The New York herald., 1874-11-15

the Kew. q. &. iiHany VII. ofnciate Today al the
usual hours IN the Protestant Episcopal Chnrcn OF
the Atonement.
| Agreements and Differences OF Ancient
Phiiosophies.
To THE EDITOR OF THE aEaALp:--
There are, In all systems OF philosophy IN vogue
before the Christian era, very many things in
which they agreed and not few In which they
differed. In general they agreed in those tunda-
mental truths which are consututiyes OF the OBJ
Jective reason OF the race well as in their
OBVIOUS conclusions. These principles and con-
cuslons belong to that Inheritance OF truth which
| belongs 10 the human family. whether 1t be en-
! ligntened by Christianity or left TO the lignt OF
reason.
There Is both In P.ato's philosophy and Aris-
tote's some things which have been rejected by
the Christian schools OF thought. but many more
things which have been adopted. Indeed there Is
| true Piatonism and there Il an erroneous one.
So far as the origin Of things is concerned Plato
chiefly erred in this, that ne made (or, rather ID
supposed 10 nave made) OF che 'rypes" and
ssideasn OF things real substances, se-subsistent
and eternal beings external 70 God and tndepen-
! dent OF him. To these the Creator had TO look In
forming the world and producing the present
cosmic order. These are che sypes aud ideas re-
jected and refuted by Aristotle. This principally
is the Piatonism repudisted BY the early Church
teachers and by Christian schools Of thought In
/
every age.
But there Is truth underlying Plato's error.
and which IN itself Is undeniable, namely, that
God. before creating. knows what He Is about TO
do thar He forms within His own mind . conce.-
tion OF HIS intended work. and that II 10 on shis
plan that He creates
surely. unless We deny the existence OF personal
God. we must admit that He Is intelligent and
reasonable; that ae has an intellect or "mind" a.
wen as will 1t IL also certain that all Christian
schools both OF philosophy ana theology, have
! taught that there Is q resemblance between the
intellectual operation OF the divine workman and
the human.
We are free to bestow on the concepts OF the
divine inrelige with regard to created or pos
| siple things any names we please, provided We
admit their reality. Reasoning from the nnite to
the tndnite mind, IL must De true TO say that the
concept or mental design formed by the
architect OF Cologne minister is not more
real than tue design OF this mar
venous world, as eternally conceived
by the divine mind. Christian philosophers. while
unanimously atnrming this reality, deny with
equal unanimIsy that God, while about to create,
contemplated any type, plan, form or essence
external 10 Himself. And. most assuredly,
nothing in the explanations suggested In my
former letters can possibly convey sae Impression
that such was my teaching or my opinion. SO lar.
sense nor pantheistic
But Is tu pan theistic to teach that there 10 be-
tween the conception or design OF the world, as II
exists IN the divine mind, and the world actually
created, q resemblance, q correspondence TO be
sure human language Is impefiec: At all times IN
conveying pure philosophical thought. Sna,
any listener or reader who Is not VIII
.ully captions vii, readily admit tnat language
! ..reproduces" thought, that the poem, the novel,
III ba ira. ma
reproduce" the Ideal conception or the artist.
4 In using the term "reproducen every one under
stands that this reproduction IN outward sensible
form OF the spiritual design in mind does not
argue any tnlng ike material emanatton from
the soul which conceived 10 the reaiized externai
Let US not dim the truth nor confuse the candid
mind by quarrelling about words. There mast be-
snnnaeScs petween every design It's
| between . plan and its realzatlon, between an
shape. + pTnere must be correspondence between
TINS worla as II nov exists and ITS design 10 that
oai slSty peose l was oaswardy realized Tns be-
longs TO the very nature oil tnings.
NVs n 10 huma workman was most
pulously careful TO point ont the substantial df
Terence between tne word Just created ana dns
existed in the divine mind or intelligence 1t was
ssans ID. aSs .af
| dously guarded the explanation was giving 10
your readers IT. y pantaeS 20 ,eacn sna, mere re
created things IS idenucai with the divine, or
again, that created substances now from tne Gre.
| aIor ike o stream lion Its spring. Had lett IL
! TO be understood or concluded that there Is sub.
stantiai identity OF oneness between the beings
eternal Beng which planned amt made 1T, then
indeed, the charge OF "panthelsmn and "enana-
0onism' had had some reasonable iounoation
xnd yet, In your columns, have been accused OF
1edueing matter from essences, types and arche'
! It must, then, be manifest to the unprejudiced
mind. that while there Is necessary relation OF
tiou and ats Creator, THIS resemblance and cor
rasponaence cannot pe mace to argue identity Of
when say that the reality, beauty and life OF
created things copy and renect" the attributes
As 70 the iurtnes objection raised, tnat pantbe.
Ism can be inferred from my saving mat alter
ily IS not thereby increaseo.r ms inference
supposes that intend 10 convey to the reader
dfnn o 0s % so
obJectlons-First that II the sum oil reality was
mite, since a posi.lve quantity could be added
10 has indnitude; and second. that according to
ow1 s
substance differed really nom tnat Of God, and
yet the sum OF realities remained the same.
Any one who Is tamlar with this deep question
and The various manners in which II has been dis
cussed knows that philosophers and tneologians
solve this dil1cuty Dy saying tnat no reality exists
In any created being winch does not already exist
In more Iranscendent form Or IN more eminent
degree its divine nature. They use ior TINS the
terms rn.tualiteT or eDaineaater and .fornaaliter
Thus the beauty OF the human body does not prop.
erly and formally exist IN God, with Its outlines
and limitations: but there Is no principle oI cor
poreal beauty or perfection that does not exist IN
the divine beauty. freed from All limits or lmper-
| iections. Thus every Intellectual and moral vir-
tue with which we are acquainted exists either
formally or eminentiy in God. Thus the energies
or forces resident IN every created spiritual or
material agent have an infinite eqnivaIent IN the
divine power. There IL no eject which the iree
agency or man or angel can produce-no change
or combination that can be brought about by any
play oil the great elementary iorces, but GOd's
perfectly. Thus We say that the power OF man
and angel, the iorce or water, wind, sum- heat or
electricity, are contained "virtuallyu or .'emi-
nently" though not formally" IN the divine
energy.
rake any one line or being. then, or any one
sphere OF action, and oy little thought and com.
parjson these principles WILL enable the reader to