SERM. fram'd,) as a clock. If we carry our views V. farther into nature, and take in whole regions

of the univerfe, with all their contents, the fame characters of unity are ftill vifible. The earth itself is not a confus'd mass, or a medley of incoherent and unrelated parts, but a well contrived fabric, fitted and plainly defign'd for ufe. If we confider what a multitude of living creatures are in it of different kinds and degrees of perfection, each fort having proper apartments affign'd them, where they dwell conveniently together, with fuitable provifion made for them, and instincts directing them to the ufe of it; if we confider the interests of the feveral kinds, not interfering in the main, but rather serviceable to each other, furnished with neceffary defences against the inconveniencies to which they are liable, either by the preventing care of nature, which without any thought of their own has provided for their fafety, by the appointed advantages of their fituation, or by an implanted wifdom directing them to find out the means of it; and if we confider the conftant interpofition of the fame liberal intelligent nature, appearing by the daily new productions from the fame fertile womb of the earth, whereby the returning wants of animals are reliev'd with fresh supplies; all the species of living things

having the common benefit of the air, with- SER M. out which they could not fubfift, and the V. light of the fun, which cannot at once illuminate the whole globe, being dispensed among them with so good œconomy, that they have every one what is fufficient to guide them in the exercise of their proper functions, that they may fulfil the purposes of their being;-when we confider all this, can we doubt but the earth is difpos'd and govern'd by one intending Cause? If in a large house, wherein are many mansions, and a vaft variety of inhabitants, there appears exact order, all from the highest to the lowest continually attending their proper business, and all lodg'd and conftantly provided for fuitably to their feveral conditions; we find ourselves obliged to acknowledge one wife œconomy. And if in a great city or commonwealth there be a perfectly regular administration, so that not only the whole fociety enjoys an undisturbed peace, but every member has the station affign'd him which he is beft qualified to fill; the unenvied chiefs constantly attend their more important cares, ferv'd by the bufy inferiors, who have all a fuitable accommodation, and food convenient for them, the very meanest miniftring to the public utility and protected by the public care; if, I fay, in fuch a com

SERM.munity we must conclude there is a ruling V. Counfel, which if not naturally, yet is poli

tically one, and unless united, could not produce fuch harmony and order; much more have we reafon to recognize one governing Intelligence in the earth, in which there are fo many ranks of beings difpos'd of in the moft convenient manner, having all their feveral provinces appointed to them, and their feveral kinds and degrees of enjoyment liberally provided for, without encroaching upon, but rather being mutually useful to each other, according to a fettled and obvious fubordination. What elfe can account for this but a fovereign Wisdom, a common provident nature prefiding over, and caring for the whole?

But the earth, as great as it appears to us, complicated in its frame, and having such a variety in its conftitution, sustaining and nourishing fo many tribes of animals, yet is not an intire fyftem by itself, but has a relation to, and dependence on other parts of the univerfe, as well as the beings it contains have upon it. It owes its stability to the common law of gravitation; it derives its light and its heat from the fun, by which it is render'd fruitful and commodious to its inhabitants. In fhort, a bond of union runs through the whole circle of being, as far as human knowledge reaches

and

and we have reason to make the fame judg-SER M. ment concerning the parts of the world which V. we do not know, and to conclude that they' all together compofe one great whole, which naturally leads us to acknowledge one fupreme uniting Intelligence. To object against this, the poffibility of wild confufion reigning in worlds unknown, is to feign and not to argue; and to fuppofe diforder prevalent in an infinity of being which we are unacquainted with, which is the Atheistic hypothefis, is to take away all rational foundation for regularity any where, tho' we see it actually obtains every where, as far as our obfervation can reach. But confining our fpeculations on this subject within the compafs of known existence, as we ought to do in a fair inquiry, the apparent order of the effects is a ftrong evidence of unity in the Cause. For if different independent caufes produced, each a part, why are there no footsteps of this in the whole extent of nature? Why does not fo much as one piece appear, as the feparate monument of its author's power and wifdom? From divided counfels one would naturally expect interfering schemes; but on the contrary, we see an univerfal harmony. Men indeed from a sense of their indigence, and by the direction of instincts, which must be attributed to the de

figning

SERM. figning author of their constitution, join in V. focieties; which, tho' compos'd of many, are govern'd by one counfel: But that is only an artificial union, a fubmiffion to the majority, or to those who have the fupreme power delegated to them, rather than an agreement in defign. But this cannot be the cafe of independent beings, self-existent, and each compleat in itself, without relation to any other. And yet we see in nature a perfect harmony, from whence it is plain there must be an agreement at least in counsel and defign, if we could suppose a plurality of independent causes. But whence comes this agreement? To say by chance, is atheistically, and very unreasonably to attribute the most perfect of all effects, univerfal order, to no caufe at all. If we fay by defign, it must be one comprehenfive defign, forming the whole scheme of nature and providence, which directly brings us to what we are looking for, one fovereign commanding Intelligence in the universe, or one God. This was the argument by which some of the ancient philofophers prov'd that there is one only eternal and independent Principle, the Fountain of being and the Author of all things. Pythagoras called it a Monad; and Ariftotle argu'd from the phænomena that all things are plainly co

ordered,