226 RAMBLES AND REVERIES. 



along lines laid down by the facts or phenomena 

 of Nature. By demanding an adequate and efficient 

 cause for every effect, science has taught us how to 

 demonstrate, for that is not too strong a word, the 

 existence and even some of the attributes of Deity. 

 In our time it is not active, dogmatic Atheism 

 in science that the Christian philosopher has to 

 contend with so much as that more negative form 

 of Atheism known by the name of Agnosticism. 

 There are few Atheists now. The name has an 

 unpleasant savour. It is admitted, at length, that 

 the old Psalmist was right in the description he 

 gives of the man who says in his heart, " There is 

 no God." Men accustomed to close reasoning are 

 conscious that so huge a negation cannot be proved. 

 To demonstrate the non-existence of God a man 

 must go everywhere to see, he must question every 

 star and explore limitless space, he must descend 

 into the bowels of the earth and examine all her 

 caverns, he must analyse every atom of the universe 

 and inspect every mode of existence. Till he has 

 done all this he has no right to affirm that there 

 is no God. In some remote system or far-off world, 

 which the most powerful telescope fails to reach, 

 the Deity may sit enthroned in unapproachable 

 splendours ; in some subtle form of essence which 

 no microscope can reveal God may exist ; in some 

 unknown, imperceptible union with all nature, 

 transcending and eluding all human powers of 

 investigation, the Creator may subsist, guiding, 

 sustaining, and delighting in all the works of His 

 hand. 



