i.] DARWINISM VERIFIED. 7 



for the direct action of Deity. Darwinism may con- 

 vince us that the existence of highly complicated 

 organisms is the result of an infinitely diversified 

 aggregate of circumstances so minute as severally to 

 seem trivial or accidental ; yet the consistent theist 

 will always occupy an impregnable position in main- 

 taining that the entire series in each and every one 

 of its incidents is an immediate manifestation of the 

 creative action of God. 



From an obverse point of view, it might be argued 

 that since a philosophical theism must regard Divine 

 power as the immediate source of all phenomena 

 alike, therefore science cannot properly explain any 

 particular group of phenomena by a direct reference 

 to the action of Deity. Such a reference is not an 

 explanation, since it adds nothing to our previous 

 knowledge either of the phenomena or of the manner 

 of Divine action. The business of science is simply 

 to ascertain in what manner phenomena co-exist with 

 each other or follow each other, and the only kind of 

 explanation with which it can properly deal is that 

 which refers one set of phenomena to another set. In 

 pursuing this its legitimate business science does not 

 trench on the province of theology in any way, and 

 there is no conceivable occasion for any conflict 

 between the two. From this and the previous 



