view. Sense of Moral Obligation not a consciousness of the Absolute and Infinite. Yet the Infinite is indirectly implied by the religious consciousness, though not apprehended as such; for the consciousness of limitation carries with it an indirect conviction of the existence of the Infinite beyond consciousness. Result of the above analysis - our knowledge of God relative and not absolute -the Infinite an object of belief, but not of thought or knowledge; hence we may know that an Infinite God exists, but not what He is as Infinite. - Further results of an examination of the religious consciousness. God known as a Person through the consciousness of ourselves as Persons-this consciousness indispensable to Theism; for the denial of our own Personality, whether in the form of Materialism or of Pantheism, logically leads to Atheism. -Summary of conclusions-our religious knowledge is regulative, but not speculative importance of this distinction in theological reasoning-conception of the Infinite inadmissible in Theology.

- Office of religious philosophy, as limited to finite conceptions.— Practical benefits of this limitation. - Conclusion,

114

LECTURE V.

Distinction between Speculative and Regulative Truth further pursued. - In Philosophy, as well as Religion, our highest principles of thought are regulative and not speculative. - Instances in the Ideas of Liberty and Necessity; Unity and Plurality as implied in the conception of any object; Commerce between Soul and Body; Extension, as implied in external perception; and Succession, as implied in the entire consciousness. -Illustration thus afforded for determining the limits of thought-distinction between legitimate and illegitimate thought, as determined by their relation to the inexplicable

and the self-contradictory respectively. Conclusion to be drawn as

regards the manner of the mind's operation

all Consciousness

implies a relation between Subject and Object, dependent on their mutual action and reäction; and thus no principle of thought can be regarded as absolute and simple, as an ultimate and highest truth. - Analogy in this respect between Philosophy and Natural Religion which apprehends the Infinite under finite forms corresponding difficulties to be expected in each. - Provinces of Reason and Faith.

- Analogy extended to Revealed Religion-testimony of Revelation plain and intelligible when regarded as regulative, but ultimately incomprehensible to speculation- corresponding errors in Philosophy and Religion, illustrating this analogy. — Regulative conceptions not therefore untrue. The above principles confirmed by the teaching of Scripture. - Revelation expressly adapted to the limits of human thought. -- Relation of the Infinite to the Personal in the representations of God in the Old Testament. Further confirmation from the New Testament. - Doctrine of the Incarnation; its practical position in Theology as a regulative truth; its perversion by modern philosophy, in the attempt to exhibit it as a speculative truth. Instances in Hegel, Marheineke, and Strauss.- Conclusion,

. 136

LECTURE VI.

Result of the previous inquiries — religious ideas contain two elements, a Form, common to them with all other ideas, as being human thoughts; and a Matter, peculiar to themselves, as thoughts about religious objects-hence there may exist two possible kinds of difficulties; the one formal arising from the universal laws of human thought; the other material arising from the peculiar nature

of religious evidence. The principal objections suggested by Ra-
tionalism are of the former kind; common to all human thinking
as such, and therefore to Rationalism itself. - Proof of this posi-
tion by the exhibition of parallel difficulties in Theology and Phi-
losophy. Our ignorance of the nature of God compared with our
ignorance of the nature of Causation. - Doctrine of the Trinity
compared with the philosophical conception of the Infinite and the
Absolute, as one and yet as many. - Doctrine of the eternal gen-
eration of the Son compared with the relation of an Infinite Sub-
stance to its Attributes. - Purpose of such comparisons, not to
prove the doctrines, but to show the weakness of human reason with
regard to them-true evidence of the doctrines to be found, not
in Reason, but in Revelation.- Further parallels. - Doctrine of the
twofold nature of Christ compared with the philosophical concep-
tion of the Infinite as coëxisting with the Finite.-Reason thus
shown not to be the supreme judge of religious truth; for Religion
must begin with that which is above Reason. - Extension of the
same argument to our conceptions of Divine Providence. - Repre-
sentations of General Law, and Special Interposition - supposed
difficulty in the conception of the latter shown to be really com-
mon to all human conceptions of the Infinite. Both representa-

-

tions equally imperfect as speculative truths, and both equally nec-
essary as regulative. - Imperfections in the conception of General
Law and mechanical action of the universe- this conception is
neither philosophically necessary nor empirically universal; and
hence it is not entitled to supersede all other representations
it is inapplicable to the phenomena of mind, and only partially
available in relation to those of matter. - Conception of Mirac-
ulous Agency, as subordinate to that of Special Providence
sufficient ground, either from philosophy or from experience, for
asserting that miracles are impossible. Comparison between the
opposite conceptions of a miracle, as an exception to a law, or as

-- no

the result of a higher law-both these conceptions are specula-
tively imperfect, but the former is preferable as a regulative truth.
- Summary of Conclusions — parallel difficulties must exist in The-
ology and in Philosophy-true value and province of Reason in re-
lation to both,

158

-

LECTURE VII.

Philosophical parallel continued with regard to the supposed moral
objections to Christian doctrines. - Error of the moral theory of
Kant. Moral convictions how far necessary and trustworthy, how
far contingent and fallible-parallel in this respect between moral
and mathematical science, as based on the formal conditions of ex-
perience possibility of corresponding errors in both. - Human mo-
rality not absolute, but relative. - The Moral Law cannot be con-
ceived as an absolute principle, apart from its temporal manifesta-
tions - parallel in the idea of Time and its relations. - Morality,
as conceived by us, necessarily contains a human and positive ele-
ment; and therefore cannot be the measure of the Absolute Nature
of God. Application of the above principles to Christian Theology.
-The Atonement - weakness of the supposed moral objections to
this doctrine such objections equally applicable to any conceivable
scheme of Divine Providence. - Predestination and Free Will-Pre-
destination, as a determination of the Absolute Mind, is specu-
latively inconceivable, and therefore cannot be known to be incom-
patible with human Freedom - parallel in this respect between Pre-
destination in Theology and Causation in Philosophy.-Eternal Pun-
ishment - rashness and ignorance of rationalist criticisms of this
doctrine- the difficulties of the doctrine are not peculiar to Theol-
ogy, but common to all Philosophy, and belong to the general

-

problem of the existence of Evil at all, which is itself but a subor-

dinate case of the universal impossibility of conceiving the coëxist-

ence of the Infinite with the Finite. Contrast between illegitimate

and legitimate mode of reasoning on evil and its punishment —

illustrations to be derived from analogies in the course of nature

and in the constitution of the human mind. - Extension of the

argument from analogy to other religious doctrines Original Sin

-Justification by Faith-Operation of Divine Grace.- Limits of

the Moral Reason. Conclusion,

-

.

. 182

LECTURE VIII.

-

Right use of Reason in religious questions — Reason entitled to judge
of a Religion in respect of its evidences, as addressed to men, but
not in respect of its correspondence with philosophical conceptions
of the Absolute Nature of God. - No one faculty of the human
mind is entitled to exclusive preference as the criterion of religious
truth-the true criterion is to be found in the general result of
many and various Evidences-practical neglect of this rule by dif-
ferent writers.- Comparative value of internal and external evi-
dences of religion, the former as negative, the latter as positive.
Cautions as requisite in the use of the negative argument from in-
ternal evidence-external and internal evidence can only be esti-
mated in conjunction with each other.- Distinction between the
proper and improper use of the Moral Sense in questions of relig-
ious evidence. Application of this distinction to facts recorded in
Sacred History.- Analogy between physical and moral laws as re-
gards miraculous interventions. - Probable and partial character of
the moral argument; error of supposing it to be demonstrative
and complete; possibility of mistakes in its application. - General