234 OF THE PERSONALITY OF THE DEITY. 
it implies a power, for it is the order according to which 
that power acts. Without this agent, without this power, 
which are both distinct from itself, the “law” does noth¬ 
ing—is nothing. 
What has been said concerning “law,” holds true of 
mechanism. Mechanism is not itself power. Mechanism, 
without power, can do nothing. Let a watch be contrived 
and constructed ever so ingeniously; be its parts ever so 
many, ever so complicated, ever so finely wrought, or arti¬ 
ficially put together, it cannot go without a weight or spring, 
t. e. without a force independent of, and ulterior to, its me¬ 
chanism. The spring acting at the centre, will produce 
different motions and different results, according to the 
variety of the intermediate mechanism. One and the self* 
same spring, acting in one and the same manner, viz. by 
simply expanding itself, may be the cause of a hundred dif¬ 
ferent, and all useful, movements, if a hundred different and 
well-devised sets of wheels be placed between it and the 
final effect; e. g. may point out the hour of the day, the 
day of the month, the age of the moon, the position of the 
planets, the cycle of the years, and many other serviceable 
notices: and these movements may fulfil their purposes 
with more or less perfection, according as the mechanism 
is better or worse contrived, or better or worse executed, 
or in a better or worse state of repair ; but in all cases, it 
is necessary that the spring act at the centre. The course 
of our reasoning upon such a subject would be this: by 
inspecting the watch, even when standing still, we get a 
proof of contrivance, and of a contriving mind having been 
employed about it. In the form and obvious relation of its 
parts, we see enough to convince us of this. If we pull 
the works in pieces, for the purpose of a closer examination, 
we are still more fully convinced. But when we see the 
watch going, we see proof of another point, viz. that there 
is a power somewhere and somehow or other, applied to 
it; a power in action;—that there is more in the subject 
than the mere wheels of the machine;—that there is a 
secret spring, or a gravitating plummet;—in a word, that 
there is force and energy, as well as mechanism. 
So then, the watch in motion establishes to the observer 
two conclusions: One; that thought, contrivance, and de¬ 
sign, have been employed in the forming, proportioning, 
and arranging of its parts; and that whoever or wherever 
he be, or were, such a contriver there is, or was: The other; 
that force or power, distinct from mechanism, is at this 
present time acting upon it. If I saw a hand-mill, even at 
