Thus the forces by which solidity and by which organic action are produced, the laws of permanence and of developement, do not bring about all that happens. Besides these, there is a mechanical condition, that of a body exposed to friction, which is neither one of absolute permanency nor one naturally progressive; but is yet one absolutely necessary to make material objects capable of being instruments and aids to man; and this is the condition of by far the greater part of terrestrial things. The habitual course of events with regard to motion and rest is not the same for familiar moveable articles, as it is for the parts of the mineral, or of the vegetable world, when left to themselves; such articles are in a condition far better adapted than any of those other conditions would be, to their place and purpose. Surely this shows us an _adaptation_, an adjustment, of the constitution of the material world to the nature of man. And as the organization of plants cannot be conceived otherwise than as having their life and growth for its object, so we cannot conceive that friction should be one of the leading agencies in the world in which man is placed, without supposing that it was intended to be of use when man should walk and run, and build houses and ships, and bridges, and execute innumerable other processes, all of which would be impossible, admirably constituted as man is in other respects, if friction did not exist. And believing, as we conceive we cannot but believe, that the laws of motion and rest were thus given with reference to their ends, we perceive in this instance, as in others, how wide and profound this reference is, how simple in its means, how fertile in its consequences, how effective in its details. BOOK III. RELIGIOUS VIEWS.