Lectures and Miscellanies

The reason why man is .obliged to subdue the earth to himself, the reason why God cannot confer sovereignty by word of mouth or other mechanical 64 PEOPERTY AS A SYMBOL. metlaod, is, that all true sovereignty is inwardly generated. It is never imposed lapon a person from without by the deed of another, but grows up from within, is a sovereignty of genius. It is never mechanical, but always rational, proceeding from an exact ratio or adaptation between superior and inferior. Besides, God is a spirit without any finite natural continent or body, and He cannot therefore communicate any gift to man in an out- ward way, but only in an inward way, or through the man himself. In short the conditio sine qua non of His doing anything for man, is the endowment of man's selfhood, the imparting to him a self- hood which shall be exactly proportionate to His own, which shall be instinct with all power.