Suppose again, that it taught that the Creator, who wrought the attesting miracles, was a liar, and loved to deceive his creatures; this would also destroy its reliability as a guide to truth.
Suppose again, that it taught that the Creator was a being who preferred evil to good, and chose to have his creatures ignorant and miserable, when he has power to make them wise and happy. This also would destroy the reliability of any revelation from the Creator, even were it sustained by undisputed miracles and prophecy.
This last is precisely what the Augustinian system does teach, and, as its advocates claim, it is a part of a revelation from the Creator, supported by miracles and prophecy.
In opposition to this, it is maintained that this system is not to be found in the Bible, and that were it there, all the miracles and prophecy conceivable could not prove these writings to be revelations from the Creator, which are reliable as our guide to truth and happiness. A Creator who wills ignorance and misery to his creatures, when he has power to will knowledge and happiness in their place, is not a being to be believed or trusted as our guide to truth and happiness.
It is in this light that the Augustinian theory, as a part of the Bible, brings the question fairly before the people, as “Bible or no Bible?”
Chapter XXXV. Tendencies of the Two Opposing Systems.
The preceding chapters have presented the distinctive features of two systems which, in their main points, are shown to be contradictory, while both are exhibited as incorporated into the chief creeds and theological teachings of the Christian world.
It is the object of this chapter to point out the tendencies of these antagonistic systems.
It is maintained, that the common-sense system, resting as it does on implanted principles common to all minds, is evolved and held very much in proportion [pg 240] to the development of the reasoning powers and the moral sense.