364 RELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



of motion, are indeed (if we will speak strictly 

 and properly,) the effects of God's acting upon 

 matter continually and at every moment, either 

 immediately by himself, or mediately by some 

 created intelligent being. Consequently there 

 is no such thing as the cause of nature, or the 

 power of nature," independent of the effects 

 produced by the will of God. 



Dugald Stewart has adopted and illustrated 

 the same opinion, and quotes with admiration 

 the well-known passage of Pope, concerning the 

 Divine Agency, which 



" Lives through all life, extends through all extent, 

 Spreads undivided, operates unspent." 



Mr. Stewart, with no less reasonableness than 

 charity, asserts the propriety of interpreting such 

 passages according to the scope and spirit of the 

 reasonings with which they are connected ;* 

 since, though by a captious reader they might 

 be associated with erroneous views of the Deity, 

 they may be susceptible of a more favourable 

 construction ; and we may often see in them 

 only the results of the necessary imperfection 

 of our language, when we dwell upon the omni- 

 presence and universal activity of God. 



Finally, we may add that the same opinions 

 still obtain the assent of the best philosophers 

 and divines of our time. Sir John Herschel says, 



* Phil, of Act. and Moral Powers, i. 373. 



