452 CONCLUSION. 



abhorred by all who have learnt the lesson of the 

 Crucifixion. A theology which denies that the 

 imperfection of the world must be reflected in the 

 sorrows of the Deity, simply shows itself blind to 

 the deepest and truest meaning of the figure of Him 

 that was " a man of sorrows and acquainted with 

 grief," and deaf to the gospel of Divine sympathy 

 with the world. 



Thus the world-process is the process of the 

 redemption alike of God, of the world, and of our 

 own selves. To promote the attainment of Perfec- 

 tion, therefore, must be the supreme motive and 

 paramount obligation of conduct, the supreme prin- 

 ciple of life, in comparison with which all others 

 sink into insignificance. And to have risen to the 

 consciousness of the fact that they can, and ought, 

 and mnst co-operate with the Divine Purpose in 

 order to accelerate the attainment of Perfection, 

 must surely be equivalent to doing so with all the 

 strength and insight they possess, in all beings 

 worthy of the name of rational. 



§ II. But can the purpose of the world be real- 

 ized, not merely in theory, but in practice ? What 

 if the world-process prove a failure ? What if the 

 constitution of things be such as to make a complete 

 harmony of all existences impossible ? 



To such doubts the most obvious answer is that 

 it is not likely that the divine wisdom should 

 attempt the impossible, and that therefore the fact 

 that the world is in process contains the assurance 

 that the end of its process may be achieved. 



But the objection may also take the form that 

 though the end of the world-process is finite, yet the 

 approximations to it are infinite, and hence it will 

 never be reached. Progress may be compared to 



