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particular event. The thought of a particular event leads to a thought of its cause; but we must not mistake the fact of its suggesting a cause for the fact of its involving one.

Dr. Hodge regards not only the scriptures, but also history, as showing that the knowledge of God is so universal as to prove it innate. That the divine existence is perceived intuitively he attempts to prove by alleging the fact that it "is one of those truths which reveal themselves to every human mind;" that it belongs to " a class of truths so plain that they never fail to reveal themselves to the human mind." He remarks: "Hence the criteria of those truths which are accepted as axioms, and which are assumed in all reasoning, and the denial of which renders all faith and all knowledge impossible, are universality and necessity. What all [men] believe, and what all men must believe, is to be assumed as undeniably true. These criteria, indeed, include each other. If a truth be universally admitted, it must be because no man can rationally call it in question. And if it be a matter of necessary belief, it must be accepted by all who possess the nature out of the constitution of which the necessity arises" (I.193,194). Dr. Hodge, then, is discussing the question, not whether the belief in God is intuitive to some men, but whether it is intuitive to all men (I. 193). In answering the objection " that travellers and missionaries report the existence of some tribes so degraded that they could discover in them no traces of this knowledge" of God, Dr. Hodge says: "Even if the fact be admitted that such tribes have no idea of God, it would not be conclusive. Should a tribe of idiots be discovered, it would not prove that reason is not an attribute of our nature. If any community should come to light in which infanticide was universal, it would not prove that parental love was not one of the instincts of humanity" (I. 196, 197). Here we remark, first, that Dr. Hodge is inconsistent with himself. He is attempting to show that the knowledge of God is intuitive, in the sense that it never fails to reveal itself to the human mind (I. 193). Can it be intuitive in this sense, if it does fail to reveal itself to whole tribes of men? He says: "When it is asked whether the existence of God is an intuitive truth, the question is equivalent to asking whether the belief in his existence is universal and necessary" (I. 194). On this principle, if we answer the second question by asserting that the belief in God's existence is not universal, our assertion is equivalent to answering the first question by asserting that the belief is not intuitive.

We remark, secondly, that Dr. Hodge confounds one statement with another. He confounds the question whether all men do believe immediately in the Divine existence, with the question whether they have the faculty for thus believing. The inquiry whether all men do exercise the faculty of reason is entirely distinct from the inquiry whether they have the faculty. The question whether all men actually exercise the parental sensibility is different from the question whether all men possess the

sensibility. If he attempts to prove that all men possess this sensibility by asserting that all men exercise it, this last assertion would not be valid, provided that whole tribes of men do not exercise it. If he attempts to prove that all men possess the faculty of reason by asserting that all men exercise it, this last assertion would not be justifiable, proIvided that whole tribes of men do not exercise it. On the same principle, if he attempts to prove that all men have the faculty for an immediate perception of God, and to prove this by asserting that all men do perceive God immediately, this assertion would not be allowable, provided that whole tribes of men have no idea of God at all. Dr. Hodge is professedly discussing the question, whether all men have the innate idea of a deity; but he sometimes wanders into the other question, whether all men have the faculty for gaining this idea. He ought to be engaged in proving that the knowledge of God is universal, and therefore results from the very constitution of our nature; but sometimes he inverts the proposition, and asserts "that the knowledge of God results from the very constitution of our nature, and is therefore universal." (I. 196). The universality of the belief he makes an inference from the fact that it is intuitive; but he professes to be proving that the universality of the belief is an argument for the fact that the belief is intuitive. We remark, thirdly, that Dr. Hodge seems to be reasoning on the principle that the universality of a belief is not only a sign but a sure sign that the belief is intuitive. There are various beliefs, however, which are universal, and yet founded solely on argument. The mere universality of a belief is one sign, but is not an infallible sign that the belief is a fundamental law of the mind. In order to be an infallible sign, the belief must be shown to arise in all men before or without their perception of an argument for it; therefore, to arise as early and as uniformly as the nature of the mind at different periods

allows.

III. Let us next inquire whether Dr. Hodge has shown that the belief in the divine existence is so necessary as to prove it to be innate. Το the question whether the existence of God is a truth "to which the mind cannot refuse its assent," is "forced to assent"; a truth in which “no man can possibly disbelieve," which exists "of necessity" in every human mind, he gives an affirmative answer. Still he admits it to be "possible that the moral nature of a man may be so disorganized by vice, or by a false philosophy, as to have its testimony for the existence of God effectually silenced." He adds: "This, however, would prove nothing as to what that testimony really is" (I. 198). But if it be possible for a man to withold all testimony in favor of this truth, how can it be necessary for him to give the testimony? Dr. Hodge may reply: "The denial is forced, and can only be temporary." But how long may it continue? Why not during a man's entire life? If one man can thus remain through life without a knowledge of God, why cannot a whole tribe of men? Dr.

Hodge says that, "the probability is" in favor of a universal belief in God (I. 197). Therefore he can only say that the probability is in favor of a necessary universal belief in God. He derives this probability from an inadequate premise. Speaking of tribes who are reported to have no idea of a Deity, he says: "Unless such people show that they have no sense of right and wrong, no consciousness of responsibility for character and conduct, there is no evidence that they have no knowledge of such a being as God" (I. 197). He has failed to show that this "sense of right,” and this "consciousness of responsibility" involve the knowledge of God; and if they do result in it, he has failed to show that they result in it necessarily; and if they result in it necessarily he has failed to show that this necessity is a sure sign of the knowledge being innate; for he says or implies: It may be very true" that "there are many things which children and illiterate persons learn and can hardly avoid learning, which need not be referred to the constitution of their nature" (I. 199).

We agree with Dr. Hodge in thinking that the belief in some kind of a deity is universal, but we do not regard it as uniform in all men so as to prove the belief to be intuitive. We agree with him in thinking that the belief is necessary in certain conditions of the mind, but we do not regard it as unconditionally necessary so as to prove it to be intuitive. We differ from him in his main position that we are conscious of believing without proving that there is a God; and we think that in the general course of his discussion he first assumes that we do believe this truth without reasoning in favor of it; secondly, he infers that such an unreasoning belief is universal and necessary; thirdly, he uses his own inference as an argument to prove that we believe the truth without reasoning in favor of it.

It is, of course, unfair to pronounce any unfavorable opinion of a work until that work is finished. The parts which are to appear may modify those which have appeared already. The two volumes of Dr. Hodge's Theology which have been thus far published contain the Introduction, in six chapters; Part I., Theology proper, in thirteen chapters; Part II., Anthropology, in nine chapters; Part III. Soteriology in fourteen chapters. We look for the third volume with much interest, and have no doubt that it will be well stored with sterling thought. It is certainly an encouraging sign that a work involving so much thorough discussion is so well patronized by the public. If a larger number of such volumes emanated from the American press we should hear no more of our age as a superficial one, and of our country as one abandoned to material interests.

ARTICLE XI.

NOTICES OF RECENT PUBLICATIONS.

ENGLISH AND AMERICAN WORKS.

THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE, BISHOP OF HIPPO. A new Translation, Edited by the Rev. Marcus Dods, M.A. Volumes I. and II. The City of God; translated by Rev. Marcus Dods. Volume III. Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy; translated by the Rev. J. R. King, M.A., Vicar of St. Peters in the East, Oxford; and late Fellow and Tutor of Merton College, Oxford. Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark; New York: Scribner, Welford, and Armstrong. 1871-72. The history of the doctrines of the church cannot be thoroughly learned without a careful attention to the writings of Augustine. If one will acquaint himself with the forms of religious doctrine and also of Pagan philosophy which prevailed before and during the age of Augustine, and if one, in the light of this antecedent as well as of contemporaneous history, will examine in the original all the works of that Father, and give the results of his study to the world, one will do more than has ever been done yet, more than can be done in any other way, for elucidating the history of doctrines as they have been held since the Augustinian epoch. A young man, intending to devote his days to dogmatic history, can serve his generation far better by devoting them to this fundamental study of the writings of Augustine than by extending his studies over the whole body of patristic literature. The writings of this father are not yet understood; are often misunderstood. Many of the errors in regard to him result from misapprehending the systems of Aristotle, Plato, and the other philosophers who before Augustine's day had exerted an influence on the theology of the church. To acquaint one's self with these philosophical systems and with their bearings upon the theology of Augustine and his predecessors, and then to give a fair and comprehensive view of Augustine's opinions, in their various mutations and phases, would be the labor of a long life. It is a labor, however, which few men, if any, will undertake. The professed students of Augustine confine themselves either to the thorough examination of select parts of his works, or to a superficial examination of them all. For our theologians in general it is doubtless better to examine carefully a few of his best treatises, than to read cursorily the larger part of his works. To those who do not make the writings of this church Father a specialty, the translation of them into the English language is a convenience. His Homilies and his Confessions have been extensively circulated among English readers. His City of God is nearly as well

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known as his Confessions. Every well educated minister regards it as a treasure. Augustine's writings in connection with the Donatist Controversy are less familiar to our pastors. They deserve, however, to be studied. It was by the writings of Augustine, more, perhaps, than by any other single cause, that the Donatist schism. was checked. The present new translations of the works of this Father will commend the works to the English reader. They are printed in an attractive style, on a fair octavo page. The Messieurs Clark, to whose publishing house we are indebted for these volumes, as well as for many others invaluable to our clergy, intend to publish in the autumn the first volume of Augustine's Letters, his Treatises against Faustus the Manichaean, etc. etc.

A GUIDE TO READING THE HEBREW TEXT; for the Use of Beginners. By the Rev. W. H. Vibbert, M.A., Professor of Hebrew in the Berkeley Divinity School. 8vo. pp. viii. and 67. Andover: W. F. Draper. 1872. One of the cheering signs of the times is the increasing study of the language of the Old Testament scriptures; and books which really facilitate this study are to be cordially greeted. The "Guide," by Professor Vibbert, is eminently of this character, and the student who follows its guidance cannot fail to read the Hebrew text with ease, certainty, and fluency. One thing only is taught at a time, and that with such clearness and fulness of illustration that there is no escape from understanding it completely. The capacity for reading the Hebrew text has probably not been generally required for admission to our theological schools, simply because of the difficulty of its attainment without a teacher. After entering upon a regular theological course, but a part of the student's time can be given to Hebrew, and the drudgery of learning to read drags along with weary tediousness to both teacher and pupil, with a probability of its being imperfectly accomplished at last. By the aid of this little book the difficulty may be perfectly overcome beforehand, and our seminaries will certainly gain by making it a requisite for admission. At the close are ten pages of Hebrew text from Genesis, printed with the utmost clearness and accuracy; and this is followed by an appendix of a few pages, giving, with admirable brevity and clearness, rules for the formation of the verb, together with the characteristics of the various parts of the verb, noun, and suffixes, with a page of hints for finding words in the lexicon. The type and paper of the whole leave nothing to be desired.

BIBLICO-THEOLOGICAL LEXICON OF NEW TESTAMENT GREEK. By Hermann Cremer, Professor of Theology in the University of Griefswald. Translated from the German, by D. W. Simon, Ph. D., and William Urwick, M.A. 8vo. pp. 635. Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark; New York: Scribner, Welford, and Armstrong.

It is a great convenience for the English scholar to have a Greek die

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