i 5 z THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



argumentative force, it proceeds upon the theory that if two things 

 be compared, a matter in question with a matter about which there 

 can be no question, and the former be found to agree in its rationale 

 with the latter, the presumption is that it is true as the latter is true. 

 l>ut this mode of reasoning is of no value in religious matters, because 

 here we shape the unknown from our knowledge of the known, and 

 the agreement between the two is already assured. The world of 

 myth and fable bears a resemblance more or less striking to the real 

 world, but does that afford any ground for our accepting the myths 

 and fables as actual facts and occurrences ? 



Suppose the doctrine of Christian conversion, as expounded by 

 Paul, is found to agree with certain well-known and universal facts of 

 human life, does that prove the doctrine to be true ? Or does it prove 

 that Paul predicated his doctrine upon the knowledge of these facts ? 

 Milton's rebellious angels in their warfare against the hosts of heaven 

 may not violate one rule of good English military tactics, but that 

 fact would hardly be counted sufficient evidence for our accepting the 

 rebellion as an actual historical event. Indeed, when our theological 

 friends ask us to accept their dogmas on the ground that they are no 

 more unreasonble or inexplicable than many things which we do be- 

 lieve, and which all the world believes, they usually make the mistake 

 of expecting us to award the same weight to the argument from anal- 

 ogy that we do to proof from experience. 



That a thing is mysterious or inexplicable affords no grounds for 

 our refusing to credit it. We can not explain the simplest facts of 

 our lives ; we are embosomed in mystery. We do not know how our 

 food nourishes us, or how our sleep refreshes us, yet we know that 

 they do nourish and refresh us, and that is enough. What a mystery 

 that an ugly worm should become a gorgeous butterfly, or that from 

 a little insensate egg should come a bird with all its powers of flight 

 and song ! How. wonderful and inexplicable are the commonest facts 

 and occurrences about us ! Yet we know that things do turn out thus 

 and thus and not otherwise, and we know it not from reason but by 

 experience. We know that a man may survive the amputation of his 

 arms and legs, but do we know that he can survive the amputation of 

 his head ? A tree or a cabbage survives the amputation of its head ; 

 the stump will sprout again, why not a man ? It is not a matter of 

 reason, I say again, but of experience. When the doctrine of the 

 Trinity can be confirmed by the same test, then it will be just as easy 

 to believe it true as it is that water flows or is solid according to the 

 temperature. The difficulty with the theologians is that, while they 

 so often appeal to our experience in establishing their premises, they 

 at once go beyond our experience in drawing their conclusions. 



The analogy upon which Professor Drummond builds so confi- 

 dently will be found comforting and reassuring to those who are 

 already of his creed, but to the disinterested inquirer, determined to 





