the theory of "Fate."

A few remarks on each of these theories may be neither unseasonable nor
useless, if they serve to illustrate the different kinds of Atheism
which have sprung from them, and to place in a clear and strong light
the radical difference which subsists between both, and the doctrine of
Providence, as it is taught and exemplified in Scripture.

1. The theory of "Chance," which was once the stronghold of Atheism, is
now all but abandoned by speculative thinkers, and exists only, if at
all, in the vague beliefs of uneducated and unreflecting men. This
result has been brought about, not so much by the Metaphysical or even
the Theological considerations which were urged against the theory, as
by the steady advance of Science, and the slow but progressive growth of
a belief in "law" and "order" as existing in every department of
Nature. It has been undeniably the effect of scientific inquiry to
banish the idea of Chance, at least from as much of the domain as has
been successfully explored, and to afford a strong presumption that the
same result would follow were our researches extended beyond the limits
within which they are yet confined. To this extent there is truth in the
reasonings of M. Comte as applied to _Chance_, while they have no
validity or value as applied to _Providence_; and we deem it a noble
tribute to Science when it can be said of her with truth, that she has
been an effective auxiliary to Religion in overthrowing the once vaunted
empire of that blind power.

At one time some ascribed all the works both of Creation and Providence
to Chance, and spoke of a fortuitous concourse of _atoms_ in the one
case, and of a fortuitous concurrence of _events_ in the other. The
Atomic theory, which, as a mere physiological hypothesis, is far from
being necessarily Atheistic, and which has been adopted and defended by
such writers as Gassendus and Dr. Goode,[217] was applied by Epicurus
and Lucretius to account for the fortuitous origin of existing beings,
and also for the fortuitous course of human affairs. No one now, in the
present advanced state of science, would seriously propose to account
either for the creation of the world, or for the events of the world's
history, by ascribing them to the operation of Chance; the current is
flowing in another direction; it has set in, like a returning tide,
towards the universal recognition of "general laws" and "natural
causes," such as, from their invaria