are deriving a train of sublime and splendid truths, by which the heavens are enlightened

obliquity of the human mind, that both, however opposite, have at different periods been abused to the support of atheism. The immediate operation of the Universal Mind animating and actuating all matter with every kind of life and motion, was by the Chaldaic and some old philosophers, perverted into the doctrine of materialism; in consequence of which they taught whole nations to worship the element of fire, as the subtlest and sublimest part of the soul of the world. Under a similar persuasion, a Roman philosopher of great moral reputation has the following question,"Quid est aliud natura, quam Deus, et divina ratio toti mundo et partibus ejus insita ?"-(Seneca de Benef. lib. iv.) Nor need we wonder at this, when we read the following lines in a poet of our own of only the last age:

"All are but parts of one stupendous whole,
Whose body nature is, and God the soul."

But not so Newton,-" Deus omnia regit, non ut anima mundi, sed ut universorum Dominus, et propter dominium suum Tаνтокρárwp dici solet." On the other hand, some more modern materialists have founded their doctrines on the agency of second causes, on matter acting upon matter, by virtue, as they suppose, of its organization or other inherent power, making the material world into an automaton, moving itself independently of any other cause. And either the reason of men or the reason of things is so totally changed, that to defeat this impious and modern doctrine, the other and ancient is revived as the only antidote, making God himself the sole agent, by whose immediate power, exclusive of the operations and instrumentality of all material agents, the meanest effects are every hour produced. By these weapons we are taught we can alone obtain a complete triumph over atheism. But whether this triumph will be

from pole to pole, they should never in the pride of science lose sight of the nature and

well founded in the event, may be left I think to be decided by the judgment of Lord Bacon, supported by the verdict of Plato.-" Eos, qui autumant nimiam scientiam inclinare mentem in atheismum, ignorantiamque secundarum causarum pietati erga primam obstetricari, libenter compellarem Jobi quæstione: An oporteat mentiri pro Deo, et ejus gratia dolum loqui conveniat, ut ipsi gratificemur?' Liquet enim, Deum nihil operari ordinario in natura, nisi per secundas causas, cujus diversum credi si vellent, impostura mera esset, quasi in gratiam Dei, et nihil aliud quam authori veritatis immundam mendacii hostiam immolare. Quin potius certissimum est, atque experientia comprobatum, leves gustus in philosophia movere fortasse ad atheismum, sed pleniores haustus ad religionem reducere. Namque in limine philosophiæ, cum secundæ causæ, tanquam sensibus proximæ, ingerant se menti humanæ, mensque ipsa in illis hæreat atque commoretur, oblivio primæ causæ obrepere possit. Sin quis ulterius pergat, causarum. que dependentiam seriem et concatenationem, atque opera providentiæ intueatur, tunc secundum poetarum mythologiam facile credet, summum naturalis catenæ annulum pedi solii Jovis affigi."-De Augm. Scient. lib. i.

Ταύτ ̓ ἦν πάντ' ἐσιν τῶν συναιτιῶν, οἷς ὁ Θεὸς τὴν τῶ ἀρίσου τάξιν κατὰ τὸ δυνατὸν ἀποτελεῖ.-Plato.

Between these two rocks of atheism is the middle way, in which sound theism is always to be found, which was pointed out both by Plato and Bacon, and in which Newton, even if mistaken in his celestial forces securely trod in the exercise of philosophy and religion:

"The main business of natural philosophy is to argue from phenomena without feigning hypotheses, and to deduce causes from effects, till we come to the very First Cause, which certainly is not material."-Newton's Optics, p. 343. In this middle way, the very learned author of "Ancient

extent of that mixture and connexion. Whilst they join them in operation, they should be

Metaphysics" might rest secure of his theism; and for the improvement of sound learning, he may safely join the ingenious Mr. Jones, in the following sublime and truly philosophical sentiment-" With him who is taught that the true God is distant from, and above the world of matter, though virtually present in it by a providential inspection and superintendence, the mechanism of the natural world will only serve to enlarge his ideas, by setting before him the visible evidence of that divine Wisdom, which with such exquisite contrivance and such simplicity of design, hath adapted physical causes to the production of their respective effects."-Jones's Philosophy, p. 8.

By overlooking the intermediate links in the great chain. of causes, and by resolving every effect into the immediate and personal act of Deity, this learned writer should reflect, that he not only injures the beauty and contrivance, the connection and dependence so admirable in the economy of nature, but puts a check upon the progress of natural philosophy, which consists entirely of an inquiry into second causes; and also, that, by introducing a sort of "miraculous interposition, he is confounding the established order of natural things, and introducing a method of philosophizing, which would give a sanction to every ridiculous hypothesis that doth not quite come up to an impossibility."-Jones's Philosophy, p. 115.

In allowing the Deity to act mediately by the instrumentality of his own creation, we can be in no danger of supposing that matter is possessed of thought and motion in itself, or that it is able to make and support the world: and "the wisdom of God will be infinitely magnified" in our conception " if he be found to bring about those things by the mechanism of second causes, to which philosophers have determined the divine power itself to be absolutely necessary. We may hence derive the only rational en

careful not to confound them in contemplation, so as to mistake the principles of the one for the principles of the other; which will finally and inevitably lead to error.

That every particular science has principles of its own, which are totally independent of others, is that sound and wholesome doctrine received from Aristotle (though neglected in his logic), to exemplify and illustrate which is a main object of these Lectures; as it leads to the due distinction,

couragement to a cheerful and diligent study of nature. The causes employed are few and simple beyond expression; their effects are infinitely various and wonderful; and to those who begin upon a right foundation, they will unfold themselves every day more and more; nor will the labour of man be lost in the pursuit, till he has acquired as much knowledge of this sort as will do him good in his present state."-Jones's Philosophy, p. 225.

Upon the whole, both these authors agree with our great philosopher as to the who, the where, and the when. It is God, in all places, and at all times. But they differ as to the manner how. And though both may have supplanted the Newtonian forces, their hypotheses are opposite to each other, and each may serve to prove that the other is in the wrong. And however honourable the search, if conducted with humility and prudence, the physical causes of things may often be among those of " his ways which are past finding out." Whether he dispense his blessings through the world more immediately with his own hand, or through the mediation of second causes, the real government of the whole will terminate equally in himself. If, "in bis

and facilitates the just apprehension of all the kinds of truth. Physical principles, whether general causes if they are to be found, or phenomena, which for philosophical purposes are equivalent to causes, are collected from experiments which are particular matters of fact, and cannot possibly originate in geometry, which consists in the speculation of general ideas; however useful geometry may be in the art of deducing them in the first place, and of applying them afterwards 11.

wisdom he made the worlds," He upholds them by his power. If his sun replenish us with its light, and invigorate us with its heat, it is He " who maketh it to rise on the evil and on the good." If the air yield nourishment and respiration to the vegetable and animal creations, it is He "who giveth life and breath and all things." If the clouds pour down water to fertilize the earth, it is He "who sendeth his rain on the just and on the unjust;" He is both "alpha and omega," the beginning and the end, "in whom we live and move, and have our being."

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Young mathematicians, who are smatterers in philosophy, are apt to form very high and preposterous ideas of the nature and perfection of physical science, betrayed probably into a mistake, in regard to its principles, by Sir Isaac Newton having called his Philosophy "Principia Mathematica:" and again by the following and similar expressions," Hactenus principia tradidi a mathematicis recepta, et experientia multiplici confirmata."-Præf. ad Princip. From which it would seem, as if he considered mathematics as the subject matter, and experiments only as the instruments, which is directly contrary to the truth.