CHAPTER Y. 



MATEEIAL BEGINNINGS AS POINTING TO A 

 SUPEK-MATEEIAL CAUSE. 



HAVING thus traced the system of material creation through 

 a series of anterior conditions, comprehending periods which, 

 perhaps, no assemblage of arithmetical figures could express, 

 to a state in which the materials of all worlds, systems, and 

 firmaments, were in a condition of diffused attenuated vapor, 

 with no definite or established motions, the inquiry next 

 arises, Was even this the absolutely primitive state of material 

 things? Did matter ever exist in any form or forms previous 

 to this state of chaos 1 or, if not, was it, in this state, eternal 1 

 or, if not absolutely eternal either in the state of forms or of 

 chaos, whence and how did it originate 1 



The idea that matter ever existed in any mundane forms 

 previous to this, and became subsequently dissolved, not only 

 has no analogy to support it, but seems to be contradicted by 

 an established law of nature. I refer to that law by which 

 amorphous or chaotic matter in motion has the general and 

 predominant tendency to assume and multiply forms. It is 

 not denied that motion of particles tends also to the dissolu- 

 tion of material forms, but that dissolution is always subser- 

 vient to immediate and higher recombinations. The kingdom 

 of motion and forms, therefore, have ever been, and still are 

 (and we may confidently believe ever will be), making farther 

 and farther encroachments upon the realms of chaos and 



