Meanwhile this reign of law, with all its inexorableness--nay, rather because of it--present and operating as well in disintegrating as in integrating processes; present in the manifestations of mercy and "special acts of providence," as in manifestations of severity in the moral and spiritual world; how splendid it all is! How satisfying! What assurance, what confidence it gives! No wonder that John Fiske, remarking upon the idea of the reign of law, said: "So beautiful is all this orderly coherence, so satisfying to some of our intellectual needs, that many minds are inclined to doubt if anything more can be said of the universe than that it is a 'Reign of Law,' an endless aggregate of coexistences and sequences." But the deeper and truer view of things will be, not to accept this "reign of law" as God; nor mistake it for Deity--for mistake it would be if confounded with God. Let the reign of law be conceived rather as the means through which God is working to the achievement of his high purposes--God in the world, and working through law;[A] God, the administrative Power in the reign of law. [Footnote A: It is only just to John Fiske to say that such is his conception of the matter; for, commenting upon the effect upon the thinker who has this conception of the reign of law in the world, he says: "The thinker in whose mind divine action is thus identified with orderly action and reign of law, and to whom a really irregular phenomenon would seem like a manifestation of sheer diabolism, foresees in every possible extension of knowledge a fresh confirmation of his faith in God. From his point of view there can be no antagonism between our duty as inquirers and our duty as worshipers. To him no part of the universe is godless. In the swaying to and fro of molecules and ceaseless pulsations of ether, in the secular shifting of planetary orbits, in the busy work of frost and raindrop, in the mysterious sprouting of the seed, in the everlasting tale of death and life renewed, in the dawning of babe's intelligence, in the varied deeds of men from age to age, he finds that which awakens the soul to reverential awe: and each act of scientific explanation but reveals an opening through which shines the glory of the Eternal Majesty" ("Studies in Religion," pp. 167-8).] It is this quality of exorableness in law, excellent and essential as it is, that made the Atonement of the Christ necessary to the salvation of man. LESSON XVI. (Scripture Reading Exercise.) THE APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES--(A) ARBITRARY ACTION EXCLUDED IN MAN'S REDEMPTION. ANALYSIS. I. Recapitulation of Principles. II. The Commandment Given--Violated--Effects III. The Commandment Given as to an Immortal Person--The Penalty Eternal. IV. The Problem Propounded-- 1. What can man do? 2. What can God do? V. Redemption by the Sovereign Act of God--Arbitrary Action Under Reign of Law, Inadmissable. REFERENCES. Doc. & Cov., Sec. 29; Gen. ii and iii. Hebrews ix and x.