o 
(i., 20) he declares that the attributes of God — the invisible 
tilings of the Godhead — should have been recognized by them 
from the visible creation,, and that those who have not so seen 
them are without excuse. 
That the Deity, one and the same with the Lord God 
Jehovah, the Personal God of Israel, was the Creator of the 
universe, — that all animate and inanimate objects of this world 
owe their existence to His divine power — has, therefore, un- 
doubtedly been in some form or other the creed of the large 
majority of mankind in all ages. 
During the last two centuries many volumes have been 
written in this country with the express purpose of bringing out 
more fully the objects of natural theology. Thus we find the 
names of More, Cudworth, Stillingfleet, Parker, Rae, and Boyle 
in the last century ; while Paley, the authors of the Bridge® 
water Treatises, Brougham, Smith, and others in the present, 
who have discussed from various points of view and with ever 
varying illustration the doctrines of natural theology. 
On the other hand it must not be forgotten that there have 
ever been atheists, pantheists, materialists, positivists, &c., who 
would not concede the existence of design or recognize an 
overruling Mind apart from Nature at all. Such was Lu- 
cretius, the poetical exponent of the Democrital philosophy ; 
while atheists, pantheists, and materialists of various denomina- 
tions have ever been and are only too numerous at the present 
day. But besides such dissentients to the belief of a Personal 
God, the newly-established doctrine of Evolution has amongst 
its advocates men who, while believing in God as the Creator 
of the world, yet professedly deny design to be anywhere 
present in it. So far, therefore, are they in opposition to the 
writers mentioned above. 
The main object of the present essay is to endeavour to find 
an answer to the question, Is design* compatible with evolu- 
tion? I would state, before entering upon the inquiry, my 
firm conviction that it is; and that both design and evolution 
are incontrovertible facts of creation. 
Definitions of Views on Natural Theology. 
In accounting for the existence of the works of creation, 
various elements of cause, so to say, must be considered. I 
think it will be, therefore, not without advantage to attempt to 
classify chief or typical opinions by some such method as the 
following. 
* It will "be seen, hereafter, that the word “ design ” must have a more 
extended meaning than the somewhat restricted use hitherto assigned to it. 
