condensation or concentration out of which we are to conceive that heat was evolved, and by which new material and dynamical relations were originated among the constituent parts. Reason as we may, we can never escape from the principles which our own minds force upon us. However subtly, or, it may be, unconsciously, we may assume the moving principle, whether by postulating gravitation, attraction, or any other mode of starting initial movement, a careful examination of terms will always show that it has been assumed in some part of our premises. There will often be detected in our language just the implied push, pull, or squeeze, which was all that we may have lacked to start our universe, and by the tacit assumption of which we were unconsciously trying to obliterate that which is ineffaceable, a beginning.'*

Then there are two other questions. How did life originate? It must have had a beginning; and it is now generally admitted, as a result of scientific investigation, that it cannot have proceeded from non-living matter. And the third question is, How did mind originate? Let us endeavour vividly to realise the powers of self-conscious mind, as possessed by man,-its powers of reflection, of memory, of varied emotion, and especially of will; and it will appear impossible that it was brought into existence or developed from unconscious matter. This, at least, is certain, that while its origination by a Personal God, possessed of infinite intelligence, of all right affections, and of volition directing and giving effect to infinite resources, meets all the requirements of the case, every other supposition is insufficient and unsatisfactory. We may again quote from Bishop Ellicott:-The only force, as has been justly said, which is directly given and immediately known to us, is our own will-force; our knowledge of all other forces is mediate, and by logical inference. What then is there unreasonable in saying, that, in passing from what we know to what we don't know, and in seeking for the Efficient Cause of all things with such light as we have at our disposal, the most natural idea we *Six Addresses on the Being of God,' Address III., pp. 59–64.

can form is of an all-powerful Will, or, in more simple terms, of an all-powerful Being with whom to will is to execute? Such a conception not only helps us to understand the beginning of the universe, especially when under the form in which we have already considered it, but also gives some reasonable account and explanation of the two other beginnings-viz., of life and mind, both of which, as we have seen, are to be accounted for.'

*

*Address III.,' pp. 75, 76.

CHAPTER III.

THE EXISTENCE OF GOD-THE ARGUMENT FROM DESIGN AS EVINCED THROUGHOUT NATURE.

WE

E have already considered the presumptive evidence of the existence of an Almighty Creator and Ruler afforded by the common consent of mankind; and the argument which may be legitimately founded on the existence and constitution of the universe around us, and of which we form a part. The beginning of material nature, the beginning of life, and the beginning of mind, can only be satisfactorily accounted for by referring them to a Supreme Mind, with whom is the fountain of life, and from whom all intelligence proceeds.

But the argument for the being of a Personal God becomes clearer and stronger, when we contemplate the manifold evidences of design which meet us on every hand in the structure and arrangements of the universe, and in our own constitution. This argument has, of late, been disparaged; but it has been successfully vindicated by some of the ablest thinkers, and it commends itself to the common sense of every thoughtful mind. Even were the hypothesis of evolution admitted, it would not set aside the proof of a designing Mind afforded by the whole system of nature. Were it even granted, to use the words of one of the most distinguished exponents of that theory, 'that the whole world, living and not living, is the result of the mutual interaction, according to definite laws, of the forces possessed by the molecules of which the primitive nebulosity of the universe was composed,' the question would still remain, Who originated these forces, who impressed on them the laws

according to which they have acted, so as to bring about the wonderful arrangements and adaptations that surround us? Everywhere the evidences of design are presented to us; and these naturally and necessarily point us to a designing Mind.

In contemplating the universe, as far as we know it, and more particularly in contemplating the world in which we live, we find several general features that claim our attention. Bishop Ellicott, in the work already referred to, has specified the following:-First, Order of the strictest kind and most definite proportions, has been wrought into the very structure of the world; and, as one illustration of this, he mentions that 'every atom of every substance of the earth has its ordered numerical relations under which, and under which alone, it will combine with the atoms that lie around.' In the second place, we recognise the prevalence of Law, of fixed and definite modes. according to which the processes of nature go forward. Thirdly, it becomes us to mark the Harmony resulting' amidst an infinite web of infinitely complicated laws.' But this harmony is consistent with Progress, progress by development. And then, especially, we meet everywhere with instances of Adaptation, the adaptation of organ to function in the whole domain of living things. And, finally, there is the feature of Beauty, which so strikingly characterises many of the arrangements of this earth, ministering a refined pleasure to the thoughtful mind.

6

The Rev. Eustace R. Conder, in his invaluable work entitled The Basis of Faith,' has traced out this argument at great length, and has supplied numerous and striking illustrations of the leading particulars which it embraces. The extent and amplitude of the evidence are beautifully set forth in the following passage:The marks of design, or, to speak more plainly, the cases of harmonious adjustment tending to produce order, life, beauty, and happiness, pervade the whole universe; from the planetary orbits (ruled by laws whose field of operation outstretches our perception and even fancy) to the waves of light and heat, of which several hundred millions of millions

paint the retina or warm the cheek in a second; from the solar mass to a midge's wing or a mite's eye. The proofs multiply as our knowledge grows, assuring us that its widest range will never discover any token of their possible exhaustion. It follows that in any attempt to overtake and estimate the evidence as a whole, our intellect is strained and bewildered. A selection of examples must be made; and whether they be chosen as familiar and intelligible, or as complicated and astonishing, or on any other principle, injustice is unavoidably done to the evidence, or rather to the mind contemplating it. We fall under an unconscious but irresistible temptation to feel as if we had before us the evidence of the Divine existence, or at all events, a strong and favourable sample; whereas the most beautiful or striking examples owe their real value to the fact that their testimony is backed up by that of the universe, explored or unexplored. We do but catch some sparkles from the spray of the great tide of human knowledge: how little idea can these give us of the fathomless, shoreless ocean of which that tide is but a transient wave!'*

The work of Mr. Conder deserves to be carefully studied; and no selections from it can do justice to its powerful reasoning, or to the noble eloquence which characterises many portions of it. He dwells on the several particulars referred to by Bishop Ellicott, and adds the subserviency of the arrangements of nature to Moral Purpose. His remarks on Adaptation are peculiarly comprehensive. He calls attention to three distinct kinds of adaptation: first, 'adaptation of structure to function, and of both structure and function to the growth, perfecting, and reproduction of an organised whole; secondly, adaptation of the finished product to manifold uses, more especially to the use and enjoyment of man; and thirdly, of the universe as a whole and in its parts to organic life.' Referring to this last class of adaptations he says, 'The indications of design are not merely painted upon the surface and woven in the texture of all that lives, plant or animal. They pervade inorganic * Second Edition. Lecture IV., pp. 135, 136.