182 ALFRED T. SCHOFIELD, ESQ., M.D., M.R.C.S., ON 



th(' origin of the universe but "mere" force or energy, and in 

 the progress of the universe nothing but spontaneous evolu- 

 tioQ. The Avord " mere " is so admirably out of place in this 

 sentence that its bias stands self-revealed. Are not bigotry 

 and partiality as great dangers for the agnostic scientist 

 as for the Christian philosopher ? 



And yet in another connection Herbert Spencer truly says, 

 " By the persistence of force we mean the persistence of some 

 power that transcends our knowledge and conception. The 

 manifestations do not persist, but that which persists is their 

 unknown cause." And this is so invariable that the manifesta- 

 tions can be tabulated and called laws ; and scientists, how- 

 ever sceptical, are so sure that the universe is the work of 

 the highest intelligence that they set to Avork in faith 

 on observing a phenomenon to discover its fixed laws; 

 for the reason that a law is fixed must be because it is 

 perfect for all time. This shows perfect fore-knoAvledge, 

 power, goodness, and wisdom. It has been beautifully said 

 that if we throw dice the same twelve times we do not 

 attribute it to chance, but say they are loaded. So is the 

 fixed order of the universe "loaded" with Divine wisdom 

 and the same law acts uniformly in the awful distances of 

 the starry depths as in the component atoms of a molecule of 

 water. 



The merely material conception of the universe is truly 

 mithinkable, for we only know matter by mind, the natural 

 l)y the spiritual, and such a conception necessarily excludes 

 *■ force" which is not material. 



Dr. Heynolds shows it is absolutely inconceivable that 

 CO H N should be otherwise than indiff'erent to their position 

 m matter past, present, or future, and even if we advance a 

 step and allow the question of non-material mechanical 

 forces and regard the universe as a mechanical toy, we still 

 have to consider its construction and the mind required to 

 produce such a result. 



Cicero very well rebukes the modem philosopher. He 

 says, " The man Avho believes that the world was made by 

 the chance meeting of atoms will believe that the letters of 

 the alphabet shaken out on the ground will form the annals 

 of Enuius (or Socrates or Plato) ! " And yet, as we shall see, 

 men do believe regarding natural phenomena what they 

 regard with scorn in artificial. 



Dr. Reynolds ably sums up the question. " The conscious- 

 ness of an inscrutable power manifested to us through all phe- 



