70 THE REIGN OF LAW. 



quence. Force is the root-idea of Law in its 

 scientific sense. And so the Law of Gravitation 

 is not merely the "observed Order" in which the 

 heavenly bodies move; neither is it only the ab- 

 stract idea of some Force to which such move- 

 ments must be due, but it is that Force the ex- 

 act measure of whose operation was numerically 

 ascertained or defined by Newton — the Force 

 which compels those movements and (in a sense) 

 explains them. Now the difference between Law 

 in the narrower and Law in the larger sense can- 

 not be better illustrated than in the difference 

 between the Three special Laws discovered by 

 Kepler, and the One universal Law discovered by 

 Newton. The Three Laws of Kepler were, as we 

 have seen, simply and purely an observed Order 

 of facts, They stood by themselves — discon- 

 nected, — their cause unknown. The higher Law 

 discovered by Newton revealed their connexion 

 and their cause. The " observed Order" which 

 Kepler had discovered was simply a necessary con- 

 sequence of the Force of Gravitation. In the 

 light of this great Law the " Three Laws of Kep- 

 ler" have been merged and lost. 



