CONCLUSION. 295 



that is, the effects of apparent chance. It may be in pur- 

 suance, therefore, and in furtherance of the same scheme 

 of probation, that the evils of life are made so to present 

 themselves. 



I have already observed that, when we let in religious 

 considerations, we often let in light upon the difficulties of 

 nature. So in the fact now to be accounted for, the degree 

 of happiness, which we usually enjoy in this life, may be bet- 

 ter suited to a state of trial and probation, than a greater de- 

 gree would be. The truth is, we are rather too much delight- 

 ed with the world, than too little. Imperfect, broken, and 

 precarious as our pleasures are, they are more than suffi- 

 cient to attach us to the eager pursuit of them. A regard 

 to ?i future state can hardly keep its place as it is. If we 

 were designed, therefore, to be influenced by that regard, 

 might not a more indulgent system, a higher or more unin- 

 terrupted state of gratification, have interfered with the de- 

 sign ? At least it seems expedient, that mankind should 

 be susceptible of this influence, when presented to them ; 

 that the condition of the world should not be such, as to 

 exclude its operation, or even lo weaken it more than it 

 does. In a religious view (however we may complain of 

 them in every other) privation, disappointment, and satiety, 

 are not without the most salutary tendencies. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



CONCLUSION. 



In all cases, wherein the mind feels itself in danger of 

 being confounded by variety, it is sure to rest upon a few 

 strong points, or perhaps upon a single instance. Amongst 

 a multitude of proofs, it is one that does the business. If 

 we observe in any argument, that hardly two minds fix up- 

 on the same instance, the diversity of choice shows the 

 strength of the argument, because it shows the number and 

 competition of the examples. There is no subject in which 

 the tendency to dwell upon select or single topics is so usu- 

 al, because there is no subject, of which, in its full extent, 

 the latitude is so great, as that of natural history applied to 

 the proof of an intelligent Creator. For my part, I take 

 my stand in human anatomy ; and the examples of mechan^ 



