Part 15

They would not render either more simple or credible, the blind production of worlds, by supposing not only innumerable multitude of organized atoms, but, even an infinite diversity of molds to hold the atoms, and of which force chemical analogy gives us an idea. Such a system, which might serve to explain a few secondary causes of our known nature, is not applicable to the first formation of beings; for with such an assemblage of molds and atoms, all the great difficulties would still subsist. In fact, how should the different molds have classed themselves properly, in order to form the most simple whole, but which beside required a fixed measure and gradation of ranks? The mold destined for the organized atoms, of which the crystalline is to be composed, how is it possible it should have placed itself in the centre of that mold which is to form the pupil of the eye, and this last on that one which is to form the whole, and so on, by an exact gradation, whose divisions and subdivisions are innumerable?

Were they to suppose an infinite succession of molds, of which the largest attracted the smallest, in the same manner as the molds attracted the atoms; this supposition, less ridiculous than any other, is not sufficient to model, even in imagination, the most unimportant phœnomena of nature; it is necessary, besides, that by the direction of a wise and powerful force, the molds, and the atoms which belong to them, set themselves in motion, without confusion; it is necessary that those destined to compose the exterior fibres should not obstruct the passage of those molds calculated to form the interior organs; in short, that every one of those in its course and expansion, should artfully observe those delicate shades which blend or separate all the parts of the simplest of nature’s works.

We are already acquainted with a force which acts in all directions, which disposes every thing in due order, tends towards an end, stops, begins again, and finishes, every moment, a complicated work; and this is the intelligent will, and certainly we have reason to be astonished, that the only faculty we have an intimate consciousness of, is the one philosopher’s turn from, when they investigate the admirable order of the universe.

I allow, that they may, at the same time they reject the idea of a God, admit, as a principle, the eternal existence of a mechanical force, which, by an incomprehensible necessity, directed, towards a wise end, every thing that was at first confusedly scattered in the immensity of space; but this new supposition would form an hypothesis similar to the system of the eternal existence of the universe; in fact, the eternal existence of all the elements, of all substances, forces, and properties which were necessary to produce a certain order of things, would be a phœnomenon as incomprehensible as the existence of that order itself.

We must add, that these two phœnomena would be separated in our thoughts only by an indivisible instant, an instant that we can neither describe nor imagine in the extent of the time represented by eternity; for any chosen period would be still too late by an infinity of ages. The necessary effect of an eternal cause has not, like that cause, any period to which we can fix its commencement.

We thus perceive, under another point of view, how vain and ridiculous are the fantastic operations, they imagine, before the existence of the world, and which are attributed sometimes to the disordered movements of chance, and sometimes to the regular laws of blind necessity.

There is then but one hypothesis to be opposed to the idea of a God: it is the system of the eternal existence of the universe. Such an atheistical system will always be more easily defended than any other, because that being founded on a supposition without bounds, it does not require to be embraced by reasoning, like all the hypothetical ideas, by which men make nature act according to an order of their own invention. We will, in the next chapter, consider this system, and discuss it by every means in our power.

CHAP. XIV. _The same Subject continued._

Those who maintain that the world subsists of itself, and that there is not a God, say, in favour of their opinion, that if the eternal existence of the universe overwhelms our understanding, the eternal existence of a God is a still more inconceivable idea; and that such a supposition is only another difficulty, since, according to a common mode of judging, a work the most wonderful appears a phœnomenon less astonishing than the knowledge of which it is the result.

Let us first fix our attention on this argument. It is useless to ask, what is meant by another difficulty in infinity; those ideas which are represented by familiar expressions, necessarily derived from comparison, are only admissable in the narrow circle of our knowledge; out of it, those ideas have not any application, and we cannot fix any degrees in the immensity which exceeds the bounds of our views, and in those unfathomable depths which are out of the reach of our intellectual powers.

Undoubtedly, our mind is equally lost, both in trying to form a distinct idea of a God, and in endeavouring to describe the eternal existence of the world, without any cause out of itself: however, when we try to glance our thoughts towards the first traces of time; when we try to rise almost to the beginning of beginnings, we feel distinctly that, far from considering the eternal existence of an intelligent cause as increasing the difficulty, we only find repose in that opinion; and instead of forcing our mind to adopt such an opinion, and thinking we wander in an imaginary space, we find it, on the contrary, more congenial with our nature; whilst order unites itself to the idea of a design, and a multiplicity of combinations to the idea of an intelligence. Thus we rise from little to great things, and reasoning by analogy, we shall more easily conceive the existence of a Being endowed with various unlimitted properties, which we in part partake; we shall, I say, more easily conceive such an existence, than that of a universe, where all would be intelligent, except the first mover. The workman, undoubtedly, is superior to the work: but according to our manner of feeling and judging, an intelligent combination, formed without intelligence, will always be the most extraordinary, as well as the most incomprehensible phœnomenon.

It is not indifferent to observe, that according to the system I combat, the more the world would appear to us the admirable result of wisdom, the less power should we have to draw any deduction favourable to the existence of a God, since the author of a perfect work is not so easily traced as the feeble re-iterated labours of mediocrity. Thus, all those who particularized the beauties of nature, would stupidly injure the cause of religion, and weaken our belief in the existence of a Supreme Being. It seems to me, that it is easy to perceive what an ill-founded argument that must be which leads us to a conclusion so absurd.

The attentive view of the universe should make us mistrust the judgment, which we form, of that which is the most simple in the order of things; for all the general operations of nature arise from a movement more noble and complicated than we can easily form an idea of. We should surely find, contrary to a perfect simplicity of means, that a circuit of two hundred millions of leagues, which our globe makes every year, is necessary, in order to produce the successive changes of seasons, and to assure the reproduction of the necessary fruits; we should find, that the distance of thirty-four millions of leagues, between the sun and the earth, was necessary to proportion the rays of light to the delicacy of our organs. However, if even in the narrow circle we traverse, we do not discover any constant application of that simple order, of which we form an idea, how could such a principle serve to guide our opinions, at the moment when we elevate our meditations to the first link of the vast chain of beings; when we undertake to examine, whether, throughout the immensity of the universe, there exists, or not, an intelligent cause? What would become, in that immensity, of the insignificant phrase, _it is one difficulty more_? The buzzing fly would be less ridiculous, if capable of perceiving the order and magnificence of a palace, it asserted, that the architect never existed.

Every thing indicates, that, according to our different degrees of sense and knowledge, what is simple, and what is easy, have a very different application; we may continually observe, that these expressions are not interpreted in the same manner, by a man of moderate abilities and a man of genius; however, the distance which separates the various degrees of intelligence with which we are acquainted, is probably very trifling in the universal scale of beings. All our reflections would lead us then to presume, that beyond the limits of the human mind, the simple is compounded, the easy our wonderful, and the evident our inconceivable.

After having examined the principal arguments of the partisans of athiestical systems, which we now attack; let us change the scene, and in the midst of the labyrinth, in which we are placed, try to find a clue for our meditations.

We are witnesses of the existence of the world, and intimately acquainted with our own; thus, either God or matter must have been eternal; and by a natural consequence, an eternal existence, which is an idea the most incomprehensible, is, however, the most incontestible truth. Obliged now, in order, to fix our opinion, to chuse between two eternal existences, the one intelligent and free, the other blind, and void of all consciousness, why not prefer the first? An eternal existence is an idea so astonishing, so much above our comprehension, that we decorate it with every thing sublime and beautiful, and nothing deserves more those decorations than thought.

Would it not be strange, that in our sysmatic divisions, it was only to thought, and consequently to all that was most admirable in our nature, that we refuse eternity, whilst we grant it to matter and its blind combinations? What a subversion of all proportion! that we should believe in the eternal existence of matter, because it is present to our eyes, and yet not admit the eternal existence of an intelligence; whilst that which we are endowed with becomes the source of our judgment, and even the guide of our senses!

And by what other singularity we should grant the faculty and the consciousness of intelligence, only to that small part of the world which is represented by animated beings? Thus, the whole of nature would be below a part; and if no spirit animated the universe, man would appear to have reached his ultimate perfection; though we see in him but a faint sketch, a weak shadow of something more complete and admirable; we perceive that he is, to speak thus, at the commencement of thinking; and all his cares, all his efforts, to extend the empire of that faculty, only inform him, that he tends continually towards an end, from which he is always distant; in short, in his greatest exertions he feels his weakness; he studies, but he cannot know himself; he makes a few petty discoveries, sees some trifling wheels, whilst the main spring escapes his search: he is fallen into the world, like a grain of sand thrown by the winds; he has neither a consciousness of his origin, nor a foresight of his end; we perceive in him all the timidity and mistrust of a dependent being; he is constrained, by instinct, to raise to heaven his wishes and contemplations; and, when he is not led astray by an intoxicating reason, he fears, seeks to adore a god, and rejects with disdain the rank which audacious philosophers assign him in the order of nature.

I must also add, that the sentiment of admiration, which I cannot stifle, when I turn my attention on the spiritual qualities we are endowed with, would be insensibly weakened, if I was reduced to consider man himself as a simple growth of blind matter; for the most astonishing production would only inspire me with a transitory emotion, unless I can refer it to an intelligent cause: I must discover a design, a combination, before I admire; as I have need to perceive feeling and affection, before I love.

But as soon as I see in the human mind the stamp of Omnipotence; and it appears to me one of the results of a grand thought; it reasumes its dignity, and all the faculties of my soul are prostrate before such a wonderful conception.

It is then united with the idea of a God, that the spiritual faculties of man attract my homage and captivate my imagination; in reflecting on these sublime faculties, studying their admirable essence, I am confirmed in the opinion that there exists a sovereign intelligence, soul of nature, and that nature itself is subject to its laws: yes, we find in the mind of man the first evidence, a faint shadow of the perfection which we must attribute to the Creator of the Universe. What a wonder indeed is our thinking faculty, capable of so many things yet ignorant of its own nature! I am equally astonished, by the extent and limits of thinking; an immense space is open to its researches, and at the same time it cannot comprehend the secrets which appear most proximate with it; as the grand motive of action, the principle of intellectual force, ever remains concealed. Man is then informed, every instant, of his grandeur and dependence; and these thoughts must naturally lead to the idea of Omnipotence. There are, in those limits of our knowledge and ignorance, in that confused and conditional light, all the evidence of design; and it seems to me, sometimes, that I hear this command given to the human soul by the God of the universe: go to admire a portion of my universe, to search for happiness and to learn to love me; but do not try to raise the veil, with which I have covered the secret of thy existence; I have composed thy nature of some of the attributes which constitute my own essence, thou wouldst be too near me, if I should permit thee to penetrate the mysteries of it; wait for the moment destined by my wisdom; till then, thou canst only reach me by reverence and gratitude.

Not only the wonderful faculty of thinking connects us with the universal intelligence; but all those inconceivable properties, known by the name of liberty, judgment, will, memory, and foresight; it is, in short, the august and sublime assemblage of all our intellectual faculties. Are we, in fact, after the contemplation of such a grand phœnomenon, far from conceiving a God? No, undoubtedly, we have within us a feeble image of that infinite power we seek to discover; man is himself a universe, governed by a sovereign; and we are much nearer the Supreme Intelligence, by our nature, than by any notion of the primitive properties of matter; properties, from which some wish to make the system of the world and its admirable harmony flow.

It seems to me, that our thinking faculty is too slightly treated in the greater number of philosophic systems; and some have been so afraid of honouring it, that they will not admit it to be a simple and particular principle, when the subject of the question is the immortality of the soul; nor will they consider it as a universal principle, when they discuss the opinion of the existence of a God.

It is equally singular, that they wish to compose of matter a soul endowed with the most sublime qualities; and they pretend, at the same time, that the world, in which we see intelligent beings, had not for a contriver and principal any being of the same nature: this supposition, however, would be as reasonable as the other is weak; but it seems to me, that they like better to attribute order to confusion, than to order itself.

We seek to penetrate the secret of the existence of the universe; and when we reflect on the causes of that vast and magnificent disposition, we can only attribute it to what seems the most marvellous and analogous to such a composition, thought, intention, and will. Why then should we retrench from the formation of the world all those sublime properties? Are we to act sparingly in an hypothesis in which all the wonders of nature are concentred? It is by the spiritual faculties with which man is endowed, that he remains master of the earth, that he has subdued the ferocious animals, conquered the elements, and found a shelter from their impetuosity: it is by these faculties that man has constructed society, given laws to his own passions, and that he has improved all his means of happiness; in short, nothing has ever been done, but by the aid of his mind; and in his speculations on the formation of the world, and on the admirable relations of all the parts of the universe, that which he wishes not to admit, and will dare to reject is the intelligent powers and action of thinking. It seems like men disputing about the means which has been made use of to erect a pyramid, who name all the instruments, except those that they found at the foot of the edifice.

Habit only turns our attention from the union of wonders which compose the soul; and it is thus, unfortunately, that admiration, lively light of the mind and feelings, does not afford us any more instruction. We should be very differently affected, if, for the first time, we contemplated the meanest part of this admirable whole! But even then, in a little time, the strong conviction of the existence of a God would be worn away, and become what it is at present. But, let me be permitted, in order to render this truth more striking, to have recourse, for a moment, to fiction. Let us imagine men, as immoveable as plants, but endowed with some one of our senses, enjoying the faculty of reflection, and enabled to communicate their thoughts. I hear these animated trees discourse about the origin of the world, and the first cause of all things; they advance, like us, different hypothesis on the fortuitous movement of atoms, the laws of fate and blind necessity; and among the different arguments, employed by some, to contest the existence of a God, creator of the universe, that which makes the greatest impression is, that it is impossible to conceive how an idea should become a reality; of how the design of disposing the parts should influence the execution, since the will being a simple wish, a thought without force has not any means to metamorphose itself into action: but in vain would these immoveable spectators of the universe wish to change their situation, to raise a shelter against the impetuosity of the winds, or the scorching heat of the sun; yet then it would be evidently absurd to imagine the existence of a faculty essentially contrary to the immutable nature of things. Let however, in the midst of this conversation, a supernatural power appear, and say to them, what would you think then, if this wonder, whose existence you regard as impossible, should be executed before your eyes; and if the faculty of acting, according to your own will, was to be suddenly given you? Seized with astonishment, they would prostrate themselves with fear and respect; and from that instant, without the slightest doubt, would believe they had discovered the secret of the system of the world; and they would adore the infinite power of intelligence, and it is to a like cause we should attribute the disposition of the universe. However, the same phœnomenon which would appear above belief, and out of the limits of possibility, to those who have never been a witness of it, that wonder exists in our world; we see it, we experience it every instant; though the force of habit weakens the impression and eradicates our admiration.

The hypothesis I have just mentioned, might even be applied to the sudden acquisition of all the means proper to communicate ideas; and to the prompt discoveries of the other properties of our mind; but several of these properties constitute, in such an essential manner, the essence of the soul, that we cannot, even in imagination, separate them, any more than we can detach action from will, and will from thought. There are some spiritual faculties, and those the most wonderful, which we cannot define, and which we should not have even supposed to exist had we not possessed them; and if it had been possible to have known them before we were endowed with them, the inventors of systems would have pointed out this astonishing means, as the only one applicable to the composition of the admirable harmony of the universe.

We shall be led to the same reflections, when ceasing to expatiate on the greatest wonders of our nature, we bound ourselves to consider the human mind at the moment when its action may be perceived. To render this observation clearer, let us follow a man of genius in the course of his labours, and we shall see him at once embrace a multitude of ideas, compare them, notwithstanding their distance, and form from such a mixture a distinct result proper to direct his public or private conduct; let us consider him extending and multiplying these first combinations, and connecting them, by an invisible web, to some scattered points which his imagination has fixed in the vast regions of futurity; with the assistance of these magic succours we see him approaching the time which does not yet exist; but we see him, in his career, aided by accumulated knowledge, more subtle than the rays of the sun and yet separated, with an admirable order; more fleet and dispersed than the light vapours of the morning, and still subject to the will of that inconceivable power, which, under the name of memory, heaps up the acquisitions of the mind, in order to assist it afterwards in its new acquirements: but let us examine still further this man of genius, when he deposits, by means of writing, his different reflections; and let us ask, how he knows quickly, that an idea is new, and that a style has an original turn? Let us again enquire, how, in order to form such a judgment, he makes with celerity a recapitulation of the thoughts and images employed by others, to illustrate the subjects they have treated, whilst years and ages were rolling away; in short, let every one, according to his strength, try to penetrate into these mysterious beauties of the human understanding; and let him enquire afterwards about the impression which he receives from a like meditation. There is, perhaps, as great a difference, if I may be allowed to say so, between the most perfect vegetable and the human mind, as between it and the Deity: to extend this idea, we have only to suppose, that in the immensity which surrounds us, there exists a gradation equal to that we have perceived in the little space we are permitted to inspect.