of the Evolution Flt'dosopJiij. 11 



though infinitely extended in time and space. -It yields 

 supreme allegiance, reverence and worship only to that 

 efficient Cause which underlies the world of phenomena, 

 both mental and material, which dwells alike in star and 

 flower, in the wonders of the physical organism, in the 

 heights of thought and in the infinite depth of love, touch- 

 ing all that we see and all that we know with a tender 

 halo of unsearchable mystery. Like the purple haze in 

 which twilight robes the distant mountain-summits, fading 

 away into the infinite depths of the stellar spaces, and 

 softening the harsh outlines of rock and forest into lines 

 of perfect beauty, so the apprehension of the Unknowable 

 Cause of phenomena mellows the sharp boundaries and 

 limitations of the known, softens the crude details of our 

 human picture, and gives it a symmetry and unity which 

 satisfy the aesthetic longing, while it also meets the exi- 

 gent demands of intellect and reason. 



*' The conviction that human intelligence is incapable of 

 absokite knowledge," says Mr. Spencer, "is one that has 

 slowly been gaining ground as civilization has advanced. 

 Each new ontological theory, from time to time propounded 

 in lieu of other ones shown to be untenable, has been fol- 

 lowed by a new criticism leading to anew scepticism."* 

 Whether Ave investigate the product of thought or the pro- 

 cess of thought, this conviction is forced anew upon our 

 minds. Analyzing the nature of the simplest product of 

 our knowledge, we find that we know it only by a process 

 of classification with something already known. The 

 botanist who discovers a new flower studies its structure, 

 investigates its method of growth, and finally assigns it to 

 its proper order and class with others which he knows, and 

 thus determines its true character. But the Infinite and 

 Absolute, it is evident, cannot be thus classified. There 

 can be but one Infinite ; our knowledge of its essential 

 nature and attribxites must be forever negative. The nat- 

 ure of life and of knowledge alike testify to the fact that 

 we can know only relations. "Life in all its manifesta- 

 tions, inclusive of intelligence in its highest forms, con- 

 sists in the continuous adjustment of inner relations to 

 outer relations." t "Every act of knowing is the forma- 

 tion of a relation in consciousness parallel to a relation in 

 the environment." Beneath this vital tissue of sequences 



First Principles tlbitl. 



