GOODNESS OF THE DEITY. 303 



insiruiiients of torture, or execution, this engine, you would 

 gay, is to extend the sinews, this to dislocate the joints, this 

 to break the bones, this to scorch the soles of the feet. Here, 

 pain and misery are the very objects of the contrivance. 

 Now nothing- of this sort is to be found in the works of na- 

 ture. We never discover a train of contrivance to bring 

 about an evil purpose. No anatomist ever discovered a sys- 

 tem of organization calculated to produce pain and disease ; 

 or, in explaining the parts of the human body, ever said, this 

 IS to irritate, this to inflame, this duct is to convey the gravel 

 to the kidneys, this gland to secrete the humor which forms 

 the gout : if by chance he come at a part of which he knows 

 not the use, the most he can say is, that it is useless ; no 

 one ever suspects that it is put there to incommode, to annoy, 

 or to torment." 



The TWO CASES which appear to me to have the most 

 difficulty in them, as forming the most of the appearance ot 

 exception to the representation here given, are those of vcn- 

 omovs animals, and of animals iweyin^ upon one another. 

 These properties of animala, w^herever they are found, must. 

 I think, be referred to design, because there is in all cases 

 of the first, and in most cases of the second, an express and 

 distinct organization provided for the producing of them. 

 Under the first head, the fangs of vipers, the stings of wasps 

 and scorpions, are as clearly intended for their purpose, as 

 any animal structure is for any purpose the most incontest- 

 ably beneficial. And the same thing must, under the second 

 head, be acknowledged of the talons and beaks of birds, of 

 the tusks, teeth, and claws of beasts of prey — of the shark's 

 mouth, of the spider's web, and of numberless weapons of 

 offence belonging to different tribes of voracious insects. We 

 cannot, tlierefore, avoid the difficulty by saying that the 

 cfiect -was not intended. The only question open to us is, 

 whether it be ultimately evil. From the confessed and felt 

 imperfection of our kno\yledge, we ought to presume that 

 there may be consequences of this economy which are hidden 



