THE SUPERNATURAL. 29 



raissant pour la premiere fois sur la terre 

 rhomme aurait pu y vivre — s'y perpetuer, et y 

 fonder le genre humain. Evidemment l'autre 

 origine du genre humain est seul admissible, seul 

 possible. Le fait surnaturel de la creation explique 

 seul la premiere apparition de rhomme ici-bas." 



This is a common, but not a very safe argu- 

 ment. If the Supernatural — that is to say, 

 the Superhuman and the Supermaterial — can- 

 not be found nearer to us than this, it will 

 not be securely found at all. It is very difficult 

 to free ourselves from this notion that by going 

 far enough back, we can "find out God" in some 

 sense in which we cannot find Him now. The 

 certainty not merely of one, but of many succes- 

 sive Creations in the history of our Planet, and 

 especially of a time comparatively recent, when 

 Man did not exist, is indeed an effectual answer to 

 the notion, if it be now ever entertained, of " all 

 things having continued as they are since the 

 Beginning." But those who believe that the ex- 

 isting processes of Nature can be accounted for 

 by "Law," may as reasonably believe that those 

 processes were commenced by the same vague 



