OLD JOHN, TIM, & OTHERS 161 



It stops short just where successful pro- 

 gress into the past would begin to render 

 it absolutely convincing. Still, as far as 

 it goes, the Argument is held in general 

 respect, and it may not be profitless to 

 pursue for a few sentences farther its 

 bearing upon our subject. 



It might be said that in relation to the 

 trout the Argument from Design, even 

 with the modification which we have seen 

 to be necessary, would break down com- 

 pletely if the people suddenly resolved 

 upon abolition of the Game Laws. This 

 would exemplify a strangely persistent 

 error of the human understanding. There 

 is nothing that we know of to render im- 

 possible a snowstorm that would blot 

 out the whole of the peoples of Europe ; 

 yet the snowstorm does not come. 

 Twenty thousand citizens of London 

 marching against St. Paul's would, by the 

 impact of their own mass, bring the 

 Cathedral to the ground ; yet the march 

 is not undertaken. As some men die by 



their own hands, it is conceivable that 



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