forth the idea the mind has at hand of the Almighty; and the two, the fact and the idea, unite in an explanation which is sound because it is satisfactory.

The conception we have of the nature of vital force, though not capable of reducing the proof below that now given, may considerably enhance it. We may regard this force as inhering in matter as another and new attribute; or we may look upon it as a force above matter, shaping to its own ends the chemical and mechanical forces belonging to the physical elements it employs. On the first supposition vital force is a peculiar property of certain kinds of matter, very different, indeed, from other properties, yet capable of the same independent existence- an existence identified with, and transmitted by, the physical germs which contain it.

The phenomena, therefore, of the organic world, though more complex, more replete with instances of striking adaptations, of means immediately reaching a beneficent end, still transpire, like those of the inorganic world, under the necessary action of forces having no existence except as properties of matter. These germs created, and the various forms of life have through their whole career the same complete evolution from within themselves that belongs to a nebulous mass in the slow circuit of ages, directing, consolidating itself into a sun, planets, and satellites. This view, if the creation of species could be escaped, would at once coalesce with that which regards matter as eternal, and would be ready to postulate the vital force with the other properties of its physical elements.

This theory is burdened with the great difficulty of supposing that that discriminating force which is to give separation and form and office to all the complex organs of the animal body, as that of man, can inhere entire in a microscopic cell, which it is impossible to distinguish by any discoverable difference from those cells which are to be developed into other most diverse forms of life; nay, more, that it can give rise indefinitely to forces like and equal to itself, thus containing within itself a power susceptible of unlimited expansion, able,

as the case may be, to occupy an island, a continent, a hemisphere, a world, with shoots of its inexhaustible self. Owing to its intangible character, we shall lay but little stress on the first difficulty,that a discriminating, controlling force which must be every instant in every part of the animal during its entire period of growth; that must construct each organ and become in it the source of totally distinct phenomena; that must form the liver and secrete bile therein; the stomach, furnish it as solvents with gastric juices, and set it in peristaltic motion; the eye, and be present to see through it; the ear, and hear by means of it; the brain, and accumulate therein that nervous energy and establish those external connections which make it the organ of thought and the centre of force; the bones and reknit, renew, and enlarge them as the exigency of the plan requires, that a power

like this can hardly be thought of as lodged in its completeness in a microscopic cell, and will urge the second objection, which is not one of conception merely.

This theory shows no parity between the cause and its effects. One acorn is the source of a million, each as complete as itself, each with the full measure of pristine power. But a force that can be thus subdivided without loss is fabulous, a mythical force, not a natural one.

Must we thus get

Either the force

back to miracles in the heart of nature? of the million did not inhere in the single acorn, or each one of the million has not the full power of the species. It is in violation of the equality of causes and effects that we make the germ pregnant with all the actual and possible progeny of a thousand years.

A more philosophical conception, therefore, is that which looks upon life or "the lives" as working upon matter, organizing it and imparting to it vital power, without being identified as an attribute with any part of it, not even with the germ whence it springs. Thus the life maintains an immaterial existence, as much so as the spirit of man.

This view receives confirmation from the increasing proof that goes to show that all vital phenomena occur in connec

tion with chemical and mechanical forces, which are neither increased or diminished in volume; that in muscular action there is a destruction of fiber, in thought a decomposition of brain-tissue, in animal heat a series of equivalent chemical changes. Thus throughout, growth stores up in some form of chemical affinity power which, in the constant dissolution and reconstruction of the body, shows itself as muscular, nervous, and vital action. New forces are not created, but old forces are used under new forms and conditions by the vital principle. There is always the taking of something present, the transmutation of power from one form to another, in vital action; as when light and heat furnish the initial forces for building up the tree, which may again by combustion be made to yield light and heat. The combustion of the human body is muscular and mental action, and whenever these appear there is the liberation of power previously held in chemical compounds. Nor is the power thus liberated any more created in the formation of the organic product than in its dissolution. Then, as in previous and subsequent processes, the native force of the elements and agents employed are made available, though under conditions which vital force can alone secure, and for ends which it constitutes.

Careful investigation shows in many cases, and with much probability carries the conclusion to all, that the vital power is what it is by the new conditions which it secures more than by any new property it imparts to matter, or peculiar force it gives rise to in it; that a stream of forces under various forms, as chemical affinity, light, heat, electricity, and motion, is pressing about and passing through its products, and that each vital action involves the employment of one or other of these forces in an amount equivalent to the results wrought.

Thus life becomes an invisible agent, not inherent in matter but acting on it, showing itself as the architect of living things, so deftly using and dexterously intertwining the blind powers of nature as by means of them to cause the plant to

spring freely from the earth, the bird, at the loosening touch of heat, to separate itself part by part from the contents of the egg, and the embryo to renew the form of the parent by materials and forces as inherently capable of one product as another. The pipes of the organ are mechanically filled with wind; the organist touches the keys and gives us the harmony of music. Sufficient forces are present in nature, the lives play upon them, and straightway spring forth flowers and forests, birds and beasts, and man, giving to the world the marvellous harmony of its living things.

This conception of life lifts it entirely away from matter, makes it a purely spiritual power, if not intelligently, at least instinctively, pursuing the divine plan, and prepares the mind for the acceptance of that divine agency with which some at least would identify life, and all must feel it closely allied.

Restating the conclusions now arrived at, we reject in the proof of the existence of God the reasoning from effect to cause, as unable to reach that for which it sets out; and equally unable to arrest its steps if it should reach it. We substitute for the notion of cause another alike native to the mind, that of an infinite Creator. We affirm the existence of such a Being to be proved by the existence of the universe, a product not to be otherwise explained, and thus perfectly explained. The supposition of the eternity of matter we regard as an evasion, not as a solution, of the problem. It also leaves the element of wisdom, and organic products directly traceable to their origin, unexplained. Confirmatory of the conclusion thus reached, though not necessary to it, is that view of matter which regards it as centres of force; and of life, which looks upon it as a power neither identical with nor belonging to matter.

Let

The more we search for God the more he evades us. his presence escape us on the right, and we turn in vain to the left. We must find him everywhere if we would find him anywhere. We must reach his power in the stone our foot strikes against; his glory in the sunbeam that parts the

cloud and falls in floods before us; his life and love in the love and life that warm our hearts. Direct, quick, unwavering, must be the flight of the soul heavenward. Unless we accept it fearlessly we cannot beat this spiritual atmosphere or rise in it.

ARTICLE VI.

THE CHRONOLOGY OF BUNSEN.

BY REV. E. BURGESS, LATE MISSIONARY OF 'A. B. C. F. M. IN INDIA.

WHEN we read the account of the last hours of Bunsen in the interesting obituary notice of him which was published in our journals soon after his death, we should have entertained from it a far higher idea of his Christian character than we did, had we not previously read his "Egypt's Place in Universal History." But having read that work we were puzzled to understand how one who treats the holy scriptures as he does, should even appear to be an evangelical Christian. It was altogether contrary to our observation, and we thought contrary to the observation and experience of the world, that one who adopts principles of interpretation such as Chevalier Bunsen does in the work above alluded to, should give evidence of such a heartfelt reception of the Saviour as is implied in the language of his obituary notice. And we could remove the difficulty only by the supposition that that language, as coming from his lips, had less than its usual meaning, or his mind had undergone a transforming change between the time of his last great literary work going from his hands and his death. Perhaps either supposition is possible. The latter is more agreeable to entertain, though we have seen no evidence of its being fact. Bunsen professes to regard the holy scriptures as of divine authority, and to treat them as