xx THE PURPOSE OF DIVERSITY 399 



In the preceding verse, however, he has given us the 

 key-note to the future life, which he speaks of as — 



" The land of Light and Beauty, where no bud of promise dies ; " 



and then continues : 



" There, through all the vast Empyrean, 

 Wafted, as on gales Hesperian, 

 Comes the stirring cry of ' Progress ! ' telling of the yet to be. 

 Tuneful as a seraph's lyre, 

 ' Come up higher ! Come up higher ! ' 

 Cry the hosts of holy angels ; ' learn the heavenly Masonry : 

 Life is one eternal progress : enter then the Third Degree ; — 

 Ye who long for light and wisdom seek the Inner Mystery.' " 



Conclusion 



In accordance with the views expounded in a former 

 work, Man's Place in the Universe, I have fully discussed the 

 evidences in plant and animal life indicating a prevision and 

 definite preparation of the earth for Man — an old doctrine, 

 supposed to be exploded, but which, to all who accept the 

 view that the universe is not a chance product, will, I hope, 

 no longer seem to be outside the realm of scientific inquiry. 



Still more important is the argument, set forth in some 

 detail, showing the absolute necessity of a creative and directive 

 power and mind as exemplified in the wonderful phenomena 

 of growth, of organisation, and fundamentally of cell-structure 

 and of life itself. This view is strengthened by a considera- 

 tion of the nature of the elements which alone render life- 

 development possible. 



Herbert Spencer enforced the idea of " variously con- 

 ditioned modes of the universal immanent force " as the 

 cause of all material and mental phenomena, and as the 

 " Unknown Reality which underlies both Spirit and Matter." 

 I have here expressed the same views in a more concrete and 

 intelligible manner. This " Unknown Reality " is necessarily 

 infinite and eternal as well as all-knowing, but not necessarily 

 what we may ignorantly mean by " omnipotent " or " benevo- 

 lent " in our misinterpretation of what we see around us. I 

 have, I hope, cleared away one of these misinterpretations 

 and misjudgments in my chapter, Is Nature Cruel ? 



