13 



like the strange ego he has conjured upj the mere phenomena 

 of thought without one particle of reality behind it, this poor 

 word-painting, utterly unbecoming a great philosopher, he 

 attempts to keep in countenance by an illustration just as 

 shallow, just as evasive of the point at issue, just as much a 

 piece of mere paint as all that has gone before. No doubt 

 those have something on their side who affirm that Mr. 

 Spencer's whole system is an empiricism. It must be allowed 

 that he has some clay mixed with his iron and his gold. His 

 system is not homogeneous. Still, as Homer sometimes nods, 

 I, for myself, prefer to appeal from Mr. Spencer, seemingly 

 prejudiced, and certainly shallow and inconsistent, to his own 

 deeper and grander self, and to hold that that is the true 

 philosopher who has led us to found on the solid rock of truth, 

 who has proclaimed that the evidence of consciousness 

 transcends all other evidences, that the existence of mind is 

 one of the most certain of truths. It is his masterly demon- 

 stration of these important principles which gives him a claim 

 to our reverence and gratitude, and for the sake of these we can 

 pass by his failing here. But the complete failure of a logician 

 of his grasp to render a worthy reason suggests a very decided 

 inference that the truth in the matter is altogether against 

 him, and that even he is not powerful enough to bear back 

 the overwhelming strength which that truth possesses. 



In showing, then, that Mr. Spencer has not proved the 

 bondage of the Will we have made another great chasm in 

 his Philosophical system hardly less important than the chasm 

 shown in the former paper to exist. Then it was proved, on 

 Mr. Spencer's own showing, that although he allowed Mind 

 and Matter to be at opposite poles of the universe, having 

 between them a logical chasm which no effort of ours could 

 span, he yet did attempt to pass logically from solar rays to 

 mental operations, and that his whole system fell in utter chaos 

 if this step was impossible. As it was impossible, it was in 

 this way shown that all the Mind in the universe remained, on 

 his system, quite unaccounted for, and that this omission made 

 a yawning gap he could never fill up. We have shown in the 

 present Paper that there is a similar hiatus when he attempts 

 to pass from Intellect to Will. The continuity of his system 

 depends on his showing that Intellect can pass into Will. If 

 the reasoning of the present Paper be just, he has advanced 

 nothing to show this. All the Will in the universe, then, 

 remains on his system unaccounted for. In the next Paper I 

 hope to show that his system is equally destitute of any trace 

 of Conscience. " A System of Philosophy," an explanation 

 of all that is in the universe, which does not account for any 



