64 NATURAL THEOLOGY. 



upon undulations of air. Here are two sets of 

 motions ; first, of the pulses of the air ; secondly, 

 of the drum, bones, and nerves of the ear; sets of 

 motions bearing an evident reference to each 

 other : yet the one, and the apparatus for the one, 

 produced by the intervention of generation ; the 

 other altogether independent of it. 



If it be said, that the air, the light, the elements, 

 the world itself, is generated ; I answer, that I do 

 not comprehend the proposition. If the term 

 mean any thing similar to what it means when 

 applied to plants or animals, the proposition is 

 certainly without proof: and, I think, draws as 

 near to absurdity as any proposition can do, which 

 does not include a contradiction in its terms. I 

 am at a loss to conceive how the formation of the 

 world can be compared to the generation of an 

 animal. If the term generation signify something 

 quite different from what it signifies on ordinary 

 occasions, it may, by the same latitude, signify 

 any thing. In which case, a w^ord or phrase 

 taken from the language of Otaheite would con- 

 vey as much theory concerning the origin of the 

 universe, as it does to talk of its being generated. 



We know a cause (intelligence) adequate to the 

 appearances which we wish to account for : we 

 have this cause continually producing similar ap- 

 pearances : yet rejecting this cause, the sufficiency 

 of which we know, and the action of which is 

 constantly before our eyes, we are invited to re- 

 sort to suppositions destitute of a single fact for 



