And  the  question  which  irresistibly  presses  upon


our  thoughts,  is,  whence  this  contrivance  and  de-
sign 7  The  thing  required  is  the  intending  mind,
the  adapting  hand,  the  intelligence  by  which  that
hand  was  directed.  This  question,  this  demand,
is  not  shaken  off,  by  increasing  a  number  or  suc-
cession of  substances,  destitute  of  these  properties;
nor  the  more,  by  increasing  that  number  to  infini-
ty. If  it  be  said,  that  upon  the  supposition  of  one
watch  being  produced  from  another  in  the  course
of  that  other's  movements,  and  by  means  of  the
mechanism  within  it,  we  have  a  cause  for  the
watch  in  my  hand,  viz.  the  watch  from  which  it
proceeded :  I  deny,  that  for  the  design,  the  contn-
vance,  the  suitableness  of  means  to  an  end,  the
adaptation  of  instruments  to  a  use  (all  which  we
discover  in  the  watch,)  we  have  any  cause  what-
ever. It  is  in  vain,  therefore,  to  assign  a  series  of
such  causes,  or  to  allege  that  a  series  may  be  car-
ried back  to  infinity ;  for  I  do  not  admit  that  we
have  yet  any  cause  at  all  of  the  phenomena,  still  less
any  series  of  causes,  either  finite  or  infinite.  Here
is  contrivance,  but  no  contriver;  proofs  of  design,
but  no  designer.
