II. THE ADVANCING GOD. Ir belongs to the nature of God, or, what is practically the same thing, it belongs to our idea of God, that he should make himself known. Our idea of God includes the Creator. An uncreative God is no God, since God is conceivable only as the correlate of a finite world. But creation - especially the creation of conscious, intelligent beings- implies conscious intelligence in the Creator. And, if God be supposed selfconscious, he must be supposed to will the reflection of himself in intelligent minds. Or, to rest our thesis on more practical ground, if God be that moral Sovereign whom we suppose, it follows that the subjects of his rule must be made acquainted with the Lord of their allegiance. The necessity of revelation is thus grounded in the very idea of God. Assuming, then, that God, by his nature, is selfrevealing, and must make himself known to intelligent beings, what will be the method and conditions of that This statement perhaps is too condensed. God, conscious of his perfection, must will the recognition of that perfection in intelligent beings, as their ideal and way to a blessed life,—that being the only supposable end of the moral creation. revelation? In what way can we suppose that God will declare himself, his will and his truth, to man? Let any one figure to himself a demonstration that would satisfy all mankind of the being and attributes of God, of such a God as theism represents, - what will he propose? Shall we say that some stupendous prodigy would best accomplish that result? - some exhibition so far transcending human power and skill, that all who beheld it should be forced to confess a superhuman agent; therewith, some clear, emphatic annunciation of the truth to be received?an apparition in the sky, with accompanying voice out of the heavens? a scroll cast down upon the earth, or tablets, received amid lightnings and thunders on some mountain-top, inscribed with the lessons of Deity? Somewhat after this fashion would be, I suppose, the first conception of a revelation from God. Such, in fact, was the Hebrew idea. But closer attention will convince every one who reflects on the subject, that no such portent could serve as a permanent communication, valid to all generations, from God to man. efficacy, at the most, would be confined to the sphere in which it occurred and to those who witnessed it, or their immediate offspring. Beyond that sphere, and beyond the experience of eye-witnesses and the children of eye-witnesses, it would soon become an incredible tradition, a legendary myth, an old wives' fable, which the critical understanding, unable to adjust it with other experiences, would unfailingly set aside. Its Or, if we suppose the revealing portent to be a stated permanent wonder, it would soon cease to be a wonder at all; it would take its place among the |