THK SOUTH AMERICAN EARTIIQUAKKS. Ill 



of the honest man? No, cries modern science; ilio 

 world is not tlic plaything of capricious Avills ! Every- 

 thing, on tlie contrary, hears tlie majestic impress of 

 the universality and immulaV)ility of la\v. It is not, 

 then, to (îod, hut to nature, tliat we must go fur tlie 

 reason of tliesc physical catastrophes, once called judg- 

 ments of Cod. Let us penetrate deeper into the causes 

 of them Î Some day, perhaps, Ave sliall he ahle to con- 

 trol their elTects ! 



Science is right, hrethren ; tlie world does not l)elong 

 to miracle, but to law. Only let ns leave law in jmsses- 

 sion of its own exalted seat ! Let ns not confound it, 

 like Epicurus, Avith the combinations of a lucky chance, 

 nor, like Zcno, with the exigences of a blind necessity. 

 Be it what it is, that supreme thought wliich creates 

 order because it has first conceived it — which respects 

 itself in respecting its work, and which limits its inii- 

 nite power only by its infinite wisdom and infinite 

 goodness! Then, in every sphere of existence, the ma- 

 terial as well as the spiritual, the grand definition of 

 the reign of God will be, that it is the reign of laws! 



But these laws, it will perhaps be said, so far as they 

 refer to the subject which now engages our attention, 

 are natural laws, not moral laws. Admittins: that thev 

 stand related to God the Creator in their origin, never- 

 theless they do not cease to be, in his intentions as well 

 as their own nature, related to the exercise of his justice 

 and the chastisement of sin. 



IIow long, forsooth, has the kingdom of God been 

 divided on this cpiestion against itself? IIoav long has 

 duality been the highest expression of supreme one- 

 ness ? Doubtless suffering and death, in the inferior 

 races, are older than the sin of Adam, and stand in no 

 direct connection with the moral svstem. Without 



