Page:The Philosophy of Creation.djvu/94

 complete demonstration. Let us not turn from such sources of truth in the desire to investigate interior causes with the test-tube and the microscope, and to follow self-derived intelligence; rather let us feel grateful for the mercy and love of God, who has placed within our reach the means of prosecuting our study until we shall comprehend the very organism of God Himself.

I have not thought it advisable to quote from Swedenborg's Writings as authority, for the purpose is to substantiate the main argument by science, by reason, and by the authority of truth itself. Heretofore philosophers have attempted to construct a philosophy from science upon the basis of human ingenuity, unaided by revelation. The results are apparent, as already noticed. Our philosophers have not started right. They have commenced to build their tower in the valley of materialistic thought, using the "brick" of man-made ideas for the "stone" of revealed truths; and they have substituted the "slime" of self-love for the pure cement of love for the Word and God; they have builded higher and higher, hoping by the power of intellect to gain dominion over the wisdom of the Word and over heaven; but with the consequent confusion of tongues we are familiar. Or it is as though a company gathered on the circumference of a