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aspects of one being, but separate and even antagonistic
existences. All are equally real: we cannot accept
mystics of the type of Caird as being orthodox exponents
of the religion of Christ.
The Hindus enumerate Brahm, infinite in all dimen-
sions and directions—indistinguishable from the Pleroma
‘of the Gnostics—and Maya, illusion. This is in a sense
the antithesis of noumenon and phenomenon, noumenon
being negated of all predicates until it becomes almost ex-
tinguished in the Nichts under the title of the Alles. (of Max
Muller on the metaphysical Nirvana in his Dhammapada,
Introductory Essay.) ‘The Buddhists express no opinion.
Let us consider the force-quality in the existences
conceived of by these two religions ‘respectively, remem-
bering that the God of the Christian is infinite, and yet
discussing the alternative if we could suppose him to be
a finite God. In any equilibrated system of forces, we
may sum and represent them as a triangle or series of
triangles which again resolve into one. In any moving
system, if the resultant motion be applied in a contrary
direction, the equilibrium can also thus be represented.
And if any one of the original forces in such a system
be removed, that one is equal to the resultant of the
remainder. Let «, the purpose of the universe, be the
Tesultant of the forces G, S and M (God, Satan and Man).
Then M is also the resultant of G, S, and
— x. So that
Wwe can regard either of our forces as the supreme, and
there is no reason for worshipping one rather than
another. All are finite. This argument the Christians
clearly see: hence the development of God from the petty