304 RELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



far the largest portion of the space is occupied 

 by those whose comparatively humble office it 

 was to verify, to develope, to apply the general 

 truths which the discoverers brought to light. 



It will readily be conceived that it is no easy 

 matter, if it be possible, to analyse the process of 

 thought by which laws of nature have thus been 

 discovered ; a process which, as we have said, 

 has been in so few instances successfully per- 

 formed. We shall not here make any attempt 

 at such an analysis. But without this, we con- 

 ceive it may be shown that the constitution and 

 employment of the mind on which such dis- 

 coveries depend, are friendly to that belief in 

 a wise and good Creator and Governor of the 

 world, which it has been our object to illustrate 

 and confirm. And if it should appear that those 

 who see further than their fellows into the bear- 

 ings and dependencies of the material things and 

 elements by which they are surrounded, have 

 also been, in almost every case, earnest and for- 

 ward in acknowledging the relation of all things 

 to a supreme intelligence and will ; we shall be 

 fortified in our persuasion that the true scientific 

 perception of the general constitution of the 

 universe, and of the mode in which events are 

 produced and connected, is fitted to lead us to 

 the conception and belief of God. 



Let us consider for a moment what takes place 

 in the mind of a student of nature when he 



