so EEY. CHANCELLOR LIAS^ M.A., ON 



" God is Light," and therefore can be comprehended little bjr 

 little, can be seen, can be revealed, in other words the 

 " Word," the " Son " ; 

 " God is Love," and therefore can be loved, can impart Him- 

 self, can embrace His vtdlling creatures, in other words 

 the " Holy Spirit." 

 The first gives us design, the second gives us revelation, the 

 third makes religion possible. Science seems willing now to grant 

 U.S the first ; let us hope that it may see its way presently to grant 

 the second and the third. 



The Author's Reply. 



I will reply as briefly as I can to my critics. 



Canon Girdlestone remarks that in one part I have made no men- 

 tion of conscience. He has overlooked the fact that I was there 

 speaking of the original sources of the idea of God, antecedent to 

 revelation. He will find that I have taken account of conscience 

 in other passages. This is also my answer to Professor Orchard 

 on this point. 



Canon Girdlestone's next objection, which is also made by other 

 speakers, does not take sufficient account of the limitations 

 imposed upon me by the fact that recent critics who have 

 maintained their position Avithin the Christian Church have 

 disputed the accuracy of the Hebrew records. I cannot, therefore, 

 use them as undispu.ted witnesses to facts. My critics bring* 

 forward the reflections of the historian as authoritative. They 

 forget that in a purely historical inquiry we should certainly not 

 be permitted to use the obiter dicta of Herodotus or Thucydides, 

 Livy or Tacitus, Macaulay or Froude, as evidence of facts which 

 occurred long before their time, or as decisive as to the opinions 

 of the historical personages they bring before us in their narra- 

 tives. I can, under present circumstances, only use the facts 

 which the Hebrew historians relate ; I cannot insist on their 

 explanations of them, however much I should be personally willing 

 to do so. On the one fact alleged by Canon Girdlestone I am, I 

 regret to say, altogether in conflict with him. I can only interpret 

 Abraham's words, " Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right ?" 

 when coupled with the anxiety he evidently feels on the subject 

 of his prayers, as an evidence that he was not by any means sure 



