PREFACE.
CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER X.
CHAPTER XI.
CHAPTER XII.
CHAPTER XIII.
CHAPTER XIV.
CHAPTER XV.
CHAPTER XVI.
CHAPTER XVII.
PREFACE.
The
present is an age of progress, of change, of rapid advance, and of
wonderful revolutions.The
very foundations of society—social, political, commercial, moral
and religious, seem to be shaken as with a mighty earthquake, from
centre to circumference. All things tremble; creation groans; the
world is in travail, and pains to be delivered.A
new era has dawned upon our planet, and is advancing with accelerated
force—with giant strides.The
rail-roads and the steam-boats, with their progressive improvements
in speed, safety and convenience, are extending and multiplying the
means of travel, of trade, of association, and intercommunication
between countries whose inhabitants have been comparatively unknown
to, or estranged from, each other.But,
as if even these means were too slow for the God-like aspirations,
the mighty throes of human thought, and its struggles for light and
expansion, man seizes the lightning, tames and subdues it, and makes
it the bearer of his thoughts and despatches. While these things are
in progress by one portion of mankind, another learns to seize and
control a sunbeam, in a manner subservient to the progress of the
fine arts: and by which means a man performs in a minute, the work
which a short time since would have employed the most active years of
a lifetime.While
every science, every art is being developed; while the mind is
awakened to new thought; while the windows of heaven are opened, as
it were, and the profound depths of human intellect are stirred—moved
from the foundation on all other subjects, religious knowledge seems
at a stand still.The
creeds of the
Fathers seem to have been cast in the mould of other ages, to be
adapted to a more narrow sphere of intellectual development, and to
be composed of material too much resembling cast iron; or, at least,
not sufficiently elastic to expand with the expansion of mind, to
grow with the growth, and advance with the progressive principles of
the age.For
these reasons, perhaps more than any other, the master spirits of the
age are breaking loose from the old moorings, and withdrawing from
established and venerated systems, by which means society is
distracted, divided, broken up, thrown, as it were, into a chaos of
confused, disorganized individualization, without a standard or
rallying point, without a nucleus by which to concentrate or
re-organise this chaotic mass, these atoms of thought.One
thing is certain—according to ancient prophecy, and agreeable to
the general expectation of this and other ages, the day approaches
which will flood the earth with the pure principles of religious
knowledge; a day when none will have to teach his neighbour, saying,
Know ye the Lord; for all persons shall know Him, from the least to
the greatest.It
should be a matter of serious thought and investigation—without
respect to party, sect, or creed, whether there should not, in the
very nature of present circumstances, and future Millennial hopes, be
an entire remodelling, or re-organization of religious society, upon
the broad basis of revealed knowledge, tangible fact, and
philosophical, scientific and spiritual Truth—a universal
"standard,"
of immutable Truth, instead of numberless systems founded on
uncertainty, opinion, mere human impression, or conjecture.Can
anything short of such a standard unite society, enlighten the world,
establish real peace, brotherhood and fellowship, and put a final end
to all religious ignorance, superstition, jargon, or discord? Is not
a difference of opinion, or a disagreement on any given subject, a
proof positive of existing ignorance, or want of light or
information, on the part of the parties disagreeing? If so, the
present age is certainly in the dark, or, in a great measure,
ignorant on religious subjects. A knowledge of the Truth can alone
bring the desired union, and bid discord cease. If the Scriptures be
true, it is not religious
opinion which will
cover the earth, and universally pervade every bosom, but it is, a
KNOWLEDGE, "The knowledge of God." "God
is Truth." To
know Him, is to
know the Truth.The
present Volume aims to embody, in a concise and somewhat original
manner and style, a general view of the Science of Theology, as
gathered from revelation, history, prophecy, reason and analogy.If
the Work proves an introductory key to some of the first principles
of the divine science of which it treats; if it serves to open the
eyes of any of his fellowmen, on the facts of the past, the present,
and the future; if it leads to investigation and inquiry, and calls
public attention to the greater and more particular truths which have
been, or are about to be, revealed as a standard by which to unite
the people of all nations and of all religions upon the rock, the
sure foundation of divine, eternal, uncreated, infinite and
exhaustless Truth, it will have accomplished the end aimed at byTHE
AUTHOR.Key
to Theology.
