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diff --git a/13561-h/13561-h.htm b/13561-h/13561-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..841418d --- /dev/null +++ b/13561-h/13561-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,12997 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Browning as a Philosophical and Religious Teacher, by Henry Jones</title> +<style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[*/ + + <!-- + + li {list-style-type: none} + + body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + + p {font-size: 1.0em; text-align: justify;} + + blockquote {font-size: 0.9em;} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {text-align: center;} + + hr {margin-left: 0%; width: 50%; margin-right: 50%;} + hr.full {text-align: center; width: 100%; margin-bottom: 4em; + margin-top: 3em} + + table, td, th {border:1px black solid; } + td {padding: 0px 2px;} + + .footnote {font-size: 0.8em; margin-right: 10%; margin-left: 10%;} + .footnote p {text-align: justify;} + + .figcenter {text-align: center; border: 0} + .figcenter img {border: 0} + .figcenter p {text-align: center; border: 0;} + + .figright {text-align: center; float: right; clear: both;} + .figleft {text-align: center; float: left; clear: both;} + .figright img, + .figleft img {margin: 10px; width: 200px; border: 0;} + .figright p, + .figleft p {text-align: center; width: 200px; border: 0; + padding: 0; margin: 0;} + + .figrt {text-align: center; margin: 5px; float: right;} + .figrt img {width: 50px; border: 0;} + .figrt p {text-align: center; width: 100px;} + + .poem {margin-left:5%; margin-right:5%; + margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem p {margin: 0;} + .poem p.i2 {margin-left: 2em;} + .poem p.i4 {margin-left: 4em;} + .poem p.i6 {margin-left: 6em;} + .poem p.i8 {margin-left: 8em;} + .poem p.i10 {margin-left: 10em;} + .poem p.i12 {margin-left: 12em;} + .poem p.i14 {margin-left: 14em;} + + .side {float:right; + font-size: 75%; + width: 25%; + padding-left:10px; + border-left: dashed thin; + margin-left: 10px; + text-align: left; + text-indent: 0; + font-weight: bold; + font-style: italic; + clear: right;} + + span.pagenum + {position: absolute; left: 1%; right: 91%; font-size: 8pt;} + + a:link {color:#0000ff; + text-decoration:none} + a:focus {color:#0000ff; + text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:#0000ff; + text-decoration:none} + a:hover {color:#ff0000} + sup {font-size:0.6em;} + + .toc h3 {margin-top: 2em; text-align:left;} + hr.pg { width: 100%; + margin-left: 0%; + margin-right: 0%; } + pre {font-size: 9pt;} + + --> + +/*]]>*/ +</style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13561 ***</div> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Browning as a Philosophical and Religious +Teacher, by Henry Jones</h1> +<center><hr class="pg" /></center> +<br /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pgii" id="pgii">ii</a></span> + + <div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/image001.png" alt="Robert Browning" title="Robert Browning" width="300" /> + </div> + + <h2>ROBERT BROWNING</h2> + <hr class="full" /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pgiii" id="pgiii">iii</a></span> + + <h1>BROWNING</h1> + + <h2>AS A PHILOSOPHICAL</h2> + + <h2>AND RELIGIOUS</h2> + + <h2>TEACHER</h2> + + <h4>BY</h4> + + <h2>HENRY JONES</h2> + + <h5>PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE UNIVERSITY</h5> + + <h5>OF GLASGOW</h5> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="pgiv" id= + "pgiv">iv</a></span> + <hr class="full" /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pgv" id="pgv">v</a></span> + + <h5>THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO</h5> + + <h5>MY DEAR FRIENDS</h5> + + <h3>MISS HARRIET MACARTHUR</h3> + + <h5>AND</h5> + + <h3>MISS JANE MACARTHUR.</h3><span class="pagenum"><a name="pgvi" id= + "pgvi">vi</a></span> + <hr class="full" /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pgvii" id="pgvii">vii</a></span> + + <h2>PREFACE.</h2> + <hr class="full" /> + + <p>The purpose of this book is to deal with Browning, not simply as a + poet, but rather as the exponent of a system of ideas on moral and + religious subjects, which may fairly be called a philosophy. I am + conscious that it is a wrong to a poet to neglect, or even to + subordinate, the artistic aspect of his work. At least, it would be a + wrong, if our final judgment on his poetry were to be determined on + such a method. But there is a place for everything; and, even in the + case of a great poet, there is sometimes an advantage in attempting + to estimate the value of what he has said, apart from the form in + which he has said it. And of all modern poets, Browning is the one + who most obviously invites and justifies such a method of treatment. + For, in the first place, he is clearly one of that class of poets who + are also prophets. He was never merely "the idle singer of an empty + day," but one for whom poetic enthusiasm was intimately bound up + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pgviii" id="pgviii">viii</a></span> + with religious faith, and who spoke "in numbers," not merely "because + the numbers came," but because they were for him the necessary + vehicle of an inspiring thought. If it is the business of philosophy + to analyze and interpret all the great intellectual forces that mould + the thought of an age, it cannot neglect the works of one who has + exercised, and is exercising so powerful an influence on the moral + and religious life of the present generation.</p> + + <p>In the second place, as will be seen in the sequel, Browning has + himself led the way towards such a philosophical interpretation of + his work. For, even in his earlier poems, he not seldom crossed the + line that divides the poet from the philosopher, and all but broke + through the strict limits of art in the effort to express—and + we might even say to preach—his own idealistic faith. In his + later works he did this almost without any disguise, raising + philosophical problems, and discussing all the <i>pros</i> and + <i>cons</i> of their solution, with no little subtlety and + dialectical skill. In some of these poems we might even seem to be + receiving a philosophical lesson, in place of a poetic inspiration, + if it were not for those powerful imaginative utterances, those + winged words, which Browning has always in reserve, to close the + ranks of his argument. If the question is stated in a prosaic form, + the final answer, as in <span class="pagenum"><a name="pgix" id= + "pgix">ix</a></span> the ancient oracle, is in the poetic language of + the gods.</p> + + <p>From this point of view I have endeavoured to give a connected + account of Browning's ideas, especially of his ideas on religion and + morality, and to estimate their value. In order to do so, it was + necessary to discuss the philosophical validity of the principles on + which his doctrine is more or less consciously based. The more + immediately philosophical chapters are the second, seventh, and + ninth; but they will not be found unintelligible by those who have + reflected on the difficulties of the moral and religious life, even + although they may be unacquainted with the methods and language of + the schools.</p> + + <p>I have received much valuable help in preparing this work for the + press from my colleague, Professor G.B. Mathews, and still more from + Professor Edward Caird. I owe them both a deep debt of gratitude.</p> + + <p>HENRY JONES.</p> + + <p>1891.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pgx" id="pgx">x</a></span> + <hr class="full" /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pgxi" id="pgxi">xi</a></span> + + <h2><i>CONTENTS</i>.</h2> + <hr class="full" /> + + <div class="toc"> + <h3><a href="#ch01">CHAPTER I.</a></h3> + + <p>INTRODUCTION</p> + + <h3><a href="#ch02">CHAPTER II.</a></h3> + + <p>ON THE NEED OF A PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE</p> + + <h3><a href="#ch03">CHAPTER III.</a></h3> + + <p>BROWNING'S PLACE IN ENGLISH POETRY</p> + + <h3><a href="#ch04">CHAPTER IV.</a></h3> + + <p>BROWNING'S OPTIMISM</p> + + <h3><a href="#ch05">CHAPTER V.</a></h3> + + <p>OPTIMISM AND ETHICS: THEIR CONTRADICTION</p> + + <h3><a href="#ch06">CHAPTER VI.</a></h3> + + <p>BROWNING'S TREATMENT OF THE PRINCIPLE OF LOVE</p><span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pgxii" id="pgxii">xii</a></span> + + <h3><a href="#ch07">CHAPTER VII.</a></h3> + + <p>BROWNING'S IDEALISM, AND ITS PHILOSOPHICAL JUSTIFICATION</p> + + <h3><a href="#ch08">CHAPTER VIII.</a></h3> + + <p>BROWNING'S SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM OF EVIL</p> + + <h3><a href="#ch09">CHAPTER IX.</a></h3> + + <p>A CRITICISM OF BROWNING'S VIEW OF THE FAILURE OF KNOWLEDGE</p> + + <h3><a href="#ch10">CHAPTER X.</a></h3> + + <p>THE HEART AND THE HEAD.—LOVE AND REASON</p> + + <h3><a href="#ch11">CHAPTER XI.</a></h3> + + <p>CONCLUSION</p> + </div> + + <hr class="full" /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg013" id="pg013">013</a></span> + + <h1>ROBERT BROWNING.</h1> + <hr class="full" /> + + <h2><a name="ch01" id="ch01">CHAPTER I.</a></h2> + + <h3>INTRODUCTION.</h3> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Grau, theurer Freund, ist alle Theorie,</p> + + <p>Und grün des Lebens goldner Baum." (<i>Faust</i>.)</p> + </div> + + <p>There is a saying of Hegel's, frequently quoted, that "a great man + condemns the world to the task of explaining him." The condemnation + is a double one, and it generally falls heaviest on the great man + himself, who has to submit to explanation; and, probably, the last + refinement of this species of cruelty is to expound a poet. I + therefore begin with an apology in both senses of the term. I + acknowledge that no commentator on art has a right to be heard, if he + is not aware of the subordinate and temporary nature of his office. + At the very best he is only a guide to the beautiful object, and he + must fall back in silence so soon as he has led his company into its + presence. He may perhaps suggest "the line of vision," or fix the + point of view, from which we can best hope to do justice to the + artist's work, by appropriating his intention and comprehending his + idea; but if <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg014" id= + "pg014">014</a></span> he seeks to serve the ends of art, he will not + attempt to do anything more.</p> + + <p>In order to do even this successfully, it is essential that every + judgment passed should be exclusively ruled by the principles which + govern art. "Fine art is not real art till it is free"; that is, till + its value is recognized as lying wholly within itself. And it is not, + unfortunately, altogether unnecessary to insist that, so far from + enhancing the value of an artist's work, we only degrade it into mere + means, subordinate it to uses alien, and therefore antagonistic to + its perfection, if we try to show that it gives pleasure, or + refinement, or moral culture. There is no doubt that great poetry has + all these uses, but the reader can enjoy them only on condition of + forgetting them; for they are effects that follow the sense of its + beauty. Art, morality, religion, is each supreme in its own sphere; + the beautiful is not more beautiful because it is also moral, nor is + a painting great because its subject is religious. It is true that + their spheres overlap, and art is never at its best except when it is + a beautiful representation of the good; nevertheless the points of + view of the artist and of the ethical teacher are quite different, + and consequently also the elements within which they work and the + truth they reveal.</p> + + <p>In attempting, therefore, to discover Robert Browning's philosophy + of life, I do not pretend that my treatment of him is adequate. + Browning is, first of all, a poet; it is only as a poet that he can + be finally judged; and the greatness of a poet is to <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg015" id="pg015">015</a></span> be measured by + the extent to which his writings are a revelation of what is + beautiful.</p> + + <p>I undertake a different and a humbler task, conscious of its + limitations, and aware that I can hardly avoid doing some violence to + the artist. What I shall seek in the poet's writings is not beauty, + but truth; and although truth is beautiful, and beauty is truth, + still the poetic and philosophic interpretation of life are not to be + confused. Philosophy must separate the matter from the form. Its + synthesis comes through analysis, and analysis is destructive of + beauty, as it is of all life. Art, therefore, resists the violence of + the critical methods of philosophy, and the feud between them, of + which Plato speaks, will last through all time. The beauty of form + and the music of speech which criticism destroys, and to which + philosophy is, at the best, indifferent, are essential to poetry. + When we leave them out of account we miss the ultimate secret of + poetry, for they cling to the meaning and penetrate it with their + charm. Thought and its expression are inseparable in poetry, as they + never are in philosophy; hence, in the former, the loss of the + expression is the loss of truth. The pure idea that dwells in a poem + is suffused in the poetic utterance, as sunshine breaks into beauty + in the mist, as life beats and blushes in the flesh, or as an + impassioned thought breathes in a thinker's face.</p> + + <p>But, although art and philosophy are supreme, each in its own + realm, and neither can be subordinated to the uses of the other, they + may help each <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg016" id= + "pg016">016</a></span> other. They are independent, but not rival + powers of the world of mind. Not only is the interchange of truth + possible between them; but each may show and give to the other all + its treasures, and be none the poorer itself. "It is in works of art + that some nations have deposited the profoundest intuitions and ideas + of their hearts." Job and Isaiah, Æschylus and Sophocles, Shakespeare + and Goethe, were first of all poets. Mankind is indebted to them in + the first place for revealing beauty; but it also owes to them much + insight into the facts and principles of the moral world. It would be + an unutterable loss to the ethical thinker and the philosopher, if + this region were closed against them, so that they could no longer + seek in the poets the inspiration and light that lead to goodness and + truth. In our own day, almost above all others, we need the poets for + these ethical and religious purposes. For the utterances of the + dogmatic teacher of religion have been divested of much of their + ancient authority; and the moral philosopher is often regarded either + as a vendor of commonplaces or as the votary of a discredited + science, whose primary principles are matter of doubt and debate. + There are not a few educated Englishmen who find in the poets, and in + the poets alone, the expression of their deepest convictions + concerning the profoundest interests of life. They read the poets for + fresh inspiration, partly, no doubt, because the passion and rapture + of poetry lull criticism and soothe the questioning spirit into + acquiescence.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg017" id= + "pg017">017</a></span> + + <p>But there are further reasons; for the poets of England are + greater than its moral philosophers; and it is of the nature of the + poetic art that, while eschewing system, it presents the strife + between right and wrong in concrete character, and therefore with a + fulness and truth impossible to the abstract thought of science.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i6">"A poet never dreams:</p> + + <p>We prose folk do: we miss the proper duct</p> + + <p>For thoughts on things unseen."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Fifine at the Fair</i>, lxxxviii.</p> + </div> + + <p>It is true that philosophy endeavours to correct this + fragmentariness by starting from the unity of the whole. But it can + never quite get rid of an element of abstraction and reach down to + the concrete individual.</p> + + <p>The making of character is so complex a process that the poetic + representation of it, with its subtle suggestiveness, is always more + complete and realistic than any possible philosophic analysis. + Science can deal only with aspects and abstractions, and its method + becomes more and more inadequate as its matter grows more concrete, + unless it proceeds from the unity in which all the aspects are held + together. In the case of life, and still more so in that of human + conduct, the whole must precede the part, and the moral science must, + therefore, more than any other, partake of the nature of poetry; for + it must start from living spirit, go from the heart outwards, in + order to detect the meaning of the actions of man.</p><span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg018" id="pg018">018</a></span> + + <p>On this account, poetry is peculiarly helpful to the ethical + investigator, because it always treats the particular thing as a + microcosm. It is the great corrective of the onesidedness of science + with its harsh method of analysis and distinction. It is a witness to + the unity of man and the world. Every object which art touches into + beauty, becomes in the very act a whole. The thing that is beautiful + is always complete, the embodiment of something absolutely valuable, + the product and the source of love; and the beloved object is all the + world for the lover—beyond all praise, because it is above all + comparison.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Then why not witness, calmly gazing,</p> + + <p>If earth holds aught—speak truth—above her?</p> + + <p>Above this tress, and this, I touch</p> + + <p>But cannot praise, I love so much!" <sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Song</i> (Dramatic Lyrics).</p> + </div> + + <p>This characteristic of the work of art brings with it an important + practical consequence, because being complete, it appeals to the + whole man.</p> + + <p>"Poetry," it has been well said, is "the idealized and monumental + utterance of the deepest feelings." And poetic feelings, it must not + be forgotten, <i>are</i> deepest; that is, they are the afterglow of + the fullest activity of a complete soul, and not shallow + titillations, or surface pleasures, such as the palate knows. Led by + poetry, the intellect so sees truth that it glows with it, and the + will is stirred to deeds of heroism. For there is hardly any fact so + mean, but that when intensified by emotion, it grows poetic; as + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg019" id="pg019">019</a></span> there + is hardly any man so unimaginative, but that when struck with a great + sorrow, or moved by a great passion, he is endowed for a moment with + the poet's speech. A poetic fact, one may almost say, is just any + fact at its best. Art, it is true, looks at its object through a + medium, but it always seems its inmost meaning. In Lear, Othello, + Hamlet, in Falstaff and Touchstone, there is a revelation of the + inner truth of human life beyond the power of moral science to + bestow. We do well to seek philosophy in the poets, for though they + teach only by hints and parables, they nevertheless reflect the + concrete truth of life, as it is half revealed and half concealed in + facts. On the other hand, the reflective process of philosophy may + help poetry; for, as we shall show, there is a near kinship between + them. Even the critical analyst, while severing element from element, + may help art and serve the poet's ends, provided he does not in his + analysis of parts forget the whole. His function, though humble and + merely preliminary to full poetic enjoyment, is not unimportant. To + appreciate the grandeur of the unity of the work of art, there must + be knowledge of the parts combined. It is quite true that the guide + in the gallery is prone to be too talkative, and there are many who + can afford to turn the commentator out of doors, especially if he + moralizes. But, after all, man is not pure sensibility, any more than + he is pure reason. And the aesthete will not lose if he occasionally + allows those whom he may think less sensitive than himself to the + charm of rhythmic phrase, to direct sober <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg020" id="pg020">020</a></span> attention to the + principles which lie embedded in all great poetry. At the worst, to + seek for truth in poetry is a protest against the constant tendency + to read it for the sake of the emotions which it stirs, the tendency + to make it a refined amusement and nothing more. That is a deeper + wrong to art than any which the theoretical moralist can inflict. Of + the two, it is better to read poetry for ethical doctrines than for + fine sensations; for poetry purifies the passions only when it lifts + the reader into the sphere of truths that are universal.</p> + + <p>The task of interpreting a poet may be undertaken in different + ways. One of these, with which we have been made familiar by critics + of Shakespeare and of Browning himself, is to analyze each poem by + itself and regard it as the artistic embodiment of some central idea; + the other is to attempt, without dealing separately with each poem, + to reach the poet's own point of view, and to reveal the sovereign + truths which rule his mind. It is this latter way that I shall try to + follow.</p> + + <p>Such dominant or even despotic thoughts it is possible to discover + in all our great poets, except perhaps Shakespeare, whose + universality baffles every classifier. As a rule, the English poets + have been caught up, and inspired, by the exceeding grandeur of some + single idea, in whose service they spend themselves with that + prodigal thrift which finds life in giving it. Such an idea gives + them a fresh way of looking at the world, so that the world grows + young again with their new interpretation. <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg021" id="pg021">021</a></span> In the highest + instances, poets may become makers of epochs; they reform as well as + reveal; for ideas are never dead things, "but grow in the hand that + grasps them." In them lies the energy of a nation's life, and we + comprehend that life only when we make clear to ourselves the + thoughts which inspire it. It is thus true, in the deepest sense, + that those who make the songs of a people make its history. In all + true poets there are hints for a larger philosophy of life. But, in + order to discover it, we must know the truths which dominate them, + and break into music in their poems.</p> + + <p>Whether it is always possible, and whether it is at any time fair + to a poet to define the idea which inspires him, I shall not inquire + at present. No doubt, the interpretation of a poet from first + principles carries us beyond the limits of art; and by insisting on + the unity of his work, more may be attributed to him, or demanded + from him, than he properly owns. To make such a demand is to require + that poetry should be philosophy as well, which, owing to its method + of intuition, it can never be. Nevertheless, among English poets + there is no one who lends himself so easily, or so justly, to this + way of treatment as Browning. Much of his poetry trembles on the + verge of the abyss which is supposed to separate art from philosophy; + and, as I shall try to show, there was in the poet a growing tendency + to turn the power of dialectic on the pre-suppositions of his art. + Yet, even Browning puts great difficulties in the way of a critic, + who seeks to draw a philosophy <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg022" + id="pg022">022</a></span> of life from his poems. It is not by any + means an easy task to lift the truths he utters under the stress of + poetic emotion into the region of placid contemplation, or to connect + them into a system, by means of the principle from which he makes his + departure.</p> + + <p>The first of these difficulties arises from the extent and variety + of his work. He was prodigal of poetic ideas, and wrote for fifty + years on nature, art, and man, like a magnificent spendthrift of + spiritual treasures. So great a store of knowledge lay at his hand, + so real and informed with sympathy, that we can scarcely find any + great literature which he has not ransacked, any phase of life which + is not represented in his poems. All kinds of men and women, in every + station in life, and at every stage of evil and goodness, crowd his + pages. There are few forms of human character he has not studied, and + each individual he has so caught at the supreme moment of his life, + and in the hardest stress of circumstance, that the inmost working of + his nature is revealed. The wealth is bewildering, and it is hard to + follow the central thought, "the imperial chord, which steadily + underlies the accidental mists of music springing thence."<sup>A</sup></p> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Fifine at the Fair</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>A second and still graver difficulty lies in the fact that his + poetry, as he repeatedly insisted, is "always dramatic in principle, + and so many utterances of so many imaginary persons, not mine."<sup>B</sup> In + his earlier works, especially, Browning is creative rather than + reflective, a Maker rather than a Seer; and his <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg023" id="pg023">023</a></span> creations stand + aloof from him, working out their fate in an outer world. We often + lose the poet in the imaginative characters, into whom he penetrates + with his keen artistic intuition, and within whom he lies as a + necessity revealing itself in their actions and words. It is not easy + anywhere to separate the elements, so that we can say with certainty, + "Here I catch the poet, there lies his material." The identification + of the work and worker is too intimate, and the realization of the + imaginary personage is too complete.</p> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: Pref. to <i>Pauline</i>, 1888.</p> + </div> + + <p>In regard to the dramatic interpretation of his poetry, Browning + has manifested a peculiar sensitiveness. In his Preface to + <i>Pauline</i> and in several of his poems—notably <i>The + Mermaid</i>, the <i>House</i>, and the <i>Shop</i>—he + explicitly cuts himself free from his work. He knew that direct + self-revealment on the part of the poet violates the spirit of the + drama. "With this same key Shakespeare unlocked his heart," said + Wordsworth; "Did Shakespeare?" characteristically answers Browning, + "If so, the less Shakespeare he!" And of himself he asks:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Which of you did I enable</p> + + <p class="i2">Once to slip inside my breast,</p> + + <p>There to catalogue and label</p> + + <p class="i2">What I like least, what love best,</p> + + <p>Hope and fear, believe and doubt of,</p> + + <p class="i2">Seek and shun, respect—deride?</p> + + <p>Who has right to make a rout of</p> + + <p class="i2">Rarities he found inside?"<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>At the Mermaid</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>He repudiates all kinship with Byron and his subjective + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg024" id="pg024">024</a></span> ways, + and refuses to be made king by the hands which anointed him. "He will + not give his woes an airing, and has no plague that claims respect." + Both as man and poet, in virtue of the native, sunny, outer-air + healthiness of his character, every kind of subjectivity is repulsive + to him. He hands to his readers "his work, his scroll, theirs to take + or leave: his soul he proffers not." For him "shop was shop only"; + and though he dealt in gems, and throws</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"You choice of jewels, every one,</p> + + <p>Good, better, best, star, moon, and sun,"<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Shop</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>he still <i>lived</i> elsewhere, and had "stray thoughts and + fancies fugitive" not meant for the open market. The poems in which + Browning has spoken without the disguise of another character are + very few. There are hardly more than two or three of much importance + which can be considered as directly reflecting his own ideas, namely, + <i>Christmas Eve</i> and <i>Easter Day, La Saisiaz</i>, and <i>One + Word More</i>—unless, spite of the poet's warning, we add + <i>Pauline</i>.</p> + + <p>But, although the dramatic element in Browning's poetry renders it + difficult to construct his character from his works, while this is + comparatively easy in the case of Wordsworth or Byron; and although + it throws a shade of uncertainty on every conclusion we might draw as + to any specific doctrine held by him, still Browning lives in a + certain atmosphere, and looks at his characters through a medium, + whose subtle influence makes all his work indisputably <i>his</i>. + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg025" id="pg025">025</a></span> The + light he throws on his men and women is not the unobtrusive light of + day, which reveals objects, but not itself. Though a true dramatist, + he is not objective like Shakespeare and Scott, whose characters seem + never to have had an author. The reader feels, rather, that Browning + himself attends him through all the sights and wonders of the world + of man; he never escapes the sense of the presence of the poet's + powerful personality, or of the great convictions on which he has + based his life. Browning has, at bottom, only one way of looking at + the world, and one way of treating his objects; one point of view, + and one artistic method. Nay, further, he has one supreme interest, + which he pursues everywhere with a constancy shown by hardly any + other poet; and, in consequence, his works have a unity and a certain + originality, which make them in many ways a unique contribution to + English literature.</p> + + <p>This characteristic, which no critic has missed, and which + generally goes by the name of "the metaphysical element" in his + poetry, makes it the more imperative to form a clear view of his + ruling conceptions. No poet, least of all a dramatic poet, goes about + seeking concrete vehicles for ready-made ideas, or attempts to dress + a philosophy in metaphors; and Browning, as an artist, is interested + first of all in the object which he renders beautiful for its own + sole sake, and not in any abstract idea it illustrates. Still, it is + true in a peculiar sense in his case, that the eye of the poet brings + with it what it sees. He is, as a rule, conscious of no theory, and + does not <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg026" id= + "pg026">026</a></span> construct a poem for its explication; he + rather strikes his ideas out of his material, as the sculptor reveals + the breathing life in the stone. Nevertheless, it may be shown that a + theory rules him from behind, and that profound convictions arise in + the heart and rush along the blood at the moment of creation, using + his soul as an instrument of expression to his age and people.</p> + + <p>Of no English poet, except Shakespeare, can we say with + approximate truth that he is the poet of all times. The subjective + breath of their own epoch dims the mirror which they hold up to + nature. Missing by their limitation the highest universality, they + can only be understood in their setting. It adds but little to our + knowledge of Shakespeare's work to regard him as the great + Elizabethan; there is nothing temporary in his dramas, except petty + incidents and external trappings—so truly did he dwell amidst + the elements constituting man in every age and clime. But this cannot + be said of any other poet, not even of Chaucer or Spenser, far less + of Milton, or Pope or Wordsworth. In their case, the artistic form + and the material, the idea and its expression, the beauty and the + truth, are to some extent separable. We can distinguish in Milton + between the Puritanic theology which is perishable, and the art whose + beauty can never pass away. The former fixes his kinship with his own + age, gives him a definite place in the evolution of English life; the + latter is independent of time, a thing which has supreme worth in + itself.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg027" id= + "pg027">027</a></span> + + <p>Nor can it be doubted that the same holds good of Browning. He + also is ruled by the ideas of his own age. It may not be altogether + possible for us, "who are partners of his motion and mixed up with + his career," to allow for the influence of these ideas, and to + distinguish between that which is evanescent and that which is + permanent in his work; still I must try to do so; for it is the + condition of comprehending him, and of appropriating the truth and + beauty he came to reveal. And if his nearness to ourselves makes this + more difficult, it also makes it more imperative. For there is no + doubt that, with Carlyle, he is the interpreter of our time, + reflecting its confused strength and chaotic wealth. He is the high + priest of our age, standing at the altar for us, and giving utterance + to our needs and aspirations, our fears and faith. By understanding + him, we shall, to some degree, understand ourselves and the power + which is silently moulding us to its purposes.</p> + + <p>It is because I thus regard Browning as not merely a poet but a + prophet, that I think I am entitled to seek in him, as in Isaiah or + Aeschylus, a solution, or a help to the solution, of the problems + that press upon us when we reflect upon man, his place in the world + and his destiny. He has given us indirectly, and as a poet gives, a + philosophy of life; he has interpreted the world anew in the light of + a dominant idea; and it will be no little gain if we can make clear + to ourselves those constitutive principles on which his view of the + world rests.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg028" id= + "pg028">028</a></span> + <hr class="full" /> + + <h2><a name="ch02" id="ch02">CHAPTER II.</a></h2> + + <h3>ON THE NEED OF A PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE.</h3> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Art,—which I may style the love of loving, rage</p> + + <p>Of knowing, seeing, feeling the absolute truth of things</p> + + <p>For truth's sake, whole and sole, not any good, truth brings</p> + + <p>The knower, seer, feeler, beside,—instinctive Art</p> + + <p>Must fumble for the whole, once fixing on a part</p> + + <p>However poor, surpass the fragment, and aspire</p> + + <p>To reconstruct thereby the ultimate entire." <sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Fifine at the Fair</i>, xliv.</p> + </div> + + <p>No English poet has spoken more impressively than Browning on the + weightier matters of morality and religion, or sought with more + earnestness to meet the difficulties which arise when we try to + penetrate to their ultimate principles. His way of poetry is, I + think, fundamentally different from that of any other of our great + writers. He often seems to be roused into speech, rather by the + intensity of his spiritual convictions than by the subtle incitements + of poetic sensibility. His convictions caught fire, and truth became + beauty for him; not beauty, truth, as with Keats or Shelley. He is + swayed by ideas, rather than by sublime moods. Beneath the endless + variety of his poems, there are permanent principles, or <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg029" id="pg029">029</a></span> "colligating + conceptions," as science calls them; and although these are expressed + by the way of emotion, they are held by him with all the resources of + his reason.</p> + + <p>His work, though intuitive and perceptive as to form, "gaining God + by first leap" as all true art must do, leaves the impression, when + regarded as a whole, of an articulated system. It is a view of man's + life and destiny that can be maintained, not only during the + impassioned moods of poetry, but in the very presence of criticism + and doubt. His faith, like Pompilia's, is held fast "despite the + plucking fiend." He has given to us something more than intuitive + glimpses into, the mysteries of man's character. Throughout his life + he held up the steady light of an optimistic conception of the world, + and by its means injected new vigour into English ethical thought. In + his case, therefore, it is not an immaterial question, but one almost + forced upon us, whether we are to take his ethical doctrine and + inspiring optimism as valid truths, or to regard them merely as + subjective opinions held by a religious poet. Are they creations of a + powerful imagination, and nothing more? Do they give to the hopes and + aspirations that rise so irrepressibly in the heart of man anything + better than an appearance of validity, which will prove illusory the + moment the cold light of critical inquiry is turned upon them?</p> + + <p>It is to this unity of his work that I would attribute, in the + main, the impressiveness of his <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg030" + id="pg030">030</a></span> deliverances on morality and religion. And + this unity justifies us, I think, in applying to Browning's view of + life methods of criticism that would be out of place with any other + English poet. It is one of his unique characteristics, as already + hinted, that he has endeavoured to give us a complete and reasoned + view of the ethical nature of man, and of his relation to the + world—has sought, in fact, to establish a philosophy of life. + In his case, not without injustice, it is true, but with less + injustice than in the case of any other poet, we may disregard, + <i>for our purposes</i>, the artistic method of his thought, and lay + stress on its content only. He has a right to a place amongst + philosophers, as Plato has to a place amongst poets. There is such + deliberate earnestness and systematic consistency in his teaching, + that Hegel can scarcely be said to have maintained that "The Rational + is the Real" with greater intellectual tenacity, than Browning held + to his view of life. He sought, in fact, to establish an Idealism; + and that Idealism, like Kant's and Fichte's, has its last basis in + the moral consciousness.</p> + + <p>But, even if it be considered that it is not altogether just to + apply these critical tests to the poet's teaching, and to make him + pay the penalty for assuming a place amongst philosophers, it is + certain that what he says of man's spiritual life cannot be rightly + valued, till it is regarded in the light of his guiding principles. + We shall miss much of what is best in him, even as a poet, if, for + instance, we <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg031" id= + "pg031">031</a></span> regard his treatment of love merely as the + expression of elevated passion, or his optimism as based upon mere + hope. Love was to him rather an indwelling element in the world, + present, like power, in everything.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"From the first, Power was—I knew.</p> + + <p class="i2">Life has made clear to me</p> + + <p>That, strive but for closer view,</p> + + <p class="i2">Love were as plain to see." <sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + A: <i>Reverie—Asolando</i>. + </div> + + <p>Love yielded to him, as Reason did to Hegel, a fundamental + exposition of the nature of things. Or, to express the same thing in + another way, it was a deliberate hypothesis, which he sought to apply + to facts and to test by their means, almost in the same manner as + that in which natural science applies and tests its principles.</p> + + <p>That Browning's ethical and religious ideas were for him something + different from, and perhaps more than, mere poetic sentiments, will, + I believe, be scarcely denied. That he held a deliberate theory, and + held it with greater and greater difficulty as he became older, and + as his dialectical tendencies grew and threatened to wreck his + artistic freedom, is evident to any one who regards his work as a + whole. But it will not be admitted so readily that anything other + than harm can issue from an attempt to deal with him as if he were a + philosopher. Even if it be allowed that he held and expressed a + definite theory, will it retain any value if we take it out of the + region of poetry and impassioned religious faith, into the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg032" id="pg032">032</a></span> + frigid zone of philosophical inquiry? Could any one maintain, apart + from the intoxication of religious and poetic sentiment, that the + essence of existence is love? As long as we remain within the realm + of imagination, it may be argued, we may find in our poet's great + sayings both solacement and strength, both rest and an impulse + towards higher moral endeavour; but if we seek to treat them as + theories of facts, and turn upon them the light of the understanding, + will they not inevitably prove to be hallucinations? Poetry, we + think, has its own proper place and function. It is an invaluable + anodyne to the cark and care of reflective thought; an opiate which, + by steeping the critical intellect in slumber, sets the soul free to + rise on the wings of religious faith. But reason breaks the spell; + and the world of poetry, and religion—a world which to them is + always beautiful and good with God's presence—becomes a system + of inexorable laws, dead, mechanical, explicable in strict truth, as + an equipoise of constantly changing forms of energy.</p> + + <p>There is, at the present time, a widespread belief that we had + better keep poetry and religion beyond the reach of critical + investigation, if we set any store by them. Faith and reason are + thought to be finally divorced. It is an article of the common creed + that every attempt which the world has made to bring them together + has resulted in denial, or at the best in doubt, regarding all + supersensuous facts. The one condition of leading a full life, of + maintaining a living relation between ourselves and both the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg033" id="pg033">033</a></span> + spiritual and material elements of our existence, is to make our + lives an alternating rhythm of the head and heart, to distinguish + with absolute clearness between the realm of reason and that of + faith.</p> + + <p>Now, such an assumption would be fatal to any attempt like the + present, to find truth in poetry; and I must, therefore, try to meet + it before entering upon a statement and criticism of Browning's view + of life. I cannot admit that the difficulties of placing the facts of + man's spiritual life on a rational basis are so great as to justify + the assertion that there is no such basis, or that it is not + discoverable by man. Surely, it is unreasonable to make intellectual + death the condition of spiritual life. If such a condition were + imposed on man, it must inevitably defeat its own purpose; for man + cannot possibly continue to live a divided life, and persist in + believing that for which his reason knows no defence. We must, in the + long run, either rationalize our faith in morality and religion, or + abandon them as illusions. And we should at least hesitate to deny + that reason—in spite of its apparent failure in the past to + justify our faith in the principles of spiritual life—may yet, + as it becomes aware of its own nature and the might which dwells in + it, find beauty and goodness, nay, God himself, in the world. We + should at least hesitate to condemn man to choose between + irreflective ignorance and irreligion, or to lock the intellect and + the highest emotions of our nature and principles of our life, in a + mortal struggle. Poetry and religion may, after all, be truer then + prose, and have something to <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg034" + id="pg034">034</a></span> tell the world that science, which is often + ignorant of its own limits, cannot teach.</p> + + <p>The failure of philosophy in the past, even if it were as complete + as is believed by persons ignorant of its history, is no argument + against its success in the future. Such persons have never known that + the world of thought like that of action makes a stepping stone of + its dead self. He who presumes to decide what passes the power of + man's thought, or to prescribe absolute limits to human knowledge, is + rash, to say the least; and he has neither caught the most important + of the lessons of modern science, nor been lifted to the level of its + inspiration. For science has done one thing greater than to unlock + the secrets of nature. It has revealed something of the might of + reason, and given new grounds for the faith, which in all ages has + inspired the effort to know,—the faith that the world is an + intelligible structure, meant to be penetrated by the thought of man. + Can it be that nature is an "open secret," but that man, and he + alone, must remain an enigma? Or does he not rather bear within + himself the key to every problem which he solves, and is it not + <i>his</i> thought which penetrates the secrets of nature? The + success of science, in reducing to law the most varied and apparently + unconnected facts, should dispel any suspicion which attaches to the + attempt to gather these laws under still wider ones, and to interpret + the world in the light of the highest principles. And this is + precisely what poetry and religion and philosophy do, each in its own + way. They carry <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg035" id= + "pg035">035</a></span> the work of the sciences into wider regions, + and that, as I shall try to show, by methods which, in spite of many + external differences, are fundamentally at one with those which the + sciences employ.</p> + + <p>There is only one way of giving the quietus to the metaphysics of + poets and philosophers, and of showing the futility of a philosophy + of life, or of any scientific explanation of religion and morals. It + is to show that there is some radical absurdity in the very attempt. + Till this is done, the human mind will not give up problems of + weighty import, however hard it may be to solve them. The world + refused to believe Socrates when he pronounced a science of nature + impossible, and centuries of failure did not break man's courage. + Science, it is true, has given up some problems as insoluble; it will + not now try to construct a perpetually moving machine, or to square + the circle. But it has given them up, not because they are difficult, + but because they are unreasonable tasks. The problems have a surd or + irrational element in them; and to solve them would be to bring + reason into collision with itself.</p> + + <p>Now, whatever may be the difficulties of establishing a theory of + life, or a philosophy, it has never been shown to be an unreasonable + task to attempt it. One might, on the contrary, expect, <i>prima + facie</i>, that in a world progressively proved to be intelligible to + man, man himself would be no exception. It is impossible that the + "light in him should be darkness," or that the thought which reveals + the order of the world should be itself chaotic.</p><span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg036" id="pg036">036</a></span> + + <p>The need for philosophy is just the ultimate form of the need for + knowledge; and the truths which philosophy brings to light are + implied in every rational explanation of things. The only choice we + can have is between a conscious metaphysics and an unconscious one, + between hypotheses which we have examined and whose limitations we + know, and hypotheses which rule us from behind, as pure prejudices + do. It is because of this that the empiric is so dogmatic, and the + ignorant man so certain of the truth of his opinion. They do not know + their postulates, nor are they aware that there is no interpretation + of an object which does not finally point to a theory of being. We + understand no joint or ligament, except in relation to the whole + organism, and no fact, or event, except by finding a place for it in + the context of our experience. The history of the pebble can be + given, only in the light of the story of the earth, as it is told by + the whole of geology. We must begin very far back, and bring our + widest principles to bear upon the particular thing, if we wish + really to know what it is. It is a law that explains, and laws are + always universal. All our knowledge, even the most broken and + inconsistent, streams from some fundamental conception, in virtue of + which all the variety of objects constitute one world, one orderly + kosmos, even to the meanest mind. It is true that the central + thought, be it rich or poor, must, like the sun's light, be broken + against particular facts. But there is no need of forgetting the real + source of knowledge, or of deeming that its progress is a + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg037" id="pg037">037</a></span> + synthesis without law, or an addition of fact to fact without any + guiding principles.</p> + + <p>Now, it is the characteristic of poetry and philosophy that they + keep alive our consciousness of these primary, uniting principles. + They always dwell in the presence of the idea which makes their + object <i>one</i>. To them the world is always, and necessarily, a + harmonious whole, as it is also to the religious spirit. It is + because of this that the universe is a thing of beauty for the poet, + a revelation of God's goodness to the devout soul, and a + manifestation of absolute reason to the philosopher. Art, religion, + and philosophy fail or flourish together. The age of prose and + scepticism appears when the sense of the presence of the whole in the + particular facts of the world and of life has been dulled. And there + is a necessity in this; for if the conception of the world as a whole + is held to be impossible, if philosophy is a futility, then poetry + will be a vain sentiment and religion a delusion.</p> + + <p>Nor will the failure of thought, when once demonstrated in these + upper regions, be confined to them. On the contrary, it will spread + downwards to science and ordinary knowledge, as mountain mists blot + out the valleys. For every synthesis of fact to fact, every attempt + to know, however humble and limited, is inspired by a secret faith in + the unity of the world. Each of the sciences works within its own + region, and colligates its details in the light of its own + hypothesis; and all the sciences taken together presuppose the + presence in the world of a principle <span class="pagenum"><a name= + "pg038" id="pg038">038</a></span> that binds it into an orderly + totality. Scientific explorers know that they are all working towards + the same centre. And, ever and anon, as the isolated thinker presses + home his own hypothesis, he finds his thought beating on the limits + of his science, and suggesting some wider hypothesis. The walls that + separate the sciences are wearing thin, and at times light penetrates + from one to the other. So that to their votaries, at least, the faith + is progressively justified, that there is a meeting point for the + sciences, a central truth in which the dispersed rays will again be + gathered together. In fact, all the sciences are working together + under the guidance of a principle common to them all, although it may + not be consciously known and no attempt is made to define it. In + science, as in philosophy and art and religion, there is a principle + of unity, which, though latent, is really prior to all explanation of + particular matters of fact.</p> + + <p>In truth, man has only one way of knowing. There is no fundamental + difference between scientific and philosophic procedure. We always + light up facts by means of general laws. The fall of the stone was a + perfect enigma, a universally unintelligible bit of experience, till + the majestic imagination of Newton conceived the idea of universal + gravitation. Wherever mind successfully invades the realm of chaos, + poetry, the sense of the whole, comes first. There is the intuitive + flash, the penetrative glimpse, got no one knows exactly + whence—though we do know that it comes neither from + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg039" id="pg039">039</a></span> the + dead facts nor from the vacant region of <i>a priori</i> thought, but + somehow from the interaction of both these elements of knowledge. + After the intuitive flash comes the slow labour of proof, the + application of the principle to details. And that application + transforms both the principle and the details, so that the former is + enriched with content and the latter are made intelligible—a + veritable conquest and valid possession for mankind. And in this + labour of proof, science and philosophy alike take their share.</p> + + <p>Philosophy may be said to come midway between poetry and science, + and to partake of the nature of both. On the one side it deals, like + poetry, with ideals of knowledge, and announces truths which it does + not completely verify; on the other, it leaves to science the task of + articulating its principles in facts, though it begins the + articulation itself. It reveals subsidiary principles, and is, at the + same time, a witness for the unity of the categories of science. We + may say, if we wish, that its principles are mere hypotheses. But so + are the ideas which underlie the most practical of the sciences; so + is every forecast of genius by virtue of which knowledge is extended; + so is every principle of knowledge not completely worked out. To say + that philosophy is hypothetical implies no charge, other than that + which can be levelled, in the same sense, against the most solid body + of scientific knowledge in the world. The fruitful question in each + case alike is, how far, if <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg040" id= + "pg040">040</a></span> at all, does the hypothesis enable us to + understand particular facts.</p> + + <p>The more careful of our scientific thinkers are well aware of the + limits under which they work and of the hypothetical character of + their results. "I take Euclidean space, and the existence of material + particles and elemental energy for granted," says the physicist; + "deny them, and I am helpless; grant them, and I shall establish + quantitative relations between the different forms of this elemental + energy, and make it tractable and tame to man's uses. All I teach + depends upon my hypothesis. In it is the secret of all the power I + wield. I do not pretend to say what this elemental energy is. I make + no declaration regarding the actual nature of things; and all + questions as to the ultimate origin or final destination of the world + are beyond the scope of my inquiry. I am ruled by my hypothesis; I + regard phenomena <i>from my point of view</i>; and my right to do so + I substantiate by the practical and theoretical results which + follow." The language of geology, chemistry, zoology, and even + mathematics is the same. They all start from a hypothesis; they are + all based on an imaginative conception, and in this sense their + votaries are poets, who see the unity of being throb in the + particular fact.</p> + + <p>Now, so far as the particular sciences are concerned, I presume + that no one will deny the supreme power of these colligating ideas. + The sciences do not grow by a process of empiricism, which rambles + tentatively and blindly from fact to fact, unguided of <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg041" id="pg041">041</a></span> any hypothesis. + But if they do not, if, on the contrary, each science is ruled by its + own hypothesis, and uses that hypothesis to bind its facts together, + then the question arises, are there no wider colligating principles + amongst these hypotheses themselves? Are the sciences independent of + each other, or is their independence only surface appearance? This is + the question which philosophy asks, and the sciences themselves by + their progress suggest a positive answer to it.</p> + + <p>The knowledge of the world which the sciences are building is not + a chaotic structure. By their apparently independent efforts, the + outer kosmos is gradually reproduced in the mind of man, and the + temple of truth is silently rising. We may not as yet be able to + connect wing with wing, or to declare definitely the law of the + whole. The logical order of the hypotheses of the various sciences, + the true connection of these categories of constructive thought, may + yet be uncertain. But, still, there <i>is</i> such an order and + connection: the whole building has its plan, which becomes more and + more intelligible as it approaches to its completion. Beneath all the + differences, there are fundamental principles which give to human + thought a definite unity of movement and direction. There are + architectonic conceptions which are guiding, not only the different + sciences, but all the modes of thought of an age. There are + intellectual media, "working hypotheses," by means of which + successive centuries observe all that they see; and these + far-reaching constructive principles <span class="pagenum"><a name= + "pg042" id="pg042">042</a></span> divide the history of mankind into + distinct stages. In a word, there are dynasties of great ideas, such + as the idea of development in our own day; and these successively + ascend the throne of mind, and hold a sway over human thought which + is well-nigh absolute.</p> + + <p>Now, if this is so, is it certain that all <i>knowledge</i> of + these ruling conceptions is impossible? In other words, is the + attempt to construct a philosophy absurd? To say that it is, to deny + the possibility of catching any glimpse of those regulative ideas, + which determine the main tendencies of human thought, is to place the + supreme directorate of the human intelligence in the hands of a + necessity which, <i>for us</i>, is blind. For, an order that is + hidden is equivalent to chance, so far as knowledge is concerned; and + if we believe it to exist, we do so in the face of the fact that all + we see, and all we <i>can</i> see, is the opposite of order, namely + lawlessness. Human knowledge, on this view, would be subjected to law + in its details and compartments, but to disorder as a whole. Thinking + men would be organized into regiments; but the regiments would not + constitute an army, nor would there be any unity of movement in the + attack on the realm of ignorance.</p> + + <p>But, such is not the conclusion to which the study of human + history leads, especially when we observe its movements on a large + scale. On the contrary, it is found that history falls into great + epochs, each of which has its own peculiar characteristics. Ages, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg043" id="pg043">043</a></span> as + well as nations and individuals, have features of their own, special + and definite modes of thinking and acting. The movement of thought in + each age has its own direction, which is determined by some + characteristic and fundamental idea, that fulfils for it the part of + a working hypothesis in a particular science. It is the prerogative + of the greatest leaders of thought in an age to catch a glimpse of + this ruling idea when it first makes its appearance; and it is their + function, not only to discover it, but also to reveal it to others. + And, in this way, they are at once the exponents of their time, and + its prophets. They reveal that which is already a latent but active + power—"a tendency"; but they reveal it to a generation which + will see the truth for itself, only after the potency which lies in + it has manifested itself in national institutions and habits of + thought and action. <i>After</i> the prophets have left us, we + believe what they have said; as long as they are with us, they are + voices crying in the wilderness.</p> + + <p>Now, these great ideas, these harmonies of the world of mind, + first strike upon the ear of the poet. They seem to break into the + consciousness of man by the way of emotion. They possess the seer; he + is divinely mad, and he utters words whose meaning passes his own + calmer comprehension. What we find in Goethe, we find also in a + manner in Browning: an insight which is also foresight, a dim and + partial consciousness of the truth about to be, sending its light + before it, and anticipating all systematic reflection. It is an + insight which appears <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg044" id= + "pg044">044</a></span> to be independent of all method; but it is in + nature, though not in sweep and expanse, akin to the intuitive leap + by which the scientific explorer lights upon his new hypothesis. We + can find no other law for it, than that sensitiveness to the beauty + and truth hidden in facts, which much reflection on them generates + for genius. For these great minds the "muddy vesture" is worn thin by + thought, and they hear the immortal music.</p> + + <p>The poet soon passes his glowing torch into the hands of the + philosopher. After Aeschylus and Sophocles, come Plato and Aristotle. + The intuitive flash grows into a fixed light, which rules the day. + The great idea, when reflected upon, becomes a system. When the light + of such an idea is steadily held on human affairs, it breaks into + endless forms of beauty and truth. The content of the idea is + gradually evolved; hypotheses spring out of it, which are accepted as + principles, rule the mind of an age, and give it its work and its + character. In this way, Hobbes and Locke laid down, or at least + defined, the boundaries within which moved the thought of the + eighteenth century; and no one acquainted with the poetic and + philosophic thought of Germany, from Lessing to Goethe and from Kant + to Hegel, can fail to find therein the source and spring of the + constitutive principles of our own intellectual, social, political, + and religious life. The virtues and the vices of the aristocracy of + the world of mind penetrate downwards. The works of the poets and + philosophers, so far from being filled with <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg045" id="pg045">045</a></span> impracticable + dreams, are repositories of great suggestions which the world adopts + for its guidance. The poets and philosophers lay no railroads and + invent no telephones; but they, nevertheless, bring about that + attitude towards nature, man and God, and generate those moods of the + general mind, from which issue, not only the scientific, but also the + social, political and religious forces of the age.</p> + + <p>It is mainly on this account that I cannot treat the supreme + utterances of Browning lightly, or think it an idle task to try to + connect them into a philosophy of life. In his optimism of love, in + his supreme confidence in man's destiny and sense of the infinite + height of the moral horizon of humanity, in his courageous faith in + the good, and his profound conviction of the evanescence of evil, + there lies a vital energy whose inspiring power we are yet destined + to feel. Until a spirit kindred to his own arises, able to push the + battle further into the same region, much of the practical task of + the age that is coming will consist in living out in detail the ideas + to which he has given expression.</p> + + <p>I contend, then, not merely for a larger charity, but for a truer + view of the facts of history than is evinced by those who set aside + the poets and philosophers as mere dreamers, and conceive that the + sciences alone occupy the region of valid thought in all its extent. + There is a universal brotherhood of which all who think are members. + Not only do they all contribute to man's victory over his environment + and himself, but they contribute in a manner <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg046" id="pg046">046</a></span> which is + substantially the same. There are many points of superficial + distinction between the processes of philosophy and science, and + between both and the method of poetry; but the inner movement, if one + may so express it, is identical in all. It is time to have done with + the notion that philosophers occupy a transcendent region beyond + experience, or spin spiritual cocoons by <i>a priori</i> methods, and + with the view that scientific men are mere empirics, building their + structures from below by an <i>a posteriori</i> way of thought, + without the help of any ruling conceptions. All alike endeavour to + interpret experience, but none of them get their principles from + it.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i10">"But, friends,</p> + + <p>Truth is within ourselves; it takes no rise</p> + + <p>From outward things, whate'er you may believe."</p> + </div> + + <p>There is room and need for the higher synthesis of philosophy and + poetry, as well as for the more palpable and, at the same time, more + narrow colligating conceptions of the systematic sciences. The + quantitative relations between material objects, which are + investigated by mathematics and physics, do not exhaust the realm of + the knowable, so as to leave no place for the poet's, or the + philosopher's view of the world. The scientific investigator who, + like Mr. Tyndall, so far forgets the limitations of his province as + to use his natural data as premises for religious or irreligious + conclusions, is as illogical as the popular preacher, who attacks + scientific conclusions because they are not consistent with his + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg047" id="pg047">047</a></span> + theological presuppositions. Looking only at their primary aspects, + we cannot say that religious presuppositions and the scientific + interpretation of facts are either consistent or inconsistent: they + are simply different. Their harmony or discord can come only when the + higher principles of philosophy have been fully developed, and when + the departmental ideas of the various sciences are organized into a + view of the world as a whole. And this is a task which has not as yet + been accomplished. The forces from above and below have not met. When + they do meet, they will assuredly find that they are friends, and not + foes. For philosophy can articulate its supreme conception only by + interaction with the sciences; and, on the other hand, the progress + of science, and the effectiveness of its division of labour, are + ultimately conditioned by its sensitiveness to the hints, given by + poets and philosophers, of those wider principles in virtue of which + the world is conceived as a unity. There are many, indeed, who cannot + see the wood for the trees, as there are others who cannot see the + trees for the wood. Carlyle cared nothing though science were able to + turn a sunbeam on its axis; Ruskin sees little in the advance of + invention except more slag-hills. And scientific men have not been + slow to return with interest the scorn of the moralists. But a more + comprehensive view of the movement of human knowledge will show that + none labour in vain. For its movement is that of a thing which + <i>grows</i>! and in growth there is always movement <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg048" id="pg048">048</a></span> towards both + unity and difference. Science, in pursuing truth into greater and + greater detail, is constrained by its growing consciousness of the + unlimited wealth of its material, to divide and isolate its interests + more and more; and thus, at the same time, the need for the poets and + philosophers is growing deeper, their task is becoming more difficult + of achievement, and a greater triumph in so far as it is achieved. + Both science and philosophy are working towards a more concrete view + of the world as an articulated whole. If we cannot quite say with + Browning that "poets never dream," we may yet admit with gratitude + that their dreams are an inspiration.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Sorrow is hard to bear, and doubt is slow to clear.</p> + + <p class="i2">Each sufferer says his say, his scheme of the weal + and woe:</p> + + <p>But God has a few of us whom he whispers in the ear;</p> + + <p class="i2">The rest may reason and welcome: 'tis we musicians + know."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Abt Vogler</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>And side by side with the poetry that grasps the truth in + immediate intuition, there is also the uniting activity of + philosophy, which, catching up its hints, carries "back our scattered + knowledge of the facts and laws of nature to the principle upon which + they rest; and, on the other hand, develops that principle so as to + fill all the details of knowledge with a significance which they + cannot have in themselves, but only as seen <i>sub specie + aeternitatis</i>."<sup>B</sup></p> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>The Problem of Philosophy at the Present Time</i>, by + Professor Caird.</p> + </div> + + <p>So far we have spoken of the function of philosophy <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg049" id="pg049">049</a></span> in the + interpretation of the phenomena of the outer world. It bears witness + to the unity of knowledge, and strives by the constructive criticism + of the categories of science to render that unity explicit. Its + function is, no doubt, valid and important, for it is evident that + man cannot rest content with fragmentary knowledge. But still, it + might be objected that it is premature at present to endeavour to + formulate that unity. Physics, chemistry, biology, and the other + sciences, while they necessarily presuppose the unity of knowledge, + and attempt in their own way and in their own sphere to discover it, + are making very satisfactory headway without raising any of the + desperate questions of metaphysics as to its ultimate nature. For + them it is not likely to matter for a long time to come whether + Optimism or Pessimism, Materialism or Idealism, or none of them, be + true. In any case the principles they establish are valid. Physical + relations always remain true; "ginger will be hot i' the mouth, and + there will be more cakes and ale." It is only when the sciences break + down beneath the weight of knowledge and prove themselves inadequate, + that it becomes necessary or advantageous to seek for more + comprehensive principles. At present is it not better to persevere in + the way of science, than to be seduced from it by the desire to solve + ultimate problems, which, however reasonable and pressing, seem to be + beyond our power to answer?</p> + + <p>Such reasonings are not convincing; still, so far as natural + science is concerned, they seem to <span class="pagenum"><a name= + "pg050" id="pg050">050</a></span> indicate that there might be no + great harm in ignoring, for a time, its dependence on the wider + aspects of human thought. There is no department of nature so + limited, but that it may more than satisfy the largest ambition of + the individual for knowledge. But this attitude of indifference to + ultimate questions is liable at any moment to be disturbed.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Just when we are safest, there's a sunset-touch,</p> + + <p>A fancy from a flower-bell, some one's death,</p> + + <p>A chorus-ending from Euripides,—</p> + + <p>And that's enough for fifty hopes and fears</p> + + <p>As old and new at once as nature's self,</p> + + <p>To rap and knock and enter in our soul,</p> + + <p>Take hands and dance there, a fantastic ring,</p> + + <p>Round the ancient idol, on his base again,—</p> + + <p>The grand Perhaps! We look on helplessly.</p> + + <p>There the old misgivings, crooked questions are."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Bishop Blougram's Apology.</i></p> + </div> + + <p>Amongst the facts of our experience which cry most loudly for some + kind of solution, are those of our own inner life. We are in pressing + need of a "working hypothesis" wherewith to understand ourselves, as + well as of a theory which will explain the revolution of the planets, + or the structure of an oyster. And this self of ours intrudes + everywhere. It is only by resolutely shutting our eyes, that we can + forget the part it plays even in the outer world of natural science. + So active is it in the constitution of things, so dependent is their + nature on the nature of our knowing faculties, that scientific men + themselves admit that their surest <span class="pagenum"><a name= + "pg051" id="pg051">051</a></span> results are only hypothetical. + Their truth depends on laws of thought which natural science does not + investigate.</p> + + <p>But quite apart from this doctrine of the relativity of knowledge, + which is generally first acknowledged and then ignored, every man, + the worst and the best alike, is constrained to take some + <i>practical</i> attitude towards his fellows. Man is never alone + with nature, and the connections with his fellows which sustain his + intelligent life, are liable to bring him into trouble, if they are + not to some degree understood.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"There's power in me," said Bishop Blougram, "and will to + dominate</p> + + <p>Which I must exercise, they hurt me else."</p> + </div> + + <p>The impulse to know is only a phase of the more general impulse to + act and to be. The specialist's devotion to his science is his answer + to a demand, springing from his practical need, that he realize + himself through action. He does not construct his edifice of + knowledge, as the bird is supposed to build its nest, without any + consciousness of an end to be attained thereby. Even if, like + Lessing, he values the pursuit of truth for its own sake, still what + stings him into effort is the sense that in truth only can he find + the means of satisfying and realizing himself. Beneath all man's + activities, as their very spring and source, there lies some dim + conception of an end to be attained. This is his moral consciousness, + which no neglect will utterly suppress. <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg052" id="pg052">052</a></span> All human effort, + the effort to know like every other, conceals within it a reference + to some good, conceived at the time as supreme and complete; and + this, in turn, contains a theory both of man's self and of the + universe on which he must impress his image. Every man must have his + philosophy of life, simply because he must act; though, in many + cases, that philosophy may be latent and unconscious, or, at least, + not a definite object of reflection. The most elementary question + directed at his moral consciousness will at once elicit the universal + element. We cannot ask whether an action be right or wrong without + awakening all the echoes of metaphysics. As there is no object on the + earth's surface whose equilibrium is not fixed by its relation to the + earth's centre, so the most elementary moral judgment, the simplest + choice, the most irrational vagaries of a will calling itself free + and revelling in its supposed lawlessness, are dominated by the + conception of a universal good. Everything that a man does is an + attempt to articulate his view of this good, with a particular + content. Hence, man as a moral agent is always the centre of his own + horizon, and stands right beneath the zenith. Little as he may be + aware of it, his relation between himself and his supreme good is + direct. And he orders his whole world from his point of view, just as + he regards East and West as meeting at the spot on which he stands. + Whether he will or not, he cannot but regard the universe of men and + objects as the instrument of his purposes. He extracts <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg053" id="pg053">053</a></span> all its interest + and meaning from himself. His own shadow falls upon it all. If he is + selfish, that is, if he interprets the self that is in him as + vulturous, then the whole outer world and his fellow-men fall for him + into the category of carrion, or not-carrion. If he knows himself as + spirit, as the energy of love or reason, if the prime necessity he + recognizes within himself is the necessity to be good, then the + universe becomes for him an instrument wherewith moral character is + evolved. In all cases alike, his life-work is an effort to rob the + world of its alien character, and to translate it into terms of + himself.</p> + + <p>We are in the habit of fixing a chasm between a man's deeds and + his metaphysical, moral, and religious creed; and even of thinking + that he can get on "in a sufficiently prosperous manner," without any + such creed. Can we not digest without a theory of peptics, or do + justice without constructing an ideal state? The truest answer, + though it is an answer easily misunderstood, is that we cannot. In + the sphere of morality, at least, action, depends on knowledge: + Socrates was right in saying that virtuous conduct ignorant of its + end is accidental. Man's action, so far as it is good or evil, is + shot through and through with his intelligence. And once we clearly + distinguish between belief and profession, between the motives which + really impel our actions and the psychological account of them with + which we may deceive ourselves and others, we shall be obliged to + confess that we always act our creed. A man's conduct, just because + he is man, is generated by his view of himself and <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg054" id="pg054">054</a></span> his world. He who + cheats his neighbour believes in tortuosity, and, as Carlyle says, + has the Supreme Quack for his God. No one ever acted without some + dim, though perhaps foolish enough, half-belief that the world was at + his back; whether he plots good or evil he always has God as an + accomplice. And this is why character cannot be really bettered by + any peddling process. Moralists and preachers are right in insisting + on the need of a new life, that is, of a new principle, as the basis + of any real improvement; and such a principle necessarily carries in + it a new attitude towards men, and a new interpretation of the moral + agent himself and of his world.</p> + + <p>Thus, wherever we touch the practical life of man, we are at once + referred to a metaphysic. His creed is the heart of his character, + and it beats as a pulse in every action. Hence, when we deal with + moral life, we <i>must</i> start from the centre. In our intellectual + life, it is not obviously unreasonable to suppose that there is no + need of endeavouring to reach upward to a constructive idea, which + makes the universe one, but when we act, such self-deception is not + possible. As a moral agent, and a moral agent man always is, he not + only may, but must have his working hypothesis, and that hypothesis + must be all-inclusive. As there are natural laws which connect man's + physical movements with the whole system of nature, so there are + spiritual relations which connect him with the whole spiritual + universe; and spiritual relations are always direct.</p> + + <p>Now it follows from this, that, whenever we consider <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg055" id="pg055">055</a></span> man as a moral + agent, that is, as an agent who converts ideas into actual things, + the need of a philosophy becomes evident. Instead of condemning ideal + interpretations of the universe as useless dreams, the foolish + products of an ambition of thought which refuses to respect the + limits of the human intellect, we shall understand that philosophers + and poets are really striving with greater clearness of vision, and + in a more sustained manner, to perform the task which all men are + obliged to perform in some way or other. Man subsists as a natural + being only on condition of comprehending, to some degree, the + conditions of his natural life, and the laws of his natural + environment. From earliest youth upwards, he is learning that fire + will burn and water drown, and that he can play with the elements + with safety only within the sphere lit up by his intelligence. Nature + will not pardon the blunders of ignorance, nor tamely submit to every + hasty construction. And this truth is still more obvious in relation + to man's moral life. Here, too, and in a pre-eminent degree, conduct + waits on intelligence. Deep will only answer unto deep; and great + characters only come with much meditation on the things that are + highest. And, on the other hand, the misconstruction of life's + meaning flings man back upon himself, and makes his action nugatory. + Byronism was driven "howling home again," says the poet. The universe + will not be interpreted in terms of sense, nor be treated as carrion, + as Carlyle said. There is no rest in the "Everlasting No," because it + is a <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg056" id="pg056">056</a></span> + wrong view of man and of the world. Or rather, the negative is not + everlasting; and man is driven onwards by despair, through the + "Centre of Indifference," till he finds a "Universal Yea"—a + true view of his relation to the universe.</p> + + <p>There is given to men the largest choice to do or to let alone, at + every step in life. But there is one necessity which they cannot + escape, because they carry it within them. They absolutely must try + to make the world their home, find some kind of reconciling idea + between themselves and the forces amidst which they move, have some + kind of working hypothesis of life. Nor is it possible to admit that + they will find rest till they discover a true hypothesis. If they do + not seek it by reflection—if, in their ardour to penetrate into + the secrets of nature, they forget themselves; if they allow the + supreme facts of their moral life to remain in the confusion of + tradition, and seek to compromise the demands of their spirit by + sacrificing to the idols of their childhood's faith; if they fortify + themselves in the indifference of agnosticism,—they must reap + the harvest of their irreflection. Ignorance is not harmless in + matters of character any more than in the concerns of our outer life. + There are in national and in individual history seasons of despair, + and that despair, when it is deepest, is ever found to be the shadow + of moral failure—the result of going out into action with a + false view of the purpose of human life, and a wrong conception of + man's destiny. At such times, the people have not understood + themselves <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg057" id= + "pg057">057</a></span> or their environment, and, in consequence, + they come into collision with their own welfare. There is no + experiment so dangerous to an age or people, as that of relegating to + the common ignorance of unreasoning faith the deep concerns of moral + conduct; and there is no attitude more pitiable than that which leads + it to turn a deaf ear and the lip of contempt towards those + philosophers who carry the spirit of scientific inquiry into these + higher regions, and endeavour to establish for mankind, by the + irrefragable processes of reason, those principles on which rest all + the great elements of man's destiny. We cannot act without a theory + of life; and to whom shall we look for such a theory, except to those + who, undaunted by the difficulties of the task, ask once more, and + strive to answer, those problems which man cannot entirely escape, as + long as he continues to think and act?</p><span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg058" id="pg058">058</a></span> + <hr class="full" /> + + <h2><a name="ch03" id="ch03">CHAPTER III.</a></h2> + + <h3>BROWNING'S PLACE IN ENGLISH POETRY.</h3> + + <blockquote> + "But there's a great contrast between him and me. He seems very + content with life, and takes much satisfaction in the world. It's a + very strange and curious spectacle to behold a man in these days so + confidently cheerful." (<i>Carlyle</i>.) + </blockquote> + + <p>It has been said of Carlyle, who may for many reasons be + considered as our poet's twin figure, that he laid the foundations of + his world of thought in <i>Sartor Resartus</i>, and never enlarged + them. His <i>Orientirung</i> was over before he was forty years + old—as is, indeed, the case with most men. After that period + there was no fundamental change in his view of the world; nothing + which can be called a new idea disturbed his outline sketch of the + universe. He lived afterwards only to fill it in, showing with ever + greater detail the relations of man to man in history, and + emphasizing with greater grimness the war of good and evil in human + action. There is evidence, it is true, that the formulae from which + he more or less consciously set forth, ultimately proved too narrow + for him, and we find him beating himself in vain against their + limitations; still, on the whole, Carlyle speculated within the range + and influence of <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg059" id= + "pg059">059</a></span> principles adopted early in life, and never + abandoned for higher or richer ideas, or substantially changed.</p> + + <p>In these respects, there is considerable resemblance between + Carlyle and Browning. Browning, indeed, fixed his point of view and + chose his battleground still earlier; and he held it resolutely to + his life's close. In his <i>Pauline</i> and in his Epilogue to + <i>Asolando</i> we catch the triumphant tone of a single idea, which, + during all the long interval, had never sunk into silence. Like</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"The wise thrush, he sings each song twice over,</p> + + <p>Lest you should think he never could recapture</p> + + <p>The first fine careless rapture!" <sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Home Thoughts from Abroad</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>Moreover, these two poets, if I may be permitted to call Carlyle a + poet, taught the same truth. They were both witnesses to the presence + of God in the spirit of man, and looked at this life in the light of + another and a higher; or rather, they penetrated through the husk of + time and saw that eternity is even here, a tranquil element + underlying the noisy antagonisms of man's earthly life. Both of them, + like Plato's philosopher, made their home in the sunlight of ideal + truth: they were not denizens of the cave taking the things of sense + for those of thought, shadows for realities, echoes for the voices of + men.</p> + + <p>But, while Carlyle fought his way into this region, Browning found + himself in it from the first; while Carlyle bought his freedom with a + great sum, the poet "was free born." Carlyle saw the old world + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg060" id="pg060">060</a></span> faith + break up around him, and its fragments never ceased to embarrass his + path. He was <i>at</i> the point of transition, present at the + collision of the old and new, and in the midst of the confusion. He, + more than any other English writer, was the instrument of the change + from the Deism of the eighteenth century and the despair which + followed it, into the larger faith of our own. But, for Browning, + there was a new heaven and a new earth, and old things had passed + away. This notable contrast between the two men, arising at once from + their disposition and their moral environment, had far-reaching + effects on their lives and their writings. But their affinity was + deeper than the difference, for they are essentially heirs and + exponents of the same movement in English thought.</p> + + <p>The main characteristic of that movement is that it is both moral + and religious, a devotion to God and the active service of man, a + recognition at once of the rights of nature and of spirit. It does + not, on the one hand, raise the individual as a natural being to the + throne of the universe, and make all forces social, political, and + spiritual stoop to his rights; nor does it, on the other hand, deny + these rights, or make the individual a mere instrument of society. It + at least attempts to reconcile the fundamental facts of human nature, + without compromising any of them. It cannot be called either + individualistic or socialistic; but it strives to be both at once, so + that both man and society mean more to this age than they ever did + before. The <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg061" id= + "pg061">061</a></span> narrow formulae that cramped the thought of + the period which preceded ours have been broken through. No one can + pass from the hedonists and individualists to Carlyle and Browning + without feeling that these two men are representatives of new forces + in politics, in religion, and in literature,—forces which will + undoubtedly effect momentous changes before they are caught again and + fixed in creeds.</p> + + <p>That a new epoch in English thought was veritably opened by them + is indicated by the surprise and bewilderment they occasioned at + their first appearance. Carlyle had Emerson to break his loneliness + and Browning had Rossetti; but, to most other men at that day, + <i>Sartor</i> and <i>Pauline</i> were all but unintelligible. The + general English reader could make little of the strange figures that + had broken into the realm of literature; and the value and + significance of their work, as well as its originality, will be + recognized better by ourselves if we take a hurried glance at the + times which lay behind them. Its main worth will be found to lie in + the fact that they strove to bring together again certain fundamental + elements, on which the moral life of man must always rest, and which + had fallen asunder in the ages which preceded their own.</p> + + <p>The whole-hearted, instinctive life of the Elizabethan age was + narrowed and deepened into the severe one-sidedness of Puritanism, + which cast on the bright earth the sombre shadow of a life to come. + England was given up for a time to a magnificent half-truth. It did + not</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg062" id= + "pg062">062</a></span> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i12">"Wait</p> + + <p>The slow and sober uprise all around</p> + + <p>O' the building,"</p> + </div> + + <p>but</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i10">"Ran up right to roof</p> + + <p>A sudden marvel, piece of perfectness."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau.</i></p> + </div> + + <p>After Puritanism came Charles the Second and the rights of the + flesh, which rights were gradually clarified, till they contradicted + themselves in the benevolent self-seeking of altruistic hedonism. + David Hume led the world out of the shadow of eternity, and showed + that it was only an object of the five senses; or of six, if we add + that of "hunger." The divine element was explained away, and the + proper study of mankind was, not man, as that age thought, but man + reduced to his beggarly elements—a being animated solely by the + sensuous springs of pleasure and pain, which should properly, as + Carlyle thought, go on all fours, and not lay claim to the dignity of + being moral. All things were reduced to what they seemed, robbed of + their suggestiveness, changed into definite, sharp-edged, mutually + exclusive particulars. The world was an aggregate of isolated facts, + or, at the best, a mechanism into which particulars were fitted by + force; and society was a gathering of mere individuals, repelling + each other by their needs and greed, with a ring of natural necessity + to bind them together. It was a fit time for political economy to + supplant ethics. There was nowhere an ideal which could lift man + above his natural self, and teach him, by losing it, to find a higher + life. And, as a necessary <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg063" id= + "pg063">063</a></span> consequence, religion gave way to naturalism + and poetry to prose.</p> + + <p>After this age of prose came our own day. The new light first + flushed the modern world in the writings of the philosopher-poets of + Germany: Kant and Lessing, Fichte and Schiller, Goethe and Hegel. + They brought about the Copernican change. For them this world of the + five senses, of space and time and natural cause, instead of being + the fixed centre around which all things revolved, was explicable + only in its relation to a system which was spiritual; and man found + his meaning in his connection with society, the life of which + stretched endlessly far back into the past and forward into the + future. Psychology gave way to metaphysics. The universal element in + the thought of man was revealed. Instead of mechanism there was life. + A new spirit of poetry and philosophy brought God back into the + world, revealed his incarnation in the mind of man, and changed + nature into a pellucid garment within which throbbed the love divine. + The antagonism of hard alternatives was at an end; the universe was + spirit-woven and every smallest object was "filled full of magical + music, as they freight a star with light." There were no longer two + worlds, but one; for "the other" world penetrated this, and was + revealed in it: thought and sense, spirit and nature, were + reconciled. These thinkers made room for man, as against the + Puritans, and for God, as against their successors. Instead of the + hopeless struggle of ascetic morality, which divides man against + himself, <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg064" id= + "pg064">064</a></span> they awakened him to that sense of his + reconciliation with his ideal which religion gives: "Psyche drinks + its stream and forgets her sorrows."</p> + + <p>Now, this is just the soil where art blooms. For what is beauty + but the harmony of thought and sense, a universal meaning caught and + tamed in the particular? To the poet each little flower that blooms + has endless worth, and is regarded as perfect and complete; for he + sees that the spirit of the whole dwells in it. It whispers to him + the mystery of the infinite; it is a pulse in which beats the + universal heart. The true poet finds God everywhere; for the ideal is + actual wherever beauty dwells. And there is the closest affinity + between art and religion, as its history proves, from Job and Isaiah, + Homer and Aeschylus, to our own poet; for both art and religion lift + us, each in its own way, above one-sidedness and limitation, to the + region of the universal. The one draws God to man, brings perfection + <i>here</i>, and reaches its highest form in the joyous life of + Greece, where the natural world was clothed with almost supernatural + beauty; the other lifts man to God, and finds this life good because + it reflects and suggests the greater life that is to be. Both poetry + and religion are a reconciliation and a satisfaction; both lift man + above the contradictions of limited existence, and place him in the + region of peace—where,</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i2">"with an eye made quiet by the power</p> + + <p>Of harmony, and the deep power of joy,</p> + + <p>He sees into the life of things."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Tintern Abbey.</i></p> + </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg065" id="pg065">065</a></span> + + <p>In this sense, it will be always true of the poet, as it is of the + religious man, that</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i12">"the world,</p> + + <p>The beauty and the wonder and the power,</p> + + <p>The shapes of things, their colours, lights and shades,</p> + + <p>Changes, surprises,"<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Fra Lippo Lippi</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>lead him back to God, who made it all.</p> + + <p>He is essentially a witness to the divine element in the + world.</p> + + <p>It is the rediscovery of this divine element, after its expulsion + by the age of Deism and doubt, that has given to this century its + poetic grandeur. Unless we regard Burke as the herald of the new era, + we may say that England first felt the breath of the returning spirit + in the poems of Shelley and Wordsworth.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"The One remains, the many change and pass;</p> + + <p class="i2">Heaven's light for ever shines, earth's shadows + fly;</p> + + <p>Life, like a dome of many-coloured glass,</p> + + <p class="i2">Stains the white radiance of eternity,</p> + + <p class="i2">Until death tramples it to fragments."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Adonais</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>"And I have felt," says Wordsworth,</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"A presence that disturbs me with the joy</p> + + <p>Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime</p> + + <p>Of something far more deeply interfused,</p> + + <p>Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns,</p> + + <p>And the round ocean and the living air,</p> + + <p>And the blue sky, and in the mind of man:</p> + + <p>A motion and a spirit, that impels</p> + + <p>All thinking things, all objects of all thought,</p> + + <p>And rolls through all things."<sup>C</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>C: <i>Tintern Abbey</i>.</p> + </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg066" id="pg066">066</a></span> + + <p>Such notes as these could not be struck by Pope, nor be understood + by the age of prose. Still they are only the prelude of the fuller + song of Browning. Whether he be a greater poet than these or + not,—a question whose answer can benefit nothing, for each poet + has his own worth, and reflects by his own facet the universal + truth—his poetry contains in it larger elements, and the + promise of a deeper harmony from the harsher discords of his more + stubborn material. Even where their spheres touch, Browning held by + the artistic truth in a different manner. To Shelley, perhaps the + most intensely spiritual of all our poets,</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"That light whose smile kindles the universe,</p> + + <p>That beauty in which all things work and move,"</p> + </div> + + <p>was an impassioned sentiment, a glorious intoxication; to Browning + it was a conviction, reasoned and willed, possessing the whole man, + and held in the sober moments when the heart is silent. "The heavy + and the weary weight of all this unintelligible world" was lightened + for Wordsworth, only when he was far from the haunts of men, and free + from the "dreary intercourse of daily life"; but Browning weaved his + song of hope right amidst the wail and woe of man's sin and + wretchedness. For Wordsworth "sensations sweet, felt in the blood and + felt along the heart, passed into his purer mind with tranquil + restoration," and issued "in a serene and blessed mood"; but + Browning's poetry is not merely the poetry of the emotions however + sublimated. <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg067" id= + "pg067">067</a></span> He starts with the hard repellent fact, + crushes by sheer force of thought its stubborn rind, presses into it, + and brings forth the truth at its heart. The greatness of Browning's + poetry is in its perceptive grip: and in nothing is he more original + than in the manner in which he takes up his task, and assumes his + artistic function. In his postponement of feeling to thought we + recognize a new poetic method, the significance of which we cannot + estimate as yet. But, although we may fail to apprehend the meaning + of the new method he employs, we cannot fail to perceive the fact, + which is not less striking, that the region from which he quarries + his material is new.</p> + + <p>And yet he does not break away abruptly from his predecessors. His + kinship with them, in that he recognizes the presence of God in + nature, is everywhere evident. We quote one passage, scarcely to be + surpassed by any of our poets, as indicative of his power of dealing + with the supernaturalism of nature.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"The centre-fire heaves underneath the earth,</p> + + <p>And the earth changes like a human face;</p> + + <p>The molten ore burst up among the rocks,</p> + + <p>Winds into the stone's heart, outbranches bright</p> + + <p>In hidden mines, spots barren river-beds,</p> + + <p>Crumbles into fine sand where sunbeams bask—</p> + + <p>God joys therein. The wroth sea's waves are edged</p> + + <p>With foam, white as the bitter lip of hate,</p> + + <p>When, in the solitary waste, strange groups</p> + + <p>Of young volcanos come up, cyclops-like,</p> + + <p>Staring together with their eyes on flame—</p> + + <p>God tastes a pleasure in their uncouth pride.</p> + + <p>Then all is still; earth is a wintry clod:</p><span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg068" id="pg068">068</a></span> + + <p>But spring-wind, like a dancing psaltress, passes</p> + + <p>Over its breast to waken it, rare verdure</p> + + <p>Buds tenderly upon rough banks, between</p> + + <p>The withered tree-roots and the cracks of frost,</p> + + <p>Like a smile striving with a wrinkled face.</p> + <hr /> + + <p>"Above, birds fly in merry flocks, the lark</p> + + <p>Soars up and up, shivering for very joy;</p> + + <p>Afar the ocean sleeps; white fishing gulls</p> + + <p>Flit where the strand is purple with its tribe</p> + + <p>Of nested limpets; savage creatures seek</p> + + <p>Their loves in wood and plain—and God renews</p> + + <p>His ancient rapture. Thus He dwells in all,</p> + + <p>From life's minute beginnings, up at last</p> + + <p>To man—the consummation of this scheme</p> + + <p>Of being, the completion of this sphere of life."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Paracelsus.</i></p> + </div> + + <p>Such passages as these contain neither the rapt, reflective calm + of Wordsworth's solemn tones, nor the ethereal intoxication of + Shelley's spirit-music; but there is in them the same consciousness + of the infinite meaning of natural facts. And beyond this, there is + also, in the closing lines, a hint of a new region for art. Shelley + and Wordsworth were the poets of Nature, as all truly say; Browning + was the poet of the human soul. For Shelley, the beauty in which all + things work and move was well-nigh "quenched by the eclipsing curse + of the birth of man"; and Wordsworth lived beneath the habitual sway + of fountains, meadows, hills and groves, while he kept grave watch + o'er man's mortality, and saw the shades of the prison-house gather + round him. From the life of man they garnered nought but mad + indignation, or mellowed sadness. It was a foolish and furious strife + with <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg069" id="pg069">069</a></span> + unknown powers fought in the dark, from which the poet kept aloof, + for he could not see that God dwelt amidst the chaos. But Browning + found "harmony in immortal souls, spite of the muddy vesture of + decay." He found nature crowned in man, though man was mean and + miserable. At the heart of the most wretched abortion of wickedness + there was the mark of the loving touch of God. Shelley turned away + from man; Wordsworth paid him rare visits, like those of a being from + a strange world, made wise and sad with looking at him from afar; + Browning dwelt with him. He was a comrade in the fight, and ever in + the van of man's endeavour bidding him be of good cheer. He was a + witness for God in the midmost dark, where meet in deathless struggle + the elemental powers of right and wrong. For God is present for him, + not only in the order and beauty of nature, but in the world of will + and thought. Beneath the caprice and wilful lawlessness of individual + action, he saw a beneficent purpose which cannot fail, but "has its + way with man, not he with it."</p> + + <p>Now this was a new world for poetry to enter into; a new depth to + penetrate with hope; and Browning was the first of modern poets + to</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i12">"Stoop</p> + + <p>Into the vast and unexplored abyss,</p> + + <p class="i8">Strenuously beating</p> + + <p>The silent boundless regions of the sky."</p> + </div> + + <p>It is also a new world for religion and morality; <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg070" id="pg070">070</a></span> and to understand + it demands a deeper insight into the fundamental elements of human + life.</p> + + <p>To show this in a proximately adequate manner, we should be + obliged, as already hinted, to connect the poet's work, not merely + with that of his English predecessors, but with the deeper and more + comprehensive movement of the thought of Germany since the time of + Kant. It would be necessary to indicate how, by breaking a way + through the narrow creeds and equally narrow scepticism of the + previous age, the new spirit extended the horizon of man's active and + contemplative life, and made him free of the universe, and the + repository of the past conquests of his race. It proposed to man the + great task of solving the problem of humanity, but it strengthened + him with its past achievement, and inspired him with the conviction + of its boundless progress. It is not that the significance of the + individual or the meaning of his endeavour is lost. Under this new + view, man has still to fight for his own hand, and it is still + recognized that spirit is always burdened with its own fate and + cannot share its responsibility. Morality does not give way to + religion or pass into it, and there is a sense in which the + individual is always alone in the sphere of duty.</p> + + <p>But from this new point of view the individual is re-explained for + us, and we begin to understand that he is the focus of a light which + is universal, "one more incarnation of the mind of God." His moral + task is no longer to seek his own in the old sense, but to elevate + humanity; for it is only by <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg071" id= + "pg071">071</a></span> taking this circuit that he can come to his + own. Such a task as this is a sufficiently great one to occupy all + time; but it is to humanity in him that the task belongs, and it will + therefore be achieved. This is no new one-sidedness. It does not + mean, to those who comprehend it, the supplanting of the individual + thought by the collective thought, or the substitution of humanity + for man. The universal is <i>in</i> the particular, the fact + <i>is</i> the law. There is no collision between the whole and the + part, for the whole lives in the part. As each individual plant has + its own life and beauty and worth, although the universe has + conspired to bring it into being; so also, and in a far higher + degree, man has his own duty and his own dignity, although he is but + the embodiment of forces, natural and spiritual, which have come from + the endless past. Like a letter in a word, or a word in a sentence, + he gets his meaning from his context; <i>but the sentence is + meaningless without him</i>. "Rays from all round converge in him," + and he has no power except that which has been lent to him; but all + the same, nay, all the more, he must</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Think as if man never thought before!</p> + + <p>Act as if all creation hung attent</p> + + <p>On the acting of such faculty as his."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau.</i></p> + </div> + + <p>His responsibility, his individuality, is not less, but greater, + in that he can, in his thought and moral action, command the forces + that the race has stored for him. The great man speaks the thought of + his <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg072" id="pg072">072</a></span> + people, and his invocations as their priest are just the expression + of their dumb yearnings. And even the mean and insignificant man is + what he is, in virtue of the humanity which is blurred and distorted + within him; and he can shed his insignificance and meanness, only by + becoming a truer vehicle for that humanity.</p> + + <p>Thus, when spirit is spiritually discerned, it is seen that man is + bound to man in a union closer than any physical organism can show; + while "the individual," in the old sense of a being <i>opposed</i> to + society and <i>opposed</i> to the world, is found to be a fiction of + abstract thought, not discoverable anywhere, because not real. And, + on the other hand, society is no longer "collective," but so organic + that the whole is potentially in every part—an organism + <i>of</i> organisms.</p> + + <p>The influence of this organic idea in every department of thought + which concerns itself with man is not to be measured. It is already + fast changing all the practical sciences of man—economics, + politics, ethics and religion. The material, being newly interpreted, + is wrought into a new purpose, and revelation is once more bringing + about a reformation. But human action in its ethical aspect is, above + all, charged with a new significance. The idea of duty has received + an expansion almost illimitable, and man himself has thereby attained + new worth and dignity—for what is duty except a dignity and + opportunity, man's chance of being good? When we contrast this view + of the life of man as the life of humanity in him, with the old + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg073" id="pg073">073</a></span> + individualism, we may say that morality also has at last, in Bacon's + phrase, passed from the narrow seas into the open ocean. And after + all, the greatest achievement of our age may be not that it has + established the sciences of nature, but that it has made possible the + science of man. We have, at length, reached a point of view from + which we may hope to understand ourselves. Law, order, continuity, in + human action—the essential pre-conditions of a moral + science—were beyond the reach of an individualistic theory. It + left to ethical writers no choice but that of either sacrificing man + to law, or law to man; of denying either the particular or the + universal element in his nature. Naturalism did the first. + Intuitionism, the second. The former made human action the + <i>re</i>action of a natural agent on the incitement of natural + forces. It made man a mere object, a <i>thing</i> capable of being + affected by other things through his faculty of being pained or + pleased; an object acting in obedience to motives that had an + external origin, just like any other object. The latter theory cut + man free from the world and his fellows, endowed him with a will that + had no law, and a conscience that was dogmatic; and thereby succeeded + in stultifying both law and morality.</p> + + <p>But this new consciousness of the relation of man to mankind and + the world takes him out of his isolation and still leaves him free. + It relates men to one another in a humanity, which is incarnated anew + in each of them. It elevates the individual above the <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg074" id="pg074">074</a></span> distinctions of + time; it treasures up the past in him as the active energy of his + knowledge and morality in the present, and also as the potency of the + ideal life of the future. On this view, the individual and the race + are possible only through each other.</p> + + <p>This fundamental change in our way of looking at the life of man + is bound to abolish the ancient landmarks and bring confusion for a + time. Out of the new conception, <i>i.e.,</i> out of the idea of + evolution, has sprung the tumult as well as the strength of our time. + The present age is moved with thoughts beyond the reach of its + powers: great aspirations for the well-being of the people and high + ideals of social welfare flash across its mind, to be followed again + by thicker darkness. There is hardly any limit to its despair or + hope. It has a far larger faith in the destiny of man than any of its + predecessors, and yet it is <i>sure</i> of hardly + anything—except that the ancient rules of human life are false. + Individualism is now detected as scepticism and moral chaos in + disguise. We know that the old methods are no longer of use. We + cannot now cut ourselves free of the fate of others. The confused + cries for help that are heard on every hand are recognized as the + voices of our brethren; and we now know that our fate is involved in + theirs, and that the problem of their welfare is also ours. We + grapple with social questions at last, and recognize that the issues + of life and death lie in the solution of these enigmas. Legislators + and economists, teachers of religion and socialists, are all alike + social reformers. <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg075" id= + "pg075">075</a></span> Philanthropy has taken a deeper meaning; and + all sects bear its banner. But their forces are beaten back by the + social wretchedness, for they have not found the sovereign remedy of + a great idea; and the result is in many ways sad enough. Our social + remedies often work mischief; for we degrade those whom we would + elevate, and in our charity forget justice. We insist on the rights + of the people and the duties of the privileged classes, and thereby + tend to teach greed to those for whom we labour, and goodness to + those whom we condemn. The task that lies before us is plain: we want + the welfare of the people as a whole. But we fail to grasp the + complex social elements together, and our very remedies tend to + sunder them. We know that the public good will not be obtained by + separating man from man, securing each unit in a charmed circle of + personal rights, and protecting it from others by isolation. We must + find a place for the individual within the social organism, and we + know now that this organism has not, as our fathers seemed to think, + the simple constitution of a wooden doll. Society is not put together + mechanically, and the individual cannot be outwardly attached to it, + if he is to be helped, He must rather share its life, be the heir of + the wealth it has garnered for him in the past, and participate in + its onward movement. Between this new social ideal and our + attainment, between the magnitude of our social duties and the + resources of intellect and will at our command, there lies a chasm + which we despair of bridging over.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name= + "pg076" id="pg076">076</a></span> + + <p>The characteristics of this epoch faithfully reflect themselves in + the pages of Carlyle, with whose thoughts those of Browning are + immediately connected. It was Carlyle who first effectively revealed + to England the continuity of human life, and the magnitude of the + issues of individual action. Seeing the infinite in the finite, + living under a continued sense of the mystery that surrounds man, he + flung explosive negations amidst the narrow formulae of the social + and religious orthodoxy of his day, blew down the blinding walls of + ethical individualism, and, amidst much smoke and din, showed his + English readers something of the greatness of the moral world. He + gave us a philosophy of clothes, penetrated through symbols to the + immortal ideas, condemned all shibboleths, and revealed the soul of + humanity behind the external modes of man's activity. He showed us, + in a word, that the world is spiritual, that loyalty to duty is the + foundation of all human good, and that national welfare rests on + character. After reading him, it is impossible for any one who + reflects on the nature of duty to ask, "Am I my brother's keeper?" He + not only imagined, but knew, how "all things the minutest that man + does, minutely influence all men, and the very look of his face + blesses or curses whom-so it lights on, and so generates ever new + blessing or new cursing. I say, there is not a Red Indian, hunting by + Lake Winnipeg, can quarrel with his squaw, but the whole world must + smart for it: will not the price of beaver rise? It is a mathematical + fact <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg077" id="pg077">077</a></span> + that the casting of this pebble from my hand alters the centre of + gravity of the universe." Carlyle dealt the deathblow to the + "laissez-faire" theory rampant in his day, and made each individual + responsible for the race. He has demonstrated that the sphere of duty + does not terminate with ourselves and our next-door neighbours. There + will be no pure air for the correctest Levite to breathe, till the + laws of sanitation have been applied to the moral slums. "Ye are my + brethren," said he, and he adds, as if conscious of his too + denunciatory way of dealing with them, "hence my rage and + sorrow."</p> + + <p>But his consciousness of brotherhood with all men brought only + despair for him. He saw clearly the responsibility of man, but not + the dignity which that implies; he felt the weight of the burden of + humanity upon his own soul, and it crushed him, for he forgot that + all the good of the world was there to help him bear it, and that + "One with God is a majority." He taught only the half-truth, that all + men are united on the side of duty, and that the spiritual life of + each is conditional on striving to save all. But he neglected the + complement of this truth, and forgot the greatness of the beings on + whom so great a duty could be laid. He therefore dignifies humanity + only to degrade it again. The "twenty millions" each must try to save + "are mostly fools." But how fools, when they can have such a task? Is + it not true, on the contrary, that no man ever saw a duty beyond his + strength, and that "man can because he <span class="pagenum"><a name= + "pg078" id="pg078">078</a></span> ought" and ought only because he + can? The evils an individual cannot overcome are the moral + opportunities of his fellows. The good are not lone workers of God's + purposes, and there is no need of despair. Carlyle, like the ancient + prophet, was too conscious of his own mission, and too forgetful of + that of others. "I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts; + because the children of Israel have forgotten Thy covenant, thrown + down Thine alters, and slain Thy prophets, and I, even I only, am + left; and they seek my life, to take it away." He needed, beside the + consciousness of his prophetic function, a consciousness of + brotherhood with humbler workers. "Yet I have left Me seven thousand + in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every + mouth which hath not kissed him." It would have helped him had he + remembered, that there were on all sides other workers engaged on the + temple not made with hands, although he could not hear the sound of + their hammers for the din he made himself. It would have changed his + despair into joy, and his pity into a higher moral quality, had he + been able to believe that, amidst all the millions against whom he + hurled his anathemas, there is no one who, let him do what he will, + is not constrained to illustrate either the folly and wretchedness of + sin, or the glory of goodness. It is not given to any one, least of + all to the wicked, to hold back the onward movement of the race, or + to destroy the impulse for good which is planted within + it.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg079" id= + "pg079">079</a></span> + + <p>But Carlyle saw only one side of the truth about man's moral + nature and destiny. He knew, as the ancient prophets did, that evil + is potential wreck; and he taxed the power of metaphor to the utmost + to indicate, how wrong gradually takes root, and ripens into + putrescence and self-combustion, in obedience to a necessity which is + absolute. That morality is the essence of things, that wrong + <i>must</i> prove its weakness, that right is the only might, is + reiterated and illustrated on all his pages; they are now + commonplaces of speculation on matters of history, if not conscious + practical principles which guide its makers. But Carlyle never + inquired into the character of this moral necessity, and he + overlooked the beneficence which places death at the heart of sin. He + never saw wrong except on its way to execution, or in the death + throes; but he did not look in the face of the gentle power that led + it on to death. He saw the necessity which rules history, but not the + beneficent character of that necessity.</p> + + <p>The same limitations marred his view of duty, which was his + greatest revelation to his age. He felt its categorical authority and + its binding force. But the power which imposed the duty was an alien + power, awful in majesty, infinite in might, a "great task-master"; + and the duty itself was an outer law, written in letters of flame + across the high heavens, in comparison with which man's action at its + best sank into failure. His only virtue is obedience, and his last + rendering even of himself is <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg080" + id="pg080">080</a></span> "unprofitable servant." In this he has much + of the combined strength and weakness of the old Scottish Calvinism. + "He stands between the individual and the Infinite without hope or + guide. He has a constant disposition to crush the human being by + comparing him with God," said Mazzini, with marvellous penetration. + "From his lips, at times so daring, we seem to hear every instant the + cry of the Breton Mariner—'My God protect me! My bark is so + small, and Thy ocean so vast.'" His reconciliation of God and man was + incomplete: God seemed to him to have manifested Himself <i>to</i> + man but not <i>in</i> man. He did not see that "the Eternity which is + before and behind us is also within us."</p> + + <p>But the moral law which commands is just the reflection of the + aspirations of progressive man, who always creates his own horizon. + The extension of duty is the objective counterpart of man's growth; a + proof of victory and not of failure, a sign that man is mounting + upwards. And, if so, it is irrational to infer the impossibility of + success from the magnitude of the demands of a moral law, which is + itself the promise of a better future. The hard problems set for us + by our social environment are recognized as set by ourselves; for, in + matters of morality, the eye sees only what the heart prompts. The + very statement of the difficulty contains the potency of its + solution; for evil, when understood, is on the way towards being + overcome, and the good, when seen, contains the promise of its own + fulfilment. It is ignorance which is ruinous, as when the cries of + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg081" id="pg081">081</a></span> + humanity beat against a deaf ear; and we can take a comfort, denied + to Carlyle, from the fact that he has made us awake to our social + duties. He has let loose the confusion upon us, and it is only + natural that we should at first be overcome by a sense of bewildered + helplessness. But this very sense contains the germ of hope, and + England is struggling to its feet to wrestle with its wrongs. Carlyle + has brought us within sight of our future, and we are now taking a + step into it. He has been our guide in the wilderness; but he died + there, and was denied the view from Pisgah.</p> + + <p>Now, this view was given to Robert Browning, and he broke out into + a song of victory, whose strains will give strength and comfort to + many in the coming time. That his solution of the evils of life is + not final, may at once be admitted. There are elements in the problem + of which he has taken no account, and which will force those who seek + light on the deeper mysteries of man's moral nature, to go beyond + anything that the poet has to say. Even the poet himself grows, at + least in some directions, less confident of the completeness of his + triumph as he grows older. His faith in the good does not fail, but + it is the faith of one who confesses to ignorance, and links himself + to his finitude. Still, so thorough is his conviction of the moral + purpose of life, of the certainty of the good towards which man is + moving, and of the beneficence of the power which is at work + everywhere in the world, that many of his poems ring like the + triumphant songs of Luther.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg082" + id="pg082">082</a></span> + <hr class="full" /> + + <h2><a name="ch04" id="ch04">CHAPTER IV.</a></h2> + + <h3>BROWNING'S OPTIMISM.</h3> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Gladness be with thee, Helper of the World!</p> + + <p>I think this is the authentic sign and seal</p> + + <p>Of Godship, that it ever waxes glad,</p> + + <p>And more glad, until gladness blossoms, bursts</p> + + <p>Into a rage to suffer for mankind,</p> + + <p>And recommence at sorrow."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Balaustion's Adventure</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>I have tried to show that one of the distinctive features of the + present era is the stress it lays on the worth of the moral life of + man, and the new significance it has given to that life by its view + of the continuity of history. This view finds expression, on its + social and ethical side, in the pages of Carlyle and Browning: both + of whom are interested exclusively, one may almost say, in the + evolution of human character; and both of whom, too, regard that + evolution as the realization by man of the purposes, greater than + man's, which rule in the world. And, although neither of them + developed the organic view of humanity, which is implied in their + doctrines, into an explicit philosophy, still the moral life of the + individual is for each of them the infinite life in the finite. The + meaning of the universe is <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg083" id= + "pg083">083</a></span> moral, its last might is rightness; and the + task of man is to catch up that meaning, convert it into his own + motive, and thereby make it the source of his actions, the inmost + principle of his life. This, fully grasped, will bring the finite and + the infinite, morality and religion, together, and reconcile + them.</p> + + <p>But the reconciliation which Carlyle sought to effect was + incomplete on every side—even within the sphere of duty, with + which alone, as moralist, he specially concerned himself. The moral + law was imposed upon man by a higher power, in the presence of whom + man was awed and crushed; for that power had stinted man's endowment, + and set him to fight a hopeless battle against endless evil. God was + everywhere around man, and the universe was just the expression of + His will—a will inexorably bent on the good, so that evil could + not prevail; but God was not <i>within</i> man, except as a voice of + conscience issuing imperatives and threats. An infinite duty was laid + upon a finite being, and its weight made him break out into a cry of + despair.</p> + + <p>Browning, however, not only sought to bring about the + reconciliation, but succeeded, in so far as that is possible <i>in + terms of mere feeling</i>. His poetry contains suggestions that the + moral will without is also a force within man; that the power which + makes for righteousness in the world has penetrated into, or rather + manifests itself <i>as</i>, man. Intelligence and will, the reason + which apprehends the nature of things, and the original impulse of + self-conscious life which issues in action, are God's power in man; + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg084" id="pg084">084</a></span> so + that God is realizing Himself in the deeds of man, and human history + is just His return to Himself. Outer law and inner motive are, for + the poet, manifestations of the same beneficent purpose; and instead + of duty in the sense of an autocratic imperative, or beneficent + tyranny, he finds, deep beneath man's foolishness and sin, a constant + tendency towards the good which is bound up with the very nature of + man's reason and will. If man could only understand himself he would + find without him no limiting necessity, but the manifestation of a + law which is one with his own essential being. A beneficent power has + loaded the dice, according to the epigram, so that the chances of + failure and victory are not even; for man's nature is itself a divine + endowment, one with the power that rules his life, and man must + finally reach through error to truth, and through sin to holiness. In + the language of theology, it may be said that the moral process is + the spiritual incarnation of God; it is God's goodness as love, + effecting itself in human action. Hence Carlyle's cry of despair is + turned by Browning into a song of victory. While the former regards + the struggle between good and evil as a fixed battle, in which the + forces are immovably interlocked, the latter has the consciousness of + battling against a retreating foe; and the conviction of coming + triumph gives joyous vigour to every stroke. Browning lifted morality + into an optimism, and translated its battle into song. This was the + distinctive mark and mission which give to him such power of moral + inspiration.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg085" id= + "pg085">085</a></span> + + <p>In order, however, to estimate the value of this feature of the + poet's work, it is necessary to look more closely into the character + of his faith in the good. Merely to attribute to him an optimistic + creed is to say very little; for the worth, or worthlessness, of such + a creed depends upon its content—upon its fidelity to the facts + of human life, the clearness of its consciousness of the evils it + confronts, and the intensity of its realism.</p> + + <p>There is a sense, and that a true one, in which it may be said + that all men are optimists; for such a faith is implied in every + conscious and deliberate action of man. There is no deed which is not + an attempt to realize an ideal; whenever man acts he seeks a good, + however ruinously he may misunderstand its nature. Final and absolute + disbelief in an ultimate good in the sphere of morals, like absolute + scepticism in the sphere of knowledge, is a disguised + self-contradiction, and therefore an impossibility in fact. The one + stultifies action, and asserts an effect without any cause, or even + contrary to the cause; the other stultifies intellectual activity: + and both views imply that the critic has so escaped the conditions of + human life, as to be able to pass a condemnatory judgment upon them. + The belief that a harmonious relation between the self-conscious + agent and the supreme good is possible, underlies the practical + activity of man; just as the belief in the unity of thought and being + underlies his intellectual activity. A moral order—that is, an + order of rational ends—is postulated in all human <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg086" id="pg086">086</a></span> actions, and we + act at all only in virtue of it,—just as truly as we move and + work only in virtue of the forces which make the spheres revolve, or + think by help of the meaning which presses upon us from the + thought-woven world, through all the pores of sense. A true ethics, + like a true psychology, or a true science of nature, must lean upon + metaphysics, and it cannot pretend to start <i>ab initio</i>. We live + in the Copernican age, which puts the individual in a system, in + obedience to whose laws he finds his welfare. And this is simply the + assertion of an optimistic creed, for it implies a harmonious + world.</p> + + <p>But, though this is true, it must be remembered that this faith is + a prophetic anticipation, rather than acquired knowledge. We are only + on the way towards reconstructing in thought the fact which we are, + or towards bringing into clear knowledge the elemental power which + manifests itself within us as thought, desire, and deed. And, until + this is achieved, we have no full right to an optimistic creed. The + revelation of the unity which pervades all things, even in the + natural world, will be the last attainment of science; and the + reconciliation of nature and man and God is still further in the + future, and will be the last triumph of philosophy. During all the + interval the world will be a scene of warring elements; and poetry, + religion, and philosophy can only hold forth a promise, and give to + man a foretaste of ultimate victory. And in this state of things even + <i>their</i> assurance often <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg087" + id="pg087">087</a></span> falters. Faith lapses into doubt, poetry + becomes a wail for a lost god, and its votary exhibits, "through + Europe to the AEtolian shore, the pageant of his bleeding heart." The + optimistic faith is, as a rule, only a hope and a desire, a "Grand + Perhaps," which knows no defence against the critical understanding, + and sinks dumb when questioned. If, in the form of a religious + conviction, its assurance is more confident, then, too often, it + rests upon the treacherous foundations of authoritative ignorance, + which crumble into dust beneath the blows of awakened and liberated + reason. Nay, if by the aid of philosophy we turn our optimism into a + faith held by reason, a fact before which the intellect, as well as + the heart, worships and grows glad, it still is for most of us only a + general hypothesis, a mere leap to God which spurns the intermediate + steps, a universal without content, a bare form that lacks + reality.</p> + + <p>Such an optimism, such a plunge into the pure blue and away from + facts, was Emerson's. Caroline Fox tells a story of him and Carlyle + which reveals this very pointedly. It seems that Carlyle once led the + serene philosopher through the abominations of the streets of London + at midnight, asking him with grim humour at every few steps, "Do you + believe in the devil <i>now</i>?" Emerson replied that the more he + saw of the English people the greater and better he thought them. + This little incident lays bare the limits of both these great men. + Where the one saw, the other was blind. To the <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg088" id="pg088">088</a></span> one there was the + misery and the universal mirk; to the other, the pure white beam was + scarcely broken. Carlyle believed in the good, beyond all doubt: he + fought his great battle in its strength and won, but "he was sorely + wounded." Emerson was Sir Galahad, blind to all but the Holy Grail, + his armour spotless-white, his virtue cloistered and unbreathed, his + race won without the dust and heat. But his optimism was too easy to + be satisfactory. His victory was not won in the enemy's citadel, + where sin sits throned amidst the chaos, but in the placid upper air + of poetic imagination. And, in consequence, Emerson can only convince + the converted; and his song is not heard in the dark, nor does it + cheer the wayfarer on the muddy highway, along which burthened + humanity meanly toils.</p> + + <p>But Browning's optimism is more earnest and real than any pious + hope, or dogmatic belief, or benevolent theory held by a placid + philosopher, protected against contact with the sins and sorrows of + man as by an invisible garment of contemplative holiness. It is a + conviction which has sustained shocks of criticism and the test of + facts; and it therefore, both for the poet and his readers, fulfils a + mission beyond the reach of any easy trust in a mystic good. Its + power will be felt and its value recognized by those who have + themselves confronted the contradictions of human life and known + their depths.</p> + + <p>No lover of Browning's poetry can miss the vigorous manliness of + the poet's own bearing, or fail <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg089" + id="pg089">089</a></span> to recognize the strength that flows from + his joyous, fearless personality, and the might of his intellect and + heart. "When British literature," said Carlyle of Scott and Cobbett, + "lay all puking and sprawling in Wertherism, Byronism and other + Sentimentalisms, nature was kind enough to send us two healthy men." + And he breaks out into a eulogy of mere health, of "the just balance + of faculties that radiates a glad light outwards, enlightening and + embellishing all things." But he finds it easy to account for the + health of these men: they had never faced the mystery of existence. + Such healthiness we find in Browning, although he wrote with Carlyle + at his side, and within earshot of the infinite wail of this moral + fatalist. And yet, the word health is inadequate to convey the depth + of the joyous meaning which the poet found in the world. His optimism + was not a constitutional and irreflective hopefulness, to be + accounted for on the ground that "the great mystery of existence was + not great to him: did not drive him into rocky solitudes to wrestle + with it for an answer, to be answered or to perish." There are, + indeed, certain rash and foolish persons who pretend to trace + Browning's optimism to his mixed descent; but there is a "pause in + the leading and the light" of those wiseacres, who pretend to trace + moral and mental characteristics to physiological antecedents. They + cannot quite catch a great man in the making, nor, even by the help + of evolution, say anything wiser about genius than that "the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg090" id="pg090">090</a></span> wind + bloweth where it listeth." No doubt the poet's optimism indicates a + native sturdiness of head and heart. He had the invaluable endowment + of a pre-disposition to see the sunny side of life, and a native + tendency to revolt against that subjectivity, which is the root of + our misery in all its forms. He had little respect for the + <i>Welt-schmerz,</i> and can scarcely be civil to the hero of the + bleeding heart.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Sinning, sorrowing, despairing,</p> + + <p class="i2">Body-ruined, spirit-wrecked—</p> + + <p>Should I give my woes an airing,—</p> + + <p class="i2">Where's one plague that claims respect?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Have you found your life distasteful?</p> + + <p class="i2">My life did, and does, smack sweet.</p> + + <p>Was your youth of pleasure wasteful?</p> + + <p class="i2">Mine I saved and hold complete.</p> + + <p>Do your joys with age diminish?</p> + + <p class="i2">When mine fail me I'll complain.</p> + + <p>Must in death your daylight finish?</p> + + <p class="i2">My sun sets to rise again.</p> + <hr /> + + <p>"I find earth not grey but rosy,</p> + + <p class="i2">Heaven not grim but fair of hue.</p> + + <p>Do I stoop? I pluck a posy.</p> + + <p class="i2">Do I stand and stare? All's blue."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>At the Mermaid</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>Browning was no doubt least of all men inclined to pout at his + "plain bun"; on the contrary, he was awake to the grandeur of his + inheritance, and valued most highly "his life-rent of God's universe + with the tasks it offered and the tools to do them with." But his + optimism sent its roots deeper than any "disposition"; it penetrated + beyond mere health of body and <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg091" + id="pg091">091</a></span> mind, as it did beyond a mere sentiment of + God's goodness. Optimisms resting on these bases are always weak; for + the former leaves man naked and sensitive to the evils that crowd + round him when the powers of body and mind decay, and the latter is, + at best, useful only for the individual who possesses it, and it + breaks down under the stress of criticism and doubt. Browning's + optimism is a great element in English literature, because it opposes + with such strength the shocks that come from both these quarters. His + joyousness is the reflection <i>in feeling</i> of a conviction as to + the nature of things, which he had verified in the darkest details of + human life, and established for himself in the face of the gravest + objections that his intellect was able to call forth. In fact, its + value lies, above all, in this,—that it comes after criticism, + after the condemnation which Byron and Carlyle had passed, each from + his own point of view, on the world and on man.</p> + + <p>The need of an optimism is one of the penalties which reflection + brings. Natural life takes the goodness of things for granted; but + reflection disturbs the placid contentment and sets man at variance + with his world. The fruit of the tree of knowledge always reveals his + nakedness to man; he is turned out of the paradise of unconsciousness + and doomed to force Nature, now conceived as a step-dame, to satisfy + needs which are now first felt. Optimism is the expression of man's + new reconciliation with his world; as the opposite doctrine of + pessimism is the consciousness of an unresolved contradiction. + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg092" id="pg092">092</a></span> Both + are a judgment passed upon the world, from the point of view of its + adequacy or inadequacy to meet demands, arising from needs which the + individual has discovered in himself.</p> + + <p>Now, as I have tried to show, one of the main characteristics of + the opening years of the present era was its deeper intuition of the + significance of human life, and, therefore, by implication, of its + wants and claims. The spiritual nature of man, lost sight of during + the preceding age, was re-discovered; and the first and immediate + consequence was that man, as man, attained infinite worth. "Man was + born free," cried Rousseau, with a conviction which swept all before + it; "he has original, inalienable, and supreme rights against all + things which can set themselves against him." And Rousseau's + countrymen believed him. There was not a <i>Sans-culotte</i> amongst + them all but held his head high, being creation's lord; and history + can scarcely show a parallel to their great burst of joy and hope, as + they ran riot in their new-found inheritance, from which they had so + long been excluded. They flung themselves upon the world, as if they + would "glut their sense" upon it.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i6">"Expend</p> + + <p>Eternity upon its shows,</p> + + <p>Flung them as freely as one rose</p> + + <p>Out of a summer's opulence."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Easter Day</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>But the very discovery that man is spirit, which is the source of + all his rights, is also an implicit <span class="pagenum"><a name= + "pg093" id="pg093">093</a></span> discovery that he has outgrown the + resources of the natural world. The infinite hunger of a soul cannot + be satisfied with the things of sense. The natural world is too + limited even for Carlyle's shoe-black; nor is it surprising that + Byron should find it a waste, and dolefully proclaim his + disappointment to much-admiring mankind. Now, both Carlyle and + Browning apprehended the cause of the discontent, and both endured + the Byronic utterance of it with considerable impatience. "Art thou + nothing other than a vulture, then," asks the former, "that fliest + through the universe seeking after somewhat <i>to eat,</i> and + shrieking dolefully because carrion enough is not given thee? Close + thy Byron, open thy Goethe."</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i12">"Huntsman Common Sense</p> + + <p>Came to the rescue, bade prompt thwack of thong dispense</p> + + <p>Quiet i' the kennel: taught that ocean might be blue,</p> + + <p>And rolling and much more, and yet the soul have, too,</p> + + <p>Its touch of God's own flame, which He may so expand</p> + + <p>'Who measured the waters i' the hollow of His hand'</p> + + <p>That ocean's self shall dry, turn dew-drop in respect</p> + + <p>Of all-triumphant fire, matter with intellect</p> + + <p>Once fairly matched."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Fifine at the Fair</i>, lxvii.</p> + </div> + + <p>But Carlyle was always more able to detect the disease than to + suggest the remedy. He had, indeed, "a glimpse of it." "There is in + man a Higher than love of Happiness: he can do without Happiness, and + instead thereof find Blessedness." But the glimpse was misleading, + for it penetrated no further than the first negative step. The + "Everlasting Yea" was, after all, only a deeper "No!" only + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg094" id="pg094">094</a></span> + <i>Entsagung</i>, renunciation: "the fraction of life can be + increased in value not so much by increasing your numerator as by + lessening your denominator." Blessed alone is he that expecteth + nothing. The holy of holies, where man hears whispered the mystery of + life, is "the sanctuary of sorrow." "What Act of Legislature was + there that <i>thou</i> shouldst be Happy? A little while ago thou + hadst no right to <i>be</i> at all. What if thou wert born and + predestined not to be Happy, but to be Unhappy? Nay, is not 'life + itself a disease, knowledge the symptom of derangement'? Have not the + poets sung 'Hymns to the Night' as if Night were nobler than Day; as + if Day were but a small motley-coloured veil spread transiently over + the infinite bosom of Night, and did but deform and hide from us its + pure transparent eternal deeps." "We, the whole species of Mankind, + and our whole existence and history, are but a floating speck in the + illimitable ocean of the All ... borne this way and that way by its + deep-swelling tides, and grand ocean currents, of which what faintest + chance is there that we should ever exhaust the significance, + ascertain the goings and comings? A region of Doubt, therefore, + hovers for ever in the back-ground.... Only on a canvas of Darkness, + such is man's way of being, could the many-coloured picture of our + Life paint itself and shine."</p> + + <p>In such passages as these, there is far deeper pessimism than in + anything which Byron could experience or express. Scepticism is + directed by <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg095" id= + "pg095">095</a></span> Carlyle, not against the natural elements of + life—the mere sensuous outworks, but against the citadel of + thought itself. Self-consciousness, or the reflecting interpretation + by man of himself and his world, the very activity that lifts him + above animal existence and makes him man, instead of being a divine + endowment, is declared to be a disease, a poisonous subjectivity + destructive of all good. The discovery that man is spirit and no + vulture, which was due to Carlyle himself more than to any other + English writer of his age, seemed, after all, to be a great calamity; + for it led to the renunciation of happiness, and filled man with + yearnings after a better than happiness, but left him nothing + wherewith they might be satisfied, except "the duty next to hand." + And the duty next to hand, as interpreted by Carlyle, is a means of + suppressing by action, not idle speech only, but thought itself. But, + if this be true, the highest in man is set against itself. And what + kind of action remains possible to a "speck on the illimitable ocean, + borne this way and that way by its deep-swelling tides"? "Here on + earth we are soldiers, fighting in a foreign land; that understand + not the plan of the campaign, and have no need to understand it, + seeing what is at our hand to be done." But there is one element of + still deeper gloom in this blind fighting; it is fought for a foreign + cause. It is God's cause and not ours, or ours only in so far as it + has been despotically imposed upon us; and it is hard to discover + from Carlyle what interest we can have in the victory. Duty is to him + a <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg096" id="pg096">096</a></span> + menace—like the duty of a slave, were that possible. It lacks + the element which alone can make it imperative to a free being, + namely, that it be recognized as <i>his</i> good, and that the outer + law become his inner motive. The moral law is rarely looked at by + Carlyle as a beneficent revelation, and still more rarely as the + condition which, if fulfilled, will reconcile man with nature and + with God. And consequently, he can draw little strength from + religion; for it is only love that can cast out fear.</p> + + <p>To sum up all in a word, Carlyle regarded evil as having + penetrated into the inmost recesses of man's being. Thought was + disease; morality was blind obedience to a foreign authority; + religion was awe of an Unknowable, with whom man can claim no + kinship. Man's nature was discovered to be spiritual, only on the + side of its Wants. It was an endowment of a hunger which nothing + could satisfy—not the infinite, because it is too great, not + the finite, because it is too little; not God, because He is too far + above man, not nature, because it is too far beneath him. We are + unable to satisfy ourselves with the things of sense, and are also + "shut out of the heaven of spirit." What have been called, "the three + great terms of thought"—the World, Self, and God—have + fallen asunder in his teaching. It is the difficulty of reconciling + these which brings despair, while optimism is evidently the + consciousness of their harmony.</p> + + <p>Now, these evils which reflection has revealed, and which are so + much deeper than those of mere sensuous <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg097" id="pg097">097</a></span> disappointment, + can only be removed by deeper reflection. The harmony of the world of + man's experience, which has been broken by "the comprehensive curse + of sceptical despair," can, as Goethe teaches us, be restored only by + thought—</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i2">"In thine own soul, build it up again."</p> + </div> + + <p>The complete refutation of Carlyle's pessimistic view can only + come, by reinterpreting each of the contradicting terms in the light + of a higher conception. We must have a deeper grasp and a new view of + the Self, the World, and God. And such a view can be given adequately + only by philosophy. Reason alone can justify the faith that has been + disturbed by reflection, and re-establish its authority.</p> + + <p>How, then, it may be asked, can a poet be expected to turn back + the forces of a scepticism, which have been thus armed with the + weapons of dialectic? Can anything avail in this region except + explicit demonstration? A poet never demonstrates, but perceives; art + is not a process, but a result; truth for it is immediate, and it + neither admits nor demands any logical connection of ideas. The + standard-bearers and the trumpeters may be necessary to kindle the + courage of the army and to lead it on to victory, but the fight must + be won by the thrust of sword and pike. Man needs more than the + intuitions of the great poets, if he is to maintain solid possession + of the truth.</p> + + <p>Now, I am prepared to admit the force of this objection, and I + shall endeavour in the sequel to <span class="pagenum"><a name= + "pg098" id="pg098">098</a></span> prove that, in order to establish + optimism, more is needed than Browning can give, even when + interpreted in the most sympathetic way. His doctrine is offered in + terms of art, and it cannot have any demonstrative force without + violating the limits of art. In some of his poems, however,—for + instance, in <i>La Saisiaz, Ferishtatis Fancies</i> and the + <i>Parleyings</i>, Browning sought to advance definite proofs of the + theories which he held. He appears before us at times armed + <i>cap-à-pie,</i> like a philosopher. Still, it is not when he argues + that Browning proves: it is when he sees, as a poet sees. It is not + by means of logical demonstrations that he helps us to meet the + despair of Carlyle, or contributes to the establishment of a better + faith. Browning's proofs are least convincing when he was most aware + of his philosophical presuppositions; and a philosophical critic + could well afford to agree with the critic of art, in relegating the + demonstrating portions of his poems to the chaotic limbo lying + between philosophy and poetry.</p> + + <p>When, however, he forgets his philosophy, and speaks as poet and + religious man, when he is dominated by that sovereign thought which + gave unity to his life-work, and which, therefore, seemed to lie + deeper in him than the necessities of his art and to determine his + poetic function, his utterances have a far higher significance. For + he so lifts the artistic object into the region of pure thought, and + makes sense and reason so to interpenetrate, that the old metaphors + of "the noble lie" and "the truth beneath the veil" seem no longer to + help. He <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg099" id= + "pg099">099</a></span> seems to show us the truth so vividly and + simply, that we are less willing to make art and philosophy mutually + exclusive, although their methods differ. Like some of the greatest + philosophers, and notably Plato and Hegel, he constrains us to doubt, + whether the distinction penetrates low beneath the surface; for + philosophy, too, when at its best, is a thinking of things together. + In their light we begin to ask, whether it is not possible that the + interpretation of the world in terms of spirit, which is the common + feature of both Hegel's philosophy and Browning's poetry, does not + necessarily bring with it a settlement of the ancient feud between + these two modes of thought.</p> + + <p>But, in any case, Browning's utterances, especially those which he + makes when he is most poet and least philosopher, have something of + the convincing impressiveness of a reasoned system of optimism. And + this comes, as already suggested, from his loyalty to a single idea, + which gives unity to all his work. That idea we may, in the end, be + obliged to treat not only as a hypothesis—for all principles of + reconciliation, even those of the sciences, as long as knowledge is + incomplete, must be regarded as hypotheses—but also as a + hypothesis which he had no right to assume. It may be that in the end + we shall be obliged to say of him, as of so many others—</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"See the sage, with the hunger for the truth,</p> + + <p>And see his system that's all true, except</p> + + <p>The one weak place, that's stanchioned by a lie!"<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau.</i></p> + </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg100" id="pg100">100</a></span> + + <p>It may be that the religious form, through which he generally + reaches his convictions, is not freed from a dogmatic element, which + so penetrates his thought as to vitiate it as a philosophy. + Nevertheless, it answered for the poet all the uses of a philosophy, + and it may do the same for many who are distrustful of the systems of + the schools, and who are "neither able to find a faith nor to do + without one." It contains far-reaching hints of a reconciliation of + the elements of discord in our lives, and a suggestion of a way in + which it may be demonstrated, that an optimistic theory is truer to + facts than any scepticism or agnosticism, with the despair that they + necessarily bring.</p> + + <p>For Browning not only advanced a principle, whereby, as he + conceived, man might again be reconciled to the world and God, and + all things be viewed as the manifestation of a power that is + benevolent; he also sought to apply his principle to the facts of + life. He illustrates his fundamental hypothesis by means of these + facts; and he tests its validity with the persistence and impressive + candour of a scientific investigator. His optimism is not that of an + eclectic, who can ignore inconvenient difficulties. It is not an + attempt to justify the whole by neglecting details, or to make wrong + seem right by reference to a far-off result, in which the steps of + the process are forgotten. He stakes the value of his view of life on + its power to meet <i>all</i> facts; one fact, ultimately + irreconcilable with his hypothesis, will, he knows, destroy + it.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg101" id= + "pg101">101</a></span> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i12">"All the same,</p> + + <p>Of absolute and irretrievable black,—black's soul of + black</p> + + <p>Beyond white's power to disintensify,—</p> + + <p>Of that I saw no sample: such may wreck</p> + + <p>My life and ruin my philosophy</p> + + <p>Tomorrow, doubtless."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>A Bean Stripe</i>—<i>Ferishtah's Fancies</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>He knew that, to justify God, he had to justify <i>all</i> His + ways to man; that if the good rules at all, it rules absolutely; and + that a single exception would confute his optimism.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"So, gazing up, in my youth, at love</p> + + <p>As seen through power, ever above</p> + + <p>All modes which make it manifest,</p> + + <p>My soul brought all to a single test—</p> + + <p>That He, the Eternal First and Last,</p> + + <p>Who, in His power, had so surpassed</p> + + <p>All man conceives of what is might,—</p> + + <p>Whose wisdom, too, showed infinite,</p> + + <p>—Would prove as infinitely good;</p> + + <p>Would never, (my soul understood,)</p> + + <p>With power to work all love desires,</p> + + <p>Bestow e'en less than man requires."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p><i>B: Christmas Eve.</i></p> + </div> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"No: love which, on earth, amid all the shows of it,</p> + + <p>Has ever been seen the sole good of life in it,</p> + + <p>The love, ever growing there, spite of the strife in it,</p> + + <p>Shall arise, made perfect, from death's repose of it.</p> + + <p>And I shall behold Thee, face to face,</p> + + <p>O God, and in Thy light retrace</p> + + <p>How in all I loved here, still wast Thou!"<sup>C</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>C: <i>Ibid</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>We can scarcely miss the emphasis of the poet's own conviction in + these passages, or in the assertion that,—</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i4">"The acknowledgment of God in Christ</p> + + <p>Accepted by thy reason, solves for thee</p><span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg102" id="pg102">102</a></span> + + <p>All questions in the earth and out of it,</p> + + <p>And has so far advanced thee to be wise."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>A Death in the Desert</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>Consequently, there is a defiant and aggressive element in his + attitude. Strengthened with an unfaltering faith in the supreme Good, + this knight of the Holy Spirit goes forth over all the world seeking + out wrongs. "He has," said Dr. Westcott, "dared to look on the + darkest and meanest forms of action and passion, from which we + commonly and rightly turn our eyes, and he has brought back for us + from this universal survey a conviction of hope." I believe, further, + that it was in order to justify this conviction that he set out on + his quest. His interest in vice—in malice, cruelty, ignorance, + brutishness, meanness, the irrational perversity of a corrupt + disposition, and the subtleties of philosophic and aesthetic + falsehood—was no morbid curiosity. Browning was no "painter of + dirt"; no artist can portray filth for filth's sake, and remain an + artist. He crowds his pages with criminals, because he sees deeper + than their crimes. He describes evil without "palliation or reserve," + and allows it to put forth all its might, in order that he may, in + the end, show it to be subjected to God's purposes. He confronts evil + in order to force it to give up the good, which is all the reality + that is in it. He conceives it as his mission to prove that evil is + "stuff for transmuting," and that there is nought in the + world.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg103" id= + "pg103">103</a></span> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"But, touched aright, prompt yields each particle its tongue</p> + + <p>Of elemental flame—no matter whence flame sprung,</p> + + <p>From gums and spice, or else from straw and rottenness."</p> + </div> + + <p>All we want is—</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i6">"The power to make them burn, express</p> + + <p>What lights and warms henceforth, leaves only ash behind,</p> + + <p>Howe'er the chance."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Fifine at the Fair</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>He had Pompilia's faith.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"And still, as the day wore, the trouble grew,</p> + + <p>Whereby I guessed there would be born a star."</p> + </div> + + <p>He goes forth in the might of his faith in the power of good, as + if he wished once for all to try the resources of evil at their + uttermost, and pass upon it a complete and final condemnation. With + this view, he seeks evil in its own haunts. He creates Guido, the + subtlest and most powerful compound of vice in our + literature—except Iago, perhaps—merely in order that we + may see evil at its worst; and he places him in an environment suited + to his nature, as if he was carrying out an <i>experimentum + crucis.</i> The</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i6">"Midmost blotch of black</p> + + <p>Discernible in the group of clustered crimes</p> + + <p>Huddling together in the cave they call</p> + + <p>Their palace."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>The Ring and the Book—The Pope</i>, 869-872.</p> + </div> + + <p>Beside him are his brothers, each with his own "tint of hell"; his + mistress, on whose face even Pompilia saw the glow of the nether pit + "flash and fade"; and his mother—</p><span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg104" id="pg104">104</a></span> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"The gaunt grey nightmare in the furthest smoke,</p> + + <p>The hag that gave these three abortions birth,</p> + + <p>Unmotherly mother and unwomanly</p> + + <p>Woman, that near turns motherhood to shame,</p> + + <p>Womanliness to loathing"<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>The Ring and the Book—The Pope</i>, 911-915.</p> + </div> + + <p>Such "denizens o' the cave now cluster round Pompilia and heat the + furnace sevenfold." While she</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i6">"Sent prayer like incense up</p> + + <p>To God the strong, God the beneficent,</p> + + <p>God ever mindful in all strife and strait,</p> + + <p>Who, for our own good, makes the need extreme,</p> + + <p>Till at the last He puts forth might and saves."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>The Ring and the Book</i>—<i>Pompilia</i>, + 1384-1388.</p> + </div> + + <p>In these lines we feel the poet's purpose, constant throughout the + whole poem. We know all the while that with him at our side we can + travel safely through the depths of the Inferno—for the flames + bend back from him; and it is only what we expect as the result of it + all, that there should come</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"A bolt from heaven to cleave roof and clear place,</p> + + <p class="i10">. . . . then flood</p> + + <p>And purify the scene with outside day—</p> + + <p>Which yet, in the absolutest drench of dark,</p> + + <p>Ne'er wants its witness, some stray beauty-beam</p> + + <p>To the despair of hell."<sup>C</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>C: <i>The Ring and the Book</i>—<i>The Pope</i>, + 996-1003.</p> + </div> + + <p>The superabundant strength of Browning's conviction in the + supremacy of the good, which led him in <i>The Ring and the Book</i> + to depict criminals at their worst, forced him later on in his life + to exhibit evil in another form. The real meaning <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg105" id="pg105">105</a></span> and value of such + poems as <i>Fifine at the Fair, Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau, Red + Cotton Nightcap Country, Ferishtah's Francies</i>, and others, can + only be determined by a careful and complete analysis of each of + them. But they have one characteristic so prominent, and so new in + poetry, that the most careless reader cannot fail to detect it. + Action and dramatic treatment give place to a discussion which is + metaphysical; instead of the conflict of motives within a character, + the stress and strain of passion and will in collision with + circumstances, there is reflection on action after it has passed, and + the conflict of subtle arguments on the ethical value of motives and + ways of conduct, which the ordinary moral consciousness condemns + without hesitation. All agree that these poems represent a new + departure in poetry, and some consider that in them the poet, in thus + dealing with metaphysical abstractions, has overleapt the boundaries + of the poetic art. To such critics, this later period seems the + period of his decadence, in which the casuistical tendencies, which + had already appeared in <i>Bishop Blougram's Apology, Mr. Sludge the + Medium</i>, and other poems, have overwhelmed his art, and his + intellect, in its pride of strength, has grown wanton. <i>Fifine at + the Fair is</i> said to be "a defence of inconstancy, or of the right + of experiment in love." Its hero, who is "a modern gentleman, a + refined, cultured, musical, artistic and philosophic person, of high + attainments, lofty aspirations, strong emotions, and capricious + will," produces arguments "wide in range, of profound <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg106" id="pg106">106</a></span> significance and + infinite ingenuity," to defend and justify immoral intercourse with a + gipsy trull. The poem consists of the speculations of a libertine, + who coerces into his service truth and sophistry, and "a + superabounding wealth of thought and imagery," and with no further + purpose on the poet's part than the dramatic delineation of + character. <i>Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau</i> is spoken of in a + similar manner as the justification, by reference to the deepest + principles of morality, of compromise, hypocrisy, lying, and a + selfishness that betrays every cause to the individual's meanest + welfare. The object of the poet is "by no means to prove black white, + or white black, or to make the worse appear the better reason, but to + bring a seeming monster and perplexing anomaly under the common laws + of nature, by showing how it has grown to be what it is, and how it + can with more or less self-delusion reconcile itself to itself."</p> + + <p>I am not able to accept this as a complete explanation of the + intention of the poet, except with reference to <i>Prince + Hohenstiel-Schwangau.</i> The <i>Prince</i> is a psychological study, + like <i>Mr. Sludge the Medium,</i> and <i>Bishop Blougram</i>. No + doubt he had the interest of a dramatist in the hero of <i>Fifine at + the Fair</i> and in the hero of <i>Red Cotton Nightcap Country;</i> + but, in these poems, his dramatic interest is itself determined by an + ethical purpose, which is equally profound. His meeting with the + gipsy at Pornic, and the spectacle of her unscrupulous audacity in + vice, not only "sent his fancy roaming," but opened <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg107" id="pg107">107</a></span> out before him + the fundamental problems of life. What I would find, therefore, in + <i>Fifine at the Fair</i> is not the casuistic defence of an artistic + and speculative libertine, but an earnest attempt on the part of the + poet to prove,</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"That, through the outward sign, the inward grace allures,</p> + + <p>And sparks from heaven transpierce earth's coarsest + covertures,—</p> + + <p>All by demonstrating the value of Fifine."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Fifine at the Fair</i>, xxviii.</p> + </div> + + <p>Within his scheme of the universal good he seeks to find a place + even for this gipsy creature, who traffics "in just what we most + pique us that we keep." Having, in the <i>Ring and the Book</i>, + challenged evil at its worst as it manifests itself practically in + concrete characters and external action, and having wrung from it the + victory of the good, in <i>Fifine</i> and in his other later poems he + meets it again in the region of dialectic. In this sphere of + metaphysical ethics, evil has assumed a more dangerous form, + especially for an artist. His optimistic faith has driven the poet + into a realm into which poetry never ventured before. His battle is + now, not with flesh and blood, but with the subtler powers of + darkness grown vocal and argumentative, and threatening to turn the + poet's faith in good into a defence of immorality, and to justify the + worst evil by what is highest of all. Having indicated in outward + fact "the need," as well as the "transiency of sin and death," he + seeks here to prove that need, and seems, thereby, to degrade the + highest truth of religion into a defence of the worst + wickedness.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg108" id= + "pg108">108</a></span> + + <p>No doubt the result is sufficiently repulsive to the abstract + moralist, who is apt to find in <i>Fifine</i> nothing but a + casuistical and shameless justification of evil, which is blasphemy + against goodness itself. We are made to "discover," for instance, + that</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i14">"There was just</p> + + <p>Enough and not too much of hate, love, greed and lust,</p> + + <p>Could one discerningly but hold the balance, shift</p> + + <p>The weight from scale to scale, do justice to the drift</p> + + <p>Of nature, and explain the glories by the shames</p> + + <p>Mixed up in man, one stuff miscalled by different names."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <p>We are told that—</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Force, guile were arms which earned</p> + + <p>My praise, not blame at all."</p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Fifine at the Fair</i>, cviii.</p> + </div> + + <p>Confronted with such utterances as these, it is only natural that, + rather than entangle the poet in them, we should regard them as the + sophistries of a philosophical Don Juan, powerful enough, under the + stress of self-defence, to confuse the distinctions of right and + wrong. But, as we shall try to show in the next chapter, such an + apparent justification of evil cannot be avoided by a reflective + optimist; and it is implicitly contained even in those religious + utterances of <i>Rabbi Ben Ezra, Christmas Eve</i>, and <i>A Death in + the Desert</i>, with which we not only identify the poet but + ourselves, in so far as we share his faith that</p><span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg109" id="pg109">109</a></span> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"God's in His heaven,—</p> + + <p>All's right with the world."</p> + </div> + + <p>The poet had far too much speculative acumen to be ignorant of + this, and too much boldness and strength of conviction in the might + of the good, to refuse to confront the issues that sprang from it. In + his later poems, as in his earlier ones, he is endeavouring to + justify the ways of God to man; and the difficulties which surround + him are not those of a casuist, but the stubborn questionings of a + spirit, whose religious faith is thoroughly earnest and fearless. To + a spirit so loyal to the truth, and so bold to follow its leading, + the suppression of such problems is impossible; and, consequently, it + was inevitable that he should use the whole strength of his dialectic + to try those fundamental principles, on which the moral life of man + is based. And it is this, I believe, which we find in <i>Fifine</i>, + as in <i>Ferishtah's Fancies</i> and the <i>Parleyings</i>; not an + exhibition of the argumentative subtlety of a mind whose strength has + become lawless, and which spends itself in intellectual gymnastics, + that have no place within the realm of either the beautiful or the + true.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg110" id= + "pg110">110</a></span> + <hr class="full" /> + + <h2><a name="ch05" id="ch05">CHAPTER V.</a></h2> + + <h3>OPTIMISM AND ETHICS: THEIR CONTRADICTION.</h3> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie,</p> + + <p>Which we ascribe to heaven. The fated sky</p> + + <p>Gives us free scope; only doth backward pull</p> + + <p>Our slow designs, when we ourselves are dull.</p> + <hr /> + + <p>"But most it is presumption in us, when</p> + + <p>The help of heaven we count the act of men."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>All's Well that Ends Well</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>I have tried to show that one of the ruling conceptions of + Browning's view of life is that the Good is absolute, and that it + reveals itself in all the events of human life. By means of this + conception, he endeavoured to bring together the elements which had + fallen asunder in the sensational and moral pessimism of Byron and + Carlyle. In other words, through the re-interpreting power which lies + in this fundamental thought when it is soberly held and fearlessly + applied, he sought to reconcile man with the world and with God, and + thereby with himself. And the governing motive, whether the conscious + motive or not, of Browning's poetry, the secret impulse which led him + to dramatise the conflicts and antagonisms of human life, was the + necessity of finding in them evidence of the presence of this + absolute Good.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg111" id= + "pg111">111</a></span> + + <p>Browning's optimism was deep and comprehensive enough to reject + all compromise. His faith in the good seemed to rise with the demands + that were made upon it by the misery and wickedness of man, and the + apparently purposeless waste of life and its resources. There was in + it a deliberate earnestness which led him to grapple, not only with + the concrete difficulties of individual life, but with those also + that spring from reflection and theory.</p> + + <p>The test of a philosophic optimism, as of any optimism which is + more than a pious sentiment, must finally lie in its power to reveal + the presence of the good in actual individual evils. But there are + difficulties still nearer than those presented by concrete facts, + difficulties arising out of the very suggestion that evil is a form + of good. Such speculative difficulties must be met by a reflective + mind, before it can follow out the application of an optimistic + theory to particular facts. Now, Browning's creed, at least as he + held it in his later years, was not merely the allowable exaggeration + of an ecstatic religious sentiment, the impassioned conviction of a + God-intoxicated man. It was deliberately presented as a solution of + moral problems, and was intended to serve as a theory of the + spiritual nature of things. It is, therefore, justly open to the same + kind of criticism as that to which a philosophic doctrine is exposed. + The poet deprived himself of the refuge, legitimate enough to the + intuitive method of art, when, in his later works, he not only + offered a dramatic solution of the problem of life, but <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg112" id="pg112">112</a></span> definitely + attempted to meet the difficulties of speculative ethics.</p> + + <p>In this chapter I shall point out some of these difficulties, and + then proceed to show how the poet proposed to solve them.</p> + + <p>A thorough-going optimism, in that it subdues all things to the + idea of the supreme Good, and denies to evil the right even to + dispute the absoluteness of its sway, naturally seems to imply a + pantheistic theory of the world. And Browning's insistence on the + presence of the highest in all things may easily be regarded as a + mere revival of the oldest and crudest attempts at finding their + unity in God. For if <i>all</i>, as he says, is for the best, there + seems to be no room left for the differences apparent in the world, + and the variety which gives it beauty and worth. Particular + existences would seem to be illusory and evanescent phenomena, the + creations of human imagination, itself a delusive appearance. The + infinite, on this view, stands over against the finite, and it + overpowers and consumes it; and the optimism, implied in the phrase + that "God is all," turns at once into a pessimism. For, as soon as we + inquire into the meaning of this "all," we find that it is only a + negation of everything we can know or be. Such a pantheism as this is + self-contradictory; for, while seeming to level all things upwards to + a manifestation of the divine, it really levels all downwards to the + level of mere unqualified being, a stagnant and empty unknowable. It + leaves only a choice <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg113" id= + "pg113">113</a></span> between akosmism and atheism, and, at the same + time, it makes each of the alternatives impossible. For, in + explaining the world it abolishes it, and in abolishing the world it + empties itself of all signification; so that the Godhood which it + attempts to establish throughout the whole realm of being, is found + to mean nothing. "It is the night, in which all cows are black."</p> + + <p>The optimistic creed, which the poet strove to teach, must, + therefore, not only establish the immanence of God, but show in some + way how such immanence is consistent with the existence of particular + things. His doctrine that there is no failure, or folly, or + wickedness, or misery, but conceals within it, at its heart, a divine + element; that there is no incident in human history which is not a + pulsation of the life of the highest, and which has not its place in + a scheme of universal good, must leave room for the moral life of + man, and all the risks which morality brings with it. Otherwise, + optimism is impossible. For a God who, in filling the universe with + His presence, encroaches on the freedom and extinguishes the + independence of man, precludes the possibility of all that is best + for man—namely, moral achievement. Life, deprived of its moral + purpose, is worthless to the poet, and so, in consequence, is all + that exists in order to maintain that life. Optimism and ethics seem + thus to come into immediate collision. The former, finding the + presence of God in all things, seems to leave no room for man; and + the latter seems to set man to <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg114" + id="pg114">114</a></span> work out his own destiny in solitude, and + to give him supreme and absolute authority over his own life; so that + any character which he forms, be it good or bad, is entirely the + product of his own activity. So far as his life is culpable or + praiseworthy, in other words, so far as we pass any moral judgment + upon it, we necessarily think of it as the revelation of a self, that + is, of an independent will, which cannot divide its responsibility. + There may be, and indeed there always is for every individual, a + hereditary predisposition and a soliciting environment, tendencies + which are his inheritance from a remote past, and which rise to the + surface in his own life; in other words, the life of the individual + is always led within the larger sweep of the life of humanity. He is + part of a whole, and has his place fixed, and his function + predetermined, by a power which is greater than his own. But, if we + are to call him good or evil, if he is to aspire and repent and + strive, in a word, if he is to have any <i>moral</i> character, he + cannot be merely a part of a system; there must be something within + him which is superior to circumstances, and which makes him master of + his own fate. His natural history may begin with the grey dawn of + primal being, but his moral history begins with himself, from the + time when he first reacted upon the world in which he is placed, and + transformed his natural relations into will and character. For who + can be responsible for what he did not will? What could a moral + imperative mean, what could an "ought" signify, to a being who was + only a <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg115" id= + "pg115">115</a></span> temporary embodiment of forces, who are prior + to, and independent of himself? It would seem, therefore, as if + morality were irreconcilable with optimism. The moral life of man + cannot be the manifestation of a divine benevolence whose purpose is + necessary; it is a trust laid upon himself, which he may either + violate or keep. It surpasses divine goodness, "tho' matched with + equal power" to <i>make</i> man good, as it has made the flowers + beautiful. From this point of view, spiritual attainment, whether + intellectual or moral, is man's own, a spontaneous product. Just as + God is conceived as all in all in the universe, so man is all in all + within the sphere of duty; for the kingdom of heaven is within. In + both cases alike, there is absolute exclusion of external + interference.</p> + + <p>For this reason, it has often seemed both to philosophers and + theologians, as if the world were too confined to hold within it both + God and man. In the East, the consciousness of the infinite seemed at + times to leave no room for the finite; and in the West, where the + consciousness of the finite and interest therein is strongest, and + man strives and aspires, a Deism arose which set God at a distance, + and allowed Him to interfere in the fate of man only by a benevolent + miracle. Nor is this collision of pantheism and freedom, nay of + religion and morality, confined to the theoretical region. This + difficulty is not merely the punishment of an over-bold and + over-ambitious philosophy, which pries too curiously into the mystery + of being. It lies <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg116" id= + "pg116">116</a></span> at the very threshold of all reflection on the + facts of the moral life. Even children feel the mystery of God's + permitting sin, and embarrass their helpless parents with the + contradiction between absolute benevolence and the miseries and + cruelties of life. "A vain interminable controversy," says + Teufels-dröckh, "which arises in every soul since the beginning of + the world: and in every soul, that would pass from idle suffering + into actual endeavouring, must be put an end to. The most, in our own + time, have to go content with a simple, incomplete enough Suppression + of this controversy: to a few Solution of it is indispensable."</p> + + <p>Solution, and not Suppression, is what Browning sought; he did, in + fact, propound a solution, which, whether finally satisfactory or + not, at least carries us beyond the easy compromises of ordinary + religious and ethical teaching. He does not deny the universality of + God's beneficence or power, and divide the realm of being between Him + and the adversary: nor, on the other hand, does he limit man's + freedom, and stultify ethics by extracting the sting of reality from + sin. To limit God, he knew, was to deny Him; and, whatever the + difficulties he felt in regarding the absolute Spirit as realising + itself in man, he could not be content to reduce man into a temporary + phantom, an evanescent embodiment of "spiritual" or natural forces, + that take a fleeting form in him as they pursue their onward way.</p> + + <p>Browning held with equal tenacity to the idea of a <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg117" id="pg117">117</a></span> universal + benevolent order, and to the idea of the moral freedom of man within + it. He was driven in opposite directions by two beliefs, both of + which he knew to be essential to the life of man as spirit, and both + of which he illustrates throughout his poems with an endless variety + of poetic expression. He endeavoured to find God in man and still to + leave man free. His optimistic faith sought reconciliation with + morality. The vigour of his ethical doctrine is as pre-eminent, as + the fulness of his conviction of the absolute sway of the Good. Side + by side with his doctrine that there is no failure, no wretchedness + of corruption that does not conceal within it a germ of goodness, is + his sense of the evil of sin, of the infinite earnestness of man's + moral warfare, and of the surpassing magnitude of the issues at stake + for each individual soul. So powerful is his interest in man as a + moral agent, that he sees nought else in the world of any deep + concern. "My stress lay," he said in his preface to <i>Sordello</i> + (1863), "on the incidents in the development of a soul: little else + is worth study. I, at least, always thought so—you, with many + known and unknown to me, think so—others may one day think so." + And this development of a soul is not at any time regarded by the + poet as a peaceful process, like the growth of a plant or animal. + Although he thinks of the life of man as the gradual realization of a + divine purpose within him, he does not suppose it to take place in + obedience to a tranquil necessity. Man advances morally by fighting + his way inch by inch, and he gains nothing except <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg118" id="pg118">118</a></span> through conflict. + He does not become good as the plant grows into maturity. "The + kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by + force."</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"No, when the fight begins within himself,</p> + + <p>A man's worth something. God stoops o'er his head,</p> + + <p>Satan looks up between his feet,—both tug—</p> + + <p>He's left, himself, i' the middle: the soul awakes</p> + + <p>And grows. Prolong that battle through this life!</p> + + <p>Never leave growing till the life to come."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Bishop Blougram</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>Man is no idle spectator of the conflict of the forces of right + and wrong; Browning never loses the individual in the throng, or + sinks him into his age or race. And although the poet ever bears + within him the certainty of victory for the good, he calls his + fellows to the fight as if the fate of all hung on the valour of + each. The struggle is always personal, individual like the duels of + the Homeric heroes.</p> + + <p>It is under the guise of warfare that morality always presents + itself to Browning. It is not a mere equilibrium of + qualities—the measured, self-contained, statuesque ethics of + the Greeks, nor the asceticism and self-restraint of Puritanism, nor + the peaceful evolution of Goethe's artistic morality: it is valour in + the battle of life. His code contains no negative commandments, and + no limitations; but he bids each man let out all the power that is + within him, and throw himself upon life with the whole energy of his + being. It is better even to seek evil with one's whole mind, than to + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg119" id="pg119">119</a></span> be + lukewarm in goodness. Whether you seek good or evil, and play for the + counter or the coin, stake it boldly!</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Let a man contend to the uttermost</p> + + <p>For his life's set prize, be it what it will!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"The counter our lovers staked was lost</p> + + <p>As surely as if it were lawful coin:</p> + + <p>And the sin I impute to each frustrate ghost</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Is, the unlit lamp and the ungirt loin</p> + + <p>Though the end in sight was a vice, I say.</p> + + <p>You, of the virtue (we issue join)</p> + + <p>How strive you?—'<i>De te fabula!</i>'"<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p><i>A: The Statue and the Bust.</i></p> + </div> + + <p>Indifference and spiritual lassitude are, to the poet, the worst + of sins. "Go!" says the Pope to Pompilia's pseudo-parents,</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Never again elude the choice of tints!</p> + + <p>White shall not neutralize the black, nor good</p> + + <p>Compensate bad in man, absolve him so:</p> + + <p>Life's business being just the terrible choice."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>The Ring and the Book—The Pope</i>, 1235-1238.</p> + </div> + + <p>In all the greater characters of <i>The Ring and the Book</i>, + this intensity of vigour in good and evil flashes out upon us. Even + Pompilia, the most gentle of all his creations, at the first + prompting of the instinct of motherhood, rises to the law demanding + resistance, and casts off the old passivity.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Dutiful to the foolish parents first,</p> + + <p>Submissive next to the bad husband,—nay,</p> + + <p>Tolerant of those meaner miserable</p> + + <p>That did his hests, eked out the dole of pain ";<sup>C</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>C: <i>Ibid</i>., 1052-1055.</p> + </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg120" id="pg120">120</a></span> + + <p>she is found</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Sublime in new impatience with the foe."</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"I did for once see right, do right, give tongue</p> + + <p>The adequate protest: for a worm must turn</p> + + <p>If it would have its wrong observed by God.</p> + + <p>I did spring up, attempt to thrust aside</p> + + <p>That ice-block 'twixt the sun and me, lay low</p> + + <p>The neutralizer of all good and truth."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Yet, shame thus rank and patent, I struck, bare,</p> + + <p>At foe from head to foot in magic mail,</p> + + <p>And off it withered, cobweb armoury</p> + + <p>Against the lightning! 'Twas truth singed the lies</p> + + <p>And saved me."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>The Ring and the Book—Pompilia</i>, 1591-1596.</p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Ibid</i>., 1637-1641.</p> + </div> + + <p>Beneath the mature wisdom of the Pope, amidst the ashes of old + age, there sleeps the same fire. He is as truly a warrior priest as + Caponsacchi himself, and his matured experience only muffles his + vigour. Wearied with his life-long labour, we see him gather himself + together "in God's name," to do His will on earth once more with + concentrated might.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i12">"I smite</p> + + <p>With my whole strength once more, ere end my part,</p> + + <p>Ending, so far as man may, this offence."<sup>C</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>C: <i>The Ring and the Book—The Pope</i>, 1958-1960.</p> + </div> + + <p>Nor, spite of doubts, the promptings of mercy, the friends + plucking his sleeve to stay his arm, does he fear "to handle a lie + roughly"; or shrink from sending the criminal to his account, though + it be but one day before he himself is called before <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg121" id="pg121">121</a></span> the judgment + seat. The same energy, the same spirit of bold conflict, animates + Guido's adoption of evil for his good. At all but the last moment of + his life of monstrous crime, just before he hears the echo of the + feet of the priests, who descend the stair to lead him to his death, + "he repeats his evil deed in will."</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Nor is it in me to unhate my hates,—</p> + + <p>I use up my last strength to strike once more</p> + + <p>Old Pietro in the wine-house-gossip-face,</p> + + <p>To trample underfoot the whine and wile</p> + + <p>Of beast Violante,—and I grow one gorge</p> + + <p>To loathingly reject Pompilia's pale</p> + + <p>Poison my hasty hunger took for food."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>The Ring and the Book</i>—<i>Guido</i>, + 2400-2406.</p> + </div> + + <p>If there be any concrete form of evil with which the poet's + optimism is not able to cope, any irretrievable black "beyond white's + power to disintensify," it is the refusal to take a definite stand + and resolute for either virtue or vice; the hesitancy and compromise + of a life that is loyal to nothing, not even to its own selfishness. + The cool self-love of the old English moralists, which "reduced the + game of life to principles," and weighed good and evil in the scales + of prudence, is to our poet the deepest damnation.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Saint Eldobert—I much approve his mode;</p> + + <p>With sinner Vertgalant I sympathize;</p> + + <p>But histrionic Sganarelle, who prompts</p> + + <p>While pulling back, refuses yet concedes,—</p> + <hr /> + + <p>"Surely, one should bid pack that mountebank!"</p> + </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg122" id="pg122">122</a></span> + + <p>In him, even</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i6">"thickheads ought to recognize</p> + + <p>The Devil, that old stager, at his trick</p> + + <p>Of general utility, who leads</p> + + <p>Downward, perhaps, but fiddles all the way!"<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Red Cotton Nightcap Country.</i></p> + </div> + + <p>For the bold sinner, who chooses and sustains his part to the end, + the poet has hope. Indeed, the resolute choice is itself the + beginning of hope; for, let a man only give <i>himself</i> to + anything, wreak <i>himself</i> on the world in the intensity of his + hate, set all sail before the gusts of passion and "range from Helen + to Elvire, frenetic to be free," let him rise into a decisive + self-assertion against the stable order of the moral world, and he + cannot fail to discover the nature of the task he has undertaken, and + the meaning of the power without, against which he has set himself. + If there be sufficient strength in a man to vent himself in action, + and "try conclusions with the world," he will then learn that it has + another destiny than to be the instrument of evil. Self-assertion + taken by itself is good; indeed, it is the very law of every life, + human and other.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i12">"Each lie</p> + + <p>Redounded to the praise of man, was victory</p> + + <p>Man's nature had both right to get and might to gain." <sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Fifine at the Fair</i>, cxxviii.</p> + </div> + + <p>But it leads to the revelation of a higher law than that of + selfishness. The very assertion of the self which leads into evil, + ultimately leaves the self assertion futile. There is the + disappointment <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg123" id= + "pg123">123</a></span> of utter failure; the sinner is thrown back + upon himself empty-handed. He finds himself subjected, even when + sinning,</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i12">"To the reign</p> + + <p>Of other quite as real a nature, that saw fit</p> + + <p>To have its way with man, not man his way with it."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Fifine at the Fair</i>, cxxviii.</p> + </div> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Poor pabulum for pride when the first love is found</p> + + <p>Last also! and, so far from realizing gain,</p> + + <p>Each step aside just proves divergency in vain.</p> + + <p>The wanderer brings home no profit from his quest</p> + + <p>Beyond the sad surmise that keeping house were best</p> + + <p>Could life begin anew."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Ibid</i>. cxxix.</p> + </div> + + <p>The impossibility of living a divided life, of enjoying at once + the sweets of the flesh on the "Turf," and the security of the + "Towers," is the text of <i>Red Cotton Nightcap Country</i>. The + sordid hero of the poem is gradually driven to choose between the + alternatives. The best of his luck, the poet thinks, was the</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Rough but wholesome shock,</p> + + <p>An accident which comes to kill or cure,</p> + + <p>A jerk which mends a dislocated joint!"<sup>C</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>C: <i>Red Cotton Nightcap Country</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>The continuance of disguise and subterfuge, and the retention of + "the first falsehood," are ultimately made impossible to Léonce + Miranda:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Thus by a rude in seeming—rightlier judged</p> + + <p>Beneficent surprise, publicity</p> + + <p>Stopped further fear and trembling, and what tale</p> + + <p>Cowardice thinks a covert: one bold splash</p> + + <p>Into the mid-shame, and the shiver ends,</p> + + <p>Though cramp and drowning may begin perhaps."<sup>D</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>D: <i>Ibid</i>.</p> + </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg124" id="pg124">124</a></span> + + <p>In the same spirit he finds Miranda's suicidal leap the best deed + possible for <i>him</i>.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i8">"'Mad!' 'No! sane, I say.</p> + + <p>Such being the conditions of his life,</p> + + <p>Such end of life was not irrational.</p> + + <p>Hold a belief, you only half-believe,</p> + + <p>With all-momentous issues either way,—</p> + + <p>And I advise you imitate this leap,</p> + + <p>Put faith to proof, be cured or killed at once!'"<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Red Cotton Nightcap Country</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>Thus it is the decisive deed that gains the poet's approval. He + finds the universe a great plot against a pied morality. Even Guido + claims some kind of regard from him, since "hate," as Pompilia said, + "was the truth of him." In that very hate we find, beneath his + endless subterfuges, something real, at last. And since, through his + hate, he is frankly measuring his powers against the good at work in + the world, there cannot remain any doubt of the issue. To bring the + rival forces face to face is just what is wanted.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i4">"I felt quite sure that God had set</p> + + <p>Himself to Satan; who would spend</p> + + <p>A minute's mistrust on the end?"<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Count Gismond</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>It is the same respect for strenuous action and dislike of + compromise, that inspired the pathetic lines in which he condemns the + Lost Leader, who broke "From the van and the free-men, and sunk to + the rear and the slaves." For the good pursues its work without + him.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg125" id= + "pg125">125</a></span> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"We shall march prospering,—not thro' his presence;</p> + + <p class="i2">Songs may inspirit us,—not from his lyre;</p> + + <p>Deeds will be done,—while he boasts his quiescence,</p> + + <p class="i2">Still bidding crouch whom the rest bade aspire:</p> + + <p><i>Blot out his name</i>, then, record one lost soul more,</p> + + <p class="i2">One task more declined, one more footpath untrod,</p> + + <p>One more devil's triumph and sorrow for angels,</p> + + <p class="i2">One wrong more to man, one more insult to + God!"<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>The List Leader</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>Everywhere Browning's ethical teaching has this characteristic + feature of vigorous decisiveness. As Dr. Westcott has said, "No room + is left for indifference or neutrality. There is no surrender to an + idle optimism. A part must be taken and maintained. The spirit in + which Luther said '<i>Pecca fortiter</i>' finds in him powerful + expression." Browning is emphatically the poet-militant, and the + prophet of struggling manhood. His words are like trumpet-calls + sounded in the van of man's struggle, wafted back by the winds, and + heard through all the din of conflict by his meaner brethren, who are + obscurely fighting for the good in the throng and crush of life. We + catch the tones of this heart-strengthening music in the earliest + poems he sung: nor did his courage fail, or vigour wane, as the + shades of night gathered round him. In the latest of all his poems, + he still speaks of</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"One who never turned his back but marched breast forward,</p> + + <p class="i2">Never doubted clouds would break,</p> + + <p>Never dreamed, though right were worsted, wrong would + triumph,</p> + + <p class="i2">Held we fall to rise, are baffled to fight + better,</p> + + <p class="i4">Sleep to wake."</p> + </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg126" id="pg126">126</a></span> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"No, at noon-day in the bustle of man's work-time</p> + + <p class="i2">Greet the unseen with a cheer!</p> + + <p>Bid him forward, breast and back as either should be,</p> + + <p class="i2">'Strive and thrive'! cry 'Speed!—fight on, fare + ever</p> + + <p class="i4">There as here.'"<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: Epilogue to <i>Asolande</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>These are fit words to close such a life. His last act is a kind + of re-enlistment in the service of the good; the joyous venturing + forth on a new war under new conditions and in lands unknown, by a + heroic man who is sure of himself and sure of his cause.</p> + + <p>But now comes the great difficulty. How can the poet combine such + earnestness in the moral struggle with so deep a conviction of the + ultimate nothingness of evil, and of the complete victory of the + good? Again and again we have found him pronounce such victory to be + absolutely necessary and inevitable. His belief in God, his trust in + His love and might, will brook no limit anywhere. His conviction is + that the power of the good subjects evil itself to its authority.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i2">"My own hope is, a sun will pierce</p> + + <p>The thickest cloud earth ever stretched;</p> + + <p class="i2">That, after Last, returns the First,</p> + + <p>Though a wide compass round be fetched;</p> + + <p class="i2">That what began best, can't end worst.</p> + + <p class="i2">Nor what God blessed once, prove accurst."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Apparent Failure</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>It is the poet himself and not merely the sophistic aesthete of + <i>Fifine</i> that speaks:—</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Partake my confidence! No creature's made so mean</p> + + <p>But that, some way, it boasts, could we investigate,</p> + + <p>Its supreme worth: fulfils, by ordinance of + fate,</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg127" id= + "pg127">127</a></span> + + <p>Its momentary task, gets glory all its own,</p> + + <p>Tastes triumph in the world, pre-eminent, alone."</p> + <hr /> + + <p>"As firm is my belief, quick sense perceives the same</p> + + <p>Self-vindicating flash illustrate every man</p> + + <p>And woman of our mass, and prove, throughout the plan,</p> + + <p>No detail but, in place allotted it, was prime</p> + + <p>And perfect." <sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Fifine at the Fair</i>, xxix.</p> + </div> + + <p>But if so,—if Helen, Fifine, Guido, find themselves within + the plan, fulfilling, after all, the task allotted to them in the + universal scheme, how can we condemn them? Must we not plainly either + modify our optimism and keep our faith in God within bounds, or, on + the other hand, make every failure "apparent" only, sin a phantom, + and the distinction between right and wrong a helpful illusion that + stings man to effort—but an illusion all the same?</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"What but the weakness in a Faith supplies</p> + + <p>The incentive to humanity, no strength</p> + + <p>Absolute, irresistible comforts.</p> + + <p>How can man love but what he yearns to help?"<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>The Ring and the Book—The Pope</i>, 1649-1652.</p> + </div> + + <p>Where is the need, nay, the possibility, of self-sacrifice, except + where there is misery? How can good, the good which is highest, find + itself, and give utterance and actuality to the power that slumbers + within it, except as resisting evil? Are not good and evil relative? + Is not every criminal, when really known, working out in his own way + the salvation of himself and the world? Why cannot he, then, take his + stand on his right to move towards the good by any path that best + pleases himself: since move he must. It <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg128" id="pg128">128</a></span> is easy for the + religious conscience to admit with Pippa that</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"All service ranks the same with God—</p> + + <p>With God, whose puppets, best and worst,</p> + + <p>Are we: there is no last or first."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Pippa Passes</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>But, if so, why do we admire her sweet pre-eminence in moral + beauty, and in what is she really better than Ottima? The doctrine + that</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"God's in His heaven—</p> + + <p>All's right with the world!"<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Ibid</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>finds its echo in every devout spirit from the beginning of the + world: it is of the very essence of religion. But what of its moral + consequences? Religion, when thoroughly consistent, is the triumphant + reconciliation of all contradictions. It is optimism, the + justification of things as the process of evolving the good; and its + peace and joy are just the outcome of the conviction, won by faith, + that the ideal is actual, and that every detail of life is, in its + own place, illumined with divine goodness. But morality is the + condemnation of things as they are, by reference to a conception of a + good which ought to be. The absolute identification of the actual and + ideal extinguishes morality, either in something lower or something + higher. But the moral ideal, when reached, turns at once into a + stepping-stone, a dead self; and the good formulates itself anew as + an ideal in the future. So that morality is the sphere of + discrepancy, and the moral life a progressive realization + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg129" id="pg129">129</a></span> of a + good that can never be complete. It would thus seem to be + irreconcilably different from religion, which must, in some way or + other, find the good to be present, actual, absolute, without shadow + of change, or hint of limit or imperfection.</p> + + <p>How, then, does the poet deal with the apparently fundamental + discrepancy between religion, which postulates the absolute and + universal supremacy of God, and morality, which postulates the + absolute supremacy of man within the sphere of his own action, in so + far as it is called right or wrong?</p> + + <p>This difficulty, in one or other of its forms, is, perhaps, the + most pressing in modern philosophy. It is the problem of the + possibility of rising above the "Either, Or" of discrepant + conceptions, to a position which grasps the alternatives together in + a higher idea. It is at bottom the question, whether we can have a + philosophy at all; or whether we must fall back once more into + compromise, and the scepticism and despair which it always brings + with it.</p> + + <p>It is just because Browning does not compromise between the + contending truths that he is instructive. The value of his solution + of the problem corresponds accurately to the degree in which he holds + both the absoluteness of God's presence in history, and the complete + independence of the moral consciousness. He refused to degrade either + God or man. In the name of religion, he refuses to say that "a + purpose of reason is visible in the social and legal structures of + mankind"—<i>only</i> "on <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg130" + id="pg130">130</a></span> the whole "; and in the name of morality, + he refuses to "assert the perfection of the actual world" as it is, + and by implication to stultify all human endeavour. He knew the vice + of compromising, and strove to hold both the truths in their + fulness.</p> + + <p>That he did not compromise God's love or power, and make it + dominant merely "on the whole," leaving within His realm, which is + universal, a limbo for the "lost," is evident to the most casual + reader.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"This doctrine, which one healthy view of things,</p> + + <p>One sane sight of the general ordinance—</p> + + <p>Nature,—and its particular object,—man,—</p> + + <p>Which one mere eyecast at the character</p> + + <p>Of Who made these and gave man sense to boot,</p> + + <p>Had dissipated once and evermore,—</p> + + <p>This doctrine I have dosed our flock withal.</p> + + <p>Why? Because none believed it."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>The Inn Album</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>"O'er-punished wrong grows right," Browning says. Hell is, for + him, the consciousness of opportunities neglected, arrested growth; + and even that, in turn, is the beginning of a better life.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"However near I stand in His regard,</p> + + <p>So much the nearer had I stood by steps</p> + + <p>Offered the feet which rashly spurned their help.</p> + + <p>That I call Hell; why further punishment?"<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>A Camel-Driver.</i></p> + </div> + + <p>Another ordinary view, according to which evil is + self-destructive, and ends with the annihilation of its servant, he + does not so decisively reject. At least, in a passage of wonderful + poetic and philosophic power, which he puts into the mouth of + Caponsacchi, he describes Guido as gradually lapsing towards + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg131" id="pg131">131</a></span> the + chaos, which is lower then created existence. He observes him</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Not to die so much as slide out of life,</p> + + <p>Pushed by the general horror and common hate</p> + + <p>Low, lower,—left o' the very ledge of things,</p> + + <p>I seem to see him catch convulsively,</p> + + <p>One by one at all honest forms of life,</p> + + <p>At reason, order, decency and use,</p> + + <p>To cramp him and get foothold by at least;</p> + + <p>And still they disengage them from <i>his</i> clutch.</p> + <hr /> + + <p>"And thus I see him slowly and surely edged</p> + + <p>Off all the table-land whence life upsprings</p> + + <p>Aspiring to be immortality."</p> + </div> + + <p>There he loses him in the loneliness, silence and dusk—</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"At the horizontal line, creation's verge.</p> + + <p>From what just is to absolute nothingness."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>The Ring and the Book—Giuseppe Caponsacchi</i>, + 1911-1931.</p> + </div> + + <p>But the matchless moral insight of the Pope leads to a different + conclusion, and the poet again retrieves his faith. The Pope puts his + first trust "in the suddenness of Guido's fate," and hopes that the + truth may "be flashed out by the blow of death, and Guido see one + instant and be saved." Nor is his trust vain. "The end comes," said + Dr. Westcott. "The ministers of death claim him. In his agony he + summons every helper whom he has known or heard of—</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p> + "'Abate,—Cardinal,—Christ,—Maria,—God—'</p> + </div> + + <p>"and then the light breaks through the blackest gloom:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"'Pompilia! will you let them murder me?'</p> + </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg132" id="pg132">132</a></span> + + <p>"In this supreme moment he has known what love is, and, knowing it, + has begun to feel it. The cry, like the intercession of the rich man + in Hades, is a promise of a far-off deliverance."</p> + + <p>But even beyond this hope, which is the last for most men, the + Pope had still another.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Else I avert my face, nor follow him</p> + + <p>Into that sad obscure sequestered state</p> + + <p>Where God unmakes but to remake the soul</p> + + <p>He else made first in vain: <i>which must not be</i>."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>The Ring and the Book—The Pope</i>, 2129-2132.</p> + </div> + + <p>This phrase, "which must not be," seems to me to carry in it the + irrefragable conviction of the poet himself. The same faith in the + future appears in the words in which Pompilia addresses her + priest.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"O lover of my life, O soldier-saint,</p> + + <p>No work begun shall ever pause for death!</p> + + <p>Love will be helpful to me more and more</p> + + <p>I' the coming course, the new path I must tread,</p> + + <p>My weak hand in thy strong hand, strong for that!"<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>The Ring and the Seek—Pompilia</i>, 1786-1790.</p> + </div> + + <p>For the poet, the death of man brings no change in the purpose of + God; nor does it, or aught else, fix a limit to His power, or + stultify by failure the end implied in all God's work, nature no less + than man himself—to wit, that every soul shall learn the lesson + of goodness, and reflect the devine life in desire, intelligence, and + will.</p> + + <p>Equally emphatic, on some sides at least, is Browning's rejection + of those compromises, with which the one-sided religious + consciousness threatens the existence <span class="pagenum"><a name= + "pg133" id="pg133">133</a></span> of the moral life. At times, + indeed, he seems to teach, as man's best and highest, a passive + acquiescence in the divine benevolence; and he uses the dangerous + metaphor of the clay and potter's wheel. <i>Rabbi Ben Ezra</i> bids + us feel</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Why time spins fast, why passive lies our clay";</p> + </div> + + <p>and his prayer is,</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"So, take and use Thy work:</p> + + <p>Amend what flaws may lurk,</p> + + <p>What strain o' the stuff, what warpings past the aim!</p> + + <p>My times be in Thy hand!</p> + + <p>Perfect the cup as planned!</p> + + <p>Let age approve of youth, and death complete the same!"<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Rabbi Ben Ezra</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>But this attitude of quiescent trust, which is so characteristic + of religion, is known by the poet to be only a phase of man's best + life. It is a temporary resting-place for the pilgrim: "the country + of Beulah, whose air is very sweet and pleasant, where he may solace + himself for a season." But, "the way lies directly through it," and + the pilgrim, "being a little strengthened and better able to bear his + sickness," has to go forward on his journey. Browning's + characteristic doctrine on this matter is not acquiescence and + resignation. "Leave God the way" has, in his view, its counterpart + and condition—"Have you the will!"</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i6">"For a worm must turn</p> + + <p>If it would have its wrong observed by God."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>The Ring and the Book—Pompilia,</i> 1592-1593.</p> + </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg134" id="pg134">134</a></span> + + <p>The root of Browning's joy is in the need of progress towards an + infinitely high goal. He rejoices</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i4">"that man is hurled</p> + + <p>From change to change unceasingly,</p> + + <p>His soul's wings never furled."</p> + </div> + + <p>The bliss of endeavour, the infinite worth of the consciousness of + failure, with its evidence of coming triumph, "the spark which + disturbs our clod," these are the essence of his optimistic + interpretation of human life, and also of his robust ethical + doctrine.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Then, welcome each rebuff</p> + + <p>That turns earth's smoothness rough,</p> + + <p>Each sting that bids nor sit nor stand but go!</p> + + <p>Be our joys three-parts pain!</p> + + <p>Strive, and hold cheap the strain;</p> + + <p>Learn, nor account the pang; dare, never grudge the + throe!"<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Rabbi Ben Ezra.</i></p> + </div> + + <p>And he prolongs the battle beyond time, for the battle is the + moral life and man's best, and therefore God's best in man. The + struggle upward from the brute, may, indeed end with death. But this + only means that man "has learned the uses of the flesh," and there + are in him other potencies to evolve:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Other heights in other lives, God willing."</p> + </div> + + <p>Death is the summing up of this life's meaning, stored strength + for new adventure.</p> + + <p>"The future I may face now I have proved the past;" and, in view + of it, Browning is</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Fearless and unperplexed</p> + + <p>When I wage battle next,</p> + + <p>What weapons to select, what armour to indue."</p> + </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg135" id="pg135">135</a></span> + + <p>He is sure that it will be a battle, and a winning one. There is + no limiting here of man's possibility, or confining of man's + endeavour after goodness.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Strive and Thrive! cry 'Speed,' fight on, fare ever</p> + + <p>There as here,"</p> + </div> + + <p>are the last words which came from his pen.</p> + + <p>Now, it may fairly be argued that these allusions to what death + may mean, and what may lie beyond death, valuable as they may be as + poetry, cannot help in philosophy. They do not solve the problem of + the relation between morality and religion, but merely continue the + antagonism between them into a life beyond, of which we have no + experience. If the problem is to be solved, it must be solved as it + is stated for us in the present world.</p> + + <p>This objection is valid, so far as it goes. But Browning's + treatment is valuable all the same, in so far as it indicates his + unwillingness to limit or compromise the conflicting truths. He, by + implication, rejects the view, ordinarily held without being + examined, that the moral life is preliminary to the joy and rest of + religion; a brief struggle, to be followed by a sudden lift out of it + into some serene sphere, where man will lead an angel's life, which + knows no imperfection and therefore no growth. He refuses to make + morality an accident in man's history and "to put man in the place of + God," by identifying the process with the ideal; he also refuses to + make man's struggle, and God's achievement <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg136" id="pg136">136</a></span> within man, + mutually exclusive alternatives. As I shall show in the sequel, + movement towards an ideal, actualizing but never actualized, is for + the poet the very nature of man. And to speak about either God or man + (or even the absolute philosopher) as "the last term of a + development" has no meaning to him. We are not first moral and then + religious, first struggling with evil and then conscious of + overcoming it. God is with us in the battle, and the victory is in + every blow.</p> + + <p>But there lies a deeper difficulty than this in the way of + reconciling morality and religion, or the presence of both God and + man in human action. Morality, in so far as it is achievement, might + conceivably be immediately identified with the process of an absolute + good; but morality is always a consciousness of failure as well. Its + very essence and verve is the conviction that the ideal is not + actual. And the higher a man's spiritual attainment, the more + impressive is his view of the evil of the world, and of the greatness + of the work pressing to be done. "Say not ye, there are yet four + months, and then cometh harvest? Behold I say unto you, 'Lift up your + eyes and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.'" + It looks like blasphemy against morality to say "that God lives in + eternity and has, therefore, plenty of time." Morality destroys one's + contentment with the world; and its language seems to be, "God is not + here, but there; the kingdom is still to come."</p><span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg137" id="pg137">137</a></span> + + <p>Nor does it rest with condemning the world. It also finds flaws in + its own highest achievement; so that we seem ever "To mock ourselves + in all that's best of us." The beginning of the spiritual life seems + just to consist in a consciousness of complete failure, and that + consciousness ever grows deeper.</p> + + <p>This is well illustrated in Browning's account of Caponsacchi; + from the time when Pompilia's smile first "glowed" upon him, and set + him—</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i8">"Thinking how my life</p> + + <p>Had shaken under me—broken short indeed</p> + + <p>And showed the gap 'twixt what is, what should be—</p> + + <p>And into what abysm the soul may slip"—<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>The Ring and the Book</i>—<i>Giuseppe + Caponsacchi</i>, 485-488.</p> + </div> + + <p>up to the time when his pure love for her revealed to him + something of the grandeur of goodness, and led him to define his + ideal and also to express his despair.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"To have to do with nothing but the true,</p> + + <p>The good, the eternal—and these, not alone</p> + + <p>In the main current of the general life,</p> + + <p>But small experiences of every day,</p> + + <p>Concerns of the particular hearth and home:</p> + + <p>To learn not only by a comet's rush</p> + + <p>But a rose's birth—not by the grandeur, God,</p> + + <p>But the comfort, Christ. <i>All this</i> how <i>far away</i> + /</p> + + <p>Mere delectation, meet for a minute's dream!"<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Ibid.</i> 2089-2097.</p> + </div> + + <p>So illimitably beyond his strength is such a life, that he finds + himself like the drudging student who</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i12">"Trims his lamp,</p> + + <p>Opens his Plutarch, puts him in the place</p><span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg138" id="pg138">138</a></span> + + <p>Of Roman, Grecian; draws the patched gown close,</p> + + <p>Dreams, 'Thus should I fight, save or rule the + world!'—</p> + + <p>Then smilingly, contentedly, awakes</p> + + <p>To the old solitary nothingness."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>The Ring and the Book</i>—<i>Giuseppe + Caponsacchi</i>, 2098-2103.</p> + </div> + + <p>The moral world with its illimitable horizon had Opened out around + him, the voice of the new commandment bidding him "be perfect as his + Father in heaven is perfect" had destroyed his peace, and made + imperative a well nigh hopeless struggle; and, as he compares himself + at his best with the new ideal, he breaks out into the cry,</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"O great, just, good God! Miserable Me!"</p> + </div> + + <p>This humility and contrition, this discontent verging on + hopelessness, constituted, as we have seen, the characteristic + attitude of Carlyle; and it represents a true and, in fact, an + indispensable element of man's moral life.</p> + + <p>But this self-condemnation in the face of the moral law is nothing + more than an element, and must not be taken either for the whole + truth or for the most fundamental one. It is because it is taken as + fundamental and final that the discrepancy between morality and + religion is held to be absolute, and the consciousness of evil is + turned against faith in the Good. It is an abstract way of thinking + that makes us deduce, from the transcendent height of the moral + ideal, the impossibility of attaining goodness, and the failure of + God's purpose in man. And this is what Carlyle did. He stopped short + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg139" id="pg139">139</a></span> at + the consciousness of imperfection, and he made no attempt to account + for it. He took it as a complete fact, and therefore drew a sharp + line of distinction between the human and the divine. And, so far, he + was right; for, if we look no further than this negative side, it is + emphatically absurd to identify man, be he "philosopher" or not, with + the Absolute. "Why callest thou Me good? there is none good save One, + that is God." The "ought" <i>must</i> stand above <i>all</i> human + attainment, and declare that "whatever is, is wrong." But whence + comes the ought itself, the ideal which condemns us? Is it not also + immanent in the fact it condemns?</p> + + <p>"Who is not acute enough," asks Hegel, "to see a great deal in his + surroundings which is really far from being what it ought to be?" And + who also, we may add, has not enough of the generalizing faculty, + often mistaken for a philosophical one, to extend this condemnation + over the whole of "this best of all possible worlds"? But what is + this "ought-to-be," which has such potency in it that all things + confronted with it lose their worth?</p> + + <p>The first answer is, that it is an idea which men, and + particularly good men, carry with them. But a little consideration + will show that it cannot be a mere idea. It must be something more + valid than a capricious product of the individual imagination. For we + cannot wisely condemn things because they do not happen to answer to + any casual conception which we may choose to elevate into a + criterion. A criterion must have objective validity. <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg140" id="pg140">140</a></span> It must be an + idea <i>of</i> something and not an empty notion; and that something + must, at the worst, be possible. Nay, when we consider all that is + involved in it, it becomes obvious that a true ideal—an ideal + which is a valid criterion—must be not only possible but real, + and, indeed, more real than that which is condemned by reference to + it. Absolute pessimism has in it the same contradiction as absolute + scepticism has,—in fact, it is only its practical counterpart; + for both scepticism and pessimism involve the assumption that it is + possible to reach a position outside the realm of being, from which + it may be condemned as a whole. But the rift between actual and ideal + must fall within the real or intelligible world, do what the + pessimists will; and a condemnation of man which is not based on a + principle realized by humanity, is a fiction of abstract thought, + which lays stress on the actuality of the imperfect and treats the + perfect as if it were as good as nothing, which it cannot be. In + other words, this way of regarding human life isolates the passing + phenomenon, and does not look to that which reveals itself in it and + causes it to pass away. Confining ourselves, however, for the + present, to the ideal in morality, we can easily see that, in that + sphere at least, the actual and ideal change places; and that the + latter contrasts with the former as the real with the phenomenal. + For, in the first place, the moral ideal is something more than a + mere idea not yet realized. It is more even than a <i>true</i> idea; + for no mere knowledge, however true, <span class="pagenum"><a name= + "pg141" id="pg141">141</a></span> has such intimate relation to the + self-consciousness of man as his moral ideal. A mathematical axiom, + and the statement of a physical law, express what is true; but they + do not occupy the same place in our mind as a moral principle. Such a + principle is an ideal, as well as an idea. It is an idea which has + causative potency in it. It supplies motives, it is an incentive to + action, and, though in one sense a thing of the future, it is also + the actual spring and source of present activity. In so far as the + agent acts, as Kant put it, not according to laws, but according to + an <i>idea</i> of law (and a responsible agent always acts in this + manner), the ideal is as truly actualized in him as the physical law + is actualized in the physical fact, or the vegetable life in the + plant. In fact, the ideal of a moral being is his life. All his + actions are its manifestations. And, just as the physical fact is not + seen as it really is, nor its reality proved, till science has + penetrated through the husk of the sensuous phenomenon, and grasped + it in thought as an instance of a law; so an individual's actions are + not understood, and can have no moral meaning whatsoever, except in + the light of the purpose which gave them being. We know the man only + when we know his creed. His reality is what he believes in; that is, + it is his ideal.</p> + + <p>It is the consciousness that the ideal is the real which explains + the fact of contrition. To become morally awakened is to become + conscious of the vanity and nothingness of the past life, as + confronted with the new ideal implied in it. The past life is + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg142" id="pg142">142</a></span> + something to be cast aside as false show, just because the self that + experienced it was not realized in it. It is for this reason that the + moral agent sets himself against it, and desires to annihilate all + its claims upon him by undergoing its punishment, and drinking to the + dregs its cup of bitterness. Thus his true life lies in the + realization of his ideal, and his advance towards it is his coming to + himself. Only in attaining to it does he attain reality, and the only + realization possible for him in the present is just the consciousness + of the potency of the ideal. To him to live is to realize his ideal. + It is a power that irks, till it finds expression in moral habits + that accord with its nature, <i>i.e.</i>, till the spirit has, out of + its environment, created a body adequate to itself.</p> + + <p>The condemnation of self which characterizes all moral life and is + the condition of moral progress, must not, therefore, be regarded as + a complete truth. For the very condemnation implies the actual + presence of something better. Both of the terms—both the + criterion and the fact which is condemned by it—fall within the + same individual life. Man cannot, therefore, without injustice, + condemn himself in all that he is; for the condemnation is itself a + witness to the activity of that good of which he despairs. Hence, the + threatening majesty of the moral imperative is nothing but the shadow + of man's own dignity; and moral contrition, and even the complete + despair of the pessimistic theory, when rightly understood, are + recognized as <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg143" id= + "pg143">143</a></span> unwilling witnesses to the authority and the + actuality of the highest good. And, on the other hand, the highest + good cannot be regarded as a mere phantom, without nullifying all our + condemnation of the self and the world.</p> + + <p>The legitimate deduction from the height of man's moral ideal is + thus found to be, not, as Carlyle thought, the weakness and + worthlessness of human nature, but its promise and native dignity: + and in a healthy moral consciousness it produces, not despair, but + faith and joy. For, as has been already suggested in a previous + chapter, the authority of the moral law over man is rooted in man's + endowment. Its imperative is nothing but the voice of the future + self, bidding the present self aspire, while its reproof is only the + expression of a moral aspiration which has misunderstood itself. + Contrition is not a bad moral state which should bring despair, but a + good state, full of promise of one that is still better. It is, in + fact, just the first step which the ideal takes in its process of + self-realization: "the sting that bids nor sit, nor stand, but + go!"</p> + + <p>The moral ideal thus, like every other ideal, even that which we + regard as present in natural life, contains a certain guarantee of + its own fulfilment. It is essentially an active thing, an energy, a + movement upwards. It may, indeed, be urged that the guarantee is + imperfect. Ideals tend to self-realization, but the tendency may + remain unfulfilled. Men have some ideals which they never reach, and + others which, at first sight at least, it were better <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg144" id="pg144">144</a></span> for them not to + reach. The goal may never be attained, or it may prove "a ruin like + the rest." And, as long as man is moral, the ideal is not, and cannot + be, fully reached. Morality necessarily implies a rift within human + nature, a contradiction between what is and what ought to be; + although neither the rift nor the contradiction is absolute. There + might seem for this reason to be no way of bringing optimism and + ethics together, of reconciling what is and what ought to be.</p> + + <p>My answer to these difficulties must at this stage be very brief + and incomplete. That the moral good, if attained, should itself prove + vain is a plain self-contradiction. For moral good has no meaning + except in so far as it is conceived as the highest good. The + question. "Why should I be moral," has no answer, because it is + self-contradictory. The moral ideal contains its justification in + itself, and requires to lean on nothing else.</p> + + <p>But it is not easy to prove that it is attainable. In one sense it + is not attainable, at least under the conditions of human life which + fall within our experience, from which alone we have a right to + speak. For, as I shall strive to show in a succeeding chapter, the + essence of man's life as spiritual, that is as intelligent and moral, + is its self-realizing activity. Intellectual and moral life is + progress, although it is the progress of an ideal which is real and + complete, the return of the infinite to itself through the finite. + The cessation of the progress of the ideal in man, whereby man + interprets the <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg145" id= + "pg145">145</a></span> world in terms of himself and makes it the + instrument of his purposes, is intellectual and moral death. From one + point of view, therefore, this spiritual life, or moral and + intellectual activity, is inspired at every step by the consciousness + of a "beyond" not possessed, of an unsolved contradiction between the + self and the not-self, of a good that ought to be and is not. The + last word, or rather the last word <i>but one</i>, regarding man is + "failure."</p> + + <p>But failure is the last word but one, as the poet well knew. + "What's come to perfection perishes," he tells us. From this point of + view the fact that perfection is not reached, merely means that the + process is not ended. "It seethes with the morrow for us and more." + The recognition of failure implies more effort and higher progress, + and contains a suggestion of an absolute good, and even a proof of + its active presence. "The beyond," for knowledge and morality, is the + Land of Promise. And the promise is not a false one; for the "land" + is possessed. The recognition of the fact to be known, the statement + of the problem, is the first step in its solution; and the + consciousness of the moral ideal not attained is the first step in + its self-actualizing progress. Had man not come so far, he would not + have known the further difficulty, or recognized the higher good. To + say that the moral ideal is never attained, is thus only a + half-truth. We must add to it the fact that it is always being + attained; nay, that it is always present as an active reality, + attaining itself, evolving its own content. Or, to <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg146" id="pg146">146</a></span> return to the + previous metaphor, the land of promise is possessed, although the + possession always reveals a still better beyond, which is again a + land of promise.</p> + + <p>While, therefore, it must always remain true that knowledge does + not reach absolute reality, nor morality absolute goodness, this + cannot be used as an argument against optimism, except on the + presupposition that mental and moral activity are a disease. And this + is a contradiction in terms. If the ideal is in itself good, the + process whereby it is attained is good; if the process in itself is + evil, the ideal it seeks is evil, and therefore the condemnation of + the actual by reference to it is absurd. And, on the other hand, to + postulate as best the identity of ideal and actual, so that no + process is necessary, is to assume a point of view where both + optimism and pessimism are meaningless, for there is no criterion. As + Aristotle teaches us, we have no right either to praise or to blame + the highest. A process, such as morality is, which is not the + self-manifestation of an actual idea, and an ideal which does not + reveal its potencies in its passing forms, are both fictions of + one-sided thought. The process is not the ideal, but its + manifestation; and the ideal is not the process, but the principle + which is its source and guide.</p> + + <p>But if the process cannot be thus immediately identified with the + ideal, or "man take the place of God," or "human self-consciousness + be confused with the absolute self-consciousness," far less can they + be separated. The infinitely high ideal of <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg147" id="pg147">147</a></span> perfect knowledge + and perfect goodness, implied in the Christian command, "Be ye + perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect," is an ideal, just + because the unity of what is and what ought to be is deeper than + their difference. The recognition of the limit of our knowledge, or + the imperfection of our moral character, is a direct witness to the + fact that there is more to be known and a better to be achieved. The + negative implies the affirmative, and is its effect. Man's confession + of the limitation of his knowledge is made on the supposition that + the universe of facts, in all its infinitely rich complexity, is + meant to be known; and his confession of moral imperfection is made + by reference to a good which is absolute, and which yet may be and + ought to be his. The good in morality is necessarily supreme and + perfect. A good that is "merely human," "relative to man's nature," + in the sense of not being true goodness, is a phantom of confused + thinking. Morality demands "<i>the</i> good," and not a simulacrum or + make-shift. The distinction between right and wrong, and with it all + moral aspiration, contrition, and repentance, would otherwise become + meaningless. What can a seeming good avail to a moral agent? There is + no better or worse among merely apparent excellencies, and of + phantoms it matters not which is chosen. And, in a similar way, the + distinction between true and false in knowledge, and the common + condemnation of human knowledge as merely of phenomena, implies the + absolute unity of thought and being, and the knowledge of that + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg148" id="pg148">148</a></span> unity + as a fact. There is no true or false amongst merely apparent + facts.</p> + + <p>But, if the ideal of man as a spiritual being is conceived as + perfect, then it follows not only that its attainment is possible, + but that it is necessary. The guarantee of its own fulfilment which + an ideal carries with it as an ideal, that is, as a potency in + process of fulfilment, becomes complete when that ideal is absolute. + "If God be for us, who can be against us?" The absolute good, in the + language of Emerson, is "too good not to be true." If such an ideal + be latent in the nature of man, it brings the order of the universe + over to his side. For it implies a kinship between him, as a + spiritual being, and the whole of existence. The stars in their + courses fight for him. In other words, the moral ideal means nothing, + if it does not imply a law which is universal. It is a law which + exists already, whether man recognizes it or not; it is the might in + things, a law of which "no jot or tittle can in any wise pass away." + The individual does not institute the moral law; he finds it to be + written both within and without him. His part is to recognize, not to + create it; to make it valid in his own life and so to identify + himself with it, that his service of it may be perfect freedom.</p> + + <p>We thus conclude that morality, and even the self-condemnation, + contrition, and consciousness of failure which it brings with it as + phases of its growth, are witnesses of the presence, and the actual + product of an absolute good in man. <span class="pagenum"><a name= + "pg149" id="pg149">149</a></span> Morality, in other words, rests + upon, and is the self-evolution of the religious principle in + man.</p> + + <p>A similar line of proof would show that religion implies morality. + An absolute good is not conceivable, except in relation to the + process whereby it manifests itself. In the language of theology, we + may say that God must create and redeem the world in order to be God; + or that creation and redemption,—the outflow of the universe + from God as its source, and its return to Him through the salvation + of mankind,—reveal to us the nature of God. Apart from this + outgoing of the infinite to the finite and its return to itself + through it, the name God would be an empty word, signifying a + something unintelligible dwelling in the void beyond the realm of + being. But religion, as we have seen, is the recognition not of an + unknown but of the absolute good as real; the joyous consciousness of + the presence of God in all things. And morality, in that it is the + realization of an ideal which is perfect, is the process whereby the + absolute good actualizes itself in man. It is true that the ideal + cannot be identified with the process; for it is the principle of the + process, and therefore more than it. Man does not reach "the last + term of development," for there is no last term to a being whose + essence is progressive activity. He does not therefore take the place + of God, and his self-consciousness is never the absolute + self-consciousness. But still, in so far as his life is a progress + towards the true and good, it is the process of truth and goodness + within <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg150" id= + "pg150">150</a></span> him. It is the activity of the ideal. It is + God lifting man up to Himself, or, in the language of philosophy, + "returning to Himself in history." And yet it is at the same time + man's effort after goodness. Man is not a mere "vessel of divine + grace," or a passive recipient of the highest bounty. All man's + goodness is necessarily man's achievement. And the realization by the + ideal of itself is man's achievement of it. For it is his ideal. The + law without is also the law within. It is the law within because it + is recognized as the law without. Thus, the moral consciousness + passes into the religious consciousness. The performance of duty is + the willing service of the absolute good; and, as such, it involves + also the recognition of a purpose that cannot fail. It is both + activity and faith, both a struggle and a consciousness of victory, + both morality and religion. We cannot, therefore, treat these as + alternative phases of man's life. There is not first the pain of the + moral struggle, and then the joy and rest of religion. The meat and + drink is "to do the will of Him that sent Me, to finish His work." + Heaven is the service of the good. "There is nothing in the world or + out of it that can be called unconditionally good, except the good + will." The process of willing—the moral activity—is its + own reward; "the only jewel that shines in its own light."</p> + + <p>It may seem to some to be presumptuous thus to identify the divine + and the human; but to separate them makes both morality and religion + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg151" id="pg151">151</a></span> + impossible. It robs morality of its ideal, and makes God a mere name + for the "unknown." Those who think that this identification degrades + the divine, misapprehend the nature of spirit; and forget that it is + of its essence to communicate itself. And goodness and truth do not + become less when shared; they grow greater. Spiritual possessions + imply community wherein there is no exclusion; and to the Christian + the glory of God is His communication of Himself. Hence the so-called + religious humility, which makes God different in nature from His + work, really degrades the object of its worship. It puts mere power + above the gifts of spirit, and it indicates that the worshipper has + not been emancipated from the slavishness, which makes a fetish of + its God. Such a religion is not free, and the development of man + destroys it.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"I never realized God's birth before—</p> + + <p>How He grew likest God in being born."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>The Ring and the Book—Pompilia</i>, 1690-1691.</p> + </div> + + <p>The intense love of the young mother drew the divine and the human + together, and set at nought the contrast which prose ever draws + between them. This thought of the unity of God and man is one which + has frequent utterance from the poet when his religious spirit is + most deeply moved; for it is the characteristic of religious feeling + that it abolishes all sense of separation. It removes all the + limitations of finitude and lifts man into rapturous unity with the + God he adores; and it gives such <span class="pagenum"><a name= + "pg152" id="pg152">152</a></span> completeness to his life that it + seems to him to be a joyous pulse of the life that is absolute. The + feeling of unity may be an illusion. This we cannot discuss here; + but, in any case, it is a feeling essential to religion. And the + philosophy which seeks to lift this feeling into clear consciousness + and to account for its existence, cannot but recognize that it + implies and presupposes the essential affinity of the divine nature + with the nature of man.</p> + + <p>Thus, both from the side of morality and from that of religion, we + are brought to recognize the unity of God with man as a spiritual + being. The moral ideal is man's idea of perfection, that is, his idea + of God. While theology and philosophy are often occupied with the + vain task of bridging a chasm between the finite and the infinite, + which they assume to be separated, the supreme facts of the life of + man as a spirit spring from their unity. In other words, morality and + religion are but different manifestations of the same principle. The + good that man effects is, at the same time, the working of God within + him. The activity that man is,</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i12">"tending up,</p> + + <p>Holds, is upheld by, God, and ends the man</p> + + <p>Upward in that dread point of intercourse</p> + + <p>Nor needs a place, for it returns to Him<sup>A</sup>."</p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>A Death in the Desert</i>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i12">"God, perchance,</p> + + <p>Grants each new man, by some as new a mode,</p> + + <p>Inter-communication with Himself</p> + + <p>Wreaking on finiteness infinitude<sup>B</sup>."</p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau.</i></p> + </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg153" id="pg153">153</a></span> + + <p>And while man's moral endeavour is thus recognized as the activity + of God within him, it is also implied that the divine being can be + known only as revealed, and incarnated, if one may so say, in a + perfect human character. It was a permanent conviction of Browning, + that</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i4">"the acknowledgment of God in Christ</p> + + <p>Accepted by thy reason, solves for thee</p> + + <p>All questions in the earth and out of it."</p> + </div> + + <p>So far from regarding the Power in the world which makes for + righteousness, as "not-ourselves," as Matthew Arnold did in his + haste, that Power is known to be the man's true self and more, and + morality is the gradual process whereby its content is evolved. And + man's state of perfection, which is symbolized for the intelligent by + the term Heaven, is, for Browning,</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"The equalizing, ever and anon,</p> + + <p>In momentary rapture, great with small,</p> + + <p>Omniscience with intelligency, God</p> + + <p>With man—the thunder glow from pole to pole</p> + + <p>Abolishing, a blissful moment-space,</p> + + <p>Great cloud alike and small cloud, in one fire—</p> + + <p>As sure to ebb as sure again to flow</p> + + <p>When the new receptivity deserves</p> + + <p>The new completion<sup>A</sup>."</p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>Thus, therefore, does the poet wed the divine strength with human + weakness; and the principle of unity, thus conceived, gives him at + once his <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg154" id= + "pg154">154</a></span> moral strenuousness and that ever present + foretaste of victory, which we may call his religious optimism.</p> + + <p>Whether this principle receives adequate expression from the poet, + we shall inquire in the next chapter. For on this depends its worth + as a solution of the enigma of man's moral life.</p><span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg155" id="pg155">155</a></span> + <hr class="full" /> + + <h2><a name="ch06" id="ch06">CHAPTER VI.</a></h2> + + <h3>BROWNING'S TREATMENT OF THE PRINCIPLE OF LOVE.</h3> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"God! Thou art Love! I build my faith on that<sup>A</sup>!"</p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Paracelsus</i></p> + </div> + + <p>It may be well before going further to gather together the results + so far reached.</p> + + <p>Browning was aware of the conflict of the religious and moral + consciousness, but he did not hesitate to give to each of them its + most uncompromising utterance. And it is on this account that he is + instructive; for, whatever may be the value of compromise in + practical affairs, there is no doubt that it has never done anything + to advance human thought. His religion is an optimistic faith, a + peaceful consciousness of the presence of the highest in man, and + therefore in all other things. Yet he does not hesitate to represent + the moral life as a struggle with evil, and a movement through error + towards a highest good which is never finally realized. He sees that + the contradiction is not an absolute one, but that a good man is + always <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg156" id= + "pg156">156</a></span> both moral and religious, and, in every good + act he does, transcends their difference. He knew that the ideal + apart from the process is nothing, and that "a God beyond the stars" + is simply the unknowable. But he knew, too, that the ideal is not + <i>merely</i> the process, but also that which starts the process, + guides it, and comes to itself through it. God, emptied of human + elements, is a mere name; but, at the same time, the process of human + evolution does not exhaust the idea of God. The process by itself, + <i>i.e.</i>, mere morality, is a conception of a fragment, a fiction + of abstract thought; it is a movement which has no beginning or end; + and in it neither the head nor the heart of man could find + contentment. He is driven by ethics into philosophy, and by morality + into religion.</p> + + <p>It was in this way that Browning found himself compelled to trace + back the moral process to its origin, and to identify the moral law + with the nature of God. It is this that gives value to his view of + moral progress, as reaching beyond death to a higher stage of being, + for which man's attainments in this life are only preliminary.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"What's time? Leave Now for dogs and apes,</p> + + <p>Man has Forever."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Grammarian's Funeral</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>There are other "adventures brave and new" for man, "more lives + yet," other ways of warfare, other depths of goodness and heights of + love. The poet lifts the moral ideal into infinitude, and removes + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg157" id="pg157">157</a></span> all + limits to the possibility and necessity of being good. Nay, the + process itself is good. Moral activity is its own bountiful reward; + for moral progress, which means struggle, is the best thing in the + world or out of it. To end such a process, to stop that activity, + were therefore evil. But it cannot end, for it is the + self-manifestation of the divine life. There is plenty of way to + make, for the ideal is absolute goodness. The process cannot exhaust + the absolute, and it is impossible that man should be God. And yet + this process is the process of the absolute, the working of the + ideal, the presence of the highest in man as a living power realizing + itself in his acts and in his thoughts. And the absolute cannot fail; + not in man, for the process is the evolution of his essential nature; + and not in the world, for that is but the necessary instrument of the + evolution. By lifting the moral ideal of man to infinitude, the poet + has identified it with the nature of God, and made it the absolute + law of things.</p> + + <p>Now, this idea of the identity of the human and the divine is a + perfectly familiar Christian idea.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Thence shall I, approved</p> + + <p>A man, for aye removed</p> + + <p>From the developed brute; a God though in the germ<sup>A</sup>."</p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Rabbi Ben Ezra.</i></p> + </div> + + <p>This idea is involved in the ordinary expressions of religious + thought. But, nevertheless, both theology and philosophy shrink from + giving to <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg158" id= + "pg158">158</a></span> it a clear and unembarrassed utterance. + Instead of rising to the sublime boldness of the Nazarene Teacher, + they set up prudential differences between God and + man—differences not of degree only but of nature; and, in + consequence, God is reduced into an unknowable absolute, and man is + made incapable not only of moral, but also of intellectual life. The + poet himself has proved craven-hearted in this, as we shall see. He, + too, sets up insurmountable barriers between the divine and the + human, and thereby weakens both his religious and his moral + convictions. His moral inspiration is greatest just where his + religious enthusiasm is most intense. In <i>Rabbi Ben Ezra, The Death + in the Desert</i>, and <i>The Ring and the Book</i>, there prevails a + constant sense of the community of God and man within the realm of + goodness; and the world itself, "with its dread machinery of sin and + sorrow," is made to join the great conspiracy, whose purpose is at + once the evolution of man's character, and the realization of the + will of God.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"So, the All-Great, were the All-Loving too—</p> + + <p>So, through the thunder comes a human voice</p> + + <p>Saying, 'O heart I made, a heart beats here!</p> + + <p>Face, my hands fashioned, see it in myself!</p> + + <p>Thou hast no power nor may'st conceive of mine,</p> + + <p>But love I gave thee, with myself to love,</p> + + <p>And thou must love Me who have died for thee<sup>A</sup>.'"</p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>An Epistle from Karshish</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>But, if we follow Browning's thoughts in his later and more + reflective poems, such as <i>Ferishtah's</i> <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg159" id="pg159">159</a></span> <i>Fancies</i> + for instance, it will not be possible to hold that the poet + altogether realized the importance for both morality and religion + alike, of the idea of the actual immanence of God in man. In these + poems he seems to have abandoned it in favour of the hypotheses of a + more timid philosophy. But, if his religious faith had not been + embarrassed by certain dogmatic presuppositions of which he could not + free himself, he might have met more successfully some of the + difficulties which later reflection revealed to him, and might have + been able to set a true value on that "philosophy," which betrayed + his faith while appearing to support it.</p> + + <p>But, before trying to criticize the principle by means of which + Browning sought to reconcile the moral and religious elements of + human life, it may be well to give it a more explicit and careful + statement.</p> + + <p>What, then, is that principle of unity between the divine and the + human? How can we interpret the life of man as God's life in man, so + that man, in attaining the moral ideal proper to his own nature, is + at the same time fulfilling ends which may justly be called + divine?</p> + + <p>The poet, in early life and in late life alike, has one answer to + this question—an answer given with the confidence of complete + conviction. The meeting-point of God and man is love. Love, in other + words, is, for the poet, the supreme principle both of morality and + religion. Love, once for all, solves that contradiction between them + which, both in <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg160" id= + "pg160">160</a></span> theory and in practice, has embarrassed the + world for so many ages. Love is the sublimest conception attainable + by man; a life inspired by it is the most perfect form of goodness he + can conceive; therefore, love is, at the same moment, man's moral + ideal, and the very essence of Godhood. A life actuated by love is + divine, whatever other limitations it may have. Such is the + perfection and glory of this emotion, when it has been translated + into a self-conscious motive, and become the energy of an intelligent + will, that it lifts him who owns it to the sublimest height of + being.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"For the loving worm within its clod,</p> + + <p>Were diviner than a loveless God</p> + + <p>Amid his worlds, I will dare to say."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Christmas Eve</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>So excellent is this emotion that, if man, who has this power to + love, did not find the same power in God, then man would excel Him, + and the creature and Creator change parts.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Do I find love so full in my nature, God's ultimate gift,</p> + + <p>That I doubt His own love can compete with it? Here, the parts + shift?</p> + + <p>Here, the creature surpass the Creator,—the end what + Began<sup>B</sup>?"</p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Saul</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>Not so, says David, and with him no doubt the poet himself. God is + Himself the source and fulness of love.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i6">"Tis Thou, God, that givest, 'tis I who receive:</p> + + <p>In the first is the last, in Thy will is my power to + believe.</p> + + <p>All's one gift."</p> + <hr /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg161" id="pg161">161</a></span> + + <p>"Would I suffer for him that I love? So would'st Thou,—so + wilt Thou!</p> + + <p>So shall crown Thee, the topmost, ineffablest, uttermost + crown—</p> + + <p>And Thy love fill infinitude wholly, nor leave up nor down</p> + + <p>One spot for the creature to stand in!"<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Saul</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>And this same love not only constitutes the nature of God and the + moral ideal of man, but it is also the purpose and essence of all + created being, both animate and inanimate.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i12">"This world's no blot for us,</p> + + <p>Nor blank; it means intensely and means good."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Fra Lippo Lippi</i>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"O world, as God has made it! All is beauty:</p> + + <p>And knowing this is love, and love is duty,</p> + + <p>What further may be sought for or declared?"</p> + </div> + + <p>In this world then "all's love, yet all's law." God permits + nothing to break through its universal sway, even the very wickedness + and misery of life are brought into the scheme of good, and, when + rightly understood, reveal themselves as its means.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"I can believe this dread machinery</p> + + <p>Of sin and sorrow, would confound me else,</p> + + <p>Devised—all pain, at most expenditure</p> + + <p>Of pain by Who devised pain—to evolve,</p> + + <p>By new machinery in counterpart,</p> + + <p>The moral qualities of man—how else?—</p> + + <p>To make him love in turn and be beloved,</p> + + <p>Creative and self-sacrificing too,</p> + + <p>And thus eventually Godlike."<sup>C</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>C: <i>The Ring and the Book—The Pope</i>, 1375-1383.</p> + </div> + + <p>The poet thus brings the natural world, the history of man, and + the nature of God, within the limits of the same conception. The idea + of love <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg162" id= + "pg162">162</a></span> solves for Browning all the enigmas of human + life and thought.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i8">"The thing that seems</p> + + <p>Mere misery, under human schemes,</p> + + <p>Becomes, regarded by the light</p> + + <p>Of love, as very near, or quite</p> + + <p>As good a gift as joy before."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Easter Day</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>Taking Browning's work as a whole, it is scarcely possible to deny + that this is at once the supreme motive of his art, and the principle + on which his moral and religious doctrine rests. He is always strong + and convincing when he is dealing with this theme. It was evidently + his own deepest conviction, and it gave him the courage to face the + evils of the world, and the power as an artist to "contrive his music + from its moans." It plays, in his philosophy of life, the part that + Reason fills for Hegel, or the Blind Will for Schopenhauer; and he is + as fearless as they are in reducing all phenomena into forms of the + activity of his first principle. Love not only gave him firm footing + amid the wash and welter of the present world, where time spins fast, + life fleets, and all is change, but it made him look forward with joy + to "the immortal course"; for, to him, all the universe is + love-woven. All life is but treading the "love-way," and no wanderer + can finally lose it. "The way-faring men, though fools, shall not err + therein."</p> + + <p>Since love has such an important place in Browning's theory of + life, it is necessary to see what he means by it. For love has had + for different <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg163" id= + "pg163">163</a></span> individuals, ages and nations, a very + different significance; and almost every great poet has given it a + different interpretation. And this is not unnatural. For love is a + passion which, beginning with youth and the hey-day of the blood, + expands with the expanding life, and takes new forms of beauty and + goodness at every stage. And this is equally true, whether we speak + of the individual or of the human race.</p> + + <p>Love is no accident in man's history, nor a passing emotion. It is + rather a constitutive element of man's nature, fundamental and + necessary as his intelligence. And, like everything native and + constitutive, it is obedient to the law of evolution, which is the + law of man's being; and it passes, therefore, through ever varying + forms. To it—if we may for the moment make a distinction + between the theoretical and practical life, or between ideas and + their causative potency—must be attributed the constructive + power which has built the world of morality, with its intangible but + most real relations which bind man to man and age to age. It is the + author of the organic institutions which, standing between the + individual and the rudeness of nature, awaken in him the need, and + give him the desire and the faculty, of attaining higher things than + physical satisfaction. Man is meant to act as well as to think, to be + virtuous as well as to have knowledge. It is possible that reverence + for the intellect may have led men, at times, to attribute the + evolution of the race too exclusively to <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg164" id="pg164">164</a></span> the theoretic + consciousness, forgetting that, along with reason, there co-operates + a twin power in all that is wisest and best in us, and that a heart + which can love, is as essential a pre-condition of all worthy + attainment, as an intellect which can see. Love and reason <sup>A</sup> are + equally primal powers in man, and they reflect might into each other: + for love increases knowledge, and knowledge love. It is their + combined power that gives interest and meaning to the facts of life, + and transmutes them into a moral and intellectual order. They, + together, are lifting man out of the isolation and chaos of + subjectivity into membership in a spiritual kingdom, where collision + and exclusion are impossible, and all are at once kings and + subjects.</p> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: It would be more correct to say the reason that is loving or + the love that is rational; for, though there is distinction, there + is no dualism.</p> + </div> + + <p>And, just as reason is present as a transmuting power in the + sensational life of the infancy of the individual and race, so is + love present amidst the confused and chaotic activity of the life + that knows no law other than its own changing emotions. Both make for + order, and both grow with it. Both love and reason have travelled a + long way in the history of man. The patriot's passion for his + country, the enthusiasm of pity and helpfulness towards all suffering + which marks the man of God, are as far removed from the physical + attraction of sex for sex, and the mere liking of the eye and ear, as + is the intellectual power of the sage from the vulpine <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg165" id="pg165">165</a></span> cunning of the + savage. "For," as Emerson well said, "it is a fire that, kindling its + first embers in the narrow nook of a private bosom, caught from a + wandering spark out of another heart, glows and enlarges until it + warms and beams upon multitudes of men and women, upon the universal + heart of all, and so lights up the world and all nature with its + generous flames." Both love and reason alike pass through stage after + stage, always away from the particularity of selfishness and + ignorance, into larger and larger cycles of common truth and + goodness, towards the full realization of knowledge and benevolence, + which is the inheritance of emancipated man. In this transition, the + sensuous play of feeling within man, and the sensitive responses to + external stimuli, are made more and more organic to ends which are + universal, that is, to spiritual ends. Love, which in its earliest + form, seems to be the natural yearning of brute for brute, appearing + and disappearing at the suggestion of physical needs, passes into an + idealized sentiment, into an emotion of the soul, into a principle of + moral activity which manifests itself in a permanent outflow of + helpful deeds for man. It represents, when thus sublimated, one side + at least of the expansion of the self, which culminates when the + world beats in the pulse of the individual, and the joys and sorrows, + the defeats and victories of mankind are felt by him as his own. It + is no longer dependent merely on the incitement of youth, grace, + beauty, whether of body or character; it transcends all limitations + of <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg166" id="pg166">166</a></span> + sex and age, and finds objects on which it can spend itself in all + that God has made, even in that which has violated its own law of + life and become mean and pitiful. It becomes a love of fallen + humanity, and an ardour to save it by becoming the conscious and + permanent motive of all men. The history of this evolution of love + has been written by the poets. Every phase through which this + ever-deepening emotion has passed, every form which this primary + power has taken in its growth, has received from them its own proper + expression. They have made even the grosser instincts lyric with + beauty; and, ascending with their theme, they have sung the pure + passion of soul for soul, its charm and its strength, its idealism + and heroism, up to the point at which, in Browning, it transcends the + limits of finite existence, sheds all its earthly vesture, and + becomes a spiritual principle of religious aspiration and + self-surrender to God.</p> + + <p>Browning nowhere shows his native strength more clearly than in + his treatment of love. He has touched this world-old + theme—which almost every poet has handled, and handled in his + highest manner—with that freshness and insight, which is + possible only to the inborn originality of genius. Other poets have, + in some ways, given to love a more exquisite utterance, and rendered + its sweetness, and tenderness, and charm with a lighter grace. It may + even be admitted that there are poets whose verses have echoed more + faithfully the fervour and intoxication of passion, and who have + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg167" id="pg167">167</a></span> shown + greater power of interpreting it in the light of a mystic idealism. + But, in one thing, Browning stands alone. He has given to love a + moral significance, a place and power amongst those substantial + elements on which rest the dignity of man's being and the greatness + of his destiny, in a way which is, I believe, without example in any + other poet. And he has done this by means of that moral and religious + earnestness, which pervades all his poetry. The one object of supreme + interest to him is the development of the soul, and his penetrative + insight revealed to him the power to love as the paramount fact in + that development. To love, he repeatedly tells us, is the sole and + supreme object of man's life; it is the one lesson which he has to + learn on earth; and, love once learnt, in what way matters little, + "it leaves completion in the soul." Love we dare not, and, indeed, + cannot absolutely miss. No man can be absolutely selfish and be + man.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Beneath the veriest ash, there hides a spark of soul</p> + + <p>Which, quickened by love's breath, may yet pervade the whole</p> + + <p>O' the grey, and, free again, be fire; of worth the same,</p> + + <p>Howe'er produced, for, great or little, flame is flame."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Fifine at the Fair</i>, xliii.</p> + </div> + + <p>Love, once evoked, once admitted into the soul,</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i10">"adds worth to worth,</p> + + <p>As wine enriches blood, and straightway sends it forth,</p> + + <p>Conquering and to conquer, through all eternity,</p> + + <p>That's battle without end."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Ibid.</i> liv.</p> + </div> + + <p>This view of the significance of love grew on Browning + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg168" id="pg168">168</a></span> as + his knowledge of man's nature and destiny became fuller and deeper, + while, at the same time, his trust in the intellect became less. Even + in <i>Paracelsus</i> he reveals love, not as a sentiment or + intoxicating passion, as one might expect from a youthful poet, but + as one of the great fundamental "faculties" of man. Love, "blind, + oft-failing, half-enlightened, often-chequered trust," though it be, + still makes man</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"The heir of hopes too fair to turn out false."</p> + </div> + + <p>In that poem, love is definitely lifted by the poet to the level + of knowledge. Intellectual gain, apart from love, is folly and + futility, worthless for the individual and worthless to the race. + "Mind is nothing but disease," Paracelsus cries in the bitterness of + his disappointment, "and natural health is ignorance"; and he asks of + the mad poet who "loved too rashly,"</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Are we not halves of one dissevered world,</p> + + <p>Whom this strange chance unites once more? Part? Never!</p> + + <p>Till thou the lover, know; and I, the knower,</p> + + <p>Love—until both are saved."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Paracelsus</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>And, at the end of the poem, Paracelsus, coming to an + understanding with himself as to the gain and loss of life, proclaims + with his last strength the truth he had missed throughout his great + career, namely, the supreme worth of love.</p><span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg169" id="pg169">169</a></span> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"I saw Aprile—my Aprile there!</p> + + <p>And as the poor melodious wretch disburthened</p> + + <p>His heart, and moaned his weakness in my ear,</p> + + <p>I learned my own deep error; love's undoing</p> + + <p>Taught me the worth of love in man's estate,</p> + + <p>And what proportion love should hold with power</p> + + <p>In his right constitution; love preceding</p> + + <p>Power, and with much power, always much more love;</p> + + <p>Love still too straitened in his present means,</p> + + <p>And earnest for new power to set love free."</p> + </div> + + <p>As long as he hated men, or, in his passionate pursuit of truth, + was indifferent to their concerns, it was not strange that he saw no + good in men and failed to help them. Knowledge without love is not + <i>true</i> knowledge, but folly and weakness.</p> + + <p>But, great as is the place given to love in <i>Paracelsus</i>, it + is far less than that given to it in the poet's later works. In + <i>Ferishtah's Fancies</i> and <i>La Saisiaz</i> it is no longer + rivalled by knowledge; nor even in <i>Easter Day</i>, where the voice + beside the poet proclaiming that</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Life is done,</p> + + <p>Time ends, Eternity's begun,"</p> + </div> + + <p>gives a final pronouncement upon the purposes of the life of man. + The world of sense—of beauty and art, of knowledge and truth, + are given to man, but none of them satisfy his spirit; they merely + sting with hunger for something better. "Deficiency gapes every + side," till love is known as the essence and worth of all things.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i8">"Is this thy final choice?</p> + + <p>Love is the best? 'Tis somewhat late!</p> + + <p>And all thou dost enumerate</p><span class="pagenum"><a name= + "pg170" id="pg170">170</a></span> + + <p>Of power and beauty in the world,</p> + + <p>The righteousness of love was curled</p> + + <p>Inextricably round about.</p> + + <p>Love lay within it and without,</p> + + <p>To clasp thee,—but in vain! Thy soul</p> + + <p>Still shrunk from Him who made the whole,</p> + + <p>Still set deliberate aside</p> + + <p>His love!—Now take love! Well betide</p> + + <p>Thy tardy conscience!"<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Easter Day.</i></p> + </div> + + <p>In his later reflective poems, in which he deals with the problems + of life in the spirit of a metaphysician, seeking a definite answer + to the questions of the intelligence, he declares the reason for his + preference of love to knowledge. In <i>La Saisiaz</i> he states that + man's love is God's too, a spark from His central fire; but man's + knowledge is man's only. Knowledge is finite, limited and tinged with + sense. The truth we reach at best is only truth <i>for us</i>, + relative, distorted. We are for ever kept from the fact which is + supposed to be given; our intellects play about it; sense and even + intellect itself are interposing media, which we must use, and yet, + in using them, we only fool ourselves with semblances. The poet has + now grown so cautious that he will not declare his own knowledge to + be valid for any other man. David Hume could scarcely be more + suspicious of the human intellect; nor Berkeley more surely persuaded + of the purely subjective nature of its attainments. In fact, the + latter relied on human knowledge in a way impossible to Browning, for + he regarded it as the language of <span class="pagenum"><a name= + "pg171" id="pg171">171</a></span> spirit speaking to spirit. Out of + his experience, Browning says,</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i10">"There crowds conjecture manifold.</p> + + <p>But, as knowledge, this comes only,—things may be as I + behold</p> + + <p>Or may not be, but, without me and above me, things there + are;</p> + + <p>I myself am what I know not—ignorance which proves no + bar</p> + + <p>To the knowledge that I am, and, since I am, can recognize</p> + + <p>What to me is pain and pleasure: this is sure, the + rest—surmise."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>La Saisiaz</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>Thought itself, for aught he knows, may be afflicted with a kind + of colour-blindness; and he knows no appeal when one affirms "green + as grass," and another contradicts him with "red as grass." Under + such circumstances, it is not strange that Browning should decline to + speak except for himself, and that he will</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Nowise dare to play the spokesman for my brothers strong or + weak,"</p> + </div> + + <p>or that he will far less presume to pronounce for God, and pretend + that the truth finds utterance from lips of clay—</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Pass off human lisp as echo of the sphere-song out of + reach."</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Have I knowledge? Confounded it shrivels at Wisdom laid + bare!</p> + + <p>Have I forethought? how purblind, how blank, to the Infinite + Care!</p> + <hr /> + + <p>"And thus looking within and around me, I ever renew</p> + + <p>(With that stoop of the soul, which in bending upraises it + too)</p> + + <p>The submission of man's nothing-perfect to God's + all-complete,</p> + + <p>As by each new obeisance in spirit, I climb to His + feet."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Saul</i>, III.</p> + </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg172" id="pg172">172</a></span> + + <p>But David finds in himself one faculty so supreme in worth that he + keeps it in abeyance—</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Lest, insisting to claim and parade in it, wot ye, I worst</p> + + <p>E'en the Giver in one gift.—Behold, I could love if I + durst!</p> + + <p>But I sink the pretension as fearing a man may o'ertake</p> + + <p>God's own speed in the one way of love: I abstain for love's + sake."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Saul</i>, III.</p> + </div> + + <p>This faculty of love, so far from being tainted with finitude, + like knowledge; so far from being mere man's, or a temporary and + deceptive power given to man for temporary uses, by a Creator who has + another ineffably higher way of loving, as He has of truth, is itself + divine. In contrast with the activity of love, Omnipotence itself + dwindles into insignificance, and creation sinks into a puny exercise + of power. Love, in a word, is the highest good; and, as such, it has + all its worth in itself, and gives to all other things what worth + they have. God Himself gains the "ineffable crown" by showing love + and saving the weak. It is the power divine, the central energy of + God's being.</p> + + <p>Browning never forgets this moral or religious quality of love. So + pure is this emotion to the poet, "so perfect in whiteness, that it + will not take pollution; but, ermine-like, is armed from dishonour by + its own soft snow." In the corruptest hearts, amidst the worst + sensuality, love is still a power divine, making for all goodness. + Even when it is kindled into flame by an illicit touch, and wars + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg173" id="pg173">173</a></span> + against the life of the family, which is its own product, its worth + is supreme. He who has learned to love in any way, has "caught God's + secret." How he has caught it, whom he loves, whether or not he is + loved in return, all these things matter little. The paramount + question on which hangs man's fate is, has he learned to love + another, any other, Fifine or Elvire. "She has lost me," said the + unloved lover; "I have gained her. Her soul's mine."</p> + + <p>The supreme worth of love, the mere emotion itself, however called + into activity, secures it against all taint. No one who understands + Browning in the least, can accuse him of touching with a rash hand + the sanctity of the family; rather he places it on the basis of its + own principle, and thereby makes for it the strongest defence. Such + love as he speaks of, however irregular its manifestation or sensuous + its setting, can never be confounded with lust—"hell's own blue + tint." It is further removed from lust even than asceticism. It has + not even a negative attitude towards the flesh; but finds the flesh + to be "stuff for transmuting," and reduces it to the uses of the + spirit. The love which is sung by Browning is more pure and free, and + is set in a higher altitude than anything that can be reached by the + way of negation. It is a consecration of the undivided self, so that + "soul helps not flesh more, than flesh helps soul." It is not only a + spiritual and divine emotion, but it also "shows a heart within + blood-tinctured with a veined humanity."</p><span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg174" id="pg174">174</a></span> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Be a God and hold me</p> + + <p class="i2">With a charm!</p> + + <p>Be a man and hold me</p> + + <p class="i2">With thine arm!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Teach me, only teach, Love!</p> + + <p class="i2">As I ought</p> + + <p>I will speak thy speech, Love!</p> + + <p class="i2">Think thy thought—</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Meet, if thou require it,</p> + + <p class="i2">Both demands,</p> + + <p>Laying flesh and spirit</p> + + <p class="i2">In thy hands." <sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>A Woman's Last Word</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>True love is always an infinite giving, which holds nothing back. + It is a spendthrift, magnificent in its recklessness, squandering the + very essence of the self upon its object, and by doing so, in the end + enriching the self beyond all counting. For in loving, the individual + becomes re-impersonated in another; the distinction of Me and Thee is + swept away, and there pulses in two individuals one warm life.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"If two lives join, there is oft a scar</p> + + <p class="i2">They are one and one with a shadowy third;</p> + + <p>One near one is too far.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"A moment after, and hands unseen</p> + + <p class="i2">Were hanging the night around us fast;</p> + + <p>But we knew that a bar was broken between</p> + + <p class="i2">Life and life: we were mixed at last</p> + + <p>In spite of the mortal screen."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>By the Fireside</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>The throwing down of the limits that wall a man within himself, + the mingling of his own deepest interests with those of others, + always marks love; <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg175" id= + "pg175">175</a></span> be it love of man for maid, parent for child, + or patriot for his country. It opens an outlet into the pure air of + the world of objects, and enables man to escape from the stuffed and + poisonous atmosphere of his narrow self. It is a streaming outwards + of the inmost treasures of the spirit, a consecration of its best + activities to the welfare of others. And when this is known to be the + native quality and quintessence of love, no one can regard it + anywhere, or at any time, as out of place. "Prize-lawful or + prize-lawless" it is ever a flower, even though it grow, like the + love of the hero of <i>Turf and Towers</i>, in slime. Lust, fleshly + desire, which has been too often miscalled love, is its worst + perversion. Love spends itself for another, and seeks satisfaction + only in another's good. But last uses up others for its own worst + purposes, wastes its object, and turns the current of life back + inwards, into the slush and filth of selfish pleasure. The + distinction between love and its perversion, which is impossible in + the naive life of an animal, ought to be clear enough to all, and + probably is. Nor should the sexual impulse in human beings be + confused with fleshly desire, and treated as if it were merely + natural, "the mere lust of life" common to all living + things,—"that strive," as Spinoza put it, "to persevere in + existing." For there is no purely natural impulse in man; all that he + is, is transfused with spirit, whether he will or no. He cannot act + as a mere animal, because he cannot leave his rational nature behind + him. <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg176" id="pg176">176</a></span> + He cannot desire as an innocent brute desires: his desire is always + love or lust. We have as little right to say that the wisdom of the + sage is <i>nothing but</i> the purblind savagery of a Terra del + Fuegian, as we have to assert that love is <i>nothing but</i> a + sexual impulse. That impulse rather, when its potency is set free, + will show itself, at first confusedly, but with more and more + clearness as it expands, to be the yearning of soul for soul. It puts + us "in training for a love which knows not sex, nor person, nor + partiality; but which seeks virtue and wisdom everywhere, to the end + of increasing virtue and wisdom." The height to which this passion + lifts man, is just what makes possible the fall into a sensuality and + excess of brutishness, in comparison with which animal life is a + paradise of innocence.</p> + + <p>If this is clearly recognized, many of the idle questions of + casuistry that are sometimes raised regarding sexual love and + marriage will cease to trouble. For these questions generally + presuppose the lowest possible view of this passion. Browning shows + us how to follow with serene security the pure light of the emotion + of love, amidst all the confused lawlessness of lustful passion, and + through all the intricacies of human character. Love, he thinks, is + never illicit, never unwise, except when it is disloyal to itself; it + never ruins, but always strives to enrich its object. Bacon quotes + with approval a saying "That it is impossible to love, and to be + wise." Browning <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg177" id= + "pg177">177</a></span> asserts that it is impossible to love and + <i>not</i> be wise. It is a power that, according to the Christian + idea which the poet adopts, has infinite goodness for its source, and + that, even in its meanest expression, is always feeling its way back + to its origin, flowing again into the ocean whence it came.</p> + + <p>So sparklingly pure is this passion that it could exorcise the + evil and turn old to new, even in the case of Léonce Miranda. At + least Browning, in this poem, strives to show that, being true love, + though the love of an unclean man for an unclean woman, it was a + power at war with the sordid elements of that sordid life. Love has + always the same potency, flame is always flame,</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i4">"no matter whence flame sprung,</p> + + <p>From gums and spice, or else from straw and rottenness."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i4">"Let her but love you,</p> + + <p>All else you disregard! what else can be?</p> + + <p>You know how love is incompatible</p> + + <p>With falsehood—purifies, assimilates</p> + + <p>All other passions to itself."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Ne'er wrong yourself so far as quote the world</p> + + <p>And say, love can go unrequited here!</p> + + <p>You will have blessed him to his whole life's end—</p> + + <p>Low passions hindered, baser cares kept back,</p> + + <p>All goodness cherished where you dwelt—and dwell."<sup>C</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Fifine at the Fair</i>, lv.</p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Colombe's Birthday.</i></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>C: <i>Ibid</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>But, while love is always a power lifting a man upwards to the + level of its own origin from whatever depths of degradation, its + greatest potency can reveal itself only in characters intrinsically + pure, <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg178" id="pg178">178</a></span> + such as Pompilia and Caponsacchi. Like mercy and every other + spiritual gift, it is mightiest in the mighty. In the good and great + of the earth love is veritably seen to be God's own energy;</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i2">"Who never is dishonoured in the spark</p> + + <p>He gave us from His fire of fires, and bade</p> + + <p>Remember whence it sprang, nor be afraid</p> + + <p class="i4">While that burns on, though all the rest grow dark." + <sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Any Wife to Any Husband</i>, III.</p> + </div> + + <p>It were almost an endless task to recount the ways in which + Browning exhibits the moralizing power of love: how it is for him the + quintessence of all goodness; the motive, and inspiring cause, of + every act in the world that is completely right; and how, on that + account, it is the actual working in the man of the ideal of all + perfection. This doctrine of love is, in my opinion, the richest vein + of pure ore in Browning's poetry.</p> + + <p>But it remains to follow briefly our poet's treatment of love in + another direction—as a principle present, not only in God as + creative and redeeming Power, and in man as the highest motive and + energy of the moral life, but also in the outer world, in the + "material" universe. In the view of the poet, the whole creation is + nothing but love incarnate, a pulsation from the divine heart. Love + is the source of all law and of all beauty. "Day unto day uttereth + speech, and night unto night speaketh knowledge. There is no speech + or language where their voice is not heard." And our poet speaks + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg179" id="pg179">179</a></span> as if + he had caught the meaning of the language, and believes that all + things speak of love—the love of God.</p> + + <p>"I think," says the heroine of the <i>Inn Album</i>,</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Womanliness means only motherhood;</p> + + <p>All love begins and ends there,—roams enough,</p> + + <p>But, having run the circle, rests at home."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>The Inn Album</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>And Browning detects something of this motherhood everywhere. He + finds it as</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i8">"Some cause</p> + + <p>Such as is put into a tree, which turns</p> + + <p>Away from the north wind with what nest it holds."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>The Ring and the Book—Canon Caponsacchi</i>, + 1374-1376.</p> + </div> + + <p>The Pope—who, if any one, speaks for Browning—declares + that</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i4">"Brute and bird, reptile and the fly,</p> + + <p>Ay and, I nothing doubt, even tree, shrub, plant</p> + + <p>And flower o' the field, are all in a common pact</p> + + <p>To worthily defend the trust of trusts,</p> + + <p>Life from the Ever Living."<sup>C</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>C: <i>The Ring and the Book—The Pope</i>, 1076-1081.</p> + </div> + + <p>"Because of motherhood," said the minor pope in <i>Ivàn + Ivànovitch</i>,</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i12">"each male</p> + + <p>Yields to his partner place, sinks proudly in the scale:</p> + + <p>His strength owned weakness, wit—folly, and + courage—fear,</p> + + <p>Beside the female proved males's mistress—only here</p> + + <p>The fox-dam, hunger-pined, will slay the felon sire</p> + + <p>Who dares assault her whelp."</p> + </div> + + <p>The betrayal of the mother's trust is the "unexampled <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg180" id="pg180">180</a></span> sin," which + scares the world and shames God.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"I hold that, failing human sense,</p> + + <p>The very earth had oped, sky fallen, to efface</p> + + <p>Humanity's new wrong, motherhood's first disgrace."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Ivàn Ivànovitch</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>This instinct of love, which binds brute-parent to + brute-offspring, is a kind of spiritual law in the natural world: it, + like all law, guarantees the continuity and unity of the world, and + it is scarcely akin to merely physical attraction. No doubt its basis + is physical; it has an organism of flesh and blood for its vehicle + and instrument: but mathematical physics cannot explain it, nor can + it be detected by chemical tests. Rather, with the poet, we are to + regard brute affection as a kind of rude outline of human love; as a + law in nature, which, when understood by man and adopted as his rule + of conduct, becomes the essence and potency of his moral life.</p> + + <p>Thus Browning regards love as an omnipresent good. There is + nothing, he tells us in <i>Fifine</i>, which cannot reflect it; even + moral putridity becomes phosphorescent, "and sparks from heaven + transpierce earth's coarsest covertures."</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"There is no good of life but love—but love!</p> + + <p>What else looks good, is some shade flung from love,</p> + + <p>Love gilds it, gives it worth."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>In a balcony</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>There is no fact which, if seen to the heart, will <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg181" id="pg181">181</a></span> not prove itself + to have love for its purpose, and, therefore, for its substance. And + it is on this account that everything finds its place in a kosmos and + that there is</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"No detail but, in place allotted it, was prime</p> + + <p>And perfect."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Fifine at the Fair</i>. xxxi.</p> + </div> + + <p>Every event in the history of the world and of man is explicable, + as the bursting into new form of this elemental, all-pervading power. + The permanence in change of nature, the unity in variety, the + strength which clothes itself in beauty, are all manifestations of + love. Nature is not merely natural; matter and life's minute + beginnings, are more than they seem. Paracelsus said that he knew and + felt</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i6">"What God is, what we are,</p> + + <p>What life is—how God tastes an infinite joy</p> + + <p>In finite ways—one everlasting bliss,</p> + + <p>From whom all being emanates, all power</p> + + <p>Proceeds: in whom is life for evermore,</p> + + <p>Yet whom existence in its lowest form</p> + + <p>Includes."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Paracelsus</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>The scheme of love does not begin with man, he is rather its + consummation.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i4">"Whose attributes had here and there</p> + + <p>Been scattered o'er the visible world before,</p> + + <p>Asking to be combined, dim fragments meant</p> + + <p>To be united in some wondrous whole,</p> + + <p>Imperfect qualities throughout creation,</p> + + <p>Suggesting some one creature yet to make,</p> + + <p>Some point where all those scattered rays should meet</p> + + <p>Convergent in the faculties of man.</p> + <hr /> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg182" id="pg182">182</a></span> + + <p>"Hints and previsions of which faculties,</p> + + <p>Are strewn confusedly everywhere about</p> + + <p>The inferior natures, and all lead up higher,</p> + + <p>All shape out divinely the superior race,</p> + + <p>The heir of hopes too fair to turn out false,</p> + + <p>And man appears at last."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Paracelsus</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>Power, knowledge, love, all these are found in the world, in + which</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i6">"All tended to mankind,</p> + + <p>And, man produced, all has its end thus far:</p> + + <p>But, in completed man begins anew</p> + + <p>A tendency to God."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Ibid</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>For man, being intelligent, flings back his light on all that went + before,</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Illustrates all the inferior grades, explains</p> + + <p>Each back step in the circle."<sup>C</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>C: <i>Ibid</i>. 189.</p> + </div> + + <p>He gives voice to the mute significance of Nature, and lets in the + light on its blind groping.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i2">"Man, once descried, imprints for ever</p> + + <p>His presence on all lifeless things."</p> + </div> + + <p>And how is this interpretation achieved? By penetrating behind + force, power, mechanism, and even intelligence, thinks the poet, to a + purpose which is benevolent, a reason which is all embracing and + rooted in love. The magnificent failure of Paracelsus came from + missing this last step. His transcendent hunger for knowledge was not + satisfied, not because human knowledge is essentially an illusion or + mind disease, but because his knowledge <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg183" id="pg183">183</a></span> did not reach the + final truth of things, which is love. For love alone makes the heart + wise, to know the secret of all being. This is the ultimate + hypothesis in the light of which alone man can catch a glimpse of the + general direction and intent of the universal movement in the world + and man. Dying, Paracelsus, taught by Aprile, caught a glimpse of + this elemental "love-force," in which alone lies the clue to every + problem, and the promise of the final satisfaction of the human + spirit. Failing in this knowledge, man may know many things, but + nothing truly; for all such knowledge stays with outward shows. It is + love alone that puts man in the right relation to his fellows and to + the world, and removes the distortion which fills life with sorrow, + and makes it</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i6">"Only a scene</p> + + <p>Of degradation, ugliness and tears,</p> + + <p>The record of disgraces best forgotten,</p> + + <p>A sullen page in human chronicles</p> + + <p>Fit to erase."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Paracelsus</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>But in the light of love, man "sees a good in evil, and a hope in + ill success," and recognizes that mankind are</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"All with a touch of nobleness, despite</p> + + <p>Their error, upward tending all though weak;</p> + + <p>Like plants in mines which never saw the sun,</p> + + <p>But dream of him, and guess where he may be,</p> + + <p>And do their best to climb and get to him."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Ibid</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>"All this I knew not," adds Paracelsus, "and I <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg184" id="pg184">184</a></span> failed. Let men + take the lesson and press this lamp of love, 'God's lamp, close to + their breasts'; its splendour, soon or late, will pierce the gloom," + and show that the universe is a transparent manifestation of His + beneficence.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg185" id= + "pg185">185</a></span> + <hr class="full" /> + + <h2><a name="ch07" id="ch07">CHAPTER VII.</a></h2> + + <h3>BROWNING'S IDEALISM, AND ITS PHILOSOPHICAL JUSTIFICATION.</h3> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Master, explain this incongruity!</p> + + <p>When I dared question, 'It is beautiful,</p> + + <p>But is it true?' thy answer was, 'In truth</p> + + <p>Lives Beauty.'"<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Shah Abbas</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>We have now seen how Browning sought to explain all things as + manifestations of the principle of love; how he endeavoured to bring + all the variety of finite existence, and even the deep discrepancies + of good and evil, under the sway of one idea. I have already tried to + show that all human thought is occupied with the same task: science, + art, philosophy, and even the most ordinary common-sense, are all, in + their different ways, seeking for constant laws amongst changing + facts. Nay, we may even go so far as to say that all the activity of + man, the practical as well as the theoretical, is an attempt to + establish a <i>modus vivendi</i> between his environment and himself. + And such an attempt rests on the assumption that there is some ground + common to both of the struggling <span class="pagenum"><a name= + "pg186" id="pg186">186</a></span> powers within and without, some + principle that manifests itself both in man and in nature. So that + all men are philosophers to the extent of postulating a unity, which + is deeper than all differences; and all are alike trying to discover, + in however limited or ignorant a way, what that unity is. If this + fact were more constantly kept in view, the effort of philosophers to + bring the ultimate colligating principles of thought into clear + consciousness would not, at the outset at least, be regarded with so + much suspicion. For the philosopher differs from the practical man of + the world, not so much in the nature of the task which he is trying + to accomplish, as in the distinct and conscious purpose with which he + enters upon it.</p> + + <p>Now, I think that those, who, like Browning, offer an explicitly + optimistic idea of the relation between man and the world, have a + special right to a respectful hearing; for it can scarcely be denied + that their optimistic explanation is invaluable, <i>if it is + true</i>—</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"So might we safely mock at what unnerves</p> + + <p>Faith now, be spared the sapping fear's increase</p> + + <p>That haply evil's strife with good shall cease</p> + + <p>Never on earth."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Bernard de Mandeville</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>Despair is a great clog to good work for the world, and + pessimists, as a rule, have shown much more readiness than optimists + to let evil have its unimpeded way. Having found, like Schopenhauer, + that "Life is an awkward business," they "determine to <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg187" id="pg187">187</a></span> spend life in + reflecting on it," or at least in moaning about it. The world's + helpers have been men of another mould; and the contrast between + Fichte and Schopenhauer is suggestive of a general + truth:—"Fichte, in the bright triumphant flight of his + idealism, supported by faith in a moral order of the world which + works for righteousness, turning his back on the darker ethics of + self-torture and mortification, and rushing into the political and + social fray, proclaiming the duties of patriotism, idealizing the + soldier, calling to and exercising an active philanthrophy, living + with his nation, and continually urging it upwards to higher levels + of self-realization—Schopenhauer recurring to the idea of + asceticism, preaching the blessedness of the quiescence of all will, + disparaging efforts to save the nation or elevate the masses, and + holding that each has enough to do in raising his own self from its + dull engrossment in lower things to an absorption in that pure, + passionless being which lies far beyond all, even the so-called + highest, pursuits of practical life."<sup>A</sup></p> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Schopenhauer</i>, by Prof. Wallace.</p> + </div> + + <p>A pessimism, which is nothing more than flippant fault-finding, + frequently gains a cheap reputation for wisdom; and, on the other + hand, an optimism, which is really the result of much reflection and + experience, may be regarded as the product of a superficial spirit + that has never known the deeper evils of life. But, if pessimism be + true, it differs from other truths by its uselessness; for, even if + it <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg188" id="pg188">188</a></span> + saves man from the bitterness of petty disappointments, it does so + only by making the misery universal. There is no need to specify, + when "<i>All</i> is vanity." The drowning man does not feel the + discomfort of being wet. But yet, if we reflect on the problem of + evil, we shall find that there is no neutral ground, and shall + ultimately be driven to choose between pessimism and its opposite. + Nor, on the other hand, is the suppression of the problem of evil + possible, except at a great cost. It presents itself anew in the mind + of every thinking man; and some kind of solution of it, or at least + some definite way of meeting its difficulty, is involved in the + attitude which every man assumes towards life and its tasks.</p> + + <p>It is not impossible that there may be as much to be said for + Browning's joy in life and his love of it, as there is for his + predecessor's rage and sorrow. Browning certainly thought that there + was; and he held his view consistently to the end. We cannot, + therefore, do justice to the poet without dealing critically with the + principle on which he has based his faith, and observing how far it + is applicable to the facts of human life. As I have previously said, + he strives hard to come into fair contact with the misery of man in + all its sadness; and, after doing so, he claims, not as a matter of + poetic sentiment, but as a matter of strict truth, that good is the + heart and reality of it all. It is true that he cannot demonstrate + the truth of his principle by reference to all the facts, any more + than the scientific man can <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg189" id= + "pg189">189</a></span> justify his hypothesis in every detail; but he + holds it as a faith which reason can justify and experience + establish, although not in every isolated phenomenon. The good may, + he holds, be seen actually at work in the world, and its process will + be more fully known, as human life advances towards its goal.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i8">"Though Master keep aloof,</p> + + <p>Signs of His presence multiply from roof</p> + + <p>To basement of the building."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Francis Furini</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>Thus Browning bases his view upon experience, and finds firm + footing for his faith in the present; although he acknowledges that + the "profound of ignorance surges round his rockspit of + self-knowledge."</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i12">"Enough that now,</p> + + <p>Here where I stand, this moment's me and mine,</p> + + <p>Shows me what is, permits me to divine</p> + + <p>What shall be."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Ibid</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>"Since we know love we know enough"; for in love, he confidently + thinks we have the key to all the mystery of being.</p> + + <p>Now, what is to be made of an optimism of this kind, which is + based upon love and which professes to start from experience, or to + be legitimately and rationally derived from it?</p> + + <p>If such a view be taken seriously, as I propose doing, we must be + prepared to meet at the outset with some very grave difficulties. The + first of these is that it is an interpretation of facts by a human + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg190" id="pg190">190</a></span> + emotion. To say that love blushes in the rose, or breaks into beauty + in the clouds, that it shows its strength in the storm, and sets the + stars in the sky, and that it is in all things the source of order + and law, may imply a principle of supreme worth both to poetry and + religion; but when we are asked to take it as a metaphysical + explanation of facts, we are prone, like the judges of Caponsacchi, + not to "levity, or to anything indecorous"—</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Only—I think I apprehend the mood:</p> + + <p>There was the blameless shrug, permissible smirk,</p> + + <p>The pen's pretence at play with the pursed mouth,</p> + + <p>The titter stifled in the hollow palm</p> + + <p>Which rubbed the eye-brow and caressed the nose,</p> + + <p>When I first told my tale; they meant, you know—</p> + + <p>'The sly one, all this we are bound believe!</p> + + <p>Well, he can say no other than what he says.'"<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>The Ring and the Book—Canon Caponsacchi</i>, + 14-20.</p> + </div> + + <p>We are sufficiently willing to let the doctrine be held as a pious + opinion. The faith that "all's love yet all's law," like many another + illusion, if not hugged too closely, may comfort man's nakedness. But + if we are asked to substitute this view for that which the sciences + suggest,—if we are asked to put "Love" in the place of physical + energy, and, by assuming it as a principle, to regard as unreal all + the infinite misery of humanity and the degradation of intellect and + character from which it arises, common-sense seems at once to take + the side of the doleful sage of Chelsea. When the optimist postulates + that the state of the world, <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg191" + id="pg191">191</a></span> were it rightly understood, is completely + satisfactory, reason seems to be brought to a stand; and if poetry + and religion involve such a postulate, they are taken to be + ministering to the emotions at the expense of the intellect.</p> + + <p>Browning, however, was not a mere sentimentalist who could satisfy + his heart without answering the questions of his intellect. Nor is + his view without support—at least, as regards the substance of + it. The presence of an idealistic element in things is recognized + even by ordinary thought; and no man's world is so poor that it would + not be poorer still for him, if it were reduced by the abstract + sciences of nature into a mere manifestation of physical force. Such + a world Richter compares to an empty eye-socket.</p> + + <p>The great result of speculation since the time of Kant is to teach + us to recognize that objects are essentially related to mind, and + that the principles which rule our thought enter, so to speak, into + the constitution of the things we know. A very slight acquaintance + with the history even of psychology, especially in modern times, + shows that facts are more and more retracted into thought. This + science, which began with a sufficiently common-sense view, not only + of the reality and solidity of the things of the outer world, but of + their opposition to, or independence of thought, is now thinning that + world down into a mere shadow—a something which excites + sensation. It shows that external things as we know them, and we are + not concerned in any others, <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg192" + id="pg192">192</a></span> are, to a very great extent, the product of + our thinking activities. No one will now subscribe to the Lockian or + Humean view, of images impressed by objects on mind: the object which + "impresses" has first to be made by mind, out of the results of + nervous excitation. In a word, modern psychology as well as modern + metaphysics, is demonstrating more and more fully the dependence of + the world, as it is known, on the nature and activity of man's mind. + Every explanation of the world is found to be, in this sense, + idealistic; and in this respect, there is no difference whatsoever + between the interpretation given by science and that of poetry, or + religion, or philosophy. If we say that a thing is a "substance," or + has "a cause"; if, with the physicist, we assert the principle of the + transmutation of energy, or make use of the idea of evolution with + the biologist or geologist; nay, if we speak of time and space with + the mathematician, we use principles of unity derived from + self-consciousness, and interpret nature in terms of ourselves, just + as truly as the poet or philosopher, who makes love, or reason, the + constitutive element in things. If the practical man of the world + charges the poet and philosopher with living amidst phantoms, he can + be answered with a "<i>Tu quoque</i>." "How easy," said Emerson, "it + is to show the materialist that he also is a phantom walking and + working amid phantoms, and that he need only ask a question or two + beyond his daily questions to find his solid universe proving dim and + impalpable before his sense." <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg193" + id="pg193">193</a></span> "Sense," which seems to show directly that + the world is a solid reality, not dependent in any way on thought, is + found not to be reliable. All science is nothing but an appeal to + thought from ordinary sensuous opinion. It is an attempt to find the + reality of things by thinking about them; and this reality, when it + is found, turns out to be a law. But laws are ideas; though, if they + are true ideas, they represent not merely thoughts in the mind, but + also real principles, which manifest themselves in the objects of the + outer world, as well as in the thinker's mind.</p> + + <p>It is not possible in such a work as this, to give a carefully + reasoned proof of this view of the relation of thought and things, or + to repeat the argument of Kant. I must be content with merely + referring to it, as showing that the principles in virtue of which we + think, are the principles in virtue of which objects as we know them + exist; and we cannot be concerned with any other objects. The laws + which scientific investigation discovers are not only ideas that can + be written in books, but also principles which explain the nature of + things. In other words, the hypotheses of the natural sciences, or + their categories, are points of view in the light of which the + external world can be regarded as governed by uniform laws. And these + constructive principles, which lift the otherwise disconnected world + into an intelligible system, are revelations of the nature of + intelligence, and only on that account principles for explaining the + world.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg194" id= + "pg194">194</a></span> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i10">"To know,</p> + + <p>Rather consists in opening out a way</p> + + <p>Whence the imprisoned splendour may escape,</p> + + <p>Than in effecting entry for a light</p> + + <p>Supposed to be without."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Paracelsus</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>In this sense, it may be said that all knowledge is + anthropomorphic; and in this respect there is no difference between + the physics, which speaks of energy as the essence of things, and the + poetry, which speaks of love as the ultimate principle of reality. + Between such scientific and idealistic explanations there is not even + the difference that the one begins without and the other within, or + that the one is objective and the other subjective. The true + distinction is that the principles upon which the latter proceed are + less abstract than those of science. "Reason" and "love" are higher + principles for the explanation of the nature of things than + "substance" or "cause"; but both are forms of the unity of thought. + And if the latter seem to have nothing to do with the self, it is + only because they are inadequate to express its full character. On + the other hand, the higher categories, or ideas of reason, seem to be + merely anthropomorphic, and, therefore, ill-suited to explain nature, + because the relation of nature to intelligence is habitually + neglected by ordinary thought, which has not pressed its problems far + enough to know that such higher categories can alone satisfy the + demand for truth.</p> + + <p>But natural science is gradually driven from the lower to the + higher categories, or, in other <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg195" + id="pg195">195</a></span> words, it is learning to take a more and + more idealistic view of nature. It is moving very slowly, because it + is a long labour to exhaust the uses of an instrument of thought; and + it is only at great intervals in the history of the human intellect, + that we find the need of a change of categories. But, as already + hinted, there is no doubt that science is becoming increasingly aware + of the conditions, under which alone its results may be held as + valid. At first, it drove "mind" out of the realm of nature, and + offered to explain both it and man in physical and mathematical + terms. But, in our day, the man of science has become too cautious to + make such rash extensions of the principles he uses. He is more + inclined to limit himself to his special field, and he refuses to + make any declaration as to the ultimate nature of things. He holds + himself apart from materialism, as he does from idealism. I think I + may even go further, and say that the fatal flaw of materialism has + been finally detected, and that the essential relativity of all + objects to thought is all but universally acknowledged.</p> + + <p>The common notion that science gives a complete view of truth, to + which we may appeal as refuting idealism, is untenable. Science + itself will not support the appeal, but will direct the appellant to + another court. Perhaps, rather, it would be truer to say that its + attitude is one of doubt whether or not any court, philosophical or + other, can give any valid decision on the matter. Confining + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg196" id="pg196">196</a></span> + themselves to the region of material phenomena, scientific men + generally leave to common ignorance, or to moral and theological + tradition, all the interests and activities of man, other than those + which are physical or physiological. And some of them are even aware, + that if they could find the physical equation of man, or, through + their knowledge of physiology, actually produce in man the + sensations, thoughts, and notions now ascribed to the intelligent + life within him, the question of the spiritual or material nature of + man and the world, would remain precisely where it was. The + explanation would still begin with mind and end there. The principles + of the materialistic explanation of the world would still be derived + from intelligence; mind would still underlie all it explained, and + completed science would still be, in this sense, anthropomorphic. The + charge of anthropomorphism thus falls to the ground, because it would + prove too much. It is a weapon which cuts the hand that wields it. + And, as directed against idealism, it only shows that he who uses it + has inadequate notions both of the nature of the self and of the + world, and is not aware that each gets meaning, only as an exponent + of the other.</p> + + <p>On the whole, we may say that it is not men of science who now + assail philosophy, because it gives an idealistic explanation of the + world, so much as unsystematic dabblers in matters of thought. The + best men of science, rather, show a tendency to acquiesce in a kind + of dualism of <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg197" id= + "pg197">197</a></span> matter and spirit, and to leave morality and + religion, art and philosophy to pursue their own ends undisturbed. + Mr. Huxley, for instance, and some others, offer two philosophical + solutions, one proceeding from the material world and the other from + the sensations and other "facts of consciousness." They say that we + may either explain man as a natural phenomenon, or the world as a + mental one.</p> + + <p>But it is a little difficult not to ask which of these + explanations is true. Both of them cannot well be, seeing that they + are different. And neither of them can be adopted without very + serious consequences. It would require considerable hardihood to + suggest that natural science should be swept away in favour of + psychology, which would be done if the one view held by Mr. Huxley + were true. And, in my opinion, it requires quite as much hardihood to + suggest the adoption of a theory that makes morality and religion + illusory, which would be done were the other view valid.</p> + + <p>As a matter of fact, however, such an attitude can scarcely be + held by any one who is interested <i>both</i> in the success of + natural science and in the spiritual development of mankind. We are + constrained rather to say that, if these rival lines of thought lead + us to deny either the outer world of things, or the world of thought + and morality, then they must both be wrong. They are not + "explanations" but false theories, if they lead to such conclusions + as these. And, instead of holding them up <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg198" id="pg198">198</a></span> to the world as + the final triumph of human thought, we should sweep them into the + dust-bin, and seek for some better explanation from a new point of + view.</p> + + <p>And, indeed, a better explanation is sought, and sought not only + by idealists, but by scientific men themselves,—did they only + comprehend their own main tendency and method. The impulse towards + unity, which is the very essence of thought, if it is baulked in one + direction by a hopeless dualism, just breaks out in another. + Subjective idealism, that is, the theory that things are nothing but + phenomena of the individual's consciousness, that the world is really + all inside the philosopher, is now known by most people to end in + self-contradiction; and materialism is also known to begin with it. + And there are not many people sanguine enough to believe with Mr. + Huxley and Mr. Herbert Spencer, that, if we add two + self-contradictory theories together, or hold them alternately, we + shall find the truth. Modern science, that is, the science which does + not philosophize, and modern philosophy are with tolerable unanimity + denying this absolute dualism. They do not know of any thought that + is not of things, or of any things that are not for thought. It is + necessarily assumed that, in some way or other, the gap between + things and thought is got over by knowledge. How the connection is + brought about may not be known; but, that there is the connection + between real things and true thoughts, no one can well deny. It is an + ill-starred perversity which <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg199" + id="pg199">199</a></span> leads men to deny such a connection, merely + because they have not found out how it is established.</p> + + <p>A new category of thought has taken possession of the thought of + our time—a category which is fatal to dualism. The idea of + development is breaking down the division between mind and matter, as + it is breaking down all other absolute divisions. Geology, astronomy, + and physics at one extreme, biology, psychology, and philosophy at + the other, combine in asserting the idea of the universe as a unity + which is always evolving its content, and bringing its secret + potencies to the light. It is true that these sciences have not + linked hands as yet. We cannot get from chemistry to biology without + a leap, or from physiology to psychology without another. But no one + will postulate a rift right through being. The whole tendency of + modern science implies the opposite of such a conception. History is + striving to trace continuity between the civilized man and the + savage. Psychology is making towards a junction with physiology and + general biology, biology with chemistry, and chemistry with physics. + That there is an unbroken continuity in existence is becoming a + postulate of modern science, almost as truly as the "universality of + law" or "the uniformity of nature." Nor is the postulate held less + firmly because the evidence for the continuity of nature is not yet + complete. Chemistry has not yet quite lapsed into physics; biology at + present shows no sign of giving up its characteristic conception of + life, and the former science is as yet quite unable to deal with that + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg200" id="pg200">200</a></span> + peculiar phenomenon. The facts of consciousness have not been + resolved into nervous action, and, so far, mind has not been shown to + be a secretion of brain. Nevertheless, all these sciences are beating + against the limits which separate them, and new suggestions of + connection between natural life and its inorganic environment are + continually discovered. The sciences are boring towards each other, + and the dividing strata are wearing thin; so that it seems reasonable + to expect that, with the growth of knowledge, an unbroken way upwards + may be discovered, from the lowest and simplest stages of existence + to the highest and most complex forms of self-conscious life.</p> + + <p>Now, to those persons who are primarily interested in the ethical + and religious phenomena of man's life, the idea of abolishing the + chasm between spirit and nature is viewed with no little + apprehension. It is supposed that if evolution were established as a + universal law, and the unity of being were proved, the mental and + moral life of man would be degraded into a complex manifestation of + mere physical force. And we even find religious men rejoicing at the + failure of science to bridge the gap between the inorganic and the + organic, and between natural and self-conscious life; as if the + validity of religion depended upon the maintenance of their + separating boundaries. But no religion that is free from + superstitious elements has anything to gain from the failure of + knowledge to relate things to each other. It is difficult to see how + breaks in the continuity of being <span class="pagenum"><a name= + "pg201" id="pg201">201</a></span> can be established, when every + living plant confutes the absolute difference between the organic and + inorganic, and, by the very fact of living, turns the latter into the + former; and it is difficult to deny the continuity of "mind and + matter," when every human being is relating himself to the outer + world in all his thoughts and actions. And religion is the very last + form of thought which could profit from such a proof of absolute + distinctions, were it possible. In fact, as we have seen, religion, + in so far as it demands a perfect and absolute being as the object of + worship, is vitally concerned in maintaining the unity of the world. + It must assume that matter, in its degree, reveals the same principle + which, in a higher form, manifests itself in spirit.</p> + + <p>But closer investigation will show that the real ground for such + apprehension does not lie in the continuity of existence, which + evolution implies; for religion itself postulates the same thing. The + apprehension springs, rather, from the idea that the continuity + asserted by evolution, is obtained by resolving the higher forms of + existence into the lower. It is believed that, if the application of + development to facts were successfully carried out, the organic would + be shown to be nothing but complex inorganic forces, mental life + nothing but a physiological process, and religion, morality, and art, + nothing but products of the highly complex motion of highly complex + aggregates of physical atoms.</p> + + <p>It seems to me quite natural that science should be regarded as + tending towards such a materialistic <span class="pagenum"><a name= + "pg202" id="pg202">202</a></span> conclusion. This is the view which + many scientific investigators have themselves taken of their work; + and some of their philosophical exponents, notably Mr. Herbert + Spencer, have, with more or less inconsistency, interpreted the idea + of evolution in this manner. But, it may be well to bear in mind that + science is generally far more successful in employing its + constructive ideas, than it is in rendering an account of them. In + fact, it is not its business to examine its categories: that task + properly belongs to philosophy, and it is not a superfluous one. But, + so long as the employment of the categories in the special province + of a particular science yields valid results, scientific explorers + and those who attach, and rightly attach, so much value to their + discoveries, are very unwilling to believe that these categories are + not valid universally. The warning voice of philosophy is not heeded, + when it charges natural science with applying its conceptions to + materials to which they are inadequate; and its examination of the + categories of thought is regarded as an innocent, but also a useless, + activity. For, it is argued, what good can arise from the analysis of + our working ideas? The world looked for causes, and found them, when + it was very young; but, up to the time of David Hume, no one had + shown what causality meant, and the explanation which he offered is + now rejected by modern science, as definitely as it is rejected by + philosophy. Meantime, while philosophy is still engaged in exposing + the fallacies of the theory of association as held by <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg203" id="pg203">203</a></span> Hume, science has + gone beyond this category altogether; it is now establishing a theory + of the conservation of energy, which supplants the law of causality + by tracing it into a deeper law of nature.</p> + + <p>There is some force in this argument, but it cuts both ways. For, + even if it be admitted that the category was successfully applied in + the past, it is also admitted that it was applied without being + understood; and it cannot now be questioned that the philosophers + were right in rejecting it as the final explanation of the relation + of objects to each other, and in pointing to other and higher + connecting ideas. And this consideration should go some way towards + convincing evolutionists that, though they may be able successfully + to apply the idea of development to particular facts, this does not + guarantee the soundness of their view of it as an instrument of + thought, or of the nature of the final results which it is destined + to achieve. Hence, without any disparagement to the new extension + which science has received by the use of this new idea, it may be + maintained that the ordinary view of its tendency and mission is + erroneous.</p> + + <p>"The prevailing method of explaining the world," says Professor + Caird, "may be described as an attempt to level 'downwards.' The + doctrine of development, interpreted as that idea usually is + interpreted, supports this view, as making it necessary to trace back + higher and more complex to lower or simpler forms of being; for the + most obvious way of accomplishing this task is to show analytically + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg204" id="pg204">204</a></span> that + there is really nothing more in the former than in the latter."<sup>A</sup> + "Divorced from matter," asks Professor Tyndall, "where is life to be + found? Whatever our <i>faith</i> may say our <i>knowledge</i> shows + them to be indissolubly joined. Every meal we eat, and every cup we + drink, illustrates the mysterious <i>control of Mind by Matter</i>. + Trace the line of life backwards and see it approaching more and more + to what we call the <i>purely physical condition</i>."<sup>B</sup> And then, + rising to the height of his subject, or even above it, he proclaims, + "By an intellectual necessity I cross the boundary of the + experimental evidence, and discern in that Matter which we, in our + ignorance of its latent powers, and notwithstanding our professed + reverence for its Creator, have hitherto covered with opprobrium, the + promise and potency of all terrestrial life."<sup>C</sup> A little further on, + speaking in the name of science, and on behalf of his scientific + fellow-workers (with what right is a little doubtful), he + adds—"We claim, and we shall wrest, from theology, the entire + domain of cosmological theory. All schemes and systems which thus + infringe upon the domain of science, must, <i>in so far as they do + this,</i> submit to its control, and relinquish all thought of + controlling it." But if science is to control the knowable world, he + generously leaves the remainder for religion. He will not deprive it + of a faith in "a Power absolutely inscrutable to the intellect + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg205" id="pg205">205</a></span> of + man. As little in our days as in the days of Job can a man by + searching find this Power out." And, now that he has left this empty + sphere of the unknown to religion, he feels justified in adding, + "There is, you will observe, no very rank materialism here."</p> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>The Critical Philosophy of Kant</i>, Vol. I. p. 34</p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Address to the British Association</i>, 1874, p. 54.</p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>C: <i>Belfast Address</i>, 1874.</p> + </div> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Yet they did not abolish the gods, but they sent them well out + of the way,</p> + + <p>With the rarest of nectar to drink, and blue fields of nothing + to sway."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: Clerk Maxwell: "<i>Notes of the President's Address,</i>" + British Association, 1874.</p> + </div> + + <p>Now these declarations of Mr. Tyndall are, to say the least, + somewhat ambiguous and shadowy. Yet, when he informs us that eating + and drinking "illustrate the control of mind by matter," and "that + the line of life traced backwards leads towards a purely physical + condition," it is a little difficult to avoid the conclusion that he + regards science as destined.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i8">"To tread the world</p> + + <p>Into a paste, and thereof make a smooth</p> + + <p>Uniform mound, whereon to plant its flag."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau.</i></p> + </div> + + <p>For the conclusion of the whole argument seems to be, that all + <i>we know as facts</i> are mere forms of matter; although the + stubborn refusal of consciousness to be resolved into natural force, + and its power of constructing for itself a world of symbols, gives + science no little trouble, and forces it to acknowledge complete + ignorance of the nature of the power from which all + comes.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg206" id= + "pg206">206</a></span> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"So roll things to the level which you love,</p> + + <p>That you could stand at ease there and survey</p> + + <p>The universal Nothing undisgraced</p> + + <p>By pert obtrusion of some old church-spire</p> + + <p>I' the distance! "<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>Some writers on ethics and religion have adopted the same view of + the goal of the idea of evolution. In consistency with this supposed + tendency of science, to resolve all things into their simplest, and + earliest forms, religion has been traced back to the superstition and + ghost-worship of savages; and then it has been contended that it is, + in essence, nothing more than superstition and ghost-worship. And, in + like manner, morality, with its categorical imperative of duty, has + been traced back, without a break, to the ignorant fear of the + vengeance of a savage chief. A similar process in the same direction + reduces the love divine, of which our poet speaks, into brute lust; + somewhat sublimated, it is true, in its highest forms, but not + fundamentally changed.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Philosophers deduce you chastity</p> + + <p>Or shame, from just the fact that at the first</p> + + <p>Whoso embraced a woman in the field,</p> + + <p>Threw club down and forewent his brains beside;</p> + + <p>So, stood a ready victim in the reach</p> + + <p>Of any brother-savage, club in hand.</p> + + <p>Hence saw the use of going out of sight</p> + + <p>In wood or cave to prosecute his loves."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Bishop Blouhram's Apology</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>And when the sacred things of life are treated in this + manner—when moral conduct is showed to <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg207" id="pg207">207</a></span> be evolved by a + continuous process from "conduct in general," the conduct of an + "infusorium or a cephalopod," or even of wind-mills or water-wheels, + it is not surprising if the authority of the moral law seems to be + undermined, and that "devout souls" are apprehensive of the results + of science. "Does law so analyzed coerce you much?" asks + Browning.</p> + + <p>The derivation of spiritual from natural laws thus appears to be + fatal to the former; and religious teachers naturally think that it + is necessary for their cause to snap the links of the chain of + evolution, and, like Professor Drummond, to establish absolute gaps, + not only between the inorganic and the organic worlds, but also + between the self-conscious life of man and the mysterious, spiritual + life of Christ, or God. But it seems to me that, in their antagonism + to evolution, religious teachers are showing the same incapacity to + distinguish between their friends and their foes, which they + previously manifested in their acceptance of the Kantian doctrine of + "things in themselves," —a doctrine which placed God and the + soul beyond the power of speculative reason either to prove or + disprove. It is, however, already recognized that the attempt of + Mansel and Hamilton to degrade human reason for the behoof of faith + was really a veiled agnosticism; and a little reflection must show + that the idea of evolution, truly interpreted, in no wise threatens + the degradation of man, or the overthrow of his spiritual interests. + On the contrary, this idea is, in all the history of <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg208" id="pg208">208</a></span> thought, the + first constructive hypothesis which is adequate to the uses of ethics + and religion. By means of it, we may hope to solve many of the + problems arising from the nature of knowledge and moral conduct, + which the lower category of cause turned into pure enigmas. It seems, + indeed, to contain the promise of establishing the science of man, as + intelligent, on a firm basis; on which we may raise a superstructure, + comparable in strength and superior in worth, to that of the science + of nature. And, even if the moral science must, like philosophy, + always return to the beginning—must, that is, from the + necessity of its nature, and not from any complete failure—it + will still begin again at a higher level now that the idea of + evolution is in the field.</p> + + <p>It now remains to show in what way the idea of evolution leaves + room for religion and morality; or, in other words, to show how, so + far from degrading man to the level of the brute condition, and + running life down into "purely physical conditions," it contains the + promise of establishing that idealistic view of the world, which is + maintained by art and religion.</p> + + <p>In order to show this, it is necessary that the idea of evolution + should be used fearlessly, and applied to all facts that can in any + way come under it. It must, in other words, be used as a category of + thought, whose application is universal; so that, if it is valid at + all as a theory, it is valid of all finite things. For the question + we are dealing with <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg209" id= + "pg209">209</a></span> is not the truth of the hypothesis of a + particular science, but the truth of a hypothesis as to the relation + of all objects in the world, including man himself. We must not be + deterred from this universal application by the fact that we cannot, + as yet, prove its truth in every detail. No scientific hypothesis + ever has exhausted its details. I consider, therefore, that Mr. + Tyndall had a complete right to "cross the boundary of the + experimental evidence by an intellectual necessity"; for the + necessity comes from the assumption of a possible explanation by the + aid of the hypothesis. It is no argument against such a procedure to + insist that, as yet, there is no proof of the absolute continuity of + matter and physical life, or that the dead begets the living. The + hypothesis is not disproved by the absence of evidence; it is only + not proved. The connection may be there, although we have not, as + yet, been able to find it. In the face of such difficulties as these, + the scientific investigator has always a right to claim more time; + and his attitude is impregnable as long as he remembers, as Mr. + Tyndall did on the whole, that his hypothesis is a hypothesis.</p> + + <p>But Mr. Tyndall has himself given up this right. He, like Mr. + Huxley, has placed the phenomena of self-consciousness outside of the + developing process, and confined the sphere in which evolution is + applicable, to natural objects. Between objects and the subject, even + when both subject and object are man himself, there lies "an + impassable gulf." <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg210" id= + "pg210">210</a></span> Even to try "to comprehend the connection + between thought and thing is absurd, like the effort of a man trying + to lift himself by his own waist-band." Our states of + self-consciousness are symbols only—symbols of an outside + entity, whose real nature we can never know. We know only these + states; we only <i>infer</i> "that anything answering to our + impressions exists outside of ourselves." And it is impossible to + justify even that inference; for, if we can only know states of + consciousness, we cannot say that they are symbols of anything, or + that there is anything to be symbolized. The external world, on this + theory, ceases to exist even as an unknown entity. In triumphantly + pointing out that, in virtue of this psychological view, "There is, + you will observe, no very rank materialism here," Mr. Tyndall forgets + that he has destroyed the basis of all natural science, and reduced + evolution into a law of "an outside entity," of which we can never + know anything, and any inference regarding which violates every law + of thought.</p> + + <p>It seems to me quite plain that either this psychological theory, + which Mr. Tyndall has mistaken for a philosophy, is invalid; or else + it is useless to endeavour to propound any view regarding a "nature + which is the phantom of the individual's mind." I prefer the science + of Mr. Tyndall (and of Mr. Huxley, too) to his philosophy; and he + would have escaped materialism more effectively, if he had remained + faithful to his theory of evolution. It is a disloyalty, not only to + science, but to thought, to cast away <span class="pagenum"><a name= + "pg211" id="pg211">211</a></span> our categories when they seem to + imply inconvenient consequences. They must be valid universally, if + they are valid at all.</p> + + <p>Mr. Tyndall contends that nature makes man, and he finds evidence + in the fact that we eat and drink, "of the control of mind by + matter." Now, it seems to me, that <i>if</i> nature makes man, then + nature makes man's thoughts also. His sensations, feelings, ideas, + notions, being those of a naturally-evolved agent, are revelations of + the potency of the primal matter, just as truly as are the buds, + flowers, and fruits of a tree. No doubt, we cannot as yet "comprehend + the connection" between nervous action and sensation, any more than + we can comprehend the connection between inorganic and organic + existence. But, if the absence of "experimental evidence" does not + disprove the hypothesis in the one case, it can not disprove it in + the other. There are two crucial points in which the theory has not + been established.</p> + + <p>But, in both cases alike, there is the same kind of evidence that + the connection exists; although in neither case can we, as yet, + discover what it is. Plants live by changing inorganic elements into + organic structure; and man is intelligent only in so far as he + crosses over the boundary between subject and object, and knows the + world without him. There is no "impassable gulf separating the + subject and object"; if there were we could not know anything of + either. There are not two worlds—the one of thoughts, the other + of things—which <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg212" id= + "pg212">212</a></span> are absolutely exclusive of each other, but + one universe in which thought and reality meet. Mr. Tyndall thinks + that it is an inference (and an inference over an impassable gulf!) + that anything answering to our impressions exists outside ourselves. + "The question of the external world is the great battleground of + metaphysics," he quotes approvingly from Mr. J.S. Mill. But the + question of the external world is not whether that world exists; it + is, how are we to account for our knowledge that it does exist. The + inference is not from thoughts to things, nor from things to + thoughts, but from a partially known world to a systematic theory of + that world. Philosophy is not engaged on the foolish enterprise of + trying to discover whether the world exists, or whether we know that + it exists; its problem is how to account for our knowledge. It asks + what must the nature of things be, seeing that they are known; and + what is the nature of thought, seeing that it knows facts?</p> + + <p>There is no hope whatsoever for ethics, or religion, or + philosophy—no hope even for science—in a theory which + would apply evolution all the way up from inorganic matter to life, + but which would postulate an absolute break at consciousness. The + connection between thought and things is there to begin with, whether + we can account for it or not; if it were not, then natural science + would be impossible. It would be palpably irrational even to try to + find out the nature of things by thinking. The only science + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg213" id="pg213">213</a></span> would + be psychology, and even that would be the science of "symbols of an + unknown entity." What symbols of an unknown can signify, or how an + unknown can produce symbols of itself across an impassable + gulf—Mr. Spencer, Mr. Huxley, and Mr. Tyndall have yet to + inform us.</p> + + <p>It is the more necessary to insist on this, because the division + between thought and matter, which is admitted by these writers, is + often grasped at by their opponents, as a means of warding off the + results which they draw from the theory of evolution. When science + breaks its sword, religion assails it, with the fragment. It is not + at once evident that if this chasm were shown to exist, knowledge + would be a chimera; for there would be no outer world at all, not + even a phenomenal one, to supply an object for it. We <i>must</i> + postulate the ultimate unity of all beings with each other and with + the mind that knows them, just because we are intellectual and moral + beings; and to destroy this unity is to "kill reason itself, as it + were, in the eye," as Milton said.</p> + + <p>Now, evolution not only postulates unity, or the unbroken + continuity of all existence, but it also negates all differences, + except those which are expressions of that unity. It is not the mere + assertion of a substratum under qualities; but it implies that the + substratum penetrates into the qualities, and manifests itself in + them. That which develops—be it plant, child, or biological + kingdom—is, at every stage from lowest to highest, a concrete + unity <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg214" id="pg214">214</a></span> + of all its differences; and in the whole history of its process its + actual content is always the same. The environment of the plant + evokes that content, but it adds nothing to it. No addition of + anything absolutely new, no external aggregation, no insertion of + anything alien into a growing thing, is possible. What it is now, it + was in the beginning; and what it will be, it is now. Granting the + hypothesis of evolution, there can be no quarrel with the view that + the crude beginnings of things, matter in its most nebulous state, + contains potentially all the rich variety of both natural and + spiritual life.</p> + + <p>But this continuity of all existence may be interpreted in two + very different ways. It may lead us either to radically change our + notions of mind and its activities, or "to radically change our + notions of matter." We may take as the principle of explanation, + either the beginning, or the end of the process of development. We + may say of the simple and crass, "There is all that your rich + universe really means"; or we may say of the spiritual activities of + man, "This is what your crude beginning really was." We may explain + the complex by the simple, or the simple by the complex. We may + analyze the highest back into the lowest, or we may follow the + lowest, by a process of synthesis, up to the highest.</p> + + <p>And one of the most important of all questions for morality and + religion is the question, which of these two methods is valid. If out + of crass matter <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg215" id= + "pg215">215</a></span> is evolved all animal and spiritual life, does + that prove life to be nothing but matter; or does it not rather show + that what we, in our ignorance, took to be mere matter was really + something much greater? If "crass matter" contains all this promise + and potency, by what right do we still call it "crass"? It is + manifestly impossible to treat the potencies, assumed to lie in a + thing that grows, as if they were of no significance; first, to + assert that such potencies exist, in saying that the object develops; + and then, to neglect them, and to regard the effect as constituted + merely of its simplest elements. Either these potencies are not in + the object, or else the object has in it, and is, at the first, more + than it appears to be. Either the object does not grow, or the lowest + stage of its being is no explanation of its true nature.</p> + + <p>If we wish to know what the forms of natural life mean, we look in + vain to their primary state. We must watch the evolution and + revelation of the secret hid in natural life, as it moves through the + ascending cycles of the biological kingdom. The idea of evolution, + when it is not muddled, is synthetic—not analytic; it explains + the simplest in the light of the complex, the beginning in the light + of the end, and not <i>vice versa</i>. In a word, it follows the ways + of nature, the footsteps of fact, instead of inventing a wilful + backward path of its own. And nature explains by gradually expanding. + If we hearken to nature, and not to the voice of illusory + preconceptions, we shall hear her proclaim at the last <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg216" id="pg216">216</a></span> stage, "Here is + the meaning of the seedling. Now it is clear what it really was; for + the power which lay dormant has pushed itself into light, through bud + and flower and leaf and fruit." The reality of a growing thing is its + highest form of being. The last explains the first, but not the first + the last. The first is abstract, incomplete, not yet actual, but mere + potency; and we could never know even the potency, except in the + light of its own actualization.</p> + + <p>From this correction of the abstract view of development momentous + consequences follow. If the universe is, as science pronounces, an + organic totality, which is ever converting its promise and potency + into actuality, then we must add that the ultimate interpretation + even of the lowest existence in the world cannot be given except on + principles which are adequate to explain the highest. We must "level + up and not level down": we must not only deny that matter can explain + spirit, but we must say that even matter itself cannot be fully + understood, except as an element in a spiritual world."<sup>A</sup></p> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: Professor Caird, <i>The Critical Philosophy of Kant</i>, p. + 35.</p> + </div> + + <p>That the idea of evolution, even when applied in this consistent + way, has difficulties of its own, it is scarcely necessary to say. + But there is nothing in it which imperils the ethical and religious + interests of humanity, or tends to reduce man into a natural + phenomenon. Instead of degrading man, it lifts nature into a + manifestation of spirit. If it were <span class="pagenum"><a name= + "pg217" id="pg217">217</a></span> established, if every link of the + endless chain were discovered and the continuity of existence were + irrefragably proved, science would not overthrow idealism, but it + would rather vindicate it. It would justify <i>in detail</i> the + attempt of poetry and religion and philosophy, to interpret all being + as the "transparent vesture" of reason, or love, or whatever other + power in the world is regarded as highest.</p> + + <p>I have now arrived at the conclusion that was sought. I have tried + to show, not only that the attempt to interpret nature in terms of + man is not a superstitious anthropomorphism, but that such an + interpretation is implied in all rational thought. In other words, + self-consciousness is the key to all the problems of nature. Science, + in its progress, is gradually substituting one category for the + other, and every one of these categories is at once a law of thought + and a law of things as known. Each category, successively adopted, + lifts nature more to the level of man; and the last category of + modern thought, namely, development, constrains us so to modify our + views of nature, as to regard it as finally explicable only in the + terms of spirit. Thus, the movement of science is towards idealism. + Instead of lowering man, it elevates nature into a potency of that + which is highest and best in man. It represents the life of man, in + the language of philosophy, as the return of the highest to itself; + or in the language of our poet, and of religion, as a manifestation + of infinite love. The explanation of nature from the principle of + love, if it errs, errs <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg218" id= + "pg218">218</a></span> "because it is not anthropomorphic enough," + not because it is too anthropomorphic; it is not too high and + concrete a principle, but too low and abstract.</p> + + <p>It now remains to show that the poet, in employing the idea of + evolution, was aware of its upward direction. I have already quoted a + few passages which indicate that he had detected the false use of it. + I shall now quote a few others in which he shows a consciousness of + its true meaning:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"'Will you have why and wherefore, and the fact</p> + + <p>Made plain as pike-staff?' modern Science asks.</p> + + <p>'That mass man sprung from was a jelly-lump</p> + + <p>Once on a time; he kept an after course</p> + + <p>Through fish and insect, reptile, bird and beast,</p> + + <p>Till he attained to be an ape at last,</p> + + <p>Or last but one. And if this doctrine shock</p> + + <p>In aught the natural pride.'"<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau.</i></p> + </div> + + <p>"Not at all," the poet interrupts the man of science: "Friend, + banish fear!"</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"I like the thought He should have lodged me once</p> + + <p>I' the hole, the cave, the hut, the tenement,</p> + + <p>The mansion and the palace; made me learn</p> + + <p>The feel o' the first, before I found myself</p> + + <p>Loftier i' the last."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Ibid</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>This way upward from the lowest stage through every other to the + highest, that is, the way of development, so far from lowering us to + the brute level, is the only way for us to attain to the true + highest, namely, the all-complete.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name= + "pg219" id="pg219">219</a></span> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"But grant me time, give me the management</p> + + <p>And manufacture of a model me,</p> + + <p>Me fifty-fold, a prince without a flaw,—</p> + + <p>Why, there's no social grade, the sordidest,</p> + + <p>My embryo potentate should brink and scape.</p> + + <p>King, all the better he was cobbler once,</p> + + <p>He should know, sitting on the throne, how tastes</p> + + <p>Life to who sweeps the doorway."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau.</i></p> + </div> + + <p>But then, unfortunately, we have no time to make our kings in this + way,</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i4">"You cut probation short,</p> + + <p>And, being half-instructed, on the stage</p> + + <p>You shuffle through your part as best you can."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Ibid</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>God, however, "takes time." He makes man pass his apprenticeship + in all the forms of being. Nor does the poet</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i4">"Refuse to follow farther yet</p> + + <p>I' the backwardness, repine if tree and flower,</p> + + <p>Mountain or streamlet were my dwelling-place</p> + + <p>Before I gained enlargement, grew mollusc."<sup>C</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>C: <i>Ibid</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>It is, indeed, only on the supposition of having been thus evolved + from inanimate being that he is able to account</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i8">"For many a thrill</p> + + <p>Of kinship, I confess to, with the powers</p> + + <p>Called Nature: animate, inanimate,</p> + + <p>In parts or in the whole, there's something there</p> + + <p>Man-like that somehow meets the man in me."<sup>D</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>D: <i>Ibid</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>These passages make it clear that the poet recognized that the + idea of development "levels up," and that he makes an intelligent, + and not a perverted <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg220" id= + "pg220">220</a></span> and abstract use of this instrument of + thought. He sees each higher stage carrying within it the lower, the + present storing up the past; he recognizes that the process is a + self-enriching one. He knows it to be no degradation of the higher + that it has been in the lower; for he distinguishes between that + life, which is continuous amidst the fleeting forms, and the + temporary tenements, which it makes use of during the process of + ascending.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"From first to last of lodging, I was I,</p> + + <p>And not at all the place that harboured me."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau.</i></p> + </div> + + <p>When nature is thus looked upon from the point of view of its + final attainment, in the light of the self-consciousness into which + it ultimately breaks, a new dignity is added to every preceding + phase. The lowest ceases to be lowest, except in the sense that its + promise is not fulfilled and its potency not actualized; for, + throughout the whole process, the activity streams from the highest. + It is that which is about to be which guides the growing thing and + gives it unity. The final cause is the efficient cause; the distant + purpose is the ever-present energy; the last is always first.</p> + + <p>Nor does the poet shrink from calling this highest, this last + which is also first, by its highest name,—God.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i8">"He dwells in all,</p> + + <p>From, life's minute beginnings, up at last</p> + + <p>To man—the consummation of this scheme</p><span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg221" id="pg221">221</a></span> + + <p>Of being, the completion of this sphere</p> + + <p>Of life."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Paracelsus</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>"All tended to mankind," he said, after reviewing the whole + process of nature in <i>Paracelsus</i>,</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"And, man produced, all has its end thus far:</p> + + <p>But in completed man begins anew</p> + + <p>A tendency to God."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Ibid</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>There is nowhere a break in the continuity. God is at the + beginning, His rapturous presence is seen in all the processes of + nature, His power and knowledge and love work in the mind of man, and + all history is His revelation of Himself.</p> + + <p>The gap which yawns for ordinary thought between animate and + inanimate, between nature and spirit, between man and God, does not + baffle the poet. At the stage of human life, which is "the grand + result" of nature's blind process,</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"A supplementary reflux of light,</p> + + <p>Illustrates all the inferior grades, explains</p> + + <p>Each back step in the circle."<sup>C</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>C: <i>Ibid</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>Nature is retracted into thought, built again in mind.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i2">"Man, once descried, imprints for ever</p> + + <p>His presence on all lifeless things."<sup>D</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>D: <i>Ibid</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>The self-consciousness of man is the point where "all the + scattered rays meet"; and "the dim fragments," the otherwise + meaningless manifold, the dispersed activities of nature, are lifted + into a <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg222" id= + "pg222">222</a></span> kosmos by the activity of intelligence. In its + light, the forces of nature are found to be, not blind nor + purposeless, but "hints and previsions"</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Strewn confusedly everywhere about</p> + + <p>The inferior natures, and all lead up higher,</p> + + <p>All shape out dimly the superior race,</p> + + <p>The heir of hopes too fair to turn out false,</p> + + <p>And man appears at last."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Paracelsus</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>In this way, and in strict accordance with the principle of + evolution, the poet turns back at each higher stage to re-illumine in + a broader light what went before,—just as we know the seedling + after it is grown; just as, with every advance in life, we interpret + the past anew, and turn the mixed ore of action into pure metal by + the reflection which draws the false from the true.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Youth ended, I shall try</p> + + <p>My gain or loss thereby;</p> + + <p>Leave the fire ashes, what survives is gold:</p> + + <p>And I shall weigh the same,</p> + + <p>Give life its praise or blame:</p> + + <p>Young, all lay in dispute; I shall know, being old."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Rabbi Ben Ezra</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>As youth attains its meaning in age, so does the unconscious + process of nature come to its meaning in man. And old age,</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i2">"Still within this life</p> + + <p>Though lifted o'er its strife,"</p> + </div> + + <p>is able to</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Discern, compare, pronounce at last,</p> + + <p>This rage was right i' the main,</p> + + <p>That acquiescence vain";<sup>C</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>C: <i>Ibid</i>.</p> + </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg223" id="pg223">223</a></span> + + <p>so man is able to penetrate beneath the apparently chaotic play of + phenomena, and find in them law, and beauty, and goodness. The laws + which he finds by thought are not his inventions, but his + discoveries. The harmonies are in the organ, if the artist only knows + how to elicit them. Nay, the connection is still more intimate. It is + in the thought of man that silent nature finds its voice; it blooms + into "meaning," significance, thought, in him, as the plant shows its + beauty in the flower. Nature is making towards humanity, and in + humanity it finds <i>itself</i>.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Striving to be man, the worm</p> + + <p>Mounts through all the spires of form."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Emerson</i>.</p> + </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg224" id="pg224">224</a></span> + + <p>The geologist, physicist, chemist, by discovering the laws of + nature, do not bind unconnected phenomena; but they refute the hasty + conclusion of sensuous thought, that the phenomena ever were + unconnected. Men of science do not introduce order into chance and + chaos, but show that there never was chance or chaos. The poet does + not make the world beautiful, but finds the beauty that is dwelling + there. Without him, indeed, the beauty would not be, any more than + the life of the tree is beautiful until it has evolved its potencies + into the outward form. Nevertheless, he is the expression of what was + before, and the beauty was there in potency, awaiting its expression. + "Only let his thoughts be of equal scope, and the frame will suit the + picture," said Emerson.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i12">"The winds</p> + + <p>Are henceforth voices, wailing or a shout,</p> + + <p>A querulous mutter, or a quick gay laugh,</p> + + <p>Never a senseless gust now man is born.</p> + + <p>The herded pines commune and have deep thoughts,</p> + + <p>A secret they assemble to discuss</p> + + <p>When the sun drops behind their trunks.</p> + <hr /> + + <p>"The morn has enterprise, deep quiet droops</p> + + <p>With evening, triumph takes the sunset hour,</p> + + <p>Voluptuous transport ripens with the corn</p> + + <p>Beneath a warm moon like a happy face."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Paracelsus</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>Such is the transmuting power of imagination, that there is + "nothing but doth suffer change into something rich and strange"; and + yet the imagination, when loyal to itself, only sees more deeply into + the truth of things, and gets a closer and fuller hold of facts.</p> + + <p>But, although the human mind thus heals the breach between nature + and spirit, and discovers the latter in the former, still it is not + in this way that Browning finally establishes his idealism. For him, + the principle working in all things is not reason, but love. It is + from love that all being first flowed; into it all returns through + man; and in all "the wide compass which is fetched," through the + infinite variety of forms of being, love is the permanent element and + the true essence. Nature is on its way back to God, gathering + treasure as it goes. The static view is not true to facts; it is + development that for the poet explains the nature of things; and + development is the evolution of love. Love is for <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg225" id="pg225">225</a></span> Browning the + highest, richest conception man can form. It is our idea of that + which is perfect; we cannot even imagine anything better. And the + idea of evolution necessarily explains the world as the return of the + highest to itself. The universe is homeward bound.</p> + + <p>Now, whether love is the highest principle or not, I shall not + inquire at present. My task in this chapter has been to try to show + that the idea of evolution drives us onward towards some highest + conception, and then uses that conception as a principle to explain + all things. If man is veritably higher as a physical organism than + the bird or reptile, then biology, if it proceeds according to the + principles of evolution, <i>must</i> seek the meaning of the latter + in the former, and make the whole kingdom of life a process towards + man. "Man is no upstart in the creation. His limbs are only a more + exquisite organization—say rather the finish—of the + rudimental forms that have already been sweeping the sea and creeping + in the mud." And the same way of thought applies to man as a + spiritual agent. If spirit be higher than matter, and if love be + spirit at its best, then the principle of evolution leaves no option + to the scientific thinker, but to regard all things as potentially + spirit, and all the phenomena of the world as manifestations of love. + Evolution necessarily combines all the objects to which it is applied + into a unity. It knits all the infinite forms of natural life into an + organism of organisms, so that it is <span class="pagenum"><a name= + "pg226" id="pg226">226</a></span> a universal life which really lives + in all animate beings. "Each animal or vegetable form remembers the + next inferior and predicts the next higher. There is one animal, one + plant, one matter, and one force." In its still wider application by + poetry and philosophy, the idea of evolution gathers all being into + one self-centred totality, and makes all finite existence a movement + within, and a movement of, that final perfection which, although last + in order of time, is first in order of potency,—the + <i>prius</i> of all things, the active energy <i>in</i> all things, + and the <i>reality</i> of all things. It is the doctrine of the + immanence of God; and it reveals "the effort of God, of the supreme + intellect, in the extreme frontier of His universe."</p> + + <p>In pronouncing, as Browning frequently does, that "after last + comes first" and "what God once blessed cannot prove accursed"; in + the boldness of the faith whereby he makes all the inferior grades of + being into embodiments of the supreme good; in resolving the evils of + human life, the sorrow, strife, and sin of man into means of man's + promotion, he is only applying, in a thorough manner, the principle + on which all modern speculation rests. His conclusions may shock + common-sense; and they may seem to stultify not only our observation + of facts, but the testimony of our moral consciousness. But I do not + know of any principle of speculation which, when elevated into a + universal principle of thought, will not do the same; and this is why + the greatest poets and philosophers seem <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg227" id="pg227">227</a></span> to be touched + with a divine madness. Still, if this be madness, there is a method + in it. We cannot escape from its logic, except by denying the idea of + evolution—the hypothesis by means of which modern thought aims, + and in the main successfully aims, at reducing the variety of + existence, and the chaos of ordinary experience, into an order-ruled + world and a kosmos of articulated knowledge.</p> + + <p>The new idea of evolution differs from that of universal + causation, to which even the ignorance of our own day has learnt to + submit, in this mainly—it does not leave things on the level on + which it finds them. Both cause and evolution assert the unity of + being, which, indeed, every one must assume—even sceptics and + pessimists; but development represents that unity as self-enriching; + so that its true nature is revealed, only in the highest form of + existence which man can conceive. The attempt of poets and + philosophers to establish a universal synthesis by means of + evolution, differs from the work which is done by men of science, + only in the extent of its range and the breadth of its results. It is + not "idealism," but the scepticism which, in our day, conceals its + real nature under the name of dualism or agnosticism, that is at war + with the inner spirit of science. "Not only," we may say of Browning + as it was said of Emerson by Professor Tyndall, "is his religious + sense entirely undaunted by the discoveries of science; but all such + discoveries he comprehends and assimilates. By him scientific + conceptions <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg228" id= + "pg228">228</a></span> are continually transmuted into the finer + forms and warmer hues of an ideal world." And this he does without + any distortion of the truth. For natural science, to one who + understands its main tendency, does not militate against philosophy, + art, and religion; nor threaten to overturn a metaphysic whose + principle is truth, or beauty, or goodness. Rather, it is gradually + eliminating the discord of fragmentary existence, and making the + harmony of the world more and more audible to mankind. It is + progressively proving that the unity, of which we are all obscurely + conscious from the first, actually holds in the whole region of its + survey. The idea of evolution is reconciling science with art and + religion, in an idealistic conception of the + universe.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg229" id= + "pg229">229</a></span> + <hr class="full" /> + + <h2><a name="ch08" id="ch08">CHAPTER VIII.</a></h2> + + <h3>BROWNING'S SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM OF EVIL.</h3> + + <blockquote> + "Let him, therefore, who would arrive at knowledge of nature, train + his moral sense, let him act and conceive in accordance with the + noble essence of his soul; and, as if of herself, nature will + become open to him. Moral action is that great and only experiment, + in which all riddles of the most manifold appearances explain + themselves."<sup>A</sup> + </blockquote> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Novalis</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>In the last chapter, I tried to set forth some considerations that + justify the attempt to interpret the world by a spiritual principle. + The conception of development, which modern science and philosophy + assume as a starting-point for their investigation, was shown to + imply that the lowest forms of existence can be explained, only as + stages in the self-realization of that which is highest. This idea + "levels upwards," and points to self-consciousness as the ultimate + truth of all things. In other words, it involves that all + interpretation of the world is anthropomorphic, in the sense that + what constitutes thought constitutes things, and, therefore, that the + key to nature is man.</p> + + <p>In propounding this theory of love, and establishing <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg230" id="pg230">230</a></span> an idealism, + Browning is in agreement with the latest achievement of modern + thought. For, if the principle of evolution be granted, love is a far + more adequate hypothesis for the explanation of the nature of things, + than any purely physical principle. Nay, science itself, in so far as + it presupposes evolution, tends towards an idealism of this type. + Whether love be the best expression for that highest principle, which + is conceived as the truth of being, and whether Browning's treatment + of it is consistent and valid, I do not as yet inquire. Before + attempting that task, it must be seen to what extent, and in what + way, he applies the hypothesis of universal love to the particular + facts of life. For the present, I take it as admitted that the + hypothesis is legitimate, as an hypothesis; it remains to ask, with + what success, if any, we may hope, by its means, to solve the + contradictions of life, and to gather its conflicting phenomena into + the unity of an intelligible system. This task cannot be accomplished + within our limits, except in a very partial manner. I can attempt to + meet only a few of the more evident and pressing difficulties that + present themselves, and I can do that only in a very general way.</p> + + <p>The first of these difficulties, or, rather, the main difficulty + from which all others spring, is that the hypothesis of universal + love is incompatible with the existence of any kind of evil, whether + natural or moral. Of this, Browning was well aware. He knew that he + had brought upon himself the hard task of showing that pain, + weakness, ignorance, failure, <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg231" + id="pg231">231</a></span> doubt, death, misery, and vice, in all + their complex forms, can find their legitimate place in a scheme of + love. And there is nothing more admirable in his attitude, or more + inspiring in his teaching, than the manly frankness with which he + endeavours to confront the manifold miseries of human life, and to + constrain them to yield, as their ultimate meaning and reality, some + spark of good.</p> + + <p>But, as we have seen, there is a portion of this task in the + discharge of which Browning is drawn beyond the strict limits of art. + Neither the magnificent boldness of his religious faith, nor the + penetration of his artistic insight, although they enabled him to + deal successfully with the worst samples of human evil, as in <i>The + Ring and the Book</i>, could dissipate the gloom which reflection + gathers around the general problem. Art cannot answer the questions + of philosophy. The difficulties that critical reason raises reason + alone can lay. Nevertheless, the poet was forced by his reflective + impulse, to meet that problem in the form in which it presents itself + in the region of metaphysics. He was conscious of the presuppositions + within which his art worked, and he sought to justify them. Into this + region we must now follow him, so as to examine his theory of life, + not merely as it is implied in the concrete creations of his art, but + as it is expressed in those later poems, in which he attempts to deal + directly with the speculative difficulties that crowd around the + conception of evil.</p> + + <p>To the critic of a philosophy, there is hardly more <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg232" id="pg232">232</a></span> than one task of + supreme importance. It is that of determining the precise point from + which the theory he examines takes its departure; for, when the + central conception is clearly grasped, it will be generally found + that it rules all the rest. The superstructure of philosophic + edifices is usually put together in a sufficiently solid + manner—it is the foundation that gives way. Hence Hegel, who, + whatever may be thought of his own theory, was certainly the most + profound critic of philosophy since Aristotle, generally concentrates + his attack on the preliminary hypothesis. He brings down the + erroneous system by removing its foundation-stone. His criticism of + Spinoza, Kant, Fichte, and Schelling may almost be said to be + gathered into a single sentence.</p> + + <p>Browning has made no secret of his central conception. It is the + idea of an immanent or "immundate" love. And that love, we have + shown, is conceived by him as the supreme moral motive, the ultimate + essence and end of all self-conscious activity, the veritable nature + of both man and God.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Denn das Leben ist die Liebe,</p> + + <p>Und des Lebens Leben Geist."</p> + </div> + + <p>His philosophy of human life rests on the idea that it is the + realization of a moral purpose, which is a loving purpose. To him + there is no supreme good, except good character; and the foundation + of that character by man and in man is the ultimate purpose, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg233" id="pg233">233</a></span> and, + therefore, the true meaning of all existence.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i6">"I search but cannot see</p> + + <p>What purpose serves the soul that strives, or world it tries</p> + + <p>Conclusions with, unless the fruit of victories</p> + + <p>Stay, one and all, stored up and guaranteed its own</p> + + <p>For ever, by some mode whereby shall be made known</p> + + <p>The gain of every life. Death reads the title clear—</p> + + <p>What each soul for itself conquered from out things here:</p> + + <p>Since, in the seeing soul, all worth lies, I assert."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Fifine at the Fair</i>, lv.</p> + </div> + + <p>In this passage, Browning gives expression to an idea which + continually reappears in his pages—that human life, in its + essence, is movement to moral goodness through opposition. His + fundamental conception of the human spirit is that it is a process, + and not a fixed fact. "Man," he says, "was made to grow not + stop."</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Getting increase of knowledge, since he learns</p> + + <p>Because he lives, which is to be a man,</p> + + <p>Set to instruct himself by his past self."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>A Death in the Desert</i>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i6">"By such confession straight he falls</p> + + <p>Into man's place, a thing nor God nor beast,</p> + + <p>Made to know that he can know and not more:</p> + + <p>Lower than God who knows all and can all,</p> + + <p>Higher than beasts which know and can so far</p> + + <p>As each beast's limit, perfect to an end,</p> + + <p>Nor conscious that they know, nor craving more;</p> + + <p>While man knows partly but conceives beside,</p> + + <p>Creeps ever on from fancies to the fact,</p> + + <p>And in this striving, this converting air</p> + + <p>Into a solid he may grasp and use,</p> + + <p>Finds progress, man's distinctive mark alone,</p> + + <p>Not God's and not the beasts': God is, they are,</p> + + <p>Man partly is and wholly hopes to be."<sup>C</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>C: <i>Ibid</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>It were easy to multiply passages which show <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg234" id="pg234">234</a></span> that his ultimate + deliverance regarding man is, not that he is, nor that he is not, but + that he is ever becoming. Man is ever at the point of contradiction + between the actual and ideal, and moving from the latter to the + former. Strife constitutes him. He is a war of elements; "hurled from + change to change unceasingly." But rest is death; for it is the + cessation of the spiritual activity, whose essence is acquirement, + not mere possession, whether in knowledge or in goodness.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i4">"Man must pass from old to new,</p> + + <p>From vain to real, from mistake to fact,</p> + + <p>From what once seemed good, to what now proves best."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>A Death in the Desert</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>Were the movement to stop, and the contradiction between the + actual and ideal reconciled, man would leave man's estate, and pass + under "angel's law."</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Indulging every instinct of the soul</p> + + <p>There, where law, life, joy, impulse are one thing."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Ibid</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>But as long as he is man, he has</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Somewhat to cast off, somewhat to become."</p> + </div> + + <p>In <i>Paracelsus</i>, <i>Fifine at the Fair</i>, <i>Red Cotton + Nightcap Country</i>, and many of his other poems, Browning deals + with the problem of human life from the point of view of development. + And it is this point of view, consistently held, which enables him to + throw a new light on the whole subject of ethics. For, if man be + veritably a being in process <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg235" + id="pg235">235</a></span> of evolution, if he be a permanent that + always changes from earliest childhood to old age, if he be a living + thing, a potency in process of actualization, then no fixed + distinctions made with reference to him can be true. If, for + instance, it be asked whether man is rational or irrational, free or + bound, good or evil, God or brute, the true answer, if he is + veritably a being moving from ignorance to knowledge, from wickedness + to virtue, from bondage to freedom, is, that he is at once neither of + these alternatives and both. All hard terms of division, when applied + to a subject which grows, are untrue. If the life of man is a + self-enriching process, if he is <i>becoming</i> good, and rational, + and free, then at no point in the movement is it possible to pass + fixed and definite judgments upon him. He must be estimated by his + direction and momentum, by the whence and whither of his life. There + is a sense in which man is from the first and always good, rational + and free; for it is only by the exercise of reason and freedom that + he exists as man. But there is also a sense in which he is none of + these; for he is at the first only a potency not yet actualized. He + is not rational, but becoming rational; not good, but becoming good; + not free, but aspiring towards freedom. It is his prayer that "in His + light, he may see light truly, and in His service find perfect + freedom."</p> + + <p>In this frank assumption of the point of view of development. + Browning suggests the question whether the endless debate regarding + freedom, and necessity, and other moral terms, may not spring + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg236" id="pg236">236</a></span> from + the fact, that both of the opposing schools of ethics are + fundamentally unfaithful to the subject of their inquiry. They are + treating a developing reality from an abstract point of view, and + taking for granted,—what cannot be true of man, if he grows in + intellectual power and moral goodness—that he is <i>either</i> + good or evil, <i>either</i> rational or irrational, <i>either</i> + free or bond, at every moment in the process. They are treating man + from a static, instead of from a kinetic point of view, and + forgetting that it is his business to acquire the moral and + intellectual freedom, which he has potentially from the + first—</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i4">"Some fitter way express</p> + + <p>Heart's satisfaction that the Past indeed</p> + + <p>Is past, gives way before Life's best and last,</p> + + <p>The all-including Future!"<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Gerard de Lairesse</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>But, whether or not the new point of view renders some of the old + disputations of ethics meaningless, it is certain that Browning + viewed moral life as a growth through conflict.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i6">"What were life</p> + + <p>Did soul stand still therein, forego her strife</p> + + <p>Through the ambiguous Present to the goal</p> + + <p>Of some all-reconciling Future?"<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Ibid</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>To become, to develop, to actualize by reaction against the + natural and moral environment, is the meaning both of the self and of + the world it works upon. "We are here to learn the good of peace + through strife, of love through hate, and reach knowledge by + ignorance."</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg237" id= + "pg237">237</a></span> + + <p>Now, since the conception of development is a self-contradictory + one, or, in other words, since it necessarily implies the conflict of + the ideal and actual in all life, and in every instant of its + history, it remains for us to determine more fully what are the + warring elements in human nature. What is the nature of this life of + man, which, like all life, is self-evolving; and by conflict with + what does the evolution take place? What is the ideal which condemns + the actual, and yet realizes itself by means of it; and what is the + actual which wars against the ideal, and yet contains it in potency, + and reaches towards it? That human life is conceived by Browning as a + moral life, and not a more refined and complex form of the natural + life of plants and animals—a view which finds its exponents in + Herbert Spencer, and other so-called evolutionists—it is + scarcely necessary to assert. It is a life which determines itself, + and determines itself according to an idea of goodness. That idea, + moreover, because it is a <i>moral ideal</i>, must be regarded as the + conception of perfect and absolute goodness. Through the moral end, + man is ideally identified with God, who, indeed, is necessarily + conceived as man's moral ideal regarded as already and eternally + real. "God" and the "moral ideal" are, in truth, expressions of the + same idea; they convey the conception of perfect goodness from + different standpoints. And perfect goodness is, to Browning, + limitless love. Pleasure, wisdom, power, and even the beauty which + art discovers <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg238" id= + "pg238">238</a></span> and reveals, together with every other inner + quality and outer state of being, have only relative worth. "There is + nothing either in the world or out of it which is unconditionally + good, except a good will," said Kant; and a good will, according to + Browning, is a will that wills lovingly. From love all other goodness + is derived. There is earnest meaning, and not mere sentiment, in the + poet's assertion that</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"There is no good of life but love—but love!</p> + + <p>What else looks good, is some shade flung from love.</p> + + <p>Love gilds it, gives it worth. Be warned by me,</p> + + <p>Never you cheat yourself one instant! Love,</p> + + <p>Give love, ask only love, and leave the rest!"<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>In a Balcony</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>"Let man's life be true," he adds, "and love's the truth of mine." + To attain this truth, that is, to constitute love into the inmost law + of his being, and permanent source of all his activities, is the task + of man. And Browning defines that love as</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i8">"Yearning to dispense,</p> + + <p>Each one its own amount of gain thro' its own mode</p> + + <p>Of practising with life."</p> + </div> + + <p>There is no need of illustrating further the doctrine, so evident + in Browning, that "love" is the ideal which in man's life makes + through conflict for its own fulfilment. From what has been already + said, it is abundantly plain that love is to him a divine element, + which is at war with all that is lower in man and around him, and + which by reaction <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg239" id= + "pg239">239</a></span> against circumstance converts its own mere + promise into fruition and fact. Through love man's nature reaches + down to the permanent essence, amid the fleeting phenomena of the + world, and is at one with what is first and last. As loving he ranks + with God. No words are too strong to represent the intimacy of the + relation. For, however limited in range and tainted with alien + qualities human love may be, it is still "a pin-point rock of His + boundless continent." It is not a semblance of the divine nature, an + analogon, or verisimilitude, but the love of God himself in man: so + that man is in this sense an incarnation of the divine. The Godhood + in him constitutes him, so that he cannot become himself, or attain + his own ideal or true nature, except by becoming perfect as God is + perfect.</p> + + <p>But the emphasis thus laid on the divine worth and dignity of + human love is balanced by the stress which the poet places on the + frailty and finitude of every other human attribute. Having elevated + the ideal, he degrades the actual. Knowledge and the intellectual + energy which produces it; art and the love of beauty from which it + springs: every power and every gift, physical and spiritual, other + than love, has in it the fatal flaw of being merely human. All these + are so tainted with creatureship, so limited and conditioned, that it + is hardly too much to say that they are, at their best, deceptive + endowments. Thus, the life of man regarded as a whole is, in its last + essence, a combination of utterly disparate elements. The distinction + of the <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg240" id= + "pg240">240</a></span> old moralists between divinity and dust; the + absolute dualism of the old ascetics between flesh and spirit, sense + and reason, find their accurate parallel in Browning's teachings. But + he is himself no ascetic, and the line of distinction he draws does + not, like theirs, pass between the flesh and the spirit. It rather + cleaves man's spiritual nature into two portions, which are + absolutely different from each other. A chasm divides the head from + the heart, the intellect from the emotions, the moral and practical + from the perceptive and reflective faculties. And it is this absolute + cleavage that gives to Browning's teaching, both on ethics and + religion, one of its most peculiar characteristics. By keeping it + constantly in sight, we may hope to render intelligible to ourselves + the solution he offers of the problem of evil, and of other + fundamental difficulties of the life of man. For, while Browning's + optimism has its original source in his conception of the unity of + God and man, through the Godlike quality of love—even "the + poorest love that was ever offered"—he finds himself unable to + maintain it, except at the expense of degrading man's knowledge. + Thus, his optimism and faith in God is finally based upon ignorance. + If, on the side of love, he insists, almost in the spirit of a + Spinozist, on God's communication of His own substance to man; on the + side of knowledge he may be called an agnostic, in spite of stray + expressions which break through his deliberate theory. While "love + gains God at first leap,"</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg241" + id="pg241">241</a></span> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i4">"Knowledge means</p> + + <p>Ever-renewed assurance by defeat</p> + + <p>That victory is somehow still to reach."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>A Pillar at Sebzevar</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>A radical flaw runs through our knowing faculty. Human knowledge + is not only incomplete—no one can be so foolish as to deny + that—but it is, as regarded by Browning, essentially inadequate + to the nature of fact, and we must "distrust it, even when it seems + demonstrable." No professed agnostic can condemn the human intellect + more utterly than he does. He pushes the limitedness of human + knowledge into a disqualification of it to reach truth at all; and + makes the conditions according to which we know, or seem to know, + into a deceiving necessity, which makes us know wrongly.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i4">"To know of, think about,—</p> + + <p>Is all man's sum of faculty effects</p> + + <p>When exercised on earth's least atom, Son!</p> + + <p>What was, what is, what may such atom be?</p> + + <p>No answer!"<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>A Bean-Stripe</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>Thought plays around facts, but never reaches them. Mind + intervenes between itself and its objects, and throws its own shadow + upon them; nor can it penetrate through that shadow, but deals with + it as if it were reality, though it knows all the time that it is + not.</p> + + <p>This theory of knowledge, or rather of nescience or no-knowledge, + he gives in <i>La Saisiaz</i>, <i>Ferishtah's Fancies</i>, <i>The + Parleyings</i>, and <i>Asolando</i>—in all his later and more + reflective poems, in fact. It must, I <span class="pagenum"><a name= + "pg242" id="pg242">242</a></span> think, be held to be his deliberate + and final view—and all the more so, because, by a peculiar + process, he gets from it his defence of his ethical and religious + faith.</p> + + <p>In the first of these poems, Browning, while discussing the + problem of immortality in a purely speculative spirit, and without + stipulating, "Provided answer suits my hopes, not fears," gives a + tolerably full account of that which must be regarded as the + principles of his theory of knowledge. Its importance to his ethical + doctrine justifies a somewhat exhaustive examination of it.</p> + + <p>He finds himself to be "a midway point, between a cause before and + an effect behind—both blanks." Within that narrow space, of the + self hemmed in by two unknowns, all experience is crammed. Out of + that experience crowds all that he knows, and all that he misknows. + There issues from experience—</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i14">"Conjecture manifold,</p> + + <p>But, as knowledge, this comes only—things may be as I + behold,</p> + + <p>Or may not be, but, without me and above me, things there + are;</p> + + <p>I myself am what I know not—ignorance which proves no + bar</p> + + <p>To the knowledge that I am, and, since I am, can recognize</p> + + <p>What to me is pain and pleasure: this is sure, the + rest—surmise.</p> + + <p>If my fellows are or are not, what may please them and what + pain,—</p> + + <p>Mere surmise: my own experience—that is knowledge once + again."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>La Saisiaz</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>Experience, then, within which he (and every one else) + acknowledges that all his knowledge is confined, yields him as + certain facts—the consciousness <span class="pagenum"><a name= + "pg243" id="pg243">243</a></span> that he is, but not what he is: the + consciousness that he is pleased or pained by things about him, whose + real nature is entirely hidden from him: and, as he tells us just + before, the assurance that God is the thing the self perceives + outside itself,</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i14">"A force</p> + + <p>Actual e'er its own beginning, operative thro' its course,</p> + + <p>Unaffected by its end."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>La Saisiaz</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>But, even this knowledge, limited as it is to the bare existence + of unknown entities, has the further defect of being merely + subjective. The "experience" from which he draws his conclusions, is + his own in an exclusive sense. His "thinking thing" has, apparently, + no elements in common with the "thinking things" of other selves. He + ignores the fact that there may be general laws of thought, according + to which his mind must act in order to be a mind. Intelligence seems + to have no nature, and may be anything. All questions regarding + "those apparent other mortals" are consequently unanswerable to the + poet. "Knowledge stands on my experience"; and this "my" is totally + unrelated to all other Mes.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i14">"All outside its narrow hem,</p> + + <p>Free surmise may sport and welcome! Pleasures, pains affect + mankind</p> + + <p>Just as they affect myself? Why, here's my neighbour + colour-blind,</p> + + <p>Eyes like mine to all appearance: 'green as grass' do I + affirm?</p> + + <p>'Red as grass' he contradicts me: which employs the proper + term?"<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Ibid</i>.</p> + </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg244" id="pg244">244</a></span> + + <p>If there were only they two on earth as tenants, there would be no + way of deciding between them; for, according to his argument, the + truth is apparently decided by majority of opinions. Each individual, + equipped with his own particular kind of senses and reason, gets his + own particular experience, and draws his own particular conclusions + from it. If it be asked whether these conclusions are true or not, + the only answer is that the question is absurd; for, under such + conditions, there cannot be either truth or error. Every one's + opinion is its own criterion. Each man is the measure of all things; + "His own world for every mortal," as the poet puts it.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"To each mortal peradventure earth becomes a new machine,</p> + + <p>Pain and pleasure no more tally in our sense than red and + green."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>La Saisiaz</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>The first result of this subjective view of knowledge is clearly + enough seen by the poet. He is well aware that his convictions + regarding the high matters of human destiny are valid only for + himself.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i14">"Only for myself I speak,</p> + + <p>Nowise dare to play the spokesman for my brothers strong and + weak."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Ibid</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>Experience, as he interprets it, that is, present consciousness, + "this moment's me and mine," is too narrow a basis for any universal + or objective conclusion. So far as his own inner experience of pain + and pleasure goes,</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg245" id= + "pg245">245</a></span> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"All—for myself—seems ordered wise and well</p> + + <p>Inside it,—what reigns outside, who can tell?"<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Francis Furini</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>But as to the actual world, he can have no opinion, nor, from the + good and evil that apparently play around him, can he deduce + either</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Praise or blame of its contriver, shown a niggard or + profuse</p> + + <p>In each good or evil issue."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>La Saisiaz</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>The moral government of the world is a subject, regarding which we + are doomed to absolute ignorance. A theory that it is ruled by the + "prince of the power of the air" has just as much, and just as + little, validity as the more ordinary view held by religious people. + Who needs be told</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i14">"The space</p> + + <p>Which yields thee knowledge—do its bounds embrace</p> + + <p>Well-willing and wise-working, each at height?</p> + + <p>Enough: beyond thee lies the infinite—</p> + + <p>Back to thy circumscription!"<sup>C</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>C: <i>Francis Furini</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>And our ignorance of God, and the world, and ourselves is matched + by a similar ignorance regarding moral matters.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Ignorance overwraps his moral sense,</p> + + <p>Winds him about, relaxing, as it wraps,</p> + + <p>So much and no more than lets through perhaps</p> + + <p>The murmured knowledge—' Ignorance exists.'"<sup>D</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>D: <i>Ibid</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>We cannot be certain even of the distinction and conflict of good + and evil in the world. They, too, <span class="pagenum"><a name= + "pg246" id="pg246">246</a></span> and the apparent choice between + them to which man is continually constrained, may be mere + illusions—phenomena of the individual consciousness. What + remains, then? Nothing but to "wait."</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Take the joys and bear the sorrows—neither with extreme + concern!</p> + + <p>Living here means nescience simply: 'tis next life that helps to + learn."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>La Saisiaz</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>It is hardly necessary to enter upon any detailed criticism of + such a theory of knowledge as this, which is proffered by the poet. + It is well known by all those who are in some degree acquainted with + the history of philosophy—and it will be easily seen by all who + have any critical acumen—that it leads directly into absolute + scepticism. And absolute scepticism is easily shown to be + self-contradictory. For a theory of nescience, in condemning all + knowledge and the faculty of knowledge, condemns itself. If nothing + is true, or if nothing is known, then this theory itself is not true, + or its truth cannot be known. And if this theory is true, then + nothing is true; for this theory, like all others, is the product of + a defective intelligence. In whatsoever way the matter is put, there + is left no standing-ground for the human critic who condemns human + thought. And he cannot well pretend to a footing in a sphere above + man's, or below it. There is thus one presupposition which every one + must make, if he is to propound any doctrine whatsoever, even if that + doctrine be that no doctrine can be <span class="pagenum"><a name= + "pg247" id="pg247">247</a></span> valid; it is the presupposition + that knowledge is possible, and that truth can be known. And this + presupposition fills, for modern philosophy, the place of the + <i>Cogito ergo sum</i> of Descartes. It is the starting-point and + criterion of all knowledge.</p> + + <p>It is, at first sight, a somewhat difficult task to account for + the fact, that so keen an intellect as the poet's did not perceive + the conclusion to which his theory of knowledge so directly and + necessarily leads. It is probable, however, that he never critically + examined it, but simply accepted it as equivalent to the common + doctrine of the relativity of knowledge, which, in some form or + other, all the schools of philosophy adopt. But the main reason will + be found to lie in the fact that knowledge was not, to Browning, its + own criterion or end. The primary fact of his philosophy is that + human life is a moral process. His interest in the evolution of + character was his deepest interest, as he informs us; he was an + ethical teacher rather than a metaphysician. He is ever willing to + asperse man's intelligence. But that man is a moral agent he will in + no wise doubt. This is his</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i6">"Solid standing-place amid</p> + + <p>The wash and welter, whence all doubts are bid</p> + + <p>Back to the ledge they break against in foam."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Francis Furini</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>His practical maxim was</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Wholly distrust thy knowledge, then, and trust</p> + + <p>As wholly love allied to ignorance!</p> + + <p>There lies thy truth and safety."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>A Pillar of Sebzevar</i>.</p> + </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg248" id="pg248">248</a></span> + + <p>All phenomena must, in some way or other, be reconciled by the + poet with the fundamental and indubitable fact of the progressive + moral life of man. For the fundamental presupposition which a man + makes, is necessarily his criterion of knowledge, and it determines + the truth or illusoriness of all other opinions whatsoever.</p> + + <p>Now, Browning held, not only that no certain knowledge is + attainable by man, but also that such certainty is incompatible with + moral life. Absolute knowledge would, he contends, lift man above the + need and the possibility of making the moral choice, which is our + supreme business on earth. Man can be good or evil, only on condition + of being in absolute uncertainty regarding the true meaning of the + facts of nature and the phenomena of life.</p> + + <p>This somewhat strange doctrine finds the most explicit and full + expression in <i>La Saisiaz</i>. "Fancy," amongst the concessions it + demands from "Reason," claims that man should know—not merely + surmise or fear—that every action done in this life awaits its + proper and necessary meed in the next.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i8">"I also will that man become aware</p> + + <p>Life has worth incalculable, every moment that he spends</p> + + <p>So much gain or loss for that next life which on this life + depends."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>La Saisiaz</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>But Reason refuses the concession, upon the ground that such sure + knowledge would be destructive of <span class="pagenum"><a name= + "pg249" id="pg249">249</a></span> the very distinction between right + and wrong, which the demand implies. The "promulgation of this + decree," by Fancy, "makes both good and evil to cease." Prior to it + "earth was man's probation-place"; but under this decree man is no + longer free; for certain knowledge makes action necessary.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Once lay down the law, with Nature's simple 'Such effects + succeed</p> + + <p>Causes such, and heaven or hell depends upon man's earthly + deed</p> + + <p>Just as surely as depends the straight or else the crooked + line</p> + + <p>On his making point meet point or with or else without + incline,'</p> + + <p>Thenceforth neither good nor evil does man, doing what he + must."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>La Saisiaz</i>, 195.</p> + </div> + + <p>If we presuppose that "man, addressed this mode, be sound and + sane" (and we must stipulate sanity, if his actions are to be morally + judged at all)—then a law which binds punishment and reward to + action in a necessary manner, and is known so to bind them, would + "obtain prompt and absolute obedience." There are some "edicts, now + styled God's own nature's," "which to hear means to obey." All the + laws relating to the preservation of life are of this character. And, + if the law—"Would'st thou live again, be just"—were in + all ways as stringent as the other law—</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Would'st thou live now, regularly draw thy breath!</p> + + <p>For, suspend the operation, straight law's breach results in + death"—<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Ibid</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>then no one would disobey it, nor could. "It is <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg250" id="pg250">250</a></span> the liberty of + doing evil that gives the doing good a grace." And that liberty would + be taken away by complete assurance, that effects follow actions in + the moral world with the necessity seen in the natural sphere. Since, + therefore, man is made to grow, and earth is the place wherein he is + to pass probation and prove his powers, there must remain a certain + doubt as to the issues of his actions; conviction must not be so + strong as to carry with it man's whole nature. "The best I both see + and praise, the worst I follow," is the adage rife in man's mouth + regarding his moral conduct. But, spite of his seeing and + praising,</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i14">"he disbelieves</p> + + <p>In the heart of him that edict which for truth his head + receives."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>La Saisiaz</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>He has a dim consciousness of ways whereby he may elude the + consequences of his wickedness, and of the possibility of making + amends to law.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"And now, auld Cloots, I ken ye're thinkin',</p> + + <p>A certain Bardie's rantin', drinkin',</p> + + <p>Some luckless hour will send him linkin'</p> + + <p class="i2">To your black pit;</p> + + <p>But, faith, he'll turn a corner jinkin',</p> + + <p class="i2">And cheat you yet."</p> + </div> + + <p>The more orthodox and less generous individual is prone to agree, + as regards himself, with Burns; but, he sees, most probably, that + such an escape is impossible to others. He has secret solacement in a + latent belief that he himself is an exception. There will be a + special method of dealing with <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg251" + id="pg251">251</a></span> him. He is a "chosen sample"; and "God will + think twice before He damns a man of his quality." It is just because + there is such doubt as to the universality and necessity of the law + which connects actions and consequences in the moral sphere, that + man's deeds have an ethical character; while, to disperse doubt and + ignorance by the assurance of complete knowledge, would take the good + from goodness and the ill from evil.</p> + + <p>In this ingenious manner, the poet turns the imperfect intellect + and delusive knowledge of man to a moral use. Ordinarily, the + intellectual impotence of man is regarded as carrying with it moral + incapacity as well, and the delusiveness of knowledge is one of the + strongest arguments for pessimism. To persons pledged to the support + of no theory, and to those who have the <i>naïveté</i>, so hard to + maintain side by side with strong doctrinal convictions, it seems + amongst the worst of evils that man should be endowed with fallacious + faculties, and cursed with a futile desire for true knowledge which + is so strong, that it cannot be quenched even in those who believe + that truth can never be attained. It is the very best men of the + world who cry</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i4">"Oh, this false for real,</p> + + <p>This emptiness which feigns solidity,—</p> + + <p>Ever some grey that's white, and dun that's black,—</p> + + <p>When shall we rest upon the thing itself,</p> + + <p>Not on its semblance? Soul—too weak, forsooth,</p> + + <p>To cope with fact—wants fiction everywhere!</p> + + <p>Mine tires of falsehood: truth at any cost!"<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>A Bean-Stripe</i>.</p> + </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg252" id="pg252">252</a></span> + + <p>The poet himself was burdened in no small degree with this vain + desire for knowing the truth; and he recognized, too, that he was + placed in a world which seems both real and beautiful, and so well + worth knowing. Yet, it is this very failure of knowledge—a + failure which, be it remembered, is complete and absolute, because, + as he thinks, all facts must turn into phantoms by mere contact with + our "relative intelligences,"—which he constitutes into the + basis of his optimistic faith.</p> + + <p>So high is the dignity and worth of the moral life to Browning, + that no sacrifice is too great to secure it. And, indeed, if it were + once clearly recognized that there is no good thing but goodness, + nothing of supreme worth, except the realization of a loving will, + then doubt, ignorance, and every other form of apparent evil would be + fully justified—provided they were conditions whereby this + highest good is attained. And, to Browning, ignorance was one of the + conditions. And consequently, the dread pause in the music which + agnosticism brings, is only "silence implying sound"; and the vain + cry for truth, arising from the heart of the earth's best men, is + only a discord moving towards resolution into a more rapturous + harmony.</p> + + <p>I do not stay here to inquire whether sure knowledge would really + have this disastrous effect of destroying morality, or whether its + failure does not rather imply the impossibility of a moral life. I + return to the question asked at the beginning of this chapter, and + which it is now possible to <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg253" id= + "pg253">253</a></span> answer. That question was: How does Browning + reconcile his hypothesis of universal love with the natural and moral + evils existing in the world?</p> + + <p>His answer is quite explicit. The poet solves the problem by + casting doubt upon the facts which threaten his hypothesis. He + reduces them into phenomena, in the sense of phantoms begotten by the + human intellect upon unknown and unknowable realities.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Thus much at least is clearly understood—</p> + + <p>Of power does Man possess no particle:</p> + + <p>Of knowledge—just so much as shows that still</p> + + <p>It ends in ignorance on every side."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Francis Furini</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>He is aware of the phenomena of his own consciousness,</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"My soul, and my soul's home,</p> + + <p>This body ";</p> + </div> + + <p>but he knows not whether "things outside are fact or feigning." + And he heeds little, for in either case they</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i14">"Teach</p> + + <p>What good is and what evil,—just the same,</p> + + <p>Be feigning or be fact the teacher."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Ibid</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>It is the mixture, or rather the apparent mixture, of shade and + light in life, the conflict of seeming good with seeming evil in the + world, that constitutes the world a probation-place. It is a kind of + moral gymnasium, crowded with phantoms, wherein by exercise man makes + moral muscle. And the <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg254" id= + "pg254">254</a></span> vigour of the athlete's struggle is not in the + least abated by the consciousness that all he deals with are + phantoms.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"I have lived, then, done and suffered, loved and hated, learnt + and taught</p> + + <p>This—there is no reconciling wisdom with a world + distraught,</p> + + <p>Goodness with triumphant evil, power with failure in the + aim,</p> + + <p>If—(to my own sense, remember! though none other feel the + same!)—</p> + + <p>If you bar me from assuming earth to be a pupil's place,</p> + + <p>And life, time—with all their chances, changes,—just + probation-space,</p> + + <p>Mine, for me."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>La Saisiaz</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>And the world would not be such a probation-space did we once + penetrate into its inmost secret, and know its phenomena as veritably + either good or evil. There is the need of playing something + perilously like a trick on the human intellect if man is to strive + and grow.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i4">"Here and there a touch</p> + + <p>Taught me, betimes, the artifice of things—</p> + + <p>That all about, external to myself,</p> + + <p>Was meant to be suspected,—not revealed</p> + + <p>Demonstrably a cheat—but half seen through."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>A Bean-Stripe.</i></p> + </div> + + <p>To know objects as they veritably are, might reveal all things as + locked together in a scheme of universal good, so that "white would + rule unchecked along the line." But this would be the greatest of + disasters; for, as moral agents, we cannot do without</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i8">"the constant shade</p> + + <p>Cast on life's shine,—the tremor that intrudes</p> + + <p>When firmest seems my faith in white."<sup>C</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>C: <i>Ibid</i>.</p> + </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg255" id="pg255">255</a></span> + + <p>The intellectual insight that would penetrate through the + vari-colour of events into the actual presence of the incandescent + white of love, which glows, as hope tells us, in all things, would + stultify itself, and lose its knowledge even of the good.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i12">"Think!</p> + + <p>Could I see plain, be somehow certified</p> + + <p>All was illusion—evil far and wide</p> + + <p>Was good disguised,—why, out with one huge wipe</p> + + <p>Goes knowledge from me. Type needs antitype:</p> + + <p>As night needs day, as shine needs shade, so good</p> + + <p>Needs evil: how were pity understood</p> + + <p>Unless by pain? "<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Francis Furini</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>Good and evil are relative to each other, and each is known only + through its contrary.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i12">"For me</p> + + <p>(Patience, beseech you!) Knowledge can but be</p> + + <p>Of good by knowledge of good's opposite—</p> + + <p>Evil."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Ibid</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>The extinction of one of the terms would be the extinction of the + other. And, in a similar manner, clear knowledge that evil is + illusion and that all things have their place in an infinite divine + order would paralyze all moral effort, as well as stultify + itself.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i6">"Make evident that pain</p> + + <p>Permissibly masks pleasure—you abstain</p> + + <p>From out-stretch of the finger-tip that saves</p> + + <p>A drowning fly."<sup>C</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>C: <i>Ibid</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>Certainty on either side, either that evil is evil for + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg256" id="pg256">256</a></span> + evermore, irredeemable and absolute, a drench of utter dark not + illuminable by white; or that it is but mere show and semblance, + which the good takes upon itself, would alike be ruinous to man. For + both alternatives would render all striving folly. The right attitude + for man is that of ignorance, complete uncertainty, the equipoise of + conflicting alternatives. He must take his stand on the + contradiction. Hope he may have that all things work together for + good. It is right that he should nourish the faith that the + antagonism of evil with good in the world is only an illusion; but + that faith must stop short of the complete conviction that knowledge + would bring. When, therefore, the hypothesis of universal love is + confronted with the evils of life, and we ask how it can be + maintained in the face of the manifold miseries everywhere apparent, + the poet answers, "You do not know, and cannot know, whether they are + evils or not. Your knowledge remains at the surface of things. You + cannot fit them into their true place, or pronounce upon their true + purpose and character; for you see only a small arc of the complete + circle of being. Wait till you see more, and, in the meantime, + hope!"</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Why faith—but to lift the load,</p> + + <p class="i2">To leaven the lump, where lies</p> + + <p>Mind prostrate through knowledge owed</p> + + <p class="i2">To the loveless Power it tries</p> + + <p>To withstand, how vain!"<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Reverie</i>—<i>Asolando</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>And, if we reply in turn, that this necessary ignorance + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg257" id="pg257">257</a></span> + leaves as little room for his scheme of love as it does for its + opposite, he again answers: "Not so! I appeal from the intellect, + which is detected as incompetent, to the higher court of the moral + consciousness. And there I find the ignorance to be justified: for it + is the instrument of a higher purpose, a means whereby what is best + is gained, namely, <i>Love</i>."</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i8">"My curls were crowned</p> + + <p>In youth with knowledge,—off, alas, crown slipped</p> + + <p>Next moment, pushed by better knowledge still</p> + + <p>Which nowise proved more constant; gain, to-day,</p> + + <p>Was toppling loss to-morrow, lay at last</p> + + <p>—Knowledge, the golden?—lacquered ignorance!</p> + + <p>As gain—mistrust it! Not as means to gain:</p> + + <p>Lacquer we learn by: ...</p> + + <p>The prize is in the process: knowledge means</p> + + <p>Ever-renewed assurance by defeat</p> + + <p>That victory is somehow still to reach,</p> + + <p>But love is victory, the prize itself:</p> + + <p>Love—trust to! Be rewarded for the trust</p> + + <p>In trust's mere act."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>A Pillar at Sebzevar</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>Now, in order to complete our examination of this theory, we must + follow the poet in his attempt to escape from the testimony of the + intellect to that of the heart. In order to make the most of the + latter, we find that Browning, especially in his last work, tends to + withdraw his accusation of utter incompetence on the part of the + intellect. He only tends to do so, it is true. He is tolerably + consistent in asserting that we know our own emotions and the + phenomena of our own consciousness; but he is not consistent in his + account of our knowledge, <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg258" id= + "pg258">258</a></span> or ignorance, of external things. On the + whole, he asserts that we know nothing of them. But in + <i>Asolando</i> he seems to imply that the evidence of a loveless + power in the world, permitting evil, is irresistible.<sup>A</sup> To say the + least, the testimony of the intellect, such as it is, is more clear + and convincing with regard to evil than it is with regard to good. + Within the sphere of phenomena, to which the intellect is confined, + there seems to be, instead of a benevolent purpose, a world ruled by + a power indifferent to the triumph of evil over good, and either + "loveless" or unintelligent.</p> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>See passage just quoted.</i></p> + </div> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i4">"Life, from birth to death,</p> + + <p>Means—either looking back on harm escaped,</p> + + <p>Or looking forward to that harm's return</p> + + <p>With tenfold power of harming."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>A Bean-Stripe.</i></p> + </div> + + <p>And it is not possible for man to contravene this evidence of + faults and omissions: for, in doing so, he would remove the facts in + reaction against which his moral nature becomes active. What proof is + there, then, that the universal love is no mere dream? None! from the + side of the intellect, answers the poet. Man, who has the will to + remove the ills of life,</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Stop change, avert decay,</p> + + <p>Fix life fast, banish death,"<sup>C</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>C: <i>Reverie</i>—<i>Asolando</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>has not the power to effect his will; while the Power, whose + limitlessness he recognizes everywhere <span class="pagenum"><a name= + "pg259" id="pg259">259</a></span> around him, merely maintains the + world in its remorseless course, and puts forth no helping hand when + good is prone and evil triumphant. "God does nothing."</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i6">"'No sign,'—groaned he,—</p> + + <p>No stirring of God's finger to denote</p> + + <p>He wills that right should have supremacy</p> + + <p>On earth, not wrong! How helpful could we quote</p> + + <p>But one poor instance when He interposed</p> + + <p>Promptly and surely and beyond mistake</p> + + <p>Between oppression and its victim, closed</p> + + <p>Accounts with sin for once, and bade us wake</p> + + <p>From our long dream that justice bears no sword,</p> + + <p>Or else forgets whereto its sharpness serves.'"<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Bernard de Mandeville.</i></p> + </div> + + <p>But he tells us in his later poems, that there is no answer + vouchsafed to man's cry to the Power, that it should reveal</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i4">"What heals all harm,</p> + + <p>Nay, hinders the harm at first,</p> + + <p>Saves earth."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Reverie—Asolando.</i></p> + </div> + + <p>And yet, so far as man can see, there were no bar to the remedy, + if "God's all-mercy" did really "mate His all-potency."</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"How easy it seems,—to sense</p> + + <p class="i2">Like man's—if somehow met</p> + + <p>Power with its match—immense</p> + + <p class="i2">Love, limitless, unbeset</p> + + <p>By hindrance on every side!"<sup>C</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>C: <i>Ibid</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>But that love nowhere makes itself evident. "Power," we + recognize,</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i8">"finds nought too hard,</p> + + <p class="i2">Fulfilling itself all ways,</p> + + <p>Unchecked, unchanged; while barred,</p><span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg260" id="pg260">260</a></span> + + <p class="i2">Baffled, what good began</p> + + <p>Ends evil on every side."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Reverie—Asolando</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>Thus, the conclusion to which knowledge inevitably leads us is + that mere power rules.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"No more than the passive clay</p> + + <p class="i2">Disputes the potter's act,</p> + + <p>Could the whelmed mind disobey</p> + + <p class="i2">Knowledge, the cataract."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Ibid</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>But if the intellect is thus overwhelmed, so as to be almost + passive to the pessimistic conclusion borne in upon it by "resistless + fact," the heart of man is made of another mould. It revolts against + the conclusion of the intellect, and climbs</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Through turbidity all between,</p> + + <p class="i2">From the known to the unknown here,</p> + + <p>Heaven's 'Shall be,' from earth's 'Has been.'"<sup>C</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>C: <i>Ibid</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>It grasps a fact beyond the reach of knowledge, namely, the + possibility, or even the certainty, that "power is love." At present + there is no substantiating by knowledge the testimony of the heart; + and man has no better anchorage for his optimism than faith. But the + closer view will come, when even our life on earth will be seen to + have within it the working of love, no less manifest than that of + power.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"When see? When there dawns a day,</p> + + <p class="i2">If not on the homely earth,</p> + + <p>Then, yonder, worlds away,</p> + + <p class="i2">Where the strange and new have birth,</p> + + <p>And Power comes full in play."<sup>D</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>D: <i>Ibid</i>.</p> + </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg261" id="pg261">261</a></span> + + <p>Now, what is this evidence of the heart, which is sufficiently + cogent and valid to counterpoise that of the mind; and which gives to + "faith," or "hope," a firm foothold in the very face of the opposing + "resistless" testimony of knowledge?</p> + + <p>Within our experience, to which the poet knows we are entirely + confined, there is a fact, the significance of which we have not as + yet examined. For, plain and irresistible as is the evidence of evil, + so plain and constant is man's recognition of it as evil, and his + desire to annul it. If man's mind is made to acknowledge evil, his + moral nature is made so as to revolt against it.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i2">"Man's heart is <i>made</i> to judge</p> + + <p>Pain deserved nowhere by the common flesh</p> + + <p>Our birth-right—bad and good deserve alike</p> + + <p>No pain, to human apprehension."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Mihrab Shah</i>—<i>Ferishtah's Fancies</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>Owing to the limitation of our intelligence, we cannot deny but + that</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i6">"In the eye of God</p> + + <p>Pain may have purpose and be justified."</p> + </div> + + <p>But whether it has its purpose for the supreme intelligence or + not,</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Man's sense avails to only see, in pain,</p> + + <p>A hateful chance no man but would avert</p> + + <p>Or, failing, needs must pity."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Ibid</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>Man must condemn evil, he cannot acquiesce in its permanence, but + is, spite of his consciousness <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg262" + id="pg262">262</a></span> of ignorance and powerlessness, roused into + constant revolt against it.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"True, he makes nothing, understands no whit:</p> + + <p>Had the initiator-spasm seen fit</p> + + <p>Thus doubly to endow him, none the worse</p> + + <p>And much the better were the universe.</p> + + <p>What does Man see or feel or apprehend</p> + + <p>Here, there, and everywhere, but faults to mend,</p> + + <p>Omissions to supply,—one wide disease</p> + + <p>Of things that are, which Man at once would ease</p> + + <p>Had will but power and knowledge?"<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Francis Furini</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>But the moral worth of man does not suffer the least detraction + from his inability to effect his benevolent purpose. "Things must + take will for deed," as Browning tells us. David is not at all + distressed by the consciousness of his weakness.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i14">"Why is it I dare</p> + + <p>Think but lightly of such impuissance? What stops my + despair?</p> + + <p>This;—'tis not what man Does which exalts him, but what + man Would do."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Saul</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>The fact that "his wishes fall through," that he cannot, although + willing, help Saul, "grow poor to enrich him, fill up his life by + starving his own," does not prevent him from regarding his "service + as perfect." The will was there, although it lacked power to effect + itself. The moral worth of an action is complete, if it is willed; + and it is nowise affected by its outer consequences, as both Browning + and Kant teach. The loving will, the inner act of loving, though it + can bear no outward fruit, <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg263" id= + "pg263">263</a></span>being debarred by outward impediment, is still + a complete and highest good.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"But Love is victory, the prize itself:</p> + + <p>Love—trust to! Be rewarded for the trust</p> + + <p>In trust's mere act. In love success is sure,</p> + + <p>Attainment—no delusion, whatso'er</p> + + <p>The prize be: apprehended as a prize,</p> + + <p>A prize it is."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>A Pillar at Sebzevar</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>Whatever the evil in the world and the impotence of man, his duty + and his dignity in willing to perform it, are ever the same. Though + God neglect the world</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i12">"Man's part</p> + + <p>Is plain—to send love forth,—astray, perhaps:</p> + + <p>No matter, he has done his part."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>The Sun</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>Now, this fact of inner experience, which the poet thinks + incontrovertible—the fact that man, every man, necessarily + regards evil, whether natural or moral, as something to be annulled, + were it only possible—is an immediate proof of the indwelling + of that which is highest in man. On this basis, Browning is able to + re-establish the optimism which, from the side of knowledge, he had + utterly abandoned.</p> + + <p>The very fact that the world is condemned by man is proof that + there dwells in man something better than the world, whose evidence + the pessimist himself cannot escape. All is not wrong, as long as + wrong <i>seems</i> wrong. The pessimist, in condemning the world, + must except himself. In his <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg264" id= + "pg264">264</a></span> very charge against God of having made man in + His anger, there lies a contradiction; for he himself fronts and + defies the outrage. There is no depth of despair which this good + cannot illumine with joyous light, for the despair is itself the + reflex of the good.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i4">"Were earth and all it holds illusions mere,</p> + + <p>Only a machine for teaching love and hate, and hope and + fear,</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i4">"If this life's conception new life fail to + realize—</p> + + <p>Though earth burst and proved a bubble glassing hues of hell, + one huge</p> + + <p>Reflex of the devil's doings—God's work by no + subterfuge,"<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>La Saisiaz</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>still, good is good, and love is its own exceeding great reward. + Alone, in a world abandoned to chaos and infinite night, man is still + not without God, if he loves. In virtue of his love, he himself would + be crowned as God, as the poet often argues, were there no higher + love elsewhere.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i8">"If he believes</p> + + <p>Might can exist with neither will nor love,</p> + + <p>In God's case—what he names now Nature's Law—</p> + + <p>While in himself he recognizes love</p> + + <p>No less than might and will,"<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Death in the Desert</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>man takes, and rightly takes, the title of being "First, last, and + best of things."</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Since if man prove the sole existent thing</p> + + <p>Where these combine, whatever their degree,</p> + + <p>However weak the might or will or love,</p> + + <p>So they be found there, put in evidence—</p><span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg265" id="pg265">265</a></span> + + <p>He is as surely higher in the scale</p> + + <p>Than any might with neither love nor will,</p> + + <p>As life, apparent in the poorest midge,</p> + + <p>Is marvellous beyond dead Atlas' self,</p> + + <p>Given to the nobler midge for resting-place!</p> + + <p>Thus, man proves best and highest—God, in fine."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>A Death in the Desert</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>To any one capable of spiritually discerning things, there can be + no difficulty in regarding goodness, however limited and mated with + weakness, as infinitely above all natural power. Divinity will be + known to consist, not in any senseless might, however majestic and + miraculous, but in moral or spiritual perfection. If God were + indifferent to the evil of the world, acquiesced in it without + reason, and let it ripen into all manner of wretchedness, then man, + in condemning the world, though without power to remove the least of + its miseries, would be higher than God. But we have still to account + for the possibility of man's assuming an attitude implied in the + consciousness that, while he is without power, God is without pity, + and in the despair which springs from his hate of evil. How comes it + that human nature rises above its origin, and is able—nay, + obliged—to condemn the evil which God permits? Is man finite in + power, a mere implement of a mocking will so far as knowledge goes, + the plaything of remorseless forces, and yet author and first source + of something in himself which invests him with a dignity that God + Himself cannot share? Is the moral consciousness which, by its very + nature, must <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg266" id= + "pg266">266</a></span> bear witness against the Power, although it + cannot arrest its pitiless course, or remove the least evil,</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Man's own work, his birth of heart and brain,</p> + + <p>His native grace, no alien gift at all?"</p> + </div> + + <p>We are thus caught between the horns of a final dilemma. Either + the pity and love, which make man revolt against all suffering, are + man's own creation; or else God, who made man's heart to love, has + given to man something higher than He owns Himself. But both of these + alternatives are impossible.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Here's the touch that breaks the bubble."</p> + </div> + + <p>The first alternative is impossible, because man is by definition + powerless, a mere link in the endless chain of causes, incapable of + changing the least part of the scheme of things which he condemns, + and therefore much more unable to initiate, or to bring into a + loveless world abandoned to blind power, the noble might of love.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i12">"Will of man create?</p> + + <p>No more than this my hand, which strewed the beans</p> + + <p>Produced them also from its finger-tips."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>A Bean-Stripe</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>All that man is and has is a mere loan; his love no less than his + finite intellect and limited power, has had its origin elsewhere.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Back goes creation to its source, source prime</p> + + <p>And ultimate, the single and the sole."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Ibid</i>.</p> + </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg267" id="pg267">267</a></span> + + <p>The argument ends by bringing us back</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i2">"To the starting-point,—</p> + + <p>Man's impotency, God's omnipotence,</p> + + <p>These stop my answer."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>A Bean-Stripe</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>I shall not pause at present to examine the value of this new form + of the old argument, "<i>Ex contingentia mundi</i>." But I may point + out in passing, that the reference of human love to a divine creative + source is accomplished by means of the idea of cause, one of the + categories of the thought which Browning has aspersed. And it is a + little difficult to show why, if we are constrained to doubt our + thought, when by the aid of causality it establishes a connection + between finite and finite, we should regard it as worthy of trust + when it connects the finite and the infinite. In fact, it is all too + evident that the poet assumes or denies the possibility of knowledge, + according as it helps or hinders his ethical doctrine.</p> + + <p>But, if we grant the ascent from the finite to the infinite and + regard man's love as a divine gift—which it may well be + although the poet's argument is invalid—then a new light is + thrown upon the being who gave man this power to love. The + "necessity," "the mere power," which alone could be discerned by + observation of the irresistible movement of the world's events, + acquires a new character. Prior to this discovery of love in man as + the work of God—</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg268" id= + "pg268">268</a></span> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Head praises, but heart refrains</p> + + <p class="i2">From loving's acknowledgment.</p> + + <p>Whole losses outweigh half-gains:</p> + + <p class="i2">Earth's good is with evil blent:</p> + + <p>Good struggles but evil reigns."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Reverie</i>—<i>Asolando</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>But love in man is a suggestion of a love without; a proof, in + fact, that God is love, for man's love is God's love in man. The + source of the pity that man shows, and of the apparent evils in the + world which excite it, is the same. The power which called man into + being, itself rises up in man against the wrongs in the world. The + voice of the moral consciousness, approving the good, condemning + evil, and striving to annul it, is the voice of God, and has, + therefore, supreme authority. We do wrong, therefore, in thinking + that it is the weakness of man which is matched against the might of + evil in the world, and that we are fighting a losing battle. It is an + incomplete, abstract, untrue view of the facts of life which puts God + as irresistible Power in the outer world, and forgets that the same + irresistible Power works, under the higher form of love, in the human + heart.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Is not God now i' the world His power first made?</p> + + <p>Is not His love at issue still with sin,</p> + + <p>Visibly when a wrong is done on earth?</p> + + <p>Love, wrong, and pain, what see I else around?"<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>A Death in the Desert</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>In this way, therefore, the poet argues back from the moral + consciousness of man to the goodness of God. And he finds the + ultimate proof of this <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg269" id= + "pg269">269</a></span> goodness in the very pessimism and scepticism + and despair, that come with the view of the apparently infinite waste + in the world and the endless miseries of humanity. The source of this + despair, namely, the recognition of evil and wrong, is just the + Godhood in man. There is no way of accounting for the fact that "Man + hates what is and loves what should be," except by "blending the + quality of man with the quality of God." And "the quality of God" is + the fundamental fact in man's history. Love is the last reality the + poet always reaches. Beneath the pessimism is love: without love of + the good there were no recognition of evil, no condemnation of it, + and no despair.</p> + + <p>But the difficulty still remains as to the permission of evil, + even though it should prove in the end to be merely apparent.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Wherefore should any evil hap to man—</p> + + <p>From ache of flesh to agony of soul—</p> + + <p>Since God's All-mercy mates All-potency?</p> + + <p>Nay, why permits He evil to Himself—</p> + + <p>Man's sin, accounted such? Suppose a world</p> + + <p>Purged of all pain, with fit inhabitant—</p> + + <p>Man pure of evil in thought, word, and deed—</p> + + <p>Were it not well? Then, wherefore otherwise?"<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Mihrab Shah</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>The poet finds an answer to this difficulty in the very nature of + moral goodness, which, as we have seen, he regards as a progressive + realization of an infinitely high ideal. The demand for a world + purged of all pain and sin is really, he teaches us, a demand for a + sphere where</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg270" id= + "pg270">270</a></span> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i8">"Time brings</p> + + <p>No hope, no fear: as to-day, shall be</p> + + <p>To-morrow: advance or retreat need we</p> + + <p>At our stand-still through eternity?"<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Rephan</i>—<i>Asolando</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>What were there to "bless or curse, in such a uniform + universe,"</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i4">"Where weak and strong,</p> + + <p>The wise and the foolish, right and wrong,</p> + + <p>Are merged alike in a neutral Best."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Ibid</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>There is a better way of life, thinks Browning, than such a state + of stagnation.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Why should I speak? You divine the test.</p> + + <p>When the trouble grew in my pregnant breast</p> + + <p>A voice said, So would'st thou strive, not rest,</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Burn and not smoulder, win by worth,</p> + + <p>Not rest content with a wealth that's dearth,</p> + + <p>Thou art past Rephan, thy place be Earth."<sup>C</sup></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>C: <i>Ibid</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>The discontent of man, the consciousness of sin, evil, pain, is a + symbol of promotion. The peace of the state of nature has been broken + for him; and, although the first consequence be</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Brow-furrowed old age, youth's hollow cheek,—</p> + + <p>Diseased in the body, sick in soul,</p> + + <p>Pinched poverty, satiate wealth,—your whole</p> + + <p>Array of despairs,"<sup>D</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>D: <i>Ibid</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>still, without them, the best is impossible. They are the + conditions of the moral life, which is essentially progressive. They + are the consequences of the fact that man has been "startled + up"</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg271" id= + "pg271">271</a></span> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i6">"by an Infinite</p> + + <p>Discovered above and below me—height</p> + + <p>And depth alike to attract my flight,</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Repel my descent: by hate taught love.</p> + + <p>Oh, gain were indeed to see above</p> + + <p>Supremacy ever—to move, remove,</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Not reach—aspire yet never attain</p> + + <p>To the object aimed at."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Rephan</i>—<i>Asolando</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>He who places rest above effort, Rephan above the earth, places a + natural good above a moral good, stagnation above progress. The + demand for the absolute extinction of evil betrays ignorance of the + nature of the highest good. For right and wrong are relative. "Type + need antitype." The fact that goodness is best, and that goodness is + not a stagnant state but a progress, a gradual realization, though + never complete, of an infinite ideal, of the perfection of God by a + finite being, necessarily implies the consciousness of sin and evil. + As a moral agent man must set what should be above what is. If he is + to aspire and attain, the actual present must seem to him inadequate, + imperfect, wrong, a state to be abolished in favour of a better. And + therefore it follows that</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i8">"Though wrong were right</p> + + <p>Could we but know—still wrong must needs seem wrong</p> + + <p>To do right's service, prove men weak or strong,</p> + + <p>Choosers of evil or good."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Francis Furini</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>The apparent existence of evil is the condition of <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg272" id="pg272">272</a></span> goodness. And yet + it must only be apparent. For if evil be regarded as veritably evil, + it must remain so for all that man can do; he cannot annihilate any + fact nor change its nature, and all effort would, therefore, be + futile. And, on the other hand, if evil were known as unreal, then + there were no need of moral effort, no quarrel with the present and + therefore no aspiration, and no achievement. That which is man's + highest and best,—namely, a moral life which is a + progress—would thus be impossible, and his existence would be + bereft of all meaning and purpose. And if the highest is impossible + then all is wrong, "the goal being a ruin, so is all the rest."</p> + + <p>The hypothesis of the moral life as progressive is essential to + Browning.</p> + + <p>But if this hypothesis be granted, then all difficulties + disappear. The conception of the endless acquirement of goodness at + once postulates the consciousness of evil, and the consciousness of + it as existing in order to be overcome. Hence the consciousness of it + as illusion comes nearest to the truth. And such a conception is + essentially implied by the idea of morality. To speculative reason, + however, it is impossible, as the poet believes, that evil should + thus be at the same time regarded as both real and unreal. Knowledge + leads to despair on every side; for, whether it takes the evil in the + world as seeming or actual, it stultifies effort, and proves that + moral progress, which is best of all things, is impossible. But the + moral consciousness derives its vitality from this contradiction. It + is <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg273" id="pg273">273</a></span> + the meeting-point and conflict of actual and ideal; and its testimony + is indisputable, however inconsistent it may be with that of + knowledge. Acknowledging absolute ignorance of the outer world, the + poet has still a retreat within himself, safe from all doubt. He has + in his own inner experience irrefragable proof</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i2">"How things outside, fact or feigning, teach</p> + + <p>What good is and what evil—just the same,</p> + + <p>Be feigning or be fact the teacher."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Francis Furini</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>The consciousness of being taught goodness by interaction with the + outside unknown is sufficient; it is "a point of vantage" whence he + will not be moved by any contradictions that the intellect may + conjure up against it. And this process of learning goodness, this + gradual realization by man of an ideal infinitely high and absolute + in worth, throws back a light which illumines all the pain and strife + and despair, and shows them all to be steps in the endless + "love-way." The consciousness of evil is thus at once the effect and + the condition of goodness. The unrealized, though ever-realizing + good, which brings despair, is the best fact in man's history; and it + should rightly bring, not despair, but endless joy.</p><span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg274" id="pg274">274</a></span> + <hr class="full" /> + + <h2><a name="ch09" id="ch09">CHAPTER IX.</a></h2> + + <h3>A CRITICISM OF BROWNING'S VIEW OF THE FAILURE OF KNOWLEDGE.</h3> + + <blockquote> + "Der Mensch, da er Geist ist, darf und soll sich selbst des + höchsten würdig achten, von der Grösse und Macht seines Geistes + kann er nicht gross genug denken; und mit diesem Glauben wird + nichts so spröde und hart seyn, das sich ihm nicht eröffnete. Das + zuerst verborgene und verschlossene Wesen des Universums hat keine + Kraft, die dem Muthe des Erkennens Widerstand leisten könnte: es + muss sich vor ihm aufthun, und seinen Reichthum und seine Tiefen + ihm vor Augen legen und zum Genusse geben."<sup>A</sup> + </blockquote> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Hegel's Inaugural Address at Heidelberg</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>Before entering upon a criticism of Browning's theory, as + represented in the last chapter, it may be well to give a brief + summary of it.</p> + + <p>The most interesting feature of Browning's proof of his optimistic + faith is his appeal from the intelligence to the moral consciousness. + To show theoretically that evil is merely phenomenal is, in his view, + both impossible and undesirable. It is impossible, because the human + intellect is incapable of knowing anything as it really is, or of + pronouncing upon the ultimate nature of any phenomenon. It is + undesirable, because a theoretical proof of the <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg275" id="pg275">275</a></span> evanescence of + evil would itself give rise to the greatest of all evils. The best + thing in the world is moral character. Man exists in order to grow + better, and the world exists in order to help him. But moral growth + is possible only through conflict against evil, or what seems to be + evil; hence, to disprove the existence of evil would be to take away + the possibility of learning goodness, to stultify all human effort, + and to deprive the world of its meaning.</p> + + <p>But, if an optimistic doctrine cannot be reached by way of + speculative thought, if the intellect of man cannot see the good in + things evil, his moral consciousness guarantees that all is for the + best, and that "the good is all in all." For, in distinguishing + between good and evil, the moral consciousness sets up an ideal over + against the actual. It conceives of a scheme of goodness which is not + realized in the world, and it condemns the world as it is. Man, as + moral being, is so constituted that he cannot but regard the evil in + the world as something to be annulled. If he had only the power, + there would be no pain, no sorrow, no weakness, no failure, no death. + Is man, then, better than the Power which made the world and let woe + gain entrance into it? No! answers the poet; for man himself is part + of that world and the product of that Power. The Power that made the + world also made the moral consciousness which condemns the world; if + it is the source of the evil in the world, it is also the source of + that love in man, which, by self-expenditure, <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg276" id="pg276">276</a></span> seeks to remedy + it. If the external world is merely an expression of a remorseless + Power, whence comes the love which is the principle of the moral life + in man? The same Power brings the antidote as well as the bane. And, + further, the bane exists for the sake of the antidote, the wrong for + the sake of the remedy. The evil in the world is means to a higher + good, and the only means possible; for it calls into activity the + divine element in man, and thereby contributes to its realization in + his character. It gives the necessary opportunity for the exercise of + love.</p> + + <p>Hence, evil cannot be regarded as ultimately real. It is real only + as a stage in growth, as means to an end; and the means necessarily + perishes, or is absorbed in, the attainment of the end. It has no + significance except by reference to that end. From this point of + view, evil is the resistance which makes progress possible, the + negative which gives meaning to the positive, the darkness that makes + day beautiful. This must not, however, be taken to mean that evil is + nothing. It is resistance; it is negative; it does oppose the good; + although its opposition is finally overcome. If it did not, if evil + were unreal, there would be no possibility of calling forth the moral + potency of man, and the moral life would be a figment. But these two + conditions of the moral life—on the one hand, that the evil of + the world must be capable of being overcome and is there for the + purpose of being overcome, and that it is unreal except as a means to + the good; and, on <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg277" id= + "pg277">277</a></span> the other hand, that evil must be actually + opposed to the good, if the good is to have any + meaning,—cannot, Browning thinks, be reconciled with each + other. It is manifest that the intellect of man cannot, at the same + time, regard evil as both real and unreal. It must assert the one and + deny the other; or else we must regard its testimony as altogether + untrustworthy. But the first alternative is destructive of the moral + consciousness. Moral life is alike impossible whether we deny or + assert the real existence of evil. The latter alternative stultifies + knowledge, and leaves all the deeper concerns of life—the + existence of good and evil, the reality of the distinction between + them, the existence of God, the moral governance of the world, the + destiny of man—in a state of absolute uncertainty. We must + reject the testimony either of the heart or of the head.</p> + + <p>Browning, as we have seen, unhesitatingly adopts the latter + alternative. He remains loyal to the deliverances of his moral + consciousness and accepts as equally valid, beliefs which the + intellect finds to be self-contradictory: holding that knowledge on + such matters is impossible. And he rejects this knowledge, not only + because our thoughts are self-contradictory in themselves, but + because the failure of a speculative solution of these problems is + necessary to morality. Clear, convincing, demonstrative knowledge + would destroy morality; and the fact that the power to attain such + knowledge has been withheld from us is to be regarded rather as an + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg278" id="pg278">278</a></span> + indication of the beneficence of God, who has not held even ignorance + to be too great a price for man to pay for goodness.</p> + + <p>Knowledge is not the fit atmosphere for morality. It is faith and + not reason, hope and trust but not certainty, that lend vigour to the + good life. We may believe, and rejoice in the belief, that the + absolute good is fulfilling itself in all things, and that even the + miseries of life are really its refracted rays—the light that + gains in splendour by being broken. But we must not, and, indeed, + cannot ascend from faith to knowledge. The heart may trust, and must + trust, if it faithfully listens to its own natural voice; but reason + must not demonstrate. Ignorance on the side of intellect, faith on + the side of the emotions; distrust of knowledge, absolute confidence + in love; such is the condition of man's highest welfare: it is only + thus that the purpose of his life, and of the world which is his + instrument, can be achieved.</p> + + <p>No final estimate of the value of this theory of morals and + religion can be made, without examining its philosophical + presuppositions. Nor is such an examination in any way unfair; for it + is obvious that Browning explicitly offers us a philosophical + doctrine. He appeals to argument and not to artistic intuition; he + offers a definite theory to which he claims attention, not on account + of any poetic beauty that may lie within it, but on the ground that + it is a true exposition of the moral nature of man. Kant's + <i>Metaphysic of Ethics</i> is not <span class="pagenum"><a name= + "pg279" id="pg279">279</a></span> more metaphysical in intention than + the poet's later utterances on the problems of morality. In <i>La + Saisiaz</i>, in <i>Ferishtah's Fancies</i>, in the <i>Parleyings</i>, + and, though less explicitly, in <i>Asolando</i>, <i>Fifine at the + Fair</i>, and <i>Red Cotton Nightcap Country</i>, Browning definitely + states, and endeavours to demonstrate a theory of knowledge, a theory + of the relation of knowledge to morality, and a theory of the nature + of evil; and he discusses the arguments for the immortality of the + soul. In these poems his artistic instinct avails him, not as in his + earlier ones, for the discovery of truth by way of intuition, but for + the adornment of doctrines already derived from a metaphysical + repository. His art is no longer free, no longer its own end, but + coerced into an alien service. It has become illustrative and + argumentative, and in being made to subserve speculative purposes, it + has ceased to be creative. Browning has appealed to philosophy, and + philosophy must try his cause.</p> + + <p>Such, then, is Browning's theory; and I need make no further + apology for discussing at some length the validity of the division + which it involves between the intellectual and the moral life of man. + Is it possible to combine the weakness of man's intelligence with the + strength of his moral and religious life, and to find in the former + the condition of the latter? Does human knowledge fail, as the poet + considers it to fail? Is the intelligence of man absolutely incapable + of arriving at knowledge of things as they are? If it does, if man + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg280" id="pg280">280</a></span> + cannot know the truth, can he attain goodness? These are the + questions that must now be answered.</p> + + <p>It is one of the characteristics of recent thought that it + distrusts its own activity: the ancient philosophical "Scepticism" + has been revived and strengthened. Side by side with the sense of the + triumphant progress of natural science, there is a conviction, shared + even by scientific investigators themselves, as well as by religious + teachers and by many students of philosophy, that our knowledge has + only limited and relative value, and that it always stops short of + the true nature of things. The reason of this general conviction lies + in the fact that thought has become aware of its own activity; men + realize more clearly than they did in former times that the apparent + constitution of things depends directly on the character of the + intelligence which apprehends them.</p> + + <p>This relativity of things to thought has, not unnaturally, + suggested the idea that the objects of our knowledge are different + from objects as they are. "That the real nature of things is very + different from what we make of them, that thought and thing are + divorced, that there is a fundamental antithesis between them," is, + as Hegel said, "the hinge on which modern philosophy turns." Educated + opinion in our day has lost its naive trust in itself. "The natural + belief of man, it is true, ever gives the lie" to the doctrine that + we do not know things. "In common life," adds Hegel, "we reflect + without particularly noting that this is the process <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg281" id="pg281">281</a></span> of arriving at + the truth, and we think without hesitation and in the firm belief + that thought coincides with things."<sup>A</sup> But, as soon as attention is + directed to the process of thinking, and to the way in which the + process affects our consciousness of the object, it is at once + concluded that thought will never reach reality, that things are not + given to us as they are, but distorted by the medium of sense and our + intelligence, through which they pass. The doctrine of the relativity + of knowledge is thus very generally regarded as equivalent to the + doctrine that there is no true knowledge whatsoever. We know only + phenomena, or appearances; and it is these, and not veritable facts, + that we systematize into sciences. "We can arrange the + appearances—the shadows of our cave—and that, for the + practical purposes of the cave, is all that we require."<sup>B</sup> Not even + "earth's least atom" can ever be known to us as it really is; it is + for us, at the best,</p> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: Wallace's <i>Translation of Hegel's Logic</i>, p. 36.</p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: Caird's <i>Comte</i>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"An atom with some certain properties</p> + + <p>Known about, thought of as occasion needs."<sup>C</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>C: <i>A Bean-Stripe</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>In this general distrust of knowledge, however, there are, as + might be expected, many different degrees. Its origin in modern times + was, no doubt, the doctrine of Kant. "This divorce of thing and + thought," says Hegel, "is mainly the work of the critical philosophy + and runs counter to the conviction <span class="pagenum"><a name= + "pg282" id="pg282">282</a></span> of all previous ages." And the + completeness of the divorce corresponds, with tolerable accuracy, to + the degree in which the critical philosophy has been understood; for + Kant's writings, like those of all great thinkers, are capable of + many interpretations, varying in depth with the intelligence of the + interpreters.</p> + + <p>The most common and general form of this view of the limitation of + the human intelligence is that which places the objects of religious + faith beyond the reach of human knowledge. We find traces of it in + much of the popular theology of our day. The great facts of religion + are often spoken of as lying in an extra-natural sphere, beyond + experience, into which men cannot enter by the native right of + reason. It is asserted that the finite cannot know the infinite, that + the nature of God is unknowable—except by means of a + supernatural interference, which gives to men a new power of + spiritual discernment, and "reveals" to them things which are "above + reason," although not contrary to it. The theologian often shields + certain of his doctrines from criticism, on the ground, as he + contends, that there are facts which we must believe, but which it + would be presumptuous for us to pretend to understand or to + demonstrate. They are the proper objects of "faith."</p> + + <p>But this view of the weakness of the intelligence when applied to + supersensuous facts, is held along with an undisturbed conviction of + the validity of our knowledge of ordinary objects. It is believed, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg283" id="pg283">283</a></span> in a + word, that there are two kinds of realities,—natural and + supernatural; and that the former is knowable and the latter not.</p> + + <p>It requires, however, no great degree of intellectual acumen to + discover that this denial of the validity of our knowledge of these + matters involves its denial in all its applications. The ordinary + knowledge of natural objects, which we begin by regarding as valid, + or, rather, whose validity is taken for granted without being + questioned, depends upon our ideas of these supersensible objects. In + other words, those fundamental difficulties which pious opinion + discovers in the region of theology, and which, as is thought, fling + the human intellect back upon itself into a consciousness of frailty + and finitude, are found to lurk beneath our ordinary knowledge. + Whenever, for instance, we endeavour to know any object, we find that + we are led back along the line of its conditions to that which + unconditionally determines it. For we cannot find the reason for a + particular object in a particular object. We are driven back + endlessly from one to another along the chain of causes; and we can + neither discover the first link nor do without it. The first link + must be a cause of itself, and experience yields none such. Such a + cause would be the unconditioned, and the unconditioned we cannot + know. The final result of thinking is thus to lead us to an unknown; + and, in consequence, all our seeming knowledge is seen to have no + intelligible basis, and, therefore, to be merely hypothetical. If + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg284" id="pg284">284</a></span> we + cannot know God, we cannot know anything.</p> + + <p>This view is held by the Positivists, and the most popular English + exponent of it is, perhaps, Mr. Herbert Spencer. Its characteristic + is its repudition of both theology and metaphysics as + pseudo-sciences, and its high esteem for science. That esteem is not + disturbed by the confession that "noumenal causes,"—that is, + the actual reality of things,—are unknown; for we can still lay + claim to valid knowledge of the laws of phenomena. Having + acknowledged that natural things as known are merely phenomena, + positivism treats them in all respects as if they were realities; and + it rejoices in the triumphant progress of the natural sciences as if + it were a veritable growth of knowledge. It does not take to heart + the phenomenal nature of known objects. But, having paid its formal + compliments to the doctrine of the relativity of all knowledge, it + neglects it altogether.</p> + + <p>Those who understand Kant better carry his scepticism further, and + they complete the divorce between man's knowledge and reality. The + process of knowing, they hold, instead of leading us towards facts, + as it was so long supposed to do, takes us away from them: + <i>i.e.</i>, if either "towards" or "away from" can have any meaning + when applied to two realms which are absolutely severed from one + another. Knowledge is always concerned with the relations between + things; with their likeness, or unlikeness, their laws, or + connections; but <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg285" id= + "pg285">285</a></span> these are universals, and things are + individuals. Science knows the laws of things, but not the things; it + reveals how one object affects another, how it is connected with it; + but what are the things themselves, which are connected, it does not + know. The laws are mere forms of thought, "bloodless categories," and + not facts. They may somehow be regarded as explaining facts, but they + must not be identified with the facts. Knowledge is the sphere of + man's thoughts, and is made up of ideas; real things are in another + sphere, which man's thoughts cannot reach. We must distinguish more + clearly than has hitherto been done, between logic as the science of + knowledge, and metaphysics as a science which pretends to reveal the + real nature of things. In a word, we can know thoughts or universals, + but not things or particular existences. "When existence is in + question it is the individual, not the universal, that is real; and + the real individual is not a composite of species and accidents, but + is individual to the inmost fibre of its being." Each object keeps + its own real being to itself. Its inmost secret, its reality, is + something that cannot appear in knowledge. We can only know its + manifestations; but these manifestations are not its reality, nor + connected with it. These belong to the sphere of knowledge, they are + parts in a system of abstract thoughts; they do not exist in that + system, or no-system, of individual realities, each of which, in its + veritable being, is itself only, and connected with nought + beside.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg286" id= + "pg286">286</a></span> + + <p>Now, this view of the absolute impossibility of knowing any + reality, on account of the fundamental difference between things and + our thoughts about things, contains a better promise of a true view + both of reality and of knowledge, than any of the previously + mentioned half-hearted theories. It forces us explicitly either to + regard every effort to know as futile, or else to regard it as futile + <i>on this theory of it</i>. In other words, we must either give up + knowledge or else give up the account of knowledge advanced by these + philosophers. Hitherto, however, every philosophy that has set itself + against the possibility of the knowledge of reality has had to give + way. It has failed to shake the faith of mankind in its own + intellectual endowment, or to arrest, even for a moment, the attempt + by thinking to know things as they are. The view held by Berkeley, + that knowledge is merely subjective, because the essence of things + consists in their being perceived by the individual, and that they + are nothing but his ideas, was refuted by Kant, when he showed that + the very illusion of seeming knowledge was impossible on that theory. + And this later view, which represents knowledge as merely subjective, + on the ground that it is the product of the activity of the thought + of mankind, working according to universal laws, is capable of being + refuted in the same manner. The only difference between the + Berkeleian and this modern speculative theory is that, on the former + view, each individual constructed his own subjective entities + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg287" id="pg287">287</a></span> or + illusions; while, on the latter, all men, by reason of the + universality of the laws of thought governing their minds, create the + same illusion, the same subjective scheme of ideas. Instead of each + having his own private unreality, as the product of his perceiving + activity, they have all the same, or at least a similar, + phantom-world of ideas, as the result of their thinking. But, in both + cases alike, the reality of the world without is out of reach, and + knowledge is a purely subjective apprehension of a world within. + Thoughts are quite different from things, and no effort of human + reason can reveal any community between them.</p> + + <p>Now, there are certain difficulties which, so far as I know, those + who hold this view have scarcely attempted to meet. The first of + these lies in the obvious fact, that all men at all times consider + that this very process of thinking, which the theory condemns as + futile, is the only way we have of finding out what the reality of + things is. Why do we reflect and think, except in order to pass + beyond the illusions of sensuous appearances to the knowledge of + things as they are? Nay, why do these philosophers themselves + reflect, when reflection, instead of leading to truth, which is + knowledge of reality, leads only to ideas, which, being universal, + cannot represent the realities that are said to be "individual."</p> + + <p>The second is, that the knowledge of "the laws" of things gives to + us practical command over them; although, according to this view, + laws are not things, <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg288" id= + "pg288">288</a></span> nor any part of the reality of things, nor + even true representations of things. Our authority over things seems + to grow <i>pari passu</i> with our knowledge. The natural sciences + seem to prove by their practical efficiency, that they are not + building up a world of apparitions, like the real world; but + gradually getting inside nature, learning more and more to wield her + powers, and to make them the instruments of the purposes of man, and + the means of his welfare. To common-sense,—which frequently + "divines" truths that it cannot prove, and, like ballast in a ship, + has often given steadiness to human progress although it is only a + dead weight,—the assertion that man knows nothing is as + incredible as that he knows all things. If it is replied, that the + "things" which we seem to dominate by the means of knowledge are + themselves only phenomena, the question arises, what then are the + real things to which they are opposed? What right has any philosophy + to say that there is any reality which no one can in any sense know? + The knowledge that such reality is, is surely a relation between that + reality and consciousness, and, if so, the assertion of an unknowable + reality is self-contradictory. For the conception of it is the + conception of something that is, and at the same time is not, out of + relation to consciousness.</p> + + <p>To say what kind of thing reality is, is a still more remarkable + feat, if reality is unknowable. Reality, being beyond knowledge, why + is it called particular or individual, rather than universal? + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg289" id="pg289">289</a></span> How + is it known that the true being of things is different from ideas? + Surely both of the terms must be regarded as known to some extent, if + they are called like or unlike, contrasted or compared, opposed or + identified.</p> + + <p>But, lastly, this theory has to account for the fact that it + constitutes what is not only unreal, but impossible, into the + criterion of what is actual. If knowledge of reality is altogether + different from human knowledge, how does it come to be its criterion? + That knowledge is inadequate or imperfect can be known, only by + contrasting it with its own proper ideal, whatever that may be. A + criticism by reference to a foreign or irrelevant criterion, or the + condemnation of a theory as imperfect because it does not realize an + impossible end, is unreasonable. All true criticism of an object + implies a reference to a more perfect state of itself.</p> + + <p>We must, then, regard the knowledge of objects as they are, which + is opposed to human knowledge, as, only a completer and fuller form + of that knowledge; or else we must cease to contrast it with our + human knowledge, as valid with invalid, true with phenomenal. Either + knowledge of reality is complete knowledge, or else it is a chimera. + And, in either case, the sharp distinction between the real and the + phenomenal vanishes; and what remains, is not a reality outside of + consciousness, or different from ideas, but a reality related to + consciousness, or, in other words, a knowable reality. "The + distinction <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg290" id= + "pg290">290</a></span> of objects into phenomena and noumena, + <i>i.e.</i>, into things that for us exist, and things that for us do + not exist, is an Irish bull in philosophy," said Heine. To speak of + reality as unknowable, or to speak of anything as unknowable, is to + utter a direct self-contradiction; it is to negate in the predicate + what is asserted in the subject. It is a still more strange + perversion to erect this knowable emptiness into a criterion of + knowledge, and to call the latter phenomenal by reference to it.</p> + + <p>These difficulties are so fundamental and so obvious, that the + theory of the phenomenal nature of human knowledge, which, being + interpreted, means that we know nothing, could scarcely maintain its + hold, were it not confused with another fact of human experience, + that is apparently inconsistent with the doctrine that man can know + the truth. Side by side with the faith of ordinary consciousness, + that in order to know anything we must think, or, in other words, + that knowledge shows us what things really are, there is a + conviction, strengthened by constant experience, that we never know + things fully. Every investigation into the nature of an object soon + brings us to an enigma, a something more we do not know. Failing to + know this something more, we generally consider that we have fallen + short of reaching the reality of the object. We recognize, as it has + been expressed, that we have been brought to a stand, and we + therefore conclude that we are also brought to the end. We arrive at + what we do not know, <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg291" id= + "pg291">291</a></span> and we pronounce that unknown to be + unknowable; that is, we regard it as something different in nature + from what we do know. So far as I can see, the attitude of ordinary + thought in regard to this matter might be fairly represented by + saying, that it always begins by considering objects as capable of + being known in their reality, or as they are, and that experience + always proves the attempt to know them as they are to be a failure. + The effort is continued although failure is the result, and even + although that failure be exaggerated and universalized into that + despair of knowledge which we have described. We are thus confronted + with what seems to be a contradiction; a trust and distrust in + knowledge. It can only be solved by doing full justice to both of the + conflicting elements; and then, if possible, by showing that they are + elements, and not the complete, concrete fact, except when held + together.</p> + + <p>From one point of view, it is undeniable that in every object of + perception, we come upon problems that we cannot solve. Science at + its best, and even when dealing with the simplest of things, is + forced to stop short of its final secret. Even when it has discovered + its law, there is still apparently something over and above which + science cannot grasp, and which seems to give to the object its + reality. All the natural sciences concentrated on a bit of iron ore + fail to exhaust the truth in it: there is always a "beyond" in it, + something still more fundamental which is not yet understood. + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg292" id="pg292">292</a></span> And + that something beyond, that inner essence, that point in which the + laws meet and which the sciences fail to lift into knowledge, is + regarded as just the reality of the thing. Thus the reality is + supposed, at the close of every investigation, to lie outside of + knowledge; and conversely, all that we do know, seeing that it lacks + this last element, seems to be only apparent knowledge, or knowledge + of phenomena.</p> + + <p>In this way the process of knowing seems always to stop short at + the critical moment, when the truth is just about to be reached. And + those who dwell on this aspect alone are apt to conclude that man's + intellect is touched with a kind of impotence, which makes it useless + when it gets near the reality. It is like a weapon that snaps at the + hilt just when the battle is hottest. For we seem to be able to know + everything but the reality, and yet apart from the real essence all + knowledge seems to be merely apparent. Physical science penetrates + through the outer appearances of things to their laws, analyzes them + into forms of energy, calculates their action and predicts their + effects with certainty. Its practical power over the forces of nature + is so great that it seems to have got inside her secrets. And yet + science will itself acknowledge that in every simplest object there + is an unknown. Its triumphant course of explaining seems to be always + arrested at the threshold of reality. It has no theory, scarcely an + hypothesis, of the actual nature of things, or of what that is in + each object, <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg293" id= + "pg293">293</a></span> which constitutes it a real existence. Natural + science, with a scarcely concealed sneer, hands over to the + metaphysician all questions as to the real being of things; and + itself makes the more modest pretension of showing how things behave, + not what they are; what effects follow the original noumenal causes, + but not the veritable nature of these causes. Nor can the + metaphysician, in his turn, do more than suggest a hypothesis as to + the nature of the ultimate reality in things. He cannot detect or + demonstrate it in any particular fact. In a word, every minutest + object in the world baffles the combined powers of all forms of human + thought, and holds back its essence or true being from them. And as + long as this true being, or reality is not known, the knowledge which + we seem to have cannot be held as ultimately true, but is + demonstrably a makeshift.</p> + + <p>Having made this confession, there seems to be no alternative but + to postulate an utter discrepancy between human thought and real + existence, or between human knowledge and truth, which is the + correspondence of thing and thought. For, at no point is knowledge + found to be in touch with real being; it is everywhere demonstrably + conditioned and relative, and inadequate to express the true reality + of its objects. What remains, then, except to regard human knowledge + as completely untrustworthy, as merely of phenomena? If we cannot + know <i>any</i> reality, does not knowledge completely + fail?</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg294" id= + "pg294">294</a></span> + + <p>Now, in dealing with the moral life of man, we saw that the method + of hard alternatives is invalid. The moral life, being progressive, + was shown to be the meeting—point of the ideal and the actual; + and the ideal of perfect goodness was regarded as manifesting itself + in actions which, nevertheless, were never adequate to express it. + The good when achieved was ever condemned as unworthy, and the ideal + when attained ever pressed for more adequate expression in a better + character. The ideal was present as potency, as realizing itself, but + it was never completely realized. The absolute good was never reached + in the best action, and never completely missed in the worst.</p> + + <p>The same conflict of real and unreal was shown to be essential to + every natural life. As long as anything grows it neither completely + attains, nor completely falls away from its ideal. The growing acorn + is not an oak tree, and yet it is not a mere acorn. The child is not + the man; and yet the man is in the child, and only needs to be + evolved by interaction with circumstances. The process of growth is + one wherein the ideal is always present, as a reconstructive power + gradually changing its whole vehicle, or organism, into a more + perfect expression of itself. The ideal is reached in the end, just + because it is present in the beginning; and there is no end as long + as growth continues.</p> + + <p>Now, it is evident that knowledge, whether it be that of the + individual man or of the human race, <span class="pagenum"><a name= + "pg295" id="pg295">295</a></span> is a thing that grows. The process + by means of which natural science makes progress, or by which the + consciousness of the child expands and deepens into the consciousness + of the man, is best made intelligible from the point of view of + evolution. It is like an organic process, in which each new + acquirement finds its place in an old order, each new fact is brought + under the permanent principles of experience, and absorbed into an + intellectual life, which itself, in turn, grows richer and fuller + with every new acquisition. No knowledge worthy of the name is an + aggregation of facts. Wisdom comes by growth.</p> + + <p>Hence, the assertion that knowledge never attains reality, does + not imply that it always misses it. In morals we do not say that a + man is entirely evil, although he never, even in his best actions, + attains the true good. And if the process of knowing is one that + presses onward towards an ideal, that ideal is never completely + missed even in the poorest knowledge. If it grows, the method of + fixed alternatives must be inapplicable to it. The ideal, whatever it + may be, must be considered as active in the present, guiding the + whole movement, and gradually manifesting itself in each of the + passing forms, which are used up as the raw material of new + acquirement; and yet no passing form completely expresses the + ideal.</p> + + <p>Nor is it difficult to say what that ideal of knowlege is, + although we cannot define it in any adequate manner. We know that the + end of morality is the <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg296" id= + "pg296">296</a></span> <i>summum bonum</i>, although we cannot, as + long as we are progressive, define its whole content, or find it + fully realized in any action. Every failure brings new truth, every + higher grade of moral character reveals some new height of goodness + to be scaled; the moral ideal acquires definiteness and content as + humanity moves upwards. And yet the ideal is not entirely unknown + even at the first; even to the most ignorant, it presents itself as a + criterion which enables him to distinguish between right and wrong, + evil and goodness, and which guides his practical life. The same + truth holds with regard to knowledge. Its growth receives its impulse + from, and is directed and determined by, what is conceived as the + real world of facts. This truth, namely, that the ideal knowledge is + knowledge of reality, the most subjective philosopher cannot but + acknowledge. It is implied in his condemnation of knowledge as merely + phenomenal, that there is possible a knowledge of real being. That + thought and reality can be brought together, or rather, that they are + always together, is presupposed in all knowledge and in all + experience. The effort to know is the effort to <i>explain</i> the + relation of thought and reality, not to create it. The ideal of + perfect knowledge is present from the first; it generates the effort, + directs it, distinguishes between truth and error. And that which man + ever aims at, whether in the ordinary activities of daily thought, or + through the patient labour of scientific investigation, or in the + reflective self-torture of philosophic thought, is to <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg297" id="pg297">297</a></span> know the world as + it is. No failure damps the ardour of this endeavour. Relativists, + phenomenalists, agnostics, sceptics, Kantians or + Neo-Kantians—all the crowd of thinkers who cry down the human + intellect, and draw a charmed circle around reality so as to make it + unapproachable to the mind of man—ply this useless labour. They + are seeking to penetrate beneath the shows of sense and the outer + husk of phenomena to the truth, which is the meeting-point of + knowledge and reality; they are endeavouring to translate into an + intellectual possession the powers that play within and around them; + or, in other words, to make these powers express themselves in their + thoughts, and supply the content of their spiritual life. The irony, + latent in their endeavour, gives them no pause; they are in some way + content to pursue what they call phantoms, and to try to satisfy + their thirst with the waters of a mirage. This comes from the + presence of the ideal within them, that is, of the implicit unity of + reality and thought, which seeks for explicit and complete + manifestation in knowledge. The reality is present in them as + thinking activity, working towards complete revelation of itself by + means of knowledge. And its presence is real, although the process is + never complete.</p> + + <p>In knowledge, as in morals, it is necessary to remember both of + the truths implied in the pursuit of an ideal—that a growing + thing not only always fails to attain, but also always succeeds. The + distinction between truth and error in knowledge is <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg298" id="pg298">298</a></span> present at every + stage in the effort to attain truth, as the distinction between right + and wrong is present in every phase of the moral life. It is the + source of the intellectual effort. But that distinction cannot be + drawn except by reference to a criterion of truth, which condemns our + actual knowledge; as it is the absolute good, which condemns the + present character. The ideal may be indefinite, and its content + confused and poor; but it is always sufficient for its purpose, + always better than the actual achievement. And, in this sense, + reality, the truth, the veritable being of things, is always reached + by the poorest knowledge. As there is no starved and distorted + sapling which is not the embodiment of the principle of natural life, + so the meanest character is the product of an ideal of goodness, and + the most confused opinion of ignorant mankind is an expression of the + reality of things. Without it there would not be even the semblance + of knowledge, not even error and untruth.</p> + + <p>Those who, like Browning, make a division between man's thought + and real things, and regard the sphere of knowledge as touching at no + point the sphere of actual existence, are attributing to the bare + human intellect much more power than it has. They regard mind as + creating its phenomenal knowledge, or the apparent world. For, having + separated mind from reality, it is evident that they cannot avail + themselves of any doctrine of sensations or impressions as a medium + between them, or postulate any other form of connection <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg299" id="pg299">299</a></span> or means of + communication. Connection of any kind must, in the end, imply some + community of nature, and must put the unity of thought and + being—here denied—beneath their difference. Hence, the + world of phenomena which we know, and which as known, does not seem + to consist of realities, must be the product of the unaided human + mind. The intellect, isolated from all real being, has manufactured + the apparent universe, in all its endless wealth. It is a creative + intellect, although it can only create illusions. It evolves all its + products from itself.</p> + + <p>But thought, set to revolve upon its own axis in an empty region, + can produce nothing, not even illusions. And, indeed, those who deny + that it is possible for thought and reality to meet in a unity, have, + notwithstanding, to bring over "something" to the aid of thought. + There must be some effluence from the world of reality, some + manifestations of the thing (though they are not the reality of the + thing, nor any part of the reality, nor connected with the reality!) + to assist the mind and supply it with data. The "phenomenal world" is + a hybrid, generated by thought and "something"—which yet is not + reality; for the real world is a world of things in themselves, + altogether beyond thought. By bringing in these data, it is virtually + admitted that the human mind reaches down into itself in vain for a + world, even for a phenomenal one.</p> + + <p>Thought apart from things is quite empty, just as things apart + from thought are blind. Such thought <span class="pagenum"><a name= + "pg300" id="pg300">300</a></span> and such reality are mere + abstractions, hypostasized by false metaphysics; they are elements of + truth rent asunder, and destroyed in the rending. The dependence of + the intelligence of man upon reality is direct and complete. The + foolishest dream, that ever played out its panorama beneath a + night-cap, came through the gates of the senses from the actual + world. Man is limited to his material in all that he knows, just as + he is ruled by the laws of thought. He cannot go one step beyond it. + To transcend "experience" is impossible. We have no wings to sustain + us in an empty region, and no need of any. It is as impossible for + man to create new ideas, as it is for him to create new atoms. Our + thought is essentially connected with reality. There is no <i>mauvais + pas</i> from thought to things. We do not need to leap out of + ourselves in order to get into the world. We are in it from the + first, both as physical and moral agents, and as thinking beings. Our + thoughts are expressions of the real nature of things, so far as they + go. They may be and are imperfect; they may be and are confused and + inadequate, and express only the superficial aspects and not "the + inmost fibres"; still, they are what they are, in virtue of "the + reality," which finds itself interpreted in them. Severed from that + reality, they would be nothing.</p> + + <p>Thus, the distinction between thought and reality is a distinction + within a deeper unity. And that unity must not be regarded as + something additional to both, or as a third something. It <i>is</i> + their unity. <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg301" id= + "pg301">301</a></span> It is both reality and thought: it is existing + thought, or reality knowing itself and existing through its knowledge + of self; it is self-consciousness. The distinguished elements have no + existence or meaning except in their unity. Like the actual and + ideal, they have significance and being, only in their reference to + each other.</p> + + <p>There is one more difficulty connected with this matter which I + must touch upon, although the discussion may already be regarded as + prolix. It is acknowledged by every one that the knowledge of the + individual, and his apparent world of realities, grow <i>pari + passu</i>. Beyond his sphere of knowledge there is no reality <i>for + him</i>, not even apparent reality. But, on the other hand, the real + world of existing things exists all the same whether he knows it or + not. It did not begin to be with any knowledge he may have of it, it + does not cease to be with his extinction, and it is not in any way + affected by his valid, or invalid, reconstruction of it in thought. + The world which depends on his thought is his world, and not the + world of really existing things. And this is true alike of every + individual. The world is independent of all human minds. It existed + before them, and will, very possibly, exist after them. Can we not, + therefore, conclude that the real world is independent of thought, + and that it exists without relation to it?</p> + + <p>A short reference to the moral consciousness may suggest the + answer to this difficulty. In morality (as also is the case in + knowledge) the moral ideal, <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg302" id= + "pg302">302</a></span> or the objective law of goodness, grows in + richness and fulness of content with the individual who apprehends + it. <i>His</i> moral world is the counterpart of <i>his</i> moral + growth as a character. Goodness <i>for him</i> directly depends upon + his recognition of it. Animals, presumably, have no moral ideal, + because they have not the power to constitute it. In morals, as in + knowledge, the mind of man constructs its own world. And yet, in both + alike, the world of truth or of goodness exists all the same whether + the individual knows it or not. He does not call the moral law into + being, but finds it without, and then realizes it in his own life. + The moral law does not vanish and reappear with its recognition by + mankind. It is not subject to the chances and changes of its life, + but a good in itself that is eternal.</p> + + <p>Is it therefore independent of all intelligence? Can goodness be + anything but the law of a self-conscious being? Is it the quality or + motive or ideal of a mere thing? Manifestly not. Its relation to + self-consciousness is essential. With the extinction of + self-consciousness all moral goodness is extinguished.</p> + + <p>The same holds true of reality. The question of the reality or + unreality of things cannot arise except in an intelligence. Animals + have neither illusions nor truths—unless they are + self-conscious. The reality, which man sets over against his own + inadequate knowledge, is posited by him; and it has no meaning + whatsoever except in this contrast. And to endeavour to conceive a + reality which no one knows, is to assert a relative term without its + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg303" id="pg303">303</a></span> + correlative, which is absurd; it is to posit an ideal which is + opposed to nothing actual.</p> + + <p>In this view, so commonly held in our day, that knowledge is + subjective and reality unknowable, we have another example of the + falseness and inconsistency of abstract thinking. If this error be + committed, there is no fundamental gain in saying with Kant, that + things are relative to the thought of all, instead of asserting, with + Berkeley or Browning, that they are relative to the thought of each. + The final result is the same. Things as known, are reduced into mere + creations of thought; things as they are, are regarded as not + thoughts, and as partaking in no way of the nature of thought. And + yet "reality" is virtually assumed to be given at the beginning of + knowledge; for the sensations are supposed to be emanations from it, + or roused in consciousness by it. These sensations, it is said, man + does not make, but receives, and receives from the concealed reality. + They flow from it, and are the manifestations of its activity. Then, + in the next moment, reality is regarded as not given in any way, but + as something to be discovered by the effort of thought; for we always + strive to know things, and not phantoms. Lastly, the knowledge thus + acquired being regarded as imperfect, and experience showing to us + continually that every object has more in it than we know, the + reality is pronounced to be unknowable, and all knowledge is regarded + as failure, as acquaintance with mere phantoms. Thus, in thought, as + in morality, the <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg304" id= + "pg304">304</a></span> ideal is present at the beginning, it is an + effort after explicit realization, and its process is never + complete.</p> + + <p>Now, all these aspects of the ideal of knowledge, that is, of + reality, are held by the unsophisticated intelligence of man; and + abstract philosophy is not capable of finally getting rid of any one + of them. It, too, holds them <i>alternately</i>. Its denial of the + possibility of knowing reality is refuted by its own starting-point; + for it begins with a given something, regarded as real, and its very + effort to know is an attempt to know that reality by thinking. But it + forgets these facts, when it is discovered that knowledge at the best + is incomplete. It is thus tossed from assertion to denial, and from + denial to assertion; from one abstract or one-sided view of reality, + to the other.</p> + + <p>When these different aspects of truth are grasped together from + the point of view of evolution, there seems to be a way of escaping + the difficulties to which they give rise. For the ideal must be + present at the beginning, and cannot be present in its fulness till + the process is complete. What is here required is to lift our theory + of man's knowledge to the level of our theory of his moral life, and + to treat it frankly as the process whereby reality manifests itself + in the mind of man. In that way, we shall avoid the absurdities of + both of the abstract schools of philosophy, to both of which alike + the native intelligence of man gives the lie. We shall say neither + that man knows nothing, nor that he knows all; we shall regard his + knowledge, neither as purely <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg305" + id="pg305">305</a></span> phenomenal and out of all contact with + reality, nor as an actual identification with the real being of + things in all their complex variety. For, in morality, we do not say + either that the individual is absolutely evil, because his actions + never realize the supreme ideal of goodness; nor, that he is at the + last term of development, and "taking the place of God," because he + lives as "ever in his great Taskmaster's eye." Just as every moral + action, however good, leaves something still to be desiderated, + something that may become a stepping-stone for new movement towards + the ideal which it has failed to actualize; so all our knowledge of + an object leaves something over that we have not apprehended, which + is truer and more real than anything we know, and which in all future + effort we strive to master. And, just as the very effort, to be good + derives its impulse and direction from the ideal of goodness which is + present, and striving for realization; so the effort to know derives + its impulse and direction from the reality which is present, and + striving for complete realization in the thought of man. We know + reality confusedly from the first; and it is because we have attained + so much knowledge, that we strive for greater clearness and fulness. + It is by planting his foot on the world that man travels. It is by + opposing his power to the given reality that his knowledge grows.</p> + + <p>When once we recognize that reality is the ideal of knowledge, we + are able to acknowledge all the truth that is in the doctrine of the + phenomenalists, <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg306" id= + "pg306">306</a></span> without falling into their errors and + contradictions. We may go as far as the poet in confessing + intellectual impotence, and roundly call the knowledge of man + "lacquered ignorance." "Earth's least atom" does veritably remain an + enigma. Man is actually flung back into his circumscribed sphere by + every fact; and he will continue to be so flung to the end of time. + He will never know reality, nor be able to hold up in his hand the + very heart of the simplest thing in the world. For the world is an + organic totality, and its simplest thing will not be seen, through + and through, till everything is known, till every fact and event is + related to every other under principles which are universal: just as + goodness cannot be fully achieved in any act, till the agent is in + all ways lifted to the level of absolute goodness. Physics cannot + reveal the forces which keep a stone in its place on the earth, till + it has traced the forces that maintain the starry systems in their + course. No fact can be thoroughly known, <i>i.e.</i>, known in its + reality, till the light of the universe has been focussed upon it: + and, on the other hand, to know any subject through and through would + be to explain all being. The highest law and the essence of the + simple fact, the universal and the particular, can only be known + together, in and through one another. "Reality" in "the least atom" + will be known, only when knowledge has completed its work, and the + universe has become a transparent sphere, penetrated in every + direction by the shafts of intelligence.</p><span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg307" id="pg307">307</a></span> + + <p>But this is only half the truth. If knowledge is never complete, + it is always <i>completing</i>; if reality is never known, it is ever + <i>being known</i>; if the ideal is never actual, it is always + <i>being actualized</i>. The complete failure of knowledge is as + impossible as its complete success. It is at no time severed from + reality; it is never its mere adumbration, nor are its contents mere + phenomena. On the contrary, it is reality partially revealed, the + ideal incompletely actualized. Our very errors are the working of + reality within us, and apart from it they would be impossible. The + process towards truth by man is the process of truth <i>in</i> man; + the movement of knowledge towards reality is the movement of reality + into knowledge. A purely subjective consciousness which knows, such + as the poet tried to describe, is a self-contradiction: it would be a + consciousness at once related, and not related, to the actual world. + But man has no need to relate himself to the world. He is already + related, and his task is to understand that relation, or, in other + words, to make both its terms intelligible. Man has no need to go out + from himself to facts; his relation to facts is prior to his + distinction from them. The truth is that he cannot entirely lift + himself away from them, nor suspend his thoughts in the void. In his + inmost being he is creation's voice, and in his knowledge he + confusedly murmurs its deep thoughts.</p> + + <p>Browning was aware of this truth in its application to man's moral + nature. In speaking of the <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg308" id= + "pg308">308</a></span> principle of love, he was not tempted to apply + fixed alternatives. On the contrary, he detected in the "poorest love + that was ever offered" the veritable presence of that which is + perfect and complete, though never completely actualized. His + interest in the moral development of man, and his penetrative moral + insight, acting upon, and guided by the truths of the Christian + religion, warned him, on this side, against the absolute separation + of the ideal and actual, the divine and human. Human love, however + poor in quality and limited in range, was to him God's love in man. + It was a wave breaking in the individual of that First Love, which is + ever flowing back through the life of humanity to its primal source. + To him all moral endeavour is the process of this Primal Love; and + every man, as he consciously identifies himself with it, may use the + language of Scripture, and say, "It is not I that live, but Christ + lives in me."</p> + + <p>But, on the side of knowledge, he was neither so deeply + interested, nor had he so good a guide to lean upon. Ignorant, + according to all appearances, of the philosophy which has made the + Christian maxim, "Die to live,"—which primarily is only a + principle of morality—the basis of its theory of knowledge, he + exaggerated the failure of science to reach the whole truth as to any + particular object, into a qualitative discrepancy between knowledge + and truth. Because knowledge is never complete, it is always mere + lacquered ignorance; and man's apparent intellectual victories are + only <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg309" id="pg309">309</a></span> + conquests in a land of unrealities, or mere phenomena. He occupies in + regard to knowledge, a position strictly analogous to that of + Carlyle, in regard to morality; his intellectual pessimism is the + counterpart of the moral pessimism of his predecessor, and it springs + from the same error. He forgot that the ideal without is also the + power within, which makes for its own manifestation in the mind of + man.</p> + + <p>He opposed the intellect to the world, as Carlyle opposed the + weakness of man to the law of duty; and he neglected the fact that + the world was there for him, only because he knew it, just as Carlyle + neglected the fact that the duty was without, only because it was + recognized within. He strained the difference between the ideal and + actual into an absolute distinction; and, as Carlyle condemned man to + strive for a goodness which he could never achieve, so Browning + condemns him to pursue a truth which he can never attain. In both, + the failure is regarded as absolute. "There is no good in us," has + for its counterpart "There is no truth in us." Both the moralist and + the poet dwell on the <i>negative</i> relation of the ideal and + actual, and forget that the negative has no meaning, except as the + expression of a deeper affirmative. Carlyle had to learn that we know + our moral imperfection, only because we are conscious of a better + within us; and Browning had to learn that we are aware of our + ignorance, only because we have the consciousness of fuller truth + with which we contrast <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg310" id= + "pg310">310</a></span> our knowledge. Browning, indeed, knew that the + consciousness of evil was itself evidence of the presence of good, + that perfection means death, and progress is life, on the side of + morals; but he has missed the corresponding truth on the side of + knowledge. If he acknowledges that the highest revealed itself to + man, on the practical side, as love; he does not see that it has also + manifested itself to man, on the theoretical side, as reason. The + self-communication of the Infinite is incomplete love is a quality of + God, intelligence a quality of man; hence, on one side, there is no + limit to achievement, but on the other there is impotence. Human + nature is absolutely divided against itself; and the division, as we + have already seen, is not between flesh and spirit, but between a + love which is God's own and perfect, and an intelligence which is + merely man's and altogether weak and deceptive.</p> + + <p>This is what makes Browning think it impossible to re-establish + faith in God, except by turning his back on knowledge; but whether it + is possible for him to appeal to the moral consciousness, we shall + inquire in the next chapter.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg311" + id="pg311">311</a></span> + <hr class="full" /> + + <h2><a name="ch10" id="ch10">CHAPTER X.</a></h2> + + <h3>THE HEART AND THE HEAD.—LOVE AND REASON.</h3> + + <blockquote> + "And though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play upon + the earth, so truth be in the field, we do injuriously by licensing + and prohibiting to misdoubt her strength. Let her and falsehood + grapple; who ever knew truth put to the worse, in a free and open + encounter."<sup>A</sup> + </blockquote> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: Milton's <i>Areopagitica</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>It has been shown that Browning appeals, in defence of his + optimistic faith, from the intellect to the heart. His theory rests + on three main assumptions:—namely (1) that knowledge of the + true nature of things is impossible to man, and that, therefore, it + is necessary to find other and better evidence than the intellect can + give for the victory of good over evil; (2) that the failure of + knowledge is a necessary condition of the moral life, inasmuch as + certain knowledge would render all moral effort either futile or + needless; (3) that after the failure of knowledge there still remains + possible a faith of the heart, which can furnish a sufficient + objective basis to morality and religion. The first of these + assumptions I endeavoured to deal with in the last chapter. I now + turn to the remaining two.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg312" + id="pg312">312</a></span> + + <p>Demonstrative, or certain, or absolute knowledge of the actual + nature of things would, Browning asserts, destroy the very + possibility of a moral life.<sup>A</sup> For such knowledge would show either + that evil is evil, or that evil is good; and, in both cases alike, + the benevolent activity of love would be futile. In the first case, + it would be thwarted and arrested by despair; for, if evil be evil, + it must remain evil for aught that man can do. Man cannot effect a + change in the nature of things, nor create a good in a world + dominated by evil. In the second case, the saving effect of moral + love would be unnecessary; for, if evil be only seeming, then all + things are perfect and complete, and there is no need of + interference. It is necessary, therefore, that man should be in a + permanent state of doubt as to the real existence of evil; and, + whether evil does exist or not, it must seem, and only seem to exist + to man, in order that he may devote himself to the service of + good.<sup>B</sup></p> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: See Chapter VIII., p. <a href="#pg255">255.</a></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Ibid</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>Now, if this view of the poet be taken in the strict sense in + which he uses it in this argument, it admits of a very easy + refutation. It takes us beyond the bounds of all possible human + experience, into an imaginary region, as to which all assertions are + equally valueless. It is impossible to conceive how the conduct of a + being who is moral would be affected by absolute knowledge; or, + indeed, to conceive the existence of such a being. For morality, as + the poet insists, is a process in which <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg313" id="pg313">313</a></span> an ideal is + gradually realized through conflict with the actual—an actual + which it both produces and transmutes at every stage of the progress. + But complete knowledge would be above all process. Hence we would + have, on Browning's hypothesis, to conceive of a being in whom + perfect knowledge was combined with an undeveloped will. A being so + constituted would be an agglomerate of utterly disparate elements, + the interaction of which in a single character it would be impossible + to make intelligible.</p> + + <p>But, setting aside this point, there is a curious flaw in + Browning's argument, which indicates that he had not distinguished + between two forms of optimism which are essentially different from + each other,—namely, the pantheistic and the Christian.</p> + + <p>To know that evil is only apparent, that pain is only pleasure's + mask, that all forms of wickedness and misery are only illusions of + an incomplete intelligence, would, he argues, arrest all moral action + and stultify love. For love—which necessarily implies need in + its object—is the principle of all right action. In this he + argues justly, for the moral life is essentially a conflict and + progress; and, in a world in which "white ruled unchecked along the + line," there would be neither the need of conflict nor the + possibility of progress. And, on the other hand, if the good were + merely a phantom, and evil the reality, the same destruction of moral + activity would follow. "White may not triumph," in this absolute + manner, nor may we "clean abolish, once <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg314" id="pg314">314</a></span> and evermore, + white's faintest trace." There must be "the constant shade cast on + life's shine."</p> + + <p>All this is true; but the admission of it in no way militates + against the conception of absolutely valid knowledge; nor is it any + proof that we need live in the twilight of perpetual doubt, in order + to be moral. For the knowledge, of which Browning speaks, would be + knowledge of a state of things in which morality would be really + impossible; that is, it would be knowledge of a world in which all + was evil or all was good. On the other hand, valid knowledge of a + world in which good and evil are in conflict, and in which the former + is realized through victory over the latter, would not destroy + morality. What is inconsistent with the moral life is the conception + of a world where there is no movement from evil to good, no evolution + of character, but merely the stand-still life of "Rephan." But + absolutely certain knowledge that the good is at issue with sin in + the world, that there is no way of attaining goodness except through + conflict with evil, and that moral life, as the poet so frequently + insists, is a process which converts all actual attainment into a + dead self, from which we can rise to higher things—a self, + therefore, which is relatively evil—would, and does, inspire + morality. It is the deification of evil not negated or overcome, of + evil as it is in itself and apart from all process, which destroys + morality. And the same is equally true of a pantheistic optimism, + which asserts that all things <i>are</i> good. But it is not true + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg315" id="pg315">315</a></span> of a + Christian optimism, which asserts that all things are <i>working + together for</i> good. For such optimism implies that the process of + negating or overcoming evil is essential to the attainment of + goodness; it does not imply that evil, as evil, is ever good. Evil is + unreal, only in the sense that it cannot withstand the power which is + set against it. It is not <i>mere</i> semblance, a mere negation or + absence of being; it is opposed to the good, and its opposition can + be overcome, only by the moral effort which it calls forth. An + optimistic faith of this kind can find room for morality; and, + indeed, it furnishes it with the religious basis it needs. Browning, + however, has confused these two forms of optimism; and, therefore, he + has been driven to condemn knowledge, because he knew no alternative + but that of either making evil eternally real, or making it + absolutely unreal. A third alternative, however, is supplied by the + conception of moral evolution. Knowledge of the conditions on which + good can be attained—a knowledge that amounts to + conviction—is the spring of all moral effort; whereas an + attitude of permanent doubt as to the distinction between good and + evil would paralyse it. Such a doubt must be solved before man can + act at all, or choose one end rather than another. All action implies + belief, and the ardour and vigour of moral action can only come from + a belief which is whole-hearted.</p> + + <p>The further assertion, which the poet makes in <i>La Saisiaz</i>, + and repeats elsewhere, that sure knowledge <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg316" id="pg316">316</a></span> of the + consequences that follow good and evil actions would necessarily lead + to the choice of good and the avoidance of evil, and destroy morality + by destroying liberty of choice, raises the whole question of the + relation of knowledge and conduct, and cannot be adequately discussed + here. It may be said, however, that it rests upon a confusion between + two forms of necessity: namely, natural and spiritual necessity. In + asserting that knowledge of the consequences of evil would determine + human action in a necessary way, the poet virtually treats man as if + he were a natural being. But the assumption that man is responsible + and liable to punishment, involves that he is capable of withstanding + all such determination. And knowledge does not and cannot lead to + such necessary determination. Reason brings freedom; for reason + constitutes the ends of action.</p> + + <p>It is the constant desire of the good to attain to such a + convincing knowledge of the worth and dignity of the moral law that + they shall be able to make themselves its devoted instruments. Their + desire is that "the good" shall supplant in them all motives that + conflict against it, and be the inner principle, or necessity, of all + their actions. Such complete devotion to the good is expressed, for + instance, in the words of the Hebrew Psalmist: "Thy testimonies have + I taken as an heritage for ever; for they are the rejoicing of my + heart. I have inclined mine heart to perform Thy statutes alway, even + unto the end. I hate vain thoughts, <span class="pagenum"><a name= + "pg317" id="pg317">317</a></span> but Thy law do I love." + "Nevertheless I live," said the Christian apostle, "yet not I, but + Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I + live by the faith of the Son of God." In these words there is + expressed that highest form of the moral life, in which the + individual is so identified in desire with his ideal, that he lives + only to actualize it in his character. The natural self is + represented as dead, and the victory of the new principle is viewed + as complete. This full obedience to the ideal is the service of a + necessity; but the necessity is within, and the service is, + therefore, perfect freedom. The authority of the law is absolute, but + the law is self-imposed. The whole man is convinced of its goodness. + He has acquired something even fuller than a mere intellectual + demonstration of it; for his knowledge has ripened into wisdom, + possessed his sympathies, and become a disposition of his heart. And + the fulness and certainty of his knowledge, so far from rendering + morality impossible, is its very perfection. To bring about such a + knowledge of the good of goodness and the evil of evil, as will + engender love of the former and hatred of the latter, is the aim of + all moral education. Thus, the history of human life, in so far as it + is progressive, may be concentrated in the saying that it is the + ascent from the power of a necessity which is natural, to the power + of a necessity which is moral. And this latter necessity can come + only through fuller and more convincing knowledge of the law that + rules the <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg318" id= + "pg318">318</a></span> world, and is also the inner principle of + man's nature.</p> + + <p>There remains now the third element in Browning's + view,—namely, that the faith in the good, implied in morality + and religion, can be firmly established, after knowledge has turned + out deceptive, upon the individual's consciousness of the power of + love within himself. In other words, I must now try to estimate the + value of Browning's appeal from the intellect to the heart.</p> + + <p>Before doing so, however, it may be well to repeat once more that + Browning's condemnation of knowledge, in his philosophical poems, is + not partial or hesitating. On the contrary, he confines it definitely + to the individual's consciousness of his own inner states.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i4">"Myself I solely recognize.</p> + + <p>They, too, may recognize themselves, not me,</p> + + <p>For aught I know or care."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>A Bean-Stripe</i>. See also <i>La Saisiaz</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>Nor does Browning endeavour to correct this limited testimony of + the intellect as to its own states, by bringing in the miraculous aid + of revelation, or by postulating an unerring moral faculty. He does + not assume an intuitive power of knowing right from wrong; but he + maintains that ignorance enwraps man's moral sense.<sup>B</sup></p> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: See Chapter <a href="#ch08">VIII.</a></p> + </div> + + <p>And, not only are we unable to know the rule of right and wrong in + details, but we cannot know whether there <i>is</i> right or wrong. + At times the poet <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg319" id= + "pg319">319</a></span> seems inclined to say that evil is a + phenomenon conjured up by the frail intelligence of man.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i2">"Man's fancy makes the fault!</p> + + <p>Man, with the narrow mind, must cram inside</p> + + <p>His finite God's infinitude,—earth's vault</p> + + <p>He bids comprise the heavenly far and wide,</p> + + <p>Since Man may claim a right to understand</p> + + <p>What passes understanding."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Bernard de Mandeville</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>God's ways are past finding out. Nay, God Himself is unknown. At + times, indeed, the power to love within man seems to the poet to be a + clue to the nature of the Power without, and God is all but revealed + in this surpassing emotion of the human heart. But, when + philosophizing, he withdraws even this amount of knowledge. He is</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Assured that, whatsoe'er the quality</p> + + <p>Of love's cause, save that love was caused thereby,</p> + + <p>This—nigh upon revealment as it seemed</p> + + <p>A minute since—defies thy longing looks,</p> + + <p>Withdrawn into the unknowable once more."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>A Pillar at Sebzevar</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>Thus—to sum up Browning's view of knowledge—we are + ignorant of the world; we do not know even whether it is good, or + evil, or only their semblance, that is presented to us in human life; + and we know nothing of God, except that He is the cause of love in + man. What greater depth of agnosticism is possible?</p> + + <p>When the doctrine is put in this bald form, the moral and + religious consciousness of man, on behalf of which the theory was + invented, revolts against it. <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg320" + id="pg320">320</a></span> Nevertheless, the distinction made by + Browning between the intellectual and emotional elements of human + life is very common in religious thought. It is not often, indeed, + that either the worth of love, or the weakness of knowledge receives + such emphatic expression as that which is given to them by the poet; + but the same general idea of their relation is often expressed, and + still more often implied. Browning differs from our ordinary teachers + mainly in the boldness of his affirmatives and negatives. They, too, + regard the intellect as merely human, and the emotion of love as + divine. They, too, shrink from identifying the reason of man with the + reason of God; even though they may recognize that morality and + religion must postulate some kind of unity between God and man. They, + too, conceive that human knowledge differs <i>in nature</i> from that + of God, while they maintain that human goodness is the same in nature + with that of God, though different in degree and fulness. There are + two <i>kinds</i> of knowledge, but there is only one kind of justice, + or mercy, or loving-kindness. Man must be content with a semblance of + a knowledge of truth; but a semblance of goodness, would be + intolerable. God really reveals Himself to man in morality and + religion, and He communicates to man nothing less than "the divine + love." But there is no such close connection on the side of reason. + The religious life of man is a divine principle, the indwelling of + God in him; but there is a final and fatal defect in man's knowledge. + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg321" id="pg321">321</a></span> The + divine love's manifestation of itself is ever incomplete, it is true, + even in the best of men; but there is no defect in its nature.</p> + + <p>As a consequence of this doctrine, few religious opinions are more + common at the present day, than that it is necessary to appeal, on + all the high concerns of man's moral and religious life, from the + intellect to the heart. Where we cannot know, we may still feel; and + the religious man may have, in his own feeling of the divine, a more + intimate conviction of the reality of that in which he trusts, than + could be produced by any intellectual process.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i6">"Enough to say, 'I feel</p> + + <p>Love's sure effect, and, being loved, must love</p> + + <p>The love its cause behind,—I can and do.'"<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>A Piller at Sebzevar</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>Reason, in trying to scale the heights of truth, falls-back, + impotent and broken, into doubt and despair; not by that way can we + come to that which is best and highest.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"I found Him not in world or sun,</p> + + <p class="i2">Or eagle's wing, or insect's eye;</p> + + <p class="i2">Nor thro' the questions men may try,</p> + + <p>The petty cobwebs we have spun."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>In Memoriam</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>But there is another way to find God and to conquer doubt.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"If e'er when faith had fall'n asleep,</p> + + <p class="i2">I heard a voice 'believe no more,'</p> + + <p class="i2">And heard an ever-breaking-shore</p> + + <p>That tumbled in the Godless deep;</p> + </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg322" id="pg322">322</a></span> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"A warmth within the breast would melt</p> + + <p class="i2">The freezing reason's colder part,</p> + + <p class="i2">And like a man in wrath the heart</p> + + <p>Stood up and answer'd 'I have felt.'"<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>In Memoriam</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>What, then, I have now to ask, is the meaning and value of this + appeal to emotion? Can love, or emotion in any of its forms, reveal + truths to man which his intellect cannot discover? If so, how? If + not, how shall we account for the general conviction of good men that + it can? We have, in a word, either to justify the appeal to the + heart, by explaining how the heart may utter truths that are hidden + from reason; or else to account for the illusion, by which religious + emotion seems to reveal such truths.</p> + + <p>The first requirement is shown to be unreasonable by the very + terms in which it is made. The intuitive insight of faith, the + immediate conviction of the heart, cannot render, and must not try to + render, any account of itself. Proof is a process; but there is no + process in this direct conviction of truth. Its assertion is just the + denial of process; it is a repudiation of all connections; in such a + faith of feeling there are no cob-web lines relating fact to fact, + which doubt could break. Feeling is the immediate unity of the + subject and object. I am pained, because I cannot rid myself of an + element which is already within me; I am lifted into the emotion of + pleasure, or happiness, or bliss, by the consciousness that I am + already at one with an object that fulfils <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg323" id="pg323">323</a></span> my longings and + satisfies my needs. Hence, there seems to be ground for saying that, + in this instance, the witness cannot lie; for it cannot go before the + fact, as it is itself the effect of the fact. If the emotion is + pleasurable it is the consciousness of the unity within; if it is + painful, of the disunity. In feeling, I am absolutely with myself; + and there seems, therefore, to be no need of attempting to justify, + by means of reason, a faith in God which manifests itself in emotion. + The emotion itself is its own sufficient witness, a direct result of + the intimate union of man with the object of devotion. Nay, we may go + further, and say that the demand is an unjust one, which betrays + ignorance of the true nature of moral intuition and religious + feeling.</p> + + <p>I am not concerned to deny the truth that lies in the view here + stated; and no advocate of the dignity of human reason, or of the + worth of human knowledge, is called upon to deny it. There is a sense + in which the conviction of "faith" or "feeling" is more intimate and + strong than any process of proof. But this does not in any wise + justify the contention of those who maintain that we can feel what we + do not in any sense know, or that the heart can testify to that of + which the intellect is absolutely silent.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"So let us say—not 'Since we know, we love,'</p> + + <p>But rather, 'Since we love, we know enough.'"<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>A Pillar at Sebzevar</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>In these two lines there are combined the truth I <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg324" id="pg324">324</a></span> would + acknowledge, and the error I would confute. Love is, in one way, + sufficient knowledge; or, rather, it is the direct testimony of that + completest knowledge, in which subject and object interpenetrate. + For, where love is, all foreign elements have been eliminated. There + is not "one and one with a shadowy third"; but the object is brought + within the self as constituting part of its very life. This is + involved in all the great forms of human thought—in science and + art, no less than in morality and religion. It is the truth that we + love, and only that, which is altogether ours. By means of love the + poet is</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Made one with Nature. There is heard</p> + + <p>His voice in all her music, from the moan</p> + + <p>Of thunder to the song of night's sweet bird ";</p> + </div> + + <p>and it is because he is made one with her that he is able to + reveal her inmost secrets. "Man," said Fichte, "can will nothing but + what he loves; his love is the sole and at the same time the + infallible spring of his volition, and of all his life's striving and + movement." It is only when we have identified ourselves with an + ideal, and made its realization our own interest, that we strive to + attain it. Love is revelation in knowledge, inspiration in art, + motive in morality, and the fulness of religious joy.</p> + + <p>But, although in this sense love is greater than knowledge, it is + a grave error to separate it from knowledge. In the life of man at + least, the separation of the emotional and intellectual elements + extinguishes both. We cannot know that in which we <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg325" id="pg325">325</a></span> have no interest. + The very effort to comprehend an object rests on interest, or the + feeling of ourselves in it; so that knowledge, as well as morality, + may be said to begin in love. We cannot know except we love; but, on + the other hand, we cannot love that which we do not in some degree + know. Wherever the frontiers of knowledge may be it is certain that + there is nothing beyond them which can either arouse feeling, or be a + steadying centre for it. Emotion is like a climbing plant. It clings + to the tree of knowledge, adding beauty to its strength. But, without + knowledge, it is impossible for man. There is no feeling which is not + also incipient knowledge; for feeling is only the subjective side of + knowledge—that face of the known fact which is turned + inwards.</p> + + <p>If, therefore, the poet's agnosticism were taken literally, and, + in his philosophical poems he obviously means it to be taken + literally, it would lead to a denial of the very principles of + religion and morality, which it was meant to support. His appeal to + love would then, strictly speaking, be an appeal to the love of + nothing known, or knowable; and such love is impossible. For love, if + it is to be distinguished from the organic, impulse of beast towards + beast, must have an object. A mere instinctive activity of + benevolence in man, by means of which he lightened the sorrows of his + brethren, if not informed with knowledge, would have no more moral + worth than the grateful warmth of the sun. Such love as this there + may be in the animal <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg326" id= + "pg326">326</a></span> creation. If the bird is not rational, we may + say that it builds its nest and lines it for its brood, pines for its + partner and loves it, at the bidding of the returning spring, in much + the same way as the meadows burst into flower. Without knowledge, the + whole process is merely a natural one; or, if it be more, it is so + only in so far as the life of emotion can be regarded as a foretaste + of the life of thought. But such a natural process is not possible to + man. Every activity in him is relative to his self-consciousness, and + takes a new character from that relation. His love at the best and + worst is the love of something that he knows, and in which he seeks + to find himself made rich with new sufficiency. Thus love can not + "ally" itself with ignorance. It is, indeed, an impulse pressing for + the closer communion of the lover with the object of his love.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i4">"Like two meteors of expanding flame,</p> + + <p>Those spheres instinct with it become the same,</p> + + <p>Touch, mingle, are transfigured; ever still</p> + + <p>Burning, yet ever inconsumable;</p> + + <p>In one another's substance finding food."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: Shelley's <i>Epipsychidion</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>But, for a being such as Browning describes, who is shut up within + the blind walls of his own self, the self-transcending impulse of + love would be impossible. If man's inner consciousness is to be + conceived as a dark room shutting out the world, upon whose shadowy + phenomena the candle of introspection throws a dim and uncertain + light, then <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg327" id= + "pg327">327</a></span> he can have no interest outside of himself; + nor can he ever take that first step in goodness, which carries him + beyond his narrow individuality to seek and find a larger self in + others. Morality, even in its lowest form, implies knowledge, and + knowledge of something better than "those <i>apparent</i> other + mortals." With the first dawn of the moral life comes the + consciousness of an ideal, which is not actual; and such a break with + the natural is not possible except to him who has known a better and + desired it. The ethical endeavour of man is the attempt to convert + ideas into actuality; and all his activity as moral agent takes place + within the sphere that is illumined by the light of knowledge. If + knowledge breaks down, there is no law of action which he can obey. + The moral law that must be apprehended, and whose authority must be + recognized by man, either sinks out of being or becomes an illusive + phantom, if man is doomed to ignorance or false knowledge. To + extinguish truth is to extinguish goodness.</p> + + <p>In like manner, religion, which the poet would fain defend for man + by means of agnosticism, becomes impossible, if knowledge be denied. + Religion is not blind emotion; nor can mere feeling, however + ecstatic, ascend to God. Animals feel, but they are not, and cannot + be, religious—unless they can know. The love of God implies + knowledge. "I know Him whom I have believed" is the language of + religion. For what is religion but a conscious identification of the + self with One who is <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg328" id= + "pg328">328</a></span> known to fulfil its needs and satisfy its + aspirations? Agnosticism is thus directly destructive of it. We + cannot, indeed, prove God as the conclusion of a syllogism, for He is + the primary hypothesis of all proof. But, nevertheless, we cannot + reach Him without knowledge. Emotion reveals no object, but is + consequent upon the revelation of it; feeling yields no truth, but is + the witness of the worth of a truth for the individual. If man were + shut up to mere feeling, even the awe of the devout agnostic would be + impossible. For the Unknowable cannot generate any emotion. It + appears to do so, only because the Unknowable of the agnostic is not + altogether unknown to him; but is a vast, abysmal "Something," that + has occupied with its shadowy presence the field of his imagination. + It is paganism stricken with the plague, and philosophy afflicted + with blindness, that build altars to an unknown God. The highest and + the strongest faith, the deepest trust and the most loving, come with + the fullest knowledge. Indeed, the distinction between the awe of the + agnostic, which is the lowest form of religion, and that highest form + in which perfect love casteth out fear, springs from the fuller + knowledge of the nature of the object of warship, which the latter + implies. Thus, religion and morality grow with the growth of + knowledge; and neither has a worse enemy than ignorance. The human + spirit cannot grow in a one-sided manner. Devotion to great moral + ends is possible, only through the deepening and widening of man's + knowledge of the <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg329" id= + "pg329">329</a></span> nature of the world. Those who know God best, + render unto Him the purest service.</p> + + <p>So evident is this, that it seems at first sight to be difficult + to account for that antagonism to the intellect and distrust of its + deliverances, which are so emphatically expressed in the writings of + Browning, and which are marked characteristics of the ordinary + religious opinion of our day. On closer examination, however, we + shall discover that it is not pure emotion, or mere feeling, whose + authority is set above that of reason, but rather the emotion which + is the result of knowledge. The appeal of the religious man from the + doubts and difficulties, which reason levels against "the faith," is + really an appeal to the character that lies behind the emotion. The + conviction of the heart, that refuses to yield to the arguments of + the understanding, is not <i>mere</i> feeling; but, rather, the + complex experience of the past life, that manifests itself in + feeling. When an individual, clinging to his moral or religious + faith, says, "I have felt it," he opposes to the doubt, not his + feeling as such, but his personality in all the wealth of its + experience. The appeal to the heart is the appeal to the unproved, + but not, therefore, unauthorized, testimony of the best men at their + best moments, when their vision of truth is clearest. No one pretends + that "the loud and empty voice of untrained passion and prejudice" + has any authority in matters of moral and religious faith; though, in + such cases, "feeling" may lack neither depth nor intensity. If the + "feelings" of <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg330" id= + "pg330">330</a></span> the good man were dissociated from his + character, and stripped bare of all the significance they obtain + therefrom, their worthlessness would become apparent. The profound + error of condemning knowledge in order to honour feeling, is hidden + only by the fact that the feeling is already informed and inspired + with knowledge. Religious agnosticism, like all other forms of the + theory of nescience, derives its plausibility from the adventitious + help it purloins from the knowledge which it condemns.</p> + + <p>That it is to such feeling that Browning really appeals against + knowledge becomes abundantly evident, when we bear in mind that he + always calls it "love." For love in man is never ignorant. It knows + its object, and is a conscious identification of the self with it. + And to Browning, the object of love, when love is at its + best—of that love by means of which he refutes intellectual + pessimism—is mankind. The revolt of the heart against all evil + is a desire for the good of all men. In other words, his refuge + against the assailing doubts which spring from the intellect, is in + the moral consciousness. But that consciousness is no mere emotion; + it is a consciousness which knows the highest good, and moves in + sympathy with it. It is our maturest wisdom; for it is the + manifestation of the presence and activity of the ideal, the fullest + knowledge and the surest. Compared with this, the emotion linked to + ignorance, of which the poet speaks in his philosophic theory, is a + very poor thing. It is poorer than the lowest human + love.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg331" id= + "pg331">331</a></span> + + <p>Now, if this higher interpretation of the term "heart" be + accepted, it is easily seen why its authority should seem higher than + that of reason; and particularly, if it be remembered that, while the + heart is thus widened to take in all direct consciousness of the + ideal, "the reason" is reduced to the power of reflection, or mental + analysis. "The heart," in this sense, is the intensest unity of the + complex experiences of a whole life, while "the reason" is taken + merely as a faculty which invents arguments, and provides grounds and + evidences; it is what is called, in the language of German + philosophy, the "understanding." Now, in this sense, the + understanding has, at best, only a borrowed authority. It is the + faculty of rules rather than of principles. It is ever dogmatic, + assertive, repellent, hard; and it always advances its forces in + single line. Its logic never convinced any one of truth or error, + unless, beneath the arguments which it advanced, there lay some + deeper principle of concord. Thus, the opposition between "faith and + reason," rightly interpreted, is that between a concrete experience, + instinct with life and conviction, and a mechanical arrangement of + abstract arguments. The quarrel of the heart is not with reason, but + with reasons. "Evidences of Christianity?" said Coleridge; "I am + weary of the word." It is this weariness of evidence, of the endless + arguments <i>pro</i> and <i>con</i>, which has caused so many to + distrust reason and knowledge, and which has sometimes driven + believers to the dangerous expedient <span class="pagenum"><a name= + "pg332" id="pg332">332</a></span> of making their faith dogmatic and + absolute. Nor have the opponents of "the faith" been slow to seize + the opportunity thus offered them. "From the moment that a religion + solicits the aid of philosophy, its ruin is inevitable," said Heine. + "In the attempt at defence, it prates itself into destruction. + Religion, like every absolutism, must not seek to justify itself. + Prometheus is bound to the rock by a silent force. Yea, Aeschylus + permits not personified power to utter a single word. It must remain + mute. The moment that a religion ventures to print a catechism + supported by arguments, the moment that a political absolutism + publishes an official newspaper, both are near their end. But therein + consists our triumph: we have brought our adversaries to speech, and + they must reckon with us."<sup>A</sup> But, we may answer, religion is + <i>not</i> an absolutism; and, therefore, it is <i>not</i> near its + end when it ventures to justify itself. On the contrary, no spiritual + power, be it moral or religious, can maintain its authority, if it + assumes a despotic attitude; for the human spirit inevitably moves + towards freedom, and that movement is the deepest necessity of its + nature, which it cannot escape. "Religion, on the ground of its + sanctity, and law, on the ground of its majesty, often resist the + sifting of their claims. But in so doing, they inevitably awake a not + unjust suspicion that their claims are ill-founded. They can command + the unfeigned homage of man, only when they have <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg333" id="pg333">333</a></span> shown themselves + able to stand the test of free inquiry."</p> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Religion and Philosophy in Germany</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>And if it is an error to suppose, with Browning, that the primary + truths of the moral and religious consciousness belong to a region + which is higher than knowledge, and can, from that side, be neither + assailed nor defended; it is also an error to suppose that reason is + essentially antagonistic to them. The facts of morality and religion + are precisely the richest facts of knowledge; and that faith is the + most secure which is most completely illumined by reason. Religion at + its best is not a dogmatic despotism, nor is reason a merely critical + and destructive faculty. If reason is loyal to the truth of religion + on which it is exercised, it will reach beneath all the conflict and + clamour of disputation, to the principle of unity, on which, as we + have seen, both reason and religion rest.</p> + + <p>The "faith" to which religious spirits appeal against all the + attacks of doubt, "the love" of Browning, is really implicit reason; + it is "abbreviated" or concentrated knowledge; it is the manifold + experiences of life focussed into an intense unity. And, on the other + hand, the "reason" which they condemn is what Carlyle calls the + logic-chopping faculty. In taking the side of faith when troubled + with difficulties which they cannot lay, they are really defending + the cause of reason against that of the understanding. For it is + quite true that the understanding, that is, the reason as reflective + or critical, can never bring about either a <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg334" id="pg334">334</a></span> moral or + religious life. It cannot create a religion, any more than physiology + can produce men. The reflection which brings doubt is always + secondary; it can only exercise itself on a given material. As Hegel + frequently pointed out, it is not the function of moral philosophy to + create or to institute a morality or religion, but to understand + them. The facts must first be given; they must be actual experiences + of the human spirit. Moral philosophy and theology differ from the + moral or religious life, in the same way as geology differs from the + earth, or astronomy from the heavenly bodies. The latter are facts; + the former are theories about the facts. Religion is an attitude of + the human spirit towards the highest; morality is the realization of + character; and these are not to be confused with their reflective + interpretations. Much of the difficulty in these matters comes from + the lack of a clear distinction between <i>beliefs</i> and + <i>creeds</i>.</p> + + <p>Further, not only are the utterances of the heart prior to the + deliverances of the intellect in this sense, but it may also be + admitted that the latter can never do full justice to the contents of + the former. So rich is character in content and so complex is + spiritual life, that we can never, by means of reflection, lift into + clear consciousness all the elements that enter into it. Into the + organism of our experience, which is our faith, there is continually + absorbed the subtle influences of our complex natural and social + environment. We grow by <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg335" id= + "pg335">335</a></span> means of them, as the plant grows by feeding + on the soil and the sunshine and dew. It is as impossible for us to + set forth, one by one, the truths and errors which we have thus + worked into our mental and moral life, as it is to keep a reckoning + of the physical atoms with which the natural life builds up the body. + Hence, every attempt to justify these truths seems inadequate; and + the defence which the understanding sets up for the faith, always + seems partial and cold. Who ever fully expressed his deepest + convictions? The consciousness of the dignity of the moral law + affected Kant like the view of the starry firmament, and generated a + feeling of the sublime which words could not express; and the + religious ecstasy of the saints cannot be confined within the + channels of speech, but floods the soul with overmastering power, + possessing all its faculties. In this respect, it will always remain + true that the greatest facts of human experience reach beyond all + knowledge. Nay, we may add further, that in this respect the simplest + of these facts passes all understanding. Still, as we have already + seen, it is reason that constitutes them; that which is presented to + reason for explanation, in knowledge and morality and religion, is + itself the product of reason. Reason is the power which, by + interaction with our environment, has generated the whole of our + experience. And, just as natural science interprets the phenomena + given to it by ordinary opinion, <i>i.e.</i>, interprets and purifies + a lower form of knowledge by converting <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg336" id="pg336">336</a></span> it into a higher; + so the task of reason when it is exercised upon morality and + religion, is simply to evolve, and amplify the meaning of its own + products. The movement from morality and religion to moral philosophy + and the philosophy of religion, is thus a movement from reason to + reason, from the implicit to the explicit, from the germ to the + developed fulness of life and structure. In this matter, as in all + others wherein the human spirit is concerned, that which is first by + nature is last in genesis—[Greek: nika d' ho prôtos kai + teleutaios dramôn.] The whole history of the moral and religious + experience of mankind is comprised in the statement, that the + implicit reason which we call "faith" is ever developing towards full + consciousness of itself; and that, at its first beginning, and + throughout the whole ascending process of this development, the + highest is present in it as a self-manifesting power.</p> + + <p>But this process from the almost instinctive intuitions of the + heart towards the morality and religion of freedom, being a process + of evolution, necessarily involves conflict. There are men, it is + true, the unity of whose moral and religious faith is never + completely broken by doubt; just as there are men who are not forced + by the contradictions in the first interpretation of the world by + ordinary experience to attempt to re-interpret it by means of science + and philosophy.</p> + + <p>Throughout their lives they may say like + Pompilia—</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg337" id= + "pg337">337</a></span> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i6">"I know the right place by foot's feel,</p> + + <p>I took it and tread firm there; wherefore change?"<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>The Ring and the Book</i>—<i>The Pope</i>, + 1886-1887.</p> + </div> + + <p>Jean Paul Richter said that he knew another way of being happy, + beside that of soaring away so far above the clouds of life, that its + miseries looked small, and the whole external world shrunk into a + little child's garden. It was, "Simply to sink down into this little + garden; and there to nestle yourself so snugly, so homewise, in some + furrow, that in looking out from your warm lark-nest, you likewise + can discern no wolf-dens, charnel-houses, or thunder-rods, but only + blades and ears, every one of which, for the nest-bird, is a tree, + and a sun-screen, and rain-screen." There is a similar way of being + good, with a goodness which, though limited, is pure and perfect in + nature. Nay, we may even admit that such lives are frequently the + most complete and beautiful, just as the fairest flowers grow, not on + the tallest trees, but on the fragile plants at their foot. + Nevertheless, even in the case of those persons who have never broken + from the traditional faith of the past, or felt it to be inadequate, + that faith has been silently reconstructed in a new synthesis of + knowledge. Spiritual life cannot come by inheritance; but every + individual must acquire a faith for himself, and turn his spiritual + environment into personal experience. "A man may be a heretic in the + truth," said Milton, "and if he believe things only because his + pastor says so, or the assembly so <span class="pagenum"><a name= + "pg338" id="pg338">338</a></span> determines, without knowing other + reason, though his belief be true, yet the very truth he holds + becomes his heresy." It is truth to another but tradition to him; it + is a creed and not a conviction. Browning fully recognizes the need + of this conflict—</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Is it not this ignoble confidence,</p> + + <p>Cowardly hardihood, that dulls and damps,</p> + + <p>Makes the old heroism impossible?"<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>The Ring and the Book—The Pope</i>, 1848-1850.</p> + </div> + + <p>asks the Pope. The stream of truth when it ceases to flow onward, + becomes a malarious swamp. Movement is the law of life; and knowledge + of the principles of morality and religion, as of all other + principles, must, in order to grow, be felt from time to time as + inadequate and untrue. There are men and ages whose mission + is—</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i8">"to shake</p> + + <p>This torpor of assurance from our creed,</p> + + <p>Re-introduce the doubt discarded, bring</p> + + <p>That formidable danger back, we drove</p> + + <p>Long ago to the distance and the dark."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Ibid.</i>, 1853-1856.</p> + </div> + + <p>Such a spirit of criticism seems to many to exercise a merely + destructive power, and those who have not felt the inadequacy of the + inherited faith defend themselves against it, as the enemy of their + lives. But no logic, or assailing doubt, could have power against the + testimony of "the heart," unless it was rooted in deeper and truer + principles than those which it attacked. Nothing can overpower + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg339" id="pg339">339</a></span> truth + except a larger truth; and, in such a conflict, the truth in the old + view will ultimately take the side of the new, and find its + subordinate position within it. It has happened, not infrequently, as + in the case of the Encyclopædists, that the explicit truths of + reason were more abstract, that is, less true, than the implicit + "faith" which they assailed. The central truths of religion have + often proved themselves to possess some stubborn, though + semi-articulate power, which could ultimately overcome or subordinate + the more partial and explicit truths of abstract science. It is this + that gives plausibility to the idea, that the testimony of the heart + is more reliable than that of the intellect. But, in this case also, + it was really reason that triumphed. It was the truth which proved + itself to be immortal, and not any mere emotion. The insurrection of + the intellect against the heart is quelled, only when the untruth, or + abstract character, of the principle of the assailants has been made + manifest, and when the old faith has yielded up its unjust gains, and + proved its vitality and strength by absorbing the truth that gave + vigour to the attack. Just as in morality it is the ideal, or the + unity of the whole moral life, that breaks up into differences, so + also here it is the implicit faith which, as it grows, breaks forth + into doubts. In both cases alike, the negative movement which induces + despair, is only a phase of a positive process—the process of + reason towards a fuller, a more articulate and complex, realization + of itself.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg340" id= + "pg340">340</a></span> + + <p>Hence it follows that the value and strength of a faith + corresponds accurately to the doubts it has overcome. Those who never + went forth to battle cannot come home heroes. It is only when the + earthquake has tried the towers, and destroyed the sense of security, + that</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Man stands out again, pale, resolute,</p> + + <p>Prepared to die,—that is, alive at last.</p> + + <p>As we broke up that old faith of the world,</p> + + <p>Have we, next age, to break up this the new—</p> + + <p>Faith, in the thing, grown faith in the report—</p> + + <p>Whence need to bravely disbelieve report</p> + + <p>Through increased faith i' the thing reports belie?"<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>The Ring and the Book—The Pope</i>, 1862-1868.</p> + </div> + + <p>"Well knows he who uses to consider, that our faith and knowledge + thrive by exercise, as well as our limbs and complexion."</p> + + <p>It was, thus, I conclude, a deep speculative error into which + Browning fell, when, in order to substantiate his optimistic faith, + he stigmatized human knowledge as merely apparent. Knowledge does not + fail, except in the sense in which morality also fails; it does not + at any time attain to the ultimate truth, any more than the moral + life is in any of its activities<sup>B</sup> a complete embodiment of the + absolute good. It is not given to man, who is essentially + progressive, to reach the ultimate term of development. For there is + no ultimate term: life never stands still. But, for the same reason, + there is no ultimate failure. The whole history of man is a history + of growth. If, however, knowledge did <span class="pagenum"><a name= + "pg341" id="pg341">341</a></span> fail, then morality too must fail; + and the appeal which the poet makes from the intellect to the heart, + would be an appeal to mere emotion. Finally, even if we take a + generous view of the poet's meaning, and put out of consideration the + theory he expresses when he is deliberately philosophizing, there is + still no appeal from the reason to an alien and higher authority. The + appeal to "the heart" is, at best, only an appeal from the + understanding to the reason, from a conscious logic to the more + concrete fact constituted by reason, which reflection has failed to + comprehend in its completeness; at its worst, it is an appeal from + truth to prejudice, from belief to dogma.</p> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: See Chapter IX., p. <a href="#pg291">291.</a></p> + </div> + + <p>And in both cases alike, the appeal is futile; for, whether "the + heart be wiser than the head," or not, whether the faith which is + assailed be richer or poorer, truer or more false, than the logic + which is directed against it, an appeal to the heart cannot any + longer restore the unity of the broken life. Once reflection has set + in, there is no way of turning away its destructive might, except by + deeper reflection. The implicit faith of the heart must become the + explicit faith of reason. "There is no final and satisfactory issue + from such an endless internal debate and conflict, until the 'heart' + has learnt to speak the language of the head—<i>i.e.</i>, until + the permanent principles, which underlay and gave strength to faith, + have been brought into the light of distinct consciousness."<sup>A</sup></p> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: Caird's <i>Comte</i>.</p> + </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg342" id="pg342">342</a></span> + + <p>I conclude, therefore, that the poet was right in saying that, in + order to comprehend human character,</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"I needs must blend the quality of man</p> + + <p>With quality of God, and so assist</p> + + <p>Mere human sight to understand my Life."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>A Bean-Stripe</i>—<i>Ferishtah's Fancies</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>But it was a profound error, which contained in it the destruction + of morality and religion, as well as of knowledge, to make "the + quality of God" a love that excludes reason, and the quality of man + an intellect incapable of knowing truth. Such in-congruous elements + could never be combined into the unity of a character. A love that + was mere emotion could not yield a motive for morality, or a + principle of religion. A philosophy of life which is based on + agnosticism is an explicit self-contradiction, which can help no one. + We must appeal from Browning the philosopher to Browning the + poet.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg343" id= + "pg343">343</a></span> + <hr class="full" /> + + <h2><a name="ch11" id="ch11">CHAPTER XI.</a></h2> + + <h3>CONCLUSION.</h3> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Well, I can fancy how he did it all,</p> + + <p>Pouring his soul, with kings and popes to see,</p> + + <p>Reaching, that heaven might so replenish him,</p> + + <p>Above and through his art—for it gives way;</p> + + <p>That arm is wrongly put—and there again—</p> + + <p>A fault to pardon in the drawing's lines,</p> + + <p>Its body, so to speak: its soul is right,</p> + + <p>He means right—that, a child may understand."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Andrea del Sarto</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>I have tried to show that Browning's theory of life, in so far as + it is expressed in his philosophical poems, rests on agnosticism; and + that such a theory is inconsistent with the moral and religious + interests of man. The idea that truth is unattainable was represented + by Browning as a bulwark of the faith, but it proved on examination + to be treacherous. His optimism was found to have no better + foundation than personal conviction, which any one was free to deny, + and which the poet could in no wise prove. The evidence of the heart, + to which he appealed, was the evidence of an emotion severed from + intelligence, and, therefore, <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg344" + id="pg344">344</a></span> without any content whatsoever. "The + faith," which he professed, was not the faith that anticipates and + invites proof, but a faith which is incapable of proof. In casting + doubt upon the validity of knowledge, he degraded the whole spiritual + nature of man; for a love that is ignorant of its object is a blind + impulse, and a moral consciousness that does not know the law is an + impossible phantom—a self-contradiction.</p> + + <p>But, although Browning's explicitly philosophical theory of life + fails, there appears in his earlier poems, where his poetical freedom + was not yet trammelled, nor his moral enthusiasm restrained by the + stubborn difficulties of reflective thought, a far truer and richer + view. In this period of pure poetry, his conception of man was less + abstract than in his later works, and his inspiration was more direct + and full. The poet's dialectical ingenuity increased with the growth + of his reflective tendencies; but his relation to the great + principles of spiritual life seemed to become less intimate, and his + expression of them more halting. What we find in his earlier works + are vigorous ethical convictions, a glowing optimistic faith, + achieving their fitting expression in impassioned poetry; what we + find in his later works are arguments, which, however richly adorned + with poetic metaphors, have lost the completeness and energy of life. + His poetic fancies are like chaplets which crown the dead. Lovers of + the poet, who seek in his poems for inspiring expressions of their + hope <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg345" id="pg345">345</a></span> + and faith, will always do well in turning from his militant + metaphysics to his art.</p> + + <p>In his case, as in that of many others, spiritual experience was + far richer than the theory which professed to explain it. The task of + lifting his moral convictions into the clear light of conscious + philosophy was beyond his power. The theory of the failure of + knowledge, which he seems to have adopted far too easily from the + current doctrine of the schools, was fundamentally inconsistent with + his generous belief in the moral progress of man; and it maimed the + expression of that belief. The result of his work as a philosopher is + a confession of complete ignorance and the helpless asseveration of a + purely dogmatic faith.</p> + + <p>The fundamental error of the poet's philosophy lies, I believe, in + that severance of feeling and intelligence, love and reason, which + finds expression in <i>La Saisiaz</i>, <i>Ferishtah's Fancies</i>, + <i>The Parleyings</i>, and <i>Asolando</i>. Such an absolute division + is not to be found in <i>Christmas-Eve and Easter-Day</i>, <i>Rabbi + Ben Ezra</i>, <i>A Death in the Desert</i>, or in <i>The Ring and the + Book</i>; nor even in <i>Fifine at the Fair</i>. In these works we + are not perplexed by the strange combination of a nature whose + principle is love, and which is capable of infinite progress, with an + intelligence whose best efforts end in ignorance. Rather, the spirit + of man is regarded as one, in all its manifestations; and, therefore, + as progressive on all sides of its activity. The widening of his + knowledge, which is brought about by increasing experience, is + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg346" id="pg346">346</a></span> + parallel with the deepening and purifying of his moral life. In all + Browning's works, indeed, with the possible exception of + <i>Paracelsus</i>, love is conceived as having a place and function + of supreme importance in the development of the soul. Its divine + origin and destiny are never obscured; but knowledge is regarded as + merely human, and, therefore, as falling short of the truth. In + <i>Easter-Day</i> it is definitely contrasted with love, and shown to + be incapable of satisfying the deepest wants of man. It is, at the + best, only a means to the higher purposes of moral activity, and, + except in the <i>Grammarian's Funeral</i>, it is nowhere regarded as + in itself a worthy end.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"'Tis one thing to know, and another to practise.</p> + + <p>And thence I conclude that the real God-function</p> + + <p>Is to furnish a motive and injunction</p> + + <p>For practising what we know already."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Christmas-Eve and Easter-Day</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>Even here, there is implied that the motive comes otherwise than + by knowledge; still, taking these earlier poems as a whole, we may + say that in them knowledge is regarded as means to morality and not + as in any sense contrasted with or destructive of it. Man's motives + are rational motives; the ends he seeks are ends conceived and even + constituted by his intelligence, and not purposes blindly followed as + by instinct and impulse.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i12">"Why live,</p> + + <p>Except for love—how love, unless they know?"<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>The Ring and the Book</i>—<i>The Pope</i>, + 1327-1328.</p> + </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg347" id="pg347">347</a></span> + + <p>asks the Pope. Moral progress is not secured apart from, or in + spite of knowledge. We are not exhorted to reject the verdict of the + latter as illusive, in order to confide in a faith which not only + fails to receive support from the defective intelligence, but + maintains its own integrity only by repudiating the testimony of the + reason. In the distinction between knowledge as means and love as + end, it is easy, indeed, to detect a tendency to degrade the former + into a mere temporary expedient, whereby moral ends may be served. + The poet speaks of "such knowledge as is possible to man." The + attitude he assumes towards it is apologetic, and betrays a keen + consciousness of its limitation, and particularly of its utter + inadequacy to represent the infinite. In the speech of the + Pope—-which can scarcely be regarded otherwise than as the + poet's own maturest utterance on the great moral and religious + questions raised by the tragedy of Pompilia's death—we find + this view vividly expressed:—</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"O Thou—as represented here to me</p> + + <p>In such conception as my soul allows,—</p> + + <p>Under Thy measureless, my atom width!—</p> + + <p>Man's mind, what is it but a convex glass</p> + + <p>Wherein are gathered all the scattered points</p> + + <p>Picked out of the immensity of sky,</p> + + <p>To reunite there, be our heaven for earth,</p> + + <p>Our known unknown, our God revealed to man?"<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>The Ring and the Book</i>—<i>The Pope</i>, + 1308-1315.</p> + </div> + + <p>God is "appreciable in His absolute immensity <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg348" id="pg348">348</a></span> solely by + Himself," while, "by the little mind of man, He is reduced to + littleness that suits man's faculty." In these words, and others that + might be quoted, the poet shows that he is profoundly impressed with + the distinction between human knowledge, and that knowledge which is + adequate to the whole nature and extent of being. And in + <i>Christmas-Eve</i> he repudiates with a touch of scorn, the + absolute idealism, which is supposed to identify altogether human + reason with divine reason; and he commends the German critic for not + making</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i4">"The important stumble</p> + + <p>Of adding, he, the sage and humble,</p> + + <p>Was also one with the Creator."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Christmas-Eve</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>Nowhere in Browning, unless we except <i>Paracelsus</i>, is there + any sign of an inclination to treat man's knowledge in the same + spirit as he deals with man's love—namely, as a direct + emanation from the inmost nature of God, a divine element that + completes and crowns man's life on earth. On the contrary, he shows a + persistent tendency to treat love as a power higher in nature than + reason, and to give to it a supreme place in the formation of + character; and, as he grows older, that tendency grows in strength. + The philosophical poems, in which love is made all in all, and + knowledge is reduced to nescience follow by logical evolution from + principles, the influence of which we can detect even in his earlier + works. Still, in the <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg349" id= + "pg349">349</a></span> latter, these principles are only latent, and + are far from holding undisputed sway. Browning was, at first, + restrained from exclusive devotion to abstract views, by the + suggestions which the artistic spirit receives through its immediate + contact with the facts of life. That contact it is very difficult for + philosophy to maintain as it pursues its effort after universal + truth. Philosophy is obliged to analyze in order to define, and, in + that process, it is apt to lose something of that completeness of + representation, which belongs to art. For art is always engaged in + presenting the universal in the form of a particular object of + beauty. Its product is a "known unknown," but the unknown is the + unexhausted reality of a fact of intuition. Nor can analysis ever + exhaust it; theory can never catch up art, or explain all that is in + it. On similar grounds, it may be shown that it is impossible for + reason to lay bare all the elements that enter into its first complex + product, which we call faith. In religion, as in art, man is aware of + more than he knows; his articulate logic cannot do justice to all the + truths of the "heart." "The supplementary reflux of light" of + philosophy cannot "illustrate all the inferior grades" of knowledge. + Man will never completely understand himself.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"I knew, I felt, (perception unexpressed,</p> + + <p>Uncomprehended by our narrow thought,</p> + + <p>But somehow felt and known in every shift</p> + + <p>And change in the spirit,—nay, in every pore</p> + + <p>Of the body, even,)—what God is, what we are,</p> + + <p>What life is—how God tastes an infinite + joy</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg350" id= + "pg350">350</a></span> + + <p>In infinite ways—one everlasting bliss,</p> + + <p>From whom all being emanates, all power</p> + + <p>Proceeds."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Paracelsus</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>I believe that it is possible, by the help of the intuitions of + Browning's highest artistic period, to bring together again the + elements of his broken faith, and to find in them suggestions of a + truer philosophy of life than anything which the poet himself + achieved. Perhaps, indeed, it is not easy, nor altogether fair, to + press the passionate utterances of his religious rapture into the + service of metaphysics, and to treat the unmeasured language of + emotion as the expression of a definite doctrine. Nevertheless, + rather than set forth a new defence of the faith, which his + agnosticism left exposed to the assaults of doubt and denial, it is + better to make Browning correct his own errors, and to appeal from + the metaphysician to the poet, from the sobriety of the logical + understanding to the inspiration of poetry.</p> + + <p>I have already indicated what seems to me to be the defective + element in the poet's philosophy of life. His theory of knowledge is + in need of revision; and what he asserts of human love, should be + applied point by point to human reason. As man is ideally united with + the absolute on the side of moral emotion (if the phrase may be + pardoned), so he is ideally united with the absolute on the side of + the intellect. As there is no difference of <i>nature</i> between + God's goodness and man's goodness, so there is no difference of + nature between God's <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg351" id= + "pg351">351</a></span> truth and man's truth. There are not two kinds + of righteousness or mercy; there are not two kinds of truth. Human + nature is not "cut in two with a hatchet," as the poet implies that + it is. There is in man a lower and a higher element, ever at war with + each other; still he is not a mixture, or agglomerate, of the finite + and the infinite. A love perfect in nature cannot be linked to an + intelligence imperfect in nature; if it were, the love would be + either a blind impulse or an erring one. Both morality and religion + demand the presence in man of a perfect ideal, which is at war with + his imperfections; but an ideal is possible, only to a being endowed + with a capacity for knowing the truth. In degrading human knowledge, + the poet is disloyal to the fundamental principle of the Christian + faith which he professed—that God can and does manifest himself + in man.</p> + + <p>On the other hand, we are not to take the unity of man with God, + of man's moral ideal with the All-perfect, as implying, on the moral + side, an absolute identification of the finite with the infinite; nor + can we do so on the side of knowledge. Man's moral life and rational + activity in knowledge are the process of the highest. But man is + neither first, nor last; he is not the original author of his love, + any more than of his reason; he is not the divine principle of the + whole to which he belongs, although he is potentially in harmony with + it. Both sides of his being are equally touched with + imperfection—his love, no less than his reason. <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg352" id="pg352">352</a></span> Perfect love + would imply perfect wisdom, as perfect wisdom, perfect love. But + absolute terms are not applicable to man, who is ever <i>on the + way</i> to goodness and truth, progressively manifesting the power of + the ideal that dwells in him, and whose very life is conflict and + acquirement.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp,</p> + + <p>Or what's a heaven for? All is silver-grey</p> + + <p>Placid and perfect with my art: the worse."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Andrea del Sarto</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>Hardly any conception is more prominent in Browning's writings + than this, of endless progress towards an infinite ideal; although he + occasionally manifests a desire to have done with effort.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i6">"When a soul has seen</p> + + <p class="i2">By the means of Evil that Good is best,</p> + + <p>And, through earth and its noise, what is heaven's + serene,—</p> + + <p class="i2">When our faith in the same has stood the + test—</p> + + <p>Why, the child grown man, you burn the rod,</p> + + <p class="i2">The uses of labour are surely done,</p> + + <p>There remaineth a rest for the people of God,</p> + + <p class="i2">And I have had troubles enough, for one."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Old Pictures in Florence</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>It is the sense of endless onward movement, the outlook towards an + immortal course, "the life after life in unlimited series," which is + so inspiring in his early poetry. He conceives that we are here, on + this lower earth, just to learn one form, the elementary lesson and + alphabet of goodness, namely, "the uses of the flesh": in other + lives, other achievements. The separation of the soul from its + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg353" id="pg353">353</a></span> + instrument has very little significance to the poet; for it does not + arrest the course of moral development.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"No work begun shall ever pause for death."</p> + </div> + + <p>The spirit pursues its lone way, on other "adventures brave and + new," but ever towards a good which is complete.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Delayed it may be for more lives yet,</p> + + <p class="i2">Through worlds I shall traverse, not a few:</p> + + <p>Much is to learn, much to forget</p> + + <p class="i2">Ere the time be come for taking you."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Evelyn Hope</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>Still the time will come when the awakened need shall be + satisfied; for the need was created in order to be satisfied.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Wherefore did I contrive for thee that ear</p> + + <p>Hungry for music, and direct thine eye</p> + + <p>To where I hold a seven-stringed instrument,</p> + + <p>Unless I meant thee to beseech me play?"<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Two Camels</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>The movement onward is thus a movement in knowledge, as well as in + every other form of good. The lover of Evelyn Hope, looking back in + imagination on the course he has travelled on earth and after, + exclaims—</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"I have lived (I shall say) so much since then,</p> + + <p class="i2">Given up myself so many times,</p> + + <p>Gained me the gains of various men,</p> + + <p class="i2">Ransacked the ages, spoiled the climes."<sup>C</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>C: <i>Evelyn Hope</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>In these earlier poems, there is not, as in the later <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg354" id="pg354">354</a></span> ones, a maimed, + or one-sided, evolution—a progress towards perfect love on the + side of the heart, and towards an illusive ideal on the side of the + intellect. Knowledge, too, has its value, and he who lived to settle + "<i>Hoti's</i> business, properly based <i>Oun</i>," and who "gave us + the doctrine of the enclitic <i>De</i>," was, to the poet,</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Still loftier than the world suspects,</p> + + <p class="i2">Living and dying.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Here's the top-peak; the multitude below</p> + + <p class="i2">Live, for they can, there:</p> + + <p>This man decided not to Live but Know—</p> + + <p class="i2">Bury this man there?</p> + + <p>Here—here's his place, where meteors shoot, clouds + form,</p> + + <p class="i2">Lightnings are loosened,</p> + + <p>Stars come and go."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>A Grammarian's Funeral</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>No human effort goes to waste, no gift is delusive; but every gift + and every effort has its proper place as a stage in the endless + process. The soul bears in it <i>all</i> its conquests.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"There shall never be one lost good! What was, shall live as + before;</p> + + <p class="i2">The evil is null, is nought, is silence implying + sound;</p> + + <p>What was good, shall be good, with, for evil, <i>so</i> much + good more;</p> + + <p class="i2">On the earth the broken arcs; in the heaven, a + perfect round."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Abt Vogler</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>The "apparent failure" of knowledge, like every apparent failure, + is "a triumph's evidence for the fulness of the days." The doubts + that knowledge <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg355" id= + "pg355">355</a></span> brings, instead of implying a defective + intelligence doomed to spend itself on phantom phenomena, sting to + progress towards the truth. He bids us "Learn, nor account the pang; + dare, never grudge the throe."</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Rather I prize the doubt</p> + + <p>Low kinds exist without,</p> + + <p>Finished and finite clods, untroubled by a spark."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Rabbi Ben Ezra</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>Similarly, defects in art, like defects in character, contain the + promise of further achievement.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Are they perfect of lineament, perfect of stature?</p> + + <p class="i2">In both, of such lower types are we</p> + + <p>Precisely because of our wider nature;</p> + + <p class="i2">For time, their's—ours, for eternity.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"To-day's brief passion limits their range;</p> + + <p class="i2">It seethes with the morrow for us and more.</p> + + <p>They are perfect—how else? They shall never change:</p> + + <p class="i2">We are faulty—why not? We have time in + store."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Old Pictures in Florence</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>Prior to the period when a sceptical philosophy came down like a + blight, and destroyed the bloom of his art and faith, he thus + recognized that growing knowledge was an essential condition of + growing goodness. Pompilia shone with a glory that mere knowledge + could not give (if there were such a thing as <i>mere</i> + knowledge).</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i8">"Everywhere</p> + + <p>I see in the world the intellect of man,</p> + + <p>That sword, the energy his subtle spear,</p> + + <p>The knowledge which defends him like a + shield—</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg356" id= + "pg356">356</a></span> + + <p>Everywhere; but they make not up, I think,</p> + + <p>The marvel of a soul like thine, earth's flower</p> + + <p>She holds up to the softened gaze of God."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>The Ring and the Book</i>—<i>The Pope</i>, + 1013-1019.</p> + </div> + + <p>But yet she recognized with patient pain the loss she had + sustained for want of knowledge.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"The saints must bear with me, impute the fault</p> + + <p>To a soul i' the bud, so starved by ignorance,</p> + + <p>Stinted of warmth, it will not blow this year</p> + + <p>Nor recognize the orb which Spring-flowers know."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>The Ring and the Book</i>—<i>Pompilia</i>, + 1515-1518.</p> + </div> + + <p>Further on in the Pope's soliloquy, the poet shows that, at that + time, he fully recognized the risk of entrusting the spiritual + interests of man to the enthusiasm of elevated feeling, or to the + mere intuitions of a noble heart. Such intuitions will sometimes + guide a man happily, as in the case of Caponsacchi:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i8">"Since ourselves allow</p> + + <p>He has danced, in gaiety of heart, i' the main</p> + + <p>The right step through the maze we bade him foot."<sup>C</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>C: <i>The Ring and the Book</i>—<i>The Pope</i>, + 1915-1917.</p> + </div> + + <p>But, on the other hand, such impulses, not instructed by knowledge + of the truth, and made steadfast to the laws of the higher life by a + reasoned conviction, lead man rightly only by accident. In such a + career there is no guarantee of constancy; other impulses might lead + to other ways of life.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"But if his heart had prompted to break loose</p> + + <p>And mar the measure? Why, we must submit,</p><span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg357" id="pg357">357</a></span> + + <p>And thank the chance that brought him safe so far.</p> + + <p>Will he repeat the prodigy? Perhaps.</p> + + <p>Can he teach others how to quit themselves,</p> + + <p>Show why this step was right while that were wrong?</p> + + <p>How should he? 'Ask your hearts as I asked mine,</p> + + <p>And get discreetly through the morrice too;</p> + + <p>If your hearts misdirect you,—quit the stage,</p> + + <p>And make amends,—be there amends to make.'"<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>The Ring and the Book</i>—<i>The Pope</i>, + 1916-1927.</p> + </div> + + <p>If the heart proved to Caponsacchi a guide to all that is good and + glorious, "the Abate, second in the suite," puts in the testimony of + another experience: "His heart answered to another tune."</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"I have my taste too, and tread no such step!</p> + + <p>You choose the glorious life, and may for me!</p> + + <p>I like the lowest of life's appetites,—</p> + + <p>So you judge—but the very truth of joy</p> + + <p>To my own apprehension which decides."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Ibid.</i>, 1932-1936.</p> + </div> + + <p>Mere emotion is thus an insecure guide to conduct, for its + authority can be equally cited in support of every course of life. No + one can say to his neighbour, "Thou art wrong." Every impulse is + right to the individual who has it, and so long as he has it. <i>De + gustibus non disputandum</i>. Without a universal criterion there is + no praise or blame.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Call me knave and you get yourself called fool!</p> + + <p>I live for greed, ambition, lust, revenge;</p> + + <p>Attain these ends by force, guile: hypocrite,</p> + + <p>To-day, perchance to-morrow recognized</p> + + <p>The rational man, the type of common-sense."<sup>C</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>C: <i>Ibid.</i>, 1937-1941.</p> + </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg358" id="pg358">358</a></span> + + <p>This poem which, both in its moral wisdom and artistic worth, + marks the high tide of Browning's poetic insight, while he is not as + yet concerned with the defence of any theory or the discussion of any + abstract question, contrasts strongly with the later poems, where + knowledge is dissembling ignorance, faith is blind trust, and love is + a mere impulse of the heart. Having failed to meet the difficulties + of reflection, the poet turned upon the intellect. Knowledge becomes + to him an offence, and to save his faith he plucked out his right eye + and entered into the kingdom maimed. In <i>Rabbi Ben Ezra</i> the + ascent into another life is triumphant, like that of a conqueror + bearing with him the spoils of earth; but in the later poems he + escapes with a bare belief, and the loss of all his rich possessions + of knowledge, like a shipwrecked mariner whose goods have been thrown + overboard. His philosophy was a treacherous ally to his faith.</p> + + <p>But there is another consideration which shows that the poet, as + artist, recognized the need of giving to reason a larger function + than seems to be possible according to the theory in his later works. + In the early poems there is no hint of the doctrine that + demonstrative knowledge of the good, and of the necessity of its law, + would destroy freedom. On the contrary, there are suggestions which + point to the opposite doctrine, according to which knowledge is the + condition of freedom.</p> + + <p>While in his later poems the poet speaks of love as an + impulse—either blind or bound to erring <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg359" id="pg359">359</a></span> + knowledge—and of the heart as made to love, in his earlier ones + he seems to treat man as free to work out his own purposes, and act + out his own ideals. Browning here finds himself able to maintain the + dependence of man upon God without destroying morality. He regards + man's impulses not as blind instincts, but as falling <i>within</i> + his rational nature, and constituting the forms of its activity. He + recognizes the distinction between a mere impulse, in the sense of a + tendency to act, which is directed by a foreign power, and an impulse + informed, that is, directed by reason. According to this view, it is + reason which at once gives man the independence of foreign authority, + which is implied in morality, and constitutes that affinity between + man and God, which is implied by religion. No doubt, the impulse to + know, like the impulse to love, was put into man: his whole nature is + a gift, and he is therefore, in this sense, completely dependent upon + God—"God's all, man's nought." But, on the other hand, it + <i>is</i> a rational nature which has been put into him, and not an + irrational impulse. Or, rather, the impulse that constitutes his life + as man, is the self-evolving activity of reason.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Who speaks of man, then, must not sever</p> + + <p>Man's very elements from man."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Christmas-Eve</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>However the rational nature of man has come to be, whether by + emanation or creation, it necessarily brings freedom with it, and all + its risks and <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg360" id= + "pg360">360</a></span> possibilities. It is of the very essence of + reason that it should find its law within itself.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i4">"God's all, man's nought:</p> + + <p>But also, God, whose pleasure brought</p> + + <p>Man into being, stands away</p> + + <p>As it were a hand-breadth off, to give</p> + + <p>Room for the newly-made to live,</p> + + <p>And look at Him from a place apart,</p> + + <p>And use his gifts of brain and heart,</p> + + <p>Given, indeed, but to keep for ever."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Christmas-Eve</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>Thus, while insisting on the absolute priority of God, and the + original receptivity of man; while recognizing that love, reason, and + every inner power and outer opportunity are lent to man, Browning + does not forget what these powers are. Man can only act as man; he + must obey his nature, as the stock or stone or plant obeys its + nature. But to act as man is to act freely, and man's nature is not + that of a stock or stone. He is rational, and cannot but be rational. + Hence he can neither be ruled, as dead matter is ruled, by natural + law; nor live, like a bird, the life of innocent impulse or instinct. + He is placed, from the very first, on "the table land whence life + upsprings aspiring to be immortality." He is a + spirit,—responsible because he is free, and free because he is + rational.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Man, therefore, stands on his own stock</p> + + <p>Of love and power as a pin-point rock,</p> + + <p>And, looks to God who ordained divorce</p> + + <p>Of the rock from His boundless continent."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Ibid.</i></p> + </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg361" id="pg361">361</a></span> + + <p>The divorce is real, although ordained, but it is possible only in + so far as man, by means of reason, constitutes his own ends of + action. Impulse cannot bring it about. It is reason that enables man + to free himself from the despotic authority of outer law, to relate + himself to an inner law, and by reconciling inner and outer to attain + to goodness. Thus reason is the source of all morality. And it also + is the principle of religion, for it implies the highest and fullest + manifestation of the absolute.</p> + + <p>Although the first aspect of self-consciousness is its + independence, which is, in turn, the first condition of morality, + still this is only the first aspect. The rational being plants + himself on his own individuality, stands aloof and alone in the + rights of his freedom, <i>in order that</i> he may set out from + thence to take possession, by means of knowledge and action, of the + world in which he is placed. Reason is potentially absolute, capable + of finding itself everywhere. So that in it man is "honour-clothed + and glory-crowned."</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"This is the honour,—that no thing I know,</p> + + <p>Feel or conceive, but I can make my own</p> + + <p>Somehow, by use of hand, or head, or heart."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau.</i></p> + </div> + + <p>Man, by his knowledge, overcomes the resistance and hostility of + the world without him, or rather, discovers that there is not + hostility, but affinity between it and himself.</p><span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg362" id="pg362">362</a></span> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"This is the glory,—that in all conceived,</p> + + <p>Or felt or known, I recognize a mind</p> + + <p>Not mine but like mine,—for the double joy,—</p> + + <p>Making all things for me and me for Him."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>That which is finite is hemmed in by other things, as well as + determined by them; but the infinite is all-inclusive. There exists + for it no other thing to limit or determine it. There is nothing + finally alien or foreign to reason. Freedom and infinitude, + self-determination and absoluteness, imply each other. In so far as + man is free, he is lifted above the finite. It was God's plan to make + man on His own image:—</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i4">"To create man and then leave him</p> + + <p>Able, His own word saith, to grieve Him,</p> + + <p>But able to glorify Him too,</p> + + <p>As a mere machine could never do,</p> + + <p>That prayed or praised, all unaware</p> + + <p>Of its fitness for aught but praise or prayer,</p> + + <p>Made perfect as a thing of course."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>Christmas-Eve</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>Man must find his law within himself, be the source of his own + activity, not passive or receptive, but outgoing and effective.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Rejoice we are allied</p> + + <p>To That which doth provide</p> + + <p>And not partake, effect and not receive!</p> + + <p>A spark disturbs our clod;</p> + + <p>Nearer we hold of God</p> + + <p>Who gives, than of His tribes that take, I must believe."<sup>C</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>C: <i>Rabbi Ben Ezra</i>.</p> + </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg363" id="pg363">363</a></span> + + <p>This near affinity between the divine and human is just what + Browning seems to repudiate in his later poems, when he speaks as if + the absolute, in order to maintain its own supremacy over man, had to + stint its gifts and endow him only with a defective reason. In the + earlier period of the poet there is far less timidity. He then saw + that the greater the gift, the greater the Giver; that only spirit + can reveal spirit; that "God is glorified in man," and that love is + at its fullest only when it gives itself.</p> + + <p>In insisting on such identity of the human spirit with the divine, + our poet does not at any time run the risk of forgetting that the + identity is not absolute. Absolute identity would be pantheism, which + leaves God lonely and loveless, and extinguishes man, as well as his + morality.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Man is not God, but hath God's end to serve,</p> + + <p>A Master to obey, a course to take,</p> + + <p>Somewhat to cast off, somewhat to become."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>A Death in the Desert</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>Man, at best, only moves <i>towards</i> his ideal: God is + conceived as the ever-existing ideal. God, in short, is the term + which signifies for us the Being who is eternally all in all, and + who, therefore, is hidden from us who are only moving <i>towards</i> + perfection, in the excess of the brightness of His own glory. + Nevertheless, as Browning recognizes, the grandeur of God's + perfection is just His outflowing love. And that love is never + complete in its manifestation, till <span class="pagenum"><a name= + "pg364" id="pg364">364</a></span> it has given itself. Man's life, as + spirit, is thus one in nature with that of the absolute. But the + unity is not complete, because man is only potentially perfect. He is + the process <i>of</i> the ideal; his life is the divine activity + within him. Still, it is also man's activity. For the process, being + the process of spirit, is a <i>free</i> process—one in which + man himself energizes; so that, in doing God's will, he is doing his + own highest will, and, in obeying the law of his own deepest nature, + he is obeying God. The unity of divine and human within the spiritual + life of man is a real unity, just because man is free; the identity + manifests itself through the difference, and the difference is + possible through the unity.</p> + + <p>Thus, in the light of an ideal which is moral, and therefore + perfect—an ideal gradually realizing itself in a process which + is endless—the poet is able to maintain at once the community + between man and God, which is necessary to religion, and their + independence, which is necessary to morality. The conception of God + as giving, which is the main doctrine of Christianity, and of man as + akin with God, is applied by him to the whole spiritual nature of + man, and not merely to his emotion. The process of evolution is thus + a process towards truth, as well as goodness; in fact, goodness and + truth are known as inseparable. Knowledge, too, is a Divine + endowment. "What gift of man is not from God descended?" What gift of + God can be deceptive?</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg365" id= + "pg365">365</a></span> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Take all in a word: the truth in God's breast</p> + + <p>Lies trace for trace upon ours impressed:</p> + + <p>Though He is so bright and we so dim,</p> + + <p>We are made in His image to witness Him."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>Christmas-Eve</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>The Pope recognizes clearly the inadequacy of human knowledge; but + he also recognizes that it has a Divine source.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Yet my poor spark had for its source, the sun;</p> + + <p>Thither I sent the great looks which compel</p> + + <p>Light from its fount: all that I do and am</p> + + <p>Comes from the truth, or seen or else surmised,</p> + + <p>Remembered or divined, as mere man may."<sup>B</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: <i>The Ring and the Book</i>—<i>The Pope</i>, + 1285-1289.</p> + </div> + + <p>The last words indicate a suspicion of a certain defect in + knowledge, which is not recognized in human love; nevertheless, in + these earlier poems, the poet does not analyze human nature into a + finite and infinite, or seek to dispose of his difficulties by the + deceptive solvent of a dualistic agnosticism. He treats spirit as a + unity, and refuses to set love and reason against each other. Man's + <i>life</i>, for the poet, and not merely man's love, begins with + God, and returns back to God in the rapt recognition of God's perfect + being by reason, and in the identification of man's purposes with His + by means of will and love.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"What is left for us, save, in growth</p> + + <p>Of soul, to rise up, far past both,</p> + + <p>From the gift looking to the giver,</p> + + <p>And from the cistern to the river,</p> + + <p>And from the finite to infinity</p> + + <p>And from man's dust to God's divinity?"<sup>C</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>C: <i>Christmas-Eve</i>.</p> + </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg366" id="pg366">366</a></span> + + <p>It is this movement of the absolute in man, this aspiration + towards the full knowledge and perfect goodness which can never be + completely attained, that constitutes man.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Man, therefore, thus conditioned, must expect</p> + + <p>He could not, what he knows now, know at first:</p> + + <p>What he considers that he knows to-day,</p> + + <p>Come but to-morrow, he will find mis-known;</p> + + <p>Getting increase of knowledge, since he learns</p> + + <p>Because he lives, which is to be a man,</p> + + <p>Set to instruct himself by his past self:</p> + + <p>First, like the brute, obliged by facts to learn,</p> + + <p>Next, as man may, obliged by his own mind,</p> + + <p>Bent, habit, nature, knowledge turned to law.</p> + + <p>God's gift was that man shall conceive of truth</p> + + <p>And yearn to gain it, catching at mistake,</p> + + <p>As midway help till he reach fact indeed?"<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>A Death in the Desert</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>"Progress," the poet says, is "man's distinctive mark alone." The + endlessness of the progress, the fact that every truth known to-day + seems misknown to-morrow, that every ideal once achieved only points + to another and becomes itself a stepping stone, does not, as in his + later days, bring despair to him. For the consciousness of failure is + possible in knowledge, as in morality, only because there has come a + fuller light. Browning does not, as yet, dwell exclusively on the + negative element in progress, or forget that it is possible only + through a deeper positive. He does not think that, because we turn + our backs on what we have gained, we are therefore not going forward; + nay, he asserts the <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg367" id= + "pg367">367</a></span> contrary. Failure, even the failure of + knowledge, is triumph's evidence in these earlier days; and complete + failure, the unchecked rule of evil in any form, is therefore + impossible. We deny</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"Recognized truths, obedient to some truth</p> + + <p>Unrecognized yet, but perceptible,—</p> + + <p>Correct the portrait by the living face,</p> + + <p>Man's God, by God's God in the mind of man."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>The Ring and the Book—The Pope</i>, 1871-1874.</p> + </div> + + <p>Thus the poet ever returns to the conception of God in the mind of + man. God is the beginning and the end; and man is the self-conscious + worker of God's will, the free process whereby the last which is + first, returns to itself. The process, the growth, is man's life and + being; and it falls within the ideal, which is eternal and all in + all. The spiritual life of man, which is both intellectual and moral, + is a dying into the eternal, not to cease to be in it, but to live in + it more fully; for spirits necessarily commune. He dies to the + temporal interests and narrow ends of the exclusive self, and lives + an ever-expanding life in the life of others, manifesting more and + more that spiritual principle which is the life of God, who lives and + loves in all things. "God is a being in whom we exist; with whom we + are in principle one; with whom the human spirit is identical, in the + sense that He <i>is</i> all which the human spirit is capable of + becoming."<sup>B</sup></p> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>B: Green's <i>Prolegomena to Ethics</i>, p. 198.</p> + </div> + + <p>From this point of view, and in so far as Browning <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg368" id="pg368">368</a></span> is loyal to the + conception of the community of the divine and human, he is able to + maintain his faith in God, not in spite of knowledge, but through the + very movement of knowledge within him. He is not obliged, as in his + later works, to look for proofs, either in nature, or elsewhere; nor + to argue from the emotion of love in man, to a cause of that emotion. + He needs no syllogistic process to arrive at God; for the very + activity of his own spirit as intelligence, as the reason which + thinks and acts, is the activity of God within him. Scepticism, is + impossible, for the very act of doubting is the activity of reason, + and a profession of the knowledge of the truth.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i14">"I</p> + + <p>Put no such dreadful question to myself,</p> + + <p>Within whose circle of experience burns</p> + + <p>The central truth, Power, Wisdom, Goodness,—God:</p> + + <p>I must outlive a thing ere know it dead:</p> + + <p>When I outlive the faith there is a sun,</p> + + <p>When I lie, ashes to the very soul,—</p> + + <p>Someone, not I, must wail above the heap,</p> + + <p>'He died in dark whence never morn arose.'"<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>The Ring and the Book—The Pope</i>, 1631-1639.</p> + </div> + + <p>And this view of God as immanent in man's experience also + forecloses all possibility of failure. Beneath the failure, the + possibility of which is involved in a moral life, lies the divine + element, working through contradiction to its own fulfilment. Failure + is necessary for man, because he grows: but, for the same reason, the + failure is not final. Thus, the poet, instead of denying the evidence + of his intellect as to the existence of evil, or casting <span class= + "pagenum"><a name="pg369" id="pg369">369</a></span> doubt on the + distinction between right and wrong, or reducing the chequered course + of human history into a phantasmagoria of mere mental appearances, + can regard the conflict between good and evil as real and earnest. He + can look evil in the face, recognize its stubborn resistance to the + good, and still regard the victory of the latter as sure and + complete. He has not to reduce it into a phantom, or mere appearance, + in order to give it a place within the divine order. He sees the + night, but he also sees the day succeed it. Man falls into sin, but + he cannot rest in it. It is contradictory to his nature, he cannot + content himself with it, and he is driven through it. Mephistopheles + promised more than he could perform, when he undertook to make Faust + declare himself satisfied. There is not within the kingdom of evil + what will satisfy the spirit of man, whose last law is goodness, + whose nature, however obscured, is God's gift of Himself.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p>"While I see day succeed the deepest night—</p> + + <p>How can I speak but as I know?—my speech</p> + + <p>Must be, throughout the darkness. It will end:</p> + + <p>'The light that did burn, will burn!' Clouds obscure—</p> + + <p>But for which obscuration all were bright?</p> + + <p>Too hastily concluded! Sun—suffused,</p> + + <p>A cloud may soothe the eye made blind by blaze,—</p> + + <p>Better the very clarity of heaven:</p> + + <p>The soft streaks are the beautiful and dear.</p> + + <p>What but the weakness in a faith supplies</p> + + <p>The incentive to humanity, no strength</p> + + <p>Absolute, irresistible, comports?</p> + + <p>How can man love but what he yearns to help?</p> + + <p>And that which men think weakness within strength,</p> + + <p>But angels know for strength and stronger yet—</p> + + <p>What were it else but the first things made new,</p> + + <p>But repetition of the miracle,</p> + + <p>The divine instance of self-sacrifice</p> + + <p>That never ends and aye begins for man?</p> + + <p>So, never I miss footing in the maze,</p> + + <p>No,—I have light nor fear the dark at all."<sup>A</sup></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p>A: <i>The Ring and the Book—The Pope</i>, 1640-1660.</p> + </div> + + <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg370" id= + "pg370">370</a></span> + + <div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/image370.png" alt="publisher emblem" width= + "100" /> + </div> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13561 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/13561-h/images/image001.png b/13561-h/images/image001.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2826518 --- /dev/null +++ b/13561-h/images/image001.png diff --git a/13561-h/images/image370.png b/13561-h/images/image370.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..42bc39b --- /dev/null +++ b/13561-h/images/image370.png |
