mechanics or mathematics. But not a ray of spiritual light penetrates his understanding, and he denies the supernatural simply because it is supernatural. He is immersed in sensual things; he lives for this world only, because this only he sees and feels. To him it is the extremest folly to attempt to cultivate the spiritual part of our nature, or to live for the great Hereafter.
The picture thus drawn is that of the extreme sensual man. It has innumerable modifications. The sensual principle may exercise control in various degrees. It may control the man largely or only to a slight extent. It may make him doubtful of spiritual things, without bringing him to the point of absolute denial. It may make him indifferent, without rendering him a conscious skeptic. It may keep him at the point to which he has been educated, without permitting him to go beyond it. It may bind him with the chains of religious tradition, and forbid him from soaring into the realms of genuine truth. Christians even may be sensual men; and rest their faith on historical evidence, or on sensuous miracles. Even apostleship had its sensuous-minded Thomas, who would not believe in the risen Saviour unless he could see in his hands the print of the nails, and lay his finger upon them, and thrust his hand into his side.
The sensual principle is good so far as it is
