Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION
- PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION
- BOOK FIRST GENERAL VIEW OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT AS FITTED TO THROW LIGHT ON THE CHARACTER OF GOD
- CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
- CHAPTER II GENERAL ASPECT OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT; PHENOMENA PRESENTED BY THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD, AND THE CONSCIENCE OF MAN, THOUGH COMMONLY OVERLOOKED
- CHAPTER III THE ACTUAL WORLD, AND THE VIEW WHICH IT GIVES OF ITS GOVERNOR
- BOOK SECOND PARTICULAR INQUIRY INTO THE METHOD OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT IN THE PHYSICAL WORLD
- BOOK THIRD PARTICULAR INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF THE HUMAN MIND THROUGH WHICH GOD GOVERNS MANKIND
- BOOK FOURTH RESULTS—THE RECONCILIATION OF GOD AND MAN
- APPENDIX ON FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES
- REFERENCES TO AUTHORS AND SYSTEMS
CHAPTER I - INTRODUCTION
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 August 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION
- PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION
- BOOK FIRST GENERAL VIEW OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT AS FITTED TO THROW LIGHT ON THE CHARACTER OF GOD
- CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
- CHAPTER II GENERAL ASPECT OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT; PHENOMENA PRESENTED BY THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD, AND THE CONSCIENCE OF MAN, THOUGH COMMONLY OVERLOOKED
- CHAPTER III THE ACTUAL WORLD, AND THE VIEW WHICH IT GIVES OF ITS GOVERNOR
- BOOK SECOND PARTICULAR INQUIRY INTO THE METHOD OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT IN THE PHYSICAL WORLD
- BOOK THIRD PARTICULAR INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF THE HUMAN MIND THROUGH WHICH GOD GOVERNS MANKIND
- BOOK FOURTH RESULTS—THE RECONCILIATION OF GOD AND MAN
- APPENDIX ON FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES
- REFERENCES TO AUTHORS AND SYSTEMS
Summary
SECT. I.—SOURCES OF OUR IDEA OF GOD.
Suppose that the sun, rising and setting as at present, had been perpetually hid from the eye by an intervening cloud or shade which concealed his body without obstructing his beams, there might still have been an universal impression that a great luminary existed as the cause of the light which daily illuminated our globe. Different persons might have fixed on different objects as reflecting the light of heaven most impressively; some on the fleecy or gilded clouds; others on the lively verdure of the grass and forests, or on the cerulean ocean, or on the rich grain of autumn glistening in the yellow beams; but all would have rejoiced to conclude, that there was a sun behind the veil.
Though God is invisible to the bodily eye—though he is, as it were, behind a veil—yet the idea of his existence is pressed on the mind from a variety of quarters. Were it not so, the apprehension of, and belief in, a supernatural power or being would not be so universally entertained. The mind which refuses the light that comes from one region, is obliged to receive the light that comes from another quarter of the heavens or earth. It may be interesting to trace to its sources the most important conception which the human mind can form.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Method of the Divine GovernmentPhysical and Moral, pp. 1 - 25Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009First published in: 1850