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54 Berkeley who carried the implicit spirituality of Descartes to its logical conclusion and extended the arguments of Locke to primary qualities. The elements of his immaterialism, then, were ready for his hand, but to Berkeley himself belongs the credit of having extended and developed the theories of his fathers in philosophy, the credit of setting forth as a dominant idea, clear, central, and in full light, the great principle that the world consists of naught save spirit and spiritual activity.

Even here, to be sure, one may discern Berkeley's theological preoccupations. Matter is an ancient enemy. Philosophers have sought in many ways to discredit it, to reduce it to dust, to make it an obedient slave of the spirit, but it has remained an insistent annoyance in all theistic philosophy. If matter exists independently of spirit, if it is governed by its own laws and is capable even of influencing the soul, then the position of God becomes embarrassing. It may of course be said that God created matter, and that matter must obey the laws established by God; but the rôle and the dignity of God are much diminished nevertheless. We can conceive of God only as spirit; and if the world is composed for the most part of matter, which is the opposite of spirit, we may readily be led to conclude that matter is indeed the only reality, and