The kingdom of heaven
is the kingdom of little children.
SELECTIONS FROM EVOLUTION, OLD AND NEW. {131}
IMPOTENCE OF PALEY'S CONCLUSION. THE TELEOLOGY OF THE EVOLUTIONIST.
(FROM CHAPTER III. OF EVOLUTION, OLD AND NEW.)
If we conceive of ourselves as looking simultaneously upon a real foot,
and upon an admirably constructed artificial one, placed by the side of
it, the idea of design, and design by an intelligent living being with a
body and soul (without which, the use of the word design is delusive),
will present itself strongly to our minds in connection both with the
true foot and with the model; but we find another idea asserting itself
with even greater strength, namely, that the design of the true foot is
infinitely more intricate, and yet is carried into execution in far more
masterly manner than that of the model. We not only feel that there is a
wider difference between the ability, time, and care which have been
lavished on the real foot and upon the model, than there is between the
skill and the time taken to produce Westminster Abbey, and that bestowed
upon a gingerbread cake stuck with sugar plums so as to represent it, but
also that these two objects must have been manufactured on different
principles. We do not for a moment doubt that the real foot was
designed, but we are so astonished at the dexterity of the designer that
we are at a loss for some time to think who could have designed it, where
he can live, in what manner he studied, for how long, and by what
processes he carried out his design, when matured, into actual practice.
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