137 
that is, exists ; “ God is a spirit; " “the Lord our God [Gods] 
is one God ; " “ the Lord God omnipotent reigneth." Again, 
as belonging to this essential existence — this absolute entity, 
we read of some thirty or forty attributes, or properties, 
which satisfy to the full every requirement of an exact defini- 
tion. Thus also, concerning man, we read that he is a creature 
— “ God created man/' — that he is a complex creature, com- 
pounded of “ body," “ soul," and “ spirit " — a creature 
possessed of certain powers, both physiological and psycho- 
logical — “understanding, will, affections, conscience," — and 
specifically that he is a sinning creature, but capable of 
renewal in himself and of restoration to his forfeited inherit- 
ance. And all this in definitive terms, language as positive 
as it is plain. Thus also, as concerning the great end of all 
being, “ The Lord hath made all things for Himself ; " the 
relation between the Creator and the creature, “ By grace are 
ye saved ; " the present and future states of the latter, and 
the whole bearing of the dispensations and processes by which 
the ultimate issue is to be attained. In a word, all the great 
points which it is the purpose of Theology to establish, rest 
on declarations which, for clearness and force, are second to 
none that in other branches of science, even the most exact, 
are accepted as definitions, and acted upon without hesitation. 
Next, the postulates of Theology are, I think, to be found 
in such positions as the following, and which are not only 
congruous with the principles and utterances of the revela- 
tion, and directly flow from them, but also with all right 
reason and lawful concession. Let it be granted that the 
Deity, by His attributes of omnipotence and benevolence — both 
deductions of mere natural Theology — is able and willing to 
reveal Himself to His creatures ; let it be granted that the 
revelation, in order to its being available to such creatures, 
must, in form and matter, be adapted to their receptive capa- 
city ; and further, let it be granted that such revelation has 
been given ; and we have all we need for elaborating a system 
of Theological truth, wanting no one element of an exact 
science. Or, to express our postulates subjectively : granted 
that man can receive a revelation from God ; granted that, if 
received, it will be such an one as he can use ; and, once 
more, granted that he possesses this ; and I think I am 
justified in saying that we have, so far, an apparatus sufficient 
to establish all which this paper proposes. 
Once more as to axioms. I find the Sacred Books abound- 
ing in truths not only of axiomatic form, but, to me, of 
unquestionable axiomatic force. For example, “ He that 
cometh to God must believe that He is [exists] ; " contrariety 
