174 MODERN IDEAS OF EVOLUTION 



must ever remain unimpaired by natural law. Further, 

 since we can know so little of law, and have so little 

 power to control the resistless energy embodied in 

 nature, it follows that scope for dependence on God, 

 for miracle and prayer, and for what we in our 

 ignorance call the supernatural, which, though not 

 understood by us, may still be most natural, in the 

 sense of being part of the Divine plan, is practically 

 infinite. 



The objection to theism based on natural law may 

 indeed be very well met by Dr. Carpenter s figure of 

 the moving power of the mill referred to in a previous 

 chapter. The man who is content to know that a 

 great shaft passing through a brick wall moves all the 

 machinery, might, if it could be shown that this shaft 

 turns constantly and has always so turned, have some 

 ground for the belief that its motion is spontaneous 

 and uncaused. He might at least assume the position 

 of the agnostic, and say that he was entirely ignorant 

 of any moving power beyond the brick wall. But if 

 it were pointed out to him that the motion of the 

 shaft obeyed certain laws that it stopped at a certain 

 hour every evening, and renewed work at a certain hour 

 every morning ; that it ceased moving at dinner hour 

 and on Sundays his agnosticism respecting any power 

 or agency beyond the brick wall would become in 

 finitely more unreasonable ; and this would not be 

 mitigated by the regularity of the several changes 

 or by the possibility of formulating their laws. 



