Page:An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding - Hume (1748).djvu/231

 Grace and Propriety? Whence, do you think, can such Philosophers derive their Idea of the Gods? From their own Conceit and Imagination surely. For if they deriv'd it from the present Phænomena, it would never point to any thing farther, but must be exactly adjusted to them. That the Divinity may possibly possess Attributes, which we have never seen exerted; may be govern'd by Principles of Action, which we cannot discover to be satisfy'd: All this will freely be allow'd. But still this is mere Possibility and Hypothesis. We never can have Reason to infer any Attributes, or any Principles of Action in him, but so far as we know them to have been exerted and satisfy'd.

Are there any Marks of a distributive Justice in the World? If you answer in the Affirmative, I conclude, that, since Justice here exerts itself, it is satisfy'd. If you reply in the Negative, I conclude, that you have then no Reason to ascribe Justice to the Gods. If you hold a Medium betwixt Affirmation and Negation, by saying, that the Justice of the Gods, at present, exerts itself in Part, but not in its full Extent; I answer, that you have no Reason to give it any particular Extent, but only so far as you see it, at present, exert itself.