Studies in Theology. THEISM. COSMIC THEISM; OR, THE THEISM BY REV. RANDOLPH S. FOSTER, D.D., LL.D., A BISHOP OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. ΠΡΟΣ ΤΟ ΦΩΣ. யும் NEW YORK: HUNT & EATON. PREFACE. THE philosophico-theological discussions conducted, some years since, by Sir William Hamilton, Dean Mansell, Herbert Spencer, and others, while not primarily designed to be in the interests of atheism, and most of them indeed avowedly theistic in their general trend and purpose, have nevertheless unquestionably brought the fundamental question of the existence of God, or at least the possibility of rationally affirming his existence, anew into the field of controversy. Principles avowed and theories advanced touching the laws and limitations of the knowable have inaugurated a new age of doubt, and called out a line of discussions, under what is ostentatiously styled the scientific method, which have not a little unsettled faith. The result is a period quite epochal for the production of works of distinguished ability on all the leading aspects of the subject. In the main, the disputed points have been handled with admirable temper and learning, worthy of the age of ages for philosophical thought. Meantime the unprecedented advance of science along all lines during the same period has brought into view a number of hitherto unknown facts and laws which have been industriously employed to the same end, of doubt and unsettlement of faith. This is especially true of the theories of evolution and biology, enunciated anew by Darwin, Huxley, Spencer, and others distinguished as leaders of investigation and as masters in these departments. Much of the material for thought in these particular lines is new, former ages having had no knowledge |