pace, nor eternal duration. We
can conceive of them as _existing_; but we cannot conceive what they
are. We can conceive of God as infinite; but we cannot conceive what
infinity is. If we could, it would not be infinite, unless we are
infinite. So all attempts to define God in terms of the finite are
futile. And yet, when we look back over the past history of the human
race and see what ruin has been wrought by this very thing it becomes
appalling! All religious controversies, wars and bloodshed have had
their ultimate source just here. Certain men have formed certain
conceptions of God, of his character, his attributes, his will, and his
purposes concerning mankind. These they have labelled, patented,
copyrighted, and declared to the world to be correct, final and
infallible, and demanded that all the world accept them on penalty of
death!

To quote, in substance, from a recent author, we might as well try to
make a meal of the stars and contain them all in our stomach at once as
to comprehend God in his fullness. God _is what He is_, no matter what
our opinions may be of him. But what any one of us _thinks God is_,
that is what _God is to him_. This is all the definition of God that
need be given. God is his own revelation. "The heavens declare the
glory of God." Nature reveals God in greater power and splendor than
any book.

What is _my_ conception of God? Only this: God is the Life of the
universe; and this includes the ALL. As what we call the spirit is the
life in my body, and permeates the whole of it from the most central
vital organs to the utmost extremities of nails and hair; so God--and
He is Spirit--permeates the _whole universe_, and is the life of, or in
it, as you please.

"'All are but parts of one stupendous whole,
Whose body Nature is, and God the Soul.'"

He is manifest in the majesty of the universe and is seen in the
beauties of the flowers. He is reflected in the painted wings of the
birds, in the rippling leaf, in the blade of grass, in the dewdrop, in
the snowflake, in all nature; and above all in man himself, in whom He
dwells and lives. How noble and inspiring the thought that I, even I,
am a part of the life of the infinite, eternal God! All this I take on
trust--_by faith_--and confess freely that, while believing it I cannot
comprehend it. But such a God must be eternally good. He could not be
the monster that Jewish tradition and orthodox Christianity paint