law and scale of progress, that which we call evil must itself have been foreseen, and in a manner foreordained and provided for, by the act of Eternal Wisdom. One day "the depth of the riches of that wisdom and knowledge," (now "past finding out,") will be revealed, its ways disclosed; and the sufferings of "a bondage of corruption" will show all unworthy to be compared with the glory that shall dawn upon the world become the kingdom of the Lord and of His Christ.

1

"' 2 Science

faith.

§ 12. "The Master of all who have knowledge.' inseparaSuch is the title claimed by Dante for Aristotle, the ble from Prince of ancient thought. Shall it not hereafter be given to One greater than Aristotle, who shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, as many as have divorced Science from Faith. For in that day secular philosophy, however glorious, will be transmuted into divine. The very course of the integration of Tendency human Knowledge may be expected to lead to the knowledge

1 66 'L'imperfection qui accompagne la solution du corps pourroit donner lieu au sentiment d'une perfection plus grande, qui étoit suspendue ou arrêtée par la continuité qu'on fait cesser; et à cet égard le corps seroit comme une prison."-Leibnitz, Works, p. 603.

2 "Il Maestro di color chi sanno.' "La plus forte tête de toute l'antiquité, le grand Aristote," says M. Comte (Phil. Pos., IV. 38), perhaps from an unconscious predilection; for it was very anciently remarked that Plato referred all to Mind, Aristotle to Law. The medieval reputation of Aristotle, whom the Schoolmen placed almost on a level with the Fathers, was according to Mr. Lecky (Hist. Rat., I. 417), due to the carly heretics. See Dean Milman, Lat. Christ., VI. 267.

of human

towards perfection.

66

reception of one common, universal Religion, when the relations of Matter to a central Force shall be understood. The latest generalization of the inductive reason will be comprehended, as alone it can be comprehended, through the intuition of Him (for we shall see Him as He is "), Who is the Author and Cause of all things, "Who is Alpha and Omega," "the Beginning and the End," the "First and the Last." In that day "whether there be knowledge, it will vanish away," because "we know but in part." What is there in the loftiest human speculation which should exempt it from the Inherent fate of all finite things? "Positive knowledge positive does not and never can fill the whole region of possible thought. At the utmost reach of discovery there arises and must ever arise the question -what lies beyond? Science is a gradually increasing sphere, and every addition to its surface does but bring it into wider contact with surrounding ignorance. But if knowledge cannot monopolize consciousness; if it must always continue

defects of

know

ledge.

2

1

The same

1 Mr. Herbert Spencer, First Principles, pp. 16, 17.
thought that the material world cannot of itself contain a revelation of
the Divine, the finite of the Infinite, occurs in Tennyson-

Forerun thy peers, thy time: and let
Thy feet millenniums hence be set
In midst of knowledge dreamed not yet.
Thou hast not gained a real height;
Nor art thou nearer to the light,
Because the scale is infinite,

2 "Il n'y a que Dieu qui voie, comment ces deux termes moi et l'existence sont liés, c'est-à-dire, pourquoi j'existe."— Leibnitz, Nouveaux Essais, IV. vii. 7

nature de

idea of

possible for the mind to dwell upon that which transcends knowledge, then there can never cease to be a place for that which is of the nature of Religion." For what region can be found in all the realms of Science, which is not relative only to our present living powers and to the world we now inhabit? What necessity1 can be claimed for the Laws of Laws of Nature, as they are known to us, still less void of the for the several facts which represent and engender necessity. them, which can resist the sentence of mutability so legibly written upon them? Knowledge then, as alone we now possess it, is of time, not of eternity; it is marred by the imbecillities of man's understanding. "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him." But "when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away."

1 See Sir W. Hamilton, Appendix to Reid, p. 971, who quotes Spinoza (de Intell. Emend., § 108); "ideæ quas claras et distinctas formamus ita ex solâ necessitate nostræ naturæ sequi videntur, ut absolutè a solâ nostrâ potentiâ pendere videantur: confusæ autem contra." Chalmers's noble argument for the doctrine of immortality from man's capacities for knowledge is well known. "But for the truth of immortality man would be an anomaly in nature. . . . The whole labour of this mortal life would not suffice for traversing, in full extent, any one of the sciences. And yet there may lie undeveloped in his bosom a taste and talent for them all, none of which he can even singly overtake. For each science, though definite in its commencement, has its outgoings in the Infinite and the Eternal."—Bridg. Treatise, Pt. I. sub fin.

LECTURE VI.

THE PERMANENCE OF CHRISTIANITY INFERRED FROM THE CHARACTER OF ITS INFLUENCE.

"Ne quisquam nos aliena tantum redarguisse, non autem nostra asseruisse reprehenderet ; id agit pars altera operis hujus."—AUGUSTINE, Retract., II.

"Imperium facile his artibus retinetur, quibus initio partum est."SALLUST, Bell. Catil., II. iv.