Now by reasoning we lay aside the disguises of the Deity, which the feelings have wrapped about the Idea of Him. We separate the substantial from the phenomenal elements in the Conception of God. We divest it of all particular form, all sensual or corporeal attributes, and have no image of God in the mind. He is Spirit,[1] and therefore free from the limitations of Space. He is nowhere in particular, but everywhere in general, essentially and vitally omnipresent. Denying all particular form, we must affirm of him Universal Being.
The next step in the analysis is to lay aside all partial action of the Deity. He is equally the cause of the storm and the calm sunshine; of the fierceness of the Lion and the Lamb's gentleness, so long as both obey the laws they are made to keep. All the natural action in the material world is God's action, whether the wind blows a plank and the shipwrecked woman who grasps it to the shore, or scatters a fleet and sends families to the bottom. But Infinite Action or Causation must be attributed to Him.
Then all mental processes, like those of men, are separated from the Idea of Him. We cannot say he thinks, for that is to reason from the known to the unknown, which is impossible to the omniscient; nor that he plans or consults with himself, for that implies the infirmity of not seeing the best way all at once; nor that he remembers or foresees, for that implies a restriction in time, a past and a present, while the Infinite must fill Eternity, all time, as well as Immensity, all space. We cannot attribute to Him reflection, which is after-thought, nor imagination, which is fore-thought, since both imply limited faculties. Judgment, fancy, comparison, induction—these are the operations of finite minds. They are not to be applied to the divine Being except as figures of speech; then they merely represent an unknown emotion. We have got a name but no real thing. But Infinite Knowing must be his.
We go still further in this analysis of the conception of God, and all partial feeling must be denied. We cannot
- ↑ I use the term Spirit simply as a negation of the limitations of matter. We cannot tell the essence of God.
ubi sup., Vol. I. p. 35, et seq. The passage from Seneca, De Superstitione, preserved by Augustine, Civ. Dei, Lib. VI. C. 10; Seneca, Opp. ed. Paris, 1829, IV. p. 39, et seq.
