Note 520:1 — Chapter XVII · (continued 2)
Reading edition
In one of his epistles to the great Frederic, Voltaire says of the distribution of the fruits of the earth:—
Il murit, à Moka, dans le sable Arabique, Ce caffé nécessaire aux pays des frimats; Il met la fièvre en nos climats, Et le remède en Amerique.
But the policy of the earth's distribution, with many other truths not to be at once penetrated, even by the keenest mortal vision, were mysteries to the auto-theist, and being so, were therefore to his self-sufficient wisdom, absurd and ludicrous. Could that be right of which the sage of Ferney could not understand the ruling principle!