l origin.

The physical character of the universe is progressive. Even in its
ultimate unity there is no such thing as stagnation or standing still;
for, while in some parts of the Universe new stars and suns and planets,
yea, even new systems are being evolved out of the primordial Aether, in
other parts of the Universe old stars and suns, with all their attendant
planets and satellites, are passing on towards that final end, when they
themselves will be again resolved into the original form of matter from
which they were first made. This assertion is in perfect harmony not
only with science, but also with revelation. For even revelation teaches
us that all the stars shall grow old as doth a garment, and as a vesture
shall they be folded up (Heb. i. 11), and that (out of their ruins) a
new heaven and a new earth shall be created and the former shall not be
remembered (Isaiah lxv. 17).

Thus amid all the modifications of that which is the real physical basis
of all matter, we find indissolubly associated with each and all of the
varied forms and modifications certain motions which are analogous to
each other. In the aetherial atom itself, so infinitesimal in its
proportions that even our imagination is almost strained in our attempt
to conceive it, yet even here we have rotation and translation in an
orbit, such rotation and translation being due to the motions of the
electro-magnetic Aether. Then in the gaseous forms of matter into which
these atoms may be condensed, we find the same two essentials, of matter
and motion, of rotation and translation in an orbit, always working
harmoniously together, through the motions of the selfsame Aether, which
gives rise to the attraction and repulsions of the atoms.

Then following the principle into the planetary world, and taking the
planet Saturn with its ring of satellites as an example, we find again
the same two factors ever working in unison and in harmony, with their
incessant rotation and translation in an orbit, forming a complete and
perfect unity in themselves, such unity being due to the pressures and
tensions of the Aether combined with its rotatory character. Then going
a step further, we find a number of planets, with or without satellites,
all rotating around one central body, that rotation and translation
again being due to the motions of the rotating electro-magnetic Aether,
combined with its pressures and tensions.

For millions of years, so far as we can te