Indeed it would be better to be dead than to live thus in contradiction
with the laws that rule the universe. If, when men are in opposition
to these laws, divine Providence preserved peace in the midst of
all follies and vices, it would deserve the charge of negligence in
allowing the prevalence of evil. The evil rule only because of the
cowardice of those who obey them; this is juster than if it were
otherwise.
PROVIDENCE SHOULD NOT BE EXTENDED TO THE POINT OF SUPPRESSING OUR OWN
INITIATIVE.
9. Nor should the sphere of Providence be extended to the point of
suppressing our own action. For if Providence did everything, and
Providence alone existed, it would thereby be annihilated. To what,
indeed, would it apply? There would be nothing but divinity! It
is indeed incontestable that divinity exists, and that its sphere
extends over other beings--but divinity does not suppress the latter.
For instance, divinity approaches man, and preserves in him what
constitutes humanity; that is, divinity makes him live in conformity
to the law of Providence, and makes him fulfil the commandments of
that law. Now, this law decrees that the life of men who have become
virtuous should be good both here below and after their death; and
that the evil should meet an opposite fate. It would be unreasonable
to expect the existence of men who forget themselves to come and save
the evil, even if the latter addressed prayers to the divinity. Neither
should we expect the divinities to renounce their blissful existence to
come and administer our affairs; nor that the virtuous men, whose life
is holy and superior to human conditions, should be willing to govern
the wicked. The latter never busy themselves with promoting the good
to the governing of other men, and themselves to be good (as thought
Plato[52]). They are even jealous of the man who is good by himself;
there would indeed be more good people if virtuous men were chosen as
chiefs.