6 THE CREATION OF MATTER 



nesses, likenesses, harmonies, analogies ; and wherever we 

 see any form of being possessing in itself the power of 

 doing these things, we cannot but ascribe intelligence to it. 



Matter is matter and not mind, and cannot therefore 

 show the same signs, do the same work. Every form of 

 being must act according to its nature. That which is in 

 it to do, it can do. That which is not in it to do, it 

 cannot do. Matter has its own nature and properties, 

 and can act according to them. But the particles of 

 matter have not in them conscious intelligence, and 

 consequently have not of themselves the power of 

 arranging and so of producing complex order. It is 

 mind and mind only, this form of being and none besides, 

 that can do such work. If any entity in its action 

 manifest clear signs of mind, it must itself possess it or 

 be directed by it. 



Matter can receive and show signs of mind on it. JS T ot 

 having intelligence in itself, it is specially fitted to reveal 

 it outside itself, moulding and fashioning it, and leaving 

 it moulded and fashioned and laden with clearest signs 

 that mind has been operating upon it. Particles being 

 powerless to think, choose, and determine their own and 

 each other's characteristics and modes of being and action, 

 so as to have measures and relationships to each other, 

 are the best form of existence on which mind may 

 exercise the variety of its powers, manifest itself, and 

 unfold its glories. They are what they are by no thought 

 of their own, by no intelligence in themselves, and there- 

 fore of necessity the order found throughout their borders 

 must be accounted for by postulating an intelligence 

 external to them. Matter, therefore, as being material in 

 its nature, is an ideal form of being for revealing mind, 

 for revealing the Eternal and Infinite Mind. 



Material substances wood, stone, gold, silver, iron 



