8 THE REIGN OF LAW. 



tion of it ? Is he supernatural ? If so, has he any 

 difficulty in believing in himself? Of course not. 

 Self-consciousness is the one truth, in the light 

 of which all other truths are known. Cogito, ergo 

 sum, or volo, ergo sum — this is the one conclusion 

 which we cannot doubt, unless Reason disbelieves 

 herself. Why, then, are the faculties of the 

 human mind and body not habitually included 

 among the " laws of Nature ? " Because a fal- 

 lacy is getting hold upon us from a want of 

 definition in the use of terms. " Nature " is be- 

 ing used in the narrow sense of physical nature 5 

 and the whole world in which we ourselves live, 

 and move, and have our being is excluded from 

 it. But these selves of ours do belong to Na- 

 ture. If we are ever to understand the difficul- 

 ties in the way of believing in the Supernatural, 

 we must first keep clearly in view what we are 

 to understand as included in the Natural. Let 

 us never forget, then, that the agency of Man is 

 of all others the most natural — the one with 

 which we are most familiar. — the only one, in 

 fact, which we can be said, even in any measure, 

 to understand. When any wonderful event can 



