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The greatest of all ideals may, or rather must be conceived by us

under similitudes derived from human qualities; although

sometimes, like the Jewish prophets, we may dash away these

figures of speech and describe the nature of God only in

negatives. These again by degrees acquire a positive meaning. It

would be well, if when meditating on the higher truths either of

philosophy or religion, we sometimes substituted one form of

expression for another, lest through the necessities of language

we should become the slaves of mere words.