62 ESSAYS OF A BIOLOGIST 



cut off himself and his adherents from one of the 

 ways in which that greatest need of man which we 

 spoke of at the outset can be satisfied, from by 

 far the greatest manifestation in external things 

 of "something, not ourselves, that makes for right- 

 eousness/' 



One word more, and I have done. There remains 

 in some ways the hardest problem of all. The 

 greatest experiences of human life, those in which 

 the mind appears to touch the Absolute and the 

 Infinite — what of their relation to this notion of 

 progress? They are realized in many forms — in 

 love, in intellectual discovery, in art, in religion; 

 but the salient fact about all is that they are felt 

 as of intensest value, and that they seem to leave 

 no more to be desired. Doubtless when we say that 

 at such moment we touch the Infinite or the Absolute 

 we mean only that we touch what is infinite and ab- 

 solute in comparison with our ordinary selves. 

 None the less, the sense of finality and utter reality 

 attendant on them is difficult to bring into line with 

 our idea of progress. 



"I saw Eternity the other night 

 Like a great ring of pure and endless light. 

 All calm, as it was bright." 



The Dean too has felt this so strongly that he has 

 made it the keystone of his argument. As he 

 says, "Spiritual progress must be within the sphere 

 of a reality which is not itself progressing, or for 



