262 ESSAYS OF A BIOLOGIST 



As we shall see later, we may either call the sum of 

 the forces acting in the cosmos the manifestations 

 of God, who in this case must be the Absolute God, 

 and unknowable except through these manifestations. 

 Or we may confine the term God to its anthropo- 

 logical usage, as denoting the objects of human re- 

 ligion, in which case we must admit that the term 

 God as understood by man is constituted by mans 

 idea of the forces acting in the cosmos, so that not 

 only are these forces involved, not only a possible 

 Absolute God behind them, but also the organizing 

 power of human mind. 



I wish you here to agree to my adopting the sec- 

 ond alternative and giving the name of God to the 

 sum of the forces acting in the cosmos as perceived 

 and grasped by human mind. We can therefore now 

 say that God is one, but that though one, has sev- 

 eral aspects. There is one aspect of God which is 

 neutral to us, in a way hostile, mere Power operating 

 in the vastness of the stellar universes, apprehended 

 only as orderly, tending in a direction which appears 

 to be in the long run inimical. It is to this aspect of 

 God that Mr. Wells has given the name of the Veiled 

 Being — a somewhat primitive term for a true idea. 

 There is another aspect, which is the one seen operat- 

 ing in that sphere which comprises the whole of life 

 upon this earth — a sphere infinitesimal in relation to 

 the whole, yet still vast in relation to ourselves. This 

 aspect of God is our refuge and guarantee, for here 

 we find our assurance that our human life is a part of 



