rm. It is true that the
philosophers have differed widely in their conception of that One, but,
nevertheless, they have all agreed upon the logical necessity of the
fundamental conception that there is, at least, but One Reality,
underlying All.

Even the Materialists have conceded this conclusion, and they speak and
think of a something called "Matter," as the One--holding that,
inherent in Matter, is the potentiality of all Life. The school of
Energists, holding that Matter in itself is non-existent, and that it
is merely a mode of manifestation of a something called "Energy,"
asserts that this something called Energy is One, fundamental, real,
and self-sufficient.

The various forms of Western religious thought, which hold to the
various conceptions of a Personal Deity, also hold to a Oneness,
inasmuch as they teach that in the beginning there was God, only, and
that all the Universe has been _created_ by Him. They do not go into
details regarding this creation, and, unlike the Oriental teachers,
they fail to distinguish between the conception of the _creation of
shape and form_, on the one hand; and the _creation of the substance of
these shapes and forms_, on the other hand. But, even accepting the
premises of these people who hold to the Personal Deity conception, it
will be seen that the Reason requires the acceptance of one or two
ideas, _viz._, (1) That the Deity created the substance of these shapes
and forms from _Nothing_; or else (2) that he created them out of _his
own substance_--out of Himself, in fact. Let us consider, briefly,
these two conceptions.

In the first conception, _i.e._, Creation from Nothing, we are brought
face to face with an impregnable obstacle, inasmuch as the human reason
positively refuses to think of Anything coming from Nothing. While it
is perfectly true that the finite human mind cannot undertake to limit
the powers of the Infinite; or to insist that the possibilities of the
Divine Power must be measured and limited by the finite power of
Man--still it must hearken to the report of its own highest faculties,
and say "I cannot Think it," or else blindly accept the teachings of
other finite minds which are equally unable to "Think it," and which
have no superior sources of information. The Infinite Power has endowed
us with reasoning faculties, and evidently expects us to use them to
their full capacity--else the gift were a mockery. And in the absence
of information from high