ing that the universe proceeds from chance, it would appear, that atheists that atheists mean, either that it has no caufe at all, or that its cause did not act intelligently, or with defign, in the production of it. That the universe proceeds from no caufe, we have feen to be abfurd. And therefore, we shall overturn all the atheistical notions concerning chance, if we can fhow, what indeed is eafily fhown, and what no confiderate perfon can be ignorant of, that the cause of the universe is intelligent and wife, and in creating it, have acted with intelligenceand wifdom.

413. Where-ever we find a number of things, complex in their structure, and yet perfectly fimilar, we believe them to be the work of defign. Were a man to find a thousand pairs of shoes, of the same shape, fize, and materials, it would not be eafy to perfuade him that the whole was chancework. Now the inftances of complex and fimilar productions in nature are so very numerous as to exceed computation. All human bodies, for example, though each of them consists of almost an infinite number

ber of parts, are perfectly uniform in their ftructure and functions; and the fame thing may be faid of all the animals and plants of any particular fpecies. To fuppose this the effect of undefigning chance, or the production of an unintelligent cause, is as great an abfurdity as it is poffible to imagine.

414. Further: a compofition of parts mutually adapted we must always confider as the work of defign; efpecially if it be found in a great variety of inftances. Sup pofe a body, an equilateral prifm, for ex ample, to be formed by chance; and fuppofe a certain quantity of matter accidentally determined to refolve itself into tubes of a certain dimenfion. It is as infinite to one, that these tubes fhould have orifices equal to the base of the prifm; there being an infinity of other magnitudes equally poffible. Suppofe the orifices equal, it is as infinite to one that any of the tubes fhould be prifmatical; infinite other figures being equally poffible. Suppose one of them prifmatical, there is, for the fame reafon, an infinity of chances, that it fhall

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not be equilateral. Suppofe it equilateral, there are still infinite chances that the tube and prifm fhall never meet. Suppose them to meet, there are innumerable chances that their axes fhall not be in the fame direction. Suppose them to have the fame direction, there are still many chances that the angles of the prifm fhall not coincide with those of the tube: and fuppofing them to coincide, there are innumerable chances that no force fhall be applied in fuch a direction as to make the prifm enter the tube.

415. How many millions of chances, then, are there against the cafual formation, of one prifm inferted in a prifmatic tube! which yet a small degree of design. could easily accomplish. Were we to find, in a folitary place, a compofition of this kind, of which the tube was iron and the prifm of wood, it would not be easy for us to believe, that fuch a thing was the work of chance. And if fo fmall a thing cannot be without defign, what shall we fay of the mechanism of a plant, an animal, a fyftem of plants and animals, a world, a

fyftem of worlds, an univerfe! No perfon, who has any pretenfions to rationality, and is not determined to fhut his eyes against the truth, will ever bring himself to believe, that works fo ftupendous could be the effect of undesigning chance.

416. To fet this argument in a proper light, it would be neceffary to take a furvey of the works of nature; in which the vaft number of systems, the artful union of parts, the nice proportions eftablished between every part and system and its respective end, the innumerable multitudes of fpecies, and the infinite numbers of forms in every fpecies, are fo confpicuous as to prove, beyond all doubt, that the Creator of the world is infinitely wife, powerful, and good. Let a man examine only a grain of corn, by cutting it open and viewing it with a microfcope; and then let him confider another grain as planted in the earth, and by the influence of heat, foil, air, and moifture, fpringing up into a plant, confifting of a great number of veffels that disperse the vital sap into every part, and endowed with

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the power, or fufceptibility, or fufceptibility, of growing in bulk, till in due time it produce a number of other grains of the fame kind, neceffary to the existence of man and other creatures;-let a rational being attend to this fact, and compare it with the noblest efforts of human art; and if he is not struck with the infinite fuperiority of the one to the other,-what can we say of him, but that he is void of understanding! And yet the mechanism and growth of a vegetable feems an inconfiderable thing, when we think of the wifdom and power displayed in many other works of

nature.

417. What a fabric is our folar fyftem! wherein bodies of fuch enormous magnitude accomplish their revolutions through spaces immenfe; and with a regularity, than which nothing can be more perfect. The distance of the planets from the fun, and their feveral magnitudes, are determined with the utmost wisdom, and according to the niceft geometrical proportion. The central orb, whether we confider its glorious appearance, its aftonishing

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