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CHAPTER II. 



CONSCIOUS AND UNCONSCIOUS KN0WERS — THE LAW 

 AND GRACE. 



In this chapter we shall show that the law, which we 

 have observed to hold as to the vanishing tendency of 

 knowledge upon becoming perfect, holds good not only 

 concerning acquired actions or habits of body, but con- 

 cerning opinions, modes of thought, and mental habits 

 generally, which are no more recognised as soon as 

 firmly fixed, than are the steps with which we go about 

 our daily avocations. I am aware that I may appear 

 in the latter part of the chapter to have wandered 

 somewhat beyond the limits of my subject, but, on 

 the whole, decide upon leaving what I have written, 

 inasmuch as it serves to show how far-reaching is the 

 principle on which I am insisting. Having said so 

 much, I shall during the remainder of the book keep 

 more closely to the point. 



Certain it is that we know best what we are least 

 conscious of knowing, or at any rate least able to prove, 

 as, for example, our own existence, or that there is a 

 country England. If any one asks us for proof on 

 matters of this sort, we have none ready, and are justly 



