Chapter 7THE WORKING OF THE DIVINE LAW
I. God as a DictatorMAN has conceived God in different ways at different stages of his
mental development. The primitive man's crude anthropomorphic
idea of God is in direct contrast to the abstract concept of the
religious thinkers of today. We cannot, however, argue on this basis
that God exists as a mere idea in the human mind. Our conception
of the world too has exhibited similar changes. The savage looked
on the world as the playground of capricious spirits, while the
modern physicist analyses it into an infinity of transitory events
grouped in various ways. Numerous conceptions of the world
intervene between these extremes. Yet no one would give serious
consideration to the view that the world exists as a mere subjective
idea. In both cases, we are witnessing an apprehension of an
objective reality. With the gradual development of his knowledge
and mental powers, man brings his ideas into closer correspondence
with external reality. His encounter with the world, as with God, is
direct and immediate. He instinctively believes that both exist
independently of him. But at first his idea of God is as imperfect
and deficient as his idea of the world. He may never arrive at an
absolutely perfect concept of God or the world, and yet his efforts
in this direction never cease and are not wholly futile. In the case of
God, Revelation helps us to form an idea which meets the needs of
our intellectual and moral life. It will help us to grasp this idea clearly,
if we first consider a view which was generally accepted in the past
and still colours our mental outlook.
For ages men lived under the monarchical form of government.
Having known no other type of political organisation, they naturally
believed that the only alternative to monarchy was anarchy and
lawlessness. Kings were usually tyrannical, oppressive and
capricious. If a king fell a victim to the fury of his oppressed
subjects, his place was usually taken by a tyrant who might be worse.
People brought up under such conditions naturally associated