oversy: the more
definite or concrete conceptions of which it consists possessed no
finality for even his own mind; they represented for him an absolute
truth in contingent relations to it. No one felt more strongly than he
the contradictions involved in any conceivable system of Divine creation
and government. No one knew better that every act and motive which we
attribute to a Supreme Being is a virtual negation of His existence.
He believed nevertheless that such a Being exists; and he accepted His
reflection in the mirror of the human consciousness, as a necessarily
false image, but one which bears witness to the truth.

His works rarely indicate this condition of feeling; it was not often
apparent in his conversation. The faith which he had contingently
accepted became absolute for him from all practical points of view; it
became subject to all the conditions of his humanity. On the ground of
abstract logic he was always ready to disavow it; the transcendental
imagination and the acknowledged limits of human reason claimed the last
word in its behalf. This philosophy of religion is distinctly suggested
in the fifth parable of 'Ferishtah's Fancies'.

But even in defending what remains, from the most widely accepted point
of view, the validity of Mr. Browning's 'message', we concede the fact
that it is most powerful when conveyed in its least explicit form; for
then alone does it bear, with the full weight of his poetic utterance,
on the minds to which it is addressed. His challenge to Faith and Hope
imposes itself far less through any intellectual plea which he can
advance in its support, than through the unconscious testimony of all
creative genius to the marvel of conscious life; through the passionate
affirmation of his poetic and human nature, not only of the goodness and
the beauty of that life, but of its reality and its persistence.

We are told by Mr. Sharp that a new star appeared in Orion on the night
on which Robert Browning died. The alleged fact is disproved by the
statement of the Astronomer Royal, to whom it has been submitted; but it
would have been a beautiful symbol of translation, such as affectionate
fancy might gladly cherish if it were true. It is indeed true that
on that twelfth of December, a vivid centre of light and warmth was
extinguished upon our earth. The clouded brightness of many lives
bears witness to the poet spirit which has departed, the glowing human
presence which has passed a