xi the sense of the Infinite. 219 



nor name ; we know not what it is, but we know that 

 it is, and we know it because we actually feel it, and 

 are brought in contact with it." 



" The more we advance, the wider, no doubt, grows 

 our horizon ; but there never is, and never can be, to 

 our senses, a horizon, unless as standing between the 

 visible and finite on the one side, and the Invisible 

 and Infinite on the other. The Infinite, therefore, 

 instead of being merely a late abstraction, is really 

 implied in the earliest manifestation of our sensuous 

 knowledge." 1 



At a later period, the sense of the Infinite is 

 forced on man, not only by perception as at first, but 

 also by thought. It was said by Mill, that "the laws 

 of nature cannot account for their own origin " ; nor, 

 we may add, for their own existence. Experience 

 suggests questions which it cannot answer, nor find 

 any data for answering. So soon as man learns to 

 ask, Whence is the order of things, and what is the 

 ground of its existence 1 ? What is the Power that 

 manifests itself in the sun, in the wind, and in the 

 lightning ? he has already recognised the existence 

 of that which underlies and transcends the visible 

 universe, and, by definition, belongs to a super- 

 sensible world. The thought of the Invisible is 

 suggested by the perception of the visible ; and, as 

 the visible is finite, the Invisible is conceived of as 

 the Infinite. 



1 Hibbert Lectures on the "Origin and Growth of Religion," 

 by Professor Max Miiller, pp. 38, 39. 



