god the known and god the unknown-第7章
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this be the incoherency of prophecy which precedes the successful
mastering of an idea? May we not think of this illusory
expression as having arisen from inability to see the whereabouts
of a certain vast but tangible Person as to whose existence men
were nevertheless clear? If they felt that it existed; and yet
could not say where; nor wherein it was to be laid hands on; they
would be very likely to get out of the difficulty by saying that
it existed as an infinite Spirit; partly from a desire to magnify
what they felt must be so vast and powerful; and partly because
they had as yet only a vague conception of what they were aiming
at; and must; therefore; best express it vaguely。
We must not be surprised that when an idea is still inchoate its
expression should be inconsistent and imperfect…ideas will almost
always during the earlier history of a thought be put together
experimentally so as to see whether or no they will cohere。
Partly out of indolence; partly out of the desire of those who
brought the ideas together to be declared right; and partly out
of joy that the truth should be supposed found; incoherent ideas
will be kept together longer than they should be; nevertheless
they will in the end detach themselves and go; if others present
themselves which fit into their place better。 There is no
consistency which has not once been inconsistent; nor coherency
that has not been incoherent。 The incoherency of our ideas
concerning God is due to the fact that we have not yet truly
found him; but it does not argue that he does not exist and
cannot be found anywhere after more diligent search; on the
contrary; the persistence of the main idea; in spite of the
incoherency of its details; points strongly in the direction of
believing that it rests upon a foundation in fact。
But it must be remembered there can be no God who is not personal
and material: and if personal; then; though inconceivably vast in
comparison with man; still limited in space and time; and capable
of making mistakes concerning his own interests; though as a
general rule right in his estimates concerning them。 Where; then;
is this Being? He must be on earth; or what folly can be greater
than speaking of him as a person? What are persons on any other
earth to us; or we to them? He must have existed and be going to
exist through all time; and he must have a tangible body。 Where;
then; is the body of this God? And what is the mystery of his
Incarnation?
It will be my business to show this in the following chapter。
CHAPTER VI
THE TREE OF LIFE
Atheism denies knowledge of a God of any kind。 Pantheism and
Theism alike profess to give us a God; but they alike fail to
perform what they have promised。 We can know nothing of the God
they offer us; for not even do they themselves profess that any
of our senses can be cognisant 'sic' of him。 They tell us that he
is a personal God; but that he has no material person。 This is
disguised Atheism。 What we want is a Personal God; the glory of
whose Presence can be made in part evident to our senses; though
what we can realise 'sic' is less than nothing in comparison with
what we must leave for ever unimagined。
And truly such a God is not far from every one of us; for if we
survey the broader and deeper currents of men's thoughts during
the last three thousand years; we may observe two great and
steady sets as having carried away with them the more eligible
races of mankind。 The one is a tendency from Polytheism to
Monotheism; the other from Polytypism to Monotypism of the
earliest forms of life…all animal and vegetable forms having at
length come to be regarded as differentiations of a single
substance…to wit; protoplasm。
No man does well so to kick against the pricks as to set himself
against tendencies of such depth; strength; and permanence as
this。 If he is to be in harmony with the dominant opinion of his
own and of many past ages; he will see a single God…impregnate
substance as having been the parent from which all living forms
have sprung。 One spirit; and one form capable of such
modification as its directing spirit shall think fit; one soul
and one body; one God and one Life。
For the time has come when the two unities so painfully arrived
at must be joined together as body and soul; and be seen not as
two; but one。 There is no living organism untenanted by the
Spirit of God; nor any Spirit of God perceivable by man apart
from organism embodying and expressing it。 God and the Life of
the World are like a mountain; which will present different
aspects as we look at it from different sides; but which; when we
have gone all round it; proves to be one only。 God is the animal
and vegetable world; and the animal and vegetable world is God。
I have repeatedly said that we ought to see all animal and
vegetable life as uniting to form a single personality。 I should
perhaps explain this more fully; for the idea of a compound
person is one which at first is not very easy to grasp; inasmuch
as we are not conscious of any but our more superficial aspects;
and have therefore until lately failed to understand that we are
ourselves compound persons。 I may perhaps be allowed to quote
from an earlier work。
〃Each cell in the human body is now admitted by physiologists to
be a person with an intelligent soul; differing from our own more
complex soul in degree and not in kind; and; like ourselves;
being born; living; and dying。 It would appear; then; as though
'we;' 'our souls;' or 'selves;' or 'personalities;' or by
whatever name we may prefer to be called; are but the
consensus and full… flowing stream of countless sensations
and impulses on the part of our tributary souls or 'selves;' who
probably no more know that we exist; and that they exist as a
part of us; than a microscopic insect knows the results of
spectrum analysis; or than an agricultural labourer 'sic' knows
the working of the British Constitution; and of whom we know no
more than we do of the habits and feelings of some class widely
separated from our own。〃…(〃Life and Habit;〃 p。 110。)
After which it became natural to ask the following question :…
〃Is it possible to avoid imagining that we may be ourselves
atoms; undesignedly combining to form some vaster being; though
we are utterly incapable of perceiving this being as a single
individual; or of realising 'sic' the scheme and scope of our own
combination? And this; too; not a spiritual being; which; without
matter or what we think matter of some sort; is as complete
nonsense to us as though men bade us love and lean upon an
intelligent vacuum; but a being with what is virtually flesh and
blood and bones; with organs; senses; dimensions in some way
analogous to our own; into some other part of which being at the
time of our great change we must infallibly re…enter; starting
clean anew; with bygones bygones; and no more ache for ever from
age or antecedents。
〃'An organic being;' writes Mr。 Darwin; 'is a microcosm; a little
universe; formed of a host of self…propagating organisms
inconceivably minute and numerous as the stars in Heaven。' As
these myriads of smaller organisms are parts and processes of us;
so are we parts and processes of life at large。〃
A tree is composed of a multitude of subordinate trees; each bud
being a distinct individual。 So coral polypes 'sic' form a tree…
like growth of animal life; with branches from which spring
individual polypes 'sic' that are connected by a common tissue
and supported by a common skeleton。 We have no difficulty in
seeing a unity in multitude; and a multitude in unity here;
because we can observe the wood and the gelatinous tissue
connecting together all the individuals whic