infinitely good, and infinitely wise, to make all His works perfect, to prevent all sorts of evils, all sorts of vices and wickedness, and to provide all kinds of blessings and happiness for His creatures, our natural reason clearly show this to us.
But our God-cultists, realizing that their alleged God takes no interest in making all His works perfect, that He doesn’t care about preventing evil, or even obstructing the vices and wickedness of men, that there is room to draw a conclusion that this alleged almighty God is not, they have been reduced to being obliged to have recourse to such a weak argument as what I’m refuting here, to try to defend their opinion and try at the same time to conceal the weakness and impotence of their God, on the vain pretext that it’s for a greater spiritual or corporeal blessing, whether present or future, that He leaves defects in His creations, and allows so many evils, vices, and wickedness in the world. They do well to better cover the error and falseness of what they teach and to better trick themselves, to say that it’s for certain greater spiritual or corporeal blessings, present or yet to come, that God permits and allows so many ills, so many vices, and so much wickedness in the world; for if they didn’t say that for some greater present blessings in this life, error and falseness of their saying would be too vulgar and manifest; since it’s visible that they themselves clearly see every day many evils, many vices, and much wickedness, of which they wouldn’t say that any true corporeal or spiritual blessing comes in this world, and that consequently what they say turns out to be manifestly false in this respe
ct. It remains, then, to know if sometimes greater spiritual or corporeal blessings come in the other world. But have they been there to see it, to find out any news from there? Who told them about that place? What experience do they have of it? What evidence do they have? Certainly none, except for what they claim to get from their faith, which is only a blind belief in things that aren’t seen, which nobody has ever seen, and which nobody will ever see. But a saying, an answer, an opinion which is based only on such belief is based on nothing, it has no weight or any worth; consequently, it is clearly an error and an illusion for our God-cultists and our Christ-cultists to say, as they do, that God would only ever allow evil for the purpose of bringing greater good about, in this world or the next.
Besides, although a greater good does actually sometimes come from an evil, and it’s true to say that human prudence and wisdom consists in doing or allowing some lesser evil to avoid some greater one, or to procure some greater good, it doesn’t follow from this the same thing can be said of an all-powerful God; it's an error and an illusion to imagine that; and the obvious reason why is that since humans are not all-powerful, able to do whatever they want, it often happens that they couldn’t prevent certain greater evils without doing or allowing some lesser one. In short, they rather often find themselves compelled to do what they would really rather not do, or unable to do what they would rather do in these sorts of cases. People are obliged to bend under the laws of necessity by conforming to times and places; and there is no doubt that it is more expedient on such occasions to do or allow and permit some lesser evil in order to avoid greater ones, or to obtain some greater good. This, for example, is why fathers and mothers are quite often obliged to roughly chastise their children, to correct them and make them wiser and more obedient. This is why magistrates are often obliged to inflict severe punishments on the guilty, to give an example to others. This is why the wounded sometimes have an arm or a leg cut off to save the life of the body, and an infinity of similar cases in which men, finding themselves obliged to do or to allow and suffer that which they wouldn’t otherwise do or allow, if they had their way.