p. 3 | Unity of Design

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Sep 30, 1886

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 38.

Unity of Design.

NATURE presents to us the appearance of a vast organic whole, whose unity depends not on physical necessity, but on delicate adjustments and complicated adaptations, which are essentially intellectual and arbitrary; involving relation of number, size, speed, distance, equilibrium, proportion, the balance of forces which determines strength of material, and the all but infinite relations involved in chemical compounds and vital structures. It is consequently at the same time an intellectual whole, in which we may be absolutely certain that every fact and law is intelligibly consistent (supposing our knowledge complete, and our intellect competent to grasp it) with every other. And it is a moral whole; a system of benevolent foresight and mutual ministry.—Dr. Eustace Conder, in Contemporary Review.