The evidence afforded by the order and adaptations in nature to the existence of a God : a lecture, delivered in connection with the Christian Evidence Society, June 21, 1872 / by Charles Brooke.

  • Brooke, Charles, 1804-1879.
Date:
1872
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The evidence afforded by the order and adaptations in nature to the existence of a God : a lecture, delivered in connection with the Christian Evidence Society, June 21, 1872 / by Charles Brooke. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    “ Some estimable persons very possibly shrink from accepting these statements ; they may be frightened by their apparent tendency towards what is called materialism—a word which to many minds expresses something very, dreadful. But it ought to be known and avowed that the physical philosopher, as such, must be a pure materialist.” If by materialism is meant the investigation of the laws of matter, as magnetism (as a science) is the investigation of the laws of magnetic force, it may safely be conceded as a truism that the physicist, as such, must be a pure materialist; but if materialism be taken in its ordinary acceptation to mean a denial of the exercise of either creative power or superintend- ing intelligence in the formation and development of the universe, then it is most emphatically denied that “the physical philosopher, as such, must be a pure materialistand if the author persists in the use of a common phrase in a very uncommon sense, he must not be surprised if his motive is sometimes misunder- stood. A little further on the author states : “ Depend upon it, if a chemist, by bringing the proper materials together, in a retort or crucible, could make a baby, he would do it.”—No doubt he would ; and if you or I could jump over the moon, we should be proud of showing our agility in so doing; but the fact is, we cannot — the principle of the conservation of energy forbids it: for if all the combustible material