There are still people who endeavour to deny or disbelieve the discoveries of science. They are setting themselves athwart the stream, and trying to stop its advance;—they only succeed in stopping their own. They are good people, but unwise, and, moreover, untrustful. If they will let go their anchorage, and sail on in a spirit of fearless faith, they will find an abundant reward, by attaining a deeper insight into the Divine Nature, and a wider and brighter outlook over the destiny of man.
[1]. “By Substance I understand that which exists in and by itself.” (Spinoza.)
[2]. “We may say much, yet not attain; and the sum of our words is, He is all.” (Ecclesiasticus xliii. 27.)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
| CHAP. | PAGE | |
| PREFACE—ON RELIGIOUS TEACHING | [vii] | |
| INTRODUCTION—A PLEA FOR SYMPATHY AND BREADTH | [1] | |
| I. | THE ASCENT OF MAN | [6] |
| II. | THE DEVELOPMENT OF CONSCIENCE | [20] |
| III. | CHARACTER AND WILL | [24] |
| IV. | DUTY AND SERVICE | [32] |
| V. | GOODNESS AND BEAUTY AND GOD | [36] |
| VI. | MAN A PART OF THE UNIVERSE | [42] |
| VII. | THE NATURE OF EVIL | [46] |
| VIII. | THE MEANING OF SIN | [52] |
| IX. | THE DEVELOPMENT OF LIFE | [56] |
| X. | COSMIC INTELLIGENCE | [60] |
| XI. | IMMANENCE | [64] |
| XII. | HIGHER FACULTIES, OR SOUL AND SPIRIT | [76] |
| XIII. | THE REALITY OF GRACE AND OF INCARNATION | [84] |
| XIV. | THE TRUTH OF INSPIRATION | [92] |
| XV. | A CREED | [96] |
| XVI. | THE LIFE ETERNAL | [104] |
| XVII. | THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS | [112] |
| XVIII. | PRAYER | [116] |
| XIX. | THE LORD’S PRAYER | [120] |
| XX. | THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN | [122] |
| APPENDIX. THE CLAUSES REPEATED | [128] |
REFERENCES TO QUOTATIONS
| PAGE | ||
| [ix] | “Old paths” | Jer. vi. 16. |
| [13] | “Hear no yelp” | Tennyson, “By an Evolutionist.” |
| [22] | “Then welcome” | Browning, “Rabbi Ben Ezra.” |
| [22] | “We fall to rise” | Browning, “Asolando.” |
| [23] | “Nor shall I deem” | Browning, “Paracelsus.” |
| [30] | “If my body” | Tennyson, “By an Evolutionist.” |
| [33] | “Our wills” | Tennyson, “In Memoriam.” |
| [37] | “The old order” | Tennyson, “Morte d’Arthur.” |
| [39] | “Lilies that fester” | Shakespeare, Sonnet 94. |
| [43] | “All tended” | Browning, “Paracelsus.” |
| [44] | “He hath shewed thee” | Micah vi. 8. |
| [48] | “The best is yet to be” | Browning, “Rabbi Ben Ezra.” |
| [49] | “My son, the world” | Tennyson, “Ancient Sage.” |
| [50] | “There shall never be” | Browning, “Abt Vogler.” |
| [51] | “No ill no good” | Tennyson, “Ancient Sage.” |
| [55] | “All we have willed” | Browning, “Abt Vogler.” |
| [59] | “Where dwells enjoyment” | Browning, “Paracelsus.” |
| [59] | “God tastes an infinite” | Browning, “Paracelsus.” |
| [65] | “πάντα ῥεὶ ϰαὶ οὐδὲν μένει.” | Heraclitus. |
| (Everything flows and nothing is stagnant.) | ||
| [65] | “The hills are shadows” | Tennyson, “In Memoriam.” |
| [73] | “πάντα πλήρη θεῶν.” | Thales, quoted by Aristotle. |
| (All things are full of gods.) | ||
| [73] | “Earth’s crammed” | E. B. Browning, “Aurora Leigh.” |
| [78] | “Our birth” | Wordsworth, “Immortality.” |
| [81] | “We are such stuff” | Shakespeare, “Tempest.” |
| [83] | “Climb the mount” | Tennyson, “Ancient Sage.” |
| [86] | “That none but Gods” | Tennyson, “By an Evolutionist.” |
| [87] | “Flash of the will” | Browning, “Abt Vogler.” |
| [87] | “All through my keys” | Browning, “Abt Vogler.” |
| [89] | “’Tis the sublime” | Coleridge, “Religious Musings.” |
| [90] | “Enough that he heard it” | Browning, “Abt Vogler.” |
| [101] | “A sun but dimly seen” | Tennyson, “Akbar’s Dream.” |
| [106] | “But that one ripple” | Tennyson, “Ancient Sage.” |
| [110] | “Signs of his coming” | Morris, “Love is Enough.” |
| [115] | “Then stirs the feeling” | Byron, “Childe Harold.” |
| [115] | “ἡ φυχὴ τῷ ὅλῳ μέμιϰται” | Aristotle, “De Animâ.” |
| (Spirit permeates the whole.) | ||
| [115] | “Whose dwelling” | Wordsworth, “Tintern Abbey.” |
| [124] | “Their prejudice” | Browning, “Paracelsus.” |
| [126] | “And we the poor earth’s” | Tennyson, “Ancient Sage.” |