G-OOlJl^ESS OF THE DEITY. 313 



and enemies by which it is surrounded. An elephant pro- 

 duces but one calf; a butterfly lays six hundred eggs. Birds 

 of prey seldom produce more than two eggs ; the sparrow 

 tribe and the duck tribe frequently sit upon a dozen. In 

 the rivers, we meet with a thousand minnows for one pike , 

 in the sea, a million of henings for a single shark. Com- 

 pensation obtains throughout. Defencelessness and devasta- 

 tion are repaired by fecundity. 



We have dwelt the longer on these considerations, be- 

 cause the subject to which they apply, namely, that of ani- 

 mals devouring one another, forms the chief, if not the 

 only instance, in the works of the Deity, of an economy, 

 stamped by marks of design, in which the character of util- 

 ity can be called in question. The case of venomous ani- 

 mals is of much inferior consequence to the case of prey, 

 and, in some degree, is also mcluded under it. To both 

 cases it is probable that many more reasons belong than 

 those of which we arc in possession. 



Our FIRST PROPOSITION, and that which we have hith- 

 erto been defending, was, " that in a vast plurality of in- 

 stances, in which contrivance is perceived, the dcsig?i of the 

 contrivance is beneficial ^ 



Our SECOND PROPOSITION is, " that the Deity has added 

 "pleasure to animal sensations beyond what was necessary 

 for any other purpose, or when the purpose, so far as it was 

 necessary, might have been eflected by the operation of 

 pain." 



This proposition may be thus explained. The capaci- 

 ties which, according to the established course of nature, 

 are necessary to the support or preservation of an animal, 

 however manifestly they may be the result of an organiza- 

 tion contrived for the purpose, can only be deemed an act 

 or a part of the same will' as that which decreed the exist- 

 ence of the animal itself, because, whether the creation 

 proceeded from a benevolent or a malevolent being, these 

 capacities must have been given, if the animal existed at 



