PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
Systematic Theology — Volume 1
Hodge, Charles, 1797–1878 · 293,425 words · 364 reading sections
§3, A.] THEORIES OF INSPIRATION. 177
religion (subjectively considered) is the reception of certain doc- trines as true, and a state of heart and course of action in accord- ance with those doctrines. The Apostles propounded a certain sys- tem of doctrines ; they pronounced those to be Christians who received those doctrines so as to determine their chara…
1,367 wordsSECTION 122Part 122
men. Thus Coleridge, who refers inspiration ^to that ^^ grace and comn.union with the Spirit which the Church, under all^circum- stances, and every regenerate member of the Church, is_jiermitted to hope and instructed to pray for ; " makes an exception in favour of " the law and the pi'ophets, no jot or tittle of which…
429 wordsSECTION 123§ 3, C] THEORIES OF INSPIRATION. 181
concerning the mind and will of God. The doctrines of the Bible are called /xvo-T-^pia, things concealed^ unknown and unknowable, except as revealed to the holy Apostles and prophets by the Spirit. (Eph. iii. 5.) 4. It is inconsistent with the faith of the Church universal, which has always made the b£oadest distincti…
917 wordsSECTION 124§5.] THE COMPLETENESS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 183
which were not recorded, and which, could they now be known and authenticated, would be of equal authority with the books now regarded as canonical. All that Protestants insist upon is, that the Bible contains all the extant revelations of God, which He designed to be the rule of faith and practice for his Church ; so …
918 wordsSECTION 125§5.] PERSPICUITY OF THE SCRIPTURES. 185
Lord; " "to the saints which are in (Ephesus), and to the faith- ful in Jesus Christ ; " or " to the saints and faithful brethren which are in (Colosse) ; " and so in every instance. It is the people M-ho are addressed. To them are directed these profound discussions of Christian doctrine, and these comprehensive expos…
963 wordsSECTION 126§6.] RULES OF INTERPRETATION. 187
priest tells them. If they receive his testimony on that point, then how can they tell how the Church interprets the Scriptures? Here again they must take the word of the priest. Thus the au- mcr »' thority of the Church as an interpreter, which appears so impos- resolves itself into the testimony of the priest, who…
663 wordsSECTION 127OEIGIN OF THE IDEA OE GOD.
All men have some knowledge of God. That is, they have the conviction that there is a Being on whom they are dependent, and to whom they are responsible. What is the source of this convic- tion ? In other words, what is the origin of the idea of God ? To this question three answers have been given. First, that it is in…
838 wordsSECTION 128§ 1, A.] THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD INNATE. 193
that it cannot but see these things to be true. As we are bom with the sense of touch and sight, and take cognizance of their ap- propriate objects as soon as they are presented ; so we are born with the intellectual faculty of perceiving these primary truths as soon as they are presented. In the third place, there ar…
937 wordsSECTION 129§1,B.] THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD INNATE. 196
attained either intuitively or discursively, except under the light of a supernatural revelation. On the other hand, some philosophers dignify motion, force, or the vague idea of the infinite, with the name of God. In neither of these senses of the word is the knowledge of God said to be innate, or a matter of intuitio…
928 wordsSECTION 130§ 1, B.] THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD INNATE. 197
would not prove that parental love was not one of the instincts of humanity. But the probability is that the fact is not as reported. It is very difficult for foreigners to get acquainted with the interior life of those who differ from themselves so much in their intellec- tual" and moral condition. And besides, Christ…
944 wordsSECTION 131I 2.] KNOWLEDGE OF GOD AS A DEDUCTION OF REASON. 199
in the existence of a Being on whom they are dependent, and to whom they are responsible for their character and their conduct. To this extent, and in this sense, therefore, it is to be admitted that the knowledge of God is innate and intuitive ; that men no more need to be taught that there is a God, than they need to…
993 wordsSECTION 132§3.] KNOWLEDGE OF GOD DUE TO TRADITION. 201
filed, apprehended the one with the same confidence that his senses apprehended the other. It is of great importance that men should know and feel that they are by their very nature bound to believe in God ; that they cannot emancipate themselves from that belief, without derationalizing and demoralizing their whole be…
901 wordsSECTION 133§4.] CAN THE EXISTENCE OF GOD BE PROVED. 203
himself. They have been regarded as sound and conclusive by the wisest men, from Socrates to the present day. Of course the ar- gument on the principle of causation must be invalid to those who deny that there is any such thing as an efficient cause ; and the argument from design can have no force for those who deny th…
225 wordsSECTION 134THEISM.
Theism is the doctrine of an extra-mundane, personal God, the creator, preserver, and governor of the world. The design of all arguments on this subject is to show that the facts around us, and the facts of consciousness, necessitate the assumption of the exist- ence of such a Being. The arguments usually urged on this…
365 wordsSECTION 135§1.] THE ONTOLOGICAL ARGUMENT. 205
other words, it is included in the idea of God. And as every man has the idea of God, he must admit his actual existence ; for what is necessary is of course actual. It does not follow from our idea of a man, that he actually exists, because man is not necessarily existent. But it is absurd to say that a necessarily ex…
1,541 wordsSECTION 136Part 136
It is well known, however, that since Hume propounded his theory, all efficient causes have been discarded by a large class of philosophers. The senses take cognizance of nothing but the se- quence of events. One follows another. That which uniformly precedes, we call cause ; that which uniformly follows, we call the e…
277 wordsSECTION 137§2, A.] THE COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT. 209
antee the future. If we believe that a given consequent always will follow a given antecedent, there must be some other ground for that conviction than that it always has done so. Unless there be something in the nature of the antecedent to secure the sequence of the effect, there is no rational ground for the belief t…
942 wordsSECTION 138§ 2, B.] THE COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT. 211
it lias not the cause of existence in itself, that it is not eternal, and therefore we are necessitated to assume the existence of a great First Cause to whose efficiency the existence of the universe is to be referred. B. The World is an Effect. 1. The first argument to prove that the world as a whole is not self-ex…
853 wordsSECTION 139§2, C] THE COSMOLOGICAL ARGUJMENT. 213
to the nature and origin of our idea of causation, he says, all we can know on the subject is that one object or event is contiguous and antecedent to another. This is all we perceive ; all of which we can have an " impression." We have no impression of power, efficacy, energy, force, or whatever equivalent term we may…
919 wordsSECTION 140§3, A.] THE TELEOLOGICAL ARGUMENT 215
must be kept constantly in view, and must be often reiterated. Any doctrine, therefore, which contradicts the facts of consciousness, or the laws of belief which God has impressed on our nature, must be false. If, therefore, it can be shown that there are certain truths which men are constrained by the constitution of …
886 wordsSECTION 141§ 3, B.] THE TELEOLOGICAL ARGUMENT. 217
experience. The argument is not, Every house, ship, telescope, or other instrument or machine, we ever saw had an intelHgent maker, therefore we may take it for granted that any similar work of art was not formed by chance or by the operation of Wind, unconscious forces. The argument rather is, Such is the nature of de…
1,016 wordsSECTION 142§ 3, B.] THE TELEOLOGICAL AEGIBIENT. 219
exceed the intricacy, complication, or beauty of the organ or sys- tem of organs thus prepared, for the absolutely necessary and con- tinuous purification of the blood, and for its distribution in an unin- terrupted flux and reflux to every part of the body. This process goes on without our supervision. It is as regula…
896 wordsSECTION 143§3, B.] THE TELEOLOGICAL ARGUMENT. 221
aration of the organs of sight, hearing, breathing, nutrition, etc. for necessities still future ; but still more strikingly in the provision made for the support of young animals as soon as they are born. In the mammalia before the birth of the offspring, the breast or udder begins to swell ; it commences the secretio…
913 wordsSECTION 144§3, B.] THE TELEOLOGICAL ARGUMENT. 223
of a thinking Being as the author of such thought, and shall look upon an intelligent and intelligible connection between the facts of nature as direct proof of the existence of a thinking God, as cer- tainly as man exhibits the power of thinking, when he recognizes their natural relation." Evidence that the Earth was…
916 wordsSECTION 145§3, B.] THE TELEOLOGICAL ARGUMENT. 225
portance. It is the beneficence of the result which indicates mind, and this indication of mind imphes a " vohmtary agent." Our solar system itself, therefore, is vast, varied, and well ordered. Our system, however, is one of probably hundreds of milhons. At least astronomers assert their knowledge of a hundred millio…
426 wordsSECTION 146VOL. I. 15
226 PART I. — THEOLOGY [Ch. U. — Theism. istic, will not even experience sufficiently warrant us to ascribe to both a similar, though proportionable, cause." ^ This argument from design is constantly urged in the Old Testa- mtnt, which appeals to the heavens and the earth as revealing the being and perfections of God…
1,330 wordsSECTION 147§ 4, B.] THE TELEOLOGICAL ARGUMENT. 229
he says that the concatenation of cause and effect is confined to the external world, and therefore that it is illogical to apply the princi- ple of causation to account for the existence of the external world itself. He further objects that the evidences of design in nature would prove only a demiurgus, or world-build…
877 wordsSECTION 148§ 4, C] THE TELEOLOGICAL ARGUMENT. 231
which are never developed and which the animal does not need; animals have bones which they never use ; birds and crocodiles have their skulls formed of separate bones as well as viviparous animals, although in their case there seems to be no utility in such arrangement. Even Professor Owen urges this objection. In his…
906 wordsSECTION 149§ 5, A.] THE TELEOLOGICAL ARGUMENT. 233
verse. Instinct is concerned with the wants of individnal organ- ism. But who adapts the organs of an animal to its instincts ? Who adapts external nature, air, light, heat, water, food, etc., etc., to its necessities ? What relation has instinct to the stellar uni- verse ? 3. Moreover, these instincts themselves are …
916 wordsSECTION 150§ 5, C] THE TELEOLOGICAL ARGUMENT. 235
the soul cannot be accounted for. by derivation in unending series of stej)S from those who preceded us, neither can it be conceived of as a product of the body, or of pliysical forces and combinations. It would seem to be a self-evident proposition, that the effect cannot contain in it more than is in its cause ; that…
938 wordsSECTION 151§5, D.] THE TELEOLOGICAL ARGUMENT. 237
necessities, and under whose guardianship it can be safe from those powers of evil to which it knows that it is on all sides and at all times exposed ; a Being whose existence, and whose relation to it- self, can explain all the mysteries of its own being, and secure its felicity in the future, on which it knows it mus…
938 wordsSECTION 152§ 6, D.] THE TELEOLOGICAL ARGUMENT. 239
fore, as Kant, and Sir William Hamilton, while denying the valid- ity of all other arguments for the existence of God, admit that oiir nature forces us to believe that He is, and that He is a persor Ou7- Moral Feelings not due to Education. It is indeed objected that these phenomena of our moral nature are due to edu…
602 wordsSECTION 153ANTI-THEISTIC THEORIES.
§ 1. What is meant hy Anti-Theism. As Theism is the doctrine of an extramundane, personal God, the creator, preserver, and governor of all things, any doctrine which denies the existence of such a Being is anti-theistic. Not only avowed Atheism, therefore, but Polytheism, Hylozoism, Ma- terialism, and Pantheism, belon…
335 wordsSECTION 154VOL. I. 16
242 PAET I. — THEOLOGY. [Ch. HI. — Anti-Theism. to reconcile religion and science. The ultimate principle of religion, that in which all religions agree, is that there is an inscrutable power which is the cause of all things. This also is the ultimate principle of science. They have therefore a common ground. Nothing …
454 wordsSECTION 155§ 2.] POLYTHEISM. 243
by a process of argument, but by a change in their inward state. This transition from unbehef to faith, though thus sudden, and although not produced by an intellectual process, is perfectly ra- tional. The feelings which rise in the mind contain evidence of the truth which the understanding cannot resist. It is also a…
871 wordsSECTION 156§ S.] HYLOZOISM. 245
§ 3. Hylozoism. Hylozoism, from vX-rj, matter^ and t,(arj, life^ is properly the doctrine that matter is endued with hfe. And this is the form in which the ■doctrine was held by many of its advocates. All matter, and every particle of matter, besides its physical properties, has a principle of life in itself, which pr…
889 wordsSECTION 157§ 4, A.] MATERIALISM IN ENGLAND 247
in their amount." ^ (5.) Epicurus taught that the quantity of mat- ter, and of course the amount of force in the world, is always the same. Neither can be increased or diminished. (6.) The atoms, of which the number is infinite, move thi'ough space with incred- ible velocity under the guidance of necessary physical law…
873 wordsSECTION 158§ 4, A.] MATERIALISM IN ENGLAND. 249
ideas, he said, was sensation and reflection. If by reflection he meant the observation of the phenomena of the mmd, his theory is one thing. If it mean the process of recalling, combining, ana- lyzing, and otherwise elaborating the impressions upon us from without, his theory is another. Probably Locke himself, and ce…
928 wordsSECTION 159§ 4, B.] MATERIALISM IN ENGLAND. 251
the " Edinburgh Review " : " There may be," says the reviewer, " Httle shakings in the brain, for anything we know, and there may even be shakings of a different kind accompanying every act of thought or perception ; — but that the shakings themselves are the thought or perception, we are so far from admitting, that we…
905 wordsSECTION 160§ 4, C] MATERIALISM IN FKANCE. 253
body, Priestley believed that man would be restored to conscious existence when that event occurred. His principal works bearing on this subject are : " Examination of Reid, Beattie, and Oswald,'* " Doctrine of Philosophical Necessity Explained," " Disquisitions relating to Matter and Spirit," and " Hartley's Theory of…
844 wordsSECTION 161§ 4, D.] MATERIALISM. POSITIVISM. 255
much easier in some departments than in others ; for in some the facts to be observed are less numerous and less com)3licated. In mathematics and astronomy the facts are all of one kind ; Avhereas in physiology and sociology they are of very different kinds, and vastly more complicated. The same rule, however, applies …
885 wordsSECTION 162§ 4, D.] MATERIALISM. POSITIVISM. 257
gence, wliich is due to his better pliysical organization. According to Comte, the whole human race, and every individual man, passes through three distinct stages, which he calls the theological, the met- aphysical, and the positive. During the first stage all events are referred to supernatural causes. In the first p…
416 wordsSECTION 163VOL. 1 17
258 PART L— THEOLOGY. [Ch. ni — Anti-Theism. There has been no such development of the race, and there is no such development of the individual man, as the argument supposes. Much less is it true, as Comte maintains, that these several meth- ods of dealing with phenomena are antagonistic and mutually ex- clusive ; tha…
454 wordsSECTION 164§4,D.] MATERIALISM. POSITIVISM. 259
gradually rose to polytheism and monotheism. The reverse is true. Not only revelation, but all history and tradition, go to show that the primitive state of our race was its highest state, at least so far as religion is concerned. Monotheism was the earliest form of religion among men. To that succeeded nature-worship …
899 wordsSECTION 165§4, D.] MATERIALISM. POSITIVISM. 261
eate conceptions, and those which by their complexity are accessi- ble to only a small number of highly prepared understandings, are to be abandoned to the arbitrary and variable decisions of the least competent minds." ^ This argument is conclusive. If social life, the acts of men, are as much and as certainly determi…
937 wordsSECTION 166§ 4, E.J MATERIALISM. ITS SCIENTIFIC FORM. 263
2. All physical forces, such as hght, heat, chemical affinities, electricity, magnetism, etc., etc., are convertible. Light may be converted into hfeat, and heat into light ; either into electricity, and electricity into either ; and so through the whole range. This is what is called the correlation of forces. Count Ru…
1,346 wordsSECTION 167Part 167
8. According not only to the common, but to the latest, opinion of physiologists, the germ supplies something more than " a direct- ing agency " (which must itself be a force). It not only directs, but it effects, or produces changes. It is an operative force, acting not by, but against physical foi-ces or chemical aff…
440 wordsSECTION 168§4,E.] MATERIALISM. ITS SCIENTIFIC FORM. 267
existence. The influence of this force, moreover, extends from the parent to the offspring, generation after generation." This is the commonly received doctrine, that physical phenomena are to be referred to physical forces ; vital phenomena to vital force ; and mental phenomena to mind. The new doctrine, however, is t…
874 wordsSECTION 169§4, E.] MATERIALISM. ITS SCIENTIFIC FORM. 269
the upper surface of the leaf which is susceptible of the peculiar effects of light. So it is only the optic nerve that is affected in a way which is necessary to vision. The sensitive plant contracts when touched ; and so does the animal muscle when the proper stimulus, nervous or electric, is applied. In short, as al…
941 wordsSECTION 170§4,E.] MATERIALISM. ITS SCIENTIFIC FORM. 271
the ranks of the teachers and expounders of dogmatic science, which, although pretentious and authoritative, must ever be in- tolerant and unprogressive." ^ Mental Phenomena. Not only are the operations of vegetable and animal life, accord- ing to the new doctrine, due to physical forces, but the same is true of all m…
919 wordsSECTION 171§4, E.] MATERIALISM. ITS SCIENTIFIC FORM. 273
force itself is absolutely inscrutable. This blots the soul and God out of existence, except as those words indicate an unknown force. But as he also holds that all forces are convertible, the distinction between material and mental forces, whether human or divine, is obliterated. He avails himself of the common assump…
924 wordsSECTION 172§4, F.] MATERIALISM. ITS SCIENTIFIC FORM. 275
always has been and always will be. It is indestructible, and, in its elements, unchangeable. Force is inseparable from matter. According to the theory no matter is without force, and no force is without matter. No force exists of itself; and, ^therefore, there is none to which the creation of matter is to be referred.…
921 wordsSECTION 173§4, F.] MATERIALISM. ITS REFUTATION. 277
know nothing. It is, moreover, included in this knowledge of the Self, that the body is not the Ego. Although the body is inti- mately, and even vitally united to the substance in which our per- sonality resides, it is nevertheless objective to it. It is the organ which the Self uses, and by which it holds communion wi…
930 wordsSECTION 174§4, F.] MATERIALISM. ITS REFUTATION. 279
certain, and the most authoritative of all of our cognitions. If a man is shut up to deny either the testimony of his senses or the . trutlis of reason, on the one hand, or the testimony of his moral nature on the other, all experience shows that he will give up sense and reason, and bow to the authority of conscience.…
922 wordsSECTION 175§ 4, F.] MATERIALISM. ITS REFUTATION. 281
gent effect ; it cannot purpose, foresee, organize, or choose. Pro- fessor Joule may determine througli what space a weight must fall to produce a given amount of heat; but can he tell how far it must fall to write a poem, or produce "a Madonna ? Such a cause has no tendency to produce such an effect. And to suppose it…
955 wordsSECTION 176§ 4, F.J MATERIALISM. ITS REFUTATION. 283
tent to raise matter from one of these planes to another. The plant contains ingredients derived fi'om the mineral kingdom, with something specifically different. The animal contains all that is in the plant, with something specifically different. Man contains all that enters into the constitution of the plant and anim…
898 wordsSECTION 177§4; F.] MATERIALISM. ITS REFUTATION. 285
to its modern scientific form. It is admitted that it is the province of scientific men to discuss scientific questions ; and that much in- jury to the cause of truth has followed the attempts of men not devoted to such pursuits, undertaking to adjudicate in such cases. Physicists are wont to take high ground on this s…
912 wordsSECTION 178§ 4, F.] MATERIALISM. ITS REFUTATION. 287
*' vital force " or " mind " to account for this difference, any rjiore than tlie pecuhar properties of water justify the assumption of the existence of anything distinct from its material element. Vitality and mind, we are told, have no better philosophical status than aquosity. Dr. Stirling^ states the case thus : "…
1,469 wordsSECTION 179Part 179
In like manner, " nervous energy, or that form of force, which, on the one hand, stimulates a muscle to contract, and on the other, appears in forms called mental," is merely physical. It comes from the food we eat. It moves. The rate of its motion is deter- mined to be ninety-seven feet in a second. Its effects are an…
334 wordsSECTION 180§ 4, F.J MATERIALISM. ITS REFUTATION. 291
Admitting these forces to be physical ; who or what uses them ? What guides their operation so as to answer a preconceived design ? Admitting muscular power to be physical, what calls it into exer- cise at one time and not at another ; beginning, continuing, or suspending it, at pleasure ? It is plain that the facts ad…
897 wordsSource & rights
Public-domain historical edition (1877). Text from OCR of an original Internet Archive scan; OCR may contain recognition errors.
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.