The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-11-29

View ed IN a New Spirit at the Church
of England Congress at Rhyl.

of England Congress at RhyL
From the London Times.
In the evening the subject for considera-
tion was The Divine Personality and the
Bearing Of Belief in the Same on the Indi-
vidual Life.n
The Rev. Canon Moberly said the word
God" if it meant anything, must mean 10
him at least this-supreme perfectness Of
being. By God he must mean the highest.
be could not without contradiction conceive
at one moment both God and higher or
more comprehensive than God. IL, then.
he was asked whether he believed in a per-
sonal God. the question TO him must mean
not whether he imagined among exIstences
that OF one extra, invisible but indefinitely
magnifed shadow Of humanity, but whether
he was convinced that the supreme sun aud
crown OF all existence was personal. He
could not frame an abstract definition of
personality. He would rather say that per-
sonality consisted not so much in the pres
ence Of Intelligence. will, ETC., but more
eminently in the fact of being center to
which the universe Of being appeared in
relation. distinct center Of being, a sub
Ject whereof reason, affection, will, con-
seriousness ITSELF were so many, not separate
parts, but several aspects or activities The
fact of Intelligent Consciousness In man
had led on by necessary steps to the postu-
A1so VA u CluO univ CT COueClOuSQ6SS
WHOSE thoughts was the world. II was not
urged that this followed as demonstrative
knowledge, but as necessary hypothesis
never, indeed, scientifically demonstratable,
yet as hypothesis so necessary, so funda-
mental. that without it all knowledge and
thought whatever became unrelated, irri-
tIonal chaotic.
Personality, involving, as necessary quail
ties of its being, reason, will, love, was in
OOTnTarahiu the binhaaf Yhannu,atnrr,
to experience, and as such had to be related
with whatever was above IL and below it by
any philosophy based upon experience. But
among personalities there are higher and
lower. The highest phenomenon then known
to experience was moral personality in its
most advanced stages Of beauty, verging
more aud more toward its own IDEAL, grow
ing with visible approach into the lineaments
of perfect goodn less. Either, then, the highest
phenomenon known to experience was a
more and more glorious approach toward the
blankness of an abstraction which was really
non-existent-a view which gave the lie not
only to every kindliug aspiration, but to
every essential condition Of intellect - or
supreme existence was that toward which
the most beautiful fullness of human per-
sonallty was but an approach. But in this
cass it could not be lower than personality
in its stages of imperfectness. Supreme
existence was either inferior to man, with
an iuteriority which was literally immeas-
urable, or it was all at least, which they
had known or could conceive in personality
The universe was a chaos void of relations
and mans existence an intolerable enigma
and bathos, il the supreme existence did
not comprise, as well as transcend, every
thing in human personality which made
that personally what it was-the GROWING
phenomenon of experience, the browning
conception open to them Of existence. Per-
sonality that lived only hinder material con-
ditions in world of dying. Personality
whose existence and origin were alike
wholly independent of its own thought and
will, and which only by degrees discovered
little as to the conditions of its own being.
was plainly most limited and imperfect
form of personality. Only then supreme
being could attain the full idea of person
ality. The ideals which lowered behind
and above human experience were SUCCESS
tions, were approaches more or less, toward
that.
Sir George Stokes, F. R. s., NJ. P, said
that those who were earnest maintainers of
religious faith knew. many of them, but
| little about science Modern science forci-
| bly, impressed us with ideas of the immen-
| sity Of the universe and the community of
| the laws regulating the whole. If we
| looked on the system of nature as the work
of a supreme being we get an exalted idea
| or his greatness. The antropomorphism
which was apt to beset US when we thought
only of his personal relations to ourselves
was kept In check. Truly it was difficult to
associate the idea OF personality
with that of omnipresence and
infnity IN other respects. If in the
contemplation of a personal God our
ideas were in danger of becoming too an
thropomorphic, on the other hand, when we
thought of Tim in relation to the yastness OF
the universe, the idea of personality was apt
to fall into the background. But here the
| Christian revelation stepped in to our aid.
Through one in whom the divine and human
natures are united, who as son of man is in
telligible to US, and who. being at the same
time Son of God, is 'the image of the in
visible God" we were enabled, without
sacrifice of the idea of the Infinite nature OF
| God, to think of him as a personal being; to
| form-if such an expression might be al
lowed-some conception of his character to
learn in a manner that we could not have
attained it by the mere study of nature that
'God is love-"