"  I  should  agree  with  you  in  not  imagining  the  Highest
Being  as  painfully  toilsome,  but  I  see  no  reason  for  conceiving
of  him  as  helpless.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  not  mere  power  which
would  command  our  homage,  so  much  as  the  purposing  agent.
There  are  many  physical  things  in  the  world  about  us  more
powerftd  than  man.  An  elephant  is  stronger,  a  volcano  and  a
storm  more  terrible,  and  the  sea  more  ample;  perhaps,  too,  a
steam-engine  may  be  called  more  useful ;  but  no  one  of  them
engages  our  respect  or  veneration  so  much  as  a  man  who  acts
justly  and  beneficently.
"  Perhaps  we  may  consider  thus  what  a  good  action  implies :
it  has  moral  purpose  in  designing ;  it  has  intelligence  in  adapt-
ing ;  it  has  skill  in  performance.  But  the  Being  who  exhibits
these  virtues,  would  be  nobler  than  one  absorbed  in  Nirvdna.
As  regards  action,  therefore,  on  the  whole,  I  am  inclined  to  say
something  like  what  Madhwa  would  probably  have  said:  we
must  not  ascribe  to  the  Deity  actions  in  such  a  sense  as  they  are
limited  and  tinged  by  human  imperfection,  but  we  may  piously
ascribe  to  Him  an  infinite  life  of  agency  in  all  wisdom,  justice.
182  ACTIVITY  OF   INTELLIGENCE.
and  beneficence,  such  as  calls  for  humble  adoration  and  obedience
with  thanksgiving.  Two  remarks  only  I  would  add  on  this
point,  that  agency  such  as  proceeds  through  the  instrumentality
of  intelligence  or  providence  is  both  the  noblest  in  itself  of  all
that  we  can  conceive,  or  at  least  more  so  than  any  activity  of
physical  force,  and  also  such  is  the  most  consistent  with  that
refinement  of  speculation,  which  you  love,  respecting  the
subtile  and  eminently  spiritual  nature  of  the  Supreme  Being.
