312 MAN AND GOD. 



For to interact implies a not-God to react upon 

 God. Lastly (a), finiteness follows from the whole 

 account given in the last chapter of the divine 

 economy of the world. 



§ 2. But these conclusions conflict sharply with 

 the ordinary doctrines both of theology and of philo- 

 sophy. In theology we are wont to hear God 

 called the infinite, omnipotent, Creator of all things, 

 while in philosophy we hear of the all-embracing 

 Absolute and Infinite, in which all things are and 

 have their beingf. And as this conflict can be no 

 longer dissembled or postponed, we must now 

 either make good our defiance of the united forces 

 of theology and philosophy, or be crushed by the 

 overwhelming weight of their authority. In so un- 

 equal a contest our only hope lies in the divisions 

 and hesitations of our adversaries. For it may be 

 that their agreement is not so perfect as we had 

 feared, that the bearing of some of their chief 

 objections is ambiguous, and that with a little skill 

 we can find efficient support in the very citadels of 

 our opponents. Hence we must aim at reconciling 

 to the novelty of our views all but the most hope- 

 lessly prejudiced, and seek to address appeals to 

 them to which they cannot but listen. In dealing 

 with philosophy we may appeal to reason, in dealing 

 with religion to feeling, and In dealing with theology, 

 which has not hitherto always shown itself very sus- 

 ceptible either to reason or to feeling, to its own 

 interests. Thus we shall show to the first that the 

 rational grounds for the assumption of an infinite 

 existence are mistaken and absurd, to the second, 

 that Its emotional consequences are atrocious and 

 destructive of all religious feeling, and to the third, 

 that it is this doctrine which has been the fatal canker 



