152 What may be expected in Revelation. CHAP. 



conception of Divine goodness; and he is not the 

 best man or the most like to God, of whom it can be 

 said that he may be trusted to keep his promise to 

 the letter, but that no importance must be attached 

 to any expression or suggestion of his goodwill which 

 does not amount to a promise. 



In conclusion ; Supposing the conception of the 

 Divine character and purposes set forth in this and 

 the previous chapters to be true ; supposing God to 

 be both perfectly just and infinitely gracious, having 

 a Fatherly purpose of final good to all, and permit- 

 ting the existence of sin and suffering only for a 

 time, and only for the sake of the higher good to be 

 evolved through the struggle against them ; suppos- 

 ing further that there is a necessity, in the uncreated 

 nature of things, for justice to be vindicated before 

 grace can have free course, and that the purpose of 

 grace can be attained only through justice ; and 

 supposing that God designs to further the salvation 

 of men by revealing to them His character and His 

 purposes, insofar as it is possible for men to learn and 

 good for men to know ; Supposing these doctrines 

 to be true, to what extent, and in what form, might 

 we reasonably expect the ultimate purposes of God 

 towards mankind to be revealed ? 



We ought to expect that the greatest and most 

 evident stress should be laid on those parts of religion 

 which are the least acceptable to the natural mind of 

 man, and yet constitute the foundation of the entire 



