Theism Doctrinal and Practical, or, Didactic Religious Utterances. By Francis W. Newman |
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Intellectual Pantheism.
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Intellectual Pantheism.
Said wise men among the Greeks, “God is Intellect;
God has no passions nor emotions nor desires,
Nor loves nor hatreds, nor sentiment moral or immoral;
But he abides apart in his infinitude, solitary and eternal,
Responding not to man's affections, and deaf to his cry.”
God has no passions nor emotions nor desires,
Nor loves nor hatreds, nor sentiment moral or immoral;
But he abides apart in his infinitude, solitary and eternal,
Responding not to man's affections, and deaf to his cry.”
Yet men as wise, or the very same men, said also, and said justly:
“Pure Intellect is the author of no deed whatsoever.”
Intellect reveals what is possible, but affords no spur to action:
It spreads light over the outer scene, but is no warmth within.
If God had no loves and no desires, he could neither be a Creator
Nor an Architect nor a Governor; but must act without Will, if at all.
Pure Intellect has no will, no desire of constructions,
No approval of Right, no living Force nor Motive.
He who believes Intellect to be Creative, believes it to be full of Aims,
Full of Desires, full of Approvals, and a student of the Good.
Precisely such we otherwise know God to be,
When we discern that it is he who speaks to us by Conscience.
His sentiments are moral, for he commands our morality:
Nor does the Infinite One abide apart, but dwells in our bosoms,
Exciting man's affections and awaiting his cry.
“Pure Intellect is the author of no deed whatsoever.”
Intellect reveals what is possible, but affords no spur to action:
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If God had no loves and no desires, he could neither be a Creator
Nor an Architect nor a Governor; but must act without Will, if at all.
Pure Intellect has no will, no desire of constructions,
No approval of Right, no living Force nor Motive.
He who believes Intellect to be Creative, believes it to be full of Aims,
Full of Desires, full of Approvals, and a student of the Good.
Precisely such we otherwise know God to be,
When we discern that it is he who speaks to us by Conscience.
His sentiments are moral, for he commands our morality:
Nor does the Infinite One abide apart, but dwells in our bosoms,
Exciting man's affections and awaiting his cry.
To assign to the most High the weak passions of struggling natures,
The anger and the impulse, the caprices and the partialities,
Was the error of early thought, which mature reason explodes.
Nor ascribe we to his greatness the virtues of our feebleness:
But that Goodness only, which fitly increases with Strength,
That Purity of broad Love, which suits to the tranquil and serene.
Not other can be the Intellect which has created moral man,
And the Wisdom of his Goodness is the glory, before which man must worship.
The anger and the impulse, the caprices and the partialities,
Was the error of early thought, which mature reason explodes.
Nor ascribe we to his greatness the virtues of our feebleness:
But that Goodness only, which fitly increases with Strength,
That Purity of broad Love, which suits to the tranquil and serene.
Not other can be the Intellect which has created moral man,
And the Wisdom of his Goodness is the glory, before which man must worship.
Modern Pantheists have adopted, as a scourge to Theists,
The Greek epithet Anthropomorphous to frighten by its vagueness,
Which strictly means, God in the shape of man.
Surely none but barbarians ascribe to God a human form,
Nor any human organs, though we speak of them by metaphor;
Nor, as we have said, any human infirmities.
But to stigmatize by a mean epithet, used improperly,
Our learning of God through Man, is weak and unworthy.
Let men deny, if they choose, that man has any Creator,
Or that there is any universal Spirit full of Intelligence.
But let them not pretend that that Spirit does not comprize ours,
And is destitute of the elements which in us are highest.
Or if unawares we ascribe weakness to him,
Let them point out the error, and call us back to reason.
But to forbid us to infer the divine Faculties and Sentiments
By studying the human, cautiously and thoughtfully,
Can be justified by nothing but pure Atheism outright.
Such Pantheism is but Atheism veiled in poetry,
And if it affect to be religious, is worse than Atheism;
For it leads straight to Paganism by deifying brute Force.
Our knowledge of Goodness is prior to our knowledge of God;
Our reverence for Goodness is prior to our reverence of God.
Fitting is it to love and revere goodness in an Atheist,
But monstrous to worship a God in whom is no Goodness.
The Greek epithet Anthropomorphous to frighten by its vagueness,
Which strictly means, God in the shape of man.
Surely none but barbarians ascribe to God a human form,
Nor any human organs, though we speak of them by metaphor;
Nor, as we have said, any human infirmities.
But to stigmatize by a mean epithet, used improperly,
Our learning of God through Man, is weak and unworthy.
Let men deny, if they choose, that man has any Creator,
Or that there is any universal Spirit full of Intelligence.
But let them not pretend that that Spirit does not comprize ours,
And is destitute of the elements which in us are highest.
Or if unawares we ascribe weakness to him,
Let them point out the error, and call us back to reason.
But to forbid us to infer the divine Faculties and Sentiments
By studying the human, cautiously and thoughtfully,
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Such Pantheism is but Atheism veiled in poetry,
And if it affect to be religious, is worse than Atheism;
For it leads straight to Paganism by deifying brute Force.
Our knowledge of Goodness is prior to our knowledge of God;
Our reverence for Goodness is prior to our reverence of God.
Fitting is it to love and revere goodness in an Atheist,
But monstrous to worship a God in whom is no Goodness.
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