COSMIC PHILOSOPHY 



nomenclature which has already done us such 

 good service, we may still better characterize it 

 as Cosmic Theism, in contrast with the Anthro- 

 pomorphic Theism of those theologians who 

 limit the Deity by an "objective datum." 



This happy expression of Mr. Martineau's 

 lays bare the anthropomorphic hypothesis to the 

 very core, and when thoroughly considered, lets 

 us into the secret of that superficial appearance 

 of antagonism between Science and Religion 

 which has disturbed so many theologians and 

 misled so many scientific inquirers. Though as 

 an act of lip homage anthropomorphism asserts 

 the infinitude and omnipotence of God, yet 

 in reality it limits and localizes him. Though 

 it overtly acknowledges that " in Him we live 

 and move and have our being,'* yet it tacitly 

 belies this acknowledgment by the implication, 

 which runs through all its reasonings, that God 

 is a person localized in some unknown part of 

 space, and that the universe is a " datum objec- 

 tive to God " in somewhat the same sense that 

 a steam-engine is an " objective datum " to the 

 engineer who works it. I do not say that such 

 a conception would be avowed by any theolo- 

 gian : as thus overtly stated, it would no doubt 

 be generally met with an emphatic disclaimer. 

 Nevertheless this conception, whether avowed 

 or disclaimed, lies at the bottom of all the argu- 

 ments which theologians urge either against the 

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