IX
THEISTIC CATHOLICITY AND SYNTHESIS.
(1891)
Our idea of God is the mould in which all our beliefs are cast. It is the axis around which our whole working faith revolves; it is the nucleus aroud which all our "first principles" cluster. From it our thoughts take their particular shape or turn; to it our emotions owe their comparative range and refinement. Indeed, rightly understood and firmly grasped, it forms the true basis of our knowledge and our judgment; for so closely does our cenception of the Deity weave itself into the texture of our entire intelligent life that from it every single idea derives its respective strength or charm. The twin principles of Catholicity and Synthesis, which constitute two of the noteworthy characteristics of Theism, are thus the natural implications of the Theistic conception of God.
