PRINCETON, N. J. % Presented by \\ \t*S .O XT'x-xo \C\ (IJVvA^w^ O' BR 85 .S647 1877 Smith, Henry Boynton, 1815- 1877. Faith and philosophy FAITH PHILOSOPHY: /;]■ THE SAME AUniOK. HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST IN CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES. Revised Edition. One volume, folio, cloth, So-oo *** Scut, i'.r/>yrss iharg^cs fiaid, on rfcei/'t of price, by the J''iihUshe>s. SCRIBNER, ARMSTRONG & CO., 743 AND 745 lJROAD\v•\^•. New Vouk. FAI T H Airo PHILOSOPHY: DiSCOUESES AND ESSAYS /by HENRY B. SMITH, D.D., LL.D. EDITED WITir AN INTMODUCTORY NOTICE BY GEORGE L. PRENTISS, D.D., PROFESSOR IN THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, IN THE CITY OF NEW YOEK. " Sehr Bchmerzlich hat mich cler Tod von Henry B. Smith beriihrt. Ich habe ihn ala einen der ersten. wenii nicht al.s ersten Ainenkaiischen Theologen der Gegenwart angesehen ; festgegriindet im Christlichen Glauben, frei und weiten Hei'zens mid Blickes, philosophischen Geistes und fiir systematishe Theologie ungewiilinlich begabt. Miichte doch etwas in dieser Hinsicht aus seinem Nachlass veroffentlicht werden." — Dr. Dorneh, of Berlin. NEW YORK: SCRIBNER, ARMSTRONG & CO. 1877. Copyright bt BCRIBNER, ARMSTRONG & CO. 1877. Tfow's Printing and Bookbinding Co., 205-213 East \itk St. NEW YORK. INTRODUOTOEY ISTOTIOE. The death of Henry B. Smith was felt to be an almost irreparable loss to the best culture and learning of our country. Whether regarded as a theologian, as a philo sophical thinker, or as a general scholar and critic, he was con fessedly one of the most accomplished men of his time. Such was the opinion of him often expressed by those best qualified to judge, both at home and abroad. And had his life and health been spared a few years longer, he would no doubt have furnished to the world, in rij^e productions of his pen, still more substantial reason for this high estimate. As it is, with the exception of his elaborate and invaluable History of the Church of Christ in Chronological Tables, his writings consist chiefly of occasional discourses, essays, and reviews. But although occasional and m.ore or less fragmentary, they discuss some of the most important and vital questions of the age; and they do it with such exhaustive power, that in several instances the discourse, or essay, might readily be en- larged into a book, with no other change than that of greater fulness of statement and illustration. The opening paper of this volume, on the Kelations of Faith and Philosophy, and that on Church History, may serve as examples. The strong points in each case are so vividly presented ; the principles involved are set forth with such distinctness ; the discussion is so luminous and complete, that a whole treatise on the subject could hardly add to the foi-ce of the argument. A conviction of the superior quality and permanent value of Dr. Smith's writings has led to the present selection. It is called Faith and Philoso])hy, because that title fitly indi- IV INTKODUCTOKY NOTICE. eates its general character. Almost everything in it belongs to one or the other of these two noblest spheres of Imnuiii thought. And Dr. Smith was entirely at home in them both. He deh'ghted to grapple with the hardest problems of specu- lative science; and he did so with an ease that showed how congenial they were to the native bent and temper of his mind. He delighted still more to discuss the most difficult questions of Christian faith; and he did so with a spiritual insight, a breadth and vigoi' of thouglit, a wise discrimination and a zeal for truth, which showed him to possess the genius, as well as the culture and learning, of a finished tlieologian. The following pages bear witness to all this, and not less to the fine literary skill, logical acumen, and admirable sense, with which he was wont to enforce his opinions on these high themes. This volume contains a portion only of his miscellaneous writings. There is ample material for a second series, should one be called for ; and it would include some of the best things he ever wrote.* Several of these papers have already made their mark in history. It is enough to mention the first two, together with the seventh. The oration at Andover and the Inaugural Addi-ess on Church History, formed an epoch in the intellec- tual life of scores of earnest young men preparing for the sacred office, or just entering upon its duties. Nov were they read with less eagerness by some of the ripest thinkers and scholars^of the land, I will venture to quote from one of these, the eminent historian of the United States. "Your orations (writes Mr. Bancroft, then almost a stranger, but ever after a warm and honored friend of Dr. Smith), your orations aro admirable. Especially was I pleased and instructed by your inaugural address. In Church History you have no rival in this hemisphere ; and you know I am bound to think history includes dogmatics, and philosophy, and theology. *E. g., The Problem of the PMlosophy of History, a Phi Beta Kappa ad- dress at Yale College; A Plea for Christian Colleges; The Ultimate Supre- macy of the Kingdom of Iledeiniition ; Limits of Religious Thought; and a beautiful discourse on esthetics, still in manuscript. INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. V " In the Andover oration I might perhaps find some room to object to the extent to which you carry the doctrine of deference to authority. We may light our candle by another's, but faith, to be of value, must be living ; and to be a living one, must be approved by the heart and by reason. . . . I must again say how much I have been delighted with the spirit, manner, and learning and earnestness of both addresses. I know no one in the country but yourself who could have written them." The Aiulover address was immediate^ reprinted by the eminent house of T. & T. Clark, in Edinlniro-li, where it at- tracted ninch attention.* A friend writing to Prof. Sniitli, in 1859, thus alludes to it : " 1 believe I mentioned that Sir William Hamilton, and also the late Rev. Dr. John Brown, made particular inquiries respecting jou, and expressed a hearty admiration for your address on the Relations of Faith and Philosophy. Dr. B. had it republished, so I was in- formed." Of the pmper on Christian Union and Eoclesiastical Re- union^ this at least may be said : It struck the key-note of the great reunion movement in the Presbyterian Chm'ches, and poiiit'dd out the sure and only way to its happy consummation, No essential feature of the event bat what was distinctly out- lined in this truly ireuical, large-liearted, sagacious, and Chris- tian-like discourse. It is hardly needful to speak in detail of the various papers which compose this volume. They will sufficiently explain and speak for themselves. As may be seen at a glance, they embrace a very wide range of topics and of thought. They discuss some of the oldest and some of the newest questions of speculative philosophy, and sonie of the oldest as well as newest questions of Christian ethics and divinity. But what- ever the topic — whether a novel theory of the day or one of * It was accompanied by the following note : " The form of the spoken address is retained in this paper, because a change in this respect would demand a change in the whole structure and arrangement of the discussion. The tone of the piece was necessarily kept rather popular than scientific. The exigencies of the occasion must be the author's plea for the slight no- tice given to many important points, which must needs be introduced, though they could not be formally debated." VI INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. old, standing problems of human knowledge — it is always dis- cussed in the light of great principles, in the interest of truth, and with the manly freedom, earnestness, and candor that be- come a Christian scholar. The discussion is sometimes re- lieved by touches of that piquant wit and drj' hnmor, which lent a peculiar charm to Prof. Smith's conversation and even to his theological lectures. It is also enlivened, here and there, by a somewhat sharper tone, called forth by what he regarded as a wanton, ruthless assault upon his Master and holy things. The power of polished ridicule and sarcasm was, indeed, one of the most effective weapons in his mental armory ; but he used it sparingly, knowing very well how easily it is mistaken for an angry or hostile temper. If his intellectual thrusts are occasionally keen and pierce even to the quick, it is because they are the thrusts of a master of the controversial art, who, seeing liis lawful advantage, feels bound to use it for the truth's sake. But no man was ever freer in spirit and intention from the low, petty motives of partisan- ship, whether theological or of any other sort. His whole mental and moral being was cast in a large, generous, catholic mould ; and he looked with abhorrence upon the prostitution of great questions of Christian truth and duty to mere secta- rian or personal issues. This was one secret, doubtless, of his extraordinary influence, and of the esteem and admiration felt for him by so many, who differed with him radically in mat- ters of opinion. Had he himself prepared these papers again for the press, he would have subjected them to a careful revision, and per- haps have modified, here and there, tlie form, if not the thought. Possibly he might have omitted some passages altogether. He was always striving after greater clearness, exactitude, and force, as well as fairness, of expression. For- tunately, a number of valuable corrections and emendations were found in his own handwriting, and have, of course, been adopted. When they first appeared, some of the following discussions were exceedingly helpful to minds struggling with the difficulties of modern thought, or resisting the assaults of INTKODUCTORY NOTICE. Vll modern doubt and denial. It is hoped tliat, in this new form, thej may fulfil again the same kindly and gracious office. Their author understood, as did few others on this side of the Atlantic, the magnitude of these difficulties and the terrible energy, as well as strength, of these assaults. But he never faltered in the conviction that they could and, in due time, would be overcome by the victorious power of Revealed truth. His divinity and his philosophy both centred in Christ ; his theories of man, of history, and of the world centred also in Christ ; for him all the dearest interests of humanity, and those eternal verities which once ravished the soul of Plato, and have ravished the souls of the greatest saints and sages ever since, had their source and centre in Christ ; and so he was sure that in Christ as the creative, upholding, and redemptive Logos, the human mind will find at length " the Sabbath and port of all its labors and peregrinations." Meanwhile he watched the signs of the times with an eager eye, and not without anxious foreboding. Again and again he recurs to the subject. "No man who loves the Christian faith " (such was almost the first sentence of his address at Andover, in 1849), " no man who is alive to the spirit of the times, as every man ought to be alive, can have failed to feel, to see, or to forebode the coming of a conflict between the mightiest powers that sway the destiny of man." During the quarter of a century which intervened between the Andover address and the article on The New Faith of Sfymuss, the conflict had fully come, and that article unfolds its character, and shows how deadly is the strife, and how vast the issue. The " new faith " is that in blind, o'ermastering Force which is above all, and through 'all, and in all, in place of the old faith in God, the Father Almighty, and in Jesus Christ, Ilis only Son, our Lord. And its practical effects are thus impres- sively depicted in the closing part of tlie article : " A generation drugged with such a fell delusion will change the face of the earth. Especially in our own country, where material prosperity is so rife and seductive, and ma- terial necessities are so urgent and constant — if to these be Vlll INTEODUCTOEY NOTICE. added the concentration and impetus of a scientific and ag- gressive materialism, and our whole theory of life be trans- muted by its incantations — no imagination can forecast its perils and no wisdom curb its riotous excesses. For nothing will be sacred to it ; there is no hallowed word it will not scoffingly transform ; there is no institution of church or state it will not destroy and reshape ; the only law it knows is the tyrant's maxim, that might makes right. Neither strength nor beauty can be in its sanctuary. Let the race be thoroughly taught in this new creed, blinded to the supreme light of reason and the imperative obligations of conscience, indifferent to God and to eternal life, and it will be ready to perish. To the most cultured, life will be oidy a narrow realism ; for the mass of mankind there is left chiefly a fierce struggle for wealth and power and pleasure, with the survival of the strongest. And this New Faith is, after all, but a revival of the oldest form of the most desrradine- un- belief ; it cuts off the wings of the soul, drags it down to earth, and extorts from it the reluctant and despairing confession, that all that is left it is a dogged purpose to submit to annihilation, as do the beasts that perisli. If a brute could become conscious, it could not have any less religion." This Introductory Notice may fitly close with a brief sketch of Pi-of. Smith's life and character. IIexey Boynton Smith was born in Portland, Maine, November 21st, 1815. Port- land was not less remarkable for its social culture and intel- ligence than for those natural beauties, that render it one of the most charming spots on the Atlantic coast. Here, in the midst of the happiest influences, his boyhood was spent. At the age of fifteen he entered Bowdoin College, where he graduated in 1834. Among his classmates or contemporaries in college w^ere Cyrus Hamlin, Peleg W. Chandler, Daniel R Goodwin, William II. Allen, Samuel Harris, John A. An- drew, Benjamin Fordyce Barker and others, whose names have since become widely knoAvn and honored. His theo- logical studies were pursued at Bangor and Andover, and, INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. ix later, at the universities of Halle and Berlin. While in Ger- many he devoted himself with enthusiasm to philosophy and church history, as well as divinity. His teachers regarded him with singular interest and affection, treating him less as their pupil than as their friend and equal. In Berlin he was often a welcome guest at the house of Neander, who showed Iiim great kindness. At Halle his relations ;with Tholuck and Ulrici were especially intimate ; they loved and treated him as a younger brother. With some of his fellow-students and of the young theologians he also formed ties of friend- ship, which remained fresh to the day of his death. Kahnis, now so distinguished as professor of theology at Leipsic, and Godet, the eloquent and accomplished Swiss theologian, were of this number. He returned to the United States, not only enriched with the best thought and culture of Germany, but quickened in his whole intellectual and spiritual being by contact with its great thinkers, its noble Christian men, and its beautiful domestic life. After a year of service as an instructor at Bowdoin College, during the absence of President Woods in Europe, he was ordained in 1842 to the charge of the Congregational Church in West Amesbury, Massachusetts. In this little village he spent five happy years, devoting him- self assiduously to his pastoral work, and winning more and more the love of his people. From 1845 to 1847 he also gave instruction in Hebrew at Andover, supplying the place of his friend Prof. Bela B. Edwards, then absent in quest of health. In 1847 he became Professor of Mental and Moral Philosophy in Amherst College. In 1850 he received a unanimous call to the chair of Church History in the Union Theological Seminary, in the city of New York. It was not without a sevei-e struggle of mind that he at length accej)ted this call. He was a devoted son of New England ; his posi- tion at Amherst was most congenial to his tastes, and many friends whom he loved and honored, urged him not to leave it. But after long deliberation he decided that it was his duty to come to New York ; and he never saw any reason X INTKODUCTORY NOTICE. to question the wisdom of tliis decision. lie entered the Presbyterian Church to become one of its most lionored teachers and leaders ; but his filial affection for New England continued strong and pure to the last. In 1S55 he was trans- ferred to the chair of Systematic Theology. Here is not tlie place to speak of his relations to the Union Theological Seminary, or of the inestimable services he rendered to this institution. In 1859 he founded The American Theological Review, which, in 1863 became united with the Preshyterian Review, under the title of The American Presbyterian and Tkeological Revieio. This again, in 1871, was united with The Princeton Repei'tory under the name of The Presby- terian Quarterly and Princeton Review. Professor Smith revisited Europe in 1S59, and again in 1866. Toward the close of 1868 his health became so much shattered that he was obliged to abandon all work and flee for his life. In February, 1869, he went abroad with his family, and spent a year and a half in Germany, in Italy, and in the lands of the Bible. Returning in 1870, better, yet not "well, he resumed his work in the seminary. But toward the close of 1873 he was prostrated by a new attack of disease, and on the 13th of January, 1874, he resigned his chair. He was at once made Professor Emeritus, and afterwards Lecturer on Apologetics. During the next three years he carried on the struggle for life with extraordinary resolution, and with a hope that would never yield. In the autumn of 1876 his strength had so rallied, that the Board of Directors appointed him to deliver the Ely Lectures on the Evidences of Christianity. He was in the midst of his preparation for this course, which he was intensely anxious to deliver, when death overtook him. He entered into rest on Wednesday morning, February 7th, 1877, in the sixty-second year of his age. He had been fast ripening for the mortal event. Those who knew him most intimately had, of late, often observed in him an unusual tenderness, humility, and sweet gentleness of spirit ; he seemed to cling closer and closer to Christ ; his prayers were full of holy fervor and unction ; and his religious talk, in INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. XI the fellowship of his Christian brethren, was at times marked by a tone of wondrous elevation, beauty, and pathos. " His last public utterance " (writes his pastor, the Rev. Dr. Yincent) "was in the prayer-meeting at the Church of the Covenant, on the evening of November 1st, 1876. Tlie subject for the evening was one of the Pilgrim psalms, the 122d : " Jerusa- lem is builded as a city that is compact togetlier. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem." He rose, and taking up the thought of what Jerusalem had been to the church of all ages since its foundation, he dwelt upon the love and longing which had gone out to it from the hearts of the pilgrims in its palmy days, from beneath the willows of Babylon, from prince and devotee' and crusader, touching liere and there upon salient points in its history, until, with the warmer glow of emotion stealing into his tremulous voice, he led our thoughts to the Jerusalem above— the Christian pilgrim's goal— and the rest and perfect joy of the weary. The talk was like the gem in Thalaba's mystic ring— a cut crystal full of fire. Perhaps something of his own weariness and struggle crept ' unconsciously into his words, and gave them their peculiar depth and tenderness." His funeral took place in the Church of the Covenant, on the afternoon of February 9th. The assembly was such as is seldom seen in this country, and testified that a very remark- able man had passed away. It represented whatever is high- est and best in American culture and scholarship. At a preliminary meeting of the clergy of New York and vicinity, voice was given to the common sentiment in a most appreciative minute, and in brief addresses full of love and admiration. From the absent also came very touching trib- utes. I cannot deny myself the pleasure of quoting a few sentences from one of them. Upon going abroad in 1869, Prof Smith had expressed the wish that in the event of his death, his old and dear friend, Dr. Park, of Andover, might speak at his burial. Dr. Park was unable to be present, but he thus expressed his feelings in a letter to Mr. Wm. Allen Smith : Xll INTKODTTCTORT NOTICE. " If, however, I had been able to reach New York I could not have spoken at the solemnity. I could not have commanded my power of utter- ance. I felt unable to speak for a long time after I heard the sad news. . . It is now about forty years since I first saw your father. It was in my study, a few feet from the spot where I am now writing this letter. I distinctly remember his spiritual face, his etherial body, his tones, his words. One of his sentences I have often repeated. I thought it a remark- able sentence for so young a man. He was then about to sail for Germany. " It seems to me that he does not need much change in or.der to have a spiritual body in heaven. It seems natural for him to be in the spiritual companionship of that upper world. " Among all the friends whom he will meet there none will receive him more gladly than his admirer, B. B. Edwards. How often and how affec- tionately Prof. Edwards was wont to speak of him ! The two were kindred spirits on earth and will be forever. " I do so heartily regret that I failed to see him when I was in New York twenty months ago. I desired to ask him many questions, some of which he was the only man capable of answering. I have this winter desired to propose some other questions to him, and I do not know any man who can answer them as well as he could. In certain departments of study he had traversed ground which few persons in this country have ventured upon. Is all his learning to perish with him ? By no means. As he wiU live, so will his learning live. He will be a rich treasure in the world of treasures. ' The kings of the earth do bring their glory and their honor unto it. ' ' • I trust that Prof. Smith has left numerous manuscripts in a fit state for jDublication. I hope that in some form his system of theology will be published. The substance of it will be, doubtless. " Alas ! how many reflections come into my mind at the thought that his earthly activity has ceased. How many reminiscences of Tholuck, Kahnis, and many other German friends to whom he introduced me ! How they loved him, even as a son or a brother ! " Some of the mott grateful and aifecting tributes to his memory came from those who had no sympathy with many of his theological views. One of them in particular 1 cannot refrain from quoting. It does equal honor to the writer and to his departed friend. In a letter written on Saturday even- ing, February 10th, the day after the funeral, the Rev. Henry W. Bellows, D.D., of this city, thus i-efers to the "great and glorious scholar" by wliose bier he had just been standing: "The depth and breadth of Prof. Smith's theology and piety, tlie unaffected charity of his sympathies, his modesty under tlie crown of learning and philosophy which he so INTKODUCTOEY NOTICE. Xlll manifestly wore, his entire freedom from low ambition of place or name, his gaiety of heart in weary invalidism, and the vigor of his soul so set off by the frailty of his body — all these rare and precious characteristics — I, with thousands of others who have a nearer right to avow them, shall ever cher- ish and lament to lose. " How it belittles our sense of human recognition and esti- mate to think how feebly the general public knows what a treasure has dropped from the world, and how jDoor it leaves the church and the scholai'ship of America. " Excuse my seeking this means of relieving my own sor- row, and of making you the receiver of this feeble testimony to the worth and dignity of the honored saint we have just buried." From beyond the sea, also, came tokens of the same heart- felt sorrow. Prof. Smith had great admiration for Dr. Dorner, of Berlin, whom he regarded as, at present, " the leading scientific evangelical theologian of Germany." In a letter to Prof. Briggs, of the Union Seminary, dated May 30, 1877, Dr. Dorner gives utterance to the feeling with which Prof. Smith was regarded in the land of Luther. An extract from this letter will be found on the title-page. From Switzerland, too, came a similar voice. The following is from a letter of Professor Godet, of Xeuchatel : " La premiere fois que nous nous sommes rencontres, c'etait a Berlin, chez notre pere spirituel, 1' excellent Neander. J'ai appris alors a con- naitre en lui I'un des jeunes chretiens les plus aimables, Tun des gentlemen les plus Chretiens que j'ai jamais rencontres. Plus tard j'ai eu la joie de revoir M. Smith en Suisse. Devenus pro- fesseurs I'un et I'autre, nous causames naturellement de theologie, et j'appris alors a connaitre I'un des esprits les plus profonds, les plus judicieux et les plus perspicieux que j'ai jamais rencontres. II dominait chaque sujet et me dominait en en parlant. En apprenant la mort de cet homme eminent, j'ai eu le sentiment bien profond : voila un citoyen rentre dans sa patrie ! " Of Prof. Smith's personal and social qualities, his manly simplicity, his unpretending, modest ways, his genial and generous sympathies, his quiet mirth, his quaint, delicate XIV INTEODUCTORY NOTICE. humor, his love of books and all good fellowship, his catholic spirit, his high-toned sense of truth and justice, his patriotic zeal, his kindly interest in young men, and readiness to serve them, his devotion as a friend, his sweet domestic affections — of these and still other attractive features of his beau- tiful character, there is no room to speak at length. But they are enshrined in many hearts, and will never lose their fragrance. The memory of them, and of that library with which, in so many minds, they are indissolubly associated — how very pleasant it is, and always will be ! — " Who can for- get that room, walled and double- walled with books, the baize- covered desk in the corner by the window, loaded with the fresh philosophic and theologic treasures of the European press, and the little figure in the long gray wrapper seated there — the figure so frail and slight that, as one of his friends remarked, it seeuied as though it would not be much of a ' change for him to take on a spiritual body ; the beautifully moulded brow, crowned with its thick, wavy, sharply parted, iron-gray hair, the strong aquiline profile, the restless shift- ing in his chair, the nervous pulling of the hand at the moustache as the stream of talk widened and deepened, the occasional start from his seat to pull down a book or to search for a pamphlet — how inseparably these memories twine them- selves with those of high debate and golden speech and con- verse on the themes of Christian philosophy and Christian experience."* What other library can ever seem like his, and where is the Chriistian scholar to fill his place? When shall we look upon another Henry B. Smith? " That friend of mine who lives in God." G. L. P. New York, October 23, 1877. * Dr. Vincent, in The Presbyterian (Quarterly and Princeton Beview for April, 1817. CONTENTS. ^^ I. The Relations op Faith and Philosophy 1 ^ II. Nature and Worth op the Science op Church History. 49 III. The Reformed Churches op Europe and America in Relation to General Church History 87 '' IV. The Idea op Christian Theology as a System 125 V. The New Latitudinarians op England 167 VI. The Theological System op Emmons 215 VII. Christian Union and Ecclesiastical Reunion 2G5 VIII. Sir William Hamilton's Theory op Knowledge 297 IX. Draper's Intellectual Development op Europe 337 ; X. Whedon on the Will 359 XI. Renan's Life op Jesus 401 XII. The New Faith op Strauss 443 THE RELATIONS FAITH AND PHILOSOPHY.* Although the very name of your society might seem to indicate the subject of your anniversary addresses, yet I have been deterred from taking sacred rhetoric as my theme, partly by the memory of the orations of former years, and partly because I have supposed that he who advocated the claims of this art ought, in his own person, to exemplify its power. And I feel justified in adventuring upon a graver topic, because this is consistent with your own precedents ; because 1 am convinced it is equally befitting the occasion ; and because it is more congenial with my own pursuits. We meet as believers, as students, perhaps as teachers of the Christian faith. AVe are rationally convinced that in Christianity is the highest truth, and that in the orthodox system, which has formed the substance of Christianity through its advancing and victorious centuries, we have the best human exposition of the divine revelation. In propor- tion, then, to our love for this system, and to our love of all truth, will be the depth of our interest in tJie assaults made on our faith, whether by depraved passions or by elevated intellects. No man who loves the Christian faith as it ought to be loved, no man who is alive to the spirit of the times in which he lives, as every man ought to be alive, can have failed to * An address before the Porter Rhetorical Society of Andover Theological Seminary, at its anniversary, Sept. 4, 1849. 1 2 FAITH AND PIIILOSOPHY. feel, to see, or to forbode the coming of a conflict between the mightiest powers that sway the destiny of man. There may, indeed, be those to whom, through grace, it is given, in the ripeness of an impregnable conviction, or in what Milton calls the "undeflowered and nnblemishable " simplicity of a gnileless and unquestioning faith to live in unruffled seren- ity ; ever to see the guiding star and never to feel the insur- gent billows. Blessed are they in the repose of their faith ; intolerant of the spirit of the hour, because conscious of hav- ing the truth which is eternal. But most of us, if not our- selves assailed by doubts, or if through divine love delivered from their thraldom, cannot fail to see the ravages they are making upon others, and minds, too, of noble as well as of ignoble mould and temper. We see the orthodox system, and Christianity itself, super- seded by ethical, by social, and by metaph3'sical systems ; we see it losing not only its traditionary, but also its intellectual hold, over many a sincere mind. Its sacred language is con- verted to profane aiid philosophic use. Its venerable sym- bols, the lawful heritage of the church, won by ages of con- flict, are made to yield a new sense. Social reforms are made the media of indirect, when not of open attack. Each new science puts in its claim to modify some part of the sacred record. Our American propensity to submit all opinions to new examination, and all institutions to new ex- pei'iment, favors such tendencies. The current English philo- sophy, when it does not pass Christianity wholly by, pays it but a distant reverence ; the French philosophy is at the best vague in its admiration ; the German speculations threaten its annihilation. Many who do not definitely doubt, are still half-conscious of " That first slight swerving of the heart, Which words are powerless to express." Christianity is to them no longer the sun which rules the day, revealing all things in their true light, and guiding man through the waking hours of his hard and varied toil ; but ORDER OF THE DISCUSSION. like tlie paler moon it comes, when at all, in borrowed brightness, clothing all objects in an uncertain light, admired by the more susceptible, and having for its chief office to guard the hours of our repose. As the ardent and versatile Lamennais has represented it, before the intellect and science of the age, our faith is now arraigned, as was once its regal founder before the representative of the mightiest power of ancient times ; and it is met on all sides by the question : Art thou a king ? And how shall it show that it can really respond, I am the king of truth ; in me is the highest truth, the wise philosophy ? The subject to which we are thus led, the Kelations of Faith and Philosophy, is one which lies at the heart of all the questions of our times, and forms their sum and strength, their " pith and puissance." Let me then ask your sympathy in the boldness, if not your approbation of the wisdom of the attempt to unfold the characteristics and the true relations of faith and philosophy. Let me hope that our faith receive no detriment, even if your reason receive no instruction ; and if the hand fail of its steadiness, still believe that the heart was right. It is proposed to conduct the discussion by first describing the characteristics of faith and philosophy ; then, by show- ing their opposition ; next, by inquiring whether they are really exclusive of each other ; and if tliis should seem not to be the case, by stating in conclusion, what we conceive to be their relative position, and the rightful claims of each. 1. Faith, in its widest usage, designates a conviction in the reality of things unseen and eternal ; in a more religious sense, it is trust in God and God's word ; in a more specific and theological meaning, it embraces the articles of belief drawn out into a definite system ; in its most specific and evangelical sense, it denf)tes that full reliance upon Christ, by which we become partakers of the salvation whicli he alone has purchased for the human race. In all these senses, excepting the first, it has certain marked traits, by which it is distinguished from philosophy. It rests 4 FAITH AND PiriLOSOI'HT. upon authority, upon good, uj^on the highest authority, but still upon authority, — confirmed, indeed, by experience, but it is tlie authority, and not the experience, which is ultimate and supreme. That authority is divine and decisive ; it is the very vrord of God recorded in the Scriptures. As face answers to face in a glass, so does faith to the Bible, which it receives, both in history and in doctrine ; and it is not so anxious to harmonize the parts as to imbibe the whole. It connects all things directly with the providence of God ; to this it is ever submissive. It is content with miracles, and it accepts raj'steries ; it says, God alone is wise ; here we see as through a glass, darkly ; there we shall know as we are known. With the scholastic it has sometimes been willing to say, I believe, because it is impossible ; or, with Lord Bacon, " By how much any divine mystery is revolting and incredible, so much the more honor do I render to God in believing it ; and so much the nobler is the victory of our faith." In such self -forgetful trust it finds, too, a deep de- light, as well as a sure support. In Scripture and in prayer, tliere are rivers of pleasure, fountains which never fail, peace unutterable. Unregenerate is the heart that has never known such moods ; unsanctified the soul that does not ever sink to its rest upon them. All doubt is merged in this exulting confidence ; it flits only over its surface, as the breeze sweeps the luxuriant field of grain ; nay, it may but serve to quicken faith with a sublimer energy, to add volume and exhilaration to its deep-felt joy. And as doubt does not enfeeble, so dan- ger does not awe it ; for omnipotence is with it. In death also it may delight, for it will then be delivered from sin, its only real enemy ; it will be wholly sanctified, its only real good; and through eternity it will ever behold the face of Him, with whom every fibre of the soul's inmost life is inter- twined. Such is faith ; it is called a life, and it is worthy of the name of life, it is so full and satisfying. The man who has it would as soon doubt whether his body were animated by the life of nature, when he is conscious of the movements of nilLOSOPlIY THE PRODUCT OF HUMAN THOUGHT. 5 its muscles in their most strenuous efforts, and of the full delights of nervous sensation, as he would doubt whether his soul were a partaker of spiritual life, when its powers are expanded to their utmost intensity of action and of blessed- ness, by the gracious truths which centre in the person of our Lord. Turn we now to philosophy. This is the product of human thought, acting upon the data given by the world without or the world within, and eliciting from these data principles, laws, and sj'stem. It is not the whole of human knowledge, but a special mode of that knowledge, the knowing things rationally ; the knowing them in their ideas, their causes, their successions, and their ends. Common experience gives us things in their isolation and independence ; philosophy in their similarity, harmony, and unity. It starts with facts, but with them abides not ; it seeks for law, for all law, for the laws of matter, of mind, and of the universe. It demands necessary truth, eternal and immutable laws ; by these it judges all things, and a severe logic is the instrument by which the test is applied. It does not like exceptions, it is intolerant of mysteries, it abhors contradictions. It strives to account for things, for all things. It seeks a harmonious whole. It may begin with wonder, as both Plato and Aris- totle taught ; but it ends in system, as both Plato and Aris- totle have exemplified. And in proportion to the compre- hensiveness, consistency, and exactitude of the system, is the aspiration of the philosophic intellect satisfied. What faith is to the believer, that, as has been said, his system is apt to become to the philosopher. lie exults in it with a keen, in- tellectual delight. The laws of nature become to him the elder oracles, which have a voice to him that questions them, though silent to all others ; which are ever profound, and ever present. In the calm and sure order, the unwearied and inflexible processes, the successive developments of lui- ture and of the race, in the unseen yet irresistible laws of being and of motion, many a philosopher finds all his idea! realized ; he calls this system of things infinite and divine ; 6 FAITH AND PHILOSOPHY. loving law, he forgets the source of its energy; resting in his system, he thinks not of God. So diverse are faith and philosophy. The one is a simple act of a trust ; the other a reflective process ; the one rests in fa(;ts and persons, the other in law and system. The for- mer sa3's, I must believe in order to know ; the latter, I must know in order to believe, and then, it not seldom adds, there is no need of believing. This says, it is so, using the lan- guage of authority ; that asks, how is it so ? using the lan- guage of inquir}^ Revelation is the boast of faith, reason of philosophy. The latter in second causes forgets the first, the former would even abolish the second, that it might magnify the great First Cause. Philosophy ignores providence so long as it can find a law ; to the eye of faith, even miracles are a welcome evidence of the personal energy of God, break- ing in, with wise design, upon the too fixed order of a sinful world. The former would rather confess ignorance than be- lief ; the latter, though ignorant, ever trusts. Prayer is the delight of the one, the enigma of the other. In reading the passage : " He that hath the Son, hath life ; " philosophy asks, who is the Son ; what is his relation to the Father ; is it inherent, or in the manifestation alone ; what is this life ; is it figurative or essential : while faith welcomes the inspired words with glad assent, they are the very words it needs, its heart is attuned to their gracious import. The one knows no l(jve too great for Jesus, the other is willing to make him a partaker even of human sinfulness, that it may be exalted above the necessity of trusting in him. And, to sum up all in a word ; faith sees God everywhere, espe- cially in the Scriptures : while philosophy so long as it can find law and system, asks not for God. Law is the word of the one, God of the other ; and these are their two extremes. II. Such being their contrasted characteristics, it is hardly possible but that they should sometimes take the attitude of extreme opposition. Faith, then, jealous for the honor of her God, and feeling THE CHARGE AGAINST PHILOSOPHY. 7 that her all is at stake, approaches philosophy with the mien of one inspired by a divine impulse, and says : I have nourished and brought you up, and j^ou have re- belled against me ! From the old traditions of the race you received those primal truths which you now claim as the birth -right of human reason. Greece had them from the Orient, where they were cradled. Germany from the gospel it has renounced. You have always been an ingrate, denying your very parentage : you have always been a rebel, defiant of authority ; you have always been a sceptic, doubting the best accredited facts. Aiming after unity, you are facile to deny the obstinate facts ; seeking for universality, you call partial knowledge universal ; the real unity and universality are found only in God, whom you banish from your systems. Of all heresy and division you with depravity have been the fruitful parents ; from the times of the Gnostics to the times of the Germans, you have vexed the church by irrever- ent questions, which no man is able to answer. Strong only in undermining, you have never been able to make a system which could survive the " shock of time, the insults of the elements," the providence of God and the might of his church. Your towers have been as Babel, on the plain of Shinar, and the act of building has been ever followed by the confusion of tongues. From pagan lands, unillumined, you came in the name of Aristotle, and brought subtle sophistries, and, in the name of Plato, ideal reveries, and substituted these for the simplicity of the gospel. Into the depths of materialism you have seduced the heaven-born soul ; to the heights of idealism you have carried man, borne on visionary pinions ; and in the depths you have found only a sepulchre, and from the heights discerned only an unfilled and trackless void. In the pride of reason, you forget the reality of sin. You weave around man a labyrinthine web, and leave him there without a clue, to die without a hope. Nature you rob of its vital energy; instead of a kind providence, you give us only an unpitying law ; instead of a Redeemer, an abstract system, which has neither life nor love. Under your iron, 8 FAITH AND PHILOSOPHY. icy reign, crushed are tlie heart's best affections, unsatisfied its deepest wants ; gone, forever gone, its most needed conso- lations. All the glorious forms with whicli grace environed us, you have touched with your magic wand, and they have shrivelled, like the leaf before the frost: you leave us only this poor, shifting world : you leave us to despair. For us, then, there is no possibility even of a truce. It is war and only war : it is faith or philosophy; a disjunctive proposition, a vital dilemma. And you, born of groping reason, must submit to my celestial rights. Challenged by such an adversary, philosophy, ever ready to respond, takes up the word, and, as is her wont, begins in a more modest, and ends in a more confident tone : " Sure, he that made us with such large discourse, Looking before and after, gave us not That capability and god-like reason To rust in us unused. " In your unwise zeal, you charge all philosophy with the extravagances of the few, forgetful of the services of the many. In the flush of a new system, I may have been your opponent ; maturer thoughts have usually made me your ally. Without my aid how could man know, without my weapons how defend, even a revelation. AVhen yourself attacked you use me in your defence, if you do not rely upon bare asser- tion or unwise denunciation. Without me you are a mystic or a fanatic. In the early church I aided in expelling super- stitions ; I sharpened your weapons, and burnished your armor. The precision of your theological terms is owing to my logic ; your accredited formulas of doctrine could never have been built up without my hard toil. Those systems of theology which have been your boast and your defence are among the ripest products of philosophic culture. When the apostle speaks of the "opposition of science, falsely so called," does he not imply that there is a science, truly to be so called 't And that same God who gave to man the illumination of his Spiiit, did he not also give the light of reason, and give rea- PHILOSOPHIC TENDENCIES IN OPPOSITION TO FAITH. 9 son first, and reason always, and reason nnto all : and, even if it be granted, that the highest joys of the heart are found only in submission to his revealed will, yet it must also be conceded that the chief delight of reason is in philosopliy. Thus would philosophy speak in the language of apology ; but it has other words when it accepts the formula faith or philosophy. And there are four chief tendencies of oui times in which its deliberate and conscious opposition to faith is manifest. The first is that in wdiich all certainty is found in the facts and laws of the material world. The laws and analogies of nature are forced to explain the laws of mind and of morals. Ethics and metapliysics are subordinated to what is dogmat- ically called positive science. To conform to natural laws, and not to transgress them is esteemed the great end. Law has no sanctions excepting the direct consequences of obedi- ence or transgression. The harmony of man with nature is the great ideal, is the perfect state. There is no law reach- ing beyond this life. This w^orld is the boundary of all real human hope and of all well-founded human fear. All else is doubtful. The second form utters its oracles in a higher mood ; it recognizes justice and love and the brotherhood of the race as great ends. It would relieve the wretched ; give man his rights; introduce a new social state. It is animated by humane principles, and seeks great moral, though worldly ends. These it believes in ; these it judges to be effective and sufficient. It has faith, but a faith which centres in humanity, and not in a personal God or an incarnate Re- deemer. It seeks a kingdom ; but is a kingdom wdiich is to be of this world, though it is not yet in the world. Its heaven, the only one which is certain, is to be realized on earth. There is a third tendency more religious in its language, and which may be and is combined with these others, though as a tendency it is distinct. God, it says, is to be loved and served ; he can be loved. But, it is argued, if I have 10 FAITH AND PHILOSOPHY. that love wliich is the very essence of all religion, what need I more ? How can it aid or mar this love to believe in a Bible, a Trinity, an external atonement and such long con- fessions of doctrine ? The state of the heart is all. You call the Bible inspired, so am I ; you call it a revelation, I have one within, more constant and persuasive. Such a mind contemplates the grand and distinctive realities of the Chris- tian faith, as we gaze upon the sculptured gods of a Grecian temple; we maybe lost in wonder and enraptured by their beauty ; but they have for the soul no divine reality, as object of faith and love ; they are memorials of an antiquated su- perstition ; we have thought and felt above and beyond them, we cannot find our whole selves in them. The fourth form of philosophic unbelief is the pantheistic ; and this combines in itself elements from all the others. Here philosophy, as though conscious of its full power, asserts its absolute supremacy. By the assumed universality of its principles, the undeniable comprehensiveness of its aims, the rigoi' of its logic, and the steadiness of its processes ; by its high ideal character; by its claim to be the result of the concentrated, thought of the race, and to contain in itself all that is essential in the Christian faith, and to give the law and the explanation to all other sciences ; this system seizes with an almost demoniacal power upon minds tliat would laugh to scorn the dreamy fantasies of the East, tliat see the rottenness of bare materialism and that feel something of the inherent might of Christianity. Never did a philo- sophical system take such an attitude towards the Christian faith ; it does not make it a superstition, as did atheism ; it does not neglect it, as does our popular philosophy ; it does not scout its mysteries, as does an irrational common-sense; nor does it attenuate it into a mere ethical system ; but it grants it to be the highest possible form of man's religious nature, it strives to transform its grandest truths into philo- sophical principles ; it says that only one thing is higher, and that is pantheism. It claims to have transnnited Chris- tianity into philosophy, and to stand above it, triumphant, PHILOSOPHY IN ITS PANTHEISTIC MOOD. 11 dominant, exultant. And thus it is the most daring, subtle, consistent, destructive and energetic philosophy which ever reared its front against the Christian faith. It has tlie merit of recognizing the grandeur of Christianity ; it has the auda- city to boast that itself is more sublime. It professes to have systematized all thonght ; to have possession of the aboriginal substance and the perfect law of its development ; to be able to unfold all our ideas in their right connections, and to explain nature, mind, art, history, all other philosophies, and also Christianity. All this, it says, is but the unfolding of its own inner life. It weaves its subtle dialectics around everything, that thus it may drag all into its terrific vortex.' It has a word for almost every man excepting for the Chris- tian established in his faith. By the very extravagance of its pretensions it seduces many ; by its harmony with the life of sense it attracts those who love the world ; and by its ideal character it sways such as wT»uld fain be lifted above the illu- sions of sense and the visions of imagination, and the contra- dictions of the understanding, into a region of rarer air where reason sways a universal sceptre. Its system includes all things. God is all things ; or rather all is God ; he tliat knows this system knows and has God. And it claims that it thus gives a higher idea of deity than when he is limited by a definite personality; assuming, without any philosophi- cal ground, that personality is in its very nature finite, and cannot be connected with infinite attributes. It professes to give man a system which shall make him wise and it is v\'itli the oldest temptation, ye shall be as gods. Thus does philosophy, in its most daring mood accept the alternative, philosophy or faith ; and it gives us the choice be- tween Cln-ist and Spinoza. And this is the great alternative of our times. III. Leaving these two powers, for the present, in this at- titude of opposition, we next inquire whether they can be rationally held to be utterly exclusive of each other. It is said, for example, in faith is the only certainty ; all philosophy is dangerous ; the natural tendency of scientific 12 FAITH AND PHILOSOPHY. research is against revelation ; man is so depraved tliat tliougb a true philosophy were a great good, it is irrational to ex- pect it. And it is undeniable that much modern speculation, both physical and metaphysical, is opposed to revelation ; and that all systems and principles which would explain nature with- out a God, and man's destiny without Christianity, so far as they logically lead to these results, are an unmixed evil and ought to be exposed and opposed. But how opposed ? Philosophically, or otherwise ? Pie who will answer this question fairly will take the only correct ground. It is, we will say, an objection to the personality of God. How shall we meet it ? Shall we simply assert that we believe in the divine personality' ; that the Bible speaks of God as a personal agent ? Or shall we not rather strive to show on the strictest philosophical grounds that the idea of a personal God is the most rational ; that without it we can- not really explain the origin or the order of the universe ; and that it is a mere assumption to assert, that personality is in its very nature finite — since it is the finiteness of man's attri- butes, and that alone, which gives the finiteness to his person- ality. But if we do this we are entering upon a philosophi- cal discussion. And would it not be unfortunate to have taken at the outset a position against all philosophy, which would oidy serve to throw doubt over our own argument ? Is there not ground for a calm distinction between philosophy and and false philosophy. We may deny the possibility of a perfect system ; we may show that faith is necessary ; yet, is it not unwise to doubt, or to seem to doubt, or to say anything that would imply that we ever thought of seeming to doubt, that we might attain entire certainty on some points, and those, too, the most important which man can discuss ? Is not any other position suicidal ? And thei-efore do we maintain that our ground should be, that faith and philosophy are not inherently opposed, but in- herently at one ; and that this should be our pervading senti- ment, influencing our theology, our philosophy, our preach- WHAT FOLLOWS A FALSE POSITION^. 13 ing, our every-day discussions ; and that this is a position of prime necessity, now more than ever. For, if this be not so, the bitterest sneers of a Hume were all true; fortified is the balanced satire of a Gibbon. He who lately wrote in a widely circulated Review : " that almost all sects have agreed to divorce religion from reasoning and to exalt faith by contemning philosophy, and that they thus have left all works of divinity in the hands of one class of writers and of one class of readers," might maintain his vitu- peration by our own confessions. Can that which is the dex- trous and sinister policy of our enemies be a prudent position for ourselves ? If this be not so, then we give over the whole field of modern scientific research, both in nature and in mind, entire and unguarded, to be the grand arena, the pride, the honor and the power of infidelity. We virtually say, that to its benefit shall enure the fruit and glory of the sciences. And thus many minds, not faithless, yet not believing, who know that science has gained and garnered up some solid truth, are only re23el led from a candid examination of the truths of our faith. If this be not so, then, further, it is difficult to see the wis- dom of that constitution of our being by which we are made cognizant of rational truth, as well as susceptible to the authority of religion. If this be not so, then do we, in virtue of this constitution, deliver over the human mind to perpetual uncertainty, to an intestine war. And such a war is not like the conflict between sin and holiness, for sin is that which ought not to be, and in overcoming it, man is restored to himself as well as to his God ; but, in the other case, prime elements of man's essen- tial nature are set at variance, the foes are they of his own household ; and they are contending not upon points of in- ferior moment, but upon the most vital interests of man. And so we are in danger of leavino- it to be inferred with the schoolman, that one may hold to a truth with all the energy of faith, which is opposed by all the arguments of reason. li FAITH AND PHILOSOPHY. We shall oscillate like the German who declared : " philo- sophy plunges me into the arms of faith, and faith sends me back into the arms of philosophy ; ni}^ spirit is a ball playing between these two extremes." If the soul for a moment be delighted with the enrapturing visions of faith, the next thought will be, these gorgeous palaces may be dissolved, and leave only a wreck behind. And thus the mind will be more ready to infer that all things are uncertain than that faitli alone is sure, it is better prepared for scepticism than for trust, if it cannot hold, as an unassailable conviction, that reason and faith may be reconciled. But this position is not only inconsistent with the rightful claims of reason, it is also repugnant to the real necessities and nature of faith. While it makes us traitors to the one it only dishonors the other. A faith which we do not believe in the very depths of our hearts to be rational, to contain in itself the sum and substance of all philosophy, is a faith which no thinking man can rationally hold ; and if he holds it irra- tionally, it cannot long maintain its sway. " Faith may pre- cede intellect." as Augustine says, but it involves intellect. It has its grounds, reasons and relations. " It appears to me a negligence," are the words of Auselra, " if after we are con- firmed in the faith we do not study to understand what we believe." If a Christian man does not really hold that his system of faith has a fimner basis, a nobler end, a more puis- sant energy, that it solves more vital problems, and is adapted to man's nature in a fuller sense than any other system, that it is the highest reason as well as the only redempition, and the highest reason because the only redemption, he virtually confesses that a greater than Christ is here. We rob faith of one of its strongest persuasions if we do not claim that it is perfectly rational. Faith, too, has its extremes and perils ; and philosophy is needed as a counteracting element. It may degenerate into formality, or be sublimated into mysticism, or glow with fanat- ical fire. As faith without works is dead, being alone, so faith without knowledge may be superstitious, being unchecked. OFFICE OF REASON IN THE GUARDIANSHIP OF FAITH. 15 The divine Spirit alone can indeed save from this and every error, into which man's blind and passionate nature is prone to fall ; but does he not often do it, by raising the calm voice of reason, the limitations of reflection, and the power of sys- tem against the erratic impulses of an unregulated belief. Knowledge without faith is indeed cold ; but faith without knowledge is often blind. It may become the servant of passion, and speak the language of bigotry, if it have not rea- son for its handmaid. Faith may be likened to the element of heat, whose central source is above, and whose subtle agency pervades all the parts of this wondrous whole — the generator of life, without which all that grows would decay, and all that lives would die ; while reason, like the other element of water, stands at the two extremes, to guard the life which only heat can generate. When the heat becomes excessive, water evapo- rates, and in this very process envelo23es, innocuous, the fiery particles, which else would consume every living thing, and so it guards life at this extreme ; and when winter comes, water congeals, and, in its very congelation, sends out its latent Avarmth to animate the forms that otherwise would per- ish, and so it guards life at this extreme also. And even thus, it seems to me, we may say of human reason, that it has a two-fold office in the guardianship of faith; from the ex- treme of formality it may quicken it into a new life by the stimulus of argument, and, by unfolding the symmetry and sublimity of the creed which is repeated with cold lips ; and, in the other extreme of unhallowed glow, it may guard it, not only by the restraints of prudence, but also by the pervading and calm influence of a profound and clear exhibition o£ all the parts and checks of the Christian system. We may add, that an intimate persuasion of the inherent unanimity of faith and reason has been a prominent trait of the grandest intellects of the Christian Church. Philosophy they have repelled by philosophy. Such was Augustine, when he refuted the vain pretension that man could regen- erate himself, not on grounds of Scripture alone, but from the de})ths of the human consciousness. Such was Anselm 16 FAITH AND PHILOSOPHY. of Canterbury, when, at the hour of the sacred vigils, there was revealed to him his sublime speculation upon the being of God ; or when, with holy zeal, he wrote upon that high argument, why did God become incarnate ? and first, on ra- tional grounds, showed the necessity of an atonement. Such too was that holy French recluse, that sublime ascetic, who felt as hardly did another of his age, the intense conflict between faith and reason, because he had both in their ful- ness, and who, in immortal fj-agments, has left us a sketch of a philosophical apology for Christianity, which has never been completed, because Pascal has had no successor. The wisest of English Christians, while he elaborated with patient thought, through many years, his unsurpassed vindication of Christian- ity, on the ground of the Analogies of nature, was ever ani- mated by the conviction, that there must be harmony in all the works of God, that in their origin, their principles and their aims, nature and Christianity are in unison ; and that this can be rationally evinced. And him — the mighty man of our New England theologic host, when, with capacious intellect and whole-souled love, he meditated, in the fairest village on the banks of our noblest river and in his remoter missionary retreat, upon those two great problems, which have given their distinctive character to all our subsequent theo- logical discussions, npon the Nature of True Virtue, and the Freedom of the Human Will, what impulse moved him, if not the necessity of bringing the subtlest researches of human reason into harmony with the truths which lie at the basis of all piety. Without philosophy how could he have attempted thed'econciliationof divine sovereignty with the consciousness of freedom : without deep speculative insight how could he have discerned, as no one did before him, the radical identity of virtue and relif>;ion. Intellect and faith acted together in him, distinct, yet as consentaneous as are the principle of life and the organic structure in our animal economy. Thus, on various grounds, we have contended that it is no sound sense to say that faith and philosophy are foes. On the highest grounds it is fal>e ; on the lowest, it is bad policy. THE TKUE RELATIONS OF FAITH AND PIIILOSOFHY. 17 It is unwise to do it even in the heat of discussion, even when opposing a fatal error, even to gain an urgent end. For we should be obliged to recant before the first rational man we encountered in calm debate. ISTor do we forget either man's depravity, or the dangers of philosophy. Man is depraved — alas ! that we should say it, man is depraved ; human passions are the source and defence of many a false system : but I am afraid to allow to depravity the fearful advantage of claiming for itself full possession of our intellectual natures, as well as of the wish and the will ; for the evidence of depravity is increased when we show that it is against a man's own reason ; and we lose one of our most potent means of assailing it when we grant that reason is its bulwark and not its foe. And philosophy, too, is dangerous ; all philosophy is danger- ous. But the simple, sober fact in the case is this, that there are some dangers which can be avoided only by being incurred, and by pressing right through the danger to the victory. And there is one peril that, in our times, is more imminent, and that is, the opposing so dangerous an enemy as is false philosophy, by the only weapons to which it is invulnerable. Our philosophical infidels are calm men, men of nerve ; their infidelity' is not fed by their passions alone, nor is it vented only in execrations. They are men of thought and system. They do not feel the force of a bare assertion ; they yield to no popular clamor; they fear no ecclesiastical denun- ciation. They are scrutinizing ; and profoundly conscious of holding principles which deliberately exclude the realities of the Christian faith. They accept the philosophic horn of the dilemma, philosophy or faith ; until they can see that the formula should read, faith and philosophy. lY. And it is with this formula that we make our transi- tion to the foui-th part of this discussion : and that is, an attempt to exhibit the real relations and the rightful claims of faith and philosoj^hy. To say that both have rights, and that we should attempt to reconcile them, is only to gain a clear field for the most important })ortion of our work, the 2 18 FAITH AND PHILOSOPHY. adjustment of their respective claims, of their relative supre- macy. And if the limits of the occasion make it necessary to omit much of great importance, they may perhaps allow a statement of the points most needing consideration. And it may be well at the outset to disown some vague attempts at reconciliation which only smother the difficulties. Thus to faith is assigned one whole sphere. God and the Bible; to philosophy another and a distinct department, nature and the human mind. But philosophy has an intense interest in God and the Bible, and faith cannot do without man and providence. Neither the dispute nor adjustment is terj-itorial. Nor can we any better say, that revelation gives us all our ideas of God : and that philosophy must accept them, without anvthiug further. For this either takes revelation in so broad a sense, that a philosophical infidelity might be based upon it ; or else it puts man in a position in M'iiich we cannot see how a revelation could possibly be made to him in an intel- ligible manner. A revelation takes for granted that he to whom it is made has some knowledge of God, though it may enlarge and purify that knowledge. In point of fact, faitli and philosophy are employed about the same great subjects, God, man, providence and human destiny. 1. But though employed about the same great subjects, w^e say that they are employed about them in a different way ; and that the difference in the mode results from a difference inherent in the nature of philosophy and faith. And this is the first aspect in which their relations are to be considered. What then, we ask, is philosoph}' ? what does it seek ? what are its limits ? And we answer as before, philosophy is a mode of human knowledge, not the whole of that knowl- edge, but a mode of it; the knowing things rationally ; the knowing them in their causes, their relations, and their ends ; the knowing them in the harmony and completeness of a system. It being only such a mode of knowledge, the materials, tlie substance, the facts must, from the nature of the case, exist before the philosophy, and be taken for granted WHAT IS FAITH ? 19 by the philosophy, and be the limit and the test of the philo" sophy itself. These exist independently of philosophy, and their reality is, of course, to be attested on independent grounds. The facts of the material or of the intelligible world are the prime materials of all philosophical systems ; and without them no system can be constructed. There is one thing, then, against which speculation is fruitless, and that is the majesty of fact, of all facts of the outward or in- ward world properly attested. Philosophy may explain and systematize realities ; may show their rational grounds and connections; but it is not within its province to annul an item of history, any phenomena of nature, or any facts of consciousness. If it endeavor to falsify any reality, duly attested by sense, by internal consciousness, or by valid testi- mony, it is committing high treason against the majesty of fact. It may seek the rational grounds of all that is, but in doing this it assumes that what is, is ; and so far as any sys- tem is inconsistent with what is, so far it is false ; and so far as it cannot rationally explain what is, so far it is incomplete. And of all philosophy, Scotch or German, ideal or empirical, the independent realities of nature, of mind, and of history are not only the substance and the strength, but also the abiding test ; taken for granted as such in all discussions. If this be so, we ask next, what is faith, what does it claim to be, in what does it rest ? Faith, internally, is a state of trust; but it is alwaj's trust in something external. Its real character can only be determined by stating its objects. And the Christian's faith reposes, as we before said, upon a revela- tion, an historical revelation, a revelation historically attested, attested by miracle and by prophecy ; a revelation recorded in a volume which claims to be inspired. It is not primarily a system of doctrines, nor a confession, nor a speculation ; but it is a grand historical economy, a manifestation of God and his purposes, an annunciation of supernatural truth by natural agencies, by prophets and teachers, and, last of all, by Jesus Christ; a manifestation forming a part of human his- tory, connected and progressive through thousands of Aears. 20 FAITH AND PHILOSOPHY. And all this series of revelations comes to us in the Scrip- tures, which gives lis both the facts and the divine interpre- tation of them. Christianity thus claims to be a real revela- tion of God, made in the best form in which we can conceive a revelation to be made, and made for tlie highest ends for which a revelation can be made, made to give the highest and most needed knowledge, made to redoem mankind. And this Avhole historic revelation bears with steady and concentrated aim upon one person, himself an historical personage, himself a man, in whom it is declared that heaven and earth are j-econciled, that the great problems of human destiny are solved. And thus the Christian religion presents itself as adapted to man's highest wants in an exclusive sense, and with redeeming efficacy. This is the first aspect of the Christian economy ; and here is the primary basis of faith. But this is not all ; for faith claims an internal evidence, as well as an historical basis. Man is a believer, made to trust. The infirmities of his finite, and the necessities of his sinful condition, make faith necessary to the attainment of the great ends of his being. And the Christian finds in his own heart a profound experience, which fills and satisfies his soul, and which is entirely responsive to the substance of the divine revelation, as recorded in the word of God. And here is another series of facts, reaching tlirough thousands of years, embracing men of every clime and degree, the sage and the simple, the civilized and barbarian, the young and the mature, the li\-ing and the dying, who all, with one con- sent, testify that in this revelation they have found their solace and support, that it is the source of tlie highest activity and blessedness of all their powers. And in the experience of believers also, all converges around the same divine person, who is the centre and the crown of the historic revelation. Nor is this all. That revelation, historically so grand in its origin, and confirmed by human experience, has also en- tered into and controlled the whole course of Innnan history and of human thought, since the coming of Jesus of IS^aza- THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM IN HISTORY. 21 retli. And here is another series of facts. History is the grand test of truth ; it does not lie, for it is the ever unfold ing providence of God. It is more authoritative than mere speculation, for it gives us the highest reality. And in his- tory the Christian system has existed as a real and permanent power ; it has been the centre of man's noblest thoughts and strongest feelings, in his most cultivated state, for eighteen hundred years ; it has controlled the destinies and led the marcli of the nations ; from its bitter contests it has ever emerged with added lustre, as though endowed with immortal energy. It is superior to defeat. Its power is now more intense and diffused than ever before. And thus is Chris- tianity not oidy an historic revelation, and an internal experi- ence, but also an organic, diffusive, plastic and triumphant force in human history ; and in this history, as in tlie revela- tion, and as in the experience, the centre around which all revolves is the person of Jesus Christ. Nor yet is this all. This revelation has another aspect, which has already been hinted at, but which requires a fuller statement. If man were entirely satisfied with the course of nature — with being born, living, and dying ; if he had no sense of sin, if he had never sinned ; he would not be ever asking those sublime questions, to which nature is deaf and reason is dumb. But he knows something of God, of law, of death and of eteniity, and he would fain know more ; for here are inquiries in comparison with which all the secrets of nature are not only insignificant but patent to our gaze. Now -it is the grand claim of the Christian revelation that it answers these vital questions, that it solves all the great raoi'al problems of human destiny. For each enigma, so dark to reason, it has a definite and an authoritative response ; for all the great moral problems of our destiny it offers a solution ; and the solutions are given in the person and work of Christ ; they all meet in the same radiant centre, in wdiom the revela- tion converges, in whom the believer finds his blessedness, and to whom all subsequent history has brought its loyal tribute. 22 FAITH AND PHILOSOPHY. This, then, is the primary aspect in which the Christian faith is to be viewed : as an historical reality, conlirined by experience, influencing history, and professing to solve the greatest questions of our destiny, and all concentering in Jesus Christ, a personal object of faith and love, the very raanifesta- ti(m of God here upon the earth. This being so, what is the attitude which philosophy from its very nature, if we have correctly described it, must take towards the Christian faith ? Philosoj^hy can annul no fact ; it must bow to all realities properly attested. It may strive to undermine the basis of faith by historical criticism ; to prove that the experience of believers is contrary to right reason ; to show that history may be otherwise interpreted than as centering in Christ : and that there are other and better solutions of the problems of our destiny than those ■which Christianity offers : it may strive to expel Christ from the human heart and from liuman history. Should it succeed in throwing doubt upon the evidences, there remains the experience ; should it make experience seem a delirium, there remains the history ; should it cast suspicion on the history, there still remains the broad ground that to all the great j)robleras of our destiny, philosophy cannot furnish a better decision than that which faith bears on her lips, one more consonant with man's best hopes, more elevating to his whole nature, more rational in itself. So that until philosophy can overthrow the pillars of our revelation, and prove our inmost life to be all a delusion ; until it can find some other centre of convergence and divergence for the whole history of our race tlian the city of Jerusalem, and the middle cross on Calvary ; until it can resolve the questions of our fate with a liigher argument than Christianity presents : it is obliged to leave to faith all the vantage ground, all the supremacy, which an historic and experienced reality may confer. And here, under God, is the hiding place of the strength of faith. Its is the majesty of a revealed economy; the pro- foundest experience of the human heart is with it ; the might of history testifies unto it; it, and it alone, gives the key REASON AND EEVELATION. 23 which unlocks the mysteries of our moral being. These are the things which make it stronger than any excogitated sj^stem, Tlius it is intertwined, as no mere speculation can be, with education, with the family, with human institutions, with the organic structure of society, witli the deepest wants of the human heart, with its most permanent convictions. And thus is the Christian revelation, considered as a grand, historic, experienced economy, centering in one \)erson, distinct from all other pretended revelations; and here do we find our warrant for drawing the distinction broad and clear. As soon as a revelation is resolved, as by some recent writers, into in- tuitions, so soon does faith lose its strongest means of defence against the assaults of philosophy. Human reason may indeed inquire whether the voice which speaks be delusive or divine; it may test the truth of revelation on historical grounds ; it may ask whether its doc- trines be in harmony with, or contradictory to moral truth, to our essential ideas and necessary convictions ; it may inquire whether the problems it proposes to solve be real or only imagin- ary ; but having answered such preliminary inquiries, it has no shadow of a right to go to this revelation, and dictate to it what it shall tell us of God's nature, or what shall be the method of the revelation- or of the redemption, any more than it has a right to go to that other reality, nature, and prescribe its laws and limit its elements. In both cases man is to study and to learn. Viewless as the life of nature, Christianity, like that life, is a diffusive, penetrating, and shaping agency ; it moves majestically according to its divine laws, and knows not the control of human reason. It is simple as is light to the eye of tlie child, it is profound as is light to the eye of the sage, it is blessed as is light to all, it is darkness only to those who see not the light. 2. The statements we have thus far made upon the relative claims of faith and philosophy rest on the assumption that both parties admit the existence of a personal God, and the possibility of a revelation. The relation of the two is entirely different, when philosophy would undermine these cardinal 24 FAITH AND PHILOSOPHY. points on which revelation rests. And here is where pliilo- soph}^ can be met only by j)hilosophy. It is as uiiphilosophi- cal for faith to be dogmatic here, as it is for philosophy to be dogmatic in the face of a recognized reality. If we cannot construct the foundations and the outworks of the Christian system, on impregnable grounds ; if we cannot show the possibility of miracles and of a revelation ; if we cannot prove, absolutely prove the existence of a wise, intelligent, personal and providential Ruler of all things, then we are merged in infidelity, or given over to an unfounded faith. If we cannot "Settle these points on the field of open discussion, we cannot settle them at all. The way of meeting sceptical positions on these questions is not by saying that tliey are repugnant to faith, but by show- ing that they are opposed to sound reason ; is not by saying that they are German and transcendental, but by being very bold and yet more wise, and clailhing that they are not only German but radically unsound ; not only transcendental, but essentially unphilosophical. And if one cannot conscien- tiously say this, he had better say nothing at all about it. The wise method is to expose the principle which lies at the heart of all this modern infidelity, and to show that the prin- ciple is really unphilosophical and incomplete. And that principle may perhaps be said to be, that we have given a ra- tional account of things when we have reduced them to abstract ideas, or great principles ; to laws, whether physical or ideal ; that physical causes, antecedents and consequents, are the great end of philosophic inquiries; in short, that law and system are sufficient to account for the energy, the order, and the ends of the universe. This is the prime falsehood coiled in the heart of all these infidel schemes ; this is the point to be met ; and against it we must show that this principle does not answer the most important questions ; that it gives only order and system, and does not exj^lain the origin even of that ; that it only answers the question, what are the constit- uents, and what the succession of things ; that it does not answer the question, Whence are they ? nor the question, EIGHT METHOD OF CHRISTIAN ARGUMEXT. 25 How came they so to be ? nor yet the question, What is their final cause ? And these are as important and as phih^sophical questions as are those which concern abstract law and fixed succession. When, for example, an enthusiastic naturalist, who knows something of nature and little of logic, thinks that by means of the fire-mist and an assumed law, he can show how all things are developed out of the mist, up to man and down to his system, and all without a God, — shall we deny that there are order, and development, and a vast unfolding series in creation ; or, shall we not rather say, conceding the order and development so far as they are verified, that the more the order, and the vaster the development, the greater is the need of an intelligent cause and an omnipotent energy ? When modern explorers in history find reason and law and progress in its course, if we deny the reason and the progress, how can we vindrcate Providence on any historical grounds : if we aQcept them, ho^v may we not use them to show, even to the objector, that history has a guiding hand ? And even when the pantheist brings forward his boasted system, and asserts that he hasgot thefprimal substance and the universal law, by which all things may be developed, and attempts to ex- liibit their relations and connections and ends ; whether is it wiser to say that reason is proud, that we cannot see relations and make systems, or, granting the reality of harmony, order and law, and the need and use of pointing them out, still to claim that to infer pantheism is philosophically false ; that this system, with all its pretensions, accounts fully only for the succession and order of things ; not for their i-atiouality, since conscious reason alone is truly rational ; nor for their energy, since mind alone is powerful ; nor for their origin, since will alone can really bring into being ; nor for their wise ends, since reason, power, and will are necessary to bring a rational end out of a blind universe. Philosopliy must here show that the idea of a personal Creator, himself uncaused, is most rational, and is the only basis of the unity and energy of the universe. 26 FAITH AND PHILOSOPHY. Thus on the great questions preliminary to .a revelation, we claim that philosophy has an exdusive voice, and tliat this is a point necessary to be insisted on in dehning the relations of faith and philosophy. And liere we would not, for a moment, be understood to imply that the actual belief of men in God's existence and government is dependent upon such scientific analysis and proof : it is no more dependent on this, strictly speaking, than is man's belief in an external world on the refutation of idealism. Man was made for God, and all man's powers, in their riglit use, tend toward their great Author. Here is the actual stronghold of such belief against all sceptical systems. And when the belief is questioned, an argument for it may be derived from these tendencies ; yet not hence alone, perliaps not most convincingly, in a philosophic point of view, us against the sceptic. 3. Having thus stated, in general terms, what we conceive to be the relations of these two powers in respect to the sub- stance and to the foundations of the Christian system, claim- ing for faith the priority in the one, and for philosophy in tlie other ; it becomes necessary to speak of their relations within the precincts of the revelation itself. For though philosophy must, in the first instance, receive the revelation properly authenticated ; yet, by virtfte of its office in giving a systematic form to our knowledge, it may still render essential and needed service to faith. And this is the same thing as saying that we need syste- matic theology. For systematic theology is the combined re- sult of philosophy and faith ; and it is its high office to pre- sent the two in their most intimate conjunction and inherent liarmony. The whole history of the church gives us, in scien- tific theology, the best results of the conflict, and examples of the union of the highest faith and the wisest philosophy. In short, systematic theology may be defined, as the substance of the Christian faith in a scientific form. And our whole pre- vious discussion bears upon this point as its culmination and result. SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY A SCIENCE. 27 Systematic theology, by our ablest divines, is recognized as a science, both theoretical and practical. It is not a mere arrano^ement of the facts and doctrines of the Bible in a lucid order : it is the unfolding of them in a scientific order ; it is not a series of unconnected doctrines, with the definitions of them, it is the combining of doctrines into a system : its parts should not only be coordinate, they should be regularly devel- oped. It should give the whole substance of the Christian faith, starting with its central principle, around whicli all the members are to be grouped. It must defend the faith and its separate parts against objections, and show that it is congru- ous with well-established truths in etliical and metaphysical science. And in proportion to the philosophical culture of the theologian, to the comprehensiveness of his principles, will be his ability to present the Christian faith in a fitting form. While it is partly true, that he who seeks foi- theology in philosoj)hy is seeking the living among the dead ; it is wholly true, that he who seeks for theology without philoso- phy is seeking tlie end without the instruments. We may be well assured that there is a statue somewhere in the block of marble ; but the pick-axe, and the drill, and eyes that have no speculation in them, can never find it ; it needs instruments of the finest temper, a hand of the rarest skill, guided by a mind able to preconceive the symmetry of the perfect shape. The necessity of systematic theology we put, then, on the broad ground that we need a reconciliation between faith and philosoj^hy. Simple faith might have been siiificient for the first ages of the church, though it was not ; we live in an age of controversy, surrounded by minds drenched with ol)jec- tions to orthodoxy, among people who, whatever else they have asked, have always asked a reason ; to defend our faith, to commend our faith, we need systematic theology. Let us never cease to pray that the age of perfect faith may come ; that it come more speedily, let us arm ourselves for the con- test. As well might a general lead a straggling troop of even patriotic men against marshaled and disciplined battalions, as we encounter the closed and firm phalanx of our foes without 2S FAITH AND PHILOSOPHY. a compact army of even the sacramental host of God's elect. Systematic theology is necessary so far, and just so far, as there is any meaning in the contest between faith and philo- sophy ; just so far as we have anything to say, consistently and definitely, in defence of Christianity. Its necessity is in- deed not vital, as is that of faith in the heart : it is not of universal educational necessity, as are preaching and teach- ing : but it is necessary so far as we need leaders thoroughly trained, able to define and defend the truth, to show its har- monies and relations. It is not necessary, as is the circula- tion of the blood, but like the knowledge of that circulation, which is important to all, and indispensable to the expert. It is necessary so far as the mind needs system and science at all, so far as a science of the highest objects is yet more necessary, so far as a science of the higliest objects for the most urgent and practical ends is most necessar3\ It is necessary so far as it is a delight to the mind to see the fair proportions of its faith depicted in their symmetry ; and surely, never is the soul better prepared to feel the deepest emotions of rever- ence and of trust, than when it has gazed upon the giand outlines and internal symmetry of the system of redemption. lie who thinks highly feels deeply. From long meditation on the wonder of the divine revelation, the mind returns with added glow to the simplicity of faith. We do not, then, feel the force of the objection to doctrinal theology that it is unfavorable to a life of faith. A technical system may be, but that is because it is technical. Mere for- nuilas may be, but we should not hold any truth as a mere fornnila. And least of all does this objection apply to our New England systems ; these have been held by the heart quite as much as by the head ; no theology has ever insisted with such unrelenting earnestness upon the necessity of in- ward experience. Xot written in catechisms, it has been engraved on fleshly tablets. We liave not only discussed, we have also experienced almost everything ; from conscious enmity to God, to the profoundest submission to his will ; from the depths of a willingness to be condemned, to the SIGNIFICANT POWER OF LANGUAGE. 29 heights of disinterested benevolence; from the most abstract decrees of a Sovereign, down, abnost, to the power to tlie contrary ; we have passed through the very extremes of doc- trine, and known them to be real by our inward experience. We have not so much transformed spirit into dogma, as we liave transmuted dogma into spirit. We have never, never f(,irgotten, that the begetting in man of a new life was the paramount end of all theology as of all preaching. Nor are we sure that we understand the force of the objec- tion to doctrinal theology, derived from the allegation that language is inadequate to embody spiritual truth ; for thougli this be annihilating, yet it seems to us that it cannot be proved true, unless we utterly divorce language from all thonglit and feeling. It is of the very office of language to express wliat is consciously working in the soul \ language is the express image of spirit. As soon as the mind is raised above the obscure state of spontaneous feeling, or the rude percep- tions of sense, it begins to express its feelings and indicate its perceptions in audible language. In its whole training, words, thought or uttered, are the great instrument, as well as the result of its progress. And so it comes to pass, that thougli language be not life, yet thei-e is not a deep or deli- cate emotion, not a subtle distinction or large concatenation of human thought, not an abstract principle or a simple idea, which language by simple words, by imagery, by definition, by description, or by system, is not adequate to convey. And though single words, when taken singly, may have many a sense, yet the single words only give us the separate parts of speech ; but talvC language as a whole, put the word in a sen- tence, qualify it by adjuncts, limit it by its relations, define it by logic, fix it in a system, and the single word may have such an immovable significance, that no other term can be exchanged for that simple sound. It may have had its origin in the regions of sense ; but by the action of the soul upon it, it has been transfigured ; it has passed through all inferior stages, and at length has been claimed by faith or reason for its exclusive use; so that only a philologist knows its earthly ■i 30 FAITH AND PHILOSOPHY. origin, and to all others it is the apt and direct symbol of the highest ideas of reason, or the loftiest objects of faith. And for ihe objection itself, we might be tlie more anxious, did we not find in the exquisite grace of the language of the accomplished thinker who has propounded it, that his own theory is practically refuted by his own eminent example. None more skilful than he to express the subtlest moods of mind, the most delicate analogies of thought ; no one who better exemplifies the fact, that the snblimest objects of Christian faith, and the tenderest play of Christian feeling may be so fully expressed in human language, that the only hearts unmoved are those themselves devoid of feeling and of faith. In proceeding now to state, as concisely as we can, the mode in which faith and philosophy are' to be harmonized in Christiau theology, so that this shall be truly their nuptial state, we say, first of all, that that only can be a true system, which contains the very substance of the Christian faith ; \yhich gives us the very heart of the revelation in a system- atic form. Hence the absolute necessity of Biblical study, as the prime condition ; hence, too, he only who knows the in- ward power and reality of faith can be a true theologian. This results from the very fact that the Christian economy is both an historical and an experienced reality. " He is the best divine who best divines" the spirit of the Scriptures; and he alone has the power of divination whose heart is re- sponsive to the oracles. In a higher sense than can be asserted of anything else, it holds true of ths Christian faith, that " it can be really known only as it is truly loved." The illumination of the spirit is as necessary as is the light of reason. Both the cherubic and seraphic virtues, in the old intei-pretation of them — the spirits of wisdom and the spirits of love, must preside over the woi"k. But, on the other hand, only the philosophic intellect can grasp the prime principles, can see the relations of the parts, can guard against inconsistencies, can show the harmony of the system with the powers of the mind, with ethical truth, WHAT IS THE CENTRAL PRINCIPLE OF THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM? 31 and with our necessary and essential ideas. It alone can grapple with the real problems, and show how the Christian faith solves them. Without it, the interpretation of Scripture ^vould be careless wlien not obscure. It alone can reo-ulate and correct the definitions of doctrine ; it alone can impart shape and comprehensiveness to the system. Til us we have the substance of the system, that is, tlie revelation ; and the power whicli is to shape this substance, and that is the philosophic mind. But now come up the most important and decisive questions: whence are we to get the principle, and what is the principle, which is to be the central influence, and the controlling energy of the whole system? And here is where the inquiry really hinges about the relative supremacy of faith and philosophy. Is philo- sophy to bring this principle with it from ethics, from mental philosophy, or from natural religion ; or is it to take it from the revelation itself ? And here perhaps is also the point on which turns the controversy between those who seem to con- tend on the one hand all for system, and on the other all for faith. If a system of Christian theology be a true expression of the Christian faith, there can be no incongruity between the system and the faith ; we shall not be forced either to change spirit into dogma or dogma into spirit ; for in the doctrine we shall have the expression of the spirit : we shall be lifted above the misery of saying that we must be all dc^c- trine or all life, all formula or all faith : and while we insist that faith is the essential thing, we may also be able to see that a true theological system is one of the noblest boons which faith can have, as well as a want of the Christian intellect. All theological systems, now, which have any distinctive influence or character are based upon some ultimate prin- ciples, by which the arrangement and even the definitions of the doctrines are controlled. Consciously or unconsciously, they are under the power of some dominant idea, which determines the shape of the separate parts. Thus,, the compact and consistent system, comprised in the 33 FAITH AKD PHILOSOPHY. Westminster Assembl3''s Catechism, rests, indeed, uj^on the basis of the divine sovereignty, bnt this sovereignty is further modified by the idea of a covenant relation ; and this it is which may, perhaps, be said to give shape to the exposition of the leading doctrines in die consistent Presbyterian church, so far as their views are different from the general orthodoxy. Our New England theology has its basis in the same gene- ral idea of the divine sovereignty, drawn out into a clear and articulate system of decrees, giving us the very anatomy of religion in its most abstract form. And such anatomy is necessary ; if we believe in a God and are consistent thinkers, we cannot avoid believing in a sure and divine system of things : thus alone can we keep alive the idea of the divine agency and government, without which all theology would be nnsnpported. Bnt besides the decrees, we have had two other modifying influences in our systems, which have given them their most distinctive character, and which have botii come to us through the discussions of Jonathan Edwards, though they might easily be showii to be no arbitrary develop- ment of the Calvin istic system. What is the Nature of True Virtue, and what is the real Freedom of the Human Will in connection with the divine sovereignty : are the two questions which have chiefly determined the character of our theolo- gical systems and parties. Our views on these points have given character to our theology and our preaching on many of the most important articles of the Christian faith. It is here that we have had a distinctive character, an original theological cast ; it is here we have made " advances in theo- logy." Our systems have indeed contained all the doctrines, from the Being of God to the life everlasting ; but our pres- sure and force have been on these radical inquiries. We have met and not shrunk from the absorbing investigations which are forced upon the mind when it asks about the har- mony of the doctrines of Christianity with ethical truth, and with indubitable facts of mental science. But now we have fallen upon other times; and other in- CHRIST THE CEKTRAL PRINCIPLE OF CHRISTIANITY. 33 qniries are brought home to us. We are compelled to meet questions, to which our theories about sovereignty, virtue, and free-agency can give no definite response. Men are ask- ing, what is Christianity as distinct from an ethical system ? Who and what is Christ, that we should love and believe in Him? AVhat is his nature? what his relation to God and to us ? What is his place in the Christian system ? The ques- tions of our times, in sliort, do not bear upon the point, whether the doctrines of the Christian system are in harmony with the truths of ethics and of mental philosophy; but rather upon the point, what is the real nature of Christianity, wliat are its essential characteristics? And no theory of ethics or of freedom can answer these questions. To meet the wants of our times, then, we most endeavor to get at that principle which gives its definite and distinct character to the Cln-istian economy. And it is here we claim, as a matter of philosophical justice also, that philosophy is not to bring this principle with it, but is rather to seek it in the Christian system itself. This is the dictate of the Baconian, of the Aristotelian induction. This is necessary in all science. To find the principles of optics, we study light. To find the laws of the mind, we study mind. To know Christianity, we must study Christianity. To get at a living Christian theology, we must have the central principle of Christianity itself. We state our position again. The principle which is to give shape to a theological system ought, on the strictest philosophical grounds, to be taken from the Christian economy itself ; so that what forms the substance and vitality of Chris- tianity shall be the centre of our theology also ; this principle is not to be sought in ethics, or in nature, or in the will of man, but only in the revealed will of God. And loliere we are to seek fur this principle, who can doubt? The central idea of Christianity, as a distinct sys- tem, can only be found in Ilim of whom prophets did testify, evangelists write, and apostles preach ; whose life was the crowning glory of humanity, as his death was its redemption; 3 34 FAITH AND PHILOSOPHY. and from whose death and from whose life influences and blessings have streamed forth, constant and inestimable ; in Ilim, whose nature, moi-e \vonderful than any other, unites the extremes of humanity and divinity ; wliose work, more glorious and needed than any other, reconciles heaven to earth and earth to heaven ; and whose dominicm is as intimate in its efficiency as it is eminent in its claims and beneficent in its results. He is the centre of God's revelation and of man's redemption ; of Christian doctrine and of Christian history, of conflicting sects and of each believer's faith, yea, of the very history of this our earth, Jesus Christ is the full, the radiant, the only centre — fitted to be such because He is the God-man and the Redeemer : Christ — Christ, He is the centre of the Christian system, and the doctrine respecting Christ is the heart of Christian theology. Foi% if theology be the science which unfolds to us the relations of God and man ; if the Christian revelation con- tains the full and authoritative account of these relations ; and if in the Christian revelation the wealth of the divine manifestation and the wants and hopes of man are all con- vergent upon Jesus Christ; and if it be philosophically just to seek the central principle of Christian theology in that which forms the heart and life of the revelation — where else can we find this animating idea excepting in the Person of Jesus Christ? And that which constitutes the prime and peculiar characteristic of that Person, that it is the union of humanity and divinity, will most naturally be taken as the prime characteristic of the system wdiich centres in Him. And with that glorious Person all the other truths of our faith are inherently connected. The distinct personality of Christ is the starting point, from which to infer the reality of the distinctions in the Godhead; atonement and justification centre in Him ; our very spiritual life is hid with Christ in God ; if we believe in him we are born of God ; we are to be changed into the image of Christ; the sacraments of the church testify of Him until He come. And a theology Avhich finds its centre in such a Being, cannot be a barren, abstract CHRIST IN CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 35 system; but it gives hs a direct and personal object for our faith and love. Thus, and thus only, does Christian theology express the Christian faith in its perfect form. This position — ^that in Jesus Christ is to be found the real centre of the Christian economy, and that here its distinction from any and all other forms of religion is chiefly to be seen, lies at the basis of all tlieoh^gical svstems which acknowledo-e a real revelation and manifestation of God in the person and work of his only Son. It is at the very head of the whole theology of the Reformation ; from reliance upon an outward church, there was a i-eturn to faith in Christ, as the only ground of justification. To have Christ, to have the whole of Christ, to have a whole Christ, is the soul of our Puritan the- ology; the rest is foundation, defence, or scaffolding. This principle is also in entire conformity w^ith the dic- tates of Christian experience ; it is demanded by that experi- ence. Whatever the theology may have been, whatever the conflicts of sects, the name of Jesus has touched the tenderest and deepest cords of man's heart. You may cut a man loose from almost all the distinguishing doctrines of our faith, and he will still cling to the very name of Christ, as with a de- spairing energy. So vital is Christ in Christian experience, tliat many are withheld from speculating upon his nature by the unspeakable depth and tenderness of their love for Him. Thus it is wherever Christ is truly known and loved. And it is a cause of devout congratulation, and an occasion for the most auspicious hopes, that in that land where infidelity has reached its most daring height, both in criticism and in spec- ulation, there is also, in opposition to this infidelity, the strong- est and most intelligent attempt to bring out this distinctive characteristic of the Christian system, in its philosophical and theological bearings. Tlie later German Evangelical theology, in its return from a cold rationalism and its opposition to a daring and logical pantheism, is especially distinguished by the fact, that it is feeling more and more deeply the impor- tance and reality of the doctrine respecting Christ, as express- ing the prime pi'inciple of the Christian faith. One of the 36 FAITH AND PHILOSOPHY. loveliest and most sagacious of all these evangelical men, Dr. Ullniann, in an admirable article on the Keal Nature of Christianity, thns writes: "Christiaiiity first appears in its distinctive nature and in its full objective character, when all tliat is embraced in it is referred back to the personality of its founder, considered as uniting humanity with divinity, * * * Thus viewed, Christianity is in an eminent sense something organic ; in its very origin it is a complete, spirit- nal, organic whole ; from a personal centre it unfolds all its powers and gifts, imparting them to humanity and uniting men under Christ in a divine kingdom. From this central point, and only from this, everything else receives its full significancy ; doctrine, as the expression of a real life, attains its full power ; * * * atonement and redemption receive their objective basis and confirmation." These are not the words of a solitary thinker in that land of scholars and thoughtful men. They express the views common to the best German divines, the most philosophical and the most Christian. Pressed on all sides by the foes of our faith, they have taken refuge in its very citadel. They have been forced to bi'ing out the distinguishing characteris- tic of Christianity in the boldest relief. They have made the doctrine respecting Christ to assume its philosophical and the- ological importance. They have found in it the middle ground between dogmatism and mysticism, as well as a sure counter- action to all ritualism. Here is their bulwark against pan- theistic and deistic abstractions. By means of it they are able to meet the man who makes Christianity a mere republi- cation of natural religion, or who resolves it all into an ethical system. And though in some of their theologians this vie\v may be connected with unsound or vague speculation ; though others may use it chiefly to favor some mystical views about the efiica(;y and nature of the sacraments ; yet it certainly is equally consistent with the highest orthodoxy, with any ortho- doxy which does not rest in bare formulas. And in this connection, and in this reverend presence, 1 may not refrain from offering my humble tribute to the mem- FREDEKIC SCHLEIERMACHER. 37 orj of tliat man, much inisanderstood, who led the German Christianity, in its returning course, to our Lord — to Frederic Schleiermacher, a noble and a venerable name ! His it was to infuse into a critical and cold rationalism the fervent and almost m^'stic love to Christ which has ever burned in tlie hearts of the Moravian brotherhood ; his it was to make Christ and his redemption the centre of one of the most skil- fully developed systems of theology which the Christian church has known ; his it was to draw broad the line between philosophy and Christian theology; his it was to impart such a true, profound and continuous influence to many critical, speculaKve, and believing minds, that ever since that impulse, and in consequence of it, they have been coming nearer and nearer to the full substance of orthodox Christianity. If he is sometimes called pantheistic, it is only because he made the feeling of dependence to be the germ of all religion. To him must indeed be ascribed the modern revival of the vao;ue heresy of the Sabellians ; he is not free from the discredit of undervaluing many important historic facts of our Lord's life ; with his views of the atonement we disclaim all sympathy ; many were his errors, but much was his love to our blessed Lord. By making Christ and his redemption the centre of Christian theology, we are fully persuaded that he rendered an invaluable service to the Christian science of his native land, in the time of its greatest need.^ Permit me to say that on this point I am the more ready to bear my unambitious yet grateful testimony to the merits of Schleiermacher and of the theological science of that land of intellect, because in the present state of our popular criticism upon German theology and philosophy, I believe it to be an act of simple justice, due to them and to the truth. In the name of the republic of letters, in the name of all generous scholarship, in the very name of Christian charity, I dare not refrain from testifying, that the indiscriminate cen- ' Those characteristics of Schleiermacher's system which have given to it its really beneficent iutluence. are only obscurely brought out in Mr. Mo- reU's unsound Philosophy of Religion. 38 FAITH AND PHILOSOPHY. sure of all that is German, or that may so be called, is a sign rather of the power of prejudice than of a rational love for all truth. A criticism which describes a circumference of which on^'s ignorance is the generating radius can only stretcli far beyond the confines of justice and of wisdom. A criticism which begins by saying that a system is absolutely unintelligible; which, secondly, asserts that this unintelligible system teaches the most frightful dogmas, definitely drawn out ; and which concludes by holding it responsible for all the consequences that a perverse ingenuity can deduce from these definite dogmas of the unintelligible system; is indeed a source of unintelligent and anxious wonder to the ignorant, but it is a jDrofounder wonder to every thoughtful mind. A criticism which includes the Christian Neander and the pan- theistic Strauss in one and the same condemnation is truly dej)lorable. Let us at least learn to adopt the humane rules of civilized warfare, and not, like the brutal soldiery of a ruder age, involve friends and foes in one indiscriminate massacre. Germany cannot give us faith ; and he who goes there to have his doubts resolved, goes into the very thick of the conflict in a fruitless search for its results ; but even Germany may teach us what is the real "state of the contro- versy " in our age ; what are the principles now at work more unconsciously among ourselves. And can we, in our inglorious intellectual ease, find it in our hearts only to con- demn the men who have overcome trials and doubts to which our simple or iron faith has never been exposed ; M'ho have stood in the very front rank of the fiercest battle that Christianity has ever fought, and there contended hand to hand with its most inveterate and wary foes ; and who are leading on our faith — as we trust in Christ so will we believe it ! to the sub- limest triumph it has ever celebrated? When, Oh ! when, will scholars and Christian men learn that orthodoxy can afford to be just, to be generous; and that in this age it cannot afford to be otherwise ; since it thus loses its hold over the minds w4iich are open to truth and foes chiefly to bigotry. When shall we learn that it is quality and ONE STRONG TENDENCY OF AMERICAN THOUGHT. 39 not quantity which gives its value to all criticism ; that to stigmatize whole classes by opprobrious epithets, by names " of uncertain meaning yet of certain disparagement," is the impulse of an unlettered zeal, which inflames the worst passions of our foes and arouses only the spurious ardor of our friends. When shall we learn the high lesson, that in our present conflicts, it is not nations, or men, or even parties that are to be conquered, but only error and sin ; and that the victory belongs not alone to us, but to truth, to righteousness, and to God. We have said, that the German Christianity, by the urgency of the pressure of the unbelieving systems of the times ujjon it, has been driven to the position, that all Chris- tian theology centres in the doctrine respecting Christ, as to its very citadel. This principle, we have claimed, lies at the heart of all true Christian theology and Christian experience. AVe add, that it is eminentl}^ adapted, when brought out in its fulness and fitness to counteract some of the extreme tenden- cies among ourseh^es, as also to present Christianity in its rightful attitude towards an unbelieving^ world. No one moderately acquainted with our theological and pliilosophical discussions, can have failed to note the influence of one strong tendency, bringing our speculations and doc- trines to concentrate upon a single point, upon man's internal state. Everything is judged by its reference to man's soul and its powers. We may call it the vast, subjective process- of modern theology and philosophy. This tendency has its I'ights and necessity ; it is perhaps a mark of Protestantism ; it is more fully seen in Calvinism than in Lutherauism ; it is a very distinct trait of many JSTew England movements. And if most noticeable in those who have carried our systems to their extremes, or who have become aliens to the orthodox faith, we ought not to avoid feeling a deep interest in it, as a sign of the times ; and we are bound to see how the general mind is working, whether it be centrifugal or centiipetal in respect to ourselves. In this tendency, too, may be something of our strength ; but here also is much of our danger. 40 FAITH AND nilLOSOPIIY. We can only rapicll}' indicate some of its signs. Cliristian- ity is viewed rather as a system intended to cultivate certain states of feeling, than as a revelation to build ns up in the knowledge of God and of Christ. The nature of man's affec- tions is more fully discussed than the nature of Christ. Faith is defined, not as once by its objects, but by its internal traits ; and if it be called, trust in God, the emphasis is laid on the trust rather than on God. The efHcacy of prayer is sometimes restricted to the believer's heart. The whole pro- cess of regeneration has been explained without reference to divine agency. Sin is viewed chiefly as a matter of indi- vidual consciousness, and less in its connections with the race and with the Divine purposes. The atonement is regarded as a life and not as a sacrifice ; it is defined by its relations to us and not by its relations to God ; and many who call it a declaration of the divine justice explain no further. Justifi- cation is pardon ; and pardon is known by a change in our feelings. Nor with these doctrines does the process end. The Incarnation is a vehicle for the communication of a vague spiritual life ; the Trinity is resolved into a mere series of mani- festations, which do not teach us anything of the real nature of the Godhead ; it is like a dramatic spectacle, and when the drama has been played out, the persons retire, and leave us not a higher knowledge of God, but stronger and warmer feelings ; as in a parable, the moral lesson is the great end. Some of our pliilosophical tendencies are in the same line. Mental philosophy is studied, as if all philosophy were in knowing the powers of the mind ; it is made the basis of theo- logy. Self-determination is the great fact about mind and morals. Personal well-being is the great end, even when we act in view of the universal good ; the sum of ethics is happi- ness, and this happiness in its last analysis is viewed as sub- jective and not as objective. Man becomes the measure of all things ; not the glory of God, but the happiness of man is the chief end. God is for man, rather than man for God ; and, as in the infancy of science, the sun again revolves around the earth. PERILS OF AN EXTREME SUBJECTIVE TENDENCY. 41 Thus the grand, ol^jecttive force of truth and of Christian- ity, and of Christian doctrines, their reality in themselves and as a revelation of God, are in danger of being merged in the inquiry after their value as a means of moving us. If any- tlnng will move ns as much, it is as well as Chi-istianity. " We for whose sake all nature stands," is somethino- more than poetry. A restless, morbid state of feeling ensues, different from the calm composure which hearty faith in a revelation is adapted to inspire. Men will be perfect at once ; not merely strive to be so, which none can do too earnestly ; but believe that they are so, which none can be too cautious in affirming. And the essence of their perfection is found in an intention of the will, of which they must be always con- scious or else their perfection is without evidence. Thus in various ways this tendency shows itself. We have hinted at some of its extreme forms, identified with no one party or school. It is an avaricious principle. All that is not directly convertible into moods of mind, it will hardly allow to be current coin. The massive theological s^'stems of past ages, so large, and careful, and intricate, are conceded to be imposing, but are felt to be cold and uncomfortable ; we are not at home in them. The Bible, the church, Christ, the historic revelation, fade away one after another; all that remains in the last result is an internal revelation or an inter- nal inspiration ; religion is merged in a vague love to an abstract divinity. And where this state of mind has come, pantheism lietli at the door. JS^ow, that this subjective tendency has its rights, as well as its force, that without internal experience all else is vain, that the letter kills if the spirit be not there, no one can ration- ally deny. That our chief dangers lie in the extremes of this tendency, is equally undeniable. That there must 1)e a reaction from this extreme is manifest from all history, from the very laws of the mind, from the very signs of the times. The question for us to weigh, then, is this: how shall we both encourage and restrain this mighty current ? Some would bid us back to the rites and forms and alleged 42 FAITH AND PHILOSOPHY. succession of a visible chureli ; but let tlie dead bury their dead ; let ns rather arise and follow our Lord. ^Ye have cnitgrown the power and the necessity of the becygarly ele- ments. As Dr. Arnold said : " the sheath of the leaf is burst; Avhat were the wisdom of winter, is the folly of spring." Shall M'e insist with new tenacity upon our old formulas ? But words and formulas alone have but slight force against such an in-wrought and potent tendency. And they are no effectual guards against heresy, since, as has been well observed, heresy can as readily enter, and does as often couch itself under the guise of old terms as of new. Let us rather seek to know the real sense of the formulas ; let us come to have a deeper sense of the grand realities of our faith. To come to these is our safety, our defence. To see and feel and know what Christianity really is in its inward and distinctive character ; to study those central truths which lie at its foundation ; here is our strength. Let us come unto Jesus. When Christ is to us more tlian a doctrine, and the atonement more than a plan ; when the Incarnation assumes as high a place in revealed, as creation does in natural theo- logy; when the Trinity is viewed not as a formula, but as a vital truth, underlying and interwoven with the whole Chris- tian system ; when from this foundation the whole edifice rises up majestically, grand in its proportions, sublime in its aims, filled with God in all its parts ; when we feel its in- herent force streaming out from its livdng centres; then, then are we saved from those extreme tendencies which arc the most significant and alarming sign of our times ; then, then are we elevated above those lesser controversies wliich have narrowed our minds and divided our hearts. Here also we have a real inward experience as well as an objective reality; for the best and fullest inward experience is that which centres in Christ ; and the centre of the experience is then identical with the centre of the divine revelation. Never are we so far from havino; any abstract ethical or HOW ALL THINGS ARE HARMONIZED IN CHRIST. 43 metaphysical principles exercise an undue influence; never are we so far from a too fond reliance on self and never is self so full and satisfied ; never are we in a better position for judging all our controversies with a righteous judgment, or nearer to the highest Christian union ; never do the divine decrees shine in so mild a lustre, so benignant with grace, so solemn and severe in justice ; never can we be more wisely delivered from the material attractions of an outward rite, or from the ideal seductions of a pantheistic system ; never is doctrine so full of life, and life so richly expressed in doctrine ; never does systematic theology so perfectly present the full substance of the Christian faith in a truly scientific form ; and never are philosophy and faith so joined in hymeneal bonds, where they may " exult in over-measure," as when Christ is set forth as the living centre of all faith and of all theolog}", in whom the whole body is fitly joined together, compacted by that which e^'ery joint supplieth. Here, if anywliere, we may discern, " Couconl in discord, lines of differing method. Meeting in one full centre of delight." Having traced, as far as we may, the course of the blood in the veins of the system, and scrutinized the delicate and intricate organism by which it is diffused through every part, we are better prepared to go back to the grand arterial structure, to the great central heart, where resides the life- imparting energy ; and there, too, we shall learn whence comes the blood which courses through the veins. Having the necessity, we need not want the flexure. Having the anatomy of the Christian sj'stem, let us have also its physi- ology ; for physiology is the science of life. We have thus gone over the ground proposed, imperfectly, rapidly ; and yet have been only too long for the occasion. We have spoken of the characteristics, the opposition, the reconciliation, and the respective rights of Faith and Philo- sophy. We have, then, maintained the positions, that their full reconciliation is the true aim of systematic theology. 44 FAITH AND PHILOSOPHY. whose office it is to present the substance of the Christian faith in a scientific form, and in harmony with all other truth ; that the central principle of the system, as of the revelation and of the believer's consciousness, is to be found in the Person of Christ ; and that such a view of Christianity will encourage whatever is healthful, and restrain what is noxious in the prevailing tendencies of onr times. And now, in conclusion, we say, the Christian system, thus viewed, gives ns all that philosophy aims after, and in a more perfect form; that it also gives us inoie than philosophy can give ; and this more than it gives is what man most needs and what reason alone never could divine. And, therefore, we conclude that it is not within the scope of the human mind to conceive a system more complete, richer in all blessings. It gives us all that philosophy aims after, and in a more perfect form. For, in a hai'monious system of Chris- tian truth, nature, with all its laws and processes, is not denied or annulled ; it is only made subservient to higher, to moral ends ; its course is interrupted for a nobler purpose than a fixed order could ensure ; and thus a higher dignity is imparted to it than when we consider it as only a mere suc- cession of matei'ial changes. And its veiy order and har- mony are best explained when regarded as the product of infinite wisdom and benevolence, acting with the wisest and most benevolent intent. All ethical truth and all great moral ends, human rights and human happiness and a per- fect social state, are included in the Christian system as truly as in philosophy ; and a new glory is cast around them when they are made integral parts of a divine kingdom, established in justice and animated by love, which is not only to be real- ized here npon the earth, bnt is to reach forward even to eternity. Moral principles and ends thus retain all their meaning and value ; but they are made more effective and permanent when contemplated as inherent in the nature and government of a wise and hoi}' God, and as the basis and aim of an eternal kingdom. We. thus have not merely a perfect CHRISTIANITY GIVES US WHAT PHILOSOPHY CxVNNOT. 45 social state here, but a holy state, animated with the very presence and power of God, forevermore. All that natural religion can prove or claim is retained, all that an internal revelation and inspiration ever boasted itself to have is allowed by the Christian system ; but the truths of natural religion are fortified by a higher authority ; and the inward revelation is illumined by a clearer light, when it is seen in the brightness of that express manifestation of God in the person of his Son, whose teachings have both chastened and elevated all our views of God and of religion. 'C^ Thus may Christianity give us all that philosophy can give, and in a more perfect form.J But it also gives us more ; and this more that it gives is what man most needs, and, unaided, never could attain. God is infinite, man is finite ; how, then, can man come unto and know his Creator and sovereign ? Man is sinful and God is holy ; how can a sinful man be reconciled to a holy God ? how can a sinful nature become regenerate ? Man is mortal, as well as sinful ; how can he obtain certainty, entire certainty, as to a future life and his eternal destiny % Here are the real and vital problems of human destiny ; before them reason is abashed, and con- science can only warn, and man can only fear. The urgency, the intense interest of these questions no thinking mind can doubt; the uncertainty and timidity of human reason, when it meets them, are almost proverbial. If these questions are not answered, if these problems are not solved in Christianity they are absolutely answered nowhere. And precisely here it is that M-e contend that the Christian system has a perma- nent power, and a perfect fitness to man's condition ; for you cannot name a vital problem of our moral destiny which it does not profess to solve, and to solve in a way beyond which human thought can conceive of notliing greater, and the human heart can ask for nothing more ; in a way which is to the simplest heart most simple, and to the highest intellect most profound. The highest ideas and ends which reason can propound are really embraced, the deepest wants whi