Another prominent characteristic of these creative forces, is that they are regular, established, and unvarying. The truth here stated follows naturally from the very nature and position of the Supreme Mind. That which is self-existent, uncreated, and superior to all things else, must exist without change; and consequently the forces which it contains as inherent properties, must be of a corresponding nature. The created human brain, constituting only a link in the chain of being, is impelled to move as move the links with which it is connected. It is subject to the accidents of birth, the disadvantages of wrong situations, the power of surrounding circumstances, and various influences which may be generated in its earthly sphere or in the home of superior intelligences. Accordingly we find that the creative forces of the human mind are frequently irregular, unsettled and changeable. To-day the artist, moved by the inspiration of genius, commences to embody his great ideal in a work which he fondly hopes will give immortality to his name; but to-morrow some depressing circumstance, or untoward accident, may turn the whole current of his thoughts in a different direction, and cause him to expend his entire mental force on another object. It is not thus with the creative mind of God. This operates the same from age to age. Its great and eternal labor is to create,—and so the process of creation goes on while the everlasting year rolls away, and the divine impelling Thought remains unchanged. Herein is revealed the true majesty of the Divine character; and so, reader, if it should be said to you that God created any form or being, and then repented that He had created, believe it not; and if it should be said that He has at any time turned aside from his regular and established course of action to furnish evidence of a special

providence, credit not the assumption; for the same creative forces which brought the Universe into being are still in operation, and must remain forever unchanged in their direction and tendencies.

Let us now observe still another characteristic of the creative forces under consideration. These forces, it should be particularly noticed, operate on the principle of cause and effect -that is to say, they act as causative agents in the production of certain ulterior results, between which agents and results extends an unbroken and indissoluble line of connection. It is one of the first principles of truth that no effect can be produced, under any circumstances, without the action of an appropriate cause, and it is likewise a self-evident truism that an intimate relation must exist between the cause and the effect, in order that the one may be the product of the other. This principle applies primarily to the creation and economy of the Universe. Without the existence of an adequate cause, the multifarious effects which are observable in the surrounding expanse of being, could never have been produced. A cause therefore eternally existed, and this cause was no other than the creative forces of the Divine Mind. The chain of causation extends from these forces to all created forms. It was necessary that the Divine forces should first act, which action was simply the motion of a spiritual substance; then by this cause, other and more exterior elements were moved in a corresponding manner; these in turn communicated their motion to materials of still grosser nature, and so from the primitive impulse of the Original Power was carried forth the creating and governing principle to all inferior planes of existence, until at last the beauty, the glory, and the fragrance of worlds

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became representatives of the living bloom of Creation. view of the philosophical truth here expressed, it will be perceived that the power of God does not operate independently and alone, but that it is exercised in connection with inferior elements and forces, which are employed as a medium whereby it is transmitted to the lowest and most unilluminated spheres of being. There is accordingly nothing supernatural, or contrary to the established principle of cause and effect, in the process of creation. Even the Deity himself could not act in a manner which is opposed to the laws of his own nature. It would be impossible for him to create, without the action of a creative power and the existence of an actual substance on which that power may operate. Hence when it is said that God "spake and it was done," or that He said, "Let there be light, and there was light "-these expressions signifying that there existed no positive relation between the cause and the effect the affirmation should be rejected as untrue by every reasoning mind.

Being connected with a perfect craniological structure, the motive power of the Great Spirit has a general correspondence with the forces which are generated in the human brain,—those distinctions, however, being always kept in view, which must naturally exist between a created mind and the Supreme Intelligence. The elements of love, will, and wisdom are implanted in the depths of every soul, and these in their developed state constitute the spiritual forces by which the beautiful creations of human genius are produced. They are reflections from the love, will, and wisdom, of the Divine Mind; they are indeed the reproduction of the qualities of that Mind, as the soul itself is a reproduction of Deity; and so, in their ever-unfolding min

istry, they go forth with a creative power to mold the plastic elements of Nature into forms of beauty, and cover the wide earth with structures and ornaments of art. But the analogy between their mode of action and that of the Divine forces, is wanting in precisely those particulars where the correspondence ceases between the earth-born child and the self-existent Father. The exercise of love, will, and wisdom on the part of man, is controlled by surrounding circumstances, influences, and conditions; and these qualities, in his present rudimental state, are expressed chiefly through the medium of the physical organism, in external and representative signs, instead of being able to embody themselves in their own pure and beautiful emanations. In the Divine Mind the creative forces are spontaneously developed, and operate in a sphere which represents the first and highest plane of causation. They accordingly act from an innate necessity, and not from the movements of any extraneous power; and so by virtue of their own eternal tendencies, they move, impel, and attract the refined elements of which they are inherent properties, until they become ultimately clothed in forms of progressive nature and unfolding loveliness, like those which even now adorn the shining heavens.

Before commencing to think rationally on a subject like this, the mind must entertain some conception of divine order; and when it perceives that God has always acted in accordance with those beautiful and harmonious principles which are now exhibited in the varied processes of Nature, it will likewise perceive that He has created all things in the same manner, relatively speaking, as the flower is unfolded from its germ, or the tree is developed from the seed. By keeping this principle in

view, it will be known that the Deity could never have formed the design of creating the Universe in the manner set forth in the Primitive Scriptures. That is to say, He could never have accomplished this result in a period of time corresponding to six days, as is represented by the writer known as Moses. This would have been entirely inconsistent with the present teachings of the Divinity in Nature. No rational mind will assert that the processes of the visible creation are hurried, abrupt, or instantaneous in their completion. The law of progressive development which is everywhere manifested, renders it impossible that this should be the fact. Everything is developed gradually and progressively in accordance with a principle which Deity himself could not overthrow, because it is an expression of his own unchangeable mind. Hence it can not be consistently supposed that the mighty birth of the Universe -a work which surpasses the conceptions of the human mind -could have occurred through any special interposition of Almighty Power, which would have the effect of producing the result in a single week, as has been supposed by theologians. On the contrary, it will be naturally presumed that the process by which all existing forms and substances were ushered into being, was comparatively slow, gradual, and progressive in its nature—that, as the work to be accomplished was an infinite development and could be performed only through an adaptation of means to ends, it must have extended in its execution. over a lapse of time which it is impossible for the earthly mind to conceive.

Thus the sublime order and perfected forms of existence, arose gradually and progressively from the chaos of unparticled elements. Creation was the work of unnumbered ages, being