no 
unjust. The fact that as a conscious being he is already in 
relation with the true-always, corrects unworthy desire of 
inferior approval, — as the poet well expresses it : — 
Upbraids that little heart’s inglorious aim 
That stoops to court a character from man, 
While o’er us in tremendous judgment sits 
Far more than man, with endless praise, — or blame. 
But if this sense of individual probation adds dignity to the 
sense of responsibility, does it not bring close to us at the 
same time the fact, that there is nothing in all our present 
life from which responsibility can be shut out ? 
individuafpro- For though we may not be required to answer to our 
bation and fellow-man for every opinion, thought, occupation, 
or aim that we may cherish or pursue among things 
phenomenal, we have such ineffaceable relation as conscious 
beings to the true-always, as we can never escape : we are 
responsible to ourselves, and responsible to the Supreme. 
And as the thought of our responsibility first brought us, in 
our analysis, into the august presence of the Supreme ; so 
finding ourselves before Him now, our most searching thoughts 
are again irresistibly cast back on ourselves, — for “ we also are 
His offspring.” 
XIY. 
98. It will no doubt be observed, at this stage of our subject, 
that having approached the consideration of the character of 
the Supreme from our ethical point of view, we have attempted 
little definition in detail of what have been commonly termed 
the “ attributes of God.” To which, it may be at once re- 
of defini P^ed, that such definitions might be apt to assume 
tions in Deon- more than we know, and would not seem based on 
those “ facts of human nature ” which we take as 
the practical foundations of our Deontology. The contempla- 
tion of the perfections of God is indeed elevating and instruc- 
ts in the ^ive — ( even as the examination of special duties be- 
secunda 2 se tween men is of advantage in common ethics). But 
of Aquinas.) wou f ^ as y 6 t })q ou t 0 f place, since we here suffi- 
ciently conclude “ that He is not far from every one of us.” 
Let us see, however, how much has been done in our 
analysis towards understanding the character of Him “ with 
Whom we have to do.” The fact that there must be such a 
Supreme Ruler of moral agents ; that He is a Conscious and 
