Considerations of the existence of God and of the immortality of the soul, with…

Now if the effects of Art are not without an Artificer, can the immense Fabric of the World be other than the work of a most perfect Understanding? Who sixth the foundations of the Earth? who laid the beautiful Pavement we tread on? who divided and adorned the Chambers of the Spheres? who opened the Windows to the light in the East? who encompassed it with the immense vault of the starry Heaven hanging in the Air, and supporting it self? Could artless Chance build it? No man unless totally deserted of Reason can possibly ⟨p. 59⟩have such a fancy. Let Reason judg how could the World be otherwise then 'tis, supposing it framed by a designing Cause? all things are disposed divinely, that is, by perfect Wisdom, as public necessity and ornament require. What the Psalmist observes concerning the Heavens, is equally true of all the other parts of Nature, Their line is gone out, to signify the exactness of their proportion. If this be the effect of Chance, what is the product of Design? Can Reason distinguish between things artificial, wherein the felicity of Invention appears, and things rude not done by rules in the works of the Hands, and can it not discover the manifest prints of Wisdom in the order of the Universe? How much more Skill is evident in the frame of the World ⟨p. 60⟩than in all the effects of humane Art, so much the less folly would it be to attribute the most curious works of Art, than the production of the World to Chance.

Now if the effects of Art are not without an Artificer, can the immense Fabrick of the World be other than the work of a most perfect Understanding? Who fixt the foundations of the Earth? who laid the beautiful Pavement we tread on? who divided and adorn'd the Chambers of the Spheres? who open'd the Windows to the light in the East? who encompass'd it with the immense vault of the starry Heaven hanging in the Air, and supporting it self? Could artless Chance build it? No man unless totally deserted of Reason can possibly ⟨p. 59⟩have such a fancy. Let Reason judg how could the World be otherwise then 'tis, supposing it fram'd by a designing Cause? all things are dispos'd divinely, that is, by perfect Wisdom, as publick necessity and ornament require. What the Psalmist observes concerning the Heavens, is equally true of all the other parts of Nature, Their line is gone out, to signifie the exactness of their proportion. If this be the effect of Chance, what is the product of Design? Can Reason distinguish between things artificial, wherein the felicity of Invention appears, and things rude not done by rules in the works of the Hands, and can it not discover the manifest prints of Wisdom in the order of the Universe? How much more Skill is evident in the frame of the World