COSMIC THEISM 



gence has been evolved, we can form no cog- 

 nition into which there do not enter the elements 

 of likeness, difference, and relation, — so that the 

 Absolute, as presenting none of these elements, 

 is utterly and forever unknowable. Translating 

 this conclusion into more familiar language, we 

 found it to mean, first, " that the Deity, in so 

 far as absolute and infinite, is inscrutable by us, 

 and that every hypothesis of ours concerning its 

 nature and attributes can serve only to illustrate 

 our mental impotence," — and, secondly, " that 

 the Universe in itself is likewise inscrutable ; 

 that the vast synthesis of forces without us, 

 which in manifold contact with us is from in- 

 fancy till the close of life continually arousing 

 us to perceptive activity, can never be known 

 by us as it exists objectively, but only as it 

 affects our consciousness/' ^ 



These are the closely allied conclusions which 

 were reached in our opening discussion. But 

 since such abstruse theorems need to be taken 

 one by one into the mind, and allowed one after 

 the other to dwell there for a while, in order to 

 be duly comprehended, it did not then seem 

 desirable to encumber the exposition with any 

 reference to the third statement in which these 

 two are made to unite ; nor, indeed, would it 

 have been possible to illustrate adequately this 

 third statement until we had defined our position 

 ^ See above, vol. i. p. 21, 



