AUTHOR'S PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. The increasing demand for the "Philosophy of the Plan of Salvation," and the general and very favorable notices which it received from the secular and religious presses of the country, as well as from distinguished individuals, had produced in the mind of the author the desire to make some additions to the volume, with the hope of rendering it more worthy of the favor with which the first edition was received. A second edition however, being called for so soon, and the copy-right being transferred to a publisher who desires to stereotype the work immediately, leisure has not been obtained to make the designed additions; and furthermore, it has been doubted whether any enlargement of the volume, at the present time, would add much to its value, or to its circulation. It is issued, therefore, in its original form, with only a few verbal emendations. It is a fact grateful to the feelings of the author, and one which perhaps ought to be mentioned, that copies of the first edition were put into the hands of several intelligent skeptics, in all but a single case the individuals expressed a favorable change in their views, either in relation to the truth and authority of the dispensations proper of Moses and Christ, or of the exclusive adaptedness of the Christian dispensation to meet all the spiritual wants of men. In the reviews of the book the final conclusion derived synthetically, by combining the results produced by an analysis of the different propositions examined, is not noticed so fully as some other features of the work. The book is a series of independent demonstrations, the results of which accumulate to the final conclusion, that the Christian religion is necessarily the only religion possible to meet the spiritual wants of mankind. In arriving at this conclusion, the different parts and processes of revealed religion are examined, and their adaptedness to perform their several functions in elevating, purifying and actuating the human soul to benevolent effort, is determined, and, finally, the practical operation of the system is shown, as a matter of undeniable experience, to produce the complete and necessary result required. By this method the conclusion is brought out with a degree of accuracy approaching, if it does not reach, mathematical demonstration, that the truths and manifestations of the Christian religion are adapted to carry forward man's moral powers to their ultimate development that the power applied fills the capacity of the human soul.-As 4 is contained in 12 three times, and as 12 is the only number in which 4 is three times contained: so the capacities and susceptibilities of the human soul being given, and the power and adaptations of revelation being ascertained, the result is obtained (may it not be said with mathematical certainty) that Christianity, as taught by the interpretation and experience of evangelical Christians, is the true religion and the only religion possible for human nature. CONTENTS. MAN will worship-he will become assimilated to the character of the ob- ject that he worships-Character of heathen deities defective and unho- ly-From this corrupting worship man has no power to extricate himself...15 Concerning Miracles-particularly the miracles which accompanied the deliverance of the Israelites from bondage in Egypt......... Concerning the transition from the material system, by which religious ideas were conveyed through the senses, to the spiritual system, in which Concerning the condition in life which it was necessary the Messiah should assume, in order to benefit the human family in the greatest degree, by Concerning the essential principles which must, according to the nature of things, lie at the foundation of the instruction of Christ...............122 |