The independent. (Harrisonburg, La.) 1853-18??, 1857-09-23
NEW THOUGHTS on AN OLD SUBJECT.

order of the universe, the adaptation of things
to obvious purposes, the appropriateness OF
the material world and all its various appen-
dages, both to the physical and moral condi-
ton Of man, has long been an argument in
support of the assumption, that supreme
intelligence is the source Of all things; in
other words, that the fac. Of design in ali
the works Of nature enables US, iniepe ndent-
" Of revelation, to infer the existence Of Il
Supreme Being the cause or origin Of all
things. Blair and PaIey and Lock have
treated this subject of design with great abili-
ty. The Earl Of Bridsswater who died in
England in 1929, ordered by his will, the
appropriation of large sum to be applied
as a premium for the best treatiscs that should
be written on one or more subjects to be pre-
sented, illustrating the design apparent in
the material creation. The celebrated
Bridgewater Treatises" were in due time
produced by several master minds Of the age
each writer having his appropriate work. In
these treatses the great argument drawn
from design is presented in many various and
very striking points of view.
+ On the other hand, infdel writer's of great
ability and acumen have constantly combat
ted the argument. They have uniformly
insisted that as there must at last, be necessa-
rily self-existent being it is equally as reason.
able to take the material universe for that
selfexistent being as to assume that it was
created and that its creator or cause existed
from all eternity. Some Of them have talk
ed in stilled phrase Of the formation Of all
things by the fortuitous congregation Of eIe-
mentary atoms that existed per Sc without be-
ginning. That atomic particles, Infinite in
number, commingling with and acting upon
each other during an infinite period of time,
could produce combinations capable of pre-
seuting all the phenomena presented in the
material universe. In fine, that Chance inf.
nitely acting upon infinite selfexistent materi-
al could make a world.
Whatever degree of sanction these opin-
ions may receive either from the feelings OF
the judgment, it must be conceded that the
ARGUMENT from design as an isolated fact, is
inconclusiye and to great extent unsatisfac-
tory. Notwithstanding the force and inge-
nuity with which it has been urged, its al.
vocates have never achieved decisive victo
~ over their antagonists, and in the judg
ment of mankind the case remains Us sut
JUDGE, an unsettled question.
We have promised these remarks in order
to present to our readers the mastery reason
ing on this subject, by some Of the great &C.
igious thinkers Of our own day., We sub
join an extract from the writing of James
MartineAu, a professor in the Manchester
New College, attached to the London Uni
versity, with the remarks of bis American
Reviewer, writer of uncommon power and
great logical force. These logicians repro
wing on the one hand, the supporters of the
argument drawn from design, demolish il
our judgment, the contestants on the oppo
site side. On the question Of design th.
Reviewer begins:
ave are more and moro convinced tina
lack of reverence for human nature as tn,
highest expression Of God, and as the onl,
fountain Of a vital theis,ic theory. is tn
parent of the periIs which have beset faitl
!, from the advance of science. If ma,
looks out of himself to find, in the fabric @
Nature, gertrude of the Divine existenc
, which his own spirit will not supply, he
in the atmosphere of materialsm and tn
! intellectual juices Of geology, chemistry, a:
tronomy, will bring no cooling to his thirs
All such Arguments as Paley's, and all c}al
tiers Of Bridgewater Treatises, that atteml
:. this climbing to God by rounds OF induc,io
. from physical order, appear to us simp'
y proofs of the fall Of the intellect.
! They fail, first, because the sweep Of the
facts is only .6nite,-less than one leaf,
NAV Re, in the boundless forest of phenom
I'M. and thus, If man is melted into me
enuiy .,lence with the rest of nature, the a
gument from design can lead only to su
pense.Zssir,ce we know not what strict log
; might draw from the whole testimony
- things. If it can be presumed that dali
= can live without God, no argument that
armament cannot is worth rush. 1t ca
= not stand against Diderot's declaration, tn.
;. with types enough, and an Infinite numb
of throws. he would throw the Had.
Then. too, they fail because the Goa the
~ logic leads to must show more wonleri
:, indications Of design and skill in the propo
ton Of his faculties, and how are We to a
- swer the question, "Who made him p
- BIZ the assumption OF his selfexistence, SIT
" piy because there must be some seit-cxiste
~ substance, why not plant ourselves on the ID
\ ~ of a self-subsisting and evolving matter