In the first chapter of the Bible we read that the earth was originally without form and void. Next it is said that the "Spirit of God" moved upon the face of the waters. And throughout the Old Testament it is easy to see that the writers attributed the settling down of things in general, the ordering of the heavens, the coming up of dry land from under the sea, the clearing away of mists and vapours, and the production of life upon the earth, to the action of this Spirit (or Word) of God upon the chaos of matter. And not only so, but they evidently believed this living Word or Spirit to be continually present throughout creation, at every rising of sun or moon or star, in all cosmical changes, at every birth of man or beast, at every recovery of man or beast from sickness, in all growth, in all life, in all enjoyment; and to be at each moment the indispensable preserver of every living thing from decay.
"Oh! of course," you will perhaps say; "if God did not do things, they would not be done. If He had not willed things to be, they would not be. He set them going as He chose; and if He chose to take away the forces by which they go, they would stop. In some sense all that happens is His doing." You say this. The Bible says nothing of the sort. It says, not only that God willed things to be done, but that the "Spirit of God" was the agency by which they were done. At least, if it does not say that, I do not know what it does say.
Now, then, without entering into any theological discussions, will you allow me for a few
