15 



thought and emotion, while, as we have already seen, if we 

 act effectually, we must act after His manner. There is, 

 therefore, no reason in the nature of things, in what the uni- 

 verse teaches us of God, nor in our own nature, to make such 

 intercourse unlikely, but everything to make it extremely 

 probable. 



No man of ordinary intelligence would erect a large manu- 

 factory, furnish it with machinery arid all material necessary 

 for the work to be done, and then commit it to the charge of 

 totally ignorant people to conduct the operations, and leave 

 them without supervision. Unless he declared his will with 

 respect to their action, he could not expect his plans to be 

 carried out, and the employes would certainly not be to blame 

 for the failure. How much more is it impossible for the Maker 

 of all things to bring into existence a race of intelligent agents, 

 and place them at the head, and in possession, of a world full 

 of His creatures of inferior natui'e, and after all leave them 

 without information concerning His will and purpose towards 

 them. Nor can we conceive of His having created a race so 

 richly endowed with emotional capacity, and after all leaving 

 them without a knowledge of Himself, the only object capable 

 of calling forth the full strength of these emotions ; particu- 

 larly when the emotion is not a separable accident of the nature, 

 but is woven into its entire texture, influencing every volition, 

 and prompting to every action. 



The force of such arguments as the above, which appeal to 

 reason and common sense, is frequently evaded by bringing 

 against them the terrible charge of beinganthropomorphic. The 

 alarm is created by the use of the long Greek word ; if it were 

 simply translated, and the harmless word human took its place, 

 its power to dismay would depart. There is wonderfully terrific 

 power in long Greek words. And, when we observe the solemn 

 awe with which the charge of being anthropomorphic is gene- 

 rally brought, we cannot help recurring to Austin Caxton's 

 adventure with the wild bull, which he thus describes, " Luckily 

 I had the umbrella, and I sprang it up and spread it forth in 

 the animal's stupid eyes, hurling at him simultaneously the 

 biggest lines I could think of in the first chorus of the Seven 

 against Thebes. I began with ' Eledemnas PEDIOPLOCTUPOS '; 

 and when I came to the grand howl of 'Io>, iw, to, to>, the 

 beast stood appalled as at the roar of a lion. I shall never 

 forget his amazed snort at the Greek. Then he kicked up his 

 heelS and went bolt through a gap in the hedge." In like 

 manner, when the grave charge of being human is brought in 

 Greek, instead of boldly affirming it, some who know better, 

 appearing to think that there must be some evil lurking under 



