COSMIC THEISM 



yond relative being ; yet that, by these very 

 same conditions of thought, an indefinite con- 

 sciousness of Absolute Being is necessitated, — 

 so here, by objective analysis, we similarly find 

 that the axiomatic truths of physical science 

 unavoidably postulate Absolute Being as their 

 common basis.'* ^ 



Combining, therefore, these mutually harmo- 

 nious results, and stating the theorem of the 

 persistence of force in terms of the theorem 

 of the relativity of knowledge, we obtain the 

 following formula : There exists a Power, to 

 which no limit in time or space is conceivable^ of 

 which all phenomena^ as presented in consciousness^ 

 are manifest at ions y but which we can know only 

 through these manifestations. Here is a formula 

 legitimately obtained by the employment of 

 scientific methods, as the last result of a sub- 

 jective analysis on the one hand, and of an 

 objective analysis on the other hand. Yet this 

 formula, which presents itself as the final out- 

 come of a purely scientific inquiry, expresses 

 also the fundamental truth of Theism, — the 

 truth by which religious feeling is justified.^ 

 The existence of God — the supreme truth 



^ First Principles, pp. 189, 190. 



^ [Contrast ** The Everlasting Reality of Religion," chap- 

 ter iv. : ** Take away from our notion of God the human ele- 

 ment, and the theism instantly vanishes ; it ceases to be a 

 notion of God."] 



237 



