VI PREFACE. 



" The argument from design, as commonly presented, is cumu- 

 lative, it is an induction from a multitude of particulars. Every 

 science furnishes its quota of materials, and every fresh step in 

 discovery, if it cannot make the conclusion more certain, adds new 

 splendour to the illustrations of it. Every being with which we 

 are conversant, every limb and fragment of every being, every 

 atom composing those fragments is found to bear on it the stamp 

 of purpose, the very autograph of mind. It is a means or an 

 end, or both means and end. 



" But the argument does not rest here. Innumerable particular 

 instances irresistibly indicate mind as the agency at work in the 

 universe. Starting from this conclusion, the argument take:? a 

 wider and loftier range ; and on a contemplation of the com- 

 bined phenomena of nature, the conclusion is irresistible, that 

 all is the work of one mind. Harmony and analogy pervade 

 nature. Part answers to part, so as inevitably to suggest 

 the belief of a mighty whole. Many subordinate -purposes 

 are found combining as means to the fulfilment of some higher 

 purpose. As each being ascends in the scale of creation, it 

 is seen multiplying its points of analogy and harmony with the 

 rest of nature ; absorbing into itself a greater number of subordi- 

 nate purposes, and rendering them subservient to its own ends. 

 The question cannot but arise, where does this progression reach its 

 limit 1 Are the harmonies which so widely obtain in nature, after 

 all, but partial, to be supplanted on a wider acquaintance by discord 

 or utter independence ; or do not all the parts of nature, number- 

 less and widely scattered as they are, constitute one vast and 

 accordant whole ? 



"These widely and subtilly interwoven analogies and corres 

 pondences, and this scale of purpose, narrowing as it ascends, do 

 they not clearly indicate that the whole is built upon one plan, and 

 pervaded by a single purpose TeAos^vptwrarov to which all the 

 rest are subordinate, and in which creation finds its unity, destiny, 

 and reason? 



" And if so, What is that purpose ? This stupendous universe 

 cannot be a mere disjointed maze of particular contrivance, a 

 labyrinth of worlds leading nowither, a boundless temple, without 

 altar, service, or in-dwelling Deity The purpose we are in search 



