The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1882-11-22

in its sharpest, brightest, most destruc-
tive forms.
The ideas thus expressed, at greater
length than l intended, have frequently
occupied me. Their immediate sugges
ton was the article in the Central of No
vember 9Th, entitled 1.-The Limits Of
Thought" from the pen of our esteemed
brother, Rev. Mr.. Frierson, who signs his
name in full. However well intended
may have been that article, 1 humbly be-
lieve that it contains the germs of dan.
gerous and hurtful error, which will not
be slow in taking root and spring up in
a harvest of unsound thought. The very
title he adopts cannot but remind us OF
the insidious work of Dean Henry L.
Mansel, entitled Limits of Religious
Thought" which was published some
twenty-five years ago, and which was
founded on some incautious statements
of Sir VIM. Hamilton, in his Philosophy
of the Unconditional" and which gave
rise to errors that found their appropriate
elimination in modern agnoSticiSna, and
the doctrine of the "Unknowable Inf
mite" promulgated by Herbert Spencer
and his admirers. 1t was to be hoped
that the heavy and disabling blows which
Hamilton, Mansel, and Spencer had
brought down upon their works contain
ing these errors from DIR. Hodge System.
Theology, 7, 346-365) and DR.. Dabney
(Sensualistic Philosophy, 119-12OO would
have deferred sound divines Especially
of our church, from venturing into these
muddy and sitting waters of the I'm
movable Infinite. To discuss the sub.
ject fully would of course be impossible
in this article. Suffice it to say that our
excellent brother has shown by his afir-
nations made even in his short article
that he has not sounded the depths OF
the food of error into which he is wad-
ing. He says the Papal aphorism that
Ignorance is the mother of devotion" is
" In one sense profound and important
truth. Nego 1 deny that ignorance is
ever, In any true sense the mother of de-
votion. He says Ignorance of God is
the foundation of reverence and worship"
NegO. 1 deny the proposition KnolOl-
edge OF God is the necessary foundation
of all true reverence and worship. He
says, If man knew God absolutely as he
knows himself, he could not worship
Him" Nego. If man knew himself per-
fectly he would know how sinful, weak,
and dependent he is. And if he knew
God as perfectly, he would know how
holy, mighty, and compassionate He is;
and therefore his knowledge (not his ig-
of God would impel him to wor-
ship and adore.
But why deal longer in human wis
dom? The mere fact that man knows
of the essence either of spirit or
of matter-that he knows only the phe-
or manifestations of either does
not help our brothers theory at all.
God encourages us to knoV Him, and
therefore has manifested Himself to us.
He has been manifesting Himself to us
ever since the creation and fall, in His
providences, His judgments, His mira
cles, His Jewish and Christian institu-
tions, His works, His word, but above
all in His Son who is God manifest In the
flesh. God discourages ign@'umce in
every form. The words rendered igno-
rance Cor its blood-related equivalents)
are used thirty-eight times in the Old
and New Testaments, and always in a
bad sense. God never calls Ignorance
the mother of devotion, nor the mother
Of anything except sin and sorrow. On
the other hand, God encourages us to
tnOaO Him, tells us we can k71OaO Him,
and teaches US how to knoaO Him
il K1aoaO thou the God of thy father, and
serve Him with perfect heart and with
4 willing mind, " eff thou seek Him, He
will be found of thee, but if thou forsake
Him, He will cast thee off for ever" To
t1aotO God (in His SOM is "life eternal.
And the world of mankind will never
nave true devotion, true worship until
the earth shahkbe full of the k71oaOledge
Of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea"
R. R. H.