354 RELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



We may find a further assertion of this view 

 of the proper use of final causes in philosophy, 

 by referring to the works of one of the greatest of 

 our philosophers, and one of the most pious of 

 our writers, Boyle, who has an Essay on this 

 subject. " I am by all means," says he, " for 

 encouraging the contemplation of the celestial 

 part of the world, and the shining globes that 

 adorn it, and especially the sun and moon, in 

 order to raise our admiration of the stupendous 

 power and wisdom of him who was able to frame 

 such immense bodies ; and notwithstanding their 

 vast bulk and scarce conceivable rapidity, keep 

 them for so many ages constant both to the 

 lines and degrees of their motion, without inter- 

 fering with one another. And doubtless we 

 ought to return thanks and praises to the divine 

 goodness for having so placed the sun and 

 moon, and determined the former, or else the 

 earth, to move in particular lines for the good of 

 men and other animals ; and how disadvantageous 

 it would have been to the inhabitants of the 

 earth if the luminaries had moved after a differ- 

 ent manner. I dare not, however, affirm that the 

 sun, moon, and other celestial bodies were made 

 solely for the use of man : much less presume to 

 prove one system of the world to be true and another 

 false; because the former is better fitted to the con- 

 venience of mankind, or the other less suited, or 

 perhaps altogether useless to that end." 



