364 LESSONS FROM NATURE. [CHAP. XII. 



The objections drawn from natural science to a belief in 

 Five objcc- a Divine First Cause, which have been of late made 



tions to 11-11 



Theism. popular, seem to be reducible to five heads. 



The first of these is that &quot;wisdom &quot;and &quot;purpose&quot; are 

 not discernible in nature ; but rather that its failures, and 

 the prodigal waste (as of germs) which it shows, contradict 

 the conception of final causes altogether. 



The second objection is that &quot; Omnipotence &quot; cannot be 

 predicated of a rational and good Author of Nature, because 

 of the failures just referred to and the suffering which every 

 where exists. 



The third objection is that &quot; morality &quot; must be denied to 

 the First Cause on account of the pain and death strewn 

 broadcast over the world, and on account of the un worthiness 

 of some natural productions. 



The fourth objection is one which really applies only to 

 those who feel themselves rationally compelled to regard the 

 First Cause as a Creator. But as a distinguished school of 

 philosophy, though not that advocated here, accepts that 

 view, and as it is one necessarily held by Christians as a 

 revealed truth, it may be well here to refer to it. This 

 fourth objection is that the acceptance of Evolution negatives 

 a belief in Creation. 



The fifth objection is that the conception of a personal 

 God is a pure figment of the human imagination, and, as 

 anthropomorphic, is necessarily false ; as also that it is belied 

 by the material world, which evidently is not formed and 

 governed (if governed at all) as it would be by an Anthro 

 pomorphic Deity. 



The position here taken up is the same as that maintained 

 in the G-enesis of Species namely, that the attributes of 

 the first cause are (as has been before said) to be gathered from 

 the consideration of nature as a whole, of nature including 

 man, and not from the consideration of irrational nature onlv. 



A Divine First Cause is recognised by our intellect as a 

 necessary consequence of our perception of necessary truth 

 and of absolute morality. 



