786 OF THE FUNCTIONS OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 



which is originally based upon sensational ideas, comes to be also applied to 

 those which are purely intellectual The notion of Beauty is one that it is very 

 difficult to define ; but it seenis to consist essentially in the conformity of an 

 external object to a certain ideal standard, by which conformity a pleasurable 

 feeling is produced. That ideal standard is a work of the Imagination, and is 

 generated (by a kind of automatic process) by the elimination of all those ele- 

 ments which we recognize as inferior, and by the intensification and completion 

 of all those which we regard as excellent. Hence according to the aesthetic 

 judgment which every individual pronounces as to these particulars, will be 

 his ideal of beauty. The notion of beauty extends itself, also, to the pure con- 

 ceptions of the Intellect; and thus we may experience the sense of beauty in 

 the recognition of a Truth. We experience the sense of beauty, too, in wit- 

 nessing the conformity of conduct to a high standard of Moral excellence ; which 

 excites in our minds a pleasure of the same order, as that which we derive from 

 the contemplation of a noble work of art. The idea of Right connects itself 

 with voluntary action. We have no feeling of approval or disapproval with 

 respect to actions that are necessarily connected with our physical well-being ; 

 but in regard to most of those which are left to our choice, it is impossible to 

 feel indifferent ; and the sphere of operation of this principle becomes widened, 

 in proportion as the mind dwells upon the notion of Moral Obligation which 

 arises out of it. Then, too, the idea of Right is brought to attach itself to 

 thoughts, as well as to actions ; and this, not merely because the right regulation 

 of the thoughts is perceived to be essential to the right regulation of the conduct, 

 but also because the mind intuitively perceived that whatever we can govern 

 by the Will has also a moral aspect. 



815. Closely connected with many of the foregoing, and arising in most 

 minds from some or other of them by the very nature of our psychical consti- 

 tution, are those ideas which relate to the Being and attributes of the Deity. 

 The conception which each individual forms of the Divine Nature depends in 

 great degree upon his own habits of thought; but there are two extremes, 

 towards one or other of which most of the current notions on this subject may 

 be said to tend, and between which they seem to have oscillated in all periods 

 of the history of Monotheism. These are, Pantheism, and Anthropomorphism. 

 Towards the Pantheistic aspect of Deity, we are especially led by the philo- 

 sophic contemplation of His agency in external Nature; for in proportion as we 

 fix our attention exclusively upon the " laws" which express the orderly 

 sequence of its phenomena, and upon the " forces" whose agency we recognize 

 as their immediate causes, do we come to think of the Divine Being as the 

 mere First Principle of the Universe, an all-comprehensive " Law" to which 

 all other laws are subordinate, that most general " Cause" of which all the 

 physical forces are but manifestations. This conception embodies a great truth, 

 and a fundamental error. Its truth is the recognition of the universal and all- 

 controlling agency of the Deity, and of His presence in Creation rather than 

 on the outside of it. Its error lies in the absence of any distinct recognition 

 of that conscious volitional agency which is the essential attribute of Person- 

 ality; for without this, the Universe is nothing else than a great self-acting 

 machine, its Laws are but the expressions of "surd necessity," and all the 

 higher tendencies and aspirations of the Human Soul are but " a mockery, a 

 delusion, and a snare." The Anthropomorphic conception of Deity, on the 

 other hand, arises from the too exclusive contemplation of our own nature as 

 the type of the Divine ; and although, in the highest form in which it may be 

 held, it represents the Deity as a being in whom all the noblest attributes of 

 Man's spiritual essence are expanded to infinity, yet it is practically limited 

 and degraded by the impossibility of fully realizing such an existence to our 

 minds; the failings and imperfections incident to our Human nature being 



