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Untitled Article
my of all things . The original niotion , the simplicity and pcrfee . tiou of the laws of the planetary system ; the inaumerable species of living ereatures which cover the
earth , which fill the ocean , which float in the air , and creep on the ground , so perfect in all their parts , so various in their forms and natures , and so well adapted to the differont situations which
th £ y occupy ; that immense vari - ety of vegetables with which the face of nature is coveted , so beautiful and so useful to the animal creation ; and , above all , man , who stands proudly eminent over
the rest of the creation , whose power s ^ ems to be unlimited on earth , who subdues all other animals , who reigns in all elements , who appropriates all things to
himself , and frequently changes the appearance of nature , —require only : to be viewed to receive our approbation ^ to discover an analogy between their author and the human intellect , and to prove that the ultimate cause of all
nature is only a more perfect mind than bur own . It will * however , be objected to that perfection which we imagine we perceive in the universe , that , as all our ideas are taken
from nature , and as we have nothing to compare it with , we must necessarily form the idea of its perfection ^ however impe rfect it may be . But , undoubtedly , if the creation contained any imperfection , instead of all its parts
uniting to produce a regular and consistent whole , 6 ne part would counteract another , and produce a confusion too great not to be apparent ; . and we should immediatel y be enabled to contrast perfections with imperfections ^
Untitled Article
to discover that degree of evil which reigned in the world , and to point out where thfe sysjtem of thiugs was defective ; but when nature is examined , it will ap « pear that one thing possesses as much perfection as another , that all possess that degree of perfection which is consistent with their mutual good , and that no part of the general system could be al * tered for the better . In shorty the variety of nature , the multi . plicity of its objects , and the number of hs qualities , the great .
ness of the plan , and the minute , ness of the execution of it ; the general regularity and individual nicety , the harmony of the whole , and the perfection of parts , —demonstrate , beyond a doubt , the existence of the supreme mind ,
and prove , in the clearest manner , to the reason of man , the perfect wisdom of that intelligence which formed it * Nature requires onl y to be understood to be admired ; and the most enlarged mind becomes always most enamoured of the works of the Deity .
The perfection of the system of nature demonstrates sufficiently that it could not have been the result of a fortuitous concourse of atoms , but must have been the work and design of some superior *
intelligent cause . The system of things is indeed so transcendently perfect , that every effort of human ingenuity is estimated as it approaches nature ; and , if the proof of the existence of the
supreme mind depends mpon any analogy between the designs of the human understanding and the plan of the universe , how conclusive is this proof rendered by the superiority which the latter holds over the former ! In works of hu «
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On the Emstente of the Deity . 15 i
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1811, page 151, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2414/page/23/
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