"God in his view was not indeed a personal Being, like the Christian
God--still less was He in any sense identified with Jesus Christ; who,
though always spoken of with rather conventional reverence in his
writings, does not appear to have specially influenced him. The God in
which Mr. Carlyle believed is, as far as can be ascertained, a
Being possessing in some sense or other will and consciousness, and
personifying the elementary principles of morals--Justice, Benevolence
(towards good people), Fortitude, and Temperance--to such a pitch that
they may be regarded, so to speak, as forming collectively the will of
God.... That there is some one who--whether by the earthquake, or
the fire, or the still small voice--is continually saying to
mankind--'_Discite justitiam moniti'_; and that this Being is the
ultimate fact at which we can arrive ... is what Mr. Carlyle seems to
have meant by believing in God. And if any one will take the trouble to
refer to the first few sentences of the Westminster Confession, and to
divest them of their references to Christianity and to the Bible, he will
find that between the God of Calvin and of Carlyle there is the closest
possible similarity.... The great fact about each particular man is the
relation, whether of friendship or enmity, in which he stands to God. In
the one case he is on the side which must ultimately prevail, .
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