Ether (Space); Force and energy; Gravitation; Matter
Just as it is with ourselves, so it is with the Universe. For look where
we will, from the smallest atom to the great aggregation of atoms, as
our earth, or even to the more stupendous orbs of heaven, the working of
a secret and mysterious power or spirit meets our gaze. A spirit or
power that is not the form or the mechanism, but is separate and
distinct from the mechanism, while at the same time it is inseparably
connected with each and all. For everything that we see, from an atom to
the Universe itself, is a perfect mechanism, or complexity of
mechanisms. The entire Universe is one vast, intricate, and elaborate
piece of mechanism, beginning with the simple aetherial atom, ranging
through all the atomic systems, graduating by successive steps through
compound substances, which, in their aggregations, form meteors,
satellites, planets, suns, and stars; until the ultimate whole is
reached, where everything is blended into one vast whole; a perfect,
infinite, complex mechanism, a Universe.
Now if philosophy teaches anything at all regarding mechanisms of human
invention, it indisputably teaches that every machine or mechanism that
has ever been made, implies the existence of a maker, and that the maker
possessed intelligent attributes, as reason, judgment, perception, and
imagination. For example, stand before some elaborate machine of human
invention, as a lace machine, and watch the working of that machine in
all its details. It is composed of many parts, each of which is perfect
in itself. Each part may be distinct in nature and purpose, yet each and
all are inseparably and unitedly connected with each other, and all work
harmoniously together for the accomplishment of a definite and specific
end, that is, the production of a lace curtain of exquisite design and
pattern. As we watch the machine and its workings, we see therein the
evidence of the existence of a spirit or power that gave it its birth. A
spirit or mind that made and formed the machine, that constituted,
arranged, and gave it its governing and controlling power; fitted and
ordered every part, gave to each part its allotted task, and moulded all
to the harmonious fulfilment of the definite end and purpose he had in
view.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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