cording to Eusebius and Jerome, formerly abounded in this species of interpretation. For later writers unhappily following their too much praised and prevailing example, it has come to pass that men make just what they please of the Scriptures, until some accommodate the word of God to the most extravagant absurdities; and, as Jerome complains of his own times, they extract a sense from Scripture repugnant to its meaning." Hooker says: I hold it for a most infallible rule in expositions of sacred Scripture, that when a literal construction will stand, the farthest from the letter is commonly the worst. There is nothing more dangerous and delusive than that act which changes the meaning of words, as alchemy doth or would the substance of metals; making of anything what it listeth, and bringing in the end all truth to nothing.'

..

Says Richard Watson: "The terms of the record are to be taken in their plain and commonly received sense; figures of speech are to be interpreted with reference to the local peculiarities of the country in which the agents who wrote the record resided; idioms are to be understood according to the genius of the language employed; if any allegorical or mystical discourses occur, the key to them must be sought in the book itself, and not in our own fancies; what is obscure must be interpreted by that which is plain; the scope and tenor of a discourse must be regarded, and no conclusion formed on passages detatched from their context, except they are complete in their sense, or evidently intended as axioms and apothegms.'

$30. TESTS OF TRUTH."

I. All intuitive' and self-evident propositions are to be admitted as facts.

II. Every truth must be examined by its appropriate evidence. There are four general lines of evidence:

1 Annotation on Deut. 1. 2 Eccles. Polity. 3 Inst. Part I., p. 51.

4 I am indebted to Bro. H. W. Bowman for the tests of truth" in sec. 30. 5 Intuition: "Quick perception of truth without conscious attention or reasoning, or the possession of such perception; knowledge from within; instinctive knowledge or feeling."—Standard Dictionary.

(1) Consciousness. All experimental truth is a matter of consciousness. We are conscious of pain, for which there is no evidence but our consciousness.

(2) Senses. The evidences from seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and feeling are a strong order.

(3) Common sense.

This faculty in man is like instinct in the animal. It is the intuitive perception of self-evident facts, or the comprehension of manifest truths, without the process of logical demonstration. Whenever common sense rejects a thing as absurd, the mind refuses to accredit it as true.

(4) Reason. The evidence from reason is not always immediate, hence requires proof by logical deduction. That which outrages reason is unreasonable, hence destitute of proof.

III. In any rational argument, there are certain tests by which truth may be found; among which are the following:

(1) It must be in harmony with universal truth, and the fundamental laws of thought.

(2) It must be supported by direct logical proof from other truth to which it stands related.

(3) Also by the clearness and extent of its harmony with existing facts, and the degree of logical evidence which it receives from those facts.

(4) Its evidence will brighten, as knowledge increases.

(5) When found to harmonize with all to which it stands related, and is sustained by all the direct evidence which the nature of the proposition will allow; it has then the highest logical evidence of truth. If it has none of these evidences, it

cannot be demonstrated as true.

IV. There is no rational method of disproving any self-evident or common-sense proposition.

The following samples of intuitive facts are offered as proof: (1) Something exists. The denial of this proposition would prove it to be true. First, the denier exists. Second, his denial exists. Third, the thing he denies exists. Fourth, the one who made the statement exists; therefore, something exists.

(2) A thing cannot be different or distinct from itself. Proof: An apple cannot be an orange, or a horse a man. Whatever is required to constitute it what it is, it must retain to remain what it is. A thing cannot remain whole and be divided into parts.

(3) It is impossible for the same thing at the same time to exist and yet not exist. Proof: While it is existent it is not nonexistent; and is not in existence when it has ceased to be existent. A man cannot be both dead and alive at the same time. The soul cannot be capable of thinking. independently of the body, and yet be dependent upon the bodily senses for all its thoughts.

(4) That which does not exist can neither act nor be acted upon. Proof: The actor must exist before his action. No being can create itself. Absolute non-existence cannot be the author of actual existence. Therefore, if ever there was a time when there was nothing, it would have been impossible for any being to exist. Hence, the First Cause is necessarily self-existent and eternal. That which has been from eternity was never created or made; and consequently, that which was created or made was not from eternity, for it had a beginning.

(5) Every effect must have a cause, and the cause must be adequate to produce the effect. Proof: The cause must possess power fully equal to the effect; for the effect cannot be greater than the cause, or the cause inferior to the effect. The fact that effect depends upon the cause, is the proof of the proposition. That which is caused, or has a cause, is an effect. And if a cause must be assigned for a cause, every cause is an effect; which is absurd. Therefore, the humau will may be a cause and not be caused. Hence, when it is asked, why cannot omnipotent power prevent man's sin? it is the same as inquiring, why cannot God cause our actions and we be the cause of our own actions? (6) Every proposition, which can be expressed or apprehended, is necessarily either true or false. To prove one true is to prove that the opposite is false.

(7) We judge things by their properties, or things are according to their properties. Proof: Take away the properties, quantities or attributes of a thing, and it ceases to be what it was. Take away life, and the living being has ceased to be. Hence, life must be judged by its phenomena.

(8) There are such things as natural impossibilities. Proof: A part cannot be greater than the whole; the less cannot contain the greater. There cannot be a round square, or a triangular cube. A stick cannot be perfectly straight and very crooked at the same time.

(9) Words represent or stand for something, or have a meaning. A definition of terms used in a controversy is necessary for a complete comprehension of the subject.

(10) There is such a thing as succession. Succession exists in nature and in revelation. God cannot be ignorant of what he has created. But he has created succession. Therefore he is not ignorant of succession. But where there is succession, an eternal now is an impossibility. If there can be succession in God's acts without lessening or increasing his omnipotence; there may be succession in his thoughts without lessening or increasing his omniscience.

§ 31. ULTIMATE' PRINCIPLES."

Says the able minister, John H. McMahon, translator of Aristotle's Metaphysics from the Greek, and Senior Moderator in the University of Dublin, and Gold Medalist in logic and ethics: There are "certain ultimate principles which must be assumed as the basis of all reasoning, only, as such, are themselves undemonstrable." 3

1 Ultimate: "" Beyond which there is none other; last of a series; final." -Standard Dictionary.

2 Principle: "A source or cause from which a thing proceeds; a power that acts continuously or uniformly; a permanent or fundamental cause that naturally or necessarily produces certain results." "That which is inherent in any thing determing its nature; essential character; essence."—Standard Dictionary.

3 Translation of Aristotle's, Metaphysics, p. 105. Note. Bohn's Classical Library, No. 80, 1857.

As in mathematics, so in physics, metaphysics, philosophy, science, eschatology, and Bible theology; there are "certain ultimate principles" which are the foundation of all correct knowledge. When these are understood, and properly applied, they assist us in establishing the truth' and exposing error. The following are samples:

1. Whatever is supported by one fact is also supported by all other facts relating to that subject.

2. Whatever is opposed by one fact is also opposed by all other facts relating to that subject.

3. All truth and facts are harmonious and infallible.

4. It is impossible to speak the truth and contradict a fact. 5. All reasoning against facts is false.

6. It is impossible for two facts or truths to contradict each other.

3

7. Every thing is either material or immaterial."

8. All material things are compounds having weight and other attributes."

9. All immaterial things are simples, having neither weight nor attributes.

1 Truth: "The state or character of being true as respects being, knowledge, or speech. Specifically: (1) Conformity to fact or reality, past, present, or future. (2) Conformity to rule, standard, model, pattern, or ideal. (3) Conformity to the requirements of one's being or nature; steadfastness; sincerity."-Standard Dictionary.

2 Fact: " Any thing that is done or comes to pass; an act or deed; an effect produced or result achieved; an event; also any thing regarded as actually existent, whether it be an object, event, condition, or relation, and whether material or mental; reality; actuality; especially, something concrete as opposed to truth regarded as abstract."- Standard Dictionary.

3 Thing: 1. "Whatever exists, or is conceived to exist, as a separate entity, whether animate or inanimate; any separable or distinguishable object of thought.... 2. "An inanimate object, in distinction from a living being; any lifeless material."-Webster.

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4 Material: Consisting of matter; not spiritual, corporeal, physical; as material substance, material bodies."—Webster.

5 Immaterial: "Not consisting of matter; incorporeal; spiritual; disembodied."-Webster.

6 Weight: "The quality of being heavy; that property of bodies by which they tend towards the center of the earth."-Webster.

7 Attribute:

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A quality which is considered as belonging to, or inherent in, a person or thing; an essential or necessary property or characteristic." -Webster.