RELIGIOUS RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT. 835 



which, ascribed to a human ruler, would call forth expressions 

 of abhorrence ; and the ascription of them to the Ultimate 

 Cause of things, even now felt to be full of difficulties, must 

 become impossible. So, too, must die out the belief 



that a Power present in innumerable worlds throughout in 

 finite space, and who during millions of years of the Earth s 

 earlier existence needed no honouring by its inhabitants, 

 should be seized with a craving for praise; and having created 

 mankind, should be angry with them if they do not perpe 

 tually tell him how great he is. As fast as men escape from 

 that glamour of early impressions which prevents them from 

 thinking, they will refuse to imply a trait of character which 

 is the reverse of worshipful. 



Similarly with the logical incongruities more and more con 

 spicuous to growing intelligence. Passing over the familiar 

 difficulties that sundry of the implied divine traits are in con 

 tradiction with the divine attributes otherwise ascribed that 

 a god who repents of what he has done must be lacking 

 either in power or in foresight ; that his anger presupposes an 

 occurrence which has been contrary to intention, and so indi 

 cates defect of means ; we come to the deeper difficulty that 

 such emotions, in common with all emotions, can exist only 

 in a consciousness which is limited. Every emotion has its 

 antecedent ideas, and antecedent ideas are habitually supposed 

 to occur in God: he is represented as seeing and hearing 

 this or the other, and as being emotionally affected thereby. 

 That is to say, the conception of a divinity possessing these 

 traits of character, necessarily continues anthropomorphic ; 

 not only in the sense that the emotions ascribed are like 

 those of human beings, but also in the sense that they form 

 parts of a consciousness which, like the human consciousness, 

 is formed of successive states. And such a conception of the 

 divine consciousness is irreconcilable both with the un- 

 changeableness otherwise alleged, and with the omniscience 

 otherwise alleged. Eor a consciousness constituted of ideas 

 a.ud feelings caused by objects and occurrences, cannot be 

 112 



