,transcriber's note3 ,text enclosed by underscores is in italics 7italics74 ,small capital text has been replaced with all capitals4 99 99 99 99 99 ,illustration3 coverpage ,,thoughts ,,on ,,life ,,and ,,religion ,,thoughts ,,on ,,life ,,and ,,religion ,an ,aftermath from the ,writings of ,,the ,,right ,,honourable ,,professor ,,max ,m,,ller ,,by ,,his ,,wife ,,third ,,impression ,london ,,archibald ,,constable ,,and ,,company ,,ltd4 #aijg ,edinburgh3 ,t4 and ,a4 ,,constable1 ,printers to ,his ,majesty ,,preface ,this book has been prepared in accordance with a wish expressed by many known and unknown admirers of my husband's writings1 who desire to possess in a portable form the passages that have specially appealed to them in his different works1 and in the ,life and ,letters4 ,i have taken this opportunity of adding extracts from private letters1 and from the writings he left unfinished1 which would not otherwise have become known to any but his own family or a few intimate friends4 ,those who have read the ,life and ,letters1 do not need to be told that ,max ,mller lived from his earliest years in the firm conviction that all is wisely ordered in this life1 and 'all for our real good1 though we do not always see it1 and though we cannot venture to fathom the wisdom guiding our steps through life4' ,to others his unswerving trust and faith as shown in these extracts may be a revelation1 for he seldom talked on such subjects4 ,this trust and faith gave him strength through the bitter struggles of his early life1 taught him resignation during the years when the dearest wish of his heart seemed unattainable1 supported him later when those he tenderly loved were snatched from him by death1 and upheld him in his last long and depressing illness4 ,my earnest desire is that this little book may prove a help and comfort to many exposed to like trials1 and strengthen those whose path now stretches before them as a sunny avenue1 to meet the sorrows that almost surely await them as life advances4 ,,georgina ,,max ,m,,ller4 ,june #aa1 #aije4 ,,contents ,,page ,the ,art of ,life1 #a ,the ,beautiful1 #d ,the ,bible1 #f ,children1 #ab ,christ1 the ,logos1 #ac ,christianity1 #ba ,death1 #cd ,the ,deity1 #dd ,the ,divine1 #eg ,doubts1 #fj ,evolution of ,religion1 #ff ,faith1 #gj ,the ,fatherhood of ,god1 #gc ,future ,life1 #gd ,the ,infinite1 #hg ,knowledge1 #if ,language1 #ii ,life1 #ajc ,love1 #aba ,mankind1 #abi ,mind or ,thought1 #acb ,miracles1 #ace ,music1 #ach ,nature1 #aci ,obscurity1 #adb ,old ,age1 #adc ,religion and ,religions1 #ade ,revelation1 #ahd ,the ,rig-,veda1 #ahi ,science1 #aij ,the ,self1 #aib ,sorrow and ,suffering1 #aih ,the ,soul1 #bjh ,theosophy1 #bae ,truth1 #bag ,the ,will of ,god1 #bbb ,wonder1 #bbf ,words1 #bbh ,work1 #bcj ,the ,world1 #bcc ,,the ,,art ,,of ,,life ,to learn to understand one another is the great art of life1 and to 'agree to differ' is the best lesson of the comparative science of religion4 ,silesian ,horseherd4 ,there is a higher kind of music which we all have to learn1 if our life is to be harmonious1 beautiful1 and useful4 ,there are certain intervals between the young and the old which must be there1 which are meant to be there1 without which life would be monotonous2 but out of these intervals and varieties the true art of life knows how to build up perfect harmonies4444 ,even great sorrow may be a blessing1 by drawing some of our affections away from this life to a better life 444 of which1 it is true1 we know nothing1 but from which1 when we see the wisdom and love that underlie this life1 we may hope everything4 ,we are meant to hope and to trust1 and that is often much harder than to see and to know4444 ,the greatest of all arts is the art of life1 and the best of all music the harmony of spirits4 ,there are many little rules to be learnt for giving harmony and melody to our life1 but the thorough bass must be--love4 ,life4 ,one thing is necessary above all things in order to live peaceably with people1 that is1 in ,latin1 ,humanitas1 ,german1 ,menschlichkeit4 ,it is difficult to describe1 but it is to claim as little as possible from others1 neither an obliging temper nor gratitude1 and yet to do all one can to please others1 yet without expecting them always to find it out4 ,as men are made up of contradictions they are the more grateful and friendly the less they see that we expect gratitude and friendliness4 ,even the least cultivated people have their good points1 and it is not only far better but far more interesting if one takes trouble to find out the best side and motives of people1 rather than the worst and most selfish4444 ,life is an art1 and more difficult than ,sanscrit or anything else4 ,life4 ,we become chiefly what we are more through others than through ourselves1 and happy is the man whose path in life leads him only by good men and brings him together with good men4 ,how often we forget in judging others the influences under which they have grown up4 ,how can one expect a child to be truthful when he sees how servants1 yes often parents1 practise deceit4 ,how many children hear from those to whom they look up1 expressions1 principles1 and prudent rules of life1 which consciously or unconsciously exercise an influence on the young life of the child4 ,yet with how little of loving introspection we pass our judgments4 ,,ms4 ,if you want to be at peace with yourself1 do not mind being at war with the world4 ,,ms4 ,,the ,,beautiful ,is the ,beautiful without us1 or is it not rather within us8 ,what we call sweet and bitter is our own sweetness1 our own bitterness1 for nothing can be sweet or bitter without us4 ,is it not the same with the ,beautiful8 ,the world is like a rich mine1 full of precious ore1 but each man has to assay the ore for himself1 before he knows what is gold and what is not4 ,what1 then1 is the touchstone by which we assay the ,beautiful8 ,we have a touchstone for discovering the good4 ,whatever is unselfish is good4 ,but--though nothing can be beautiful1 except what is in some sense or other good1 not everything that is good is also beautiful4 ,what1 then1 is that something which1 added to the good1 makes it beautiful8 ,it is a great mystery4 ,it is so to us as it was to ,plato4 ,we must have gazed on the ,beautiful in the dreams of childhood1 or1 it may be1 in a former life1 and now we look for it everywhere1 but we can never find it1--never at least in all its brightness and fulness again1 never as we remember it once as the vision of a half-forgotten dream4 ,nor do we all remember the same ideal--some poor creatures remember none at all4444 ,the ideal1 therefore1 of what is beautiful is within us1 that is all we know2 how it came there we shall never know4 ,it is certainly not of this life1 else we could define it2 but it underlies this life1 else we could not feel it4 ,sometimes it meets us like a smile of ,nature1 sometimes like a glance of ,god2 and if anything proves that there is a great past1 and a great future1 a ,beyond1 a higher world1 a hidden life1 it is our faith in the ,beautiful4 ,chips4 ,,the ,,bible ,the fault is ours1 not theirs1 if we wilfully misinterpret the language of ancient prophets1 if we persist in understanding their words in their outward and material aspect only1 and forget that before language had sanctioned a distinction between the concrete and the abstract1 between the purely spiritual as opposed to the coarsely material1 the intention of the speakers comprehended both the concrete and the abstract1 both the material and the spiritual1 in a manner which has become quite strange to us1 though it lives on in the language of every true poet4 ,science of ,religion4 ,canonical books give the reflected image only of the real doctrines of the founder of a new religion2 an image always blurred and distorted by the medium through which it had to pass4 ,science of ,religion4 ,the ,old ,testament stands on a higher ethical stage than other sacred books1--it certainly does not lose by a comparison with them4 ,i always said so1 but people would not believe it4 ,still1 anything to show the truly historical and human character of the ,old ,testament would be extremely useful in any sense1 and would in nowise injure the high character which it possesses4 ,life4 ,if we have once learnt to be charitable and reasonable in the interpretation of the sacred books of other religions1 we shall more easily learn to be charitable and reasonable in the interpretation of our own4 ,we shall no longer try to force a literal sense on words which1 if interpreted literally1 must lose their true and original purport2 we shall no longer interpret the ,law and the ,prophets as if they had been written in the ,english of our own century1 but read them in a truly historical spirit1 prepared for many difficulties1 undiscouraged by many contradictions1 which1 so far from disproving the authenticity1 become to the historian of ancient language and ancient thought the strongest confirmatory evidence of the age1 the genuineness1 and the real truth of ancient sacred books4 ,let us but treat our own sacred books with neither more nor less mercy than the sacred books of any other nations1 and they will soon regain that position and influence which they once possessed1 but which the artificial and unhistorical theories of the last three centuries have wellnigh destroyed4 ,science of ,religion4 ,by the students of the science of religion the ,old ,testament can only be looked upon as a strictly historical book by the side of other historical books4 ,it can claim no privilege before the tribunal of history1 nay1 to claim such a privilege would be to really deprive it of the high position which it justly holds among the most valuable monuments of the distant past4 ,but the authorship of the single books which form the ,old ,testament1 and more particularly the dates at which they were reduced to writing1 form the subject of keen controversy1 not among critics hostile to religion1 but among theologians who treat these questions in the most independent1 but at the same time the most candid and judicial1 spirit4 ,by this treatment many difficulties1 which in former times disturbed the minds of thoughtful theologians1 have been removed1 and the ,old ,testament has resumed its rightful place among the most valuable monuments of antiquity4444 ,but this was possible on one condition only1 namely1 that the ,old ,testament should be treated simply as an historical book1 willing to submit to all the tests of historical criticism to which other historical books have submitted4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,ii4 ,what the student of the history of the continuous growth of religion looks for in vain in the books of the ,old ,testament1 are the successive stages in the development of religious concepts4 ,he does not know which books he may consider as more ancient or more modern than other books4 ,he asks in vain how much of the religious ideas reflected in certain of these books may be due to ancient tradition1 how much to the mind of the latest writer4 ,in ,exodus iii4 ,god is revealed to ,moses1 not only as the supreme1 but as the only ,god4 ,but we are now told by competent scholars that ,exodus could not have been written down till probably a thousand years after ,moses4 ,how then can we rely on it as an accurate picture of the thoughts of ,moses and his contemporaries8 ,it has been said with great truth that 'it is almost impossible to believe that a people who had been emancipated from superstition at the time of the ,exodus1 and who had been all along taught to conceive ,god as the one universal ,spirit1 existing only in truth and righteousness1 should be found at the time of ,josiah1 nearly nine hundred years later1 steeped in every superstition4' ,still1 if the writings of the ,old ,testament#a were contemporaneous with the events they relate1 this retrogressive movement would have to be admitted4 ,most of these difficulties are removed1 or considerably lessened1 if we accept the results of modern ,hebrew scholarship1 and remember that though the ,old ,testament may contain very ancient traditions1 they probably were not reduced to writing till the middle of the fifth century ,b4,c41 and may have been modified by and mixed up with ideas belonging to the time of ,ezra4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,ii4 ,footnote #a3 ,the reader is reminded that these lectures were published in #ahia1 before ,english theologians had reached any generally received results in the study of the dates of the various parts of the ,old ,testament4 ,it would be more correct now to substitute 'the ,pentateuch' in the above sentence for the ',old ,testament4' ,for a statement of the modern views of the several periods to which the different books may be assigned1 see ,canon ,driver's ,introduction to the ,literature of the ,old ,testament4 ,may we1 or may we not1 interpret1 as students of language1 and particularly as students of ,oriental languages1 the language of the ,old ,testament as a primitive and as an ,oriental language8 ,may we1 or may we not1 as true believers1 see through the veil which human language always throws over the most sacred mysteries of the soul1 and instead of dragging the sublimity of ,abraham's trial and ,abraham's faith down to the level of a merely preternatural event1 recognise in it the real trial of a human soul1 the real faith of the friend of ,god1 a faith without stormwinds1 without earthquakes and fires1 a faith in the still small voice of ,god8 ,,ms4 ,is it really necessary to say again and again what the ,buddhists have said so often and well1 that the act of creation is perfectly inconceivable to any human understanding1 and that1 if we speak of it at all1 we can only do so anthropomorphically or mythologically8 ,,ms4 ,,children ,all seems so bright and perfect1 and quite a new life seems to open before me1 in that beloved little child4 ,she helps me to look forward to such a far distance1 and opens quite a new view of one's own purpose and duties on earth4 ,it is something new to live for1 to train a human soul entrusted to us1 and to fit her for her true home beyond this life4 ,life4 ,i doubt whether it is possible to take too high a view of life where the education of children is concerned4 ,it is the one great work entrusted to us1 it forms the true religion of life4 ,nothing is small or unimportant in forming the next generation1 which is to carry on the work where we have to leave it unfinished4 ,no single soul can be spared--every one is important1 every one may be the cause of infinite good1 or of infinite mischief1 for ever hereafter4 ,,ms4 ,,christ1 ,,the ,,logos ,an explanation of ,logos in ,greek philosophy is much simpler than is commonly supposed4 ,it is only needful not to forget that for the ,greeks thought and word were inseparable1 and that the same term1 namely ,logos1 expressed both1 though they distinguished the inner from the outer ,logos4 ,it is one of the most remarkable aberrations of the human mind to imagine that there could be a word without thought1 or a thought without word4 ,the two are inseparable2 one cannot exist or be even conceived without the other4 ,silesian ,horseherd4 ,in nearly all religions ,god remains far from man4 ,i say in nearly all religions3 for in ,brahmanism the unity1 not the union1 of the human soul with ,brahma is recognised as the highest aim4 ,this unity with ,deity1 together with phenomenal difference1 ,jesus expressed in part through the ,logos1 in part through the ,son4 ,there is nothing so closely allied as thought and word1 ,father and ,son4 ,they can be distinguished but never separated1 for they exist only through each other4 ,in this matter the ,greek philosophers considered all creation as the thought or the word of ,god1 and the thought 'man' became naturally the highest ,logos1 realised in millions of men1 and raised to the highest perfection in ,jesus4 ,as the thought exists only through the word1 and the word only through the thought1 so also the ,father exists only through the ,son1 and the ,son through the ,father1 and in this sense ,jesus feels and declares himself the ,son of ,god1 and all men who believe in ,him ,his brethren4 ,this revelation or inspiration came to mankind through ,jesus4 ,no one knew the ,father except the ,son1 who is in the bosom of the ,father1 and those to whom the ,son willeth to reveal ,him4 ,this is the ,christian ,revelation in the true sense of the word4 ,silesian ,horseherd4 ,small as may be the emphasis that we now lay on the ,logos doctrine1 in that period 7i4e4 of the ,fourth ,gospel7 it was the centre1 the vital germ1 of the whole ,christian teaching4 ,if we read any of the writings of ,athanasius1 or of any of the older church fathers1 we shall be surprised to see how all of them begin with the word 7,logos7 as a fixed point of departure1 and then proceed to prove that the ,word is the ,son of ,god1 and finally that the ,son of ,god is ,jesus of ,nazareth4 ,religion and philosophy are here closely related4 ,silesian ,horseherd4 ,what is true ,christianity if it be not the belief in the true sonship of man1 as the ,greek philosophers had rightly surmised1 but had never seen realised on earth8 ,here is the point where the two great intellectual currents of the ,aryan and ,semitic worlds flow together1 in that the long-expected ,messiah of the ,jews was recognised as the ,logos1 the true ,son of ,god1 and that ,he opened or revealed to every man the possibility to become what he had always been1 but had never before apprehended1 the highest thought1 the ,word1 the ,logos1 the ,son of ,god4 ,silesian ,horseherd4 ,eternal life consists in knowing that men have their ,father and their true being in the only true ,god1 and that as sons of this same ,father1 they are of like nature with ,god and ,christ4 ,silesian ,horseherd4 ,why should the belief in the ,son give everlasting life8 ,because ,jesus has through ,his own sonship in ,god declared to us ours also4 ,this knowledge gives us eternal life through the conviction that we too have something divine and eternal within us1 namely1 the word of ,god1 the ,son whom ,he hath sent4 ,jesus ,himself1 however1 is the only begotten ,son1 the light of the world4 ,he first fulfilled and illumined the divine idea which lies darkly in all men1 and made it possible for all men to become actually what they have always been potentially--sons of ,god4 ,silesian ,horseherd4 ,we make the fullest allowance for those who1 from reverence for ,god and for ,christ1 and from the purest motives1 protest against claiming for man the full brotherhood of ,christ4 ,but when they say that the difference between ,christ and mankind is one of kind1 and not of degree1 they know not what they do1 they nullify the whole of ,christ's teaching1 and they deny the ,incarnation which they pretend to teach4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iv4 ,the ,ammergau play must be very powerful4 ,and ,i feel sure just now nothing is more wanted than to be powerfully impressed with the truly human character of ,christ2 it has almost vanished under the extravagant phraseology of hymns and creeds1 and yet how much greater is the simple story of ,his unselfish life than all the superlatives of later ,theology4 ,if one knows what it is to lose a human soul whom one has loved--how one forgets all that was human1 and only clings to what was eternal in it1 one can understand the feelings of ,christ's friends and disciples when they saw ,him crucified and sacrificed1 the innocent for those whom ,he wished to guide and save4 ,,ms4 ,jesus destroyed the barrier between man and ,god1 the veil that hid the ,holiest was withdrawn4 ,man was taught to see what the prophets had seen dimly1 that he was near to ,god1 that ,god was near to every one of us1 that the old ,jewish view of a distant ,jehovah had arisen from an excess of reverence1 had filled the heart of man with fear1 but not with love4 ,jesus did not teach a new doctrine1 but ,he removed an old error1 and that error1 that slavish fear of ,god1 once removed1 the human heart would recover the old trust in ,god--man would return like a lost son to his lost father1 he would feel that if he was anything1 he could only be what his ,god had made him1 and wished him to be4 ,and if a name was wanted for that intimate relation between ,god and man1 what better name was there than ,father and ,son8 ,,ms4 ,those who deprived ,jesus of ,his real humanity in order to exalt ,him above all humanity were really undoing ,his work4 ,christ came to teach us1 not what ,he was1 but what we are4 ,he had seen that man1 unless he learnt himself to be the child of ,god1 was lost4 ,all his aspirations were vain unless they all sprang from one deep aspiration1 love of ,god4 ,and how can we love what is totally different from ourselves8 ,if there is in us a likeness1 however small1 of ,god1 then we can love our ,god1 feel ourselves drawn towards ,him1 have our true being in ,him4 ,that is the essence of ,christianity1 that is what distinguishes the ,christian from all other religions4 ,and yet that very kernel and seed of ,christianity is constantly disregarded1 is even looked upon with distrust4 ,was not ,christ1 who died for us1 more than we ourselves8 it is said4 ,or again1 ,are we to make ourselves gods8 ,christ never says that ,he is different from ourselves2 ,he never taught as a ,god might teach4 ,his constant teaching is1 that we are ,his brethren1 and that we ought to follow ,his example1 to become like ,him1 because we were meant to be like ,him4 ,in that ,he has come near to ,god1 as near as a son can be to ,his father2 ,he is what ,he was meant to be4 ,we are not1 and hence the deep difference between ,him and us4 ,,ms4 ,then it is said1 ,is not ,christ ,god8 ,yes1 ,he is1 but in ,his own sense1 not in the ,jewish nor in the ,greek sense1 nor in the sense which so many ,christians attach to that article of their faith4 ,christ's teaching is that we are of ,god1 that there is in us something divine1 that we are nothing if we are not that4 ,he also teaches that through our own fault we are now widely separated from ,god1 as a son may be entirely separated and alienated from his father4 ,but ,god is a perfect and loving ,father--,he knows that we can be weak1 and yet be good1 and when ,his lost sons return to ,him ,he receives them and forgives them as only a father can forgive4 ,let us bestow all praise and glory on ,christ as the best son of ,god4 ,let us feel how unworthy we are to be called ,his brothers1 and the children of ,god1 but let us not lose ,christ1 and lose our ,father whom ,he came to show us1 by exalting ,jesus beyond the place which ,he claimed ,himself4 ,christ never calls ,himself the ,father1 ,he speaks of ,his ,father with love1 but always with humility and reverence4 ,all attempts to find in human language a better expression than that of son have failed4 ,theologians and philosophers have tried in vain to define more accurately the relation of ,christ to the ,father1 of man to ,god4 ,they have called ,christ another person of the ,godhead4 ,is that better than ,christ's own simple human language1 ,i go to my ,father8 ,,ms4 ,christ has been made so unreal to us1 ,he has been spoken of in such unmeasured terms that it is very difficult to gain ,him back1 such as ,he was1 without a fear of showing less reverence and love of ,him than others4 ,and yet1 unreal expressions are always false expressions--nothing is so bad as if we do not fully mean what we say4 ,of course we know ,christ through ,his friends only1 they tell us what ,he told them--they represent ,him as ,he appeared to them4 ,what fallible judges they often were they do not disguise1 and that1 no doubt1 raises the value of their testimony1 but we can only see ,him as they saw ,him2 the fact remains we know very little of ,him4 ,still1 enough remains to show that ,christ was full of love1 that ,he loved not only ,his friends1 but ,his enemies4 ,christ's whole life seems to have been one of love1 not of coldness4 ,he perceived our common brotherhood1 and what it was based on1 our common ,father beyond this world1 in heaven1 as ,he said4 ,,ms4 ,,christianity ,christianity is ,christianity by this one fundamental truth1 that as ,god is the father of man1 so truly1 and not poetically1 or metaphorically only1 man is the son of ,god1 participating in ,god's very essence and nature1 though separated from ,god by self and sin4 ,this oneness of nature between the ,divine and the human does not lower the concept of ,god by bringing it nearer to the level of humanity2 on the contrary1 it raises the old concept of man and brings it nearer to its true ideal4 ,the true relation between ,god and man had been dimly foreseen by many prophets and poets1 but ,christ was the first to proclaim that relation in clear and simple language4 ,he called ,himself the ,son of ,god1 and ,he was the firstborn son of ,god in the fullest sense of that word4 ,but ,he never made ,himself equal with the ,father in whom ,he lived and moved and had ,his being4 ,he was man in the new and true sense of the word1 and in the new and true sense of the word ,he was ,god4 ,to my mind man is nothing if ,he does not participate in the ,divine4 ,chips4 ,true ,christianity lives1 not in our belief1 but in our love1 in our love of ,god1 and in our love of man founded on our love of ,god4 ,chips4 ,true ,christianity1 ,i mean the religion of ,christ1 seems to me to become more and more exalted the more we know and the more we appreciate the treasures of truth hidden in the despised religions of the world4 ,but no one can honestly arrive at that conviction unless he uses honestly the same measure for all religions4 ,science of ,religion4 ,the position which ,christianity from the very beginning took up with regard to ,judaism served as the first lesson in comparative theology1 and directed the attention even of the unlearned to a comparison of two religions1 differing in their conception of the ,deity1 in their estimate of humanity1 in their motives of morality1 and in their hope of immortality1 yet sharing so much in common that there are but few of the psalms and prayers in the ,old ,testament in which a ,christian cannot heartily join even now1 and but few rules of morality which he ought not even now to obey4 ,science of ,religion4 ,it was exactly because the doctrine of ,christ1 more than that of the founders of any other religion1 offered in the beginning an expression of the highest truths in which ,jewish carpenters1 ,roman publicans1 and ,greek philosophers could join without dishonesty1 that it has conquered the best part of the world4 ,it was because attempts were made from very early times to narrow and stiffen the outward expression of our faith1 to put narrow dogma in the place of trust and love1 that the ,christian ,church often lost those who might have been its best defenders1 and that the religion of ,christ has almost ceased to be what1 before all things1 it was meant to be1 a religion of world-wide love and charity4 ,hibbert ,lectures4 ,the founder of ,christianity insisted again and again on the fact that ,he came to fulfil1 and not to destroy2 and we know how impossible it would be to understand the true position of ,christianity in the history of the world1 the true purport of the 'fullness of time1' unless we always remember that its founder was born and lived and died an ,israelite4 ,many of the parables and sayings of the ,new ,testament have now been traced back1 not only to the ,old ,testament1 but to the ,talmud also2 and we know how difficult it was at first for any but a ,jew to understand the true meaning of the new ,christian doctrine4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,i4 ,there is no religion in the whole world which in simplicity1 in purity of purpose1 in charity1 and true humanity1 comes near to that religion which ,christ taught to ,his disciples4 ,and yet that very religion1 we are told1 is being attacked on all sides4 ,the principal reason for this omnipresent unbelief is1 ,i believe1 the neglect of our foundations1 the disregard of our own bookless religion1 the almost disdain of ,natural ,religion4 ,even bishops will curl their lips when you speak to them of that natural and universal religion which existed before the advent of our historical religions1 nay1 without which all historical religions would have been as impossible as poetry is without language4 ,natural religion may exist and does exist without revealed religion--revealed religion without natural religion is an utter impossibility4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,i4 ,there can be no doubt that free inquiry has swept away1 and will sweep away1 many things which have been highly valued1 nay1 which were considered essential by many honest and pious minds4 ,and yet who will say that true ,christianity1 ,christianity which is known by its fruits1 is less vigorous now than it has ever been before8 ,there have been discussions in the ,christian ,church from the time of the ,apostles to our own times4 ,we have passed through them ourselves1 we are passing through them now4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,ii4 ,when we think of the exalted character of ,christ's teaching1 may we not ask ourselves once more1 ,what would ,he have said if ,he had seen the fabulous stories of ,his birth and childhood1 or if ,he had thought that ,his ,divine character would ever be made to depend on the historical truth of the ,evangelia ,infantiae8 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,ii4 ,much of the mere outworks of ,christianity cannot hold the ground on which they have been planted1 they have to be given up by force at last1 when they ought to have been given up long before2 and when given up at last1 they often tear away with them part of the strength of that faith of which they had previously been not only the buttress outside1 but a part of the living framework4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iii4 ,what we call ,christianity embraces several fundamental doctrines1 but the most important of them all is the recognition of the ,divine in man1 or1 as we call it1 the belief in the ,divinity of the ,son4 ,the belief in ,god1 let us say in ,god the ,father1 or the ,creator and ,ruler of the world1 had been elaborated by the ,jews1 and most of the civilised and uncivilised nations of the world had arrived at it4 ,but when the ,founder of ,christianity called ,god ,his ,father1 and not only ,his ,father1 but the ,father of all mankind1 ,he did no longer speak the language of either ,jews or ,greeks4 ,to the ,jews1 to claim ,divine sonship for man would have been blasphemy4 ,to the ,greeks1 ,divine sonship would have meant no more than a miraculous1 a mythological event4 ,christ spoke a new language1 a language liable1 no doubt1 to be misunderstood1 as all language is2 but a language which to those who understood it has imparted a new glory to the face of the whole world4 ,it is well known how this event1 the discovery of the ,divine in man1 which involves a complete change in the spiritual condition of mankind1 and marks the great turning-point in the history of the world1 has been surrounded by a legendary halo1 has been obscured1 has been changed into mere mythology1 so that its real meaning has often been quite forgotten1 and has to be discovered again by honest and fearless seeking4 ,christ had to speak the language of ,his time1 but ,he gave a new meaning to it1 and yet that language has often retained its old discarded meaning in the minds of ,his earliest1 nay sometimes of ,his latest disciples also4 ,the ,divine sonship of which ,he speaks was not blasphemy as the ,jews thought1 nor mythology as so many of ,his own followers imagined1 and still imagine4 ,father and ,son1 divine and human1 were like the old bottles that could hardly hold the new wine2 and yet how often have the old broken bottles been preferred to the new wine that was to give new life to the world4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iii4 ,if we have learnt to look upon ,christianity1 not as something unreal and unhistorical1 but as an integral part of history1 of the historical growth of the human race1 we can see how all the searchings after the ,divine or ,infinite in man were fulfilled in the simple utterances of ,christ4 ,his preaching1 we are told1 brought life and immortality to light4 ,life1 the life of the soul1 and immortality1 the immortality of the soul1 were there and had always been there4 ,but they were brought to light1 man was made fully conscious of them1 man remembered his royal birth1 when the word had been spoken by ,christ4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iii4 ,we must never forget that it was not the principal object of ,christ's teaching to make others believe that ,he only was divine1 immortal1 or the son of ,god4 ,he wished them to believe this for their own sake1 for their own regeneration4 ',as many as received ,him to them gave ,he power to become the sons of ,god4' ,it might be thought1 at first1 that this recognition of a ,divine element in man must necessarily lower the conception of the ,divine4 ,and so it does in one sense4 ,it brings ,god nearer to us1 it bridges over the abyss by which the ,divine and the human were completely separated in the ,jewish1 and likewise in many of the pagan religions4 ,it rends the veil of the temple4 ,this lowering1 therefore1 is no real lowering of the ,divine4 ,it is an expanding of the concept of the ,divine1 and at the same time a raising of the concept of humanity1 or rather a restoration of what is called human to its true character1--a regeneration1 or a second birth1 as it is called by ,christ ,himself4 ',except a man be born again1 he cannot see the kingdom of ,god4' ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iii4 ,there is a constant action and reaction in the growth of religious ideas1 and the first action by which the ,divine was separated from and placed almost beyond the reach of the human mind1 was followed by a reaction which tried to reunite the two4 ,this process1 though visible in many religions1 was most pronounced in ,judaism in its transition to ,christianity4 ,nowhere had the invisible ,god been further removed from the visible world than in the ancient ,jewish religion1 and nowhere have the two been so closely drawn together again and made one as by that fundamental doctrine of ,christianity1 the ,divine sonship of man4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iv4 ,christ spoke to men1 women1 and children1 not to theologians1 and the classification of ,his sayings should be made1 not according to theological technicalities1 but according to what makes our own heart beat4 ,life4 ,the yearning for union or unity with ,god1 which we see as the highest goal in other religions1 finds its fullest recognition in ,christianity1 if but properly understood1 that is1 if but treated historically1 and it is inseparable from our belief in man's full brotherhood with ,christ4 ,however imperfect the forms may be in which that human yearning for ,god has found expression in different religions1 it has always been the deepest spring of all religions1 and the highest summit reached by ,natural ,religion4 ,the different bridges that have been thrown across the gulf that seems to separate earth from heaven and man from ,god1 may be more or less crude and faulty1 yet we may trust that many a faithful soul has been carried across by them to a better home4 ,it is quite true that to speak of a bridge between man and ,god1 even if that bridge is called the ,self1 is but a metaphor4 ,but how can we speak of these things except in metaphors8 ,to return to ,god is a metaphor1 to stand before the throne of ,god is a metaphor1 to be in ,paradise with ,christ is a metaphor4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iv4 ,the ,christian religion should challenge rather than deprecate comparison4 ,if we find certain doctrines which we thought the exclusive property of ,christianity in other religions also1 does ,christianity lose thereby1 or is the truth of these doctrines impaired by being recognised by other teachers also8 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iv4 ,love--superseding faith--seems to be the keynote of all ,christianity4 ,but the world is still far from true ,christianity1 and whoever is honest towards himself knows how far away he himself is from the ideal he wishes to reach4 ,one can hardly imagine what this world would be if we were really what we profess to be1 followers of ,christ4 ,the first thing we have to learn is that we are not what we profess to be4 ,when we have learnt that1 we shall at all events be more forbearing1 forgiving1 and loving towards others4 ,we shall believe in them1 give them credit for good intentions1 with which1 ,i hope1 not hell1 but heaven1 is paved4 ,life4 ,our religion is certainly better and purer than others1 but in the essential points all religions have something in common4 ,they all start with the belief that there is something beyond1 and they are all attempts to reach out to it4 ,life4 ,how little was taught by ,christ1 and yet that is enough1 and every addition is of evil4 ,love ,god1 love men--that is the whole law and the prophets--not the ,creeds and the ,catechism and the ,articles and the endless theological discussions4 ,we want no more1 and those who try to fulfil that simple law1 know best how difficult it is1 and how our whole life and our whole power are hardly sufficient to fulfil that short law4 ,,ms4 ,christ's teaching is plainly that as ,he is the ,son of ,god so we are ,his brothers4 ,his conception of man is a new one1 and as that is new1 so must ,his conception of ,god be new4 ,he lifts up humanity1 and brings deity near to humanity1 and ,he expresses their inseparable nature and their separate existences by the best simile which the world supplies1 that of ,father and ,son4 ,he claims no more for ,himself than ,he claims for us4 ,his only excellence is that which is due to ,himself--,his having been the first to find the ,father1 and become again ,his ,son1 and ,his having remained in life and death more one with the ,father than any one of those who professed to believe in ,him1 and to follow ,his example4 ,,ms4 ,if ,jesus was not ,god1 was ,he1 they ask1 a mere man8 ,a mere man8 ,is there anything among the works of ,god1 anything next to ,god1 more wonderful1 more awful1 more holy than man8 ,much rather should we ask1 ,was then ,jesus a mere ,god8 ,look at the miserable conceptions which man made to himself as long as he spoke of gods beside ,god8 ,it could not be otherwise4 ,god is one1 and he who admits other gods beside or without ,him degrades1 nay1 denies and destroys the ,one ,god4 ,a ,god is less than man4 ,true ,christianity does not degrade the ,godhead1 it exalts manhood1 by bringing it back near to ,god1 as near as it is possible for the human thought to approach the ineffable and inconceivable ,majesty of the true ,god4 ,,ms4 ,if ,i ventured to speak of ,god's purpose at all1 ,i should say1 that it is not ,god's purpose to win only the spiritually gifted1 the humble1 the tender hearted1 the souls that are discontented with their own shortcomings1 the souls that find happiness in self-sacrifice--those are ,his already--but to win the intellectually gifted1 the wise1 the cultivated1 the clever1 or better still1 to win them both4 ,it would be an evil day for ,christianity if it could no longer win the intellectually gifted1 the wise1 the cultivated1 the clever1 and it seems to me the duty of all who really believe in ,christ to show that ,christianity1 if truly understood1 can win the highest as well as the humblest intellects4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iii4 ,,death ,trust in ,god6 ,what ,he does is well done4 ,what we are1 we are through ,him2 what we suffer1 we suffer through ,his will4 ,we cannot conceive ,his wisdom1 we cannot fathom ,his love2 but we can trust with a trust stronger than all other trusts that ,he will not forsake us1 when we cling to ,him1 and call on ,him1 as ,his ,son ,jesus ,christ has taught us to call on ,him1 ',our ,father4' ,though this earthly form of ours must perish1 all that was good1 and pure1 and unselfish in us will live4 ,death has no power over what is of ,god within us4 ,death changes and purifies and perfects us1 ,death brings us nearer to ,god1 where we shall meet again those that are ,god's1 and love them with that godly love which can never perish4 ,life4 ,would that loving ,father begin such a work in us as is now going on1 and then destroy it1 leave it unfinished8 ,no1 what is will be2 what really is in us will always be2 we shall be because we are4 ,many things which are now will change1 but what we really are we shall always be2 and if love forms really part of our very life1 that love1 changed it may be1 purified1 sanctified1 will be with us1 and remain with us through that greatest change which we call death4 ,the pangs of death will be the same for all that1 just as the pangs of childbirth seem ordained by ,god in order to moderate the exceeding joy that a child is born into the world4 ,and as the pain is forgotten when the child is born1 so it will be after death--the joy will be commensurate to the sorrow4 ,the sorrow is but the effort necessary to raise ourselves to that new and higher state of being1 and without that supreme effort or agony1 the new life that waits for us is beyond our horizon1 beyond our conception4 ,it is childish to try to anticipate1 we cannot know anything about it2 we are meant to be ignorant2 even the ,divina ,commedia of a great poet and thinker is but child's play1 and nothing else4444 ,no illusions1 no anticipations2 only that certainty1 that quiet rest in ,god1 that submissive expectation of the soul1 which knows that all is good1 all comes from ,god1 all tends to ,god4 ,,ms4 ,as one gets older death seems hardly to make so wide a gap--a few years more or less1 that is all--meantime we know in whose hands we all are1 that life is very beautiful1 but death has its beauty too4 ,life4 ,we accustom ourselves so easily to life as a second nature1 and in spite of the graves around us1 death remains something unnatural1 hard and terrifying4 ,that should not be4 ,an early death is terrifying1 but as we grow older our thoughts should accustom themselves to passing away at the end of a long life's journey4 ,all is so beautiful1 so good1 so wisely ordered1 that even death can be nothing hard1 nothing disturbing2 it all belongs to a great plan1 which we do not understand1 but of which we know that it is wiser than all wisdom1 better than all good1 that it cannot be otherwise1 cannot be better4 ,in faith we can live and we can die--can even see those go before us who came before us1 and whom we must follow4 ,all is not according to our will1 to our wisdom1 but according to a heavenly will1 and those who have once found each other through ,god's hand will1 clinging to ,his hand1 find each other again4 ,life4 ,if we are called away sooner or later we ought to part cheerfully1 knowing that this earth could give no more than has been ours1 and looking forward to our new home1 as to a more perfect state where all that was good and true and unselfish in us will live and expand1 and all that was bad and mean will be purified and cast off4 ,so let us work here as long as it is day1 but without fearing the night that will lead us to a new and brighter dawn of life4 ,,ms4 ,annihilation 444 is a word without any conceivable meaning4 ,we are--that is enough4 ,what we are does not depend on us2 what we shall be neither4 ,we may conceive the idea of change in form1 but not of cessation or destruction of substance4 ,people mean frequently by annihilation the loss of conscious personality1 as distinct from material annihilation4 ,what ,i feel about it is shortly this4 ,if there is anything real and substantial in our conscious personality1 then whatever there is real and substantial cannot cease to exist4 ,if on the contrary we mean by conscious personality something that is the result of accidental circumstances1 then1 no doubt1 we must face the idea of such a personality ceasing to be what it now is4 ,i believe1 however1 that the true source and essence of our personality lies in what is the most real of all real things1 and in so far as it is true1 it cannot be destroyed4 ,there is a distinction between conscious personality and personal consciousness4 ,a child has personal consciousness1 a man who is this or that1 a ,napoleon1 a ,talleyrand1 has conscious personality4 ,much of that conscious personality is merely temporary1 and passes away1 but the personal consciousness remains4 ,life4 ,one look up to heaven1 and all this dust of the highroad of life vanishes4 ,yes6 one look up to heaven and that dark shadow of death vanishes4 ,we have made the darkness of that shadow ourselves1 and our thoughts about death are very ungodly4 ,god has willed it so2 there is to be a change1 and a change of such magnitude that even if angels were to come down and tell us all about it1 we could not understand it1 as little as the new-born child would understand what human language could tell about the present life4 ,think what the birth of a child1 of a human soul1 is2 and when you have felt the utter impossibility of fathoming that mystery1 then turn your thoughts upon death1 and see in it a new birth equally unfathomable1 but only the continuation of that joyful mystery which we call a birth4 ,it is all ,god's work1 and where is there a flaw in that wonder of all wonders1 ,god's ever-working work8 ,if people talk of the miseries of life1 are they not all man's work8 ,life4 ,great happiness makes one feel so often that it cannot last1 and that we will have some day to give up all to which one's heart clings so4 ,a few years sooner or later1 but the time will come1 and come quicker than one expects4 ,therefore ,i believe it is right to accustom oneself to the thought that we can none of us escape death1 and that all our happiness here is only lent us4 ,but at the same time we can thankfully enjoy all that ,god gives us1 444 and there is still so much left us1 so much to be happy and thankful for1 and yet here too the thought always rushes across one's brightest hours3 it cannot last1 it is only for a few years and then it must be given up4 ,let us work as long as it is day1 let us try to do our duty1 and be very thankful for ,god's blessings which have been showered upon us so richly--but let us learn also always to look beyond1 and learn to be ready to give up everything1--and yet say1 ,thy ,will be done4 ,,ms4 ,it is the most painful work ,i know looking through the papers and other things belonging to one who is no more with us4 ,how different everything looks to what it did before4 ,there is one beautiful feature about death1 it carries off all the small faults of the soul we loved1 it makes us see the true littleness of little things1 it takes away all the shadows1 and only leaves the light4 ,that is how it ought to be2 and if in judging of a person we could only bring ourselves to think how we should judge of them if we saw them on the bed of death1 how different life would be6 ,we always judge in self-defence1 and that makes our judgments so harsh4 ,when they are gone how readily we forget and forgive everything1 how truly we love all that was lovable in them1 how we blame ourselves for our own littleness in minding this and that1 and not simply and truly loving all that was good and bright and noble4 ,how different life might be if we could all bring ourselves to be what we really are1 good and loving1 and could blow away the dust that somehow or other will fall on all of us4 ,it is never too late to begin again4 ,life4 ,the death of those we love is the last lesson we receive in life--the rest we must learn for ourselves4 ,to me1 the older ,i grow1 and the nearer ,i feel that to me the end must be1 the more perfect and beautiful all seems to be2 one feels surrounded and supported everywhere by power1 wisdom1 and love1 content to trust and wait1 incapable of murmuring1 very helpless1 very weak1 yet strong in that very helplessness1 because it teaches us to trust in something not ourselves4 ,yet parting with those we love is hard--only ,i fear there is nothing else that would have kept our eyes open to what is beyond this life4 ,,ms4 ,it is strange how little we all think of death as the condition of all the happiness we enjoy now4 ,if we could but learn to value each hour of life1 to enjoy it fully1 to use it fully1 never to spoil a minute by selfishness1 then death would never come too soon2 it is the wasted hours which are like death in life1 and which make life really so short4 ,it is not too late to learn to try to be more humble1 more forbearing1 more courteous1 or1 what is at the root of all1 more loving4 ,life4 ,the great world for which we live seems to me as good as the little world in which we live1 and ,i have never known why faith should fail1 when everything1 even pain and sorrow1 is so wonderfully good and beautiful4 ,all that we say to console ourselves on the death of those we loved1 and who loved us1 is hollow and false2 the only true thing is rest and silence4 ,we cannot understand1 and therefore we must and can trust4 ,there can be no mistake1 no gap1 in the world-poem to which we belong2 and ,i believe that those stars which without their own contrivance have met1 will meet again4 ,how1 where1 when8 ,god knows this1 and that is enough4 ,,ms4 ,god has taught us that death is not so terrible as it appears to most men--it is but a separation for a few short days1 and then1 too1 eternity awaits us4 ,life4 ,we live here in a narrow dwelling-house1 which presses us in on all sides1 and yet we fancy it is the whole universe4 ,but when the door opens and a loved one passes out1 never to return1 we too step to the door and look out into the distance1 and realise then how small and empty the dwelling is1 and how a larger1 more beautiful world waits for us without4 ,how it is in that larger world1 who can say8 but if we were so happy in the narrow dwelling1 how far more happy shall we be out there6 ,be not afraid4 ,see how beautifully all is ordered2 look up to the widespread firmament1 and think how small it is in comparison with ,god's almighty power4 ,he who regulates the courses of the stars will regulate the fate of the souls of men1 and those souls who have once met1 shall they not meet again like the stars8 ,,ms4 ,those who are absent are often nearer to us than those who are present4 ,,ms4 ,we reckon too little with death1 and then when it comes it overwhelms us4 ,we know all the time that our friends must go1 and that we must go1 but we shut our eyes1 and enjoy their love and friendship as if life could never end4 ,we should say good-bye to each other every evening--perhaps the last good-bye would find us then less unprepared4 ,,ms4 ,there is something so natural in death4 ,we come and we go1 there is no break4 ,life4 ,what is more natural in life than death8 and having lived this long life1 so full of light1 having been led so kindly by a ,fatherly hand through all storms and struggles1 why should ,i be afraid when ,i have to make the last step8 ,life4 ,,the ,,deity ,we clearly see that the possibility of intercourse between man and ,god1 and a revelation of ,god to man1 depends chiefly or exclusively on the conception which man has previously formed of ,god and man4 ,in all theological researches we must carefully bear in mind that the idea of ,god is our idea1 which we have formed in part through tradition1 and in part by our own thinking4 ,god is and remains our ,god4 ,we can have a knowledge of ,him only through our inner consciousness1 not through our senses4 ,silesian ,horseherd4 ,our duties toward ,god and man1 our love for ,god and for man1 are as nothing without the firm foundation which is formed only by our faith in ,god1 as the ,thinker and ,ruler of the world1 the ,father of the ,son1 who was revealed through ,him as the ,father of all sons1 of all men4 ,silesian ,horseherd4 ,though ,christianity has given us a purer and truer idea of the ,godhead1 of the majesty of ,his power and the holiness of ,his will1 there remains with many of us the conception of a merely objective ,deity4 ,god is still with many of us in the clouds1 so far removed from the earth and so high above anything human1 that in trying to realise fully the meaning of ,christ's teaching we often shrink from approaching too near to the blinding effulgence of ,jehovah4 ,the idea that we should stand to ,him in the relation of children to their father seems to some people almost irreverent1 and the thought that ,god is near us everywhere1 the belief that we are also ,his offspring1 nay1 that there has never been an absolute barrier between divinity and humanity1 has often been branded as ,pantheism4 ,yet ,christianity would not be ,christianity without this so-called ,pantheism1 and it is only some lingering belief in something like a ,jove-like ,deus ,optimus ,maximus that keeps the eyes of our mind fixed with awe on the ,god of ,nature without1 rather than on the much more awful ,god of the soul within4 ,chips4 ,the idea of ,god is the result of an unbroken historical evolution1 call it a development1 an unveiling1 or a purification1 but not of a sudden revelation4444 ,what right have we to find fault with the manner in which the ,divine revealed itself1 first to the eyes1 and then to the mind1 of man8 ,is the revelation in nature really so contemptible a thing that we can afford to despise it1 or at the utmost treat it as good enough for the heathen world8 ,our eyes must have grown very dim1 our mind very dull1 if we can no longer perceive how the heavens declare the glory of ,god4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,ii4 ,a belief in one ,supreme ,god1 even if at first it was only a henotheistic1 and not yet a monotheistic belief1 took possession of the leading spirits of the ,jewish race at a very early time4 ,all tradition assigns that belief in ,one ,god1 the ,most ,high1 to ,abraham4 ,abraham1 though he did not deny the existence of the gods worshipped by the neighbouring tribes1 yet looked upon them as different from1 and as decidedly inferior to1 his own ,god4 ,his monotheism was1 no doubt1 narrow4 ,his ,god was the friend of ,abraham1 as ,abraham was the friend of ,god4 ,yet the concept of ,god formed by ,abraham was a concept that could and did grow4 ,neither ,moses1 nor the ,prophets1 nor ,christ ,himself1 nor even ,mohammed1 had to introduce a new ,god4 ,their ,god was always called the ,god of ,abraham1 even when freed from all that was local and narrow in the faith of that patriarch4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,ii4 ,to some any attempt to trace back the name and concept of ,jehovah to the same hidden sources from which other nations derived their first intimation of deity may seem almost sacrilegious4 ,they forget the difference between the human concept of the ,deity and the ,deity itself1 which is beyond the reach of all human concepts4 ,but the historian reads deeper lessons in the growth of these human concepts1 as they spring up everywhere in the minds of men who have been seekers after truth--seeking the ,lord if haply they might feel after ,him and find ,him--and when he can show the slow but healthy growth of the noblest and sublimest thoughts out of small and apparently insignificant beginnings1 he rejoices as the labourer rejoices over his golden harvest2 nay1 he often wonders what is more truly wonderful1 the butterfly that soars up to heaven on its silvery wings1 or the grub that hides within its mean chrysalis such marvellous possibilities4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,ii4 ,the concept of ,god arises out of necessity in the human mind1 and is not1 as many theologians will have it1 the result of one special disclosure1 granted to ,jews and ,christians only4 ,it seems to me impossible to resist this conviction1 where a comparative study of the great religions of the world shows us that the highest attributes which we claim for the ,deity are likewise ascribed to it by the ,sacred ,books of other religions4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,ii4 ,we can now repeat the words which have been settled for us centuries ago1 and which we have learnt by heart in our childhood--,i believe in ,god the ,father1 ,maker of heaven and earth--with the conviction that they express1 not only the faith of the apostles1 or of oecumenical councils1 but that they contain the ,confession of ,faith of the whole world1 expressed in different ways1 conveyed in thousands of languages1 but always embodying the same fundamental truth4 ,i call it fundamental1 because it is founded1 in the very nature of our mind1 our reason1 and our language1 on a simple and ineradicable conviction that where there are acts there must be agents1 and in the end one ,prime ,agent1 whom man may know1 not indeed in ,his own inscrutable essence1 yet in ,his acts1 as revealed in ,nature4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,ii4 ,the historical proof of the existence of ,god1 which is supplied to us by the history of the religions of the world1 has never been refuted1 and cannot be refuted4 ,it forms the foundation of all the other proofs1 call them cosmological1 ontological1 or teleological1 or rather it absorbs them all1 and makes them superfluous4 ,there are those who declare that they require no proof at all for the existence of a ,supreme ,being1 or if they did1 they would find it in revelation1 and nowhere else4 ,suppose they wanted no proof themselves1 would they really not care at all to know how the human race1 and how they themselves1 came in possession of what1 ,i suppose1 they value as their most precious inheritance8 ,an appeal to revelation is of no avail in deciding questions of this kind1 unless it is first explained what is really meant by revelation4 ,the history of religions teaches us that the same appeal to a special revelation is made1 not only by ,christianity1 but by the defenders of ,brhmanism1 ,zoroastrianism1 and ,mohammedanism1 and where is the tribunal to adjudicate on the conflicting appeals of these and other claimants8 ,the followers of every one of these religions declare their belief in the revealed character of their own religion1 never in that of any other religion4 ,there is1 no doubt1 a revelation to which we may appeal in the court of our own conscience1 but before the court of universal appeal we require different proofs for the faith that is in us4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iii4 ,given man1 such as he is1 and given the world1 such as it is1 a belief in divine beings1 and1 at last1 in one ,divine ,being1 is not only a universal1 but an inevitable fact4444 ,if from the standpoint of human reason no flaw can be pointed out in the intellectual process which led to the admission of something within1 behind1 or beyond nature1 call it the ,infinite or any other name you like1 it follows that the history of that process is really1 at the same time1 the best proof of the legitimacy and truth of the conclusions to which it has led4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iii4 ,there is no predicate in human language worthy of ,god1 all we can say of ,him is what the ,upanishads said of ,him1 ,no1 ,no6 ,what does that mean8 ,it meant that if ,god is called all-powerful1 we have to say ,no1 because whatever we comprehend by powerful is nothing compared with the power of ,god4 ,if ,god is called all-wise1 we have again to say ,no1 because what we call wisdom cannot approach the wisdom of ,god4 ,if ,god is called holy1 again we have to say ,no1 for what can our conception of holiness be compared with the holiness of ,god8 ,this is what the thinkers of the ,upanishads meant when they said that all we can say of ,god is ,no1 ,no4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iii4 ,if people would only define what they mean by knowing1 they would shrink from the very idea that ,god can ever be known by us in the same sense in which everything else is known1 or that with regard to ,him we could ever be anything but ,agnostics4 ,all human knowledge begins with the senses1 and goes on from sensations to percepts1 from percepts to concepts and names4 ,and yet the same people who insist that they know ,god1 will declare in the same breath that no one can see ,god and live4 ,let us only define the meaning of knowing1 and keep the different senses in which this word has been used carefully apart1 and ,i doubt whether any one would venture to say that1 in the true sense of the word1 he is not an ,agnostic as regards the true nature of ,god4 ,this silence before a nameless ,being does not exclude a true belief in ,god1 nor devotion1 nor love of a ,being beyond our senses1 beyond our understanding1 beyond our reason1 and therefore beyond all names4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iii4 ,every one of the names given to this infinite ,being by finite beings marks a stage in the evolution of religious truth4 ,if once we try to understand these names1 we shall find that they were all well meant1 that1 for the time being1 they were probably the only possible names4 ,the ,historical ,school does not look upon all the names given to divine powers as simply true or simply false4 ,we look upon all of them as well meant and true for the time being1 as steps on the ladder on which the angels of ,god ascend and descend4 ,there was no harm in the ancient people1 when they were thirsting for rain1 invoking the sky1 and saying1 ',o1 dear sky1 send us rain6' ,and when after a time they used more and more general words1 when they addressed the powers 7of nature7 as bright1 or rich1 or mighty1 all these were meant for something else1 for something they were seeking for1 if haply they might feel after ,him and find ,him4 ,this is ,st4 ,paul's view of the growth of religion4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iii4 ,when ,god has once been conceived without 'any manner of similitude1' ,he may be meditated on1 revered1 and adored1 but that fervent passion of the human breast1 that love with all our heart1 and all our soul1 and all our might1 seems to become hushed before that solemn presence4 ,we may love our father and mother with all our heart1 we may cling to our children with all our soul1 we may be devoted to wife1 or husband1 or friend with all our might1 but to throw all these feelings in their concentrated force and truth on the ,deity has been given to very few on earth4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iii4 ,if the history of religion has taught us anything1 it has taught us to distinguish between the names and the thing named4 ,the names may change1 and become more and more perfect1 and our concepts of the ,deity may become more perfect also1 but the ,deity itself is not affected by our names4 ,however much the names may differ and change1 there remains1 as the last result of the study of religion1 the everlasting conviction that behind all the names there is something named1 that there is an agent behind all acts1 that there is an ,infinite behind the finite1 that there is a ,god in ,nature4 ,that ,god is the abiding goal of many names1 all well meant and well aimed1 and yet all far1 far away from the goal which no man can see and--live4 ,all names that human language has invented may be imperfect4 ,but the name ',i am that ,i am' will remain for those who think ,semitic thought1 while to those who speak ,aryan languages it will be difficult to invent a better name than the ,vedanta ,sak-kid-nanda1 ,he who is1 who knows1 who is blessed4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iii4 ,however much we may cease to speak the language of the faith of our childhood1 the faith in a superintending and ever-present ,providence grows only stronger the more we see of life1 the more we know of ourselves4 ,when that ,bass-note is right1 we may indulge in many variations1 we shall never go entirely wrong4 ,,ms4 ,we do not see the hand that takes our dear ones from us1 but we know whose hand it is1 whose will it is4 ,we have no name for ,him1 we do not know ,him1 but we know that whatever name we give1 ,he will understand it4 ,that is the foundation of all religion4 ,let us give the best name we can find in us1 let us know that even that must be a very imperfect name1 but let us trust that if we only believe in that name1 if we use it1 not because it is the fashion1 but because we can find no better name1 ,he will understand and forgive4 ,every name is true if we are true1 every name is false if we are false4 ,if we are true our religion is true1 if we are false our religion is false4 ,an honest fetish worshipper even is better than a scoffing ,pope4 ,,ms4 ,in the ordinary sense of knowledge we cannot have any knowledge of ,god2 our very idea of ,god implies that ,he is beyond our powers of perception and understanding4 ,then what can we do8 ,shut our eyes and be silent8 ,that will not satisfy creatures such as we are4 ,we must speak1 but all our words apply to things perceptible or intelligible4 ,the old ,buddhists used to say1 ,the only thing we can say of ,god is ,no1 ,no6 ,he is not this1 ,he is not that4 ,whatever we can see or understand1 ,he is not that4 ,but again ,i say that kind of self-denial will not satisfy such creatures as we are4 ,what can we do8 ,we can only give the best we have4 ,now the best we have or know on earth is ,love1 therefore we say ,god is ,love or loving4 ,love is entire self-surrender1 we can go no further in our conception of what is best4 ,and yet how poor a name it is in comparison of what we want to name4 ,our idea of love includes1 as you say1 humility1 a looking up and worshipping4 ,can we say that of ,god's love8 ,depend upon it1 the best we say is but poor endeavour1--it is well we should know it1--and yet1 if it is the best we have and can give1 we need not be ashamed4 ,life4 ,and now that generations after generations have passed away1 with their languages--adoring and worshipping the ,name of ,god--preaching and dying in the ,name of ,god--thinking and meditating on the ,name of ,god--there the old word stands still1 breathing to us the pure air of the dawn of humanity1 carrying with it all the thoughts and sighs1 the doubts and tears1 of our bygone brethren1 and still rising up to heaven with the same sound from the basilicas of ,rome and the temples of ,benares1 as if embracing by its simple spell millions and millions of hearts in their longing desire to give utterance to the unutterable1 to express the inexpressible4 ,life4 ,,the ,,divine ,it was1 after all1 the ,jew who1 in the great history of the world1 was destined to solve the riddle of the ,divine in man4 ,it was the soil of ,jewish thought that in the end gave birth to the true conception of the relation between the ,divine in nature and the ,divine in man4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iii4 ,when the ,divine in the outward world has once been fully recognised1 there can be nothing more or less divine1 nothing more or less miraculous1 either in nature or in history4 ,those who assign a divine and miraculous character to certain consecrated events only in the history of the world1 are in great danger of desecrating thereby the whole drama of history1 and of making it1 not only profane1 but godless4 ,it is easy to call this a pantheistic view of the world4 ,it is pantheistic1 in the best sense of the word1 so much so that any other view would soon become atheistic4 ,even the ,greeks suspected the omnipresence of the ,divine1 when1 as early as the time of ,thales1 they declared that all is full of the gods4 ,the choice here lies really between ,pantheism and ,atheism4 ,if anything1 the greatest or the smallest1 can ever happen without the will of ,god1 then ,god is no longer ,god4 ,to distinguish between a direct and indirect influence of the ,divine1 to admit a general and a special providence1 is like a relapse into polytheism1 a belief in one and many gods4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iii4 ,human nature is divine nature modified4 ,it can be nothing else4 ,christ1 in shaking off all that is not divine in man1--let us call it by one general name1 all that is selfish1--resumed ,his own divinity4 ,,ms4 ,god comes to us in the likeness of man--there is no other likeness for ,god4 ,and that likeness is not forbidden1 ,christ has taught us to see and love ,god in man4 ,we cannot go further4 ,if we attempt to conceive anything more than human1 our mind breaks down4 ,but we can conceive and perceive the ,divine in man1 and most in those who are risen from the earth4 ,while we live our love is human1 and mixed with earthly things4 ,we love and do not love--we even hate1 or imagine we do4 ,but we do not really hate any man1 we only hate something that surrounds and hides man4 ,what is behind1 the true nature of man1 we always love4 ,death purifies man1 it takes away the earthly crust1 and we can love those who are dead far better than those who are still living3 that is the truth4 ,we do not deceive ourselves1 we do not use vain words4 ,love is really purer1 stronger1 and more unselfish when it embraces those who are risen4 ,that is why the ,apostles loved ,christ so much better when ,he was no longer with them4 ,while ,he lived1 ,peter could deny ,him--when ,he had returned to the ,father1 ,peter was willing to die for ,him4 ,all that is so true1 only one must have gone through it1 felt it oneself1 in order to understand it4 ,if one knows the love one feels for the blessed1 one wants no temporary resurrection to account for the rekindled love of the ,apostles4 ,they believed that ,christ had truly risen1 that death had no power over ,him1 that ,he was with the ,father4 ,was not that more1 far more1 than a return to this fleeting life for a few hours1 or days1 or weeks1 or than an ascent through the clouds to the blue sky8 ,ah6 how the great truths have been exchanged for small fancies1 the mira for the miracula4 ,,ms4 ,,doubts ,there is certainly no happier life than a life of simple faith2 of literal acceptance1 of rosy dreams4 ,we must all grant that1 if it were possible1 nothing would be more perfect4 ,i gladly acknowledge that some of the happiest1 and also some of the best men and women ,i have known1 were those who would have shrunk with horror from questioning a single letter of the ,bible1 or doubting that a serpent actually spoke to ,eve1 and an ass to ,balaam4 ,but can we prevent the light of the sun and the noises of the street from waking the happy child from his heavenly dreams8 ,nay1 is it not our duty to wake the child1 when the time has come that he must be up and doing1 and take his share in the toils of the day8 ,and is it not well for those who for the first time open their eyes and look around1 that they should see by their side some who have woke before them1 who understand their inquiring looks1 and can answer their timid questions and tell them in the simple-hearted language of the old poet3 ',there lives more faith in honest doubt1 ,believe me1 than in half the creeds4' ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iii4 ,there is an atheism which is unto death1 there is another atheism which is the life-blood of all true faith4 ,it is the power of giving up what1 in our best1 our most honest1 moments1 we know to be no longer true2 it is the readiness to replace the less perfect1 however dear1 however sacred it may have been to us1 by the more perfect1 however much it may be detested1 as yet1 by the world4 ,it is the true self-surrender1 the true self-sacrifice1 the truest trust in truth1 the truest faith4 ,without that atheism religion would long ago have become a petrified hypocrisy2 without that atheism no new religion1 no reform1 no reformation1 no resuscitation would ever have been possible2 without that atheism no new life is possible for any one of us4 ,hibbert ,lectures4 ,how many men in all countries and all ages have been called atheists1 not because they denied that there existed anything beyond the visible and the finite1 or because they declared that the world1 such as it was1 could be explained without a cause1 without a purpose1 without a ,god1 but often because they differed only from the traditional conception of the ,deity prevalent at the time1 and were yearning after a higher conception of ,god than what they had learnt in their childhood4 ,hibbert ,lectures4 ,there are moments in our life when those who seek most earnestly after ,god think they are forsaken of ,god2 when they hardly venture to ask themselves1 ,do ,i then believe in ,god1 or do ,i not8 ,let them not despair1 and let us not judge harshly of them2 their despair may be better than many creeds4444 ,honest doubt is the deepest spring of honest faith2 only he who has lost can find4 ,hibbert ,lectures4 ,if we have once claimed the freedom of the spirit which ,st4 ,paul claimed3 to prove all things and hold fast that which is good3 we cannot turn back1 we cannot say that no one shall prove our own religion1 no one shall prove other religions and compare them with our own4 ,we have to choose once for all between freedom and slavery of judgment1 and though ,i do not wish to argue with those who prefer slavery1 yet one may remind them that even they1 in deliberately choosing slavery1 follow their own private judgment quite as much as others do in choosing freedom4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iii4 ,our own self-interest surely would seem to suggest as severe a trial of our own religion as of other religions1 nay1 even a more severe trial4 ,our religion has sometimes been compared to a good ship that is to carry us through the waves and tempests of this life to a safe haven4 ,would it not be wise1 therefore1 to have it tested1 and submitted to the severest trials1 before we entrust ourselves and those dear to us to such a vessel4 ,and remember1 all men1 except those who take part in the foundation of a new religion1 or have been converted from an old to a new faith1 have to accept their religious belief on trust1 long before they are able to judge for themselves4 ,and while in all other matters an independent judgment in riper years is encouraged1 every kind of influence is used to discourage a free examination of religious dogmas1 once engrafted on our intellect in its tenderest stage4 ,we condemn an examination of our own religion1 even though it arises from an honest desire to see with our own eyes the truth which we mean to hold fast2 and yet we do not hesitate to send missionaries into all the world1 asking the faithful to re-examine their own time-honoured religions4 ,we attack their most sacred convictions1 we wound their tenderest feelings1 we undermine the belief in which they have been brought up1 and we break up the peace and happiness of their homes4 ,yet if some learned ,jew1 or subtle ,brahman1 or outspoken ,zulu asks us to re-examine the date and authorship of the ,old or ,new ,testament1 or challenges us to produce the evidence on which we also are quite ready to accept certain miracles1 we are offended1 forgetting that with regard to these questions we can claim no privilege1 no immunity4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iii4 ,if we can respect a childlike and even a childish faith1 we ought likewise to learn to respect even a philosophical atheism which often contains the hidden seeds of the best and truest faith4 ,we ought never to call a man an atheist1 and say that he does not believe in ,god1 till we know what kind of ,god it is he has been brought up to believe in1 and what kind of ,god it is that he rejects1 it may be1 from the best and highest motives4 ,we ought never to forget that ,socrates was called an atheist1 that the early ,christians were all called atheists1 that some of the best and greatest men this world has ever known have been branded by that name4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iii4 ,i have heard and read the worst that can be said against our religion--,i mean the true original teaching of ,christ--and ,i feel that ,i am ready in mind1 if not in body1 to lay down my life for the truth of ,his teaching4 ,all our difficulties arise from the doctrines of men1 not from ,his doctrine4 ,there is no outward evidence of the truth of ,his doctrine1 but the ,spirit of ,god that is within us testifieth to its truth4 ,if it does not1 we are not yet disciples of ,christ1 but we may be hereafter4 ,life4 ,be certain of this1 that to repress a doubt is to repress the spirit of truth2 a doubt well spoken out is generally a doubt solved4 ,but all this requires great seriousness of mind--it must assume an importance greater than anything else in life1 and then we can fight our way through it4 ,god is with us in our struggles4 ,life4 ,,evolution ,,of ,,religion ,evolution is really the same as history1 if we take it in its objective sense4 ,subjectively1 history meant originally inquiry1 or a desire to know2 it then came to mean knowledge1 obtained by inquiry1 and lastly1 in a purely objective sense1 the objects of such knowledge4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,i4 ,we may discover in all the errors of mythology1 and in what we call the false or pagan religions of this world1 a progress towards truth1 a yearning after something more than finite1 a growing recognition of the ,infinite1 throwing off some of its veils before our eyes1 and from century to century revealing itself to us more and more in its own purity and holiness4 ,and thus the two concepts1 that of evolution and that of revelation1 which seem at first so different1 become one in the end4 ,if there is a purpose running through the ages1 if nature is not blind1 if there are agents1 recognised at last as the agents of one ,will1 behind the whole phenomenal world1 then the evolution of man's belief in that ,supreme ,will is itself the truest revelation of that ,supreme ,will1 and must remain the adamantine foundation on which all religion rests1 whether we call it natural or supernatural4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,ii4 ,the same changes in the idea of ,god1 which we see in the different books of the ,bible1 take place in the different chapters of our own life4 ,the child cannot but represent ,god to himself as a venerable man1 walking about1 warning and reproving the creatures ,he has made4 ,the child has no higher conception as yet which it could apply to ,god2 if it heard of a higher one it could not grasp it4 ,but as the child grows and gathers in higher conceptions1 the lower must give way to the higher4 ,as long as the evidence of the senses is the only evidence which a child knows1 he demands a visible ,god4 ,when he learns that the human senses are different modes of apprehension1 that according to their very nature they can never apprehend except what is limited1 then the mind involuntarily surrenders the visible ,god1 it believes in ,god as a ,spirit4 ,and so the growth of each man1 and the growth of the whole human race1 goes on1 and will go on2 and ,i cannot see how1 if the world goes on as it has hitherto1 it can be otherwise but that much of the language of the ,new ,testament also will have to be surrendered4 ,changes have lately taken place with the word person4 ,many things which were formerly comprehended under personality have been discovered to be mere accessories1 and above the more material conception of personality1 of individuality1 or of the ,i1 a higher one is rising1 that of the ,self4 ,the ,i1 the personality1 is made up of many things which are purely temporal--which are dear to us on earth1 but which will pass away1 while the ,self will abide for ever4 ,need we wonder1 therefore1 that just those who wish to transfer only their highest to the ,godhead begin to shrink from speaking of a personal ,god8 or insist on defining the word 'personal' so that it should exclude all that is incompatible with a perfect1 unlimited1 unchanging ,being8 ,what led to such expressions as ',god is ,love' but a feeling of reverence1 which shrank from speaking of ,god as loving as we love8 ,this process will go on as long as the thoughts and words of mankind grow and change4 ,let us learn only from the ,bible that those who spoke of ,god as walking about in ,paradise spoke as children1 did the best they could1 gave all they had1 and who shall say that their two mites were in the sight of ,god less precious than all our creeds and philosophies8 ,they too will change1 they too will be looked upon by future generations as the language of children4 ,but ,he to whom our thoughts and prayers are addressed will interpret all languages and dialects4 ,before ,him the wisdom of the man will not sound much wiser than the trustful ignorance of the child4 ,,ms4 ,,faith ,next to our faith in ,god there is nothing so essential to the healthy growth of our whole being as an unshaken faith in man4 ,chips4 ,let us trust in ,him to whom alone we owe all our blessings4 ,if we do not forsake ,him1 ,he will never forsake us--we cannot fathom ,his love1 but we can trust4 ,,ms4 ,separation loses its bitterness when we have faith in each other and in ,god4 ,faith in each other keeps us close together in life1 and faith in ,god keeps us together in eternity4 ,,ms4 ,those who remember the happiness of the simple faith of their childhood may well ask why it should ever be disturbed4 ,knowing the blessedness of that faith we naturally abstain from everything that might disturb it prematurely in the minds of those who are entrusted to us4 ,but1 as the child1 whether he likes it or not1 grows to be a man1 so the faith of a child grows into the faith of a man4 ,it is not our doing1 it is the work of ,him who made us what we are4 ,as all our other ideas grow and change1 so does our idea of ,god4 ,i know there are men and women who1 when they perceive the first warnings of that inward growth1 become frightened and suppress it with all their might4 ,they shut their eyes and ears to all new light from within and from without4 ,they wish to remain as happy as children1 and many of them succeed in remaining as good as children4 ,who would blame them or disturb them8 ,but those who trust in ,god and ,god's work within them1 must go forth to the battle4 ,with them it would be cowardice and faithlessness to shrink from the trial4 ,they are not certain that they were meant to be here simply to enjoy the happiness of a childlike faith4 ,they feel they have a talent committed to them which must not be wrapped up in a napkin4 ,but the battle is hard1 and all the harder because1 while they know they are obeying the voice of truth1 which is the voice of ,god1 many of those whom they love look upon them as disobeying the voice of ,god1 as disturbers of the peace1 as giving offence to those little ones4 ,,ms4 ,there is a difference between the childlike faith of a man 7all real faith must be childlike7 and the childlike faith of a child4 ,the one is ,paradise not yet lost1 the other ,paradise lost but regained4 ,the one is right for the child1 the other is right for the man4 ,it is the will of ,god that it should be so--but it is also the will of ,god that we should all bear with each other1 and join1 each in his own voice1 in the great hymn of praise4 ,,ms4 ,faith is that organ of knowledge by which we apprehend the ,infinite1 namely1 whatever transcends the ken of our senses and the grasp of our reason4 ,the ,infinite is hidden from the senses1 it is denied by ,reason1 but it is perceived by ,faith2 and it is perceived1 if once perceived1 as underlying both the experience of the senses and the combinations of reason4 ,science of ,language4 ,,the ,,fatherhood ,,of ,,god ,wherever our ,father leads us there is our ,fatherland4 ,life4 ,man must discover that ,god is his father before he can become a son of ,god4 ,to know is here to be1 to be to know4 ,no mere miracle will make man the son of ,god4 ,that sonship can be gained through knowledge only1 'through man knowing ,god1 or rather being known of ,god1' and till it is so gained it does not exist1 even though it be a fact4 ,if we apply this to the words in which ,christ speaks of ,himself as the ,son of ,god1 we shall see that to ,him it is no miracle1 it is no mystery1 it is no question of supernatural contrivance2 it is simply clear knowledge1 and it was this self-knowledge which made ,christ what ,he was1 it was this which constituted ,his true1 ,his eternal divinity4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iii4 ,,future ,,life ,one wonders indeed how kindred souls become separated1 and one feels startled and repelled at the thought that1 such as they were on earth1 they can never meet again4 ,and yet there is continuity in the world1 there is no flaw1 no break anywhere1 and what has been will surely be again1 though how it will be we cannot know1 and if only we trust in the ,wisdom that pervades and overshadows the whole ,universe1 we need not know4 ,auld ,lang ,syne4 ,even if we resign ourselves to the thought that the likenesses and likelihoods which we project upon the unseen and unknown1 nay1 that the hope of our meeting again as we once met on earth1 need not be fulfilled exactly as we shape them to ourselves1 where is the argument to make us believe that the real fulfilment can be less perfect than what even a weak human heart devises and desires8 ,this trust that whatever is will be best1 is what is meant by faith1 true1 because inevitable1 faith4 ,we see traces of it in many places and many religions1 but ,i doubt whether anywhere that faith is more simply and more powerfully expressed than in the ,old and ,new ,testaments3 ',for since the beginning of the world men have not heard1 nor perceived by the ear1 neither hath the eye seen1 ,o ,god1 beside ,thee1 what ,he hath prepared for him that waiteth for ,him' 7,isaiah lxiv4 #d74 ',as it is written1 ,eye hath not seen nor ear heard1 neither have entered into the heart of man1 the things which ,god hath prepared for them that love ,him' 7#a ,cor4 ii4 #i74 ,hibbert ,lectures4 ,the highest which man can comprehend is man4 ,one step only he may go beyond1 and say that what is beyond may be different1 but it cannot be less perfect than the present2 the future cannot be worse than the past4444 ,that much-decried philosophy of evolution1 if it teaches us anything1 teaches us a firm belief in a better future1 and in a higher perfection which man is destined to reach4 ,hibbert ,lectures4 ,in our longings for the departed we often think of them as young or old1 we think of them as man or woman1 as father or mother1 as husband or wife4 ,even nationality and language are supposed to remain after death1 and we often hear expressions1 ',oh6 if the souls are without all this1 without age1 and sex1 and national character1 without even their native language1 what will they be to us8' ,the answer is1 ,they will really be the same to us they were in this life4 ,unless we can bring ourselves to believe that a soul has a beginning1 and that our soul sprang into being at the time of our birth1 the soul within us must have existed before4 ,but however convinced we may be of the soul's eternal existence1 we shall always remain ignorant as to how it existed4 ,and yet we do not murmur or complain4 ,our soul on awakening here is not quite a stranger to itself1 and the souls who1 as our parents1 our wives1 and husbands1 our children1 and our friends1 have greeted us at first as strangers in this life1 have become to us as if we had known them for ever1 and as if we could never lose them again4 ,if it were to be so again in the next life1 if there also we should meet at first as strangers till drawn together by the same mysterious love that has drawn us together here1 why should we murmur or complain8 ,thousands of years ago we read of a husband telling his wife1 ',verily a wife is not dear that you may love the wife1 but that you may love the soul1 therefore a wife is dear4' ,what does that mean8 ,it means that true love consists not in loving what is perishable1 but in discovering and loving what is eternal in man or woman4 ,in ,sanscrit that eternal part is called by many names1 but the best seems that used in this passage1 ,atma4 ,we translate it by ,soul1 but it is even higher and purer than ,soul1 it is best translated by the word ,self4 ,that which constitutes the true ,self1 the looker-on1 the witness within us1 that which is everywhere in the body and yet nowhere to be touched1 that which cannot die or expire1 because it never breathed1 that is the ,infinite in man which philosophers have been groping for1 though 'he is not far from every one of us4' ,it is the ,divine or ,god-like in man4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iii4 ,the southern ,aryans were absorbed in the struggles of thought3 their past is the problem of creation1 their future the problem of existence1 and the present1 which ought to be the solution of both1 seems never to have attracted their attention1 or called forth their energies4 ,there never was a nation believing so firmly in another world1 and so little concerned about this4 ,their condition on earth was to them a problem2 their real and eternal life a simple fact4 ,though this is true chiefly before they were brought in contact with foreign conquerors1 traces of this character are still visible in the ,hindus as described by the companions of ,alexander1 nay1 even in the ,hindus of the present day4 ,the only sphere in which the ,indian mind finds itself at liberty to act1 to create1 and to worship is the sphere of religion and philosophy1 and nowhere have religious and metaphysical ideas struck root so deeply in the mind of a nation as in ,india4 ,history supplies no second instance where the inward life of the soul has so completely absorbed all the other faculties of a people4 ,india4 ,our happiness here is but a foretaste of our blessed life hereafter4 ,we must never forget that4 ,we shall be called away1 but we shall meet again4 ,life4 ,we must have patience--and we all cling to life as long as there are those who love us here4 ,those who love us there are always ours4 ,nothing is lost in the world4 ,how it will be1 we know not1 but if we have recognised the working of a divine wisdom and love here on earth1 we can take comfort1 and wait patiently for that which is to come4 ,life4 ,truly those who die young are blest4 ,and shall we find them again such as they left us8 ,why not8 ,it is really here on earth that those whom we love change1 it is here that they die every day4444 ,where are all those bright joyous faces which we look at when we open our photograph books from year to year8 ,on earth they are lost1 but are they not treasured up for another life1 where we shall be not only what we are from day to day1 never the same to-morrow as we were yesterday1 but where we are at once all that we can be--where memory is not different from perception1 nor our wills different from our acts8 ,we shall soon know--till then surely we have a right to be what we are1 and to cling to our human hopes4 ,the more human they are1 the nearer the truth they are likely to be4 ,life4 ,i believe in all our hopes we cannot be human enough4 ,let us be what we are--men1 feel as men1 sorrow as men1 hope as men4 ,it is true our hopes are human1 but what are the doubts and difficulties8 ,are they not human too8 ,shall we meet again as we left8 ,why not8 ,we do not know how it will be so1 but who has a right to say it cannot be so8 ,let us imagine and hope for the best that1 as men1 we can conceive1 and then rest convinced that it will be a thousand times better4 ,life4 ,the inward voice never suggested or allowed me the slightest doubt or misgiving about the reality of a future life4 ,if there is continuity in the world everywhere1 why should there be a wrench and annihilation only with us8 ,it will be as it has been--that is the lesson we learn from nature--how it will be we are not meant to know4 ,there is an old ,greek saying to the effect1 to try to know what the gods did not tell us is not piety4 ,if ,god wished us to know what is to be1 ,he would tell us4 ,darwin has shown us that there is continuity from beginning to end4 ,life4 ,i believe in the continuity of ,self4 ,if there were an annihilation or complete change of our individual self-consciousness1 we might become somebody else1 but we should not be ourselves4 ,personally1 ,i have no doubt of the persistence of the individual after death1 as we call it4 ,i cannot imagine the very crown and flower of creation being destroyed by its author4 ,i do not say it is impossible1 it is not for us to say either yes or no2 we have simply to trust1 but that trust or faith is implanted in us1 and is strengthened by everything around us4 ,life4 ,do we really lose those who are called before us8 ,i feel that they are even nearer to us than when they were with us in life4 ,we must take a larger view4 ,our life does not end here1 if only we can see that our horizon here is but like a curtain that separates us from what is beyond4 ,those who go before us are beyond our horizon at present1 but we have no right to suppose that they have completely vanished4 ,we cannot see them1 that is all4 ,and even that1 we know1 can last for a short time only4 ,we have lived and done our work in life1 before we knew those we loved1 and we may have to live the same number of years separated from them4 ,but nothing can be lost3 it depends on ourselves to keep those we loved always near to our thoughts1 even though our eyes look in vain for them4 ,the world is larger than this little earth1 our thoughts go further than this short life1 and if we can but find our home in this larger world1 we shall find that this larger home is full of those whom we loved1 and who loved us4 ,there is no chance in life2 a few years more1 a few years less1 will seem as nothing to us hereafter4 ,life4 ,i fully take in the real death 7of my child71 ,i know ,i shall follow and die the same real death1 and through that same real death ,i trust the spirit of ,christ will be my guide and helper1 and bring me to a better life1 and unite me again with those whom ,i have loved1 and whom ,i love still1 and those who have loved me and love me still4 ,god is no giver of imperfect gifts1 and ,he has given me life1 but life on earth is imperfect4 ,he has given me love1 but love on earth is imperfect4 ,i believe1 ,i must believe in perfection1 and therefore ,i believe in a life perfected and in a love perfected4 ',hier stehe ich1 ich kann nicht anders--,gott helfe mich ,amen4' ,,ms4 ,it seems hard1 it seems so unintelligible1 so far above us1 that we should know nothing at all of what is to come--that we should be so completely separated for a time from those whom we love4 ,whence all these limits8 whence all those desires in us that cannot be fulfilled8 ,the limits teach us one lesson1 that we are in the ,hands of a ,higher ,power4 ,wonderful as our body and our senses are1 they are a prison and chains1 and they could not be meant for anything else4 ,,ms4 ,of what is to come1 what is in store for us1 we know nothing2 and the more we know that1 the greater and stronger our faith4 ,it must be right1 it cannot be wrong4 ,why was the past often so beautiful8 ,because all tends to beauty1 to perfection1 and the highest point of perfection is love4 ,we are far from that here1 yet all the miseries of this life1 or many at least1 would vanish before love4 ,life seems most unnatural in what we call the most highly civilised countries--the struggle of life is fiercest there4 ,rest and love seem impossible1 and yet that is what we are yearning for1 and it may be granted us hereafter4 ,,ms4 ,how is it that we know so little of life after death8 that we can hardly imagine anything without feeling that it is all human poetry8 ,we are to believe the best1 but nothing definite1 nothing that can be described4 ,it is the same with ,god1 we are to believe the best we can believe1 and yet all is earthly1 human1 weak4 ,we are in a dark prison here2 let us believe that outside it there is no darkness1 but light--but what light1 who knows8 ,,ms4 ,wait1 wait1 do not ask4 ,children ask every year what the ,christ ,child will bring them1 but they are not told1 they wait in the dark room4 ,every year they expect something quite new1 but it is always the same old ,christmas-tree1 with its lights and flowers1 and all the rest4 ,and why should it be so different when the door opens1 and we step out of this dark life into the bright room8 ,why should all be different8 ,we have stepped into this dark room here on earth1 and how often did we think it was very bright and very warm4 ,we shall step into another room1 and it will be brighter1 warmer1 more pure1 more perfect4 ,,ms4 ,what is past1 present1 future8 ,is it not all one8 only the past and the future somewhere where at present we cannot be4 ,wait a little time1 and the eternal will take the place of the present1--and we shall have the past again1--for the past is not lost4 ,nothing is lost--but this waiting is sometimes very hard1 and this longing very hard4 ,friends go on all sides1 it seems a different world1 yet there is work to do1 and there is much left to love4 ,,ms4 ,if immortality is meant for no more than a continuance of existence1 if by a belief in immortality on the part of the ,jews is meant no more than that the ,jews did not believe in the annihilation of the soul at the time of death1 we may confidently assert that1 to the bulk of the ,jewish nation1 this very idea of annihilation was as yet unfamiliar4 ,the fact is that the idea of absolute annihilation and nothingness is hardly ever found except among people whose mind has received some amount of philosophical education1 certainly more than what the ,jews possessed in early times4 ,the ,jews did not believe in the utter destruction of the soul1 but1 on the other hand1 their idea of life after death was hardly that of life at all4 ,it was existence without life4 ,death was considered by them1 as by the ,greeks1 as the greatest of misfortunes4 ,to rejoice in death is a purely ,christian1 not a ,jewish1 idea4 ,though the ,jews believed that the souls continued to exist in ,sheol1 they did not believe that the wicked would there be punished and the good rewarded4 ,all rewards and punishments for virtue or vice were confined to this world1 and a long life was regarded as a sure proof of the favour of ,jehovah4 ,it was the ,jewish conception of ,god1 as infinitely removed from this world1 that made a belief in true immortality almost impossible for them1 and excluded all hope for a nearer approach to ,god1 or for any share in that true immortality which belonged to ,him and to ,him alone4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iii4 ,our angels live in heaven1 not on earth4 ,we only recognise the angelic in man1 even in those we love the most1 when we can no longer see them4 ,they are then nearer us than ever1 we love them more than ever4 ,happy are those who have such angels in heaven1 who draw our hearts away from earth and fill them with longing for our true home4 ,they lighten the burden of life1 they give a quiet1 gentle tone to the joys of life1 and they teach us to love those who are left to us on earth1 it may be but for a few days or years1 with a love which we never knew before1 a love which bears all things1 believes all things1 and gladly pardons all things4 ,,ms4 ,life ,eternal4 ,why do we so seldom face the great problem8 ,with me the chief reason was the conviction that we can know nothing--that we must wait and trust--do our work for the day which is--and believe that nothing can happen to us unless ,god wills it4 ,know1 where knowledge is possible2 believe1 trust where faith only is possible4 ,,ms4 ,i know we shall meet again1 for ,god does not destroy what ,he has made1 nor do souls meet by accident4 ,this life is full of riddles1 but divine riddles have a divine solution4 ,life4 ,,the ,,infinite ,though we cannot know things finite1 as they are in themselves1 we know at all events that they are4 ,and this applies to our perception of the ,infinite also4 ,we do not know through our senses what it is1 but we know through our very senses that it is4 ,we feel the pressure of the ,infinite in the ,finite1 and unless we had that feeling1 we should have no true and safe foundation for whatever we may afterwards believe of the ,infinite4 ,some critics have urged that what ,i call the ,infinite 444 is the ,indefinite only4 ,of course it is4444 ,we can know the ,infinite as the ,indefinite only1 or as the partially defined4 ,we try to define it1 and to know it more and more1 but we never finish it4 ,the whole history of religion represents the continuous progress of the human definition of the ,infinite1 but however far that definition may advance1 it will never exhaust the ,infinite4 ,could we define it all1 it would cease to be the ,infinite1 it would cease to be the ,unknown1 it would cease to be the ,inconceivable or the ,divine4 ,chips4 ,what we feel through the pressure on all our senses is the pressure of the ,infinite4 ,our senses1 if ,i may say so1 feel nothing but the ,infinite1 and out of that plenitude they apprehend the ,finite4 ,to apprehend the ,finite is the same as to define the ,infinite4 ,chips4 ,we accept the primitive savage with nothing but his five senses4 ,these five senses supply him with a knowledge of finite things2 the problem is how such a being ever comes to think or speak of anything not finite1 but infinite4 ,it is his senses which give him the first impression of infinite things1 and force him to the admission of the infinite4 ,everything of which his senses cannot perceive a limit is to a primitive savage1 or to any man in an early stage of intellectual activity1 unlimited or infinite4 ,man sees to a certain point1 and there his eyesight breaks down4 ,but exactly where his eyesight breaks down1 there presses upon him1 whether he likes it or not1 the perception of the unlimited or infinite4 ,it may be said this is not perception in the ordinary sense of the word4 ,no more it is1 but still less is it mere reasoning4 ,in perceiving the infinite1 we neither count1 nor measure1 nor compare1 nor name4 ,we know not what it is1 but we know that it is1 and we know it because we actually feel it and are brought in contact with it4 ,if it seems too bold to say that man actually sees the invisible1 let us say that he suffers from the invisible1 and this invisible is only a special name for the infinite4 ,the infinite1 therefore1 instead of being merely a late abstraction1 is really implied in the earliest manifestations of our sensuous knowledge4 ,it was true from the very first1 but it was not yet defined or named4 ,if the infinite had not from the very first been present in our sensuous perceptions1 such a word as infinite would be a sound and nothing else4 ,with every finite perception there is a concomitant perception or a concomitant sentiment or presentiment of the infinite2 from the very first act of touch1 or hearing1 or sight1 we are brought in contact1 not only with the visible1 but also at the same time with an invisible universe4 ,we have in this that without which no religion would have been possible1 we have in that perception of the infinite the root of the whole historical development of religion4 ,hibbert ,lectures4 ,no thought1 no name is ever entirely lost4 ,when we here in this ancient ,abbey1#b which was built on the ruins of a still more ancient ,roman temple1 seek for a name for the invisible1 the infinite that surrounds us on every side1 the unknown1 the true ,self of the world1 and the true ,self of ourselves--we too1 feeling once more like children kneeling in a small dark room1 can hardly find a better name than ',our ,father1 which art in ,heaven4' ,hibbert ,lectures4 ,footnote #b3 ,westminster4 ,the idea of the infinite1 which is at the root of all religious thought1 is not simply evolved by reason out of nothing1 but supplied to us1 in its original form1 by our senses4 ,beyond1 behind1 beneath1 and within the finite1 the infinite is always present to our senses4 ,it presses upon us1 it grows upon us from every side4 ,what we call finite in space and time1 in form and word1 is nothing but a veil or a net which we ourselves have thrown over the infinite4 ,the finite by itself1 without the infinite1 is simply inconceivable2 as inconceivable as the infinite without the finite4 ,as reason deals with the finite materials supplied to us by our senses1 faith1 or whatever else we like to call it1 deals with the infinite that underlies the finite4 ,what we call sense1 reason1 and faith are three functions of one and the same perceptive self2 but without sense both reason and faith are impossible1 at least to human beings like ourselves4 ,hibbert ,lectures4 ,the ancestors of our race did not only believe in divine powers more or less manifest to their senses1 in rivers and mountains1 in the sky and the sun1 in the thunder and rain1 but their senses likewise suggested to them two of the most essential elements of all religion3 the concept of the infinite1 and the concept of law and order1 as revealed before them1 the one in the golden sea behind the dawn1 the other in the daily path of the sun4444 ,these two concepts1 which sooner or later must be taken in and minded by every human being1 were at first no more than an impulse1 but their impulsive force would not rest till it had beaten into the minds of the fathers of our race the deep and indelible impression that 'all is right1' and filled them with a hope1 and more than a hope1 that 'all will be right4' ,hibbert ,lectures4 ,the real religious instinct or impulse is the perception of the infinite4 ,hibbert ,lectures4 ,all objects which we perceive and afterwards conceive and name must be circumscribed1 must have been separated from their surroundings1 must be measurable1 and can thus only become perceivable and knowable and namable4444 ,they are therefore finite in their very nature4444 ,if finiteness is a necessary characteristic of our ordinary knowledge1 it requires but little reflection to perceive that limitation or finiteness1 in whatever sense we use it1 always implies a something beyond4 ,we are told that our mind is so constituted1 whether it is our fault or not1 that we cannot conceive an absolute limit4 ,beyond every limit we must always take it for granted that there is something else4 ,but what is the reason of this8 ,the reason why we cannot conceive an absolute limit is because we never perceive an absolute limit2 or in other words1 because in perceiving the finite we always perceive the infinite also4444 ,there is no limit which has not two sides1 the one turned towards us1 the other turned towards what is beyond2 and it is that ,beyond which from the earliest days has formed the only real foundation of all that we call transcendental in our perceptual1 as well as in our conceptual1 ,knowledge4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,i4 ,the infinite was not discovered behind the veil of nature only1 though its manifestation in physical phenomena was no doubt the most primitive and the most fertile source of mythological and religious ideas4 ,there were two more manifestations of the infinite and the unknown1 which must not be neglected1 if we wish to gain a complete insight into the theogonic process through which the human mind had to pass from its earliest days4 ,the infinite disclosed itself not only in nature but likewise in man1 looked upon as an object1 and lastly in man looked upon as a subject4 ,man looked upon as an object1 as a living thing1 was felt to be more than a mere part of nature4 ,there was something in man1 whether it was called breath or spirit or soul or mind1 which was perceived and yet not perceived1 which was behind the veil of the body1 and from a very early time was believed to remain free from decay1 even when illness and death had destroyed the body in which it seemed to dwell4 ,there was nothing to force even the simplest peasant to believe that because he saw his father dead1 and his body decaying1 therefore what was known as the man himself1 call it his soul or his mind or his person1 had vanished altogether out of existence4 ,a philosopher may arrive at such an idea1 but a man of ordinary understanding1 though terrified by the aspect of death1 would rather be inclined to believe that what he had known and loved and called his father or mother must be somewhere1 though no longer in the body4444 ,it is perhaps too much to say that such a belief was universal2 but it certainly was and is still very widely spread4 ,in fact it constitutes a very large portion of religion and religious worship4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,i4 ,nature1 ,man1 and ,self are the three great manifestations in which the infinite in some shape or other has been perceived1 and every one of these perceptions has in its historical development contributed to what may be called religion4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,i4 ,like all other experiences1 our religious experience begins with the senses4 ,though the senses seem to deliver to us finite experiences only1 many1 if not all1 of them can be shown to involve something beyond the ,known1 something unknown1 something which ,i claim the liberty to call infinite4 ,in this way the human mind was led to the recognition of undefined1 infinite agents or agencies beyond1 behind1 and within our finite experience4 ,the feelings of fear1 awe1 reverence1 and love excited by the manifestations of some of these agents or powers began to react on the human mind1 and thus produced what we call ,natural ,religion in its lowest and simplest form--fear1 awe1 reverence1 and love of the gods4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,i4 ,the perception of the ,infinite can be shown by historical evidence to be the one element shared in common by all religions4 ,only we must not forget that1 like every other concept1 that of the ,infinite also had to pass through many phases in its historical evolution1 beginning with the simple negation of what is finite1 and the assertion of an invisible ,beyond1 and leading up to a perceptive belief in that most real ,infinite in which we live and move and have our being4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iv4 ,,knowledge ,the lesson that there are limits to our knowledge is an old lesson1 but it has to be taught again and again4 ,it was taught by ,buddha1 it was taught by ,socrates1 and it was taught for the last time in the most powerful manner by ,kant4 ,philosophy has been called the knowledge of our knowledge2 it might be called more truly the knowledge of our ignorance1 or1 to adopt the more moderate language of ,kant1 the knowledge of the limits of our knowledge4 ,last ,essays4 ,metaphysical truth is wider than physical truth1 and the new discoveries of physical observers1 if they are to be more than merely contingent truths1 must find their appointed place and natural refuge within the immovable limits traced by the metaphysician4444 ,it is only after having mastered the principles of metaphysics that the student of nature can begin his work in the right spirit1 knowing the horizon of human knowledge1 and guided by principles as unchangeable as the pole star4 ,last ,essays4 ,there is no subject in the whole realm of human knowledge that cannot be rendered clear and intelligible1 if we ourselves have perfectly mastered it4 ,chips4 ,the bridge of thoughts and sighs that spans the whole history of the ,aryan world has its first arch in the ,veda1 its last in ,kant's ,critique of ,pure ,reason4 ,in the ,veda we watch the first unfolding of the human mind as we can watch it nowhere else4 ,life seems simple1 natural1 childlike4444 ,what is beneath1 and above1 and beyond this life is dimly perceived1 and expressed in a thousand words and ways1 all mere stammerings1 all aiming to express what cannot be expressed1 yet all full of a belief in the real presence of the ,divine in ,nature1 of the ,infinite in the ,finite4444 ,while in the ,veda we may study the childhood1 we may study in ,kant's ,critique the perfect manhood of the ,aryan mind4 ,it has passed through many phases1 and every one of them 444 has left its mark4 ,it is no longer dogmatical1 no longer sceptical1 least of all is it positive4444 ,it stands before us conscious of its weakness and its strength1 modest yet brave4 ,it knows what the old idols of its childhood and youth were made of4 ,it does not break them1 it only tries to understand them1 but it places above them the ,ideals of ,reason--no longer tangible--not even within the reach of the understanding--but real--bright and heavenly stars to guide us even in the darkest night4 ,last ,essays4 ,all knowledge1 in order to be knowledge1 must pass through two gates1 and two gates only3 the gate of the senses and the gate of reason4 ,religious knowledge also1 whether true or false1 must have passed through these two gates4 ,at these two gates1 therefore1 we take our stand4 ,whatever claims to have entered in by any other gate1 whether that gate is called primeval revelation or religious instinct1 must be rejected as contraband of thought2 and whatever claims to have entered by the gate of reason1 without having first passed through the gate of the senses1 must equally be rejected1 as without sufficient warrant1 or ordered at least to go back to the first gate1 in order to produce there its full credentials4 ,hibbert ,lectures4 ,,language ,the history of language opens a vista which makes one feel almost giddy if one tries to see the end of it1 but the measuring-rod of the chronologist seems to me entirely out of place4 ,those who have eyes to see will see the immeasurable distance between the first historical appearance of language and the real beginnings of human speech3 those who cannot see will oscillate between the wildly large figures of the ,buddhists1 or the wildly small figures of the ,rabbis1 but they will never lay hold of what by its very nature is indefinite4 ,life4 ,by no effort of the understanding1 by no stretch of imagination1 can ,i explain to myself how language could have grown out of anything which animals possess1 even if we granted them millions of years for that purpose4 ,if anything has a right to the name of specific difference1 it is language1 as we find it in man1 and in man only4 ,even if we removed the name of specific difference from our philosophic dictionaries1 ,i should still hold that nothing deserves the name of man except what is able to speak4 ,science of ,thought4 ,every language has to be learnt1 but who made the language that was to be learnt8 ,it matters little whether we call language an instinct1 a gift1 a talent1 a faculty1 or the proprium of man2 certain it is that neither language1 nor the power of language1 nor the conditions under which alone language can exist1 are to be discovered anywhere in the whole animal kingdom1 except in man4 ,science of ,thought4 ,it was ,christianity which first broke down the barrier between ,jew and ,gentile1 between ,greek and ,barbarian1 between the white and the black4 ,humanity is a word which you look for in vain in ,plato and ,aristotle2 the idea of mankind as one family1 as the children of one ,god1 is an idea of ,christian growth2 and the science of mankind1 and of the languages of mankind1 is a science which1 without ,christianity1 would never have sprung into life4 ,when people had been taught to look upon all men as brethren1 then1 and then only1 did the variety of human speech present itself as a problem that called for a solution in the eyes of thoughtful observers2 and from an historical point of view it is not too much to say that the first day of ,pentecost marks the real beginning of the science of language4 ,science of ,language4 ,and now1 if we gaze from our native shores over the vast ocean of human speech1 with its waves rolling on from continent to continent1 rising under the fresh breezes of the morning of history1 and slowly heaving in our own more sultry atmosphere1 with sails gliding over its surface1 and many an oar ploughing through its surf1 and the flags of all nations waving joyously together1 with its rocks and wrecks1 its storms and battles1 yet reflecting serenely all that is beneath and above and around it2 if we gaze and hearken to the strange sounds rushing past our ears in unbroken strains1 it seems no longer a wild tumult1 but we feel as if placed within some ancient cathedral1 listening to a chorus of innumerable voices3 and the more intensely we listen1 the more all discords melt away into higher harmonies1 till at last we hear but one majestic trichord1 or a mighty unison1 as at the end of a sacred symphony4 ,such visions will float through the study of the grammarian1 and in the midst of toilsome researches his heart will suddenly beat1 as he feels the conviction growing upon him that men are brethren in the simplest sense of the word--the children of the same father--whatever their country1 their language1 and their faith4 ,turanian ,languages4 ,,life ,all really great and honest men may be said to live three lives3 there is one life which is seen and accepted by the world at large1 a man's outward life2 there is a second life which is seen by a man's most intimate friends1 his household life2 and there is a third life1 seen only by the man himself1 and by ,him who searcheth the heart1 which may be called the inner or heavenly--a life led in communion with ,god1 a life of aspiration rather than of fulfilment4 ,chips4 ,where ,plato could only see imperfections1 the failures of the founders of human speech1 we see1 as everywhere else in human life1 a natural progress from the imperfect towards the perfect1 unceasing attempts at realising the ideal1 and the frequent triumphs of the human mind over the inevitable difficulties of this earthly condition--difficulties not of man's own making1 but1 as ,i firmly believe1 prepared for him1 and not without a purpose1 as toils and tasks1 by a higher ,power1 and by the highest wisdom4 ,chips4 ,our life is not completely in our hands--we must submit to many things which we may smile at in our inmost heart1 but which nevertheless are essential1 not only to our happiness1 but to our fulfilling the duties which we are called to fulfil4 ,we ought to look upon the circumstances in which we are born and brought up as ordained by a ,higher ,power1 and we must learn to walk the path which is pointed out to us6 ,life4 ,it is difficult to be always true to ourselves1 to be always what we wish to be1 what we feel we ought to be4 ,as long as we feel that1 as long as we do not surrender the ideal of our life1 all is right4 ,our aspirations represent the true nature of our soul much more than our everyday life4 ,i feel as much as you1 how far ,i have been left behind in the race which ,i meant to run1 but ,i honestly try to rouse myself1 and to live up to what ,i feel ,i ought to be4 ,let us keep up our constant fight against all that is small and common and selfish1 let us never lose our faith in the ideal life1 in what we ought to be1 and in what with constant prayer to ,god we shall be1 and let us never forget how unworthy we are of all the blessings ,god has showered down upon us4 ,life4 ,i feel quite thankful for any little misfortune2 it is like paying something of the large debt of happiness we owe1 though it is but a very trifling interest1 and the capital we must owe for ever4 ,,ms4 ,i thought a long time about my happiness1 and my unworthiness1 and ,god's unbounded mercy4 ,and then ,i heard the words within me3 ',be not afraid4' ,yes1 there must be no fear4 ,where there is fear there is no perfect love4 ,our happiness here is but a foretaste of our blessed life hereafter4 ,we must never forget that4 ,we shall be called away1 but we shall meet again4 ,,ms4 ,i begin to be quite thankful for my disappointment--we all want winding up1 and nothing does it so well as a great disappointment1 if we only see clearly ,who sent it and then forget everything else4 ,,ms4 ,one sometimes forgets that all this is only the preparation for what is to come hereafter4 ,yet we should never forget this1 otherwise this life loses its true meaning and purpose4 ,if we only know what we live for here1 we can easily find out what is worth having in this life1 and what is not2 we can easily go on without many things which others1 whose eyes are fixed on this world only1 consider essential to their happiness4 ,,ms4 ,the spirit of love1 and the spirit of truth1 are the two life-springs of our whole being--or1 what is the same1 of our whole religion4 ,if we lose that bond1 which holds us and binds us to a higher world1 our life becomes purposeless1 joyless2 if it holds us and supports1 life becomes perfect1 all little cares vanish1 and we feel we are working out a great purpose as well as we can1 a purpose not our own1 not selfish1 not self-seeking1 but1 in the truest sense of the word1 ,god-serving and ,god-seeking4444 ,gentleness is a kind of mixture of love and truthfulness1 and it should be the highest object of our life to attain more and more to that true gentleness which throws such a charm over all our life4 ,there is a gentleness of voice1 of look1 of movement1 of speech1 all of which are but the expressions of true gentleness of heart4 ,,ms4 ,it is impossible to take too high a view of life2 the very highest we take is still too low4 ,one feels that more and more as our life draws to its close1 and many things that seemed important once are seen to be of no consequence1 while only a few things remain which will tell for ever4 ,,ms4 ,i don't believe in what is called worldly wisdom4 ,i do not think the world was made for it--with real faith in a higher life ,i believe one can pass through this life without let or hindrance4 ,what ,i dread are compromises4 ,there are false notes in them always1 and a false note goes on for ever4 ,,ms4 ,how thankful we ought to be every minute of our existence to ,him who gives us all richly to enjoy4 ,how little one has deserved this happy life1 much less than many poor sufferers to whom life is a burden and a hard and bitter trial4 ,but then1 how much greater the claims on us2 how much more sacred the duty never to trifle1 never to waste time and power1 never to compromise1 but to live in all things1 small and great1 to the praise and glory of ,god1 to have ,god always present with us1 and to be ready to follow ,his voice1 and ,his voice only4 ,has our prosperity taught us to meet adversity when it comes8 ,i often tremble1 but then ,i commit all to ,god1 and ,i say1 ',have mercy upon me1 miserable sinner4' ,life4 ,there is something very awful in this life1 and it is not right to try to forget it4 ,it is well to be reminded by the trials of others of what may befall us1 and what is kept from us only by the love of our ,father in heaven1 not by any merit of our own4 ,,ms4 ,how different life is to what one thought it when young1 how all around us falls together1 till we ourselves fall together4 ,how meaningless and vain everything seems on earth1 and how closely the reality of the life beyond approaches us4 ,many days were beautiful here1 but the greater the happiness the more bitter the thought that it all passes away1 that nothing remains of earthly happiness1 but a grateful heart and faith in ,god who knows best what is best for us4 ,,ms4 ,oh6 if we could even in this life forget all that is unessential1 all that makes it so hard for us to recognise true greatness and goodness in the character of those with whom this life brings us in contact for a little while6 ,how much we lose by making little things so important1 and how rarely do we think highly enough of what is essential and lasting6 ,,ms4 ,you must accustom yourself more and more to the thought that here is not our abiding city1 that all that we call ours here is only lent1 not given us1 and that if the sorrow for those we have lost remains the same1 we must yet acknowledge with gratitude to ,god the great blessing of having enjoyed so many years with those whom ,he gave us1 as parents1 or children1 or friends4 ,one forgets so easily the happy years one has had with those who were the nearest to us4 ,even these years of happiness1 however short they may have been1 were only given us1 we had not deserved them4 ,i know well there is no comfort for this pain of parting3 the wound always remains1 but one learns to bear the pain1 and learns to thank ,god for what ,he gave1 for the beautiful memories of the past1 and the yet more beautiful hope for the future4 ,if a man has lent us anything for several years1 and at last takes it back1 he expects gratitude1 not anger2 and if ,god has more patience with our weakness than men have1 yet murmurs and complaints for the life which ,he measured out for us as is best for us1 are not what ,he expected from us4 ,a spirit of resignation to ,god's will is our only comfort1 the only relief under the trials ,god lays upon us1 and with such a spirit the heaviest as well as the lightest trials of life are not only bearable1 but useful1 and gratitude to ,god and joy in life and death remain untroubled4 ,life4 ,by a grave one learns what life really is--that it is not here but elsewhere--that this is the exile and there is our home4 ,as we grow older the train of life goes faster and faster1 those with whom we travelled together step out from station to station1 and our own station too will soon be reached4 ,,ms4 ,it seems to me so ungrateful to allow one moment to pass that is not full of joy and happiness1 and devotion to ,him who gives us all this richly to enjoy4 ,the clouds will come1 they must come1 but they ought never to be of our own making4 ,life4 ,the shadows fall thicker and thicker1 but even in the shade it is well1 often better than in full sunshine4 ,and when the evening comes1 one is tired and ready to sleep6 ,and so all is ordered for us1 if we only accommodate ourselves to it quietly4 ,life4 ,as long as ,god wills it we must learn to bear this life1 but when ,he calls us we willingly close our eyes1 for we know it is better for us there than here4 ,when so many whom we loved are gone before us1 we follow gladly2 and the older we become here1 the more one feels that death is a relief4 ,and yet we can thankfully enjoy what is still left us on earth1 even if our hearts no longer cling to it as formerly4 ,life4 ,our life here is not our own work1 and we know that it is best for us all just as it is4 ,we ought to bear it1 and we must bear it2 and the more patiently1 yes1 the more joyfully1 we accommodate ourselves to it1 the better for us4 ,we must take life as it is1 as the way appointed for us1 and that must lead to a certain goal4 ,some go sooner1 some later1 but we all go the same way1 and all find the same place of rest4 ,impatience1 gloom1 murmurs and tears do not help us1 do not alter anything1 and make the road longer1 not shorter4 ,quiet1 resignation1 thankfulness and faith help us forwards1 and alone make it possible to perform the duties which we all1 each in his own sphere1 have to fulfil4444 ,the darker the night1 the clearer the stars in heaven4 ,life4 ,how different life might be1 if in our daily intercourse and conversation we thought of our friends as lying before us on the last bed of flowers--how differently we should then judge1 and how differently we should act4 ,all that is of the earth is then forgotten1 all the little failings inherent in human nature vanish from our minds1 and we only see what was good1 unselfish1 and loving in that soul1 and we think with regret of how much more we might have done to requite that love4 ,it is curious how forgetful we are of death1 how little we think that we are dying daily1 and that what we call life is really death1 and death the beginning of a higher life4 ,such a thought should not make our life less bright1 but rather more--it should make us feel how unimportant many things are which we consider all-important3 how much we could bear which we think unbearable1 if only we thought that to-morrow we ourselves or our friends may be taken away1 at least for a time4 ,you should think of death1 should feel that what you call your own is only lent to you1 and that all that remains as a real comfort is the good work done in this short journey1 the true unselfish love shown to those whom ,god has given us1 has placed near to us1 not without a high purpose4 ,life4 ,what a marvel life seems to be the older we grow6 ,so far from becoming more intelligible1 it becomes a greater wonder every day4 ,one stands amazed1 and everything seems so small--the little one can do so very small4 ,one ought not to brood too much1 when there is no chance of light1 and yet how natural it is that one should brood over life and death1 rather than on the little things of life4 ,life4 ,if we only hold fast the belief that nothing happens but by the will of ,god1 we learn to be still and can bear everything4 ,the older one grows1 the more one feels sure that life here is but a long imprisonment1 and one longs for freedom and higher efforts4444 ,how small and insignificant is all in this life when we raise our eyes above4 ,gazing up to the ,lord of the ,universe1 all strife is made easy4 ,we speak different tongues when we think of the ,highest1 but we all mean the same thing4 ,,ms4 ,it is sad to think of all that was and is no more1 and yet there is something much more real in memory than one used to think4 ,all is there but what our weak human senses require1 and nothing is lost1 nothing can be lost except what we know would vanish one day1 but what was the husk only1 not the kernel4 ,i have learnt to live with those who went before us1 and they seem more entirely our own than when they were with us in the body4 ,and as long as we have duties to fulfil1 so long as there are others who lean on us and want us1 life can be lived a few years longer1 it can only be a few years4 ,,ms4 ,life is earnest6 is a very old lesson1 and we are never too old to learn it4 ',life is an art' is ,goethe's doctrine1 and there is some truth in it also1 as long as art does not imply artful or artificial4 ,huxley used to say the highest end of life is action1 not knowledge4 ,there ,i quite differ4 ,first knowledge1 then action1 and what a lottery action is6 ,the best intentions often fail1 and what is done to-day is undone to-morrow4 ,however1 we must toil on and do what every day brings us1 and do it as well as we can1 and better1 if possible1 than anybody else4 ,life4 ,what can we call ours if ,god did not vouchsafe it to us from day to day8 ,yet it is so difficult to give oneself up entirely to ,him1 to trust everything to ,his ,love and ,wisdom4 ,i thought ,i could say1 ',thy ,will be done1' but ,i found ,i could not3 my own will struggled against ,his ,will4 ,i prayed as we ought not to pray1 and yet ,he heard me4 ,it is so difficult not to grow very fond of this life and all its happiness1 but the more we love it1 the more we suffer1 for we know we must lose it and it must all pass away4 ,,ms4 ,our idea of life grows larger1 and birth and death seem like morning and evening4 ,one feels that as it has been so it will be again1 and all one can do is to try to make the best of every day1 as it comes and goes4 ,life4 ,the things that annoy us in life are after all very trifling things1 if we always bear in mind for what purpose we are here4 ,and even in the heavier trials1 one knows1 or one should know1 that all is sent by a higher power1 and in the end must be for our best interests4 ,it is true we cannot understand it1 but we can understand that ,god rules in the world in the smallest and in the largest events1 and he who keeps that ever in mind has the peace of ,god1 and enjoys his life as long as it lasts4 ,life4 ,life may grow more strange and awful every day1 but the more strange and awful it grows1 the more it reveals to us its truest meaning and reality1 and the deepest depth of its divinity4 ',and ,god saw everything that ,he had made1 and behold it was very good4' ,life4 ,enjoy the precious years ,god has added to your life1 with constant gratitude1 with quiet and purity of soul1 looking more to the heavenly than to the earthly3 that gives true joyfulness of soul1 if we every moment recollect what is eternal1 and never quite lose ourselves in the small1 or even the large cares of life4 ,life4 ,if we live on this earth only1 if our thoughts are hemmed in by the narrow horizon of this life1 then we lose indeed those whom death takes from us4 ,but it is death itself which teaches us that there is a ,beyond1 we are lifted up and see a new world1 far beyond what we had seen before4 ,in that wide world we lead a new and larger life1 a life which includes those we no longer see on earth1 but whom we cannot surrender4 ,the old ,indian philosophers say that no one can find the truth whose heart is attached to his wife and children4 ,no doubt perfect freedom from all affections would make life and death very easy4 ,but may not the very love which we feel for those who belong to us1 even when they are taken from us1 bring light to our eyes1 and make us see the truth that1 by that very love1 we belong to another world1 and that from that world1 however little we can here know about it1 love will not be excluded4 ,we believe what we desire--true--but why do we desire8 ,let us be ourselves1 let us be what we are meant to be on earth1 and trust to ,him who made us what we are4 ,,ms4 ,yes1 every day adds a new thin layer of new thoughts1 and these layers form the texture of our character4 ,the materials come floating towards us1 but the way in which they settle down depends much on the ebb and flow within us4 ,we can do much to keep off foreign elements1 and to attach and retain those which serve best in building up a strong rock4 ,but from time to time a great sorrow breaks through all the strata of our soul--all is upheaved1 shattered1 distorted4 ,in nature all that is grand dates from such convulsions--why should we wish for a new smooth surface1 or let our sorrows be covered by the flat sediment of everyday life8 ,,ms4 ,if we feel that this life can only be a link in a chain without beginning and without end1 in a circle which has its beginning and its end everywhere and nowhere1 we learn to bear it1 and to enjoy it too1 in a new sense4 ,what we achieve here assumes a new meaning--it will not altogether perish1 whether for good or for evil4 ,what is done in time is done for ever--what is done by one affects us all4 ,thus our love too is not lost--what is loved in time is loved for ever4 ,the form changes1 but that which changes1 which undergoes change1 remains itself unchanged4 ,we seem to love the fleeting forms of life1 and yet how can we truly love what is so faithless8 ,no1 we truly love what is1 and was1 and will be1 hidden under the fleeting forms of life1 but in itself more than those fleeting forms however fair4 ,we love the fair appearance too1 how could it be otherwise8 but we should love it only as belonging to what we love--not as being what we love4 ,so it is1 or rather so it ought to be4 ,yet while we are what we are1 we love the flower1 not the sightless grain of seed1 and when that flower fades and passes away1 we mourn for it1 and our only comfort is that we too fade and pass away4 ,then we follow there1 wherever they go4 ,some flowers fade sooner1 some later1 but none is quite forgotten4 ,,ms4 ,it would be difficult to say at what moment in our young lives real responsibility begins4 ,the law fixes a time1 our own heart cannot do that4 ,yet in spite of this unknown quantity at the beginning1 we begin afterwards to reckon with ourselves4 ,why should we protest against a similar unknown quantity before the beginning of our life on earth8 ,wherever and whenever it was1 we feel that we have made ourselves what we are2 is not that a useful article of faith8 ,does it not help us to decide on undoing what we have done wrong and in doing all the good we can1 even if it does not bear fruit1 within or without1 in this life8 ,a break of consciousness does not seem incompatible with a sense of responsibility1 if we know by reasoning1 though not by recollection1 that what we see done in ourselves must have been done by ourselves4 ,and even if we waive the question of responsibility for the first two or three years of our life on earth1 surely we existed during those years though we do not recollect it1--then why not before our life on earth8 ,,ms4 ,we must learn to live two lives--this short life here on earth with its joys and sorrows1 and that true life beyond1 of which this is only a fragment or an interruption4 ,when we enter into that true life1 we shall find what we cannot find here1 we shall find what we have lost here4 ,if only so many things did not seem so irregular1 so unnatural4 ,the death of young children before their parents4 ,we love them better because we know we can lose them--that is true--but yet it is a hard lesson to learn4 ,,ms4 ,one month will go after another1 till at last this journey is over1 and we look back on it grateful for the many pleasures it has given us1 grateful for the company of so many kind friends whom we met1 grateful also for the struggles which we had to go through and which will appear so small1 and so little worth our tears and anguish1 when all is over and the last station and resting-place reached in safety4 ,,ms4 ,,love ,i cannot help thinking that the souls towards whom we feel drawn in this life are the very souls whom we knew and loved in a former life1 and that the souls who repel us here1 we do not know why1 are the souls that earned our disapproval1 the souls from whom we kept aloof1 in a former life4 ,but let us remember that if our love is the love of what is merely phenomenal1 the love of the body1 the kindness of the heart1 the vigour and wisdom of the intellect1 our love is the love of changing and perishable things4444 ,but if our love1 under all its earthly aspects1 was the love of the true soul1 of what is immortal and divine in every man and woman1 that love cannot die1 but will find once more what seems beautiful1 true1 and lovable in worlds to come1 as in worlds that have passed4444 ,what we truly love in everything is the eternal tman1 the immortal self1 and as we should add1 the immortal ,god1 for the immortal self and the immortal ,god must be one4 ,last ,essays4 ,we must not forget that if earthly love has in the vulgar mind been often degraded into mere animal passion1 it still remains in its purest sense the highest mystery of our existence1 the most perfect blessing and delight on earth1 and at the same time the truest pledge of our more than human nature4 ,to be able to feel the same unselfish devotion to the ,deity which the human heart is capable of1 if filled with love for another human soul1 is something that may well be called the best religion4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iv4 ,what the present generation ought to learn1 the young as well as the old1 is spirit and perseverance to discover the beautiful1 pleasure and joy in making it known1 and resigning ourselves with grateful hearts to its enjoyment2 in a word--love1 in the old1 true1 eternal meaning of the word4 ,only sweep away the dust of self-conceit1 the cobwebs of selfishness1 the mud of envy1 and the old type of humanity will soon reappear1 as it was when it could still 'embrace millions4' ,the love of mankind1 the true fountain of all humanity1 is still there2 it can never be quite choked up4 ,he who can descend into this fountain of youth1 who can again recover himself1 who can again be that which he was by nature1 loves the beautiful wherever he finds it2 he understands enjoyment and enthusiasm1 in the few quiet hours which he can win for himself in the noisy1 deafening hurry of the times in which we live4 ,chips4 ,would not the carrying out of one single commandment of ,christ1 ',love one another1' change the whole aspect of the world1 and sweep away prisons and workhouses1 and envying and strife1 and all the strongholds of the devil8 ,two thousand years have nearly passed1 and people have not yet understood that one single command of ,christ1 ',love one another'6 ,we are as perfect heathens in that one respect as it is possible to be4 ,no1 this world might be heaven on earth1 if we would but carry out ,god's work and ,god's commandments1 and so it will be hereafter4 ,life4 ,if we do a thing because we think it is our duty1 we generally fail2 that is the old law which makes slaves of us4 ,the real spring of our life1 and of our work in life1 must be love--true1 deep love--not love of this or that person1 or for this or that reason1 but deep human love1 devotion of soul to soul1 love of ,god realised where alone it can be1 in love of those whom ,he loves4 ,everything else is weak1 passes away2 that love alone supports us1 makes life tolerable1 binds the present together with the past and future1 and is1 we may trust1 imperishable4 ,life4 ,love which seems so unselfish may become very selfish if we are not on our guard4 ,do not shut your eyes to what is dark in others1 but do not dwell on it except so far as it helps to bring out more strongly what is bright in them1 lovely1 and unselfish4 ,the true happiness of true love is self-forgetfulness and trust4 ,life4 ,there is nothing in life like a mother's love1 though children often do not find it out till it is too late4 ,if you want to be really happy in life1 love your mother with all your heart2 it is a blessing to feel that you belong to her1 and that through her you are connected by an unbroken chain with the highest source of our being4 ,,ms4 ,is there such a thing as a ,lost ,love8 ,i do not believe it4 ,nothing that is true and great is ever lost on earth1 though its fulfilment may be deferred beyond this short life4444 ,love is eternal1 and all the more so if it does not meet with its fulfilment on earth4 ,if once we know that our lives are in the hands of ,god1 and that nothing can happen to us without ,his ,will1 we are thankful for the trials which ,he sends us4 ,is there any one who loves us more than ,god8 any one who knows better what is for our real good than ,god8 ,this little artificial and complicated society of ours may sometimes seem to be outside ,his control1 but if we think so it is our own fault1 and we have to suffer for it4 ,we blame our friends1 we mistrust ourselves1 and all this because our wild hearts will not be quiet in that narrow cage in which they must be kept to prevent mischief4 ,life4 ,does love pass away 7with death78 ,i cannot believe it4 ,god made us as we are1 many instead of one4 ,christ died for all of us individually1 and such as we are--beings incomplete in themselves1 and perfect only through love to ,god on one side1 and through love to man on the other4 ,we want both kinds of love for our very existence1 and therefore in a higher and better existence too the love of kindred souls may well exist together with our love of ,god4 ,we need not love those we love best on earth less in heaven1 though we may love all better than we do on earth4 ,after all1 love seems only the taking away those unnatural barriers which divide us from our fellow creatures--it is only the restoration of that union which binds us altogether in ,god1 and which has broken on earth we know not how4 ,in ,christ alone that union was preserved1 for ,he loved us all with a love warmer than the love of a husband for his wife1 or a mother for her child4 ,he gave ,his life for us1 and if we ask ourselves there is hardly a husband or a mother who would really suffer death for his wife or her child4 ,thus we see that even what seems to us the most perfect love is very far as yet from the perfection of love which drives out the whole self and all that is selfish1 and we must try to love more1 not to love less1 and trust that what is imperfect here is not meant to be destroyed1 but to be made perfect hereafter4 ,with ,god nothing is imperfect2 without ,him everything is imperfect4 ,we must live and love in ,god1 and then we need not fear3 though our life seem chequered and fleeting1 we know that there is a home for us in ,god1 and rest for all our troubles in ,christ4 ,life4 ,let us hold together while life lasts4 ,hand in hand we may achieve more than each alone by himself4 ,we are much less afraid when we are two together4 ,the chief condition of all spiritual friendship is perfect frankness4 ,there is no better proof of true friendship than sincere reproof1 where such reproof is necessary4 ,we are occupied in one great work1 and in this consciousness all that is small must necessarily disappear4 ,life4 ,why do we love so deeply8 ,is not that also ,god's will8 ,and if so1 why should that love ever cease8 ,what should we be without it8 ,i cannot believe that we are to surrender that love1 that we are to lose those who were given us to love4 ,love may be purified1 may become more and more unselfish1 may be very different from what it was on earth1 but sympathy1 suffering together and rejoicing together1 lies very deep at the root of all being--were it ever to cease1 our very being might cease too4 ,we cannot help loving1 loving more and more1 better and better4 ,thus life becomes brighter and brighter again1 and we feel that we have not lost those who are taken from us for a little while4 ,we love them all the more1 all the better4 ,,ms4 ,how selfish we are even in our love4 ,here we live for a short season1 and we know we must part sooner or later4 ,we wish to go first1 and to leave those whom we love behind us1 and we sorrow because they went first and left us behind4 ,as soon as one looks beyond this life1 it seems so short1 yet there was a time when it seemed endless4 ,,ms4 ,the past is ours1 and there we have all who loved us1 and whom we love as much as ever1 ay1 more than ever4 ,,ms4 ,,mankind ,the earth was unintelligible to the ancients because looked upon as a solitary being1 without a peer in the whole universe2 but it assumed a new and true significance as soon as it rose before the eyes of man as one of many planets1 all governed by the same laws1 and all revolving around the same centre4 ,it is the same with the human soul1 and its nature stands before our mind in quite a different light since man has been taught to know and feel himself as a member of a great family--as one of the myriads of wandering stars all governed by the same laws1 and all revolving around the same centre1 and all deriving their light from the same source4 ',universal ,history' has laid open new avenues of thought1 and it has enriched our language with a word which never passed the lips of ,socrates1 or ,plato1 or ,aristotle--,mankind4 ,where the ,greek saw barbarians1 we see brethren2 where the ,greek saw nations1 we see mankind1 toiling and suffering1 separated by oceans1 divided by language1 and severed by national enmity1--yet evermore tending1 under a divine control1 towards the fulfilment of that inscrutable purpose for which the world was created1 and man placed in it1 bearing the image of ,god4 ,history therefore1 with its dusty and mouldering pages1 is to us as sacred a volume as the book of nature4 ,in both we read1 or we try to read1 the reflex of the laws and thoughts of a ,divine ,wisdom4 ,we believe that there is nothing irrational in either history or nature1 and that the human mind is called upon to read and to revere in both the manifestations of a ,divine ,power4 ,chips4 ,there are two antagonistic schools--the one believing in a descending1 the other in an ascending development of the human race2 the one asserting that the history of the human mind begins of necessity with a state of purity and simplicity which gradually gives way to corruption1 perversity1 and savagery2 the other maintaining that the first human beings could not have been more than one step above the animals1 and that their whole history is one of progress towards higher perfection4 ,with regard to the beginnings of religion1 the one school holds to a primitive suspicion of something that is beyond--call it supernatural1 transcendental1 infinite1 or divine4 ,it considers a silent walking across this bridge of life1 with eyes fixed on high1 as a more perfect realisation of primitive religion than singing of ,vedic hymns1 offering of ,jewish sacrifices1 or the most elaborate creeds and articles4 ,the other begins with the purely animal and passive nature of man1 and tries to show how the repeated impressions of the world in which he lived1 drove him to fetichism and totemism1 whatever these words may mean1 to ancestor worship1 to a worship of nature1 of trees and serpents1 of mountains and rivers1 of clouds and meteors1 of sun and moon and stars1 and the vault of heaven1 and at last to a belief in ,one who dwells in heaven above4 ,chips4 ,,mind ,,or ,,thought ,wherever we can see clearly1 we see that what we call mind and thought consist in this1 that man has the power not only to receive presentations like an animal1 but to discover something general in them4 ,this element he can eliminate and fix by vocal signs2 and he can further classify single presentations under the same general concepts1 and mark them by the same vocal signs4 ,silesian ,horseherd4 ,language and thought go hand in hand2 where there is as yet no word1 there is not yet an idea4 ,the thinking capacity of the mind has its source in language1 lives in language1 and develops continually in language4 ,silesian ,horseherd4 ,all our thoughts1 even the apparently most abstract1 have their natural beginnings in what passes daily before our senses4 ,nihil in fide nisi quod ante fuerit in sensu4 ,man may for a time be unheedful of these voices of nature2 but they come again and again1 day after day1 night after night1 till at last they are heeded4 ,and if once heeded1 those voices disclose their purport more and more clearly1 and what seemed at first a mere sunrise becomes in the end a visible revelation of the infinite1 while the setting of the sun is transfigured into the first vision of immortality4 ,hibbert ,lectures4 ,as the evolution of nature can be studied with any hope of success in those products only which nature has left us1 the evolution of mind also can be effectually studied in those products only which mind itself has left us4 ,these mental products in their earliest form are always embodied in language1 and it is in language1 therefore1 that we must study the problem of the origin1 and of the successive stages in the growth of mind4 ,science of ,thought4 ,if language and reason are identical1 or two names1 or two aspects only of the same thing1 and if we cannot doubt that language had an historical beginning1 and represents the work of man carried on through many thousands of years1 we cannot avoid the conclusion that before those thousands of years there was a time when the first stone of the great temple of language was laid1 and before that time man was without language1 and therefore without reason4 ,science of ,thought4 ,,miracles ,if once the human mind has arrived at the conviction that everything must be accounted for1 or1 as it is sometimes expressed1 that there is uniformity1 that there is care and order in everything1 and that an unbroken chain of cause and effect holds the whole universe together1 then the idea of the miraculous arises1 and we1 weak human creatures1 call what is not intelligible to us1 what is not in accordance with law1 what seems to break through the chain of cause and effect1 a miracle4 ,every miracle1 therefore1 is of our own making1 and of our own unmaking4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iii4 ,it is due to the psychological necessities of human nature1 under the inspiring influence of religious enthusiasm1 that so many of the true signs and wonders performed by the founders of religion have so often been exaggerated1 and1 in spite of the strongest protests of these founders themselves1 degraded into mere jugglery4 ,it is true that all this does not form an essential element of religion1 as we now understand religion4 ,miracles are no longer used as arguments in support of the truth of religious doctrines4 ,miracles have often been called helps to faith1 but they have so often proved stumbling-blocks to faith1 and no one in our days would venture to say that the truth as taught by any religion must stand or fall by certain prodigious events which may or may not have happened1 which may or may not have been rightly apprehended by the followers of ,buddha1 ,christ1 or ,mohammed4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,ii4 ,our ,lord's ascension will have to be understood as a sublime idea1 materialised in the language of children4 ,is not a real fact that happened1 in a world in which nothing can happen against the will of ,god1 better than any miracle8 ,why should we try to know more than we can know1 if only we firmly believe that ,christ's immortal spirit ascended to the ,father8 ,that alone is true immortality1 divine immortality2 not the resuscitation of the frail mortal body1 but the immortality of the immortal divine soul4 ,it was this rising of the ,spirit1 and not of the body1 without which1 as ,st4 ,paul said1 our faith would be vain4 ,it is the ,spirit that quickeneth1 the flesh profiteth nothing4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iii4 ,it will be to many of the honest disciples of ,christ a real day of ,damascus1 when the very name of miracle shall be struck out of the dictionary of ,christian theology4 ,the facts remain exactly as they are1 but the ,spirit of truth will give them a higher meaning4 ,what is wanted for this is not less1 but more1 faith1 for it requires more faith to believe in ,christ without1 than with1 the help of miracles4 ,nothing has produced so much distress of mind1 so much intellectual dishonesty1 so much scepticism1 so much unbelief1 as the miraculous element forced into ,christianity from the earliest days4 ,nothing has so much impeded missionary work as the attempt to persuade people first not to believe in their own miracles1 and then to make a belief in other miracles a condition of their becoming ,christians4 ,it is easy to say ',you are not a ,christian if you do not believe in ,christian miracles4' ,i hope the time will come when we shall be told1 ',you are not a ,christian if you cannot believe in ,christ without the help of miracles4' ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iii4 ,,music ,music is the language of the soul1 but it defies interpretation4 ,it means something1 but that something belongs not to this world of sense and logic1 but to another world1 quite real1 though beyond all definition4444 ,is there not in ,music1 and in ,music alone of all the arts1 something that is not entirely of this earth8444 ,whence comes melody8 ,surely not from anything that we hear with our outward ears and are able to imitate1 to improve1 or to sublimise4444 ,here if anywhere we see the golden stairs on which angels descend from heaven and whisper sweet sounds into the ears of those who have ears to hear4 ,words cannot be so inspired1 for words1 we know1 are of the earth1 earthy4 ,melodies are not of the earth1 and it is truly said1 ',heard melodies are sweet1 but those unheard are sweeter4' ,auld ,lang ,syne4 ,,nature ,there is nothing so beautiful as being alone with nature2 one sees how ,god's will is fulfilled in each bud and leaf that blooms and withers1 and one learns to recognise how deeply rooted in one is this thirst for nature4 ,in living with men one is only too easily torn from this real home2 then one's own plans and wishes and fears spring up2 then we fancy we can perfect something for ourselves alone1 and think that every thing must serve for our own ends and enjoyments1 until the influence of nature in life1 or the hand of ,god1 arouses us1 and warns us that we live and flourish not for enjoyment1 nor for undisturbed quiet1 but to bear fruit in another life4 ,life4 ,when one stands amid the grandeur of nature1 with one's own little murmurings and sufferings1 and looks deep into this dumb soul1 much becomes clear to one1 and one is astounded at the false ideas one has formed of this life4 ,it is but a short journey1 and on a journey one can do without many things which generally seem necessary to us4 ,yes1 we can do without even what is dearest to our hearts1 in this world1 if we know that1 after the journey we shall have to endure1 we shall find again those who have arrived at the goal quicker and more easily than we have done4 ,now if life were looked upon as a journey for refreshment or amusement1 which it ought not to be1 we might feel sad if we have to make our way alone2 but if we treat it as a serious business-journey1 then we know we have hard and unpleasant work before us1 and enjoy all the more the beautiful resting-places which ,god's love has provided for each of us in life4 ,life4 ,in the early days of the world1 the world was too full of wonders to require any other miracles4 ,the whole world was a miracle and a revelation1 there was no need for any special disclosure4 ,at that time the heavens1 the waters1 the sun and moon1 the stars of heaven1 the showers and dew1 the winds of ,god1 fire and heat1 winter and summer1 ice and snow1 nights and days1 lightnings and clouds1 the earth1 the mountains and hills1 the green things upon the earth1 the wells1 and seas and floods--all blessed the ,lord1 praised ,him and magnified ,him for ever4 ,can we imagine a more powerful revelation8 ,is it for us to say that for the children of men to join in praising and magnifying ,him who revealed ,himself in ,his own way in all the magnificence1 the wisdom and order of nature1 is mere paganism1 polytheism1 pantheism1 and abominable idolatry8 ,i have heard many blasphemies1 ,i have heard none greater than this4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,ii4 ,,obscurity ,there may be much depth of wisdom in all that darkness and vagueness1 but ,i cannot help thinking that there is nothing that cannot be made clear1 and bright1 and simple1 and that obscurity arises in all cases from slovenly thinking and lazy writing4 ,,ms4 ,,old ,,age ,sharing the happiness of other people1 entering into their feelings1 living life over once more with them and in them1 that is all that remains to old people4 ,i suppose it was meant to be so1 the principal object of life being the overcoming of self1 in every sense of the word4 ,life4 ,this is a lesson one has to learn as one grows older1 to learn to be alone1 and yet to feel one in spirit with all whom one loves1 whether present or absent4 ,,ms4 ,you cannot escape from old age1 whether it comes slowly or suddenly1 but it comes unawares1 and you suddenly feel that you cannot walk or jump as you used to do1 and even the muscles of the mind don't hold out as they used4 ,well1 so it was meant to be1 and it will be pleasant to begin again with new muscles1 and to take up new work4 ,after seeing a good deal of life1 ,i still think the greatest satisfaction is work3 ,i do not mean drudgery1 but one's own findings out4 ,life4 ,as one is getting old1 and looks forward with fear rather than with hope to what is still in store for us1 one learns to appreciate more and more the never-failing pleasure of recalling all the bright and happy days that are gone4 ,gone they are1 but they are not lost4 ,ever present to our calling and recalling1 they assume at last a vividness1 such as they hardly had when present1 and when we poor souls were trembling for every day and hour and minute that was going and ever going1 and would not and could not abide4 ,life4 ,,religion ,,and ,,religions ,god is not far from each one of those who seek ,god1 if haply they may feel after ,him4 ,let theologians pile up volume upon volume of what they call theology1 religion is a very simple matter1 and that which is so simple and yet so all-important to us1 the living kernel of religion1 can be found1 ,i believe1 in almost every creed1 however much the husk may vary4 ,and think what that means6 ,it means that above and beneath and behind all religions there is one eternal1 one universal religion1 a religion to which every man belongs1 or may belong4 ,last ,essays4 ,true religion1 that is practical1 active1 living religion1 has little or nothing to do with logical or metaphysical quibbles4 ,practical religion is life1 is a new life1 a life in the sight of ,god1 and it springs from what may truly be called a new birth4 ,last ,essays4 ,our senses can never perceive a real boundary1 be it on the largest or the smallest scale3 they present to us everywhere the infinite as their background1 and everything that has to do with religion has sprung out of this infinite background as its ultimate and deepest foundation4 ,silesian ,horseherd4 ,i cannot bring myself to take much interest in all the controversies that are going on 7#ahfe7 in the ,church of ,england4444 ,no doubt the points at issue are great1 and appeal to our hearts and minds1 but the spirit in which they are treated seems to me so very small4 ,how few men on either side give you the impression that they write face to face with ,god1 and not face to face with men and the small powers that be4 ,surely this was not so in the early centuries1 nor again at the time of the ,reformation8 ,life4 ,we live in two worlds2 behind the seen is the unseen1 around the finite the infinite1 above the comprehensible the incomprehensible4 ,there have been men who have lived in this world only1 who seem never to have felt the real presence of the unseen3 and yet they achieved some greatness as rulers of men1 as poets1 artists1 philosophers1 and discoverers4 ,but the greatest among the great have done their greatest works in moments of self-forgetful ecstasy1 in union and communion with a higher world3 and when it was done1 such was their silent rapture that they started back1 and could not believe it was their own1 their very own1 and they ascribed the glory of it to ,god1 by whatever name they called ,him in their various utterances4 ,and while the greatest among the great thus confessed that they were not of this world only1 and that their best work was but in part their own1 those whom we reverence as the founders of religions1 and who were at once philosophers1 poets1 and rulers of men1 called nothing their own1 but professed to teach only either what their fathers had taught them1 or what a far-off voice had whispered in their ear4444 ,the ancient religions were not founded like temples or palaces1 they sprang up like sacred groves from the soil of humanity1 quickened by the rays of celestial light4 ,in ,india1 ,greece1 ,italy1 and ,germany1 not even the names of the earliest prophets are preserved4 ,and1 if in other countries the forms and features of the authors of their religious faith and worship are still dimly visible amidst the clouds of legend and poetry1 all of them1 ,moses as well as ,zoroaster1 ,confucius1 ,buddha and ,mohammed1 seem to proclaim with one voice that their faith was no new faith1 but the faith of their fathers1 that their wisdom was not their own wisdom1 but1 like every good and perfect gift1 given them from above4 ,what should we learn from these prophets who from distant countries and bygone ages all bear the same witness to the same truth8 ,we should learn that though religions may be founded and fashioned into strange shapes by the hand of man1 religion is one and eternal4 ,from the first dawn that ever brightened a human hearth or warmed a human heart1 one generation has told another that there is a world beyond the dawn2 and the keynotes of all religion--the feeling of the infinite1 the bowing down before the incomprehensible1 the yearning after the unseen--having once been set to vibrate1 have never been altogether drowned in the strange and wild music of religious sects and sciences4 ,the greatest prophets of the world have been those who at sundry times and in divers manners have proclaimed again and again in the simplest words the simple creed of the fathers1 faith in the unseen1 reverence for the incomprehensible1 awe of the infinite1 or1 simpler still1 love of ,god1 and oneness with the ,all-,father4 ,life4 ,i have endeavoured to make clear two things1 which constitute the foundation of all religion2 first1 that the world is rational1 that it is the result of thought1 and that in this sense only is it the creation of a being which possesses reason1 or is reason itself 7the ,logos72 and secondly1 that mind or thought cannot be the outcome of matter1 but on the contrary is the prius of all things4 ,silesian ,horseherd4 ,religion is not philosophy2 but there never has been a religion1 and there never can be1 which is not based on philosophy1 and does not presuppose the philosophical notions of the people4 ,the highest aim towards which all philosophy strives1 is and will always remain the idea of ,god1 and it was this idea which ,christianity grasped in the ,platonic sense1 and presented to us most clearly in its highest form1 in the ,fourth ,gospel4 ,silesian ,horseherd4 ,there has been no entirely new religion since the beginning of the world4 ,the elements and roots of religion were there1 as far back as we can trace the history of man2 and the history of religion shows us throughout a succession of new combinations of the same radical elements4 ,an intuition of ,god1 a sense of human weakness and dependence1 a belief in a ,divine government of the world1 a distinction between good and evil1 and a hope of a better life1 these are some of the radical elements of all religions4 ,though sometimes hidden1 they rise again and again to the surface4 ,though frequently distorted1 they tend again and again to their perfect form4 ,unless they had formed part of the original dowry of the human soul1 religion would have remained an impossibility1 and the tongues of angels would have been to human ears but as sounding brass1 or as tinkling cymbals4 ,chips4 ,in lecturing on the origin and growth of religion1 my chief object has been to show that a belief in ,god1 in the immortality of the soul1 and in a future retribution1 can be gained1 and not only can be1 but has been gained1 by the right exercise of human reason alone1 without the assistance of what has been called a special revelation4 ,in doing this1 ,i thought ,i was simply following in the footsteps of the greatest theologians of our time1 and that ,i was serving the cause of true religion by showing1 by ample historical evidence1 gathered from the ,sacred ,books of the ,east1 how1 what ,st4 ,paul1 what the ,fathers of the ,church1 what medival theologians1 and what some of the most learned of modern divines had asserted again and again1 was most strikingly confirmed by the records of all non-,christian religions which have lately become accessible to us4 ,i could not have believed it possible that1 in undertaking this work1 ,i should have exposed myself to attacks from theologians who profess and call themselves ,christians1 and who yet maintain that worst of all heresies1 that during all the centuries that have elapsed and in all the countries of the world1 ,god has left ,himself without a witness1 and has revealed ,himself to one race only1 the ,jews of ,palestine4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iii4 ,if there is one thing which a comparative study of religions places in the clearest light1 it is the inevitable decay to which every religion is exposed4 ,it may seem almost like a truism that no religion can continue to be what it was during the lifetime of its founders and its first apostles4 ,yet it is but seldom borne in mind that without constant reformation1 i4e4 without a constant return to its fountain head1 every religion--even the most perfect1 on account of its very perfection1 more even than others--suffers from its contact with the world1 as the purest air suffers from the mere fact of being breathed4 ,chips4 ,to each individual his own religion1 if he really believes in it1 is something quite inseparable from himself1 something unique1 that cannot be compared to anything else1 or replaced by anything else4 ,our own religion is1 in that respect1 something like our own language4 ,in its form it may be like other languages2 in its essence1 and in its relation to ourselves1 it stands alone and admits of no peer or rival4 ,chips4 ,three of the results to which1 ,i believe1 a comparative study of religion is sure to lead1 ,i may here state3-- #a4 ,we shall learn that religions1 in their most ancient form1 or in the minds of their authors1 are generally free from many of the blemishes that attach to them in later times4 #b4 ,we shall learn that there is hardly one religion which does not contain some truth1 some important truth2 truth sufficient to enable those who seek the ,lord1 and feel after ,him1 to find ,him in their hour of need4 #c4 ,we shall learn to appreciate better than ever what we have in our own religion4 ,no one who has not examined patiently and honestly the other religions of the world can know what ,christianity really is1 or can join with such truth and sincerity in the words of ,st4 ,paul1 ',i am not ashamed of the gospel of ,christ4' ,chips4 ,many are the advantages to be derived from a careful study of other religions1 but the greatest of all is that it teaches us to appreciate more truly what we possess in our own4 ,let us see what other nations have had and still have in the place of religion1 let us examine the prayers1 the worship1 the theology even1 of the most highly civilised races1 and we shall then understand more thoroughly what blessings are vouchsafed to us in being allowed to breathe from the first breath of life the pure air of a land of ,christian light and knowledge4 ,we are too apt to take the greatest blessings as matters of course1 and even religion forms no exception4 ,we have done so little to gain our religion1 we have suffered so little in the cause of truth1 that however highly we prize our own ,christianity1 we never prize it highly enough until we have compared it with the religions of the rest of the world4 ,chips4 ,the spirit of truth is the life-spring of all religion1 and where it exists it must manifest itself1 it must plead1 it must persuade1 it must convince and convert4 ,chips4 ,as there is a faculty of speech1 independent of all the historical forms of language1 there is a faculty of faith in man1 independent of all historical religions4 ,if we say it is religion which distinguishes man from the animal1 we do not mean the ,christian and ,jewish religion3 we do not mean any special religion3 but we mean a mental faculty or disposition1 which1 independent of1 nay in spite of1 sense and reason1 enables man to apprehend the ,infinite under different names1 and under varying disguises4 ,without that faculty1 no religion1 not even the lowest worship of idols and fetishes1 would be possible2 and if we will but listen attentively1 we can hear in all religions a groaning of the spirit1 a struggle to conceive the inconceivable1 to utter the unutterable1 a longing after the ,infinite1 a love of ,god4 ,science of ,religion4 ,like an old precious metal1 the ancient religion1 after the dust of ages has been removed1 will come out in all its purity and brightness3 and the image which it discloses will be the image of the ,father1 the ,father of all the nations upon earth2 and the superscription1 where we can read it again1 will be1 not in ,juda only1 but in the languages of all the races of the world1 the ,word of ,god1 revealed where alone it can be revealed--revealed in the heart of man4 ,science of ,religion4 ,if we granted that all religions1 except ,christianity and ,mosaism1 derived their origin from those faculties of the mind only which1 according to ,paley1 are sufficient by themselves for calling into life the fundamental tenets of natural religion1 the classification of ,christianity and ,judaism on one side as revealed1 and of the other religions as natural1 would still be defective1 for the simple reason that no religion1 though founded on revelation1 can ever be entirely separated from natural religion4 ,the tenets of natural religion1 though they never constituted by themselves a real historical religion1 supply the only ground on which even revealed religions can stand1 the only soil where they can strike root1 and from which they can receive nourishment and life4 ,science of ,religion4 ,the intention of religion1 wherever we meet it1 is always holy4 ,however imperfect1 however childish a religion may be1 it always places the human soul in the presence of ,god3 and however imperfect and however childish the conception of ,god may be1 it always represents the highest ideal of perfection which the human soul1 for the time being1 can reach and grasp4 ,religion therefore places the human soul in the presence of its highest ideal1 it lifts it above the level of ordinary goodness1 and produces at last a yearning after a higher and better life--a life in the light of ,god4 ,science of ,religion4 ,i suppose that most of us1 sooner or later in life1 have felt how the whole world--this wicked world1 as we call it--is changed as if by magic1 if once we can make up our mind to give men credit for good motives1 never to be suspicious1 never to think evil1 never to think ourselves better than our neighbours4 ,trust a man to be true and good1 and1 even if he is not1 your trust will tend to make him true and good4 ,it is the same with the religions of the world4 ,let us but once make up our minds to look in them for what is true and good1 and we shall hardly know our old religions again4 ,there is no religion--or1 if there is1 ,i do not know it--which does not say1 ',do good1 avoid evil4' ,there is none which does not contain what ,rabbi ,hillel called the quintessence of all religions1 the simple warning1 ',be good1 my boy4' ',be good1 my boy1' may seem a very short catechism1 but let us add to it1 ',be good1 my boy1 for ,god's sake1' and we have in it very nearly the whole of the ,law and the ,prophets4 ,science of ,religion4 ,in order to choose between different gods1 and different forms of faith1 a man must possess the faculty of choosing the instruments of testing truth and untruth1 whether revealed or not2 he must know that certain fundamental tenets cannot be absent in any true religion1 and that there are doctrines against which his rational or moral conscience revolts as incompatible with truth4 ,in short1 there must be the foundation of religion1 there must be the solid rock1 before it is possible to erect an altar1 a temple1 or a church3 and if we call that foundation natural religion1 it is clear that no revealed religion can be thought of which does not rest more or less firmly on natural religion4 ,science of ,religion4 ,universal primeval revelation is only another name for natural religion1 and it rests on no authority but the speculations of philosophers4 ,the same class of philosophers1 considering that language was too wonderful an achievement for the human mind1 insisted on the necessity of admitting a universal primeval language1 revealed directly by ,god to men1 or rather to mute beings3 while the more thoughtful and more reverent of the ,fathers of the ,church1 and among the founders of modern philosophy also1 pointed out that it was more consonant with the general working of an all-wise and all-powerful ,creator that ,he should have endowed human nature with the essential conditions of speech1 instead of presenting mute beings with grammars and dictionaries ready-made4 ,the same applies to religion4 ,a universal primeval religion revealed direct by ,god to man1 or rather to a crowd of atheists1 may1 to our human wisdom1 seem the best solution of all difficulties2 but a higher wisdom speaks to us out of the realities of history1 and teaches us1 if we will but learn1 that 'we have all to seek the ,lord1 if haply we may feel after ,him1 and find ,him1 though ,he is not far from every one of us4' ,science of ,religion4 ,the study of the ancient religions of mankind1 ,i feel convinced1 if carried on in a bold1 but scholarlike1 careful1 and reverent spirit1 will remove many doubts and difficulties which are due entirely to the narrowness of our religious horizon2 it will enlarge our sympathies1 it will raise our thoughts above the small controversies of the day1 and at no distant future evoke in the very heart of ,christianity a fresh spirit and a new life4 ,science of ,religion4 ,no judge1 if he had before him the worst of criminals1 would treat him as most historians and theologians have treated the religions of the world4 ,every act in the lives of their founders which shows that they were but men1 is eagerly seized and judged without mercy2 every doctrine that is not carefully guarded is interpreted in the worst sense that it will bear2 every act of worship that differs from our own way of serving ,god is held up to ridicule and contempt4 ,and this is not done by accident but with a purpose1 nay1 with something of that artificial sense of duty which stimulates the counsel for the defence to see nothing but an angel in his own client1 and anything but an angel in the plaintiff on the other side4 ,the result has been--as it could not be otherwise--a complete miscarriage of justice1 an utter misapprehension of the real character and purpose of the ancient religions of mankind2 and1 as a necessary consequence1 a failure in discovering the peculiar features which really distinguish ,christianity from all the religions of the world1 and secure to its founder ,his own peculiar place in the history of the world1 far away from ,zoroaster and ,buddha1 from ,moses and ,mohammed1 from ,confucius and ,laotse4 ,by unduly deprecating all other religions we have placed our own in a position which its founder never intended for it2 we have torn it away from the sacred context of the history of the world2 we have ignored1 or wilfully narrowed1 the sundry times and divers manners in which1 in times past1 ,god spake unto the fathers by the prophets2 and instead of recognising ,christianity as coming in the fulness of time1 and as the fulfilment of the hopes and desires of the whole world1 we have brought ourselves to look upon its advent as the only broken link in that unbroken chain which is rightly called the ,divine government of the world4 ,nay1 worse than this1 there are people who1 from mere ignorance of the ancient religions of mankind1 have adopted a doctrine more unchristian than any that could be found in the pages of the religious books of antiquity1 i4e4 that all the nations of the earth1 before the rise of ,christianity1 were mere outcasts1 forsaken and forgotten of their ,father in heaven1 without a knowledge of ,god1 without a hope of heaven4 ,if a comparative study of the religions of the world produced but this one result1 that it drove this godless heresy out of every ,christian heart1 and made us see again in the whole history of the world the eternal wisdom and love of ,god towards all ,his creatures1 it would have done a good work4 ,science of ,religion4 ,do you still wonder at polytheism or at mythology8 ,why1 they are inevitable4 ,they are1 if you like1 a parler enfantin of religion4 ,but the world has its childhood1 and when it was a child1 it spoke as a child1 it understood as a child1 it thought as a child1 and in that it spoke as a child its language was true4 ,the fault rests with us1 if we insist on taking the language of children for the language of men1 if we attempt to translate literally ancient into modern language1 ,oriental into ,occidental speech1 poetry into prose4 ,science of ,religion4 ,religion is inevitable if only we are left in possession of our senses1 such as we really find them1 not such as they have been defined for us4 ,we claim no special faculty1 no special revelation4 ,the only faculty we claim is perception1 the only revelation we claim is history1 or1 as it is now called1 historical evolution4 ,but let it not be supposed that we find the idea of the ,infinite ready made in the human mind from the very beginning of our history4 ,all we maintain is that the germ or the possibility1 the ,not-yet of that idea1 lies hidden in the earliest sensuous perceptions1 and that as reason is evolved from what is finite1 so faith is evolved from what from the very beginning is infinite in the perceptions of our senses4 ,hibbert ,lectures4 ,each religion has its own peculiar growth1 but the seed from which they spring is everywhere the same4 ,that seed is the perception of the infinite1 from which no one can escape who does not wilfully shut his eyes4 ,from the first flutter of human consciousness1 that perception underlies all the other perceptions of our senses1 all our imaginings1 all our concepts1 and every argument of our reason4 ,it may be buried for a time beneath the fragments of our finite knowledge1 but it is always there1 and1 if we dig deep enough1 we shall always find that buried seed1 supplying the living sap to the fibres and feeders of all true faith4 ,hibbert ,lectures4 ,instead of approaching the religions of the world with the preconceived idea that they are either corruptions of the ,jewish religion1 or descended1 in common with the ,jewish religion1 from some perfect primeval revelation1 the students of the science of religion have seen that it is their duty first to collect all the evidence of the early history of religious thought that is still accessible in the sacred books of the world1 or in the mythology1 customs1 or even in the languages of various races4 ,afterwards they have undertaken a genealogical classification of all the materials that have hitherto been collected1 and they have then only approached the question of the origin of religion in a new spirit1 by trying to find out how the roots of the various religions1 the radical concepts which form their foundation1 and before all1 the concept of the infinite1 could have been developed1 taking for granted nothing but sensuous perception on one side1 and the world by which we are surrounded on the other4 ,hibbert ,lectures4 ,a distinction has been made for us between religion and philosophy1 and1 so far as form and object are concerned1 ,i do not deny that such a distinction may be useful4 ,but when we look to the subjects with which religion is concerned1 they are1 and always have been1 the very subjects on which philosophy has dwelt1 nay1 from which philosophy has sprung4 ,if religion depends for its very life on the sentiment or the perception of the infinite within the finite and beyond the finite1 who is to determine the legitimacy of that sentiment1 or of that perception1 if not the philosopher8 ,who is to determine the powers which man possesses for apprehending the finite by his senses1 for working up his single1 and therefore finite1 impressions into concepts by his reason1 if not the philosopher8 ,and who1 if not the philosopher1 is to find out whether man can claim the right of asserting the existence of the infinite1 in spite of the constant opposition of sense and reason1 taking these words in their usual meaning8 ,we should damnify religion if we separated it from philosophy3 we should ruin philosophy if we divorced it from religion4 ,hibbert ,lectures4 ,who1 if he is honest towards himself1 could say that the religion of his manhood was the same as that of his childhood1 or the religion of his old age the same as the religion of his manhood8 ,it is easy to deceive ourselves1 and to say that the most perfect faith is a childlike faith4 ,nothing can be truer1 and the older we grow the more we learn to understand the wisdom of a childlike faith4 ,but before we can learn that1 we have first to learn another lesson1 namely1 to put away childish things4 ,there is the same glow about the setting sun as there is about the rising sun2 but there lies between the two a whole world1 a journey through the whole sky1 and over the whole earth4 ,hibbert ,lectures4 ,i hope the time will come when the subterranean area of human religion will be rendered more and more accessible1 444 and that the ,science of ,religion1 which at present is but a desire and a seed1 will in time become a fulfilment1 a plenteous harvest4 ,when that time of harvest has come1 when the deepest foundations of all the religions of the world have been laid free and restored1 who knows but that those very foundations may serve once more1 like the catacombs1 or like the crypts beneath our old cathedrals1 as a place of refuge for those who1 to whatever creed they may belong1 long for something better1 purer1 older1 and truer than what they can find in the statutable sacrifices1 services1 and sermons of the days in which their lot on earth has been cast2 some who have learnt to put away childish things1 call them genealogies1 legends1 miracles1 or oracles1 but who cannot part with the childlike faith of their heart4 ,each believer may bring down with him into that quiet crypt what he values most1 his own pearl of great price--the ,hindu1 his innate disbelief in this world1 his unhesitating belief in another world2 the ,buddhist1 his perception of an eternal law1 his submission to it1 his gentleness1 his pity2 the ,mohammedan1 if nothing else1 his sobriety2 the ,jew1 his clinging through good and evil days to the one ,god1 who loveth righteousness and whose name is ',i am'2 the ,christian1 that which is better than all1 if those who doubt it would only try it--our love of ,god1 call ,him what you like1 the infinite1 the invisible1 the immortal1 the father1 the highest ,self1 above all1 and through all1 and in all1 manifested in our love of man1 our love of the living1 our love of the dead1 our living and undying love4 ,hibbert ,lectures4 ,if we see the same doctrines1 sometimes uttered even in the very same words1 by the ,apostles1 and by what people call the false prophets1 of the heathen world1 we need not grudge them these precious pearls4 ,when two religions say the same thing1 it is not always the same thing2 but even if it is1 should we not rather rejoice and try with all our might to add to what may be called the heavenly dowry of the human race1 the common stock of truth which1 as we are told1 is not far from every one of us1 if only we feel after it and find it8 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,i4 ,religion1 when looked upon not as supernatural1 but as thoroughly natural to man1 has assumed a new meaning and a higher dignity when studied as an integral part of that historical evolution which has made man what he is1 and what from the very first he was meant to be4 ,is it no comfort to know that at no time and in no part of the world1 has ,god left ,himself without witness1 that the hand of ,god was nowhere beyond the reach of the outstretched hands of babes and sucklings2 nay1 that it was from those rude utterances out of the mouth of babes and sucklings1 that is1 of savages and barbarians1 that has been perfected in time the true praise of ,god8 ,to have looked for growth and evolution in history as well as in nature is no blame1 and has proved no loss to the present or to the last century2 and if the veil has as yet been but little withdrawn from the ,holy of ,holies1 those who come after us will have learnt at least this one lesson1 that this lifting of the veil which was supposed to be the privilege of priests1 is no longer considered as a sacrilege1 if attempted by any honest seekers after truth4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,i4 ,religion consists in the perception of the infinite under such manifestations as are able to influence the moral character of man4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,i4 ,no opinion is true simply because it has been held either by the greatest intellects or by the largest number of human beings at different periods in the history of the world4 ,no one can spend years in the study of the religions of the world1 beginning with the lowest and ending with the highest forms1 no one can watch the sincerity of religious endeavour1 the warmth of religious feeling1 the nobleness of religious conduct1 among races whom we are inclined to call pagan or savage1 without learning at all events a lesson of humility4 ,anybody1 be he ,jew1 ,christian1 ,mohammedan1 or ,brahman1 if he has a spark of modesty left1 must feel that it would be nothing short of a miracle that his own religion alone should be perfect throughout1 while that of every other believer should be false or wrong from beginning to end4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,i4 ,the more we study the history of the religions of the world1 the clearer it becomes that there is really no religion which could be called an individual religion1 in the sense of a religion created1 as it were de novo1 or rather ab ovo1 by one single person4 ,this may seem strange1 and yet it is really most natural4 ,religion1 like language1 is everywhere an historical growth1 and to invent a completely new religion would be as hopeless a task as to invent a completely new language4 ,nor do the founders of the great historical religions of the world ever claim this exclusive authorship4 ,on the contrary1 most of them disclaim in the strongest terms the idea that they have come either to destroy1 or to build a completely new temple4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,i4 ,the whole world in its wonderful history has passed through the struggle for life1 the struggle for eternal life2 and every one of us1 in his own not less wonderful history1 has had to pass through the same wonderful struggle3 for1 without it1 no religion1 whatever its sacred books may be1 will find in any human heart that soil in which alone it can strike root and on which alone it can grow and bear fruit4 ,we must all have our own bookless religion1 if the sacred books1 whatever they may be1 are to find a safe and solid foundation within ourselves4 ,no temple can stand without that foundation1 and it is because that foundation is so often neglected that the walls of the temple become unsafe and threaten to fall4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,i4 ,the heart and mind and soul of man are the same under every sky1 in all the varying circumstances of human life2 and it would be awful to believe that any human beings should have been deprived of that light 'which lighteth every man that cometh into the world4' ,it is that light which lighteth every man1 and which has lighted all the religions of the world1 call them bookless or literate1 human or divine1 natural or supernatural1 which alone can dispel the darkness of doubt and fear that has come over the world4 ,what our age wants more than anything else is ,natural ,religion4 ,whatever meaning different theologians may attach to ,supernatural ,religion1 history teaches us that nothing is so natural as the supernatural4 ,but the supernatural must always be superimposed on the natural4 ,supernatural religion without natural religion is a house built on sand1 and when1 as in our days1 the rain of doubt descends1 and the floods of criticism come1 and the winds of unbelief and despair blow and beat upon that house1 that house will fall because it was not founded on the rock of bookless religion1 of natural religion1 of eternal religion4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,i4 ,every religion1 being the property of the young and the old1 the wise and the foolish1 must always be a kind of compromise1 and1 while protesting against real corruptions and degradations1 we must learn to bear with those whose language differs from our own1 and trust that in spite of the tares which have sprung up during the night1 some grains of wheat will ripen towards the harvest in every honest heart4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,ii4 ,in all the fundamentals of religion we are neither better nor worse than our neighbours1 neither more wise nor more unwise than all the members of that great family who have been taught to know themselves as children of one and the same ,father in ,heaven4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,ii4 ,what can a study of ,natural ,religion teach us8 ,why1 it teaches us that religion is natural1 is real1 is inevitable1 is universal4 ,is that nothing8 ,is it nothing to know that there is a solid rock on which all religion1 call it natural or supernatural1 is founded8 ,is it nothing to learn from the annals of history that ,god has not left ,himself without witness in that ,he did good1 and gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons1 filling our hearts1 and the hearts of the whole human race1 with food and gladness8 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,ii4 ,while on the one side a study of ,natural ,religion teaches us that much of what we are inclined to class as natural1 to accept as a matter of course1 is in reality full of meaning1 is full of ,god1 is in fact truly miraculous1 it also opens our eyes to another fact1 namely1 that many things which we are inclined to class as supernatural1 are in reality perfectly natural1 perfectly intelligible1 nay inevitable1 in the growth of every religion4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,ii4 ,the real coincidences between all the religions of the world teach us that all religions spring from the same soil--the human heart2 that they all look to the same ideals1 and that they are all surrounded by the same dangers and difficulties4 ,much that is represented to us as supernatural in the annals of the ancient religions of the world becomes perfectly natural from this point of view4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,ii4 ,to those who see no difficulties in their own religion1 the study of other religions will create no new difficulties4 ,it will only help them to appreciate more fully what they already possess4 ,for with all that ,i have said in order to show that other religions also contain all that is necessary for salvation1 it would be simply dishonest on my part were ,i to hide my conviction that the religion taught by ,christ1 free as yet from all ecclesiastical fences and entrenchments1 is the best1 the purest1 the truest religion the world has ever seen4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,ii4 ,to expect that religion could ever be placed again beyond the reach of scientific treatment or honest criticism1 shows an utter misapprehension of the signs of the times1 and would1 after all1 be no more than to set up private judgment against private judgment4 ,if the inalienable rights of private judgment1 that is1 of honesty and truth1 were more generally recognised1 the character of religious controversy would at once be changed4 ,it is restriction that provokes resentment1 and thus embitters all discussions on religious subjects4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iii4 ,so far from being dishonest1 the distinction between a higher and a lower form of religion is in truth the only honest recognition of the realities of life4 ,if to a philosophic mind religion is a spiritual love of ,god1 and the joy of his full consciousness of the spirit of ,god within him1 what meaning can such words convey to the millions of human beings who nevertheless want a religion1 a positive1 authoritative1 or revealed religion1 to teach them that there is a ,god1 and that ,his commands must be obeyed without questioning8 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iii4 ,people ask what can be gained by a comprehensive study of religions1 by showing that1 as yet1 no race has been discovered without some word for what is not visible1 not finite1 not human1 for something superhuman and divine4 ,some theologians go even so far as to resent the discovery of the universality of such a belief4 ,they are anxious to prove that human reason alone could never have arrived at a conception of ,god4 ,they would much rather believe that ,god has left ,himself without witness than that a belief in something higher than the ,finite could spring up in the human heart from gratitude to ,him who gave us rain from heaven1 and fruitful seasons1 filling our hearts with food and gladness4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iii4 ,physical religion1 beginning in a belief in agents behind the great phenomena of nature1 reached its highest point when it had led the human mind to a belief in one ,supreme ,agent or ,god1 whatever his name might be4 ,it was supposed that this ,god could be implored by prayers and pleased by sacrifices4 ,he was called the father of gods and men4 ,yet even in his highest conception1 he was no more than what ,cardinal ,newman defined ,god to be4 ',i mean by the ,supreme ,being1' he wrote1 'one who is simply self-dependent1 and the only being who is such4 ,i mean that he created all things out of nothing1 and could destroy them as easily as he made them1 and that1 in consequence1 he is separated from them by an abyss1 and incommunicable in all his attributes4' ,this abyss separating ,god from man remains at the end of ,physical ,religion4 ,it constitutes its inherent weakness4 ,but this very weakness becomes in time a source of strength1 for from it sprang a yearning for better things4 ,even the ,god of the ,jews1 in ,his unapproachable majesty1 though ,he might be revered and loved by man during ,his life on earth1 could receive1 as it were1 a temporary allegiance only1 for 'the dead cannot praise ,god1 neither any that go down into darkness6' ,god was immortal1 a man was mortal2 and ,physical ,religion could not throw a bridge over the abyss that separated the two4 ,real religion1 however1 requires more than a belief in ,god1 it requires a belief in man also1 and an intimate relation between ,god and man1 at all events in a life to come4 ,there is in man an irrepressible desire for continued existence4 ,it shows itself in life in what we may call self-defence4 ,it shows itself at the end of life and at the approach of death1 in the hope of immortality4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iii4 ,so long as we look on the history of the human race as something that might or might not have been1 we cannot wonder that the student of religion should prefer to form his opinions of the nature of religion and the laws of its growth from the masterpiece of ,thomas ,aquinas1 the ,summa ,sacr ,theologi1 rather than from the ,sacred ,books of the ,east4 ,but when we have learnt to recognise in history the realisation of a rational purpose1 when we have learnt to look upon it as in the truest sense of the word a ,divine ,drama1 the plot revealed in it ought to assume in the eyes of a philosopher also1 a meaning and a value far beyond the speculations of even the most enlightened and logical theologians4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iv4 ,the question is whether there is1 or whether there is not1 hidden in every one of the sacred books1 something that could lift up the human heart from this earth to a higher world1 something that could make man feel the omnipresence of a higher ,power1 something that could make him shrink from evil and incline to good1 something to sustain him in the short journey through life1 with its bright moments of happiness1 and its long hours of terrible distress4 ,preface1 ,sacred ,books of the ,east4 ,it has been truly said1 and most emphatically1 by ,dr4 ,newman1 that neither a belief in ,god by itself1 nor a belief in the soul by itself1 would constitute religion1 and that real religion is founded on a true perception of the relation of the soul to ,god1 and of ,god to the soul4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iv4 ,it may be truly said that the founders of the religions of the world have all been bridge-builders4 ,as soon as the existence of a ,beyond1 of a ,heaven above the earth1 of ,powers above us and beneath us1 had been recognised1 a great gulf seemed to be fixed between what was called by various names1 the earthly and the heavenly1 the material and the spiritual1 the phenomenal and nomenal1 or best of all1 the visible and invisible world1 and it was the chief object of religion to unite these two worlds again1 whether by the arches of hope and fear1 or by the iron chains of logical syllogisms4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iv4 ,religion1 in order to be real religion1 a man's own religion1 must be searched for1 must be discovered1 must be conquered4 ,if it is simply inherited1 or accepted as a matter of course1 it often happens that in later years it falls away1 and has either to be reconquered1 or to be replaced by another religion4 ,autobiography4 ,religion is growth1 never finished4 ,from the lowest to the highest stages it is growth1 not willed only1 nor given only1 but both4 ,the lowest stages may seem very imperfect to us1 but they are all the more important4 ,language and mythology show us the old path on which man travelled from ,nature to ,god4 ,,ms4 ,there is no lesson which at the present time seems more important than to learn that in every religion there are precious grains2 that we must draw in every religion a broad distinction between what is essential and what is not1 between the eternal and the temporary1 between the divine and the human1 and that though the non-essential may fill many volumes1 the essential can often be comprehended in a few words1 but words on which 'hang all the law and the prophets4' ,preface1 ,sacred ,books of the ,east4 ,religions were meant to be many1 like languages4 ,to us1 one language for the whole human race would seem to be far better2 but it was not to be4 ,each language was to be a school for each race1 a talent committed to each nation4 ,and so it is with religion4 ,there is truth in all of them1 the whole truth in none4 ,let each one cherish his own1 purify his own1 and throw away what is dead and decaying4 ,but to give up one's religion is like giving up one's life4 ,even the lowest savage must keep his own old faith in ,god1 when he becomes converted to ,christianity1 or he will have lost the living and life-giving root of his faith4 ,if people would only learn to look for what is good in all religions1 how far more beautiful the world would appear in their eyes4 ,they dig hard enough to get the ore from out a mine1 they sift it1 smelt it1 purify it1 and then keep the small pieces of gold they have got with all this trouble1 forgetting the scoriae and all the refuse4 ,that is what we must do as students of religion2 but we do the very contrary--we hug the scoriae and shut our eyes to the glittering rays of gold4 ,jews and ,christians are worse in that respect than all other people4 ,it may be because their religions are freer from human impurities than all other religions4 ,but why should that make them blind to what is really good in other religions1 why should it blind them so much that they look upon other religions as the work of the ,devil8 ,the power of evil has had its work in all religions1 our own not excepted--but the power of goodness prevails everywhere4 ,till we know that1 life and history seem intolerable4 ,it would not put an end to missionary labour1 it would only make it more a labour of love1 less painful to those whom we wish to win1 not away from their ,god1 but back to their ,god1 ,him whom they ignorantly worship1 and whom we should declare unto them1 according to our own light1 such as it is1 less dark than theirs on many points1 but yet dark1 as those know best who1 like ,st4 ,paul1 have striven hardest to look through the glass of our own weak human mind4 ,,ms4 ,if people would only learn to see that there is really a religion beyond all religions1 that each man must have his own religion which he has conquered for himself1 and that we must learn to tolerate religion wherever we find it6 ,christianity would be a perfect religion1 if it did not go beyond the simple words of ,christ1 and if1 even in these words1 we made full allowance for the time and place and circumstances in which they were spoken--that is1 if we simply followed ,christ where ,he wishes us to follow ,him4 ,we have gone far beyond those times and circumstances in many things1 but in what is most essential we are still far behind the teaching of ,christ4 ,how many call themselves ,christians who have no idea how difficult it is to be a ,christian1 a follower of ,christ6 ,it is easy enough to repeat creeds1 and to work ourselves into a frame of mind when miracles seem most easy4 ,,ms4 ,it was the duty of the ,apostles and of the early ,christians in general to stand forth in the name of the only true ,god1 and to prove to the world that their ,god had nothing in common with the idols worshipped at ,athens and ,ephesus4 ,it was the duty of the early converts to forswear all allegiance to their former deities1 and if they could not at once bring themselves to believe that the gods whom they had worshipped had no existence at all1 they were naturally led on to ascribe to them a kind of demoniacal nature1 and to curse them as the offspring of that new principle of ,evil with which they had become acquainted in the doctrines of the early ,church4444 ,through the whole of ,st4 ,augustine's works1 and through all the works of earlier ,christian divines1 there runs the same spirit of hostility blinding them to all that may be good1 and true1 and sacred1 and magnifying all that is bad1 false1 and corrupt1 in the ancient religions of mankind4 ,only the ,apostles and their immediate disciples venture to speak in a different and1 no doubt1 in a more truly ,christian spirit of the old forms of worships4444 ,what can be more convincing1 more powerful1 than the language of ,st4 ,paul at ,athens8 ,science of ,language4 ,those who believe that there is a ,god1 and that ,he created heaven and earth1 and that ,he ruleth the world by ,his unceasing providence1 cannot believe that millions of human beings1 all created like ourselves in the image of ,god1 were1 in their time of ignorance1 so utterly abandoned that their whole religion was falsehood1 their whole worship a farce1 their whole life a mockery4 ,an honest and independent study of the religions of the world will teach us that it was not so1 444 that there is no religion which does not contain some grains of truth4 ,nay1 it will teach us more2 it will teach us to see in the history of the ancient religions1 more clearly than anywhere else1 the ,divine education of the human race4 ,science of ,religion4 ,the ,divine1 if it is to reveal itself at all to us1 will best reveal itself in our own human form4 ,however far the human may be from the ,divine1 nothing on earth is nearer to ,god than man1 nothing on earth more godlike than man4 ,and as man grows from childhood to old age1 the idea of the ,divine must grow with us from the cradle to the grave1 from grace to grace4 ,a religion which is not able thus to grow and live with us as we grow and live1 is dead already4 ,definite and unvarying uniformity1 so far from being a sign of honesty and life1 is always a sign of dishonesty and death4 ,every religion1 if it is to be a bond between the wise and the foolish1 the old and the young1 must be pliant1 must be high and deep and broad2 bearing all things1 believing all things1 hoping all things1 enduring all things4 ,the more it is so1 the greater its vitality1 the greater the strength and warmth of its embrace4 ,hibbert ,lectures4 ,,revelation ,true inspiration is1 and always has been1 the spirit of truth within1 and this is but another name for the spirit of ,god4 ,it is truth that makes inspiration1 not inspiration that makes truth4 ,whoever knows what truth is knows also what inspiration is3 not only theopneustos1 blown into the soul by ,god1 but the very voice of ,god1 the real presence of ,god1 the only presence in which we1 as human beings1 can ever perceive ,him4 ,autobiography4 ,there is nothing in the idea of revelation that excludes progress1 for whatever definition of revelation we may adopt1 it always represents a communication between the ,divine on one side and the ,human on the other4 ,let us grant that the ,divine element in revelation1 that is1 whatever of truth there is in revelation1 is immutable1 yet the human element1 the recipient1 must always be liable to the accidents and infirmities of human nature4 ,that human element can never be eliminated in any religion4444 ,to ignore that human element in all religions is like ignoring the eye as the recipient and determinant of the colours of light4 ,we know more of the sun than our forefathers1 though the same sun shone on them that shines on us2 and if astronomy has benefited by its telescopes1 444 theology also ought not to despise whatever can strengthen the far-sightedness of human reason in its endeavour to gain a truer and purer idea of the ,divine4 ,a veil will always remain4 ,but as in every other pursuit1 so in religion also1 we want less and less of darkness1 more and more of light2 we want1 call it life1 or growth1 or development1 or progress2 we do not want mere rest1 mere stagnation1 mere death4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,i4 ,it was the sense of an overpowering truth which led to the admission of a revelation4 ,but while in the beginning truth made revelation1 it soon came to pass that revelation was supposed to make truth4 ,when we see this happening in every part of the world1 when we can watch the psychological progress which leads in the most natural way to a belief in supernatural inspiration1 it will hardly be said that an historical study of religion may be useful to the antiquarian1 but cannot help us to solve the burning questions of the day4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,i4 ,i believe in one revelation only--the revelation within us1 which is much better than any revelations which come from without4 ,why should we look for ,god and listen for ,his voice outside us only1 and not within us8 ,where is the temple of ,god1 or the true kingdom of ,god8 ,life4 ,there are ,christian mystics who would not place internal revelation1 or the voice of ,god within the heart1 so far below external revelation4 ,to those who know the presence of ,god within the heart1 this revelation is far more real than any other can be4 ,they hold with ,st4 ,paul that man is in the full sense of the word the temple of ,god1 and that the ,spirit of ,god dwelleth within him1 nay1 they go even further1 and both as ,christians and as mystics they cling to the belief that all men are one in the ,father and the ,son1 as the ,father is in the ,son1 and the ,son in the ,father4 ,there is no conflict in their minds between ,christian doctrine and mystic doctrine4 ,they are one and the same in character1 the one imparted through ,christ on earth1 the other imparted through the indwelling spirit of ,god1 which again is ,christ1 as born within us4 ,the ,gospel of ,st4 ,john is full of passages to which the ,christian mystic clings1 and by which he justifies his belief in the indwelling spirit of ,god1 or1 as he also calls it1 the birth of ,christ in the human soul4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,ii4 ,i cannot connect any meaning with a primeval revelation1 or with an original knowledge of ,god4 ,a knowledge of ,god is surely at all times impossible2 man can only trust1 he cannot know4 ,he can feel the ,infinite1 and the ,divine1 he can never class it or subdue it by knowledge4 ,the question seems to me1 how our unconscious relation to ,god1 which must be there and can never be destroyed1 becomes gradually more and more conscious2 and that is what one can best learn to understand in the history of the various religions of the world--so many voyages of discovery1 each full of sufferings and heroic feats1 all looking towards the same ,pole1 each to be judged by itself1 none1 ,i believe1 to be condemned altogether4 ,,ms4 ,to assume that every word1 every letter1 every parable1 every figure was whispered to the authors of the ,gospels1 is certainly an absurdity1 and rests only on human 444 authority4 ,but the true revelation1 the real truth1 as it was already anticipated by the ,greek philosophers1 slowly accepted by ,jews1 like ,philo and the contemporaries of ,jesus1 taught by men like ,clement and ,origen in the ancient ,greek ,church1 and1 in fine1 realised in the life of ,jesus1 and sealed by ,his death1 is no absurdity3 it is for every thinking ,christian the eternal life1 or the ,kingdom of ,god on earth1 which ,jesus wished to establish1 and in part did establish4 ,to become a citizen of this ,kingdom is the highest that man can attain1 but it is not attained merely through baptism and confirmation2 it must be gained in earnest spiritual conflict4 ,silesian ,horseherd4 ,,the ,,rig-,,veda ,the ,veda alone of all works ,i know treats of a genesis of ,god-consciousness1 compared to which the ,theogony of ,hesiod is like a worn-out creature4 ,we see it grow slowly and gradually with all its contradictions1 its sudden terrors1 its amazements1 and its triumphs4 ,as ,god reveals ,his ,being in nature in her order1 her indestructibility1 in the eternal victory of light over darkness1 of spring over winter1 in the eternally returning course of the sun and the stars1 so man has gradually spelt out of nature the ,being of ,god1 and after trying a thousand names for ,god in vain1 we find ,him in the ,veda already saying3 ',they call him ,indra1 ,mitra1 ,varuna2 then they call him the ,heavenly1 the bird with beautiful wings2 that which is ,one they call in various ways4'444 ,the belief in ,immortality is only the other side1 as it were1 of the ,god-consciousness1 and both are originally natural to the ,aryan race4 ,life4 ,,science ,every true ,science is like a hardy ,alpine guide that leads us on from the narrow1 though it may be the more peaceful and charming1 valleys of our preconceived opinions1 to higher points1 apparently less attractive1 nay often disappointing for a time1 till1 after hours of patient and silent climbing1 we look round and see a new world around us4 ,chips4 ,a new horizon has opened1 our eyes see far and wide1 and as the world beneath us grows wider and larger1 our own hearts seem to grow wider and larger1 and we learn to embrace the far and distant1 and all that before seemed strange and indifferent1 with a warmer recognition and a deeper human sympathy2 we form wider concepts1 we perceive higher truths4 ,chips4 ,what is natural is divine2 what is supernatural is human4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,i4 ,man is the measurer of all things2 and what is ,science but the reflection of the outer world on the mirror of the mind1 growing more perfect1 more orderly1 more definite1 more great1 with every generation8 ,to attempt to study nature without studying man is as impossible as to study light without studying the eye4 ,i have no misgivings1 therefore1 that the lines on which this ,college 7,mason ,science ,college7 is founded will ever become so narrow as to exclude the science of man1 and the science of that which makes man1 the science of language1 and1 what is really the same1 the science of thought4 ,and where can we study the science of thought1 that most wonderful instance of development1 except in the languages and literatures of the past8 ,how are we to do justice to our ancestors except by letting them plead their own case in their own language8 ,literary culture can far better dispense with physical science than physical science with literary culture1 though nothing is more satisfactory than a perfect combination of the two4 ,life4 ,,the ,,self ,as behind the various gods of nature1 one supreme deity was at last discovered in ,india1 the ,brahmans imagined that they perceived behind the different manifestations of feeling1 thought1 and will also1 a supreme power which they called ,atma1 or ,self1 and of which the intellectual powers or faculties were but the outward manifestations4 ,this led to a philosophy which took the place of religion1 and recognised in the self the only true being1 the unborn and therefore immortal element in man4 ,a step further led to the recognition of the original identity of the subjective ,self in man1 and the objective ,self in nature1 and thus1 from an ,indian point of view1 to a solution of all the riddles of the world4 ,the first commandment of all philosophy1 ',know thyself1' became in the philosophy of the ,upanishads1 ',know thyself as the ,self1' or1 if we translate it into religious language1 ',know that we live and move and have our being in ,god4' ,gifford ,lectures1 ,i4 ,the death of a child is as if the flash of the ,divine eye had turned quickly away from the mirror of this world1 before the human consciousness woke up and thought it recognised itself in the mirror1 often only to perceive for a moment1 just as it closes its eyes for the last time1 that that which it took for itself was the shadow or reflection of its eternal self4 ,life4 ,a man need not go into a cave because he has found his true ,self2 he may live and act like everybody else2 he is 'living but free4' ,all remains just the same1 except the sense of unchangeable1 imperishable self which lifts him above the phenomenal self4 ,he knows he is wearing clothes1 that is all4 ,if a man does not see it1 if some of his clothes stick to him like his very skin1 if he fears he might lose his identity by not being a male instead of a female1 by not being ,english instead of ,german1 by not being a child instead of a man1 he must wait and work on4 ,good works lead to quietness of mind1 and quietness of mind to true self-knowledge4 ,is it so very little to be only ,self1 to be the subject that can resist1 i4e4 perceive the whole universe1 and turn it into his object8 ,can we wish for more than what we are1 lookers-on--resisting what tries to crush us1 call it force1 or evil1 or anything else8 ,life4 ,the impression made on me by the look of a child who is not yet conscious of himself and of the world round him is that of still undisturbed godliness4 ,only when self-consciousness wakes little by little1 through pleasure or pain1 when the spirit accustoms itself to its bodily covering1 when man begins to say ,i and the world to call things his1 then the full separation of the human self from the ,divine begins1 and it is only after long struggles that the light of true self-consciousness sooner or later breaks through the clouds of earthly semblances1 and makes us again like the little children 'of whom is the ,kingdom of ,heaven4' ,in ,god we live and move and have our being1 that is the sum of all human wisdom1 and he who does not find it here1 will find it in another life4 ,all else that we learn on earth1 be it the history of nature or of mankind1 is for this end alone1 to show us everywhere the presence of a ,divine providence1 and to lead us through the knowledge of the history of the human spirit to the knowledge of ourselves1 and through the knowledge of the laws of nature to the understanding of that human nature to which we are subjected in life4 ,life4 ,to my mind the birth of a child is not a breach of the law of continuity1 but on that very ground ,i must admit the previous existence of the ,self that is here born as a child1 and which brings with it into this new order of things simply its ,self-consciousness1 and even that not developed but undeveloped potentia1 in a sleep4 ,when afterwards a child awakes to self-consciousness1 that is really its remembrance of its former existence4 ,the ,self which it becomes conscious of1 remember1 is in its essence not of this world only1 but of a former as well as of a future world4 ,this constitutes in fact the only distinct remembrance in every human being of a former life4 ,there are besides indistinct remembrances of his former existence1 viz4 the many dispositions which every thinking man finds in himself1 and which are not simply the result of the impressions of this world on a so-called tabula rasa4 ,unless we begin life as tabula rasa we begin it as tabula preparata1 as leukomata1 and whatever colour or disposition1 or talent1 or temperament1 whatever there is inexplicable in each individual1 that he will perceive1 or possibly remember1 as the result of the continuity between his present and former life4 ,,ms4 ,what1 then1 is that which we call ,death8 ,separation of the ,self from a living body4 ,if so1 does the body die because the ,self leaves it1 or does the ,self leave the body because it dies8 ,what has life to do with the ,self8 ,has the ,self which for a time dwells in a living body anything to do with what we call the life of that body8 ,does the ,self take possession of a body because it lives1 or does the body live because the ,self has taken possession of it8 ,the difficulty arises from our vague conception of life4 ,life is only a mode of existence4 ,existence is possible without what we call life1 not life without existence4 ,to live means to be able to absorb1 but who or what is able8 ,the ,self exists1 it is sentient1 capable of perception by becoming embodied4 ,it is perceptive because sentient1 it is conceptive because perceptive4 ,the difficulty lies in the embodiment4 ,it is there where all philosophy becomes ridiculous4 ,,ms4 ,knowledge belongs to the ,self alone1 call it what we will4 ,the nerve fibres might vibrate as often as they pleased1 millions and millions of times in a second2 they could never produce the sensation of red if there were no ,self as the receiver and illuminator1 the translator of these vibrations of ether2 this ,self that alone receives1 alone illumines1 alone knows1 and of which we can say nothing more than that it exists1 that it perceives1 and as the ,indian philosophers add1 that it is blessed1 i4e4 that it is complete in itself1 serene1 and eternal4 ,silesian ,horseherd4 ,nothing eternal can have a beginning1 and there can be no immortal life after death1 unless our true immortal life has been realised here on earth4 ,hindu philosophers called those who had realised their true1 immortal1 eternal1 or divine ,self 'free while living4' ,,ms4 ,,sorrow ,,and ,,suffering ,how mysterious all this suffering is1 particularly when it produces such prostration that it must lose all that elevating power which one knows suffering does exercise in many cases4 ,it seems sometimes as if a large debt of suffering had to be paid off1 and that some are chosen to pay a large1 very large sum1 so that others may go free4 ,we have our own burden to bear1 but it is a burden that seems to make other things easy to bear--it strengthens even when it seems to crush4 ,but how could one bear that complete prostration of all powers which must make death seem so much preferable to life4 ,and yet life goes on1 and people care about a hundred little things1 and break their hearts if they do not get them4 ,,ms4 ,such trials as you have had to pass through are not sent without a purpose1 and if you say that they have changed your views of life1 such a change in a character like yours can only be a change in advance1 a firmer faith in those truths which have been revealed to the dim sight of human nature1 a stronger will to resist all falsehood and tampering with the truth1 and a deeper conviction that we owe our life to ,him who has given it1 and that we must fight ,his battle when ,he calls us to do it4 ,,ms4 ,god knows that we want rain and storm as much as sunshine1 and ,he sends us both as seems best to ,his love and wisdom4 ,when all breaks down ,he lifts us up4 ,but when we feel quite crushed and forsaken and alone1 we then feel the real presence of our truest ,friend1 who1 whether by joys or sorrows1 is always calling us to ,him1 and leading us to that true ,home where we shall find ,him1 and in ,him all we loved1 with ,him all we believed1 and through ,him all we hoped for and aspired to on earth4 ,our broken hearts are the truest earnest of everlasting life4 ,life4 ,we must submit1 but we must feel it a great blessing to be able to submit1 to be able to trust that infinite ,love which embraces us on all sides1 which speaks to us through every flower and every worm1 which always shows us beauty and perfection1 which never mars1 never destroys1 never wastes1 never deceives1 never mocks4 ,,ms4 ,there is but one help and one comfort in these trials1 that is1 to know by whom they are sent4 ,if one knows that nothing can happen to us without ,him1 one does not feel quite helpless1 even under the greatest terrors of this life4 ,,ms4 ,how little one thinks that many trials and afflictions may come upon us any day4 ,one lives as if life were to last for ever1 and as if we should never part with those who are most dear to us4 ,life would be intolerable were it otherwise1 but how little one is prepared for what life really is4 ,,ms4 ,why is there so much suffering in this world8 ,i cannot think it improves us much1 and yet it must have its purpose4 ,all these are questions far too high for us--we are like children1 and more than children1 when we come to think of them4 ,all we know is that where we catch a glimpse of ,god's handiwork1 either in the natural or moral world1 it is so wonderfully perfect1 so beyond all our measures1 that we feel safe as in a good ship1 however rough the sea may be4 ,whatever we may believe1 or hope1 or wish for1 will be far exceeded by that ,higher ,will and ,wisdom which supports all1 even us little souls4 ,,ms4 ,the sorrows of life are inevitable1 but they are hard to bear1 for all that4 ,they would be harder still if we did not see their purpose of reminding us that our true life is not here1 but that we are here on a voyage that may be calm or stormy1 and which is to teach us what all sailors have to learn1 courage1 perseverance1 kindness1 and in the end complete trust in a ,higher ,power4 ,,ms4 ,sorrow is necessary and good for men2 one learns to understand that each joy must be indemnified by suffering1 that each new tie which knits our hearts to this life must be loosed again1 and the tighter and the closer it was knit1 the keener the pain of loosening it4 ,should we then attach our hearts to nothing1 and pass quietly and unsympathetically through this world1 as if we had nothing to do with it8 ,we neither could nor ought to act so4 ,nature itself knits the first tie between parents and children1 and new ties through our whole life4 ,we are not here for reward1 for the enjoyment of undisturbed peace or from mere accident1 but for trial1 for improvement1 perhaps for punishment2 for the only union which can secure the happiness of men1 the union between our ,self and ,god's ,self1 is broken1 or at least obscured1 by our birth1 and the highest object of our life is to find this bond again1 to remain ever conscious of it and hold fast to it in life and in death4 ,this rediscovery of the eternal union between ,god and man constitutes true religion among all people4 ,life4 ,every one carries a grave of lost hope in his soul1 but he covers it over with cold marble1 or with green boughs4 ,on sad days one likes to go alone to this ,god's acre of the soul1 and weep there1 but only in order to return full of comfort and hope to those who are left to us4 ,life4 ,the sorrows of life1 like all other things1 pass away1 and the larger the number who await us beyond1 the easier the parting from those we leave behind4 ,life4 ,grief is a sweet remembrance of happiness that was4 ,,ms4 ,there is the old riddle always before me1 why was 444 taken from me8 ,human understanding has no answer for it1 and yet ,i feel as certain as ,i can feel of anything that as it is1 it is good1 it is best1 better than anything ,i can wish for4 ,one feels one's own ignorance why what seems so right and natural should not be1 and yet one knows it could not be4 ,one hides one's head in the arms of a ,higher ,power1 a ,friend1 a ,father1 and more than a ,father4 ,wait1 and you will know4 ,work1 and you will be able to bear it4 ,,ms4 ,people think that grief is pain1 but it is not so3 ,grief1 the absorption in the quiet recollection of what was1 but is no longer1 is a pleasure1 a consolation1 a blessing4 ,,ms4 ,those who would comfort us by bidding us forget our grief1 and join their happy gatherings1 do not know what comfort is4 ,hearts which have suffered have a right to what the world may call grief and sorrow1 but what is really a quiet communion with those whom we love1 and whom we can find no longer among the laughter of the happy4 ,,ms4 ,what can we pray for8 ,not for special gifts1 but only for ,god's mercy4 ,we do not know what is good for us1 and for others4 ,what would become of the world if all our prayers were granted8 ,and yet it is good to pray--that is1 to live in all our joys and sorrows with ,god1 that unknown ,god whom we cannot reason with1 but whom we can love and trust4 ,human misery1 outward and inward1 is certainly a great problem1 and yet one knows from one's own life how just the heaviest burdens have been blessings4 ,the soul must be furrowed if it is to bear fruit4 ,,ms4 ,what is the tenure of all our happiness8 ,are we not altogether at the mercy of ,god8 ,would it not be fearful to live for one day unless we knew1 and saw1 and felt ,his ,presence and ,wisdom and ,love encompassing us on all sides8 ,if we once feel that1 then even death1 even the death of those we love best and who love us best1 loses much of its terror3 it is part and parcel of one great system of which we see but a small portion here1 and which without death1 without that bridge of which we see here but the first arch1 would seem to be a mere mockery4 ,that is why ,i said to you it is well that human art cannot prolong our life for ever1 and in that sentiment ,i should think we both agree4 ,i have felt much for you1 more than ,i cared to say4 ,we are trained differently1 but we are all trained for some good purpose1 and the suffering which you have undergone is to me like deep ploughing1 the promise of a rich harvest4 ,life4 ,there is a large and secret brotherhood in this world1 the members of which easily recognise each other1 without any visible outward sign4 ,it is the band of mourners4 ,the members of this brotherhood need not necessarily wear mourning2 they can even rejoice with the joyful1 and they seldom sigh or weep when others see them4 ,but they recognise and understand each other1 without uttering a word1 like tired wanderers who1 climbing a steep mountain1 overtake other tired wanderers1 and pause1 and then silently go on again1 knowing that they all hope to see the same glorious sunset high up above4 ,their countenances reflect a soft moonlight2 when they speak1 one thinks of the whispering of the leaves of a beech forest after a warm spring shower1 and as the rays of the sun light up the drops of dew with a thousand colours1 and drink them up from the green grass1 a heavenly light seems to shine through the tears of the mourners1 to lighten them1 and lovingly kiss them away4 ,almost every one1 sooner or later1 enters this brotherhood1 and those who enter it early may be considered fortunate1 for they learn1 before it is too late1 that all which man calls his own is only lent him for a short time1 and the ivy of their affections does not cling so deeply and so strongly to the old walls of earthly happiness4 ,life4 ,we cannot know1 we cannot name the ,divine1 nor can we understand its ways as manifested in nature and human life4 ,we ask why there should be suffering and sin1 we cannot answer the question4 ,all we can say is1 it is willed to be so4 ,some help our human understanding may find1 however1 by simply imagining what would have been our life if the power of evil had not been given us4 ,it seems to me that in that case we1 human beings as we are1 should never have had a conception of what is meant by good3 we should have been like the birds in the air1 happier1 it may be1 but better1 no4 ,or if suffering had always been reserved for the bad1 we should all have become the most cunning angels4 ,often when ,i am met by a difficulty which seems insoluble1 ,i try that experiment1 and say1 ,let us see what would happen if it were otherwise4 ,still1 ,i confess there is some suffering on earth which goes beyond all understanding1 which even the truest ,christian love and charity seems unable to remove or mitigate4 ,it can teach us one thing only1 that we are blind1 and that in the darkness of the night we lose our faith in a ,dawn which will drive away darkness1 fear1 and despair4 ,much1 no doubt1 could be done even by what is now called ,communism1 but what in earlier days was called ,christianity4 ,and then one wonders whether the world can ever again become truly ,christian4 ,i dare not call myself a ,christian4 ,i have hardly met the men in all my life who deserved that name4 ,again1 ,i say1 let us do our best1 knowing all the time that our best is a mere nothing4 ,life4 ,,the ,,soul ,the name of the immortal element 7in man7 was not given to man as a gratuitous gift4 ,it had to be gained1 like the name of ,god1 in the sweat of his face4 ,before man could say that he believed his soul to be immortal1 he had to discover that there was a soul in man4 ,it required as great an effort to form such a word as anima1 breath1 and to make it signify the infinite in man1 as to form such a word as diva1 bright1 and to make it signify the infinite in nature4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iii4 ,to us the two words 'body and soul' are so familiar that it seems almost childish to ask how man came at first to speak of body and soul4 ,but what did he mean by soul8 ,what do we ourselves mean by soul8 ,think of the many meanings contained in our word soul4 ,our soul may mean the living soul2 it may mean the sentient soul2 it may mean the seat of the passions1 whether good or bad2 it may mean the organ of thought2 and lastly1 the immortal element in man4 ,the question we have to ask is not how man arrived at a name for soul1 but how he came for the first time to speak of something different from the body4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iii4 ,the discovery of the soul1 the first attempts at naming the soul1 started everywhere from the simplest observations of material facts4 ,the lesson cannot be inculcated too often that the whole wealth of our most abstract and spiritual words comes from a small number of material or concrete terms4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iii4 ,we see that the way which led to the discovery of a soul was pointed out to man as clearly as was the way which led him to the discovery of the gods4 ,it was chiefly the breath1 which almost visibly left the body at the time of death1 that suggested the name of breath1 and afterwards the thought of something breathing1 living1 perceiving1 willing1 remembering1 and thinking within us4 ,the name came first1 the name of the material breath4 ,by dropping what seemed material even in this airy breath1 there remained the first vague and airy concept of what we call soul4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iii4 ,the worship of the spirits of the departed which1 under various forms1 was so widely spread over the ancient world1 could not but accustom the human mind to the idea that there was something in man which deserved such worship4 ,the souls of the departed were lifted higher and higher1 till at last they reached the highest stage which existed in the human mind1 namely1 that of divine beings1 in the ancient sense of that word4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iii4 ,the problem of uniting the invisible and visible worlds presented itself under three principal aspects4 ,the first was the problem of creation1 or how the invisible ,primal ,cause could ever come in contact with visible matter and impart to it form and meaning4 ,the second problem was the relation between ,god and the individual soul4 ,the third problem was the return of the soul from the visible to the invisible world1 from the prison of its mortal body to the freedom of a heavenly paradise4 ,the individual soul as dwelling in a material body forms part of the created world1 and the question of the return of the soul to ,god is therefore closely connected with that of its creation by1 or its emanation from1 ,god4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iv4 ,when the original oneness of earth and heaven1 of the human and the divine natures1 has once been discovered1 the question of the return of the soul to ,god assumes a new character4 ,it is no longer a question of an ascension to heaven1 an approach to the throne of ,god1 an ecstatic vision of ,god1 and a life in a heavenly ,paradise4 ,the vision of ,god is rather the knowledge of the divine element in the soul1 and of the consubstantiality of the divine and human natures4 ,immortality has no longer to be asserted1 because there can be no death for what is divine1 and therefore immortal1 in man4 ,there is life eternal and peace eternal for all who feel the divine ,spirit as dwelling within them1 and have thus become the children of ,god4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iv4 ,no doubt the soul must find it difficult in childhood to accustom itself to the human body1 and it takes many years before it is quite at home4 ,then for a time all goes well1 and the soul hardly knows it is hidden in a strange garment till the body begins to be weakly1 and can no longer do all the soul wishes1 and presses it everywhere1 so that the soul appears to lose all outward freedom and movement4 ,then one can well understand that we long to be gone1 and death is a true deliverance4 ,god always knows best when the right time comes4 ,life4 ,let us remember that we do not know what the soul was before this life--nay1 even what it was during the first years of our childhood4 ,yet we believe on very fair evidence that what we call our soul existed from the moment of our birth4 ,what ground have we1 then1 to doubt that it was even before that moment8 ,to ascribe to the soul a beginning on our birthday would be the same as to claim for it an end on the day of our death1 for whatever has a beginning has an end4 ,if then1 in the absence of any other means of knowledge1 we may take refuge in analogy1 might we not say that it will be with the soul hereafter as it has been here1 and that the soul after its earthly setting will rise again1 much as it rose here8 ,this is not a syllogism1 it is analogy1 and in a cosmos like ours analogy has a right to claim some weight1 in the absence of any proof to the contrary4 ,last ,essays4 ,there is a question which has probably been asked by every human heart--,granting that the soul cannot1 without self-contradiction1 be mortal1 will that soul be itself1 know itself1 and will it know others whom it has known before8 ,for the next life1 it is said1 would not be worth living if the soul did not recollect itself1 recognise not only itself1 but those whom it has known and loved on earth4 ,here analogy alone can supply some kind of answer3 ',it will be hereafter as it has been' is not1 in the absence of any evidence to the contrary1 an argument that can be treated with contempt4 ,our soul here may be said to have risen without any recollection of itself and of the circumstances of its former existence4 ,but it has within it the consciousness of its eternity1 and the conception of a beginning is as impossible for it as that of an end1 and if souls were to meet again hereafter as they met in this life1 as they loved in this life1 without knowing that they had met and loved before1 would the next life be so very different from what this life has been here on earth--would it be so utterly intolerable and really not worth living8 ,last ,essays4 ,when the soul has once reached that union with ,god1 nay1 when it lives in the constant presence of ,god1 evil becomes almost impossible4 ,we know that most of the evil deeds to which human nature is prone are possible in the dark only4 ,before the eyes of another human being1 more particularly of a beloved being1 they become at once impossible4 ,how much more in the real presence of a real and really beloved ,god1 as felt by the true mystic1 not merely as a phrase1 but as a fact8 ,as long as there is no veil between him and ,god1 evil thoughts1 evil words1 and evil deeds are simply impossible to one who feels the actual presence of ,god4 ,nor is he troubled any longer by questions1 such as how the world was created1 how evil came into the world4 ,he is satisfied with the ,divine ,love that embraces his soul2 he has all that he can desire1 his whole life is hid through ,christ in ,god1 death is swallowed up in victory1 the mortal has become immortal1 neither death nor life1 nor things present1 nor things to come1 is able to separate his soul from the love of ,god4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iv4 ,,theosophy ,this venerable name 7,theosophy71 so well known among early ,christian thinkers1 as expressing the highest conception of ,god within the reach of the human mind1 has of late been so greatly misappropriated that it is high time to restore it to its proper function4 ,it should be known once for all that one may call oneself a theosophist without 444 believing in any occult sciences and black art4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iv4 ,there is nothing esoteric in ,buddhism4 ,buddhism is the very opposite of esoteric--it is a religion for the people at large1 for the poor1 the suffering1 the ill-treated4 ,buddha protests against the very idea of keeping anything secret4 ,there was much more of that esoteric teaching in ,brhmanism4 ,there was the system of caste1 which deprived the ,sdras1 at least1 of many religious privileges4 ,but ,i do say that even in ,brhmanism there is no such thing as an esoteric interpretation of the ,sstras4 ,the ,sstras have but one meaning1 and all who had been properly prepared by education had access to them4 ,there are some artificial poems1 which are so written as to admit of two interpretations4 ,they are very wonderful1 but they have nothing to do with philosophical doctrines4 ,again1 there are erotic poems in ,sanscrit which are explained as celebrating the love and union between the soul and ,god4 ,but all this is perfectly well known1 there is no mystery in it4 ,life4 ,,truth ,what is wanted is the power of sifting evidence1 and a simple love of truth4 ,whatever value we may attach to our own most cherished convictions1 there is something more cherished than all of them1 and that is a perfect trust in truth1 if once we have seen it4 ,last ,essays4 ,true reverence does not consist in declaring a subject1 because it is dear to us1 to be unfit for free1 and honest inquiry2 far from it6 ,true reverence is shown in treating every subject1 however sacred1 however dear to us1 with perfect confidence1 without fear and without favour2 with tenderness and love1 by all means1 but1 before all1 with unflinching and uncompromising loyalty to truth4 ,science of ,religion4 ,do we lose anything if we find that what we hold to be the most valuable truth is shared in and supported by millions of human beings8 ,ancient philosophers were most anxious to support their own belief in ,god by the unanimous testimony of mankind4 ,they made the greatest efforts to prove that there was no race so degraded and barbarous as to be without a belief in something divine4 ,some modern theologians seem to grudge to all religions but their own the credit of having a pure and true1 nay any concept of ,god at all1 quite forgetful of the fact that a truth does not cease to be a truth because it is accepted universally4 ,i know no heresy more dangerous to true religion than this denial that a true concept of ,god is within the reach of every human being1 is1 in fact1 the common inheritance of mankind1 however fearfully it may have been misused and profaned by ,christian and un-,christian nations4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,ii4 ,if ,comparative ,theology has taught us anything1 it has taught us that there is a common fund of truth in all religions1 derived from a revelation that was neither confined to one nation1 nor miraculous in the usual sense of that word1 and that even minute coincidences between the doctrines1 nay1 between the external accessories of various religions1 need not be accounted for at once by disguised borrowings1 but can be explained by other and more natural causes4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,ii4 ,can there be anything higher and better than truth8 ,is any kind of religion possible without an unquestioning trust in truth8 ,no one knows what it is to believe who has not learnt to believe in truth1 for the sake of truth1 and for the sake of truth only4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iii4 ,it may be quite right to guard against dangers1 whether real or imaginary1 so long as it is possible4 ,but when it is no longer possible1 the right thing is to face an enemy bravely4 ,very often the enemy will turn out a friend in disguise4 ,we cannot be far wrong1 if we are only quite honest1 but if we are once not quite honest over a few things1 we shall soon become dishonest over many things4 ,in teaching on religion1 even on ,natural religion1 we must look neither right nor left1 but look all facts straight in the face1 to see whether they are facts or not1 and1 if they are facts1 to find out what they mean4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iii4 ,some people say that they can derive no help1 no comfort1 from what they call spiritual only4 ,spiritual only--think what that only would mean1 if it could have any meaning at all4 ,we might as well say of light that it is light only1 and that what we want is the shadow which we can grasp4 ,so long as we know the shadow only1 and not the light that throws it1 the shadow only is real1 and not the light4 ,but when we have once turned our head and seen the light1 the light only is real and substantial1 and not the shadow4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iii4 ,we find in the ,upanishads1 what has occupied the thoughts of man at all times1 what occupies them now and will occupy them for ever--a search after truth1 a desire to discover the ,eternal that underlies the ,ephemeral1 a longing to find in the human heart the assurance of a future life1 and an attempt to reunite the bond which once held the human and the divine together1 the true atonement between ,god and man4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,iii4 ,we have toiled for many years and been troubled with many questionings1 but what is the end of it all8 ,we must learn to become simple again like little children4 ,that is all we have a right to be3 for this life was meant to be the childhood of our souls1 and the more we try to be what we were meant to be1 the better for us4 ,let us use the powers of our minds with the greatest freedom and love of truth1 but let us never forget that we are1 as ,newton said1 like children playing on the seashore1 while the great ocean of truth lies undiscovered before us4 ,life4 ,nothing ,i like better than when ,i meet a man who differs from me2 he always gives me something1 and for that ,i am grateful4 ,nor am ,i at all so hopeless as many people1 who imagine that two people who differ can never arrive at a mutual understanding4444 ,why do people differ1 considering that they all begin with the same love of truth1 and are all influenced by the same environment8 ,well1 they often differ because one is ignorant of facts which the other knows and has specially studied4444 ,but in most cases people differ because they use their words loosely1 and because they mix up different subjects instead of treating them one by one4 ,life4 ,,the ,,will ,,of ,,god ,through my whole life ,i have learnt this one lesson1 that nothing can happen to us1 unless it be the will of ,god4 ,there can be no disappointment in life1 if we but learn to submit our will to the will of ,god4 ,let us wait for a little while1 and to those whose eyes are turned to ,god and eternity the longest life is but a little while1--let us wait then in faith1 hope1 and charity3 these three abide1 but the greatest of these is charity4 ,life4 ,whatever happens to us is always the best for us1 even if we do not at once understand and perceive it4 ,,ms4 ,surely everything is ordered1 and ordered for our true interests4 ,it would be fearful to think that anything1 however small in appearance1 could happen to us without the will of ,god4 ,if you admit the idea of chance or unmeaning events anywhere1 the whole organisation of our life in ,god is broken to pieces4 ,we are we don't know where1 unless we rest in ,god and give ,him praise for all things4 ,we must trust in ,him whether he sends us joy or sorrow4 ,if he sends us joy let us be careful4 ,happiness is often sent to try us1 and is by no means a proof of our having deserved it4 ,nor is sorrow always a sign of ,god's displeasure1 but frequently1 nay always1 of ,his love and compassion4 ,we must each interpret our life as best we can1 but we must be sure that its deepest purpose is to bring us back to ,god through ,christ4 ,death is a condition of our life on earth1 it brings the creature back to its ,creator4 ,the creature groans at the sight of death1 but ,god will not forsake us at the last1 ,he who has never forsaken us from the first breath of our life on earth4 ,if it is ,his will we may live to serve ,him here on earth for many happy years to come4 ,if ,he takes either of us away1 ,his name be praised4 ,we live in the shadow of death1 but that shadow should not darken the brightness of our life4 ,it is the shadow of the hand of our ,god and ,father1 and the earnest of a higher1 brighter life hereafter4 ,our ,father in heaven loves us more than any husband can love his wife1 or any mother her child4 ,his hand can never hurt us1 so let us hope and trust always4 ,life4 ,our lives are in the hands of a ,father1 who knows what is best for all of us4 ,death is painful to the creature1 but in ,god there is no death1 no dying2 dying belongs to life1 and is only a passage to a more perfect world into which we all go when ,god calls us4 ,when one's happiness is perfect1 then the thought of death often frightens one1 but even that is conquered by the feeling and the faith that all is best as it is1 and that ,god loves us more than even a father and mother can love us4 ,it is a beautiful world in which we live1 but it is only beautiful and only really our home when we feel the nearness of ,god at each moment and lean on ,him and trust in ,his love4444 ,when the hour of parting comes1 we know that love never dies1 and that ,god who bound us closely together in this life will bring us together where there is no more parting4 ,,ms4 ,our meeting here on earth with those we loved was not our doing4 ,we did not select our father and mother1 and sisters and brothers4 ,we did not even explore the whole world to discover our friends4 ,they too were more or less given us1 the choice was given us1 and the sphere of choice was determined and limited4 ,hence we seem to have a right to say that they were meant for us1 and we for them1 and unless we believe in accident1 who is there by whose will alone they could have been meant for us8 ,hence1 if they were meant for us once by a ,divine1 not by our own will1 that will can never change1 and we have a right to hope and even to believe that what has been will be1 and that we shall again meet and love those whom we met and loved here4 ,this is faith1 and this is comfort1 but it is greater faith1 and greater comfort still1 if we close our eyes in the firm conviction that whatever will be1 will be best for us4 ,,ms4 ,,wonder ,there are few sensations more pleasant than that of wondering4 ,we have all experienced it in childhood1 in youth1 in manhood1 and we may hope that even in our old age this affection of the mind will not entirely pass away4 ,if we analyse this feeling of wonder carefully1 we shall find that it consists of two elements4 ,what we mean by wondering is not only that we are startled or stunned--that ,i should call the merely passive element of wonder4 ,when we say ',i wonder' we confess that we are taken aback1 but there is a secret satisfaction mixed up with our feeling of surprise1 a kind of hope1 nay1 almost of certainty1 that sooner or later the wonder will cease1 that our senses or our mind will recover1 will grapple with these novel expressions or experiences1 grasp them1 it may be1 know them1 and finally triumph over them4 ,in fact we wonder at the riddles of nature1 whether animate or inanimate1 with a firm conviction that there is a solution to them all1 even though we ourselves may not be able to find it4 ,wonder1 no doubt1 arises from ignorance1 but from a peculiar kind of ignorance1 from what might be called a fertile ignorance2 an ignorance which1 if we look back at the history of most of our sciences1 will be found to have been the mother of all human knowledge4 ,chips4 ,,words ,what people call 'mere words' are in truth the monuments of the fiercest intellectual battles2 triumphant arches of the grandest victories won by the intellect of man4 ,when man had formed names for body and soul1 for father and mother1 and not till then1 did the first art of human history begin4 ,not till there were names for right and wrong1 for ,god and man1 could there be anything worthy of the name of human society4 ,every new word was a discovery1 and these early discoveries1 if but properly understood1 are more important to us than the greatest conquests of the kings of ,egypt and ,babylon4 ,not one of our greatest explorers has unearthed more splendid palaces1 than the etymologist4 ,every word is the palace of a human thought1 and in scientific etymology we possess the charm with which to call these ancient thoughts back to life4 ,chips4 ,cannot a concept exist without a word8 ,certainly not1 though in order to meet every possible objection we may say that no concept can exist without a sign1 whether it be a word or anything else4 ,and if it is asked whether the concept exists first1 and the sign comes afterwards1 ,i should say no3 the two are simultaneous1 but in strict logic1 the sign1 being the condition of a concept1 may really be said to come first4 ,after a time1 words may be dropt1 and it is then1 when we try to remember the old word that gave birth to our concept1 that we are led to imagine that concepts came first1 and words afterwards4 ,i know how difficult it is to see this clearly4 ,we are so accustomed to think without words1 that we can hardly realise the fact that originally no conceptual thought was possible without these or other signs4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,i4 ,,work ,if you have found a work to which you are ready to sacrifice the whole of your life1 and if you have faith in yourselves1 others will have faith in you1 and1 sooner or later1 a work that must be done will be done4 ,gifford ,lectures1 ,,ii4 ,what flimsy things the so-called pleasures of life are--how little in them that lasts4 ,to delight in doing one's work is life--that is what helps us on1 though the road is sometimes very stiff and tiring--uphill rather it would seem than downhill1 and yet downhill it is4 ,,ms4 ,a distaste for work is only another name for a distaste for duty1 a disregard for those commandments which hold society together1 a disregard of the commandments of ,god4 ,no doubt there is that reward in work that after a time it ceases to be distasteful1 and like many a bitter medicine becomes liked1 but that reward is vouchsafed to honest work only4 ,,ms4 ,work is the best healer of sorrow4 ,in grief or disappointment try hard work2 it will not fail you4 ,autobiography4 ,no sensible man ought to care about posthumous praise1 or posthumous blame4 ,enough for the day is the evil thereof4 ,our contemporaries are our right judges1 our peers have to give their votes in the great academies and learned societies1 and if they on the whole are not dissatisfied with the little we have done1 often under far greater difficulties than the world was aware of1 why should we care for the distant future8 ,autobiography4 ,put your whole heart1 or your whole love into your work4 ,half-hearted work is really worse than no work4 ,last ,essays4 ,much of the best work in the world is done by those whose names remain unknown1 who work because life's greatest bliss is work1 and who require no reward beyond the consciousness that they have enlarged the knowledge of mankind and contributed their share to the final triumph of honesty and truth4 ,chips4 ,true immortality 7of fame7 is the immortality of the work done by man1 which nothing can make undone1 which lives1 works on1 grows on for ever4 ,it is good to ourselves to remember and honour the names of our ancestors and benefactors1 but to them1 depend upon it1 the highest reward was not the hope of fame1 but their faith in themselves1 their faith in their work1 their faith that nothing really good can ever perish1 and that ,right and ,reason must in the end prevail4 ,chips4 ,it is given to few scholars only to be allowed to devote the whole of their time and labour to the one subject in which they feel the deepest interest4 ,we have all to fight the battle of life before we can hope to secure a quiet cell in which to work in the cause of learning and truth4 ,chips4 ,what author has ever said the last word he wanted to say1 and who has not had to close his eyes before he could write ,finis to his work8 ,autobiography4 ,,the ,,world ,there is no other ,christian explanation of the world than that ,god thought and uttered it1 and that man follows in life and thought the thoughts of ,god4 ,we must not forget that all our knowledge and hold of the world are again nothing but thoughts1 which we transform under the law of causality into objective realities4 ,it was this unswerving dependence on ,god in thought and life that made ,jesus what ,he was1 and what we should be if we only tried1 viz4 children of ,god4 ,silesian ,horseherd4 ,i cannot help seeing order1 law1 reason or ,logos in the world1 and ,i cannot account for it by merely ex post events1 call them what you like--survival of the fittest1 natural selection1 or anything else4 ,last ,essays4 ,think only what it was to believe in an order of the world1 though it be no more at first than a belief that the sun will never overstep his bounds4 ,it was all the difference between a chaos and a cosmos1 between the blind play of chance and an intelligible and therefore an intelligent providence4 ,how many souls1 even now when everything else has failed them1 when they have parted with the most cherished convictions of their childhood1 when their faith in man has been poisoned1 and when the apparent triumph of all that is selfish1 ignoble1 and hideous has made them throw up the cause of truth1 of righteousness1 and innocence as no longer worth fighting for1 at least in this world2 how many1 ,i say1 have found their last peace and comfort in the contemplation of the order of the world1 whether manifested in the unvarying movement of the stars1 or revealed in the unvarying number of the petals and stamens and pistils of the smallest forget-me-not4 ,how many have felt that to belong to this cosmos1 to this beautiful order of nature1 is something at least to rest on1 something to trust1 something to believe1 when everything else has failed4 ,to us1 this perception of law and order in the world may seem very little1 but to the ancient dwellers on earth1 who had little else to support them1 it was everything because1 if once perceived1 if once understood1 it could never be taken from them4 ,hibbert ,lectures4 ,we must learn to see a meaning in everything4 ,no doubt we cannot always see cause and effect1 and it is well we cannot4 ,it is quite true that we do not always get our deserts4 ,and yet we must believe that we do--only if we knew it1 the whole fabric of the world would be destroyed1 there would be neither virtue nor vice in the whole world1 nothing but calculation4 ,we should avoid the rails laid down by the world because we should know that the engine would be sure to come and mangle us4 ,in this way the world holds together1 and it could not in any other way4 ,life4 ,there is to me a beauty and mystery and sanctity about flowers1 and when ,i see them come and go1 no one knows whence and whither1 ,i ask what more miracles do we want1--what better1 more beautiful1 more orderly world could we wish to belong to than that by which we are surrounded and supported on all sides8 ,where is there a flaw or a fault8 ,then why should we fear unless the flaws are within us1 and we will not see the blessing and the rest which we might enjoy if we only trusted to the ,author of all that beauty1 order1 and wisdom about us4 ,it is a perfect sin not to be happy in this world1 and how much of the misery which there is1 is the work of men1 or could be removed by men1 if they would but work together for each others' good4 ,life4 ,printed by ,t4 and ,a4 ,,constable1 ,printers to ,his ,majesty at the ,edinburgh ,university ,press4 99 99 99 99 99 ,transcriber's note3 ,minor typographical errors have been corrected without note4 ,irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as printed4 ,page #ha3 ,there no chance in life 444 ,the transcriber has inserted is4