Show £8 THE PEEP 0’ DAY— A LITERARY MAGAZINE Jqrartttmtt Under this heading will be presented any novel or ordinal views concerning God the Universe or Mankind: not binding ourselves to endorse all we present each at their intrinsic value MAN A PROOF OP DEITY Every man is as conscious of tlie existence of God as lie is of his own existence Indeed the latter is a proof of the former for what is the Soul but a part of that universal spiritual existence which we call the “ Great First Cause” Every soul is so much of it as the extent and size of its own individits inuality and in proportion dividual consciousness approxi- mates to and partakes of the universal consciousness so great a witness is every man of its existence To say that we cannot comprehend God in His most abstract and universal meaning is to say that wliicli amounts to nothing W e cannot comprehend Him abstractly even in His most minute and individual sense Can we abstractly comprehend that being which we call ourselves or that very mystery which we call consciousness ? And yet we know that we do exist and it is that consciousness which constitutes our and intellectual spiritual life Every man is an evidence of one great fact—the existence of God And this is' true though his recognizance of this fact should extend no farther than his own individual being and experience Indeed it is impossible for it to extend farther than these for no man can realize a truth by the consciousness and experience of another It is our individuality our knowledge our experience and our consciousness that become more enlarged and distinct and not the universe or any part of it It is God within us becoming more developed — it is our individuality becoming more universal which constitutes our growth of consciousness in his existence Although we should say that we do not comprehend the individual soul neither the universal soul — God though we should deny one or both and make ourselves a sum of contradictions yet what does this prove more than that these facts are very great and perhaps that our consciousness of them is but that our knowledge also great and sym- bols and language are inadequate to interpret them And men have generally a pertty distinct notion in such case that they say what they do not exactly mean and what is not concistent with their experience and consciousness Indeed they often quarrel with others for understanding them according to their own statements They misinterpret themselves and their subjects they say oue thing and mean another or thty use language to which others attach a different meaning and thus they mistify themselves their subjects and their neighbors Slany of those who are called infidels and atheists will rank among the greatest witnesses to the existence of God Their writings are manifestations of higher natures than those of the common class of men and their ideas and the attempts which they make to explain the big mysteries which are pressing upon them — to reconcile things as they are with their conceptions of truth wisdom purity benevolence and God — are only so many proofs that the popular interpreta-tion- s of Him and His economy are below their standard of spiritual S development — Extract from book on the Great First Cause by if E W Tuilidge THE DRAMA OP THE GODS What glorious dramas liave‘the Gods perform'd! What scenes of grandeur In succession come ! What vast machin’ry in the play divine With movements full and wondrous workings-iOf beauty order majesty and power They with the awful mighty grand and vast — That make the proudest genius kiss the dust Shake lofty tyrants on their bloody thrones As tho’ their limbs were with the palsy struck— Have wove such silky threads with minute skill And tiny things of microscopic race To which the apple of tlie human eye Would be as large ds unto man the sun Which in the zenith of his glory seems Well-nigto fill the infinite abyss They out of atoms which no mortal scan E’en by the aid of art their bulk can name Forge links of chains of workmanship so fine That not the faintest breath that dims the glass As life its last expiring effort makes But what would cut them into million shreds If hung apart to catch its dying wind And blow each thread to chaos back again But yet immortals weave the wondrous work And chain on chain around the nucleus bind : j Thus massive planets grow' aud suns are born And countless systems walk the trackless path While as they move along they swell the strain And heaven’s blue vault resounds their Maker’s praise Not like a burlesque of the mimic stage Where human actors tread the boards their hour Who echo snatches of the play of life And nature’s painting imitate with daubs : The Gods their dramas write in parts that live Creative acts the universe their stage The principals are they the chorus we : Yea all their creatures are the fillings-iA soul in every 6cene is looking out All seems in motion and with life endow’d The seasons pass along the movements change' And now the heavens thick mourning robes put on And then anon the sun the blackness drives A rising from his slumbers of the night He shoots out brightness at his pitchy foe And hoary winter comes and walks his time And thickly throws his clammy froth about His frosty fingers nip the tender plants While busily he links an icy chain And sternly seeks to lengthen out his term Now sapless age appears with quenchless thirst And eagerly he drains the stream of life While horrid death close on his footsteps treads And clothed in shrouds the grave brings up the rear Then spring comes round with recreating power And nature summer paints with wondrous skill And tastily she blends her varied hues Of colors sparkling delicate aud grand ' corn with brilliant And gilds the gold And as the scen’ries change great nature singf The massive music of the universe The harmonies swell out in rich artistic parts Now burst the mighty thunder from the skies The cataracts dash down their crashing notes And under ground the earthquakes chorus make While warbling birds and streams ' And million voices catch the strain And send enchantment on the waving wind The play moves on and startling episode Shake nations thrill the hearts of worlds ' Root up old dynasties and hurl down kings Bring forth and birth unto new empires give Society remake and peasants place Upon the lofty thrones where monarchs sat : And when the acts their perfect series reach Up then creation’s massive curtains rise And on the stage the Gods fresh systems roll E IF-- Tuilidge -- CHANGES - IN THE EARTH AND SOLAR SYSTEM The earth’s duration is great hut finite Fragments of planets' and meteoric stones are traces of destructive elements The moon’s motion increases because the orbit of the earth’s eccentricity slowly diminishes The moon has increased her motion three minutes since Jesus and Pliny saw it The eccentricity of the earth’s orbit has been diminishing and the moon lias been moving quicker ever since man recorded events The resisting medium gradually weakens it Enckie’s comet has diminished the time of its revolution thirty hours during sixty years The movements of the planets are : not eternal The sun and all his planets move one hundred and fifty millions of miles per annum to- wards Hercules The Astronomer Royal recently declared that every astronomer who had examined this matter believes that our solar system is moving towards that constellation Science demon- strates that there is a radiating influence and solar attraction that will ultimately derange the planetary system There has been a gradual loss of beat and moisture on this earth for millions of years Herschell and Arrago have written to prove that the earth is gradually drawing to the sun — that solar heat radiated to the earth is diminishing and liq uids are contracting into solids Land has been increasing and seas diminishing before man recorded events Moisture has decreased in former seats of greatness Land now sterile was once watered by meandering rills and the hum of industry was heard in the now desolate streets The atmosphere is unhealthy where a thriving population formerly flourished Xakes have become solidified in Australia Africa and Mexico The solidifying of water will untimately render the earth an unfit habitation fer man Water enters largely |