327 
tions in conformity with law, by Avliich the universe is what 
it is.* 
2G. First, then, it must be observed that both revelation 
and science — not physics only, but also the theory of evolu- 
tion — point to an original state of the universe, when it was 
“without form and void.” Was it developed from this initial 
state into its present condition by law only, or, as Holy Scrip- 
ture teaches, by the Divine Will determining the operations of 
law ? The investigations of physical science, we will allow, 
prove that the multiplied and manifold differentiations which 
have resulted in the present aspect of nature took place in 
accordance with physical laws. But the question is, whether 
this complex, and unsymmetrical, and exceedingly diversified 
structure of Nature, could be the result of forces acting without 
any guidance whatever except that of law. 
27. Of what kind, then, must the original state of the 
universe be conceived to have been, in order that such a 
result might be produced merely through the mechanical 
operation of forces ? According to the theory of evolution, 
it must have been homogeneous. Mr. H. Spencer, in his First 
Principles, has a chapter on “the instability of the homoge- 
neous ”; and the changes supposed to be produced in the 
universe through the action of the several parts on each other, 
according to the nebular hypothesis, are adduced as an illustra- 
tion of the process of evolution. But his argument obviously 
depends on the assumption (to use his own words) that “ the 
several parts of any homogeneous aggregation are necessarily 
exposed to different forces, forces that differ either in kind or 
in amount ; and being exposed to different forces they (the 
several parts) are of necessity differently modified.” But in 
the case of the universe we may just as well assume at once 
the variety of results as the variety of forces. Something- 
must have determined the variety of forces ; it cannot have 
arisen from the mutual action of the parts, for the structure is, by 
the supposition, homogeneous. If the universe should be sup- 
posed infinite and homogeneous, and, for example, the forces 
acting on it the mutual attraction of each particle, every par- 
ticle would then be acted on by equal and opposite forces, and 
no change whatever could take place. If it were finite, the 
only effect could be the concentration and, so to speak, the 
crystallization of the whole mass. The variety of nature 
* In a very able article on Supernatural Religion in the Church Quarterly 
lieview for April, 1876, this principle is assumed. But it cannot be assumed 
without some proof that it is consistent with the teachings of physical 
science, and indeed, as there stated, it seems fairly open to question. 
