The great revolution which has taken place in the Western World may probably conduce (and who knows but that it was designed?) to accelerate the fall… - William Paley

Wherefore rejecting the intervention of a compact, as unfounded in its principle, and dangerous in the application, we assign for the only ground of the subjects' obligation, <small>THE WILL OF GOD AS COLLECTED FROM EXPEDIENCY.</small>

In all cases, wherein the mind feels itself in danger of being confounded by variety, it is sure to rest upon a few strong points, or perhaps upon a single instance. Amongst a multitude of proofs, it is one that does the business. If we observe in any argument, that hardly two minds fix upon the same instance, the diversity of choice shows the strength of the argument, because it shows the number and competition of the examples. There is no subject in which the tendency to dwell upon select or single topics is so usual, because there is no subject, of which, in its full extent, the latitude is so great, as that of natural history applied to the proof of an intelligent Creator.

God, when he created the human species, wished their happiness; and made for them the provision which he has made, with that view, and for that purpose.