RIGHT RELATION OF REASON TO RELIGION 24 1 



munication with God. Of God, who is essentially 

 supersensible, there can be no such thing as a pre- 

 sentation directly to our senses ; and all belief that 

 sensible facts mean his real presence must rest at 

 last on inferential judgments of our reason, while 

 these will be nothing but self-continuing circles, 

 worthless for evidence, unless our reason is granted 

 to have in itself the real revelation of what accords 

 with the Divine mind. An absolutely direct utter- 

 ance of God in the external world, evident strictly in 

 itself, is thus upon close examination unintelligible 

 and unthinkable. Yet this is what is implied in a 

 consistent doctrine of Authority. 



IV 



But now let us pass to the second, and the much 

 more important, of our two main questions: — Why 

 must a religion that would rightfully bear the name 

 of Christ, especially reject the Method of Authority.? 



What is there in the principle of Authority that con- 

 tradicts the "mind that was in Christ".-' What is 

 there in the central teaching and the spirit of Christ 

 that puts upon such a method with religion the 

 stamp of its condemnation .'' For I have thus far 

 constantly implied not only that the principle of 

 Rationalism does not carry us away from real Chris- 

 tianity, but that genuine Christianity demands and 



