th the vacillating energies of
the imagination.

_Hitherto_, the Universe of stars has always been considered as
coincident with the Universe proper, as I have defined it in the
commencement of this Discourse. It has been always either directly or
indirectly assumed--at least since the dawn of intelligible
Astronomy--that, were it possible for us to attain any given point in
space, we should still find, on all sides of us, an interminable
succession of stars. This was the untenable idea of Pascal when making
perhaps the most successful attempt ever made, at periphrasing the
conception for which we struggle in the word "Universe." "It is a
sphere," he says, "of which the centre is everywhere, the circumference,
nowhere." But although this intended definition is, in fact, _no_
definition of the Universe of _stars_, we may accept it, with some
mental reservation, as a definition (rigorous enough for all practical
purposes) of the Universe _proper_--that is to say, of the Universe of
_space_. This latter, then, let us regard as "_a sphere of which the
centre is everywhere, the circumference nowhere_." In fact, while we
find it impossible to fancy an _end_ to space, we have no difficulty in
picturing to ourselves any one of an infinity of _beginnings_.

As our starting-point, then, let us adopt the _Godhead_. Of this
Godhead, _in itself_, he alone is not imbecile--he alone is not impious
who propounds--nothing. "_Nous ne connaissons rien_," says the Baron de
Bielfeld--"_Nous ne connaissons rien de la nature ou de l'essence de
Dieu:--pour savoir ce qu'il est, il faut etre Dieu meme._"--"We know
absolutely _nothing_ of the nature or essence of God:--in order to
comprehend what he is, we should have to be God ourselves."

"_We should have to be God ourselves!_"--With a phrase so startling as
this yet ringing in my ears, I nevertheless venture to demand if this
our present ignorance of the Deity is an ignorance to which the soul is
_everlastingly_ condemned.

By _Him_, however--_now_, at least, the Incomprehensible--by Him--assuming
him as _Spirit_--that is to say, as _not Matter_--a distinction which, for
all intelligible purposes, will stand well instead of a definition--by
Him, then, existing as Spirit, let us content ourselves, to-night, with
supposing to have been _created_, or made out of Nothing, by dint of his
Volition--at some point of Space which we will take as a centre--at some
period into which we do not pretend