408 LESSONS FROM NATUEE. [CHAP. XIII. 



He proposes* a manual to inculcate &quot;the common, 

 universal, personal and social duties .... and that other 

 doctrine of an Unseen Power which presides over all .... 

 Such a manual,&quot; he says, &quot; would lead up to religion, or place 

 the children in its vestibule, but take them no further.&quot; 



Now doubtless such a course as that proposed, if really 

 practicable, might have, in our religiously divided condition, 

 certain advantages, and it is by no means impossible that 

 in the future something of the kind may be attained, but it 

 will not be by the exclusion of religion, which is unconsciously 

 included by Mr. Mackintosh, while attempting actually to 

 exclude it the above-quoted phrase, &quot;an Unseen Power 

 which presides over all,&quot; means either nothing, or it means a 

 whole system of profound dogmatic theology. This phrase 

 seems to be a concession to the nonsense of Mr. Matthew 

 Arnold about &quot;a stream of tendency,&quot; &quot;an Eternal, not our 

 selves, making for righteousness.&quot; As to which Mr. Henry 

 Dunnt exclaims: &quot; We ought not to speak of God as a 

 Person, one who thinks and loves, says Mr. Arnold, for 

 this tends to make us think of God as if He were a magnified 



and non-natural man in the next street. But how, 



except it be under human conditions, can I know what is 

 meant by the Eternal, not ourselves, making for righteous 

 ness ? .... I am told I must not talk of God as one who 

 loves, because the relation of God to man, so understood, is 

 not verifiable .... Quite as verifiable, I think, as are the 

 statements that the enduring power around us makes for 

 righteousness. &c. &quot; 



Mr. Mackintosh, of course, does not propose that the 

 children shall repeat the phrase, &quot;an Unseen Power which 

 presides over all,&quot; without attaching any meanin^ to their 

 articulations. Mr. Mackintosh means by it, of course, God as 

 understood by natural theology. A &quot;Power&quot; which can 

 neither know the children nor be known by them, which 

 must therefore be supposed destitute of every really moral 



* Lor. cit. p. 2dl. 



Brief Nott-a ou Mr. Matthew Arnold s Literature and Dogma. 



