Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-03-13

laws are subordinate, and as the infinite
will Of which all the physical forces are but
manifestations. Grant the existence OF
God, aud if that God created the world by
an effort of His will and an exercise of His
powers then every reasonable man will not
deny the possibility that He may, if He SO
chooses, interfere to produce special results
by the agency Of his will acting through and
upon the laws of nature. God is the al-
thor of all natural laws. He ordained the
the physical causes by which that regular
sequence is secured. This relation between
God and the universe assumes that nature
and her laws are subject to Him. God is
not subject to law, but law is subject to
Him. Mind controls, regulates law, and
the divine mind controls and regulates
every physical law of the universe. Hence
mind, and not law, governs the universe.
A question here occurs: Can these
laws be changed, modified or suspended?
Certain theologians and men of science
affirm that the laws Of nature cannot be
suspended or modified. They conceive
thai the regular ordered sequences of
events have such an intrinsic and in
herent invariability and immutability that
any interference with them would be either
impossible, or, at least, unworthy of the
Creator.
To this it may be sufficient to reply that
this absolute immutability of natural laws
is perfectly gratuitous assumption. 1t
assumes as an axiom to start from, the
very question in dispute. Are the laws Of
nature so fixed that they are incapable CT
being modified, suspended or reversed?
Scientific men have no right to assume
that because physical laws are within
the limits Of our experience, and have
been regular and uniform in their ope-
ration, they are, therefore, invariable and
imInutable. The have no right to main-
tain that what has been, must be and can
not but be; in other words, they have no
right TO convert a presumption, a prob
ability, into a necessity, the contrary
of which would be impossible. For ex-
ample, it is clearly illogical to as
sert, as an absolute certainty, that the
sun will rise tomorrow, because it rose
yesterday or because it has risen four thous::
and years. Before we can logically arrive
at such conclusion it must be proved that
the sun rises through some necessity in
herent within itself, or immutably impress
ed upon it from without. The assertion is
simply record of the experience of the
past and probable presumption of what
may be expected in the future. But if we are
to conceive of the suns uniform regularity
of rising as the effect of a will in some
agent external to itself, then the question
is shifted from tie nature of the sun to the
nature of the agent in whose will its course
depends. And so in regard to every other
law of nature
Again, a belief in the modification or
of natural law belongs to Chris
tianity. Prof. Tyndalrs position is phil
false, or Christianity is an i'm
posture. For christianity is founded OF
two distinct violations or suspensions Of the
order of nature: the miraculous incarna-
ton of the Son Of God and his miraculous
from the dead. These two
facts which stand out from the sphere of
established order constitute the foundation
on which christianity rests. The ascension
of our Lord was contrary to or at least I'M
piled suspension of the universal law of
gIayitation. When Christ called Lazarus
from the grave, the chemical forces which
were working the dissolution of his body,
ceased to operate. When he said to the
winds 'Be still, the physical causes which
produced the storm were arrested in
their operation. When he walked on the
sea, the law of gravitation was counteract-
ed by stronger force-even the Divine
will.
These examples are sufficient to show
hat modification or suspension of natural
law is not an impOssibility; that God can
act and does act not only with physical
causes but without and against them; and
hat He can annihilate or suspend them at
pleasure. So that, to deny the mutability
Of the laws Of nature is practically to deny
and eliminate the supernatu-
ral force the catalogue of our belief.
After all, the counteraction or suspension
IF the laws of nature is nothing more than
what is constantly taking place around US.
We have examples of this in our every day
life. One force counteractS another; vital
orce keeps the chemical laws of matter in
)beynnce; and muscular force can control
he action Of physical force. When l raise
ny arm, the power of grayitatiOn ought to
make that arm instantly fall; but when |
keep that arm up, the law of gravity is
neither destroyed nor violated, but counter
acted by a stronger force, or by a higher
aw, the great law Of life. When the zero
laut initiates his balloon with a gas spe-
,ifcally lighter than atmospheric air, or the
'hip builder constructs vessels Of wood or
ron, so that when filled with air they shall
be lighterthan water and float with their car
20 on its surface, each is attempting to coun-
eract the law of gravitation by the applica-
ion of otherrelated laws. We find ourselves
every moment moulding events and COM
Delling nature into new paths, but for our
lctiOn, she would not have taken.
A thousand accidents-laws of nature
which battle the ignorant and careless hus-
Dandman, obey the control of the intelli-
gent and strenuous. The order of these
avs is rigid. There is an awful sternneSs
in their regularity and certainty; but they
row benign to the man who has mastered
heir secret. They obey him as a servant,
hey help him as friend, and the certainty
with which he can calculate their action is
one essential element of their friendliness.
It is this unalterable fixity of relations and
forces which God has given man the power
TO discover and to employ, which consti-
Jutes the royalty OF his rule over nature.
The laws of nature are so under
his control that he is able to
produce what results he pleases. In
producing such results he merely controls
ingenderS the laws of nature; so that results
are produced in a natural sequence reach
ing back until you come to the will of man.
And if man, within his sphere can use
these laws to accomplish the most diyerci-
fed purposes, surely God, the Creator and
First Cause of all has them in His unlimi-
ted sphere, always and everywhere under
His absolute control. He is not the slave
Of His own rules of action. They do not
direct him; He directs them. Every opera
ton of nature is produced by some physi-
cal force, but physical forces are all under
the control of God, and are male to sub
serve His purpose.
l have thus endeavored to indicate the
liue of thought which appears to me most
likely to bring clearly before US the pres
ence of mind and the exertion of will in
the phenomena of the material universe.
have asked you to look upon nature
or the material universe as theembodiment
of the divine Thoughts the expression of
a mind Of which mans is the finite prOto-
type-as the exertion of the divine VIII,
or the operation Of the first cause accord
ing to certain constant unifOrmities which
are simply Interchangeable because-as they
were originally devised by infinite wisdom
any change would be for the worse. And
the conclusion we have arrived at is, that
every where and always there is separate
from and superior TO all else, an infinite
personal will, not superseding, but direct
ing and committing all physical causes.
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