186 LIFE IN NATURE. 



And, therefore, when it is said that we do not 

 know that which actually exists ; that we cannot 

 penetrate to the essence of Nature, and must be 

 content with its appearances ; we may readily under- 

 stand both what the fact is and its consequence. A 

 faculty that belongs to our perfect nature is wanting 

 in us, or is imperfectly in action: that we have a 

 false feeling of existence in respect to that which is 

 truly but an appearance (the physical world), is an 

 inevitable effect of this. 



Thus we are brought by another path to the idea 

 of a deadness as involved in our present state. It is 

 exhibited to us from another side. We have found 

 that thought forced upon us by the seeming dead- 

 ness of almost the whole of Nature, and the banish- 

 ing of life, by our investigation, even from that 

 part in which it seemed to dwell. Now we perceive 

 evidence that, in respect to us, the deepest and most 

 essential powers of manhood are in abeyance. Do 

 not these two views mutually interpret and confirm 

 each other ? Man's want of life expresses itself thus. 



And a further light is cast also upon that life 

 itself. It would be perfected in us by the perfect 



