The watch-maker has in his head an idea of the system of a watch, before he makes it. The mechanician of the universe had a complete idea of the universe before he made it, and this idea, this logos, was almighty, or at least powerful enough to produce the world; but it must be made of matter, which was eternal. For creation out of nothing was impossible, and matter was unmanageable. It would not and could not be fashioned into any system, without a large mixture of evil in it, for matter was essentially evil.

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "The watch-maker has in his head an idea of the system of a watch, before he makes it. The mechanician of the universe had a complete idea of the universe before he made it, and this idea, this logos, was almighty, or at least powerful enough to produce the world; but it must be made of matter, which was eternal. For creation out of nothing was impossible, and matter was unmanageable. It would not and could not be fashioned into any system, without a large mixture of evil in it, for matter was essentially evil." in the context of "John Adams, 28 June 1812, in a letter to Thomas Jefferson, (1856), The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: General correspondence, 1811-1825. Indexes, with A Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations, by Charles Francis Adams, vol. X page: 18, publisher: Little, Brown" to mean that wisdom is timeless.