484 INTELLECTUAL SYMBOLISM. 
be said of all men, that they “seeing see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they 
understand.” 
100. The relation between the objective and subjective, involved in the convictions of 
the Understanding, is and will perhaps always remain wholly incomprehensible. The at- 
tempt to explain it by “ideas,” “sensible impressions,” or the intervention of imaginary 
objects which are neither material nor immaterial, serves only to increase the obscurity, 
which envelops the mode of mutual action between mind and matter. We can only say 
that those convictions are irresistible, that they are in accordance with the intellectual 
nature given to us by the Creator, and as such we ground our faith upon them, as revela- 
tions from that Supreme Intelligence, “for whom are all things, and by whom are all 
things.” “The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding to the 
simple.”* 
101. Of the Divine Reason, that gives to the Undezstanding all its convictions,—the 
light “ which lighteth every man that cometh into th> world,” Cousin discourses beauti- 
fully (though somewhat questionably), as follows: 
102. «« When we come to interrogate reason about itself, to inquire into its own princi- 
ple and the source of that absolute authority which characterizes it, we are forced to 
recognize that this reason is not ours, not constituted by us. It is not in our power, it is 
not in the power of our will to cause the reason to give us such or such a truth, or not to 
give us them. Independent of our will, reason intervenes, and when certain conditions 
are fulfilled, gives us, I might say, imposes upon us these truths. ‘The reason makes its 
appearance in us, though it is not ourselves, and in no way can it be confounded with our 
personality. Reason is impersonal. Whence then comes this wonderful guest within us, 
and what is the principle of this reason which enlightens us, without belonging to us? 
This principle is God, the first and the last principle of everything. Now when the faith 
of reason in itself is attached to its principle, when it knows that it comes from God, .it 
increases not merely in degree, but in nature, by as much, so to say, as the eternal sub- 
stance is superior to the finite substance in which it makes its appearance. Thus comes 
a redoubled faith in the truths revealed by the supreme reason in the shadows of time, and 
in the limitations of our weakness.” 
103. Cousin quotes in illustration, the following passage from Fenelon: Existence of God, 
Part I, ch. 4, Of Human Reason. “In truth, my reason is in myself, for it is necessary 
that I should continually turn inward upon myself in order to find it, but the higher rea- 
son, which corrects me when I need it, and which I consult, is not my own, it does not 
make a part of myself. ‘Thus, that which might seem the most our own, and to be the 
* Ps. 119, v. 130. + Cousin: £7. of Psychology, pp. 299, 300. 
