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.