Ecolu.twn of Vegetal Life. 133 



tion of design was ])rol)al)ly the principal stumbling-block, 

 and many shades of theory have been advanced, ranging 

 from the idea of an absolute pre-existent plan, carried out 

 with mechanical exactness by a divine artificer residing afar, 

 to that of the occurrence of purely fortuitous and unintend- 

 ed combinations. The latter is that of Haeckel, who sup- 

 poses all development to result from what he calls natural 

 causes and mechanical laws, without any participation of 

 divine power. But whence come these "natural causes" 

 and "■ mechanical laws " he fails to explain, and he likewise 

 fails to explain hoAV he knows that no divine power is in- 

 volved. 



It seems to me that there is a different way of apprehend- 

 ing the universe, which accords with the facts more nearly 

 than any of these, from the most orthodox to the most ma- 

 terialistic ; and it is the natural outcome of the idea of the 

 one-ness of things carried to its n^^^ power, — to its ultimate. 



We know nothing of spirit, except as we find it manifest- 

 ed through matter : we know nothing of matter except as 

 spirit makes it objective. We know nothing of absolute 

 life, except as we see it manifested in ourselves, or in that 

 which is around us, or in that which what is around us and 

 in us records. We know nothing of a primary fiat ; we 

 know only development and change. Why should we turn 

 our backs upon that which we know, to guess at that which 

 we do not know, and cannot possibly prove ? Why choose 

 an arbitrary theory while the facts before us all point in 

 one direction ? 



We talk of ''natural laws" and "divine laws." We 

 know nothing of the imposition of such laws, — we can know 

 nothing. All that we mean by these expressions is, that 

 we are conscious of an invariable sequence. The Universe 

 holds together : there is no revolt in that which exists. 



"Ever fresh the broad Creation, 

 A divine improvisation 

 From the heart of God proceeds, 

 A single will, a million deeds." 



Our life is a becoming. Life is a becoming. Speaking 

 reverentially, as one must, it seems to me that the Universe 

 with all that it contains is but the outward semblance of 

 one life that is self-developing, and that to speak of design 

 in the ordinary sense is a crude and inadequate way of ex- 

 pressing the condition upon which that life subsists. Noth- 



