Where so many living creatures are to ply their respective powers, in
pursuing the end for which they were intended, we are not to look for
nature in a quiescent state; matter itself must be in motion, and the
scenes of life a continued or repeated series of agitations and events.
This globe of the earth is a habitable world; and on its fitness for
this purpose, our sense of wisdom in its formation must depend. To judge
of this point, we must keep in view, not only the end, but the means
also by which that end is obtained. These are, the form of the whole,
the materials of which it is composed, and the several powers which
concur, counteract, or balance one another, in procuring the general
result.
The form and constitution of the mass are not more evidently calculated
for the purpose of this earth as a habitable world, than are the various
substances of which that complicated body is composed. Soft and hard
parts variously combine to form a medium consistence, adapted to the use
of plants and animals; wet and dry are properly mixed for nutrition,
or the support of those growing bodies; and hot and cold produce a
temperature or climate no less required than a soil: Insomuch, that
there is not any particular, respecting either the qualities of the
materials, or the construction of the machine, more obvious to
our perception, than are the presence and efficacy of design and
intelligence in the power that conducts the work.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25