What Is and What Might Be | Page 6

gulf between the two
worlds remains impassable, his philosophy will be felt to be incomplete.
A supplementary theory of things must therefore be devised. Corrupt
and fallen as he is, Man cannot hope to climb to Heaven; but God, with
whom nothing is impossible, can at his own good pleasure come down
to earth. And come he will, whenever that sense of all-pervading
imperfection which exiled him, in its premature attempt to explain
itself, to his supernatural Heaven, is realised in man's heart as a desire
for better things. But what will be the signs of his advent? The
philosophy of the Fall is at no loss for an answer to this question. There
was a time when Nature was the mirror of God's face. But it is so no
longer. The mirror was shattered when Adam fell. Henceforth it is only
by troubling the waters of Nature, by suspending the operation of its
laws, by turning its order into confusion, by producing supernatural
phenomena, or "miracles" as they are vulgarly called, that God can
announce his presence to Man.
The question of the miraculous is one into which we need not enter. Let
us assume that God can somehow or other come to Man, and that Man
can somehow or other recognise God's presence and interpret his
speech. We have now to ask ourselves one vital question. With what
purpose does God visit the world which has forfeited his favour, and
what does he propose to do for ruined Nature and fallen Man? For
Nature, nothing. For Man, to provide a way of escape from Nature. The
dualism of popular thought must needs control the very efforts that men
make to deliver themselves from its consequences. The irremediable
corruption of Man's nature is the assumption on which the whole
scheme of salvation is to be hinged. His deliverance from sin and death
will be effected, not by the development of any natural capacity for
good, but by his being induced to quit the path (or paths) of Nature, and

to walk, under Divine direction, in some new and narrow path.
But how will this end be achieved? That Man cannot discover the path
of salvation for himself will, of course, be taken for granted. The
catastrophe of the Fall has corrupted his whole nature, and has
therefore blinded him to the light of truth. "The way of man is not in
himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps." The
promptings of his own nature, which he would follow if left to himself,
can do nothing but lead him astray. It will also be taken for granted that
the path of salvation is a path of action. When the whole inward
disposition is hopelessly corrupt, the idea of achieving salvation by
growing, by bringing one's hidden life to the perfection of maturity,
must perforce be abandoned. It is only by doing God's will that Man
can hope to regain his favour. One thing, then, is clear. Man must be
told in exact detail what he is to do and also (should this be necessary)
how he is to do it. In other words, an elaborate Code of Law, covering
the whole range of human life and regulating all the details of conduct,
must be delivered by God to Man. If Man will obey this Law he will be
saved. If he will not obey it, he will be lost.
There is another aspect of the idea of a supernatural revelation on
which it is necessary to touch. As intercourse between Nature and the
Supernatural world takes place, not in the natural order of things but at
the good pleasure of the Supernatural God, revelation must needs be
conceived of as a highly-specialised process. A revelation which was
addressed to the whole human race, and to which the whole human race
was able to respond, could scarcely be regarded as of supernatural
origin. The distinction between the supernaturalness of the appeal and
the naturalness of the response would gradually tend to efface itself: for
"what is universal is natural," and the voice which every man was able
to recognise would come at last to be regarded as a voice from within
oneself. If the supernatural character of an alleged revelation is to be
established, its uniqueness must be duly emphasised. A particular
people must be chosen for the purpose of the divine experiment. A
particular law-giver must be commissioned to declare to the chosen
people the will of the Supernatural God. And from time to time a
particular prophet must be sent to rebuke the chosen people for its

backslidings, to show it where it has gone astray, and to exhort it to
turn again to its God.
For if it is far from Man to discern good,