32 



FACTS AND FANCIES 



magnitude and complexity, it seems in the last 

 degree absurd to deny that it presents evidence 

 of "power." Dr. Carpenter, in a recent lecture, 

 illustrates the position of the agnostic in this 

 respect by supposing him to examine the ma- 

 chinery of a great mill, and, having found that 

 this is all set in motion by a huge iron shaft 

 proceeding from a brick wall, to suppose that 

 this shaft is self-acting, and that there is no 

 cause of motion beyond. But when we con- 

 sider the variety and the intricacy of nature, 

 the unity and the harmony of its parts, and the 

 adaptation of these to a'.i incalculable number 

 of uses, we find something more than power. 

 There is a fitting together of things in a man- 

 ner not only above our imitation, but above our 

 comprehension. To refer this to mere chance 

 or to innate tendencies or potencies of things 

 we feel to be but an empty form of words; 

 consequently, we are forced to admit super- 

 human contrivance in nature, or what Paul 

 terms "divinity." Further, since the history 

 of the universe goes back farther than we can 

 calculate, and as we can know nothing beyond 

 the First Cause, we infer that the Power and 

 Divinity which we have ascertained in nature 

 must be "eternal." Again, since the creative 



