THE 1 STIC EVOLUTION 169 



whether we suppose God to have proceeded in His 

 great work by the method of direct development, or, 

 as is more likely, by many methods, more or less 

 diverse : 



If man be indeed something more than a higher species 

 of animal ; if man s spirit be indeed a spark of Divine 

 energy individuated to the point of self-consciousness and 

 recognition of his relation to God ; if spirit-embryo develop 

 ing in the womb of Nature through all geological time came 

 to birth and independent spirit-life in man, and thus man 

 alone is a child of God as well as a product of Nature if all 

 this be true, then it is evident that this wholly new relation 

 requires also a wholly different mode of Divine operation. 

 If God operates on Nature only by regular processes, which 

 we call natural laws, then He must operate on spirit in a 

 different and a more direct way, and this we call revelation. 

 If to the student of nature it is inconceivable that He 

 should operate on nature except by natural laws (for this is 

 the name we give to His chosen mode of operation there), 

 then to the student of theology it is equally inconceivable, if 

 our view of man be true, that He should not operate on 

 spirit in some more direct and higher way, i.e. by reve 

 lation. 



But some will ask, Is not this a palpable violation of 

 law ? I think not. All Divine operations are, must be, ac 

 cording to reason, i.e. according to law. The operation of 

 the divine on the human spirit, i.e. revelation, must there 

 fore be according to law, but a higher law than that which 

 governs Nature, and, therefore, from the point of view of 

 Nature, supernatural. There is nothing wholly unique in 

 this. Life is a higher form of force than the physical and 

 chemical. Life phenomena are therefore superphysical, 

 and if we confined the term nature to dead nature, they 

 would be supernatural. So the free, self-determined acts of 



