10 INTRODUCTION. 



so many years, or we think of them less, because 

 they have so often been before us. 



T. Is this an argument in favor of those studies 

 which are adapted to awaken an attention to the 

 works of God ? 



A. It is. We ought, if possible, to be always ex- 

 tending our acquaintance with the wonders with 

 which we are surrounded, which proclaim an all-wise 

 and beneficent Creator, so that we may pause and 

 suspend our thoughts, and feel more sensibly the 

 demonstrations of Providence, by observing them con- 

 tinually displayed in some new form. 



T. It is for this reason, in part, we shall particu- 

 larly examine the human structure, which has not 

 probably been much attended to by most of you. But 

 I intended to ask you, whether it is requisite to the 

 evidence of design, that we should at once perceive 

 the architect himself? 



A. By no means. I do not require to see the ma- 

 ker of a machine, to be convinced that a maker was 

 originally employed in the construction. If I should 

 find a palace in a desolate wild — with not a human 

 being to be seen, this would not lead me to suppose 

 that it never had an architect. It does not, therefore 

 weaken the demonstration of a creative Intelligence, 

 that the Architect of the universe is unseen. In 

 truth, when I come to reflect, I am sensible I never 

 beheld any architect, in reality, — not even a human 

 one. The outward form, which is all I ever perceiv- 

 ed ^is not the architect. The real architect is the 

 thinking, contriving mind ; and this was never seen 



