e hands of early Christian writers. Although
the cases in which it is used are generally more explicit and fully
developed, yet the appeals to design in nature are fewer even than those
to order. The earliest, and one of the best examples of the use of this
argument is that made by Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch, in his work
addressed to the idolater Autolycus.[67] He seeks to prove that the
invisible God is perceived through His works. As the soul is unseen, yet
perceived through the motion of the body; as the pilot is inferred from
the motion of the ship; as the king, though not present in person, is
believed to exist from his "laws, ordinances and authorities;" so the
unseen God is "beheld and perceived through his providence and works."
"Consider, O man, His works," he exclaims; and proceeds to enumerate the
evidences of design in the universe--"the timely rotation of the
seasons," "the regular march of the stars," the various beauty of seeds
and plants and fruits, and many others. It is a passage of considerable
beauty, and evidences no mean rhetorical skill.

It is in this same connection--in the refutation of idolatry--that St.
Clement of Alexandria uses this argument, contrasting the living
organism of man with the heathen idols.[68] "None of these (artists)
ever made a breathing image, or out of earth moulded soft flesh. Who
liquefied the marrow? or who solidified the bones? who stretched the
nerves? who distended the veins? who poured the blood into them? or who
spread the skin? who ever could have made eyes capable of seeing? who
breathed spirit into the lifeless form? who bestowed righteousness? who
promised immortality? The Maker of the universe alone; the great Artist
and Father has formed us, such a living image as man is. But your
Olympian Jove, the image of an image, greatly out of harmony with truth,
is the senseless work of Attic hands." This, it will be readily seen,
is more an attempt to show the insufficiency of idolatry to account for
man's nature, than a deliberate attempt at theistic proof.

The other examples of the use of this form of the argument for the
existence of God are found in Lactantius, "the Christian Cicero." In
speaking of Socrates he introduces[69] with approval an epitome of the
Athenian sage's argument, which we have already considered,[70] and, in
combatting the atomistic theory of the origin of the world, he
asserts[71] that neither atoms nor the "Nature" of Lucretius can accou