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exist which are to us inconceivable ; many processes take 
place which onr intellects cannot grasp. 
5. One other objection to Design deserves a few words, that 
which condemns it at the very outset as an anthropomorphic; 
conception. It is true, the supporters of this view say, that 
if we come across a boat on the sea-shore we are justified in 
inferring that it was made for a purpose ; and we know by 
experience that man is the only creature on this globe capable 
of thus making it. But it is not so with a natural object, as, 
for instance, a crab or a sea-weed. They were not made, but 
grew. They are descended from a long line of ancestors. In 
the course of time they have acquired their present adapta- 
tions which have only the appearance of design. In ascribing 
their production to a Maker acting with a definite purpose 
before Him, we are projecting our own personality outside of 
ourselves, ascribing human faculties and human aims to a 
Being who is not human. 
To this it may be replied, that if this is justly called anthro- 
pomorphism then anthropomorphism may be claimed as being 
at the same time inevitable and true. But is it not an abuse 
of language to employ the word in this sense ? There are 
two genuine kinds of anthropomorphic representations : (1) 
the frankly material conceptions of the old mythologies, as 
in Homer ; and (2) the vivid language of poetry, as in the 
Psalms. Neither of these need detain us. But, when the 
bare ascription of Personality to God is described as anthro- 
pomorphic, it is simply an unfair way of stating a metaphy- 
sical difficulty, for it assumes it as proved that God is not 
a Person. All our conceptions of the Divine Being are 
inadequate, but they are not for that reason false. How can 
we transcend the limitations of our consciousness ? How can 
we think of any thing except according to the laws of 
thought ? But it does not thence follow that our knowledge 
is not knowledge because it is conditioned. So with reference 
to our representation of God as a Person. Personality is our 
highest attribute, that which makes an impassable gulf 
between ourselves and the rest of the animal series. The 
Agnostic may say you make God a Person because you are a 
person. May we not reply, the converse is also possible, God 
has made us persons because He is a Person. Our will, intellect, 
and affections are faint adumbrations of the divine attributes. 
The human soul, dimly conscious of its affinity to the Divine 
Nature, instinctively believes in a Being who possesses, in 
perfection, the Power, Wisdom, and Goodness which we possess 
in the imperfect manner of finite natures. To put it on the 
