RATIONALISTIC CRITICISMS 355 



the senses," which they are not, or " proved by experi- 

 ment," which they cannot be. 



This being the case, neither he nor any Rationalist 

 can claim the right to refuse similar lines of evidence for 

 the belief in God and immortality of man if they can be 

 forthcoming. 



Many theologians have written upon the Being of 

 God, and brought forward reasons which appeared to 

 them conclusive. Thus, Mr. S. Charnock, B.D., in the 

 middle of the seventeenth century, wrote a long treatise 

 entitled. Discourses on the Divine Providence and the 

 Existence and Attributes of God, from which I have 

 already had occasion to quote freely. Many of his 

 arguments are, as might be expected with the progress 

 of science and biblical study, out of date ; but some are, 

 and always will be, permanent, as long as the mind of 

 man remains as it is ; such as the production of " Order" 

 out of " Chaos," now called " cosmic vapour " ; the " origin 

 of living beings" in the world ; the argument of" Adap- 

 tations " and the presence of " Directivity " ; the existence 

 of Volition and Self-consciousness and the " Moral 

 Nature of Man," generally, etc. 



Charnock quotes from several writers of early date 

 — and we might go as far back, not only as Socrates, 

 but to the earliest dates known in history — to show the 

 generally believed existence of a Deity of some sort. 



David declares that the heavens and the firmament 

 witness to a Creator.^ So does Isaiah ■'' and St. Paul, 

 but modern Rationalists can also see the heavens and 

 the fruitful seasons ; but they carry no weight as evi- 

 dencing a Mind. They demand "scientific proof". If 

 they want " experimental " proof, it is not to be had ; 

 but inductive evidence there is in ample abundance. 



1 Ps. xix. 2 jg_ xl, 12, 13, 18. 



