STAR-GAZING. 175 



in order to behold " the saints' abode " ? This we 

 may never obtain, but we have spiritual vision 

 which penetrates far beyond the reach of the most 

 elaborate telescope, and enables us to realise some- 

 thing of heaven's holy light. " Faith is the substance 

 of (the giving substance to) things hoped for." 



This uniformity of Nature, which is here taken as 

 showing that ' the Lord our God is one Lord,' is 

 sometimes spoken of as being nothing more than 

 the persistence or unchangeableness of Law. But 

 what is law without a Lawgiver ? " What do we 

 mean," asks Paley, " by the Law of Nature, or by 

 any law ? Effects are produced by power, not by 

 laws. A law cannot execute itself. A law refers 

 us to an agent." Uniformity of law, then, demon- 

 strates the existence of a single supreme Mind in 

 Nature. " The Lord He is God ; there is none else 

 beside Him." 



The great danger attending this false interpreta- 

 tion of the uniformity of Nature is that it begets 

 gloomy and erroneous views concerning the character 

 of God. We ought not to suppose that the Creator 

 has no power to mould or suspend or overrule by 

 higher laws those ordinary methods of His procedure 

 which we call the Laws of Nature. These fixed 

 principles of the Divine government are arranged in 

 the interests of God's creatures, and they encourage 

 foresight and prudence, the highest of the virtues ; 

 but to say that the Deity will never interfere with 

 them is simply to make one of those sweeping and 

 unwarrantable inferences which are the bane of 

 much that goes by the name of philosophy. 



