24 Natural Theology. 



with such wonderful claims is the word or work of 

 Him who laid the foundations of the hills, and fash- 

 ioned man with this curious body, and made him an 

 intelligent being ? That we may be able to answer 

 this question, we will gather the wisdom of the past, 

 we will ourselves dig for some marble not yet dis- 

 covered, that we may read on it the name and works 

 of the Great Builder. If we can from this accumu- 

 lated evidence satisfy ourselves not only of the ex- 

 istence of a God, who has left His witness in the 

 dust of the earth, in the varied forms of life, and in 

 the golden stars that adorn the blue enamel of the 

 sky, but can be sure that He has declared to us His 

 counsel in a written Word, our work is done. No 

 possible question can man ask for himself, either for 

 his highest gratification or good, that is not answer- 

 ed in the Bible. Assure him that this Book is what 

 it claims to be, and he can learn there, in language 

 too plain to be misunderstood, both his duty and his 

 ~ destiny. Natural Religion, as generally defined, is 

 , what can be learned of God and our relations to 

 Him without the Bible. But if the Bible is what it 

 claims to be, Natural Religion will appear in its 

 greatest perfection, not when standing like an in* 

 complete shaft, as it certainly now is, and proba- 

 bly must of itself ever remain, but when surmounted 

 by that gorgeous capital, the revealed Word, wrought 

 by the same hand. They will thus both blend in a 

 divine harmony of proportion and structure, each 

 one the completion and explainer of the other. It 

 was the desire to show not only that there is a Na- 



