124 SCIBNTIPIO TEACHIi^aS CONCERNINO GOD.
not only aflFord a spectacle on our fine autumn evenings, but
as solar heat, they help to liquefy our winter-snows in spring,
and to ripen our golden harvest in the summer. Whether
or not this theory be perfectly established, there are a thou-
sand other instances of what appear to be needless opera-
tions and phenomena in nature, of which the use seems to
have been defined and appointed, ages before our Uttle race
had come into existence.
And what is the known effect of the forces of nature,
where they operate with regularity and order? It is a
slow, steady, dignified progress, from the formless to the
formed; a continued action and reaction between the
visible and the invisible universe, in which not even the.
most sceptical observer can fail to perceive a definite plan,
commenced apparently in the beginning of time (as we
understand it *) and still in active progress. It may
appear surplusage to many of our readers that we should
explain what is the most advanced cosmical theory of the
universe, the ** slow and sure " developmental doctrine, but
a brief reference to it, with all its uncertainties and imper^
fections, will be necessary for those whose time or occupa-
tions have prevented them from following scientific pursuits.
