8 INTRODUCTION, 



there are these imperfect objects to call it forth ? and 

 shall we be indifferent to the innumerable wonders of 

 nature around us, the examination of which would 

 prove a sure mean of enlightening our minds, exalting 

 our thoughts, and advancing our piety ? 



T. How do we arrive at the knowledge of an Al- 

 mighty Creator, from contemplating the spectacle of 

 the universe ? 



A.. The countless manifestations of design, and 

 the continued display of bountiful provisions through 

 all nature, are a proof of some designing power, and 

 of a power beneficent and good, that, is, of the Being 

 whom we denominate God. If we should deem it 

 absurd to suggest that a watch was an accidental com- 

 bination of wheels and springs, not intended for any 

 purpose, how much more irrational to suppose that so 

 many manifestations of design, in the universe, exist 

 without design ! When the humblest appearances of 

 order, arrangement, and adaptation to use, in any ob- 

 ject, even in a birdVnest, would lead us to pronounce 

 it not a casual formation, but the production of some 

 animal, shall the infinite spectacle of subserviency, 

 proportion and harmony, which the universe presents, 

 impress no conviction of design or of a designing 

 cause ? Shall design cease to be deducible when once 

 we have ascended from the mysterious operations of 

 animal instinct and human reason ? We know there is 

 designing intelligence in animals or men, only from 

 what they perform. We call them intelligent, only 

 because they act as if they were so. This is our only 

 evidence. If they were destitute of interior faculties, 



