356 THE GOODNESS OF THE DEITY. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



OF THE GOODNESS OF THE DEITY. 



The proof of the divine goodness rests upon two propo- 

 sitions, each, as we contend, capable of being made out by 

 observations drawn from the appearances of nature. 



The first is, ** that, in a vast plurality of instances in 

 which contrivance is perceived, the design of the contri- 

 vance is henejidal. 



The second, " that the Deity has superadded pleasure to 

 animal sensations, beyond what was necessary for any 

 other purpose, or when the purpose, so far as was necessa- 

 ry, might have been effected by the operation of pain." 



First, ** in a vast plurality of instances, in which contri- 

 vance is perceived, the design of the contrivance is benefi- 

 daV 



No productions of nature display contrivance so manifest- 

 ly as the parts of animals : and the parts of animals have 

 all of them, I believe, a real, and, with very few exceptions^ 

 all of them a known and intelligible subserviency to the 

 use of the animal. Now, when the multitude of animals is 

 considered, the numoer of parts in each, their figure and 

 fitness, the facultie- depending upon them, the variety oi 

 species, the complexity of structure, the success, in so ma- 

 ny cases, and felicity of the result, we can never reflect, 

 without the profoundest adoration, upon the character of 

 that Being from wiiom all these things have proceeded : we 

 cannot help acknowledging, what an exertion of benevo- 

 lence creation was ; of a benevolence, how minute in its 

 care, how vast in its comprehension. 



When v/e appeal to the parts and faculties of animals, 

 and to the limbs and senses of animals in particular, we 

 state, I conceive, the proper medium of proof for the con- 

 clusion which we wish to establish. I will not say, that 

 the insensible parts of nature are made solely for the sensi- 

 tive parts ; but this I say, that, when we consider the be- 

 nevolence of the Deity, we can only consider it in relation 

 to sensitive Being. Without this reference, or referred to 

 any thing else, the attribute has no object : the term has 

 no meaning. Dead matter is nothing. The parts, there- 

 fore, especially the limbs and senses of animals, although 

 they constitute, in mass and quantity, a small portion of the 

 jnaterial creation, yet, since they alone are instruments of 



