organic laws. In the anatomical structure of the earliest animals and
plants we find the same general type that pervades the present creation,
modified only, as it now is, to meet peculiar circumstances. This is true
not only of the osseous, but also of the muscular, circulatory, nervous,
lymphatic, and nutritive organs. Hence, as we might expect, we have
evidence of the prevalence of the same functional or physiological laws
then, as now. Respiration was performed, as it now is, and with the same
effects. Vegetable and animal food was then, as now, masticated, digested,
and assimilated; and since animals possessed the same senses, we infer
that their habits were essentially the same. There is not, indeed, any
evidence that ancient animals and plants exhibited any peculiarities of
structure or function, save those necessary to adapt them to the
circumstances, so unlike the present, in many respects, in which they
lived.
We are sure, also, that death has ever reigned over all organic nature. It
has always been produced by the same causes, and attended by the same
suffering. And its ravages were repaired by the same system of
reproduction as now exists. All this we might presume would be the case,
upon the discovery of an identity of laws, mechanical, chemical, and
organic; but we have direct evidence, also, in the countless remains of
animals and plants entombed in the rocks, more than twenty thousand
species of which have been disinterred by naturalists and described.
I might multiply facts almost without number to sustain the position, that
the same mixed system has ever prevailed upon the globe; for geology is
full of the details. But in a subsequent lecture, the subject will be more
amply discussed.
Such are the facts respecting the divine benevolence, as they are
presented in the volume of nature. Though benevolence decidedly
predominates, it is modified by other divine attributes, and ever has
been, since organic existence began upon the globe. Let us now, _in the
fourth place, see what inferences are fairly deducible from the whole
subject_. For those inferences, if I mistake not, will not only clear away
every cloud from the divine benevolence, but throw much light upon man's
condition.
In the first place, the subject shows us that the world is not in a state
of retribution.
As a general fact, virtue is to some extent rewarded, and vice to some
extent punished. But it is not always so. Indeed, the picture is sometimes
reversed apparently; and the good are afflicted because they do good, and
the wicked triumph because they do evil. Evil abounds, but it is not so
distributed as righteous retribution would award it; neither is good.
Since, therefore, God's justice must be infinitely perfect, there must be
some other object for the prevalence of good and evil in the world besides
righteous retribution.
Secondly. We learn from the subject that the world is in a fallen
condition.
I mean, that man has fallen from holiness and happiness. For the world is
evidently not such a world as infinite wisdom and benevolence would
prepare for a being perfectly holy and happy. Philosophize as we may, we
cannot discover any reason why the abode of such a being should be filled
with evils of almost every name--evils which the most consummate prudence
and the most elevated virtue cannot wholly avoid--evils which often come
upon the good man because he is eminent for holiness. But if man has
fallen from original holiness and happiness by transgression, we might
expect just such a world to be fitted up for his residence, because evil
is indissolubly linked to sin, perhaps in the very nature of things,
certainly by divine appointment. We know that it brings a curse upon every
thing with which it is connected; and here we see a reason for the blight
that has marred some of the fairest features of nature, and introduced
pain and suffering into the animal frame, and brought a cloud over man's
noble intellect, and hebetude over his moral powers. Such a fallen
condition will explain what no other supposition can, viz., the clouded,
fettered, and depressed condition of all organic nature.
Yet, thirdly. We should not infer that man's condition was hopeless, but
rather that mercy might be in store for him.
The very fact that the world is not in a state of retribution would seem
to afford hope that God had other purposes than punishment in allowing
evil to be introduced. And then the vast predominance of benevolence and
happiness around us cannot but inspire hope for the fallen.
This will be still more manifest if we infer, and can show, fourthly, that
the world is in a state of probation or trial.
By this I mean that men are placed in a condition for the trial and
discipline of their characters, in order to fit them for a higher state.
If fallen and depraved, they need to pass through such a discipline before
they can be prepared for that higher condition. And surely no one can
observe the scenes through which all pass, without being struck with their
eminent adaptedness to train man to virtue and holiness. Until we have
been pupils for a time in this school, we are not fit even for the
successive states in this life into which we pass; much less for a higher
condition. But there is a marvellous power in this discipline to prepare
us for both, as vast multitudes have testified while they lived and when
they died. Even death seems, so far as we can see, to be the only means by
which a sinful being can be delivered from his stains; and the dread of
this terrific evil is one of the most powerful restraints upon vice, and
stimulants to virtue. There is, in fact, no condition in which man is
placed, no good or evil that he meets, which is not eminently adapted, if
rightly improved, to discipline and strengthen his virtue. Hence we cannot
doubt that this is the grand object of the present arrangements of the
world. True, if misimproved, the same means become only a discipline in
vice. But this is only in conformity with a general principle of the
divine government, that the things which rightly used are highly
salutary, are proportionably injurious when perverted.
Fifthly. The subject shows us a reason why suffering and death prevailed
in this world long before man's existence.
God foresaw--I will not say foreordained, though he certainly permitted
it--that man would transgress; and, therefore, he made a world adapted to
a sinful fallen being, rather than to one pure and holy. If he had adapted
it to an unfallen being, and then changed it upon his apostasy, that
change must have amounted to a new creation. For, as I have endeavored to
show in a previous lecture, (Lecture III.,) the whole constitution of our
world, and even its relations to other worlds, must have been altered to
fit it for a being who had sinned. To have introduced such a one into a
world fitted up for the perfectly holy, would have been a curse instead of
a blessing. It was benevolence on the part of God to allow evil to abound
in a world which was to be the residence of a sinful creature; for the
discipline of such a state was the only chance of his being rescued from
the power of sin, and restored to the divine favor.
It may be thought, however, inconsistent with divine benevolence to place
the inferior, irrational animals in a condition of suffering because man
would transgress, and thus punish creatures incapable of sinning for his
transgression.
Animals do, indeed, suffer in such a world as ours; but not as a
punishment for their own or man's sin. The only question is, Do they
suffer so much that their existence is not a blessing? Surely experience
will decide, without inquiring as to their future existence, that their
enjoyments, as a general fact, vastly outweigh their sufferings; and hence
their existence indicates benevolence. It should also be recollected that
their natures are adapted to a world of sin and death, and they are
doubtless more happy here than they would be in a different condition,
which might be more favorable to unfallen accountable beings.
Finally. This subject harmonizes infinite and perfect benevolence in God
with the existence of evil on earth.
This is the grand problem of theology; and though I would not say that our
reasoning clears it of all difficulties, yet it does seem to me that, by
letting the light of this subject fall upon the question, we come nearer
to its solution than by viewing it in any other aspect. For this subject
shows us that benevolence decidedly predominates in all the arrangements
of the material universe, and then it assigns good reasons why this
benevolence is not unmixed; in other words, why severity is sometimes
mingled with goodness. It shows us that God, with a prospective view of
man's sin, adapted the world to a fallen being; making it, instead of a
place of unmingled happiness, a state of trial and discipline; not as a
full punishment, (for that is reserved to a future state,) but as an
essential means of delivering this immortal being from his ruin and
misery, and of fitting him for future and endless holiness and happiness.
Thus, instead of indicating indifference or malevolence in God, because he
introduced evil into the world, it is a striking evidence of his
benevolence. Such a plan is, in fact, the conjoint result of infinite
wisdom and benevolence for rescuing the miserable and the lost. Had God
placed such a being in a world adapted to one perfectly holy, his
sufferings would have been vastly greater, and his rescue hopeless.
Thus far do both reason and revelation conduct us in a plain path; and
that, probably, is as far as is necessary for all the purposes of
religion. Up to this point, infinite benevolence pours its radiance upon
the path, and we see good reasons for the evils incident to this life;
nay, we see that they are the result of that same benevolence which strews
the way with blessings; that, in fact, they are only necessary means of
the greatest blessings. I am aware that there is a question lying farther
back, in the outskirts of metaphysical theology, which still remains
unanswered, and probably never can be settled in this world, because some
of its elements are beyond our reach. The inquisitive mind asks why it was
necessary for infinite wisdom and power to introduce evil, or allow it to
be introduced, into any system of created things. Could not such natures
have been bestowed upon creatures, that good only might have been their
portion? A plausible answer is, that evil exists because it can ultimately
be made subservient of greater good, taking the whole universe into
account, than another system. Certainly to fallen man we have reason to
believe natural evils are the grand means of his highest good; and hence
we derive an argument for the same conclusion in respect to the whole
system of evil. Indeed, such are the divine attributes, that it is absurd
to suppose God would create any system which was not the best possible in
existing circumstances. But even though we cannot solve these questions in
their abstract form, and as applied to the whole creation, it is
sufficient for every practical purpose of religion if we can show, as we
have endeavored to do in this lecture, how the present system of the world
for a fallen being illustrates, instead of disproving, the divine
benevolence.
Here, then, is the resolution of some of the darkest enigmas of human
existence, which philosophy, unaided by revelation, has never solved. Here
we get hold of the thread that conducts us through the most crooked
labyrinths of life, and enables us to let into the deepest dungeons of
despondency and doubt, the light of hope and of heaven.
Here, too, we find the powerful glass by which we can pierce the clouds
that have so long obscured the full-orbed splendors of the divine
benevolence. To some, indeed,--and they sagacious philosophers,--that
cloud has seemed surcharged only with vengeance. And even to those who
have caught occasional glimpses of the noble orb behind, the cloud over
its face has always seemed to be tinged with some angry rays. Indeed, so
long as this is a sinful state, justice will not allow all the glories of
the divine goodness to be revealed. And yet, through the glass which
philosophy and faith have put into our hands, we can see that the disk is
a full-orbed circle, and that no spots mar and darken its clear surface.
How gloriously, then, when all those clouds shall have passed away, and
the last taint of evil shall have been blotted out by the final
conflagration, shall that sun, in the new heavens, send down its light and
heat upon the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness!
On the other hand, how sad the prospect which the analogies of this
subject open before him who misimproves his earthly probation, and goes
out of the world unprepared for a higher and purer state of existence! If
we can see reasons why on earth God should mingle goodness and severity in
this man's lot, we can also see reasons why the manifestations of
benevolence should all be withdrawn when he passes into a state of
retribution. For if an individual can resist the mighty influences for
good which the present state of discipline affords, and only become worse
under them all, his case is utterly hopeless, and Heaven can do no more,
consistently with the eternal principles of the divine government, to
save him. Infinite benevolence gives him over, and no longer holds back
the sword of retributive justice. Nay, the justice which inflicts the
punishment is only benevolence in another form. And this it is that makes
the infliction intolerable. How much more terrible to the wayward child
are the blows inflicted by a weeping, affectionate father, than if
received from an enemy! God is that affectionate Father; and he punishes
only because he loves the universe more than the individual; and he has
exhausted the stores of infinite mercy in vain to save him. Wicked men
sometimes tell us that they are not afraid to trust themselves in the
hands of infinite benevolence; whereas it is eminently this quality of the
divine character which, above all others, they have reason to fear. For
if, even in this world of probation and hope, God finds it necessary to
mingle so much severity with goodness, what but a cup of unmingled
bitterness shall be put into his hands who goes into eternity unrenewed
and unpardoned, and finds that even infinite benevolence has become his
eternal enemy!
LECTURE VIII.
UNITY OF THE DIVINE PLAN AND OPERATION IN ALL AGES OF THE WORLD'S HISTORY.
Contrivance, adaptation, and design are some of the most striking features
of the natural world. They are obvious throughout the whole range of
creation, in the minutest as well as in the most magnificent objects; in
the most complicated as well as in the most simple. So universally present
are they, that whenever we meet with any thing in nature which seems
imperfectly adapted to other objects, as the organ of an animal or plant,
which exhibits malformation, it excites general attention, and the mere
child need not be told that, in its want of adaptation to other objects,
it is an exception in the natural world.
In order to illustrate what I mean by contrivance, adaptation, and design,
let me refer to a familiar example--the human eye. Made up of three coats
and three humors, of solids and fluids, of nerves, blood-vessels, and
muscles, and rivalling the most perfect optical instrument, it must have
required the most consummate contrivance to give the requisite quantity
and position to parts so numerous and unlike, for producing the phenomena
of vision. Yet how perfectly it is done! How few, out of the hundreds of
millions of eyes of men and other animals, fail of vision through any
natural defect!
No less marvellous are the adaptations of the eye. In order to be adapted
to the wonderful effect which we call light, its coats and humors must be
transparent, and possess a certain density and opacity, that the rays may
form an image on the retina. Yet to prevent confusion in the image, the
transparency must be confined to the central parts of the eye, and a dark
plexus of veins and muscles must be so situated as to absorb the
scattering rays. In order to adapt the eye to different distances, and to
the greater or less intensity of the light, delicate muscles must be so
situated as to contract and dilate the pupil, and lengthen and shorten the
axis. That the eye might be directed to different objects, strong muscles
must be attached to its posterior surface; and that the eyelid might
defend it from injuries in front, a very peculiar muscle must give it
power to close. No less perfect is the adaptation of the eye to the
atmosphere, or, rather, there is a mutual adaptation; and it is as proper
to say that the atmosphere is adapted to the eye, as that the eye is
adapted to the atmosphere. In like manner, there is a striking relation
between the eye and the sun and other heavenly bodies, and between the eye
and day and night; so that we cannot doubt but they were made for one
another. We might, indeed, extend the relations of the eye to every object
in the universe; and the same may be said of every organ of plants and
animals. The adaptation between them is as wide as creation. And it is the
wonderful harmony between so many millions of objects that makes us feel
that infinite wisdom alone could have produced it.
The design of the multiplied contrivances and adaptations exhibited by the
eye is too obvious to need a formal statement. Comparatively few
understand the wonderful mechanism of the eye; but we should consider it
proof of idiotism, or insanity, for the weakest mind to doubt what is the
object of the eye. This is, to be sure, a striking example. But out of
the many organs of animals, how few are there of which we do not see the
design! And as the subject is more examined, the few excepted cases are
made still fewer. They are more numerous in plants, because we cannot so
well understand them, and because of their microscopic littleness. They
are so few, however, throughout all nature, that they never produce a
doubt that, for every individual thing in creation, there is a distinct
object. If we confine our views to the most simple parts of matter, we can
see design in them. If we take a wider view, and examine those minor
systems which are produced by the grouping of the elements of matter, we
shall see design there; and if we rise still higher in our examination,
and compare systems still more extensive, until we group all material
things, wise and beautiful design is still inscribed upon all. In fine,
creation is but a series of harmonies, wheel within wheel, in countless
variety, yet all forming one vast and perfect machine. Examine nature as
widely and as minutely as we may, we never find one part clashing with
another part; no laws, governing one portion of creation, different from
those governing the others. Amid nature's infinitely diversified
productions and operations we find but one original model or pattern. As
Dr. Paley finely expresses it, "We never get amongst such original or
totally different modes of existence as to indicate that we are come into
the province of a different Creator, or under the direction of a different
will." All appears to have been the work of one mighty mind, capable of
devising and creating the vast system so perfectly that every part shall
beautifully harmonize with every other part; a mind capable of holding in
its capacious grasp at once the entire system, and seeing the relation and
dependence of all its parts, from the minutest atom up to the mightiest
world. In short, the unity of design which pervades all creation is
perfect, more so than we witness in the most finished machine of human
construction; for
"In human works, though labored on with pain,
A thousand movements scarce one object gain;
In God's, one single can its end produce,
Yet serves to second too some other use."
Such are the wonderful contrivance, adaptation, and design which the
material world every where exhibits. But the geologist carries us back
through periods of immense antiquity, and digs out from the deep strata
evidences of other systems of organic life, which have flourished and
passed away; other economies, which have existed on the globe anterior to
the present. And how was it with these? Had they any relation to the
existing system? Were they governed by different laws, or are they all but
parts of one great and harmonious system, embracing the whole of the
earth's past duration? We could not decide these questions beforehand; but
geology brings to light unequivocal evidence that the latter supposition
is the true one; that is, in the language of the poet,--
"All are but parts of one stupendous whole,
Whose body nature is, and God the soul."
To present the evidence of this conclusion will be my object in this
lecture.
_In the first place, the laws of chemistry and crystallography,
electricity and magnetism, have ever been the same in all past conditions
of the earth._
Chemistry has attained to such a degree of perfection that the analyst
can now determine the composition of the various vegetable, animal, and
mineral substances which he meets, with an extreme degree of accuracy. In
many instances, he can do this in two ways. He can always separate the
elements which exist in a compound, and ascertain their relative quantity;
and this is called _analysis_. And sometimes he can take those elements
and cause them to unite, so as to form a particular compound; and this is
called _synthesis_. By these methods he has ascertained that, amid the
vast variety of substances in nature, there are only about sixty-four
which cannot be reduced to a more simple form, and are therefore called
_elements_, or simple substances. Now, the chemist finds that, when these
elements unite to form compounds, certain fixed laws are invariably
followed. They combine in definite quantities, which are always the same,
or some multiple of the same weight; so that each element has its peculiar
and invariable combining weight; and it cannot be made to combine in any
other proportion. You may mix two or more elements together in any
proportion, but it is only a certain definite quantity of each that will
combine, while the rest will remain in excess. Hence the same compound
substance, from whatever part of the world it comes, or under however
diverse circumstances produced, consists of the same ingredients in the
same proportion. These laws are followed with mathematical precision, and
we have reason to believe that the same compound substance, produced in
different parts of the world, never differs in its composition by the
smallest conceivable particle. Indeed, with the exception of the planetary
motions and crystallography, chemical combination is the most perfect
example of practical mathematics to be found in nature.
Such are the laws which the chemist finds invariably to regulate all the
changes that now take place in the constitution of bodies. What evidence
is there that the same laws have ever prevailed? In the rocks we have
chemical compounds, produced in all ages of the world's history, since
fire and water began to form solid masses. Now, these may be, and have
been, analyzed; and the same laws of definite proportion in the
ingredients, which now operate, are found to have controlled their
formation. The oldest granite and gneiss, which must have been the
earliest rocks produced, are just as invariable in their composition as
the most recent salt formed in the laboratory. And the same is true of the
silicates, the carbonates, the sulphates, the oxides, chlorides,
fluorides, and other compounds which constitute the rocks of different
ages. We never find any produced under the operation of different laws.
Now, the almost invariable opinion among chemists is, that the reason why
the elements unite thus definitely is, that they are in different
electrical states, and therefore attract one another. Hence the most
important laws of electricity have been coeval with those of chemistry;
indeed, they are identical; nor can we doubt, if such be the fact, that
every other electrical law has remained unchanged from the beginning. And
from the intimate connection, if not complete identity, between
electricity and magnetism, it is impossible to doubt that the laws which
regulate the latter are of equal antiquity with those of the former.
Indeed, we find evidence in all the rocks, especially those which are
prismatic and concretionary, of the active influence of galvanism and
electro-magnetism in their production.