24 FINAL CAUSES. 



vent aspirations after good, which the Author of our 

 being has deeply interwoven with our frame. 



The evidence of design and contrivance in the 

 works of nature carries with it the greatest force 

 whenever we can trace a coincidence between them 

 and the products of human art. If in any un- 

 known region of the earth we chanced to discover 

 a piece of machinery, of which the purpose was 

 manifest, we should not fail to ascribe it to the 

 workmanship of some mechanist, possessed of in- 

 telligence, actuated by a motive, and guided by 

 intention. Farther, if we had a previous expe- 

 rience of the operation of similar kinds of me- 

 chanism, we could not doubt that the effect we saw 

 produced was the one intended by the artificer. 

 Thus, if in an unexplored country, we saw, moving 

 upon the waters of a lake, the trunk of a tree, 

 carved into the shape of a boat, we should imme- 

 diately conclude that this form had been given to 

 it for the purpose of enabling it to float. If we 

 found it also provided with paddles at its sides, we 

 should infer, from our previous knowledge of the 

 effects of such instruments, that they were intended 

 to give motion to this boat, and we should not hesi- 

 tate to conclude that the whole was the work of 

 human hands, and the product of human intelli- 

 gence and design. If, in addition, we found this 

 boat furnished with a rudder and with sails, we 

 should at once understand the object of these con- 

 trivances, and our ideas of the skill of the artificer 

 Mould rise in proportion to the excellence of the 

 apparatus, and the ingenuity displayed in its adap- 

 tation to circumstances. 



Let us suppose that in another part of this lake 



