350 RELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



of the planetary system, by views similar to those 

 which He appears to us so admirably to follow 

 upon the earth, for the preservation of animals 

 and the perpetuity of species.* This consider- 

 ation alone would explain the disposition of the 

 system, if it were not the business of the geome- 

 ter to go further." It may be possible for the 

 geometer to go further ; but he must be strangely 

 blinded by his peculiar pursuits, if, when he has 

 discovered the mode in which these views are 

 answered, he supposes himself to have obtained 

 a proof that there are no views at all. It would 

 be as if the savage, who had marvelled at the 

 steady working of the steam-engine, should cease 

 to consider it a work of art, as soon as the 

 self-regulating part of the mechanism had been 

 explained to him. 



The unsuccessful struggle in which those per- 

 sons engage, who attempt to throw off the im- 

 pression of design in the creation, appears in an 

 amusing manner through the simplicity of the 

 ancient Roman poet of this school. Lucretius 

 maintains that the eye was not made for seeing, 

 nor the ear for hearing. But the terms in which 

 he recommends this doctrine show how hard he 



* II semble que la nature ait tout dispose dans le ciel, pour 

 assurer la duree du systeme planetaire, par des vues semblables a 

 celles qu'elle nous parait suivre si admirablement sur la terre, 

 pour la conservation des individus et la perpetuite des especes. 

 Syst. du Monde, p. 442. 



