Q. E. D. | Page 6

revealing the origin of matter as a process now going on, these phenomena are an objective demonstration that all matter is more or less unstable and liable under some unknown but ever-acting force to lose some portion of that fund of energy with which it seems to have been primarily endowed. Not the evolution of matter but the degeneration of matter is the plain and unescapable lesson to be drawn from these facts. The varieties of matter may change greatly, and one variety or one chemical element may be transformed into another. But this transformation is by loss and not by gain. It is degeneration and not upward evolution that is now opened up before our astonished eyes by this peep into the ultimate laboratories of nature; and he is surely a blind observer who cannot read in these facts the grand truth that all this substance called matter with which science deals in her manifold studies must at some time in the past, I care not when, have been called into existence in some manner no longer operative. The past eternity of matter, as well as its progressive development from the simple to the complex, seems manifestly out of consideration in view of the facts as we now know them. There is no ambiguity in the evidence. So far as modern science can throw light on the question, there must have been a real Creation of the materials of which our world is composed, a Creation wholly different both in kind and in degree from any process now going on.
IV
A supposed objection has been raised to this view, based on the vastness of the universe as we now know it. Whether or not the universe is really infinite in extent, it is certainly of an extent that is practically infinite, so far as our powers of observation or of reasoning are concerned. But this practically infinite universe is not a bit harder to account for than would be a definitely limited universe, say of the size of our solar system. If the spectroscope shows that the far distant parts of the universe contain many of the same elements as are found in our solar system, we need not be surprised, since all are alike the work of the same Creator. Nor would this fact that the universe seems to be composed of similar materials throughout tend in any way to prove that all these parts of the universe were brought into existence at the same time, nor yet that our solar system was refashioned out of some of the common stock of the universe already on hand, as the nebular hypothesis supposes. For all that we can tell to the contrary, it would seem probable that the materials of our solar system were called into existence expressly for the position they are now occupying; and this seems to be the plain import of the record in Genesis. Of one thing, however, we can be certain,--these materials must at some time have been called into existence by methods or ways that are no longer in operation around us. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."
V
Some remarks are necessary here regarding the homogeneousness of matter, or the idea that the various elements are composed of primordial units which are themselves alike, mere duplicates of each other. If this should prove to be really the case, as seems to be quite likely in the light of the facts given above, would it not be a veritable triumph for materialism? By no means. On the contrary, I think I can show in a very few words not only that this homogeneousness of matter is the only rational view of the composition of the material universe, but also that it is the only view consistent with Christian Theism and with the doctrine of Creation.
The theory of the atoms with their inherent and unchangeable properties, which prevailed during the greater part of the nineteenth century, naturally led us to look upon these properties as inherent in the things themselves. This was indeed materialism. This view, however, constantly impelled us to find out the essential differences between the various kinds of atoms, so as to "account for" their varying behaviors. And no matter how far we push such inquiries, this materialistic attitude of mind will control us so long as we think we are dealing with substances which are intrinsically different. If the differences are innate or inherent in the things themselves, we must naturally endeavor to find out why and how they are different; and no matter how far we go along this road we are always headed in the direction of stark materialism. On the other hand, to say that the "properties" of the atoms are not inherent in themselves, but