22 Natural Theology. 



show that it is the creation of a Personal Being, and 

 that it has somewhere in its structure marks that 

 may fairly be presumed to indicate the character of 

 its Creator ; that there is also some proof that man 

 is an accountable being, and that there are some 

 means by which he can establish such relations with 

 his Creator as that accountability requires. This 

 may not be true ; but it has been held by so many of 

 the best minds the world has seen, that we may be 

 allowed to start with this theory of our case. Our 

 theory then is, that man and all creatures in the 

 universe are the work of a Personal Being. That 

 Personal Being we wish to search for, to learn His 

 character and our relations to Him. For such a result, 

 no journey would be .too long, no fatigue too great. 

 In this investigation, we naturally look to see what 

 those who have gone before us have to offer for our 

 aid and guidance. We ask where they searched for 

 an answer to these questions which seem to have 

 been the common inheritance of the race ? We 

 ask them what answer they received, and in what 

 language the oracle gave its response ? And lo ! 

 all down the ages come the answers from those 

 philosophers, who claim to have found their ora- 

 cles speaking from the heavens, or from the 

 foundations and adornings of this earth. Others 

 have found, or fancied that they have found, 

 the answer in the wondrous powers and relation- 

 ships of their own being. Above all these sources 

 of knowledge, we have a Book, c laiming divine ori- 

 gin, claiming to be the written Word of the Being 



