CONTENTS Introduction on Certainty by the Editor i Editor's Preface xxxiii Author's Preface xxxvii CHAPTER I. DOUBT IN RELIGION Christ and Pilate I Truth and doubt 2 Christianity still doubted 3 I. Intellectual causes of doubt 4 Nothing certain but what is proved 5 But certainty prior to demonstrative proof 7 First principles self-evident ; hence scientific doubt irrational 8 But plausible 10 Exclusive study of natural science begets scepticism 11 Yet nature presents mysteries which, though undemonstrable, undoubtedly exist 13 Progress, true and false 14 II. Moral causes of doubt, — Mental dissipation 15 Material ends unduly pursued 16 For natural science, truly studied, leads to God 17 Indifferentism 18 III. The Passions — Moral defects frequently the source of intellectual error — Influence of the will on the tnind — "What we will, that we believe" 21 Voluntary doubt incompatible with faith 22 Impartiality in religion impossible 24 Religious error a personal choice and individual sin 25 The habit of doubt irrational and immoral 27 The earnest inquirer finds truth 28 But grace necessary 29 The means it uses — sorrow and suffering 30 Faith alone sustains in death 31 CHAPTER II. THE THREE ORDERS OF TRUTH Truth, sensible, intellectual, and religious, and their negations, scepticism, materialism, rationalism 33 Truth, object of the intellect, its definition 34 Misery of man, if truth unattainable 35 Scepticism, first kind of doubt — Absolutely impracticable 36 One cause of scepticism, false claim to absolute, universal knowledge 37 Man's knowledge limited, but certain 38 Triumphs of modern science do not satisfy 39 For physical science cannot tell the cause or purpose of anything, which are found only by the intellect within itself 40 Thus the investigation of nature leads to that of man, its superior, and physical to metaphysical science 41 The laws of the mind fixed, certain, though undemonstrable 42 Absolute liberty of thought impossible 43 Second kind of doubt. — Materialism 44 Refuted by transcendental ideas, which are recognised by scienee 45 And by moral ideas, which are also supersensuous 46 These necessary ideas, intellectual and moral, necessarily lead to the knowledge of God, as First Truth and First Good 47 But this external knowledge of God, only partial 48 And points to the need of a revelation 49 A revelation not impossible 50 Faith in it, highest intellectual act 51 Threefold ascent : reason and nature, faith and grace, God and life of glory 52 Why unattained by heathen 53 How faith and philosophy assist each other 54 Supremacy of theology 55 Rationalism, the third kind of doubt — Error of Froschammer 56 Leads to pantheism, as with Strauss 58 Or scepticism, as with Fichte 59 Rousseau's objections to a revelation, anticipated and answered by St. Thomas 60 Need of a revelation shown from history 62 Earnestness needed for faith 63 CHAPTER III. GOD, HIS EXISTENCE AND ESSENCE. Idea of God connatural to man 67 Three proofs of God's existence : history, nature, mind 68 I. Proof from history — Idea of God found in all races, not invented by priests or theologians, nor based on fear of natural portents 69 Polytheism, corruption of this idea, and not itself a primal religion 70 The savage not the natural man, but man degraded and chastised 71 Vitality of a belief, a proof of its truth 72 Alleged instances of Atheist races unreliable (Waitz) 73 Atheism, where found, produces degradation 74 No entire nation without some religion (Tylor, Max Miiller) 75 Theism then in possession — Direct proofs of God's existence 76 II. Proof from nature (Romans i. 19) 77 (a.) First cause — Creatures, not self-created, demand a Creator 78 Beings contingent suppose a necessary Being 79 An infinite series of creatures, a contradiction in terms 80 Disproved also by natural phenomena 81 And by history of man 82 (b.) First Mover 83 Gravitation implies an immaterial cause 84 (c.) Argument from design 85 Order of the universe not fortuitous 86 Nor necessarily produced 87 Designed action in living creatures 88 Identity of form with essence prove identity of Designer with Creator 89 Objections — Existence of evil 90 Evil permitted in parts for good of whole 91 The beneficent destruction of insects (Baer) 92 Huxley, Lyell, admit design 93 Creation a divine act 94 Incomprehensible to the creature 95 "Ex nihilo nihil fit" merely denies pre-existing matter 96 III. Proof from the human mind 96 Truth objective and independent of the reason 97 Not co-existent in creatures, which are contingent, while truth is absolute and eternal 98 And therefore presupposes a supreme, eternal, existing reason 99 As is shown by St. Thomas and St. Augustine 100 Man it alto a moral agent 100 His conscience witnesses to the moral law 101 Which, as eternal and independent 102 Can originate only in the will of God 103 God not unknowable ; though infinite, not indefinite 104 One in Himself, but virtually multiple 105 As conceived by us 106 Absolute and supreme 107 A Spirit, and therefore intelligent, and because intelligent, free 108 Sufferings of the just for their probation 109 Faith in the One God alone gives life its value 110 CHAPTER IV. MATERIALISM. Materialism denies existence of aught beyond matter 112 Matter eternal, and cause of everything 113 An ancient error 114 What is matter? — Its indestructibility 115 Taught by Plato and Aristotle — St. Augustine on primary matter 116 Atomic theory of Epicurus 117 Objections to Materialism — The atom indemonstrable 118 An infinitude of atoms inconceivable 119 If a definite number, then created 120 The law and order ef their conformation proves an intelligent cause 121 As does their reciprocal dependence 122 Inert matter cannot cause movement 123 And supposes an immaterial first Mover 124 Gravitation cannot cause movement (Newton) 125 Design in organised bodies 126 The life cell, the body in germ 127 Structure of organs predetermined for their special objects 128 Design and natural science 129 Unity of creation and its completion in man, proof of design 130 So also uniformity of species 131 Absurdity of other theories, spontaneous generation abandoned 132 "Omne vivum ex ovo" (Virchow) 133 No primal generating power in nature 134 Chemical changes, which now destroy organic life, could not have produced it 135 The beginning of life a mystery 136 Revival of materialism by Darwinism, in its materialistic sense 137 Objections to Darwinism 139 1. Absence of transitional forms 139 2. Fixity of species 139 3. Identity of primitive and existing types 140 4. Sudden appearance of new groups of species 141 5. Variations of type limited and determined 142 6. Survival of the lowest organisms 144 Mutual completion of exemplars and species 144 7. Various species in the same locality, and the same species in various localities 147 8. Morphological qualities unsusceptible of change; functional the reverse (Nageli) 148 9. Uninherited peculiarities : Neuter ants 149 10. Higher instincts in lower organised animals 150 11. Different instincts in similar organisms, and vice vend 150 12. Independent formation of species, and of organs 151 Rudimentary organs 152 Four typical classes of animals unchanged 152 Injurious effect of exclusive study of natural science 153 God revealed in nature 154 Creation acknowledged by the most eminent naturalists >154 CHAPTER V. PANTHEISM. Pantheism, or all things accidents of the one substance, God 156 Objections: Then things temporal, and yet eternal 157 Finite, and yet infinite. The same substance conscious and unconscious 158 The greater product of the less 159 No individuality 160 Man self-created, eternal 161 Himself, and not himself 162 Necessitated, and yet free 163 Assumptions of pantheism 163 One universal truth, but this is impossible to man on earth 164 Thought and being not identical 165 Neither thought or nature are God, but both have a common first cause 166 "The absolute Reason," but abstract thought non-existent 167 Absolute reason disproved by the diversity and progress of science 168 God, not the one substance of all things 169 God, though infinite, not undetermined 169 God not limited by being defined 170 Lotze, St Thomas, on personality 171 Pantheism destroys God, explains nothing 172 Makes no distinction between good and evil 172 Self-destructive, socialistic 173 A transitional system, leading to materialism, or to Christianity 174 Pius IX. on pantheism 175 Pantheism and the theism of the Greeks and Romans 176 Socrates, Plato 177 Aristotle 178 CHAPTER VI. SOULLESS MAN. Man, according to materialism, a nexus of matter 182 Thought, product of brain 183 Poetry of materialism 184 Its real meaning. Pius IX 18 Alleged proofs of materialism 186 Size of brain determines power of thought 186 The soul "function" of the brain 187 St. Thomas. Faculties many, soul one 188 Brain, condition not cause of thought 190 The soul distinct from its instrument, the brain 191 As seen in the sick and dying 192 And in the insane 193 Man composed of body and soul 194 Materialism confounds the soul with one of its faculties 194 Objections unanswered by materialism Immaterial ideas 195 Personal identity 196 Process of thought imperceptible to sense 197 Mayer, on brain and thought 199 Power of reflection 200 Mistaken theories on the union of the soul and body, which prepared the way for materialism — The Occasionalism of Geulincx 201 Leibnitz' Predetermined Harmonies. Leclerc, Physical Influx 202 CHAPTER VII. MAN, BODY AND SOUL. The soul, self-movement 204 Prop. I. Man has a soul, and is therefore more than matter 205 Organism and mechanism contrasted 206 Soul, act of body 207 Souls, vegetable 208 And animal 209 The rational soul, immediate principle of rational acts ; mediate, through bodily organs, of sensitive and vegetative acts 209 Every organ, even in vegetables, depends on vital principle 210 Nature of an organism 211 Organisms and minerals 212 Life determines matter, not matter life 213 Effects of vital activity, growth* of hair, healing 213 Primary life cell same in all creatures, individualising principle within 214 No argument from lower to higher science 215 "Ex nihilo nihil fit," how far applicable 215 Life unproduceable, though all constituents of living body known 216 Chemical elements in organic and inorganic bodies 217 Sensation, transformed motion, according to Strauss 218 But thought incapable of physical test 219 Motion only generates motion 220 Life imperceptible "in se," perceptible only in its effects 221 Our unity of sensation, though nerves multiple 222 And the body in constant change 224 Prop. II. Man has a rational soul, and is therefore above the brute 225 Erect attitude — Human senses, instruments of thought, develop harmoniously 226 Apprehension of universal truth 227 Mental action independent of body — Power of reflection 228 Free will 230 Instinct and reason contrasted 231 Man develops, brute does not 232 Speech, expression of reason, proper to man alone 233 Prop. III. The soul of man is immortal 233 Subjectively — The soul of man individual, independent of body in its action, and therefore self-subsisting 234 Objectively — His ideas of truth necessary and eternal 235 Soul therefore not necessarily mortal 236 Will God preserve the soul? — Desire of immortality proves that He will 237 For the desire universal, and therefore natural 238 Plato, on the immortality of the soul 239 The desire for happiness also universal, and happiness, to be complete, must be eternal 241 True and false self-love 242 The moral order justified in eternity alone 243 For virtue not its own reward 244 Nor sin its own punishment 245 Stoicism, in denying immortality, false and impossible 246 Virtue good because of its reward 247 Idea of future retribution and reward universal 249 Resurrection of the body 250 By the immortal soul redetermining the matter 251 The resurrection completes Christian dogma and human desire 252 CHAPTER VIII. GOD AND MAN Man's relation to God 255 Not disproved by atheism 256 Expressed by religion 257 Natural religion basis of positive religion 258 Prayer its act 259 Its dignity and necessity 260 Practised by pagan nations — Cultus and culture 262 First man civilised 263 Monotheism, the original religion 264 Idol worship unknown in earliest ages 265 The theism of the Greeks, and of the Indians 267 How St. Augustine ascended from creatures, to find rest in God 268 CHAPTER IX. END OF MAN. Religion an universal law 271 Binds even unconscious nature 272 And thus nature leads to religion 274 Of its revelation — Man the interpreter, sacrificer, and priest 275 Abuse of nature makes man its slave 276 Visible creation to be glorified with man 276 Adoration first act of religion 277 Prayer perfects the soul 278 Petition — Reconciliation — Communion 279 Worship external as well as internal 280 Sacrifice universal 281 Prayer, source of moral life (Dollinger) 282 Religion and morality inseparable 283 For religion, or justice towards God, specifies every other moral act 284 Morals without religion (Kant) really atheism 285 Morals imply a lawgiver 285 Who is God alone 286 Hence religion alone makes the moral law obligatory 287 And denial of morals follows that of religion 288 Without morals, no order or society 289 Plato, Aristotle, St. Justin, in support 290 Hence religion necessary for the State 291 Walter, testimony of 292 Montesquieu 293 Religion embraces the whole man 294 Perfects his mind, will and heart 295 And guides him to his end 295 Index 297 Digitized by Google.

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