The Persistence of Force. 89 



of the corollaries necessarily following from it is that 

 the relations among forces per.fist ; but the persistence 

 of relations is impossible, if new manifestations of 

 unknown forces may from time to time intervene. 



When we ask, Does the force manifested in mind 

 persist ? we receive no satisfactory answer. We 

 know that the force manifested in matter and that 

 manifested in motion persist ; for matter is held to be 

 indestructible and motion continuous. The force 

 manifested in mind not being matter cannot pass 

 into the force manifested in matter and motion. It 

 exists for ever distinct. But in what mode has it 

 existed ? Where during all the ages did it lie hidden ? 

 How did it stand related to the other forces of the 

 cosmos ? The evolutionist has no intelligible answer. 

 The force has not persisted so far as intelligence can 

 discover. Within the knowable, the persistence of 

 force as a universal principle is at a fault. If Mr. 

 Spencer save his axiom, by carrying it out of the 

 realm of knowledge into the incomprehensible, we do 

 not care to follow him. 



" Vivida vis animi pervicit, et extra 

 Processit flammantia mcenia mundi." 



SECTION III. 



THE FORCE PERSISTING THE ABSOLUTE FORCE. 



Mr. Spencer's doctrine as to the relation of the 

 knowable to that which transcends knowledge leads 



