endeavor, that they are now given to the general public in the hope that their influence for good may be extended. It has been the aim of the author to treat the subject in such a way that the work may prove an acceptable aid to busy pastors in bringing the claims of Christ to the attention of Christians and unconverted, the wise and the unwise, the lofty and the lowly. May the book so commend itself to the reader that he may come to know "THE HEART SIDE OF GOD." PARK PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, Newark, N. J., 1901. A. EDWIN KEIGWIN. CHAPTER I THE HEART SIDE OF GOD THE breaking up of the Christian Church into some two hundred denominations under the influence of Protestantism and the many bitter controversies consequent thereupon, give rise to the question,-Is catholicity possible? Is there any common ground of Christian thought? The Scriptures authenticate the fact that its many writers were persuaded of one common truth. Although in minor detail they might differ, yet in point of fact they were upon one common ground. But with the intellectual advance of the human race, there has been an obvious tendency to lay stress, with equal positiveness, upon doctrines which, it would seem, are at the antipodes of thought. This has resulted in speculative, rather than comprehensive systems of theological dogma and has encouraged the rising generation of thinkers to resort to methods of analysis, in preference to the more important work of synthesis. Preaching as well as teaching has, in these days, come to be destructive, rather than constructive. Hence, yielding to the popular drift, many pulpits are feeding the flock of God, on negatives. Negation is death and the theology that is full of negation is already a corpse. What wonder then, that spirituality is at low ebb. Romanism reached catholicity by stupefying the intellect, but is this the only ground for agreement? Is there no catholicity possible outside a cemetery of intellect? Must Protestantism drink the hemlock before it can reach the harbor of calm? Surely there must be a possibility of reaching sufficient doctrinal unity, to present to the unevangelized world an unbroken front. The greatest difficulty that confronts the church to-day is a growing distrust among those who have not had the advantage of early religious training. That these conditions have been brought about, largely, by modern controversy, few will deny. More and more, each year, is the difficulty increasing. So many doctrines, long cherished by the church, are called in question by leaders of every denomination, that religious certitude is, by many, deemed impossible. Let this tendency remain unchecked and we are threatened with an eclipse of faith, if not infidelity. The unregulated, unregenerate mind inevitably gravitates earthward. Hence, unless we discover some common ground of religious belief, some central doctrine about which we may rally our forces, some organon of interpretation, |