158 THE CREATION OF MATTER 



the sun outshines a burning rush, what foolery is it 

 to dream that chance could achieve triumphs so tran- 

 scendent even in an eternity. The time element in 

 evolution only adds to the wonder and the difficulty 

 and the strength of the demand for the presence and 

 action of mind. Were a painter or sculptor to live for 

 a thousand years, and devote himself to the production 

 of a painting, or chef-d'ceuvres of sculpture, formed of 

 myriads of parts, every part a matchless gem, and all 

 forming one whole that should seem to live and move, 

 would not his completed work evidence a whole world of 

 thought and care? The species of animated nature are 

 many. Each is crammed with a wealth of the finest 

 work. Each is the result of operations carried on 

 through ages of ages. Every touch, every minutest 

 step in the advance is a stroke of matchless genius, 

 was produced by the joint action of multitudinous 

 ordered elements, and an environment on the vastest 

 scale. The whole work from beginning to end, and at 

 every point, is not merely like that of a painter or 

 sculptor working patiently and skilfully through cen- 

 turies, but infinitely surpasses it, and therefore proclaims 

 more loudly and clearly, proclaims as with the sound of 

 a mighty chorus, that it is due to an understanding of 

 incomparable glory. 



Consider the earth at the present time, its form, its 

 size, its particles, their multitudes, their chemical pro- 

 perties, the ether and its relations to them, the forms 

 of life in flora and fauna, and are we not overmastered 

 by the riches of order and qualities and powers that are 

 in them ? Go back as far as we please, material elements 

 and the potencies of life were so conditioned, collocated, 

 and environed as that, after the evolutions of ages of 

 ages, every particle should be in the condition which it 



