1313. I noted earlier that . . .

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I noted earlier that, for all his talk of "the Name" of God as though it were itself the object as well as the ground of Christian faith, Maurice can distinguish clearly and sharply between "the Name" itself, i.e., Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and the reality it names or expresses—namely, "the Infinite Charity, the perfect Love" (Notebooks: 24 September 2007; 14 October 2007).

But I have also been happy to note another distinction he makes to much the same effect. Speaking of different ways of destroying national characteristics by reducing its members merely into one great society, he says, "the result is the same. A living God is not feared or believed in; He is not the centre of that combination; His name or the name of a number of Gods may be invoked in it, but His presence is not that which holds its different elements together" (Sermons on the Sabbath-Day: 93 f. [quoted by Vidler: 188]). The distinction here between "the name of God," or "invoking the name of God," and "[God's] presence" evidently functions in much the same way as the distinction elsewhere between God's name and the reality it names or expresses.

31 October 2007