LECTURE IX.
ETHICAL TENDENCIES OF THE EASTERN AND THE WESTERN PHILOSOPHIES 294
The Prevalence of Speculation in all Ages in Regard to the Great Questions of Man's Origin and Destiny, and His Relations to God—The Various Schemes which have Seemingly Dispensed with the Necessity for a Creator in Accounting for the Existence of the Visible World—The Ancient Atomic Theories and Modern Evolution—Kanada, Lucretius, Herbert Spencer—Darwin's Theory of the Development of Species—Similar Theories Ascribed to the Chinese—The Ethical Difficulties Attending Many Philosophic Speculations, Ancient and Modern—Hindu Pantheism and Moral Responsibility—In the Advance from Instinct to Conscience and Religion, where does Moral Sentiment Begin?—If It was Right for Primeval Man to Maraud, why Might not Robbery again Become His Duty in Case of Extreme Deterioration?—Mr. Spencer's Theory of the Origin of Moral Intuition—The Nobler Origin which the Scriptures Assign to Man's Moral Nature—The Demonstrated Possibility of the Most Radical and Sudden Moral Changes Produced by the Christian Faith—Tendency of Ancient and Modern Theories to Lower the General Estimate of Man—The Dignity with which the New Testament Invests Him—The Ethical Tendency of the Doctrine of Evolution—The Opinion Expressed on the Subject by Goldwin Smith—Peschel's Frank Admission—The Pessimistic Tendency of all Anti-Biblical Theories of Man's Origin, Life, and Destiny—Buddha, Schopenhauer, and the Agnostics—The more Hopeful Influence of the Bible—The Tendency of all Heathen Religions and all Anti-Christian Philosophies toward Fatalism—Pantheism and the Philosophy of Spinoza Agreeing in this Respect with the Hindu Vedantism—The Late Samuel Johnson's "Piety of Pantheism," and His Definition of Fatalism—What Saves the Scriptural Doctrine of Fore-ordination from Fatalism—The Province of Faith and of Trust.
LECTURE X.
THE DIVINE SUPREMACY OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH 338
The Claim that Christianity is the only True Religion—The Peculiar
Tendencies of Modern Times to Deny this Supremacy and Monopoly—It
is not Enough in Such Times to Simply Ignore the Challenge—The
Unique Claim must be Defended—First: Christianity is
Differentiated from all Other Religions by the Fact of a Divine
Sacrifice for Sin—Mohammedanism, though Founded on a Belief in the
True God and Partly on the Old Testament Teachings, Offers no
Saviour—No Idea of Fatherhood is Found in any Non-Christian
Faith—The Gloom of Buddhism and the Terror of Savage
Tribes—Hinduism a System of Self-Help Merely—The Recognized
Grandeur of the Principle of Self-Sacrifice as Reflected from
Christ—Augustine Found a Way of Life only in His Divine
Sacrifice—Second: No Other Faith than Christianity is Made
Effectual by the Power of a Divine and Omnipotent Spirit—The
Well-Attested Fact of Radical Transformations of Character—Other
Systems have Made Converts only by Warlike Conquest or by Such
Motives as might Appeal to the Natural Heart—Christianity Rises
above all Other Systems in the Divine Personality of Christ—The
Contrast in this Respect between Him and the Authors of the
Non-Christian Systems—His Attractions and His Power Acknowledged
by all Classes of Men—The Inferiority of Socrates as Compared with
Christ—Bushnell's Tribute to the Perfection of this Divine
Personality—Its Power Attested in the Life of Paul—The Adaptation
of Christianity to all the Circumstances and Conditions of
Life—Abraham and the Vedic Patriarchs, Moses and Manu, David's Joy
and Gratitude, and the Gloom of Hindu or Buddhist Philosophy—Only
Christianity Brings Man to True Penitence and Humility—The
Recognized Beauty and the Convincing Lesson of the Prodigal
Son—The Contrast between Mohammed's Blasphemous Suras, which
Justify his Lust, and the Deep Contrition of David in the
Fifty-first Psalm—The Moral Purity of the Old and New Testaments
as Contrasted with all Other Sacred Books—The Scriptures Pure
though Written in Ages of Corruption and Surrounded by Immoral
Influences—Christ Belongs to no Land or Age—The Gospel Alone is
Adapted to all Races and all Time as the Universal Religion of
Mankind—Only Christianity Recognizes the True Relation between
Divine Help and Human Effort—It Encourages by Omnipotent
Co-operation—The All-Comprehensive Presentation of the Gospel.