278 DABWINIANA. 



" Paley, indeed, says that if the construction of a watch be 

 an undeniable evidence of design, it would be a still more won- 

 derful manifestation of skill if a watch could be made to pro- 

 duce other watches, and, it may be added, not only other 

 watches, but all kinds of timepieces, in endless variety. So it 

 has been asked, If a man can make a telescope, why cannot 

 God make a telescope which produces others like itself? This 

 is simply asking whether matter can be made to do the work 

 of mind. The idea involves a contradiction. For a telescope 

 to make a telescope supposes it to select copper and zinc in due 

 proportions, and fuse them into brass; to fashion that brass 

 into inter-entering tubes; to collect and combine the requisite 

 materials for the different kinds of glass needed ; to melt them, 

 grind, fashion, and polish them, adjust their densities, focal dis- 

 tances, etc., etc. A man who can believe that brass can do 

 all this might as well believe in God " (pp. 45, 46). 



If Dr. Hodge's meaning is, that matter uncon- 

 structed cannot do the work of mind, he misses the 

 point altogether ; for original construction by an in- 

 telligent mind is given in the premises. If he means 

 that the machine cannot originate the power that 

 operates it, this is conceded by all except believers in 

 perpetual motion, and it equally misses the point ; for 

 the operating power is given in the case of the watch, 

 and implied in that of the reproductive telescope. 

 But if he means that matter cannot be made to do the 

 work of mind in constructions, machines, or organ- 

 isms, he is surely wrong. " Solvitur ambulando" 

 vet scrihendo; he confuted his argument in the act of 

 writing the sentence. That is just what machines 

 and organisms are for; and a consistent Christian 

 theist should maintain that it is what all matter is for. 

 Finally, if, as we freely suppose, he means none of 

 these, he must mean (unless we are much mistaken) 



