oh. I.J THE RELATIVITY OF KNOWLEDGE. J5 



The subject is a subject only in so far as it cognizes the 

 object, and the object is an object only in so far as it is 

 cognized by the subject. Eliminate either one, and the act 

 of cognition is destroyed. Hence the Absolute, if it is to 

 be known, must be an object existing in relation to a subject; 

 it cannot be known in itself, but only in its relations to the 

 knowing mind ; that is, it can be known only by ceasing to 

 be the Absolute. 



Thus by whatever road we travel, we are brought up at 

 last against the same impassable barrier. By no power of 

 conception or subtilty of reasoning can we break down or 

 undermine the eternal wall which divides us from the know- 

 ledge of things in themselves. If we attempt to frame any 

 hypothesis concerning their nature, origin, or modes of action, 

 we find ourselves speedily checkmated by alternative im- 

 possibilities. And if, resting in despair after all our efforts 

 have proved fruitless, we inquire why this is so, we find that 

 from the very organisation of our minds, we can frame no 

 cognition into which there do not enter the elements of 

 likeness, difference, and relation; so that the Absolute, which 

 presents none of these elements, is utterly and for ever 

 unknowable. 



What is the meaning of this conclusion, when translated 

 from the metaphysical language in which I have expressed 

 it, into language that is somewhat more familiar? It means 

 not only 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 illus 

 trate our mental impotence ; but it also means much more 

 than this. It means that the Universe in itself is likewise 

 inscrutable ; that the vast synthesis of forces without us, 

 which in manifold contact with us is from infancy 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. It means, in short, that we 



