Others, again, admitting the existence of created spirits, and their operation as real causes, are unwilling to acknowledge any active powers in _matter_, and are anxious to show that _mind_, and _mind only_, can be an efficient cause.

We see no reason for this extreme jealousy of "second causes" either in the mental or the material world.

In the mental world, they cannot be denied, as distinct, although subordinate and dependent, agencies, without virtually making God's will _the only cause_ in Nature, and thereby representing Him as the _cause of sin_, if sin, indeed, could exist on that supposition, or without destroying the distinct individuality and personal responsibility of man.

Man must be regarded as a distinct, though dependent, _agent_, and, as such, a real, though subordinate, _cause_; otherwise every action, whether good or evil, must be ascribed directly and immediately to the efficiency of the Divine will, and _to that alone_.

And in the material world, "second causes" can as little be dispensed with; for every theory, even the most meagre, must acknowledge the existence of _some_ power or property in matter, were it only the passive power or _vis inertiae_ on which all the laws of motion depend.
And if _this_ can be admitted as a power inherent in matter and inseparable from it, we cannot see why the existence of _other_ powers, not incompatible with this, should be deemed a whit more derogatory to the dominion and providence of God.