FT. ii. Mr. Darwin and Mr. Buckle. 65 



butes than those with which we can invest Him, and 

 which are as utterly incomprehensible to us as the 

 idea of colour might be to one born blind ; but these 

 qualities we cannot possibly know or comprehend. 

 Let us take the idea of Wisdom, for instance : the 

 quality does not exist in any one of the brute crea- 

 tion. When we speak of the wisdom of an elephant, 

 we only do so in a figurative sense ; it is in Man 

 alone that such a faculty can be said to exist. In 

 order to form a clear conception of the meaning of 

 Wisdom, we must embody it in some human form 

 before we can reach it in its abstract signification ; 

 we must think of the wisdom of Bacon or of 

 Newton. In the same manner the idea of Power 

 (I mean moral and material power combined) can 

 only be embodied in the case of some human being, 

 as the prophet Mahomet or the first Napoleon ; and 

 in like manner Goodness or Virtue can only be per- 

 sonified in Man : no animal can possess moral excel- 

 lence. It is only by forming a conception of a Being 

 combining these three attributes in their highest 

 perfection, that the human mind is enabled to attain 

 any comprehension of the nature of God. Such an 

 idea may be very imperfect and incomplete, far below 

 the majesty and goodness of the Supreme Being, but 



