CCIV. That, touching the things which our senses do not perceive,
it is sufficient to explain how they can be, [and that this is all
that Aristotle has essayed].
But here some one will perhaps reply, that although I have supposed
causes which could produce all natural objects, we ought not on this
account to conclude that they were produced by these causes; for,
just as the same artisan can make two clocks, which, though they
both equally well indicate the time, and are not different in
outward appearance, have nevertheless nothing resembling in the
composition of their wheels; so doubtless the Supreme Maker of
things has an infinity of diverse means at his disposal, by each of
which he could have made all the things of this world to appear as
we see them, without it being possible for the human mind to know
which of all these means he chose to employ. I most freely concede
this; and I believe that I have done all that was required, if the
causes I have assigned are such that their effects accurately
correspond to all the phenomena of nature, without determining
whether it is by these or by others that they are actually produced.
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