COURSE OF DEVELOPMENT ON THE EARTH. 143 



vancement to which the earth has now attained. 

 Absolute perfection must be infinite, and there- 

 fore beyond human comprehension, as well as 

 incapable of any further modification or im- 

 provement. 



Again it may well be doubted whether ab- 

 solute perfection is logically possible, for any 

 created object must be at least relatively inferior 

 to the Creator ; and the wisdom of God is far 

 more manifested in the construction of a world 

 which is ever developing new beauties and uses, 

 and thus ever advancing towards a higher grade 

 of perfection, than if the world had been an 

 unchangeable machine, so perfect in itself that 

 no farther improvement was possible or even 

 conceivable. And with regard to the possibility 

 of God being able to create anything infinite, 

 that is, equal to Himself, we may here remark 

 that although some theologians have not scrupled 

 to assert that God could create any number of 

 infinite beings equal to Himself (basing this very 

 doubtful proposition on the totally irrevelant 

 fact that a human son is not necessarily inferior 

 to his father), yet most modern philosophers 

 now believe that the Divine Omnipotence does 

 not extend to a mathematical contradiction, and 



