8 ADDRESS OF 



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Let us now approach our main theme, the course of visible 

 nature. Let me again remind you that of the two universes, the 

 seen and the unseen, I am only going to speak of the former. We 

 find ourselves placed in this world in the midst of a vast theatre of 

 . activity. We see an atmosphere agitated by storms ; great masses 

 of water rising in theair to form clouds, and, after falling to the 

 earth, flowing as mighty rivers to the ocean ; countless forms of 

 vegetation rising from the earth, and then returning to it ; a sun 

 supporting all life on our planet with its heat ; an infinitude of 

 chemical changes going on around us ; countless stars moving 

 through space with velocities which transcend all our conceptions. 

 To all appearance these operations have been going on for millions 

 of ages past, and may continue for millions of ages to come. As 

 the thinking man contemplates them, he is led irresistably to the 

 conclusion that they do not go on at random, but that they are 

 joined by connecting links, or are in some way the product of 

 knowable causes. From his earliest infancy he sees connections 

 between them which enable him to foresee results. He finds that 

 fire burns, that the sun warms, that food satisfies his hunger, and 

 that heavy bodies fall with a certainty which shows the forces at 

 play to be invariable in their action. To penetrate the mystery 

 in which these forces are enshrouded, he has exerted the efforts of 

 his intellect from its first dawn until the present time. What 

 general conclusions has he reached? 



From the earliest times at which man began to think, two modes 

 of explaining the operations of nature have presented themselves 

 to his attention. These modes are sometimes designated as the 

 teleological, and the mechanical. 



The teleological explanation of nature, presupposes that her 

 operations are akin to human actions insomuch as they are under 

 the control of, and directed by one or more intelligent beings 

 having certain ends in view ; that the events are so directed as to 

 compass these ends ; and, finally, that the relation of the events 

 to the ends, admits of being discovered by observation and study. 

 This last condition is a very important one, because, without it, 

 the teleological explanation of the cause of nature would not be 

 a scientific one. The doctrine that the Author of Nature has 

 certain ends in view, and directs the whole course of events so as 

 to bring them about, will not enable us to explain and predict the 

 events unless we know what those ends are. But, as I have 



