Page:Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion volume 1.djvu/187

 the chance nature of things, he rises from the finite to absolute necessity, and says, “finite being is contingent, there must therefore be a self-existent necessity, which is the basis of this contingency.” That is the course which human reason, the human spirit follows, and this proof of the existence of God is nothing but the description of that act of rising up to the infinite.

In like manner the following more concrete line of thought will always be adopted. Since living things exist in the world, which in virtue of their life, and as essentially organised, constitute a harmony of diverse component parts, and further, since these living things stand in need of external objects, such as air, &c., which are yet independent of them, men will always argue that there must be an inner ground for the harmony which exists between things which are not self-evidently dependent on one another.

This harmony does actually exist, and it presupposes an activity which has produced it, and has been exercised in accordance with ends. To contemplate this is to admire the wisdom of God in Nature, as it is termed, this marvel presented by the living organism, and the harmony of external objects with it. From this harmony man rises to the consciousness of God. If any one supposes that in case of the form of the proofs of the existence of God being disputed these proofs are rendered obsolete as regards their content also, he is mistaken.

But undoubtedly the content is not represented in its purity. This deficiency may be made plain, as follows:—It is said that in proving anything a man remains cold; he has to do with an objective content. He may indeed perceive that such-and-such a thing exists, but the knowledge thus reached is external, the insight thus gained remains something merely external. Such a process of thought, it is said, is too objective; it is cold conviction; this kind of insight is not in the heart, and it is in the heart and its feelings that convictions must exist.