Page:Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion volume 2.djvu/200

 externality of the manifestation as the gods of the Religion of Beauty have, and the inadequacy of the manifestation is not something of which there is no consciousness, but, on the contrary, it is expressly posited along with consciousness as inadequacy.

It is not accordingly enough to constitute sublimity that the content, the Notion, be higher than the outward Form, even if this latter be exaggerated and stretched beyond its natural measure, but what manifests itself must also be the Power which is above the outward form. In the religion of India the representations of the Divine are devoid of measure, and yet they are not sublime but are rather a distortion, or, it may be, they are not distorted, as, for instance, the cow and the ape, which express the entire power of Nature, yet the signification and the outward form are not proportionate to each other; they are not sublime, however, for indeed it is this want of mutual proportion which is the greatest defect. It is accordingly necessary that the Power be at the same time put above the outward form.

Man in a state of natural consciousness can have natural things present before him, but his spirit does not suit with such a content. The mere act of looking around gives nothing sublime, but rather the glance towards heaven which is above and beyond what lies around. This sublimity is in a special sense the character of God in relation to natural things. The Old Testament Scriptures are extolled because of the presence in them of this sublimity. “And God said, Let there be light, and there was light.” Here we have one of the sublimest passages. The Word represents the greatest possible absence of effort, and this breathing is here at the same time light, the world of light, the infinite pouring forth of light; and thus light is degraded to the rank of a word, to something so transitory as a word. God is further represented as using the wind and the lightning as servants and messengers, Nature is so obedient to Him. It