they do not go the whole way, and for the most part stop short at the
first or simply Cosmic Creation; or, if they attempt to pass beyond
this, it is on the line of making unaided power of the individual the
sole means by which to do so, and thus in fact always keeping us at the
merely generic level. Such a mode of Thought as this, fails to meet the
requirements of our conception of a happy life as one entirely exempt
from fear and anxiety. In like manner also it fails to meet the first
requirements of the whole series, viz.: the Word should be certain of
itself; and if it be not certain of itself we have no assurance that it
may not eventually disappoint our hopes. In short, this mode of thought
leaves us to bear the whole burden from which we want to escape. So it
is not good enough; we must look for something better.

Now this something better I find in the _Promises_ contained in the
Bible, and it is this that to my mind distinguishes our own Scriptures
from the sacred books of all other nations, and from all systems of
philosophy. I do not at all ignore the current objections to the
possibility of Divine Promises, but I think that on examination they
will be found to be superficial and resulting from want of careful
enquiry into the true nature of the Promises themselves. How is it
possible for the Laws of the Universe to make exceptions? How can God
act by individual favouritism unless it be either through sheer caprice,
or by the individual managing to get round Him in some way, either by
supplying some need which He cannot supply for Himself, in which case
God is of limited power, or else by flattering Him, in which case He is
the apotheosis of absurd vanity. The two are really the same question
put in different ways--the question of individual exceptions to the
general Law.

The answer is that there are no individual exceptions to the general