294 
upholds its influence over the actual present and over our hopes 
P of the future ; an influence which it is 9"}*® usele ? , , 
it is a power. • ore jf me n will refuge to trace m this Kecor d t 
strata of a moral world long since departed they must , at least 
see the quick reality which is ever on the J 
pomnare it with the enigmas exhumed at Nineveh or ihebes, 
TS ti. iiy «.£» f “»■ SKSSi 
men’s opinion pretend to be, is the basis P . , 
civilization and progress of our race j and here too, some find 
an uldhhg souree of the deathless hopes to which our purest 
nature wifl°ever aspire. We know, indeed that this Book has 
a teaching which strangely lights up all other knowledge , 1 
Quickens with some meaning the perishing religions an is- 
S of eider times,- and gilds oven the dead mythologies 
of the world with some reflected rays. We kn 
gives marvellous direction to us m exploring the most diffi- 
= of human nature now, and therefore is studied 
with profound interest by the best and -ses^in thmr 
best and wisest hours : but far more than this, amidst tl 
moral toils of this weary time, in countless /spheres of purest 
Zj'SbL is a fountain of daily refreshment and unfail- 
ing solace toman, a very river of water of life. ^ H 
X It is now time that from this brief outline of fact, we 
“ t proved to formulate the Principle and its- co- 
trutbs of the r0 n ar ics, which we defend as “ the nns lan 
3S e 
Nature* coXS no intimation^of self-ereating I^wer On 
The other hand, Nature teaches us a principle of causation 
at l^ast, the idea of creation by external agency, 
trirtion'of^th^mysterious ^nd^ndeed ^upernaturA^'hSor^^ 
the Divine Word. 
