The proposition was, in our previous lecture, laid down, that when God undertakes to give a revelation to mankind, his design is to communicate to them knowledge concerning those things which they by their natural powers have no means of learning. Thus He would not undertake to teach man history, geography or science, because these are things which he can learn without revelation by the exercise of his natural faculties of observation, investigation and reason. It is also better that he should learn them for himself; because, by so doing, he developes his rationality, judgment and manhood, which, were all knowledge given immediately from the Lord, would remain undeveloped. The world moves upward and onward, in all natural progress, by the ever restless sphere of study, investigation, comparison and practical appliance. It is by these methods that all earthly things are learned, and being learned, are reduced to practice, and are applied to the use and benefit of mankind. Thus whatever is necessary to happiness and comfort, so far as natural life is concerned, is evolved and supplied by man as of himself.
But there is a world beyond this. Here we live for a few brief years; there we dwell to eternity. There is a God who exists beyond the ken of mere natural sense. He is the Author of all things, while
