The mode of treatment, being that of a critical history, includes (p. [3]) the discovery of (1) the facts, (2) the causes, and (3) the moral.
The main part of this first lecture is occupied in explaining the second of these divisions.
Importance, if the investigation were to be fully conducted, of carrying out a comparative study of religions and of the attitude of the mind in reference to all doctrine that rests on authority. (pp. [4-6].)
The idea of causes implies,
I. The law of the operation of the causes.
II. The enumeration of the causes which act according to this assumed law.
The empirical law, or formula descriptive of the action of reason on religion, is explained to be one form of the principle of progress by antagonism, the conservation or discovery of truth by means of inquiry and controversy; a merciful Providence leaving men responsible for their errors, but ultimately overruling evil for good. (p. [7].)
This great fact illustrated in the four Crises of the Christian faith in Europe, viz. In the struggle
(1) With heathen philosophy, about A.D. 160-360. (p. [8].)
(2) With sceptical tendencies in Scholasticism, in the middle ages (1100-1400). (p. [8].)