METHODIST QUARTERLY REVIEW. 1860. VOLUME XLII.-FOURTH SERIES, VOLUME XII. D. D. WHEDON, D. D., EDITOR. New York: PUBLISHED BY CARLTON & PORTER, 200 MULBERRY-STREET. 1860. LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 791 26 CONTENTS OF VOL. XLII.-1860. JANUARY NUMBER. I. THE MORAL ARGUMENT FOR IMMORTALITY.. By Rev. E. THOMSON, D.D., President Ohio Wes. Univ., Delaware, O. III.-RESULTS OF WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION, [FIRST ARTICLE] 33 V.-BUDDHISM, [SECOND ARTICLE]........ By Rev. HEMAN M. JOHNSON, D.D., Dickinson College, Carlisle, Penn. JULY NUMBER. I.-MANSEL'S LIMITS OF RELIGIOUS THOUGHT... By Rev. O. S. MUNSELL, A. M., President of Illinois Wesleyan University. By PROFESSOR GODMAN, Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill. III.-THE" EDWARDEAN" THEORY OF THE ATONEMENT By Rov. WILLIAM FAIRFIELD WARREN, Boston, Mass. IV. OBLIGATIONS OF SOCIETY TO THE COMMON LAW. By E. L. FANCHER, ESQ., New York. V.-ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT AND HIS COSMOS..................... By Professor S. D. HILLMAN, Carlisle, Pa. By G. P. DISOS WAY, Esq., Richmond, Staten Island, N. Y. X.-FOREIGN RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE.. XI.-FOREIGN LITERARY INTELLIGENCE.. THE METHODIST QUARTERLY REVIEW. JANUARY, 1860. ART. I. THE MORAL ARGUMENT FOR IMMORTALITY. THE argument for another life which nature affords is, by different parties, variously estimated at from zero to conclusiveness. We place it midway between them. Granted, that reason did not originate the idea of a future state. Her argument implies a taste for abstract science, which implies a state of civilization, and this, in turn, implies the bonds of morals and religion: granted also, that the voice of philosophy concerning a future state is rather that of hope than of conviction, and that the reasonings of ancient sages would not satisfy us, and led them to believe in the pre-existence of the soul: yet may reason construct an argument important and impressive, fitted to resolve doubts, answer cavils, develop harmonies between nature and revelation, and create an antecedent probability which may prepare the mind to receive the Scripture revelations; an argument sufficient, of itself, to lay men under obligations to act as if it were demonstrative, seeing that probability is the only guide of human life, though not adequate to restrain the passions or assuage the woes of the masses of mankind. Of this argument four things may be premised. It is cumulative: each element of the sèries has an independent power and a separate influence upon the conclusion, so that its strength is to be estimated not by its weakest part but by the combined force of the whole. It may be compared to a number of chains arranged to sustain the same weight. It is progressive: it acquires increased force as man advances in civilization: we may infer that when he reaches his highest state of culture, which is his most natural state, it will shine as the noonday sun. FOURTH SERIES, VOL. XII.-1 |