PREFACE. HE who would expect to find in the following pages a body of Scientific or Religious Truth would look in vain. In this 'Groundwork of Belief' the writer has rather endeavoured to indicate methods and principles than to establish conclusions. How we think appears to him as important as what we think. To think in the right way, and to think of the right things, will probably lead us to right results. Moreover, he has been sincerely desirous to keep individual opinion, and even individual belief, however strongly or earnestly held, in the background. He has been anxious to encourage the studentlike spirit of enquiry, and to repress the authoritative utterances of dogmatism; and it would seem out of place, at least in the present treatise, to lay down the law on great and difficult questions, such as the nature of Christ, the doctrine of the atonement, the efficacy of prayer, the nature of the life to come, the doctrine of free-will, or the origin of evil. It is better to be pronounced ignorant, or doubtful, than to incur the charge of absolutism. But on one point it appears to the writer impossible to speak too strongly-the pre-eminent claims of right conduct. One thing is needful,' says our Lord, and no doubt the 'one thing' is the attitude of love, trust, reverence, and obedience, due from children to their father. This 'one thing' implies, as a natural corollary, brotherhood, and sacrifice of self for others. All opinions, or dogmas, which militate against this attitude of mind and heart, are mere words 'spoken into the air,' if not worse. Orthodoxy shall fail, and heterodoxy shall fail, but charity never faileth. And while the orthodox Christian is proclaiming 'We have Christ to our Saviour,' let him not forget that of the very stones-of infidels, and freethinkers, and men of other religious systems-God is able to raise up true servants and disciples unto Christ. Not everyone that saith 'Lord, Lord,' but he that doeth righteousness, according to the light given him, shall enter into the Kingdom of God-into the house of the Father which hath 'many mansions,' 'prepared ' for them that do His will, though they do not follow Jesus. This treatise, so far as it is devoted to religious ends, is not intended for the unorthodox, but for the orthodox. Arguments which might be of weight with 'infidels' have been omitted. On the other hand, an attempt has been made to show how small is the importance of many of the religious controversies which divide men, generally into eager, often into angry opponents. In all disputes let steady reference be made to the one thing needful. Do not ask whether a man is a Christian or a Mohammedan, a Romanist or a Protestant, a Churchman or a Nonconformist, but whether his doctrine conduces to right life, to good citizenship, to noble actions, to surrender of the heart to a good and wise Father. If this be so, the doctrine is of God, and do not let us be found fighting against God. For it appears to the writer that there is much unconscious and ignorant 'fighting against God' just now on the part of the orthodox. Deeply as he regrets a good deal in the tendencies of 'modern thought,' with its new 'platforms,' and new phraseology, and new points of departure, he regrets still more the exclusive spirit and narrow platform of the orthodox, and anticipates the greatest danger for the people, for the educated, and for the Church of the faithful, if our religious leaders and teachers cannot enlarge the horizon of their sympathies and beliefs. Therefore to them specially he addresses himself. The aim of the present 'inquiry' is mainly religious. It has been, however, a part of the writer's scheme to pursue this inquiry into other branches of human interest besides religion. Hence the three chapters on General Primary Axioms, on the Sciences, and on the Arts. The object has been to show, in each case, how small is the substratum of known truth, and how tentative, frequently, are the methods of arriving at conclusions. But if, even in these more certain and exact branches of human knowledge, where the dictates and impulses of passion are least obtruded, there is so much need of caution, and docility, and the chastened restraint of the imagination, how much more will these be necessary in the case of religion, where the axioms are least assured, and the course of calm reasoning so greatly subject to the control and interference of individual opinion. The writer, in conclusion, desires to express his thanks to Dr. Abbott, Head Master of the City of London School; to the Rev. T. B. Rowe, Head Master of Tonbridge School; and to his colleague, the Rev. G. Christian, not less due to them where they differ from him, than in the many points of agreement, for their kind suggestions and advice in revising this work for publication. |