SECTION I.-THE PROPOSITION HARMONIZES WITH ALL THE FACTS OF PHYSICAL SCIENCE. 1. Astronomy.-Is there a sentence of atheism written on the skies? Not one. Do the nocturnal wonders, whether revealed to the vulgar eye, or viewed through the piercing tube of Lord Rosse's telescope by the searching and scientific gaze of a Herschel, contradict the existence of a Creator? Never. We have seen that order and harmony universally prevail in the stupendous architecture of the heavens, and that even the nebular hypothesis itself necessitates a Creator. That mighty genius, Newton, who demonstrated the laws, the harmony, and the grandeur of the heavens, closes his immortal work, the "Principia," with a most eloquent testimony to the existence and glorious attributes of God as the architect of the universe.* 2. Geology. Do the monuments of departed ages contain one inscription which denies the being of a Creator? We have seen the reverse in every gradation of our planet's geological history. There is order even in the great catastrophes of Nature, as well as in the structure of all fossilized remains, and there is dependence upon a creating power seen in the existence of every tribe of organized being. It is from the utterances of the greatest geologists that we have the most unequivocal declarations of the wisdom and power of the Deity as unfolded in the vast ages of his wondrous works. To those already adduced we may add the testimony of Dr. Wright, the president of the last meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (1876), who in his splendid opening addressafter repudiating the doctrine of evolution-said, "In a word, palæontology brings us face to face with the Creator"-" the Great Designing Mind"-"the Great Author of all things, who is the same yesterday, and for ever." 3. Physiology.-In the structure and economy of animal and vegetable existence, is there one fact in which Nature disowns "Principia," p. 482. an intelligent Cause? Not one. Indeed, the science of physiology is made up of facts which proclaim a creating Cause and a wise Contriver. Even the spontaneous production of microscopic animalcules and plants, if it were true, would not invalidate the testimony which Nature bears to a Creator, but only present before us an ultimate fact in which God puts forth his creating energy by the operation of law. Dr. Carpenter, in his copious and elaborate work on Physiology, extending to more than eleven hundred pages, after treating on the numerous and complicated laws of that science, says, that "All the phenomena of Nature must be considered as the immediate exponents of the Will of the Creator; and their so-called Laws as but man's expression of the conditions under which the Divine Power appears continually operating in producing them.” * 4. Chemistry.-Do the marvellous laws which regulate the attraction and repulsion of atoms-the affinities, combinations, and separation of infinitesimal molecules, in fixed ratios and definite proportions-contradict the existence and operation of an intelligent Creator? Do any of the allotropic conditions of matter repudiate the agency of God? The only answer isAtoms, as well as worlds, proclaim a Deity. Professor Fownes, F.R.S., at the close of his admirable work on the Laws of Chemistry, says, "It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that these exquisitely beautiful laws and relations have been framed and adjusted to each other by an Intelligent Mind." Why? Because they so obviously display that Intelligent Mind. 5. If we extend our observation to optics, acoustics, pneumatics, or any other science which unfolds the laws and operations of Nature, we find everywhere the prevalence of order, adaptation, and dependence-facts which harmonize with an intelligent creating energy. Indeed, there is no branch of science which reveals a fact, or evolves a principle, which will not cohere and harmonize with the being of a God. It is not *Principles of Human Physiology," Introduct., p. 5. possible to make Nature utter one discordant note to the proclamation of an intelligent Creator. If it should be said that in the existence of suffering and death we have facts which do not harmonize with the being of God, we reply, These facts present no contradiction to, or discrepancy with, the existence of a Creator. If they have any force at all, they apply not to the existence of God, but to his character. As the gifted Dr. Chalmers has justly observed:"The machinery of a serpent's tooth, for the obvious infliction of pain and death upon its victims, may speak as distinctly for the power and intelligence of its Maker, as the machinery of those teeth which, formed and inserted for simple mastication, subserve the purpose of a bland and beneficent economy." Whether or not the existence of suffering and death impugns the benevolence of God, we shall hereafter consider in its proper place, when we come to discourse on the attributes of Deity; but it is certain that it presents no contradiction or opposition to his being. The philosopher never finds the conception of an intelligent Cause an impediment to scientific research and discovery. Never, in any part of Nature's vast domain, does it come into collision either with data assumed or principles demonstrated. On the contrary, it contains within itself the very principles which guide the philosopher in all his scientific pursuits; for he assumes that everything has a cause by which it exists, and an end to serve in its particular nature and construction. The principle of an originating cause on the one hand, and of a final cause on the other, pervades his mind in the study of all objects and leads him, by the shortest and the surest path, to multiply discoveries and augment the treasures of science. Apart from all theological bias, his mind instinctively and constantly admits derivation and adaptation as the universal properties of Nature; and Nature, true to herself, rewards and honours her disciples by unfolding her mysteries to their inquiring and enamoured minds. It is this universal adaptation which proclaims a supreme Intelligence, and this universal derivation which bespeaks an efficient origin; and it is the universal prevalence of both that makes all Nature, and all true science which seeks to interpret Nature, harmonize with the idea of a God. 6. We have previously laid down the obvious principle, that, as one criterion of truth, advancing knowledge will brighten its evidence and expose the absurdities of error. In harmony with this, we find that just in proportion as science has advanced, it has rendered the voice of Nature still more distinct, euphonious, and decisive in her testimony to the existence of God. As scientific discovery invades the dominion of ignorance, it dispels the phantoms of error, and elicits the truths which had lain concealed. But, amid the progress of knowledge, how marvellously does the sublime philosophy of a Creating Cause contrast with the history of human theories and speculations! Look back on the stream of time: it is literally covered with the wrecks of human theories; and many an imposing system of philosophy, venerable for its antiquity, and once all-commanding for its prestige and fame, now lies mouldering on the strand. Where is the theory of atomic motion propounded by Epicurus? It has long since vanished before the ascertained law of gravitation. Where is the complicated theory of the Ptolemaic astronomy, with its cumbrous machinery of concentric spheres, and its epicycloidal maze of spiral loops? Though received for ages, and defended by the most illustrious names, it has disappeared before the discoveries and demonstrations of Newton. Where is the Cartesian theory of ethereal vortices, framed to account for celestial phenomena? It has vanished before the true philosophy of celestial dynamics. Where is the Mohammedan institute, which commands entire fasting each day, from sunrise to sunset, during the entire month of Ramadan? Geographical facts have proved it to be an ignorant imposture. Where is the Brahminical code which forbids the destruction of every species of animal life for food? It stands forth an exposed forgery before the discoveries of the microscope. Time would fail to enumerate the wrecks of plausible opinions and hoary theories which the advancing tide of science has torn from their foundations. But no such catastrophe has happened to the philosophy which asserts an intelligent Creator. And why not? Has there not been time enough to detect the error, if it be one? It is one of the most ancient forms of human belief. It existed ages before the system of Mahomet, or the Epicurean philosophy, or the Ptolemaic astronomy, or the Brahminical theogony, or any other exploded system: why, then, has it not shared their fate? We may trace back its existence to the earliest records of man, and during those ages it has been subjected to the most scrutinizing ordeal of scientific research and philosophic acumen; yet it survives, and sustains, not a languishing, but a more vigorous existence. Had it been a figment of the imagination, it must, long ere this, have been entombed among the obsolete opinions of an ignorant and credulous antiquity. Had it been discordant with truth, the amazing accessions which have been made to science would have revealed its falsehood; had it been contradictory to Nature, the researches which have been so successfully effected in Nature's wide domain would have evinced its antagonism. But, so far from being found inimical to or inconsistent with the truths of physical science, every year affords some new tribute to its authority; every new discovery augments and brightens its evidence, and reveals the strength and solidity of its foundations. Amid the ruins of deserted theories and obsolete opinions, it stands erect in undecaying grandeur, deriving freshness from age, and increasing splendour from the light of truth. There can be but one reason for this, and it is obvious: the existence of God is in harmony with Nature and science, because it is true; and because Nature herself is true, she cannot bear witness to a lie. SECTION II.-THE EXISTENCE OF GOD HARMONIZES WITH ALL THE TRUTHS OF MAN'S OWN NATURE. 1. It is in harmony with man's intellectual nature. As the organic structure of the eye is adapted to the laws and properties of light, and the mechanism of the ear is adapted to the laws of sound, so is the mind adapted to the perception of truth. Its faculties, and the fundamental laws of their |