The great question which, in all ages, has disturbed mankind, and brought on them the greatest part of their mischiefs, has been, not whether there be power in the world, nor whence it came, but who should have it.
The present state of the system of nature is evidently a consequence of what it was in the preceding moment, and if we conceive of an intelligence which at a given instant comprehends all the relations of the entities of this universe, it could state the respective positions, motions, and general effects of all these entities at any time in the past or future.
