Page:The Philosophy of Creation.djvu/112

 that draw minds together. The affection that exists between material objects, or the force with which they affect one another, is called gravity, and is the measure of weight. Though so subtile as to escape our grasp even more effectually than ether, for it is a purer substance, it is most substantial because it operates the most interiorly and primarily upon all material things. The higher the substance, the more substantial it is, the more perfect and the more potent, showing greater variety of powers. The lower, visible, and passive materials change or decay because they fall out of the grip of the more subtile substances, and shift about; but the higher and more subtile substances are the least subject to change, being nearer the great foundations that are laid for nature's building. Not only do we observe that, as we ascend the scale of material substances, rock, air, ether, and aura, they are more substantial, but also that they show greater activity and more varied powers. Passing on up to the substance of affection, we are prepared to see that it must be still more substantial, manifest still greater activity and more varied power. From carefully observing the increasing complexity of activity in the ascending degrees of matter, no difficulty should be experienced in grasping comprehensively the fact that affection or love is