44 
THE ARGUMENT CUMULATIVE. 
to recur to its own ignorance, its own imbecility: to tell 
us that upon these subjects we know little; that little im¬ 
perfectly; or rather, that we know nothing properly about 
the matter. These suggestions so fall in with our con¬ 
sciousnesses, as sometimes to produce a general distrust of 
our faculties and our conclusions. But this is an unfound¬ 
ed jealousy. The uncertainty of one thing, does not ne¬ 
cessarily affect the certainty of another thing. Our ig¬ 
norance of many points need not suspend our assurance of 
a few. Before we yield, in any particular instance, to the 
skepticism which this sort of insinuation would induce, we 
ought accurately to ascertain, whether our ignorance or 
doubt concern those precise points upon which our conclu¬ 
sion rests. Other points are nothing. Our ignorance of 
other points may be of no consequence to these, though 
they be points, in various respects, of great importance. 
A just reasoner removes from his consideration, not only 
what he knows, but what he does not know, touching mat¬ 
ters not strictly connected with his argument, i. e. not 
forming the very steps of his deduction; beyond these, 
his knowledge and his ignorance are alike relative. 
CHAPTER VI. 
THE ARGUMENT CUMULATIVE. 
Were there no example in the world of contrivance ex¬ 
cept that of the eye , it would be alone sufficient to support 
the conclusion which we draw from it, as to the necessity 
of an intelligent Creator. It could never be got rid of; 
because it could not be accounted for by any other suppo¬ 
sition, which did not contradict all the principles we pos¬ 
sess of knowledge: the principles, according to which things 
do, as often as they can be brought to the test of experi¬ 
ence, turn out to be true or false. Its coats and humours, 
constructed as the lenses of a telescope are constructed, 
for the refraction of rays of light to a point, which forms 
the proper office of the organ: the provision in its muscles 
for turning its pupil to the object, similar to that which is 
given to the telescope by screws, and upon which power 
of direction in the eye, the exercise of its office as an 
optical instrument depends; the farther provision for its 
defence, for its constant lubricity and moisture, which we 
see in its socket and its lids, in its gland for the secretion 
