34 A THEORY OP LIFE DEDUCED FROM THE EVOLUTION PHILOSOPHY. 



one man's theory of life embodies as much truth as another's. 

 It was Goethe, we believe, who very wisely observed : " If 

 I acquiesce at last in. some fact of nature, it is no doubt 

 only resignation ; but it makes a great difference whether 

 the resignation takes place at the limits of human faculty, 

 or within the hypothetical boundaries of my own narrow 

 individuality/' This is one of the cardinal doctrines of the 

 philosophical evolutionist. Fearlessly pushing his inquiries 

 to the uttermost limits of knowledge, when once the impass- 

 able gulf is reached he quickly calls a halt, and, echoing 

 the words of Dubois-Keymoiid, which Herbert Spencer had 

 in substance uttered long before him, he openly proclaims : 

 "Ignoramus ! Ignoramibus I " We know not ! We never 

 shall know ! On the brink of this impassable gulf the 

 philosophical evolutionist must ever stand in mute 

 bewilderment, pointing to Religion, as he pictures her to 

 himself, as the only trustworthy guide under whose 

 leadership mankind can continue its pilgrimage. 



