[For the sake of the general reader who may desire to pass at once to the practical applications, the following outline of the Introduction -- devoted rather to general principles -- is here presented.]

PART I.

NATURAL LAW IN THE SPIRITUAL SPHERE.

1. The growth of the Idea of Law.
2. Its gradual extension throughout every department of Knowledge.3. Except one. Religion hitherto the Great Exception. Why so? 4. Previous attempts to trace analogies between the Natural and Spiritual spheres. These have been limited to analogies between Phenomena; and are useful mainly as illustrations. Analogies of Law would also have a Scientific value.
5. Wherein that value would consist. (1) The Scientific demand of the age would be met; (2) Greater clearness would be introduced into Religion practically, (3) Theology, instead of resting on Authority, would rest equally on Nature.

PART II.

THE LAW OF CONTINUITY.

A priori argument for Natural Law in the spiritual world.1. The Law Discovered.
2. The Law Defined.
3. The Law Applied.
4. The objection answered that the material of the Natural and Spiritual worlds being different they must be under different Laws.5. The existence of Laws in the Spiritual world other than the Natural Laws (1) improbable, (2) unnecessary, (3) unknown. Qualification.6. The Spiritual not the projection upwards of the Natural; but the Natural the projection downwards of the Spiritual.