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savour of immatured reflection is that within a given totality, one individual may succeed another, but so far that totality, the Universe, is concerned it remains permanent-"One generation passeth away and another generation cometh, but the earth abideth forever." Again, we cannot understand what led Mr. Spencer to conceive this world as finite Another difficulty. or a single object. What Mr. Spencer calls a single object must surely have an assignable beginning and end in time and assignable bounds in space. It is precisely through such time and space-marks that the notion of singleness or identity becomes possible. The Universe then we, may safely say, not only is not, but can never be a single object in this wise. Mr. Spencer's attempt to treat it after the fashion of a single object, evinces an unexpected paucity of imagination and is philosophically unsound. Experience provides us with instances of evolution and dissolution of the most varied scales but of a single supreme evolution embracing them all we have no title to speak. On the other hand, we have no evidence to show what we call the Universe' is coming
189
No evidence
to show the
universe
coming to an
end.
