If the doctrine of a Providence is to be taken as the expression, in a
way "to be understanded of the people," of the total exclusion of chance
from a place even in the most insignificant corner of Nature, if it
means the strong conviction that the cosmic process is rational, and the
faith that, throughout all duration, unbroken order has reigned in the
universe, I not only accept it, but I am disposed to think it the most
important of all truths. As it is of more consequence for a citizen to
know the law than to be personally acquainted with the features of those
who will surely carry it into effect, so this very positive doctrine of
Providence, in the sense defined, seems to me far more important than
all the theorems of speculative theology. If, further, the doctrine is
held to imply that, in some indefinitely remote past aeon, the cosmic
process was set going by some entity possessed of intelligence and
foresight, similar to our own in kind, however superior in degree, if,
consequently, it is held that every event, not merely in our planetary
speck, but in untold millions of other worlds, was foreknown before
these worlds were, scientific thought, so far as I know anything
about it, has nothing to say about that hypothesis. It is, in fact, an
anthropomorphic rendering of the doctrine of evolution.
It may be so, but the evidence accessible to us is, to my mind, wholly
insufficient to warrant either a positive or a negative conclusion.