The outstanding general results of science as to the nature of energy are now before us. All observations concerning motion only present to view transmutations of energy, all of them imply that there is no such thing as the origin of energy, and no such thing as its extinction. There is indeed a constant tendency towards the degradation of energy, and a constant equalizing process which may bring to an end the present order of things in the universe. But the leading scientific conception with which we have specially to deal is that expressed in the phrase, "_Conservation of energy_," which must be regarded as completing our view of inorganic existence along with the other doctrine of the indestructibility of matter. As Professor Tait has expressed it,--"The grand principle of conservation of energy, which asserts that no portion of energy can be put out of existence, and no amount of energy can be brought into existence by any process at our command, is simply a statement of the invariability of the quantity of energy in the universe,--a companion statement to that of the invariability of the quantity of matter."[AJ] The position is now reached at which it becomes possible to combine the results of scientific research as to matter and energy into a harmonious unity, with which to test the view of the world recognized by religious thought. Religion as an intelligent and devotional acknowledgment of a Supreme Being, involves a very clear and definite conception concerning the origin of the universe and its continuance. What is thus implied will be best indicated by negative as well as positive statements, in some such form as the following. First, _negatively_, the world we inhabit does not carry _within it_ any explanation of the origin of its own existence; that is to say, neither the materials existing, nor the forces operating, are sufficient to account for its origin; neither can it have had existence without beginning. In _positive_ form, the universe can be accounted for only by that which _transcends_ itself; the supernatural is the key to the natural; Nature is a creation to be attributed to an Intelligent First Cause.