from Analogy, from the moral Conftitution and Phenomena of the human Mind, the moral Attributes of God, and the prefent Courfe of Things, and which are therefore called the moral Arguments, are the plaineft, and generally the most fatisfying. We thall felect only one or two from the rest.

In tracing the Nature and Moral Proof Destination of any Being, we from Analogy. form the fureft Judgment from his Powers of Action, and the Scope and Limits of these compared with his State, or with that Field in which they are exercised. If this Being paffes through different States, or Fields of Action, and we find a Succeffion of Powers adapted to the different Periods of his Progrefs, we conclude that he was deftined for thofe fucceffive States, and reckon his Nature Progressive. If, befides the immediate Set of Powers which fit him for Action in his prefent State, we observe another Set which appears fuperfluous, if he was to be confined to it, and which point to another or higher one, we naturally conclude, that he is not defigned to remain in his prefent State, but to advance to that for which thofe fupernumerary Powers are adapted. Thus we argue that the Infect, which has Wings forming N

or

or formed, and all the Apparatus proper for Flight, is not.deftined always to creep on the Ground, or to continue in the torpid State of adhering to a Wall, but is defigned in its Seafon to take its Flight in Air. Without this farther Deftination, the admirable Mechanifm of Wings and the other Apparatus, would be useless and abfurd. The fame kind of Reasoning may be applied to Man, while he lives only a fort of vegetative Life in the Womb. He is furnished even there with a beautiful Apparatus of Organs, Eyes, Ears, and other delicate Senfes, which receive Nourifhment indeed, but are in a manner folded up, and have no proper Exercise or Ufe in their prefent Confinement. * Let us fuppofe fome intelligent Spectator, who had never any Connection with Man, nor the leaft Acquaintance with human Affairs, to fee this odd Phenomenon, a Creature formed after fuch a manner, and placed in a Situation apparently unfuitableto fuch various Machinery, must he not be strangely puzzled about the Ufe of his complicated Structure, and reckon such a Profufion of Art and admirable Workmanfhip loft on the Subject; or reafon by Way

Vid. Ludor Viv. de Rel. Chrift. Lib. II. de Vita Uteri, &c.

Way of Anticipation, that a Creature, endued with fuch various, yet unexerted Capacities, was destined for a more enlarged Sphere of Action, in which those latent Capacities fhall have full Play? The vast Variety, and yet beautiful Symmetry and Proportions of the feveral Parts and Organs with which the Creature is endued, and their apt Cohesion with, and Dependence on, the curious Receptacle of their Life and Nourishment, would forbid his concluding the Whole to be the Birth of Chance, or the bungling Effort of an unfkilful Artist, at leaft would make him demur a-while at fo harfh a Sentence. But if, while he is in this State of Uncertainty, we fuppofe him to see the Babe, after a few fuccefsful Struggles, throwing off his Fetters, breaking loofe from his little dark Prifon, and emerging into open Day, then unfolding his reclufe and dormant Powers, breathing in Air, gazing at Light, admitting Colours, Sounds, and all the fair Variety of Nature, immediately his Doubts clear up, the Propriety and Excellency of the Workmanship dawn upon him with full Luftre, and the whole Myftery of the first Period is unravelled by the opening of this new Scene. Though N 2.

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in this fecond Period the Creature lives chiefly a kind of animal Life, i. e. of Senfe and Appetite, yet by various Trials and Obfervations, he gains Experience, and by the gradual Evolution of the Powers of Imagination, he ripens apace for an higher Life, for exercifing the Arts of Defign and Imitation, and of thofe in which Strength or Dexterity are more requifite than Acuteness or Reach of Judgment. In the fucceeding rational or intellectual Period, his Understanding, which formerly crept in a lower, mounts into an higher Sphere, canvaffes the Natures, judges of the Relations of Things, forms Schemes, deduces Confequences from what is past, and from prefent as well as paft, collects future Events. By this Succeffion of States, and of correfpondent Culture, he grows up at length into a moral, a focial, and a political Creature. This is the laft Period, at which we perceive him to arrive in this his mortal Career. Each Period is introductory to the next fucceeding one; each Life is a Field of Exercife and Improvement for the next higher one, the Life of the Fatus for that of the Infant, the Life of the Infant for that of the Child, and all the lower for the highest and beft. -But is this the

See Butler's Analogy, Part I,

laft

laft Period of Nature's Progreffion? Is this the utmoft Extent of her Plot, where fhe winds up the Drama, and difmiffes the Actor into eternal Oblivion? Or does he appear to be invested with fupernumerary Powers, which have not full Exerci'e and Scope, even in the laft Scene, and reach not that Maturity or Perfection of which they are capable; and therefore point to fome higher Scene, where he is to fustain another and more important Character than he has yet fuftained? If any fuch there are, may we not conclude by Analogy, or in the fame Way of Anticipation as before, that he is destined for that After-part, and is to be produced upon a more auguft and folemn Stage, where his fublimer Powers fhall have proportioned Action, and its Nature attain its Completion?

Man which

Powers in point to an After-Life.

If we attend to that Curiofity, or prodigious Thirst of Knowledge, which is natural to the Mind in every Period of its Progress, and confider withal the endless Round of Bufinefs and Care, and the various Hardships to which the Bulk of Mankind are chained down, it is evident, that in this prefent State, it is

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Intellectual.

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