But the Cartesian theory, like the later speculations of Kant and Laplace, proposes to give a hypothetical explanation of the circumstances and motions which in the normal course of things led to the state of things required by the law of attraction.
The Brahman priest (brahma) being thus the recognized head of the sacerdotal order (brahma), which itself is the visible embodiment of sacred writ and the devotional spirit pervading it (brahma), the complete realization of theocratic aspirations required but a single step, which was indeed taken in the theosophic speculations of the later Vedic poets and the authors of the Brahmanas (q.v.), viz.
Among the earliest of these speculations is that put forward by Benoit de Maillet in his Telliained, which, though printed in 1735, was not published until twenty-three years later.
Jean Baptiste Rene Robinet' followed out much the same line of thought as De Maillet, but less soberly; and Bonnet's speculations in the Palingenesie, which appeared in 1769, have already been mentioned.
We find in the Meditations no speculations on the absolute nature of the deity, and no clear expressions of opinion as to a future state.
