portion of the brain; and the anthem is played-not by electrical, or physical, that is, mechanical irritation, but by an invisible musician-" the spirit of life." Carry this a little further. Take a few words of the philosopher, Ueberweg: "What occurs in the brain, would, in my opinion, not be possible, if the process, which here appears in its greatest concentration, did not obtain generally, only in a vastly diminished degree." That is there is a kind of life even in particles that are not organized. The flesh, which we eat, is not wholly dead; the flour, which we bake, contains though weak and pale that which concentrated in the brain manifests highest living and intellectual powers. There may be minima of life going far below all that we possess any knowledge of, and maxima extending far beyond our every thought. Nevertheless, we cannot regard the particles of water, of albumen, of carbon, as possessing any sense or consciousness of life, they neither think nor feel; all matter is not two-sided in the sense that conscious living matter is. "Things natural, which are not in the number of voluntary agents, do so necessarily observe their certain laws, that so long as they keep those forms which give them their being, they cannot possibly be apt or inclinable to do otherwise than they do" (Hooker, "Eccl. Pol.," i. 3). There is something in the character of high life and thought which does not wholly depend on the structure and substance of the material organs themselves: for though the brain substance, and even the mode of its nourishment, are similar in man and beast, the beast possesses no more than an irrational soul as vital principle, while man is enlightened by a rational spirit. Truly, the world within the world. is full and rich; nor is it any paradox to assert-in the profundity are depths transcending all material limits. A miracle lies at the foundation of all matter, moves in everything that lives, and animates all intelligence. Suppose we say, "Matter is eternal, and contains within itself the potentiality of all worlds, life, intelligence, emotion;" that seems a less reasonable begging of the question than to say, "God is Eternal." Less reasonable, and a greater miracle! We give to matter the attributes of mind and of life; de facto, making it God, though we say there is no God. To postulate the eternity of matter, rather than the eternity of God, thereby postulates Divine Existence also-in degraded form-a Mind materially imprisoned crawling in the smallest insect that creeps over a few feet of our little globe, or circling the sun in Jupiter and his satellites. The Christian's view is more beautiful and comprehensive: he knows not God in His essence, but as represented by imperfect yet analogous qualities in the creature, he can apprehend the splendid suns as sparkling foot-prints of the Creator's onward march, and know Him in Revelation as "the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth." "If matter is not eternal, its first emergence into being is a miracle beside which all others sink into absolute insignificance;" "cur itaque facere non possit Deus, ut et resurgant opera mortuorum, cum sit major et excellentius ipse mundus miraculum?" but unbelievers tell us "That is unthinkable; " " pretending," as Sir E. Beckett says, "to sweep away an entire branch or system of philosophy by dogmatically pronouncing it for no reason at all 'unthinkable."" Will they explain in what way the eternity of matter is more thinkable than the creation of matter? think out for us, and make it clear, that the sudden apocalypse of a material world out of blank nonentity is more unthinkable than the eternal existence of many or innumerable worlds? Until they perform the task, suppose we think a little for ourselves-It does not seem difficult, after all, to understand in a serviceable sort of way, that God made all things out of nothing, that, very long ago, there was a chaos in which all things were "without form and void "rudis. indigestaque moles" (Ovid, "Metam.," i. 7). Then came that wonderful advance into light, life, and replenishing, recorded in the grand old Book which even the lessgifted men-those incapable of the faith that sublimes -regard as the sacred doctrine of scientific evolution. It is not, however, necessary that we accept the doctrine of evolution-not even to the extent that science affirms-our science is not final. We believe that the whole process is far more wonderful than the wisest can conceive. When fully known, the knowledge now possessed will seem as the groping of children in the dark. J. S. Buckminster says, "The dying believer leaves the children of mortality to grope a little longer among the miseries of a worldly life." Let us, meanwhile, be thankful for what we know, and our Thought on "World within the World" reveals :--Belief and Will are upon us and in us like a great flood, are not a device of our own, but bear us on to a new world. Belief in miracles is not a delusion. They come into Nature as by an operation like that with which we are shaken when a strong spirit enters our own weak body. We know of brightnesses and true things in our own life, as the burning bush seen by Moses, very comings to us of God. There is also an inner world of which we are conscious. It makes us go about our work the happier, and feel that we are not far off a place beautified-such as the sun lights up for us in the waters, but more real. The two faces of all that we know are puzzles sometimes, and we are as one deposited sleeping among the ruins of a vast city; but, somehow, we awake and then comes the presence of a Love and Sympathy deeper and more tender than is breathed from earth and sky. Our intellect, too, has experience gained from amongst the sick and mourning, from minds hardened and shrivelled by poverty, a subtle perception of spiritual consolation able to brighten and beautify everything. Even the dead are not dead to us until forgotten-nor even then. Sometimes when alone, or our eyes are closed, or in the quiet night, we see and hear looks and voices almost plainer than when the beloved bodily forms were near and we touched them. Creation of matter may have been for the purpose of giving spirit grip of things, visible pictures of the ruin evil works, and of Invisible Mercy. Even words such as "light," "sound,” “stars,” 66 music," are signs of something unspeakably great and beautiful: so is it with everything in the world. The scientific view as far exceeds the common view, as that surpasses the fetichism of a savage; and beyond the horizon of scientific view is that unseen-that inexplicable-which comes near to our consciousness when we worship. Our spirit sees and hears mysterious sights and sounds, alas! all too soon withdrawn: and, yet, they make us happy. Nor is any man, of high and ripened |