26 
for, and which are one great evidence of their being created at all. 
But he goes on to say, “ If matter be indestructible, it could not have 
been created.” I should like to see this point cleared up. “This,” he 
says, “ is an axiom so self-evident that there is no way of sustaining 
it by argument.” I think we are in a very unfortunate position when 
we do not see the truth of an argument that is said to be self-evident, 
and when the men who bring it forward decline to argue with us. Now 
I think some strong reasons have been put forward that matter is not 
destructible ; and what I want to know is, whether it does follow, if matter 
is proved indestructible, that it never could have been created ? I think we 
can go to the analogy of the spiritual in man. We hold that our spirits 
are immortal — having been made in the image of God we are immortal ; 
and whether we are saved or lost, we shall continue to exist. Does it follow, 
because this is the case, that we never were created ? I do not think 
we should be willing to admit that. And it seems to me a very con- 
ceivable tiling that God, who, according to the showing of this paper, 
has apparently endowed certain material atoms with what are called 
primary qualities, such as qualities of elastic resistance at their surfaces , may 
have endowed them with other qualities, with the power of indestructibility. 
It does not, to my mind, seem to be a logical sequence to say, even if it can 
be proved, that as matter is indestructible therefore it never could have been 
created. I know the difficulty of some, in regard to the existence of the 
Creator, lies here. They accept that which is stated to be true, that matter 
is indestructible, and then they say, what Professor Challis says, if it is 
indestructible, it never could have been created, and therefore we have no 
reason to believe in a Creator. I would say in answer to this difficulty, 
what I have just suggested, that it is possible for the Almighty with His 
infinite powers to endow matter, as He could endow spirit, with the quality 
of indestructibility. I think we have only these three alternatives. We 
must admit matter to be destructible, on the proof of the Professor saying 
that God, having created it, can destroy it ; or we must say, what seems to me 
the truth, if this is not the case, it may have been endowed with the quality 
of indestructibility and yet have been created ; otherwise, it seems to me we 
are left to that very dismal belief, that matter, being endowed with in- 
destructibility, was never created at all, and therefore we have no grounds 
for believing in a Creator. 
Eev. J. L. Challis. — As Professor Challis will have an opportunity of 
replying, I will only observe, in reference to what has just been said, 
that the Professor refers to the will of the Creator as the ultimate cause of 
all things, by saying that He who originated everything can alter or take 
away. That is to my mind a complete answer to objections implying 
limitation of Divine Power. And I think the Professor is quite right in 
leaving those who maintain the indestructibility of matter to prove that it 
was not created. Again, the same reference to the will of the Creator is an 
answer to the remark about our own immortality. It is not that our spirits 
are immortal because the Creator has made them indestructible, so that He 
