THe Result of what has been hitherto Discours’d, upon the Four Questions Propos’d at the Beginning of this Small Treatise, amounts in short to this:
That all Consideration of Final Causes is not to be Banish’d from Natural Philosophy: but that ‘tis rather Allowable, and in some Cases Commendable, to Observe and Argue from the Manifest Uses of Things, that the Author of Nature Pre-ordain’d those Ends and Uses.
That the Sun, Moon, and other Coelestial Bodies, excellently Declare the Power and Wisdom, and consequently the Glory of God; and were Some of Them, among Other Purposes, made to be Serviceable to Man.
That from the Supposed Ends of Inanimate Bodies, whether Coelestial or Sublunary, ‘tis very Unsafe to Draw Arguments to Prove the Particular Nature of Those Bodies, or the True System of the Universe.
That as to Animals, and the more Perfect Sorts of Vegetables; ‘tis Warrantable, not Presumptuous, to Say, That such and such Parts were Pre-ordained to such and such Uses, relating to the Welfare of the Animal (or Plant) itself, or the Species it belongs to: But that Such Arguments may easily Deceive, if Those that Frame them are not very Cautious, and Careful to avoid Mistaking, among the various Ends that Nature may have in the Contrivance of an Animal’s Body, and the various Ways which she may successfully take to compass the same Ends. And,
That however, a Naturalist, who would Deserve that Name, must not let the Search or Knowledge of Final Causes, make him Neglect the Industrious Indagation of Efficients.