rom this I conclude that
human intelligence depends upon a certain disposition of the material
organs of the body, and that, because man is an intelligent being, it is
not well to conclude that God must be an intelligent being, any more
than because man is material, we are compelled to conclude that God is
material. The intelligence of man no more proves the intelligence of God
than the malice of men proves the malice of this God, of whom they
pretend that man is the work. In whatever way theology is taken, God
will always be a cause contradicted by its effects, or of whom it is
impossible to judge by His works. We shall always see evil,
imperfections, and follies resulting from a cause claimed to be full of
goodness, of perfections, and of wisdom.

XLIII.--HOWEVER, NEITHER MAN NOR THE UNIVERSE IS THE EFFECT OF CHANCE.

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 place