8 THE CREATION OF MATTER 



The powers of mind operating must be according to the 

 signs. The signs of it in its working may not reveal it 

 always in the fulness of its strength, but it must be of a 

 power sufficient to produce its greatest works. It requires 

 an eye and mind to do the least ordered work, an eye 

 and mind to plough the fields. A single straight furrow 

 is sufficient to make evident that it hath been cut and 

 laid by intelligent guidance. It cannot be produced by 

 haphazard. Fields to which the masters of the craft 

 have gathered, and in which they have put forth their 

 strength and care, are a sight to see, so equal in every 

 respect, so finely laid, are the furrows. 



Looking on the ploughman at work one imagines that 

 there is no difficulty in producing at least fair results, 

 that there is little to do but put to the hand and hold 

 fast. But, crede experto, believe one who has tried. All 

 was going well; the horses were moving forward with 

 staid dignity, the plough behaving unto perfection. I 

 went forward, and in my simplicity put to my hands. 

 But what ailed the plough 1 Had an evil spirit entered 

 it ? In a moment it was out, running on the surface. A 

 desperate effort got it into the soil again, but so deep that 

 it could not be moved at all. The rectification revealed 

 another peril : the furrow became so broad that it could 

 not be turned over ; and in the effort to set that right, it 

 became so narrow that there was nothing to turn over. 

 In like manner it needs an eye and mind to shepherd the 

 sheep, to plane the board, to shoe the horse, to copy with 

 the pen, to guide the locomotive. It requires higher 

 intelligence to shepherd the people, to be a great states- 

 man, a brilliant strategist, to produce the works of Homer, 

 Plato, and Newton, the statues of Phidias and Michael 

 Angelo, the masterpieces of the greatest painters, to 

 exhibit architecture like St. Paul's Cathedral, to produce 



