Page:The New View of Hell.djvu/62

 reference only to natural space. We employ them to designate superiority and inferiority of character, or of mental and moral attributes. Thus we speak familiarly of a high order of intellect, of a high-minded man, of lofty souls, superior worth, exalted wisdom and love. We say of an individual that he stands high in the community, high in the church or in the state, that he is above others, etc., when our meaning is that he is spiritually or mentally above them—superior in wisdom, skill, integrity, and moral worth. And equally often in familiar discourse is the word low used in a similar way. As when it is said of a mean and selfish man, that he is a person of a low mind, low desires, low motives, or that he is a low fellow. Indeed, the correspondence between the natural and spiritual import of these terms, is so obvious that it has never been lost sight of. Every one perceives it from common influx.

The Lord is called the Most High in Scripture, and is said to dwell on high, above the earth, and above the heavens. Surely it is not with any reference to natural locality that such things are predicated of the omnipresent One. No rational mind thinks of interpreting such language literally; for no one thinks of localizing the Divine Being. He is in all space—in the depths beneath as truly as in the heights above—yet is Himself without space. But on account of the infinite purity and excellence of his character—because, in respect to the human attributes of love, wisdom and power, He is infinitely