Page:An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding - Hume (1748).djvu/170

 infinite, who produces the first, is likewise the Author of all the rest, and must both bear the Blame, and acquire the Praise, which belongs to them. Our clearest and most unalterable Ideas of Morality establish this Rule, upon unquestionable Reasons, when we examine the Consequences of any human Action; and these Reasons must still have greater Force, when apply'd to the Volitions and Intentions of a Being, infinitely wise and powerful. Ignorance or Impotence may be pleaded for so limited a Creature as Man; but those Imperfections have no Place in our Creator. He foresaw, he ordain'd, he intended all those Actions of Men, which we so rashly pronounce criminal. And we must conclude, therefore, either that they are not criminal, or that the Deity, not Man, is responsible for them. But as either of these Positions is absurd and impious, it follows, that the Doctrine, from which they are deduc'd, cannot possibly be true, as being liable to all the same Objections. An absurd Consequence, if necessary, proves the original Doctrine to be absurd; in the same Manner, that criminal Actions render criminal the original Cause, if the Connexion betwixt them be necessary and inevitable.

Objection consists of two Parts, which we shall examine separately; First, that if human Actions