Supposing now, that this person were brought into
the world, still assured that it was the workmanship of such a
sublime and benevolent Being; he might, perhaps, be surprised at
the disappointment; but would never retract his former belief, if
founded on any very solid argument; since such a limited
intelligence must be sensible of his own blindness and ignorance,
and must allow, that there may be many solutions of those
phenomena, which will for ever escape his comprehension. But
supposing, which is the real case with regard to man, that this
creature is not antecedently convinced of a supreme intelligence,
benevolent, and powerful, but is left to gather such a belief
from the appearances of things; this entirely alters the case,
nor will he ever find any reason for such a conclusion. He may be
fully convinced of the narrow limits of his understanding; but
this will not help him in forming an inference concerning the
goodness of superior powers, since he must form that inference
from what he knows, not from what he is ignorant of. The more you
exaggerate his weakness and ignorance, the more diffident you
render him, and give him the greater suspicion that such subjects
are beyond the reach of his faculties. You are obliged,
therefore, to reason with him merely from the known phenomena,
and to drop every arbitrary supposition or conjecture.
Did I show you a house or palace, where there was not one
apartment convenient or agreeable; where the windows, doors,
fires, passages, stairs, and the whole economy of the building,
were the source of noise, confusion, fatigue, darkness, and the
extremes of heat and cold; you would certainly blame the
contrivance, without any further examination.
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