sal principle of existence; or, rising above nature, the mind
stops at humanity, without ascending to the Infinite Mind, to the
Creator. We have seen how clearly these two doctrines appear in
contemporary literature. We have now to enter upon the examination of
them, and this will afford us matter for two lectures.

The word nature has various meanings; we employ it here to designate
matter, and the forces which set it in motion, those forces being
conceived as blind and fatal, in opposition to the conscious and free
force which constitutes mind. Matter and the laws of motion are the
object of mechanics, of chemistry, and of physics. Do these sciences
suffice for resolving the universal enigma? Such is precisely the
question which offers itself to our examination.

Let us first of all determine what, in presence of the spectacle of the
universe, is the natural movement of human thought, when human thought
possesses the idea of God. I open a book trivial enough in its form, but
occasionally profound in its contents: the _Journey round my room_, of
Xavier de Maistre. The author is relating how he had undertaken to make
an artificial dove which was to sustain itself in the air by means of an
ingenious mechanism. I read:

"I had wrought unceasingly at its construction for more than three
months. The day was come for the trial. I placed it on the edge of a
table, after having carefully closed the door, in order to keep the
discovery secret, and to give my friends a pleasing surprise. A thread
held the mechanism motionless. Who can conceive the palpitations of my
heart, and the agonies of my self-love, when I brought the scissors near
to cut the fatal bond?--Zest!--the spring of the dove starts, and begins
to unroll itself with a noise. I lift my eyes to see the bird pass; but,
after making a few turns over and over, it falls, and goes off to hide
itself under the table. Rosine (my dog), who was sleeping there, moves
ruefully away. Rosine, who never sees a chicken, or a pigeon, or the
smallest bird, without attacking and pursuing it, did not deign even to
look at my dove which was floundering on the floor. This gave the
finishing stroke to my self-esteem. I went to take an airing on the
ramparts.

"I was walking up and down, sad and out of spirits as one always is
after a great hope disappointed, when, raising my eyes, I perceived a
flight of cranes passing over my head. I stopped to have a good look at
them. They were ad