Lactantius,
Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. VI, On the Workmanship of God…
(1885)
“ But when he saw that a wonderful system of providence is contained in all things which breathe, what vanity was it (O mischievous one!) to say that there had been animals of immense size, in which the system of production ceased! Since, therefore, all things which we see are produced with reference to a plan—for nothing but a plan [2] can effect this very condition of being born—it is manifest that nothing could have been born without a plan. For it was previously foreseen in the formation of everything, how it should use the service of the limbs for the necessaries of life ”
