nty. But if he cannot hear from another what these final
causes are, nothing remains but to turn to himself and reflect upon the
ends which usually determine him to the like actions, and thus by his
own mind he necessarily judges that of another.

Moreover, since he discovers, both within and without himself a
multitude of means which contribute not a little to the attainment of
what is profitable to himself--for example, the eyes, which are useful
for seeing, the teeth for mastication, plants and animals for
nourishment, the sun for giving light, the sea for feeding fish,
etc.--it comes to pass that all natural objects are considered as means
for obtaining what is profitable. These too being evidently discovered
and not created by man, hence he has a cause for believing that some
other person exists, who has prepared them for man's use. For having
considered them as means it was impossible to believe that they had
created themselves, and so he was obliged to infer from the means which
he was in the habit of providing for himself that some ruler or rulers
of Nature exist, endowed with human liberty, who have taken care of all
things for him, and have made all things for his use. Since he never
heard anything about the mind of these rulers, he was compelled to judge
of it from his own, and hence he affirmed that the gods direct
everything for his advantage, in order that he may be bound to them and
hold them in the highest honor. This is the reason why each man has
devised for himself, out of his own brain, a different mode of
worshiping God, so that God might love him above others, and direct all
Nature to the service of his blind cupidity and insatiable avarice.

Thus has this prejudice been turned into a superstition and has driven
deep roots into the mind--a prejudice which was the reason why every one
has so eagerly tried to discover and explain the final causes of things.
The attempt, however, to show that Nature does nothing in vain (that is
to say, nothing which is not profitable to man), seems to end in showing
that Nature, the gods, and man are alike mad.

Do but see, I pray, to what all this has led. Amidst so much in Nature
that is beneficial, not a few things must have been observed which are
injurious, such as storms, earthquakes, diseases, and it was affirmed
that these things happened either because the gods were angry because of
wrongs which had been inflicted on them by man, or because of sins
committ