Faith and Free Thought A Second Course of Lectures (1872) Christian Evidence Lectures, Series 2

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FAITH AND FREE THOUGHT.
Faith
and Free
A
Fhotigkf.
SECOND COURSE OF LECTURES

DELIVERED AT THE REQUEST OF THE
^RISTIAN EVIDENCE SOCIETY.
WITH A PREFACE BY
THE RIGHT REVEREND
SAMUEL WILBERFORCE,
LORD BISHOP OF WINCHESTER.
D.D.,
SECOND THOUSAND.
HonDon:
,H
ODDER AND STOUGHTON

27,
Paternoster Row.
MDCCCLXXII.
[All Rights Reserved.]
The Lectures may
be
had
separately,
price Sixpence each.
Watsou and Hazell,
Printers,
London and Aylesbury.
PREFACE
TT
is
but
little
that need be said to introduce a
Second Series of the Lectures which have been

delivered in connection with the Christian Evidence
Society.
The acceptance
in
of the First Series
is
proof
enough that
many
quarters, at least, the existence

is
of the evil they are intended to meet
acknowledged,
and that
It
this
mode
of meeting
it
has been approved.
would, indeed, be
evil.
difficult to
deny the existence
of the
The
borne
literature of the day,

aloft
which, like the straw

air,
by the currents of the
the
more
ephemeral
it is,
only the better marks the direction of

opinion, bears
the flow of
of
its
common
undoubted marks
presence.
is
Doubt
wrapped
everywhere.
in
Sceptical suggestions are

;
up
narrative
they
bristle
in
short.
vi
PREFACE.
shallow, self-asserting essays, in which
men who
really
;
show
their ignorance, think they
show
;
their depth
they colour our physical philosophy
they mingle
itself.
themselves with our commonplace theology

All this system of
specifically its
doubt has,
too,
character
own.
is
The
present assault upon Christianity
altogether
different
from that of the Deists of the
last century,
aera.
or of the Atheists of the revolutionary

is
There
very
little
open assault upon the

attack
is is all
first
principles of
Theism.
its real
The
the
more dangerous because

it
purpose
so far concealed, because
proceeds
by sap and mine, rather than by open
assault.
if
For
called
is
many
upon
led
a soul which would be on

at
its
guard
in
once to
surrender
its
faith
a God,
unsuspiciously to parley with the

fair
is
enemy when
with
speeches and professions of respect for that
which
most highly prized he proposes
only to
examine some untenable propositions
Avhich
have
been too long admitted without question, and to clear

Faith, not to impair
it,
by bringing Reason
religion
is
to
its aid.
Thus the need man has of
admitted
the existence of some all-pervading spiritual
power
PREFACE.
vii
is
not denied.
There
'even
is
an attempt to keep the

the great objective hght
glow of reHgion
of which
it
when
is
an emanation
has been withdrawn
from the heavens.
Such tendencies
the
are
perhaps
inseparable
of
from
mental
own.
and
spiritual
constitution
an age
like our
The
vast increase of wealth amongst
us
the manifold discoveries of science, and through
them the subjection

will
of
the material world to the

these
to
\'ic-
of
man
the
greater easiness which
tories
in
of scientific
research
have imparted
life
almost every rank of society,
with the softness
and
this
impatience
of trouble which this breeds,
all
must have
its eft'ect
upon the
religious tone
and
upon the tendency
to
religious belief of a people.
Such a temper of mind soon passes

like to all authority.
It
;
into a fretful dis-
may
not take the trouble to

it
rebel
or disbelieve
to
to
but neither can

to submit.
It
take
so
to
the
trouble
easier
examine and
be
in
is
much
such
quiescent
state
as
troublesome claims.
belief
is
And
in
so a state of suspended
reached
and
that
state
doubts spring
up and multiply spontaneously.
viii
PREFACE.
Then,
so
too, the
new
discoveries which account for

;
much
that
seemed unaccountable
baseless theories
;
which over-
turn so
rudely,
many
which question so
so
and often
;
so unanswerably,
many
old
admitted theories
and which appear to be always
advancing, and as they advance promising almost

unlimited increase of knowledge
sary
;
all
this
by necesrule
consequence
;
shakes everywhere
in
the
of
authority
of
authority
everything which
has
been heretofore received. have

so
So many
false
theories
been
subverted,
so
many shams
exposed,
many
figures of terror
before which our fathers
shivered
utterly
resolved
into
the
mere
creatures of
an
ignorant
and therefore
left
credulous timidity,
that nothing
fall
seems
which
may
not in
its
turn
before a bolder assault or a

for
more practised aim.

applies especially
And
to
many
in
reasons
all
this
authority
matters
of
religion
and
faith.
Unhappily, there have been so

of the true, that
in the
it is
many
false
defences
hard for the truth not to suffer
downfall of the falsehoods or errors to which
she has been so unrighteously wedded.
Elaborate defences of Theism and of Christianity
FREFACE.
ix
have been rested upon what now prove to have been

utterly
misapprehended
scientific
facts.
In
many
of these cases there has been no intentional direct

falsehood.
It
has not, for the most part, been that
the
that
writers of these evidential
works have believed
God
aid
could not govern the world without the

;
devil's
that truth could be helped
by a
little
falsehood (though, alas, there have been such pious

frauds even as these)
part, the fault of
;
but
it
has been, for the most

;
moral cowardice
the not daring
to
admit
that there
were apparent contradictions

in
between God's voice
Nature and God's voice
in
Scripture, which as yet believers
knew not how
to
reconcile
but which they had faith enough to
know
could be reconciled, and would be reconciled
when
God saw
fit
and so arose the
restless,
feverish,
sad effort to invent a theory of reconciliation, and

so
a resting the
theory,
its
truth
of Scripture
on the reconshock
ciling
and
therefore
great
and
violence to
true claims
when the whole theory

an ancient
came
to
be swept away like

in
cobweb
by the besom of destruction

advancinfT science.
the strong hand of
PREFACE.
Like
pieces
evils,
too,
have arisen from the tearing to

recent,
by the sharp tooth of
more
severe,
and
as
more exact
to
criticism of finely-developed theories
inspiration, the
text of
Scripture,
and cognate
matters.
All of these assaults on old authority have arisen

as out of the ground
sown with dragons'

It
teeth,
is
and
have
such
givên
forth a harvest of death.
against
evils as these that
the lectures of the
first
and
second series of the Christian Evidence Society have
been directed.
We
handle.
claim
for
them, that they are calm, sober,
earnest, honest dealings with the several subjects they
They
exhibit the evidence which the order

in
and adaptations
existence
of a
nature around us afford of the
God.
full
They do
this
from the pen

w4th
all
of
last
one
who from
acquaintance
the
discoveries of the branch of science with which
he has to deal,
to able
and from a manifested

true
readiness
is
advance
wherever
science
leads,
an
for
and ought to be an unsuspected advocate
God.
Metaphysical
argument
of
the
highest
quality
PREFACE.
xi
exhibits
in
them the
true
philosophy
of
human
responsibility.
The supposed
Natural
clearness
collision
is
between the Scriptures and
Science,
examined with an unfaltering

fail
of investigation which can hardly

it.
to
carry conviction with
The
great sore of alleged

is
moral
difficulties in
the Old Testament
probed to
the very quick.
The
principle of Causation, as
is
it
is
opposed to
atheistic theories,
examined and exhibited with
a metaphysical subtlety and a firm grasp on truth
which cannot easily be
surpassed
whilst another
essay draws out the positive argument for the truth

of Christianity which
is
based on the convergence to a

of distinct lines of proof
direction
common
centre of a
number
in
Moral arguments
greatest
force
the same
of
the
are
to
drawn
all
from
of
all,
the
suitableness
of
its
Christianity
actual
in
forms
civilization,
from
existence
in
them
and
;
its
achieve-
ments
out
every phase of society
a subject
in
drawn
from another point of view

a masterly contrast
another essay
by
between society under Pagan
and under Christian
influences.
xii
PREFACE.
These subjects cover the whole

attack.
field
of sceptical
We
trust they will
be found
in the follow-
ing pages to have been calmly, truthfully, and con-
vincingly handled
by men
worthy by
intellectual
might, by knowledge of the times, and by their being
thoroughly possessed
with
the truth
of Christ, of
dealing with such high arguments.
May God
effort to
be graciously pleased to give to this
maintain His truth His heavenly blessing.
S.
WINTON.
Winchester,
September, 1872.
CONTENTS.
PACK
THE
PRINCIPLE
CONSIDERED CAUSATION OPPOSITION TO ATHEISTIC THEORIES

OF
.
IN
.
By the Rev.
church, and
J.
B.
Mozley, D.D., Canon

Professor
of Divinity,
of Christ-
Regius
University of
Oxford.
THE
EVIDENCE
AFFORDED EY THE ORDER AND ADAPTATIONS IN NATURE TO THE EXISTENCE

OF A GOD
. .
-49
By Charles Brooke,
Esq., M.A., F.R.A.S.
THE PHILOSOPHY OF HUMAN RESPONSIBILITY

By the Rev. Canon Birks, M.A.,
Philosophy
in the University of
87
Professor of Moral
Cambridge.
POINTS OF SUPPOSED COLLISION BETWEEN THE SCRIP-
TURES AND NATURAL SCIENCE

Bv
J.
I31
H. Gladstone, Ph.D., F.R.S.
CONTENTS.
PACE
THE ALLEGED
MORAL TESTAMENT
.
DIFFICULTIES
.
, .
OF
.
THE
.
OLD
-173
By the Rev. Thomas Pownall Boultbee, LL.D.,

Principal of the
London
Divinity College, St. John's Hall,
Highbury.
ON THE CORROBORATIVE EVIDENCE OF OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY FROM THE EGYPTIAN AND
"^-
ASSYRIAN MONUMENTS
-2 13
of
'
By W.
R.
Cooper,
Esq.,
Secretary
of the
Society
Biblical Archaeology.
THE ARGUMENT FOR THE SUPERNATURAL CHARACTER OF CHRISTIANITY, FROM ITS EXISTENCE AND
ACHIEVEMENTS
By the
ki.v.
.
.
247
Henry Allon, D.D.
CHR STIANITY SUITED TO ALL FORMS OF CIVILIZATION 29

By Sir Bartle Frere,
G.C.S.I., K.C.B., D.C.L.
THE
CONTRAST
SOCIETY
BETWEEN
PAGAN
AND
CHRISTIAN
341
By the Very Rev. Charles Merivale, D.D., Dean

of Ely.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
THE FORCE IMPARTED TO THE EVIDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY FROM THE MANNER IN WHICH A
NUMBER OF DISTINCT LINES OF PROOF CONVERGE IN A COMMON CENTRE

By Benjamin Shaw,
College,
.
. .
389
Esq., M.A., late Fellow of Trinity
Cambridge.
MAN A WITNESS FOR CHRISTIANITY
437
By the Rev. Joseph Angus, M.A., D.D.
THE PRINCIPLE OF CAUSATION

CONSIDERED IN
OPPOSITION TO ATHEISTIC THEORIES.

BY
J.
THE
REV.
B.
MOZLEY,
D.D.,
CANON OF CHRISTCHURCH,
AND REGIUS PROFESSOR OF
DIVINITY, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD.
THE PRINCIPLE OF CAUSATION

CONSIDERED IN
"DEFORE^ I
adapted
go to
my
subject
will
make some
general
general remarks
on metaphysics, regarded as
for populajr thought.
When people in
regard metaphysics, as they appear to do, as a curious

puzzle, in which arguers give reasons for things which
have nothing to do with nature or
common
sense, but
entirely belong to an artificial speciality created
by
is
an understanding among themselves, they should be

reminded sometimes of the
fact that
everybody
metaphysician, and cannot help being one.
Meta-
physics could not possibly have had any existence
except there had been some great leading ideas
in
man's mind upon the foundation of which they had

arisen.
These elementary metaphysical

;
ideas, then,
belong to everybody
nay, and they are evidently so
simple a part of our natural reason, that

look upon them as metaphysical at
all.
we do
not
We are aware
of a certain profoundness and grandeur that belong to

3
THE PRINCIPLE OF CAUSATION CONSIDERED

them, which distinguishes them from other ideas
;
but
they are as perfect reahties to

truths of ordinary
us, at
the
same
time, as
common
sense.
They do
not be-
long to any
fictitious world,
though they
raise us to
another type of truths, other modes of existence in

this.
They
are actualities of a
first
most stupendous kind.

a metaphysical
it is
Thus, take the
idea of this class that occurs to
one
the
;
idea of Infinity.
This
is
idea
it
arises out of our
own
minds,
not a copy
I
from nature, as
not say that
many images in our minds
are.
need
we never saw any

it
object or extent that
was
had.
infinite
would be a contradiction to say that we

is
But there
however
something
is
in
me by which
all
know
antecedently that space

space,
going on
the same as
differently
it.
it
may be
I
occupied, beyond
my
sight as within
Having
I
raised in
my
if I
mind
try to
the largest portion of space

increase,
I
can, so that
simply repeat
it,
have
still
a sense of
of
is
limitation.
There
is
at
the furthest
line
the
horizon an excess which baffles
me
which
not
included in the imagined space, or
it
would not be
is
an excess,
to
it
and which yet belongs and

;
attached
and cannot be removed
an incipient beyond,
very reason that
it
which must be endless

begins
;
for the
because this indefinable excess, for the very

that
like.
it it
reason
exists
itself,
must
be
succeeded
;
by the
but
is
Infinity, then, is a
metaphysical idea
an
idea without
reality,
?
without interest,
the contrary,
it is
vithout popular attractions

4
On
IN OPPOSITION TO ATHEISTIC THEORIES.

an idea which appeals vividly to our imagination,
which
is
impelled to efforts at the pursuit of
it,
vain
indeed, but which exalt the intelligent spirit in the
very act of overpowering

fictitious
it.
And
so far from being

of
and
in
illusive,
;
it
is
an actual attribute
this
material world
it
belongs to the actual space
way that we cannot by any remove it we cannot prevent this outeffort mental ward material portion of space in which we are
around us
such a
;
from going
Give
stand
off into
an incomprehensible mystery.
me
it
;
a fragment of space,
and
can under-
but carry this fragment
itself
onward, and
it
by simply extending, simply going

a creed.
as
all
on,
becomes
as soon
as absolute a mystery as has ever been contained in
The
idea of infinity has within

it
it,
men
enter into
at
all,
a perfect romance which

;
the flights of
human
fancy cannot overtake
the
strange and insoluble enigmas of reason which
come
out of
of the
it
act as a spell
upon the imaginative
curiosity
human mind.
field
It is
thus that the ideas of meta-
physicians, so far from being unreal, are
bound up
;
with this very

far
of vision in which
dry,
we
are
and
sc
from being
artificial,
and
technical, belong to
Infinity
is
the very mystery and romance of nature.

fact,
and
at the
same time a mystery.

is
We can no more
eyesight.
deny that there
Infinity
on
all
sides of us, wherever
we
less
point a finger, than
we can deny our
And
yet what
is
material Infinity, sidereal

?
space.'*
end-
everywhere
It is as
mysterious as a spectre.
5

Everybody, then,
is
a metaphysician, jost as everyis
body
is
a poet.
Just as everybody
endowed with
and
is
those elementary sentiments and

influenced
affections,
by those
associations, which, taken
up by
language,
become
poetry
so everybody has the
primary ideas and maxims of metaphysics.

these great metaphysical ideas than
Even the
Bible can no more be understood without the aid of

it
can be without
grammar.
So,
when we take up the
idea of Cause, which
is
the foundation of so large a branch of metaphysical
argument,
we go
at once to
all
an idea which
is
one of
the most obvious of
our principles of thought,
and which appeals

mental
event
truth.
It is
to us as
most simple and rudi-
a self-evident
maxim
that every
must
have
cause.
After contemplating
any event in life or nature, I find myself going in thought beyond it, to consider how it came to pass by some instinctive law, some cqnstitutional motion
;
inherent in
my
;
mind,
go
in
the direction of a cause,

it
of that event
something not merely antecedent to

it
but which stands in such a relation to
as that, in
consequence of
intellect
it,
that event or thing exists.
The
satis-
pushes on to this resting-place, as a

its
faction of
is
evidently
for
upon
the
own indegenous want and desire. It this principle that we entirely

slightest
real
depend
and but
connexion between
;
the present, the past,

for this
and
6
the future
otherwise,
is
principle, this
whole connexion

annihilated.
Is
it,
can we imagine
in a
it
to be indeed
the case, that anything can

exist without there being
link whatever exists
moment
for
it ?
begin to
any cause
Then no
falls
between one event
in the universe
and another
to pieces,
solved,
the whole concatenation of things

fabric of the world
is
and the whole
dis-
other than as a mere spectacle to the eye.

is
Everything
perfectly independent, has nothing to

else,
do with anything
itself.
begins of
itself
:nd ends of
But when we look into the idea of Cause, we find immediately that it involves the most astonishing
thoughts and conceptions.
We
cannot help ourselves
having
the
its
we cannot help ourselves being bound by necessity of it, we cannot release ourselves from
it,
grasp; but
it is
at the
same time such an unfathom-
able idea that

feel ourselves
we pause under the impress of it, and under some great solemnizing shadow as
soon as we enter into this region of thought. As soon as the gates of the awful kingdom of Causation have
unclosed,
we
are instantly upon, I will not say magic

is
ground, for that

unreality, but
in
to convey a sense of illusion

;
and
upon mysterious ground

and yet cannot do
and we are
than accept.
company with
grasp,
majestic, inconceivable ideas, which

else
we cannot
my
is
For while the movement towards a cause is part of rational nature, I find on reflection that I can
is.
form no distinct conception of what a cause

that of which existence
is
What
and
the necessary
fruit

result
?
We
to,
can form no idea of
what goes on
for
is
previous
and with infaUible cogency and force
producing existence.
entirely hid from us,
All this preliminary agency
and our
of
faculties
completely stop
short of
it.
The
we
order of nature puts before us an

antecedents,
endless
succession
see
but
in
no one
instance can
any necessary connexion between

its
the antecedent and
consequent.
But though we
cannot raise the distinctive conception of what a cause

is,
we
are not the less absolutely certain that there

cause,
must be a
without one.
and that nothing can take place

consequence of
this idea of
Again, the very

cause,
first
is
and one which
implied necessarily in the very

is
conception of a cause,
its
a result which appals us by

:
tremendous inconceivability
absolute and
certain
and yet
which
it is
;
a truth
it is
of the most absolute and obvious necessity
nay,
an
fact,
is
every single
rational being,
not,
whether he
as simply
a believer in religion or
must accept
and unreservedly as he does

;
the evidence of his senses
and that
"
is,
that from
is
all
eternity something has existed.
This
so evident
and undeniable a proposition," says Samuel Clarke,

" that
no Atheist in any age has ever presumed to
assert the contrary.
For since something now
is, it is
manifest that something always was.
For whatever
its
now
is
has a cause, a reason, a ground of

its
existence
a foundation on which
or reason
existence
relies,
a ground
exist.
why
it
doth
exist,
rather than not
IN OPPOSITION' TO ATHEISTIC THEORIES.

and
this
foundation [of a thing which has
come
into
existence]
must
have existed before
it.
That someall
thing, therefore, has really existed
from
eternity
is
one of the certainest and most evident truths

world, acknowledged
in the
by all men and disputed by none. Yet as to the manner how it can be, there is nothing in nature more difficult for the mind of man
first
to conceive than this very

truth.
plain
and
self-evident
that
past,
is,
For how anything can have existed eternally, how an eternal duration can be now actually
a thing utterly
as,
is
impossible for our narrow

is
understandings to comprehend as anything that
not an express contradiction can be imagined to be.
And
yet to deny the truth of the proposition, that an

is
eternal duration
assert
now
actually past, would be to

unintelligible,
something
far
more
even
an
express and real contradiction."
The
idea of cause
is
thus the key to an eternal past,
which has contained being of some kind or another. By means of that necessary regress which exists in the
idea, this
mental principle holds the entrance into that

called the ex parte ante-eternity.
interminable and infinite retrospect, which in metaphysical terms

is
is
;
There the vista
and so long that

it
it is
true that every

this
event must have a cause,
must
exist
unceasing
past duration, going back endlessly and for ever.
An
in a
Atheist and a Materialist has this endless past that he
must look back upon, just as much as a believer
God
has.
In his view the action of matter goes

9

back
in successive steps,
itself,
each leaning upon one
still
further back than
and the retrospective chain
of
operations never stops, but goes back for ever.

is
This
indeed an absolutely inconceivable idea
the actual
And
it is
pastness, if I
may use
the term, of an eternal duration

is
of time
that an eternity
this,
now
over.
yet an
a
fact.
Atheist must believe

It
is
simply because
just as
much
:
a fact as yesterday.
that
is
Yesterday
existed yesterday
certain enough.
The day
before existed next.
And
its
so every portion of time
goes back to a prior portion, and in the eye of the

Materialist each has
material contents just as solid

:
and actual as those of yesterday

goes back for ever.
this visible
world
This
is
not a mere
is
idea.
A past
an
eternity of material operations
an actual
is
fact to
Atheist, though a past eternity
utterly incompre-
hensible
is
it
but a God, because

faith.
He
is
incomprehensible,
not even an object of
Such a mistake would
be for the Materialist to assume that because he
believed only matter, he had therefore escaped from
the yoke of mystery.
That ghostly power waits like him back as soon as ever he thinks he is out of his reach, and throws him into the coils of the very enigma which he had run away from. Space and time introduce to consequences which are
a giant, ready to pull
as inconceivable as articles of faith
;
and yet these
consequences are actual facts

the experience of our senses.
just as
much
so as
We have
now
got as far as the idea of cause, or the

lO

instinctive
maxim
is,
of our nature that every event must
have a cause.
vations.
And
here
it
I
is
pause to
make two
obserdistin-
One
that
most important to
guish between the philosophical idea of the necessity

of a cause and any perception of the necessary character
of physical causes
those
;
precede events in nature
phenomenal causes which which precede them uni-
formly and invariably, and therefore obtain the
name
of physical causes, but which do not in the slightest
degree reveal their

fore
own
nature as causes, and there-
do
not
reveal
their
is
own
necessity.
is
To
say
in general that a cause
necessary,
not to say
that
we
is
see causes in such and such
phenomena.
The
one
maxim
of our intellectual nature, the other

fact,
would be a judgment upon a

to
which we are unable
But though the operation of real causes nowhere comes under our cognizance, but only a chain of antecedents, we have not the less still inpronounce.
herent in our minds the idea of cause, and the certainty
that every event must have a cause.
The
put
other observaiion
is,
that
so
long
as
we
the
maxim
that
every
event
must have a
cause in such a
way
to ourselves as recognizes the

it,
necessary character of
it
is
not of
portance what special philosophical explanation
much imwe
it whether we regard it as an ultimate and primary law of the reason, or as a derivation from some prior and more general law. Hume
adopt of
denied indeed the necessary character of the

II
maxim

that every event must have a cause.
"
The
reparation,"
he says, "of the idea of a cause from that of the beginning of existence
is
plainlypossible for the imagination;
and consequently the actual separation of these objects is so far possible that it implies no contradiction or
absurdity; and
is,
therefore, incapable of being refuted

ideas, without
by any reasoning from mere
which
it is
impossible to demonstrate the necessity of a cause."*
Hume
accounted for
tlie
idea of the necessity of a
cause by custom
the impression which the constant

made upon
the
sight of uniform antecedence
mind
which was the same as

causes.
if
they were necessary, or real

replies, that this
To
which.
Sir.,
W. Hamilton
mind
there,
could not create
in,
the
that idea of necessity

:
which we actually find

alternative
{i.e.,
and concludes
"
The
is
plain
:.
either the doctrine of sensualism
accounting for the idea of cause from mere sensiis
ble experience)
.
false,,
or our nature
is
a delusion.
It is
manifest that the observation of certain

certain other
phenomena succeeding
phenomena.
could never have engendered not only the strong but

irresistible conviction that
cause."-]*
every event must have

all reality in
its
But though the denial of
the
necessity of a cause of events, or the assertion that
events can take place without
anything really to
is
cause them, must be rejected as a paradox, there
no
reason
why room may

*
(
not be allowed for different

Sect.
iii.
"Of the
Ibid.
Understanding."
I.
Appendix
12
'

philosophical explanations of the origin of the casual
judgment.
The more ordinary

it
course has been to
refer this to a
special idea inherent in the
human
mind, to maintain
as a " primary datum, a positive

;
revelation of intelligence
"
and
Sir.
W. Hamilton
reckons Leibnitz, Kant, and Cousin, as holding this

position.
He
it,
himself,
however,
is
opposed, as he
expresses
"to the assumption of a special principle,"
and maintains that the idea of causation comes under

a larger law, and
law. "
is
only one of the operations of that
The law
of parsimony, which he regards as

rule,"
nature's general
he observes, " prohibits the
multiplication of entities, powers, principles and causes
above
a
all
the postulation of an
unknown
for the
*
force,
where
known impotence can account

are, therefore, entitled to
phenomenon.
We
apply
it
Occam's razor
cheaper
rate,
to this theory of causality, unless

sible to explain the causal
be proved imposat a
judgment
reduces
by deriving
principle."
it
from a common, and that a

theory
the
negative,,
His
judgment of
causality " into

ditional.
.
a form of the mental law of the Con.
certain forms.
The mind is astricted to think in we must think under the condition

,
of existence
existence
relative
and
existence re-
lative in time.
But what does
existence relative in time
imply
.''
It implies that
we
.
are unable to realize in
thought either an absolute commencement or an absolute termination of time.

. .
We
cannot know or
think a thing to exist except as in time; and

13
we
can-
THE riilNCIPLE OF CAUSATION CONSIDERED

not
it
know
or think a thing to exist in time, and think
absolutely to commence.
Now
this at
Sir.
once imposes
Hamilton's
conceive
on us the condition of causality."*

theory, then, seems to be, that as
W.
we cannot
any
is
commencement, while at the same time there phenomenal commencement, the cause is only the
real
in
shape
which a thing
exists, before its present

is
shape
a rationale
same
of causation which
substantially the
as Mr. Baines's, but which the latter extracts

Sir.
not out of metaphysics, like
W.
Hamilton, but
from physical science.

" in the
"A
great advance," he says,

is
mode
of viewing causation
made by
the
discovery of the law
named
conservation
of force.
The
great generalization of recent times, variously
designated the conservation, correlation, convertibility,

equivalence, indestructibility, of force,
is
the highest
expression
of cause and
effect."-f-
Dean
Mansel,
however, does not accept

ation of causation.
"
Sir.
W.
Hamilton's explan-
His statement of the causal judg-
ment, as an inability to think that the complement of

existence has been either increased or diminished,
is
open to various objections. In the

conscious of any such inability.
difficulty in conceiving that the
first
place, I
I
am not
...
have no
amount of existence
In the second
in the universe
may
by
at
one time be represented by A,

B.
and
at another
A and
...
place,
whether we represent the new appearance as a

*
"
Discussions on Philosophy."
iii.,
Appendix
I.
f "Logic,"
iv., 8.
14

change or as a creation, we are equally compelled to
suppose a cause of
the casual judgment
its
taking place.
To
is
say that
previously existed under the form of A,

;
not to explain
to ask
for
we have
still
why
fails
A
to
became B.
In the third place,
the theory
account for the origin of the idea of power, which,
whether rightly or wrongly,

not sufficient;
all
tribute to the supposed cause.
men instinctively atTo represent it as a

it
delusion
is
unless
can be
shown
how, consistently with the limits of thought, such a

delusion could have originated."*
But while new explanations have recently been given

of the causal judgment, or the
maxim
that every event
must have a
which upon
cause, our older metaphysicians,

satisfied
Locke
and Clarke, were
with the evident necessity
common
principles of reason attached to

it
the truth, and they treated
virtually as
an axiom, the
the reason-
contrary of which was a plain absurdity, and involved
an absolute contradiction.
ing that
necessarily
They regarded
flowed from this metaphysical
axiom
easy to
as demonstrative reasoning.
see, if
Nor, indeed,
is
it
we
it
treat this
maxim
as a necessary one,
and consider
possesses self-evident force,
how we
It
can avoid the demonstrative nature of the truth.
would be a lame and impotent

satisfy
decision, such as could

it
no rational person, to say that

;
was proif
bable that every event had a cause
but
we say
Metaphysics, p. 271.
15
.-RINCIPLE OF CAUSATION
this
is
CONSIDERED
that
it
maxim
is
necessary, then
we must admit
of the nature of metaphysical mathematics.
Notto
withstanding, then, the
modern ingenious
to
fall
rationales
us,
of
I
this
maxim which have been

older
offered
must confess myself disposed
back upon
the
judgment of our
metaphysicians upon
this point.
If
we apply
this
maxim
will,
is
then to
all
actions
and
determinations of the
that
every event
having a cause can mean
that every action has
an agent.
in
The agent
is
it,
the
cause of the action

it
the sense of doing
and
is
depends upon our

the
theory of the will whether he

cause of
it.
a necessary or a free
is
If
he
is
a necessary cause, this
doctrine of necessity in
cause, this
is
human
and
is
actions
if
he
is
a free
the doctrine of free-will, or that the will
determines
its
own
acts,
a self-moving substance.
the metaphysical argu-
But
this
maxim, as used
in
ment
which which
for the existence of a God, has only an applica-
tion to events
is
which happen
in the sphere of substance
not self-moving, but the characteristic of

that
it is
is
moved from
without.
the invisible wills of moral beings,
we except the whole world we

If
;
are in belongs to this mechanical nature
not only
the whole order of physical nature, but the whole

of history and the whole course of
far as it is visible
human
action, so
and comes under the cognizance of

trade,
art,
our senses.
ion,
War,
government and administrai6
manufacture,
language or speech, everything
/.\^
that
of a
we do, so far as it is visible and tangible, consists number of material and mechanical movements which are all caused by prior material and mechanical movements, and these again by others as far as we can trace. Spiritually we are conscious of what we call
nature which determines
its
free-will, or of a
i.e.,
own
all
acts,
moves
itself;
but outwardly and visibly
nature
is
moved from without, and does not move itself. In we perform, all that is seen is the motion of matter, the same in speaking, the same in our looks
every action
and expressions.
in
Certain muscles are put in motion,

effects
which produce certain
on the body
itself,
which
some
cases stop there,
and
in other cases
go beyond
all
the body, to surrounding objects.
Such
is
visible
nature
or
it is
either
it is
what we
:
call
the order of nature,

it
action of
man
under either head,
consists of
the motions of matter,
and of matter
alone,
which
is
not self-moving, but
is
moved from
it is
without.
But with
this application
difficult to
is
say that the

not mathe-
maxim
that an event must have a cause

its
matical in
nature.
We
apply
it
to
motions of such
themselves.
things and substances as do not
move
But
if
these motions do not proceed from the sub-
stances themselves, whence can they proceed from but
from without them
But
in that case,
whatever
is
it is
without them which makes them

that motion.
move
the cause of
The maxim,
then,
that
every event must have

itself
a cause, or that what cannot movê

17
must be
2

moved from
in this, that
without, differs from mathematical
axioms
whereas mathematical axioms stop with
themselves,
things, this
this world.
and we do not apply them to actual
maxim we apply
Did we
apply,
to the actual material of
e.g.,
the
axiom that things
which are equal to the same are equal to one another

to actual things,
fact that the
we should
first
have to ascertain the
two things were exactly equal, which we
the
But we do not give axiom an application to actual facts, but leave it resting upon an assumption or definition of two things
could not demonstratively do.
as equal
;
which being the

truth.
case,
it
continues a pure
same way, if we simply said that what could not move itself must be moved from without, or, which would be the same thing, if
mathematical
In the
we made
it
it
enter into our definition of matter, that
could not
move
itself,
and upon
this
definition
asserted
this
that matter
must be moved from without,
maxim, that every material movement must have a cause, would be a mathematical one. But we do
not
let this
maxim
stay in this mathematical stage
we apply
material
this definition of
matter to the whole actual
material of this world, and
we say
that this actual
cannot move
without.
itself,
but must have
been
moved from
upon
moral
Here, then, we no longer rest
a definition, but
we
is
assert a fact;
and we cannot
it
prove this fact mathematically, but only take

certainty,
as a
which
evident to
common
sense.
If matter possesses
an original power of motion, or

has
will, all
;
we can say
is
that
we have made
a great
mistake
but appearances are universally against such
The maxim, then, that every event is the axiom of mathematical metaphysics, that what cannot move itself must be moved from without, operating, upon a supposition of
a supposition.
must have a cause
fact, viz.,
that
all
actual matter conies under the head
of this category, of what cannot
move
it.
itself.
We have
now got
the idea of cause, with the pre-
liminary considerations attaching to
But now
that
we have got
causation,
tation of the
the idea of cause, or the principle of

distinction in the interpreissue
comes the great

idea,
upon which depends the

it
whether we can apply
to constituting the proof of a

raise a religious
it
God
sion
or not
whether we can
or not
;
concluas the
upon
it
whether we can use whether
foundation upon which an Eternal and Supreme Moral
Being can be shown to

to
exist, or
it is
reducible
a barren and fruitless succession which ends in

It is
nothing.
upon
this question
that the whole of
the great metaphysical argument for the existence of
God from
this
causation depends.
We
assert that the
whole of
argument
in our
is
strictly extracted
it
and evolved
simply the
act of
from the idea of a cause, as
is
;
naturally conceived
it is
and entertained
the attention
minds
that
contents of that idea brought out,
when by an
is
we have
entered into the idea, and seen
how
it is
constituted and
what there
19
in
is
it.
On
the
other hand, this constitution of the idea
denied by

the Atheist
;
and he claims to hold the idea
in
such
a sense as leads to no such conclusion.
When we
be decided
satisfied
speak of a cause then, and of the idea
ot
a cause which
is,
we have
in
our minds, the question to
does this idea

infinite
demand
finality,
or
is
it
?
by an
chain and series of causes
We
assert, then, that this idea

"
demands
causa;,
finality
and
adopting the maxim,

say that
the
first
if
Causa
causa causati"
we
a cause goes back to a further cause, then

is
of these two causes
not a true and real
cause,
and does not

;
satisfy the idea of a cause in
our
until
minds
and so on through ever so long a chain,

to a cause
we come
it
which has no further cause to which

is
goes back.
That
our interpretation of the idea
of cause, and
we say
that any other interpretation of
the idea
is
a false one, and sets up a counterfeit cause
instead of a real and true one.
Let us examine what

the natural want and
We do in our minds, First we go back for

cipe^'s
in
conceiving the idea of cause.

;
a cause
is
a retrogressive motion of the mind.

first
is
But just
motion, 0
as the
part of the idea of cause

;
is
the last
a rest
and both of these are equally neces-
sary to the idea of cause.
And
unless both of these
are fulfilled in the ultimate position of our minds,
we
law
have not the proper idea of causation represented in

our minds
;
but a law of thought

in
is
violated, that
which we obey
at
all.
submitting to the relation of cause
In other words, a cause, exactly by the same
necessity of thought
by which on the one

20
side
it
causes,

on the other side must be uncaused
of
its
;
as
it is
the cause
effect
own
effect,
so
it
must
itself
be the
of
nothing.
That
is
what
I call the rest,

is
which the idea

in the
of a cause demands. idea

:
There
an end implied
as things
is
move up
to a cause, so at the cause

;
there
an absolute stop
all.
it it
and
itself
does not
move
else,
back
at
It is
not a whit more necessary to a real
cause that
should be the cause of something
than that
should be uncaused
itself
and without
in
both of these elements alike represented

wê
our idea
have not the true idea of a cause

the alternative
is
in
our minds.
rejecting
And
either to decide
upon
the idea of cause, and ridding metaphysical nature and
the world of mind altogether of

of cause.
it,
or taking this idea
But thus understood, the idea of cause has only

be applied to
this universe,
to
and
it
becomes the proof

call
is
immediately of the existence of an Eternal Original

Self-existent Being.
For what are we to
that
Cause of the universe, beyond which there

further cause
this
}
no
the uncaused cause

attributes
of the world
but
The
of this
First
Cause
of the
universe, indeed,
is
;
must depend upon what the universe

its
the Cause must take

it
character and rank from
what
causes.
But that there must be an Eternal

is
Self-existent
Unchangeable Being
this
is
certain.
But while
the necessary result of the idea of
cause understood as the idea of cause as
we have understood
fulfilled
it,
let
us take
and
satisfied
by another

interpretation;
and no such conclusion
as this will fol-
low.
There
cause,
is
such a thing as a proximate or seconfor

its
dary
which goes back

;
own
causal
efficiency to a prior cause
and we may make the

cause upon
supposition
of this dependence of one
another going on indefinitely.

with this notion, and
series,
We are familiar indeed

of a chain of causes, a
we speak
a succession of causes.
But
it
must be remem-
bered that when we apply the term cause to a chain

or succession,
i.e.,
to causes
which are caused, we
apply the term
in
a secondary sense, and a sense
which does not correspond to the true idea of a cause,

as our
falls
minds possess that
idea.
The Atheist then

:
back upon
this notion of a
infinite
satisfies
cause
he hangs the
world up upon an
causes
;
chain and succession of
and thus he
himself upon the subject
of causation, and at the

sion of an Eternal
same time avoids the admisSupreme Being. But the answer

is,
to such an arrangement
that
it
does not satisfy the

minds.
idea of cause which

caitscB,
we have
if
in our
Causa
causa causati :
from one cause we have to go

is
back to another, that which we go back from

the cause, but that which
not
we go back
If
to
is.
The very
;
idea of cause, as I have said, implies a stop
and
wherever we stop
ally at
is
the cause.
this
:
we
stop provision-
any stage of
backward journey, we have a

chato
cause provisionally
but as soon as we go on to another

its
the provisional cause vanishes and surrenders

racter as a true cause.
And
22
so on until
we come
/y OPPOSITION TO A THEISTIC THEORIES.

an Univei'sal Cause,
is
i.e.,
a First Cause.
true cause
a First Cause.
When,
then, the Atheist throws the

infinite series of
universe
back upon an
mechanical
causes he must be told that an infinite chain does not
represent the idea of cause

tion,
that
it is
false
concep-
and a departure from the genuine principle of
reason.
rest
An
end
is
included in the very idea

is
final
;
and repose beyond which there

concludes
no advance
an appetency for a cause precedes

rest in a cause
it.
in the idea,
but
Wollaston's illustration, with which

of the chain with an infinite
we
are so familiar,
number of links, suspended

it,
from the sky, of which he asks the question, what holds

it
up
one link holds up the one below

.^
but what
holds up the whole
this
metaphor of a suspended
contrast, the actual idea
in
chain simply illustrates,
by a
it
of causation as Ave have

trates
our minds.
It
illus-
the requirements of the rational

its
mind which
that idea creates, and

tion
corresponding dissatisfac-
and sense of void when those Wants are not

It is
satisfied.
it,
in
form
it
an argument with steps
in
but at the bottom

in
only states what the idea

is.
of causation
*'
man's mind
I
The
.'*
Atheist says,
hold to causation,
believe in cause, but
obliged to believe in a First Cause
why am What greater

.''
difficulties are there in
an
infinite succession of causes
than
in
in
an
original
and
self-existent
one
cannot
;
the least comprehend an infinite chain of causes

I
but neither can
comprehend an
23
original
unchange-

able being, which goes back to absolutely beyond
culties
all eternity.
Both are
diffi-
my
conception, and both raise
which
cannot solve, both issue in dilemmas

cannot find
out of which
my
way.
But
if
both are
incomprehensible,
why should I be compelled to choose

infinite series
?
one of them, and adopt the hypothesis of a First
Cause instead of an
because an
cause,
"
infinite series of causes
does not
The answer is make
and your reason demands a cause.

the
It is a false
criterion
of truth and falsehood, to judge simply
by
difficulties in
way
of conception; there are unde-
niable difficulties, and insuperable ones, which result
from truths which are

Eternity; but
certain,
such as Infinity and
we
off".
hold those truths because they are
ideas which are part of our reason,
and which we
cannot throw
And
what
is
so with respect to causation.

the idea of a cause that you
.''
The question
have
is,
is,
in
your rational mind

it
And
to that the
:
answer
viz.,
that
is
the idea which has been stated
cause which stops.

filled
But
this idea of cause is not ful-
in
an
infinite series.
;
There
is
by the supposiis
it
tion
no
finality here
but a final standing-ground

idea, as
demanded by the very

to me.
my
;
reason presents
An
infinite succession of causes rests
by the
very hypothesis upon no cause

rests
each particular one

it,
upon the one which follows

nothing.
but the whole rests
upon
The
Atheistic idea thus does not correspond to the
idea of reason.
The
Atheist appears to acknowledge

24

the necessity of a cause, and appears to provide for
it;
but
when we come
to his
scheme
in
it fails
it,
exactly in
is
that part of the idea which clenches

essential to its integrity
;
and which
it fails
providing a stop.
His scheme
of reason
to
represents solely the
appetency
for
cause, but not the rest in

;
one
it
represents only half
it
breaks
him,
Why
down midway. One might say do you give yourself the trouble to
all }
supply causation at
You do why
it
because you con-
sider yourself obliged in reason to
do
it
but
if
you
in-
supply causation at
all,
not furnish such a cause

is
as reason has impressed
upon you, and which

cause which stands
herent in your mind

original cause
it
still,
an
If you never intended to supply this } must have been because you thought a real cause was not wanted but if you thought a cause not
;
wanted,
why
not have said from the
first
first
that causes
that events
were not wanted, and said from the

could take place without causes
It
is
.''
this
in
substance which Clarke docs in his
celebrated work, "

a God."
The Demonstration
of the Being of
He
is
brings out simply at bottom the mean-
ing and signification of an idea in the

that
human mind
itself
there
implied in the very idea

that
it it
of
;
cause,
firstly,
causes
something
itself.
else
and
secondly, that
cates
is
uncaused
He
;
thus
all
extri-
the true and genuine cause from
confusion
and mixture with secondary causes

the
Atheistic
infinite
and he brings
test
chain to the
of simple

juxtaposition,
true idea.
putting
it
side
by
side
with
the
is
He
idea,
virtually says to the Atheist, this
the true
yours
is
a false one
and the
side
idea.
false
one
true
is
;
detected by being put
by
its
the
of the
human
reason recognises
is
own
The
dif-
fault of
Clarke
that he clogs his argument with
superfluous
ferent
positions,
which he puts forward as
arguments, while they only are one and the

differently stated.
same argument
argument
is
But
it
would be
the greatest mistake to say, as
some
do, that Clarke's
a mere train of technical subtleties and
dry abstractions.
This
is
what those say who acknow;
ledge no reality in metaphysical ideas

in this sphere are to
all
reasonings
them jejune and

a
arid inanities,
because the sphere
itself is
vacuum
to them.
How
can the evidence of the existence of God, they say, be

contained in such hard abstruse forms of abstract logic
as these,
which
it
is
difficult to
endow with any

our nature
t
life
or force whatever appealing

Clarke's chain of reasoning,
to
But
it, is
when we examine
it
the bringing out of a fact of our nature, for an i4ea of
our nature
is
a fact of our nature
is
the bringing
out of the idea of Cause.

vital,
Is there
no
reality, nothing-
nothing solid
is
}
in that
which belongs to our nature,
which
things
part of
us,
which influences our whole view of

as
These ideas of our minds are

is,
much facts
and
as
history
are.
and as our emotions,
affections,
feelings
set
These dry
sticks of formulae,
which they are

is
down
as being, have sap in them, sap which

26
derived
/iV

There
is
from the trunk of nature.
a kind of injustice
is
done to arguments of
cedent arguments
for
it
this class,
class,
although the term
proper as distinguishing a
;
by
calling
them
ante;
an
injustice in
if
a popular aspect
gives an impression as
they were prior to any-
thing actual, belonging to a region of emptiness before

fact existed.
Whereas
as
it
this particular
argument
for a
First
Cause
is
much founded on a
;
fact as
any other
argument can be
things.
is
founded on a fact of our

for
nature, the sense of
and appetency
a cause of
The
use of such arguments as Clarke's
is
not,
how-
ever, all
shown by the mere
logical aspect of the case.

all
We
have, as I have been saying
along, the sense of

;
causation, the want of a cause in our nature
but
it
is astonishing how idle, how sleepy, how how comparatively dormant this lies in us, until some great appeal is made to it, or until some great argu-
stagnant, and
ment awakens it. tion the mind has

a
cause,
It is astonishing
what an
indisposi-
for thinking of a cause
and realizing
even when
cause.
must be a
thing that
we know perfectly that there With what effort do we pursue anyany work of construction
we
have,
the
all
watch books
p-o
in
our pocket, our clothes, our furniture, our
to their causes.
their
all
We know,
of course, they
birth,
back to
rudimental state
and
But
and that
they have
special
very definite retrospects, which end in

of workmanship.
it
arts
is
a decided
effort of imagination to us.
So
27
it is
to
go back with any

reality to early ages, to
remote conditions of the world,
to say to ourselves this really took place at such a
time
the earth
all this
was once in such a geological stage once happened it only requires a miracle of
anachronism and
to
should have seen

I
it;
all
retrospects
be
real require imagination.
have been struck often
with the thought in Wordsworth's celebrated sonnet,
one of those on the River Duddon

"
What
aspect bore the
Man who
roved or
fled,
first
?
First of his tribe, to this dark dell
who
In this pellucid current slaked his thirst
What
Along
hopes came with him

his path
?
What
designs were spread
His unprotected bed

the intruder nursed
What dreams encompassed ? Was

That thinned the
;
In hideous usages and rites accursed,

living,
and disturbed the dead

;
No voice replies both earth and air are mute And thou, blue streamlet, murmuring, yield'st no more
Than a
soft record, that
whatever
fruit
Of Ignorance thou mightest witness heretofore. Thy function was to heal and to restore, To soothe and cleanse, not madden or pollute."
Here
fore
is
call to
a remote past.
There must have

first
been some man who saw the River Duddon
be-
any other human eye rested on

.-*
it.
What
kind of
man was he What was he thinking of at the time.'' What was he hoping for Of what nature was his faith } The first seer of the River Duddon had all
a
}
this attaching to
him
he
28
was a
real
man, with
his
own
past and future, thoughts and hopes.
But to go

back
in
this
way
is
an exercise of the imagination.
And
so even in the logical process of going back to a
cause
reasoning
;
here cannot do
much without some

and enlivened by
it
imagination
it
must be
stirred
Metaphysics and other sciences as well
summon one
to entertain vast periods, remote regions, immeasurable

vistas,
it
and the dim contents of
time's infancy, before

all.
it,
can be thought of almost as being time at

the region of cause.
delusion to us
.-*
Here
or
is
it
is
Can we
enter into
all
The average human mind

inanity to
it
;
tends
to a deep torpid stagnation in present fact, not wanting
more
tion
;
remoteness
is
origin or cause ficit,
the lethargy of the hour hides distance from

rest.
and the distant realm of reason among the

all
It is
Now, here such a book as Clarke's comes in as a person determined to wake a man out of sleep it forces him to reason, it says to him You must, you shall believe that something existed before you that there were causes of what is
unreal, all false to
it.
;
now
present fact
that these stretch into eternity, and

in that eternity.
that there
was being
The hard
foris
mulae are vices into which the torpid reason of
man
put
till
it
is
constrained to exert
itself;
the logical
apparatus acts really as a stimulus to the imagination,

forcing the
mind
to acts of conception.
The
idea of causation applied to this Universe, then,
as has been said, takes us

Self-existing Being.
up to an Eternal, Original,
For
"
how much thought

to
29
soever,"
says
Clarke,
"it
may
require
demonstrate the
I'HE PRINCIPLE
OF CAUSATION CONSIDERED
Other attributes of such a Being,

existence, that there
self-existing,
all
is
....
yet as to
its
somewhat
eternal, infinite,
and
which must be the cause and original of

is
other things; this
one of the
first
and most natural

all
conclusions that any

his
man who
thinks at
can form in
mind
in
All things cannot possibly have
arisen out of nothing, nor can they have
depended on
one another
an endless succession
We
Supreme
is
are certain, therefore, of the being of a
In-
dependent Cause
that there
something
in the Universe, actually
existing without, the sup-
position of
tradiction."
whose not-existing plainly implies a conthis point in
argument.
Kant agrees with Clarke up to He coincides with him

chain of causes.
"
the
in the necessity of
an ultimate or a First Cause, as distinguished from an

infinite
The
its
reason," he says, "
is
forced to seek
somewhere
be, exists,
resting point in the

If something,
rcgressus of the conditional
whatever
it
may
it
must then be admitted
that something exists necessarily.

exists only
its
For the contingent
under the condition of another thing, as

to a cause
cause,
up
which
exists not contingently,
and, precisely on this

necessarily.
account,
without condition,
This
is
the
argument whereon reason
founds
I
its
progression to the original Being
can never complete the regression to the conditions
of the existing, without admitting a necessary being.

.
This argument, though certainly

30
it is
trans-

cendental, since
it
rests
upon the
internal insufficiency
of the contingent,,
it is
is still
so simple and natural, that
adapted to the commonest intelligence."*
Kant
dififers
from Clarke, indeed,
in a
point which concerns
rather the abstract subtlety of metaphysics than the

actual strength of the conviction which the reason-
ing produces
he does not
allow
absolutely
the
/r<?;;2-
necessity of a being as an "objective reality,"
any train of reasoning, except that which is founded upon the very conception of the being itself In this
case " the non-being of a thing
ceivable
;"
is
absolutely inconis
but
if
the existence of a being

fact,
founded
upon reasoning from a mere

fact
then,
however
if
necessary the existence of the being would be
the
from which we argued was necessary,

is
if this
founis
dation fact
not necessary, the being

it
which
the
conclusion from the reasoning from
is
not absolutely
necessary either.
serves,
it
But
in the present case, as
he ob;"
"the proof begins properly from experience

ascends to a necessary being
begins from the fact of this world, and thence

it
;
by
causes
but this world,

not a necescontingentia
as an object of sensible experience,

sarily
is
existing thing.
"The proof a
is
inundi, the proof of a necessary being which begins
from experience, and

or ontologically,"
is
not deduced wholly
(i
priori
therefore not with
strative proof of a necessarily existing
him a demonBut being.

in
with this distinction

*
Kant and Clarke agree
the
Kant, Critick of Pure Reason, pp. 406, 407, 428.
THE PRINCIPLE OF CA USA TION CONSIDERED

proof from causation of an original and self-existing
being.
The English school of metaphysics was satisfied

certainty
with the
of the
existence
;
of this visible
train of
world as a ground of reasoning
and when a
reasoning was conducted with rigid accuracy from this

starting point,
it
Ava sregarded as necessary reasoning.
This
is
the
first
stage of the
argument
for the
existence of
God
derived
from causation.
But
now we come
that,
viz.,
to the
main part of the argument,

this Self-
which decides the attributes of

"
existent Being.
"
This
is
the question," says Clarke,
between us and the Atheists.

self-existent,
For that something

original
must be
and the
cause
of
all
things, will
not bear
much
dispute."
self-existent being
be called
God
and
.-*
But can this That must depend

;
upon
His
characteristics
qualities
and
the
characteristics
and
qualities of the
First
Cause can
only be gathered from the character of that universe
which
tion,
He
has caused
its
arrangement and disposi-
and the order and rank of the existence which

it.
has been produced in
Here then we take leave
of demonstrative argument, and
we depend on
the
evidence of
fact,
and upon the

it.
natural conclusion
which
is
to
be formed from
We
the
see, then; that
what has ultimately come from

is
First
Cause and Original Being

spiritual
not only a
material and corporeal world, but that world as con-
nected with moral and

criticism the ordinary
being.
Whatever
and popular distinction between

32
IN OPPOSITION TO A THEISTIC THEORIES.

matter and
spirit
may
be subjected to
that
there
is
something which we
call spirit,
which
is
is
different
from
than
are
something that we
call matter,
a simple fact of our

rid of
consciousness, which can no
more be got
if this is
our very selves can

intelligent,
we
are conscious that
we
moral beings.
But
the case, this

like all other
intelligent
and moral existence must,
existences, be traced
back to the original Self-existent
Being
it
and
if it is
traced back to that Being,
how can
all
possibly not affect the character and nature of that

?
Being
The argument
of Clarke, Cudworth, and
our religious metaphysicians was the argument of an

adequate cause
that there must be a proportion

;
be-
tween the Cause and the Effect

principle of a cause.
and
this is
no more
than a necessary and consistent carrying out of the
For what can be the meaning

all, if
of acknowledging a cause at
anything
material
is
able to
cause
anything
the
meanest
?
existence
the highest moral existence
It is evident that
we
must combine adequacy and
sufficiency with our idea
of causes, or that the whole doctrine of causation will
go
to the winds.
Can
the motion of a stone cause a
man,
or
friction
produce
mind,
or
.-'
the
nebular
theory account for the moral sense
There must
then be a natural relation between the cause and the

effect,
and
if
causation
is
true at
all it
must be proporof pro-
tionate.
It
may be
said,
how
are
?
we judges
difficulties
portion and sufficiency in causes
but reason does not

u-hich
3
allow
its
voice to be stifled
by mere
ZZ

perplex
us,
but which do not prevent us from seeing

If there
is
the plain and downright wants of reason.
such a thing as mind,
will,
personality,
which has had
a beginning and come into existence in the world;
and
if
these are thrown back, through secondary and
vanishing
being
upon the
original Eternal
Being,
that Being cannot be matter.

is
What we
call
matter
per-
obviously insufficient to cause mind.
Human
sonality cannot be accounted for
by mechanical
causes.
The cause of intelligence must be intelligent. The materialists of the last century then denied
position that the cause of intelligence
the
must be
intelli-
gent upon the general ground, which they asserted to
be true
effect.
in physics, that a cause
need not be
like its
And
it
need not be said that the materialists of
this century
all
have wielded the same arguments, with

this age.
the advantage of that growth of physical knowledge
which has been the special boast of

have
They
have multiplied physical rationales of mind, and they

diversified
this species
of reasoning with the

it
utmost ingenuity and power, and carried
into all
those subtler and finer forms, which a profounder ac-
quaintance with material causes has enabled them to

discover.
Thus
it
has been announced by a
scientific
man of this day, that thought is a secretion of the brain. And we have been told that, "Many who hold the evolution hypothesis
would probably assent to the position
that at the present

poetry,
all
moment
all
all
our philosophy,
all
our
our science,
our art
34
Plato,
Shakespeare

Newton, and Raphael
sun."*
are potential
in the fires of the
Undoubtedly then we see
as a matter of obser
vation physical causes wholly changing phenomenally

in the effect,
and the composition and combination of
particles
producing a totally different substance to the
eye, taste,
and touch from any or all of the ingredients

;
separately
entire
nor only do
we
see the greatest and most
metamorphoses
in chemistry;
but even the very
doctrine of causation itself requires a difference between
causes and
effects.
Causes do not produce causes

;
they do not simply repeat themselves

effects,
they produce
which
effects are different
from what produced

its
them.
effect,
But though a cause need not be similar to

it
must be
sufficient for its
effect.
sufficient
cause, as has been said,
must be combined with cause;

the only
otherwise
if
anything can produce anything, the whole

It is
doctrine of causation goes to pieces.
mode
that
it
.-^
of carrying out the doctrine.

is
;
What difference is
thing,
there in saying that there
no cause of a
and
need not have any

If
and giving an
intelligence
insufficient
cause
you say human
need have no
is,
cause at
all
if
it
came
into existence of itself: that
according to the doctrine of causation, absurd and

ulous
;
ridic-
but
you say
just
it
came out of
it
-
a metal,
it
issued
out of volcanic smoke,

Borealis
flashed out of an
Aurora
that
is
i-
absurd.
Our reason does not

it
see the slightest distinction between saying that intel-
ligence has
no cause, and giving
an inadequate one.
of the Imaginatiun.
Tyndall's Discourse on the Scientific

-35
Use

One
is
just as
much no
and
if
cause at
all
as the other.
sufficient cause, then, is
only the consistent carrying

principle of cause
out of cause
at
all,
you admit the
you cannot say that matter was the cause of

;
intellect
or, therefore,
that the Original Self-existent
Being need not be

It is true that
intelligent.
matter has lately been set before us

vicinity to
as claiming
more
it
;
mind than
it
has beert
wsual to assign
and a
scientific
man, of the highest
genius, has regretted that
"mind and matter have ever
been presented to us
all
ii\
the rudest contrast

I
the one as
noble, the other as all vile."
am
not aware that
people now, or for

tics
many centuries, whatever the Gnosand Manichaeans may have done, have spoken
slightingly
more
and depreciatingly of matter, than to

itself.
say that matter cannot move'
That
is all.
It is
charged with
inertia.
Therefore,
if
Professor Tyndall
wants an alteration
that can be
itself.
in the ordinary
I
language of man-
kind respecting matter,
know
of no other alteration
made
is
in
it,
except that matter cmi move
This
the only
new
rationale which
is all
is
open,
because the contrary of this
that has been said.
Hobbes,
in
the 17th century, anticipated this claim,

"
and
laid
down
that
all
matter as matter
is
endued not
only with figure and a capacity of motion, but also
with an actual sense and perception, and wants only

the organs and
sensations."*
*
memory
of animals to express
its
Quoted
in Clarke's
Demonstration.
?6

But were such a theory of matter revived, and
vived with
re-
new
gifts
and attributes with which

I
to
awaken the
inert substance,
know
not what the
whole metamorphose would have to do with the position that matter cannot be the cause of mind.
You
elevate matter into a higher rank, and
you
raise its
pretensions
to
be the cause
as
of mind.
this,
But then,
matter
has
in proportion
you have done
ceased to be matter, and become mind.
The chasm
in
then
is
as
wide as ever between mind and matter

;
the ordinary sense
and the obstruction as strong
as
ever to matter in the ordinary sense producing mind.
What
which
ordinary people
is
mean by matter
is
is
it.
substance
I
without mind, or any element of

it,
assume
it,
this description of
I
this
;
my
definition of
is
when
argue about matter

as such
is
if
the definition
;
wrong, the
argument
assumes
not affected
for the
argument
that
the
definition,
and
is
right
upon
assumption.
What
small
such a view amounts to

is
is
that intelligence in
it
the world
a growth ; and that
began
in a
very
way
as a blind unconscious action of matter,

it
from which
gradually ascended to
its
present height
and greatness.
serted,
And
taking this as the position asis
we may drop
it,
the term matter, which

it
wholly
irrelevant to
and represent
as being the assertion
that the highest intelligent existence
may have
(if
been
caused by the lowest intelligent existence

call blind instinct
we may
of a suc-
such) through the

37
medium

cession of steps.
But the lowest

;
intelligence could not
cause the highest

as brute matter.
it is
as obviously insufficient a cause original plan,
If
we suppose an
upon
which mind ascends from that of an oyster to that of

Plato, there
sition
:
is
no
intrinsic objection to
it
such a suppo-
but
in
that case
is
not the oyster which
causes Plato, but the Intelligence to

is
whom
the plan
due,
is
Plato
upon which the ascent from the oyster to made.

attribute of intelligence, then,
The
beings
and the moral
nature of the Self-existing Being, are shown by the
whom He has caused, possessing those qualities.

intelligence of the Self;
Another great evidence of the

this point the
existing Being lies in the works of nature
and
at
argument of causation
for the existence

;
of a
God
joins on to the
argument of design
and
one argument cannot be separated from the other.
The
contrivances of nature require a cause, and a
sufficient sufficient
cause
the properties of matter are not a
cause.
Another
lecturer,
it
however,
has
handled
this subject,
and done
with great
ability,
and
I will
only
it.
make one
or two
observations in
connexion with
We have
tude of
a right,
I think, to
complain of the
they
atti-
scientific
men
;
a considerable section of them

and that
is,
in
one
respect
that
will
neither say that the
world was formed by chance,

;
nor that
other
it
it
was formed by design

be.
and yet one or the

that
it
must
What
they say
is,
was formed
jA opposition to
a tiieistic theories.
;
by Law
design.
if
but this
is
saying nothing
Law
is
quite
consistent with either of these, either with chance or
Laws
if
are simply uniformly recurrent facts
then these lines of facts are in disorder and con;
fusion
they are unmeaning,
if
they conspire toward

these laws
no end, and make up no

are
structure, then
by chance. by
design.
If
they
make
up,
on the other hand,

;
an elaborate and useful apparatus

are
then,
I
we
say,
they
But the
scientific
men
refer to will
say neither the one nor
other
they stay at
law,
and
rest in
law as an intermediate verdict between
chance and design, which saves them the absurdity of

chance, and the mystery of design.
sistent position.
This
is
not a coneither
is
Laws must be
just as
;
much
it
by chance
or design, as facts must be

that
and
just
as untenable
men
should stop at laws as an
ultimate rationale of the world, as that they should

stop at facts.
And yet
there
is
a great deal said
now about Mind
in
Nature, and scientific
men
talk enthusiastically about

is
Mind; the old notion of chance

to a consensus of scientific
in the universe.
obsolete, and in spite of

is
the strength of a materialist school, there
a tendency
is
men
that there
Mind
ing of scientific
there was
Would any one in any public meetmen dare to stand up and deny that
in
Mind
It
Nature
.''
It
would be thought
as the revival of
monstrous.
would be
set
down
an old stupidity.
find
It is the
only form in which they

all
they can speak of nature which at

39
ennobles
it
THE PRINCIPLE OF CA USA TION CONSIDERED

or which satisfies their
nature.
own
idea of the subhmity of
But
if
Mind
is
admitted
in nature,
how can
nature
all
?
that
Mind be excluded from design

state of the case
is
in
The
con-
this
full
Nature has
of
the look
of
design,
and
is
contrivance
and
struction,
which force the idea of an intention upon

this
us
and with
aspect of nature,
is
we
in
also,
and
at
the same time, say there
Mind
nature.
Why
then should not that Mind have something to do with

that look of design.''
If
both
exist, to
is
make one have
nothing to do with the other

dinary arrangement.
If there
indeed an extraor-
is
Mind,
why
should
the construction of the world be singled out as the

special subject of prohibition to
it,
from which
its
ex-
clusion
is
necessary, and with which no interference
on
its
part can
possibly be
allowed
There
is
at
first
sight
a singular appearance of adaptation in
the power to the
work
if
such care
is
to be taken to
shut
it
out,
and
resist its intrusion,
the reason must be

this
is
an unusually recondite one.
But
the course
taken by the scrupulous physical philosopher.
He
This
seems to have a conscience upon the
subject.
Mind
in nature
must do anything but design.

its
You
if
are permitted to contemplate
majesty; but
it
you
hint about intention on

order.
If
its
part,
is
quite out of
you whisper about construction belonging
at
all
to
it,
it
is,
hush
speak reverently about the

40
Universal Mind.

Again,
if
there
is
Mind
in nature,
and that Mind

It provides a
it,
has anything to do with nature, that Mind must be in
harmony with our own personal mind.

frame for
a scope
it.
What
is
.''
that but a connexion with
as
and object
And
it
must be a Personal
a per-
Being,
who
its
thus provides for
and understands
sonal being.
it
Creation has evidently
man
in its
view
shows
is.
comprehension
insight
of,
its
insight into,
to a Personal
is
man
That
must belong
which
what Mind
in nature.
The
intelligence
at the
bottom of
in that
an elaborate contrivance /^r a person declares

very act something respecting
secret affecting
its
itself,
and discloses a
application
own
nature.
Whether the apparatus

its
might of
itself reveal
the truth or not,

it
does; the application of
to the support of a personal
being, discloses a recognition
and cognizance of
if
we may say so a sympathy

personal existence, which
is is
with, a consultation for
inexplicable, unless there

for lack of
something
in that
Mind which,
is
adequate
language,
we must
call Personality ; unless
the mystery
also,
of that individuality which

in
provided for, resides
some
it.
sense, in the Universal
Mind which provides

at
for
The
personality which
is
one end
is
is
reflected
all
upon the
light.
other.
The Divine
nature
not
is
cloud,
with no light breaking through.
Here
of,
a gleam of
to,
The
contrivance in behalf
with a view
the
life
of a personal being, involves in the very act an
idea of that personal

it,
mode
of existing, a knowledge of
and entering into
it.
And what mind

4x
could enter into

personal existence, but one which had in some sense "*
Professor Tyndall's
personal existence itself?
conclusion then
embraced
for
our
own:
"Be
may
well be
careful
that
is
your
not
conception of the Builder of the
Universe
that
an unworthy conception.
Invest
conception
;
with your grandest and highest and holiest thoughts
but be careful of pretending to

is
know more than
given you to know."
We
Him
are careful for our con-
ception of the Builder of the Universe, and for that
reason
we
attribute to
design and personality.

beings, think
In what possible of
the
way can we human

of
Builder
the
Universe
caurse
is
;
really
as
such,
except in this way.-*
Of
what design
in
the
Deity
we do we do
not
not
know know
what personality ia the Deity
is
not,
i.e.,
as they
" The Cosmos without us displays an intelligence
far
reaching as
the farthest fixed star, but this infinite
power the
physicist hesitates to
pronounce a personality. That microcosmos, our moral nature, disand unless the intelligence which forms plays undoubted personality and transforms the whole universe is somewhat infinitely less than man,
:
Why unsatisfied by long chains of sequency, by a world pendant upon nothing, moving no-whence, no-whither, and for no reason, do we, incredulous as to these airy
we have found the true God
nothings, seek after a First Cause, an Author, a Creator, and refuse to
relinquish
within our minds.
our quest? It is because we find the facts of Causation Will is the cause, and we are directly conscious of
.
our
own
will.
ogist steps in.
Thus where the physicist hesitates Our moral nature utters what is voiceless
.
.
the psycholin irrational

is
nature,
and pronounces that
will sovereign
over
all it
creates
the one
known, the only conceivable First ground." Sermon by the Rev. William Jackson. 42
'^
Right and
Wrong" a

are in themselves; but that
in all
is
granted and allowed for
our thoughts and reflections and considerations
as to the Deity.
This ignorance has
its
own
effect
proper to from
it
but this effect cannot be to prevent us

the
:
representing
to
Deity with
this
practical
truth
relatively
ourselves
practical
truth
then
must not be undone by harking back again to our

ignorance.
calculation
;
This has already been taken into the

it
must not be taken
in-
again and afresh,
after all the
proper reduction has once been allowed
for
it.
Therefore His personality stands, His design

is
stands, because this
the only wây in which
we can
conceive a Deity being or cansmg.
up completely with when you give something to do which wants knowledge. Whatever be the speculative defence of
It is untenable, indeed, to tie us
ignorance,
this
method,
to
it is
practically untrue, because
it is
unfair
first,
make our ignorance an

on
us,
insuperable impedi-
ment
to conception,
this
and then tell us to conceive. and ignorance

is
Do not
if it
is
impose
fair
but
assumed that we must
God
think, conceive
something about
" if
we
are to take care that our conception of

;"
Him must may keep

ledge.
not be an unworthy one
then,
however we
the fact of our ignorance as a truth in the
background,
we must
practically
assume some know-
God must be
in the
to us as God.
.''
How
can
He
be
without personality and intelligence
But
argument from causation

is
for the existence
of a God, there
yet a gap, which must be bridged

43

over, before
viz.,
we can
arrive at the religious conclusion,
the interval between even a moral and intelligent
Self-existent Being,
and a God.
The argument from
causation
is
essentially an
argument from fact; we begin
from the /(3'^^ that we
exist,
and that runs up through

:
causes to a Self-existent Being
we
see the
fad
of a
moral as well as a material world, and that runs up to a
moral Self-existent Being.

Infinitely Perfect Being,
But God
is
an Ideal, an
ideal out
and how do we get an
of facts
fact
;
,-*
We have only in the world

mind, in will, in character,
a sphere of actual
limitation
;
in
all is
and
we
see
no perfection.
If the attributes of the First
Cause
then are to be gathered from the qualities of creation,
how can we upon

ence of a moral
simple experience erect the exist-
Ideal,
an Infinitely Perfect Being,
of
boundless intelligence and goodness?
And
yet unless
we have argumentatively reached
this Ideal,
we have
not reached the truth of the existence of a God, for
God essentially means all this. The older metaphysicians then made
this
gap
in
the argument less of a difficulty than the later school.
Clarke extracts the ideal character of the Self-existent

Original Being out of the simple pre-eminence and
excellence of a cause as compared with

"
an
effect.
Since in general," he
various
says, " there are manifestly in
things
kinds of powers, and very different

perfection,
it
excellencies
and degrees of
must needs
be that in the order of causes and effects, the cause
must always be more excellent than the

44
effect
and

the Self-existent Being, whatever that be supposed to
be,
must of
necessity, being the original of all things,
contain in
itself
the
perfections of
all
sum and highest degree of all the things." With the older metaphy-
argument lay in the proof of a Moral Self-existent Being and that gained, they considered the infinity and perfection to follow as a matter
sicians the effort of the
;
of course
and certainly
it
if
one thinks of the mysterious

the First
nature of a cause,
leads us unavoidably to such a
transcendental estimate of
things, as cannot
Cause
of
all
naturally
stop short of an Ideal.

fixes the great difficulty
But Kant, on the other hand,

has been proved,
Being, and a
of the argument after a Moral Self-existent Being

viz.,
:
between a Moral Self-existent
God
he announces his utter perplexity

to erect a proof of the ideal. "
how upon
a simple ground of experience or the basis
of causation
he
is
For
can ever experience be given," he says, "which should be conformable to an idea ? That which is peculiar to
this last consists precisely in this, that
an experience
transcendental
is
can never be congruous to
it.
The
all
idea of a necessary, all-sufficient, original Being
so
immensely
which
is
great, so raised
above
that
is
empirical,
collect
always conditional, that
we can never
fill
matter enough or experience in order to

ception."
such a con-
But when we examine Kant's
attitude as a
reasoner to the ideal,
from Clarke's
it does not substantially differ Clarke gives up " demonstration strictly
and properly;"
and Kant allows a natural strong

45

ground of conviction. which presents
intellect
He
considers that the
chasm
arched
itself to
the passive and composed

is
between the actual and the ideal

carries the
it
over by an intuitive impulse, which springs from the
whole view of the Creation, and

quick
mind by a
resist,
movement of
"
thought, which
cannot
to the transcendental conclusion of an Infinite, Perfect
Being.
so
The
present world," he says, " opens to us

theatre of diversity, order, fitness,
immense a
or
and
beauty, whether
of space,
in
we seek
its
after these in the infinity
unbounded
division
that even
according to the knowledge which our weak reason
has been enabled to acquire of the same,

lacks
its
all
language
expression as to so
many and
undiscernibly
great wonders
so
that our
judgment of the whole
must terminate
in a speechless,
eloquent, astonishment.
of effects and causes,
but so much the more Everywhere we see a chain of ends and means, regularity in
:
beginning and ending

itself into
and since nothing has come of

it is, it
the state in which
always thus indiits
cates further back another thing, as
cause,
which
renders exactly the same further inquiry necessary

so
that
the
great
if
abyss of nothing,
Whole must sink into the we did not admit something exand independently, external and as the cause of
to think
its
isting of itself originally
to this Infinite
origin.
Contingent,
This highest cause,
in respect of all things in

it }
the world,
how
great are
we
46
The world
its
we
are
not acquainted with according to
whole

do we know how to appreciate its magnitude by comparison with all that is possible.
extent
:
still less
But what prevents

not at the same
tion, place
it
us, that, since
we
require in respect
of causality an external and supreme Being,
we should
time, in respect of the degree of perfecelse possible f
above everything
...
It
would consequently not only be comfortless, but also

quite vain, to wish to take
away something from

is
the
authority of this proof

elevated
Reason, which
unceasingly
by means of arguments so powerful, and

its
always increasing under
hands,
although only
empirical ones, cannot, through
any doubts of subtly-
deduced speculation, be so pressed down that

not be roused as
it
it must were out of a dream, from any

it
meditative irresolution, by a glance which
casts
on
the wonders and majesty of the Universe; in order to

raise
itself
from greatness to greatness up to the

all
highest of
from the conditional to the condition up to the supreme and unconditional Creator."*
I
would only add to
this
is
argument that
it
must be
account
considered that an ideal

nature of
contained in the moral
man
and
that
we have
to
for its being there.
It is
evident that the peculiar
character or construction, as
we may
is
call
it,
of the
conscience and the moral sense
such,
that the
very instrument
it
works by
is
a kind of restlessness
and discontent with
all fact in us,
and a
desire to be
something which we are
not.
The
Book
condition of goodiii.
"Critique of Pure Reason."
2, c. I., div.
s.
6.
47
THE PRINCIPLE OF CAUSATION.

ness
it
is
not that of attaining a defined sufficient end
is
not that of reaching a resting place.

St.
That
is
counter to the law of our being.
Paul has given
an exposition of conscience, which plainly and vividly

describes
/
it
as insatiable, swallowing, like

all
it,
some un-
fathomable abyss,
that
is
the duty, sacrifice, and effort

still
thrown into
and
demanding more.
And
though
in the Christian dispensation the sense of a

is
Divine justification
relief for
the remedial and appointed

insatiableness
the natural
of conscience,
is
there remains a sense of short-coming which

able,
inefface-
and
is
inherent and rooted in the man.

efi"ect
What
heart,
can this be the

in
of but the existence of an ideal

his
man, the spontaneous erection of

his,
.''
own
his
which dwarfs every act of

life
and reduces
whole
to failure
and imperfection
Moral beauty, gooda form

;
ness, rises
up before him
in his conscience in in
and height which has no embodiment

sees there a whole, while
all
fact
he
experience only shows
what
is
fragmentary.
How
has he got in his nature
a type, of which he has no representative in actual

existence
}
The only answer can

has,
be, if
we acknow-
ledge causatipn, that whence he has the moral nature
which he
thence he has this peculiarity and

:
manner of that nature

existing Being.
if so,^
viz.,
is
from the original

implanted in him
;
Self-
This ideal
that
but
how can
Being,
who has implanted an

it ?
ideal,
be other than Himself, the fulfilment of
48
THE EVIDENCE
AFFORDED BY THE
ORDER AND ADAPTATIONS OF NATURE

TO THE
EXISTENCE OF A GOD.
CHARLES BROOKE,
Esq. M.A., F.R.S.,
CONSULTING SURGEON OF THE WESTMINSTER HOSPITAL.
The Evidence Afforded by the Order and Adaptations in Nature to the

Existence of a God.
THE
Rev.
writer having undertaken the elucidation of
this
comprehensive and important subject,
in
consequence of the inabihty from indisposition of the

Charles Pritchard to
fulfil
that duty, he can-
not but express his regret that the mantle of so distinguished a divine and philosopher should not have
fallen
on worthier shoulders than his own.

it is
In the consideration of this subject

to enter into
"
not proposed
any
metaphysical disquisitions, since the
order and adaptations in nature " are physical ques;
tions
and
in the
metaphysical treatment of such
questions the writer has not
much
confidence.
It
has
been stated* that there are metaphysical

the summation of infinite
series,
difficulties in
and
in the theories of
:
ultimate ratios, and of impossible quantities

difficulties
if so,
the
must
*
lie,
not in the principles
themselves
Transactions of the Victoria Institute. 51
EVIDENCE OF DESIGN.
but in their metaphysical treatment, because on the
validity of these principles rests our
knowledge of the
grandest cosmical phenomena
such for example as
the accurate prediction of eclipses, and the approxi-
mate determination of the place and magnitude of a

large but hitherto
unknown
It is
planet, from the observed
disturbance of the remotest previously

of the solar system.
known member
illustrate
proposed rather to
the subject by a careful observation of facts, and by the obvious

inferences
that
may
be
drawn from
them.
The
first,
subject naturally bra nches off in tw o direct ions
the order^ and sec ondly, the adaptations in nature,
both of which
may be
pursued
far
beyond the
possi-
ble limits of this address.
As
illustrations of infinite
wisdom may be taken,

of
its
firstly,
the gradual and pro-
gressive development of the earth,
and the adaptation
successive denizens to the circumstances under

;
which they existed

materials
;
secondly, the correlation of the
and
thirdly, the co rrelation of the
powers
of nature.
I.
When we
below the
contemplate a
it
fossil
bone or
shell,
iwhich has lain buried

tfeet
may
be some thousands of
earth's surface, or
embedded
it,
in the solid
rock that
may have
been by some vast convulsion
heaved up to a similar height above

irresistibly to
we
are led
one of two conclusions

it
either that there
pas been (not to speak
disrespectfully) a sportive
exercise of creative power, and that these portions of

52
EVIDENCE OF DESIGN.
matter, bearing
all
the physical characters of what they
represent, were never really associated with animal

life
;
or otherwise, that they
must be received as
evi-
dences of animal existence at very remote periods of
time
and
if
the teachings of Geology and Palseonit
tology be admitted,
must likewise be admitted that

is
the Mosaic account of the creation
not susceptible
of a
literal interpretation.
Let us take a single
illustration
on some elevated
mountain range we meet with a bed of conglomerate,

consisting of water-rolled stones cemented together
;
on breaking out one of these,
it
is
found to contain
organic remains, the shells of marine mollusca.
Now
in
what
sent
!
a vast series of cosmical
changes does this repre-
This shell must have been deposited

into a rock
an
ocean bed, which after an unknown period of time
became consolidated
quent great
by some subseconvulsion must have been broken up into

;
this
fragments, and these fragments subsequently rounded
by long-continued attrition, probably by tidal action on the sea-shore. These rounded stones, again, must have been cemented together by processes which, so far as can be judged from existing known facts, must
have occupied vast periods of time, and the stratum
thus formed must have been, by another violent convulsion of nature, upheaved into the position in which
we met with it, or left exposed by denudation and the Avearing away resulting from long-continued glacial or
aqueous action.
EVIDENCE OF DESIGN.
It
would appear then that the surface of our globe

its
has been adapted to the exigencies of

inhabitants not
present
by any sudden act

its
of creation, but
by a
gradual and progressive development, requiring countless
ages for
accomplishment
and that as we
descend in the order of strata that have successively
formed a part of the earth's

zation
rally
is
surface, the type of organi-
generally successively lower, and also gene-
more and more remote from existing or more

:
recent types
from these
facts
it
may
not unreason-
ably be inferred that the beneficence of the Creator

has ever been exemplified in adapting the organization
of His creatures to the conditions
and circumstances
re-
under which they existed.
But a new theory of successive development has

to supersede the necessity of creative intelligence
cently been promulgated, the obvious tendency of which

is
;
al-
though, perhaps, the author of the theory of " Natural

Selection,"
and probably some of his
followers,
may not
be disposed to admit the validity of
this inference.
The theory
in
of natural selection assumes that advances
development have taken place not by design, but

accident, or the force of circumstances,
by
and that
in
the struggle for existence the individuals evincing an
imperfect development have
been annihilated
and
thus that advanced development has ever held
its
own
against inferiority, until existing perfection was attained
and as a crowning point, the theory does ot exclude the development of man from the lower
;
54
EVIDENCE OF DESIGN.
animals.
jelly-fish,
If then
man
has been
"
developed
"
from a
or
some other equally low type
of organiza-
tion, this
theory needs only to be coupled with that
of spontaneous generation (which assumes that of the lowest types of organic

life
some
may be
spontane-
ously developed from inorganic matter), and the necessity of an
omnipotent Creator
is
altogether superseded!
These theories have, however, one important point in
common, namely,
that they are alike destitute of any

:
substantial foundation in fact
if
only sufficient care
be taken to exclude the invisible germs of organization with which the atmosphere is unquestionably
loaded, no organisms are developed from the admixture of the
most suitable materials
and on the other
hand, of the countless missing links of imperfect
development not a trace has ever been found.

very term
selection
"
The
meant
Natural Selection," by which

volition, is
is
without
self-contradictory, for the
term
"
Selection "
not only "seems to imply" (as Mr.

" conscious
Danvin admits), but actually does imply choice," and can imply nothing else.
difficulty,
In order to bridge over this admitted preliminary
Mr. Danvin quotes the intended explanatory
remark of Professor Huxley, that " when the wind heaps up sand-dunes, it sifts and unconsciously selects
from the gravel on the beach grains of sand of equal
size."
Now
this
from so professedly close a reasoner as

is
Mr. Huxley
rather surprising.
IS
What
is
the fact
.-*
EVIDENCE OF DESIGN.
Both masses and
face, are alike
particle's,
stones and grains of sand,

left at
that the retiring waves chance to have
the sur-
acted upon by gravitation and by wind-
pressure.
But the amount of gravitation or weight-
pressure depends upon mass, while the
wind-pressure depends upon surface

of surface
is
amount of and the amount
increased
by
subdivision or extension,
without any increase of mass, as for example the surface of an apple

is
increased
it
by
slicing, or that
of a
sovereign
by beating
into gold-leaf.
But
it
hap-
pens that
in the stones vertical gravitation beats hori-
zontal wind- pressure, and they remain behind, while in
the grains of sand wind-pressure beats gravitation, and
they are carried away, as the gold-leaf would be

tered
;
if
scat-
amongst a heap of sovereigns there is, therefore, no more sense in imputing "s election" to the wind, than
to gravitation; none in fact in imputing
If,
it
to either.
moreover, the scraps of a torn-up love-letter hap-
pened to have been scattered on the beach, the wind would have probably made a further " selection," and
instead of leaving
them exposed on the dune, would most considerately have wafted them to some more
Mr. Huxley might with perfect pro-
secluded spot.
priety have written, "
The wind unconsciously separates

etc.,
from the gravel on the beach grains of sand,"

that
pose.
but
expression would not have answered his pur-
When
sake
I
Mr. Darwin proceeds to remark, "For brevity's

in-
sometimes speak of natural selection as an

56
EVIDENCE OF DESIGN.
telHgent power, in the
same way
as astronomers speak
of the attraction of gravity ruling the
the planets," he cannot for a
moment imagine
movements of that any
one, astronomer or otherwise, imputes intelligence to

gravitation.
Mr. Darwin should remember that

. .
Brevis esse laboro
Obscurus
fio
and
if
he had written, "for obscuration's sake," he
would probably have been much nearer the mark.

Tlie crowning triumph of "natural selection," in
which the immeasurable chasm existing between the
monkey and the man is assumed to be bridged over by accident and chance-medley, is the only point of
that theory that need be further noticed.
A belief in
infespirit,
the progressive development of

rior
man from any
animal whatever
is
absolutely incompatible with
a belief of the existence in

for
man
of an immortal
by no conceivable process can that which is essentially not material be developed from any combination
of
mere material elements.

animal that
"
It is
nowhere stated of any

into
his nostrils
inferior
God breathed
life,
the
breath of lives " (not

the revisers
will,
as in the authorized
version;
it
is
hoped, notice
this);
and
it
may
not unreasonably be assumed that the

in the
plural
noun cJiayim* stands
same
relation to
tri-
man's
tripartite nature, that elohini
does to the
partite existence of the

*
Godhead.
insert the
It
might seem pedantic to
Hebrew
characters.
57
EVIDENCE OF DESIGN.
That the various orders of animal and vegetable existence in an ascending scale of organization might have been formed by a countless succession of almostimperceptible changes, if such had been the will of the
Almighty, cannot
for a
moment be denied
but that
inde-
any such course of events could have happened
pendently of that will, appears to be inconceivable.
Nor
is
there
any
satisfactory evidence that such has

;
actually
been the course of nature

is
for
admirably
adapted as
the organization of the various orders
and genera to the conditions and circumstances of their individual existence, no examples have ever been met
with intermediate between two genera, and imperfectly
adapted to
fulfil
the conditions of either

in
and
even in
the few instances
which individuals have
been obtained by cross-breeding which exhibit the
mixed
characteristics
of two species of the
same
genus, they have invariably been found to be
infertile,
and incapable of originating a progeny exhibiting

their
own
intermediate character.
The only known
facts that give the slightest
countenance to the theorj'
of natural or unintentioned selection are the results of

intentional selection in varying to a certain extent the
peculiar characteristics
of different varieties of the
same
species, notably for

;
example
in the varieties of
the pigeon tribe
but
for
how
the
slender and insecure a
huge superstructure of groundless hypothesis that has been raised upon it valid argument against the supposed progressive
foundation
is
this
58
EVIDENCE OF DESIGN.
change of organisation
sistence of
less
may
be found
in
the per-
some of the lowest types through counttime.
ages of pre-historic
For example, the
white calcareous
mud
is
that
forms the bed of the
greatest ocean-depths
tirely of the shells of
found to consist almost en;
minute foraminifera
and
little
doubt can exist that

for if a small portion
this
mud
constitutes,
by slow and
;
gradual consolidation, a progressive chalk formation
be taken from any chalk stratum,

it is
and carefully brushed asunder under water,

ocean
11.
found
to consist of exactly the same organic elements as the
mud
in question.
The extreme simplicity

all
of the ultimate elements
which constitute
organized beings, and the endless
variety of the proximate elements, arising from different combinations of the
former, which serve to
build up the animal and vegetable tissues,
may
well
be cited as an illustration of the infinite wisdom by which such arrangements were established. The four elements, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon,
constitute the bulk of organization.
stituents
The
chief con-
of vegetable tissue are oxygen, hydrogen,

or, it
and carbon,
may
;
be
said,
water and carbon, as
the oxygen and hydrogen exist in the

tion as in water
same propor-
and various proportions of these
constitute the proximate elements of vegetable tissue,
such as starch, gum, sugar, glucose, and lignine, or

woody-fibre, as
may
be
shown by pouring a
59
little
:
strong sulphuric acid on a small portion of sugar
the
EVIDENCE OF DESIGN.
acid
will,
by
its
stronger
affinity,
abstract the water,
and leave a black spongy mass of carbon behind.

Nitrogen enters sparingly into the constitution of the
vegetable tissues, but almost universally into that of
the animal tissues.
The power
of vegetable
life
in
combining the inorganic elements, and thus preparing
them
for a higher state of organization in
animal deis
velopment,
may
likewise be noticed
in animals.
but this power
wholly wanting
tion
Thus an important func-
may perhaps be
for
ascribed to
members
worm,
of the animal
some of the humblest economy the despised earth;
example,
is
employed
in
continually re-
claiming to a higher state of organization the effete

vegetable matters on which
it
feeds, that are fast re-
lapsing to the inorganic world.
One cannot but be struck by the arrangement by which carbon and

of both earth and
materials
air,
simplicity of the
water,
elements
are combined into the various

tissue;
of vegetable
and,
moreover, that
these proximate elements are so readily interchangeable
by merely
slight variations in the relative pro-
portions of carbon and water, as, for example, the
conversion
of starch
into
sugar by the agency of

process of con-
warmth and moisture

the ripening of
fruit.
only, in the
verting barley into malt, and of acid into sugar in

It
may
also be stated that,
while animals are incapable of combining for their
own
nutrition the inorganic elements, they are capable
of assimilating
and drawing nutriment from those

60
EVIDENCE OF DESIGN.
elements when already combined
vegetable tissues.
in the
formation of
And
;
the same simplicity of con-
struction, but variety in design,
marks the building
up of animal
tissues
they are mostly slight modifiis
cations of a basis called protein, which
composed
of oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon in certain

definite proportions.
As remarkable compensatory
its
actions,
or, in
it
may be
stated that the combustion of carbon,
other words,
conversion into carbonic acid by combination with

is
oxygen,
the chief source of that heat which
is
due discharge of the functions of the higher animals while, on the other hand, the reducessential to the
;
tion of carbonic acid,
and the corresponding evolution
of oxygen,
is
constantly going on in the development
of the vegetable kingdom.

III.
Recent
scientific research
has pointed out the
harmonious correlation and mutual convertibility of the various powers or energies of nature, such as
light,
heat, electricity,
and magnetism
and likewise
mechanical
the definite
convertibility
of heat and
work
and these views have rendered much more intelligible the mode in which these several agents
:
become subservient
development.
to
the exigencies
of
organic
Thus, for example, while the combustion,
or,
in
other words, oxidation of the farinaceous and fatty
elements of food continuously supplies the animal
economy with the amount of heat which

6i
is
necessary
EVIDENCE OF DESIGN.
for the
due maintenance of
is
all its
varied functions,
a portion of this heat
transformed into dynamic
energy
in the muscles,
and a further portion probably

system
;
into electricity in the nervous
for the
is
mutual
convertibility of heat
and
electricity
a well-ascer-
tained
fact.
Moreover, the proceeds of combustfon,

fire,
the same as in our
candle, or gas-burner, namely,
water and carbonic acid, are continually eliminated
from the system, and restored to the inorganic wor.d
by the agency of the skin and

nomy.
It
lungs, to be again
deoxidized in the development of the vegetable eco-
appears to be
far
from improbable that

its
the energy which reaches the eye as light paints
photographic impression on the retina as chemical

action,
and then travels to the brain
in the
form of
electricity.
Again, the influences of light and heat
in
promoting, and of their absence in restraining
animal development are too notorious to require any

specific illustration
but do not these considerations any unprejudiced mind to the conclusion that indeed we are fearfully and wonderfully made and it is much to be regretted that the great principle of the Conservation of Energy should ever
;
lead irresistibly
.''
have been held to countenance the views of those
who
would supersede the necessity of creative

instead
intel-
ligence,
of perceiving
in
that
theory only
additional
Creator.
evidence of the infinite wisdom of the
As one
of the leading objects of the Society at

62
"
EVIDENCE OF DESIGN,
whose instance
this address
is
made
is
to counteract
any apparently
irreligious
tendency
in
the teachings
of modern science, the writer feels bound to notice
some passages in a recent work by Professor Tyndall, entitled " Fragments of Science for Unscientific People," as being eminently likely to mislead some of those for whose edification it is especially designed. A grievous error appears to underlie two of the
essays in this work, those on " Matter and Force
and on "Scientific Materialism,"

sion of an identity
in the tacit
admis-
of causation in
the structural
development of inorganic formations, and of organised

beings.
In the former of these essays, the substance
of a lecture addressed to the working
men
of Dundee,
in
during the meeting of the British Association
September, 1867, after showing the quasi-structural
arrangement of iron
glass
filings scattered
on a plate of
placed over the poles of a magnet, and the

silver
laminated leaf-like crystals of
and lead formed

of their re-
by gradual
deposition from
solutions
spective salts, and after pointing out the arborescent
forms of crystals formed by the evaporation of their

solutions thinly spread on a plate of glass,
ice-crystals
and of the
formed on our window-panes

" (p. Z6),
in the winter,
the author asks

itself,
What
is
the vegetable world
but the result of the complex play of these

.-'"
molecular forces
But he suggests no
reply.
Again,
after alluding to the formation of vegetable tissues
by
the decomposition of carbonic acid, the union
of the
EVIDENCE CF DESIGN.
carbon with the elements of water, and the evolution
of the oxygen, under the influence of solar radiation,
he proceeds to slate
(p. ^y),
"Just as the molecular
attractions of the silver

in
and the lead found expression
the production of those branching forms seen in

of
our experiments, so do the molecular attractions

liberated carbon
and hydrogen
but
find expression in the
architecture of grasses, plants,
and
trees."
This
is
undoubtedly
true,
it
is
not the whole truth; and
the author surely ought to

pressio veri
"
is
remember
that the " sup-
sometimes equivalent to the " sugignoring
gestio
falsi."
The
of a
in
error
above alluded to consists
in
throughout these essays the indispensable influence
germ derived from a
precisely similar organism
determining the organisation of any individual
plant or animal.
While the atoms of lead or
silver,
from whatever compound they

forces respectively
may be
gradually dis-
engaged, will in obedience to their inherent polar
form laminae, the edges of which
are inclined to each other at invariable angles, the
same elements derived from the same earth, air, and example in a field or garden, will constitute an indefinite number of different vegetable
water, as for
organisms,
the
formation of each
solely
individual
kind
being determined
existing
by the
influence of a pre:
germ derived from the same kind
and thus
while mere molecular forces

alike the
may
be considered as
immediate cause of the formation of the

64
EVIDENCE OF DESIGN.
metallic crystals,
and of the proximate elements of

immediate
veo-etable tissue, those forces are not the
cause of the formation of any particular organism.
Again, in
p.
91, the author writes:

;
"Trees grow,
earth.
;
and so do men and horses

source, as
is
and here we have new

But
for
its
it
power incessantly introduced upon the

I
have already stated,
is
the sun
he
who
separates the carbon from the
oxygen of the
carbonic acid, and thus enables them to recombine."
Now
be
this
is
not strictly true
for if a stoppered bottle
filled
with carbonic acid, probably no amount of

effect in pro-
exposure to solar rays would have any

ducing decomposition
is,
;
all
that the solar rays can do
to impart to the molecules of carbonic acid such
an
amount of vibratory motion as enables the vital energy of the leaf-cell more readily to tear the atoms asunder,
appropriating the carbon to
rejecting the
vitality
is
its
own
nutrition,
and
oxygen
here
again the influence of
ignored.
No
formation of the proximate elements of vegeis
table tissue
known
to take place independently

;
of the influence of previous organisation
while,
on
the other hand, the development of plant-life, imperfect

is
and abnormal though

solar
it
may be
is
in
some
cases,
;
met with when

seems
to
radiation
excluded
it
therefore
be
altogether
illogical to
put
forward solar radiation as the
sole, or
even the main,
antecedent of vital development.
The
author
subsequently proceeds
to
observe
5
6s
EVIDENCE OF DESIGN.
"
Some
estimable persons very possibly shrink from

;
accepting these statements
they
may
be frightened
is
by
their apparent
tendency towards what
called
materialism
a word which to
But
materialist."
is
many minds
it
expresses
something very dreadful.
ought to be known
and avowed that the physical philosopher, as such,
must be a pure
If
by materialism
meant the
investigation of the
is
it
laws of matter, as magnetism (as a science)

investigation of the laws of magnetic force,
safely
the
may
be conceded as a truism that the physicist, as

materialist
;
such,
must be a pure
its
but
if
materialism be
denial of
taken in
ordinary acceptation to
mean a
the exercise of either creative power or superintending intelligence in the formation and development of
the universe, then
it is
most emphatically denied that

such,
" the physical philosopher, as
must be a pure
sense,
materialist
;"
and
if
the author persists in the use of
common
phrase in a very
if
uncommon
is
he must
not be surprised
stood.
his
motive
sometimes misunderstates
A
upon
little
it,
further
on the author
"
Depend
a baby,
if
if
a chemist, by bringing the proper materials
together, in a retort or crucible, could
make
;
he would do
or
I
it."
No
doubt he would
and
you
is,
could
jump
over the moon,
we should be proud
;
of showing our agility in so doing
but the fact
we
cannot the
it
:
principle
of the
conservation of
energy forbids
for if all the

66
combustible material

EVIDENCE OF DESIGN.
in our
frame were instantly burnt up, and the heat

purpose
is
produced converted into energy, the resulting amount
would be wholly
the
author's
insufficient
for
the
and
hypothetical
baby-making
not less
antagonistic to the universal law

" Omne vivum ex ovo."
The germ
material
is
as
indispensable
in
as
the
constituent
atoms
the
development
of
living
organism.
To
identify as
much
as possible the forces con-
ducing to the development of organic and of inorganic

structures,
may be presumed
;
to
be an object of
p.
" Scientific Materialism

1 1 6,
"
but the Author has, in

this
endeavoured to support
erroneous analogy, namely, that
by an the phenomena obconclusion

in
served on transmitting polarized light through starch

grains
are
" similar
to
those
noticed
crystals."
In
the
crystals,
undoubtedly,
the
molecules
are
;
" self-posited " in
obedience to definite polar forces
and
in
order that they

it
may
influence a
beam
of
polarized light,
is
necessary that these forces be

direc-
unequal
in at least
two of three perpendicular

and
if
tions in each molecule,
the crystal be regularly

is
formed,
the
all
disturbance of polarized light

parts
the
same
in
of the
same
is
slice
but in starch
other organic
grains,
as in quill, horn, hoof,
and
all
substances, that disturbance
due to molecular strain
consequent on desiccation, and not to definite aggre67

EVIDENCE OF DESIGN.
gation, just as
is
in
unannealed glass
it
is
due to
;
the molecular strain consequent on sudden cooling

in fact,
it is
well
known
that
any molecular
strain
upon
a plate of glass, such as that produced by bending

or compressing
it,
or throwing
it
into a state of sonorous
vibration, will confer

ization.
upon
it
the power of de-polar-
That the de-polarizing power of a plate of

is
unannealed glass
of
its
not due to a polar aggregation

is
molecules, as in a crystal,
this,
further evident
from
that
if
a square plate be ground into a
round one, and then the circumference of that into

a scolloped outline, the visible influence of the plate
on a polarized beam
different,
will in the three cases

in the crystal, uniform.
be very
and not as
On the slender analogy

p.
1 1 6,
just alluded to the author, in

:
bases this
if
dogma
of " Scientific Materialism"
"But
bound
in
the case of crystals you have rejected
this notion of our external architect, I think
you are
to reject
it
now, and to conclude that the
molecules of corn are self-posited by the forces with
which they act upon each

case and to reject
other.
It
would be poor
philosophy to invoke an external agent in the one

it
in the other."
is
The
solely
this
author's inference
plainly this, that the foris
mation of the crystal and of the starch-granule due to the action of atomic force. But
be
so,
if
how happens
it
that while crystals of the
same substance, from whatever source derived, present the same characteristics of external form and
EVIDENCE OF DESIGN.
internal
structure, the
starch-granules of wheat, of
and of cassava, exhibit marked but invariable differences of structure, as shown by their optical characters, although composed of the same
tous-les-mois,
atoms,
for
combined
the
in the same proportions ? Just same reason that the plants in which they
were formed derive
their respective
characteristics,
not from the inorganic forces of the atoms of which

tl.
ey are composed, but from the organic power of the

derived from a precisely similar organism, which,
it
gem
while
calls into
play the inorganic atomic forces,
at the
same time determines the whole course of sub-
sequent structural development; as the tiny electric
spark actuates those atomic attractions by means of
which the
is
resistless force of the
mine or the torpedo

is
it
developed.
How
mysterious
the
that the vital
power determining
characteristics of
reproduction
of
parental
form and feature should once have

in
been locked up
sions
!
a vesicle of microscopic dimen-
But
in the
if
the influence of a
germ be indispensable
whence came the
?
organisation
first
of
life,
first
germs, or the
germ-producing organism
" I
While
to be
materialism will answer,
cannot
tell," it is
hoped that the unbiassed convictions of

to the infinite power, wisdom,
reason,
and
the promptings of our moral sense, will ever point
and goodness of the
Creator.
ism
"
is
Thus appears that " Scientific Materialnot more scientific^ because not more logical,
it
69
EVIDENCE OF DESIGN.
than other forms of materiahsm with which we were
previously acquainted.
The author may perhaps, with some show demur to this criticism on the actions of
light,
of reason, polarized
on the ground that as he

futile to enter into
is
avowedly addresspeople
"
it
ing his arguments to
" unscientific
would
have been
the differences between
the black cross as seen in a starch granule and in a

slice
of calcite
very good, but
if
analogy of structure
be made
use of as an argument in favour of identity
of causation, then the strength of the argument de-
pends on the strength of the analogy, and
in that case
it
we
is
are
bound
to look into
it,
and
to see
how much
really worth.
Having now
cursorily considered
striking indications of infinite
the order of nature,
it
some of the more wisdom as manifested in remains to illustrate the same

by the obvious adaptation
of
attribute of the Creator
things created to the functions they are designed to

fulfil.
The
careful observer cannot but perceive that
throughout the whole range of natural objects the admirable adaptations of means to ends are unlimited
alike in their
to the writer
number and variety but it has appeared that some of the more special and re;
condite
examples of adaptation are the farthest removed from the possibility of accidental formation, and therefore afford the most conclusive evidence of
beneficent design.
And
in order to bring the subject

it
within the reasonable limits of an address,

.70
is
pro-
EVIDENCE OF DESIGN.
posed to confine attention to three points
system, and of the organs of sight and hearing.
TJie
in
the
economy of man, the mechanism of the absorbent

Mechanism of
the absorbent system.
In
order
to render this subject intelHgible to a general audience

it
may
be observêd that whenever any organ of the

its
body
exercises
peculiar function, as, for example,
a muscle in contracting, or the brain in thinking, a

certain portion of the organ itself
is used up by a by which the amount
process analogous to combustion,

of heat
is
generated that
is
equivalent to the work
done by the muscle, and probably also to the amount

of electrical action that takes place in the brain.
This
used material and

quire
to
all
other kinds of effete matter re-
be constantly removed
for this
from the animal
economy, and
purpose they are collected from
every part by a system of vessels called absorbents.
Moreover, the waste of the system demands constant

renewal, and to effect
this,
nutriment
is
collected
by
absorbents from the inner surface of the alimentary

canal.
Both the materials
for
the
repair
of the
system, and those requiring removal, are conveyed by

these vessels into a
common
receptacle,
contents are emptied into the veins
whence the by a very peculiar
mechanism, and carried into the general circulation of

the blood.
The mechanism
is
of the absorbent vessels
themselves
that
remarkable, and entirely different from

other system of vessels.
of any
The venous
system commences from the union of the smallest or

71
EVIDENCE OF DESIGN.
capillary vessels, into which the blood
is
it
constantlyis
urged from the arterial system
and
a note-
worthy
fact that in all classes of the
animal kingdom
the capillaries are of such diameter as just to allow

the blood-particles to pass through
file,
them
in single
the blood-discs themselves varying very greatly
in size in different tribes of animals.
The
smaller veins
are formed
by the
coalition of capillaries,
and the
larger are continually formed
by
the coalition of the
smaller, but
it is
only in the large venous trunks that
any
special valvular
arrangement exists to prevent

;
regurgitation of the blood

for the erect posture, as
and as man was designed
might be expected, the valves

opposed,
occur at shorter intervals in the lower extremities, in
which the return of the blood to the heart

than
in the
is
is
upper portion of the frame,
in
which that
return
assisted,
by
gravitation.
in the absorb-
But the conditions of fluid-movement

ent vessels are totally different
to urge
;
there
is
no
vis
a Urgo
onward
fluid
their contents,
is
and
their action, instead
of being continuous,
intermittent, depending on the
amount of
matter to be absorbed.
Moreover, the
absorbents are mainly dependent on the movements

of the body for urging on their contents, and their
structure
is
in
complete accordance with their require-
ments.
This structure
may be
roughly described as
consisting of a succession of pear-shaped funnels, the
nozzle of each being inserted into the wider end of

the next, and these act as a continual succession of
72
EVIDENCE OF DESIGN:
valves,
fluid
by means of which
is
all
regurgitation of the
contents
prevented.
A,
in the following figure,
represents a portion of one of these vessels, and
the
same laid open to show the valves. The most signal instance of design is met with in the means by which the main absorbent trunk discharges
system.
its
contents into the venous
The absorbents from

into
the
greater portion of the frame pour

their contents
the
common
receptacle a, and hence the duct,
mounts upwards towards the neck, and pours its contents into
b
b,
the venous system at
c,
the angle
of juncture of two large veins, the

jugular, d,
if
and subclavian,
e.
Now
the communication between the
chyle-receptacle
and the adjacent

had
been
first
venous
trunk
formed by any imaginary process

of " natural selection,"
by any conthey might have been ex-
ceivable attraction or affinity between the fluid contents of the
two
vessels,
pected to form their junction at the point of nearest
proximity
but no
the chyle-duct
73
is
found to pursue
EVIDENCE OF DESIGN.
some distance a nearly parallel course with the mount upwards in order to reach the point at which it can empty itself into the
for
It
great vein, and then to
venous system at the greatest mechanical advantage.
was
first
shown experimentally by
Bernouilli,
and
if
by the writer demonstrated geometrically,* that

into
current of fluid be driven through a diverging tube,
which a smaller branch enters
laterally, there
is
not only no tendency of the current to flow out through

the lateral branch, but on the contrary,
if its orifice
be
immersed
in
another
fluid,
a portion of the latter will

in
actually be
drawn
in
by the current
the larger
tube; this fact

apparatus.
maybe demonstrated with very simple And this effect takes place more energetitwo tubes, as
at
:
cally at the point of convergence of

c in the figure
this
may
be readily shown by a model
in metallic pipes of the
arrangement, through which a
column of water may be urged with sufficient energy. TJie Mechanism of the Eye next comes under our
notice,
and without attempting to enter

desired specially to
is
into all the
details of its
wonderful and beautiful mechanism, which

it
time forbids,
to the
is
draw attention
dis-
means by which the eye

eye a
lens,
adapted to the
tinct vision of objects at different distances.
In the
interior of the
analogous
in its properties
is
to an ordinary lens or magnifying glass,
placed beis
tween two chambers, the anterior of which

with a limpid
filled
fluid,
the posterior with a somewhat

p. 239.
Elements of Natural Philosophy, Ed. 1867,

74
EVIDENCE OF DESIGN.
denser substance, the vitreous body.
this
is
At
the back of
stretched a nervous
membrane
of exceedingly
complicated structure, the retina, on which the impressions of all luminiferous vibratory motions are
It is the
made.
ordinary property of a lens that the rays

it
falling
upon
from any given point of an object are
refracted in passing through the lens,
and converge
more or
less accurately to
;
some point on the opposite
side of the lens
called conjugate
foci
and these corresponding points are and it is further found, both

:
practically
and
theoretically, that as the focus of the
incident rays approaches the lens, that of the refracted
rays recedes from

dition of the eye
it,
and
vice versa.
The normal
i.e.,
conrays
is
that
when
parallel rays,
proceeding from objects at indefinite distances, enter

the eye, they are brought to a focus on the retina, and
as the rays from each point of an object are collected on
a corresponding point of the retina,

perfect
retina.
it
follows that a
image or picture of the object

If
is
traced upon the
now
the eye be directed to a near object,
is
and there be no change in its internal arrangements, it evident from what has preceded that the focal point
of each cone of refracted rays from each point of the
object will
now
fall
behind the
07i
retina,
and the image
of each point of the object
the retina will no longer
be a point, but a patch, and the perpetual overlapping

of these patches
is
the source of
all indistinct vision,
not depending on any optical imperfection of the organ.
How
then
is
the distinct vision of near objects to be

75
EVIDENCE OF DESIGN.
accomplished
itself,
?
By some
internal
change
in the
eye
by which the
focus of each pencil of rays inciis
dent from a near object

fall
brought forward, so as to
exactly on the surface of the retina, and so form

;
a distinct image of the object
this
is
is
termed the
?
accommodation of the eye.

It
But how
this effected
may be
effected either
by increased convexity of
its fibres,
the
lens, arising either
from internal action of
by which its focal length is shortened or it may be effected by bringing the lens forward without any change in its focal length.
or from equatorial pressure,
;
Now
from
are
it,
this
is
clearly not a voluntary action
so far
that the most eminent physiological authors

as to
by no means agreed
how
is
it
is
accomplished.
The
writer believes himself to be in the minority in

effected
thinking that accommodation

the lens forward
effected in the
;
by bringing
this
and to explain how
may be
human eye would

in
require a
more pro-
found discussion of minute anatomical details than

is
consistent
;
lecture
addressed to a general
audience
but
examples of a much more readily
intelligible
action
may
be met with
in the
lower
animals.
The
figure* represents half of an antero-pos-
terior section of the
eye of an eagle-owl,
c c
iris.
:
in
which a
is
the transparent cornea, b the lens,
the choroid
membrane, d the
retina,
and
the
The
lens
is
pretty firmly attached to the choroid
^ is a section of
;
the ring of osseous plates that surrounds the eye

*
Drawn ad
nat.
by Dr. R.
76
J.
Lee.
EVIDENCE OF DESIGN.
from the anterior edge of
this ring of
is
bone
arises a
funnel-shaped muscle /, which

into the choroid at
inserted
all
round
g; and from the same
point, g,
there passes
down
to the posterior
margin of the ring
of bone an elastic ligament,

that the parts are
g h.
out
It
must be observed
here repre-
sented
somewhat strained
of their natural position, in order

that they
may be distinctly seen
in the natural position the choroid, c

c,
lies close
to the ring of
it
bone
e,
separated from
its
only
by the muscle,
tion of this
is
tendon, and
the elastic ligament.
The
func
annular muscle, /, clearly to bring forward the
choroid,
and with
it
it
the lens to which
it
is
at-
tached, and
is
equally obvious that the function

is
of the
elastic
its
ligament
to
pull
the lens back
again into
normal
act.
position,
when the muscle

is
has ceased to
The
eagle-owl
a nocturnal as
fulfil
well as a carnivorous bird, and in order to

functions
in
its
securing
its
prey,
requires
rapid and
accurate accommodation of the eye, for accomplishing
which the eye

muscle.
is
provided with an unusually powerful

seriously maintain that these
Can any one
perfect adaptations of
selves,
means
to an end formed
them-
or resulted from the blind action of atomic
force
.''
11
EVIDENCE OF DESIGN.
The Mechanistn of
telligible
the Ear.
In order to render
is
in-
some of the more recondite adaptations of

formation of which
the
it
this organ, the accidental
most inconceivable,
is
necessary briefly to premise
the general mechanism.
Sonorous vibrations impinge

ear,
on the tympanum or drum of the

are conveyed
hence they
by a curious chain of minute bones to another membrane which closes a cavity filled with
fluid,
which constitutes the vestibule

special
(as it is called)
leading to two
receptive
apparatus
abun-
dantly supplied with nerve-filaments, the cochlea and

The tympanum. The ossicles. 14. The vestibule,
leading to
15.
9.
10.
The
three semi-
circular canals.
1 7.
The
cochlea.
the semicircular canals.
These several parts
will
be
seen in the diagram.*
This figure
is
from Wilson's "Anatomist's Vade Mecum."

78
EVIDENCE OF DESIGN.
The cochlea in form resembles
chamber being divided
stretched across
it,
a snail-shell, the spiral
into
two parts by a membrane
the transverse fibres of which are
capable of being rendered more or less tense by a
muscle extending throughout the length of the chamber.
As
the diameter of this spiral chamber decreases

it is
gradually from the base to the apex,
obvious that
the transverse fibres of the spiral lamina must also
gradually decrease in length.
On
this
membrane
rest
the free ends of a series of remarkable organs called
the rods of Corti, placed parallel to each other Hke

the keys of a manual, and their attached ends are
embedded
in
nerve
cells.
There
is
little
room
for
doubt that sounds of a given
pitch, or frequency of
vibration, specially affect a corresponding fibre of this
membrane,
(just as the shorter strings of
a harp or
piano correspond respectively to higher tones,) and that

the nerve-tissue adjacent to the rod resting on this
^XQ^ feels the sonorous vibration, and transmits to the

brain
its
perception of
it
and thus that the
special
function of the cochlea

of the vibrations, that
is is
to appreciate the frequency

to say, the piteJi of musical
quality.
sounds, and also
probably their timbre or
The mechanical means by which
vibrations of given
period are specially transmitted to the corresponding

portion of the spiral lamina, have not yet been explained, but the writer
is
not without hope of being
able to unravel this intricate question.
The
three semicircular canals (each of which, how79
EVIDENCE OF DESIGN.
ever, comprises
more than a
semicircle) are chiefly

;
remarkable for their invariable relative position

are,
they
without exception, found to

is
lie
in three planes,
;
each of which
nate planes.
siderations
direction
it
perpendicular to the other two
or in
the language of geometry, in three rectangular co-ordi-
From
the simplest geometrical
con-
follows, that if
an impulse
travel in the
O, the portions of that impulse which are

effective
in
the directions
of three co-ordinate planes
O
c
A,
OB, O
C,
will
be
b O,
proportional
to a O,
O respectively, the cosines

the
of
angles which the

of
direction
the
the
impulse
three
it
makes
planes.
with
Moreover,
is
dynamical law that waves

will
retain
their
original direction,
unless that di;
rection be
changed by
reflection or refraction
conse-
quently,
if
the nervous apparatus of the semicircular
canals be capable of appreciating the relative intensities

is
of the impulses communicated to each, which

it is
without doubt the case,
obvious that, by means
of these canals, the ear can appreciate the direction
from w^hich sound proceeds.
The
faculty of perceiving the direction of a sound,
and hence the direction whence danger may be apprehended, must obviously be a much more wide-spread
EVIDENCE OF DESIGN.
necessity
the animal
economy than the

;
faculty of
discriminating tone and quality of sound
accordingly,
is
the perfect development of the semicircular canals
met with as low

cartilaginous
ossicles
in the scale of organisation as the
fishes,
while in the
cochlea
and the
we meet
with various stages of progressive
development, each obviously adapted to the exigences

of the individual organism
;
and especially
in the fish
and
reptile tribes that
do not emit vocal sounds, the

exceedingly simple.
construction of the auditory apparatus, apart from the

semicircular canals,
is
Can any
one really believe that all these admirable adaptations

resulted from blind chance, or from the necessity of
the case, unintentioned and undesigned
But the evidence of design

here
;
in the ear
does not end
and
in order to
render the sequel intelligible to
those
it
who
are unacquainted with physiological details,

briefly indicate the general
becomes necessary to
relations of the nervous system.

distinct parts
;
This consists of two
one, the cerebro-spinal system,
com-
prising
all
nerves that
terminate in the brain and

all
spinal cord,
tion
which
;
fulfils
the functions of percepin all vertebrate
and
volition
this
system exists
animals, in an ascending scale of development up to
man.
fibres
The
other, the ganglionic system, consisting of
terminating in nerve centres, or ganglia, dis-
tributed over various parts of the frame, but chiefly in
two
parallel
rows arranged on either side of the central
axis, or the vertebral
column
8i
the office of this system

6
EVIDENCE OF DESIGN.
is
to
fulfil
the
involuntary
functions
essential
to
;
the
this
development and maintenance of animal

system
is
life
common
to
men and
all
kinds of
cater-
animals,
pillar.
down
to the slug, the
worm, and the
It is
an obvious necessity that the ear should possess

intensity of the vibra-
some means of adaptation to the

tions reaching
it,
in
order that while the feeblest sounds

its
may
is
be appreciated,
delicate
mechanism may not be

;
deranged by the most powerful ones

contraction and dilatation of the
there
is
just as the eye
adapted to the intensity of incident light

iris.
by the
For this purpose
little
muscle by which the tympanic

;
memregu-
brane can be tightened
a second by which
is
lated the tension of the
membrane which connects

margin of
;
the base of the stapes, the innermost of the ossicles (so

called from
its
stirrup-like shape), with the
the oval aperture in the wall of the vestibule

third muscle, or rather series of muscles,
and a
by which the
is
tension of the spiral lamina of the cochlea
regulated.
into
But how
play
.''
is
this exquisite
in fact, is
.''
mechanism brought
how,
the ear itself informed of the
adjustment required
chain
of ossicles
is is
The foremost member

firmly attached
to
its
of the
the
tym:
panum, and
carried to
and
fro
by
vibrations
proceeding laterally from this bone, and
in
a direction
nearly parallel to the plane of the adjacent portion of the
tympanum
is
a slender and taper
bony
filament,
in its relative proportions

82
resembling a lady's riding
EVIDENCE OF DESIGN.
whip
lies
;
and immediately behind
this slender process
the tympanic nerve, a branch of the ganglionic
system, which pursues a very tortuous course, for no

other assignable reason than that of coming into relation with the filament of
bone just mentioned.
What
happens then?
on the
The very first sound-wave that strikes tympanum makes, by means of this tiny bone,
flashed to an adjacent centre of nerve power,
an impression of corresponding intensity on the nerve,
which
case
is
aitd the
mandate
be,
is
to "
make
taut " or " let go," as the
may
returned and acted on, ere a second
wave can impinge upon the tympanum.
The
train of actions just described

will
;
is
it
altogether
is,
removed from the domain of the

over, so far
more-
from being obvious, that
it is
believed to
have escaped the notice of every writer on physiology.

If,
then, the
mere explanation so
shall
far taxes the
powers
infinite
of the
human mind, what
be said of the
wisdom by which the whole was designed 1 Well indeed may we be prompted to declare with the
sacred Psalmist, "
He
that planted the ear, shall

shall
He
not hear
It
.^
or
He that made the eye,

far
He not
see ?"
would be
more unreasoning
to believe that that
mechanism, the human frame, was selfdeveloped, than to believe that if a " fortuitous concourse of atoms " of brass and steel, swept up from a
unrivalled
workman's
floor,
were put into a bag and thoroughly
well shaken, they

rate chronometer.
would spontaneously evolve a
first-
83
EVIDENCE OF DESIGN.
If this
experiment were made, and, as
is
highly pro-
bable, attended
by
evolution would
failure, the advocate of undesigned probably exclaim, " Aye, but you
;
have not shaken the bag long enough

can be entertained that your
if
you
will
only shake on for countless aeons, no reasonable doubt

efforts will ultimately
results.
be
crowned with the happiest

development, you
The
:
course of
may
reasonably anticipate, would

the atoms of
probably be something of this kind
brass and steel would respectively aggregate themselves
into
rounded
time
masses,
and
these,
when
old
enough
pinions.
to cut their teeth,
would become wheels and
As
rolls
on,
you must expect some

;
examples of imperfect development one,

a third without face and hands;
pitcji
for
example,
without a main-spring, another without a balance, and

but,
never mind,
will,
them back again

'perish
in
into the bag,
where they
for
no
doubt,
the
struggle
again,
existence,'
and be shaken
Moreover,
if
to pieces
that
their disjecta
successfully.
membra may re-form themselves more
you want your chronometer to go on a diamond, and to be jewelled in eight or ten holes, you must put into the bag a little soot and a little
pipe-clay."
do
i*
Soot
and
pipe-clay,
what good can they

;
"
All the good in the world
material atoms,
we only want the you know, and chance and plenty of

as
time
all
will
enable their inherent powers to accomplish
the
rest.
The diamond,
you are aware,
is
only
carbon, and in due course of time the carbon-atoms
EVIDENCE OF DESIGN.
will
little
rush into each other's
diamonds, which
that these
will
embrace, and grow bigger by
constitute
accretion.
;
know
carbon-atoms are very coy
no
one has ever yet induced them to take the

but time,
final step,
my friend, time will work wonders.

iron,
;
Again,
the rubies for the holes are nothing more than alumina,
with a small quantity of
and a trace of
and pipe-clay
I
lime,
is
which they can easily pick up

you."
the
handiest source of pure alumina that
can suggest to
Is
not the unintentioned evolution of organised

.-'
beings indefinitely more absurd, a fortiori, than this

If
any hearer or reader of

little
this address
should think
that a
banter
is
out of place in so serious a
subject, he
may, with
all
due
respect,
be reminded of
tim.e,
the opinion of a profound thinker of the olden

that
" Ridiculum
acri
Secius ac melius magnas plerumque secat res."
In conclusion, as the adaptation of means to beneficent ends, such as those which have been imperfectly
described, are the
fairly
more
special
in
be assumed that
the
and recondite, it ma>same proportion they

well indeed
bear the stronger evidence of the boundless wisdom
and goodness of the Creator
may
the
devout believer exclaim with heartfelt gratitude,

"
When
all
Thy
mercies,
O my
God,
My
raptured soul surveys,
Transported with the view, I'm lost In wonder, love, and praise."
85
THE
PHILOSOPHY OF HUMAN RESPONSIBILITY.
REV.
CANON
BIRKS, M.A.,
PROFESSOR OF MORAL PHILOSOPHY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE.
THE PHILOSOPHY OF HUMAN

RESPONSIBILITY.
IS
Man
responsible at
all for his
conduct
On what
fact or principle in his nature does this responsibility rest

?
Why
?
must he make answer
for himself,
and to
whom
Is there
any ground
in
the reason of
:
things to confirm the sayings of Scripture
" It is
judgment;"
men once to die, but after this the "So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God" These are the questions now before us. They call for a grave examination,
appointed unto
?
and,
if
possible, a clear reply
for
they plainly involve
an issue of immense importance to ourselves and to all mankind.
There
being.
is
in these days,
you are aware, a so-called
philosophy, which denies that
man
is
a responsible
He
is,
in its view,
a certain amount of deve-
loped protoplasm, or of transformed solar force, which
has some strange dreams
it
mistakes for
realities,
and
thus fancies itself to be an individual being, a respon-
THE PHILOSOPHY OF
sible
agent.
to
But these delusions, with the parcels

which they
adhere,
of matter
were
all
once
potentially in
some wide ocean of cosmic vapour. From the forces then at work in that wonderful
it
matrix, a sufficient intelligence,
is
thought, could
have predicted, among other changes, these day-dreams

of the
human
portion of the earth's Fauna, " with as
much
certainty as one can say
what
will
happen to the
so, all
vapour of the breath on a winter's day." If

science
con-
of right
to
judgment
dream.
and wrong must be a delusion, come a mere fable, and immortality a
In the
name
of natural science, the
common
It
foundations of morality and religion are assailed.

is
needful, then, to
examine them once more.
The
negative philosophy professes to trace three
steps in the history of every science, the childish or

theological, the youthful or metaphysical,
tive or perfect stage, in
and the posi-
which religion and metaphysics

aside.
have been completely cast

be
laid
A counter law may

is
down, far nearer to the
truth, Avhich distinguishes
a low starting point, and three successive stages in the

ascent to perfect wisdom.
The
starting point
simple
first
ignorance, or natural and moral nescience.
The
stage
is
that of Natural Science and Moral Nescience.

is
The second
that of Natural
and Moral Science, but

and highest
is
Spiritual Nescience.
The
rest
last
that of
Natural, Moral, and Spiritual Science,
when the awakin a still higher
ened conscience finds

truth, revealed to
it
and peace
It
from above.
90
then begins to see
nUMAN
all
RESPONSIBILITY.
human life, down from His presence, all whose ways are judgment, and whose name is Love First, then, we live in a world of perpetual change.
nature,
and
all
the complex varieties of
in the light that
streams
Every
child of
man
has his
lot
cast amidst a sea of
countless
phenomena, varying every moment.
In
this first stage of
thought he sees them, and watches
them with curious, wondering eyes, but looks no Every thing merely happens. farther. Countless changes are happening daily. But why they happen, whence they come, and whither they go, he makes no
inquiry.
The kaleidoscope has been

this
is is
shaken, and
another image succeeds the one which fades away.
Chance reigns without, and
merely another
name
for
is
ignorance within. All
appearance only, and
nature
nothing more than a restless phantasmagoria
of worthless dreams.
Now Positive
Science, as defined
by its own promul-
gator, really answers to this first
and infant stage of thought, where ignorance reigns and science is unborn.
out,
all
Theology has been shut

First
and with
it
the Great
Cause, on
whom
science
depends.
all
Metasecond
physics are shut out also, and with these

causes,
and those metaphysical
ideas.
Being, Force,
and Substance.
tered,
Phenomena
are to be simply regis-
and
their laws ascertained.
But those laws are and we have

no-
laws of force, laws for things and persons, material and

spiritual substances.
Exclude
all
force,
countless phenomena, perpetually changing, but

91
THE PHILOSOPHY OF
thing beside.
register them,
There
is
no person to observe and
no object whose changes are to be noted
and observed.
harvest-field,
Our beads have no string on which they can hang together. The ears lie scattered on the wide
and there
is
no reaper, and no swathing-
band, to bind them into sheaves.
Without a person,
;
and without a
without
thing, those metaphysical conceptions
forces,
which
;
are
causes of
motion,
and
therefore metaphysical
there can be only a chaos of

causeless,
phenomena,
nected,
fleeting,
momentary,
unconis
inexplicable,
and unexplained.
Science
bound hand and

like
foot with the ropes of the theory,
Samson by the Philistines, and cannot stir. For what can be more inconceivable than for a bundle of
phenomena, with nothing to bind them, to call itself a person, and singling out a few other phenomena, to
use these for bands to
tie
together a third set of

.''
phenomena, and then

logical result of
call
them a thing
Thus the
Comte's definition of
this perfect stage
of science
is
precisely
It is
what he assigns
to the theo-
logical stage.
"second childishness and mere
oblivion
"
a registration office for countless pheno-
mena, with no person to register them, and no materials,

no paper on which to record them, not even red tape
wherewith to
tie
burst asunder these
them together. new ropes of
Our Samson must

Positivism, before he
can use his mighty strength, or
make one
is
step to-
wards dominion over the secrets of the natural world.
The
first
stage in the ascent of science

92
the recog-
HUMAN
RESPONSIBILITY.
nition of causes, of persons
who
think and perceive, and
of objects endued with force, the secret cause of their
motions and changes.
" I think, therefore I

is
am."
This
maxim
the
of Descartes
no demonstration, but simply

intuition.
I
it
analysis of a
compound
I lift
I not
only
think, but I act.
a weight.
grasp a ball with

I
my
hand.
I
thrust a door, and
opens.
I
look on
the face,
clasp the hand, of a friend.
am
I
conscious
repeat the
I
of exerting power, and an effect follows.

exertion of force, and the effect
the
effort,
is
repeated.
vary
and the
falls
effect is varied.
I
forbear to
lift,
and
I
the weight
ball,
to the ground.
rolls
cease to grasp the

I
and
it
descends or
away.
pull
I
what
pushed, and a reverse motion follows.

consciousness of force in myself
Thus
gain the
And
it,
I learn, also,
the presence of force in things around me.
For the
resists
weight presses on
effort to
my
hand that
raises
and needs an
ball
overcome the
it,
pressure.
The
it
the hand that grasps
and forbids
to close.
The
eye of the friend returns

his
my own
glance of affection,
hand returns
I
my own
conscious
greeting with a friendly

of force
pressure.
am
I
and power
in
myself
In every
But
learn that there are powers
and
forces
around me, everywhere present, and constantly
at work.
phenomenon
side.
act as a sentient being,
and
am
acted upon in return
by persons and by things
OP every
Natural Science deals, then, not with mere phe-
nomena, as Positivism
affirms, but
93
with forces, the secret
THE PHILOSOPHY OF
cause on which these shifting appearances depend.
This one key serves to unlock the wonders of the natural

universe.
The chaos
of
mere phenomena
is
replaced
lifeless
by a Cosmos of
things, each
persons, living creatures,
and
endued with forces that act by
laws, partly
discovered, partly
unknown, on which those transient
appearances depend.
And
hence one of our ablest

to the Positive
physicists, of the school
most akin
Philosophy, exactly reverses the fundamental exclusion of causes

"
and
forces
on which Positivism
is
based.
The
scientific
mind," he says, " can find no repose in
the mere registration of sequence in nature.

tion intrudes with resistless weight
The
ques-
whence
comes
its
the sequence
.''
What
.''
binds the consequent with
antecedent in nature
never can attain
rest,
The
until
truly scientific intellect
it
reaches the forces by

is
which the observed succession

thus with Torricelli
;
produced.
It
;
was
it is
it
was thus with Newton
thus pre-eminently with the real scientific
man
of the
present day."
The conquests of natural science, from the days of Newton onward, have been great and wonderful in its own domain. It has measured the earth, and scaled It has swept away the vortices of Desthe heaven.
cartes
and the spheres of Ptolemy, and has determined the orbits of the planets and comets by the law of It has measured the speed of universal gravitation.
detected the unseen ether spread through
all
light,
space,
and measured the subtle vibrations on which

94
HUMAN
RESPONSIBILITY.
It
colour and sight depend.
has analyzed the
air,
decomposed the earth and the water, detected fiftyunknown elements, and created whole sciences of
chemistry, mineralogy, electricity, galvanism,
in
unknown
balance.
fled
former days.
It
has weighed, not only mountains,

its
but the earth, the sun, and the planets, in
Chance, that shadow of

before
it.
human
ignorance, has
The reign of law has been established to
the farthest bound of the visible universe.
And
it
marches on
still
to fresh conquests, forgets, like the
Apostle, the things behind, and seeks to add

rich provinces to the vast
new and
dominions
it
has already
won.
After such successes in their
surprising that
own
field,
it
is
not
some natural
and seek
philosophers, with their
strong phalanx of physical laws, should dream of universal empire,

to carry their
arms
into the
region of moral and spiritual truth.
That
force,
which
the founder of Positivism would proscribe and banish

as a youthful dream, his English disciples
into a divinity,
would exalt
that the
is
and seat on the throne of the universe.

mind, they affirm, knows
is
The
scientific
sequence he sees
necessary,
"
and
till
this
knowledge
is
essential to his repose.
Not
then
the law of
reason rendered concentric with the law of nature,
nor can the philosopher rest in peace."
The permathe
universe.
nence of Force
is
the fulcrum with which he can
uproot miracles, and
move
95
or
build
Nothing, he thinks, has occurred to indicate that the
THE PHILOSOPHY OF
operation of law has been for one
"
moment
suspended.
Nothing has ever intimated that nature has ever been
crossed
things
by spontaneous action, or that a at any time existed which could

and the
state of
not be
rigorously deduced from the preceding state.
Given
time
the distribution of matter,
forces, in the
of Galileo, the competent mathematician of that day
could predict what
is
now
in
occurring in our own."
Our
Miltons and Shakspeares, our Newtons and Herschels,

all
were potentially
;
some cosmic vapour
millions
of years ago
by some formula of due complexity, might have worked out accurately the Principia and the Paradise Lost, as
so that a competent analyst,
singular points in his vast curve of universal being.
These are stupendous assertions of the natural philoWe are bound to examine them rigorously, sopher. before we sacrifice to them the solemn voices of conscience, the deepest instincts of the
human
heart,
and
Is
it
the hopes and promises of the Gospel of Christ.

the conclusion contained in the premises, or does
go immensely beyond them } " There is no God but physical force, and natural philosophers are its prophets."
Does
this
new
Islam,
preached by some
first
almost with the fanatic zeal of the
Saracens,
of
really possess any reasonable claim to the faith

.-*
mankind What, then, is this Force, tLis "new god, newly come up," which we Christian believers are summoned to It is a slippery and changeful Proteus, imadore
.'*
ps
HUMAN
possible to define.
RESPONSIBILITY.
it is
Now
;
accelerating force
now
acquired
motion.
It
momentum
It
now a
potency, and
It
now
actual
glows
in
the stars.
blossoms
in the trees. It
spreads
itself
out in a cosmic sea of mist.
con-
denses
itself into
suns and planets.

It
It flashes
through
the universe in sunshine.
forms animals that fancy
themselves to be
alive,
and men that dream themselves
immortal, and then scatters them into

ruption again.
it
worms and
cor-
But whence came

tell
it,
and whither does

always the same
its
go
.-
Its
amount, some
us, is
its
increase or decrease
is
"
unthinkable," though
then, fixed for
force,
it
forms are ever changing.

total
itself,
Who,
this
amount
impels
.''
and what power or
higher than
}
it
to these ceaseless transmutations

tale.
It is
like the
Genie of the Arabian
Now it buries itself,

Anon some
fisher-
as highly condensed sun-force, in the depths of the
ocean or of the coal measures.
man
or miner drags
;
it
forth to light,
!
dark prison-house
water-smoke."
liberty
and, lo
in "
it
and unseals its shoots upward in clouds
of steam, or exhales
thousand wreaths of dangling

wild cry of escape and
lips
It shrieks its
on
all
our railways from the
of ten thousand
engines,
again.
It is
and then vanishes into the depths of space a mighty slave of the lamp and the ring, and guidance of divine or
but,
well suited for the control
even of human wisdom
a most useful drudge, that can

;
work marvels
after
all,
at the bidding of a higher reason
a sorry and shameful divinity.
Set up by
philosophy for the true King and Lord of the universe,

97

THE PHILOSOPHY OF
it
explains nothing, and needs itself to be explained.
Proteus and eyeless Polyphemus of Homer, both alike stripped of thought and reason, and then rolled together in one
It is the shifting
;
Monstrum horrendum,
It
informe, ingens, cui
lumen ademptum.
has no mind, no heart, no choice, no reason, and

Its
no
will.
changes have no purpose.
It
begins
with chaos and darkness, and ends in utter darkness
and chaos again. Let us turn from

sets facts
this abortive philosophy,
for its
idol,
which
up physical force
once more.
and catechize the
We
are conscious of power in our-
selves.
us,
This consciousness, reflected on things around
which plainly act on us as we act on them, reveals
one great law of being,

living things.
itself into
common
of
alike to lifeless
and
The chaos
phenomena now
its
resolves
a Cosmos, or at least becomes
pledge and
earnest.
We
are conscious of our
own
sentient mind,
and perceive and know countless

force like ourselves.
objects,
endued with
But we are conscious of sensations, as well as of power

to act.
And in things around

some have power
;
us
we learn soon
to distin-
guish that
to resist, or act
upon our
senses, but nothing higher
to possess a
or seem power of voluntary motion, and sensations
while others
live,
of pain and pleasure, like our own.

then,
The
doctrine,
that
nature
"
"has
never
been
crossed
by
the
spontaneous action
sounds very strange

98
on
HUMAN
lips of a philosopher.
RESPONSIBILITY.
He must invent an
For spontaneous
is
esoteric sense
for a familiar term.
action, in con-
trast
to mechanical impulse,
the term which, in

life
popular apprehension, from the highest forms of
down
of
life,
to the lowest, severs living things from lifeless
matter.
Even
in the
Amoeba, almost the lowest type

and speaks of "that marvellous
living
an able microscopist can describe that pheno-
mena
to
in
no other way
power which one portion of the
mass possesses,
on
move
in
advance of another portion of the same."*
It is needless,
and time
life
is
;
will not allow, to dwell
the lower forms of

theory, that instinct
all
or to discuss the Cartesian

force,
mere mechanical
and that
But
animals are simply machines of complex mechanism.

sense of
The common
mankind
life
rebels against
it.
here no consciousness can assist our inquiries.

faculties of mere
The
animal
are limited, and the contrast
with
lifeless
matter is
less
complete. But for ourselves,
we are conscious
pain,
of somethingbeyond mechanical force,

its
and higher than mere sensation, with

and appulse to pleasure.
selves,
aversion from
reflect
We can
on ourus.
on our sensations, and the objects around

act,
We
and
can
and
refrain
from acting.
We
can choose
of
refuse.
We
can reason on the desirableness
things within our power, and open to our choice.
We
can compare higher and lower objects of desire, nobler
and
less
worthy motives of
and the
action, the more immediate more remote, and decide between them.
*Beale, Protoplasm, p. 39.
99
THE PHILOSOPHY OF
From a long
induction, even in childhood,
we can
dis-
cern powers of sensation and self-motion in animals,
determined by no
compulsion, but
by some form
of spontaneous choice, which lifeless matter does not

share.
And
a like experience teaches us that their
range of thought, feeling, and choice, has limits which
do not apply to
reason.
limits,
ourselves.
Their
instinct,
even
in its
highest forms, does not rise to the level of our
human
Their choice seems to have very narrow

limits
it
however perfect within these
may seem
to be. Ours includes wider and nobler elements, the past and the future, as well as the present, not
sensible objects only, but the thoughts
and
feelings of
reasoning minds like our own, the joys of benevolent

desire
and
action,
and
real
and deep longings, however

unseen and
dim and vague they may

eternal.
be, after things
These powers of reason,

to us to
choice,
and
will,
are revealed
by our consciousness
pull,
push and
power and thus to act on matter around us.

just as clearly as the
The lower consciousness gives
birth to Natural Science,
and replaces dreamy, transient phenomena by substances endued with force, or permanent subjects and
objects of
human
thought.
The higher
issues
gives birth to
Moral Science, and involves

still
no
less wide,
and
more important.
To
"
such a power of internal

"
reasonable choice, the

forces can never apply.
Is
must
of purely mechanical
man
only like a piece of sea-weed, driven and

lOO
HUMAN
drifted to
RESPONSIBILITY.
and without choice, by the by some " environment " of things without and around him ? Then reason would be dethroned, and all ideas of right and wrong be an
and
fro blindly,
force of circumstances,
illusive
dream.
He
would be no person, but only a

false
thing.
spirit
Against such a
of
view of his nature, the

witness.
man
within
him bears perpetual him
Various objects of choice, good for food, and pleasant

to the mental vision, are spread around
trees in
like the
Paradise.
But another grows continually,

their side, the tree of
closely planted
by
knowledge of
to believe
good and
that he
necessity.
is
evil.
Man's consciousness of reason, and
of the power of inward choice, forbids
him
chained by any physical laws or fatal
But because his powers are nobler and

is
higher than mechanical forces can define,

fore wholly lawless
.''
he there-
To
such a conclusion his own
reason
tion
is
no
less
opposed.
Chance
is
only the reflecstifles
on the outer world of that ignorance, which

instinct
the
that
is
points
ever to causes, force and
substance, and
content to gaze idly on appear-
ances alone.
Fate,
with
its
series
of physical and
necessary laws that admit no choice, and are blindly
obeyed,
is
the
enlarged reflection of that stage of
inward thought, wherein
men
are conscious of power,
and trace out

their
its
cosmical results, but forget or deny

will.
own
higher consciousness of reason and

is
Yet
this consciousness
just as clear
and simple as
in
the other.
When
once awake, and simply obeyed
THE PHILOSOPHY OF
its
teaching,
it
reveals a vision higher than
all
physical
law,
of Right, Duty, and Goodness, of moral

still
laws
per-
which ought to be observed, and

versely disobeyed.
rises to
may be
Man's internal consciousness then
a higher stage, and becomes a conscience.
He
feels
himself to be parted by a wide chasm, which
no subtle reasonings of comparative anatomy can

bridge over, from the beasts of the
nizes in himself powers
field.
He
recog-
and answering obligations of a
higher kind,
" God's image, not imparted to the brute."
"
Must " and
"
ought
"
are
like
watchwords and
inscriptions
on the standards of two vast and mighty

first
empires.
less
The
includes under
lifeless
its
sway the count;
range of material and
things
the second
relations of
and
higher, all the actions
and mutual
like
men, or of beings endued,

reason.
men, with choice and
The two
are equal in breadth, for all out-
ward things are objects of human thought, and the

higher law extends to
actions of men.
all
the thoughts as well as

is
But the moral empire
nobler
than the physical, and contains more complex and
more weighty
ness of our
truths.
The
intuition "
ought," or *T
ought not," follows as immediately on the conscious-
own powers
of reflection and choice, as
the intuition of persons and of things endued with

force on
action.
our consciousness of power and
muscular
HUMAN
The
discernment of what
RESPONSIBILITY.
general sense of Duty, as distinct from the clear

is
right to
be done,
is
thus a
fundamental
those
instinct
of
human
thought.
Even
it,
who
tell
it
us that
we ought not
it,
to recognize
recognize
themselves in that denial.
No
sooner
If
do they
strive to displace
than
it
reappears.
they resolve morals into a
sum
total,
of arithmetic, a calcu-
lation of pleasures, the accountant
may do
is
his work,
and add up
on some
have."
his
imaginary
but where
the oblifall
gation, the mainspring of action ?

intuition of right
We
must
back
and wrong. Conditions are

the efhcacy
it
assigned that " utility

"
may gain
ought
to
Those eternal and

"
irresistible sentiments, to
seek pleasure and avoid pain, ought to be the great
study of the moralist."
We ought
such
is
is
not to hold utility
responsible for mistakes contrary to its nature."
"Every
one must judge

it
for himself;
the fact, and such
ought to
be."
"A man
bound by the general

Theory, etc.)
utility
of engagements."
{Baithants
Those who erect the calculation of results, in pleasure and pain, into the sole test of morality, are thus compelled silently to
right
own
"
a fundamental conception of
and wrong, the

all their
ought
"
and
"
ought not
"
of
man's conscience.
work, and
Without
this their principle
cannot
calculations are thrown away.
On
this
grand intuition of the heart and conscience,

its
the doctrine of man's responsibility rests as

foundation.
sure
But three
different
causes have someunassailable truth.
times clouded the perception of

103
its
THE PHILOSOPHY OF
The
first
of these
is
the dispute on Liberty and
between choice or volition, and the motives by which that choice is deternecessity, the connection
mined.
It is
pure indifference,
the
will, is
urged by one class of reasoners, that in which some place the freedom of
;
that every event must have a sufficient reason, that motives enter into every act of judgment, and some act of judgment
inconceivable and impossible
must precede and determme every act of the

ridicule the idea that a
will.
They
caprice,
power of acting from pure with no reason at all, can be the grand privi-
lege of a moral agent, without which he becomes a
machine.
sight of
Such a
doctrine, they hold,
makes
fore-
human
it
actions inconceivable.
After chance
has been banished from physics by the growth of

science,
would
set
up
its
throne once more in the
higher
of
field
of morals, and thus consign the whole world
human
action and thought to chaos and darkness.
This reasoning of necessitarians against a liberty of pure caprice and indifference is just and decisive. But
when some
of
them would
infer
that the will of
man
determined wholly by outward circumstances, and thus bind down all human life in a chain of
is
physical constraint and co-action, they enthrone blind
Fate instead of Chance, and

side.
err equally
on the other
There
is
a path of truth, in harmony with con-
science
and experience, which
these extremes.
it
The
will
is
lies evenly between determined by motives,
is
true.
But these motives are not

104
like
weights in
HUMAN
and constant
kind.
RESPONSIBILITY.
the market, or coins on the merchant's counter, fixed

in their relative force
and weight,
in all
circumstances, and for
men and
characters of every
;
They
decide the acts of the will
but their re-
lative force
will,
depends on something deeper than the
the moral state, the disposition and character, of
the agent to
whom
they appeal.
Men
are sensual,
prudent, honourable, or holy, as

chiefly prevail with
the motives which

pleasure, re-
them are momentary
mote prospects of worldly gain, the highest principles of

conduct habitually recognized
love of moral
among
their fellows, or
evil,
good and hatred of moral

eternal things.
quickened
by meditation on
of
This dependence
motives for their practical force on the moral
character, on the state of the heart, is taught alike
maxim
hy heathen moralists and the word of God.

"
The
its
Trahit sua
quemque
:
voluptas,"
has
counterpart in the weighty text
"All
we
like
sheep
have gone astray
own way!'
we have turned every one to his Man's choice of his own path determines,
;
to a great extent, the class of motives which have the
nearest access, hour
by
hour, to guide
will.
and determine
the separate acts of his

urg-encies of evil thicken
The
temptations and
downward path, till chains of fate. The beauties and the joys
good land of hope and heavenly
which
and crowd around him in a they hold him in a bondage like the
of virtue, the
blessing,
open around
him, in brighter and brighter vision, in that

life"
is
"way
of
in
"above
to the wise."
105
And
they issue
THE PHILOSOPHY OF
that service which
is
perfect freedom,
and
in the
Hberty
of that perfect law of moral goodness, whose seat,

in the
words of Hooker,
is
the
bosom
of God, and her
voice the
harmony
of the world.
A second cause which has obscured the certainty of

the ground of morals, and therefore the fact of man's
responsibility,
is
the disputes of moralists themselves
on the ex-act nature and definition of moral right and

wrong.
Some make
the moral tightness of actions
depend wholly on
beneficial consequences without,
others on conformity to a sense, an instinct, or a natural pre-eminence of conscience, within

;
others, again,
on obedience to the
Lawgiver.
If
will of
a Supreme and Absolute

it
moral distinctions,
a self-evident
may be and fundamental fact, how

for
asked, are
can there
have been such persistent debates on their grounds
and true nature
two thousand years?

without plunging into the thick
To
this objection,
of those controversies
which have
raged
so
long
and so fiercely, there is a simple reply. For let us assume the truth of moral distinctions, of moral good and evil in human actions, and three results must surely follow. Actions good and right must be best
suited to man's
own
nature and constitution
they
must tend, in their result, to the general happiness and welfare and if there be, as all but atheists believe, a Being supremely good, on whom all created good;
ness depends, they must be in agreement with His
good and acceptable and perfect

io6
will.
Their
fibres
HUMAN
and
rootlets
RESPOaVSIBILITY.
may
be manifold, but these are the three

fix
main taproots by which they
themselves deep in
the whole system of actual things.
Now
main
since,
on every sensible view, these
three
is it
attributes of all right action
must
co-exist,
surprising
that
there
should
be
diverse views
of
their priority
and dependence, and

?
their exact relalike those
tion to each other

political
Such discords are

King,
of
schools,
whether
Lords, and
Com-
mons,
Lords,
King, and Commons,

is
or
Commons,
Lords, and King,
the truest and soundest form of
expression, and order of precedence, in a constitutional
monarchy. Each view, when urged to the exclusion of

the
rest,
tends to a fatal
issue.
One would
blot out the
conscience,
and degrade men into slaves of an immoral

;
superstition
another would puff them up with self-con-
ceited and vain-glorious pride; another tends rapidly to
a democratic tyranny of sensual pleasures.

these extremes are set aside, even should
clearly
But when
fail
we
to see
and define exactly the order and dependence

still
of the three truths, they will
conspire and agree
together in their main lesson.

cord,
They form
a threefold
which cannot be broken, to confirm the moral
responsibility of
man, and the
reality of the eternal

evil.
contrast between moral
good and moral
Another source of moral scepticism has been the immense diversity on particular questions of right and
wrong,
among
different classes, in various countries,
and
in different
ages of the world.

107
Such
facts
have
THE PHILOSOPHY OF
been urged by Locke against innate
ideas,
and
Hume
further.
and others have carried the argument But a

full
still
reply
may
be drawn from the parallel case

the case of
of bodily vision.
landscape.
Take
some building or
seriously
In spite of Berkeley's inferences from a
theory of vision,
now abandoned, no one

them and
a
doubts the existence of such objects, and our power

of actually seeing
tracing their real outlines.
this vision
Yet on how many varying elements does

depend
!
To what
it
number of mischances
!
or
hindrances
is
exposed
We
see the building in
clear daylight, but at midnight

twilight,
faint,
we cannot
Its
see
it.
In
and
at a distance, its outlines are
dim and
level,
and almost disappear.
appearance varies
of
with the point of sight, the direction and
each observer.
in thick fog
We
fail
to see
it,
even
in the
daytime,
it
and
mist.
The
blind cannot see

it
at
all,
the short-sighted, the blear-eyed, see

It is
confusedly.
hard to see
it
plainly
when
the eyes are weak, or
dazzled with excessive sunlight, or even
when some
Yet amidst
deep emotion has

all
filled
them with
tears.
these casualties and disturbances, and partly

believe without
by
the
means of them, we
doubt
in
reality of the fields or the building
on which we gaze.
The same explanation

trasts
will
apply to seeming con-
and incongruities
in
the diversities of moral

object
vision.
judgment.
alone, to
More is needed than a real secure harmony of view, and perfect

single, that the
io8
The eye must be
body, the whole moral
HUMAN
being,
RESPONSIBILITY.
may be
full
of light.
The atmosphere must be
so clear as not to hinder a healthy eye from discovering the real features of the object.
And
even when
the means of vision are perfect, the
same
object
may be
seen in different aspects
and the elements that comwill
pose
it,
and form
in
its
moral features,
thus be
grouped
varying proportion and perspective to
different minds.
The
real
perceptions, then, of conscience are
no
less
than those of sense and outward vision.
There is
of
a right and wrong in actions, no less than a contrast of

straight,
and curved or crooked
lines.
The laws
moral duty, which
men endowed with

in kind,
choice and reason
ought to obey, are higher
but not
less real,
than the law of gravitation which guides each planet

in its orbit,
and which
it
cannot choose but obey.
The world
of moral thought and action, based on these

is
higher truths,
not less wide, and
still
nobler and
worthier of our research, than that world of space and
mechanical force
coveries,
in
which geometry makes
its
dis-
and where physical laws of attraction and

is
repulsion bear rule.
Man,
all,
then,
responsible, but to
whom
First of
to his fellow-men.
This
is
a truth confirmed by
the whole structure of society, and the enactment of

public laws both in ancient
and modern
times.
Man,
by
his actions,
can benefit or injure his fellow-men.

is
In one case there

reparation
;
a wrong and offence that
demands
except
in the other
benefit, to which,
109
THE PHILOSOPHY OF
in special cases, the recipient
has no claim.
But outBut the

the case
ward law can

It
act decisively in the former case alone.

injuries,
can forbid
as a direct wrong.
it
obligation of direct well-doing
can ratify
in
of contracts and promises or definite family relationships alone.
Man
cannot read the heart.
And
hence
responsibility to our fellow-men, that of
which they
does not
have right to take cognizance
for themselves,
extend to the secret thoughts, but only to the words
by which we affect their state for good or evil. All the complex literature of jurisprudence, the codes of Roman and modern law, the acts of senates and parliaments, the byelaws of countless associations, bear witness in a thousand ways to the same doctrine, that man, as a social being, is and
and
actions,
must be responsible
claim.
to his fellow-men.
But the law of duty has a wider range, and a further
Each man can know
for himself
what
on
his
fellows cannot know, the secret thoughts
and
lies
desires
his
is
of his
own
heart.
The
obligation which
it
conscience, and to which
responds, whenever
sin, is
it
not sunk in the stupor of vice and
to seek for
himself the highest attainable good, or the moral perfection of his
whole being.
Now
this
must include
all
the cleansing and maintaining in purity

springs of thought and feeling within.
the hidden
this,
For
and
con-
nothing
science.
his
less,
he must be responsible to his

voice which speaks to
own
The
him dimly from

is
own
heart,
more
clearly in a divine message,
no
HUMAN
this
:
RESPONSIBILIl
true,
Y.
"
Whatsoever things are
whatsoever things
are honest,
whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever

there be
things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report,

if
there be any virtue, and
if
any
praise, think
on these things."
This grand, unalterable law of duty

spirit
bends down over his
wherever he goes,
like the
blue firmament, and shuts him in on every side.
He
makes answer, and cannot help making answer, to himself. Remorse for dark and evil deeds awakens a bitterness of anguish beyond the worst torture of
physical suffering.
"
Infected minds
To
their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets,"
and desperate suicide seems often too weak a form of

self-punishment for hideous murders.
the graceful Epicurean poet of
On the other hand, Rome rises beyond his
own level to the stern dignity of the Hebrew prophet, when he describes the calm, firm dignity of conscious
uprightness in the midst of thickening dangers.
Justum
et
tenacem propositi virum
Non civium ardor, prava jubentium, Non vultus instantis tyranni,

Mente
quatit solida
. .
Si fractus illabatur orbis,
Impavidum
ferient ruinse.
Man
is
responsible to himself for what he has thought

evil.
and done, whether of good or

sometimes,
in
still
small voice
from his own conscience speaks to him

slumberings on his bed,
III
in solitude,
visits
and him even

THE PHILOSOPHY OF
in
his dreams.
It
speaks to him in
silent,
lonely-
hours of night, whether in the cottage homes of the

poor, or in halls of courtly
pomp and
floors,
luxury
In watches in the dead, the dark, when clocks
Throb thunder through the palace
and cry
On
flying
Time with
all their silver
tongues.
That voice
before
tells
ill
him of
duties neglected, of
It
ill
words
review
spoken, and
deeds done.
brings
in
him the
follies
of childhood, the vices or crimes

It
of later years, and passes sentence upon them.
reminds him,
like
a judge, of golden hours misspent,
And
and noble opportunities wasted and misimproved. whenever the misdoing has been gross and
flagrant, the
guilty past pursues
the soul with
its
warning and condemning

blood,
till it
voice, like the
avenger of
cries out in the bitterness of its anguish,

in
and looks round
vain for
some
city of refuge.
Man, then,
and both
science.
for
is
responsible for his actions to society,
thoughts and actions to his

is
own
con.''
But
he responsible to himself alone

the limit in our upward ascent
lord of nature, sees above
Have we reached when man, being
him a
bound
firm and sure law of the
good and
right, a "categorical
imperative" which he
to
may transgress,
is
but
still is
obey
.-*
Is
it
or
is it
not a truth of reason as well

a Moral Governor,
all
as revelation, that there

sitteth in the
"who
heavens over
from the beginning," so
that " every one of us shall give account of himself to
God"?
112
HUMAN
The
by
its
RESPONSIBILITY.
all
starting-point of
science
is
that absolute
ignorance to which the Positive Philosophy, as defined

founder, would
condemn
us,
when
it
excludes
ideas,
cause, force,
and substance, as metaphysical

register
and would confine us to note and

alone.
ness,
phenomena
This
is
the stage of infancy or idiot dreamireigns without,
when Chance
its
and ignorance and

stage of ascent
is
utter nescience within.
The
first
reached by
wiser English disciples,

that of
when one
the
for-
bidden
motion,
idea,
physical
force,
cause of
and perhaps a second, that of substance,
has been welcomed back with honour.

after forces
is
no longer
Physical
proscribed, but
The research made the

This
is
very definition and key of true philosophy.

the stage of
tive
Science.
But when attracthe key to vital

intelligence,
is
and repulsive
force,
performing a masquerade
is
of ceaseless transformation,
action,
this
made
and even to human reason and
Science turns to foolishness, and
found
in
league and partnership with Moral Nescience.
We
rise
higher,
" "
and enter the

"
field
of Moral
is
Science.
The
must " of natural compulsion

thou shalt," and
"
re-
placed by the
not," of
ought,"
thou shalt
moral duty.
fate
We
escape from a tyranny of
force
and blind
into a higher realm of moral

affections, virtuous deeds,
freedom, where pure
high
imaginings of hope, and free actings of love, are attainable

if
not attained, and have their proper home.

wilderness
is
The dreary
passed, where
113
mere THINGS
8
THE PHILOSOPHY OF
are whirled about, like the sand-drifts of Arabia,
forces as blind as themselves,
by
and we seem to gaze on
a better land,
Where
Above
bright aerial spirits live insphered
air,
In regions calm of mild and serene

the
smoke and
call earth.
stir
of this
dim
spot,
Which men
But our upward journey
is
not ended.
We must
reach
the third and last stage of Spiritual or Theological

Science, before the doctrine of man's responsibility can
be seen
in all its
solemn grandeur, or the deeper

can be
fulfilled,
in-
stincts of the conscience
and the long-
ing of man's spirit for light and truth can obtain a
haven of
intellectual repose.
all
And first,
Physical Science
is
founded on the con-
ception of force or power, the cause of motion and

physical change, which
selves,
we
are conscious of in ourus.
and perceive
in
persons and things around
But the force of which we are conscious, and the other

forces
variable.
we observe in all nature, are limited, The persons and things which have
act,
local,
force
not only
but are acted upon
they are passive

carries
is,
and dependent. The same law of reason, which

us on from
phenomena
to causes of motion, that
forces, carries us
on from these limited causes or
forces,
these mutable, passive things around us, and

ourselves,
from
who
are feeble and passive also, to a great
First Cause, the Fountain of all power, the
Almighty,
on
whom
these finite forces and causes depend.

114
HUMAN
Again,
to act,
raised
RESPONSIBILITY.
we
are conscious, not only of force or power
but of reason
to
and
are
will.
By
this
we
feel
a higher level of being than the lifeless
things which
move and
moved without
life,
choice, or
even than those lower forms of animated

of choice
where acts
seem
like a
due, not to reflection, but to sensation
and
instinct alone.
But our reason

in
is
imperfect, our
wisdom
lies
mote
a great world of truth that

us.
undiscovered around
Our weakness and our
ignorance force on us the conception of a higher
wisdom than our own, of a Being All-wise, on whom all the streamlets of human wisdom depend.
In the third place,
that the actings of our
we
are conscious in ourselves
by thought,
reflection,
power are guided and controlled and knowledge, by motives and
aims that have gone before the decision.

natural form of action, to our judgment,
capricious,
is
The most
not blind,
and without motive, but such as knowledge and wisdom are guiding to some chosen and
worthy aim. Nowthe things around us-contain
selves
in
themin
no signs of choice or
final causes,
and the choice

universe,
!
in the actions of
animals has limits far narrower than
human
been
agents.
Yet how small a part of the

are
all
in point of physical force,
mankind
It
has
said,
perhaps
truly, that
the electric forces con-
cealed and balanced in a drop of water, are enough

to
create a
terrible
it
thunderstorm.
Now
take our
planet,
and divide
into a thousand parts.

it
of these, and divide
a second time.
ri5
Take one Take one of
THE PHILOSOPHY OF
it a third time. Do the same a fourth Take this homoeopathic fragment and divide it a fifth time. Then at last we have come down to the quantum of matter which makes up the whole race of
these
and divide
time.
mankind.
parts.
Divide this cosmical speck into a thousand

this a
Do
second time, and do

the
it
a third time.
Then only we have reached
amount of the corporeal
organism of a Bacon, or a Newton, or a Herschel, who

can weigh the earth and measure the sun, probe the
depths of the starry spaces, and unlock the secrets of
the universe.
In this
little
speck of matter force

feel
is
united with and guided by thought, and we

it
how
towers immensely in dignity over whole worlds of
matter alone.
Mind, mind alone, bear witness, heaven and
earth,
The living fountains in itself Of beauteous and sublime
contains
. .
But
shall
we
associate force with

it
mind and
rea-
son in ourselves, and leave

its
blind and reasonless in

infinitesimal point of
.'*
whole range, except
this
matter which belongs to mankind

sees a beauty
Sound
reason,
It
it
true philosophy, repels the fancy with disdain.
and wisdom
in the universe,
which
"
denies to the material, chemical elements themselves.

It
speaks by the
lips of its greatest discoverer
This
most beautiful system of sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of
an intelligent and powerful being."
a third line of
light,
And
thus
we have
which leads direct to the throne

ii6
HUMAN
of an All-wise God.
RESPONSIBILITY.
The
vast forces and powers of
the material universe cannot be separated in thought
from
all
design and
reason,
without violating and

consciousness within.
reversing the lesson of our
own
But the wisdom
is
not in the material elements, which
must then be above them and beyond them, the mind of an

feel to
we
be
lifeless
and
unintelligent.
It
Almighty Creator, who

excellent in wasdom."
is "
wonderful
in counsel
and
We
a
pass on
still
higher.
Conscience, like sense,
by
clear
intuition, reveals
a moral law, which pre-
scribes what, in the exercise of choice
and reason, we
is
ought to do.
Man
is
conscious to himself that he

all
still
higher and nobler than

him, than animals, and
feels that the
the visible objects around
more than
lifeless
matter.
power of reasonable choice is the He highest within him, and elevates him above a whole world of passive motion or mere instinct. But the law
of right, the original incentive of duty,
is still
higher
it
than what he feels highest within him, and claims over

a kingly authority, which he finds
this, then,
it
vain to dispute.
Is
the true Highest in the universe, an imper-
sonal, abstract
.
law of duty, possibly never realized by one child of man lofty and pure as the blue firmament,
;
'
but, like that, vague, diffused, impersonal, undefined
The
conscience and heart of
man
protest against such
a view.
The
consciousness of force and causation

is
leads up to a First Cause, which
Almighty.
The
consciousness of reason within

117
us,
and our convic-
THE PHILOSOPHY OF
tion of the absence of reason in the beautiful world
around
our
us,
point doubly to
is
own
reason
derived,
One All-wise, from whom and on whose wisdom the
mighty Cosmos depends.

moral law above
all
And now
the sense of a
us,
overshadowing and encompassing

force, to the vision of
moral agents,
like the blue vault of heaven, leads
our thoughts, with resistless
One
All-good, as well as All-wise, in
whom
that law abides
as the uncreated light of perfect, essential goodness
and from
whom
it
diffuses itself, in its application to

all
created moral agents, with
the rich
and varied
hues of light
Still
in the
bow
of heaven.
in
its
further, the
Moral Law,
very nature,
speaks of something unfinished and imperfect, and

leads the thoughts,
if intelligent,
to
some
is
further truth
forces
which
lies
beyond.
For physical laws and
must be obeyed.
to be obeyed.
to higher or
The Moral Law

is its
one which ought

be persuaded
ought to be
it falls
This
higher dignity, as referring
and nobler beings, who
may
It
commanded, but not compelled.

it
obeyed, but then
may be disobeyed.
It is
In this
below the
nature
it
level of physical laws, just as in its
own
it is
rises
high above them.
"
weak through
the flesh."
Perfect in one sense, as a standard,

in another.
its
most imperfect
duties,
It
has no power, like a

fulfilment.
It reveals
it
physical law, to insure
own
and not
facts or results.
And
Is the
thus
leaves a
most weighty question behind.

right, in this
ii8
law of perfect
is it,
our world, always obeyed ? or
in
part

HUMAN
or altogether, broken
RESPONSIBILITY.
and disobeyed.
Moral Science,
constant
when joined with
Spiritual Nescience, recognizes the

fact of its
Law, but denies or evades the
breach, so as to escape from the conclusion that this

is
a sinful world, which needs some remedy for sore

disease.
If
and wide-spread moral

in
And
this
it
may do
two
different ways.
sky and earth are to meet,
there
must
either
be a thick mist to bring down the

level, or
sky to the earth's
some
illusive
mirage, which
translates earthly objects into the sky.
Thus men
may
conceal and blot out the contrast between
human
by
practice
and the law of eternal Right,
either
lowering the standard into some shifting, misty substitute of worldly expediency, or
to
by yielding themselves
the self-delusion of the Pharisee or the flattering
voices of Stoical pride.
But when the contrast between what

ought to be
is
is
and what
this
clearly felt
and
fully
owned,
wicket
of
gate of humility opens before us the wide

spiritual science;
field
field
higher than even that moral
science which simply tells of duty, but can provide no

security
for
duties
being
fulfilled,
no
remedy
for
long and repeated moral

of
failures.
The famous
couplet
Pope
is
a curious
example of the
self-contradiction
to conceal un-
whereby fatalism sometimes attempts welcome truth

:
And
One
spite of pride, in erring reason's spite,
truth
is
clear,
whatever
is is
right.
In other words, in spite of two enormous evils

119
pride,
THE PHILOSOPHY OF
the worst of wrongs in the heart of man,
fountain of
all
and
error, the
it
wrong
in his
understanding,
is
per-
fectly plain that
no evil or wrong exists! But when we see

is
that the moral law of right
and has been continually

filled
broken, and the world has thus been
with
evils
and
miseries, a further conclusion
must
follow.
Either
the moral world must lapse below the physical into

chance, chaos, anarchy, and darkness or else there must
;
be,
above and beyond the moral law, a

overruling
still
higher and
more wonderful law of Divine

control of all
evil,
foresight, of righteous
all
things
by some
fall
secret counsel of goodness
and
love.
As
far as crea-
tures, imperfect, sinful, or perverse,
have come to
below the standard of
right, so
far the
goodness of
is
the All-perfect Being, in

shrined,
whom
that standard
en-
giver
must exceed the perfection of the mere lawand include higher elements, the justice that
its
executes righteous judgment, and the mercy that pours
upon the sin-laden and the weary

grace.
floods of heavenly
True philosophy, then,

thence to reason, choice,
rises
all
from phenomena to
natural science, and and duty, the ground
physical force, the key of
will,
and firm basis of moral science. It then discovers the humbling fact that duty has been transgressed, and its
laws forgotten, despised, or widely reversed, by the Positive philosopher's "
new Supreme
Being," the highly
gifted,
but erring and guilty children of men.
reveals three great wants, that

1
must be
felt
Thus it by every
20
HUMAN
RESPONSIBILITY.
thoughtful mind, dwelHng in such a world of moral

disorder and confusion, and which need to be supplied
from a higher source.

Providence,
These
all
are,
a scheme of Divine
by which
the moral disorder of a sinful

;
world
may
;
be controlled
a Righteous Judgment, by
which the law of right

sanctions
may
be enforced with effectual
and some
full
display of Divine Grace, or of
that goodness which delights to overcome evil with
good, and that mercy which rejoices against judgment.
Human
philosophy,
if left
to
its
own
resources on
these mountain heights, must soon
be ready to faint and expire.

wonderful and excellent for
its
it
grow weary, and Such knowledge is too

to attain securely
by
own
efforts.
it
The
its
ascent
is
steep and hard, which

Its
brings
so near to the Divine footstool.
limbs
are feeble, and

in the world's
eyes are dim, through
its
own share
of
its
moral disease.
And
hence
many
sons
may
pride
turn back, and dwell only on the fields of

lie
natural science which

for
beneath them.
It is easier
to
look
downward than upward, and

its
to
count up exultingly
triumphs over the secrets of

its if
nature, rather than to

this
sum up
But
still
own
debts against
law of perfect
love.
Philosophy in this
stage of her ascent be

"
willing to look upward,
One
like the similitude of the
sons of
men"
touches
her with his finger, sets her on her feet once more,
and then leads her gently by the hand.

Divine Revelation, in the Old and
New
Testaments,
supplies at once to the simplest reader those three
THE PHILOSOPHY OF
great wants,
which
lie
beyond the range of mere

main
;
human
science.
It sets forth clearly three

all
facts
a Sacred History reaching through
ages
Law
of
moral duty confirmed by the sanction of judgment to
come; and a Gospel of mercy and divine

spiritual
love.
Out
of these facts flow at once three great aphorisms of
wisdom.
is
All
evil,
while
it
lasts
and seems
is
to prevail,
controlled
by the counsel of One who
perfect in wisdom.
Evil too strong, and too stub-
bornly
evil,
to listen to the authority of holiness
and
the persuasions of heavenly grace, will be judged and
sentenced by
All
evil
One who
its
is
perfect in righteousness.
that
its
owns
shame, and looks up for Divine

lost
help in
weakness, danger, or misery, shall be

in
and swallowed up
a vast flood of Divine goodness
and heavenly
blessing.
We
that
have now reached those highlands of thought,

of
land
Beulah, where
human philosophy
its
is
married to heavenly wisdom, yields

higher guidance, and fears while
cloud,
it
hand
to a
enters into the
and stands on the holy mount of God.

is
doctrine of man's responsibility
The now transfigured from
a lesson of conscience into a direct message from heaven, and appears in

form.
its
most august and solemn

sanctions,
For here the Moral Law, proclaimed by the
great
Lawgiver with
new
claims
from
every child of
man
as
a perfect and sinless obedience.
Death,
for
such
is
experience
sentence
for
has
the
made
it
known
of
that
ages,
the
breach
122
HUMAN
law,
RESPONSIBILITY.
for all
and
visits
all
men,
have sinned.
But
for this death, so incurred, a full release

is
and remedy
provided in
One who
is
the Seed of the
woman, the
Conqueror of death and the grave.

to moral evil, simply as
The sentence due
coming short of the perfect
standard of
right, is thus,
by an act of Divine mercy,
reversed and put away.

so in Christ shall
all
"As
in
Adam
all die,
even
be made aHve."
But the moral

path, in which
contrast remains between the
upward
Man owns
own
the authority of God's law, laments his
departure, and seeks Divine help to regain God's

;
image once more
and the downward
course,
when
Man rejects the offered aid, and abandons himself either

to sensual vice, or to self-righteous
pride.
and unbelieving
On
the choice of one or other of these two path-
ways
his accountableness,
under the present economy

It
of Divine Providence, mainly depends.

in full relief in all the
stands out
promises and threatenings, con-
nected with the revealed doctrine of judgment to
come.
"God hath
when
it
appointed a day, in which
He
will
judge
the world in righteousness."
From
the days of Enoch,
was
first
proclaimed, to those of St. Paul, and

age, this
onward
to our
own
great truth, in which
natural conscience and supernatural revelation

agree, has been
both
"
exposed to the
"
hard speeches
and
frequent mockeries of the unbelieving and the profane.
Doubts and perplexities of

to
all
kinds
may
be started
juris-
obscure
its
evidence.
But the laws and

123
THE PHILOSOPHY OF
prudence of
poetry
in
all
nations,
and the voices of deepest

social justice to
every land, while they recognize the moral con-
trast of right
and wrong, the need of

ruin,
keep nations from

in a
and the depths of remorse and

men, re-echo and confirm
conclusion of the Apostle
fear in the hearts of guilty
thousand ways this firm and irrevocable message
of judgment to come.
is
The
facts of social history
drawn from a thousand converging premises, in the and the voices of the human
heart:
"So then every one of us

far
it
shall give
an account
of himself to God."
But how
includes in
does this account extend
Scripture
the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Does philosophy make a different and opposite answer? With this inquiry I will bring this very brief and
summary treatment
close.
of a vast
subject to a needful
There
gone
is
a well-known saying of a great departed
statesman,
forth,
some
that
forty years ago
"
The
doctrine has
man
is
not responsible to
man
for
his belief,
over which he has no more control than
over the height of his stature, or the colour of his

skin." Is
this
doctrine
all
true or false
.''
If true,
we
must reverse nearly
our reasoning, and convict
Christ and his Apostles of mischievous ignorance of
the laws on which man's responsibility depends.
Man,
it is
true, is
not responsible to his fellow-man

a wholly different reason.
for his thoughts, but for
God
alone can search the heart.

124
Men may
take cog-
HUMAN
nizance,
RESPONSIBILITY. words and actions of their

they do wisely, from
faultiness, to limit their
by
laws, of the
fellows
though even
in these
the knowledge of their

criminal
own
code to definite cases of social misdoing.

to
They need
sure,
make
a clear distinction between sins
against God, vices to be
condemned with moral cen-
and crimes to be repressed by the stern hand of

law.
human
to
Many
speeches and
it
many
actions
may
be morally wrong, which
would be most unwise

But the
heart,
make
the
objects
of penal legislation.
its
inquisition which forces
way
into the
human
and
strives to force
hidden feelings and
beliefs into
daylight, in order to visit

eclesiastical or civil
them with the

is
penalties of
It
its
law,
an odious tyranny.
usurps a Divine prerogative, breeds hypocrisy in

victims,
and cruelty
turns
in
magistrates and inquisitors.

into
Thus
bury
it
judgment
wormwood, and tends to

life,
social confidence, intellectual

truth, in
moral freedom,
and Divine
one
common
God
grave.
farther.
But the maxim just quoted goes much

is
Man
things
responsible neither to
nor
man
for
wholly out of his control, the height of his stature, or

the colour of his skin.
If the
maxim,
then, be right,
faith
the moral teaching of the
New
Testament oh
and unbelief must be wholly wrong.

men,
it is
The
actions of
further plain, flow from their convictions of
what
is
desirable,
and are determined by them.

acts,
If
they are not responsible for their convictions, then

they are not responsible for their
125
and must be
THE PHILOSOPHY OF
wholly free from real obligation to every law, whether
human
or Divine.
false the doctrine
is,
How
on
that
however, must be plain

It is true
the least reflection to honest minds.
men
cannot
fix
their
belief,
suddenly
and
directly,
by an
eftort
of
will,
so
as not to believe
whatever they
wish to be
dislike,
or to believe whatever they

it
true.
But
is
no
less
plain
that
moral bias within has the greatest influence on the decisions of the understanding.
distinct, are closely united,
The two
powers, though
other.
and react on each

listen to
Men
can choose or refuse to
evidence.
They can
stop their ears, and refuse to hear.

see.
They
can shut their eyes, and refuse to
In the court
of the soul, as in those of justice, they can play the

part of the advocate, and not the judge
;
can bully and

dislike,
browbeat witnesses whose evidence they

swallow blindly, unsifted,
they desire to establish.
objections to
mole-hills
all
and
that favours the issue
In their array of cavils and
unwelcome truth, sceptical minds can swell into mountains, and vault with ease over
in their
mountains of evidence that stand

even in the court of the
soul, "
way.
Their
heart brings a large bribe to their understanding; and,
a gift blindeth the eyes,
and perverteth the words of the righteous."

telescope
is
When
the
put to the blind eye of the
spirit,
nothing
in
can be seen, no flag at the masthead, and no sun

the heavens.
The maxim,
then,
is
foolish
,
and
false.
One
higher
126
HUMAN
than
all
RESPONSIBILITY.
modern schoolmasters,
its
He who
Light
is is
the
Truth, has proclaimed

into
falsehood.
the world, and
men
it.
are guilty,
He
tells
come us, who

dark-
shut their eyes against

ness rather than
are
evil."
Whenever they
it
" love
light,"
is
" because
their deeds
The darkened understanding obeys

responsible to his
the
secret bias of sinful desires in the heart.
Man
is
Maker
for the
whole state
of his moral being, his beliefs, his habits, his desires, his
words, and his actions.

the whole.
moral unity runs through

the volition, and
The understanding guides
the bias of the will reacts on the understanding.

disposition leads to the act.
The
Acts form habits of action, and these habits strengthen and confirm the disposition.
And
is
the future account, revealed in Scripture, an-
swers to this voice of sound philosophy.

not
maimed and
partial,
but entire.
"
The process The word, by

of
"
which
soul
man
life,
is
judged, pierces
even to the dividing
and
spirit,
of the joints and

is
marrow
of man's
inward
and
a critical discerner of the thoughts

heart.
and intents of the
All things alike, the actions,
the words, the secret springs on which both depend, are
open to the eyes of the Righteous Judge with
whom
we have
to do.
finally,
is
Man, we thus conclude

only to his
responsible, not
God, the
own conscience, but to the Most High Supreme Creator, from whom all his high
gifts
and noble
were at
first
received.
parting voice of the wisest of

127
men
" God
It is
the
will
bring
THE PHILOSOPHY OF
every work into judgment, with every secret thing,
whether
with
it
be good or
its
evil."
This great truth has,

it
doubtless,
solemn
side,
on which
has been assailed
many
doubts and strong aversion, and on which

object of this
lecture
the space and

dwell.
forbid
me
to
But, seen from a truer

it
view,
is
cheering, blessed,
and higher point of and glorious. Man is

is
not the sport of Chance, the slave of some blind
and heartless Fate.

potism of
the hopeless anarchy of

selfish
The world human
not abandoned to
passions, to the des-
and brutal
follies
tyrants, or the clamo-
rous and suicidal

despise
all
of ungodly multitudes,
scoff at laws
authority,
and
both
who human
and
ness,
divine.
One who is perfect in wisdom and goodOne who is supreme in might, sitteth upon these
King
for ever.
waterfloods, and remaineth a
He
is
Judge of
eyes, will
all
the earth, and

veil
He
will
do
right.
The
sinful
dark shadows, that
His uprightness from
be cleared away.
Man, by the
fact that
he
is
called to stand in judgment, will
assume the dignity
which a
false
philosophy obscures, of a being
made
in
the likeness of his God.
The mystery
trivial
lost.
of the long-en-
durance of
evil will
then be explained.
The fragments
will
of Providence, that
seemed
and worthless,
be gathered up, and none be
No tear
of repentant
right,
sorrow, no breathing of desire after the

will be forgotten.
good and
No
cup of cold water, given

its
in
genuine charity, shall lose
due notice and reward.
The moral gems
that were hidden in darkness will be

128
HUMAN
brought to
the
light,
RESPONSIBILITY.
to
and help
form a royal diadem
for
King of
kings.
The
flowers of tender affection
and
loving thoughtfulness, the gentle charities of domestic

life,
with every variety of the delicate fragrance of Chris-
tian love, shall blush
unseen no longer, nor be buried

;
in
the darkness of the grave
but will shine
in
garlands
of immortal beauty, transplanted to the Paradise of
God.
in
The
light that has
been sown
of
this
for the righteous
the
painful
discipline
mortal
life,
and
watered so often with tears of bitter sorrow, shall then

yield
its full
harvest of blessing.
must be
But
to every child
That solemn account of man most deeply humbling

it
to the sinful
it
and unholy and must
may be
solemnly severe.
will be,
be,
worthy of
Him who
and perfect
is
wonderful
love.
in counsel, spotless in holiness,
in
From
the thick clouds and darkness which
now
surround His throne, a light surpassingly wonderful will
break forth on an admiring universe. Then
will
be seen
inscribed on the arch of this world's dark history, as in

letters
of celestial
fire,
a glorious inscription, to be
all
repeated with wonder and admiration by
and
is
intelligent
universe
the moral
"
He
is
the Rock, His work
perfect, all
His ways are judgment

iniquity, just
a God of truth,
He
"
!
and without
and right
is
129
POINTS OF SUPPOSED COLLISION

BETWEEN THE
SCRIPTURES AND NATURAL SCIENCE.
J.
H.
GLADSTONE,
Ph.D.,
F.R.S.

BETWEEN THE
SCRIPTURES AND
NATURAL
SCIENCE.
BEFORE
as he can,
depicting a battle,
it is
well for the his-
torian to describe the combatants as faithfully
and to point out their
relative positions.
This holds good of intellectual as well as martial

conflicts.
The
series
:
Scriptures consist of a collection of writings

forty different authors.
by about
They
fall
into
two
the one carefully preserved
by the Jewish
people as containing their history from the earliest

times, their code of laws, collections of their poetry
and proverbs, and the utterances of their

teachers
;
religious
the other and later series
containing the
memoirs of Jesus of Nazareth, and the writings, historical and epistolary, of some of His first disciples.
The
value,
first
series
is
second
in
Greek.
Hebrew, the Each possesses remarkable literary

almost wholly
in
and throws much
light
on the history, customs,

;
and mode of thinking of ancient times

^33
but the

interest attaching to these
books
arises
mainly from
the fact that they profess to be the repository of a

revelation from
God
to man,
and that they unquesof
tionably
are
the text-book
the most
powerful
religion of the civilized world.
Natural science
physical
universe.
is
the
sum of our knowledge of the The impressions made on our

more and more generalized
senses are compared, corrected, and classified, and the
conclusions arrived at are
This science was very imperfect at the time when the

Scriptures were completed, but during the last three
centuries
it
has advanced at a wonderful and ever-
accelerating speed.
No
writer in the sacred Scriptures ever professes to
teach any natural science.
The
single exception
is
the short account of the creation of the world and

inhabitants
;
its
and even here the history

all things.
is
related not
so
much
to teach a cosmogony, as to
show
that the
one God was the Maker of

various books
all
Indeed these
;
serve a religious purpose

letters are
histories,
poems, speeches, and

the relation of
fess to tell
intended to bear on
in so
God
to
man, and
doing they pro-
what nature cannot
teach,
and
assert that
the message was confirmed by supernatural proofs.
contrary, for loving reference to the
Yet they do not shrink from natural things on the phenomena of

;
nature
we can
scarcely turn to anything superior to
the book of Job, Moses' Song of the Rock, many of the Psalms of David, the imagery of Amos, Isaiah,
134
BETWEEN SCRIPTURE AND NATURAL
SCIENCE.
its
and Habakkuk, or the Sermon on the Mount, and

echo
in
the Epistle of James.
Still
these are not

;
lessons in natural history or
philosophy
they are
used simply as illustrations of moral and spiritual

ideas.
At
first
sight
it
would appear
difficult, if
not im-
possible,
to conceive of a collision arising
between
;
such writers and the expositors of modern science

yet
there
are
several
it
ways
in
which
collision
is
possible.
Thus
is
conceivable that the advance
of knowledge
creation
;
or there
may disprove the Mosaic history of may be things which these writings
which science shows to be im-
assert to be facts, but
possible
or the writers in describing natural objects
may
exhibit such gross misapprehension of the pheas
nomena
would lessen
if
not destroy our respect for

;
their testimony in other things
or, finally,
there
may
be an irreconcilable difference between their views

of the Divine procedure and the higher deductions of
natural philosophy.
Now
these
it
is
affirmed in
is
some quarters that

conflict.
I
in
each of
ways there
an actual
propose, as
a student both cf the Scriptures and of natural science,

to glance rapidly at these points of
I
supposed
collision.
intend to treat the matter

in
and to indicate how

questions
the
my
somewhat historically, own judgment the several

important,
us
to
now
stand.
The most
for
indeed
is
only important question,
inquire
whether these apparent collisions take place between

1:5
FOINTS OF SUPPOSED COLLISION

the well-established
facts
of science and
the clear
is
teaching of Scripture.
opposed*
Christian
If a Scriptural statement
science,
;
by some crude hypothesis of
the
may
quietly await the issue
if,
on the
other hand,
some established
fact should run counter

all
to a portion of that traditionary gloss which has in
ages accumulated round the Scriptures, the Christian
may
gratefully
it
acknowledge the aid of science

It
in
sweeping
strife is
away.
may
even happen that the

inter-
on both sides a battle of phantoms, an
necine combat between the crude deductions of the theologian and of the philosopher, for
it must be Holy Writ and nature are
remembered
that while
both unchangeable, man's interpretation of either

liable to error.
is
The
attack has
come from
this
the side of science.
It
may
be thought that
was necessarily the
case,
because when the prophets and apostles wrote, science

in the
modern sense of the term was unborn.

certain
classifications
in
There
natural
were, however, certain current explanations of natural
phenomena, and
history
;
yet no sacred writer ever showed the least
mistrust of these.
On
the contrary, Job
is
sent to
study the
creation
;
phenomena
it is
of the heavens and the animate
frequently through observing the marvels
of nature, or of his
praise the
*
own
frame, that David
is
led to
it is
Lord
;*
and of another of the writers

xxix., Ixv., cxxxix., cxlv., etc.
on
Psalms
viii.,
136

record that
that
is
SCIENCE.
"
he spake of
trees,
from the cedar tree

the
in
Lebanon even
:
unto
hyssop that
springeth out of the wall
he spake also of beasts,

things,
and of
fowl,
and of creeping
and of
I
fishes."
The only appearance

of,
is
of opposition that
am
aware
the attitude of Pal towards those views of the
universe which were propounded
an especial
Ti^cocrt?,
by some who claimed and which afterwards developed

dreams that the human brain
or
into perhaps the wildest
ever excogitated.
these
It
was against the rudiments of

rather against
their
Gnostic
absurdities,
theological bearing, that St. Paul wrote an epistle to
warn the Church at Colosse but it is scarcely necessary to add that both the methods and the conclusions
;
of these Gnostic philosophers were the very reverse of
those of
modern science. Astronomy gave the first
alarm.
The
early Chris-
tians of course participated in the scientific opinions
of the
bodies
day regarding the movements of the heavenly and their views of natural and divine truth
;
were so blended together that when the old notions of the universe were sought to be overthrown, they
felt
stated that the earth
It was was a sphere instead of a plane, and they believed that a wrong was done to Scripture,
a shock was given to their religious faith.
for did
it
not speak of the earth as being " stretched

"
out,"
and of
the ends of the earth
"
Afterwards
it
was
also maintained that there
were antipodes
men
on the other side of the earth walking upside-down

'37

an idea not only preposterous
in itself,
but irreconcilall
able with the belief that at the last day
men upon
the earth should stand up and behold their Judge.
Then
no
the doctrine that the blue vault of heaven was
solid crystalline arch

"
came
into
"
antagonism with
the use of the word
firmament
in the Scriptures.*
a later period, when believers in the Bible had become reconciled to these advanced views, a still more serious assault was made it was contended, not merely that our globe rotated on its own axis, but
:
At
that
it
also travelled
;
round the sun, instead of the sun
round the earth

flat
is
yet
how
could they accept such a
contradiction to the Psalmist's words, "

it
The world
established that
cannot be moved"
is
.''
or such ex-
pressions as "
The sun
as a
bridegroom coming out
of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong

a race
;
man
to run
his
going forth
is
from the end of the heaven,

it
and
his circuit
unto the ends of
"
.-'
or,
again,
how
could they understand on such
principles the
still
mand
tered
of Joshua, " Sun, stand thou

in
comupon Gibeon
;
.-*
and thou moon,

little,
the valley of Ajalon
"
-f-
It
mat-
or nothing, that Copernicus,
Kepler, and Galileo, like
Tycho Brahe, Newton who consummated
* That the Hebrew word has not the meaning afterwards attached to the Greek (rrepiwixa. or the Latin " firmamentum" is well argued in the
Rev. Dr.
t
M 'Call's essay in
" Aids
to Faith."
Joshua X. 12, 13. The fact that the verses from the lost book of Jasher in which these words occur, are quoted in the book of Joshua, where the battle of Bethhoron is described, has generally been held to
commit
believers in
tlie
Bible to their
literal truth.
i.
The
otlier
quotation
from the book of Jasher in 2 Samuel
is
urriversally treated as a piece
138

their work,
SCIENCE.
were religious men
the
new hypothesis
was preached against, passed two decrees, "
and the Roman Inquisition First The proposition that

:
the sun
is
the centre of the world, and immovable

is
from
its
place,
absurd, philosophically false,

it
and
formally heretical, because
is
expressly contrary to
proposition that the
Holy
earth
Scripture.
is
Second
The
not the centre of the world, nor immovable,

it
but that
moves, and also with a diurnal motion,
is
absurd, philosophically false, and, theologically considered, at least erroneous in faith,"
and poor
Galileo,
but for his recantation, had given to science a martyr

for the truth.
Vatican
in this matter,
beginning of
The Reformed Church sided with the and had we been living in the the seventeenth century, we too should
was a
serious one.
its
have
felt
that the difficulty
Yet the
Ptolemaic system had received
death-blow.
The
modern astronomy ceased

devout
;
to shock the
minds of the
alike in
in
1818 the Papal edict was formally repealed,

is
and the Copernican theory

Protestant schools of divinity
now taught
and
in Jesuit colleges.
How
was
this
.''
Simply because as
religious
men
became
familiar with the
new
ideas,
still
they perceived
that the Scriptural terms were
true expressions
of elegiac poetry, and no one feels under an obligation to believe that
Saul and Jonathan were both " lovely and pleasant in their lives," or
that they woxo. really
"swifter than eagles and stronger than lions."
For an
interesting inquiry into the nature of this miraculous incident,
accepting the quotation as an historic statement, see a paper by the Rev.
T. P. Dale in Christian Advocate
and Review, Nov.
1871.
n9

of the phenomena, indeed the only expressions that
could have been employed by the sacred
penmen
to
convey their meaning to their contemporaries.
To
make
this
clearer,
have
tried
to
put "
The sun
knoweth
ances.
his
going down
" * into scientific language,
avoiding every term that merely describes appear-
The
best
is
can
make
of
it is
this
"
There
is
law by which
determined for any particular day the
precise time at which a line
drawn from the sun

its
to a
given point on the globe will be tangential to
surface,
I
and
in
what azimuth that
line will fall."
It
would,
suspect, be hard to put that into old-world
Hebrew
but supposing
it
it
had been somehow achieved, surely

would have remained
years, while
of
would have sounded sheer nonsense to those who

listened
first
to the Psalm,
it
unintelligible for
it
more than two thousand
would seem pedantic now, and perhaps a piece do not

at all
antiquated folly in another century.

I
imagine that the prophets of old had

in
any special illumination

verse
;
regard to the material unifor,
that has indeed been contended
but the
array of passages brought forward by Gaussen in his

"
Theopneustie" appear to
me
rather to negative than
to sustain the idea.
Yet supposing the inspired men

philosophers,
had been
made
in
natural
they would
certainly have done what
philosophers
speak generally
astronomers
popular language.
not
do now Why, modern

but of the
talk,
only of sunsets,
civ.
* Psalm
19.
140
SCIENCE.
ascension and declination of the heavenly bodies, as
though the Ptolemaic system was

Greenwich.
still
believed in at
The Nautical Almanac itself gives the age of the moon at six, ten, or perhaps twenty-eight days, but never as much as twenty-nine while a
;
well-known
observer
to the
commences a paper
Royal Society with
"
recently
communicated
this startling
contradiction in
terms,
all
careful
examination of
."
the proper motions of
the fixed stars
Time, the great

collisions
reconciler, has
made
these apparent
between astronomy and the Scriptures a

It
thing of the past.
has also reconciled devout
minds to the thought of the enormous magnitude of

the universe, and the comparative insignificance of
our globe
and while the telescope has given a pro-
founder meaning to the cry, " What is man that Thou art mindful of him "* the microscope has answered
.''
the question
by
revealing a world of minuteness un-
suspected before, but equally the workmanship and

the care of the Alm.ighty.
Among
"
the open questions of astronomy
is
the
it
Nebular Theory."
in
My
first
acquaintance with
was
the pages of a pious astronomer,
who
held
it
as a fresh proof of the greatness
and wisdom of the

it
Deity; but afterwards

to as an infidel
heard
seriously objected
hypothesis.
Since then,
the
dis-
coveries of the late

* See the
Lord Rosse have depressed, and

viii.
whole of Psalm
The argument
141
is
admirably given in
Dr. Chalmers' "Astronomical Discourses."

those of Dr. Huggins and other spectroscopists, with
the analysis of meteorites, have raised

scientific
its
credit
among
men and whether

;
it
be looked upon favourof
ably or unfavourably by theologians, depends in a

great
measure upon the
attitude
their
minds
towards modern views of evolution.*
To
" If
the anxious question of the ancient patriarch,
man
die,
shall
;
he
live
again
.-'
"
science
can
rests
return no answer
its
but the Cliristian religion

in
claim to acceptance
its
no small degree on the
resurrection of
Founder, and declares that
He
is
" the first fruits of
resurrection
them that slept." But while this from the dead was among the elementary
and an
it
principles of Christian doctrine, "f*
essential part
of the Christian hope,]: the nature of of
was a subject
much
dispute in the earliest days of the Church's
history.
The majority
tt;?
of the fathers, however, counflesh,
tenanced the idea of the resurrection of the

avdo-racrL'i
crdpKo<;,
and
it
was included
in that
most ancient of symbols the so-called

Creed."
" Apostle's
The
objection seems to have been urged
that portions of the body,
such as the
nails,
were
always being removed and entering into new structures,

*
The accordance
of Genesis
;
i.
I, 2,
with the nebular theory has
fre-
quently been pointed out

xi. 3, in
t
any one chooses to translate Hebrews such a way as to support it, it is fairly open to him to do so.
and
if
See Hebrews
vi.
I, 2.
See
Thessalonians
iv.
13.
'
' resurrection of the body, " w hich The English version has nearer to the language of Scripture.
is
142
BETn
while,
"^.EN
.'-CRIPTURE
AND NATURAL
it
SCIENCE.
was contended that, in order to preserve our identity, the body must be the same in this and the future state. Gradually, what
on the other hand,
we may without
offence call the carnal view

;
came
to
be considered the orthodox one

expressed the opinion of
asserted that every
and Jerome merely
many other divines when he member should be restored from

woe
there
the grave, even the teeth, for in the world of

is
to be " gnashing of teeth,"

all
very hairs of your head are
and the numbered."

alius
hair, " for
the
" Quod credimus, hoc est ; Et totus veniam, nee enim minor aut
quam
Nunc sum Qui modo
restituar.
vivit, erit.
Vultus, vigor, et color idem,
Fraudatum revomet
Nee me vel dente vel ungue * patefacti fossa sepulchri."
But the advance of physical and physiological science showed more and more how completely our bodies
are constructed with a view to terrestrial conditions,
and chemistry demonstrated that the materials which
compose a human body at dissolution enter into fresh combinations, and become integral parts of other men, so that at the resurrection the same ultimate particles
of matter might be claimed for
many
bodies
while
on the other hand

serve his
in
was shown that a man does prea constant change notwithstanding identity
it
the
elements of
into
this
his
body.
Science,
therefore,
;
entered
theological
for
controversy
sided
many
the
minds were distressed,
she
against
Prudentius, qaoted by Hagenbach.
M3

opinion that was reputed orthodox, but
now
it
will
be generally
strong
if
not universally acknowledged that her

the religious world to
Scriptural statements,
is
arm only brought back a more strict adherence to the

for
the resurrection of the flesh
unknown
on
to the
sacred writers, and St.

point,
Paul, arguing
this
very
drew the strongest contrast between the natural

that
is
body
raised,
sown and the
spiritual
body
that
is
and asserts emphatically that

for ages tilled
" flesh
and blood
cannot inherit the kingdom of God."
Though man had

he never
till
the
soil,
dug
for
precious stones, and split the rocks for metallic ore,
of recent times studied the superposition
of strata, or the structure of the solid earth, and he
seems to have been scarcely aware even of the

ence of
fossils.
exist-
At
the beginning of the sixteenth
Verona drew the attention of the thoughtful, and initiated some of the most important controversies we have to
century, however, shells in the limestone of
consider. The remains of marine animals, which were now found in almost every mountain range, were
naturally enough attributed at
deluge
first to the Noachian and though Fracastoro argued that the ex-
planation was insufficient,
the flood was
long con-
sidered to have played the most important part in the
moulding of
hills,
valleys,
and
plains, fossils
were con-
stantly attributed
to
"
*
it,
and a
petrified
salamander
Voltaire
was described as
Homo
I
diluvii testis."
Corinthians xv.
144

tried to evâde
shells
SCIENCE.
that the
the argument
by supposing
found on
the Alps were those of fresh-water
had been dropped there by pilgrims, and that the fishes found in Hesse had been thrown away by travellers and become fossilized. This explanation was of course utterly unsatisfactory, and even absurd
lakes, or
;
but
it
was gradually recognized that the generally was inadequate to account

for all the
received view
phenomena, and that the majority of these fossiliferous

strata
must have been deposited slowly during the
lapse of ages.
The
progress of discovery ran directly

It
counter to a universal deluge.

instance, that
was
believed, for
no diluvial wave could have swept over

Again, the improved
all
the volcanoes of Auvergne, or the slopes of Etna,
within
four
thousand years.
knowledge of natural history showêd that

species of beasts
in
the
and birds could not have found room

fishes,
the ark
while the fresh-water or salt-water
with the
littoral
molluscs
and zoophytes, and the
plants in general, for which no provision
was made,
the geoin
must have perished
utterly.
Besides
this,
grapher has helped the geologist and naturalist
showing that difterent animals, such as the
mar-
supials in Australia, or the sloths in America, have

for
ages kept to a limited region, and could scarcely
be conceived as travelling across

obstacles
again.
to
oceans
Asia,
or other
the
ark in Western
and back
Then
the question arose whether the Scripa

universal deluge,
145
ture really affirmed
and
it
was
10

found that according to the ordinary use of Semitic terms a partial deluge destroying the whole race
of man,
or
even perhaps only that race to which
the survivors belonged, would
meet every requirepossible, even
ment.
That such a
lived, is
flood
was
from
natural causes, in those parts of Asia where
Noah
whole
level
probably
shown by the
is
fact that the

far
of an enormous tract of land
below the
of the Black Sea, and part of this region of the
Caspian exhibits comparatively recent evidences of

the action of water.
This conclusion has not been

controversy
;
reached without
in
the
new
"
Speaker's Commentary,"
is
much
and
it is
well said
"
The pecuHar
unfairness of the objections urged
to be found, not
so
much
in the objections themselves, as in the in-
sisting at the
same time on an
interpretation of the
Scripture narrative on principles which would not be
applied to any other history whatever.
Not only
are
we
required to
expound ancient and eastern phrase-
ology with the cold exactness applicable only to the

tongues of Northern Europe, but moreover to adhere
to all the interpretations of past uncritical ages, to believe that there
was but a
single
window
in the ark,
that the ark stranded on the top of a mountain within

sight of
which
it
very probably never sailed, that the
waters of the flood rose three or even five miles above

the sea level, and other prodigies, which the sacred
text,
even
in
its
most natural
146
significance,
nowhere
either asserts or implies."

The deluge
was impeded
is
SCIENCE.
not the only point of contact between
Genesis and geology.
The
progress of this science
for a century or two, not
only by the
attempt to ascribe almost everything to the Noachian deluge, but by the common belief that the world had
been created about six thousand years ago,
natural days
;
in
six
and
still
more perhaps by the wild

Scripture
cosmogonies and strange perversions of

earth
which were put forward as sacred theories of the
by a
series of writers
whose names we would
willingly forget.
At
length, however, from the crude
hypotheses of the young science, two conclusions came

forth with such irresistible evidence that all geologists,
whatever be their conflicting views on other points, hold them as fundamental truths 1st, that the
:
surface of the earth has been subject to changes that
necessitated for their production vastly
more than
six
oi
thousand years
fresh genera
and 2nd, that the introduction
and species of plants and animals has
been very gradual.
Many of these pioneers
of geology,
were Christian men, and it no small needed moral courage on their part to
like the early astronomers,
oppose the religious opinions of the day.

it
And
indeed
was manifest that the answer which met the astronomical difficulties would scarcely apply here, for the
either'
account of the creation was
the teaching of
God or
the worthless guess of some ancient philosopher.

it
No
doubt
was written
in the
popular language of
the time, and allowance might be

147
made
for figurative

expressions
pretensions
came forward with greater more rigid scrutiny. So when the lessons taught by the strata were held to be authoritative, a number of books were published with
;
still
as
it
it
had
to abide a
the object of reconciling the two records.

these had better never have been written,
for,
Many
ot
to bring
about a premature correspondence, they wrest either

the facts of nature or the words of Scripture.
Yet
some are worthy of all respect as honest endeavours The more general view of to meet the difficulty.*
late has
been that the six days represent six epochs
of indefinite length, or rather six of the days of the
Most High and the advocates of this view generally contend, and with reason, that there is an agreement
;
or at
any
rate a general
order of creation as told
in Genesis,
resemblance between the and that revealed
by the strata of the earth. It matters little in this argument whether the forces that have formed the lands and seas have been pretty uniform in thei/
operation or have acted
wê
by cataclysms
or whether
accept the enormous drafts on the bank of time
which some geologists demand, or the one hundred

million years to which
Sir
William
other physicists would restrict them.
Thomson and The progress
of physical and geological science, and of linguistic

the works of the Rev. Rev. Dr. King, Professor Hitchcock, Archdeacon Pratt, and Mr. George Warington. Doubtless there are others with which I am less acquainted.
*
Among
the better sort
may be mentioned
Dr. Pye Smith,
Hugh
Miller, the
148

criticism,
SCIENCE.
may
be expected to give us in the future
a more accurate knowledge of the

creation.
two records of
Should
it
prove that they are contradictory,
we
shall
have to put aside, not the Bible, nor even
Genesis, but that ancient
and sublime fragment which
forms the
first
thirty-four verses of that book. Should,
however, the substantial agreement between the two
which now appears to exist be completely established,

geology
will
furnish a very conclusive proof of the
supernatural origin of the Scripture history.
The
facts of
geology claim our attention also

necessitate the belief that pain
in
other ways.
They
and
trod
death were in the world long ages before

the
soil.
man
This also came into collision with the

belief,
popular
such as
is
enshrined in the opening

:
verses of the " Paradise Lost "

" Of man's
first
disobedience, and the fniit
Of
whose mortal taste Brought death into the world, and all our woe."
that forbidden tree,
It
is
enough to
reply,
that whatever
is
may
way
be the
dreams of the poets, there
not in
all
the Scriptures
the death
a single expression that connects in any

of the lower animals with the
It
fall
of man.
appears also that serpents of the same anatomical
structure as those
now
is
existing have been found in
the early Eocene strata long anterior to the birth of
man.
"
Now
there
a belief that the serpent's legless
condition was part of his curse, and in Scheuchzer's
Physica Sacra" there
is
a delicious engraving of the

149

serpent in three stages
:
first,
a dragon on four legs

in the condition
ridden
of a
by the
biped,
evil one,
next walking
crawling
and
lastly
upon the
earth.
Whether we take the account of the temptation by

the serpent literally or figuratively,
that the expressions "
it
seems to
me
On
"he
thy belly shalt thou go,"

shall bruise
"dust shalt thou
eat,"
thy head," are
common metaphors jection, as we see

victor treading
to denote entire defeat

in
and subof a
in
the Egyptian drawings
on
his prostrate foe, or as

"
we read
the later Jewish writers,
They
shall
be as mighty
men which tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets," " His enemies shall lick the dust," " God
shall
wound
to have
the head of His enemies." Such also seems been the thought of the apostle " The God
:
of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly." *
Some
time ago
it
was frequently contended that
the different races of
men have
not sprung from one

in
common
stock.
This opinion seems to be

belief,
oppo-
sition not
merely to the general

in the
but to the
teaching of the earliest records, and to some argu-
ments adduced
that
New
at
Testament
for instance,
"
employed by Paul
Areopagus
God hath
made
on
all
of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell
the face of the earth."
But the advocates of

different
a plurality of races differed most widely as to their
number; and, what was more perplexing,

*
Zechariah
x. 5
viii.
also 2
Samuel
Psalms Ixxii. 9; Ixviii. 21 ; Romans xvi. 20. See 2 ; Psalms xviii. 39, 40 xliv, 5, 25 ; Isaiah li. 23.
;
150

criteria
results.
SCIENCE.
different
for
distinguishing
the
races
gave
The more
recent progress
of thought
has
been rather to
origin,
refer varieties
everywhere to a
common
than to exalt them into independent species.
Besides which, the large amount of attention which has

recently been paid to comparative philology, and to
the manners, customs, and beliefs both of ancient and
modern,
civilized
and savage
nations, has indicated
rather a continuous
stock.
ramification
from one original
While, however, the tendency of the age

in favour of the unity of the race,
is
decidedly
many
of the argu-
ments just alluded to seem to require a longer period

than the four thousand years from the deluge, or even
the six thousand years from the creation of man, in
order to
structure,
account for the
modifications
of
bodih*
similar
mental habits, and language.
made from the advanced state of several of the useful arts among the Egyptians and some other nations at the dawn of the historic period. The testimony of geology with reference to the antiquity of man has been, first, to show that he is among
deduction has been
the latest born of the dwellers on earth, thus supporting the order of creation given in the
book of Genesis
and then to
insist,
nevertheless, that man's tenancy of
our planet must date further back than the

received chronology.
commonly
This conclusion rests on such
arguments as the co-existence of
man
with the
mam-
moth, rhinoceros tichorinus, cave-bear, and other ex151

tinct animals, as seen in the stalagmite of Kent's cavern
near Torquay, and in

in
many
;
other old dwelling-places
England and France
the
changes of
level
in
the height of Denmark, Sicily, and other countries

since they were inhabited
by man
the discovery of
human remains
thousand years
in the
in
the delta of streams in Switzerland,
under circumstances that indicate the lapse of several

;
and the existence of
flint
implements
undisturbed gravel of the valley of the
Somme
in
at depths
compared with which the Roman graves
the
It
same valley seem but the diggings of yesterday.
may
be that not one of the arguments of either
the philologist, the ethnologist, the antiquarian, or the

geologist
is
absolutely conclusive, but together they
form a strong cumulative proof of the inadequacy of

the current chronology which
is
founded on the genea-
logical tables of Genesis, while there
seem
to be no
arguments of weight on the other side
Here then
between
it
more than a supposed science and the letter of Scripture.

there
is
collision
Yet
requires no
great scholarship to satisfy ourselves that the computation of the date of
Adam,
;
as
made from
the received
Hebrew, or the Septuagint, or Peschito
versions, will
in Genesis v.
;
by many centuries that the figures have been tampered with in early days
differ
that gene-
alogies even in the

curtailed ;* that one
New
man
*
Testament are purposely

sometimes said to be the
it
is
son of another, though elsewhere

Matthew
1'.2
i.
appears that
many
1 7.

generations have intervened between
the genealogical
least, to
lists after
SCIENCE.
;
them
and that
the flood refer, partially at
the descent, not of individuals, but of nations,
one nation being said to have begotten other nations.t
As
therefore
it is
evident that these
lists
of
names
are
intended to indicate only the line of descent, and not

every step on the road, as they have suffered
mission,
in trans-
and
as
we cannot always
in
the earlier
records distinguish between nations and individuals
we need
I
not consider ourselves bound to any chro-
nology deduced from them.

ought to mention, however, that another theory
chronology.
has lately been advanced which even saves the com-
mon
It is
argued that the
first
account
of the creation relates to the

that the second,
whole genus Homo, but

at the fourth verse of
commencing
the second chapter of Genesis, refers to the

race,
Adamic
is
and that
this
branch of the great family
alone
treated
of in the subsequent history.
Such a hy-
pothesis has the merit of removing several difficulties

at
once and
;
if it
raises others of a theological character,
it is
possible that these

let
may
eventually disappear.
Here
science.
me
pause to point out
how
valuable to the
"
Biblical student are the cross-lights
thrown by natural
As Bishop
Butler well says in his "Analogy
when
treating of inspiration, "
We
it
5
;
are wholly ignorant
what degree of new knowledge

t
were to be expected
Chron.
vii.
Matthew
Genesis
i.
i,
Ezra
vii.
II.
x.
153
God would
sition of
give
mankind by
;
revelation,
upon suppoor in
His affording one
or
how
far,
what
He would interpose miraculously to qualify them, to whom He should originally make the revelation, for
way,
communicating the knowledge given by

cure their doing
live
;
it
and
to se-
it
to the age in
its
which they should
and to secure
being transmitted to posterity."
The
reverential student of the Divine
message should
which
therefore
affords
welcome every
influence from without which
any
clearer insight into the
manner
in
the Scriptures have been constructed, or in which they
ought to be interpreted.
The
tion of
correctness of the natural history of the Bible
has generally been acknowledged.
The
only excep-
any importance
is,
think, that the hare
and
the coney (hyrax) are said to
chew the
cud, though
they do not divide the hoof.
If these are really the

it still
two animals meant, anatomical science renders
more
certain that they are rightly
included
among
unclean animals in the Levitical Code, for they are

not even ruminants
;
but as both the hare and the
hyrax do masticate
led even
their food in such a
way
as has
modern observers to think they were chewing
the cud, Moses, in admitting this external appearance,
warns the
Israelites
of the clear reason
why
these
should not be eaten.

of plants and
there
is
The
is
identification of the
names
;
animals
not always possible

in
but
40,
an unlucky mistranslation
154
Matthew
xii.
which has added a needless
difficulty to the story of

Jonah, for a whale's gullet
to pass.
Kr\TO'^
is
SCIENCE.
for a
far too
narrow
fish,
man
means any
large
and on the
shores of the Mediterranean was often applied to the
tunny or the shark.

small anxiety to some
Yet the science of biology has recently caused no believers, and afforded no
I
small triumph to some unbelievers.
allude to the
doctrine of the evolution of living things.
How
this
question presents
plained
itself to
my
mind
will
be best ex-
by putting myself into the confessional. When Darwin's book on " The Origin of Species " made its appearance, I read it with great interest and pleasure. Previous theories of development had appeared very
unsatisfactory to me, but the additional arguments in that
book, and the exposition of natural selection,

entertain a different idea of the probabilities
made me
of the case.
Though Darwin
it
in that
work
treats only
of the lower animals,
was perfectly plain that the
argument must
as
his
also include the genus
Homo,
as far
bodily
I
frame and instincts are concerned.

felt
Nevertheless
no shock to
my
religious faith
indeed the progressive development of animated nature
seemed
to
harmonize with that gradual unveiling of

I
the Divine plan which

Bible, while
it
had loved
to trace in the
offered a satisfactory explanation of
those
rudimentary or
abortive organs which
had
But
puzzled
me
I
as a student of natural theology.
presently
heard around
me many
155
voices opposing
the theory, not only as untrue, but as irreligious, while

some of the other voices were loud in its praise because On listening, I seen>ed it was reputed anti-Christian. to distinguish two principal grounds of supposed
antagonism
between the
:
development theory and
Scriptural theology
1st.
It
cannot be true that
God
created
all
the
different plants
and animals
if
they only descended
from other pre-existent forms.

2nd.
This view removes
God
some
further
from
in
His
the
universe,
and only allows of His operation
primitive forms or form at
incalculably remote
epoch.
Now
any
the
first
of these objections turns on the

I
mean-
ing of the
Hebrew word Bara.
failed to discover
philological reason for supposing this
word means
all
necessarily to
make
out of nothing, and
examined
it
the places
in the
about
but
fifty in
number
is
in
which
it
occurs
Old Testament.
act,
In each case
refers to a
Divine
in
not one
there any suggestion
that the Divine
While
created
in
was exerted upon nothing. Psalms Ixxxix. 47* and cii. 18, the men of
action
the present and of a future generation are said to be

;
in Isaiah
liv.
16
we read
and
in
that
God
created
the smith
who
forges the
;
weapons of war and the

Ezekiel xxi. 30 the
devastator of countries
idea of creation
by ordinary birth is distinctly expressed, where the Lord says of the nation of the Ammonites, " I will judge thee in the place where thou
*
Translated
"made
" in the authorized version.
156

wast created,
in
SCIENCE.
the land
of thy
nativity."
The
with
Greek word
in
KTiCifo
and
its
derivatives
seem
to be used
the
New
Testament
in
just as
Bara
in the Old,
only one exception,*
which
it
bears the more classic
meaning of a human
institution.!
As
is
to the second objection, that of banishing the
idea of
God
to an incalculable distance, that objection
weak according to our conceptions of the Most High. If we believe in the God of Epicurus,
strong or
inactivity,
wiio set the world a-spinning, and then retired into
we
certainly lessen the
little
interest
we can
have
in
such a Being by widening the distance that
separates us from the period
when He handed over

If,
His creation to the guidance of physical laws.

ever,
live
how-
we
believe in the
God
of St. Paul, in
and move and have our being,"
whom " we and "by whom all
things consist," the sustainer as well as the giver of

life, it
becomes a matter of no theological importance
in
what way
He
created each species, and developif
ment or
evolution,
established,
becomes merely the

which
gradual carrying out of His mighty scheme of creation.
Yet we need hardly wonder

religious
at the attitude
men have
ii. 13.
generally assumed towards this
*
t
Peter
The son
(e/c
of Sirach says that the physician ought to be honoured

:
because the Lord created him

eartla
7-;}?,
He
also created the drugs out of the

i, 4).
Ecclesiasticus xxxviii.
it is
In another place (Eccle-
siasticus xvii.
man himself was created. Solomon (xi. 17), we read that the Almighty hand created the world out of amorphous matter (e^ dfj.6p<pov vXrjs).
I )
said that out of the earth
In the so-called
Wisdom
of
IS7

theory,
when we
recollect
how
eagerly
it
has been
caughtat by opponents of Christianity, and

of
its
how some
ablest advocates, especially

its
on the Continent,
have wrested
teachings in support of materialism.
There
is
however another aspect of the argument.

is
Every student of the Bible

tinuous revelations
patriarchs,
apostles,
earlier
;
familiar with the con-
of religious
truth
through
the
Moses and the prophets, Christ and the and the dependence of the later on the
and he
may
;
fairly
expect to find an analogous
continuity and correlation also in nature.
Law and
order imply design

to chance.
sudden transitions might be due
When
is
the Darwinian theory of the origin of species

race, there arise other objec-
extended to the human
tions.
It is clearly inconsistent
ii.
with a
literal
inter-
pretation of Genesis
24
but from time imme-
morial
many Jews and
Christians have taken this
second account of the creation of

less figurative or allegorical sense,
man
and
in
a more or
in the present
controversy few seem to have

a
literal
felt
themselves bound to
this
exegesis.
Far more potent against
theory as applied to ourselves are an unwillingness

to recognize the
monkeys, apes, and
gorillas as our
poor cousins; a sense of the enormous gulf between
them and
ns;
the impossibility of imagining at what
stage a transition could take place from the brute to
the "image of God;" and a fear lest the admission of
development to account
for
man's bodily frame should
158
SCIENCE.
open the way to dangerous opinions regarding his moral
and spiritual nature. However, I must continue my confession. During the early controversies on this theory there came into
my mind
certain objections to the influence of natural
selection of a similar nature to those
which have been
so ably brought
against
it
by
St.
George Mivart.
That the " survival of the

part in the
fittest "
plays an important
economy of
but that
it
nature,
seems to
me beyond
question
principal
has been the sole or even the
means of bringing about the wondrous variety

is
of organized beings,
to the best of
quite another matter.
Glancing
my
ability over the
whole of animated
nature,
am
disposed to say as the
Duke
of Argyll
.says with special reference to the humming-birds: " If

I
am
asked whether
believe that every separate
species has been a separate creation
not
I
;
born, but
separately
it.
made
must answer, that

creative law
do not believe
think the facts do suggest to the mind the idea
of the working of
some
almost as cerof
its
tainly as they convince us that

its
we know nothing
which
it
nature, or of the conditions under
does
The problem of the method creation is a grand one, and modern science lures on with the hope of a solution. At present we are
glorious work." *
of us
in
the early stage of crude guesses, or at best of partial
glimpses
yet whatever further insight
may
be gained,
we may
rest assured that the Christian will continue

*
" Reign of Law," chapter

159
v.

to exclaim as the Psalmist did
when reviewing
in
the
animate world, but with an ever-widening intelligence,

"
O
It
Lord,
hast
how manifold Thou made them all
are
"
!
Thy works
I
wisdom
may perhaps
be expected that
should say some-
thing about spontaneous generation, the vital force, or

the physical basis of
life,
or that
should consider
a civilized
whether any people has ever raised
itself to
;
condition without influences ab extra

interesting
I
but however
themselves,
is
these
questions
may
be
in
do not know any declaration of Scripture that
affected
by
their solution
is it
one way or the other.
Far otherwise
of the
with the use that has been
made
uniformity of natural laws as an
argument
against miracles, special interpositions, and the efficacy
of prayer.
The constancy
of law
is
everywhere
re-
cognized by students of nature, while the doctrines
impugned stand on every page of the Bible. It is the connection between the premiss and the conclusion
that
is
doubtful.
To
discuss
it
fully
in
would lead us
into metaphysical arguments,
and
regard to prayer
would necessitate a theological inquiry as to the

legitimate
objects
of
supplication.
will
simply
observe that this permanency of the order of nature

is
no new doctrine.
it.
Common
;
observation has always

it,
affirmed
The
Scriptures assume
else
a miracle
could have no meaning
and while they assert that

been changed,
the ordinary sequence has at times
they assign a special cause (generally the accrediting

1
60

of a Divine messenger) to
SCIENCE.
effect.
produce the new

deviation
;
Nor
is
the
impossibility of a
from the
new doctrine of science it is only the modern form of the old question whether Jupiter was Yet the great subject to Fate, or Fate to Jupiter.
general laws a
attention lately paid to physical laws has certainly
rendered
men
less
disposed to believe in miracles

it
but
on the other hand

miracles
has rendered the evidence from

believed.
It
more conclusive where they are
has also a depressing effect upon religious faith unless

we. bear in
mind
that there
may
;
be influences which
we cannot measure with our galvanometers, or weigh

in our
most delicate balances
and that while our
wills
are constantly modifying the manifestations of force,
there
may
be a Supreme Will more free and more
poPent to act in a
possibly predict.
It
way which no experience
of ours can
may be
said that, independently of these special

is
points of collision, there
an irreconcilable opposition
in their
between natural science and the Scriptures

general view of the operation of
God
the one refers
everything to His agency, the other

the supernatural
;
is
impatient of
thus science, instead of hearing in
the thunder " the voice of the Lord," strives to gain a

clear conception
and a measure of atmospheric

acknowledging
life
elec-
tricity; or, instead of
as the gift of
its
I
the Almighty, she endeavours to
show
correlation
with the chemical and physical forces.

difference, but not the contradiction.
i6i
admit the
is
The world
II

not viewed from the same standpoint by science and
by
religion,
but each view
is
correct in
itself.
They
may
*:he
be the opposite poles of thought, but like the

is
two poles of a magnet each

entire
a necessary part of
system.
There
are,
no doubt,
scientific
men who,
are others
entering the very presence-chamber of the

turn their back upon the throne
;
Most High,
but there
who
in pursuing their studies feel
them-
selves treading
" Upon the great world's altar-stairs That slope through darkness up to God ;"
while others, again, believe that for a

of the universe,
it is
full
conception
necessary to gain ever a clearer
insight into the action of physical laws,
and
at the
same time
to trace in
them the thought, and
to feel
the presence, not of a great Unknowable, but of an

ever-bountiful Father.
In this brief and imperfect sketch,

sarily confined
collision,
have neces-
my
attention to points of supposed
and have said nothing about those points of
contact between the Scriptures and natural science

in
which accordance
is
beyond question.
Yet
it
must
not be forgotten that such harmonies exist, and are

ever increasing in their significance
;
for instance, the
oneness of God, as taught by modern views of force
and by the prophets of

that
Israel.
It also deserves notice

first
some
of the scientific ideas which at

allies
appeared
as the
opponents are now the

162
of the Christian

religion
;
SCIENCE.
thus the enormous extension of time which
we now
recognize for the Divine process of creation,
reconciles our
minds to the apparent slowness both of
the Divine manifestation in the

of the triumphs of the Gospel.*
kingdom of grace, and
While making
this rapid
survey
we have
seen that
the progress of scientific knowledge has frequently-
come
into
collision
with the traditionary beliefs of

of these
Christendom.
Some
and
may
have been im-
pressed upon us in our childhood by those
we
loved
most
dearly,
may
be
now
intertwined with our

;
and our highest hopes but if clearer light has shown us that they are no part of God's revelation, loyalty to the Truth demands that we
holiest feelings
should dismiss them from our creed.

too,
We
have seen,
knowledge has compelled theologians to inquire more carefully into

the objects and nature of the Divine communications
to
that the progress of scientific
man
thing which, as Butler strongly and re-
peatedly
in so
sions.
insists,
it
cannot be determined a priori-\

not seen
and
doing
has corrected some erroneous impresis,
What we have
that the progress
of science has rendered incredible, or even improbable,
See the Hulsean Lectures for 1867, by the Rev. C. Pritchard, F.R.S. His language sometimes sounds prophetic, as when he says,
nature
constitution and course of found to be greatly different from what, before experience, would have been expected ; and such as, men fancy, there lie great
is
"
Since,
upon experience, the acknowledged
objections against
this renders
it
beforehand highly credible, that they

it
may
find the revealed dispensation likewise, if they judge of
as they
do of the constitution of nature, very different from expectations formed beforehand, and liable, in appearance, to great objections."
163

anything which
as the
is
clearly taught in the sacred writings
word of God.
it
Nor has
result.
been
for
want of
will
on the part of opbe the
ponents of Christianity that
this continues to
The
storehouses of natural science have often

for
been ransacked
weapons against the old book
the
defenders of the faith have sometimes shrieked with

alarm,
and the assailants have sung

;
their psean
in
anticipation of victory
earthworks which formed no
part of the original fortress have been easily carried,
but the citadel
itself
has remained unshaken, and the
very vigour of these repeated attacks has proved
how
impregnable are
its
venerable walls.
It
may
be replied that
can only claim the victory
by showing that they do not profess to teach science, and by requiring full allowance for popular language and Eastern modes of speech.
for the Scriptures
Granted
writers
is
but this abstinence on the part of the

a
fact,
and
it is
also unquestionable that they
were Easterns making use of the Hebrew of their day.

I
might look upon

if I
my
task as accomplished, conin
tent
have succeeded
removing that idea of the
antagonism of modern science and the Bible which

presses so heavily on the minds of
truth.
It
many
seekers after
But
seems to
it
I am me a question worthy of consideration, How
not content to leave the matter here.
did
come
to pass that these writers did not profess
to explain the
phenomena
of the universe
164
So com-

pletely
is
SCIENCE.
this
the case, that
it
is
rarely possible to
I
ascertain their
own
views.
Thus
once took the
trouble to examine every passage in the Bible relating

to light or the process of vision, but I found nothing
beyond the mere external
facts,
or such poetic metaIf I

I
phors as " the eyelids of the morning."
had
turned to the contemporary Greek writers,
might
have found observations on the course of direct or

reflected rays
;
learnt that
we
see
by means of rays
feels the
proceeding
in straight lines,
not from the thing seen,
but from the eye, just as a blind
man
is
form of
an object with his
staff";
and made acquaintance with

" the transparent
"
such dark definitions as that light

in
motion," and colour
is
something added on to
the
absolute visible."
But
in order fairly to
understand the significance of
the fact that these writers avoid scientific explanations,

it is
necessary to turn to other professed revelations,

It
is
or to the commentators on the Bible itself
well
known
derful
that the
Phoenicians, Babylonians,
Persians,
Indians, Greeks, Chinese,
and other nations had won-
which a mundane Qgg generally appears, and that the Puranas give a large amount of
cosmogonies
in
such information as that India

oceans,
juice,
is
surrounded by seven
salt water,
composed respectively of
clarified
sugar-cane
wine,
butter, curds,
milk,
and
fresh
water.
The books
Scriptures
are
that
still
grew up alongside of the sacred
more
to the point.
165
There was

an oral tradition, carefully handed down by Jewish doctors, intended to supplement and to "fence
the law."
of the
This was reduced to writing by several

fanciful conceits
it
later scribes,
in
abound
and the books thus produced and etymological folHes

the
for instance,
is
said that
Bible begins with
the letter Beth, which as a numeral stands for two,
because
God
:
created
tivo
wôrlds,
the material and
the spiritual
but sometimes their speculations are

tested
;
more capable of being

the sea
rivers
is
thus,
where the Royal

;
Preacher says, "All the rivers run into the sea not
full
:
yet
unto the place from wdience the
come, thither they return again,"* the
Targum
has the gloss that the rivers flow into the ocean that
surrounds the world like a ring, and that they return
again through the subterranean channels.
are the books that
Then
there
compose the Apocrypha. They closely after the model of the Hebrew Scriptures, but in reading them they do impress me as containing a larger amount of human
are
moulded very
theories of nature.
Tobit indeed teaches the efficacy
of a magical incantation, and gives a cause and a cure

for blindness that are certainly
unknown
to the medi-
cal profession.
The author
of that barefaced forgery
2 Esdras,
in
recapitulates the
account of the creation
Genesis with
third
on the
parts
some enlargements,! especially that dry land was made to occupy six the day
earth,
and the waters the seventh part of the

*
Ecclesiastes
i.
7.
2 Esdras
vi.
166

and on the
whales," or
"
fifth
SCIENCE.
day, instead of "

"
He
created great
it,
great saurians
as
some now render
we
learn
that
two
living
creatures were
ordained
Behemoth) and Leviathan, and that to the first was given one part of the land, and to the other the seventh part where the water was gathered
called
Enoch
(or
together.
So where
Esdras
departs
from the
Scriptural account he
falls into
manifest error.
The
which
pretended book of Enoch
treats of " the stone
supports the corners of the earth," and other things
unknown
to
modern
:
physicists, while the seventy-first
chapter begins thus
"The book
of the revolutions of
is
the luminaries of heaven," which the angel Uriel

said to have fully explained to the prophet
;
and then
each
follows an elaborate account of the

sun,
movements of the
starts
month from
whose chariot blown by the winds a fresh gate in the east, and
travels to a
corresponding gate in the west, thus causing the varying length of
day and night

in
" the
year
is
precisely
is
364 days
;"
and
succeeding chapters there
still more complicated revelation of the movements and phases of the moon. In the fourfold memoirs of Jesus Christ we never find Him accrediting His mission by any superior
but this was so unlike the knowledge of nature thoughts of men, that in the mythical gospels we
;
cease to find this abstinence.

the Infancy,
Thus,
in
the Gospel of
we
read
in
a long conversation of Jesus the temple

167
with the doctors
about astronomy,

physiology, and kindred subjects, which savours of
the astrological and medical opinions of the period*
Let us turn from spurious gospels to genuine but

uncanonical epistles.
Clement, the companion of
St.
Paul, wrote also a letter to the Corinthians, in which,

like his master,
he discoursed, among other things, of
the resurrection of the dead, using the old simile of
the buried grain of wheat, but adding also that of
day and night alternately

of the phoenix.
rising,
and the resurrection
He
the
tells
the story of the bird rising
from
its
ashes at considerable length, and with evident
credence.
In
epistle
of
Barnabas
there
are
ascribed to the hare, hyaena, and weasel, habits which

certainly
do not belong to them or any other quad-
ruped.
Space forbids
my
tracing the scientific errors
"When a certain astronomer who was present asked the Lord Jesus 'whether He had studied astronomy,' the Lord Jesus rephed, and told him the number of the spheres and heavenly bodies, as also
and sextile aspect their progressive and retroand several prognostications ; and other things which the reason of man had never discovered. There was also among them a philosopher well skilled in physic and natural philosophy, who whether He had studied physic' He replied, asked the Lord Jesus and explained to him physics and metaphysics, also those things which were above and below the power of nature ; the powers also of the body, its humours, and their effects ; also the number of its members, and bones, veins, arteries, and nerves ; the several constitutions of body, how the soul hot and dry, cold and moist, and the tendencies of them operated upon the body what its various sensations and faculties were the faculty of speaking, anger, desire ; and lastly the manner of its composition and dissolution and other things which the understanding Then that philosopher arose, and of no creature had ever reached. worshipped the Lord Jesus, and said, O Lord Jesus, from henceforth I will be Thy disciple and servant.'"
their triangular, square,
;
grade motion
their size
'
'
i68

or of the later Jewish writers.
Suffice
SCIENCE.
of succeeding fathers of the Church, or of the Gnostics,

it
to say that
Maimonides
lays
down
with the greatest precision, as
part of the " foundations of the law," the doctrine of
the four elements, and the Ptolemaic system of the

universe, with
its
crystalline orbs each
composed of
unchangeable matter and form, and animated by a

living soul possessed of greater
knowledge than the
sons of men.
The Koran
it
it
has a special claim to be

I
considered, since
professes to be inspired.
must
admit,
however, that
it
lends
little
support
to
my
Still,
argument, for
that
it
copies the Jewish Scriptures so closely

errors.
avoids falling into scientific
Mohammed
would clearly have

of black
fire,
it
understood that
clay,
men were made

angels of subtle
mud
or dried
and
and that the constellations are
only lights set in the lower heavens.*

I
have already had occasion to refer to some of the

opinions
If
scientific
expressed by modern
Christian
commentators.
any one should desire to learn more
of the difficulty of divesting oneself of mythic science,

let
him turn
to the " Paradise Lost," that great
poem
erudi-
of Milton, a
man
of capacious
mind and vast
tion, fully conscious
too of the fact that what he was
writing would be judged
by posterity;! or
l^t
him
consult the headings of Cruden's Concordance under
such words as Serpent or Ostrich.
In a family Bible
in
which
daily use
*
a handsome
xv.,
volume published
Koran, chapter
See especially
Books
169
and elsewhere. vii., viii., and x.

1846,
by a firm
v/ell
known for
its
splendid editions of
the Scriptures, there are numerous marginal notes,

philological
and explanatory, of which these are two
specimens taken almost at random.

"
Psalm
xlii.
waterspout
is
a large tube formed of clouds by
means
clouds.
of the electric fluid, the base being uppermost,

let
and the point

It
;
down
perpendicularly from the
has a particular kind of circular motion at
the point
tities
and being hollow within,

it
attracts vast
quan-
of water, which
frequently pours
upon the earth." Jobxxxviii. 25, composed of two elastic airs or gases,
rents
down in tor26: "Water is

called
oxygen
and hydrogen, and

I
in the
proportion of Z%\ of the former

;
if of the latter in 100 parts
the electric spark,
or matter of lightning, passing through the atmosphere,

ignites
and decomposes those gases, which explode

falls
and the water

ambient
down
in the
form of
rain.
This
explosion, as well as the rushing in of the circumair to restore the equilibrium, will
account
for the clap
and
peal."
Suppose these explanations

!
had been found
in
the text instead of the margin
Enough of these illustrations, which might be multiplied ad infiniticm. My object in adducing such
examples
mentaries,
from
other
professed
revelations,
from
apocryphal books, and from Jewish or Christian comis
to bring
into greater
prominence the
remarkable
nature.
fact that the canonical Scriptures
them-
selves abstain almost wholly
from human theories of

full
But
in
order to feel the

170
force of this argu-
BETWEEN' SCRIPTURE AND NATURAL SCIENCE.

mcnt,
it is
necessary to bear in mind that the Bible
is
the work of about forty
human
authors, extending over
a period of at least one thousand and perhaps two
thousand years, marked by a wondrous advance of

civilization
men
living in different countries,

;
speaking
different
languages
most learned of
lators
;
their
some day
;
illiterate,
and others the
kings, warriors,
;
and
legis-
priests, poets,
and chroniclers a physician and

;
a gatherer of wild
figs
the prime minister of Babylon,
and the fishermen of
Galilee.
When we
reflect that
none of these ever professed to reveal the mysteries

of nature, or claimed the authority of inspiration for
anything that later science has shown to be

find
false,
we
an additional reason to believe that a higher
intelligence than that of
man
has presided over the
composition of this wonderful book.
THE ALLEGED MORAL DIFFICULTIES

OF THE
OLD TESTAMENT.
BV THE REV.
THOMAS POWNALL BOULTBEE,

PRINCIPAL OF THE LONDON DIVINITY COLLEGE,
ST.
LL.D.,
;OHN's H.\LL, HIGHBURY.

OLD TESTAMENT.
TN
approaching a subject so grave

as the one
in all its
bearings
now
before us,
it
is
peculiarly needful
to define as closely as
may
be the matter proposed for

difficulties of
debate.
These supposed moral
the Old
Testament need to be
morals.
localised.
its
They might be
general system
of
conceived to be inherent in
Or they may be
commands.
it
lurking here or there in isoIf the former of these could

fatal to
it
lated facts or
be demonstrated,
would be absolutely
reception of the older Scriptures.

seriously argued,
it
And
vital
if
could be
would be of
importance to
discuss
it.
ally false
But we conceive the idea of a fundamentsystem of morality in the Old Testament to

It
be simply absurd and unworthy of notice.

certain narratives or precepts of the
remains
that the alleged moral difficulties are to be found in
Old Testament,
not as parts of
which are singled
out,
and objected
175
to,

a vicious whole, but as being thought inconsistent with
the higher standard of the whole.
If this
be accepted as a true statement,
it
becomes
objection
necessary to draw a further distinction.
An
may
be made to the record of an act of the Almighty
Himself, or to a
command
or permission asserted to
to
have been given from
Him
men
to
do certain
acts.
The
first
of these
It
is
scarcely in
any sense open to our

in all
criticism.
must be accepted as a fixed point
human
reasoning that
we
are absolutely incompetent
judges of the Divine
acts.
The ways
of Providence,
as displayed before us in the pages of history, and the
story of
human
life
passing before our
own
eyes, are
in truth less intelligible to us
than His ways marked
out in Scripture.
Scripture uniformly declares that
His
"
ways
are not as our ways,"

this is
and are
"
past finding
out."
all
And
no more than the bewilderment of

ThereScrip-
ages has been practically forced to confess.

of Divine severity recorded in
fore, acts
Holy
ture concern us no more, in point of debate of moral

fitness,
than acts of Divine severity elsewhere recorded,
or passing under our
own
observation.
do not say
that the believer in Divine revelation has no

light
more
on the course of Divine judgment than the But for the purpose of a God forbid unbeliever.
!
complete defence, as for the purpose of a

the Divine proceedings,
criticism, of
we are
absolutely incompetent.
We
them to be a grand whole, symmetrical and complete, and to judge of a few isolated parts of
believe
176
OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.

such a whole, extending through
possibly worlds,
many
ages,
and
we hold
to be simply irrational.
We
have enough at least of the judicial faculty to decline the office of judge in a case which is scarcely before
us even in part, and which,
if it
were before
us,
we
have not
intellect to grasp.
We
decline, therefore, to
assume the
office of
judge
involved in the attempt to vindicate the ways of Divine Providence. We decline it from no unworthy
cowardice, nor from alarm at supposed consequences,
but from a profound consciousness that as yet the

ends,
aims,
purposes of that
;
Providence
are to a
in
great extent veiled from us
and that those ways
Scripture are simply a part of the very
same mystery
Almighty
specified
are, to
which day by day

one thing
is
being enacted before our eyes.

acts of the
But to discuss the Providential

is
;
to
examine precepts,
has given to
injunctions, or per-
missions which
occasions
is
He
man on any
these last
quite another.
Of
we
certain extent,
competent judges.
which govern
it,
Human
conduct,
and the
rules
are of necessity, to
;
some considerable
extent, under our cognizance

if
and Old
there can be no question that
there are in the
Testament records of human conduct, and notes of rules for that conduct, which are honestly objected to
on
definite
moral grounds coming within the scope of
our knowledge and experience,
we
are
bound
to give a
careful consideration to them, for they raise the critical
question,
Can
this
be the
Word
177
of
God which
12
either

directs, orders, or
commands
things to which
it
is
ob-
jected that they are not in strict consonance with high
morahty
In further opening our subject
it
is
of primary im-
portance that
we should
state fairly the real issue.
There
is
a vast deal of
cavil,
and of misrepresentation,
side.
which we must resolutely put on one

of the Bible
is
The world
any way an
which we
in evil.
no Utopia, nor
It
is
is
it
in
idealized world.
live
;
just the world in
a strange, mixed condition, abounding
That
is
narratives of iniquity find place in Bible history
just as inevitable as that they find place in the great

it
world of which
is
a picture.
We may
turn
away
from them, we
but
it
may
dislike
them finding a place there

will
is
the sober truth of our evil state which the

it
Bible sets before us, and

or
not bate one hard
line,
one harsh colour
in the
often revolting picture.
Therefore, that there are narrations of evil things in
the Old Testament,
put aside as being no part of our

is
present argument, so long as there
no pretext
for
saying that there
is
any expressed or implied note of

I
Divine approval.
And
take the hberty of saying
that an age which admires the licentiousness of French
novels
an
age which finds
itself
day by day photosuch as they

are,
graphed
in
in the records of its doings,
the
daily
newspapers
has
not outgrown the
homely plainness with which such things are held up before it by the ancient Scripture, however prudishly
it
may
profess to avert
its
eyes from
it.
178

These then we put aside
;
and we turn to the sup-
posed case of Divine direction or approval of
human
acts conceived not to be consonant with high morahty,
which we have asserted to be the

us.
real issue
now before
few, cases
is
That there must be some, however coming apparently under this description
600 years from Porphyry downwards.
certain
they have been the favourite ground of objection these

1,
been variously handled by Christian apologists.

old school of exegesis dealt in a very
They have The

it
summary, not to
But
this
say arbitrary, manner with them.

said,
All such matters,
were to be taken
figuratively,*
mode of
honest
disposing of questions will not

inquirer now, even
if it will
satisfy
the
satisfy ourselves.
We must
grapple with this question more closely than by offering the changeable Proteus of figure and symbol to a
searcher after truth.

cline the contest
fast like the
Otherwise he
will certainly de-
on such terms, or
persist in holding us
Proteus of Virgil.
talis erit
" Donee
mutato corpore, qualem
Videris, incepto tegeret
quum lumina somno,"

its
And
then, after
all,
the difficulty in
own form
will
have to be faced.
In attempting to offer something tangible to the
thoughtful mind on this subject, the very
*
first
question
" Quidquid in sermone divino neque ad

fidei
morum honestatem
10.
neque ad
veritatem propria referri potest, figuratum esse

Christ,
iii.
cognoscas."
Augustine de doct.
179

which seems to meet
me
is tliis.
''Moral
difficulties"
must
Is
arise in reference to
some moral standard.
In
?
the case before us what

it
is it ?
What
about
is
moral truth
?
that which a
man
troweth to be right
this.
We wish
to raise
no
cavilling question
For simply
on which we
and absolutely we cannot proceed with our argument

until
we have
relyi
arrived at
some
definition
may
If the rule
is
to be conscience,
will
needs ask whose conscience, for that

variations. If the rule
is
we must make endless
some recognized authority, we must run over in dismay a few leading names of those who have exercised sway over men Socrates, Aristotle, Mahomet, Spinoza, Hegel, Comte. Who is
to be
to be our standard
Or we put
it
nationally.
Is
it
England or France, America or Germany, India or

China,
which
shall give the standard for
which we
seek
.''
In this perplexity probably the nearest and
closest
answer
we can
receive
may be
all
its
this
the
standard shall
be the enlightened European judgment.
We
accept the definition in spite of

reply,
and imperfections, and we

fact that has
vagueness
"
Well, in point of
been formed by the Bible, and more par-
ticularly
bythe
New Testament."
Forsince Jesus
lived,
whatever
men may
think of the truth of the record
which
for
tells
of Him, or of the Divine honour claimed

still
Him, He must be
and
for
it is
evermore the exthat
ample, type, or ideal (whichever

of man's noblest and best.
men
admit)
And
if
the enlightened
is
European judgment
to
which appeal
i8o
made does pre-

sent a higher and purer moral tribunal than elsewhere
has been known,
it is
because that judgment has been

for centuries in the
moulded and swayed and taught

school of Divine revelation.
We
hold, therefore, that
considerable enough to be
alleges that there are
any European section, met in grave argument, moral difficulties in the Old
if
Testament of the kind so

ing, their Master.
it
far described,
it
is
really a
case of the disciples condemning, or at least question-
But we acknowledge,
if this
be
so,
does not absolutely end the contest, though

it
we
think
blunts the edge of the

certainly possible in
For
it is
weapon which assails us. some things that a disBut

it
ciple
may
improve on
his
master's teaching.
seems to
before us
result that the worst

is
now
possible in the case
that
some portions of
fall
that which
we revere
still,
as Divine revelation
short of the high standard
which other portions reach.

for
it
Nay, more precisely
will indicate
the line of argument
we
are about to
follow,
to reach the
do.
some of the earlier same high level

is
revelations are alleged not

as the later unquestionably
it
This then
the real point before us, as
seems
to me,
and
this the true nature of the difficulty fairly
stated, after all needful process of elimination.

If this
be the case,
how
shall
it,
oppose a simple negative to
Shall we we meet it and deny that there is

.'
.''
any such
difference of moral level
Shall
we attempt
from
first
to disprove the alleged fact broadly
and absolutely,
and contend that every
detail of the Bible,

i?i

to last,
is
precisely,
and
in
every
mode
of measure-
ment, and by every gauge of estimation, on the same
moral
Bible
level
will
We
so
think no thoughtful reader of the

for
say
moment.
We
think no
it.
school of Bible interpreters has ever
maintained
The Bible
later
itself
denies
it.
portions
speak
For thus does one of its of one of its earlier and

viii.
principal
is
developments
of
(Heb.
6,
7,
13)
"He
was
first
the
Mediator
better covenant, which
established
upon better promises.

faultless,
For
"
if
that
covenant
had been
then should no place
have been sought
for the second."

is
That which
is
decayed and waxeth old
ready to vanish away."
There
is,
therefore, in Scripture itself the admission,
nay, the assertion as a ground of argument and of

faith,
of the very thing which
we need
us.
in the further
handling of the subject before

If,
therefore, there are
some matters
in
the older
Scriptures not thought to be precisely on the
same
height of moral
is
level with the later revelation, this
not of necessity a thing to be denied, or a thing to

It
is,
create alarm in the believer's mind.
however,
necessary
first
to examine
closely such alleged cases,
to see whether haply our moral barometer was out of
adjustment
the vacuum at
the top of
its
mercurial
column
air.
imperfect,
by the admission of some deceptive

level will
For then our estimate of moral

in
be
the
proportionally defective, and that which seemed to be
lower was
reality at the
182
same
elevation as

higher.
But
if
after such
careful inquiry there
still
seem to be in parts of the older revelation a lower

level of morality,
then
it is
simply a case for a careful

its
inquiry into the plan of revelation and
progressive
nature
it is
a case for a wise and cautious study of

in giving to
the plan of
light in the
God
man
successive degrees of
knowledge of
virtue, just as the Christian
believes
He
has given successive degrees of doctrinal

in their course.
knowledge as the ages passed onward
Thus allowing
they
for such differences, accounting for
them, showing their place in the plan of revelation,
may
even cease to be
aids to faith.
"
DIFFICULTIES," and
become almost
last,
its
For the consistency and

first
coherence of the manner of revelation from
to
growth and development on
one system
through
many
ages, surely betrays the
hand of the
moral and
one Divine Artificer even more marvellously than a
rounded
completeness
of
all
an
absolute
doctrinal system once for
and
for ever given could
possibly have
done.
The heathen might
fable
Pallas springing forth fully
grown and armed from
the head of Zeus
dealings of the Eternal
any
parallel.
know of nothing in the One with us which suggests The mushroom may spring forth in a
;
but we
night, but even that transitory vegetable product counts
hours for
ness,
its
development.
Growth, accretion, slow-
belong to the ways of

little it
God
with us
and Time,
howsoever
in all that
may
influence the Eternal, has place

us. 1S3
He
does with

But granting that
gradually
in
some sense most of us may

not,
admit that morahty, whether revealed or
may
?
?
come
to perfection,
we must
at
once meet a
possible objection.
Is morality
then a variable thing
May
the right of one age be the
wrong
of another
We
hope to show that we repudiate warmly whatever
of this
may
be inconsistent with the Supreme Good.

;
Principles can never change
they exist for ever, the

Evil
is
Eternal Idea in the Eternal One.
never good.
The
false
is
never true.
We
admit no paltering with

in
the fundamental verities.

disorder and of
But
a world of strange
darkness,
it
athwart which the light
dimly
falls,
and on which
dawns only
at
gradually,
first.
it
comes glimmeringly and doubtfully

matter of which
In this
we
is
speak, measured
by the age of
individual, " the
mankind instead of the age of the

path of the just
as the shining light,

perfect day."
which shincth
more and more unto the

I
do not know that this position needs to be fortiIt seems to me one fied any more before we proceed. of the first principles which we discern in inquiring
into the dealings of the Creator with
His creatures,
whenever we search into the actual and ascertained

facts of His proceedings.
To
the fifteenth century
He
gave printing.
To
the eighteenth
He
gave the
steam-engine.
For the nineteenth
He
it
reserved the
electric telegraph,
and that marvellous boon to His

Call
;
suffering creatures, chloroform.

call it
Providence
it
a result of a
law of nature
i?4
call
what you

will,
this is the
is,
method of His procedure. And whatwe

not the same
If
simply say
that He, ever self-consistent, gave certain

;
degrees of moral light in times of old
degree to each age, but progressive light.

question the procedure,
have/rt^/j-,
it is
anyone
;
not for us to reply
we
not reasons, to guide us in our search.
And
is
when we
shall
know why
the
shrill
cry of anguish rose

since,
under the surgeon's knife but a few years
and
now
stilled
under the blessed torpor of chloroform, we
may
begin to try to answer

gives
is
why
the light which
God
Nay,
be-
by any means
observe
this,
not always the same.
these differences of which
we speak
long not only to the successive ages.
In the same age
the perception of the bearing and degree of obligation
of revealed truth
dividuals.
is
widely different in different
in-
Its Yet the truth itself changes not. relation to the intellect and the conscience changes, as everything that is relative must change.
Now
let
us
draw more
closely to the subject of our
investigation.
Only
let
us note that
we
are to investi-
gate /^^/j-, not opinions.
We
are not to be guided or
misguided by preconceived opinions of our own or of

others.
We
have seen enough so
far of the analogies

call
of the Divine proceedings
whether again you

not bestow
them
Lazv or Providence
to repudiate any expression of

will or will
this, that,
mere opinion that

or the
He
other degree of light on any given century.

'Ca^
Our
inquiry will be simply into
fact of the degree
of the moral light
He
is
declared to have sent into

18:;

the darkness
;
and how
far, in
certain cases, that de-
gree
is
consistent with the development of the age

is
and with what

I
claimed to be His completed Word.
know not in what other shape the question can be made and issue raised on grounds susceptible of fair
argument.
How,
then, does the fact stand about the revelation
of moral truth to
man ? Those
patriarchal ages of which
we have
first in
a rapid review in the book of Genesis

order.
come
We may
have individual opinions, or
even convictions, of a moral law revealed objectively or

in the conscience
which was the guide and the measure
of responsibility in those ages.

to
But we have nothing
do with
that.
As
far as the facts of revelation go,
we
are compelled to affirm that the
amount of moral
law externally given was small indeed.

ingly of moral difficulties such as
fined,
And
accord-
we have
is
here de-
and understand them,
think in the book of

the record of
Genesis
we have
but few.
There
certain crimes with which
we
are sufficiently familiar.
But as we are not concerned to approve or defend the

morality of
all
that the patriarchs did,
still
less of
what
shall
-
we
are told of various unrighteous men, I
do not see
that
much remains
for
our review here, after
we
have said something on the injunction to

Isaac,
sacrifice
and something about the marriage customs of

For, as
early ages.
we have
it
urged, no record what-
ever can be found fault with for facts truly reported,
however
evil,
of which
expresses no approval, and

186

which
report.
for a
sufficient
reason
it
may be
needful to
We
have required, for the purpose of creating

di^fficidty,
a real moral
that the act or injunction, sup-
posed to be immoral, shall have the Divine sanction.
The Books
raise
of the Law which follow more of questions of this kind.
do,
suppose,
as
it
And
is
impossible in the scope of a lecture to deal textually
and closely with many individual

at once
particulars,
we
will
group together the principal classes of subjects

I
;
which seem to require treatment.
may enumerate
2.
;
them thus
slavery
;
i.
the
marriage law
the law of the

injuncin
3.
sanguinary punishments
4.
tion to sacrifice Isaac, together with
some matters
I
the subsequent history inviting notice.
With regard
to all these classes of subjects,
shall
thus state the question before us in close accordance
with the principles so far laid down.
In the age to which these records and these regulations belong, those parts of the world and those races of mankind with
which we are
for our present
purposes concerned, and
Israel in particular,
had attained to a certain condition
of enlightenment and of civilization.
They
possessed
;
(whether by tradition or otherwise) certain usages
they had deeply-fixed habits of thought and of reasoning, and a standard of humanity and of morals, of
which
ental.
I will
only
now say
that
it
was
essentially Ori-
In
all this
they were separated from any
known
modern European standard by a wider gulf than we, except by study and careful consideration, can well

estimate.
Now
we
the problem before us
is
this
Israel
being in that particular stage of moral development^

it
was
(as
believe) the will of
God
to
commence a
first
series of revelations to
them, which should at

it
be
local
and
national.
But
was
also the will of
God
that in a marvellous
revelations
should
contain the
manner those earlier Israelitic germ of higher and

should
ultimately
world-wide revelations which
be
based upon and grow out of the particular and national.

Just as the original Abrahamic covenant, beginning with
the national and the local
great nation
"
;
" I
will
make
of thee a
'
"
Unto thy seed
advanced to the universal
will I give this land;"

all
"
In thy seed shall
families of the earth be blessed."

Still,
with this element of the universal and perfecit,
tional in
the
first
draft
of that
revelation
was
eminently temporal,
question
:
local, national.
so,
Now
comes the
This
being
.-
what was the
will of
God
in giving a revelation
Would He aim
at bringing
that race, that chosen race, out of the then existing
stage of civilization, of science, of morals

so,
how
it
far
would
He
be pleased to bring
And if them And

}
.''
would
be by a code which should bring them per

state,
salhtm into a higher
or
by one which should

and being and
contain germinal principles, rather than rules, which
might
fructify in the
minds of the people
developed by the thought and studies of successive

generations,
lead
the nation gradually,
wisely,
safely to higher moral levels,
from which they might
the less easily relapse

I
may
illustrate the
question before us thus
If
we
O'lrselves,
in
having made the long ascent, are rejoicing
the elastic air and the clear vision of the mountain

toils
summit, and are witnesses of the early

far
of a party
below us beginning to scale the same heights, we
shall
by no means despise them. They may seem

its
at that
distance scarcely above the plain with
fogs, or the
subjacent marsh with
its
miasma. But our recollection

that
barrier of
of the severity of the effort required to reach

first
range of summits, and evade the

is
first
lower precipice,
too fresh and vivid for us to feel
othenvise than interested in their progress, or to doubt

that
they have attained

the valley.
us,
very sensible elevation
above
line
But
if,
habituated to the vast skylighter
around
and the
atmosphere of the
heights,
we never knew
toils
or had forgotten the delights
and the
of the lower elevations,
we might
scorn
the position of those
who had merely reached them,

all
and
say, are
they indeed at
}
above those grovellers
in the
marsh
These judgments from higher points of

d priori conclusions of what
level
these
in
was
fitting to
be done
the
I
way
of measure and degree of Divine revelation,

off.
wish entirely to shake
Those early
revelations,
in
which some think they can see some blots and

I
blemishes,
wish to look at
in strict relation
to thti'
own
John,
times,
and
in
their
own fixed and ascertained

I
place in a progressive scheme.

I
am
not listening to
fact (which
am
listening to Moses.
1S9
Does the

we
believe) that both
John and Moses were taught of

alter the previous
God, and sent by God,

progression
fact of the
in the great
different chronological place they

?
occupy
Not
all
in the least, unless

I
you assume
very thing against which

dication that
am
struggling
the the prejucontrary
God's teaching
in revelation,
to all His other teaching, shall always reach the

level.
same
of
for
But
if it is
found that the moral and spiritual

into that
teaching of
Moses develops naturally
John by a process which the whole Christian world
many
rests
centuries has held with certainty of deduction,
both of reason and of conscience, then the Christian
upon
their
combined teaching without hesitation;

in both,
he sees the same Divine Spirit

points of difference, that there
forgets, until the unbeliever forces

is
and he almost him to think of the any difference at all.

at all filled with the
Therefore
it is,
that to one
who
is
Spirit of the Scripture, these alleged
moral
difficulties
all.
of
some
parts scarcely bring
any
difficulty at
Nor,
so far as
we can
see,
all
has the persistent urging and

these centuries produced
canvassing them for

perceptible result
Scripture.
any
upon the general reception of Holy
So, then, in the inquiry
now
before us
we
reject the
form into which

it.
as we contend objectors really cast

God,
in
How
far will
commencing a
it
.'*
revelation of
moral law, be pleased to conduct

line
What
precise
of moral level luill
He
lay
down
in the first, or
in the
second instance.
We
190
repudiate the tense in

which the question
is
put.
We
thrust aside the future
and
insert Xh^ perfect.
How
far
has God, in commen-
cing a revelation of moral law, been pleased to conduct

it ?
What
?
precise
line
of moral level did

that this
He
lay
down
we
If
we
!
are told
begs the question,
reply.
No
The very shape

is
the argument of our
opponent takes
this
" I
see moral difficulties in

hesitate, or
these statements, and they
make me
even
refuse, to accept as a revelation
from God that which
contains them."
We
are not called
upon now
*'
:
to look
at other difficulties, but at these.

feel entitled to assert
And
we, therefore,
Well, taking
in
on the contrary
for granted all other matters
which are not now

this
is
question,
and assuming that otherwise

from God, there
doubting
it
would seem
sufficient
to be a revelation
no
ground
for rejecting or
on the score of
difficulties
of the class
now
before us.
And
in this
point of view
we have
insisted
on the right form to
give to our inquiry, as one into facts, and not into
matters of a priori opinion.
That
this
mode
of investigation
may
lead to true
results, I
think
may
thus be
made clear to any capacity.

results
Supposing that a system declared to be of Divine

origin should prove
on investigation to produce
on a lower
level
than that of contemporary
civilization,
or even a level
no higher, or only
partially higher in a
few excepted parts of no great

it
moment
supposing
to prove a dead, inert system, scarcely serving as a
basis,
and not proving to be
fruitful
and germinant of
191

higher and higher principles and practice, even to the
\&xy highest
theory and
supposing
probable
this
to be so not only in
in the
its
judgment of some who have exaresults,
mined
into
but also practically
shown
their
to be so in the history of a nation or even sect

it
who adopted
as their rule,
and who have shown
in
want of moral and

examination,
spiritual
development that
the thing was dead and inert, and therefore not Divine;
such an
On
say,
would lead
to a true
condemnation.
the other hand, suppose the system should on
similar investigation prove, indeed, to be in
some
re-
spects kindred to the type of the prevalent civilization
of the age, but everywhere elevated above

it
it
suppose
temporal,
in their
to introduce into
what may have been
local,
and national usages a remarkable something which

differentiates
them
at once in themselves
and
actual issues from similar existing practices
suppose
that most fruitful germs of higher and higher moral
and
spiritual truth are discovered in the
system and
then, lastly,
suppose further that the career of the moral
nation to which these laws were given should thencefor-
ward have been marvellously distinguished

type from
after
all others,
in
and that
in course
of time and
many and
almost fatal defections from those laws,
the highest
known type of spiritual and moral advancein
ment should have been developed from among them,

and should thenceforward have been the guide
192
whatever progress towards moral perfection the most

advanced nations of the earth have known
say such an
initial
;
then
system of asserted revelation, so

its
characterized, cannot be discredited as to

original simply because, in the
Divine
judgment of some, a
few of
its
incidental particulars
may
not reach the

it
moral height which those objectors think

This
the position to which
in debate.
ought to
have done, and to which the perfected whole ultimately

led.
is
we think we have
reduced the matter
Let us now attempt to
illustrate the
mode
of treat-
ment which we think may be applied

most
defective,
to
some of those
portions of the early Scriptures which
may appear
at
least,
judged by the more advanced standard
since given to man.
That which
strikes me,
as most defective and most open to grave objection, I is the whole subject of the connexion of the sexes.
shall not,
and
need not, enter into
many
particulars
but
desire,
before offering a few remarks on the
general question, to fortify
my
position
authority a Christian can invoke.
by the highest Our Master said,

"
speaking of one branch only of this subject,
Moses,
because of the hardness of your hearts, suffered you

to put
away your wives

so."
I
I
but from the beginning
it
was not
position
laid
hold this to cover the whole of the

in
have taken up
this debate.
It is
there
down
as a fact, that a certain provision of the

relation, and,
Mosaic law, bearing on the marriage

it
as
seems to me, by no means the most objectionable

193
13
of regulations affecting the relation of the sexes, wai

not in
itself
admirable, and was not thenceforward to
be continued
that
I
it
was simply a concession

it
to those
who
in
could not bear a stricter law, and that

original intent
was not
harmony with the
and
institution of
God Himself
do not know that we could well have
a case more in point, and more suggestive as to the

right view to be taken of various other early regulations
which
may seem
to fall
below the higher standard of
Christianity.
If this
be so as to the law of divorce,

affirm
it
how much
other
more may we
laxities in the
tive of the
as to
some of the
instance,
marriage
tie,
which occur
in the narra-
Old Testament.
that polygamy,
For
shall
we must
remember
if it is I
not inconsistent with

offer
the Mosaic law, on which

at least receives
no contention,
no sanction
it
there.
It stands there in It
is
the narrative, but
has no place in the law.
conspicuous, moreover, in the narrative itself as the

hateful thing, which we, looking at
level,
it
from a higher
judge
it
to be
the
fruitful
source of hatred,
;
contention, jealousy,
and contamination of the race
the destroyer of the original blessings and purposes of the marriage bond,
viz.,
the godly, pure up-bringing
of generation after generation in the fear of

in
God and
is
it
undivided family love.
In no other light
ever
depicted.
Abraham
himself broke not the primitive
usage without
to
this penalty,
though no
lust allured
is
him
the infraction.
Jacob's history
deeply tragic
from no other cause.
The
kings of Judah adopted the
194

hateful Orientalism,
and suffered or exhibited the
full
measure of
sin,
the- curse
which has always followed the

think the lesson of the Old
terrible,
and which has darkened Eastern history with a

I
it
fearful cloud of crime.
Testament
is
clear as
is
however
therefore,
ii.
silent
it
may
be as to the precept.
When,
we
hear
the last of the prophets
(Malachi
15)
appealing
"
against the corrupt usage of his age, thus,
Did not
spirit.
He make one ? Yet had He the And wherefore one That He

}
residue of the
might seek a godly

lesson
seed,"
we
have
set
in
truth
in
the
of
the
Old
Testament,
terrible
forth
Eden,
illustrated
by the
we object to this, and say surely a revelation from God will speak more clearly than this, and will not permit men to fall
intervening
corruptions.
If
into such immoralities
unwarned,
might deny that
they were unwarned in
many
it
ways.
But without
to this, either
urging that, you must obsei've
comes
God
has
left
us unwarned, uninstructed, on this matter

the very basis of
all
which
lies at
human
Society and
improvement, and has abandoned us merely to the

uncertain deductions of experience, which never hold
men when
behalf.
If,
their passions are
concerned
or else
He
of
has given the instructions of revelation to us in this

therefore, in
some of the
earlier stages
His
as
Word those instuctions seem not some may think they might have
in this
to be so distinct
been, even then

it
our race has been in far better condition than
would
have been had God

into
matter withdrawn Himself
Epicurean
silence.
19s

Thus
Is there
I
bring this subject to what
have held to be
the right ground of investigation
not to the question,

?
now, might there have been then (abstractedly

a higher, purer standard
considered),
fact
but to
the
how
far
does
it
appear that
it
pleased
God
to lead
?
men
at that time
towards that higher and purer
some general considerations on the state of things thus disclosed for subsequent comment, and
reserve
We
we
notice next the law of slavery.
observe here, as
the Old TestaIt
in nearly all the
usages of society
in
ment, no violent, revolutionary handling of them.

appears as a fact
civilization
tbajt
a certain stage of advance in
has entailed the condition of slavery and

I
the possession of slaves.

it
know
of no exception to
Is
in the ancient world.
Now
comes the question,
that relation in itself so infamous and abhorrent as to
demand instant excision in all cases and in all Must the Almighty at once denounce it as a
everywhere and always abominable
cuts very deeply.
St.
.''
ages
thing
Such an opinion
it
Paul did not hold
when he
obtains
wrote to Philemon about Onesimus.
And
if it
even now, in this absolute shape, any general currency,

such prevalence
is
certainly not yet fifty years old.

;
am
not going to indulge in a pro-slavery argument

I
on
the contrary,
yield to
none
in
the sincerity of
my
conviction
that slavery
stands
condemned by the
in
genius of Christianity, and that the destruction of that
most abominable form of
it
which has prevailed
modern times has been one of

196
the brightest trophies of

the power of OciX\%\\zxi principles in a case
Christian precept spoke only
upon which
by
inference.
Well, then, the fact again
is this,
;
the law of Moses

as
I
recognized the possession of slaves
should hold,
because
ble in
It
"
it
always recognized the universal and inevitausages.
human
I
How
did
it
deal with
them
surrounded them as
far as possible
with tender care.
Tender,"
mean,
in
comparison with that hard age,

natures.
and
at
those
unsympathetic
I
"As
far
as
possible"
mean, because there was no policeman

those checks and counter-checks to
hand
to
watch the hard pressed slave or the churlish

Resolve society into
master
none of
which we are accustomed.

elements
!Moses contemplated, and
do.
in
its
give us that simple patriarchal form which
These boons
his,
me what more you could were given to the slave. One day
tell
seven was
:
on which
his
master might exact no
labour
the
threshing
the ox was to stand

"
still
from the plough and
that thy manservant and maidservant

thou."
may
an
ter,
rest as well as
Oh
if
we
could
call
up
Israelitish slave
purchased from an Egyptian masrest
and ask him what he thought of that blessed
him by the covenant, enshrined within the very Holy of Holies in that golden ark Then there
sealed to
!
were varied precautious both

redemption money, and
for life
and limb, and
for
for personal honour.
If they
seem not
all
that a higher stage of civilization might

I
require even for the slave,
should be disposed to ask,
by way of
testing the possibility,

197
Was
anything so

good and merciful possible
or the Jamaica
selves
hills,
?
in the
swamps
of Carolina,
among
fear not
a people calling them;
Christian
and the key-note of
much
of this ancient legislation of which

tJic
we speak
is
just this
possible.
all
What
shall
we
?
thus speak of
God, with
whom
things are possible

!
Yes, for with

unless
it
man
all
things are not possible
And
had
pleased
Him
society,
miraculously to change the course of
human
more than
this
we
are bold to say
was
to
not possible.
But before we leave
this
subject
feel
bound
notice one of the laws which has been the cause of
much down
hostile
comment.
In
Exodus
xxi. 20,
it is
laid
that "if a
man
smite his servant or his maid with

;
a rod, and he die under his hand

punished."
he shall surely be
Nevertheless
it
proceeds
" If he
:
continue
is
a day or two, he shall not be punished
for
he
his
money."
lavished.
to join in
Upon which much
indignation has been

I
And
it.
in
a certain point of view

I
am
is
ready
Am
to look
upon one who
made
But,
wdth
me
in the
image of God as so much money, a
purchased
observe,
chattel.'*
is
We shall
spurn the idea.

is
all this
beside the question. Here
slavery,
an
existing, recognized institution
throughout the whole
world
impossible as yet to
till
destroy
nay, not
its
to be
destroyed
even Christianity had run
course for
1,800 years and

It
more
Well then
it is
it is
a simple fact.
may
be a hateful one, but
fact,
the slave was
his
money.
And
though
it
might be an inadequate
198

punishment
ity
in
many
all
cases,
and though human brutaU

due meed,
it
might not meet with

in that
all its
was per-
haps
age
that could be done.

it
If the slave
died under harsh treatment,
might be susceptible of
If
proof and the master might be punished.

after
he died
an
interval of
it
.''
well prove
some days, who in those days could The loss which the master suffered
was
after all
when
in our
his slave died
probably the best

I
protection to the poor slave.
Of this
am
sure, that if
day we are
calling out for the lash to protect
poor
women from brutality which beats even to death's door, we may well hesitate before we pronounce too
surely that
we
could give a practically better security
to the slave of Moses' days.

I
pass on to
some general observations on sanguin-
ary punishments.
Some
of these belonged to
civil,
some of them to religious offences. Some of them on a more wholesale scale occurred in the course of desoThe same line of thought will lead us in lating wars.
the
first
place to observe that a very large part of the
amelioration in respect of sanguinary laws and usages
has only become possible by the appliances and organization of an
advanced
extend,
civilization.
We
are very
far
lia-
ble to forget this.
But without defining how
the
principle
may
is
we may
see at a glance that
where there which

of
neither policeman to watch over our

in
property and apprehend the marauder, nor gaol
to lodge him, but society has simply to take care
itself,
the defensive proceedings must be, and will be,

199

sharp and decisive.
And
there would be no difficulty in
showing how the Mosaic laws interfered with those

early and rude usages, so as to temper as far as
possible in that age, consistently with security for
was
life
and property, the wild and irresponsible revenge. This

is
very conspicuous
in the interposition of the
city of
refuge between the vengeance of the kinsman of the

slain
man, and the investigation of the actual degree of

This was the
first
guilt of the manslayer.

step,
step
a wise
semi-
probably the only possible
step,
in that
patriarchal development of society
towards the extin-
guishing of the terrible blood-feud, and the substitution

of the calm and neutral hand of justice.
Similar considerations hold good as to a great deal
that
is
horrible in that Eastern warfare.
It requires
the severe pressure of the code of honour which has
gradually grown up in modern ages.
It requires
yet
more the appliances of modern
civilization
the means
where
of transport, the roads, the conveyances, the accumulations of large magazines, the great fortresses
prisoners of
war may be secured, the system of taxes

from large and flourishing populations the
all
which
raise
resources from which

It requires, I say, all
these things are maintained.
this
complex system
which we
call, in
to ensure,
and barely
grim
fare.
to ensure, that
somewhat
antithesis, the
humane method
of modern war-
How
very nearly this was strained to the very

horrible,
at
edge of a catastrophe beyond measure

200
which the very world would have stood aghast,
we

cannot but remember.
When
ioo,000 Frenchmen
fell
suddenly into the hands of the Germans at Sedan, a

very
little
more deficiency
frost,
in the provisions,
left their
and a few
degrees of
might have
bones, as of old,
whitening the marshes.

it
When
Paris surrendered,
had
not been for the
facilities
of
modern conveyance,
in a
and the residue of her own provision beyond what
was expected, she might have been

charnel-house.
week one huge In the Indian Mutiny, when a few

it
small bands of English heroes were traversing at wide

intervals the vast plains,
was a
terrible strain to
know how
them,
if
to dispose of prisoners.
If
you cannot feed

guard them,
if
you have no spare
soldiers to
to dismiss
them
is
simply to reinforce an enemy already
overwhelming
dear
I
life,
in
numbers, and you are fighting for
and the honour of kith and kin and country,

might even now
!
If,
fear there
be,
and sometimes then
was, no word but Death

I
then, with these thoughts
turn to the contemplation of ancient border warfare,

all
with
the horrors wherewith
it
was made
to feed
itself,
and with none of the appliances which scarcely
even
now
are able to stave off

I,
some of
war's most
revolting features,
talities
for one, dare not
say what bru-
were
in great
measure inevitable when once the

Here, then, again,
I
war-trumpet was blown.
shall
in
judge with the greatest caution as to the possible

that ancient wârfare
;
and
shall
apply with care
this
question of the degree of development the world had
reached when
have to decide upon things which are

not eternal principles, but things practically done in
relation to the existing state of society.
Passing on to the punishment of religious offences,

I
am
well aware that in the
explanation
we must
is
offer
we can
scarcely have with us the assent of those
who do not
accept the ground on which
it
based.
But, possibly,
we may show
is
that from our point of
view at least there

of these things.
a sufficient account to be given
If so, that reduces the debate

viz.,
between
us to another question,
this,
accepted
"i
Is this the
Word
of
Can our ground be God t If it is, we

if
think our explanation of these things scarcely assailable.
For
if it is is
the
Word
of God,
the account in
the Pentateuch
part of
true,
then there subsisted on the
God towards
Under
all
Israel such a peculiar relation as
never before or since has subsisted towards any other

people.
that
relation
God
placed
Himself
towards them as a lawgiver, and as the immediate

foundation of
right
and duty.
of
He was
the foun-
tain of all power, executive or judicial.
Hence
the
peculiarity
of the
history
the
covenant-people.
God
in
it
interferes
promptly and palpably when
either ruler or nation rejects or disobeys
Him.
This
was not a hierarchy, as the Papacy is. It was very Nor was it in partially dependent on the priesthood.
their
its
power to modify
it.
And
during a large part of
existence the independent order of prophets vindiits
cated
claims against a corrupt priesthood as well
as apostatizing princes.
202
We
here.
are aware of the danger of fallacious reasoning
We
of
know
that
we may be charged with

:
reasonis
ing in a
circle,
and with arguing thus

;
1st.
This
the
Word
God
as
2nd.
The Mosaic system was a pure

;
theocracy,
above described
3rd. Therefore the

it
punishments and bloodshed under

of a perfect moral standard.
must have been

not at
all
But
this is
true representation of the position
we assume.
We
simply say
this.
If there
was such a theocracy, then
the rightfulness of such punishments and severities at
once
results.
If there
was not such a theocracy,
know
if
not that
we
are
much concerned
to discuss the
morality and rectitude of these things any more than
they had happened at Athens.
But
if
there was
(and this believers accept, though probably they
may
I
somewhat vary
in
their
fact), if
mode
there
of expressing their
appreciation of the
was a theocracy,
say, of this nature, then
we have
to
the key to what might
otherwise perplex us
and
what does perplex those
who
I
reject the key.
am
aware, again, that even on the admission of
the existence of the theocracy the idea

of
much
will
depend on and nature

assume that
we
shall
have formed of the
will
God towards man.

is
They who
readily
He
indulgent, easy, placable,

inert,
and what
in
man would
But
I
be somewhat
may
think that
He
would not ad-
minister the prompt severity of the Mosaic law.

confess that
I
I
am
unable thus to picture the Most High

life
see
Him
the Lord of
and death, and
behold
203
Him
inexorably taking the
forfeit.
I
see the world

it
rebellious against
His law, and
behold
filled
with
misery, anguish, and countless fears.
And the distress
and degradation seems to bear no inexact proportion

to the departure
from Him,
if
not always in individuals,
yet in societies which have cast off His allegiance.
There
is,
indeed, the other side.
There
is
the rich
beneficence.
it is
There
is
the longsuffering.
But then
can see
the in-
just that
it
is
longsuffering, not careless indulI
gence.
Whether, therefore,
say of Him,
"
look at what
of that aspect of God's nature which

spired writer
fire
;
made
Our God
is
a consuming
"
or whether I think of the special purpose of
vindicating
His
sovereignty and
maintaining
I
His
obedience under that special system,
think that
few believers
ties
feel
much
perplexity about the severi-
on the score of
religious offences
which God Him-
self enacted.
To
others
it
seems to
me
that the
difficulty is rooted in
viz.,
a greater and antecedent one,
the reception of the system in which alone these
things can find their right place and their due interpretation.
I
am
conscious that
am
is
to a certain extent only
touching some of these great questions.

scope of a lecture no more
possible
;
Yet
I
in
the
is
and
hope it
a touch that to a certain extent adjusts

places.
I
them
into their
have neither time nor inclination to allow

opinions as to
204
the debate to drop into a mere petty wrangle about

individual
the right
and wrong of

certain
details.
The
tactics of
opponents generally
lead
them
to rend from their context

facts or words,
and
their position
some few
and then
to challenge their
this
morality or rectitude.
Very possibly
it is
may be
questionable, and very possibly
open
to indignant
moral denunciation when thus handled.

is first
That which
needed
is
quietly to place back the facts or
words into
their true position, their true chronological
place in a great system.
weigh them
facts of
well, as tested
Then look at them, and by what we can learn of the

century, and
God's dealings with this earth, and not simply
by the opinion of the nineteenth

persuaded that no
we
are
difficulty will usually
remain beyond
what
is
inherent in the very nature of the case,
when
man is attempting to judge the mysterious ways of God. To illustrate this point we may briefly notice an
instance which
to treat with
it is
impossible, within our limited space,

to
its
any approach
to offer
I
importance
the
command
tive
is
to
Abraham
up
Isaac.
To
Christ-
ians generally,
believe that
no Old Testament narra-
of more
unmixed
edification.
To them
it
seems
to
illustrate
so clearly
and instructively matters of

being con-
doctrine and practice of the most transcendent impor-
tance that the notion of moral
difficiilty
nected with
it
would come upon many of them with
unmixed
difficulty
surprise.
Yet
it is
the favourite difficulty of
a large portion of modern sceptics.

arise
.^
How
does the
many
I
thoughtful
Christians would
ask.
Precisely as
have just described

205
by
making

a bald statement of a portion of the fact severed from
all
that qualifies
it.
Thus, for instance,

recently.
" Is
it
it
has chanced
to
come
before
me
immoral to bind
with the view of
one's unoffending son
upon an
?
altar,
putting him to death
"
Could there be a more signal
instance of misrepresentation under a

truth
in
.''
mask
and
of literal
its
We
replace that fragment back into
place
the narrative,
and
its
proportions
relations
become
instantly changed.
facts.
We
first
glance at certain
historical
Human
for
sacrifice
was one of the
abominations against which the revealed system of
Moses struggled, and

cast out.
which the Canaanites were
We
can only hurriedly place in a note* a few

all this.
references to
freef
How
far
Abraham
is
himself was
this
from some misguided persuasion on
head
it is
impossible to say.
The
narrative
introduced by our
being told that God by this means tempted or tried Abraham. What was the result } That such a deed was repudiated by God, who taught His servant, as
men needed
one's son"
is
to be taught, the practical lesson
how He
"
would be approached. Again, the bare act of
slaying
one thing, but that highest devotion which

is
withholds nothing from God, not even one's child,
another thing.
Were
it
not for that devotion
it
is
an
open question whether Druids might not have been burning human victims in some oak-grove on this spot
at this
*
vii.
moment.
xviii.
Therefore
if I
may
Kings
say
xxi. 2
it
without
6.
Deut.
;
12;
14.
xii. 31.
Jer.
xix. 5, 31 t Josh. xxiv.
6.
2,
206
OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

risk of misrepresentation
is
and misunderstanding
there
lofty,
an element of something noble, something

true,
something
even
in that horrible travesty of
the
grand truth which led the misguided Canaanite to

his dearest to his terrible
offer
God.
And
that something,
lifts
that elevation of faith, that self-sacrifice, which
man above
embodied
himself, for his country, for his kind,

all
and
is
highest of
And man
the
is
for his
is
God,
is
taught in Scripture,
in Christ,
imparted by the Spirit of God.

this true nobility of
first
elementary lesson on
delicately, exquisitely set forth in the narrative
of which
we
speak, in which
difiiculty.
I
some
so strangely stumble
upon a moral
or two here.
to
merely touch upon a point

if
am
not at liberty, even
time allowed,
do more than allude

illustrated
to the doctrinal matters
we
find
here,
and the foreshadowings
with
which
Infinite
the grace of
culty,"
light
Wisdom indicated herein the Gospel of God in man's salvation. " Moral diffiforsooth No morals so high and pure^ no
!
from eternity shining on the
spiritual
darkness so
brightly
nothing
God
that illustrates sinful man's true
relation to his
so clearly, can be found in those
early centuries as in the conflict, the agony,
and the
deliverance on
Mount Moriah.
I feel it
A further distinction
which
duce
arises out of
needful to lay
down
our principle of the gradual de-
velopment of the moral system, and which

to a right view of
may consome actions which may appear

I
of dubious or
mixed
morality.
20 7
allude to such trans-
THE ALLEGED MORAL DILFICULTIES

actions as those
of Jael, Rahab, Jehu, and others.

fearful
Need
remind you of the
admixture of
in
evil
which the enlightened conscience recognizes
our
own best doings, so far as they human motive and human modes
old there must have been yet
are the
outcome of
?
of action
And
of
more of this evil admixture more palpably displayed, more visible to human perception, when the standard of .morality was less
clearly defined,
when, the perception of

far less
truth, honour,
it
and charity was
marked and
distinct than
now
of
is
under the Gospel.
And
so,
when
certain things
had to be done to carry out the providential purposes
God by
persons in very obscure states of enlight(I
enment, some of them

enlightened at
all,
might instance Jehu) scarcely

likely,
are
we
are
we
required, to
.-'
approve altogether of the mode of action
There
faith,
may be
a grand principle of obedience, of
or
some other Scripture requisite, which receives even the more emphatic approval from the mixture of
human
ciple
defect in the performance.

in
But
it is
the prin-
involved
the transaction,
not the possibly

instinct
erring
human
element,
which the Christian
unerringly seizes on, and from which he derives deep

instruction.
in order to
And
if
the unbeliever selects these things,
hold up to scorn the
human performance
to be expected from
.-'
as
though that were
falsely represented as the Divine
example, we can but say.

hostile
What
is
and unappreciating
I
criticism
In conclusion,
would say
208
again,
the
question

seems to be simply one of
historic
fact,
not at
all
of
human
opinion,
it
how many
has pleased
steps towards a perfect
moral system
God
to lead
mankind
at
different stages
of the world's history.
We
look at
the early Scriptures, and
we
answer, according to our
perception of the distinctness in detail of their moral

teaching,
"
So
far."
If objection
be raised to
"
this,
and
the
}
query be
"
suggested
Why
.-'
Why
no
further
the ultimate answer

it
is is
the same as that
which must be given, when

present
is
asked
why
at this
moment
the world
is
not delivered.
And
that
same answer which must be given when it is asked how came it that the All-Holy One ever permitted evil to come into the world at all or that, having come, He did not at once and utterly destroy
the
;
it.
We
are simply in these things face to face with

evil,
the great mystery of

its
and
not
it
is
but playing with

or not the other
will
.'*
awfulness to ask,
of dealing with
if
Why
it
this,
mode
But
by the Divine power and
we cannot
give the tdtimate answer
when
challenged with the question,
Why
this
degree rather
in past
than any other degree of moral enlightenment

ages
}
we may answer
it sicfficicntly
by asking
again,
Was
anything higher and better possible, consistently

}
with that age of the world and the state of that people
Look
at
them
as they are photographed before us in
the Bible story.
Mark
their relapses into idolatry
their utter failure to escape the polytheism or panthe-
ism that reigned around them.

209
Mark
well the direful

14

reign of
lust.
See the hard Eastern
cruelty.
Could
you
in that
.-*
age and for that people strain the standard

as
it
higher
Why,
Is
it
was,
it
was too high and pure
for
them, as every indignant word of their ancient prophets

shows.
possible to
mould a
people's morals as
you mould
clay.-*
Let
me
ask one short question, which

:
will suggest nearly all
we need
Can
be
we
here,
what-
ever our moral standard

century, abolish
houses.-'
may
in this
nineteenth
brothels
and regulate our public-
Why not.-* Why not have a higher standard of morality and enforce it We hang down our heads. We know we cannot.
?
So then we look over that marvellous history of the Old Testament, and the more we think of the Oneness of
the Great
King
one
in
the principles, though manifold
in the details, of His actings
we learn that we have there

it,
the history of His Providence in the world illustrated

in a pictured series.
Object to
and you object to

Nay, even
if
the whole course of Providence.
the
word Providence be disliked, then you object to the course call it by what name you will fated, arranged,
ordered by law.
There
it
was
there
!
it is.
some things that are startling and shocking even so But we cannot evade the facts, nor must we call them other than startling and shocking. These facts are necessary parts of the development of sin, and misery, and redemption. They belong to that history of mixed Divine interposition and human faulty instrumentality, which
If there are in that pictured series

when evolved
will
be the wonder of eternity, and,
perhaps, the security of the redeemed. Meanwhile their

character, considered as a
model
for imitation,
must be
judged by no lower standard than that of the Gospel. Let our judgment of some of the details be that they
belong to a lower elevation, and an obscurer light than
ours,
then the more blessed are
we who have been

But even
for us,
led
higher,
and into a
clearer light.
do
not
we who
believe feel well assured that
we
shall
one
day behold a clearer day and a purer light, which when it glances over what now seems to us bright and good shall show in it manifold imperfections
.-
Yes, this question
is
eminently one of adjustment,
rather than of debate and dispute.
And how grand
it
becomes thus
on
this
to contemplate the Eternal
world which
He
has
One leading made by His own path
and at His own measured

towards that end w^hich to
manifest
!
rate of progress, steadily
Him
who
from the
receives
first
was
this
The
unbeliever
not
together with the marvellous part which

ture
cavil
Holy
Scrip-
plays in the gradual evolution, may, and must,

at parts
which to him have no meaning.
But
that system which led
up
to Christ,
and which has

in
been developed
Christ,
is
in Christ,
and
shall find its issue
to us a unity of
moral and
spiritual perfection.
Not yet complete,

attained.
for the
mystery
is
not accomplished,
the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ not
And
if
of old time there
was even greater
immaturity,
we know
that
it
could not be otherwise,
211
THE ALLEGED MORAL DIFFICUL77ES.

for Christian teaching tells us that " the law
was weak
to
through the
flesh,"
and that
until Christ
came
and
show
us the very ideal of
human
perfection,
is
until
He
gave that Holy Spirit which

effectual source
the only true and
of purity, and until His
atonement
removed the obstructive sense of guilt, men could not

rise
nearer to God.
Yes, " our
life
is
hid with Christ
in
God
"
there
is
the ideal, there the vital power,
there the ultimate perfection of that moral and spiritual life of
redeemed man, of which

shall appear,
it is
written, " It
doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we

that
know
;
when He
we
shall
be
like
Him
for
we
shall see
Him
as
He
is."
212
ON THE CORROBORATIVE EVIDENCE
OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY

KROM THE
EGYPTIAN AND ASSYRIAN MONUMENTS.
W. R. COOPER,
Esq.,
SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY.
ON
THE CORROBORATIVE EVIDENCE OF OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY

FROM THE
EGYPTIAN AND ASSYRIAN MONUMENTS.
BEFORE
directly
entering upon the topic with
which your Committee have favoured me, the

corroborative evidence of the historical truth of the
Bible from the Egyptian and Assyrian monuments,

it
will a little simplify the investigation of the subject
if it
be
first
considered what class of evidences

for,
may
be
reasonably looked
and what
are
not.
Among
and
the
general readers, and Bible-quoting people, the most
extravagant expectations
awakened,
strangest kinds of relics are believed to remain some-
where or
other,
beneath the ruins of ages, and the

cities.
tumuli of deserted
bas-relief of the
whale
ingesting Jonah, or Nebuchadnezzar eating grass, the
yoke of Jeremiah, or the reed of Ezekiel, are

with them
still
among
the expectanda and desiderata in
Assyrian archaeology.
215
CORROBORATIVE EVIDENCE OF
Among
the antiquities of Egypt, others again have
great hope to find the rod of Moses, or the wheels of
Pharaoh's chariot
jar containing the
water which
was
la
turned into blood, or a
mural painting repre-
senting Joseph
and
his brethren before
Pharaoh
Gustave Dore.
the
Others, not less sanguine, subscribe

that
to
Palestine Exploration Fund, believing
still
beneath the
Haram-es-Shereef
lies
the ark of
Jfehovah,
and the Tables of the
Law the Golden

Nay, so nearly
Candlestick and the mystic Ephod.
do the extremes of ignorance and superstition meet, that in the nineteenth century any tolerably crafty
impostor
who
could bring from
Mount Ararat
a rib
of Noah's ark, or from the Moabitis an autograph
memorandum
Bahr Lut
(or
of Moses, from the salt moraines of the
Dead Sea) a fragment

carried, with "
it,
of the skeleton of
Lot's wife, or from the deserts of Beer Sheba the pitcher
which Hagar
Agar
" in
modern Hebrew
seal,
inscribed upon
a cast from Solomon's

his success
or the
necklace of the
Queen of Sheba,
would now
be as great, and the credulity of faith as manifest, as when in the twelfth century diseases were cured by
scrapings from the cave of Elijah, and the Crusaders
defeated an
Virgin
army by the grace of Mary and a less delicate relic
the
shift
of the
attributed to our
Lord.
Now
in
therefore at the outset let this truth be borne

:
mind
such classes of miraculous

;
relics
may
not
be reasonably expected
and
216
further, that the
expec-
OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY.

tation of such
is
an insult to
common
and
sense,
and an
which
injury to religion.
Facts, places,
things, to
time has given an adventitious value, would be deemed

of
little
import when they
first
originated
and would
therefore be the less likely to be preserved.
Thousands
the forum
of
Roman
tradesmen paid
for garlick
in"
of Antioch with the denarii of Pescennius Niger, yet
now such coins The halfpenny

accident,
are worth triple their weight in gold.
ballads of the reign of
Queen
Eliza-
beth have been preserved, not by design,
but by
and from tne very nature of a certain class of evidences anticipated, their preservation would be most unlikely, and if produced, such evidence most
suspicious and unreliable.
What, then,
which we
in
is
the class, and what are the objects

in detail cr
may
reasonably expect, either
degree, to
in
be
corroborative
of
Biblical
truth
Few
in
number, and often apparently contradictory

these are,
statues,
their testimony,
inscriptions,
instruments and implements for offence and domestic

use,
memorial stones, and natural
objects.
Yet even
here difficulties present themselves.
Great nations
preserve no records of their defeats, and events of

vast importance to one people, are but petty incidents
in
the history of another, lightly referred to
when
of St.
necessarily mentioned,
and often from
policy, pride,
or prejudice, misrepresented.
The massacre
Bartholomew, which ensanguined the annals of France,
and originated our
silk manufactories, is
217
indeed com-
memorated
is
in
the frescoes of the Vatican, but
it is
as
the defeat of the Huguenots.
The
victory of Waterloo
:
simply, in French history, the retreat of Napoleon
and Lord Macartney's embassy to China, intended

to display the importance, magnificence,
tion of the British Empire, was,
and
civiliza-
and
is
represented, in
the
official
records of the Flowery Land, as " Bar-
barians bringing tribute to the country of China."
One
lesser difficulty
remains to be stated, the want
of synchronism, and of chronological succession, in the history of the Bible

itself.
My hearers
critics
will, I feel
sure
with
pardon
me
if
assume that they,
in
common
the best and most orthodox

of
and archaeologists
modern
is
times, will admit, that prior to
Solomon
there
no true chronology, that nearly throughout the

is
genealogies are selective, the succession of events

often inverted;
and that the
writers, while faithful his-
torians, yet are so in the
manner of
episodic narrators
rather than that of systematic annalists.
This premised, to commence with the corroborations
supplied by the
first,
monumental remains of
is
the
oldest nation
there
no country which has

most
yet been so abundantly illustrative of Old Testament

history, as the country of
Egypt, whose
ruins, the
ancient and colossal the world contains, are almost

vignettes to the text of the Pentateuch,
ture, rich
in
is
whose
litera-
Divinity, History, Poetry, Science, and
Romance,
yet extant and
intelligible
before
us
the
whose
liturgies
preceded by
218
many
centuries
Hymns
phonal
or
of the Vedas, and whose poets wrote epics
four hundred years before

lyrics
Homer, and odes and
anti-
ages before Hesiod theorized in Greece,
Orpheus
civilized the inhabitants of Thrace.

is
When
Israel
it
borne in mind
how
early
commenced
that
and how long continued was the intercourse between
and Egypt
when
it
is
recollected
the
father of the faithful himself sojourned
and dwelt as
nobleman
in the court
suburbs of Egypt
that
the
compiler of the Pentateuch was an Egyptian

and, according to
priest,
Josephus, a successful
Egyptian
commander,
offices
which the
hieroglyphic
monuborne
ments assure us were

with each other,
in
in that great
empire compatible
when these
facts, I repeat, are
mind,
it
will
be seen that Egyptological study has
become as necessary for the interpretation of the Old Testament as that of Greek philology is to the New,
and that so
far
from having to explain doubtful pas-
sages and obscure words
by searching
for
imaginary
Hebrew
roots, a reference to the
language and the
theology of the Egyptians, whose influence for
many
more
in
generations pervaded the Israelitish mind, will render

the most difficult sentences easy, and
in the future as
past,
it
will, still
has to a great extent done
the
of
make the Bible its own expositor, and the word God consistent with its history, its theology, and
all
itself
Perhaps the strongest of
evidences,
monumental
Let
or historical, are the implied or incidental ones.

219
me, therefore,
afforded
now
give
an illustration of these as
of
all
by the most, beautiful
inspired episodes,
this hisin
the History of Joseph.
When
throughout
it is
tory Pharaoh has occasion to speak,

the
first
always
person singular, with a most sublime and
unconscious egotism, and without any reference to
any person except

"
himself,
as
in
such passages as
/ am Pharaoh,"
etc.
"
/ have
set thee over the
whole
land of Egypt,"
the Lord,"
"Who is Now etc.
the
this
Lord?" "/knownoi
was quite
in accord-
ance with a principle of the Egyptian theology, only

recently revealed to us.
According to the tenets of
that faith, the king, from the
moment
of his accession,
existed, not as a
became hypostated into the deity, symbol of, or a medium immanated

" I
and thenceforth
from, but the very essential and eternal deity himself.
am Ra
in the
Land
of the Living," says the king,

us.
in
is
an inscription yet preserved to

"
"
The king
as God," declares another papyrus, that of Prisse
d'Avennes.
Even from thy

this
dicta,
birth thou hast been as
God," attests the inscription of Karnak to Rameses IL
Agreeably to
Pharaoh
is
represented as
in the British
in
worshipping himself on a slab preserved

his
own name" on another the Museum "Adoring the third the great triad" Musee de Louvre Elephantis "Stands coadjutorwith Amun Ra" among another shrine Claims divine worthe
" Is
in
at
divinities in
"
"
ship
on the
steles of
Rosetta and Canopus, and "

" in
is
numbered among the gods
the Hall of Ancestors

and the tablet of Thothmoses. These are features in the Egyptian monarcho-theology which, while
they existed
in full force in the
time of the
earlier
books of the Bible, had lost much of their earlier potentiality and effect in the time in which recent
sceptical
critics
consider those very books to have
been written. Let
me
guard myself
dp not
assert
that in the Ptolemaic period
the king, although of

still
Greco-Egyptian
origin,
was not
a god
but then
he was a god
one of
many
not
THE God
" the
soul of the Avorld."
The Ptolemaic
A8e\.(f)oi,
sovereigns were
only by legal fictions 0eoi
(Theoi Adelphoi),
but the Pharaohs of the eighteenth dynasty were by

the authority of two thousand years sole, supreme, un-
conquerable, and illimitable God.

affirms,
True,
Rameses
II.
when
"
fighting the
Hittites,
he alone led his
disheartened
able foes
:
army into the very van of his innumerAman, my father, helped me, and Mentou
but then, in the very sentences
in
gave
me
strength;"
which precede that statement he likens himself
nature and being to God, not profanely either, since
with the assumption of the double crown of Egypt
came
also the insufflation of the divine essence
itself.
When
gold,
Joseph appeared before Pharaoh, the Bible
asserts that
he was vested
in
a chain and collar of
and garments of
is
fine linen.
True
in
even
its
smallest details
this
wonderful narrative, for the
Egyptian monuments have shown us that what we

should
call
the blue ribbon of a military
official,
or of
a distinguished
civil officer,
I,
was a golden
collar.
This
king Amenophis
his servant
is
;
reported to have bestowed on

in
Aahmes
whose tomb
at Beni
Hassan
there
is
a picture, which has been several times enIn the Berlin
graved, representing a similar investiture.
Museum,
and
the very collars themselves are preserved,
in the upper Egyptian room of the British Museum, there are portions of similar decorations. Again in this same history, one of the most affectall
its
ing and the most minutely accurate of

narratives,
city,
Biblical
which has charmed children by

its
simpli-
and delighted the aged by

of the
"
dramatic unity and

heart,
consummate knowledge
swears
human
Let
Joseph
By the life
of Pharaoh."
me beg my lady
hearers not to be virtuously indignant, nor
my reverend
man who
an Egyphis,
friends to declaim against the error of a
sinned against a precept not promulgated for two
hundred years
tian,
after his time, for Joseph, as

official oath,
swore the
and that very act of
which has been explained away by some commentators,
palliated
by
others,
and been a stumbling-block
to
all, is
in itself
an
inferential evidence of the truth of
the narrative which contains the adjuration.
M. Chabas has shown
in his
Hebraeo-^gyptiaca,
lately read before the Society of
which
have the
honour to be the Secretary, that among the Egyptians,

as
among
the
Greeks and Romans, certain oaths
were
judicial, others
were conversational, and a few

of Egyptian
society
222
official.
The common ranks

swore by their namesake or local gods, and
I
dare say
they were quite vulgar enough to avail themselves of

the privilege as often as anything interfered with their
domestic arrangements.
selves
Priests not being in
them-
State
functionaries,
swore by
;
the
all
deity to
military,
whose worship they were devoted

lay, or
"
and
cleric,
who
filled
an
official
capacity, swore
the
By the life name of
of Pharaoh," an oath which varied with
every sovereign, and after the period of
the Psammetichi went out of fashion, and whose very
existence has only been

years.
known
within the last three
Among
is
the papyri in the
Musee de Louvre,
there
one which states that the slave Mesu, one of

labourers employed on the canal executed
in the Delta,
the
many
by Rameses
work by
follows
ever,
on almost the same route

refused to work, and
as the prfisent (Suez Canal), being ordered to do some

his superior officer,
official.
swore at that
The words
of his oath were as

not,
(the 2'hrase in
which they occur has
how-
been preserved): "The August, him
whom Amun
wishes are
enlarges, the
Royal Sovereign,
life
Him whose
stronger than death, the
of the king, the Ra."
So
indignant was the
official to
whom
those words were
addressed, that, uncertain in what
manner
to punish
who had blasphemously dared to take the king's name in vain, and to swear like a nobleman, that he wrote to his superior officer, who in his turn
a menial
copied the indictment upon a

sent
it
slip
of papyrus, and
district,
to the superintendent of the
awaiting
CORROBORATIVE EVIDENCE OE
his decision.
The words
:
of the report which follow

this
are curious
" I
have sent
report of the
slave
Mesu to my lord, not being willing to, and not knowing how to, act till I receive his instructions upon it for it is no part of my duty to punish him for his oath by 'the life of Pharaoh.'" Hence from a mutilated fragment of papyrus is derived a wonderful explanation
;
and a singular
in
attestation of the veracity of an event
Joseph's
life,
which
inutilitates
some volumes
of
commentational
divinity.
Another of these incidental circumstances cannot

be altogether passed
king of Egypt
is
over.
In the Pentateuch, the
the Pharaoh, for
none other bore that
title, as in the eighteenth century the name "Emperor" was always understood to refer to the Emperor of Germany, and therefore his personal name was not generally used. In the book of Kings (2 Kings vii. 6)
the passage occurs
"the kings of the

;
Egyptians,"
this
implying a plurality of governors

strictly
and
again
is
consonant to monumental testimony, for at

its
that later time a foreign incursion and

intestine troubles
concomitant
had severed the empire of Egypt
into several petty kingdoms.
Take we now another example, or class of examples. The Egyptian priests are reported in Exodus vii. 10, to have thrown down their sticks, which instantly became
serpents.
painting in the British
Museum
repre-
sents certain Egyptian priests carrying serpent-shaped

sticks
in
their
hands, for with them

224
the cobra
ot'

basilisk
was the emblem of eternal was

called
" the
life,
and hence
immortal
that
reptile
serpent
of
years."
To
this day, in India, the serpent-charmers

art,
possess the
by pressure on the nape of the
neck,
of throwing the Naja, or spectacle snake, into a rigid

cataleptic
position.
Be
it
granted,
then,
that the
Egyptian clergy knew of a similar
art four
thousand
years ago, as the Indians have for three thousand,
and the whole mystery of the magician's enchantments becomes apparent,

consciousness and vivacity.
for the act of flinging the
it
serpent on the ground, would restore
to
its
original
Again, we are told

Israelites
in
Judges
viii.
27, that the
went a-whoring
is
after the
ephod of Gideon.
and has not a
The term
little
one which
is
used throughout the Bible to
imply a kind of
puzzled
spiritual fornication,
many expositors, who generally, like most
critics,
give an inferior sense to the author, (which sense
own brain, they afterwards him for possessing,) and suppose that the intrinsic value of the ornament itself excited the avarice of the people. The monuments of Egypt and Assyria alike afford a very good reason for believing that that was
being the product of their
praise
not the case.
The ornament
all
in question
appears to
have been a magnificent collar
(or
Askh), having, as
was usual with

pendants
ancient jewellery,
less,
many
elaborate
all,
more or
representations of idols,
or objects used in idolatrous worship.
Now many
15
of
the Egyptian and Assyrian symbols were afterwards

225
adopted by the
impure,
Israelites,
but others were absolutely

triads
of
and were representations of the
Egypt-
The
jewelled objects containing these figures

skill,
were often wrought with exquisite

to preserve the wearer.
and of very
victory,
great value, were sacrasanct, and acted as talismans
Proud of
his
mighty
Gideon
sense,
in his
simple-hearted faith wanted
common
and warped by
his very integrity of purpose,
did not foresee that
impious figures
by wearing these and similar around his neck, he was in some
sense encouraging the naturally strong tendency of
the Israelites towards a representative or symbolic

idolatry.
Hence the thing became a snare

all
to
Gideon and
given
his house,
and was the cause of the
ultimate destruction of his family, since the
command
their
by God
to
Moses was "The images of

fire."
gods shall ye burn with
As
the
the political, so the social and religious
life
of
Egyptians, the Canaanites, and their contemis
poraries
recorded upon their monuments.

sacrifice is
Direct
mention of human
records.
found
in the
Assyrian
The
sale
of families and children occurs
again and again on the tablets in the British
which form a
class
by
themselves.
Museum, That the bulk

is
of the people were themselves
unable to write
signed
proven by these documents being

indentation
of the
finger
nail
by the
of the
of
the vendor and
purchaser, attested
scribe.
by the counter-signature
226
The
kings of Egypt, in other respects some

of the most enlightened sovereigns the world ever
possessed, were but slave-dealers
on a larger scale,
and many of
less
their
wars were undertaken for
no
brutal a purpose.
The
is
early intercourse which
shown to have existed between Egypt and Palestine, was not a little increased by this nefarious traffic, while the corrupt manners
in
the book
of Genesis
of the period, to which so

in
many
allusions are found
the Pentateuch, are fully proven by an Egyptian

II.,
romance written to entertain king Rameses

recently translated
and
by M. Chabas.
two brothers
This novel, pro-
bably the oldest
in the world's literature, turns entirely
upon the
affection of
for
each other, the

to
wife of the elder of
whom, Anepou, endeavours

resistance,
seduce the younger into an adulterous connection

with her.
artifice,
On
his
her
guilty
passion,
and hatred,
all
the story turns, and the interat

last
position of the gods
is
necessary to avenge
the innocent and to punish the guilty.

incest,
Drunkenness,
II. if
one of the Pharaohs, the same Rameses

is
doubtful authority
to
be credited, marrying
his
own
daughter Bent-anat,
lying,
and fraud
that was
in all its
mani-
fold forms, are recorded in the papyri as

failings.
Egyptian
in
Despite of
much
its
good
their
religion, yet the
bulk of
precepts being confined
to the royal family, the higher clergy,

alone, the bulk of the people
and the
initiated
were
left to
substitute a
ceremonial for a spiritual religion, and to condone by

the extravagances of sensation for the errors of sense.
227
Perhaps on no one group of subjects has more
in-
formation been obtained from the monuments of Egypt
than on those terrible calamities which are detailed

in
the seventh to the eleventh chapters of the book
of Exodus, and are popularly called the
Ten
Plagues,
Much
critics
trifling criticism
has been bestowed by infidel
upon the
;
trifling character of
many
of these
judgments
but that very circumstance attests the
authenticity of the narrative, for things
deemed
of
little
consequence
rank
in the
in later
times held then no unimportant
book of Egyptian theology.
Permit me,
their
therefore, very briefly to notice these events in
succession, bearing in
those inflictions was to
mind that the purport of all show the Egyptians that " I am
the gods of the Egyptians
I will
God," for "against
all
execute judgment, saith the Lord."
(Exod.
xii.
12.)
The
first
and most
significant
of these ominous
plagues was the conversion of the waters of Egypt, local

or general, into an apparently sanguineous fluid, revolt-
ing to the sight, nauseous to the taste, and offensive

to the smell.
To Moses and
the Egyptians, the pur-
port of this miracle of vengeance was obvious, for the
Nile was not only the gift of a deity, but a deity

itself
venerated under the form of a corpulent young

called
man
Hapimou.
The very kingdom

Nile,
of
Egypt
all
was considered
annual
as the gift of the
and at the
festival of the Niloa,
Pharaoh, attended by
his court, paid in the
name
of all his people divine wor-
ship to the river, the Father of the

228
Land
of Egypt.

Popular tradition supposed the bounteous Nile to flow
from heaven, and a

baptism
in its waters.
lustral
power was attributed to

of
its
Many
fishes
were them-
selves venerated,
and one species
(the
Oxyrhynchus)
after
its
was so extensively adored as to have one of the

seven districts of the
the inhabitants
Heptanomos named
province wore
it,
of which
figure
around their necks as an amulet and an ornament.
At
the touch of the rod of Moses the water of that
river,
famous
for
being the sweetest and purest in the

;
world, was rendered loathsome and impure
unable
to preserve their sacred lives, the deified fishes died
under the shadow of their own temples

river attested the
the celestial
hand of a
celestial
messenger, and
in its blood-stained
waves was contained an omen of
the destruction of the people
who
stood around
its
banks, and whose fathers four hundred years before
had reddened
its
stream with the carcases of the
Hebrew children. Nor was the second,

nificant.
the plague of frogs, less sigof
Pthah,
the creator
animal
life,
was
that
venerated
under the special form of a
frog,
:reature being supposed to be spontaneously generated

Df
from the
mud
its
of the Nile,
by the
vivific
rays
the sun.
From
immense
fecundity, the frog
and
cadpole were used as the hieroglyphics of a million,
ind the
titles
"Lord of Life" and "Lord of the Land"
were frequently engraved upon the statuettes of this

Batrachian.
Hence the people

229
of
Lower Egypt vene-
"
rated the frog, and hence their animal worship
was
rebuked, and the very creatures they venerated were
made
a torture to them, so that even Pharaoh himself

"
was compelled to exclaim,

In the third
less
infliction,
Take away
these (gods
though they be) out of the land."

the plague of
lice,
a no
important warning was conveyed.

is
the Nile, (holy as

of Jerusalem,)
to the
The sand of modern Jew the earth

of
scattered
by the hand
this
Moses
in
the
air,
brought forward
most offensive plague.

historical testi-
According to both monumental and
mony, the
to
this
strictest
care
was taken by the

insect.
priests
avoid
defilement
by any unclean
For
purpose the
whole of the body was scrupucotton

united,
lously shaved, vestments of woollen were especially
forbidden, linen, or linen and
often
washed, and oftener changed, were alone allowed to
be used.
Stated and repeated ablutions formed a part

life
of the routine
of the sacerdotal orders, and the
touch of an unclean insect rendered them ceremonially

impure.
That plague,
therefore,
the
magicians or
clergy did not attempt to copy, for they dared not
perform an act which would defile themselves, and

thereupon came from their
clamation, " This
is
lips
the
!
reluctant
ex-
the finger of
God
In the fourth plague, that of
flies,
or as the
word im-
plies " beetles," the Ateuchis Sacer, or
of the Egyptians,
Sacred Scarab was selected as the minister of venlittle beetle,
geance.
This insect was a beautiful

230
very

harmless, and very abundant, which from
its
habit of
it
laying
its
eggs
in a ball of
mud, and then
rolling
to
be hatched by the heat of the sun, was supposed to

represent the care of the Creator over the world both
in
forming and preserving
it,
and was therefore reprethe
sentatively worshipped
as
Ra, the formator of the world.

figures of this insect in all sizes
emblem of Kheper The multiplication of

all
and
materials, from
the huge specimen in basalt, nearly five feet across, in
the British
Museum, down
to another in crystal, scarce
a quarter of an inch in diameter, in the same collection,
was something almost

around the neck.
It
incredible.
Every one wore

fifty
it
sometimes not only one, but as

well as the costliest stones;
to the stubborn jasper.
many as
in chains
was wrought
in the
cheapest as
steatite
from the tender
Figures of the scarabasus were
used interchangeably with rings for currency.

living
The
wore
it
on their fingers
the priests upon their
breasts;
and the dead, protected by the sacred amulet

" pass in safety
were expressly said by the Egyptian liturgy to

through the place of dangers, and to await
all their
transformations."
But now,
at the
word of
Moses,
all this
was
reversed.
Willingly or unwillingly,
the people in self-defence were compelled to slay their
own
divinities,
eighth chapter of
and the twenty-fourth verse of the Exodus shows that Kheper Ra,
insects cor-
instead of preserving the land which worshipped the

beetle,
by the myriads of those very dead

it.
rupted
231
But
all his
still
the awful signs proceeded, and in the
fifth,
the plague of murrain, Apis the bull-god suffered, with
bovine
tribe,
that
Apis, the
first
of animal
deities,
one of the incarnations of Osiris the god of agri-
culture,
and the most popular deity throughout the land
of Egypt,
that Apis which
was
stalled in a
golden
manger, and fed to the sound of music, with perfumed

oats,
and straw from golden plates,
that bovine
deity,
who
holy
bleated oracles, and whose very excrements were
who was
supposed to be born of a virgin cow
by the direct upon whose
influence of the rays of the

life
moon, and
of Lower same Apis Egypt, that then became hopelessly smitten with the same murrain whereby the less sacred domestic cattle of Egypt were destroyed. So important was the birth of the Apis, that his discovery was a triumphant festival, his death, a
depended
the
welfare
national mourning.
Civil
and domestic occurrences

its life;
were dated by the years of

in the vast
and stored away

the
subterranean catacombs of the Serapeum,

all
near Memphis, in lofty granite sarcophagi, lay

sacrasa7tct
mummies
of the Apis
in the last
gods of Egypt.
These sarcophagi have

M. Marriette Bey
few years rendered
a most important service to Biblical chronology, for

in his
excavations for the Pasha of
Egypt discovered the entrance to the catacombs, and was the first European who for many centuries had read the hieroglyphical epitaphs upon those tombs which had been closed since the rise of Christianity.
OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY. The

no
sarcophagi,
all
sixty-four
in
number, when
dis-
covered, were
less
dated
and
further,
had around them

in
than six hundred funeral tablets
honour of the
priests of the different Apii, dating
from the eighteenth
dynasty, 200
B.C.,
to the very rise of the Christian era.
These were not only consecutive, but contained many

historical facts,
and by the aid of these
tablets, or stele,
much
of the later chronology of the Bible has been
synchronized.
But time
presses.
The
sixth plague converted the ashes of blessing
into the instruments of curse.
The clergy, by superprescriptive doctors of the people, power the natural fled from the infliction, and were powerless to cure or
to avert
it,
and hence they and
their
gods were shown
to be inutile.
Of the extent
of their real knowledge of
medical science, students are

to judge
tors, for
now themselves enabled

any former commentalately
more
correctly than
three treatises on medicine written in ancient

exist
;
hieroglyphics
of one, an account has
been published by the learned Dr. Birch, who has
shown that
it
contains prescriptions ascribed to king

first
Cheops, the founder of the
pyramid, 4000
B.C.
by M. Brugsch, and ascribed to the time of Rameses I., treats of the cure of diseases by the use of amulets, incantations, and sympathetic remedies, analogous to those used in England two hundred years ago, when a man who was knocked down by a club, or stabbed by a knife, simply bathed
second, published
the part afflicted and put himself to bed, and sent

233
for the doctor to
anoint the stick or knife with which
the injury was inflicted with Fryer's Balsam, tallow
from the
plants
altar candles,
and extracts inspissated from

trine, or
all
gathered when the planets were in
the sun in Jupiter.
Of
a like class were
the
Egyptian remedies
sixth
superstitious, empirical,
;
and abthe
surd to an extreme degree
when
therefore, in
judgment,
both
physician
boils,
and patient were

neither
attacked by the plague of
charm nor
prayer availed them,

protected,
no rank excepted, or amulet
all
suffered alike.
The seventh act of the drama of the Dies Irse commenced with a fearful storm. Rain, though not unknown in Egypt, was the particular attribute of the
feminine deities
of
Isis,
queen of heaven, of Sate,

spiritual
goddess of the material sky, and of Neith, the

heaven, and goddess of wisdom.
The
souls
of the
dead, which were supposed to ascend to the heavens,
were by
Isis
and Neith especially protected, and from
them
hail
all
blessings descended.
of,
But
in this plague, re-
gardless
and
restraintless by, feminine deities, the

terrified
and lightning descended, and,
by the awful
divinity, de-
judgment, the king, disozvning his own

clared that he
was wicked, a concession of a nature
Avhich only those
who
well understand the Egyptian
theology can duly appreciate.
As
the seventh with storm,
so
the eighth with

trees,
locusts,
devastated the land,
and the
which
themselves were sacred, the vegetable gods, despised

234

by Juvenal and
of
life
;
ridiculed
by
Pliny,
the
all
pine, the tree

;
the tamarisk, that of knowledge
the lotus,
sacred to the dead, the papyrus to the gods, and

lesser vegetables to lesser deities,
many
were smitten
then,
and
finally the locust, rarely seen,
and scarcely,
all
from
its rarity,
even dreaded
left.
in
Egypt, devoured
that the hail
had
As
the curtain closed upon the awful tragedy, the
stage of the theatre
became darkened,
felt
for
when
the
hands of the prophet were extended towards heaven, a

darkness that might be
covered the land. This, as
it
it
was the
last directly theological, so
was
also, in
one
sense, the
all
most conclusive;
for after
all,
at the root of
the Egyptian theogony lay the divine truth that
there was one unbegotten God, sole, existent, and eternal.
"The
creator of all existences
and the unbegotten."

produce
the other
He, the great deity, or Amun Ra, was believed to inhabit

the heaven of heavens itself
;
to
all
were him, from so most of their names were comoriginated

deities
gods by direct emanation as most of the
pounded with
representative,
festations.
his,
and he the
all living
invisible
and beneficent
his
God was symbolized by

and
eternal light
the sun was
things were but his mani-
In the conception of his power and dignity
the extremes of materialism and pantheism united.
But then
at the
a dark veil
word of the servant of passed between him and

life,
a greater god,
his creatures.
A
as
tJiree-^z.y'^ curse,
because of his three attributes,
Amun
Ra, father of divine

235
Kheper Ra, the
father of animal,
and Kneph Ra, of human, then
he,
the god of the heavens and of the Egyptians, was by

the
God
of the Israehtes blotted out.
Last of all, descended the horrors of the tenth plague.
The Egyptians having
felt,
and the
Israelites
having
witnessed, the powerlessness of the gods they had been
accustomed to venerate, the long-delayed retribution

fell
upon
and
the
Pharaoh and
his servants
and those
who had made

visible
the Israelites childless, were by an in-
irresistible
executioner rendered childless

artist
themselves.
Fancy cannot imagine,

all
cannot
paint, nor poet describe, the scene
which produced the
cry which rang throughout
the land of Egypt,
when
under the very shadow of the gods
whom
he wor-
shipped, with their amulets upon his heart, and their
adorations inscribed in the bracelets upon his hands,
the first-born of every Egyptian lay agonized, paralyzed,
dead
To
say more, belongs to the province

I
of the theologian, and perhaps too much; but as this

is
have already said
one of the subjects which

necessary
has received most light from the researches of Biblical

archaeology, I have ventured, despite
its
length of detail, to bring
it
before your notice.
Nor
are the corroborations of
Old Testament Hismight be
tory to be taken from
Egypt
alone, for, as
expected from the monuments of Assyria, fresh confirmations avail us there, and that mighty empire has
witnessed for the truth of the Bible in an unexpected
manner, and with no uncertain voice.

235
From
the ruins

of her palaces has her history been disinterred, and
from
the
mutilated walls
of her temples has
her
theology and poetry been restored.
The conquest
of Palestine
is
recorded on the annals
of Sennacherib, and the cylinder of Tiglath Pileser describes his invasion of Palestine.
The names
of Jehu,
of Amaziah, of Hezekiah, of Omri, Ahaz, and Uzziah,
have been made
out.
The very
clay which sealed the
treaty between the kings of Judah and Assyria, with
the impresses of their joint seals upon

in the
it,
is
preserved
Nineveh
gallery.
The
library of Assurbanipal,
in 20,000 fragments, contains,

treatises,
among
other scientific
such as astronomical notices, grammatical
essays, tables of verbs, genealogies, etc.,
an historicothe
sur-
geographical account
of
Babylonia
and
rounding countries.
As
far as these
fragments have
been translated, the

in the Bible
district
and
tribal
correspond very closely with them.
names given Here

Babylon,
and there occur discrepancies, but they are such as

vanity might suggest, or shame originate.
and not Jerusalem,
is
the centre spot of the world,

is
and the house of the Assyrian king

Eden. These variations are
its
the garden of
trifling
every nation has
romancers, and without the hand of inspiration the
history of every people
commences
allied,
in fable.
Although so nearly
logical ideas of the
politically
and chronoand mythodif-
logically speaking, yet the idiosyncrasies
two empires were as widely

territories
237
ferent as
were their
and
their peoples.
The
Egyptian gods loved their worshippers.
the worshippers
In Assyria
loved
their gods.
In
Egypt the
primitive
Pharaoh venerated himself, but the Assyrians never

lost
sight of the
two great truths of
all
theology, the fatherhood of the
Supreme Being, and
the sinfulness of
all,
from the highest to the lowest, of
the
human
race.
In Egypt the king was in a manner
independent of God, but
among
the Semitic Assyrians
even the armipotent Nebuchadnezzar was the servant

of his Bel
and Assur,
"
who gave him
victory,
and
set
him
to rule over nations."

distinctions,
Agreeably therefore to these national

stands out
in
prominent
relief to
a careful reader,
who
really
is
willing to
suppose that his ignorance
may
be not quite equal to the task of ridiculing the
collected
wisdom of
thirty generations, the

in
reserved
and almost reverential manner

of Assyria, Tiglath
Pilesser
which the kings

Nebuchadnezzar,
and
spoke of their personal relation to their God.

them, and their successor Assurbanipal,
grace, were ascribed on their records to
With
all victory, all
"Nana, the
delight of Babylon," to "Ishtar the strong," to
"Assur
the
the great," and to " Bel the protector,"
among
gods of Babylonia.
While the proud monarch of the

declares
southern kingdom claimed equal deity for himself,
and
as
on the sarcophagus of Oimenepthah

is
I.
that he
in
very nature like unto
Osiris, to
Ra, to
Set, to Horus,
less
and
all
the other greater deities, the
presumptuous sovereigns o the East personally

238

besought the favour and entreated the forgiveness of
their gods.
In Egypt, the king, being a god, could
not possibly
commit
sin,
but the Assyrian Assurbanipal
besought
"
May
the look of pity that shines in thy
may I never feel the anger and the wrath of the God may my omissions and sins be wiped out may I find reconciliation with him, for I am the servant of his power." The
eternal face dispel
griefs
; ; ;
my
prayers of other Assyrian potentates have also been

preserved, and through
these runs
spirit
far,
of de-
pendence, submission, and inferiority,

differing from anything to be found
very
far
in the liturgies
and supplications of any other contemporary nation

except the Jews.
It
was while worshipping Nisroch, the eagle-headed

slain,
deity of Assyria, that the blasphemous Sennacherib
was
and Nebuchadnezzar
set
up an image of
gold, not to himself, but to Bel,
and the proportions

at
of that image agree perfectly well with those of the

stele
and
altar
If
of
Assar-nazir-pal
the
British
Museum.
my
hearers will read carefully the thirtyI
sixth of Isaiah, for
see they are anxious to inter-
rupt me, they will find the blasphemy of Sennacherib

consisted, not in the assertion that " I
3oles of
have with the

said unto me.
my
feet dried
up
all
the rivers of besieged
places," but in the lie that "the
Lord
Go up
against this place and destroy

in
it."
There was
nothing
the passage itself thatclaimed divinity for the
speaker, while the phrase
employed
239
is
the Assyrian
official one, for in
a well-known slab in the national
collection,
often
engraved,
his
but
oftener
forgotten,
Sennacherib
sits in
state chair with the arrows
of divination in his hand,
and the
inscription
around
Lachish
and before him
reads, "I sit before the city of

it."
give permission to destroy
One
of the most curious of the Assyrian inscriptions

is
lately discovered
that which has been translated
by
M. Charles Lenormant, and

by Vulnarari
great god Bel.
relates to the construction
(or Bin-narari) of a
golden temple to the
Erected
in
seven stages, analogous to
the present ruins of Bin Nimrud, the walls, the roof, the columns, and the sanctuary, the vessels, and the
statues of the gods, were
all alike
plated, or
composed
lord
of solid gold.
"
It
was founded, so runs the
inscription,
To
the glory of the great god Bel,
my
and
master,
whose servant
am, who has placed
me
on the
throne of this people."
That such an edifice could be erected of materials so costly and so rare, at a period
all
very near to that of king Solomon, removes at once

dispute as to the credibility of the Biblical nar-
rative
fication
concerning his temple, and affords a justiof
kings for
article
means employed by the wisest of storing up a metal not then used as an

the
of currency.
Of
this magnificent
structure,
only the indications of
its site
remain.
Voltaire and
it
Tom
Paine would have said

;
it
never existed, but
did exist
and
it
is
not probable that the son of
David, confessedly the richest monarch of his time,

240
who

inherited from his parsimonious father
liie
accumuiaLcd
wealth of the conquered Palestinian kings,
would have
superior
had
less resources at his
command
at that
than an Assyrian
little
monarch whose empire was

to his
time
own, and who possessed a
far less universal
reputation.
Not the
B.C.
least interesting of the ancient inscriptions
before mentioned are those which, dating from 1200

to
600
B.C.,
are called
Boundary Stones.
These
were
set
up to mark the angles which circumscribe
the limits of fields of various landowners.
Upon them
parties, the
were generally inscribed the names of the
value and limits of their properties, and dedications

to different
deities,
whose emblems were inscribed

stone.
upon the summit of the

instances in the Bible, the
Thus, as
pillar
in
many
same
partook of the
nature of
altar,
deed, and milestone, and was rever-
enced accordingly.
singular discovery has resulted frm the trans-
lation of these
and similar inscriptions, one which a few

little
years ago was but
to be anticipated, namely, the
employment of one
scription of
species of character for the tran-
no
less
than three languages
the Persian,
it
the Accadian, and the Median.
Of
these three, the
second
itself
is
the most important, for while
contains in
many
root words of Turanian origin, yet as a

it
Semitic tongue
the
contains elements which enable us
more
closely to realize the nature of the earlier
Syrian languages, and the idiomatisms of speech with

241
16
which the
first
writers of the Bible were
most
familiar,
and therefrom we are enabled the better

certain passages,
to understand
which
if
translated purely
at
or
Chaldee
would
prove
best
obscure.
by Hebrew Thus
archaeology has supported philology, and both have
rendered important services to the cause of Biblical

criticism.
The incommunicable name
of the Great
Jehovah (Yahveh) Himself, has been found as the name of a Syrian deity of extreme antiquity, probably
not in
its
spiritual character far
remote from the God
of the Hebrews.
The names
of the cities founded
by
he early Ethnarchs have been more or
less identified,
and
their sites pointed out.
Of
these, not a
in
few have
names both Turanian and Semitic, names
which case both

This
are purely translations of each other.
custom seems to have prevailed to veryrecent times, and
many
of the proper
names
in the Bible are
now shown
and
from contemporaneous inscriptions to be translations

or corruptions, in the
same way
as Naples, Nablus,
Napulia are corruptions of the Greek Neapolis, the
new
city
in a
manner
precisely similar to that in
which a French
chapelle,
map
of
London would
give Blanc-
for Whitechapel,
Porte-neuf, for Newgate,
Chartreuse, for Crutched Friars, and

for
Mont Grenvich
Greenwich
Hill.
Quitting the people of Assyria for their contem

poraries the Jews, let
me
as
mention the investigations
which have recently been made at a tumulus long
known
to
travellers
Tell
242
el
Yehoudeh, or the
Mound
of the Jews, which
is
known
to cover the site
of the ancient Jewish city of Onion, founded by the

high-priest Onias in the reign of
Ptolemy Physcon,
expatriated from
one of the Greco-Egyptian kings of Egypt, as a place

of refuge for his people
who were
Judaea by
the armies of Antiochus.
There, as
we
are told in the
book of Maccabees, and the
historian
Josephus, was erected another temple in character and

detail
analogous to that of Solomon.
The Egyptian
for some long period flourished, and the Jews were received with great favour by the Ptolemaic
temple
sovereigns.
college,
a library, and various public

the prophecies of the
buildings were founded, and

later prophets
were fondly applied by the Jews to that
city
and
its
temple.
At
last, in
the continued revo-
lutions
which ended
in the destruction of the
Egypand of
tian empire
by the
suicide of the infamous Cleopatra,
the
prostitute
of her
brother, of Caesar,
sister,
Antony, the murderess of her

country
the curse of her

its
the
city
of Onion
its
perished,
buildings
were destroyed, and
temples ransacked.
The
dispersed Jews settled in Alexandria, in Marseilles',
and the various colonies of the victorious

empire, beneath whose eagle wings
all
Roman
the world was
ultimately gathered to prepare for the better and holier

federation of the nations of the world in the empire
of Christianity.
Until recently, little attention has been turned to the preservation of Jewish antiquities, and the result naturally was that the temple of the
243

lokroboratjve evidexce of
pseudo-Onias became as completely
as
its
lost to
the world
prototypes of Solomon, Zerubbabel, and Herod.

the restoration of learning, and
still
Upon
more upon
the revival of archaeology in the Augustine era of
English literature, the reign of Queen Anne, a good

deal of very ingenious conjecture was hazarded, and
some exceedingly
gated to the no
plausible
theories
were promul-
little
injury of good logic and better
paper, as to the dimensions and construction of the
temple at Jerusalem.
From
in three
the almost visionary
work of Villalpandus,
of
volumes
folio,
and that
Solomon Bennett
in a
more modest
quarto,
down
in
to the later conjectures of Messrs. Fergusson, Lewin,
and Sharpe, who have been contented to speculate

octavo,
the essays,
both
scientific
and
theological,
upon the
there seems
topography of Solomon's temple,

in themselves.
have
at last
formed a library
Tel
Now, however,
some
probability that the excavations at

in
el
Yehoudeh,
Egypt, combined with the enterat Jerusalem,
prise of Captains
Warren and Wilson
will settle the long-vexed question, for the Egyptian
excavations have revealed two classes of antiquities

one, the fragments of a palace of the twenty-third
dynasty, in pure Pharaohnic art
and the other a
class
of remains comprising the fragments of a column and

architrave of a different,
of architecture,
such
as
and wholly Semitic, type more or less prevails in
Central Syria, the ruins of Capernaum, and the cave
tombs
in the valley of
Jehoshaphat,
type, more-

over,
in in
wholly unknown in Egypt Proper, having

with Herodian and
much
common
Greek, but, except
the materials,
very
so,
little
resembling
is
Egyptian
work.
lieve, as
This being
there
every reason to be-
the Rev. Greville Chester,

relics
who has brought

suggests,
;
some of these
to
England,
that
if
they are portions of the temple of Onias

according to the writings of Josephus, and
and
all
con-
temporaneous and
traditional
history,
that temple
was modelled
of Jerusalem,
after
it
the one which was the glory

scarcely too
is
much
to
conjec-
ture
will
that
we
are on the
track
of materials which
costliest,
enable us to construct a model of the

edifice the
most contested, and most sacred

beheld.
trations
world ever
illu -
But the subject of
this paper,
and the
and corroborations of the

being obtained in
Bible, often direct,
but more frequently indirect, which can be obtained,
and
are
abundance,
from
the
monuments
not one, but
of Egypt, Assyria, and Palestine, requires
many
evenings to examine
it.
It
would
tax the patience of the most diligent scholar, the
tongue of the most voluble expositor, the hand of the
most laborious amanuensis to dwell upon them. The British Museum, and many public and private collections,
may
well be visited with

to those
no other guide-book
than the Bible; and
who
are content to
wait and hope, to study and to persevere, the richest
and most gratifying

nature, so in
art,
results
may
be predicted.
As
in
directly or indirectly the works of God.

245
EVIDENCE OF OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY.

and of those
whom God
in
has made, are
in
harmony
with His word and work.
What
science and archse-
ology are not
harmony
with, are hasty premises,
predetermined conclusions, and superficial examination.
The Hght
of the antiquary's torch increases as the
darkness of the ruins
amongst
which
he gropes
becomes more intense
and the student of the Bible

confirmation afforded by
will often find the strongest
the patient examination of an apparently incontrovertible difficulty.
The
light of revelation,
held
by
the hand of reason, will in due time dispel the obscurity of ages,
and penetrate the most distant recesses

it
of the past.
Be
therefore the province of this Soits
ciety collectively,
and of you
members
individually,
in
to uphold that heaven-given light,
and to work
harmony, and march

debris of time
all
in step,
through the accumulated

Still in
and change.
the future, as in
the past, shall the radiance of that torch increase,

for
it is lit
and the glory of the torch-bearers extend,
by the
hands
effluence of that Deity who, placing
it
in the
of His servants,
is
Himself, as
an
ancient
Christian
lamp
in the British
Museum,
in
almost the
very words of the Nicene Creed,

"
attests, ^w'i, ^wto^,
The Light
of Light."
24S
THE ARGUMENT
FOR THE
SUPERNATURAL CHARACTER OF CHRISTIANITY,

FROM
'
ITS
EXISTENCE AND ACHIEVEMENTS.

BY THE
REV.
HENRY ALLON,
D.D.
THE ARGUMENT FOR THE SUPERNATURAL

CHARACTER OF CHRISTIANITY, FROM
EXISTENCE AND ACHIEVEMENTS.
ITS
'^T^HE historical character of Christianity subjects ^ it to peculiar and crucial tests. The metaphysical
tests
of theological dogma, the moral and spiritual

life,
tests of religious
are subtle
and evasive compared
with the exact tests of historic time and circumstance.
Their apprehension and power depend more upon
mental idiosyncrasies and moral sympathies.
Hence
a higher
these constitute a higher kind of evidence than that of
which
am now
its
is
to
speak, and
demand
nature for
appreciation.
all
To spiritual
causes has
truth.
minds, moral
evidence
of
proof the most conclusive.

final
its
The argument from

power
in the
place and
truth which
domain of moral
The
meets and
necessities,
satisfies
the deepest instincts, the greatest
and the strongest yearnings of a man's

is
spiritual
nature,
to
him the most conclusively

is
attested truth.
To
truth-loving souls truth

249
its
own
THE ARGUMENT FOR THE

light.
The
soul
is
made
for truth, as the for love.
eye
is
made
for light,
and the heart

hast
Augustine's great
Thyself,
is
saying,
"Thou
made
rest in
us
for
and we
cannot rest until
we
Thee,"
but the supreme
expression of the soul's relation to

this
is
all truth.
Hence
the note of the chief appeal of our Lord as a
religious teacher, "

voice."
He
that
is
of the truth heareth
my
Souls that are true feel the truthfulness of His

Instinctively they test
their
great spiritual words.
them
by the
nature
necessities
and yearnings of
religious
as
the artist tests beauty, as the poet tests

It is
language, as the musician tests melody.

vision
life
"the
and faculty
is
divine."
In every department of
the criterion
held to be valid.
As
to the poetic
soul, the
only necessary, the only possible test of

is
poetic beauty
itself,
so
to the spiritual soul, the

is its
supreme evidence of
character.
spiritual truth
own
inherent
According to every legitimate principle and analogy

of
human
nature, therefore,
we claim
for
moral and
spiritual evidence
for the appeal to truth-loving souls
of the inherent fitness and beauty of the truth which
appeals to them
the supreme place of congruity and

be any validity
in the doctrine of
power.
If there
final causes,
then must the validity be admitted of those
teachings which perfectly satisfy the instincts, necessities,
and yearnings of our
spiritual nature.
it
It is
sufficient
proof of spiritual truth that
approves
itself
to the spiritual sense.
While
250
he,
whose
unspiritual,

SUPERNATURAL CHARACTER OF CHRISTIANITY.
unapprehending soul
to
is
incapable of such an appeal
whom
spiritual truths are unintelligible
and uncon-
vincing just in proportion as they are spiritual

in
who
the presence of Christ's greatest moral glory asks,

sign showest
"
What
Thou
"
thereby proclaims him-
self as
fundamentally incompetent to judge spiritual
truth, as the
man
physically blind
is
to judge the light
of the sun.
scientific
Just as he
who
no
is
sees the sun needs no
demonstration of
truth
its light,
so he
who
sees
spiritual
needs
attestation
his sufficient
of
external
evidence.
His experience
proof
Like
know,
the
man
born blind, he replies to all objectors, "Whether

I
he be a sinner or not,
that whereas I
know
not
one thing
was blind now
I see."
This evidence of spiritual experience and

is,
fitness
for thousands, their
only and sufficient proof of
Christianity.
In the spiritual teachings of Christ, in

life
the spiritual
of
and blessings which as the Redeemer
men He
practically gives, they find all that they
religiously
need or desire,the sense of the forgive-
ness of sins, the moral
power of a new and holy

in
life,
practical rest in the moral
and providential order of
God, beatitude and joy

perfect satisfaction for
communion with God, and

and hopes
in
life.
all their instincts
the promise of immortal
If these
be delusions,
to others
they are wonderfully
full
of practical fitness and power.
Those who
realize
them cannot demonstrate

;
their absolute truth
they can only attest their
own
wonderful transformation by them, and their satisfac251

tion in them.
They cannot prove
their beHefs, but
they can die for them.
This
is
the supreme strength of religious faith
intellectual
no arguments can prevail over indubitable

;
experiences.
You may demonstrate

that
that
it is
it is
to a
man
that
it
is
a mere
philosophic imagination to believe in a personal God,
an unhistoric delusion
a
scientific
to put faith in Christ,

it is
absurdity to offer prayer, that

life
a gratuitous expectation to dream of a
after this.
He may be
but his
utterly unable to reply to your arguments,
own
conscious experience neutraUzes

feels,
them
all.
He
sin,
knows, and
that there
is
God who
forgives
to
If
and hears prayer, who gives holy inspirations

if
his soul, and holds spiritual fellowship with him.
these be delusions,
necessity,
if
God be
but a philosophical
and
religious intercourse with
man but a highly developed materialism, God be a natural impossilife
bility, if
immortal
is
be but the " baseless fabric of a

consciousness and ex-
vision," then
man
the greatest solecism in nature, his

failure, his
nature the greatest
perience the greatest delusion.
So long as the religious nature of man is what it is, and so long as the religion of Jesus Christ so wonderfully meets and satisfies it, sceptical science has not
the ghost of a chance
against it
;
the facts are too terribly
But while, as Christian

ourselves
apologists,
we
thus justify
by asserting the legitimacy and supremacv

252

of the moral argument, and the spiritual incompetency
of
men who cannot
appreciate
it,
we
are perfectly
willing to abide
by the appeal
and
to external evidence,
and to
rest the case of Christianity
upon the demon-
stration of its historic

spiritual
scientific truth.
No
true
his-
system can be enshrined in mendacious
tory or imaginative science that

is,
in the
manner and degree,
in
which history and science are incorporated

It is
with Christianity.
physical
no accidental contact of metacircumstance.

religious
it
dogma and
is
historical
The
peculiarity of Christianity
among the
systems
of the world
that history enters into
as a vital
is
element.
Scarcely any constituent of Christianity
pure dogma. kind

is
Metaphysical
dogma
it.
of the very highest
of the very essence of
No scheme of thought
;
soars to such transcendental heights, or penetrates so
profoundly to the heart of things

so inextricably
but the
dogma
is
and
vitally
connected with
tlie historic
circumstance, that
if
the latter be proved fabulous the

It is
former
the
is
discredited.
morally impossible to save
dogma of Christianity and sacrifice its history. No theory of fable, legend, or myth that human ingenuity
has yet conceived can save either the
writers or Christ himself
New Testament
from the imputation of a

grossness, and
purposed and systematic falsehood of statement, which,
by
its
extent,
its
deliberateness,
its
its
deluding
effects,
must
utterly destroy their personal
moral
rest
integrity,
and discredit whatever dogma
may
upon
their authority.
The
incarnation and the

resurrection, the miraculous
works and the death upon

the ore of truth in a
facts,
the cross, are
much more than
matrix of circumstance, they are essential historic

the significance and explanation of which
that
is
dogma; so
we cannot
disallow the facts without destroying
the dogma.
This subjects the Christian system to

are peculiarly searching.
gical ideas, or
tests
its
which
theolo-
Men who deny

its facts.
who are insensible
to its spiritual appeals,
may
yet question the evidence of
Take, for
see
instance, the resurrection of Christ.
Men who can

and
its
no force
with
petent,
in its theological congruity,
harmony
its
human
instincts
and yearnings, are yet comappraise
on a purely
assertion.
historical basis, to
evidence, and to pronounce
upon the truth or falsehood

incarnation the historic
of
its
With the
proof
is
necessarily less complete; but connected even

is
with this there
an array of circumstantial and prespirit
sumptive evidence which the

appreciate,
verdict.
of history can
and which
is
sufficient to enable a historical
As
Christian apologists, then,
we
accept this ground

if
of debate;
we
freely
and
fully
concede that
its
the
Christian history be discredited, both

its
dogma and
intrinits
moral authority are invalidated.

it
Whether
sically true or false,
can derive no authority from
source.
We
can have neither confidence nor joy in
teachings so vitally connected with personal mendaciousness and religious fraud.

254
The ground
of
its dis-

tinctive appeal to our respect
and acceptance
to
;
is
utterly-
destroyed.
This, however, does not
commit us
any theory of
nor does
it
the verbal infallibility
of the history
involve us in untenable positions such as
may have
been assumed by
its
defenders.
The
vindication of
the supernatural and authoritative character of the

Bible has too often been embarrassed
theories authorized neither
Book
its
itself,
by speculative by the statements of the nor by a consensus of the judgments of

For our present purpose we
But
believing disciples.
claim for the Bible only the authority of the ordinary

literature of history.
tial
it is
no reply to the essen-
Book to be a supernatural revelation from God, to show that certain speculative theories concerning the modus and degree of its inspiration
claims of the
are untenable.
or of
its
Apart from
all
theories of inspiration,
orthodox expositors, there are certain broad
historical
and religious characteristics of the Bible

its historical
which appeal to the general student, and which must

be accounted for before either
or
its
character
supernatural claims can be disallowed.
For the
on a
level
it
purposes of our present argument
we put
it
with other books of ancient literature, and submit

to the verdict of ordinary historic, literary,
tests.
and moral
Nay, we
will
concede that from the extraits
ordinary character of
severest
contents
it
demands the
that the
and most conclusive

to be
255
historical demonstration.
Another admission
made
is,
mere

existence
and prevalence
of a religious
system
its
is
not,/^r
se,
a sufficient demonstration of either

its truth.
super-
natural character or
duism
exists,
exists,
Confucianism
far
exists,
Buddhism exists, HinMahometanism
the former
The
more extensively than Chrisits
tianity.
peculiar character of Christianity, and

success, are
essential
the peculiar conditions of
elements of the argument.

It is vital to
our conclusion that these limits and
conditions of our claim should be
Some
religious
system or other,
made clear. men must have
the
mere existence of such systems proves only the corresponding existence

timent, which
is
in
human nature of the
religious sen-
as real, as valid,
and as indestructible
an element of our nature as any other.

are the sentiment of humanity, which
is
So
also there
the root of
human
which
one's
is
kindness,
and the sentiment of patriotism,

all
the inspiration of
service
and
sacrifice for
country, and the conjugal sentiment, and the
parental sentiment, and others the validity of which
no one questions, and the actuating power of which

all
must admit.
It
is
part
of the philosophy of
human
and of
nature to give account of these sentiments,

-^their
dynamic power.
in
These various
senti-
ments are fundamental

ment.
our
human
constitution,
although they are capable of instruction and develop-
Most of the things that we do, as members human community, are prompted by them. In obedience to these human sentiments, men serve and
of the
256

sacrifice
themselves, as patriots and
philanthropists,
as parents
science.
and
children,
as
merchants and men of

their
No
one
questions
legitimacy and
value
without them, society would dissolve.

these the religious sentiment has the su;
Among
preme place
of
all
our sentiments
it is
it
is
the deepest
and the noblest.
That
is
;
a fundamental part of our
human
constitution
demonstrated by the analogy
of other sentiments and, not least,
by philosophy
it
by experience
by the
signal failure of Mr. Mill

is
and
Mr. Darwin to prove that
developed or derived.
is
No
scientific fiasco of
our day
so complete as Mr.
Darwin's recent theory of conscience.
Apart from
in the
all
theological
dogmas
there
is
is
nothing
nature of
man
that in idea
so grand, and
is
nothing
in the social life of
man
that in practice
so
influential, as the religious sentiment.
It is essential to
the wellbeing of society that
men
should be pure
and
truthful,
upright and unselfish, honourable and
benevolent.
Compared with the sentiment that prompts

all
these practical virtues,
other sentiments of our

It
is
nature are practically unimportant.

gious sentiment which
the
reli-
makes systems of
It
is
religious
thought and conduct imperative.

religious
prompts too the
propagandism which
so characteristic of
men, and so obligatory upon them.
For
if
men
are
deemed noble and worthy of praise when

selves for the
in
obedience
to their philanthropic sentiments they sacrifice them-
good of
their country or of their fellow257

17

men, to promote commerce, to advance science, to liberate slaves, or to reform prisons, much more when
in
obedience to their religious sentiment they sacrifice
themselves to impart religious knowledge, to develop

religious
life,
to
and
tian
spiritual.
make men moral and holy, devout Of all the superficial cavils at Christhe blind passionate wrongs done
surely that
is
men, of
all
to
human
nature,
the most ignorant

missions
and insane which reprobates

the ground of their fanaticism.
all
religious
If,
on
while they 'obey
other
instincts
of
patriotism and philanthropy,

instinct
men
refuse
to
obey the
of
religion,
they
are simply recreant to the noblest sentiment of their

nature,
and enthrone
promptings
selfishness
and meanness
if,
in
the holy place of the soul. the
And
the
in addition to
mere
of
religious
sentiment,
any
religious
system that men have received teaches
them that not only the weal of the present life, but that also of the life hereafter, depends upon their religious character here, they must either seek to apply
it
to the religious life of their fellow-men, or abjure all

feeling.
I
generous and gracious

If I
think that the truth that
possess
is
higher or
more cogent than that possessed by my fellow-man, that it will more powerfully and beneficially affect
his present character
and
his future
destiny,
am
constrained by every consideration of duty and philan-
thropy to put him
in possession of
it.
Religious propa-
gandism has
its
root in the very noblest sentiment of

258

human
The
nature
;
it
is
independent
of
any
specific
all.
religious system,
and has been prosecuted under
religious sentiment can
no more be disregarded
without selfishness and moral degradation than can the

patriotic or the philanthropic sentiment.
A
that
religious
is,
system
may
be a false one.
It
may,
teach false gods, or false notions of the true

relations,
will
God,
less
His character,
man
and claims; nevertheit
the religious
seek to propagate
in virtue
it.
of the religious sentiment that has received
It
is
the highest religious truth that he knows.

religious
In every
system there
is
something true
;
in
most
there
is
more of
truth than of falsehood
more
in
it
or less
therefore
each ministers to the religious sentiment,
even though the element of falsehood

like poison,
may,
be working deleteriously.
It is
simply an
religious
attestation of the depth
and strength of the
sentiment that even under the falsest religious system

it
impels
men to make
its
converts.
It
may
be mistaken
in its
methods,
zeal
may become
is
a morbid fanatireli-
cism,
religious
if
persecution
simply perverted
is
gious solicitude,
and
irrepressible.
but the underlying sentiment true The founder of Buddhism Sakyathe traditions concerning him, rethat he
muni,
we may trust
linquished a throne, and for forty years propagated the

religious truth
had discovered, with an un-
wearying zeal and a magnanimous unselfishness that
have scarcely ever been surpassed; Mahomet propagated his monotheistic faith, at first, from high
259

religious motives, although his later life
shows sad
deterioration
ficial
and he effected an amazing and benedestruction of Arabian idolatry.

;
men is stronger than the religious To realize his own religious beliefs a sentiment. man will make any sacrifices, submit to any disciNothing
in
pHne, perform
itself,
any penance,
India
even
lay
down
life
the
fakeer of
and
the
devotees
of
Mohammedanism
of Romanism.
will
equally with the ascetic and martyr

to propagate his beliefs a
And
man
make any sacrifices, and endure any
hardships.
It is
not therefore either the prevalence of Chris-'
tianity, or the fact of its
propagandism, that demonattest only the fact
strates its truth.
These
in
and the
of a
strength of the religious sentiment.
But then,
religious
just
proportion
to
the
truth
system
will
be the power of
its inspirations,
the manner and the degree in which

religious sentiment that receives
it.
it
will excite the
If a religious
system be
tion,
false
a
it.
device of the religious imaginafear,
a superstition generated by ignorance or
or
a growth of priestcraft
I
it
does not
make
it
true that
sincerely believe
Whatever the
if it
intrinsic strength
of the religious sentiment, no theological falsehood

will minister to
it
;
or
do,
it
will
be only as the
it
poison of fever makes
men
strong,
will generate
violence rather than healthy vigour.
Like every other

is
part of our nature, our religious nature

truth, not for falsehood
;
made
for
and only truth can healthily

260

minister to
it.
Just as
my
physical nature can be
made healthy and

adapted to
it,
strong
only by things
I
really
and not by things that

;
may
igno-
rantly think so
just as appetite can be satisfied only
by wholesome
medicine
food,
and disease cured only by

soul
fitting
so
my
can be
made
healthy and
strong only
will injure
by true body and
religious ideas.
Things deleterious
soul
none the
less that I think
them
beneficial.
False religious ideas are always injurious

or to the
to the individual
community
that receives
them.
Hence the perverted

and
cruelty, that
religious feelings, the dis-
abling superstitions, the moral corruption, the social

selfishness
we
see
where Paganism,
Mohammedanism, or Christianity prevails. The religious and moral contrast of nations as they now exist upon the face of the earth is indeed a
corrupt
sufficient vindication of Christianity.
How
believer
then,
it
may
that
be asked,
his
beliefs
may
are
the Christian
true
,-'
know
What
or
criteria of the value
of his
convictions has he that
are
more
that
certain
.-'
than
those
of
the
is,
Pagan
that
Mohammedan
reason
a
A sufficient
Newton has
answer
for
precisely the
his
believing
astronomical theories are truer than those of a Persian

astrologer
precisely
the reason
that
is
Lyell has
for believing that his
cosmogony
truer than that
of the
Hindu Shasters Owen or a Huxley has

is
precisely the
261
reason that an
for believing that his physio-
logy
truer than that of Hippocrates.
Men
tion
cannot help knowing when theirs

a
larger
is
an inducthan
from
knowledge, the exercise of a

their
higher reason,
when
theories
It is
are
truer
those of less informed men.
the essential func-
tion of reason to appraise comparative evidence,

to
and
know
that
it
is
not superstition nor savagery.
Philosophers
differ
among themselves on more

is
ob-
scure or subordinate matters, but there
a consensus
truer
of opinion which
makes them conscious of a

than
light,
its
general
system
is
those
of their
predecessors.
Truth
that
its
own
and the
light of everything
it
comes within
sphere.
So
is
in the
moral
or religious domain,
tained to the highest

reason, meets
their
men know when they have attruth. It commends itself to their

highest intelligence,
It
and
satisfies their
noblest aspirations.
"tells
them
all
that
ever they did."

lights,
In the conscious presence of the truest

the highest intellectual
and
in the exercise of
faculties
and
religious feelings, they
judge the com-
parative claims
of Paganism, Judaism,
MohammedIn
anism, philosophical scepticism, and Christianity.
the light of our religious consciousness, and according

to the highest tests of
in the Christian revelation
human reason, we know that we have the truth of God.

and
We
are as certain of spiritual truth in the moral
religious domain, as the
man
of science
It
is
is,
of physical
therefore,
truth
in
the
material
domain.
neither
ignorance nor arrogance that
affirms
the
falsehood of other religious

262
systems, and
the truth

of Christianity.
reason
;
It is
the conclusion of enHghtened
else reason itself
were an absurdity.
this
We
have only to add to

things,
exposition of the
in the
proper ground of our argument, that,

nature of
very
either
no proof of
Christianity,
moral or
historical,
can have the exactness or carry
the necessary conviction of either mathematical or

scientific
demonstration.
of the exact treatment of either

their
their
Moral truths do not admit numbers or physics

:
domain
proof
is is
reason and the moral consciousness

strong
probability,
far as the
intellectual
and
moral congruity.
enters into
So
element of history
them they
are amenable to the tests of his-
toric science; but these, again, are less
exact than those
of physical science.
bility
It is part of the
moral responsitheir
and education of men to exercise
moral
judgment, and to determine truth

spirit of truth.
in the conscientious
Our claim
is
that the history of Christianity shall

;
be subjected to the ordinary tests of historical science
that the moral truths of Christianity shall be sub-
jected to the ordinary tests of moral science
and that
judgment
historic
I.
shall
be given on the grounds of ordinary
and moral probability.
In estimating the force of the argument from

is,
the existence and prevalence of Christianity, there

first,
mt
aiitccedent history
for.
of
CJiristiaJiity,
which must
be accounted
It
is
part of the claim of Christianity" to be a super26;

natural
revelation
from God, that

history
it
from the
very-
beginning of
human
it
was purposed and pre-
was gradually unfolded to men in successive dispensations and teachings, corresponding and, to their developing intelligence and character
pared for
;
that
finally
estabhshed by Jesus Christ as avowedly the

all.
accomplishment and crown of them

has to be demonstrated by
evidence,
its
This of course
detailed
own proper and

in
which cannot be attempted

this.
a cursory
reference like
But
it
is
part of our proper argu-
ment
to note the scope
and general coherence of the

be not a supernatural
conceive a claim
precisely
difficult to
:
entire claim.
If Christianity
it
revelation from God,
is
more daring and embarrassing

tions of divine plan
if it be, it is
the arrangement most in accordance with our concep-
and purpose.
Nothing
is
more
natural than that, in
His dealings with men, God should

it,
have proceeded upon the basis of
and by previous
and progressive
revelations, prepared
men
in
for the full
manifestation of his remedial
mercy
Jesus Christ.
That there is this gradual development in the Old Testament and a singular harmony between it and
Christianity will hardly be disputed.
The
Christian
argument, therefore,
is
entitled to the strong
moral
be
presumption which
arises out of this.

it
If Christianity
an imposture or a delusion,
vastness,
is
so on a scale of
and of varied and complicated harmony, which

in the history of
has no parallel
human
thought.
The
claim of the antecedent history of Christianity

264

is
this,
that
from the earhest records of history a
remedial provision for sin was promised and prepared

for,
and that from the very beginning

admitted that
in
it
met the
yearnings and inspired the hopes of men.

It is
this,
the
earhest intimations ol
there are
a necessary vagueness and faintness

it
which
faith to
render
possible
for
exacting criticism to
difficult
question
any particular instance, and

demonstrate
it.
for
first,
But
it
is
contended,
that on the assumption of the supernatural character
of Christianity,
its
earliest
promise would necessarily

the
darkness,
solid
is
be the faintest blush of light in
nebulous mist gradually condensing into

definite prediction
in
;
and
and, next, that faith
justified
throwing upon these early intimations the after
lights of prophetic utterance
and
historic
fulfilment,
and of thus explaining the meaning of phenomena otherwise unaccountable, which is precisely the
method of
all
science
and that the entire harmony

is
of these faint indications with the after history
presumptive proof which no detailed exceptions to particular instances
can set aside.
Whatever the
intrinsic
:
meaning and
the
first
evidential value of specific passages
of
a
promise of a deliverer to sinning man, of the

of
intimations
a Messiah to the patriarchs,

is
or to
Moses
the fact
indubitable that the hope of
redeemer from
sin did take possession of
man
in his
early history in a
way
that the mere
optimism of
humanity, or mere dreams of a "golden age," are

265

altogether inadequate to account
for.
The
hterature
of the Bible, on the very lowest computation, extends
over a period of 1,500 years.

gious,
Its theological,
reli-
and
historic
harmony present phenomena which
are not only unique, but are in themselves a miracle,
and,
am
bold to say, on any other than the super-
natural theory are utterly inexplicable.

I.
Take
that
first
the
Book of
Genesis.
Admitting
the
Ewald's theory of the composition of

teuch,
its
Penta-
contents were
narrators,
contributed
its
by
four
or
five
different
and
present
form
the
determined by successive redactcurs, of

latest lived in the
whom
time of King Josiah, say 620 years
before Christ
it
or even Spinoza's wild supposition that

his contemporaries,
was written by Ezra or one of
say 450 years before Christ,
we have
a composition
a century older than Plato, and coeval with
^schylus
the production of one of the most unscientific

illiterate
and
nations of the old civilised world.
But the
extravagance of even Ewald's theory has discredited

it
among
scholars of almost every school, most of
whom
that
admit that the Pentateuch must have existed

of
to
before the division of the
much
it,
say the
It
is
kingdom of Solomon, and least, was the prohardly possible for

it
duction of Moses.
to
is
be
later
than a thousand years before Christ, which
a century older than

historic value
it
Homer.
Now whatever the
exact
of the
Book of
266
Genesis, there are in

in its
theological
and moral characteristics which,
SUPERNATURAL CHARACTER OF
relation to the
CIIRISTIANITY.
New
Testament, only the theory of

for.
the supernatural can account
From any
the
point
of view
it
is
a most remarkable part of the structure

cha-
of Biblical
theology, presenting precisely
racteristics of diversity in
harmony which
its
assumed
place in the development of the
Christian system,
and
in
the chronology of the Biblical writings deIts artistic
mand.
place in the Bible

is
is
fully seen
its
only when the whole
completed
and
fitness
and harmony are unimpeachable.
Passing over the
numerous and singular individual counterparts between the teachings of this ancient Book and Christianity,
such as the
first
and second Adam, the

will limit will
fall
and
Christ's redemption, the temptation of

I
Eve and
the temptation of Christ,
myself to one or
of any specific
two broad
ance
for
features.
{a.)
positions,
which
admit of ample allow-
alleged
inconclusiveness
Take
for instance its conception
of God, and
its
objective presentation of His character
and dealings
with the sinful race of men.
This
is
in perfect consis-
tency with the entire Biblical idea, with the Christian

representation of God, and with our present nineteenth
century theology.
Making due allowance

is
for the
for
anthropomorphism of these early times, and

perfect
im-
modes of
manifestation, there
nothing in the
conception of the Jehovah of the Book of Genesis that

the highest
intellects
of this nineteenth
Christian
century have difficulty in teaching.

267
The
spirit
of the

theology of the Bible, which has
festation
in
its
supreme manipervades the
Jesus
Christ, undeniably
book of Genesis.
Its
ties
Jehovah has none of the theological incongrui-
or moral inconsistencies of the Egyptian, Persian,
or Greek mythologies.
He
is
neither Osiris,
Ormuzd,
the book
nor Zeus.
{b^ In like
manner the
religioics heroes of
Adam, Noah, Abraham, Joseph are none of them

demi-gods, like Heracles for instance
;
their relations
with Jehovah are intimate and peculiar, and yet they
always appear as proper men.
So again the moral ideas of the book of Genesis are homogeneous with those of the Sermon on the Mount. However corrupt the history narrated, how(c).
ever complicate the character delineated, the moral

principles maintained, the moral tests implied are never
dubious.
Who
friend
can conceive of
is
Abraham
guilty of
such an enormity as
to
his
attributed to Cato in relation

.*
Hortensius
so
tortuous
as
that of Jacob,
Even in a character we are never for a

is
moment dubious about what

literature
2.
.''
right.
all
Whence
morality so far in advance of that of
other ancient
The
later
books of the Pentateuch describe a

institution
peculiar national
of ritual
sacrifice
and
it
worship, with provisions so unique and restricted, that

is
impossible to explain them as a mere Jewish variety
of the general sacrificial cultus of the nations.

268
And

associated with this ritual
we
find a
moral code and a
religious literature so enlightened, elevated,
and phi-
losophical that
it is
impossible to attribute the Leviticus
to ignorant superstition.
fice
The
all
rite
of expiatory sacriis
practiced
by almost
nations
in the
Jewish
temple service regulated so arbitarily and connected

with a ritual so elaborate and minute, that
character be
inconceivable.
if
if its
typical
it
denied,
rational
explanation of
is
If its typical character
be admitted,
has
the vital
the expiatory sacrifice of
Christ
re-ligious
importance
which
Christian
theologians
affirm,
and the Jewish Leviticus be a supernatural

it,
preparation for
then the correspondences between
the two, so minute, so complicate, and so singular, are

perfectly accounted
for.
On any
other theory they
are an inexplicable puzzle.
The argument does not depend upon the ingenuity which discovers resemblances and types in every minute particular. The
general,
broad,
undeniable
characteristics
it.
of
the
Leviticus are
amply
sufficient to sustain
Here we have an
entire national history and

is
economy,
an exact
Either
maintained for nearly 1,500 years, which

as the
symbolical prophecy of the Messianic work of our Lord,
New
Testament writers expound

life
it.
therefore the facts of our Lord's

less
were more or
the Jewish
so wonderful
arranged,
and
the
New
Testament doctrine
was constructed as
an
idealization of
is
Leviticus, or the accidental coincidence
as to be virtually miraculous, or the two are purposed

269

type and antitype.
Marvellous are the credulities of
I
rejectors of the supernatural.
must confess myself
too
3.
much
of a rationalist to be capable of them.

first
Further, during the
half of the seven centuries

era,
immediately preceding the Christian

predictions
a series of
was uttered by a
class of great religious
teachers
who sprang up among
the Jewish people,
which,
ter,
if
they do not relate to the coming and charac-
the atoning work and spiritual

are
Christ,
not only
among
the
kingdom of Jesus most inscrutable
utterances of
human
literature,
but are also a fresh
miracle of fortuitous coincidence.
Had
no such personage as our Lord appeared, no
events, or personages, or tendencies of thought
among
the Jewish people could have furnished an explanation
of these predictions.
We
can understand the visions
of poets, the imaginations of romance writers, the

Utopias
cians.
of philosophers,
the
metaphors of rhetorimade.
These have
instinctive
their palpable characteristics, for

is
which
allowance
But here
are,
not only one or two, but some twelve or fourteen
men
springing up at a special period, and under precisely

the circumstances which the theory of supernatural
development
requires, using
language of an elevated,
it
mystical, and cosmic character, which
is
simply
or
preposterous to refer to any Jewish

event, or
diction,
personage,
hope
and which,
its
if it
be not inspired pre-
must subject
authors to the suspicion of

in character, education,
insanity.
Men,
too,
most varied
27'>

social position, intellectual gifts,
}-et
and
literary form,
and
perfectly
homogeneous
to
in the great ideas of their
prediction.
Then, as
if
make doubt
impossible, an august
personage appears, whose character and teaching are

described and expounded
in
by eleven
different writers
the
New
;
Testament, most of them unlettered men,

treatises,
letters,
writing
visions
biographies, histories,
and
and yet not only are

but
their representations
harmonious,
they
correspond
to
these
Old
Testament predictions with such wonderful
fitness
and completeness that theologians, subjecting both crucial criticism, feel no serious to constant and
difficulties of interpretation,
facts,
encounter no intractable
or ideas, which they are compelled to eliminate
from their harmony.

as before to broad
Here, then, restricting ourselves

features,
is
and unchallenged
set of
;
another
and independent
harmonies to be accounted for

if
and explained away

rejected.
the supernatural theory be
Either, again, the history and doctrines of the New Testament were by these eleven writers cunningly
framed to
fit
in
to the utterances of these
dozen
Jewish prophets, and both inexplicably adjusted to the

earlier theological ideas of the
book of Genesis, and
to
the singular and elaborate Leviticus of the Pentateuch
and the temple, or the supernatural character of the

whole must be conceded.
These various harmonies are not merely indepen271

dent additions to the sum total of Christian evidence,
they multiply into each other.

doctrine of probabilities, and
their cumulative power.
it is
Apply
to
them the
estimate
lines
difficult to
Here are independent

ideas, ritual institutions,
of preparation
pro religious phetic utterances any one of which would be remark-
able,
but which together are simply overwhelming.

fail,
If
any one of them
even
if
important elements
in
is
any one prove

discredited.
intractable, the Christian
argument
Assume
evidence.
the theory of Christian theology, there
is
in
these a perfect and wonderful
harmony of convergent
and philoso-
Reject
it,
they are utterly inexplicable, and
necessarily involve the historical student
pher
in
a chaos of unauthorized and contradictory
conjecture.
II.
The
historic
for.
occurrence of Christianity
has to
be accounted
I I
can indicate only general lines of argument.
may,
presume, take for granted the historic
character of Jesus of Nazareth.
Although almost
every detail of the
New
Testament history of
Him
as-
has been questioned, few have ventured to deny His

existence.
But whatever the ground of denial

difficulties
sumed, the
of maintaining
it
are
almost
equally great.
The
conception of the person of Christ,

spiritual Christianity exist,
and dogmatic and
and
in
for.
some way
I
or other both
must
be accounted
venture to affirm that no sceptical theory has yet

272
SUPERNATURAL CHARACTER OF CHRISTIANITY,

been propounded
inconsistency,
faith
for
this
purpose that
does not
involve difficulties of violent assumption and flagrant
which
if
involved
fatal
in
the theory of
it.
would be regarded as
to
it
If
it
be
affirmed that Jesus never existed,
then becomes
imperative to invent a plausible theory for the conception of His
New
Testament
If
it
character,
and
for the
origin of Christianity.
exist,
be admitted that
He
did
then
all
the theories of conscious imposture,
of unconscious delusion, or of mythical development,
which have been adventured to account

traiture.
for
His portheory of
authors
;
His system of dogma, and His

failed.
spiritual king-
dom
have signally
like the
Some,
like the
Strauss, have been

others,
abandoned by
their
own
romance of Renan, have expired

in-
beneath the moral indignation of some, and the

extinguishable
laughter of others
;
frequently they
they have refuted one another

of Strauss and Renan.
as, for
example, those
faith in
While the theory of
the divine Christ has been maintained for eighteen

centuries,
and from the beginning has never lacked

it
keen-witted and learned assailants,

ficult to
would be
dif-
mention a theory of denial that has survived

its birth.
the generation of
Christianity indeed might

its
well be contented to leave
vindication to
its
enemies,
who
like equivalent quantities in
an algebraic equation
their
neutralize
each other.
Such
and
is
mutation and
decay, that they " never continue in one stay."

are all " like the grass,
They
18
their glory like the flower
273

of the grass
ever."
;
but the word of the Lord endureth for
Sakya-muni may be a myth

doubtful
either
historical
Confucius
;
may
be of
character
there
is
nothing in
Buddhism
or Confucianism that
for.
may
not be
otherwise accounted
fabulous
Even Moses may be a
personage,
;
and the integrity of Judaism

but the historic reality of the
is
remain unaffected
Jesus of the Evangelists
inextricably
bound up
is
with any rational exposition of Christianity.

1.
On
the theory of Chrstian theologians, there
profound and perfect harmony between the supernatural incarnation of Christ, and the redeeming
work
His
which he came to accomplish.

perfect
Ideas superficially so
sinless
birth,
remote and antagonistic as His

life,
and His shameful death upon the cross
are philosophically and indissolubly connected
by the
profound Christian
may be denied
proper evidence
but
dogma of redemption. The dogma its truth is to be vindicated by its own

its
philosophical
harmony with
the incarnation on the one hand, and with the expiatory death of the cross on the other, cannot be gainsaid.
The
is
incarnation, in
its
supernatural and sinless
birth
age,
the only conceivable origin of such a personlife is
and His perfectly pure
His only possible
character.
2.
There
is
a perfect and profound
harmony between
the
dogmas of the
Christian theory and the admitted

consciousness.
274
necessities of our
human

(rt.)
There
is
no feeling of human nature more

universal
sintlie
gular,
more profound, or more

si7i :
than
stii
feeling of
a feeling so
far as
we know
its
generis
radically different from

or folly occasions
the feeling which calamity

root in a latent
a feeling that has

is
sense of personal responsibility, and
is
occasioned solely
by moral
of shame.
terious,
ideas
a feeling
sin
is
of self-reproach, of regret,
There
no human feeling more mys-
more
about
sacred,
and more
the
indicative. his
A man's
likeness
feeling
measure of
to God.
The most hardened

himself from
it
;
criminal cannot wholly
emancipate
the most sensuous of

it.
religious systems
have recognized
It
has inspired
Mythology with its sublimest conceptions, Paganism with its most dread immolations, and Christianity
with
its
most passionate experiences.

m.an's
But
this ele-
ment of
or that
psychology
is
utterly
anomalous and
is
unaccountable on the theory that there
no God
man
is
the creature of
mere material circumuni-
stance
or but a development from an ascidian mollusc.

it
Sin being an impossibility, the feeling of

versal delusion.
It is therefore
is
at
one of the most flagrant

final causes.
anomalies in the doctrine of
If man's
conscience be the creation of mere experience,
as
Mr. Mill and Mr. Darwin

inexplicable
;
tell
us,
no feeling
is
moro
and
if
God
has
made
us just what \vc

evil
now
are,
an incongruous mixture of
and good, of
Lhj.t
feelings that
have no rational cause, of yearnings

satisfaction,
275
have no destined
what are we
to
thi..!:

of His wisdom, goodness, or power, seeing that
failed so egregiously in
He
men
has
His
creation.
This
univer:;al feeling of sin

it.
prompts
all
to
seek atonement for

fore,
Every
religious system, there;
begins with a theory of forgiveness
if
not,
men
turn
away from it as idle dreaming. Only in the redeeming work of

meet
its
Christ does the
feeling of sin
full
recognition and remedy.

of sacrificial atonement
Whether the
anity or in
sanctifying,
it.
Christian
is
dogma
be true or not, there
practically
no force
its
in Christi-
human thought
that in
is
peace-giving,
and constraining power
comparable with
It is
{p}j
the " power of
God unto
:
salvation."
in
The sense of sinful disorder and moral disability men is equally strong " the good that they
;
would they do not

that they do."
the
"
evil that
they would not,
They
the worse;" the best
sense of helplessness, "
know the better, and pursue men cry out with the deepest Oh wretched man that I am
!
who
It is
shall deliver
me
from
tlie
body of
realize
this death."
not teaching that
men
need, they have always

;
known more than they could

"
It
is
help
a strong son of God," to be their deliverer.
How
perfectly, again, the Christian
dogmas
of the perfectly
holy Jesus, and of the renewing power of the Holy

Spirit,
meet
and
satisfy
this
feeling.
And what
amazing power of
(c.)
practical inspiration they have.

life
The
sorrozus of Jiunian
overwhelm men.
toil
From
the days of Job until now, the hardships of

276

and struggle, of oppression and pain, of disappointment
and bereavement, have been the theme of moralists

and poets, and the burden and prayer of weary men.
Nothing has been sought more earnestly than the

solution of this
problem of human sorrow, nothing
has been desired more passionately than consolation
and help
in its
endurance.
the mystery of
its
Has any one unfolded

like Jesus Christ, or
human sorrow
our
" faithful
been
comforter and helper, like

}
Him who was
crowned
its
king
He
is
and merciful High Priest touched with the feeling of our infirmities," and under the influence of His
teaching and sympathy sorrow
Gospel, and
is is
transformed into a
faith
borne not only with amazing
and
patience, but often with a feeling of exultation and
triumph, like that which Paul expressed

of
"
when he spake
glorying in tribulation."
{d.)
And
then there
is tJie
great darkness and desolatclife in
ness of death; that wraps

fear of
up
mystery; "through
which we are
all
our lifetime subject to bond-
age
the shadow feared of man." What philosophy of death can be compared with that of Jesus
;" "
Christ,
who brought
" life
and immortality
in
to light "
What
His
.''
comfort and hope
death are comparable to
We
think of Stoic
and Epicurean
of the
ghastly bravery of the old Alexandrine invitation to
"supper and suicide

forting the sisters of
"
;
and then we turn

;
to Jesus
coma
Bethany
^77
to Paul comforting the

;
Thessalonians and Corinthians
himself
having

"
desire to depart," " ready to be offered up, the time
of his departure at hand, and anticipating his crown

of righteousness."
We
think of Stephen looking with
angel face up into heaven, and praying for the
men
tri-
who were murdering him. And we

of Christian death-beds since
think of the myriads

joyous,
peaceful,
umphant.
could not
There
tell
is
scarcely a minister of religion

if
who
of
sonal intrusion
thirty years of
many such. For myself, may be pardoned, I have,

ministerial
life,
the per-
during the
my
stood by hundreds
of death-beds.
In the majority of instances, faith

all
has triumphed over

life,
fear of death, over all love ot
even the tenderest affections have been overits
powered by
rapture
hopes and
visions.
I have heard songs
of triumph from lips faltering through pain, and seen
beam from eyes

I
that the films of death were

full
darkening
often a "joy unspeakable and

met the instance
in
of glory."
Never yet have

faith
which Christian
peace and
was not
sufficient to inspire perfect
comfort.
Now
spirit,
it
may
is
be that
all
these feelings are delusions

sins,
that there
no forgiveness of
for
no new
life
of the
no divine comforter
;
our sorrow, no inspirer
of hope in death
none the
less
do our human
the
instincts,
if it
our religious consciousness crave them.

so,
if
And
be
Christ be not a real Saviour,
if
dogmas of
the
New Testament be untrue, then we get this astound-
ing anomaly, that the falsehoods of Christianity meet
men's conscious necessities and cravings, and minister

278

to
them more
perfectly than
all
admitted
truth.
If
Christianity be not true,

miserable."
true,
God
has
we "made all men
are " of all
men most
If
it
in vain."
be
we
possess the greatest comforts, and are inspired

loftiest
with the
3.
hopes that have blessed humanity.

spiritual
The
subtle
harmonies of our Lord's
miracles constitute another argument.

First,
speaking only of general characteristics, their
utter contrast with the meaningless marvels of
mere
rela-
wonder-workers; next, their exquisitely adjusted

tions to the miracles of the Old Testament.
They pre-
sent exactly that diversity which the development of
the supernatural revelation demands, and yet are in
such substantial correlation with them, that the unity Not only of divine miracle-working is unmistakable.
is
this
adjustment of the miraculous elements of the
two dispensations an achievement of singular prescience, which, the diversity and chronology of the
alleged miracle-workers being taken into account,
little
is
short of a miracle itself
but the exquisite con-
ception of our
Lord's miracles, in respect of their
human
in
benevolence, their parabolic significance, and
their spiritual congruity, transcends all rational belief
mere inventive genius.

I
have no wish to exaggerate the individual force it is enough to say that it is the of this argument addition of another to the manifold and complicate
;
harmonies of the Christian theory. And yet, so far from parading His miracle-working,
279
THE ARGUMENT TOR THE

our Lord rebuked those
who demanded
it,
and up-
braided them with the spiritual bhndness, that could
not recognize the truth of words, and the holiness of
His character without

4.
I
it.*
can hardly touch the argument to be drawn
from the peculiar religious teachings of the Christian

Scriptures.
The profoundly
first
spiritual,
ethical,
and
philosophical teaching,
apostles.
of our Lord, then of His
The harmony
of both with the alleged facts
of Christ's history, and with the Christian theories of
His person and work.

revelation.
The
perfect
adjustment of
both to the natural development of the assumed
Take
first,
the teaching of Christ Himself,

spiritual
and the progress of
its
thought
as indicated
by the interval which separates the sermon on the mount from the great discourse of the "night on which He was betrayed." And next, the entire theological and
ecclesiastical
thought of the
New
Testament, which
first
moves
in steadily
advancing idea from the

:
words
the
;
of Christ to the last words of John
through
;
preparatory words that preceded Christ's death

unfoldings of the forty days before His ascension
the
and
the subsequent development of the unapprehended

facts of Christ's life into the
grand dogmatic theology

thought,
of Paul and John.f
We
is
are bold to affirm that the
Christian system
of
not,
theological
whether
supernatural or
*
t
more
spiritually true,
p. 225, et seq.
and
See Isaac Taylor's " Restoration of Belief,"

See Bernard's "Progress of Doctrine in the
New Testament, "/rtj"
2S0

philosophically profound
;
and that
in its ethical idea
and force
it
any hitherto
it
more elevated and influential than conceived by human thought. And yet
is
was developed
in this involuntary, complicate,
and
marvellous way.
(5)
There yet remains the transcendent conception
of the character of Christ Himself.
conception of
which
it
has been justly

its
said, that if
is
a creation of ima-
ginative genius,
inventor
greater than his hero.
It is the greatest
I
miracle of literature.
this
can attempt no analysis of

has often been done
it
wondrous character,
not attempt to
It
this
*
;
and
I will
paint
by any poor rhetoric of mine.
needs no
vindication.
The moral and

it.
religious instinct of the
world has confessed
Eighteen centuries of the

it
keenest criticism have only exalted

highest place of
to the very
human admiration and homage. The

" I find
uniform verdict of friend and foe has been,

fault in
no
Him."
Jesus Christ
;
is
the one perfect
Man of
the world's history
the one hope of a world of sinful
men
to
so divine that the loftiest and purest do worship

that the most polluted and lost
Him so human
can weep at His
feet,
and
little
children can smile in
His arms while

be washed out.
He
blesses them.
fault to
His was a
life
in
which there was no
be corrected, no stain to
bccoine good,
Other men
;
by
learning,
by growth, by suffering Jesus was good, as pure when His life began as when it ended advancing
;
See especially Bushnell's " Nature and the Supernatural," chapter x.

2S1

maturity was His only change.
lences blend
in
All
human
excel-
Him
in perfect proportion,
an ideal of
moral symmetry which has neither defect nor excess.

His was a wise mature goodness; not as being ignorant of
evil,
but as being infinitely above

is
it.
His
of
self-
consciousness
altogether
unlike
that
other
Moses and Isaiah may tremble before God, and acknowledge their sin Jesus never confesses defect, never indicates any feeling of unworthiness no tear
men.
;
of penitence rolls
down His
lips.
it is
cheek, no prayer for for-
giveness escapes His
When He
His own
speaks confaultlessness,
cerning Himself,
to assert
and to avow Himself the divine source of other men's

spiritual
life.
So transcendent was He,
that from the
very beginning
men
it
revered His goodness as perfect,

as divine.
and bowed before

gruous
Virtues almost incon-
wonderfully blend in
Him greatness
gentleness, holiness
and
pity, strength
and and sympathy.
He
is
nobler than the greatest man, more tender than
woman. Earnest and absorbed in His work, with a passion that made Him a martyr. He never even suggests the
the gentlest
impulsive enthusiast, the self-delilded zealot
He
is
always calm, clear, and wise.

extreme.
;
He
verges towards no
He is equally remote from asceticism and He repudiates no lawful enjoyment He He always preserves the sanctions no single excess. golden mean. He wondrously holds the balance of He plants His spiritual kingdom, neither in life.
laxity
;
282

convent nor
cell,
neither
in
church,
nor
in
ritual in the
observance, but in
the market and the house,
secret place of a man's solitude, in the inmost recesses
of his soul.
sence;
in it
He does not call the world into His preHe comes into the world, and sanctifies all things
as service to Himself.
is
by accepting them
its
very conception of His kingdom
a marvel.
in
The Making
it
Himself
ness
centre,
He
founds everything
upon
His own person and work.
In His lofty self-conscious-
He speaks
as
none of the world's instructors have
dared to speak, prefers claims of which none of them
have ever thought.

set
Even Nebuchadnezzar, when
he-
up
his
golden image on the plain of Dura, never
conceived of such a claim as this lowliest and calmest

of
men
is
prefers.
The kingdom
it
that
He
conceives
is
it
so holy that the purest church ever falls short of

it
so catholic that
includes
men
of every age,
and race and and

people,
character, " every nation,
and kindred,
conception
and
tongue."
And
this
originated
among
books,
the mountains of Galilee, in the
mind of a
world
its
village carpenter,
who knew
history,
little
of the
its
its politics, its
its
geography,
prejudices
raceswho was brought up amid the notions and of the most illiterate and exclusive of
ancient civilized peoples, and
who was put
to death at
an age when Socrates had not yet become a sage. He put forth His conception moreover at the very
beginning of His teaching.
jjradually, as
It did
not shape itself
His thought was instructed and stimulated

283

by experience.
spiritual,
His
first
proclamation was of this
holy,
and
catholic
kingdom
this
of
heaven.
There
cation.
is
no indication of either growth or modifi-
The
very
first
word of
of Nazareth
was that
He
a spiritual and universal
young carpenter was the spiritual King of kingdom the progress of

;
which
He
declared should continue through

;
all
the
world's history
the consummation of which should

all its
first,
be the conversion and the service of
peoples.
And
ing
all
this
He purposed to achieve
by disallow-
all
weapons but
spiritual truth,; next,
by
assailing
the intolerance and fanaticism, all the sin and selfish-
ness of
men and
;
next,
by the inherent
attractiveness
of the cross upon which
He
died.
It
was
to
be a
kingdom of pure spiritual truth a kingdom of the poor and sorrowful- of which the most saintly are the most princely. What are we to think of the intellectual
and moral grandeur of the nature

?
in
which
the
such a conception originated

it
Upon any
all
hypothesis
all
places
its
author transcendently above

the philosophers,
statesmen,
all
the moralists that
have appeared among mankind.

If our records,
Lord never existed
if
these
four
brief
which so marvellously and yet so artlessly
portray
of
Him
.''
Him be Was it
spurious
whence
this
conception
life,
the conception that created the

.''
or the
life
that created the conception
Had He
.^
never
lived,
it
could
pass
He
that
have been imagined

four
284
How
one of
came
to
obscure
Jewi-,

them a
tax-gatherer,
another a
fisherman, should
simultaneously conceive such a character, and individually contribute to

it,
with such diverse
gifts
and
motives, and yet in such marvellous

four,
why
has
not more
harmony?* If Scepticism has had its genius,

fifth
why
it
never produced a
gospel
The
entire
question of Christianity
may
the
safely
be staked upon
the mere conception of Christ's character.

III.
There
remains
subsequent
for.
history
of
Christianity to be accounted
But
my
theme has
field
proved too vast for

boundless.
me
cannot traverse a
so
What
is
has been said already will however
suffice to indicate the

(i)
argument.
persistent
;
There
the
discipleship
of
the
twelve to be accounted for

miracles,
their testimony to the

Christ,
and the resurrection of
and
their en-
durance of persecution and martyrdon

thereof
in attestation
Men
have often
died
for
false
opinions,
never in simple attestation of imaginary

(2)
facts.
The
the
conversion
for.
of Saul of Tarsus must be

;
accounted
cutor
;
The man of
rigid Pharisee
the fierce perse-
vast learning, of regal intellect,

"
suddenly becoming a Christian convert,

things that were gain to
counting
all
him but
loss for Christ

;
;"
growing to be the chiefest Christian apostle

a long
life
spending
as a missionary
and dying a martyr to
his faith in Jesus Christ.
See Bishop Alexander's " Leading Ideas of the Gospels."

2^5
1872.

(3)
The New Testament

its
itself
;
must be accounted
its
for
historical
records
its
its
incidental .origin,
peculiar authorship,
its
diversified literary forms,
and
marvellous unity.
(4)
The
rapid progress of Christianity in the
first
three centuries
must
be
accounted
for
then the
subsequent conversion,
afterwards
of various
first,
of the northern "nations,
pagan peoples,
connexion with
by modern
its
Christian missions.
is
This, as I said at the beginning,

in
to
be estimated
;
peculiar
its
conditions
the
lofty
demands
all
its
of Christianity,
utter intolerance of all forms of sin

its
and
selfishness,
its
absolute repudiation of
failure
but moral means,
comparative
when
or to
own degenerate
or
mistaken disciples have had recourse to persecution,

to
secular
coercion,
;
any forms
of worldly
inducement
and
the
marvellous
triumphs
of
its
purely spiritual truths, pre-eminently of the truths

represented by the Savio~ur's cross.
The argument
from the
failures of Christianity
its
is
indeed almost as
conclusive as that from
successes.
The measure
of failure has almost uniformly been the measure of
departure from pure Christian ideas.

Putting
earth can
it
in the
broadest
way what
;
nations of the
in
be compared with Christian nations

}
general moral elevation did
We
know what
Christianity
when
it
came
into contact with the unutterable
depravities of Greece
converts,
and
286
Rome what
;
it
found
its
it
and what
it
made them
we know what

has done
in
Pagan nations since

is
we know what
just
in
now Europe
in
comparison with Asia, America
comparison with Africa.

Christianity have
And
the latest triumphs ot

signal.
been the most
We
need
instance only what a few years ago the South Sea

Islands,
and Madagascar were,
in
comparison with
what they are now.

works ameliorations
Wherever
and
it
comes, Christianity
in literature
and
life.
laws, in social
institutions, in family
social
Christian
men
faith,
themselves have often been unfaithful to their
they have corrupted

fluences
;
its
truths
and abused
its
in-
and on the principle that the best things are

but in proportion
capable of the grossest perversions, they have often
become worse than the heathen

as
its
they have maintained

spirit, it
its
principles
and realized
has been a power that no form of
human
evil
could withstand.
is
Nay, the proof

circle,
in every church, in every social

;
almost
in
every family
the
phenomena
ot
religious conversion are as indisputable, as they are
unaccountable, save on the supernatural theory of

Christianity.
The
truths
of
Christianity
read
in
the Bible, or listened to from a preacher, work the
most
arrest
marvellous
transformations
they
put
an
single
upon sinful habit and feeling, and often in a day change the entire life of a man. Conversudden and
as radical as that of Saul of Tar-
sions as
sus, are continually occurring.
A godless,
profligate,
evil,
hardened man, whose
life
has been given up to
287

and whose mind has scarcely ever been troubled about
religion,
is
suddenly arrested
by
some
truth
of
Christianity,
subdued into thoughtfulness, and peni-
tence for
sin.
Those who yesterday heard
blaspheme, to-day hear him pray.
become
the
ish
liar
chaste, the unprincipled
him The impure has has become upright,

self-
speaks the truth, and the hard, grasping,

pitiful
;
man becomes
there has
and benevolent
the sinner
has become a saint
and between
his old life
and
his
new
come
to be in a few hours " a great
gulf fixed."
And
the reality and thoroughness of the

life
change are attested by a long subsequent
of
hum-
ble holiness, consecrated service, patient endurance,
and
grateful love.
Writing to the Corinthian Christians, the Apostle

Paul speaks of "thieves, and covetous, drunkards,
revellers,
and extortioners," and
says,
"Such were some

Jesus,
of you
but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but
ye are
justified in the
name
of the
Lord
and by
Chris-
the Spirit of our God."

tian pastor
And there is scarcely a
tions in
who could not speak of similar transformasome members of his flock.
How
truths,
No other are these to be accounted for } no other books produce radical changes of
character.
spiritual
Read
to
man
Plato,
or
Shakspeare, or Milton, or Bacon, they

little
;
aff"ect
him but
read to him the
New
Testament, he becomes
"a new creature in Christ Jesus." The argument does not admit of a formal sum288

ming
up,
it
is
a congeries of independent lines of

all
evidence, wonderfully harmonious, and

to one great demonstration.
its
conducing
Scepticism has not done
work when
its
ingenuity has embarrassed any one

correlation,
of these
the harmonious
and concurrent
for.
tendency of the whole must be accounted

Christianity be not of God, then
is it
If
historically
and
structurally a series of marvels unique in the world's
history
a miracle greater than
its
assumed super-
naturalism itself
are
In the light of these
phenomena
phenomena,
;
we not
justified in
applying to
its
its
assailants the
wise words of a calm observer of

" Refrain
earlier
from these men, and
this counsel or this
let them alone for work be of men, it will come
if
to
it
nought; but
lest
if
it
be of God, ye cannot overthrow
haply ye be found even to fight against God."
2S9
19
CHRISTIANITY SUITED TO ALL FORMS
OF CIVILIZATION.
BY
SIR
BARTLE FRERE,
G.C.S.I.,
K.C.B.,
D.C.L.
CHRISTIANITY SUITED TO ALL FORMS
OF CIVILIZATION.
T
HAVE
been requested by the managers of

lectures to state to
this
series of
you the
results of
observation and
to the
experience
in
other
countries
as
adequacy of Christianity to meet the requirecivilization.
ments of the varying forms of

It will
you what is what I have seen myself rather than what I imagine ought to be. I wish to meet the theory which, in one shape or
to tell
be
my object
another,
is
not
uncommonly propounded
is
in
this
country, that Christianity

ligion, suited
a Semitic variety of re-
to Syria
little
and to a people of Jewish or

adapted to men of other races
wish to show you, as far as the
Arab
origin,
but
and other climates.

Christianity to
brief limits of a lecture allow, that experience proves
be a religion perfectly adapted to

races,
mankind of the most various
and
in
every stage
of civilization, from the lowest to the highest.
We
attach
must
to
first
define the
some of the
293
meaning we intend to words which we shall

CHRISTIANITY SUITED TO
have to
itself
use.
For
instance, the
word
" Christianity "
has a signification widely
dififerent
as
used
as
by
dififerent Christians,
and
in
still
more
it
dififerent
used by writers
Christian writers.
who can
I
no sense be classed as
in this lecture
shall
is
speak of
life
as the religion which
a rule of
to the majority
of
religious
people in England calling themselves
Christians.
We may
take the Apostles'
Creed, as
us here in
generally received and interpreted
among
England, as the symbol of the belief whose adequacy

to
meet the requirements of

to illustrate.
let
all
forms of civilization
hope
Further
Christians
belief,
us bear in mind, that however
much we
may differ as to particular articles of doctrinal

we
all
or of discipline,
regard our Christian
religion as
depending on a revelation of some kind
as being something told us from without, in contradistinction to the
modern
theory, "that people have their
religion as part of their growth,
and that a man

he
is
;
is
not
more responsible
fact, it
for his religion, than
for the
that, in
colour of his hair, or the length of his
arm
is
grows as a part of himself"

all
This
a conve-
nient doctrine as getting rid of

sibility in
personal respon-
matters of
belief,
and
is
rather
commonly met
with in these days

Christians.
it,
among many
classes of professed
We
have not time at present to discuss

it
or to
show how fundamentally

religion as a rule of
is
opposed to the
only there-
idea of any
fore
life.
I will
remark that we cannot recognize

294
this description
ALL FORMS OF CIVILIZATION,

as applying to Christianity,
which we regard as emconduct revealed to the
bodying truths and

intelligence of
rules of
man from an external power it may be through the senses, it may be through the conscience or the intellect, it may be recorded in books
or
it
handed down
is
in traditions
but in whatever form,

is
an external something, which
able powefull}'
all
to modify the very nature of man, and

his intellect
functions ol
and
spirit,
as well as his physical being.
As
a further preliminary
?
we must
consider what
we
require a religion to do
Let us leave out

all
for a
moment
the consideration of
that relates to the world to come.
Nor
let
us for the
present even stop to discuss the question whether man-
kind might or might not be better off without any

religion at
all.
Much
ingenuity has been expended on

it
proving such a position, just as

that
might be
in
proving
or meat.
mankind would be But the general sense of mankind

is
better off without salt, or bread,

is all
the
other way, and our present purpose
comparative.
Let us look on
laws in making
religion as
one of the things which
men
generally think they require to aid moral and social
men
better
and happier, more prosperall in

is
ous in
life,
and more able to promote the well-being

contact with
Christianity,
in
both of believers themselves and of
and affected by them.

as
To what
extent
compared with other

This
religions,
adapted
these
respects to the wants of mankind under various forms
of civilization
.''
is
the question which

295
we
pro-
CHRISTIANITY SUITED 70
pose to discuss, not by a priori arguments, but by
examples and experience.

I.
Let us
are, as
first
consider the case of wild tribes,
who
nearly as
we can
judge, in what
families,
little
is
called a
state of nature.
races, in
We
have whole
and even
Europe
in a condition
;
very
removed
from that of the wild beasts
but they are generally a
degraded and neglected form of mankind who have

lapsed from a better state of civilization, and
are
hardly such good subjects for illustrating our argu-
ment
as
the wild tribes
of India, who,
so far as
historical
records show, have been from very early

at
least
ages in a state
as
barbarous
as
that
in
I
which we have found them of
late years.
What
am now
fifth
about to
tell
you applies
to
nearly one-
of the people of India.

the
Some
In the
of
them
of
are not
much removed above
condition
the
abo-
riginal tribes in Australia.
Andaman
Islands
there are remnants of a Negrillo race, who, though

far
better
formed
and well
civilization
developed
race,
physically
and mentally than the Australian

little
have quite as
In the
of
artificial
about them.
jungles
of Central and
Southern India are to be
found tribes whose habits seem to approach
much
more nearly to those of apes than of men. A few of them are said to be absolutely without clothing, and to live habitually in trees others
;
have no better substitute

of leaves,
v.'hile
for clothing
than bunches
with
all
of
them the use of clothing
296
ALL FORMS OF CIVILIZA TION.

is
limited
to
the slightest imaginable

little
amount of
covering.
more
civilized
than these are the
jungle tribes, Bhils and Katkurees, and other races

live
who
body of the tribes on our eastern frontier, the Sontalls and Koles, and many of the clans of Goandwana in Central India, and the Koolies and Thakoors of the west, are one step higher in civilization. They have huts and fowls and
mainly by the chase.
great
cattle,
The
and some of them, especially on the eastern

have slaves
cleared
all have some rude by burning the jungle.
:
frontier,
cultivation
on
spots
Again, one
step higher, are tribes

tribes of
known
tribes
as the Pariah or outcast

India, apparently the
earlier
Western and Southern
remnants of aboriginal
conquered by the
" outcasts "
invaders of Hindostan, and reduced to the condition
of serfs or helots.
The term
hardly de-
scribes their condition, because they
have never formed

;
any integral part of the purely Hindoo communities but they are " outsiders " in every sense of the word
forced
atta
in
to
live
outside
the
village
walls
for-
bidden to touch or draw water from the wells of the
Hindoo community; and though

Country always
often
in the
Mahar-
occupying
as
recognized positions
the village
economy
settled cultivators
and
ser-
artizans,
they are strictly
confined
to
those
vices which,
however necessary, are associated

;
in all
countries with a certain sense of pollution
they are
like.
scavengers, skinners of dead animals, and the
The more
settled tribes frequently

297
approach very
nearly in civilization to the simpler classes of Hindoo
agriculturists
and
artizans.
But they have
this in
common
all
with their wilder neighbours, that they are

or less Fetish or devil-worshippers
more
fact
which distinguishes them broadly from the great body

of genuine Hindoos.
Altogether of these races
have been describing there are, according to the

latest estimates, not fewer
souls within the British
than forty millions of Empire in India and Ceylon, a population almost as great as that of France or Germany.
Their physical qualities resemble those of savages
in
every part of the world.
All are great observers

ear,
they have that peculiar quickness of eye and

of
all
and
physical senses, which characterizes wild men,

in
and which you see
any
civilized
man
it
who, like the
backwoodsman
or
remote
colonist,
has lived
is
much
among
the solitudes of nature.
But
not only
their external senses of sight
and hearing and smell-
ing which are wonderfully quickened

sities
by the neceslives
of the
life
they lead.
Any
one who
much
among them
come
they
first
will
be often astonished at the minute

the distracting sights and sounds of
official's
accuracy of observation evinced by them when they
among
civilization.
In the English
tent or cutcherry
may
appear perfectly dazed and confounded,
watching every novelty of the scene around them,
and with
difficulty
made
to understand the business
which brought them
there
though
it
may
be a capital
298

charge, perhaps, of robbery and
murder
and yet these

will
same savages, when by themselves

infinite
afterwards,
imitate with -the most unmistakable fidelity
and with
manfirst
humour
every peculiarity of voice and

whom
that
for
ner in the foreigners with
perhaps the
time
in their lives
they had been brought

is
in contact. in all
Their only wisdom

matters of daily
learning,
life
;
of experience
they have, of course, no book-
no philosophical systems nothing of what of our modern philosophers would call the some
shams
or
life,
trammels of
they suffer
civilization.
Careless of huevils
man
rally
little
from the physical

Their diseases are
attendant on civilization.
gene-
such as are the consequences of deficient or

food, or of want, or of malaria.
unwholesome
Such of
to
them
as have fixed habitations,
when they begin
find the spot
where they
live
becoming unhealthy
when
their fowls or their children die, or their
grown
folk suffer
from fever
generally conclude that
some
evil spirits have entered the village, which they forth-
with abandon, and

off.
move
to a spot a short distance
Every
evil in life is attributed to
some demoniacal
little
or malicious agency.
Their priests are generally
more than witch-finders or
exorcists of evil spirits.
The
but
marriage-tie
invariably
is
lax
among
the ruder
as
tribes,
becomes
stronger
the
tribes
become more
truthful
civilized.
They
are generally far
more
than their civilized neighbours, sometimes
apparently from innate honesty, at other times from

299
CHRISTIANITY sun ED TO
simplicity
;
but few of them appear to ha^'e that
abstract regard for truth which
highest form of civiHzation.
we associate with the They are all, as a rule,

;
kind and indulgent to their children

of a child
is
but the death
not generally a matter which affects them
more than the death of their young cattle, and when hard pressed for means of subsistence there is little
trace
among
the
men
is
of that self-sacrifice for the sake
of children which
so
common
is,
in
many more
civilized
communities.
There
as a general rule,
little
vene-
ration for age, when the old people become burden-
some through inabihty

few
tribes are
still
to provide for themselves.
clearly addicted to
human
sacrifices
as the
evil
;
most potent form of propitiating the powers of

tribes
and most
have traditions which indicate
that such practices were formerly
more common.
life is
One
universal feature of all savage

It is
that every-
thing goes to the strongest

to civilized
not easy to convey
men any
definite notion of all that this

less to
peculiarity implies ;
still
show how prone we
are to relapse into
" The good old
rute,
the simple plan,
That they should take who have the power, And they should keep who can "
when
the checks imposed
by a
civilized organization
of society are removed,

I will
endeavour to
results
illustrate
both the tendency

related
and
to
its
by an instance which was

old friend, and
300
me by
an
which struck
me
as
ALL FORMS OF CLVLLLZATION.

showing how
ever
friend
this natural
tendency comes out whenfor
there
is
a real
struggle
intellectual,
existence.
My
was
life
a very
shrewd Scotchman,
who was cured

savage
in
of his youthful fancies in favour of
by being shipwrecked half-a-century ago

Inaccessible,
in
one of the great old East Indiamen upon the

called
island
It so
the Southern
Ocean.
happened that the whole of the crew
^vith the
exception of the captain
and
all
the passengers, in-
cluding a large detachment of troops, and numbering

several
hundred souls of various ages and professions,
got safely to the rocky shores of the island, where they

lived for
they saved from the
some months, supported by the ship, and by the vast
provisions
quantities
of eggs of wild-fowl which were found on the rocky

ledges of the island.
One
of the most prominent
characters on board the ship previous to the shipwreck
had been the surgeon
a man of weak physical powers,

He
but of great and varied intellectual attainments, and

of most popular manners and charming disposition.
had possessed during the voyage an unbounded

ence over both
officers
and men
influ-
^was invaluable to the
captain as a supporter of discipline, and to the chaplain

as aiding his moral teaching.
He
had induced
all
the
young men on board to prosecute their studies regularly under his direction, and was a leading authority with regard to all the amusements by which the monotony of the voyage was relieved. He was, in fact, a type of what high intelligence in a civilized community can
301
achieve in the
way
of legitimate and useful influence.
For some days

benefit
after
the shipwreck his
old
power
continued, and was always exercised for the public

;
but after a while the pressing necessity

soul of the shipwrecked
felt
by every
distant
sufficient
community was the

collection
provision of water, which had to be procured from
scanty
springs,
birds'
and
the
of
supply of
eggs to satisfy the
calls
of
hunger.
They had
got, in fact,
down
to that
stage
first
of civilization at which the satisfaction of the
wants of nature
in the
daily importance.
ity of the
way of food was From that moment all
of pressing
the author-
man
of intellect vanished.
He
had not the

man, of
physical strength to carry water or climb for birds'

eggs,
and the boatswain's mate

savage
an
illiterate
great physical power and energy, with other qualities

fitted to shine in
life
took the lead and kept

is all
it
exercising despotic
sway over the whole community

perfectly
as long as they remained on the island.
Possibly some of us might say, "this

natural and proper natural selection
;
the result must be a process ot

physical
by which the most powerful

race."
natures
will
take the lead, and
the consequence a
gradual
improvement of the
savage
life
But
all
Indian
confirm
experience of
this view.
does not at
The savage
worse
races are invariably smaller,
weaker,
and
developed
than
the
civilized.
Many
they
of the
retain
half-civilized
are fine
men,
because
food,
their
habits
302
of
eating
animal
ALL FORMS OF CLVILIZATION.

and thrive better than those neighbouring civiHzed
races
whose
diet
is
exclusively vegetable
but in such
cases their
mode
of living and kind of diet combines
many
ized
of the advantages of both civilized and uncivil-
life.
The
I
results of purely uncivilized existence,
so far as
have seen them, are invariably a decreasing
population, decreasing size and health, a general ten-
dency to degenerate and to assimilate more nearly to I should doubt if the habits of beasts of the forest.
mankind would ever become extinct in the jungles of India, because the smallest remnant of human intelligence gives
them
such
an
advantage
over
the
other creatures of the forest, that the extinction of
the race seems a very remote contingency.
But a
gradual dwindling of mind, body, and soul
is
universally-
apparent wherever civilization does not intervene to

counteract the tendency.
Our experience
of the races
have been describing
does not agree with the theories of philosophers

maintain that the perfect condition of
is
who
human
nature
to be found
among people who
live
its
a purely mateproperties,
rial life,
thinking only of matter and

fidelity
and
obeying with unquestioning

of their material nature.
all
the instincts
led
I
Such a
life is
by the
most uncivilized and savage of the

describing.
If
tribes
have been
materialist
the theories of
it
modern
philosophers were true,
seems to
me
these tribes
ought to swallow up
civilization
and
all its
shams but
;
practice and experience prove that civilization swallow

303
up them and
they become
their materialistic
civilized
mode
of Hfe, and unless
they are invariably extinguished
when they come
in contact with civilized
communities
certain
notnecessarily by war or violence, but by the

operation. of civilization.
This brings us to the question of their
religion.
What
is it,
and how
.'*
is
it
modified by contact with
Christianity
First, let us
observe that not one of them, as far

is
as
am
I
aware,
destitute of some form of religion.
As to what may
world
be the case in other parts of the

tell,
cannot
but
as
regards
the
wild
and some of them are probably quite as wild as any in the world know of none who do
tribes of India
I
not possess a religion of some kind.
It is true, I
have been told by some of them

that "gods
in so
many
words,
are for English gentlemen, respectable
Brahmans, and Muhammedans, and that the poor

children of the jungle do not pretend to or venture
to possess
any such luxuries as the gods of the people

But
in
around them."
they visited the
so
speaking they thought
only of the gods whose shrines they saw whenever
haunts of civilized men; and I

tribe,
never could hear of any
however
wild, the
members
kind
of which did not possess a religion of
some
belief in the existence of beings of super-
human
power,
whose
active
life
agency modifies the

of
all
conditions and objects of
mankind.
classes
I
The
religion of all the various tribes
and
am

speaking of
is
more
or less Fetish worship
that
is
they have some form of rehgion, which consists not

ahvays
in the
worship of
evil,
but
in
a practice of
to
deprecatory
beings with
sacrifice,
and
petition
evil
malevolent
to
view to
avert
results
the
worshipper or his friends.

feature
able,
It is
also
an invariable
is
of
Fetish
worship that the worshipper

the powers of
evil,
by
influencing
to
effect
mischief to his enemies, as well as to obtain good for
himself
reference
Time does not admit of more than a brief to a few of the commonest forms of Indian
Fetish worship.
of prey,
Among
"
the jungle
tiger,
tribes,
beasts
and notably the
common symbol
is
of the
spirit of evil,
Wagia," (the tiger-god,)
wor-
shipped by widely distant and unconnected

nities.
is
commuknown
Next
in popularity
and universal acceptance
the worship of such epidemic diseases as are

savages.
among
"Matajee," the goddess of small-
pox, " Mahamurree," the great death, or cholera, take

a prominent place whenever these scourges of savage
as of civilized
rifice
life
make
their appearance.
The
sac-
of a fowl, or even a
goat,
is
which
is
a suitable
propitiation of the tiger-god,
the goddess of epidemic disease
when makes her appearance.

rarely efficacious
;
A
up
rude procession
in
is
then organized
a figure dressed
female garments, and ornamented as well as the

allow,
is
means of the community

propitiated with sacrifices,
worshipped and
to the limits of
conveyed
the village, or tribe,
and there handed

305
over to
20
neighbouring community, to be carried on or left in the jungle, in the hope that the figure has conveyed
with
it
the seeds of disease, which will thus be passed

I
on to the place of her new residence.

this
have known
system
very efficacious in propagating instead
of allaying the disease, in consequence of the terror

inspired in the untutored inhabitants of the jungle
at finding within their
boundary the hideous
figure
which had been deposited there by their neighbours.

If the
community which has expelled the

fly.
figure con-
tinues to suffer from the disease, they have no remedy
but to disperse and
For such people,

"
have heard
it
said in this Hall,

sort,
you must have a Fetish of some

is
and a stock
or a stone
a better help to devotion than a priest or

* far
his sermon."
is
Let us consider how

it
far this assertion
true
how
accords with the facts
we know.
using the
Let us suppose
for a
moment
the possibility of such

I
a thing as a "Christian Fetish."
am
words of those from whose opinions
entirely differ.
* " Fetishism is a natural concomitant of this stage of our " mental development"(2>. a stage of crass, savag-e ignorance); " * * * The only religion possible at this stage is the religion of
,
"sense.
Christianity * * has far less chance of success

is
"here than a religion which
purely Fetishistic.
* * *
If sen-
"suous accessories are
at all requisite, stocks
and
stones, idols
"and
oracles, are far better helps to devotion than the pulpit or
"the priest the surplice or the sermon."Z^d://^r^ ofjairam

Ro-x^ in St. George's Hall,
November
306
\2th, 1871.
ALL FORMS OF CLVILLZATION.

simply for the sake of argument.
candid opponent
I
would ask
any-
who chooses to describe the objects of worship which we place before our poorer and more
ignorant brethren as " Fetishes," whether he really
thinks
such
"
Fetishes "
as
are
habitually
placed
before their hearers, as objects of

Peter,
St.
worship,
by
St.
Paul, St. John, or
by the
in
priests of
our
own Church, have anything

Fetishes as
common
with such
form
the
objects
}
worshipped
by the
is
people
have been describing
All Christians agree

ap-
at least in this, that the religion they profess
plicable alike to learned
and unlearned men, to the

the
if
untutored savage and to
civilized
philosopher.
Hence the
be,
Christian Fetish,
such a Fetish there can
must be
alike the Fetish of the poorest
and most
ignorant peasant or savage, and of Newton, Bacon, or
Locke, of Wilberforce, Las Casas, or Henry Marten.
But can such a thing as a

or be preached from
"
Christian Fetish" exist

pulpit.?
evil,
.-*
any Christian
a being of
its
As
understand a Fetish,
it is
worshipped
with a view to deprecate

propitiate
its
wrath, rather than to
justice or mercy.
Such a worship
is
op-
posed to the very fundamental notions of Christianity.
Whatever nicknames may be given

torted statements of our doctrines,
certain
to partial or disthis,
at least,
is
is
that nothing
is
like Fetish
worship
consistent
with the plainest teaching of any single book of the New
Testament. There
scarcely a discourse or a parable
of our Lord, or an epistle of His apostles, which does

307
CHRISTIANTIY SUITED TO
not teach that
God
is
a
all
God
of love and mercy, and

as the foundation
inculcate love towards
mankind
is
of Christian morality.
This
is
the very opposite of
Fetish worship, and

to talk of a
it
simple misuse of language

a possible part of any real
Fetish as
Christian teaching.
But how does Christianity

in contact
fare
when
real,
it
is
brought
is
with Fetishism pure and
such as
the
of
.''
religion of the wild tribes

Is
it
we have been speaking

ill-adapted to
found inoperative
with' an
and
ineffica.-'
cious
uncivilized
and uneducated people
unimpressive
upon
those
whose whole
.-*
life
is
struggle for material existence
or
is
it
found to be
mischievous
to affect at
in its effects,
all,
.''
and
inferior, either in
power
or to affect for good, in comparison
with Fetishism
To
the
tive.
all
these questions Indian experience
during
last
half-century
must
answer
in
the
nega-
Christianity has
in
now been preached

every stage of
forests
to Fetish-
worshipping tribes
civilization,
from
naked savages of the wildest

civilized
to
the semi-
Fetish worshippers
inhabitants
who
are
mixed up with
country
the
settled
of the
cultivated
and the
invariable
result
has been to show that

prevail
Christianity
has
power to
against
Fetish
worship, and that the results

Christianity
to raise
of the
acceptance of
by the Fetish worshipper are invariably him in the moral and social scale, and to make
I
him a
civilized being.
believe
-,o8
there
is
no part of
ALL L'ORMS OF CLVLLIZA TLON.

India in which the power of Christian preaching to
attract
the attention of Fetish worshippers, to

evil
win
to
them from the worship of

scale of
and impure
deities
the pure rehgion of Christ, and to raise
them
in the
humanity, has not been thus abundantly

,
manifested.
ble
Most prominently are these
results visi-
amongst the Shanars and other devil-worshipping the Kols and Goands of races of Southern India
;
Central India
the Bhils and Koolies, Mhars, Mangs,
and Chumars of Western and Central India.

these races
it
Of
its
all
may be
truly said that Christianity, as

tried,
life
far as its effects
have been
has proved
pos-
session of the promises of this
as well as of the next.
some parts of the country, as in Tinnevelly and Chota Nagpore, the number of actual baptized converts may be reckoned by tens of thousands, and all exhibit a marked improvement in the habits of social life. They are, as a rule, more temperate and chaste, more cleanly, more honest, and more industrious than
In
they were before conversion.

In other parts of India, as in the Deccan, though
actual
effect
conversions
have
not
been numerous,
the
upon the whole community of outcasts has been

general.
marked and
Scattered as they are, a few in

is
every village in the country, there

the province which
no part of
less
felt
is
has not more or
the not
influence of Christian teaching,
and the
result
only a general inclination to turn from the gods of terror
and uncleanness
to the
God
of love, purity, and truth,
309
but a remarkable social change which
bear political
fruit,
may
hereafter
of which time does not

in detail.
now permit
me
to speak
more
It is
worthy of remark that these
results are not
confined to Christianity as taught in India by

single
Church or
sect of Christians.
any have seen them

Scot-
abundantly follow the teaching of missionaries of our
own Church, and

land
of the Churches of
Rome and
both Free and Established, of various
Noncon-
lormist bodies, and, in the most remarkable degree, of

missionaries
from
various
Churches
of
Germany,
result,
Switzerland, and America.

little
There
is
comparatively
difference in the
is
power and Qxtent of the
except what
obviously due to the
number and
ear-
nestness of Cliristian missionaries employed, to their
more or
less perfect
organization,
and to the period
during which their efforts have been directed to the

conversion of Fetish-worshipping races and
nities.
commu-
Nor can
it
be said that the most learned, the
wisest, the
most accomplished or best endowed of the
missionaries are always the most successful.

contrary, the
effected
all
On
the
most wonderful
results
are sometimes
From by simple and unlearned men. we are led to the conclusion that such efforts owe their success to something which all
these things
the preachers of Christianity hold in

great, simple doctrines of Christianity
lieve
common
which
the
be-
all
the
all
plain,
broad precepts of Christian morality

310
which
teach.
ALL FORMS OF CIVILIZATION.

What,
bear
then, generally speaking,
may
be
summed up
to
as the results of Christian teaching
when brought
?
on
the low
form
I
of civilization
exemplified
It is
in the classes of
which
have been speaking
everywhere a rising
in the social scale
civilizing
and
humanizing
influence, tending to
make
the believer in
I
Christianity a better
man and
is
a better subject.
would ask whether the same evidence of the power
and
effect-
of Christianity
not to be found
in all
we
of
read regarding other parts of Asia, of America,

Africa,
and of Polynesia
aye,
in all
we
see around us
of the effects of simple, earnest Christian teaching on
London Arab
I
life
have endeavoured thus briefly to describe the
effects of Christianity acting
on the wild Fetish-wor-
shipping tribes of India as their
own
religion.
But
we have
also to consider
its effects
as acting on
them
externally
as
the religion of those in contact with

'
them as neighbours or
it is
rulqrs.
How,
as
compared
with other religions, does Christianity suit them,
when
the religion of their more civilized neighbours or

.'*
conquerors
Now
in
India
we can
in this aspect
compare the
action of Christianity with that of various forms of
Brahmanism, of
anism.
call
Buddhism,
and
of
Muhammedmake any
faith.
Neither of the former in theory
on their votaries to propagate their own

theory
The devout Brahman and Buddhist

tists in
are both separa-
seeking perfection through works and

311
aspirations,
among which
the conversion of the igno-
rant and the civiHzation of the brutal find no place.

It is true that
both religions are more apt to spread
among
those
neighbouring
is
communities
of
different
creed than
generally
supposed, especially
to
when
in
communities
;
happen
be inferior
is
the
scale of civilization
but the process
one rather of
or
annexation
conversion
;
and imitation than
of assimilation
and the
result
is
never more than the
production of very spurious forms of Hindooism or
Buddhism, the professors of which are never, even

the lapse of generations, accepted as
after
true brethren
by the genuine Brahman or Buddhist. Texts might doubtless be quoted from the dogmas of either, which would favour the work of the missionary
or civilizer
is
;
but personal purification and salvation

save
the main object of both, and any effort to

souls
the
or
bodies
of the
savage tribes of the
forest
from death or disease, whether temporal or

is
spiritual,
attended
with
risk
of
pollution
which would prevent almost any zealous Brahman

or Buddhist from
making the attempt.
Nor is the practice of the professors of these religions much better than their theory coercion, expulsion,
and destruction are the only modes of dealing with

savages which find
much
favour with Hindu statesmen.
When effectually coerced, a certain degree of toleration may be extended to them, and they may be protected
as useful hewers of
wood and drawers

712
of water
but

that they have
great
human
family, or that
any inherent rights as members of the any obh'gation rests on the

is
Government
to protect or improve them,
a doctrine
which never could reach the Hindu administrator

through the teaching of his own
religion.
The same may be

though
verted,
said
of the
Muhammedan
essentially
his religion, like our

If the
own,
is
is
one
ot
propagandism.
savage
willing to be conot
is
he may, as a member of the great family

civilization
;
Islam, rise in the scale of

little
but there
hope
for
the
ruler,
unconverted
savage from any
Muhammedan
unconditional
practice
is
save in the most abject and

;
submission
and
if
its
Muhammedan
theory in treatit
sometimes better than

a general
ment of subject
worse.
races of another faith,

rule,
is
often far
is
As
unpersecuting neglect
the
utmost the heathen savage or Fetish worshipper can
hope
for
from
his
Muhammedan
in
lord.
Vigorous government,
any native
state in India,
before the overshadowing advent of the great Christian
power, generally meant more or

the jungle tribes.
I I
less
severity towards
I will
give you one of many instances
life in the Deccan of India, was engaged one day in trying one of these wild men for some depredation on the property of his
could quote. In
my early
civilized neighbours,
when
a Brahman,
who had been
high
in office in to
under the former Maharatta Government,

his pension.
came
draw
After listening attenthe subject of
tively to the trial,
he
fell
into talk on
313
CHRISTTANITY SUITED TO
how Government
should deal with such classes, and
expressed as the result of his
that nothing but the most severe
own large experience modes of coercive
treatment were of any real
avail.
He
illustrated his
argument by an anecdote of one of the great Soubadars of the Maharatta Peishwa, with whom he had served,
and
in
whose province
tried,
tribes of wild Bhils
had been
mitigating
numerous and troublesome. had been

with equally
their depredations.
Coercion and bribery

little effect in
At
all
last
the Soubadar got wearied,

feast,
and having invited

he
the principal chiefs to a
under pretence of largely increasing their subsidies,
upon and slew them, whilst most of them were helplessly intoxicated, and "then the country," my
set
visitor said,
"had
but
rest."
He
as
related the details of the
tragedy not only without any symptom of horror or

reprobation,
much
we might speak
or tigers
;
of the
destruction of a family of wolves
with a
strongly expressed opinion that this

it is
mode
of
what
"
now
the fashion to call
"
stamping out
was
the only sensible

This, as
I
way
of dealing with such vermin.
have
said,
the spirit in which
was not a solitary instance of Hindu administrators of the old
school would have dealt and did deal with the wild
is far different now and I have no young Indian friends would indignantly repudiate any such doctrines of extermination. But I would ask them where they learnt the principles
tribes.
The
case
doubt
all
my
on which they would now act

314
.''
Was
it
from their
ALL FORMS OF CIVILIZA TION. own

Shasters, or from the writings
priests, economists,
and teachings of
?
Christian
and morahsts
And
whence did these
latter derive their principles, if not
from the storehouse of the Christian Scriptures ? From the days when Warren Hastings encouraged
Cleveland
to
civilize
the
wild
tribes
of
Eastern
Bengal, as so graphically described by Heber,

to our
rule,
down
own
time, the administration of India has, as a
acted towards the less civilized of our subjects and
neighbours on principles which the Christian religion

alone inculcates, and the result has in every
way justified
the system, as not only the most humane, but the
most
view.
efficacious
I
from a
political
and
social point of
know
in fact of
no other system w^hich can
pretend to have reclaimed and raised to the position

of useful
members
of civilized society whole tribes and

;
communities of wild and uncivilized men
and the
most successful measures adopted
for this
purpose have
;
been distinctly founded on the precepts of Christianity
sometimes adopted knowingly and avowedly

frequently, perhaps,
more
or
unwittingly borrowed
through
the
medium
of that code of Christian chivalry, which

affected, at times,
however adversely
cupidity,
by ambition
has never wholly ceased to actuate those

for centuries past,
Englishmen who,
energetic
in
have been most
extending British domination to every

of what
it
region of the habitable earth.

If
I
any one requires proof of the

said, let
315
literal truth
have
him consult the works
in
which
is
recorded
the
how Captain Hall and Colonel Dixon civilized Mairs of Mairwarra in Rajpotana, or how General
his lieutenants reclaimed
John Jacob and

tribes of
the wild
will
Northern Sind.
in
first
remarkable instance
of
Bhil
be
found
the
records
civilization,
from the
efforts directed
by Mr. Mountstewart
John Malcolm, in which Sir James Outram, Colonels Ovans and French, Keatinge, Douglas Graham, and Morris took part and inSir
;
Elphinstone and
stances
more
or less striking might be quoted from

in
every province
India.
The agents
in these
and
similar civilizing proceedings have been
frequently,
but not always,

convictions.
men
of deep and earnest religious

in
But even
be
the case of those
who made
least pretension
tianity,
it
to a consistent
fairly
profession of Chris-
may
asked whence did the actors
get the principles on which they acted
precepts of Greek or
} Not from the Roman, of Brahman, Buddhist, or
Muhammedan.
theories of
principles
Still less
from the
social or
economical
modern
materialists or positivists.
tribes of India
The
on which the wild

civilized,,
have been,
and are being,

for the
are identical with those which
guide the teachers of our ragged and Sunday schools
poor neglected children of this great metropolis.

principles,
They are Christian
and
are, as far as I
know,
to be found formulated
nowhere save
laid
in the Christian
Scriptures, wherein they are
down
as imperative
rules of action in our dealings with

less civilized fellow
our weaker and
men.
-,i6
ALL FORMS OF CIVILIZATLON.

II.
But
let
us
now
briefly consider the case of a
second great class consisting of civilized men, broadly

distinguished from the semi-savages of
hitherto been speaking
whom we
have
men
in the stage of civilization
which has been reached by the great mass of the

populations which
we
see around us here in Europe.
They
are living in organized communities, as artizans,
traders, agriculturalists, professional
men, following
all
the callings
known
to
modern
.''
civilization.
How does
it
Christianity affect
them
How
far is
suited to
them
.''
We
to
shall find
it
next to impossible to answer this

if
question
conclusively,
we
confine
our attention
Europe and America, because the great majority

our people
are,
of
and have been
for
ages,
pro-
fessed
Christians.
We
may, indeed, compare the
Europe of Augustus' time with the Europe of our own, and draw our own deductions as to the effect of
Christianity on our civilization.
escape debatable ground, as to

Christianity,
But we shall hardly how much is due to

;
and how much to other causes
or as to
whether we might not have been better or worse, had

the prevailing religion of
modern Europe been other

help
us.
than
it is.
Here, again, India
may
You have
there a
great civilized population, four times as numerous as

that
of Christian America, as numerous as
all
the
are
populations of Europe, excluding Russia.

quite as advanced in
all
They
life
the arts of social
may
say they are more advanced than were the populations
of Europe in the time of our grandfathers, before the
great French Revolution and the outburst of
modern
had
mechanical invention.
They have
till
practically
nothing to do with Christianity

half century.
within the last

is
But every other
religion in the world
there and has been' long represented on the grandest

scale
idolatries
more varied than the popular super-
stitions of
Greece or
Rome
full
third of all the
Muhammedans
religion,
in the world,
and every form of esoteric

and secret creeds
the
face
philosophies, mysterious
without end.
How
Is
it
does
Christianity
.''
fare
Is Is
it it
in
of
all
.-
these powers of the air

silent.''
t
forced to give
way
inoperative?
powerless, or put to
shame
I
speak simply as to matters of experience and

;
observation, and not of opinion
just as a
Roman
Anto-
prefect might have reported to Trajan or the
nines
and
assure you
that,'
whatever you
may be
among
moral,
told to the contrary, the teaching of Christianity

1
60
millions
of civilized,
in
industrious
Hindoos and,
Muhammedans
social,
India
is
effecting changes,
for extent
and
political,
which
and rapidity of
effect are far
or your fathers have witnessed
more extraordinary than anything you in modern Europe. Presented for the first time to most of the teeming
Indian communities, within the
memory
of
men
yet
alive,
preached by only a few scores of Europeans,

318

who, with rare exceptions, had not previously been
remarkable
intellectual
among
power
their
or
own people in Europe for cultivation, who had little
of worldly power or sagacity, and none of the, worldly
motives which usually carry
men onward
to success,
Christianity has nevertheless,

years,
in the course
of fifty
made
its
way
to every part of the vast

is
mass of
active,
Indian civilized humanity, and

operative, aggressive
now an
power
in
every branch of social
and
political life
on that continent.
reli-
Of
races,
the external action of Christianity, as the

I will
gion of the conquering race,
say but
little
other
who were
not Christians, in other ages, could

civilize
;
and did conquer and

scores of potentates,
millions,
and
if
a mere handful of
Christianized Europeans have succeeded in
subduing
and people counted by scores of
they have only done on a very large and
successful scale,
what Greeks and Romans, Phoenicians
and Assyrians, Egyptians, Teutons, Arabs, and other non-Christian races, have done before them, in all
time past.
But
let
me
note, as very
noteworthy
in
itself,
and
as bearing especially on our subject, the spirit
and the
nation
motives in which the conquerors of our
own
and time have acted

from anything you
heard
because they are very different

motives of
I
will find in the spirit or
action of any non-Christian race of conquerors

of.
ever
We
have had,
it is
true, in
cur Indian con-
quests,
enough of ambition,
319
lust of conquest, cupidity,

CHRISTIANITY SUFI ED TO
and
all
the meaner motives which actuate

;
aggressive wars on their neighbours
but
mankind in I would ask

in
you what has been the general national sentiment

approving each successive acquisition
?
do not speak
of the motives of individual actors, but of the English

nation at large, in ratifying and retaining the conquests
from time to time achieved.

I
answer, without hesitation, that
it
has been
t,
feeling of
duty towards the conquered
conviction
that
we could
not recede without abdicating the power
of doing good to great masses of mankind, and thus

permitting the existence of
much
preventable
evil.
No
lower motive would,
I feel sure,
have
sufficed to
make
the English nation at large approve the action of her

children in India in time past, or would
now induce
burdens
a misexists
Englishmen
at large to continue to sustain the

It
and
responsibilities of such a charge.
may be
;
taken view
that
that
is
matter of argument
fact,
but
it
is
matter of
and
it is
distinctly traceable
to the system of morality founded on Christianity
the duty of doing good to your neighbour

nation at large recognizes as
it
which
will
the
its
rule of action,
and
find
has a very important bearing on the value of

as
Christianity
civilizing
agent.
You
nothing
of
the
kind in the
motives,
as
far
as
it
we know
is
them, of any non-Christian nation.
But
them most distinctly marked among the most potent moving causes which
singular that
you do
find
have impelled other Christian nations to the conquest

320
ALL L'ORMS OF CLVLLLZA TION.

of non-Christians.
I
do not speak now of crusaders, or
of the religious element which was traceable
among
the motives of the Spanish and Portuguese conquerors
of past ages, though you

elevating, as far as
it
know how potent and how

;
went, that element was
and how,
that gave
as the religious motive
became
fainter, all
force as well as dignity to the action of the conquering
nation
seemed
to disappear
but
would ask you to

for the
note
how
largely the desire to use
power
good
of subject races actuates another nation which isperhaps
even more than ourselves a conquering power
in Asia.
We
Russia
hear continually of the ambition and rapacity of

;
but
we
are apt to forget that there
is
a power her bar-
urging Russia on to subjugate and
civilize
barous neighbours, which
is
more potent and more

and that
:
persistent than worldly ambition or cupidity,

is,
the religious duty of Christianizing and civilizing

in
any one who,
estimating the forces of

left
Russian
aggressive movement,
out of
view the impulse
derived from religious convictions
among
the leaders
religious
of national thought
that
all
it
was a national
duty to extend to
barbarians around them the

the pale of the Russian
of
calculation
blessings of being within
Church
would
leave
out
the most
energetic element of the motive power.
This notion of doing good to the conquered

moreover, an element not traceable
is,
among
the motives
of Assyrians, Romans, Saracans, or other conquering
non-Christian nations.
321
21
now arguing an abstract question of right or wrong. The desire of conquest is probably one of the most powerful and universal of human instincts. What we are now considering is how this
are not
universal
religion
;
We
instinct
is
modified
by
peculiarities
is,
of
and what
wish you to note
that in the
case of our
own
nation and of the Russian
two
of
the great conquering Christian nations of
modern days
considerations of which
origin to Christian morality
we can
distinctly trace the

to the effective
add greatly
force of the natural instinct, whilst they elevate
and
iiumanize
it
in a
manner of which no
trace
is
to be
found
in the action of the great
conquering nations of
other ages and creeds.
We
have spoken hitherto of the external action of
we when find in India. But what are its internal effects of it is received as their religion by the members those communities who are at about the same level of general civilization as the mass of Europeans in the Does Christianity act at middle of the last century and how ? all on them
Christianity on non-Christian communities, such as
.-'
,-'
Let us look
alone the subject
first
is
at
their
social
life
and
here
so vast, that one can, in the

this,
com-
pass of such a lecture as
barely touch on one or

us, for instance,
two characteristic
points.
Let
consider
the action of Christian teaching on Indian caste.

I
need hardly remind you that

322
all
Indian civilized
dis-
communities have one general characteristic which

tinguishes
them from
similar communities in other parts
of the world and in other ages

the traditions and practices of
would not
suffice
to
bound by Hindoo caste. Volumes describe Hindoo caste and its

all
they are
effects, social, religious,
and
political.
But there
is
an
aspect in which
it
may
be presented which
may
give
it
you some
faint idea of its nature
and power, though

which
allude
represents only one of the peculiarities of the great

caste system.
it is
The peculiarity
to
is
that
a great system of trades' unions, more universal
and better organized than any of the unions with which we are acquainted in Europe. Their origin in
India
is
lost in
antiquity.
The
earliest histories
we
possess recognize the system as one which had already
have swallowed up and assimilated the foreign elements and nationalities which at different times have been imported
it
grown
up,
and
appears more or
less to
into India.
As
far as
experience goes, Christianity

resisting
alone appears to have the power of
the
absorbing influences of Hindoo caste.

It
must not be supposed that the

evil.
results of caste
are altogether
I
How much
It
mischief caste does

to
have not time to describe, but

its
I will briefly refer
some of
dard of
good
effects.
maintains a high stanlife.
skill in all
the arts of
Even
in a
country
which
for the great part of a
century has been the
theatre of incessant desolating war, artizans, and even

artists of the highest skill, are still to
be found, owing
their existence, or the possession of their arts,

323
mainly
to the
system of
caste,
which binds every
man
this
:
to the
profession of his forefathers.
More than
in
caste
has
great
immediate
I
effect
maintaining
in the
moral standard.
do not say that
long run,
caste
I
is
and
in
remoter
results,
the institution of
It
is,
not bne of very immoral tendency.
believe,
infinitely inferior in point of morality to the
system of
Christian morals
but speaking with regard to imme-
diate results, there can be no doubt that one of the
primary
effects of a strict
system of caste
is
to
main-
tain a very considerable strictness of morals.
Of
rigid
It
its evils I will
only select two.

it
It
prevents any-
thing like national union, and
ensures a more or less
form of
is, I
social slavery.
tell
need hardly
you, diametrically opposed
to all the principles of Christianity.
religion
which
teaches, as fundamental doctrines, the essential unity
of the
human
race
the brotherhood of every member

the potential possession
of that race
and
;
by every
such
member
of every blessing of this world, and of
a boundless future
in
such a
religion can
have nothing
is
common
with a great system whose essence
divisions innumerable, impassable here
and
hereafter,
and practically annihilating the brotherhood of man,

Christianity
is,
as
you
all
know, perfectly compatible

in social
life,
with a
strict
observance of gradations
but
of anything approaching the

it is
Hindoo system of
then,
caste
the declared enemy.

is
What
324
as matter of
experience,
its
effect
on the great mass of the

ALL FORMS OF CIVLLIZA TION.
civilized
Hindoo communities, which
are,
with such
?
rare exceptions, devoted adherents of caste

I
answer shortly that intimate contact with Chris-
tianized
Europe and a general
diffusion of
some
slight
knowledge of Christianity have been the death-knell of

caste as the social
bond of Hindoos. Such a system
the growth of thousands of years,

millions of people
among hundreds
It
of
does not die in a day.

blow has been
It
may be
blow
that only the
first
struck, but that
has been a
the
result,
fatal one.
may
so.
take ages to work out
but the result can no longer be doubtful.

alone
It is not I
who
think
You
is
cannot gain the
confidence of any thoughtful, honest, educated Hindoo,
without finding out that this
his conviction.
He
may
Our
put
many
subsidiary causes in the foreground.
superior military strength, and our freedom of
political
and
social
thought and action
our
railways
our our all-embracing literature and open education our uniform laws, these and many other
and other means of rapid intercommunication
press
free
agencies will occur to him as the most efficient solvents

of
his ancient social system.
But he
instinctively
feels,
what we ourselves are sometimes slow to perceive,
that all these institutions and agencies are
somehow
the products
Christianity
tion,
is
and offshoots
logically
of
our
religion
that
and legitimately the founda-
the wellspring of influences, under a hundred
shapes, moral
and
material, which, while they con-
stitute our national life
and strength, are destructive

325
j ;
CHRISTIANITY SUFTED TO
Hindoo social life. He feels that the system of caste is doomed and can never more reign, as it reigned but one
of things as they have hitherto been in
generation
ago,
over the millions
of
Hindostan.
to
re-
Moreover, most thoughtful
Hindoos are ready

little
confess that caste would have

prieve even
if
chance of a
we were turned out

sink
of India to-morrow. so
all
The
and
strange truths which

of
people,
deep
their
into the
hearts
and influence
thoughts
actions,
have not been taught by any State

employed.
agency, and form no part of the apparatus which

the English rulers have consciously
In-
deed,
it
is
apt to be charged as a reproach against

it
our Government, that

missionary work,
has been too indifferent to

the
and
it
;
charge
is
well
founded,
as far as general abstinence from

ration can
all
active co-ope-
make
but
believe such abstinence

right,
to have been necessary
and
and
in the result
conducive to the spread of Christianity.
Experience
shows that a temporary withdrawal of the protection

of the
English Government, such
as
occurred in
some
parts during the IMutiny years of 1857-8, so far

it
from extinguishing Christianity, helps to spread

perceive that even
and candid and thoughtful Hindoos are not slow to

if
the English were
now
to leave
India
and
were
it
not
succeeded
still
by
any
other
to
Christian
power,
would
be
impossible
counteract the destructive influences already at work,
and that
caste,
as
a system
t26
of impassable
social

ALL FORMS OF CLVILIZATLON.
divisions, must, ultimately, give
way
before the ideas
which have taken root during a few generations of

close contact with Christian Europe.
It
would be impossible
to
contemplate without a
all
shudder such results as the solution of
the ancient
of people,
bonds of
were
it
society,
among
so
many myriads
influences
not that the
new
have shown
themselves at least as potent in binding mankind

into
new
social
combinations as in dissolving old
social ties.
It is
a curious fact that Christianity
whilst, as
all
one
of
its
fundamental principles, abjuring
claim to
interfere authoritatively in matters of social or political
organization, whilst inculcating the
paramount duty of
proved capable,
acquiescence and obedience to
all
lawful social arrange-
ments and
political institutions
has
beyond
all
othersystems, of inspiring successful attempts
at political
and
at social organization. Since the
Roman
society and polity began to decay,
men enthusiastically
imbued with the
spirit
of Christianity have ever been
foremost in the task of building up that great fabric

of European civilization which
now dominates
over
or
in
Whether in the wilds of Scandinavia, among idolatrous Teuton hordes, in the cloister,
the world.
the camp, in the parliament, or
in
the guild of mediaeval
Europe
or
or, in later ages,
asserting
by
speech,
by
pen,
by sword, the
rights
and obligations of mankind
the strongest
and most successful organizers and conas well as political, have ever been
327
structors, social
CHRISTIANITY SUITED 10
men
of the strongest, deepest, most earnest religious

convictions
;
Christian
differing,
it
widely as to particular doctrines of their
may be, most common faith

common
or particular practical applications of their theories,
but
all
deriving their inspiration from one
source,
and
referring, as the ultimate authority for all
they do, to one book, briefer than the scriptures of any

other faith, and which inculcates
all its
moral precepts
with a clearness and simplicity which an intelligent

child
can
comprehend as
perfectly
as
the
most
power
advanced philosopher.
We may
learn something of the comparative
of Christianity, as a civilizing and constructive agency,
who advised Charlemagne, and Alfred, the Conqueror, Edward the First, and our Tudor sovereigns, or the religious men who in later days have worked out our present politiby comparing the great
ecclesiastics
cal system,
with the
recluse, or the
Roman philosopher, the Hindoo Muhammedan fakeer, to whom the

'
conquerors of other nations might have had recourse

for
advice in organizing their dominions.
We
shall
io well to
remember
that the great organizers of our
jwn nation were generally typical examples of che Christianity of their own day when they were Assured that mankind needed the devotion of their
;
lives
and labours, the argument was all-powerful to jraw them to the service of the State. Is there any 3ther religious system which thus makes public duty
1
religious
obligation
cannot find
it
in
Greek
328
ALL FORMS OF CLVLLIZA TLON.

or
Roman
;
philosophy,
in
absorbed in the search for
truth
still less
the Hindoo or
is
Muhammedan
incompatible
sys-
tems, where the highest merit
attributed to ascetic
observances
which
are
utterly
with
attention to worldly affairs.

I
mentioned as two prominent

caste, that
it
evils of the
Hindoo
to social
system of
union,
slavery.
prevents anything like national
and reduces the bulk of mankind

effectual a cure
How
latter
Christianity supplies to the
tendency needs no argument or illustration from

but a word on
I
its
me
civilizing effect as a
bond of
felt
national union.
can speak from experience, that

a bond
is
the want of such
most keenly
by
educated natives
t)f
India, of every class
and creed,
one
who
desire to see their
own countrymen
rising in the
scale of civilized nations.
It is possible that at
time, under native sovereigns, caste, after a fashion,
supplied such a bond.

all
Its iron rules
ranks'and classes, and the political

all
edificte
bound together was stable

and
the
as long as
all
external influences were excluded; but

strictness of such exclusion,
depended on the
possible, that
it is
even without the foreign invasion
to
which Hindoo caste
owes
its
destruction,
edifice
must
in
time have been sapped by influences
which,
like Christianity,
do not necessarily require
foreign agency for their introduction.
However
that
may
be,
many
educated Indians are convinced that

;
the bond of caste can no longer be relied on

329
anc!
even those who have no leaning to Christianity
that whatever else
feel
may
be proposed in the shape

all
of
new
philosophies or systems of education,
lack the
essential element of including the lowest as well as
the highest classes in

including
all
its
grasp.
Caste -did this by

it
in
one bondage
Christianity does
What
I
by
embracing
all in
one brotherhood.
else
can be
relied on, in
these days of vast nationalities, which
render feudal subordination so impotent,
know
not.
For the present,
patriotic
Indians
are generally
content to acquiesce in foreign dominion, as the sole

alternative to internecine civil discord.
believe,
The
see
time,
must come when they

rulers are
will
that
the
influences which form the real

their
bond of union between
foreign
equally capable of uniting
the scattered elements of their

existence,
civilizing
own
social
and national
and they
will accept Christianity as that
element which alone can render their own

can obtain general
independent national existence possible.
But the time when

acceptance
is
this truth
still
probably
distant,
and educated
Indians generally hold that some reform of their
own
system
is still
possible,
and
offer
far superior to
anything
which Christianity can

are
them.
those
Their arguments
naturally powerful with

for
who
are
living
entirely
the present
for the
enjoyment of the
object but to
all
things of this world, and
who have no
life.
make
the miost of this present
For
such
it
must be confessed that the
attractions of Christianity
330

are less marked,
when
it is
compared with any great
worldly system, which, like the Hindooism or
Mu-
hammedanism
tural
classes,
of the trading, mercantile, and agriculplaces

its
sinnmiun bomim
in
a well
regulated enjoyment of the things of this

lofty
life.
The
aims and self-denying precepts of Christianit}'
have comparatively small attractions to those who

are devoted to the pleasures of sense, to the accumulation of wealth, or even to
many
forms of intellectual
luxury.
For
all
such, the worship of Aphrodite or

in
Mammon, whether
so
an abstract form, or
in the
form
commonly seen
the world
in
India
the actual material worship

superior attractions.
It is
its
of the creature
presents
when
and the things of the world,

first
pleasures and ambitions, cease to be the
objects
of desire, that Christianity offers, to those
who have
been absorbed
is
in
the pursuits of the world, that which-
not to be found in any other religion.
To
the
prosperous trader, artizan, or agriculturalist, thriving

in his
own
business,
it
and wishing only to enjoy the
good things
suffice.
obtains for him, almost any religion,
or no religion except the worship of himself,
may
He
cannot be capable of the happiness which

philanthropist,
life
a Christian
or
;
a devoted Christian,
can attain even in this

enjoy things as they
of sight
but he can at least

if
are,
and,
his
he can keep out

to
the future,
and
obligations
those
around him, he
it
may
live in
great enjoyment.
But
is
otherwise
when
suffering or adversity overtake
CHRISTIANITY SUI'IED TO
him, when he becomes anxious regarding the world
beyond the grave, or seeks to know

fellow-men.
parison
his
duty to his
is
In
all
these
respects there
no com-
between the teachings of Christianity and

In adversity
is
those of any other form of religion.

or
in
suffering, or
when the conscience
aroused
to ask
what
is
our duty with regard to our fellow-
men
no
religion
can give a perfectly satisfactory
answer
except
in
Christianity;
and
the
results
of
experience
India do not in any respect contradict

in
this
what we should a priori expect

Missionaries
tell
respect.
us that they
make
the prosperous traders or farmers,
way among except when griet

small
has softened the heart, or adversity has shown a

necessity of
some support other than that which can

still
be derived from worldly enjoyments.

III.
But we have
to consider the action of
Christianity as a civilizing element on a third class
of men,
infinitely smaller in
number than
considering,
either of
the great classes
we have been
but most
we have
life,
important as directors of the opinions of the world.

I
allude, of course, to those
who
are raised above the

first
sordid
material
wants of the
is
class
described,
whose main object

class,
not, like the gre.at
majority of the second
how
to exist, or enjoy
but rather to teach mankind the end and objects of
life
and the best mode of

iew
living.
These are the educated
who
are the great teachers of mankind.

affect or
How
does Christianity
act on
them
.?
332

I
might dwell on habits of mind which are most
congenial to Christianity, and which are distinctly fostered
of
by it, and which are also peculiarly characteristic some of the greatest teachers of mankind such are
;
love of truth, and teachableness of disposition. It might,
however, be truly said that such habits of mind are

not peculiar to Christianity, and that they are to be
found
in the greatest teachers of all
ages and creeds.
It is difficult in
Europe
to imagine
what would be
of every class
the condition of things apart from that Christianity

in
the midst of which every
member
has been brought up, and which must unconsciously,
by its influence or
ever>' opinion
traditions,
have more or
less
modified
he holds.
But
in
India
we
have, in their unaltered original
form, the prototypes of every system of philosophy
which has ever existed
in
Europe, and
we may
learn
something of the relations between those systems and Christianity, as a civilizing element, by observing
the attitude of Oriental teachers of philosophy in
its
all
branches towards our religion when
it is
presented
to them.
Time, of course, does not admit of even the barest enumeration of the various schools of philosophy,
still
less
of an
examination of their tenets.
But
there are a few broad characteristics of the grander

divisions of Oriental teaching
notice,
which
it
may
be well to
however
briefly,
with reference to their general
bearing on civilization.
CHRISTIANn Y SUITED TO
them all their philosoThey aim to teach the teachers of mankind, and so indirectly act on mankind
There
is
this
common
to
phies are
all for
philosophers.
at large
but the notion of a teaching which, like that
of our Lord and His apostles, was to be received,
wholly and completely, by
all
the
body of
disciples,
and which, as
far as
it is
necessary to happiness in this
world or the next, was to be learned as perfectly by

the poor and needy as
by the
is
rich
this notion,
which
all
pervades
all
Christianity,
utterly opposed to
Oriental philosophies.
perfectly expressed,
It is to
be found more or
less
and not unfrequently obviously

in
borrowed from' Christianity,

religions, which,
east,
several of the eclectic

in the
from time to time, spring up
and have, from
this cause mainly, acquired great,

;
and often permanent, popularity

derivatives, like the
Sikhism and
its
Kuka
schism,
owe much of
their
popular acceptance to this feature
in their teaching; so
do the precepts of Kubeer Punt, and of Tukaram, the

popular Maharatta poet
philosophies
Christianity,
it
;
but to the higher Oriental

its
is
unknown, and
it
absence gives to
which possesses
in
the fullest degree, an
immense
element.
practical advantage over them, as a civilizing
Something of the kind may be found

formula of the
in
the brief
Muhammedan
,;
Creed, the repetition of

intellectual passport
which constitutes almost the sole

for admission to Islam
but the whole genius of the

received
334
philosophies
which
have
any bias
from

Muhammedanism
is
is
exclusion of the vulgar.
Poverty
inculcated as almost necessary to a high tone of

is
sanctity, but the ruling idea
the exaltation of self

self,
the exact opposite to that denial of

first
which
is
the
step
in
Christian
practice,
and which makes
Christianity essentially a religion for all mankind,
and
not for any one sect or nation.
This
is
the most important element in what, for want

I
of a better word, of Christianity.
would term the "aggressiveness"

earnest Christian
is
The
spirit
irresistibly
impelled by the
its
of his religion to communicate
benefits to others.
in
He may
not rest whilst any

spirit
remain
is is
misery or darkness.
This aggressive
of wonderful power as a civilizing agency.
There
or of
nothing like
it
in the spirit of
Brahmanism
in
Buddhism; and the aggressiveness of Muhammedanism

is
as infinitely inferior, in
is
power and
motive of
endurance, as
action.
fear
inferior to love, as a
this suggests
human
And
a word on Christian toleration,
which seems to
Christianity,
me
an equally distinctive feature of
and a most potent element of civilizing energy. There is nothing of it in pure Muhammedanism.
It is
not to be found in the Koran, with

its
its
more than
Mosaic exclusiveness, and

all difference of
energy
in
exterminating
opinion.
Great civilizing
Muhammedan
from
sovereigns like
Akbar were compelled

its
to import
Christianity, or
derivatives, that toleration
which
the
was
their glory,
and the secret of

It
their success as
benefactors of mankind.
seems to
me
that
it is
335
CHRISTIANTIY SUITED TO
absence of this element which causes the
sterility
of
Muhammedanism, and
agency
;
its
want of power
as a civilizing
and as
this feature is the
essence
of
Mu-
hammedanism, we cannot hope for anything of a real permanent civilizing influence from any modifition of that creed.
This
is
of more importance to us here in Europe

first
than we might at
be such
a
suppose, because,
if
there can
thing
in
genuine faith
as Muhammedanism Muhammed, we have amongst us very
without a
popular creeds which have strong

religion.
affinities to
is
that
in
Next
to self-worship,
which
common
and
many
of the
that
all
other creeds, the
most
is
strik'ng
usual
aberration of
Muhammedanism
towards the worship

;
God
of forces, or of success
towards a belief
the enjoyments of sense are the rightful heritage
of the faithful
who dare
to seize them,
and towards
uncompromising and unarguing

differ
is
hostility to all
who
spirit
from the true believer's creed.

all
The same
manifest in
these respects in
many
of the anti-
Christian
schools
of
modem European
grave
treatises,
philosophy
and
literature.
Many
romances, of the present generation
have more of the inspiration of the
and many more among ourselves Koran than of the
New
Testament, and
if
the rules and proceedings of
the Fenian
organization or the Parisian
Commune
were studied without a knowledge of the time and

place where they were ênacted, they would be more
likely
to
be attributed to the camps of
Omar
or
ALL FORMS OF CIVLLIZATION.

Tamerlane than to the heart of Christian society
this century.
in
But to turn
other creeds.
to the spirit of toleration to
be found
in
The
toleration
of the
it
Brahman
or
Buddhist philosopher, striking as

sight,
appears at
first
proves when examined to be simple indifference
or neglect.
The absence
of
all
active spirit of persecution, as

is
long as the opponent
quiescent and
submissive,
which makes both Brahman and Buddhist practically so tolerant, is the offspring of contempt, and has
nothing in
common
with the toleration which springs
from
the desire to
do by
us.
all
men
as
\\'&
would that
of
they should do by
Time
is
wanting
for
any
detailed comparison
the civilizing tendencies of either class of creeds with

those of Christianity.
I will
mention but one obvious
tendency of the teaching of each, which seems to

to place
it,
me
as
compared with
Christianity, in a position
of decided inferiority.
Of the innumerable schools of Brahmanism, none is more popular in India than that of materialists, who
teach that
we can know
its
nothing, certainly,
save of
matter and
life
properties;
and that
belief in what we call
or
spirit,
save as functions and properties of matter,

belief in a spiritual deity,
and by consequence any a hopeless error and delusion.

is
Something of the
not
same kind
into
its
is
sometimes taught among ourselves, and
truth or falsehood
we
337
will
now
enter.
But
of
its
value as a civilizing agency
we may form some

hardly one of thf
idea, if
we
consider that there
is
practices
which the English Government has been

in
engaged
putting
down,
in
the interests as
we
not
believed of
all
humanity and
civilization,
which
is
clearly defensible under
any moral code which can be
deduced from such a creed.
For
all
instance, infanticide, or at least the slaying of
children for
is
whose nurture ample provision cannot

clearly
is
be assured,
principles.
defensible
upon
materialistic
So
all
the practice of Suttee,
and the
slaughter of
who have an
The
incurable disease, or
who
from age or infirmity are unable to provide
for their
own
subsistence.
great
community of Thugs
for their
have excellent materialistic reasons
mode
of
possessing themselves of the property of others, nor
do
can
see
how any form

objected
to
of rapine or appropriation,
which practically enunciates the right of the strongest,

be
by
any
is
strict
materialistic
vice, so
philosopher.
as
it is
Clearly there
no form of
long
not directly prejudicial to health, from which a
thorough-going materialist need be restrained.

is
He
own
the
himself the sole judge of right or wrong, nor need

in its relation to his
he regard anything except

physical enjoyment.
Pressed
with
considerations
of
this
kind,
Brahman
construct
materialist generally evades all obligation to
any theory of moral duty.

is
The only
ob-
ligation he acknowledges
to find out the true nature
338

and laws of matter, and how he can best
accordance with those laws.
one,
live
in
The
search
is
a long
and while
its
it
is
in progress the
whole world mayit
go on
way
unenlightened, unless
is
will
follow
the researches of the philosopher.
Surely there
nothing in such systems which can

possible, of Christianity
compare to the work, past or

as a civilizing agency.
Nor
find
is
the case
much
better
if
we turn
to
Buddhism,
the worship of pure reason, of which also one could
examples under other names among ourselves.

doubt
it
No
has achieved, in times past, triumphs of
civilization of
which there
it
is
scarcely
any
parallel in
is
history.
But
is
equally clear that there

it
some
defect which causes
now
to give way, as a practical
civilizing element, before Christianity.
As
a religion
mankind (apart of course from all question of its truth) Buddhism is proved, by the inexorable logic of facts, to be weaker than Christianity.
for
all
It
seems to me, the cause
is
not far to seek
Buddhism places its summum bomwi in escape from passion, and from all connection with matter, from life and from existence, as involving passion. Such a
system
may
evolve a high morality, or construct a
great fabric of political wisdom; but

offer
it has nothing to mankind, nothing which comes so home to the
instincts of all
humanity
as the Christian doctrines of
the resurrection of the
body and
339
life
everlasting in
union with a glorified body.
We may
debate forever
CHRISTIANITY.
over the proof of either doctrine
fact
;
but as matter of
and experience, there can be no doubt that they

of
appeal to the hearts and instincts

a
mankind
in
manner which the

Something of the
atheistic annihilation taught
by
the Buddhist philosopher never can.

feeling
which
have endeavoured
political union, is
it
to express, of the
paramount power of Christianity as
a civilizing agency, and a
bond of
apt to show
suspected.
itself instinctively
where
might
least
be
If a despot in
Christendom
is
anxious for his throne,
or
if
politicians find that the people long neglected
are getting loose from all social
and
political ties,
they
are apt to call in the Christian teacher, as though
he
possessed
some
spell,
the utterance of which could
calm the wild passions of unrestrained and untaught

humanity.
Such men
forget that Christianity
is
no
charm or magical
device,
and that
its
power
rests in
in time,
the hearts of believers.
Let them be wise
and before they put away from them the teachings of

Christianity,
and deliberately abjure

and
social
life,
its
obligations as
their rule of political
let
them remem-
ber that such gifts are not often twice offered to

or
men
ma}'
nations; and
that to nations, as to men,
it
happen, after once rejecting them, to find no place

for
repentance, " though they seek
it
carefully with
tears."
340
THE CONTRAST
BETWEEN
PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN SOCIETY.
THE VERY
REV. CHARLES MERIVALE, D.D.
THE CONTRAST BETWEEN PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN SOCIETY.

The
use of Sacrifice,
it
is
admitted, has been veryuniversal,
general, or
we may perhaps say

Wherever
in
throughout
the world.
at least there has
been an
there has
trace, the
idea of God, and a belief in His

efficient
existence as an
us,
agent
the world around
been the use of

practice
Sacrifice.
As
far as
we can
or rite
It
has reached back to the remotest
antiquity.
has been enjoined in religious systems
which claim to be even more ancient than that of Moses and of the Bible. Wê find it in the Vedas no less
clearly than in the
Hebrew
Scriptures.
it
In Persia and
Phoenicia and
far
Egypt and Arabia,
dates probably as
back
in
the night of ages as any that
can be
alleged from the Divine records with regard to the

children of Israel, or of the patriarchs before them.
We
must
either ascribe
its
origin to a primitive, or
so-called patriarchal revelation
Divine
command
before
delivered
through unknown channels,

343
ages
THE CONTRAST BETWEEN

Moses, to a race far earlier than the Jewish, and sup-
pose
it
to
have been propagated by
this race
through-
out the nations of the earth, and the Jewish nation
among
by
the rest
or we must conceive the idea to have

man, and spread
grown up
to religion
instinctively in the heart of
natural diffusion from clime to clime, from religion

;
to have been embraced, under the teaching
of the Hebrew lawgiver and under the special sanction of

the Mosaic revelation,
this
by the
children of Israel from
common human
in
original.
The
belief in a Divine
revelation to the
Jews and Christians seems

elder and the
to
me
to
be
nowise concerned with
the solution of this

later Scriptures
;
question.
The
are
equally silent as to the origin of Sacrifice
they no-
where declare or presume that the idea was Divinely

revealed, or the practice authoritatively enjoined
by
is
God.
hint
In the earliest of our Scriptures Sacrifice
always spoken of as a thing in

is
common
use,
but no
given of
its
having been originally commanded.

different views
And, accordingly,
the subject.
have been held upon

it
The
ancient Fathers,
may
be observed,
generally held that the practice was purely natural in

its
origin
and the ancient Fathers, familiar as they

things,
it
were with the heathen world, had a wider sympathy

with
it,
and believed better

it,
and hoped better
things of
fectly,
and of the hold

truth,
had, however imper-
upon Divine
than the theological schools
of later and less liberal ages.

But, setting aside this question as of
344
little
practical
PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN SOCIETY

moment,
through
far
I
would impress upon you the remarkable fact

previous ages, in
that Sacrifice, after having been so universally used

all
all
heathen countries, so
the
all
as
we know,
and not
in
the most civilized as well as
rudest,
heathen countries only, but in
non-Christian countries, including the Jewish, has, in

fact, entirely
ceased throughout Christendom ever since
the
first
promulgation of the Christian doctrine.

;
The
reli-
practice has ceased
the idea
is
abandoned
its
gious significance
is
utterly repudiated.
The Gospel
a Christian
has abolished Sacrifice.

believer
The
Sacrifice, as
would
say, of Christ has
been accepted by
the Christian world as the consummation of the idea,
which has been from that moment superseded in the minds of all Christian believers, and can never be
revived
It
among them. The
fact, I
suppose,
is
undoubted.
seems to
me
a very remarkable one.
have been
invited to set forth in
some
sort the Contrast
between
Christian and
Pagan
is
it
society.
The
I feel
its
moral, social, and

intricate.
political contrast
indeed manifold and

the more
The
do
to
more
think of
it,
my
inability to
its
justice to
to represent to
you
history or
philois
sophy, in the compass of a lecture.
All
can do
lay before you in this one great fact a fundamental
ground of contrast between the Pagan world and the Christian, and thence proceed to indicate, rather than
to sketch,
result.
much less to develop, its moral and spiritual Even so I may hope to suggest important conintelligent
clusions as to the claim which the Christian religion
makes on our
and earnest
345
belief.
Now
if
we supposed
the idea of Sacrifice to have
originated in a special revelation,
we might
easily in-
vent a theory to account for

revelation also.
its
it
extinction
by a
special
The
notion,
might be
first
said, of the
religious efficacy of Sacrifice
was
suggested to
man by
m.inds
Divine grace, and afterwards kept alive superof fixing men's
naturally, for the express purpose
upon the Great

in the fulness
Sacrifice that
was to be per-
formed
of time, in the person of the
Divine Saviour.
mystery, referred to
kind,
The whole subject would then be a God and His dealings with man-
and removed altogether from the category of
natural causes and developments.
But
if
we take
the other alternative, that which

itself to
is
more
likely to
approve
the theological views
of the present age, and suppose that Sacrifice sprang

in the first instance
from some natural
instinct of
man,
some
the
universal sentiment,
race,
some want
or aspiration of
it
human
how
extraordinary must
universal instinct
appear,
that this
natural and
should be
suddenly, universally,
and
for ever extinguished
by
the final Sacrifice of Jesus

Sacrifice
is
Christ,
wherever
that
accepted as an historical and theological
truth
If
we
look for the source of religious emotion,

it
we
seem
common, so universal among us, of the existence of some superior Being, some higher life, some greater power, with whom we
to find
in the sense, so
are inexplicably connected,

346
on
whom we
are mysteri-

ously dependent.
The
child first acquires this idea
from
its
experience, perhaps, of its

its
own
natural depen-
dence on the superior strength of
elders
the savage
is
from his consciousness of the great powers of Nature, by
which he
at the
lives
and has
his being, while
he
controlled
it
same time and educated by them.

is
This,
would
seem, whencesoever derived,
the
first
idea of God, as
a Being of power, mysterious and undefined, but ever

real
and present with
us.
The God
idea of Divine
its
power
in the abstract
tions.
soon passes into

idea of
special manifesta-
Hence the
that
is
as Creator of the world

it
and
first
all
therein
the
Creator of the world as
sprang into existence, then of the world continuing

;
and advancing, ever varying yet ever the same of life and the laws of life of body and the laws of body of mind and the laws of mind. Hence the idea of God
; ;
'as
a moral Being with a moral designâ Providence

infinite series
adapting means to ends through an

ing our investigation.
of
purposes, constantly attracting and as constantly elud-
Hence, once more, the idea of

goodness as well as of
infi;
God
as a
Being of
infinite
nite power, of infinite holiness as well as of
goodness
as a Being, therefore, of infinite justice as well as of
love
as the awful abstraction of eternal and immutable

If
Right.
man
began, then, with a mere blind awe of
God, such as has been compared to that of a dog for

his master,
fear,
he advances, step by
;
step, to
amazement,
and reverence
littleness,
if
he began with a sense of his
own
he grows to a feeling of humiliation and

347

self-abandonment.
He must
all
be utterly abased and
overwhelmed
at the conception of the infinite distance
between himself and
that he can call his own,
and
the great God, the Creator, the Sustainer, the Ruler,
and the Avenger.

communion,
Surely he must sink in despair
unless he can discover

in
some means
of putting himself
this infinite Being,
in
sympathy, with
of securing a share in His regard and interest, of
obtaining the assurance of His grace and favour.
A modern poet has

we
are
all
asked us
why we
in
should shrink
from living alone, reminding us
solemn tones that

all
born alone into the world, and must

it,
die
alone,
and leave
and that even while we are per-
forming our pilgrimage on earth, in the company of

our fellow millions, yet
we
are for the most part soli-
tary in our thoughts and conscience, and that

" Not even the dearest heart and next our own
Knows
half the reasons
why we
smile or sigh."
But
it is
this
very consciousness of spiritual solitude
that enforces the higher and deeper conviction that

are never left actually
we
and
entirely to ourselves.
is,
We
must acknowledge that our existence up with another
after
all,
bound
existence, our soul with another soul,

is,
our personality with another personality. There

are assured, a Being ever near us,
we
ever about our path

all
and about our bed, and that spieth out

with
our ways,
whom we
enjoy spiritual relations even beyond
the scope of our limited imaginations.
The
is
religious
sentiment of
man
declares that there

348
such a Being;

we do hold communion with Him nay, more, communion or sympathy may be indefinitely enhanced by efforts of our own. We call Him God we confess His presence within us, though we cannot see or feel Him we recognise the fact of our spiritual relation to Him, after the analogy of those electric sympathies of which we have sensible experience, though we cannot trace them to the action of the
that
;
that this
senses.
tially,
We
feel ourselves
not absolutely, not essen-
alone in the world, but rather in the presence of
a Stranger, whom
we are
inclined to admire the
the imperfectness of our knowledge of
Him
more for and we
yearn towards
Him
from our lone personality as the
patriarchs of old towards the stranger who approached

their solitary dwellings,
and allowed them to open
their hearts,
and make question and reply about the

interest.
things of the outer world, and exchange the greetings

of
human sympathy and

"
Be not
forgetful to entertain strangers," says the
writer to the Hebrews, "for thereby
some have enis
tertained angels unawares."
The
expression
apparits
ently proverbial.
rivation,
We
might be glad to trace
de-
and learn through how many generations the

embodies has been familiar to man.
Is
it
idea
it
simply a devout reflection of the Jewish mind upon

the Scriptural legend of Lot's reception of the angels
at
Sodom, or of the
"
three
men" under whose
likeness
God is said to have appeared to Abraham in the plain of Mamre Or is it a reminiscence of traditions more
.-
^49

widely spread throughout the ancient world, and
faintly repeated to us in the records of
still
Pagan mythocurse,
logy, of the descent of the deities
on earth to partake
of
human
?
hospitalities,
and leave a blessing or a
according to the reception they met with from their

creatures
Undoubtedly the human mind, meditating anxiously and fervently on the mystery of its com-
munion with the Divine, has imagined

visible occurrence of
to itself the
such blessed intercourse on
many
it
occasions,
its
and gathered strength
for its struggle with
own
spiritual solitude
from the conviction
has
then acquired of the actual presence and companionship of God, It has been under Divine guidance
it
has
been,
that
we may well believe, through special revelation men have been led to conceive of a time when
to reveal Himself sensibly to
He was wont
His
fa-
voured creatures, and to converse with them familiarly,
even as friend with
friend.
Such
records
earliest
is
the tradition conveyed to us in the earliest
of the
Hebrew
Scriptures
that
is,
in the
consistent
records
of
is
human
history
and
God visiting the first parents of our race in Eden, when Adam and Eve " heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day:" when "the Lord said unto Cain, Where is thy brother.''" and Cain
imagination.
human
Such
the tradition of
said unto the Lord, "

I
My
"
punishment
is
greater than
can bear
;"
and Cain
went and hid himself from

:"
the presence of the Lord
and again when
"
God
350

said unto
Noah, The end of
all
flesh is
come
before
me." with
However frequent
His chosen people
in
are God's communications
through
messengers
and
inter-
prophets
the later ages, the

is
manner of His
course with them

direct
never again represented as so
and familiar as in the earliest chapters of the book of Genesis. Whatever men may think of the
composition of the
tures, the primitive
reflects
first
book of the Hebrew Scripits
simplicity of
subject-matter
beyond
all
controversy
the earliest
condition of the religious sentiment
known among men.

traditions declare
But the most ancient of Heathen

man.
a similar belief in the personal revelation of
God
to
The Hindoo mythology
represents the Deity
as descending periodically to earth in a series of per-
sonal incarnations.
The legends
of Greece
may be
traced no further than to the date of the Iliad and the
Odyssey
idea was
but there can be no doubt that ages before
the composition of those 'most ancient of

rife,
poems the
throughout the Hellenic and Pelasgian
world, that the Divine Existences might mingle occasionally with

friends
human
society,
and reveal themselves as

their
all
and benefactors to
favourites
among
as
mortals.
Such intercourse
felicity.
mankind regarded
the supreme
visitations
The
all
stories of such blessed
were repeated with awe and gladness from

mouth, and
mouth
to
men
rejoiced in the possi-
bility of becoming so favoured and blessed themselves.
All believed, and
all
imagined how such

351
visits
might

be
solicited
and obtained
how,
if
obtained,
the
it
blessing might be improved to the utmost.
Men,
was conceived, might be admitted

Immortals
their
;
to
banquet with the

invitation to
to
sit at
meat with them by

;
heavenly entertainments
to receive
them
as
guests under their
own humble
roofs,
and gratify them
with the modest repast they tendered with hospitable

sincerity.
But thus to enjoy the society of the Divine

for a
Powers was a special grace reserved

ages of
few only,
the tradition of which alone survived in the grosser
human
corruption.
be again experienced until

nable,
Such marvels could hardly men, corrupt and abomisomething

let
should have
recovered
of
their
primeval purity.
Meanwhile
them
cherish
;
the
their
tradition of the past
by a symbolic
ritual
let
pious faith engage the Powers above to actual renewal

of the lost communion, at least invisibly and spiritually.
The
act of
Commemoration and the
act of
Commudistin-
nion would thus become blended together in their
minds,
and would never, perhaps, be clearly would seem, was the and Oblation
guished the one from the other.

Such,
it
first
origin of the
practice of Sacrifice
the offering up
to be
for
to
the Deity of such things as

to
his
man
felt
agreeable
the
taste,
own
carnal
appetite
flowers for the smell,
whatever
fruits
was
;
rich
and
rare
and
beautiful in his
own apprehension
and therewith
In
;he flesh
and blood and
fat of animals, the noblest
ind most enlivening banquets

352
among
his fellows.

the
sacrifice which mounted up to heaven men beheld the elemental food ascending to the abode of the Deity, and most nearly corresponding with
smoke of the
the lightness and delicacy of the ethereal natures
the nearest approach'which material conception could
make
to a purely spiritual essence.
The
intimations
vouchsafed to us of the state of
men by
our primitive
records give us no other idea of Sacrifice than this

that
in
it is
simply the offering of faith and thankfulness

of a past
memory
hope of bringing
His worshippers.
I
Him
communion with God, with the again into communion with

what may be
set forth
It
have thus
far described
called the
eucharistic
idea of Sacrifice, the idea of a
blessed
communion of man with God,

clear that this
is
under the
token of offerings of thanksgiving.
seems tolerably
the earliest idea of Sacrifice conveyed
both by the Hebrew and the Greek records of primitive antiquity.
But
am
not concerned to
insist
upon
it
as the true
origin of the world-wide practice

It conceives of the
;
of which
we
are speaking.
Deity
as primarily a
God
of love
but
it
must be determined
the
shall
by the temperament of the
individual man, or
genius and character of a nation, whether
God
be regarded primarily as a Being to

to fear
;
love, or a
Being
which of these
it is
is
the
first
and fundamental
idle
conception
speculate.
presumptuous to decide and

find the
to
We
two conceptions blending one

353
23
with the other as far back, perhaps, as history can

carry us.
If the earliest
Greek
religions
were bright-
ened with a general hue of cheerfulness and sweetness,

it is
not less true that they were partly founded upon
traditions of
gloom and
terror also.
The
primitive rites
fire,
of Phoenicia and Arabia were orgies of blood and
and the Levitical law of

as a protest against
Sacrifice
strong and vigorous

and
the abominations of Baal

first
Moloch, as became the

history
religious reformation in
was
fearfully
marked with a sense of the

it.
wrath of God, and the necessity of appeasing
If
we
take the eucharistic as the earliest idea of Sacrifice,

impossible to say
first
it is
when the
it.
idea of propitiation
became
and as
blended with
As
far as historical
records can trace them, the one was as widely spread

fully
developed as the other.
The
favour of
the Divine Being was to be engaged, and His anger

to be averted.
Some
his
sacrifice
was required on the

God.
in the sight of
part of
man
to prove his sense of subjection to
He
must confess
own nothingness
God,
and prove the
sincerity of his confession
by
Sacrifice submitting to some loss in token of it. became no longer the mere spontaneous oftering of what was pleasant to man it was the surrender of something that involved an actual loss and damage
;
to him.
The
was
slaughter of beasts was an actual loss to
the worshipper
feeling
and the
sincerity
of his
religious
tested,
and perhaps rudely measured, by
the
amount
ideas
of loss he thus incurred.
But
more
subtle
soon
intervened,
354
if,
indeed,
we can

pretend that more subtle ideas were ever absent from
the imagination, intently busy about the
means of
bridging over the chasm between the

shipper and the divinity he worshipped.
human wor-
It was not by the loss to the worshipper only that the god was to be propitiated and delighted. The feelings of
the victim itself
came
into consideration.
The
suffer-
ings of the beast seemed to reflect a vicarious merit
upon the man who offered him.

victim,
for
The
his
worthier the
beauty,
his
his
size,
his
strength,
innocence, the greater the merit of the offerer, the
more effective the Power who accepted

had once entered
propitiation
it.
of
the
inscrutable
When
this fearful
conception
mind of man there was humanly no limit to be assigned to it. Very early indeed in the career of history did it become accepted we can hardly trace the time when it was not so and very early indeed and here again we can hardly
into the
; ;
limit the antiquity of its introduction

in the
did
it
culminate
I
most
fearful of its
inevitable results.
refer,
as an illustration of
my
meaning
only, to the early
chapters of Genesis.
The
sacrifice of
animal
life
is
recorded in the same context with the offering of

fruits.
The
sacrifice
of Isaac, proposed, but

reveals to us,
if
not
accepted,
by the God of Abraham,

revelation,
we
needed the
the
that four thousand years ago

life
offering
of
human
in
propitiation
was a
common and
Christians
recognised form of Divine worship.

all
We
shrink with horror from

355
shedding of

blood, even of animals, in the service of God.
There
die,
may
must
to
be nothing cruel
die
in
it.
Beasts must
It
and
by the hands of man.

and inhumanity.
it,
might be fantastic
animal on the
denounce the
sacrifice of the living
score of cruelty
must denounce
logically spring,
as the source
But we may and from which must

in all
all
and from which has sprung,

times,
countries,
religions,
in
all
under the sanction of
except those which
we
claim to
come
the
direct
from Divine teaching, the

victim, the
sacrifice
of the
is
human
life
shedding of the blood which
of
man.
This, then,
is
the ultivia ratio to which the idea of

I
sacrifice tends.
have spoken of the universal accep-
tance of this idea

recognise
at
among
all
human
creatures
who
least the
being of a personal God, a
Creator, a Ruler,
closely into this fact.
and a Judge. Let us now look more I do not pretend, indeed, to follow
up so wide a subject exhaustively.

lecture
is
My
object in this
to point out a
marked contrast between the

and of the
actual development of the Christian religion,
most
illustrious
and most refined among the heathens.
The
deltas of the Nile, of the Euphrates, of the

settle-
Ganges, or the Indus, are the earliest known
ments of human
civilization.
Here are the

;
cradles of
the most ancient of heathen religions

sources, the farthest that
here were the

of the most
we can
trace,
common and most widespread

In
all
sentiments of mankind.
these nurseries of our race

356
we
find
the
same
FAGAN AND CHRISTIAN SOCIETY.

constant idea taking fast hold of the imagination, and
dominating the
devout
affections
of
man.
The
Mosaic records make no reference to the usage of

sacrifice
among
the Pharaohs in
Egypt
but Herod-
otus, the father
of secular history, affords us
ample
for
evidence that in his time, and, as
we may
infer,
uncounted ages before him, the Egyptians made the

sacrifice of
ritual.
animal
bull,
life
a marked feature in their religious
The
and
the swine, and the

offerings
;
ram
are severally
Isis,
mentioned as the
Osiris,
most grateful to
Ammon
and these were accompanied by

the offering of milk and
many unbloody
fruits,
sacrifices,
and cakes and
spices.
Authors of a
later date
than Herodotus
ancient sacrifice
make special reference to the very of human victims, for which, it' is aswas only a
later substitute.
serted, thatof animals

it is
particularly declared
by
Plutarch, that in the

is,
Thus town
their
of Ilithyia, Typhonic
that
air.
red-haired
men
used
to be burnt to the goddess there inhabiting,
and
ashes thrown into the
But
these,
rites,
it
was suggested,
in a
were primitive and barbarous

lightened age
for
and
more en-
waxen
by
figures
were actually substituted

however,
men
of flesh and blood, and these again were ulanimals.

Sacrifice,
last
in
timately replaced
some shape
dernier vwt
or
other,
was the
resource
the
flourit
of Egyptian
when
it
civilization in its
most
ishing period,
attained the art and science

;
required for the building of the pyramids
when
offered a storehouse of ethical wisdom, to which the

357

sages of the Grecian world, at the summit of
telligence,
its in-
might
resort.
The
antiquity of civilization on the Euphrates

;
may
probably equal that on the Nile
but both the records

Here,
and the traces we retain of

too, the idea of Sacrifice
it
are less distinct.
seems to have been imme-
morially prevalent, and was reported
by the Fathers
of the Christian Church to have been indigenous in
Chaldsea and Babylonia.

rife
Nor was
the practice less
throughout the neighbouring regions, the progress

less
of
which was not
marked than
that of Babylonia,
such as Syria, and Persia, and Phoenicia.

conception of the religious systems of
tries
all
Our
of
first
these counall
bespeaks
the
prevalence of
sacrifices
kinds, from the offering of the fruits of the earth to
the massacre of
human
beings, to the slaughter of the
purest and most innocent victims as the most meritorious
and
efficacious,
fire
to
the passing of
children
through the
to Moloch.
The
Syrians, the Persians,
the Phoenicians, and the Carthaginians were each in

their time
culture.
and place the highest exponents of heathen
Each
in their time,
each
in their
place, ad-
vanced mankind to the highest pitch of moral and

sesthetic refinement of
which
it
might then and there
seem capable.
Among
the worshippers of Brahma, on the Indus and
the Ganges, there seems to have been possibly an

earlier, certainly
a more durable, and
we may
believe
a more polished, phase of culture than any that

358
we have

hitherto noticed.
religious
,
We
have ampler knowledge of the

of any other primitive
systems of the Hindoos, through the existing
records of the Vedas, than

people.
Throughout the
is
ritual of the
Vedas the use

is
of Sacrifice
paramount.
Sacrifice
the one great
idea which imbues the whole of their religious teaching.

"
The
gods,"
they declare,
" killed
man
fit
for
for
their sacrifice.
But that part of him which was

offering
being
horse.
made an
went
out,
and entered
fit
into a
Thence the horse became an animal

killed the horse
to be
sacrificed.
"
The gods
but the part
fit
for
:
being sacrificed went out of it, and entered into the ox
thence the ox became an animal

"
fit
for being sacrificed.
The gods
killed the
ox
the part
fit.
entered into
the sheep, and the sheep became

"
The gods The gods
killed the sheep,
and the same happened

but the part entered
fit
to the goat.
"
killed the
:
goat
into the earth

offered.
"
thence the earth became
for being
The
earth turned into rice
hence the simple
rice-
cake represents the animal

is
sacrifice.
The
rice-cake
offers the
called
Purodasa
part of
he who
offers
Purodasa
sacrificial
all
animals."
According
to this scientific
development of the
first
.principle of sacrifice
God
the
the devotion, namely, of man

359
to
rice,
the simplest and most universal fruit of
the earth, becomes a comprehensive representative of

all
Other sacrificial objects.
But the offering of
rice
does not really supersede the other offerings.

sacrifice of
is still,
The
and
man
has been from
all historical
times,
in
manifold forms, a general practice of Hin-
dooism.
The
sacrifice of children, of
widows, of old
men
the
drownings
in the
Ganges
the prostrations
bespeak the per-
under the wheels of Juggernaut
all
petuity as well as the universality of
human
sacrifice
throughout the most polished nations of ancient and
modern
India.
The
offering of animals of all kinds,

is still
as well as of fruits of all kinds,
a practical com-
mentary on the pretended comprehension of all sacrifice

in
the offering of the simple rice-cake.
The world
itself to
of India
is
a microcosm in
itself,
and
almost every ethical conception which has presented

the imagination of our Western peoples has
also.
passed through the mind of these Orientals

the intellectual masters of the
But
modern world
are emi-
nently the Greeks and the Romans.
From them we
intellectual
have inherited or learnt the process of

reasoning, which
still
makes
their thoughts as
our
thoughts.
ciate
We
in
can follow out their ideas and appreevery point.

left
them
The mass
of literary
remains which they have
us puts us in actual
possession at this day of the storeswhich they have been
accumulating so
their civilization
many
is
ages before
us.
Accordingly
essentially our own; thereis
no chasm
of intellectual discontinuity placed between us and them,

as there
is
between us and the Egyptians and the Assy360

rians of old,
and the Hindoos both ancient and modern-
There
is,
however, no fact with which
we
are
more
familiar
from our early studies than that of the universal
use of sacrifice
among
the Greeks and Romans.
From
Homer
its
to Juvenal every
sacrifice.
volume of
classical antiquity
teems with
origin
is
Throughout the Hellenic world
concealed in the deepest obscurity.
The
these
eucharistic, the propitiatory, the expiatory,
all
ideas prevail
among
the
Grecian worshippers,
and
seem
to be intimately
blended one with another.

sacrifice
What
be no
were the primitive objects of

less indeterminable.
seems
to
Aristotle, indeed,
hazarded the
assertion that the first-fruits of the field were the oldest kind of offering, whilst that of animals
belonged to
a later usage.
But high as
this sage's authority
ought
to be on such a subject, there
seems reason to believe
that he
is
speaking rather from vague conjecture than

scientific
from any
deduction from the facts of history
accessible to him.
The
earliest records
point to
there
is
much
earlier traditions of
we possess human sacrifice

;
said to be
no Grecian city or people on

sacrifices
is
whom
and a
be
the guilt of
human
not fastened
usage so widespread
among them may

progenitors.
to have
fairly
reckoned to have had some primitive origin handed
down from
braced the
their
common
The Greeks
fully
seem, indeed, from the
first
most
is
em-
common
life,
conviction that blood
the seat of
the soul and of
and hence especially acceptable to

361
the Deity, as the highest and best of natural things

THE C0N1R AST BE TWEEN
the prime and bloom of the whole natural world
fit
therefore for a gift to
Him, and a token of gratitude
for benefits received, if not rather for the propitiation
of His favour, or in deprecation of His wrath and
judgment.
with
For blood, again, from

passions,
sin,
its
close connexion
human
might be regarded as the seat

guilt of sin
and root of
and by blood the

to
might
seem most naturally
be capable of redemption.
Whether the
ment of the
stitute,
sacrifice of
human blood was an enhanceby the blood of

animals, or
sirb-
price paid
whether the blood of animals was regarded as a

the extreme penalty of
accepted by the indulgence of the gods for
human
life, is
a question which
must ever remain
historically undetermined.
What
Sacrifice
has been here said of the Hellenic use of
may
be advanced equally of the Roman.
The
diversities of ritual
among
these two peoples,
whose
religious ideas
sprang generally from some comlittle
mon
origin,
can be of
importance on the present
occasion.
But the point
to
which
would lead you
is
the effect of Greek and

est point of progress,
Roman
us.
civilization, at its high-
upon the primitive idea which we
have had placed before
The advance
arts,
of culture
and refinement, the progress of the
the dissemi
nation of general intelligence, the growth of humanity,
seem
clearly to
have had no
effect
in
weakening
for
this
primary idea of the necessity of sacrifice
communion
sin.
with the Deity, for propitiation, or expiation of
What
these were at the
first,
:i62
obscurely indicated as

they are by the earhest dawn of historical Hght, the
same they seem
to have remained. Take, for instance,
the period of the upper
Roman
empire, the period
when
the refinements
of
the Hellenic world were
most widely and most

abated.
fully developed.
We
do not
find that the practice of sacrifice
was
in
any degree
On
the contrary
the accumulation of wealth,
the profusion of expense, the enhancement of luxury
and
fice
self-indulgence, all
contributed to
make
sacri-
more universal and more extravagant than ever. Thus Julius Caisar, on the morning of his assassination,
slaughtered one hundred victims
contemporary story
so runs an almost
It
in the
desperate endeavour to
obtain the genuine tokens of an atonement, which the

entrails of the victim
were required to present.
was
the
calculated that on the death of Tiberius,
when
all
world was madly rejoicing at the accession of Caligula,

a hundred and sixty thousand victims were offered
throughout the empire in token of the universal joy.
Augustus and Marcus Aurelius required so great a
number
said
of beasts for their fanatical services, that
it
was
first
of the one, and the saying was afterwards
applied to the other, that all the calves and oxen prayed that they might never return from their campaigns, for
if
Caesar conquered the cattle
must be
exterminated.
When
the
Emperor Nerva reduced by
a decree the number of the sacrifices publicly appointed,

it
was
for the special
purpose of relieving the state

36r
finances, the
burden upon which had become intolerable.
Many
show
wealth
other such instances might be produced to
that the
amount of
that
is,
offering increased with the
increased,
It
with the civiHzation
of
Rome.
was never materially checked by any

futility,
higher and more philosophic views of the
or
even the impiety, of the

generally embraced
common
all
idea of Sacrifice, as
by
the
heathen
peoples.
But
we must not suppose

itself
:
that even
among
the
heathens the doctrine
had no
intelligent
and
devoted impugners
the philosophers of the Hellenic

calling,
world were not untrue to their high
and did
not scruple to denounce the usage as a sin and an

absurdity.
We
have unfortunately
lost
the mass of
Greek
tus,
ethical literature
between Aristotle and Epicte-
which contained probably a more valuable contri-
bution to the history of the

that
human mind than any

;
we have had
at least
is
preserved to us
but a faint reflection
of
it
preserved in som_e scattered and desul-
tory fragments of the -Roman, and from these

that a few intelligent thinkers at least, and
we learn some intelliwhich we
gent schools of thought, maintained a gallant though
most unsuccessful battle
-against the idea
have seen to have been so generally prevalent.

Ceremonial religion has
its
Nemesis
the
human
it
;
conscience at last rises up and rebels against

doctrine that
the
by
ritual
observances the favour of the

lustrations,
gods
may
be secured,
that by vows, and

made
and
sacrifices,
of whatsoever kind,
this favour,
once
lost,
may
be recovered and satisfaction
for all failings

and transgressions,
the
fond fancy that the
finite
may
be brought into communion with the Infinite by
the mediatory effect of a solemn ceremonial,
this
revolts the truly penitent, devout, God-fearing con-
The reaction against the idea of Sacrifice which we can show to have taken place among the leaders of thought at Rome, which we may believe, though we have lost the means of tracing it, to have
science.
occurred at an earlier period in Greece,

shall presently refer as
it
to which
among
manifested
itself
the
Jews,
was
the result and

It
the token
of advancing
humanity.
was the
result of a kindlier culture, a
wider observation of man, and a deeper apprehension

of the Deity
:
it
was the
effect
of the later Greek
Academy, and still more of the Porch. But it was quickened and vivified, I believe, by the urgency of public affairs. A
philosophy, of the school of the
period of public affliction
is
always a season of
much
personal searching of heart.
We
trials
can see very plainly
how
civil
the individual
conscience of the
Roman was
probed to the quick by the

wars
:
and
sufferings of the
how
his
eye was turned inward upon
himself by external disaster, and he was driven to the

confession of his
sight of
own weakness and sinfulness in the Heaven. The ethics of Cicero are utterly
the idea of the efficacy of Ritual
inconsistent with
or of Sacrifice.
For
politic reasons, the philosophic

;
statesman
may
ccmsent in words to uphold them

in his
365
but the inconsistency of his argument,
book

on Laws,
palpable.
for instance,
and
his
book on Moral Duties,
is
In the remains of Varro the inconsistency

is
of the position of the political reasoner
even more
veil
apparent.
Varro does not throw even the decent
of Cicero over his conclusions, but openly urges his
countrymen to maintain the ceremonies and culture

of the State religion, while they acknowledge to themselves that such beliefs are false,
futile.
and such practices

in
But these were the prophets of the Pagan

of their
religion
day
men
far
advance of the
a mark in
popular sentiments
train of followers
ture,
:
leaders with no doubt a scanty

left
men who have
litera-
but failed of any deep recognition from the social

If their wiser appreciation of the
history of their age.
worthlessness of sacrifice was due to the progress of

culture in
minds of the highest
order,
we must
not
fail
to notice
it
how
superficial
and
transient
was the
effect
generally produced.
While Cicero was elevating morality above dogma,

and Varro was upholding the forms of
a matter of form only, a more vulgar
religion as
politician,
and a
man who was no

to the revival of
all
philosopher at
all,
the
upstart
Emperor Augustus, was

and
recalling the people of
Rome
the ceremonies of their fathers,
rehabilitating the traditions of a blind supersti-
tion along with her temples
and her
sacrifices.
All
Rome
at his instance,
and
after his
example, rushed
headlong upon the ancient ways. The philosopher and

366

sage reformers were
left
to their sneers
and protests
;
the people clutched again at the cherished ideas which
an age of unbelief had almost torn from them

the old world-wide superstition of sacrifice
diffused
ever.
and
than
was again
with more
boundless
extravagance
We
read the remains of
a few enlightened the timid question-
politicians,
we compare them with

fitful
ings of popular poets or the

toricians fresh
declamations of rhe-
from the sceptical schools of Athens,

beginning to dawn gloom of the used-up but however these may have
light
and we fancy that

at
last
was
athwart the
;
thick
Hellenic religions
become
rotten
at the core
and
in fact
they were
always rotten
they
continued to parade and vaunt

;
themselves in their outward forms and services
and
the use of sacrifice continued to be practised, even
heathen Rome.
more and more, throughout the remaining centuries of When once and again these outward
forms seemed for a

revived
moment
to be falling, they were
by fanatical enthusiasts, by a Domitian among tyrants, by an ApoUonius, an Aurelius, and a Julian among ideologists. The effect of culture and civilization
among
the
Romans
and
civilization of the
Greeks
the was,
is
heirs of the culture
on the whole, to
extend rather than to limit the primitive and universal

idea of the moral significance of Sacrifice. of the later
The
history
Roman
civilization
is
notably a record of
religious revivals,
and
in this respect
one of the
all
most curious subjects of
intellectual
367
study at
times,

and perhaps
revivals
especially so at the present.
All these
were marked in succession by a more and more vehement recurrence to this great first principle
all
of
heathen
religion
the
moral significance of
Sacrifice.
There
is
something painful to contemplate
in the
mere
fact of
bloodshed on so large a scale as that
which was of not unfrequent recurrence among these

polished peoples of antiquity,
sands
when hundreds thounay, tens of thousands of animals of various

Pos-
kinds, the noblest as well as the meanest, were thus
done to death on stated and regular occasions.

sibly
it
is
a mere sentiment that
is
shocked at the
death, the painful death, of such multitudes of living
creatures
but
it is
something more than a sentiment

witness
that
is
outraged by the spectacle of multitudes of

beings
human
brought
together
to
these
as a
horrors, to rejoice over them, to regard

gratification to the all-good
them
sins
and the
not
all-just
God, and
even a satisfaction to
transgressions.
forget,
Him
for their
all.
own
and
But
this is
We
must never
nor suffer ourselves to put out of
sight, the fact
that the use of bloody sacrifices has always, with one
or two signal exceptions, of which

speak, been
have presently to
or followed
preceded, or accompanied,
by
its
most shocking and terrible outgrowth
the
slaying of the
human
victim.
The
its
slaughter of bulls
itself
and goats
in sacrifice
itself,
is,
of course, innocence
innocent in
innocent in
consequences and

effects
compared with the slaughter of men, women,

Yet
all
and
infants.
heathen religions reek with
human
blood thus shed; and the most refined of the nations

of antiquity are
little
more
free
from
it
than the rudest.

looked back-
The
civilizations of antiquity generally
ward rather than forward. Their golden age was a past, and not a future. They expected no improvement from
progressive
development,
but
rather
regarded
all
progress as a decline from a primitive perfection.
And
accordingly they were always loth to part with any

ancient usage, and rather yearned on
all
occasions for
in
recurrence to the ancient principles.
Athens
the
age of Pericles or Socrates would hardly have invented

or drifted into the sacrifice of
human
at
victims
nor
would
faint
this
Rome
have done so under Augustus or Hadrian.
Even under the commonwealth

and ambiguous traces of
Rome
there are
it
;
legislation against
but
was rather a precaution against the use of human

in
blood
magic, than a protest against
it
as a prin-
Undoubtedly the Grecian mind, even while allowing of the rite, and celebrating it in its most
ciple of religion.
hallowed legends,
felt
a certain aversion from
it,
and
spoke of
it
with horror; while the Phoenician peoples

it
seem
to have gloated over
with a frantic delight.
The
Greeks, and particularly the Athenians, devised various
means of evading the practice, even while regarding it as a duty, by the substitution for the human victim of
animals, or of mere lifeless images.
Yet
in
spite of
the disgust thus indicated,
we
369
are said to find traces

^4

of
it
throughout almost the whole Hellenic world, in

all
the cultus of almost every god, and in

their
periods of
independent history.
There
is
no nation, we are
or
assured, of which
more numerous
are
more various
it
human
inferred,
sacrifices
recorded
and
may
still
be
from the language of Plato, that

offerings
in the highest
stage of Hellenic culture such
were
in
use
among many Grecian

is,
peoples.
There
entirely
however, evidence which cannot be re-
butted, that the use of

extinct
in
human
sacrifice
was never
were,
to
Rome
during the continuance

Deities
of
the
Pagan
empire.
there
whom on
certain occasions such sacrifices

;
had been
set
offered from the earliest times
and we cannot
aside the indications
crowned
resorted
as they are
we by
receive from various quarters,
express assertions as late as

still
the fourth century, that they were

to,
not unfrequently
and especially in times of public emergency.
Both
in
Greece and
Rome
such
rites
were used
for
the expiation of public rather than of private sins,
and the conciliation of the gods

stories of
to the interests not
of the individual, but oF the nation.
human
sacrifices,
The numerous some of them of the most

and Augustus
exaggerated, but must
wholesale description,
by
Julius Caesar,
and Sextus Pompeius,

not be set aside,
buried in the
Pliny.
"
may be
The Greek and the Gaul" were Roman Forum as late as the age of
time
b^^
The
living death of the unchaste Vestal, relast
peated for the
Domitian, was a religious
37^

sacrifice rather
than a criminal execution.
Hadrian
sacri-
deemed
fices,
it
necessary to legislate against
human
as in use in the middle of the second century.

this edict did
Yet
not prevent the sacrifices of
Com-
modus, Didius, Caracalla, Valerian, Aurelian, and other

later emperors,
down to the time
of Julian the Apostate.

cases connected
These
rites
were, indeed, in
many
with magical practices rather than the public service

of the temples
;
but even so they testify not the

it
less
to the prevailing and, as
might seem, the ineradi-
cable
conviction
of
the
human
heart,
that Divine
favour
may be
One
obtained, and Divine wrath averted,
by
the shedding of
human blood
as the choicest of all

this
offerings.
striking
instance of
prevalent
feeling shall
be mentioned, as standing distinctly apart
from
all
public ceremonial or political significance. In
the time of Marcus Aurelius, Aristides, the rhetorician,
on a transient
relief
from an incurable malady, believed
himself to be divinely informed by the god .^sculapius,
whose
priest
he was, that he owed
his
amendment
;
to
the self-devotion of his brother Hermias
but he was
further assured that the cure could not be complete unless his sister
Philumena
laid
down her
it
life
for
him
also.
This
sacrifice
was accordingly
it
accomplished, and
Aristides lived,
seems, to record
with pious grati-
tude to the god of medicine.
These notices give a very

of
slight
and meagre sketch
of the well-attested prevalence of sacrifice, and even
human sacrifice, throughout

371
the most polished ages

of ancient heathen civiHzation.
I
have drawn your
attention to ages of civilization only, and passed
by the
multitudinous records of a similar kind,

over almost
all
extending
the heathen countries with which
we
are acquainted in
modern
times, as well as in ancient.
No
doubt there are traces of an awakening of the

conscience to the folly and enormity of these
human
ity
practices,
under the growing influence

;
of
humanany
and culture
reaction
but we see
how
ineffectual
such
has been to eradicate the profound
original instinct,
and to
fortify the heart
and judgment
progress
of
against the stress of extraordinary temptation. There

is,
however,
strong
evidence that
the
humanity
assisted
in the Roman Empire was by the impulse of Christian feeling, even while Christianity itself was despised and persecuted. The light shed by the true religion upon the idea of
powerfully
Sacrifice could not
fail
to represent the practices of
the heathen world in colours odious and intolerable.
To
far
trace the Christian idea of Sacrifice
we must go
sacrificial
back into
history,
and revert to the
system of the Jews disclosed to us
in the Levitical law,
and patriarchal usage.

admitted by
need only point out to you

all
the religious significance of

all
the Jewish sacrifices,
Christian interpreters as a prefiguring
of the future Sacrifice of the Redeemer.
This
ritual
is
what
we,
as
Christians,
hold
to
us
the
of the
revolt-
Levitical law, bloody as
it is,
painful
and even
ing as
it
must be to the conscience purified and refined

372

by the softening influences of the Gospel, is explained by the reference we believe it to bear to the one great
Sacrifice of Christ, offered once for all for the sins of
the world.
For
us, as Christians,
even the offering of
Isaac
by
his father,
is
commanded
as a trial of faith, but

to the
it
Divinely averted,
conscience
humanized and sanctioned

in
by the Divine Antitype
which
is
ultimately consummated.
sacrifice,
And
is
this inchoate
human
be
it
observed,
the one single instance
throughout the revealed history of God's dealings

with His people
sanction
is
in
which any appearance of a Divine
given to the offering of
man by man
in
thanksgiving, in expiation, or in propitiation.

archal
free
Patri-
usage and the Mosaic law are both wholly

sacrifices.
from the taint of human
Whether
v/ith the
general concurrence of our Christian theolothe sacrifices of the Jews as a pre-
gians,
we regard
paration for the offering of Christ
a prefiguration of the
a
Divine design conceived from the beginning of the
world
or whether we proceed further to give them

secular
interpretation,
more
for
and admit them as a
Divine economy, making use of existing
human
ideas
Divine purposes, and winking in
Divine omni-
science at the times of man's ignorance,

fact, this
this great
singular fact remains,

religions,
that of
all
the great
mass of ancient
Judaism seems to stand alone
in its entire rejection of the
most
cruel
and odious of
from
the
human
enormities.
Derived themselves
all
Semitic stock, of which
other off-shoots have been
373

prolific of these
bloody horrors
refinements
the
man-slaying tribes of
Canaan
from
of
placed the midst of drawing

in
their
luxuries
votaries
and
of
the
child-burning
the
Moloch, the flower
Phoenician
civilization
the
Jews
kept
themselves
untainted
throughout with the slightest trace of devotion to the
unhallowed offering of
man by man. The

it
Sacrifice of
Jesus Christ, in as far as
can be compared with the
human
sacrifice of
which we have been speaking,
stands alone in Jewish history.

represents
is
The
idea which
it
the consummation of the idea of Sacrifice
as realized in the offerings of fruits
and flowers and

that
and the
life
of animals
but
it
does not represent, and

allege
it
no secular interpretation
developed out
ding.
of,
can
was
the practice of
human bloodshed-
One word more about

so strongly to indicate.
civilizations,
the persistency of the idea

it
of Sacrifice, and the instinctive origin which
seems
As
with the Greek and
Roman
so with the Jewish.
In each case, at a
certain corresponding era of culture
and refinement,
the conscience of the votary was smitten with the suspicion, ripening
sacrifice
into conviction,
that the practice of
could have no real power with God.
The
prophets
among
it
the Jews preached the
same
doctrine,
regarding
as the philosophers
among
:
the Greeks and
Romans.
"
For thou
desirest not sacrifice," says the

I
Psalmist, " else
would
give
it
Thee Thou
sacrifice
delightest
not in burnt-offerings.
The
374
of
God
is

troubled spirit
shalt
;
a broken and a contrite heart,

despise."
God
Thou not
in
"And Samuel
said,
Hath
the Lord as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices as
obeying the voice of the Lord

says
Isaiah,
"is
?"
"To
of
full
what
thy
purpose,"
the multitude
I
sacrifices
unto
Me?
saith the Lord.
am
of
the burnt-offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts,
and
delight not in the blood of bullocks or of lambs'"
Many more
which seems
your
such passages
may
be
cited,
but none,
perhaps, so strong as that of the prophet Jeremiah,

in
words actually to deny the Divine

:
institution of sacrifice at all

fathers,
"
For
spake not unto
nor
commanded them
in the
day that
brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning

burnt-offerings or sacrifices.
I
But this thing commanded

voice,
them, saying,
Obey
God, and ye shall be
My My
and
I will
be your
people."
It
was on the
strength, perhaps, of this stout assertion that Chry-
sostom,
sacrifices
among
them
the Christian Fathers, declared that

;
were not ordained by God

as an
while Tertullian
of
represents
economy whereby the God
Israel withheld
His chosen people from the idolatry of

;
the surrounding Heathens
and Irenaeus argues that
they served simply as figures of the one Christian

sacrifice,
and had no force
in themselves.
Even among the devouter Jews these denunciations

were held to indicate that the
Levitical
sacrifices
might
relieve
men from
legal impurities
and temporal
punishments, but had no reference to the future and

375

the spiritual.
But, under whatever excuse, the fact
remains the same, that the glosses of the prophets continued to be generally a dead letter only.
As
with
the Greeks and Romans, so with
t];ie
Jews, the ex-
posure of the
futility
of sacrifice had no real eftect in
checking the practice, or diverting the incurable propensity of
mankind towards
still
it.
With the
all
stirring lan-
guage of Isaiah and Jeremiah and

ears,
the rest in their
the Jews
brought their bulls and lambs to
the
altar,
year by year continually.
Down to the period

cessation of the
of our
Lcd's ministry there was no

sacrificial
stream of
blood in the Temple.
Our Lord
for
Himself did not scruple to accede to the usage of the

people,
and allowed His Apostles to prepare
Him
Holy
the Paschal Supper.
As
long as
the Temple
of Jeru-
salem remained standing, the
sacrifices of the
Place bore witness to the solemn observance of the
law of Moses, and to the one great predominant idea

of Sacrifice,
nations.
common
to the
Jews with
all
the Heathen
A scholar of deep
haps than candour,
and various
learning, but of
more
learning than penetration, and
more penetration permean the great historian Gibbon,

religion of
has pointedly remarked of the

that
it
Mahomet,
demands
religion
neither a
priesthood nor sacrifice.
He
aims, of course, a double back-handed blow at the
Christian
and the Jewish.

it is
these covert sneers
not
be,
Of the first of my business now to speak,

might not be
difficult to
though, sneer though
it
it
376

refute
it.
But the other admits of a double

place, the religion
reply. In
in
the
first
of
Mahomet
is
some
tradi-
important features a very ape of the Jewish and the

Christian,
and embraces no small portion of the

earlier
tions
and the usages of the

it
systems, on the
into
outskirts of which
was conceived and brought

fall
being.
tion
As
with the
of the
Temple and
the cessasacrificial
of the cultus
of the
Temple, the
observed
itself
ritual of the
Jews came to a sudden end, or continued

fitfully
;
to be
but faintly and
as with the
sacrifice of the
death of Christ
sacrifice
a mere figure of
a sacrifice
the use of
ceased for the Christian
Church, except
in figures, entirely
and
for ever
so
we
might well expect that the Mahometan
religion should
form an exception to the rule which we have seen to have been hitherto universal, and that among the
Mahometans the idea of

permanently abolished.
of Gibbon
is
Sacrifice should be fully
and
But
it is
not
far too sweeping.
The remark Mahometanism has

so.
its sacrifices,
although
it
may have no
regular priest-
hood.
The Koran
to
itself is said to
;
contain no specific
is
injunction of the
limited
rite
the outward cultus of Islam

fasting,
prayer and
and ablution
and
pilgrimage.
But the Koran does undoubtedly assume
the existence of sacrifice as an ancient

usage,
and pious
and attaches
to
it
a grace and a blessing.
And
again, though the Prophet

distinctly enjoining
it,
may have
is
abstained from
there
no question of the preeven to

this day, of the
valence and
strict obligation,
377

actual practice. Sacrifice
is
universally acknowledged
act,
by Mussulmans
sacrifices a
as a duty
and a meritorious
it.
with an
expiatory virtue attaching to
The Grand Caliph
camel annually
at
Ispahan as an act of
national expiation.
at Delhi has
Thedescendant of the Great Mogul

in
made
our day a similar offering.
The
popular ceremony of the Buckra Eed takes place at a
Mahometan festival in the autumn of every year, when a goat is sacrificed, like the scapegoat of the
great
Israelites, to
bear the sins of the people.
We may
remember the anxiety with which the recurrence of this festival was regarded during the Mutiny in
India, lest
it
should prove the occasion of a fanatical

the
us,
outbreak
among
Mahometan
population.
Dean
Stanley reminds
in his lectures
on the Eastern
Church,
how
the traveller Burkhardt could only enter
Petra in Arabia under the pretext of sacrificing on

the
tomb of Aaron.
The
railroad from the
Danube
to
the Black Sea was inaugurated within the last few
years by the sacrifice of two sheep.

vast slaughter of victims at
"
But, finally, " the
existing in the world
so
Mecca is the only scene now Dean Stanley continues

in its extent;
"that recalls the ancient sacrifices of the Jew and the

Pagan," that
is,
would say
still
but the
seen,
reli-
gion of the Hindoos
retains, as
I
we have
will
and
devoutly cherishes the principle.

faithful as the outcast child of
only add that,

its
Hagar
to
affiliation
to the religion of the Hebrews, Islamism has never,

I believe,
given countenance to the idea, so prevalent

it
as
we have found
elsewhere, of
378
Human
Sacrifice.

It is
enough
for
my
I
present purpose to point out

call
it,
the universahty, as
Sacrifice
venture to
of the idea of
among
I
;
the nations of the heathen world,

also
with
the
whom
must
comprehend the Jewish and

all
Mahometan among
say,
nations, I should, perhaps,
strictly
whose
actually,
religion
embraces the idea

;
of
thanksgiving, of propitiation, and of expiation

all
among
nations
with whose blood and lineage

in
Christianity has
come
contact.
deal with the

least,
bare fact
am
not concerned now, at
with the
causes or results of this world-wide practice, with the

spiritual
wants which
may be supposed
upon the
I
to have sug-
gested
it,
or the effects
spiritual life
which
it
may
fice,
be supposed to have produced.
need not say
another word about the horror even of
human
sacri-
which we
ha\ê seen to
it.
have been almost always
attendant upon
fact
simply point to the historical
and
ask the philosophers and the psychologists

it
to account for
that the idea
of Sacrifice has been

still
co-extensive with the heathen religions, and

tinues to be spread far
con-
and wide among heathen peo-
ples; that the progress of civilization
and refinement
effect in
and
ing
sensibility has
it
;
had no substantial
wit
check-
that
human
and human wisdom have

it
;
utterly failed in permanently discrediting
so that
we
seem compelled
to regard
it
as something natural to
constitution, innate
man
something inherent
very being.
in his
Yet from the day that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was preached with power this idea
in his
379
THE CONTRAST BE TWEEN

has received a mortal blow.
Christ
fallen
Wherever the
sacrificial
religion of
has
to
penetrated
the
altars
have
the
ground
blood
;
has
ceased to flow,
offer-
whether of
man
or of beast
even the innocent

all
ings of fruits and flowers have lost
interest
and
reputed obligation, and no Christian worshipper has

ever dreamt of making such offerings in thanksgiving,
or in propitiation, or for the expiation of
sin.
This
is
a simple historical
ual significancy,
such,
it
fact,
and, letting alone
all its spirit-
may
well arrest our attention as

reverential admiration.
It
is
and demand our
evident that a
new power has come
into the world
new
force has been introduced to contend with the
original instincts
and impulses of universal manhood.
Man
who
has found a new Master
under the influence of the

first
human nature has come Divine. The Great Being

;
placed
man upon
the earth, with certain

for
instincts
and aptitudes, and gave him a disposition

of certain ends
the attainment
by
certain
means
allotted to him, has suddenly, all at once, in a
moment's
this
time, refashioned His handiwork,
and made
old.
same
man amenable
to other influences, while he learns to
abominate and trample upon the

Strong as such language
is, it
will not,
feel sure,
be found too strong, upon a candid review of the facts
which have been alleged.

in
Is there
anything parallel
human
history to the revolution which has been

?
thus set before you
Has any
religion or
any
philo-
sophy,
has
any moral
teaching,
effected
such a

victory over
created a
it
human nature new spirit in the

its
Has any
political training
heart of man, and relieved

?
from any one of
innate propensities
I
Compare
call
may surely this triumph of Christianity for such with the bent which from time to time has been
it
given to
human
disposition, to thought
and
practice,
by
of a
the ethics of Plato or
Zeno
by the
politics of the
Spartans and the
Romans
you
Luther
by the
religious training
Mahomet,
or, if
please, of a
Loyola
by the
shrewd
logic of a
by the
burning fanaticism
of a Peter the Hermit.

great effects, even
Over and over again have

lasting effects,
some
been produced
upon the temper of a people, of an

generations,
age, of a series of
struck out
by great truths or great falsehoods by the force of human genius. We seem

perhaps,
to recognize in them, sometimes, an inspiration from
God Himself; sometimes,
we
interpret
them
moral
in
as a delusion of the devil.
But
in the great
revolution which has been effected
by the Gospel
the suppression of the practice of Sacrifice, in the eradication of the principle of Sacrifice,
we
discover a
work
of another
type altogether from any of these

wider
effect reaching far
an an influence permanent, and,

this
I
we may
well believe, eternal.

it
And
is
upon the extent and permanence of

I insist,
re\' olution
that
before
would lead you to the
consideration of
its
intrinsic value
immense as
that
too
may
be shown to be
in reply to
the question so
revelation,
often advanced
by the impugners of Divine

381
the
after
question which,
free
suppose,
all
of us, in these
days of
discussion
:
and precipitate speculation,
have often heard

all,
produced
What great effect has Christianity, What title does her history give
her to the Divine authority and origin which she claims ?
Here,
say,
is
an answer to our hand
one,
think, not
the least striking
among the many that may be adduced.

produced by Christianity, to which
I
Here
is
an
effect
all
challenge
human
I
history to produce a parallel, in
demonstration of her power, and, for the present, of

\iQX
pozver only.
maintain that there
is
no evidence
it.
of
human
power elsewhere to be compared with

moral nature
It
seems to
my mind to approach to a new
moral creation
a
carl
reconstruction of Man's
which
account for only by a Divine impulse specially
imparted to him.
The
material Creation, indeed,
is
now
asserted
by many
I
to
be a mere process of natural

bold to deny that even this
it,
evolution
tiated.
an assertion they have not hitherto substanam

I
For myself
moral creation, as
have termed
can be shown to
is
have been naturally evolved
that there
anything
in
history parallel, anything in moral reasoning analogous,

to the
sudden and complete extinction of the human
idea of Sacrifice from the
moment when
Jesus Christ,
the one real sacrifice for Man, was offered to the cross at Calvary.
God upon
from
it.
But
effect
this
evidence of power
is
not
all
far
There remain yet to be traced the evidences of moral
and moral purpose,
in
3S2
the extinction of this idea,

which must combine with
revelation.
it
in
testimony to a Divine
The heading which

lecture
I
has been given

offer
is
have ventured to
this
me for " What
the
has
?
Christianity
done
course
for
man
The
contrast between
I
individually and Pagan and Christian
socially
society."
Now the
to
have taken
may
fairly require
some apology,
me, of treating
for the license
which was accorded to
my
subject in
my own
I
way,
may seem
have been exceeded by remarks extending only to
the abolition of Sacrifice.
But
have been really
running
than ma,
'ore nearly within the lines assigned to

it first
me
in
sight appear.
So wide and manifold

be treated here
a subject can, you will easily

its
see,
fundamental principles only.
To
follow
it
out in
I
detail
would demand a volume, or several volumes.
some fundamental principle which shall most strikingly mark the external contrast between Paganism and Christianity, and I seem to find none more striking than that which I have now set
look, therefore, for
before you.
But
require, further, that this principle
shall indicate a
moral as well as an outward or social

this
I
revolution
and
God,
sin,
find in
it
also.
The Gospel
extinguishes the idea of outward Sacrifice

offering to
in thanksgiving,
of
the
in
in propitiation,
expiation of
the outward objects of man's love
and
interest, flowers
all,
and
life
fruits,
and the
life
of animals,
and, above
Christ once
the
of man.
But the blood
of
offered, the
Gospel demands
383
self-sacrifice
the
sacrifice of patience, resignation, mortification,

"
and even martyrdom.

worthy
The
Christian esteems
is
it
the
highest evidence of God's favour that he

to suffer for faith, truth,
counted
and righteousness." and are
" All sufferings have a general relation to sin,
so far chastisements, but purifying chastisements, which
God
them
sends
now
as a Father, that
He may
not
inflict
hereafter as a Judge." " Trials are a
fection,
and pledge of Divine grace."

quoting the words of
means of perSuch are among

;
the commonplaces of Christian morality

a pleasure
in
but
have
the
illustrious
Dollinger, himself an eminent

trial,
example of patience under
himself,
if
not a martyr, a confessor at least for
high and solemn principles of Christian revelation.

Such,
sacrifice
I
say,
is
the fundamental idea substituted for
by the Gospel.
.-'
What
it
then, starting from this
idea,
has Christianity done for man, individually and

Individually
socially
has taught him the virtue of

enforced
patience and endurance,
by sanctions unless
known
to the heathen world
sanctions no
it
strong
than those on which the heathen reposed his idea of
outward
others
sacrifices.
Socially,
has
taught
him,
suffering himself,
;
to
sympathise
with
suffering in
it
has taught the simple
rule,
which no force
of words can
more
forcibly
express, to
do
as
we
would be done by.

the
Mark
at a glance the wealth of
new
ideas which this simple rule brings,
and has
brought into operation.

of the unity of
Hence the
3S4
prevailing notior
mankind
a notion fondly guessed by

some sages of antiquity, feebly recommended by poets and rhetoricians a notion which, under the pressure of
circumstances,
much more than
of conviction, slowly
into the jurispru-
and tentatively introduced

tion
itself
dence of a world-welding empire.
Hence the
aboli-
partial
:
even as yet
tions
but marching on inevitably under the banner of Christyet,
the
extinction
of deep national incomplete even
distinc-
ianity
of the great social crime of slavery.
Hence
beyond
the elevation of woman, and the respect paid universally in words, imperfectly, indeed, but far
the highest heathen example, to personal purity, to
temperance, soberness, and chastity
And
hence,
once more, the progress
among Christians. among us of
philanthropy generally, in ever-widening circles

principle that
the
man
to
no man
lives for himself,
but every
it
for the benefit of his
neighbour
that
is
the duty
of every Christian, in his sphere, to teach and

preach, to spend and to be spent, as a minister,
layman
princi-
though he
be, of
one
common
among
religion
is
the
ple, I repeat, of self-sacrifice,
which
the Christian
counterpart to sacrifice
the heathen.
The sage
of early Grecian culture

Plato,
went
Thales, a Pythagoras, a
about the world learning, as best he

of the later and completer culture of
might, truth and wisdom; and therein he recognised a

duty.
The sage
Rome a Dion
nius
Chrysostom, a Musonius, an Apollowent about teaching and preaching such truth

;
and wisdom as he had acquired

385
and
he, too, recog25

nized a duty, and acted according to his
light.
all,
But
none of
which
these,
if
he beheved
in
deity at
was
exempt from the degrading
influence of superstitions
we
Christians
have
exploded.
Socrates,
the wisest of the heathen, sacrificed a cock to yEsculapius.
Aurelius, the most virtuous
of the heathen,
slaughtered his hecatombs to Jupiter.
None
of these
conceived the example which Jesus Christ
first
gave,
and which
trust a multitude of
His followers have

in
humbly
itself
tried to follow
the example which forms

the
of these was
it
it
the one most striking contrast-
one most
significant
and most
fruitful contrast
between Pagan
said,
and Christian society

of no
of none
Pagan that
it
ever heard of has
been
said, or
could
I
be
said, "
He went
lies
about doing good."
believe, then, that the contrast
between Pagan and

development of the
illustrate this
Christian society
mainly
in the
principle of Self-sacrifice.
To prove and
position in vindication of our Christian belief

require, as I
would
have
said, the
space of a volume rather

I
than of a
lecture.
Whether
may have an
opportu-
nity of carrying out the argument, such as I have
sketched
will
it,
here or elsewhere on future occasions,

I
not pretend to anticipate.
have yet to learn

this
whether the foundation we have
day
laid
is
deemed
I
sufficient to
call
it,
bear the noble superstructure, as

I
venture to
which
have indicated only
in
feeble outline.
I trust
at least, that
what has been
said will not be wholly thrown away, but will have led
.^86

some here present
little
to views
and considerations of no
importance towards maintaining the sacred object

all, I
we have
hope, at heart, the defence of the Truths
of Christianity.
Z^l
THE FORCE IMPARTED

TO THE
EVIDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY,
FROM THE
MANNER
IN
WHICH A NUMBER OF
DISTINCT LINES OF PROOF CONVERGE

IN
A COMMON CENTRE.
BENJAMIN SHAW,
Esq.,
BARRISTER-AT-LAW, H.A., LATE FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE.
THE FORCE IMPARTED TO THE EVIDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY

FROM THE MANNER
IN
WHICH
DISTINCT LINES OF PROOF CONVERGE IN A
COMMON
CENTRE.
IF
I
had thought that
in
coming here to-day

office of
should appear to assume the
a teacher,
should have hesitated long before accepting the

of the
invitation
committee.
But
hope
may
rather
be allowed to consider that we are simply

in inquiring together into the
about to spend an hour
most important subject that can occupy the attention

of responsible beings.
Bishop Butler has said "that the speculative

culties in
diffi-
which the evidence of religion

explains this
is
involved,
may make He trial."

ordinary
sure
;
even the principal part of some persons'
by saying that "as the
chief
temptations of the generality of the world are the
motives
to injustice or unrestrained plea-
or to live in the neglect of religion from that
frame of mind which renders

391
many
persons almost
PROOFS OF THE TRUSTWORTHINESS OF

without feeling as to anything distant, or which
is
not
the object of their senses: so there are other persons
without this shallowness of temper, persons
of
deeper sense as to what
is
invisib'e
and
future,
who
not only see, but have a general practical feeling, that
what
and
is
to
come
will
be present, and that things are

external
condition
ill,
not less real for their not being the objects of sense,
who from
their
may have
small temptations to behave
small difficulty in
life."
behaving
well, in the
common
that "
course of
Hence he
chiefly
considers
what
constitutes,
what
all
and
of
peculiarly constitutes the probation in
senses
some
persons,
may
be the
is
difficulties in
which the evidence of religion

principal
will
involved; and their
and distinguished
under
trial
may
be,
how they
to
behave
*
and
to
with
respect
those
difficulties."
These words seem
me
not less true

It
now than
when they were

even more
so.
first
written.
may
be they are
As
there are individuals, so also there
are generations for
whom
If so,
peculiar trials are appointed.
Possibly what Butler speaks of

of this generation.
to notice
this
it
may be a special trial may not be useless for us

diffi-
how
considerately and gently he speaks in
passage of those
who
are subject to such
culties.
His own experience had, no doubt, taught him
the difference between honest perplexity and wilful

*
"Analogy," part
392
II.,
chap. 6

THE EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
unbelief.
It is surely
very desirable that Christian

equally careful to
apologists in our
own day should be

is,
recognize this distinction.
Our
subject to-day
"The
force imparted to the
evidence of Christianity from the manner in which a
number
centre."
It
of distinct lines of proof converge in a
common
has been usual to treat this subject by showing
that the final result of various great lines of argument

is
the
same
that by whichever of several great roads

arrive ultimately at the
we
travel
we
same
first
is
destinathis
tion.
I shall
have something to say presently on

I desire, in
view of the subject, but
the
place, to
draw attention
grand result
is
to the fact, that
what
true of the
true also of the successive

result.
I shall
minor stages
on the road to that

in
seek to show that
very
many
cases the arguments which converge to
the
same
final
conclusion are themselves
made up
of
applications of the
same
principle of convergent proof
on a smaller
scale.
:
To
begin at the beginning
the
first
point
may be
said to be the trustworthiness of the records
on which on
two
Christianity
is
based.
This trustworthiness
things
1.
:
obviously depends
Were they
written
?
a trustworthy account of events
when
their
"i
first
2.
Have they been handed down

393
to us
in
original condition without substantial alteration
We
will
begin with the second, because, though

it
historically later,
is
logically prior.
in
If the
records
as we have them are not
a trustworthy condition,
we can
been
I say,
derive no benefit from
what they may have
in their original state.
then, that the Christian Records have been

afford a
handed down under such circumstances as

greater in
guarantee for the substantial genuineness of the text,
some
respects than can be produced for

times.
any other writings of ancient
The
copies
of
the
New
Testament (says Mr.
Scrivener) "yet existing in manuscript,
and dating
far
from the fourth century of our era downwards, are
more numerous than those of the most celebrated writers of Greece or Rome. Such as have been already discovered and set down in catalogues are hardly fewer than two thousand On the other
hand, manuscripts of the most illustrious classic poets
and philosophers are

modern.
far
rarer,
and
comparatively
We
have no complete copy of
Homer him-
self prior to the thirteenth century,
though some, con-
siderable fragments
light,
have been recently brought to

assigned to the
fifth
which
may
plausibly be
century; while more than one work of high and deserved repute has been preserved to our times only
in
a single copy.
"
Now
the experience
we
gain from a critical ex-
amination of the few celebrated

should
MSS.
that
survive,
make
us thankful for the quality

394
and abundance

of those of the
New
Testament.
These
last present
us with a vast and almost
inexhaustible supply of
materials for tracing the history, and upholding (at

least within certain limits) the purity of the sacred
text: every copy,

will contribute
if
used diligently and with judgment,

to these ends.
somewhat
So
far
is
the
copiousness of our stores from causing doubt or perplexity to the genuine student of
it
leads
him
to recognize the
Holy Scripture, that more fully its general

variation.
integrity in the midst
of partial
What
for the
would the thoughtful reader of vEschylus give

like
guidance through the obscurities which vex his
patience
and mar
his
enjoyment of that sublime
poet
.''
"
Here then
principle.
at once
we
find
an
illustration of
our
We
have the double advantage both of

of a greater number of
older
MSS. and
MSS. than
identical,
in
the case of profane authors.

these two advantages are
You
will observe
that
by no means
nor
does the one imply the other.

sessed
We
of
might have pos-
a very limited number of
antiquity, or a very large

date.
number
both,
MSS. MSS.
of great
of recent
is
As
fact,
we have
and our text
the
result of careful deductions
founded both on the an-
and on the number of our copies. Again in taking the latter point alone, viz., the number of our copies, we have a striking example of
tiquity
:
* Scrivener's
p. 3.
" Introduction
1
to the Criticism of
tlie
New
Testament,"
Camb.,
86 1.
395
FHOOFS OF THE TRUSTWORTHINESS OF

convergent proof.
multiplicity
So
far
as
it
is
founded on the
it,
of
MSS. which uphold
our text
is
clearly the result of a proof derived from a
number
of witnesses
thing.
all
speaking the same, or nearly the same,
Again
for the authentication of the correctness of

(I
our received text
am
speaking of course of
its
broad and substantial features) we have another and

a wholly independent class of witnesses.
The Fathers of the Church were in the habit of making frequent quotations from Scripture in their works. These works are in our hands in great numbers, and it is obvious that had it been possible to
falsify the texts of
our Bibles, the most industrious

all
corrupter could not have tracked out

that
lie
the citations
of
scattered up and
down
in
the writings
Christian antiquity.
ditional
security,
These, therefore, form an ad-
and a security possessed by the Christian R ecords in a degree far beyond that of other There have never been writings which have writings.
been so copiously quoted, by so
many
This
persons,
and
under such different conditions.

then,
is
line of proof,
strictly
independent of that afforded by biblical

in
MSS., and the two converge

Scriptures.
support of our present
But
it
may
be said that the Fathers were partisans,
and that
their citations are not to be relied on.

is
This argument
somewhat unreasonable.
396
It really
cannot avail to shake the great outlines of Scripture

to
which the Fathers give their
attestation,
whatever
force
may
be assigned to
it
as to smaller points.
But assuming it to be reasonable, I desire to point out that we have other and completely independent sets of witnesses to check and balance the former.
We have good
evidence that our present Scriptures
were referred to not only by the orthodox, but by heretics, and we cannot but see that each party must
have acted as a spy on the other, to detect error and
fraud.
Nay, more, we know that not only Christians but

heathens dealt with the documents on which Christianity
is
fournied.
Celsus Porphyry, and Julian (as

Evidences), in their controver-
may
be seen
in Paley's
sies with Christians attacked the early records of the
religion.
is
And
from the nature of those attacks there
room
to perceive that the Records in question were
substantially the
same
as those which
we now have
in
our hands.*
Once more
versions were
made
in
comparatively
early times of the Christian Scriptures.

are in our possession, and these also
originals
tical
Many
such
show that the

all
from which they were translated were iden-
with our present sacred books in
main
points.
Now
happen
you
will observe, that
it
by no means followed
that because the Gospels, the Acts, and the Epistles

to be extant in
MSS.
unusually ancient and
* See the observations of Norton on one doubtful passage of Celsus. "Genuineness of Gospels," vol. i, p. 63.
397

unusually numerous, therefore they would also be the
subject of quotation to a remarkable extent
still
by
friends,
less
by
foes.
Nor was
it
a consequence flowing
from any or
all
of these circumstances that they should
have been translated at an early period into various

languages.
These then are separate

in a greater or less
lines of proof, all
tending
degree to establish the substantial
identity of the
New
Testament, as we have
it,
with
the Books as originally written.
And
so many, and
such forcible lines of proof, do not exist for other

writings.
One more
evidence of
point
still
demands
notice.
The
style
and language of the

its
New
Testament are of themselves

Bishop Marsh
date and authorship.
has not hesitated to state this in the most decided

terms.
He
says, "
ment
is
precisely such as
The language of the New Testawe might expect from the
persons to
But we
whom the several parts of it are ascribed. may go further, and assert, not only that the
language of the Greek Testament accords with the

situation of the persons to
whom
it
is
ascribed, but
that
it
could not have been used

in
by any person or
per-
sons
who were
a different situation from that of the

It
Apostles and Evangelists.

lived in the first century,
was necessary to have

country,
and to have been educated
in Judea, or in Galilee, or in
some adjacent
to be e?iabled to write such a compound language as
that of the Greek Testament.

39S
Unless some oriental

dialect
the several books of the
had been familiar to the persons who wrote New Testament, they would
not have been able to write that particular kind of
every classic author.
Greek by which those books are distinguished from Nor would this kind of lanin
guage have appeared
the several books of
the
New
Testament even though the writers had

and
Evangelists.
lived in
Judea, unless they had lived also in the
same age
itself
with the Apostles
Judea
could not have produced in the second century the
compositions which we find in the
New
Testament.
The
new The
in
destruction of Jerusalem, and the total subver-
sion of the Jewish state, introduced

relations,
new forms and

as
in
as
well
in
language
policy.
language, therefore, of a fabrication attempted
the second century would have borne a different
character from that of writings
composed
in the
same
country before the destruction of Jerusalem."*
And
even
if
any should doubt

quite
the possibility
is
of assigning the date
so peremptorily as
here done
by Bishop Marsh from

will certainly
all
considerations of
language alone, they
not dispute that
these considerations do at
events determine the
time approximately and within certain unmistakable

limits.
And
the result
is,
that
we have an independent
species of evidence that the text of the
New
Testa-
ment, as
we have
it,
indicates an origin, both in place

v.,
Bishop Marsh's Lectures, part
pp. 88-90.
399
FHOOFS OF THE TRUSTWORTHINESS OF

and time, which
ascribed to
it
is
quite in
harmony with what
is
on external grounds.
to the other point
We
It
come now
the
trustworthi-
ness of the records in respect of what they state.
has often been observed that in

is
this point
of
view the force of the argument

proper this
weakened by our
habit of looking at the Bible as one book.
may be
in
another aspect,
it
However we must for

it
our present purpose look at

was, a collection of pieces
as,
what
originally
It is
by
different writers.
thus alone that
we
perceive the force imparted to the
statements by the fact that they are

distinct authorities.
made by
several
But before going further
it
may
be expedient that
to ascertain
we should devote a few moments
the
opinion of competent judges as to the weight which
testimony acquires when the facts of
a case are
It will
deposed to by several independent witnesses.
be best
writers
;
for this object to take other
than theological
and none can be better than those whose
profession requires
them continually
to
sift
and try
questions of evidence.
I
take then a legal writer of acknowledged autho-
rity
on the theory of evidence, and
find
him
putting the force to be derived from coincidence in

the testimony of independent witnesses in the strongest form.
He
" in a
even
cites
with approbation the proposition that
number
of concurrent testimonies, where there

400

has been no previous concert, there
distinct
is
a probability
from what
may be termed
the
sum
of the
probabilities resulting
from the testimonies of the
witnesses
a probability which
would remain even
though the witnesses were of such a character as to

merit no faith at
all.
This probability arises purely

itself
is
from the concurrence
That such a concurrence

as one to infinite
;
should spring from chance

is,
that
in
other words, morally impossible.
If therefore
concert be excluded, there remains no cause but the

reality of the fact."
And
he quotes an observation of Lord Mansfield
in
respect to an old decision reported

reporters, neither of
by two
several
whom
;
merited
much
confidence.
Lord Mansfield
said, " It is
objected that the books
are of no authority
but
if
both the reporters were

if
it
the worst that ever reported,

report a case in the
substantially they
is
same way,
demonstrative of
the truth
agree."*
It
is
of what
they report, or they could not
needless to remark at any length
how much
fair credit
this principle of the

is
weight due to concurrent testimony
intensified
when each witness deserves
in
himself
is
In such a case the resulting probability
of truth
not the
sum
of the separate probabilities
that the witnesses taken separately are speaking the

truth, but the product of these probabilities
;
a prin-
ciple of calculation
*
which shows how vastly the addivol.

i.,
Taylor on Evidence,
p.
75 (5th edition).
401
26

tion of each fresh witness increases the credibihty of
what
is
deposed
Paley
is,
to.*
And
no doubt, right
in the observation
that the corroboration derived from the concurrence
of witnesses
goes beyond the mere particulars
in
which they actually coincide.

"
principal witness in a cause," he says, " delivers

:
his
account
his narration, in certain parts of
it,
is
confirmed by witnesses
who
are called
afterwards.
The
credit derived
from their testimony belongs not
only to the particular circumstances in which the

auxiliary witnesses agree with the principal witness,
but in some measure to the whole of his evidence
because
it is
improbable that accident or
fiction
should
draw a hne which touched upon

points."!
truth at so
many
But
it
will
be said that
in the
evidence for the

not with legal but to some
|
Christian
Religion
is
we
are
dealing,
evidence, such as
treated of
by
jurists,
extent at least with second-hand evidence.
It
be-
comes therefore necessary

fications
to see whether
any
qualithis
ought
in
fairness to be introduced
on
account.
The
point
is
of importance, because a person of

will often
sceptical
mind
ask you whether you think
See Best oa
"The
Principles of the
Law
of Evidence," p. 405
{4th edition).
t
" Horte Paulinse," chap.

See, for instance,
v.
i
Luke
i.
4.
402
THE EVIDENCES OE CHRISTIAXITY.

such evidence as you are relying on
in
support of
Christianity would ever prevail in a court of law.
In legal proceedings
(it
may
be urged) we usually
admit only the evidence of eye-witnesses.

restrict ourselves to
We
cannot
such evidence
in
the history of
Christianity.
Again, we apply
in trials at
law the test of cross-
examination, to ascertain whether the witnesses are

really
independent or are confederates.
This also
is
beyond our power when we deal with witnesses who

are no longer living.
The
objection,
It
may
observe,
is
a very thoroughfor
going one.
tells
against history in general,
there are few histories that have not very extensively

to rely
is
on evidence at second-hand.
something a
little
But
in
truth
there
misleading in the contrast
thus sharply drawn between history and law.

distinction
The
past
ought rather to be made between inquiries

inquiries
is
into
ages.
contemporary matters and
into
On
the one hand, there

;
such a thing as
in
contemporary history
cases been written
and such history has

they narrate.
some
by persons who were themselves
eye-witnesses
of what
On
the other
hand, law has frequently to deal with past days, as

in cases
of pedigrees extending over several genera-
tions, or in the trial of ancient
customs.
And in
Family
these
cases law, like history, can but take the best evidence
in its
power.
Accordingly entries
in
Bibles,
inscriptions
on tombstones, the declarations of de403

ceased persons, statements found in old deeds and
documents, become of necessity (within certain

admissible evidence.
limits)
The
in
is
objection to derivative or second-hand evidence

is
connection with recent evênts
not so
that
much
that
it
necessarily untrustworthy, as
at
first
in
such cases
procurable.
evidence
hand
is
ordinarily
it
Hence, Avhen a
only what
is
litigant
keeps
back, and tenders

a
derivative,
is
he raises
presumption
against himself that he
suppressing the testimony
of the original witnesses from a fraudulent motive.
This presumpticKi
evidence
is
disappears
when the primary
no longer to be obtained.
fact,
History, in
when dealing with past ages has
securities of its "
own.
The
tribunal of posterity " (says a philosophical
writer) " differs
immensely from
jurisdiction,
all
others
for
it
is
one of unlimited
quisitorial
;
both judicial and
in-
it is
ever sitting, ever investigating, ever
judging
barred by no prescription, bound by no
estoppel,
and responsible to
no human authority.
The
securities for the truth of the records
and
tradi-
tions of the past which time has brought
down
to us,
consist in the multitude of sources to which they can
be traced, the large number of persons whose interest it has been to prtacrvc them from oblivion and corruption
;
above
all, \S\&
permanent
cjfccts
of events, visible
in the
shape of monuments and other pieces of real

ceremonies,
404
evidence, customs,
and
the
like
and

finally,
the actors in the scene having passed away,

rarely either opportunity or interest to fabri-
there
is
cate evidence in furtherance of their views or justification of their conduct."
This writer therefore treats

that historical
it
as a fallacy to suppose
evidence, because of a derivative or

is
second-hand nature,
evidence.
"
necessarily
weaker than
legal
The
fallacy,"
he says,
" consists in
treating each
generation as one single person, by

tion of the fact has been
whom
a bare relato the next,

inte-
handed down
and
not as consisting of a
its
number of persons
;
rested in ascertaining
truth
besides wholly over-
looking the corroborative proofs supplied by perma* nent memorials and the acts of men."
And
he
cites the
words of Mr. Hallam, who says

converge,
"The presumption
irresistible,
of history, to whose mirror the
scattered rays of moral evidence
may
be
when
the legal inference from insulated
actions
is
not only technically, but substantially, in-
conclusive." +
It is
impossible to state more strongly the principle

in discussing.
which we are to-day engaged
But
*
it
will still
be asked, how shall we ascertain
" Principles of the Law of Evidence," pp. 56-58. Hallam's "Constitutional History of England," vol. ii., p 106 (7th See further, as to Historical Evidence, chap. vii. of Sir G. C. edition). Lewis's work, "Methods of Observation and Reasoning in Politics" (London, 1852), and notice his distinction between secondary evidence
Best's
t
when contemporary and when non-contemporary.

405

that the witnesses on
whom we
seen,
is
rely are independent

first
For
this,
as
we have
no
the
requisite, other-
wise there
is
real concurrence, but
mere
repetition.
Now,
in historical
evidence
we must draw our
con-
clusions on this point
(amongst other things) from

This
a careful analysis of the narrati\'es themselves.

analysis
must be so conducted as to ascertain whether one narrative is a mere echo of another, or whether there are those minor variances between them which
tend to show that they are derived from
different
sources, in short, from the reports of different witnesses.

It is at this
point that the differences which exist

is
in the
accounts of what
respective
I
manifestly the same event

are of so
by
the
Evangelists
much im-
portance.
need not go into them at length, nor
does
sider
it
belong to our special subject to-day to con-
how they may be reconciled. The strange fact is that it apparentl}'
escapes the
attention of some persons, that did no such differences

exist
that
we should lose our principal means of proving we have several distinct lines of testimony, and
disabled
should consequently be
effect the
from
using with
argument from
this,
their concurrence.
all,
But
in
it
may
perhaps be said that, after

that
the facts
only amount to
we have
considerable identity
the different Gospels, accompanied by considerable

;
variety
and
it
may
be objected that
this
does not
necessarily lead to the conclusion that

406
we
are dealing
THE EVIDENCES OF CHRISTTANITY.

with accounts derived from independent witnesses.
The
facts of the case
(it
will
be urged)
may
be ex-
plained with equal probability by the hypothesis that

there was but one original witness, and that the variations are
due to the one story having been handed

different channels,
down through
and to
its
having
its
received legendary corruptions and additions in
course, varying in each case according to the particular
channel through which
it
came down.
Now
there are various observations which

this objection.*
may
be
made in reply to The early era

to
at
which we know the Gospels to

have
re-
have been promulgated and received does not appear

leave time for legendary interpolations to
been made to such an extent as the argument

quires.f
Again, the variations between the Gospels
often consist of additions which are wholly contrary

to
what the legendary

in
spirit
would
have framed.
in
Thus, for instance, the additional passages given
one Gospel and not
another are frequently found to
place the Apostles in a discreditable light in regard to
want of
faith, or in
is
it
other respects, and as the object
of legends
generally to magnify the leaders of the

is
movement,
obvious that there could
be
little
temptation to add episodes of such a character to the

original story.
* Besides the observations here offered, the arguments in Norton's "Genuineness of the Gospels," part i., should by all means be studied. t See Tischendorfs " When were our Gospels Written? " English Religious Tract Society, London, 1867. edition.
407
rj?OOFS OF
THE TRUSTWORTHINESS OF
Then, again, they frequently introduce gratuitous

difficulties (I
mean, gratuitous
if
they had not actually
occurred), which sometimes necessitate explanations

in the
passage
itself.
As an example
may
refer to
the last chapter of St. John (which narrates what is not found elsewhere), where the words, " If I will that
he tarry
till I
come, what
is
that to thee.?" are stated
to have given rise to a tradition, which the writer felt
bound
to
go out of
his
way
to correct.
In fictitious
writings
men
are
not wont gratuitously to create
stumbling-blocks for the sake of afterwards removing
them.
Or
again, they contain admissions

cause,
prima facie unspirit
favourable to the
which a legendary
would hardly have

rection our Saviour
inserted.
As, for instance, the
statement that on several occasions after the Resur-
was not
a
at first recognized
by
His
disciples.
Lastly,
there
is
remark which seems
to
me
deserving of careful consideration.
Legendary additions made by
different classes of
persons in different places, and represented by the

variations of the several Gospels respectively, w'ould
obviously have no connection with each other.

rived'
De-
from different minds, and due to distinct causes,

;
they would stand in no mutual relation
there would
be no clue by which to bring them together, because they would be

fictitious,
and would
rest
on
no
common
basis of truth.
40S
On
the other hand, in the case of merely incidental
differences in accounts derived from various sources,
each of which sources afforded a veracious but
in-
dependent
narrative,
there
may be
usually .found
points of reunion, so to speak, indications that there

is
common ground
in another.
of reality.
Now
let
us apply
this to
some of the statements found
in
one Gospel
and not
St.
John gives the raising of Lazarus, which
is
not
told in the other Gospels, but in the course of the story
we
find traits in the characters of the actors in the
scene which are similar to other traits of these characters

as depicted elsewhere.
Martha, when she hears that
Jesus
is
come, hastily goes forth to meet

but Mary, when at length she
energetic
sister, falls
is
Him
while
the
Mary, the more quiescent character,

house
;
sits still in
is
brought out
by her
weeping
reverently at His feet
an action which
(if
not recorded of Martha.
Even
in the
solemn scene at the grave, the busy,
managing, and
we may venture
so to say) interferforth.
ing character of the good
Martha breaks
"
When
the
command
is
given to remove the stone she inter-
poses with the well-meant objection,
Lord, by this
time he stinketh, for he hath been dead four days."
Do we
:he
not feel intuitively that these characters are

life
1
drawn from the
and are they not
identical with
Mary
of St. Luke,
who
sits in
reverent stillness at
active,
lesus'
feet,
listening to
His words, and the

409
practical
Martha, cumbered about much ser\ing, and

interrupting the discourse to beg that her sister
may
be
commanded
It is scarcely
to help her in her
work
necessary to observe that the raising
of Lazarus has been represented as an event of such
importance that
it
could not have been omitted
by
other historians had they
known
it
of
it
and that as
treated as a
they must have known of subsequent invention.

positive discrepancy.
if true, it
it
can only be a
In short,
is
Now,
it
is
just in this point of

in
view that the minute evidence of consistency

delineation of the finer traits of character
is
the
valuable,
as indicating that the narrative has just those points
of relation with what
is
told us elsewhere of the family
of Bethany which a true story would have, but which,
from their delicate nature, would probably be beyond

the appreciation of the composer of a mere legendary
accretion.
Again, take the converse,
viz.,
i.e.,
a point stated
by
St.
Luke, omitted by
Suspicion,
it
St. John,
the Ascension.
may
be
said, is cast
on the statement
of St.
fact
it
it,
is
not narrated by
it
Luke by the circumstance that this cardinal St. John, who must have known
happened.
True,
it.
had
St.
John does not narrate

reports our Saviour as
but he assinncs
He
ye
saying, "
What and
if
shall
see the
.''"
Son of man
ascend up where
rod
He was
before
{eav 6ewpr]re rov vlov
avdpdoTTou avaâlvovTa),
words which point to a
visible ascent in the presence of spectators,
quite inapplicable to a
and are mere inference that our Saviour

410
THE EVIDENCES OF CHRISTTANTTY.

had ascended to
heavên,
simply because
He had
dis-
appeared from among men.
Once more,
given elsewhere.
St.
John gives the account of our

is
Saviour's washing the Apostles' feet, which,
not
But
St.'
Luke,
in his
" I
account of the
Last Supper, makes our Lord say,

as
am among you
His garLuke,
one that serveth," which

in relation to
is
hardly intelligible
laid aside
except
His having
ments, and girded Himself with a towel, like a menial

slave, as described
by
St.
John.
Moreover,
St.
by
telling us that there
was a
is
strife for
pre-eminence
among
the Apostles (which
not mentioned by St.
John), probably gives us the circumstance which occa-
sioned our Lord's practical lesson in humility.
We have
been dealing with apparent variations, and

subsequent unauthentic accretions, but
rather perhaps point to that very spe-
have been seeking to show that they do not necessarily indicate
that they
may
cies of minor diversity which shows the existence of
independent original testimony, and thus

to insist
entitles us
on the argument that we have really distinct

this
lines of proof.
From
we
pass almost insensibly to the coinci-
dences which show affirmatively that those lines of

proof converge, and this not only in the main topics,
but
in
minor points where coincidence seems beyond

in St.
the reach of fraud, and cannot be due to chance.
Thus
Mark we have the charge brought against

he had
411
Jesus at his trial that
said, " I will
destroy this
rjÔOFS OF
THE TRUSTWORrillNESS OF
in three
temple made with hands, and

build another,
days
will
made without
hands."
St.
John does
is
it.
not mention this charge, but he does mention (what
not given by Mark) the language which gave
rise to
"What
things
this
}
sign shewest thou us, that thou doest these
Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy

I
temple, and in three days
will
raise
it
up."
Neither historian gives the whole of the information

required.
Each
false
gives a piece, and the pieces dovetail,

in
and that with such exactness as to indicate to us
what the
"
witness
consisted,
viz.,
in
turning
Destroy
Again,
this
in
temple
"
" into " I will
destroy."
find the soldiers
is
it
Matthew
xxvi. ^J,
we
saying to Christ,
thee."
Prophesy who
that smote
What
?
wit or njeaning was there in this piece
of profanity
fixing
Why
should there be any difficulty

}
in
on the smiter where
St.
Matthew
leaves us without
explanation, but
xxii. 64,
it
we gather
is
the solution from
Luke
mentioned that they had blindto

truth.
folded the Saviour.
Such coincidences surety belong

this
On
"
would earnestly recommend the study of Paley's " Horae Paulinae," Blunts
head
I
careful
Un-
desig-ned
tolicae."
Coincidences,"
and
Birks'
"Horae
Apos-
The
object
is
to
show that the coincidences are
real
and important, while yet they
relate to points so subtle
that they could hardly have been invented, and so
remote from the apprehension of any ordinary reader

412

that
it
would never have been worth while

in a million
to invent
what not one

It
is
would
perceive.
of course impossible to display in a single

It
lecture the force of such an argument.
depends
wholly on a comparison of
a large number of instances.
many
small particulars in
But to show the power

I
which
it
exerts on practical minds,

I
may
venture to
mention an anecdote.
holds a judicial
that
was recently speaking on the
subject of perjury in courts of law with a friend

office,
who
and he expressed
his conviction
the
evidence on which most dependence was
often to be placed
assertion, but that
was not that of hardy and
direct
which received incidental confirma-
tion from the putting together of independent circum-
stances; "In short," he said, "the sort of coincidences

in
Paley's 'Horae Paulince.'"
It
is
only necessary to
add that he
referred to Paley merely frcn its appro-
priateness to the subject.
Paley had not been men-
tioned in the conversation, nor had

in the
remotest degree of
we been speaking theology. The book was

had led him to
the mention
cited simply as an
example of the kind of evidence
which
my
friend's practical experience
consider as the most convincing. of Paley's work leads
And
me
to observe that the coinci-
dences
in
question
exist
not
merely
between the
Gospel narratives, but between the Acts and the

Epistles,
and
this in the
inartificial
most recondite and, at the
same
time,
manner.
Such coincidences
are very forcible, because the Epistles are not pro413

fessedly historical.
and events
kind.
I
They deal with doctrine facts only come in incidentally. Yet in many
;
instances the agreement
is
of the most remarkable
can now, however, only deal with some broad
features in
history.
It,
which the Epistles support the Gospel

has not occurred to everyone that,
the
earliest record of the
perhaps,
chronologically speaking,
appearances of Christ after the Resurrection appears

to be that given
by
St.
is
Paul in
Corinthians xv.
The
Epistle in question
prior in date to
any of the
Gospels.
And
it is
in substantial
harmony with what
the Gospels
in
tell us.
Yet
it
is
obviously improbable
the highest degree to suppose that the writer of
a Gospel had recourse to an Epistle of St. Paul to a
church
in Greece, in
order either to draw his materials
thence, or for the purpose of taking care that his
own
statements were not at variance with those which

St.
Paul had previously made.

fact,
In
the early date at which the Epistles to the
Corinthians
the fact
must have been written show us that of the Resurrection must have formed the
first
substance of the teaching of the

the
preachers of
new
religion
from the very
first.
Supposing
for a
moment
that the Gospels and the

at so late a
Acts could be found to have been written

been inserted
in
date that unauthentic miraculous stories might have
them,
still,
the Resurrection could
414

have been one of them
St.
;
for
we have proof
that
Paul preached
it
from the
first,
as the fundamental
fact
of Christianity,
It
the very kernel of the whole

fiction,
system.
could not have been a
invented
;
to give credit to the Gospel which he preached
for
" If
without
it
there was no Gospel for

is
him to preach.
Christ be not raised, then
our faith vain."

of
So
the
that
again, the
First
Epistle
Peter speaks of
in
Resurrection in a
apostle's
way
as
quite
harmony with
in
sermons
facts
reported
the
he,
Acts.
if
And
of the
of the
Resurrection
any
man, must have been an original witness.

therefore,
for
Supposing
certain
in the nar-
the
sake
of
argument, that
apparent diversities (whether real or not)
rative of the Resurrection, as given in the respective
Gospels, could be
to
shown
to detract
from the confidence

there would
still
be placed
in these narratives,
remain the direct statements of St. Paul and
St. Peter,
not to mention the clear implications to be found in

the Epistle of James.
Nor must
in
omit here to mention the support
which the statements of miraculous works contained

the
Gospel,
receive from
the
testimony of the
Acts and Epistles

such works.
in relation to
the performance of
Epistles
Not only do the Acts and
everywhere assume the miracles of our Saviour, but

they show by their own testimony that miracles were
still
wrought.
Take
for
example the remarkable
collection of miracles of healing stated to have been

415

wrought by Paul at Melita.
These miracles are
said
to have been performed by a man, of
whom
all
that
was known by the population of the island probably was that he was a prisoner being conveyed in legal custody to Rome on some criminal charge, and the
fact
of the miracles
is
deposed to by the
the
writer,
himself evidently an eye-witness.

able
The unexceptionabsence of
nature
of the
evidence, and
predisposing
causes for credulity or enthusiasm on
the part of the persons healed, are extremely noticeable,
and
render
this
case
worthy
his
of
much
state-
attention.
Again, in
St.
Paul's letters
we have
own
ment that he wrought

seems
to
miracles.
This statement
render nugatory the attempt to explain

narratives,
away the
and tends to resolve the ques-
tion into the siiigle issue of St. Paul's
own
veracity,
in
or conscious fraud.
The words
viz.
are found
an
Epistle which the most
sceptical of
modern
critics
admit to be genuine,
2 Cor. xii. I2,

"
and they
of
seem
to be sufficiently explicit.
Truly the signs
an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, Similar in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds."
language
" I
occurs
in
another letter
xv.
i8,
of
St.
undoubted
Paul says,
genuinenesss.
will
In
Romans
not dare to speak of any of those things
which Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient by word and deed, through
mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the

416
Spirit
THE EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY

of God, SO that from Jerusalem and round about unto
Illyricum
I
have
fully
preached the gospel of Christ."
The importance
narratives.
of these statements
may
be seen
from the observation of Gibbon as to
later
miraculous
"It
"
may seem somewhat
remarkable" (he
says)
that
Bernard of Clairvaux, who records so
many
miracles of his friend St. Malachi, never takes any

notice of his own, which in their turn however are
carefully
related
by
his
companions and
disciples.
In the long series of ecclesiastical history, does there

exist a single instance of a saint asserting that
he
himself possessed the
gift
of
* miracles.' "
is
If "ecclesiastical history"
here
meant
this
to
be
distinguished from apostolic history,
challenge
may
possibly be unanswerable; but
if it
includes the
earliest
age of Christianity,
just quoted.
it
seems expressly met

rely on
by the passages
These passages then we are
entitled to
as affording a confirmation of the statement of the
Gospels that the religion was founded under miraculous agency.

It is
a confirmation found in the letters

letters
of a man,
who
in these
pours out his whole
heart to the persons to
whom
he
writes,
and
in so
doing
exhibits
character which
the
discerning
reader will scarcely judge capable of conscious fraud.

It is
a confirmation afforded, not of set purpose, but
incidentally,
and
*
is
therefore the
more
xv.
free
from sus27
~
"Decline and Fall," chap.
FEOOFS OF THE TRUSTWORTHINESS OF

picion
that
;
and the nature of the confirmation
is
this,
little
if St.
Paul wrought miracles, there can be
reason to doubt the accounts of those

his
who say
that
Great Master did
so.
His evidence converges to
the
same point with
that of the Evangelists to this
extent, that Christianity
had a miraculous
origin.
it
Before leaving the subject of Testimony
may be
well to advert to a remarkable letter from a wholly

distinct quarter, that of the
heathen Pliny, a witness
not to be suspected of partiality.

confirmatory,
at
all
His evidence
that
is it
events,
to this extent,
proves the early faith and habits of the Christians

to
for
have been precisely such as would be accounted

on the supposition that the story
Pliny, in his
in the
Gospels
is
true.
famous
letter to Trajan,
says that
the Christians were

day, before
it
wont
to
meet together on a stated
was
light,
and sing among themselves,

another point of convergent
that
acts
alternately, a
hymn
to Christ as a God.
This
letter introduces
It
evidence.
indicates
in
were
a
done
and
ceremonies observed
Christianity
;
honour of the
too within events
Author of
in
I
and
this
very limited
the
space
of
time
after
the
narrated
Gospels are said to have

it
taken place.
And
think
mind to doubt that what same as that worship of the Christians described by Justin in his Apology, a few years later, as taking place on the first day of the week, and that it to some extent confirms Justin's
difficult
for
a candid
is
Pliny refers to
the
418

account.
At
all
events, Justin himself bears witness

first
to the fact that the

its
day was observed, and that

of the Resurrection.
observation was in
so, it falls
I
memory
This being
in
within the principle laid
down
the passage which

It
quoted just now as to
histori-
cal evidence.
of events visible in the shape of
comes within "the permanent effects monuments and other

as
pieces of real evidence, customs, ceremonies, and the

like,"
which were there spoken
of,
you no doubt
remember, as a peculiar security

records of the past.*
for the truth of the
Thus
far
we have been
travelling along the great
highway of
historical evidence.
In so doing
we have
starting
after
found that from time to time along the route junctions took place with other paths,
which,
from distant and unconnected points, were found

awhile to
fall
into the
same
line.
We
are
now
to leave the
main
road, which
we have
of
been hitherto pursuing, and to trace the course

the one
other main roads, which, though never coinciding with
we have
just followed, during their course
lead ultimately to the
same great
goal.
Instead of considering the coincidence of testimony,
we
shall
deal with the consilience of inductions.
As
before, I shall venture to premise a few
words on the
thus
recognized force and value in secular investigations of

the principle of which
*
we
are to speak.
It
is
See further on
this
point Leslie's " Short and Easy
Method witA
the Deists."
419

described by Dr. Whewell, in reference to the inductive reasonings of physical science.
" The evidence in favour of our induction is of much higher and more forcible character when
a
it
enables us to explain and determine cases of a

dijferait
kmd
from those which were contemplated
in the
formation of our hypothesis.

this
The
is
instances in which
has occurred, indeed, impress us with a conviction

certain.
that the truth of our hypothesis
No
acci-
dent could give

cidence.
rise to
such an extraordinary coincould, after
No
to
false
supposition
of
being
adjusted
one
class
phenomena,
so
exactly
represent a different class
when
the agreement was
unforeseen and uncontemplated. That rules springing
from remote and unconnected quarters should thus

leap to the
same point* can only

-j-
arise
from
tJiat
being the point where truth resides."
He
gives as an instance the fact that the force of
universal gravitation, which
had been
inferred
from
the perturbations of the
moon
and planets
by the sun
fact,
and by each
other, also
accounted for the
appar-
ently altogether dissimilar and remote, of the procession of the equinoxes.

"
Here," he says, "was a most striking and surpris-
ing coincidence, which gave to the theory a
stamp of
truth beyond the power of ingenuity to counterfeit." In other words, if a theory which we are led to
Hence he
applies the
name " consiHence

ii.,
of inductions."
t "Philos. of Induct. Sciences," vol.
p.
230
(edit. 1840).
420

THE EVIDENCES OI CHRIS! lANITY.
adopt as the only satisfactory solution of an important class of phenomena, turns out subsequently to be
also the only adequate interpretation of another im-
portant but wholly distinct class of phenomena, we

gain one of the strongest possible proofs that
our
explanation
It
is tJie
true one.
if
need scarcely be added that
our hypothesis,
instead of being found to explain two distinct series
of phenomena, should turn out to be the
means
of re-
ducing under the same

or
great principle three, four, five,

series,
more such independent
the conviction of
it
its
truth would rise indefinitely,
till
gained a height
that
is
which would be practically
infinite,
to say,
which no longer -admitted of the
slightest doubt.
So much,
then,
for
the principle as
applied
to
physical philosophy.
Applying
it
to
:
the question
now before us, we find it to stand thus The historical facts connected with
the origin o
the
faith
ot
Christianity, as brought before us on
testimony, are of such a character as apparently to

require
for
their
explanation the theory that the

is
Religion so originated
a Divine Revelation.
classes of pheOur next step is to nomena distinct from those we have just considered, though lying within the same great sphere of investi-
examine other
gation.
Let us take,
for instance, the leading
phenomena
presented by the system of Judaism, out of which,

historically speaking, Christianity arose.
421
And
here
it
might, no doubt,
be appropriate to
enter on the great
subject of prophecy.
I feel
But time
for so
does not admit, nor do

vast a task.
It
myself competent
in
can be treated
detail
I
only by
is
means of
a separate lecture.
All that
can do
to
present a brief outline of general
facts.
Well, then,
we must
start with the fact that the Old Testament system was probably the only ancient religion which
developed a conscious personal relation to

the
.
God
in
mind of the worshipper, and brought about a sense of communion between the creature and his
Creator.
Other systems
less force the
may
"
have inculcated with more or
maxim,
*
as thyself
"
;
Thou shalt love thy neighbour but can we find any that pretended
practically,
proclaim, "
all
Thou
and as a duty of general application, to shalt love the Lord thy God with
all
soul, and with all th}^ For the relationship inculcated in the Old Testament wâs not of a mere mercenary, but of a moral kind. It was not merely one of fear, but of
thy heart, and with
thy
might." t
gratitude and affection.
Again, was there any other religion which effectually

impressed
its
adherents with a deep or practical sense
of the holiness of God, and of the evil of their

sinfulness.'
own
If this
must be answered
in
the negative
spirit-
we must admit
that this religion
had moral and
ual elements which, as

*
compared with other ancient

t
Levit. xix. i8.
Deut.
vi.
5.
422

religious
systems,
rendered
it
something not only

our deepest
superior in degree, but distinct in kind.
But
this
religion,
thus
entitled
to
attention from the lofty moral

ples contained in
it,
and
spiritual princi-
involved also a complex sacrificial
system, avowedly intended to teach the doctrine of
atonement
in
for sin.
Such a system, when standing

principles,
it
connection with such
deserves a re-
spectful consideration
receive.
It
is,
which
might not otherwise

fact,
to say the least, a remarkable
not to be overlooked.
Now,
tions
this
system continues with
partial interrup-
down
to the
it
coming of
Christ,
in
and Christ adopts

remarkable way.
and applies
to Himself
life
He
claims to give His
as a
ransom
for
many,
to shed His blood as the blood of the
new covenant
These words
shed for
many
for the remission of sins.

sacrificial
can hardly be divested of

the victim
of the
allusion.
He
is
new covenant;
is
the
word
nezu
indicating that the old covenant

It is
passing away.
it is
scarcely straining the words to infer that

in
implied
them that the old system

it
is
drawing to an
end because
a greater
has accomplished
is
its
object, because
sacrifice
at
hand.
But how do events

Christ
is
correspond with this

death, and
language.''
put to
that (contrary as
we
learn to the original
intention of His enemies) at
the very time
of the
great
passover
is
sacrifice.
Forgiveness through
the Jewish
423
His
atonement
offered
to
people in the

preaching of His Apostles for a few years
sufficient
^just
time
for
that
people to
hear and reject the

fall
proffered terms.
And
then by the
of Jerusalem,
their sacrifices
and the annihilation of the Holy Place,

are for ever
If
made
to
impossible.
this
we add
Christ
that our
records declare
this
facts,
that
Jesus
expressly predicted
event,
have
we
no
not on the whole a series of
pointing in
for
ordinary manner
to
one hypothesis
their
solution, viz., that the relations of the
Mosaic system
with Christianity are such as to indicate that Christ
was
really
the
antitype
of
a divinely appointed
system of typical
position that
ordinances,
sent of
and to confirm the
He was
God
as the Saviour
of the world
.''
Will
it
be said that
this is not in reality
an inde-
pendent
line of proof,
because Christ and His followers
were Jews, and of course adopted and fell into Jewish habits of thought ? The answer is that the thoughts
we have been
expressing were not Jewish thoughts at
the time of Christ's appearing.
Though
it is
true that
they were then expecting their Messiah, and thus

confessing that the time for His coming had arrived,
yet their thoughts were of triumph and conquest, and
they
rejected Christ
because
He went
contrary to
them.
I
submit therefore that we have here a really indeseries
pendent
of phenomena, calling for the

is
same
explanation as
demanded by
424
the historical facts of

the Gospels, and therefore confirming the truth of that
explanation.
And
would add that we are bound
to
carry on the series of
phenomena one
step further,
this
and
to
include the
remarkable position which
Jewish nation has held ever since their rejection of

Christianity.
They have been a people without

falls into
country, a race which never
and fuses with

is
the other races of the world, yet
which
a homeless
wanderer among them.

a
To
this
must be added that
doom
of this very nature
was
laid
down
for
them
in
the original records of their law, in case they persisted

in disobedience.*
We
have next to consider what became of

of
Jesus,
this
in
religion
what have been

it
its
fortunes
succeeding ages, and what position

day.
occupies at this
On
this
head
shall "avail
:
myself of the eloquent

Jesus did, what
words of a modern writer

taught, and
years,
"
What
He
what
He
suffered, during those three brief

life
became
instantly a spring of spiritual
to the
world.
Dreamy,
distorted, grotesque views of
God
and His purposes, of man and

clearer, nobler,
his destiny, give place to
more
consistent,
its
Conscience recovers
all-conquering power.
sensitiveness,
more exalted views. and exerts its

its
Society feels
heart throb
into
with new
it
life.
There has evidently been infused

vitality, to
an element of nervous
which
it
has long
nature,
been a stranger.
obedient to some
The
spiritual
in
man's
invisible law, struggles

See Deut.
xxviii.
with the
62
65.
425

material,
and proves
its
title
it.
to
supremacy and
its
competence to maintain
Sensibility,
Life gains
upon death.
power, enjoyment, in
respect to Divine
things, to truth, to righteousness, to
communion with
the Highest, widen their domain, and the limits within
which healthy action goes on are rapidly enlarged.
There
life
is
resistance
but
to
no purpose.
religious
has been evoked, and cannot be
stifled
by coarse
and violent methods. Nor scoffs, nor

nor
fire,
threats, nor sword,
nor philosophy, can put out that which, but a

it
few years before,
seemed impossible
first,
to kindle.
in
Rome
own
smiles incredulously at
then
feels
its
veins the tingle of spiritual vitality, strives to expel
the strange invasion,
and
is
itself
is
subdued.
Much
;
perhaps of what meets the eye

but
symptomatic only
to
beneath
it,
and
is
perceptible
unprejudiced
observation, there
a substantial reality, a faith that

full
can remove mountains, a
assurance of hope, the

victorious
hope of immortality, a constraining and

love."*
I
need not trace at length the subsequent progress

It is as well
of Christianity.
known
it
as
it is
remark-
able as a fact of history.

in
But
must always be borne

in its favour.
mind
is
that
it is
not the simple progress oi a religion

It
that
is
insisted
on as an argument
tJiis
the progress of
particular religion, being, what
it is,
a religion inculcating
maxims
of purity and
self-
denial,
opposed to the natural impulses and habits of

* Miall's
"Bases of
Belief," p. 52.
London, 1853.
426

mankind, and demanding the inward ward subjection of the whole man.
butes
its
as well as out-
Gibbon
attri-
success in a great degree to
its
pr-omis'js of a
But he should have remembered that the Christian heaven could hardly have been a tempting object to any but Christians.
speedy and happy immortality.
The
desire for
it,
if
intelligent
and founded on the

with holiness,
promises of Scripture, presupposed a moral progress
and an
identification
least,
of
happiness
which, to say the
was
not the characteristic of
the Gentile world in the days of the
Roman
is
Empire.
in
At
this point
cannot omit to notice a passage
one of Professor Tyndal's works.
He
commenting
on an argument of Mr. Mozley's, that the extraordinary spread of Christianity indicates a miraculous
origin,
and he says
"
As
regards the function of
miracles in the founding of a religion, Mr.

institutes a
Mozley
comparison between the religion of Christ

'
and that of Mahomet, and he derides the latter as irrational,' because it does not profess to adduce miracles
in
proof of
its
supernatural origin.
But the
religion
of
Mahomet,
notwithstanding
this
drawback, has
it
thriven in the world, and at one time
held
sway
over larger populations than Christianity
itself.
The
spread and influence of Christianity are, however, brought forward by Mr. Mozley as a 'permanent,
enormous,
and
incalculable
practical
result
'
of
this
Christian miracles, and he actually
makes use of
result to strengthen his plea for the miraculous.

427
His

logical
warrant
for this
proceeding
is
not clear.
It is
the method of science,

itself,
when a phenomenon
presents
to the production of
which several elements

Heat,
;
may
for
contribute, to exclude at
them one by
effective
one, so as to arrive
cause.
length
at the truly
is
example,
associated with a
clude heat, but the

is
not
its
cause.
;
phenomenon we exphenomenon remains hence, heat Magnetism is associated with a

;
phenomenon we exclude magnetism, but the phenomenon remains hence, magnetism is not its cause. Thus, also, when we seek the cause of the diffusion of
;
a religion, whether
spiritual
it
be due to miracles or to the

founders,
force
of
its
we
exclude
the
infer
miracles, and, finding the result unchanged,
we
that miracles are not the effective cause.
This imfor
portant
us.
experiment
Mahometanism has made

;
It
has lived and spread without miracles
and to
assert, in the face of this, that Christianity
has spread
spirit
because of miracles,
is
not more opposed to the
of science than to the

It
common
sense of mankind." *
savours of presumption to utter a criticism upon any
reasoning of Professor Tyndal founded, even by analogy,

I
upon a physical experiment

venture to
aXX' o^co?
is
etpt^crerat.
submit that
in order to the conclu-
.siveness of
an experiment such as
that
all
described,
it
is
indispensable
the
other
conditions
and
elements of the phenomenon, with the single exception
of the
one intentionally excluded, should be
" Frrgments of Science," p. 5 1.
428

the
If,
same
in
both
cases
neither
in
more nor
less.
when we exclude magnetism,
order to ascerin its
tain whether the
absence,
phenomenon remains the same we have unadvisedly permitted some

experiment
is
other
potent cause to enter, our
inconclusive.
The movement
ism,
of a needle
may
be due to magnet-
or
it
may
If
be due
to
accidental
impact
or
concussion.
when we remove
the former element
we
are not careful to, guard against the introduction

latter,
of the
the needle
may
be equally put
;
in
motion,
though no magnet be near

perfectly true that
its
and yet
it
may
be
magnetism
took place,
movement was really due to when no impact or concussion but when the magnet was present. So in
in the case
us.
the case before
It is surely
erroneous to speak of
tJie
Mahometanism
as
having
made
experiment
in
which alone we have any
interest, viz.,
whether such
a religion as Christianity could have been successfully
founded without miraculous agency.
Mahometanism
had no miracles, but

which were absent
sical
it
had two potent influences
in
early Christianity
the
phy-
promises which
power of the sword, and the sensual hopes and These it held out to its disciples.
account for
its diffusion.
may may
Magnetism then
truly
itself
be wanting, but impact has introduced
instead.
The
is
conditions of the question have ceased

I
to be identical, and
respectfully contend that
the
experiment
It
is
inexact and proves nothing.

the
.
not
therefore
mere progress of Chris-
429

i,.:nity
that
is
relied
on, but the fact
that
its
pro-
gress, marvellous in itself, has
been made
in opposition
to
some of the most deeply seated tendencies of

added, that wherever
it
it
human nature. To which must be

received in
its
has been
primitive purity
has exercised the
most
beneficial effects alike
upon individual and na-
tional character.
Nor can these phenomena be explained by attri buting them merely to the excellence of Christianity as a code of ethics, and by disjoining its moral system
from
its
historical origin.
The same
tianity
I
author, from
whose argument
for Chris-
have already quoted, shows with great power that the Christian system is inseparably associated
with an individual personal history.
" So far," he says, " as the world has been moved by Jesus Christ, it has been by faith in, not so much what He said, as what He was, what He did, what
He
suffered.
All the doctrines of this system have,
from
the
beginning,
been regarded
is
whether
question
pro-
perly or improperly
not
now
the
as
the
springing out
the
life
of,
associated wath, and coloured by,

Strictly speaking.
of the Nazarene.
He
is
spirit of
Gospel testimony.
His relationship to God,

office,
His m.i-sion to man, His mediatorial

of His
of
life,
the tenour
the purpose of His death, the triumph
His resurrection, the

are the
unlimited
ic'cas,
extent of
His
authorit}-, these
all
personal in their
43

reference,
which have mainly wrought the revolujust glanced

narratives,
at.
tion
we have
He, as pictured to
illustrated in the
us in
the Gospel
writings,
and
apostolic
this
constitutes
the
one
source
of
spiritual
power, the
mainspring of
the
fears,
the whole
joys,
movement.
sorrows, the
The
hopes,
the
the
fol-
sympathies, the resolutions of His
lowers cluster round

object.
Him
as their sole
is is
and
sufficient
Their penitence
elicited
and agonies.
Their peace
peace
in
by His trials Him. About
Him
their tenderest
and strongest
is
affections twine
themselves.
His word
their law,
His love their His sympathy
motive, His example

their solace.
It
their stimulus,
was His name which inspired with

and death which
*
courage and fortitude "the noble army of martyrs";

it
is
the story of His

effectual to
it
life
still
is
most
subdue man's heart."
Now
seems indisputable that the original docufair
ments of Christianity might have put forth

to be held authentic
claims
and genuine, and the Christian

in
;
system mighthave stood

which
I
the connection with Judaism

religion
have indicated
and yet the
might
moral
for
never have become generally diffused,
or, if diffused,
might never have succeeded

revolutions which
in effecting those
we know
it
has
in fact
produced
the benefit of mankind.
It
might have been an unbut not a living force

in
impeachable code of
ethics,
human
nature.
"Miall's "Bases of Belief," p. 57.
Or
it
mii^ht have exertecj a certain force

its
on manmorality,
kind by the mere intrinsic excellence of
but this force might have been quite apart from any
special personal regard for
Him who
promulgated
its
maxims.
I
would add an observation not to be

been dealing.
of
miracles may, or
lost sight of,
in relation to the
kind of evidence with which
we have
not,
just
The evidence
weakened
down.
in
may
be
proportion as the
number
of ages in-
creases through which that evidence has to be
handed
But the evidence derived from the spread of

from
its
Christianity,
sity
beneficial effects,
is
is
of neces-
founded upon experience, and
clearer
and
stronger
Here, then,
now than it was for the early Christians. we have independent phenomena, each
all
of which might exist without the other, but
of
which do
in fact co-exist together.
And if we find
is
that
also
the hypothesis which explains
some of them
applicable to solve the others, can
drawing a very strong inference

right solution
.-'
we forbear from that we have got the

any other than
one
other
.''
And
is
that solution
is
the view that Christianity
Divine
Before concluding,
point.
would
mention
Sir
John Herschel says that
" the surest
and best
were,
cha'racteri:itic
of a well founded and extensive inducverifications of

it
tion
is
when
spring up, as
it
spontaneously into notice, from quarters where they

432
THE EVIDENCES OF CIIRISTIAMTY.

might be
to them.
least expected, or
even
among
is
instances of
that very kind which were at
first
considered hostile
irresistible,
Evidence of
this
kind
and
compels assent with a weight which scarcely any

other possesses."
I
do not
in the least desire to underrate the existing
difficulties of biblical criticism,
but
think in relation
to the veracity of the Bible narrative there are

cases, at least,
some
which are of a kind analogous to what

of.
Herschel here speaks

difficulties of a
mean where apparent
formidable kind have on further exa-
mination been found actually to yield confirmation to

the veracity of the Scriptures.
Daniel relates that King Belshazzar was slain

city of
in the
Babylon when that
city
was taken by the

Babylonian king
this
its
Persians.
Profane historians say that the capture of

in the reign of a
Babylon took place

called
Nabonnedus, or Labynetus, and that

city at the
king
fall.
was absent from the and kindly

treated.
time of
Moreover, instead of being slain he was
made
prisoner,
The discrepancy appeared for many years extremely formidable. But we now find that in an inscription,
discovered only about twenty years ago,

last native
Nabonnedus, the
king of Babylon,
is
intro-
duced as stating that
his eldest son bore the
Belsharezar, and he speaks
of
him
in
name of way which
suggests that he had associated him with himself in

*
"Discourse on the Study of Natural Philosophy," chap.
\\., p.
180.
433
28
PROOFS OF THE TRUSTIVORTHINESS OF

the government.
Hence
there
is
no
difficulty
in
supposing that while Nabonnedus was absent his son
was entrusted with the command of the

But not only
fact,
is
city.
it is,
this
view probable
in itself,
in
incidentally confirmed
by the very text of the
Book of Daniel. When Belshazzar promotes Daniel he makes him " the tJiird ruler in the kingdom." But why the third? In every other case in the Old Testament the favourite is advanced to the second place in the kingdom, the place next to the king.* The answer
obviously
place,
is
that Belshazzar himself occupied the second
and
that in placing Daniel in the thii'd he did
as
much
So
as under the circumstances
was
in
possible.f
again, on
if
the authority
of Herodotus,
who
speaks as
the vine did not
grow
Egypt, doubts
have been cast on the veracity of Genesis, because

Pharaoh's butler speaks of pressing the grapes into
the king's cup.
tions
on the
now clear from representaEgyptian monuments that the cultiBut

it
is
vation of the grape, the art of

practice of drinking
least
it,
making wine, and the

in
is
were well known
Egypt, at
therefore
from the time of the Pyramids.
It
Herodotus who must either have been imperfectly

informed, or must have been speaking of a particular
part of
* t
Egypt
xli.
only.|
;
Gen.
40-45
Esther
x.
Dan.
ii.,
48, 49.
See Prof. Rawlinson's "Historical Illustrations of the Old Testament," printed for the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. London, 1871. p. 170.
t Ibid., p. 49.
434

My
time
is
exhausted, but
my
task
is
still
unper-
formed.
Instead of exploring the whole
field, I
have
but shown you here and there a few spots, where,

if
you dig patiently

I
for yourselves,
you may
I
find
hidden treasure.
left
I
am
It
very sensible that
have
much
untouched.
must not be
it,
inferred that
am
On
disposed to neglect or underrate
because time
compelled
me
to omit
I
it.
the whole,
must be
satisfied
be more than
satisfied,
deeply
indeed thankful
if,
shall
this
in
day when the

to
tides of
modern thought seem

some ancient
to
I
some
shall
be obliterating
many
of our old landmarks,
have succeeded
uneffaced
in pointing to
footprints
by those
SaUing
restless currents
Footprints which perchance another

o'er life's
Some
forlorn
solemn main, and shipwrecked brother
Seeing,
may
take heart again.
435
MAN: A WITNESS FOR CHRISTIANITY.
REV. JOSEPH ANGUS,
M.A.,
D.D.
MAN A WITNESS FOR CHRISTIANITY

:
IT
own
is
natural for a lecturer to magnify his
office,
and to claim special honour
for the subject
he
has undertaken to discuss.
What
has deepened his
convictions, he cannot but believe will impress
others.
While aware of
allowance for
it,
this
tendency, and
still
is
must
making full think that the theme I

there were long ages
have to present to-day

clear.
remarkably weighty and
Under both Testaments
in
which the argument from prophecy and miracle,
from the authority of a living teacher or the charm

of an inspired
presence,
had small
force
and yet
under both Testaments there has never ceased to be

intelligent faith.
Even
in
the age of miracles, the
preaching of the Gospel produced readier conviction
than miracle
itself
The
plain
man
or the unbeliever,
on entering the Christian assembly and hearing the

Divine message, was convinced by what he heard,
and had to ackiôwledge that God was among them

of a truth.
It
was always blessed to have seen and

439

A/AA^:
to believe.
A WITNESS FOR CHRiST lAAiTV.

more blessed not
to
It is still
:
have seen
and yet
to believe
is
more blessed
is
not surely because
the evidence
defective
because the evidence
and the faith credulous, but more spiritual and the faith
tells us,
more
holy.
In Richard Baxter's younger days, the
evidence that most impressed him, he

the miraculous
historical
; ;
was
later,
it
was the prophetic and the

the internal
and, last of
all,
the fitness of
This
is
the Gospel to produce peace and holiness.
the "self-evidencing power of Christianity," the "portable evidence," praised
by
writers of all schools of
thought from Hooker and Pascal and

ridge and Vinet.
I.
Owen
It
to Cole-
Christianity
is
is
a theistic system.
first
teaches
;
that there
a God, a
in
cause of
all
things
va
God
who combines
Himself whatever we love
a.
father
or revere in a judge.
He
is,
as Plato calls
is
Him, the
fair
great cause of
just.
all,
the ideal of whatever
and
The
evidence that supports this view of

is
God
based as
it
on human nature and on observation

all its
modern science, with

only confirms.
discoveries
and changes,
That science busies
itself,
as
we know, with
when
dis-
tances and forces that are immense.

also with molecules so small that,
It busies itself
multiplied a
hundred thousand times, no eye has seen them or can

see.*
These molecules have

;
qualities of their qualities

p.
when apart
*
and they have other

440
own when com-
Tyndall, "Fragments of Science,"
151, etc.

bined
;
nor
is
it
easy to put any limit to the pro-
perties that
may
be supposed to inhere
in
them.
The
telescope
and the higher mathematics reveal

are bewildering in
facts of che-
distances of stellar space which

their vastness.
The microscope and

compel us to believe
in
mistry
which
the existence
of molecules compared with which the test-objects of

the microscope are
immense
reveal magnitudes which

;
are equally bewildering in their smallness
while each
molecule has properties of

the properties of the stars.
its
own
as undoubted as
To
take an illustration
favourite
Water has long been a

theologians.
theme with natural

its
Dr. Whevvell has treated of
laws as
Creator.
proofs of the
wisdom and goodness of the

it
Ancient philosophy deemed

science tells us
it is
an element
modern
a compound.
The hydrogen and

and
different
oxygen that form

different
it
have very different properties

are separate,
when they they combine. At

far
when away
the freezing-point of water, and

their particles rush
force.
below that temperature,
from one another with great

combine.
is
Send through
and the
result
the two a flash of electricity, and they chemically
Subject them
now
to cold,
a hard, brittle solid,
whose
particles closely cohere,
forming geometric
figures, facets of crystal, leaflets of
hoar-frost, each with a
beauty surpassing our most

Put into
441
cunning workmanship.
this
water living
vegetable matter, and the water will give up, under

chemical action, an equivalent increase of
it
life.
Let
now be imbibed by an
will
intelligent living agent,
and
it
be used,
in part at least, in sustaining
thought
and quickening
scientific
feeling.
That
life
or
its
thought are
molecules, no
themselves qualities of water or of
student of nature will affirm.

is
But
it
may
be
readily conceded that there
no
life
or thought on
earth without u'aste or change of the fluid substance
which helps to make up the

If
living,
thinking being.
an inquirer can conceive of these molecules as
possessing a tendency to become gases, and in these
gases a tendency to become water, and in water a
tendency to become a transparent
solid
nay, possibly,
he will have to become life and thought and feeling some conception of the theory of evolution a theory which some are applying to the explanation of the
:
entire
system of Nature.
These discoveries of science in relation to water are They have been repeated in many other Nor is it possible to say what further substances.
typical.
discoveries of a similar kind are before us.
But none
of these discoveries affect the doctrine of causation.
Every material thing is a each has its forces, and That what seem simple
force,
or a collection of
or
properties,
forces
property.
are
many,
one,
that
are
what seem many properties are possibly

science seeks to settle,
viz..
conclusions that do not change the questions which
What
is
the nature of
it
the force at work, and under what conditions does

442

act
?
Water may be
and
volition
gas,
and gas molecules.

properties
attraction.
Life,
thought,
cules
may be
of mole-
as
are weight and
The
question
material,
whence comes this force, which is at once and moral ? Either it is God, or it comes from Him. Now the one point upon which my theme leads me
still arises,
vital,
to insist
is,
that this
argument
is
based on
human
nature,
on the very laws of thought, and on experience.

possible theories of
human nature in relation to such questions as we are now considering From are (briefly) Platonism and Aristotelianism.
The only two
Plato to Hamilton on the one side, from Aristotle to
Comte on
the other,
all
philosophy
may
be grouped,
with slight characteristic differences, around one or

other of these two.
No
third
centre
is
possible.*
Plato maintains that from the very ideas that are

inseparable from the thinking substance,
in causation
we
believe
and
in
first
cause.
is
Aristotle maintains
that the search for causes
an attempt of the under-
standing to put into a simple form the facts of the

senses.
There
is
truth in both theories.
There are
far
things
we cannot but
believe, feeling the opposite to
be unthinkable or self-contradictory.
Platonists,
So
we
are
And among these

first
things
may be
all.
reckoned
the impossibility of the self-creation of a universe,
and the existence of a

the doctrine of a
*
cause of
is
But
besides,
first
cause
as complete a generalip. 15.
Coleridge,
"Notes on English Divines,"

443

zation as
is forced upon us by experience itself. Let us mark the argument. Phenomena imply a
any we can form, and

is,
by
the understanding, that
force force
competent to produce them.
When
active, that
it
shows
itself in
motion
when
quiescent,
still
exists,
only dynamically or potentially.
We
So
in
;
believe
in force, for
we
see results that imply

in
it.
Natural
there
is
Theology.
There are energies
nature
thought, and feeling, and volition in man.
If these
can be proved to be properties inherent in matter,

either matter
is
God, endowed with

life
all
His attributes
is
self-subsisting
who
or are
among
them,
or there
God
gives to matter, or to
spirit,
or to a mysterious
combination of the two, the properties which are seen

implied in the phenomena.
is
Whichever of
in physics.
these generalizations
the sounder, the method of
each
is
as scientific as
it is
any generalization
But
said the force
we
call
God
is
unseen, and
perhaps
spiritual.
the material world.
So far it differs from the forces of Can we reason from the visible
.''
to the invisible, from the material to the spiritual
Here, again, the answer
is
plain.
Biologists,
who make
a visible
the microscope and the scalpel their teacher, are
prone to think that force must exist

shape.
in
But
Professor
Tyndall warns
chemistry holds very different
them that language. Between
the limit of the microscope and the molecule there

are forces, probably numberless, of which no instru-
ment can take
note.
We
444
have not seen them or

touched them
;
but
still
we
believe in them.
after
And,
he adds with his usual frankness,

reached,
if
we have
itself
we
ever reach, the primordial atoms, each

its
endowed with
will
own
property, the
;
property
probably remain unseen

it
and men
will still
ask
whence
came, and how
it
was produced.
in
No
is
doubt the force we are seeking
our science
Is
spiritual.
But
this
creates
no new
difficulty.
galvanism, the force which sends a message in a few
seconds round the world, material

tension
that
is,
has
it
ex-
and resistance
Is
light
material, or has
any one seen even the

said to produce
it
.-"
fluid
medium whose waves

tell
are
None can
what these forces

both as
realities
are
yet
we
reason about them
without misgiving.
Besides, the connexion of pheno-
mena with what

widest
child
is
unseen and spiritual

himself as
is
one of the
and commonest of
becomes
aware
of
generalizations.
Every
of
source
and thought and feeling. The acts that follow his from own volitions are among the most familiar phenomena he has to observe. The acts and looks
action
of others
mother,
more or
he grows
father, nurse
are
As
all
traced
by
a process of deduction to the volitions of the agents,
and the deduction

tionings
in years
is
regularly verified
by quesr
less reverent.
the child grows
in this
wisdom, and at length he

connects,
observes millions of
phenomena which he
but
with
the
not with dead
force,
feelings
and
in
thoughts of other beings.

445
The
belief therefore

mind and
in
volition as the origin of the
changes
common meaning of the word) of force itself, is at once an instinct of human nature, and one of the widest generalizations of human experience. This reasoning may seem abstruse but it is prac To ascribe the tised every day, and by all classes.
of force, and (in the
;
phenomena of the world

duce them
with
to one
ligence,
is
to a force competent to pro
common sense and common observation. To ascribe them ultimately

in
accordance with
who
is
spiritual,
himself endowed with
intelis
and capable of acting upon matter,
generalization, sustained
by
the nature of
to
many
The
of
the
phenomena we have
explain,
and by the
exist-
consciousness and the daily
life
of us
all.
ence of
God
is
as clearly proved, even
"His eternal
power and divineness," as the existence of any force or of any volition or thought or thinking substance. As And if this seem a poor conclusion, clearly, I repeat.
let
me
say that
we have none
spirit.
clearer or stronger for
the existence of the material world, or for the exist-
ence of our
is
own
that in the one case
All we we have
really
know
of either
in
sensations,
and
the
other feelings
posed cause
us,
and thoughts which we ascribe to a supa world (a Not-I or Non-Ego) without

an Ego) within.
fill
and a
Spirit (an I or
"
Two
things," said Kant, "
me
with awe
the
starry heavens
and the sense of the moral responsibility

a sense of right and wrong.
446
If
of man."
We
have
all
any
.1/.4JV:
A WITNESS FOR CHRISTIANITY.

have never injured wish
feel
man whom
inflict
ill,
me
ill,
or try to
that he treats
me
unjustly,
If
and
that
may
give expression to
my
am
disapprobation.
ill
under
I
like circumstances I
wish
I
to another,
I feel
do him
injustice,
and
not surprised
if
he express
is
disapprobation of me.
sense of
My
feeling of injustice
my
is
wrong
my
expression of disapprobation
It
of the nature of punishment.
may
not be
;
my
but
business to express disapprobation, or to punish
the feeling
virtuous act
is
;
as
becoming
as
is
is
the approval of a
and indeed the one
only another form

is
of the other.
The
all
hatred of iniquity
inseparable
from the love of holiness.

found
And
these feelings are
among
nations.
There are no doubt very

different nations
different
judgments passed by
;
on the
same acts but on the mental states which produce acts most agree and whether they agree or not, there is what we call a sense of right and wrong among them
;
all.
Or the fact may be put in another form. Looking human nature, and adopting Butler's analysis of it: we have each particular affections; we have each a
at
tendency to seek happiness
self-love, as
it
is
called
it is it
and we have besides a conscience, whose office control the whole man. From our very make
be subject to
In this sense
self-love,
to
may
be affirmed that particular propensities are meant to
and
self-love to
for virtue,
conscience.
is
men
are
made
447
and virtue
natural to them.

Or
the fact
may
be put
in
another form.
We
are
created under law, not only under a law of unvariable
sequences, but " a law laid
down
for the
guidance of
an intelligent being, by an intelligent being having
power over him."*

law, in
Such
is
Austin's definition of
all
the proper sense of the word.
That law
implies sanctions, and suggests irresistibly the idea
of a lawgiver.
this
In
all climes,
and
in
every tongue,
acts, this
"
recognition of the
quality of moral
sense of right and wrong, this feeling of " oughtness
and
it
of
moral
be
obligation
is
found.
And
though
may
difficult to
prove logically
in the first in-
stance that therefore there must be a Creator whose

authority sustains the law and vindicates
conviction of oughtness
is
it,
for the
at first a sentiment rather

is
than a syllogism; yet when onee the truth

or announced
as
surmised
we accept
it
in
morals as readily at least
we accept
the doctrine of causation in the science

it
of nature.
Nothing depends,
conscience
it
will
be noted, on the
question whether
is
is
an inherent or an
a simple property or
acquired principle, whether
a compound.
will
If
it
be inherent, as Plato held, that fact
be with most
itself
men
a sufficient
title
to veneration.
If
it is
a result of processes like those
which profriend-
duce other acquired sentiments

ship, for
example
patriotism or
on the
still its
universality, its immutability

it
and independence, caring as

rightness of acts, and
*
does for nothing but the

will, all
its
direct action
pp. 88
Jurisprudence,
i.,
94,
3rd. ed.
448

show that
it is
the result of a tendency in man, a force
that bespeaks
wisdom and hoHness
in
the Creator.
This reasoning
may no doubt be
is
questioned, as the
;
whole doctrine of Causation

sustained
questioned
but
it
is
Plato to Mackintosh, and

the entire race.
by the arguments of the ablest inquirers from by the convictions of almost
The road by which we ascend

is
in
reason from conscience to a moral governor
indeed
shorter and clearer, and far oftener trod, than the road
from phenomena to a
strictly scientific.
first
cause.
in
Both processes are

Both are forced
Both are
accordance with facts
and with the tendencies of the mind.

generalizes experience
upon us by the understanding, the faculty which

;
and by the reason, the faculty
which accepts
Is
it
intuitive or essential truth.
who say these things, or saith not the law the same } " From the creation of the world," the invisible things of God become distinctly visible, when studied in the things He hath made." "When men who have no law do by nature the things of the law,
I
they show the works of the law to be written on their

hearts, their consciences accusing them, or
it
may
be
defending them
;"
and they recognize

authority.
is
in its decisions
more than a human

II.
But Christianity
ruin.
a remedial system.
It
It pre-
supposes guilt and

provides in
character,
its
announces
free forgiveness,
own way
for the formation of a
holy
and secures
life.
for all
who
believe happiness
I
and
eternal
These
449
announcements
desire
29

briefly to
rience.
I
examine
do
it
in the light of reason
and expeFenelon
simply
under the conviction
that, as
puts
it,
the best
it.
way
is
to defend Christianity
is
to state
It is largely its
own
;
evidence.
Really to
know
the truth
is
to believe
as
on the other hand to

to profounder
act out belief
the easiest
way
know-
ledge and assured conviction.
I.
begin with what Christianity presupposes

ruin.
our
it
guilt
and
The
thing
is
fact of
man's sinfulness
is
clear
the startling
what Scripture teaches

feeling towards
it.
as to the degree of
and God's
in
We
it
imagine that
sin
is
our acts only, and that our hearts are ever better than
lives.
our
Scripture
tells
us that
is
our nature, and

lives.
that our hearts are ever worse than our

are apt to think that
it
We
dishonours
God
sins.
to suppose
Him
grieved or
made angry by our
Scripture
'reserves its strongest expressions to
denounce them,
them.
its
and to describe the fierceness of the Divine anger,

though blended with tenderest
pity, in relation to
Theology proceeds
custom
far
is.
to define this sinfulness
as
"
It
pronounces
original
man
is
to have "fallen very
from his
righteousness."
The
Latin
article of the
English Church
even stronger,
quam
is
longissime
stronger
praved."
distet."
still,
The Westminster and speaks of man as "
Confession
altogether dein clear
Popular thought, which delights
and
vivid utterance, describes this depravity as 450
" total."

I
am
I
not anxious to defend
all
these expressions,
Substantially they
are explained.
all.
nor do
care to repudiate them.
vindicate themselves,
when once they

the strongest of
it
Let us take the

speak of
that
for
all
last,
When we
;
total depravity,
is
not meant of course
men
are alike bad, because totally depraved

all
Scripture recognizes
the shades of character
by common sense. In our Lord's young day there were men whom He loved, as there were scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, whom He strongly denounced. Nor is it meant that all men
that are recognized
are as bad as they can be
;
for " evil seducers

it
still
wax worse and
worse."
What
means
is
that sin
has tainted every
pan
of our nature, changing affec-
tions into passions, self-love into selfishness, searing
darkening and enfeebling the conscience, and making

even our intellectual faculties
It
less
vigorous and clear.

feeling,
means
its
that every act

is
and every
in holiness,
its
even
in
the
best of us,
in
wanting
through deficiency
measure, fault in
motives, or through the

will
It
absence of that general regard for God's

claims which
finally, that
is
and
essential to all divine virtue.

is
means,
there
no hope of salvation for any of

If
us through the merit of our doings or tears.

at
all, it
saved
must be through
is
free mercy.
Salvation in
us.
.-'
any other way
totally,
completely beyond
Is
there anything unreasonable in these statements
Or
viz.,
is
it
depravity that startles us

is
the affirmation,
}
that there
in us all
451
a nature prone to evil

This depravity
of revelation. of science.
bodies,
is
as
much
is
a fact of experience as
it is
It is as clearly
an induction as any law

fact that all
Gravitation
free to
proved by the
when
move, show a tendency to move

is
towards one another; and man's depravity

the fact that
proved by
when
evil.
.
left
. .
to himself he always displays a
proneness to
All our knowledge of the lower

is
animals and of natural objects
gained from their
doings in the one case, and from their sensible qualities in
the other.
properties of
We speak of the disposition and each. We talk of the faithfulness of
the dog, of the ferocity of the tiger, of the poisonous
nature of the foxglove, ascribing to each a prior ten-
dency that accounts'

is
for the peculiarities
just thus
we
verify the doctrine of
we see. It human sinfulness.
The
due,
passions and the selfishness which have prevailed

nations,
in all
and which nothing seems able to subof the crimes which
the nature and the number
men commit,
in spite of all the restraints
put upon
them by Providence, by conscience, by law the fact that eyery man does commit sin, and the consciousness of us all that we are prone to many sins we do not commit the seeds of vice which are discovered
even
in children
the opposition of
felt
is
our inclination to
all efforts at
improvement
even by the renewed,
all justify
the statement that in man's very

there
make
as
he now
is
something that leads him astray.

is
To
assert depravity
It is to
simply to assert the quality of

is
a species.
reduce what
452
true of every single

Specimen of our nature to a general expression which
is
applicable
to the
whole nature
and
to ascribe
effects to
some
force adequate to produce them.
In
short,
it is
as accurate to talk of
human
depravity, in-
tending thereby to affirm the existence of a prior

universal disposition to
certain
science.
sin,
as
it is
to affirm the
most
in
laws
or
the
is
soundest
generalizations
Our nature
sinful.
is
not more certainly rational
than
it is
And
is
yet there
faith.
much
That
in relation to this truth that
matter of
this
tendency to
sin
was not
owx priniei'al condition, that there
was once a golden

is
age of innocence and happiness

lation,
a matter of reve-
though poetry and traditional history have pre-
some fragments of the truth. The degree of our sinfulness, the guilt and the misery of it, are also
served
Jargely matters of revelation, and are accepted less
from experience
in the first
instance than from faith.
And
is
this
is all
natural.
The
fact of our sinfulness
ascertainable
by experience.
not
The degree
of
it
is
not.
We
are
only born with depraved
ten-
dencies, themselves
unconscious of their depravity,

the process of self-scrutiny, the
but when
we begin
is
depravity which
natural to us has been further conitself
firmed by habit,
a second nature.
The VQxy
instrument^ therefore
we
use in detecting the quality

.
have
lost
much
of their discriminating power.
The whole framework

work of deception.
of society, m.oreover, assists this
Sin
loses
its
odiousness,
and
453

ceases to be
felt
as sin,
just as the impure air of a

till
having changed
it
it
when we are surrounded by it room remains unnoticed for fresh air outside we attempt
enormous weight of the
and
dislikes
to enter
again, or as the
atmosphere becomes imperceptible by being universal.

.
Nor
is
the influence
of our likes
to
find
be forgotten.
it
When
conscience
speaks,
men
The
more pleasant to silence it than to obey its teaching. faculty by which men judge of sin is delicate in
it
proportion to the dignity of the ofiice

charge.
Its structure
is
has to dis:
as tender as that of the eye
and both are
in
our
may be
relieved, as
own keeping. A diseased organ we know, by healing the disease or

;
by paralyzing
from the
the nerve
and so there are two ways
of escaping an
angry conscience.
provokes
its
it,
We may
cease
evil that
or
refuse to listen to
voice.
In
fact,
we may resolutely men turn away

self-
from what they cannot contemplate without

censure,
till
at length the light
is
put out or the power

. . .
of vision
all
is
for a time withdrawn.

of
the
Need
say,
how
are
these hindrances to the formation of an adequate
conception
degree
of
our
sinfulness
strengthened by the mysterious silence which

preserves in his Providence.
as
God
Among
;
His judgments,
faith.
among His
mercies,
we walk by
but
"
For His
fail
name's sake
He
is
defers his anger
men
to un-
derstand His forbearance.
Because sentence against
an
evil
work
not speedily executed," men's hearts are
set in
them
to
do
evil.
Here we deem
454
justice perfect

in
proportion as punishment follows close upon crime

if
and so under God's government,

not seen to follow,
"
the punishment
is
we deny
or question the guilt.

I
These things hast thou done, and

thoughtest
that
I
kept silence
wherefore thou
was altogether
such a one as thyself." The very immutability of God's

laws in nature, proof as
it is
of God's superintendence,
becomes proof
punish,
should.
to the imagination that

is
God
will
not
and therefore there

All things,
no reason
why He
were
men
say, continue as they

creation.
from the beginning of the

forth
there.
Stricken or per-
plexed by the admonitions of conscience,
men go
under the open sky, and
all
seems peaceful
There
is
no handwriting upon the wall of that
temple to confirm the voice of terror that had spoken

within.
The
lover of pleasure, the idolator of gain,

is
the wrong-doer, the prosperous despiser of God,
not
now
struck
down
in
is
in
our streets
and men are
thence confirmed
guilty, or that sin
their
hope that they are not
less
of an evil than their fears had
supposed.
And what
history
is
the conclusion of
all this
reasoning
Simply that Scripture teaching on

and by experience
;
sin
is
sustained
by
and
yet,
through the
corrupting influence of depravity,
we have no adequate
These lessons
on
his
sense of the completeness of our ruin.
every thoughtful, earnest
man
finds impressed
own
heart the
life.
divine
more deeply as he advances in the Growth in holiness means growth in

455

humility.
And
with such growth comes a deeper
conviction of the truth of that record
which shows
him and
in
his true nature

in
ahke
in the faihngs of
good men
solemn dogmatic teachings, which are found
marvellous consistency from the third chapter of
Genesis to the last of Revelation.
There we behold
own image, Nor is it easy of our Lord. impressive or the more true
as in a glass our
2.
as certainly as the
to say
!
image
which
is
the
more
As
a remedial system, the central truth of Christhe death and resurrection of Christ.
tianity
is
This
truth
was announced in figurative language to Nicodemus in our Lord's earliest recorded discourse,* It was repeated again and again to His own disciples, with whom He talked " of the decease He was
at
to accomplish
Jerusalem."
is
More than
a fourth
it.
part of each Gospel

apostles
devoted to the story of

it
His
proclaimed
it
wherever
they went.
So
mighty did
prove, that the most successful preacher
that ever lived resolved to
know
nothii-ig
but Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ as crucified.
among men More

holi-
than
as a
fifty
times
it
is
appealed
to in
the Epistles
ground of
;
consolatioi^,
and as a motive to
ness
still
while the
men who
practise
profess to be Christians,
sin,
and
as
love and
are
denounced, not
the
enemies. of the precepts of the Gospel, but as
emphatically the enemies of the Cross.

*
The
glory of
John
iii.
46

Christianity
is
Christ,
and the glory of

our salvation,
I
Christ, so far
is
as concerns us
men and
the Cross.
is
Such
is
Scripture teaching, and such
believe
human
experience.
The most obvious ground

theme
is,
that can be taken on this

is
that the deatii of Christ
an expression of
His own
love and of the love of the Father, and a proof

;
of His sincerity
as His resurrection
is
a proof of the
divineness of His mission, and a pledge of our own.

"
Greater love hath no
man
than
"
this,
that a
man
lay
down his hfe for his friends." He own Son, but delivered Him up
that spared not His

for us
all,
.-'
how
shall
He
not with
Him
freely give us
all
things
"
He
is
fore-
saw and
foretold
His
approaching
fulfil
sufferings,
and
steadfastly set his face to
them.
This
not the
is
manner of
deceivers.
The
reality of a future life
now proved
not not by argument, but by fact. He, His teaching but Himself, is to us the Resurrechave called this the most I tion and the Life
!
obvious ground.
It is
ground defined
it
in
the creeds of
classes of
It
the early Church, as

Christian people.
treats of
It
is
accepted by
all
may
be called low ground.

it
no mysteries
unless
be of the love that

nothing of the
prompted
Him
to die,
and of the mighty power whereby

It
He
rose
from the dead.
says
spiritual
significance of His dying.
And
yet what
yearnings of
human
nature are met by these simple

love,
announcements
over the grave.
the Divine
What
457
the victory of
man
would the world be without

them, and what
evidence
of their
truthfulness
is
suppHed by
race
!
their adaptations to the needs of
the
But the Cross has deeper

to
significance.
it
All Chris-
tians are exhorted to consider

it
and to be conformed
that
to
it
have
in
them the same mind

and
to be
was
also
in Christ Jesus.
To
views
consider
it
conformed to
gives of
human
nature.
and
that
me
have put
Him
to death.
it What Men made like you Some have thought

!
virtue
needs
but to be seen in
divinest virtue
order to be
incar-
worshipped.
nate,
Here the
it
becomes
and on the Cross men are doing what they can

for ever.
.
to extinguish
evil of sin
!
What views
it
gives of the
All the suffering

;
He
sought to alleviate,
the leprosy and the death
all
the suffering
He
en-
countered, the perverseness and cruelty of His persecutors, the desertion
and unbelief of His

all
disciples,
His
in
tears
and agony and cryings,

it
had
their origin
life
moral causes which
was the work of His

it
to re-
move
What
still
views
gives of duty
Men murder
forsakes
Him and He
Him, and
into
prays for them.
The Father
He
trusts
Him.
all
Had He been
as
content
to blend Sadduceeism and Pharisaism
and Heathenism
But
one religion
to sanction
.
meaning the same
thing.
He
all,
need never have
suffered.
He
it
assailed
them
and of His
faithfulness the Cross

.
was at once
gives of
the evidence and the result.
What
views
a holy, noble
life
How
possible
458
it is
to conquer the
3L4A':
A WITNESS FOR CHRISTIANITY.

spiritual, to
material
by the
mortify
all
that
is
gross
and
earthly, to be in contact with sin

<
and death and

blessed
leave
it.
emerge the nobler
for suffering.
How
to
to
deny
vvôrld
ourselves,
holier
and
by
self-sacrifice
the
and happier than we found
How
will,
.
instructive that even the
Son does not His own

.
but the will of the Father that sent Him.
What
a strange blending was there in His character, and
what a
like
blending ought there to be
in
our own,
of nobleness and humility, of heroism and patience, of pity for sinners and hatred of sin
millions have been
!
And how many

in
first
influenced
by such thoughts
every generation, since these scenes were
witnessed.
By
the Cross, multitudes have been crucified to the
world,
and the world to them.
Never has there power than

passages
been
this
in the history of the race a mightier

!
moral power of the Cross

it
But
has
still
deeper significance.
Many
we have seen, of His sufferings as of something in which we share many others speak of them as of something in which we have no share.
of Scripture speak, as
:
"
He
died, the Just for the unjust."

in
"
He
Himself bare
His cross
teaching
our sins
His own body on the
tree."
will,
touches our hearts, and strengthens our

self-denial
and submission
it
also pacifies our con-
science, doing for us

for ourselves.
what we could never have done

acquiesce in
all
Some who
this point
that has
been said up to
pause here, and scruple to

re-
go
further.
Let us respect their scruples, only

459

membering that what is theme does not weaken evidence, and has special
further to be said on this
in
any degree the previous

its
force of
own.
The feehng
Sin means
it
of guilt
is
universal.
Men have
in-
stinctively the conviction that

guilt,
it
Law must
be vindicated.
and
guilt
means punishment.
Nor
is
possible, as
to free
seems to me, apart from the Gospel, the human mind from the misgivings which
these terms imply.
The
provision of the Gospel for

is in
meeting these misgivings

our Lord there gave
the Cross.
"The
life"
many."
He gave as a "ransom The "blood" He there shed was shed

God
of
"set
for for
"the remission of sins." There
Him
forth as
a propitiation through faith in His blood, that
God
might be
just
and the
justifier
all
that believe."
It is in Him therefore that "we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of our sins."
I cannot dwell upon this aspect of our Lord's work, or upon the philosophy of it. I can only note the result. Justified by faith, we have peace with God. We
believe in the Divine love.
We
believe
no
less in the
Divine holiness.
the mercy of
We
accept a free pardon, looking for
God
unto eternal
that the sanctity of law
and yet we hold and the holiness of God are

life
;
as completely maintained as if the guilty
had been
beliefs
condemned
the
Millions have
found
in
these
both peace and holy affection
what
meets at once
demands
of their conscience
460
and the yearnings of
their heart

3.
The
first effect
of the Gospel
when men
is
believe
Its
is
forgiveness, the cancelment of the guilt of sin.
chief design, however, as a remedial system
holiness.
The
that
"
great and precious promises

"
" it
reveals are given
we may become partakers of a Divine nature." The New Testament knows nothing of a salvation
that consists only in pardon.

fullest
Men
are saved in the
and truest sense just

This arrangement
is
in
proportion as they are

;
holy.
it is
surely reasonable
and yet
so rare in religious systems as to be an evidence

it is
wherever
found of an origin higher than human.

of forgiveness on
faith,
The dependence
and the
freeness of forgiveness,
coming as
life,
it
does at the be-
ginning of a Christian
have often been urged as
objections to the Gospel.

stated,
faith
But
if
the truth be exactly
the objections cease.

free
Justification
through
pardon on believing
;
is
no doubt the
justifies
Scripture teaching
belief of the heart
but the faith which

is
the
from
its
very nature the be-
ginning of a holy character.

Christ
is
Let a man believe that
the gift of the Father's love, that His self-denyis
ing
life
the noblest model, that in dying
He
did
homage
which
to law, that
the chief evil
we deserve what He suffered, that under the government of God is the sin
remove
;
He
dies to
and the
belief
is
inseparable
is
from holiness.
The moral
quality of the faith
not
in-
deed the meritorious ground of forgiveness, but

is
still it
if
an essential element of the

are to be forgiven.
461
faith
which
is
required
we

The
some
it
freeness of forgiveness
and
is
its
place at
the
beginning of the Christian Hfe
no
less striking.
To
may seem
men
as
if
the arrangement would have
been more conducive to holiness

bidden
to be holy that they
"
had the Gospel

might be forgiven,
instead of saying
Be
holy, because
in
you are forgiven."
human nature against this change and the holiest men have recognised the wisdom of the Divine order " Ye are risen with Christ, therefore set your affections upon things above :" "Ye
But there are grave reasons
; ;
are not your own, ye are bought with a price, therefore

glorify
God
are God's."
holiness in
your bodies and in your spirits which Most religious systems teach the duty of some sense, and promise forgiveness. It is
in
the order of these blessings that distinguishes the false
system from the
true.
The Gospel proclaims
a free
pardon, and then supplies motives which influence the

will,
and impel men to holiness

which
is
the motives owing
their force to that faith
at the outset the
germ
of a holy
life.
Thus
is it
that
men
are not only for-
given
they are
is
sajictified,
made holy through
the faith
which
in Christ.
I
On
now
the nature of this evangelical holiness

insist.
cannot
It is essentially
is
the admiration and the

;
practice of whatever
true
and righteous and loving
not of the
It is
first
two only, but of the three combined.
begun
in
the soul through the force of motives as
various as the instincts of men, the fear of punishment,
the desire of happiness, the yearning of the heart after

462

something nobler than anything the world contains
often
to
;
by personal attachment to Christ, loving loyalty Him for what He has done for us, a feeling not the
life,
highest in the Christian

highest,
viz.,
though leading to the

for
attachment to
in
Him
what He
is.
It
always involves
a world like ours self-denial,
the
subjection of the lower principles of our nature to the

higher,
it
and
of
our will to God's.
In
its
highest form
teaches us to use every power and

all
gift in
promoting
us.
the holiness and the happiness of
around
This
is
the exactest definition that can be given of God's

glory, the manifestation of
His character
in
;
the holi-
ness and happiness
of intelligent creation
is
and
in
proportion as His glory
our end,
we
are partakers
is
of His nature, perfect as our Father in heaven

fect.
per-
We tread
in the steps
and are conformed to the
image of His Son.

It is
the design of the Gospel not only to teach this
holiness, but to
in national
life.
produce
it
in individual character
and
With
this
view
it
reveals truths that
purify the heart, supplies motives that influence the

will,
and
it
adds the promise of that divine help which

thoughtful
the most
heathen writers, philosophers,
dramatists, historians,
have affirmed to be essential
if
man
If
is
to attain to Divine virtue.
we know
in
these things, and have

truth.
felt
them, we need
no further evidence of their

ness
ourselves,
We
have the witas
as
clear
and
as strong
the
evidence either of reason or of science.

463
Men
become
taunt us sometimes with our divisions.

Christians," they say "
" If
we
I
which of your sects are

?"
we
to join, for
all
you seem endlessly divided

is
And
life
reply, In
that
essential to
Christian
true
Christians agree.
Ask any
Christian
man what he
thinks and feels of the evil and the desert of sin, what of
dependence for forgiveness on the free and righteous mercy of God in Christ, what of his need of renewal and of personal holiness, and I venture to affirm that
his
commend themselves to the hearts of men of all sects and of every age. No doubt there may be diversities of opinion on the
his answers will
Christian
language he employs, and diversities of intensity

that
in
the feeling with which particular truths are held. But in

all
is
essential Christian
is,
men
substantially agree.
is
And
there
the reason
is
that wherever there
true faith
penitence with loving humble
trust,
and the
earnest desire to be holy.
There
are,
no doubt, parts
of Christianity not included in this enumeration, and
important parts.
Everything indeed that God deems

is
to be worth revealing
worth our knowing.
But
still
life,
the fact remains, that the elements of Christian
our thoughts and feelings in relation to

Christ,
sin,
all
to
God
in
and to
holiness,
are
alike
in
Christian
is
hearts.
They
share the immutability of
Him who
objectively and subjectively the
sum and
the centre of
them
all.
They
are "
The same
yesterday, and to-
day, and for ever."
464
MAN: A WITNESS FOR CHRISTIANnV.

4.
But, finally, the remedial system of the Gospel

if it
would be incomplete
did not
make
it
;
provision for
is
human
happiness.
The
desire of happiness
less that
is
an
in-
stinct of our nature,
none the
strangely
misjudged.
it
is too feeble.
Some think it too strong Too strong, indeed, it

;
whi'e, in fact,
is,
compared
propensi-
with conscience
of the affections
ties
too feeble compared with the force

it
ought to control.
Our
if
passions
would
in
it
often be checked
real good.
only
we
had a stronger sense of our

it
Some
think
the measure, the motive, the very essence of virtue,

a safer foundation for morals
and claim to have
than in conscience
itself.
They
forget that this insin,
stinct also is blinded
and corrupted by
of
and that
is
men
are
after
is
all
better judges
what
right
than of what
best for them.

is
Some
think that the
desire of happiness
selfishness,
it.
and that God does
not care to gratify
But clearly our happiness

It is impossible
must be as dear
holiness
is
to the Divine benevolence, as our
dear to the Divine purity.
even to conceive of an infinitely benevolent
God
ceasing to take delight in the happiness of his children.
And
ness
certainly in Scripture
God
appeals to this instinct
as often as
is
He
appeals to conscience itself
Our happi-
dear to
first
Him
The
is
provision of the Gospel for the promotion
of humanhappiness,whetherin individuals or in nations,

identified with that
great spiritual
change which
30
begins the religious
life.
Under
465
the government of

God
sin
and misery are indissolubly

if
joined.
If
men
will love sin,
they will be selfish and passionate,

It is
they must be miserable.
probably impossible
make bad men happy. for the blessed God Himself But let their hearts be changed, let them love what God loves, and hate what God hates, and a
to
foundation
overthrow.
is
laid
for
happiness that nothing
can
And when
agree with
once
this
all
foundation
is
laid,
and men
God on
the great principles of His

it
government. His acts

to speak as true
the administrative part of so The announcement need create no

fear.
is
:
The for good." when the Apostle " He that spared not His own Son, will first used it He not with Him freely give us all things." The command is still binding," Be care-full iox nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgivings, let your requests be made known unto God." Disappointments and trials will come but meanwhile
love
inspired reasoning
now as it was in the first age God all things work together
"
To them
that
is
as conclusive as
a thousand sources of pleasure are open to us. For everything beside, we commit our way unto God,
having no anxiety but to do His
will
and to bear
it,
knowing that what kindest and best."
He
does
is
ever
"wisest and
Of
course these lessons
may have
;
a place in our
let
creeds and exercise no influence

believed
but
them be
by
the heart,
become
466
principles of our indi-

vidual and
possible.
national
life,
We jiave
is
"
days
and misery becomes imof heaven even upon
earth
!"
Here then
in brief the
argument.
My reason and
my
understanding
intuition
and experience
de-
mand a First Cause of all things. My conscience demands a Lawgiver and Judge. My entire nature
cries
out for forgiveness, for holiness, for happiness.
The
world
" sighs to
be renewed."
Christianity meets
every one of these instincts in a
way
peculiarly
its
own, and yet intelligible and complete. It is so true in the descriptions it gives of things which are within
the domain of
believe
it.
my
it
consciousness that
am
ready to
it
when
speaks of things which are beyond

it
am
sure of the " earthly things"
describes,
and
am
disposed to believe in the heavenly.

I
Acting upon
prepared to
the measure of faith
have,
in
get more light and

I
deeper conviction
till
the end
am
maintain, from inward feeling even more than from external evidence, that there is nothing truer than the
Gospel, as there
is
nothing so holy
in
its
its
tendency
results
!
when once
Perhaps
it is
believed, or so blessed in
it
requires that
may be said in reply, This argument men love part of the Gospel and act
I
upon
it,
even before they are persuaded of the truth

whole.
of the
concede
it
and plead the more
earnestly for Christianity on that ground. In

life,
common
the neglect to act on what

467
we know
to be true

and right
in
small things
is
ascertaining
what
true
makes men incapable of and right on a grand scale.

he
So deeply did Grotius
feel this consideration, that
regarded the very evidence of Christianity, and the
way
in
which
it
reveals
itself
to
the
loving
and
obedient, as itself one proof the Divine origin of the
Gospel, showing
itself
herein Divinely adapted to test
men's character and hearts.
And
besides, our
nature vindicates Christianity in this respect.
own The
best
morbid excitability of one part of our frame

relieved
is
by
is
the increased activity of another.

is
An
irritable faith
symptom
of defective action else-
where, and
often best cured
by
attention to acknowre-
ledged duty.
Doubts, which no arguments can
move
lieve
will often
melt away amidst the warmth and
vigour of active love.
do
His will as far as
you have attained, due time all else will be made ment is itself a reasonable law
what you already beWhereto you hold it. walk by the rule you admit, and in
Practise
plain
;
!
This arrangein turn
and becomes
faith.
a fresh evidence in support of our began.
end as
depreciate no evidence, his-
torical, prophetic,
miraculous, literary.
God
gives
all,
and we need
all.
But the evidence which
is
at once
the strongest to convince and the easiest to understand, provided only

ceive
it,
we
are morally disposed to re-
is
the evidence which appeals to our hearts

and to our experience.
"finds
"Christianity," says Coleridge,
me
is
in the
lowest depth of
It
its
!
other system can.
meets there
my being, as no my direst needs."
Herein
proof of
Divine origin, and of the love of

Yes,
Him
to
it,
that gives
it
we
are every one of us
God's witnesses.
If
we
is
believe,
true. "
we can
set our seal
that this Gospel
He
that believeth on
Son of God hath the witness in himself." " We know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us
the
an understanding, that we
true
;
may know Him

that
is
that
in
is
and we are
Christ.
in
Him
is
true,
even
His
Son Jesus
life."
This
the true God, and eternal
*
\
John
V. 10, 20,
THE END.
Watson and Hazdl,
Printers,
London and Aylesbury.

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FAITH AND FREE THOUGHT.

SECOND COURSE OF LECTURES

^RISTIAN EVIDENCE SOCIETY.

ODDER AND STOUGHTON

[All Rights Reserved.]

The Lectures may

price Sixpence each.

Watsou and Hazell,

London and Aylesbury.

that need be said to introduce a

Second Series of the Lectures which have been

of the First Series

quarters, at least, the existence

of the evil they are intended to meet

has been approved.

deny the existence

literature of the day,

which, like the straw

by the currents of the

only the better marks the direction of

Sceptical suggestions are

shallow, self-asserting essays, in which

their ignorance, think they

they colour our physical philosophy

themselves with our commonplace theology

present assault upon Christianity

from that of the Deists of the

or of the Atheists of the revolutionary

open assault upon the

more dangerous because

so far concealed, because

by sap and mine, rather than by open

a soul which would be on

unsuspiciously to parley with the

speeches and professions of respect for that

most highly prized he proposes

examine some untenable propositions

been too long admitted without question, and to clear

Thus the need man has of

the existence of some all-pervading spiritual

an attempt to keep the

has been withdrawn

from the heavens.

vast increase of wealth amongst

the manifold discoveries of science, and through

them the subjection

the material world to the

greater easiness which

almost every rank of society,

with the softness

of trouble which this breeds,

upon the tendency

religious belief of a people.

Such a temper of mind soon passes

into a fretful dis-

not take the trouble to

but neither can

up and multiply spontaneously.

discoveries which account for

and which appear to be always

advancing, and as they advance promising almost