Ill 
right or left. May not life be like this ?* But the reply is, 
that the supposition of will interfering in this way to change 
the direction of atoms, is scientifically unsatisfactory, and is 
not sufficient. Professor Huxley also thinks it quite inad- 
missible. And the hypothesis, if true, does not get rid of the 
difficulty as to the operation of Life. 
Life, whatever its nature, has its seat in a region inaccessible 
to inquiry. It exists as surely as the Deity exists (p. 186) ; 
that is, we cannot rid ourselves of either, though we have 
driven each, as to origin and operation, as far back as possible 
into the Unseen. 
Sir W. Thomson attempted an explanation of the origin of 
the material world, by “ vortex-rings,” and explained 
gravitation by introducing ultra-mundane corpus- th e X th nsi ° n ° f 
cles ; we may add to this, probably his and Helm- vortex-atoms, 
holtzks theory, that a germ of life may have been sir wiiiiam 
brought to our world by-meteors. But even in that nei’mhoitz™' 1 
case the difficulty as to what Life is and does, remains. 
The meteor,” say, brought the germ of life ; but whence arose 
the germ? (p. 186). We know not. “The mystery of life lies 
in the structural depths of the Universe,” as the mystery of 
God lies in the durational depths of the same Universe. 
83. For in the first place the Visible Universe is not eternal ; 
and the Invisible Universe is necessarily eternal, in the past as 
well as in the future; and the visible always latently existed in- 
it. Life and Matter both come from the invisible world. The 
Visible Universe was, in fact, in material existence, in a 
nebulous form, before it was fit, on the meteoric hypothesis, for 
the reception of life, which, therefore, was subsequent; 
and if so, energy and matter were “created” at one andMaft™ 
time, and life created at a later time ! This implies tinctcreatious? 
two separate acts, both anterior to the Visible Universe as it is 
(p. 187).. But the Principle of Continuity is onlv observed by 
maintaining life as well as matter to come from the Unseen Uni- 
verse, where it was previously existing fully conditioned (p. 188). 
The Principle of Continuity is thus vindicated ; and by virtue 
of the Conservation of energy, and the law of Bio- ^ oth 
genesis, we find there must be a conditioned intel- from the Un- 
ligence in the Universe, whose function is to develop 
energy ; and another conditioned agent, whose func- 
tion separately is to develop life. continuity. 
This is said by our authors (p. 189), to coincide with the 
Christian doctrine ; and they allege, in further proof of it, the 
support of Swedenborg. In stating their views, however, of 
Christian doctrine, it is added, “ Christians allow much liberty.” 
* See also p. 89 as to the “ demons ” of science. 
