Taylor states, "a mean, essentially unlike what could have. resulted from any possible construction of one by itself." By this compounding of mind with matter we control both, and acquire the power to conquer and possess new worlds, to pass from sonship as to man unto sonship as to God.

"The wind, before it woos the harp,

Is but the wild and tuneless air;
Yet, as it passes through the chords,
Changes to music rare.'

"1 for

We ought not to say "It is unworthy timidity in the lover of Scripture to fear contradiction, so it is ungrounded presumption to look for a confirmation in such cases; as science, with some accuracy, retraces the past, when the earth was not, no religious man should stand outside while she reverently uncovers the inner works and mysteries of the world. "So far as we can judge, no one will demonstrate what was the primitive state from which the progressive course of the earth took its origin. We cannot, in any of the paleontological sciences, ascend to a beginning which is of the same nature as the existing course of events, and which depends upon causes that are still in operation. Philosophers never have demonstrated, and probably never will be able to demonstrate, what was the original condition of the solar system, of the earth, of the vegetable and animal worlds, of languages, of arts."" Despite all this, we detect processes of aggregation which are even now building up new worlds: processes "leading, according to the position and perhaps the character of the masses acted upon, to the formation of suns of greater or less splendour and magnitude, of streams and clusters of small stars, and of systems in which suns and stellar streams and clusters seem to be intermingled." 3 There are waning worlds and waxing worlds at the present moment, dried up as the moon, fertile as the earth, semi-fluid as Saturn, or of cloud-form as nebulæ. They lie between the ruins of worlds that have been, and the chaotic materials of worlds which shall be. In spite of wear and tear, worlds are extending their sway, cosmos is

"Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences,” vol. i. p. 688: Wm. Whewell, D.D.

2 Ibid.

3 Richard A. Proctor.

Beginning and Creation.

59

conquering chaos. We no longer look at the earth as a savage regards a steamship-a something beyond comprehension. The process is one of energy, but not of energy only. The external world is unquestionably the result of intelligent action. The inner world, as seen in the instinct of animals, in the morals, religion, intellect of man, turns natural processes into other uses, arrays energy against energy, reduces Nature to such obedience, that the wind blows for us, fire burns for us, water is a mighty servant, and the electric fluid our swift messenger.

Test, by means of one word, "Beginning," whether knowledge of God's Work does not enlarge and confirm our view of truth in Scripture. Beginning means the origination of things" In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." Until of late many had taken "beginning" to imply a comparatively modern time; but, in truth, time has no connection with it, except that before time was, when the Word was with God and was God, in that eternity, when the Son was, were the worlds created. In that beginning, the Word created all things. Now, God is eternally all that He is; there is nothing new, nothing by chance, nor of caprice. He is Creator, eternally Creator; the power, the wisdom, the love, are eternal; and the act of Creation, proceeding from them, is eternal. The Creator is free from

the conditions of time, and from vicissitudes of the future. There is a marvel, but Faith gladly worships; and reason always followeth where the light of intelligence hath been precursor.

God eternally created, yet the Creation had origin, and that origin gave birth to time-"Tempus a creatura cœpit, utrumque a Deo. Nihil in tempore novum est Deo, Qui condidit tempora, et ab eternitate existens omnia suis quæque temporibus distribuit." The difficulty is the inadequacy of language to express, and the imperfection of our understanding to know, Divine things. It is certain that no number of creatures, vast as that number may be, no extension of space or ages, however grand that extension, can express the eternity and infinity of the Creator. We, willing or unwilling, admit that, to our consciousness, all duration is comprised within two series, a series of past infinite moments, and a series of future infinite moments; we add these together, and they form, relatively, eternity; but,

absolutely, time; one series is behind, another is before. The one and the other are contained in the Now, or Absolute Eternity of the Eternal. The idea of a created world, without commencement in time, and without limit in space, which cannot be explained, is the best possible example of the Infinity and Eternity of the Creator (Gen. i. 1; John i. 1-3). We are not to reject the wonderful, for all things are wonderful, they are coin bearing the image of their Creator.

The eternity, the infinity, the majesty, the wisdom, the perfections of God, extend to an eternity of ages, to an infinity of spaces, to an innumerable variety of existences in every degree, all finite in themselves; but, in space beyond space, and world beyond world, a symbol of Infinity; the absolute Infinity being figured by infinity relative; the relative being duration and extent without bounds, only contained by eternity and infinite space. Is this Pantheism? No. The Creator alone is absolutely eternal and infinite; but creations, occupying space and time, subject to division and limit, represent to the utmost conceivable extent the operations of God. To obtain even a faint conception, we deepen our notions of eternity and time. Time is the law of everything that changes, Eternity is the incommunicable and unchangeable attribute of God. Plato says—“Time is a movable image of immovable eternity." We cannot say there was a time when no time was; yet, as time was created, and the world was fashioned, we ought to say"There was no time without creation, the successive movements of which form time; therefore, time and creation have always been; nevertheless, they were created, and are not co-eternal with God;" for, as St. Augustine said—“ He was before them, although He may never have been without them; because He did not precede them by an interval of time, but by immovable eternity." In this sense, God, as eternal Creator, is eternal Saviour. Despise not the mystery. Matter, so palpable, baffles us; yet, that matter is but an element.

Reasonings of this kind, illustrative of our feebleness, and of the vast meaning in so many texts of Scripture (2 Chron. vi. 18; Job xi. 7, 8; Isai. lxvi. 1; Col. i. 15-17), are proof that we can only take a few steps within the threshold of creation. The telescope manifests the world to be immeasurably vast, and the microscope reveals worlds within worlds,

God in Relation to Space and Time. 61

infinitesimally small. God is in every place, but the presence is incomprehensible: not here nor there as a property or extension; His relation to place, time, extension, is the infinite presence peculiar to infinity. Divine power is never put forth unaccompanied by Divine wisdom, nor apart from goodness and justice. No attribute is dormant in the Divine essence. His plan of the world, everlastingly present with Him, had temporal realisation in that effectual interference by which the material universe became a pavilion of the infinity in which it was developed. There was first a direct personal self-operation and then a putting forth of Divine energy; afterwards, the use, of all natural means, as they were called into existence. The action continues in that spontaneousness of Nature by which she seems to do all things as of herself. The worldly structure rises story above story, the chambers of various dimensions, embellishment, furniture. We behold from a distance, ten thousand halls, grand and beautiful; we look through some of the courts, into vast, wonderful, mysterious life, and the visible universe is a tent of sojourning for wayfarers to the future.

A bird's-eye view of the whole argument:

Standing on the threshold of the universe, we are conscious of other and wider worlds than that in which we dwell. The account of creation gives the work of ages as in a moment, the beginning of time. Nature, not complete in itself, rests on something infinitely beyond, material things are in process of glorification. Transitions from the visible material to the invisible, transformations from world to world, gradations from state to state, show connection with the Infinite. Our present stage lies between the ruins of worlds that have been and the materials of worlds to come. Language is not adequate to express the eternity, wisdom, might of God's works. Plans of the worlds, everlastingly present with Him, have local and temporal realisation; leading to yet more wonderful and glorious manifestations.

God called a man from dreams into the vestibule of heaven, "Come thou hither, and see the glory of My house; and to the angels round His throne, He said—"Take him, strip off his robes of flesh, cleanse his vision, put a new breath into his nostrils, but touch not with any change his human heart-the heart that weeps, and trembles." It was done; and, with a mighty angel as guide, the man stood ready for

an infinite voyage. They launched without sound or farewell from the terraces of heaven, and wheeled away into endless space. Sometimes with the solemn flight of angel-wings, they passed through Saharas of darkness, through wildernesses of death, separating worlds of life. Sometimes they swept over frontiers quickening under prophetic motions from God. Then from a distance, measured only in heaven, light dawned through shapeless film, in unspeakable space swept to them, and they with unspeakable quickness to the light. In a moment the rushing of planets was upon them—in a moment the blazing of suns around them. Then came eternities of twilight, that revealed, but were not revealed. On the right hand and on the left, mighty constellations built up triumphal gates, whose architraves, whose archways, seemed ghostly from infinitude. Without measure were the architraves, past number were the archways, beyond memory the gates. Within were stairs that scaled eternities around, above was below and below was above to the man stripped of gravitating body. Depth was transcended by height insurmountable, height was swallowed up in depth unfathomable. Suddenly as thus they rode from infinite to infinite; suddenly as thus they tilted over abysmal worlds; a mighty cry arose that systems more mysterious, worlds more billowy, other heights and other depths were coming, were nearing, were at hand. Then the man sighed and stopped, shuddered and wept. His over-laden heart poured itself forth in tears, and he said Angel, I will go no further, for the spirit of man acheth with this infinity. Insufferable is the glory of God. Let me lie down in the grave, and hide me from oppression of the Infinite, for end I see there is none." Then from all the listening stars that shone around issued a choral voice-"The man speaks truly-end there is none." The angel solemnly demanded-" End there is none? Is there indeed no end? Is this the sorrow that kills you?" But no voice answered, that he himself might answer. Then the angel threw up his glorious hands towards the Heaven of heavens, and said— "To the universe of God there is no end, lo! also, there is no beginning."

1

1 Altered from De Quincey's translation from the German of Jean Paul Richter.