NEW THEORY OF THE ORIGIN OP THE EARTH. 45 



creation of such a life germ in the beginning, with such powers of 

 nuiltiplication and combination, carrying with.in itself the won- 

 drously beautiful and manifold forms of life, and the laws of 

 mind and matter, would be a greater miracle, an even more 

 astounding manifestation of creative power, than "to speak a world 

 from naught." 



There is no irreverence in this hypothesis. For whether we 

 believe tliat life has been sent to us through the immeasurable 

 innnensities of space, or whether we believe that matter vvas en- 

 dowed with the potency of life in the beginning, or whether wa 

 believe that the Great Husliandman |)lants it here and there wlien- 

 ever and wherever the soil and climate are ready to receive it and 

 per})etuate it, or whether we believe that man came upon the 

 earth as he is now or has been evolved from a lower animal type, 

 yet we all bow with wonder and reverence and humility in the 

 presence of the great mystery, and feel that it is beyond human 

 comprehension. 



We see individuals, races, species, perish, but life lives on. We 

 know that suns, with the worlds (inhabited, no doubt, by sentient 

 l)eings) that are warmed and lighted by them, have their day and 

 are resolved into the dust and gases of which they are composed, 

 and we know that their Inrth, life and death are all in accordance 

 with the immutable laws of their being. \Ve know that, so far as 

 this body of ours is concerned, we are as the flower that fadeth and 

 the grass that withereth, but we hope and trust that our inner 

 consciousness, our individuality, is eternal, that we have souls 

 that are immortal, and that we shall, when life's fitful fever or 

 happy dream is ended, wing our way to some realm of glory and 

 delight, learn all things, and be happy evermore. 



