not suffice to grasp all the laws of the
universe in their totality, not in the visible world only, but also in the
world of the unseen; each failure to know the true law implies suffering
arising from our ignorant breach of it; and thus, since Nature is infinite,
we are met by the paradox that we must in some way contrive to compass the
knowledge of the infinite with our individual intelligence, and we must
perform a pilgrimage along an unceasing Via Dolorosa beneath the lash of
the inexorable Law until we find the solution to the problem. But it will
be asked, May we not go on until at last we attain the possession of all
knowledge? People do not realize what is meant by "the infinite," or they
would not ask such questions. The infinite is that which is limitless and
exhaustless. Imagine the vastest capacity you will, and having filled it
with the infinite, what remains of the infinite is just as infinite as
before. To the mathematician this may be put very clearly. Raise _x_ to any
power you will, and however vast may be the disparity between it and the
lower powers of _x_, both are equally incommensurate with _x^n._ The
universal reign of Law is a magnificent truth; it is one of the two great
pillars of the universe symbolized by the two pillars that stood at the
entrance to Solomon's temple: it is Jachin, but Jachin must be
equilibriated by Boaz.

It is an enduring truth, which can never be altered, that every infraction
of the Law of Nature must carry its punitive consequences with it. We can
never get beyond the range of cause and effect. There is no escaping from
the law of punishment, except by knowledge. If we know a law of Nature and
work with it, we shall find it our unfailing friend, ever ready to serve
us, and never rebuking us for past failures; but if we ignorantly or
wilfully transgress it, it is our implacable enemy, until we again become
obedient to it; and therefore the only redemption from perpetual pain and
servitude is by a self-expansion which can grasp infinitude itself. How is
this to be accomplished? By our progress to that kind and degree of
intelligence by which we realize the inherent _personalness_ of the divine
all-pervading Life, which is at once the Law and the Substance of all that
is. Well said the Jewish rabbis of old, "The Law is a Person." When we once
realize that the universal Life and the universal Law are one with the
universal Personalness, then we have established the pillar Bo