ORIGIN OF SPECIES. 5 
but that is the topmost round of the ladder, and 
mere science will help us no farther. 
We may, however, safely infer that the sun is 
proximate to the Creator—in other words, that it 
was the first proximate proceeding or projection from 
Him, in the creation of material things. The sun is 
everywhere present in the solar system, by its heat 
and light ; and in this respect affords an illustration 
of creative omnipresence. 
We see how the sun works as an agent, and beyond 
this we do not see ; but reasoning from the seen to 
the unseen, we are prepared to say that creative en- 
ergy or power flows ceaselessly from the Creator, in 
the creation, first of the material sun, next of the 
earth through the sun, and next of animals and 
plants through the sun and the earth, producing one 
after another, the numberless detail of created things; 
and the farther we go, the longer the chain of inter- 
mediate causes. ‘This influx is necessarily incessant. 
Its interruption fur a moment, would suspend all the 
operations of the laws of cause and effect. The sun 
would be extinguished, and all vitality and motion 
cease. It is difficult for the imagination to take in 
the full consequences that would follow. Perhaps 
annthilation—the sudden reduction of everything to 
nothing—would best express the situation. 
This omnipresent and unceasing action of creative 
power, seems not to have been comprehended by 
those who have theorized on the origin of species.— 
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