Dr. Robert Richardson, as "R. R.," writes in the Millennial Harbinger, 1836, page 219, et seq.:

      The existence of a Supreme Being, necessarily presupposed in the consideration of the preservation and government of the world, is so extremely evident, that it can scarcely with propriety be considered a matter to be seriously argued. It is the amiable Fenelon who observes, "that so far from being a thing that wants to be proved, it is almost the only thing of which we are certain." It is indeed a remarkable instance of human weakness and folly, that so obvious a truth should ever have been doubted, and more especially by some persons of erudition and high attainments.

      It must be confessed, however, that very few have openly professed Atheism, the far greater number of Freethinkers having attempted to conceal their hatred of religion under the garb of Deism, as being more specious, and therefore less abhorrent to the universal reason of mankind. On this account Deism has been regarded as Atheism under another name, and with great propriety; for as the admitted existence of the sun brings along with it that of light and heat, by which only we are enabled to know that such a thing as the sun exists, so a sincere belief in the existence of God, naturally and necessarily involves an acknowledgment of the truth of revelation, and of his regard for his creatures in the preservation and government of the world, which the Deists have refused to admit. Hence the doctrines of Epicurus, who supposed that the gods spent their time in luxurious ease, and that they did not concern themselves in the affairs of mortals, were regarded even by Plato as amounting to Atheism. And many of the Deists have upon their death-beds either acknowledged the error of their system and the truth of revelation, like Voltaire, or like Hume, who when dying seemed to amuse himself with a game of chess, and have by thus over-acting their part, betrayed the secret misgivings and forebodings of conscience. [1]

      In later times, infidelity has assumed a different form, and modern philosophists have become so chary of committing themselves, and so exceeding modest, that they will neither affirm nor deny the existence of God; but, affecting to be governed solely by their senses and their experience, confess themselves wholly ignorant of the matter. They absurdly imagine that they are independent of all reasonings and inferences, when they reject faith and testimony, together with the proof of the divine existence drawn from nature, and depend solely upon the knowledge derived through the senses; while at the same time they are unable to attain conclusions even from the impressions made upon their own senses without a process of reasoning from effect to cause, precisely similar to that which they reject in regard to the Divine Being.

      But it were vain to argue either with those who imagine the world to have been made and preserved by chance, thus making Chance put an end to Chance and introduce order, design, necessity, and fate; or with those who disbelieve the existence of God without denying it, for none of them will believe any more than they can help on this subject,¹ or what suits their theory; and their reason consists only in contradicting the universal reason of mankind. For if the proposition that there is a Supreme Intelligent First Cause is not believed by them, though it be sustained by the wonderful marks of design and contrivance in the universe in the nice adaptation of the most delicate machinery to the most important and useful purposes, whether in the human mind with its various co-operating faculties of curiosity, attention, imagination, memory, and judgment; or in the material part of creation with all its infinite variety of skill and purpose; they are wholly without the pale of argument, and beyond the reach of reason.

      To the Christian, however, the volume of nature is full of meaning. He perceives the impress of an almighty and beneficent Being in everything around him. To him God is all and in all. His whole employment is to study and to imitate the divine character. In his view, indeed, the universe is but a revelation of the attributes of God, and his studies of nature are an investigation of the power, wisdom, and goodness displayed by the Author. Every new discovery of his perfections fills his bosom with delight, and animates his soul with pure and elevated principles, and he rejoices to know that eternity is a period fitted to the lesson he is to learn--the nature of the Infinite Jehovah. [2]

      The Christian, therefore, is a constant and an improving pupil. His is not the bigotry which fixes upon a few imperfect dogmas, as containing all that can be known of God; nor is his the enthusiasm which a proud and vain imagination leads beyond the confines of nature, reason, and revelation. For him the darkness of Ignorance is no refuge; but he loves the light of Truth. The investigations of science, and the true knowledge of nature only serve to impress still more deeply his convictions of the power, wisdom, and goodness of Him who "created all things and for whose glory they were and are created." It is indeed always the effect of true science to develop the purpose and skill of the Divine Architect. Thus the reason of the peculiar formation of the human eye was not understood till Newton discovered the nature and laws of light, when it was found that these fixed laws had been understood and acted on by him who made the eye, which is so perfectly accommodated to these laws that the most ingenious artist could not imagine an improvement of it. Nor was it known why the bee should in all countries, and at all times, shape its cells precisely in the same manner, the proportions accurately alike and the size the very same to the fraction of a line; till the most refined mathematical analysis discovered that this form and size were of all others best adapted to the purposes of saving room, and work, and materials. "This discovery," says Brougham, "was only made about a century ago: nay, the instrument that enabled us to find it out--the fluxional calculus--was unknown half a century before that application of its powers. And yet the bee had been for thousands of years, in all countries, unerringly working according to this fixed rule, choosing the same exact angle of 120 degrees for the inclination of the sides of its little room, which every one had for ages known to be the best possible angle, but also choosing the same exact angles of 210 and 70 degrees for the parallelograms of the roof, which no one had ever discovered till the eighteenth century, when Maclaurin solved that most curious problem of maxima et minima, the means of investigating which had not existed till the century before, when Newton invented the calculus, whereby such problems can now be easily worked."

      But it is not alone the deep researches of science which confirm the Christian, for the evidences of an intelligent and designing Being are displayed in bold relief to the eyes and understandings of men, even the most illiterate, in the wise and beneficent arrangements upon the face of nature. He marks, therefore, not merely the adaptation of the eye to light, but its adjustment to the conditions and circumstances of different animals, as in the case of the bat and the mole, the eagle and the lynx. He admires the wisdom which has given to those creatures which live in mud, not only a hard and horny eye, [3] but furnished them instead of eyelids with a little brush to clean the eye; and which, while it has given to man eyelids to moisten and protect the eye, has omitted them entirely, as unnecessary, in fishes whose eyes are washed by the water in which they swim. He contemplates with delight the beautiful proportions of the deer and the swift antelope upon the mountains; and while, on the lake he loves to view

he considers the design and skill shown in the formation of that "sable oar"--the web-foot, which the inventors of steamboat paddles have never yet been able even to imitate.

      While the Christian thus regards the proofs of design and contrivance manifested in creation, he reasons that "had he to accomplish such purposes, he should (if possessed of sufficient power and skill) have used some such means," and therefore concludes that these owe their origin to a Being supremely wise and infinitely powerful. "This process of reasoning," says Brougham "is truly inductive, and is not like, but identical with, that by which we infer the existence of design in others (than ourselves) with whom we have daily intercourse. The kind of evidence is not like, but identical with, that by which we conduct all the investigations of natural and moral science."

      Thus the Christian, while he surveys the beauty, order, variety, and immensity of creation--whether, with the scientific Euler, he examine the singular and perfectly organized creatures which sport in a drop of water--whether, with the philosophic Newton, he contemplate those vast heavenly bodies, those worlds innumerable, which move with inimitable order and precision through the regions of space to the remotest boundaries of the universe; or, with the simple rustic, view the changing seasons--the fruits of summer and of autumn--the stern severities of winter, grand and magnificent in its terrors--or the new-born leaves and flowers of spring (equivalent to a new creation), clothing field and forest in a drapery forever charming and forever new--one thought is ever present, one conclusion ever certain, that it is God "that doeth wonders"--whose "name is excellent in all the earth," and whose "glory is above the heavens;" and while with the Psalmist he would exclaim, "O Lord! how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all;" conscious of his own dependent weakness, he humbly "trusts in the God of Jacob for his help, and his hope is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that therein is: who keepeth truth forever." [4]

      "But the Lord shall find out them that hate him." "They shall be as chaff before the wind." "Their way shall be dark and slippery." "They shall be taken in their pride and consumed with terror, that they may know that God ruleth even unto the ends of the earth."

[ROBERT RICHARDSON]      

Source:

Robert Richardson. Extract from "The Providence of God.--No. 1: The Existence of God." The Millennial Harbinger 7 (May 1836): 219-223.

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