only, but in nature, from certain minds which have been so placed as to prevent communication of theological ideas from without; for it has been shown that among deaf-mutes who have received no religious instruction, no idea of God exists.[1] Hence, in the absence of proof to the contrary, we must say that that high conception of a deity which exists in the minds of Mr. Balfour and others has had an historical origin. By what steps has it been reached? Beginning with the days when, as we are told, God walked in the garden of Eden, there has been a gradual falling away of human attributes—first of all the physical structure and accompanying needs, such as those which Abraham ministered to; then the lower desires and passions which later Hebrew books imply; until through many changes—now reactions toward cruder and coarser ideas, and now advances toward more refined ones—there has been formed the present conception, in which there remain only certain highest intellectual and moral traits, possessed in a degree transcending human imagination. So that, in fact, the movement of thought by which the existing consciousness has been reached is exactly the reverse of the movement alleged by Mr. Balfour. The word "emerges" implies progress from the imperceptible, through the vague, to the distinct; whereas the actual progress has been from the distinct, through the more and more vague, to the imperceptible, or rather to the scarcely conceivable, or literally inconceivable. So that when collated with the implied change, the word "emerges" is also found to stand for a pseud-idea.
The difference between Mr. Balfour's consciousness of that which lies behind Appearance, and the consciousness of those he opposes (or, at least, of such of them as do not assume that there can be Appearance without anything which appears), is that whereas he persists in supposing himself to have thoughts when, under close examination, all the components of thoughts have vanished, they candidly admit that with the vanishing of such components all thoughts have ceased; leaving only a consciousness which can not be put into any form. Not only have they dropped those early conceptions which imply that the Power manifested in thirty millions of suns made a bargain with Abraham not only have they ceased to believe that such inferior passions as jealousy, anger and revenge can be felt by an Energy which pervades infinity; but they have surrendered themselves to the final conclusion that not even the highest mental attributes conceivable by us, can be predicated of that Existence which fills all Space for all Time.
It is not that they wish to do this, but that they must: self--
- ↑ Ecclesiastical Institutions, chapter i.
