business to quarrel with the
universe if it withholds it from us; that the way out of pessimism
lies, not through reason, but through honest work, steady adherence to
the simple duty which each day brings, fidelity to the right as we
know it. Such, in broad statement, is the substance of Carlyle's
religious convictions and moral teaching. Like Kant he takes his stand
on the principles of ethical idealism. God is to be sought, not
through speculation, or syllogism, or the learning of the schools, but
through the moral nature. It is the soul in action that alone finds
God. And the finding of God means, not happiness as the world
conceives it, but blessedness, or the inward peace which passes
understanding.

The connection between the transfigured autobiography which serves to
introduce the directly didactic element of the book and that element
itself, will now be clear. Stripped of its whimsicalities of
phraseology and its humorous extravagances, Carlyle's philosophy
stands revealed as essentially idealistic in character. Spirit is the
only reality. Visible things are but the manifestations, emblems, or
clothings of spirit. The material universe itself is only the vesture
or symbol of God; man is a spirit, though he wears the wrappings of
the flesh; and in everything that man creates for himself he merely
attempts to give body or expression to thought. The science of
Carlyle's time was busy proclaiming that, since the universe is
governed by natural laws, miracles are impossible and the supernatural
is a myth. Carlyle replies that the natural laws are themselves only
the manifestation of Spiritual Force, and that thus miracle is
everywhere and all nature supernatural. We, who are the creatures of
time and space, can indeed apprehend the Absolute only when He weaves
about Him the visible garments of time and space. Thus God reveals
Himself to sense through symbols. But it is as we regard these symbols
in one or other of two possible ways that we class ourselves with the
foolish man or with the wise. The foolish man sees only the symbol,
thinks it exists for itself, takes it for the ultimate fact, and
therefore rests in it. The wise man sees the symbol, knows that it is
only a symbol, and penetrates into it for the ultimate fact or
spiritual reality which it symbolises.

Remote as such a doctrine may at first sight seem to be from the
questions with which men are commonly concerned, it has none the less
many important p