Theism as a science of natural theology and natural religion / by teh Rev. Charles Voysey.
- Voysey, Charles, 1828-1912.
- Date:
- 1895
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Theism as a science of natural theology and natural religion / by teh Rev. Charles Voysey. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![2. The difficulty of reconciling the existence of persecution with any benevolent system.” Our attGiition must I^g (lirGctGcl now GxclusivGly to tliG first of tliGSG two difficultiGS. And upon that difficulty my friond still furtliGr GulargGs in tliG following words : — “I quite follow all the arguments in favour of the various attributes of the Deity because these are all capable of being expressed in language comprehensible by us, and are merely more or less transcendental improvements upon similar attributes which we recognise from day to day in our fellow-creatures. The diffi- culty to my mind is to associate them with immaterial Deity. Most minds can, I feel, only realise that which partakes of a more or less material character. The expression ‘ God is a Spirit ’ only means to most men something which is actually material but is only less material than a body. Directly they associate with the concept of this Spirit anything in the nature of human attributes, however glorified or spiritualised, I feel that they in effect materialise their Deity, and in introducing the personal element they materialise him and in effect erect a sort of idol. I doubt whether we can endow a God with these attributes with- out really abandoning the concept, ‘ God is a Spirit.’ ” Now, I do not know wliGtlior, in lioarinff this statGinGiit of tliG difficulty, you havG folt as I do. But my first improssion is that my friond is taking a long journoy to croato a difficulty which docs not naturally exist, although I own that almost every- thing has been done in Christendom to create it artificially. That is to say, Christian Beligion has been systematically taught in connection with anthropomor]duc and materialistic conceptions, so as to render it all but impossible for a mind just set](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b24886270_0104.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
