210 THE LIMIT OF SCIENCE. 



of Divine Justice, and to ignore the only way of re- 

 conciliation. This, I fear, too many of our philoso- 

 phers and natural theologians do. They offer Cain's 

 " fruit of the ground," without the hlood of Abel's 

 " firstling." But it is not and cannot be accepted ; 

 for there is no way into the Holiest but by the Blood 

 of Jesus. Natural religion can tell us, ex cathedra, 

 nothing about this. When an anxious conscience 

 demands to know something more of God, something 

 of his feelings towards offenders, of his way of dealing 

 with rebels, whether there is forgiveness with Him, 

 and mercy, — the creatures are mute. One says. It is 

 not in me ! and another says. It is not in me ! All 

 are ominously dumb on such questions as these.* 



To enlighten us on these points is the grand object 

 of the Word of God. It reveals to man the full hope- 

 lessness of his state, drawing aside the curtain from 

 that hideous scene of eternal and utter ruin into 

 which he had fallen by sin. It reveals also the 

 remedy, God manifest in the flesh, bearing as a sub- 

 stitute human guilt, that through the blood-shedding 

 of one spotless and infinitely perfect Victim, there 

 might be full and free justification for every one that 

 believeth. 



When this grand inquiry, this qumstio qutestionum, 



* " Natural theology is quite overrated by those who would represent 

 it as the foundation of the edifice : it is not that, but rather the taper 



by which we must grope our way to the edifice It is not 



that natural religion is the premises and Christianity the conclusion ; 

 but it is that natural religion creates an appetite which it cannot quell: 

 and he who is urged thereby, seeks for a rest and a satisfaction which 

 he can only obtain in the fulness of the Gospel." Chalmebs. Bridgew. 

 Treat, ii. 290, 291. 



