342 PRESENT-DAY RATIONALISM 



the Infinite Ether as the Vehicle of an Infinite Conscious 

 Being. 



The idea of " God residing with the humble and 

 contrite heart," and our Lord's expression : " We will 

 make our abode with him who loves," etc., may have 

 a physical as well as spiritual interpretation. We all 

 do practically assume it, by praying in silence^ fully 

 believing that there is a sympathetic Spirit which can 

 help our mental aspirations. Our souls must "vibrate 

 in unison with God," and response comes as truly as 

 when a note struck on a violin causes the same to sound 

 in a distant piano. 



Our own vibrations are constantly changing. God's 

 are permanent and uniform. " With Him there is no 

 variableness nor turning of the shadow," i.e., on the 

 dial ; for God is, so to say, always on the meridian. 



It is for us to put ourselves in unison with Him ; 

 that is "at one" with Him, not for Him to be reconciled 

 to us. 



Again, it is well known that two waves may meet, 

 whether air-waves giving sound or ether-waves giving 

 us light, and if they do not coincide, silence and dark- 

 ness may be the result, respectively ; so that we seem to 

 see an analogy with St. Paul's expression, " Quench not 

 the Spirit ". 



A pure and loving heart vibrates in unison with 

 God. A lustful and rebellious thought produces discord 

 with, it may be, direful consequences. 



It may be suggested that this "ethereal " notion may 

 be all fanciful, and only a picturesque if not grotesque 

 analogy ; but there would seem to be some basis for 

 believing that our "soul" or the Ego is not so much 

 dependent on the body made of flesh, as one of ether 

 permeating it. 



