174 COSMIC PHILOSOPHY. [pt. i. 



the providential action of one Being is developed to its 

 ultimate form, by the absorption of all independenl secondary 

 agencies, it becomes the conception of a Being immanent in 

 all phenomena ; and the reduction of it to this state implies 

 the fading-away. in thought, of all those anthropomorphic 

 attributes by which the aboriginal idea was distinguished. 

 The alleged last term of the metaphysical system — the con- 

 ception of a single great general entity, Nature, as the source 

 of all phenomena — is a conception identical with the previous 

 one : the consciousness of a single source which, in coming 

 to be regarded as universal, ceases to be regarded as con- 

 ceivable, differs in nothing but name from the consciousness 

 of one Being manifested in all phenomena. And similarly, 

 that which is described as the ideal state of science — the 

 power to represent all observable phenomena as particular 

 cases of a single general fact— implies the postulating of 

 some ultimate Existence of which this single fact is alleged ; 

 and the postulating of this ultimate Existence involves a 

 state of consciousness indistinguishable from the other two." * 

 This completely unanswerable statement exhibits Mr. 

 Spencer's unrivalled power of psychologic analysis in striking 

 contrast to the weakness under which Comte laboured from 

 his neglect of such analysis. And it shows that Comte's 

 conception of the order of philosophic evolution was entirely 

 inadequate, and in the most important point entirely erro- 

 neous. It shows that the fundamental characteristic of 

 Positive Philosophy, as asserted by Comte and as admitted 

 by his followers, is the non-recognition of the absolute and 

 infinite Power which is manifested in phenomena. Or, to 

 use Mr. Spencer's words, the essential principle of Comte's 

 philosophy is " an avowed ignoring of Cause altogether. For 

 if it is not, what becomes of his alleged distinction between the 

 perfection of the positive system and the perfection of the 

 metaphysical system ? " According to Comte's own definition, 



1 Spencer : Recent Discussions, p. 124. 



