Metaphysics are made to do duty in the service of orthodoxy. Norris dwells upon the distinction of things contrary to reason and above it, showing that there is a valid ground for the distinction, that human reason is not the measure of truth; that, therefore, a thing being incomprehensible by reason, is of itself no conclusive argument of its being untrue; that if the incomprehensibility of a thing were an argument against it, human reason would become the measure of truth; and, therefore, he concludes that incomprehensibility should not militate against faith. Of course the terms of a proposition must be intelligible and not contradictory, for no man can accept what is plainly nonsensical or obviously false; but the mysterious nature of a fact asserted in a proposition, Norris proves to be no valid objection to the veracity of the proposition. His mode of handling this subject, though extremely skilful and effective, is not always such as to bear a very close scrutiny; and some modification of his argument is required, in order to a safe entrenchment against inimical attacks. But he successfully establishes this point--the fundamental one throughout the controversy--that it is perfectly reasonable and perfectly consonant with the laws and constitution of the human mind, to believe upon the authority of revelation, in other words, upon the authority of infinite wisdom. Norris does not treat Toland’s doctrine as a form of Deism; his particular application of the principles laid down in this account of reason and faith is to the Socinian system, but much of the reasoning is strictly applicable to a form of Deism very prevalent in the present day. A great deal of what he says goes to the heart of certain modern theories, and several pages upon the nature and degrees of mental assent deserve careful study in connection with existing controversies.[445] It will be sufficient to complete this sketch if I observe that Toland made a decided attack on the New Testament Canon in his _Amyntor_, published in 1698; and that the formidable controversialist, Samuel Clark, the next year commenced his polemical career by a successful encounter in defence of the canonicity of the Gospels. In the course of this work I have had repeated occasions for noticing the theological literature of the period--dogmatical, practical, and polemical. It will not be impertinent, as we wind up the subject, to remark respecting its form and style.