Theism - Or The Religion Of Common Sense (1894) (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: PAET IV. Influence of Theism on the Life. I Have proved already, on grounds of pure reason, the existence of a Supreme Being of matchless power, wisdom and goodness, who loves us with a changeless love, who is the Father of our souls and our best Friend. It is obvious that if this be accepted as true, so far as it goes, it ought to have an enormous influence on our hearts and lives and character. A mere cold intellectual assent to it, simply because it is irrefutable, will have little or no practical effect. Suppose one of us to be in some great difficulty from which he cannot extricate himself, or under some terrible fear which he cannot shake off, and then he were to be told of a kind and able friend who could and gladly would release him from his fear and overcome all his difficulties. The sufferer might believe this in a sort of way, might not find any cogent excuse for not believing it, and yet hemight forbear to seek the help of that unknown friend. He might assent to the assertion of this willingness and power to help him, but still lack sufficient conviction to avail himself of it. It is precisely the same in regard to Theism. Its propositions may seem reasonable and true; those who listen to them may be willing to assent to them; but unless they are convinced, unless they feel the truth of the assertions, they will remain unmoved and unaltered by them. Once firmly convinced, once feeling deeply the necessity for themselves and for all mankind of such a God of goodness and love, the belief in Him is no longer a mere theory or set of reasonable propositions, but becomes an intense influence on their hearts and lives, affecting all they do, and think, and say. The great question, " Is life worth living ? " to which so many vain and mournful answers have been...