CONTENTS.

PAGE

CHAPTER I.

THE LIMITS OF MAN'S RELIGIOUS FAITH.

1. Faith, the thoughts of man's particular connection with God,

2. The connection revealed as a unique one,

3. Faith not investigated but instructed knowledge; and not the

whole of revealed truth, but a certain history,

4. Glimpses of truth revealed beyond the province of man's faith,

Note.-Man's limited place in creation.-Original preparation of

the earth for man's fallen condition,

CHAPTER II.

THE SUBJECT OF FAITH.

1. God's exceptional affection towards man,

2. Especially as shown in his salvation,

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3. God's love to man revealed as a family affection; by two ways,

4. First, by means of assuring family relationships,

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8. Historical form of the revelation-one necessary to human faith,

9. True faith's thoughts of God historical from the first.-Antedilu-

vian, Patriarchal, and Hebrew faiths,

10. Convincing force of historical religion.-Different origin, character,

and power of heathen creeds.-The Greek philosophie positive.

-Failure of mythical and philosophical religions for human

necessities,

11. Their fall before historical faiths-Nebuchadnezzar-Pharaoh-

Felix-the Greeks,

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12. Reasons of revealed truth's success.-The human mind's recognition

of reality-effect on sceptical hypotheses,

13. Avoidance of the historical statement of the truth by sceptical

reasoners-the Mythists, &c.,

14. Congruity of revealed truth to man's consciousness—his subjective

religion, if objectively proved,

15. Historical form of religious truth suited to all capacities—its single

argument giving to different degrees of perception equal fulness

of happiness,

16. Expedient form of propagating the faith; historical not doctrinal,

17. Inherent effectiveness of Scripture language,

CHAPTER III.

THE EDUCATION OF THE WORLD TO FAITH.

PART I.-THE PROGRESS OF REVELATION.

1. Power to appreciate religious truth lost by sinning,

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2. Man's fall; and change by God from familiarity to rudimentary

revelation,

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Antediluvian Faith.

3. God the avenger-the common faith of heathens and professed

infidels,

4. Hopes of His mercy towards man— -early chosen names,

Hebrew Faith.

5. God's drawing nigh to man—selection for a purpose,

6. Progressive revelation and appreciation of God the purpose of the
Hebrew discipline,

7. First progress of revealing names, positional, moral, and affectional—
El-Elohim-Jehovah-The Holy One-Merciful and Gracious,
8. Appreciative faith localising thoughts of God-Jehovah-Jireh, Ma-
hanaim, &c.,

9. Historical advance of appreciative language from the beginning to

the times of the psalmists,

10. Progress of revealing institutions.—Primary priestly guidance and
protection superseded by salvation and government by means of
kings-suggestive kinghoods of David, Uzziah, and Hezekiah,

11. Progress of religious thought under the kinghood-Solomon and

Joash,

12. Contemporary appreciation of the religious thoughts of the Psalms;

and subsequent fruit of preparation for new truth,

13. Progress of institutions.-Prophetic government superseding the

kingly-its history and final condition,

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14. Advance of teaching from positive to moral and Spiritual,

15. Coincident extension of prophetic mission to the outer nations,

16. Popular appreciation of the prophetic authority ever after,

17. Culmination of prophetic work-foretelling the salvation of the

world-Joel-Amos-Micah-Isaiah,

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18. Contemporary advance of faith's thoughts-Habakkuk-Jeremiah

and Ezekiel-Isaiah's hearers,

19. Progress of institutions. The Scribes the precursors of the Spirit-

ual rule of the written Word,

20. Latest Jewish thoughts of the meaning of "the Word of the

Lord,"

21. Progressive revelations of God's love systematically timed to man's

felt need and probable impressibility,

22. Days of salvation like the "due time,'

23. Revelation of God's love of the world, uniformly as a holy love,

21. Anticipation of "The Flesh,'

25. Mankind looking for "Him that should come,'

Christian Faith.

GOD MANIFEST IN FLESH.

26. The Manifestation. The completion of God's drawing nigh to

27. The Incarnation.-God who originally gave man his own nature

taking man's condition in bodily life, suffering, and death,

28. Progress of identification of Himself with man--substitution, and

the assurance it gives,

30. The Propitiation.-Philosophical difficulties from overdrawn ana-

logy,

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29. Peculiar human ancestry of Jesus- "made sin for us,"

31. The sufferings of fatherhood because of sin predicated of God, the

same as those historically experienced by His human children

in the nature created in His likeness,

32. The extension of sin's inevitable suffering to the innocent also a

perpetual lesson of history--religiously taught in the Hebrew

worship-interpretation of the sacrificial "lamb,"

33. The substitutionary suffering of Christ not merely assumed but

unavoidable, because of His peculiar historical connection with

man,

34. Identity of suffering revealed for faith's comfort,

35. Expiation of guilt necessary to man's subjective feelings and his
historical position,

36. Progressive thoughts of Christ in the four gospels.-The Jewish
Messiah the Almighty Deliverer- the Son of Man- the
Word who was God,

THE COMFORTER.

37. Revelation of God as one with them that believe-dwelling with

man and in him,

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38. Progress of revealing names.-The Comforter; bringing man into

a reciprocal union with God,

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39. His comforting exhibition of the truth; and earnest of its assur-

ances,

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THE INHERITANCE.

41. Realistic character of the life of heaven; one appreciable by man,

1. Indirect education of Gentile peoples by observation of revealed

faith,

2. Geographical positions of revealed truth-Hebrew, Christian, and

probably Antediluvian—always centres of publication to the

world of the time,

3. Designed result-self-education aided by direct revelation,

4. Selected line of revelation never exclusive-Israel's stewardship,

5. Contact of patriarchal faith with Mesopotamian and Syrian

kings-direct revelation to Pharaohs and kings of Gerar-fate

of Rameses,

6. Israel in Palestine.-Reasonings of Rahab-the Gibeonites—the

Midianites-the Philistines- self-education of Canaanites —

divine help-wars of Saul and David-David's court and body-

guard-Solomon's view of the mission of Israel-his wisdom

compared with the wisdom of Egypt, &c.-Israel with Syria

and Assyria and later Egypt,

7. Prophetic mission extended to heathen-Elijah in Tyre-Elisha

in Syria-Jonah in Nineveh-objects and subjects of Isaiah's

prophecies,

8. The Captivities.-Education of Mesopotamian universal monarchs

-proclamations of Nebuchadnezzar, Darius, Cyrus, Darius

Hystaspis, Artaxerxes, Xerxes,

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9. Europe at the time of the second exodus mingling of Persian

and Greek civilisation-Cyrus and the Scribes,

10. Last Jewish age.-Circulation of the Hebrew sacred books, and

their publication in the universal language of the time,

11. The education of the heathen world-1. systematic, 2. by instruc-

tion of the ruling people of the time—peculiar distribution of the

Jews among the ruling nations--results indicated by first Chris-

tian Pentecost,

12. Contact of Judaism and Christianity overlapped by an age of

learning-dissemination of Hebrew Scriptures and people in

Greek, Roman, Mesopotamian, and Egyptian countries—their

local influence,

13. Secular civilisations not transmitted as a continuous education

of the world—generally contrasted — distinct characters of

Egyptian, Assyrian, Greek, Persian and Roman culture,

14. Historical succession of compelled comparisons of heathen civilisa-

tion with the power of revealed truth-Rameses and Moses,

wisdom of Egypt and Solomon-Assyrian kings, and Israel's

people and prophets - Greek wisdom and culture, and Paul's
preaching-Asiatic reformers-Roman government and Chris-
tian faith,

15. Extent of faith in the earth-salvation of the heathen-Isaiah's

boldness-comprehensiveness of the Scriptural expression "in

Christ "-opinion as to the salvation of unknown peoples in-

competent in the absence of knowledge-revealed direction of

thought on the subject,

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6. Theorising, instead of observation, the source of both over-wisdom

and scepticism-the Pharisees and Mythists-the Anti-super-

naturalists,

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7. Familiarity with the history the cure for scepticism,

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8. Reason's work of observation-1. to receive proof, 2. to famil-

iarise,

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9. Proof-testing by "signs"-self-consistency—and congruity with

human nature,

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10. Duty of private judgment-faith and creed,

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11. Risk to faith in religious reading-imitative orthodoxy or scepti-

cism,

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12. Chief work of reason in faith-to assimilate the truth,

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13. Reasoning and revealed ways of thinking to be identical,

14. How to be made so- "think on these things,"

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15. The process of civilisation individual and national - Brahmin

Christians-the British nation,

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16. Scriptural examples of religious civilisation.-Samuel and Saul,

David, the first Hebrews, Samson, Jephthah, Barak, &c.—un-

stable Jewish faith-the apostles-the early Christian Church,

Gentile and Jewish-Timothy-late conversions,

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17. Means and hindrances to knowledge becoming faith,

18. Co-operation of God put within man's practice of faith-help given

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1. Faith described in Scripture chiefly by its opposites,

2. Psychologically-constant thinking on the things believed in,

3. Nature of faith's thinking: two conditions, quiescent and active,

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