III—Meaning of Believe in God.

The conclusion arrived at from our [unclear: examination] of the constitution and course of Nature, [unclear: str] and impartially conducted, was that we could [unclear: de] therefrom neither confidence as to the [unclear: preset] hope as to the future. We find ourselves composed of mysterious elements to which [unclear: we] names, but of the origin of which we know [unclear: noth] and acted upon by tremendous forces which [unclear: we] page 21 somewhat indeed utilise, but which we can do nothing to control.

This dreary conclusion has been arrived at by many besides ourselves, and the practical deduction not a few have made is that, everything being utterly inscrutable, we should just be content to live enjoying what we can enjoy, and suffering what of suffering we cannot avoid, without troubling ourselves with great questions which it would seem we cannot solve. Others there are whose intelligence and experience unite to make very evident to them what the eventual outcome of such sentiments would be—viz., the destruction of our moral nature, if not the very ruin of society—and seeing this make some effort to escape from what they thus foresee. But they seem to imagine that mere activity of mind will effect their purpose, and we fail to discover amid all the discussions, denunciations, and negations industriously put forth by these, anything more than spasmodic struggles directed to no certain end. Where is the one uniting salutary principle which is to effect deliverance? Is it mere doubt of everything which can do this? Doubt may be brave or it may be cowardly, as it more often is, but it will never be redemptive, never consolatory. If this be all, the people must sit in darkness still. But it need not be all. We have not yet exhausted all possibilities. If Nature meet our questionings with blankness and our yearnings with cold rejection, let us not yet despair; let us be truly brave—brave enough to believe that aspirations would not exist without something which can satisfy them; brave enough to lift up our eyes again to gaze still higher. Perhaps there is yet something, some Being above and beyond what we call Nature, by whom all things consist? If so, page 22 then "we also are His offspring;" and if we [unclear: fis] Father we shall surely find trust, and [unclear: peace,] love. This, then, is the object of our [unclear: search;] what of the way? The pathway we must [unclear: travel] long and difficult; it is not the nearest or the [unclear: be] There is a way to that Father, which is [unclear: direct] is "The Way;" but if we have not found it [unclear: we] still press forward in our search. In a word, [unclear: I] not take you by the way God has revealed until [unclear: y] be persuaded at least of the existence [unclear: of] Revealer. "He that cometh to God [unclear: must] believe that He is." What, then, is the [unclear: meaning] belief in God? For the answer to this question must seek an answer to others. What do [unclear: we] by God? and what is the meaning of belief? [unclear: Wy] I possess a clear conception on these points, [unclear: I] still ask for some grounds upon which that which call belief may take hold of that which I call God.

Now, speaking in the deepest humility [unclear: upon] a subject, we may say at least that our idea [unclear: of] Supreme Being includes the following [unclear: conception] viz., that He must have His essence of [unclear: Himself] sarily and eternally; that to Him must be [unclear: attribu] omnipotent will, omniscient intelligence, [unclear: and] moral quality in infinite perfection, [unclear: such,] instance, as justice, truth, and love. I [unclear: shall] be occasion to revert hereafter to some of these [unclear: terr] but these characteristics, centred in a [unclear: transferable] mode in an Incomprehensible, Spiritual [unclear: Personal] go far to embrace our idea of God. Now, [unclear: secondary] What is the meaning of Belief? This, or [unclear: f] which is akin to it, is the very subject [unclear: which] defined and abundantly illustrated in the [unclear: cha] from which I have selected the first of the [unclear: two] sages of my text, but it may be well if I [unclear: of] definition somewhat more at length, [unclear: however] page 23 cult it is to do so without the use of scholastic and technical language. I would say, then, that Belief is the assent of our understandings to the actuality of the object presented to them, although that object be neither apparent to our outward senses nor to our understandings in such wise as to appear a necessary truth; nor follows so immediately from things already known as itself to form part of our knowledge. If, nevertheless, in spite of these apparent shortcomings, the object has so much evidence in its favour as to induce us to yield that assent of our understandings to the extent of full persuasion—this is properly Belief. It now remains to apply these definitions—that is to say, to ascertain whether the evidence is forthcoming to lead us to yield that full assent of our understandings which we call belief, to the existence of the object described, whom we call God, although God be such an one as we can neither see nor touch, nor so examine as to have a scientific knowledge of His being.

You see, dear friends, that I have not hesitated to go the whole length of the freest inquiry, and that although it is quite evident that within the limits of a single discourse nothing more can be done than to indicate the character of the evidence required, or to suggest a few out of the almost innumerable lines which may be followed up. And I am thus bold because I hope to persuade any who either have doubts, or at least have not full persuasion of the existence of God, to follow up some of these lines carefully and without prejudice. Truth desires nothing more than with adequate knowledge, patience, and sincerity to be thus inquired into. But there is a word of warning which I must add before I proceed. You must clearly understand at the outset what, and what page 24 only, you have a right to expect. Young [unclear: thinks] and persons whose education has not been [unclear: car] very tar, are peculiarly liable to fall into the [unclear: ful] mental error of demanding the same kind [unclear: of] tainty upon every subject of inquiry. [unclear: These] "Give me proof!" "I require proof!" Very [unclear: g] so far, but the mistake is that by proof [unclear: they] mathematical demonstration, or at least [unclear: scien] induction; but it may be that the subject [unclear: matter] such as cannot be investigated either [unclear: mathematical] or scientifically. Or they have read a little [unclear: log] and become so enamoured of that method [unclear: that] want to fit it on to everything, and will reject [unclear: en] thing which does not reduce into the form of [unclear: a] rect syllogism. They will try thus, perhaps, [unclear: to] the existence of a God. They say the universe the universe could not exist without a God, therefore there is a God. But some one points out to they radical fault in their argument, viz., that their [unclear: th] premiss assumes the very question in [unclear: debate,] therefore the question is begged: the [unclear: conclusion] worthless. Now, it may be perfectly true [unclear: all] time that the universe cannot exist without [unclear: a] but that proposition requires its own kind [unclear: of] It is very foolish and altogether illogical [unclear: for] logician when he finds, after repeated [unclear: failure,] he cannot logically prove the existence of a God say that therefore there is no God. And yet [unclear: th] mathematical, scientific, or logical proofs are [unclear: wh] many appear to insist on as to the [unclear: existence] God, and they are what they can never [unclear: have.] all this it does not follow that there is [unclear: not] sufficient evidence upon the point before us to [unclear: sat] the legitimate demands of our [unclear: understandings] to cause them to assent to its truth, that is [unclear: to] to believe in it.

page 25

Let us examine the case.

We have seen what we have no right to expect, and, to some extent, why we have no right to expect the kind of proofs some people seek for. It can never be too often repeated that the different kinds of knowledge correspond with the character of the subjects investigated. All knowledge may be divided into positive and comparative, and the limits of all positive knowledge are overleaped the moment we look outside of ourselves. "What I have called comparative knowledge we arrive at only by analogy, and these analogies have more or less force upon us according to their directness; those analogies which are founded directly upon our self-knowledge are the most powerful, while those which are analogies upon [unclear: other] anologies are less so. The first of these [unclear: classes] probably forms what we call our intuitions, [unclear: parts] of our human consciousness from which, we [unclear: can] hardly escape. For example, every person in [unclear: this] church is conscious of his own existence, and [unclear: every] person in this church is conscious of my existence, and of that of others in the congregation; but you cannot be conscious of my existence in the same way that you are of your own. You have a [unclear: direct] knowledge of your own reality, while you [unclear: only] become conscious of mine by analogy, though, [unclear: mark] you, the reality of my existence as a fact may [unclear: be] no less certain than the reality of yours all the [unclear: time,] howbeit your perception of that fact is less [unclear: certain.] But what do I mean by your becoming [unclear: conscious] of the existence of another person by analogy? I mean that what you are able to observe of other individuals corresponds so closely with what you have already observed about yourself, that you are driven to the conclusion that these are beings possessed of a like nature with your own, page 26 your conviction becomes unshakeable that [unclear: fi] possess powers and attributes and modes [unclear: of] precisely similar to those which you [unclear: possess,] although this conviction has been borne in [unclear: upon] with such subtlety, and probably so early in life, [unclear: you] do not at all recognise the process, yet [unclear: in] also reached you with such strength that you [unclear: be] in the reality and existence of other people [unclear: wif] the shadow of a doubt.

I have gone thus far into this subject [unclear: bea] I do not think that the force of the [unclear: arg] derived from general human [unclear: consciousness] to the existence of God has been [unclear: suffic] insisted on. It is not merely that belief [unclear: in] existence of a God is almost, if not [unclear: altogether] reversal among the nations of the earth; but [unclear: the] of the argument is, how that belief comes to [unclear: f] part, as I believe it does form a true part, of [unclear: hu] consciousness. It is by an analogy similar [unclear: to] by which we become convinced of the existence our fellow-creatures. It is true that [unclear: we] observe the person of God as we can the [unclear: persa] men, yet, after all, it is not the [unclear: outward] physical likeness of our fellows which entirely [unclear: vinces] us of their resemblance to ourselves, [unclear: bu] evidence of their internal nature. A man [unclear: wh] never seen his own face in a glass, and did [unclear: not] what he was like, would no less believe [unclear: that] men were as he is, and he as they. We see [unclear: a] acting kindly to a being in distress; we [unclear: attrib] once to that person the same emotions [unclear: of] which we perceive within ourselves, and so [unclear: on] justice or reasoning power. Very well [unclear: then,] see around us the operation on a more than [unclear: g] scale of personal attributes and [unclear: characteristion] miniature representatives of which we [unclear: posses] page 27 [unclear: elves]—such, for example, as Will and Intelligence, [unclear: to] go no further—it is then, I think, a true [unclear: induction] by analogy that there is a Being in whom these [unclear: qualities] and attributes combine; and, as with [unclear: the] recognition of our fellow-creatures the force of the [unclear: induction] amounted to a consciousness of their [unclear: reality,] so, in this case, the induction, when fully [unclear: considered] in all its bearings, can hardly fail to [unclear: susure] that fulness of assent of our understandings [unclear: which] amounts to persuasion or belief. Nay, [unclear: the] conviction may even be so strong as to amount, [unclear: as] in the former case, to a consciousness of its [unclear: reality.] This what on a former occasion I called the [unclear: knowledge] of Faith. This is what, I think, Holy [unclear: Scripture] means when it speaks of that kind of [unclear: knowledge.] This is, I take it, what the second part of [unclear: any] text means when it says "That which may be [unclear: known] of God is manifest to them, for God hath [unclear: showed] it to them, for the invisible things of Him [unclear: from] the creation of the world are clearly seen, being [unclear: manifested] by the things that are made, even His [unclear: eternal] power and Godhead, so that they are without [unclear: because.]" Some one may say that because we cannot we [unclear: the] face of God as we see the face of man, the [unclear: nalogy] does not hold good. I have already [unclear: somewhat] anticipated this objection, but I would add [unclear: what] those who urge it have missed the point of the [unclear: gument]. The query is as to what we observe. In [unclear: the] first case, then, identity between the things [unclear: bereaved] in others and in ourselves led us to conclude [unclear: entity] of nature; but we are not demanding the [unclear: istence] of a God in all points like unto ourselves, [unclear: sort] of giant man; that is the danger to which pathomorphism—a true argument within certain [unclear: mits]—is subject. The analogy is [unclear: in] the personality of the attributes observed, not in the quality of them. page 28 You can hardly conceive of Will and [unclear: Intellie] (including thought and order and [unclear: adaptation] separate forces existing outside of any [unclear: entity-] so many wild winds blowing from different [unclear: qu] at the same time. "We find these [unclear: attributes] bined in our own nature, and the analogy [unclear: sag] that they would be similarly combined in [unclear: as] nature; but that that nature is, in the case [unclear: of] essentially no higher than our own is [unclear: contral] by what of will and intelligence is [unclear: manifested] in universe, and they are clearly seen to be [unclear: will] lutely free and intelligence absolutely [unclear: unlimited] as we find these things within [unclear: ourselves—] cabined, and confined. The Being, then, [unclear: of] we predicate these powers is unlike [unclear: ourselves] He is the very "perfect law of liberty." [unclear: We] then believe in the real existence of God on [unclear: ga] very similar to those which oblige us to [unclear: acknowledge] the reality of the existence of our fellow-[unclear: men].

But I would say a few words on some other [unclear: lis] argument. There is, for instance, the [unclear: old-] because natural—argument of final cause, [unclear: I] think this argument exploded, as some [unclear: are] to say, because it has been attacked. I [unclear: shall] but little on it, because there is no doubt [unclear: th] such discussions we are ultimately led to [unclear: qus] beyond the power of man to solve. [unclear: But] certain that nothing is self-created, since [unclear: that] mean that things acted before they [unclear: existed-] is absurd—therefore something must be [unclear: self]—must have its essence and being [unclear: necessary] question is: Shall this necessary existence [unclear: be] buted to a being such as we have called [unclear: God] an undefinable abstraction called force, [unclear: in] must be supposed to exist all the germs of [unclear: all] and all possibilities, and that thought, [unclear: and] page 29 [unclear: and] perfection of every kind was a product of blind [unclear: force,] though force itself had no such attributes. [unclear: Now,] final causation means action in view of an end [unclear: to] be obtained, and it is in virtue of this peculiarity [unclear: of] our own nature that we ourselves are called [unclear: rational] beings, because we constantly act with a [unclear: view] to an end. Now, the marks of the action of [unclear: final] causes are order, orderly movement, [unclear: combinations,] and the like. Where these are absent we [unclear: should] argue the absence of a controlling intelligent [unclear: nal] cause, but where they are present, as [unclear: everywhere] throughout the universe, then we should [unclear: rgue] the presence of final causation, which is a [unclear: characteristic] of rationality, and therefore of a [unclear: ational] agent, and we can hardly imagine a [unclear: rational] agent acting everywhere and always except He be [unclear: God.]

[unclear: The] argument from design or special [unclear: adaptation] has also been disparaged, but its force is still [unclear: almost] irresistible. If there were only one or two [unclear: sentences] of it in Nature it might perhaps be [unclear: pounced] accidental, as when a key happens to open [unclear: lock] for which it was not made; but, as Lord [unclear: Neill] argues in an interesting address, if in a lock [unclear: of] complicated construction you found a key to open [unclear: the] almost practical certainty is arrived at that [unclear: key] which opens it was intended to open [unclear: if.] but in order adequately to illustrate the case before [unclear: a] you must suppose thousands of locks, each opened [unclear: y] its own key and no other. This is the kind of [unclear: certainty] of the action of God which we have from [unclear: sign], and these adaptations exist in myriads. [unclear: They] are seen in every organism, in every structure [unclear: of] every organism. Without such adaptation of our [unclear: uscular] powers to terrestrial gravity we should [unclear: ther] be unable to move, or on the slightest exer- page 30 tion leap into the air. In the exact [unclear: proportion] the gases which compose the air, as [unclear: compared] our breathing faculties, the amount of [unclear: caloc] quired to admit of life, and a multitude [unclear: of] adaptations, or even if we suppose the whole [unclear: e] series of animals and plants upon the face of [unclear: the] to have arrived at their present condition [unclear: on] plan of evolution, still the grand result [unclear: argues] knowledge and intention on the part of [unclear: His] set the whole scheme in operation. If we [unclear: are] believe in a Designer when we observe [unclear: so] design, in what, with our present [unclear: constitution] we to believe?

There are whole volumes of [unclear: evdence] unopened; for instance, the evidence [unclear: de] from our moral nature. Whence do [unclear: moral] ciples proceed? Does justice spring out [unclear: of] matter, or mercy from rocks and stones? admire righteousness and truth, but [unclear: are] highest exemplars of these virtues? Is [unclear: the] Being in whom mercy and truth meet together [unclear: fectly] and in perfection? It is [unclear: surely] believable that we are the reflection of One [unclear: in] every perfection perfectly consists, than [unclear: that] the highest illustrations of a perfection [unclear: which] nowhere perfectly.

We have not yet examined [unclear: specially] problems of life or thought. We [unclear: know] of the principle of life, or what gives [unclear: orig] it, unless it come from God, the living [unclear: One] only know that while it stays within [unclear: our] matter itself is possessed of characters it [unclear: nerve] before, and the moment that principle is [unclear: with] all these activities cease, and the suspended [unclear: ta] cies of matter operate again. Then as to [unclear: speir] and spiritual perceptions. Strange [unclear: cnotra] page 31 what some profess belief in spirit life who yet deny [unclear: the] supernatural! But if a spirit be not [unclear: supernatural,] then show in what way it might be produced [unclear: by] Mature, and if any spirit be supernatural, why [unclear: may] I not believe in a Father of Spirits and live? [unclear: Dear] friends, I must conclude, though volumes [unclear: might] be written. "What I have written has been [unclear: to] make clear the position of the believer in God. [unclear: it] has not been my task to prove His existence. [unclear: Nay], I have even allowed that proof, in the common [unclear: meaning] of the word, is impossible. If we could [unclear: have] it there would be no room for faith. But [unclear: showing] the nature of belief and something of the [unclear: nature] of God, I have shown too that there is [unclear: everywhere] an abounding fulness, a lavish plenitude of [unclear: evidence] of every kind which our mind can receive, [unclear: which] urges—almost obliges—the reflecting mind to [unclear: yield] that complete assent which means belief in [unclear: him,] And if any ask, because I have not brought to [unclear: demonstration] the existence of a God, is, then, [unclear: the] position of a [unclear: believer] in God better than that of a believer in Nature? I answer, a thousandfold [unclear: supe] if it be but in this, that when the believer in [unclear: Nature] stops to try the ground of his belief, to test [unclear: the] security of that whereon he stands, he finds that [unclear: ground] falling away on every side, that fancied [unclear: certainty] eluding his grasp; the more searching his [unclear: lance] the more rapidly they disappear. He has [unclear: followed] the will-of-the-wisp; it has led him to the [unclear: dismal] swamp; it goes out and leaves him in the [unclear: darkness.] While, on the other hand, the believer in [unclear: God,] though first his faith be as feeble as a thread of [unclear: gossamer,] follows up first that thread and then [unclear: another,] till he finds them all woven up together; [unclear: tan] thousand strands have made him now a cord [unclear: unbreakable,] to which he holds secure. He stands, page 32 not on one frail plank which breaks beneath [unclear: his] but on accumulated bases, which, like [unclear: suec] strata, harden into rock, and there he rests [unclear: uns]

I have been precluded by the stand-point [unclear: of] argument from all appeal to Scripture as a [unclear: g] of proof, but even an atheist may wonder to [unclear: fia] oldest book of which we have a knowledge [unclear: spe] in just the language demanded by the [unclear: phil] and science of the day. Is a self-existent [unclear: nec] Being postulated, then that oldest [unclear: written] we possess says, in a Name which is a [unclear: revela] itself, I am, I was, I shall be; while the [unclear: yes] volume of that record speaks of Him "who [unclear: was] is, and is to come—the Almighty." My [unclear: more] ful task another day will be to show [unclear: how] know Him. Most of those I have [unclear: address] night are believers in God—have never [unclear: doubted] existence. They have thought, perhaps, [unclear: my] needless, or at least a fruitless one. Not so, [unclear: beli] hundreds give way at the first advance of [unclear: adve] only because they know not the real [unclear: stre] their citadel. We have advanced only to [unclear: Then] is true; but, granted a God, He must be [unclear: worse] and obeyed; seeing but His eternal [unclear: power] and head we "are without excuse" if we [unclear: disobe] laws; but doubtless, like Moses, you long [unclear: for] vision. Christ brings us not only to God [unclear: b] God, but this is the day of faith, of part [unclear: know] of coming to God; but if we come we shall [unclear: fa] only that He is, but that He is a re warder of that diligently seek Him.