The Bridgewater treatises on the power, wisdom, and goodness of God, as manifested in the creation Treatise 3

Astronomy and General Physics Considered with Reference to Natural Theology

The examination of the material world brings before us a number of things and relations of things which suggest to most minds the belief of a creating and presiding Intelligence. And this impression, which arises with the most vague and superficial consideration of the objects by which we are surrounded, is, we conceive, confirmed and expanded by a more exact and profound study of external nature. Many works have been written at different times with the view of showing how our knowledge of the elements and their operation, of plants and animals and their construction, may serve to nourish and unfold our idea of a Creator and Governor of the world. But though this is the case, a new work on the same subject may still have its use. Our views of the Creator and Governor of the world, as collected from or combined with our views of the world itself, undergo modifications, as we are led by new discoveries, new generalizations, to regard nature in a new light. The conceptions concerning the Deity, his mode of effecting his purposes, the scheme of his[14] government, which are suggested by one stage of our knowledge of natural objects and operations, may become manifestly imperfect or incongruous, if adhered to and applied at a later period, when our acquaintance with the immediate causes of natural events has been greatly extended. On this account it may be interesting, after such an advance, to show how the views of the creation, preservation, and government of the universe, which natural science opens to us, harmonize with our belief in a Creator, Governor, and Preserver of the world. To do this with respect to certain departments of Natural Philosophy is the object of the following pages; and the author will deem himself fortunate, if he succeeds in removing any of the difficulties and obscurities which prevail in mens minds, from the want of a clear mutual understanding between the religious and the scientific speculator. It is needless here to remark the necessarily imperfect and scanty character of Natural Religion; for most persons will allow that, however imperfect may be the knowledge of a Supreme Intelligence which we gather from the contemplation of the natural world, it is still of most essential use and value. And our purpose on this occasion is, not to show that Natural Theology is a perfect and satisfactory scheme, but to bring up our Natural Theology to the point of view in which it may be contemplated by the aid of our Natural Philosophy. Now the peculiar point of view which at present belongs to Natural Philosophy, and especially to the departments of it which have been most successfully cultivated, is, that nature, so far as it is an object of scientific research, is a collection of facts governed by laws: our knowledge of nature is our knowledge of laws; of laws of operation and connexion, of laws of succession and co-existence, among the various elements and appearances around us. And it must therefore here be our aim to show how this view of the universe falls in with our conception of the Divine[15] Author, by whom we hold the universe to be made and governed. Nature acts by general laws; that is, the occurrences of the world in which we find ourselves, result from causes which operate according to fixed and constant rules. The succession of days, and seasons, and years, is produced by the motions of the earth; and these again are governed by the attraction of the sun, a force which acts with undeviating steadiness and regularity. The changes of winds and skies, seemingly so capricious and casual, are produced by the operation of the suns heat upon air and moisture, land and sea; and though in this case we cannot trace the particular events to their general causes, as we can trace the motions of the sun and moon, no philosophical mind will doubt the generality and fixity of the rules by which these causes act. The variety of the effects takes place, because the circumstances in different cases vary; and not because the action of material causes leaves anything to chance in the result. And again, though the vital movements which go on in the frame of vegetables and animals depend on agencies still less known, and probably still more complex, than those which rule the weather, each of the powers on which such movements depend has its peculiar laws of action, and these are as universal and as invariable as the law by which a stone falls to the earth when not supported. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 66406
Author: Whewell, William
Release Date: Sep 28, 2021
Format: eBook
Language: English