2OO Contemporary Evolution. 



tion of human society. In politics, in law, in science, in 

 art, and in religion,* we find the same law of evolution 

 continuity and final causality resulting in the mani- 

 festation of increasingly stable and definite varieties of 



being." f 



IV. The last and supremely important result of 

 modern philosophical controversies is the vividness with 

 which they force on the many a higher appreciation of 

 the awful, the inconceivable majesty of God, under the 

 irrational term " the Unknowable." Certainly, however, 

 nothing said on this subject by Mr. Spencer or by any 

 other agnostic writer has not in effect been said over 

 and over again by theologians of early, mediaeval, and 

 recent times. It is indeed amusing to read Mr. Spencer's 

 objection to the application of the term "personality" 

 to the First Cause as being inadequate, as if in so 

 saying he had said anything new or important. 



If he had only inquired, he would have found that 

 every tyro in theology knows that not even " being " 

 can be predicated univocally of God and creatures, 

 while the special term hyperhypostasis is one familiar 

 to theologians as denoting the supreme Personality, and 

 is used to distinguish It from every subordinate and 

 dependent personality. For all this, it cannot be denied 



* See Dr. Newman's great work, "An Essay on the Development 

 of Christian Doctrine." 

 f " Lessons from Nature," p. 360. 



