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THE VERY REV. H. WAGE, D.D., ON AUTHORITY. 



inovecl in ellipses, it proved that Euclid and his fellows had been 

 learning the Divine Geometry, and that the truths they had 

 discovered were the utterance of the Divine Mind. Through 

 Kature, God is perpetually impressing one aspect of His own 

 nature and will upon the human mind, and ever since the 

 reopening, at the Eeforniation, of a sense of free communion 

 between God and man, and the consequent encouragement of 

 free communion with Nature, we have been learning more, not 

 so much of her secrets, as of His. 



It sliould be observed that the advance of our knowledge of the 

 laws of Nature aftbrds a strong analogy to our apprehension of 

 God's will on other subjects, and illustrates the nature of the 

 ultimate authority in the sphere of morality and religion. The 

 only authority respecting Nature is Nature herself. Men put 

 forward from time to time theories of her constitution and 

 hypotheses of her action, theories like the Ptolemaic system and 

 hypotheses like that of Darwin, and these become subjects of 

 acute controversy. But no controversial arguments can ever 

 decide the issue. Theologians or philosophers may dogmatize 

 on either side ; but wliat settles the matter is the voice of 

 Nature herself, heard in further observations or experiments. 

 Men may, at first, misunderstand God's voice in Nature, but 

 He goes on speaking, and to those who go on listening, the mis- 

 understanding is sure to be removed. Only four centuries ago, 

 the Church was considered an authority on Nature. Sometimes 

 great schools of scientific thought have exercised a paramount 

 authority for a while, and have delayed advances in the inter- 

 pretation of Nature. But the scientific world is now, probably, 

 for ever emancipated from any such control, and all scientihc 

 thought is in the attitude of Samuel — " Speak, Lord, for thy 

 servant heareth." 



But the idea still lingers in others spheres of life and thought 

 tliat there exists some human authority to which we can resort 

 for the decision of questions of thought and action, and to which 

 unquestioning deference is due. There is no doubt that men 

 and women are constantly feeling after some such authority with 

 a dim instinctive craving, and it is their very longing for it that 

 too often renders them tlie victims of the first bold authorita- 

 tive voice which asserts a claim over them. This constitutes, to 

 a large extent, the strength of the lioman Catholic Church, and 

 of that section of our own Church which so nearly approaches 

 the Eoman Church in character. In eacli case, the alleged 

 authority is that of tlie Churcli. In the case of the liomanist, 

 that authority is plain, visible and accessible. The Eoman 



