238 
OF THE PERSONALITY OF THE DEITY. 
ed by generation; the other not. The ear depends upon 
undulations of air. Here are two sets of motions: first, of 
the pulses of the air; secondly, of the drum, bones, and 
nerves of the ear: sets of motions bearing an evident re¬ 
ference to each other: yet the one, and the apparatus for 
the one, produced by the intervention of generation; the 
other altogether independent of it. 
If it be said, that the air, the light, the elements, the 
world itself, is generated; I answer, that I do not compre¬ 
hend the proposition. If the term mean anything similar 
to what it means when applied to plants or animals, the 
proposition is certainly without proof; and, 1 think, draws 
as near to absurdity as any proposition can do, which does 
not include a contradiction in its terms. I am at a loss to 
conceive, how the formation of the world can be compared 
to the generation of an animal. If the term generation 
signify something quite different from what it signifies on 
ordinary occasions, it may, by the same latitude, signify 
anything. In which case, a word or phrase taken from the 
language of Otaheite, would convey as much theory con¬ 
cerning the origin of the universe, as it does to talk of its 
being generated. 
We know a cause (intelligence) adequate to the appear¬ 
ances which we wish to account for; we have this cause 
continually producing similar appearances; yet, rejecting 
this cause, the sufficiency of which we know, and the ac¬ 
tion of which is constantly before our eyes, we are invited 
to resort to suppositions destitute of a single fact for their 
support, and confirmed by no analogy with which we are 
acquainted. Were it necessary to inquire into the motives 
of men’s opinions, I mean their motives separate from their 
arguments, I should almost suspect, that, because the proof 
of a Deity drawn from the constitution of nature is not only 
popular but vulgar, (which may arise from the cogency of 
the proof, and be indeed its highest recommendation,) 
and because it is a species almost of puerility to take up 
with it; for these reasons, minds, which are habitually in 
search of invention and originality, feel a resistless inclina¬ 
tion to strike off into other solutions and other expositions. 
The truth is, that many minds are not so indisposed to any¬ 
thing which can be offered to them, as they are to the 
flatness of being content with common reasons; and, what 
is most to be lamented, minds conscious of superiority are 
the most liable to this repugnancy. 
The “suppositions” here alluded to, all agree in one 
character: they all endeavour to dispense with thenecessi- 
