270 NATURAL THEOLOG?. 



Without tills agent, without this power, w^iich are both dis- 

 tinct from itself, the " law" does nothing, is nothing. 



What has been said concerning " law," holds true of 

 mechanism. Mechanism is not itself power. Mechanism 

 without power can do nothing. Let a watch be contrived 

 and constructed ever so ingeniously — be its parts ever sc 

 many, ever so complicated, ever so finely wrought or arti- 

 ficially put together, it cannot go without a weight or spring; 

 that is, 'without a force independent of, and ulterior to its 

 mechanism. The spring, acting at the centre, will produce 

 dilTerent motions and different results, according to the va- 

 riety of the intermediate mechanism. One and the self- 

 same spring, acting in one and the same manner, namely, 

 by simply expanding itself, may be the cause of a hundred 

 different and all useful movements, if a hundred different 

 and well-devised sets of wheels be placed between it and 

 the final effect : for example, may point out the hour of the 

 day, the day of the month, the age of the moon, the position 

 of the planets, the cycle of the years, and many other ser- 

 viceable notices ; and these movements may fulfil their pur- 

 poses with more or less perfection, according as the mechan- 

 ism is better or worse contrived, or better or worse executed, 

 or in a better or worse state of repair ; but in all cases it is 

 7iecessary tlmt iiie spring tict at the centre. The cour;LU of 

 our reasoning upon such a subject would be this : by inspect- 

 ing the watch, even when standing still, we get a proof of con- 

 trivance, and of a contriving mind having been employed 

 about it. In the form and obvious relation of its parts, we see 

 enough to convince us of this. If we pull the works in pieces, 

 for the purpose of a closer examination, we are still more fully 

 convinced. But when we see the watch goijig, we see proof 

 of another point, namely, that there is a power somewhere, ana 

 somehow or other applied to it — a power in action ; that there 

 is more in the subject than the mere wheels of the machine ; 

 that there is a secret spring, or a gravitating plummet ; in a 

 svord, that there is force- and energy as well as mechanism. 



