152 MAN'S PRIMITIVE STATE 



tions which are separately seen to be true. It is as if 

 we stood in the arc of an infinite circle — which is by 

 definition a straight line — and found ourselves, as we 

 certainly should, utterly unable to verify the fact that 

 the lines which we see to run straight away from each 

 other really constitute an arc, and meet on the other 

 side of the infinite circle to which they pertain. The 

 fact is that we are everywhere confronted by antitheses 

 of truth. Two propositions, severally established by 

 proper lines of investigation, become in their formal 

 statement apparently opposed to each other. What 

 are we to do? To reject either is to stultify knowl- 

 edge, and also the process by which alone knowledge 

 can be acquired. To discover the larger realm of 

 truth in which their harmony, as fragmentary aspects 

 of the whole, can be explained, exceeds our capacity. 

 Plainly we ought to acquiesce in the actual conditions. 

 We should confess the presence of insoluble mystery; 

 and we should hold each established proposition in 

 a manner which leaves us free to do justice to other 

 propositions which are equally valid, although equally 

 fragmentary. This conclusion is not merely academic, 

 but describes a duty. I say "a duty," because these 

 antithetic propositions, separately inadequate, have to 

 be accepted together, if we are to avoid one-sided cari- 

 cature and acquire trustworthy knowledge; and our 

 ideals of life and duty depend very largely upon our 

 knowledge of truth. 



To apply this principle theologically, we are con- 

 fronted on the one hand by conclusive evidence that 



