INTRODUCTION.

"PROVE all things; hold fast that which is good." [Paul.-1-Thes. V. 21.]

There are certain great questions which all men wish to know. Is there a God? Has God spoken to man? What has he said? Has man a future? What is the relation of that future to the present life?. How shall man escape from sin and its consequences? Had the universe a beginning? Will it have an end? Is the universe limited in space and time, or is it unlimited? Had the universe an intelligent first cause? Is the matter of the universe created, or is it eternal? Is God immanent in the universe, or has he wound it up like a great clock, and is he now simply looking on while it runs down? What is the origin of force? What is the present producing cause of the forces of the universe? Is creation still going on? Is the material universe being extended into space? What is the great end of the universe? What is the great end of man? What is the connection between mind and matter? Is mind immortal? These and unnumbered other questions force themselves upon mankind for an answer.

The most fundamental and momentous among all these questions is this, is there a personal, self-existent First Cause of the universe? This is not only the foundation of all religion, it is the foundation of all science. If this is doubted, there is doubt and mystery everywhere. If this is doubted, there is no rest for any mind. Next to this in importance, is the question, has God spoken to man? If he has thus spoken, that revelation is the most important thing man can

know. More important than all human words are words which have come from our Heavenly Father, the Creator and Governor of all. There can be no more important problems for man to consider than those which are discussed in the following pages. Let us come to the study of these problems with childlike hearts, not as wise, but as searchers after knowledge. Let us study these problems also with the determination that just so far as we find the truth we will believe and obey it.

"If any man willeth to do His will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself." [Christ.-John VII. 17.]

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Preface

Introduction

Table of Contents

Part First; Natural Theology.

CHAPTER FIRST.-Introductory. First truths; their tests, classes

and the ultimate realities known by them. Objections. I. The senses

etc., are sometimes mistaken. II. We cannot know the Absolute.

III. We can only know the external world. IV. There is no soul

to know. Proofs of the existence of a soul in man. Have animals

souls? Classes of beliefs in regard to God

III

VII

.IX

.Pages, 1-15

CHAPTER SECOND.-First proof of the existence of a personal first

Cause of all things, from the great difficulties connected with every

atheistic theory of the universe; from the origin of matter; from the

origin of motion; from the different forms of matter; from the

different forces of matter; from the motion of the universe; from

loss of heat; from the origin of life; bioplasm; development

without a Creator; natural selection; man; time too short; breaks

and gaps; fallacies of atheistic evolutionists; doubts of scientific

men

Pages, 16-37

CHAPTER THIRD.-Second proof; the hypothesis of a Creator solves

all difficulties and is in harmony with all the known facts of evolution;

resemblances accounted for; a personal power immanent in nature;

attempts to account for the force called gravitation; brief statement

of the theory of God's immanence in nature; Pres. McCosh's reductio

ad absurdum argument; the theory of God's immanence in nature

held by scientific men and taught in the Bible

Pages, 38-47

CHAPTER FOURTH.-Proof from cause, and proof from design;

Third proof, from cause; fourth proof from design; definition of

cause; laws of nature not causes; what is force? spirit the only

real cause; proof from the finiteness of the present order of things;

design in the atmosphere; design in plants and animals. .Pages, 48-59

CHAPTER FIFTH.-Fifth proof, from order, plan and arrangement
in the universe; plan in the solar system; plan in the vegetable and
mineral kingdoms; the failure of materialism to account for the
universe

Pages, 60-65

CHAPTER SIXTH.--Sixth proof; from the common consent of man-

kind; belief in one supreme God the ancient belief of India, Persia,

Egypt, China, etc.; the present universal belief of all men. Seventh

proof; Plato's argument; eighth proof; from direct cognizance;

the strength of these eight arguments, taken together

:

Pages, 66-73

CHAPTER SEVENTH.-The nature of the deity as absolute

reality; immanent attributes; eternity, immutability, unity, ideality:

as infinite efficiency; causal attributes; spirituality, ubiquity, omni-

potence, omnipresence: as perfect personality; moral attributes;

love, wisdom, righteousness, holiness and blessedness; proofs of God's

benevolence; the existence of moral and natural evil

.Pages, 74-82

1

BOOK SECOND; EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.

CHAPTER FIRST.-First proof; Christianity, alone of all the reli-

gions seems to be such a religion as the Creator would give to man;

probability that God would help man; comparison of Christianity

with other religions; from God; given from the beginning of man's

need; God works; Christianity adapted to man; Christianity differ-

ent from other religions in the way of its propagation

.Pages, 85-92

CHAPTER SECOND.-Second proof, from the history of Christianity.

Its founder, a Nazarene carpenter; Christianity buried in the tomb

with the body of Christ; the resurrection of Christ a necessity to

the origin of Christianity. Persecution, Jewish and Roman; the

dark ages of corruption, intolerance and ignorance; the reformation;

growth of Christanity during the last century

Pages, 93-97

CHAPTER THIRD.-Third proof, from the transforming power

of the gospel of Christ. The Sandwich islands, the Micronesian

islands, the Gilbert islanders, the South Sea islands, Fiji, Samoa; Mr.

Darwin's testimony; New Zealand; Madagascar; testimony from

the English parliamentary blue-book, from Sir Bartle Frere and Lord

Lawrence; Christianity and Civilization; the atheistic town; the

Moravian church and missions; the results of Buddhism in India;

the transforming power of Christianity over individuals、、... .Pages, 98-114