COSMIC PHILOSOPHY 



Sir Henry Maine. We bridge the gulf which 

 seems, on a superficial view, forever to divide 

 the human from the brute world. And not 

 least, in the grand result, is the profound mean- 

 ing which is given to the phenomena of help- 

 less babyhood. From of old we have heard the 

 monition, " Except ye be as babes, ye cannot 

 enter the kingdom of heaven." The latest sci- 

 ence now shows us — though in a very differ- 

 ent sense of the words — that, unless we had 

 been as babes, the ethical phenomena which 

 give all its significance to the phrase " kingdom 

 of heaven " would have been non-existent for 

 us. Without the circumstances of infancy we 

 might have become formidable among animals 

 through sheer force of sharp-wittedness. But, 

 except for these circumstances, we should never 

 have comprehended the meaning of such phrases 

 as " self-sacrifice " or " devotion." The phe- 

 nomena of social life would have been omitted 

 from the history of the world, and with them 

 the phenomena of ethics and of religion. 



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