Berashith

2 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