339 



the Almighty Creator, Let there be light, and there v^as 

 light thus the vibrations of the iuminiferous ether appear 

 to be the first response or echo, as it were, to the word ot the 

 Almighty Creator.^ 



•50. The creation of light having been thus recorded, and the 

 distinction established (lest we should fall down and worship the 

 lightf ) between the Creator and the creature, we are more fully 

 instructed in the relationship of the spiritual to the material. 

 We are told of the Almighty '^dwelling in the inaccessible 

 light/^ as though there were a yet more retired sanctuary, a 

 holy of holies, into which we could not penetrate, and where 

 light and life found their primal source and full accord, for 

 " with Thee is the fountain of life. In Thy light shall we see 

 light.^^ 1 must not pursue this deeply interesting subject, 

 but the writings of the beloved Apostle will tell, to all who 

 desire it, the secret how the life and the light were together 

 manifested, and how the heavenly city had no need of the sun, 

 neither of the moon, to shine in it, for the glory of God did 

 lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.^^ 



51. I cannot forbear to notice, however, as specially remark- 

 able in reference to the action of the spiritual world upon the 

 material^ the description given of the appearance of the Lord 

 Jesus to Saul. Suddenly there shone round about him a light 

 from heaven, and '^through the glory of that light his sight 

 was for the time extinguished, and when miraculously restored, 

 " there fell from his eyes as it had been scales.^^ The whole is 

 narrated to us by Luke, " the beloved physician,^^ Avho evi- 

 dently entered with interest into the physical result of the 

 heavenly interference. 



52. It is obvious that no metaphysical meaning is here in- 

 tended, that no merely mental process is implied, and that we 

 are led to conceive an effect upon the organs of vision similar but 

 superior to the damaging result of the too near approach of a 

 flash of lightning. 



53. The different accounts we have in Scripture of the appear- 

 ance of angels— the messengers of the heavenly court — seem 

 to imply that they have spiritual bodies, which may have strong 

 analogy in their composition with that of the Iuminiferous 

 ether. It is said in Scripture that He maketh His angels 

 spirits, His ministers a flaming fire;^^ that is, as I suppose, 

 capable of so assimilating to themselves the particles of ether as 



* The last portion of the sentence in Hebrew, exactly repeats the first, as 

 creation must be supposed to repeat the idea of the Creator. 



t Or rather the lightbearers — the sun, moon, and stars — mentioned after- 

 wards as such. 



