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    would teach him ) , and he may hope to regain it . This is the genuine work for Natural Theology . It points to those illustrations of religion which may be received from natural objects , recalls man from the sordid

    contemplation of petty selfishness and narrow worldliness , enlarges the understanding and the sympathies , and adds force and vivacity to the best feelings of his nature . It exalts the low and humbles the vainglorious .

    There are minds , however , that arrogate for Natural Theology a far more astounding power than this ; no less than to give some definite ideas of the nature , the motives , the operations of the Creator of

    the Universe ! Whether by so doing they advance the cause they advocate , is very questionable . Whether they do not , by endeavouring to achieve too much , deteriorate what they might really do , is to be doubted .

    What is the amount of that part of the whole universe , the existence of which we are aware of ? What is the proportion of that part , regarding which we have any settled and tolerablv certain ideas ? How

    large is the section of that portion , to the nature of whose constituent parts we have the smallest clue ? And which part of that section makes any respectable item in our catalogue of elementary knowledge ? The last is confined to the

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    earth itself , the microscopic corner ( if size , indeed , means anything , but to our limited sense ) , which we inhabit ; that part which we can most intimately examine . How much do we know of that ? Every

    fresh turn in the path of inquiry shows us so much beyond what the wildest speculations might lead us to expect , that we are forced to conclude , that , since the recent period at which free

    and systematic inquiry commenced , a most infinitessimal portion of the journey towards consummate knowledge , a complete monograph , has been accomplished . Of the earth itself we know but the outside

    of the crust . Of the creatures that inhabit it , even those visible to us , we know little more than their forms and external actions . Their motives ,

    feelings , reasons , instincts ( O word of obscurity and disputation !) are for the most part unintelligible to us . Of the plants we know some of the conditions of their individual

    existence , and some of their effects upon ourselves and a few other animals , and upon each other . Whether they have consciousness is one ot our vaguest and most tantalising surmises .

    Of ourselves how much is it that we comprehend ? Do we know where we come from , what we are , and whither we go ? Do we know what we are made of , and how ? or do we know how we support life , or a hundredth part of what our bodies are doing ? Are not

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    The Purposes of Natura ' l Theology Mistaken . 125

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 1, 1837, page 125, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1834/page/53/