nd for their harmony, which is unity itself
maintained in diversity.

If you well understand this thought, you will easily comprehend the
source of the great errors which flow from too strong a disposition to
systematize. Men of this mind attach themselves to inadequate
conceptions, and look for unity where it does not exist. The barrier
which we must oppose to this spirit of system is the careful
enumeration of the facts which it forgets to notice. Materialism looks
for unity in inert and unintelligent bodies; it suffices to oppose to it
one fact--the reality of mind. Fatalism seeks unity in necessity. Point
out to it that its destiny-god does not account for the fact of
repentance, for example, which implies liberty, and it is enough. The
worship of humanity forces you to exclaim with Pascal--A queer God,
that! There is in the bitterness of this smile a sufficient condemnation
of the doctrine. To seek for unity, is the foundation of all philosophy.
To seek for unity too hastily and too low, is the source of the errors
of absolute minds. Absolute minds, however great they may be in other
respects, are weak minds, in that they do not succeed in preserving a
clear view of the diversity of the facts to be explained. Take the
problem of Pythagoras; keep hold of the two extremities of the chain;
never allow yourselves to deny the diversity of things, for that
diversity is plainly evidenced by human experience; beware of denying
their unity, because it is the foundation of reason; then search and
look through the histories of philosophy: you will find one hypothesis,
and one only, which answers the requirements of the problem. It goes
back, as I believe, to the origin of the world; it was glimpsed by
Socrates, by Aristotle, and Plato; but, in its full light, it belongs
only to men who have received the God of Moses, and who have studied in
the school of Jesus Christ. If this hypothesis explains the facts, it is
sound, for the property of truth is to explain, as the property of light
is to enlighten.

The doctrine of the Creator can alone account to us for the universe, by
bringing us back to its first cause. The first cause of unity cannot be
matter which could never produce mind; the first cause of unity cannot
be the human mind, which, from the moment that it desires to take itself
for the absolute being, is dissolved and annihilated. The unity which
alone can have in itself the source of multiplicity, is neither matter