BL 200 .S6 1903 Softley, Edward. Theism under natural law a related to Old Testament Theism Under Natural Law As related to Old Testament Criticism, and to the Theodicy of Lux Mundi The REV. EDWARD SOFTLEY, B. D. Author of "Modern Universalism and Materialism" Etc. NEW YORK THOMAS WHITTAKER 2 AND 3 BIBLE HOUSE Copyright, 1903 By Edward Softley To my beloved people, All To whom I have ministered in the bonds of the Gospel, especially to those ivhom God has given me as seals of my Ministry, this testimony to, and defense of His Holy Book is affectionately Dedicated. Preface The object of the author has been, in this treatise, to present a chronologically consecutive epitome of the Elements of Theism ; of their relation to each other, and to the structure of the Bible ; and also to what is generally understood by Natural and Re- vealed Religion. This has been the original and primary object, positively considered ; but a secondary object of a negative character has been to place in contrast with the elements of Biblical Theism, and with Orthodox Christian Theology, that modern system of doctrine sometimes called the "New Theology," or "Higher Criticism," as set forth in " Lux Mundi." On both these subjects the author desires to say a few words. In regard to the book now so well-known; the work of Bishop Gore and his co-essayists. It is the work of men who are graduates of the venerable University of Oxford, who occupy the position of Christian scholars, and who have the status of theo- logians and of clergymen of the Reformed Church of England ! Alas ! that Christianity and the his- toric and venerated church of our forefathers should be so scandalized ! It may be deemed presumption for the writer thus to express himself, but, if so, it v VI PREFACE is a presumption based upon a reasonable and a con- fident faith of " God's Word written " ; and, because of this, he makes bold to express his conviction that their work is neither logically, nor Biblically, nor theologically defensible. On the contrary he would affirm his belief that the theology so elaborated will, in due time, be exploded as other heresies have been, and will have no honorable place in history. The names of such men as Augustine and Chrysos- tom, Usher and Jewel, Latimer and Cramner, Cal- vin and John Owen, together with Lightfoot and Westcott, Kyle and Spurgeon, as members of a noble host of masters of theology, and apologists for Christ and for Christianity, have an imperishable glory ; a glory in which the authors of " Lux Mundi " can have no part nor inheritance. With the same confidence may we affirm that the Bible will prove itself, as it has heretofore done, to be still the Book of God, and more than worthy of the absolute, entire and unfaltering faith of believ- ing men. The author desires further to say that his own study of this great subject has been, to him, the strong verification of such a confidence, and such as he cannot adequately express. Under such conditions, the result thereof is now humbly offered for the acceptance, and candid con- sideration of all those to whom the Bible is,— yet, — " very pure," and very precious. Contents CHAPTER I Natural Theology 1 God as Creator. — Intrinsic evidences from God's Works in Nature. — Relation of the Bible to Natural Theology. — Synopsis. CHAPTER II Natural Religion 21 God as Law-Giver, and Moral Governor. — A Moral Sequence from Objective Evidences. — Synopsis. CHAPTER III The Being of God, as Related to His Moral Govern- ment 44 CHAPTER IV The Providence of God, as Related to His Moral Gov- ernment and to the Pantheistic Doctrine of Imma- nence in Creation 60 CHAPTER V The Church of God, as an Element of Theism 81 Its Character and Origin.— A Moral Sequence from Man's Relation to God.— Moral Elimination. CHAPTER VI Sacred Traditions, as an Element of Theism 103 Synopsis. .CHAPTER VII Prophecy and the Prophetic Office 135 CHAPTER VIII Dreams, Visions and Revelations 150 vii viii CONTENTS CHAPTER IX Miracles 174 CHAPTER X The Law of Conscience, as an Element of Theism . .197 APPENDIX.— NOTES CHAPTER I Note (a) Negative argument for the personality of God . . 223 Note (b) Positive argument for the personality of God . . 226 Note (c) Evolution and Elementary Theism 242 Note (d) Of faith in God 252 CHAPTER II Note (a) Natural religion as a subjective result of objective evidences, and representing (1) duty to God, as taught, and (2) duty to God, as done under Natural Law .... 272 Note (6) Ontological argument 279 Note (c) Negative Argument for Monotheism 284 Note (d) Positive value of theistic evidences as addressed to a moral agent 291 Note (e) Of the knowledge of God 300 CHAPTER IV Note (a) The Providence of God 310 CHAPTER VI Note («) Dr. de Costa, the Church of Rome, and "Lux Mundi " on Tradition 312 CHAPTER IX Note («) Theistic basis of the credibility of miracles . . . 320 CHAPTER X Note (a) Analytical note on Conscience .... 324 Note (b) The essential elements of Theism always in evidence 327 Note (c) Moral obligation to seek God 332 Note (tZ) The Will as related to the Conscience , . 339 Note (e) Dr Martineau on intuitional knowledge of God . . 348 Note (/) Force of Intuitional and Moral evidence, as stated by our Lord Jesus Christ 350 Note (g) Heathen ignorance, its cause and character .... 352 Theism Under Natural Law CHAPTER I NATURAL THEOLOGY The necessary basis and primary element of God's moral government of mankind is that of knowledge of His character and will. The revelation of God's character under natural law is so intimately con- nected with His being, that they may be said to be identified. For this reason, although we enter upon the consideration of God's moral government with the assumption that His being and personality are exempt from discussion and require neither proof nor argument, yet, the natural course and order to the due presentation of the elements on which His moral government depend must necessarily include some reference to the personality of God, as con- nected with the knowledge obtainable concerning Him in the works of Nature ; or, from what is prop- erly termed Natural Theology. In the term, Natural Theology, is comprehended all of objective nature, as witness for God. The appeal so made to man, whether in the evidence found in Creation itself, or, 1 2 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW as stated in Holy Writ, is an appeal to the obvious fact. It is also an appeal to the unaided senses, and to each of them. Further than this, it is an appeal to the collective and to the individual evidences ; to the small and to the great, to the near and to the far off. While the obvious facts are evidence suffi- cient, and the unaided vision is a sufficient means of apprehension, we are invited to a closer and a mi- nute inspection. Our Lord points to a microscopic examination of the lilies of the field. God speaks to Job of the balancing of the clouds. Instances are to be found in Holy Writ, drawn from various parts of this wide and diversified field ; these are but instances. If the direct references to Creation in the Bible are numerous, we may truly say that by indirect refer- ences and allusions, it is permeated and pervaded. Most of the manuals of Natural Theology are either occupied with a special aspect of the evidence, or contain but a partial survey of the whole. Dr. Paley says that in such a wide field it is natural that each will choose some particular section of the evidence, and that he, himself, has chosen that afforded by anatomy. Sir Wm. Dawson (Origin of the World, p. 24) strongly urges upon the clergy a closer study of nature, and laments a too general inattention amongst theological students to this sub- ject. Dr. Dawson also quotes Baron Humboldt as saying that the general views of nature, contained in the Bible, or to which it tends, comprise, and in NATURAL THEOLOGY 3 fact anticipate, all that science is able to teach con- cerning it. As Biblical Theists we are required to base our estimate of the character and value of Nat- ural Theology on the written and inspired Word. There we find that the written law corroborates the unwritten. Objective nature is regarded as mute, yet eloquent witness for God. In answer to the question, "Have they not heard?" the reply is " Yes, verily ! their sound is gone forth into all lands, and their words to the end of the world" (Rom. 10 : 18). The works of God in nature are re- garded in Holy Scripture as indubitable witness for Him. They are elementary lessons to mankind, as we teach children by object lessons. Addressed, as this evidence is, to responsible man, he is required to learn from it. As God's voice out of the whirlwind to Job (ch. 38) is an appeal to the evidence in objec- tive nature, so also is the argument of Elihu (chs. 32-37). God does not, however, allow the sufficiency of the evidence to be a matter of argument ; He visits the neglect of it as criminal,- " Because they regard not the works of God, nor the operation of His hands, He will destroy them and not build them up " (Ps. 28 : 5). So also Isaiah 5 : 12, " The harp and the viol, the tabret and pipe and wine are in their feasts ; but they regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of His hands." So his Providence and care in the ordering of His Creation is set forth in evidence for man to govern his life by ; and man's reason is given, and is re- 4 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW garded by God as a light to guide him, as a moral agent, by the objective evidence of His works in Greation ; and he is also expected and required to derive analogical knowledge of God, as a moral Gov- ernor, by observing and studying the manifest laws by which he governs the physical universe. So Ave learn from Isaiah 28 : 23 ad finem : " Give ye ear and hear my voice; harken and hear my speech. Doth the plowman plough all day to sow ? Doth he open and break the clods of his ground ? When he doth make plain the face thereof doth he not cast abroad the fitches and scatter the cummin and cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and rye in their places ? For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him. For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin ; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cum- min with a rod. Bread corn is bruised because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen. This also cometh forth from the Lord of Hosts, who is wise in counsel and excellent in working." Man's refusal to consider such evidence is charged against him (Isaiah 1 : 3). By way of antithesis, it is characteristic of the righteous that they do, so reflect upon, and talks of God's wondrous works (Ps. 8 : 9 and 19). The Psalmist says (Ps. 19 : 1), " The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth His NATURAL THEOLOGY 5 handiwork." This is a rational as well as a scrip- tural statement. From the evidence so set forth we are open to choose whether we will accept as solution of the origin of the world, the specu- lative idea that claims philosophy in its support, and asserts that this vast universe by which we are surrounded, and the wondrous planet on which we dwell, came into their present state of order, and obedience to uniform laws, by a process of atomic development during an indefinite period, and which may, or may not leave room for the action of a Personal First Cause ; or, whether being content with the moral axioms properly deducible from the evidence found in Creation itself, we will accept with a simple but rational faith the declaration with which the Bible opens its message to man ; " In the beginning God created the heavens . and the earth " (Gen. 1 : 1). It may be true, as has been said, that evolution as a theory does not necessarily do away with design in Creation (or rather conflict with the evidence arising from design in Creation), for the existence and operation therein of a Per- sonal First Cause, but only removes it farther back ; it is sufficient, and apriori evidence against it that it does not harmonize either with Scripture evidence, as a whole, nor with its pervading characteristics : that is to say, with the supernatural, as its dis- tinctive and peculiar feature ; and it is only because clearly defined laws cannot, by any process of reasoning, be dissociated from a Personal Law 6 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW Giver, and because stress is laid by speculative philosophy upon the immanence of God in Creation, that this theory, which in the Theodic}^ of "Lux Mundi " is described as " the higher Pantheism," can with any shew of consistency be allowed a place in Biblical Theism. The name of Kichard Hooker will be generally accepted by churchmen and theologians, and probably by all scholars, as a sufficient criterion of sound learning, piety and good theology, and it will be profitable here to compare his teaching on this subject with that of " Lux Mundi." He traces the foundation of Law, in its primary sense and original, to the Per- sonality of God : this he terms, the First Law Eternal. The Second Law Eternal he finds in Creation, as the work of God's hands. In Creation He gave to everything, by His act and decree, an immutable and eternal law for its guidance and preservation. Thus, logically, as well as theo- logically, the supreme agent is, so to speak, directly seen in and by the laws by which Creation is gov- erned, and by which it is sustained (Hooker, Eccl. Polity, Yol. 1., Book I, Chs. 3 and 4). The statement made by Hooker is in harmony with the Law Eter- nal peculiar to man : his reason, — given to him dis- tinctively as the law or governing faculty of his life ; it is also consonant with the principle of a Personal First Cause ; it is in harmony with the experience which godly men have of a Personal Providence coming into direct and intimate contact NATURAL THEOLOGY 7 with the minutest details of their inner lives, and personal history as an actual fact ; and, also, it is in harmony with all that Holy Scripture states in reference and testimony to the same, as a law and rule of God's government. The hypothesis of evolution is distinctly at variance with the afore- said facts and experiences. In reference to Natural Theology, from the theistic and biblical standpoint, its primary aspect is the disclosure of the Divine attributes of Power, of Wisdom, of Love, of Stead- fastness, or Eternity, and of Paternal Care. These attributes are displayed in His works : in the heavens above, and in the earth beneath, and in the waters under the earth, all that the eye of man can see, by natural vision or by artificial aid and in- strumentality. In the language of Holy Scripture, at once natural, lifelike, beautiful and true : " All Thy works praise Thee, O Lord, and Thy saints give thanks unto Thee. They shew the glory of Thy Kingdom and talk of Thy power ; that Thy power, Thy glory and the mightiness of Thy king- dom might be known unto men " (Ps. 145 : 10, 11, 12). How often in Holy Writ do we find Jehovah, Himself, referring to His works as so declaring him ; or His devout worshipers as meditating upon Him, and finding their hearts go out in holy adora- tion and worship to Him in such mediation ! It is distinctly to be observed that if the authority of Holy Scripture is an acknowledged element in the evidence for Theism and for the Kevelation of God 8 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW by His works, as Creator, then is it a paramount fact of Holy Writ in this connection, that the transcendence of God, as Creator, is clearly magni- fied in connection therewith, and His glorious per- sonality asserted. We are told, for instance, " From heaven did the Lord behold the earth that He might hear the mournings of such as are in captivity and deliver the children appointed unto death " (Ps. 102 : 20). Of His Providence and Care, it is the general testi- mony of Holy Scripture that from heaven He stoops to superintend the affairs of men, and that He does so with the most intimate and pervasive sympathy, as well as efficacious knowledge and power. He instructed Moses to say to the Israel- ites that He had seen all the oppression from which they suffered at the hands of the Egyptians, and that He had "come down to deliver them." At the passage of the Ked Sea, it was from the Pillar of Fire and of Cloud that He looked and troubled the host of the Egyptians. In the further prosecu- tion of our enquiries as to the elements of God's moral government, we shall find abundant evidence confirmatory of the proposition laid down by Hooker that the foundation of all law in nature is the eternal law of God's own Being ; and that, as supreme agent, He is seen not only in and by, but above and distinct from the works of nature, as transcendent in the distinctive glory of His own inherent perfection, set forth to men "at sundry NATURAL THEOLOGY 9 times and in divers manners," and that, mediately, or immediately, man, as His creature, is brought into responsible contact with the Divine super- natural as giving evidence to Him. Some instances from Holy Scripture may here be given in which the fundamental principle is stated, and the re- sponsibility of man as connected with the knowl- edge of God as Creator is declared. St. Paul, in Kom. 1 : 19, 20, says that " His eternal power and Godhead is so declared, and clearly seen." So Elihu uses the same evidence to convince Job ; and Jehovah, Himself, ratifies the argument and enlarges upon it with majestic grandeur and beauty (Job, chs. 38-42). St. Paul from Mars Hill spoke to the Athenians of Him who "hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habi- tation" (Acts 17 : 26). Paul and Barnabas, at Lystra, spoke of the " Living God who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways ; nevertheless, He left not Himself without witness, in that He did good, and sent us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness" (Acts 14:16, 17). Our blessed Lord has most clearly and fully restated the same evidence in His Sermon on the Mount, and upon other occasions ; inculcating upon us the lesson of faith in God, from His care of the fowls of the air, and from the beauty of the lilies of the 10 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW field, and from the fact that His goodness is seen in causing His sun to shine on the evil and on the good, and in sending rain upon the just and on the unjust. We may summarize the evidence by say- ing that from whatever part of God's universe we regard Him in evidence, also whether it be in the display of power and majesty, in wisdom and skill, in constancy and stability, in order and harmony, in beauty, or, in love, and beneficence ; we see the properties of a Personal Agent, and in the unity to be traced all through His works, we clearly can, and justly should, from the evidence conclude that it is one, and complete in His won- drous Personality. As Theists we maintain that the world is its own witness to a personal Creator. As Biblical Theists we maintain that the works of creation and the Word of God exhibit unity of origin ; that they exhibit unity of design ; both severally, and as related to each other, and they are homogeneous in character. But I have a further and a more important point to make in regard to Natural Theology, or, the Works of God in nature, as related to the Bible. As an organic and structural unit, the Bible, as a whole, exhibits evidence that it is based upon the primary and axiomatic fact of a Personal First Cause, as Creator and Governor of the world. So far from the rudimentary and initial evidence, as found in the Cosmos, being anywise doubtful, or deficient as to this rudimentary and necessary truth, we are NATURAL THEOLOGY II justified in affirming that subsequent historical and inspired revelations of God in Holy Scripture, while they are in their several parts a progressive and cumulatory revelation of God, are also, largely, amplifications and reassertions of the initial evidence of Creation and Conservation. They are, as cumulative and progressive evidence, based upon natural law, and a personal lawgiver, as so ex- hibited. These primary and essential evidences for God are continuously ratified and reasserted by the writers of the Old Testament, including the prophets and the authors of the Hagiographa ; they are most fully ratified in the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ, as they are also implied and acknowl- edged in the books of the New Testament. It is also to be noticed that throughout the Holy Scriptures this natural evidence is not only repro- duced as a memorial for God, and as a first prin- ciple of Theism, but it is charged against men 'with superadded sanctions. As a principle of God's gov- ernment, distinctive in character, and as a fundamen- tal truth concerning human accountability, it is as- serted by St. Paul in the epistle to the Romans ; and while it is there explicitly taught, in various other places it is taught by implication. As an illustration of such general principle permeating Holy Scripture, I will here refer to the instances of Nebuchadnezzar, and of his son Belshazzar. In categorical terms Belshazzar is charged with not glorifying God, as the known author of his being. 12 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW " The God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, thou hast not glorified" (Dan. 5 : 23). The same charge that is laid by St. Paul against the heathen world in Koni. 1 : 20, 21. It is to be noticed that in the case of Nebuchadnezzar the same charge is made positive. He is charged with exalting himself against God, whom he knew to be the source of the power he exercised and the glory that he possessed. The Lord Jehovah here declares Himself as Supreme Governor, and that the kings and people of the earth are responsible to Him under natural law ; and that they are under the obligation of glorifying Him as Creator and as moral Governor. We find elsewhere, as in Job 34 : 27, that the charge and condemnation is laid against men of " refusing to consider any of His ways," or, as David says (Ps. 14 : 2), " enquire after God." To prove all the evidences to this fact by direct or indirect reference would be to transcribe no small portion of the Old and New Testaments. It is also to be observed that, as man, himself, is " within the unity of nature," and that as to him that evi- dence is specially presented, as he is also specially capacitated ontologically and morally to receive it, so, the teaching of natural law is appealed to, as it is asserted both without and around him, and also as a law within himself (Job 40 : 15-24). We are directed to the consideration of God's attributes as displayed in Creation, both to remind us of our NATURAL THEOLOGY 13 dependence upon Him, and to comfort and assure us in that dependence. We are reminded of His char- acter as the Eternally Kighteous One to establish us in the work of righteousness, and to patient con- tinuance in well doing by the consideration that He is a "faithful Creator " (1 Pet. 4 : 19). 1 Further than this, not only are we instructed to know and to believe that the Bible, as an organic whole, is based upon the abstract fact of God, as Creator and Governor, but we also find that subse- quent books of the Bible consolidate and ratify the historical and initial evidence given in the Book of Genesis to the concrete fact, and circumstantial evidence therein given of such creation, and of its subsequent results and consequences. Not only do we find that the subsequent books of the Bible are organically united with the book of Genesis, and 1 1 will, here, quote a passage from the book of Job, which may be said to contain the gist of the argument from a Theistic and Biblical standpoint, for Natural Theology. ' ' But ask now the beasts and they will teach thee ; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee ; or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee ; and the fishes of the sea shall declare to thee. Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this. In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind " (Job 12 : 7, 8, 9, 10). The inference de- ducible from this passage, as, also, from the whole scope of scrip- ture teaching is this : As objective evidence, addressed to man, creation is, in itself, unequivocal evidence of, and testimony to God, as perfect First Cause, and Creator, and man cannot without crimi- nality, in his relation to God, separate between Him and the works of His hands, in the relation of cause and effect. 14 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW the inspired record of creation ; but they are, as parts of the organic structure, based upon the in- spired record of creation, and also upon the record of the Fall of Man ; and that such record is consoli- dated by cumulative and homogeneous evidence, in Law, in Prophecy and in History ; and such testi- mony is perfected and finally sealed by the authori- tative, and explicit teaching and testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is sufficient here to observe that these considerations are vital to us. They are primary, and also eternal principles of God's moral government. As they were, by Job, and his friends accepted as familiar and axiomatic, as well as neces- sary truths, they are, as such, endorsed and reas- serted, both in their relation to God as Creator and Father, and also to the inspired record of the Old and New Testaments, as God's handiwork ; and to the Bible, as a whole, by Him whose authority and testimony may not be disputed without peril. As He has declared that upon love to God, and love to man, as essential principles, are based " all the Law and the Prophets," so also may we be justified by His teaching in declaring that with regard to Natural Keligion, and the Word of God, the attri- butes and character of God and the ontological and moral faculties of man with which God as Creator has endowed him, are the salient features of His moral government, and the basis of all subsequent revelations of the Divine Will concerning us, and the governing factors by which they are directed. NATURAL THEOLOGY 15 The prophet \ical t inching of our Lord Jesus Christ in regard to Natural Theology. I have hereinbefore but incidentally quoted the teaching of our Lord and Saviour in regard to God as Creator, and in regard to Natural Theology. I desire now, in closing this summary, to make it a special point in the argument, and as the subject stands related to Christ and to Christianity. In view of the fact that, in the theodicy of " Lux Mundi," the Incarnation is the terminus a quo, or starting point of dogmatic Theism, the ascertained facts of our Lord's teaching in regard to natural evidences is of peculiar importance. The question is, AVhat are these facts ? The answer afforded to us in the Gospel is, that God's works and character as evi- denced in Creation, and Conservation, are brought forth as specific and distinctive elements of truth concerning His character and moral government ; that, as such, they are directly appealed to ; and, also, that as such evidence, they are incorporated with His own personal and prophetic teaching in regard to the character and objects of Christian faith, and the subject of Christian duty. This is evidenced throughout all the recorded teaching of our Lord. It is made prominent in a special man- ner by His Sermon on the Mount. The love, wis- dom and care of God is the great theme, and the basis of every precept. God cares for the ravens ; He clothes the lilies of the field ; He causes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good ; He sends rain 16 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW on the just and on the unjust. The love, even of our enemies, is inculcated upon us by the fact that our Father in Heaven is kind unto the unthankful, and to the evil. We are exhorted to kindness and un- selfish benevolence by the fact that He is the great and universal Giver ; our duty, in short, as disciples of Christ, is here set before us and inculcated on the broad and primary basis of the personality and char- acter of God. Synopsis of Chapter I 1 It will, I think, be useful, having considered the evidence, negative and positive for Natural The- ology, or in other words, for the being and person- ality of God as Creator and Author of the world we live in, and of the universe at large, to summarize the conclusion deducible from the evidence, as a basal truth, and as that on which we may properly build the primary and initial truth of the theistic argument. There have been, in all ages, those who have dis- believed, or affected to disbelieve, the primary and rudimentary truth of the existence and being of God as declared and set forth to us in Holy Scripture. 1 As integral parts of a consecutive argument, it is desirable that the Notes to the several Chapters, placed in the Appendix, should be read in their proper order and relation to the Chapters to which they belong. NATURAL THEOLOGY IV It may be said to be characteristic of and peculiar to the disbelief of the present day as declared by its teachers, that it is a disbelief of the natural evidence, and professedly on grounds of science, or the ascertained fact of natural law. Moreover, it is further characteristic of such disbelief in the present age, that it, now, comes to us from within the pro- fessing church of God, and of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ ; and that a Theodicy is built upon this basis ; primarily upon what is asserted to be a basis of scientific truth, or the ascertained facts of natural law. Such is the character of the Theodicy of " Lux Mundi." Its authors plainly and unmistakably state and declare that it is built upon evolution. Were their premise supported by the logic of fact, as they would have us- believe it to be, we should then be justified in saying that the primary and initial truth of Theism — i. . The negative, here, as always, involves the positive. The same principle holds good whether the act is done under natural, or under supernatural and inspired law. It is necessary, in the next place, to state an important principle equally fundamental to Theism, which is this : that man cannot, under any circumstances, as cannot any created being, by any possibility, be independent of God. as First Cause. Hooker guards his statements as to the law-eternal of man's nature, by stating this fact in the most emphatic terms (Book II. ch. 9 : 1 ). " There is no kind of faculty or power in man. or in any other creature, which can rightly perform the func- tions allotted to it, without the perpetual aid and NATURAL RELIGION 35 concurrence of that supreme cause of all things." That is to say, without supernatural help, or in other words, without the assistance of God's Holy Spirit. Without extending the consideration of this general principle beyond our race, or beyond our present condition as having fallen from God and holiness ; that is to say, from a state of provisional innocency, as was the case with our first parents ; because we have become heirs of a distinctly sinful nature, or a natural bias to sin, which Holy Scrip- ture and also facts declare to be of a radically malignant as well of a decided character; we are absolutely dependent upon the direct, personal and supernatural grace of God's Holy Spirit, promised to us in Holy Scripture, and always given to the true seeker after God in obedience to the law of Eight, To such, aid has, without doubt, ever been given ; and Holy Scripture does but establish an elementary principle of Theism under Xatural Law, when it emphasizes, as it does fully, both in the Old and the Xew Testaments, such a quality and characteristic as distinguishing God's people. They are described as "followers after righteousness, and seekers of the Lord " (Is. 53 : 1). So our Lord voices this principle when He says, " Ask and it shall be given you, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you, for every one that asketh receiv- eth, and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened " (Matt, 7 : 7, 8). Fur- 36 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW ther, be it considered that, if man, as a sinner, is in- capable of redeeming himself, by reason of the moral power of sin over his heart, or of obeying, without supernatural aid, the law of Eight, still less is he able, as a finite creature, intellectually to find out God, or to fathom the Infinite Mind ; and, least of all, as a sinner, to have communion, whether by knowledge or by any other moral and spiritual quality, with Him. Only those who, as sinners, humble themselves before God, can be so exalted ; and as our Lord has so declared and testified, so also has He said, "If any man receive not the Kingdom of God as a little child, he shall in no- wise enter therein " (Mark 10 : 15). Of this prin- ciple, as well as of the former, it may be affirmed, both are fundamental principles of God's moral government ; they have obtained from the begin- ning, and they obtain now, as eternal principles of His moral law ; and, as such, are incapable of mod- ification or change ; they remain fixed, whatever may be the time, manner or degree of Theistic evi- dence in its progressive manifestation, consolidation and ultimate development. The method, or plan, of man's recovery, as a fallen being, could, on theistic premises, be evolved or disclosed to man in no other way than by a direct or supernatural disclosure from Jehovah Himself. But, such disclosure is quite independent of the fact, itself, which, as an act of the Divine Mind, is the effect of His eternal counsel ; and the gradational disclosure of such NATURAL RELIGION 37 purpose as is embodied in Holy Writ is the alone development possible, or consistent with Biblical Theism. Of the radical and essential distinction between philosophical and Theistic knowledge, I will dis- course hereafter. I do but desire here to emphasize the fact that no real or supposed discoveries or de- velopments of scientific knowledge (the premises of the Divine existence, and personality being granted, as established facts) can, by any possibility, affect the first law-eternal of God's being, or na- ture, as it is identified with His self-existence and eternity ; and, from this it follows that His counsels for the moral government of mankind are one and unchangeable, and they apply, not merely from the foundation of the world, but were an eternal pur- pose of the Infinite. (Rev. 13 : 8), " The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." (Eph. 3 : 11), " The eternal purpose, which He purposed in Christ Jesus, our Lord." Otherwise the theory of evolu- tion as applied to theology by the authors of " Lux Mundi " becomes no less than a radical issue with Biblical Theism in its origin, character and results. From these preliminary considerations it may be evident that objective and subjective theism must necessarily have one uniform character, as it has existed and obtained in the several ages of the world's history, and under a Divine economy of grace and probation. In other words, although " God spake at sundry times, and in divers manners, 3S THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW in times past, to the fathers, by the prophets, and has, in these last days, spoken to us by His Son," this fact in nowise affects the unity of God's law of procedure, or the elements of Biblical Theism, in doctrine, fact or history. God's method of salvation, as His purpose, is one and eternally the same, and absolutely incapable of mutation or change; primarily by reason of His own being or nature, and suborclinately, or deriva- tively because of the moral qualities with which He has endowed us. I close these considerations of the evidence for Natural Religion as an element in the moral gov- ernment of God by remarking that the primary, fundamental law of reason, as the second law-eter- nal peculiar to man, as created ; as it is divinely given, does, in itself, comprehend a prospect and an expectation of additional evidence from the supreme and inexhaustible source of all things, and of all in- telligences ; not from within itself, but from the Creator as the great giver, and the supreme intelli- gence and the perfect good. We may regard the principle enunciated by our Blessed Lord, as the great Prophet and Teacher of supernatural truth (as He is also, in His person, " the image of the invisible God," and " head over all things to the Church ") as expressive of a truth fundamental to Theism and to Natural Religion, when He teaches us that " To him that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance " ; that is to NATURAL RELIGION 39 say, that to " the generation of them that seek Him " ; to the church, in its proper, normal and es- sential character, as a community of spiritual wor- shipers ; to such, individually, in hope, and to such, as a spiritual and chosen generation did, from the beginning, properly appertain the reasonable expectation of cumulative manifestations and reve- lations of God, as also of ever increasing experi- ences as facts, in evidence, in support of their faith and hope, as fixed on Him. Lastly, and with special reference to " Lux Muncli," I would say that Natural Religion and elementary Theism is counter, in its essential character to the New The- ology therein set forth upon the basis of cosmical evolution ; as such theory is counter to the Divine personality, and, so, to Biblical Theism ; while, on the other hand, Natural Religion, as representing elementary Theism, may be said to require, as also to expect, a written and Divine law-supernatural, in development of God's purposes of eternal salva- tion, as well as of the principles of His moral government ; as such development is in perfect con- sonance with Theism, as grounded upon the fact of the Divine Personality, and essential being of God, and also upon man's actual need, ontologically and morally considered, to receive from Him ; and, specially does this apply to thos~ who, as His true worshipers, in the ages antecedent to the Mosaic and New Testament eras, have longed for and earnestly desired such communications from Him, 40 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW as they have desired conformity to His character. Such, in all ages of the world, are not only heirs of a just and reasonable " expectation," by reason of His nature and personality in whom they put their trust ; but they are also the heirs, as they are the subjects, of His recorded and peculiar promises. Synopsis of Chapter II Our first proposition under this head is, that God, as revealed in nature, is knowable. This proposition is the logical sequence of our conclu- sions from Chapter I. We have concluded that nature, intrinsically considered, reveals God, and we have also seen that this conclusion is ratified by Holy Scripture, and is in unison with it. I will somewhat amplify and particularize these general conclusions. We have seen that the moral axioms clearly deducible from the objective evi- dences disclose to man, as a moral agent, the pres- ence and operation of a Divine law of right, of which God is the Author and Original ; and that this law comes to him as the proper and legitimate law of his being, and presents itself to him under the form of moral obligation. It is to be observed that, in the discovery of this law, the ontological and moral nature of man is a main factor, and man is, himself, made or adapted to the evidence. Fur- ther, we trace in this adaptation the presence of a NATURAL RELIGION 41 universal Jaw that governs all the cosmos. There, we everywhere see evidences of adaptation; of means suited to an end or purpose ; and, in this fact we discover that man is, himself, within the unity of nature, and that all created things had one author. The same result that is reached by a direct appeal to man's ontological and moral qualities is reached by analogical inferences from physical laws. The efficacy of those laws and their universality, point to a moral lawgiver, and they demand from an intelligent moral agent his attentive obedience to the lessons they convey, as they are addressed to him. These are the necessary and inherent evidences which are contained in and inseparable from crea- tion itself. This evidence is present, necessarily, in every part of the habitable world, and in and with every individual therein, though in varying degrees of force as graduated to varying degrees of physical and mental advantage or disadvantage, arising from varying degrees of opportunity; yet, still leaving a necessary minimum of evidence and of moral responsibility. These, I say, are the certain and fixed evidences contained in natural religion, objective and subjec- tive, as a universal heritage, but, with this, as a starting point, and as a basis, we have, chronolog- ically and historically, a developing evidence of an immediate and supra-natural character, fortifying and confirming the initial evidence; and, in the 42 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW Book of God, we trace (1) the assertion of the validity of the evidence in nature, and in the human conscience, (2) its illustration, and (3) its consolidation and unification. The written record, in chronological and historic order, authenticates and unifies, with cumulative force, the evidence that is primary, fundamental and unwritten, and so, the Bible, from Genesis to Eeve- lation, comes to us as the cumulation, and culmina- tion of Theistic evidence, and is its complementum, as Theism finds its climax and complementum in Christianity. As I have stated, at the outset, our logical conclusion from the evidences in objec- tive nature, as presented to man is, that God is knowable ; the character of that knowledge and its conditions, I have stated more fully in the follow- ing notes. It will be sufficient, here, simply to give a sum- mary of the conclusions that follow and are to be deduced from this one central fact that God is knowable by man, and, of its consequent obliga- tions. (1) A first condition of such knowledge is that man must obey the law of his being, and exer- cise all those powers with which God has endowed him. In other words, he must "diligently seek Him." (2) It is fundamentally necessary that he does so with a submissive will, or a readiness to obey the evidence. (3) It is, also, equally neces- sary that he does so with a sincere and whole- hearted purpose. All our moral conceptions of NATURAL RELIGION 43 God, all the evidence that nature affords, and all the declarations in Holy Scripture go to assure us that, under such conditions God is not, and never has been, at any time, or in any place sought in vain. Finally, the fact is to be stated and to be emphasized, that under no other conditions, at any time, can man truly know, or come into fellowship with God. CHAPTER III THE BEING OF GOD, AS RELATED TO HIS MORAL GOVERNMENT We have determined the fact and the character of the Divine Personality from His works in Crea- tion, and from their subjective results, coupled with those moral intuitions which arise both from our ontological character and from the objective evidence. The soul of man, as we have seen, is, in its dis- tinctive nature, fitted to be governed by the evi- dence of God objectively presented to it. It is an obvious fact that both the Being of God, and the nature of the human soul, must be prime factors in determining the nature of His moral government ; the one absolutely, the other derivatively. We may say that (apart from the Bible) we have two sources from whence we derive a knowledge of the Being of God. The first and chief of these is His works, as Creator, conjoined with, what is a necessary sequence therefrom, that is, His Provi- dence. The works of God direct us to His Per- sonality ; to a perfect intelligence, a perfect good- ness, and a perfect power ; and these, as represent- ing unitedly an all-perfect Being. 44 THE BEING OF GOD 45 The Bible, as an authoritative, divine and super- natural revelation, declares and amplifies this. But the objective evidence from nature is corroborated by the moral intuitions which are generic to man, ontologically considered. Our conceptions of God which we may call in- herent, as they flow from right reason and con- science, are that the First Cause of all things must necessarily be the perfection of all we know of wisdom, goodness and all moral excellence. These intuitions are given by Him as the result of ob- jective evidence, and, as the result of His creative power upon us, and they call for the perfection, in Him, of all that we can know, and must recognize as good and excellent. The very term, virtue, rep- resented to the heathen nations of Greece and Eome, what moral goodness, right, or holiness does to us. All these qualities, severally and dis- tributively, represent a part, or aspect, of a combina- tion which we can describe by no other term than a Personality ; an All-Perfect Being. Thus, what we call the attributes of God, are only parts, or as- pects, of His perfections, and are derived from, or as revealed qualities, adapted to our finite knowl- edge and conceptions ; as we reason from the less to the greater. First, however, let us notice that these several qualities of perfection, or good that we ascribe to God, are, each of them, perfect, as they exist in Him. One aspect of the Divine Being, as manifested to -±<; THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW us, is His constancy, or immutability, — as contrasted with the mutability of things around us, and with the instability and faithlessness of man. It is a prime ground of confidence and of comfort to creatures and to sinners. It is brought out for our instruction and comfort by God Himself, in Holy Writ. It is applied, also to the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ, as being the same "yesterday, to-day and forever." It is next to be noticed that this quality and attribute, and all other perfections, as they are combined and unified in God's Personality, so, in such unification and combination the acme of perfection is reached. For this reason, God, as the constant, and un- changeable Good, in His manifestation as such to us, is so manifested because of the fact of His self- existence. He is, Himself, the uncaused. He is the Everlasting " I am " ; otherwise, He were not God. So, both His beneficence and immutability are as- pects of His self-existence, and self-existence com- prehends and contains complete, entire and eternal good. In this connection I would recall consideration of the fact that the Personality of God is repre- sented by Eternal Right, as the law of His own Being. God is the Right, as distinguished from the Wrong, as He is the Good, as distinguished from the Evil. By this we are assured that God will never contravene either equity, or goodness, in His requirements of duty from man ; what we THE BEING OF GOD 4? ought to do, as contrasted with what we ought not to do ; because that in Him they each exist in perfect ratio and proportion. Thus, in requiring from a moral agent a moral and spiritual obedience, it is a moral, as distinguished from a simply intellectual obedience, and the moral requirement of obedience so characterized is, as to degree, regulated by the degree of knowledge and opportunity given to them individually, or collec- tively, " at sundry times and in divers manners." Such variety of degrees are, and have been, parts of the Divine economy. There has been, from the be- ginning, a progressive unfolding of the Divine plan and purpose; but, at the same time, a necessary minimum has been maintained, which has, always, left the free agent responsible. The moral sense of Eight and Wrong has never wanted such a degree of light as, in perfect consonance with the character of God, left man, as a responsible being, and the subject of moral trial, amenable to the judgment of Him who, as a condition of His Being and charac- ter, will, eventually, reward the good man and pun- ish the evil-doer. Also, it is to be noted that while there has been a progressive development of God's plan of moral government of the world, which has culminated in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as Saviour of men, there has been no change in the prime fac- tors of such government ; and the inscrutability of God,, as self-existent and eternal, has been main- tained intact as an element of His Being, and, it may ±8 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW be added, as an element also of His government. " Canst thou, by searching, find out God ? Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection ? It is higher than Heaven, what canst thou do ? It is deeper than Hell, what canst thou know ? " (Job 11: 7, 8, 9). "His ways are past finding out" (Rom. 11 : 33). Also, as a prime factor in the case, it is always to be remembered that the sinfulness of sin remains, not only in the abstract character of moral evil ; but as it is engrafted by the Fall of Adam on all his posterity. This factor in the case, modern criticism would disown and deny, but, as it is a foundation truth of the Bible, and as it is ratified as such by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the inspired writer of the New Testament as to its historical source and origin and as a dogmatic truth delivered to us ; so it is asserted by the Ninth Article of our church, as a foundation truth of our Holy religion, and as an ar- ticle of our Confession and belief. We recognize that sin is essentially what it always was, since Adam's fall ; that it is the " fault and cor- ruption of the nature of every man that naturally is engendered of the offspring of Adam " ; and that, as an " infection of nature, it remains even in them that are regenerate." These are, severally the premises in the argument, as in the moral government of God. " The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the World " (1 John 4 : 11). " The Son of Man THE BEING OF GOD 49 is come to seek and to save that which was lost " (Luke 19 : 10). The major premise is, that God is the Infinite Good ; the minor premise is that man, as a sinner, is, by the Fall, alieniated from Him. To relieve such need, the Divine arm, itself, as the alone suffi- cient source of help, is stretched out. The moral government of God is required to be such as shall, at once, glorify Him, as God, in the processes of that government, while making redemption avail- able to man. These premises are fundamental to Theism, as it applies to our world, and this consideration, at the outset of the argument, is of great importance, as introductory to that which is to follow. In remark- ing upon the primary truth of the Being of God, I have referred to Him as the perfect Good ; I did so, however, in reference to His natural attribute of self-existence, as the law natural, and distinctive of His being, as He is uncaused. I would further re- mark that the natural attributes of God's necessary immutability, and, also of His inscrutability, as they are truths fundamental to Theism, have a most im- portant bearing upon the Theistic argument, as such argument is in contrast with the Theodicy of " Lux Mundi." In the previous chapter I have stated the foundation of the evidence, objective and subjective, for the Being and Personality of God, and have re- ferred to the fact that the Bible, as an inspired and supernatural revelation from God, does but amplify 50 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW and consolidate the evidence, as it gathers up all Theistic evidences in an accumulated whole. I have, also, hereinbefore summarized the Theistic po- sition, as to the Being of God, and His moral gov- ernment, as related to such evidence. It is neces- sary, now, over against the Orthodox, Biblical and Theistic position, to place the Theodicy of "Lux Mundi," as stated by its authors. I shall, in so doing, quote chiefly from the essay on " The Christian Idea of God," as such essay stands related to their theod- icy and, also, to the principles of Biblical Theism ; and afterwards make such deductions as seem to me necessary and just in the premises. The essayist has some very broad and bold state- ments to^make at the outset, as to the effects of the new and nationalistic Criticism, and he makes the statement that as faith is challenged by it, so the traditional or Biblical idea of God, is feeling the effects of it. I will, however, proceed to make verbatim quotations from the essay, premising only the fact that, upon page two, and at the beginning of his arguments, he states a principle that underlies it, as a whole, and also the whole of the volume of which it is a part. He claims that scientific truth, or that which is hypothetically claimed to be such, is homogeneous with supernatural or inspired truth, as given to us by God, in Holy Scripture. He then proceeds to establish a radical opposition between religion and philosophy ; and as in the term " relig- ion " he includes with all other systems, that of THE BEING OF GOD 51 Theism, or belief in the God of the Bible, and also the Bible itself, and especially the Old Testament ; so, by a process of " evolution by antagonism," as he terms it, to purify what he considers to be, and what he designates as "immoral conceptions of God." Having so disposed of the distinctive char- acter and authority of Holy Scripture, he proceeds to apply the principle of evolution by antagonism to its teaching concerning the character and person- ality of God. He states that " in religions, there is a survival of the fittest," and "this is reached in that religion which assimilates philosophy by fusion with it, so as to promote moral and intellectual truth " ! Passing over some statements as to Kef- ormation theology, Calvinistic doctrine, and the immorality of Roman Catholic theology ; (and he classes them all in about one category, pp. 58-66) he says, (p. 6Y) that "it is the function of morality to purify the religious idea of God." Upon page sixty -eight he says, " The religious idea of God must justify itself to the highest known morality, and no amount of authority, ecclesiastical or civil, will make men worship an immoral God." " And, already that truth has thrown back its light upon questions of the Old Testament morality. We no longer say, " It is in the Bible approved, or allowed of God, and therefore it must be right." I notice, here, the false statement of the orthodox and theistic position. False and unjust inferences are, in some cases, drawn as to the judicial acts of 52 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW the Most High ; while in other cases it is falsely inferred that what the Bible delivers to us, as a faithful record of facts of history, are, because of that record, also facts allowed, or approved of God. The essayist adds also (p. 68), " But it (i. e., the religious idea of God) is challenged not alone by conscience, but by the speculative reason." And upon page sixty-nine he says, " If then, the idea of God is to appeal to both the religious consciousness and speculative reason, it must be by claiming philosophy for religion, not by claiming religion for philosophy." That is to say, that religion must accept philosophy as homogeneous, by fusing itself with it, and it can only do so by eliminating from itself, or rejecting the supernatural and peculiar element; or, in other words, its distinctive and Divine element, or its peculiar and special inspira- tion by the Holy Ghost. I speak here of course of that which is properly called religion, as in conformity to, and governed by the teaching of Holy Scripture. It is to be noticed that the homogeneity here, by the essayist, declared, does, actually, make philoso- phy to be necessary, and to be paramount to Holy Scripture. Upon page seventy he says, "There was no fusion, as yet, of Jewish and Greek thought ; only each was learning to understand the other, and unconsciously preparing the way for the higher synthesis of Christianity." That is to say, that evolution was to produce it. Upon page THE BEING OF GOD 53 seventy-eight he says, " This doctrine of the Omni- presence of God, as conceived by religion, had yet to be fused with the philosophic doctrine of im- manence." This is made to square with mental evolution as opposed to supernatural revelation in Holy Scripture. Upon page eighty-two he says, "The immanence of God in nature, the higher Pantheism, is a truth essential to true religion, as it is to true philosophy." " The mission of modern science was designed of God, (!) to bring home to our unmetaphysical ways of thinking the great truth of the Divine immanence in creation, which is not less essential to the Christian idea of God, than to a philosophical view of Nature." So, also, " Our modes of thoughts are becoming increasingly Greek ; and the flood which is, in our day, surging up against the traditional idea of God, is prevail- ingly Pantheistic in tone." Upon page eighty, he makes the bold statement that "Even amongst those who believe that Chris- tian morality is true, there are those to be found who have convinced themselves that they have intellectually outgrown the Christian faith." This, be it understood, is the logical result of their premises, in every case, where they are held. Upon page eighty-three, he says, " It seemed as if tradi- tional Christianity was bound up with the view that God is wholly separate from the world, and not immanent in it." " It remains then for Christianity to proclaim the 54 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW new truth (i. e., evolution) and meet the new demands by a fearless reassertion of its doctrine of God." Again, "He (God) is the good to which all creation moves; the object alike of religion and philosophy, the eternal energy of the natural world, and the immanent Reason of the universe." So, page eighty-five, " the doctrine of the Trinity was unfolded (i. e., evolved), in order to satisfy, alike, the demands of religion and of reason." "The gradual revelation of God, answering to the grow- ing needs and capacities of man." " Eeason in- terprets religion to itself; and, by interpreting, verifies and confirms it." "Eeligion therefore claims as its own, the new light which metaphysics and science are, in our day, throwing upon the truth of the immanence of God." "It dares to maintain that the fountain of wisdom and religion, alike, is God ; and if these two streams shall turn aside from Him, both must assuredly run dry ; for human nature craves to be both religious and rational, and the life that is not both is neither." It must be understood that the term " religion," or " religious," does not, as used by " Lux Mundi " mean Theism, or Christianity distinctively and solely, but it includes all systems of religion, alike, which they consider homogeneous in character, also their subjective results. Also in the Theodicy of " Lux Mundi," while this particular essay deals negatively with the subject of the " idea of God," THE BEING OF GOD 55 and attacks the Scripture doctrine of His Person- ality, in the assertion of " the higher Pantheism," it also directly attacks the acts of God's Supreme Personality as Moral Governor, and the doctrines that are peculiar to, and distinctive of Theism. Two of these doctrines are scornfully reprobated as immoral, by the author of this essay, — i. e., the doctrine of God's Sovereignty in Election to Salva- tion ; and the doctrine of the atonement, and the substitutionary and vicarious sufferings and death of Christ. This last is made the subject of special attack in a separate essay, in which the substitu- tionary death of Christ is distinctly repudiated, and His office as Saviour of men nullified. Such is the attitude of the Evolutionary Theory of the Being and Moral Government of God. Our first reflection upon it is that the author of the par- ticular essay considered here (as indeed of all the essayists) aims at certitude ; nominally, by means of a fusion of philosophy with religion, but, really, this result is aimed at by philosophy, alone. It re- mains, however, true that our knowledge of God, and of Divine Truth, even by Christ, is relative, and not absolute ; also, that this knowledge is not and cannot be attained by philosophy (the world by wisdom knew not God) in part, or in whole. It rests upon no human foundation. Also, God re- mains, after revelation of Himself in Jesus Christ, and after the completion of the New Testament Canon of Holy Scripture ; He remains, as He 56 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW always Avas, — the same, Wonderful, and Incompre- hensible Jehovah ! A further consideration of the trend and require- ments of the philosophical criticism is, that it asserts for itself a Theodicy that is not only unbib- lical, and also antitheistic, in relation to the first principles of Theism, but also illogical. That is to say, illogical from its theological premises and standpoint as claiming to represent the articles of the Christian faith. The hypothesis to which the authors of " Lux Mundi " stand committed, and, in conformity with which, as the premises in their scheme of a Theodicy, — such scheme as framed is, logically, consistent only, with Panthe- ism, as a thinly veiled substitute for atheism. Its necessary premise may be found in its conclusion. It is necessary to their premise to attack the first element of Theism, contained in the first article of our church. " There is one living and true God, everlasting, without body, parts, or passions, the Maker and Preserver of all things, visible and invisible." This cardinal element of Theism includes not only the character of God, but His Personality ; and this is attacked by them in more than one of His attributes, essential to His Being, and so ex- plicitly declared both in nature and in Holy Scrip- ture. They, themselves, describe their doctrine of God's immanence in creation, as "the higher Pan- theism," and declare, also, that "the flood, which THE BEING OF GOD 57 in our clay is rising up against the traditional (or Biblical) idea of God, is increasingly Pantheistic in tone." They cannot get over philosophic difficulties in the way of their hypothesis, by which certitude as to God and to Divine things (I mean philosophic demonstration, and not the certitude of a reasonable faith, resting on sufficient evidence) is denied to man, without asserting an actual superiority for, and necessity of philosophy (false or true) ; so that inspired, or supernatural Truth, representing, be it remembered, the Authority and Personality of God, must be made out to be homogeneous with it, and, even subservient to it ; but, also, the necessary con- ceptions of the human mind as to what is essential to the fact of a Self-Existent Being, viz., that of a Perfect, as well as a Supreme Personality ; — what we are taught concerning Him, from His works in creation, and most explicitly by the historic and dogmatic teachings of His inspired Word, as rati- fied by the authority and personal teaching of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, must, all, give way to the governing principle which they have laid down, in evolution as an absolute, and universal law in the order and government of the world, physically and morally ; and the very character of and the conditions under which a Deity will be al- lowed, or acknowledged to rule the universe, is required to be regulated by it. Is it not logically demonstrated that such a sys- 58 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW tern can be described by no other term than anti- theistic and anti-christian ? Herbert Spencer is a true witness when he says that, pressed to a logical issue, evolution cannot be made to consist with the acknowledgment of a Per- sonal First Cause. The consideration of the attitude of " Lux Mundi " to other elements of Theism will come up in their order, in the course of our positive argument. I cannot leave this particular subject without giving emphatic denial of my assent to a cardinal principle in the Theodicy of " Lux Mundi," i. I communication was an immediate and personal revelation of God, and, so, an evidence peculiar to Theism, corroborating the fact of the Divine ex- istence, and the claims of God, as Creator and Governor, as also declarative of His will; it was a distinct assertion of His sovereignty, and of His absolute freedom as moral governor. 4. Further, in some cases they were designed to declare an element of the Divine character, and being, dogmatically taught and historically re- corded as an essential element of Theism, viz., the Divine inscrutability. (With reference to this subject, it is only neces- sary, here, to say that, as a Biblical truth, and as an element of Theism maintained through all progressive development of God's counsel and will, such inscrutability is relative, and not absolute, as declared by agnostics.) The meaning of some dreams could only be un- derstood by men who were specially taught of God, as well as specially approved of Him. So Joseph declared, " Do not interpretations belong unto God ? Tell me them, I pray you " (Gen. 40 : 8). (Joseph was herein appealing, not only to the knowledge, but to the religious consciousness of those he ad- dressed, hence we have, herein, a just and an im- portant inference afforded us.) Let us notice that this element, now before us, is incorporated with the dispensation of the Spirit, and the promise thereof, in the last days, i. 7 conscience operative upon the individual, is not reg- ulated, necessarily and primarily, by the degree of knowledge, but by the moral affections, and as the individual prevailingly loves and, so, chooses and identifies himself with either good, or evil, morally considered ; that is to say, with sin, or with holi- ness. Therefore, while a degree of knowledge of right or wrong is necessary in order to the deter- mination of character, it is not necessary, abso- lutely, that man should be in possession of a high degree of evidence of elementary Theism, in order either to responsibility, or to happiness. Also, it is to be considered, as Hooker has judiciously observed in regard to the law of reason, as the law peculiarly pertaining to man, and given to him of God for the governance of His life, " Whatsoever we have hith- erto taught, or shall hereafter, concerning the force of man's natural understanding, that there is no kind of faculty, or power in man, or any other creature which can rightly perform the functions allotted to it without the perpetual aid, and con- currence of that Supreme Cause of all things " (Hooker, Book II, ch. 9, sec. 1). That is to say, his knowledge or obedience cannot be mechanical, or independent of the personality of God. Lastly, in this connection, the physical, psychical and moral constitution of man is of that plastic character that, ontologically considered, he is in all these respects, capable of wondrous degrees of de- velopment, and manifestation of character and 208 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW capacity, specially of moral good, or evil. Such is correspondent with his position and character as a free agent, under moral accountability to his Cre- ator. Also, it is to be noted that the essential ele- ments of knowledge, necessary to a virtuous and holy life, are few and simple. The ultimate and controlling force, in a life of virtue is not, necessa- rily, knowledge ; that is to say, a high degree of knowledge ; but character, or moral affection, based upon evidence ; and this is self-determined. It is undoubtedly true that moral evil of an inveterate nature opposes man in his way, on every side, both from without, and from within ; it is also true that supernatural and Divine help, as provided of God, is at hand to succor and to meet the needs of the true-hearted. In view of all these facts of man's capacities of body and soul, and of the known moral government of God, there is everything to commend these facts to our full confidence that, in all places, at all times, and under all conditions of human life, " Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him." And, as " He has not left Himself without witness," at any time nor in any part of the world, " He is nigh to all that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in truth." At this point it is apposite to compare our posi- tive conclusions as to the ontological capacities of conscience, and man's responsibilities because of it, with the negative position as to the same subject. Here it is apparent that modern pantheism and THE LAW OF CONSCIENCE 2<>9 modern materialism are in juxtaposition. The pan- theistic theology of " Lux Mundi," and the hypoth- esis of evolution is, manifestly, more in harmony with materialism as to the differential character of the human soul, as related to animal life, than it is to the principles of Biblical Theism which asserts its immortality, and its distinctive generic character, as derived from the immediate hand of God. It is scarcely possible, upon the hypothesis of evolution, as a radical and absolute law of the universe, and as that hypothesis is held by " Lux Mundi," to dissoci- ate the two elements of man's nature, the psychical and the corporal in the application of that hypoth- esis ; both parts of man's nature must be the sub- jects of evolution, as a force in nature. As I have before said, logically, such a principle denies a per- sonal Creator, but, even upon that incompatible principle which endeavors to reconcile evolution with the Biblical doctrine of Creation, and with the principles of elementary Theism, and allows (as "Lux Mundi " would do), that a personal God is the author and Creator of the " atoms " out of which the earth is "evolved" and also of the protoplasm that is the source of animal life ; nevertheless, all the teaching of " Lux Mundi " goes to favor (as in- deed their premise requires them to do) the notion that man, as an animal — the whole man — has been "evolved" from the brute creation ; consequently, they do not hold that he is possessed, ontologically, and generically, of more radical and distinctive 210 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW qualities and capacities, as to his soul, and as a moral agent, which make him, by the law of his creation and the hand of God, both subject to and peculiarly capable of obedience to His moral law, i. e., onto- logically considered. In other words, their princi- ple of evolution, as a premise, must logically affect their doctrine as to the law of conscience, and the principles of Natural Keligion — as well as of Natural Theology. This, too, logically accounts for and explains why it is that both Natural Religion and Natural Theology have no place, actually and practically, in their system ; as well as why they endeavor to maintain that little knowledge of God was imparted to man under the Old Testament, and especially in the earlier ages of the world. I pass on now to consider (2) the actual cause of ignorance of God, as a subjective quality. It is because of the fact of man's ontological capac- ities and moral constitution, and also because of adequate objective knowledge, universally bestowed (although in different degrees), and by reason of which he is justly responsible to his Creator, that ignorance of God is, everywhere, in the Bible, treated as criminal, and chargeable upon man as sin; because such knowledge, including enjoyment of God, he might have had, — moreover it was, also, his duty to seek. St. Paul said of the Roman world, as heathen, that they were "without excuse," that (intellec- tually considered) they "knew God, yet they glori- THE LAW OF CONSCIENCE 211 fied Him not, as God, neither were thankful." That they "did not like to retain God in their knowl- edge," and that while they knew that those who lived wicked lives were " worthy of death," yet they " not only did the same, but had pleasure in those who did so." So also are we told in the Book of Genesis, (6 : 12), that "all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth." We are led to infer that it was a wilful act, and done against evidence. It would appear by some to be tacitly assumed that the wilfulness of sinners, in shutting their eyes to light is something peculiar to those living under Scripture light, specially that of the New Testa- ment, but it is at least gratuitous so to assume. It rests upon a false conception as to the character and force of Natural Eeligion. The wilfulness of sin has been always chargeable upon man. This is true, notwithstanding the fact of a developed The- ism, under the Gospel. The ignorance and atheism of the Old World, as condemned of God, arose from the same cause, as the present corruptions of Chris- tianity, by false philosophy, and "oppositions of science, falsely so called," have arisen ; that of wilful ignorance. This fact has, I think been here- inbefore demonstrated that, apart from God's in- spired Word, man was, from the beginning pos- sessed of available and sufficient knowledge of God. Also, while I believe the fact is not questioned, it is, as a fact, capable of similar proof that the 212 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW ontological and psychical capacities of man, in rela- tion to such objective knowledge and the law of conscience, or the sense of moral responsibility is identical with what we are now possessed of. We may cite, here, the instance of Cain. God's appeal to him in view of his unrighteous anger, is an appeal to his consciousness, as well as to his in- tellect and moral sense, acknowledging truth and right. "Why art thou wroth, and why is thy countenance fallen ? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted ? And if thou doest not well, sin, (as a transgression of the known law of right) lieth, or croucheth at the door" (Gen. 6 : 7). I interpret it, as Gesenius does, as meaning that so lying, or crouching, it will inflict its own punishment, by moral law. So also we may cite the instance of Abimelech, King of Gerar. There, too, God ap- peals to his consciousness of the nature of sin, and of its just results, and Abimelech responds to it. He pleads the integrity of his heart, and the in- nocency of his hands ; and God in like manner, as the searcher of hearts, acknowledges his integrity, and accepts his plea. I have before quoted our Lord's words, in which He appeals to what Hooker calls the second Law Eternal, viz., the law of right, and man's natural capacity of knowing it, " Yea, and why, even of yourselves, judge ye not what is right?" (Luke 12: 57). Our Lord frequently appeals to the same law. " The light that is in thee," — " take heed that THE LAW OF CONSCIENCE 213 it be not darkness " (Luke 11 : 35), and in a similar way He refers to objective light, and Himself as its fulness. "Walk, while ye have the Light with you " (John 12 : 25, 26). We may properly infer that our Lord regarded the objective, and subjective law as universally, and in all ages present, as the rule for the governance of man's life ; we may so infer from its language, before quoted. In corroboration of this, the words of Jeremiah (13 : 15), ma}^ apply, " Hear ye, and give ear ; be not proud, for the Lord hath spoken. Give glory to the Lord your God before He cause dark- ness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and while ye look for light, He turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness." In short, our Lord's express language informs us that while a greater degree of knowledge, if sinned against, shall be punished with "many stripes," so, He tells us that a lesser degree shall be sufficient to make man culpable, if he sins against it, and that he shall then be punished with " few stripes " ; so also says St. Paul (Kom. 2 : 6-13). All our experience and observation, and well as the concurrent teaching of Holy Scripture goes to shew that as moral blindness is the result of a sinful habit of life, so, the ignorance for which man will be punishable and punished, hereafter, is an ignorance which he has wilfully and persistently chosen. It is very noticeable, as it is very pertinent 214 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW to our argument, that this is regarded as an axiom in all the discourses of Job, and his friends, viz., that at that day, as God was knowable, so, sin against Him was inexcusable, and worthy of pun- ishment. We are justified in declaring that our Lord intended to assert an absolute and invariable moral law when He said, " Every one that doeth evil, hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved, but he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God " (John 3 : 20, 21). We thus conclude that the blind- ness of conscience present with polytheists was not a result of uncertain, or inadequate means of objec- tive knowledge of God, but, that their intellectual, as well as their moral perception, " their foolish heart," as St. Paul terms it, was defiled and dark- ened, by their following, as Hooker states, the law of passion, rather than the law of reason, and what was peculiarly given them of God for the guidance of human life. We have considered (1) the capacities, and, so, the sufficiency of the subjective law of conscience, as exercised upon the objective evidences of God's character and will, apart from an inspired and written law. Herein I have had regard, chiefly, to the ontological and psychical qualities of the human soul, as capable of assimilating and appropriating truth and knowledge, both of an intellectual and moral character, concerning God and His will. THE LAW OF CONSCIENCE 215 (2) I have endeavored to shew that personal and subjective ignorance of God is, in all times and under all circumstances, a moral result of disobe- dience to the law given of God to govern human life and action, i. e., the law of reason as contrasted with that of passion and sinful appetite. It is now fitting to state the mandatory power of conscience, or its authority to govern men. (3) As addressed to moral agents, by a moral governor who is, in Himself, the centre and source of law, this manda- tory power is based upon truth and knowledge, and, as it is the truth and knowledge concerning God Himself, as Creator, and Benefactor, it is the knowl edge of right and wrong. This truth is presented to and acquired by an inherent and ontological fac- ulty of moral consciousness, which responds on God's behalf within us, and with an indisputable authority, enforces the claims of such truth upon us, and says we ought to do it. It speaks in no uncer- tain tones, of duty, and, while it does not compel the action of the will, it warns and admonishes and it promises, according to the action that is taken upon the evidence given, objectively and generally and subjectively and personally, and, so, sealed with the responsibility of personal relationship to the soul of the individual man. What I have to as- sert, and to maintain, in this connection, is that in both these aspects, (1) as to the capacities of con- science, intellectually and morally considered, and (2) as to its mandatory power and authority to hold 216 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW man responsible, the evidence given, anterior to rev- elation, is deficient in no element essential to The- ism, and to the just judgment of God over man, as a fallen being, and under probation for a future life. It is sufficient to state that, while the recip- rocal influence of all man's moral faculties is charged with the evidences objectively declaring, and revealing God's character, and will, and that those evidences (hereinbefore considered) are of a most pervasive character, the self-determining power of man's will is declared and magnified, as it is, progressively, and ultimately, exercised upon such evidences, not only now, under a revealed and written Word, and a published and preached gospel, but under the law of Natural Theology, and its concomitant evidences, anterior to the Mosaic law and ritual, and to Christianity. I shall now contrast the conclusions I have ar- rived at as to the principles of Elementary Theism, with the New Theodicy, having for its basis the hy- pothesis of evolution. In that theodicy, Natural Theology and Natural Keligion have, practically, no place; there is, in them, supposed to be no The- istic evidence, So, also, in the supernatural evi- dences we have, hitherto, considered ; they also are ignored. The primitive conceptions of God, — as required by their premises — are assumed to be in favor of polytheism. The nature of God, as an ob- jective truth is, so " evolved " from polytheistic conceptions, and is so treated. The inspired Word, THE LAW OF CONSCIENCE 217 as a revelation from God, is actually " fused " in this theodicy, with the speculations of philosophic moralists, and regarded as one with philosophy, and what are assumed to be scientific and intellectual truths, in general ; and experts and specialists in these departments are regarded as inspired. Faith in God, and in revealed truth ; that is to say in Bible truth, is necessarily mutable, as it de- clares the faith of the church, because, both objec- tively and subjectively it is in a state of constant evolution. As it is essential to the hypothesis of evolution, as applied to Theology, to depreciate the evidence from Natural Theology, and from Natural Religion, so is it also necessary to their hypothesis to belittle the Old Testament, as a revelation from God ; and, therefore, to base all definite and dog- matic teaching upon the New Testament, and the Incarnation. Also, as these sources of Theistic knowledge are belittled, so, also, in conformity with the hypothesis of cosmical development, and the assumption that man was " evolved " from an ape, primitive man must have had not only a very in- ferior intellect, but also very little power of moral perception, or conscience. Thus objective and sub- jective ignorance, in the early history of the world, is made to square with the theory of evolution. On this principle we can account for the judgment of Mr. Illingworth who says (" Lux Mundi," pp. 168-69), " Then there is the rash orthodoxy that is over eager to accept any result that tallies with 218 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW its own preconceived opinion ; as for instance that belief in primitive monotheism. No doubt several very competent authorities think that the present evidence points in that direction, but a majority of critics, equally competent, think otherwise." No doubt, upon the preconceived theory of evolution, Mr. Illing worth so concludes, but, in antithesis to this theory, we hold, as orthodox Theists, the reason- able faith of a primitive monotheism. We hold to the statement of Holy Scripture, that " God made man unright, but they have sought out many inven- tions." And we are, in so doing, supported by ample evidence that an objective and declared monotheism was the primitive and universal creed of mankind, and so held until man had " corrupted his way upon the earth," and darkened his reason, by wilful disobedience thereunto, as unto the law given him of God to govern his life ; as Hooker, Aristotle, St, Augustine, and Plato have declared (Hooker, Book II, Ch. 8, sec. 6, 7, 8, 9). Although there has, as ordained of God, been a law of progression, and development of theistic evidences, and of a primitive monotheism ; and a correspondingly increased moral obligation, accom- panying such development, we deny in toto the premises of cosmical evolution, as the radical law of creation, with the evolution of man, physical and psychical ; and also the false and essentially atheistic principle underlying the theory of evolu- tion, and so declared in the disloyal and destructive THE LAW OF CONSCIENCE 219 theodicy by which not only is the Old Testament, as a revelation from God, belittled, but, also, the teaching of our Divine Lord is, to say the least, ir- reverently and injuriously misstated and detracted from. Finally, to summarize the evidences we have hith- erto considered, — and the results. I think it may be said we have had complete proof that God has given to man — apart from the written law of Holy Scripture — in the mediate revelations afforded in His works in nature and also in and by the immediate and supernatural revela- tions of His Divine personality which He has vouchsafed to mankind, ample evidence to instruct man, as a moral agent, and ample encouragement to those who would sincerely seek Him. We may say, however, that God's requirement of man is one that is highly rational, highly necessary and just, as it is both a simple and a moral requirement. "He that cometh to God must believe that He is." The evidence does not and cannot — sufficient though it be — compel belief, yet it both justifies it and, also, requires it. There is, besides, another requirement, equally necessary, and indispensable. This is, that he shall "diligently seek Him." To such He is a rewarder ; but to such, only. The seeking that is requisite must engage the whole man ; all his moral faculties. The object is worthy of them all. This require- ment obtains in all ages, and under all conditions. 220 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW We may see that the determinative quality, and, so, that which is assimilative — which by act and habit forms human character, and shapes human destiny, fixes the responsibility of the individual man ; because, under the conditions of human sin- fulness, or bias to sin, supernatural and personal aid has always been present and available to help man in obeying the law of his being, i. e., the law of reason, as sustained and emphasized by supernatural evi- dences. It is further to be considered (and this fact I desire to emphasize) that it is the action of conscience, and of the determinative faculty that stamps character. The argument of St. Paul in the thirteenth chapter of the Epistle to the Bo- mans, in reference to eating of meat that had been offered to idols, may, I think, be held to be appli- cable, absolutely, and universally, as defining the power and authority of the law of conscience, and also as declaring that the action taken internally in the inner chamber of the soul, is the criterion of character and final rule of God's judgment. Con- science indeed (though never independent of ob- jective evidence) is, after all, the controlling factor in human life, and of its future results in the great hereafter. Admit — as we must and do — the great value of objective truth, in regard to the measure of such evidences, it is not the measure or the excellency thereof that is the preponderating or controlling force in forming man's moral character. This is, I THE LAW OF CONSCIENCE 221 think, an undoubted fact, although it is, in general too little apprehended. The all-wise government of God has so ordered the moral economy of this world in which we live, that under the most disadvanta- geous conditions none should be left without wit- ness, or evidence in all that is actually essential to guide and to govern him, so that he may pass through and out of a world of moral trial, in a state of moral and spiritual fitness, as a free, re- sponsible and tried moral agent, for a future and blessed life in the presence of God ; and this result is not governed by the degree of objective evi- dences. There is a necessary minimum of such evidence, and this minimum is, in no case, wanting. The moral agency of the individual is, in every case, a prime factor. " There is no difference between the Jew and the Greek ; the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him " (Rom. 10 : 12). Appendix CHAPTER I Note A Negative Argument for the Personality of God The argument against modern philosophic the- ories, or u Naturalism," is well stated by Mr. Balfour in Part I, and Part II of his book, " Foundations of Belief." Mr. Balfour recognizes, at the outset, that the subject involves, not alone the intellect, but the moral nature of man. He shews that the results of the naturalistic philosophy include only material and physical law, and that conscience and moral law are ignored and virtue denied. Further, that by this process of argument there can be no combination of biology, and ethics. He also shews that "naturalism," practically denies free-will, and, so, human responsibility. In relation to aesthetics, Mr. Balfour shews that naturalism, or mechanical materialistic philosophy gives no adequate explanation of this quality of the human soul, by which it apprehends and appreciates the beautiful. There is no intrinsic and essential quality of beauty by which it can be, so, philosoph- 223 •224: THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW ically demonstrated, and, such an apprehension can only be by a faculty of the human mind. It can- not be independent of the taste of the observer. As to music, advance in the art and science of music does not entail advance in the effects pro- duced by it. As to taste in dress, the natural tend- ency to agreement consequent herein tends to form both taste and habit in all minor things ; while in the higher relations of thought, the sense of beauty must find another source and original— its prime origin is to be found in God. It is a just intuition of the human mind that coordinates the true, the beautiful and the good. I give a quotation on this point. "However little, therefore, we may be prepared to accept any particular scheme of metaphysical aesthetics, and most of them appear to me very absurd, we must believe that somewhere, and for some Being, there shines an unchanging splendor of beauty, of which in nature, and in art we see, each of us from our own standpoint, only passing gleams and stray re- flections, whose different aspects we cannot now coordinate, whose import we cannot fully compre- hend, but which, at least, is something other than the chance play of subjective sensibility, or the far- off echo of ancestral lusts. No such mystical creed can, however, be squeezed out of observation and experience ; science cannot give it us ; nor can it be forced into any sort of consistency with the naturalistic theory of the universe " (pp. 65, 66). APPENDIX 225 Mr. Balfour summarizes the results of naturalism, as a system, as follows, — " If naturalism be the whole truth, then is morality but a bare catalogue of utilitarian precepts, beauty the chance occasion of passing pleasure, reason but the dim passage from one set of unthinking habits to another " (p. 77). It is here to be observed that the idea of the beautiful, as an objective entity, and necessary to the human mind, goes to shew that man is onto- logically, as well as with reference to moral quali- ties of his nature, made in the image of God, and this correlation of his distinctive ontological be- ing to the peculiar characteristics of the Divine personality, are facts which are clearly at variance with the theory of evolution, as held by materialis- tic writers of the present day. In Part II Mr. Balfour shews that naturalism, as a system, has, and can have no philosophic basis. According to naturalism, experience is necessary in order to certainty, but a system for the universe cannot rest, philosophically, on an individual basis. Also, there is no absolute uniformity in nature, and there can be no universal law of causation. There is, therefore, no philosophic certitude possible to naturalism. In relation to authority, and reason, Mr. Balfour says of the traditional belief of Eight and Wrong, as summarizing morality, that it is " beyond individual criticism " ; so also, " The moral sense of mankind indicates the existence of absolute authority." 226 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW Moreover naturalism makes no provision for the ethical part of man's nature. It must, however, be said that while the negative argument of Mr. Bal- four is entirely satisfactory and logically sound, the same cannot be said of the constructive, or positive part of his book ; and in passing from the negative to the positive he does not logically proceed to argue from the premises which he has established ; the proper outcome of which should be, — not a scheme of " provisional philosophy," — apparently upon the basis of evolution as a universal law, and subjective in character, but the great, primary and objective truth of the personality of God. Note B Positive Argument for the Personality of God We have seen, in the epitome given of Part I and Part II of Mr. Balfour's book, that the works of nature, and man's ontological qualities, as an in- tegral part of nature, do not bear out and justify the naturalistic hypothesis of a universal law of de- velopment as the law of nature ; and, specially that such naturalistic hypothesis makes no recognition of the ethical part of man's ontological qualities. I shall, now, epitomize some of the positive evidence for a personal Creator, as source and origin of the universe. For this purpose I choose, chiefly, the APPENDIX 227 salient points, or some of them, contained in the Duke of Argyle's work, "The Unity of Nature." A main and a comprehensive truth introductory to the subject is found in the fact that, under multi- form laws, we are able to trace a universal and a perfect adaptation of means to a particular end. In reference to inorganic nature, the author shews that there is, often, a relation of one law to another, although that relation is, more or less obscure. Such are the relations of ether to radiant heat, to chemical affinity, and also to galvanism and elec- tricity. So of the laws of sound. It is probably true that, as ether is intimately, although obscurely, re- lated to the former elements, that it is so related to sound. The same may be said to be true of solar light. These are separate and separable forces, yet capable of chemical affinity. In relation to organic nature, a second and a salient truth is to be noticed, i. e., that protoplasm does not represent or explain life, as a separate force ; it only, represents the modus-opera ndi of life. Further, man is included in the unity of nature, in the element of his body, and in the one principle of life, as before stated. Con- cerning animal instinct as related to the mind of man, there is, in such instinct, a perfect adjustment, a mechanism adapting means to end, but, in their case, it is unconscious obedience to law. Animal instinct is not derived from experience ; it is innate and hereditary. It is what it always was ; it is not evolved, but Divinely created. All emotions of 228 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW man are present in animals, except thought or rea- son. Purpose, also, belongs to organic movements of animals, but it is outside of themselves. In man there is a combination of reason and intuitive ani- mal instinct ; so the author considers. It is, per- haps, more correct to say that there is an analogy between the intuition of animals and the intuition of man, generally ; but, specially, with regard to the animal part of his nature, where his reason is not sensibly called into exercise. In regard to the distinctive ontological character of man's being, several things are to be considered. (1) Man is conscious of his own limitations ; also we can understand the limitations of the irrational creatures, and we know the nature of their desires. (2) There is an evident contrast between man and the animals in this, i. e., that the desires of the rational creature are, here, never fully satisfied. In regard to man, as he is related to the Divine Author of his being, (a) our finite mental capacities give us not merely a sense of abstract infinity, but, also, of an Infinite Being; (b) the correlation of matter and force suggests the same truth, i. e., not only of infinite power, but also of an Omnipotent Being; (c) the human mind, as an integral part of nature, as a system, enables man under its laws to receive and to interpret objective evidence in nature (Isaiah 23 : 28 adfinem). The laws of the human mind are in harmony with the unity of nature. The order of thought under which the human mind APPENDIX 229 renders intelligible to itself all the phenomena of the universe, is not an order that invents, but an order, simply, that feels and sees. In relation to the moral capacities of man, the supreme faculties of the mind stand related to purpose, — in ourselves and in others. The understanding of man, as related to ends ; and the moral sense as it recognizes the law of righteousness, and the ultimate authority on which it rests. Bishop Butler, in his sermon on "the ignorance of man," says that the highest degree of knowledge attainable by man is " the author, the means and the end in the system of nature." The intelligibility of nature is coextensive with the whole range of man's intelligence, the higher and the lower ; those which perceive the reason of things must be included, as well as those which per- ceive their causes, merely. It is true indeed that this perception does not reach the rank of an ultimate truth, for the simple reason that, high as the faculties are which require the reason of a thing, there are other faculties which seek to know where that reason, — that Logos — is seated, and where the place of its habitation. In relation to the " atom " of modern science, a contrast is suggested with it and the atom of the ancients. Prof. Clarke Maxwell, following up the dictum of Sir G. Herschel, says that " each molecule throughout the universe bears impressed upon it the stamp of a metric system, as distinctly as does 230 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW the meter of the archives at Paris, or the double royal cubit of the Temple at Carnac." The Duke of Argyle mentions the fact that the chemical combinations that man can effect in the inorganic kingdom of nature are artificial in char- acter, while living organisms, alone, represent chemical affinity. " Chemical combinations of the organic can only exist in living beings." Chemical composition is one thing, and organic structure is another. There is a radical difference between chemical combinations effected by nature in living organisms, and chemical composition in the organic world. Every animal organism is structure through and through. " Its whole substance, and, as it were, its whole essence is structure and nothing- else." The Duke illustrates the difficulties of the hypothesis of evolution, from the case of the chrysalis and the butterfly, showing that this does not harmonize with the rudimentary theory as to organs for future use. " Also, there is here no struggle for existence, and no development of germ." Yet, as he says, and as says also Sir Win. Daw r son, Creation and Evolution are not mutually exclusive, but harmonious and complimentary, i. e., there is no such thing as an absolute and universal law of evolution in nature. The solution of the problem of the origin of nil things is w r ell stated as follows, — "Under whatever cloud of words men may endeavor to conceal it, our recognition of this universal fact and law in the APPENDIX 231 genesis of organic functions is the recognition of mind by mind ; the recognition by the human mind of operations which are intelligible to it only be- cause they are operations having a close analogy with its own." Hence, he argues, very properly, that mind in man represents the supernatural, or is the creative work of God. Against the proposition of materialism, which would exclude man from the unity of nature, the testimony of Professor Agassiz is quoted, who says, " The truth is that life has all the wealth and en- dowment of the most comprehensive mental man- ifestations and none of the simplicity of physical phenomena." These considerations shew, first, that as the human mind is the highest created thing of which we have any knowledge, its conceptions of what is greatest, in the highest degree, must be founded on what it knows to be the greatest and highest, in itself ; and secondly, that we have no difficulty in understanding how this image of the Highest may and must be faint, without being at all unreal or untrue " (" Unity of Nature," pp. 155-56). Also, " All we know, and all the processes of thought by which this knowledge is acquired, in- volve and imply the truth that our mind is, indeed, made in some real sense in the image of God, although intellectually its powers are very limited, and morally its condition is very low " (p. 186). I add some remarks from the same author as to the moral qualities of man. First, he shews that 232 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW there is a correlation of the intellectual and moral faculties. The desire for knowledge is innate in man, also, the sense of ignorance, and, in some de- gree, the sense of unworthiness. The sense of ignorance, though necessary, and defining man's place in nature, is negative; the sense of unworth- iness is positive. The sense of right and wrong is innate in man ; so also of responsibility. " I ought," is incapable of analysis and reduction. It is simple and inherent. Conscience, or the mandatory faculty in conscience, is concurrent with and inter- dependent with other faculties of the soul, as mem- ory and understanding." The author shews that all relative and human authority, parental, social, civil, and religious, has its seat and original in the personality of God, and that all relations of life, as well as every part of the system of nature, are permeated by a Supreme Mind, and by a Supreme Authority. I have thus epitomized that portion of the Duke of Argyle's admirable book which bears directly on Natural Theology, and a Personal Creator, evi- denced in nature. There are other parts of it which I have not referred to. I would also notice that the thoroughly logical essay of the late Principal Tul- loch of Aberdeen, on Theism, starts from the same premises, i. e., Mind in Nature as evidencing Crea- tive Mind. He logically follows the evidence through inorganic and organic nature and makes all to culminate in the moral intuitions of man ; APPENDIX 233 evidence that modern science does not regard as an entity ! Materialists of this kind who bely or degrade the moral sense in man, often decry what they call anthropomorphism ; they, themselves, manifest an anthropomorphism of a most absurd and indisput- able character, when they deify the dim light of intellectualism, and exclude not only moral sense and obligation, and moral affection, but also what is peculiarly the ego, characteristic of man, i. e., the will power. In such conceptions of the primary good and origin of all things, man, in so judging of the Supreme Cause, not only judges of Him by himself, but he takes an ex-parte view of his own nature as it is a true witness to the Divine handiwork, as it is to the Divine perfection and personality. It may be said that the correlation of nature and the human mind is self-evident. It is only mind in man, that enables him to trace mind in nature by analogy of his own highest and most distinctive experience and ontological qualities. These not only enable him to see mind in nature, but they direct him to the necessary fact that he is, himself, within the unity of nature, as it discloses a Personality who is the author of it all. More than this ; these premises which establish an all-perfect Personality, include in that Personality all the fac- ulties found in man as a self-conscious being. Thus, our modern philosophers are illogical and unphilo- sophical when they reason from ex-parte premises. 234 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW As the ethical part of man's nature is not ac- counted for satisfactorily upon utilitarian principles, and as the human mind includes moral qualities, as an element of its being which finds its comple- mentum in, and is finally represented by the will, as the Ego, so, by a just inference and analogy they must, in argument, admit the absolute authority and Supreme Will, as the legitimate and true ex- pression of the Supreme Mind. We may thus arrive at a correct estimate of the place of miracles in the economy of God's government of the uni- verse. It is only by an ex-parte pantheistic and mechanical interpretation of nature that we can deny the fact or possibility of miracles. The ma- terialist points to the inexorable character of law, in nature ; the necessity and inviolability of law, so far as man can trace or understand it, is not abso- lute, but relative. A supreme mind involves not only infinite and perfect wisdom and power in the formulation of law, and which as the source of law cannot be traced by the finite intelligence to the final cause, by the sequences of nature, but, as it includes all ethical qualities, so also it includes a supreme and determinating will that is correlated to all the other elements and attributes of His being, in perfect unity of character, as well as perfectness of rela- tion ; and, so, adjudges and determines His actions and His government of the universe, not necessarily, or mechanically, but freely and absolutely, accord- APPENDIX 285 ing to the freedom and transcendence of His per- sonality and supreme perfections. Mr. Proctor, author of " Other Worlds Than Ours, 1 ' seems to leave this out of view when he argues that an all- perfect Mind, as He knows all the past and all the future, could or should ordain perfect laws which would not require His personal intervention. This is illogical reasoning. Not only may the sovereign and all-perfect will of the Creator properly ordain otherwise, as His sovereign and perfect knowledge and judgment of all the facts may see it good to do, and as His all-perfect power enables Him to do, but — from the highest analogy that we can make the basis of our estimate of the Supreme Good — His Supreme Personality should, we may reverently say, so express itself in the exercise of that all-per- fect will, and in its manifestation to all His universe, declaring, thereby His ineffable and supreme per- fections. I here subjoin the latest deliverance of science on the subject of the Origin or Prime Cause of all things. Lord Kelvin, the president, at this date, of the British Association for the advancement of science has given an official deliverance in the form of a protest, and in the name of science, against what he designates as " Scientific Atheism." The immediate outcome, from a literary and theological standpoint, of Lord Kelvin's deliverance is concisely summarized in an article in the London Tablet ; and for this reason I give it verbatim, with a few intro- 236 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW ductory remarks. This utterance of Lord Kelvin's is a sufficient, as it is an authoritative utterance by one who has a legitimate title to speak in the name, and on the behalf of science ; and his utter- ance may properly be described as explosive of the hypothesis of Cosmical Evolution, and by conse- quence, and at the same time of the so-called The- ological System of " Lux Muncli," which is based upon Evolution, because it, again, declares the basis of the hypothesis of Evolution to be no basis at all, as it has indeed no existence, in truth, and in fact, and as it is, really, what it audaciously and falsely de- clares the Bible account of Creation given in the Book of Genesis to be, i. e., mythical ; a pure fabrication. Lord Kelvin's recent statement that Science is compelled to affirm the existence of Creative Power is dealt with as follows in The Tablet: Lord Kelvin, the greatest of living scientists, has recently made the statement that so far is science from den} r ing Creative Power, or from considering the supreme fact, the being of Deity, beyond her scope, that she positively affirms the existence of Creative Power. The words of this "prince of sci- ence " have led to a long and significant con- troversy in the Tim.es, where he has been attacked on three occasions by a leading botanist, on two by a prominent mathematician and freethinker, and lastly, in a letter a column long, by a distinguished zoologist, Prof. Ray Lankester. Several others APPENDIX 237 have joined in, and the Times has published an ex- cellent editorial article on this, the highest subject of human thought. It is more than desirable to consider the problem which has led Lord Kelvin to this bald assertion. It is the origin and source of life on our planet. And the first fact of interest at the present moment is that none of Lord Kelvin's antagonists have offered the smallest suggestion as to the solution of this problem. Whilst denying Creative Power, they have no alternative to suggest. Nor has one of them had the honesty to admit the absolute and un- relieved ignorance of biology — the science of life — as to the origin of its subject-matter. Let us, therefore, make examination into the ground of Lord Kelvin's words. And the first question to be asked is whether living are ab- solutely distinct from the non-living things at this hour. There has ever been talk of " sponta- neous generation." A Frenchman has described " cells of gelatin " which only needed a " something " to make them live. An Indian professor has de- clared that he can obtain living responses from a strip of tin as readily as from a strip of living muscle, and so forth ad nauseam. Now it may be positively asserted that all such statements are ut- terly worthless. It is, on the other hand, the univer- sally admitted and fundamental dogma upon which biology, physiology, and medicine are built that every living thing is descended from some living an- 238 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW cestor. The great Harvey, who discovered the circu- lation of the blood, formulated the dictum, " omne vivum ex ovo," every living thing is from an egg. This is unquestionably true ; but Yirchow, the founder of modern pathology, gave us further detail. Every living thing on the earth, whether a microbe or an oak, an oyster or a horse, is com- posed of units called cells, and, as Yirchow taught us, "omnis cellula e cellula," every living cell is de- rived from a preexistent living cell. Now these are established truths, which have never been se- riously called in question since their formula- tion. This being granted, let us go further. Astron- omy and geology have shown that the surface of the earth was once fluid, and was covered with rolling tides of molten lava. Obviously no life could then exist. Lord Kelvin himself will always be remem- bered as the great mathematician and physicist who calculated that it must be about one hundred mil- lions of years since the earth's crust was formed. It being granted then, that life cannot be manufactured now, and that life had a beginning on the earth, science makes enquiry as to how the beginning was effected. Lord Kelvin refers us to Creative Power ; speaking from the scientific standpoint. But the vast majority of scientists are against him. It is fair, then, to enquire what they have to offer. There are only two theories. Both are abso- lutely worthless. This bold statement is made not APPENDIX 239 as a matter of personal opinion, but as the general verdict of science itself. The first was no more than a flight of imagi- nation ; and we owe the bold jeu d'esprit to none other than Lord Kelvin himself. He suggested, many years ago, that the first living matter had been brought to our planet, at some distant age, by a meteorite or comet which had borne it from another world. Obviously this merely transferred the site of the problem to Mars or Jupiter, or any- where else. It was no solution. ISTor, for many other reasons, is it for one moment tenable. It re- mains, in the eyes of Lord Kelvin himself and every one else, as no more than a daring but base- less idea. The second explanation is equally worthless, but much more plausible and much more specious. It is generally accepted by ignorant atheists, but is entirely ignored by scientists, atheistic or other. Even the hot critics of Lord Kelvin, who would give anything for a theory that would cast dis- credit on the belief in Creative Design, have not stooped to mention this outrageous piece of pre- sumption, which is known as the Carbon-theory of Haeckel, the notorious German pantheist. The Carbon-theory, which his ignorant followers regard as constituting Haeckel's title to immortal fame, is very simple in statement. It asserts that Carbon has life potentially within it ; that long ago, it took unto itself, under conditions not now re-reproduc- 240 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW ible, the other necessary elements, oxygen, hydro- gen, and nitrogen, and made the first living thing, or " protist," as Haeckel calls it. We desire to avoid cumbersome detail, but a few words are jus- tified wherewith to expose the error and audacious ignorance of this theory. Haeckel is a zoologist of distinction ; but his knowledge of the chemistry of living matter is second hand, being dealt with by a separate department of science of which he has no personal knowledge. So obvious is this, that Haeckel has actually omitted all mention of two elements, sulphur and phosphorus, which are invari- ably present in " protoplasm " or living matter, and the latter of which is the most essential constituent of the nucleus, which, in its turn, is the most essen- tial part of the living cell. There is no space to describe the numberless other fallacies in the theory, which is, indeed, no theory, nor even an hy- pothesis ; but a tissue of deception. It is surely ter- rible to realize that thousands of copies are selling for a few pence in England to-day of a chapter of "science falsely so-called" which would make Car- bon — a diamond, or the core of a " lead " pencil, or a lump of coal — the source of life ; would make Car- bon God. The subject is illimitable ; but here and now is set down the deliberate assertion of a professional biol- ogist that neither his own nor any other branch of science has the slightest knowledge of any other source of life than the Almighty. Lord Kelvin is a APPENDIX 241 physicist, not a biologist. His opponents, therefore, deny his right to an opinion. This article is writ- ten by a biologist to show that the science of life has for the source of life no other name than God. Supplementary to the above I will quote two passages from the editorial in the London Times of May 13th. The first is a sentence from Lord Kelvin's deliv- erance, selected by the editor to state Lord Kelvin's position, i. e., " Scientific thought is compelled to accept the idea of creative power." The second quotation I will make is a sentence from Darwin, quoted by "T. C. F." i. e., "No evi- dence worth anything has, as yet, been advanced in favor of a living being being developed from inor- ganic matter." These two sentences describe, negatively, and positively, the place, and the value of evolution as a law in the economy of Nature. It is relative and not absolute, in its extent ; or, as the late Sir Wm. Dawson phrased it, " not exclusive but comple- mentary." The law of evolution, as known to science is not absolute in character, nor is it exclusive of creative power. This is the negative statement of science ; and, as such a deliverance, it is all sufficient. It is all that logicians, or that Biblical Theists can desire at its hands ; anything further is beyond its sphere, or its ability. It is sufficient for us to say that, with our adversaries rests the onus pro- 242 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW handi ; and, that the negative involves the positive. I agree with the editor of the Times that the argu- ment from the atoms themselves, as manufactured articles, is, in itself, sufficient as related to the claims of Theism. Note C Evolution and Elementary Theism I will, first, summarize the theory of evolution as it stands opposed, directly or indirectly, to Biblical Theism. Some who advocate the theory of evolu- tion are avowed unbelievers in God, and in the Bible. In holding to cosmical development, they do not admit a personal First-Cause in creation ; they are, therefore, materialistic pantheists. The atoms out of which the earth was " evolved " are themselves uncaused. Herbert Spencer admits that such is the logical result of the principles of evolu- tion, as an absolute law in regard to the origin of the universe. Others endeavor to reconcile the principles of cosmical evolution with belief in a per- sonal First-Cause, and, in so doing, they are obliged to come in conflict, not only with the Old Testament Scriptures, but with the teaching and even with the personality of our Lord and Saviour. Such is the position assumed by " Lux Mundi," as it represents what is known as the Higher Criticism. " Lux Mundi " holds the principle of cosmical devel- APPENDIX 243 opment, and, therefore, inferentially holds the de- velopment of man from the animals. It does not explicitly say so, but it considers such development to be very probable. In a similar way, the trend of its teaching is that monotheism, or belief in the Lord Jehovah, was evolved from polytheism, which is supposed to have been the primitive faith of mankind. In consequence of the general hypoth- esis, it is found requisite to deny the authenticity and veracity of at least a portion of the book of Genesis, because the acknowledgment thereof as historic facts would militate against the theory of evolution ; as does also the doctrine of native de- pravity, as a consequence of the temptation, and the fall of man. For the same reason, they profess to find a great similarity, if not an actual unity, in all the early religious beliefs. As a consequence of this position, the teaching of the Old Testament, as well as the superstitions of the heathen nations, requires to be purged by mo- rality, in order to get rid both of error and of im- morality in its teachings. The principle of evolu- tion is applied to the "fusion" of philosophy with religion, in order to such purification, and to evolve truth from such fusion. The same principle of evolution that requires theism to be evolved from polytheism, and that requires the denial of the veracity of the Old Testament, denies that there is any foundation for dogmatic theism before the In- carnation of Christ. It is to be added that such 2U THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW fusion is, they say, necessary in order to purify our idea of God/ In this they admit that our concep- tion of the Supreme Being stands connected with His transcendence, and with His dwelling-place in heaven, as the especial and peculiar seat of His glory. If we ask why they would " purify," or alter such conception, the answer is that they assert and magnify His immanence in the universe, and, practi- cally, they identify Him with it, or, with such of its laws as are known to and understood by man. Herein, they make the same endeavor to do away with the supernatural in nature, even as they seek to do away with it in Holy Scripture, by denying to it that special and unique inspiration which makes it in any proper sense the Book of God ; and by which they seek to fuse with it science and philosophy and all natural truths, as homogeneous in character and as elements of religion and religious truth. Based upon the Incarnation, and as a result from it, or at least connected with it, is evolution as ap- plied to the mind of man. Not intrinsically, by its own power, but, as is conjectured, by the work upon it of the Holy Ghost, there is an u evolution" of knowledge, as part of a Divine economy. "The power that impels, impels (say they) all thinking things." Consequent upon this, scientific enquiry, in all directions, is, in fact, an inspiration, and it is ever advancing. Yet, while they admit that Chris- tianity is also final in character, they would actually APPENDIX 245 emasculate, at least, some of its doctrines, and spe- cially the substitutionary character of the Atone- ment of Christ, is a doctrine that requires to be purged away by the fusion of Jewish and Greek thought, or by philosophic morality. The personal and human knowledge of our Lord is depreciated, and even His official testimony is so explained as to compromise His fidelity to truth. As the Atonement is, virtually, deprived of its effi- cacy, so the doctrine of human depravity is denied, and the doctrine of sinless perfection is taught in the form of subjective evolution of character. The transcendency of God's government of the world is virtually neutralized by their doctrine of "imma- nence." This is required, because they minimize, or neutralize the supernatural element in creation, providence and history. By this principle the in- spiration of the Scriptures, also, is reduced to a nullity. Such are the salient results of the principle of evolution, as held by " Lux Mundi," and they afford a comprehensive idea of its character as a theodicy. Each of the subjects referred to will come up hereafter. It must be added, here, that connected with this elaborate metaphysical pan- theism, is the sacramental theory of the church, which is the primary feature of the Eomish system. This theory is fully asserted in " Lux Mundi." Actually and practically, according to its teaching inspiration resides in the church, and "the church and Christian consciousness " must (they say) deter- 246 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW mine how much of the Scriptures is to be believed, and in what sense. I have given a synoptical view of evolution, and its results, as a theodicy, held by men who profess to be both Christians and theologians. I propose, now, to state the attitude of elementary and Bib- lical Theism as related to and as contrasted with it, and specially in reference to the elementary evi- dences of theism, viz., the being and personality of God, as Creator and Governor of the World. Be- ginning then with the argument for the Divine ex- istence, and with His creative work, it is to be said that in this, and in the truths based upon it, al- though the fact is set forth, as a fact, grounded on sufficient, valid and rational evidence; Theists w T hose theology is consistently grounded on the Bible as a revelation from God, do not hold their theism to require demonstration, or philosophic proof in order to its validity, as true. Various Christian apologists have formulated arguments, or analogies which, while declaring the Divine exist- ence and personality to be highly consistent with all that is rational, yet, if philosophically examined, would involve pantheism. We may say, therefore, from these facts, and from intrinsic consideration, or the nature of the subject, and also from the lan- guage of Holy Scripture in Heb. 11 : 2, " He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him ; " but that such demonstration is incompatible both APPENDIX 247 with the Divine purpose in His moral government, and with the intrinsic fitness of things, because of the subject matter, and because of the nature of man as a moral agent, under probation, that such demonstration should be presented, or capable of presentation. It may, in fact, be said to be incom- patible with the nature of God, and with the char- acter of man, i. e., with his ontological character and capabilities. But, although it is not requisite that the evidence should, as in the case of philoso- phy, and mathematics, amount to absolute proof and demonstration, it is requisite that it be of such a character and extent as may entitle it, as moral truth, to acceptance by a moral agent. Evolution, as it is actually based upon philosophy, or rather philosophic speculation, and as it is purely a mental conception, and hypothesis, aims at certitude ; but it is intellectual, or mechanical certitude, and abso- lute necessity. It is a palpable fact that man's in- tellectual capacities are finite ; as this suggests, an infinite intelligence, so, it evidences natural inca- pacity to measure the infinite, or to comprehend it ; demonstration, both of the being of God and of all the truths consequent upon that being is intrinsic- ally impossible. That such demonstration is inher- ently incompatible with the requirements and cir- cumstances of the case, we will consider more fully hereafter. But, while such demonstration is denied by the inherent necessities of the case, we are justi- fied in saying that it is also denied by Divine pur- 248 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW pose and wisdom. I have referred to the inferential teaching of Heb. 11 : 2, as requiring faith in the Divine existence and character. The same require- ment of man, as a moral agent, is the paramount, as well as the primary requirement of God in Holy Scripture, as it is the mainspring of all obedience. There are further considerations. The measure and degree of God's revelations of Himself to man have, at all times, been so regulated as to require faith, and also to exclude mechanical certitude. It is true to fact that, while miracles, in themselves considered, cannot compel belief, they are yet a cogent reason to justify a reasonable faith ; and they go to make man in a greater degree responsible for disobedience to evidence. Yet our Lord intimates in Matt, 11 : 20-24, that, in certain cases, such kind and degree of evidence, if exhibited, would have amounted to moral compulsion, and that such a measure of evidence it is God's purpose to withhold. It is also a fact that, notwithstanding progressive developments of truth in Holy Scripture, yet, the inscrutability of God, as an element of His being, and of His moral government, as He is the infinite and the eternal One, remains intact. It is fitting, first, to present the negative argu- ment against evolution, and to draw attention to the fact that anti-theists require from theists a demonstration, which they themselves are not able to give for their philosophical speculations ; while upon them lies the onus probandi. APPENDIX 249 To the foregoing I will add the five fatal objec- tions to evolution, as the absolute law of the Cos- mos, and as stated by Sir ¥m. Dawson in his " Origin of the World." (1) Albuminous, or protoplasmic material seems necessary to the existence of every living being ; it is known to us, as a product, only, of the action of previously living protoplasm. The origin of proto- plasm is a mystery to science. (2) No mode is known to us whereby life can be communicated to dead protoplasm. (3) Species are, to science, unchangeable units, the origin of which we have no means of tracing. (4) There is radical difference between animal life in general, and that of individual in relation to the embryo. Animal life in general bears a resem- blance to the development of the individual from the embryo, yet the external conditions and detail of the two series are different ; so of their origin. (5) Groups of animals in geological time always end without link or connection with previous beings. Evolution and the Bible Doctrine of Creation I will, also, here put in contrast the Bible doc- trine of creation with the hypothesis of evolution, and the statement of the higher critics as to the origin of the world. Upon the hypothesis aforesaid the world was produced by an evolutionary process, and, by. the same law, man came into existence 250 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW therein, as a developed animal. Upon the same hypothesis, monotheism is required to be a develop- ment from polytheism. To all these different propositions are the higher critics committed by their acceptance of evolution as the governing law of this earth, and of all appertaining to it. But " Lux Mundi " does not so absolutely and explicitly accept evolution, as to reject the person- ality of God> and the claims of the New Testament, but they wish to assert that God created, or rather brought the cosmos into being, by, or through the law of evolution ; that by the same law, He pro- duced man upon the earth, and by the same law, He redeemed him, or rather put him in the way of redeeming himself. In the first place, I will observe that, while the evolutionary hypothesis requires all this, in conformity to this law, they are obliged (1) to deny creation as an act of God's transcendent personality, (2) they are obliged to deny Bible chronology and its statement as to the antiquity of man, (3) they are obliged, not only to make poly- theism the primitive religion of man, and to debase him as to his origin and ontological qualities and personality, involving, as it does, his moral agency, but, in rejecting the first ten chapters of Genesis, they reject the Bible doctrine of sin, its origin, character and consequences, as taught in both the Old and New Testaments; as the whole of Bible teaching, both as to doctrine and practice, is based on this initial truth, and historic fact, as to its en- APPENDIX 25 1 trance into the world ; but, (4) they are required to deny the plain and explicit teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ, as to the Old Testament and the Mosaic law, as, also, to deny, as they do, the doc- trine of atonement and sacrifice, as taught therein, and the plain and emphatic utterances of our Lord concerning Himself as related thereto. All this, I would observe, is involved in the theodicy of Lux Mundi, and there is, logically, no alternative for them, in denying the historical character of the first ten chapters of Genesis, but to deny the whole of the Old and New Testaments, and the claims of our Lord Jesus Christ, as Messiah and Saviour. It would appear that, as they would make the Law of Moses to be of a date subsequent to the prophetical books, so also do they aver that Jewish tradition, at the first, regarded Jehovah only as a local deity, and did not ascribe to Him creation and eternity of being. This falsification of Jewish tra- dition and denial of the testimony of Joseph us and Philo Judeas is rejected by Prof. Herman Gunkel of the University of Berlin, in a commentary on Genesis, lately issued. He affirms that there is the greatest possible contrast between the traditions of other nations concerning their gods and the tradi- tions of Israel in regard to Jehovah. But we build upon the sure and certain evidence of the engrafted Word, itself, and all through the Old and New Testaments we find explicit or implicit statements of the fact of God as Creator and Sustainer of the 252 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW world, or of incidental references thereto, as to axiomatic truths ; and, as I have before said, the whole of the Old and New Testaments is based upon God's creative act, as the superstructure is based upon the foundation. I might quote many passages in proof, but it is unnecessary. The state- ments of our Lord Jesus Christ, in this connection are, as evidence, amply sufficient to refer to. Note D Of Faith in God This initiatoiy and fundamental truth, the basis alike of all sound theism and sound theology, is very ably and satisfactorily set forth by Dr. Thos. Goodwin in his "Object and acts of justifying faith." Dr. Goodwin grounds his arguments, nega- tively, on the nature of God's being, and, posi- tively, on the declaration of that being, character and will of God, as solemnly proclaimed by God Himself in the thirty-eighth chapter of Exodus. He shews that such declaration of the nature and necessary being of God fed the faith of the saints of the Old Testament, and that in subsequent ages to that in which such declaration was made, it permeated and pervaded the utterances of the sacred writers of the Old Testament, as cumulative testimony to God's character and will ; and that the being and personality of God, as revealed, and APPENDIX 253 specially by His name Jehovah, is the primary object held forth in the Old Testament as the object to which man's faith, as a creature and a sinner, is due. 1 It has by some been affirmed that 1 It is remarkable that in Elihu's appeal to Job (chapters 33 to 35) he does so by means of God's implicit attributes ; the attributes of His nature, or being, and it is yet more remarkable that when God " answered Job out of the whirlwind,"' in grand and majestic lan- guage, He employed the same line of evidence (chapters 39 and 40). It is to be considered that herein there is a direct reference to the necessary being and personality of God, as distinguished from His moral attributes, and perfections. That God's perfect being, as the self-existent One, is evidenced in His works, as appealed to both by Elihu and by Jehovah Himself, is not matter for argument, and, if God is admittedly so declared in His implicit attributes, such declara- tion must include all the attributes of His personality ; that is to say, both His implicit and explicit attributes, as elements of His unique personality, as Cause and as Perfection. Further, if but one of God's moral attributes is made manifest in and by His works, as, for in- stance, His perfect and unalterable justice and unbending equity, this moral attribute, as manifested, carries with such manifestations every other moral and explicit, and also every natural or implicit at- tribute of His personality, for God's moral perfections are insepa- rable from, if not identified with, each other and are one in Him, or they would not, any of them, be the attributes of an all-perfect being ; for both as Cause and as Perfection, He is one and the same. But, passing from the inherent and necessary evidence of His works, and His attributes as, so, manifested to the teaching of the Old Testa- ment Scriptures. In the assertion of the claims of God's personality we find that there is a concurrence of evidence ; the argument is one and the same. In the quotations I have made it will be observed that the written law corroborates that which is unwritten and con- solidates it. It declares that God's attributes are displayed and His personality asserted and declared in His works. This testimony, so corroborated, is constant and continuous ; specially, we may say, does it permeate and pervade the Old Testament Scriptures. It is the emphatic assertion of His glorious personality ; not alone of His Eternity and Truth, but also of His abundant goodness and specially of His spiritual blessings and His everlasting salvation, as the out- 254 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW the mere fact of mercy being a part of the Divine nature is not sufficient to assure man, as a sinner, that such mercy will be exercised on his behalf, and that a special and recorded volition of the Most High is necessary and essential. Dr. Goodwin meets this objection specifically. I will quote his reply thereto upon pages fifty and fifty -one of the before mentioned volume. "But, you will say, though there is an ability to succor, and out of strength to shew mercy, yet, where is the affection of mercy and whence arises that ? Ans. — The seat of mercy is in the will, as appears by that speech 1 1 will be merciful to whom I will be merciful' (Ex. 33 : 19). Now the will of God hath affections in it, for there is a hatred of sin, which is an affec- tion of the will that is natural. Though these come of His Divine mercy to usward. "See now that I kill and I make alive ; I wound and I heal, and there is none that can deliver out of my hand ; I will work and who shall let it " (Is. 43 : 12, 13 ; so also 45: 21, 22), "Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together ; who hath declared this from ancient time ? Have not I, the Lord ? and there is no god else beside Me ; a just God and a Saviour ; there is none beside Me ; Look unto Me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else." In both cases the appeal is to His personality. It is the same doc- trine identically as that set forth by our Lord Jesus Christ, Himself, when He says, " Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." The types of the law, and the various figures of the Old Testament reiterate the same truth, and convey the same teaching as the gospel message of the New Testa- ment, " Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world," and the figure of the brazen serpent in the wilderness, as explained by our Saviour, is a declaration of the unity of God, and the unity of the Old and New Testaments. APPENDIX 255 affections in God are but various postures of His will to various objects, what then is mercy in His will ? Not a mere act, but a propensity, an inward inclination, from out of His goodness of will to shew mercy to them that are in misery (Ps. 96 : 5). He is ready to forgive. ' The Lord is ready to for- give and plenteous in mercy to all them that call upon Him.' There are not metaphors (as bowels and the like, used of mercy) (Ps. 34: 18), but ' The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart.' Nor in respect of omnipotence, merely, so He is to all ; but in readiness of disposition and inclination, He is ready and quick to be merciful as soon as He sees their hearts. If any say that God willeth mercy, and it is His will to shew mercy, let them add and acknowledge that there is a propenseness in His will thereunto, unto such merciful acts, and then they must say, too, that mercy (as to the affection of it) is properly in God." The argument of Dr. Goodwin in this place, and more fully afterwards, is valid argument and abso- lute in character. He makes a statement on page ten, chapter two, which qualifies what he afterwards argues, both from God's nature itself (as here), and also from His proclamation of His Name in Ex. 34 ; by reference to the case of the devils, that a declar- ation, as an act of His will, were necessary to us- ward, in order to our mercy and forgiveness. So also Dr. Owen on Forgiveness (p. 418). Also, 256 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW " Person and Glory of Christ" (p. 124). 1 To this I answer, God is inherently and necessarily merciful to the proper subjects of His mercy ; and as He is a perfect Being, and a perfect Moral Governor, the 1 That God is, in His necessary character and being, merciful to the proper subjects of His mercy, is a fact established by accessory evidence upon a cognate subject. As of the Divine character as nec- essarily and essentially merciful, so, of the fruits, or the effects of such a merciful character. " There is forgiveness with Thee, therefore Thou shalt be feared." The word in the Hebrew seliyah, is m the prayer book version, translated by the word mercy (probably from the Septuagint); as an equivalent for, and synonym of " mercy," or cleos. A parallel passage may here be quoted, "For Thou Lord art good, and ready to forgive and of great mercy to all them that call upon Thee " (Ps. 86 : 5). The word here used is salach, forgiving, or as in the author- ized version— - ' ready to forgive," for which the word eleos, (in the Greek) is a true equivalent. Notice also, that the word Tov, " good " is a synonomous term, and has the same reference. And, moreover, " Eich in mercy to all that call upon Thee." This verse, in its entirety, we may regard as a full delineation of the nature, or being of God. It may be summarized by saying that He is, in His being, neces- sarily, and essentially, merciful, as He is ready to forgive, or forgiv- ing; but, we are very distinctly told, in many places that such for- giveness is only obtained under given conditions. " If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness " (1 John 1 : 9). In other woi-ds, — under the Divinely given, and necessary conditions annexed thereto, He will, — certainly, — be true to His character. To this it may be added, as a cognate truth, of those whom God has, by His Holy Spirit regenerated, and made, in measure, to partake of His mind, that they are, -so, made merciful and forgiving in character. St. James tells us, in his general Epistle (ch. 1 : 9), that " The wis- dom that is from above is, first, pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated ; full of mercy and good fruits." This character is to be put in contrast with that of the unregenerate, who are de- clared of God, and are evidenced as such before men, as " implacable, APPENDIX 257 devils are not proper subjects of His mercy, as their sin was against such a full degree of knowl- edge of God as made it presumption and irremissi- ble. So, and for this reason, they have, by a pre- sumptuous act, and by abuse of their free agency, identified themselves with sin, and cast off their rightful allegiance to God, and by a moral inability as the result of their own act, they cannot repent. This inability binds all of their moral nature, they will not and they do not desire to repent. Theirs is a rooted enmity and antagonism to God, and to His Holy law. Not so of the sin of man, collect- ively, and generically considered, as in Adam. I mean there is not that degree of inherent moral in- ability, although there be need of a Divine act of regeneration. The individual sinner, under Moses' law, who sinned presumptuously against that law, for him such law made no provision for atonement and forgiveness. Therefore, the declaration in Ex. 34 ; as setting forth both what is inherent in God's nature, and so solemnly ratifying the fact of His inherently merciful nature as "good and ready to forgive " (Ps. 86 : 5) holds absolutely and without qualification, as in God, and in and by His holy unmerciful" (Rom. 1 : 31). Further than this: Our Lord's words to His disciples, while inculcating mercy upon them as a necessary and distinctive feature, do so, on defined and specified condUions. " If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him ; and, if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day tarn again to thee, saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him " (Luke 17 : 3, 4). 258 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW moral law, to all who are, properly, and actually sub- jects of His mercy, i. e., to those who will and who do repent. I will add to this what I have elsewhere said as to the unity of all God's attributes (implicit and explicit) in His personality, and, therefore, the action of all those attributes is a reciprocal action, the action of one is the action of all. The implicit declaration, to us of His disposition to, and of His purposes of mercy, as such perfect good, as He stands related to us, His creatures, under such con- ditions (also in His nature) as makes us proper sub- jects of His mercy. As we owe it to God, as the necessary and perfect good, so revealed to us, to be- lieve in His nature, as such perfect good, so do we owe it to Him, as the good, and as so revealed, to believe that His purpose to us and His mind and will towards us, as creatures, and as sinners, are purposes and dispositions of perfect goodness, per- fect truth and perfect faithfulness, as we, so, put our whole trust in Him ; and such deduction from the being of God is justified and confirmed by the explicit utterances of His word, and by His prom- ises of mercy to such, as w T ell as such result is se- cured by the validity of the premises of His neces- sary being and character. There is much in the Holy Scriptures, both of the Old and of the New Testaments, to fortify, and also to reassert and amplify the solemn declaration, specifically made by Jehovah Himself in Ex. 34 : 5-18. We find it asserted, and reasserted in the Old APPENDIX 259 Testament, on many occasions, from different points of view ; in fact it may be said to be continuously asserted ; either explicitly or implicitly. I will oive but two, or three instances. It is an oft-re- peated utterance, — perhaps, specially in the Psalms, and in some places made specially emphatic, that " His mercy endureth forever." In Psalm 136, the Psalmist first makes this appli- cation, absolutely, and specifically, to the nature, and being of God ; to His Personality as Jehovah ; he then applies it to His works in Creation, as well as to His implicit attributes ; he then proceeds to apply it to the history of His Providence and care over the Israelites as a people from the time of the Exodus until their possession of the land of Canaan, as promised to Abraham. Perhaps the great truth so iterated and reiterated, that " His mercy endureth forever," as solemnly stated in each particular instance, is not clearly apprehended, and at once realized. Is it not this : His mercy is as certain, as constant, as unchangeable as is His own Being f It is thus set forth that all men may know, apprehend, and rely most surely upon it, that our God is a God of necessary, unchangeable, and eter- nal mercy : it is identified with His Name, — that endureth forever. u Thy Name Jehovah, endur- eth forever " (Ps. 135 : 13). In this attribute of His character He is not only fully to be depended upon, but, in this, emphatic- ally, He has a special delight. We are told, for in- 260 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW stance, that " The Lord's delight is in them that fear Him, and in those that hope in His mercy " (Ps. 147: 11; also Micah 7: 18), "Because He de- lighteth in mercy" In so doing they do but truly apprehend and con- fess His real character, and give Him the glory that is due unto His Name. To these instances quoted, I will add but one more reference to a fundamental and primary truth of the greatest importance and necessity, as setting forth the character and being of God. In Psalm 89 : 1, 2, David says : " I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever : with my mouth I will make known Thy faithfulness to all genera- tions. For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for- ever : Thy faithfulness shalt Thou establish in the very Heavens," i. e., this truth as an eternal truth : Our God is a God of eternal, excellent and unfail- ing mercy ; Mercy, as declared and offered, freely, to all people ; Mercy, and Truth, specially towards His servants, as they are related to Him by faith and obedience, and as they are, thus, heirs of His Covenant, and peculiar promises. There is yet further, accessory, and inferential evidence that the Personality of God, inherently considered, is the proper, primary, and Divinely appointed object of human trust ; of man's absolute trust, as a man and as a sinner. We have al- ready seen that God has annexed a specific bless- ing to trust in " His Name," and in Himself ; APPENDIX 261 these are synonymous terms, or parallel expres- sions. He may, then, ask for what does man need to, and for what should he trust in God ? In general terms we may say, As He is the absolute source and cen- tre of all good, in Himself, and to him, as a crea- ture, and as he is a sinner ; but more particularly, and specially, as he is a sinner. And what special and peculiar good does man need from God, as such ; as he is a sinner f We may comprise it all in two words, Mercy, and Truth ; and Truth as it stands related to, and is security, — specially, — for Mercy ! The result, inferentially considered, is the same as the dogmatic and specific evidence and require- ment, i. e., it is due to God, as an inherent and nec- essary element of His Personality, that man should trust in Him, as He is the Perfection of Mercy. With regard to faith in God, as revealed in crea- tion and providence, it is asserted, by some, that these evidences are inadequate revelations to us, of His being and character, that they do but represent and declare some of the elements of that being, i. e.-, His power, His wisdom and His holiness, but not His love and mercy, and, so, do not give that knowledge of God which is necessary to salvation. These statements commonly have been made with a view to magnify Holy Scripture, but they are neither justifiable nor true. In the first place, be it considered that God's attributes are inseparable 262 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW from each other, and are inherent not only in His personality, but in all His acts and operations. I do not now dwell upon the inference deducible from such a proposition, counter to God's necessary per- fections in, so, withholding from a large, and in fact, the larger portion of mankind, that knowledge which is necessary to their fulfilment of the duty which they owe to Him. It would follow from their premises that nature does not at all reveal God, i. e.y a perfect personality, for such, alone, is the God of nature, or the God of the Bible. I have before shown that God is known by His works, and that this truth is corroborated, and con- firmed by the plain and distinct teaching of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. It is sufficient now to notice that, in such teaching, our Lord affirms that goodness and mercy of God to be declared in the fact that He causes the sun to arise on the evil and on the good, and that He sends rain on the just and on the unjust. I purpose, now, to establish the proposition that the personality of God the Father, as Creator and moral governor, is propounded to us in Holy Scrip- ture as the primary and essential object of our faith, in all the evidence of Him so set forth to us. This proposition I conceive to have a very impor- tant relation to fundamental principles of theism. I shall but epitomize what I regard as the teaching of Holy Scripture on this point. The fact that God's works of creation and provi- APPENDIX 263 dence do, in themselves, as addressed to man, com- prehend and contain evidence of His existence and character, constitute a fundamental, natural and necessary requirement, from man, of faith in Him and of obedience to Him. This requirement of natural law is reasserted and confirmed, implicitly, and explicitly, by the teaching of Holy Scripture, as the complementum of evidence. The grounds of our faith in God are, both in creation and in Holy Scripture, presented as twofold, *. e. 9 God as First-Cause, and God as perfection. These have respect to God (1) as Creator, and (2) as Moral Governor, but both these aspects of God stand re- lated to His personality, and to His implicit or natural, and to His explicit or moral attributes of character. This conception of the personality of God includes all His attributes, as First-Cause, and as perfection, and not solely His power, holiness and wisdom. Whether we view Him as Creator, or as Moral Governor, God's personality stands re- lated to us as chief and perfect good. The attri butes of God's personality are reciprocally operative, in both relations, that is to say, that His unity — the unity of His personality as Cause and as perfection — is found in the attributes of that personality. To " know God," and to believe in Him, are, in Holy Scripture, synonymous terms ; so, also to obey and to love Him. Such knowledge or belief of God is a belief in Him as the perfection of good. " There is none good but One, that is God " (Matt. 264 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW 19 : 17), i. e., the perfect personality. This includes both His natural and His moral attributes, or, per- fect being and perfect character. It is of peculiar importance to define what is the relation that the person of Christ, as the object of our faith, has to the personality of God, as the primary object of faith set forth to us in Holy Scripture. 1 Our 1 1 select a passage from a precious little Treatise, written many years ago, to introduce here. As will be seen, it is but a selection from more to the same effect. " And the Father and the Son have more specially appropriated to them, the promising the good things which the Holy Ghost reveals and works : because in free grace, a purpose and promise must go before the revelation and exhibition of them ; as the Father's Person, and the Son's, are in order of sub- sistence, though not in time, before the person of the Holy Ghost ; therefore I say, promising is more specially appropriated in Scrip- ture to the Father and to the Son. And, as promising on their parts, so believing on our part, is more specially appropriated in Scripture to them too : to the Father, because the promises are but expressions, and obligations of Himself, to perform His promises. Inasmuch therefore as He who is the first person of the three, as- sumes to Himself the purposing or decreeing of them all which is the first root and rise of everything ; there is a fitness that He also should assume to himself the promising of them ; inasmuch as they are the issue and offspring of His own good-will. And the Son being heir to all His Father's, is also heir to. His purposes, and promises ; and had them all made over to Him (as ye heard before), and was appointed to purchase them for us; and so they, also, are His own ; and He, with the Father appropriate more specially to themselves our believing in them, unto the performance of the promises. And the Father, though He made over all promises to the Son, and ap- pointed Him also to purchase them ! Yet He put not Himself out of possession, though he put His Son also in with Himself, and gave His Son another proper title by purchase; yet the Father kept His own title to the promises, and so too our believing in Him as well as the Son: which is intimated in this, that He retains in His own Hands that promise of making Christ's enemies His foolstool (Ps. 110: 1), which contains in it also, the consummation of all promises APPENDIX 265 Lord comes to us as the human, or earthly repre- sentation of God the Father, "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ " (2 Cor. 4 : 6), " The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him " (John 1 : 18), or " in His person, He hath made Him known or represented Him " — (tfyyiofiat — to declare in person). He is so represented to us both in the Old and New Testaments, and by our Lord Himself. In one respect, alone, is He inferior to the Father, i. !> It is to be noticed that not only does naturalism, as Mr. Balfour says, afford no provision for the esthetic and ethical part of man's nature, but it seeks to abolish all radical distinction between right and wrong, and so do away with any necessity for the supply of such want. This substitute for Ethics, Hedonism or Utilitarianism, is fully answered by Mr. W. H. Lilly in his book on Eight and Wrong. Cousin's Lectures on the True, the Beautiful, and the Good, set forth to my mind most clearly and satisfactorily what may be said to be the whole evidence for, and operation of natural religion from the moral intuitions and psychical characteristics of man, as exercised upon objective evidence for God. I will give a brief epitome. M. Cousin remarks in this connection that reason and reasoning are dif- ferent things. Briefly stated, Keason in man as the distinctive faculty and the law divine of his life, although it is in man, has its root and origin in the absolute and the infinite. In this sense man is made in God's image. In this sense, we in Him (literally) " live and move and have our being." Thus, as Cousin says, our moral intuitions, or spon- taneous intuitions are the true logic of nature. They require as they admit of no demonstration. They are of God, and lead up to Him. So of truth ; what is true of the concrete is true of the abstract. The foundation or the ultimate source of truth is what he terms necessary and universal principles, and as the faculty of reason, in us, apprehends finite- 300 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW truth as existent, such necessary and universal prin- ciples lead us to God by the light of reason, as the law of man's being. Thus, the existence and personality of God is a primary truth, the basis of natural religion as it is addressed to moral agents. Yet, although attested by, and in conformity to reason, it appeals to man chiefly and distinctively by moral evidence, and by appeal to his moral nature, and, as we apprehend by our ontological and moral faculties, those uni- versal principles of truth, beauty and goodness, they not only lead us up to God's personality, in whom they all originate, but as those moral qualities and objects commend themselves to our moral nature, these affections and desires of the human soul can find their satisfaction onlv in moral relationship to Him. No substantial addition can be made to the ju- dicious and admirable statement of Hooker — as already stated. Note E Of the Knowledge of God I have already referred to a depreciation of natural evidences for God, from an erroneous conception of their proper relation to revealed truth (1) in the Holy Scriptures, and (2) as such evidences, both in nature and in the Old Testament, APPENDIX 301 stand related to the person of our Saviour and to the New Testament. In the present remarks upon Divine knowledge, I wish to refer to a cognate error to those already spoken of, viz., to a depreciation of natural evidences objective and subjective, in order to magnify the work of the Holy Ghost in the conversion of sinners, as set forth in the New Testament, and to put them in contrast with the law of conscience, specially under natural evidences. It is first to be remarked that the knowledge of God, spoken of in Holy Scripture is of two kinds. We read of a knowledge of God that is available, and objective in character. This is of various degrees in its extent and involves proportionate responsibility. As distinguished from a saving and effectual knowledge, it carries with it a sense of such responsibility, and a sense of dut}^, merely. Such available knowledge is, everywhere in Holy Scripture, made chargeable against sinners, whether in heathen or in Christian lands. St. Paul says of the heathen that " they knew God, yet they did not glorify Him as God, neither were thankful " (Rom. 1 : 21). Again, he says, " Have they not heard ? Yea verily, as it is written, Their sound went forth unto all lands, and their words unto the end of the world " (Rom. 10 : 18). Again, speaking at Lystra, Paul and Barnabas said, " Nevertheless He left not Himself without witness, in that He did good, sending us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and 302 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW gladness" (Acts 14:17). So also our Lord (Matt. 5 : 45). Of such available knowledge of God, as en- joyed by the Jews, or in previous Christian era, it is not necessary to speak. I will only say that, whether under the light of nature, of the Old Testa- ment, or under the Gospel of Christ, it is identical in character, though not in degree. There is another kind of knowledge referred to in Holy Writ. This, as a result of objective evidences, in various degrees, is a true and saving- knowledge. The knowledge before spoken of was resultant in conviction, merely, and a sense of duty and responsibility ; this is resultant in moral and spiritual obedience of the heart unto righteousness, and what flows from it, i. e., holy fellowship with God. This knowledge the wicked have not, be- cause they have refused it. This sin is charged against all unconverted sinners. So, Jeremiah says (10 : 25) " Pour out Thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known Thee, and the kingdoms that have not called on Thy name." Why is such judg- ment denounced against them ? Because they re- fused to know, or call upon Him. Similarly St. Paul said of the Jews who crucified our Lord and Saviour, " Because they knew Him not, nor the voices of the prophets which are read every Sab- bath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning Him" (Acts 13:27). See also Luke 19:41,42. Similarly is the language of Pharaoh to be inter- preted, "I know not the Lord, neither will I let APPENDIX 303 Israel go." It is the language of deliberate rejec- tion of God, and of His claims. On the other hand, it is characteristic of the righteous, not only that they have an intelligent and highly spiritual perception of God's character and claims upon them, but that they have, through grace, yielded their hearts to Him, and also chosen, and so approved of His precepts. It is also to be noticed that God, on His part, so knows them that He approves of them, and regards them with special favor, and they are brought into holy reciprocity of feeling and moral relationship with Him (1 Cor. 8 : 3 and Gen. 18 : 17-19). As they love God and, through grace, make choice of Him and His ways, so God, on His part, loves them and approves of them. It is the distinctive feature of the condition of the righteous that their " fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ," as that they are the subjects of His transforming grace. I do not enlarge upon this, to us, familiar truth, but I would say that, although this is brought into clearer light by the New Testament, we should err in supposing that it is a blessing singular to the saints of the Christian era. As many who have not known the written word will be saved " without law," and without actual knowledge of a personal Saviour, or of the gospel plan of salvation, and, conse- quently, we may say also, without the same degree of spiritual enjoyment, yet, will they be saved through His death and merits ; and, so, also many that have 304 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW not known the New Testament doctrine of the Holy Spirit's work, and His relation to the Lord Jesus Christ, have yet been subjects of the saving work of that one, and the self-same spirit who " sanctifieth all the elect people of God." It is, therefore, illegitimate to seek to establish a necessary contrast between the law of conscience and the law of faith, for Holy Scripture draws no such contrast. Natural evidences of God may, by the Holy Spirit, enlighten and direct the conscience and cause it to be governed by the faith of those evidences, so given of God, and such faith is ac- ceptable to Him, and conscience voices to the soul the fact of God's approval. We may affirm that a true and a sincere obedience to the law of con- science, and to the light possessed and attainable, is always acceptable to and rewarded of God ; and, as a moral act and habit of life it is, as is every good in men, the fruit of the Holy Spirit's work upon the whole moral nature, so enlightened and governed. A remarkable instance of the error I here refer to is found in part of Dr. Thos. Goodwin's treatise on " The Work of the Holy Ghost in our Salvation " (Goodwin's works, Yol. YI). His teaching in re- gard to the knowledge of God under natural evi- dences, and the law of conscience, as related thereto, is injurious to fundamental principles of theism. His exegesis of Genesis 20, involving the character of Abimelech, King of Gerar, and his relation to God, and also his exegesis of Acts 23, where St. APPENDIX 305 Paul says, " I have lived in all good conscience be- fore God unto this day," and which he so interprets as to support his inferences, I can only compare to the language of Bishop Gore in regard to our Lord's attitude towards the Old Testament Scriptures. At the same time I would express my sense of the excellency of the rest of the volume. The same error as to the force and value of natural evidences shewn in a depreciation of natural theology, natural religion, and in false exegesis of Holy Scripture, both doctrinal and historical, bearing upon this subject, is found in writers whose works in other respects are deservedly held in great esteem. Thus, Dr. Thos. Manton in his sermons on the eleventh chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews, has remarks of a similar character in regard to the knowledge and faith of the heathen, or Gentile nations. He says that " the heathen had knowledge of God sufficient for conviction, but not for conversion." Such doctrine was then held to be Biblical ortho- doxy. The great master of theology, Dr. John Owen, held that God was not savingly knowable by His works in nature, or by natural religion (Owen on Forgiveness, p. 418). Also that forgive- ness with God could only come through faith in the person of Christ, as revealed in the promise made to Adam at the time of the fall (Person and Glory of Christ, p. 124). The two propositions are consistent with each other, for, as the heathen under natural religion had not the Holy Scriptures, 306 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW they could not act faith on that promise, as re- vealed, and, upon the foregoing assertion (1) of the necessity of knowledge of that promise, and (2) of faith in Christ's person, as so revealed, they could not be saved. It is with great regret, as with diffidence that I express dissent from the teaching of Dr. Owen on this point. I shall not attempt to give my reasons in detail. I will state positively in as few words as possible my own conclusions. I think there can be no question as to the fact that there is but one way of salvation, and but one Saviour. This, however, does not entail absolute need and necessity of knowledge of the historic Christ, nor does it entail the necessity of knowledge of that first promise, or indeed of the subsequent promises made concerning Him in Holy Scripture. I do not, here, discuss the question whether God is knowable by natural law ; I have done so. God has, herein, provided the minimum of knowledge required concerning Him, as moral governor, and as the Creator and Father of His creatures, in re- gard to the Old Testament revelations of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ (1) by prophecy and (2) by the law of sacrifice as related to forgiveness. The law of sacrifice did, parat>olically, reveal an abstract principle of vicarious suffering, and also prefigure a sinless victim, a Saviour ; it did not re- veal the historic Christ, Jesus of Nazareth. So of the prophecies of Christ. They were more or less figurative, as was the law. They, too, revealed a APPENDIX • 307 Personality, a Saviour, but not the historic Christ. Thus, faith in the promises and faith in the law of sacrifices was not a faith in Christ. I am of the opinion that, until the actual appearance on earth of our Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whether it be under the law of natural religion or by the evi- dence of Holy Scripture, a true belief in the Lord Jehovah of the Bible has been a faith accepted of God, and also been a work of the Holy Spirit, as a belief of Him as both "a just God and a Saviour " (Is. 45 : 21). The whole of the chapter here quoted is full of evidence on this point, as to God revealed in nature, and God in His Holy personality, as the object of our faith. There has been, under the Old Testament, a graduation of truth, as revealing God's character, and also His counsels for man's salvation— whether that revelation is made by type or by prophecy— and, so, the degree of knowledge available has been graduated as to the way or method of God's saving mercy ; but the faith re- quired of God is a faith of the fact, and a faith in God's character as revealed to us by such evidence. I may again notice that our Lord frequently in- sisted on the fact that He was sent of God. A true belief in God as revealed includes evidence of Him as " a merciful God," a Saviour. So did He sol- emnly declare Himself to Moses when He made all His glory to pass before him (Ex 34 : 8). " And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suf- 308 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW fering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, trans- gression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty ; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's children unto the third and the fourth generation. And Moses made haste and bowed his head towards the earth and worshipped." I will, now, add that the essentially false concep- tion given of God's character and being, by the representations I have referred to, and under the notion of exalting the Bible, as an inspired book, and of the exaltation of the New Testament to the disparagement of the Old Testament Scriptures, has actually fortified philosophic scepticism ; and revealed religion at this day is suffering, at least collaterally and reflexively, from this radical, and I think I may correctly say, this gigantic error. Dr. Martineau in his " Study of Religion " has a chapter on the unity of God, as Cause and as Perfection ; a leading idea therein expressed is this — The First- Cause of all things is not only the Supreme Force, and the Supreme Intelligence, but, as Creator and Preserver, He is absolutely the Perfect and Supreme Good, in Himself and to His creatures. Therefore, the belief in God, as First-Cause and Supreme Good, in Himself, must include among other moral qualities, a belief in His love and goodness, mercy and kindness, as these qualities are correlated to, and inseparable from each and every aspect and APPENDIX 309 quality of moral and spiritual, as well as natural and essential good, as such qualities and attributes of His being and personality. Only such a con- ception of Him can correctly be said to be a belief in God, i. e., belief in a SelfrExistent Personality, who is the Supreme, Essential, and Perfect Good. The study of the sacred books of the East, or of comparative religion, although made the basis of both true and false inferences, has had the effect of directing greater attention to studies in funda- mental theism, and to the subject of Christianity and the Bible as related to non-Christian nations and religious systems. As Dr. Maclagan, the present Archbishop of York, has said, it has already and properly altered the attitude of the missionary in his approaches to the people to whom he goes, to instruct and to Christianize. I have referred to this subject in an- other place. The study of this topic may, and does, properly call for serious attention, as it stands re- lated to Christian Theology, and to those who stand responsible for theological teaching. CHAPTER IV Note A The Providence of God As connected with the experimental aspect of this element of Theism I will make one or two ref- erences to Holy Scripture. Moses (Deut. 8 : 4), points to God's Providence over the Israelites ; and he appeals to their collec- tive experience, and knowledge of it as instanced in one out of many remarkable particulars. He says, " Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years:'' In like manner David in Psalm 105 : 37, epito- mizes the events of the wilderness journey and of the Exodus ; and he, as it were, quite incidentally, in the sketch there given of God's care over them, in their eventful history as a people, says, " He brought them out also with silver and gold and there was not one feeble person among their tribes." This latter circumstance is to be read in connection with Leviticus 26, and Deuteronomy 28, where specific promises, and specific threatenings, are ut- tered and declared ; and in which the transcendent personality, and supremacy of Jehovah are implied ; and, so, specifically declared, and set before them. 310 APPENDIX 311 It is further to be remarked that the passages I have quoted as illustrating the pervasive character of the Providence of God, and evidencing His transcendent operations, may with equal propriety be cited in proof and illustration of the miractdous acts of His transcendent Personality as Creator and Moral Governor ; this fact, again, gives evidence of the homogeneity of the elements of Theism ; and, also that the Divine super natural is the distinctive, and the universal characteristic of all those ele- ments ; whether, as manifestations, or evidences in, and by His Works in the economy of Nature, and as related thereto, or by His Inspired and Written Word, as the complementum of evidence to His Personality and Will. CHAPTER VI Note A Dr. de Costa, the Chiwch of Home, and " Lux Mundi " ow Tradition The tract lately issued by the " Catholic Truth Society of Toronto," with reference to Holy Scrip- ture and its assailants, is very suggestive. Refer- ring to the teaching of the Higher Critics, and their renunciation of plenary inspiration, as distinctive of Holy Scripture, a claim is put forward on behalf of the Church of Rome that she, alone, is the main- tainor of the plenary inspiration of the Old and New Testaments, and that she, alone, defines the just place and authority of Holy Scripture. Let us, first, notice how that she does, indeed, assert justly and truly, the Divine source and plenary au- thority, as well as the inerrancy of the whole of the Old and New Testaments. But, while acknowl- edging this to be a fact, it is to be coupled with an- other fact of primary importance, that this claim for Holy Scripture is made subservient to her doc- trine concerning the Church, of which she claims to be the exclusive representative. Holy Scripture, with her, is not the ultimate and supreme authority. Not only is the teaching and 312 APPENDIX 313 decrees of the Church equally authoritative, but, as the Church is prior to Holy Scripture, in time, it is also prior to it in authority. In order to this, and tributary thereto, they teach that there has always been in the Church a tradition, by which the scrip- ture is to be interpreted, and which, conjointly with Holy Scripture, is the authoritative rule of faith and duty. By these premises, the revealed will of God is found and expressed, primarily, and essentially, in a visible and organized corporation, known as the Church of Kome. All the doctrine and ritual of that church rests on this hypothesis. Authority and infallibility, with them, rests primarily and ulti- mately in the Church ; and the inspiration and authority of Holy Scripture is held, only, as it is tributary and subservient to this primary and essential proposition. But, upon what is this hypoth- esis based? The answer is that it is based upon portions of the New Testament, and notably upon a false exegesis of the words of the Lord Jesus Christ to the Apostle Peter, " Upon this rock will I build My church." From this passage, in particular, the " church" hypothesis is derived, and other passages are so interpreted as to give color to the statement that the Bishop of Kome is the vicar of Christ upon earth ; and based upon this theory and, as a part of the " church " hypothesis, che inferences drawn from Old Testament history are such as are in unison there- with. Accordingly, it is supposed that, both in the Old and New Testament eras, the Church, as an or- 314 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW ganized body, is the primary seat of Divine author- ity, and the source and centre of Divine truth. An important point to be noticed is this — the traditions, or oral teaching of this organized body has equal force and authority with the Holy Scriptures, and the teaching put forth by this body is equally in- capable of error. When we consider that the Scrip- tures are to be received and believed, only, as this church, so inspired, interprets them, it is, at once, evident that all the doctrine it holds as to the Di- vine character of the Scriptures is merged into and identified with the Church, and so constitutes a theodicy of its own. Christian theism, on the other hand, rests on the broad basis of objective and subjective evidences contained in nature, the human conscience and the Word of God in Holy Scripture. Holy Scripture is the complementum of Theism, and in itself consti- tutes the full, and final revelation of the Divine will. This is explicitly stated therein, and specially by the personal teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ. An examination of its texture goes to shew that it con- stitutes a cumulative and a culminatory revelation of God's -character and will ; that it comprises and also unifies and consolidates all the elements of Theism, and presents them as one harmonious and perfect whole. It will be evident that the doctrine of Holy Scripture in reference both to the Church and to tradition is radically different from that of the Church of Rome, and that while she makes the APPENDIX 315 Church and tradition to be of primary and para- mount authority, Holy Scripture claims for itself such absolute and final authority ; and its claim is supported by the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ as the Messiah of God, and the Supreme Prophet promised to the Church. The authorized, just and Divinely constituted relation of the Church, as an organized and confessing body, to Holy Scripture, and the authority given to it, as such by the teach- ing of Holy Scripture, and that of our Lord and Saviour, is well and truly stated in the following articles of our .Reformed Church, appended to the Book of Common Prayer, i. e., Art. 6 " Of the suffi- ciency of the Holy Scripture for salvation," Art. 20 " Of the authority of the Church." The Church of Rome has adopted the doctrine of the Jewish Kabbis concerning tradition, and also concerning the Church, and with various accretions it is incorporated in their system. The Jewish doctors held that, besides the written law, delivered to Moses, on Mount Sinai, Moses received from God certain oral revelations which it was not lawful to write. These Moses delivered to Joshua and he to Eleazar, in a line of succession. On these, the Mishna and Gamara were founded, and these were regarded as of greater authority than the written law of Holy Scripture. Our Lord's great controversy with the Jewish Rab- bis was that they had made the Word of God of none effect, by their traditions which they had de- livered. Our Lord, on many occasions, emphat- 316 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW ically declared that Holy Scripture is the ultimate and supreme authority, as expressing the counsel and will of God, and, thus, is established a contrast be- tween Sacred Traditions, in harmony with and au- thorized by Holy Scripture, and those Ecclesiastical traditions which are antagonistic thereto, and make it of none effect, while they give it a nominal place in but make it subservient to their system which gives the ultimate and governing power to an ecclesias- tical corporation. But the teaching of the Church of Rome upon this subject, as set forth by Dr. deCosta, requires a little further notice. He (Dr. DeC.) identifies the oral, and the written and authorized teaching of that church, as proceeding from the Church (1) with this term, " tradition," and (2) with the Church, itself, whose voice it is. Further, he identifies this corporate body, the Eoman Catholic Church, with the power, authority and infallibility belonging to and proceeding from the Divine Head of the Church, as set forth in Holy Scripture, even our Lord Jesus Christ, and he accepts it as axio- matic that the Bishop of Rome, in his personality and office, as head of that church, represents its unity and authority ; and, as such representative, ex- ercises peculiar, exclusive and universal authority as the vicar of Christ. The Church and its traditions are nominally and formally held to be of equal force and authority with Holy Scripture, as inspired of God the Holy Ghost ; but only as that Church inter- prets Holy Scripture. Consequently, the authority APPENDIX 317 and infallibility, so predicated of Holy Scripture, depends absolutely upon the voice of the Church, as the primary and essential source and centre from which it is derived. For this reason, the Koman Catholic Church is not only the infallible interpreter of Holy Scripture, but it may and it does add thereto such accretions of doctrine as it may see fit to authorize and set forth. These accretions, in the Church of Rome, take the form of superstition and idolatry, as a form of error, peculiar to that system. The theology of " Lux Mundi," and Bishop Gore set up the same claims for an ecclesiastical body as does the Church of Rome ; and this ecclesiastical body for which " Lux Mundi " sets up such claim is by them falsely and scandalously identified with the Reformed Church of England. The voice of this Church is authoritative and absolute in its claims. It claims to identify science, or pseudo-scientism, not alone with the authority proper and peculiar to Holy Scripture, alone, as the voice of God, but, by the voice of the Church and under the law of evolution with an authority that is absolute and primary, because it is the law of evolution ; and the Church, as God's voice, declares the law and will of God by such law of absolute and universal evolution. Here is the same principle in regard to the powers of the Church, as is set forth in the Church of Rome, but the traditions of this body are rationalistic and secular, instead of being- superstitious in character. Hence, it is sufficient to 31S THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW say that the doctrine of tradition, as thus set forth, whether by the Church of Rome, or any other ecclesiastical corporation, does not represent the doctrine of Holy Scripture, in regard to traditions which we call sacred, from any point of view ; whether we identify the same with the oral teach- ing of an inspired apostle, or with the testimony of facts concerning God's ways and doings in history, or the experience acquired by God-fearing and be- lieving men of His dealings with themselves, indi- vidually, by His providence over them, or by the working of His Holy Spirit and His Holy Word within their hearts. Dr. DeCosta says that "an infallible book re- quires an infallible interpreter." Assuming that this proposition is true, we are required by him to assume, also, that this "infallible interpreter" must necessarily be an infallible corporate body, and that this body corporate is the Roman Catholic Church, and that the Pope, as its head, is the infallible in- terpreter divinely given and appointed of God, as he is its official representative. Not only a very large, very gratuitous, but also a very irrational as- sumption. Dr. DeCosta's reasoning is illogical and ex parte. His premises, — as mere assumption — being false, the whole fabric falls by consequence, as a non-sequitor and a fallacy. On the other hand, in support of the Protestant position, which he considers baseless, upon the stable premise that the Church of Christ is, pri- APPENDIX 319 manly and essentially, in its esse a spiritual body, we have not only the authority of Holy Scripture, but the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, as the infalli- ble interpreter of Holy Scripture, for saying that the individual members of that "live mystical body" shall be "all taught of God," and, therefore, that, being so taught, as. He says of the Father, whoso- ever is so taught " cometh unto Me." This is not an isolated statement made by our Lord, for, al- though speaking first to the then living and exist- ing members of the Church, He says, "When He, the Spirit of truth, shall come, He will lead you into all truth," "He shall teach you all things "—a promise not peculiar to the apostolate, but the heritage of every living and real member of, or believer upon Jesus Christ (John 16 : 13, 14). CHAPTEK IX Note A Theistic Basis of the Credibility of Miracles It may be premised that by a miracle we under- stand the extraordinary manifestation of the per- fections of God, aside from the known laws of Nature. In the enquiry therefore of the credibility of miracles, such enquiry must be so limited, as ap- plying to the rationality and veracity of the exer- cise and manifestation to us, in such manner, of the perfections of God. In the prosecution of such en- quiry it is necessary, as a preliminary statement, to say that we can reason concerning God's opera- tions, legitimately, but in one way, viz., in that He is the all-perfect personality. Our own personality, and our personal relations form the negative basis for an estimate of Him, and as He is related to us, and such negative basis is the highest vantage ground we can, so, occupy, as our personality, is the the highest point, in the field of nature, and of our knowledge and experience. We are created and imperfect personalities ; Tie is the uncreated and the perfect. The Book of God, by which He speaks to us, speaks of His per- 320 APPENDIX 321 sonality in an accommodated sense, suited to our capacities of apprehension. Thus, we read of God's eyes, His mouth, and His feet, and His hands ; so, also, do we read of His mind, His knowledge, His love, and His will. Reasoning, therefore, from God's personality as related to our own, we can but reason negatively and not positively, because that is beyond our experience. Elihu presented the claims of God, to Job, upon this basis (Job 33 : 12), and in the strongest possible way. When he said " God is greater than man ; " and while using the compara- tive degree, because of the analogy of His person to ours, he is using it as the highest possible su- perlative, because it means that God is inherently, essentially, and absolutely greater. In the same manner are God's relations to us represented in ac- cordance with our experience, and in an accommo- dated sense. God represents Himself to us as a Father, and as our Father. By our Lord Jesus Christ He is spoken of as "The Father," i. e,, The all-perfect Father, the highest conception of His real character, possible to us. The same rule and order applies to His moral attributes, as they are related to our moral qualities, as free and account- able agents. This aspect of God's personality, and being, presents to us sufficient and logical ground, as a negative basis, for belief, — from the premises stated, of the credibility of miracles as immediate manifestations of His personality. As our moral faculties are correlated to each 322 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW other and are interdependent, the acts and habit of the will, in us, represents the individual ego, and defines character. All the moral faculties of the individual ego are permeated and possessed by the act and habit of the Will : and the will, so, repre- sents the individual. Such individuality is necessary to us as we are moral and accountable agents. Further than this : our own personalities are our ultimate, and highest possible apprehension of the perfect personality ; but such apprehension is sufficient to this end. We have and possess a relative freedom of action, as we are accountable agents ; God, as the All-Per- fect personality, and uncaused, is absolutely free, because He is absolutely perfect. The existence of God, as such personality, and such free-agent in- volves, and we may, — reverently — say, requires the immediate exercise of His personality / and, by im- mediate I mean aside from intermediate, and instru- mental laws (by which He cannot be limited) of His operation ; and by the analogy of the exercise of the human will as representing the Ego, and as governing and describing the individual personality and the individual character. The contrast, however, between the act and habit, and so the character of the human will, so mani- fested, and that of God, is the perfect as contrasted with the imperfect. The immediate exercise of God's will has for its object absolute and perfect good, as it proceeds from Him, and so glorifies Him APPENDrx 323 however, or in whatever way exercised and mani- fested. The acts and habit of the human will are, only good as they are in unison with the declared will and character of God. It only remains to say that a miracle, as such act of God, is not limited or circumscribed as a manifestation of God's power, only ; but, as such act, it declares, also, each and all of His moral attributes, as the perfect Good, and the perfect Personality. CHAPTEK X Note A Analytical Note on Conscience It will be useful to take an analytical view of the faculty of conscience, viewed from a Scripture standpoint. I have alreadv said that I think, from that stand- point, we are to regard it as including all the fac- ulties of the soul, as distinctive, in man. At the risk of redundance, I will here, again, say that I think it is not to be confined to the critical, or judicial faculty of our moral nature ; but, as one of the faculties of that nature, i. e., the mind, the heart, or the will is frequently used to express the whole / so is it of conscience, that the judicial or mandatory quality is not to be separated from the intellectual quality. In 1 Cor. 8 : 11, 12, St. Paul evi- dently affiliates, and all but identifies knowledge (syv&c?) with conscience (suvettyw'). " Through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died." " But, when ye sin so against the brethren, and 324 APPENDIX 325 wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ." ' The critical and judicial faculty is to be regulated by knowledge; it is even responsible, only, by, or through knowledge, as such knowledge is available, and known to be so ; or, as it is possessed. So, St. Paul says (Rom. 14 : 12-23) in deciding a question of conscience, when the mind is uncertain, and, con- sequently, the question of true, or false, being un- settled ; the moral sense is influenced in precisely the same ratio, and in the same manner. When the intellectual faculty cannot, positively, say yes, the moral sense of ought is, in like manner, affected, and held in abeyance; it withholds its as- sent as to right or wrong, and, so, cannot say ought, or ought not. Therefore, it also requires the will to withhold its decision ; and the want of the positive requires the negative, and the preservation of the status quo. " Therefore, he that doubteth is damned, or condemned, if he eat, because he eateth not of 1 The argument of St. Paul iu regard to knowledge of moral truth, not only goes to shew that such knowledge is correlated to con- science, or God-consciousness, as defining a sense of right and of wrong, and of moral obligation; but, that the knowledge that, so, ministers to such faculty is an essential part, and integral element of conscience itself, without which it could not exist. Also, it goes far to demonstrate the radical distinction of man, as a com- pound being, from the animals : that his ontological character is essentially distinct from the highest type of the irrational creatures, and that, ontologically and morally the unity of his own nature is completely and radically different from theirs. 32B THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW faith ; for, whatsoever is not (clone) of faith, is sin." That is to say, he cannot believe, if the evidence is not satisfactory and sufficient to his individual knowledge, and judgment, and, so, binding upon his moral sense • and, if he acts without, — as equivalent to, contrary to, his convictions, and moral sense, he is held culpable before God, as having broken the law of conscience, or natural religion. This is the same argument that we find St. Paul using in Rom. 7 : 14-25, where he identifies the ego with the choos- ing faculty, as representing all the moral nature, because of the necessary interdependence between them. So the ego, or " I, myself/*' represents the affections, as they act upon the will, when he says, " I delight in the law of God, after the inward man." So, " If I do what I would not, it is no more / that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me." Our Lord's teaching as to the "single eye" is identical in character. Sincerity, or integrity of purpose is always identified with holy affection, and with enlightened perception as to moral truths; such is the general tenor of Scripture teaching; and such are the experimental facts. We may further notice that as Holy Scripture speaks of a pure conscience, so in this moral dis- tinction, it includes the mind, as well as the affec- tions and purpose. St. Paul, in the Epistle to. Titus, speaks of those whose " mind and conscience is defiled " ; — referring to the fact of evil cogitations APPENDIX 327 being habitually suggested to the mind, through the affections and will being so governed and directed, and, so, polluting the conscience; as the critical and mandatory faculty is, in a similar way, capable of being perverted, hardened, or olinded. The antithesis to this aspect of conscience is found in what St. Paul, elsewhere terms, "a pure con- science." Describing the character of acceptable candidates for the Diaconate (1 Tim. 3 : 9) he says : " Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience." This probably refers to a sincere and obedient faith with all its concomitants. Where St. Paul speaks of a purge, a cleansed conscience, in Heb. 9 : 14, he is referring to those concomitants, and tracing the effects to their proper cause. " How much more shall the blood of Christ, who, through the Eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your con- science from dead works to serve the living God ? " Such a purgation not only includes all the moral faculties, as controlling powers of the inner life and character, but also of the body and its members, and of the outward life and conversation. Note B The Essential Elements of Theism Always in Evidence Another and important point I wish to make, 328 THEISM UNDER NATURAL LAW in this connection, is the fact that during this early period of the world's history specially under con- sideration, i.