30 Natural Theology. 



truths that shine in the firmament of their s) stems 

 like the fixed stars that give their light constantly 

 and certainly from their own bodies, or are they like 

 the moon and primary planets, bodies that would 

 have eluded all human power of discovery were they 

 not gilded by a great central light ? If our earth 

 were lighted by the stars alone, we could with our 

 present organs of sight guide ourselves in some 

 places in safety. Probably we should infer from the 

 amount of light received that more would be highly 

 desirable, and that we were fitted to enjoy and pro- 

 fit by more. Perhaps we might argue from our 

 need of it, and from our power to profit by it, that 

 more would be given, if we were assured that what 

 we already enjoyed was provided for us by a bene- 

 volent Being, the Creator of the eye and the Author 

 of light. But all we should be certain of would be 

 the desirableness of more. This is as far as Natural 

 Religion has ever gone, that we can learn. It has 

 established the proof of a God or Creator of all 

 things. It has shown that while all the desires and 

 capacities of the inferior animals have a perfect pro- 

 vision made for them, and that while the desires 

 and capacities of man, as a physical being, have had 

 full provision made for them, those desires which we 

 call religious have never yet been satisfied by the 

 study of nature alone. In fact, none of those great 

 truths which relate to a future life have ever yet 

 been substantiated except by a written Word. We 

 simply indicate here as the result, what we hope to 

 prove and illustrate. The assertion may be denied 



