CH. III.] COSMIC THEISM. 431 



gested to one petty race of creatures by its ephemeral 

 experience of what is going on in one tiny corner of the 

 universe, is necessarily to be taken as the equivalent of 

 that absolutely highest form of Being in which all the pos- 

 sibilities of existence are alike comprehended. It is the 

 «ame question which confronted us in our opening chapter, 

 and which returned to confront lis in sundry other chapters 

 of our Prolegomena. Already we have more than once 

 tnswered it, in a general way, by showing that " the possi- 

 bilities of thought are not coextensive with the possibilities 

 &f things." We have now to give it a more special answer, 

 by inquiring into the possibility of a mode of existence not 

 limited by the conditions which limit conscious existence 

 within the narrow domain of our terrestrial experience. In 

 other words, we have to inquire into the relations between 

 Matter and Spirit ; and the inquiry, besides throwing light 

 on questions which must have arisen in the course of our 

 exposition of the evolution of life and intelligence, will also 

 furnish us with the means for emphasizing the theistic con- 

 clusions obtained in the present chapter. 



