3. Belief in God, Natural and Necessary.—Dr. Joseph Le Conte, Professor of Geology and Natural History in the University of California, and a scientist of world-wide renown, has spoken as follows:—"Theism, or a belief in God or in gods, or in a supernatural agency of some kind, controlling the phenomena around us, is the fundamental basis and condition of all religion, and is therefore universal, necessary, and intuitive. I will not, therefore, attempt to bring forward any proof of that which lies back of all proof, and is already more certain than anything can be made by any process of reasoning. The ground of this belief lies in the very nature of man; it is the very foundation and groundwork of reason. It is this and this only which gives significance to Nature; without it, neither religion nor science, nor indeed human life, would be possible. For, observe what is the characteristic of man in his relation to external Nature. To the brute, the phenomena of Nature are nothing but sensuous phenomena; but man, just in proportion as he uses his human faculties, instinctively ascends from the phenomena to their cause. This is inevitable by a law of our nature, but the process of ascent is different for the cultured and uncultured races. The uncultured man, when a phenomenon occurs, the cause of which is not immediately perceived, passes by one step from the sensuous phenomenon to the first cause; while the cultured, and especially the scientific man, passes from the sensuous phenomena through a chain of secondary causes to the first cause. The region of second causes, and this only, is the domain of science. Science may, in fact, be defined, as the study of the modes of operation of the first cause. It is evident, therefore, that the recognition of second causes cannot preclude the idea of the existence of God. … Thus, Theism is necessary, intuitive, and therefore universal. We cannot get rid of it if we would. Push it out, as many do, at the front door, and it comes in again, perhaps unrecognized, at the back door. Turn it out in its nobler forms as revealed in Scripture, and it comes in again in its ignoble forms, it may be as magnetism, electricity, or gravity, or some other supposed efficient agent controlling Nature. In some form, noble or ignoble, it will become a guest in the human heart. I therefore repeat, Theism neither requires nor admits of proof. But in these latter times, there is a strong tendency for Theism to take the form of Pantheism, and thereby religious belief is robbed of all its power over the human heart. It becomes necessary, therefore, for me to attempt to show, not the existence indeed, but the personality of Deity. … Among a certain class of cultivated minds, and especially among scientific men, there is a growing sentiment, sometimes openly expressed, sometimes only vaguely felt, that what we call God is only a universal, all-pervading principle animating Nature—a general principle of evolution—an unconscious, impersonal life-force under which the whole cosmos slowly develops. Now, this form of Theism may possibly satisfy the demands of a purely speculative philosophy, but cannot satisfy the cravings of the human heart. … The argument for the personality of Deity is derived from the evidences of intelligent contrivance and design in Nature, or in the adjustment of parts for a definite, and an intelligent purpose. It is usually called 'the argument from design.' The force of this argument is felt at once intuitively by all minds, and its effect is irresistible and overwhelming to every plain, honest mind, unplagued by metaphysical subtleties."—Prof. Joseph Le Conte: in Religion and Science, pp. 12–14.
4. God in Nature.—Sir Isaac Newton, one of the most critical of scientific workers, in writing to his friend Dr. Bentley in 1692, said in reference to the natural universe: "To make such a system, with all its motions, required a Cause which understood and compared together the quantities of matter in the several bodies of the sun and planets, and the gravitating powers resulting from them, the several distances of the primary planets from the sun, and of the secondary ones from Saturn, Jupiter, and the earth; and the velocities with which these planets could revolve about those quantities of matter in the central bodies; and to compare and adjust all these things together in so great a variety of bodies argues the Cause to be not blind and fortuitous, but very well skilled in mechanics and geometry."
5. Natural Indications of God's Existence.—"It may not be, it is not likely, that God can be found with microscope and scalpel, with test-tube or flask, with goniometer or telescope; but with such tools, the student earnestly working, cannot fail to recognize a power beyond his vision, yet a power of which the pulses and the motions are unmistakable. The extent of our solar system once seemed to man more limited than it does at present; and the discovery of the most distant of the planetary family was due to a recognition of an attractive force inexplicable except on the supposition of the existence of another planet. The astronomer, tracing known bodies along their orbital paths, could feel the pull, could see the wire that drew them from a narrower course; he saw not Neptune as he piled calculations sheet on sheet; but the existence of that orb was clearly indicated, and by heeding such indications he sought for it, and it was found. Theory alone could never have revealed it, though theory was incomplete, unsatisfactory without it; but the practical search, instigated by theory, led to the great demonstration. And what is all science but theory compared to the practical influence of prayerful reliance on the assistance of an omnipotent, omniscient power? Disregard not the indications of your science work—the trembling of the needle that reveals the magnetic influence; the instinct within that speaks of a life and a Life-Giver, far beyond human power of explanation or comprehension. As you sit beneath the canopied vault, pondering in the silence of night over the perturbations, the yearnings which the soul cannot ignore, turn in the direction indicated by those impulses, and with the penetrating, space-annihilating, time-annulling glass of prayer and faith, seek the source of that pervading force."—The Author in Baccalaureate Sermon, Utah University Quarterly, Sept., 1895.
6. Theism; Atheism, etc.—According to current usage, Theism signifies a belief in God—the acceptance of one living and eternal Being who has revealed Himself to man. Deism implies a professed belief in God, but denies to Deity the power to reveal Himself, and asserts a disbelief in Christianity; the term is used in different senses, prominent among which are:—(1) belief in God as an intelligent and eternal Being, with a denial of all providential care: (2) belief in God, with denial of a future state of the soul: (3) as advocated by Kant, denial of a personal God, while asserting belief in an infinite force, inseparably associated with matter, and operating as the first great cause. Pantheism regards matter and mind as one, embracing everything finite and infinite, and calls this universal existence God. In its philosophical aspect, pantheism "has three generic forms with variations: (1) one-substance pantheism which ascribes to the universal being the attributes of both mind and matter, thought and extension, as in Spinoza's system: (2) materialistic pantheism which ascribes to it only the attributes of matter, as in the system of Strauss: (3) idealistic pantheism which ascribes to it only the existence of mind as in Hegel's system." In its doctrinal aspect, pantheism comprises "the worship of nature and humanity founded on the doctrine that the entire phenomenal universe, including man and nature, is the ever-changing manifestation of God." Polytheism is the doctrine of a plurality of gods, who are usually regarded as personifications of forces or phenomena of nature. Monotheism is the doctrine that there is but one God. Atheism signifies disbelief in God, or the denial of God's existence; dogmatic atheism denies, while negative atheism ignores, the existence of a God. Infidelity is sometimes used as synonymous with atheism, though specifically the term signifies a milder form of unbelief, manifesting itself in scepticism on matters religious, a disbelief in the religion of the Bible, and of course a rejection of the doctrines of Christianity. Agnosticism holds that God is unknown and unknowable; that His existence can neither be proved nor disproved; it neither affirms nor denies the existence of a personal God; it is the doctrine of "We do not know."—See Standard Dictionary.
7. Idolatrous Practices in General.—The soul of man, once abandoned to depravity, is strongly prone to depart from God and his institutions. "Hence," says Burder, "have arisen the altars and demons of heathen antiquity, their extravagant fictions, and abominable