Natural Theology, Or: Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity |
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Natural Theology: Or, Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity ... William Paley,James Paxton No preview available - 2016 |
Natural Theology, Or Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity ... William Paley No preview available - 2015 |
Common terms and phrases
action adapted admissible laws amongst animal appears arteries birds blood body bones called cannon pinion cartilage cause cavity centre CHAPTER chyle consequence constitution contraction contrivance degree Deity direction earth effect eggs elastic elytra existence farther fibres fish fixed flowers fluid force gastric juice gland head hinge-joint human insects instance instrument intelligence intestines joint lacteals larynx less ligament light lungs means mechanism membrane motion mouth mucilage muscles muscular Natural Theology nature necessary nerves nictitating membrane object observed organ oviparous pass perceive plants PLATE principle proboscis produced properties purpose quadrupeds radicle reason relation resemblance retina ribs round seed sense shell side socket species spine spissitude stomach structure substance supply suppose surface teeth tendons terrestrial animals thing tion tube valves variety vertebræ vessels watch whilst whole wings
Popular passages
Page 6 - ... the inference we think is inevitable, that the watch must have had a maker: that there must have existed, at some time, and at some place or other, an artificer or artificers who formed it for the purpose which we find it actually to answer: who comprehended its construction, and designed its use.
Page 254 - ... in the act of bounding into the air from the shallow margin of the water, or from the wet sand. If any motion of a mute animal could express delight, it was this ; if they had meant to make signs of their happiness, they could not have done it more intelligibly. Suppose, then, what I have no doubt of, each individual of this number to be in a state of positive enjoyment ; what a sum, collectively, of gratification and pleasure have we here before our view...
Page 258 - But either of these (and still more both of them) being too much to be attributed to accident, nothing remains but the first supposition, that God, when he created the human species, wished their happiness; and made for them the provision which he has made, with that view, and for that purpose.
Page 255 - Rousseau, to be the interval of repose and enjoyment, between the hurry and the end of life. How far the same cause extends to other animal natures, cannot be judged of with certainty. The appearance of satisfaction, with which most animals, as their activity subsides, seek and enjoy rest, affords reason to believe, that this source of gratification is appointed to advanced life, under all, or most, of its various forms. In the species with which we are...
Page 13 - I mean that the contrivances of nature surpass the contrivances of art, in the complexity, subtlety, and curiosity of the mechanism; and still more, if possible, do they go beyond them in number and variety: yet, in a multitude of cases, are not less evidently mechanical, not less evidently contrivances, not less evidently accommodated to their end, or suited to their office, than are the most perfect productions of human ingenuity.
Page 259 - No anatomist ever discovered a system of organization calculated to produce pain and disease; or, in explaining the parts of the human body, ever said, this is to irritate; this to inflame...
Page 230 - ... for they imply consciousness and thought. They require that which can perceive an end or purpose ; as well as the power of providing means, and of directing them to their end. * They require a centre in which perceptions unite, and from which volitions flow ; which is mind. The acts of a mind prove the existence of a mind ; and in whatever a mind resides, is a person. The seat of intellect is a person.
Page 254 - If we look to what the waters produce, shoals of the fry of fish frequent the margins of rivers, of lakes, and of the sea itself. These are so happy that they know not what to do with themselves. Their attitudes, their vivacity, their leaps out of the water, their frolics in it (which I have noticed a thousand times with equal attention and amusement), all conduce to shew their excess of spirits, and are simply the effects of that excess.