AS a man looketh at the world, so is it. Is not this a correlative of the Scripture, "As he thinketh in his heart, so is he"? And if it be true, is it not evidential to the fact that the world (meaning, of course, the physical world and its incidents) is non-real and phenomenal? And if such world be non-real, does it not follow that the atheist is deprived of the very pith of his argument against the existence of God as omniscient and omnipotent good? But, on the other hand, if the physical world and its incidents, as known to our sense-perception and sense-consciousness, be reality, either sole or dual, how can the atheistic argument be met successfully, except it be wholly by the authority of the Bible? Correct reasoning ought always to be able to avoid antagonizing the Bible; and when it does seem to antagonize it, the true course is to seek the error in the premises upon which the reasoning is based. Is it not manifest that very much of the apparent superiority of the atheistic denial of omnipresent good on the field of non-Scriptural argument is due to the mistaken premise of many religionists that the physical world is reality, and that by correcting this premise the atheistic argument is shorn of all strength?
It is useful, in this inquiry, to consider the point of view of atheism which is based on the supposed reality of the physical world, together with its incidents, such as sin, sickness, suffering, death. The rebound from this materialistic position, if it shall logically follow, ought to be a very satisfactory argument for both of the correlative propositions that God is, and that the physical world is non-real.
The fair method in argument is to state the opposed position in its full strength. This will now be attempted; and it is well to note the fact that it exudes pessimism and despair at every point.
