400 THE WORLD OF LIFE 



CHAP. XX 



But to claim the Infinite and Eternal Being as the one 

 and only direct agent in every detail of the universe seems, 

 to me, absurd. If there is such an Infinite Being, and if (as 

 our own existence should teach us) His will and purpose is 

 the increase of conscious beings, then we can hardly be 

 the first result of this purpose. We conclude, therefore, 

 that there are now in the universe infinite grades of power, 

 infinite grades of knowledge and wisdom, infinite grades of 

 influence of higher beings upon lower. Holding this opinion, 

 I have suggested that this vast and wonderful universe, with 

 its almost infinite variety of forms, motions, and reactions of 

 part upon part, from suns and systems up to plant life, 

 animal life, and the human living soul, has ever required 

 and still requires the continuous co-ordinated agency of 

 myriads of such intelligences. 



This speculative suggestion, I venture to hope, will 

 appeal to some of my readers as the best approximation 

 we are now able to formulate as to the deeper, the more 

 fundamental causes of matter and force, of life and con- 

 sciousness, and of Man himself ; at his best, already " a little 

 lower than the angels," and, like them, destined to a per- 

 manent progressive existence in a World of Spirit. 



