like the earth, it "bringeth forth fruit of itself," in its proper stages, "first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear";1 the most we can do is to help it to grow. And it is either growing or decaying. Thus any mental power, -imagination, intelligence, or some particular kind of memory or will,- must be either growing through use or tending to die out. Hence it was said, "To him that hath, shall be given; but from him that hath not, shall be taken even that which he hath."2 The apparent contradiction arises because it is not true that we can either can either simply have any mental acquirement or power, or simply have it not; just as it is not true that we can either simply be something-be good, for example, or simply be not good. We are either coming to have or to be it, or we are losing it; in the one case more power will be given in the other, the dying power will soon be dead. Other very important results flow from the fact that the mind is always growing. We can never have the Absolute Truth 2 Cf. Mark iv. 24, 25. 1 Mark iv. 26-28. or perfect Knowledge clearly before us; for that would mean that our intellectual growth had come to an end :— Man is not God but hath God's end to serve, A master to obey, a course to take, Somewhat to cast off, somewhat to become. Grant this, then man must pass from old to new, From what once seemed good, to what now proves best.1 Again, because man grows, his period of progress, and therefore of work, must be indefinitely long; for the lower the want, the sooner satisfied : The body sprang At once to the height, and stayed: but the soul-no! Duly, daily, needs provision be For keeping the soul's progress possible, Once more, because man grows, it is right to judge him by his best moments, even if they fail : What I aspired to be, And was not, comforts me.3 1 A Death in the Desert. 2 Ibid. 3 Rabbi Ben Ezra, vii. Man is exalted rather by what he Would do than by what he Does.1 This thought occurs in many passages in Paracelsus, Fifine, and others among the longer poems; and in Christina, By the Fireside, Dis Aliter Visum, and many more among the shorter ones. It is no paradox, because what man Would Do is a sign of what he may Become or grow to Be. If we ask, what is the object of the growth, the aim of all living, the answers are of this kind : Life, with all it yields of joy and woe, And hope and fear,—believe the aged friend,- What, then, is Browning's conception of 1 Cf. Saul, xviii. 2 A Death in the Desert. into closer union with God; but man's Love is God's Love too. Browning's teaching is distinctly that of the Johannine writings in the New Testament: "God is Love; and he that dwelleth in Love, dwelleth in God, and God in him."1 The word Love is often used very vaguely; and any general definition of it is hard to find. But by Browning, as Professor Royce has observed, the word is used, in his reflective passages, "in a very pregnant and at the same time a very inclusive sense,-almost, one might say, as a technical term." It "includes the tenderer affections, but is in no wise limited to them; it means the affection which any being has towards what that being takes to be his highest good." This observation seems very just; and it provides for Browning's illustrations of the various kinds and degrees of Love, as well as for his insistence on the need of strenuous activity for human growth. For the creature will endeavour to realise, by effort, what it takes to be its own good; and this realisation will mean the expan1 See especially 1 John iv. 12, 16, 18, 20. sion of its own nature,-putting forth new powers and assimilating new experiences. The worth of Love depends on how far the good, which it strives for, includes or excludes the good of others. Browning frequently limits Love to affection for the higher kinds of good,-" true good," as we say. The lower kinds of good are then Love's "faint beginnings," springing partly from imperfect ideas of what good is. The story of Paracelsus is Browning's grandest illustration of how needful Love is for any fruitful human work. Paracelsus failed, because in his passionate pursuit of knowledge he grew indifferent to the real needs of men. He thought only of the power which knowledge gave him; he would help men only as it were from an eminence, doling down to them fragments of his own great ideas :— "In my own heart love had not been made wise Browning's faith that God-the universal Power-is Love is a summary conclusion from his experience and observation of life. This faith he tried to illustrate, rather than |