Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1889-09-13
THE PERMANENT AND REAL.


forcibly impressed with result at
which they have arrived, and that j.,
that there are two ultimate realities in
the universc-force and matter-thc
one seen and the other unseen. Force
is tina. which produces; matter is that
which is produced. Force creates.
shapes, alters; while matter is shaped
created, altered. That which produces
is anterior to that which produced,
as cause and effect, the docr and the
thing done, and moreover the cause is
more vital, driving the effect before it,
and while the effect vanishes, the
cause or force remains and poses itself
for new result. What we call mat
ter would appear to have no durable
existence, no seli-originating power as
is attested from the labratory OF
science, where matter is pursued to
that point at which it vanishes into
thin air, and melts into the bosom of
the unknown. Science already estab-
fishes the fact that the whole outward
material universe is phenomenal and
transient; the invisible being the
cause, the visible the product and eff.
feet. For instance, this earth, upon
which we tread with so much conf.
dence in its firmness and durability
science says is something composed OF
microscopic particles, perfectly help
less in themselves, being controlled
and held together by an invisible force
called gravitation, about which VIC
know nothing more certain than that il
II were to withdraw itself for an instant
this entire material fabric, on which
We so calmly repose, would vanish
into air. Science declares that these
lofty mountains resting on their gran.
lite beds, these huge rocks so massive
as seemingly to be insensible to any
disturbing power, those mines of met.
ais packed SO solid in the earth,-all
these, and every particle OF matter con-
nected with our globe, were, not many
ages gone, a liquid mass, plant then
as even now in the moulding hands of
law; and that if in a few ages hence,
these should be sought for here, possibly
no trace of them might be found.
The present face of nature, it is GER
tain, is no-wise stable; it moves before
us like a picture, presenting only the
feeting images of causal forces, all in
visible, that make and shift the scenes.
Obeying these forces, unseen but po-
tent, each season of the revolving year
puts on entire new form and vesture,
and even no two consecutive rising
suns reveal to lis the natural world
alike. The chemical, electrical and
forces, which underlie
the material crust OF nature, are con-
stantly weaving new patterns, mould
ing new shapes from the flexible stuff
of matter, and right before our won
dering eyes never ceasing to take down
the old and put up the new scenery of
this earthly stage: no substances SO
hard and durable but they will pass off
in free exhalations at the transmitting
touch Of these hidden forces. The
entire substantial mass OF the globe
has no foundation of its own, but
hoats on a sea OF invisible forces,
to whose least motion it is as submits
sive as clouds to the air on which they
ride, or as ships to the ocean on whose
mighty breast they are dallied and
tossed. Every form of matter repre-.
'cnts some impcrious gesture of the
,ausal energy. Science says, all that
IS pondcrablc is receivable into ETHEREAL
and the scene which is tenn
poral melts into the capacious bosom
Of the unseen and eternal.
Ever since man appeared on the
earth, he has been toiling Industrious
" and ingeniously-in the workshop of
The world, fashioning, forming and
producing new combinations and re-
suits from the tangible material to his
hand. Many, most of these results,
are stupendous and impressive. Pow
erful nations and states have been
great cities and towns have
been erected and filled with magnifi-
cent specimens of architecture, sculp-
ture and painting; immense armies
and navies have been collected; a uni
versal commerce on the seas and a
of railway communications
on the land have been created; codes
Of laws, systems of government, liter
atures and libraries, have sprung into
existence, and grand and mighty
civilization has been evoked, by the
hand and brain of man; so vast and
strong and complicated is it that it
would seem to be forever enduring and
But as we turn the
pages of history, we discover how they
have faded and persisted. His nations
and states have been rent and scat
tered; his towns and cities Frustrated
by the angry elements of nature and
the accidents of his own conduct; his
armies, and navies, commerce and trade
dispersed and ruined; his laws
and governments trampled upon and
overturned; his literatures and libra
ries lost. forgotten and destroyed; the
and Accomplishments of
his wealth broken and dissipated and
the fabric of his mightiest civilization
rolled together like scroll and utter
ly destroyed. -
All these were the results of mans
life and labor and have persisted as
often as they were created. But not
so has it been with the ideas, thoughts,
and principles which these outward
things embodied and reported; these
being imperishable have not persisted,