In knowledge, as in morals, it is necessary to
remember both the truths implied in the pursuit
of an ideal — that a growing thing not only always
fails to attain, but also always succeeds. The dis-
tinction between truth and error in knowledge is
present at every stage of the effort to attain truth,
as the distinction between right and wrong is
present in every phase of the moral life. It is the
source of the intellectual effort. , But that distinction
cannot be drawn except by reference to a criterion
of truth which condemns our actual knowledge ;



KNOWLEDGE DOES NOT FAIL 277

just as it is the absolute good which condemns
the present character. The ideal may be indefinite,
and its content confused and poor ; but it is always
sufficient for its purpose, always better than the
actual achievement. And, in this sense, reality, the
truth, the veritable being of things, is always reached
by the poorest knowledge. As there is no starved
and distorted sapling which is not the embodiment
of the principle of natural life, so the meanest
character is the product of an ideal of goodness, and
the most confused opinion of ignorant mankind is
an expression of the reality of things. Without
it there would not be even the semblance of know-
ledge, not even error and untruth.
