He was impotent. That night he spent on the heath, and went mad.
Now this problem of the divinity of man has troubled the Church all through the ages. The author of Genesis grasped the problem; and his solution was that God had created man in his own image. Very neat! In the image of God, therefore not quite on an equality with him; but nevertheless very like. God was Abraham's friend; and Moses stood face to face with God - as it says in Deuteronomy, “And there hath not arisen a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face”. These men believed they knew God therefore; and insofar as they were right, they were on an equality with God. Friendship of necessity demands a measure of equality; the greater the friendship, the more the equality. Christ taught men to call God “Father”, and referred to his disciples as “friends”. He did not teach men to pray, “Dear step-father, dear father of our vicar and churchwardens, dear father of the Pope”. I have already referred to the opening verses of John's Gospel, which expressed the author's clear conviction that all true Christians are the begotten sons of God. The author of John's Epistles says, “As God is, so are we in this world”. Paul says Christians should have the glorious freedom of the sons of God. One could go on indefinitely. Later on however the Church took fright.
Now I am not in the least interested whether these beliefs are true. I am interested in the type of thoughts that come to a man who regards himself as having some kind of equality with God (however much humility and obedience there may be in his personal life); and in contrast the type of thoughts that come to a man who is told morning, noon, and night that he is a miserable sinner (however much sullen resentment and pride there may be lurking in his psyche). The former thinks the thoughts of Abraham, Moses, Christ, John, Paul, Augustine; he thinks of man in the context of the destiny of the human race. The latter has no alternative but to think in parochial terms. He may think in…