SIMPLE LESSONS FROM COMMON THINGS 409 



conclusion that in theory the end is in the infinite future, it seems cer- 

 tain that so far as the possibilities of human life are concerned there 

 will be an end. When a battery circuit is closed, the equations show 

 that the current never reaches the value which Ohm's law demands, 

 although it continually approaches that value. Practically it reaches 

 that limiting value in a very small fraction of a second, and this result 

 is also in exact harmony with the equations. 



Consider the mechanical work that would be required, to take the 

 stellar universes of to-day, as raw material, in the condition to which 

 they are tending, and put them in the condition in which they now are. 



To take a minute sample of this work of creation: let us assume 

 that the moon were in tangential contact with our earth. How much 

 work would be required to separate them to their present distance from 

 each other ? A very simple calculation shows that to do this amount of 

 work would require a million steam engines, of a thousand horse-power 

 each, working continuously for between fifteen and sixteen million 

 centuries. 



Each molecule of matter is composed of a swarm of minute par- 

 ticles and the chemist has never been able to detect any variations in the 

 composition of molecules of the same material. Each molecule is a 

 complete closed system, vastly more complex than our planetary system. 

 What shall we think of the work which is involved in the creation of a 

 system of stellar universes, so vast that the human eye can never hope 

 to see any limit to its extension in space, and composed of particles 

 existing in endless duplication, which are so small that the human eye 

 can not hope to see them ? 



And we must add to these wonders of the material world, the still 

 greater mysteries which are involved in life and consciousness. We may 

 devote a lifetime to the study of these things, and we shall then feel 

 how insignificant is our knowledge of these revelations which we are 

 continually receiving. And we are more and more impressed with the 

 feeling that a being capable of producing such results, must differ in 

 many respects from an oriental despot. We may become more and more 

 inspired with a feeling of profound admiration and wonder, as we think 

 on these things which our eyes behold. But we can not feel that such 

 a being is anxiously seeking for flattery and praise. If we were to 

 seek by such means to secure from him personal favors which we do not 

 deserve, we should be paying him a very doubtful compliment. Such 

 methods are not even considered proper at our city hall. 



The highest type of man of which we can conceive is one who does 

 not deserve any credit for shunning iniquity or for doing the works of 

 righteousness. He does not refrain from murder in order to escape 

 the gallows and the lake that burns with fire and brimstone. He never 

 feels any temptation to commit murder. He does not murder and he 



VOL. LXXV — 27 



