streets fit to walk in, towns and cities rescued from the defacing effects of vice, which now lends pretext to the depraved; these are the works-matter-of-fact, though they be, in which true religion must show

itself. At present we talk and preach and delight ourselves in the light of intellectual and spiritual knowledge; at times we are fervid and emotional, and the future life seems so near to us, because we see so clearly the nature of it, and thus we glide along from youth to age. Our children are well educated, respectable, prosperous; we are industrious, and amass larger means than we can or need to spend ; we give tithes of all we possess,- -a sigh for the wretched, a prayer for the wicked,—and, committing both to God's care, take shelter in the spiritual and social delights of our Church, and thus the world rolls on: men come and men go, but the black and putrid stream of human misery, want, ignorance, and crime, flows on for ever!

The state of social life in England below the upper working-class, is a disgrace to civilization, a mockery to the religious fervour of which we boast, and it is the badge by which, among other nations, our own is distinguished, or rather notorious. The Word of God is made of none effect by a short-sighted ecclesiastism, while the people cry in our streets for the first-fruits of real religion-mutual helpfulness. If the religious associations of our day are to live, they must devote themselves more than they have ever done before, to mitigate the great social evils in our midst, and for a while become natural in order that the natural plane may be fitted to build the spiritual upon. This world is very real and very earnest, and requires all our attention; and if we do our duty we shall not have very much time for speculation, or for abstract thinking of the higher life.

The great duty of religious associations is to teach us this, and help us in working out the one great purpose-that of making God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven; for

"All religion has relation to life, and the life of religion is to do good." W. M.

CREATION.

NO. II.

HAVING So far sought to ascertain the Authorship of creation, we may now proceed to inquire how it was effected-whether by one act, or by innumerable series of acts; whether God created the world out of

nothing, or by spheres emanating from Himself; or whether the Deity is the Divine Substance diffused through the Universe, as some have imagined. These are questions out of the pale of ordinary theological study, as you may be aware; but they have more than an intellectual interest for us, and affect us more nearly than at first appears. The creation to-day of the minutest atom is effected in the same manner as that of every other similar atom which has existed before, if immutable law and perfect order indeed mark the Divine operations. If, then, we desire to know anything respecting the real nature of created things, if we would have a key to unlock the mysteries which these things continually present, that desire will be gratified, that key will be found only in a comprehension of the manner of creation. The different opinions which men have held upon these matters may appear small in themselves at first sight, but they have a wonderful influence in shaping the whole of religious doctrine. For instance, the great contrasts between the faith of the Christian of England and that of the Brahmin of Hindostan arise chiefly from their ideas regarding the mode of creation. The learned Hindu regards the One Divine Being as diffusing Himself through the universe in the act of creation, thus constituting Himself the soul of all things. From this he gathers the notion that every created thing, living or dead, is a portion of this One Divine Being. In following out this train of thought, he concludes that whatever the eye looks on, or the mind can conceive, the sun in the heavens, or the earth beneath, the great river Ganges, or the crocodile on its banks, even to the meanest insect in his path, must be reverenced as containing somewhat of Divinity, and may be selected as an object of worship, provided it be worshipped only as constituting a part of the Divine Substance. So this theory has led to the adoration by ignorant Hindoos of some three hundred and thirty millions of abominations which they call gods. When, therefore, this conception of creation has thus produced such degrading and disgusting results, you will not be likely to require much argument to prove its incorrectness, while at the same time this one fact demonstrates the importance of right views upon the subject.

The Hindoo conception of creation you will probably prefer to judge by its fruits, yet, strange to say, there have not been wanting able and learned men, both in present and past times, who hold, and have held similar views of God in creation, to which the name of Pantheism has been given, but which has borne very different fruit. The Hindoo, becoming debased and superstitious, gradually came to

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look upon every natural object in which Divinity was said to be present, as in itself a God-the scientific man, believing only in an impalpable essence in all things, without shape or separate existence, arrives naturally at the conclusion, that what has neither shape nor visibility can be no God at all, can be only the laws of nature, and so becomes an atheist.

Let us believe it, the ends of religion and right reason are not answered by means such as these. The opposite, but equally pernicious effects of this hypothesis as to the manner of creation, show how important it is that we should not be led away by specious and superficial thoughts concerning it. It is easy, it is even fascinating to describe all effects as being produced by one Indwelling Cause, by one Invisible Soul, the beating of whose pulse is the life of the universe; but let us be very careful what ideas we attach to these terms. For if this Indwelling Cause becomes intimately connected. with, becomes the interior part of every created effect, it must be divided into innumerable parts, and, being so divided, it can no longer be One God. If this Universal Soul diffuses itself everywhere, it must become greater or less than itself, and could no longer be Almighty, or Divine, but must, if it still went on, dissipate itself, and could therefore be no longer God. If this Soul has no form distinct from the created things in which it dwells, it can be no God, nor can we conceive of it as such. For we can never think of a substance, or an existence, or a quality of any kind without conceiving of its form, and still less can we think of God without a form. Men may fancy they can, and often say they do, but it is evident they must either deceive themselves, or be endeavouring to deceive others. We are so constituted that we cannot form an idea of any quality, power, or purpose, without associating with it some form or other in our own minds-how much less can we believe in, or even entertain an absolute thought of the Infinite, Eternal God, without giving to Him some distinct form?

There is another important reason why creation could not have been effected by Divinity distributed through all space, which is, that every created object depends upon, and is derived from something higher than itself. All the planets of our solar system acknowledge one centre, and the sun of our system, with all its planets, moves round one great central sun. Scientific men are generally agreed that the three kingdoms of nature tend upwards to one centre; that the mineral approaches the vegetable kingdom by effort and intention, not only

imaging it by flower-like shells and branching corals, but forming a fit basis for its support. The vegetable kingdom then approaches the animal by its breathing circulation and sensitiveness, while the animal kingdom tends onward to man. Man, the crown of all these kingdoms, containing their elements within himself, cannot, in whatever state he is, wholly destroy the consciousness that there is one Being, outside, beyond, above himself, who is the great Original of all things, and from whorn his own existence is derived. Blest with the Godlike gift of reason, glorious in freedom, both of body and mind, no sane man can long imagine that God is in him, or that he himself is a part of God. He may espouse a barren infidelity, and vainly strive to stifle his inner consciousness, which with still small voice rebukes him, even till the hour of death-but no man is an atheist then. Ignorant and debased, even near to the level of the beasts that perish, the savage still looks up to one great, awful Being, who makes, arranges, and governs all.

Many theologians, perceiving the terrible results of believing that God is in, and is a part of every created thing, have rushed into an opposite extreme, and have asserted that God created the universe out of nothing. It was argued that nothing could exist until creation had been effected, therefore, if God could not subdivide Himself, He must have created all things out of nothing, besides which, this would be the most magnificent way of displaying the Divine omnipotence. Such would probably be the case, so far as appearances went; but we must again be very careful not to mistake appearances for realities, particularly in regard to displays of the Divine omnipotence. Almighty Power, without All-seeing Wisdom guiding its operations, would be a blind, irregular force, capable of infinite disaster. The study of the universe, therefore, teaches us that the Lord has ever been pleased to display His power only according to fixed laws of Divine order, being Himself infinitely too wise and far-seeing to transgress these laws. One of these fixed laws is, that out of nothing nothing can be created. An absolute nothing can produce nothing. As I have said, it may often appear as if something is created out of nothing, but a thorough examination of any such case will prove that it is only an appearance, and that in reality there is always a something from which a created object is evolved. If, then, such is the invariable law of creation now, and we must recollect that creation is going on unceasingly; if the Creator is indeed unchangeable, and ever displays His Divine omnipotence in accordance with the fixed laws of His own order, then, as

it is a fixed law that nothing can be created out of nothing now, we may fairly assume that the universe was not created out of nothing in the first instance.

In discovering as we have proceeded that neither of the theories as to the mode in which creation was effected, which have been examined, can stand the tests to which we have subjected them, we naturally turn our attention to the only remaining theory which we can possibly entertain, with increasing interest. This theory is, that God created the universe by means of influent spheres, or emanations proceeding from Himself; that He is the essential self-existent substance and form, from which all other substances and forms exist, subsist, and are mediately derived. While on the one hand it avoids the dreadful errors of Pantheism and Buddhism, it does not share the irrational notions of creation out of nothing, but regards the universe as a "Glorious mirror, where the Almighty's form glasses itself"

in images, infinitely varied, of the Divine love and wisdom which creates and continually renews it. This theory not only agrees with all we have seen of the dependence upon and the origin of all things in creation from one centre, but it admits of many proofs by analogy. The natural sun and centre of our solar system is the source from which mediately all its planets subsist, and by whose attractive forces they are held in that harmony which is their life. It shines as it has shown for ages; dispensing its warming, enlightening, and magnetic influences, even through the immensity of space, but it grows no less. It does not divide itself into numberless particles, but by spheres and emanations communicates its blessings in innumerable waves, continuous through all spaces in the universe which can receive it; increasing in splendour, beneficence, and power, with every beam that bursts from its bosom. The earth becomes no less through giving birth to and sustaining the vegetable and animal kingdoms, but, on the contrary, its magnitude and beauty are enhanced by every fresh creature it bears.

As the sun by its emanations, or rather motive forces, operates on earths or planes of being, so we believe the Divine spheres or energies of the Lord Himself operated in producing planes of being finally effecting creation upon those planes. From all eternity, spheres celestial, the Divine ends and purposes of creation descended in gyres with their ethers and atmospheres. Thence, below, yet in a manner parallel, spheres spiritual-the Divine causes and means of creation descended in spirals in their order, with their ethers and atmospheres.