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mists has been cleared away, he is surrounded by faulty 
theological systems, some in ruins, some tottering, but others 
still erect, though doomed to fall. 
The true method of interpreting either Nature or Revelation 
so as to build np a scientific system, is, first to collect all the 
known facts of the case , and then to form a theory , which , 
without going beyond them } shall include them all in its ex- 
planation. 
Though this principle is well known, and has been often 
recognized both theoretically and practically in each of these 
departments of knowledge, and in others which we are not 
now considering, it may not be superfluous to illustrate it 
step by step. 
First, as to collecting all the known facts bearing on a 
particular subject,' — in the world of sense this is generally a 
very arduous undertaking, or rather, the wider we push our 
inquiry the greater becomes our knowledge of the facts, — in 
matters of revelation it is not so very arduous, for the Bible is 
a limited book, and the additional facts of Christian expe- 
rience are gathered without great difficulty. The natural 
tendency of the human mind to select involuntarily one par- 
ticular class of facts, and to found its conclusion on them, is a 
fruitful source of error and controversy. The history of 
geology and mineralogy furnishes us with a remarkable 
instance in the fierce and acrimonious discussions of the 
Yulcanists and Neptunists at the close of the last century. 
The one party, fixing their attention on the basalts, traps, and 
granites, held that the configuration of the surface of the 
earth was due to the agency of fire ; while the other party, 
finding everywhere hardened sand and mud filled with organic 
remains, contended that the whole of the land was a deposit 
from water; and each one insisted that the opinion of his 
party was the only orthodox one, till a better school arose, 
and pointed out that in the production of the multifarious 
rocks and strata of our globe both agencies must be recog- 
nized. Just so in theology, there are those who think of 
“ the man Christ Jesus,” as He wandered about Galilee or 
Judsea, often hungry and weary, thwarted in His wishes, 
imperfect in His knowledge, and saying* such words as “ My 
Father is greater than I,” till they adopt Arian or Socinian 
views ; while there have been others, who seeing in Christ 
the authoritative worker of miracles, the divine Logos, the 
Creator of the worlds, and hearing Him utter such language 
as “ I and my Father are one,” have sublimed away His 
humanity, and formed for themselves views like those of the 
ancient Docetse. But each of these doctrines is erroneous, in 
