56 The instructions of God are instructive. CHAP. 



it cannot reasonably be said that we ought to expect 

 the same difficulties in the second as in the first. 

 When an infinitely powerful and perfectly wise Being 

 first uses His power in a way which we are able to 

 understand only far enough to perceive His power 

 and His wisdom, but with scarcely any insight into 

 His purposes ; and when He afterwards condescends 

 to instruct those whose fate depends on His will ; 

 the principles of analogy do not lead to the expecta- 

 tion that His teaching will reproduce the difficulties 

 of His unrevealed purposes and His unexplained 

 action. Eather ought we to expect that His instruc- 

 tion will be instructive that the Book which He has 

 given us for our guidance will be found to clear up 

 difficulties in that other work of His which has no 

 such purpose. And I maintain that this is what we 

 do find that Eevelation tends to clear up the diffi- 

 culties of Nature. To say that Revelation only 

 reproduces the difficulties of Nature, is as unsatis- 

 factory a defence as if it were to be said that a 

 translation is not more difficult than its original, or 

 that a commentary introduces no difficulties which 

 were not in the text. 



I have made these remarks in order to introduce 

 the consideration of a real analogy between the 

 natural and the spiritual worlds, whereof the existence 

 is pointed out in one of the best-known passages of 

 Butler's great work, though its true significance has 

 been revealed only by the progress of science in our 



