continue as they were at the beginning:" but why? Because all things
serve Him in whom we live and move and have our being. To confess the
mystery and miracle of our mortal bodies, and say with David, "I am
fearfully and wonderfully made; such knowledge is too wonderful and
excellent for me, I cannot attain unto it:" but to add the one only
rational explanation of the mystery which, thank God, common sense has
taught, though it may be often in confused and defective forms, 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?