Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 28.djvu/270

260 ; the land is tilled; the rivers are tamed; houses are built; ships float upon the sea; everything is regarded with reference to human comfort, and the will of man has utterly transformed the whole surface of the globe. The uniformity of Nature, as Nature had been known or manifested hitherto, is altogether set aside by the action of the will of man.

These examples may be sufficient, or at all events may help, to show the manner which the hypothesis of the uniformity of Nature must be regarded in order that it may express the truth. For my own part, I have no desire to speak lightly of it, or to despise it as a scientific guide. I have no sympathy with that opinion of Cardinal Newman, quoted by Dr. Ward at the meeting of the Metaphysical Society, to the effect that England would be in a far more hopeful condition if it were more superstitious and more bigoted. When he adds "more disposed to quail beneath the stings of conscience, and to do penance for its sins than it is," I allow that the words may admit of a wholesome meaning; but superstition, if I understand what is meant by the word, is an immeasurably and unutterably evil thing: it is the substitution for truth of that which is not truth; it is something which, from its possible poetical accompaniments, may be tolerable to man, and nevertheless must, as I conceive, be infinitely intolerable to God. But there is no occasion to sigh for a little more superstition, in order to counteract the evils which may arise from a one-sided view of Nature; nor are superstition and bigotry the best guides to true penance: the thing really to be desired is a symmetrical and equal-handed dealing with human and divine knowledge. In the one department, the uniformity of Nature may be accepted as a valuable working hypothesis; in the other, we contemplate God without any hypothesis at all, as the Author and original Cause of Nature, of whose will uniformity and variety are equally and co-ordinately the expression and the means of manifestation to human intelligence.

To sum up the views which I have endeavored to express in this paper: I trace the belief in the principle, described by the phrase "the uniformity of Nature," to the direct and indirect influences of the successful application of mathematics to the physical theory of the solar system. The principle so established may be used as a working hypothesis in physical investigations, so far as it predisposes us to seek for law and order in all parts of creation. But it must not be dealt with as an absolutely true principle, if for no other reason at least for this, that it has not been found practicable to define its meaning with precision. And especially we must take care not to assume it even as an hypothesis, except in cases in which it is quite clear that nothing but physical causes are concerned. Which last consideration should be regarded as a warning that the introduction of the principle into theological questions may very possibly lead to most erroneous conclusions.—Nineteenth Century.