IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 4^ 1.0 ^^ Hi m la B2.2 S U£ 120 1.1 ^ HA 6" Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WIST MAIN STRIST wnsnR,N.Y. Mseo (716) •72-4503 CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHIVI/ICIVIH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiquas Technical and Bibliographic Notas/Notaa tachniquat at bibliographiquaa Tha Inatituta haa anamptad to obtain tha baat original copy availabia for filming. Paaturaa of thia copy which may ba bibliographically uniqua, which may altar any of tha imagaa in tha raproduction. or which may significantly changa tha uaual mathod of filming, ara ehackad balow. Fy^Colourad eovara/ UlJ Couvartura da eoulaur pn Covara damagad/ D Couvartura andommagia Covars rastorad and/or laminatad/ Couvartura raatauria at/ou paliiculAa p**1 Covar titia missing/ La titra da couvartura manqua r~1 Colourad mapa/ Cartaa giographiquaa fi eoulaur □ Colourad ink (l.a. othar than blua or black)/ Encra da eoulaur (i.a. autra qua blaua ou noira) rn Colourad plataa and/or illuatrations/ D D D D Planchaa at/ou illuatrations m* eoulaur Bound with othar matarial/ RalM avac d'autraa documants Tight binding may eauaa shadowa or diatortion along intarior margin/ Laraliura sarrte paut eausar da I'ombra ou da la dittoraion i« long da la marga intAriaura Blank laavaa addad during raatoration may appaar within tha taxt. Whanavar possibia. thasa hava baan omlttad from filming/ II sa paut qua eartainaa pagaa blanchaa ajoutAas lora d'una raatauration apparaiaaant dana la taxta. mala, lorsiqua cala ttait possibia. caa pagaa n'ont paa dt* filmdaa. 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Las details da cat axamplaira qui sont paut-itra uniquaa du point da vua bibliographiqua, qui pauvant modifiar una imaga raproduita. ou qui pauvant axigar una modification dans la mithoda normala da filmaga sont indiqute ci-dassous. r~n Colourad pagaa/ Pagaa da eoulaur Pagaa damagad/ Pagaa andommagiaa Pagas raatorad and/oi Pagaa rastaurias at/ou pallieulias r^ Pagaa damagad/ r~n Pagas raatorad and/or laminatad/ r~VPagas discoloured, stained or foxed/ IJ^ Pages dicoiories, taeheties ou piquies □ Pagas detached/ Pagas ditachies F~l/Showthrough/ UlI Transparence □ Quality of print variaa/ Qualit* Inigala de I'impression □ Includes supplementary material/ Comprend du matArial supplimentaira □ Only edition available/ Seule Adition disponible D Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata slips, tissuea. etc.. have baan refilmed to enaura tha best possible image/ Lee peges totalement ou partieilement obacurcies par un feuiilet d'errata. una pelure, etc., ont 6ti filmies k nouveau de fapon a obtanir la mailleure imaga possible. TMa item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ Ce document eat film* au taux da rMuction indiqu* ci-daaaoua. 10X 14X lax 22X 12X 7 i«x 26X 30X 20X 24X 28X 32X Th« eopy ffllm«d h«rt Km Immi raproduesd thanks to ttM gaiMronlty of: ArchivM of Ontario Toronto Tho imagoo appooring hora aro tha bast quality poaaibia eonaidaring tlia eondition and lagibility of tha original eopy and in Icaaping with tha filming contract spodfieationa. Original coplaa in printad papar eovars ara fllmad baginning with tha front eovar and anding on tha laat paga with a printad or illuatratad impraa- tion. or ttia baeic eovar whan appropriata. All othar original eopiaa aro filmad baginning on tha first paga with a printad or illuacratad impraa- aion. and anding on tha laat paga with a printad or illuatratad impraaalon. L'anamplaira film4 fut raproduit griea * la gAntroait* da: ArehivM of Ontario Toronto Laa imagaa auivantaa ont it* raproduitaa avac la plua grand aoln. eompta taiwi da la eondition at da la nattat* da raxamplaira flinii. at an eonformit* avac laa eondMona du eontrat da tNmaga. l^a aaamplairaa origlnaux dent la eouvortura an papiar aat imprim4a sont filmia an commandant par la pramiar plat at an tarminant solt par la damMra paga qui eomporta una ampraima dimpraaaion ou dlduatratlon. solt par la saeond plat, salon la eaa. Toua laa autraa axamplairaa ariginaux sont fUmia an eommon^ant par la pramlAra paga qui eomporta una ampraima dimpraaaion ou dllluatration at an tarminant par la damlAra paga qui eomporta una talla Tha laat racordod frama on each microficha shall contain tha symbol —^(moaning "CON- TINUED"), or tho symbol V (moaning "END"), whiehavar appiiaa. Un daa symbolos suivanta apparaltra sur li damMra imaga da chaqua microfieho. colon la caa: la aymbola — »> signifia "A SUIVRE". la symbola ▼ signifia "RN". Mapa. plataa. charts, ate., may ba filmad at diffarant reduction ratioa. Thoaa too large to be antiraly ineludod in one axpoaura are filmed baginning in the upper left hand comer, left to right and top to bottom, aa many framea aa required. The following diegrama illuatrate the method: ptandMa. taMaeux. ate., pauvent Atra fHmia A dee taux da reduction dIffArenta. liOraque la doeument eat trop grand pour Atra raproduit an un seul oileiiA. il est fUmA i partir da I'angia aupMeur gauche, do gauche i droite. at e < haut mt baa. an pranant la nombre dimegea niceaaaire. Laa diagrammea suivanta IHuatrant la mAthoda. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 1' ^ .^ ' I- / ^' "^ REV.. J. A. WILLIAMS, D.D., F.T.L . . -^ -^ >' :..^'Vi-rv ^v-^^'/^^y ..v;::^iv:^^v| I THE,S'01[J1'S1NCH;OR:;: -lU ••••^ 4— ' fi-KJi V/ Vy .Ji^ K^ 1.x. XI Vy J-Jw V/ JLv, • « 1^ li t€ l4 IN RELIGION t r } , VV^ ?> /.'^ BEIKG THE FIFTH ^T'^- • *- / .<- v! ANNUAl^' Lecture AND serMon ' BEFORE THB ^ •^'' « ^V ^„ > /^ " '. : '^ f^^ , 'THEOLOGICAL UNION OF. VICTORIA COULESB, IN 1882„\ / ""^ih-^^^''^ "J ■<' ^^ f ^ ^ * j' *~ ^f > ^ ' \i">i' ^, ^^^ II,. •> i '^y^r'A ^WILLIAM ^BRlGQ$,^>ii>>-f1 •^ '>^Ai m%. s^ ^«-f J 4. 'r> ^it • \ 1^ ~,^.^ X^ <-", "^kS A •• ) 'S V, i r \ * i.i! ^ -^ <( r<^- J -<,»< -/**., ^- ^ ^ +-if ^A 'S?»-A. < J >. ' »w^ ■ rv ^ 4 > : ;-<5i '_ iv JUS ':>! , v-* '/ ^- j^ ^^> '-'X s.- V -^v "^ - f'^*^ •^,f, »JtX^A L"^ " '^i^* iL vv >-: '^\v A v-.. •i , •?{ A>i^ .^V ^ ~ »«^ *>*"'^; . ' I Xii ^-.^ ^r<:^^^ ^^lii^C^ .i:n -1-' ^- '•^A.,'^^'^,''-' ) ' *,>" ■ -•W- 3 -'■"< T^ ^o *'.- ^». V '?-if^, .^.»iS -J-' ^Z,^ .* ^/;>'tfc> V ^c j-'*r*-' ■^ tj»* ■^^^. .CI --<•* i rf^ „V>. '/■=^, ■P ^ v*^ "^-vN^^;,^ -',5>'-'^ ' sS ^ rA^U^'K -> f^i.. ^-^ - V ''^-"S«:'fe-j«/ 1 iX -9^" ?:? *<♦. V ^' V . J iK fv- ■if. '^ r-'^r •^ J v '' T lit — (- ^ -^(^ ,:?^~- ,^;^%-v-''.:^'::'^ j^---^ ^ ^ kC 5-f v^ ^ .■f^ < r^^CVfcX >-^-<;^ <-..-„,J/, "•^f^ , A _;; •'A ' >:,-<• *■ ft ^•• "-' i* ■^, ----r .•^ -=.-^.*t^ i f '-:? ^t' ■V*? ^ -il 3:^^ 1 t V ^-^^e: *x / ■j^ -^ <.' -=" >-f\ c*^ ' v--> (..ff .>4 r'^'^ %.' (> ■^)t ,*^->^''<- '*p^-l- J>MrC "k:'r^ :^:/^^ t ^;:C ^.<^\ ^ ^-^■ fV^--v.-; ^. , i^i ,^ %4i'^, ¥\^f- '' v^ 'S' p ■u 'v T'^i^L' >''^ ^«vf -^ -s^. A \^ .»X. / ^i' u h-^. • •'V Xv, >f. I .f-^^' '^ —\. A .V rV-,-<^-^ (-^^ <*.; 7^ .Sv- ja <■> -J -'-*,t 4** •~!- "i^-,i. -«/ ^> '4.^ ' f :$>%-? C.. IS. • fv^ -^rr<-, ,^ •C^ f X?' *% > .;^ '•-;: ■^■^^: ■^ i-il /'^? ,- ►V *v.'C A, J*^?' 7^ T^;:;* ^^^•''^-''*^'^-' M n^J} i"^^ '!? ic -/^^- V . -^. ,"^v- ^■> .•^ W r' V f>-^ ^ '^ "h-* -c. ^*- * •"Sr' X'^\ r r> X-'* 'C'i ^^v" 9^1^ :V. >-*-*, -v « -^^ V'. *^ - 4^^ c '-^ J* ,^' ^'; V j^' ^"TUt ""^ ■'t 'v; -; -^i ■.W>. V''''t' \y, <:-V«;.n .«^V' '\ :/i iJ-j^A ^'--i^f <(-*, ■* ^-> t «v -*-4.?^ «A *■ j?^»A ^s -c-; f.;^ A -r.'3'fr-^ . ^ ; *t» "\'s? :^f. .^aV? -- -.1, '-^-^^K ^.' ->> t- f •^t'^ r • * V* '^^ •■ jA" fit^\: -^ .?f ^f il >^^ "S.^ ^-^^ J» * ( ' ■<"!■ f"* >^'.r /^i*' i^ ^.v**"" -• v-c- v 4. ^ "U. .V .-if .^^„ (^ ,^>." :- -."-.i^ .^^i^i—S ^\^ ^i^ )/ t^/ -'T. ■5»Kl H» ^ '^\ «->^^ ^ ^ "> »1 ' >^ if x-1 ^^ >.''<:' .t. ;^%^ s* »»f ^V.,^'^ te« ^% ■^r< S> 'feT -V* f > <, ^ 1W m; \L ^v:. v-/ ■i^->^ .iO' •* ' '^ ,S ^4: •-'.x^ .- -t'?^ ^-v.r" / "^ '<•♦•<-■ s^- - Vfc :'Vsv >v ,^^ ^' *^ *?- •se?*, ^. I ^ '■>-', .V^ ,«? -% >, }^' r^" ■^1 CERTAINTIES IN RELIGION: BT THE REV. J. A. WILLIAMS, D.D., F.T.L. THE SOUL'S ANCHOR: BY THE REV. GEORGE McRITCHIE. ■ i- i •-». ■■'■ , s^' BEING THE FIFTH ANNUAL LECTURE AND SERMON BBFOBS THE THEOLOGICAL UNION OF VIGTORIA COLLEGE. IN 1882. TORONTO: WILLIAM BRIGGS. 1882. €txitdntue in ^digion: A LECTURE DELIVERED BEFORE THE THEOLOGICAL UNION OP VICTORIA UNIVERSITY, MAY 16th, 1882. BY THE REV. J. A. WILLIAMS, D.D., F.T.L. Note.— In preparing this Lecture I have consulted Morell's " Phil- osophy of Religion," White's **Certainity in Religion/' Dooner's "System of Christian Doctrine," and **Lite and Letters of Scheier- macher." LEOTUEE. (S^ttHintits in ^tligion. The age in which we live may truly be called a questioning age ; an age of mental unrest and disquiet* At no period in the past was Inental life more active, more earnest, more critical in its habit, or more analytic in its character, than we find it at the present time. It is, indeed, more critical than creative, more specula- tive than practical. When we remember the tendencies of modern thought, the unsettling character of many of its con- clusions, especially in the region of theology, and the claims and demands of those who are accepted as leaders, it is not at all surprising that many persons should regard it with disti*ust and alarm ; while others regard it as the outcome of the agonies of thought through which the human mind has travailed. Men there are, whose fidelity to truth is not to be questioned, who rejoice in the clearing out of the accretions that 6 CERTAINTIES IN RELIGION. have deformed the faith, and hidden the beauties of that Christianity which was, we believe, revealed by the Creator of the human mind. Certainly it is no bad sign, in these days of preponderating material inter- ests, to find that the thought of the age is so much taken up with questions on religion, and subjects re- lated thereto, out of which, doubtless, there will come a wider truth, a larger and fuller living knowledge of the truth, beauty, and goodness to which the human soul is heir, as evidenced in the revelation of Jesus Christ. It has been stated, and some have undertaken to prove, that the Christian religion cannot stand the test of scientific investigation, and that the progress of discovery, the growth of intelligence, and the con- sequent liberating of the human mind from the bond- age of untenable dogma, must terminate in the rejection of Christianity; and there are those who stand on tip-toe, looking, watching, waiting, with ardent anxious expectation for some development of science, or some new phase of philosophy, which may turn to the dis- advantage of revealed religion ; and it is with difficulty they conceal their disappointment at the growth of Christian thought as a spiritual movement, — ^a living power, intelligible and rational ; embraced, not as a burden, but as a privilege ; giving freedom and eleva- tion to mind and thought; nourishing patient and resolute hope ; and creating sentiment more potent than any other force or agent in human affairs. It is lamentable that so few of those who set themselves to OERTAINTIES IN RELIGION. Oppose revealed religion have been at the trouble to examine it in its contents. Looking at it, through the traditions that have gathered round it, they conceive of it as infertile, as having spoken its last word — as dead. But we say it is for the soul whose great dis- tinction is to grow in knowledge, truth, purity, for ever; and that as a divine revelation it is inex- haustible, and infinitely fruitful. In our contention with unbelief, we affirm, that in those who receive the truth, there is a conviction of its divine origin ; a consciousness of its adaptation to their noblest faculties, and of its exalting and en- nobling influences ; of its power to harmonize reason and passion, conviction and choice ; to create a peace, to confer and sustain a happiness as gratifying as it is assuring. We aver that there are thousands of in- telligent Christians who believe the divine record of Jesus ; it has so inwrought itself into their moral nature, and entwined itself around the fibres of their affections, and has created such expectations and hopes, that they can, with relying confidence, cast their whole being upon Him, assured that He who has been true to them in time, will not be untrue to them in eternity. And this is evidential to thousands who have neither leisure nor ability to study the elaborate tomes which, at the present day, are furnished on " Christian Evi- dences," yet hold on to their faith with a tenacity of grip which no bare argument could ever produce, and which finds its strength in a conscious / kTWW. And this is the point of our present discussion. 8 CERTAINTIES IN RELIGION. What are the requisites of certainty, and how far can the principles of scientific certainty be applied to religion ? To those who are troubled with no doubt, unquestioning faith is the harbour in which they repose; but the moment they begin to interrogate their faith they are surprised with the question, '• How do I know this ? and how is knowledge to be verified to us ? " It is not necessary for me to discuss the fundamental positions of the theory of knowlege ; sufficient for my present purpose to define it. Know- ledge seems to me to "consist of true and certain judgments, and the sum of our actual knowledge is the sum of the judgments made by us; and the capacity for multiplying such judgments is the limit of our possible knowledge." All knowledge is con- cerned with certainity ; and the steadfastness of Chris- tian faith and virtue depends upon the evidence with which Christian truth is certified to us. It would be a serious objection to religion if it should be withdrawn from those universal rules and laws by which we arrive at certainty in any other department of science ; nor is it possible to discard them if we would form a correct judgment as to what Christianty is, and which of the various possible relations to it corresponds most accurately with Christianity itself. Christianity presents itself, with its phenomena, to the mind for acceptance. It challenges observation. It presents its facts, and asks that they be tested by the ordinary laws of evidence. It commends itself to human thought as a matter that may be brought within CERTAINTIES IN RELIGION. 9 we arrive nee : nor the range of our knowledge. It is remarkable with what repetition the doctrine of certainty is presented in the Scriptures. It is difficult to conceive of a word expressive of absolute truth and trust- worthiness, and intense faith, founded on the truth, which the writers of the New Testament have not employed. In the Gospels Christ is set forth as The Truth, The Truth of Eternal Thought. There is a certain something in His " Verily, verily, I say unto you," which carries a sense of authority to conscience and to the heart, such as to command attention and homage. His words are the true sayings of God, on which the world might lean and rest. On opening the Epistles we have the results, growing out of belief of the truth. We fre- quently meet expressions, which, if they mean any- thing to us, are expressive of certainty — take as exam- ples the expressions used by St. Paul — epignoaist full or thorough knowledge; parrheaia, boldness, con- fidence, assurance; plesophosia, full assurance of the understanding; asphaleia, surety, certainty, or St. John's, " these things have I written unto you, that ye may know that ye have eternal life." And we know that the Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding, or more correctly, an intelligence, that we might know Him that is true, or that we might know the True One, and we are in the True One, even in Jesus Ohrist. The generations of men stand in close relations intellectually and spiritually ; there is a vital union, a solidarity in humanity. The volumes of nature and revelation are open to us as to our \n 10 CERTAINTIES IN RELIGION. ii £1 fathers and the generations before them, the truth that was believed, and accepted, as coming within their spiritual insight, is forever. I do not now, and here, enter upon the large ques- tion of the genesis of the religions of the world, nor their historical and philosophical significance ; nor do I enter upon the question of the authority of the Christian Scriptures, or of the supernatural origin of Christianity; but accept, without question, the state- ments of the book itself, which, as we have seen, give no uncertain sound as to the truth of its contents, and upon which its whole scheme of doctrine and teaching is based ; nor need I stop to enquire how faith in the Divine revelations and facts took root, and became so fixed in the minds of men as to be the grand and most stimulating factor in human progress, implying, as that does, all that is substantially precious in liberty, science, and social culture, the highest civiliza- tion of which we can boast. All this may be admitted, but as Christianity presents to us many phases, and is seen in incomplete stages, and surrounded by many false forms, it is necessary to note — that if we attach the main importance to the historical side of Christianity, we shall arrive at no other certainty than that which is identified with the historical sources which testify of its contents, and, further, find ourselves encumbered with tracing the pedigree of manuscripts, questioning the surmises of tradition, and embarrassed with the multitude of claims to authority. So, on the other hand, dissatisfied with a CERTAINTIES IN RELIGION. 11 bare historic faith, we may embrace a mere ideal as the peculiar essence of Christianity, and by that means hope to attain a more intense and inward certainty, and find nothing but incompleteness. If we con- ceive of it simply as regulative, as necessary to social o"der, as an indispensable ornament of char- acter, our ideal will be faulty ; we shall neither per- ceive the beauty nor the reality of the truth ; we do but paint our own ideal portrait — a mere canvas thing — without living substantial goodness. If our ideal reaches no farther than the relative fitness to us, or if we accept the revelation because the hypothesis seems to open the best training-school for our human nature, we shall find ourselves in a famished condition if we try to satisfy our hunger for certainty with these husks. There is a restlessness and ingenuity, which, think of it as we may, are continually dissipating the first impressions we feel, whether of reason or of conscience, and we are embarrassed by the elaborate justifications we create. Religion becomes a mere tool of expediency; the ideal, chosen it may be from prudence, is removable at pleasure, and neither according with our perceptions, nor the deep intui- tions of the soul, the foundation of our hopes is artificial and unreal. " Religion," it has been well observed, " is a system of truth as well as duty ; its right to be obeyed rests on its right to be believed. If religion is not truth, it cannot be conduct ; if it does not on the intellectual side represent the order and reason of the universe, it need not on the moral, 12 CERTAINTIES IN RELIGION. !l \ attempt to rule and regulate the life of the indi- vidual. A religion possesses moral power only as it satisfies the reason. When the intellect is unconvinced the conscience cannot be persuaded or coerced ; hence it is that the moral quality and worth of a religion depends upon the moral character of its highest conception. As men conceive God — or the supreme object of belief — they conceive duty. The Moral Law of Moses implied the God of Moses, only expressed a circle of duties springing necessarily from his nature and relation to man and men." Our Christian virtues, and what is attainable in the Christian life, flow from our idea of Christ. The Christian religion, while it is regarded by some as only one among others, is vastly diflerent from any that preceded it, or from any that have risen subse- quent to it. Christianity is the fulfilment of all that was prefigured, waited for, desired in the ancient world. Jesus Christ is more than the sublimest of teachers, or the greatest of prophets, for He did not only bear witness to the truth, but was empowered to say, with the calmness of assurance that carried with it a weight of moral authority, / am the truth ; so that unlike all other religions, the person of the founder is divested of the casual, and is set forth as an essential constituent of the religion itself, and is raised to a doctrinal importance in it. Viewing Christianity as the religion of redemption, and the religion of life, and inquiring in what its individuality lies, and what are its methods in developing, building up, and maturing that intense CERTAINTIES IN RELIGION. 13 the indi- »n]y as it convinced d; hence a religion 3 highest supreme oral Law expressed :rom his [Christian itian life, by some Tom any n subse- all that it world, ieachers, ily bear ly, with . weight ilike all livested stituent DCtrinal •eligion quiring lethods ntense piety which is most compatible, with its aims, we shall at once perceive that redemption is grounded in the person of Christ, by virtue of the unprecedented union of divine and human life in His personal nature, and in His actions ; and that this redemption through Christ is a fact, and is known to be complete and ade- quate, because He, Himself, possesses the power by which liberation from penalty, from sin, for the perfect- ing of personal character, and for producing and maintaining the highest style of moral life in communi- ties. If we, for a moment, look at the records in which Christian faith expressed itself at its origin, we shall find that, by common consent, Jesus Christ is designated the comer stone of the new building of the kingdom of God. Christ is the themelioSt the foundation of the whole Christian religion. Then what are its claims ? It claims to be power ; it claims to be life ; to confer power by creating life. This not only distinguishes the Christian from all other religions, it places it on an altogether different footing, and sets it at an unap- proachable distance above all ; a distance in which all analogy is lost. Other religions might stimulate, guide, or teach, they have nothing to give. Other religions might be developments of the natural, mental, or the moral man, they could do no more ; but Christianity claims that it has the power to communicate life, not ordinary vitality, not intellectual, not morality, but something beyond, a new endowment, differing essen- tially from every thing else which science knows ; and it is embodied in one word CHBIST : the whole chan- 14 CERTAINTIES IN RELIGION. nel of life in God, the power of a perfect religion- atonement, redemption, fellowship. It claims to l:e religious truth, and communicates true knowledge, to be the light and life of the world — grace, truth, power, and wisdom. Religious truth appeared in the world in realized form,and as the true realization in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, called by the Church the Qod- man, because of the personal unity of the divine and the human, the ideal and the real ; so that the princi- ple of Christianity is in Him ; in Him it has its source ; and such are the representations of the early records that without Him Christianity would be incompre- hensible. The question to be met here is, what is the guarantee of Christian truth as real ? Where are its criteria of cer- tainity ? There are no more important questions in the range of theological enquiry than these; none more practical or more closely related to the quiet and repose of the affections. All substantial knowledge admits of verification. There is in connection with the growth and progress of Christianity the testimony of millions, who believe they have verified the truth taught by Jesus Christ and His apostles in relation to the great principle of redemption, and have brought within the range of their personal experience not only the fact that God loves them, but that if they speak to Him, He answers them; and further, that as a body of testimony, if we look at it in its immense multiformity, extent, and persistence, we find nothing in human history to compare with it. It has the breadth and CERTAINTIES IN RELIGION. 15 steadfastness of a law of nature. And is it to us with- out its meaning? When I read, or hear men talk their commonplaces about the immutability of physical law, I am inclined to ask what of this broad and hard beaten track of human experience? What does it mean ? We are not at liberty to pass it by. It is there with its facts, and its outcome, and it challenges inspection and scrutiny by the mind to which it proffers its ministry. All knowledge must be mediate or immediate, and must arise either from some previous idea to which it is referred, and from which it is evolved, or first from the perception of axiomatic truths, or thoughts which are self-evident ; and then by means of reflection and discursive thinking, may be further developed into indirect certainty, in which the logical and intuitional faculties are joined in the same result, and a scientific validity given to our con- ceptions, so as to serve the purpose of scientific truth. On a question of such importance, it is not surprising that many theories should have been propounded for the relief and satisfaction of those who desire certainty in the matter of religious faith. Vast, and ancient organizations, claiming to be the Church, and to speak and teach with authority, dominate a large portion of Europe — offshoots of which are to be found in our own country. This theory of authority has many phases. The Church, in its organized character, has many im- poiiiant interests to serve, both in relation to worship and education; yet, inasmuch as within the Church there is diversity of opinion respecting what is, and 16 CERTAINTIES IN RELIGION. , what is not, to be received, and as each organized body, or separate religious community, presents for our acceptance different results, for which it pleads authority, we are set upon the quest as to which of the many is right ; and we enter upon a logical pro- cess before the contents of the Christian faith are received. Contact with the religious object is not possible ; and if we do not reach out for some authority above the bare traditional, the only certainty we can attain is that derived from confidence in the testimony of the Church, as expressed in traditions, creeds, articles, and standards. But the certainty which rests upon the eternal, living, and self-evidencing truth is not apprehended because hidden in a wordy statement of doctrine and precept, which the Church deems necessary to be believed. Whoever rests here is liable '' to be tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error," and will fail to attain even a moral and satisfactory conception of the Christianity of Christ, or any certainty of practical value of the great und ultimate truth which Christ reveals. Is there then, it may be asked, no value to be attached to the fact that organized Christianity presents us with, namely, that large masses of men are 'found, who, though placed in different circumstances, and educated under varying influences, are unanimous in their adherence to certain truths, and this unanimity has continued through a series of centuries ? Yes ; it has value, — and is a factor in historical evidence, and CERTAINTIES IN RELIGION. 17 gives us the prestige of veracity. But even here — whoever rests in it — will find himself unable to separ- ate from the great mass of doctrine and statement — the true and trustworthy — without the exercise of his individual reason, or an appeal to some principle of certainty, and to do either he must relinquish the theory of Church authority. It has been put forth as a theory of certainty that inasmuch as Christianity addresses the understanding of man, both as it regards the facts of revelation, and the evidence on which they rest, it is to be judged by the laws of the human understanding ; and as reason holds supremacy over the other faculties, its voice and its decision alone can settle the grave question of cer- tainty. In other words it means, that our rational nature is capable of judging of the possibility, neces- sity, and reality of revelation ; or that every doctrine of revelation, and every element of religious life, as exhibited in the Scriptures, is within the limits of nature and knowledge, and in the exercise of our natural faculties we may find the truth certified to us. But whoever rests here will find he is on a quicksand. I will take that single article of belief in the goodness aad perfection of God, which is said to be a first point in natural religion, and I would ask any one, in accordance with the scientific spirit of this age, to subject this single article of natural religion, which is the product of reason, to the analysis of reason; to bring it into contact with a rigid scientific standard, and discuss its contents face to face with the tre- M CERTAINTIES IN RELIGION mendous problem of moral evil, and then tell us its results. If so feeble in its own domain, what can it do for us in the domain of the spiritual ? The specu- lations of the most acute intellect cannot be ranked as science. Speculation does not embody certainty. We must rise above Nature, we must pass beyond the realm of sight, and sense, and observation, before we enter into that state in which " meridian evidence puts doubt to flight," and we gain the certainty of things not seen — ** Things unknown to feeble sense, Unseen by reason's glimmering ray." There is a hesitancy, an uncertainty, a perplexity about our natural knowledge; such difficulty in deciding what are, and what are not, the criteria to which revelation must conform ; and then, solving the question, does the revelation of Scripture conform to these criteria, so that instead of finding a resting- place, we are moving in a circle, walking through dry places, seeking rest and finding none. All this is said without any disparagement to the rational nature, or to those great intellectual endowments which Qod has conferred, and which are of such great moment in building up the spiritual fabric we call the religious ; but certainty must be looked for elsewhere, and m another use of these great mental and moral endow- ments. Is reason, then, of no use in religion ? Yes ; " much every way." We know what it has attained when it has exhibited its highest power, and when oxBTAurms in belioion. 19 animated by sound moral instincts, even without the aid of revelation. We know of the lofty anticipations, and the dim apprehension of mighty realities it brought within the vision and hopes of man ; and it has a part to play, and a field of operation in personal Christianity, but it is not the foundation. Let me now present, as I may, the positive side. In looking into the contents of the revelation in Jesus Christ, we find history, truth, life. The facts of the history, the contents of the truth, and the methods by which the life is developed, are presented to our faith for acceptance, which may result in an experience solid and secure against all assailants. We believe the highest dignity conferred upon the human race, grows out of the fact, that it is made in the image and like- ness of Qod — made for communion with Qod — ^a com- munion personal, positive, and unintermittent. The end of Christ's manifestation — the final cause — was to remove the barriers to this communion by bringing the human into harmony with the divine, without doing violence to any law, mental or moral, which formed the original endowment, and for the rest and repose of the soul, and its progressive advancement in truth, purity, and love. This restoration, and the mental and moral process through which the soul passes, have the same sure basis of certainty as ethics^ or any physical science has. It rests in an immediate knowledge, in a fact of life. If it is said that by such a process of argument you ground the certainty of religion in Christianity itself, we say, yes ; for where 20 OEBTAINTIES IN RELIGION. else should we be likely to find evidence of its divine- ness ? If modern science goes back to its first prin- ciples, surely we may go to the first principles of that science which will outlast the material. If science never grows weary of iterating its first truths, surely we may speak of the elements, the facts of the spiritual life. Fortunately the examples of the process of religious thought, till we attain the position of personal com- munion, are not far to seek. The divine revelation addresses a universal principle, a principle in constant operation, which lies at the root of all knowledge, and which, equally with reason, belongs to human nature — faith. Its great statements are received as from God, the religious feeling is awakened, the ethical truth in the word, through the Divine Spirit, who is inseparably connected with the revelation of recovery, arouses the ethical faculty of the mind—^sonscience. There is enquiring after Qod, from whom the soul has been estranged; there is a movement in the conscience, want of rectitude is felt; there is sense of wrong within. Is this a fact ? is it not patent as life ? Now, at this point, what is the evidence ? Could anything be more demonstrative than this waking up of thought or impulse, attested as it is by the conscious- ness, the understanding, and the judgment ; conscience bearing testimony to the operation of a great ethical principle, which has led to necessary but bitter self- knowledge, even this, that we are not what we should be, nor what we would be. And this is a true and CERTAINTIES IN RELIGION. tl certain judgmenfc ; not a fancy, nor the result of a morbid feeling ; here is a fact. It is but an initial step, but it is marked with certainty. From this condition, in which, if true to ourselves, we are held by the strong ethical principle, which now dominates the soul, we enter, as it were, into a hew sphere, in which Qod, righteousness, guilt, become true in a sense they never were before. We are presented to ourselves in a character and relation of which we had no conception before. The reality of guilt, the sense of personal sin, the feeling of estrangement from truth and righteousness of life ; here are facts, states of mind. Here is the authority of the conscience ap- proved b}' the understanding, resulting in most certain knowledge, even if it be of a painful character. The consciousness of guilt has aroused a high moral pur- pose, which, while it exposes to the mind its moral weakness, sharpens and deepens the longing for de- liverance, and creates an ardent desire for reconcili- ation. Even this state of mind, of mental and moral unrest, is more in accord with the spirit and purpose of Christianity than a mere resting in historic faith. This estrangement, as a fact, is attested as any other fact is attested. Here revelation comes to our help with its manifestation of Qod in Christ, which, while it addresses itself to the receptive properties of the soul as worthy of its confidence, it satisfies the reason with its evidence that it is the complement of the divine plans for human happiness. Its provisions are as real as the soul needs. It has forgiveness of sin, CERTAINTIES IN BELIOION. ■I I in nit spiritual cleansing, divine communion, life. Tet the transition from a state of guilt to salvation and recti- tude of life is never without the souFs election and con- sent. Faith is the personal act that brings us into new relations with truth, Christ, and God. If it is asked what is this faith, and what is involved in this action of the soul ? enough here to say, Faith is an act of the soul, and so related to the three great con- stituents of our nature, the intellect, the sensibility, and the will, as to be at once receptive, assimilative, and operative. It is the uniting principle. Its logical basis is God as revealed in Christ, and the contents of that revelation. The action and results of faith must be evidential. Here is the process : Truth is appre- hended — redemptive truth, mind convinced, and, aided by the spirit, is led through various processes of thought and action, each with the concurrence of the will, till Christ is apprehended as promised, in which action the whole internal nature of man has been in- volved. The result — a new consciousness, a divine adoption, a new being, a new creature. Religious cer- tainty is attained, the knowledge of salvation, is a true and certain judgment of the adjusted and harmonious relation in which we stand to God. And this know- ledge is not deduced from logical premises, is not in- ferential, but immediate. Christ is revealed in the consciousness ; and this ground of certainty is scien- tific; for the ultimate and fundamental truths of science have no other ground of certainty. This is the last test ; for what of facts, and phenomena, and the CERTAINTIES IN RELIGION. 23 generalization of partial inductions, and the applica- tion of laws and principles, unless the results reached are intuitively recognized as of a priori necessity. But further, if there is in the divine revelation an antidote and remedv for the moral evil of the world, and its restriction to order and moral harmony, through the infinite love of God, as exhibited in Jesus Christ, and this system is so coherent and complete that it satisfies the scientific consciousness, that is we cannot conceive of its not being true, then is there a certainty of conviction, which prepares the way for intuition. Much more so, when these great truths become matters of consciousness, when the whole internal process is present to the mind. The cause and the effect, in- deed, the whole phenomena of the gracious change that has been wrought ; there is a positiveness and strength of conviction, a knowledge, such as experience alone can produce, which is at once as assuring as it is comforting. Further, the testimony is not merely subjective, or we might be deluded and rest upon our own efforts, and seek repose in the moral strength we had attained, or in the new light we had received. Another heart does not always imply a new heart. We are so united to Him who is our head, that we are acknowledged by God in Christ, and loved by Him. His love, His joy. His peace, whatever those words may import, is, as I have said above, a new consciousness ; a consciousness of which we were entirely destitute till the moment of our contact with God through faith. More — this i 1 1 I 24 CERTAINTIES IN RELIGION. knowledge ; whether we are able to define its contents or not, it is the result of believing in the witness that God hath borne in His Son, and the witness is this : " That God gave unto us eternal life, and this life is in His Son." This is that intelligence which is given that we may know Him that is true. There is that Summarturia of which St. Paul speaks to the Eomans: " The Spirit Himself bearelh witness with our spirit that we are the children of God," and this Spirit is truth. The evidence of personal consciousness, which is, at the same time, corroborated by the moral and mental faculties, and the testimony of the divine Spirit, is such a basis of certainty as satisfies both faith and reason. God must be self -revealing, if revealed at all — and His revelations must not only be adapted to the beings to whom they are made, but must in some way evidence that they are the sayings of God. Therefore it is not surprising that there should be such strong command- ing evidence of certainty — a verification of the truth, such as scientific certainty could not possibly attain. For it is not the gathering up of facts, and classifying our observations, or solving a problem. The certainty of religion is, that we ourselves, move, live in its atmosphere, that we, in our personality, ha\'e laid hold of it, appropriated it, live in it. The Divine Omnipresent Christ, grasped and held by faith, unfolds His char- acter, and the contents of the salvation achieved for us. We know Him, we know His aims, His work. The intention of God, as expressed of old, is, '' I will CERTAINTIES IN RELIGION. 25 dwell in them, and walk in them." The temples of God — God the Spirit dwelling in the temple. He is per- petually asserting His presence by the spiritual trans- formation He effects. We seek Him without, we find Him within us ; we seek Him in the understanding, we find Him in the heart. He gives His benediction to each and all of our spiritual faculties. His presence itself is that peace of God which passeth all under- standing. The progress in the Christian life has the same evidence of certainty. Christian truth becomes more true because of the manner in which it has been verified; and is both regulative and controlling. There is a growth in knowledge united with faith : " That Christ may dwell in your heart.s through faith ; to the end that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be strong to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, and length, and height, and depth, and to know the love of God which passeth knowledge, that ye may be filled with all the fulness of God." The certainty of religion is not grounded in feeling merely, because the whole personality is active and receptive; the will, and the faculty of knowledge* understanding, judgment, conscience, and thus its im- mediate certainty is related to the whole person, and has nothing to fear from, nor does it object to discus- sion, clear and precise thought, for by the correct course of discursive thinking, as well as in the logical method pursued, we shall find the truth more than confirmed. It is noi; to be expected that thoughtful CERTAINTIES IN RELIGION. II] 1] minds will be occupied with the objective only ; but that the inner experience, that result of conscious contact with God, can and will become matter of reflective elaboration, and the experience that will not stand this test is not only unsatisfactory, but must be defective either in the knowledge on which it is based, or in the method of its development. I don't think I have stated anjrthing new. I have simply, and according to my light, placed before you the Wesleyan and Scriptural doctrine of Assurance, because of the convictions that I have that neither in creeds, confessions, nor standards— which are largely traditional — can you find the centre of the Christian system, upon which a soul may rest with certainty. Faith rests in Christ as God's revelation of Himself, and it is the commitment of ourselves to Him in all that He offers Himself to us for, and in all that He requires of us. It brings us into personal relation to Christ, who becomes an object of affection, the source of power, because source of life — ^life definite and resident in the human soul. " He that hath the Son hath life." A new, distinct, and supernatural endow- ment is the result. "I in them, and they in Me." Union, fellowship, confidence. Divine association, in- timacy. The soul made in the image of God, walks with Him in peace and friendship ; no longer afraid of His coming, desires His presence, and looks for- ward to the open vision, when it shall be like Him, and see Him face to face. In this blessed assurance we recall the hymn sung CERTAINTIES IN RELIGION. 27 frequently by the religious associates of our younger manhood : — *' And when I'm to die, Receive me, I'll cry, For Jesus hath loved me, — I cannot tell why ! But this I do find. We two are so joined. He'll not live in glory and leave me behind." For myself, I rejoice in the earnestness of the age ; in its earnestness of enquiry, and earnestness of effort. It is not the heartless, sarcastic age of Voltaire and Gibbon. The air is thick with vital questions ; we cannot ignore them. It is no time to wrangle about little points in technical theology, when men are earnest in their enquiries concerninsf the first elements of religion. More and more clear may our testimony become that the revelation of Jesus Christ, and the religion grounded thereon, is just, holy, and true* and in the knowledge of Christ, and loving Him, all artificial barriers — ecclesiastical and social — will give way. Christians will come to know and love each other, and the prayer of Christ, that His followers may all be one, answered ; and the purposes of God, as disclosed by the Apostle, be visibly in the way of accomplishment : " That in the dispensation of the fulness of the times He might gather together in one, all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are in earth, even in Him." %kt