40 The Triunity of God [CH. 



search very deeply. If we accept statements made by 

 authority, for example, our preliminary acceptance of 

 that authority is based on reasoning, of however 

 inadequate a kind; if we accept the reality of mystic 

 intuition we at least justify the claims of intuition by 

 argument. And for our purpose it is immaterial whether 

 the belief comes first or the argument ; whether we argue 

 because we believe or believe because we argue. Very 

 likely belief is prior to its formal justification; very 

 likely it begins as a vague judgment of experience as 

 a whole, without formal justification by completely 

 logical methods. But the important fact for us to 

 remember is that we do in fact justify or attempt to 

 justify our beliefs by an appeal to reason. 



We see evidence of this in the progressive unfolding 

 of the idea of God in primitive .and more advanced 

 religions. The representation of God at any stage is 

 such as appeals to the mind of man as rational. Thus 

 our belief in God rests in the long run on an appeal to 

 reason, even if it does not originate there. The basis of 

 faith is clearly defined ; it is no mere longing and vague 

 aspiration. 



Bearing this fact in mind we may pass on to our 

 second point, while keeping clearly before us the know- 

 ledge that, God being the Eternal One, the Causative 

 Being, we could know nothing at all of Him except by His 

 revelation of Himself to our reason. That this is implicit 

 in, and inevitable from, the nature of His Personal Being 

 is another matter to which we shall return later. 



(2) Our rational knowledge of God rests on the re- 

 cognition of His attributes. Were He simply One, there 

 would be nothing to be known in that empty unity. We 

 know Him in the determinations of His essential Being. 



These attributes we indicate by such terms as 

 Activity, Omnipotence, Omniscience, Wisdom, Right- 

 eousness. Love and Eternity are different from the rest, 



