I must confess, replied P/HILO\, that I am less cautious on
the subject of Natural Religion than on any other; both because I
know that I can never, on that head, corrupt the principles of
any man of common sense; and because no one, I am confident, in
whose eyes I appear a man of common sense, will ever mistake my
intentions. You, in particular, C/LEANTHES\, with whom I live in
unreserved intimacy; you are sensible, that notwithstanding the
freedom of my conversation, and my love of singular arguments, no
one has a deeper sense of religion impressed on his mind, or pays
more profound adoration to the Divine Being, as he discovers
himself to reason, in the inexplicable contrivance and artifice
of nature. A purpose, an intention, a design, strikes every where
the most careless, the most stupid thinker; and no man can be so
hardened in absurd systems, as at all times to reject it. That
Nature does nothing in vain, is a maxim established in all the
schools, merely from the contemplation of the works of Nature,
without any religious purpose; and, from a firm conviction of its
truth, an anatomist, who had observed a new organ or canal, would
never be satisfied till he had also discovered its use and
intention. One great foundation of the Copernican system is the
maxim, That Nature acts by the simplest methods, and chooses the
most proper means to any end; and astronomers often, without
thinking of it, lay this strong foundation of piety and religion.
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