decay and repair by internal
circulation of fluids and gases; they reproduce their like, go through
various phases of youth, maturity and age, die and quickly decompose
into their constituent elements. They thus form continuous series of
similar individuals and so long as external conditions render their
existence possible seem to possess a potential immortality.

"It is very necessary to presuppose some vast intelligence, some
pervading spirit, to explain the guidance of the lower forces in
accordance with the preordained system of evolution we see prevailing.
Nothing less will do....

"If, however, we go as far as this, we must go further.... We have a
perfect right, on logical and scientific grounds, to see in all the
infinitely varied products of the animal and vegetable kingdoms, which
we alone can make use of, a preparation for ourselves, to assist in our
mental development, and to fit us for a progressively higher state of
existence as spiritual beings.

" ... It seems only logical to assume that the vast, the infinite chasm
between ourselves and the Deity, is to some extent occupied by an almost
infinite series of grades of beings, each successive grade having higher
and higher powers in regard to the origination, the development and the
control of the universe.

" ... There may have been a vast system of co-operation of such grades
of beings, from a very high grade of power and intelligence down to
those unconscious or almost unconscious cell souls posited by
Haeckel....

"I can imagine the ... Infinite Being, foreseeing and determining the
broad outlines of a universe....

"He might, for instance, impress a sufficient number of his highest
angels to create by their will power the primal universe of ether, with
all those inherent properties and forces necessary for what was to
follow. Using this as a vehicle, the next subordinate association of
angels would so act upon the ether as to develop from it, in suitable
masses and at suitable distances, the various elements of matter, which,
under the influence of such laws and forces as gravitation, heat, and
electricity, would thenceforth begin to form those vast systems of
nebulae and suns which constitute our stellar universe.

"Then we may imagine these hosts of angels, to whom a thousand years are
as one day, watching the development of this vast system of suns and
planets until some one or more of them combined in itself all those
conditions of size,