freely generated and evolved in and out of existence under the pervading influence of an omnipresent Divine Energy which, at the commencement of all time, created and impelled along its course the, to us, vast whole to fulfil ends in part certainly perceptible to us-amongst them a manifestation of Divine ideas *-but probably also for others which we have no power to conceive of. We have already seen how the various orders of material existences which people this globe constitute a hierarchy of ministration leading up to man, and that, whatever ulterior purposes it may also serve, the earth has been destined as an arena for the exercise of good volitions and the ethical development of mankind. We have seen also that goodness necessarily demands not only recognition but the reward of happiness, and that the greatest happiness of the best of mankind can be nothing else than the most complete knowledge of, and union with, God, of which our being may be capable. This world, then, points to something beyond itself, not only unimaginable but inconceivable, and to which its being is subservient. May we not, then, deem it probable that the whole universe, like our earth, constitutes a series of ministrations, only on an infinitely greater scale, and that the soul of man is but one of a vast series of orders of created spirits of which our senses can take no cognizance, but the existence of which our active intellect may divine? So also as this world of ours is but an arena for the perfecting of an order of being infinitely more glorious, because spiritual, than anything the realms of irrational nature offer to our senses, may we not anticipate that the whole universe exists for a purpose and end beyond itself, in the fulfilment of which will be its perfection and its glory?

Whatever may be the truth with respect to these matters-so remote from experience and so incapable of being certainly ascertained by our natural powers-one thing is not only ascertainable but certain. It is the fact that for us men the one supreme end is the fulfilment of duty, and that the most important thing of all for us is not "knowledge" but "conduct."

*

See above, pp. 496, 497. † See above, pp. 493, 494. See above, p. 488.

Religion and philosophy.

The most important of all knowledge for us is, and must be, the knowledge of God and of the true relationship in which we stand to Him and to all other spiritual existences. But this is the science of "the sociology of Intelligences," or religion. And thus the most important agent in the highest form of evolution is religion in action as our instructor and guide.

With the consideration of the supreme question of religion, we have reached the culminating point of our prolonged inquiry as to truth. In recognizing the nature and scope of that highest form of sociology-that of all intelligences-we can clearly foresee that it must have close and imperative relations with human conduct. We recognize that the object of our intellect and affection is an adequate and fitting object. Mere abstract truths and intellectual ideas are not sufficient-are not the natural objects of human affection and devotion. Rational man can truly revere and love nothing which has not personality,† nothing which cannot understand, accept, and respond to his reverence and devotion. God, as the source of all truth, and an Almighty Being from whose Essence all goodness, all beauty, and all love proceed, is at once the one and only possible object which can satisfy the intellect, the emotions, and the will of man. His Divine Existence is at the same time both the highest revelation and the deepest foundation of all those truths which have occupied our

*We are sometimes told that religion is a matter of "feeling," not of 66 reason; " that it concerns not "the intellect," but "the emotions," especially those of awe and reverence, and that it is independent of all categorical statements as to questions of fact concerning matters which are superhuman. Evidently, however, we cannot feel "awe" and "reverence for anything except we believe that it exists. Denial or doubt as to its existence must induce the destruction or paralysis of emotions respecting it. The emotion may survive for a time, but no reasonable man could continue in a state of rapture over mere dreams, and still less over recognized nonentities. But religion refers, essentially, to intelligences such as our own, or to higher intelligences. We cannot experience "religion" with respect to merely unintelligent or inanimate objects. To feel awe" and "reverence" for a volcano, a whirlwind, or the rising sun, may be expected of a savage, because he may (with reverence and fear), more or less distinctly, apprehend in such phenomena, the action of some mysterious, superhuman personality. But let a man be convinced that such phenomena are merely physical, that they are in no way related to an intelligence higher than his own, and then, however much he may admire, dread, or wonder at them, any real reverence on his part is impossible.

† I.e. has intelligence and will (see above, pp. 392, 436).

That inquiry thus

attention in this systematic inquiry. culminates in the justification of the spontaneous affirmations of common sense, through a careful analysis of the highest declarations of the intellect, and it has also shown the harmony which exists between the various powers of our nature and between our own thoughts and things external.

The philosophy which this systematic inquiry concerning truths has been directed to make clear to minds unpractised in studies of the kind, has the following characteristics:

1. It justifies by reflective reason our spontaneous conviction as to our own existence and that of the world about us.

2. It accepts the declarations of our intellect as to ultimate and necessary truths, and shows how they mutually support each other.

3. It asserts that power of choice and will which our reason and the perception of our moral responsibility

assure us we possess.

4. It accords with the teaching of common sense without being bound down within its limits.

5. It establishes the distinction between a higher and a lower set of mental faculties, and shows how they both exist and co-operate in us.

6. It takes due cognizance of our highest perceptions, including those of truth, goodness, and beauty.

7. It supports and enforces the dictates of morality. 8. It shows the essential and necessary reasonableness of religion.

9. It establishes its own truth by showing the necessary validity of our primary intuitions, which can only be denied by an act of intellectual suicide.

The answer to our inquiry as to truth may, then, be most briefly expressed as follows:

Truth is a relation between our thoughts and things external, which relation reposes on the correspondence of created things to the Intellect of their Creator, in whose image and likeness reason shows us that our own intelligence has been made, and by whose overruling providence

the whole material universe was originally created, and has since been gradually and harmoniously evolved.

Thus we have naturally revealed to us the supreme fact of God's existence and a hierarchy of duties, the right fulfilment of which should be the aim of every human existence. The ultimate judgment and precept of an intellect devoted both to science and to goodness is well expressed by those solemn words with which, for so many centuries, the noblest edifices ever raised by man have annually resounded: “Spiritus Domini replevit orbem terrarum. Venite adoremus.”