RKV. G. F. WHIDBOKNE^ M.A., F.G.S., OX NATURE. 



17 



8, Its effect upon scientific phrases. 



9. The kind of creation to be expected from such a God. 



10. Modification of ic required by the Biblicjil conception of evil. 



11. The conception tlius formed arrrees with actual nature. The 



limits of its use in its elucidation. 



12. Evolution as a method of creation. 



13. The Biblical conception of God fulfils all requirements of 



science. 



IV. The third line of iaqniry, i.e., hy way of historic narration. 



1. The Biblical account of creation historically true. 



2. Its actual, if not apj^arent, agreement with, scientific facts. 



y. Conclusion. 



I. The Pkoblem of the Genesis of Xatuke. 



n^l^ATUriE-stiidy is nowadays in vogue with teachers. But 

 1\ those who confine it to rural life in distinction to the 

 town, and think to meet Xature only in quiet lanes or bare 

 hillsides, restrict their quest too tightly. Xature is all-pervading, 

 all-controlling. It includes the city and the country, the ocean 

 depths and the mountain tops, the heart of the earth and the 

 remotest stars, the most elaborate of the arts and the paths 

 untrod by man. Around us and within us, in the front of our eyes, 

 and at the back of our science, there spreads out this all- 

 embracing essence, this wonderful environment of human living, 

 that men call " Mother Xature.'"' Even Art is not, as would 

 some call it, the alternative of Xature ; it iy only the offset and 

 the product of that great Xature which is its source and its 

 basis, its magazine and its model. And to-day men ask more 

 than ever what does all this mighty nature mean ? AVhence 

 came all t])is which we sum up in a word and comprehend it 

 not ? What is the origin, the history, the language, the 

 interpretation of Xature ? Can human knowledge unravel the 

 problem of the Universe Can scicntia explain res naturae ? 



II. The Fikst Line of Inquiry, i.e., by way of Xatukal 



Eacts. 



We propose to approach our inquiry by two stages ; and in 

 each we shall have to start with an assumption. Our first stage 

 must be to seek to obtain from Xature evidence of its central 

 fact — its governing principle — for it is impossible satisfactorily 

 to explain the existing order of things, unless we go to their 

 root. We may illustrate this mathematically. If a complicated 

 curve be given to us to explain, the first thing we have to do is 



