97 
and effect; here have been mind and purpose, will and. 
power. 
Why do we grasp so firmly the Newtonian theory of 
gravitation, or why has the undulatory theory of light obtained 
such hold of modern science ? Because, as far as our investi- 
gations reach, they hold universally. Who that has once 
dealt mathematically with the delicacies of the variations of 
the lunar orbit — who that has ever handled the calculations of 
the planetary movements as they sway to mutual attractions — 
calculations which in the hands of Adams revealed the exist- 
ence of an unknown planet— can hesitate one moment as to 
the certainty of the basis on which such computations rest ? 
And so likewise, what is the undulatory theory but this, — 
the hypothesis of light being simply a movement of waves in 
an ocean of ether that no human eye ever saw, or human 
touch discerned. And yet, when for the purpose of argument 
we have assumed that theory, and have calculated the effect 
of certain influences on the waves of such an ether, we find 
that our result is absolutely true, and that the phenomena of 
polarized light correspond to the outcome of our calculation, 
is there not a strong degree of conviction that our fundamental 
hypothesis could scarcely be false ? It is thus that convictions 
come home to us in proportion as we discern the universality 
of the principle we are considering. There is no universality 
so universal, no certainty of principle so certain, as this of 
which we speak, the connection of cause and effect, the mani- 
festation of mind and purpose, of will and power, inconceivably 
great and majestic throughout the universe. 
Need one word be added as to the phrase whereby we 
usually express this idea? Final causes. Need I say that 
we use it of God with all humility, and that we use it in its 
human sense ! Which of us presumes to say what is really 
f *' final ” with the Most High ? By this phrase we only 
attempt to say that in our limited survey, and so far as is given 
us to follow out the chain of cause and effect, such and such 
seem the purpose and object of the Almighty. But when 
viewed from the throne of God, we are deeply conscious that 
the chain reaches far back into an eternity that precedes and 
that follows our survey; and that what we call final may be 
only, as it were, the starting-point with Him. 
It may be, therefore, that the expression final cause , bor- 
rowed from the ancient philosophy, may not be a very correct or 
a very happy one when applied to the works of God. Still no 
thoughtful man is misled by the term so as to dream of an 
actual finality ; nor is it fair to make use of it as an argument 
against reasoning from design in nature, as though this term 
VOL. VIII. h 
