ing all
the atoms of matter to be eternal, grant that all the properties and
forces, which with the smallest degree of plausibility can be claimed
for them to be eternal and indestructible, and it is still beyond
expression improbable that these atoms, with these forces, if
unarranged, uncombined, unutilised by a presiding mind, would give rise
to anything entitled to be called a universe. It is millions to one that
they would never produce the simplest of the regular arrangements which
we comprehend under the designation of course of nature." (_Theism_; pp.
107-8.)

Now this is an admirably clear and terse statement of an argument which
is often presented in so verbose a manner that its real nature is, to a
considerable extent, disguised. But in this case, clearness of statement
makes for ease of refutation, as will be seen.

For, instead of the statement being, as the writer seems to think,
almost self-evidently true, it is almost obtrusively false. Instead of
its being millions to one, given matter and force with all their present
properties, against the present arrangement of things occurring, it is
inconceivable, assuming that nothing but the atoms and their properties
exist, that any other arrangement than the present one should have
resulted. For the present natural order is not something that is, so to
speak, separable from our conception of natural forces, it is something
that has grown out of and is the expression of the idea of nature. Thus,
given a proper understanding of the principle of gravitation, and it is
impossible to conceive an unsupported stone _not_ falling to the ground.
Given a proper conception of the properties of the constituents of a
chemical compound, and we can only conceive one result as possible. In
all cases our conception of what _must_ occur follows from the nature of
the forces themselves. This is necessarily the case since the conception
of the ultimate properties of matter has been built up by the
observation of the actual results. And one simply cannot conceive an
alteration in these results without thinking of some alteration or
modification of the causes of which they are the expression. What is
true of the part is true of the whole. The present structure of the
world stands as the inevitable outcome of the play of natural forces.
This is both the expression of an actual fact and a condition of
coherent thought. Uniformity of results from uniformity of conditions is
a pre-requ