BOOK I PART IV
a being, whose volition is connected with ev-
ery effect, is connected with every effect: which
is an identical proposition, and gives us no in-
sight into the nature of this power or connex-
ion. But, secondly, supposing, that the deity
were the great and efficacious principle, which
supplies the deficiency of all causes, this leads
us into the grossest impieties and absurdities.
For upon the same account, that we have re-
course to him in natural operations, and assert
that matter cannot of itself communicate mo-
tion, or produce thought, viz. because there is
no apparent connexion betwixt these objects; I
say, upon the very same account, we must ac-
knowledge that the deity is the author of all our
volitions and perceptions; since they have no
more apparent connexion either with one an-
other, or with the supposed but unknown sub-
stance of the soul. This agency of the supreme