of a new one; it is on account of this that religion longs for the conviction of the whole man, and brands the denial of this as pettiness and unbelief.  The world may therefore remain to the external view as it appeared before—­a kingdom of opposition and darkness; its hindrances within and without may seem to nullify everything else; they may contract and even seemingly destroy man and his spiritual potencies; all his acts may seem fruitless and vain, and his whole existence may seem to sink into nothingness and worthlessness.  Yet, through the entrance of the new life and a new world, everything is transformed from within, and the clearness of the light appears all the more by contrast with all the depth of the darkness.  Indeed, in the midst of all the mysteries of existence, hope and conviction and certainty will consolidate our experience, so that ultimately evil itself must serve the development of the good."[53] Or in the words of Luther:  “This is the spiritual power which reigns and rules in the midst of enemies, and is powerful in the midst [p.159] of all oppression.  And this is nothing other than that strength is perfected in weakness, and that in all things I can gain life eternal, so that cross and crown are compelled to serve and to contribute towards my salvation."[54]

Eucken shows how this idea of God comes from the Life-process itself.  The Godhead is present, not as an external revelation but as the ever fuller meaning and experience which have been carried along in the soul in its passage from the natural level to the highest spiritual plane.  At its summit the development unfolds its true spiritual content of Love.  The Highest Power—­however much there still remains dark concerning it—­has had communication with man, is present within his soul, has become his own life and nature, as well as his self-subsistence over against the order of the world.  Here Love is raised up into an image of the Godhead—­Love as a self-communication and as an essential elevation of the nature, and as an expression of inmost fellowship.[55] “There originates a mutual intercourse of the soul and God as between an I and a Thou.”  It has already been stated that Eucken insists that no close determination, in an intellectual form, should be given to this conception and experience of God.  The idea of a personality of God is not an intellectual idea presented in any doctrinal form; it is an idea [p.160] born within the Life-process on its highest levels.  On such levels it becomes obvious and indispensable.  Man may be clearly conscious of the symbolism of the idea, and yet, at the same time, grasp in it an incontestable intrinsic truth which he knows to be far above all mere anthropomorphism.  Eucken shows that it is not merely a human greatness that has been transferred to the Divine, but that the whole meaning here is a return to the source of a Divine Life and its mutual communication with man; and therefore the whole process is not an argument