216 ESSAYS OF A BIOLOGIST 



process, is completely unjustified, and a mere projec- 

 tion of our own ideas into the economy of nature. 

 Where we experience only phenomena of one order 

 we cannot hope to reach behind them to phenomena 

 of another order, or to the Absolute. 



The ground is now cleared for our real investiga- 

 tion — our inquiry into the task which Rationalism 

 has before it in finding how best what we have called 

 the raw material of Divinity may be organized by 

 the mind's activity, how best clothed with word or 

 symbol to make it more the common property of 

 mankind as a whole. 



The current Christian conception of God is of a 

 person who is also the creator and the ruler of the 

 universe. This person has certain attributes — is 

 omnipotent, omniscient, and somehow, in spite of all 

 the unhappiness and squalor and cruelty in the world, 

 all-loving. He has personal qualities — he created 

 the universe, and all that is in it; he takes pleasure 

 in being worshipped; is displeased when men or 

 women neglect him, or commit crimes or sins; takes 

 pity on the follies and sufferings of man; and was 

 so moved by them (albeit after a very considerable 

 period had elapsed since man had first appeared upon 

 the scene) that he sent his son into the world as a 

 redeemer. (For simplicity's sake, I omit all refer- 

 ence to the complexities of Trinitarian doctrine, 

 which, however important in distinguishing Chris- 

 tianity from other religions envisaging an omnipo- 

 tent personal God, do not affect the essential point at 



