CHAPTER I
Natural Religion and the Incarnation. Two interests traceable in
all religion; (1) metaphysical; (2) moral or spiritual: oc-
casionally pursued disproportionately, e.g. in Hellenism and
Judaism. Both present in early religion as we know it, illus-
trated by myth, prayer, ritual, sacrifice. The import of these
two interests. I. The metaphysical assumes that the world is
an ordered whole, from which chance is excluded—the moral-
that God is to be found and known in nature. The meta-
physical demand gives rise to the three metaphysical proofs of
God, i.e. forms an ideal of thought, which is partly realized in
the world. It rests upon a claim to treat nature anthropo-
morphically, which is carried on-II. In the moral factor in
religion. The world is governed not only by a law of uni-
formity, but also by a law of good. The proofs interpret the
consensus gentium. The claim of Christ as set forth in the
New Testament, answers and satisfies the aspirations of man as