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doctrines this species of fatalism. From periods 

 the most remote, men have derived from the 

 Deity our moral and intellectual faculties ; in all 

 ages it has been taught that all the gifts of men 

 come from heaven ; that God from all eternity 

 has chosen the elect ; that man, of himself, is in- 

 capable of any good thought ; that all the dif- 

 ference which exists between men, with respect 

 to their qualities, comes from God ; that it is only 

 those, to whom it has been given by superior 

 power, who are capable of certain actions ; that 

 each one acts according to his innate character — 

 just as the fig-tree does not bear grapes, nor the 

 vine figs, and as sweet water cannot flow from a 

 bitter fountain ; in fine, that all cannot find out 

 the mysteries of nature, nor the secrets of 

 God. 



It is this same fatalism, this same inevitable 

 influence of superior powers, which has been 

 taught us by the fathers of the Church. St. 

 Augustine would have this same doctrine 

 preached, in order to exhibit clearly the belief 

 of the infallibility of Providence, and our entire 

 dependence on God. "As," says he, "no one 

 can give himself life, so no one can give himself 

 understanding." If some persons do not under- 

 stand the truth, it is, according to him, because 

 they have not received the necessary capacity to 

 comprehend it. He refutes the objections, which 

 would be hence drawn, against the justice of God ; 

 and remarks, that the grace of God has no more 

 distributed temporal goods equally to all, such 

 as address, strength, health, beauty, genius, and 

 tastes for the arts and sciences, riches, honors, &c. 

 St. Cyprian had already said, that we ought not 

 be proud of our qualities, for we have nothing 

 of ourselves. 



If men had not always been convinced of the 

 influence of external and internal conditions on 

 the determinations of our will or our actions, 

 why, at all times, and among all nations, should 

 they have made laws, civil and religious, to sub- 

 due and direct the desires of men ? There is 

 no religion which has not ordained abstinence 

 from certain meats and drinks, fasting, and the 

 mortification of the body. From Solomon down 

 to our own days, I know no observer of nature, 

 who has not acknowledged that man, both phy- 

 sically and morally, is wholly dependent on the 

 laws of creation. 



Moral Good and Evil. 



The same laws to which I have alluded, prove 

 that the conviction has always existed, that man- 

 kind are inclined to evil. But, does it not seem 

 contradictory that evil should have been created 

 by an infinitely good Being ? 



Some, to escape this contradiction, have set 

 up, and admitted two principles — a good Being, 

 and a wicked Being, almost equally powerful, 

 and existing in a state of perpetual warfare. 



Others have maintained, that all the original 

 qualities of man have been given him for a good 

 end ; that none leads necessarily to evil, and that 

 even the best things in the world may be pros- 

 tituted to a bad purpose. Eusebius says, with 

 Philo, that matter in itself is not wicked, and 

 cannot be the cause of evil, which consists only 

 in action, and in the bad use of original faculties. 



Others add, that in order to decide that anything 

 is an evil, we must know — what man cannot 

 know, the immense and universal end of creation. 



Others, in fine, not being able to deny the 

 existence of moral evil, explain its origin by free- 

 will. But as soon as we admit free-will, we pre- 

 suppose moral good and evil ; for, what would 

 free-will be, if there were not two distinct things, 

 good and evil, between which the free man can 

 choose ? May it not even be objected, that this 

 same boasted free-will, since it occasions so much 

 evil, is itself an evil ? The instant we recognise 

 free-will, does not man findhimselfon the slippery 

 edge of the precipice ? It is said, and I also say, 

 that man abuses his liberty ; but what motive has 

 man to abuse it, unless something stirs within to 

 excite him to illegal actions ? 



I am bitterly reproached for admitting in man, 

 innate evil inclinations, and propensities to inju- 

 rious acts ; and my antagonists especially, never 

 fail to remark, that among these evil inclinations 

 are found the propensity to theft, and the propen- 

 sity to murder. 



Let these admirers of the excellence of the 

 human species answer me why, in all ages and 

 in all countries, men have robbed and murdered, 

 and why no education, no legislation, no religion — 

 neither prison, hard labor, nor the wheel, have 

 yet been able to extirpate these crimes ? Could 

 these men have robbed and murdered for the sole 

 pleasure of exposing themselves to these dangers 

 without any temptations ? "Will you throw the 

 fault on their ancestors, as if their example had 

 given rise to these unholy inclinations ? Then 

 explain to me — how the first examples could have 

 occurred, and how children, and grand-children, 

 who had dispositions essentially good, should 

 have become so powerfully disposed to robbery 

 and murder, contrary to their nature ? 



Besides allowing it to be education, and not 

 nature, which gives us vicious propensities, the 

 difficulty always remains the same, because edu- 

 cation is not in the power of him who receives it ; 

 and education never could develop either good or 

 evil inclinations, did not their germs positively 

 belong to human nature. In vain will you en- 

 deavor, by any education, to change the pigeon 

 into an eagle, and the eagle into a pigeon. 



Unhappily, it is not robbery and murder only 

 which prove the evil dispositions of men. The 

 just man always has had, and always will have 

 reason to complain, with Moses, of the bad actions 

 and dispositions of men. The Lord said that the 

 malice of men, who lived on the earth, was ex- 

 treme, and that all the thoughts and purposes of 

 their hearts were altogether wickedness. — Gen. 

 vi. 5. Men always have been, and always will 

 be, inclined to all sorts of perverse actions ; 

 they have always been besieged by temptations 

 within and without ; they always have been, and 

 always will be, tormented by carnal desires, 

 covetousness, ambition, pride, &c. The world 

 never has ceased, and never will cease, to be the 

 theatre of all vices ; such as lying, calumny, jea- 

 lousy, envy, avarice, usury, immodesty, ven- 

 geance, adultery, perjury, rape, incest, idolatry, 

 drunkenness, discord, enmity, injustice, &c. 



The good man draws good things from the 

 good treasure of his heart, and the wicked man 

 draws evil things from the evil treasure of his 



