74 
THE COSMOGONY 
Between the statements made in the two first and third 
verses, we must logically place the action of the fourth verse, 
which produced the " undistinguishahle water " of the third ; 
an action identical with the creative act of Grenesis i. 1 , which 
produced " the heaven and the earth " in a chaotic state. 
The cause of this action was the determination of the Infinite 
will. " Desire arose in It which was the primal germ of 
mind ;" i.e., which to us is the first manifestation of conscious 
mind. " This the wise, seeking in their heart, have discerned 
by the intellect to be the bond between nonentity and entity ;" 
i.e., the will of Grod was the cause of the existent springing 
from the non-existent. This is only another form of the 
Hebrew expression, " and Grod said let there be and 
there was." The same idea is expressed in the Aitareya 
Aranyaka, " He thought, I will create worlds, thus he 
created these various worlds ; water, light, mortal (beings) 
and the waters ; " and in the Aitareya Brahmana, " Prajapati 
was in the beginning but one. He uttered the Nivid (a 
sacrificial formula) and all things were created." Again, 
" The word is the creator of the universe, the powerful 
one ; for by the word is all this made " {vaca hidam sarvam 
A.„7«OT_ S.P.Br., VIII. 1, 2, 9). How wonderfully this 
language agrees with the declaration of the Psalmist — " By 
the word of the Lord were the heavens made ; and all the 
host of them by the breath of his mouth." He spake, 
and it was done, he commanded, and they were created" 
(Ps. xxxiii, 6, 9 ; cxlviii, 5). The same idea is also foimd 
both among the Iranians and semi-civilised races of Western 
Australia. In the sacred books of the former it is said that 
Ahura Mazda created the world by means of the Yatha- 
ahu-vairyo prayer ; and the Soman Catholic missionaries 
ascertained that the latter believe in an omnipotent being 
who created the heaven and the earth by breathing ; whose 
name is Motogon. To create the earth, he said, " Earth 
come forth ! And he breathed, and the earth was created. 
