Moreover, just punishment
bears a proportion to the offence, while suffering which is infinite is
_ipso facto_ disproportionate to any finite deed.
"Why then eternal punishment for the temporary offences of so frail
a creature as man? Can any one approve of Alexander's rage, who
intended to exterminate a whole nation because they had seized his
favourite horse Bucephalus?
"Heaven and hell suppose two distinct species of men, the good and
the bad; but the greatest part of mankind float betwixt vice and
virtue. Were one to go round the world with the intention of giving
a good supper to the righteous and a sound drubbing to the wicked,
he would frequently be embarrassed in his choice, and would find
the merits and demerits of most men and women scarcely amount to
the value of either."[43]
One can but admire the broad humanity and the insight into the springs
of action manifest in this passage. _Comprendre est a moitie pardonner_.
The more one knows of the real conditions which determine men's acts the
less one finds either to praise or blame. For kindly David Hume, "the
damnation of one man is an infinitely greater evil in the universe than
the subversion of a thousand million of kingdoms." And he would have
felt with his countryman Burns, that even "auld Nickie Ben" should "hae
a chance."
As against those who reason for the necessity of a future state, in
order that the justice of the Deity may be satisfied, Hume's
argumentation appears unanswerable.
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