298 SCIENCE AND IMMORTALITY 



matter, and many other things, are beyond her — 

 and she finds herself a mighty mystic in the midst 

 of a mightier mystery. 



A certain type of mind, again, is out of sympathy 

 with the great generalisations of science, and pre- 

 fers a more simple and childlike view. This is, 

 perhaps, a wise and good preference : — " What 

 matter to me if their star is a world } mine has 

 opened its heart to me, therefore I love it." 

 " Except ye become as little children ye will in no 

 wise inherit the kingdom of God " is one of the 

 wisest of all wise sayings. The eyes that interpret 

 the moon, and the stars, and flowers, and men, and 

 beasts, in simple terms of form, and colour, and 

 character, are perhaps the happiest and wisest eyes. 

 The soul that lives without thought of the past, 

 without thought of the morrow — the soul that 

 symbolises infinite power simply as a God-man — 

 is perhaps the wisest and happiest, after all ; and 

 perhaps the conveniences and weapons of modern 

 scientific civilisation have been bought at the ex- 

 pense of things more excellent. After all, no 

 analytic knowledge of a rose or a star can surpass 

 the rose itself or the star itself. After all, life 

 and death remain mysteries, and the chief things 

 necessary for happiness are food, and raiment, and 

 love. After all, civilisation is'artificial, and science, 

 as we have seen, is largely symbolic artifice. After 



