6 DARWINISM VERIFIED. [i. 



Deity, but such a conclusion can find no support in 

 the scientific theorem, which is simply a generalised 

 description of phenomena. The general considera- 

 tions upon which the belief in the existence and 

 direct action of Deity are otherwise founded, are in 

 no wise disturbed by the establishment of any such 

 scientific theorem. The theological question is left just 

 where it was before. We are still at perfect liberty to 

 maintain that it is the direct action of Deity which is 

 manifested in the planetary movements ; having done 

 nothing more with our Newtonian hypothesis than to 

 construct a happy formula for expressing the mode 

 or order of the manifestation. We may have learned 

 something new concerning the manner of Divine ac- 

 tion ; we certainly have not " substituted " any other 

 kind of action for it. And what is thus obvious in 

 this simple astronomical example is equally true in 

 principle in every case whatever in which one set of 

 phenomena is interpreted by comparison with another 

 set. In no case whatever can science use the words 

 "force" or "cause" except as metaphorically de- 

 scriptive of some observed or observable sequence of 

 phenomena. And consequently at no imaginable 

 future time, so long as the essential conditions of 

 human thinking are maintained, can science even 

 attempt to substitute the action of any other power 



