NO. I.
It is eminently proper, before approaching the future of any subject, to make strictest inquiry and most diligent search in and around its present—to look with retrospective glance upon the convergent paths of the past that have led to its present, and to catch the indices pointing onward; and, having found them, to judge whether such as Time’s unfolding calendar has left here and there along the pathway of passing events were reliable prophecies of what was to come—were truthful indications of what was to follow. In the judgment determined and warranted by the evidences obtained, a certain basis may be found upon which to predicate the prophecies of the living present.
The existing present is the absolute result of the eternal past; the sum total of all that has gone before; the product of God’s everlasting workings, by and through unchangeable law upon the elemental material universe; nor can there be extracted from this result, this sum total, this product, one simple separate effect which is not the legitimate offspring of the operation of immutable law, co-extensive with the universe, and co-existent with God.
A proposition that there are powers within God’s realm which did not spring from Him, or that the Original Cause has, in the economy of Nature, found it necessary to amend and change the original law, in order to accomplish His original purpose, or that contingencies have arisen which have demanded special enactments on the part of the Divine Ruler, presupposes that God did not know the end from the beginning, or, knowing it, was incompetent to provide therefor. Such a proposition, entertained by the human mind, destroys within it the God of the universe, and leaves the world, to it, a mere toy in the hands of its master, subject, at all times, to the caprices of his infinite rule, to be led here and there by circumstances he knew not of previous to their external development.
It may be said, that reasoning upon the character of God’s government, or the mode through which he manifests himself to the world, is not pertinent to the subject in view; to those who think thus the query should be propounded—What of the future without a reliable present? and what of the effects that must follow, if the operating, existing general laws of the universe be not the same in a thousand years as now? It becomes, then, extremely important that some permanent, unchangeable basis be found before proceeding to predicate the future; and unless God is the same yesterday, to-day and forever, we can find no certain basis upon which to stand and from which we can start.
We have but to question the earth whether or not, from its incipiency onward through countless ages, it has obeyed the one great command, Progress? and in answer received, determine if, in the past, God has found it necessary to change the great fundamental laws of the universe. Geology tells in unmistakable writings what the earth was; we have but to look about us to see what it is. At no time since it was can we learn that the law of progressive unfoldment has been inverted, and the world turned backward toward its commencing point. Since this has not occurred in the past, we may safely assume that it will not occur in the future; the law of progress may be accepted as one of God’s immutable decrees. The universe to-day, in all its variety and beauty, is no more in essence than it was millions of years ago, when it first assumed its orbital movements; the same elements exist in the exact quantity—nothing added—nothing taken away. Progress is simply a new arrangement of elementary principles.
Simple elements are indestructible; when two or more are combined, and produce an effect, the combination may be destroyed, and the elements separated and returned to their natural condition. This process is not one of destruction, but simply of change of the relations of the elements that formed the combination. An acorn deposited in the earth attracts to itself such elements as produce growth; after years of labor, the mighty oak is the result. Although in its formation it has taken from the earth and air certain properties, the same quantity of such proportions still exists—nothing new has been created, a new form only has been produced by Nature, testifying that she never rests. Now, suppose a power were applied to the oak to dissolve it, the oak only would be destroyed, not the properties that entered into its composition.
It is supposed there are a certain number of elementary principles contained in and that make up the material universe; were these principles simple units, incapable of divisibility, we could, by applying the rule of geometrical progression, soon arrive at the exact number of different combinations, and consequently the exact number of different forms they are capable of producing; but, being infinite in quantity and divisibility, infinitude of form and effect is possible. The power of arrangement being infinite, infinitude of association and combination is the legitimate result.
Combination and association began in the simplest forms! When God, by his omnipotent voice, spoke the earth into existence, as an individual planet, it contained exactly the same elements of which it is now composed; but they were simply in elemental form, without organization, and, consequently, without variety of manifestation in form; motion being an inherent quality, constant agitation brought the elements into relations and combinations, simple at first; but by constant change they arose from the simple to the complex, and from the complex toward the infinite, and in the sum total of them we have the living present.
The argument does not require that minute examination of geological science be made, following, one by one, the rise and fall, the organization and destruction of each of its classified periods, nor of the specific results by and through each; but only to recognize the law by which these results are arrived at. It is possible to so trace and classify these results as to show a continuous chain of progression, link by link, from the simplest form of combination, to the most complex and perfect, wherein all the original elements were first represented—man! Having arrived at perfection of form, wherein all the properties of the material world find themselves forming a part, it might reasonably be accepted that progression in formation would cease; while it has ceased so far as producing higher types is concerned, it has not in the quality of the types already produced; and in this proposition lies the greatest problem of life; the one most difficult for the human mind to grasp. Man, representing in form all that has gone before, is the result of the grand chain of progressive material formations; and, having combined within his physical form a portion of every element contained in the world, he may be likened in his infancy to the infancy of the earth. God, in spirit, pervades all material nature, and the union—if union it may be called—forms a perfect whole, and man being an epitome of all things contained in the material world, receives into his organization the spirit of each of its representative constituent parts, and consequently is endowed with all the spiritual attributes of the universe, the attributes of God! and, as God is eternal, man, created in His image, must likewise be eternal.