r must embody his thoughts in language
before he can communicate them to another. Matter, then, is the vehicle
by which thought is communicated, and, so far as we are concerned, the
necessary condition of such communication, so that the conception of
thought apart from the thinker involves the intervention of material
forms, and it is by the interpretation of these symbolical forms that we
discover the idea.

Now, let us suppose a Supreme Intelligence. The intellectual processes
of such a Being, to be conceived as rational by us, must be identical
with ours, or at least analogous to ours. The possession of infinite
attributes may in fact free him from the control of any law, but it is
impossible for us to conceive an intelligence acting otherwise than in
accordance with law. So that if the Supreme Intelligence is to
communicate with man, it must be in obedience to the laws which control
our mental activities. The Divine thought must, then, like human
conceptions, be communicated by means of physical symbols.

The Supreme Intelligence, being the final generalization, must possess
all knowledge, and the only intelligent action possible to him from our
point of view, is from this absolute generalization towards the concrete
and individual. The absolute general is purely subjective, which, to
become cognizable, must be rendered objective. This can be secured to us
only through the intervention of material forms. From this point of
view, matter is only the symbol of thought--thought apart from the
thinker. The first result of the divine activity in self-manifestation
would be the analysis of _being_ into subjective and objective--that is
the discrimination of mind and matter, which terms are severally the
final generalizations of the two fundamental divisions of science.
Matter, then, mere formless, chaotic matter, would be the first result
of creative activity. Following the development of this idea in its
continually increasing individuality, as new attributes are severally
added, matter assumes determinate form and becomes related in systems,
as the various so-called elementary substances are discriminated, until
finally all truth, capable of being revealed by inorganic matter, is
presented to us.

Add the idea of organism and we have the two great divisions of
phenomena--material and vital. The higher the generalization, the fewer
will be the attributes composing the concept, and thus the simpler will
be the form symb