The present History will be written for the specific purpose
of awakening an interest in the danger that now threatens us. We have no
ambition to deal with the past, further than to enable it to minister to
the immediate demands of the present. We all belong to this generation;
it calls for our energies; it has its great wants; and we shall be held
justly responsible if we neglect to contribute our share toward the
progress of our contemporaries.
The three principles which have influenced us to undertake a discussion
of the present theme--and of the truth of which we are profoundly
convinced--are the following:
I. THAT INFIDELITY PRESENTS A SYSTEMATIC AND HARMONIOUS HISTORY. Our
customary view of error is, that its history is disjointed, rendered so
by the ardent, but unsteady, labors of the doubters of all periods since
the origin of Christianity. We have ignored the historical movement of
skepticism. Even the storms have their mysterious laws. The work of
Satan is never planless. He adapts his measures to the new dangers that
arise to threaten his dominion.
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