INFERENCES FROM DESIGN. 113 
(60.) Such are the evident conclusions which re- 
sult from a conviction of design in the creation. 
And this conviction will be equally attained, whether 
we take an enlarged view of the subject, or descend 
to minutie: whether, with the scholar or the phi- 
losopher, we discuss the question by the rules of logic; 
or whether, with the ordinary observer, we adopt 
the imore simple process of contemplating those in- 
numerable and beautiful objects of the creation 
which lie before us. If every thing in nature which 
we examine and reason upon, evinces this principle 
of design, it follows that design is universal (57.). 
And as experience teaches us, that, although we can 
trace the principle, we know but a limited portion 
of its extent, it may be fairly inferred that even of 
that portion which man may discover, we know as 
yet but an insignificant part — and that, too, is seen 
“as in a glass, darkly.” How little, for instance, do 
we know of the manners and instincts of the common 
animals around us! and how little have we yet learned 
of the purposes for which they were created! Now, 
as the Author of this principle of design is Himself 
the type of perfection, that perfection must extend 
to all His attributes. Hence arises the supposition, 
that every created thing has a twofold use ; one in 
relation to the economy of nature, and another to 
the exemplification of moral and religious truths 
The first is palpable to the most illiterate observer: 
every one, for instance, can see, that without insects, 
there would be no occasion for spiders; and that 
without swallows, we should suffer from a plague of 
flies. But the moral use of the book of nature 
is not so apparent. We can, indeed, perceive 
T 
