Creation

“ In a word, they have not arrived at the conception of the Creator as infinite and eternal, and that his acts are in eternity, not in time. Nor have they a conception of a creation by law—a creation through the Logos—that eternal Reason, that all-providing Wisdom—whose hand stretched the line upon it, and whose right hand held the plummet; a scintilla of which enlightens every man that cometh into the world. ”

“ We have seen, thus far, how there came into the thinking of mankind upon the visible universe and its inhabitants the idea of a creation virtually instantaneous and complete, and of a Creator in human form with human attributes, who spoke matter into existence literally by the exercise of his throat and lips, or shaped and placed it with his hands and fingers. ”

“ An account of creation is given, not with the idea of furnishing man with an epitome of geological science, but because it forms a fitting dress for the portrayal of the regeneration of man. As all Scripture is given in parables and for the sake of its spiritual teaching, a history of creation must be, in its essential meaning, a description of the creation and development of the spiritual nature within us. ”

“ And here we have (as I think will be seen one day) the whole rationale of Creation—we have the conception which brings into line the phenomena of the visible and material world and their genesis, with the genesis of thoughts in our own minds, and their passage into visibility and expression; we have the conception which unites the mental and material, and which makes the whole Creation luminous with meaning. ”

“ I know no better symbol of creation than the regularity and causality of the creation of ideas in us, which no will and no mind can regulate and create, for any such arrangement and intention would presuppose the unborn idea. ”

“ But there was a time before creation, before this beautiful fabric of the world was made, before even chaos itself, or the production of the rude matter, of which the world was made. And this time must be affirmed, not only as to material creation, but to that of angels and spiritual beings. Reckon we never so many ages, or myriads of ages, for the commencement of creation, yet it certainly began, and there was a time before that beginning. For, by the definition, creation is bringing that into being which was not before. ”

“ The whole creation with its manifold phenomena, so varied and yet so uniform, from the single blade of grass springing up in the field to the mighty stars soaring in the firmament, is a proof of His existence, His [5] mercy, His love, and His divine Providence ‘God: there is no God but He—the Living, the Eternal, no slumber seizeth Him. ”

“ Draw near, look unto the works of creation, what cumulative evidence of their intelligent author, conclusive as the severest demonstrations of science. Man asks for a sign from heaven. Ten thousand intimations are given—millions, indeed, of miraculous contrivances meet him in every department of the universe. ”

“ Can’t you see that one is a story of the real creation; and the other is the human mind’s interpretation of the creation––an interpretation made according to the way the human mind thinks the creating ought to have been in matter? ”

“ I said deliberately "from the creation of the world," and not "from the creation of mankind," because inanimate creation itself appears to me to bear witness to a purpose, from the first, that this visible world should help its future tenants to imagine things invisible. ”

“ The very rationality of the Creation, in our deepest analysis and broadest survey of it, leads the mind, by the conditions inseverable from its reasoning faculties, to see in its perfect relations the inevitable congruity of an intelligent cause. ”

“ So long as human beings worshipped the abstract principle of creation, the manifestations of which proceed from the earth and sun, they doubtless reasoned little on the nature of its hitherto inseparable parts. ”

“ The definition given to our English verb "create," in its [Pg 140] primary and philosophical sense, is: "To produce," "to bring into being from nothing"; "to cause to exist." "Creation," as a noun expressing the act described by the verb, is defined as "the act of creating: the act of causing to exist, and especially, the act of bringing this world into existence." ”

“ Of course, creation was to them an open book of symbols, in which they read mental processes, spiritual principles, and divine ends, as we read ideas in words, with scarcely more thought of the things than we have of the words on the printed page, from which we seek only the meaning. ”

“ Miracle discredits the ordered scheme of creation; and quite as much does it do so if you believe creation to be the work of a personal Deity. Creation (science shows us more and more) was from its inception a process of absolutely related causes and effects—a whole system reared up through millions and millions of years upon a structure involving infinite millions of lives and deaths—and the whole a perfect sequence of causal happenings. ”

“ But, as to this matter of creation, is there, after all, I ask yet, any genuine sense in which a man may be said to create his own thought-forms? Allowing that a new combination of forms already existing might be called creation, is the man, after all, the author of this new combination? ”

“ And, under these names heaven and earth, the whole creation is signified, either as divided into spiritual and material, which seems the more likely, or into the two great parts of the world in which all created things are contained, so that, first of all, the creation is presented in sum, and then its parts are enumerated according to the mystic number of the days. ”

“ Now let me show you an origin of man, with his intellect and consciousness, which will entirely overthrow the idea that he was a special creation in the sense to which you seem to be drifting, namely, that of miraculous interposition by a being called God. You must be aware, as you have read so much, that modern science has made great discoveries, and that there are certain conclusions on this subject which are drawn from very numerous and important data. ”

“ The work of creation was to take the materials that existed from all eternity, that never were created or made out of nothing, to take these self-existent materials and organize them into a world. This is called creation. ”

“ The fact that He employs means, that creation is an infinite web of causes and effects, constantly weaving, excites our curiosity, awakens our interest, makes us familiar with His thought and methods, and we feel at home in His universe. ”

“ Thirdly, you say, You cannot understand what I mean by Creation, for you think that Creation is a production or making of Something out of Nothing. To tell you really, Madam, this word is used by me for want of a better expression; and I do not take it in so strict a sense as to understand by it, a Divine or supernatural Creation, which onely belongs to God; but a natural Creation, that is, a natural production or Generation; for Nature cannot create or produce Something out of Nothing: And this Production may be taken in a double sence ”

“ The work of creation in time, he held, which did but reflect the process by which the Father begets the eternal Son, involved two elements, the purely spiritual or angelic, represented by heaven or the light, on the one hand, and the material and animal on the other, represented by the earth. ”

“ The world as constituted, the creation which we contemplate and admire, is in all its parts and dispositions a system of means and ends, a combination of instruments end skillfully-balanced agencies, a bright ever-discoursing record of the Eternal Mind, which yet shrouds itself in light inaccessible and utterly unfathomable to the comprehension of all created, finite intelligences, whether human or angelic. ”

“ The term "creation," as used in all modern philosophy, implies, ex vi termini, the act of causing to exist; and, unless we assume that nothing which exists was ever caused to exist, we must suppose that the causing power was alike capable of giving existence to matter and to the forces that reside in it. ”

“ And what is the spiritual world, but an outbirth or derivation from the Divine Mind? Creation is, properly speaking, production,—a sending forth, as it were, by the Infinite God, of indefinitely various forms and existences from Himself. ”

“ Creation implies an abrupt appearance, transformation a gradual change.
In this manner is presented to our contemplation the great theory of Evolution. Every organic being has a place in a chain of events. ”

“ This wonderfully intimate relationship of the innumerable forms of living creatures, properly considered, is calculated to elevate our conception of the creation, and of man himself; while, to the glory of the Creator, it is held out to us as another "bow of promise"—another assurance of the certainty of the universal reign of law. ”

“ Here again, however, I must remind you that creation, as maintained against such materialistic evolution, whether by theology, philosophy, or Holy Scripture, is necessarily a continuous, nay, an eternal influence, not an intervention of disconnected acts. ”

“ Under the similitude of earth's creation is unfolded the progressive order in which the development of the spiritual nature of each of us all goes on—the successive steps by which we proceed forward to the realization of our highest possibilities. The biblical account of the creation is then a parable of the regeneration of the human mind and heart. ”

“ The special creations of individuals from hour to hour would be just as miraculous as the special creation of species, and it would be occasional, although the occasions would be indefinite in number. ”

“ HAPPINESS.
The evidence and fruit and reward of growth as involved in Altruism.
NATURE.
As commonly used, "nature" means creation apart from man. The accepted definition is "creation," and as such includes man and all created things, and also the processes of creation—generation, degeneration and regeneration—as involved in growth. The common use of the word "nature" is a convenient one, and hence let us make use of it as meaning creation other than man. ”

“ A mode of conception which is conspicuous throughout the entire series of these creation stories is the constantly repeated presentation of the creative act not in the form of spiritual fiat, but of a purely natural process of generation. ”

“ He should disabuse his own mind of prejudices and superstitions at variance with nature, and study natural organization to learn the intention of the Creator; learn the nature of plants, the organization of the earth, its components how formed, and of what—all animal creation—the mechanism of the universe, its motions—the exact perfection of every creation for the design of that creation ”

“ Thus by adopting this hypothesis, which assumes the entire narrative as a consecutive description of the order of creation, every day as bearing the initiative of its own class of phenomena, the plan and quality of the Divine works as all delineated and shadowed out, the progressive succession of the whole organic and inorganic historically described, and the phenomena, and the terms descriptive of them, are asserted to be in their proper places, and in harmony each with each. ”

“ The works of Nature, both of mind and matter, are full of evidence of design, and from this we infer that the Creator is an intelligent cause.
The infinite variety and extent of creation are evidences of the wonderful power of their Author. The fact that all the contrivances of matter and mind are clearly designed to produce enjoyment, while pain is merely the result of a violation of laws which, if obeyed, would secure only happiness—this is evidence of the benevolence of the Creator. ”

“ I. God as Creative Love. The Creature’s True and False Self; True and False Love. 1. Creation, an overflow of Goodness.
First, then, we will take the sayings about Creation, and the original, substantially indelible character of all created beings. ”

“ Here we come to the first demand which the doctrine of creation makes on us by way of premises. In order that there may be creation there must be a primary Self-existent Spirit, whose will is supreme. ”

“ The expression creation we are familiar with from religion, but it is a meaningless word derived from the ordinary conception; in order to be a thought and to have philosophic significance, it must be much more closely defined. ”

“ CREATION OR EVOLUTION?
CHAPTER I. Nature and importance of the subject—Is there a relation of Creator and creature between God and man?—Rules of rational belief—Is natural theology a progressive science?
Man finds himself in the universe a conscious and thinking being. He has to account to himself for his own existence. ”

“ Pass from this illustration of the idea of human creation to the hypothesis of a supreme being, possessing infinite power, and existing before the material universe began. The hypothesis of his existence includes the power to call into being things that had no previous being, whether these things be matter and material properties or moral and intellectual ideas. ”

“ She did not know then that imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire; you will what you imagine; and at last you create what you will. ”

“ The infinite hath no beginning, and this word “beginning” is employed to signify the first, because the eternal fact of creation, when Spirit is the creator. The creative Principle is God, Life, Truth, and Love. There is but one Creator and one creation. The unfolding of spiritual ideas and their identities, forever embraced in the infinite Mind, and being reflected through time and eternity, is creation. These ideas range from a blade of grass upward to the Elohim, or sons and daughters of God, Spirit. ”

“ Till then I hold by my antiquated tenets, that our world, nay, the whole material universe, was created about six or seven thousand years ago, and that in a state of physical excellence of which we have in our present fallen world only the ‘vestiges of creation.’ I conclude by mentioning that this view I have held now for nearly thirty years, and, amidst all the vicissitudes of the philosophical world during that period, I have never seen cause to change it. ”