IN MODERN SCIENCE. 



43 



force, self-existent or fortuitous. The monistic 

 form of this hypothesis assumes one primary 

 substance or existence potentially embracing 

 all subsequent developments. 



These theories are, of course, not all antag- 

 onistic to one another. They resolve them- 

 selves into two groups, a theistic and an athe- 

 istic. The former includes the first four ; the 

 latter, the fifth. Any one who believes in God 

 may suppose a primary creation of matter and 

 energy, a subsequent moulding and fashioning 

 of them mediately and under natural law, and 

 also a gradual evolution of many new things 

 by the interaction of things previously made 

 This complex idea of the origin of things seemS; 

 indeed, to be the rational outcome of Theism. It 

 is also the idea which underlies the old record 

 in the book of Genesis, where we have first an 

 absolute creation, and then a series of " mak- 

 ings " and " placings," and of things " bringing 



►rth " other things, in the course of the crea- 

 tive periods. 



On the other hand, Agnosticism postulates 

 primary force or forces self-existent and includ- 

 ing potentially all that is subsequently evolved 

 from them. The only way in which it approxi- 

 mates to theism is in its extreme monistic form, 



