In such a case, we can only reason on the principle that _like_ effects must have _like_ causes, that marks of _design_ imply a _designing_ cause, and that events which cannot be accounted for by _natural causes_ must be ascribed to a Power distinct from nature, and superior to it.

It is manifestly unreasonable to assume that nothing can be brought to pass in the Universe otherwise than by the operation of the same natural laws which are now in action; or that, in the course of our limited and partial experience, we must necessarily know all the agencies that may have been at work during the long flow of time.

And, in accordance with these views, Sir Charles Lyell expressly limits the general principle to _natural events_, and shows that "Geology differs as widely from Cosmogony as speculations concerning the _Creation of Man_ differ from his _History_." FOOTNOTES: [28] "Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation," p.

17.
[29] AUGUSTE COMTE, "Cours de Philosophic Positive," II.

363, 376.