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interventions of God.” It is simply not correct to state that 
there are two conceptions of the government of the world, one 
by Providence, the other by Law ; and that Religion favours the 
former, and Science the latter. It is not correct to state this, 
because the statement involves the conception that there is 
something radically incompatible and antagonistic between the 
conception of Providence and the conception of Law. No such 
antagonism exists, however, and there is a third conception, — 
namely, that the government of the world - is by Providence , 
acting through and by secondary causes and according to invari- 
able taws. The true state of the case, therefore, may be put 
thus : — Certain forms of Theology maintain that the world is 
governed by incessant, arbitrary interventions of Providence. 
Pure Science maintains that the world is governed by necessary 
Law — in so far as the human mind may be supposed capable of 
conceiving that “ Law ” can exist or subsist without the exist- 
ence or subsistence of a “ Law-maker.” Rational Religion 
maintains that the world is governed by Providence acting 
through secondary causes, and through laws which are neces- 
sarily invariable, as they must be supposed to be laws of the 
Divine nature itself.* Dr. Draper appears to hold the second of 
these views ; but his strictures fall harmless at the feet of 
Religion, however hardly they affect the views of Theology, 
against certain dogmas of which they are rightly directed. He 
does not appear to rightly comprehend what the views of 
Religion, properly so-called, really are upon this subject; and 
he has, therefore, necessarily left these views untouched and 
unaffected by his arguments. His work ought to have been 
entitled the “ Conflict between Science and certain Forms of 
Theology.” Its present title is simply a misnomer; and, in 
spite of the great ability of the work, there is thus betrayed a 
total misconception of the fundamental point at issue. 
For my own part, I think there are not wanting indications 
that Science is, at last, approaching the point at which it will be 
able to confer upon the world, if not its last, at any rate its greatest 
* No being, even though his powers should extend to what is ordinarily 
called “ Omnipotence,” can be conceived of as endowed with the power of 
acting against the laws and constitution of his own nature. The laws of 
Divine action mttst, therefore, be invariable, as grounded in the nature of a 
Being in whom there is “no variableness or shadow of turning.” For the 
same reason, the material universe, regarded as the product of Divine love 
and wisdom, must be governed by invariable laws. Any departure from 
invariable law can but be apparent, and can simply be the result of the inter- 
vention of a higher law, equally invariable in its operation with the lower 
law which it supersedes. 
