with, in itself, and consequently in the knowledge of itself as being simply the infinite, the feeling of its finitude and consequently of its infinitude as well, as a kind of potential Being beyond and above it in contrast to its actual Being, or Being-for-self—the feeling, in short, of longing after something above and beyond it which is unexplained. The Absolute Religion, on the other hand, contains the characteristic, the note, of subjectivity or infinite form which is equivalent to substance. We may give the name of knowledge, of pure intelligence, to this subjectivity, this infinite form, this infinite elasticity of substance whereby it breaks itself up within itself, and makes itself an object for itself. Its content is therefore a content which is identical with itself, because it is the infinitely substantial subjectivity which makes itself both object and content. Then in this content itself the finite subject is further distinguished from the infinite object. God regarded as Spirit, when He remains above, when He is not present in His Church as a living Spirit, is Himself characterised in a merely one-sided way as object.
This is the Notion, it is the Notion of the Idea, of the absolute Idea, and the reality is now Spirit which exists for Spirit, which has made itself its object, and this religion is the revealed religion, the religion in which God reveals Himself. Revelation means this differentiation of the infinite form, the act of self-determination, the being for an Other, and this self-manifestation is of the very essence of Spirit. Spirit which is not revealed is not Spirit. We say that God has created the world, and we state this as a fact which has happened once and which will not happen again, and we thus ascribe to the event the character of something which may be or may not be. God, we say, might have revealed Himself or He might not. The character we ascribe to God’s revelation of Himself is that of something arbitrary, accidental as it were, and not that of some-
