Divine immanence : an essay on the spiritual significance of matter

Front matter

Chap. Copyright No.

Shelf....

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

Preface

Much of the best philosophical writing in England, of late years, has been critical, or, in the technical and proper sense of the word, sceptical. But critical and sceptical phases, in the progress of thought, can never, from their very nature, be other than temporary things : they sift and question the constructions of the past, but only with a view to prepare for those that are to come. For the world, after all, is a fact; sun, moon, and stars are real ; men and women live and love ; the moral law is strong ; — in a word, the universe exists, and some positive account of it must needs be true ; it can never be finally explained by a negation. Hence the result of recent criticism has been to make the need of reconstruction more apparent; and men are consequently feeling, in various directions, after positive, synthetic ways of thought.

The following brief essay is not an attempt

VI PREFACE

to make any new or original contribution toward such thought : but it is written in the interest of synthesis, and aims at combining some ideas, which are familiar enough in themselves, but are not always viewed in combination — ideas on the relation of nature to religion. For one love, amid all our discord, unites the modern world; we all of us love nature in our several ways ; men of science, poets, painters, men of religion, men of affairs, are equally affected by its spell — the wonder of its processes, the glory of its aspect, the contrast of its calmness to the coil of human care. And with this feeling for nature — which, we are probably right in supposing, was never so widely diffused as at the present day — comes an increased susceptibility to those spiritual emotions which the presence of nature inspires, and which lie at the root of what we call natural religion. The sense of natural religion is therefore strong in the modern mind; and this of itself is an important step towards positive, constructive belief. But we, of later ages, for whom history has happened, can never again revert to a mere religion of nature, any more than to a state of nature, in society, or policy,

PREFACE Vll

or morals. For we have learned, from nature itself, that the law of life is evolution, and that evolution means an increase of distinctive form. Religion, like all other things, must have become, as in fact it has become, increasingly articulate with the process of the years ; its development more definite, or, in religious language, its revelation more precise. And the plea of this essay is that the Incarnation is the congruous climax of such development ; that the more we analyze natural religion, the more it tends to such an issue ; while conversely the Incarnation presupposes such a past. This is no more, of course, than theologians, in all ages, have maintained ; and to many readers, therefore, it may seem a commonplace. But its restatement will, perhaps, be permitted for the benefit of those who are more attracted by the question than acquainted with its history, in the hope that some who, under modern influence, have felt the fascination of natural religion, may be led to recognize its culmination in the Christian creed.

As this essay is in some sense a sequel to my lectures on 'Personality' — being a further

Vlll PREFACE

application of the same line of thought — I have here assumed certain positions, which are there defended at length ; and at the same time enlarged upon certain others — more especially in the Appendix — which seemed, in their present connexion, to need further emphasis.

Chapter I Matter And Spirit

PAGE

I. The distinction between matter and spirit dates from the ' body and soul ' of primitive philosophy 2

Matter and spirit, however different, are only

known in combination .... 2

Therefore neither can be completely known . 5

But they represent very distinct and distinguishable phases of experience ... 6

For spirit is what thinks, and wills, and loves ;

matter is what moves in space . . . 10

II. While matter is of use to spirit, spirit is of no

use to matter . . . . . . 11

Illustrations of this fact 1 1-14

This suggests a teleological relation between

the two ; i. e. that Spirit is the final cause of matter . . .15-17 Bacon and Spinoza criticize final causes . . 17 But (1) Bacon's objection is only to their ix

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PAGE

(2) Spinoza's objection involves an impossible separation between man and the universe .... 20

III. Spiritual intensity, in human judgement, outweighs material immensity .... 21-22 And thereby justifies its right to subordinate

the latter to itself 23-25

Chapter II The Religious Influence Of The Material World

Among the uses of matter to spirit its religious

influence is the chief ...... 26-27

Historical illustrations of this. I . Ancient literature : —

Egyptian hymns ..... 28-30

Zend Avesta 34~35

The Hebrew Psalms .... 36-37

II. Greek and Roman literature : —

Poets 38-39

Philosophers . . . . . . 39-40

III. Christian literature : —

Fathers 41-44

Mediaeval writers 45

IV. The Renaissance : —

Campanella 46-47

Petrarch 47-48

CONTENTS xi

PAGE

V. Later Theologians : —

Feiielon 51

W. Law 52

VI . Modern literature : —

Shelley 53

Byron 54-55

Wordsworth 5 5-56

These illustrations are typical of innumerable others, and evince a mystic emotion more fundamental than any varieties of creed . . 56-57

Chapter III Divine Immanence In Nature

The religious influence of external nature is a fact of greater magnitude than any one of its interpretations 58-59

This fact points to a spiritual reality behind things ; unless

(1) It is an illusion 59

(2) The faculties which feel it are untrust-

The suggestion that it may be an illusion raises

the question, What do we mean by reality ? . 60 We find on reflection, that we cannot mean ' existence in space,' but permanent relation to personality 60-66

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PAGE

Judged by this criterion, the sensible is quite as real as the scientific aspect of the world; the two things impressing different faculties in us, but with equal justification 66-67

The objection that feeling is less trustworthy than reason, ignores the fact that they are co-ordinate elements of the selfsame personal experience ; and that the influence in question is not merely emotionally, but personally felt .... 67-73

But if this influence cannot be discredited, it points

to a spiritual presence in nature .... 73-76

The relation of this spirit to nature can only be interpreted on the analogy of human personality (for we know no other) 77

Human Personality combines : —

(1) Transcendence of matter 77

(2) Immanence in matter .... 80 This analogy therefore excludes : —

(1) Pantheism (mere immanence) . . 82

(2) Deism (mere transcendence) . . 82

(3) Monism (mere identity) ... 83 While it harmonizes with Trinitarianism . . 86

Chapter IV Divine Immanence In Man

If God is immanent in nature, He must be immanent in man (as being part of nature) . . 88 Evidence of this in conscience ... 89 Evidence of this in inspiration ... 90

CONTENTS xin

PAGE

This points to the Incarnation as its climax . . 91 I. The tendency to believe in incarnations is urged as an argument against the truth of the Incarnation ...... 92

But this only holds good if an incarnation is antecedently improbable .... 93

Otherwise it points in the opposite direction . 95

II. Again, the Incarnation is thought improbable

because miraculous ..... 97 But being ex hypothesi an unique event, it is not ( miraculous' in the sense of the objection 97-103

III. The primary evidence for the Incarnation is

spiritual ; being the self-revelation of a Person 103-104

It then rather supports its accompanying miracles, than they it ... 105-107

While the lapse of time, which weakens the weight of miracles, strengthens that of prophecy 108-109

IV. Moreover, the Incarnation is redemptive, its

object being to restore a law already

And this fact must affect our view of its miracles : —

(1) The Virgin birth . . . 113-115

(2) The miracles of healing . . 11 5-1 16

(3) The cosmic miracles . . . 11 6-1 17

(4) The Resurrection . . . 118-119

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Chapter V The Incarnation And Miracles

PAGE

The objection to miracles is chiefly based on the

uniformity of nature. Mozley's answer to this 1 20-1 21 But we now think more of the i unity, 1 than the ' uniformity ' of nature . . . . . .122

And this is a spiritual conception . . . .123

But spirit asserts its own superiority to matter . 125 The analysis of our conception of causation points

in the same direction 126-131

Dr. Newman on the superiority of moral to physical

law ^3 I ~ I 33

Personal experience is the root of all knowledge . 133 And this reveals the moral law, whose claim to supremacy justifies miracles 134

Lotze on the relation of the 'absolute' to matter 135-137 The Incarnation has a cosmic, as well as a human

significance, and its miracles harmonize with this 1 37-140 The general cessation of miracles was as needful as

their occurrence 141-144

But they have assisted to emphasize the belief in particular providence, which is their modern analogue 144-148

Chapter VI The Incarnation And Sacraments

Matter has a secondary as well as a primary connexion with religion, due to the reaction upon it of the human mind 149-152

CONTENTS xv

PAGE

For primitive man inevitably associates

(i) his gods with particular places . . 153

(2) and his service of them with particular

rites 154

(3) Illustrations of this . . . 155 But wherever an omnipresent God is specially realized, He specially is 1 56-1 5 7

The Incarnation sanctions and spiritualizes this principle —

(1) Christ's attitude toward the body . 159

(2) His attitude towards nature . . 160

(3) His symbolic teaching . . . 161

(4) His symbolic action . . . .162 Matter is utilized but subordinated to spirit throughout 163

The same principle runs through Christian history —

(1) In the treatment of the human body 164-166

(2) In the sacramental system . . 166-171

(3) In art i7i" I 74

Hence the religious influence of art and sacrament

is as real as that of material nature, which they emphasize and intensify .... 174-179

Chapter VII The Incarnation And The Trinity

The doctrine of the Incarnation (with that of the Trinity which it involves), though philosophical in aspect, was essentially practical in origin 180-183 xvi CONTENTS

PAGE

For the purport of the Incarnation was to reveal God as love ; and this would have been unintelligible without the revelation of a plurality of Persons in the Godhead, between whom love exists 183-187

And the object of this revelation was to influence human life in the only way in which it can be completely influenced : i. e. by love . . 187-190

But deeds are more than words of love ; hence the revelation appropriately began with the actual life of Christ 191-192

And the practical power of this life reflects retrospective light upon the metaphysical doctrines which it involves 193

And is thus the strongest evidence of their truth 194-197

Appendix

II. Freewill 227

DIVINE IMMANENCE

Chapter I Matter And Spirit

THE nature of the relation between spirit and matter may perhaps be thought too abstruse a problem to be of general interest. Yet it is a question which lies at the root of all our different theories of life ; of our art, of our moral conduct, of our religion or irreligion ; of the gloom that darkens, or the hope that glorifies the sunset of our days. We all have opinions of one kind or another on the point, and it deeply concerns us, seeing the nature of the issues they involve, that those opinions should, if possible, be true.

The subject is not therefore really unpractical, or remote from common interest ; and, as it has been much discussed of recent years, for various reasons, and from various points of view, no apology will perhaps be needed for one more recurrence to the question, in its bearing on religious life and thought.

Body and soul is a distinction which dates from primitive philosophy ; we find it, in crude conception, among the earliest and rudest races ; whether drawn from the visions of dreamland or elsewhere. And with the progress of reflection this distinction gradually passed, after much sifting and refinement by successive schools of thought, into the more complete and comprehensive antithesis, between what we now call spirit and matter.

Now the first thing to notice about spirit and matter is that, however we regard them, — whether as totally different things, or as different aspects of the same thing, — we only know them as a fact in combination.

First, there is the material world outside us, earth, sea, sky, and sun, and stars ; the manifold movement of its processes, the life with which it teems, the beauty of its aspect, the music of its sounds. It existed before we were born — this solid universe of things — and will continue to exist when we are gone. We cannot easily be brought to regard it as in any way dependent upon ourselves, and we are always ready to 'vanquish Berkeley with a grin.' Yet a little reflection will convince us that our knowledge of the world is largely qualified and coloured by the constitution of our mind. The mind receives its information, to begin with, from the senses, and the impressions of sense are very different from the things which they reflect. The hues of the sunset and the rainbow, with all their power to move the soul, are due to movements among atoms to which we can ascribe no colour; and the musical sounds that seem to us so spiritual, flow from vibrations — merely mechanical vibrations — of the air. The same is the case with the other senses ; they only present us with effects. While scientific men assure us that even sensitive perception is by no means so simple a process as it seems, and involves acts° of combination, and comparison, and inference which, however instinctively performed, are in their nature intellectual. And when we pass from simple to complex perceptions, this action of the mind becomes quite obvious. In looking at a landscape, for instance, we see more than a parti-coloured panorama, which is, of course, all that is reflected in the eye : we distinguish and recognize its features, trees, flowers, houses, cattle, birds ; and this implies previous knowledge, and memory, and thought ; we interpret what we see, and though custom has made the process automatic, it is none the less of mental origin. The primary aspect of the world therefore does not show us matter by itself, but matter as it affects our mind, in a particular way, through the senses, and is at the same moment affected in particular ways by our mind. Nor does science alter the case. Science indeed penetrates behind this primary aspect of the world, and presents us with a different picture. It discovers the machinery by which the scenic effect is produced; atoms, energy, ether, and the laws which they obey, or in other words the ways in which they act. But all this brings us no nearer to the knowledge of matter by itself. On the contrary, it lands us in a region of theories, hypotheses, ideas, which, however true we may believe them to be, are not material but mental. Thus matter, as we know it, is everywhere and always fused with mind : and in the nature of the case it always must be so ; for 'to know a thing,' of course, means to bring it into relation to our mind ; and our mind, as we have seen, is not a mirror which passively reflects, but an agent which helps to constitute the object of its ken.

The case is the same when we turn to spirit, for that also, as we know it, is always connected with matter. Not only do we depend on the senses, which are material things, to awaken our intelligence, and feeling, and will; but we cannot think at all, we cannot be conscious, without a brain, changes in which accompany our every change of thought.

The fact, indeed, that we are unaware of the movements taking place in our brain, may sometimes mislead us into speaking of purely spiritual experience ; but no experience, however spiritual, can be other than a state of consciousness, and therefore of the material organ upon which consciousness depends.

But if matter and spirit are thus only known in combination, it follows that neither can be completely known ; since we cannot disentangle their respective contributions to the joint result which we call 'experience.' Hence it is that every possible shade of opinion has existed on the relationship between the two ; from the view that regards mind as a passing harmony of matter, to the view that regards matter as a dream of mind. What we actually know, at first hand, is our personal experience, in which the two factors are inextricably combined ; and directly we go beyond this to speak of matter or spirit by themselves, we are making abstraction of one element from our concrete experience, without any means of knowing whether such an abstraction can exist, except in the mind that makes it. It is, of course, logically possible that the two things may be independent and separable realities, as the natural dualists or natural realists believe; or that either may be a mere mode of the other, as idealism and materialism respectively maintain; or yet again, that the two may be co-ordinate aspects, or manifestations, or functions of one reality. The claims of this latter opinion have been revived of recent years under the name of monism ; but it should be remembered that monism is not really newer than any of the alternative conjectures ; they are all as old as philosophy, and remain conjectures still.

But leaving conjecture for the present, and limiting our thoughts to what we know, we find that though we cannot in fact separate spirit and matter, yet the two words represent very distinct phases of our total experience; and phases which, whatever the nature of their ultimate connexion, are perfectly separable in thought. Thus the fundamental characteristic of spirit, as we know it in human personality, is self-consciousness, the power to make mental distinction between self and other things, and to regard all other things as objects over against our subjective self : while spiritual life consists in the free selection and conscious pursuit of the various objects of knowledge, affection, or practical endeavour which we are thus able to present to ourselves. Our action is thus determined, in technical terms, by final causes ; that is, by causes which do not exercise a physical compulsion, but appeal to the mind as ends, aims, purposes, ideals, which we are free either to follow or refuse. Hence we are self-determined ; since, from the objects that occur to us, we can choose the one which we shall make our own ; and as by successive acts of choice we gradually mould and shape our character, we are, in a measure, self-creative, causes of ourselves (caussae sui). This capacity of self-determination, and therefore of self-creation, compels us to place spirit in a rank by itself. Other things are determined from without ; they are what external forces make them ; they do not choose what they will be. But spirit chooses its own end, elects what it will become, and thereby asserts its existence, as having a value for itself. And a being which thus claims to exist for its own sake, and be its own end, thereby justifies its existence : it has in our eyes a right to exist, by the very fact of willing its own existence. It has, as we say, an absolute value compared with merely material things, whose reason for existence lies in their relation to other things outside themselves; like cogs in a wheel, links in a chain, fragments of a machine or picture that possess no meaning when detached from the whole.

Regarded simply from a metaphysical point of view then, as self-conscious and self-determined, spirit reigns in a realm apart. But of course it is much more than a metaphysical abstraction ; it is ethical and emotional as well. Its power of self-determination enables it to act from a sense of duty, to obey a moral law, and in so doing become good ; while its goodness finds highest expression in the life of selfsacrificing love which is only possible to a being that is both self-conscious and free, and which we recognize as the end of ends, the reality that needs no explanation.

'For life, with all it yields, of joy and woe And hope and fear, — believe the aged friend, — Is just our chance of the prize of learning love, How love might be, hath been indeed, and is.' 1

Then as to matter : what do we know of it ? The term is often used as if it implied some common stuff, of which individual things are made. But no analysis has yet been able to detect such a common stuff. On the contrary, we find a number of primitive elements, which recent science, instead of diminishing, has considerably increased. Matter is the sum total of all these elements, regarded as * possessing" a particular attribute, namely materiality, or the property of occupying space : while, as all the occupants of space are in motion, molecular or molar, occupation of space may be said to be practically synonymous with movement in space. Matter then is the name for what moves in space. It is at present believed to consist of atoms which have different chemical characteristics, that may possibly be due to different mechanical arrangements; but here we pass into the region of hypothesis, and beyond this all is hypothetical as to what atoms ultimately

1 Browning, A Death in the Desert.

IO MATTER AND SPIRIT [chap.

are. At any rate, their ultimate constitution is out of reach of our senses ; and it remains that matter as we know it is an effect, a phenomenon or appearance, a manifestation of something other than meets either hand or eye.

Briefly then spirit is what thinks and wills and loves ; and matter is what moves in space : and whatever their ultimate relationship may be, we may fairly speak of two things whose modes of manifestation are so different, as for practical purposes two different things. Adopting this use of language then, the next fact which we wish to note is that, while matter is of use to spirit, spirit is of no use to matter.

One might, of course, put the case in a more general form, by substituting 'consciousness' for ' spirit,' and saying that, while matter is of use to consciousness, consciousness is of no use to matter; thus including in the statement every form of conscious life, from the lowest sensitive organism upward. But what is true, in its measure, of all conscious life, is true in a much more eminent degree of spirit. And, as spirit is the thing with which we are dealing, we will confine our attention to that, merely remarking that the same line of thought admits of this wider application.

I] MATTER AND SPIRIT II

While then matter is of use — incessant and inevitable use — to spirit, spirit, on the other hand, is of no use to matter. Man can improve material things, of course, from his own point of view, by employing them for purposes of science or of art ; but in so doing, he only alters their relation to himself ; he does not and cannot change their nature. Electricity gains nothing by guidance along wires; marble remains marble, as much in the statue as in the rock ; gold is no better for coinage, nor flowers for cultivation, except in their relationship to man. Human interference does not anywise affect, either the constitution of natural elements, or the action of natural laws.

But reverse the picture, and the opposite is the case. Our every state of consciousness depends, as we have seen, upon the brain, and therefore upon the blood that nourishes the brain, and therefore on the chemical elements that form the blood. Without oxygen, and nitrogen, and phosphorus, and carbon, we could neither think, nor will, nor love.

But thought and will and love must needs communicate themselves to others ; spirit craves intercourse with spirit; and here again we depend on matter. Tongue and ear are material things ; words are movements of the air; and printing press and telegraph extend their sway. Machinery again, with its coal, and steam, and iron, is ever at work to enlarge the practical dominion of our will ; while art — art takes up the stubborn elements of earth and transmutes them in its crucible to spiritual things. Hellenic sculptures, Gothic cathedrals, mediaeval painting, modern music, are only modes of matter, when regarded by themselves : yet through them the soul of man has given utterance and permanence to all the varying phases of his inward spiritual story, which else would have been fugitive and dumb.

Further, to give expression to a thing is to realize it, in the sense of making it more real ; and hence matter, as being the language of spirit, is also the medium of its realization. Thoughts float idly across the mind, till they have been precipitated in print; theories remain abstract and uncertain, till they have been tested by experiment; good intentions are of no avail, till they have faced the resistance of the outer world, and in overcoming its opposition become moral acts ; and love can never rest, till it has proved its own intensity by a thousand tender, thoughtful, self-sacrificing deeds. In every case contact with matter strengthens the spiritual fibre, forcing vagueness into outline, confusion into clearness, doubt into decision, hesitation into act. It is the necessary means by which our spiritual life becomes actual, concrete, real. Nor is it only as a means of expression that matter ministers to spirit. It has also an important reaction upon character and conduct.

'The floating clouds their state shall lend To her ; for her the willow bend ; Nor shall she fail to see Even in the motions of the storm Grace that shall mould the maiden's form By silent sympathy.

1 The stars of midnight shall be dear To her ; and she shall lean her ear In many a secret place Where rivulets dance their wayward round, And beauty born of murmuring sound Shall pass into her face.' 1

This is more than a poet's conceit. It is a description of what happens daily, and in more

1 Wordsworth, ' Three years she grew.'

ways than most men are aware; the gradual moulding of our thoughts and feelings, our habitual expression, our face and form, by subtle influence of outward things. Plato first called attention to this principle, and it has been called from him, platonic. But all great thinkers have recognized its action, from Plato to the present day. None more so than Browning. Has a man reasoned himself into unbelief? Then —

' Just when we're safest There's a sunset touch, a fancy from A flower bell,' 1

and the reasoning fades away. Have the souls of two lovers been melted into one?

' The forests had done it ; there they stood ; We caught for a moment the powers at play : They had mingled us so for once and good, Their work was done.' 2

Have two others missed their mutual vocation? They have profaned in so doing a natural sacrament, which 'made things plain in vain.'

What was the sea for? What, the grey, Sad church, that solitary day,

1 Browning, Bishop Blougratri's Apology.

2 Id. By the Fireside.

Crosses and graves and swallow's call?

Was there naught better than to enjoy?

No feat which, done, would make time break

And let us pent-up creatures through

Into eternity, our due?

No forcing earth teach heaven's employ ? ' 1

Nor are such things exceptional ; they are common situations of every day, and must have recurred, since primaeval man first wove his legends of the dawn ; matter everywhere and always, fashioning, inspiring, controlling, quickening, the processes of spiritual life.

Here then we are face to face with plain a fact of experience. Throughout the entire range of their co-existent activity, matter subserves spirit, and that not in one way only, but in a variety of subtle, and delicate, and complex ways; while in the opposite direction, nothing of the kind takes place.

When therefore we find that the material world, which can derive, as we have already seen, no possible benefit from spirit, is in countless ways adapted to further spiritual life, it is hard to resist the conclusion that matter exists for this very end, and that all its ingenuity of

1 Browning, Dis Aliter Visum, intricate arrangement is meant to serve the purpose, which in fact it so elaborately serves. If matter lay at our feet, as a thing to be employed or neglected at will, the case would be different ; and we might then regard its use as accidental. But its fusion with spirit is, in fact, far too intimate, its correlation too exact to admit of any such idea. It is obviously part and parcel of the same system with spirit; and if so must, we argue, be qualified throughout by the final causality which is spirit's goal.