54 NATUHAi THEOLOOY. 



the bil! and tongue and claws* of the woodpecker deter 

 mines tliat bird to search for his food among the insects 

 lodged behind the bark or in the wood of decayed trees ; but 

 what would this profit him if there were no trees, no de- 

 cayed trees, no insects lodged under their bark or in thei? 

 trunk ? The proboscis with which the bee is furnished de- 

 termines him to seek for honey ; but what would that sig- 

 nify if flowers supplied none ? Faculties thrown down upon 

 animals at random, and without reference to the objects 

 amidst which they are placed, would not produce to them 

 the services and benefits which we see ; and if there ""^ that 

 reference, then there is intention. 



Lastly, the solution fails entirely when applied to plauts. 

 The parts of plants answer their uses without any concur- 

 rence from the will or choice of the plant. 



VI. Others have chosen to refer every thing to a j^^rz/Z 

 ciple of order in nature. A principle of order is the word ; 

 but what is meant by a principle of order as different from 

 an intelligent Creator, has not been explained either by defi- 

 nition or example ; and without such explanation, it should 

 seem to be a mere substitution of words for reasons, names 

 for causes. Order itself is only the adaptation of means to 

 an end : a principle of order, therefore, can only signify the 

 mind and intention which so adapts them. Or, wcio it 

 capable of being explained in any other sense, is there any 

 experience, any analogy, to sustain it ? "Was a watch ever 

 produced by a principle of order ; and why might not a 

 watch be so produced as well as an eye ? 



Furthermore, a principle of order, acting blindly and 

 without choice, is negatived by the observation that order is 

 not universal, which it would be if it issued from a constant 

 and necessary principle ; nor indiscriminate, which it would 

 be if it issued from an unintelligent principle. "VThere oidet 



* The claws are st'ong and hooked ; and, as in all clunbing birds, 

 tave two toes placed forwards and two backwards, by which th'jy 

 take a firm hold of the bark of trees. See Plate V., Fig. 3. 



