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The Formative Power in Nature . 
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told from evening. That one breathed breathless by itself ; 
other than it, nothing has since been. That one breathed 
and lived ; it enjoyed more than mere existence ; yet its life 
was not dependent on itself, as our life depends on the air 
we breathe. It breathed breathless. Darkness there was, 
and all at first was veiled in gloom profound as the 
ocean. 
The Chinese philosopher, Lao-tse, says — “ Tao, if it can 
be named, is not the eternal one. The nameless one is the 
foundation of heaven and earth. He who has a name is 
the mother of all things. He who begins to create has a 
name.” He further describes the unfathomable Tao : — “ It 
strives not, yet is able to overcome. It speaks not, yet is 
able to obtain an answer. It summonses not, yet men come 
to it of their own accord. It is long suffering, yet is able to 
succeed in its designs.” 
These are the philosophies of India and China. What 
more do we know of the Infinite Supreme ? Were this all 
we should have the cognition of Deity, but no realisation. 
Happily we have within us, by the ordination of the Creator, an 
invisible chain which connects the spiritual in man with that 
grand and eternal supremacy which creates, guides, directs, 
and maintains. We “ have besides Reason two other organs 
of knowledge, Sense and Faith, neither subordinate to the 
other, but co-equal. Faith is that organ of knowledge by 
which we apprehend infinitude. The Infinite hidden from 
the senses, denied by reason, is conceived by faith under- 
lying the experience of the senses and the combinations of 
reason.”! 
All that we can conceive of Deity is consolidated in faith, 
that inner action of the mind which compels to reverence 
and duty, but which in abuse becomes superstition and in- 
tolerance. Man cannot escape a faith ; “ it is a conviction 
implanted in the human mind of something ineffable.”! 
Lord Amberley says “ Religion formulated in intelligence pos- 
tulates its position as fixed and final. It no sooner appears 
than a formula is instituted against which it is continually 
protesting. The attempt is always made to confine it within 
a set of dogmas. Sooner or later the religious sentiment 
bursts from the imposed thrall, but awaiting the new advent 
is another scheme of dogmas. This is the history of 
creeds in all ages of the world, and it is not the less true 
that the deepest hostility to theological systems is inspired 
* Hist. Sanskrit, litt. Max Muller. 
f Science of Languages, Max Muller, 
X Justin Martyr. 
