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On a Neglected Argument for the Reality of God.
Throughout this paper, the word 'God' (capitalized, as we Americans say,) will be used as the definable proper name, signifying Ens Necessarium. Reality is Being, Real or fictive, Who, out of Nothing, less than a blank, is creating all three Universes of experience. I do not mean, then, a "soul of the World" or an intelligence is "immanent" in Nature, but is the Creator of the three Universes of minds, of matter, and of ideal possibilities, and of everything in them.
The argument to which attention will be besought is
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But what a subject is the first proposition of Natural Theology to bring reflective man in abbreviated form! It is worn threadbare in the thoughts of whosoever calls himself, either theist, atheist, or agnostic; so, interest being prerequisite to active attention, I fear my article will be critically read by very few. Worse still (seemingly,) when the Neglected Argument comes to be described, it will be found to consist in a line of thought familiar to every man, from prelate to plough-boy. Just here, however, lies my hope: Namely, although that is true and although the Neglected Argument is known to be highly persuasive, being, in fact, extraordinarily so,
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that we shall find some sound reason to believe in Him that is open to every human mind, high and low. Now if such reason there be, it is for the reader to judge whether there is any other that it can be than the "Neglected argument" herein to be described. Yet notwithstanding the persuasiveness of this train of thought,—a persuasiveness no less than extraordinary,—I know of but one or two theologians among the many who scrape together all the reasons they can possibly find or invent for believing in God, who mention this "neglected argument"; and those few mention it but very briefly; since it can be unknown to none of them, candour puts me to the chagrin of confessing that even in those eyes in which every grain of affirmative argument sparkles gold, the neglected argument appears as base metal.
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On a Neglected Argument for the Reality of GOD.
The first proposition of natural theology: what single other subject has been worn so threadbare!
Moreover, whoever from prelate down to plough-boy has deeply thought over this subject, is, I believe, familiar with the line of thought to which this paper relates, though it will be convenient to designate it a[s] "the neglected argument." Indeed, meaning by "God," throughout this paper will be meant, the Being whose attributes are, in the main, those usually ascribed to Him, omniscience, omnipotence, infinite benignity, and a Being not immanent in the Universes of Matter, Mind, and Ideas, but the Sole Creator of every content of them without exception, when we consider how much an assurance of His Being would help men to govern their conduct by the best attainable lights, how can we refrain from expecting of his Benignity, to find that there is some reason
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But what a subject is the first proposition of Natural Theology to discuss for men in abbreviated form! It is worn threadbare in the thoughts of whosoever calls himself theist, atheist, or agnostic. Worse yet (as it may seem), when the Neglected Argument comes to be described, it will be found to consist in a train of thought familiar to every man from prelate to ploughboy. Nevertheless, it is well-known to be highly persuasive, and is so in truth, extraordinarily beyond its repute. However, theology not being in my line, I should not have called attention to it but for the circumstance that the current notions of logic condemn it as no argument at all, while according to my views it is the first stage of as conclusive a proof as one could desire.