ON THE DEVELOPED CONCEPTION OF GOD. 351 



would appear as if no conceivable intelligence could ever 

 solve the final enigma of the world ; certainly no human 

 intelligence will ever be adequate to the problem. The 

 Ultimate Power " is no more representable in terms of 

 human consciousness than human consciousness is repre- 

 .sentable in terms of a plant's function." While men 

 remain subject to the limitations of consciousness, they 

 cannot compass in thought an existence transcending all 

 consciousness ; and men must be for ever subject to these 

 limitations. 



However, though so much is inaccessible, we may 

 ven now know something of this noumenal existence 

 and Ultimate Power. We can know its existence, in- 

 finity, eternity, universal agency and efficacy, and its 

 final utter incomprehensibility. The latter predicate 

 may seem a contradiction in terms, but it is not so. It is 

 real and important, though negative knowledge, to know 

 that the Final Power and Being in the universe must for 

 ever remain unknown, not only by us, but by the most 

 exalted intelligence that can come after us; for men have 

 long and persistently believed the contrary, believed 

 that by searching they could find out God, or, on the 

 other hand, that He could communicate with and reveal 

 His real nature to them. 



We can know something more, and what more im- 

 mediately concerns us than the universal and negative 

 predicates just named. We can know $ie sides of His 

 nature that this Universal Being has turned to us, the 

 small illuminated segment of the vast inscrutable sphere 

 of existence. We may know the manifestations of this 

 transcendent Power both in ourselves and in the external 

 world. This knowledge, science and a sound philosophy 

 rightly interpreting the facts and conclusions of science, 

 provide, us with ; and such knowledge, a real and true 



