28 ORIGIN OP THE 



north, the south, the east, and the west, the invisi- 

 ble elements of future suns and planets came into 

 being, throughout the immeasurable expanse. The 

 height, and depth, and length, and breadth of 

 boundless infinity were replete with unnumbered 

 suns and worlds, but existing in a gaseous state, 

 invisible and subtle as the air that now surrounds 

 the planet we inhabit. Light was not, except as 

 it existed in a latent form, diffused equally 

 through the apparently boundless void. Latent 

 heat, or invisible and insensible caloric, too, per- 

 vaded the universe of matter, of which there 

 was just enough to maintain the elements in * 

 their gaseous form. Motion was not, for the 

 mandate of the Almighty had not yet gone 

 forth to disturb the repose of the new creation ; 

 and the Spirit of God was at rest, for the work 

 of creation had been accomplished. Self-ex- 

 istent from eternity, omnipresent, alone in His 

 majesty and power, yet existing in the most 

 remote atoms at the same instant, all-seeing, 



