ANTHROPOMORPHIC THEISM 



alphabet. Now the cosmic conception of Deity, 

 as we shall hereafter see, being planted in the 

 region of the Unknowable, which is coextensive 

 with that of the Knowable, has no such pre- 

 carious tenure, and all that the progress of dis- 

 covery can do is to enlarge and strengthen it. 

 But the anthropomorphic conception, lodged 

 in that ever diminishing area of the Knowable 

 which is to-day unknown, is driven from out- 

 post to outpost, and robbed of some part of its 

 jurisdiction by every advance of science. Surely 

 that must be an unworthy conception of Deity 

 which is confessedly based on those limitations 

 alone of finite phenomenal knowledge, which 

 each day's experience proves more and more 

 clearly to be but temporary. Surely the teleo- 

 logical hypothesis is built upon a rotten foun- 

 dation, when it has to dread the shock of each 

 advancing wave of knowledge. Surely it is no 

 less irreverent than unphilosophical to rest our 

 faith in God's existence upon the alleged im- 

 possibility of interpreting in terms of matter 

 and motion the beginnings of life, the cross- 

 relations between marsupials and monodelphia, 

 or the structure of the ears and eyes of a cepha- 

 lopod. 



Further to develop this argument would be 

 premature, in the absence of explanations to be 

 given in the next chapter. Contenting our- 

 selves for the present with this brief indication, 



VOL. IV I 93 



