a
divinity. This does not in itself seem an unnatural idea when we
consider the great benefits that come to us through the instrumentality
of the sun and moon. It is the sun that morning by morning rolls back
the darkness, and brings light and warmth and returning life to men; it
is the sun that rouses the earth after her winter sleep and quickens
vegetation. It is the moon that has power over the great world of
waters, whose pulse beats in some kind of mysterious obedience to her
will.

Natural, then, has it been for men to go further, and to suppose that
not only is power lodged in these, and in the other members of the
heavenly host, but that it is living, intelligent, personal power; that
these shining orbs are beings, or the manifestations of beings; exalted,
mighty, immortal;--that they are gods.

But if these are gods, then it is sacrilegious, it is profane, to treat
them as mere "things"; to observe them minutely in the microscope or
telescope; to dissect them, as it were, in the spectroscope; to identify
their elements in the laboratory; to be curious about their properties,
influences, relations, and actions on each other.

And if these are gods, there are many gods, not One God. And if there
are many gods, there are many laws, not one law. Thus scientific
observations cannot be reconciled with polytheism, for scientific
observations demand the assumption of one universal law. The wise king
expressed this law thus:--

"The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be." The actual
language of science, as expressed by Professor Thiele, a leading
Continental astronomer, states that--

"Everything that exists, and everything that happens, exists
or happens as a necessary consequence of a previous state of
things. If a state of things is repeated in every detail, it
must lead to exactly the same consequences. Any difference
between the results of causes that are in part the same, must
be explainable by some difference in the other part of the
causes."[15:1]

The law stated in the above words has been called the Law of
Causality. It "cannot be proved, but must be believed; in the
same way as we believe the fundamental assumptions of
religion, with which it is closely and intimately connected.
The law of causality forces itself upon our belief. It may be
denied in theory, but not in practice. Any person who denies
it, will, if he is wat