be sought in a more searching analysis of the meaning of the terms in which they are phrased.
The man who refused to admit that two and two make four, until he knew what use was to be made of this premise, had some justification. At a certain abstract level of thought, such statements are absolutely true. But once you desert that level, you admit fundamental transformations of meaning. Language cloaks the most profound ideas under its simplest words. For example, in “two and two make four,” the words “and” and “make” entirely depend for their meaning upon the application which you are giving to the statement.
Analogously, in expressing our conception of God, words such as “personal” and “impersonal,” “entity,” “individuality,” “actual,” require the closest careful watching, lest in different connections we should use them in different senses, not to speak of the danger of failing to use them in any determinate sense.
But it is impossible to fix the sense of fundamental terms except by reference to some
