BOOK FIRST. CHAPTER I. NATURE OF THE ORDER PREVAILING IN THE MATERIAL WORLD. SECT. I.-PRINCIPLES WHICH SEEM TO RUN THROUGH IN taking an enlarged view of the constitution of the material universe, so far as it falls under our notice, it may be discovered that attention, at once extensive and minute, is paid to two great principles or methods of procedure. The one is the PRINCIPLE OF ORDER, or a General Plan, Pattern, or Type, to which every given object is made to conform with more or less precision. The other is the PRINCIPLE OF SPECIAL ADAPTATION, or Particular End, by which each object, while constructed after a general model, is, at the same time, accommodated to the situation which it has to occupy, and a purpose which it is intended to serve. These two principles are exhibited in not a few inorganic objects, and they meet in the structure of every plant and every animal. These two principles are characteristic of intelligence; they must proceed from intelligence, and they are addressed to intelligence. They may both be discovered, though necessarily to a limited extent, in human work manship. When circumstances admit, man delights to construct the instruments or utensils which are designed to serve a common purpose after a common plan, even when this is by no means essential to the immediate purpose to be served. Each particular piece of dress or article of furniture in a country is commonly fashioned after some general model, so that we are able to guess its use as soon as we cast our eyes upon it. That there is so much of this figure no way fitted to accomplish a special end, is evident from the circumstance that articles serving the same purpose take-in different ages and nations, and according to the fashion of the place or time -somewhat different forms, all of which, are equally convenient. The farmer builds up his grain in stacks, which have all a like contour, and the merchant packs his goods in vessels of equal size and similar shape, or disposes of them in bales of equal weight. It is only when his possessions are so arranged that man can be said to have the command of them. Were his property not so disposed, were his grain gathered into heaps of all sizes and shapes, were his merchandise scattered in every corner of the apartment, the possessor would become bewildered in proportion to the profusion and variety of his wealth. When things are formed or arranged on some plan tacitly agreed on, man can recognize every object at a distance by its physiognomy, and determine its nature and its end without seeing it in use or operation. There are still more frequent and obvious examples in the works of man of the principle of special adaptation. While there is a general regard, so far as it can be done without immediate inconvenience to the principle of order, there is a far more constant attention to the other principle. In some cases, indeed, little respect can be had to the general model; the sole end aimed at is the fitting of the instrument to the purpose which it is meant to serve. In nations low in the scale of civilization, and among persons who have to engage in a hard struggle to procure the necessaries of life, the general order is apt to be neglected in the exclusive regard which must be had to immediate utility. In such circumstances, individuals care little how an article be constructed, provided it serves its practical purpose. But as man's industrial treasures increase, and the number of separate works intended to accomplish similar ends are multiplied, he finds it becoming to institute some systematic arrangement among them, or devise some pattern after which to fashion them. When hard necessity does not forbid, man feels a pleasure in constructing his works upon a general plan. Human intelligence delights to employ itself in forming such models. They seem to have a beauty to the eye, or rather to the mind, which contemplates them. If it is a basket that is to be woven, there will commonly be a regularity in the succession of the plaits, and an aiming after some ideal form in the shape of the whole. If it is a water-jug that is to be fashioned, there will be a general attention paid to symmetry; not unfrequently there will be graceful and waving lines in the figure which strikes the eye. The dwelling which the individual erects for his own special accommodation, will commonly be found to have a door, or some other prominent object, in the center, with a balancing of pillars, windows, or something else that fixes the attention, on the one side and the other. As man advances in the scale of civilization, and comes to have superfluous wealth and leisure, he pays an increasing attention to symmetry and ornament. In the urns which he makes to receive the ashes of the dead, in the temples erected by him in honor of the God whom he worships, there is a scrupulous regard had to proportion and outline. As wealth accumulates and taste is cultivated, the law of order and ornament comes to be valued for its own sake, and is followed in the construction of every house, and of every article of furniture in that house, in the setting of every jewel, and in the location of every ornament. In most articles of human workmanship we may discover a greater or less attention to both of the principles to which we have referred. The farmer's stacks are all formed after a general mould, but we may observe a departure from it on either side to suit the quantity or quality of the grain. The merchant's shop seems to be regulated by forms or weights, but there is special form or average weight for every separate article. In some objects we see a greater regard to general plan, and in others to special purposes, and this according as persons wish to give a greater prominence at the time to ornament or to utility. Now, if this world proceeds from intelligence, and if it is intended to be contemplated by intelligence, it is surely not unreasonable to suppose that there may be traces in it of the same two modes of procedure. In this treatise we hope to be able to show that there are abundant illustrations of both, by an induction reaching over all the kingdoms of nature, and extending even into the kingdoms of grace. Both will be found in the theology of nature to point to the same conclusion; each furnishes its appropriate proof of the existence and wisdom of a Being who hath constructed every thing on a plan, and made it, at the same time, to serve a purpose. The one, as well as the other, will be found in the dispensations of God, in the kingdom of his Son, and point to a most |