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believer finds “ natural science ” to be au outer court within which is a 
Holier Place, and an inner Shrine, where the glory of the “ supernatural ” 
I AM shines upon each humble worshipper, harmonising the “ spiritual ” wuth 
the natural,” and making things temporal a pathway to the apperception 
and enjoyment of things eternal. 
In the “ philosophical reasoning,” however, to which I have alluded, the 
Biblical records (apart from acknowledgment of religious authority assigned 
to them) should have their due weight, and not be ignored as a considerable 
factor in the problem handled by the philosophizer. 
We, as Christian believers, arguing with sceptical opponents, who profess 
to be scientific and philosophical, must insist upon all the facts of human 
nature and history being taken into account, before a man pretends to say, 
either that there is nothing supernatural, or that the supernatural is entirely 
unknowable. 
The Author in replying to the foregoing writes : — 
I think Canon Saumarez Smith’s letter most valuable and important, and 
that it expresses my “ underlying ideas ” with much more perspicuity and 
in better language than I could command. 
As regards the question w’hether we ought not to “ do something besides 
commending the Bible to the acceptance of the agnostic,” the writer mis- 
understands me. My real views are these : — 
In the discourse of “ the beloved Paul ” (as Luther calls him) to the 
wisdom-seeking Greeks at Athens, I find this Apostle following out to the 
fullest extent the plan of availing himself of the amount of knowledge 
already possessed by his auditors ; whilst he corrects their errors, by irre- 
sistible reasonings founded on propositions of natural religion admitted by 
both parties. This sermon is to me full of the most practical instruction and 
the deepest philosophy. No doubt our missionaries often follow this example, 
for instance, in dealing with the Chinese mind. But in the compass of the 
address there is no reference to the Scriptures, of which we must suppose the 
Athenians to have been wholly ignorant. 
But as an Apostle he bears testimony to one fact, to which he claims not 
only their attention, but if I may so speak, their submission as to a pledge * 
which God has set before the mind f of all men, of the full accomplishment 
of the work of his Son, and his consec^uent purposes toward mankind. 
He does not leave them in the possession merely of improved natural 
religion, but instructs them in Christian truth. 
After all, his success at Athens was limited to a small number of converts, 
and the rest of his hearers were unaffected. Not many wise men were 
chosen. It needs something to stir more profoundly the depths of the being 
* TTiffTic, an assurance, pledge of good faith ; a means of persuasion. See 
Greek Lex., Liddell and Scott, ii., 1, 2. 
j* Trap'iaTrjpi, see as above. 
