RIGHT RELATION- OF REASON TO RELIGION 225 



in that tribunal can be regarded as of weight or of 

 obligation ; in short, that the only real basis of 

 religion is our human reason, the only seat of its 

 authority our genuine human nature, the only suffi- 

 cient witness of God the human soul. Reason, I 

 shall endeavour to show, is not confined to the 

 mastery of the sense-world and the goods of this 

 world only, but does cover all the range of being, 

 and found and rule the world eternal ; it is not 

 merely natural, it is also spiritual ; it is itself, when 

 come to itself, the true divine revelation. 



And now, in attempting to make all these asser- 

 tions good, I must of necessity depart a little from 

 the precept of this Congress that bids us rather make 

 for unity and peace than stir the fires of controversy. 

 I am confident I shall introduce no odium into the 

 discussion upon which we are about to enter ; for, as 

 I feel none, so I have the cheerful hope that I shall 

 arouse none. But the proof of the New Doctrine, — 

 I call it new, in spite of its antiquity, because it is so 

 much the youngest of the three, — the proof of the 

 New Doctrine can only be made out by traversing 

 and refuting the Old and the Middle. Controversy, 

 in the sense of criticism, is therefore unavoidable. 

 But it need have no bitterness, nor awaken any ; and 

 unless I greatly mistake my own temper and the 

 temper of this company, it will not. 



The doctrines I have named the Old and the Middle 

 Q 



