Now that which, it has been argued, persists at all times and under all circumstances, is the "raw material of thought," the element of existence which is the "abstract of _all_ thoughts, ideas, or conceptions." It is merely that which they have in common, and can include none of those elements in which they differ. If, however, persistence mean anything, it means persistence in time. That which exists at this time and that which exists at that are not one, strictly speaking, but two. That is, they are not the same in sense first, but in some looser sense which will admit of duality. If, then, we are dealing with the Absolute, existence pure and simple, and are abstracting from all differences which may mark out _this_ existence from _that_, we must abstract from temporal distinctions too. If we do this, we can no longer speak of the Absolute as persisting. If we do not do this, something may persist, but it is no Absolute. Mental elements otherwise similar, but distinguished from each other by temporal differences are the same in sense second, not in sense first. The existence of which I am conscious to-day and the existence of which I was conscious yesterday are not the same existence in any sense save this. Yesterday's existence does not persist to-day; it is replaced by another. Mr. Spencer has evidently fallen into the error of those schoolmen who endeavored to abstract the element which several things have in common, but created unnecessary difficulties by making an incomplete abstraction and treating it as though it were complete. Other defects of this fallacious argument to prove our belief in the Absolute valid, I will not here discuss. SEC. 35. I next take a few passages which will illustrate the confusion of samenesses first and seventh, from Dr. James McCosh's late work on "First and Fundamental Truths." They are selected from the chapter on "Our Intuition of Body by the Senses."[66] [66] Part II, Book I, Chap. II.