CHAPTER I. 



ON THE CKEATION AND GOD. 



I. THE earth, the sun, and the worlds of space stand 

 before us as existing facts, poised in space and governed 

 by law; and unless on the hypothesis of their eternal 

 existence, as we now behold them, they must have had 

 an origin of some kind. What was the origin ? the 

 mind of man naturally and persistently asks. To this 

 question only three answers seem possible. They were 

 created, or suddenly summoned into existence from 

 nothing, by fiat of the Creator. They were slowly 

 evolved by natural processes such as are still in opera- 

 tion, from elementary matter. Lastly, the question is 

 too transcendent for human capacity ; we do not know ; 

 and we can never know from the necessary and eternal 

 limitation of our faculties and means of knowledge. 



The hypothesis of the eternal existence of the earth, 

 the sun, and the other heavenly bodies would seem at 

 first the most natural one to hold ; but it is negatived, 

 as regards the earth and the solar system generally, by 

 the consideration that the sun itself, on which the earth 

 and planets depend, is, according to scientific showing, 

 a consuming energy, a lit lamp and fire that could not 

 have been burning for ever unless recruited by agencies 



