Gospel Philosophy: Showing the Absurdities of Infidelity, and the Harmony of the Gospel with Science and HistoryWard, J. H. (Joseph Harvey)
Religion
Gospel Philosophy: Showing the Absurdities of Infidelity, and the Harmony of the Gospel with Science and History
Ward, J. H. (Joseph Harvey)
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- Doctrines
While we are amazed at the manifestations of _power_ in creation, let
us not forget the indications of _intelligence_ and _design_ that exist
all around us. For example, I see a friend walking along the street
in the rain, with an umbrella over his head, and I feel that somebody
contrived that instrument with the design of keeping off the rain. In
one word, it was intended for that purpose. In like manner we perceive
marks of design and intelligence in the countless contrivances and
instruments used in every-day life. In fact, we cannot look upon the
simplest invention without feeling that it is the result of design
and intelligence. Now the world is full of contrivances, which were
not made by human hands, nor invented by human brains. The hand that
wrote these words or the hand that set up the type to print them is a
more ingenious contrivance than was ever made by human skill. If it
required intelligence to make a pen, did it not require still greater
intelligence to make the hand that wields the pen? If it required
design to {58} fashion a metal type, did it not require a still greater
design to form the hand that manipulates that type? not to speak of
that subtle and mysterious power, called the mind, which guides the
hand under both these circumstances.
In like manner we might observe the marks of design and mechanical
skill displayed in the formation of the eye. First, there is the cavity
in which it is placed, composed of seven little bones nicely fitted and
glued together, lined with the softest fat and enveloped in a tissue,
compared with which the softest silk is only coarse canvas. Then the
cavity is so shaped as to exactly fit the eye, while the brow projects
over like the roof of a veranda and the lids close down over it to
protect it from injury. Again, we find that the ropes and pulleys used
in the rigging of a ship are simplicity indeed as compared with the
nerves and muscles used in the movements of the eye.
[TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: Here there is an uncaptioned representation of the
anatomy of the human eye, with its major parts labeled.]
Most persons have seen a ship, and know the way in which the yards are
moved, and the sails squared by means of ropes and pulleys. Now, there
is a tackle called a muscle to pull the eye down when you want to look
down; another to pull it up when you have done; there is one to pull
it to the right, and another to pull it to the {59} left. There is one
fastened to the eyeball in two places, and so arranged that it will
move the eye in any direction, as when we roll our eyes; and a sixth
fastened to the under side of the eye to keep it steady when we do not
need to move it. Then the eyelids are provided with suitable gearing,
and it needs to be durable too, for it is said to be used thirty
thousand times a day, in fact, every time we wink.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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