5 8 THE CREATION OF MATTER 



as to colour them as they do many gases, or to light 

 them up as the dust in a room; were they to fill the 

 spaces through which they pass with brilliancy, we would 

 find ourselves in the midst of a sea of light which no eye 

 as at present constituted could bear, and which would 

 obstruct the dimmer rays coming from material objects 

 around us, and hinder them from being seen. We would 

 see nothing in such a case but lustre; lustre, lustre 

 everywhere, and not a thing to see. But how perfect is 

 their real action ! How admirable is the adjustment that 

 they should not show themselves directly, or reveal the 

 molecules of the atmosphere ! Their activities are not 

 of themselves. They cannot generate their own action. 

 For this they are dependent on molecular forces and 

 motions of two different kinds. And their existence is 

 not for themselves, that they may be seen, but for matter, 

 that it may be seen. Light is not that which is manifest, 

 but that which makes manifest. Without solid matter 

 to reveal, even the light is darkness. Is such an adapta- 

 tion the work of chance ? Has a medium without mean- 

 ing or use in itself, a medium characterised by matchless 

 perfection of action, and filling a vast immensity of 

 space has such a medium happened to exist, and in a 

 condition exquisitely fitted to minister to other entities 

 and be an instrument by which they might be glorified 

 and their glory revealed, in a condition in which every- 

 thing that would hinder their usefulness is guarded 

 against? Is it as if an immeasurable intensity of 

 thought and minuteness of care had been bestowed on 

 every part of it to adapt it for the finest and most won- 

 derful work, and yet is all the result of chance? Im- 

 possible, absolutely impossible, is such a solution. 



When rays of light fall on material objects, they are 

 either reflected or refracted, scattered or absorbed. The 



