Dr. Prince, of Long Island (now deceased), wrote to the author,
respecting the thirty-fifth chapter of this work, entitled "The Logical
View of the Incarnation," after he had seen it in the columns of a
newspaper, "It is a masterly piece of logic, and will startle, if it
does not revolutionize, the orthodox world. And the chapters comprising
'The Philosophical View,' and 'The Physiological View,' were afterward
pronounced specimens of profound and unanswerable logical reasoning." We
thus call the reader's attention to these chapters in advance, in order
to induce that thorough attention to their facts and arguments which
will result in banishing from his mind the last vestiges of a belief (if
he entertain any) in the doctrine of the divine incarnation.
IMPORTANT FACTS CONSTITUTING THE BASIS OF THIS WORK.
IGNORANCE of science and ignorance of history are the two great bulwarks
of religious error. There is scarcely a tenet of religious faith now
propagated to the world by the professed disciples of Christ but that,
if subjected to a rigid test in the ordeal of modern science would be
found to contain more or less error. Vast acquisitions have been made
in the fields of science and history within the last half century, the
moral lessons of which have done much to undermine and unsettle our
popular system of religious faith, and to bring into disrepute or
effectually change many of its long-cherished dogmas. The scientific and
historical facts thus brought before the intelligent public, have served
as keys for explaining many of the doctrines comprised in the popular
creed. They have poured a flood of light upon our whole system of
religion as now taught by its popular representatives, which have
had the effect to reveal many of its errors to those who have had the
temerity, or the curiosity, to investigate it upon these grounds. Many
of the doctrines and miraculous events which have always been assigned a
divine emanation by the disciples of the Christian faith, are, by these
scientific and historical disclosures, shown to be explainable upon
natural grounds, and to have exclusively a natural basis. Some of them
are shown to be solvable by recently developed spiritual laws, while
others are proven to be founded wholly in error. The intelligent
community are now acquainted with many of these important facts, so that
no man of science can be found in this enlightened age who can popularly
be termed a Christian. No man can be found in any Christian country who
has the established reputation of being a man of science, or who has
made any proficiency in the whole curriculum of the sciences, whose
creed, when examined by an orthodox committee, would not be pronounced
unsound. It is true that many of the scientific class, not possessing
the conviction that duty imposes the moral necessity of making living
martyrs of themselves, have refrained from fully avowing or disclosing
to the public their real convictions of the popular faith.
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