1879.] 1"* J [Chase. 



The most thorough-going evolutionists are the fullest believers in the 

 modifying influences of struggle, want, annoyance ; all of which are evi- 

 dences, more or less striking, of an indwelling consciousness which pro- 

 motes development. The amount of variation which man has assisted in 

 producing, in pigeons, cattle, and other domesticated animals, is often 

 quoted in order to show that neither specific nor generic differences are 

 sufficient to need any unwonted intervention of creative power for their 

 production. In geology and astronomy there are like tendencies to avoid 

 cataclysmic hypotheses, and to seek an explanation of past changes in the 

 earth and in the heavens through such mediate causes as are still at work. 

 These tendencies are not objectionable unless they lead us to forget that the 

 creation of a new cell calls for an exercise of supernatural power as truly 

 as the creation of a universe ; that the miracle of every moment is as won- 

 derful as the miracle of developing order out of chaos ; that the Upholder 

 of all things is also the Maker of all things ; that any relaxation of his 

 mighty energy would be followed by instant and universal confusion. If 

 we keep all these things in mind, our sense of the continual presence of 

 God will lend a solemnity to all our undertakings which will incline us to 

 trust in him as our all-sufficient help and shield. 



"In discussing the material combinations which result in the formation 

 of the body and the brain of man, it is impossible to avoid taking side- 

 glances at the phenomena of consciousness and thought. . . . Though 

 the progress and development of science may seem to be unlimited, there 

 is a region beyond her reach, a line with which she does not even tend to 

 osculate. Given the masses and distances of the planets, we can infer the 

 perturbations consequent on their mutual attractions. Given the nature of 

 a disturbance in water, air, or aether, we can infer from the properties of 

 the medium how its particles will be affected. In all this we deal with 

 physical laws, and the mind runs freely along the line which connects the 

 phenomena from beginning to end. But whenever we endeavor to pass, 

 by a similar process, from the region of physics to that of thought, we meet 

 a problem not only beyond our present powers, but transcending any con- 

 ceivable expansion of the powers we now possess. We may think over the 

 subject again and again, but it eludes all intellectual presentation. The 

 origin of the material universe is equally inscrutable."* 



Thus physical research, which starts from faith, and proceeds by faith, 

 ends by sending us back to faith ; " the substance of things hoped for, the 

 evidence of things not seen ;" for the answer to all our inquiries about the 

 highest realities. Our confidence in the results which have been reached 

 through faith in the phenomena of the lower field, should give us still 

 greater confidence in the phenomena of the higher. The evidence of 

 abundant provision for all the wants of our material nature furnishes a 

 well-grounded assurance that an equally satisfactory provision has been 

 made for all the wants of our spiritual nature. 



No doctrine can ever gain extended acceptance, unless it is based upon 



* Tyndall, " Heat as a Mode of Motion 4th ed.. \ 723." 



