COSMIC PHILOSOPHY 



Thus, whichever horn of the dilemma we take 

 hold of, we are sure to be gored by it. Whether 

 we assume on the one hand that matter is abso- 

 lutely solid, or on the other hand that it is ab- 

 solutely porous, we are alike brought face to 

 face with questions which we can neither solve 

 nor elude. 



If now we turn from the inquiry into the ul- 

 timate constitution of that matter out of which 

 the universe is formed, and inquire what was 

 the origin of this universe, we shall find our- 

 selves plunged into still darker regions of in- 

 comprehensibility. Respecting the origin of the 

 universe three verbally intelligible hypotheses 

 may be formed. We may say, with the Atheist, 

 that the universe is self-existing ; or, with the 

 Pantheist, that it is self-created ; or, with the 

 Theist, that it is created by an external agency. 

 Let us examine these three propositions sever- 

 ally, not with the view of determining which of 

 them is true, but with the view of determining 

 whether any one of them is comprehensible. 



Philosophically speaking, then, we must ad- 

 mit that, whether or not the Atheistic hypothe- 

 sis of a self-existent universe be assumed as true, 

 it is at any rate incomprehensible. We can form 

 no genuine conception answering to the phrase 

 "self- existence." For by self- existence we 

 clearly mean existence which is not dependent 

 on any extraneous existence ; which is not con- 



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