IG 
to whatever is made known to us either by our individual 
consciousness, or by our senses ; in short, the eyo, and that 
portion of the non-ego which we call the phenomenal world. 
The supernatural extends to the remaining portion of the 
non-ego — that is, incorporeal spirits, including, of course, the 
Deity; these not being perceptible by the senses, unless 
miraculously made to be so, but believed in upon other 
grounds. But although pure spirit is not an object of sense- 
perception, its acts and influences may be so ; of which we 
have a notable example in the fact, acknowledged by all 
Christians, that the phenomenal universe is perceptible to the 
senses, while its Creator is veiled from our sight, hearing, or 
touch. In the phenomenal world are to be included the 
various forces with which matter, both animate and inanimate, 
is endowed, as volition, muscular power, electricity, gravity, 
&c., all of which forces are made known to us by their power 
to produce in us some bodily sensation or perception. These 
powers and forces are a part of nature, and are not to be 
included in the idea of the supernatural. 
8. The Supernatural may be conveniently divided into — 1. 
Supernatural beings, as spirits (including the Great Spirit of 
all); and 2. Supernatural occurrences, as miracles. Of the 
former, as has been observed, our senses afford no direct evi- 
dence, but they bear indirect witness to their existence by 
enabling us to perceive the effects of their action. The latter 
are occurrences which, as they require for their production 
some power beyond that of man, or of nature as influenced and 
directed by man, are to be attributed, in whole or in part, to 
the action of a supernatural being or supernatural beings. 
9. As to the existence of God, it seems to me almost 
incredible that any thinking person should consider it more 
probable, apart from Kevelation, either that matter should be 
self-created, or that it should have existed, with all its pro- 
mise and potency,^^ from eternity, than that it should have 
been created by an intelligent, conscious, and powerful Being. 
It has become the fashion with some to disparage the argu- 
ment from design, or (to use a word recently suggested) from 
adaptation. The difference between the two expressions seems 
but slight, inasmuch as adaptation — i.e., such adaptation as is 
displayed in the universe — argues design. One or two isolated 
instances of adaptation might, we may grant, be accidental. 
But the universe is a system of adaptation from one end to the 
other, and this could not possibly be accidental. A key might 
accidentally fit into a key-hole for which it was not made. It 
might even turn the bolt, if the lock were of a very simple 
construction, without our being warranted in saying positively 
