e, but the fact that man and the
universe form essentially a unity, forbid us to believe. The term
"anthropomorphic" is too easily applied to philosophical systems, as if
it constituted a criticism of their validity. For if it be true, as
all must admit, that the unknown can only be explained in terms of
the known, then the universe must either be explained in terms of
man--_i.e_. in terms of will or desire--or remain incomprehensible. That
is to say, a philosophy must either be anthropomorphic, or no philosophy
at all.

Thus a metaphysical scrutiny of the results of modern science leads us
to a belief in God. But man felt the need of unity, and crude animism,
though a step in the right direction, failed to satisfy his thought,
long before the days of modern science. The spirits of animism, however,
were not discarded, but were modified, co-ordinated, and worked into a
system as servants of the Most High. Polytheism may mark a stage in this
process; or, perhaps, it was a result of mental degeneracy.

What I may term systematised as distinguished from crude animism
persisted throughout the Middle Ages. The work of systematisation had
already been accomplished, to a large extent, by the Neo-Platonists
and whoever were responsible for the Kabala. It is true that these main
sources of magical or animistic philosophy remained hidden during the
greater part of the Middle Ages; but at about their close the youthful
and enthusiastic CORNELIUS AGRIPPA (1486-1535)(1) slaked his thirst
thereat and produced his own attempt at the systematisation of magical
belief in the famous _Three Books of Occult Philosophy_. But the waters
of magical philosophy reached the mediaeval mind through various devious
channels, traditional on the one hand and literary on the other. And of
the latter, the works of pseudo-DIONYSIUS,(2) whose immense influence
upon mediaeval thought has sometimes been neglected, must certainly be
noted.

(1) The story of his life has been admirably told by HENRY MORLEY (2
vols., 1856).

(2) These writings were first heard of in the early part of the sixth
century, and were probably the work of a Syrian monk of that date, who
fathered them on to DIONYSIUS the Areopagite as a pious fraud. See Dean
INGE'S _Christian Mysticism_ (1899), pp. 104--122, and VAUGHAN'S _Hours
with the Mystics_ (7th ed., 1895), vol. i. pp. 111-124. The books have
been translated into English by the Rev. JOHN PARKER (2 vols.1897-1899),
who be