OF

CHAPTER XL.

THE CYCLES OF MATTER.

F what, now, is this stupendous result the conse quence? This is the goal toward which, for millions. of ages, the forces of matter have been struggling. During every moment of this long history, gravitation has striven to draw these myriads of worlds together. They have embraced each other at last, and gravitation has retired to slumber. While yet these worlds were in active life, every sun was a heated globe, dispensing warmth through infinite space; and every planet may have been the seat of life, enjoying the boundless munificence of heat. As long ast heat remained to be dispensed to planetary orbs, they were the seat of all those myriad activities of which solar heat is the origin and source-currents in the atmosphere and in the waters-ascending vapors and descending rainsthe nurture of vegetable and animal life and motions-the disintegration of continents, and the strewing of ocean bottoms with layers of sediments for the upbuilding of new continents. Through numberless interactions of heat, and electricity, and light, and magnetism, and mechanical forces, and chemical affinity, the web of material and organic history was woven. The equilibrium of the heat of our universe has now been attained. No farther interactions and transformations can ensue. Every particle of matter is equally cold. Every corner of space is equally dark. The electricities that have been worried with disturbances and divorces innumerable are now firmly locked in each other's embraces. Every chemical element has united with its

first choice. There can be no farther decompositions or recompositions. The forces of matter have spent themselves. After a fierce conflict, they lie mutually slain, upon a long-contested battle-field. The struggle is ended-nothing stirs-night comes down and casts her pall over the corse of matter.

From this exit of material existence we shrink back to the times in which we live, and inquire, What are all the myriad activities of the passing world-what are rolling tides, and surging waves, and ocean streams-what are mountain births, and volcanic eructations, and continental throes-what are wasted lands, and Niagara gorges, and ocean sediments-what are worn-out continents, and extinguished populations, and terrestrial revolutions—what are all these vicissitudes through which the earth has passed, and all these phenomena which to-day are transpiring-what are they all but the incidents attending the progress of the active forces of Nature toward their destined equilibrium? In their restless and active lifetime they show themselves under myriads of guises, and work out their myriads of incidents; but the great law which is over them hurries them ever onward in but one direction, and the end of that is equilibrium, stagnation, death.

Is this, then, the end of matter? Is it for this that space has been populated with worlds innumerable? Was it for this brief ferment that a past eternity should brood over nothingness, and an eternity to come should ache with the recollection of creation foiled? The forces of matter can do no more. The machinery of the universe has run down. Beyond and above is only the Eternal Omnipotence. There is now no power in the universe but Deity. When he wills the resurrection of matter shall dawn. New life will thrill through every vein of the ancient corse. When he wills the forces of matter shall hie again from their hiding-places.

Heat will again be gathered into central masses. Matter will dissolve into liquids-liquids burst into vapor, and fill again the vault of space-cohesive affinities will be sundered-chemical unions will be unlocked-electrical and gravitating forces will resume their play, and once more will begin the long series of activities which make up the lifetime of firmaments, and systems, and worlds. The matter of our solar system-or of a system like ours--will again be isolated; the endless whirl of fiery vapor will detach rings, in succession, which will consolidate into planets and satellites--another earth will spring up-another period of the reign of fire will ensue and then another reign of water-and then another long line of organic creations will begin, and, in due time, in some distant future age, another intelligent race will populate another earth, and dream, as we now dream, of the beginning whence, and the goal whither the grand rush of events is carrying them. This is one of the Cycles of Matter.

In what light, then, are we to regard all the vicissitudes and activities of the lifetime of a universe? What are they but a brief agitation on the surface of the infinite ocean of matter a momentary ripple raised by the presence of the Omnipotent hand-destined speedily to subside, and again to be raised by the breath of Omnific Power?

In the presence of such conceptions as these, what is man, and what are the works of his hands? What are fleets, and forts, and cities with their insect hum? What are temples, and pyramids, and Chinese walls? The agitation of particles of dust in a distant corner of the universe. The track of an insect on the ocean's shore. The breath of an infant in the tornado's blast.

But what is the spirit of man, whose thoughts thus wander through eternity? What is the intelligence of man which climbs the battlements of the palace of Omnipotence

--which seizes hold on infinity-which, though chained in flesh, spurns its fetters, and feels evermore that it is the offspring of God—the brother of angels-the heir of perpetuity-and will soon shake its shambles down amongst the rubbish of decaying worlds, and dwell superior to the mutations of matter and the revolutions of the ages? What, in comparison with the crumbling of mountains and the decay of worlds, is the being possessed of such a consciousness and such a destiny? Who shall tremble at the wreck of matter, when, in perpetual youth, he shall outlive suns, and systems, and firmaments, and through the ceaseless cycles of material history shall see creation rise upon creation--the ever-recurring mornings of eternal life?