ve them to us? This
ought to be the question of questions with us. Thoughts of foreign
countries have been given to us by the men who have seen those
countries. But they could only give us ideas of what they had seen or
others had told them. A man visiting England only could give us no
thought of Russia, unless instructed by some one who has seen that land;
then, and not till then, could he give us thoughts of Russia. I am now
ready for the statement of this proposition, viz: The following trio of
thoughts are beyond our reach. They are not our thoughts; we did not
think them, but we have them; then, some being who could see higher and
look farther than we must have given them to us. Those thoughts are the
following: First, the existence of God; second, the use of words; third,
the origin of religion. These I will examine in the order given above.

THE EXISTENCE OF GOD.

Whence came the idea? This is now _the question_. In answering it I
shall assume no ground but that which all parties say is true. The
Christian, the Deist and Atheist will admit that we have learned all we
know, and that we have learned only through the aid of the five senses:
seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting and smelling are the porters of the
mind. One or another of these bring to the mind every thought that it
receives. We obtain thoughts of odor _only_ by the sense of smell; of
flavor only by the taste; of color by the eye alone. In these matters we
have no intuition. We brought no ideas into the world with us. In all
these things we are creatures of education. Simple or single ideas, like
simple words, represent simple thoughts or realities, and compound ideas
represent compound thoughts or realities. Therefore it follows that
every thought comes from a corresponding reality. To deny this is equal
to the affirmation that we can clearly see objects in a vacuum, that we
can see something where there is nothing.

Having stated premises in which all are agreed, I now state my first
proposition:

THERE IS A TRUE AND LIVING GOD.

In sustaining this proposition I shall introduce no witnesses but those
whose perfect reliability is vouched for by the Atheist himself; so we
shall have no dispute concerning the credibility and perfect reliability
of witnesses. For the Atheist, claiming to be a votary of reason, as
well as a boasted free and fearless thinker, certainly can not impeach
the testimony of his own mind. And, being a free and fearless think