sable to contemplate it on all sides, and to mark the precise
boundaries of all its phases.

Hence we shall not plant ourselves on the fact of man's power alone, and,
viewing the subject exclusively from thence, enlarge the sphere of human
agency to such an extent as to shut the divine agency quite out of the
intellectual and moral world. Nor, on the other hand, shall we permit
ourselves to become so completely absorbed in the contemplation of the
majesty of God, to dwell so warmly on his infinite sovereignty and the
littleness of man, as to cause the sphere of human power to dwindle down
to a mere point, and entirely disappear. We shall endeavour to find the
true medium between these two extreme opinions. That such a medium exists
_somewhere_, will not be denied by many persons. The only question will
be, as to where and how the line should be drawn to strike out this
medium. In most systems of theology, this line is not drawn at all, but
left completely in the dark. We are shown some things on both sides of
this line, but we are not shown the line itself. We are made to see, for
example, the fact of human existence as something distinct from God, that
we may not err with Spinoza, in reducing man to a mere fugitive mode of
the Divine Being, to a mere shadow and a dream. And on the other side, we
are made to contemplate the omnipotence of God, that we may not call in
question his sovereignty and dominion over the moral world. But between
these two positions, on which the light of truth has thus been made to
fall, there is a tract of dark and unexplored territory, a _terra
incognita_, which remains to be completely surveyed and delineated, before
we can see the beauty of the whole scene. In the attempt to map out this
region, to define the precise boundary of that _imperium in imperio_, of
which Spinoza and others entertained so great a horror, we should
endeavour to follow the wise maxim of Bacon, "to despise nothing, and to
admire nothing."

In other words, we should endeavour to "prove all things, and to hold fast
that which is good," without yielding a blind veneration to received
dogmas, or a blind admiration to the seductive charms of novelty. Hence,
we shall first stand on the same platform with Pelagius, and endeavour to
view the subject with his eyes; to see all that he saw, as well as to
correct the errors of his observation. And having done this, we shall then
transport ourselves to the platform of Augustine,