THE INFERENCE FROM HISTORY

The question here relates to the philosophy of history. The material to be considered is very extensive and also varied in its nature, We need scarcely wonder that the philosophy of history should only be recently attempted, and that it should be yet in its infancy, When we think how much a single life means, and how much the experience of one man involves, we need not wonder that the material gathered from all history should be so vast as to render the task of reducing it to its principles an exceedingly difficult one, It comprises all that bears on the well-being of man, and everything that relates to science, art, law, social life, thought and religion among men in all ages. A complete massing of all the facts, however, may not be necessary to justify an important theistic inference.

Various attempts have been made to unfold a philosophy of history, Comte and the evolutionists explain history in accordance with certain socialistic and physiological principles. All such attempts are failures. However patiently they may bring the facts into orderly view, they merely state the problem in a very partial way, but do not provide any solution for it. Herder and others, among whom Vico and Buckle may be mentioned, seek to give certain explanations of the facts of history, which are rather socialistic or political than philosophical in their nature, They are all imperfect, Edwards and Bossuet proceed to give the religious explanation, with the idea of redemption underlying it. Their views are doubtless true, but they presuppose the theistic conception of the universe and of human destiny, whercas this is the very question to be settled. Is the true philosophy of human history to be found in Theism? Does Theism solve the problem of human activity and destiny which sociology and philosophy can only

propound? This we take to be the real state of the question, Science may state, but Theism solves the problem.

Two able attempts have been made to unfold a philosophy of history on purely rational grounds. In the first place, we have that of Hegel in his Philosophy of History. The two leading ideas which Hegel unfolds are those of Reason and Frecdom, The fundamental thought of his system is that there is Reason in human history. This Reason, it must be remembered, is absolute and really unconscious, and yet it energizes in society, and it is the principle of the development of humanity which unfolds itself in the varicd facts of history. The fact of Freedom follows from that of Reason. The history of the human race is just its progress according to Reason towards Freedom. This Freedom is not so much power of choice, as conformity to what is rational, whereby men become spiritually free. These are Hegel's principles, but we cannot follow them out through the various periods of the world's history as presented by him.

There is an important truth in Hegel’'s view. It emphasizes the truth that amidst the myriad facts of human history there is a Reason and a Will, there is thought and frecdom. The development of history is not blind and irrational, nor is it under the iron hecl of fate or neccssity. Hegel, however, does little more than state the problem which really demands to be solved. Whose Reason and Will is this which we see in history? Is it man's own? It cannot be, for man feels that he is not entirely his own governor, but under a higher power and control. Is this reason and freedom mercely immanent in the march of history, and in no sense transcendent? It may be that this is all that Hegel meant by his theory, but we cannot think that he should have rested in this conclusion. This idea or reason which is in history can only be adequately accounted for by the hypothesis of a transcendent reason, The principle of sufficient ground demands the theistic postulate. This postulate will fully explain all the facts, and will

. provide a stable and ample ground for the reason and will which announce themselves in the history of the world.

A second attempt to give a philosophy of history was made by Schlegel in his Philosophy of Histo:y. His conception is loftier than that of Hegel. The materials found in history are the result of the conflict. between what is human and what is divine in the activitv of the race. The goal towards which history tends is the restoration of man to the image of God. In this conception there is an element of truth, which gives a good starting point for the theistic inference. Christlieb and Ebrard take substantially the same ground in stating the function of Apologetics, and the aim of Christianity.

The inference here is clear. We can connect human history into an organized unity or whole only on the hypothesis that there is.a God, who is intelligent, moral and free, and who governs men and nations. The life of man is not made up of a series of detached and arbitrary details, but man feels that there is over him a power which he should heed, and a will that he should obey. The sum total of the history of the race is not merely a vast mass of unrelated and unmeaning facts, but it is the orderly product of the administration of a power which is intelligent, ‘ree and moral. To give detailed illustration here is out of the question. We have room only to state, in this very brief way, the proper principle by means of which we may interpret history. Many able and popular treatises, after the manner of the “ Hand of God in History,” supply abundant illustration of the true nature of the events which have happened in the march of history. To these we must refer for details here. All we can do now is to emphasize the truth of the position, that we have in the theistic conception of the history of mankind and of the destiny of the human race, a natural and suiicient explanation of all the facts which come before us in this

connection. No other view of history can give such an explanation, Only the Theist çan understand and interpret history aright.

THE IHISTORICO-THEISTIC METHOD, 133

The value of this historic method is of a very high order. Even if the materialist could hold the ground on the field of nature, and explain all things in the heavens and on the earth of a purely physical character, yet the facts of human history would still call for explanation. And even if the intellectual and moral constitution of man could be explained apart from the theistic hypothesis, we are satisfied that the agnostic docs not hold in his hand the key to unlock the secret of the real meaning of history.

It would be casy here to rise a step higher than Theism, and find materials to confirm Christianity as well, in what we see in history. God’s spiritual kingdom is the scene of his empire here below. The laws of that kingdom are for the government of men. Redemption comes in to restore the harmony that has been broken. Christ is the central figure of history. The history of mankind can only be understood in relation to Christ and His kingdom. This being the case, the inference which the facts of history justify is of the very highest order. By means of it we stand at the threshold of Christianity, ready to pass in by the gateway of revelation to the secrets of the spiritual kingdom itself. With the hand upon the lifted latch reason leaves us standing on that threshold,