, to the
vast majority of the human race in all times and all lands--that He who
grasps the mystery and works the miracle is God; that "His eye sees our
substances yet being imperfect; and in His book are all our members
written, which day by day were fashioned, when as yet there were none of
them."

And then to go forward with the Psalmist, and with the common sense of
humanity; to conclude that if there be a Creator, there must also be a
Providence; that that life-giving Spirit which presided over the creation
of each organism presides also over its growth, its circumstances, its
fortunes; and to say with David, "Whither shall I go then from Thy
Spirit, or whither shall I flee from Thy presence? If I climb up to
heaven, Thou art there. If I go down to hell, Thou art there also. If I
take the wings of the morning, and remain in the uttermost parts of the
sea; even there Thy hand shall lead me; Thy right hand shall hold me
still."

Yes. To this--to faith and adoration--ought right and reason to lead the
physical philosopher. And to what ought it to lead us, who are most of
us, I presume, not physical philosophers? To gratitude, surely, not
unmixed with fear and trembling; till we say to ourselves--Who am I, to
boast? Who am I, to pride myself on possessing a single faculty which
one of my neighbours may want? What have I, that I did not receive?
Considering the endless chances of failure, if the world were left to
chance; and I may say, the absolute certainty of failures, if the world
were left to the blind competition of merely physical laws, is it not
only of the Lord's mercies that we are not failures too? that we have not
been born crippled, blind, deaf, dumb--what not?--by the effect of
circumstances over which we have had no control; which have been working,
it may be, for generations past, in the organizations of our ancestors?

But what shall we say of those who have not received what we have
received? What shall we say of those who, like the deaf and dumb, are,
in some respects at least, failures--instances in which the laws which
regulate our organization have not succeeded in effecting a full
development?

We can say this, at least, without entangling and dazzling ourselves in
speculations about final causes; without attempting to pry into the
mystery of evil.

We can say this: That if there be a God--as there is a God--these
failures are not according to His will. The highest reason should te