The 'law of wills and causes,' formulated by Comte,... is that when men do not know the natural causes of things, they simply attribute them to wills like their own; thus they obtain a theory which provisionally takes the place of science, and this theory forms a basis for theology.

A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom (ed. Transaction Publishers, 2012) - ISBN: 9781412849135