139 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



Creation 



tances from the sun as to come into view at 

 their respective times. But I may be per- 

 mitted, I trust, to reject altogether such a 

 solution as this, not assuredly because I 

 question the Creator's power so to arrange 

 matters if it had pleased him, but because 

 it is rendered manifest by the most certain 

 scientific evidence that this has not been the 

 Creator's pleasure; that, on the contrary, 

 he has chosen to work all things by law. It 

 is indeed only because this is so that science 

 has any power to ascertain the meaning of 

 processes going on around us. It is by the 

 recognition of law in the universe that we 

 are led from " Nature up to Nature's God," 

 and they err who would stay the researches 

 which lead to the discovery of the laws of 

 the universe, by the simple explanation that 

 " God so willed." That he did so is certain ; 

 but science is not therefore to be checked in 

 its inquiries, as tho there were fear of her 

 discovering too much. The time has not 

 yet come, nor is it likely to come, when 

 science need take her shoes from off her feet, 

 because of her too near approach to the 

 great First Cause and because in that sense 

 the ground on which she stands is holy 

 ground. She stands on holy ground now, 

 and has always so stood, because she deals 

 with the ways and works of the Creator. 

 But she approaches no nearer to the First 

 Cause in inquiring into the birth of the solar 

 system than in watching the growth of an 

 ephemeron. PROCTOR Expanse of Heaven, p. 

 137. (L. G. & Co.) 



686. CREATION HIGHER THAN DE- 

 STRUCTION Achievement Grander than Emo- 

 tion. Perhaps it might once for all be 

 stated, as a law of vital action, that the dig- 

 nity of the force is in an inverse ratio to its 

 volumetrical display. It is indeed with or- 

 ganic action as it is with mental action. 

 The emotional man displays considerable 

 force, and often produces great effects in the 

 way of destruction, but his power is vastly 

 inferior to that of the man who has de- 

 veloped emotional force into the higher 

 form of will-force, who has coordinated the 

 passions into the calm, self-contained ac- 

 tivity of definite productive aim. Surely, 

 creation always testifies to a much higher 

 energy than destruction. MAUDSLEY Body 

 and Mind, essay 3, p. 249. (A., 1898.) 



687. CREATION, LENGTH OF PE- 

 RIOD OCCUPIED IN Planetary System- 

 Comparative Brevity of Human History. 

 The length of time required by the conden- 

 sation to which the primitive nebula was 

 subjected in order to constitute our planet- 

 ary system entirely defies our imagination. 

 To count it by thousands of millions of cen- 

 turies would not be an exaggeration. The 

 experiments of Bischof on basalt seem to 

 prove that in order to pass from the liquid 

 state to the solid state, to cool from 2,000 

 degrees to 200, our globe has required 350 

 millions of years. The sun has existed for 

 many more millions of centuries. What is 



the whole history of mankind compared with 

 such periods? a wave upon the ocean. 

 FLAM MARION Popular Astronomy, bk. i, ch. 

 7, p. 76. (A.) 



688. CREATION NOT LIMITED IN 

 METHOD Scripture Draws No Line between 

 Natural and Supernatural. But whatever 

 may have been the method or process of 

 creation, it is creation still. If it were 

 proved to-morrow that the first man was 

 " born " from some preexisting form of life, 

 it would still be true that such a birth must 

 have been, in every sense of the word, a new 

 creation. It would still be as true that God 

 formed him " out of the dust of the earth " 

 as it is true that he has so formed every 

 child who is now called to answer the first 

 question of all fc theologies. And we must 

 remember that the language of Scripture 

 nowhere draws, or seems even conscious of, 

 the distinction which modern philosophy 

 draws so sharply between the natural and 

 the supernatural. All the operations of Na- 

 ture are spoken of as operations of the Di- 

 vine Mind. Creation is the outward em- 

 bodiment of a divine idea. It is in this 

 sense, apparently, that the narrative of 

 Genesis speaks of every plant being formed 

 "before it grew" [Gen. ii, 5]. But the 

 same language is held, not less decidedly, of 

 every ordinary birth. " Thine eyes did see 

 my substance, yet being imperfect. In thy 

 book all my members were written, which in 

 continuance were fashioned, when as yet 

 there were none of them." And these words, 

 spoken of the individual birth, have been 

 applied not less truly to the modern idea of 

 the genesis of all organic life. Whatever 

 may have been the physical or material rela- 

 tion between its successive forms, the ideal 

 relation has been now clearly recognized, 

 and reduced to scientific definition. ARGYLL 

 Reign of Law, ch. 1, p. 18. (Burt.) 



689. CREATION STILL IN PROG- 

 RESS Jupiter Yet in Its "Geologic Age" 

 A Red-hot Planet. It would indeed seem as 

 tho the actual globe of Jupiter were red-hot ; 

 since from time to time, when the great 

 white cloud-belt which surrounds his torrid 

 regions has been dispersed, a strange fiery 

 hue has been observed over this zone, 

 which strongly suggests the idea of a glow- 

 ing central globe. And when the light of 

 Jupiter has been measured it has been found 

 to exceed that which would be given by a 

 globe of equal size simply reflecting the 

 sun's light. PROCTOR Expanse of Heaven, p. 

 83. (L. G. & Co., 1897.) 



69O. 



Life on the Moons 



of Jupiter. Jupiter appears to be a world 

 still in process of formation, which lately 

 some thousands of centuries ago served as 

 a sun to his own system of four [five, or 

 perhaps more] worlds. If the central body 

 is not at present inhabited, his satellites 

 may be. In this case, the magnificence of 

 the spectacle presented by Jupiter himself 



