gratitude I owe to writers who have treated in part of a system I have taken as a whole. Especially am I indebted to one of the most original thinkers of the Gallican Church, the Abbé Gabriel, especially for much in Chap. II., also to the Calvinist pastor, M. Charles Secretan, to the Chevalier Bunsen, to M. Thiercelin, to M. de Strada, and to several of the German Hegelianists on the right and on the left. I confess that to Feuerbach I owe a debt of inestimable gratitude. Feeling about, in uncertainty, for the ground, and finding everywhere shifting sands, Feuerbach cast a sudden blaze into the darkness and disclosed to me the way.

Far be it from me to make any pretence to originality or research that are not mine. I may call this book the history of my own religious difficulties and searchings after the truth. That these difficulties are shared by thousands in England and abroad, I am well aware; that my book may produce conviction and rest in other minds is my highest aim.

I have said that I make no pretence to originality. Every intellectual work is a filiation of the individual and society, of the past and the present. Our ideas are formed by assimilating the thoughts, the observations of others, and that part which is really our own often escapes us. The child is occasionally strangely unlike its parents, and the idea formed in our minds is sometimes very different from the ideas from which it was engendered.

S. B.-G.

DALTON, THIRSK.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

THE UNIVERSAL ANTINOMY

Progress in Nature general-Its law the emancipation of individuality—

The object of instinct—Animal instincts and Intelligence in man—

Consequent Antinomy-Happiness the signal when the instincts are

satisfied-The antinomy between reason and sentiment-The antinomy

between faith and reason-Reason unable to act without axioms-

Antinomy in morals and politics—and in religion—Natural religion in-

conclusive-The existence of God is incapable of demonstration-The

inductive and deductive methods, are usually opposed-Opposition

of analysis and synthesis-Science analytic and religion synthetic-

Conciliation possible

Page 1

CHAPTER II

THE CONCILIATION OF ANTINOMIES

The conciliation of antinomies a law of the universe-Man the union of

antinomical forms-The idea of the Indefinite-conciliates religion and

philosophy-speciality leads to error-the method of Hegel—applied to

man-Life is motion between ever-moving poles-Advance toward the

absolute-The existence of God follows the acceptance of the Hegelian

axiom-The three moments-the three phases of the Ideal-The good,

the true and the beautiful inseparable-The application to Christianity

of the Hegelian method--Its fertility

CHAPTER III

THE BASIS OF TRUTH

Page 22

Truth is relative-The antipodes of truths-antagonistic ideas—the anti-

nomy in man-Egoism and sympathy-"Contradictories radically

exclude one another" an exploded axiom-The centre of gravity of

Truths-The Ideal conciliates all-Conciliation of reason and senti-

ment-No absolute falsehood-Error the opposition of one relative

truth against another to the exclusion of the latter-All truths positive

-Negations are nothing-Private judgment the negation of other

judgments-Private judgment the negation of absolute Truth-The

proper function of private judgment-It is the resolution of what is

true to the individual self-Universal truth the combination of all

appreciations of truth

CHAPTER IV

THE BASIS OF RIGHT

Page 41

Right and its relation to Liberty-difficulty in defining Right-Is right a

rational or a sentimental verity ?-Difficulty of establishing it on a

rational basis-attempt of Hobbes-of Spinoza-of Grotius-of Kant-

of Krause-confusion between right and will or force-Right based on

duty-a sentimental verity-Liberty alienable and inalienable-Right

the faculty of realizing our nature-Possibility of alienating our right—

Consequences which flow from the admission of the dogmatic basis of

right-1. All rights are equal-2. All infringement of rights is im-

moral-3. All primitive rights are inalienable-4. Primary rights are

not mutually antagonistic-The primary rights of Man-1. The right

of personal freedom-2. of good reputation-3. of liberty of conscience-

4. of expressing his convictions-5. of appropriation-All these rights

dogmatic
Page 55

CHAPTER V

THE BASIS OF AUTHORITY

The physical condition of man renders society necessary-The Social In-

stinct-Social organizations the product of the ideas of right and autho-

rity-The family, the first society-The idea of parental authority a

prolongation of the idea of right--That authority ceases when the child

has become a man—for then its rights are equal to its father's rights—

Two kinds of authority, Moral authority and effective authority—

Moral authority must rest on God-necessitates the hypothesis of free

will-Effective authority must derive from man-its mode of exercise

compulsion-not to be confused with Sovereignty-Sovereignty, the

right to violate rights with impunity-Sovereignty only possible, logi-

cally, if God be denied-Attempt to subordinate sovereignty to moral

authority impossible-The only possible mode of preserving moral au-

thority and effective authority intact is to distinguish them, and derive

the one from God, the other from men-Effective authority not neces-

sarily immoral

Page 72

CHAPTER VI

THE PRELIMINARY HYPOTHESES OF CHRISTIANITY

The subject of the preceding chapters-The First Hypothesis: There is a

First Cause self-existent, absolutely free, the Creator of the world-

The motive of creation not necessity nor duty-To be sought in the crea-

tion, not in the Creator-The creature is the object of creation-The

motive of creation is Love-pure love unmixed with selfishness-Second

hypothesis: God has made man in His image, i.e. with a free will—

Man's duty is to distinguish himself, and thus constitute his personality

-He cannot do so by denying God-He can only do so by simultane-

ously distinguishing God and preserving the link between himself and

God-This link is love-Recapitulation of the argument

CHAPTER VII

THE HYPOTHESIS OF THE INCARNATION

Page 89

The difficulty of obtaining a rational idea of God—The idea traverses two

stages, one constructive, the other destructive-The first process, the

idealizing of God-The second process, the emancipation of the idea

from all relations-The true rational idea of God one of negation-The

rational idea opposed to the Ideal-Are philosophy and religion neces-

sarily antagonistic?-The hypothesis of the Incarnation conciliates

both Christ is the Absolute and the Ideal-conciliates reason and

sentiment-Belief and Reason necessary to one another-No system of

thought without a postulate—The postulate of the Incarnation may be

turned into a demonstration-Elucidation of the difficulty of identify-

ing the Absolute with the Ideal-and of considering God as a Person

Page 99

CHAPTER VIII

THE DOGMA OF MEDIATION

The advantage of the Hegelian trichotomy-dread of Hegelianism-unrea-

sonable-Hegel's method destined to reconcile philosophy to religion-

The finite and the infinite supposed to be irreconcileable-The Incarna-

tion consequently rejected as absurd-The true idea of the infinite-of

space and time-The ideas of space and time inapplicable to God-

relative only-The Word the equation between the Infinite and the

finite-He is the Mediator as well

Page 115

CHAPTER IX

THE EVIDENCE FOR THE INCARNATION

Private Judgment the basis of Certainty-Man accepts some truths by

conviction, other truths on authority-Historical evidence always dis-

putable—evidence of an historical religion especially so―The evidence

of miracles unsatisfactory—Prophecy no evidence to the divinity of

Christ-Scriptural evidence weak-1. Scripture lays no claim to inspi-

ration-2. It is full of inaccuracies-3. And of discrepancies-4. Un-

certainty of authorship-Difficulty of proving from Scripture the Divi-

nity of Christ-The weakness of Protestantism-The authority of the

Church—The evidence of our own Nature—The legitimate position of

the Bible

Page 128

CHAPTER X

CATHOLICISM

Catholicism the religion of inclusion—a consequence of the Incarnation—-

The conciliation of Reason and Faith-of Individualism and Solidarity

The conciliation of all philosophies—of all Religions—-of Paganism-of

Sectarianism-Catholicism demands universal toleration, its opposite is

intolerance and persecution.

CHAPTER XI

PROTESTANTISM

Page 148

The affirmation of self and of God two duties-Medieval Catholicism

affirmed God but neglected the affirmation of self-Protestantism the

affirmation of self-Division and opposition the source of all misery and

error-Distinction not division-Christian ethics consist in the affirma-

tion of distinctions without division and opposition-The distinction of

God and His relations by meditation, prayer, and worship-Luther de-

nied these modes of affirming God-The affirmation of ourselves depends

on our affirmation of God—Immorality the division between higher and