The being of God : moral government and theses in theology

Front matter

». we gt the Gheologicns Sry PRINCETON, N. J.

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Presented a Dr. F. L. Patten,

Introduction

Moral science, among the ultimate studies of the human mind. How its study has been extended. Its obligation to European scholars. Theology yet an immature science, and stands in need of an advanced moral science..... 47

Chapter I. Preliminary Considerations

[a] There are two spheres of existence—the physical and the intellectual. How distinguished. Should be looked at in the concrete. [6] The physical, except as related to the spiritual, is excluded from present inquiry. [ce] Of spirit,

ANALYSIS. Vil there are two spheres—the infinite and the finite. The latter, dependent on the former. We may know that that is, which we cannot comprehend. [d] The finite is. [e] The finite suggests the infinite. [/]'The infinite is cause. [g] Only intelligence is cause. [h] God is intelligent cause. [2] God is a perfect intelligent cause. [7] The infinite and the finite are related to each other, and certain rights, duties, &c., grow out of their mutual relations. [k] The GUAT: OLATNG PUL OGOCH ala «ie a ono Siw. 4 01 0.r0seid la ain dia oaapstare 49

Chapter II. Moral Government—what It Is

[a] Two kinds of government—physical and moral. 12] The nature, adaptations and limits of the first. [ce] Moral governmeut correlates with intelligence, [d] Why called moral. [e] Its characteristics. [/] In its probationary stage it is an economy of moral influences—subjective and objective. [g] In this stage it is resistible. [hk] Here the supremacy of God is resultant and eventual in the sphere of free-will. Finite cause has its province of freedom. [z] The will of God may not always transpire, and that may be which God in no sense wills. [7] Moral Government may be abused. [k] A divine moral system is a perfection. [2] The correlates of Moral Government.... 53

CHAPTER II.

MORAL GOVERNMENT—WHERE IT IS.

|a] The Being of God is the source of Moral Government. b] God as an infinite and absolute personality is the rightful source of authority. [ce] God, a Power competent to rule. [d] Created intelligence, fitted to appreciate and obey him. 13 The existence of God and of created intelligent beings being given, moral Government of course is. [f/f] The Divine moral system not a choice of systems, but a divine perfection. [g] The subject argued subjectively. [%] A failure in results at any point could not lead to an abandonment of the system. [7] Moral Government has mutual adaptation. [j] It is an inherent excellency. [] Its ultimate triumph and glory... 57

Vill ANALYSIS.

Chapter IV. Moral Government—how Administered

[a] It is in the sphere of the supernatural. [6] It is in the commerce of mind and truth. [ce] It is a sphere of duties and of rights. [d] It involves rewards and_ penalties. fe] It is a sphere of free-will. [| /] It provides legitimately for character and destiny. [g] It has probation and retribution. [f] Its method is by the administration of law, in a three-fold way. [z] An economy of grace may intervene. [7| This last may be a wisdom and a glory.

k| The demands of morality must thereby be sustained. 1] The administration of: moral government will be a morality, and also a finality... 2.2000 se cece eens 90 60

Chapter V. Moral Government—the Relations Of The Infinite To It

{a] The authorship of the created. Time defined. The only method of creation is that which is revealed. [0d] Sustentation of the created. Derived existence must be dependent. Derived intelligence is nevertheless a cause in itself in its own sphere. Matter and mind are sustained according to the nature of each. |c] The Divine right to the creation. [d] God’s complete authority in respect to it. Adaptations of Divine rule. Le] Supremacy over it, righteous. How maintained. udgment—general and particular. [g] Final allotments to the righteous and $0 EO WECKOU..5. 5/2 5+ «tue ud sole atneiels > heal pinem eee 63

Chapter VI. Moral Government—relations Of The Finite To It

[a2] Moral relations apply to intelligent beings only. [d] erived intelligences owe allegiance to Divine Moral Government. [c] Specific forms of duty involved in this allegiance. |[d] Unity of the first and second Tables of the Law. [e] Relations to God, how modified by the apostasy. No divine right abrogated,...........06. 67

ANALYSIS. ix

Chapter VII. The Rule Of Moral Government

The Bible presents its subjects of thought mostly in the concrete form. All human study attended with imperfection. Theology and religious creeds, how modified, and liable to mistakes. The Bible and its philosophy. Moral Science is inclusive of Theology, and is still a progressive science. It involves three topics—the ultimate moral rule, the characteristics of a moral system, and the ultimate end of a moral administration................ 70

I. The ultimate Moral Rule.—Objective and subjective theories. Mistake on the rule is fundamental. [1] It cannot be an acquisition properly. It must be inherent. Analogy with the five senses. Reference to the brute creation. [2] The Rule is substantive in its nature—it is in us and of us. Indispensable to personality. The moral sense is a unique attribute, like reason, &c. It has its prototype in the Infinite. It is homogeneous in God, Angel, and Man. Differences in its dictates accounted for. The proyince of instruction. Difficulty in the application of the Rule. [8] The ultimate Rule is moral in its nature, and has respect to moral relations. Demands rectitude. Wisdom and beneficence of God in bestowing this Rule [or moral sense.] Necessity of a perfect standard of 1G A heh ae I 7 i tt gt Pe ARE AIG MORO ESEADE 72

Chapter VIII. Application Of The Moral Rule

Moral Government relates to those who have reason, conscience, and free-will. [1] It respects intelligent beings. [2] It has respect to the question of responsibility in those to whom it relates. [8] Its function is at the point of voluntary action and its issues. [4] It claims a perfect righteousness. [5] It is in itself and its principle a righteousness. [6] It must also be an appreciable righteousness. It must exhibit no complicity with wrong. The difficulty with God’s earthly unfinished Providence. The philosophy of history. The teachings of our intuitions conformed to a divine moral government. [7] Moral Goyernment has Probation and Retribution. Probation may be that of Law or of Grace. Retribution, inherent in x ANALYSIS.

moral government. [8] Under moral government that may occur which is every way discordant with its design. The possibility of wrong. That feature of a moral government which renders sin possible, is its excellency and glory. [9] The Supremacy of God is of the nature of a resultant issue. The freedom of the finite in its sphere is like the freedom of the infinite in his. Purposes have a personal reference—to one’s own acts. The governmental supremacy of God over finite will is necessarily indirect. [10] Moral Government has discretion over the amount of means it will employ for recovering men from sin. Sin is in no sense according to the will of God. Merey\is not obligatory?) ov. Vac. esa decane ses, eee 85

Chapter IX. The End In Moral Government

Important to settle the true end in a moral system. Different theories designed to reconcile the facts of the universe with the demands of morality. [1] Is happiness the ultimate end? It is so in physical and sentient existence, but not in the sphere of moral relations. Objections to the theory that happiness is the ultimate end in the latter. An appeal to our conscious convictions; also to scripture. [2] Is the glory of God the ultimate end? Objections to this view. It imputes selfishness to God. It regards all beings beside God as merely a means, and reduces men to the condition of things. It deprives us of respect for God. 'To make one’s happiness or glory an ultimate end, must be accounted an unworthiness. This principle, applicable alike to the Infinite and the Finite. [8] Is then the greatest good the ultimate end in moral action? The phrase is equivocal. [4| What is the ultimate end? 1. It is of the nature of morality. 2. It is a spiritual rectitude. Righteousness is an ultimate thing—the highest good— and the true principle on which moral government should be administered. In what lies the glory of God?.... 102

Obvious Conclusions~-~[1] The unity and simplicity of the principles of the moral sphere and of their legitimate action. [2] A divine moral Government is appreciable by the finite. The character of God must be perfect, and seen to be so. God is not the proponent of sin as a part of

ANALYSIS, x1 the Divine plan. [3] The good which follows wrong is through opposition to it. All good in relation to it, is in remedy of it and in repair of its evils. [4] There is no good reason for the existence of sin—none that can satisfy God. If there be, what absurdities will follow. [5] God has a discretionary sovereignty, within the limits of all righteousness, in his treatment of sin. He is: not responsible for sin or its mischiefs. His antagonism to it. God, not obliged always to do all he can to prevent sin or to remedy it. [6] The terms of a Divine glory out of sin. The conditions upon which alone glory can be ascribed to Him for his methods with sin. [7] The harmony of moral truth as seen in its theoretic statement and in its development. The appropriate aim and great duty of man.. 102

Chapter X. Moral Government—its Consummation

[a] Two kingdoms—that of right, and that of wrong. These, every way antagonistic to each other. [e¢] This antagonism appears with various results in the probationary stage of the economy. [d]| The final success of the right, and why. [e] Divine power in retribution, not suasory and resistible in its methods. [] Divine communications on the subject. [g] Final state of the unrecovered—physicaland moral. [|] Final state of the righteous. Heaven as a place and as a state. [7] Perpetuity of the state of the lost and of the saved. To form character and reap destiny, the all of a moral system. [7] The number of the lost, not ascertainable. The resources and influences of moral government increase with the progress of the ages. Confirmation of the good in holiness. |x] Final relations of Christ to the universe. 4 The influence of the ‘<‘Divine-human” on other orders of creation....... 129

Chapter XI. ' Morag Government—as Related To The Glory Of God

| Created intelligences are needful to bestow it. [e]

“I Glory, a tribute rendered rather than an end sought. b elf-respect and due regard to one’s reputation a legitixu ANALYSIS.

mate principle in a moral system. [d] The glory of God lies essentially in his righteousness, [e] Hence the basis ef the divine glory as seen in all his works in the universe. [f/f] The glory of a moral system. [g] The glory ofthe moral aniverse?.. 60% 6.5). ole iss os meen 134

Chapter XII. Moral Government—as Related To The Highest Good

{aj Two ends may be contemplated in a moral system—a happiness, and a righteousness. These, how distinguished. |b] The two may not always be antagonistical. [ce] Happiness as an end is proper only when consistent with

rigateousness. [d@] Happiness is the subordinate end— anid consequent upon right action. [e] This is the order as consistent with conscious activities of mind. [/] Happiness in moral beings is properly an incidental ares mt Inherent in the good that lies in right action. : highest good is “moral goodness or Stine [7] Writers have sought to combine both ends in one. . 137

Chapter XIII. Moral Government—as Related To The Intellectual Powers

[a] Two forms of being—the physical and the intellectual. [5] The intellectual embraces the cognitive, sensitive, and voluntary element. [c] Likeness of the Divine and of the human intellect. How shown. [d] The adaptation of man’s intellectual powers (including the intellect proper, the conscience and the will,) to the methods of moral government. [e| Moral Government, adapted to promote growth of mind and knowledge. [/] All virtue and excellenes.ta possible to. mind»... 4. crimes tsepil ie ew 5 140

Chapter XIV. Moral Government—as Related To Human Ability

ia} Two spheres of being—the natural, and the supernatural, io] The first is simple effect; the second is inherent cause,

ANALYSIS. XU

[c] Finite intelligence though dependent for its being, is conscious cause like its Author. How this appears. [d] The subdivision into natural and moral ability, unphilosophical. [e] To the sovereignty of personal will moral government is adapted.......... dissec Datdid’a, 4 taint Ae ree ©

Chapter XV. Moral Government—as Related To The Prevention Of Sin

[a] Where God and created beings are, there is moral government. [6b] The nature, capabilities and results of moral government. [cj Hence appears its glory. [d] All intelligence has its prerogatives. [e| Sin, in wrong choice, is an inherent liability in a moral system. [7] How sin will first occur. [g] Sin, having commenced, will follow the laws of habit. Original sin described. [h] Moral government supposes a lability to sin. Irrelevant to ask why is not all sin prevented. [7] The character of God is not implicated in the breaking out of sin. Sin is against the will, and without the permission of God. |7] The origin of sin, fully accounted for in the doctrine of personal cause. Sin, not to be resolved into the ‘‘the secret will of God.” [k] Moral Government has more resources for the cure and putting down of sin than for its utter prevention at first. How sin occurs at first. Mind and truth are correlates. The gospel is true, and must make progress. [7] Sin would not be likely to occur except in the outset of a moral economy. It is the offspring of inexperience, &c. Practice in virtue gives confirmation. Examples. [mm] Sin is no co-ordinate, but only a possible alternative of a moral system. [mn] Sin is no matter of Divine arrangement or decree. Sin is no strategy of the Deity—for three reasons. 2] God will bring good out of evil. [p]The conditions of this. [g] As sin is a liability, when it occurs it may be treated providentially and judicially for the good of the universe. [7] Moral government will at last succeed against sin in the way of retyribution. [s] Moral Government in its actual sway and command may never be universal over freewill. Lost spirits in hell will not in temper be subdued. [¢] The number of the lost will probably in the end be comparatively few. [wu] God infinitely happy, notwithstanding the existence Of SiD,.,........ a eal SFT TTANE va eee Oh OWE 174 xiv ANALYSIS.

Chapter XVII. Moral Government—as Related To Christian Doctrines

I. Depravity and natural state.—Apostasy vacated the economy of legal obedience. Induced a propensity to sin. The primary seat of depravity, the will. The constituent elements of our being continue with us notwithstanding the fall. Proclivity to evil may be inherited—the fruit of disobedience. Proclivity is only a temptation to sin, the indulgence of it is sin. ‘‘ Native Depravity” as a state. Depravity as a life and a responsibility. ‘‘ Total” or entire ‘‘ Depravity.” How moral government regards sinful PLT eae ae aegis ps SRA err hacienda) Srp arly ky 184

II. Regeneration.—May be regarded as a state or an act or work done. These described. This work has its divine and its human side, and relations. The philosophy of regeneration. Divine help necessary. In regeneration, no new faculty communicated. We are conscious of no influence but in view of truth. A new habit or proclivity is formed. Regeneration, not a miracle, but an intelligent and accountable process of mind. This change is ditly required (Of U8 cha Wuiss s Seek Cae see ee 187

III. Justification.—Necessity of an atonement. The sinner cannot be justified on ground of personal merit. A sense of our demerit is inevitable. The divine and the human side of justification. It is next in order to repentance and faith. The meritorious ground of it. Rescue, by substituted suffering. Atonement need not be the same in kind or duration with the penalty. It may be more than a bare equivalence for the penalty of law...... 190

IV. Sanctification.—Regeneration continued and perfected— a progressive victory over sin—a process of activity in us and by us—under the guidance of truth and the spirit of God—a self-confirming process—an intelligent PTOCESS...04. TPT eee eee hos ALTER eat atiatere ekendo

ANALYSIS. XV

V. Perseverance of Saints.—Definition. The result of the preceding process. How opposed. How effected. How the result is expedited. Arguments in favor. Confirmation and perpetuity in a given course become the law Of mind eventually, 2. hei tee eee ls cece ess ee wees 195

VI. Reprobation.—Probation and retribution essential. Persistence in wrong eventually forbids reformation. Reprobation as a divine act explained. The condition of the lost irremediable. To God an unwelcome result..... 196

Vil. Final State of the Lost.—That of confirmed rebellion, despondency, remorse. That of physical control and confinement, and punishment. That of increasing depravity and degradation, and wretchedness in sin. The lost continue to be subjects of moral government.... 197

VIII. Final State of the Saved.—Freedom from sin—active holiness—ever-increasing blessedness—one of perfect divine approval—of intellectual and social culture and enjoyment—of wide communion with the servants of God— EU eC eae a ie tele ta aed avis 5 ae otee ea-aes og adn 199

CHAPTER XVII.

MORAL GOVERNMENT—AS RELATED TO COMMON SENSE.

Religion is and must be intuitional. It is a first truth in reason. All truth is intuitionally apprehended in the divine mind, and in a measure by us, though certain helps and processes often become needful to the finite for that purpose. It is‘a mistake in theology to include statements that cannot be appreciated and admitted by the human intelligence. Mysteries in religion or in the statement of religious doctrine must not compromit first principles of truth or belief. The future will enlarge our theology. mropress OF the Gospebsrcire icles bose eo cs ek aoe 200

Chapter XIX. Moral Government—as Related To Civil Government

God, the only original source of authority. Civil government, an ordinance of God. Hence subjection to it is a religious duty, A specific form is not enjoined. It will vary with progress of society. The aim and the defect of xvi ANALYSIS.

of civil government. Civil Government should harmonize with the divine. The nations will yet be one, in certain respects. The Millennium.......cssccccessresevss 203 CHAPTER XX.

MORAL GOVERNMENT—AS RELATED TO THE FAMILY CONSTITU- TION.

The family state, a primeval arrangement of God. Its Elements. The wisdom of it. Rights and Duties...... 206 CONCLUSION.

Design of preceding chapters. The principles of morals are the same in the underived and in the derived intelligence. Systems of theology, faulty at this point. Moral Government treated in this volume as lying wholly in the supernatural sphere. The advantages of this method. The harmony of the philosophical and the positive in truth also shown. The great aim of this work................ 207 dg. el Bea Mf

THESES IN THEOLOGY.

Dye Phe sReOIn ge OL GO sa sce Snares <a. aceig ona 215 Ai The Pertechions, Of (i0d«s siccaccrurt’ sfoigdny eine 4 ie A 216 AIT, che Works of God. itis addiniennm eb oh. Oe ee 218 IV. Moral Principles the co-ordinate of moral Being.. 219 Vi; ThesParposes Of God...) sdseaesdiapie hiv «eis aes 221 VI. Mind inherently Cause, and self-conirolled....... 223 Vit, ‘The Method:.of the Deity..s..a3%. juste eats 225 Vil A Moral System... ....\-.Weeaeiees io gases: 227 IX. Sin, not an.expedient in the Divine Economy.... 230 a. ine Supremacy of, God ...a seat ee eer en Sh 8 235 XI. The Terms of a completed Moral Science........ 237 XII. The souls of men the result of the law of procreation and descent, as their bodies are............... 241 XII. Does God form and arrange Temptations to Sin PMICERWAOULO s,m 2's) s\erahe/ sin oF see TOMA nls U0 cies oie 244

XIV. The maintenance of the Supremacy of God in the moral sphere maintained..............seeeee8-

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THE BEING OF GOD.

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THE BEING OF GOD.

The existence of God is a fundamental subject of thought. Nothing underlies it or goes before. All theology and moral science arise out of, and depend upon it. If God be not, then nothing is. All else must be resultant of him, and take on the postulate that he is. How can the finite be but by reason of the infinite, the created but by the uncreated, the dependent but by the independent, the conditioned but by the absolute and eternal ?

Investigations in theology and moral truth have been much at fault here. They have shown weakness and equivocation, where of right belonged manhood and strength. The subject has not had justice at the hands of its friends. We have failed in method and in cogency of argument, in the reliability and comprehensiveness of our positions, in the resources and completeness of our logic and convictions. We have felt as if the theory of truth here was involved and intricate ; as if the thread of the Sybil conducted us through dark and cavernous passages, and along by-ways which we knew not; that there water was too deep for us, and that we must here pass from the sphere of knowledge into that of simple faith.

In this direction the English mind has taken the lead. Sir William Hamilton has formally stated “that the knowledge of God is impossible,” in his article on the “ Unconditioned”’—a position which has been laboriously supplemented by Dr. Mansel, of Oxford, in his Limits of Religious Thought. The natural effect of such counsels is to beleaguer conscience and embarrass faith, and set men free from the obligations of religion. And the seed has already borne its legitimate fruit. This is observable in the new impulses and encouragement of “ Positive Science” on the one hand, and of philosophic atheism and infidelity on the other. What else could be expected? Men will not forswear their intelligence. They will not be religious by prescription, or believe beyond the limits of rational conviction. They will not consent to this divorce between reason and faith ; and if attempted by those who should assist their faith, they will only choose their own alternative, and repudiate a creed that does not take the intellect into its conclusions, and build its economy of belief on those enduring principles and first truths which are common to all safe and satisfactory inquiry in other departments of knowledge. Indeed, the conscience should have special help here, in view of the “law in the members,” walring against the “law in the mind.” It is suicidal to put reason and conscience in antagonism, or reason and faith. And yet this has been the anomaly and perturbation of our theology hitherto, and its false mission to the thinking classes of men. France turned infidel by reason of the unappreciable mummeries of the Romish faith. The Tractarianism of Oxford gives ominous sivns of a like reaction. Error germinates in the twilight of conviction, and grows rank in the oscillations and tergiversations of truth.

But why found religion in ymysticism, and put its chief elements beyond the limits of human thought? Was it not designed for man, and man for it? Should it not inhere in the principles of common sense, and be like the sunlight—for all, and adapted to all? It is false humility to say that we cannot know God, and that he cannot make himself znown to us, and that the reason he has given us is not the offspring and counterpart of his own—made in his likeness, and adapted to intelligent correspondence with himself.

St. Paul was a philosopher as well as a Christian ; and in a single sentence has he scattered to the winds all this timorousness and misgiving in respect to the elements of religious belief, and brought the whole subject into relation to the human mind, and incorporated it among the legitimate subjects of our knowledge and conviction, and declared our ignorance of it to be without exeuse. Rom. i. 20: “For the invisible things of him (God) from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.” This passage is very emphatic. Its statements and positions are comprehensive. Its averments are characteristic and unequivocal. They go the full length demanded for the proof of the being and perfections of God, and account the belief in God to be so obvious and obligatory in its apprehension and requisition, that the heathen even are inexcusable for not recognizing the true Jehovah, and worshipping, loving and serving him as such. The apostle waits for no special economy to reveal God to his creatures, but proclaims him manifestedsin his works, his being, his eternity and Godhead. All is clearly seen—intuitively beheld, and obviously implied and understood, in the legitimate apprehension of the mind from things that are made. ‘ Kternal power” implies eternal existence ; that is, uncreated, absolute existence. And then there is the embodiment of the whole grand idea of the “Godhead,’’ as manifested in his works, as clearly beheld, as undeniably apprehended and understood. The reference in the passage is to the one true God, with his divine perfections, as thus known in reason, and clearly seen by the intelligence—the invisible things of him—the eternal potentiality and proper ‘Godhead ” of the Deity.

On the basis here referred to, and in the light of the clear convictions of the apostle, we propose to give the proof of the being of God. —

1. Something is. This is the testimony of reason, of consciousness, and of the senses. There is infallible truth in this position. If I think, I am; for only that which is, can think. How can we have secondary phenomena without the primary, or actions and words without being and thought?

We are conscious both of acting and of being. Some good writers have given up this last position, but without sufficient reason. There is in the soul a consciousness of existing as well as of acting, of being as well as behaving. This consciousness of self as being and acting is infallible in its instruction, that something is—that we ourselves are, and have faculties and powers, convictions and feelings, intelligence, emotions and passions, observation and experience. In no other way could knowledge be more infallible, or be possible independent of it; and it is worse than idle to call in question the universal and necessary convictions of humanity on this point.

The senses, too, are sure sources and media of instruction; and we distinguish the “me” from the “not me.” ‘The eye, the ear, the touch, the taste, the smell, all are channels of knowledge to us from an external world, and methods of our access to it and communion with it. Only by these and like ways could we be put in communication with material objects, and become cognizant of the universe around us. And this linking of the “me” to the “not me” of external nature is a wonderful economy, yet fully authenticated.

Thus we have various means of coming to the knowledge that something is. Weare; others are; suns and planets are, and all the universal cosmos of created things. This we may affirm with the certainty of clearly apprehended truth, without troubling ourselves with speculations about the presentative or representative methods of inquiry. Science and common sense agree here. This conviction comes to us with a thousand voices, from within and without, as the universal language of humanity, so that we need not prolong an argument in proof of that which every one feels and knows.

2. Effects are. We do not need to prove that man did not create the sun, or himself, or anything else. ‘We know he did not. It is an undeniable position. And yet there are effects. The intelligence sees them to be so. Matter is; and it is meted, bounded and limited, and must have been meted, bounded and limited by what was outside and independent of itself. It is, because it was made to be, and was put into existence by a power before and extraneous to itself. It is, as it is, and where it is, by reason of something else. At most, it is but a “causa causata.” We see it to be, and to contain only the “vis inertie.” It is finite, and some being must have made it. It is a creation, and in itself an inert effect. Philosophy and common sense, reason and revelation, intelligence and the senses, agree in affirming this. We arrive at it as surely as we do at the truth, that the whole is equal to the sum of its parts ; that matter exists in space, and events in time; and that he who acts, is.

Men dive deeper than the truth sometimes, and show themselves more like muck-worms than philosophers. All science takes rise in the intuitions of the intelligence. Demonstration is in aid of intuitional apprehension. The first truths of reason need no demonstration ; they are intuitionally self-evident; they are infallibly seen in the mind’s own light. Why undertake to prove to me that which already is a matter of my own consciousness, or which exists with the certainty of infallibly implied truth in the dictates of the intelligence? Why devote an argument to prove that matter exists in space, or that events occur in time, or that effects imply a cause, or action an actor, or thinking a being that thinks ?

Intuition is the test of truth, and the arbiter ot knowledge. But for this, demonstration would be without conviction, and logic valueless and impossible. What satisfaction can we get from any efforts of logic beyond the insight of our minds, of the truth as reasoned out or stated? Thus all knowledge and conviction, on the last analysis, arise out of, and are resolved into, intuitions. And they must begin in self-evident principles of truth. We apprehend them in the insight of the intelligence, and advance from them, and but for them advance would be impossible. They are not proved, but seen in their own light, by the insight of reason.