observed that they are not only feeble in mental powers, but also sluggish in the use of such powers as they have, except when urged by pressing want. When not thus urged, they pass their time either in perfect inactivity, or else in dancing, in decorating their bodies with paint, or with feathers and shells, or in various childish sports. They are not only brutishly stupid, but still more remarkable for childish thoughtlessness and improvidence. So that it never occurs to them to consider how they may put themselves in a better condition a year or two hence.

Now such must have been the condition of all mankind down to this day, if they had all been, from the first, left without any instruction, and in what is called a state of nature —that is, with the faculties Man is born with, not at all unfolded or exercised by education. For, from such a state, unassisted Man cannot, as all experience shows, ever raise himself. And consequently, in that case, the whole world would have been peopled with mere savages in the very lowest state of degradation. The very existence, therefore, at this day, of civilized men, proves that there must have been, at some time or other, some instruction given to Man in the arts of life, by some Being superior to Man. For, since the first beginnings of civilization could not have come from any human instructor, they must have come from one super-human.

It has been shown, then, that the whole world would now have been peopled with the very lowest savages, if men had never received any instruction, and yet had been able to subsist at all. But it is doubtful whether even this bare subsistence would have been possible. It is more likely that the first generation would all have perished for want of those few arts which even savages possess, and which (as has been above remarked) were probably not invented by savages, but are remnants which they have retained from a more civilized state. The knowledge, for instance, of wholesome and of poisonous roots and fruits, the arts of making fish-hooks and nets, bows and arrows, or darts, and snares for wild animals, and of constructing rude huts, and canoes, and some other such simple arts, are possessed, more or less, by all savages, and are necessary to enable them to support their lives. And it is doubtful whether men left completely in a state of nature—that is,

wholly untaught would not all perish before they could invent them for themselves.

For, we should remember that Man, when left in a state of nature, untaught, and with his rational powers not unfolded, is far less fitted for supporting and taking care of himself than the brutes. They are much better provided both with instincts and with bodily organs, for supplying their own wants. For example, those animals that have occasion to dig, either for food, or to make burrows for shelter-such as the swine, the hedgehog, the mole, and the rabbit, have both an instinct for digging, and snouts or paws far better adapted for that purpose than Man's hands. Yet Man is enabled to turn up the ground much better than any brute; but then this is by means of spades and other tools, which Man can be taught to make and use, though brutes cannot. Again, birds and bees have an instinct for building such nests and habitations as answer their purpose as well as the most commodious beds and houses made by men; but Man has no instinct that teaches him how to construct these. Brutes, again, know by instinct their proper food, and avoid what is unwholesome; but Man has no instinct for distinguishing the nightshade-berry' (with which children have often been poisoned) from wholesome fruits. And quadrupeds swim by nature, because their swimming is the same motion by which they advance when on land; but a man, falling into deep water, is drowned, unless he has learnt to swim.

It appears, then, very doubtful whether men left wholly untaught, would be able to subsist at all, even in the state of the lowest savages. But at any rate, it is plain they could never have risen above that state. And consequently the existence of civilization at this day is a kind of monument attesting the fact that some instruction from above must, at some time or other, have been supplied to mankind. And the most probable conclusion is, that Man when first created, or very shortly afterwards, was advanced, by the Creator Himself, to a state above that of a mere savage.

These arguments, which have been before the Public in

1 The berry of the deadly nightshade (not the woody nightshade common in hedges) looks like a black cherry, and has a sweet taste, and no unpleasant smell.

various forms for thirty years, are, of course, so unacceptable to antichristian Writers, as to have called forth the utmost ingenuity of several of them in attempting a refutation. And their attempts have been such complete and palpable failures, that it cannot be accounted presumptuous to pronounce that a refutation is impossible.1

To be more and more confirmed in the belief of some conclusion, the more numerous, and the more able are the zealous opponents of it, when they fail to produce any disproof, is so far from indicating an arrogant disdain of them, that it indicates the very contrary. For the greater their number, and their ingenuity, the stronger is the presumption, that some of them would have detected any flaw, had there been any, in the arguments for the conclusion they reject.

And the establishing of this is the most complete discomfiture of the adversaries of our religion, because it cuts away the ground from under their feet. For, you will hardly meet with any one who admits that there has been some distinct Revelation, properly so called, given to Man, and yet denies that that revelation is to be found in our Bible. On the contrary, all who deny the divine authority of the Bible, almost always set out with assuming, or attempting to prove, the abstract impossibility of any revelation whatever, or any miracle, in the ordinary sense of these words; and then it is that they proceed to muster their objections against Christianity in particular. But we have seen that we may advance and meet them at once in the open field, and overthrow them at the first step, before they approach our citadel; by proving that what they set out with denying is what must have taken place, and that they are, in their own persons, a portion of the monument of its occurrence. And the establishing of this, as it takes away the very ground first occupied by the opponents of our Faith, so it is an important preliminary step for our proceeding, in the next place, to the particular evidence for that faith. Once fully convinced that God must at some time or other have made some direct communication to Man, and that even those who dislike this conclusion strive in vain to

1 See Lectures on Political Economy, and Lecture On the Origin of Civilization, for a fuller development of the argument.

escape it, we are thus the better prepared for duly estimating the proofs that the Gospel is in truth a divine message.

"It is said that when we advance accounts of miracles, we assign effects without causes?

The expression now most commonly in use among such reasoners as Paley is here alluding to, is, that so and so is a ' physical impossibility;' by which they mean, it seems, that it is not of such a character as would never be reckoned miraculous by any one; and that therefore it is to be at once pronounced incredible, by whatever proofs attested; which is just saying, in a slightly circuitous way, that no miracle is credible, becauseno miracle is credible!' For, much of what, in the present day, is called 'Science' and Philosophy,' consists in merely begging the question.

But, in ordinary usage, the expression of 'physically impossible' is applied to what is beyond the human powers, and to anything at variance with the present course of nature. And many persons, including some who are far from being either ignorant or silly-do commonly use this language, while yet they believe that physical impossibilities' (in the above sense) have, under certain circumstances, taken place, and may, again. They believe that there exists a Being of more than human power, to whom things are possible, which are impossible to Man. And they hold it not incredible that what is inconsistent with that portion of the course of Nature which is now going on among us, may have occurred formerly, and may occur hereafter. For instance, while they regard it as physically impossible for men (and so, with other animals) to come into existence without parents, they yet believe that there was a time when men did not exist; and that consequently the first of the race must have so come into existence.

They may perhaps believe also that though it is not in accordance with the present course of Nature for Man to receive communications direct from Heaven, or through some superhuman Being, this must have taken place formerly; since, else, all mankind would have been savages at this day.

And though accounting exemption from death, or restoration of the dead to life, a physical impossibility, they believe in an Agent capable of conferring immortality.

By the way, when it is said, (as it has been,) that for Man to be exempt from death, appears, on reflection, a physical impossibility, there seems no good ground for speaking of this as a thing apparent on reflection;' that expression usually relating to what is learnt, not from direct observation and experience, or from direct testimony, but from reasoning on collateral circumstances. Now it is not from any à priori reasoning, but from observation and testimony that we infer Man's mortality. If we could imagine an intelligent Being, of a different nature from ours, to come from some other Planet, and visit our Globe, and not only to see human Beings, but to acquire some knowledge of the physiology of the human frame, he would see no reason for at once inferring the necessary mortality of Man. He would see provision made for a continual decay indeed, but also, for a continual renovation. Every part of the body, including the most solid bones, is undergoing a constant process both of absorption, and also, of repair; the material for which is supplied by our food. There is no à priori reason why these two processes should not exactly balance each other for ever. That the decay does always at length outstrip the renovating process, so as ultimately to produce dissolution, is what he might learn from observation; not however without much aid from testimony. For no one person's observation would be sufficient alone, to afford reasonable proof of Man's mortality as a universal law of Nature. That it is a law of Nature, we learn, not from reflection,' but from our own and others' experience.

It is worth remarking, however, that there is no ground for the supposition entertained by some, that Scripture represents Man to have been originally of an immortal nature. Some, proceeding on that supposition, and assuming that this could not have been literally true, have thence inferred that this portion of Scripture, and an indefinite number of other portions likewise, must be mythical legends, meaning anything at all, or nothing at all.

But the contrary of the notion I am alluding to, is plainly implied by what is said of the Tree of Life,' as that on which depended Man's preservation from death. And there is nothing antecedently impossible, or improbable, in the supposition that this fruit was endued with the virtue of fortifying the constitu