THE PRIDE OF INTELLECT. 257 



in most only a cause of divisions, which the non- 

 religious philosopher can serenely ignore. 



Against this modern Ptolemaic system of thought 

 Christianity holds up, as it were, the idea of 

 Copernicus. Against the geocentric view it pro- 

 claims the great Theocentric principle. God is 

 the centre of all that is, the only Being Who 

 has life in Himself and of Himself. Like the 

 sun in the visible universe He is both centre and 

 source of the universe of being ; and humanity 

 apart from God, as independent, self-sufficing and 

 complete, is no less an unreal abstraction than the 

 individual separated from his society. Everywhere 

 and in all departments of life religion declares the 

 incompleteness of man. We are " not sufficient of 

 ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but 

 our sufficiency is of God." All truth is thus a 

 revelation from Him Who is the Truth. Salvation 

 from sin is not of ourselves, but from Him Who 

 loved us. Grace is the freely given gift of God. 

 Sacraments and priesthood are the "chartered 

 channels" by which He has willed to give His 

 gifts to man. If the priest is His commissioned 

 minister, a steward and dispenser of the mysteries 

 of God, so from a religious point of view and in 

 his own work is the philosopher, who uses the 

 reason which reflects God for interpreting to all 

 the coherence of the parts of truth. So is the 

 scientific investigator, who patiently searches for 



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