102 GLAUCUS; OR, 
as may the modern theories of the “evolution and 
progress” of organic forms: let the man of science 
decide that. But if true, the theories seem to me 
perfectly to agree with, and may be perfectly ex- 
plained by, the simple old belief which the Bible 
sets before us, of a LIVING GoD: not a mere past 
will, such as the Koran sets forth, creating once 
and for all, and then leaving the universe, to use 
Goethe’s simile, “to spin round his finger;” nor 
again, an “all-pervading spirit,’ words which are 
mere contradictory jargon, concealing, from those 
who utter them, blank Materialism : but One who 
works in all things which have obeyed Him to will 
and to do of His good pleasure, keeping His abysmal 
and self-perfect purpose, yet altering the methods 
by which that purpose is attained, from eon to 
eon, ay, from moment to moment, for ever various, 
yet for ever the same. This great and yet most 
blessed paradox of the Changeless God, who yet can 
say “It repenteth me,” and “ Behold, I work a new 
thing on the earth,” is revealed no less by nature 
than by Scripture ; the changeableness, not of caprice 
