Then you will say that intelligent man and even the universe and all it
encloses, are the effects of chance. No, I answer, the universe is not
an effect; it is the cause of all effects; all the beings it embraces
are the necessary effects of this cause which sometimes shows to us its
manner of acting, out which often hides from us its way. Men may use the
word "chance" to cover their ignorance of the true causes; nevertheless,
although they may ignore them, these causes act, but by certain laws.
There is no effect without a cause.
Nature is a word which we make use of to designate the immense
assemblage of beings, diverse substances, infinite combinations, and all
the various motions which we see. All bodies, whether organized or not
organized, are the necessary results of certain causes, made to produce
necessarily the effects which we see. Nothing in nature can be made by
chance; all follow fixed laws; these laws are but the necessary union of
certain effects with their causes. An atom of matter does not meet
another atom by accident or by hazard; this rencounter is due to
permanent laws, which cause each being to act by necessity as it does,
and can not act otherwise under the same circumstances. To speak about
the accidental coming together of atoms, or to attribute any effects to
chance, is to say nothing, if not to ignore the laws by which bodies
act, meet, combine, or separate.
Everything is made by chance for those who do not understand nature, the
properties of beings, and the effects which must necessarily result from
the concurrence of certain causes. It is not chance that has placed the
sun in the center of our planetary system; it is by its very essence,
the substance of which it is composed, that it occupies this place, and
from thence diffuses itself to invigorate the beings who live in these
planets.
XLIV.--NEITHER DOES THE ORDER OF THE UNIVERSE PROVE THE EXISTENCE OF A
GOD.
The worshipers of a God find, especially in the order of the universe,
an invincible proof of the existence of an intelligent and wise being
who rules it. But this order is only a result of motions necessarily
brought on by causes or by circumstances which are sometimes favorable
and sometimes injurious to ourselves; we approve the former and find
fault with the latter.
Nature follows constantly the same progress; that is to say, the same
causes produce the same effects, as long as their action is not
interrupted by other causes which occasion the first ones to produce
different effects. When the causes, whose effects we feel, are
interrupted in their action by causes which, although unknown to us, are
no less natural and necessary, we are stupefied, we cry out miracles:
and we attribute them to a cause far less known than all those we see
operating before us. The universe is always in order; there can be no
disorder for it. Our organization alone is suffering if we complain
about disorder. Bodies, causes, beings, which this world embraces, act
necessarily in the manner in which we see them act, whether we approve
or disapprove their action. Earthquakes, volcanoes, inundations,
contagions, and famines are effects as necessary in the order of nature
as the fall of heavy bodies, as the course of rivers, as the periodical
movements of the seas, the blowing of the winds, the abundant rains, and
the favorable effects for which we praise and thank Providence for its
blessings.
To be astonished that a certain order reigns in the world, is to be
surprised to see the same causes constantly producing the same effects.
To be shocked at seeing disorder, is to forget that the causes being
changed or disturbed in their action, the effects can no longer be the
same. To be astonished to see order in nature, is to be astonished that
anything can exist; it is to be surprised at one's own existence. What
is order for one being, is disorder for another. All wicked beings find
that everything is in order when they can with impunity put everything
into disorder; they find, on the contrary, that everything is in
disorder when they are prevented from exercising their wickedness.