1892 FORECAST OF THE ROMANES LECTURE 321 



cosmic process is rational, and the faith that, throughout all 

 duration, unbroken order has reigned in the universe, I not only 

 accept it, but I am disposed to think it the most important of all 

 truths. As it is of more consequence for a citizen to know the 

 law than to be personally acquainted with the features of those 

 who will surely carry it into effect, so this very positive doc- 

 trine of Providence, in the sense defined, seems to me far more 

 important than all the theorems of speculative theology. If, 

 further, the doctrine is held to imply that, in some indefinitely 

 remote past aeon, the cosmic process was set going by some 

 entity possessed of intelligence and foresight, similar to our own 

 in kind, however superior in degree, if, consequently, it is held 

 that every event, not merely in our planetary speck, but in un- 

 told millions of other worlds, was foreknown before these worlds 

 were, scientific thought, so far as I know anything about it, has 

 nothing to say against that hypothesis. It is, in fact, an anthro- 

 pomorphic rendering of the doctrine of evolution. 



It may be so, but the evidence accessible to us is, to my mind, 

 wholly insufficient to warrant either a positive or a negative con- 

 clusion. 



He remarks in passing upon the entire exclusion of 

 " special ' providences by this conception of a universal 

 " Providence." As for " moral ' providence : 



So far as mankind has acquired the conviction that the 

 observance of certain rules of conduct is essential to the main- 

 tenance of social existence, it may be proper to say that " Provi- 

 dence," operating through men, has generated morality. Within 

 the limits of a fraction of a fraction of the living world, there- 

 fore, there is a " moral '' providence. Through this small plot 

 of an infinitesimal fragment of the universe there runs a 

 " stream of tendency towards righteousness." But outside the 

 very rudimentary germ of a garden of Eden, thus watered, I am 

 unable to discover any " moral ' purpose, or anything but a 

 stream of purpose towards the consummation of the cosmic 

 process, chiefly by means of the struggle for existence, which is 

 no more righteous or unrighteous than the operation of any 

 other mechanism. 



This, of course, is the underlying principle of the Ro- 

 manes Lecture, upon which he was still at work. It is more 

 specifically expressed in the succeeding paragraph : 

 57 



