geometrical form, and how well adapted it is to its use;
thou hast seen the play of tinted colours making it shine like a
rainbow in the rays of the morning sun. From his bosom the little
artificer drew forth the wonderful thread, and into his bosom, when it
pleases him, he can withdraw it again. So Brahm made, and so will he
absorb the world." In common the Greek and Indian asserted that being
exists for the sake of thought, and hence they must be one; that the
universe is a thought in the mind of God, and is unaffected by the
vicissitudes of the worlds of which it is composed. In India this
doctrine of emanation had reached such apparent precision that some
asserted it was possible to demonstrate that the entire Brahm was not
transmuted into mundane phenomena, but only a fourth part; that there
occur successive emanations and absorptions, a periodicity in this
respect being observed; that, in these considerations, we ought to guard
ourselves from any deception arising from the visible appearance of
material things, for there is reason to believe that matter is nothing
more than forces filling space. Democritus raised us to the noble
thought that, small as it is, a single atom may constitute a world.

The doctrine of Emanation has thus a double interpretation. It sets
forth the universe either as a part of the substance of God, or as an
unsubstantial something proceeding from him: the former a conception
more tangible and readily grasped by the mind; the latter of
unapproachable sublimity, when we recall the countless beautiful and
majestic forms which Nature on all sides presents. This visible world is
only the shadow of God.

In the further consideration of this doctrine of the issue forthcoming,
or emanation of the universe from God, and its return into or absorption
by him, an illustration may not be without value. Out of the air, which
may be pure and tranquil, the watery vapour often comes forth in a
visible form, a misty fleece, perhaps no larger than the hand of a man
at first, but a great cloud in the end. The external appearance the
forthcoming form presents is determined by the incidents of the times;
it may have a pure whiteness or a threatening blackness; its edges may
be fringed with gold. In the bosom of such a cloud the lightning may be
pent up, from it the thunder may be heard; but, even if it should not
offer these manifestations of power, if its disappearance should be as
tranquil as its formation,