The infinity of space or ether and of matter being proved, it follows
again, by the principle of sufficient reason, that the "worlds" are
"innumerable" or infinite in number.--As it is good that the world
exists, and would be bad did it not exist, so in a similar space,
and where similar causes are, it is good that there be a world, and
bad should there not be one. If the world is single, then there is a
single, finite, particular good, and infinite wide-spread universal
evil. He who is able to produce good, and does not do so, without
cause, is evil; "as not to be able is _privatively_ evil, to be able
and to be unwilling would be so _positively_, and God in regard to the
finite effect would be a finitely good cause, in regard, however, to
the repression of infinite realisation, would be infinitely evil."[317]
Perfection does not belong to our world, our system, taken by itself,
since there are innumerable other possible worlds which cannot be
contained in it. Given a man endowed with all human perfections, the
existence of other men subordinate to him is not excluded, but rather
demanded in order that he may fulfil the harmony of his being. So
the best, the first, of the monads,--which comprises all particular
things in itself,--embraces, in spite of its unity, innumerable worlds,
without limit, under its corporeal aspect. _One_ does not suffice, for
the productive mind diffuses itself throughout the whole universe,
wholly in every part, in equal goodness and power, and fills the
void in order that its great image may be presented throughout the
whole.[318] Nature thus puts forth an infinite mirror of itself and a
fitting reflection; its substance is infinite and its force eternal,
there is an _explicit_ immeasurable, as God is _implicitly_ in the
whole and everywhere wholly.[319] To the infinite nothing finite
bears any proportion, nor can be a fitting product of it. Hence if it
communicate itself at all to corporeal things, or unfold its magnitude
in corporeal existences and in multitude, the reflection of its essence
and imprint of its power must be infinite in magnitude and without
number. "Although, when we consider individuals singly, under that
proximate and immediate respect in which they are particulars, they
must be referred to a finite principle and cause (since a finite effect
demands a finite power), in the consideration of the universe, however,
each and all the innumerable existences in immeasurable space point to
an infinite first cause."[320]
[Sidenote: Argument from God to the world.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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