XCIII.—­IT IS NOT TRUE THAT WE OWE ANY GRATITUDE TO WHAT WE CALL PROVIDENCE.

We are constantly told that we owe an infinite gratitude to Providence for the countless blessings It is pleased to lavish upon us.  They boast above all that our existence is a blessing.  But, alas! how many mortals are really satisfied with their mode of existence?  If life has its sweets, how much of bitterness is mingled with it?  Is not one bitter trouble sufficient to blight all of a sudden the most peaceful and happy life?  Is there a great number of men who, if it depended upon them, would wish to begin, at the same sacrifice, the painful career into which, without their consent, destiny has thrown them?  You say that existence itself is a great blessing.  But is not this existence continually troubled by griefs, fears, and often cruel and undeserved maladies.  This existence, menaced on so many sides, can we not be deprived of it at any moment?  Who is there, after having lived for some time, who has not been deprived of a beloved wife, a beloved child, a consoling friend, whose loss fills his mind constantly?  There are very few mortals who have not been compelled to drink from the cup of bitterness; there are but few who have not often wished to die.  Finally, it did not depend upon us to exist or not to exist.  Would the bird be under such great obligations to the bird-catcher for having caught it in his net and for having put it into his cage, in order to eat it after being amused with it?

XCIV.—­TO PRETEND THAT MAN IS THE BELOVED CHILD OF PROVIDENCE, GOD’S FAVORITE, THE ONLY OBJECT OF HIS LABORS, THE KING OF NATURE, IS FOLLY.

In spite of the infirmities, the troubles, the miseries to which man is compelled to submit in this world; in spite of the danger which his alarmed imagination creates in regard to another, he is still foolish enough to believe himself to be God’s favorite, the only aim of all His works.  He imagines that the entire universe was made for him; he calls himself arrogantly the king of nature, and ranks himself far above other animals.  Poor mortal! upon what can you establish your high pretensions?  It is, you say, upon your soul, upon your reason, upon your sublime faculties, which place you in a condition to exercise an absolute authority over the beings which surround you.  But weak sovereign of this world, art thou sure one instant of the duration of thy reign?  The least atoms of matter which you despise, are they not sufficient to deprive you of your throne and life?  Finally, does not the king of animals terminate always by becoming food for the worms?