IN AN INFINITELY GOOD AND
POWERFUL GOD.

Is not God the master of His favors? Has He not the right to dispense
His benefits? Can He not take them back again? His creature has no right
to ask the reason of His conduct; He can dispose at will of the works of
His hands. Absolute sovereign of mortals, He distributes happiness or
unhappiness, according to His pleasure. These are the solutions which
theologians give in order to console us for the evils which God inflicts
upon us. We would tell them that a God who was infinitely good, would
not be the master of His favors, but would be by His own nature obliged
to distribute them among His creatures; we would tell them that a truly
benevolent being would not believe he had the right to abstain from
doing good; we would tell them that a truly generous being does not take
back what he has given, and any man who does it, forfeits gratitude, and
has no right to complain of ingratitude. How can the arbitrary and
whimsical conduct which theologians ascribe to God, be reconciled with
the religion which supposes a compact or mutual agreement between this
God and men? If God owes nothing to His creatures, they, on their part,
can not owe anything to their God. All religion is founded upon the
happiness which men believe they have a right to expect from the
Divinity, who is supposed to tell them: "Love, adore, obey me, and I
will render you happy!" Men on their side say to Him: "Make us happy, be
faithful to your promises, and we will love you, we will adore you, we
will obey your laws!" In neglecting the happiness of His creatures, in
distributing His favors and His graces according to His caprice, and
taking back His gifts, does not God violate the contract which serves as
a base for all religion?

Cicero has said with reason that if God does not make Himself agreeable
to man, He can not be his God. [Nisi Deus homini placuerit, Deus non
erit.] Goodness constitutes Divinity; this Goodness can manifest itself
to man only by the advantages he derives from it. As soon as he is
unfortunate, this Goodness disappears and ceases to be Divinity. An
infinite Goodness can be neither partial nor exclusive. If God is
infinitely good, He owes happiness to all His creatures; one unfortunate
being alone would be sufficient to annihilate an unlimited goodness.
Under an infinitely good and powerful God, is it possible to conceive
that a single man could suffer? An animal, a mite, which suffers,
furn