GOODNESS OF THE DEITY. 29f 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



OF THE GOODNESS OF THE DEITY. 



The pi3of of the divine goocbiess rests uptii two proposi- 

 tions ; each, as we contend, capable of being made out by 

 observations drawn from the appearances of nature. 



The first is, "that in a vast pluraUty of instances in 

 which contrivance is perceived, the design of the contriv- 

 ance is boieficial.'' 



The second, " that the Deity has superadded j^Zeaswre to 

 animal sensations beyond what was necessary for any other 

 purpose, or when the purpose, so far as it was necessar}'', 

 might have been effected by the operation of pain." 



First, "in a vast plurality of instances in which con- 

 trivance is perceived, the design of the contrivance is ben- 

 eficial .'' 



No productions of nature display contrivance so mani- 

 festly as the parts of animals ; and the parts of animals have 

 all of them, I believe, a real, and with very few exceptions, 

 all of them a known and intelligible subserviency to the use 

 of the animal. Now, when the multitude of animals is con- 

 sidered, the number of parts in each, their figure and fitness, 

 the faculties depending upon them, the variety of species, 

 the complexity of structure, the success, in so many cases, 

 and felicity of the result, we can never reflect without the 

 profoundest adoration, upon the character of that Being from 

 whom all these things have proceeded ; we cannot help 

 acknov/ledging what an exertion of benevolence creation 

 was — of a benevolence how minute in its care, how vast in 

 il s comprehension I 



When we appeal to the parts and faculties of animals, 

 and to the limbs and senses of animals in particular, we 

 state, I conceive, the proper medium of proof for the conclu- 

 sion which we wish to establish. I will not say that the 

 insensible parts of nature are made solely for the sensitive 



