582 UNITY OF THE DIUTY. 
various combinations of Mechanism, multiplied 
almost to infinity in their details of application, 
yet all constructed on the same few common 
fundamental principles which pervade the living 
forms of organized Beings, that we reasonably 
conclude all these past and present contrivances 
to be parts of a comprehensive and connected 
whole, originating in the Will and Power of one 
and the same Creator. 
Had the number or nature of the material 
Elements appeared to have been different under 
former conditions of the Earth, or had the Laws 
which have regulated the phenomena of inor- 
ganic matter, been subjected to change at va- 
rious Epochs, during the progress of the many 
formations of which Geology takes cognizance, 
there might indeed have been proofs of Wisdom 
and Power in such unconnected phenomena, but 
they would have been insufficient to demonstrate 
the Unity and Universal Agency of the same 
eternal and supreme First Cause of all things. 
Again, had Geology gone no further than to 
prove the existence of multifarious examples of 
Design, its evidences would indeed have been 
decisive against the Atheist ; but if such Design 
had been manifested only by distinct and dissi- 
milar systems of Organization, and independent 
Mechanisms, connected together by no analogies, 
and bearing no relations to one another, or to any 
existing types in the Animal or Vegetable king- 
