62 MODERN IDEAS OF EVOLUTION 



unknowable, but in connection with matter and 

 motion we know them intimately, and cannot dis 

 sociate them from our thoughts. Practically J __to_us 

 time and space begin with that beginning when God 

 created the heavens and the earth. 



We must next assume as factors in the develop 

 ment of the Divine plan a triad of things and powers 

 existing in space and time matter, ether, energy. 

 What is matter? An aggregate of atoms, invisible 

 and impalpable, yet believed in, and known to have 

 different properties, dividing them into very dissimilar 

 kinds or species, which, though related to each other 

 with great regularity by definite gradations and 

 numerical connections, cannot (so far as we know) be 

 changed. They are species which seem to have no 

 descent, and are not capable of modification. They 

 are held together by equally inscrutable forces of 

 affinity and cohesion, constituting what we call bodies, 

 which, however solid, are permeable indefinitely by 

 ethereal undulations. 



Ether, again, is, so to speak, an immaterial matter, 

 existing everywhere, yet incapable of perception an 

 inconceivable, all-pervading something, ministering to 

 every sensation and action, yet itself imperceptible and 

 inert. Next we have energy, manifesting itself by 

 motion of different kinds, whether in ether or ordinary 

 matter, and actuating all things, sometimes in one 

 way, sometimes in another, yet under intelligible laws, 

 which limit the freedom of energy and enable us to 



