290 THE GENESIS OF SPECIES. [Chap. 



Tiator of the universe, without the enii)loyuient of auy pre- 

 existinix means or material. Tliis is au;ain considered l»v Mr. 

 Spencer as a thorouglily illegitimate symbolic conception, 

 as much so as the atheistic one — the difhculty as to a sdf- 

 existent Creator being in his opinion equal to that of a self- 

 existcnt universe. To this it may be replied that both are of 

 course equally unimaginahic, but that it is not a question 

 of facility of conception — not which is easiest to conceive, 

 but which best accounts for, and accords with, psycholo- 

 gical facts ; namely, with the above-mentioned intuitions. 

 It is contended that ive have these primary intuitions, and 

 that with these the conception of a self-existent Creator is 

 perfectly harmonious. On the other hand, the notion of a 

 self-existent universe — that there is no real distinction 

 between the finite and the infinite — that the universe and 

 ourselves are one and the same things with the infinite 

 and the self-existent ; these assertions, in addition to being 

 unimaginable, contradict our primary intuitions. 



]\lr. Darwin's objections to " Creation " are of quite a 

 different kind, and, before entering upon them, it will be 

 well to endeavour clearly to understand \\ liat we mean by 

 " Creation," in the various senses in which the term may 

 be used. 



In the strictest and highest sense " Creation " is the 

 absolute origination of anything by God without pre-exist- 

 ing means or material, and is a supernatural act.^ 



In the secondarv and lower sense, " Creation " is the for- 

 mation of anything by God derivotivchi ; that is, that the 

 pre-existing matter has been created with the potentiality to 



1 Th(> author means by this, that it is direcily and imincdiatchj the act 

 of God, the word " supcrnatiiml " beinj^ used in a sense convenient for the 

 purposes of this work, and not in its ordinary theological sense. 



