NATURAL THEOLOGY. 57 



cording to which that power acts. Without this 

 agent, without this power, which are both distinct 

 from itself, the " law" does nothing ; is nothing. 



What has been said concerning "law," holds 

 true oi mechanism. Mechanism is not itself power. 

 Mechanism without power, can do nothing. Let 

 a watch be contrived and constructed ever so in- 

 geniously ; be its parts ever so many, ever so com- 

 plicated, ever so finely wrought or artificially put 

 together, it cannot go without a weight or spring, 

 i. €, without a force independent of^ and ulterior 

 to, its mechanism. The spring acting at the cen- 

 tre, will produce different motions and different 

 results, according to the variety of the intermedi- 

 ate mechanism. One and the self-same spring, 

 acting in one and the same manner, viz, by simply 

 expanding itself, may be the cause of a hundred 

 different and all useful movements, if a hundred 

 different and well-devised sets of wheels be placed 

 between it and the final effect: e. g, may point 

 out the hour of the day, the day of the month, the 

 age of the moon, the position of the planets, the 

 cycle of the years, and many other serviceable 

 notices ; and these movements may fulfil their 

 purposes with more or less perfection, according 

 as the mechanism is better or worse contrived, or 

 better or worse executed, or in a better or worse 

 state of repair : hut in all cases it is necessary that 

 the spring act at the centre. The course of our 

 reasoning upon such a subject would be this: By 

 inspecting the watch, even when standing still, we 



