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diff --git a/old/12056-8.txt b/old/12056-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..edd1c17 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12056-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9267 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Phases of Faith, by Francis William Newman + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Phases of Faith + Passages from the History of My Creed + +Author: Francis William Newman + +Release Date: April 15, 2004 [EBook #12056] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PHASES OF FAITH *** + + + + +Produced by PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + + + +PHASES OF FAITH + + - or - + +PASSAGES FROM THE HISTORY OF MY CREED. + + +Francis William Newman, 1874 + + + + + + + +PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION. + + +This is perhaps an egotistical book; egotistical certainly in its +form, yet not in its purport and essence. + +Personal reasons the writer cannot wholly disown, for desiring to +explain himself to more than a few, who on religious grounds are +unjustly alienated from him. If by any motive of curiosity or +lingering remembrances they may be led to read his straightforward +account, he trusts to be able to show them that he has had _no choice_ +but to adopt the intellectual conclusions which offend them;--that +the difference between them and him turns on questions of Learning, +History, Criticism and Abstract Thought;--and that to make _their_ +results (if indeed they have ever deeply and honestly investigated +the matter) the tests of _his_ spiritual state, is to employ unjust +weights and a false balance, which are an abomination to the Lord. To +defraud one's neighbour of any tithe of mint and cummin, would seem +to them a sin: is it less to withhold affection, trust and free +intercourse, and build up unpassable barriers of coldness and alarm, +against one whose sole offence is to differ from them intellectually? + +But the argument before the writer is something immensely greater +than a personal one. So it happens, that to vindicate himself is to +establish a mighty truth; a truth which can in no other way so well +enter the heart, as when it comes embodied in an individual case. +If he can show, that to have shrunk from his successive convictions +_would_ have been "infidelity" to God and Truth and Righteousness; but +that he has been "faithful" to the highest and most urgent duty;--it +will be made clear that Belief is one thing and Faith another; that to +believe is intellectual, nay possibly "earthly, devilish;" and that +to set up any fixed creed as a test of spiritual character is a most +unjust, oppressive and mischievous superstition. The historical form +has been deliberately selected, as easier and more interesting to +the reader; but it must not be imagined that the author has given his +mental history in general, much less an autobiography. The progress +of his _creed_ is his sole subject; and other topics are introduced +either to illustrate this or as digressions suggested by it. + +_March 22nd, 1850._ + + + + +PREFACE TO SIXTH EDITION + + +I had long thought that the elaborate reply made for me in the +"Prospective Review" (1854) to Mr. Henry Rogers's Defence of the +"Eclipse of Faith," superseded anything more from my pen. But in the +course of six years a review is forgotten and buried away, while Mr. +Rogers is circulating the ninth edition of his misrepresentations. + +As my publisher announces to me the opportunity, I at length consent +to reply myself to the Defence, cancelling what was previously my last +chapter, written against the "Eclipse." + +All that follows p. 175 in this edition is new. + +_June_, 1860. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + I. MY YOUTHFUL CREED + + II. STRIVINGS AFTER A MORE PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY + + III. CALVINISM ABANDONED + + IV. THE RELIGION OF THE LETTER RENOUNCED + + V. FAITH AT SECOND HAND FOUND TO BE VAIN + + VI. HISTORY DISCOVERED TO BE NO PART OF RELIGION + + VII. ON THE MORAL PERFECTION OF JESUS + + VIII. ON BIGOTRY AND PROGRESS + + IX. REPLY TO THE "DEFENCE OF THE ECLIPSE OF FAITH" + + APPENDIX I + + APPENDIX II + + + + + +PHASES OF FAITH. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +MY YOUTHFUL CREED. + + +I first began to read religious books at school, and especially the +Bible, when I was eleven years old; and almost immediately commenced +a habit of secret prayer. But it was not until I was fourteen that I +gained any definite idea of a "scheme of doctrine," or could have +been called a "converted person" by one of the Evangelical School. +My religion then certainly exerted a great general influence over +my conduct; for I soon underwent various persecution from my +schoolfellows on account of it: the worst kind consisted in their +deliberate attempts to corrupt me. An Evangelical clergyman at the +school gained my affections, and from him I imbibed more and more +distinctly the full creed which distinguishes that body of men; a +body whose bright side I shall ever appreciate, in spite of my present +perception that they have a dark side also. I well remember, that one +day when I said to this friend of mine, that I could not understand +how the doctrine of Election was reconcilable to God's Justice, but +supposed that I should know this in due time, if I waited and believed +His word;--he replied with emphatic commendation, that this was the +spirit which God always blessed. Such was the beginning and foundation +of my faith,--an unhesitating unconditional acceptance of whatever was +found in the Bible. While I am far from saying that my _whole_ moral +conduct was subjugated by my creed, I must insist that it was no mere +fancy resting in my intellect: it was really operative on my temper, +tastes, pursuits and conduct. + +When I was sixteen, in 1821, I was "confirmed" by Dr. Howley, then +Bishop of London, and endeavoured to take on myself with greater +decision and more conscientious consistency the whole yoke of Christ. +Every thing in the Service was solemn to me, except the bishop: he +seemed to me a _made-up_ man and a mere pageant. I also remember that +when I was examined by the clergyman for confirmation, it troubled me +much that he only put questions which tested my _memory_ concerning +the Catechism and other formulas, instead of trying to find out +whether I had any actual faith in that about which I was to be called +to profess faith: I was not then aware that his sole duty was to try +my _knowledge_. But I already felt keenly the chasm that separated +the High from the Low Church; and that it was impossible for me +to sympathize with those who imagined that Forms could command the +Spirit. + +Yet so entirely was I enslaved to one Form,--that of observing the +Sunday, or, as I had learned falsely to call it, the Sabbath,--that I +fell into painful and injurious conflict with a superior kinsman, by +refusing to obey his orders on the Sunday. He attempted to deal with +me by mere authority, not by instruction; and to yield my conscience +to authority would have been to yield up all spiritual life. I erred, +but I was faithful to God. + +When I was rather more than seventeen, I subscribed the 39 Articles at +Oxford in order to be admitted to the University. Subscription was "no +bondage," but pleasure; for I well knew and loved the Articles, and +looked on them as a great bulwark of the truth; a bulwark, however, +not by being imposed, but by the spiritual and classical beauty which +to me shone in them. But it was certain to me before I went to +Oxford, and manifest in my first acquaintance with it, that very few +academicians could be said to believe them. Of the young men, not one +in five seemed to have any religious convictions at all: the elder +residents seldom or never showed sympathy with the doctrines that +pervade that formula. I felt from my first day there, that the system +of compulsory subscription was hollow, false, and wholly evil. + +Oxford is a pleasant place for making friends,--friends of all sorts +that young men wish. One who is above envy and scorns servility,--who +can praise and delight in all the good qualities of his equals in +age, and does not desire to set himself above them, or to vie with his +superiors in rank,--may have more than enough of friends, for pleasure +and for profit. So certainly had I; yet no one of my equals gained +any ascendancy over me, nor perhaps could I have looked up to any for +advice. In some the intellect, in others the religious qualities, were +as yet insufficiently developed: in part also I wanted discrimination, +and did not well pick out the profounder minds of my acquaintance. +However, on my very first residence in College, I received a useful +lesson from another freshman,--a grave and thoughtful person, older +(I imagine) than most youths in their first term. Some readers may +be amused, as well as surprized, when I name the delicate question +on which I got into discussion with my fellow freshman. I had learned +from Evangelical books, that there is a _twofold_ imputation to every +saint,--not of the "sufferings" only, but also of the "righteousness" +of Christ. They alleged that, while the sufferings of Jesus are a +compensation for the guilt of the believer and make him innocent, yet +this suffices not to give him a title to heavenly glory; for which +he must over and above be invested in active righteousness, by all +Christ's good works being made over to him. My new friend contested +the latter part of the doctrine. Admitting fully that guilt is atoned +for by the sufferings of the Saviour, he yet maintained, there was no +farther imputation of Christ's active service as if it had been our +service. After a rather sharp controversy, I was sent back to study +the matter for myself, especially in the third and fourth chapters of +the Epistle to the Romans; and some weeks after, freely avowed to him +that I was convinced. Such was my first effort at independent thought +against the teaching of my spiritual fathers, and I suppose it had +much value for me. This friend might probably have been of service +to me, though he was rather cold and lawyerlike; but he was abruptly +withdrawn from Oxford to be employed in active life. + +I first received a temporary discomfort about the 39 Articles from +an irreligious young man, who had been my schoolfellow; who one day +attacked the article which asserts that Christ carried "his flesh and +bones" with him into heaven. I was not moved by the physical absurdity +which this youth mercilessly derided; and I repelled his objections +as on impiety. But I afterwards remembered the text, "_Flesh and blood +shall not inherit the kingdom of God_;" and it seemed to me as if the +compiler had really gone a little too far. If I had immediately +then been called on to subscribe, I suppose it would have somewhat +discomposed me; but as time went on, I forgot this small point, +which was swallowed up by others more important. Yet I believe that +henceforth a greater disposition to criticize the Articles grew upon +me. + +The first novel opinion of any great importance that I actually +embraced, so as to give roughness to my course, was that which many +then called the Oriel heresy about Sunday. Oriel College at this time +contained many active and several original minds; and it was rumoured +that one of the Fellows rejoiced in seeing his parishioners play at +cricket on Sunday: I do not know whether that was true, but so it +was said. Another of them preached an excellent sermon before the +University, clearly showing that Sunday had nothing to do with the +Sabbath, nor the Sabbath with us, and inculcating on its own ground +a wise and devout use of the Sunday hours. The evidently pious and +sincere tone of this discourse impressed me, and I felt that I had no +right to reject as profane and undeserving of examination the doctrine +which it enforced. Accordingly I entered into a thorough searching of +the Scripture without bias, and was amazed to find how baseless was +the tenet for which in fact I had endured a sort of martyrdom. This, I +believe, had a great effect in showing me how little right we have at +any time to count on our opinions as final truth, however necessary +they may just then be felt to our spiritual life. I was also +scandalized to find how little candour or discernment some Evangelical +friends, with whom I communicated, displayed in discussing the +subject. + +In fact, this opened to me a large sphere of new thought. In the +investigation, I had learned, more distinctly than before, that the +preceptive code of the Law was an essentially imperfect and temporary +system, given "for the hardness of men's hearts." I was thus prepared +to enter into the Lectures on Prophecy, by another Oriel Fellow,--Mr. +Davison,--in which he traces the successive improvements and +developments of religious doctrine, from the patriarchal system +onward. I in consequence enjoyed with new zest the epistles of St. +Paul, which I read as with fresh eyes; and now understood somewhat +better his whole doctrine of "the Spirit," the coming of which had +brought the church out of her childish into a mature condition, and by +establishing a higher law had abolished that of the letter. Into this +view I entered with so eager an interest, that I felt no bondage of +the letter in Paul's own words: his wisdom was too much above me +to allow free criticism of his weak points. At the same time, the +systematic use of the Old Testament by the Puritans, as if it were +"the rule of life" to Christians, I saw to be a glaring mistake, +intensely opposed to the Pauline doctrine. This discovery, moreover, +soon became important to me, as furnishing a ready evasion of +objections against the meagre or puerile views of the Pentateuch; +for without very minute inquiry how far I must go to make the defence +adequate, I gave a general reply, that the New Testament _confessed_ +the imperfections of the older dispensation. I still presumed the Old +to have been perfect for its own objects and in its own place; and +had not defined to myself how far it was correct or absurd, to imagine +morality to change with time and circumstances. + +Before long, ground was broken in my mind on a still more critical +question, by another Fellow of a College; who maintained that nothing +but unbelief could arise out of the attempt to understand _in what +way_ and _by what moral right_ the blood of Christ atoned for sins. +He said, that he bowed before the doctrine as one of "Revelation," and +accepted it reverentially by an act of faith; but that he certainly +felt unable to understand _why_ the sacrifice of Christ, any more than +the Mosaic sacrifices, should compensate for the punishment of our +sins. Could carnal reason discern that human or divine blood, any +more than that of beasts, had efficacy to make the sinner as it were +sinless? It appeared to him a necessarily inscrutable mystery, into +which we ought not to look.--The matter being thus forced on my +attention, I certainly saw that to establish the abstract moral +_right_ and _justice_ of vicarious punishment was not easy, and that +to make out the fact of any "compensation"--(_i.e._ that Jesus really +endured on the cross a true equivalent for the eternal sufferings +due to the whole human race,)--was harder still. Nevertheless I had +difficulty in adopting the conclusions of this gentleman; FIRST, +because, in a passage of the Epistle to the Hebrews, the sacred +writer, in arguing--"_For_ it is impossible that the blood of bulls +and goats can take away sins," &c., &c....--seems to expect his +readers to see an inherent impropriety in the sacrifices of the Law, +and an inherent moral fitness in the sacrifice of Christ. SECONDLY: +I had always been accustomed to hear that it was by seeing the +moral fitness of the doctrine of the Atonement, that converts to +Christianity were chiefly made: so said the Moravians among the +Greenlanders, so Brainerd among the North American Indians, so English +missionaries among the negroes at Sierra Leone:--and I could not at +all renounce this idea. Indeed I seemed to myself to see this fitness +most emphatically; and as for the _forensic_ difficulties, I passed +them over with a certain conscious reverence. I was not as yet ripe +for deeper inquiry: yet I, about this time, decidedly modified my +boyish creed on the subject, on which more will be said below. + +Of more immediate practical importance to me was the controversy +concerning Infant Baptism. For several years together I had been more +or less conversant with the arguments adduced for the practice; and +at this time I read Wall's defence of it, which was the book specially +recommended at Oxford. The perusal brought to a head the doubts which +had at an earlier period flitted over my mind. Wall's historical +attempt to trace Infant Baptism up to the apostles seemed to me a +clear failure:[1] and if he failed, then who was likely to succeed? +The arguments from Scripture had never recommended themselves to +me. Even allowing that they might confirm, they certainly could not +suggest and establish the practice. It now appeared that there was no +basis at all; indeed, several of the arguments struck me as cutting +the other way. "Suffer little children to come unto me," urged as +decisive: but it occurred to me that the disciples would not have +scolded the little children away, if they had ever been accustomed +to baptize them. Wall also, if I remember aright, declares that the +children of proselytes were baptized by the Jews; and deduces, that +unless the contrary were stated, we must assume that also Christ's +disciples baptized children: but I reflected that the baptism _of +John_ was one of "repentance," and therefore could not have been +administered to infants; which (if precedent is to guide us) afforded +the truer presumption concerning _Christian_ baptism. Prepossessions +being thus overthrown, when I read the apostolic epistles with a view +to this special question, the proof so multiplied against the Church +doctrine, that I did not see what was left to be said for it. I talked +much and freely of this, as of most other topics, with equals in age, +who took interest in religious questions; but the more the matters +were discussed, the more decidedly impossible it seemed to maintain +that the popular Church views were apostolic. + +Here also, as before, the Evangelical clergy whom I consulted were +found by me a broken reed. The clerical friend whom I had known at +school wrote kindly to me, but quite declined attempting to solve my +doubts; and in other quarters I soon saw that no fresh light was to be +got. One person there was at Oxford, who might have seemed my natural +adviser; his name, character, and religious peculiarities have been so +made public property, that I need not shrink to name him:--I mean +my elder brother, the Rev. John Henry Newman. As a warm-hearted and +generous brother, who exercised towards me paternal cares, I esteemed +him and felt a deep gratitude; as a man of various culture, and +peculiar genius, I admired and was proud of him; but my doctrinal +religion impeded my loving him as much as he deserved, and even +justified my feeling some distrust of him. He never showed any strong +attraction towards those whom I regarded as spiritual persons: on the +contrary, I thought him stiff and cold towards them. Moreover, soon +after his ordination, he had startled and distressed me by adopting +the doctrine of Baptismal Regeneration; and in rapid succession worked +out views which I regarded as full-blown "Popery." I speak of the +years 1823-6: it is strange to think that twenty years more had to +pass before he learnt the place to which his doctrines belonged. + +In the earliest period of my Oxford residence I fell into uneasy +collision with him concerning Episcopal powers. I had on one occasion +dropt something disrespectful against bishops or a bishop,--something +which, if it had been said about a clergyman, would have passed +unnoticed: but my brother checked and reproved me,--as I thought, very +uninstructively--for "wanting reverence towards Bishops." I knew +not then, and I know not now, why Bishops, _as such_, should be more +reverenced than common clergymen; or Clergymen, _as such_, more than +common men. In the World I expected pomp and vain show and formality +and counterfeits: but of the Church, as Christ's own kingdom, I +demanded reality and could not digest legal fictions. I saw round +me what sort of young men were preparing to be clergymen: I knew the +attractions of family "livings" and fellowships, and of a respectable +position and undefinable hopes of preferment. I farther knew, that +when youths had become clergymen through a great variety of mixed +motives, bishops were selected out of these clergy on avowedly +political grounds; it therefore amazed me how a man of good sense +should be able to set up a duty of religious veneration towards +bishops. I was willing to honour a Lord Bishop as a peer of +Parliament; but his office was to me no guarantee of spiritual +eminence.--To find my brother thus stop my mouth, was a puzzle; and +impeded all free speech towards him. In fact, I very soon left off the +attempt at intimate religious intercourse with him, or asking counsel +as of one who could sympathize. We talked, indeed, a great deal on the +surface of religious matters; and on some questions I was overpowered +and received a temporary bias from his superior knowledge; but as +time went on, and my own intellect ripened, I distinctly felt that his +arguments were too fine-drawn and subtle, often elaborately missing +the moral points and the main points, to rest on some ecclesiastical +fiction; and his conclusions were to me so marvellous and painful, +that I constantly thought I had mistaken him. In short, he was my +senior by a very few years: nor was there any elder resident at +Oxford, accessible to me, who united all the qualities which I wanted +in an adviser. Nothing was left for me but to cast myself on Him who +is named the Father of Lights, and resolve to follow the light which +He might give, however opposed to my own prejudices, and however I +might be condemned by men. This solemn engagement I made in early +youth, and neither the frowns nor the grief of my brethren can make me +ashamed of it in my manhood. + +Among the religious authors whom I read familiarly was the Rev. +T. Scott, of Aston Sandford, a rather dull, very unoriginal, +half-educated, but honest, worthy, sensible, strong-minded man, whose +works were then much in vogue among the Evangelicals. One day my +attention was arrested by a sentence in his defence of the doctrine +of the Trinity. He complained that Anti-Trinitarians unjustly charged +Trinitarians with self-contradiction. "If indeed we said" (argued he) +"that God is three _in the same sense_ as that in which He is one, +that would be self-refuting; but we hold Him to be _three in one +sense, and one in another_." It crossed my mind very forcibly, that, +if that was all, the Athanasian Creed had gratuitously invented an +enigma. I exchanged thoughts on this with an undergraduate friend, and +got no fresh light: in fact, I feared to be profane, if I attempted +to understand the subject. Yet it came distinctly home to me, that, +whatever the depth of the mystery, if we lay down anything about +it _at all_, we ought to understand our own words; and I presently +augured that Tillotson had been right in "wishing our Church well rid" +of the Athanasian Creed; which seemed a mere offensive blurting out +of intellectual difficulties. I had, however, no doubts, even of a +passing kind, for years to come, concerning the substantial truth and +certainty of the ecclesiastical Trinity. + +When the period arrived for taking my Bachelors degree, it was +requisite again to sign the 39 Articles, and I now found myself +embarrassed by the question of Infant Baptism. One of the articles +contains the following words, "The baptism of young children is in any +wise to be retained, as most agreeable to the institution of Christ." +I was unable to conceal from myself that I did not believe this +sentence; and I was on the point of refusing to take my degree. I +overcame my scruples by considering, 1. That concerning this doctrine +I had no active _dis_-belief, on which I would take any practical +step, as I felt myself too young to make any counterdeclaration: 2. +That it had no possible practical meaning to me, since I could not +be called on to baptize, nor to give a child for baptism. Thus I +persuaded myself. Yet I had not an easy conscience, nor can I now +defend my compromise; for I believe that my repugnance to Infant +Baptism was really intense, and my conviction that it is unapostolic +as strong then as now. The topic of my "youth" was irrelevant; for, +if I was not too young to subscribe, I was not too young to refuse +subscription. The argument that the article was "unpractical" to me, +goes to prove, that if I were ordered by a despot to qualify myself +for a place in the Church by solemnly renouncing the first book of +Euclid as false, I might do so without any loss of moral dignity. +Altogether, this humiliating affair showed me what a trap for the +conscience these subscriptions are: how comfortably they are passed +while the intellect is torpid or immature, or where the conscience is +callous, but how they undermine truthfulness in the active thinker, +and torture the sensitiveness of the tenderminded. As long as they +are maintained, in Church or University, these institutions exert a +positive influence to deprave or eject those who ought to be their +most useful and honoured members. + +It was already breaking upon me, that I could not fulfil the dreams of +my boyhood as a minister in the Church of England. For, supposing that +with increased knowledge I might arrive at the conclusion that Infant +Baptism was a fore-arranged "development,"--not indeed practised in +the _first_ generation, but expedient, justifiable, and intended +for the _second_, and probably then sanctioned by one still living +apostle,--even so, I foresaw the still greater difficulty of Baptismal +Regeneration behind. For any one to avow that Regeneration took place +in Baptism, seemed to me little short of a confession that he had +never himself experienced what Regeneration is. If I _could_ then +have been convinced that the apostles taught no other regeneration, +I almost think that even their authority would have snapt under the +strain: but this is idle theory; for it was as clear as daylight to me +that they held a totally different doctrine, and that the High Church +and Popish fancy is a superstitious perversion, based upon carnal +inability to understand a strong spiritual metaphor. On the other +hand, my brother's arguments that the Baptismal Service of the Church +taught "spiritual regeneration" during the ordinance, were short, +simple, and overwhelming. To imagine a _twofold_ "spiritual +regeneration" was evidently a hypothesis to serve a turn, nor in any +of the Church formulas was such an idea broached. Nor could I hope for +relief by searching through the Homilies or by drawing deductions from +the Articles: for if I there elicited a truer doctrine, it would never +show the Baptismal Service not to teach the Popish tenet; it would +merely prove the Church-system to contain contradictions, and not to +deserve that absolute declaration of its truth, which is demanded of +Church ministers. With little hope of advantage, I yet felt it a duty +to consult many of the Evangelical clergymen whom I knew, and to ask +how _they_ reconciled the Baptismal Service to their consciences. +I found (if I remember) three separate theories among them,--all +evidently mere shifts invented to avoid the disagreeable necessity of +resigning their functions. Not one of these good people seemed to have +the most remote idea that it was their duty to investigate the meaning +of the formulary with the same unbiassed simplicity as if it belonged +to the Gallican Church. They did not seek to know what it was written +to mean, nor what sense it must carry to every simpleminded hearer; +but they solely asked, how they could manage to assign to it a sense +not wholly irreconcilable with their own doctrines and preaching. This +was too obviously hollow. The last gentleman whom I consulted, was the +rector of a parish, who from week to week baptized children with the +prescribed formula: but to my amazement, he told me that _he_ did not +like the Service, and did not approve of Infant Baptism; to both of +which things he submitted, solely because, as an inferior minister of +the Church, it was his duty to obey established authority! The case +was desperate. But I may here add, that this clergyman, within a few +years from that time, redeemed his freedom and his conscience by the +painful ordeal of abandoning his position and his flock, against the +remonstrances of his wife, to the annoyance of his friends, and with a +young family about him. + +Let no reader accept the preceding paragraph as my testimony that the +Evangelical clergy are less simpleminded and less honourable in their +subscriptions than the High Church. I do not say, and I do not believe +this. _All_ who subscribe, labour under a common difficulty, in having +to give an absolute assent to formulas that were made by a compromise +and are not homogeneous in character. To the High Churchman, the +_Articles_ are a difficulty; to the Low Churchman, various parts of +the _Liturgy_. All have to do violence to some portion of the +system; and considering at how early an age they are entrapped into +subscription, they all deserve our sincere sympathy and very ample +allowance, as long as they are pleading for the rights of conscience: +only when they become overbearing, dictatorial, proud of their chains, +and desirous of ejecting others, does it seem right to press them with +the topic of inconsistency. There in, besides, in the ministry of +the Established Church a sprinkling of original minds, who cannot +be included in either of the two great divisions; and from these _ą +priori_ one might have hoped much good to the Church. But such persons +no sooner speak out, than the two hostile parties hush their strife, +in order the more effectually to overwhelm with just and unjust +imputations those who dare to utter truth that has not yet been +consecrated by Act of Parliament or by Church Councils. Among those +who have subscribed, to attack others is easy, to defend oneself most +arduous. Recrimination is the only powerful weapon; and noble minds +are ashamed to use this. No hope, therefore, shows itself of Reform +from within.--For myself, I feel that nothing saved me from the +infinite distresses which I should have encountered, had I become a +minister of the Episcopal Church, but the very unusual prematureness +of my religious development. + +Besides the great subject of Baptismal Regeneration, the entire +Episcopal theory and practice offended me. How little favourably I was +impressed, when a boy, by the lawn sleeves, wig, artificial voice and +manner of the Bishop of London, I have already said: but in six +years more, reading and observation had intensely confirmed my first +auguries. It was clear beyond denial, that for a century after the +death of Edward VI. the bishops were the tools of court-bigotry, and +often owed their highest promotions to base subservience. After the +Revolution, the Episcopal order (on a rough and general view) might be +described as a body of supine persons, known to the public only as a +dead weight against all change that was distasteful to the Government. +In the last century and a half, the nation was often afflicted with +sensual royalty, bloody wars, venal statesmen, corrupt constituencies, +bribery and violence at elections, flagitious drunkenness pervading +all ranks, and insinuating itself into Colleges and Rectories. The +prisons of the country had been in a most disgraceful state; the +fairs and waits were scenes of rude debauchery, and the theatres +were--still, in this nineteenth century--whispered to be haunts of the +most debasing immorality. I could not learn that any bishop had ever +taken the lead in denouncing these iniquities; nor that when any man +or class of men rose to denounce them, the Episcopal Order failed to +throw itself into the breach to defend corruption by at least passive +resistance. Neither Howard, Wesley and Whitfield, nor yet Clarkson, +Wilberforce, or Romilly, could boast of the episcopal bench as an ally +against inhuman or immoral practices. Our oppressions in India, and +our sanction to the most cruel superstitions of the natives, led to no +outcry from the Bishops. Under their patronage the two old Societies +of the Church had gone to sleep until aroused by the Church Missionary +and Bible Societies, which were opposed by the Bishops. Their policy +seemed to be, to do nothing, until somebody else was likely to do +it; upon which they at last joined the movement in order to damp its +energy, and get some credit from it. Now what were Bishops for, but to +be the originators and energetic organs of all pious and good works? +and what were they in the House of Lords for, if not to set a higher +tone of purity, justice, and truth? and if they never did this, but +weighed down those who attempted it, was not that a condemnation (not, +perhaps, of all possible Episcopacy, but) of Episcopacy as it exists +in England? If such a thing as a moral argument _for_ Christianity +was admitted as valid, surely the above was a moral argument _against_ +English Prelacy. It was, moreover, evident at a glance, that this +system of ours neither was, nor could have been, apostolic: for as +long as the civil power was hostile to the Church, _a Lord bishop +nominated by the civil ruler_ was an impossibility: and this it is, +which determines the moral and spiritual character of the English +institution, not indeed exclusively, but preeminently. + +I still feel amazement at the only defence which (as far as I know) +the pretended followers of Antiquity make for the nomination of +bishops by the Crown. In the third and fourth centuries, it is well +known that every new bishop was elected by the universal suffrage of +the laity of the church; and it is to these centuries that the High +Episcopalians love to appeal, because they can quote thence out of +Cyprian[2] and others in favour of Episcopal authority. When I alleged +the dissimilarity in the mode of election, as fatal to this argument +in the mouth of an English High Churchman, I was told that "the Crown +now _represents_ the Laity!" Such a fiction may be satisfactory to a +pettifogging lawyer, but as the basis of a spiritual system is indeed +supremely contemptible. + +With these considerations on my mind,--while quite aware that some of +the bishops were good and valuable men,--I could not help feeling +that it would be a perfect misery to me to have to address one of them +taken at random as my "Right Reverend Father in God," which seemed +like a foul hypocrisy; and when I remembered who had said, "Call +no man Father on earth; for one is your Father, who is in +heaven:"--words, which not merely in the letter, but still more +distinctly in the spirit, forbid the state of feeling which suggested +this episcopal appellation,--it did appear to me, as if "Prelacy" +had been rightly coupled by the Scotch Puritans with "Popery" as +antichristian. + +Connected inseparably with this, was the form of Ordination, which, +the more I thought of it, seemed the more offensively and outrageously +Popish, and quite opposed to the Article on the same subject. In the +Article I read, that we were to regard such to be legitimate ministers +of the word, as had been duly appointed to this work _by those who +have public authority for the same_. It was evident to me that this +very wide phrase was adapted and intended to comprehend the "public +authorities" of all the Reformed Churches, and could never have been +selected by one who wished to narrow the idea of a legitimate minister +to Episcopalian Orders; besides that we know Lutheran and Calvinistic +ministers to have been actually admitted in the early times of the +Reformed English Church, by the force of that very Article. To this, +the only genuine Protestant view of a Church, I gave my most cordial +adherence: but when I turned to the Ordination Service, I found the +Bishop there, by his authoritative voice, absolutely to bestow on +the candidate for Priesthood the power to forgive or retain +sins!--"Receive ye the Holy Ghost! Whose sins ye forgive, they are +forgiven: whose sins ye retain, they are retained." If the Bishop +really had this power, he of course had it only _as_ Bishop, that is, +by his consecration; thus it was formally transmitted. To allow this, +vested in all the Romish bishops a spiritual power of the highest +order, and denied the legitimate priesthood in nearly all the +Continental Protestant Churches--a doctrine irreconcilable with the +article just referred to and intrinsically to me incredible. That +an unspiritual--and it may be, a wicked--man, who can have no pure +insight into devout and penitent hearts, and no communion with the +Source of holy discernment, could never receive by an outward form the +divine power to forgive or retain sins, or the power of bestowing this +power, was to me then, as now, as clear and certain as any possible +first axiom. Yet if the Bishop had not this power, how profane was +the pretension! Thus again I came into rude collision with English +Prelacy. + +The year after taking my degree, I made myself fully master of Paley's +acute and original treatise, the "Horę Paulinę," and realized the +whole life of Paul as never before. This book greatly enlarged my mind +as to the resources of historical criticism. Previously, my sole idea +of criticism was that of the direct discernment of style; but I now +began to understand what powerful argument rose out of combinations: +and the very complete establishment which this work gives to the +narrative concerning Paul in the latter half of the "Acts," appeared +to me to reflect critical honour[3] on the whole New Testament. In the +epistles of this great apostle, notwithstanding their argumentative +difficulties, I found a moral reality and a depth of wisdom +perpetually growing upon me with acquaintance: in contrast to which +I was conscious that I made no progress in understanding the four +gospels. Their first impression had been their strongest: and their +difficulties remained as fixed blocks in my way. Was this possibly +because Paul is a reasoner, (I asked)? hence, with the cultivation +of my understanding, I have entered more easily into the heart of +his views:--while Christ enunciates divine truth dogmatically; +consequently insight is needed to understand him? On the contrary, +however, it seemed to me, that the doctrinal difficulties of the +gospels depend chiefly either on obscure metaphor or on apparent +incoherence: and I timidly asked a friend, whether the _dislocation_ +of the discourses of Christ by the narrators may not be one reason why +they are often obscure: for on comparing Luke with Matthew, it appears +that we cannot deny occasional dislocation. If at this period a German +divinity professor had been lecturing at Oxford, or German books had +been accessible to me, it might have saved me long peregrinations of +body and mind. + +About this time I had also begun to think that the old writers called +_Fathers_ deserved but a small fraction of the reverence which is +awarded to them. I had been strongly urged to read Chrysostom's work +on the Priesthood, by one who regarded it as a suitable preparation +for Holy Orders; and I did read it. But I not only thought it +inflated, and without moral depth, but what was far worse, I +encountered in it an elaborate defence of falsehood in the cause of +the Church, and generally of deceit in any good cause.[4] I rose +from the treatise in disgust, and for the first time sympathized with +Gibbon; and augured that if he had spoken with moral indignation, +instead of pompous sarcasm, against the frauds of the ancient +"Fathers," his blows would have fallen far more heavily on +Christianity itself. + +I also, with much effort and no profit, read the Apostolic Fathers. +Of these, Clement alone seemed to me respectable, and even he to write +only what I could myself have written, with Paul and Peter to serve +as a model. But for Barnabas and Hermas I felt a contempt so profound, +that I could hardly believe them genuine. On the whole, this reading +greatly exalted my sense of the unapproachable greatness[5] of the New +Testament. The moral chasm between it and the very earliest Christian +writers seemed to me so vast, as only to be accounted for by the +doctrine in which all spiritual men (as I thought) unhesitatingly +agreed,--that the New Testament was dictated by the immediate action +of the Holy Spirit. The infatuation of those, who, after this, rested +on _the Councils_, was to me unintelligible. Thus the Bible in its +simplicity became only the more all-ruling to my judgment, because +I could find no Articles, no Church Decrees, and no apostolic +individual, whose rule over my understanding or conscience I could +bear. Such may be conveniently regarded as the first period of my +Creed. + + +[Footnote 1: It was not until many years later that I became aware, +that unbiased ecclesiastical historians, as Neander and others, while +approving of the practice of Infant Baptism, freely concede that it is +not apostolic. Let this fact be my defence against critics, who snarl +at me for having dared, at that age, to come to _any_ conclusion on +such a subject. But, in fact, the subscriptions compel young men to +it.] + +[Footnote 2: I remember reading about that time a sentence in one of +his Epistles, in which this same Cyprian, the earliest mouthpiece of +"proud prelacy," claims for the _populace_ supreme right of deposing +an unworthy bishop. I quote the words from memory, and do not know +the reference. "Pleba summam habet potentatem episcopos seu dignos +eligendi seu indignos detrudendi."] + +[Footnote 3: A critic absurdly complains that I do not account for +this. Account for what? I still hold the authenticity of nearly all +the Pauline epistles, and that the Pauline Acts are compiled from some +valuable source, from chap. xiii. onward; but it was gratuitous to +infer that this could accredit the four gospels.] + +[Footnote 4: He argues from the Bible, that a victory gained by deceit +is more to be esteemed than one obtained by force; and that, provided +the end aimed at be good, we ought not to call it _deceit_, but a sort +of _admirable management_. A learned friend informs me that in +his 45th Homily on Genesis, this father, in his zeal to vindicate +Scriptural characters at any cost, goes further still in immorality. +My friend adds, "It is really frightful to reflect to what guidance +the moral sentiment of mankind was committed for many ages: Chrysostom +is usually considered one of the best of the fathers."] + +[Footnote 5: I thought that the latter part of this book would +sufficiently show how and why I now need to modify this sentiment. I +_now_ see the doctrine of the Atonement, especially as expounded +in the Epistle of the Hebrews, to deserve no honour. I see false +interpretations of the Old Testament to be dogmatically proposed in +the New. I see the moral teaching concerning Patriotism, Property, +Slavery, Marriage, Science, and indirectly Fine Art, to be essentially +defective, and the threats against unbelief to be a pernicious +immorality. See also p. 80. Why will critics use my frankly-stated +juvenile opinions as a stone to pelt me with?] + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +STRIVINGS AFTER A MORE PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY. + + +My second period is characterized, partly by the great ascendancy +exercised over me by one powerful mind and still more powerful will, +partly by the vehement effort which throughout its duration urged me +to long after the establishment of Christian Fellowship in a purely +Biblical Church as the first great want of Christendom and of the +world. + +I was already uneasy in the sense that I could not enter the ministry +of the Church of England, and knew not what course of life to choose. +I longed to become a missionary for Christ among the heathen,--a +notion I had often fostered while reading the lives of missionaries: +but again, I saw not how that was to be effected. After taking my +degree, I became a Fellow of Balliol College; and the next year I +accepted an invitation to Ireland, and there became private tutor for +fifteen months in the house of one now deceased, whose name I would +gladly mention for honour and affection;--but I withhold my pen. While +he repaid me munificently for my services, he behaved towards me as a +father, or indeed as an elder brother, and instantly made me feel as +a member of his family. His great talents, high professional standing, +nobleness of heart and unfeigned piety, would have made him a most +valuable counsellor to me: but he was too gentle, too unassuming, too +modest; he looked to be taught by his juniors, and sat at the feet of +one whom I proceed to describe. + +This was a young relative of his,--a most remarkable man,--who rapidly +gained an immense sway over me. I shall henceforth call him "the Irish +clergyman." His "bodily presence" was indeed "weak!" A fallen cheek, +a bloodshot eye, crippled limbs resting on crutches, a seldom shaven +beard, a shabby suit of clothes and a generally neglected person, drew +at first pity, with wonder to see such a figure in a drawing-room. +It was currently reported that a person in Limerick offered him a +halfpenny, mistaking him for a beggar; and if not true, the story was +yet well invented. This young man had taken high honours in Dublin +University and had studied for the bar, where under the auspices of +his eminent kinsman he had excellent prospects; but his conscience +would not allow him to take a brief, lest he should be selling his +talents to defeat justice. With keen logical powers, he had warm +sympathies, solid judgment of character, thoughtful tenderness, and +total self-abandonment. He before long took Holy Orders, and became +an indefatigable curate in the mountains of Wicklow. Every evening +he sallied forth to teach in the cabins, and roving far and wide +over mountain and amid bogs, was seldom home before midnight. By such +exertions his strength was undermined, and he so suffered in his limbs +that not lameness only, but yet more serious results were feared. He +did not fast on purpose, but his long walks through wild country and +indigent people inflicted on him much severe deprivation: moreover, +as he ate whatever food offered itself,--food unpalatable and often +indigestible to him, his whole frame might have vied in emaciation +with a monk of La Trappe. + +Such a phenomenon intensely excited the poor Romanists, who looked +on him as a genuine "saint" of the ancient breed. The stamp of heaven +seemed to them clear in a frame so wasted by austerity, so superior +to worldly pomp, and so partaking in all their indigence. That a dozen +such men would have done more to convert all Ireland to Protestantism, +than the whole apparatus of the Church Establishment, was ere long my +conviction; though I was at first offended by his apparent affectation +of a mean exterior. But I soon understood, that in no other way could +he gain equal access to the lower and lowest orders, and that he was +moved not by asceticism, nor by ostentation, but by a self-abandonment +fruitful of consequences. He had practically given up all reading +except that of the Bible; and no small part of his movement towards me +soon took the form of dissuasion from all other voluntary study. + +In fact, I had myself more and more concentrated my religious reading +on this one book: still, I could not help feeling the value of a +cultivated mind. Against this, my new eccentric friend, (himself +having enjoyed no mean advantages of cultivation,) directed his +keenest attacks. I remember once saying to him, in defence of worldly +station,--"To desire to be rich is unchristian and absurd; but if I +were the father of children, I should wish to be rich enough to secure +them a good education." He replied: "If I had children, I would as +soon see them break stones on the road, as do any thing else, if only +I could secure to them the Gospel and the grace of God." I was unable +to say Amen, but I admired his unflinching consistency;--for now, +as always, all he said was based on texts aptly quoted and logically +enforced. He more and more made me ashamed of Political Economy and +Moral Philosophy, and all Science; all of which ought to be "counted +dross for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord." +For the first time in my life I saw a man earnestly turning into +reality the principles which others confessed with their lips only. +That the words of the New Testament contained the highest truth +accessible to man,--truth not to be taken from nor added to,--all +good men (as I thought) confessed: never before had I seen a man so +resolved that no word of it should be a dead letter to him. I once +said: "But do you really think that _no_ part of the New Testament may +have been temporary in its object? for instance, what should we have +lost, if St. Paul had never written the verse, 'The cloak which I +have left at Troas, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the +parchments.'" He answered with the greatest promptitude: "_I_ should +certainly have lost something; for that is exactly the verse which +alone saved me from selling my little library. No! every word, depend +upon it, is from the Spirit, and is for eternal service." + +A political question was just then exceedingly agitating Ireland, in +which nearly everybody took a great interest;--it was, the propriety +of admitting Romanist members of Parliament. Those who were favourable +to the measure, generally advocated it by trying to undervalue +the chasm that separates Romish from Protestant doctrine. By such +arguments they exceedingly exasperated the real Protestants, and, +in common with all around me, I totally repudiated that ground of +comprehension. But I could not understand why a broader, more generous +and every way safer argument was not dwelt on; viz. the unearthliness +of the claims of Christianity. When Paul was preaching the kingdom of +God in the Roman empire, if a malicious enemy had declared to a Roman +proconsul that the Christians were conspiring to eject all Pagans out +of the senate and out of the public administration; who can doubt what +Paul would have replied?--The kingdom of God is not of this world: it +is within the heart, and consists in righteousness, peace and joy +in the Holy Ghost. These are our "honours" from God: we ask not the +honours of empire and title. Our King is in heaven; and will in time +return to bring to an end these earthly kingdoms: but until then, we +claim no superiority over you on earth. As the riches of this world, +so the powers of this world belong to another king: we dare not try to +appropriate them in the name of our heavenly King; may, we should +hold it as great a sin to clutch empire for our churches, as to clutch +wealth: God forbid that we covet either!--But what then if the enemy +had had foresight to reply, O proconsul, this Paul talks finely, and +perhaps sincerely: but if so, yet cheat not yourself to think that +his followers will tie themselves to his mild equity and +disinterestedness. Now indeed they are weak: now they profess +unworldliness and unambition: they wish only to be recognised as +peaceable subjects, as citizens and as equals: but if once they grow +strong enough, they will discover that their spears and swords are +the symbol of their Lord's return from heaven; that he now at length +commissions them to eject you, as vile infidels, from all seats of +power,--to slay you with the sword, if you dare to offer sacrifice to +the immortal gods,--to degrade you so, that you shall only not enter +the senate, or the privy council of the prince, or the judgment seat, +but not even the jury-box, or a municipal corporation, or the pettiest +edileship of Italy; nay, you shall not be lieutenants of armies, or +tribunes, or anything above the lowest centurion. You shall become a +plebeian class,--cheap bodies to be exposed in battle or to toil in +the field, and pay rent to the lordly Christian. Such shall be the +fate of _you_, the worshippers of Quirinus and of Jupiter Best and +Greatest, if you neglect to crush and extirpate, during the weakness +of its infancy, this ambitious and unscrupulous portent of a +religion.--Oh, how would Paul have groaned in spirit, at accusations +such as these, hateful to his soul, aspersing to his churches, but +impossible to refute! Either Paul's doctrine was a fond dream, (felt +I,) or it is certain, that he would have protested with all the force +of his heart against the principle that Christians _as such_ have any +claim to earthly power and place; or that they could, when they gained +a numerical majority, without sin enact laws to punish, stigmatize, +exclude, or otherwise treat with political inferiority the Pagan +remnant. To uphold such exclusion, is to lay the axe to the root of +the spiritual Church, to stultify the apostolic preaching, and at this +moment justify Mohammedans in persecuting Christians. For the Sultan +might fairly say,--"I give Christians the choice of exile or death: I +will not allow that sect to grow up here; for it has fully warned me, +that it will proscribe my religion in my own land, as soon as it has +power." + +On such grounds I looked with amazement and sorrow at spiritual +Christians who desired to exclude the Romanists from full equality; +and I was happy to enjoy as to this the passive assent of the Irish +clergyman; who, though "Orange" in his connexions, and opposed to +_all_ political action, yet only so much the more deprecated what he +called "political Protestantism." + +In spite of the strong revulsion which I felt against some of the +peculiarities of this remarkable man, I for the first time in my life +found myself under the dominion of a superior. When I remember, how +even those bowed down before him, who had been to him in the place of +parents,--accomplished and experienced minds,--I cease to wonder in +the retrospect, that he riveted me in such a bondage. Henceforth I +began to ask: what will _he_ say to this and that? In _his_ reply I +always expected to find a higher portion of God's Spirit, than in any +I could frame for myself. In order to learn divine truth, it became to +me a surer process to consult him, than to search for myself and wait +upon God: and gradually, (as I afterwards discerned,) my religious +thought had merged into the mere process of developing fearlessly +into results all his principles, without any deeper examining of my +foundations. Indeed, but for a few weaknesses which warned me that +he might err, I could have accepted him as an apostle commissioned to +reveal the mind of God. + +In his after-course (which I may not indicate) this gentleman has +every where displayed a wonderful power of bending other minds to his +own, and even stamping upon them the tones of his voice and all sorts +of slavish imitation. Over the general results of his action I +have long deeply mourned, as blunting his natural tenderness and +sacrificing his wisdom to the Letter, dwarfing men's understandings, +contracting their hearts, crushing their moral sensibilities, and +setting those at variance who ought to love: yet oh! how specious +was it in the beginning! he _only_ wanted men "to submit their +understandings _to God_" that is, to the Bible, that is, to his +interpretation! From seeing his action and influence I have learnt, +that if it be dangerous to a young man (as it assuredly is) to have +_no_ superior mind to which he may look up with confiding reverence, +it may be even more dangerous to think that he has found such a mind: +for he who is most logically consistent, though to a one-sided theory, +and most ready to sacrifice self to that theory, seems to ardent youth +the most assuredly trustworthy guide. Such was Ignatius Loyola in his +day. + +My study of the New Testament at this time had made it impossible for +me to overlook that the apostles held it to be a duty of all disciples +to expect a near and sudden destruction of the earth by fire, and +constantly to be expecting _the return of the Lord from heaven_. It +was easy to reply, that "experience disproved" this expectation; but +to this an answer was ready provided in Peter's 2nd Epistle, which +forewarns us that we shall be taunted by the unbelieving with thin +objection, but bids us, _nevertheless_, continue to look out for +the speedy fulfilment of this great event. In short, the case stood +thus:--If it was not _too soon_ 1800 years ago to stand in daily +expectation of it, it is not too soon now: to say that it is _too +late_, is not merely to impute error to the apostles, on a matter +which they made of first-rate moral importance, but is to say, that +those whom Peter calls "ungodly scoffers, walking after their own +lusts"--were right, and he was wrong, on the very point for which he +thus vituperated them. + +The importance of this doctrine is, that _it totally forbids all +working for earthly objects distant in time_: and here the Irish +clergyman threw into the same scale the entire weight of his +character. For instance; if a youth had a natural aptitude for +mathematics, and he asked, ought he to give himself to the study, in +hope that he might diffuse a serviceable knowledge of it, or possibly +even enlarge the boundaries of the science? my friend would have +replied, that such a purpose was very proper, if entertained by a +worldly man. Let the dead bury their dead; and let the world study the +things of the world: they know no better, and they are of use to the +Church, who may borrow and use the jewels of the Egyptians. But such +studies cannot be eagerly followed by the Christian, except when he +yields to unbelief. In fact, what would it avail even to become a +second La Place after thirty years' study, if in five and thirty years +the Lord descended from heaven, snatched up all his saints to meet +him, and burned to ashes all the works of the earth? Then all the +mathematician's work would have perished, and he would grieve over +his unwisdom, in laying up store which could not stand the fire of +the Lord. Clearly; if we are bound to act _as though_ the end of all +earthly concerns may come, "at cockcrowing or at midday," then to work +for distant earthly objects is the part of a fool or of an unbeliever. + +I found a wonderful dulness in many persons on this important subject. +Wholly careless to ask what was the true apostolic doctrine, they +insisted that "Death is to us _practically_ the coming of the Lord," +and were amazed at my seeing so much emphasis in the other view. This +comes of the abominable selfishness preached as religion. If I were +to labour at some useful work for ten years,--say, at clearing forest +land, laying out a farm, and building a house,--and were then to die, +I should leave my work to my successors, and it would not be lost. +Some men work for higher, some for lower, earthly ends; ("in a great +house there are many vessels, &c.;") but all the results are valuable, +if there is a chance of transmitting them to those who follow us. +But if all is to be very shortly burnt up, it is then folly to exert +ourselves for such objects. To the dead man, (it is said,) the cases +are but one. This is to the purpose, if self absorbs all our heart; +away from the purpose, if we are to work for unselfish ends. + +Nothing can be clearer, than that the New Testament is entirely +pervaded by the doctrine,--sometimes explicitly stated, sometimes +unceremoniously assumed,--that earthly things are very speedily to +come to an end, and _therefore_ are not worthy of our high affections +and deep interest. Hence, when thoroughly imbued with this persuasion, +I looked with mournful pity on a great mind wasting its energies on +any distant aim of this earth. For a statesman to talk about providing +for future generations, sounded to me as a melancholy avowal of +unbelief. To devote good talents to write history or investigate +nature, was simple waste: for at the Lord's coming, history and +science would no longer be learned by these feeble appliances of ours. +Thus an inevitable deduction from the doctrine of the apostles, was, +that "we must work for speedy results only." Vitę summa brevis spem +nos vetat inchoare longam. I _then_ accepted the doctrine, in profound +obedience to the absolutely infallible system of precepts. I _now_ see +that the falsity and mischief of the doctrine is one of the very many +disproofs of the assumed, but unverified infallibility. However, +the hold which the apostolic belief then took of me, subjected my +conscience to the exhortations of the Irish clergyman, whenever he +inculcated that the highest Christian must necessarily decline the +pursuit of science, knowledge, art, history,--except so far as any +of these things might be made useful tools for immediate spiritual +results. + +Under the stimulus to my imagination given by this gentleman's +character, the desire, which from a boy I had more or less nourished, +of becoming a teacher of Christianity _to the heathen_, took stronger +and stronger hold of me. I saw that I was shut out from the ministry +of the Church of England, and knew not how to seek connexion with +Dissenters. I had met one eminent Quaker, but was offended by the +violent and obviously false interpretations by which he tried to +get rid of the two Sacraments; and I thought there was affectation +involved in the forms which the doctrine of the Spirit took with him. +Besides, I had not been prepossessed by those Dissenters whom I had +heard speak at the Bible Society. I remember that one of them +talked in pompous measured tones of voice, and with much stereotyped +phraseology, about "the Bible only, the religion of Protestants:" +altogether, it did not seem to me that there was at all so much of +nature and simple truth in them as in Church clergymen. I also had +a vague, but strong idea, that all Dissenting churches assumed some +special, narrow, and sectarian basis. The question indeed arose: "Was +I _at liberty_ to preach to the heathen without ordination?" but I +with extreme ease answered in the affirmative. To teach a Church, of +course needs the sanction of the church: no man can assume pastoral +rights without assent from other parties: but to speak to those +without, is obviously a natural right, with which the Church can have +nothing to do. And herewith all the precedents of the New Testament so +obviously agreed, that I had not a moment's disquiet on this head. + +At the same time, when asked by one to whom I communicated my +feelings, "whether I felt that I had _a call_ to preach to the +heathen," I replied: I had not the least consciousness of it, and knew +not what was meant by such language. All that I knew was, that I was +willing and anxious to do anything in my power either to teach, or to +help others in teaching, if only I could find out the way. That after +eighteen hundred years no farther progress should have been made +towards the universal spread of Christianity, appeared a scandalous +reproach on Christendom. Is it not, perhaps, because those who are +in Church office cannot go, and the mass of the laity think it no +business of theirs? If a persecution fell on England, and thousands +were driven into exile, and, like those who were scattered in +Stephen's persecution, "went everywhere preaching the word,"--might +not this be the conversion of the world, as indeed that began the +conversion of the Gentiles? But the laity leave all to the clergy, and +the clergy have more than enough to do. + +About this time I heard of another remarkable man, whose name was +already before the public,--Mr. Groves,--who had written a tract +called Christian Devotedness, on the duty of devoting all worldly +property for the cause of Christ, and utterly renouncing the attempt +to amass money. In pursuance of this, he was going to Persia as a +teacher of Christianity. I read his tract, and was inflamed with the +greatest admiration; judging immediately that this was the man whom +I should rejoice to aid or serve. For a scheme of this nature +alone appeared to combine with the views which I had been gradually +consolidating concerning the practical relation of a Christian Church +to Christian Evidences. On this very important subject it is requisite +to speak in detail. + + * * * * * + +The Christian Evidences are an essential part of the course of +religious study prescribed at Oxford, and they had engaged from an +early period a large share of my attention. Each treatise on the +subject, taken by itself, appeared to me to have great argumentative +force; but when I tried to grasp them all together in a higher act +of thought, I was sensible of a certain confusion, and inability to +reconcile their fundamental assumptions. _One_ either formally +stated, or virtually assumed, that the deepest basis of all +religious knowledge was the testimony of sense to some fact, which is +ascertained to be miraculous when examined by the light of Physics or +Physiology; and that we must, at least in a great degree, distrust and +abandon our moral convictions or auguries, at the bidding of sensible +miracle. _Another_ treatise assumed that men's moral feelings and +beliefs are, on the whole, the most trustworthy thing to be found; +and starting from them as from a known and ascertained foundation, +proceeded to glorify Christianity because of its expanding, +strengthening, and beautifying all that we know by conscience to be +morally right. That the former argument, if ever so valid, was still +too learned and scholastic, not for the vulgar only, but for every man +in his times of moral trial, I felt instinctively persuaded: yet my +intellect could not wholly dispense with it, and my belief in the +depravity of the moral understanding of men inclined me to go some way +in defending it. To endeavour to combine the two arguments by saying +that they were adapted to different states of mind, was plausible; +yet it conceded, that neither of the two went to the bottom of +human thought, or showed what were the real _fixed points_ of man's +knowledge; without knowing which, we are in perpetual danger of mere +_argumentum ad hominem_, or, in fact, arguing in a circle;--as to +prove miracles from doctrine, and doctrine from miracles. I however +conceived that the most logical minds among Christians would contend +that there was another solution; which, in 1827, I committed to paper +in nearly the following words: + +"May it not be doubted whether Leland sees the real circumstance that +makes a revelation necessary? + +"No revelation is needed to inform us,--of the invisible power and +deity of God; that we are bound to worship Him; that we are capable of +sinning against Him and liable to his just Judgment; nay, that we have +sinned, and that we find in nature marks of his displeasure against +sin; and yet, that He is merciful. St. Paul and our Lord show us that +these things are knowable by reason. The ignorance of the heathens is +_judicial blindness_, to punish their obstinate rejection of the true +God." + +"But a revelation _is_ needed to convey a SPECIAL message, such as +this: that God has provided an Atonement for our sins, has deputed his +own Son to become Head of the redeemed human family, and intends to +raise those who believe in Him to a future and eternal life of bliss. +These are external truths, (for 'who can believe, unless one be sent +to preach them?') and are not knowable by any reasonings drawn from +nature. They transcend natural analogies and moral or spiritual +experience. To reveal them, a specific communication must be accorded +to us: and on this the necessity for miracle turns." + +Thus, in my view, at that time, the materials of the Bible were in +theory divisible into two portions: concerning the _one_, (which I +called Natural Religion,) it not only was not presumptuous, but it was +absolutely essential, to form an independent judgment; for this was +the real basis of all faith: concerning the _other_, (which I called +Revealed Religion,) our business was, not to criticize the message, +but to examine the credentials[1] of the messenger; and,--after the +most unbiassed possible examination of these,--then, if they proved +sound, to receive his communication reverently and unquestioningly. + +Such was the theory with which I came from Oxford to Ireland; but +I was hindered from working out its legitimate results by the +overpowering influence of the Irish clergyman; who, while pressing +the authority of every letter of the Scripture with an unshrinking +vehemence that I never saw surpassed, yet, with a common +inconsistency, showed more than indifference towards learned +historical and critical evidence on the side of Christianity; and +indeed, unmercifully exposed erudition to scorn, both by caustic +reasoning, and by irrefragable quotation of texts. I constantly had +occasion to admire the power with which be laid hold of the moral +side of every controversy; whether he was reasoning against Romanism, +against the High Church, against learned religion or philosophic +scepticism: and in this matter his practical axiom was, that the +advocate of truth had to address himself to the _conscience_ of the +other party, and if possible, make him feel that there was a moral and +spiritual superiority against him. Such doctrine, when joined with +an inculcation of man's _natural blindness and total depravity_, +was anything but clearing to my intellectual perceptions: in fact, +I believe that for some years I did not recover from the dimness and +confusion which he spread over them. But in my entire inability to +explain away the texts which spoke with scorn of worldly wisdom, +philosophy, and learning, on the one hand; and the obvious certainty, +on the other, that no historical evidence for miracle was possible +except by the aid of learning; I for the time abandoned this side of +Christian Evidence,--not as invalid, but as too unwieldy a weapon +for use,--and looked to direct moral evidence alone. And now rose the +question, How could such moral evidence become appreciable to heathens +and Mohammedans? + +I felt distinctly enough, that mere talk could bring no conviction, +and would be interpreted by the actions and character of the speaker. +While nations called Christian are only known to heathens as great +conquerors, powerful avengers, sharp traders,--often lax in morals, +and apparently without religion,--the fine theories of a Christian +teacher would be as vain to convert a Mohammedan or Hindoo to +Christianity, to the soundness of Seneca's moral treatises to convert +me to Roman Paganism. Christendom has to earn a new reputation before +Christian precepts will be thought to stand in any essential or close +relation with the mystical doctrines of Christianity. I could see +no other way to this, but by an entire church being formed of new +elements on a heathen soil:--a church, in which by no means all +should be preachers, but all should be willing to do for all whatever +occasion required. Such a church had I read of among the Moravians in +Greenland and in South Africa. I imagined a little colony, so animated +by primitive faith, love, and disinterestedness, that the collective +moral influence of all might interpret and enforce the words of the +few who preached. Only in this way did it appear to me that preaching +to the heathen could be attended with success. In fact, whatever +success had been attained, seemed to come only after many years, when +the natives had gained experience in the characters of the Christian +family around them. + +When I had returned to Oxford, I induced the Irish clergyman to visit +the University, and introduced him to many of my equals in age, and +juniors. Most striking was it to see how instantaneously he assumed +the place of universal father-confessor, as if he had been a known +and long-trusted friend. His insight into character, and tenderness +pervading his austerity, so opened young men's hearts, that day after +day there was no end of secret closetings with him. I began to see the +prospect of so considerable a movement of mind, as might lead many in +the same direction as myself; and _if_ it was by a collective +Church that Mohammedans were to be taught, the only way was for +each separately to be led to the same place by the same spiritual +influence. As Groves was a magnet to draw me, so might I draw others. +In no other way could a pure and efficient Church be formed. If we +waited, as with worldly policy, to make up a complete colony before +leaving England, we should fail of getting the right men: we should +pack them together by a mechanical process, instead of leaving them to +be united by vital affinities. Thus actuated, and other circumstances +conducing, in September 1830, with some Irish friends, I set out to +join Mr. Groves at Bagdad. What I might do there, I knew not. I did +not go as a minister of religion, and I everywhere pointedly disowned +the assumption of this character, even down to the colour of my dress. +But I thought I knew many ways in which I might be of service, and I +was prepared to act recording to circumstances. + + * * * * * + +Perhaps the strain of practical life must in any case, before long, +have broken the chain by which the Irish clergyman unintentionally +held me; but all possible influence from him was now cut off by +separation. The dear companions of my travels no more aimed to guide +my thoughts, than I theirs: neither ambition nor suspicion found place +in our hearts; and my mind was thus able again without disturbance to +develop its own tendencies. + +I had become distinctly aware, that the modern Churches in general by +no means hold the truth as conceived of by the apostles. In the +matter of the Sabbath and of the Mosaic Law, of Infant Baptism, of +Episcopacy, of the doctrine of the Lord's return, I had successively +found the prevalent Protestantism to be unapostolic. Hence arose in me +a conscious and continuous effort to read the New Testament with fresh +eyes and without bias, and so to take up the real doctrines of the +heavenly and everlasting Gospel. + +In studying the narrative of John I was strongly impressed by the +fact, that the glory and greatness of the Son of God is constantly +ascribed to the will and pleasure of the Father. I had been accustomed +to hear this explained of his _mediatorial_ greatness only, but this +now looked to me like a make-shift, and to want the simplicity of +truth--an impression which grew deeper with closer examination. +The emphatic declaration of Christ, "My Father is greater than I," +especially arrested my attention. Could I really expound this as +meaning, "My Father, the Supreme God, in greater than I am, _if you +look solely to my human nature?_" Such a truism can scarcely have +deserved such emphasis. Did the disciples need to be taught that God +was greater than man? Surely, on the contrary, the Saviour must have +meant to say: "_Divine as I am_, yet my heavenly Father is greater than +I, _even when you take cognizance of my divine nature._" I did not +then know, that my comment was exactly that of the most orthodox +Fathers; I rather thought they were against me, but for them I did not +care much. I reverenced the doctrine of the Trinity as something vital +to the soul; but felt that to love the Fathers or the Athanasian +Creed more than the Gospel of John would be a supremely miserable +superstition. However, that Creed states that there is no inequality +between the Three Persons: in John it became increasingly clear to me +that the divine Son is unequal to the Father. To say that "the Son of +God" meant "Jesus as man," was a preposterous evasion: for there is +no higher title for the Second Person of the Trinity than this very +one--Son of God. Now, in the 5th chapter, when the Jews accused Jesus +"of making himself equal to God," by calling himself Son of God Jesus +even hastens to protest against the inference as a misrepresentation +--beginning with: "The Son can do nothing of himself:" and proceeds +elaborately to ascribe all his greatness to the Father's will. In +fact, the Son is emphatically "he who is sent," and the Father is "he +who sent him:" and all would feel the deep impropriety of trying to +exchange these phrases. The Son who is sent,--sent, not _after_ he was +humbled to become man, but _in order to_ be so humbled,--was NOT EQUAL +TO, but LESS THAN, the Father who sent him. To this I found the whole +Gospel of John to bear witness; and with this conviction, the truth +and honour of the Athanasian Creed fell to the ground. One of its main +tenets was proved false; and yet it dared to utter anathemas on all +who rejected it! + +I afterwards remembered my old thought, that we must surely understand +_our own words_, when we venture to speak at all about divine +mysteries. Having gained boldness to gaze steadily on the topic, I +at length saw that the compiler of the Athanasian Creed did _not_ +understand his own words. If any one speaks of _three men_, all that +he means is, "three objects of thought, of whom each separately may +be called Man." So also, all that could possibly be meant by _three +gods_, is, "three objects of thought, of whom each separately may be +called God." To avow the last statement, as the Creed does, and yet +repudiate Three Gods, is to object to the phrase, yet confess to +the only meaning which the phrase can convey. Thus the Creed really +teaches polytheism, but saves orthodoxy by forbidding any one to call +it by its true name. Or to put the matter otherwise: it teaches three +Divine Persons, and denies three Gods; and leaves us to guess what +else is a Divine Person but a God, or a God but a Divine Person. Who, +then, can deny that this intolerant creed is a malignant riddle? + +That there is nothing in the Scripture about Trinity in Unity and +Unity in Trinity I had long observed; and the total absence of such +phraseology had left on me a general persuasion that the Church had +systematized too much. But in my study of John I was now arrested by +a text, which showed me how exceedingly far from a _Tri-unity_ was the +Trinity of that Gospel,--if trinity it be. Namely, in his last prayer, +Jesus addresses to his Father the words: "This is life eternal, that +they may know _Thee, the only True God_, and Jesus Christ, whom thou +hast sent" I became amazed, as I considered these words more and more +attentively, and without prejudice; and I began to understand how +prejudice, when embalmed with reverence, blinds the mind. Why had I +never before seen what is here so plain, that the _One God_ of Jesus +was not a Trinity, but was _the First Person_, of the ecclesiastical +Trinity? + +But on a fuller search, I found this to be Paul's doctrine also: for +in 1 Corinth, viii., when discussing the subject of Polytheism, he +says that "though there be to the heathen many that are called Gods, +yet to us there is but _One God_, the Father, _of_ whom are all +things; and _One Lord_, Jesus Christ, _by_ whom are all things." Thus +he defines Monotheism to consist in holding the person of the Father +to be the One God; although this, if any, should have been the place +for a "Trinity in Unity." + +But did I proceed to deny the Divinity of the Son? By no means: I +conceived of him as in the highest and fullest sense divine, short +of being Father and not Son. I now believed that by the phrase "only +begotten Son," John, and indeed Christ himself, meant to teach us that +there was an unpassable chasm between him and all creatures, in that +he had a true, though a derived divine nature; an indeed the Nicene +Creed puts the contrast, he was "begotten, not made." Thus all Divine +glory dwells in the Son, but it is _because_ the Father has willed +it. A year or more afterward, when I had again the means of access +to books, and consulted that very common Oxford book, "Pearson on the +Creed," (for which I had felt so great a distaste that I never before +read it)--I found this to be the undoubted doctrine of the great +Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers, who laid much emphasis on two +statements, which with the modern Church are idle and dead--viz. that +"the Son was _begotten_ of his Father _before all worlds_," and that +"the Holy Spirit _proceedeth from_ the Father and the Son." In +the view of the old Church, the Father alone was the Fountain of +Deity,--(and _therefore_ fitly called, The One God,--and, the Only +True God)--while the Deity of the other two persons was real, yet +derived and subordinate. Moreover, I found in Gregory Nazianzen and +others, that to confess this derivation of the Son and Spirit and the +underivedness of the Father alone, was in their view quite essential +to save Monotheism; the _One_ God being the underived Father. + +Although in my own mind all doubt as to the doctrine of John and Paul +on the main question seemed to be quite cleared away from the time +that I dwelt on their explanation of Monotheism, this in no respect +agitated me, or even engaged me in any farther search. There was +nothing to force me into controversy, or make this one point of +truth unduly preponderant. I concealed none of my thoughts from my +companions; and concerning them I will only say, that whether they +did or did not feel acquiescence, they behaved towards me with all +the affection and all the equality which I would have wished myself +to maintain, had the case been inverted. I was, however, sometimes +uneasy, when the thought crossed my mind,--"What if we, like Henry +Martyn, were charged with Polytheism by Mohammedans, and were forced +to defend ourselves by explaining in detail our doctrine of the +Trinity? _Perhaps_ no two of us would explain it alike, and this would +expose Christian doctrine to contempt." Then farther it came +across me; How very remarkable it is, that the Jews, those strict +Monotheists, never seem to have attacked the apostles for polytheism! +It would have been so plausible an imputation, one that the instinct +of party would so readily suggest, if there had been any external +form of doctrine to countenance it. Surely it is transparent that the +Apostles did not teach as Dr. Waterland. I had always felt a great +repugnance to the argumentations concerning the _Personality_ of the +Holy Spirit; no doubt from an inward sense, however dimly confessed, +that they were all words without meaning. For the disputant who +maintains this dogma, tells us in the very next breath that _Person_ +has not in this connexion its common signification; so that he is +elaborately enforcing upon us we know not what. That the Spirit of God +meant in the New Testament _God in the heart_, had long been to me a +sufficient explanation: and who by logic or metaphysics will carry us +beyond this? + +While we were at Aleppo, I one day got into religious discourse with +a Mohammedan carpenter, which left on me a lasting impression. Among +other matters, I was peculiarly desirous of disabusing him of the +current notion of his people, that our gospels are spurious narratives +of late date. I found great difficulty of expression; but the man +listened to me with much attention, and I was encouraged to exert +myself. He waited patiently till I had done, and then spoke to the +following effect: "I will tell you, sir, how the case stands. God has +given to you English a great many good gifts. You make fine ships, and +sharp penknives, and good cloth and cottons; and you have rich nobles +and brave soldiers; and you write and print many learned books: +(dictionaries and grammars:) all this is of God. But there is one +thing that God has withheld from you, and has revealed to us; and that +is, the knowledge of the true religion, by which one may be +saved." When he thus ignored my argument, (which was probably quite +unintelligible to him,) and delivered his simple protest, I was +silenced, and at the same time amused. But the more I thought it over, +the more instruction I saw in the case. His position towards me was +exactly that of a humble Christian towards an unbelieving philosopher; +nay, that of the early Apostles or Jewish prophets towards the proud, +cultivated, worldly wise and powerful heathen. This not only showed +the vanity of any argument to him, except one purely addressed to +his moral and spiritual faculties; but it also indicated to me that +Ignorance has its spiritual self-sufficiency as well as Erudition; and +that if there is a Pride of Reason, so is there a Pride of Unreason. +But though this rested in my memory, it was long before I worked out +all the results of that thought. + +Another matter brought me some disquiet. An Englishman of rather low +tastes who came to Aleppo at this time, called upon us; and as he +was civilly received, repeated his visit more than once. Being +unencumbered with fastidiousness, this person before long made various +rude attacks on the truth and authority of the Christian religion, +and drew me on to defend it. What I had heard of the moral life of the +speaker made me feel that his was not the mind to have insight into +divine truth; and I desired to divert the argument from external +topics, and bring it to a point in which there might be a chance +of touching his conscience. But I found this to be impossible. He +returned actively to the assault against Christianity, and I could +not bear to hear him vent historical falsehoods and misrepresentations +damaging to the Christian cause, without contradicting them. He was +a half-educated man, and I easily confuted him to my own entire +satisfaction: but he was not either abashed or convinced; and at +length withdrew as one victorious.--On reflecting over this, I felt +painfully, that if a Moslem had been present and had understood all +that had been said, he would have remained in total uncertainty which +of the two disputants was in the right: for the controversy had turned +on points wholly remote from the sphere of his knowledge or thought. +Yet to have declined the battle would have seemed like conscious +weakness on my part. Thus the historical side of my religion, +though essential to it, and though resting on valid evidence, (as I +unhesitatingly believed,) exposed me to attacks in which I might incur +virtual defeat or disgrace, but in which, from the nature of the +case, I could never win an available victory. This was to me very +disagreeable, yet I saw not my way out of the entanglement. + +Two years after I left England, a hope was conceived that more friends +might be induced to join us; and I returned home from Bagdad with +the commission to bring this about, if there were suitable persons +disposed for it. On my return, and while yet in quarantine on the +coast of England, I received an uncomfortable letter from a most +intimate spiritual friend, to the effect, that painful reports had +been every where spread abroad against my soundness in the faith. +The channel by which they had come was indicated to me; but my friend +expressed a firm hope, that when I had explained myself, it would all +prove to be nothing. + +Now began a time of deep and critical trial to me and to my Creed; a +time hard to speak of to the public; yet without a pretty full notice +of it, the rest of the account would be quite unintelligible. + +The Tractarian movement was just commencing in 1833. My brother +was taking a position, in which he was bound to show that he could +sacrifice private love to ecclesiastical dogma; and upon learning that +I had spoken at some small meetings of religious people, (which he +interpreted, I believe, to be an assuming of the Priest's office,) +he separated himself entirely from my private friendship and +acquaintance. To the public this may have some interest, as indicating +the disturbing excitement which animated that cause: but my reason for +naming the fact here is solely to exhibit the practical positions into +which I myself was thrown. In my brother's conduct there was not a +shade of unkindness, and I have not a thought of complaining of it. My +distress was naturally great, until I had fully ascertained from him +that I had given no personal offence. But the mischief of it went +deeper. It practically cut me off from other members of my family, +who were living in his house, and whose state of feeling towards me, +through separation and my own agitations of mind, I for some time +totally mistook. + +I had, however, myself slighted relationship in comparison with +Christian brotherhood;--_sectarian_ brotherhood, some may call it;--I +perhaps had none but myself to blame: but in the far more painful +occurrences which were to succeed one another for many months +together, I was blameless. Each successive friend who asked +explanations of my alleged heresy, was satisfied,--or at least left +me with that impression,--after hearing me: not one who met me face to +face had a word to reply to the plain Scriptures which I quoted. +Yet when I was gone away, one after another was turned against me by +somebody else whom I had not yet met or did not know: for in every +theological conclave which deliberates on joint action, the most +bigoted scorns always to prevail. + +I will trust my pen to only one specimen of details. The Irish +clergyman was not able to meet me. He wrote a very desultory letter +of grave alarm and inquiry, stating that he had heard that I was +endeavouring to sound the divine nature by the miserable plummet of +human philosophy,--with much beside that I felt to be mere commonplace +which every body might address to every body who differed from him. +I however replied in the frankest, most cordial and trusting tone, +assuring him that I was infinitely far from imagining that I could +"by searching understand God;" on the contrary, concerning his higher +mysteries, I felt I knew absolutely nothing but what he revealed to +me in his word; but in studying this word, I found John and Paul to +declare the Father, and not the Trinity, to be the One God. Referring +him to John xvii, 3, 1 Corinth. viii, 5, 6, I fondly believed that one +so "subject to the word" and so resolutely renouncing man's authority +_in order that_ he might serve God, would immediately see as I saw. +But I assured him, in all the depth of affection, that I felt how much +fuller insight he had than I into all divine truth; and not he only, +but others to whom I alluded; and that if I was in error, I only +desired to be taught more truly; and either with him, or at his feet, +to learn of God. He replied, to my amazement and distress, in a letter +of much tenderness, but which was to the effect,--that if I allowed +the Spirit of God to be with him rather than with me, it was wonderful +that I set my single judgment against the mind of the Spirit and of +the whole Church of God; and that as for admitting into Christian +communion one who held my doctrine, it had this absurdity, that while +I was in such a state of belief, it was my duty to anathematize _them_ +as idolaters.--Severe as was the shock given me by this letter, I +wrote again most lovingly, humbly, and imploringly: for I still adored +him, and could have given him my right hand or my right eye,--anything +but my conscience. I showed him that if it was a matter of action, +I would submit; for I unfeignedly believed that he had more of the +Spirit of God than I: but over my secret convictions I had no power. +I was shut up to obey and believe God rather than man, and from the +nature of the case, the profoundest respect for my brother's judgment +could not in itself alter mine. As to the whole _Church_ being against +me, I did not know what that meant: I was willing to accept the Nicene +Creed, and this I thought ought to be a sufficient defensive argument +against the Church. His answer was decisive;--he was exceedingly +surprized at my recurring to mere ecclesiastical creeds, as though +they could have the slightest weight; and he must insist on my +acknowledging, that, in the two texts quoted, the word Father meant +the Trinity, if I desired to be in any way recognized as holding the +truth. + +The Father meant the Trinity!! For the first time I perceived, that so +vehement a champion of the sufficiency of the Scripture, so staunch +an opposer of Creeds and Churches, was wedded to an extra-Scriptural +creed of his own, by which he tested the spiritual state of his +brethren. I was in despair, and like a man thunderstruck. I had +nothing more to say. Two more letters from the same hand I saw, the +latter of which was, to threaten some new acquaintances who were kind +to me, (persons wholly unknown to him,) that if they did not desist +from sheltering me and break off intercourse, they should, as far as +his influence went, themselves everywhere be cut off from Christian +communion and recognition. This will suffice to indicate the sort of +social persecution, through which, after a succession of struggles, I +found myself separated from persons whom I had trustingly admired, +and on whom I had most counted for union: with whom I fondly believed +myself bound up for eternity; of whom some were my previously intimate +friends, while for others, even on slight acquaintance, I would have +performed menial offices and thought myself honoured; whom I still +looked upon as the blessed and excellent of the earth, and the special +favourites of heaven; whose company (though oftentimes they were +considerably my inferiors either in rank or in knowledge and +cultivation) I would have chosen in preference to that of nobles; whom +I loved solely because I thought them to love God, and of whom I asked +nothing, but that they would admit me as the meanest and most frail of +disciples. My heart was ready to break: I wished for a woman's soul, +that I might weep in floods. Oh, Dogma! Dogma! how dost them trample +under foot love, truth, conscience, justice! Was ever a Moloch worse +than thou? Burn me at the stake; then Christ will receive me, and +saints beyond the grave will love me, though the saints here know +me not But now I am alone in the world: I can trust no one. The new +acquaintances who barely tolerate me, and old friends whom reports +have not reached, (if such there be,) may turn against me with +animosity to-morrow, as those have done from whom I could least have +imagined it. Where is union? where is the Church, which was to convert +the heathen? + +This was not my only reason, yet it was soon a sufficient and at last +an overwhelming reason, against returning to the East. The pertinacity +of the attacks made on me, and on all who dared to hold by me in a +certain connexion, showed that I could no longer be anything but a +thorn in the side of my friends abroad; nay, I was unable to predict +how they themselves might change towards me. The idea of a Christian +Church propagating Christianity while divided against itself was +ridiculous. Never indeed had I had the most remote idea, that my +dear friends there had been united to me by agreement in intellectual +propositions; nor could I yet believe it. I remembered a saying of the +noble-hearted Groves: "Talk of loving me while I agree with them! Give +me men that will love me when I differ from them and contradict them: +those will be the men to build up a true Church." I asked myself,--was +I then possibly different from all? With me,--and, as I had thought, +with all my Spiritual friends,--intellectual dogma was not the test +of spirituality. A hundred times over had I heard the Irish clergyman +emphatically enunciate the contrary. Nothing was clearer in his +preaching, talking and writing, than that salvation was a present +real experienced fact; a saving of the soul from the dominion of baser +desires, and an inward union of it in love and homage to Christ, who, +as the centre of all perfection, glory, and beauty, was the revelation +of God to the heart. He who was thus saved, could not help knowing +that he was reconciled, pardoned, beloved; and therefore he rejoiced +in God his Saviour: indeed, to imagine joy without this personal +assurance and direct knowledge, was quite preposterous. But on the +other hand, the soul thus spiritually minded has a keen sense of like +qualities in others. It cannot but discern when another is tender +in conscience, disinterested, forbearing, scornful of untruth and +baseness, and esteeming nothing so much as the fruits of the Spirit: +accordingly, John did not hesitate to say: "_We know_ that we have +passed from death unto life, _because_ we love the brethren." Our +doctrine certainly had been, that the Church was the assembly of the +saved, gathered by the vital attractions of God's Spirit; that in it +no one was Lord or Teacher, but one was our Teacher, even Christ: that +as long as we had no earthly bribes to tempt men to join us, there was +not much cause to fear false brethren; for if we were heavenly minded, +and these were earthly, they would soon dislike and shun us. Why +should we need to sit in judgment and excommunicate them, except in +the case of publicly scandalous conduct? + +It is true, that I fully believed certain intellectual convictions +to be essential to genuine spirituality: for instance, if I had +heard that a person unknown to me did not believe in the Atonement of +Christ, I should have inferred that he had no spiritual life. But if +the person had come under my direct knowledge, my _theory_ was, on +no account to reject him on a question of Creed, but in any case to +receive all those whom Christ had received, all on whom the Spirit of +God had come down, just as the Church at Jerusalem did in regard +to admitting the Gentiles, Acts xi. 18. Nevertheless, was not this +perhaps a theory pleasant to talk of, but too good for practice? I +could not tell; for it had never been so severely tried. I remembered, +however, that when I had thought it right to be baptized as an adult, +(regarding my baptism as an infant to have been a mischievous fraud,) +the sole confession of faith which I made, or would endure, at a time +when my "orthodoxy" was unimpeached, was: "I believe that Jesus Christ +is the Son of God:"[2] to deny which, and claim to be acknowledged as +within the pale of the Christian Church, seemed to be an absurdity. On +the whole, therefore, it did not appear to me that this Church-theory +had been hollow-hearted with _me_ nor unscriptural, nor in any way +unpractical; but that _others_ were still infected with the leaven of +creeds and formal tests, with which they reproached the old Church. + +Were there, then, no other hearts than mine, aching under miserable +bigotry, and refreshed only when they tasted in others the true +fruits of the Spirit,--"love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, +goodness, fidelity, meekness, self-control?"--To imagine this was to +suppose myself a man supernaturally favoured, an angel upon earth. I +knew there must be thousands in this very point more true-hearted than +I: nay, such still might some be, whose names I went over with myself: +but I had no heart for more experiments. When such a man as he, +the only mortal to whom I had looked up as to an apostle, had +unhesitatingly, unrelentingly, and without one mark that his +conscience was not on his side, flung away all his own precepts, +his own theories, his own magnificent rebukes of Formalism and human +Authority, and had made _himself_ the slave and _me_ the victim of +those old and ever-living tyrants,--whom henceforth could I trust? The +resolution then rose in me, to love all good men from a distance, but +never again to count on permanent friendship with any one who was not +himself cast out as a heretic. + +Nor, in fact, did the storm of distress which these events inflicted +on me, subside until I willingly received the task of withstanding it, +as God's trial whether I was faithful. As soon as I gained strength +to say, "O my Lord, I will bear not this only, _but more also_,[3] for +thy sake, for conscience, and for truth,"--my sorrows vanished, until +the next blow and the next inevitable pang. At last my heart had died +within me; the bitterness of death was past; I was satisfied to be +hated by the saints, and to reckon that those who had not yet turned +against me would not bear me much longer.--Then I conceived the +belief, that if we may not make a heaven on earth for ourselves out of +the love of saints, it is in order that we may find a truer heaven in +God's love. + +The question about this time much vexed me, what to do about receiving +the Holy Supper of the Lord, the great emblem of brotherhood, +communion, and church connexion. At one time I argued with myself, +that it became an unmeaning form, when not partaken of in mutual +love; that I could never again have free intercourse of heart with any +one;--why then use the rite of communion, where there is no communion? +But, on the other hand, I thought it a mode of confessing Christ, and +that permanently to disuse it, was an unfaithfulness. In the Church of +England I could have been easy as far as the communion formulary was +concerned; but to the entire system I had contracted an incurable +repugnance, as worldly, hypocritical, and an evil counterfeit. I +desired, therefore, to creep into some obscure congregation, and there +wait till my mind had ripened as to the right path in circumstances so +perplexing. I will only briefly say, that I at last settled among some +who had previously been total strangers to me. To their good will +and simple kindness I feel myself indebted: peace be to them! Thus I +gained time, and repose of mind, which I greatly needed. + +From the day that I had mentally decided on total inaction as to all +ecclesiastical questions, I count the termination of my Second Period. +My ideal of a spiritual Church had blown up in the most sudden and +heartbreaking way; overpowering me with shame, when the violence of +sorrow was past. There was no change whatever in my own judgment, yet +a total change of action was inevitable: that I was on the eve of +a great transition of mind I did not at all suspect. Hitherto my +reverence for the authority of the whole and indivisible _Bible_ was +overruling and complete. I never really had dared to criticize it; I +did not even exact from it self-consistency. If two passages appeared +to be opposed, and I could not evade the difficulty by the doctrine +of Development and Progress, I inferred that there was _some_ mode +of conciliation unknown to me; and that perhaps the depth of truth in +divine things could ill be stated in our imperfect language. But from +the man who dared to interpose _a human comment_ on the Scripture, I +most rigidly demanded a clear, single, self-consistent sense. If he +did not know what he meant, why did he not hold his peace? If he did +know, why did he so speak as to puzzle us? It was for this uniform +refusal to allow of self-contradiction, that it was more than once +sadly predicted of me at Oxford that I should become "a Socinian;" +yet I did not apply this logical measure to any compositions but those +which were avowedly "uninspired" and human. + +As to moral criticism, my mind was practically prostrate before the +Bible. By the end of this period I had persuaded myself that morality +so changes with the commands of God, that we can scarcely attach any +idea of _immutability_ to it. I am, moreover, ashamed to tell any +one how I spoke and acted against my own common sense under this +influence, and when I was thought a fool, prayed that I might think it +an honour to become a fool for Christ's sake. Against no doctrine did +I dare to bring moral objections, except that of "Reprobation." To +Election, to Preventing Grace, to the Fall and Original Sin of man, +to the Atonement, to Eternal Punishment, I reverently submitted my +understanding; though as to the last, new inquiries had just at this +crisis been opening on me. Reprobation, indeed, I always repudiated +with great vigour, of which I shall presently speak. That was the full +amount of my original thought; and in it I preserved entire reverence +for the sacred writers. + +As to miracles, scarcely anything staggered me. I received the +strangest and the meanest prodigies of Scripture, with the same +unhesitating faith, as if I had never understood a proposition of +physical philosophy, nor a chapter of Hume and Gibbon. + + +[Footnote 1: Very unintelligent criticism of my words induces me to +add, that "the _credentials_ of Revelation," as distinguished from +"the _contents_ of Revelation," are here intended. Whether such a +distinction can be preserved is quite another question. The view +here exhibited is essentially that of Paley, and was in my day the +prevalent one at Oxford. I do not think that the present Archbishop +of Canterbury will disown it, any more than Lloyd, and Burton, and +Hampden,--bishops and Regius Professors of Divinity.] + +[Footnote 2: Borrowed from Acts viii. 37.] + +[Footnote 3: Virgil (Ęneid vi.) gives the Stoical side of the same +thought: Tu ne cede malis, _sed contra audentior ito_.] + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +CALVINISM ABANDONED. + + +After the excitement was past, I learned many things from the events +which have been named. + +First, I had found that the class of Christians with whom I had been +joined had exploded the old Creeds in favour of another of their +own, which was never given me upon authority, and yet was constantly +slipping out, in the words, _Jesus is Jehovah_. It appeared to me +certain that this would have been denounced as the Sabellian heresy +by Athanasias and his contemporaries. I did not wish to run down +Sabellians, much less to excommunicate them, if they would give me +equality; but I felt it intensely unjust when my adherence to the +Nicene Creed was my real offence, that I should be treated as setting +up some novel wickedness against all Christendom, and slandered +by vague imputations which reached far and far beyond my power of +answering or explaining. Mysterious aspersions were made even against +my moral[1] character, and were alleged to me as additional reasons +for refusing communion with me; and when I demanded a tribunal, and +that my accuser would meet me face to face, all inquiry was refused, +on the plea that it was needless and undesirable. I had much reason to +believe that a very small number of persons had constituted themselves +my judges, and used against me all the airs of the Universal Church; +the many lending themselves easily to swell the cry of heresy, when +they have little personal acquaintance with the party attacked. +Moreover, when I was being condemned as in error, I in vain asked +to be told what was the truth. "I accept the Scripture: that is not +enough. I accept the Nicene Creed: that is not enough. Give me then +your formula: where, what is it?" But no! those who thought it their +duty to condemn me, disclaimed the pretensions of "making a Creed" +when I asked for one. They reprobated my interpretation of Scripture +as against that of the whole Church, but would not undertake to +expound that of the Church. I felt convinced, that they could not have +agreed themselves as to what was right: all that they could agree upon +was, that I was wrong. Could I have borne to recriminate, I believed +that I could have forced one of them to condemn another; but, oh! was +divine truth sent us for discord and for condemnation? I sickened at +the idea of a Church Tribunal, where none has any authority to judge, +and yet to my extreme embarrassment I saw that no Church can safely +dispense with judicial forms and other worldly apparatus for defending +the reputation of individuals. At least, none of the national and less +spiritual institutions would have been so very unequitable towards me. + +This idea enlarged itself into another,--_that spirituality is no +adequate security for sound moral discernment_. These alienated +friends did not know they were acting unjustly, cruelly, crookedly, or +they would have hated themselves for it: they thought they were +doing God service. The fervour of their love towards him was probably +greater than mine; yet this did not make them superior to prejudice, +or sharpen their logical faculties to see that they were idolizing +words to which they attached no ideas. On several occasions I had +distinctly perceived how serious alarm I gave by resolutely refusing +to admit any shiftings and shufflings of language. I felt convinced, +that if I would but have contradicted myself two or three times, and +then have added, "That is the mystery of it," I could have passed +as orthodox with many. I had been charged with a proud and vain +determination to pry into divine mysteries, barely because I would not +confess to propositions the meaning of which was to me doubtful,--or +say and unsay in consecutive breaths. It was too clear, that a +doctrine which muddles the understanding perverts also the power of +moral discernment. If I had committed some flagrant sin, they would +have given me a fair and honourable trial; but where they could not +give me a public hearing, nor yet leave me unimpeached, without danger +of (what they called) my infecting the Church, there was nothing left +but to hunt me out unscrupulously. + +Unscrupulously! did not this one word characterize _all_ religious +persecution? and then my mind wandered back over the whole melancholy +tale of what is called Christian history. When Archbishop Cranmer +overpowered the reluctance of young Edward VI. to burn to death the +pious and innocent Joan of Kent, who moreover was as mystical and +illogical as heart could wish, was Cranmer not actuated by deep +religious convictions? None question his piety, yet it was an awfully +wicked deed. What shall I say of Calvin, who burned Servetus? Why have +I been so slow to learn, that religion is an impulse which animates +us to execute our moral judgments, but an impulse which may be half +blind? These brethren believe that I may cause the eternal ruin of +others: how hard then is it for them to abide faithfully by the laws +of morality and respect my rights! My rights! They are of course +trampled down for the public good, just as a house is blown up to +stop a conflagration. Such is evidently the theory of all +persecution;--which is essentially founded on _Hatred_. As Aristotle +says, "He who is angry, desires to punish somebody; but he who hates, +desires the hated person not even to exist." Hence they cannot endure +to see me face to face. That I may not infect the rest, they desire +my non-existence; by fair means, if fair will succeed; if not, then by +foul. And whence comes this monstrosity into such bosoms? Weakness of +common sense, dread of the common understanding, an insufficient faith +in common morality, are surely the disease: and evidently, nothing so +exasperates this disease as consecrating religious tenets which forbid +the exercise of common sense. + +I now began to understand why it was peculiarly for unintelligible +doctrines like Transubstantiation and the Tri-unity that Christians +had committed such execrable wickednesses. Now also for the first +time I understood what had seemed not frightful only, but +preternatural,--the sensualities and cruelties enacted as a part of +religion in many of the old Paganisms. Religion and fanaticism are in +the embryo but one and the same; to purify and elevate them we want a +cultivation of the understanding, without which our moral code may be +indefinitely depraved. Natural kindness and strong sense are aids and +guides, which the most spiritual man cannot afford to despise. + +I became conscious that I _had_ despised "mere moral men," as they +were called in the phraseology of my school. They were merged in the +vague appellation of "the world," with sinners of every class; and it +was habitually assumed, if not asserted, that they were necessarily +Pharisaic, because they had not been born again. For some time after I +had misgivings as to my fairness of judgment towards them, I could not +disentangle myself from great bewilderment concerning their state +in the sight of God: for it was an essential part of my Calvinistic +Creed, that (as one of the 39 Articles states it) the very good works +of the unregenerate "undoubtedly have the nature of sin," as indeed +the very nature with which they were born "deserveth God's wrath and +damnation." I began to mourn over the unlovely conduct into which I +had been betrayed by this creed, long before I could thoroughly get +rid of the creed that justified it: and a considerable time had to +elapse, ere my new perceptions shaped themselves distinctly into +the propositions: "Morality is the end. Spirituality is the means: +Religion is the handmaid to Morals: we must be spiritual, in order +that we may be in the highest and truest sense moral." Then at last I +saw, that the deficiency of "mere moral men" is, that their +morality is apt to be too external or merely negative, and therefore +incomplete: that the man who worships a fiend for a God may be in some +sense spiritual, but his spirituality will be a devilish fanaticism, +having nothing in it to admire or approve: that the moral man deserves +approval or love for all the absolute good that he has attained, +though there be a higher good to which he aspires not; and that the +truly and rightly spiritual is he who aims at an indefinitely high +moral excellence, of which GOD is the embodiment to his heart and +soul. If the absolute excellence of morality be denied, there is +nothing for spirituality to aspire after, and nothing in God to +worship. Years before I saw this as clearly as here stated; the +general train of thought was very wholesome, in giving me increased +kindliness of judgment towards the common world of men, who do not +show any religious development. It was pleasant to me to look on +an ordinary face, and see it light up into a smile, and think with +myself: "_there_ is one heart that will judge of me by what I am, and +not by a Procrustean dogma." Nor only so, but I saw that the saints, +without the world, would make a very bad world of it; and that as +ballast is wanted to a ship, so the common and rather low interests +and the homely principles, rules, and ways of feeling, keep the church +from foundering by the intensity of her own gusts. + +Some of the above thoughts took a still more definite shape, as +follows. It is clear that A. B. and X. Y. would have behaved towards +me more kindly, more justly, and more wisely, if they had consulted +their excellent strong sense and amiable natures, instead of following +(what they suppose to be) the commands of the word of God. They have +misinterpreted that word: true: but this very thing shows, that one +may go wrong by trusting one's power of interpreting the book, +rather than trusting one's common sense to judge without the book. +It startled me to find, that I had exactly alighted on the Romish +objection to Protestants, that an infallible book is useless, unless +we have an infallible interpreter. But it was not for some time, that, +after twisting the subject in all directions to avoid it, I brought +out the conclusion, that "to go against one's common sense in +obedience to Scripture is a most hazardous proceeding:" for the +"rule of Scripture" means to each of us nothing but his own fallible +interpretation; and to sacrifice common sense to this, is to mutilate +one side of our mind at the command of another side. In the Nicene +age, the Bible was in people's hands, and the Spirit of God surely +was not withheld: yet I had read, in one of the Councils an insane +anathema was passed: "If any one call Jesus God-man, instead of God +and man, let him be accursed." Surely want of common sense, and dread +of natural reason, will be confessed by our highest orthodoxy to have +been the distemper of that day. + + * * * * * + +In all this I still remained theoretically convinced, that the +contents of the Scriptures, rightly interpreted, were supreme and +perfect truth; indeed, I had for several years accustomed myself to +speak and think as if the Bible were our sole source of all moral +knowledge: nevertheless, there were practically limits, beyond which +I did not, and could not, even attempt to blind my moral sentiment at +the dictation of the Scripture; and this had peculiarly frightened (as +I afterwards found) the first friend who welcomed me from abroad. +I was unable to admit the doctrine of "reprobation," as apparently +taught in the 9th chapter of Paul's Epistle to the Romans;--that "God +hardens in wickedness whomever He pleases, in order that He may show +his long-suffering" in putting off their condemnation to a future +dreadful day: and _especially_, that to all objectors it is a +sufficient confutation--"Nay, but O man, who art thou, that repliest +against God?" I told my friend, that I worshipped in God three great +attributes, all independent,--Power, Goodness, and Wisdom: that in +order to worship Him acceptably, I must discern these _as_ realities +with my inmost heart, and not merely take them for granted on +authority: but that the argument which was here pressed upon me was an +effort to supersede the necessity of my discerning Goodness in God: +it bade me simply to _infer_ Goodness from Power,--that is to say, +establish the doctrine, "Might makes Right;" according to which, I +might unawares worship a devil. Nay, nothing so much distinguished +the spiritual truth of Judaism and Christianity from abominable +heathenism, as this very discernment of God's purity, justice, mercy, +truth, goodness; while the Pagan worshipped mere power, and had no +discernment of moral excellence; but laid down the principle, +that cruelty, impurity, or caprice in a God was to be treated +reverentially, and called by some more decorous name. Hence, I said, +it was undermining the very foundation of Christianity itself, +to require belief of the validity of Rom. ix. 14-24, as my friend +understood it. I acknowledged the difficulty of the passage, and of +the whole argument. I was not prepared with an interpretation; but I +revered St. Paul too much, to believe it possible that he could mean +anything so obviously heathenish, as that first-sight meaning.--My +friend looked grave and anxious; but I did not suspect how deeply I +had shocked him, until many weeks after. + +At this very time, moreover, ground was broken in my mind on a new +subject, by opening in a gentleman's library a presentation-copy of a +Unitarian treatise against the doctrine of Eternal Punishment. It was +the first Unitarian book of which I had even seen the outside, and I +handled it with a timid curiosity, as if by stealth, I had only time +to dip into it here and there, and I should have been ashamed to +possess the book; but I carried off enough to suggest important +inquiry. The writer asserted that the Greek word [Greek: aionios], +(secular, or, belonging to the ages,) which we translate _everlasting +and eternal_, is distinctly proved by the Greek translation of the Old +Testament often to mean only _distant time_. Thus in Psalm lxxvi. 5, +"I have considered the years of _ancient_ times:" Isaiah lxiii 11, "He +remembered the days _of old_, Moses and his people;" in which, and +in many similar places, the LXX have [Greek: aionios]. One striking +passage is Exodus xv. 18; ("Jehovah shall reign for ever and ever;") +where the Greek has [Greek: ton aiona kai ex aiona kai eti], which +would mean "for eternity and still longer," if the strict rendering +_eternity_ were enforced. At the same time a suspicion as to +the honesty of our translation presented itself in Micah v. 2, a +controversial text, often used to prove the past eternity of the Son +of God; where the translators give us,--"whose goings forth have been +_from everlasting_," though the Hebrew is the same as they elsewhere +render _from days of old_. + +After I had at leisure searched through this new question, I found +that it was impossible to make out any doctrine of a philosophical +eternity in the whole Scriptures. The true Greek word for _eternal_ +([Greek: aidios]) occurs twice only: once in Rom. i. 20, as applied +to the divine power, and once in Jude 6, of the fire which has been +manifested against Sodom and Gomorrha. The last instance showed that +allowance must be made for rhetoric; and that fire is called _eternal_ +or _unquenchable_, when it so destroys as to leave nothing unburnt. +But on the whole, the very vocabulary of the Greek and Hebrew denoted +that the idea of absolute eternity was unformed. The _hills_ are +called everlasting (secular?), by those who supposed them to have +come into existence two or three thousand years before.--Only in two +passages of the Revelations I could not get over the belief that the +writer's energy was misplaced, if absolute eternity of torment was not +intended: yet it seemed to me unsafe and wrong to found an important +doctrine on a symbolic and confessedly obscure book of prophecy. +Setting this aside, I found no proof of any _eternal_ punishment. + +As soon as the load of Scriptural authority was thus taken off from +me, I had a vivid discernment of intolerable moral difficulties +inseparable from the doctrine. First, that every sin is infinite +in ill-desert and in result, _because_ it is committed against an +infinite Being. Thus the fretfulness of a child is an infinite evil! +I was aghast that I could have believed it. Now that it was no longer +laid upon me as a duty to uphold the infinitude of God's retaliation +on sin, I saw that it was an immorality to teach that sin was measured +by anything else than the heart and will of the agent. That a finite +being should deserve infinite punishment, now was manifestly as +incredible as that he should deserve infinite reward,--which I had +never dreamed.--Again, I saw that the current orthodoxy made Satan +eternal conqueror over Christ. In vain does the Son of God come from +heaven and take human flesh and die on the cross. In spite of him, the +devil carries off to hell the vast majority of mankind, in whom, not +misery only, but _Sin_ is triumphant for ever and ever. Thus Christ +not only does not succeed in destroying the works of the devil, but +even aggravates them.--Again: what sort of _gospel_ or glad tidings +had I been holding? Without this revelation no future state at all (I +presumed) could be known. How much better no futurity for any, than +that a few should be eternally in bliss, and the great majority[2] +kept alive for eternal sin as well as eternal misery! My gospel then +was bad tidings, nay, the worst of tidings! In a farther progress of +thought, I asked, would it not have been better that the whole race of +man had never come into existence? Clearly! And thus God was made +out to be unwise in creating them. No _use_ in the punishment was +imaginable, without setting up Fear, instead of Love, as the ruling +principle in the blessed. And what was the moral tendency of the +doctrine? I had never borne to dwell upon it: but I before long +suspected that it promoted malignity and selfishness, and was the real +clue to the cruelties perpetrated under the name of religion. For he +who does dwell on it, must comfort himself under the prospect of his +brethren's eternal misery, by the selfish expectation of personal +blessedness. When I asked whether I had been guilty of this +selfishness, I remembered that I had often mourned, how small a part +in my practical religion the future had ever borne. My heaven and my +hell had been in the present, where my God was near me to smile or to +frown. It had seemed to me a great weakness in my faith, that I never +had any vivid imaginations or strong desires of heavenly glory: yet +now I was glad to observe, that it had at least saved me from getting +so much harm from the wrong side of the doctrine of a future life. + +Before I had worked out the objections so fully as here stated, I +freely disclosed my thoughts to the friend last named, and to his +wife, towards whom he encouraged me to exercise the fullest frankness. +I confess, I said nothing about the Unitarian book; for something told +me that I had violated Evangelical decorum in opening it, and that I +could not calculate how it would affect my friend. Certainly no Romish +hierarchy can so successfully exclude heretical books, as social +enactment excludes those of Unitarians from our orthodox circles. +The bookseller dares not to exhibit their books on his counter: all +presume them to be pestilential: no one knows their contents or dares +to inform himself. But to return. My friend's wife entered warmly into +my new views; I have now no doubt that this exceedingly distressed +him, and at length perverted his moral judgment: he himself examined +the texts of the Old Testament, and attempted no answer to them. +After I had left his neighbourhood, I wrote to him three affectionate +letters, and at last got a reply--of vehement accusation. It can now +concern no one to know, how many and deep wounds he planted in me. I +forgave; but all was too instructive to forget. + +For some years I rested in the belief that the epithet "_secular_ +punishment" either solely denoted punishment in a future age, or else +only of long duration. This evades the horrible idea of eternal and +triumphant Sin, and of infinite retaliation for finite offences. +But still, I found my new creed uneasy, now that I had established +a practice (if not a right) of considering the moral propriety +of punishment. I could not so pare away the vehement words of the +Scripture, as really to enable me to say that I thought transgressors +_deserved_ the fiery infliction. This had been easy, while I measured +their guilt by God's greatness; but when that idea was renounced, how +was I to think that a good-humoured voluptuary deserved to be raised +from the dead in order to be tormented in fire for 100 years? and what +shorter time could be called secular? Or if he was to be destroyed +instantaneously, and "secular" meant only "in a future age," was he +worth the effort of a divine miracle to bring him to life and again +annihilate him? I was not willing to refuse belief to the Scripture on +such grounds; yet I felt disquietude, that my moral sentiment and the +Scripture were no longer in full harmony. + + * * * * * + +In this period I first discerned the extreme difficulty that there +must essentially be, in applying to the Christian Evidences a +principle, which, many years before, I had abstractedly received as +sound, though it had been a dead letter with me in practice. The Bible +(it seemed) contained two sorts of truth. Concerning one sort, man is +bound to judge: the other sort is necessarily beyond his ken, and +is received only by information from without. The first part of the +statement cannot be denied. It would be monstrous to say that we know +nothing of geography, history, or morals, except by learning them from +the Bible. Geography, history, and other worldly sciences, lie beyond +question. As to morals, I had been exceedingly inconsistent and +wavering in my theory and in its application; but it now glared upon +me, that if man had no independent power of judging, it would have +been venial to think Barabbas more virtuous than Jesus. The hearers of +Christ or Paul could not draw their knowledge of right and wrong from +the New Testament. They had (or needed to have) an inherent power of +discerning that his conduct was holy and his doctrine good. To talk +about the infirmity or depravity of the human conscience is here quite +irrelevant. The conscience of Christ's hearers may have been dim +or twisted, but it was their best guide and only guide, as to the +question, whether to regard him as a holy prophet: so likewise, as +to ourselves, it is evident that we have no guide at all whether +to accept or reject the Bible, if we distrust that inward power of +judging, (whether called common sense, conscience, or the Spirit of +God,)--which is independent of our belief in the Bible. To disparage +the internally vouchsafed power of discerning truth without the Bible +or other authoritative system, is, to endeavour to set up a universal +moral scepticism. He who may not criticize cannot approve.--Well! Let +it be admitted that we discern moral truth by a something within us, +and that then, admiring the truth so glorious in the Scriptures, we +are further led to receive them as the word of God, and therefore to +believe them absolutely in respect to the matters which are beyond our +ken. + +But two difficulties could no longer be dissembled: 1. How are we +to draw the line of separation? For instance, would the doctrines +of Reprobation and of lasting Fiery Torture with no benefit to the +sufferers, belong to the moral part, which we freely criticize; or to +the extra-moral part, as to which we passively believe? 2. What is to +be done, if in the parts which indisputably lie open to criticism we +meet with apparent error?--The second question soon became a practical +one with me: but for the reader's convenience I defer it until my +Fourth Period, to which it more naturally belongs: for in this Third +Period I was principally exercised with controversies that do not +vitally touch the _authority_ of the Scripture. Of these the most +important were matters contested between Unitarians and Calvinists. + +When I had found how exactly the Nicene Creed summed up all that I +myself gathered from John and Paul concerning the divine nature +of Christ, I naturally referred to this creed, as expressing my +convictions, when any unpleasant inquiry arose. I had recently gained +the acquaintance of the late excellent Dr. Olinthus Gregory, a man of +unimpeached orthodoxy; who met me by the frank avowal, that the +Nicene Creed was "a great mistake." He said, that the Arian and the +Athanasian difference was not very vital; and that the Scriptural +truth lay _beyond_ the Nicene doctrine, which fell short on the +same side as Arianism had done. On the contrary, I had learned of an +intermediate tenet, called Semi-Arianism, which appeared to me more +scriptural than the views of either Athanasius or Arius. Let me +bespeak my reader's patience for a little. Arius was judged by +Athanasius (I was informed) to be erroneous in two points; 1. in +teaching that the Son of God was a creature; _i.e._ that "begotten" +and "made" were two words for the same idea: 2. in teaching, that he +had an origin of existence in time; so that there was a distant period +at which he was not. Of these two Arian tenets, the Nicene Creed +condemned _the former_ only; namely, in the words, "begotten, not +made; being of one substance with the Father." But on _the latter_ +question the Creed is silent. Those who accepted the Creed, and hereby +condemned the great error of Arius that the Son was of different +substance from the Father, but nevertheless agreed with Arius in +thinking that the Son had a beginning of existence, were called +Semi-Arians; and were received into communion by Athanasius, in spite +of this disagreement. To me it seemed to be a most unworthy shuffling +with words, to say that the Son _was begotten, but was never +begotten_. The very form of our past participle is invented to +indicate an event in past time. If the Athanasians alleged that the +phrase does not allude to "a coming forth" completed at a definite +time, but indicates a process at no time begun and at no time +complete, their doctrine could not be expressed by our past-perfect +tense _begotten_. When they compared the derivation of the Son of God +from, the Father to the rays of light which ever flow from the natural +sun, and argued that if that sun had been eternal, its emanations +would be co-eternal, they showed that their true doctrine required the +formula--"always being begotten, and as instantly perishing, in order +to be rebegotten perpetually." They showed a real disbelief in our +English statement "begotten, not made." I overruled the objection, +that in the Greek it was not a participle, but a verbal adjective; for +it was manifest to me, that a religion which could not be proclaimed +in English could not be true; and the very idea of a Creed announcing +that Christ was "_not begotten, yet begettive_," roused in me an +unspeakable loathing. Yet surely this would have been Athanasius's +most legitimate form of denying Semi-Arianism. In short, the +Scriptural phrase, _Son of God_, conveyed to us either a literal fact, +or a metaphor. If literal, the Semi-Arians were clearly right, in +saying that sonship implied a beginning of existence. If it was a +metaphor, the Athanasians forfeited all right to press the literal +sense in proof that the Son must be "of the same substance" as the +Father.--Seeing that the Athanasians, in zeal to magnify the Son, had +so confounded their good sense, I was certainly startled to find a +man of Dr. Olinthus Gregory's moral wisdom treat the Nicenists as in +obvious error for not having magnified Christ _enough_. On so many +other sides, however, I met with the new and short creed, "Jesus is +Jehovah," that I began to discern Sabellianism to be the prevalent +view. + +A little later, I fell in with a book of an American Professor, Moses +Stuart of Andover, on the subject of the Trinity. Professor Stuart is +a very learned man, and thinks for himself. It was a great novelty to +me, to find him not only deny the orthodoxy of all the Fathers, (which +was little more than Dr. Olinthus Gregory had done,) but avow that +_from the change in speculative philosophy_ it was simply impossible +for any modern to hold the views prevalent in the third and fourth +centuries. Nothing (said he) WAS clearer, than that with us the +essential point in Deity is, to be unoriginated, underived; hence with +us, _a derived God_ is a self-contradiction, and the very sound of the +phrase profane. On the other hand, it is certain that the doctrine of +Athanasius, equally as of Arius, was, that the Father is the underived +or self-existent God, but the Son is the derived subordinate God. +This (argued Stuart) turned upon their belief in the doctrine of +Emanations; but as _we_ hold no such philosophical doctrine, the +religious theory founded on it is necessarily inadmissible. Professor +Stuart then develops his own creed, which appeared to me simple and +undeniable Sabellianism. + +That Stuart correctly represented the Fathers was clear enough to +me; but I nevertheless thought that in this respect the Fathers had +honestly made out the doctrine of the Scripture; and I did not at +all approve of setting up a battery of modern speculative philosophy +against Scriptural doctrine. "How are we to know that the doctrine of +Emanations is false? (asked I.) If it is legitimately elicited from +Scripture, it is true."--I refused to yield up my creed at this +summons. Nevertheless, he left a wound upon me: for I now could not +help seeing, that we moderns use the word _God_ in a more limited +sense than any ancient nations did. Hebrews and Greeks alike said +_Gods_, to mean any superhuman beings; hence _derived God_ did not +sound to them absurd; but I could not deny that in good English it is +absurd. This was a very disagreeable discovery: for now, if any one +were to ask me whether I believed in the divinity of Christ, I saw it +would be dishonest to say simply, _Yes_; for the interrogator means to +ask, whether I hold Christ to be the eternal and underived Source of +life; yet if I said _No_, he would care nothing for my professing to +hold the Nicene Creed. + +Might not then, after all, Sabellianism be the truth? No: I discerned +too plainly what Gibbon states, that the Sabellian, if consistent, is +only a concealed Ebionite, or us we now say, a Unitarian, Socinian. As +we cannot admit that the Father was slain on the cross, or prayed to +himself in the garden, he who will not allow the Father and the Son to +be separate persons, but only two names for one person, _must divide +the Son of God and Jesus into two persons_, and so fall back on the +very heresy of Socinus which he is struggling to escape. + +On the whole, I saw, that however people might call themselves +Trinitarians, yet if, like Stuart and all the Evangelicals in Church +and Dissent, they turn into a dead letter the _generation_ of the Son +of God, and _the procession_ of the Spirit, nothing is possible but +Sabellianism or Tritheism: or, indeed, Ditheism, if the Spirit's +separate personality is not held. The modern creed is alternately +the one or the other, as occasion requires. Sabellians would find +themselves out to be mere Unitarians, if they always remained +Sabellians: but in fact, they are half their lives Ditheists. They do +not _aim_ at consistency; would an upholder of the pseudo-Athanasian +creed desire it? Why, that creed teaches, that the height of orthodoxy +is to contradict oneself and protest that one does not. Now, however, +rose on me the question: Why do I not take the Irish clergyman at his +word, and attack him and others as idolaters and worshippers of three +Gods? It was unseemly and absurd in him to try to force me into +what he must have judged uncharitableness; but it was not the less +incumbent on me to find a reply. + +I remembered that in past years I had expressly disowned, as obviously +unscriptural and absurd, prayers to the Holy Spirit, on the ground +that the Spirit is evidently _God in the hearts of the faithful_, and +nothing else: and it did not appear to me that any but a few extreme +and rather fanatical persons could be charged with making the Spirit +a third God or object of distinct worship. On the other hand, I could +not deny that the Son and the Father were thus distinguished to the +mind. So indeed John expressly avowed--"truly our fellowship is with +the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ." I myself also had prayed +sometimes to God and sometimes to Christ, alternately and confusedly. +Now, indeed, I was better taught! now I was more logical and +consistent! I had found a triumphant answer to the charge of Ditheism, +in that I believed the Son to be derived from the Father, and not to +be the Unoriginated--No doubt! yet, after all, could I seriously think +that morally and spiritually I was either better or worse for this +discovery? I could not pretend that I was. + +This showed me, that if a man of partially unsound and visionary mind +made the angel Gabriel a _fourth person_ in the Godhead, it might +cause no difference whatever in the actings of his spirit The great +question would be, whether he ascribed the same moral perfection +to Gabriel as to the Father. If so, to worship him would be no +degradation to the soul; even if absolute omnipotence were not +attributed, nay, nor a past eternal existence. It thus became clear +to me, that Polytheism _as such_ is not a moral and spiritual, but at +most only an intellectual, error; and that its practical evil consists +in worshipping beings whom we represent to our imaginations as morally +imperfect. Conversely, one who imputes to God sentiments and conduct +which in man he would call capricious or cruel, such a one, even if +he be as monotheistic as a Mussulman, admits into his soul the whole +virus of Idolatry. + +Why then did I at all cling to the doctrine of Christ's superior +nature, and not admit it among things indifferent? In obedience to the +Scripture, I did actually affirm, that, as for as creed is concerned, +a man should be admissible into the Church on the bare confession that +_Jesus was the Christ_. Still, I regarded a belief in his superhuman +origin as of first-rate importance, for many reasons, and among +others, owing to its connexion with the doctrine of the Atonement; on +which there is much to be said. + + * * * * * + +The doctrine which I used to read as a boy, taught that a vast sum of +punishment was due to God for the sins of men. This vast sum was made +up of all the woes due through eternity to the whole human race, or, +as some said, to the elect. Christ on the cross bore this punishment +himself and thereby took it away: thus God is enabled to forgive +without violating justice.--But I early encountered unanswerable +difficulty on this theory, as to the question, whether Christ had +borne the punishment of _all_ or of _some_ only. If of all, is it not +unjust to inflict any of it on any? If of the elect only, what gospel +have you to preach? for then you cannot tell sinners that God has +provided a Saviour for them; for you do not know whether those whom +you address are elect. Finding no way out of this, I abandoned the +fundamental idea of _compensation in quantity_, as untenable; and +rested in the vaguer notion, that God signally showed his abhorrence +of sin, by laying tremendous misery on the Saviour who was to bear +away sin. + +I have already narrated, how at Oxford I was embarrassed as to the +forensic propriety of transferring punishment at all. This however +I received as matter of authority, and rested much on the wonderful +exhibition made of the evil of sin, when _such_ a being could be +subjected to preternatural suffering as a vicarious sinbearer. To +this view, a high sense of the personal dignity of Jesus was quite +essential; and therefore I had always felt a great repugnance for Mr. +Belsham, Dr. Priestley, and the Unitarians of that school, though I +had not read a line of their writings. + +A more intimate familiarity with St. Paul and an anxious harmonizing +of my very words to the Scripture, led me on into a deviation from the +popular creed, of the full importance of which I was not for some +time aware. I perceived that it is not the _agonies_ of mind or body +endured by Christ, which in the Scriptures are said to take away sin, +but his "death," his "laying down his life," or sometimes even +his _resurrection_. I gradually became convinced, that when his +"suffering," or more especially his "blood," is emphatically spoken +of, nothing is meant but his _violent death_. In the Epistle to the +Hebrews, where the analogy of Sacrifice is so pressed, we see that the +pains which Jesus bore were in order that he might "learn obedience," +but our redemption is effected by his dying as a voluntary victim: in +which, death by bloodshed, not pain, is the cardinal point. So too +the Paschal lamb (to which, though not properly a sacrifice, the dying +Christ is compared by Paul) was not roasted alive, or otherwise put to +slow torment, but was simply killed. I therefore saw that the doctrine +of "vicarious agonies" was fundamentally unscriptural. + +This being fully discerned, I at last became bold to criticize the +popular tenet. What should we think of a judge, who, when a boy had +deserved a stripe which would to him have been a sharp punishment, +laid the very same blow on a strong man, to whom it was a slight +infliction? Clearly this would evade, not satisfy justice. To carry +out the principle, the blow might be laid as well on a giant, an +elephant, or on an inanimate thing. So, to lay our punishment on the +infinite strength of Christ, who (they say) bore in six hours what it +would have taken thousands of millions of men all eternity to bear, +would be a similar evasion.--I farther asked, if we were to fall in +with Pagans, who tortured their victims to death as an atonement, what +idea of God should we think them to form? and what should we reply, +if they said, it gave them a wholesome view of his hatred of sin? A +second time I shuddered at the notions which I had once imbibed as a +part of religion, and then got comfort from the inference, how much +better men of this century are than their creed. Their creed was the +product of ages of cruelty and credulity; and it sufficiently bears +that stamp. + +Thus I rested in the Scriptural doctrine, that the _death_ of Christ +is our atonement. To say the same of the death of Paul, was obviously +unscriptural: it was, then, essential to believe the physical nature +of Christ to be different from that of Paul. If otherwise, death was +due to Jesus as the lot of nature: how could such death have anything +to do with our salvation? On this ground the Unitarian doctrine was +utterly untenable: I could see nothing between my own view and a total +renunciation of the _authority of the doctrines_ promulgated by Paul +and John. + +Nevertheless, my own view seemed mere and more unmeaning the more +closely it was interrogated. When I ascribed death to Christ, what +did death mean? and what or whom did I suppose to die? Was it man +that died, or God? If man only, how was that wonderful, or how did it +concern us? Besides;--persons die, not natures: a _nature_ is only a +collection of properties: if Christ was one person, all Christ +died. Did, then, God die, and man remain alive! For God to become +non-existent is an unimaginable absurdity. But is this death a mere +change of state, a renunciation of earthly life? Still it remains +unclear how the parting with mere human life could be to one who +possesses divine life either an atonement or a humiliation. Was it not +rather an escape from humiliation, saving only the mode of death? +So severe was this difficulty, that at length I unawares dropt from +Semi-Arianism into pure Arianism, by _so_ distinguishing the Son from +the Father, as to admit the idea that the Son of God had actually +been non-existent in the interval between death and resurrection: +nevertheless, I more and more felt, that _to be able to define my +own notions on such questions had exceedingly little to do with my +spiritual state_. For me it was important and essential to know that +God hated sin, and that God had forgiven my sin: but to know one +particular manifestation of his hatred of sin, or the machinery +by which He had enabled himself to forgive, was of very secondary +importance. When He proclaims to me in his word, that He is forgiving +to all the penitent, it is not for me to reply, that "I cannot believe +that, until I hear how He manages to reconcile such conduct with his +other attributes." Yet, I remembered, this was Bishop Beveridge's +sufficient refutation of Mohammedism, which teaches no atonement. + + * * * * * + +At the same time great progress had been made in my mind towards the +overthrow of the correlative dogma of the Fall of man and his total +corruption. Probably for years I had been unawares anti-Calvinistic +on this topic. Even at Oxford, I had held that human depravity is +a _fact_, which it is absurd to argue against; a fact, attested by +Thucydides, Polybius, Horace, and Tacitus, almost as strongly as by +St. Paul. Yet in admitting man's total corruption, I interpreted this +of _spiritual_, not of _moral_, perversion: for that there were kindly +and amiable qualities even in the unregenerate, was quite as clear a +fact as any other. Hence in result I did _not_ attribute to man any +great essential depravity, in the popular and moral sense of the word; +and the doctrine amounted only to this, that "_spiritually_, man +is paralyzed, until the grace of God comes freely upon him." How to +reconcile this with the condemnation, and punishment of man for being +unspiritual, I knew not. I saw, and did not dissemble, the difficulty; +but received it as a mystery hereafter to be cleared up. + +But it gradually broke upon me, that when Paul said nothing stronger +than heathen moralists had said about human wickedness, it was absurd +to quote his words, any more than theirs, in proof of a _Fall_,--that +is, of a permanent degeneracy induced by the first sin of the first +man: and when I studied the 5th chapter of the Romans, I found it was +_death_, not _corruption_, which Adam was said to have entailed. In +short, I could scarcely find the modern doctrine of the "Fall" any +where in the Bible. I then remembered that Calvin, in his Institutes, +complains that all the Fathers are heterodox on this point; the Greek +Fathers being grievously overweening in their estimate of human power; +while of the Latin Fathers even Augustine is not always up to Calvin's +mark of orthodoxy. This confirmed my rising conviction that the tenet +is of rather recent origin. I afterwards heard, that both it and the +doctrine of compensatory misery were first systematized by Archbishop +Anselm, in the reign of our William Rufus: but I never took the pains +to verify this. + +For meanwhile I had been forcibly impressed with the following +thought. Suppose a youth to have been carefully brought up at home, +and every temptation kept out of his way: suppose him to have been in +appearance virtuous, amiable, religious: suppose, farther, that at the +age of twenty-one he goes out into the world, and falls into sin by +the first temptation:--how will a Calvinistic teacher moralize over +such a youth? Will he not say: "Behold a proof of the essential +depravity of human nature! See the affinity of man for sin! How fair +and deceptive was this young man's virtue, while he was sheltered from +temptation; but oh! how rotten has it proved itself!"--Undoubtedly, +the Calvinist would and must so moralize. But it struck me, that if I +substituted the name of _Adam_ for the youth, the argument proved +the primitive corruption of Adam's nature. Adam fell by the first +temptation: what greater proof of a fallen nature have _I_ ever given? +or what is it possible for any one to give?--I thus discerned that +there was _ą priori_ impossibility of fixing on myself the imputation +of _degeneracy_, without fixing the same on Adam. In short, Adam +undeniably proved his primitive nature to be frail; so do we all: but +as _he_ was nevertheless not primitively corrupt, why should we call +ourselves so? Frailty, then, is not corruption, and does not prove +degeneracy. + +"Original sin" (says one of the 39 Articles) "standeth not in the +following of Adam, _as the Pelagians do vainly talk_," &c. Alas, then! +was I become a Pelagian? certainly I could no longer see that Adam's +first sin affected me more than his second or third, or so much as the +sins of my immediate parents. A father who, for instance, indulges +in furious passions and exciting liquors, may (I suppose) transmit +violent passions to his son. In this sense I could not wholly reject +the possibility of transmitted corruption; but it had nothing to do +with the theological doctrine of the "Federal Headship" of Adam. Not +that I could wholly give up this last doctrine; for I still read it in +the 5th chapter of Romans. But it was clear to me, that whatever that +meant, I could not combine it with the idea of degeneracy, nor could +I find a proof of it in the _fact_ of prevalent wickedness. Thus I +received a shadowy doctrine on mere Scriptural _authority_; it had no +longer any root in my understanding or heart. + +Moreover, it was manifest to me that the Calvinistic view is based in +a vain attempt to acquit God of having created a "sinful" being, while +the broad Scriptural fact is, that he did create a being as truly +"liable to sin" as any of us. If that needs no exculpation, how more +does _our_ state need it? Does it not suffice to say, that "every +creature, because he is a creature and not God, must necessarily +be frail?" But Calvin intensely aggravates whatever there is of +difficulty: for he supposes God to have created the most precious +thing on earth in _unstable equilibrium_, so as to tipple over +irrecoverably at the first infinitesimal touch, and with it wreck for +ever the spiritual hopes of all Adam's posterity. Surely all nature +proclaims, that if God planted any spiritual nature at all in man, it +was in _stable equilibrium_, able to right itself when deranged. + +Lastly, I saw that the Calvinistic doctrine of human degeneracy +teaches, that God disowns my nature (the only nature I ever had) as +not his work, but the devil's work. He hereby tells me that he is +_not_ my Creator, and he disclaims his right over me, as a father +who disowns a child. To teach this is to teach that I owe him no +obedience, no worship, no trust: to sever the cords that bind the +creature to the Creator, and to make all religion gratuitous and vain. + +Thus Calvinism was found by me not only not to be Evangelical, but +not to be logical, in spite of its high logical pretensions, and to +be irreconcilable with any intelligent theory of religion. Of "gloomy +Calvinism" I had often heard people speak with an emphasis, +that annoyed me as highly unjust; for mine had not been a gloomy +religion:--far, very far from it. On the side of eternal punishment, +its theory, no doubt, had been gloomy enough; but human nature has a +notable art of not realizing all the articles of a creed; moreover, +_this_ doctrine is equally held by Arminians. But I was conscious, +that in dropping Calvinism I had lost nothing _Evangelical_: on +the contrary, the gospel which I retained was as spiritual and +deep-hearted as before, only more merciful. + + * * * * * + +Before this Third Period of my creed was completed, I made my first +acquaintance with a Unitarian. This gentleman showed much sweetness +of mind, largeness of charity, and a timid devoutness which I had not +expected in such a quarter. His mixture of credulity and incredulity +seemed to me capricious, and wholly incoherent. First, as to his +incredulity, or rather, boldness of thought. Eternal punishment was a +notion, which nothing could make him believe, and for which it would +be useless to quote Scripture to him; for the doctrine (he said) +darkened the moral character of God, and produced malignity in man. +That Christ had any higher nature than we all have, was a tenet +essentially inadmissible; first, because it destroyed all moral +benefit from his example and sympathy, and next, because no one has +yet succeeded in even stating the doctrine of the Incarnation without +contradicting himself. If Christ was but one person, one mind, then +that one mind could not be simultaneously finite and infinite, nor +therefore simultaneously God and man. But when I came to hear more +from this same gentleman, I found him to avow that no Trinitarian +could have a higher conception than he of the present power and glory +of Christ. He believed that the man Jesus is at the head of the whole +moral creation of God; that all power in heaven and earth is given to +him: that he will be Judge of all men, and is himself raised above all +judgment. This was to me unimaginable from his point of view. Could +he really think Jesus to be a mere man, and yet believe him to be +sinless? On what did that belief rest? Two texts were quoted in +proof, 1 Pet. ii. 21, and Heb. iv. 15. Of these, the former did not +necessarily mean anything more than that Jesus was unjustly put to +death; and the latter belonged to an Epistle, which my new friend had +already rejected as unapostolic and not of first-rate authority, when +speaking of the Atonement. Indeed, that the Epistle to the Hebrews +is not from the hand of Paul, had very long seemed to me an obvious +certainty,--as long as I had had any delicate feeling of Greek style. + +That a human child, born with the nature of other children, and having +to learn wisdom and win virtue through the same process, should grow +up sinless, appeared to me an event so paradoxical, as to need the +most amply decisive proof. Yet what kind of proof was possible? +Neither Apollos, (if he was the author of the Epistle to the Hebrew,) +nor yet Peter, had any power of _attesting_ the sinlessness of Jesus, +as a fact known to themselves personally: they could only learn it by +some preternatural communication, to which, nevertheless, the passages +before us implied no pretension whatever. To me it appeared an +axiom,[3] that if Jesus was in physical origin a mere man, he was, +like myself, a sinful man, and therefore certainly not my Judge, +certainly not an omniscient reader of all hearts; nor on any account +to be bowed down to as Lord. To exercise hope, faith, trust in +him, seemed then an impiety. I did not mean to impute impiety to +Unitarians; still I distinctly believed that English Unitarianism +could never afford me a half hour's resting-place. + +Nevertheless, from contact with this excellent person I learned how +much tenderness of spirit a Unitarian may have; and it pleasantly +enlarged my charity, although I continued to feel much repugnance +for his doctrine, and was anxious and constrained in the presence of +Unitarians. From the same collision with him, I gained a fresh insight +into a part of my own mind. I had always regarded the Gospels (at +least the three first) to be to the Epistles nearly as Law to Gospel; +that is, the three gospels dealt chiefly in _precept_, the epistles +in _motives_ which act on the affections. This did not appear to me +dishonourable to the teaching of Christ; for I supposed it to be a +pre-determined development. But I now discovered that there was a +deeper distaste in me for the details of the human life of Christ, +than I was previously conscious of--a distaste which I found out, by +a reaction from the minute interest felt in such details by my new +friend. For several years more, I did not fully understand how and why +this was; viz. that _my religion had always been Pauline_. Christ was +to me the ideal of glorified human nature: but I needed some dimness +in the portrait to give play to my imagination: if drawn too sharply +historical, it sank into something not superhuman, and caused a +revulsion of feeling. As all paintings of the miraculous used to +displease and even disgust me from a boy by the unbelief which they +inspired; so if any one dwelt on the special proofs of tenderness and +love exhibited in certain words or actions of Jesus, it was apt to +call out in me a sense, that from day to day equal kindness might +often be met. The imbecility of preachers, who would dwell on such +words as "Weep not," as if nobody else ever uttered such,--had always +annoyed me. I felt it impossible to obtain a worthy idea of Christ +from studying any of the details reported concerning him. If I +dwelt too much on these, I got a finite object; but I yearned for an +infinite one: hence my preference for John's mysterious Jesus. Thus my +Christ was not the figure accurately painted in the narrative, but one +kindled in my imagination by the allusions and (as it were) poetry of +the New Testament. I did not wish for vivid historical realisation: +relics I could never have valued: pilgrimages to Jerusalem had always +excited in me more of scorn than of sympathy;--and I make no doubt +such was fundamentally Paul's[4] feeling. On the contrary, it began +to appear to me (and I believe not unjustly) that the Unitarian mind +revelled peculiarly in "Christ after the flesh," whom Paul resolved +not to know. Possibly in this circumstance will be found to lie the +strong and the weak points of the Unitarian religious character, as +contrasted with that of the Evangelical, far more truly than in the +doctrine of the Atonement. I can testify that the Atonement may be +dropt out of Pauline religion without affecting its quality; so may +Christ be spiritualized into God, and identified with the Father: but +I suspect that a Pauline faith could not, without much violence and +convulsion, be changed into devout admiration of a clearly drawn +historical character; as though any full and unsurpassable embodiment +of God's moral perfections could be exhibited with ink and pen. + +A reviewer, who has since made his name known, has pointed to the +preceding remarks, as indicative of my deficiency in _imagination_ and +my tendency to _romance_. My dear friend is undoubtedly right in the +former point; I am destitute of (creative) poetical imagination: and +as to the latter point, his insight into character is so great, that +I readily believe him to know me better than I know myself, +Nevertheless, I think he has mistaken the nature of the preceding +argument. I am, on the contrary, almost disposed to say, that those +have a tendency to romance who can look at a picture with men flying +into the air, or on an angel with a brass trumpet, and dead men rising +out of their graves with good stout muscles, and _not_ feel that the +picture suggests unbelief. Nor do I confess to romance in my desire +of something _more_ than historical and daily human nature in the +character of Jesus; for all Christendom, between the dates A.D. 100 +to A.D. 1850, with the exception of small eccentric coteries, has held +Jesus to be essentially superhuman. Paul and John so taught concerning +him. To believe their doctrine (I agree with my friend) is, in some +sense, a weakness of understanding; but it is a weakness to which +minds of every class have been for ages liable. + + * * * * * + +Such had been the progress of my mind, towards the end of what I will +call my Third Period. In it the authority of the Scriptures as to +some details (which at length became highly important) had begun to be +questioned; of which I shall proceed to speak: but hitherto this +was quite secondary to the momentous revolution which lay Calvinism +prostrate in my mind, which opened my heart to Unitarians, and, I may +say, to unbelievers; which enlarged all my sympathies, and soon set me +to practise free moral thought, at least as a necessity, if not as +a duty. Yet I held fast an unabated reverence for the moral and +spiritual teaching of the New Testament, and had not the most remote +conception that anything could ever shatter my belief in its great +miracles. In fact, during this period, I many times yearned to proceed +to India, whither my friend Groves had transferred his labours and his +hopes; but I was thwarted by several causes, and was again and again +damped by the fear of bigotry from new quarters. Otherwise, I thought +I could succeed in merging as needless many controversies. In all +the workings of any mind about Tri-unity, Incarnation, Atonement, the +Fall, Resurrection, Immortality, Eternal Punishment, how little had +any of these to do with the inward exercises of my soul towards God! +He was still the same, immutably glorious: not one feature of his +countenance had altered to my gaze, or could alter. This surely was +the God whom Christ came to reveal, and bring us into fellowship with: +this is that, about which Christians ought to have no controversy, but +which they should unitedly, concordantly, themselves enjoy and exhibit +to the heathen. But oh, Christendom! what dost thou believe and teach? +The heathen cry out to thee,--Physician, heal thyself. + + +[Footnote 1: I afterwards learned that some of those gentlemen +esteemed boldness of thought "a lust of the mind," and as such, an +immorality. This enables them to persuade themselves that they do not +reject a "heretic" for a matter of _opinion_, but for that which they +have a right to call "_immoral_". What immorality was imputed to me, I +was not distinctly informed.] + +[Footnote 2: I really thought it needless to quote proof that but +_few_ will be saved, Matth. vii. 14. I know there is a class of +Christians who believe in Universal salvation, and there are others +who disbelieve eternal torment. They must not be angry with me for +refuting the doctrine of other Christians, which they hold to be +false.] + +[Footnote 3: In this (second) edition, I have added an entire chapter +expressly on the subject.] + +[Footnote 4: The same may probably be said of all the apostles, and +their whole generation. If they had looked on the life of Jesus with +the same tender and human affection as modern Unitarians and pious +Romanists do, the church would have swarmed with _holy coats_ and +other relics in the very first age. The mother of Jesus and her +little establishment would at once have swelled into importance. This +certainly was not the case; which may make it doubtful whether the +other apostles dwelt at all more on the _human personality_, of Jesus +than Paul did. Strikingly different as James is from Paul, he is in +this respect perfectly agreed with him.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +THE RELIGION OF THE LETTER RENOUNCED. + + +It has been stated that I had already begun to discern that it was +impossible with perfect honesty to defend every tittle contained in +the Bible. Most of the points which give moral offence in the book of +Genesis I had been used to explain away by the doctrine of Progress; +yet every now and then it became hard to deny that God is represented +as giving an actual _sanction_ to that which we now call sinful. +Indeed, up and down the Scriptures very numerous texts are scattered, +which are notorious difficulties with commentators. These I had +habitually _overruled_ one by one: but again of late, since I had been +forced to act and talk less and think more, they began to encompass +me. But I was for a while too full of other inquiries to follow up +coherently any of my doubts or perceptions, until my mind became at +length nailed down to the definite study of one well-known passage. + +This passage may be judged of extremely secondary importance in +itself, yet by its remoteness from all properly spiritual and profound +questions, it seemed to afford to me the safest of arguments. The +_genealogy_ with which the gospel of Matthew opens, I had long known +to be a stumbling-block to divines, and I had never been satisfied +with their explanations. On reading it afresh, after long +intermission, and comparing it for myself with the Old Testament, I +was struck with observing that the corruption of the two names Ahaziah +and Uzziah into the same sound (Oziah) has been the cause of +merging four generations into one; as the similarity of Jehoiakim to +Jehoiachin also led to blending them both in the name Jeconiah. In +consequence, there ought to be 18 generations where Matthew has given +as only 14: yet we cannot call this on error of a transcriber; for it +is distinctly remarked, that the genealogy consists of 14 three times +repeated. Thus there were but 14 names inserted by Matthew: yet it +ought to have been 18: and he was under manifest mistake. This surely +belongs to a class of knowledge, of which man has cognizance: it would +not be piety, but grovelling superstition, to avow before God that I +distrust my powers of counting, and, in obedience to the written word, +I believe that 18 is 14 and 14 is 18. Thus it is impossible to deny, +that there is cognizable error in the first chapter of Matthew. +Consequently, that gospel is not all dictated by the Spirit of God, +and (unless we can get rid of the first chapter as no part of the +Bible) the doctrine of the verbal infallibility of the whole Bible, or +indeed of the New Testament, is demonstrably false. + +After I had turned the matter over often, and had become accustomed +to the thought, this single instance at length had great force to give +boldness to my mind within a very narrow range. I asked whether, +if the chapter were now proved to be spurious, that would save the +infallibility of the Bible. The reply was: not of the Bible as it is; +but only of the Bible when cleared of that _and of all other_ spurious +additions. If by independent methods, such as an examination of +manuscripts, the spuriousness of the chapter could now be shown, _this +would verify the faculty of criticism_ which has already objected to +its contents: thus it would justly urge us to apply similar criticism +to other passages. + +I farther remembered, and now brought together under a single point of +view, other undeniable mistakes. The genealogy of the nominal father +of Jesus in Luke is inconsistent with that in Matthew, in spite of the +flagrant dishonesty with which divines seek to deny this; and neither +evangelist gives the genealogy of Mary, which alone is wanted.--In +Acts vii. 16, the land which _Jacob_ bought of the children of +Hamor,[1] is confounded with that which _Abraham_ bought of Ephron the +Hittite. In Acts v. 36, 37, Gamaliel is made to say that Theudas was +earlier in time than Judas of Galilee. Yet in fact, Judas of Galilee +preceded Theudas; and the revolt of Theudas had not yet taken place +when Gamaliel spoke, so the error is not Gamaliel's, but Luke's. Of +both the insurgents we have a dear and unimpeached historical account +in Josephus.--The slaughter of the infants by Herod, if true, must, I +thought, needs have been recorded by the same historian,--So again, in +regard to the allusion made by Jesus to Zacharias, son of Barachias, +as _last of the martyrs_, it was difficult for me to shake off the +suspicion, that a gross error had been committed, and that the person +intended is the "Zacharias son of Baruchus," who, as we know from +Josephus, was martyred _within the courts of the temple_ during the +siege of Jerusalem by Titus, about 40 years after the crucifixion. The +well-known prophet Zechariah was indeed son of Berechiah; but he was +not last of the martyrs,[2] if indeed he was martyred at all. On the +whole, the persuasion stuck to me, that words had been put into +the mouth of Jesus, which he could not possibly have used.--The +impossibility of settling the names of the twelve apostles struck me +as a notable fact.--I farther remembered the numerous difficulties of +harmonizing the four gospels; how, when a boy at school, I had tried +to incorporate all four into one history, and the dismay with which +I had found the insoluble character of the problem,--the endless +discrepancies and perpetual uncertainties. These now began to seem to +me inherent in the materials, and not to be ascribable to our want of +intelligence. + +I had also discerned in the opening of Genesis things which could +not be literally received. The geography of the rivers in Paradise is +inexplicable, though it assumes the tone of explanation. The curse +on the serpent, who is to go on his belly--(how else did he go +before?)--and eat dust, is a capricious punishment on a race of +brutes, one of whom the Devil chose to use as his instrument. That +the painfulness of childbirth is caused, not by Eve's sin, but by +artificial habits and a weakened nervous system, seems to be proved +by the twofold fact, that savage women and wild animals suffer but +little, and tame cattle often suffer as much as human females.--About +this time also, I had perceived (what I afterwards learned the Germans +to have more fully investigated) that the two different accounts of +the Creation are distinguished by the appellations given to the divine +Creator. I did not see how to resist the inference that the book +is made up of heterogeneous documents, and was not put forth by the +direct dictation of the Spirit to Moses. + +A new stimulus was after this given to my mind by two short +conversations with the late excellent Dr. Arnold at Rugby. I had +become aware of the difficulties encountered by physiologists in +believing the whole human race to have proceeded in about 6000 years +from a single Adam and Eve; and that the longevity (not +miraculous, but ordinary) attributed to the patriarchs was another +stumbling-block. The geological difficulties of the Mosaic cosmogony +were also at that time exciting attention. It was a novelty to me, +that Arnold treated these questions as matters of indifference to +religion; and did not hesitate to say, that the account of Noah's +deluge was evidently mythical, and the history of Joseph "a beautiful +poem." I was staggered at this. If all were not descended from Adam, +what became of St. Paul's parallel between the first and second Adam, +and the doctrine of Headship and Atonement founded on it? If the world +was not made in six days, how could we defend the Fourth Commandment +as true, though said to have been written in stone by the very finger +of God? If Noah's deluge was a legend, we should at least have to +admit that Peter did not know this: what too would be said of Christ's +allusion to it? I was unable to admit Dr. Arnold's views; but to see a +vigorous mind, deeply imbued with Christian devoutness, so convinced, +both reassured me that I need not fear moral mischiefs from free +inquiry, and indeed laid that inquiry upon me as a duty. + +Here, however, was a new point started. Does the question of the +derivation of the human race from two parents belong to things +cognizable by the human intellect, or to things about which we must +learn submissively? Plainly to the former. It would be monstrous to +deny that such inquiries legitimately belong to physiology, or to +proscribe a free study of this science. If so, there was an _ą +priori_ possibility, that what is in the strictest sense called +"religious doctrine" might come into direct collision, not merely with +my ill-trained conscience, but with legitimate science; and that this +would call on me to ask: "Which of the two certainties is stronger? +that the religious parts of the Scripture are infallible, or that the +science is trustworthy?" and I then first saw, that while science had +(within however limited a range of thought) demonstration or severe +verifications, it was impossible to pretend to anything so cogent in +favour of the infallibility of any or some part of the Scriptures; +a doctrine which I was accustomed to believe, and felt to be a +legitimate presumption; yet one of which it grew harder and harder +to assign any proof, the more closely I analyzed it. Nevertheless, I +still held it fast, and resolved not to let it go until I was forced. + +A fresh strain fell on the Scriptural infallibility, in contemplating +the origin of Death. Geologists assured us, that death went on in +the animal creation many ages before the existence of man. The rocks +formed of the shells of animals testify that death is a phenomenon +thousands of thousand years old: to refer the death of animals to +the sin of Adam and Eve is evidently impossible. Yet, if not, the +analogies of the human to the brute form make it scarcely credible +that man's body can ever have been intended for immortality. Nay, when +we consider the conditions of birth and growth to which it is subject, +the wear and tear essential to life, the new generations intended to +succeed and supplant the old,--so soon as the question is proposed as +one of physiology, the reply is inevitable that death is no accident +introduced by the perverse will of our first parents, nor any way +connected with man's sinfulness; but is purely a result of the +conditions of animal life. On the contrary, St. Paul rests most +important conclusions on the fact, that one man Adam by personal sin +brought death upon all his posterity. If this was a fundamental error, +religious doctrine also is shaken. + +In various attempts at compromise,--such as conceding the Scriptural +fallibility in human science, but maintaining its spiritual +perfection,--I always found the division impracticable. At last it +pressed on me, that if I admitted morals to rest on an independent +basis, it was dishonest to shut my eyes to any apparent collisions of +morality with the Scriptures. A very notorious and decisive instance +is that of Jael.--Sisera, when beaten in battle, fled to the tent of +his friend Heber, and was there warmly welcomed by Jael, Heber's wife. +After she had refreshed him with food, and lulled him to sleep, she +killed him by driving a nail into his temples; and for this deed, +(which now-a-days would be called a perfidious murder,) the prophetess +Deborah, in an inspired psalm, pronounces Jael to be "blessed above +women," and glorifies her act by an elaborate description of its +atrocity. As soon as I felt that I was bound to pass a moral judgment +on this, I saw that as regards the Old Testament the battle was +already lost. Many other things, indeed, instantly rose in full power +upon me, especially the command to Abraham to slay his son. Paul and +James agree in extolling Abraham as the pattern of faith; James and +the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews specify the sacrifice of +Isaac as a firstrate fruit of faith: yet if the voice of morality is +allowed to be heard, Abraham was (in heart and intention) not less +guilty than those who sacrificed their children to Molech. + +Thus at length it appeared, that I must choose between two courses. I +must EITHER blind my moral sentiment, my powers of criticism, and +my scientific knowledge, (such as they were,) in order to accept the +Scripture entire; OR I must encounter the problem, however arduous, +of adjusting the relative claims of human knowledge and divine +revelation. As to the former method, to name it was to condemn it; for +it would put every system of Paganism on a par with Christianity. If +one system of religion may claim that we blind our hearts and eyes in +its favour, so may another; and there is precisely the same reason +for becoming a Hindoo in religion as a Christian. We cannot be both; +therefore the principle is _demonstrably_ absurd. It is also, of +course, morally horrible, and opposed to countless passages of the +Scriptures themselves. Nor can the argument be evaded by talking of +external evidences; for these also are confessedly moral evidences, to +be judged of by our moral faculties. Nay, according to all Christian +advocates, they are God's test of our moral temper. To allege, +therefore, that our moral faculties are not to judge, is to annihilate +the evidences for Christianity.--Thus, finally, I was lodged in three +inevitable conclusions: + +1. The moral and intellectual powers of man must be acknowledged as +having a right and duty to criticize the contents of the Scripture: + +2. When so exerted, they condemn portions of the Scripture as +erroneous and immoral: + +3. The assumed infallibility of the _entire_ Scripture is a proved +falsity, not merely as to physiology, and other scientific matters, +but also as to morals: and it remains for farther inquiry how to +discriminate the trustworthy from the untrustworthy within the limits +of the Bible itself. + + * * * * * + +When distinctly conscious, after long efforts to evade it, that +this was and must henceforth be my position, I ruminated on the many +auguries which had been made concerning me by frightened friends. "You +will become a Socinian," had been said of me even at Oxford: "You will +become an infidel," had since been added. My present results, I was +aware, would seem a sadly triumphant confirmation to the clearsighted +instinct of orthodoxy. But the animus of such prophecies had always +made me indignant, and I could not admit that there was any merit in +such clearsightedness. What! (used I to say,) will you shrink from +truth, lest it lead to error? If following truth must bring us to +Socinianism, let us by all means become Socinians, or anything else. +Surely we do not love our doctrines more than the truth, but because +they are the truth. Are we not exhorted to "prove all things, and hold +fast that which is good?"--But to my discomfort, I generally found +that this (to me so convincing) argument for feeling no alarm, only +caused more and more alarm, and gloomier omens concerning me. On +considering all this in leisurely retrospect, I began painfully to +doubt, whether after all there is much love of truth even among those +who have an undeniable strength of religious feeling. I questioned +with myself, whether love of truth is not a virtue demanding a robust +mental cultivation; whether mathematical or other abstract studies may +not be practically needed for it. But no: for how then could it exist +in some feminine natures? how in rude and unphilosophical times? On +the whole, I rather concluded, that there is in nearly all English +education a positive repressing of a young person's truthfulness; for +I could distinctly see, that in my own case there was always need of +defying authority and public opinion,--not to speak of more serious +sacrifices,--if I was to follow truth. All society seemed so to +hate novelties of thought, as to prefer the chances of error in the +old.--Of course! why, how could it be otherwise, while Test Articles +were maintained? + +Yet surely if God is truth, none sincerely aspire to him, who dread to +lose their present opinions in exchange for others truer.--I had not +then read a sentence of Coleridge, which is to this effect: "If any +one begins by loving Christianity more than the truth, he will proceed +to love his Church more than Christianity, and will end by loving his +own opinions better than either." A dim conception of this was in my +mind; and I saw that the genuine love of God was essentially connected +with loving truth as truth, and not truth as our own accustomed +thought, truth as our old prejudice; and that the real saint can never +be afraid to let God teach him one lesson more, or unteach him one +more error. Then I rejoiced to feel how right and sound had been our +principle, that no creed can possibly be used as the touchstone +of spirituality: for man morally excels man, as far as creeds are +concerned, not by assenting to true propositions, but by loving them +because they are discerned to be true, and by possessing a faculty +of discernment sharpened by the love of truth. Such are God's true +apostles, differing enormously in attainment and elevation, but all +born to ascend. For these to quarrel between themselves because they +do not agree in opinions, is monstrous. _Sentiment_, surely, not +_opinion_, is the bond of the Spirit; and as the love of God, so the +love of truth is a high and sacred sentiment, in comparison to which +our creeds are mean. + +Well, I had been misjudged; I had been absurdly measured by other +men's creed: but might I not have similarly misjudged others, since +I had from early youth been under similar influences? How many of +my seniors at Oxford I had virtually despised because they were not +evangelical! Had I had opportunity of testing their spirituality? +or had I the faculty of so doing? Had I not really condemned them as +unspiritual, barely because of their creed? On trying to reproduce the +past to my imagination, I could not condemn myself quite as sweepingly +as I wished; but my heart smote me on account of one. I had a brother, +with whose name all England was resounding for praise or blame: from +his sympathies, through pure hatred of Popery, I had long since turned +away. What was this but to judge him by his creed? True, his whole +theory was nothing but Romanism transferred to England: but what +then? I had studied with the deepest interest Mrs. Schimmelpenninck's +account of the Portroyalists, and though I was aware that she exhibits +only the bright side of her subject, yet the absolute excellencies of +her nuns and priests showed that Romanism _as such_ was not fatal to +spirituality. They were persecuted: this did them good perhaps, or +certainly exhibited their brightness. So too my brother surely was +struggling after truth, fighting for freedom to his own heart and +mind, against church articles and stagnancy of thought. For this he +deserved both sympathy and love: but I, alas! had not known and seen +his excellence. But now God had taught me more largeness by bitter +sorrow working the peaceable fruit of righteousness; at last then +I might admire my brother. I therefore wrote to him a letter of +contrition. Some change, either in his mind or in his view of my +position, had taken place; and I was happy to find him once more able, +not only to feel fraternally, as he had always done, but to act +also fraternally. Nevertheless, to this day it is to me a painfully +unsolved mystery, how a mind can claim its freedom in order to +establish bondage. + +For the _peculiarities_ of Romanism I feel nothing, and I can pretend +nothing, but contempt, hatred, disgust, or horror. But this system of +falsehood, fraud, unscrupulous and unrelenting ambition, will never +be destroyed, while Protestants keep up their insane anathemas against +opinion. These are the outworks of the Romish citadel: until they are +razed to the ground, the citadel will defy attack. If we are to blind +our eyes, in order to accept an article of King Edward VI., or an +argument of St. Paul's, why not blind them so far as to accept the +Council of Trent? If we are to pronounce that a man "without +doubt shall perish everlastingly," unless he believes the +self-contradictions of the pseudo-Athanasian Creed, why should +we shrink from a similar anathema on those who reject the +self-contradictions of Transsubstantiation? If one man is cast out +of God's favour for eliciting error while earnestly searching after +truth, and another remains in favour by passively receiving the word +of a Church, of a Priest, or of an Apostle, then to search for truth +is dangerous; apathy is safer; then the soul does not come directly +into contact with God and learn of him, but has to learn from, and +unconvincedly submit to, some external authority. This is the germ of +Romanism: its legitimate development makes us Pagans outright. + + * * * * * + +But in what position was I now, towards the apostles? Could I +admit their inspiration, when I no longer thought them infallible? +Undoubtedly. What could be clearer on every hypothesis, than that they +were inspired on and after the day of Pentecost, and _yet_ remained +ignorant and liable to mistake about the relation of the Gentiles to +the Jews? The moderns have introduced into the idea of inspiration +that of infallibility, to which either _omniscience_ or _dictation_ +is essential. That there was no dictation, (said I,) is proved by +the variety of style in the Scriptural writers; that they were not +omniscient, is manifest. In truth, if human minds had not been left +to them, how could they have argued persuasively? was not the superior +success of their preaching to that of Christ, perhaps due to their +sharing in the prejudices of their contemporaries? An orator is most +persuasive, when he is lifted above his hearers on those points +only on which he is to reform their notions. The apostles were not +omniscient: granted: but it cannot hence be inferred that they did not +know the message given them by God. Their knowledge however perfect, +must yet in a human mind have coexisted with ignorance; and nothing +(argued I) but a perpetual miracle could prevent ignorance from now +and then exhibiting itself in some error. But hence to infer that +they are not inspired, and are not messengers from God, is quite +gratuitous. Who indeed imagines that John or Paul understood astronomy +so well as Sir William Herschel? Those who believe that the apostles +might err in human science, need not the less revere their moral and +spiritual wisdom. + +At the same time it became a matter of duty to me, if possible, +to discriminate the authoritative from the unauthoritative in the +Scripture, or at any rate avoid to accept and propagate as true +that which is false, even if it be false only as science and not as +religion. I unawares,--more perhaps from old habit than from distinct +conviction,--started from the assumption that my fixed point of +knowledge was to be found in the sensible or scientific, not in the +moral. I still retained from my old Calvinistic doctrine a way of +proceeding, as if purely moral judgment were my weak side, at least +in criticizing the Scripture: so that I preferred never to appeal +to direct moral and spiritual considerations, except in the most +glaringly necessary cases. Thus, while I could not accept the +panegyric on Jael, and on Abraham's intended sacrifice of his son, +I did not venture unceremoniously to censure the extirpation of +the Canaanites by Joshua: of which I barely said to myself, that it +"certainly needed very strong proof" of the divine command to justify +it. I still went so far in timidity as to hesitate to reject on +internal evidence the account of heroes or giants begotten by +angels, who, enticed by the love of women, left heaven for earth. The +narrative in Gen. vi. had long appeared to me undoubtedly to bear this +sense; and to have been so understood by Jude and Peter (2 Pet. ii.), +as, I believe, it also was by the Jews and early Fathers. I did at +length set it aside as incredible; not however from moral repugnance +to it, (for I feared to trust the soundness of my instinct,) but +because I had slid into a new rule of interpretation,--that _I must +not obtrude miracles on the Scripture narrative_. The writers tell +their story without showing any consciousness that it involves +physiological difficulties. To invent a miracle in order to defend +this, began to seem to me unwarrantable. + +It had become notorious to the public, that Geologists rejected the +idea of a universal deluge as physically impossible. Whence could +the water come, to cover the highest mountains? Two replies were +attempted: 1. The flood of Noah is not described as universal: 2. The +flood was indeed universal, but the water was added and removed +by miracle.--Neither reply however seemed to me valid. First, the +language respecting the universality of the flood is as strong as any +that could be written: moreover it is stated that the tops of the +high hills _were all covered_, and after the water subsides, the ark +settles on the mountains of Armenia. Now in Armenia, of necessity +numerous peaks would be seen, unless the water covered them, and +especially Ararat. But a flood that covered Ararat would overspread +all the continents, and leave only a few summits above. If then +the account in Genesis is to be received, the flood was universal. +Secondly: the narrator represents the surplus water to have come from +the clouds and perhaps from the sea, and again to drain back into the +sea. Of a miraculous _creation and destruction_ of water, he evidently +does not dream. + +Other impossibilities came forward: the insufficient dimensions of +the ark to take in all the creatures; the unsuitability of the +same climate to arctic and tropical animals for a full year; the +impossibility of feeding them and avoiding pestilence; and especially, +the total disagreement of the modern facts of the dispersion of +animals, with the idea that they spread anew from Armenia as their +centre. We have no right to call in a series of miracles to solve +difficulties, of which the writer was unconscious. The ark itself was +expressly devised to economize miracle, by making a fresh creation of +animals needless. + +Different in kind was the objection which I felt to the story, which +is told twice concerning Abraham and once concerning Isaac, of passing +off a wife as a sister. Allowing that such a thing was barely not +impossible, the improbability was so intense, as to demand the +strictest and most cogent proof: yet when we asked, Who testifies it? +no proof appeared that it was Moses; or, supposing it to be he, what +his sources of knowledge were. And this led to the far wider remark, +that nowhere in the book of Genesis is there a line to indicate who is +the writer, or a sentence to imply that the writer believes himself to +write by special information from God. Indeed, it is well known that +were are numerous small phrases which denote a later hand than that +of Moses. The kings of Israel are once alluded to historically, Gen. +xxxvi. 31. + +Why then was anything improbable to be believed on the writer's word? +as, for instance, the story of Babel and the confusion of tongues? One +reply only seemed possible; namely, that we believe the Old Testament +in obedience to the authority of the New: and this threw me again +to consider the references to the Old Testament in the Christian +Scriptures. + + * * * * * + +But here, the difficulties soon became manifestly more and more +formidable. In opening Matthew, we meet with quotations from the Old +Testament applied in the most startling way. First is the prophecy +about the child Immanuel; which in Isaiah no unbiassed interpreter +would have dreamed could apply to Jesus. Next; the words of Hosea, +"Out of Egypt have I called my son," which do but record the history +of Israel, are imagined by Matthew to be prophetic of the return of +Jesus from Egypt. This instance moved me much; because I thought, that +if the text were "spiritualized," so as to make Israel mean _Jesus_, +Egypt also ought to be spiritualized and mean _the world_, not retain +its geographical sense, which seemed to be carnal and absurd in such a +connection: for Egypt is no more to Messiah than Syria or Greece.--One +of the most decisive testimonies to the Old Testament which the New +contains, is in John x., 35, where I hardly knew how to allow myself +to characterize the reasoning. The case stands thus. The 82nd Psalm +rebukes _unjust_ governors; and at length says to them: "I have said, +Ye are gods, and all of you are children of the most high: but ye +shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes." In other +words:--"though we are apt _to think_ of rulers _as if_ they were +superhuman, yet they shall meet the lot of common men." Well: how is +this applied in John?--Jesus has been accused of blasphemy, for saying +that "He and his Father are one;" and in reply, he quotes the verse, +"I have said, Ye are gods," as his sufficient justification for +calling himself Son of God; for "the Scripture cannot be broken." I +dreaded to precipitate myself into shocking unbelief, if I followed +out the thoughts that this suggested; and (I know not how) for a long +time yet put it off. + +The quotations from the Old Testament in St. Paul had always been a +mystery to me. The more I now examined them, the clearer it appeared +that they were based on untenable Rabbinical principles. Nor are those +in the Acts and in the Gospels any better. If we take free leave to +canvass them, it may appear that not one quotation in ten is sensible +and appropriate. And shall we then accept the decision of the New +Testament writers as final, concerning the value and credibility of +the Old Testament, when it is so manifest that they most imperfectly +understood that book? + +In fact the appeal to them proved too much. For Jude quotes the book +of Enoch as an inspired prophecy, and yet, since Archbishop Laurence +has translated it from the Ethiopian, we know that book to be a fable +undeserving of regard, and undoubtedly not written by "Enoch, the +seventh from Adam." Besides, it does not appear that any peculiar +divine revelation taught them that the Old Testament is perfect +truth. In point of fact, they only reproduce the ideas on that subject +current in their age. So far as Paul deviates from the common Jewish +view, it is in the direction of disparaging the Law as essentially +imperfect. May it not seem that his remaining attachment to it was +still exaggerated by old sentiment and patriotism? + +I farther found that not only do the Evangelists give us no hint that +they thought themselves divinely inspired, or that they had any other +than human sources of knowledge, but Luke most explicitly shows the +contrary. He opens by stating to Theophilus, that since many persons +have committed to writing the things handed down from eye-witnesses, +it seemed good to him also to do the same, since he had "accurately +attended to every thing from its sources ([Greek: anothen])." He could +not possibly have written thus, if he had been conscious of superhuman +aids. How absurd then of us, to pretend that we know more than Luke +knew of his own inspiration! + +In truth, the arguments of theologians to prove the inspiration +(i.e. infallibility) of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, are sometimes almost +ludicrous. My lamented friend, John Sterling, has thus summed up +Dr. Henderson's arguments about Mark. "Mark was probably inspired, +_because he was an acquaintance of Peter_; and because Dr. Henderson +would be reviled by other Dissenters, if he doubted it." + + * * * * * + +About this time, the great phenomenon of these gospels,--the casting +out of devils,--pressed forcibly on my attention. I now dared to +look full into the facts, and saw that the disorders described were +perfectly similar to epilepsy, mania, catalepsy, and other known +maladies. Nay, the deaf, the dumb, the hunchbacked, are spoken of as +devil-ridden. I farther knew that such diseases are still ascribed to +evil genii in Mussulman countries: even a vicious horse is believed by +the Arabs to be _majnun_, possessed by a Jin or Genie. Devils also +are cast out in Abyssinia to this day. Having fallen in with Farmer's +treatise on the Demoniacs, I carefully studied it; and found it +to prove unanswerably, that a belief in demoniacal possession is a +superstition not more respectable than that of witchcraft. But Farmer +did not at all convince me, that the three Evangelists do not share +the vulgar error. Indeed, the instant we believe that the imagined +possessions were only various forms of disease, we are forced to draw +conclusions of the utmost moment, most damaging to the credit of the +narrators.[3] + +Clearly, they are then convicted of misstating facts, under the +influence of superstitious credulity. They represent demoniacs as +having a supernatural acquaintance with Jesus, which, it now becomes +manifest, they cannot have had. The devils cast out of two demoniacs +(or one) are said to have entered into a herd of swine. This must have +been a credulous fiction. Indeed, the casting out of devils is so very +prominent a part of the miraculous agency ascribed to Jesus, as at +first sight to impair our faith in his miracles altogether. + +I however took refuge in the consideration, that when Jesus wrought +one great miracle, popular credulity would inevitably magnify it into +ten; hence the discovery of foolish exaggerations is no disproof of a +real miraculous agency: nay, perhaps the contrary. Are they not a sort +of false halo round a disc of glory,--a halo so congenial to human +nature, that the absence of it might be even wielded as an objection? +Moreover, John tells of no demoniacs: does not this show his freedom +from popular excitement? Observe the great miracles narrated by +John,--the blind man,--and Lazarus--how different in kind from those +on demoniacs! how incapable of having been mistaken! how convincing! +His statements cannot be explained away: their whole tone, moreover, +is peculiar. On the contrary, the three first gospels contain much +that (after we see the writers to be credulous) must be judged +legendary. + +The two first chapters of Matthew abound in dreams. Dreams? Was indeed +the "immaculate conception" merely told to Joseph in a _dream_? a +dream which not he only was to believe, but we also, when reported +to us by a person wholly unknown, who wrote 70 or 80 years after the +fact, and gives us no clue to his sources of information! Shall I +reply that he received his information by miracle? But why more than +Luke? and Luke evidently was conscious only of human information. +Besides, inspiration has not saved Matthew from error about demons; +and why then about Joseph's dream and its highly important contents? + +In former days, I had never dared to let my thoughts dwell +inquisitively on the _star_, which the wise men saw in the East, and +which accompanied them, and pointed out the house where the young +child was. I now thought of it, only to see that it was a legend +fit for credulous ages; and that it must be rejected in common with +Herod's massacre of the children,--an atrocity unknown to Josephus. +How difficult it was to reconcile the flight into Egypt with the +narrative of Luke, I had known from early days: I now saw that it was +waste time to try to reconcile them. + +But perhaps I might say:--"That the writers should make errors about +the _infancy_ of Jesus was natural; they were distant from the time: +but that will not justly impair the credit of events, to which they +may possibly have been contemporaries or even eye-witnesses."--How +then would this apply to the Temptation, at which certainly none of +them were present? Is it accident, that the same three, who abound +in the demoniacs, tell also the scene of the Devil and Jesuit on a +pinnacle of the temple; while the same John who omits the demoniacs, +omits also this singular story? It being granted that the writers are +elsewhere mistaken, to criticize the tale was to reject it. + +In near connexion with this followed the discovery, that many other +miracles of the Bible are wholly deficient in that moral dignity, +which is supposed to place so great a chasm between them and +ecclesiastical writings. Why should I look with more respect on +the napkins taken from Paul's body (Acts xix. 12), than on +pocket-handkerchiefs dipped in the blood of martyrs? How could I +believe, on this same writer's hearsay, that "the Spirit of the Lord +caught away Philip" (viii. 39), transporting him through the air; as +oriental genii are supposed to do? Or what moral dignity was there in +the curse on the barren fig-tree,--about which, moreover, we are so +perplexingly told, that it was _not_ the time for figs? What was to be +said of a cure, wrought by touching the hem of Jesus' garment, which +drew physical _virtue_ from him without his will? And how could I +distinguish the genius of the miracle of tribute-money in the fish's +mouth, from those of the apocryphal gospels? What was I to say +of useless miracles, like that of Peter and Jesus walking on the +water,--or that of many saints coming out of the graves to show +themselves, or of a poetical sympathy of the elements, such as the +earthquake and rending of the temple-veil when Jesus died? Altogether, +I began to feel that Christian advocates commit the flagrant sophism +of treating every objection as an isolated "cavil," and overrule each +as obviously insufficient, with the same confidence as if it were the +only one. Yet, in fact, the objections collectively are very +powerful, and cannot be set aside by supercilious airs and by calling +unbelievers "superficial," any more than by harsh denunciations. + +Pursuing the same thought to the Old Testament, I discerned there also +no small sprinkling of grotesque or unmoral miracles. A dead man is +raised to life, when his body by accident touches the bones of Elisha: +as though Elisha had been a Romish saint, and his bones a sacred +relic. Uzzah, when the ark is in danger of falling, puts out his hand +to save it, and is struck dead for his impiety! Was this the judgment +of the Father of mercies and God of all comfort? What was I to make +of God's anger with Abimelech (Gen. xx.), whose sole offence was, the +having believed Abraham's lie? for which a miraculous barrenness was +sent on all the females of Abimelech's tribe, and was bought off +only by splendid presents to the favoured deceiver.--Or was it at +all credible that the lying and fraudulent Jacob should have been so +specially loved by God, more than the rude animal Esau?--Or could I +any longer overlook the gross imagination of antiquity, which made +Abraham and Jehovah dine on the same carnal food, like Tantalus with +the gods;--which fed Elijah by ravens, and set angels to bake cakes +for him? Such is a specimen of the flood of difficulties which poured +in, through the great breach which the demoniacs had made in the +credit of Biblical marvels. + +While I was in this stage of progress, I had a second time the +advantage of meeting Dr. Arnold, and had satisfaction in finding that +he rested the main strength of Christianity on the gospel of John. The +great similarity of the other three seemed to him enough to mark that +they flowed from sources very similar, and that the first gospel had +no pretensions to be regarded as the actual writing of Matthew. This +indeed had been for some time clear to me, though I now cared little +about the author's name, when he was proved to be credulous.--Arnold +regarded John's gospel as abounding with smaller touches which marked +the eye-witness, and, altogether, to be the vivid and simple picture +of a divine reality, undeformed by credulous legend. In this view I +was gratified to repose, in spite of a few partial misgivings, and +returned to investigations concerning the Old Testament. + +For some time back I had paid special attention to the book of +Genesis; and I had got aid in the analysis of it from a German volume. +That it was based on _at least_ two different documents, technically +called the Elohistic and Jehovistic, soon became clear to me: and +an orthodox friend who acknowledged the fact, regarded it as a high +recommendation of the book, that it was conscientiously made out of +pre-existing materials, and was not a fancy that came from the brain +of Moses. My good friend's argument was not a happy one: no written +record could exist of things and times which preceded the invention +of writing. After analysing this book with great minuteness, I now +proceeded to Exodus and Numbers; and was soon assured, that these had +not, any more than Genesis, come forth from one primitive witness +of the facts. In all these books is found the striking phenomenon of +_duplicate_ or even _triplicate narratives_. The creation of man +is three times told. The account of the Flood is made up out of two +discrepant originals, marked by the names Elohim and Jehovah; of which +one makes Noah take into the ark _seven_ pairs of clean, and _single_ +(or double?) pairs of unclean, beasts; while the other gives him +two and two of all kinds, without distinguishing the clean. The two +documents may indeed in this narrative be almost re-discovered by +mechanical separation. The triple statement of Abraham and Isaac +passing off a wife for a sister was next in interest; and here +also the two which concern Abraham are contrasted as Jehovistic +and Elohistic. A similar double account is given of the origin of +circumcision, of the names Isaac, Israel, Bethel, Beersheba. Still +more was I struck by the positive declaration in Exodus (vi. 3) +that _God was_ NOT _known to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob by the name +Jehovah_; while the book of Genesis abounds with the contrary fact. +This alone convinced me beyond all dispute, that these books did not +come from one and the same hand, but are conglomerates formed out of +older materials, unartistically and mechanically joined. + +Indeed a fuller examination showed in Exodus and Numbers a twofold +miracle of the quails, of which the latter is so told as to indicate +entire unacquaintance with the former. There is a double description +of the manna, a needless second appointment of Elders of the +congregation: water is twice brought out of the rock by the rod of +Moses, whose faith is perfect the first time and fails the second +time. The name of Meribah is twice bestowed. There is a double promise +of a guardian angel, a double consecration of Aaron and his sons: +indeed, I seemed to find a double or even threefold[4] copy of the +Decalogue. Comprising Deuteronomy within my view, I met two utterly +incompatible accounts of Aaron's death; for Deuteronomy makes him +die _before_ reaching Meribah Kadesh, where, according to Numbers, he +sinned and incurred the penalty of death (Num. xx. 24, Deut x. 6: cf +Num. xxxiii. 31, 38). + +That there was error on a great scale in all this, was undeniable; +and I began to see at least one _source_ of the error. The celebrated +miracle of "the sun standing still" has long been felt as too violent +a derangement of the whole globe to be used by the most High as a +means of discomfiting an army: and I had acquiesced in the idea that +the miracle was _ocular_ only. But in reading the passage, (Josh. x. +12-14,) I for the first time observed that the narrative rests on the +authority of a poetical book which bears the name of Jasher.[5] He who +composed--"Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the +valley of Ajalon!"--like other poets, called on the Sun and Moon to +stand and look on Joshua's deeds; but he could not anticipate that +his words would be hardened into fact by a prosaic interpreter, and +appealed to in proof of a stupendous miracle. The commentator +could not tell what _the Moon_ had to do with it; yet he has quoted +honestly.--This presently led me to observe other marks that the +narrative has been made up, at least in part, out of old poetry. +Of these the most important are in Exodus xv. and Num. xxi., in the +latter of which three different poetical fragments are quoted, and +one of them is expressly said to be from "the book of the wars of +Jehovah," apparently a poem descriptive of the conquest of Canaan by +the Israelites. As for Exodus xv. it appeared to me (in that stage, +and after so abundant proof of error,) almost certain that Moses' song +is the primitive authority, out of which the prose narrative of the +passage of the Red Sea has been worked up. Especially since, after the +song, the writer adds: v. 19. "For the horse of Pharaoh went in with +his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and the Lord brought +again the waters of the sea upon them: but the children of Israel went +on dry land in the midst of the sea." This comment scarcely could +have been added, if the detailed account of ch. xiv. had been written +previously. The song of Moses _implies no miracle at all_: it is +merely high poetry. A later prosaic age took the hyperbolic phrases +of v. 8 literally, and so generated the comment of v. 19, and a still +later time expanded this into the elaborate 14th chapter. + +Other proofs crowded upon me, that cannot here be enlarged upon. +Granting then (for argument) that the four first books of the +Pentateuch are a compilation, made long after the event, I tried for a +while to support the very arbitrary opinion, that Deuteronomy (all but +its last chapter) which seemed to be a more homogeneous composition, +was alone and really the production of Moses. This however needed some +definite proof: for if tradition was not sufficient to guarantee the +whole Pentateuch, it could not guarantee to me Deuteronomy alone. I +proceeded to investigate the external history of the Pentateuch, and +in so doing, came to the story, how the book of the Law was _found_ +in the reign of the young king Josiah, nearly at the end of the Jewish +monarchy. As I considered the narrative, my eyes were opened. If +the book had previously been the received sacred law, it could not +possibly have been so lost, that its contents were unknown, and the +fact of its loss forgotten: it was therefore evidently _then first +compiled_, or at least then first produced and made authoritative to +the nation.[6] And with this the general course of the history best +agrees, and all the phenomena of the books themselves. + +Many of the Scriptural facts were old to me: to the importance of +the history of Josiah I had perhaps even become dim-sighted by +familiarity. Why had I not long ago seen that my conclusions ought to +have been different from those of prevalent orthodoxy?--I found that +I had been cajoled by the primitive assumptions, which though not +clearly _stated_, are unceremoniously _used_. Dean Graves, for +instance, always takes for granted, that, _until the contrary shall be +demonstrated_, it is to be firmly believed that the Pentateuch is +from the pen of Moses. He proceeds to set aside, _one by one_, as not +demonstrative, the indications that it is of later origin: and when +other means fail, he says that the particular verses remarked on +were added by a later hand! I considered that if we were debating +the antiquity of an Irish book, and in one page of it were found an +allusion to the Parliamentary Union with England, we should at once +regard the whole book, _until the contrary should be proved_, as the +work of this century; and not endure the reasoner, who, in order +to uphold a theory that it is five centuries old, pronounced that +sentence "evidently to be from a later hand." Yet in this arbitrary +way Dean Graves and all his coadjutors set aside, one by one, the +texts which point at the date of the Pentateuch. I was possessed with +indignation. Oh sham science! Oh false-named Theology! + + O mihi tam longę maneat pars ultima vitę, + Spiritus et, quantum sat erit tua dicere facta! + +Yet I waited some eight years longer, lest I should on so grave +a subject write anything premature. Especially I felt that it was +necessary to learn more of what the erudition of Germany had done +on these subjects. Michaelis on the New Testament had fallen into my +hands several years before, and I had found the greatest advantage +from his learning and candour. About this time I also had begun to +get more or less aid from four or five living German divines; but +none produced any strong impression on me but De Wette. The two +grand lessons which I learned from him, were, the greater recency +of Deuteronomy, and the very untrustworthy character of the book of +Chronicles; with which discovery, the true origin of the Pentateuch +becomes still clearer.[7] After this, I heard of Hengstenberg as the +most learned writer on the opposite side, and furnished myself with +his work in defence of the antiquity of the Pentateuch: but it only +showed me how hopeless a cause he had undertaken. + + * * * * * + +In this period I came to a totally new view of many parts of the +Bible; and not to be tedious, it will suffice here to sum up the +results. + +The first books which I looked at as doubtful, were the Apocalypse and +the Epistle to the Hebrews. From the Greek style I felt assured that +the former was not by John,[8] nor the latter by Paul. In Michaelis +I first learnt the interesting fact of Luther having vehemently +repudiated the Apocalypse, so that he not only declared its +spuriousness in the Preface of his Bible, but solemnly charged his +successors not to print his translation of the Apocalypse without +annexing this avowal:--a charge which they presently disobeyed. Such +is the habitual unfairness of ecclesiastical corporations. I was +afterwards confirmed by Neander in the belief that the Apocalypse is +a false prophecy. The only chapter of it which is interpreted,--the +17th,--appears to be a political speculation suggested by the civil +war of Otho, Vitellius and Vespasian; and erroneously opines that +the eighth emperor of Rome is to be the last, and is to be one of the +preceding emperors restored,--probably Nero, who was believed to have +escaped to the kings of the East.--As for the Epistle to the Hebrews, +(which I was disposed to believe Luther had well guessed to be the +production of Apollos,) I now saw quite a different genius in it from +that of Paul, as more artificial and savouring of rhetorical culture. +As to this, the learned Germans are probably unanimous. + +Next to these, the Song of Solomon fell away. I had been accustomed to +receive this as a sacred representation of the loves of Christ and the +Church: but after I was experimentally acquainted with the playful and +extravagant genius of man's love for woman, I saw the Song of Solomon +with new eyes, and became entirely convinced that it consists of +fragments of love-songs, some of them rather voluptuous. + +After this, it followed that the so-called _Canon_ of the Jews could +not guarantee to us the value of the writings. Consequently, such +books as Ruth and Esther, (the latter indeed not containing +one religious sentiment,) stood forth at once in their natural +insignificance. Ecclesiastes also seemed to me a meagre and shallow +production. Chronicles I now learned to be not credulous only, but +unfair, perhaps so far as to be actually dishonest. Not one of the +historical books of the Old Testament could approve itself to me as +of any high antiquity or of any spiritual authority; and in the New +Testament I found the first three books and the Acts to contain many +doubtful and some untrue accounts, and many incredible miracles. + +Many persons, after reading thus much concerning me, will be apt to +say: "Of course then you gave up Christianity?"--Far from it. I gave +up all that was clearly untenable, and clung the firmer to all that +still appeared sound. I had found out that the Bible was not to be +my religion, nor its perfection any tenet of mine: but what then! Did +Paul go about preaching the Bible? nay, but he preached Christ. The +New Testament did not as yet exist: to the Jews he necessarily argued +from the Old Testament; but that "faith in the book" was no part of +Paul's gospel, is manifest from his giving no list of sacred books +to his Gentile converts. Twice indeed in his epistles to Timothy, he +recommends the Scriptures of the Old Testament; but even in the more +striking passage, (on which such exaggerated stress has been laid,) +the spirit of his remark is essentially apologetic. "Despise not, +oh Timothy," (is virtually his exhortation) "the Scriptures that you +learned as a child. Although now you have the Spirit to teach you, +yet that does not make the older writers useless: for "_every divinely +inspired writing is also profitable for instruction &c._" In Paul's +religion, respect for the Scriptures was a means, not an end. The +Bible was made for man, not man for the Bible. + +Thus the question with me was: "May I still receive Christ as a +Saviour from sin, a Teacher and Lord sent from heaven, and can I find +an adequate account of what he came to do or teach?" And my reply was, +Yes. The gospel of John alone gave an adequate account of him: the +other three, though often erroneous, had clear marks of simplicity, +and in so far confirmed the general belief in the supernatural +character and works of Jesus. Then the conversion of Paul was a +powerful argument. I had Peter's testimony to the resurrection, and to +the transfiguration. Many of the prophecies were eminently remarkable, +and seemed unaccountable except as miraculous. The origin of Judaism +and spread of Christianity appeared to be beyond common experience, +and were perhaps fairly to be called supernatural. Broad views such as +these did not seem to be affected by the special conclusions at which +I had arrived concerning the books of the Bible. I conceived myself +to be resting under an Indian Figtree, which is supported by certain +grand stems, but also lets down to the earth many small branches, +which seem to the eye to prop the tree, but in fact are supported +by it. If they were cut away, the tree would not be less strong. +So neither was the tree of Christianity weakened by the loss of its +apparent props. I might still enjoy its shade, and eat of its fruits, +and bless the hand that planted it. + +In the course of this period I likewise learnt how inadequate +allowance I had once made for the repulsion produced by my own +dogmatic tendency on the sympathies of the unevangelical. I now +often met persons of Evangelical opinion, but could seldom have any +interchange of religious sentiment with them, because every word they +uttered warned me that I could escape controversy only while I kept +them at a distance: moreover, if any little difference of opinion led +us into amicable argument, they uniformly reasoned by quoting texts. +This was now inadmissible with me, but I could only have done mischief +by going farther than a dry disclaimer; after which indeed I saw I was +generally looked on as "an infidel." No doubt the parties who so came +into collision with me, approached me often with an earnest desire +and hope to find some spiritual good in me, but withdrew disappointed, +finding me either cold and defensive, or (perhaps they thought) warm +and disputatious. Thus, as long as artificial tests of spirituality +are allowed to exist, their erroneousness is not easily exposed by +the mere wear and tear of life. When the collision of opinion is +very strong, two good men may meet, and only be confirmed in their +prejudices against one another: for in order that one may elicit +the spiritual sympathies of the other, a certain liberality is +prerequisite. Without this, each prepares to shield himself from +attack, or even holds out weapons of offence. Thus "articles of +Communion" are essentially articles of Disunion.--On the other hand, +if all tests of opinion in a church were heartily and truly done away, +then the principles of spiritual affinity and repulsion would +act quite undisturbed. Surely therefore this was the only right +method?--Nevertheless, I saw the necessity of _one_ test, "Jesus +is the Son of God," and felt unpleasantly that one article tends +infallibly to draw another after it. But I had too much, just then to +think of in other quarters, to care much about Church Systems. + + +[Footnote 1: See Gen. xxxiii. 19, and xlix. 29-32, xxiii.] + +[Footnote 2: Some say, that Zechariah, son of Jehoiada, named in the +Chronicles, is meant; that he is _confounded_ with the prophet, the +son of Berechiah, and was _supposed_ to be the last of the martyrs, +because the Chronicles are placed last in the Hebrew Bible. This is a +plausible view; but it saves the Scripture only by imputing error to +Jesus.] + +[Footnote 3: My Eclectic Reviewer says (p. 276): "Thus because the +evangelists held an erroneous _medical_ theory, Mr. Newman suffered +a breach to be made in the credit of the Bible." No; but as the next +sentence states, "because they are convicted of _misstating facts_," +under the influence of this erroneous medical theory. Even this +reviewer--candid for an orthodox critic, and not over-orthodox +either--cannot help garbling me.] + +[Footnote 4: I have explained this in my "Hebrew Monarchy."] + +[Footnote 5: This poet celebrated also the deeds of David (2 Sam. i. +18) according to our translation: if so, he was many centuries later +than Joshua; however, the sense of the Hebrew is little obscure.] + +[Footnote 6: I have fully discussed this in my "Hebrew Monarchy."] + +[Footnote 7: The English reader may consult Theodore Parker's +translation of De Wette's Introduction to the Canon of Scripture. I +have also amply exhibited the vanity of the _Chronicles_ in my "Hebrew +Monarchy." De Wette has a separate treatise on the Chronicles,] + +[Footnote 8: If the date of the Apocalypse is twenty years earlier +than that of the fourth Gospel, I now feel no such difficulty in their +being the composition of the same writer.] + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +FAITH AT SECOND HAND FOUND TO BE VAIN. + + +I reckon my fifth period to begin from the time when I had totally +abandoned the claim of "the Canon" of Scripture, however curtailed, +to be received as the object of faith, as free from error, or as +something raised above moral criticism; and looked out for some deeper +foundation for my creed than any sacred Letter. But an entirely new +inquiry had begun to engage me at intervals, viz., _the essential +logic of these investigations._ Ought we in any case to receive moral +truth in obedience to an apparent miracle of sense? or conversely, +ought we ever to believe in sensible miracles because of their +recommending some moral truth? I perceived that the endless jangling +which goes on in detailed controversy, is inevitable, while the +disputants are unawares at variance with one another, or themselves +wavering, as to these pervading principles of evidence.--I regard my +fifth period to come to an end with the decision of this question. +Nevertheless, many other important lines of inquiry were going forward +simultaneously. + +I found in the Bible itself,--and even in the very same book, as +in the Gospel of John,--great uncertainty and inconsistency on this +question. In one place, Jesus reproves[1] the demand of a miracle, and +blesses those who believe without[2] miracles; in another, he requires +that they will submit to his doctrine because[3] of his miracles. +Now, this is intelligible, if blind external obedience is the end of +religion, and not Truth and inward Righteousness. An ambitious and +unscrupulous _Church_, that desires, by fair means or foul, to make +men bow down to her, may say, "Only believe; and all is right. The end +being gained,--Obedience to us,--we do not care about your reasons." +But _God_ cannot speak thus to man; and to a divine teacher we should +peculiarly look for aid in getting clear views of the grounds of +faith; because it is by a knowledge of these that we shall both be +rooted on the true basis, and saved from the danger of false beliefs. + +It, therefore, peculiarly vexed me to find so total a deficiency of +clear and sound instruction in the New Testament, and eminently in the +gospel of John, on so vital a question. The more I considered it, +the more it appeared, as if Jesus were solely anxious to have people +believe in Him, without caring on what grounds they believed, although +that is obviously the main point. When to this was added the threat of +"damnation" on those who did not believe, the case became far worse: +for I felt that if such a threat were allowed to operate, I might +become a Mohammedan or a Roman Catholic. Could I in any case +rationally assign this as a ground for believing in Christ,--"because +I am frightened by his threats"--? + +Farther thought showed me that a question of _logic_, such as I here +had before me, was peculiarly one on which the propagator of a new +religion could not be allowed to dictate; for if so, every false +system could establish itself. Let Hindooism dictate our logic,--let +us submit to its tests of a divine revelation, and its mode +of applying them,--and we may, perhaps, at once find ourselves +necessitated to "become little children" in a Brahminical school. +Might not then this very thing account for the Bible not enlightening +us on the topic? namely, since Logic, like Mathematics, belongs to the +common intellect,--Possibly so: but still, it cannot reconcile us +to _vacillations_ and _contradictions_ in the Bible on so critical a +point. + +Gradually I saw that deeper and deeper difficulties lay at bottom. If +Logic _cannot_ be matter of authoritative revelation, so long as the +nature of the human mind is what it is,--if it appears, as a fact, +that in the writings and speeches of the New Testament the logic is +far from lucid,--if we are to compare Logic with Mathematics and other +sciences, which grew up with civilization and long time,--we cannot +doubt that the apostles imbibed the logic, like the astronomy, of +their own day, with all its defects. Indeed, the same is otherwise +plain. Paul's reasonings are those of a Gamaliel, and often are +indefensible by our logical notions. John, also (as I had been +recently learning,) has a wonderful similarity to Philo. This being +the case, it becomes of deep interest to us to know,--if we are to +accept results _at second hand_ from Paul and John,--_what was the +sort of evidence which convinced them?_ The moment this question is +put, we see the essential defect to which we are exposed, in not being +able to cross-examine them. Paul says that "Christ appeared to +him:" elsewhere, that he has "received of the Lord" certain facts, +concerning the Holy Supper: and that his Gospel was "given to him by +revelation." If any modern made such statements to us, and on this +ground demanded our credence, it would be allowable, and indeed +obligatory, to ask many questions of him. What does he _mean_ by +saying that he has had a "revelation?" Did he see a sight, or hear a +sound? or was it an inward impression? and how does he distinguish +it as divine?[4] Until these questions are fully answered, we have +no materials at all before us for deciding to accept his results: +to believe him, merely because he is earnest and persuaded, would be +judged to indicate the weakness of inexperience. How then can it be +pretended that we have, or can possibly get, the means of assuring +ourselves that the apostles held correct principles of evidence and +applied them justly, when we are not able to interrogate them? + +Farther, it appears that _our_ experience of delusion forces us to +enact a very severe test of supernatural revelation. No doubt, we can +conceive that which is equivalent to a _new sense_ opening to us; but +then it must have verifications connecting it with the other senses. +Thus, a particularly vivid sort of dream recurring with special marks, +and communicating at once heavenly and earthly knowledge, of which the +latter was otherwise verified, would probably be admitted as a valid +sort of evidence: but so intense would be the interest and duty to +have all unravelled and probed to the bottom, that we should think it +impossible to verify the new sense too anxiously, and we should demand +the fullest particulars of the divine transaction. On the contrary, +it is undeniable that all such severity of research is rebuked in the +Scriptures as unbelief. The deeply interesting _process_ of receiving +supernatural revelation.--a revelation, _not_ of moral principles, +but of outward facts and events, supposed to be communicated in a mode +wholly peculiar and unknown to common men,--this process, which ought +to be laid open and analyzed under the fullest light, _if we are to +believe the results at second hand_, is always and avowedly shrouded +in impenetrable darkness. There surely is something here, which +denotes that it is dangerous to resign ourselves to the conclusions of +the apostles, when their logical notions are so different from ours. + +I farther inquired, what sort of miracle I could conceive, that would +alter my opinion on a moral question. Hosea was divinely ordered to go +and unite himself to an impure woman: could I possibly think that God +ordered _me_ to do so, if I heard a voice in the air commanding +it? Should I not rather disbelieve my hearing, than disown my moral +perceptions? If not, where am I to stop? I may practise all sorts of +heathenism. A man who, in obedience to a voice in the air, kills his +innocent wife or child, will either be called mad, and shut up for +safety, or will be hanged as a desperate fanatic: do I dare to condemn +this modern judgment of him? Would any conceivable miracle justify my +slaying my wife? God forbid! It _must_ be morally right, to believe +moral rather than sensible perceptions. No outward impressions on the +eye or ear can be so valid an assurance to me of God's will, as my +inward judgment. How amazing, then, that a Paul or a James could look +on Abraham's intention to slay his son, as indicating a praiseworthy +faith!--And yet not amazing: It does but show, that apostles in former +days, like ourselves, scrutinized antiquity with different eyes from +modern events. If Paul had been ordered by a supernatural voice to +slay Peter, he would have attributed the voice to the devil, "the +prince of the power of the air," and would have despised it. He +praises the faith of Abraham, but he certainly would never have +imitated his conduct. Just so, the modern divines who laud Joseph's +piety towards Mary, would be very differently affected, if events and +persons were transported to the present day. + +But to return. Let it be granted that no sensible miracle could +authorize me so to violate my moral perceptions as to slay (that is, +to murder) my innocent wife. May it, nevertheless, authorize me to +invade a neighbour country, slaughter the people and possess their +cities, although, without such a miracle, the deed would be deeply +criminal? It is impossible to say that here, more than in the former +case, miracles[5] can turn aside the common laws of morality. Neither, +therefore, could they justify Joshua's war of extermination on the +Canaanites, nor that of Samuel on the Amalekites; nor the murder of +misbelievers by Elijah and by Josiah. If we are shocked at the idea +of God releasing Mohammed from the vulgar law of marriage, we must +as little endure relaxation in the great laws of justice and mercy. +Farther, if only a _small_ immorality is concerned, shall we then say +that a miracle may justify it? Could it authorise me to plait a whip +of small cords, and flog a preferment-hunter out of the pulpit? or +would it justify me in publicly calling the Queen and her ministers +"a brood of vipers, who cannot escape the damnation of hell"[6] Such +questions go very deep into the heart of the Christian claims. + +I had been accustomed to overbear objections of this sort by replying, +that to allow of their being heard would amount to refusing leave +to God to give commands to his creatures. For, it seems, if he _did_ +command, we, instead of obeying, should discuss whether the command +was right and reasonable; and if we thought it otherwise, should +conclude that God never gave it. The extirpation of the Canaanites +is compared by divines to the execution of a criminal; and it is +insisted, that if the voice of society may justify the executioner, +much more may the voice of God--But I now saw the analogy to be +insufficient and unsound. Insufficient, because no executioner +is justified in slaying those whom his conscience tells him to be +innocent; and it is a barbarous morality alone, which pretends that +he may make himself a passive tool of slaughter. But next, the analogy +_assumes_, (what none of my very dictatorial and insolent critics make +even the faintest effort to prove to be a fact,) that God, like man, +speaks from without: that what we call Reason and Conscience is _not_ +his mode of commanding and revealing his will, but that words +to strike the ear, or symbols displayed before the senses, are +emphatically and exclusively "Revelation." Besides all this, the +command of slaughter to the Jews is not directed against the seven +nations of Canaan only, as modern theologians often erroneously +assert: it is a _universal_ permission, of avaricious massacre and +subjugation of "the cities which are very far off from thee, which are +_not_ of the cities of these nations," Deut, xx. 15. + +The thoughts which here fill but a few pages, occupied me a long while +in working out; because I consciously, with caution more than +with timidity, declined to follow them rapidly. They came as dark +suspicions or as flashing possibilities; and were again laid aside for +reconsideration, lest I should be carried into antagonism to my old +creed. For it is clear that great error arises in religion, by the +undue ardour of converts, who become bitter against the faith which +they have left, and outrun in zeal their new associates. So also +successive centuries oscillate too far on the right and on the left +of truth. But so happy was my position, that I needed not to hurry: no +practical duty forced me to rapid decision, and a suspense of judgment +was not an unwholesome exercise. Meanwhile, I sometimes thought +Christianity to be to me, like the great river Ganges to a Hindoo. Of +its value he has daily experience: he has piously believed that its +sources are in heaven, but of late the report has come to him, that +it only flows from very high mountains of this earth. What is he to +believe? He knows not exactly: he cares not much: in any case the +river is the gift of God to him: its positive benefits cannot be +affected by a theory concerning its source. + +Such a comparison undoubtedly implies that he who uses it discerns for +himself a moral excellence in Christianity, and _submits to it only +so far as this discernment commands_. I had practically reached +this point, long before I concluded my theoretical inquiries as to +Christianity itself: but in the course of this fifth period numerous +other overpowering considerations crowded upon me which I must proceed +to state in outline. + + * * * * * + +All pious Christians feel, and all the New Testament proclaims, that +Faith is a moral act and a test of the moral and spiritual that is +within us; so that he who is without faith, (faithless, unfaithful, +"infidel,") is morally wanting and is cut off from God. To assent to +a religious proposition _solely_ in obedience to an outward miracle, +would be Belief; but would not be Faith, any more than is scientific +conviction. Bishop Butler and all his followers can insist with much +force on this topic, when it suits them, and can quote most aptly +from the New Testament to the same effect. They deduce, that a really +overpowering miraculous proof would have destroyed the moral character +of Faith: yet they do not see that the argument supersedes the +authoritative force of outward miracles entirely. It had always +appeared to me very strange in these divines, to insist on the +stupendous character and convincing power of the Christian miracles, +and then, in reply to the objection that they were _not_ quite +convincing, to say that the defect was purposely left "to try people's +Faith." Faith in what? Not surely in the confessedly ill-proved +miracle, but in the truth as discernible by the heart _without aid of +miracle._ + +I conceived of two men, Nathaniel and Demas, encountering a pretender +to miracles, a Simon Magus of the scriptures. Nathaniel is guileless, +sweet-hearted and of strong moral sense, but in worldly matters rather +a simpleton. Demas is a sharp man, who gets on well in the world, +quick of eye and shrewd of wit, hard-headed and not to be imposed upon +by his fellows; but destitute of any high religious aspirations or +deep moral insight. The juggleries of Simon are readily discerned by +Demas, but thoroughly deceive poor Nathaniel: what then is the latter +to do? To say that we are to receive true miracles and reject false +ones, avails not, unless the mind is presumed to be capable of +discriminating the one from the other. The wonders of Simon are as +divine as the wonders of Jesus to a man, who, like Nathaniel, can +account for neither by natural causes. If we enact the rule, that men +are to "submit their understandings" to apparent prodigies, and +that "revelation" is a thing of the outward senses, we alight on the +unendurable absurdity, that Demas has faculties better fitted than +those of Nathaniel for discriminating religious truth and error, and +that Nathaniel, in obedience to eye and ear, which he knows to be very +deceivable organs, is to abandon his moral perceptions. + +Nor is the case altered, if instead of Simon in person, a huge thing +called a Church is presented as a claimant of authority to Nathaniel. +Suppose him to be a poor Spaniard, surrounded by false miracles, false +erudition, and all the apparatus of reigning and unopposed Romanism. +He cannot cope with the priests in cleverness,--detect their +juggleries,--refute their historical falsehoods, disentangle their web +of sophistry: but if he is truehearted, he may say: "You bid me not +to keep faith with heretics: you defend murder, exile, imprisonment, +fines, on men who will not submit their consciences to your authority: +this I see to be wicked, though you ever so much pretend that God has +taught it you." So, also, if he be accosted by learned clergymen, +who undertake to prove that Jesus wrought stupendous miracles, or +by learned Moolahs who allege the same of Mohammed or of Menu, he is +quite unable to deal with them on the grounds of physiology, physics, +or history.--In short, nothing can be plainer, than that _the moral +and spiritual sense is the only religious faculty of the poor man_; +and that as Christianity in its origin was preached to the poor, so +it was to the inward senses that its first preachers appealed, as +the supreme arbiters in the whole religious question. Is it not then +absurd to say that in the act of conversion the convert is to trust +his moral perception, and is ever afterwards to distrust it? + +An incident had some years before come to my knowledge, which now +seemed instructive. An educated, highly acute and thoughtful person, +of very mature age, had become a convert to the Irving miracles, from +an inability to distinguish them from those of the Pauline epistles; +or to discern anything of falsity which would justify his rejecting +them. But after several years he totally renounced them as a miserable +delusion, _because_ he found that a system of false doctrine was +growing up and was propped by them. Here was a clear case of a man +with all the advantages of modern education and science, who yet found +the direct judgment of a professed miracle, that was acted before his +senses, too arduous for him! He was led astray while he trusted his +power to judge of miracle: he was brought right by trusting to his +moral perceptions. + +When we farther consider, that a knowledge of Natural Philosophy and +Physiology not only does not belong to the poor, but comes later in +time to mankind than a knowledge of morals;--that a Miracle can only +be judged of by Philosophy,--that it is not easy even for philosophers +to define what is a "miracle"--that to discern "a deviation from the +course of nature," implies a previous certain knowledge of what _the +course of nature_ is,--and that illiterate and early ages certainly +have not this knowledge, and often have hardly even the idea,--it +becomes quite a monstrosity to imagine that sensible and external +miracles constitute the necessary process and guarantee of divine +revelation. + +Besides, if an angel appeared to my senses, and wrought miracles, how +would that assure me of his moral qualities? Such miracles might prove +his power and his knowledge, but whether malignant or benign, would +remain doubtful, until by purely moral evidence, which no miracles +could give, the doubt should be solved.[7] This is the old difficulty +about diabolical wonders. The moderns cut the knot, by denying that +any but God can possibly work real miracles. But to establish their +principle, they make their definition and verification of a miracle +so strict, as would have amazed the apostles; and after all, the +difficulty recurs, that miraculous phenomena will never prove the +goodness and veracity of God, if we do not know these qualities in Him +without miracle. There is then a deeper and an earlier revelation of +God, which sensible miracles can never give. + +We cannot distinctly learn what was Paul's full idea of a divine +revelation; but I can feel no doubt that he conceived it to be, in +great measure, an _inward_ thing. Dreams and visions were not excluded +from influence, and nacre or less affected his moral judgment; but +he did not, consciously and on principle, beat down his conscience in +submission to outward impressions. To do so, is indeed to destroy +the moral character of Faith, and lay the axe to the root, not of +Christian doctrine only, but of every possible spiritual system. + + * * * * * + +Meanwhile, new breaches were made in those citadels of my creed which +had not yet surrendered. + +One branch of the Christian Evidences concerns itself with the +_history_ and _historical effects_ of the faith, and among Protestants +the efficacy of the Bible to enlighten and convert has been very much +pressed. The disputant, however, is apt to play "fast and loose." He +adduces the theory of Christianity when the history is unfavourable, +and appeals to the history if the theory is impugned. In this way, +just so much is picked out of the mass of facts as suits his argument, +and the rest is quietly put aside. + +I. In the theory of my early creed, (which was that of the New +Testament, however convenient it may be for my critics to deride it as +fanatical and _not_ Christian,) cultivation of mind and erudition +were classed with worldly things, which might be used where they +pre-existed, (as riches and power may subserve higher ends,) but which +were quite extraneous and unessential to the spiritual kingdom of +Christ. A knowledge of the Bible was assumed to need only an honest +heart and God's Spirit, while science, history, and philosophy were +regarded as doubtful and dangerous auxiliaries. But soon after the +first reflux of my mind took place towards the Common Understanding, +as a guide of life legitimately co-ordinate with Scripture, I was +impressed with the consideration that _Free Learning_ had acted on +a great scale for the improvement of spiritual religion. I had been +accustomed to believe that _the Bible_[8] brought about the Protestant +Reformation; and until my twenty-ninth year probably it had not +occurred to me to question this. But I was first struck with the +thought, that the Bible did not prevent the absurd iniquities of the +Nicene and Post Nicene controversy, and that the Church, with the +Bible in her hands, sank down into the gulf of Popery. How then was +the Bible a sufficient explanation of her recovering out of Popery? + +Even a superficial survey of the history shows, that the first +improvement of spiritual doctrine in the tenth and eleventh centuries, +came from a study of the moral works of Cicero and Boethius;--a fact +notorious in the common historians. The Latin moralists effected, what +(strange to think!) the New Testament alone could not do. + +In the fifteenth century, when Constantinople was taken by the Turks, +learned Greeks were driven out to Italy and to other parts of the +West, and the Roman Catholic world began to read the old Greek +literature. All historians agree, that the enlightenment of mind +hence arising was a prime mover of religious Reformation; and learned +Protestants of Germany have even believed, that the overthrow of +Popish error and establishment of purer truth would have been brought +about more equably and profoundly, if Luther had never lived, and the +passions of the vulgar had never been stimulated against the externals +of Romanism. + +At any rate, it gradually opened upon me, that the free cultivation of +the _understanding_, which Latin and Greek literature had imparted to +Europe and our freer public life, were chief causes of our religious +superiority to Greek, Armenian, and Syrian Christians. As the Greeks +in Constantinople under a centralized despotism retained no free +intellect, and therefore the works of their fathers did their souls no +good; so in Europe, just in proportion to the freedom of learning, +has been the force of the result. In Spain and Italy the study +of miscellaneous science and independent thought were nearly +extinguished; in France and Austria they were crippled; in Protestant +countries they have been freest. And then we impute all their effects +to the Bible![9] + +I at length saw how untenable is the argument drawn from the inward +history of Christianity in favour of its superhuman origin. In fact: +this religion cannot pretend to _self-sustaining power._ Hardly was it +started on its course, when it began to be polluted by the heathenism +and false philosophy around it. With the decline of national genius +and civil culture it became more and more debased. So far from being +able to uphold the existing morality of the best Pagan teachers, it +became barbarized itself, and sank into deep superstition and manifold +moral corruption. From ferocious men it learnt ferocity. When civil +society began to coalesce into order, Christianity also turned for the +better, and presently learned to use the wisdom, first of Romans, then +of Greeks: such studies opened men's eyes to new apprehensions of the +Scripture and of its doctrine. By gradual and human means, Europe, +like ancient Greece, grew up towards better political institutions; +and Christianity improved with them,--the Christianity of the more +educated. Beyond Europe, where there have been no such institutions, +there has been no Protestant Reformation:--that is in the Greek, +Armenian, Syrian, Coptic churches. Not unreasonably then do Franks +in Turkey disown the title Nazarene, as denoting _that_ Christianity +which has not been purified by European laws and European learning. +Christianity rises and sinks with political and literary influences: +in so far,[10] it does not differ from other religions. + +The same applied to the origin and advance of Judaism. It began +in polytheistic and idolatrous barbarism: it cleared into a hard +monotheism, with much superstition adhering to it. This was farther +improved by successive psalmists and prophets, until Judaism +culminated. The Jewish faith was eminently grand and pure; but +there is nothing[11] in this history which we can adduce in proof of +preternatural and miraculous agency. + +II. The facts concerning the outward spread of Christianity have also +been disguised by the party spirit of Christians, as though there were +something essentially _different in kind_ as to the mode in which it +began and continued its conquests, from the corresponding history +of other religions. But no such distinction can be made out. It is +general to all religions to begin by moral means, and proceed farther +by more worldly instruments. + +Christianity had a great moral superiority over Roman paganism, in +its humane doctrine of universal brotherhood, its unselfishness, its +holiness; and thereby it attracted to itself (among other and baser +materials) all the purest natures and most enthusiastic temperaments. +Its first conquests were noble and admirable. But there is nothing +_superhuman_ or unusual in this. Mohammedism in the same way conquers +those Pagan creeds which are morally inferior to it. The Seljuk and +the Ottoman Turks were Pagans, but adopted the religion of Tartars and +Persians whom they subjugated, because it was superior and was blended +with a superior civilization; exactly as the German conquerors of the +Western Empire of Rome adopted some form of Christianity. + +But if it is true that _the sword_ of Mohammed was the influence which +subjected Arabia, Egypt, Syria and Persia to the religion of Islam, +it is no less true that the Roman empire was finally conquered to +Christianity by the sword. Before Constantine, Christians were but a +small fraction of the empire. In the preceding century they had gone +on deteriorating in good sense and most probably therefore in moral +worth, and had made no such rapid progress in numbers as to imply that +by the mere process of conversion they would ever Christianize the +empire. That the conversion of Constantine, such as it was, (for he +was baptized only just before death,) was dictated by mere worldly +considerations, few modern Christians will deny. Yet a great fact is +here implied; viz., that Christianity was adopted as a state-religion, +because of the great _political_ power accruing from the organization +of the churches and the devotion of Christians to their ecclesiastical +citizenship. Roman statesmen well knew that a hundred thousand Roman +citizens devoted to the interests of Rome, could keep in subjection +a population of ten millions who were destitute of any intense +patriotism and had no central objects of attachment. The Christian +church had shown its immense resisting power and its tenacious union, +in the persecution by Galerius; and Constantine was discerning enough +to see the vast political importance of winning over such a body; +which, though but a small fraction of the whole empire, was the only +party which could give coherence to that empire, the only one which +had enthusiastic adherents in every province, the only one on whose +resolute devotion it was possible for a partizan to rely securely. The +bravery and faithful attachment of Christian regiments was a lesson +not lost upon Constantine; and we may say, in some sense, that the +Christian soldiers in his armies conquered the empire (that is, the +imperial appointments) for Christianity. But Paganism subsisted, +even in spite of imperial allurements, until at length the sword of +Theodosius violently suppressed heathen worship. So also, it was the +spear of Charlemagne which drove the Saxons to baptism, and decided +the extirpation of Paganism from Teutonic Europe. There is nothing in +all this to distinguish the outward history of Christianity from +that of Mohammedism. Barbarous tribes, now and then, venerating +the superiority of our knowledge, adopt our religion: so have Pagan +nations in Africa voluntarily become Mussulmans. But neither we nor +they can appeal to any case, where an old State-religion has yielded +without warlike compulsion to the force of heavenly truth,--"charm we +never so wisely." The whole influence which Christianity exerts over +the world at large depends on the political history of modern Europe. +The Christianity of Asia and Abyssinia is perhaps as pure and as +respectable in this nineteenth century as it was in the fourth and +fifth, yet no good or great deeds come forth out of it, of such a kind +that Christian disputants dare to appeal to them with triumph. The +politico-religious and very peculiar history of _European_ Christendom +has alone elevated the modern world; and as Gibbon remarks, this whole +history has directly depended on the fate of the great battles of +Tours between the Moors and the Franks. The defeat of Mohammedism by +Christendom certainly has not been effected by spiritual weapons. The +soldier and the statesman have done to the full as much as the priest +to secure Europe for Christianity, and win a Christendom of which +Christians can be proud. As for the Christendom of Asia, the +apologists of Christianity simply ignore it. With these facts, how can +it be pretended that the external history of Christianity points to an +exclusively divine origin? + +The author of the "Eclipse of Faith" has derided me for despatching +in two paragraphs what occupied Gibbon's whole fifteenth chapter; but +this author, here as always, misrepresents me. Gibbon is exhibiting +and developing the deep-seated causes of the spread of Christianity +before Constantine, and he by no means exhausts the subject. I am +comparing the ostensible and notorious facts concerning the outward +conquest of Christianity with those of other religions. To _account_ +for the early growth of any religion, Christian, Mussulman, or +Mormonite, is always difficult. + +III. The moral advantages which we owe to Christianity have been +exaggerated by the same party spirit, as if there were in them +anything miraculous. + +1. We are told that Christianity is the decisive influence which has +raised _womankind_: this does not appear to be true. The old Roman +matron was, relatively to her husband,[12] morally as high as in +modern Italy: nor is there any ground for supposing that modern women +have advantage over the ancient in Spain and Portugal, where Germanic +have been counteracted by Moorish influences. The relative position of +the sexes in Homeric Greece exhibits nothing materially different from +the present day. In Armenia and Syria perhaps Christianity has done +the service of extinguishing polygamy: this is creditable, though +nowise miraculous. Judaism also unlearnt polygamy, and made an +unbidden improvement upon Moses. In short, only in countries where +Germanic sentiment has taken root, do we see marks of any elevation +of the female sex superior to that of Pagan antiquity; and as this +elevation of the German woman in her deepest Paganism was already +striking to Tacitus and his contemporaries, it is highly unreasonable +to claim it as an achievement of Christianity. + +In point of fact, Christian doctrine, as propounded by Paul, is not at +all so honourable to woman as that which German soundness of heart has +established. With Paul[13] the _sole_ reason for marriage is, that a +man may gratify instinct without sin. He teaches, that _but_ for this +object it would be better not to marry. He wishes that all were in +this respect as free as himself, and calls it a special gift of God. +He does not encourage a man to desire a mutual soul intimately to +share griefs and joys; one in whom the confiding heart can repose, +whose smile shall reward and soften toil, whose voice shall beguile +sorrow. He does not seem aware that the fascinations of woman refine +and chasten society; that virtuous attachment has in it an element of +respect, which abashes and purifies, and which shields the soul, even +when marriage is deferred; nor yet, that the union of two persons +who have no previous affection can seldom yield the highest fruits of +matrimony, but often leads to the severest temptations. How _should_ +he have known all this? Courtship before marriage did not exist in the +society open to him: hence he treats the propriety of giving away a +maiden, as one in which _her_ conscience, _her_ likes and dislikes, +are not concerned: 1 Cor. vii. 37, 38. If the law leaves the parent +"power over his own will" and imposes no "necessity" to give her away, +Paul decidedly advises to keep her unmarried. + +The author of the Apocalypse, a writer of the first century, who +was received in the second as John the apostle, holds up a yet more +degrading view of the matrimonial relation. In one of his visions he +exhibits 144,000 chosen saints, perpetual attendants of "the Lamb," +and places the cardinal point of their sanctity in the fact, that +"they were not defiled with women, but were virgins." Marriage, +therefore, is defilement! Protestant writers struggle in vain against +this obvious meaning of the passage. Against all analogy of Scriptural +metaphor, they gratuitously pretend that _women_ mean _idolatrous +religions_: namely, because in the Old Testament the Jewish Church is +personified as a virgin betrothed to God, and an idol is spoken of as +her paramour. + +As a result of the apostolic doctrines, in the second, third, and +following centuries, very gross views concerning the relation of the +sexes prevailed, and have been everywhere transmitted where men's +morality is exclusively[14] formed from the New Testament. The +marriage service of the Church of England, which incorporates the +Pauline doctrine is felt by English brides and bridegrooms to contain +what is so offensive and degrading, that many clergymen mercifully +make unlawful omissions. Paul had indeed expressly denounced +_prohibitions_ of marriage. In merely _dissuading_ it, he gave advice, +which, from his limited horizon and under his expectation of the +speedy return of Christ, was sensible and good; but when this advice, +with all its reasons, was made on oracle of eternal wisdom, it +generated the monkish notions concerning womanhood. If the desire of +a wife is a weakness, which the apostle would gladly have forbidden, +only that he feared worse consequences, an enthusiastic youth cannot +but infer that it is a higher state of perfection _not_ to desire a +wife, and therefore aspires to "the crown of virginity." Here at once +is full-grown monkery. Hence that debasement of the imagination, which +is directed perpetually to the lowest, instead of the highest side of +the female nature. Hence the disgusting admiration and invocation of +Mary's perpetual virginity. Hence the transcendental doctrine of her +immaculate conception from Anne, the "grandmother of God." + +In the above my critics have represented me to say that Christianity +has done _nothing_ for women. I have not said so, but that what it has +done has been exaggerated. I say: If the _theory_ of Christianity is +to take credit from the _history_ of Christendom, it must also receive +discredit. Taking in the whole system of nuns and celibates, and the +doctrine which sustains it, the root of which is apostolic, I doubt +whether any balance of credit remains over from this side of Christian +history. I am well aware that the democratic doctrine of "the equality +of souls" has a _tendency_ to elevate women,--and the poorer orders +too; but this is not the whole of actual Christianity, which is a very +heterogeneous mass. + +2. Again: the modern doctrine, by aid of which West Indian slavery has +been exterminated, is often put forward as Christian; but I had always +discerned that it was not Biblical, and that, in respect to this great +triumph, undue credit has been claimed for the fixed Biblical and +authoritative doctrine. As I have been greatly misunderstood in +my first edition, I am induced to expand this topic. Sir George +Stephen,[15] after describing the long struggle in England against the +West Indian interest and other obstacles, says, that, for some time, +"worst of all, we found the people, not actually against us, but +apathetic, lethargic, incredulous, indifferent. It was then, and _not +till then_, that we sounded the right note, and touched a chord that +never ceased to vibrate. _To uphold slavery was a crime against God!_ +It was a NOVEL DOCTRINE, but it was a cry that was heard, for it would +be heard. The national conscience was awakened to inquiry, and inquiry +soon produced conviction." Sir George justly calls the doctrine novel. +As developed in the controversy, it laid down the general proposition, +that _men and women are not, and cannot be chattels_; and that all +human enactments which decree this are _morally null and void_, as +sinning against the higher law of nature and of God. And the reason +of this lies in the essential contrast of a moral personality and +chattel. Criminals may deserve to be bound and scourged, but they do +not cease to be persons, nor indeed do even the insane. Since every +man is a person, he cannot be a piece of property, nor has an +"owner" any just and moral claim to his services. Usage, so far from +conferring this claim, increases the total amount of injustice; the +longer an innocent man is _forcibly_ kept in slavery, the greater the +reparation to which he is entitled for the oppressive immorality. This +doctrine I now believe to be irrefutable truth, but I disbelieved it +while I thought the Scripture authoritative; because I found a very +different doctrine there--a doctrine which is the argumentative +stronghold of the American slaveholder. Paul sent back the fugitive +Onesimus to his master Philemon, with kind recommendations and +apologies for the slave, and a tender charge to Philemon, that he +would receive Onesimus as a brother in the Lord, since he had been +converted by Paul in the interval; but this very recommendation, +full of affection as it is, virtually recognizes the moral rights of +Philemon to the services of his slave; and hinting that if Onesimus +stole anything, Philemon should now forgive him, Paul shows perfect +insensibility to the fact that the master who detains a slave in +captivity against his will, is guilty himself of a continual theft. +What says Mrs. Beecher Stowe's Cassy to this? "Stealing!--They who +steal body and soul need not talk to us. Every one of these bills is +stolen--stolen from poor starving, sweating creatures." Now Onesimus, +in the very act of taking to flight, showed that he had been +submitting to servitude against his will, and that the house of his +owner had previously been a prison to him. To suppose that Philemon +has a pecuniary interest in the return of Onesimus to work without +wages, implies that the master habitually steals the slave's earnings; +but if he loses nothing by the flight, he has not been wronged by it. +Such is the modern doctrine, developed out of the fundamental fact +that persons are not chattels; but it is to me wonderful that it +should be needful to prove to any one, that this is _not_ the doctrine +of the New Testament. Paul and Peter deliver excellent charges to +masters in regard to the treatment of their slaves, but without any +hint to them that there is an injustice in claiming them as slaves at +all. That slavery, _as a system_, is essentially immoral, no Christian +of those days seems to have suspected. Yet it existed in its +worst forms under Rome. Whole gangs of slaves were mere tools of +capitalists, and were numbered like cattle, with no moral relationship +to the owner; young women of beautiful person were sold as articles +of voluptuousness. Of course every such fact was looked upon by +Christians as hateful and dreadful; yet, I say, it did not lead them +to that moral condemnation of slavery, _as such_, which has won the +most signal victory in modern times, and is destined, I trust, to win +one far greater. + +A friendly reviewer replies to this, that the apathy of the early +Christians to the intrinsic iniquity of the slave system rose out of +"their expectation of an immediate close of this world's affairs. The +only reason why Paul sanctioned contentment with his condition in the +converted slave, was, that for so short a time it was not worth while +for any man to change his state." I agree to this; but it does not +alter my fact: on the contrary, it confirms what I say,--that the +Biblical morality is not final truth. To account for an error surely +is not to deny it. + +Another writer has said on the above: "Let me suppose you animated to +go as missionary to the East to preach this (Mr. Newman's) spiritual +system: would you, in addition to all this, publicly denounce the +social and political evils under which the nations groan? If so, your +spiritual projects would soon be perfectly understood, and _summarily +dealt with_.--It is vain to say, that, if commissioned by Heaven, +and endowed with power of working miracles, you would do so; for you +cannot tell under what limitations your commission would be given: +it is pretty certain, that _it would leave you to work a moral and +spiritual system by moral and spiritual means_, and not allow you to +turn the world upside down, and _mendaciously_ tell it that you came +only to preach peace, while every syllable you uttered would be an +incentive to sedition."--_Eclipse of Faith_, p. 419. + +This writer supposes that he is attacking _me_, when every line is an +attack on Christ and Christianity. Have _I_ pretended power of working +miracles? Have I imagined or desired that miracle would shield me +from persecution? Did Jesus _not_ "publicly denounce the social and +political evils" of Judęa? was he not "summarily dealt with"? Did +he not know that his doctrine would send on earth "not peace, but a +sword"? and was he _mendacious_ in saying, "Peace I leave unto +you?" or were the angels mendacious in proclaiming, "Peace on earth, +goodwill among men"? Was not "every syllable that Jesus uttered" in +the discourse of Matth. xxiii., "an incentive to sedition?" and does +this writer judge it to be _mendacity_, that Jesus opened by advising +to OBEY the very men, whom he proceeds to vilify at large as immoral, +oppressive, hypocritical, blind, and destined to the damnation of +hell? Or have I anywhere blamed the apostles because they did _not_ +exasperate wicked men by direct attacks? It is impossible to answer +such a writer as this; for he elaborately misses to touch what I have +said. On the other hand, it is rather too much to require me to defend +Jesus from his assault. + +Christian preachers did not escape the imputation of turning the world +upside down, and at length, in some sense, effected what was imputed. +It is matter of conjecture, whether any greater convulsion would +have happened, if the apostles had done as the Quakers in America. No +Quaker holds slaves: why not? Because the Quakers teach their members +that it is an essential immorality. The slave-holding states +are infinitely more alive and jealous to keep up their "peculiar +institution," than was the Roman government; yet the Quakers have +caused no political convulsion. I confess, to me it seems, +that if Paul, and John, and Peter, and James, had done as these +Quakers, the imperial administration would have looked on it as a +harmless eccentricity of the sect, and not as an incentive[16] to +sedition. But be this as it may, I did not say what else the apostles +might have succeeded to enforce; I merely pointed out what it was that +they actually taught, and that, _as a fact_, they did _not_ declare +slavery to be an immorality and the basest of thefts. If any one +thinks their course was more wise, he may be right or wrong, but his +opinion is in itself a concession of my fact. + +As to the historical progress of Christian practice and doctrine on +this subject, it is, as usual, mixed of good and evil. The humanity of +good Pagan emperors softened the harshness of the laws of bondage, and +manumission had always been extremely common amongst the Romans. Of +course, the more humane religion of Christ acted still more powerfully +in the same direction, especially in inculcating the propriety of +freeing _Christian_ slaves. This was creditable, but not peculiar, and +is not a fact of such a nature as to add to the exclusive claims of +Christianity. To every _proselyting_ religion the sentiment is so +natural, that no divine spirit is needed to originate and establish +it. Mohammedans also have a conscience against enslaving Mohammedans, +and generally bestow freedom on a slave as soon as he adopts their +religion. But no zeal for _human_ freedom has ever grown out of the +purely biblical and ecclesiastical system, any more than out of the +Mohammedan. In the middle ages, zeal for the liberation of serfs first +rose in the breasts of the clergy, after the whole population had +become nominally Christian. It was not men, but Christians, whom the +clergy desired to make free: it is hard to say, that they thought +Pagans to have any human rights at all, even to life. Nor is it +correct to represent ecclesiastical influences as the sole agency +which overthrew slavery and serfdom. The desire of the kings to raise +up the chartered cities as a bridle to the barons, was that which +chiefly made rustic slavery untenable in its coarsest form; for a +"villain" who escaped into the free cities could not be recovered. In +later times, the first public act against slavery came from republican +France, in the madness of atheistic enthusiasm; when she declared +black and white men to be equally free, and liberated the negroes of +St. Domingo. In Britain, the battle of social freedom has been fought +chiefly by that religious sect which rests least on the letter of +Scripture. The bishops, and the more learned clergy, have consistently +been apathetic to the duty of overthrowing the slave system.--I was +thus led to see, that here also the New Testament precepts must not be +received by me as any final and authoritative law of morality. But I +meet opposition in a quarter from which I had least expected it;--from +one who admits the imperfection of the morality actually attained by +the apostles, but avows that Christianity, as a divine system, is +not to be identified with apostolic doctrine, but with the doctrine +_ultimately developed_ in the Christian Church; moreover, the +ecclesiastical doctrine concerning slavery he alleges to be truer +than mine,--I mean, truer than that which I have expounded as held +by modern abolitionists. He approves of the principle of claiming +freedom, not for _men_, but for _Christians_. He says: "That +Christianity opened its arms at all to the servile class was enough; +for in its embrace was the sure promise of emancipation.... Is +it imputed as a disgrace, that Christianity put conversion before +manumission, and _brought them to God, ere it trusted them with +themselves_?... It created the simultaneous obligation to make the +Pagan a convert, and the convert free." ... "If our author had made +his attack from the opposite side, and contended that its doctrines +'proved too much' against servitude, and _assumed with too little +qualification the capacity of each man for self-rule_, we should have +felt more hesitation in expressing our dissent." + +I feel unfeigned surprize at these sentiments from one whom I so +highly esteem and admire; and considering that they were written at +first anonymously, and perhaps under pressure of time, for a review, +I hope it is not presumptuous in me to think it possible that they are +hasty, and do not wholly express a deliberate and final judgment. I +must think there is some misunderstanding; for I have made no high +claims about capacity for _self-rule_, as if laws and penalties were +to be done away. But the question is, shall human beings, who (as all +of us) are imperfect, be controlled by public law, or by individual +caprice? Was not my reviewer intending to advocate some form of +_serfdom_ which is compatible with legal rights, and recognizes the +serf as a man; not _slavery_ which pronounces him a chattel? Serfdom +and apprenticeship we may perhaps leave to be reasoned down by +economists and administrators; slavery proper is what I attacked as +essentially immoral. + +Returning then to the arguments, I reason against them as if I did +not know their author.--I have distinctly avowed, that the effort to +liberate Christian slaves was creditable: I merely add, that in this +respect Christianity is no better than Mohammedism. But is it really +no moral fault,--is it not a moral enormity,--to deny that Pagans +have human rights? "That Christianity opened its arms _at all_ to the +servile class, _was enough_." Indeed! Then either unconverted men +have no natural right to freedom, or Christians may withhold a natural +right from them. Under the plea of "bringing them to God," Christians +are to deny by law, to every slave who refuses to be converted, the +rights of husband and father, rights of persons, rights of property, +rights over his own body. Thus manumission is a bribe to make +hypocritical converts, and Christian superiority a plea for depriving +men of their dearest rights. Is not freedom older than Christianity? +Does the Christian recommend his religion to a Pagan by stealing his +manhood and all that belongs to it? Truly, if only Christians have a +right to personal freedom, what harm is there in hunting and catching +Pagans to make slaves of them? And this was exactly the "development" +of thought and doctrine in the Christian church. The same priests who +taught that _Christians_ have moral rights to their sinews and skin, +to their wives and children, and to the fruit of their labour, which +_Pagans_ have not, consistently developed the same fundamental idea +of Christian superiority into the lawfulness of making war upon +the heathen, and reducing them to the state of domestic animals. If +Christianity is to have credit from the former, it must also take the +credit of the latter. If cumulative evidence of its divine origin is +found in the fact, that Christendom has liberated Christian slaves, +must we forget the cumulative evidence afforded by the assumed right +of the Popes to carve out the countries of the heathen, and bestow +them with their inhabitants on Christian powers? Both results flow +logically out of the same assumption, and were developed by the same +school. + +But, I am told, a man must not be freed, until we have ascertained +his capacity for self-rule! This is indeed a tyrannical assumption: +_vindicioe secundum servitutem_. Men are not to have their human +rights, until we think they will not abuse them! Prevention is to be +used against the hitherto innocent and injured! The principle involves +all that is arrogant, violent, and intrusive, in military tyranny +and civil espionage. Self-rule? But abolitionists have no thought of +exempting men from the penalties of common law, if they transgress +the law; we only desire that all men shall be equally subjected to +the law, and equally protected by it. It is truly a strange inference, +that because a man is possibly deficient in virtue, therefore he shall +not be subject to public law, but to private caprice: as if this were +a school of virtue, and not eminently an occasion of vice. Truer far +is Homer's morality, who says, that a man loses half his virtue on the +day he is made a slave. As to the pretence that slaves are not fit +for freedom, those Englishmen who are old enough to remember the awful +predictions which West Indian planters used to pour forth about the +bloodshed and confusion which would ensue, if they were hindered +by law from scourging black men and violating black women, might, I +think, afford to despise the danger of _enacting_ that men and women +shall be treated as men and women, and not made tools of vice end +victims of cruelty. If ever sudden emancipation ought to have produced +violences and wrong from the emancipated, it was in Jamaica, where the +oppression and ill-will was so great; yet the freed blacks have not in +fifteen years inflicted on the whites as much lawless violence as +they suffered themselves in six months of apprenticeship. It is the +_masters_ of slaves, not the slaves, who are deficient in self-rule; +and slavery is doubly detestable, because it depraves the masters. + +What degree of "worldly moderation and economical forethought" is +needed by a practical statesman in effecting the liberation of slaves, +it is no business of mine to discuss. I however feel assured, that +no constitutional statesman, having to contend against the political +votes of numerous and powerful slave-owners, who believe their +fortunes to be at stake, will ever be found to undertake the task _at +all_, against the enormous resistance of avarice and habit, unless +religious teachers pierce the conscience of the nation by denouncing +slavery as an essential wickedness. Even the petty West Indian +interests--a mere fraction of the English empire--were too powerful, +until this doctrine was taught. Mr. Canning in parliament spoke +emphatically against slavery, but did not dare to bring in a bill +against it. When such is English experience, I cannot but expect the +same will prove true in America. + +In replying to objectors, I have been carried beyond my narrative, +and have written from my _present_ point of view; I may therefore here +complete this part of the argument, though by anticipation. + +The New Testament has beautifully laid down Truth and Love as the +culminating virtues of man; but it has imperfectly discerned that Love +is impossible where Justice does not go first. Regarding this world +as destined to be soon burnt up, it despaired of improving the +foundations of society, and laid down the principle of Non-resistance, +even to Injurious force, in terms so unlimited, as practically to +throw its entire weight into the scale of tyranny. It recognises +individuals who call themselves kings or magistrates (however +tyrannical and usurping), as Powers ordained of God: it does _not_ +recognize nations as Communities ordained of God, or as having any +power and authority whatsoever, as against pretentious individuals. To +obey a king, is strenuously enforced; to resist a usurping king, in a +patriotic cause, is not contemplated in the New Testament as under +any circumstances an imaginable duty. Patriotism has no recognised +existence in the Christian records. I am well aware of the _cause_ +of this; I do not say that it reflects any dishonour on the Christian +apostles: I merely remark on it as a calamitous fact, and deduce that +their precepts cannot and must not be made the sufficient rule of +life, or they will still be (as they always have hitherto been) a +mainstay of tyranny. The rights of Men and of Nations are wholly +ignored[17] in the New Testament, but the authority of Slave-owners +and of Kings is very distinctly recorded for solemn religious +sanction. If it had been wholly silent, no one could have appealed +to its decision: but by consecrating mere Force, it has promoted +Injustice, and in so far has made that Love impossible, which it +desired to establish. + +It is but one part of this great subject, that the apostles absolutely +command a slave to give obedience to his master in nil things, "as +to the Lord." It is in vain to deny, that _the most grasping of +slave-owners asks nothing more of abolitionists than that they would +all adopt Paul's creed_; viz., acknowledge the full authority of +owners of slaves, tell them that they are responsible to God alone, +and charge them to use their power righteously and mercifully. + +3. LASTLY: it is a lamentable fact, that not only do superstitions +about Witches, Ghosts, Devils, and Diabolical Miracles derive a strong +support from the Bible, (and in fact have been exploded by nothing +but the advance of physical philosophy,)--but what is far worse, the +Bible alone has nowhere sufficed to establish an enlightened religious +toleration. This is at first seemingly unintelligible: for the +apostles certainly would have been intensely shocked at the thought of +punishing men, in body, purse, or station, for not being Christians +or not being orthodox. Nevertheless, not only does the Old Testament +justify bloody persecution, but the New teaches[18] that God will +visit men with fiery vengeance _for holding an erroneous creed_;--that +vengeance indeed is his, not ours; but that still the punishment +is deserved. It would appear, that wherever this doctrine is held, +possession of power for two or three generations inevitably converts +men into persecutors; and in so far, we must lay the horrible +desolations which Europe has suffered from bigotry, at the doors, not +indeed of the Christian apostles themselves, but of that Bibliolatry +which has converted their earliest records into a perfect and eternal +law. + +IV. "Prophecy" is generally regarded as a leading evidence of the +divine origin of Christianity. But this also had proved itself to me +a more and more mouldering prop, whether I leant on those which +concerned Messiah, those of the New Testament, or the miscellaneous +predictions of the Old Testament. + +1. As to the Messianic prophecies, I began to be pressed with the +difficulty of proving against the Jews that "Messiah was to suffer." +The Psalms generally adduced for this purpose can in no way be fixed +on Messiah. The prophecy in the 9th chapter of Daniel looks specious +in the authorized English version, but has evaporated in the Greek +translation and is not acknowledged in the best German renderings. +I still rested on the 53rd chapter of Isaiah, as alone fortifying me +against the Rabbis: yet with an unpleasantly increasing perception +that the system of "double interpretation" in which Christians +indulge, is a playing fast and loose with prophecy, and is essentially +dishonest _No one dreams of a "second" sense until the primary sense +proves false_: all false prophecy may be thus screened. The three +prophecies quoted (Acts xiii. 33--35) in proof of the resurrection +of Jesus, are simply puerile, and deserve no reply.--I felt there was +something unsound in all this. + +2. The prophecies of the New Testament are not many. First, we have +that of Jesus in Matt xxiv. concerning the destruction of Jerusalem. +It is marvellously exact, down to the capture of the city and +miserable enslavement of the population; but at this point it becomes +clearly and hopelessly false: namely, it declares, that "_immediately +after_ that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, &c. &c., and then +shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and then shall +all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man +coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he +shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall +gather together his elect," &c. This is a manifest description of the +Great Day of Judgment: and the prophecy goes on to add: "Verily I say +unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be +fulfilled." When we thus find a prediction to break down suddenly +in the middle, we have the well-known mark of its earlier part being +written after the event: and it becomes unreasonable to doubt that +the detailed annunciations of this 24th chapter of Matthew, were first +composed _very soon after_ the war of Titus, and never came from the +lips of Jesus at all. Next: we have the prophecies of the Apocalypse. +Not one of these can be interpreted certainly of any human affairs, +except one in the 17th chapter, which the writer himself has explained +to apply to the emperors of Rome: and that is proved false by the +event.--Farther, we have Paul's prophecies concerning the apostacy of +the Christian Church. These are very striking, as they indicate his +deep insight into the moral tendencies of the community in which he +moved. They are high testimonies to the prophetic soul of Paul; and +as such, I cannot have any desire to weaken their force. But there is +nothing in them that can establish the theory of supernaturalism, in +the face of his great mistake as to the speedy return of Christ from +heaven. + +3. As for the Old Testament, if all its prophecies about Babylon and +Tyre and Edom and Ishmael and the four Monarchies were both true and +supernatural, what would this prove? That God had been pleased to +reveal something of coming history to certain eminent men of Hebrew +antiquity. That is all. We should receive this conclusion with an +otiose faith. It could not order or authorize us to submit our souls +and consciences to the obviously defective morality of the Mosaic +system in which these prophets lived; and with Christianity it has +nothing to do. + +At the same time I had reached the conclusion that large deductions +must be made from the credit of these old prophecies. + +First, as to the Book of Daniel: the 11th chapter is closely +historical down to Antiochus Epiphanes, after which it suddenly +becomes false; and according to different modern expositors, leaps +away to Mark Antony, or to Napoleon Buonaparte, or to the Papacy. +Hence we have a _prima facie_ presumption that the book was composed +in the reign of that Antiochus; nor can it be proved to have existed +earlier: nor is there in it one word of prophecy which can be shown to +have been fulfilled in regard to any later era. Nay, the 7th chapter +also is confuted by the event; for the great Day of Judgment has not +followed upon the fourth[19] Monarchy. + +Next, as to the prophecies of the Pentateuch. They abound, as to the +times which precede the century of Hezekiah; higher than which we +cannot trace the Pentateuch.[20] No prophecy of the Pentateuch can be +proved to have been fulfilled, which had not been already fulfilled +before Hezekiah's day. + +Thirdly, as to the prophecies which concern various nations,--some of +them are remarkably verified, as that against Babylon; others failed, +as those of Ezekiel concerning Nebuchadnezzar's wars against Tyre +and Egypt. The fate predicted against Babylon was delayed for five +centuries, so as to lose all moral meaning as a divine infliction on +the haughty city.--On the whole, it was clear to me, that it is a vain +attempt to forge polemical weapons out of these old prophets, for the +service of modern creeds.[21] + +V. My study of John's gospel had not enabled me to sustain Dr. +Arnold's view, that it was an impregnable fortress of Christianity. + +In discussing the Apocalypse, I had long before felt a doubt whether +we ought not rather to assign that book to John the apostle in +preference to the Gospel and Epistles: but this remained only as a +doubt. The monotony also of the Gospel had often excited my _wonder_. But +I was for the first time _offended_, on considering with a fresh mind an +old fact,--the great similarity of the style and phraseology in the third +chapter, in the testimony of the Baptist, as well as in Christ's +address to Nicodemus, that of John's own epistle. As the three first +gospels have their family likeness, which enables us on hearing a text +to know that it comes out of one of the three, though we perhaps know +not which; so is it with the Gospel and Epistles of John. When a verse +is read, we know that it is either from an epistle of John, or +else from the Jesus of John; but often we cannot tell which. On +contemplating the marked character of this phenomenon, I saw it +infallibly[22] to indicate that John has made both the Baptist and +Jesus speak, as John himself would have spoken; and that we cannot +trust the historical reality of the discourses in the fourth gospel. + +That narrative introduces an entirely new phraseology, with a +perpetual discoursing about the Father and the Son; of which there is +barely the germ in Matthew:--and herewith a new doctrine concerning +the heaven-descended personality of Jesus. That the divinity of Christ +cannot be proved from the three first gospels, was confessed by the +early Church, and is proved by the labouring arguments of the modern +Trinitarians. What then can be dearer, than that John has put into the +mouth of Jesus the doctrines of half a century later, which he desired +to recommend? + +When this conclusion pressed itself first on my mind, the name of +Strauss was only beginning to be known in England, and I did not read +his great work until years after I had come to a final opinion on this +whole subject. The contemptuous reprobation of Strauss in which it is +fashionable for English writers to indulge, makes it a duty to express +my high sense of the lucid force with which he unanswerably shows that +the fourth gospel (whoever the author was) is no faithful exhibition +of the discourses of Jesus. Before I had discerned this so vividly +in all its parts, it had become quite certain to me that the secret +colloquy with Nicodemus, and the splendid testimony of the Baptist +to the Father and the Son, were wholly modelled out of John's own +imagination. And no sooner had I felt how severe was the shock to +John's general veracity, than a new and even graver difficulty rose +upon me. + +The stupendous and public event of Lazarus's resurrection,--the +circumstantial cross-examination of the man born blind and healed +by Jesus,--made those two miracles, in Dr. Arnold's view, grand and +unassailable bulwarks of Christianity. The more I considered them, the +mightier their superiority seemed to those of the other gospels. They +were wrought at Jerusalem, under the eyes of the rulers, who did their +utmost to detect them, and could not; but in frenzied despair, plotted +to kill Lazarus. How different from the frequently vague and wholesale +statements of the other gospels concerning events which happened where +no enemy was watching to expose delusion! many of them in distant and +uncertain localities. + +But it became the more needful to ask; How was it that the other +writers omitted to tell of such decisive exhibitions? Were they so +dull in logic, as not to discern the superiority of these? Can they +possibly have known of such miracles, wrought under the eyes of +the Pharisees, and defying all their malice, and yet have told in +preference other less convincing marvels? The question could not +be long dwelt on, without eliciting the reply: "It is necessary to +believe, at least until the contrary shall be proved, that the +three first writers either had never heard of these two miracles, or +disbelieved them." Thus the account rests on the unsupported evidence +of John, with a weighty presumption against its truth. + +When, where, and in what circumstances did John write? It is agreed, +that he wrote half a century after the events; when the other +disciples were all dead; when Jerusalem was destroyed, her priests +and learned men dispersed, her nationality dissolved, her coherence +annihilated;--he wrote in a tongue foreign to the Jews of Palestine, +and for a foreign people, in a distant country, and in the bosom of +an admiring and confiding church, which was likely to venerate him the +more, the greater marvels he asserted concerning their Master. He +told them miracles of firstrate magnitude, which no one before had +recorded. Is it possible for me to receive them _on his word_, under +circumstances so conducive to delusion, and without a single check to +ensure his accuracy? Quite impossible; when I have already seen how +little to be trusted is his report of the discourses and doctrine of +Jesus. + +But was it necessary to impute to John conscious and wilful deception? +By no means absolutely necessary;--as appeared by the following +train[23] of thought. John tells us that Jesus promised the Comforter, +_to bring to their memory_ things that concerned him; oh that one +could have the satisfaction of cross-examining John on this subject! +Let me suppose him put into the witness-box; and I will speak to him +thus: "O aged Sir, we understand that you have two memories, a natural +and a miraculous one: with the former you retain events as other men; +with the latter you recall what had been totally forgotten. Be pleased +to tell us now. Is it from your natural or from your supernatural +memory that you derive your knowledge of the miracle wrought on +Lazarus and the long discourses which you narrate?" If to this +question John were frankly to reply, "It is solely from my +supernatural memory,--from the special action of the Comforter on my +mind:" then should I discern that he was perfectly truehearted. Yet +I should also see, that he was liable to mistake a reverie, a +meditation, a day-dream, for a resuscitation of his memory by the +Spirit. In short, a writer who believes such a doctrine, and does +not think it requisite to warn us how much of his tale comes from his +natural, and how much from his supernatural memory, forfeits all claim +to be received as an historian, witnessing by the common senses to +external fact. His work may have religious value, but it is that of +a novel or romance, not of a history. It is therefore superfluous to +name the many other difficulties in detail which it contains. + +Thus was I flung back to the three first gospels, as, with all their +defects,--their genealogies, dreams, visions, devil-miracles, and +prophecies written after the event,--yet on the whole, more faithful +as a picture of the true Jesus, than that which is exhibited in John. + +And now my small root of supernaturalism clung the tighter to Paul, +whose conversion still appeared to me a guarantee, that there was at +least some nucleus of miracle in Christianity, although it had not +pleased God to give us any very definite and trustworthy account. +Clearly it was an error, to make miracles our _foundation_; but might +we not hold them as a result? Doctrine must be our foundation; but +perhaps we might believe the miracles for the sake of it.--And in the +epistles of Paul I thought I saw various indications that he took this +view. The practical soundness of his eminently sober understanding had +appeared to me the more signal, the more I discerned the atmosphere of +erroneous philosophy which he necessarily breathed. But he also proved +a broken reed, when I tried really to lean upon him as a main support. + +1. The first thing that broke on me concerning Paul, was, that +his moral sobriety of mind was no guarantee against his mistaking +extravagances for miracle. This was manifest to me in his treatment of +_the gift of tongues_. + +So long ago as in 1830, when the Irving "miracles" commenced in +Scotland, my particular attention had been turned to this subject, and +the Irvingite exposition of the Pauline phenomena appeared to me so +correct, that I was vehemently predisposed to believe the miraculous +tongues. But my friend "the Irish clergyman" wrote me a full account +of what he heard with his own ears; which was to the effect--that none +of the sounds, vowels or consonants, were foreign;--that the strange +words were moulded after the Latin grammar, ending in -abus, -obus, +-ebat, -avi, &c., so as to denote poverty of invention rather than +spiritual agency;--and _that there was no interpretation_. The last +point decided me, that any belief which I had in it must be for the +present unpractical. Soon after, a friend of mine applied by letter +for information as to the facts to a very acute and pious Scotchman, +who had become a believer in these miracles. The first reply gave us +no facts whatever, but was a declamatory exhortation to believe. +The second was nothing but a lamentation over my friend's unbelief, +because he asked again for the facts. This showed me, that there was +excitement and delusion: yet the general phenomena appeared so similar +to those of the church of Corinth, that I supposed the persons must +unawares have copied the exterior manifestations, if, after all, there +was no reality at bottom. + +Three years sufficed to explode these tongues; and from time to time +I had an uneasy sense, how much discredit they cast on the Corinthian +miracles. Meander's discussion on the 2nd Chapter of the Acts first +opened to me the certainty, that Luke (or the authority whom he +followed) has exaggerated into a gift of languages what cannot have +been essentially different from the Corinthian, and in short from +the Irvingite, tongues. Thus Luke's narrative has transformed into a +splendid miracle, what in Paul is no miracle at all. It is true that +Paul speaks of _interpretation of tongues_ as possible, but without a +hint that any verification was to be used. Besides, why should a Greek +not speak Greek in an assembly of his own countrymen? Is it credible, +that the Spirit should inspire one man to utter unintelligible sounds, +and a second to interpret these, and then give the assembly endless +trouble to find out whether the interpretation was pretence or +reality, when the whole difficulty was gratuitous? We grant that +there _may_ be good reasons for what is paradoxical, but we need the +stronger proof that it is a reality. Yet what in fact is there? and +why should the gift of tongues in Corinth, as described by Paul, be +treated with more respect than in Newman Street, London? I could +find no other reply, than that Paul was too sober-minded: yet his own +description of the tongues is that of a barbaric jargon, which makes +the church appear as if it "were mad," and which is only redeemed from +contempt by miraculous interpretation. In the Acts we see that this +phenomenon pervaded all the Churches; from the day of Pentecost onward +it was looked on as the standard mark of "the descent of the Holy +Spirit;" and in the conversion of Cornelius it was the justification +of Peter for admitting uncircumcised Gentiles: yet not once is +"interpretation" alluded to, except in Paul's epistle. Paul could not +go against the whole Church. He held a logic too much in common with +the rest, to denounce the tongues as _mere_ carnal excitement; but he +does anxiously degrade them as of lowest spiritual value, and wholly +prohibits them where there is "no interpreter." To carry out this +rule, would perhaps have suppressed them entirely. + +This however showed me, that I could not rest on Paul's practical +wisdom, as securing him against speculative hallucinations in the +matter of miracles; for indeed he says: "I thank my God, that I speak +with tongues _more than ye all_." + +2. To another broad fact I had been astonishingly blind, though the +truth of it flashed upon me as soon as I heard it named;--that Paul +shows total unconcern to the human history and earthly teaching of +Jesus, never quoting his doctrine or any detail of his actions. The +Christ with whom Paul held communion was a risen, ascended, exalted +Lord, a heavenly being, who reigned over arch-angels, and was about to +appear as Judge of the world: but of Jesus in the flesh Paul seems to +know nothing beyond the bare fact that he _did_[24] "humble himself" +to become man, and "pleased not himself." Even in the very critical +controversy about meat and drink, Paul omits to quote Christ's +doctrine, "Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth the man," &c. +He surely, therefore, must have been wholly and contentedly ignorant +of the oral teachings of Jesus. + +3. This threw a new light on the _independent_ position of Paul. That +he anxiously refused to learn from the other apostles, and "conferred +not with flesh and blood,"--not having received his gospel of many but +by the revelation of Jesus Christ--had seemed to me quite suitable to +his high pretensions. Any novelties which might be in his doctrine, I +had regarded as mere developments, growing out of the common stem, and +guaranteed by the same Spirit. But I now saw that this independence +invalidated his testimony. He may be to us a supernatural, but he +certainly is not a natural, witness to the truth of Christ's miracles +and personality. It avails not to talk of the _opportunities_ which he +had of searching into the truth of the resurrection of Christ, for we +see that he did not choose to avail himself of the common methods of +investigation. He learned his gospel _by an internal revelation_.[25] +He even recounts the appearance of Christ to him, years after his +ascension, as evidence co-ordinate to his appearance to Peter and to +James, and to 500 brethren at once. 1 Cor. xv. Again the thought is +forced on us,--how different was his logic from ours! + +To see the full force of the last remark, we ought to conceive how +many questions a Paley would have wished to ask of Paul; and how many +details Paley himself, if _he_ had had the sight, would have felt +it his duty to impart to his readers. Had Paul ever seen Jesus when +alive? How did he recognize the miraculous apparition to be the person +whom Pilate had crucified? Did he see him as a man in a fleshly body, +or as a glorified heavenly form? Was it in waking, or sleeping, and +if the latter, how did he distinguish his divine vision from a common +dream? Did he see only, or did he also handle? If it was a palpable +man of flesh, how did he assure himself that it was a person risen +from the dead, and not an ordinary living man? + +Now as Paul _is writing specially[26] to convince the incredulous or +to confirm the wavering_, it is certain that he would have dwelt on +these details, if he had thought them of value to the argument. As +he wholly suppresses them, we must infer that he held them to +be immaterial; and therefore that the evidence with which he was +satisfied, in proof that a man was risen from the dead, was either +totally different in kind from that which we should now exact, or +exceedingly inferior in rigour. It appears, that he believed in +the resurrection of Christ, first, on the ground of prophecy:[27] +secondly, (I feel it is not harsh or bold to add,) on very loose and +wholly unsifted testimony. For since he does not afford to us the +means of sifting and analyzing his testimony, he cannot have judged it +our duty so to do; and therefore is not likely himself to have sifted +very narrowly the testimony of others. + +Conceive farther how a Paley would have dealt with so astounding a +fact, so crushing an argument as the appearance of the risen Jesus +_to 500 brethren at once_. How would he have extravagated and revelled +in proof! How would he have worked the topic, that "this could have +been no dream, no internal impression, no vain fancy, but a solid +indubitable fact!" How he would have quoted his authorities, detailed +their testimonies, and given their names and characters! Yet Paul +dispatches the affair in one line, gives no details and no special +declarations, and seems to see no greater weight in this decisive +appearance, than in the vision to his single self. He expects us to +take his very vague announcement of the 500 brethren as enough, and +it does not seem to occur to him that his readers (if they need to +be convinced) are entitled to expect fuller information. Thus if Paul +does not intentionally supersede human testimony, he reduces it to its +minimum of importance. + +How can I believe _at second hand_, from the word of one whom I +discern to hold so lax notions of evidence? Yet _who_ of the Christian +teachers was superior to Paul? He is regarded as almost the only +educated man of the leaders. Of his activity of mind, his moral +sobriety, his practical talents, his profound sincerity, his +enthusiastic self-devotion, his spiritual insight, there is no +question: but when his notions of evidence are infected with the +errors of his age, what else can we expect of the eleven, and of the +multitude? + +4. Paul's neglect of the earthly teaching of Jesus might in part +be imputed to the nonexistence of written documents and the great +difficulty of learning with certainty what he really had taught.--This +agreed perfectly well with what I already saw of the untrustworthiness +of our gospels; but it opened a chasm between the doctrine of Jesus +and that of Paul, and showed that Paulinism, however good in itself, +is not assuredly to be identified with primitive Christianity. +Moreover, it became clear, why James and Paul are so contrasted. James +retains with little change the traditionary doctrine of the Jerusalem +Christians; Paul has superadded or substituted a gospel of his own. +This was, I believe, pointedly maintained 25 years ago by the author +of "Not Paul, but Jesus;" a book which I have never read. + +VII. I had now to ask,--Where are _the twelve men_ of whom Paley +talks, as testifying to the resurrection of Christ? Paul cannot be +quoted as a witness, but only as a believer. Of the twelve we do not +even know the names, much less have we their testimony. Of James and +Jude there are two epistles, but it is doubtful whether either +of these is of the twelve apostles; and neither of them declare +themselves eyewitnesses to Christ's resurrection. In short, Peter and +John are the only two. Of these however, Peter does not attest the +_bodily_, but only the _spiritual_, resurrection of Jesus; for he says +that Christ was[28] "put to death in flesh, but made alive in spirit," +1 Pet iii. 18: yet if this verse had been lost, his opening address +(i. 3) would have seduced me into the belief that Peter taught the +bodily resurrection of Jesus. So dangerous is it to believe +miracles, on the authority of words quoted from a man whom we cannot +cross-examine! Thus, once more, John is left alone in his testimony; +and how insufficient that is, has been said. + +The question also arose, whether Peter's testimony to the +transfiguration (2 Pet. i. 18), was an important support. A first +objection might be drawn from the sleep ascribed to the three +disciples in the gospels; if the narrative were at all trustworthy. +But a second and greater difficulty arises in the doubtful +authenticity of the second Epistle of Peter. + +Neander positively decides against that epistle. Among many reasons, +the similarity of its second chapter to the Epistle of Jude is a +cardinal fact. Jude is supposed to be original; yet his allusions +show him to be post-apostolic. If so, the second Epistle of Peter is +clearly spurious.--Whether this was certain, I could not make up +my mind: but it was manifest that where such doubts may be honestly +entertained, no basis exists to found a belief of a great and +significant miracle. + +On the other hand, both the Transfiguration itself, and the fiery +destruction of Heaven and Earth prophesied in the third chapter +of this epistle, are open to objections so serious, as mythical +imaginations, that the name of Peter will hardly guarantee them to +those with whom the general evidence for the miracles in the gospels +has thoroughly broken down. + +On the whole, one thing only was clear concerning Peter's faith;--that +he, like Paul, was satisfied with a kind of evidence for the +resurrection of Jesus which fell exceedingly short of the demands of +modern logic: and that it is absurd in us to believe, barely _because_ +they believed. + + +[Footnote 1: Matt. xii. 39, xvi. 4.] + +[Footnote 2: John xx. 29.] + +[Footnote 3: John xiv, 11. In x. 37, 38, the same idea seems to be +intended. So xv. 24.] + +[Footnote 4: A reviewer erroneously treats this as inculcating a +denial of the possibility of inward revelation. It merely says, that +_some answer_ in needed to these questions; and _none in given_. We +can make out (in my opinion) that dreams and inward impressions +were the form of suggestion trusted to; but we do not learn what +precautions were used against foolish credulity.] + +[Footnote 5: If miracles were vouchsafed on the scale of a _new +sense_, it is of course conceivable that they would reveal new masses +of fact, tending to modify our moral judgments of particular actions: +but nothing of this can be made out in Judaism or Christianity.] + +[Footnote 6: A friendly reviewer derides this passage as a very feeble +objection to the doctrine of the Absolute Moral perfections of Jesus. +It in here rather feebly _stated_, because at that period I had not +fully worked out the thought. He seems to have forgotten that I am +narrating.] + +[Footnote 7: An ingenious gentleman, well versed in history, has put +forth a volume called "The Restoration of Faith," in which he teaches +that _I have no right to a conscience or to a God_, until I adopt his +historical conclusions. I leave his co-religionists to confute his +portentous heresy; but in fact it is already done more than enough in +a splendid article of the "Westminster Review," July, 1852.] + +[Footnote 8: I seem to have been understood now to say that a +knowledge of the Bible was not a pre-requisite of the Protestant +Reformation. What I say is, that at this period I learned the study +of the Classics to have caused and determined that it should then take +place; moreover, I say that a free study of _other books than sacred +ones_ is essential, and always was, to conquer superstition.] + +[Footnote 9: I am asked why _Italy_ witnessed no improvement of +spiritual doctrine. The reply is, that _she did_. The Evangelical +movement there was quelled only by the Imperial arms and the +Inquisition. I am also asked why Pagan Literature did not save the +ancient church from superstition. I have always understood that +the vast majority of Christian teachers during the decline were +unacquainted with Pagan literature, and that the Church at an early +period _forbade_ it.] + +[Footnote 10: My friend James Martineau, who insists that "a +self-sustaining power" in a religion is a thing _intrinsically +inconceivable_, need not have censured me for coming to the conclusion +that it does not exist in Christianity. In fact, I entirely agree with +him; but at the time of which I here write, I had only taken the first +step in his direction; and I barely drew a negative conclusion, to +which he perfectly assents. To my dear friend's capacious and kindling +mind, all the thought here expounded are prosaic and common; being +to him quite obvious, so far as they are true. He is right in looking +down upon them; and, I trust, by his aid, I have added to my wisdom +since the time of which I write. Yet they were to me discoveries +once, and he must not be displeased at my making much of them in this +connexion.] + +[Footnote 11: It is the fault of my critics that I am forced to tell +the reader this is exhibited in my "Hebrew Monarchy."] + +[Footnote 12: It in not to the purpose to urge the _political_ +minority of the Roman wife. This was a mere inference from the high +power of the bond of the husband. The father had right of death over +his son, and (as the lawyers stated the case), the wife was on the +level of one of the children.] + +[Footnote 13: 1 Cor. vii. 2-9] + +[Footnote 14: Namely, in the Armenian, Syrian, and Greek churches, +and in the Romish church in exact proportion as Germanic and poetical +influences have been repressed; that is, in proportion as the +hereditary Christian doctrine has been kept pure from modern +innovations.] + +[Footnote 15: In a tract republished from the _Northampton Mercury_ +Longman, 1853.] + +[Footnote 16: The Romans practised fornication at pleasure, and held +it ridiculous to blame them. If Paul had claimed authority to hinder +them, they might have been greatly exasperated; but they had not +the least objection to his denouncing fornication as immoral to +Christians. Why not slavery also?] + +[Footnote 17: I fear it cannot be denied that the zeal for +Christianity which began to arise in our upper classes sixty years +ago, was largely prompted by a feeling that its precepts repress +all speculations concerning the rights of man. A similar cause now +influences despots all over Europe. The _Old_ Testament contains the +elements which they dread, and those gave a political creed to our +Puritans.] + +[Footnote 18: More than one critic flatly denies the fact. It +is sufficient for me here to say, that such is the obvious +interpretation, and such _historically has been_ the interpretation of +various texts,--for instance, 2 Thess. i. 7: "The Lord Jesus shall be +revealed... in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them _that know +not God, and that obey not the Gospel_; who shall be punished with +everlasting destruction," &c. Such again is the sense which all +popular minds receive and must receive from Heb, x. 25-31.--I am +willing to change _teaches_ into _has always been understood to +teach_, if my critics think anything is gained by it.] + +[Footnote 19: The four monarchies in chapters ii. and vii, are, +probably, the Babylonian, the Median, the Persian, the Macedonian. +Interpreters however blend the Medes and Persians into one, and then +pretend that the Roman empire is _still in existence_.] + +[Footnote 20: The first apparent reference is by Micah (vi. 5) a +contemporary of Hezekiah; which proves that an account contained in +our Book of Numbers was already familiar.] + +[Footnote 21: I have had occasion to discuss most of the leading +prophecies of the Old Testament in my "Hebrew Monarchy."] + +[Footnote 22: A critic is pleased to call this a mere _suspicion_ of +my own; in so writing, people simply evade my argument. I do not ask +them to adopt my conviction; I merely communicate it as mine, and wish +them to admit that it is _my duty_ to follow my own conviction. It +is with me no mere "suspicion," but a certainty. When they cannot +possibly give, or pretend, any _proof_ that the long discourses of +the fourth gospel have been accurately reported, they ought to be less +supercilious in their claims of unlimited belief. If it is right for +them to follow their judgment on a purely literary question, let them +not carp at me for following mine.] + +[Footnote 23: I am told that this defence of John is fanciful. It +satisfies me provisionally; but I do not hold myself bound to satisfy +others, or to explain John's delusiveness.] + +[Footnote 24: Phil. ii. 5-8; Rom. xv. 3. The last suggests it was from +the Psalms (viz from Ps. lxix. 9) that Paul learned the _fact_ that +Christ pleased not himself.] + +[Footnote 25: Here, again, I have been erroneously understood to say +that there cannot be _any_ internal revelation of _anything_. Internal +truth may be internally communicated, though even so it does not +become authoritative, or justify the receiver in saying to other men, +"Believe, _for_ I guarantee it." But a man who, on the strength of an +_internal_ revelation believes an _external event_, (past, present, or +future,) is not a valid witness of it. Not Paley only, nor Priestley, +but James Martineau also, would disown his pretence to authority; +and the more so, the more imperious his claim that we believe on his +word.] + +[Footnote 26: This appears in v. 2, "by which ye are saved,--_unless +ye have believed in vain_" &c. So v. 17-19.] + +[Footnote 27: 1 Cor. xv. "He rose again the third day _according to +the Scriptures_." This must apparently be a reference to Hosea vi. 2, +to which the margin of the Bible refers. There is no other place +in the existing Old Testament from which we can imagine him to have +elicited the rising _on the third day_. Some refer to the type of +Jonah. Either of the two suggests how marvellously weak a proof +satiated him.] + +[Footnote 28: Such is the most legitimate translation. That in the +received version is barely a possible meaning. There is no such +distinction of prepositions as _in_ and _by_ in this passage.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +HISTORY DISCOVERED TO BE NO PART OF RELIGION. + + +After renouncing any "Canon of Scripture" or Sacred Letter at the end +of my fourth period, I had been forced to abandon all "Second-hand +Faith" by the end of my fifth. If asked _why_ I believed this or that, +I could no longer say, "_Because_ Peter, or Paul, or John believed, +and I may thoroughly trust that they cannot mistake." The question now +pressed hard, whether this was equivalent to renouncing Christianity. + +Undoubtedly, my positive belief in its miracles had evaporated; but +I had not arrived at a positive _dis_belief. I still felt the actual +benefits and comparative excellencies of this religion too remarkable +a phenomenon to be scored for defect of proof. In Morals likewise +it happens, that the ablest practical expounders of truth may make +strange blunders as to the foundations and ground of belief: why was +this impossible as to the apostles? Meanwhile, it did begin to appear +to myself remarkable, that I continued to love and have pleasure in so +much that I certainly disbelieved. I perused a chapter of Paul or of +Luke, or some verses of a hymn, and although they appeared to me to +abound with error, I found satisfaction and profit in them. Why +was this? was it all fond prejudice,--an absurd clinging to old +associations? + +A little self-examination enabled me to reply, that it was no +ill-grounded feeling or ghost of past opinions; but that my religion +always had been, and still was, a _state of sentiment_ toward God, far +less dependent on articles of a creed, than once I had unhesitatingly +believed. The Bible is pervaded by a sentiment,[1] which is implied +everywhere,--viz. _the intimate sympathy of the Pure and Perfect God +with the heart of each faithful worshipper_. This is that which is +wanting in Greek philosophers, English Deists, German Pantheists, and +all formalists. This is that which so often edifies me in Christian +writers and speakers, when I ever so much disbelieve the letter of +their sentences. Accordingly, though I saw more and more of moral and +spiritual imperfection in the Bible, I by no means ceased to regard it +as a quarry whence I might dig precious metal, though the ore needed a +refining analysis: and I regarded this as the truest essence and most +vital point in Christianity,--to sympathize with the great souls from +whom its spiritual eminence has flowed;--to love, to hope, to rejoice, +to trust with them;--and _not_, to form the same interpretations of an +ancient book and to take the same views of critical argument. + +My historical conception of Jesus had so gradually melted into +dimness, that he had receded out of my practical religion, I knew not +exactly when I believe that I must have disused any distinct prayers +to him, from a growing opinion that he ought not to be the _object_ of +worship, but only the _way_ by whom we approach to the Father; and +as in fact we need no such "way" at all, this was (in the result) a +change from practical Ditheism to pure Theism. His "mediation" was to +me always a mere name, and, as I believe, would otherwise have been +mischievous.[2]--Simultaneously a great uncertainty had grown on me, +how much of the discourses put into the mouth of Jesus was really +uttered by him; so that I had in no small measure to form him anew to +my imagination. + +But if religion is addressed to, and must be judged by, our moral +faculties, how could I believe in that painful and gratuitous +personality,--The Devil?--He also had become a waning phantom to +me, perhaps from the time that I saw the demoniacal miracles to be +fictions, and still more when proofs of manifold mistake in the New +Testament rose on me. This however took a solid form of positive +_dis_belief, when I investigated the history of the doctrine,--I +forget exactly in what stage. For it is manifest, that the old Hebrews +believed only in evil spirits sent _by God_ to do _his bidding_, and +had no idea of a rebellious Spirit that rivalled God. That idea was +first imbibed in the Babylonish captivity, and apparently therefore +must have been adopted from the Persian Ahriman, or from the "Melek +Taous," the "Sheitan" still honoured by the Yezidi with mysterious +fear. That _the serpent_ in the early part of Genesis denoted the +same Satan, is probable enough; but this only goes to show, that that +narrative is a legend imported from farther East; since it is certain +that the subsequent Hebrew literature has no trace of such an Ahriman. +The Book of Tobit and its demon show how wise in these matters the +exiles in Nineveh were beginning to be. The Book of Daniel manifests, +that by the time of Antiochus Epiphanes the Jews had learned each +nation to have its guardian spirit, good or evil; and that the fates +of nations depend on the invisible conflict of these tutelary powers. +In Paul the same idea is strongly brought out. Satan is the prince of +the power of the air; with principalities and powers beneath him; over +all of whom Christ won the victory on his cross. In the Apocalypse +we read the Oriental doctrine of the "_seven angels_ who stand before +God." As the Christian tenet thus rose among the Jews from their +contact with Eastern superstition, and was propagated and expanded +while prophecy was mute, it cannot be ascribed to "divine supernatural +revelation" as the source. The ground of it is dearly seen in infant +speculations on the cause of moral evil and of national calamities. + +Thus Christ and the Devil, the two poles of Christendom, had faded +away out of my spiritual vision; there were left the more vividly, God +and Man. Yet I had not finally renounced the _possibility_, that +Jesus might have had a divine mission to stimulate all our spiritual +faculties, and to guarantee to us a future state of existence. The +abstract arguments for the immortality of the soul had always appeared +to me vain trifling; and I was deeply convinced that nothing could +_assure_ us of a future state but a divine communication. In what mode +this might be made, I could not say _ą priori_: might not this really +be the great purport of Messiahship? was not this, if any, a worthy +ground for a divine interference? On the contrary, to heal the sick +did not seem at all an adequate motive for a miracle; else, why +not the sick of our own day? Credulity had exaggerated, and had +represented Jesus to have wrought miracles: but that did not wholly +_dis_prove the miracle of resurrection (whether bodily or of whatever +kind), said to have been wrought by God _upon_ him, and of which so +very intense a belief so remarkably propagated itself. Paul indeed +believed it[3] from prophecy; and, as we see this to be a delusion, +resting on Rabbinical interpretations, we may perhaps _account_ thus +for the belief of the early church, without in any way admitting the +fact.--Here, however, I found I had the clue to my only remaining +discussion, the primitive Jewish controversy. Let us step back to an +earlier stage than John's or Paul's or Peter's doctrine. We cannot +doubt that Jesus claimed to be Messiah: what then was Messiah to be? +and, did Jesus (though misrepresented by his disciples) truly fulfil +his own claims? + +The really Messianic prophecies appeared to me to be far fewer than is +commonly supposed. I found such in the 9th and 11th of Isaiah, the +5th of Micah, the 9th of Zechariah, in the 72nd Psalm, in the 37th of +Ezekiel, and, as I supposed, in the 50th and 53rd of Isaiah. To these +nothing of moment could be certainly added; for the passage in Dan. +ix. is ill-translated in the English version, and I had already +concluded that the Book of Daniel is a spurious fabrication. From +Micah and Ezekiel it appeared, that Messiah was to come from Bethlehem +and either be David himself, or a spiritual David: from Isaiah it is +shown that he is a rod out of the stem of Jesse.--It is true, I found +no proof that Jesus did come from Bethlehem or from the stock of +David; for the tales in Matthew and Luke refute one another, and +have clearly been generated by a desire to verify the prophecy. But +genealogies for or against Messiahship seemed to me a mean argument; +and the fact of the prophets demanding a carnal descent in Messiah +struck me as a worse objection than that Jesus had not got it,--if +this could be ever proved. The Messiah of Micah, however, was not +Jesus; for he was to deliver Israel from _the Assyrians_, and his +whole description is literally warlike. Micah, writing when the name +of Sennacherib was terrible, conceived of a powerful monarch on the +throne of David who was to subdue him: but as this prophecy was not +verified, the imaginary object of it was looked for as "Messiah," +even after the disappearance of the formidable Assyrian power. This +undeniable vanity of Micah's prophecy extends itself also to that in +the 9th chapter of his contemporary Isaiah,--if indeed that splendid +passage did not really point at the child Hezekiah. Waiving this +doubt, it is at any rate clear that the marvellous child on the throne +of David was to break the yoke of the oppressive Assyrian; and none of +the circumstantials are at all appropriate to the historical Jesus. + +In the 37th of Ezekiel the (new) David is to gather Judah and Israel +"from the heathen whither they be gone" and to "make them one nation +_in the land, on the mountains of Israel_:" and Jehovah adds, that +they shall "dwell in the land _which I gave unto Jacob my servant, +wherein your fathers dwelt_: and they shall dwell therein, they and +their children and their children's children for ever: and my servant +David shall be their prince for ever." It is trifling to pretend that +_the land promised to Jacob, and in which the old Jews dwelt_, was +a spiritual, and not the literal Palestine; and therefore it is +impossible to make out that Jesus has fulfilled any part of this +representation. The description however that follows (Ezekiel xl. +&c.) of the new city and temple, with the sacrifices offered by +"the priests the Levites, of the seed of Zadok," and the gate of the +sanctuary for the prince (xliv. 3), and his elaborate account of +the borders of the land (xlviii. 13-23), place the earnestness of +Ezekiel's literalism in still clearer light. + +The 72nd Psalm, by the splendour of its predictions concerning the +grandeur of some future king of Judah, earns the title of Messianic, +_because_ it was never fulfilled by any historical king. But it is +equally certain, that it has had no appreciable fulfilment in Jesus. + +But what of the 11th of Isaiah? Its portraiture is not so much that of +a king, as of a prophet endowed with superhuman power. "He shall smite +the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips +he shall slay the wicked." A Paradisiacal state is to follow.--This +general description _may_ be verified by Jesus _hereafter_; but we +have no manifestation, which enables us to call the fulfilment a fact. +Indeed, the latter part of the prophecy is out of place for a time so +late as the reign of Augustus; which forcibly denotes that Isaiah was +predicting only that which was his immediate political aspiration: for +in this great day of Messiah, Jehovah is to gather back his dispersed +people from Assyria, Egypt, and other parts; he is _to reconcile Judah +and Ephraim_, (who had been perfectly reconciled centuries before +Jesus was born,) and as a result of this Messianic glory, the people +of Israel "shall fly upon the shoulders of the _Philistines_ towards +the west; they shall spoil them of the east together: they shall lay +their hand on _Edom_ and _Moab_, and the children of _Ammon_ shall +obey them." But Philistines, Moab and Ammon, were distinctions +entirely lost before the Christian era.--Finally, the Red Sea is to be +once more passed miraculously by the Israelites, returning (as would +seem) to their fathers' soil. Take all these particulars together, +and the prophecy is neither fulfilled in the past nor possible to be +fulfilled in the future. + +The prophecy which we know as Zechariah ix.-xi. is believed to be +really from a prophet of uncertain name, contemporaneous with Isaiah. +It was written while Ephraim was still a people, i.e. before the +capture of Samaria by Shalmanezer; and xi. 1-3 appears to howl over +the recent devastations of Tiglathpilezer. The prophecy is throughout +full of the politics of that day. No part of it has the most remote or +imaginable[4] similarity to the historical life of Jesus, except that +he once rode into Jerusalem on an ass; a deed which cannot have been +peculiar to him, and which Jesus moreover appears to have planned with +the express[5] purpose of assimilating himself to the lowly king here +described. Yet such an isolated act is surely a carnal and beggarly +fulfilment. To ride on an ass is no mark of humility in those who must +ordinarily go on foot. The prophet clearly means that the righteous +king is not to ride on a warhorse and trust in cavalry, as Solomon +and the Egyptians, (see Ps. xx. 7. Is. xxxi. 1-3, xxx. 16,) but is to +imitate the lowliness of David and the old judges, who rode on young +asses; and is to be a lover of peace. + +Chapters 50 and 53 of the pseudo-Isaiah remained; which contain many +phrases so aptly descriptive of the sufferings of Christ, and so +closely knit up with our earliest devotional associations, that they +were the very last link of my chain that snapt. Still, I could not +conceal from myself, that no exactness in this prophecy, however +singular, could avail to make out that Jesus was the Messiah of +Hezekiah's prophets. There must be _some_ explanation; and if I did +not see it, that must probably arise from prejudice and habit.--In +order therefore to gain freshness, I resolved to peruse the entire +prophecy of the pseudo-Isaiah in Lowth's version, from ch. xl. onward, +at a single sitting. + +This prophet writes from Babylon, and has his vision full of the +approaching restoration of his people by Cyrus, whom he addresses by +name. In ch. xliii. he introduces to us an eminent and "chosen +servant of God," whom he invests with all the evangelical virtues, and +declares that he is to be a light to the Gentiles. In ch. xliv. (v. +1--also v. 21) he is named as "_Jacob_ my servant, and _Israel_ whom +I have chosen." The appellations recur in xlv. 4: and in a far more +striking passage, xlix. 1-12, which is eminently Messianic to the +Christian ear, _except_ that in v. 3, the speaker distinctly declares +himself to be (not Messiah, but) Israel. The same speaker continues in +ch. l., which is equally Messianic in sound. In ch. lii. the prophet +speaks _of_ him, (vv. 13-15) but the subject of the chapter is +_restoration from Babylon_; and from this he runs on into the +celebrated ch. liii. + +It is essential to understand the _same_ "elect servant" all along. +He is many times called Israel, and is often addressed in a tone quite +inapplicable to Messiah, viz. as one needing salvation himself; so in +ch. xliii. Yet in ch. xlix. this elect Israel is distinguished from +Jacob and Israel at large: thus there is an entanglement. Who can be +called on to risk his eternal hopes on his skilful unknotting of it? +It appeared however to me most probable, that as our high Churchmen +distinguish "mother Church" from the individuals who compose the +Church, so the "Israel" of this prophecy is the idealizing of +the Jewish Church; which I understood to be a current Jewish +interpretation. The figure perhaps embarrasses us, only because of the +male sex attributed to the ideal servant of God; for when "Zion" +is spoken of by the same prophet in the same way, no one finds +difficulty, or imagines that a female person of superhuman birth and +qualities must be intended. + +It still remained strange that in Isaiah liii. and Pss. xxii. and +lxix. there should be _coincidences_ so close with the sufferings of +Jesus: but I reflected, that I had no proof that the narrative had not +been strained by credulity,[6] to bring it into artificial agreement +with these imagined predictions of his death. And herewith my last +argument in favour of views for which I once would have laid down my +life, seemed to be spent. + +Nor only so: but I now reflected that the falsity of the prophecy +in Dan. vii. (where the coming of "a Son of Man" to sit in universal +judgment follows immediately upon the break-up of the Syrian +monarchy,)--to say nothing of the general proof of the spuriousness of +the whole Book of Daniel,--ought perhaps long ago to have been seen by +me as of more cardinal importance. For if we believe anything at all +about the discourses of Christ, we cannot doubt that he selected "_Son +of Man_" as his favourite title; which admits no interpretation so +satisfactory, as, that he tacitly refers to the seventh chapter of +Daniel, and virtually bases his pretensions upon it. On the whole, +it was no longer defect of proof Which presented itself, but positive +disproof of the primitive and fundamental claim. + +I could not for a moment allow weight to the topic, that "it is +dangerous to _dis_believe wrongly;" for I felt, and had always +felt, that it gave a premium to the most boastful and tyrannizing +superstition:--as if it were not equally dangerous to _believe_ +wrongly! Nevertheless, I tried to plead for farther delay, by asking: +Is not the subject too vast for me to decide upon?--Think how many +wise and good men have fully examined, and have come to a contrary +conclusion. What a grasp of knowledge and experience of the human mind +it requires! Perhaps too I have unawares been carried away by a love +of novelty, which I have mistaken for a love of truth. + +But the argument recoiled upon me. Have I not been 25 years a reader +of the Bible? have I not full 18 years been a student of Theology? +have I not employed 7 of the best years of my life, with ample +leisure, in this very investigation;--without any intelligible earthly +bribe to carry me to my present conclusion, against all my interests, +all my prejudices and all my education? There are many far more +learned men than I,--many men of greater power of mind; but there are +also a hundred times as many who are my inferiors; and if I have been +seven years labouring in vain to solve this vast literary problem, it +is an extreme absurdity to imagine that the solving of it is imposed +by God on the whole human race. Let me renounce my little learning; +let me be as the poor and simple: what then follows? Why, then, _still +the same thing follows_, that difficult literary problems concerning +distant history cannot afford any essential part of my religion. + +It is with hundreds or thousands a favourite idea, that "they have an +inward witness of the truth of (_the historical and outward facts of_) +Christianity." Perhaps the statement would bring its own refutation +to them, if they would express it clearly. Suppose a biographer of Sir +Isaac Newton, after narrating his sublime discoveries and ably stating +some of his most remarkable doctrines, to add, that Sir Isaac was a +great magician, and had been used to raise spirits by his arts, and +finally was himself carried up to heaven one night, while he +was gazing at the moon; and that this event had been foretold by +Merlin:--it would surely be the height of absurdity to dilate on the +truth of the Newtonian theory as "the moral evidence" of the truth of +the miracles and prophecy. Yet this is what those do, who adduce the +excellence of the precepts and spirituality of the general doctrine of +the New Testament, as the "moral evidence" of its miracles and of its +fulfilling the Messianic prophecies. But for the ambiguity of the +word _doctrine_, probably such confusion of thought would have been +impossible. "Doctrines" are either spiritual truths, or are +statements of external history. Of the former we may have an inward +witness;--that is their proper evidence;--but the latter must depend +upon adequate testimony and various kinds of criticism. + +How quickly might I have come to my conclusion,--how much weary +thought and useless labour might I have spared,--if at an earlier time +this simple truth had been pressed upon me, that since the religious +faculties of the poor and half-educated cannot investigate Historical +and Literary questions, _therefore_ these questions cannot constitute +an essential part of Religion.--But perhaps I could not have gained +this result by any abstract act of thought, from want of freedom to +think: and there are advantages also in expanding slowly under great +pressure, if one _can_ expand, and is not crushed by it. + +I felt no convulsion of mind, no emptiness of soul, no inward +practical change: but I knew that it would be said, this was only +because the force of the old influence was as yet unspent, and that +a gradual declension in the vitality of my religion must ensue. More +than eight years have since past, and I feel I have now a right to +contradict that statement. To any "Evangelical" I have a right to +say, that while he has a _single_, I have a _double_ experience; and +I know, that the spiritual fruits which he values, have no connection +whatever with the complicated and elaborate creed, which his school +imagines, and I once imagined, to be the roots out of which they are +fed. That they depend directly on _the heart's belief in the sympathy +of God with individual man_,[7] I am well assured: but that doctrine +does not rest upon the Bible or upon Christianity; for it is a +postulate, from which every Christian advocate is forced to start. If +it be denied, he cannot take a step forward in his argument. He talks +to men about Sin and Judgment to come, and the need of Salvation, +and so proceeds to the Saviour. But his very first step,--the idea +of Sin,--_assumes_ that God concerns himself with our actions, words, +thoughts; _assumes_ therefore that sympathy of God with every man, +which (it seems) can only be known by an infallible Bible. + +I know that many Evangelicals will reply, that I never can have had +"the true" faith; else I could never have lost it: and as for my +not being conscious of spiritual change, they will accept this as +confirming their assertion. Undoubtedly I cannot prove that I ever +felt as they now feel: perhaps they love their present opinions _more +than_ truth, and are careless to examine and verify them; with that +I claim no fellowship. But there are Christians, and Evangelical +Christians, of another stamp, who love their creed, _only_ because +they believe it to be true, but love truth, as such, and truthfulness, +more than any creed: with these I claim fellowship. Their love to God +and man, their allegiance to righteousness and true holiness, will +not be in suspense and liable to be overturned by new discoveries in +geology and in ancient inscriptions, or by improved criticism of texts +and of history, nor have they any imaginable interest in thwarting +the advance of scholarship. It is strange indeed to undervalue _that_ +Faith, which alone is purely moral and spiritual, alone rests on +a basis that cannot be shaken, alone lifts the possessor above the +conflicts of erudition, and makes it impossible for him to fear the +increase of knowledge. + +I fully expected that reviewers and opponents from the evangelical +school would laboriously insinuate or assert, that I _never was_ +a Christian and do not understand anything about Christianity +spiritually. My expectations have been more than fulfilled; and the +course which my assailants have taken leads me to add some topics to +the last paragraph. I say then, that if I had been slain at the age of +twenty-seven, when I was chased[8] by a mob of infuriated Mussulmans +for selling New Testaments, they would have trumpeted me as an +eminent saint and martyr. I add, that many circumstances within easy +possibility might have led to my being engaged as an official teacher +of a congregation at the usual age, which would in all probability +have arrested my intellectual development, and have stereotyped my +creed for many a long year; and then also they would have acknowledged +me as a Christian. A little more stupidity, a little more worldliness, +a little more mental dishonesty in me, or perhaps a little more +kindness and management in others, would have kept me in my old state, +which was acknowledged and would still be acknowledged as Christian. +To try to disown me now, is an impotent superciliousness. + +At the same time, I confess to several moral changes, as the result of +this change in my creed, the principal of which are the following. + +1. I have found that my old belief narrowed my affections. It taught +me to bestow peculiar love on "the people of God," and it assigned an +intellectual creed as one essential mark of this people. That creed +may be made more or less stringent; but when driven to its minimum, it +includes a recognition of the historical proposition, that "the Jewish +teacher Jesus fulfilled the conditions requisite to constitute him +the Messiah of the ancient Hebrew prophets." This proposition has been +rejected by very many thoughtful and sincere men in England, and by +tens of thousands in France, Germany, Italy, Spain. To judge rightly +about it, is necessarily a problem of literary criticism; which has +both to interpret the Old Scriptures and to establish how much of the +biography of Jesus in the New is credible. To judge wrongly about it, +may prove one to be a bad critic but not a less good and less pious +man. Yet my old creed enacted an affirmative result of this historical +inquiry, as a test of one's spiritual state, and ordered me to think +harshly of men like Marcus Aurelius and Lessing, because they did +not adopt the conclusion which the professedly uncritical have +established. It possessed me with a general gloom concerning +Mohammedans and Pagans, and involved the whole course of history and +prospects of futurity in a painful darkness from which I am relieved. + +2. Its theory was one of selfishness. That is, it inculcated that my +first business must be, to save my soul from future punishment, and +to attain future happiness; and it bade me to chide myself, when I +thought of nothing but about doing present duty and blessing God for +present enjoyment. + +In point of fact, I never did look much to futurity, nor even in +prospect of death could attain to any vivid anticipations or desires, +much less was troubled with fears. The evil which I suffered from +my theory, was not (I believe) that it really made me selfish--other +influences of it were too powerful:--but it taught me to blame +myself for unbelief, because I was not sufficiently absorbed in the +contemplation of my vast personal expectations. I certainly here feel +myself delivered from the danger of factitious sin. + +The selfish and self-righteous texts come principally from the three +first gospels, and are greatly counteracted by the deeper spirituality +of the apostolic epistles. I therefore by no means charge this +tendency indiscriminately on the New Testament. + +3. It laid down that "the time is short; THE LORD IS AT HAND: the +things of this world pass away, and deserve not our affections: the +only thing worth spending one's energies on, is, the forwarding of +men's salvation." It bade me "watch perpetually, not knowing whether +my Lord would return at cockcrowing or at midday." + +While I believed this, (which, however disagreeable to modern +Christians, is the clear doctrine of the New Testament,) I acted an +eccentric and unprofitable part. From it I was saved against my will, +and forced into a course in which the doctrine, having been laid +to sleep, awoke only now and then to reproach and harass me for +my unfaithfulness to it. This doctrine it is, which makes so many +spiritual persons lend active or passive aid to uphold abuses and +perpetuate mischief in every department of human life. Those who stick +closest to the Scripture do not shrink from saying, that "it is not +worth while trying to mend the world," and stigmatize as "political +and worldly" such as pursue an opposite course. Undoubtedly, if we are +to expect our Master at cockcrowing, we shall not study the permanent +improvement of this transitory scene. To teach the certain speedy +destruction of earthly things, _as the New Testament does_, is to cut +the sinews of all earthly progress; to declare war against Intellect +and Imagination, against Industrial and Social advancement. + +There was a time when I was distressed at being unable to avoid +exultation in the worldly greatness of England. My heart would, in +spite, of me, swell with something of pride, when a Turk or Arab asked +what was my country: I then used to confess to God this pride as +a sin. I still see that that was a legitimate deduction from the +Scripture. "The glory of this world passeth away," and I had professed +to be "dead with Christ" to it. The difference is this. I am now as +"dead" as then to all of it which my conscience discerns to be sinful, +but I have not to torment myself in a (fundamentally ascetic) +struggle against innocent and healthy impulses. I now, with deliberate +approval, "love the world and the things of the world." I can feel +patriotism, and take the deepest interest in the future prospects of +nations, and no longer reproach myself. Yet this is quite consistent +with feeling the spiritual interests of men to be of all incomparably +the highest. + +Modern religionists profess to be disciples of Christ, and talk high +of the perfect morality of the New Testament, when they certainly +do not submit their understanding to it, and are no more like to the +first disciples than bishops are like the pennyless apostles. One +critic tells me that _I know_ that the above is _not_ the true +interpretation of the apostolic doctrine. Assuredly I am aware that we +may rebuke "the world" and "worldliness," in a legitimate and modified +sense, as being the system of _selfishness_: true,--and I have avowed +this in another work; but it does not follow that Jesus and the +apostles did not go farther: and manifestly they did. The true +disciple, who would be perfect as his Master, was indeed ordered to +sell all, give to the poor and follow him; and when that severity was +relaxed by good sense, it was still taught that things which lasted +to the other side of the grave alone deserved our affection or our +exertion. If any person thinks me ignorant of the Scriptures for being +of this judgment, let him so think; but to deny that I am sincere in +my avowal, is a very needless insolence. + +4. I am sensible how heavy a clog on the exercise of my judgment has +been taken off from me, since I unlearned that Bibliolatry, which I am +disposed to call the greatest religious evil of England. + +Authority has a place in religious teaching, as in education, but it +is provisional and transitory. Its chief use is to guide _action_, +and assist the formation of habits, before the judgment is ripe. As +applied to mere _opinion_, its sole function is to guide inquiry. So +long as an opinion is received on authority only, it works no inward +process upon us: yet the promulgation of it by authority, is not +therefore always useless, since the prominence thus given to it may +be a most important stimulus to thought. While the mind is inactive or +weak, it will not wish to throw off the yoke of authority: but as soon +as it begins to discern error in the standard proposed to it, we have +the mark of incipient original thought, which is the thing so valuable +and so difficult to elicit; and which authority is apt to crush. An +intelligent pupil seldom or never gives _too little_ weight to the +opinion of his teacher: a wise teacher will never repress the free +action of his pupils' minds, even when they begin to question his +results. "Forbidding to think" is a still more fatal tyranny than +"forbidding to marry:" it paralyzes all the moral powers. + +In former days, if any moral question came before me, I was always +apt to turn it into the mere lawyerlike exercise of searching and +interpreting my written code. Thus, in reading how Henry the Eighth +treated his first queen, I thought over Scripture texts in order to +judge whether he was right, and if I could so get a solution, I left +my own moral powers unexercised. All Protestants see, how mischievous +it is to a Romanist lady to have a directing priest, whom she every +day consults about everything; so as to lay her own judgment to +sleep. We readily understand, that in the extreme case such women may +gradually lose all perception of right and wrong, and become a mere +machine in the hands of her director. But the Protestant principle of +accepting the Bible as the absolute law, acts towards the same end; +and only fails of doing the same amount of mischief, because a book +can never so completely answer all the questions asked of it, as a +living priest can. The Protestantism which pities those as "without +chart and compass" who acknowledge no infallible written code, can +mean nothing else, than that "the less occasion we have to trust our +moral powers, the better;" that is, it represents it as of all things +most desirable to be able to benumb conscience by disuse, under the +guidance of a mind from without. Those who teach this need not marvel +to see their pupils become Romanists. + +But Bibliolatry not only paralyzes the moral sense; it also corrupts +the intellect, and introduces a crooked logic, by setting men to the +duty of extracting absolute harmony out of discordant materials. All +are familiar with the subtlety of lawyers, whose task it is to elicit +a single sense out of a heap of contradictory statutes. In their case +such subtlety may indeed excite in us impatience or contempt; but +we forbear to condemn them, when it is pleaded that practical +convenience, not truth, is their avowed end. In the case of +theological ingenuity, where truth is the professed and sacred +object, a graver judgment is called for. When the Biblical interpreter +struggles to reconcile contradictions, or to prove that wrong is +right, merely because he is bound to maintain the perfection of the +Bible; when to this end he condescends to sophistry and pettifogging +evasions; it is difficult to avoid feeling disgust as well as grief. +Some good people are secretly conscious that the Bible is not an +infallible book; but they dread the consequences of proclaiming this +"to the vulgar." Alas! and have they measured the evils which the +fostering of this lie is producing in the minds, not of the educated +only, but emphatically of the ministers of religion? + +Many who call themselves Christian preachers busily undermine moral +sentiment, by telling their hearers, that if they do not believe the +Bible (or the Church), they can have no firm religion or morality, and +will have no reason to give against following brutal appetite. +This doctrine it is, that so often makes men atheists in Spain, and +profligates in England, as soon as they unlearn the national creed: +and the school which have done the mischief, moralize over the +wickedness of human nature when it comes to pass instead of blaming +the falsehood which they have themselves inculcated. + + +[Footnote 1: A critic presses me with the question, how I can doubt +that doctrine so holy _comes from God_. He professes to review my +book on the Soul; yet, apparently became he himself _dis_believes the +doctrine of the Holy Spirit taught alike in the Psalms and Prophets +and in the New Testament,--he cannot help forgetting that I profess +to believe it. He is not singular in his dulness. That the sentiment +above is necessarily independent of Biblical _authority_, see p. 133.] + +[Footnote 2: I do not here enlarge on this, as it is discussed in my +treatise on The Soul 2nd edition, p. 76, or 3rd edition, p. 52.] + +[Footnote 3: 1 Cor. xv. 3. Compare Acts xii. 33, 34, 35 also Acts ii. +27, 34.] + +[Footnote 4: I need not except the _potter_ and the thirty pieces of +silver (Zech. xi. 13), for the _potter_ is a mere absurd error of text +or translation. The Septuagint has the _foundry_, De Wette has the +_treasury_, with whom Hitzig and Ewald agree. So Winer (Simoni's +Lexicon).] + +[Footnote 5: Some of my critics are very angry with me for saying +this; but Matthew himself (xxi. 4) almost says it:--"_All this was +done, that it might be fulfilled_," &c. Do my critics mean to tell me +that Jesus _was not aware_ of the prophecy? or if Jesus did know of +the prophecy, will they tell me _that he was not designing_ to fulfil +it? I feel such carping to be little short of hypocrisy.] + +[Footnote 6: Apparently on these words of mine, a reviewer builds up +the inference that I regard "the Evangelical narrative as a mythical +fancy-piece imitated from David and Isaiah." I feel this to be a great +caricature. My words are carefully limited to a few petty details of +one part of the narrative.] [Footnote 7: I did not calculate that +any assailant would be so absurd as to lecture me on the topic, that +God has no sympathy _with our sins and follies_. Of course what I +mean is, that he has complacency in our moral perfection. See p. 125 +above.] + +[Footnote 8: This was at Aintab, in the north of Syria. One of my +companions was caught by the mob and beaten (as they probably thought) +to death. But he recovered very similarly to Paul, in Acts xiv. 20, +after long lying senseless.] + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +ON THE MORAL PERFECTION OF JESUS. + + +Let no reader peruse this chapter, who is not willing to enter into +a discussion, as free and unshrinking, concerning the personal +excellencies and conduct of Jesus, as that of Mr. Grote concerning +Socrates. I have hitherto met with most absurd rebuffs for my +scrupulosity. One critic names me as a principal leader in a school +which extols and glorifies the character of Jesus; after which +he proceeds to reproach me with inconsistency, and to insinuate +dishonesty. Another expresses himself as deeply wounded that, in +renouncing the belief that Jesus is more than man, I suggest to +compare him to a clergyman whom I mentioned as eminently holy and +perfect in the picture of a partial biographer; such a comparison +is resented with vivid indignation, as a blurting out of something +"unspeakably painful." Many have murmured that I do _not_ come forward +to extol the excellencies of Jesus, but appear to prefer Paul. More +than one taunt me with an inability to justify my insinuations +that Jesus, after all, was not really perfect; one is "extremely +disappointed" that I have not attacked him; in short, it is manifest +that many would much rather have me say out my whole heart, than +withhold anything. I therefore give fair warning to all, not to +read any farther, or else to blame themselves if I inflict on them +"unspeakable pain," by differing from their judgment of a historical +or unhistorical character. As for those who confound my tenderness +with hypocrisy and conscious weakness, if they trust themselves to +read to the end, I think they will abandon that fancy. + +But how am I brought into this topic? It is because, after my mind had +reached the stage narrated in the last chapter, I fell in with a new +doctrine among the Unitarians,--that the evidence of Christianity is +essentially popular and spiritual, consisting in _the Life of Christ_, +who is a perfect man and the absolute moral image of God,--therefore +fitly called "God manifest in the flesh," and, as such, Moral Head of +the human race. Since this view was held in conjunction with those +at which I had arrived myself concerning miracles, prophecy, the +untrustworthiness of Scripture as to details, and the essential +unreasonableness of imposing dogmatic propositions as a creed, I +had to consider why I could not adopt such a modification, or (as it +appeared to me) reconstruction, of Christianity; and I gave reasons +in the first edition of this book, which, avoiding direct treatment of +the character of Jesus, seemed to me adequate on the opposite side. + +My argument was reviewed by a friend, who presently published the +review with his name, replying to my remarks on this scheme. I thus +find myself in public and avowed controversy with one who is endowed +with talents, accomplishments, and genius, to which I have no +pretensions. The challenge has certainly come from myself. Trusting to +the goodness of my cause, I have ventured it into an unequal combat; +and from a consciousness of my admired friend's high superiority, I do +feel a little abashed at being brought face to face against him. But +possibly the less said to the public on these personal matters, the +better. + +I have to give reasons why I cannot adopt that modified scheme +of Christianity which is defended and adorned by James Martineau; +according to which it is maintained that though the Gospel Narratives +are not to be trusted in detail, there can yet be no reasonable +doubt _what_ Jesus _was_; for this is elicited by a "higher moral +criticism," which (it is remarked) I neglect. In this theory, Jesus is +avowed to be a man born like other men; to be liable to error, and +(at least in some important respects) mistaken. Perhaps no general +proposition is to be accepted _merely_ on the word of Jesus; in +particular, he misinterpreted the Hebrew prophecies. "He was not +_less_ than the Hebrew Messiah, but _more_." No moral charge is +established against him, until it is shown, that in applying the old +prophecies to himself, he was _conscious_ that they did not fit. +His error was one of mere fallibility in matters of intellectual and +literary estimate. On the other hand, Jesus had an infallible moral +perception, which reveals itself to the true-hearted reader, and is +testified by the common consciousness of Christendom. It has pleased +the Creator to give us one sun in the heavens, and one Divine soul in +history, in order to correct the aberrations of our individuality, and +unite all mankind into one family of God. Jesus is to be presumed to +be perfect until he is shown to be imperfect. Faith in Jesus, is not +reception of propositions, but reverence for a person; yet this is +_not_ the condition of salvation or essential to the Divine favour. + +Such is the scheme, abridged from the ample discussion of my eloquent +friend. In reasoning against it, my arguments will, to a certain +extent, be those of an orthodox Trinitarian;[1] since we might both +maintain that the belief in the absolute divine morality of Jesus is +not tenable, when the belief in _every other_ divine and superhuman +quality is denied. Should I have any "orthodox" reader, my arguments +may shock his feelings less, if he keeps this in view. In fact, the +same action or word in Jesus may be consistent or inconsistent with +moral perfection, according to the previous assumptions concerning his +person. + +I. My friend has attributed to me a "prosaic and embittered view of +human nature," apparently because I have a very intense belief of +Man's essential imperfection. To me, I confess, it is almost a first +principle of thought, that as all sorts of perfection coexist in God, +so is no sort of perfection possible to man. I do not know how for +a moment to imagine an Omniscient Being who is not Almighty, or +an Almighty who is not All-Righteous. So neither do I know how to +conceive of Perfect Holiness anywhere but in the Blessed and only +Potentate. + +Man is finite and crippled on all sides; and frailty in one kind +causes frailty in another. Deficient power causes deficient knowledge, +deficient knowledge betrays him into false opinion, and entangles him +into false positions. It may be a defect of my imagination, but I do +not feel that it implies any bitterness, that even in the case of +one who abides in primitive lowliness, to attain even negatively an +absolutely pure goodness seems to me impossible; and much more, to +exhaust all goodness, and become a single Model-Man, unparalleled, +incomparable, a standard for all other moral excellence. Especially +I cannot conceive of any human person rising out of obscurity, and +influencing the history of the world, unless there be in him forces +of great intensity, the harmonizing of which is a vast and painful +problem. Every man has to subdue himself first, before he preaches to +his fellows; and he encounters many a fall and many a wound in winning +his own victory. And as talents are various, so do moral natures vary, +each having its own weak and strong side; and that one man should +grasp into his single self the highest perfection of every moral +kind, is to me at least as incredible as that one should preoccupy +and exhaust all intellectual greatness. I feel the prodigy to be so +peculiar, that I must necessarily wait until it is overwhelmingly +proved, before I admit it. No one can without unreason urge me to +believe, on any but the most irrefutable arguments, that a man, finite +in every other respect, is infinite in moral perfection. + +My friend is "at a loss to conceive in what way a superhuman physical +nature could tend in the least degree to render moral perfection more +credible." But I think he will see, that it would entirely obviate the +argument just stated, which, from the known frailty of human nature +in general, deduced the indubitable imperfection of an individual. The +reply is then obvious and decisive: "This individual is _not_ a mere +man; his origin is wholly exceptional; therefore his moral perfection +may be exceptional; your experience of _man's_ weakness goes for +nothing in his case." If I were already convinced that this person was +a great Unique, separated from all other men by an impassable chasm in +regard to his physical origin, I (for one) should be much readier to +believe that he was Unique and Unapproachable in other respects: for +all God's works have an internal harmony. It could not be for nothing +that this exceptional personage was sent into the world. That he was +intended as head of the human race, in one or more senses, would be +a plausible opinion; nor should I feel any incredulous repugnance +against believing his morality to be if not divinely perfect, yet +separated from that of common men so far, that he might be a God to +us, just as every parent is to a young child. + +This view seems to my friend a weakness; be it so. I need not press +it. What I do press, is,--whatever _might_ or might _not_ be conceded +concerning one in human form, but of superhuman origin,--at any +rate, one who is conceded to be, out and out, of the same nature as +ourselves, is to be judged of by our experience of that nature, and is +therefore to be _assumed_ to be variously imperfect, however eminent +and admirable in some respects. And no one is to be called an imaginer +of deformity, because he takes for granted that one who is Man has +imperfections which were not known to those who compiled memorials of +him. To impute to a person, without specific evidence, some definite +frailty or fault, barely because he is human, would be a want of good +sense; but not so, to have a firm belief that every human being is +finite in moral as well as in intellectual greatness. + +We have a very imperfect history of the apostle James; and I do not +know that I could adduce any fact specifically recorded concerning him +in disproof of his absolute moral perfection, if any of his Jerusalem +disciples had chosen to set up this as a dogma of religion. Yet no +one would blame me, as morose, or indisposed to acknowledge genius and +greatness, if I insisted on believing James to be frail and imperfect, +while admitting that I knew almost nothing about him. And why?--Singly +and surely, because we know him to be _a man_: that suffices. To set +up James or John or Daniel as my Model, and my Lord; to be swallowed +up in him and press him upon others for a Universal Standard, would +be despised as a self-degrading idolatry and resented as an obtrusive +favouritism. Now why does not the same equally apply, if the name +Jesus is substituted for these? Why, in defect of all other knowledge +than the bare fact of his manhood, are we not unhesitatingly to take +for granted that he does _not_ exhaust all perfection, and is at best +only one among many brethren and equals? + +II. My friend, I gather, will reply, "because so many thousands +of minds in all Christendom attest the infinite and unapproachable +goodness of Jesus." It therefore follows to consider, what is the +weight of this attestation. Manifestly it depends, first of all, on +the independence of the witnesses: secondly, on the grounds of their +belief. If all those, who confess the moral perfection of Jesus, +confess it as the result of unbiassed examination of his character; +and if of those acquainted with the narrative, none espouse the +opposite side; this would be a striking testimony, not to be despised. +But in fact, few indeed of the "witnesses" add any weight at all to +the argument. No Trinitarian can doubt that Jesus is morally perfect, +without doubting fundamentally every part of his religion. He believes +it, _because_ the entire system demands it, and _because_ various +texts of Scripture avow it: and this very fact makes it morally +impossible for him to enter upon an unbiassed inquiry, whether that +character which is drawn for Jesus in the four gospels, is, or is not, +one of absolute perfection, deserving to be made an exclusive model +for all times and countries. My friend never was a Trinitarian, and +seems not to know how this operates; but I can testify, that when I +believed in the immaculateness of Christ's character, it was not +from an unbiassed criticism, but from the pressure of authority, (the +authority of _texts_,) and from the necessity of the doctrine to the +scheme of Redemption. Not merely strict Trinitarians, but all who +believe in the Atonement, however modified,--all who believe that +Jesus will be the future Judge,--_must_ believe in his absolute +perfection: hence the fact of their belief is no indication whatever +that they believe on the ground which my friend assumes,--viz. an +intelligent and unbiassed study of the character itself, as exhibited +in the four narratives. + +I think we may go farther. We have no reason for thinking that _this_ +was the sort of evidence which convinced the apostles themselves, and +first teachers of the gospel;--if indeed in the very first years the +doctrine was at all conceived of. It cannot be shown that any one +believed in the moral perfection of Jesus, who had not already adopted +the belief that he was Messiah, and _therefore_ Judge of the human +race. My friend makes the pure immaculateness of Jesus (discernible +by him in the gospels) his foundation, and deduces _from_ this the +quasi-Messiahship: but the opposite order of deduction appears to have +been the only one possible in the first age. Take Paul as a specimen. +He believed the doctrine in question; but not from reading the four +gospels,--for they did not exist. Did he then believe it by hearing +Ananias (Acts ix. 17) enter into details concerning the deeds and +words of Jesus? I cannot imagine that any wise or thoughtful person +would so judge, which after all would be a gratuitous invention. The +Acts of the Apostles give us many speeches which set forth the grounds +of accepting Jesus as Messiah; but they never press his absolute moral +perfection as a fact and a fundamental fact. "He went about doing +good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil," is the utmost +that is advanced on this side: prophecy is urged, and his resurrection +is asserted, and the inference is drawn that "Jesus is the Christ." +Out of this flowed the farther inferences that he was Supreme +Judge,--and moreover, was Paschal Lamb, and Sacrifice, and High +Priest, and Mediator; and since every one of these characters demanded +a belief in his moral perfections, that doctrine also necessarily +followed, and was received before our present gospels existed. My +friend therefore cannot abash me by the _argumentum ad verecundiam_; +(which to me seems highly out of place in this connexion;) for the +opinion, which is, as to this single point, held by him in common with +the first Christians, was held by them on transcendental reasons which +he totally discards; and all after generations have been confirmed +in the doctrine by Authority, _i.e._ by the weight of texts or church +decisions: both of which he also discards. If I could receive +the doctrine, merely because I dared not to differ from the whole +Christian world, I might aid to swell odium against rejectors, but I +should not strengthen the cause at the bar of reason. I feel therefore +that my friend must not claim Catholicity as on his side. Trinitarians +and Arians are alike useless to his argument: nay, nor can he claim +more than a small fraction of Unitarians; for as many of the them +believe that Jesus is to be the Judge of living and dead (as the late +Dr. Lant Carpenter did) must as _necessarily_ believe his immaculate +perfection as if they were Trinitarians. + +The New Testament does not distinctly explain on what grounds this +doctrine was believed; but we may observe that in 1 Peter i. 19 and 2 +Cor. v. 21, it is coupled with the Atonement, and in 1 Peter ii. 21, +Romans xv. 3, it seems to be inferred from prophecy. But let us turn +to the original Eleven, who were eye and ear witnesses of Jesus, and +consider on what grounds they can have believed (if we assume that +they did all believe) the absolute moral perfection of Jesus. It is +too ridiculous to imagine then studying the writings of Matthew in +order to obtain conviction,--if any of that school, whom alone I now +address, could admit that written documents were thought of before +the Church outstept the limits of Judea. If the Eleven believed +the doctrine for some transcendental reason,--as by a Supernatural +Revelation, or on account of Prophecy, and to complete the Messiah's +character,--then their attestation is useless to my friend's argument: +will it then gain anything, if we suppose that they _believed_ Jesus +to be perfect, because they _saw_ him to be perfect? To me this would +seem no attestation worth having, but rather a piece of impertinent +ignorance. If I attest that a person whom I have known was an +eminently good man, I command a certain amount of respect to my +opinion, and I do him honour. If I celebrate his good deeds and report +his wise words, I extend his honour still farther. But if I proceed +to assure people, _on the evidence of my personal observation of him_, +that he was immaculate and absolutely perfect, was the pure Moral +Image of God, that he deserves to be made the Exclusive Model of +imitation, and is the standard by which every other man's morality +is to be corrected,--I make myself ridiculous; my panegyrics lose all +weight, and I produce far less conviction than when I praised within +human limitations. I do not know how my friend will look on this +point, (for his judgment on the whole question perplexes me, and the +views which I call _sober_ he names _prosaic_,) but I cannot resist +the conviction that universal common-sense would have rejected the +teaching of the Eleven with contempt, if they had presented, as the +basis of the gospel their _personal testimony_ to the godlike and +unapproachable moral absolutism of Jesus. But even if such a basis +was possible to the Eleven, it was impossible to Paul and Silvanus and +Timothy and Barnabas and Apollos, and the other successful preachers +to the Gentiles. High moral goodness, within human limitations, was +undoubtedly announced as a fact of the life of Jesus; but upon this +followed the supernatural claims, and the argument of prophecy; +_without_ which my friend desires to build up his view,--I have thus +developed why I think he has no right to claim Catholicity for his +judgment. I have risked to be tedious, because I find that when I +speak concisely, I am enormously misapprehended. I close this topic +by observing, that, the great animosity with which my very mild +intimations against the popular view have been met from numerous +quarters, show me that Christians do not allow this subject to be +calmly debated, end have not come to their own conclusion as the +result of a calm debate. And this is amply corroborated by my own +consciousness of the past I never dared, nor could have dared, to +criticize coolly and simply the pretensions of Jesus to be an absolute +model of morality, until I had been delivered from the weight of +authority and miracle, oppressing my critical powers. + +III. I have been asserting, that he who believes Jesus to be mere man, +ought at once to believe his moral excellence finite and comparable +to that of other men; and, that our judgment to this effect cannot be +reasonably overborne by the "universal consent" of Christendom.--Thus +far we are dealing _ą priori_, which here fully satisfies me: in such +an argument I need no _ą posteriori_ evidence to arrive at my own +conclusion. Nevertheless, I am met by taunts and clamour, which are +not meant to be indecent, but which to my feeling are such. My critics +point triumphantly to the four gospels, and demand that I will make a +personal attack on a character which they revere, even when they know +that I cannot do so without giving great offence. Now if any one were +to call my old schoolmaster, or my old parish priest, a perfect and +universal Model, and were to claim that I would entitle him Lord, and +think of him as the only true revelation of God; should I not be +at liberty to say, without disrespect, that "I most emphatically +deprecate such extravagant claims for him"? Would this justify an +outcry, that I will publicly avow _what_ I judge to be his defects of +character, and will _prove_ to all his admirers that he was a sinner +like other men? Such a demand would be thought, I believe, highly +unbecoming and extremely unreasonable. May not my modesty, or my +regard for his memory, or my unwillingness to pain his family, +be accepted as sufficient reasons for silence? or would any one +scoffingly attribute my reluctance to attack him, to my conscious +inability to make good my case against his being "God manifest in +the flesh"? Now what, if one of his admirers had written panegyrical +memorials of him; and his character, therein described, was so +faultless, that a stranger to him was not able to descry any moral +defeat whatever in it? Is such a stranger bound to believe him to be +the Divine Standard of morals, unless he can put his finger on certain +passages of the book which imply weaknesses and faults? And is it +insulting a man, to refuse to worship him? I utterly protest against +every such pretence. As I have an infinitely stronger conviction +that Shakespeare was not in _intellect_ Divinely and Unapproachably +perfect, than that I can certainly point out in him some definite +intellectual defect; as, moreover, I am vastly more sure that Socrates +was _morally_ imperfect, than that I am able to censure him rightly; +so also, a disputant who concedes to me that Jesus is a mere man, has +no right to claim that I will point out some moral flaw in him, or +else acknowledge him to be a Unique Unparalleled Divine Soul. It is +true, I do see defects, and very serious ones, in the character of +Jesus, as drawn by his disciples; but I cannot admit that my right to +disown the pretensions made for him turns on my ability to define his +frailties. As long as (in common with my friend) I regard Jesus as +a man, so long I hold with _dogmatic_ and _intense conviction_ the +inference that he was morally imperfect, and ought not to be held +up as unapproachable in goodness; but I have, in comparison, only _a +modest_ belief that I am able to show his points of weakness. + +While therefore in obedience to this call, which has risen from many +quarters, I think it right not to refuse the odious task pressed upon +me,--I yet protest that my conclusion does not depend upon it. I might +censure Socrates unjustly, or at least without convincing my readers, +if I attempted that task; but my failure would not throw a feather's +weight into the argument that Socrates was a Divine Unique and +universal Model. If I write note what is painful to readers, I beg +them to remember that I write with much reluctance, and that it is +their own fault if they read. + +In approaching this subject, the first difficulty is, to know how +much of the four gospels to accept as _fact_. If we could believe the +whole, it would be easier to argue; but my friend Martineau (with me) +rejects belief of many parts: for instance, he has but a very feeble +conviction that Jesus ever spoke the discourses attributed to him in +John's gospel. If therefore I were to found upon these some imputation +of moral weakness, he would reply, that we are agreed in setting these +aside, as untrustworthy. Yet he perseveres in asserting that it is +beyond all reasonable question _what_ Jesus _was_; as though proven +inaccuracies in all the narratives did not make the results uncertain. +He says that even the poor and uneducated are fully impressed with +"the majesty and sanctity" of Christ's mind; as if _this_ were what I +am fundamentally denying; and not, only so far as would transcend the +known limits of human nature: surely "majesty and sanctity" are not +inconsistent with many weaknesses. But our judgment concerning a +man's motives, his temper, and his full conquest over self, vanity and +impulsive passion, depends on the accurate knowledge of a vast variety +of minor points; even the curl of the lip, or the discord of eye and +mouth, may change our moral judgment of a man; while, alike to my +friend and me it is certain that much of what is stated is untrue. +Much moreover of what he holds to be untrue does not seem so to any +but to the highly educated. In spite therefore of his able reply, I +abide in my opinion that he is unreasonably endeavouring to erect what +is essentially a piece of doubtful biography and difficult literary +criticism into first-rate religious importance. + +I shall however try to pick up a few details which seem, as much +as any, to deserve credit, concerning the pretensions, doctrine and +conduct of Jesus. + +_First_, I believe that he habitually spoke of himself by the title +"_Son of Man_"--a fact which pervades all the accounts, and was likely +to rivet itself on his hearers. Nobody but he himself ever calls him +Son of Man. + +_Secondly_ I believe that in assuming this title he tacitly alluded +to the viith chapter of Daniel, and claimed for himself the throne of +judgment over all mankind.--I know no reason to doubt that he actually +delivered (in substance) the discourse in Matth. xxv. "When the Son +of Man shall come in his glory,... before him shall be gathered all +nations,... and he shall separate them, &c. &c.": and I believe that +by _the Son of Man_ and _the King_ he meant himself. Compare Luke xii. +40, ix. 56. + +_Thirdly_, I believe that he habitually assumed the authoritative +dogmatic tone of one who was a universal Teacher in moral and +spiritual matters, and enunciated as a primary duty of men to learn +submissively of his wisdom and acknowledge his supremacy. This element +in his character, _the preaching of himself_ is enormously expanded in +the fourth gospel, but it distinctly exists in Matthew. Thus in Matth. +xxiii 8: "Be not ye called Rabbi [_teacher_], for one is your Teacher, +even Christ; and all ye are brethren"... Matth. x. 32: "Whosoever +shall confess ME before men, him will I confess before my Father which +is in heaven... He that loveth father or mother more than ME is not +_worthy of_ ME, &c."... Matth. xi. 27: "All things are delivered unto +ME of my Father; and _no man knoweth the Son but the Father_; neither +knoweth any man the Father, save the Son; and he to whomsoever _the +Son will reveal him._ Come unto ME, all ye that labour,... and _I_ +will give you rest. Take MY yoke upon you, &c." + +My friend, I find, rejects Jesus as an authoritative teacher, +distinctly denies that the acceptance of Jesus in this character is +any condition of salvation and of the divine favour, and treats of +my "demand of an oracular Christ," as inconsistent with my own +principles. But this is mere misconception of what I have said. I find +_Jesus himself_ to set up oracular claims. I find an assumption +of pre-eminence and unapproachable moral wisdom to pervade every +discourse from end to end of the gospels. If I may not believe that +Jesus assumed an oracular manner, I do not know what moral peculiarity +in him I am permitted to believe. I do not _demand_ (as my friend +seems to think) that _he shall be_ oracular, but in common with all +Christendom, I open my eyes and see that _he is_; and until I had read +my friend's review of my book, I never understood (I suppose through +my own prepossessions) that he holds Jesus _not_ to have assumed the +oracular style. + +If I cut out from the four gospels this peculiarity, I must cut out, +not only the claim of Messiahship, which my friend admits to have +been made, but nearly every moral discourse and every controversy: and +_why_? except in order to make good a predetermined belief that Jesus +was morally perfect. What reason can be given me for not believing +that Jesus declared: "If any one deny ME before men, _him will I deny_ +before my Father and his angels?" or any of the other texts which +couple the favour of God with a submission to such pretensions of +Jesus? I can find no reason whatever for doubting that he preached +HIMSELF to his disciples, though in the three first gospels he is +rather timid of doing this to the Pharisees and to the nation at +large. I find him uniformly to claim, sometimes in tone, sometimes in +distinct words, that we will sit at his feet as little children and +learn of him. I find him ready to answer off-hand, all difficult +questions, critical and lawyer-like, as well as moral. True, it is no +tenet of mine that intellectual and literary attainment is essential +in an individual person to high spiritual eminence. True, in another +book I have elaborately maintained the contrary. Yet in that book I +have described men's spiritual progress as often arrested at a certain +stage by a want of intellectual development; which surely would +indicate that I believed even intellectual blunders and an infinitely +perfect exhaustive morality to be incompatible. But our question here +(or at least _my_ question) is not, whether Jesus might misinterpret +prophecy, and yet be morally perfect; but whether, _after assuming +to be an oracular teacher_, he can teach some fanatical precepts, and +advance dogmatically weak and foolish arguments, without impairing our +sense of his absolute moral perfection. + +I do not think it useless here to repeat (though not for my friend) +concise reasons which I gave in my first edition against admitting +dictatorial claims for Jesus. _First_, it is an unplausible opinion +that God would deviate from his ordinary course, in order to give us +anything so undesirable as an authoritative Oracle would be;--which +would paralyze our moral powers, exactly as an infallible church does, +in the very proportion in which we succeeded in eliciting responses +from it. It is not needful here to repeat what has been said to that +effect in p. 138. _Secondly_, there is no imaginable criterion, by +which we can establish that the wisdom of a teacher _is_ absolute and +illimitable. All that we can possibly discover, is the relative +fact, that another is _wiser than we_: and even this is liable to +be overturned on special points, as soon as differences of judgment +arise. _Thirdly_, while it is by no means clear what are the new +truths, for which we are to lean upon the decisions of Jesus, it +is certain that we have no genuine and trustworthy account of his +teaching. If God had intended us to receive the authoritative _dicta_ +of Jesus, he would have furnished us with an unblemished record +of those dicta. To allow that we have not this, and that we must +disentangle for ourselves (by a most difficult and uncertain process) +the "true" sayings of Jesus, is surely self-refuting. _Fourthly_, if +I _must_ sit in judgment on the claims of Jesus to be the true Messiah +and Son of God, how can I concentrate all my free thought into that +one act, and thenceforth abandon free thought? This appears a moral +suicide, whether Messiah or the Pope is the object whom we _first_ +criticize, in order to instal him over us, and _then_, for ever after, +refuse to criticize. In short, _we cannot build up a system of Oracles +on a basis of Free Criticism_. If we are to submit our judgment to the +dictation of some other,--whether a church or an individual,--we must +be first subjected to that other by some event from without, as by +birth; and not by a process of that very judgment which is henceforth +to be sacrificed. But from this I proceed to consider more in detail, +some points in the teaching and conduct of Jesus, which do not appear +to me consistent with absolute perfection. + +The argument of Jesus concerning the tribute to Cęsar is so dramatic, +as to strike the imagination and rest on the memory; and I know no +reason for doubting that it has been correctly reported. The book of +Deuteronomy (xvii. 15) distinctly forbids Israel to set over himself +as king any who is not a native Israelite; which appeared to be a +religious condemnation of submission to Cęsar. Accordingly, since +Jesus assumed the tone of unlimited wisdom, some of Herod's party +asked him, whether it was lawful to pay tribute to Cęsar. Jesus +replied: "Why tempt ye me, hypocrites? Show me the tribute money." +When one of the coins was handed to him, he asked: "Whose image and +superscription is this?" When they replied: "Cęsar's," he gave his +authoritative decision: "Render _therefore_ to Cęsar _the things that +are Cęsar's_." + +In this reply not only the poor and uneducated, but many likewise of +the rich and educated, recognize "majesty and sanctity:" yet I find it +hard to think that my strong-minded friend will defend the justness, +wisdom and honesty of it. To imagine that because a coin bears Cęsar's +head, _therefore_ it is Cęsar's property, and that he may demand to +have as many of such coins as he chooses paid over to him, is puerile, +and notoriously false. The circulation of foreign coin of every kind +was as common in the Mediterranean then as now; and everybody knew +that the coin was the property of the _holder_, not of him whose +head it bore. Thus the reply of Jesus, which pretended to be a moral +decision, was unsound and absurd: yet it is uttered in a tone of +dictatorial wisdom, and ushered in by a grave rebuke, "Why tempt ye +me, hypocrites?" He is generally understood to mean, "Why do you try +to implicate me in a political charge?" and it is supposed that +he prudently _evaded_ the question. I have indeed heard this +interpretation from high Trinitarians; which indicates to me how +dead is their moral sense in everything which concerns the conduct of +Jesus. No reason appears why he should not have replied, that Moses +forbade Israel _voluntarily_ to place himself under a foreign +king, but did not inculcate fanatical and useless rebellion against +overwhelming power. But such a reply, which would have satisfied a +more commonplace mind, has in it nothing brilliant and striking. I +cannot but think that Jesus shows a vain conceit in the cleverness +of his answer: I do not think it so likely to have been a conscious +evasion. But neither does his rebuke of the questioners at all commend +itself to me. How can any man assume to be an authoritative teacher, +and then claim that men shall not put his wisdom to the proof? Was it +not their _duty_ to do so? And when, in result, the trial has proved +the defect of his wisdom, did they not perform a useful public +service? In truth, I cannot see the Model Man in his rebuke.--Let +not my friend say that the error was merely intellectual: blundering +self-sufficiency is a moral weakness. + +I might go into detail concerning other discourses, where error and +arrogance appear to me combined. But, not to be tedious,--in general +I must complain that Jesus purposely adopted an enigmatical and +pretentious style of teaching, unintelligible to his hearers, +and needing explanation in private. That this was his systematic +procedure, I believe, because, in spite of the great contrast of the +fourth gospel to the others, it has this peculiarity in common +with them. Christian divines are used to tell us that this mode was +_peculiarly instructive_ to the vulgar of Judęa; and they insist on +the great wisdom displayed in his choice of the lucid parabolical +style. But in Matth. xiii. 10-15, Jesus is made confidentially to avow +precisely the opposite reason, viz. that he desires the vulgar _not_ +to understand him, but only the select few to whom he gives private +explanations. I confess I believe the Evangelist rather than the +modern Divine. I cannot conceive how so strange a notion could ever +have possessed the companions of Jesus, if it had not been true. If +really this parabolical method had been peculiarly intelligible, +what could make them imagine the contrary? Unless they found it very +obscure themselves, whence came the idea that it was obscure to the +multitude? As a fact, it _is_ very obscure, to this day. There is much +that I most imperfectly understand, owing to unexplained metaphor: +as: "Agree with thine adversary quickly, &c. &c.:" "Whoso calls his +brother[2] a fool, is in danger of hell fire:" "Every one must be +salted with fire, and every sacrifice salted with salt. Have salt +in yourselves, and be at peace with one another." Now every man of +original and singular genius has his own forms of thought; in so far +as they are natural, we must not complain, if to us they are obscure. +But the moment _affectation_ comes in, they no longer are reconcilable +with the perfect character: they indicate vanity, and incipient +sacerdotalism. The distinct notice that Jesus avoided to expound his +parables to the multitude, and made this a boon to the privileged +few; and that without a parable he spake not to the multitude; and +the pious explanation, that this was a fulfilment of Prophecy, "I will +open my mouth in parables, I will utter dark sayings on the harp," +persuade me that the impression of the disciples was a deep reality. +And it is in entire keeping with the general narrative, which shows in +him so much of mystical assumption. Strip the parables of the imagery, +and you find that sometimes one thought has been dished up four +or five times, and generally, that an idea is dressed into sacred +grandeur. This mystical method made a little wisdom go a great way +with the multitude; and to such a mode of economizing resources the +instinct of the uneducated man betakes itself, when he is claiming to +act a part for which he is imperfectly prepared. + +It is common with orthodox Christians to take for granted, that +unbelief of Jesus was a sin, and belief a merit, at a time when no +rational grounds of belief were as yet public. Certainly, whoever asks +questions with a view to _prove_ Jesus, is spoken of vituperatingly +in the gospels; and it does appear to me that the prevalent Christian +belief is a true echo of Jesus's own feeling. He disliked being put +to the proof. Instead of rejoicing in it, as a true and upright man +ought,--instead of blaming those who accept his pretensions on too +slight grounds,--instead of encouraging full inquiry and giving frank +explanations, he resents doubt, shuns everything that will test him, +is very obscure as to his own pretensions, (so as to need probing +and positive questions, whether he _does_ or _does not_ profess to +be Messiah,) and yet is delighted at all easy belief. When asked for +miracles, he sighs and groans at the unreasonableness of it; yet +does not honestly and plainly renounce pretension to miracle, as Mr. +Martineau would, but leaves room for credit to himself for as many +miracles as the credulous are willing to impute to him. It is possible +that here the narrative is unjust to his memory. So far from being +the picture of perfection, it sometimes seems to me the picture of a +conscious and wilful impostor. His general character is too high for +_this_; and I therefore make deductions from the account. Still, I do +not see how the present narrative could have grown up, if he had +been really simple and straight-forward, and not perverted by his +essentially false position. Enigma and mist seem to be his element; +and when I find his high satisfaction at all personal recognition and +bowing before his individuality, I almost doubt whether, if one wished +to draw the character of a vain and vacillating pretender, it would be +possible to draw anything more to the purpose than this. His general +rule (before a certain date) is, to be cautious in public, but bold +in private to the favoured few. I cannot think that such a character, +appearing now, would seem to my friend a perfect model of a man. + +No precept bears on its face clearer marks of coming from the genuine +Jesus, than that of _selling all and following him_. This was his +original call to his disciples. It was enunciated authoritatively +on various occasions. It is incorporated with precepts of perpetual +obligation, in such a way, that we cannot without the greatest +violence pretend that he did not intend it as a precept[3] to +_all_ his disciples. In Luke xii. 22-40, he addresses the disciples +collectively against Avarice; and a part of the discourse is: "Fear +not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you +the kingdom. _Sell that ye have, and give alms_: provide yourselves +bags that wax not old; a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, +&c.... Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning," &c. +To say that he was not intending to teach a universal morality,[4] +is to admit that his precepts are a trap; for they then mix up and +confound mere contingent duties with universal sacred obligations, +enunciating all in the same breath, and with the same solemnity. I +cannot think that Jesus intended any separation. In fact, when a +rich young man asked of him what he should do, that he might inherit +eternal life, and pleaded that he had kept the ten commandments, but +felt that to be insufficient, Jesus said unto him: "_If thou wilt be +perfect_, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou +shalt have treasure in heaven:" so that the duty was not contingent +upon the peculiarity of a man possessing apostolic gifts, but was with +Jesus the normal path for all who desired perfection. When the young +man went away sorrowing, Jesus moralized on it, saying: "How hardly +shall a rich man enter into the kingdom of heaven:" which again +shows, that an abrupt renunciation of wealth was to be the general and +ordinary method of entering the kingdom. Hereupon, when the disciples +asked: "Lo! we _have_ forsaken all, and followed thee: what +shall we have _therefore_?" Jesus, instead of rebuking their +self-righteousness, promised them as a reward, that they should sit +upon twelve[5] thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. A precept +thus systematically enforced, is illustrated by the practice, not only +of the twelve, but apparently of the seventy, and what is stronger +still, by the practice of the five thousand disciples after the +celebrated days of the first Pentecost. There was no longer a Jesus +on earth to itinerate with, yet the disciples in the fervour of first +love obeyed his precept: the rich sold their possessions, and laid the +price at the apostles' feet. + +The mischiefs inherent in such a precept rapidly showed themselves, +and good sense corrected the error. But this very fact proves most +emphatically that the precept was pre-apostolic, and came from the +genuine Jesus; otherwise it could never have found its way into +the gospels. It is undeniable, that the first disciples, by whose +tradition alone we have any record of what Jesus taught, understood +him to deliver this precept to _all_ who desired to enter into the +kingdom of heaven,--all who desired to be perfect: why then are we to +refuse belief, and remould the precepts of Jesus till they please our +own morality? This is not the way to learn historical fact. + +That to inculcate religious beggary as the _only_ form and mode of +spiritual perfection, is fanatical and mischievous, even the church +of Rome will admit. Protestants universally reject it as a deplorable +absurdity;--not merely wealthy bishops, squires and merchants, but +the poorest curate also. A man could not preach such doctrine in a +Protestant pulpit without incurring deep reprobation and contempt; +but when preached by Jesus, it is extolled as divine wisdom,--and +disobeyed. + +Now I cannot look on this as a pure intellectual error, consistent +with moral perfection. A deep mistake as to the nature of such +perfection seems to me inherent in the precept itself; a mistake which +indicates a moral unsoundness. The conduct of Jesus to the rich young +man appears to me a melancholy exhibition of perverse doctrine, under +an ostentation of superior wisdom. The young man asked for bread and +Jesus gave him a stone. Justly he went away sorrowful, at receiving a +reply which his conscience rejected as false and foolish. But this is +not all Jesus was necessarily on trial, when any one, however sincere, +came to ask questions so deeply probing the quality of his wisdom +as this: "How may I be perfect?" and to be on trial was always +disagreeable to him. He first gave the reply, "Keep the commandments;" +and if the young man had been satisfied, and had gone away, it appears +that Jesus would have been glad to be rid of him: for his tone is +magisterial, decisive and final. This, I confess, suggests to me, that +the aim of Jesus was not so much to _enlighten_ the young man, as to +stop his mouth, and keep up his own ostentation of omniscience. Had +he desired to enlighten him, surely no mere dry dogmatic command was +needed, but an intelligent guidance of a willing and trusting soul. +I do not pretend to certain knowledge in these matters. Even when we +hear the tones of voice and watch the features, we often mistake. +We have no such means here of checking the narrative. But the best +general result which I can draw from the imperfect materials, is what +I have said. + +After the merit of "selling all and following Jesus," a second merit, +not small, was, to receive those whom he sent. In Matt. x., we read +that he sends out his twelve disciples, (also seventy in Luke,) men at +that time in a very low state of religions development,--men who did +not themselves know what the Kingdom of Heaven meant,--to deliver in +every village and town a mere formula of words: "Repent ye: for the +Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." They were ordered to go without money, +scrip or cloak, but to live on religious alms; and it is added,--that +if any house or city does not receive them, _it shall be more +tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment_ than for it. +He adds, v. 40: "He that receiveth _you_, receiveth _me_, and he that +receiveth _me_, receiveth HIM that sent me."--I quite admit, that in +all probability it was (on the whole) the more pious part of Israel +which was likely to receive these ignorant missionaries; but inasmuch +as they had no claims whatever, intrinsic or extrinsic, to reverence, +it appears to me a very extravagant and fanatical sentiment thus +emphatically to couple the favour or wrath of God with their reception +or rejection. + +A third, yet greater merit in the eyes of Jesus, was, to acknowledge +him as the Messiah predicted by the prophets, which he was not, +according to my friend. According to Matthew (xvi. 13), Jesus put +leading questions to the disciples in order to elicit a confession of +his Messiahship, and emphatically blessed Simon for making the avowal +which he desired; but instantly forbade them to tell the great secret +to any one. Unless this is to be discarded as fiction, Jesus, +although to his disciples in secret he confidently assumed Messianic +pretensions, had a just inward misgiving, which accounts both for his +elation at Simon's avowal, and for his prohibition to publish it. + +In admitting that Jesus was not the Messiah of the prophets, my friend +says, that if Jesus were _less_ than Messiah, we can reverence him +no longer; but that he was _more_ than Messiah. This is to me +unintelligible. The Messiah whom he claimed to be, was not only the +son of David, celebrated in the prophets, but emphatically the Son of +Man of Daniel vii., who shall come in the clouds of heaven, to take +dominion, glory and kingdom, that all people, nations and languages +shall serve him,--an everlasting kingdom which shall not pass away. +How Jesus himself interprets his supremacy, as Son of Man, in Matt. +x., xi., xxiii., xxv., and elsewhere, I have already observed. To +claim such a character, seems to me like plunging from a pinnacle +of the temple. If miraculous power holds him up and makes good his +daring, he is more than man; but if otherwise, to have failed will +break all his bones. I can no longer give the same human reverence +as before to one who has been seduced into vanity so egregious; and +I feel assured _ą priori_ that such presumption _must have_ entangled +him into evasions and insincerities, which _naturally_ end in +crookedness of conscience and real imposture, however noble a man's +commencement, and however unshrinking his sacrifices of goods and ease +and life. + +The time arrived at last, when Jesus felt that he must publicly assert +Messiahship; and this was certain to bring things to an issue. I +suppose him to have hoped that he was Messiah, until hope and the +encouragement given him by Peter and others grew into a persuasion +strong enough to act upon, but not always strong enough to still +misgivings. I say, I suppose this; but I build nothing on my +supposition. I however see, that when he had resolved to claim +Messiahship publicly, one of two results was inevitable, _if_ that +claim was ill-founded:--viz., either he must have become an impostor, +in order to screen his weakness; or, he must have retracted his +pretensions amid much humiliation, and have retired into privacy to +learn sober wisdom. From these alternatives _there was escape only by +death_, and upon death Jesus purposely rushed. + +All Christendom has always believed that the death of Jesus was +_voluntarily_ incurred; and unless no man ever became a wilful martyr, +I cannot conceive why we are to doubt the fact concerning Jesus. When +he resolved to go up to Jerusalem, he was warned by his disciples +of the danger; but so far was he from being blind to it, that +he distinctly announced to them that he knew he should suffer in +Jerusalem the shameful death of a malefactor. On his arrival in the +suburbs, his first act was, ostentatiously to ride into the city on an +ass's colt in the midst of the acclamations of the multitude, in order +to exhibit himself as having a just right to the throne of David. Thus +he gave a handle to imputations of intended treason.--He next entered +the temple courts, where doves and lambs were sold for sacrifice, +and--(I must say it to my friend's amusement, and in defiance of his +kind but keen ridicule,) committed a breach of the peace by flogging +with a whip those who trafficked in the area. By such conduct he +undoubtedly made himself liable to legal punishment, and probably +might have been publicly scourged for it, had the rulers chosen to +moderate their vengeance. But he "meant to be prosecuted for treason, +not for felony," to use the words of a modern offender. He therefore +commenced the most exasperating attacks on all the powerful, +calling them hypocrites and whited sepulchres and vipers' brood; and +denouncing upon them the "condemnation of hell." He was successful. He +had both enraged the rulers up to the point of thirsting for his life, +and given colour to the charge of political rebellion. He resolved +to die; and he died. Had his enemies contemptuously let him live, he +would have been forced to act the part of Jewish Messiah, or renounce +Messiahship. + +If any one holds Jesus to be not amenable to the laws of human +morality, I am not now reasoning with such a one. But if any one +claims for him a human perfection, then I say that his conduct on this +occasion was neither laudable nor justifiable; far otherwise. There +are cases in which life may be thrown away for a great cause; as when +a leader in battle rushes upon certain death, in order to animate +his own men; but the case before us has no similarity to that. If +our accounts are not wholly false, Jesus knowingly and purposely +exasperated the rulers into a great crime,--the crime of taking his +life from personal resentment. His inflammatory addresses to the +multitude have been defended as follows: + +"The prophetic Spirit is sometimes oblivious of the rules of the +drawing-room; and inspired Conscience, like the inspiring God, seeing +a hypocrite, will take the liberty to say so, and act accordingly. Are +the superficial amenities, the soothing fictions, the smotherings of +the burning heart,... really paramount in this world, and never to +give way? and when a soul of _power, unable to refrain_, rubs off, +though it be with rasping words, all the varnish from rottenness and +lies, is he to be tried in our courts of compliment for a misdemeanor? +Is there never a higher duty than that of either pitying or converting +guilty men,--the duty of publicly exposing them? of awakening the +popular conscience, and sweeping away the conventional timidities, +for a severe return to truth and reality? No rule of morals can be +recognized as just, which prohibits conformity of human speech to +fact; and insists on terms of civility being kept with all manner of +iniquity." + +I certainly have not appealed to any conventional morality of +drawing-room compliment, but to the highest and purest principles +which I know; and I lament to find my judgment so extremely in +opposition. To me it seems that _inability to refrain_ shows weakness, +not _power_, of soul, and that nothing is easier than to give vent to +violent invective against bad rulers. The last sentence quoted, seems +to say, that the speaking of Truth is never to be condemned: but I +cannot agree to this. When Truth will only exasperate, and cannot do +good, silence is imperative. A man who reproaches an armed tyrant in +words too plain, does but excite him to murder; and the shocking thing +is, that this seems to have been the express object of Jesus. No good +result could be reasonably expected. Publicly to call men in authority +by names of intense insult, the writer of the above distinctly sees +will never convert them; but he thinks it was adapted to awaken the +popular conscience. Alas! it needs no divine prophet to inflame a +multitude against the avarice, hypocrisy, and oppression of rulers, +nor any deep inspiration of conscience in the multitude to be wide +awake on that point themselves A Publius Clodius or a Cleon will do +that work as efficiently as a Jesus; nor does it appear that the poor +are made better by hearing invectives against the rich and powerful. +If Jesus had been aiming, in a good cause, to excite rebellion, the +mode of address which he assumed seems highly appropriate; and in such +a calamitous necessity, to risk exciting murderous enmity would be the +act of a hero: but as the account stands, it seems to me the deed of +a fanatic. And it is to me manifest that he overdid his attack, and +failed to commend it to the conscience of his hearers. For up to +this point the multitude was in his favour. He was notoriously so +acceptable to the many, as to alarm the rulers; indeed the belief +of his popularity had shielded him from prosecution. But after this +fierce address he has no more popular support. At his public trial the +vast majority judge him to deserve punishment, and prefer to ask free +forgiveness for Barabbas, a bandit who was in prison for murder. We +moderns, nursed in an arbitrary belief concerning these events, drink +in with our first milk the assumption that Jesus alone was guiltless, +and all the other actors in this sad affair inexcusably guilty. Let no +one imagine that I defend for a moment the cruel punishment which raw +resentment inflicted on him. But though the rulers felt the rage of +Vengeance, the people, who had suffered no personal wrong, were moved +only by ill-measured Indignation. The multitude love to hear the +powerful exposed and reproached up to a certain limit; but if reproach +go clearly beyond all that they feel to be deserved, a violent +sentiment reacts on the head of the reviler: and though popular +indignation (even when free from the element of selfishness) ill fixes +the due _measure_ of Punishment, I have a strong belief that it is +righteous, when it pronounces the verdict Guilty. + +Does my friend deny that the death of Jesus was wilfully incurred? The +"orthodox" not merely admit, but maintain it. Their creed justifies it +by the doctrine, that his death was a "sacrifice" so pleasing to +God, as to expiate the sins of the world. This honestly meets the +objections to self-destruction; for how better could life be used, +than by laying it down for such a prize? But besides all other +difficulties in the very idea of atonement, the orthodox creed +startles us by the incredible conception, that a voluntary sacrifice +of life should be unacceptable to God, unless offered by ferocious and +impious hands. If Jesus had "authority from the Father to lay down his +life," was he unable to stab himself in the desert, or on the sacred +altar of the Temple, without involving guilt to any human being? +Did He, who is at once "High Priest" and Victim, when "offering +up himself" and "presenting his own blood unto God," need any +justification for using the sacrificial knife? The orthodox view more +clearly and unshrinkingly avows, that Jesus deliberately goaded the +wicked rulers into the deeper wickedness of murdering him; but on my +friend's view, that Jesus was _no_ sacrifice, but only a Model man, +his death is an unrelieved calamity. Nothing but a long and complete +life could possibly test the fact of his perfection; and the longer he +lived, the better for the world. + +In entire consistency with his previous determination to die, Jesus, +when arraigned, refused to rebut accusation, and behaved as one +pleading Guilty. He was accused of saying that if they destroyed the +temple, he would rebuild it in three days; but how this was to the +purpose, the evangelists who name it do not make clear. The fourth +however (without intending so to do) explains it; and I therefore am +disposed to believe his statement, though I put no faith in his long +discourses. It appears (John ii. 18-20) that Jesus after scourging the +people out of the temple-court, was asked for a sign to justify his +assuming so very unusual authority: on which he replied: "Destroy +this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." Such a reply was +regarded as a manifest evasion; since he was sure that they would +not pull the temple down in order to try whether he could raise it up +miraculously. Now if Jesus really meant what the fourth gospel says he +meant;--if he "spoke of _the temple of his body_;"--how was any one +to guess that? It cannot be denied, that such a reply, _primā facie_, +suggested, that he was a wilful impostor: was it not then his obvious +duty, when this accusation was brought against him, to explain that +his words had been mystical and had been misunderstood? The form of +the imputation in Mark xiv. 58, would make it possible to imagine,--if +the _three days_ were left out, and if his words were _not_ said in +reply to the demand of a sign,--that Jesus had merely avowed that +though the outward Jewish temple were to be destroyed, he would erect +a church of worshippers as a spiritual temple. If so, "John" has +grossly misrepresented him, and then obtruded a very far-fetched +explanation. But whatever was the meaning of Jesus, if it was honest, +I think he was bound to explain it; and not leave a suspicion of +imposture to rankle in men's minds.[6] Finally, if the whole were +fiction, and he never uttered such words, then it was his duty to deny +them, and not remain dumb like a sheep before its shearers. + +After he had confirmed by his silence the belief that he had used +a dishonest evasion indicative of consciousness that he was no real +Messiah, he suddenly burst out with a full reply to the High Priest's +question; and avowed that he _was_ the Messiah, the Son of God; and +that they should hereafter see him sitting on the right-hand of power, +and coming in the clouds of heaven,--of course to enter into judgment +on them all. I am the less surprized that this precipitated his +condemnation, since he himself seems to have designed precisely that +result. The exasperation which he had succeeded in kindling led to his +cruel death; and when men's minds had cooled, natural horror possessed +them for such a retribution on such a man. His _words_ had been met +with _deeds_: the provocation he had given was unfelt to those beyond +the limits of Jerusalem; and to the Jews who assembled from distant +parts at the feast of Pentecost he was nothing but the image of a +sainted martyr. + +I have given more than enough indications of points in which the +conduct of Jesus does not seem to me to have been that of a perfect +man: how any one can think him a Universal Model, is to me still less +intelligible. I might say much more on this subject. But I will merely +add, that when my friend gives the weight of his noble testimony to +the Perfection of Jesus, I think it is due to himself and to us that +he should make clear what he means by this word "Jesus." He ought +to publish--(I say it in deep seriousness, not sarcastically)--an +expurgated gospel; for in truth I do not know how much of what I have +now adduced from the gospel as _fact_, he will admit to be fact. I +neglect, he tells me, "a higher moral criticism," which, if I rightly +understand, would explode, as evidently unworthy of Jesus, many of the +representations pervading the gospels: as, that Jesus claimed to be +an oracular teacher, and attached spiritual life or death to belief +or disbelief in this claim. My friend says, it is beyond all serious +question _what_ Jesus _was_: but his disbelief of the narrative seems +to be so much wider than mine, as to leave me more uncertain than +ever about it. If he will strike out of the gospels all that he +disbelieves, and so enable me to understand _what_ is the Jesus whom +he reveres, I have so deep a sense of his moral and critical powers, +that I am fully prepared to expect that he may remove many of my +prejudices and relieve my objections: but I cannot honestly say that +I see the least probability of his altering my conviction, that in +_consistency_ of goodness Jesus fell far below vast numbers of his +unhonoured disciples. + + +[Footnote 1: I have by accident just taken up the "British +Quarterly," and alighted upon the following sentence concerning Madame +Roland:--"_To say that she was without fault, would be to say that she +was not human_." This so entirely expresses and concludes all that I +have to say, that I feel surprise at my needing at all to write such a +chapter as the present.] + +[Footnote 2: I am acquainted with the interpretation, that the +word Mōrč is not here Greek, _i.e., fool_, but is Hebrew, and means +_rebel_, which is stronger than Raca, _silly fellow_. This gives +partial, but only partial relief.] + +[Footnote 3: Indeed we have in Luke vi. 20-24, a version of the +Beatitudes so much in harmony with this lower doctrine, as to make +it an open question, whether the version in Matth. v. is not +an improvement upon Jesus, introduced by the purer sense of the +collective church. In Luke, he does not bless the poor _in spirit_, +and those who hunger _after righteousness_, but absolutely the "poor" +and the "hungry," and all who honour _Him_; and in contrast, curses +_the rich_ and those who are full.] + +[Footnote 4: At the close, is the parable about the absent master of +a house; and Peter asks, "Lord? (Sir?) speakest thou this parable +unto _us_, or also unto _all_?" Who would not have hoped an ingenuous +reply, "To you only," or, "To everybody"? Instead of which, so +inveterate is his tendency to muffle up the simplest things in +mystery, he replies, "Who then is that faithful and wise steward," +&c., &c., and entirely evades reply to the very natural question.] + +[Footnote 5: This implied that Judas, as one of the twelve, had earned +the heavenly throne by the price of earthly goods.] + +[Footnote 6: If the account in John is not wholly false, I think the +reply in every case discreditable. If literal, it all but indicates +wilful imposture. If mystical, it is disingenuously evasive; and it +tended, not to instruct, but to irritate, and to move suspicion +and contempt. Is this the course for a religious teacher?--to speak +darkly, so as to mislead and prejudice; and this, when he represents +it as a matter of spiritual life and death to accept his teaching and +his supremacy?] + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +ON BIGOTRY AND PROGRESS. + + +If any Christian reader has been patient enough to follow me thus far, +I now claim that he will judge my argument and me, as before the +bar of God, and not by the conventional standards of the Christian +churches. + +Morality and Truth are principles in human nature both older and more +widespread than Christianity or the Bible: and neither Jesus nor James +nor John nor Paul could have addressed or did address men in any +other tone, than that of claiming to be themselves judged by some +pre-existing standard of moral truth, and by the inward powers of the +hearer. Does the reader deny this? or, admitting it, does he think it +impious to accept their challenge? Does he say that we are to love and +embrace Christianity, without trying to ascertain whether it be true +or false? If he say, Yes,--such a man has no love or care for Truth, +and is but by accident a Christian. He would have remained a faithful +heathen, had he been born in heathenism, though Moses, Elijah and +Christ preached a higher truth to him. Such a man is condemned by his +own confession, and I here address him no longer. + +But if Faith is a spiritual and personal thing, if Belief given at +random to mere high pretensions is an immorality, if Truth is not +to be quite trampled down, nor Conscience to be wholly palsied in +us,--then what, I ask, was I to do, when I saw that the genealogy in +the first chapter of Matthew is an erroneous copy of that in the Old +Testament? and that the writer has not only copied wrong, but also +counted wrong, so, as to mistake eighteen for fourteen? Can any man, +who glories in the name of Christian, lay his hand on his heart, and +say, it was my duty to blind my eyes to the fact, and think of it no +further? Many, alas, I know, would have whispered this to me; but if +any one were to proclaim it, the universal conscience of mankind would +call him impudent. + +If however this first step was right, was a second step wrong? When I +further discerned that the two genealogies in Matthew and Luke were +at variance, utterly irreconcilable,--and both moreover nugatory, +because they are genealogies of Joseph, who is denied to be the father +of Jesus,--on what ground of righteousness, which I could approve to +God and my conscience, could I shut my eyes to this second fact? + +When forced, against all my prepossessions, to admit that the two +first chapters of Matthew and the two first chapters of Luke are +mutually destructive,[1] would it have been faithfulness to the God of +Truth, or a self-willed love of my own prejudices, if I had said, "I +will not inquire further, for fear it should unsettle my faith?" The +reader's conscience will witness to me, that, on the contrary, I was +bound to say, what I did say: "I _must_ inquire further in order that +I may plant the foundations of my faith more deeply on the rock of +Truth."' + +Having discovered, that not all that is within the canon of the +Scripture is infallibly correct, and that the human understanding is +competent to arraign and convict at least some kinds of error therein +contained;--where was I to stop? and if I am guilty, where did my +guilt begin? The further I inquired, the more errors crowded upon me, +in History, in Chronology, in Geography, in Physiology, in Geology.[2] +Did it _then_ at last become a duty to close my eyes to the painful +light? and if I had done so, ought I to have flattered myself that +I was one of those, who being of the truth, come to the lights that +their deeds may be reproved? + +Moreover, when I had clearly perceived, that since all evidence for +Christianity must involve _moral_ considerations, to undervalue +the moral faculties of mankind is to make Christian evidence an +impossibility and to propagate universal scepticism;--was I then so to +distrust the common conscience, as to believe that the Spirit of God +pronounced Jael blessed, for perfidiously murdering her husband's +trusting friend? Does any Protestant reader feel disgust and horror, +at the sophistical defences set up for the massacre of St. Bartholomew +and other atrocities of the wicked Church of Rome? Let him stop his +mouth, and hide his face, if he dares to justify the foul crime of +Jael. + +Or when I was thus forced to admit, that the Old Testament praised +immorality, as well as enunciated error; and found nevertheless in +the writers of the New Testament no indication that they were aware +of either; but that, on the contrary, "the Scripture" (as the book was +vaguely called) is habitually identified with the infallible "word +of God;"--was it wrong in me to suspect that the writers of the New +Testament were themselves open to mistake? + +When I farther found, that Luke not only claims no infallibility and +no inspiration, but distinctly assigns human sources as his means of +knowledge;--when the same Luke had already been discovered to be +in irreconcilable variance with Matthew concerning the infancy of +Jesus;--was I sinful in feeling that I had no longer any guarantee +against _other_ possible error in these writers? or ought I to have +persisted in obtruding on the two evangelists on infallibility of +which Luke shows himself unconscious, which Matthew nowhere claims, +and which I had demonstrative proof that they did not both possess? A +thorough-going Bibliolater will have to impeach me as a sinner on this +count. + +After Luke and Matthew stood before me as human writers, liable to and +convicted of human error, was there any reason why I should look on +Mark as more sacred? And having perceived all three to participate in +the common superstition, derived from Babylon and the East, traceable +in history to its human source, existing still in Turkey and +Abyssinia,--the superstition which mistakes mania, epilepsy, and other +forms of disease, for possession by devils;--should I have shown love +of truth, or obstinacy in error, had I refused to judge freely of +these three writers, as of any others who tell similar marvels? or +was it my duty to resolve, at any rate and against evidence, to acquit +them of the charge of superstition and misrepresentation? + +I will not trouble the reader with any further queries. If he has +justified me in his conscience thus far, he will justify my proceeding +to abandon myself to the results of inquiry. He will feel, that the +Will cannot, may not, dare not dictate, whereto the inquiries of the +Understanding shall lead; and that to allege that it _ought_, is +to plant the root of Insincerity, Falsehood, Bigotry, Cruelty, and +universal Rottenness of Soul. + +The vice of Bigotry has been so indiscriminately imputed to the +religious, that they seem apt to forget that it is a real sin;--a sin +which in Christendom has been and is of all sins most fruitful, most +poisonous: nay, grief of griefs! it infects many of the purest and +most lovely hearts, which want strength of understanding, or are +entangled by a sham theology, with its false facts and fraudulent +canons. But upon all who mourn for the miseries which Bigotry has +perpetrated from the day when Christians first learned to curse; upon +all who groan over the persecutions and wars stirred up by Romanism; +upon all who blush at the overbearing conduct of Protestants in their +successive moments of brief authority,--a sacred duty rests in this +nineteenth century of protesting against Bigotry, not from a love of +ease, but from a spirit of earnest justice. + +Like the first Christians, they must become _confessors_ of the Truth; +not obtrusively, boastfully, dogmatically, or harshly; but, "speaking +the truth in love," not be ashamed to avow, if they do not believe all +that others profess, and that they abhor the unrighteous principle of +judging men by an authoritative creed. The evil of Bigotry which has +been most observed, is its untameable injustice, which converted the +law of love into licensed murder or gratuitous hatred. But I believe +a worse evil still has been, the intense reaction of the human mind +against Religion for Bigotry's sake. To the millions of Europe, +bigotry has been a confutation of all pious feeling. So unlovely has +religion been made by it, + + Horribili super aspectu mortalibus instans, + +that now, as 2000 years ago, men are lapsing into Atheism or +Pantheism; and a totally new "dispensation" is wanted to retrieve the +lost reputation of Piety. + +Two opposite errors are committed by those who discern that the +pretensions of the national religious systems are overstrained and +unjustifiable. One class of persons inveighs warmly, bitterly, rudely +against the bigotry of Christians; and know not how deep and holy +affections and principles, in spite of narrowness, are cherished in +the bosom of the Christian society. Hence their invective is harsh and +unsympathizing; and appears so essentially unjust and so ignorant, +as to exasperate and increase the very bigotry which it attacks. An +opposite class know well, and value highly, the moral influences of +Christianity, and from an intense dread of harming or losing these, +do not dare plainly and publicly to avow their own convictions. Great +numbers of English laymen are entirely assured, that the Old Testament +abounds with error, and that the New is not always unimpeachable: +yet they only whisper this; and in the hearing of a clergyman, who is +bound by Articles and whom it is indecent to refute, keep a respectful +silence. As for ministers of religion, these, being called perpetually +into a practical application of the received doctrine of their church, +are of all men least able to inquire into any fundamental errors in +that doctrine. Eminent persons among them will nevertheless aim after +and attain a purer truth than that which they find established: +but such a case must always be rare and exceptive. Only by disusing +ministerial service can any one give fair play to doubts concerning +the wisdom and truth of that which he is solemnly ministering: hence +that friend of Arnold's was wise in this world, who advised him +to take a curacy in order to settle his doubts concerning the +Trinity.--Nowhere from any body of priests, clergy, or ministers, as +an Order, is religious progress to be anticipated, until intellectual +creeds are destroyed. A greater responsibility therefore is laid upon +laymen, to be faithful and bold in avowing their convictions. + +Yet it is not from the practical ministers of religion, that the great +opposition to religious reform proceeds. The "secular clergy" (as the +Romanists oddly call them) were seldom so bigoted as the "regulars." +So with us, those who minister to men in their moral trials have +for the most part a deeper moral spirit, and are less apt to place +religion in systems of propositions. The _robur legionum_ of bigotry, +I believe, is found,--first, in non-parochial clergy, and next in the +anonymous writers for religious journals and "conservative" newspapers; +who too generally[3] adopt a style of which they would be ashamed, +if the names of the writers were attached; who often seem desirous to +make it clear that it is their trade to carp, insult, or slander; +who assume a tone of omniscience, at the very moment when they show +narrowness of heart and judgment. To such writing those who desire +to promote earnest Thought and tranquil Progress ought anxiously to +testify their deep repugnance. A large part of this slander and insult +is prompted by a base pandering to the (real or imagined) taste of the +public, and will abate when it visibly ceases to be gainful. + + * * * * * + +The law of God's moral universe, as known to us, is that of Progress. +We trace it from old barbarism to the methodized Egyptian idolatry; +to the more flexible Polytheism of Syria and Greece; the poetical +Pantheism of philosophers, and the moral monotheism of a few sages. +So in Palestine and in the Bible itself we see, first of all, the +image-worship of Jacob's family, then the incipient elevation of +Jehovah above all other Gods by Moses, the practical establishment +of the worship of Jehovah alone by Samuel, the rise of spiritual +sentiment under David and the Psalmists, the more magnificent views +of Hezekiah's prophets, finally in the Babylonish captivity the new +tenderness assumed by that second Isaiah and the later Psalmists. But +ceremonialism more and more encrusted the restored nation; and Jesus +was needed to spur and stab the conscience of his contemporaries, +and recal them to more spiritual perceptions; to proclaim a coming +"kingdom of heaven," in which should be gathered all the children of +God that were scattered abroad; where the law of love should reign, +and no one should dictate to another. Alas! that this great movement +had its admixture of human imperfection. After this, Steven the +protomartyr, and Paul once him persecutor, had to expose the emptiness +of all external santifications, and free the world from the law of +Moses. _Up_ to this point all Christians approve of progress; but _at_ +this point they want to arrest it. + +The arguments of those who resist Progress are always the same, +whether it be Pagans against Hebrews, Jews against Christians, +Romanists against Protestants, or modern Christians against the +advocates of a higher spiritualism. Each established system +assures its votaries, that now at length they have attained a final +perfection: that their foundations are irremovable: progress _up_ to +that position was a duty, _beyond_ it is a sin. Each displaces its +predecessor by superior goodness, but then each fights against his +successor by odium, contempt, exclusions and (when possible) by +violences. Each advances mankind one step, and forbids them to take a +second. Yet if it be admitted that in the earlier movement the party +of progress was always right, confidence that the case is now reversed +is not easy to justify. + +Every persecuting church has numbered among its members thousands +of pious people, so grateful for its services, or so attached to its +truth, as to think those impious who desire something purer and more +perfect. Herein we may discern, that every nation and class is +liable to the peculiar illusion of overesteeming the sanctity of its +ancestral creed. It is as much our duty to beware of this illusion, as +of any other. All know how easily our patriotism may degenerate into +an unjust repugnance to foreigners, and that the more intense it is, +the greater the need of antagonistic principles. So also, the real +excellencies of our religion may only so much the more rivet us in +a wrong aversion to those who do not acknowledge its authority or +perfection. + +It is probable that Jesus desired a state of things in which all who +worship God spiritually should have an acknowledged and conscious +union. It is clear that Paul longed above all things to overthrow +the "wall of partition" which separated two families of sincere +worshippers. Yet we now see stronger and higher walls of partition +than ever, between the children of the same God,--with a new law of +the letter, more entangling to the conscience, and more depressing to +the mental energies, than any outward service of the Levitical law. +The cause of all this is to be found in _the claim of Messiahship for +Jesus._ This gave a premium to crooked logic, in order to prove that +the prophecies meant what they did not mean and could not mean. This +perverted men's notions of right and wrong, by imparting factitious +value to a literary and historical proposition, "Jesus is the +Messiah," as though that were or could be religion. This gave merit +to credulity, and led pious men to extol it as a brave and noble deed, +when any one overpowered the scruples of good sense, and scolded them +down as the wisdom of this world, which is hostile to God. This put +the Christian church into an essentially false position, by excluding +from it in the first century all the men of most powerful and +cultivated understanding among the Greeks and Romans. This taught +Christians to boast of the hostility of the wise and prudent, and +in every controversy ensured that the party which had the merit of +mortifying reason most signally should be victorious. Hence, the +downward career of the Church into base superstition was determined +and inevitable from her very birth; nor was any improvement possible, +until a reconciliation should be effected between Christianity and the +cultivated reason which it had slighted and insulted. + +Such reconciliation commenced, I believe, from the tenth century, when +the Latin moralists began to be studied as a part of a theological +course. It was continued with still greater results when Greek +literature became accessible to churchmen. Afterwards, the physics +of Galileo and of Newton began not only to undermine numerous +superstitions, but to give to men a confidence in the reality of +abstract truth, and in our power to attain it in other domains than +that of geometrical demonstration. This, together with the philosophy +of Locke, was taken up into Christian thought, and Political +Toleration was the first fruit. Beyond that point, English religion +has hardly gone. For in spite of all that has since been done in +Germany for the true and accurate _exposition_ of the Bible, and for +the scientific establishment of the history of its component books, +we still remain deplorably ignorant here of these subjects. In +consequence, English Christians do not know that they are unjust and +utterly unreasonable, in expecting thoughtful men to abide by the +creed of their ancestors. Nor, indeed, is there any more stereotyped +and approved calumny, than the declaration so often emphatically +enunciated from the pulpit, that _unbelief in the Christian miracles +is the fruit of a wicked heart and of a soul enslaved to sin_. Thus +do estimable and well-meaning men, deceived and deceiving one another, +utter base slander in open church, where it is indecorous to reply +to them,--and think that they are bravely delivering a religions +testimony. + +No difficulty is encountered, so long as the _inward_ and the +_outward_ rule of religion agree,--by whatever names men call +them,--the Spirit and the Word--or Reason and the Church,--or +Conscience and Authority. None need settle which of the two rules is +the greater, so long as the results coincide: in fact, there is no +controversy, no struggle, and also probably no progress. A child +cannot guess whether father or mother has the higher authority, +until discordant commands are given; but then commences the painful +necessity of disobeying one in order to obey the other. So, also, the +great and fundamental controversies of religion arise, only when a +discrepancy is detected between the inward and the outward rule: and +then, there are only two possible solutions. If the Spirit within us +and the Bible (or Church) without us are at variance, _we must either +follow the inward and disregard the outward law; else we must renounce +the inward law and obey the outward_. The Romanist bids us to obey +the Church and crush our inward judgment: the Spiritualist, on the +contrary, follows his inward law, and, when necessary, defies Church, +Bible, or any other authority. The orthodox Protestant is better +and truer than the Romanist, because the Protestant is not like the +latter, consistent in error, but often goes right: still he _is_ +inconsistent as to this point. Against the Spiritualist he uses +Romanist principles, telling him that he ought to submit his "proud +reason" and accept the "Word of God" as infallible, even though it +appear to him to contain errors. But against the Romanist the same +disputant avows Spiritualist principles, declaring that since "the +Church" appears to him to be erroneous, he dares not to accept it as +infallible. What with the Romanist he before called "proud reason," +he now designates as Conscience, Understanding, and perhaps the Holy +Spirit. He refused to allow the right of the Spiritualist to urge, +that _the Bible_ contains contradictions and immoralities, and +therefore cannot be received; but he claims a full right to urge +that _the Church_ has justified contradictions and immoralities, and +therefore is not to be submitted to. The perception that this +position is inconsistent, and, to him who discerns the inconsistency, +dishonest, is every year driving Protestants to Rome. And _in +principle_ there are only two possible religions: the Personal and the +Corporate; the Spiritual and the External. I do not mean to say that +in Romanism there is nothing but what is Corporate and External; for +that is impossible to human nature: but that this is what the theory +of their argument demands; and their doctrine of Implicit[4] (or +Virtual) Faith entirely supersedes intellectual perception as well as +intellectual conviction. The theory of each church is the force which +determines to what centre the whole shall gravitate. However men may +talk of spirituality, yet let them once enact that the freedom of +individuals shall be absorbed in a corporate conscience, and you +find that the narrowest heart and meanest intellect sets the rule of +conduct for the whole body. + +It has been often observed how the controversies of the Trinity and +Incarnation depended on the niceties of the Greek tongue. I do not +know whether it has ever been inquired, what confusion of thought +was shed over Gentile Christianity, from its very origin, by the +imperfection of the New Testament Greek. The single Greek[5] word +[Greek: pistis] needs probably three translations into our far more +accurate tongue,--viz., Belief, Trust, Faith; but especially Belief +and Faith have important contrasts. Belief is purely intellectual; +Faith is properly spiritual. Hence the endless controversy about +Justification by [Greek: pistis], which has so vexed Christians; hence +the slander cast on _unbelievers_ or _misbelievers_ (when they can +no longer be burned or exiled), as though they were _faithless_ and +_infidels_. + +But nothing of this ought to be allowed to blind us to the truly +spiritual and holy developments of historical Christianity,--much +less, make us revert to the old Paganism or Pantheism which it +supplanted.--The great doctrine on which all practical religion +depends,--the doctrine which nursed the infancy and youth of human +nature,--is, "the sympathy of God with the perfection of individual +man." Among Pagans this was so marred by the imperfect characters +ascribed to the Gods, and the dishonourable fables told concerning +them, that the philosophers who undertook to prune religion too +generally cut away the root, by alleging[6] that God was mere +Intellect and wholly destitute of Affections. But happily among the +Hebrews the purity of God's character was vindicated; and with the +growth of conscience in the highest minds of the nation the ideal +image of God shone brighter and brighter. The doctrine of his Sympathy +was never lost, and from the Jews it passed into the Christian church. +This doctrine, applied to that part of man which is divine, is the +wellspring of Repentance and Humility, of Thankfulness, Love, and Joy. +It reproves and it comforts; it stimulates and animates. This it is +which led the Psalmist to cry, "Whom have I in heaven but Thee? there +is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee." This has satisfied +prophets, apostles, and martyrs with God as their Portion. This has +been passed from heart to heart for full three thousand years, and has +produced bands of countless saints. Let us not cut off our sympathies +from those, who have learnt to sympathize with God; nor be blind +to that spiritual good which they have; even if it be, more or less +sensibly, tinged with intellectual error. In fact, none but God knows, +how many Christian hearts are really pure from bigotry. I cannot +refuse to add my testimony, such as it is, to the effect, that _the +majority is always truehearted_. As one tyrant, with a small band of +unscrupulous tools, manages to use the energies of a whole nation of +kind and well-meaning people for cruel purposes, so the bigoted few, +who work out an evil theory with consistency, often succeed in using +the masses of simpleminded Christians as their tools for oppression. +Let us not think more harshly than is necessary of the anathematizing +churches. Those who curse us with their lips, often love us in their +hearts. A very deep fountain of tenderness can mingle with their +bigotry itself: and with tens of thousands, the evil belief is a dead +form, the spiritual love is a living reality. Whether Christians +like it or not, we must needs look to Historians, to Linguists, to +Physiologists, to Philosophers, and generally, to men of cultivated +understanding, to gain help in all those subjects which are +preposterously called _Theology_: but for devotional aids, for pious +meditations, for inspiring hymns, for purifying and glowing thoughts, +we have still to wait upon that succession of kindling souls, among +whom may be named with special honour David and Isaiah, Jesus and +Paul, Augustine, A Kempis, Fenelon, Leighton, Baxter, Doddridge, +Watts, the two Wesleys, and Channing. + +Religion was created by the inward instincts of the soul: it had +afterwards to be pruned and chastened by the sceptical understanding. +For its perfection, the co-operation of these two parts of man is +essential. While religious persons dread critical and searching +thought, and critics despise instinctive religion, each side remains +imperfect and curtailed. + +It is a complaint often made by religious historians, that no church +can sustain its spirituality unimpaired through two generations, and +that in the third a total irreligion is apt to supervene. Sometimes +indeed the transitions are abrupt, from an age of piety to an age of +dissoluteness. The liability to such lamentable revulsions is plainly +due to some insufficiency in the religion to meet all the wants of +human nature. To scold at that nature is puerile, and implies an +ignorance of the task which religion undertakes. To lay the fault +on the sovereign will of God, who has "withheld his grace" from the +grandchildren of the pious, might be called blasphemy, if we were +disposed to speak harshly. The fault lies undoubtedly in the fact, +that Practical Devoutness and Free Thought stand apart in unnatural +schism. But surely the age is ripe for something better;--for +a religion which stall combine the tenderness, humility, and +disinterestedness, that are the glory of the purest Christianity, +with that activity of intellect, untiring pursuit of truth, and strict +adherence to impartial principle, which the schools of modern science +embody. When a spiritual church has its senses exercised to discern +good and evil, judges of right and wrong by an inward power, proves +all things and holds fast that which is good, fears no truth, but +rejoices in being corrected, intellectually as well as morally,--it +will not be liable to be "carried to and fro" by shifting winds of +doctrine. It will indeed have movement, namely, a steady _onward_ one, +as the schools of science have had, since they left off to dogmatize, +and approached God's world as learners; but it will lay aside disputes +of words, eternal vacillations, mutual illwill and dread of new light, +and will be able without hypocrisy to proclaim "peace on earth and +goodwill towards men," even towards those who reject its beliefs and +sentiments concerning "God and his glory." + +NOTE ON PAGE 168. + +The author of the "Eclipse of Faith," in his Defence (p. 168), +referring to my reply in p. 101 above, says:--"In this very paragraph +Mr. Newman shows that I have _not_ misrepresented him, nor is it +true that I overlooked his novel hypothesis. He says that 'Gibbon is +exhibiting and developing the deep-seated causes of the _spread_ of +Christianity before Constantine,'--which Mr. Newman says had _not_ +spread. On the contrary; he assumes that the Christians were 'a small +fraction,' and thus _does_ dismiss in two sentences, I might have said +three words, what Gibbon had strained every nerve in his celebrated +chapter to account for." + +Observe his phrase, "On the contrary." It is impossible to say more +plainly, that Gibbon represents the spread of Christianity before +Constantine to have been very great, and then laboured in vain to +account for that spread; and that I, _arbitrarily setting aside +Gibbon's fact as to the magnitude of the "spread_," cut the knot which +he could not untie. + +But the fact, as between Gibbon and me, is flatly the reverse. +I advance nothing novel as to the numbers of the Christians, no +hypothesis of my own, no assumption. I have merely adopted Gibbon's +own historical estimate, that (judging, as he does judge, by the +examples of Rome and Antioch), the Christians before the rise of +Constantine were but a small fraction of the population. Indeed, he +says, not above _one-twentieth_ part; on which I laid no stress. + +It may be that Gibbon is here in error. I shall willingly withdraw any +historical argument, if shown that I have unawares rested on a false +basis. In balancing counter statements and reasons from diverse +sources, different minds come to different statistical conclusions. +Dean Milman ("Hist. of Christianity," vol. ii. p. 341) when +deliberately weighing opposite opinions, says cautiously, that "Gibbon +is perhaps inclined to underrate" the number of the Christians. He +adds: "M. Beugnot agrees much with Gibbon, and I should conceive, with +regard to the West, is clearly right." + +I beg the reader to observe, that I have _not_ represented the +numerical strength of the Christians in Constantine's army to be +great. Why my opponent should ridicule my use of the phrase _Christian +regiments_, I am too dull to understand. ("Who would not think," +says he, "that it was one of Constantine's _aide-de-camps_ that was +speaking?") It may be that I am wrong in using the plural noun, and +that there was only _one_ such regiment,--that which carried the +Labarum, or standard of the cross (Gibbon, ch. 20), to which so much +efficacy was attributed in the war against Licinius. I have no time at +present, nor any need for further inquiries on such matters. It is +to the devotion and organization of the Christians, not to their +proportionate numbers, that I attributed weight. If (as Milman says) +Gibbon and Beugnot are "clearly right" as regards _the West_--_i.e._, +as regards all that vast district which became the area of modern +European Christendom, I see nothing in my argument which requires +modification. + +But why did Christianity, while opposed by the ruling powers, spread +"_in the East?_" In the very chapter from which I have quoted, Dean +Milman justifies me in saying, that to this question I may simply +reply, "I do not know," without impairing my present argument. (I +myself find no difficulty in it whatever; but I protest against the +assumption, that I am bound to believe a religion preternatural, +unless I con account for its origin and diffusion to the satisfaction +of its adherents.) Dean Milman, vol. ii. pp. 322-340, gives a full +account of the Manichęan religion, and its rapid and great spread in +spate of violent persecution. MANI, the founder, represented himself +as "a man invested with a divine mission." His doctrines are described +by Milman as wild and mystical metaphysics, combining elements of +thought from Magianism, Judaism, Christianity, and Buddhism. "His +worship was simple, without altar, temple, images, or any imposing +ceremonial. Pure and simple prayer was their only form of adoration." +They talked much of "Christ" as a heavenly principle, but "did not +believe in his birth or death. Prayers and Hymns addressed to the +source of light, exhortations to subdue the dark and sensuous element +within, and the study of the marvellous book of Mani, constituted +their devotion. Their manners were austere and ascetic; they +tolerated, but only tolerated, marriage, and that only among the +inferior orders. The theatre, the banquet, and even the bath, they +severely proscribed. Their diet was of fruits and herbs; they shrank +with abhorrence from animal food." Mani met with fierce hostility from +West and East alike; and at last was entrapped by the Persian king +Baharam, and "was flayed alive. His skin, stuffed with straw, was +placed over the gate of the city of Shahpoor." + +Such a death was as cruel and as ignominious as that of crucifixion; +yet his doctrines "expired not with their author. In the East and in +the West they spread with the utmost rapidity.... The extent of +its success may be calculated by the implacable hostility of other +religions to the doctrines of Mani; _the causes of that success are +more difficult to conjecture_." + +Every reason, which, as far as I know, has ever been given, why it +should be hard for early Christianity to spread, avail equally as +reasons against the spread of Manichęism. The state of the East, which +admitted the latter without miracle, admitted the former also. +It nevertheless is pertinent to add, that the recent history of +Mormonism, compared with that of Christianity and of Manichęism, +may suggest that the martyr-death of the founder of a religion is a +positive aid to its after-success. + + +[Footnote 1: See Strauss on the Infancy of Jesus.] + +[Footnote 2: My "Eclectic" reviewer (who is among the least orthodox +and the least uncandid) hence deduces, that I have confounded the two +questions, "Does the Bible contain errors in human science?" and, "Is +its purely spiritual teaching true?" It is quite wonderful to me, how +educated men can so totally overlook what I have so plainly and so +often written. This very passage might show the contrary, if he had +but quoted the whole paragraph, instead of the middle sentence only. +See also pp. 67, 74, 75, 86, 87, 125.] + +[Footnote 3: Any orthodox periodical which dares to write charitably, +is at once subjected to fierce attack us _un_orthodox.] + +[Footnote 4: _Explicit_ Faith in a doctrine, means, that we understand +what the propositions are, and accept them. But if through blunder we +accept a wrong set of propositions, so as to believe a false doctrine, +we nevertheless have _Implicit_ (or Virtual) Faith in the true one, if +only we say from the heart: "Whatever the Church believes, I believe." +Thus a person, who, through blundering, believes in Sabellianism or +Arianism, which the Church has condemned, is regarded to have _virtual +faith_ in Trinitarianism, and all the "merit" of that faith, because +of his good will to submit to the Church; which is the really saving +virtue.] + +[Footnote 5: [Greek: Dikaiosune] (righteousness), [Greek: Diatheke] +(covenant, testament), [Greek: Charis] (grace), are all terms pregnant +with fallacy.] + +[Footnote 6: Horace and Cicero speak the mind of their educated +contemporaries in saying that "we ought to pray to God _only_ for +external blessings, but trust to our own efforts for a pure and +tranquil soul,"--a singular reversing of spiritual religion] + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +REPLY TO THE DEFENCE OF THE "ECLIPSE OF FAITH." + + +This small treatise was reviewed, unfavourably of course, in most of +the religious periodicals, and among them in the "Prospective Review," +by my friend James Martineau. I had been about the same time attacked +in a book called the "Eclipse of Faith," written (chiefly against my +treatise on the Soul) in the form of a Platonic Dialogue; in which a +sceptic, a certain Harrington, is made to indulge in a great deal +of loose and bantering argumentation, with the view of ridiculing my +religion, and doing so by ways of which some specimen will be given. + +I made an indignant protest in a new edition of this book, and added +also various matter in reply to Mr. Martineau, which will still +be found here. He in consequence in a second article[1] of the +"Prospective" reviewed me afresh; but, in the opening, he first +pronounced his sentence in words of deep disapproval against the +"Eclipse of Faith." + +"The method of the work," says he, "its plan of appealing from what +seems shocking in the Bible to something more shocking in the world, +simply doubles every difficulty without relieving any; and tends to +enthrone a devil everywhere, and leave a God nowhere.... The whole +force of the writer's thought,--his power of exposition, of argument, +of sarcasm, is thrown, in spite of himself, into the irreligious +scale.... If the work be really written[2] in good faith, and be not +rather a covert attack on all religion, it curiously shows how the +temple of the author's worship stands on the same foundation with the +_officina_ of Atheism, and in such close vicinity that the passer-by +cannot tell from which of the two the voices stray into the street." + +The author of the "Eclipse," buoyed up by a large sale of his work +to a credulous public, put forth a "Defence," in which he naturally +declined to submit to the judgment of this reviewer. But my readers +will remark, that Mr. Martineau, writing against me, and seeking to +rebut my replies to him--(nay, I fear I must say my _attack_ on him; +for I have confessed, almost with compunction, that it was I who first +stirred the controversy)--was very favourably situated for maintaining +a calmly judicial impartiality. He thought us both wrong, and he +administered to us each the medicine which seemed to him needed. +He passed his strictures on what he judged to be my errors, and he +rebuked my assailant for profane recklessness. + +I had complained, not of this merely, but of monstrous indefensible +garbling and misrepresentation, pervading the whole work. The dialogue +is so managed, as often to suggest what is false concerning me, yet +without asserting it; so as to enable him to disown the slander, while +producing its full effect against me. Of the directly false statements +and garblings I gave several striking exhibitions. His reply to all +this in the first edition of his "Defence" was reviewed in a _third_ +article of the "Prospective Review," Its ability and reach of thought +are attested by the fact that it has been mistaken for the writing of +Mr. Martineau; but (as clearly as reviews ever speak on such subjects) +it is intimated in the opening that this new article is from a new +hand, "at the risk of revealing _division of persons and opinions_ +within the limits of the mystic critical _We_." Who is the author, I +do not know; nor can I make a likely guess at any one who was in more +than distant intercourse with me. + +This third reviewer did not bestow one page, as Mr. Martineau had +done, on the "Eclipse;" did not summarily pronounce a broad sentence +without details, but dedicated thirty-four pages to the examination +and proof. He opens with noticing the parallel which the author of +the "Eclipse" has instituted between his use of ridicule and that +of Pascal; and replies that he signally violates Pascal's two rules, +_first_, to speak with truth against one's opponents and not with +calumny; _secondly_, not to wound them needlessly. "Neglect of the +first rule (says he) has given to these books [the "Eclipse" and its +"Defence"] their apparent controversial success; disregard of the +second their literary point." He adds, "We shall show that their +author misstates and misrepresents doctrines; garbles quotations, +interpolating words which give the passage he cites reference to +subjects quite foreign from those to which in the original they apply, +while retaining the inverted commas, which are the proper sign of +faithful transcription; that similarly, he allows himself the licence +of omission of the very words on which the controversy hangs, while +in appearance citing _verbatim_;... and that he habitually employs +a sophistry too artful (we fear) to be undesigned. May he not himself +have been deceived, some indulgent render perhaps asks, by the +fallacies which have been so successful with others? It would be as +reasonable to suppose that the grapes which deluded the birds must +have deluded Zeuxis who painted them." + +So grave an accusation against my assailant's truthfulness, coming not +from me, but from a third party, and that, evidently a man who knew +well what he was saying and why,--could not be passed over unnoticed, +although that religious world, which reads one side only, continued +to buy the "Eclipse" and its "Defence" greedily, and not one in a +thousand of them was likely to see the "Prospective Review," In +the second edition of the "Defence" the writer undertakes to defend +himself against my advocate, in on Appendix of 19 closely printed +pages, the "Defence" itself being 218. The "Eclipse," in its 9th +edition of small print, is 393 pages. And how does he set about his +reply? By trying to identify the third writer with the second (who was +notoriously Mr. Martineau), and to impute to him ill temper, chagrin, +irritation, and wounded self-love, as the explanation of this third +article: He says (p. 221):-- + +"The third writer--if, as I have said, he be not the second--sets out +on a new voyage of discovery ... and still humbly following in the +wake of Mr. Newman's great critical discoveries,[3] repeats +that gentleman's charges of falsifying passages, garbling and +misrepresentation. In doing so, he employs language, and _manifests a +temper_, which I should have thought that respect for himself, if not +for his opponent, would have induced him to suppress. It is enough to +say, that he quite rivals Mr. Newman in sagacity, and if possible, has +more successfully denuded himself of charity.... If he be the same as +the second writer, I am afraid that the little Section XV." [_i.e._ +the reply to Mr. Martineau in 1st edition of the "Defence"] "must have +offended the _amour propre_ more deeply than it ought to have done, +considering the wanton and outrageous assault to which it was a very +lenient reply, and that the critic affords another illustration of the +old maxim, that there are none so implacable as those who have done a +wrong. + +"As the spectacle of the reeling Helot taught the Spartans sobriety, +so his _bitterness_ shall teach me moderation. I know enough of human +nature to understand that it is very possible for an _angry_ man--and +_chagrin and irritation are too legibly written on every page of this +article_--to be betrayed into gross injustice." + +The reader will see from this the difficulty of _my_ position in this +controversy. Mr. Martineau, while defending himself, deprecated +the profanity of my other opponent, and the atheistic nature of +his arguments. He spoke as a bystander, and with the advantage of a +judicial position, and it is called "wanton and outrageous." A second +writer goes into detail, and exposes some of the garbling arts which +have been used against me; it is imputed[4] to ill temper, and is +insinuated to be from a spirit of personal revenge. How much less can +_I_ defend myself, and that, against untruthfulness, without incurring +such imputation! My opponent speaks to a public who will not read my +replies. He picks out what he pleases of my words, and takes care to +divest them of their justification. I have (as was to be expected) met +with much treatment from the religious press which I know cannot be +justified; but all is slight, compared to that of which I complain +from this writer. I will presently give a few detailed instances to +illustrate this. While my charge against my assailant is essentially +moral, and I cannot make any parade of charity, he can speak +patronizingly of me now and then, and makes his main attacks on my +_logic_ and _metaphysics_. He says, that in writing his first book, +he knew no characteristics of me, except that I was "a gentleman, +a scholar, and _a very indifferent metaphysician_" At the risk of +encountering yet more of banter and insult, I shall here quote what +the third "Prospective Reviewer" says on this topic. (Vol. x. p. +208):-- + +"Our readers will be able to judge how well qualified the author is +to sneer at Mr. Newman's metaphysics, which are far more accurate +than his own, or to ridicule his logic. The tone of contempt which he +habitually assumes preposterously reverses the relative intellectual +_status_, so far as sound systematic thought is concerned, of the two +men." + +I do not quote this as testimony to myself but as testimony that +others, as well as I, feel the _contemptuous tone_ assumed by my +adversary in precisely that subject on which modesty is called for. On +metaphysics there is hitherto an unreconciled diversity among men who +have spent their lives in the study; and a large part of the endless +religious disputes turns on this very fact. However, the being told, +in a multitude of ingenious forms, that I am a wretched logician, is +not likely to raffle my tranquillity. What does necessarily wound me, +is his misrepresenting my thoughts to the thoughtful, whose respect +I honour; and poisoning the atmosphere between me and a thousand +religious hearts. That these do not despise me, however much contempt +he may vent, I know only too well through their cruel fears of me. + +I have just now learned incidentally, that in the last number (a +supplementary number) of the "Prospective Review," there was a short +reply to the second edition of Mr. Rogers's "Defence," in which the +Editors officially _deny_ that the third writer against Mr. Rogers +is the same as the second; which, I gather from their statement, the +"British Quarterly" had taken on itself to _affirm_. + +I proceed to show what liberties my critic takes with my arguments, +and what he justifies. + +I. In the closing chapter of my third edition of the "Phases," I had +complained of his bad faith in regard to my arguments concerning the +Authoritative imposition of moral truth from without. I showed that, +after telling his reader that I offered no proof of my assertions, +he dislocated my sentences, altered their order, omitted an adverb +of inference, and isolated three sentences out of a paragraph of +forty-six lines: that his omission of the inferential adverb showed +his deliberate intention to destroy the reader's clue to the fact, +that I had given proof where he suppresses it and says that I have +given none; that the sentences quoted as 1,2,3, by him, with me have +the order 3, 2,1; while what he places first, is with me an immediate +and necessary deduction from what has preceded. Now how does he reply? +He does not deny my facts; but he justifies his process. I must set +his words before the reader. _(Defence, 2nd ed., p. 85.) + +"The strangest thing is to see the way in which, after parading this +supposed 'artful dodge,'[5] which, I assure you, gentle reader, was +all a perfect novelty to my consciousness,--Mr. Newman goes on to +say, that the author of the 'Eclipse' has altered the order of his +sentences to suit a purpose. He says: 'The sentences quoted as 1, 2, +3, by him, with me have the order 3, 2, 1.' I answer, that Harrington +was simply anxious to set forth at the head of his argument, in the +clearest and briefest form, the _conclusions_[6] he believed Mr. +Newman to hold, and which he was going to confute. He had no idea of +any relation of subordination or dependence in the above sophisms, as +I have just proved them to be, whether arranged as 3, 2, 1, or 1, +2, 3, or 2, 3, 1, or in any other order in which the possible +permutations of three things, taken 3 and 3 together, can exhibit +them; _ex nihilo, nil fit_; and three nonentities can yield just as +little. Jangle as many changes as you will on these three cracked +bells, no logical harmony can ever issue out of them." + +Thus, because he does not see the validity of my argument, he is to +pretend that I have offered none: he is not to allow his readers to +judge for themselves as to the validity, but they have to take his +word that I am a very "queer" sort of logician, ready "for any feats +of logical legerdemain." + +I have now to ask, what is garbling, if the above is not? He admits +the facts, but justifies them as having been convenient from his point +of view; and then finds my charity to be "very grotesque," when I do +not know how, without hypocrisy, to avoid calling a spade a spade. + +I shall here reprint the pith of my argument, somewhat shortened:-- + +"No heaven-sent Bible can guarantee the veracity of God to a man who +doubts that veracity. Unless we have independent means of knowing that +God is truthful and good, his word (if we be over so certain that it +is really his word) has no authority to us: _hence_ no book revelation +can, without sapping its own pedestal, deny the validity of our _a +priori_ conviction that God has the virtues of goodness and veracity, +and requires like virtues in us. _And in fact_, all Christian apostles +and missionaries, like the Hebrew prophets, have always confuted +Paganism by direct attacks on its immoral and unspiritual doctrines, +and have appealed to the consciences of heathens, as competent to +decide in the controversy. Christianity itself has _thus_ practically +confessed what is theoretically clear, that an authoritative external +revelation of moral and spiritual truth is essentially impossible to +man. What God reveals to us, he reveals within, through the medium of +our moral and spiritual senses. External teaching may be a training of +those senses, but affords no foundation for certitude." + +This passage deserved the enmity of my critic. He quoted bits of +it, very sparingly, never setting before his readers my continuous +thought, but giving his own free versions and deductions. His fullest +quotation stood thus, given only in an after-chapter:--"What God +reveals to us, he reveals _within_, through the medium of our moral +and spiritual senses." "Christianity itself has practically confessed +what is theoretically clear, _(you must take Mr. Newman's word for +both,)_[7] that an authoritative external revelation of moral and +spiritual truth is essentially impossible to man." "No book-revelation +can, without sapping its own pedestal, &c. &c." + +These three sentences are what Mr. Rogers calls the three cracked +bells, and thinks by raising a laugh, to hide his fraud I have +carefully looked through the whole of his dialogue concerning Book +Revelation in his 9th edition of the "Eclipse" (pp. 63-83 of close +print). He still excludes from it every part of my argument, +only stating in the opening (p. 63) as my conclusions, that a +book-revelation is impossible, and that God reveals himself from +within, not from without In his _Defence_ (which circulates far less +than the "Eclipse," to judge by the number of editions) he displays +his bravery by at length printing my argument; but in the "Eclipse" he +continues to suppress it, at least as far as I can discover by turning +to the places where it ought to be found. + +In p. 77 (9th ed.) of the "Eclipse." he _implies_, without absolutely +asserting, that I hold the Bible to be an impertinence. He repeats +this in p. 85 of the "Defence." Such is his mode. I wrote: "_Without_ +a priori _belief_, the Bible is an impertinence," but I say, man +_has_ this _a priori_ belief, on which account the Bible is _not_ +an impertinence. My last sentence in the very passage before us, +expressly asserts the value of (good) external teaching. This my +critic laboriously disguises. + +He carefully avoids allowing his readers to see that I am contending +fundamentally for that which the ablest Christian divines have +conceded and maintained; that which the common sense of every +missionary knows, and every one who is not profoundly ignorant of the +Bible and of history ought to know. Mr. Rogers is quite aware, that +no apostle ever carried a Bible in his hand and said to the heathen, +"Believe that there is a good and just God, _because_ it is written +in this book;" but they appealed to the hearts and consciences of +the hearers as competent witnesses. He does not even give his reader +enough of my paragraph to make intelligible what I _meant_ by saying +"Christianity has practically confessed;" and yet insists that I am +both unreasonable and uncharitable in my complaints of him. + +I here reprint the summary of my belief concerning our knowledge of +morality as fundamental, and not to be tampered with under pretence of +religion. "If an angel from heaven bade me to lie, and to steal, and +to commit adultery, and to murder, and to scoff at good men, and usurp +dominion over my equals, and do unto others everything that I wish +_not_ to have done to me; I ought to reply, BE THOU ANATHEMA! This, I +believe, was Paul's doctrine; this is mine." + +It may be worth while to add how in the "Defence" Mr. Rogers pounces +on my phrase "_a priori_ view of the Divine character," as an excuse +for burying his readers in metaphysics, in which he thinks he has a +natural right to dogmatize against and over me. He must certainly be +aware of the current logical (not metaphysical) use of the phrase _a +priori_: as when we say, that Le Verrier and Adams demonstrated _a +priori_ that a planet _must_ exist exterior to Uranus, before any +astronomer communicated information that it _does_ exist. Or again: +the French Commissioners proved by actual measurement that the earth +is an oblate spheroid, of which Newton had convinced himself _a +priori_. + +_I_ always avoid a needless argument of metaphysics. Writing to the +general public I cannot presume that they are good judges of anything +but a practical and moral argument. The _a priori_ views of God, of +which I here speak, involve no subtle questions; they are simply those +views which are attained _independently of the alleged authoritative +information_, and, of course, are founded upon considerations +_earlier_ than it. + +But it would take too much of space and time, and be far too tedious +to my readers, if I were to go in detail through Mr. Rogers's +objections and misrepresentations. I have the sad task of attacking +_his good faith_, to which I further proceed. + +II. In the preface to my second edition of the "Hebrew Monarchy," +I found reason to explain briefly in what sense I use the word +inspiration. I said, I found it to be current in three senses; +"first, as an extraordinary influence peculiar to a few persons, as +to prophets and apostles; secondly, _as an ordinary influence of the +Divine Spirit on the hearts of men, which quickens and strengthens +their moral and spiritual powers_, and is accessible to them all (in +a certain stage of development) _in some proportion to their own +faithfulness._ The third view teaches that genius and inspiration are +two names for one thing.... _Christians for the most part hold the two +first conceptions_, though they generally call the second _spiritual +influence_, not inspiration; the third, seems to be common in the +Old Testament. It so happens that the _second is the only inspiration +which I hold._" [I here super-add the italics] On this passage Mr. +Rogers commented as follows ("Defence" p. 156):-- + +"The latest utterance of Mr. Newman on the subject [of inspiration] +that I have read, occurs in his preface to the second edition of +his "Hebrew Monarchy," where he tells us, that he believes it is an +influence accessible to all men, _in a certain stage of development_! +[Italics.] Surely it will be time to consider his theory of +inspiration, when he has told us a little more about it. To my mind, +if the very genius of mystery had framed the definition, it could not +have uttered anything more indefinite." + +Upon this passage the "Prospective" reviewer said his say as follows +(vol x. p. 217):-- + +"The writer will very considerately defer criticism on Mr. Newman's +indefinite definition, worthy of the genius of mystery, till its +author has told us a little more about it. Will anyone believe that he +himself deliberately omits the substance of the definition, and gives +in its stead a parenthetical qualification, which might be left out of +the original, without injury either to the grammatical structure, +or to the general meaning of the sentence in which it occurs?" He +proceeds to state what I did say, and adds: "Mr. Newman, in the very +page in which this statement occurs, expressly identifies his doctrine +with the ordinary Christian belief of Divine influence. His words are +exactly coincident in sense with those employed by the author of the +"Eclipse," where he acknowledges the reality of 'the ordinary, though +mysterious action, by which God aids those who sincerely seek him in +every good word and work.' The moral faithfulness of which Mr. Newman +speaks, is the equivalent of the sincere search of God in good word +and work, which his opponent talks of." + +I must quote the _entire_ reply given to this in the "Defence," second +edition, p. 224:-- + +"And now for a few examples of my opponent's criticisms. 1. I said +in the "Defence" that I did not understand Mr. Newman's notions of +inspiration, and that, as to his very latest utterance--namely, that +it was an influence _accessible to all men in a certain stage of +development_ [italics], it was utterly unintelligible to me. 'Will any +one believe (says my critic) that he deliberately omits the +substance of the definition, and gives in its stead a parenthetical +qualification, which might be left out of the original without injury +either to the grammatical structure or to the general meaning of +the sentence in which it occurs? Was anything ever more amusing? A +parenthetical clause which might be left out of the original without +injury to the grammatical structure or to the general meaning! _Might_ +be left out? Ay, to be sure it might, and not only 'without injury,' +but with benefit; just as the dead fly which makes the ointment of the +apothecary to stink might be left out of _that_ without injury. But +it was _not_ left out; and it is precisely because it was there, and +diffused so remarkable an odour over the whole, that I characterized +the definition as I did--and most justly. Accessible to all men in +a certain stage of development! When and how _accessible_? What +_species_ of development, I beseech you, is meant? And what is the +_stage_ of it? The very thing, which, as I say, and as everybody of +common sense must see, renders the definition utterly vague, is the +very clause in question." + +Such is his _entire_ notice of the topic. From any other writer I +should indeed have been amazed at such treatment. I had made the +very inoffensive profession of agreeing with the current doctrine of +Christians concerning spiritual influence. As I was not starting any +new theory, but accepting what is notorious, nothing more than an +indication was needed. I gave, what I should not call definition, but +description of it. My critic conceals that I have avowed agreement +with Christians; refers to it as a theory of my own; complains that +it is obscure; pretends to quote my definition, and leaves out all +the cardinal words of it, which I have above printed in italics. My +defender, in the "Prospective Review," exposes these mal-practices; +points out that my opponent is omitting the main words, while +complaining of deficiency; that I profess to agree with Christians in +general; and _that I evidently agree with my critic in particular_. +The critic undertakes to reply to this, and the reader has before him +the whole defence. The man who, as it were, puts his hand on his +heart to avow that he anxiously sets before his readers, if not what +I _mean_, yet certainly what I have _expressed_,--still persists in +hiding from them the facts of the case; avoids to quote from the +reviewer so much as to let out that I profess to agree[8] with what +is prevalent among Christians and have no peculiar theory;--still +withholds the cardinal points of what he calls my definition; while +he tries to lull his reader into inattention by affecting to be +highly amused, and by bantering and bullying in his usual style, while +perverting the plainest words in the world. + +I have no religious press to take my part. I am isolated, as my +assailant justly remarks. For a wonder, a stray review here and +there has run to my aid, while there is a legion on the other +side--newspapers, magazines, and reviews. Now if any orthodox man, any +friend of my assailant, by some chance reads these pages, I beg him to +compare my quotations, thus fully given, with the originals; and if he +find anything false in them, then let him placard me as a LIAR in the +whole of the religious press. But if he finds that I am right, +then let him learn in what sort of man he is trusting--what sort of +champion of _truth_ this religious press has cheered on. + +III. I had complained that Mr. Rogers falsely represented me to make +a fanatical "divorce" between the intellectual and the spiritual, from +which he concluded that I ought to be indifferent as to the worship of +Jehovah or of the image which fell down from Jupiter. He has pretended +that my religion, according to me, has received nothing by traditional +and historical agencies; that it owes nothing to men who went before +me; that I believe I have (in my single unassisted bosom) "a spiritual +faculty so bright as to anticipate all essential[9] spiritual +verities;" that had it not been for traditional religion, "we should +everywhere have heard the invariable utterance of spiritual religion +in the one dialect of the heart,"--that "this divinely implanted +faculty of spiritual discernment anticipates all external truth," +&c. &c. I then adduced passages to show that his statement was +emphatically and utterly contrary to fact. In his "Defence," he thus +replies, p. 75:-- + +"I say with an unfaltering conscience, that no controvertist ever more +honestly and sincerely sought to give his opponent's views, than I +did Mr. Newman's, after the most diligent study of his rather obscure +books; and that whether I have succeeded or not in giving what he +_thought_, I have certainly given what he _expressed_. It is quite +true that I supposed Mr. Newman intended to "divorce" faith and +intellect; and what else on earth could I suppose, in common even +with those who were most leniently disposed towards him, from such +sentiments as these? ALL THE GROUNDS OF BELIEF PROPOSED TO THE MERE +UNDERSTANDING HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH FAITH AT ALL. THE PROCESSES OF +THOUGHT HAVE NOTHING TO QUICKEN THE CONSCIENCE OR AFFECT THE SOUL. +_How then can the state of the soul be tested by the conclusion to +which the intellect is led?_ I was _compelled_, I say, to take these +passages as everybody else took them, to _mean_ what they obviously +_express_." + +Here he so isolates three assertions of mine from their context, as +to suggest for each of them a false meaning, and make it difficult for +the reader who has not my book at hand to discover the delusion. +The first is taken from a discussion of the arguments concerning the +soul's immortality ("Soul," p. 223, 2nd edition), on which I wrote +thus, p. 219:--that to judge of the accuracy of a metaphysical +argument concerning mind and matter, requires not a pure conscience +and a loving soul, but a clear and calm head; that if the doctrine of +immortality be of high religious importance, we cannot believe it to +rest on such a basis, that those in whom the religious faculties are +most developed may be more liable to err concerning it than those +who have no religious faculty in action at all. On the contrary, +concerning truths which are really spiritual it is an obvious +axiom,[10] that "he who is spiritual judgeth all things, and he +himself is judged of no man." After this I proceeded to allude to the +history of the doctrine among the Hebrews, and quoted some texts of +the Psalms, the _argument_ of which, I urged, is utterly inappreciable +to the pure logician, "because it is spiritually discerned." I +continued as follows:-- + +"This is as it should be. Can a mathematician understand physiology, +or a physiologist questions of law? A true love of God in the soul +itself, an insight into Him depending on that love, and a hope rising +out of that insight, are prerequisite for contemplating this spiritual +doctrine, which is a spontaneous impression of the gazing soul, +powerful (perhaps) in proportion to its faith; whereas all the grounds +of belief proposed to the mere understanding have nothing to do with +faith at all." + +I am expounding the doctrine of the great Paul of Tarsus, who indeed +applies it to this very topic,--the future bliss which God has +prepared for them that love him. Does Mr. Rogers attack Paul as making +a fanatical divorce between faith and intellect, and say that he is +_compelled_ so to understand him, when he avows that "the natural man +understandeth not the things of God; for they are foolishness unto +him." "When the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by +the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." Here is +a pretended champion of Evangelical truth seeking to explode as +absurdities the sentiments and judgments which have ever been at the +heart of Christianity, its pride and its glory! + +But I justify my argument as free from fanaticism--and free from +obscurity when the whole sentence is read--to a Jew or Mohammedan, +quite as much as to a Christian. + +My opponent innocently asks, _how much_ I desire him to quote of me? +But is innocence the right word, when he has quoted but two lines and +a half, out of a sentence of seven and a half, and has not even given +the clause complete? By omitting, in his usual way, the connecting +particle _whereas_, he hides from the reader that he has given but +half my thought; and this is done, after my complaint of this very +proceeding. A reader who sees the whole sentence, discerns at once +that I oppose "the _mere_ understanding," to the whole soul; in short, +that by the man who has _mere_ understanding, I mean him whom Paul +calls "the natural man." Such a man may have metaphysical talents and +acquirements, he may be a physiologist or a great lawyer; nay, I +will add, (to shock my opponent's tender nerves), _even if he be an +Atheist_, he may be highly amiable and deserving of respect and love; +but if he has no spiritual development, he cannot have insight into +spiritual truth. Hence such arguments for immortality as _can_ be +appreciated by him, and _cannot_ be appreciated by religious men as +such, "have nothing to do with faith at all" + +The two other passages are found thus, in p. 245 of the "Soul," 2nd +edition. After naming local history, criticism of texts, history of +philosophy, logic, physiology, demonology, and other important but +very difficult studies, I ask:-- + +"Is it not extravagant to call inquiries of this sort _spiritual_ or +to expect any spiritual[11] results from them? When the spiritual +man (as such) cannot judge, the question is removed into a totally +different court from that of the soul, the court of the critical +understanding.... How then can the state of the soul be tested by +the conclusion to which the intellect is led? What means the +anathematizing of those who remain unconvinced? And how can it be +imagined that the Lord of the soul cares more about a historical +than about a geological, metaphysical, or mathematical argument? The +processes of thought have nothing to quicken the conscience or affect +the soul." + +From my defender in the "Prospective Review" I learn that in the first +edition of the "Defence" the word _thought_ in the last sentence above +was placed in italics. He not only protested against this and other +italics as misleading, but clearly explained my sense, which, as I +think, needs no other interpreter than the context. In the new edition +the italics are removed, but the unjust isolation of the sentences +remains. "_The_ processes of thought," of which I spoke, are not +"_all_ processes," but the processes _involved in the abstruse +inquiries to which I had referred_. To say that _no_ processes of +thought quicken the conscience, or affect the soul, would be a gross +absurdity. This, or nothing else, is what he imputes to me; and even +after the protest made by the "Prospective" reviewer, my assailant not +only continues to hide that I speak of _certain_ processes of thought, +not _all_ processes, but even has the hardihood to say that he takes +the passages as _everybody else_ does, and that he is _compelled_ so +to do. + +In my own original reply I appealed to places where I had fully +expressed my estimate of intellectual progress, and its ultimate +beneficial action. All that I gain by this, is new garblings and +taunts for inconsistency. "Mr. Newman," says be, "is the last man +in the world to whom I would deny the benefit of having contradicted +himself." But I must confine myself to the garbling. "Defence," p. +95:-- + +"Mr. Newman affirms that my representations of his views on this +subject are the most direct and intense reverse of all that he has +most elaborately and carefully written!" He still says, "_what_ +God reveals, he reveals within and not without," and "he _did_ say +(though, it seems, he says no longer), that 'of God we know everything +from within, nothing from without;' yet he says I have grossly +misrepresented him." + +This pretended quotation is itself garbled. I wrote, ("Phases," 1st +edition, p. 152)--"Of _our moral and spiritual_ God we know nothing +without, everything within." By omitting the adjectives, the critic +produces a statement opposed to my judgment and to my writings; +and then goes on to say. "Well, if Mr. Newman will engage to prove +contradictions,... I think it is no wonder that his readers do not +understand him." + +I believe it is a received judgment, which I will not positively +assert to be true, but I do not think I have anywhere denied, that +God is discerned by us in the universe as a designer, creator, and +mechanical ruler, through a mere study of the world and its animals +and all their adaptations, _even without_ an absolute necessity of +meditating consciously on the intelligence of man and turning the +eyes within. Thus a creative God may be said to be discerned "from +without." But in my conviction, that God is not _so_ discerned to be +_moral_ or _spiritual_ or to be _our_ God; but by moral intellect and +moral experience acting "inwardly." If Mr. Rogers chooses to deny the +justness of my view, let him deny it; but by omitting the emphatic +adjectives he has falsified my sentence, and then has founded upon it +a charge of inconsistency. In a previous passage (p. 79) he gave this +quotation in full, in order to reproach me for silently withdrawing it +in my second edition of the "Phases." He says:-- + +"The two sentences in small capitals are not found in the new edition +of the 'Phases.' _They are struck out_. It is no doubt the right of an +author to erase in a new edition any expressions he pleases; but +when he is about to charge another with having grossly garbled and +stealthily misrepresented him, it is as well to let the world know +_what_ he has erased and _why_. He says that my representation of his +sentiments is the most direct and intense reverse of all that he +has most elaborately and carefully written. It certainly is not the +intense reverse of all that he has most elaborately and carefully +_scratched out_." + +I exhibit here the writer's own italics. + +By this attack on my good faith, and by pretending that my withdrawal +of the passage is of serious importance, he distracts the reader's +attention from the argument there in hand (p. 79), which is, _not_ +what are my sentiments and judgements, but whether he had a right +to dissolve and distort my chain of reasoning (see I. above) while +affecting to quote me, and pretending that I gave nothing but +assertion. As regards my "elaborately and carefully _scratching out_," +this was done; 1. Because the passage seemed to me superfluous; 2. +Because I had pressed the topic elsewhere; 3. Because I was going to +enlarge on it in my reply to him, p. 199 of my second edition.[12] +When the real place comes where my critic is to deal with the +substance of the passage (p. 94 of "Defence"), the reader has seen how +he mutilates it. + +The other passage of mine which he has adduced, employs the word +_reveals_, in a sense analogous to that of _revelation_, in avowed +relation to _things moral and spiritual_, which would have been seen, +had not my critic reversed the order of my sentences; which he does +again in p. 78 of the "Defence," after my protest against his doing so +in the "Eclipse." I wrote: (Soul, p. 59) "Christianity itself has +thus practically confessed, what is theoretically clear, that an +authoritative _external_ revelation of moral and spiritual truth is +essentially impossible to man. What God reveals to us, he reveals +_within_, through the medium of our moral and spiritual senses." +The words, "What God reveals," seen in the light of the preceding +sentence, means: "That portion of _moral and spiritual truth_ which +God reveals." This cannot be discovered in the isolated quotation; and +as, both in p. 78 and in p. 95, he chooses to quote my word _What_ in +italics, his reader is led on to interpret me as saying "_every thing +whatsoever_ which we know of God, we learn from within;" a statement +which is not mine. + +Besides this, the misrepresentation of which I complained is not +confined to the rather metaphysical words of _within_ and _without_, +as to which the most candid friends may differ, and may misunderstand +one another;--as to which also I may be truly open to correction;--but +he assumes the right to tell his readers that my doctrine undervalues +Truth, and Intellect, and Traditional teaching, and External +suggestion, and Historical influences, and counts the Bible an +impertinence. When he fancies he can elicit this and that, by his own +logic, out of sentences and clauses torn from their context, he has +no right to disguise what I have said to the contrary, and claim to +justify his fraud by accusing me of self-contradiction. Against all +my protests, and all that I said to the very opposite previous to +any controversy, he coolly alludes to it (p. 40 of the "Defence") +as though it were my avowed doctrine, that: "_Each_ man, looking +exclusively within, can _at once_ rise to the conception of God's +infinite perfections." + +IV. When I agree with Paul or David (or think I do), I have a right +to quote their words reverentially; but when I do so, Mr. Rogers +deliberately justifies himself in ridiculing them, pretending that he +only ridicules _me_. He thus answers my indignant denunciation in the +early part of his "Defence," p. 5:-- + +"Mr. Newman warns me with much solemnity against thinking that +'questions pertaining to God are advanced by boisterous glee.' I do +not think that the 'Eclipse' is characterised by boisterous glee; and +certainly I was not at all aware, that the things which _alone_[13] +I have ridiculed--some of them advanced by him, and some by +others--deserved to be treated with solemnity. For example, that an +authoritative external revelation,[14] which most persons have thought +possible enough, is _im_possible,--that man is most likely born for +a dog's life, and 'there an end'--that there are great defects in the +morality of the New Testament, and much imperfection in the character +of its founder,--that the miracles of Christ might be real, because +Christ was a _clairvoyant_ and mesmerist,--that God was not a Person, +but a Personality;--I say, I was not aware that these things, and such +as these, which alone I ridiculed, were questions 'pertaining to God,' +in any other sense than the wildest hypotheses in some sense pertain +to science, and the grossest heresies to religion." + +Now first, is his statement true? + +_Are_ these the _only_ things which he ridiculed? + +I quoted in my reply to him enough to show what was the class of +"things pertaining to God" to which I referred. He forces me to +requote some of the passages. "Eclipse," p. 82 [1st ed.] "You shall be +permitted to say (what I will not contradict), that though _Mr. Newman +may be inspired_ for aught I know ... inspired as much as (say) _the +inventor of Lucifer matches_--yet that his book is not divine,--that +it is purely human." + +Again: p. 126 [1st ed.] "Mr. Newman says to those who say they +are unconscious of these facts of spiritual pathology, that _the +consciousness of the spiritual man is not the less true, that_ +[though?] _the unspiritual man is not privy to it_; and this most +devout gentleman quotes with unction the words: _For the spiritual man +judgeth all things, but himself is judged of no man_." + +P. 41, [1st ed.], "I have rejected creeds, and I have found what the +Scripture calls, _that peace which passeth all understanding_." "I am +sure it passes mine, (says Harrington) if you have really found it, +and I should be much obliged to you, if you would let me participate +in the discovery." "Yes, says Fellowes:... '_I have escaped from the +bondage of the letter and have been introduced into the liberty of the +Spirit.... The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. The fruit +of the Spirit is joy, peace, not_--'" "Upon my word (said Harrington, +laughing), I shall presently begin to fancy that Douce Davie Deans has +turned infidel." + +I have quoted enough to show the nature of my complaints. I charge the +satirist with profanity, for ridiculing sentiments which _he himself_ +avows to be holy, ridiculing them for no other reason but that with +_me also_ they are holy and revered. He justifies himself in p. 5 +of his "Defence," as above, by denying my facts. He afterwards, in +Section XII. p. 147, admits and defends them; to which I shall return. + +I beg my reader to observe how cleverly Mr. Rogers slanders me in the +quotation already made, from p. 5, by insinuating, first, that it is +my doctrine, "that man is _most likely_ born for _a dog's life_, +and there an end;" next, that I have taken under my patronage the +propositions, that "the miracles of Christ might be real, because +Christ was a _clairvoyant_ and mesmerist, and that God is not a Person +but a Personality." I cannot but be reminded of what the "Prospective" +reviewer says of Zeuxis and the grapes, when I observe the delicate +skill of touch by which the critic puts on just enough colour to +affect the reader's mind, but not so much as to draw him to closer +examination. I am at a loss to believe that he supposes me to think +that a theory of mesmeric wonders (as the complement of an atheistic +creed?) is "a question pertaining to God," or that my rebuke bore the +slightest reference to such a matter. As to Person and Personality, it +is a subtle distinction which I have often met from Trinitarians; who, +when they are pressed with the argument that three divine Persons +are nothing but three Gods, reply that Person is not the correct +translation of the mystical _Hypostasis_ of the Greeks, and +Personality is perhaps a truer rendering. If I were to answer with +the jocosity in which my critic indulges, I certainly doubt whether +he would justify me. So too, when a Pantheist objects (erringly, as +I hold) that a Person is necessarily something finite, so that God +cannot be a Person; if, against this, a Theist contend that God is +at once a Person and a Principle, and invent a use of the word +Personality to overlap both ideas; we may reject his nomenclature as +too arbitrary, but what rightful place ridicule has here, I do not +see. Nevertheless, it had wholly escaped my notice that the satirist +had ridiculed it, as I now infer that he did. + +He tells me he _was not aware_ that the holding that _there are great +defects in the morality of the New Testament, and much imperfection in +the character of its Founder, was a question pertaining to God_. Nor +indeed was _I_ aware of it. + +I regard questions concerning a book and a human being to be purely +secular, and desire to discuss them, not indeed with ridicule but +with freedom. When _I_ discuss them, he treats my act as intolerably +offensive, as though the subject were sacred; yet he now pretends that +_I_ think such topics "pertain to God," and he was not aware of it +until I told him so! Thus he turns away the eyes of his readers from +my true charge of profanity, and fixes them upon a fictitious charge +so as to win a temporary victory. At the same time, since Christians +believe the morality of the _Old_ Testament to have great defects, +and that there was much imperfection in the character of its eminent +saints, prophets, and sages; I cannot understand how my holding +the very same opinion concerning the _New_ Testament should be a +peculiarly appropriate ground of banter and merriment; nor make me +more justly offensive to Christians, than the Pauline doctrine is to +Jews. + +In more than one place of this "Defence" he misrepresents what I have +written on Immortality, in words similar to those here used, though +here he does _not_[15] expressly add my name. In p. 59, he says, +that "according to Mr. Newman's theology, it is most _probable_ +(in italics) that the successive generations of men, with perfect +indifference to their relative moral conditions, their crimes +or wrongs, are all knocked on the head together; and that future +adjustment and retribution is a dream." (So p. 72.) In a note to the +next page, he informs his readers that if I say that I have left the +question of immortality _doubtful_, it does not affect the argument; +for I have admitted "the probability" of there being no future life. + +This topic was specially discussed by me in a short chapter of my +treatise on the "Soul," to which alone it is possible for my critic to +refer. In that chapter assuredly I do _not_ say what he pretends; what +I _do_ say is, (after rejecting, as unsatisfactory to me, the popular +arguments from metaphysics, and from the supposed need of a future +state to _redress the inequalities of this life_;) p. 232: "But do I +then deny a future life, or seek to undermine a belief of it? _Most +assuredly not_; but I would put the belief (whether it is to be weaker +or firmer) on a _spiritual_ basis, and on none other." + +I am ashamed to quote further from that chapter in this place; the +ground on which I there tread is too sacred for controversy. But that +a Christian advocate should rise from reading it to tell people that +he has a right to _ridicule_ me for holding that "man is _most likely +born for a dog's life_, and there an end;" absorbs my other feelings +in melancholy. I am sure that any candid person, reading that chapter, +must see that I was hovering between doubt, hope, and faith, on this +subject, and that if any one could show me that a Moral Theism and a +Future Life were essentially combined, I should joyfully embrace +the second, as a fit complement to the first. This writer takes the +opposite for granted; that if he can convince me that the doctrine of +a Future Life is essential to Moral Theism, he will--not _add_ to--but +_refute_ my Theism! Strange as this at first appears, it is explained +by his method. He draws a hideous picture of what God's world has been +in the past, and indeed is in the present; with words so reeking +of disgust and cruelty, that I cannot bear to quote them; and ample +quotation would be needful. Then he infers, that since I must admit +all this, I virtually believe in an immoral Deity. I suppose his +instinct rightly tells him, that I shall not be likely to reason, +"Because God can be so very cruel or careless to-day, he is sure to +be very merciful and vigilant hereafter." Accepting his facts as +a _complete_ enumeration of the phenomena of the present world, I +suppose it is better inductive logic to say: "He who can be himself so +cruel, and endure such monsters of brutality for six or more thousand +years, must (by the laws of external induction) be the same, and +leave men the same, for all eternity; and is clearly reckless of moral +considerations." If I adopt this alternative, I become a Pagan or an +Atheist, one or other of which Mr. Rogers seems anxious to make me. +If he would urge, that to look at the dark and terrible side of human +life is onesided and delusive, and that the God who is known to us +in Nature has so tempered the world to man and man to the world as to +manifest his moral intentions;--(arguments, which I think, my critic +must have heard from Socrates or Plato, without pooling out on them +scalding words, such as I feel and avow to be blasphemous;)--then he +might perhaps help my faith where it is weakest, and give me (more or +less) aid to maintain a future life dogmatically, instead of hopefully +and doubtfully. But now, to use my friend Martineau's words: "His +method doubles every difficulty without relieving any, and tends to +enthrone a Devil everywhere, and leave a God nowhere." + +Since he wrote his second edition of the "Defence," I have brought out +my work called "Theism," in which (without withdrawing my objections +to the popular idea of future _Retribution_) I have tried to reason +out a doctrine of Future Life from spiritual considerations. I have no +doubt that my critic would find them highly aboard, and perhaps would +pronounce them ineffably ludicrous, and preposterous feats of logic. +If I could hide their existence from him, I certainly would, lest he +misquote and misinterpret them. But as I cannot keep the book from +him, I here refer to it to say, that if I am to maintain this most +profound and mysterious doctrine with any practical intensity, +my convictions in the power of the human mind to follow such high +inquiries, need to be greatly _strengthened_, not to be undermined +by such arguments and such detestable pictures of this world, as Mr. +Rogers holds up to me. + +He throws at me the imputation of holding, that "man is _most likely_ +born for a _dog's life_, and there an end." And is then the life of +a saint for seventy years, or for seven years, no better than a dog's +life? What else but a _long_ dog's life does this make heaven to be? +Such an undervaluing of a short but noble life, is consistent with +the scheme which blasphemes earth in order to ennoble heaven, and then +claims to be preeminently logical. According to the clear evidence of +the Bible, the old saints in general were at least as uncertain as I +have ever been concerning future life; nay, according to the writer +to the Hebrews, "through fear of death they were all their lifetime +subject to bondage." If I had called _that_ a dog's life, how +eloquently would Mr. Rogers have rebuked me! + +V. But I must recur to his defence of the profanity with which he +treats sacred sentiments and subjects. After pretending, in p. 5, that +he had ridiculed nothing but the things quoted above, he at length, +in pp. 147-156, makes formal admission of my charge and _justifies +himself_. The pith of his general reply is in the following, p. 152:-- + +"'Now (says Mr. Newman) I will not here farther insist on the +monstrosity of bringing forward St. Paul's words in order to pour +contempt upon them; a monstrosity which no sophistry of Mr. Harrington +can justify!' I think the _real_ monstrosity is, that men should +so coolly employ St. Paul's words,--for it is a quotation from the +treatise on the "Soul,"--to mean something totally different from +anything he intended to convey by them, and employ the dialect of the +Apostles to contradict their doctrines; that is the monstrosity ... It +is very hard to conceive that Mr. Newman did not see this.... But had +he gone on only a few lines, the reader would have seen Harrington +saying: 'These words you have just quoted were well in St. Paul's +mouth, and had a meaning. In yours, I suspect, they would have none, +or a very different one.'" + +According to this doctrine of Mr. Rogers, it would not have been +profane in an unbelieving Jew to _make game_ of Moses, David, and the +Prophets, whenever they were quoted by Paul. The Jew most profoundly +believed that Paul quoted the old Scriptures in a false, as well as in +a new meaning. One Christian divine does not feel free to ridicule +the words of Paul when quoted erroneously (as he thinks) by another +Christian divine? Why then, when quoted by me? I hold it to be a great +insolence to deny my right to quote Paul or David, as much as Plato +or Homer, and adopt their language whenever I find it to express my +sentiment. Mr. Rogers's claim to deride highly spiritual truth, barely +because I revere it, is a union of inhumanity and impiety. He has +nowhere shown that Paul meant something "totally different" from +the sense which I put on his words. I know that he cannot. I do +not pretend always to bind myself to the definite sense of my +predecessors; nor did the writers of the New Testament. They often +adopt and apply _in an avowedly new sense_ the words of the Old +Testament; so does Dr. Watts with the Hebrew Psalms. Such adaptation, +in the way of development and enlargement, when done with sincerely +pious intention, has never been reproved or forbidden by Christians, +Whether I am wise or unwise in my interpretations, the _subject_ is a +sacred one, and I treat it solemnly; and no errors in my "logic" can +justify Mr. Rogers in putting on the mask of a profane sceptic, who +scoffs (not once or twice, but through a long book) at the most +sacred and tender matters, such as one always dreads to bring before a +promiscuous public, lest one cast pearls before swine. And yet unless +devotional books be written, especially by those who have as yet +no church, how are we to aid one another in the uphill straggle +to maintain some elements of a heavenly life? Can anything be more +heartless, or more like the sneering devil they talk of, than Mr. +Harrington? And here one who professes himself a religions man, +and who deliberately, after protest, calls _me_ an INFIDEL, is not +satisfied with having scoffed in an hour of folly--(in such an hour, +I can well believe, that melancholy record the "Eclipse of Faith," +was first penned)--but he persists in justifying his claim to jeer +and snarl and mutilate, and palm upon me senses which he knows are +deliberately disavowed by me, all the while pretending that it is my +bad logic which justifies him! We know that very many religious men +_are_ bad logicians: if I am as puzzle-headed a fool as Mr. Rogers +would make people think me, how does that justify his mocking at my +religion? He justifies himself on the ground that I criticize the New +Testament as freely as I should Cicero (p. 147). Well, then let him +criticize me, as freely (and with as little of suppression) as I +criticize it. But I do not _laugh_ at it; God forbid! The reader will +see how little reason Mr. Rogers had to imagine that I had not read +so far as to see Harrington's defence; which defence is, either an +insolent assumption, or at any rate not to the purpose. + +I will here add, that I have received letters from numerous Christians +to thank me for my book on the "Soul," in such terms as put the +conduct of Mr. Rogers into the most painful contrast: painful, as +showing that there are other Christians who know, and _he does not +know_, what is the true heart and strength of Christianity. He trusts +in logic and ridicules the Spirit of God. + +That leads me to his defence of his suggestion that I might be +possibly as much inspired as the inventor of lucifer matches. He says, +p. 154:-- + +"Mr. Newman tells me, that I have clearly a profound unbelief in the +Christian doctrine of divine influence, or I could not thus grossly +insult it I answer... that which Harrington ridiculed, as the context +would have shown Mr. Newman, if he had had the patience to read +on, and the calmness to judge, is the chaotic view of inspiration, +_formally_ held by Mr. Parker, who is _expressly_ referred to, +"Eclipse," p. 81." In 9th edition, p. 71. + +The passage concerning Mr. Parker is in the _preceding_ page: I had +read it, and I do not see how it at all relieves the disgust which +every right-minded man must feel at this passage. My disgust is not +personal: though I might surely ask,--If Parker has made a mistake, +how does that justify insulting _me_? As I protested, I have made +no peculiar claim to inspiration. I have simply claimed "that which +all[16] pious Jews and Christians since David have always claimed." +Yet he pertinaciously defends this rude and wanton passage, adding, p. +155: "As to the inventor of lucifer matches, I am thoroughly convinced +that he has shed more light upon the world and been abundantly more +useful to it, than many a cloudy expositor of modern spiritualism." +Where to look for the "many" expositors of spiritualism, I do not +know. Would they were more numerous. + +Mr. Parker differs from me as to the use of the phrase "Spirit of +God." I see practical reasons, which I have not here space to insist +on, for adhering to the _Christian_, as distinguished from the +_Jewish_ use of this phrase. Theodore Parkes follows the phraseology +of the Old Testament, according to which Bezaleel and others received +the spirit of God to aid them in mere mechanical arts, building and +tailoring. To ridicule Theodore Parker for this, would seem to me +neither witty nor decent in an unbeliever; but when one does so, who +professes to believe the whole Old Testament to be sacred, and stoops +to lucifer matches and the Eureka shirt, as if this were a refutation, +I need a far severer epithet. Mr. Rogers implies that the light of a +lucifer match is comparable to the light of Theodore Parker; what will +be the judgment of mankind a century hence, if the wide dissemination +of the "Eclipse of Faith" lead to inscribing the name of Henry Rogers +permanently in biographical dictionaries! Something of this sort may +appear:-- + +"THEODORE PARKER, the most eminent moral theologian whom the first +half of the nineteenth century produced in the United States. When the +churches were so besotted, as to uphold the curse of slavery because +they found it justified in the Bible; when the Statesmen, the Press, +the Lawyers, and the Trading Community threw their weight to the same +fatal side; Parker stood up to preach the higher law of God against +false religion, false statesmanship, crooked law and cruel avarice. +He enforced three great fundamental truths, God, Holiness, and +Immortality. He often risked life and fortune to rescue the fugitive +slave. After a short and very active life full of good works, he died +in blessed peace, prematurely worn out by his perpetual struggle for +the true, the right, and the good. His preaching is the crisis which +marked the turn of the tide in America from the material to the moral, +which began to enforce the eternal laws of God on trade, on law, on +administration, and on the professors of religion itself." + +And what will be then said of him, who now despises the noble +Parker? I hope something more than the following:--"HENRY ROGERS, an +accomplished gentleman and scholar, author of many books, of which +by far the most popular was a smart satirical dialogue, disfigured by +unjustifiable garbling and profane language, the aim of which was +to sneer down Theodore Parker and others who were trying to save +spiritual doctrine out of the wreck of historical Christianity." + +Jocose scoffing, and dialogue writing is the easiest of tasks; and +if Mr. Rogers's co-religionists do not take the alarm, and come in +strength upon Messrs. Longman, imploring them to suppress these books +of Mr. Rogers, persons who despise _all_ religion (with whom Mr. +Rogers pertinaciously confounds me under the term infidel), may one of +these days imitate his sprightly example against his creed and church. +He himself seems to me at present incurable. I do not appeal to _him_, +I appeal to his co-religionists, how they would like the publication +of a dialogue, in which his free and easy sceptic "Mr. Harrington" +might reason on the _opposite_ side to that pliable and candid man +of straw "Mr. Fellowes?" I here subjoin for their consideration, an +imaginary extract of the sort which, by their eager patronage of the +"Eclipse of Faith," they are inviting against themselves. + +_Extract._ + +I say, Fellowes! (said Harrington), what was that, that Parker and +Rogers said about the Spirit of God? + +Excuse me (said Fellowes), Theodore Parker and Henry Rogers hold very +different views, Mr. Rogers would be much hurt to bear you class him +with Parker. + +I know (replied he), but they both hold that God inspires people; and +that is a great point in common, as I view it. Does not Mr. Rogers +believe the Old Testament inspired and all of it true? + +Certainly (said Fellowes): at least he was much shocked with Mr. +Newman for trying to discriminate its chaff from its wheat. + +Well then, he believes, does not he, that Jehovah filled men _with the +spirit of wisdom_ to help them make a suit of clothes for Aaron! + +Fellowes, after a pause, replied:--That is certainly written in the +28th chapter of Exodus. + +Now, my fine fellow! (said Harrington), here is a question to _rile_ +Mr. Rogers. If Aaron's toggery needed one portion of the spirit of +wisdom from Jehovah, how many portions does the Empress Eugenie's best +crinoline need? + +Really (said Fellowes, somewhat offended), such ridicule seems to me +profane. + +Forgive me, dear friend (replied Harrington, with a sweet smile). +_Your_ views I never will ridicule; for I know you have imbibed +somewhat of Francis Newman's fancy, that one ought to feel tenderly +towards other men's piety. But Henry Rogers is made of stouter stuff; +he manfully avows that a religion, if it is true, ought to stand the +test of ridicule, and he deliberately approves this weapon of attack. + +I cannot deny that (said Fellowes, lifting his eyebrows). + +But I was going to ask (continued Harrington) whether Mr. Rogers does +not believe that Jehovah filled Bezaleel with the Spirit of God, for +the work of jeweller, coppersmith, and mason? + +Of course he does (answered Fellowes), the text is perfectly clear, in +the 31st of Exodus; Bezaleel and Aholiab were both inspired to become +cunning workmen. + +By the Goose (said Harrington)--forgive a Socratic oath--I really do +not see that Mr. Rogers differs much from Theodore Parker. If a man +cannot hack a bit of stone or timber without the Spirit of God, Mr. +Rogers will have hard work to convince me, that any one can make a +rifled cannon without the Spirit of God. + +There is something in that (said Fellowes). In fact, I have sometimes +wondered how Mr. Rogers could say that which _looks_ so profane, as +what he said about the Eureka shirt. + +Pray what is that? (said Harrington;) and where? + +It is in his celebrated "Defence," 2nd edition, p. 155. "_If_ Minos +and Praxiteles are inspired in the same sense as Moses and Christ, +then the inventor of lucifer matches, as well as the inventor of the +Eureka shirts, must be also admitted"--to be inspired. + +Do you mean that he is trying to save the credit of Moses, by +maintaining that the Spirit of God which guides a sculptor is _not_ +the same in kind as that which guides a saint? + +No (replied Fellowes, with surprise), he is not defending Moses; he is +attacking Parker. + +Bless me (said Harrington, starting up), what is become of the man's +logic! Why, Parker and Moses are in the same boat. Mr. Rogers fires at +it, in hope to sink Parker; and does not know that he is sending old +Moses to Davy's locker. + +Now this is too bad (said Fellowes), I really cannot bear it. + +Nah! Nah! good friend (said Harrington, imploringly), be calm; and +remember, we have agreed that ridicule--against _Mr. Rogers_, not +against _you_--is fair play. + +That is true (replied Fellowes with more composure). + +Now (said Harrington, with a confidential air), you are my friend, and +I will tell you a secret--be sure you tell no one--I think that Henry +Rogers, Theodore Parker, and Francis Newman are three ninnies; all +wrong; for they all profess to believe in divine inspiration: yet they +are not ninnies of the same class. I _admit_ to Mr. Rogers that there +is a real difference. + +How do you mean (said Fellowes, with curiosity aroused)? + +Why (said Harrington, pausing and becoming impressive), Newman is +a flimsy mystic; he has no foundation, but he builds logically +enough--at least as far as I see--on his fancies and other people's +fancies. This is to be a simple ninny. But Mr. Rogers fancies he +believes a mystical religion, and doesn't; and fancies he is very +logical, and isn't. This is to be a doubly distilled ninny. + +Really I do not call this ridicule, Mr. Harrington (said Fellowes, +rising), I must call it slander. What right have you to say that Mr. +Rogers does not believe in the holy truths of the New Testament? + +Surely (replied Harrington) I have just _as_ much right as Mr. Rogers +has to say that Mr. Newman does not believe the holy sentiments of +St. Paul, when Mr. Newman says he does. Do you remember how Mr. Rogers +told him it was absurd for an infidel like him to third: he was in a +condition to rebuke any one for being profane, or fancy he had a right +to say that he believed this and that mystical text of Paul, which, +Mr. Rogers avows, Newman _totally_ mistakes and does _not_ believe as +Paul meant it. Now I may be very wrong; but I augur that Newman _does_ +understand Paul, and Rogers does _not_. For Rogers is of the Paley +school, and a wit; and a brilliant chap he is, like Macaulay. Such men +cannot be mystics nor Puritans in Pauline fashion; they cannot bear +to hear of a religion _from within_; but, as I heard a fellow say the +other day, Newman has never worked off the Puritan leaven. + +Well (said Fellowes), but why do you call Mr. Rogers illogical? + +I think you have seen one instance already, but that is a trifle +compared to his fundamental blunder (said Harrington). + +What can you mean? how fundamental (asked his friend)? + +Why, he says, that _I_ (for instance) who have so faith whatever +in what he calls revelation, cannot have any just belief or sure +knowledge of the moral qualities of God; in fact, am logically bound +(equally with Mr. Newman) to regard God as _im_moral, if I judge by my +own faculties alone. Does he not say that? + +Unquestionably; he has a whole chapter (ch. III.) of his "Defence" to +enforce this on Mr. Newman (replied Fellowes). + +Well, next, he tells me, that when the Christian message, as from God, +is presented to me, I am to believe it on the word of a God whom I +suppose to be, or _ought_ to suppose to be, immoral. If I suppose A B +a rogue, shall I believe the message which the rogue sends me? + +Surely, Harrington, you forget that you are speaking of God, not of +man: you ought not to reason so (said Fellowes, somewhat agitated). + +Surely, Fellowes, it is _you_ who forget (retorted Harrington) that +syllogism depends on form, not on matter. Whether it be God or Man, +makes no difference; the logic must be tried by turning the terms into +X Y Z. But I have not said all Mr. Rogers says, I am bound to throw +away the moral principles which I already have, at the bidding of a +God whom I am bound to believe to be immoral. + +No, you are unfair (said Fellowes), I know he says that revelation +would confirm and _improve_ your moral principles. + +But I am _not_ unfair. It is he who argues in a circle. What will be +_improvement_, is the very question pending. He says, that if Jehovah +called to me from heaven, "O Harrington! O Harrington! take thine +innocent son, thine only son, lay him on the altar and kill him," I +should be bound to regard obedience to the command an _improvement_ +of my morality; and this, though, up to the moment when I heard +the voice, I had been _bound logically_ to believe Jehovah to be an +IMMORAL God. What think you of that for logic? + +I confess (said Fellowes, with great candour) I must yield up my +friend's reputation as a _logician_; and I begin to think he was +unwise in talking so contemptuously of Mr. Newman's reasoning +faculties. But in truth, I love my friend for the great _spiritual_ +benefits I have derived from him and cannot admit to you that he is +not a very sincere believer in mystical Christianity. + +What benefits, may I ask? (said Harrington). + +I have found by his aid the peace which passeth understanding (replied +he). + +It passes my understanding, if you have (answered Harrington, +laughing), and I shall be infinitely obliged by your allowing me to +participate in the discovery. In plain truth, I do not trust your +mysticism. + +But are you in a condition to form an opinion? (said Fellowes, with +a serious air). Mr. Rogers has enforced on me St. Paul's maxim: "The +natural man discerneth not the things of the Spirit of God." + +My most devout gentleman I (replied Harrington), how unctuous you are! +Forgive my laughing; but it does _so_ remind me of Douce Davie Deans. +I will make you professor of spiritual insight, &c., &c., &c. + + * * * * * + +Now is not this disgusting? Might I not justly call the man a "profane +dog" who approved of it? Yet everything that is worst here _is closely +copied from the Eclipse of Faith, or justified by the Defence_. How +long will it be before English Christians cry out Shame against those +two books? + +VI. I must devote a few words to define the direction and +justification of my argument in one chapter of this treatise. All good +arguments are not rightly addressed to all persons. An argument good +in itself may be inappreciable to one in a certain mental state, or +may be highly exasperating. If a thoughtful Mohammedan, a searcher +after truth, were to confide to a Christian a new basis on which be +desired to found the Mohammedan religion--viz., the absolute moral +perfection of its prophet, and were to urge on the Christian this +argument in order to convert him, I cannot think that any one would +blame the Christian for demanding what is the evidence of the _fact_. +Such an appeal would justify his dissecting the received accounts of +Mohammed, pointing out what appeared to be flaws in his moral conduct; +nay, if requisite, urging some positive vice, such as his excepting +himself from his general law of _four wives only_. But a Christian +missionary would surely be blamed (at least I should blame him), if, +in preaching to a mixed multitude of Mohammedans against the authority +of their prophet, he took as his basis of refutation the prophet's +personal sensuality. We are able to foresee that the exasperation +produced by such an argument must derange the balance of mind in the +hearers, even if the argument is to the purpose; at the same time, it +may be really away from the purpose to _them_, if their belief has +no closer connexion with the personal virtue of the prophet, than has +that of Jews and Christians with the virtue of Balaam or Jonah. I will +proceed to imagine, that while a missionary was teaching, talking, and +distributing tracts to recommend, his own views of religion, a Moolah +were to go round and inform everybody that this Christian believed +Mohammed to be an unchaste man, and had used the very argument to such +and such a person. I feel assured that we should all pronounce this +proceeding to be a very cunning act of spiteful, bigotry. + +My own case, as towards certain Unitarian friends of mine, is quite +similar to this. They preach to me the absolute moral perfection of a +certain man (or rather, of a certain portrait) as a sufficient basis +for my faith. Hereby they challenge me, and as it were force me, to +inquire into its perfection. I have tried to confine the argument +within a narrow circle. It is addressed by me specifically to them +and not to others. I would _not_ address it to Trinitarians; partly, +because they are not in a mental state to get anything from it +but pain, partly because much of it becomes intrinsically bad _as +argument_ when addressed to them. Many acts and words which would be +_right_ from an incarnate God, or from an angel, are (in my opinion) +highly _unbecoming_ from a man; consequently I must largely remould +the argument before I could myself approve of it, if so addressed. +The principle of the argument is such as Mr. Rogers justifies, when +he says that Mr. Martineau _quite takes away all solid reasons for +believing in Christ's absolute perfection._ ("Defence," p. 220.) I +opened my chapter (chapter VII.) above with a distinct avowal of my +wish to confine the perusal of it to a very limited circle. Mr. Rogers +(acting, it seems, on the old principle, that whatever one's enemy +deprecates, is a good) instantly pounces on the chapter, avows that +"if infidelity _could_ be ruined, such imprudencies[17] would go +far to ruin it," p. 22; and because he believes that it will be +"unspeakably[18] painful" to the orthodox for whom I do _not_ intend +it, he prints the greater part of it in an Appendix, and expresses his +regret that he cannot publish "every syllable of it," p. 22. Such is +his tender regard for the feeling of his co-religionists. + +My defender in the "Prospective Review" wound up as follows (x. p. +227):-- + +"And now we have concluded our painful task, which nothing but a +feeling of what justice--literary, and personal--required, would have +induced us to undertake. The tone of intellectual disparagement +and moral rebuke which certain critics,--deceived by the shallowest +sophisms with which an unscrupulous writer could work on their +prepossessions and insult their understandings--have adopted towards +Mr. Newman made exposure necessary. The length to which our remarks +have extended requires apology. Evidence to character is necessarily +cumulative, and not easily compressible within narrow limits. Enough +has been said to show that there is not an art discreditable in +controversy, to which recourse is not freely had in the 'Eclipse of +Faith' and the Defence of it." + +The reader must judge for himself whether this severe and terrible +sentence of the reviewer proceeds from ill-temper and personal +mortification, as the author of the Eclipse and its Defence +gratuitously lays down, or whether it was prompted by a sense of +justice, as he himself affirms. + + +[Footnote 1: The "Eclipse" had previously been noticed in the same +review, on the whole favourably, by a writer of evidently a different +religious school, and before I had exposed the evil arts of my +assailant.] + +[Footnote 2: The authorship is since acknowledged by Mr. Henry Rogers, +in the title to his article on Bishop Butler in the "Encyclopędia +Britannica."] + +[Footnote 3: That is, my "discovery" that the writer of the "Eclipse +of Faith" grossly misquotes and misinterprets me.] + +[Footnote 4: Page 225, he says, that each criticism "is quite worthy +of Mr. Newman's _friend_, defender and admirer;" assuming a fact, in +order to lower my defender's credit with his readers.] + +[Footnote 5: As he puts "artful dodge" into quotation marks, his +readers will almost inevitably believe that this vulgar language is +mine. In the same spirit to speaks of me as "making merry" with a Book +Revelation; as if I had the slightest sympathy or share in the style +and tone which pervades the "Eclipse." But there is no end of such +things to be denounced.] + +[Footnote 6: Italics in the original.] + +[Footnote 7: In the ninth edition, p. 104, I find that to cover the +formal falsehood of these words, he adds: "what he calls his arguments +are assertions only," still withholding that which would confute him.] + +[Footnote 8: I will here add, that this "stinking fly"--the +parenthesis ("in a certain stage of development")--was added merely +to avoid dogmatizing on the question, how early in human history or in +human life this mysterious notion of the divine spirit is recognizable +as commencing.] + +[Footnote 9: If the word _essential_ is explained away, _this_ +sentence may be attenuated to a truism.] + +[Footnote 10: Paul to the Corinthians, 1st Ep. ii.] + +[Footnote 11: This clause is too strong. "Expect _direct_ spiritual +results," might have been better.] + +[Footnote 12: The substance of what I wrote was this. Socrates and +Cicero ask, _where did we pick up our intelligence?_ It did not come +from nothing; it most reside in the mind of him from whom we and this +world came; God must be more intelligent than man, his creature.--But +this argument may be applied with equal truth, not to intelligence +only, but to all the essential high qualities of man, everything noble +and venerable. Whence came the principle of love, which is the noblest +of all! It must reside in God more truly and gloriously than in +man. He who made loving hearts must himself be loving. Thus the +intelligence and love of God are known through our consciousness of +intelligence and love _within_.] + +[Footnote 13: He puts _alone_ in italics. A little below he repeats, +"which alone I ridiculed."] + +[Footnote 14: He should add: "external _authoritative_ revelation _of +moral and spiritual truth_." No communication from heaven could have +moral weight, to a heart previously destitute of moral sentiment, +or unbelieving in the morality of God.--What is there in this that +deserves ridicule?] + +[Footnote 15: He puts it between two other statements which avowedly +refer to me.] + +[Footnote 16: Mr. Rogers asks on this: "Does Mr. Newman mean that +he claims as much as the _apostles_ claimed, _whether they did so +rightfully or not_?" See how acutely a logician can pervert the word +_all_!] + +[Footnote 17: There is much meaning in the word imprudencies on which +I need not comment.] + +[Footnote 18: "Unspeakably painful" is his phrase for something +much smaller, ("Eclipse" ninth edition p. 194,) which he insists on +similarly obtruding, against my will and protest.] + + + + +APPENDIX I. + + +It is an error not at all peculiar to the author of the "Eclipse of +Faith," but is shared with him by many others, and by one who has +treated me in a very different spirit, that Christians are able to +use atheistic arguments against me without wounding Christianity. As I +have written a rather ample book, called "Theism," expressly designed +to establish against Atheists and Pantheists that moral Theism which +Christians, Jews, and Mohammedans have in common, and which underlies +every attempt of any of the three religions to establish its peculiar +and supernatural claims; I have no need of entering on that argument +here. It is not true, that, as a Theist, I evade the objections urged +by real atheists or sceptics; on the contrary, I try to search them to +the very bottom. It is only in arguing with Christians that I disown +the obligation of reply; and that, because they are as much concerned +as I to answer; and ought to be able to give me, _on the ground of +natural theology_, good replies to every fundamental objection from +the sceptic, if I have not got them myself. To declare the objections +of our common adversaries valid against those first principles +of religion which are older than Jesus or Moses, is certainly to +surrender the cause of Christianity. + +If this need more elucidation, let it be observed, that no Christian +can take a single step in argument with a heathen, much less establish +his claim of authority for the Bible, without presuming that the +heathen will admit, on hearing them, those doctrines of moral Theism, +which, it is pretended, _I_ can have no good reason for admitting. +If the heathen sincerely retorts against the missionary such Pagan +scepticism as is flung at me by Christians, the missionary's words +are vain; nor is any success possible, unless (with me) he can lay +a _prior_ foundation of moral Theism, independent of any assumption +concerning the claims of the Bible. It avails nothing to preach +repentance of sin and salvation from judgment to come, to minds which +are truly empty of the belief that God has any care for morality. I +of course do not say, and have never said, that the doctrine of the +divine holiness, goodness, truth, must have been previously an active +belief of the heathen hearer. To have stated a question clearly +is often half the solution; and the teacher, who so states a high +doctrine, gives a great aid to the learner's mind. But unless, after +it has been affirmed that there is a Great Eternal Being pervading the +universe, who disapproves of human evil and commands us to pursue +the good, the conscience and intellect of the hearer gives assent, no +argument of moral religion can have weight with him; therefore neither +can any argument about miracles, nor any appeal to the "Bible" as +authoritative. Of course the book has not as yet any influence over +him, nor will its miracles, any more than its doctrines, be +received on the ground of their being in the book. Thus a direct +and independent discernment of the great truths of moral Theism is a +postulate, to be proved or conceded _before_ the Christian can begin +the argument in favour of Biblical preternaturalism. I had thought +it would have been avowed and maintained with a generous pride, that +eminently in Christian literature we find the noblest, soundest, and +fullest advocacy of moral Theism, as having its evidence in the heart +of man within and nature without, _independently of any postulates +concerning the Bible_. I certainly grew up for thirty years in that +belief. Treatises on Natural Theology, which (with whatever success) +endeavoured to trace--not only a constructive God in the outer world, +but also a good God when that world is viewed in connexion with man; +were among the text-books of our clergy and of our universities, and +were in many ways crowned with honour. Bampton Lectures, Bridgewater +Treatises, Burnet Prize Essays, have (at least till very recently in +one case) been all, I rather think, in the same direction. And surely +with excellent reason. To avow that the doctrines of Moral Theism have +no foundation to one who sees nothing preternatural in the Bible, is +in a Christian such a suicidal absurdity, that whenever an atheist +advances it, it is met with indignant denial and contempt. + +The argumentative strength of this Appendix, as a reply to those +who call themselves "orthodox" Christians, is immensely increased by +analysing their subsidiary doctrines, which pretend to relieve, +while they prodigiously aggravate, the previous difficulties of Moral +Theism; I mean the doctrine of the fall of man by the agency of a +devil, and the eternal hell. But every man who dares to think will +easily work out such thoughts for himself. + + + + +APPENDIX II. + + +I here reproduce (merely that it may not be pretended that I silently +withdraw it) the substance of an illustration which I offered in my +2nd edition, p. 184. + +When I deny that History can be Religion or a part of Religion, I +mean it exactly in the same sense, in which we say that history is not +mathematics, though mathematics has a history. Religion undoubtedly +comes to us by historical transmission: it has had a slow growth; but +so is it with mathematics, so is it with all other sciences. (I refer +to mathematics, not as peculiarly like to religion, but as peculiarly +unlike; it is therefore and _ą fortiori_ argument. What is true of +them as sciences, is true of all science.) No science can flourish, +while it is received on authority. Science comes to us _by_ external +transmission, but is not believed _because_ of that transmission. The +history of the transmission is generally instructive, but is no proper +part of the science itself. All this is true of Religion. + +THE END. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Phases of Faith, by Francis William Newman + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PHASES OF FAITH *** + +***** This file should be named 12056-8.txt or 12056-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/0/5/12056/ + +Produced by PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Phases of Faith + Passages from the History of My Creed + +Author: Francis William Newman + +Release Date: April 15, 2004 [EBook #12056] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PHASES OF FAITH *** + + + + +Produced by PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + + + +PHASES OF FAITH + + - or - + +PASSAGES FROM THE HISTORY OF MY CREED. + + +Francis William Newman, 1874 + + + + + + + +PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION. + + +This is perhaps an egotistical book; egotistical certainly in its +form, yet not in its purport and essence. + +Personal reasons the writer cannot wholly disown, for desiring to +explain himself to more than a few, who on religious grounds are +unjustly alienated from him. If by any motive of curiosity or +lingering remembrances they may be led to read his straightforward +account, he trusts to be able to show them that he has had _no choice_ +but to adopt the intellectual conclusions which offend them;--that +the difference between them and him turns on questions of Learning, +History, Criticism and Abstract Thought;--and that to make _their_ +results (if indeed they have ever deeply and honestly investigated +the matter) the tests of _his_ spiritual state, is to employ unjust +weights and a false balance, which are an abomination to the Lord. To +defraud one's neighbour of any tithe of mint and cummin, would seem +to them a sin: is it less to withhold affection, trust and free +intercourse, and build up unpassable barriers of coldness and alarm, +against one whose sole offence is to differ from them intellectually? + +But the argument before the writer is something immensely greater +than a personal one. So it happens, that to vindicate himself is to +establish a mighty truth; a truth which can in no other way so well +enter the heart, as when it comes embodied in an individual case. +If he can show, that to have shrunk from his successive convictions +_would_ have been "infidelity" to God and Truth and Righteousness; but +that he has been "faithful" to the highest and most urgent duty;--it +will be made clear that Belief is one thing and Faith another; that to +believe is intellectual, nay possibly "earthly, devilish;" and that +to set up any fixed creed as a test of spiritual character is a most +unjust, oppressive and mischievous superstition. The historical form +has been deliberately selected, as easier and more interesting to +the reader; but it must not be imagined that the author has given his +mental history in general, much less an autobiography. The progress +of his _creed_ is his sole subject; and other topics are introduced +either to illustrate this or as digressions suggested by it. + +_March 22nd, 1850._ + + + + +PREFACE TO SIXTH EDITION + + +I had long thought that the elaborate reply made for me in the +"Prospective Review" (1854) to Mr. Henry Rogers's Defence of the +"Eclipse of Faith," superseded anything more from my pen. But in the +course of six years a review is forgotten and buried away, while Mr. +Rogers is circulating the ninth edition of his misrepresentations. + +As my publisher announces to me the opportunity, I at length consent +to reply myself to the Defence, cancelling what was previously my last +chapter, written against the "Eclipse." + +All that follows p. 175 in this edition is new. + +_June_, 1860. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + I. MY YOUTHFUL CREED + + II. STRIVINGS AFTER A MORE PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY + + III. CALVINISM ABANDONED + + IV. THE RELIGION OF THE LETTER RENOUNCED + + V. FAITH AT SECOND HAND FOUND TO BE VAIN + + VI. HISTORY DISCOVERED TO BE NO PART OF RELIGION + + VII. ON THE MORAL PERFECTION OF JESUS + + VIII. ON BIGOTRY AND PROGRESS + + IX. REPLY TO THE "DEFENCE OF THE ECLIPSE OF FAITH" + + APPENDIX I + + APPENDIX II + + + + + +PHASES OF FAITH. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +MY YOUTHFUL CREED. + + +I first began to read religious books at school, and especially the +Bible, when I was eleven years old; and almost immediately commenced +a habit of secret prayer. But it was not until I was fourteen that I +gained any definite idea of a "scheme of doctrine," or could have +been called a "converted person" by one of the Evangelical School. +My religion then certainly exerted a great general influence over +my conduct; for I soon underwent various persecution from my +schoolfellows on account of it: the worst kind consisted in their +deliberate attempts to corrupt me. An Evangelical clergyman at the +school gained my affections, and from him I imbibed more and more +distinctly the full creed which distinguishes that body of men; a +body whose bright side I shall ever appreciate, in spite of my present +perception that they have a dark side also. I well remember, that one +day when I said to this friend of mine, that I could not understand +how the doctrine of Election was reconcilable to God's Justice, but +supposed that I should know this in due time, if I waited and believed +His word;--he replied with emphatic commendation, that this was the +spirit which God always blessed. Such was the beginning and foundation +of my faith,--an unhesitating unconditional acceptance of whatever was +found in the Bible. While I am far from saying that my _whole_ moral +conduct was subjugated by my creed, I must insist that it was no mere +fancy resting in my intellect: it was really operative on my temper, +tastes, pursuits and conduct. + +When I was sixteen, in 1821, I was "confirmed" by Dr. Howley, then +Bishop of London, and endeavoured to take on myself with greater +decision and more conscientious consistency the whole yoke of Christ. +Every thing in the Service was solemn to me, except the bishop: he +seemed to me a _made-up_ man and a mere pageant. I also remember that +when I was examined by the clergyman for confirmation, it troubled me +much that he only put questions which tested my _memory_ concerning +the Catechism and other formulas, instead of trying to find out +whether I had any actual faith in that about which I was to be called +to profess faith: I was not then aware that his sole duty was to try +my _knowledge_. But I already felt keenly the chasm that separated +the High from the Low Church; and that it was impossible for me +to sympathize with those who imagined that Forms could command the +Spirit. + +Yet so entirely was I enslaved to one Form,--that of observing the +Sunday, or, as I had learned falsely to call it, the Sabbath,--that I +fell into painful and injurious conflict with a superior kinsman, by +refusing to obey his orders on the Sunday. He attempted to deal with +me by mere authority, not by instruction; and to yield my conscience +to authority would have been to yield up all spiritual life. I erred, +but I was faithful to God. + +When I was rather more than seventeen, I subscribed the 39 Articles at +Oxford in order to be admitted to the University. Subscription was "no +bondage," but pleasure; for I well knew and loved the Articles, and +looked on them as a great bulwark of the truth; a bulwark, however, +not by being imposed, but by the spiritual and classical beauty which +to me shone in them. But it was certain to me before I went to +Oxford, and manifest in my first acquaintance with it, that very few +academicians could be said to believe them. Of the young men, not one +in five seemed to have any religious convictions at all: the elder +residents seldom or never showed sympathy with the doctrines that +pervade that formula. I felt from my first day there, that the system +of compulsory subscription was hollow, false, and wholly evil. + +Oxford is a pleasant place for making friends,--friends of all sorts +that young men wish. One who is above envy and scorns servility,--who +can praise and delight in all the good qualities of his equals in +age, and does not desire to set himself above them, or to vie with his +superiors in rank,--may have more than enough of friends, for pleasure +and for profit. So certainly had I; yet no one of my equals gained +any ascendancy over me, nor perhaps could I have looked up to any for +advice. In some the intellect, in others the religious qualities, were +as yet insufficiently developed: in part also I wanted discrimination, +and did not well pick out the profounder minds of my acquaintance. +However, on my very first residence in College, I received a useful +lesson from another freshman,--a grave and thoughtful person, older +(I imagine) than most youths in their first term. Some readers may +be amused, as well as surprized, when I name the delicate question +on which I got into discussion with my fellow freshman. I had learned +from Evangelical books, that there is a _twofold_ imputation to every +saint,--not of the "sufferings" only, but also of the "righteousness" +of Christ. They alleged that, while the sufferings of Jesus are a +compensation for the guilt of the believer and make him innocent, yet +this suffices not to give him a title to heavenly glory; for which +he must over and above be invested in active righteousness, by all +Christ's good works being made over to him. My new friend contested +the latter part of the doctrine. Admitting fully that guilt is atoned +for by the sufferings of the Saviour, he yet maintained, there was no +farther imputation of Christ's active service as if it had been our +service. After a rather sharp controversy, I was sent back to study +the matter for myself, especially in the third and fourth chapters of +the Epistle to the Romans; and some weeks after, freely avowed to him +that I was convinced. Such was my first effort at independent thought +against the teaching of my spiritual fathers, and I suppose it had +much value for me. This friend might probably have been of service +to me, though he was rather cold and lawyerlike; but he was abruptly +withdrawn from Oxford to be employed in active life. + +I first received a temporary discomfort about the 39 Articles from +an irreligious young man, who had been my schoolfellow; who one day +attacked the article which asserts that Christ carried "his flesh and +bones" with him into heaven. I was not moved by the physical absurdity +which this youth mercilessly derided; and I repelled his objections +as on impiety. But I afterwards remembered the text, "_Flesh and blood +shall not inherit the kingdom of God_;" and it seemed to me as if the +compiler had really gone a little too far. If I had immediately +then been called on to subscribe, I suppose it would have somewhat +discomposed me; but as time went on, I forgot this small point, +which was swallowed up by others more important. Yet I believe that +henceforth a greater disposition to criticize the Articles grew upon +me. + +The first novel opinion of any great importance that I actually +embraced, so as to give roughness to my course, was that which many +then called the Oriel heresy about Sunday. Oriel College at this time +contained many active and several original minds; and it was rumoured +that one of the Fellows rejoiced in seeing his parishioners play at +cricket on Sunday: I do not know whether that was true, but so it +was said. Another of them preached an excellent sermon before the +University, clearly showing that Sunday had nothing to do with the +Sabbath, nor the Sabbath with us, and inculcating on its own ground +a wise and devout use of the Sunday hours. The evidently pious and +sincere tone of this discourse impressed me, and I felt that I had no +right to reject as profane and undeserving of examination the doctrine +which it enforced. Accordingly I entered into a thorough searching of +the Scripture without bias, and was amazed to find how baseless was +the tenet for which in fact I had endured a sort of martyrdom. This, I +believe, had a great effect in showing me how little right we have at +any time to count on our opinions as final truth, however necessary +they may just then be felt to our spiritual life. I was also +scandalized to find how little candour or discernment some Evangelical +friends, with whom I communicated, displayed in discussing the +subject. + +In fact, this opened to me a large sphere of new thought. In the +investigation, I had learned, more distinctly than before, that the +preceptive code of the Law was an essentially imperfect and temporary +system, given "for the hardness of men's hearts." I was thus prepared +to enter into the Lectures on Prophecy, by another Oriel Fellow,--Mr. +Davison,--in which he traces the successive improvements and +developments of religious doctrine, from the patriarchal system +onward. I in consequence enjoyed with new zest the epistles of St. +Paul, which I read as with fresh eyes; and now understood somewhat +better his whole doctrine of "the Spirit," the coming of which had +brought the church out of her childish into a mature condition, and by +establishing a higher law had abolished that of the letter. Into this +view I entered with so eager an interest, that I felt no bondage of +the letter in Paul's own words: his wisdom was too much above me +to allow free criticism of his weak points. At the same time, the +systematic use of the Old Testament by the Puritans, as if it were +"the rule of life" to Christians, I saw to be a glaring mistake, +intensely opposed to the Pauline doctrine. This discovery, moreover, +soon became important to me, as furnishing a ready evasion of +objections against the meagre or puerile views of the Pentateuch; +for without very minute inquiry how far I must go to make the defence +adequate, I gave a general reply, that the New Testament _confessed_ +the imperfections of the older dispensation. I still presumed the Old +to have been perfect for its own objects and in its own place; and +had not defined to myself how far it was correct or absurd, to imagine +morality to change with time and circumstances. + +Before long, ground was broken in my mind on a still more critical +question, by another Fellow of a College; who maintained that nothing +but unbelief could arise out of the attempt to understand _in what +way_ and _by what moral right_ the blood of Christ atoned for sins. +He said, that he bowed before the doctrine as one of "Revelation," and +accepted it reverentially by an act of faith; but that he certainly +felt unable to understand _why_ the sacrifice of Christ, any more than +the Mosaic sacrifices, should compensate for the punishment of our +sins. Could carnal reason discern that human or divine blood, any +more than that of beasts, had efficacy to make the sinner as it were +sinless? It appeared to him a necessarily inscrutable mystery, into +which we ought not to look.--The matter being thus forced on my +attention, I certainly saw that to establish the abstract moral +_right_ and _justice_ of vicarious punishment was not easy, and that +to make out the fact of any "compensation"--(_i.e._ that Jesus really +endured on the cross a true equivalent for the eternal sufferings +due to the whole human race,)--was harder still. Nevertheless I had +difficulty in adopting the conclusions of this gentleman; FIRST, +because, in a passage of the Epistle to the Hebrews, the sacred +writer, in arguing--"_For_ it is impossible that the blood of bulls +and goats can take away sins," &c., &c....--seems to expect his +readers to see an inherent impropriety in the sacrifices of the Law, +and an inherent moral fitness in the sacrifice of Christ. SECONDLY: +I had always been accustomed to hear that it was by seeing the +moral fitness of the doctrine of the Atonement, that converts to +Christianity were chiefly made: so said the Moravians among the +Greenlanders, so Brainerd among the North American Indians, so English +missionaries among the negroes at Sierra Leone:--and I could not at +all renounce this idea. Indeed I seemed to myself to see this fitness +most emphatically; and as for the _forensic_ difficulties, I passed +them over with a certain conscious reverence. I was not as yet ripe +for deeper inquiry: yet I, about this time, decidedly modified my +boyish creed on the subject, on which more will be said below. + +Of more immediate practical importance to me was the controversy +concerning Infant Baptism. For several years together I had been more +or less conversant with the arguments adduced for the practice; and +at this time I read Wall's defence of it, which was the book specially +recommended at Oxford. The perusal brought to a head the doubts which +had at an earlier period flitted over my mind. Wall's historical +attempt to trace Infant Baptism up to the apostles seemed to me a +clear failure:[1] and if he failed, then who was likely to succeed? +The arguments from Scripture had never recommended themselves to +me. Even allowing that they might confirm, they certainly could not +suggest and establish the practice. It now appeared that there was no +basis at all; indeed, several of the arguments struck me as cutting +the other way. "Suffer little children to come unto me," urged as +decisive: but it occurred to me that the disciples would not have +scolded the little children away, if they had ever been accustomed +to baptize them. Wall also, if I remember aright, declares that the +children of proselytes were baptized by the Jews; and deduces, that +unless the contrary were stated, we must assume that also Christ's +disciples baptized children: but I reflected that the baptism _of +John_ was one of "repentance," and therefore could not have been +administered to infants; which (if precedent is to guide us) afforded +the truer presumption concerning _Christian_ baptism. Prepossessions +being thus overthrown, when I read the apostolic epistles with a view +to this special question, the proof so multiplied against the Church +doctrine, that I did not see what was left to be said for it. I talked +much and freely of this, as of most other topics, with equals in age, +who took interest in religious questions; but the more the matters +were discussed, the more decidedly impossible it seemed to maintain +that the popular Church views were apostolic. + +Here also, as before, the Evangelical clergy whom I consulted were +found by me a broken reed. The clerical friend whom I had known at +school wrote kindly to me, but quite declined attempting to solve my +doubts; and in other quarters I soon saw that no fresh light was to be +got. One person there was at Oxford, who might have seemed my natural +adviser; his name, character, and religious peculiarities have been so +made public property, that I need not shrink to name him:--I mean +my elder brother, the Rev. John Henry Newman. As a warm-hearted and +generous brother, who exercised towards me paternal cares, I esteemed +him and felt a deep gratitude; as a man of various culture, and +peculiar genius, I admired and was proud of him; but my doctrinal +religion impeded my loving him as much as he deserved, and even +justified my feeling some distrust of him. He never showed any strong +attraction towards those whom I regarded as spiritual persons: on the +contrary, I thought him stiff and cold towards them. Moreover, soon +after his ordination, he had startled and distressed me by adopting +the doctrine of Baptismal Regeneration; and in rapid succession worked +out views which I regarded as full-blown "Popery." I speak of the +years 1823-6: it is strange to think that twenty years more had to +pass before he learnt the place to which his doctrines belonged. + +In the earliest period of my Oxford residence I fell into uneasy +collision with him concerning Episcopal powers. I had on one occasion +dropt something disrespectful against bishops or a bishop,--something +which, if it had been said about a clergyman, would have passed +unnoticed: but my brother checked and reproved me,--as I thought, very +uninstructively--for "wanting reverence towards Bishops." I knew +not then, and I know not now, why Bishops, _as such_, should be more +reverenced than common clergymen; or Clergymen, _as such_, more than +common men. In the World I expected pomp and vain show and formality +and counterfeits: but of the Church, as Christ's own kingdom, I +demanded reality and could not digest legal fictions. I saw round +me what sort of young men were preparing to be clergymen: I knew the +attractions of family "livings" and fellowships, and of a respectable +position and undefinable hopes of preferment. I farther knew, that +when youths had become clergymen through a great variety of mixed +motives, bishops were selected out of these clergy on avowedly +political grounds; it therefore amazed me how a man of good sense +should be able to set up a duty of religious veneration towards +bishops. I was willing to honour a Lord Bishop as a peer of +Parliament; but his office was to me no guarantee of spiritual +eminence.--To find my brother thus stop my mouth, was a puzzle; and +impeded all free speech towards him. In fact, I very soon left off the +attempt at intimate religious intercourse with him, or asking counsel +as of one who could sympathize. We talked, indeed, a great deal on the +surface of religious matters; and on some questions I was overpowered +and received a temporary bias from his superior knowledge; but as +time went on, and my own intellect ripened, I distinctly felt that his +arguments were too fine-drawn and subtle, often elaborately missing +the moral points and the main points, to rest on some ecclesiastical +fiction; and his conclusions were to me so marvellous and painful, +that I constantly thought I had mistaken him. In short, he was my +senior by a very few years: nor was there any elder resident at +Oxford, accessible to me, who united all the qualities which I wanted +in an adviser. Nothing was left for me but to cast myself on Him who +is named the Father of Lights, and resolve to follow the light which +He might give, however opposed to my own prejudices, and however I +might be condemned by men. This solemn engagement I made in early +youth, and neither the frowns nor the grief of my brethren can make me +ashamed of it in my manhood. + +Among the religious authors whom I read familiarly was the Rev. +T. Scott, of Aston Sandford, a rather dull, very unoriginal, +half-educated, but honest, worthy, sensible, strong-minded man, whose +works were then much in vogue among the Evangelicals. One day my +attention was arrested by a sentence in his defence of the doctrine +of the Trinity. He complained that Anti-Trinitarians unjustly charged +Trinitarians with self-contradiction. "If indeed we said" (argued he) +"that God is three _in the same sense_ as that in which He is one, +that would be self-refuting; but we hold Him to be _three in one +sense, and one in another_." It crossed my mind very forcibly, that, +if that was all, the Athanasian Creed had gratuitously invented an +enigma. I exchanged thoughts on this with an undergraduate friend, and +got no fresh light: in fact, I feared to be profane, if I attempted +to understand the subject. Yet it came distinctly home to me, that, +whatever the depth of the mystery, if we lay down anything about +it _at all_, we ought to understand our own words; and I presently +augured that Tillotson had been right in "wishing our Church well rid" +of the Athanasian Creed; which seemed a mere offensive blurting out +of intellectual difficulties. I had, however, no doubts, even of a +passing kind, for years to come, concerning the substantial truth and +certainty of the ecclesiastical Trinity. + +When the period arrived for taking my Bachelors degree, it was +requisite again to sign the 39 Articles, and I now found myself +embarrassed by the question of Infant Baptism. One of the articles +contains the following words, "The baptism of young children is in any +wise to be retained, as most agreeable to the institution of Christ." +I was unable to conceal from myself that I did not believe this +sentence; and I was on the point of refusing to take my degree. I +overcame my scruples by considering, 1. That concerning this doctrine +I had no active _dis_-belief, on which I would take any practical +step, as I felt myself too young to make any counterdeclaration: 2. +That it had no possible practical meaning to me, since I could not +be called on to baptize, nor to give a child for baptism. Thus I +persuaded myself. Yet I had not an easy conscience, nor can I now +defend my compromise; for I believe that my repugnance to Infant +Baptism was really intense, and my conviction that it is unapostolic +as strong then as now. The topic of my "youth" was irrelevant; for, +if I was not too young to subscribe, I was not too young to refuse +subscription. The argument that the article was "unpractical" to me, +goes to prove, that if I were ordered by a despot to qualify myself +for a place in the Church by solemnly renouncing the first book of +Euclid as false, I might do so without any loss of moral dignity. +Altogether, this humiliating affair showed me what a trap for the +conscience these subscriptions are: how comfortably they are passed +while the intellect is torpid or immature, or where the conscience is +callous, but how they undermine truthfulness in the active thinker, +and torture the sensitiveness of the tenderminded. As long as they +are maintained, in Church or University, these institutions exert a +positive influence to deprave or eject those who ought to be their +most useful and honoured members. + +It was already breaking upon me, that I could not fulfil the dreams of +my boyhood as a minister in the Church of England. For, supposing that +with increased knowledge I might arrive at the conclusion that Infant +Baptism was a fore-arranged "development,"--not indeed practised in +the _first_ generation, but expedient, justifiable, and intended +for the _second_, and probably then sanctioned by one still living +apostle,--even so, I foresaw the still greater difficulty of Baptismal +Regeneration behind. For any one to avow that Regeneration took place +in Baptism, seemed to me little short of a confession that he had +never himself experienced what Regeneration is. If I _could_ then +have been convinced that the apostles taught no other regeneration, +I almost think that even their authority would have snapt under the +strain: but this is idle theory; for it was as clear as daylight to me +that they held a totally different doctrine, and that the High Church +and Popish fancy is a superstitious perversion, based upon carnal +inability to understand a strong spiritual metaphor. On the other +hand, my brother's arguments that the Baptismal Service of the Church +taught "spiritual regeneration" during the ordinance, were short, +simple, and overwhelming. To imagine a _twofold_ "spiritual +regeneration" was evidently a hypothesis to serve a turn, nor in any +of the Church formulas was such an idea broached. Nor could I hope for +relief by searching through the Homilies or by drawing deductions from +the Articles: for if I there elicited a truer doctrine, it would never +show the Baptismal Service not to teach the Popish tenet; it would +merely prove the Church-system to contain contradictions, and not to +deserve that absolute declaration of its truth, which is demanded of +Church ministers. With little hope of advantage, I yet felt it a duty +to consult many of the Evangelical clergymen whom I knew, and to ask +how _they_ reconciled the Baptismal Service to their consciences. +I found (if I remember) three separate theories among them,--all +evidently mere shifts invented to avoid the disagreeable necessity of +resigning their functions. Not one of these good people seemed to have +the most remote idea that it was their duty to investigate the meaning +of the formulary with the same unbiassed simplicity as if it belonged +to the Gallican Church. They did not seek to know what it was written +to mean, nor what sense it must carry to every simpleminded hearer; +but they solely asked, how they could manage to assign to it a sense +not wholly irreconcilable with their own doctrines and preaching. This +was too obviously hollow. The last gentleman whom I consulted, was the +rector of a parish, who from week to week baptized children with the +prescribed formula: but to my amazement, he told me that _he_ did not +like the Service, and did not approve of Infant Baptism; to both of +which things he submitted, solely because, as an inferior minister of +the Church, it was his duty to obey established authority! The case +was desperate. But I may here add, that this clergyman, within a few +years from that time, redeemed his freedom and his conscience by the +painful ordeal of abandoning his position and his flock, against the +remonstrances of his wife, to the annoyance of his friends, and with a +young family about him. + +Let no reader accept the preceding paragraph as my testimony that the +Evangelical clergy are less simpleminded and less honourable in their +subscriptions than the High Church. I do not say, and I do not believe +this. _All_ who subscribe, labour under a common difficulty, in having +to give an absolute assent to formulas that were made by a compromise +and are not homogeneous in character. To the High Churchman, the +_Articles_ are a difficulty; to the Low Churchman, various parts of +the _Liturgy_. All have to do violence to some portion of the +system; and considering at how early an age they are entrapped into +subscription, they all deserve our sincere sympathy and very ample +allowance, as long as they are pleading for the rights of conscience: +only when they become overbearing, dictatorial, proud of their chains, +and desirous of ejecting others, does it seem right to press them with +the topic of inconsistency. There in, besides, in the ministry of +the Established Church a sprinkling of original minds, who cannot +be included in either of the two great divisions; and from these _a +priori_ one might have hoped much good to the Church. But such persons +no sooner speak out, than the two hostile parties hush their strife, +in order the more effectually to overwhelm with just and unjust +imputations those who dare to utter truth that has not yet been +consecrated by Act of Parliament or by Church Councils. Among those +who have subscribed, to attack others is easy, to defend oneself most +arduous. Recrimination is the only powerful weapon; and noble minds +are ashamed to use this. No hope, therefore, shows itself of Reform +from within.--For myself, I feel that nothing saved me from the +infinite distresses which I should have encountered, had I become a +minister of the Episcopal Church, but the very unusual prematureness +of my religious development. + +Besides the great subject of Baptismal Regeneration, the entire +Episcopal theory and practice offended me. How little favourably I was +impressed, when a boy, by the lawn sleeves, wig, artificial voice and +manner of the Bishop of London, I have already said: but in six +years more, reading and observation had intensely confirmed my first +auguries. It was clear beyond denial, that for a century after the +death of Edward VI. the bishops were the tools of court-bigotry, and +often owed their highest promotions to base subservience. After the +Revolution, the Episcopal order (on a rough and general view) might be +described as a body of supine persons, known to the public only as a +dead weight against all change that was distasteful to the Government. +In the last century and a half, the nation was often afflicted with +sensual royalty, bloody wars, venal statesmen, corrupt constituencies, +bribery and violence at elections, flagitious drunkenness pervading +all ranks, and insinuating itself into Colleges and Rectories. The +prisons of the country had been in a most disgraceful state; the +fairs and waits were scenes of rude debauchery, and the theatres +were--still, in this nineteenth century--whispered to be haunts of the +most debasing immorality. I could not learn that any bishop had ever +taken the lead in denouncing these iniquities; nor that when any man +or class of men rose to denounce them, the Episcopal Order failed to +throw itself into the breach to defend corruption by at least passive +resistance. Neither Howard, Wesley and Whitfield, nor yet Clarkson, +Wilberforce, or Romilly, could boast of the episcopal bench as an ally +against inhuman or immoral practices. Our oppressions in India, and +our sanction to the most cruel superstitions of the natives, led to no +outcry from the Bishops. Under their patronage the two old Societies +of the Church had gone to sleep until aroused by the Church Missionary +and Bible Societies, which were opposed by the Bishops. Their policy +seemed to be, to do nothing, until somebody else was likely to do +it; upon which they at last joined the movement in order to damp its +energy, and get some credit from it. Now what were Bishops for, but to +be the originators and energetic organs of all pious and good works? +and what were they in the House of Lords for, if not to set a higher +tone of purity, justice, and truth? and if they never did this, but +weighed down those who attempted it, was not that a condemnation (not, +perhaps, of all possible Episcopacy, but) of Episcopacy as it exists +in England? If such a thing as a moral argument _for_ Christianity +was admitted as valid, surely the above was a moral argument _against_ +English Prelacy. It was, moreover, evident at a glance, that this +system of ours neither was, nor could have been, apostolic: for as +long as the civil power was hostile to the Church, _a Lord bishop +nominated by the civil ruler_ was an impossibility: and this it is, +which determines the moral and spiritual character of the English +institution, not indeed exclusively, but preeminently. + +I still feel amazement at the only defence which (as far as I know) +the pretended followers of Antiquity make for the nomination of +bishops by the Crown. In the third and fourth centuries, it is well +known that every new bishop was elected by the universal suffrage of +the laity of the church; and it is to these centuries that the High +Episcopalians love to appeal, because they can quote thence out of +Cyprian[2] and others in favour of Episcopal authority. When I alleged +the dissimilarity in the mode of election, as fatal to this argument +in the mouth of an English High Churchman, I was told that "the Crown +now _represents_ the Laity!" Such a fiction may be satisfactory to a +pettifogging lawyer, but as the basis of a spiritual system is indeed +supremely contemptible. + +With these considerations on my mind,--while quite aware that some of +the bishops were good and valuable men,--I could not help feeling +that it would be a perfect misery to me to have to address one of them +taken at random as my "Right Reverend Father in God," which seemed +like a foul hypocrisy; and when I remembered who had said, "Call +no man Father on earth; for one is your Father, who is in +heaven:"--words, which not merely in the letter, but still more +distinctly in the spirit, forbid the state of feeling which suggested +this episcopal appellation,--it did appear to me, as if "Prelacy" +had been rightly coupled by the Scotch Puritans with "Popery" as +antichristian. + +Connected inseparably with this, was the form of Ordination, which, +the more I thought of it, seemed the more offensively and outrageously +Popish, and quite opposed to the Article on the same subject. In the +Article I read, that we were to regard such to be legitimate ministers +of the word, as had been duly appointed to this work _by those who +have public authority for the same_. It was evident to me that this +very wide phrase was adapted and intended to comprehend the "public +authorities" of all the Reformed Churches, and could never have been +selected by one who wished to narrow the idea of a legitimate minister +to Episcopalian Orders; besides that we know Lutheran and Calvinistic +ministers to have been actually admitted in the early times of the +Reformed English Church, by the force of that very Article. To this, +the only genuine Protestant view of a Church, I gave my most cordial +adherence: but when I turned to the Ordination Service, I found the +Bishop there, by his authoritative voice, absolutely to bestow on +the candidate for Priesthood the power to forgive or retain +sins!--"Receive ye the Holy Ghost! Whose sins ye forgive, they are +forgiven: whose sins ye retain, they are retained." If the Bishop +really had this power, he of course had it only _as_ Bishop, that is, +by his consecration; thus it was formally transmitted. To allow this, +vested in all the Romish bishops a spiritual power of the highest +order, and denied the legitimate priesthood in nearly all the +Continental Protestant Churches--a doctrine irreconcilable with the +article just referred to and intrinsically to me incredible. That +an unspiritual--and it may be, a wicked--man, who can have no pure +insight into devout and penitent hearts, and no communion with the +Source of holy discernment, could never receive by an outward form the +divine power to forgive or retain sins, or the power of bestowing this +power, was to me then, as now, as clear and certain as any possible +first axiom. Yet if the Bishop had not this power, how profane was +the pretension! Thus again I came into rude collision with English +Prelacy. + +The year after taking my degree, I made myself fully master of Paley's +acute and original treatise, the "Horae Paulinae," and realized the +whole life of Paul as never before. This book greatly enlarged my mind +as to the resources of historical criticism. Previously, my sole idea +of criticism was that of the direct discernment of style; but I now +began to understand what powerful argument rose out of combinations: +and the very complete establishment which this work gives to the +narrative concerning Paul in the latter half of the "Acts," appeared +to me to reflect critical honour[3] on the whole New Testament. In the +epistles of this great apostle, notwithstanding their argumentative +difficulties, I found a moral reality and a depth of wisdom +perpetually growing upon me with acquaintance: in contrast to which +I was conscious that I made no progress in understanding the four +gospels. Their first impression had been their strongest: and their +difficulties remained as fixed blocks in my way. Was this possibly +because Paul is a reasoner, (I asked)? hence, with the cultivation +of my understanding, I have entered more easily into the heart of +his views:--while Christ enunciates divine truth dogmatically; +consequently insight is needed to understand him? On the contrary, +however, it seemed to me, that the doctrinal difficulties of the +gospels depend chiefly either on obscure metaphor or on apparent +incoherence: and I timidly asked a friend, whether the _dislocation_ +of the discourses of Christ by the narrators may not be one reason why +they are often obscure: for on comparing Luke with Matthew, it appears +that we cannot deny occasional dislocation. If at this period a German +divinity professor had been lecturing at Oxford, or German books had +been accessible to me, it might have saved me long peregrinations of +body and mind. + +About this time I had also begun to think that the old writers called +_Fathers_ deserved but a small fraction of the reverence which is +awarded to them. I had been strongly urged to read Chrysostom's work +on the Priesthood, by one who regarded it as a suitable preparation +for Holy Orders; and I did read it. But I not only thought it +inflated, and without moral depth, but what was far worse, I +encountered in it an elaborate defence of falsehood in the cause of +the Church, and generally of deceit in any good cause.[4] I rose +from the treatise in disgust, and for the first time sympathized with +Gibbon; and augured that if he had spoken with moral indignation, +instead of pompous sarcasm, against the frauds of the ancient +"Fathers," his blows would have fallen far more heavily on +Christianity itself. + +I also, with much effort and no profit, read the Apostolic Fathers. +Of these, Clement alone seemed to me respectable, and even he to write +only what I could myself have written, with Paul and Peter to serve +as a model. But for Barnabas and Hermas I felt a contempt so profound, +that I could hardly believe them genuine. On the whole, this reading +greatly exalted my sense of the unapproachable greatness[5] of the New +Testament. The moral chasm between it and the very earliest Christian +writers seemed to me so vast, as only to be accounted for by the +doctrine in which all spiritual men (as I thought) unhesitatingly +agreed,--that the New Testament was dictated by the immediate action +of the Holy Spirit. The infatuation of those, who, after this, rested +on _the Councils_, was to me unintelligible. Thus the Bible in its +simplicity became only the more all-ruling to my judgment, because +I could find no Articles, no Church Decrees, and no apostolic +individual, whose rule over my understanding or conscience I could +bear. Such may be conveniently regarded as the first period of my +Creed. + + +[Footnote 1: It was not until many years later that I became aware, +that unbiased ecclesiastical historians, as Neander and others, while +approving of the practice of Infant Baptism, freely concede that it is +not apostolic. Let this fact be my defence against critics, who snarl +at me for having dared, at that age, to come to _any_ conclusion on +such a subject. But, in fact, the subscriptions compel young men to +it.] + +[Footnote 2: I remember reading about that time a sentence in one of +his Epistles, in which this same Cyprian, the earliest mouthpiece of +"proud prelacy," claims for the _populace_ supreme right of deposing +an unworthy bishop. I quote the words from memory, and do not know +the reference. "Pleba summam habet potentatem episcopos seu dignos +eligendi seu indignos detrudendi."] + +[Footnote 3: A critic absurdly complains that I do not account for +this. Account for what? I still hold the authenticity of nearly all +the Pauline epistles, and that the Pauline Acts are compiled from some +valuable source, from chap. xiii. onward; but it was gratuitous to +infer that this could accredit the four gospels.] + +[Footnote 4: He argues from the Bible, that a victory gained by deceit +is more to be esteemed than one obtained by force; and that, provided +the end aimed at be good, we ought not to call it _deceit_, but a sort +of _admirable management_. A learned friend informs me that in +his 45th Homily on Genesis, this father, in his zeal to vindicate +Scriptural characters at any cost, goes further still in immorality. +My friend adds, "It is really frightful to reflect to what guidance +the moral sentiment of mankind was committed for many ages: Chrysostom +is usually considered one of the best of the fathers."] + +[Footnote 5: I thought that the latter part of this book would +sufficiently show how and why I now need to modify this sentiment. I +_now_ see the doctrine of the Atonement, especially as expounded +in the Epistle of the Hebrews, to deserve no honour. I see false +interpretations of the Old Testament to be dogmatically proposed in +the New. I see the moral teaching concerning Patriotism, Property, +Slavery, Marriage, Science, and indirectly Fine Art, to be essentially +defective, and the threats against unbelief to be a pernicious +immorality. See also p. 80. Why will critics use my frankly-stated +juvenile opinions as a stone to pelt me with?] + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +STRIVINGS AFTER A MORE PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY. + + +My second period is characterized, partly by the great ascendancy +exercised over me by one powerful mind and still more powerful will, +partly by the vehement effort which throughout its duration urged me +to long after the establishment of Christian Fellowship in a purely +Biblical Church as the first great want of Christendom and of the +world. + +I was already uneasy in the sense that I could not enter the ministry +of the Church of England, and knew not what course of life to choose. +I longed to become a missionary for Christ among the heathen,--a +notion I had often fostered while reading the lives of missionaries: +but again, I saw not how that was to be effected. After taking my +degree, I became a Fellow of Balliol College; and the next year I +accepted an invitation to Ireland, and there became private tutor for +fifteen months in the house of one now deceased, whose name I would +gladly mention for honour and affection;--but I withhold my pen. While +he repaid me munificently for my services, he behaved towards me as a +father, or indeed as an elder brother, and instantly made me feel as +a member of his family. His great talents, high professional standing, +nobleness of heart and unfeigned piety, would have made him a most +valuable counsellor to me: but he was too gentle, too unassuming, too +modest; he looked to be taught by his juniors, and sat at the feet of +one whom I proceed to describe. + +This was a young relative of his,--a most remarkable man,--who rapidly +gained an immense sway over me. I shall henceforth call him "the Irish +clergyman." His "bodily presence" was indeed "weak!" A fallen cheek, +a bloodshot eye, crippled limbs resting on crutches, a seldom shaven +beard, a shabby suit of clothes and a generally neglected person, drew +at first pity, with wonder to see such a figure in a drawing-room. +It was currently reported that a person in Limerick offered him a +halfpenny, mistaking him for a beggar; and if not true, the story was +yet well invented. This young man had taken high honours in Dublin +University and had studied for the bar, where under the auspices of +his eminent kinsman he had excellent prospects; but his conscience +would not allow him to take a brief, lest he should be selling his +talents to defeat justice. With keen logical powers, he had warm +sympathies, solid judgment of character, thoughtful tenderness, and +total self-abandonment. He before long took Holy Orders, and became +an indefatigable curate in the mountains of Wicklow. Every evening +he sallied forth to teach in the cabins, and roving far and wide +over mountain and amid bogs, was seldom home before midnight. By such +exertions his strength was undermined, and he so suffered in his limbs +that not lameness only, but yet more serious results were feared. He +did not fast on purpose, but his long walks through wild country and +indigent people inflicted on him much severe deprivation: moreover, +as he ate whatever food offered itself,--food unpalatable and often +indigestible to him, his whole frame might have vied in emaciation +with a monk of La Trappe. + +Such a phenomenon intensely excited the poor Romanists, who looked +on him as a genuine "saint" of the ancient breed. The stamp of heaven +seemed to them clear in a frame so wasted by austerity, so superior +to worldly pomp, and so partaking in all their indigence. That a dozen +such men would have done more to convert all Ireland to Protestantism, +than the whole apparatus of the Church Establishment, was ere long my +conviction; though I was at first offended by his apparent affectation +of a mean exterior. But I soon understood, that in no other way could +he gain equal access to the lower and lowest orders, and that he was +moved not by asceticism, nor by ostentation, but by a self-abandonment +fruitful of consequences. He had practically given up all reading +except that of the Bible; and no small part of his movement towards me +soon took the form of dissuasion from all other voluntary study. + +In fact, I had myself more and more concentrated my religious reading +on this one book: still, I could not help feeling the value of a +cultivated mind. Against this, my new eccentric friend, (himself +having enjoyed no mean advantages of cultivation,) directed his +keenest attacks. I remember once saying to him, in defence of worldly +station,--"To desire to be rich is unchristian and absurd; but if I +were the father of children, I should wish to be rich enough to secure +them a good education." He replied: "If I had children, I would as +soon see them break stones on the road, as do any thing else, if only +I could secure to them the Gospel and the grace of God." I was unable +to say Amen, but I admired his unflinching consistency;--for now, +as always, all he said was based on texts aptly quoted and logically +enforced. He more and more made me ashamed of Political Economy and +Moral Philosophy, and all Science; all of which ought to be "counted +dross for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord." +For the first time in my life I saw a man earnestly turning into +reality the principles which others confessed with their lips only. +That the words of the New Testament contained the highest truth +accessible to man,--truth not to be taken from nor added to,--all +good men (as I thought) confessed: never before had I seen a man so +resolved that no word of it should be a dead letter to him. I once +said: "But do you really think that _no_ part of the New Testament may +have been temporary in its object? for instance, what should we have +lost, if St. Paul had never written the verse, 'The cloak which I +have left at Troas, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the +parchments.'" He answered with the greatest promptitude: "_I_ should +certainly have lost something; for that is exactly the verse which +alone saved me from selling my little library. No! every word, depend +upon it, is from the Spirit, and is for eternal service." + +A political question was just then exceedingly agitating Ireland, in +which nearly everybody took a great interest;--it was, the propriety +of admitting Romanist members of Parliament. Those who were favourable +to the measure, generally advocated it by trying to undervalue +the chasm that separates Romish from Protestant doctrine. By such +arguments they exceedingly exasperated the real Protestants, and, +in common with all around me, I totally repudiated that ground of +comprehension. But I could not understand why a broader, more generous +and every way safer argument was not dwelt on; viz. the unearthliness +of the claims of Christianity. When Paul was preaching the kingdom of +God in the Roman empire, if a malicious enemy had declared to a Roman +proconsul that the Christians were conspiring to eject all Pagans out +of the senate and out of the public administration; who can doubt what +Paul would have replied?--The kingdom of God is not of this world: it +is within the heart, and consists in righteousness, peace and joy +in the Holy Ghost. These are our "honours" from God: we ask not the +honours of empire and title. Our King is in heaven; and will in time +return to bring to an end these earthly kingdoms: but until then, we +claim no superiority over you on earth. As the riches of this world, +so the powers of this world belong to another king: we dare not try to +appropriate them in the name of our heavenly King; may, we should +hold it as great a sin to clutch empire for our churches, as to clutch +wealth: God forbid that we covet either!--But what then if the enemy +had had foresight to reply, O proconsul, this Paul talks finely, and +perhaps sincerely: but if so, yet cheat not yourself to think that +his followers will tie themselves to his mild equity and +disinterestedness. Now indeed they are weak: now they profess +unworldliness and unambition: they wish only to be recognised as +peaceable subjects, as citizens and as equals: but if once they grow +strong enough, they will discover that their spears and swords are +the symbol of their Lord's return from heaven; that he now at length +commissions them to eject you, as vile infidels, from all seats of +power,--to slay you with the sword, if you dare to offer sacrifice to +the immortal gods,--to degrade you so, that you shall only not enter +the senate, or the privy council of the prince, or the judgment seat, +but not even the jury-box, or a municipal corporation, or the pettiest +edileship of Italy; nay, you shall not be lieutenants of armies, or +tribunes, or anything above the lowest centurion. You shall become a +plebeian class,--cheap bodies to be exposed in battle or to toil in +the field, and pay rent to the lordly Christian. Such shall be the +fate of _you_, the worshippers of Quirinus and of Jupiter Best and +Greatest, if you neglect to crush and extirpate, during the weakness +of its infancy, this ambitious and unscrupulous portent of a +religion.--Oh, how would Paul have groaned in spirit, at accusations +such as these, hateful to his soul, aspersing to his churches, but +impossible to refute! Either Paul's doctrine was a fond dream, (felt +I,) or it is certain, that he would have protested with all the force +of his heart against the principle that Christians _as such_ have any +claim to earthly power and place; or that they could, when they gained +a numerical majority, without sin enact laws to punish, stigmatize, +exclude, or otherwise treat with political inferiority the Pagan +remnant. To uphold such exclusion, is to lay the axe to the root of +the spiritual Church, to stultify the apostolic preaching, and at this +moment justify Mohammedans in persecuting Christians. For the Sultan +might fairly say,--"I give Christians the choice of exile or death: I +will not allow that sect to grow up here; for it has fully warned me, +that it will proscribe my religion in my own land, as soon as it has +power." + +On such grounds I looked with amazement and sorrow at spiritual +Christians who desired to exclude the Romanists from full equality; +and I was happy to enjoy as to this the passive assent of the Irish +clergyman; who, though "Orange" in his connexions, and opposed to +_all_ political action, yet only so much the more deprecated what he +called "political Protestantism." + +In spite of the strong revulsion which I felt against some of the +peculiarities of this remarkable man, I for the first time in my life +found myself under the dominion of a superior. When I remember, how +even those bowed down before him, who had been to him in the place of +parents,--accomplished and experienced minds,--I cease to wonder in +the retrospect, that he riveted me in such a bondage. Henceforth I +began to ask: what will _he_ say to this and that? In _his_ reply I +always expected to find a higher portion of God's Spirit, than in any +I could frame for myself. In order to learn divine truth, it became to +me a surer process to consult him, than to search for myself and wait +upon God: and gradually, (as I afterwards discerned,) my religious +thought had merged into the mere process of developing fearlessly +into results all his principles, without any deeper examining of my +foundations. Indeed, but for a few weaknesses which warned me that +he might err, I could have accepted him as an apostle commissioned to +reveal the mind of God. + +In his after-course (which I may not indicate) this gentleman has +every where displayed a wonderful power of bending other minds to his +own, and even stamping upon them the tones of his voice and all sorts +of slavish imitation. Over the general results of his action I +have long deeply mourned, as blunting his natural tenderness and +sacrificing his wisdom to the Letter, dwarfing men's understandings, +contracting their hearts, crushing their moral sensibilities, and +setting those at variance who ought to love: yet oh! how specious +was it in the beginning! he _only_ wanted men "to submit their +understandings _to God_" that is, to the Bible, that is, to his +interpretation! From seeing his action and influence I have learnt, +that if it be dangerous to a young man (as it assuredly is) to have +_no_ superior mind to which he may look up with confiding reverence, +it may be even more dangerous to think that he has found such a mind: +for he who is most logically consistent, though to a one-sided theory, +and most ready to sacrifice self to that theory, seems to ardent youth +the most assuredly trustworthy guide. Such was Ignatius Loyola in his +day. + +My study of the New Testament at this time had made it impossible for +me to overlook that the apostles held it to be a duty of all disciples +to expect a near and sudden destruction of the earth by fire, and +constantly to be expecting _the return of the Lord from heaven_. It +was easy to reply, that "experience disproved" this expectation; but +to this an answer was ready provided in Peter's 2nd Epistle, which +forewarns us that we shall be taunted by the unbelieving with thin +objection, but bids us, _nevertheless_, continue to look out for +the speedy fulfilment of this great event. In short, the case stood +thus:--If it was not _too soon_ 1800 years ago to stand in daily +expectation of it, it is not too soon now: to say that it is _too +late_, is not merely to impute error to the apostles, on a matter +which they made of first-rate moral importance, but is to say, that +those whom Peter calls "ungodly scoffers, walking after their own +lusts"--were right, and he was wrong, on the very point for which he +thus vituperated them. + +The importance of this doctrine is, that _it totally forbids all +working for earthly objects distant in time_: and here the Irish +clergyman threw into the same scale the entire weight of his +character. For instance; if a youth had a natural aptitude for +mathematics, and he asked, ought he to give himself to the study, in +hope that he might diffuse a serviceable knowledge of it, or possibly +even enlarge the boundaries of the science? my friend would have +replied, that such a purpose was very proper, if entertained by a +worldly man. Let the dead bury their dead; and let the world study the +things of the world: they know no better, and they are of use to the +Church, who may borrow and use the jewels of the Egyptians. But such +studies cannot be eagerly followed by the Christian, except when he +yields to unbelief. In fact, what would it avail even to become a +second La Place after thirty years' study, if in five and thirty years +the Lord descended from heaven, snatched up all his saints to meet +him, and burned to ashes all the works of the earth? Then all the +mathematician's work would have perished, and he would grieve over +his unwisdom, in laying up store which could not stand the fire of +the Lord. Clearly; if we are bound to act _as though_ the end of all +earthly concerns may come, "at cockcrowing or at midday," then to work +for distant earthly objects is the part of a fool or of an unbeliever. + +I found a wonderful dulness in many persons on this important subject. +Wholly careless to ask what was the true apostolic doctrine, they +insisted that "Death is to us _practically_ the coming of the Lord," +and were amazed at my seeing so much emphasis in the other view. This +comes of the abominable selfishness preached as religion. If I were +to labour at some useful work for ten years,--say, at clearing forest +land, laying out a farm, and building a house,--and were then to die, +I should leave my work to my successors, and it would not be lost. +Some men work for higher, some for lower, earthly ends; ("in a great +house there are many vessels, &c.;") but all the results are valuable, +if there is a chance of transmitting them to those who follow us. +But if all is to be very shortly burnt up, it is then folly to exert +ourselves for such objects. To the dead man, (it is said,) the cases +are but one. This is to the purpose, if self absorbs all our heart; +away from the purpose, if we are to work for unselfish ends. + +Nothing can be clearer, than that the New Testament is entirely +pervaded by the doctrine,--sometimes explicitly stated, sometimes +unceremoniously assumed,--that earthly things are very speedily to +come to an end, and _therefore_ are not worthy of our high affections +and deep interest. Hence, when thoroughly imbued with this persuasion, +I looked with mournful pity on a great mind wasting its energies on +any distant aim of this earth. For a statesman to talk about providing +for future generations, sounded to me as a melancholy avowal of +unbelief. To devote good talents to write history or investigate +nature, was simple waste: for at the Lord's coming, history and +science would no longer be learned by these feeble appliances of ours. +Thus an inevitable deduction from the doctrine of the apostles, was, +that "we must work for speedy results only." Vitae summa brevis spem +nos vetat inchoare longam. I _then_ accepted the doctrine, in profound +obedience to the absolutely infallible system of precepts. I _now_ see +that the falsity and mischief of the doctrine is one of the very many +disproofs of the assumed, but unverified infallibility. However, +the hold which the apostolic belief then took of me, subjected my +conscience to the exhortations of the Irish clergyman, whenever he +inculcated that the highest Christian must necessarily decline the +pursuit of science, knowledge, art, history,--except so far as any +of these things might be made useful tools for immediate spiritual +results. + +Under the stimulus to my imagination given by this gentleman's +character, the desire, which from a boy I had more or less nourished, +of becoming a teacher of Christianity _to the heathen_, took stronger +and stronger hold of me. I saw that I was shut out from the ministry +of the Church of England, and knew not how to seek connexion with +Dissenters. I had met one eminent Quaker, but was offended by the +violent and obviously false interpretations by which he tried to +get rid of the two Sacraments; and I thought there was affectation +involved in the forms which the doctrine of the Spirit took with him. +Besides, I had not been prepossessed by those Dissenters whom I had +heard speak at the Bible Society. I remember that one of them +talked in pompous measured tones of voice, and with much stereotyped +phraseology, about "the Bible only, the religion of Protestants:" +altogether, it did not seem to me that there was at all so much of +nature and simple truth in them as in Church clergymen. I also had +a vague, but strong idea, that all Dissenting churches assumed some +special, narrow, and sectarian basis. The question indeed arose: "Was +I _at liberty_ to preach to the heathen without ordination?" but I +with extreme ease answered in the affirmative. To teach a Church, of +course needs the sanction of the church: no man can assume pastoral +rights without assent from other parties: but to speak to those +without, is obviously a natural right, with which the Church can have +nothing to do. And herewith all the precedents of the New Testament so +obviously agreed, that I had not a moment's disquiet on this head. + +At the same time, when asked by one to whom I communicated my +feelings, "whether I felt that I had _a call_ to preach to the +heathen," I replied: I had not the least consciousness of it, and knew +not what was meant by such language. All that I knew was, that I was +willing and anxious to do anything in my power either to teach, or to +help others in teaching, if only I could find out the way. That after +eighteen hundred years no farther progress should have been made +towards the universal spread of Christianity, appeared a scandalous +reproach on Christendom. Is it not, perhaps, because those who are +in Church office cannot go, and the mass of the laity think it no +business of theirs? If a persecution fell on England, and thousands +were driven into exile, and, like those who were scattered in +Stephen's persecution, "went everywhere preaching the word,"--might +not this be the conversion of the world, as indeed that began the +conversion of the Gentiles? But the laity leave all to the clergy, and +the clergy have more than enough to do. + +About this time I heard of another remarkable man, whose name was +already before the public,--Mr. Groves,--who had written a tract +called Christian Devotedness, on the duty of devoting all worldly +property for the cause of Christ, and utterly renouncing the attempt +to amass money. In pursuance of this, he was going to Persia as a +teacher of Christianity. I read his tract, and was inflamed with the +greatest admiration; judging immediately that this was the man whom +I should rejoice to aid or serve. For a scheme of this nature +alone appeared to combine with the views which I had been gradually +consolidating concerning the practical relation of a Christian Church +to Christian Evidences. On this very important subject it is requisite +to speak in detail. + + * * * * * + +The Christian Evidences are an essential part of the course of +religious study prescribed at Oxford, and they had engaged from an +early period a large share of my attention. Each treatise on the +subject, taken by itself, appeared to me to have great argumentative +force; but when I tried to grasp them all together in a higher act +of thought, I was sensible of a certain confusion, and inability to +reconcile their fundamental assumptions. _One_ either formally +stated, or virtually assumed, that the deepest basis of all +religious knowledge was the testimony of sense to some fact, which is +ascertained to be miraculous when examined by the light of Physics or +Physiology; and that we must, at least in a great degree, distrust and +abandon our moral convictions or auguries, at the bidding of sensible +miracle. _Another_ treatise assumed that men's moral feelings and +beliefs are, on the whole, the most trustworthy thing to be found; +and starting from them as from a known and ascertained foundation, +proceeded to glorify Christianity because of its expanding, +strengthening, and beautifying all that we know by conscience to be +morally right. That the former argument, if ever so valid, was still +too learned and scholastic, not for the vulgar only, but for every man +in his times of moral trial, I felt instinctively persuaded: yet my +intellect could not wholly dispense with it, and my belief in the +depravity of the moral understanding of men inclined me to go some way +in defending it. To endeavour to combine the two arguments by saying +that they were adapted to different states of mind, was plausible; +yet it conceded, that neither of the two went to the bottom of +human thought, or showed what were the real _fixed points_ of man's +knowledge; without knowing which, we are in perpetual danger of mere +_argumentum ad hominem_, or, in fact, arguing in a circle;--as to +prove miracles from doctrine, and doctrine from miracles. I however +conceived that the most logical minds among Christians would contend +that there was another solution; which, in 1827, I committed to paper +in nearly the following words: + +"May it not be doubted whether Leland sees the real circumstance that +makes a revelation necessary? + +"No revelation is needed to inform us,--of the invisible power and +deity of God; that we are bound to worship Him; that we are capable of +sinning against Him and liable to his just Judgment; nay, that we have +sinned, and that we find in nature marks of his displeasure against +sin; and yet, that He is merciful. St. Paul and our Lord show us that +these things are knowable by reason. The ignorance of the heathens is +_judicial blindness_, to punish their obstinate rejection of the true +God." + +"But a revelation _is_ needed to convey a SPECIAL message, such as +this: that God has provided an Atonement for our sins, has deputed his +own Son to become Head of the redeemed human family, and intends to +raise those who believe in Him to a future and eternal life of bliss. +These are external truths, (for 'who can believe, unless one be sent +to preach them?') and are not knowable by any reasonings drawn from +nature. They transcend natural analogies and moral or spiritual +experience. To reveal them, a specific communication must be accorded +to us: and on this the necessity for miracle turns." + +Thus, in my view, at that time, the materials of the Bible were in +theory divisible into two portions: concerning the _one_, (which I +called Natural Religion,) it not only was not presumptuous, but it was +absolutely essential, to form an independent judgment; for this was +the real basis of all faith: concerning the _other_, (which I called +Revealed Religion,) our business was, not to criticize the message, +but to examine the credentials[1] of the messenger; and,--after the +most unbiassed possible examination of these,--then, if they proved +sound, to receive his communication reverently and unquestioningly. + +Such was the theory with which I came from Oxford to Ireland; but +I was hindered from working out its legitimate results by the +overpowering influence of the Irish clergyman; who, while pressing +the authority of every letter of the Scripture with an unshrinking +vehemence that I never saw surpassed, yet, with a common +inconsistency, showed more than indifference towards learned +historical and critical evidence on the side of Christianity; and +indeed, unmercifully exposed erudition to scorn, both by caustic +reasoning, and by irrefragable quotation of texts. I constantly had +occasion to admire the power with which be laid hold of the moral +side of every controversy; whether he was reasoning against Romanism, +against the High Church, against learned religion or philosophic +scepticism: and in this matter his practical axiom was, that the +advocate of truth had to address himself to the _conscience_ of the +other party, and if possible, make him feel that there was a moral and +spiritual superiority against him. Such doctrine, when joined with +an inculcation of man's _natural blindness and total depravity_, +was anything but clearing to my intellectual perceptions: in fact, +I believe that for some years I did not recover from the dimness and +confusion which he spread over them. But in my entire inability to +explain away the texts which spoke with scorn of worldly wisdom, +philosophy, and learning, on the one hand; and the obvious certainty, +on the other, that no historical evidence for miracle was possible +except by the aid of learning; I for the time abandoned this side of +Christian Evidence,--not as invalid, but as too unwieldy a weapon +for use,--and looked to direct moral evidence alone. And now rose the +question, How could such moral evidence become appreciable to heathens +and Mohammedans? + +I felt distinctly enough, that mere talk could bring no conviction, +and would be interpreted by the actions and character of the speaker. +While nations called Christian are only known to heathens as great +conquerors, powerful avengers, sharp traders,--often lax in morals, +and apparently without religion,--the fine theories of a Christian +teacher would be as vain to convert a Mohammedan or Hindoo to +Christianity, to the soundness of Seneca's moral treatises to convert +me to Roman Paganism. Christendom has to earn a new reputation before +Christian precepts will be thought to stand in any essential or close +relation with the mystical doctrines of Christianity. I could see +no other way to this, but by an entire church being formed of new +elements on a heathen soil:--a church, in which by no means all +should be preachers, but all should be willing to do for all whatever +occasion required. Such a church had I read of among the Moravians in +Greenland and in South Africa. I imagined a little colony, so animated +by primitive faith, love, and disinterestedness, that the collective +moral influence of all might interpret and enforce the words of the +few who preached. Only in this way did it appear to me that preaching +to the heathen could be attended with success. In fact, whatever +success had been attained, seemed to come only after many years, when +the natives had gained experience in the characters of the Christian +family around them. + +When I had returned to Oxford, I induced the Irish clergyman to visit +the University, and introduced him to many of my equals in age, and +juniors. Most striking was it to see how instantaneously he assumed +the place of universal father-confessor, as if he had been a known +and long-trusted friend. His insight into character, and tenderness +pervading his austerity, so opened young men's hearts, that day after +day there was no end of secret closetings with him. I began to see the +prospect of so considerable a movement of mind, as might lead many in +the same direction as myself; and _if_ it was by a collective +Church that Mohammedans were to be taught, the only way was for +each separately to be led to the same place by the same spiritual +influence. As Groves was a magnet to draw me, so might I draw others. +In no other way could a pure and efficient Church be formed. If we +waited, as with worldly policy, to make up a complete colony before +leaving England, we should fail of getting the right men: we should +pack them together by a mechanical process, instead of leaving them to +be united by vital affinities. Thus actuated, and other circumstances +conducing, in September 1830, with some Irish friends, I set out to +join Mr. Groves at Bagdad. What I might do there, I knew not. I did +not go as a minister of religion, and I everywhere pointedly disowned +the assumption of this character, even down to the colour of my dress. +But I thought I knew many ways in which I might be of service, and I +was prepared to act recording to circumstances. + + * * * * * + +Perhaps the strain of practical life must in any case, before long, +have broken the chain by which the Irish clergyman unintentionally +held me; but all possible influence from him was now cut off by +separation. The dear companions of my travels no more aimed to guide +my thoughts, than I theirs: neither ambition nor suspicion found place +in our hearts; and my mind was thus able again without disturbance to +develop its own tendencies. + +I had become distinctly aware, that the modern Churches in general by +no means hold the truth as conceived of by the apostles. In the +matter of the Sabbath and of the Mosaic Law, of Infant Baptism, of +Episcopacy, of the doctrine of the Lord's return, I had successively +found the prevalent Protestantism to be unapostolic. Hence arose in me +a conscious and continuous effort to read the New Testament with fresh +eyes and without bias, and so to take up the real doctrines of the +heavenly and everlasting Gospel. + +In studying the narrative of John I was strongly impressed by the +fact, that the glory and greatness of the Son of God is constantly +ascribed to the will and pleasure of the Father. I had been accustomed +to hear this explained of his _mediatorial_ greatness only, but this +now looked to me like a make-shift, and to want the simplicity of +truth--an impression which grew deeper with closer examination. +The emphatic declaration of Christ, "My Father is greater than I," +especially arrested my attention. Could I really expound this as +meaning, "My Father, the Supreme God, in greater than I am, _if you +look solely to my human nature?_" Such a truism can scarcely have +deserved such emphasis. Did the disciples need to be taught that God +was greater than man? Surely, on the contrary, the Saviour must have +meant to say: "_Divine as I am_, yet my heavenly Father is greater than +I, _even when you take cognizance of my divine nature._" I did not +then know, that my comment was exactly that of the most orthodox +Fathers; I rather thought they were against me, but for them I did not +care much. I reverenced the doctrine of the Trinity as something vital +to the soul; but felt that to love the Fathers or the Athanasian +Creed more than the Gospel of John would be a supremely miserable +superstition. However, that Creed states that there is no inequality +between the Three Persons: in John it became increasingly clear to me +that the divine Son is unequal to the Father. To say that "the Son of +God" meant "Jesus as man," was a preposterous evasion: for there is +no higher title for the Second Person of the Trinity than this very +one--Son of God. Now, in the 5th chapter, when the Jews accused Jesus +"of making himself equal to God," by calling himself Son of God Jesus +even hastens to protest against the inference as a misrepresentation +--beginning with: "The Son can do nothing of himself:" and proceeds +elaborately to ascribe all his greatness to the Father's will. In +fact, the Son is emphatically "he who is sent," and the Father is "he +who sent him:" and all would feel the deep impropriety of trying to +exchange these phrases. The Son who is sent,--sent, not _after_ he was +humbled to become man, but _in order to_ be so humbled,--was NOT EQUAL +TO, but LESS THAN, the Father who sent him. To this I found the whole +Gospel of John to bear witness; and with this conviction, the truth +and honour of the Athanasian Creed fell to the ground. One of its main +tenets was proved false; and yet it dared to utter anathemas on all +who rejected it! + +I afterwards remembered my old thought, that we must surely understand +_our own words_, when we venture to speak at all about divine +mysteries. Having gained boldness to gaze steadily on the topic, I +at length saw that the compiler of the Athanasian Creed did _not_ +understand his own words. If any one speaks of _three men_, all that +he means is, "three objects of thought, of whom each separately may +be called Man." So also, all that could possibly be meant by _three +gods_, is, "three objects of thought, of whom each separately may be +called God." To avow the last statement, as the Creed does, and yet +repudiate Three Gods, is to object to the phrase, yet confess to +the only meaning which the phrase can convey. Thus the Creed really +teaches polytheism, but saves orthodoxy by forbidding any one to call +it by its true name. Or to put the matter otherwise: it teaches three +Divine Persons, and denies three Gods; and leaves us to guess what +else is a Divine Person but a God, or a God but a Divine Person. Who, +then, can deny that this intolerant creed is a malignant riddle? + +That there is nothing in the Scripture about Trinity in Unity and +Unity in Trinity I had long observed; and the total absence of such +phraseology had left on me a general persuasion that the Church had +systematized too much. But in my study of John I was now arrested by +a text, which showed me how exceedingly far from a _Tri-unity_ was the +Trinity of that Gospel,--if trinity it be. Namely, in his last prayer, +Jesus addresses to his Father the words: "This is life eternal, that +they may know _Thee, the only True God_, and Jesus Christ, whom thou +hast sent" I became amazed, as I considered these words more and more +attentively, and without prejudice; and I began to understand how +prejudice, when embalmed with reverence, blinds the mind. Why had I +never before seen what is here so plain, that the _One God_ of Jesus +was not a Trinity, but was _the First Person_, of the ecclesiastical +Trinity? + +But on a fuller search, I found this to be Paul's doctrine also: for +in 1 Corinth, viii., when discussing the subject of Polytheism, he +says that "though there be to the heathen many that are called Gods, +yet to us there is but _One God_, the Father, _of_ whom are all +things; and _One Lord_, Jesus Christ, _by_ whom are all things." Thus +he defines Monotheism to consist in holding the person of the Father +to be the One God; although this, if any, should have been the place +for a "Trinity in Unity." + +But did I proceed to deny the Divinity of the Son? By no means: I +conceived of him as in the highest and fullest sense divine, short +of being Father and not Son. I now believed that by the phrase "only +begotten Son," John, and indeed Christ himself, meant to teach us that +there was an unpassable chasm between him and all creatures, in that +he had a true, though a derived divine nature; an indeed the Nicene +Creed puts the contrast, he was "begotten, not made." Thus all Divine +glory dwells in the Son, but it is _because_ the Father has willed +it. A year or more afterward, when I had again the means of access +to books, and consulted that very common Oxford book, "Pearson on the +Creed," (for which I had felt so great a distaste that I never before +read it)--I found this to be the undoubted doctrine of the great +Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers, who laid much emphasis on two +statements, which with the modern Church are idle and dead--viz. that +"the Son was _begotten_ of his Father _before all worlds_," and that +"the Holy Spirit _proceedeth from_ the Father and the Son." In +the view of the old Church, the Father alone was the Fountain of +Deity,--(and _therefore_ fitly called, The One God,--and, the Only +True God)--while the Deity of the other two persons was real, yet +derived and subordinate. Moreover, I found in Gregory Nazianzen and +others, that to confess this derivation of the Son and Spirit and the +underivedness of the Father alone, was in their view quite essential +to save Monotheism; the _One_ God being the underived Father. + +Although in my own mind all doubt as to the doctrine of John and Paul +on the main question seemed to be quite cleared away from the time +that I dwelt on their explanation of Monotheism, this in no respect +agitated me, or even engaged me in any farther search. There was +nothing to force me into controversy, or make this one point of +truth unduly preponderant. I concealed none of my thoughts from my +companions; and concerning them I will only say, that whether they +did or did not feel acquiescence, they behaved towards me with all +the affection and all the equality which I would have wished myself +to maintain, had the case been inverted. I was, however, sometimes +uneasy, when the thought crossed my mind,--"What if we, like Henry +Martyn, were charged with Polytheism by Mohammedans, and were forced +to defend ourselves by explaining in detail our doctrine of the +Trinity? _Perhaps_ no two of us would explain it alike, and this would +expose Christian doctrine to contempt." Then farther it came +across me; How very remarkable it is, that the Jews, those strict +Monotheists, never seem to have attacked the apostles for polytheism! +It would have been so plausible an imputation, one that the instinct +of party would so readily suggest, if there had been any external +form of doctrine to countenance it. Surely it is transparent that the +Apostles did not teach as Dr. Waterland. I had always felt a great +repugnance to the argumentations concerning the _Personality_ of the +Holy Spirit; no doubt from an inward sense, however dimly confessed, +that they were all words without meaning. For the disputant who +maintains this dogma, tells us in the very next breath that _Person_ +has not in this connexion its common signification; so that he is +elaborately enforcing upon us we know not what. That the Spirit of God +meant in the New Testament _God in the heart_, had long been to me a +sufficient explanation: and who by logic or metaphysics will carry us +beyond this? + +While we were at Aleppo, I one day got into religious discourse with +a Mohammedan carpenter, which left on me a lasting impression. Among +other matters, I was peculiarly desirous of disabusing him of the +current notion of his people, that our gospels are spurious narratives +of late date. I found great difficulty of expression; but the man +listened to me with much attention, and I was encouraged to exert +myself. He waited patiently till I had done, and then spoke to the +following effect: "I will tell you, sir, how the case stands. God has +given to you English a great many good gifts. You make fine ships, and +sharp penknives, and good cloth and cottons; and you have rich nobles +and brave soldiers; and you write and print many learned books: +(dictionaries and grammars:) all this is of God. But there is one +thing that God has withheld from you, and has revealed to us; and that +is, the knowledge of the true religion, by which one may be +saved." When he thus ignored my argument, (which was probably quite +unintelligible to him,) and delivered his simple protest, I was +silenced, and at the same time amused. But the more I thought it over, +the more instruction I saw in the case. His position towards me was +exactly that of a humble Christian towards an unbelieving philosopher; +nay, that of the early Apostles or Jewish prophets towards the proud, +cultivated, worldly wise and powerful heathen. This not only showed +the vanity of any argument to him, except one purely addressed to +his moral and spiritual faculties; but it also indicated to me that +Ignorance has its spiritual self-sufficiency as well as Erudition; and +that if there is a Pride of Reason, so is there a Pride of Unreason. +But though this rested in my memory, it was long before I worked out +all the results of that thought. + +Another matter brought me some disquiet. An Englishman of rather low +tastes who came to Aleppo at this time, called upon us; and as he +was civilly received, repeated his visit more than once. Being +unencumbered with fastidiousness, this person before long made various +rude attacks on the truth and authority of the Christian religion, +and drew me on to defend it. What I had heard of the moral life of the +speaker made me feel that his was not the mind to have insight into +divine truth; and I desired to divert the argument from external +topics, and bring it to a point in which there might be a chance +of touching his conscience. But I found this to be impossible. He +returned actively to the assault against Christianity, and I could +not bear to hear him vent historical falsehoods and misrepresentations +damaging to the Christian cause, without contradicting them. He was +a half-educated man, and I easily confuted him to my own entire +satisfaction: but he was not either abashed or convinced; and at +length withdrew as one victorious.--On reflecting over this, I felt +painfully, that if a Moslem had been present and had understood all +that had been said, he would have remained in total uncertainty which +of the two disputants was in the right: for the controversy had turned +on points wholly remote from the sphere of his knowledge or thought. +Yet to have declined the battle would have seemed like conscious +weakness on my part. Thus the historical side of my religion, +though essential to it, and though resting on valid evidence, (as I +unhesitatingly believed,) exposed me to attacks in which I might incur +virtual defeat or disgrace, but in which, from the nature of the +case, I could never win an available victory. This was to me very +disagreeable, yet I saw not my way out of the entanglement. + +Two years after I left England, a hope was conceived that more friends +might be induced to join us; and I returned home from Bagdad with +the commission to bring this about, if there were suitable persons +disposed for it. On my return, and while yet in quarantine on the +coast of England, I received an uncomfortable letter from a most +intimate spiritual friend, to the effect, that painful reports had +been every where spread abroad against my soundness in the faith. +The channel by which they had come was indicated to me; but my friend +expressed a firm hope, that when I had explained myself, it would all +prove to be nothing. + +Now began a time of deep and critical trial to me and to my Creed; a +time hard to speak of to the public; yet without a pretty full notice +of it, the rest of the account would be quite unintelligible. + +The Tractarian movement was just commencing in 1833. My brother +was taking a position, in which he was bound to show that he could +sacrifice private love to ecclesiastical dogma; and upon learning that +I had spoken at some small meetings of religious people, (which he +interpreted, I believe, to be an assuming of the Priest's office,) +he separated himself entirely from my private friendship and +acquaintance. To the public this may have some interest, as indicating +the disturbing excitement which animated that cause: but my reason for +naming the fact here is solely to exhibit the practical positions into +which I myself was thrown. In my brother's conduct there was not a +shade of unkindness, and I have not a thought of complaining of it. My +distress was naturally great, until I had fully ascertained from him +that I had given no personal offence. But the mischief of it went +deeper. It practically cut me off from other members of my family, +who were living in his house, and whose state of feeling towards me, +through separation and my own agitations of mind, I for some time +totally mistook. + +I had, however, myself slighted relationship in comparison with +Christian brotherhood;--_sectarian_ brotherhood, some may call it;--I +perhaps had none but myself to blame: but in the far more painful +occurrences which were to succeed one another for many months +together, I was blameless. Each successive friend who asked +explanations of my alleged heresy, was satisfied,--or at least left +me with that impression,--after hearing me: not one who met me face to +face had a word to reply to the plain Scriptures which I quoted. +Yet when I was gone away, one after another was turned against me by +somebody else whom I had not yet met or did not know: for in every +theological conclave which deliberates on joint action, the most +bigoted scorns always to prevail. + +I will trust my pen to only one specimen of details. The Irish +clergyman was not able to meet me. He wrote a very desultory letter +of grave alarm and inquiry, stating that he had heard that I was +endeavouring to sound the divine nature by the miserable plummet of +human philosophy,--with much beside that I felt to be mere commonplace +which every body might address to every body who differed from him. +I however replied in the frankest, most cordial and trusting tone, +assuring him that I was infinitely far from imagining that I could +"by searching understand God;" on the contrary, concerning his higher +mysteries, I felt I knew absolutely nothing but what he revealed to +me in his word; but in studying this word, I found John and Paul to +declare the Father, and not the Trinity, to be the One God. Referring +him to John xvii, 3, 1 Corinth. viii, 5, 6, I fondly believed that one +so "subject to the word" and so resolutely renouncing man's authority +_in order that_ he might serve God, would immediately see as I saw. +But I assured him, in all the depth of affection, that I felt how much +fuller insight he had than I into all divine truth; and not he only, +but others to whom I alluded; and that if I was in error, I only +desired to be taught more truly; and either with him, or at his feet, +to learn of God. He replied, to my amazement and distress, in a letter +of much tenderness, but which was to the effect,--that if I allowed +the Spirit of God to be with him rather than with me, it was wonderful +that I set my single judgment against the mind of the Spirit and of +the whole Church of God; and that as for admitting into Christian +communion one who held my doctrine, it had this absurdity, that while +I was in such a state of belief, it was my duty to anathematize _them_ +as idolaters.--Severe as was the shock given me by this letter, I +wrote again most lovingly, humbly, and imploringly: for I still adored +him, and could have given him my right hand or my right eye,--anything +but my conscience. I showed him that if it was a matter of action, +I would submit; for I unfeignedly believed that he had more of the +Spirit of God than I: but over my secret convictions I had no power. +I was shut up to obey and believe God rather than man, and from the +nature of the case, the profoundest respect for my brother's judgment +could not in itself alter mine. As to the whole _Church_ being against +me, I did not know what that meant: I was willing to accept the Nicene +Creed, and this I thought ought to be a sufficient defensive argument +against the Church. His answer was decisive;--he was exceedingly +surprized at my recurring to mere ecclesiastical creeds, as though +they could have the slightest weight; and he must insist on my +acknowledging, that, in the two texts quoted, the word Father meant +the Trinity, if I desired to be in any way recognized as holding the +truth. + +The Father meant the Trinity!! For the first time I perceived, that so +vehement a champion of the sufficiency of the Scripture, so staunch +an opposer of Creeds and Churches, was wedded to an extra-Scriptural +creed of his own, by which he tested the spiritual state of his +brethren. I was in despair, and like a man thunderstruck. I had +nothing more to say. Two more letters from the same hand I saw, the +latter of which was, to threaten some new acquaintances who were kind +to me, (persons wholly unknown to him,) that if they did not desist +from sheltering me and break off intercourse, they should, as far as +his influence went, themselves everywhere be cut off from Christian +communion and recognition. This will suffice to indicate the sort of +social persecution, through which, after a succession of struggles, I +found myself separated from persons whom I had trustingly admired, +and on whom I had most counted for union: with whom I fondly believed +myself bound up for eternity; of whom some were my previously intimate +friends, while for others, even on slight acquaintance, I would have +performed menial offices and thought myself honoured; whom I still +looked upon as the blessed and excellent of the earth, and the special +favourites of heaven; whose company (though oftentimes they were +considerably my inferiors either in rank or in knowledge and +cultivation) I would have chosen in preference to that of nobles; whom +I loved solely because I thought them to love God, and of whom I asked +nothing, but that they would admit me as the meanest and most frail of +disciples. My heart was ready to break: I wished for a woman's soul, +that I might weep in floods. Oh, Dogma! Dogma! how dost them trample +under foot love, truth, conscience, justice! Was ever a Moloch worse +than thou? Burn me at the stake; then Christ will receive me, and +saints beyond the grave will love me, though the saints here know +me not But now I am alone in the world: I can trust no one. The new +acquaintances who barely tolerate me, and old friends whom reports +have not reached, (if such there be,) may turn against me with +animosity to-morrow, as those have done from whom I could least have +imagined it. Where is union? where is the Church, which was to convert +the heathen? + +This was not my only reason, yet it was soon a sufficient and at last +an overwhelming reason, against returning to the East. The pertinacity +of the attacks made on me, and on all who dared to hold by me in a +certain connexion, showed that I could no longer be anything but a +thorn in the side of my friends abroad; nay, I was unable to predict +how they themselves might change towards me. The idea of a Christian +Church propagating Christianity while divided against itself was +ridiculous. Never indeed had I had the most remote idea, that my +dear friends there had been united to me by agreement in intellectual +propositions; nor could I yet believe it. I remembered a saying of the +noble-hearted Groves: "Talk of loving me while I agree with them! Give +me men that will love me when I differ from them and contradict them: +those will be the men to build up a true Church." I asked myself,--was +I then possibly different from all? With me,--and, as I had thought, +with all my Spiritual friends,--intellectual dogma was not the test +of spirituality. A hundred times over had I heard the Irish clergyman +emphatically enunciate the contrary. Nothing was clearer in his +preaching, talking and writing, than that salvation was a present +real experienced fact; a saving of the soul from the dominion of baser +desires, and an inward union of it in love and homage to Christ, who, +as the centre of all perfection, glory, and beauty, was the revelation +of God to the heart. He who was thus saved, could not help knowing +that he was reconciled, pardoned, beloved; and therefore he rejoiced +in God his Saviour: indeed, to imagine joy without this personal +assurance and direct knowledge, was quite preposterous. But on the +other hand, the soul thus spiritually minded has a keen sense of like +qualities in others. It cannot but discern when another is tender +in conscience, disinterested, forbearing, scornful of untruth and +baseness, and esteeming nothing so much as the fruits of the Spirit: +accordingly, John did not hesitate to say: "_We know_ that we have +passed from death unto life, _because_ we love the brethren." Our +doctrine certainly had been, that the Church was the assembly of the +saved, gathered by the vital attractions of God's Spirit; that in it +no one was Lord or Teacher, but one was our Teacher, even Christ: that +as long as we had no earthly bribes to tempt men to join us, there was +not much cause to fear false brethren; for if we were heavenly minded, +and these were earthly, they would soon dislike and shun us. Why +should we need to sit in judgment and excommunicate them, except in +the case of publicly scandalous conduct? + +It is true, that I fully believed certain intellectual convictions +to be essential to genuine spirituality: for instance, if I had +heard that a person unknown to me did not believe in the Atonement of +Christ, I should have inferred that he had no spiritual life. But if +the person had come under my direct knowledge, my _theory_ was, on +no account to reject him on a question of Creed, but in any case to +receive all those whom Christ had received, all on whom the Spirit of +God had come down, just as the Church at Jerusalem did in regard +to admitting the Gentiles, Acts xi. 18. Nevertheless, was not this +perhaps a theory pleasant to talk of, but too good for practice? I +could not tell; for it had never been so severely tried. I remembered, +however, that when I had thought it right to be baptized as an adult, +(regarding my baptism as an infant to have been a mischievous fraud,) +the sole confession of faith which I made, or would endure, at a time +when my "orthodoxy" was unimpeached, was: "I believe that Jesus Christ +is the Son of God:"[2] to deny which, and claim to be acknowledged as +within the pale of the Christian Church, seemed to be an absurdity. On +the whole, therefore, it did not appear to me that this Church-theory +had been hollow-hearted with _me_ nor unscriptural, nor in any way +unpractical; but that _others_ were still infected with the leaven of +creeds and formal tests, with which they reproached the old Church. + +Were there, then, no other hearts than mine, aching under miserable +bigotry, and refreshed only when they tasted in others the true +fruits of the Spirit,--"love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, +goodness, fidelity, meekness, self-control?"--To imagine this was to +suppose myself a man supernaturally favoured, an angel upon earth. I +knew there must be thousands in this very point more true-hearted than +I: nay, such still might some be, whose names I went over with myself: +but I had no heart for more experiments. When such a man as he, +the only mortal to whom I had looked up as to an apostle, had +unhesitatingly, unrelentingly, and without one mark that his +conscience was not on his side, flung away all his own precepts, +his own theories, his own magnificent rebukes of Formalism and human +Authority, and had made _himself_ the slave and _me_ the victim of +those old and ever-living tyrants,--whom henceforth could I trust? The +resolution then rose in me, to love all good men from a distance, but +never again to count on permanent friendship with any one who was not +himself cast out as a heretic. + +Nor, in fact, did the storm of distress which these events inflicted +on me, subside until I willingly received the task of withstanding it, +as God's trial whether I was faithful. As soon as I gained strength +to say, "O my Lord, I will bear not this only, _but more also_,[3] for +thy sake, for conscience, and for truth,"--my sorrows vanished, until +the next blow and the next inevitable pang. At last my heart had died +within me; the bitterness of death was past; I was satisfied to be +hated by the saints, and to reckon that those who had not yet turned +against me would not bear me much longer.--Then I conceived the +belief, that if we may not make a heaven on earth for ourselves out of +the love of saints, it is in order that we may find a truer heaven in +God's love. + +The question about this time much vexed me, what to do about receiving +the Holy Supper of the Lord, the great emblem of brotherhood, +communion, and church connexion. At one time I argued with myself, +that it became an unmeaning form, when not partaken of in mutual +love; that I could never again have free intercourse of heart with any +one;--why then use the rite of communion, where there is no communion? +But, on the other hand, I thought it a mode of confessing Christ, and +that permanently to disuse it, was an unfaithfulness. In the Church of +England I could have been easy as far as the communion formulary was +concerned; but to the entire system I had contracted an incurable +repugnance, as worldly, hypocritical, and an evil counterfeit. I +desired, therefore, to creep into some obscure congregation, and there +wait till my mind had ripened as to the right path in circumstances so +perplexing. I will only briefly say, that I at last settled among some +who had previously been total strangers to me. To their good will +and simple kindness I feel myself indebted: peace be to them! Thus I +gained time, and repose of mind, which I greatly needed. + +From the day that I had mentally decided on total inaction as to all +ecclesiastical questions, I count the termination of my Second Period. +My ideal of a spiritual Church had blown up in the most sudden and +heartbreaking way; overpowering me with shame, when the violence of +sorrow was past. There was no change whatever in my own judgment, yet +a total change of action was inevitable: that I was on the eve of +a great transition of mind I did not at all suspect. Hitherto my +reverence for the authority of the whole and indivisible _Bible_ was +overruling and complete. I never really had dared to criticize it; I +did not even exact from it self-consistency. If two passages appeared +to be opposed, and I could not evade the difficulty by the doctrine +of Development and Progress, I inferred that there was _some_ mode +of conciliation unknown to me; and that perhaps the depth of truth in +divine things could ill be stated in our imperfect language. But from +the man who dared to interpose _a human comment_ on the Scripture, I +most rigidly demanded a clear, single, self-consistent sense. If he +did not know what he meant, why did he not hold his peace? If he did +know, why did he so speak as to puzzle us? It was for this uniform +refusal to allow of self-contradiction, that it was more than once +sadly predicted of me at Oxford that I should become "a Socinian;" +yet I did not apply this logical measure to any compositions but those +which were avowedly "uninspired" and human. + +As to moral criticism, my mind was practically prostrate before the +Bible. By the end of this period I had persuaded myself that morality +so changes with the commands of God, that we can scarcely attach any +idea of _immutability_ to it. I am, moreover, ashamed to tell any +one how I spoke and acted against my own common sense under this +influence, and when I was thought a fool, prayed that I might think it +an honour to become a fool for Christ's sake. Against no doctrine did +I dare to bring moral objections, except that of "Reprobation." To +Election, to Preventing Grace, to the Fall and Original Sin of man, +to the Atonement, to Eternal Punishment, I reverently submitted my +understanding; though as to the last, new inquiries had just at this +crisis been opening on me. Reprobation, indeed, I always repudiated +with great vigour, of which I shall presently speak. That was the full +amount of my original thought; and in it I preserved entire reverence +for the sacred writers. + +As to miracles, scarcely anything staggered me. I received the +strangest and the meanest prodigies of Scripture, with the same +unhesitating faith, as if I had never understood a proposition of +physical philosophy, nor a chapter of Hume and Gibbon. + + +[Footnote 1: Very unintelligent criticism of my words induces me to +add, that "the _credentials_ of Revelation," as distinguished from +"the _contents_ of Revelation," are here intended. Whether such a +distinction can be preserved is quite another question. The view +here exhibited is essentially that of Paley, and was in my day the +prevalent one at Oxford. I do not think that the present Archbishop +of Canterbury will disown it, any more than Lloyd, and Burton, and +Hampden,--bishops and Regius Professors of Divinity.] + +[Footnote 2: Borrowed from Acts viii. 37.] + +[Footnote 3: Virgil (AEneid vi.) gives the Stoical side of the same +thought: Tu ne cede malis, _sed contra audentior ito_.] + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +CALVINISM ABANDONED. + + +After the excitement was past, I learned many things from the events +which have been named. + +First, I had found that the class of Christians with whom I had been +joined had exploded the old Creeds in favour of another of their +own, which was never given me upon authority, and yet was constantly +slipping out, in the words, _Jesus is Jehovah_. It appeared to me +certain that this would have been denounced as the Sabellian heresy +by Athanasias and his contemporaries. I did not wish to run down +Sabellians, much less to excommunicate them, if they would give me +equality; but I felt it intensely unjust when my adherence to the +Nicene Creed was my real offence, that I should be treated as setting +up some novel wickedness against all Christendom, and slandered +by vague imputations which reached far and far beyond my power of +answering or explaining. Mysterious aspersions were made even against +my moral[1] character, and were alleged to me as additional reasons +for refusing communion with me; and when I demanded a tribunal, and +that my accuser would meet me face to face, all inquiry was refused, +on the plea that it was needless and undesirable. I had much reason to +believe that a very small number of persons had constituted themselves +my judges, and used against me all the airs of the Universal Church; +the many lending themselves easily to swell the cry of heresy, when +they have little personal acquaintance with the party attacked. +Moreover, when I was being condemned as in error, I in vain asked +to be told what was the truth. "I accept the Scripture: that is not +enough. I accept the Nicene Creed: that is not enough. Give me then +your formula: where, what is it?" But no! those who thought it their +duty to condemn me, disclaimed the pretensions of "making a Creed" +when I asked for one. They reprobated my interpretation of Scripture +as against that of the whole Church, but would not undertake to +expound that of the Church. I felt convinced, that they could not have +agreed themselves as to what was right: all that they could agree upon +was, that I was wrong. Could I have borne to recriminate, I believed +that I could have forced one of them to condemn another; but, oh! was +divine truth sent us for discord and for condemnation? I sickened at +the idea of a Church Tribunal, where none has any authority to judge, +and yet to my extreme embarrassment I saw that no Church can safely +dispense with judicial forms and other worldly apparatus for defending +the reputation of individuals. At least, none of the national and less +spiritual institutions would have been so very unequitable towards me. + +This idea enlarged itself into another,--_that spirituality is no +adequate security for sound moral discernment_. These alienated +friends did not know they were acting unjustly, cruelly, crookedly, or +they would have hated themselves for it: they thought they were +doing God service. The fervour of their love towards him was probably +greater than mine; yet this did not make them superior to prejudice, +or sharpen their logical faculties to see that they were idolizing +words to which they attached no ideas. On several occasions I had +distinctly perceived how serious alarm I gave by resolutely refusing +to admit any shiftings and shufflings of language. I felt convinced, +that if I would but have contradicted myself two or three times, and +then have added, "That is the mystery of it," I could have passed +as orthodox with many. I had been charged with a proud and vain +determination to pry into divine mysteries, barely because I would not +confess to propositions the meaning of which was to me doubtful,--or +say and unsay in consecutive breaths. It was too clear, that a +doctrine which muddles the understanding perverts also the power of +moral discernment. If I had committed some flagrant sin, they would +have given me a fair and honourable trial; but where they could not +give me a public hearing, nor yet leave me unimpeached, without danger +of (what they called) my infecting the Church, there was nothing left +but to hunt me out unscrupulously. + +Unscrupulously! did not this one word characterize _all_ religious +persecution? and then my mind wandered back over the whole melancholy +tale of what is called Christian history. When Archbishop Cranmer +overpowered the reluctance of young Edward VI. to burn to death the +pious and innocent Joan of Kent, who moreover was as mystical and +illogical as heart could wish, was Cranmer not actuated by deep +religious convictions? None question his piety, yet it was an awfully +wicked deed. What shall I say of Calvin, who burned Servetus? Why have +I been so slow to learn, that religion is an impulse which animates +us to execute our moral judgments, but an impulse which may be half +blind? These brethren believe that I may cause the eternal ruin of +others: how hard then is it for them to abide faithfully by the laws +of morality and respect my rights! My rights! They are of course +trampled down for the public good, just as a house is blown up to +stop a conflagration. Such is evidently the theory of all +persecution;--which is essentially founded on _Hatred_. As Aristotle +says, "He who is angry, desires to punish somebody; but he who hates, +desires the hated person not even to exist." Hence they cannot endure +to see me face to face. That I may not infect the rest, they desire +my non-existence; by fair means, if fair will succeed; if not, then by +foul. And whence comes this monstrosity into such bosoms? Weakness of +common sense, dread of the common understanding, an insufficient faith +in common morality, are surely the disease: and evidently, nothing so +exasperates this disease as consecrating religious tenets which forbid +the exercise of common sense. + +I now began to understand why it was peculiarly for unintelligible +doctrines like Transubstantiation and the Tri-unity that Christians +had committed such execrable wickednesses. Now also for the first +time I understood what had seemed not frightful only, but +preternatural,--the sensualities and cruelties enacted as a part of +religion in many of the old Paganisms. Religion and fanaticism are in +the embryo but one and the same; to purify and elevate them we want a +cultivation of the understanding, without which our moral code may be +indefinitely depraved. Natural kindness and strong sense are aids and +guides, which the most spiritual man cannot afford to despise. + +I became conscious that I _had_ despised "mere moral men," as they +were called in the phraseology of my school. They were merged in the +vague appellation of "the world," with sinners of every class; and it +was habitually assumed, if not asserted, that they were necessarily +Pharisaic, because they had not been born again. For some time after I +had misgivings as to my fairness of judgment towards them, I could not +disentangle myself from great bewilderment concerning their state +in the sight of God: for it was an essential part of my Calvinistic +Creed, that (as one of the 39 Articles states it) the very good works +of the unregenerate "undoubtedly have the nature of sin," as indeed +the very nature with which they were born "deserveth God's wrath and +damnation." I began to mourn over the unlovely conduct into which I +had been betrayed by this creed, long before I could thoroughly get +rid of the creed that justified it: and a considerable time had to +elapse, ere my new perceptions shaped themselves distinctly into +the propositions: "Morality is the end. Spirituality is the means: +Religion is the handmaid to Morals: we must be spiritual, in order +that we may be in the highest and truest sense moral." Then at last I +saw, that the deficiency of "mere moral men" is, that their +morality is apt to be too external or merely negative, and therefore +incomplete: that the man who worships a fiend for a God may be in some +sense spiritual, but his spirituality will be a devilish fanaticism, +having nothing in it to admire or approve: that the moral man deserves +approval or love for all the absolute good that he has attained, +though there be a higher good to which he aspires not; and that the +truly and rightly spiritual is he who aims at an indefinitely high +moral excellence, of which GOD is the embodiment to his heart and +soul. If the absolute excellence of morality be denied, there is +nothing for spirituality to aspire after, and nothing in God to +worship. Years before I saw this as clearly as here stated; the +general train of thought was very wholesome, in giving me increased +kindliness of judgment towards the common world of men, who do not +show any religious development. It was pleasant to me to look on +an ordinary face, and see it light up into a smile, and think with +myself: "_there_ is one heart that will judge of me by what I am, and +not by a Procrustean dogma." Nor only so, but I saw that the saints, +without the world, would make a very bad world of it; and that as +ballast is wanted to a ship, so the common and rather low interests +and the homely principles, rules, and ways of feeling, keep the church +from foundering by the intensity of her own gusts. + +Some of the above thoughts took a still more definite shape, as +follows. It is clear that A. B. and X. Y. would have behaved towards +me more kindly, more justly, and more wisely, if they had consulted +their excellent strong sense and amiable natures, instead of following +(what they suppose to be) the commands of the word of God. They have +misinterpreted that word: true: but this very thing shows, that one +may go wrong by trusting one's power of interpreting the book, +rather than trusting one's common sense to judge without the book. +It startled me to find, that I had exactly alighted on the Romish +objection to Protestants, that an infallible book is useless, unless +we have an infallible interpreter. But it was not for some time, that, +after twisting the subject in all directions to avoid it, I brought +out the conclusion, that "to go against one's common sense in +obedience to Scripture is a most hazardous proceeding:" for the +"rule of Scripture" means to each of us nothing but his own fallible +interpretation; and to sacrifice common sense to this, is to mutilate +one side of our mind at the command of another side. In the Nicene +age, the Bible was in people's hands, and the Spirit of God surely +was not withheld: yet I had read, in one of the Councils an insane +anathema was passed: "If any one call Jesus God-man, instead of God +and man, let him be accursed." Surely want of common sense, and dread +of natural reason, will be confessed by our highest orthodoxy to have +been the distemper of that day. + + * * * * * + +In all this I still remained theoretically convinced, that the +contents of the Scriptures, rightly interpreted, were supreme and +perfect truth; indeed, I had for several years accustomed myself to +speak and think as if the Bible were our sole source of all moral +knowledge: nevertheless, there were practically limits, beyond which +I did not, and could not, even attempt to blind my moral sentiment at +the dictation of the Scripture; and this had peculiarly frightened (as +I afterwards found) the first friend who welcomed me from abroad. +I was unable to admit the doctrine of "reprobation," as apparently +taught in the 9th chapter of Paul's Epistle to the Romans;--that "God +hardens in wickedness whomever He pleases, in order that He may show +his long-suffering" in putting off their condemnation to a future +dreadful day: and _especially_, that to all objectors it is a +sufficient confutation--"Nay, but O man, who art thou, that repliest +against God?" I told my friend, that I worshipped in God three great +attributes, all independent,--Power, Goodness, and Wisdom: that in +order to worship Him acceptably, I must discern these _as_ realities +with my inmost heart, and not merely take them for granted on +authority: but that the argument which was here pressed upon me was an +effort to supersede the necessity of my discerning Goodness in God: +it bade me simply to _infer_ Goodness from Power,--that is to say, +establish the doctrine, "Might makes Right;" according to which, I +might unawares worship a devil. Nay, nothing so much distinguished +the spiritual truth of Judaism and Christianity from abominable +heathenism, as this very discernment of God's purity, justice, mercy, +truth, goodness; while the Pagan worshipped mere power, and had no +discernment of moral excellence; but laid down the principle, +that cruelty, impurity, or caprice in a God was to be treated +reverentially, and called by some more decorous name. Hence, I said, +it was undermining the very foundation of Christianity itself, +to require belief of the validity of Rom. ix. 14-24, as my friend +understood it. I acknowledged the difficulty of the passage, and of +the whole argument. I was not prepared with an interpretation; but I +revered St. Paul too much, to believe it possible that he could mean +anything so obviously heathenish, as that first-sight meaning.--My +friend looked grave and anxious; but I did not suspect how deeply I +had shocked him, until many weeks after. + +At this very time, moreover, ground was broken in my mind on a new +subject, by opening in a gentleman's library a presentation-copy of a +Unitarian treatise against the doctrine of Eternal Punishment. It was +the first Unitarian book of which I had even seen the outside, and I +handled it with a timid curiosity, as if by stealth, I had only time +to dip into it here and there, and I should have been ashamed to +possess the book; but I carried off enough to suggest important +inquiry. The writer asserted that the Greek word [Greek: aionios], +(secular, or, belonging to the ages,) which we translate _everlasting +and eternal_, is distinctly proved by the Greek translation of the Old +Testament often to mean only _distant time_. Thus in Psalm lxxvi. 5, +"I have considered the years of _ancient_ times:" Isaiah lxiii 11, "He +remembered the days _of old_, Moses and his people;" in which, and +in many similar places, the LXX have [Greek: aionios]. One striking +passage is Exodus xv. 18; ("Jehovah shall reign for ever and ever;") +where the Greek has [Greek: ton aiona kai ex aiona kai eti], which +would mean "for eternity and still longer," if the strict rendering +_eternity_ were enforced. At the same time a suspicion as to +the honesty of our translation presented itself in Micah v. 2, a +controversial text, often used to prove the past eternity of the Son +of God; where the translators give us,--"whose goings forth have been +_from everlasting_," though the Hebrew is the same as they elsewhere +render _from days of old_. + +After I had at leisure searched through this new question, I found +that it was impossible to make out any doctrine of a philosophical +eternity in the whole Scriptures. The true Greek word for _eternal_ +([Greek: aidios]) occurs twice only: once in Rom. i. 20, as applied +to the divine power, and once in Jude 6, of the fire which has been +manifested against Sodom and Gomorrha. The last instance showed that +allowance must be made for rhetoric; and that fire is called _eternal_ +or _unquenchable_, when it so destroys as to leave nothing unburnt. +But on the whole, the very vocabulary of the Greek and Hebrew denoted +that the idea of absolute eternity was unformed. The _hills_ are +called everlasting (secular?), by those who supposed them to have +come into existence two or three thousand years before.--Only in two +passages of the Revelations I could not get over the belief that the +writer's energy was misplaced, if absolute eternity of torment was not +intended: yet it seemed to me unsafe and wrong to found an important +doctrine on a symbolic and confessedly obscure book of prophecy. +Setting this aside, I found no proof of any _eternal_ punishment. + +As soon as the load of Scriptural authority was thus taken off from +me, I had a vivid discernment of intolerable moral difficulties +inseparable from the doctrine. First, that every sin is infinite +in ill-desert and in result, _because_ it is committed against an +infinite Being. Thus the fretfulness of a child is an infinite evil! +I was aghast that I could have believed it. Now that it was no longer +laid upon me as a duty to uphold the infinitude of God's retaliation +on sin, I saw that it was an immorality to teach that sin was measured +by anything else than the heart and will of the agent. That a finite +being should deserve infinite punishment, now was manifestly as +incredible as that he should deserve infinite reward,--which I had +never dreamed.--Again, I saw that the current orthodoxy made Satan +eternal conqueror over Christ. In vain does the Son of God come from +heaven and take human flesh and die on the cross. In spite of him, the +devil carries off to hell the vast majority of mankind, in whom, not +misery only, but _Sin_ is triumphant for ever and ever. Thus Christ +not only does not succeed in destroying the works of the devil, but +even aggravates them.--Again: what sort of _gospel_ or glad tidings +had I been holding? Without this revelation no future state at all (I +presumed) could be known. How much better no futurity for any, than +that a few should be eternally in bliss, and the great majority[2] +kept alive for eternal sin as well as eternal misery! My gospel then +was bad tidings, nay, the worst of tidings! In a farther progress of +thought, I asked, would it not have been better that the whole race of +man had never come into existence? Clearly! And thus God was made +out to be unwise in creating them. No _use_ in the punishment was +imaginable, without setting up Fear, instead of Love, as the ruling +principle in the blessed. And what was the moral tendency of the +doctrine? I had never borne to dwell upon it: but I before long +suspected that it promoted malignity and selfishness, and was the real +clue to the cruelties perpetrated under the name of religion. For he +who does dwell on it, must comfort himself under the prospect of his +brethren's eternal misery, by the selfish expectation of personal +blessedness. When I asked whether I had been guilty of this +selfishness, I remembered that I had often mourned, how small a part +in my practical religion the future had ever borne. My heaven and my +hell had been in the present, where my God was near me to smile or to +frown. It had seemed to me a great weakness in my faith, that I never +had any vivid imaginations or strong desires of heavenly glory: yet +now I was glad to observe, that it had at least saved me from getting +so much harm from the wrong side of the doctrine of a future life. + +Before I had worked out the objections so fully as here stated, I +freely disclosed my thoughts to the friend last named, and to his +wife, towards whom he encouraged me to exercise the fullest frankness. +I confess, I said nothing about the Unitarian book; for something told +me that I had violated Evangelical decorum in opening it, and that I +could not calculate how it would affect my friend. Certainly no Romish +hierarchy can so successfully exclude heretical books, as social +enactment excludes those of Unitarians from our orthodox circles. +The bookseller dares not to exhibit their books on his counter: all +presume them to be pestilential: no one knows their contents or dares +to inform himself. But to return. My friend's wife entered warmly into +my new views; I have now no doubt that this exceedingly distressed +him, and at length perverted his moral judgment: he himself examined +the texts of the Old Testament, and attempted no answer to them. +After I had left his neighbourhood, I wrote to him three affectionate +letters, and at last got a reply--of vehement accusation. It can now +concern no one to know, how many and deep wounds he planted in me. I +forgave; but all was too instructive to forget. + +For some years I rested in the belief that the epithet "_secular_ +punishment" either solely denoted punishment in a future age, or else +only of long duration. This evades the horrible idea of eternal and +triumphant Sin, and of infinite retaliation for finite offences. +But still, I found my new creed uneasy, now that I had established +a practice (if not a right) of considering the moral propriety +of punishment. I could not so pare away the vehement words of the +Scripture, as really to enable me to say that I thought transgressors +_deserved_ the fiery infliction. This had been easy, while I measured +their guilt by God's greatness; but when that idea was renounced, how +was I to think that a good-humoured voluptuary deserved to be raised +from the dead in order to be tormented in fire for 100 years? and what +shorter time could be called secular? Or if he was to be destroyed +instantaneously, and "secular" meant only "in a future age," was he +worth the effort of a divine miracle to bring him to life and again +annihilate him? I was not willing to refuse belief to the Scripture on +such grounds; yet I felt disquietude, that my moral sentiment and the +Scripture were no longer in full harmony. + + * * * * * + +In this period I first discerned the extreme difficulty that there +must essentially be, in applying to the Christian Evidences a +principle, which, many years before, I had abstractedly received as +sound, though it had been a dead letter with me in practice. The Bible +(it seemed) contained two sorts of truth. Concerning one sort, man is +bound to judge: the other sort is necessarily beyond his ken, and +is received only by information from without. The first part of the +statement cannot be denied. It would be monstrous to say that we know +nothing of geography, history, or morals, except by learning them from +the Bible. Geography, history, and other worldly sciences, lie beyond +question. As to morals, I had been exceedingly inconsistent and +wavering in my theory and in its application; but it now glared upon +me, that if man had no independent power of judging, it would have +been venial to think Barabbas more virtuous than Jesus. The hearers of +Christ or Paul could not draw their knowledge of right and wrong from +the New Testament. They had (or needed to have) an inherent power of +discerning that his conduct was holy and his doctrine good. To talk +about the infirmity or depravity of the human conscience is here quite +irrelevant. The conscience of Christ's hearers may have been dim +or twisted, but it was their best guide and only guide, as to the +question, whether to regard him as a holy prophet: so likewise, as +to ourselves, it is evident that we have no guide at all whether +to accept or reject the Bible, if we distrust that inward power of +judging, (whether called common sense, conscience, or the Spirit of +God,)--which is independent of our belief in the Bible. To disparage +the internally vouchsafed power of discerning truth without the Bible +or other authoritative system, is, to endeavour to set up a universal +moral scepticism. He who may not criticize cannot approve.--Well! Let +it be admitted that we discern moral truth by a something within us, +and that then, admiring the truth so glorious in the Scriptures, we +are further led to receive them as the word of God, and therefore to +believe them absolutely in respect to the matters which are beyond our +ken. + +But two difficulties could no longer be dissembled: 1. How are we +to draw the line of separation? For instance, would the doctrines +of Reprobation and of lasting Fiery Torture with no benefit to the +sufferers, belong to the moral part, which we freely criticize; or to +the extra-moral part, as to which we passively believe? 2. What is to +be done, if in the parts which indisputably lie open to criticism we +meet with apparent error?--The second question soon became a practical +one with me: but for the reader's convenience I defer it until my +Fourth Period, to which it more naturally belongs: for in this Third +Period I was principally exercised with controversies that do not +vitally touch the _authority_ of the Scripture. Of these the most +important were matters contested between Unitarians and Calvinists. + +When I had found how exactly the Nicene Creed summed up all that I +myself gathered from John and Paul concerning the divine nature +of Christ, I naturally referred to this creed, as expressing my +convictions, when any unpleasant inquiry arose. I had recently gained +the acquaintance of the late excellent Dr. Olinthus Gregory, a man of +unimpeached orthodoxy; who met me by the frank avowal, that the +Nicene Creed was "a great mistake." He said, that the Arian and the +Athanasian difference was not very vital; and that the Scriptural +truth lay _beyond_ the Nicene doctrine, which fell short on the +same side as Arianism had done. On the contrary, I had learned of an +intermediate tenet, called Semi-Arianism, which appeared to me more +scriptural than the views of either Athanasius or Arius. Let me +bespeak my reader's patience for a little. Arius was judged by +Athanasius (I was informed) to be erroneous in two points; 1. in +teaching that the Son of God was a creature; _i.e._ that "begotten" +and "made" were two words for the same idea: 2. in teaching, that he +had an origin of existence in time; so that there was a distant period +at which he was not. Of these two Arian tenets, the Nicene Creed +condemned _the former_ only; namely, in the words, "begotten, not +made; being of one substance with the Father." But on _the latter_ +question the Creed is silent. Those who accepted the Creed, and hereby +condemned the great error of Arius that the Son was of different +substance from the Father, but nevertheless agreed with Arius in +thinking that the Son had a beginning of existence, were called +Semi-Arians; and were received into communion by Athanasius, in spite +of this disagreement. To me it seemed to be a most unworthy shuffling +with words, to say that the Son _was begotten, but was never +begotten_. The very form of our past participle is invented to +indicate an event in past time. If the Athanasians alleged that the +phrase does not allude to "a coming forth" completed at a definite +time, but indicates a process at no time begun and at no time +complete, their doctrine could not be expressed by our past-perfect +tense _begotten_. When they compared the derivation of the Son of God +from, the Father to the rays of light which ever flow from the natural +sun, and argued that if that sun had been eternal, its emanations +would be co-eternal, they showed that their true doctrine required the +formula--"always being begotten, and as instantly perishing, in order +to be rebegotten perpetually." They showed a real disbelief in our +English statement "begotten, not made." I overruled the objection, +that in the Greek it was not a participle, but a verbal adjective; for +it was manifest to me, that a religion which could not be proclaimed +in English could not be true; and the very idea of a Creed announcing +that Christ was "_not begotten, yet begettive_," roused in me an +unspeakable loathing. Yet surely this would have been Athanasius's +most legitimate form of denying Semi-Arianism. In short, the +Scriptural phrase, _Son of God_, conveyed to us either a literal fact, +or a metaphor. If literal, the Semi-Arians were clearly right, in +saying that sonship implied a beginning of existence. If it was a +metaphor, the Athanasians forfeited all right to press the literal +sense in proof that the Son must be "of the same substance" as the +Father.--Seeing that the Athanasians, in zeal to magnify the Son, had +so confounded their good sense, I was certainly startled to find a +man of Dr. Olinthus Gregory's moral wisdom treat the Nicenists as in +obvious error for not having magnified Christ _enough_. On so many +other sides, however, I met with the new and short creed, "Jesus is +Jehovah," that I began to discern Sabellianism to be the prevalent +view. + +A little later, I fell in with a book of an American Professor, Moses +Stuart of Andover, on the subject of the Trinity. Professor Stuart is +a very learned man, and thinks for himself. It was a great novelty to +me, to find him not only deny the orthodoxy of all the Fathers, (which +was little more than Dr. Olinthus Gregory had done,) but avow that +_from the change in speculative philosophy_ it was simply impossible +for any modern to hold the views prevalent in the third and fourth +centuries. Nothing (said he) WAS clearer, than that with us the +essential point in Deity is, to be unoriginated, underived; hence with +us, _a derived God_ is a self-contradiction, and the very sound of the +phrase profane. On the other hand, it is certain that the doctrine of +Athanasius, equally as of Arius, was, that the Father is the underived +or self-existent God, but the Son is the derived subordinate God. +This (argued Stuart) turned upon their belief in the doctrine of +Emanations; but as _we_ hold no such philosophical doctrine, the +religious theory founded on it is necessarily inadmissible. Professor +Stuart then develops his own creed, which appeared to me simple and +undeniable Sabellianism. + +That Stuart correctly represented the Fathers was clear enough to +me; but I nevertheless thought that in this respect the Fathers had +honestly made out the doctrine of the Scripture; and I did not at +all approve of setting up a battery of modern speculative philosophy +against Scriptural doctrine. "How are we to know that the doctrine of +Emanations is false? (asked I.) If it is legitimately elicited from +Scripture, it is true."--I refused to yield up my creed at this +summons. Nevertheless, he left a wound upon me: for I now could not +help seeing, that we moderns use the word _God_ in a more limited +sense than any ancient nations did. Hebrews and Greeks alike said +_Gods_, to mean any superhuman beings; hence _derived God_ did not +sound to them absurd; but I could not deny that in good English it is +absurd. This was a very disagreeable discovery: for now, if any one +were to ask me whether I believed in the divinity of Christ, I saw it +would be dishonest to say simply, _Yes_; for the interrogator means to +ask, whether I hold Christ to be the eternal and underived Source of +life; yet if I said _No_, he would care nothing for my professing to +hold the Nicene Creed. + +Might not then, after all, Sabellianism be the truth? No: I discerned +too plainly what Gibbon states, that the Sabellian, if consistent, is +only a concealed Ebionite, or us we now say, a Unitarian, Socinian. As +we cannot admit that the Father was slain on the cross, or prayed to +himself in the garden, he who will not allow the Father and the Son to +be separate persons, but only two names for one person, _must divide +the Son of God and Jesus into two persons_, and so fall back on the +very heresy of Socinus which he is struggling to escape. + +On the whole, I saw, that however people might call themselves +Trinitarians, yet if, like Stuart and all the Evangelicals in Church +and Dissent, they turn into a dead letter the _generation_ of the Son +of God, and _the procession_ of the Spirit, nothing is possible but +Sabellianism or Tritheism: or, indeed, Ditheism, if the Spirit's +separate personality is not held. The modern creed is alternately +the one or the other, as occasion requires. Sabellians would find +themselves out to be mere Unitarians, if they always remained +Sabellians: but in fact, they are half their lives Ditheists. They do +not _aim_ at consistency; would an upholder of the pseudo-Athanasian +creed desire it? Why, that creed teaches, that the height of orthodoxy +is to contradict oneself and protest that one does not. Now, however, +rose on me the question: Why do I not take the Irish clergyman at his +word, and attack him and others as idolaters and worshippers of three +Gods? It was unseemly and absurd in him to try to force me into +what he must have judged uncharitableness; but it was not the less +incumbent on me to find a reply. + +I remembered that in past years I had expressly disowned, as obviously +unscriptural and absurd, prayers to the Holy Spirit, on the ground +that the Spirit is evidently _God in the hearts of the faithful_, and +nothing else: and it did not appear to me that any but a few extreme +and rather fanatical persons could be charged with making the Spirit +a third God or object of distinct worship. On the other hand, I could +not deny that the Son and the Father were thus distinguished to the +mind. So indeed John expressly avowed--"truly our fellowship is with +the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ." I myself also had prayed +sometimes to God and sometimes to Christ, alternately and confusedly. +Now, indeed, I was better taught! now I was more logical and +consistent! I had found a triumphant answer to the charge of Ditheism, +in that I believed the Son to be derived from the Father, and not to +be the Unoriginated--No doubt! yet, after all, could I seriously think +that morally and spiritually I was either better or worse for this +discovery? I could not pretend that I was. + +This showed me, that if a man of partially unsound and visionary mind +made the angel Gabriel a _fourth person_ in the Godhead, it might +cause no difference whatever in the actings of his spirit The great +question would be, whether he ascribed the same moral perfection +to Gabriel as to the Father. If so, to worship him would be no +degradation to the soul; even if absolute omnipotence were not +attributed, nay, nor a past eternal existence. It thus became clear +to me, that Polytheism _as such_ is not a moral and spiritual, but at +most only an intellectual, error; and that its practical evil consists +in worshipping beings whom we represent to our imaginations as morally +imperfect. Conversely, one who imputes to God sentiments and conduct +which in man he would call capricious or cruel, such a one, even if +he be as monotheistic as a Mussulman, admits into his soul the whole +virus of Idolatry. + +Why then did I at all cling to the doctrine of Christ's superior +nature, and not admit it among things indifferent? In obedience to the +Scripture, I did actually affirm, that, as for as creed is concerned, +a man should be admissible into the Church on the bare confession that +_Jesus was the Christ_. Still, I regarded a belief in his superhuman +origin as of first-rate importance, for many reasons, and among +others, owing to its connexion with the doctrine of the Atonement; on +which there is much to be said. + + * * * * * + +The doctrine which I used to read as a boy, taught that a vast sum of +punishment was due to God for the sins of men. This vast sum was made +up of all the woes due through eternity to the whole human race, or, +as some said, to the elect. Christ on the cross bore this punishment +himself and thereby took it away: thus God is enabled to forgive +without violating justice.--But I early encountered unanswerable +difficulty on this theory, as to the question, whether Christ had +borne the punishment of _all_ or of _some_ only. If of all, is it not +unjust to inflict any of it on any? If of the elect only, what gospel +have you to preach? for then you cannot tell sinners that God has +provided a Saviour for them; for you do not know whether those whom +you address are elect. Finding no way out of this, I abandoned the +fundamental idea of _compensation in quantity_, as untenable; and +rested in the vaguer notion, that God signally showed his abhorrence +of sin, by laying tremendous misery on the Saviour who was to bear +away sin. + +I have already narrated, how at Oxford I was embarrassed as to the +forensic propriety of transferring punishment at all. This however +I received as matter of authority, and rested much on the wonderful +exhibition made of the evil of sin, when _such_ a being could be +subjected to preternatural suffering as a vicarious sinbearer. To +this view, a high sense of the personal dignity of Jesus was quite +essential; and therefore I had always felt a great repugnance for Mr. +Belsham, Dr. Priestley, and the Unitarians of that school, though I +had not read a line of their writings. + +A more intimate familiarity with St. Paul and an anxious harmonizing +of my very words to the Scripture, led me on into a deviation from the +popular creed, of the full importance of which I was not for some +time aware. I perceived that it is not the _agonies_ of mind or body +endured by Christ, which in the Scriptures are said to take away sin, +but his "death," his "laying down his life," or sometimes even +his _resurrection_. I gradually became convinced, that when his +"suffering," or more especially his "blood," is emphatically spoken +of, nothing is meant but his _violent death_. In the Epistle to the +Hebrews, where the analogy of Sacrifice is so pressed, we see that the +pains which Jesus bore were in order that he might "learn obedience," +but our redemption is effected by his dying as a voluntary victim: in +which, death by bloodshed, not pain, is the cardinal point. So too +the Paschal lamb (to which, though not properly a sacrifice, the dying +Christ is compared by Paul) was not roasted alive, or otherwise put to +slow torment, but was simply killed. I therefore saw that the doctrine +of "vicarious agonies" was fundamentally unscriptural. + +This being fully discerned, I at last became bold to criticize the +popular tenet. What should we think of a judge, who, when a boy had +deserved a stripe which would to him have been a sharp punishment, +laid the very same blow on a strong man, to whom it was a slight +infliction? Clearly this would evade, not satisfy justice. To carry +out the principle, the blow might be laid as well on a giant, an +elephant, or on an inanimate thing. So, to lay our punishment on the +infinite strength of Christ, who (they say) bore in six hours what it +would have taken thousands of millions of men all eternity to bear, +would be a similar evasion.--I farther asked, if we were to fall in +with Pagans, who tortured their victims to death as an atonement, what +idea of God should we think them to form? and what should we reply, +if they said, it gave them a wholesome view of his hatred of sin? A +second time I shuddered at the notions which I had once imbibed as a +part of religion, and then got comfort from the inference, how much +better men of this century are than their creed. Their creed was the +product of ages of cruelty and credulity; and it sufficiently bears +that stamp. + +Thus I rested in the Scriptural doctrine, that the _death_ of Christ +is our atonement. To say the same of the death of Paul, was obviously +unscriptural: it was, then, essential to believe the physical nature +of Christ to be different from that of Paul. If otherwise, death was +due to Jesus as the lot of nature: how could such death have anything +to do with our salvation? On this ground the Unitarian doctrine was +utterly untenable: I could see nothing between my own view and a total +renunciation of the _authority of the doctrines_ promulgated by Paul +and John. + +Nevertheless, my own view seemed mere and more unmeaning the more +closely it was interrogated. When I ascribed death to Christ, what +did death mean? and what or whom did I suppose to die? Was it man +that died, or God? If man only, how was that wonderful, or how did it +concern us? Besides;--persons die, not natures: a _nature_ is only a +collection of properties: if Christ was one person, all Christ +died. Did, then, God die, and man remain alive! For God to become +non-existent is an unimaginable absurdity. But is this death a mere +change of state, a renunciation of earthly life? Still it remains +unclear how the parting with mere human life could be to one who +possesses divine life either an atonement or a humiliation. Was it not +rather an escape from humiliation, saving only the mode of death? +So severe was this difficulty, that at length I unawares dropt from +Semi-Arianism into pure Arianism, by _so_ distinguishing the Son from +the Father, as to admit the idea that the Son of God had actually +been non-existent in the interval between death and resurrection: +nevertheless, I more and more felt, that _to be able to define my +own notions on such questions had exceedingly little to do with my +spiritual state_. For me it was important and essential to know that +God hated sin, and that God had forgiven my sin: but to know one +particular manifestation of his hatred of sin, or the machinery +by which He had enabled himself to forgive, was of very secondary +importance. When He proclaims to me in his word, that He is forgiving +to all the penitent, it is not for me to reply, that "I cannot believe +that, until I hear how He manages to reconcile such conduct with his +other attributes." Yet, I remembered, this was Bishop Beveridge's +sufficient refutation of Mohammedism, which teaches no atonement. + + * * * * * + +At the same time great progress had been made in my mind towards the +overthrow of the correlative dogma of the Fall of man and his total +corruption. Probably for years I had been unawares anti-Calvinistic +on this topic. Even at Oxford, I had held that human depravity is +a _fact_, which it is absurd to argue against; a fact, attested by +Thucydides, Polybius, Horace, and Tacitus, almost as strongly as by +St. Paul. Yet in admitting man's total corruption, I interpreted this +of _spiritual_, not of _moral_, perversion: for that there were kindly +and amiable qualities even in the unregenerate, was quite as clear a +fact as any other. Hence in result I did _not_ attribute to man any +great essential depravity, in the popular and moral sense of the word; +and the doctrine amounted only to this, that "_spiritually_, man +is paralyzed, until the grace of God comes freely upon him." How to +reconcile this with the condemnation, and punishment of man for being +unspiritual, I knew not. I saw, and did not dissemble, the difficulty; +but received it as a mystery hereafter to be cleared up. + +But it gradually broke upon me, that when Paul said nothing stronger +than heathen moralists had said about human wickedness, it was absurd +to quote his words, any more than theirs, in proof of a _Fall_,--that +is, of a permanent degeneracy induced by the first sin of the first +man: and when I studied the 5th chapter of the Romans, I found it was +_death_, not _corruption_, which Adam was said to have entailed. In +short, I could scarcely find the modern doctrine of the "Fall" any +where in the Bible. I then remembered that Calvin, in his Institutes, +complains that all the Fathers are heterodox on this point; the Greek +Fathers being grievously overweening in their estimate of human power; +while of the Latin Fathers even Augustine is not always up to Calvin's +mark of orthodoxy. This confirmed my rising conviction that the tenet +is of rather recent origin. I afterwards heard, that both it and the +doctrine of compensatory misery were first systematized by Archbishop +Anselm, in the reign of our William Rufus: but I never took the pains +to verify this. + +For meanwhile I had been forcibly impressed with the following +thought. Suppose a youth to have been carefully brought up at home, +and every temptation kept out of his way: suppose him to have been in +appearance virtuous, amiable, religious: suppose, farther, that at the +age of twenty-one he goes out into the world, and falls into sin by +the first temptation:--how will a Calvinistic teacher moralize over +such a youth? Will he not say: "Behold a proof of the essential +depravity of human nature! See the affinity of man for sin! How fair +and deceptive was this young man's virtue, while he was sheltered from +temptation; but oh! how rotten has it proved itself!"--Undoubtedly, +the Calvinist would and must so moralize. But it struck me, that if I +substituted the name of _Adam_ for the youth, the argument proved +the primitive corruption of Adam's nature. Adam fell by the first +temptation: what greater proof of a fallen nature have _I_ ever given? +or what is it possible for any one to give?--I thus discerned that +there was _a priori_ impossibility of fixing on myself the imputation +of _degeneracy_, without fixing the same on Adam. In short, Adam +undeniably proved his primitive nature to be frail; so do we all: but +as _he_ was nevertheless not primitively corrupt, why should we call +ourselves so? Frailty, then, is not corruption, and does not prove +degeneracy. + +"Original sin" (says one of the 39 Articles) "standeth not in the +following of Adam, _as the Pelagians do vainly talk_," &c. Alas, then! +was I become a Pelagian? certainly I could no longer see that Adam's +first sin affected me more than his second or third, or so much as the +sins of my immediate parents. A father who, for instance, indulges +in furious passions and exciting liquors, may (I suppose) transmit +violent passions to his son. In this sense I could not wholly reject +the possibility of transmitted corruption; but it had nothing to do +with the theological doctrine of the "Federal Headship" of Adam. Not +that I could wholly give up this last doctrine; for I still read it in +the 5th chapter of Romans. But it was clear to me, that whatever that +meant, I could not combine it with the idea of degeneracy, nor could +I find a proof of it in the _fact_ of prevalent wickedness. Thus I +received a shadowy doctrine on mere Scriptural _authority_; it had no +longer any root in my understanding or heart. + +Moreover, it was manifest to me that the Calvinistic view is based in +a vain attempt to acquit God of having created a "sinful" being, while +the broad Scriptural fact is, that he did create a being as truly +"liable to sin" as any of us. If that needs no exculpation, how more +does _our_ state need it? Does it not suffice to say, that "every +creature, because he is a creature and not God, must necessarily +be frail?" But Calvin intensely aggravates whatever there is of +difficulty: for he supposes God to have created the most precious +thing on earth in _unstable equilibrium_, so as to tipple over +irrecoverably at the first infinitesimal touch, and with it wreck for +ever the spiritual hopes of all Adam's posterity. Surely all nature +proclaims, that if God planted any spiritual nature at all in man, it +was in _stable equilibrium_, able to right itself when deranged. + +Lastly, I saw that the Calvinistic doctrine of human degeneracy +teaches, that God disowns my nature (the only nature I ever had) as +not his work, but the devil's work. He hereby tells me that he is +_not_ my Creator, and he disclaims his right over me, as a father +who disowns a child. To teach this is to teach that I owe him no +obedience, no worship, no trust: to sever the cords that bind the +creature to the Creator, and to make all religion gratuitous and vain. + +Thus Calvinism was found by me not only not to be Evangelical, but +not to be logical, in spite of its high logical pretensions, and to +be irreconcilable with any intelligent theory of religion. Of "gloomy +Calvinism" I had often heard people speak with an emphasis, +that annoyed me as highly unjust; for mine had not been a gloomy +religion:--far, very far from it. On the side of eternal punishment, +its theory, no doubt, had been gloomy enough; but human nature has a +notable art of not realizing all the articles of a creed; moreover, +_this_ doctrine is equally held by Arminians. But I was conscious, +that in dropping Calvinism I had lost nothing _Evangelical_: on +the contrary, the gospel which I retained was as spiritual and +deep-hearted as before, only more merciful. + + * * * * * + +Before this Third Period of my creed was completed, I made my first +acquaintance with a Unitarian. This gentleman showed much sweetness +of mind, largeness of charity, and a timid devoutness which I had not +expected in such a quarter. His mixture of credulity and incredulity +seemed to me capricious, and wholly incoherent. First, as to his +incredulity, or rather, boldness of thought. Eternal punishment was a +notion, which nothing could make him believe, and for which it would +be useless to quote Scripture to him; for the doctrine (he said) +darkened the moral character of God, and produced malignity in man. +That Christ had any higher nature than we all have, was a tenet +essentially inadmissible; first, because it destroyed all moral +benefit from his example and sympathy, and next, because no one has +yet succeeded in even stating the doctrine of the Incarnation without +contradicting himself. If Christ was but one person, one mind, then +that one mind could not be simultaneously finite and infinite, nor +therefore simultaneously God and man. But when I came to hear more +from this same gentleman, I found him to avow that no Trinitarian +could have a higher conception than he of the present power and glory +of Christ. He believed that the man Jesus is at the head of the whole +moral creation of God; that all power in heaven and earth is given to +him: that he will be Judge of all men, and is himself raised above all +judgment. This was to me unimaginable from his point of view. Could +he really think Jesus to be a mere man, and yet believe him to be +sinless? On what did that belief rest? Two texts were quoted in +proof, 1 Pet. ii. 21, and Heb. iv. 15. Of these, the former did not +necessarily mean anything more than that Jesus was unjustly put to +death; and the latter belonged to an Epistle, which my new friend had +already rejected as unapostolic and not of first-rate authority, when +speaking of the Atonement. Indeed, that the Epistle to the Hebrews +is not from the hand of Paul, had very long seemed to me an obvious +certainty,--as long as I had had any delicate feeling of Greek style. + +That a human child, born with the nature of other children, and having +to learn wisdom and win virtue through the same process, should grow +up sinless, appeared to me an event so paradoxical, as to need the +most amply decisive proof. Yet what kind of proof was possible? +Neither Apollos, (if he was the author of the Epistle to the Hebrew,) +nor yet Peter, had any power of _attesting_ the sinlessness of Jesus, +as a fact known to themselves personally: they could only learn it by +some preternatural communication, to which, nevertheless, the passages +before us implied no pretension whatever. To me it appeared an +axiom,[3] that if Jesus was in physical origin a mere man, he was, +like myself, a sinful man, and therefore certainly not my Judge, +certainly not an omniscient reader of all hearts; nor on any account +to be bowed down to as Lord. To exercise hope, faith, trust in +him, seemed then an impiety. I did not mean to impute impiety to +Unitarians; still I distinctly believed that English Unitarianism +could never afford me a half hour's resting-place. + +Nevertheless, from contact with this excellent person I learned how +much tenderness of spirit a Unitarian may have; and it pleasantly +enlarged my charity, although I continued to feel much repugnance +for his doctrine, and was anxious and constrained in the presence of +Unitarians. From the same collision with him, I gained a fresh insight +into a part of my own mind. I had always regarded the Gospels (at +least the three first) to be to the Epistles nearly as Law to Gospel; +that is, the three gospels dealt chiefly in _precept_, the epistles +in _motives_ which act on the affections. This did not appear to me +dishonourable to the teaching of Christ; for I supposed it to be a +pre-determined development. But I now discovered that there was a +deeper distaste in me for the details of the human life of Christ, +than I was previously conscious of--a distaste which I found out, by +a reaction from the minute interest felt in such details by my new +friend. For several years more, I did not fully understand how and why +this was; viz. that _my religion had always been Pauline_. Christ was +to me the ideal of glorified human nature: but I needed some dimness +in the portrait to give play to my imagination: if drawn too sharply +historical, it sank into something not superhuman, and caused a +revulsion of feeling. As all paintings of the miraculous used to +displease and even disgust me from a boy by the unbelief which they +inspired; so if any one dwelt on the special proofs of tenderness and +love exhibited in certain words or actions of Jesus, it was apt to +call out in me a sense, that from day to day equal kindness might +often be met. The imbecility of preachers, who would dwell on such +words as "Weep not," as if nobody else ever uttered such,--had always +annoyed me. I felt it impossible to obtain a worthy idea of Christ +from studying any of the details reported concerning him. If I +dwelt too much on these, I got a finite object; but I yearned for an +infinite one: hence my preference for John's mysterious Jesus. Thus my +Christ was not the figure accurately painted in the narrative, but one +kindled in my imagination by the allusions and (as it were) poetry of +the New Testament. I did not wish for vivid historical realisation: +relics I could never have valued: pilgrimages to Jerusalem had always +excited in me more of scorn than of sympathy;--and I make no doubt +such was fundamentally Paul's[4] feeling. On the contrary, it began +to appear to me (and I believe not unjustly) that the Unitarian mind +revelled peculiarly in "Christ after the flesh," whom Paul resolved +not to know. Possibly in this circumstance will be found to lie the +strong and the weak points of the Unitarian religious character, as +contrasted with that of the Evangelical, far more truly than in the +doctrine of the Atonement. I can testify that the Atonement may be +dropt out of Pauline religion without affecting its quality; so may +Christ be spiritualized into God, and identified with the Father: but +I suspect that a Pauline faith could not, without much violence and +convulsion, be changed into devout admiration of a clearly drawn +historical character; as though any full and unsurpassable embodiment +of God's moral perfections could be exhibited with ink and pen. + +A reviewer, who has since made his name known, has pointed to the +preceding remarks, as indicative of my deficiency in _imagination_ and +my tendency to _romance_. My dear friend is undoubtedly right in the +former point; I am destitute of (creative) poetical imagination: and +as to the latter point, his insight into character is so great, that +I readily believe him to know me better than I know myself, +Nevertheless, I think he has mistaken the nature of the preceding +argument. I am, on the contrary, almost disposed to say, that those +have a tendency to romance who can look at a picture with men flying +into the air, or on an angel with a brass trumpet, and dead men rising +out of their graves with good stout muscles, and _not_ feel that the +picture suggests unbelief. Nor do I confess to romance in my desire +of something _more_ than historical and daily human nature in the +character of Jesus; for all Christendom, between the dates A.D. 100 +to A.D. 1850, with the exception of small eccentric coteries, has held +Jesus to be essentially superhuman. Paul and John so taught concerning +him. To believe their doctrine (I agree with my friend) is, in some +sense, a weakness of understanding; but it is a weakness to which +minds of every class have been for ages liable. + + * * * * * + +Such had been the progress of my mind, towards the end of what I will +call my Third Period. In it the authority of the Scriptures as to +some details (which at length became highly important) had begun to be +questioned; of which I shall proceed to speak: but hitherto this +was quite secondary to the momentous revolution which lay Calvinism +prostrate in my mind, which opened my heart to Unitarians, and, I may +say, to unbelievers; which enlarged all my sympathies, and soon set me +to practise free moral thought, at least as a necessity, if not as +a duty. Yet I held fast an unabated reverence for the moral and +spiritual teaching of the New Testament, and had not the most remote +conception that anything could ever shatter my belief in its great +miracles. In fact, during this period, I many times yearned to proceed +to India, whither my friend Groves had transferred his labours and his +hopes; but I was thwarted by several causes, and was again and again +damped by the fear of bigotry from new quarters. Otherwise, I thought +I could succeed in merging as needless many controversies. In all +the workings of any mind about Tri-unity, Incarnation, Atonement, the +Fall, Resurrection, Immortality, Eternal Punishment, how little had +any of these to do with the inward exercises of my soul towards God! +He was still the same, immutably glorious: not one feature of his +countenance had altered to my gaze, or could alter. This surely was +the God whom Christ came to reveal, and bring us into fellowship with: +this is that, about which Christians ought to have no controversy, but +which they should unitedly, concordantly, themselves enjoy and exhibit +to the heathen. But oh, Christendom! what dost thou believe and teach? +The heathen cry out to thee,--Physician, heal thyself. + + +[Footnote 1: I afterwards learned that some of those gentlemen +esteemed boldness of thought "a lust of the mind," and as such, an +immorality. This enables them to persuade themselves that they do not +reject a "heretic" for a matter of _opinion_, but for that which they +have a right to call "_immoral_". What immorality was imputed to me, I +was not distinctly informed.] + +[Footnote 2: I really thought it needless to quote proof that but +_few_ will be saved, Matth. vii. 14. I know there is a class of +Christians who believe in Universal salvation, and there are others +who disbelieve eternal torment. They must not be angry with me for +refuting the doctrine of other Christians, which they hold to be +false.] + +[Footnote 3: In this (second) edition, I have added an entire chapter +expressly on the subject.] + +[Footnote 4: The same may probably be said of all the apostles, and +their whole generation. If they had looked on the life of Jesus with +the same tender and human affection as modern Unitarians and pious +Romanists do, the church would have swarmed with _holy coats_ and +other relics in the very first age. The mother of Jesus and her +little establishment would at once have swelled into importance. This +certainly was not the case; which may make it doubtful whether the +other apostles dwelt at all more on the _human personality_, of Jesus +than Paul did. Strikingly different as James is from Paul, he is in +this respect perfectly agreed with him.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +THE RELIGION OF THE LETTER RENOUNCED. + + +It has been stated that I had already begun to discern that it was +impossible with perfect honesty to defend every tittle contained in +the Bible. Most of the points which give moral offence in the book of +Genesis I had been used to explain away by the doctrine of Progress; +yet every now and then it became hard to deny that God is represented +as giving an actual _sanction_ to that which we now call sinful. +Indeed, up and down the Scriptures very numerous texts are scattered, +which are notorious difficulties with commentators. These I had +habitually _overruled_ one by one: but again of late, since I had been +forced to act and talk less and think more, they began to encompass +me. But I was for a while too full of other inquiries to follow up +coherently any of my doubts or perceptions, until my mind became at +length nailed down to the definite study of one well-known passage. + +This passage may be judged of extremely secondary importance in +itself, yet by its remoteness from all properly spiritual and profound +questions, it seemed to afford to me the safest of arguments. The +_genealogy_ with which the gospel of Matthew opens, I had long known +to be a stumbling-block to divines, and I had never been satisfied +with their explanations. On reading it afresh, after long +intermission, and comparing it for myself with the Old Testament, I +was struck with observing that the corruption of the two names Ahaziah +and Uzziah into the same sound (Oziah) has been the cause of +merging four generations into one; as the similarity of Jehoiakim to +Jehoiachin also led to blending them both in the name Jeconiah. In +consequence, there ought to be 18 generations where Matthew has given +as only 14: yet we cannot call this on error of a transcriber; for it +is distinctly remarked, that the genealogy consists of 14 three times +repeated. Thus there were but 14 names inserted by Matthew: yet it +ought to have been 18: and he was under manifest mistake. This surely +belongs to a class of knowledge, of which man has cognizance: it would +not be piety, but grovelling superstition, to avow before God that I +distrust my powers of counting, and, in obedience to the written word, +I believe that 18 is 14 and 14 is 18. Thus it is impossible to deny, +that there is cognizable error in the first chapter of Matthew. +Consequently, that gospel is not all dictated by the Spirit of God, +and (unless we can get rid of the first chapter as no part of the +Bible) the doctrine of the verbal infallibility of the whole Bible, or +indeed of the New Testament, is demonstrably false. + +After I had turned the matter over often, and had become accustomed +to the thought, this single instance at length had great force to give +boldness to my mind within a very narrow range. I asked whether, +if the chapter were now proved to be spurious, that would save the +infallibility of the Bible. The reply was: not of the Bible as it is; +but only of the Bible when cleared of that _and of all other_ spurious +additions. If by independent methods, such as an examination of +manuscripts, the spuriousness of the chapter could now be shown, _this +would verify the faculty of criticism_ which has already objected to +its contents: thus it would justly urge us to apply similar criticism +to other passages. + +I farther remembered, and now brought together under a single point of +view, other undeniable mistakes. The genealogy of the nominal father +of Jesus in Luke is inconsistent with that in Matthew, in spite of the +flagrant dishonesty with which divines seek to deny this; and neither +evangelist gives the genealogy of Mary, which alone is wanted.--In +Acts vii. 16, the land which _Jacob_ bought of the children of +Hamor,[1] is confounded with that which _Abraham_ bought of Ephron the +Hittite. In Acts v. 36, 37, Gamaliel is made to say that Theudas was +earlier in time than Judas of Galilee. Yet in fact, Judas of Galilee +preceded Theudas; and the revolt of Theudas had not yet taken place +when Gamaliel spoke, so the error is not Gamaliel's, but Luke's. Of +both the insurgents we have a dear and unimpeached historical account +in Josephus.--The slaughter of the infants by Herod, if true, must, I +thought, needs have been recorded by the same historian,--So again, in +regard to the allusion made by Jesus to Zacharias, son of Barachias, +as _last of the martyrs_, it was difficult for me to shake off the +suspicion, that a gross error had been committed, and that the person +intended is the "Zacharias son of Baruchus," who, as we know from +Josephus, was martyred _within the courts of the temple_ during the +siege of Jerusalem by Titus, about 40 years after the crucifixion. The +well-known prophet Zechariah was indeed son of Berechiah; but he was +not last of the martyrs,[2] if indeed he was martyred at all. On the +whole, the persuasion stuck to me, that words had been put into +the mouth of Jesus, which he could not possibly have used.--The +impossibility of settling the names of the twelve apostles struck me +as a notable fact.--I farther remembered the numerous difficulties of +harmonizing the four gospels; how, when a boy at school, I had tried +to incorporate all four into one history, and the dismay with which +I had found the insoluble character of the problem,--the endless +discrepancies and perpetual uncertainties. These now began to seem to +me inherent in the materials, and not to be ascribable to our want of +intelligence. + +I had also discerned in the opening of Genesis things which could +not be literally received. The geography of the rivers in Paradise is +inexplicable, though it assumes the tone of explanation. The curse +on the serpent, who is to go on his belly--(how else did he go +before?)--and eat dust, is a capricious punishment on a race of +brutes, one of whom the Devil chose to use as his instrument. That +the painfulness of childbirth is caused, not by Eve's sin, but by +artificial habits and a weakened nervous system, seems to be proved +by the twofold fact, that savage women and wild animals suffer but +little, and tame cattle often suffer as much as human females.--About +this time also, I had perceived (what I afterwards learned the Germans +to have more fully investigated) that the two different accounts of +the Creation are distinguished by the appellations given to the divine +Creator. I did not see how to resist the inference that the book +is made up of heterogeneous documents, and was not put forth by the +direct dictation of the Spirit to Moses. + +A new stimulus was after this given to my mind by two short +conversations with the late excellent Dr. Arnold at Rugby. I had +become aware of the difficulties encountered by physiologists in +believing the whole human race to have proceeded in about 6000 years +from a single Adam and Eve; and that the longevity (not +miraculous, but ordinary) attributed to the patriarchs was another +stumbling-block. The geological difficulties of the Mosaic cosmogony +were also at that time exciting attention. It was a novelty to me, +that Arnold treated these questions as matters of indifference to +religion; and did not hesitate to say, that the account of Noah's +deluge was evidently mythical, and the history of Joseph "a beautiful +poem." I was staggered at this. If all were not descended from Adam, +what became of St. Paul's parallel between the first and second Adam, +and the doctrine of Headship and Atonement founded on it? If the world +was not made in six days, how could we defend the Fourth Commandment +as true, though said to have been written in stone by the very finger +of God? If Noah's deluge was a legend, we should at least have to +admit that Peter did not know this: what too would be said of Christ's +allusion to it? I was unable to admit Dr. Arnold's views; but to see a +vigorous mind, deeply imbued with Christian devoutness, so convinced, +both reassured me that I need not fear moral mischiefs from free +inquiry, and indeed laid that inquiry upon me as a duty. + +Here, however, was a new point started. Does the question of the +derivation of the human race from two parents belong to things +cognizable by the human intellect, or to things about which we must +learn submissively? Plainly to the former. It would be monstrous to +deny that such inquiries legitimately belong to physiology, or to +proscribe a free study of this science. If so, there was an _a +priori_ possibility, that what is in the strictest sense called +"religious doctrine" might come into direct collision, not merely with +my ill-trained conscience, but with legitimate science; and that this +would call on me to ask: "Which of the two certainties is stronger? +that the religious parts of the Scripture are infallible, or that the +science is trustworthy?" and I then first saw, that while science had +(within however limited a range of thought) demonstration or severe +verifications, it was impossible to pretend to anything so cogent in +favour of the infallibility of any or some part of the Scriptures; +a doctrine which I was accustomed to believe, and felt to be a +legitimate presumption; yet one of which it grew harder and harder +to assign any proof, the more closely I analyzed it. Nevertheless, I +still held it fast, and resolved not to let it go until I was forced. + +A fresh strain fell on the Scriptural infallibility, in contemplating +the origin of Death. Geologists assured us, that death went on in +the animal creation many ages before the existence of man. The rocks +formed of the shells of animals testify that death is a phenomenon +thousands of thousand years old: to refer the death of animals to +the sin of Adam and Eve is evidently impossible. Yet, if not, the +analogies of the human to the brute form make it scarcely credible +that man's body can ever have been intended for immortality. Nay, when +we consider the conditions of birth and growth to which it is subject, +the wear and tear essential to life, the new generations intended to +succeed and supplant the old,--so soon as the question is proposed as +one of physiology, the reply is inevitable that death is no accident +introduced by the perverse will of our first parents, nor any way +connected with man's sinfulness; but is purely a result of the +conditions of animal life. On the contrary, St. Paul rests most +important conclusions on the fact, that one man Adam by personal sin +brought death upon all his posterity. If this was a fundamental error, +religious doctrine also is shaken. + +In various attempts at compromise,--such as conceding the Scriptural +fallibility in human science, but maintaining its spiritual +perfection,--I always found the division impracticable. At last it +pressed on me, that if I admitted morals to rest on an independent +basis, it was dishonest to shut my eyes to any apparent collisions of +morality with the Scriptures. A very notorious and decisive instance +is that of Jael.--Sisera, when beaten in battle, fled to the tent of +his friend Heber, and was there warmly welcomed by Jael, Heber's wife. +After she had refreshed him with food, and lulled him to sleep, she +killed him by driving a nail into his temples; and for this deed, +(which now-a-days would be called a perfidious murder,) the prophetess +Deborah, in an inspired psalm, pronounces Jael to be "blessed above +women," and glorifies her act by an elaborate description of its +atrocity. As soon as I felt that I was bound to pass a moral judgment +on this, I saw that as regards the Old Testament the battle was +already lost. Many other things, indeed, instantly rose in full power +upon me, especially the command to Abraham to slay his son. Paul and +James agree in extolling Abraham as the pattern of faith; James and +the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews specify the sacrifice of +Isaac as a firstrate fruit of faith: yet if the voice of morality is +allowed to be heard, Abraham was (in heart and intention) not less +guilty than those who sacrificed their children to Molech. + +Thus at length it appeared, that I must choose between two courses. I +must EITHER blind my moral sentiment, my powers of criticism, and +my scientific knowledge, (such as they were,) in order to accept the +Scripture entire; OR I must encounter the problem, however arduous, +of adjusting the relative claims of human knowledge and divine +revelation. As to the former method, to name it was to condemn it; for +it would put every system of Paganism on a par with Christianity. If +one system of religion may claim that we blind our hearts and eyes in +its favour, so may another; and there is precisely the same reason +for becoming a Hindoo in religion as a Christian. We cannot be both; +therefore the principle is _demonstrably_ absurd. It is also, of +course, morally horrible, and opposed to countless passages of the +Scriptures themselves. Nor can the argument be evaded by talking of +external evidences; for these also are confessedly moral evidences, to +be judged of by our moral faculties. Nay, according to all Christian +advocates, they are God's test of our moral temper. To allege, +therefore, that our moral faculties are not to judge, is to annihilate +the evidences for Christianity.--Thus, finally, I was lodged in three +inevitable conclusions: + +1. The moral and intellectual powers of man must be acknowledged as +having a right and duty to criticize the contents of the Scripture: + +2. When so exerted, they condemn portions of the Scripture as +erroneous and immoral: + +3. The assumed infallibility of the _entire_ Scripture is a proved +falsity, not merely as to physiology, and other scientific matters, +but also as to morals: and it remains for farther inquiry how to +discriminate the trustworthy from the untrustworthy within the limits +of the Bible itself. + + * * * * * + +When distinctly conscious, after long efforts to evade it, that +this was and must henceforth be my position, I ruminated on the many +auguries which had been made concerning me by frightened friends. "You +will become a Socinian," had been said of me even at Oxford: "You will +become an infidel," had since been added. My present results, I was +aware, would seem a sadly triumphant confirmation to the clearsighted +instinct of orthodoxy. But the animus of such prophecies had always +made me indignant, and I could not admit that there was any merit in +such clearsightedness. What! (used I to say,) will you shrink from +truth, lest it lead to error? If following truth must bring us to +Socinianism, let us by all means become Socinians, or anything else. +Surely we do not love our doctrines more than the truth, but because +they are the truth. Are we not exhorted to "prove all things, and hold +fast that which is good?"--But to my discomfort, I generally found +that this (to me so convincing) argument for feeling no alarm, only +caused more and more alarm, and gloomier omens concerning me. On +considering all this in leisurely retrospect, I began painfully to +doubt, whether after all there is much love of truth even among those +who have an undeniable strength of religious feeling. I questioned +with myself, whether love of truth is not a virtue demanding a robust +mental cultivation; whether mathematical or other abstract studies may +not be practically needed for it. But no: for how then could it exist +in some feminine natures? how in rude and unphilosophical times? On +the whole, I rather concluded, that there is in nearly all English +education a positive repressing of a young person's truthfulness; for +I could distinctly see, that in my own case there was always need of +defying authority and public opinion,--not to speak of more serious +sacrifices,--if I was to follow truth. All society seemed so to +hate novelties of thought, as to prefer the chances of error in the +old.--Of course! why, how could it be otherwise, while Test Articles +were maintained? + +Yet surely if God is truth, none sincerely aspire to him, who dread to +lose their present opinions in exchange for others truer.--I had not +then read a sentence of Coleridge, which is to this effect: "If any +one begins by loving Christianity more than the truth, he will proceed +to love his Church more than Christianity, and will end by loving his +own opinions better than either." A dim conception of this was in my +mind; and I saw that the genuine love of God was essentially connected +with loving truth as truth, and not truth as our own accustomed +thought, truth as our old prejudice; and that the real saint can never +be afraid to let God teach him one lesson more, or unteach him one +more error. Then I rejoiced to feel how right and sound had been our +principle, that no creed can possibly be used as the touchstone +of spirituality: for man morally excels man, as far as creeds are +concerned, not by assenting to true propositions, but by loving them +because they are discerned to be true, and by possessing a faculty +of discernment sharpened by the love of truth. Such are God's true +apostles, differing enormously in attainment and elevation, but all +born to ascend. For these to quarrel between themselves because they +do not agree in opinions, is monstrous. _Sentiment_, surely, not +_opinion_, is the bond of the Spirit; and as the love of God, so the +love of truth is a high and sacred sentiment, in comparison to which +our creeds are mean. + +Well, I had been misjudged; I had been absurdly measured by other +men's creed: but might I not have similarly misjudged others, since +I had from early youth been under similar influences? How many of +my seniors at Oxford I had virtually despised because they were not +evangelical! Had I had opportunity of testing their spirituality? +or had I the faculty of so doing? Had I not really condemned them as +unspiritual, barely because of their creed? On trying to reproduce the +past to my imagination, I could not condemn myself quite as sweepingly +as I wished; but my heart smote me on account of one. I had a brother, +with whose name all England was resounding for praise or blame: from +his sympathies, through pure hatred of Popery, I had long since turned +away. What was this but to judge him by his creed? True, his whole +theory was nothing but Romanism transferred to England: but what +then? I had studied with the deepest interest Mrs. Schimmelpenninck's +account of the Portroyalists, and though I was aware that she exhibits +only the bright side of her subject, yet the absolute excellencies of +her nuns and priests showed that Romanism _as such_ was not fatal to +spirituality. They were persecuted: this did them good perhaps, or +certainly exhibited their brightness. So too my brother surely was +struggling after truth, fighting for freedom to his own heart and +mind, against church articles and stagnancy of thought. For this he +deserved both sympathy and love: but I, alas! had not known and seen +his excellence. But now God had taught me more largeness by bitter +sorrow working the peaceable fruit of righteousness; at last then +I might admire my brother. I therefore wrote to him a letter of +contrition. Some change, either in his mind or in his view of my +position, had taken place; and I was happy to find him once more able, +not only to feel fraternally, as he had always done, but to act +also fraternally. Nevertheless, to this day it is to me a painfully +unsolved mystery, how a mind can claim its freedom in order to +establish bondage. + +For the _peculiarities_ of Romanism I feel nothing, and I can pretend +nothing, but contempt, hatred, disgust, or horror. But this system of +falsehood, fraud, unscrupulous and unrelenting ambition, will never +be destroyed, while Protestants keep up their insane anathemas against +opinion. These are the outworks of the Romish citadel: until they are +razed to the ground, the citadel will defy attack. If we are to blind +our eyes, in order to accept an article of King Edward VI., or an +argument of St. Paul's, why not blind them so far as to accept the +Council of Trent? If we are to pronounce that a man "without +doubt shall perish everlastingly," unless he believes the +self-contradictions of the pseudo-Athanasian Creed, why should +we shrink from a similar anathema on those who reject the +self-contradictions of Transsubstantiation? If one man is cast out +of God's favour for eliciting error while earnestly searching after +truth, and another remains in favour by passively receiving the word +of a Church, of a Priest, or of an Apostle, then to search for truth +is dangerous; apathy is safer; then the soul does not come directly +into contact with God and learn of him, but has to learn from, and +unconvincedly submit to, some external authority. This is the germ of +Romanism: its legitimate development makes us Pagans outright. + + * * * * * + +But in what position was I now, towards the apostles? Could I +admit their inspiration, when I no longer thought them infallible? +Undoubtedly. What could be clearer on every hypothesis, than that they +were inspired on and after the day of Pentecost, and _yet_ remained +ignorant and liable to mistake about the relation of the Gentiles to +the Jews? The moderns have introduced into the idea of inspiration +that of infallibility, to which either _omniscience_ or _dictation_ +is essential. That there was no dictation, (said I,) is proved by +the variety of style in the Scriptural writers; that they were not +omniscient, is manifest. In truth, if human minds had not been left +to them, how could they have argued persuasively? was not the superior +success of their preaching to that of Christ, perhaps due to their +sharing in the prejudices of their contemporaries? An orator is most +persuasive, when he is lifted above his hearers on those points +only on which he is to reform their notions. The apostles were not +omniscient: granted: but it cannot hence be inferred that they did not +know the message given them by God. Their knowledge however perfect, +must yet in a human mind have coexisted with ignorance; and nothing +(argued I) but a perpetual miracle could prevent ignorance from now +and then exhibiting itself in some error. But hence to infer that +they are not inspired, and are not messengers from God, is quite +gratuitous. Who indeed imagines that John or Paul understood astronomy +so well as Sir William Herschel? Those who believe that the apostles +might err in human science, need not the less revere their moral and +spiritual wisdom. + +At the same time it became a matter of duty to me, if possible, +to discriminate the authoritative from the unauthoritative in the +Scripture, or at any rate avoid to accept and propagate as true +that which is false, even if it be false only as science and not as +religion. I unawares,--more perhaps from old habit than from distinct +conviction,--started from the assumption that my fixed point of +knowledge was to be found in the sensible or scientific, not in the +moral. I still retained from my old Calvinistic doctrine a way of +proceeding, as if purely moral judgment were my weak side, at least +in criticizing the Scripture: so that I preferred never to appeal +to direct moral and spiritual considerations, except in the most +glaringly necessary cases. Thus, while I could not accept the +panegyric on Jael, and on Abraham's intended sacrifice of his son, +I did not venture unceremoniously to censure the extirpation of +the Canaanites by Joshua: of which I barely said to myself, that it +"certainly needed very strong proof" of the divine command to justify +it. I still went so far in timidity as to hesitate to reject on +internal evidence the account of heroes or giants begotten by +angels, who, enticed by the love of women, left heaven for earth. The +narrative in Gen. vi. had long appeared to me undoubtedly to bear this +sense; and to have been so understood by Jude and Peter (2 Pet. ii.), +as, I believe, it also was by the Jews and early Fathers. I did at +length set it aside as incredible; not however from moral repugnance +to it, (for I feared to trust the soundness of my instinct,) but +because I had slid into a new rule of interpretation,--that _I must +not obtrude miracles on the Scripture narrative_. The writers tell +their story without showing any consciousness that it involves +physiological difficulties. To invent a miracle in order to defend +this, began to seem to me unwarrantable. + +It had become notorious to the public, that Geologists rejected the +idea of a universal deluge as physically impossible. Whence could +the water come, to cover the highest mountains? Two replies were +attempted: 1. The flood of Noah is not described as universal: 2. The +flood was indeed universal, but the water was added and removed +by miracle.--Neither reply however seemed to me valid. First, the +language respecting the universality of the flood is as strong as any +that could be written: moreover it is stated that the tops of the +high hills _were all covered_, and after the water subsides, the ark +settles on the mountains of Armenia. Now in Armenia, of necessity +numerous peaks would be seen, unless the water covered them, and +especially Ararat. But a flood that covered Ararat would overspread +all the continents, and leave only a few summits above. If then +the account in Genesis is to be received, the flood was universal. +Secondly: the narrator represents the surplus water to have come from +the clouds and perhaps from the sea, and again to drain back into the +sea. Of a miraculous _creation and destruction_ of water, he evidently +does not dream. + +Other impossibilities came forward: the insufficient dimensions of +the ark to take in all the creatures; the unsuitability of the +same climate to arctic and tropical animals for a full year; the +impossibility of feeding them and avoiding pestilence; and especially, +the total disagreement of the modern facts of the dispersion of +animals, with the idea that they spread anew from Armenia as their +centre. We have no right to call in a series of miracles to solve +difficulties, of which the writer was unconscious. The ark itself was +expressly devised to economize miracle, by making a fresh creation of +animals needless. + +Different in kind was the objection which I felt to the story, which +is told twice concerning Abraham and once concerning Isaac, of passing +off a wife as a sister. Allowing that such a thing was barely not +impossible, the improbability was so intense, as to demand the +strictest and most cogent proof: yet when we asked, Who testifies it? +no proof appeared that it was Moses; or, supposing it to be he, what +his sources of knowledge were. And this led to the far wider remark, +that nowhere in the book of Genesis is there a line to indicate who is +the writer, or a sentence to imply that the writer believes himself to +write by special information from God. Indeed, it is well known that +were are numerous small phrases which denote a later hand than that +of Moses. The kings of Israel are once alluded to historically, Gen. +xxxvi. 31. + +Why then was anything improbable to be believed on the writer's word? +as, for instance, the story of Babel and the confusion of tongues? One +reply only seemed possible; namely, that we believe the Old Testament +in obedience to the authority of the New: and this threw me again +to consider the references to the Old Testament in the Christian +Scriptures. + + * * * * * + +But here, the difficulties soon became manifestly more and more +formidable. In opening Matthew, we meet with quotations from the Old +Testament applied in the most startling way. First is the prophecy +about the child Immanuel; which in Isaiah no unbiassed interpreter +would have dreamed could apply to Jesus. Next; the words of Hosea, +"Out of Egypt have I called my son," which do but record the history +of Israel, are imagined by Matthew to be prophetic of the return of +Jesus from Egypt. This instance moved me much; because I thought, that +if the text were "spiritualized," so as to make Israel mean _Jesus_, +Egypt also ought to be spiritualized and mean _the world_, not retain +its geographical sense, which seemed to be carnal and absurd in such a +connection: for Egypt is no more to Messiah than Syria or Greece.--One +of the most decisive testimonies to the Old Testament which the New +contains, is in John x., 35, where I hardly knew how to allow myself +to characterize the reasoning. The case stands thus. The 82nd Psalm +rebukes _unjust_ governors; and at length says to them: "I have said, +Ye are gods, and all of you are children of the most high: but ye +shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes." In other +words:--"though we are apt _to think_ of rulers _as if_ they were +superhuman, yet they shall meet the lot of common men." Well: how is +this applied in John?--Jesus has been accused of blasphemy, for saying +that "He and his Father are one;" and in reply, he quotes the verse, +"I have said, Ye are gods," as his sufficient justification for +calling himself Son of God; for "the Scripture cannot be broken." I +dreaded to precipitate myself into shocking unbelief, if I followed +out the thoughts that this suggested; and (I know not how) for a long +time yet put it off. + +The quotations from the Old Testament in St. Paul had always been a +mystery to me. The more I now examined them, the clearer it appeared +that they were based on untenable Rabbinical principles. Nor are those +in the Acts and in the Gospels any better. If we take free leave to +canvass them, it may appear that not one quotation in ten is sensible +and appropriate. And shall we then accept the decision of the New +Testament writers as final, concerning the value and credibility of +the Old Testament, when it is so manifest that they most imperfectly +understood that book? + +In fact the appeal to them proved too much. For Jude quotes the book +of Enoch as an inspired prophecy, and yet, since Archbishop Laurence +has translated it from the Ethiopian, we know that book to be a fable +undeserving of regard, and undoubtedly not written by "Enoch, the +seventh from Adam." Besides, it does not appear that any peculiar +divine revelation taught them that the Old Testament is perfect +truth. In point of fact, they only reproduce the ideas on that subject +current in their age. So far as Paul deviates from the common Jewish +view, it is in the direction of disparaging the Law as essentially +imperfect. May it not seem that his remaining attachment to it was +still exaggerated by old sentiment and patriotism? + +I farther found that not only do the Evangelists give us no hint that +they thought themselves divinely inspired, or that they had any other +than human sources of knowledge, but Luke most explicitly shows the +contrary. He opens by stating to Theophilus, that since many persons +have committed to writing the things handed down from eye-witnesses, +it seemed good to him also to do the same, since he had "accurately +attended to every thing from its sources ([Greek: anothen])." He could +not possibly have written thus, if he had been conscious of superhuman +aids. How absurd then of us, to pretend that we know more than Luke +knew of his own inspiration! + +In truth, the arguments of theologians to prove the inspiration +(i.e. infallibility) of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, are sometimes almost +ludicrous. My lamented friend, John Sterling, has thus summed up +Dr. Henderson's arguments about Mark. "Mark was probably inspired, +_because he was an acquaintance of Peter_; and because Dr. Henderson +would be reviled by other Dissenters, if he doubted it." + + * * * * * + +About this time, the great phenomenon of these gospels,--the casting +out of devils,--pressed forcibly on my attention. I now dared to +look full into the facts, and saw that the disorders described were +perfectly similar to epilepsy, mania, catalepsy, and other known +maladies. Nay, the deaf, the dumb, the hunchbacked, are spoken of as +devil-ridden. I farther knew that such diseases are still ascribed to +evil genii in Mussulman countries: even a vicious horse is believed by +the Arabs to be _majnun_, possessed by a Jin or Genie. Devils also +are cast out in Abyssinia to this day. Having fallen in with Farmer's +treatise on the Demoniacs, I carefully studied it; and found it +to prove unanswerably, that a belief in demoniacal possession is a +superstition not more respectable than that of witchcraft. But Farmer +did not at all convince me, that the three Evangelists do not share +the vulgar error. Indeed, the instant we believe that the imagined +possessions were only various forms of disease, we are forced to draw +conclusions of the utmost moment, most damaging to the credit of the +narrators.[3] + +Clearly, they are then convicted of misstating facts, under the +influence of superstitious credulity. They represent demoniacs as +having a supernatural acquaintance with Jesus, which, it now becomes +manifest, they cannot have had. The devils cast out of two demoniacs +(or one) are said to have entered into a herd of swine. This must have +been a credulous fiction. Indeed, the casting out of devils is so very +prominent a part of the miraculous agency ascribed to Jesus, as at +first sight to impair our faith in his miracles altogether. + +I however took refuge in the consideration, that when Jesus wrought +one great miracle, popular credulity would inevitably magnify it into +ten; hence the discovery of foolish exaggerations is no disproof of a +real miraculous agency: nay, perhaps the contrary. Are they not a sort +of false halo round a disc of glory,--a halo so congenial to human +nature, that the absence of it might be even wielded as an objection? +Moreover, John tells of no demoniacs: does not this show his freedom +from popular excitement? Observe the great miracles narrated by +John,--the blind man,--and Lazarus--how different in kind from those +on demoniacs! how incapable of having been mistaken! how convincing! +His statements cannot be explained away: their whole tone, moreover, +is peculiar. On the contrary, the three first gospels contain much +that (after we see the writers to be credulous) must be judged +legendary. + +The two first chapters of Matthew abound in dreams. Dreams? Was indeed +the "immaculate conception" merely told to Joseph in a _dream_? a +dream which not he only was to believe, but we also, when reported +to us by a person wholly unknown, who wrote 70 or 80 years after the +fact, and gives us no clue to his sources of information! Shall I +reply that he received his information by miracle? But why more than +Luke? and Luke evidently was conscious only of human information. +Besides, inspiration has not saved Matthew from error about demons; +and why then about Joseph's dream and its highly important contents? + +In former days, I had never dared to let my thoughts dwell +inquisitively on the _star_, which the wise men saw in the East, and +which accompanied them, and pointed out the house where the young +child was. I now thought of it, only to see that it was a legend +fit for credulous ages; and that it must be rejected in common with +Herod's massacre of the children,--an atrocity unknown to Josephus. +How difficult it was to reconcile the flight into Egypt with the +narrative of Luke, I had known from early days: I now saw that it was +waste time to try to reconcile them. + +But perhaps I might say:--"That the writers should make errors about +the _infancy_ of Jesus was natural; they were distant from the time: +but that will not justly impair the credit of events, to which they +may possibly have been contemporaries or even eye-witnesses."--How +then would this apply to the Temptation, at which certainly none of +them were present? Is it accident, that the same three, who abound +in the demoniacs, tell also the scene of the Devil and Jesuit on a +pinnacle of the temple; while the same John who omits the demoniacs, +omits also this singular story? It being granted that the writers are +elsewhere mistaken, to criticize the tale was to reject it. + +In near connexion with this followed the discovery, that many other +miracles of the Bible are wholly deficient in that moral dignity, +which is supposed to place so great a chasm between them and +ecclesiastical writings. Why should I look with more respect on +the napkins taken from Paul's body (Acts xix. 12), than on +pocket-handkerchiefs dipped in the blood of martyrs? How could I +believe, on this same writer's hearsay, that "the Spirit of the Lord +caught away Philip" (viii. 39), transporting him through the air; as +oriental genii are supposed to do? Or what moral dignity was there in +the curse on the barren fig-tree,--about which, moreover, we are so +perplexingly told, that it was _not_ the time for figs? What was to be +said of a cure, wrought by touching the hem of Jesus' garment, which +drew physical _virtue_ from him without his will? And how could I +distinguish the genius of the miracle of tribute-money in the fish's +mouth, from those of the apocryphal gospels? What was I to say +of useless miracles, like that of Peter and Jesus walking on the +water,--or that of many saints coming out of the graves to show +themselves, or of a poetical sympathy of the elements, such as the +earthquake and rending of the temple-veil when Jesus died? Altogether, +I began to feel that Christian advocates commit the flagrant sophism +of treating every objection as an isolated "cavil," and overrule each +as obviously insufficient, with the same confidence as if it were the +only one. Yet, in fact, the objections collectively are very +powerful, and cannot be set aside by supercilious airs and by calling +unbelievers "superficial," any more than by harsh denunciations. + +Pursuing the same thought to the Old Testament, I discerned there also +no small sprinkling of grotesque or unmoral miracles. A dead man is +raised to life, when his body by accident touches the bones of Elisha: +as though Elisha had been a Romish saint, and his bones a sacred +relic. Uzzah, when the ark is in danger of falling, puts out his hand +to save it, and is struck dead for his impiety! Was this the judgment +of the Father of mercies and God of all comfort? What was I to make +of God's anger with Abimelech (Gen. xx.), whose sole offence was, the +having believed Abraham's lie? for which a miraculous barrenness was +sent on all the females of Abimelech's tribe, and was bought off +only by splendid presents to the favoured deceiver.--Or was it at +all credible that the lying and fraudulent Jacob should have been so +specially loved by God, more than the rude animal Esau?--Or could I +any longer overlook the gross imagination of antiquity, which made +Abraham and Jehovah dine on the same carnal food, like Tantalus with +the gods;--which fed Elijah by ravens, and set angels to bake cakes +for him? Such is a specimen of the flood of difficulties which poured +in, through the great breach which the demoniacs had made in the +credit of Biblical marvels. + +While I was in this stage of progress, I had a second time the +advantage of meeting Dr. Arnold, and had satisfaction in finding that +he rested the main strength of Christianity on the gospel of John. The +great similarity of the other three seemed to him enough to mark that +they flowed from sources very similar, and that the first gospel had +no pretensions to be regarded as the actual writing of Matthew. This +indeed had been for some time clear to me, though I now cared little +about the author's name, when he was proved to be credulous.--Arnold +regarded John's gospel as abounding with smaller touches which marked +the eye-witness, and, altogether, to be the vivid and simple picture +of a divine reality, undeformed by credulous legend. In this view I +was gratified to repose, in spite of a few partial misgivings, and +returned to investigations concerning the Old Testament. + +For some time back I had paid special attention to the book of +Genesis; and I had got aid in the analysis of it from a German volume. +That it was based on _at least_ two different documents, technically +called the Elohistic and Jehovistic, soon became clear to me: and +an orthodox friend who acknowledged the fact, regarded it as a high +recommendation of the book, that it was conscientiously made out of +pre-existing materials, and was not a fancy that came from the brain +of Moses. My good friend's argument was not a happy one: no written +record could exist of things and times which preceded the invention +of writing. After analysing this book with great minuteness, I now +proceeded to Exodus and Numbers; and was soon assured, that these had +not, any more than Genesis, come forth from one primitive witness +of the facts. In all these books is found the striking phenomenon of +_duplicate_ or even _triplicate narratives_. The creation of man +is three times told. The account of the Flood is made up out of two +discrepant originals, marked by the names Elohim and Jehovah; of which +one makes Noah take into the ark _seven_ pairs of clean, and _single_ +(or double?) pairs of unclean, beasts; while the other gives him +two and two of all kinds, without distinguishing the clean. The two +documents may indeed in this narrative be almost re-discovered by +mechanical separation. The triple statement of Abraham and Isaac +passing off a wife for a sister was next in interest; and here +also the two which concern Abraham are contrasted as Jehovistic +and Elohistic. A similar double account is given of the origin of +circumcision, of the names Isaac, Israel, Bethel, Beersheba. Still +more was I struck by the positive declaration in Exodus (vi. 3) +that _God was_ NOT _known to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob by the name +Jehovah_; while the book of Genesis abounds with the contrary fact. +This alone convinced me beyond all dispute, that these books did not +come from one and the same hand, but are conglomerates formed out of +older materials, unartistically and mechanically joined. + +Indeed a fuller examination showed in Exodus and Numbers a twofold +miracle of the quails, of which the latter is so told as to indicate +entire unacquaintance with the former. There is a double description +of the manna, a needless second appointment of Elders of the +congregation: water is twice brought out of the rock by the rod of +Moses, whose faith is perfect the first time and fails the second +time. The name of Meribah is twice bestowed. There is a double promise +of a guardian angel, a double consecration of Aaron and his sons: +indeed, I seemed to find a double or even threefold[4] copy of the +Decalogue. Comprising Deuteronomy within my view, I met two utterly +incompatible accounts of Aaron's death; for Deuteronomy makes him +die _before_ reaching Meribah Kadesh, where, according to Numbers, he +sinned and incurred the penalty of death (Num. xx. 24, Deut x. 6: cf +Num. xxxiii. 31, 38). + +That there was error on a great scale in all this, was undeniable; +and I began to see at least one _source_ of the error. The celebrated +miracle of "the sun standing still" has long been felt as too violent +a derangement of the whole globe to be used by the most High as a +means of discomfiting an army: and I had acquiesced in the idea that +the miracle was _ocular_ only. But in reading the passage, (Josh. x. +12-14,) I for the first time observed that the narrative rests on the +authority of a poetical book which bears the name of Jasher.[5] He who +composed--"Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the +valley of Ajalon!"--like other poets, called on the Sun and Moon to +stand and look on Joshua's deeds; but he could not anticipate that +his words would be hardened into fact by a prosaic interpreter, and +appealed to in proof of a stupendous miracle. The commentator +could not tell what _the Moon_ had to do with it; yet he has quoted +honestly.--This presently led me to observe other marks that the +narrative has been made up, at least in part, out of old poetry. +Of these the most important are in Exodus xv. and Num. xxi., in the +latter of which three different poetical fragments are quoted, and +one of them is expressly said to be from "the book of the wars of +Jehovah," apparently a poem descriptive of the conquest of Canaan by +the Israelites. As for Exodus xv. it appeared to me (in that stage, +and after so abundant proof of error,) almost certain that Moses' song +is the primitive authority, out of which the prose narrative of the +passage of the Red Sea has been worked up. Especially since, after the +song, the writer adds: v. 19. "For the horse of Pharaoh went in with +his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and the Lord brought +again the waters of the sea upon them: but the children of Israel went +on dry land in the midst of the sea." This comment scarcely could +have been added, if the detailed account of ch. xiv. had been written +previously. The song of Moses _implies no miracle at all_: it is +merely high poetry. A later prosaic age took the hyperbolic phrases +of v. 8 literally, and so generated the comment of v. 19, and a still +later time expanded this into the elaborate 14th chapter. + +Other proofs crowded upon me, that cannot here be enlarged upon. +Granting then (for argument) that the four first books of the +Pentateuch are a compilation, made long after the event, I tried for a +while to support the very arbitrary opinion, that Deuteronomy (all but +its last chapter) which seemed to be a more homogeneous composition, +was alone and really the production of Moses. This however needed some +definite proof: for if tradition was not sufficient to guarantee the +whole Pentateuch, it could not guarantee to me Deuteronomy alone. I +proceeded to investigate the external history of the Pentateuch, and +in so doing, came to the story, how the book of the Law was _found_ +in the reign of the young king Josiah, nearly at the end of the Jewish +monarchy. As I considered the narrative, my eyes were opened. If +the book had previously been the received sacred law, it could not +possibly have been so lost, that its contents were unknown, and the +fact of its loss forgotten: it was therefore evidently _then first +compiled_, or at least then first produced and made authoritative to +the nation.[6] And with this the general course of the history best +agrees, and all the phenomena of the books themselves. + +Many of the Scriptural facts were old to me: to the importance of +the history of Josiah I had perhaps even become dim-sighted by +familiarity. Why had I not long ago seen that my conclusions ought to +have been different from those of prevalent orthodoxy?--I found that +I had been cajoled by the primitive assumptions, which though not +clearly _stated_, are unceremoniously _used_. Dean Graves, for +instance, always takes for granted, that, _until the contrary shall be +demonstrated_, it is to be firmly believed that the Pentateuch is +from the pen of Moses. He proceeds to set aside, _one by one_, as not +demonstrative, the indications that it is of later origin: and when +other means fail, he says that the particular verses remarked on +were added by a later hand! I considered that if we were debating +the antiquity of an Irish book, and in one page of it were found an +allusion to the Parliamentary Union with England, we should at once +regard the whole book, _until the contrary should be proved_, as the +work of this century; and not endure the reasoner, who, in order +to uphold a theory that it is five centuries old, pronounced that +sentence "evidently to be from a later hand." Yet in this arbitrary +way Dean Graves and all his coadjutors set aside, one by one, the +texts which point at the date of the Pentateuch. I was possessed with +indignation. Oh sham science! Oh false-named Theology! + + O mihi tam longae maneat pars ultima vitae, + Spiritus et, quantum sat erit tua dicere facta! + +Yet I waited some eight years longer, lest I should on so grave +a subject write anything premature. Especially I felt that it was +necessary to learn more of what the erudition of Germany had done +on these subjects. Michaelis on the New Testament had fallen into my +hands several years before, and I had found the greatest advantage +from his learning and candour. About this time I also had begun to +get more or less aid from four or five living German divines; but +none produced any strong impression on me but De Wette. The two +grand lessons which I learned from him, were, the greater recency +of Deuteronomy, and the very untrustworthy character of the book of +Chronicles; with which discovery, the true origin of the Pentateuch +becomes still clearer.[7] After this, I heard of Hengstenberg as the +most learned writer on the opposite side, and furnished myself with +his work in defence of the antiquity of the Pentateuch: but it only +showed me how hopeless a cause he had undertaken. + + * * * * * + +In this period I came to a totally new view of many parts of the +Bible; and not to be tedious, it will suffice here to sum up the +results. + +The first books which I looked at as doubtful, were the Apocalypse and +the Epistle to the Hebrews. From the Greek style I felt assured that +the former was not by John,[8] nor the latter by Paul. In Michaelis +I first learnt the interesting fact of Luther having vehemently +repudiated the Apocalypse, so that he not only declared its +spuriousness in the Preface of his Bible, but solemnly charged his +successors not to print his translation of the Apocalypse without +annexing this avowal:--a charge which they presently disobeyed. Such +is the habitual unfairness of ecclesiastical corporations. I was +afterwards confirmed by Neander in the belief that the Apocalypse is +a false prophecy. The only chapter of it which is interpreted,--the +17th,--appears to be a political speculation suggested by the civil +war of Otho, Vitellius and Vespasian; and erroneously opines that +the eighth emperor of Rome is to be the last, and is to be one of the +preceding emperors restored,--probably Nero, who was believed to have +escaped to the kings of the East.--As for the Epistle to the Hebrews, +(which I was disposed to believe Luther had well guessed to be the +production of Apollos,) I now saw quite a different genius in it from +that of Paul, as more artificial and savouring of rhetorical culture. +As to this, the learned Germans are probably unanimous. + +Next to these, the Song of Solomon fell away. I had been accustomed to +receive this as a sacred representation of the loves of Christ and the +Church: but after I was experimentally acquainted with the playful and +extravagant genius of man's love for woman, I saw the Song of Solomon +with new eyes, and became entirely convinced that it consists of +fragments of love-songs, some of them rather voluptuous. + +After this, it followed that the so-called _Canon_ of the Jews could +not guarantee to us the value of the writings. Consequently, such +books as Ruth and Esther, (the latter indeed not containing +one religious sentiment,) stood forth at once in their natural +insignificance. Ecclesiastes also seemed to me a meagre and shallow +production. Chronicles I now learned to be not credulous only, but +unfair, perhaps so far as to be actually dishonest. Not one of the +historical books of the Old Testament could approve itself to me as +of any high antiquity or of any spiritual authority; and in the New +Testament I found the first three books and the Acts to contain many +doubtful and some untrue accounts, and many incredible miracles. + +Many persons, after reading thus much concerning me, will be apt to +say: "Of course then you gave up Christianity?"--Far from it. I gave +up all that was clearly untenable, and clung the firmer to all that +still appeared sound. I had found out that the Bible was not to be +my religion, nor its perfection any tenet of mine: but what then! Did +Paul go about preaching the Bible? nay, but he preached Christ. The +New Testament did not as yet exist: to the Jews he necessarily argued +from the Old Testament; but that "faith in the book" was no part of +Paul's gospel, is manifest from his giving no list of sacred books +to his Gentile converts. Twice indeed in his epistles to Timothy, he +recommends the Scriptures of the Old Testament; but even in the more +striking passage, (on which such exaggerated stress has been laid,) +the spirit of his remark is essentially apologetic. "Despise not, +oh Timothy," (is virtually his exhortation) "the Scriptures that you +learned as a child. Although now you have the Spirit to teach you, +yet that does not make the older writers useless: for "_every divinely +inspired writing is also profitable for instruction &c._" In Paul's +religion, respect for the Scriptures was a means, not an end. The +Bible was made for man, not man for the Bible. + +Thus the question with me was: "May I still receive Christ as a +Saviour from sin, a Teacher and Lord sent from heaven, and can I find +an adequate account of what he came to do or teach?" And my reply was, +Yes. The gospel of John alone gave an adequate account of him: the +other three, though often erroneous, had clear marks of simplicity, +and in so far confirmed the general belief in the supernatural +character and works of Jesus. Then the conversion of Paul was a +powerful argument. I had Peter's testimony to the resurrection, and to +the transfiguration. Many of the prophecies were eminently remarkable, +and seemed unaccountable except as miraculous. The origin of Judaism +and spread of Christianity appeared to be beyond common experience, +and were perhaps fairly to be called supernatural. Broad views such as +these did not seem to be affected by the special conclusions at which +I had arrived concerning the books of the Bible. I conceived myself +to be resting under an Indian Figtree, which is supported by certain +grand stems, but also lets down to the earth many small branches, +which seem to the eye to prop the tree, but in fact are supported +by it. If they were cut away, the tree would not be less strong. +So neither was the tree of Christianity weakened by the loss of its +apparent props. I might still enjoy its shade, and eat of its fruits, +and bless the hand that planted it. + +In the course of this period I likewise learnt how inadequate +allowance I had once made for the repulsion produced by my own +dogmatic tendency on the sympathies of the unevangelical. I now +often met persons of Evangelical opinion, but could seldom have any +interchange of religious sentiment with them, because every word they +uttered warned me that I could escape controversy only while I kept +them at a distance: moreover, if any little difference of opinion led +us into amicable argument, they uniformly reasoned by quoting texts. +This was now inadmissible with me, but I could only have done mischief +by going farther than a dry disclaimer; after which indeed I saw I was +generally looked on as "an infidel." No doubt the parties who so came +into collision with me, approached me often with an earnest desire +and hope to find some spiritual good in me, but withdrew disappointed, +finding me either cold and defensive, or (perhaps they thought) warm +and disputatious. Thus, as long as artificial tests of spirituality +are allowed to exist, their erroneousness is not easily exposed by +the mere wear and tear of life. When the collision of opinion is +very strong, two good men may meet, and only be confirmed in their +prejudices against one another: for in order that one may elicit +the spiritual sympathies of the other, a certain liberality is +prerequisite. Without this, each prepares to shield himself from +attack, or even holds out weapons of offence. Thus "articles of +Communion" are essentially articles of Disunion.--On the other hand, +if all tests of opinion in a church were heartily and truly done away, +then the principles of spiritual affinity and repulsion would +act quite undisturbed. Surely therefore this was the only right +method?--Nevertheless, I saw the necessity of _one_ test, "Jesus +is the Son of God," and felt unpleasantly that one article tends +infallibly to draw another after it. But I had too much, just then to +think of in other quarters, to care much about Church Systems. + + +[Footnote 1: See Gen. xxxiii. 19, and xlix. 29-32, xxiii.] + +[Footnote 2: Some say, that Zechariah, son of Jehoiada, named in the +Chronicles, is meant; that he is _confounded_ with the prophet, the +son of Berechiah, and was _supposed_ to be the last of the martyrs, +because the Chronicles are placed last in the Hebrew Bible. This is a +plausible view; but it saves the Scripture only by imputing error to +Jesus.] + +[Footnote 3: My Eclectic Reviewer says (p. 276): "Thus because the +evangelists held an erroneous _medical_ theory, Mr. Newman suffered +a breach to be made in the credit of the Bible." No; but as the next +sentence states, "because they are convicted of _misstating facts_," +under the influence of this erroneous medical theory. Even this +reviewer--candid for an orthodox critic, and not over-orthodox +either--cannot help garbling me.] + +[Footnote 4: I have explained this in my "Hebrew Monarchy."] + +[Footnote 5: This poet celebrated also the deeds of David (2 Sam. i. +18) according to our translation: if so, he was many centuries later +than Joshua; however, the sense of the Hebrew is little obscure.] + +[Footnote 6: I have fully discussed this in my "Hebrew Monarchy."] + +[Footnote 7: The English reader may consult Theodore Parker's +translation of De Wette's Introduction to the Canon of Scripture. I +have also amply exhibited the vanity of the _Chronicles_ in my "Hebrew +Monarchy." De Wette has a separate treatise on the Chronicles,] + +[Footnote 8: If the date of the Apocalypse is twenty years earlier +than that of the fourth Gospel, I now feel no such difficulty in their +being the composition of the same writer.] + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +FAITH AT SECOND HAND FOUND TO BE VAIN. + + +I reckon my fifth period to begin from the time when I had totally +abandoned the claim of "the Canon" of Scripture, however curtailed, +to be received as the object of faith, as free from error, or as +something raised above moral criticism; and looked out for some deeper +foundation for my creed than any sacred Letter. But an entirely new +inquiry had begun to engage me at intervals, viz., _the essential +logic of these investigations._ Ought we in any case to receive moral +truth in obedience to an apparent miracle of sense? or conversely, +ought we ever to believe in sensible miracles because of their +recommending some moral truth? I perceived that the endless jangling +which goes on in detailed controversy, is inevitable, while the +disputants are unawares at variance with one another, or themselves +wavering, as to these pervading principles of evidence.--I regard my +fifth period to come to an end with the decision of this question. +Nevertheless, many other important lines of inquiry were going forward +simultaneously. + +I found in the Bible itself,--and even in the very same book, as +in the Gospel of John,--great uncertainty and inconsistency on this +question. In one place, Jesus reproves[1] the demand of a miracle, and +blesses those who believe without[2] miracles; in another, he requires +that they will submit to his doctrine because[3] of his miracles. +Now, this is intelligible, if blind external obedience is the end of +religion, and not Truth and inward Righteousness. An ambitious and +unscrupulous _Church_, that desires, by fair means or foul, to make +men bow down to her, may say, "Only believe; and all is right. The end +being gained,--Obedience to us,--we do not care about your reasons." +But _God_ cannot speak thus to man; and to a divine teacher we should +peculiarly look for aid in getting clear views of the grounds of +faith; because it is by a knowledge of these that we shall both be +rooted on the true basis, and saved from the danger of false beliefs. + +It, therefore, peculiarly vexed me to find so total a deficiency of +clear and sound instruction in the New Testament, and eminently in the +gospel of John, on so vital a question. The more I considered it, +the more it appeared, as if Jesus were solely anxious to have people +believe in Him, without caring on what grounds they believed, although +that is obviously the main point. When to this was added the threat of +"damnation" on those who did not believe, the case became far worse: +for I felt that if such a threat were allowed to operate, I might +become a Mohammedan or a Roman Catholic. Could I in any case +rationally assign this as a ground for believing in Christ,--"because +I am frightened by his threats"--? + +Farther thought showed me that a question of _logic_, such as I here +had before me, was peculiarly one on which the propagator of a new +religion could not be allowed to dictate; for if so, every false +system could establish itself. Let Hindooism dictate our logic,--let +us submit to its tests of a divine revelation, and its mode +of applying them,--and we may, perhaps, at once find ourselves +necessitated to "become little children" in a Brahminical school. +Might not then this very thing account for the Bible not enlightening +us on the topic? namely, since Logic, like Mathematics, belongs to the +common intellect,--Possibly so: but still, it cannot reconcile us +to _vacillations_ and _contradictions_ in the Bible on so critical a +point. + +Gradually I saw that deeper and deeper difficulties lay at bottom. If +Logic _cannot_ be matter of authoritative revelation, so long as the +nature of the human mind is what it is,--if it appears, as a fact, +that in the writings and speeches of the New Testament the logic is +far from lucid,--if we are to compare Logic with Mathematics and other +sciences, which grew up with civilization and long time,--we cannot +doubt that the apostles imbibed the logic, like the astronomy, of +their own day, with all its defects. Indeed, the same is otherwise +plain. Paul's reasonings are those of a Gamaliel, and often are +indefensible by our logical notions. John, also (as I had been +recently learning,) has a wonderful similarity to Philo. This being +the case, it becomes of deep interest to us to know,--if we are to +accept results _at second hand_ from Paul and John,--_what was the +sort of evidence which convinced them?_ The moment this question is +put, we see the essential defect to which we are exposed, in not being +able to cross-examine them. Paul says that "Christ appeared to +him:" elsewhere, that he has "received of the Lord" certain facts, +concerning the Holy Supper: and that his Gospel was "given to him by +revelation." If any modern made such statements to us, and on this +ground demanded our credence, it would be allowable, and indeed +obligatory, to ask many questions of him. What does he _mean_ by +saying that he has had a "revelation?" Did he see a sight, or hear a +sound? or was it an inward impression? and how does he distinguish +it as divine?[4] Until these questions are fully answered, we have +no materials at all before us for deciding to accept his results: +to believe him, merely because he is earnest and persuaded, would be +judged to indicate the weakness of inexperience. How then can it be +pretended that we have, or can possibly get, the means of assuring +ourselves that the apostles held correct principles of evidence and +applied them justly, when we are not able to interrogate them? + +Farther, it appears that _our_ experience of delusion forces us to +enact a very severe test of supernatural revelation. No doubt, we can +conceive that which is equivalent to a _new sense_ opening to us; but +then it must have verifications connecting it with the other senses. +Thus, a particularly vivid sort of dream recurring with special marks, +and communicating at once heavenly and earthly knowledge, of which the +latter was otherwise verified, would probably be admitted as a valid +sort of evidence: but so intense would be the interest and duty to +have all unravelled and probed to the bottom, that we should think it +impossible to verify the new sense too anxiously, and we should demand +the fullest particulars of the divine transaction. On the contrary, +it is undeniable that all such severity of research is rebuked in the +Scriptures as unbelief. The deeply interesting _process_ of receiving +supernatural revelation.--a revelation, _not_ of moral principles, +but of outward facts and events, supposed to be communicated in a mode +wholly peculiar and unknown to common men,--this process, which ought +to be laid open and analyzed under the fullest light, _if we are to +believe the results at second hand_, is always and avowedly shrouded +in impenetrable darkness. There surely is something here, which +denotes that it is dangerous to resign ourselves to the conclusions of +the apostles, when their logical notions are so different from ours. + +I farther inquired, what sort of miracle I could conceive, that would +alter my opinion on a moral question. Hosea was divinely ordered to go +and unite himself to an impure woman: could I possibly think that God +ordered _me_ to do so, if I heard a voice in the air commanding +it? Should I not rather disbelieve my hearing, than disown my moral +perceptions? If not, where am I to stop? I may practise all sorts of +heathenism. A man who, in obedience to a voice in the air, kills his +innocent wife or child, will either be called mad, and shut up for +safety, or will be hanged as a desperate fanatic: do I dare to condemn +this modern judgment of him? Would any conceivable miracle justify my +slaying my wife? God forbid! It _must_ be morally right, to believe +moral rather than sensible perceptions. No outward impressions on the +eye or ear can be so valid an assurance to me of God's will, as my +inward judgment. How amazing, then, that a Paul or a James could look +on Abraham's intention to slay his son, as indicating a praiseworthy +faith!--And yet not amazing: It does but show, that apostles in former +days, like ourselves, scrutinized antiquity with different eyes from +modern events. If Paul had been ordered by a supernatural voice to +slay Peter, he would have attributed the voice to the devil, "the +prince of the power of the air," and would have despised it. He +praises the faith of Abraham, but he certainly would never have +imitated his conduct. Just so, the modern divines who laud Joseph's +piety towards Mary, would be very differently affected, if events and +persons were transported to the present day. + +But to return. Let it be granted that no sensible miracle could +authorize me so to violate my moral perceptions as to slay (that is, +to murder) my innocent wife. May it, nevertheless, authorize me to +invade a neighbour country, slaughter the people and possess their +cities, although, without such a miracle, the deed would be deeply +criminal? It is impossible to say that here, more than in the former +case, miracles[5] can turn aside the common laws of morality. Neither, +therefore, could they justify Joshua's war of extermination on the +Canaanites, nor that of Samuel on the Amalekites; nor the murder of +misbelievers by Elijah and by Josiah. If we are shocked at the idea +of God releasing Mohammed from the vulgar law of marriage, we must +as little endure relaxation in the great laws of justice and mercy. +Farther, if only a _small_ immorality is concerned, shall we then say +that a miracle may justify it? Could it authorise me to plait a whip +of small cords, and flog a preferment-hunter out of the pulpit? or +would it justify me in publicly calling the Queen and her ministers +"a brood of vipers, who cannot escape the damnation of hell"[6] Such +questions go very deep into the heart of the Christian claims. + +I had been accustomed to overbear objections of this sort by replying, +that to allow of their being heard would amount to refusing leave +to God to give commands to his creatures. For, it seems, if he _did_ +command, we, instead of obeying, should discuss whether the command +was right and reasonable; and if we thought it otherwise, should +conclude that God never gave it. The extirpation of the Canaanites +is compared by divines to the execution of a criminal; and it is +insisted, that if the voice of society may justify the executioner, +much more may the voice of God--But I now saw the analogy to be +insufficient and unsound. Insufficient, because no executioner +is justified in slaying those whom his conscience tells him to be +innocent; and it is a barbarous morality alone, which pretends that +he may make himself a passive tool of slaughter. But next, the analogy +_assumes_, (what none of my very dictatorial and insolent critics make +even the faintest effort to prove to be a fact,) that God, like man, +speaks from without: that what we call Reason and Conscience is _not_ +his mode of commanding and revealing his will, but that words +to strike the ear, or symbols displayed before the senses, are +emphatically and exclusively "Revelation." Besides all this, the +command of slaughter to the Jews is not directed against the seven +nations of Canaan only, as modern theologians often erroneously +assert: it is a _universal_ permission, of avaricious massacre and +subjugation of "the cities which are very far off from thee, which are +_not_ of the cities of these nations," Deut, xx. 15. + +The thoughts which here fill but a few pages, occupied me a long while +in working out; because I consciously, with caution more than +with timidity, declined to follow them rapidly. They came as dark +suspicions or as flashing possibilities; and were again laid aside for +reconsideration, lest I should be carried into antagonism to my old +creed. For it is clear that great error arises in religion, by the +undue ardour of converts, who become bitter against the faith which +they have left, and outrun in zeal their new associates. So also +successive centuries oscillate too far on the right and on the left +of truth. But so happy was my position, that I needed not to hurry: no +practical duty forced me to rapid decision, and a suspense of judgment +was not an unwholesome exercise. Meanwhile, I sometimes thought +Christianity to be to me, like the great river Ganges to a Hindoo. Of +its value he has daily experience: he has piously believed that its +sources are in heaven, but of late the report has come to him, that +it only flows from very high mountains of this earth. What is he to +believe? He knows not exactly: he cares not much: in any case the +river is the gift of God to him: its positive benefits cannot be +affected by a theory concerning its source. + +Such a comparison undoubtedly implies that he who uses it discerns for +himself a moral excellence in Christianity, and _submits to it only +so far as this discernment commands_. I had practically reached +this point, long before I concluded my theoretical inquiries as to +Christianity itself: but in the course of this fifth period numerous +other overpowering considerations crowded upon me which I must proceed +to state in outline. + + * * * * * + +All pious Christians feel, and all the New Testament proclaims, that +Faith is a moral act and a test of the moral and spiritual that is +within us; so that he who is without faith, (faithless, unfaithful, +"infidel,") is morally wanting and is cut off from God. To assent to +a religious proposition _solely_ in obedience to an outward miracle, +would be Belief; but would not be Faith, any more than is scientific +conviction. Bishop Butler and all his followers can insist with much +force on this topic, when it suits them, and can quote most aptly +from the New Testament to the same effect. They deduce, that a really +overpowering miraculous proof would have destroyed the moral character +of Faith: yet they do not see that the argument supersedes the +authoritative force of outward miracles entirely. It had always +appeared to me very strange in these divines, to insist on the +stupendous character and convincing power of the Christian miracles, +and then, in reply to the objection that they were _not_ quite +convincing, to say that the defect was purposely left "to try people's +Faith." Faith in what? Not surely in the confessedly ill-proved +miracle, but in the truth as discernible by the heart _without aid of +miracle._ + +I conceived of two men, Nathaniel and Demas, encountering a pretender +to miracles, a Simon Magus of the scriptures. Nathaniel is guileless, +sweet-hearted and of strong moral sense, but in worldly matters rather +a simpleton. Demas is a sharp man, who gets on well in the world, +quick of eye and shrewd of wit, hard-headed and not to be imposed upon +by his fellows; but destitute of any high religious aspirations or +deep moral insight. The juggleries of Simon are readily discerned by +Demas, but thoroughly deceive poor Nathaniel: what then is the latter +to do? To say that we are to receive true miracles and reject false +ones, avails not, unless the mind is presumed to be capable of +discriminating the one from the other. The wonders of Simon are as +divine as the wonders of Jesus to a man, who, like Nathaniel, can +account for neither by natural causes. If we enact the rule, that men +are to "submit their understandings" to apparent prodigies, and +that "revelation" is a thing of the outward senses, we alight on the +unendurable absurdity, that Demas has faculties better fitted than +those of Nathaniel for discriminating religious truth and error, and +that Nathaniel, in obedience to eye and ear, which he knows to be very +deceivable organs, is to abandon his moral perceptions. + +Nor is the case altered, if instead of Simon in person, a huge thing +called a Church is presented as a claimant of authority to Nathaniel. +Suppose him to be a poor Spaniard, surrounded by false miracles, false +erudition, and all the apparatus of reigning and unopposed Romanism. +He cannot cope with the priests in cleverness,--detect their +juggleries,--refute their historical falsehoods, disentangle their web +of sophistry: but if he is truehearted, he may say: "You bid me not +to keep faith with heretics: you defend murder, exile, imprisonment, +fines, on men who will not submit their consciences to your authority: +this I see to be wicked, though you ever so much pretend that God has +taught it you." So, also, if he be accosted by learned clergymen, +who undertake to prove that Jesus wrought stupendous miracles, or +by learned Moolahs who allege the same of Mohammed or of Menu, he is +quite unable to deal with them on the grounds of physiology, physics, +or history.--In short, nothing can be plainer, than that _the moral +and spiritual sense is the only religious faculty of the poor man_; +and that as Christianity in its origin was preached to the poor, so +it was to the inward senses that its first preachers appealed, as +the supreme arbiters in the whole religious question. Is it not then +absurd to say that in the act of conversion the convert is to trust +his moral perception, and is ever afterwards to distrust it? + +An incident had some years before come to my knowledge, which now +seemed instructive. An educated, highly acute and thoughtful person, +of very mature age, had become a convert to the Irving miracles, from +an inability to distinguish them from those of the Pauline epistles; +or to discern anything of falsity which would justify his rejecting +them. But after several years he totally renounced them as a miserable +delusion, _because_ he found that a system of false doctrine was +growing up and was propped by them. Here was a clear case of a man +with all the advantages of modern education and science, who yet found +the direct judgment of a professed miracle, that was acted before his +senses, too arduous for him! He was led astray while he trusted his +power to judge of miracle: he was brought right by trusting to his +moral perceptions. + +When we farther consider, that a knowledge of Natural Philosophy and +Physiology not only does not belong to the poor, but comes later in +time to mankind than a knowledge of morals;--that a Miracle can only +be judged of by Philosophy,--that it is not easy even for philosophers +to define what is a "miracle"--that to discern "a deviation from the +course of nature," implies a previous certain knowledge of what _the +course of nature_ is,--and that illiterate and early ages certainly +have not this knowledge, and often have hardly even the idea,--it +becomes quite a monstrosity to imagine that sensible and external +miracles constitute the necessary process and guarantee of divine +revelation. + +Besides, if an angel appeared to my senses, and wrought miracles, how +would that assure me of his moral qualities? Such miracles might prove +his power and his knowledge, but whether malignant or benign, would +remain doubtful, until by purely moral evidence, which no miracles +could give, the doubt should be solved.[7] This is the old difficulty +about diabolical wonders. The moderns cut the knot, by denying that +any but God can possibly work real miracles. But to establish their +principle, they make their definition and verification of a miracle +so strict, as would have amazed the apostles; and after all, the +difficulty recurs, that miraculous phenomena will never prove the +goodness and veracity of God, if we do not know these qualities in Him +without miracle. There is then a deeper and an earlier revelation of +God, which sensible miracles can never give. + +We cannot distinctly learn what was Paul's full idea of a divine +revelation; but I can feel no doubt that he conceived it to be, in +great measure, an _inward_ thing. Dreams and visions were not excluded +from influence, and nacre or less affected his moral judgment; but +he did not, consciously and on principle, beat down his conscience in +submission to outward impressions. To do so, is indeed to destroy +the moral character of Faith, and lay the axe to the root, not of +Christian doctrine only, but of every possible spiritual system. + + * * * * * + +Meanwhile, new breaches were made in those citadels of my creed which +had not yet surrendered. + +One branch of the Christian Evidences concerns itself with the +_history_ and _historical effects_ of the faith, and among Protestants +the efficacy of the Bible to enlighten and convert has been very much +pressed. The disputant, however, is apt to play "fast and loose." He +adduces the theory of Christianity when the history is unfavourable, +and appeals to the history if the theory is impugned. In this way, +just so much is picked out of the mass of facts as suits his argument, +and the rest is quietly put aside. + +I. In the theory of my early creed, (which was that of the New +Testament, however convenient it may be for my critics to deride it as +fanatical and _not_ Christian,) cultivation of mind and erudition +were classed with worldly things, which might be used where they +pre-existed, (as riches and power may subserve higher ends,) but which +were quite extraneous and unessential to the spiritual kingdom of +Christ. A knowledge of the Bible was assumed to need only an honest +heart and God's Spirit, while science, history, and philosophy were +regarded as doubtful and dangerous auxiliaries. But soon after the +first reflux of my mind took place towards the Common Understanding, +as a guide of life legitimately co-ordinate with Scripture, I was +impressed with the consideration that _Free Learning_ had acted on +a great scale for the improvement of spiritual religion. I had been +accustomed to believe that _the Bible_[8] brought about the Protestant +Reformation; and until my twenty-ninth year probably it had not +occurred to me to question this. But I was first struck with the +thought, that the Bible did not prevent the absurd iniquities of the +Nicene and Post Nicene controversy, and that the Church, with the +Bible in her hands, sank down into the gulf of Popery. How then was +the Bible a sufficient explanation of her recovering out of Popery? + +Even a superficial survey of the history shows, that the first +improvement of spiritual doctrine in the tenth and eleventh centuries, +came from a study of the moral works of Cicero and Boethius;--a fact +notorious in the common historians. The Latin moralists effected, what +(strange to think!) the New Testament alone could not do. + +In the fifteenth century, when Constantinople was taken by the Turks, +learned Greeks were driven out to Italy and to other parts of the +West, and the Roman Catholic world began to read the old Greek +literature. All historians agree, that the enlightenment of mind +hence arising was a prime mover of religious Reformation; and learned +Protestants of Germany have even believed, that the overthrow of +Popish error and establishment of purer truth would have been brought +about more equably and profoundly, if Luther had never lived, and the +passions of the vulgar had never been stimulated against the externals +of Romanism. + +At any rate, it gradually opened upon me, that the free cultivation of +the _understanding_, which Latin and Greek literature had imparted to +Europe and our freer public life, were chief causes of our religious +superiority to Greek, Armenian, and Syrian Christians. As the Greeks +in Constantinople under a centralized despotism retained no free +intellect, and therefore the works of their fathers did their souls no +good; so in Europe, just in proportion to the freedom of learning, +has been the force of the result. In Spain and Italy the study +of miscellaneous science and independent thought were nearly +extinguished; in France and Austria they were crippled; in Protestant +countries they have been freest. And then we impute all their effects +to the Bible![9] + +I at length saw how untenable is the argument drawn from the inward +history of Christianity in favour of its superhuman origin. In fact: +this religion cannot pretend to _self-sustaining power._ Hardly was it +started on its course, when it began to be polluted by the heathenism +and false philosophy around it. With the decline of national genius +and civil culture it became more and more debased. So far from being +able to uphold the existing morality of the best Pagan teachers, it +became barbarized itself, and sank into deep superstition and manifold +moral corruption. From ferocious men it learnt ferocity. When civil +society began to coalesce into order, Christianity also turned for the +better, and presently learned to use the wisdom, first of Romans, then +of Greeks: such studies opened men's eyes to new apprehensions of the +Scripture and of its doctrine. By gradual and human means, Europe, +like ancient Greece, grew up towards better political institutions; +and Christianity improved with them,--the Christianity of the more +educated. Beyond Europe, where there have been no such institutions, +there has been no Protestant Reformation:--that is in the Greek, +Armenian, Syrian, Coptic churches. Not unreasonably then do Franks +in Turkey disown the title Nazarene, as denoting _that_ Christianity +which has not been purified by European laws and European learning. +Christianity rises and sinks with political and literary influences: +in so far,[10] it does not differ from other religions. + +The same applied to the origin and advance of Judaism. It began +in polytheistic and idolatrous barbarism: it cleared into a hard +monotheism, with much superstition adhering to it. This was farther +improved by successive psalmists and prophets, until Judaism +culminated. The Jewish faith was eminently grand and pure; but +there is nothing[11] in this history which we can adduce in proof of +preternatural and miraculous agency. + +II. The facts concerning the outward spread of Christianity have also +been disguised by the party spirit of Christians, as though there were +something essentially _different in kind_ as to the mode in which it +began and continued its conquests, from the corresponding history +of other religions. But no such distinction can be made out. It is +general to all religions to begin by moral means, and proceed farther +by more worldly instruments. + +Christianity had a great moral superiority over Roman paganism, in +its humane doctrine of universal brotherhood, its unselfishness, its +holiness; and thereby it attracted to itself (among other and baser +materials) all the purest natures and most enthusiastic temperaments. +Its first conquests were noble and admirable. But there is nothing +_superhuman_ or unusual in this. Mohammedism in the same way conquers +those Pagan creeds which are morally inferior to it. The Seljuk and +the Ottoman Turks were Pagans, but adopted the religion of Tartars and +Persians whom they subjugated, because it was superior and was blended +with a superior civilization; exactly as the German conquerors of the +Western Empire of Rome adopted some form of Christianity. + +But if it is true that _the sword_ of Mohammed was the influence which +subjected Arabia, Egypt, Syria and Persia to the religion of Islam, +it is no less true that the Roman empire was finally conquered to +Christianity by the sword. Before Constantine, Christians were but a +small fraction of the empire. In the preceding century they had gone +on deteriorating in good sense and most probably therefore in moral +worth, and had made no such rapid progress in numbers as to imply that +by the mere process of conversion they would ever Christianize the +empire. That the conversion of Constantine, such as it was, (for he +was baptized only just before death,) was dictated by mere worldly +considerations, few modern Christians will deny. Yet a great fact is +here implied; viz., that Christianity was adopted as a state-religion, +because of the great _political_ power accruing from the organization +of the churches and the devotion of Christians to their ecclesiastical +citizenship. Roman statesmen well knew that a hundred thousand Roman +citizens devoted to the interests of Rome, could keep in subjection +a population of ten millions who were destitute of any intense +patriotism and had no central objects of attachment. The Christian +church had shown its immense resisting power and its tenacious union, +in the persecution by Galerius; and Constantine was discerning enough +to see the vast political importance of winning over such a body; +which, though but a small fraction of the whole empire, was the only +party which could give coherence to that empire, the only one which +had enthusiastic adherents in every province, the only one on whose +resolute devotion it was possible for a partizan to rely securely. The +bravery and faithful attachment of Christian regiments was a lesson +not lost upon Constantine; and we may say, in some sense, that the +Christian soldiers in his armies conquered the empire (that is, the +imperial appointments) for Christianity. But Paganism subsisted, +even in spite of imperial allurements, until at length the sword of +Theodosius violently suppressed heathen worship. So also, it was the +spear of Charlemagne which drove the Saxons to baptism, and decided +the extirpation of Paganism from Teutonic Europe. There is nothing in +all this to distinguish the outward history of Christianity from +that of Mohammedism. Barbarous tribes, now and then, venerating +the superiority of our knowledge, adopt our religion: so have Pagan +nations in Africa voluntarily become Mussulmans. But neither we nor +they can appeal to any case, where an old State-religion has yielded +without warlike compulsion to the force of heavenly truth,--"charm we +never so wisely." The whole influence which Christianity exerts over +the world at large depends on the political history of modern Europe. +The Christianity of Asia and Abyssinia is perhaps as pure and as +respectable in this nineteenth century as it was in the fourth and +fifth, yet no good or great deeds come forth out of it, of such a kind +that Christian disputants dare to appeal to them with triumph. The +politico-religious and very peculiar history of _European_ Christendom +has alone elevated the modern world; and as Gibbon remarks, this whole +history has directly depended on the fate of the great battles of +Tours between the Moors and the Franks. The defeat of Mohammedism by +Christendom certainly has not been effected by spiritual weapons. The +soldier and the statesman have done to the full as much as the priest +to secure Europe for Christianity, and win a Christendom of which +Christians can be proud. As for the Christendom of Asia, the +apologists of Christianity simply ignore it. With these facts, how can +it be pretended that the external history of Christianity points to an +exclusively divine origin? + +The author of the "Eclipse of Faith" has derided me for despatching +in two paragraphs what occupied Gibbon's whole fifteenth chapter; but +this author, here as always, misrepresents me. Gibbon is exhibiting +and developing the deep-seated causes of the spread of Christianity +before Constantine, and he by no means exhausts the subject. I am +comparing the ostensible and notorious facts concerning the outward +conquest of Christianity with those of other religions. To _account_ +for the early growth of any religion, Christian, Mussulman, or +Mormonite, is always difficult. + +III. The moral advantages which we owe to Christianity have been +exaggerated by the same party spirit, as if there were in them +anything miraculous. + +1. We are told that Christianity is the decisive influence which has +raised _womankind_: this does not appear to be true. The old Roman +matron was, relatively to her husband,[12] morally as high as in +modern Italy: nor is there any ground for supposing that modern women +have advantage over the ancient in Spain and Portugal, where Germanic +have been counteracted by Moorish influences. The relative position of +the sexes in Homeric Greece exhibits nothing materially different from +the present day. In Armenia and Syria perhaps Christianity has done +the service of extinguishing polygamy: this is creditable, though +nowise miraculous. Judaism also unlearnt polygamy, and made an +unbidden improvement upon Moses. In short, only in countries where +Germanic sentiment has taken root, do we see marks of any elevation +of the female sex superior to that of Pagan antiquity; and as this +elevation of the German woman in her deepest Paganism was already +striking to Tacitus and his contemporaries, it is highly unreasonable +to claim it as an achievement of Christianity. + +In point of fact, Christian doctrine, as propounded by Paul, is not at +all so honourable to woman as that which German soundness of heart has +established. With Paul[13] the _sole_ reason for marriage is, that a +man may gratify instinct without sin. He teaches, that _but_ for this +object it would be better not to marry. He wishes that all were in +this respect as free as himself, and calls it a special gift of God. +He does not encourage a man to desire a mutual soul intimately to +share griefs and joys; one in whom the confiding heart can repose, +whose smile shall reward and soften toil, whose voice shall beguile +sorrow. He does not seem aware that the fascinations of woman refine +and chasten society; that virtuous attachment has in it an element of +respect, which abashes and purifies, and which shields the soul, even +when marriage is deferred; nor yet, that the union of two persons +who have no previous affection can seldom yield the highest fruits of +matrimony, but often leads to the severest temptations. How _should_ +he have known all this? Courtship before marriage did not exist in the +society open to him: hence he treats the propriety of giving away a +maiden, as one in which _her_ conscience, _her_ likes and dislikes, +are not concerned: 1 Cor. vii. 37, 38. If the law leaves the parent +"power over his own will" and imposes no "necessity" to give her away, +Paul decidedly advises to keep her unmarried. + +The author of the Apocalypse, a writer of the first century, who +was received in the second as John the apostle, holds up a yet more +degrading view of the matrimonial relation. In one of his visions he +exhibits 144,000 chosen saints, perpetual attendants of "the Lamb," +and places the cardinal point of their sanctity in the fact, that +"they were not defiled with women, but were virgins." Marriage, +therefore, is defilement! Protestant writers struggle in vain against +this obvious meaning of the passage. Against all analogy of Scriptural +metaphor, they gratuitously pretend that _women_ mean _idolatrous +religions_: namely, because in the Old Testament the Jewish Church is +personified as a virgin betrothed to God, and an idol is spoken of as +her paramour. + +As a result of the apostolic doctrines, in the second, third, and +following centuries, very gross views concerning the relation of the +sexes prevailed, and have been everywhere transmitted where men's +morality is exclusively[14] formed from the New Testament. The +marriage service of the Church of England, which incorporates the +Pauline doctrine is felt by English brides and bridegrooms to contain +what is so offensive and degrading, that many clergymen mercifully +make unlawful omissions. Paul had indeed expressly denounced +_prohibitions_ of marriage. In merely _dissuading_ it, he gave advice, +which, from his limited horizon and under his expectation of the +speedy return of Christ, was sensible and good; but when this advice, +with all its reasons, was made on oracle of eternal wisdom, it +generated the monkish notions concerning womanhood. If the desire of +a wife is a weakness, which the apostle would gladly have forbidden, +only that he feared worse consequences, an enthusiastic youth cannot +but infer that it is a higher state of perfection _not_ to desire a +wife, and therefore aspires to "the crown of virginity." Here at once +is full-grown monkery. Hence that debasement of the imagination, which +is directed perpetually to the lowest, instead of the highest side of +the female nature. Hence the disgusting admiration and invocation of +Mary's perpetual virginity. Hence the transcendental doctrine of her +immaculate conception from Anne, the "grandmother of God." + +In the above my critics have represented me to say that Christianity +has done _nothing_ for women. I have not said so, but that what it has +done has been exaggerated. I say: If the _theory_ of Christianity is +to take credit from the _history_ of Christendom, it must also receive +discredit. Taking in the whole system of nuns and celibates, and the +doctrine which sustains it, the root of which is apostolic, I doubt +whether any balance of credit remains over from this side of Christian +history. I am well aware that the democratic doctrine of "the equality +of souls" has a _tendency_ to elevate women,--and the poorer orders +too; but this is not the whole of actual Christianity, which is a very +heterogeneous mass. + +2. Again: the modern doctrine, by aid of which West Indian slavery has +been exterminated, is often put forward as Christian; but I had always +discerned that it was not Biblical, and that, in respect to this great +triumph, undue credit has been claimed for the fixed Biblical and +authoritative doctrine. As I have been greatly misunderstood in +my first edition, I am induced to expand this topic. Sir George +Stephen,[15] after describing the long struggle in England against the +West Indian interest and other obstacles, says, that, for some time, +"worst of all, we found the people, not actually against us, but +apathetic, lethargic, incredulous, indifferent. It was then, and _not +till then_, that we sounded the right note, and touched a chord that +never ceased to vibrate. _To uphold slavery was a crime against God!_ +It was a NOVEL DOCTRINE, but it was a cry that was heard, for it would +be heard. The national conscience was awakened to inquiry, and inquiry +soon produced conviction." Sir George justly calls the doctrine novel. +As developed in the controversy, it laid down the general proposition, +that _men and women are not, and cannot be chattels_; and that all +human enactments which decree this are _morally null and void_, as +sinning against the higher law of nature and of God. And the reason +of this lies in the essential contrast of a moral personality and +chattel. Criminals may deserve to be bound and scourged, but they do +not cease to be persons, nor indeed do even the insane. Since every +man is a person, he cannot be a piece of property, nor has an +"owner" any just and moral claim to his services. Usage, so far from +conferring this claim, increases the total amount of injustice; the +longer an innocent man is _forcibly_ kept in slavery, the greater the +reparation to which he is entitled for the oppressive immorality. This +doctrine I now believe to be irrefutable truth, but I disbelieved it +while I thought the Scripture authoritative; because I found a very +different doctrine there--a doctrine which is the argumentative +stronghold of the American slaveholder. Paul sent back the fugitive +Onesimus to his master Philemon, with kind recommendations and +apologies for the slave, and a tender charge to Philemon, that he +would receive Onesimus as a brother in the Lord, since he had been +converted by Paul in the interval; but this very recommendation, +full of affection as it is, virtually recognizes the moral rights of +Philemon to the services of his slave; and hinting that if Onesimus +stole anything, Philemon should now forgive him, Paul shows perfect +insensibility to the fact that the master who detains a slave in +captivity against his will, is guilty himself of a continual theft. +What says Mrs. Beecher Stowe's Cassy to this? "Stealing!--They who +steal body and soul need not talk to us. Every one of these bills is +stolen--stolen from poor starving, sweating creatures." Now Onesimus, +in the very act of taking to flight, showed that he had been +submitting to servitude against his will, and that the house of his +owner had previously been a prison to him. To suppose that Philemon +has a pecuniary interest in the return of Onesimus to work without +wages, implies that the master habitually steals the slave's earnings; +but if he loses nothing by the flight, he has not been wronged by it. +Such is the modern doctrine, developed out of the fundamental fact +that persons are not chattels; but it is to me wonderful that it +should be needful to prove to any one, that this is _not_ the doctrine +of the New Testament. Paul and Peter deliver excellent charges to +masters in regard to the treatment of their slaves, but without any +hint to them that there is an injustice in claiming them as slaves at +all. That slavery, _as a system_, is essentially immoral, no Christian +of those days seems to have suspected. Yet it existed in its +worst forms under Rome. Whole gangs of slaves were mere tools of +capitalists, and were numbered like cattle, with no moral relationship +to the owner; young women of beautiful person were sold as articles +of voluptuousness. Of course every such fact was looked upon by +Christians as hateful and dreadful; yet, I say, it did not lead them +to that moral condemnation of slavery, _as such_, which has won the +most signal victory in modern times, and is destined, I trust, to win +one far greater. + +A friendly reviewer replies to this, that the apathy of the early +Christians to the intrinsic iniquity of the slave system rose out of +"their expectation of an immediate close of this world's affairs. The +only reason why Paul sanctioned contentment with his condition in the +converted slave, was, that for so short a time it was not worth while +for any man to change his state." I agree to this; but it does not +alter my fact: on the contrary, it confirms what I say,--that the +Biblical morality is not final truth. To account for an error surely +is not to deny it. + +Another writer has said on the above: "Let me suppose you animated to +go as missionary to the East to preach this (Mr. Newman's) spiritual +system: would you, in addition to all this, publicly denounce the +social and political evils under which the nations groan? If so, your +spiritual projects would soon be perfectly understood, and _summarily +dealt with_.--It is vain to say, that, if commissioned by Heaven, +and endowed with power of working miracles, you would do so; for you +cannot tell under what limitations your commission would be given: +it is pretty certain, that _it would leave you to work a moral and +spiritual system by moral and spiritual means_, and not allow you to +turn the world upside down, and _mendaciously_ tell it that you came +only to preach peace, while every syllable you uttered would be an +incentive to sedition."--_Eclipse of Faith_, p. 419. + +This writer supposes that he is attacking _me_, when every line is an +attack on Christ and Christianity. Have _I_ pretended power of working +miracles? Have I imagined or desired that miracle would shield me +from persecution? Did Jesus _not_ "publicly denounce the social and +political evils" of Judaea? was he not "summarily dealt with"? Did +he not know that his doctrine would send on earth "not peace, but a +sword"? and was he _mendacious_ in saying, "Peace I leave unto +you?" or were the angels mendacious in proclaiming, "Peace on earth, +goodwill among men"? Was not "every syllable that Jesus uttered" in +the discourse of Matth. xxiii., "an incentive to sedition?" and does +this writer judge it to be _mendacity_, that Jesus opened by advising +to OBEY the very men, whom he proceeds to vilify at large as immoral, +oppressive, hypocritical, blind, and destined to the damnation of +hell? Or have I anywhere blamed the apostles because they did _not_ +exasperate wicked men by direct attacks? It is impossible to answer +such a writer as this; for he elaborately misses to touch what I have +said. On the other hand, it is rather too much to require me to defend +Jesus from his assault. + +Christian preachers did not escape the imputation of turning the world +upside down, and at length, in some sense, effected what was imputed. +It is matter of conjecture, whether any greater convulsion would +have happened, if the apostles had done as the Quakers in America. No +Quaker holds slaves: why not? Because the Quakers teach their members +that it is an essential immorality. The slave-holding states +are infinitely more alive and jealous to keep up their "peculiar +institution," than was the Roman government; yet the Quakers have +caused no political convulsion. I confess, to me it seems, +that if Paul, and John, and Peter, and James, had done as these +Quakers, the imperial administration would have looked on it as a +harmless eccentricity of the sect, and not as an incentive[16] to +sedition. But be this as it may, I did not say what else the apostles +might have succeeded to enforce; I merely pointed out what it was that +they actually taught, and that, _as a fact_, they did _not_ declare +slavery to be an immorality and the basest of thefts. If any one +thinks their course was more wise, he may be right or wrong, but his +opinion is in itself a concession of my fact. + +As to the historical progress of Christian practice and doctrine on +this subject, it is, as usual, mixed of good and evil. The humanity of +good Pagan emperors softened the harshness of the laws of bondage, and +manumission had always been extremely common amongst the Romans. Of +course, the more humane religion of Christ acted still more powerfully +in the same direction, especially in inculcating the propriety of +freeing _Christian_ slaves. This was creditable, but not peculiar, and +is not a fact of such a nature as to add to the exclusive claims of +Christianity. To every _proselyting_ religion the sentiment is so +natural, that no divine spirit is needed to originate and establish +it. Mohammedans also have a conscience against enslaving Mohammedans, +and generally bestow freedom on a slave as soon as he adopts their +religion. But no zeal for _human_ freedom has ever grown out of the +purely biblical and ecclesiastical system, any more than out of the +Mohammedan. In the middle ages, zeal for the liberation of serfs first +rose in the breasts of the clergy, after the whole population had +become nominally Christian. It was not men, but Christians, whom the +clergy desired to make free: it is hard to say, that they thought +Pagans to have any human rights at all, even to life. Nor is it +correct to represent ecclesiastical influences as the sole agency +which overthrew slavery and serfdom. The desire of the kings to raise +up the chartered cities as a bridle to the barons, was that which +chiefly made rustic slavery untenable in its coarsest form; for a +"villain" who escaped into the free cities could not be recovered. In +later times, the first public act against slavery came from republican +France, in the madness of atheistic enthusiasm; when she declared +black and white men to be equally free, and liberated the negroes of +St. Domingo. In Britain, the battle of social freedom has been fought +chiefly by that religious sect which rests least on the letter of +Scripture. The bishops, and the more learned clergy, have consistently +been apathetic to the duty of overthrowing the slave system.--I was +thus led to see, that here also the New Testament precepts must not be +received by me as any final and authoritative law of morality. But I +meet opposition in a quarter from which I had least expected it;--from +one who admits the imperfection of the morality actually attained by +the apostles, but avows that Christianity, as a divine system, is +not to be identified with apostolic doctrine, but with the doctrine +_ultimately developed_ in the Christian Church; moreover, the +ecclesiastical doctrine concerning slavery he alleges to be truer +than mine,--I mean, truer than that which I have expounded as held +by modern abolitionists. He approves of the principle of claiming +freedom, not for _men_, but for _Christians_. He says: "That +Christianity opened its arms at all to the servile class was enough; +for in its embrace was the sure promise of emancipation.... Is +it imputed as a disgrace, that Christianity put conversion before +manumission, and _brought them to God, ere it trusted them with +themselves_?... It created the simultaneous obligation to make the +Pagan a convert, and the convert free." ... "If our author had made +his attack from the opposite side, and contended that its doctrines +'proved too much' against servitude, and _assumed with too little +qualification the capacity of each man for self-rule_, we should have +felt more hesitation in expressing our dissent." + +I feel unfeigned surprize at these sentiments from one whom I so +highly esteem and admire; and considering that they were written at +first anonymously, and perhaps under pressure of time, for a review, +I hope it is not presumptuous in me to think it possible that they are +hasty, and do not wholly express a deliberate and final judgment. I +must think there is some misunderstanding; for I have made no high +claims about capacity for _self-rule_, as if laws and penalties were +to be done away. But the question is, shall human beings, who (as all +of us) are imperfect, be controlled by public law, or by individual +caprice? Was not my reviewer intending to advocate some form of +_serfdom_ which is compatible with legal rights, and recognizes the +serf as a man; not _slavery_ which pronounces him a chattel? Serfdom +and apprenticeship we may perhaps leave to be reasoned down by +economists and administrators; slavery proper is what I attacked as +essentially immoral. + +Returning then to the arguments, I reason against them as if I did +not know their author.--I have distinctly avowed, that the effort to +liberate Christian slaves was creditable: I merely add, that in this +respect Christianity is no better than Mohammedism. But is it really +no moral fault,--is it not a moral enormity,--to deny that Pagans +have human rights? "That Christianity opened its arms _at all_ to the +servile class, _was enough_." Indeed! Then either unconverted men +have no natural right to freedom, or Christians may withhold a natural +right from them. Under the plea of "bringing them to God," Christians +are to deny by law, to every slave who refuses to be converted, the +rights of husband and father, rights of persons, rights of property, +rights over his own body. Thus manumission is a bribe to make +hypocritical converts, and Christian superiority a plea for depriving +men of their dearest rights. Is not freedom older than Christianity? +Does the Christian recommend his religion to a Pagan by stealing his +manhood and all that belongs to it? Truly, if only Christians have a +right to personal freedom, what harm is there in hunting and catching +Pagans to make slaves of them? And this was exactly the "development" +of thought and doctrine in the Christian church. The same priests who +taught that _Christians_ have moral rights to their sinews and skin, +to their wives and children, and to the fruit of their labour, which +_Pagans_ have not, consistently developed the same fundamental idea +of Christian superiority into the lawfulness of making war upon +the heathen, and reducing them to the state of domestic animals. If +Christianity is to have credit from the former, it must also take the +credit of the latter. If cumulative evidence of its divine origin is +found in the fact, that Christendom has liberated Christian slaves, +must we forget the cumulative evidence afforded by the assumed right +of the Popes to carve out the countries of the heathen, and bestow +them with their inhabitants on Christian powers? Both results flow +logically out of the same assumption, and were developed by the same +school. + +But, I am told, a man must not be freed, until we have ascertained +his capacity for self-rule! This is indeed a tyrannical assumption: +_vindicioe secundum servitutem_. Men are not to have their human +rights, until we think they will not abuse them! Prevention is to be +used against the hitherto innocent and injured! The principle involves +all that is arrogant, violent, and intrusive, in military tyranny +and civil espionage. Self-rule? But abolitionists have no thought of +exempting men from the penalties of common law, if they transgress +the law; we only desire that all men shall be equally subjected to +the law, and equally protected by it. It is truly a strange inference, +that because a man is possibly deficient in virtue, therefore he shall +not be subject to public law, but to private caprice: as if this were +a school of virtue, and not eminently an occasion of vice. Truer far +is Homer's morality, who says, that a man loses half his virtue on the +day he is made a slave. As to the pretence that slaves are not fit +for freedom, those Englishmen who are old enough to remember the awful +predictions which West Indian planters used to pour forth about the +bloodshed and confusion which would ensue, if they were hindered +by law from scourging black men and violating black women, might, I +think, afford to despise the danger of _enacting_ that men and women +shall be treated as men and women, and not made tools of vice end +victims of cruelty. If ever sudden emancipation ought to have produced +violences and wrong from the emancipated, it was in Jamaica, where the +oppression and ill-will was so great; yet the freed blacks have not in +fifteen years inflicted on the whites as much lawless violence as +they suffered themselves in six months of apprenticeship. It is the +_masters_ of slaves, not the slaves, who are deficient in self-rule; +and slavery is doubly detestable, because it depraves the masters. + +What degree of "worldly moderation and economical forethought" is +needed by a practical statesman in effecting the liberation of slaves, +it is no business of mine to discuss. I however feel assured, that +no constitutional statesman, having to contend against the political +votes of numerous and powerful slave-owners, who believe their +fortunes to be at stake, will ever be found to undertake the task _at +all_, against the enormous resistance of avarice and habit, unless +religious teachers pierce the conscience of the nation by denouncing +slavery as an essential wickedness. Even the petty West Indian +interests--a mere fraction of the English empire--were too powerful, +until this doctrine was taught. Mr. Canning in parliament spoke +emphatically against slavery, but did not dare to bring in a bill +against it. When such is English experience, I cannot but expect the +same will prove true in America. + +In replying to objectors, I have been carried beyond my narrative, +and have written from my _present_ point of view; I may therefore here +complete this part of the argument, though by anticipation. + +The New Testament has beautifully laid down Truth and Love as the +culminating virtues of man; but it has imperfectly discerned that Love +is impossible where Justice does not go first. Regarding this world +as destined to be soon burnt up, it despaired of improving the +foundations of society, and laid down the principle of Non-resistance, +even to Injurious force, in terms so unlimited, as practically to +throw its entire weight into the scale of tyranny. It recognises +individuals who call themselves kings or magistrates (however +tyrannical and usurping), as Powers ordained of God: it does _not_ +recognize nations as Communities ordained of God, or as having any +power and authority whatsoever, as against pretentious individuals. To +obey a king, is strenuously enforced; to resist a usurping king, in a +patriotic cause, is not contemplated in the New Testament as under +any circumstances an imaginable duty. Patriotism has no recognised +existence in the Christian records. I am well aware of the _cause_ +of this; I do not say that it reflects any dishonour on the Christian +apostles: I merely remark on it as a calamitous fact, and deduce that +their precepts cannot and must not be made the sufficient rule of +life, or they will still be (as they always have hitherto been) a +mainstay of tyranny. The rights of Men and of Nations are wholly +ignored[17] in the New Testament, but the authority of Slave-owners +and of Kings is very distinctly recorded for solemn religious +sanction. If it had been wholly silent, no one could have appealed +to its decision: but by consecrating mere Force, it has promoted +Injustice, and in so far has made that Love impossible, which it +desired to establish. + +It is but one part of this great subject, that the apostles absolutely +command a slave to give obedience to his master in nil things, "as +to the Lord." It is in vain to deny, that _the most grasping of +slave-owners asks nothing more of abolitionists than that they would +all adopt Paul's creed_; viz., acknowledge the full authority of +owners of slaves, tell them that they are responsible to God alone, +and charge them to use their power righteously and mercifully. + +3. LASTLY: it is a lamentable fact, that not only do superstitions +about Witches, Ghosts, Devils, and Diabolical Miracles derive a strong +support from the Bible, (and in fact have been exploded by nothing +but the advance of physical philosophy,)--but what is far worse, the +Bible alone has nowhere sufficed to establish an enlightened religious +toleration. This is at first seemingly unintelligible: for the +apostles certainly would have been intensely shocked at the thought of +punishing men, in body, purse, or station, for not being Christians +or not being orthodox. Nevertheless, not only does the Old Testament +justify bloody persecution, but the New teaches[18] that God will +visit men with fiery vengeance _for holding an erroneous creed_;--that +vengeance indeed is his, not ours; but that still the punishment +is deserved. It would appear, that wherever this doctrine is held, +possession of power for two or three generations inevitably converts +men into persecutors; and in so far, we must lay the horrible +desolations which Europe has suffered from bigotry, at the doors, not +indeed of the Christian apostles themselves, but of that Bibliolatry +which has converted their earliest records into a perfect and eternal +law. + +IV. "Prophecy" is generally regarded as a leading evidence of the +divine origin of Christianity. But this also had proved itself to me +a more and more mouldering prop, whether I leant on those which +concerned Messiah, those of the New Testament, or the miscellaneous +predictions of the Old Testament. + +1. As to the Messianic prophecies, I began to be pressed with the +difficulty of proving against the Jews that "Messiah was to suffer." +The Psalms generally adduced for this purpose can in no way be fixed +on Messiah. The prophecy in the 9th chapter of Daniel looks specious +in the authorized English version, but has evaporated in the Greek +translation and is not acknowledged in the best German renderings. +I still rested on the 53rd chapter of Isaiah, as alone fortifying me +against the Rabbis: yet with an unpleasantly increasing perception +that the system of "double interpretation" in which Christians +indulge, is a playing fast and loose with prophecy, and is essentially +dishonest _No one dreams of a "second" sense until the primary sense +proves false_: all false prophecy may be thus screened. The three +prophecies quoted (Acts xiii. 33--35) in proof of the resurrection +of Jesus, are simply puerile, and deserve no reply.--I felt there was +something unsound in all this. + +2. The prophecies of the New Testament are not many. First, we have +that of Jesus in Matt xxiv. concerning the destruction of Jerusalem. +It is marvellously exact, down to the capture of the city and +miserable enslavement of the population; but at this point it becomes +clearly and hopelessly false: namely, it declares, that "_immediately +after_ that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, &c. &c., and then +shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and then shall +all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man +coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he +shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall +gather together his elect," &c. This is a manifest description of the +Great Day of Judgment: and the prophecy goes on to add: "Verily I say +unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be +fulfilled." When we thus find a prediction to break down suddenly +in the middle, we have the well-known mark of its earlier part being +written after the event: and it becomes unreasonable to doubt that +the detailed annunciations of this 24th chapter of Matthew, were first +composed _very soon after_ the war of Titus, and never came from the +lips of Jesus at all. Next: we have the prophecies of the Apocalypse. +Not one of these can be interpreted certainly of any human affairs, +except one in the 17th chapter, which the writer himself has explained +to apply to the emperors of Rome: and that is proved false by the +event.--Farther, we have Paul's prophecies concerning the apostacy of +the Christian Church. These are very striking, as they indicate his +deep insight into the moral tendencies of the community in which he +moved. They are high testimonies to the prophetic soul of Paul; and +as such, I cannot have any desire to weaken their force. But there is +nothing in them that can establish the theory of supernaturalism, in +the face of his great mistake as to the speedy return of Christ from +heaven. + +3. As for the Old Testament, if all its prophecies about Babylon and +Tyre and Edom and Ishmael and the four Monarchies were both true and +supernatural, what would this prove? That God had been pleased to +reveal something of coming history to certain eminent men of Hebrew +antiquity. That is all. We should receive this conclusion with an +otiose faith. It could not order or authorize us to submit our souls +and consciences to the obviously defective morality of the Mosaic +system in which these prophets lived; and with Christianity it has +nothing to do. + +At the same time I had reached the conclusion that large deductions +must be made from the credit of these old prophecies. + +First, as to the Book of Daniel: the 11th chapter is closely +historical down to Antiochus Epiphanes, after which it suddenly +becomes false; and according to different modern expositors, leaps +away to Mark Antony, or to Napoleon Buonaparte, or to the Papacy. +Hence we have a _prima facie_ presumption that the book was composed +in the reign of that Antiochus; nor can it be proved to have existed +earlier: nor is there in it one word of prophecy which can be shown to +have been fulfilled in regard to any later era. Nay, the 7th chapter +also is confuted by the event; for the great Day of Judgment has not +followed upon the fourth[19] Monarchy. + +Next, as to the prophecies of the Pentateuch. They abound, as to the +times which precede the century of Hezekiah; higher than which we +cannot trace the Pentateuch.[20] No prophecy of the Pentateuch can be +proved to have been fulfilled, which had not been already fulfilled +before Hezekiah's day. + +Thirdly, as to the prophecies which concern various nations,--some of +them are remarkably verified, as that against Babylon; others failed, +as those of Ezekiel concerning Nebuchadnezzar's wars against Tyre +and Egypt. The fate predicted against Babylon was delayed for five +centuries, so as to lose all moral meaning as a divine infliction on +the haughty city.--On the whole, it was clear to me, that it is a vain +attempt to forge polemical weapons out of these old prophets, for the +service of modern creeds.[21] + +V. My study of John's gospel had not enabled me to sustain Dr. +Arnold's view, that it was an impregnable fortress of Christianity. + +In discussing the Apocalypse, I had long before felt a doubt whether +we ought not rather to assign that book to John the apostle in +preference to the Gospel and Epistles: but this remained only as a +doubt. The monotony also of the Gospel had often excited my _wonder_. But +I was for the first time _offended_, on considering with a fresh mind an +old fact,--the great similarity of the style and phraseology in the third +chapter, in the testimony of the Baptist, as well as in Christ's +address to Nicodemus, that of John's own epistle. As the three first +gospels have their family likeness, which enables us on hearing a text +to know that it comes out of one of the three, though we perhaps know +not which; so is it with the Gospel and Epistles of John. When a verse +is read, we know that it is either from an epistle of John, or +else from the Jesus of John; but often we cannot tell which. On +contemplating the marked character of this phenomenon, I saw it +infallibly[22] to indicate that John has made both the Baptist and +Jesus speak, as John himself would have spoken; and that we cannot +trust the historical reality of the discourses in the fourth gospel. + +That narrative introduces an entirely new phraseology, with a +perpetual discoursing about the Father and the Son; of which there is +barely the germ in Matthew:--and herewith a new doctrine concerning +the heaven-descended personality of Jesus. That the divinity of Christ +cannot be proved from the three first gospels, was confessed by the +early Church, and is proved by the labouring arguments of the modern +Trinitarians. What then can be dearer, than that John has put into the +mouth of Jesus the doctrines of half a century later, which he desired +to recommend? + +When this conclusion pressed itself first on my mind, the name of +Strauss was only beginning to be known in England, and I did not read +his great work until years after I had come to a final opinion on this +whole subject. The contemptuous reprobation of Strauss in which it is +fashionable for English writers to indulge, makes it a duty to express +my high sense of the lucid force with which he unanswerably shows that +the fourth gospel (whoever the author was) is no faithful exhibition +of the discourses of Jesus. Before I had discerned this so vividly +in all its parts, it had become quite certain to me that the secret +colloquy with Nicodemus, and the splendid testimony of the Baptist +to the Father and the Son, were wholly modelled out of John's own +imagination. And no sooner had I felt how severe was the shock to +John's general veracity, than a new and even graver difficulty rose +upon me. + +The stupendous and public event of Lazarus's resurrection,--the +circumstantial cross-examination of the man born blind and healed +by Jesus,--made those two miracles, in Dr. Arnold's view, grand and +unassailable bulwarks of Christianity. The more I considered them, the +mightier their superiority seemed to those of the other gospels. They +were wrought at Jerusalem, under the eyes of the rulers, who did their +utmost to detect them, and could not; but in frenzied despair, plotted +to kill Lazarus. How different from the frequently vague and wholesale +statements of the other gospels concerning events which happened where +no enemy was watching to expose delusion! many of them in distant and +uncertain localities. + +But it became the more needful to ask; How was it that the other +writers omitted to tell of such decisive exhibitions? Were they so +dull in logic, as not to discern the superiority of these? Can they +possibly have known of such miracles, wrought under the eyes of +the Pharisees, and defying all their malice, and yet have told in +preference other less convincing marvels? The question could not +be long dwelt on, without eliciting the reply: "It is necessary to +believe, at least until the contrary shall be proved, that the +three first writers either had never heard of these two miracles, or +disbelieved them." Thus the account rests on the unsupported evidence +of John, with a weighty presumption against its truth. + +When, where, and in what circumstances did John write? It is agreed, +that he wrote half a century after the events; when the other +disciples were all dead; when Jerusalem was destroyed, her priests +and learned men dispersed, her nationality dissolved, her coherence +annihilated;--he wrote in a tongue foreign to the Jews of Palestine, +and for a foreign people, in a distant country, and in the bosom of +an admiring and confiding church, which was likely to venerate him the +more, the greater marvels he asserted concerning their Master. He +told them miracles of firstrate magnitude, which no one before had +recorded. Is it possible for me to receive them _on his word_, under +circumstances so conducive to delusion, and without a single check to +ensure his accuracy? Quite impossible; when I have already seen how +little to be trusted is his report of the discourses and doctrine of +Jesus. + +But was it necessary to impute to John conscious and wilful deception? +By no means absolutely necessary;--as appeared by the following +train[23] of thought. John tells us that Jesus promised the Comforter, +_to bring to their memory_ things that concerned him; oh that one +could have the satisfaction of cross-examining John on this subject! +Let me suppose him put into the witness-box; and I will speak to him +thus: "O aged Sir, we understand that you have two memories, a natural +and a miraculous one: with the former you retain events as other men; +with the latter you recall what had been totally forgotten. Be pleased +to tell us now. Is it from your natural or from your supernatural +memory that you derive your knowledge of the miracle wrought on +Lazarus and the long discourses which you narrate?" If to this +question John were frankly to reply, "It is solely from my +supernatural memory,--from the special action of the Comforter on my +mind:" then should I discern that he was perfectly truehearted. Yet +I should also see, that he was liable to mistake a reverie, a +meditation, a day-dream, for a resuscitation of his memory by the +Spirit. In short, a writer who believes such a doctrine, and does +not think it requisite to warn us how much of his tale comes from his +natural, and how much from his supernatural memory, forfeits all claim +to be received as an historian, witnessing by the common senses to +external fact. His work may have religious value, but it is that of +a novel or romance, not of a history. It is therefore superfluous to +name the many other difficulties in detail which it contains. + +Thus was I flung back to the three first gospels, as, with all their +defects,--their genealogies, dreams, visions, devil-miracles, and +prophecies written after the event,--yet on the whole, more faithful +as a picture of the true Jesus, than that which is exhibited in John. + +And now my small root of supernaturalism clung the tighter to Paul, +whose conversion still appeared to me a guarantee, that there was at +least some nucleus of miracle in Christianity, although it had not +pleased God to give us any very definite and trustworthy account. +Clearly it was an error, to make miracles our _foundation_; but might +we not hold them as a result? Doctrine must be our foundation; but +perhaps we might believe the miracles for the sake of it.--And in the +epistles of Paul I thought I saw various indications that he took this +view. The practical soundness of his eminently sober understanding had +appeared to me the more signal, the more I discerned the atmosphere of +erroneous philosophy which he necessarily breathed. But he also proved +a broken reed, when I tried really to lean upon him as a main support. + +1. The first thing that broke on me concerning Paul, was, that +his moral sobriety of mind was no guarantee against his mistaking +extravagances for miracle. This was manifest to me in his treatment of +_the gift of tongues_. + +So long ago as in 1830, when the Irving "miracles" commenced in +Scotland, my particular attention had been turned to this subject, and +the Irvingite exposition of the Pauline phenomena appeared to me so +correct, that I was vehemently predisposed to believe the miraculous +tongues. But my friend "the Irish clergyman" wrote me a full account +of what he heard with his own ears; which was to the effect--that none +of the sounds, vowels or consonants, were foreign;--that the strange +words were moulded after the Latin grammar, ending in -abus, -obus, +-ebat, -avi, &c., so as to denote poverty of invention rather than +spiritual agency;--and _that there was no interpretation_. The last +point decided me, that any belief which I had in it must be for the +present unpractical. Soon after, a friend of mine applied by letter +for information as to the facts to a very acute and pious Scotchman, +who had become a believer in these miracles. The first reply gave us +no facts whatever, but was a declamatory exhortation to believe. +The second was nothing but a lamentation over my friend's unbelief, +because he asked again for the facts. This showed me, that there was +excitement and delusion: yet the general phenomena appeared so similar +to those of the church of Corinth, that I supposed the persons must +unawares have copied the exterior manifestations, if, after all, there +was no reality at bottom. + +Three years sufficed to explode these tongues; and from time to time +I had an uneasy sense, how much discredit they cast on the Corinthian +miracles. Meander's discussion on the 2nd Chapter of the Acts first +opened to me the certainty, that Luke (or the authority whom he +followed) has exaggerated into a gift of languages what cannot have +been essentially different from the Corinthian, and in short from +the Irvingite, tongues. Thus Luke's narrative has transformed into a +splendid miracle, what in Paul is no miracle at all. It is true that +Paul speaks of _interpretation of tongues_ as possible, but without a +hint that any verification was to be used. Besides, why should a Greek +not speak Greek in an assembly of his own countrymen? Is it credible, +that the Spirit should inspire one man to utter unintelligible sounds, +and a second to interpret these, and then give the assembly endless +trouble to find out whether the interpretation was pretence or +reality, when the whole difficulty was gratuitous? We grant that +there _may_ be good reasons for what is paradoxical, but we need the +stronger proof that it is a reality. Yet what in fact is there? and +why should the gift of tongues in Corinth, as described by Paul, be +treated with more respect than in Newman Street, London? I could +find no other reply, than that Paul was too sober-minded: yet his own +description of the tongues is that of a barbaric jargon, which makes +the church appear as if it "were mad," and which is only redeemed from +contempt by miraculous interpretation. In the Acts we see that this +phenomenon pervaded all the Churches; from the day of Pentecost onward +it was looked on as the standard mark of "the descent of the Holy +Spirit;" and in the conversion of Cornelius it was the justification +of Peter for admitting uncircumcised Gentiles: yet not once is +"interpretation" alluded to, except in Paul's epistle. Paul could not +go against the whole Church. He held a logic too much in common with +the rest, to denounce the tongues as _mere_ carnal excitement; but he +does anxiously degrade them as of lowest spiritual value, and wholly +prohibits them where there is "no interpreter." To carry out this +rule, would perhaps have suppressed them entirely. + +This however showed me, that I could not rest on Paul's practical +wisdom, as securing him against speculative hallucinations in the +matter of miracles; for indeed he says: "I thank my God, that I speak +with tongues _more than ye all_." + +2. To another broad fact I had been astonishingly blind, though the +truth of it flashed upon me as soon as I heard it named;--that Paul +shows total unconcern to the human history and earthly teaching of +Jesus, never quoting his doctrine or any detail of his actions. The +Christ with whom Paul held communion was a risen, ascended, exalted +Lord, a heavenly being, who reigned over arch-angels, and was about to +appear as Judge of the world: but of Jesus in the flesh Paul seems to +know nothing beyond the bare fact that he _did_[24] "humble himself" +to become man, and "pleased not himself." Even in the very critical +controversy about meat and drink, Paul omits to quote Christ's +doctrine, "Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth the man," &c. +He surely, therefore, must have been wholly and contentedly ignorant +of the oral teachings of Jesus. + +3. This threw a new light on the _independent_ position of Paul. That +he anxiously refused to learn from the other apostles, and "conferred +not with flesh and blood,"--not having received his gospel of many but +by the revelation of Jesus Christ--had seemed to me quite suitable to +his high pretensions. Any novelties which might be in his doctrine, I +had regarded as mere developments, growing out of the common stem, and +guaranteed by the same Spirit. But I now saw that this independence +invalidated his testimony. He may be to us a supernatural, but he +certainly is not a natural, witness to the truth of Christ's miracles +and personality. It avails not to talk of the _opportunities_ which he +had of searching into the truth of the resurrection of Christ, for we +see that he did not choose to avail himself of the common methods of +investigation. He learned his gospel _by an internal revelation_.[25] +He even recounts the appearance of Christ to him, years after his +ascension, as evidence co-ordinate to his appearance to Peter and to +James, and to 500 brethren at once. 1 Cor. xv. Again the thought is +forced on us,--how different was his logic from ours! + +To see the full force of the last remark, we ought to conceive how +many questions a Paley would have wished to ask of Paul; and how many +details Paley himself, if _he_ had had the sight, would have felt +it his duty to impart to his readers. Had Paul ever seen Jesus when +alive? How did he recognize the miraculous apparition to be the person +whom Pilate had crucified? Did he see him as a man in a fleshly body, +or as a glorified heavenly form? Was it in waking, or sleeping, and +if the latter, how did he distinguish his divine vision from a common +dream? Did he see only, or did he also handle? If it was a palpable +man of flesh, how did he assure himself that it was a person risen +from the dead, and not an ordinary living man? + +Now as Paul _is writing specially[26] to convince the incredulous or +to confirm the wavering_, it is certain that he would have dwelt on +these details, if he had thought them of value to the argument. As +he wholly suppresses them, we must infer that he held them to +be immaterial; and therefore that the evidence with which he was +satisfied, in proof that a man was risen from the dead, was either +totally different in kind from that which we should now exact, or +exceedingly inferior in rigour. It appears, that he believed in +the resurrection of Christ, first, on the ground of prophecy:[27] +secondly, (I feel it is not harsh or bold to add,) on very loose and +wholly unsifted testimony. For since he does not afford to us the +means of sifting and analyzing his testimony, he cannot have judged it +our duty so to do; and therefore is not likely himself to have sifted +very narrowly the testimony of others. + +Conceive farther how a Paley would have dealt with so astounding a +fact, so crushing an argument as the appearance of the risen Jesus +_to 500 brethren at once_. How would he have extravagated and revelled +in proof! How would he have worked the topic, that "this could have +been no dream, no internal impression, no vain fancy, but a solid +indubitable fact!" How he would have quoted his authorities, detailed +their testimonies, and given their names and characters! Yet Paul +dispatches the affair in one line, gives no details and no special +declarations, and seems to see no greater weight in this decisive +appearance, than in the vision to his single self. He expects us to +take his very vague announcement of the 500 brethren as enough, and +it does not seem to occur to him that his readers (if they need to +be convinced) are entitled to expect fuller information. Thus if Paul +does not intentionally supersede human testimony, he reduces it to its +minimum of importance. + +How can I believe _at second hand_, from the word of one whom I +discern to hold so lax notions of evidence? Yet _who_ of the Christian +teachers was superior to Paul? He is regarded as almost the only +educated man of the leaders. Of his activity of mind, his moral +sobriety, his practical talents, his profound sincerity, his +enthusiastic self-devotion, his spiritual insight, there is no +question: but when his notions of evidence are infected with the +errors of his age, what else can we expect of the eleven, and of the +multitude? + +4. Paul's neglect of the earthly teaching of Jesus might in part +be imputed to the nonexistence of written documents and the great +difficulty of learning with certainty what he really had taught.--This +agreed perfectly well with what I already saw of the untrustworthiness +of our gospels; but it opened a chasm between the doctrine of Jesus +and that of Paul, and showed that Paulinism, however good in itself, +is not assuredly to be identified with primitive Christianity. +Moreover, it became clear, why James and Paul are so contrasted. James +retains with little change the traditionary doctrine of the Jerusalem +Christians; Paul has superadded or substituted a gospel of his own. +This was, I believe, pointedly maintained 25 years ago by the author +of "Not Paul, but Jesus;" a book which I have never read. + +VII. I had now to ask,--Where are _the twelve men_ of whom Paley +talks, as testifying to the resurrection of Christ? Paul cannot be +quoted as a witness, but only as a believer. Of the twelve we do not +even know the names, much less have we their testimony. Of James and +Jude there are two epistles, but it is doubtful whether either +of these is of the twelve apostles; and neither of them declare +themselves eyewitnesses to Christ's resurrection. In short, Peter and +John are the only two. Of these however, Peter does not attest the +_bodily_, but only the _spiritual_, resurrection of Jesus; for he says +that Christ was[28] "put to death in flesh, but made alive in spirit," +1 Pet iii. 18: yet if this verse had been lost, his opening address +(i. 3) would have seduced me into the belief that Peter taught the +bodily resurrection of Jesus. So dangerous is it to believe +miracles, on the authority of words quoted from a man whom we cannot +cross-examine! Thus, once more, John is left alone in his testimony; +and how insufficient that is, has been said. + +The question also arose, whether Peter's testimony to the +transfiguration (2 Pet. i. 18), was an important support. A first +objection might be drawn from the sleep ascribed to the three +disciples in the gospels; if the narrative were at all trustworthy. +But a second and greater difficulty arises in the doubtful +authenticity of the second Epistle of Peter. + +Neander positively decides against that epistle. Among many reasons, +the similarity of its second chapter to the Epistle of Jude is a +cardinal fact. Jude is supposed to be original; yet his allusions +show him to be post-apostolic. If so, the second Epistle of Peter is +clearly spurious.--Whether this was certain, I could not make up +my mind: but it was manifest that where such doubts may be honestly +entertained, no basis exists to found a belief of a great and +significant miracle. + +On the other hand, both the Transfiguration itself, and the fiery +destruction of Heaven and Earth prophesied in the third chapter +of this epistle, are open to objections so serious, as mythical +imaginations, that the name of Peter will hardly guarantee them to +those with whom the general evidence for the miracles in the gospels +has thoroughly broken down. + +On the whole, one thing only was clear concerning Peter's faith;--that +he, like Paul, was satisfied with a kind of evidence for the +resurrection of Jesus which fell exceedingly short of the demands of +modern logic: and that it is absurd in us to believe, barely _because_ +they believed. + + +[Footnote 1: Matt. xii. 39, xvi. 4.] + +[Footnote 2: John xx. 29.] + +[Footnote 3: John xiv, 11. In x. 37, 38, the same idea seems to be +intended. So xv. 24.] + +[Footnote 4: A reviewer erroneously treats this as inculcating a +denial of the possibility of inward revelation. It merely says, that +_some answer_ in needed to these questions; and _none in given_. We +can make out (in my opinion) that dreams and inward impressions +were the form of suggestion trusted to; but we do not learn what +precautions were used against foolish credulity.] + +[Footnote 5: If miracles were vouchsafed on the scale of a _new +sense_, it is of course conceivable that they would reveal new masses +of fact, tending to modify our moral judgments of particular actions: +but nothing of this can be made out in Judaism or Christianity.] + +[Footnote 6: A friendly reviewer derides this passage as a very feeble +objection to the doctrine of the Absolute Moral perfections of Jesus. +It in here rather feebly _stated_, because at that period I had not +fully worked out the thought. He seems to have forgotten that I am +narrating.] + +[Footnote 7: An ingenious gentleman, well versed in history, has put +forth a volume called "The Restoration of Faith," in which he teaches +that _I have no right to a conscience or to a God_, until I adopt his +historical conclusions. I leave his co-religionists to confute his +portentous heresy; but in fact it is already done more than enough in +a splendid article of the "Westminster Review," July, 1852.] + +[Footnote 8: I seem to have been understood now to say that a +knowledge of the Bible was not a pre-requisite of the Protestant +Reformation. What I say is, that at this period I learned the study +of the Classics to have caused and determined that it should then take +place; moreover, I say that a free study of _other books than sacred +ones_ is essential, and always was, to conquer superstition.] + +[Footnote 9: I am asked why _Italy_ witnessed no improvement of +spiritual doctrine. The reply is, that _she did_. The Evangelical +movement there was quelled only by the Imperial arms and the +Inquisition. I am also asked why Pagan Literature did not save the +ancient church from superstition. I have always understood that +the vast majority of Christian teachers during the decline were +unacquainted with Pagan literature, and that the Church at an early +period _forbade_ it.] + +[Footnote 10: My friend James Martineau, who insists that "a +self-sustaining power" in a religion is a thing _intrinsically +inconceivable_, need not have censured me for coming to the conclusion +that it does not exist in Christianity. In fact, I entirely agree with +him; but at the time of which I here write, I had only taken the first +step in his direction; and I barely drew a negative conclusion, to +which he perfectly assents. To my dear friend's capacious and kindling +mind, all the thought here expounded are prosaic and common; being +to him quite obvious, so far as they are true. He is right in looking +down upon them; and, I trust, by his aid, I have added to my wisdom +since the time of which I write. Yet they were to me discoveries +once, and he must not be displeased at my making much of them in this +connexion.] + +[Footnote 11: It is the fault of my critics that I am forced to tell +the reader this is exhibited in my "Hebrew Monarchy."] + +[Footnote 12: It in not to the purpose to urge the _political_ +minority of the Roman wife. This was a mere inference from the high +power of the bond of the husband. The father had right of death over +his son, and (as the lawyers stated the case), the wife was on the +level of one of the children.] + +[Footnote 13: 1 Cor. vii. 2-9] + +[Footnote 14: Namely, in the Armenian, Syrian, and Greek churches, +and in the Romish church in exact proportion as Germanic and poetical +influences have been repressed; that is, in proportion as the +hereditary Christian doctrine has been kept pure from modern +innovations.] + +[Footnote 15: In a tract republished from the _Northampton Mercury_ +Longman, 1853.] + +[Footnote 16: The Romans practised fornication at pleasure, and held +it ridiculous to blame them. If Paul had claimed authority to hinder +them, they might have been greatly exasperated; but they had not +the least objection to his denouncing fornication as immoral to +Christians. Why not slavery also?] + +[Footnote 17: I fear it cannot be denied that the zeal for +Christianity which began to arise in our upper classes sixty years +ago, was largely prompted by a feeling that its precepts repress +all speculations concerning the rights of man. A similar cause now +influences despots all over Europe. The _Old_ Testament contains the +elements which they dread, and those gave a political creed to our +Puritans.] + +[Footnote 18: More than one critic flatly denies the fact. It +is sufficient for me here to say, that such is the obvious +interpretation, and such _historically has been_ the interpretation of +various texts,--for instance, 2 Thess. i. 7: "The Lord Jesus shall be +revealed... in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them _that know +not God, and that obey not the Gospel_; who shall be punished with +everlasting destruction," &c. Such again is the sense which all +popular minds receive and must receive from Heb, x. 25-31.--I am +willing to change _teaches_ into _has always been understood to +teach_, if my critics think anything is gained by it.] + +[Footnote 19: The four monarchies in chapters ii. and vii, are, +probably, the Babylonian, the Median, the Persian, the Macedonian. +Interpreters however blend the Medes and Persians into one, and then +pretend that the Roman empire is _still in existence_.] + +[Footnote 20: The first apparent reference is by Micah (vi. 5) a +contemporary of Hezekiah; which proves that an account contained in +our Book of Numbers was already familiar.] + +[Footnote 21: I have had occasion to discuss most of the leading +prophecies of the Old Testament in my "Hebrew Monarchy."] + +[Footnote 22: A critic is pleased to call this a mere _suspicion_ of +my own; in so writing, people simply evade my argument. I do not ask +them to adopt my conviction; I merely communicate it as mine, and wish +them to admit that it is _my duty_ to follow my own conviction. It +is with me no mere "suspicion," but a certainty. When they cannot +possibly give, or pretend, any _proof_ that the long discourses of +the fourth gospel have been accurately reported, they ought to be less +supercilious in their claims of unlimited belief. If it is right for +them to follow their judgment on a purely literary question, let them +not carp at me for following mine.] + +[Footnote 23: I am told that this defence of John is fanciful. It +satisfies me provisionally; but I do not hold myself bound to satisfy +others, or to explain John's delusiveness.] + +[Footnote 24: Phil. ii. 5-8; Rom. xv. 3. The last suggests it was from +the Psalms (viz from Ps. lxix. 9) that Paul learned the _fact_ that +Christ pleased not himself.] + +[Footnote 25: Here, again, I have been erroneously understood to say +that there cannot be _any_ internal revelation of _anything_. Internal +truth may be internally communicated, though even so it does not +become authoritative, or justify the receiver in saying to other men, +"Believe, _for_ I guarantee it." But a man who, on the strength of an +_internal_ revelation believes an _external event_, (past, present, or +future,) is not a valid witness of it. Not Paley only, nor Priestley, +but James Martineau also, would disown his pretence to authority; +and the more so, the more imperious his claim that we believe on his +word.] + +[Footnote 26: This appears in v. 2, "by which ye are saved,--_unless +ye have believed in vain_" &c. So v. 17-19.] + +[Footnote 27: 1 Cor. xv. "He rose again the third day _according to +the Scriptures_." This must apparently be a reference to Hosea vi. 2, +to which the margin of the Bible refers. There is no other place +in the existing Old Testament from which we can imagine him to have +elicited the rising _on the third day_. Some refer to the type of +Jonah. Either of the two suggests how marvellously weak a proof +satiated him.] + +[Footnote 28: Such is the most legitimate translation. That in the +received version is barely a possible meaning. There is no such +distinction of prepositions as _in_ and _by_ in this passage.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +HISTORY DISCOVERED TO BE NO PART OF RELIGION. + + +After renouncing any "Canon of Scripture" or Sacred Letter at the end +of my fourth period, I had been forced to abandon all "Second-hand +Faith" by the end of my fifth. If asked _why_ I believed this or that, +I could no longer say, "_Because_ Peter, or Paul, or John believed, +and I may thoroughly trust that they cannot mistake." The question now +pressed hard, whether this was equivalent to renouncing Christianity. + +Undoubtedly, my positive belief in its miracles had evaporated; but +I had not arrived at a positive _dis_belief. I still felt the actual +benefits and comparative excellencies of this religion too remarkable +a phenomenon to be scored for defect of proof. In Morals likewise +it happens, that the ablest practical expounders of truth may make +strange blunders as to the foundations and ground of belief: why was +this impossible as to the apostles? Meanwhile, it did begin to appear +to myself remarkable, that I continued to love and have pleasure in so +much that I certainly disbelieved. I perused a chapter of Paul or of +Luke, or some verses of a hymn, and although they appeared to me to +abound with error, I found satisfaction and profit in them. Why +was this? was it all fond prejudice,--an absurd clinging to old +associations? + +A little self-examination enabled me to reply, that it was no +ill-grounded feeling or ghost of past opinions; but that my religion +always had been, and still was, a _state of sentiment_ toward God, far +less dependent on articles of a creed, than once I had unhesitatingly +believed. The Bible is pervaded by a sentiment,[1] which is implied +everywhere,--viz. _the intimate sympathy of the Pure and Perfect God +with the heart of each faithful worshipper_. This is that which is +wanting in Greek philosophers, English Deists, German Pantheists, and +all formalists. This is that which so often edifies me in Christian +writers and speakers, when I ever so much disbelieve the letter of +their sentences. Accordingly, though I saw more and more of moral and +spiritual imperfection in the Bible, I by no means ceased to regard it +as a quarry whence I might dig precious metal, though the ore needed a +refining analysis: and I regarded this as the truest essence and most +vital point in Christianity,--to sympathize with the great souls from +whom its spiritual eminence has flowed;--to love, to hope, to rejoice, +to trust with them;--and _not_, to form the same interpretations of an +ancient book and to take the same views of critical argument. + +My historical conception of Jesus had so gradually melted into +dimness, that he had receded out of my practical religion, I knew not +exactly when I believe that I must have disused any distinct prayers +to him, from a growing opinion that he ought not to be the _object_ of +worship, but only the _way_ by whom we approach to the Father; and +as in fact we need no such "way" at all, this was (in the result) a +change from practical Ditheism to pure Theism. His "mediation" was to +me always a mere name, and, as I believe, would otherwise have been +mischievous.[2]--Simultaneously a great uncertainty had grown on me, +how much of the discourses put into the mouth of Jesus was really +uttered by him; so that I had in no small measure to form him anew to +my imagination. + +But if religion is addressed to, and must be judged by, our moral +faculties, how could I believe in that painful and gratuitous +personality,--The Devil?--He also had become a waning phantom to +me, perhaps from the time that I saw the demoniacal miracles to be +fictions, and still more when proofs of manifold mistake in the New +Testament rose on me. This however took a solid form of positive +_dis_belief, when I investigated the history of the doctrine,--I +forget exactly in what stage. For it is manifest, that the old Hebrews +believed only in evil spirits sent _by God_ to do _his bidding_, and +had no idea of a rebellious Spirit that rivalled God. That idea was +first imbibed in the Babylonish captivity, and apparently therefore +must have been adopted from the Persian Ahriman, or from the "Melek +Taous," the "Sheitan" still honoured by the Yezidi with mysterious +fear. That _the serpent_ in the early part of Genesis denoted the +same Satan, is probable enough; but this only goes to show, that that +narrative is a legend imported from farther East; since it is certain +that the subsequent Hebrew literature has no trace of such an Ahriman. +The Book of Tobit and its demon show how wise in these matters the +exiles in Nineveh were beginning to be. The Book of Daniel manifests, +that by the time of Antiochus Epiphanes the Jews had learned each +nation to have its guardian spirit, good or evil; and that the fates +of nations depend on the invisible conflict of these tutelary powers. +In Paul the same idea is strongly brought out. Satan is the prince of +the power of the air; with principalities and powers beneath him; over +all of whom Christ won the victory on his cross. In the Apocalypse +we read the Oriental doctrine of the "_seven angels_ who stand before +God." As the Christian tenet thus rose among the Jews from their +contact with Eastern superstition, and was propagated and expanded +while prophecy was mute, it cannot be ascribed to "divine supernatural +revelation" as the source. The ground of it is dearly seen in infant +speculations on the cause of moral evil and of national calamities. + +Thus Christ and the Devil, the two poles of Christendom, had faded +away out of my spiritual vision; there were left the more vividly, God +and Man. Yet I had not finally renounced the _possibility_, that +Jesus might have had a divine mission to stimulate all our spiritual +faculties, and to guarantee to us a future state of existence. The +abstract arguments for the immortality of the soul had always appeared +to me vain trifling; and I was deeply convinced that nothing could +_assure_ us of a future state but a divine communication. In what mode +this might be made, I could not say _a priori_: might not this really +be the great purport of Messiahship? was not this, if any, a worthy +ground for a divine interference? On the contrary, to heal the sick +did not seem at all an adequate motive for a miracle; else, why +not the sick of our own day? Credulity had exaggerated, and had +represented Jesus to have wrought miracles: but that did not wholly +_dis_prove the miracle of resurrection (whether bodily or of whatever +kind), said to have been wrought by God _upon_ him, and of which so +very intense a belief so remarkably propagated itself. Paul indeed +believed it[3] from prophecy; and, as we see this to be a delusion, +resting on Rabbinical interpretations, we may perhaps _account_ thus +for the belief of the early church, without in any way admitting the +fact.--Here, however, I found I had the clue to my only remaining +discussion, the primitive Jewish controversy. Let us step back to an +earlier stage than John's or Paul's or Peter's doctrine. We cannot +doubt that Jesus claimed to be Messiah: what then was Messiah to be? +and, did Jesus (though misrepresented by his disciples) truly fulfil +his own claims? + +The really Messianic prophecies appeared to me to be far fewer than is +commonly supposed. I found such in the 9th and 11th of Isaiah, the +5th of Micah, the 9th of Zechariah, in the 72nd Psalm, in the 37th of +Ezekiel, and, as I supposed, in the 50th and 53rd of Isaiah. To these +nothing of moment could be certainly added; for the passage in Dan. +ix. is ill-translated in the English version, and I had already +concluded that the Book of Daniel is a spurious fabrication. From +Micah and Ezekiel it appeared, that Messiah was to come from Bethlehem +and either be David himself, or a spiritual David: from Isaiah it is +shown that he is a rod out of the stem of Jesse.--It is true, I found +no proof that Jesus did come from Bethlehem or from the stock of +David; for the tales in Matthew and Luke refute one another, and +have clearly been generated by a desire to verify the prophecy. But +genealogies for or against Messiahship seemed to me a mean argument; +and the fact of the prophets demanding a carnal descent in Messiah +struck me as a worse objection than that Jesus had not got it,--if +this could be ever proved. The Messiah of Micah, however, was not +Jesus; for he was to deliver Israel from _the Assyrians_, and his +whole description is literally warlike. Micah, writing when the name +of Sennacherib was terrible, conceived of a powerful monarch on the +throne of David who was to subdue him: but as this prophecy was not +verified, the imaginary object of it was looked for as "Messiah," +even after the disappearance of the formidable Assyrian power. This +undeniable vanity of Micah's prophecy extends itself also to that in +the 9th chapter of his contemporary Isaiah,--if indeed that splendid +passage did not really point at the child Hezekiah. Waiving this +doubt, it is at any rate clear that the marvellous child on the throne +of David was to break the yoke of the oppressive Assyrian; and none of +the circumstantials are at all appropriate to the historical Jesus. + +In the 37th of Ezekiel the (new) David is to gather Judah and Israel +"from the heathen whither they be gone" and to "make them one nation +_in the land, on the mountains of Israel_:" and Jehovah adds, that +they shall "dwell in the land _which I gave unto Jacob my servant, +wherein your fathers dwelt_: and they shall dwell therein, they and +their children and their children's children for ever: and my servant +David shall be their prince for ever." It is trifling to pretend that +_the land promised to Jacob, and in which the old Jews dwelt_, was +a spiritual, and not the literal Palestine; and therefore it is +impossible to make out that Jesus has fulfilled any part of this +representation. The description however that follows (Ezekiel xl. +&c.) of the new city and temple, with the sacrifices offered by +"the priests the Levites, of the seed of Zadok," and the gate of the +sanctuary for the prince (xliv. 3), and his elaborate account of +the borders of the land (xlviii. 13-23), place the earnestness of +Ezekiel's literalism in still clearer light. + +The 72nd Psalm, by the splendour of its predictions concerning the +grandeur of some future king of Judah, earns the title of Messianic, +_because_ it was never fulfilled by any historical king. But it is +equally certain, that it has had no appreciable fulfilment in Jesus. + +But what of the 11th of Isaiah? Its portraiture is not so much that of +a king, as of a prophet endowed with superhuman power. "He shall smite +the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips +he shall slay the wicked." A Paradisiacal state is to follow.--This +general description _may_ be verified by Jesus _hereafter_; but we +have no manifestation, which enables us to call the fulfilment a fact. +Indeed, the latter part of the prophecy is out of place for a time so +late as the reign of Augustus; which forcibly denotes that Isaiah was +predicting only that which was his immediate political aspiration: for +in this great day of Messiah, Jehovah is to gather back his dispersed +people from Assyria, Egypt, and other parts; he is _to reconcile Judah +and Ephraim_, (who had been perfectly reconciled centuries before +Jesus was born,) and as a result of this Messianic glory, the people +of Israel "shall fly upon the shoulders of the _Philistines_ towards +the west; they shall spoil them of the east together: they shall lay +their hand on _Edom_ and _Moab_, and the children of _Ammon_ shall +obey them." But Philistines, Moab and Ammon, were distinctions +entirely lost before the Christian era.--Finally, the Red Sea is to be +once more passed miraculously by the Israelites, returning (as would +seem) to their fathers' soil. Take all these particulars together, +and the prophecy is neither fulfilled in the past nor possible to be +fulfilled in the future. + +The prophecy which we know as Zechariah ix.-xi. is believed to be +really from a prophet of uncertain name, contemporaneous with Isaiah. +It was written while Ephraim was still a people, i.e. before the +capture of Samaria by Shalmanezer; and xi. 1-3 appears to howl over +the recent devastations of Tiglathpilezer. The prophecy is throughout +full of the politics of that day. No part of it has the most remote or +imaginable[4] similarity to the historical life of Jesus, except that +he once rode into Jerusalem on an ass; a deed which cannot have been +peculiar to him, and which Jesus moreover appears to have planned with +the express[5] purpose of assimilating himself to the lowly king here +described. Yet such an isolated act is surely a carnal and beggarly +fulfilment. To ride on an ass is no mark of humility in those who must +ordinarily go on foot. The prophet clearly means that the righteous +king is not to ride on a warhorse and trust in cavalry, as Solomon +and the Egyptians, (see Ps. xx. 7. Is. xxxi. 1-3, xxx. 16,) but is to +imitate the lowliness of David and the old judges, who rode on young +asses; and is to be a lover of peace. + +Chapters 50 and 53 of the pseudo-Isaiah remained; which contain many +phrases so aptly descriptive of the sufferings of Christ, and so +closely knit up with our earliest devotional associations, that they +were the very last link of my chain that snapt. Still, I could not +conceal from myself, that no exactness in this prophecy, however +singular, could avail to make out that Jesus was the Messiah of +Hezekiah's prophets. There must be _some_ explanation; and if I did +not see it, that must probably arise from prejudice and habit.--In +order therefore to gain freshness, I resolved to peruse the entire +prophecy of the pseudo-Isaiah in Lowth's version, from ch. xl. onward, +at a single sitting. + +This prophet writes from Babylon, and has his vision full of the +approaching restoration of his people by Cyrus, whom he addresses by +name. In ch. xliii. he introduces to us an eminent and "chosen +servant of God," whom he invests with all the evangelical virtues, and +declares that he is to be a light to the Gentiles. In ch. xliv. (v. +1--also v. 21) he is named as "_Jacob_ my servant, and _Israel_ whom +I have chosen." The appellations recur in xlv. 4: and in a far more +striking passage, xlix. 1-12, which is eminently Messianic to the +Christian ear, _except_ that in v. 3, the speaker distinctly declares +himself to be (not Messiah, but) Israel. The same speaker continues in +ch. l., which is equally Messianic in sound. In ch. lii. the prophet +speaks _of_ him, (vv. 13-15) but the subject of the chapter is +_restoration from Babylon_; and from this he runs on into the +celebrated ch. liii. + +It is essential to understand the _same_ "elect servant" all along. +He is many times called Israel, and is often addressed in a tone quite +inapplicable to Messiah, viz. as one needing salvation himself; so in +ch. xliii. Yet in ch. xlix. this elect Israel is distinguished from +Jacob and Israel at large: thus there is an entanglement. Who can be +called on to risk his eternal hopes on his skilful unknotting of it? +It appeared however to me most probable, that as our high Churchmen +distinguish "mother Church" from the individuals who compose the +Church, so the "Israel" of this prophecy is the idealizing of +the Jewish Church; which I understood to be a current Jewish +interpretation. The figure perhaps embarrasses us, only because of the +male sex attributed to the ideal servant of God; for when "Zion" +is spoken of by the same prophet in the same way, no one finds +difficulty, or imagines that a female person of superhuman birth and +qualities must be intended. + +It still remained strange that in Isaiah liii. and Pss. xxii. and +lxix. there should be _coincidences_ so close with the sufferings of +Jesus: but I reflected, that I had no proof that the narrative had not +been strained by credulity,[6] to bring it into artificial agreement +with these imagined predictions of his death. And herewith my last +argument in favour of views for which I once would have laid down my +life, seemed to be spent. + +Nor only so: but I now reflected that the falsity of the prophecy +in Dan. vii. (where the coming of "a Son of Man" to sit in universal +judgment follows immediately upon the break-up of the Syrian +monarchy,)--to say nothing of the general proof of the spuriousness of +the whole Book of Daniel,--ought perhaps long ago to have been seen by +me as of more cardinal importance. For if we believe anything at all +about the discourses of Christ, we cannot doubt that he selected "_Son +of Man_" as his favourite title; which admits no interpretation so +satisfactory, as, that he tacitly refers to the seventh chapter of +Daniel, and virtually bases his pretensions upon it. On the whole, +it was no longer defect of proof Which presented itself, but positive +disproof of the primitive and fundamental claim. + +I could not for a moment allow weight to the topic, that "it is +dangerous to _dis_believe wrongly;" for I felt, and had always +felt, that it gave a premium to the most boastful and tyrannizing +superstition:--as if it were not equally dangerous to _believe_ +wrongly! Nevertheless, I tried to plead for farther delay, by asking: +Is not the subject too vast for me to decide upon?--Think how many +wise and good men have fully examined, and have come to a contrary +conclusion. What a grasp of knowledge and experience of the human mind +it requires! Perhaps too I have unawares been carried away by a love +of novelty, which I have mistaken for a love of truth. + +But the argument recoiled upon me. Have I not been 25 years a reader +of the Bible? have I not full 18 years been a student of Theology? +have I not employed 7 of the best years of my life, with ample +leisure, in this very investigation;--without any intelligible earthly +bribe to carry me to my present conclusion, against all my interests, +all my prejudices and all my education? There are many far more +learned men than I,--many men of greater power of mind; but there are +also a hundred times as many who are my inferiors; and if I have been +seven years labouring in vain to solve this vast literary problem, it +is an extreme absurdity to imagine that the solving of it is imposed +by God on the whole human race. Let me renounce my little learning; +let me be as the poor and simple: what then follows? Why, then, _still +the same thing follows_, that difficult literary problems concerning +distant history cannot afford any essential part of my religion. + +It is with hundreds or thousands a favourite idea, that "they have an +inward witness of the truth of (_the historical and outward facts of_) +Christianity." Perhaps the statement would bring its own refutation +to them, if they would express it clearly. Suppose a biographer of Sir +Isaac Newton, after narrating his sublime discoveries and ably stating +some of his most remarkable doctrines, to add, that Sir Isaac was a +great magician, and had been used to raise spirits by his arts, and +finally was himself carried up to heaven one night, while he +was gazing at the moon; and that this event had been foretold by +Merlin:--it would surely be the height of absurdity to dilate on the +truth of the Newtonian theory as "the moral evidence" of the truth of +the miracles and prophecy. Yet this is what those do, who adduce the +excellence of the precepts and spirituality of the general doctrine of +the New Testament, as the "moral evidence" of its miracles and of its +fulfilling the Messianic prophecies. But for the ambiguity of the +word _doctrine_, probably such confusion of thought would have been +impossible. "Doctrines" are either spiritual truths, or are +statements of external history. Of the former we may have an inward +witness;--that is their proper evidence;--but the latter must depend +upon adequate testimony and various kinds of criticism. + +How quickly might I have come to my conclusion,--how much weary +thought and useless labour might I have spared,--if at an earlier time +this simple truth had been pressed upon me, that since the religious +faculties of the poor and half-educated cannot investigate Historical +and Literary questions, _therefore_ these questions cannot constitute +an essential part of Religion.--But perhaps I could not have gained +this result by any abstract act of thought, from want of freedom to +think: and there are advantages also in expanding slowly under great +pressure, if one _can_ expand, and is not crushed by it. + +I felt no convulsion of mind, no emptiness of soul, no inward +practical change: but I knew that it would be said, this was only +because the force of the old influence was as yet unspent, and that +a gradual declension in the vitality of my religion must ensue. More +than eight years have since past, and I feel I have now a right to +contradict that statement. To any "Evangelical" I have a right to +say, that while he has a _single_, I have a _double_ experience; and +I know, that the spiritual fruits which he values, have no connection +whatever with the complicated and elaborate creed, which his school +imagines, and I once imagined, to be the roots out of which they are +fed. That they depend directly on _the heart's belief in the sympathy +of God with individual man_,[7] I am well assured: but that doctrine +does not rest upon the Bible or upon Christianity; for it is a +postulate, from which every Christian advocate is forced to start. If +it be denied, he cannot take a step forward in his argument. He talks +to men about Sin and Judgment to come, and the need of Salvation, +and so proceeds to the Saviour. But his very first step,--the idea +of Sin,--_assumes_ that God concerns himself with our actions, words, +thoughts; _assumes_ therefore that sympathy of God with every man, +which (it seems) can only be known by an infallible Bible. + +I know that many Evangelicals will reply, that I never can have had +"the true" faith; else I could never have lost it: and as for my +not being conscious of spiritual change, they will accept this as +confirming their assertion. Undoubtedly I cannot prove that I ever +felt as they now feel: perhaps they love their present opinions _more +than_ truth, and are careless to examine and verify them; with that +I claim no fellowship. But there are Christians, and Evangelical +Christians, of another stamp, who love their creed, _only_ because +they believe it to be true, but love truth, as such, and truthfulness, +more than any creed: with these I claim fellowship. Their love to God +and man, their allegiance to righteousness and true holiness, will +not be in suspense and liable to be overturned by new discoveries in +geology and in ancient inscriptions, or by improved criticism of texts +and of history, nor have they any imaginable interest in thwarting +the advance of scholarship. It is strange indeed to undervalue _that_ +Faith, which alone is purely moral and spiritual, alone rests on +a basis that cannot be shaken, alone lifts the possessor above the +conflicts of erudition, and makes it impossible for him to fear the +increase of knowledge. + +I fully expected that reviewers and opponents from the evangelical +school would laboriously insinuate or assert, that I _never was_ +a Christian and do not understand anything about Christianity +spiritually. My expectations have been more than fulfilled; and the +course which my assailants have taken leads me to add some topics to +the last paragraph. I say then, that if I had been slain at the age of +twenty-seven, when I was chased[8] by a mob of infuriated Mussulmans +for selling New Testaments, they would have trumpeted me as an +eminent saint and martyr. I add, that many circumstances within easy +possibility might have led to my being engaged as an official teacher +of a congregation at the usual age, which would in all probability +have arrested my intellectual development, and have stereotyped my +creed for many a long year; and then also they would have acknowledged +me as a Christian. A little more stupidity, a little more worldliness, +a little more mental dishonesty in me, or perhaps a little more +kindness and management in others, would have kept me in my old state, +which was acknowledged and would still be acknowledged as Christian. +To try to disown me now, is an impotent superciliousness. + +At the same time, I confess to several moral changes, as the result of +this change in my creed, the principal of which are the following. + +1. I have found that my old belief narrowed my affections. It taught +me to bestow peculiar love on "the people of God," and it assigned an +intellectual creed as one essential mark of this people. That creed +may be made more or less stringent; but when driven to its minimum, it +includes a recognition of the historical proposition, that "the Jewish +teacher Jesus fulfilled the conditions requisite to constitute him +the Messiah of the ancient Hebrew prophets." This proposition has been +rejected by very many thoughtful and sincere men in England, and by +tens of thousands in France, Germany, Italy, Spain. To judge rightly +about it, is necessarily a problem of literary criticism; which has +both to interpret the Old Scriptures and to establish how much of the +biography of Jesus in the New is credible. To judge wrongly about it, +may prove one to be a bad critic but not a less good and less pious +man. Yet my old creed enacted an affirmative result of this historical +inquiry, as a test of one's spiritual state, and ordered me to think +harshly of men like Marcus Aurelius and Lessing, because they did +not adopt the conclusion which the professedly uncritical have +established. It possessed me with a general gloom concerning +Mohammedans and Pagans, and involved the whole course of history and +prospects of futurity in a painful darkness from which I am relieved. + +2. Its theory was one of selfishness. That is, it inculcated that my +first business must be, to save my soul from future punishment, and +to attain future happiness; and it bade me to chide myself, when I +thought of nothing but about doing present duty and blessing God for +present enjoyment. + +In point of fact, I never did look much to futurity, nor even in +prospect of death could attain to any vivid anticipations or desires, +much less was troubled with fears. The evil which I suffered from +my theory, was not (I believe) that it really made me selfish--other +influences of it were too powerful:--but it taught me to blame +myself for unbelief, because I was not sufficiently absorbed in the +contemplation of my vast personal expectations. I certainly here feel +myself delivered from the danger of factitious sin. + +The selfish and self-righteous texts come principally from the three +first gospels, and are greatly counteracted by the deeper spirituality +of the apostolic epistles. I therefore by no means charge this +tendency indiscriminately on the New Testament. + +3. It laid down that "the time is short; THE LORD IS AT HAND: the +things of this world pass away, and deserve not our affections: the +only thing worth spending one's energies on, is, the forwarding of +men's salvation." It bade me "watch perpetually, not knowing whether +my Lord would return at cockcrowing or at midday." + +While I believed this, (which, however disagreeable to modern +Christians, is the clear doctrine of the New Testament,) I acted an +eccentric and unprofitable part. From it I was saved against my will, +and forced into a course in which the doctrine, having been laid +to sleep, awoke only now and then to reproach and harass me for +my unfaithfulness to it. This doctrine it is, which makes so many +spiritual persons lend active or passive aid to uphold abuses and +perpetuate mischief in every department of human life. Those who stick +closest to the Scripture do not shrink from saying, that "it is not +worth while trying to mend the world," and stigmatize as "political +and worldly" such as pursue an opposite course. Undoubtedly, if we are +to expect our Master at cockcrowing, we shall not study the permanent +improvement of this transitory scene. To teach the certain speedy +destruction of earthly things, _as the New Testament does_, is to cut +the sinews of all earthly progress; to declare war against Intellect +and Imagination, against Industrial and Social advancement. + +There was a time when I was distressed at being unable to avoid +exultation in the worldly greatness of England. My heart would, in +spite, of me, swell with something of pride, when a Turk or Arab asked +what was my country: I then used to confess to God this pride as +a sin. I still see that that was a legitimate deduction from the +Scripture. "The glory of this world passeth away," and I had professed +to be "dead with Christ" to it. The difference is this. I am now as +"dead" as then to all of it which my conscience discerns to be sinful, +but I have not to torment myself in a (fundamentally ascetic) +struggle against innocent and healthy impulses. I now, with deliberate +approval, "love the world and the things of the world." I can feel +patriotism, and take the deepest interest in the future prospects of +nations, and no longer reproach myself. Yet this is quite consistent +with feeling the spiritual interests of men to be of all incomparably +the highest. + +Modern religionists profess to be disciples of Christ, and talk high +of the perfect morality of the New Testament, when they certainly +do not submit their understanding to it, and are no more like to the +first disciples than bishops are like the pennyless apostles. One +critic tells me that _I know_ that the above is _not_ the true +interpretation of the apostolic doctrine. Assuredly I am aware that we +may rebuke "the world" and "worldliness," in a legitimate and modified +sense, as being the system of _selfishness_: true,--and I have avowed +this in another work; but it does not follow that Jesus and the +apostles did not go farther: and manifestly they did. The true +disciple, who would be perfect as his Master, was indeed ordered to +sell all, give to the poor and follow him; and when that severity was +relaxed by good sense, it was still taught that things which lasted +to the other side of the grave alone deserved our affection or our +exertion. If any person thinks me ignorant of the Scriptures for being +of this judgment, let him so think; but to deny that I am sincere in +my avowal, is a very needless insolence. + +4. I am sensible how heavy a clog on the exercise of my judgment has +been taken off from me, since I unlearned that Bibliolatry, which I am +disposed to call the greatest religious evil of England. + +Authority has a place in religious teaching, as in education, but it +is provisional and transitory. Its chief use is to guide _action_, +and assist the formation of habits, before the judgment is ripe. As +applied to mere _opinion_, its sole function is to guide inquiry. So +long as an opinion is received on authority only, it works no inward +process upon us: yet the promulgation of it by authority, is not +therefore always useless, since the prominence thus given to it may +be a most important stimulus to thought. While the mind is inactive or +weak, it will not wish to throw off the yoke of authority: but as soon +as it begins to discern error in the standard proposed to it, we have +the mark of incipient original thought, which is the thing so valuable +and so difficult to elicit; and which authority is apt to crush. An +intelligent pupil seldom or never gives _too little_ weight to the +opinion of his teacher: a wise teacher will never repress the free +action of his pupils' minds, even when they begin to question his +results. "Forbidding to think" is a still more fatal tyranny than +"forbidding to marry:" it paralyzes all the moral powers. + +In former days, if any moral question came before me, I was always +apt to turn it into the mere lawyerlike exercise of searching and +interpreting my written code. Thus, in reading how Henry the Eighth +treated his first queen, I thought over Scripture texts in order to +judge whether he was right, and if I could so get a solution, I left +my own moral powers unexercised. All Protestants see, how mischievous +it is to a Romanist lady to have a directing priest, whom she every +day consults about everything; so as to lay her own judgment to +sleep. We readily understand, that in the extreme case such women may +gradually lose all perception of right and wrong, and become a mere +machine in the hands of her director. But the Protestant principle of +accepting the Bible as the absolute law, acts towards the same end; +and only fails of doing the same amount of mischief, because a book +can never so completely answer all the questions asked of it, as a +living priest can. The Protestantism which pities those as "without +chart and compass" who acknowledge no infallible written code, can +mean nothing else, than that "the less occasion we have to trust our +moral powers, the better;" that is, it represents it as of all things +most desirable to be able to benumb conscience by disuse, under the +guidance of a mind from without. Those who teach this need not marvel +to see their pupils become Romanists. + +But Bibliolatry not only paralyzes the moral sense; it also corrupts +the intellect, and introduces a crooked logic, by setting men to the +duty of extracting absolute harmony out of discordant materials. All +are familiar with the subtlety of lawyers, whose task it is to elicit +a single sense out of a heap of contradictory statutes. In their case +such subtlety may indeed excite in us impatience or contempt; but +we forbear to condemn them, when it is pleaded that practical +convenience, not truth, is their avowed end. In the case of +theological ingenuity, where truth is the professed and sacred +object, a graver judgment is called for. When the Biblical interpreter +struggles to reconcile contradictions, or to prove that wrong is +right, merely because he is bound to maintain the perfection of the +Bible; when to this end he condescends to sophistry and pettifogging +evasions; it is difficult to avoid feeling disgust as well as grief. +Some good people are secretly conscious that the Bible is not an +infallible book; but they dread the consequences of proclaiming this +"to the vulgar." Alas! and have they measured the evils which the +fostering of this lie is producing in the minds, not of the educated +only, but emphatically of the ministers of religion? + +Many who call themselves Christian preachers busily undermine moral +sentiment, by telling their hearers, that if they do not believe the +Bible (or the Church), they can have no firm religion or morality, and +will have no reason to give against following brutal appetite. +This doctrine it is, that so often makes men atheists in Spain, and +profligates in England, as soon as they unlearn the national creed: +and the school which have done the mischief, moralize over the +wickedness of human nature when it comes to pass instead of blaming +the falsehood which they have themselves inculcated. + + +[Footnote 1: A critic presses me with the question, how I can doubt +that doctrine so holy _comes from God_. He professes to review my +book on the Soul; yet, apparently became he himself _dis_believes the +doctrine of the Holy Spirit taught alike in the Psalms and Prophets +and in the New Testament,--he cannot help forgetting that I profess +to believe it. He is not singular in his dulness. That the sentiment +above is necessarily independent of Biblical _authority_, see p. 133.] + +[Footnote 2: I do not here enlarge on this, as it is discussed in my +treatise on The Soul 2nd edition, p. 76, or 3rd edition, p. 52.] + +[Footnote 3: 1 Cor. xv. 3. Compare Acts xii. 33, 34, 35 also Acts ii. +27, 34.] + +[Footnote 4: I need not except the _potter_ and the thirty pieces of +silver (Zech. xi. 13), for the _potter_ is a mere absurd error of text +or translation. The Septuagint has the _foundry_, De Wette has the +_treasury_, with whom Hitzig and Ewald agree. So Winer (Simoni's +Lexicon).] + +[Footnote 5: Some of my critics are very angry with me for saying +this; but Matthew himself (xxi. 4) almost says it:--"_All this was +done, that it might be fulfilled_," &c. Do my critics mean to tell me +that Jesus _was not aware_ of the prophecy? or if Jesus did know of +the prophecy, will they tell me _that he was not designing_ to fulfil +it? I feel such carping to be little short of hypocrisy.] + +[Footnote 6: Apparently on these words of mine, a reviewer builds up +the inference that I regard "the Evangelical narrative as a mythical +fancy-piece imitated from David and Isaiah." I feel this to be a great +caricature. My words are carefully limited to a few petty details of +one part of the narrative.] [Footnote 7: I did not calculate that +any assailant would be so absurd as to lecture me on the topic, that +God has no sympathy _with our sins and follies_. Of course what I +mean is, that he has complacency in our moral perfection. See p. 125 +above.] + +[Footnote 8: This was at Aintab, in the north of Syria. One of my +companions was caught by the mob and beaten (as they probably thought) +to death. But he recovered very similarly to Paul, in Acts xiv. 20, +after long lying senseless.] + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +ON THE MORAL PERFECTION OF JESUS. + + +Let no reader peruse this chapter, who is not willing to enter into +a discussion, as free and unshrinking, concerning the personal +excellencies and conduct of Jesus, as that of Mr. Grote concerning +Socrates. I have hitherto met with most absurd rebuffs for my +scrupulosity. One critic names me as a principal leader in a school +which extols and glorifies the character of Jesus; after which +he proceeds to reproach me with inconsistency, and to insinuate +dishonesty. Another expresses himself as deeply wounded that, in +renouncing the belief that Jesus is more than man, I suggest to +compare him to a clergyman whom I mentioned as eminently holy and +perfect in the picture of a partial biographer; such a comparison +is resented with vivid indignation, as a blurting out of something +"unspeakably painful." Many have murmured that I do _not_ come forward +to extol the excellencies of Jesus, but appear to prefer Paul. More +than one taunt me with an inability to justify my insinuations +that Jesus, after all, was not really perfect; one is "extremely +disappointed" that I have not attacked him; in short, it is manifest +that many would much rather have me say out my whole heart, than +withhold anything. I therefore give fair warning to all, not to +read any farther, or else to blame themselves if I inflict on them +"unspeakable pain," by differing from their judgment of a historical +or unhistorical character. As for those who confound my tenderness +with hypocrisy and conscious weakness, if they trust themselves to +read to the end, I think they will abandon that fancy. + +But how am I brought into this topic? It is because, after my mind had +reached the stage narrated in the last chapter, I fell in with a new +doctrine among the Unitarians,--that the evidence of Christianity is +essentially popular and spiritual, consisting in _the Life of Christ_, +who is a perfect man and the absolute moral image of God,--therefore +fitly called "God manifest in the flesh," and, as such, Moral Head of +the human race. Since this view was held in conjunction with those +at which I had arrived myself concerning miracles, prophecy, the +untrustworthiness of Scripture as to details, and the essential +unreasonableness of imposing dogmatic propositions as a creed, I +had to consider why I could not adopt such a modification, or (as it +appeared to me) reconstruction, of Christianity; and I gave reasons +in the first edition of this book, which, avoiding direct treatment of +the character of Jesus, seemed to me adequate on the opposite side. + +My argument was reviewed by a friend, who presently published the +review with his name, replying to my remarks on this scheme. I thus +find myself in public and avowed controversy with one who is endowed +with talents, accomplishments, and genius, to which I have no +pretensions. The challenge has certainly come from myself. Trusting to +the goodness of my cause, I have ventured it into an unequal combat; +and from a consciousness of my admired friend's high superiority, I do +feel a little abashed at being brought face to face against him. But +possibly the less said to the public on these personal matters, the +better. + +I have to give reasons why I cannot adopt that modified scheme +of Christianity which is defended and adorned by James Martineau; +according to which it is maintained that though the Gospel Narratives +are not to be trusted in detail, there can yet be no reasonable +doubt _what_ Jesus _was_; for this is elicited by a "higher moral +criticism," which (it is remarked) I neglect. In this theory, Jesus is +avowed to be a man born like other men; to be liable to error, and +(at least in some important respects) mistaken. Perhaps no general +proposition is to be accepted _merely_ on the word of Jesus; in +particular, he misinterpreted the Hebrew prophecies. "He was not +_less_ than the Hebrew Messiah, but _more_." No moral charge is +established against him, until it is shown, that in applying the old +prophecies to himself, he was _conscious_ that they did not fit. +His error was one of mere fallibility in matters of intellectual and +literary estimate. On the other hand, Jesus had an infallible moral +perception, which reveals itself to the true-hearted reader, and is +testified by the common consciousness of Christendom. It has pleased +the Creator to give us one sun in the heavens, and one Divine soul in +history, in order to correct the aberrations of our individuality, and +unite all mankind into one family of God. Jesus is to be presumed to +be perfect until he is shown to be imperfect. Faith in Jesus, is not +reception of propositions, but reverence for a person; yet this is +_not_ the condition of salvation or essential to the Divine favour. + +Such is the scheme, abridged from the ample discussion of my eloquent +friend. In reasoning against it, my arguments will, to a certain +extent, be those of an orthodox Trinitarian;[1] since we might both +maintain that the belief in the absolute divine morality of Jesus is +not tenable, when the belief in _every other_ divine and superhuman +quality is denied. Should I have any "orthodox" reader, my arguments +may shock his feelings less, if he keeps this in view. In fact, the +same action or word in Jesus may be consistent or inconsistent with +moral perfection, according to the previous assumptions concerning his +person. + +I. My friend has attributed to me a "prosaic and embittered view of +human nature," apparently because I have a very intense belief of +Man's essential imperfection. To me, I confess, it is almost a first +principle of thought, that as all sorts of perfection coexist in God, +so is no sort of perfection possible to man. I do not know how for +a moment to imagine an Omniscient Being who is not Almighty, or +an Almighty who is not All-Righteous. So neither do I know how to +conceive of Perfect Holiness anywhere but in the Blessed and only +Potentate. + +Man is finite and crippled on all sides; and frailty in one kind +causes frailty in another. Deficient power causes deficient knowledge, +deficient knowledge betrays him into false opinion, and entangles him +into false positions. It may be a defect of my imagination, but I do +not feel that it implies any bitterness, that even in the case of +one who abides in primitive lowliness, to attain even negatively an +absolutely pure goodness seems to me impossible; and much more, to +exhaust all goodness, and become a single Model-Man, unparalleled, +incomparable, a standard for all other moral excellence. Especially +I cannot conceive of any human person rising out of obscurity, and +influencing the history of the world, unless there be in him forces +of great intensity, the harmonizing of which is a vast and painful +problem. Every man has to subdue himself first, before he preaches to +his fellows; and he encounters many a fall and many a wound in winning +his own victory. And as talents are various, so do moral natures vary, +each having its own weak and strong side; and that one man should +grasp into his single self the highest perfection of every moral +kind, is to me at least as incredible as that one should preoccupy +and exhaust all intellectual greatness. I feel the prodigy to be so +peculiar, that I must necessarily wait until it is overwhelmingly +proved, before I admit it. No one can without unreason urge me to +believe, on any but the most irrefutable arguments, that a man, finite +in every other respect, is infinite in moral perfection. + +My friend is "at a loss to conceive in what way a superhuman physical +nature could tend in the least degree to render moral perfection more +credible." But I think he will see, that it would entirely obviate the +argument just stated, which, from the known frailty of human nature +in general, deduced the indubitable imperfection of an individual. The +reply is then obvious and decisive: "This individual is _not_ a mere +man; his origin is wholly exceptional; therefore his moral perfection +may be exceptional; your experience of _man's_ weakness goes for +nothing in his case." If I were already convinced that this person was +a great Unique, separated from all other men by an impassable chasm in +regard to his physical origin, I (for one) should be much readier to +believe that he was Unique and Unapproachable in other respects: for +all God's works have an internal harmony. It could not be for nothing +that this exceptional personage was sent into the world. That he was +intended as head of the human race, in one or more senses, would be +a plausible opinion; nor should I feel any incredulous repugnance +against believing his morality to be if not divinely perfect, yet +separated from that of common men so far, that he might be a God to +us, just as every parent is to a young child. + +This view seems to my friend a weakness; be it so. I need not press +it. What I do press, is,--whatever _might_ or might _not_ be conceded +concerning one in human form, but of superhuman origin,--at any +rate, one who is conceded to be, out and out, of the same nature as +ourselves, is to be judged of by our experience of that nature, and is +therefore to be _assumed_ to be variously imperfect, however eminent +and admirable in some respects. And no one is to be called an imaginer +of deformity, because he takes for granted that one who is Man has +imperfections which were not known to those who compiled memorials of +him. To impute to a person, without specific evidence, some definite +frailty or fault, barely because he is human, would be a want of good +sense; but not so, to have a firm belief that every human being is +finite in moral as well as in intellectual greatness. + +We have a very imperfect history of the apostle James; and I do not +know that I could adduce any fact specifically recorded concerning him +in disproof of his absolute moral perfection, if any of his Jerusalem +disciples had chosen to set up this as a dogma of religion. Yet no +one would blame me, as morose, or indisposed to acknowledge genius and +greatness, if I insisted on believing James to be frail and imperfect, +while admitting that I knew almost nothing about him. And why?--Singly +and surely, because we know him to be _a man_: that suffices. To set +up James or John or Daniel as my Model, and my Lord; to be swallowed +up in him and press him upon others for a Universal Standard, would +be despised as a self-degrading idolatry and resented as an obtrusive +favouritism. Now why does not the same equally apply, if the name +Jesus is substituted for these? Why, in defect of all other knowledge +than the bare fact of his manhood, are we not unhesitatingly to take +for granted that he does _not_ exhaust all perfection, and is at best +only one among many brethren and equals? + +II. My friend, I gather, will reply, "because so many thousands +of minds in all Christendom attest the infinite and unapproachable +goodness of Jesus." It therefore follows to consider, what is the +weight of this attestation. Manifestly it depends, first of all, on +the independence of the witnesses: secondly, on the grounds of their +belief. If all those, who confess the moral perfection of Jesus, +confess it as the result of unbiassed examination of his character; +and if of those acquainted with the narrative, none espouse the +opposite side; this would be a striking testimony, not to be despised. +But in fact, few indeed of the "witnesses" add any weight at all to +the argument. No Trinitarian can doubt that Jesus is morally perfect, +without doubting fundamentally every part of his religion. He believes +it, _because_ the entire system demands it, and _because_ various +texts of Scripture avow it: and this very fact makes it morally +impossible for him to enter upon an unbiassed inquiry, whether that +character which is drawn for Jesus in the four gospels, is, or is not, +one of absolute perfection, deserving to be made an exclusive model +for all times and countries. My friend never was a Trinitarian, and +seems not to know how this operates; but I can testify, that when I +believed in the immaculateness of Christ's character, it was not +from an unbiassed criticism, but from the pressure of authority, (the +authority of _texts_,) and from the necessity of the doctrine to the +scheme of Redemption. Not merely strict Trinitarians, but all who +believe in the Atonement, however modified,--all who believe that +Jesus will be the future Judge,--_must_ believe in his absolute +perfection: hence the fact of their belief is no indication whatever +that they believe on the ground which my friend assumes,--viz. an +intelligent and unbiassed study of the character itself, as exhibited +in the four narratives. + +I think we may go farther. We have no reason for thinking that _this_ +was the sort of evidence which convinced the apostles themselves, and +first teachers of the gospel;--if indeed in the very first years the +doctrine was at all conceived of. It cannot be shown that any one +believed in the moral perfection of Jesus, who had not already adopted +the belief that he was Messiah, and _therefore_ Judge of the human +race. My friend makes the pure immaculateness of Jesus (discernible +by him in the gospels) his foundation, and deduces _from_ this the +quasi-Messiahship: but the opposite order of deduction appears to have +been the only one possible in the first age. Take Paul as a specimen. +He believed the doctrine in question; but not from reading the four +gospels,--for they did not exist. Did he then believe it by hearing +Ananias (Acts ix. 17) enter into details concerning the deeds and +words of Jesus? I cannot imagine that any wise or thoughtful person +would so judge, which after all would be a gratuitous invention. The +Acts of the Apostles give us many speeches which set forth the grounds +of accepting Jesus as Messiah; but they never press his absolute moral +perfection as a fact and a fundamental fact. "He went about doing +good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil," is the utmost +that is advanced on this side: prophecy is urged, and his resurrection +is asserted, and the inference is drawn that "Jesus is the Christ." +Out of this flowed the farther inferences that he was Supreme +Judge,--and moreover, was Paschal Lamb, and Sacrifice, and High +Priest, and Mediator; and since every one of these characters demanded +a belief in his moral perfections, that doctrine also necessarily +followed, and was received before our present gospels existed. My +friend therefore cannot abash me by the _argumentum ad verecundiam_; +(which to me seems highly out of place in this connexion;) for the +opinion, which is, as to this single point, held by him in common with +the first Christians, was held by them on transcendental reasons which +he totally discards; and all after generations have been confirmed +in the doctrine by Authority, _i.e._ by the weight of texts or church +decisions: both of which he also discards. If I could receive +the doctrine, merely because I dared not to differ from the whole +Christian world, I might aid to swell odium against rejectors, but I +should not strengthen the cause at the bar of reason. I feel therefore +that my friend must not claim Catholicity as on his side. Trinitarians +and Arians are alike useless to his argument: nay, nor can he claim +more than a small fraction of Unitarians; for as many of the them +believe that Jesus is to be the Judge of living and dead (as the late +Dr. Lant Carpenter did) must as _necessarily_ believe his immaculate +perfection as if they were Trinitarians. + +The New Testament does not distinctly explain on what grounds this +doctrine was believed; but we may observe that in 1 Peter i. 19 and 2 +Cor. v. 21, it is coupled with the Atonement, and in 1 Peter ii. 21, +Romans xv. 3, it seems to be inferred from prophecy. But let us turn +to the original Eleven, who were eye and ear witnesses of Jesus, and +consider on what grounds they can have believed (if we assume that +they did all believe) the absolute moral perfection of Jesus. It is +too ridiculous to imagine then studying the writings of Matthew in +order to obtain conviction,--if any of that school, whom alone I now +address, could admit that written documents were thought of before +the Church outstept the limits of Judea. If the Eleven believed +the doctrine for some transcendental reason,--as by a Supernatural +Revelation, or on account of Prophecy, and to complete the Messiah's +character,--then their attestation is useless to my friend's argument: +will it then gain anything, if we suppose that they _believed_ Jesus +to be perfect, because they _saw_ him to be perfect? To me this would +seem no attestation worth having, but rather a piece of impertinent +ignorance. If I attest that a person whom I have known was an +eminently good man, I command a certain amount of respect to my +opinion, and I do him honour. If I celebrate his good deeds and report +his wise words, I extend his honour still farther. But if I proceed +to assure people, _on the evidence of my personal observation of him_, +that he was immaculate and absolutely perfect, was the pure Moral +Image of God, that he deserves to be made the Exclusive Model of +imitation, and is the standard by which every other man's morality +is to be corrected,--I make myself ridiculous; my panegyrics lose all +weight, and I produce far less conviction than when I praised within +human limitations. I do not know how my friend will look on this +point, (for his judgment on the whole question perplexes me, and the +views which I call _sober_ he names _prosaic_,) but I cannot resist +the conviction that universal common-sense would have rejected the +teaching of the Eleven with contempt, if they had presented, as the +basis of the gospel their _personal testimony_ to the godlike and +unapproachable moral absolutism of Jesus. But even if such a basis +was possible to the Eleven, it was impossible to Paul and Silvanus and +Timothy and Barnabas and Apollos, and the other successful preachers +to the Gentiles. High moral goodness, within human limitations, was +undoubtedly announced as a fact of the life of Jesus; but upon this +followed the supernatural claims, and the argument of prophecy; +_without_ which my friend desires to build up his view,--I have thus +developed why I think he has no right to claim Catholicity for his +judgment. I have risked to be tedious, because I find that when I +speak concisely, I am enormously misapprehended. I close this topic +by observing, that, the great animosity with which my very mild +intimations against the popular view have been met from numerous +quarters, show me that Christians do not allow this subject to be +calmly debated, end have not come to their own conclusion as the +result of a calm debate. And this is amply corroborated by my own +consciousness of the past I never dared, nor could have dared, to +criticize coolly and simply the pretensions of Jesus to be an absolute +model of morality, until I had been delivered from the weight of +authority and miracle, oppressing my critical powers. + +III. I have been asserting, that he who believes Jesus to be mere man, +ought at once to believe his moral excellence finite and comparable +to that of other men; and, that our judgment to this effect cannot be +reasonably overborne by the "universal consent" of Christendom.--Thus +far we are dealing _a priori_, which here fully satisfies me: in such +an argument I need no _a posteriori_ evidence to arrive at my own +conclusion. Nevertheless, I am met by taunts and clamour, which are +not meant to be indecent, but which to my feeling are such. My critics +point triumphantly to the four gospels, and demand that I will make a +personal attack on a character which they revere, even when they know +that I cannot do so without giving great offence. Now if any one were +to call my old schoolmaster, or my old parish priest, a perfect and +universal Model, and were to claim that I would entitle him Lord, and +think of him as the only true revelation of God; should I not be +at liberty to say, without disrespect, that "I most emphatically +deprecate such extravagant claims for him"? Would this justify an +outcry, that I will publicly avow _what_ I judge to be his defects of +character, and will _prove_ to all his admirers that he was a sinner +like other men? Such a demand would be thought, I believe, highly +unbecoming and extremely unreasonable. May not my modesty, or my +regard for his memory, or my unwillingness to pain his family, +be accepted as sufficient reasons for silence? or would any one +scoffingly attribute my reluctance to attack him, to my conscious +inability to make good my case against his being "God manifest in +the flesh"? Now what, if one of his admirers had written panegyrical +memorials of him; and his character, therein described, was so +faultless, that a stranger to him was not able to descry any moral +defeat whatever in it? Is such a stranger bound to believe him to be +the Divine Standard of morals, unless he can put his finger on certain +passages of the book which imply weaknesses and faults? And is it +insulting a man, to refuse to worship him? I utterly protest against +every such pretence. As I have an infinitely stronger conviction +that Shakespeare was not in _intellect_ Divinely and Unapproachably +perfect, than that I can certainly point out in him some definite +intellectual defect; as, moreover, I am vastly more sure that Socrates +was _morally_ imperfect, than that I am able to censure him rightly; +so also, a disputant who concedes to me that Jesus is a mere man, has +no right to claim that I will point out some moral flaw in him, or +else acknowledge him to be a Unique Unparalleled Divine Soul. It is +true, I do see defects, and very serious ones, in the character of +Jesus, as drawn by his disciples; but I cannot admit that my right to +disown the pretensions made for him turns on my ability to define his +frailties. As long as (in common with my friend) I regard Jesus as +a man, so long I hold with _dogmatic_ and _intense conviction_ the +inference that he was morally imperfect, and ought not to be held +up as unapproachable in goodness; but I have, in comparison, only _a +modest_ belief that I am able to show his points of weakness. + +While therefore in obedience to this call, which has risen from many +quarters, I think it right not to refuse the odious task pressed upon +me,--I yet protest that my conclusion does not depend upon it. I might +censure Socrates unjustly, or at least without convincing my readers, +if I attempted that task; but my failure would not throw a feather's +weight into the argument that Socrates was a Divine Unique and +universal Model. If I write note what is painful to readers, I beg +them to remember that I write with much reluctance, and that it is +their own fault if they read. + +In approaching this subject, the first difficulty is, to know how +much of the four gospels to accept as _fact_. If we could believe the +whole, it would be easier to argue; but my friend Martineau (with me) +rejects belief of many parts: for instance, he has but a very feeble +conviction that Jesus ever spoke the discourses attributed to him in +John's gospel. If therefore I were to found upon these some imputation +of moral weakness, he would reply, that we are agreed in setting these +aside, as untrustworthy. Yet he perseveres in asserting that it is +beyond all reasonable question _what_ Jesus _was_; as though proven +inaccuracies in all the narratives did not make the results uncertain. +He says that even the poor and uneducated are fully impressed with +"the majesty and sanctity" of Christ's mind; as if _this_ were what I +am fundamentally denying; and not, only so far as would transcend the +known limits of human nature: surely "majesty and sanctity" are not +inconsistent with many weaknesses. But our judgment concerning a +man's motives, his temper, and his full conquest over self, vanity and +impulsive passion, depends on the accurate knowledge of a vast variety +of minor points; even the curl of the lip, or the discord of eye and +mouth, may change our moral judgment of a man; while, alike to my +friend and me it is certain that much of what is stated is untrue. +Much moreover of what he holds to be untrue does not seem so to any +but to the highly educated. In spite therefore of his able reply, I +abide in my opinion that he is unreasonably endeavouring to erect what +is essentially a piece of doubtful biography and difficult literary +criticism into first-rate religious importance. + +I shall however try to pick up a few details which seem, as much +as any, to deserve credit, concerning the pretensions, doctrine and +conduct of Jesus. + +_First_, I believe that he habitually spoke of himself by the title +"_Son of Man_"--a fact which pervades all the accounts, and was likely +to rivet itself on his hearers. Nobody but he himself ever calls him +Son of Man. + +_Secondly_ I believe that in assuming this title he tacitly alluded +to the viith chapter of Daniel, and claimed for himself the throne of +judgment over all mankind.--I know no reason to doubt that he actually +delivered (in substance) the discourse in Matth. xxv. "When the Son +of Man shall come in his glory,... before him shall be gathered all +nations,... and he shall separate them, &c. &c.": and I believe that +by _the Son of Man_ and _the King_ he meant himself. Compare Luke xii. +40, ix. 56. + +_Thirdly_, I believe that he habitually assumed the authoritative +dogmatic tone of one who was a universal Teacher in moral and +spiritual matters, and enunciated as a primary duty of men to learn +submissively of his wisdom and acknowledge his supremacy. This element +in his character, _the preaching of himself_ is enormously expanded in +the fourth gospel, but it distinctly exists in Matthew. Thus in Matth. +xxiii 8: "Be not ye called Rabbi [_teacher_], for one is your Teacher, +even Christ; and all ye are brethren"... Matth. x. 32: "Whosoever +shall confess ME before men, him will I confess before my Father which +is in heaven... He that loveth father or mother more than ME is not +_worthy of_ ME, &c."... Matth. xi. 27: "All things are delivered unto +ME of my Father; and _no man knoweth the Son but the Father_; neither +knoweth any man the Father, save the Son; and he to whomsoever _the +Son will reveal him._ Come unto ME, all ye that labour,... and _I_ +will give you rest. Take MY yoke upon you, &c." + +My friend, I find, rejects Jesus as an authoritative teacher, +distinctly denies that the acceptance of Jesus in this character is +any condition of salvation and of the divine favour, and treats of +my "demand of an oracular Christ," as inconsistent with my own +principles. But this is mere misconception of what I have said. I find +_Jesus himself_ to set up oracular claims. I find an assumption +of pre-eminence and unapproachable moral wisdom to pervade every +discourse from end to end of the gospels. If I may not believe that +Jesus assumed an oracular manner, I do not know what moral peculiarity +in him I am permitted to believe. I do not _demand_ (as my friend +seems to think) that _he shall be_ oracular, but in common with all +Christendom, I open my eyes and see that _he is_; and until I had read +my friend's review of my book, I never understood (I suppose through +my own prepossessions) that he holds Jesus _not_ to have assumed the +oracular style. + +If I cut out from the four gospels this peculiarity, I must cut out, +not only the claim of Messiahship, which my friend admits to have +been made, but nearly every moral discourse and every controversy: and +_why_? except in order to make good a predetermined belief that Jesus +was morally perfect. What reason can be given me for not believing +that Jesus declared: "If any one deny ME before men, _him will I deny_ +before my Father and his angels?" or any of the other texts which +couple the favour of God with a submission to such pretensions of +Jesus? I can find no reason whatever for doubting that he preached +HIMSELF to his disciples, though in the three first gospels he is +rather timid of doing this to the Pharisees and to the nation at +large. I find him uniformly to claim, sometimes in tone, sometimes in +distinct words, that we will sit at his feet as little children and +learn of him. I find him ready to answer off-hand, all difficult +questions, critical and lawyer-like, as well as moral. True, it is no +tenet of mine that intellectual and literary attainment is essential +in an individual person to high spiritual eminence. True, in another +book I have elaborately maintained the contrary. Yet in that book I +have described men's spiritual progress as often arrested at a certain +stage by a want of intellectual development; which surely would +indicate that I believed even intellectual blunders and an infinitely +perfect exhaustive morality to be incompatible. But our question here +(or at least _my_ question) is not, whether Jesus might misinterpret +prophecy, and yet be morally perfect; but whether, _after assuming +to be an oracular teacher_, he can teach some fanatical precepts, and +advance dogmatically weak and foolish arguments, without impairing our +sense of his absolute moral perfection. + +I do not think it useless here to repeat (though not for my friend) +concise reasons which I gave in my first edition against admitting +dictatorial claims for Jesus. _First_, it is an unplausible opinion +that God would deviate from his ordinary course, in order to give us +anything so undesirable as an authoritative Oracle would be;--which +would paralyze our moral powers, exactly as an infallible church does, +in the very proportion in which we succeeded in eliciting responses +from it. It is not needful here to repeat what has been said to that +effect in p. 138. _Secondly_, there is no imaginable criterion, by +which we can establish that the wisdom of a teacher _is_ absolute and +illimitable. All that we can possibly discover, is the relative +fact, that another is _wiser than we_: and even this is liable to +be overturned on special points, as soon as differences of judgment +arise. _Thirdly_, while it is by no means clear what are the new +truths, for which we are to lean upon the decisions of Jesus, it +is certain that we have no genuine and trustworthy account of his +teaching. If God had intended us to receive the authoritative _dicta_ +of Jesus, he would have furnished us with an unblemished record +of those dicta. To allow that we have not this, and that we must +disentangle for ourselves (by a most difficult and uncertain process) +the "true" sayings of Jesus, is surely self-refuting. _Fourthly_, if +I _must_ sit in judgment on the claims of Jesus to be the true Messiah +and Son of God, how can I concentrate all my free thought into that +one act, and thenceforth abandon free thought? This appears a moral +suicide, whether Messiah or the Pope is the object whom we _first_ +criticize, in order to instal him over us, and _then_, for ever after, +refuse to criticize. In short, _we cannot build up a system of Oracles +on a basis of Free Criticism_. If we are to submit our judgment to the +dictation of some other,--whether a church or an individual,--we must +be first subjected to that other by some event from without, as by +birth; and not by a process of that very judgment which is henceforth +to be sacrificed. But from this I proceed to consider more in detail, +some points in the teaching and conduct of Jesus, which do not appear +to me consistent with absolute perfection. + +The argument of Jesus concerning the tribute to Caesar is so dramatic, +as to strike the imagination and rest on the memory; and I know no +reason for doubting that it has been correctly reported. The book of +Deuteronomy (xvii. 15) distinctly forbids Israel to set over himself +as king any who is not a native Israelite; which appeared to be a +religious condemnation of submission to Caesar. Accordingly, since +Jesus assumed the tone of unlimited wisdom, some of Herod's party +asked him, whether it was lawful to pay tribute to Caesar. Jesus +replied: "Why tempt ye me, hypocrites? Show me the tribute money." +When one of the coins was handed to him, he asked: "Whose image and +superscription is this?" When they replied: "Caesar's," he gave his +authoritative decision: "Render _therefore_ to Caesar _the things that +are Caesar's_." + +In this reply not only the poor and uneducated, but many likewise of +the rich and educated, recognize "majesty and sanctity:" yet I find it +hard to think that my strong-minded friend will defend the justness, +wisdom and honesty of it. To imagine that because a coin bears Caesar's +head, _therefore_ it is Caesar's property, and that he may demand to +have as many of such coins as he chooses paid over to him, is puerile, +and notoriously false. The circulation of foreign coin of every kind +was as common in the Mediterranean then as now; and everybody knew +that the coin was the property of the _holder_, not of him whose +head it bore. Thus the reply of Jesus, which pretended to be a moral +decision, was unsound and absurd: yet it is uttered in a tone of +dictatorial wisdom, and ushered in by a grave rebuke, "Why tempt ye +me, hypocrites?" He is generally understood to mean, "Why do you try +to implicate me in a political charge?" and it is supposed that +he prudently _evaded_ the question. I have indeed heard this +interpretation from high Trinitarians; which indicates to me how +dead is their moral sense in everything which concerns the conduct of +Jesus. No reason appears why he should not have replied, that Moses +forbade Israel _voluntarily_ to place himself under a foreign +king, but did not inculcate fanatical and useless rebellion against +overwhelming power. But such a reply, which would have satisfied a +more commonplace mind, has in it nothing brilliant and striking. I +cannot but think that Jesus shows a vain conceit in the cleverness +of his answer: I do not think it so likely to have been a conscious +evasion. But neither does his rebuke of the questioners at all commend +itself to me. How can any man assume to be an authoritative teacher, +and then claim that men shall not put his wisdom to the proof? Was it +not their _duty_ to do so? And when, in result, the trial has proved +the defect of his wisdom, did they not perform a useful public +service? In truth, I cannot see the Model Man in his rebuke.--Let +not my friend say that the error was merely intellectual: blundering +self-sufficiency is a moral weakness. + +I might go into detail concerning other discourses, where error and +arrogance appear to me combined. But, not to be tedious,--in general +I must complain that Jesus purposely adopted an enigmatical and +pretentious style of teaching, unintelligible to his hearers, +and needing explanation in private. That this was his systematic +procedure, I believe, because, in spite of the great contrast of the +fourth gospel to the others, it has this peculiarity in common +with them. Christian divines are used to tell us that this mode was +_peculiarly instructive_ to the vulgar of Judaea; and they insist on +the great wisdom displayed in his choice of the lucid parabolical +style. But in Matth. xiii. 10-15, Jesus is made confidentially to avow +precisely the opposite reason, viz. that he desires the vulgar _not_ +to understand him, but only the select few to whom he gives private +explanations. I confess I believe the Evangelist rather than the +modern Divine. I cannot conceive how so strange a notion could ever +have possessed the companions of Jesus, if it had not been true. If +really this parabolical method had been peculiarly intelligible, +what could make them imagine the contrary? Unless they found it very +obscure themselves, whence came the idea that it was obscure to the +multitude? As a fact, it _is_ very obscure, to this day. There is much +that I most imperfectly understand, owing to unexplained metaphor: +as: "Agree with thine adversary quickly, &c. &c.:" "Whoso calls his +brother[2] a fool, is in danger of hell fire:" "Every one must be +salted with fire, and every sacrifice salted with salt. Have salt +in yourselves, and be at peace with one another." Now every man of +original and singular genius has his own forms of thought; in so far +as they are natural, we must not complain, if to us they are obscure. +But the moment _affectation_ comes in, they no longer are reconcilable +with the perfect character: they indicate vanity, and incipient +sacerdotalism. The distinct notice that Jesus avoided to expound his +parables to the multitude, and made this a boon to the privileged +few; and that without a parable he spake not to the multitude; and +the pious explanation, that this was a fulfilment of Prophecy, "I will +open my mouth in parables, I will utter dark sayings on the harp," +persuade me that the impression of the disciples was a deep reality. +And it is in entire keeping with the general narrative, which shows in +him so much of mystical assumption. Strip the parables of the imagery, +and you find that sometimes one thought has been dished up four +or five times, and generally, that an idea is dressed into sacred +grandeur. This mystical method made a little wisdom go a great way +with the multitude; and to such a mode of economizing resources the +instinct of the uneducated man betakes itself, when he is claiming to +act a part for which he is imperfectly prepared. + +It is common with orthodox Christians to take for granted, that +unbelief of Jesus was a sin, and belief a merit, at a time when no +rational grounds of belief were as yet public. Certainly, whoever asks +questions with a view to _prove_ Jesus, is spoken of vituperatingly +in the gospels; and it does appear to me that the prevalent Christian +belief is a true echo of Jesus's own feeling. He disliked being put +to the proof. Instead of rejoicing in it, as a true and upright man +ought,--instead of blaming those who accept his pretensions on too +slight grounds,--instead of encouraging full inquiry and giving frank +explanations, he resents doubt, shuns everything that will test him, +is very obscure as to his own pretensions, (so as to need probing +and positive questions, whether he _does_ or _does not_ profess to +be Messiah,) and yet is delighted at all easy belief. When asked for +miracles, he sighs and groans at the unreasonableness of it; yet +does not honestly and plainly renounce pretension to miracle, as Mr. +Martineau would, but leaves room for credit to himself for as many +miracles as the credulous are willing to impute to him. It is possible +that here the narrative is unjust to his memory. So far from being +the picture of perfection, it sometimes seems to me the picture of a +conscious and wilful impostor. His general character is too high for +_this_; and I therefore make deductions from the account. Still, I do +not see how the present narrative could have grown up, if he had +been really simple and straight-forward, and not perverted by his +essentially false position. Enigma and mist seem to be his element; +and when I find his high satisfaction at all personal recognition and +bowing before his individuality, I almost doubt whether, if one wished +to draw the character of a vain and vacillating pretender, it would be +possible to draw anything more to the purpose than this. His general +rule (before a certain date) is, to be cautious in public, but bold +in private to the favoured few. I cannot think that such a character, +appearing now, would seem to my friend a perfect model of a man. + +No precept bears on its face clearer marks of coming from the genuine +Jesus, than that of _selling all and following him_. This was his +original call to his disciples. It was enunciated authoritatively +on various occasions. It is incorporated with precepts of perpetual +obligation, in such a way, that we cannot without the greatest +violence pretend that he did not intend it as a precept[3] to +_all_ his disciples. In Luke xii. 22-40, he addresses the disciples +collectively against Avarice; and a part of the discourse is: "Fear +not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you +the kingdom. _Sell that ye have, and give alms_: provide yourselves +bags that wax not old; a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, +&c.... Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning," &c. +To say that he was not intending to teach a universal morality,[4] +is to admit that his precepts are a trap; for they then mix up and +confound mere contingent duties with universal sacred obligations, +enunciating all in the same breath, and with the same solemnity. I +cannot think that Jesus intended any separation. In fact, when a +rich young man asked of him what he should do, that he might inherit +eternal life, and pleaded that he had kept the ten commandments, but +felt that to be insufficient, Jesus said unto him: "_If thou wilt be +perfect_, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou +shalt have treasure in heaven:" so that the duty was not contingent +upon the peculiarity of a man possessing apostolic gifts, but was with +Jesus the normal path for all who desired perfection. When the young +man went away sorrowing, Jesus moralized on it, saying: "How hardly +shall a rich man enter into the kingdom of heaven:" which again +shows, that an abrupt renunciation of wealth was to be the general and +ordinary method of entering the kingdom. Hereupon, when the disciples +asked: "Lo! we _have_ forsaken all, and followed thee: what +shall we have _therefore_?" Jesus, instead of rebuking their +self-righteousness, promised them as a reward, that they should sit +upon twelve[5] thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. A precept +thus systematically enforced, is illustrated by the practice, not only +of the twelve, but apparently of the seventy, and what is stronger +still, by the practice of the five thousand disciples after the +celebrated days of the first Pentecost. There was no longer a Jesus +on earth to itinerate with, yet the disciples in the fervour of first +love obeyed his precept: the rich sold their possessions, and laid the +price at the apostles' feet. + +The mischiefs inherent in such a precept rapidly showed themselves, +and good sense corrected the error. But this very fact proves most +emphatically that the precept was pre-apostolic, and came from the +genuine Jesus; otherwise it could never have found its way into +the gospels. It is undeniable, that the first disciples, by whose +tradition alone we have any record of what Jesus taught, understood +him to deliver this precept to _all_ who desired to enter into the +kingdom of heaven,--all who desired to be perfect: why then are we to +refuse belief, and remould the precepts of Jesus till they please our +own morality? This is not the way to learn historical fact. + +That to inculcate religious beggary as the _only_ form and mode of +spiritual perfection, is fanatical and mischievous, even the church +of Rome will admit. Protestants universally reject it as a deplorable +absurdity;--not merely wealthy bishops, squires and merchants, but +the poorest curate also. A man could not preach such doctrine in a +Protestant pulpit without incurring deep reprobation and contempt; +but when preached by Jesus, it is extolled as divine wisdom,--and +disobeyed. + +Now I cannot look on this as a pure intellectual error, consistent +with moral perfection. A deep mistake as to the nature of such +perfection seems to me inherent in the precept itself; a mistake which +indicates a moral unsoundness. The conduct of Jesus to the rich young +man appears to me a melancholy exhibition of perverse doctrine, under +an ostentation of superior wisdom. The young man asked for bread and +Jesus gave him a stone. Justly he went away sorrowful, at receiving a +reply which his conscience rejected as false and foolish. But this is +not all Jesus was necessarily on trial, when any one, however sincere, +came to ask questions so deeply probing the quality of his wisdom +as this: "How may I be perfect?" and to be on trial was always +disagreeable to him. He first gave the reply, "Keep the commandments;" +and if the young man had been satisfied, and had gone away, it appears +that Jesus would have been glad to be rid of him: for his tone is +magisterial, decisive and final. This, I confess, suggests to me, that +the aim of Jesus was not so much to _enlighten_ the young man, as to +stop his mouth, and keep up his own ostentation of omniscience. Had +he desired to enlighten him, surely no mere dry dogmatic command was +needed, but an intelligent guidance of a willing and trusting soul. +I do not pretend to certain knowledge in these matters. Even when we +hear the tones of voice and watch the features, we often mistake. +We have no such means here of checking the narrative. But the best +general result which I can draw from the imperfect materials, is what +I have said. + +After the merit of "selling all and following Jesus," a second merit, +not small, was, to receive those whom he sent. In Matt. x., we read +that he sends out his twelve disciples, (also seventy in Luke,) men at +that time in a very low state of religions development,--men who did +not themselves know what the Kingdom of Heaven meant,--to deliver in +every village and town a mere formula of words: "Repent ye: for the +Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." They were ordered to go without money, +scrip or cloak, but to live on religious alms; and it is added,--that +if any house or city does not receive them, _it shall be more +tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment_ than for it. +He adds, v. 40: "He that receiveth _you_, receiveth _me_, and he that +receiveth _me_, receiveth HIM that sent me."--I quite admit, that in +all probability it was (on the whole) the more pious part of Israel +which was likely to receive these ignorant missionaries; but inasmuch +as they had no claims whatever, intrinsic or extrinsic, to reverence, +it appears to me a very extravagant and fanatical sentiment thus +emphatically to couple the favour or wrath of God with their reception +or rejection. + +A third, yet greater merit in the eyes of Jesus, was, to acknowledge +him as the Messiah predicted by the prophets, which he was not, +according to my friend. According to Matthew (xvi. 13), Jesus put +leading questions to the disciples in order to elicit a confession of +his Messiahship, and emphatically blessed Simon for making the avowal +which he desired; but instantly forbade them to tell the great secret +to any one. Unless this is to be discarded as fiction, Jesus, +although to his disciples in secret he confidently assumed Messianic +pretensions, had a just inward misgiving, which accounts both for his +elation at Simon's avowal, and for his prohibition to publish it. + +In admitting that Jesus was not the Messiah of the prophets, my friend +says, that if Jesus were _less_ than Messiah, we can reverence him +no longer; but that he was _more_ than Messiah. This is to me +unintelligible. The Messiah whom he claimed to be, was not only the +son of David, celebrated in the prophets, but emphatically the Son of +Man of Daniel vii., who shall come in the clouds of heaven, to take +dominion, glory and kingdom, that all people, nations and languages +shall serve him,--an everlasting kingdom which shall not pass away. +How Jesus himself interprets his supremacy, as Son of Man, in Matt. +x., xi., xxiii., xxv., and elsewhere, I have already observed. To +claim such a character, seems to me like plunging from a pinnacle +of the temple. If miraculous power holds him up and makes good his +daring, he is more than man; but if otherwise, to have failed will +break all his bones. I can no longer give the same human reverence +as before to one who has been seduced into vanity so egregious; and +I feel assured _a priori_ that such presumption _must have_ entangled +him into evasions and insincerities, which _naturally_ end in +crookedness of conscience and real imposture, however noble a man's +commencement, and however unshrinking his sacrifices of goods and ease +and life. + +The time arrived at last, when Jesus felt that he must publicly assert +Messiahship; and this was certain to bring things to an issue. I +suppose him to have hoped that he was Messiah, until hope and the +encouragement given him by Peter and others grew into a persuasion +strong enough to act upon, but not always strong enough to still +misgivings. I say, I suppose this; but I build nothing on my +supposition. I however see, that when he had resolved to claim +Messiahship publicly, one of two results was inevitable, _if_ that +claim was ill-founded:--viz., either he must have become an impostor, +in order to screen his weakness; or, he must have retracted his +pretensions amid much humiliation, and have retired into privacy to +learn sober wisdom. From these alternatives _there was escape only by +death_, and upon death Jesus purposely rushed. + +All Christendom has always believed that the death of Jesus was +_voluntarily_ incurred; and unless no man ever became a wilful martyr, +I cannot conceive why we are to doubt the fact concerning Jesus. When +he resolved to go up to Jerusalem, he was warned by his disciples +of the danger; but so far was he from being blind to it, that +he distinctly announced to them that he knew he should suffer in +Jerusalem the shameful death of a malefactor. On his arrival in the +suburbs, his first act was, ostentatiously to ride into the city on an +ass's colt in the midst of the acclamations of the multitude, in order +to exhibit himself as having a just right to the throne of David. Thus +he gave a handle to imputations of intended treason.--He next entered +the temple courts, where doves and lambs were sold for sacrifice, +and--(I must say it to my friend's amusement, and in defiance of his +kind but keen ridicule,) committed a breach of the peace by flogging +with a whip those who trafficked in the area. By such conduct he +undoubtedly made himself liable to legal punishment, and probably +might have been publicly scourged for it, had the rulers chosen to +moderate their vengeance. But he "meant to be prosecuted for treason, +not for felony," to use the words of a modern offender. He therefore +commenced the most exasperating attacks on all the powerful, +calling them hypocrites and whited sepulchres and vipers' brood; and +denouncing upon them the "condemnation of hell." He was successful. He +had both enraged the rulers up to the point of thirsting for his life, +and given colour to the charge of political rebellion. He resolved +to die; and he died. Had his enemies contemptuously let him live, he +would have been forced to act the part of Jewish Messiah, or renounce +Messiahship. + +If any one holds Jesus to be not amenable to the laws of human +morality, I am not now reasoning with such a one. But if any one +claims for him a human perfection, then I say that his conduct on this +occasion was neither laudable nor justifiable; far otherwise. There +are cases in which life may be thrown away for a great cause; as when +a leader in battle rushes upon certain death, in order to animate +his own men; but the case before us has no similarity to that. If +our accounts are not wholly false, Jesus knowingly and purposely +exasperated the rulers into a great crime,--the crime of taking his +life from personal resentment. His inflammatory addresses to the +multitude have been defended as follows: + +"The prophetic Spirit is sometimes oblivious of the rules of the +drawing-room; and inspired Conscience, like the inspiring God, seeing +a hypocrite, will take the liberty to say so, and act accordingly. Are +the superficial amenities, the soothing fictions, the smotherings of +the burning heart,... really paramount in this world, and never to +give way? and when a soul of _power, unable to refrain_, rubs off, +though it be with rasping words, all the varnish from rottenness and +lies, is he to be tried in our courts of compliment for a misdemeanor? +Is there never a higher duty than that of either pitying or converting +guilty men,--the duty of publicly exposing them? of awakening the +popular conscience, and sweeping away the conventional timidities, +for a severe return to truth and reality? No rule of morals can be +recognized as just, which prohibits conformity of human speech to +fact; and insists on terms of civility being kept with all manner of +iniquity." + +I certainly have not appealed to any conventional morality of +drawing-room compliment, but to the highest and purest principles +which I know; and I lament to find my judgment so extremely in +opposition. To me it seems that _inability to refrain_ shows weakness, +not _power_, of soul, and that nothing is easier than to give vent to +violent invective against bad rulers. The last sentence quoted, seems +to say, that the speaking of Truth is never to be condemned: but I +cannot agree to this. When Truth will only exasperate, and cannot do +good, silence is imperative. A man who reproaches an armed tyrant in +words too plain, does but excite him to murder; and the shocking thing +is, that this seems to have been the express object of Jesus. No good +result could be reasonably expected. Publicly to call men in authority +by names of intense insult, the writer of the above distinctly sees +will never convert them; but he thinks it was adapted to awaken the +popular conscience. Alas! it needs no divine prophet to inflame a +multitude against the avarice, hypocrisy, and oppression of rulers, +nor any deep inspiration of conscience in the multitude to be wide +awake on that point themselves A Publius Clodius or a Cleon will do +that work as efficiently as a Jesus; nor does it appear that the poor +are made better by hearing invectives against the rich and powerful. +If Jesus had been aiming, in a good cause, to excite rebellion, the +mode of address which he assumed seems highly appropriate; and in such +a calamitous necessity, to risk exciting murderous enmity would be the +act of a hero: but as the account stands, it seems to me the deed of +a fanatic. And it is to me manifest that he overdid his attack, and +failed to commend it to the conscience of his hearers. For up to +this point the multitude was in his favour. He was notoriously so +acceptable to the many, as to alarm the rulers; indeed the belief +of his popularity had shielded him from prosecution. But after this +fierce address he has no more popular support. At his public trial the +vast majority judge him to deserve punishment, and prefer to ask free +forgiveness for Barabbas, a bandit who was in prison for murder. We +moderns, nursed in an arbitrary belief concerning these events, drink +in with our first milk the assumption that Jesus alone was guiltless, +and all the other actors in this sad affair inexcusably guilty. Let no +one imagine that I defend for a moment the cruel punishment which raw +resentment inflicted on him. But though the rulers felt the rage of +Vengeance, the people, who had suffered no personal wrong, were moved +only by ill-measured Indignation. The multitude love to hear the +powerful exposed and reproached up to a certain limit; but if reproach +go clearly beyond all that they feel to be deserved, a violent +sentiment reacts on the head of the reviler: and though popular +indignation (even when free from the element of selfishness) ill fixes +the due _measure_ of Punishment, I have a strong belief that it is +righteous, when it pronounces the verdict Guilty. + +Does my friend deny that the death of Jesus was wilfully incurred? The +"orthodox" not merely admit, but maintain it. Their creed justifies it +by the doctrine, that his death was a "sacrifice" so pleasing to +God, as to expiate the sins of the world. This honestly meets the +objections to self-destruction; for how better could life be used, +than by laying it down for such a prize? But besides all other +difficulties in the very idea of atonement, the orthodox creed +startles us by the incredible conception, that a voluntary sacrifice +of life should be unacceptable to God, unless offered by ferocious and +impious hands. If Jesus had "authority from the Father to lay down his +life," was he unable to stab himself in the desert, or on the sacred +altar of the Temple, without involving guilt to any human being? +Did He, who is at once "High Priest" and Victim, when "offering +up himself" and "presenting his own blood unto God," need any +justification for using the sacrificial knife? The orthodox view more +clearly and unshrinkingly avows, that Jesus deliberately goaded the +wicked rulers into the deeper wickedness of murdering him; but on my +friend's view, that Jesus was _no_ sacrifice, but only a Model man, +his death is an unrelieved calamity. Nothing but a long and complete +life could possibly test the fact of his perfection; and the longer he +lived, the better for the world. + +In entire consistency with his previous determination to die, Jesus, +when arraigned, refused to rebut accusation, and behaved as one +pleading Guilty. He was accused of saying that if they destroyed the +temple, he would rebuild it in three days; but how this was to the +purpose, the evangelists who name it do not make clear. The fourth +however (without intending so to do) explains it; and I therefore am +disposed to believe his statement, though I put no faith in his long +discourses. It appears (John ii. 18-20) that Jesus after scourging the +people out of the temple-court, was asked for a sign to justify his +assuming so very unusual authority: on which he replied: "Destroy +this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." Such a reply was +regarded as a manifest evasion; since he was sure that they would +not pull the temple down in order to try whether he could raise it up +miraculously. Now if Jesus really meant what the fourth gospel says he +meant;--if he "spoke of _the temple of his body_;"--how was any one +to guess that? It cannot be denied, that such a reply, _prima facie_, +suggested, that he was a wilful impostor: was it not then his obvious +duty, when this accusation was brought against him, to explain that +his words had been mystical and had been misunderstood? The form of +the imputation in Mark xiv. 58, would make it possible to imagine,--if +the _three days_ were left out, and if his words were _not_ said in +reply to the demand of a sign,--that Jesus had merely avowed that +though the outward Jewish temple were to be destroyed, he would erect +a church of worshippers as a spiritual temple. If so, "John" has +grossly misrepresented him, and then obtruded a very far-fetched +explanation. But whatever was the meaning of Jesus, if it was honest, +I think he was bound to explain it; and not leave a suspicion of +imposture to rankle in men's minds.[6] Finally, if the whole were +fiction, and he never uttered such words, then it was his duty to deny +them, and not remain dumb like a sheep before its shearers. + +After he had confirmed by his silence the belief that he had used +a dishonest evasion indicative of consciousness that he was no real +Messiah, he suddenly burst out with a full reply to the High Priest's +question; and avowed that he _was_ the Messiah, the Son of God; and +that they should hereafter see him sitting on the right-hand of power, +and coming in the clouds of heaven,--of course to enter into judgment +on them all. I am the less surprized that this precipitated his +condemnation, since he himself seems to have designed precisely that +result. The exasperation which he had succeeded in kindling led to his +cruel death; and when men's minds had cooled, natural horror possessed +them for such a retribution on such a man. His _words_ had been met +with _deeds_: the provocation he had given was unfelt to those beyond +the limits of Jerusalem; and to the Jews who assembled from distant +parts at the feast of Pentecost he was nothing but the image of a +sainted martyr. + +I have given more than enough indications of points in which the +conduct of Jesus does not seem to me to have been that of a perfect +man: how any one can think him a Universal Model, is to me still less +intelligible. I might say much more on this subject. But I will merely +add, that when my friend gives the weight of his noble testimony to +the Perfection of Jesus, I think it is due to himself and to us that +he should make clear what he means by this word "Jesus." He ought +to publish--(I say it in deep seriousness, not sarcastically)--an +expurgated gospel; for in truth I do not know how much of what I have +now adduced from the gospel as _fact_, he will admit to be fact. I +neglect, he tells me, "a higher moral criticism," which, if I rightly +understand, would explode, as evidently unworthy of Jesus, many of the +representations pervading the gospels: as, that Jesus claimed to be +an oracular teacher, and attached spiritual life or death to belief +or disbelief in this claim. My friend says, it is beyond all serious +question _what_ Jesus _was_: but his disbelief of the narrative seems +to be so much wider than mine, as to leave me more uncertain than +ever about it. If he will strike out of the gospels all that he +disbelieves, and so enable me to understand _what_ is the Jesus whom +he reveres, I have so deep a sense of his moral and critical powers, +that I am fully prepared to expect that he may remove many of my +prejudices and relieve my objections: but I cannot honestly say that +I see the least probability of his altering my conviction, that in +_consistency_ of goodness Jesus fell far below vast numbers of his +unhonoured disciples. + + +[Footnote 1: I have by accident just taken up the "British +Quarterly," and alighted upon the following sentence concerning Madame +Roland:--"_To say that she was without fault, would be to say that she +was not human_." This so entirely expresses and concludes all that I +have to say, that I feel surprise at my needing at all to write such a +chapter as the present.] + +[Footnote 2: I am acquainted with the interpretation, that the +word More is not here Greek, _i.e., fool_, but is Hebrew, and means +_rebel_, which is stronger than Raca, _silly fellow_. This gives +partial, but only partial relief.] + +[Footnote 3: Indeed we have in Luke vi. 20-24, a version of the +Beatitudes so much in harmony with this lower doctrine, as to make +it an open question, whether the version in Matth. v. is not +an improvement upon Jesus, introduced by the purer sense of the +collective church. In Luke, he does not bless the poor _in spirit_, +and those who hunger _after righteousness_, but absolutely the "poor" +and the "hungry," and all who honour _Him_; and in contrast, curses +_the rich_ and those who are full.] + +[Footnote 4: At the close, is the parable about the absent master of +a house; and Peter asks, "Lord? (Sir?) speakest thou this parable +unto _us_, or also unto _all_?" Who would not have hoped an ingenuous +reply, "To you only," or, "To everybody"? Instead of which, so +inveterate is his tendency to muffle up the simplest things in +mystery, he replies, "Who then is that faithful and wise steward," +&c., &c., and entirely evades reply to the very natural question.] + +[Footnote 5: This implied that Judas, as one of the twelve, had earned +the heavenly throne by the price of earthly goods.] + +[Footnote 6: If the account in John is not wholly false, I think the +reply in every case discreditable. If literal, it all but indicates +wilful imposture. If mystical, it is disingenuously evasive; and it +tended, not to instruct, but to irritate, and to move suspicion +and contempt. Is this the course for a religious teacher?--to speak +darkly, so as to mislead and prejudice; and this, when he represents +it as a matter of spiritual life and death to accept his teaching and +his supremacy?] + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +ON BIGOTRY AND PROGRESS. + + +If any Christian reader has been patient enough to follow me thus far, +I now claim that he will judge my argument and me, as before the +bar of God, and not by the conventional standards of the Christian +churches. + +Morality and Truth are principles in human nature both older and more +widespread than Christianity or the Bible: and neither Jesus nor James +nor John nor Paul could have addressed or did address men in any +other tone, than that of claiming to be themselves judged by some +pre-existing standard of moral truth, and by the inward powers of the +hearer. Does the reader deny this? or, admitting it, does he think it +impious to accept their challenge? Does he say that we are to love and +embrace Christianity, without trying to ascertain whether it be true +or false? If he say, Yes,--such a man has no love or care for Truth, +and is but by accident a Christian. He would have remained a faithful +heathen, had he been born in heathenism, though Moses, Elijah and +Christ preached a higher truth to him. Such a man is condemned by his +own confession, and I here address him no longer. + +But if Faith is a spiritual and personal thing, if Belief given at +random to mere high pretensions is an immorality, if Truth is not +to be quite trampled down, nor Conscience to be wholly palsied in +us,--then what, I ask, was I to do, when I saw that the genealogy in +the first chapter of Matthew is an erroneous copy of that in the Old +Testament? and that the writer has not only copied wrong, but also +counted wrong, so, as to mistake eighteen for fourteen? Can any man, +who glories in the name of Christian, lay his hand on his heart, and +say, it was my duty to blind my eyes to the fact, and think of it no +further? Many, alas, I know, would have whispered this to me; but if +any one were to proclaim it, the universal conscience of mankind would +call him impudent. + +If however this first step was right, was a second step wrong? When I +further discerned that the two genealogies in Matthew and Luke were +at variance, utterly irreconcilable,--and both moreover nugatory, +because they are genealogies of Joseph, who is denied to be the father +of Jesus,--on what ground of righteousness, which I could approve to +God and my conscience, could I shut my eyes to this second fact? + +When forced, against all my prepossessions, to admit that the two +first chapters of Matthew and the two first chapters of Luke are +mutually destructive,[1] would it have been faithfulness to the God of +Truth, or a self-willed love of my own prejudices, if I had said, "I +will not inquire further, for fear it should unsettle my faith?" The +reader's conscience will witness to me, that, on the contrary, I was +bound to say, what I did say: "I _must_ inquire further in order that +I may plant the foundations of my faith more deeply on the rock of +Truth."' + +Having discovered, that not all that is within the canon of the +Scripture is infallibly correct, and that the human understanding is +competent to arraign and convict at least some kinds of error therein +contained;--where was I to stop? and if I am guilty, where did my +guilt begin? The further I inquired, the more errors crowded upon me, +in History, in Chronology, in Geography, in Physiology, in Geology.[2] +Did it _then_ at last become a duty to close my eyes to the painful +light? and if I had done so, ought I to have flattered myself that +I was one of those, who being of the truth, come to the lights that +their deeds may be reproved? + +Moreover, when I had clearly perceived, that since all evidence for +Christianity must involve _moral_ considerations, to undervalue +the moral faculties of mankind is to make Christian evidence an +impossibility and to propagate universal scepticism;--was I then so to +distrust the common conscience, as to believe that the Spirit of God +pronounced Jael blessed, for perfidiously murdering her husband's +trusting friend? Does any Protestant reader feel disgust and horror, +at the sophistical defences set up for the massacre of St. Bartholomew +and other atrocities of the wicked Church of Rome? Let him stop his +mouth, and hide his face, if he dares to justify the foul crime of +Jael. + +Or when I was thus forced to admit, that the Old Testament praised +immorality, as well as enunciated error; and found nevertheless in +the writers of the New Testament no indication that they were aware +of either; but that, on the contrary, "the Scripture" (as the book was +vaguely called) is habitually identified with the infallible "word +of God;"--was it wrong in me to suspect that the writers of the New +Testament were themselves open to mistake? + +When I farther found, that Luke not only claims no infallibility and +no inspiration, but distinctly assigns human sources as his means of +knowledge;--when the same Luke had already been discovered to be +in irreconcilable variance with Matthew concerning the infancy of +Jesus;--was I sinful in feeling that I had no longer any guarantee +against _other_ possible error in these writers? or ought I to have +persisted in obtruding on the two evangelists on infallibility of +which Luke shows himself unconscious, which Matthew nowhere claims, +and which I had demonstrative proof that they did not both possess? A +thorough-going Bibliolater will have to impeach me as a sinner on this +count. + +After Luke and Matthew stood before me as human writers, liable to and +convicted of human error, was there any reason why I should look on +Mark as more sacred? And having perceived all three to participate in +the common superstition, derived from Babylon and the East, traceable +in history to its human source, existing still in Turkey and +Abyssinia,--the superstition which mistakes mania, epilepsy, and other +forms of disease, for possession by devils;--should I have shown love +of truth, or obstinacy in error, had I refused to judge freely of +these three writers, as of any others who tell similar marvels? or +was it my duty to resolve, at any rate and against evidence, to acquit +them of the charge of superstition and misrepresentation? + +I will not trouble the reader with any further queries. If he has +justified me in his conscience thus far, he will justify my proceeding +to abandon myself to the results of inquiry. He will feel, that the +Will cannot, may not, dare not dictate, whereto the inquiries of the +Understanding shall lead; and that to allege that it _ought_, is +to plant the root of Insincerity, Falsehood, Bigotry, Cruelty, and +universal Rottenness of Soul. + +The vice of Bigotry has been so indiscriminately imputed to the +religious, that they seem apt to forget that it is a real sin;--a sin +which in Christendom has been and is of all sins most fruitful, most +poisonous: nay, grief of griefs! it infects many of the purest and +most lovely hearts, which want strength of understanding, or are +entangled by a sham theology, with its false facts and fraudulent +canons. But upon all who mourn for the miseries which Bigotry has +perpetrated from the day when Christians first learned to curse; upon +all who groan over the persecutions and wars stirred up by Romanism; +upon all who blush at the overbearing conduct of Protestants in their +successive moments of brief authority,--a sacred duty rests in this +nineteenth century of protesting against Bigotry, not from a love of +ease, but from a spirit of earnest justice. + +Like the first Christians, they must become _confessors_ of the Truth; +not obtrusively, boastfully, dogmatically, or harshly; but, "speaking +the truth in love," not be ashamed to avow, if they do not believe all +that others profess, and that they abhor the unrighteous principle of +judging men by an authoritative creed. The evil of Bigotry which has +been most observed, is its untameable injustice, which converted the +law of love into licensed murder or gratuitous hatred. But I believe +a worse evil still has been, the intense reaction of the human mind +against Religion for Bigotry's sake. To the millions of Europe, +bigotry has been a confutation of all pious feeling. So unlovely has +religion been made by it, + + Horribili super aspectu mortalibus instans, + +that now, as 2000 years ago, men are lapsing into Atheism or +Pantheism; and a totally new "dispensation" is wanted to retrieve the +lost reputation of Piety. + +Two opposite errors are committed by those who discern that the +pretensions of the national religious systems are overstrained and +unjustifiable. One class of persons inveighs warmly, bitterly, rudely +against the bigotry of Christians; and know not how deep and holy +affections and principles, in spite of narrowness, are cherished in +the bosom of the Christian society. Hence their invective is harsh and +unsympathizing; and appears so essentially unjust and so ignorant, +as to exasperate and increase the very bigotry which it attacks. An +opposite class know well, and value highly, the moral influences of +Christianity, and from an intense dread of harming or losing these, +do not dare plainly and publicly to avow their own convictions. Great +numbers of English laymen are entirely assured, that the Old Testament +abounds with error, and that the New is not always unimpeachable: +yet they only whisper this; and in the hearing of a clergyman, who is +bound by Articles and whom it is indecent to refute, keep a respectful +silence. As for ministers of religion, these, being called perpetually +into a practical application of the received doctrine of their church, +are of all men least able to inquire into any fundamental errors in +that doctrine. Eminent persons among them will nevertheless aim after +and attain a purer truth than that which they find established: +but such a case must always be rare and exceptive. Only by disusing +ministerial service can any one give fair play to doubts concerning +the wisdom and truth of that which he is solemnly ministering: hence +that friend of Arnold's was wise in this world, who advised him +to take a curacy in order to settle his doubts concerning the +Trinity.--Nowhere from any body of priests, clergy, or ministers, as +an Order, is religious progress to be anticipated, until intellectual +creeds are destroyed. A greater responsibility therefore is laid upon +laymen, to be faithful and bold in avowing their convictions. + +Yet it is not from the practical ministers of religion, that the great +opposition to religious reform proceeds. The "secular clergy" (as the +Romanists oddly call them) were seldom so bigoted as the "regulars." +So with us, those who minister to men in their moral trials have +for the most part a deeper moral spirit, and are less apt to place +religion in systems of propositions. The _robur legionum_ of bigotry, +I believe, is found,--first, in non-parochial clergy, and next in the +anonymous writers for religious journals and "conservative" newspapers; +who too generally[3] adopt a style of which they would be ashamed, +if the names of the writers were attached; who often seem desirous to +make it clear that it is their trade to carp, insult, or slander; +who assume a tone of omniscience, at the very moment when they show +narrowness of heart and judgment. To such writing those who desire +to promote earnest Thought and tranquil Progress ought anxiously to +testify their deep repugnance. A large part of this slander and insult +is prompted by a base pandering to the (real or imagined) taste of the +public, and will abate when it visibly ceases to be gainful. + + * * * * * + +The law of God's moral universe, as known to us, is that of Progress. +We trace it from old barbarism to the methodized Egyptian idolatry; +to the more flexible Polytheism of Syria and Greece; the poetical +Pantheism of philosophers, and the moral monotheism of a few sages. +So in Palestine and in the Bible itself we see, first of all, the +image-worship of Jacob's family, then the incipient elevation of +Jehovah above all other Gods by Moses, the practical establishment +of the worship of Jehovah alone by Samuel, the rise of spiritual +sentiment under David and the Psalmists, the more magnificent views +of Hezekiah's prophets, finally in the Babylonish captivity the new +tenderness assumed by that second Isaiah and the later Psalmists. But +ceremonialism more and more encrusted the restored nation; and Jesus +was needed to spur and stab the conscience of his contemporaries, +and recal them to more spiritual perceptions; to proclaim a coming +"kingdom of heaven," in which should be gathered all the children of +God that were scattered abroad; where the law of love should reign, +and no one should dictate to another. Alas! that this great movement +had its admixture of human imperfection. After this, Steven the +protomartyr, and Paul once him persecutor, had to expose the emptiness +of all external santifications, and free the world from the law of +Moses. _Up_ to this point all Christians approve of progress; but _at_ +this point they want to arrest it. + +The arguments of those who resist Progress are always the same, +whether it be Pagans against Hebrews, Jews against Christians, +Romanists against Protestants, or modern Christians against the +advocates of a higher spiritualism. Each established system +assures its votaries, that now at length they have attained a final +perfection: that their foundations are irremovable: progress _up_ to +that position was a duty, _beyond_ it is a sin. Each displaces its +predecessor by superior goodness, but then each fights against his +successor by odium, contempt, exclusions and (when possible) by +violences. Each advances mankind one step, and forbids them to take a +second. Yet if it be admitted that in the earlier movement the party +of progress was always right, confidence that the case is now reversed +is not easy to justify. + +Every persecuting church has numbered among its members thousands +of pious people, so grateful for its services, or so attached to its +truth, as to think those impious who desire something purer and more +perfect. Herein we may discern, that every nation and class is +liable to the peculiar illusion of overesteeming the sanctity of its +ancestral creed. It is as much our duty to beware of this illusion, as +of any other. All know how easily our patriotism may degenerate into +an unjust repugnance to foreigners, and that the more intense it is, +the greater the need of antagonistic principles. So also, the real +excellencies of our religion may only so much the more rivet us in +a wrong aversion to those who do not acknowledge its authority or +perfection. + +It is probable that Jesus desired a state of things in which all who +worship God spiritually should have an acknowledged and conscious +union. It is clear that Paul longed above all things to overthrow +the "wall of partition" which separated two families of sincere +worshippers. Yet we now see stronger and higher walls of partition +than ever, between the children of the same God,--with a new law of +the letter, more entangling to the conscience, and more depressing to +the mental energies, than any outward service of the Levitical law. +The cause of all this is to be found in _the claim of Messiahship for +Jesus._ This gave a premium to crooked logic, in order to prove that +the prophecies meant what they did not mean and could not mean. This +perverted men's notions of right and wrong, by imparting factitious +value to a literary and historical proposition, "Jesus is the +Messiah," as though that were or could be religion. This gave merit +to credulity, and led pious men to extol it as a brave and noble deed, +when any one overpowered the scruples of good sense, and scolded them +down as the wisdom of this world, which is hostile to God. This put +the Christian church into an essentially false position, by excluding +from it in the first century all the men of most powerful and +cultivated understanding among the Greeks and Romans. This taught +Christians to boast of the hostility of the wise and prudent, and +in every controversy ensured that the party which had the merit of +mortifying reason most signally should be victorious. Hence, the +downward career of the Church into base superstition was determined +and inevitable from her very birth; nor was any improvement possible, +until a reconciliation should be effected between Christianity and the +cultivated reason which it had slighted and insulted. + +Such reconciliation commenced, I believe, from the tenth century, when +the Latin moralists began to be studied as a part of a theological +course. It was continued with still greater results when Greek +literature became accessible to churchmen. Afterwards, the physics +of Galileo and of Newton began not only to undermine numerous +superstitions, but to give to men a confidence in the reality of +abstract truth, and in our power to attain it in other domains than +that of geometrical demonstration. This, together with the philosophy +of Locke, was taken up into Christian thought, and Political +Toleration was the first fruit. Beyond that point, English religion +has hardly gone. For in spite of all that has since been done in +Germany for the true and accurate _exposition_ of the Bible, and for +the scientific establishment of the history of its component books, +we still remain deplorably ignorant here of these subjects. In +consequence, English Christians do not know that they are unjust and +utterly unreasonable, in expecting thoughtful men to abide by the +creed of their ancestors. Nor, indeed, is there any more stereotyped +and approved calumny, than the declaration so often emphatically +enunciated from the pulpit, that _unbelief in the Christian miracles +is the fruit of a wicked heart and of a soul enslaved to sin_. Thus +do estimable and well-meaning men, deceived and deceiving one another, +utter base slander in open church, where it is indecorous to reply +to them,--and think that they are bravely delivering a religions +testimony. + +No difficulty is encountered, so long as the _inward_ and the +_outward_ rule of religion agree,--by whatever names men call +them,--the Spirit and the Word--or Reason and the Church,--or +Conscience and Authority. None need settle which of the two rules is +the greater, so long as the results coincide: in fact, there is no +controversy, no struggle, and also probably no progress. A child +cannot guess whether father or mother has the higher authority, +until discordant commands are given; but then commences the painful +necessity of disobeying one in order to obey the other. So, also, the +great and fundamental controversies of religion arise, only when a +discrepancy is detected between the inward and the outward rule: and +then, there are only two possible solutions. If the Spirit within us +and the Bible (or Church) without us are at variance, _we must either +follow the inward and disregard the outward law; else we must renounce +the inward law and obey the outward_. The Romanist bids us to obey +the Church and crush our inward judgment: the Spiritualist, on the +contrary, follows his inward law, and, when necessary, defies Church, +Bible, or any other authority. The orthodox Protestant is better +and truer than the Romanist, because the Protestant is not like the +latter, consistent in error, but often goes right: still he _is_ +inconsistent as to this point. Against the Spiritualist he uses +Romanist principles, telling him that he ought to submit his "proud +reason" and accept the "Word of God" as infallible, even though it +appear to him to contain errors. But against the Romanist the same +disputant avows Spiritualist principles, declaring that since "the +Church" appears to him to be erroneous, he dares not to accept it as +infallible. What with the Romanist he before called "proud reason," +he now designates as Conscience, Understanding, and perhaps the Holy +Spirit. He refused to allow the right of the Spiritualist to urge, +that _the Bible_ contains contradictions and immoralities, and +therefore cannot be received; but he claims a full right to urge +that _the Church_ has justified contradictions and immoralities, and +therefore is not to be submitted to. The perception that this +position is inconsistent, and, to him who discerns the inconsistency, +dishonest, is every year driving Protestants to Rome. And _in +principle_ there are only two possible religions: the Personal and the +Corporate; the Spiritual and the External. I do not mean to say that +in Romanism there is nothing but what is Corporate and External; for +that is impossible to human nature: but that this is what the theory +of their argument demands; and their doctrine of Implicit[4] (or +Virtual) Faith entirely supersedes intellectual perception as well as +intellectual conviction. The theory of each church is the force which +determines to what centre the whole shall gravitate. However men may +talk of spirituality, yet let them once enact that the freedom of +individuals shall be absorbed in a corporate conscience, and you +find that the narrowest heart and meanest intellect sets the rule of +conduct for the whole body. + +It has been often observed how the controversies of the Trinity and +Incarnation depended on the niceties of the Greek tongue. I do not +know whether it has ever been inquired, what confusion of thought +was shed over Gentile Christianity, from its very origin, by the +imperfection of the New Testament Greek. The single Greek[5] word +[Greek: pistis] needs probably three translations into our far more +accurate tongue,--viz., Belief, Trust, Faith; but especially Belief +and Faith have important contrasts. Belief is purely intellectual; +Faith is properly spiritual. Hence the endless controversy about +Justification by [Greek: pistis], which has so vexed Christians; hence +the slander cast on _unbelievers_ or _misbelievers_ (when they can +no longer be burned or exiled), as though they were _faithless_ and +_infidels_. + +But nothing of this ought to be allowed to blind us to the truly +spiritual and holy developments of historical Christianity,--much +less, make us revert to the old Paganism or Pantheism which it +supplanted.--The great doctrine on which all practical religion +depends,--the doctrine which nursed the infancy and youth of human +nature,--is, "the sympathy of God with the perfection of individual +man." Among Pagans this was so marred by the imperfect characters +ascribed to the Gods, and the dishonourable fables told concerning +them, that the philosophers who undertook to prune religion too +generally cut away the root, by alleging[6] that God was mere +Intellect and wholly destitute of Affections. But happily among the +Hebrews the purity of God's character was vindicated; and with the +growth of conscience in the highest minds of the nation the ideal +image of God shone brighter and brighter. The doctrine of his Sympathy +was never lost, and from the Jews it passed into the Christian church. +This doctrine, applied to that part of man which is divine, is the +wellspring of Repentance and Humility, of Thankfulness, Love, and Joy. +It reproves and it comforts; it stimulates and animates. This it is +which led the Psalmist to cry, "Whom have I in heaven but Thee? there +is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee." This has satisfied +prophets, apostles, and martyrs with God as their Portion. This has +been passed from heart to heart for full three thousand years, and has +produced bands of countless saints. Let us not cut off our sympathies +from those, who have learnt to sympathize with God; nor be blind +to that spiritual good which they have; even if it be, more or less +sensibly, tinged with intellectual error. In fact, none but God knows, +how many Christian hearts are really pure from bigotry. I cannot +refuse to add my testimony, such as it is, to the effect, that _the +majority is always truehearted_. As one tyrant, with a small band of +unscrupulous tools, manages to use the energies of a whole nation of +kind and well-meaning people for cruel purposes, so the bigoted few, +who work out an evil theory with consistency, often succeed in using +the masses of simpleminded Christians as their tools for oppression. +Let us not think more harshly than is necessary of the anathematizing +churches. Those who curse us with their lips, often love us in their +hearts. A very deep fountain of tenderness can mingle with their +bigotry itself: and with tens of thousands, the evil belief is a dead +form, the spiritual love is a living reality. Whether Christians +like it or not, we must needs look to Historians, to Linguists, to +Physiologists, to Philosophers, and generally, to men of cultivated +understanding, to gain help in all those subjects which are +preposterously called _Theology_: but for devotional aids, for pious +meditations, for inspiring hymns, for purifying and glowing thoughts, +we have still to wait upon that succession of kindling souls, among +whom may be named with special honour David and Isaiah, Jesus and +Paul, Augustine, A Kempis, Fenelon, Leighton, Baxter, Doddridge, +Watts, the two Wesleys, and Channing. + +Religion was created by the inward instincts of the soul: it had +afterwards to be pruned and chastened by the sceptical understanding. +For its perfection, the co-operation of these two parts of man is +essential. While religious persons dread critical and searching +thought, and critics despise instinctive religion, each side remains +imperfect and curtailed. + +It is a complaint often made by religious historians, that no church +can sustain its spirituality unimpaired through two generations, and +that in the third a total irreligion is apt to supervene. Sometimes +indeed the transitions are abrupt, from an age of piety to an age of +dissoluteness. The liability to such lamentable revulsions is plainly +due to some insufficiency in the religion to meet all the wants of +human nature. To scold at that nature is puerile, and implies an +ignorance of the task which religion undertakes. To lay the fault +on the sovereign will of God, who has "withheld his grace" from the +grandchildren of the pious, might be called blasphemy, if we were +disposed to speak harshly. The fault lies undoubtedly in the fact, +that Practical Devoutness and Free Thought stand apart in unnatural +schism. But surely the age is ripe for something better;--for +a religion which stall combine the tenderness, humility, and +disinterestedness, that are the glory of the purest Christianity, +with that activity of intellect, untiring pursuit of truth, and strict +adherence to impartial principle, which the schools of modern science +embody. When a spiritual church has its senses exercised to discern +good and evil, judges of right and wrong by an inward power, proves +all things and holds fast that which is good, fears no truth, but +rejoices in being corrected, intellectually as well as morally,--it +will not be liable to be "carried to and fro" by shifting winds of +doctrine. It will indeed have movement, namely, a steady _onward_ one, +as the schools of science have had, since they left off to dogmatize, +and approached God's world as learners; but it will lay aside disputes +of words, eternal vacillations, mutual illwill and dread of new light, +and will be able without hypocrisy to proclaim "peace on earth and +goodwill towards men," even towards those who reject its beliefs and +sentiments concerning "God and his glory." + +NOTE ON PAGE 168. + +The author of the "Eclipse of Faith," in his Defence (p. 168), +referring to my reply in p. 101 above, says:--"In this very paragraph +Mr. Newman shows that I have _not_ misrepresented him, nor is it +true that I overlooked his novel hypothesis. He says that 'Gibbon is +exhibiting and developing the deep-seated causes of the _spread_ of +Christianity before Constantine,'--which Mr. Newman says had _not_ +spread. On the contrary; he assumes that the Christians were 'a small +fraction,' and thus _does_ dismiss in two sentences, I might have said +three words, what Gibbon had strained every nerve in his celebrated +chapter to account for." + +Observe his phrase, "On the contrary." It is impossible to say more +plainly, that Gibbon represents the spread of Christianity before +Constantine to have been very great, and then laboured in vain to +account for that spread; and that I, _arbitrarily setting aside +Gibbon's fact as to the magnitude of the "spread_," cut the knot which +he could not untie. + +But the fact, as between Gibbon and me, is flatly the reverse. +I advance nothing novel as to the numbers of the Christians, no +hypothesis of my own, no assumption. I have merely adopted Gibbon's +own historical estimate, that (judging, as he does judge, by the +examples of Rome and Antioch), the Christians before the rise of +Constantine were but a small fraction of the population. Indeed, he +says, not above _one-twentieth_ part; on which I laid no stress. + +It may be that Gibbon is here in error. I shall willingly withdraw any +historical argument, if shown that I have unawares rested on a false +basis. In balancing counter statements and reasons from diverse +sources, different minds come to different statistical conclusions. +Dean Milman ("Hist. of Christianity," vol. ii. p. 341) when +deliberately weighing opposite opinions, says cautiously, that "Gibbon +is perhaps inclined to underrate" the number of the Christians. He +adds: "M. Beugnot agrees much with Gibbon, and I should conceive, with +regard to the West, is clearly right." + +I beg the reader to observe, that I have _not_ represented the +numerical strength of the Christians in Constantine's army to be +great. Why my opponent should ridicule my use of the phrase _Christian +regiments_, I am too dull to understand. ("Who would not think," +says he, "that it was one of Constantine's _aide-de-camps_ that was +speaking?") It may be that I am wrong in using the plural noun, and +that there was only _one_ such regiment,--that which carried the +Labarum, or standard of the cross (Gibbon, ch. 20), to which so much +efficacy was attributed in the war against Licinius. I have no time at +present, nor any need for further inquiries on such matters. It is +to the devotion and organization of the Christians, not to their +proportionate numbers, that I attributed weight. If (as Milman says) +Gibbon and Beugnot are "clearly right" as regards _the West_--_i.e._, +as regards all that vast district which became the area of modern +European Christendom, I see nothing in my argument which requires +modification. + +But why did Christianity, while opposed by the ruling powers, spread +"_in the East?_" In the very chapter from which I have quoted, Dean +Milman justifies me in saying, that to this question I may simply +reply, "I do not know," without impairing my present argument. (I +myself find no difficulty in it whatever; but I protest against the +assumption, that I am bound to believe a religion preternatural, +unless I con account for its origin and diffusion to the satisfaction +of its adherents.) Dean Milman, vol. ii. pp. 322-340, gives a full +account of the Manichaean religion, and its rapid and great spread in +spate of violent persecution. MANI, the founder, represented himself +as "a man invested with a divine mission." His doctrines are described +by Milman as wild and mystical metaphysics, combining elements of +thought from Magianism, Judaism, Christianity, and Buddhism. "His +worship was simple, without altar, temple, images, or any imposing +ceremonial. Pure and simple prayer was their only form of adoration." +They talked much of "Christ" as a heavenly principle, but "did not +believe in his birth or death. Prayers and Hymns addressed to the +source of light, exhortations to subdue the dark and sensuous element +within, and the study of the marvellous book of Mani, constituted +their devotion. Their manners were austere and ascetic; they +tolerated, but only tolerated, marriage, and that only among the +inferior orders. The theatre, the banquet, and even the bath, they +severely proscribed. Their diet was of fruits and herbs; they shrank +with abhorrence from animal food." Mani met with fierce hostility from +West and East alike; and at last was entrapped by the Persian king +Baharam, and "was flayed alive. His skin, stuffed with straw, was +placed over the gate of the city of Shahpoor." + +Such a death was as cruel and as ignominious as that of crucifixion; +yet his doctrines "expired not with their author. In the East and in +the West they spread with the utmost rapidity.... The extent of +its success may be calculated by the implacable hostility of other +religions to the doctrines of Mani; _the causes of that success are +more difficult to conjecture_." + +Every reason, which, as far as I know, has ever been given, why it +should be hard for early Christianity to spread, avail equally as +reasons against the spread of Manichaeism. The state of the East, which +admitted the latter without miracle, admitted the former also. +It nevertheless is pertinent to add, that the recent history of +Mormonism, compared with that of Christianity and of Manichaeism, +may suggest that the martyr-death of the founder of a religion is a +positive aid to its after-success. + + +[Footnote 1: See Strauss on the Infancy of Jesus.] + +[Footnote 2: My "Eclectic" reviewer (who is among the least orthodox +and the least uncandid) hence deduces, that I have confounded the two +questions, "Does the Bible contain errors in human science?" and, "Is +its purely spiritual teaching true?" It is quite wonderful to me, how +educated men can so totally overlook what I have so plainly and so +often written. This very passage might show the contrary, if he had +but quoted the whole paragraph, instead of the middle sentence only. +See also pp. 67, 74, 75, 86, 87, 125.] + +[Footnote 3: Any orthodox periodical which dares to write charitably, +is at once subjected to fierce attack us _un_orthodox.] + +[Footnote 4: _Explicit_ Faith in a doctrine, means, that we understand +what the propositions are, and accept them. But if through blunder we +accept a wrong set of propositions, so as to believe a false doctrine, +we nevertheless have _Implicit_ (or Virtual) Faith in the true one, if +only we say from the heart: "Whatever the Church believes, I believe." +Thus a person, who, through blundering, believes in Sabellianism or +Arianism, which the Church has condemned, is regarded to have _virtual +faith_ in Trinitarianism, and all the "merit" of that faith, because +of his good will to submit to the Church; which is the really saving +virtue.] + +[Footnote 5: [Greek: Dikaiosune] (righteousness), [Greek: Diatheke] +(covenant, testament), [Greek: Charis] (grace), are all terms pregnant +with fallacy.] + +[Footnote 6: Horace and Cicero speak the mind of their educated +contemporaries in saying that "we ought to pray to God _only_ for +external blessings, but trust to our own efforts for a pure and +tranquil soul,"--a singular reversing of spiritual religion] + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +REPLY TO THE DEFENCE OF THE "ECLIPSE OF FAITH." + + +This small treatise was reviewed, unfavourably of course, in most of +the religious periodicals, and among them in the "Prospective Review," +by my friend James Martineau. I had been about the same time attacked +in a book called the "Eclipse of Faith," written (chiefly against my +treatise on the Soul) in the form of a Platonic Dialogue; in which a +sceptic, a certain Harrington, is made to indulge in a great deal +of loose and bantering argumentation, with the view of ridiculing my +religion, and doing so by ways of which some specimen will be given. + +I made an indignant protest in a new edition of this book, and added +also various matter in reply to Mr. Martineau, which will still +be found here. He in consequence in a second article[1] of the +"Prospective" reviewed me afresh; but, in the opening, he first +pronounced his sentence in words of deep disapproval against the +"Eclipse of Faith." + +"The method of the work," says he, "its plan of appealing from what +seems shocking in the Bible to something more shocking in the world, +simply doubles every difficulty without relieving any; and tends to +enthrone a devil everywhere, and leave a God nowhere.... The whole +force of the writer's thought,--his power of exposition, of argument, +of sarcasm, is thrown, in spite of himself, into the irreligious +scale.... If the work be really written[2] in good faith, and be not +rather a covert attack on all religion, it curiously shows how the +temple of the author's worship stands on the same foundation with the +_officina_ of Atheism, and in such close vicinity that the passer-by +cannot tell from which of the two the voices stray into the street." + +The author of the "Eclipse," buoyed up by a large sale of his work +to a credulous public, put forth a "Defence," in which he naturally +declined to submit to the judgment of this reviewer. But my readers +will remark, that Mr. Martineau, writing against me, and seeking to +rebut my replies to him--(nay, I fear I must say my _attack_ on him; +for I have confessed, almost with compunction, that it was I who first +stirred the controversy)--was very favourably situated for maintaining +a calmly judicial impartiality. He thought us both wrong, and he +administered to us each the medicine which seemed to him needed. +He passed his strictures on what he judged to be my errors, and he +rebuked my assailant for profane recklessness. + +I had complained, not of this merely, but of monstrous indefensible +garbling and misrepresentation, pervading the whole work. The dialogue +is so managed, as often to suggest what is false concerning me, yet +without asserting it; so as to enable him to disown the slander, while +producing its full effect against me. Of the directly false statements +and garblings I gave several striking exhibitions. His reply to all +this in the first edition of his "Defence" was reviewed in a _third_ +article of the "Prospective Review," Its ability and reach of thought +are attested by the fact that it has been mistaken for the writing of +Mr. Martineau; but (as clearly as reviews ever speak on such subjects) +it is intimated in the opening that this new article is from a new +hand, "at the risk of revealing _division of persons and opinions_ +within the limits of the mystic critical _We_." Who is the author, I +do not know; nor can I make a likely guess at any one who was in more +than distant intercourse with me. + +This third reviewer did not bestow one page, as Mr. Martineau had +done, on the "Eclipse;" did not summarily pronounce a broad sentence +without details, but dedicated thirty-four pages to the examination +and proof. He opens with noticing the parallel which the author of +the "Eclipse" has instituted between his use of ridicule and that +of Pascal; and replies that he signally violates Pascal's two rules, +_first_, to speak with truth against one's opponents and not with +calumny; _secondly_, not to wound them needlessly. "Neglect of the +first rule (says he) has given to these books [the "Eclipse" and its +"Defence"] their apparent controversial success; disregard of the +second their literary point." He adds, "We shall show that their +author misstates and misrepresents doctrines; garbles quotations, +interpolating words which give the passage he cites reference to +subjects quite foreign from those to which in the original they apply, +while retaining the inverted commas, which are the proper sign of +faithful transcription; that similarly, he allows himself the licence +of omission of the very words on which the controversy hangs, while +in appearance citing _verbatim_;... and that he habitually employs +a sophistry too artful (we fear) to be undesigned. May he not himself +have been deceived, some indulgent render perhaps asks, by the +fallacies which have been so successful with others? It would be as +reasonable to suppose that the grapes which deluded the birds must +have deluded Zeuxis who painted them." + +So grave an accusation against my assailant's truthfulness, coming not +from me, but from a third party, and that, evidently a man who knew +well what he was saying and why,--could not be passed over unnoticed, +although that religious world, which reads one side only, continued +to buy the "Eclipse" and its "Defence" greedily, and not one in a +thousand of them was likely to see the "Prospective Review," In +the second edition of the "Defence" the writer undertakes to defend +himself against my advocate, in on Appendix of 19 closely printed +pages, the "Defence" itself being 218. The "Eclipse," in its 9th +edition of small print, is 393 pages. And how does he set about his +reply? By trying to identify the third writer with the second (who was +notoriously Mr. Martineau), and to impute to him ill temper, chagrin, +irritation, and wounded self-love, as the explanation of this third +article: He says (p. 221):-- + +"The third writer--if, as I have said, he be not the second--sets out +on a new voyage of discovery ... and still humbly following in the +wake of Mr. Newman's great critical discoveries,[3] repeats +that gentleman's charges of falsifying passages, garbling and +misrepresentation. In doing so, he employs language, and _manifests a +temper_, which I should have thought that respect for himself, if not +for his opponent, would have induced him to suppress. It is enough to +say, that he quite rivals Mr. Newman in sagacity, and if possible, has +more successfully denuded himself of charity.... If he be the same as +the second writer, I am afraid that the little Section XV." [_i.e._ +the reply to Mr. Martineau in 1st edition of the "Defence"] "must have +offended the _amour propre_ more deeply than it ought to have done, +considering the wanton and outrageous assault to which it was a very +lenient reply, and that the critic affords another illustration of the +old maxim, that there are none so implacable as those who have done a +wrong. + +"As the spectacle of the reeling Helot taught the Spartans sobriety, +so his _bitterness_ shall teach me moderation. I know enough of human +nature to understand that it is very possible for an _angry_ man--and +_chagrin and irritation are too legibly written on every page of this +article_--to be betrayed into gross injustice." + +The reader will see from this the difficulty of _my_ position in this +controversy. Mr. Martineau, while defending himself, deprecated +the profanity of my other opponent, and the atheistic nature of +his arguments. He spoke as a bystander, and with the advantage of a +judicial position, and it is called "wanton and outrageous." A second +writer goes into detail, and exposes some of the garbling arts which +have been used against me; it is imputed[4] to ill temper, and is +insinuated to be from a spirit of personal revenge. How much less can +_I_ defend myself, and that, against untruthfulness, without incurring +such imputation! My opponent speaks to a public who will not read my +replies. He picks out what he pleases of my words, and takes care to +divest them of their justification. I have (as was to be expected) met +with much treatment from the religious press which I know cannot be +justified; but all is slight, compared to that of which I complain +from this writer. I will presently give a few detailed instances to +illustrate this. While my charge against my assailant is essentially +moral, and I cannot make any parade of charity, he can speak +patronizingly of me now and then, and makes his main attacks on my +_logic_ and _metaphysics_. He says, that in writing his first book, +he knew no characteristics of me, except that I was "a gentleman, +a scholar, and _a very indifferent metaphysician_" At the risk of +encountering yet more of banter and insult, I shall here quote what +the third "Prospective Reviewer" says on this topic. (Vol. x. p. +208):-- + +"Our readers will be able to judge how well qualified the author is +to sneer at Mr. Newman's metaphysics, which are far more accurate +than his own, or to ridicule his logic. The tone of contempt which he +habitually assumes preposterously reverses the relative intellectual +_status_, so far as sound systematic thought is concerned, of the two +men." + +I do not quote this as testimony to myself but as testimony that +others, as well as I, feel the _contemptuous tone_ assumed by my +adversary in precisely that subject on which modesty is called for. On +metaphysics there is hitherto an unreconciled diversity among men who +have spent their lives in the study; and a large part of the endless +religious disputes turns on this very fact. However, the being told, +in a multitude of ingenious forms, that I am a wretched logician, is +not likely to raffle my tranquillity. What does necessarily wound me, +is his misrepresenting my thoughts to the thoughtful, whose respect +I honour; and poisoning the atmosphere between me and a thousand +religious hearts. That these do not despise me, however much contempt +he may vent, I know only too well through their cruel fears of me. + +I have just now learned incidentally, that in the last number (a +supplementary number) of the "Prospective Review," there was a short +reply to the second edition of Mr. Rogers's "Defence," in which the +Editors officially _deny_ that the third writer against Mr. Rogers +is the same as the second; which, I gather from their statement, the +"British Quarterly" had taken on itself to _affirm_. + +I proceed to show what liberties my critic takes with my arguments, +and what he justifies. + +I. In the closing chapter of my third edition of the "Phases," I had +complained of his bad faith in regard to my arguments concerning the +Authoritative imposition of moral truth from without. I showed that, +after telling his reader that I offered no proof of my assertions, +he dislocated my sentences, altered their order, omitted an adverb +of inference, and isolated three sentences out of a paragraph of +forty-six lines: that his omission of the inferential adverb showed +his deliberate intention to destroy the reader's clue to the fact, +that I had given proof where he suppresses it and says that I have +given none; that the sentences quoted as 1,2,3, by him, with me have +the order 3, 2,1; while what he places first, is with me an immediate +and necessary deduction from what has preceded. Now how does he reply? +He does not deny my facts; but he justifies his process. I must set +his words before the reader. _(Defence, 2nd ed., p. 85.) + +"The strangest thing is to see the way in which, after parading this +supposed 'artful dodge,'[5] which, I assure you, gentle reader, was +all a perfect novelty to my consciousness,--Mr. Newman goes on to +say, that the author of the 'Eclipse' has altered the order of his +sentences to suit a purpose. He says: 'The sentences quoted as 1, 2, +3, by him, with me have the order 3, 2, 1.' I answer, that Harrington +was simply anxious to set forth at the head of his argument, in the +clearest and briefest form, the _conclusions_[6] he believed Mr. +Newman to hold, and which he was going to confute. He had no idea of +any relation of subordination or dependence in the above sophisms, as +I have just proved them to be, whether arranged as 3, 2, 1, or 1, +2, 3, or 2, 3, 1, or in any other order in which the possible +permutations of three things, taken 3 and 3 together, can exhibit +them; _ex nihilo, nil fit_; and three nonentities can yield just as +little. Jangle as many changes as you will on these three cracked +bells, no logical harmony can ever issue out of them." + +Thus, because he does not see the validity of my argument, he is to +pretend that I have offered none: he is not to allow his readers to +judge for themselves as to the validity, but they have to take his +word that I am a very "queer" sort of logician, ready "for any feats +of logical legerdemain." + +I have now to ask, what is garbling, if the above is not? He admits +the facts, but justifies them as having been convenient from his point +of view; and then finds my charity to be "very grotesque," when I do +not know how, without hypocrisy, to avoid calling a spade a spade. + +I shall here reprint the pith of my argument, somewhat shortened:-- + +"No heaven-sent Bible can guarantee the veracity of God to a man who +doubts that veracity. Unless we have independent means of knowing that +God is truthful and good, his word (if we be over so certain that it +is really his word) has no authority to us: _hence_ no book revelation +can, without sapping its own pedestal, deny the validity of our _a +priori_ conviction that God has the virtues of goodness and veracity, +and requires like virtues in us. _And in fact_, all Christian apostles +and missionaries, like the Hebrew prophets, have always confuted +Paganism by direct attacks on its immoral and unspiritual doctrines, +and have appealed to the consciences of heathens, as competent to +decide in the controversy. Christianity itself has _thus_ practically +confessed what is theoretically clear, that an authoritative external +revelation of moral and spiritual truth is essentially impossible to +man. What God reveals to us, he reveals within, through the medium of +our moral and spiritual senses. External teaching may be a training of +those senses, but affords no foundation for certitude." + +This passage deserved the enmity of my critic. He quoted bits of +it, very sparingly, never setting before his readers my continuous +thought, but giving his own free versions and deductions. His fullest +quotation stood thus, given only in an after-chapter:--"What God +reveals to us, he reveals _within_, through the medium of our moral +and spiritual senses." "Christianity itself has practically confessed +what is theoretically clear, _(you must take Mr. Newman's word for +both,)_[7] that an authoritative external revelation of moral and +spiritual truth is essentially impossible to man." "No book-revelation +can, without sapping its own pedestal, &c. &c." + +These three sentences are what Mr. Rogers calls the three cracked +bells, and thinks by raising a laugh, to hide his fraud I have +carefully looked through the whole of his dialogue concerning Book +Revelation in his 9th edition of the "Eclipse" (pp. 63-83 of close +print). He still excludes from it every part of my argument, +only stating in the opening (p. 63) as my conclusions, that a +book-revelation is impossible, and that God reveals himself from +within, not from without In his _Defence_ (which circulates far less +than the "Eclipse," to judge by the number of editions) he displays +his bravery by at length printing my argument; but in the "Eclipse" he +continues to suppress it, at least as far as I can discover by turning +to the places where it ought to be found. + +In p. 77 (9th ed.) of the "Eclipse." he _implies_, without absolutely +asserting, that I hold the Bible to be an impertinence. He repeats +this in p. 85 of the "Defence." Such is his mode. I wrote: "_Without_ +a priori _belief_, the Bible is an impertinence," but I say, man +_has_ this _a priori_ belief, on which account the Bible is _not_ +an impertinence. My last sentence in the very passage before us, +expressly asserts the value of (good) external teaching. This my +critic laboriously disguises. + +He carefully avoids allowing his readers to see that I am contending +fundamentally for that which the ablest Christian divines have +conceded and maintained; that which the common sense of every +missionary knows, and every one who is not profoundly ignorant of the +Bible and of history ought to know. Mr. Rogers is quite aware, that +no apostle ever carried a Bible in his hand and said to the heathen, +"Believe that there is a good and just God, _because_ it is written +in this book;" but they appealed to the hearts and consciences of +the hearers as competent witnesses. He does not even give his reader +enough of my paragraph to make intelligible what I _meant_ by saying +"Christianity has practically confessed;" and yet insists that I am +both unreasonable and uncharitable in my complaints of him. + +I here reprint the summary of my belief concerning our knowledge of +morality as fundamental, and not to be tampered with under pretence of +religion. "If an angel from heaven bade me to lie, and to steal, and +to commit adultery, and to murder, and to scoff at good men, and usurp +dominion over my equals, and do unto others everything that I wish +_not_ to have done to me; I ought to reply, BE THOU ANATHEMA! This, I +believe, was Paul's doctrine; this is mine." + +It may be worth while to add how in the "Defence" Mr. Rogers pounces +on my phrase "_a priori_ view of the Divine character," as an excuse +for burying his readers in metaphysics, in which he thinks he has a +natural right to dogmatize against and over me. He must certainly be +aware of the current logical (not metaphysical) use of the phrase _a +priori_: as when we say, that Le Verrier and Adams demonstrated _a +priori_ that a planet _must_ exist exterior to Uranus, before any +astronomer communicated information that it _does_ exist. Or again: +the French Commissioners proved by actual measurement that the earth +is an oblate spheroid, of which Newton had convinced himself _a +priori_. + +_I_ always avoid a needless argument of metaphysics. Writing to the +general public I cannot presume that they are good judges of anything +but a practical and moral argument. The _a priori_ views of God, of +which I here speak, involve no subtle questions; they are simply those +views which are attained _independently of the alleged authoritative +information_, and, of course, are founded upon considerations +_earlier_ than it. + +But it would take too much of space and time, and be far too tedious +to my readers, if I were to go in detail through Mr. Rogers's +objections and misrepresentations. I have the sad task of attacking +_his good faith_, to which I further proceed. + +II. In the preface to my second edition of the "Hebrew Monarchy," +I found reason to explain briefly in what sense I use the word +inspiration. I said, I found it to be current in three senses; +"first, as an extraordinary influence peculiar to a few persons, as +to prophets and apostles; secondly, _as an ordinary influence of the +Divine Spirit on the hearts of men, which quickens and strengthens +their moral and spiritual powers_, and is accessible to them all (in +a certain stage of development) _in some proportion to their own +faithfulness._ The third view teaches that genius and inspiration are +two names for one thing.... _Christians for the most part hold the two +first conceptions_, though they generally call the second _spiritual +influence_, not inspiration; the third, seems to be common in the +Old Testament. It so happens that the _second is the only inspiration +which I hold._" [I here super-add the italics] On this passage Mr. +Rogers commented as follows ("Defence" p. 156):-- + +"The latest utterance of Mr. Newman on the subject [of inspiration] +that I have read, occurs in his preface to the second edition of +his "Hebrew Monarchy," where he tells us, that he believes it is an +influence accessible to all men, _in a certain stage of development_! +[Italics.] Surely it will be time to consider his theory of +inspiration, when he has told us a little more about it. To my mind, +if the very genius of mystery had framed the definition, it could not +have uttered anything more indefinite." + +Upon this passage the "Prospective" reviewer said his say as follows +(vol x. p. 217):-- + +"The writer will very considerately defer criticism on Mr. Newman's +indefinite definition, worthy of the genius of mystery, till its +author has told us a little more about it. Will anyone believe that he +himself deliberately omits the substance of the definition, and gives +in its stead a parenthetical qualification, which might be left out of +the original, without injury either to the grammatical structure, +or to the general meaning of the sentence in which it occurs?" He +proceeds to state what I did say, and adds: "Mr. Newman, in the very +page in which this statement occurs, expressly identifies his doctrine +with the ordinary Christian belief of Divine influence. His words are +exactly coincident in sense with those employed by the author of the +"Eclipse," where he acknowledges the reality of 'the ordinary, though +mysterious action, by which God aids those who sincerely seek him in +every good word and work.' The moral faithfulness of which Mr. Newman +speaks, is the equivalent of the sincere search of God in good word +and work, which his opponent talks of." + +I must quote the _entire_ reply given to this in the "Defence," second +edition, p. 224:-- + +"And now for a few examples of my opponent's criticisms. 1. I said +in the "Defence" that I did not understand Mr. Newman's notions of +inspiration, and that, as to his very latest utterance--namely, that +it was an influence _accessible to all men in a certain stage of +development_ [italics], it was utterly unintelligible to me. 'Will any +one believe (says my critic) that he deliberately omits the +substance of the definition, and gives in its stead a parenthetical +qualification, which might be left out of the original without injury +either to the grammatical structure or to the general meaning of +the sentence in which it occurs? Was anything ever more amusing? A +parenthetical clause which might be left out of the original without +injury to the grammatical structure or to the general meaning! _Might_ +be left out? Ay, to be sure it might, and not only 'without injury,' +but with benefit; just as the dead fly which makes the ointment of the +apothecary to stink might be left out of _that_ without injury. But +it was _not_ left out; and it is precisely because it was there, and +diffused so remarkable an odour over the whole, that I characterized +the definition as I did--and most justly. Accessible to all men in +a certain stage of development! When and how _accessible_? What +_species_ of development, I beseech you, is meant? And what is the +_stage_ of it? The very thing, which, as I say, and as everybody of +common sense must see, renders the definition utterly vague, is the +very clause in question." + +Such is his _entire_ notice of the topic. From any other writer I +should indeed have been amazed at such treatment. I had made the +very inoffensive profession of agreeing with the current doctrine of +Christians concerning spiritual influence. As I was not starting any +new theory, but accepting what is notorious, nothing more than an +indication was needed. I gave, what I should not call definition, but +description of it. My critic conceals that I have avowed agreement +with Christians; refers to it as a theory of my own; complains that +it is obscure; pretends to quote my definition, and leaves out all +the cardinal words of it, which I have above printed in italics. My +defender, in the "Prospective Review," exposes these mal-practices; +points out that my opponent is omitting the main words, while +complaining of deficiency; that I profess to agree with Christians in +general; and _that I evidently agree with my critic in particular_. +The critic undertakes to reply to this, and the reader has before him +the whole defence. The man who, as it were, puts his hand on his +heart to avow that he anxiously sets before his readers, if not what +I _mean_, yet certainly what I have _expressed_,--still persists in +hiding from them the facts of the case; avoids to quote from the +reviewer so much as to let out that I profess to agree[8] with what +is prevalent among Christians and have no peculiar theory;--still +withholds the cardinal points of what he calls my definition; while +he tries to lull his reader into inattention by affecting to be +highly amused, and by bantering and bullying in his usual style, while +perverting the plainest words in the world. + +I have no religious press to take my part. I am isolated, as my +assailant justly remarks. For a wonder, a stray review here and +there has run to my aid, while there is a legion on the other +side--newspapers, magazines, and reviews. Now if any orthodox man, any +friend of my assailant, by some chance reads these pages, I beg him to +compare my quotations, thus fully given, with the originals; and if he +find anything false in them, then let him placard me as a LIAR in the +whole of the religious press. But if he finds that I am right, +then let him learn in what sort of man he is trusting--what sort of +champion of _truth_ this religious press has cheered on. + +III. I had complained that Mr. Rogers falsely represented me to make +a fanatical "divorce" between the intellectual and the spiritual, from +which he concluded that I ought to be indifferent as to the worship of +Jehovah or of the image which fell down from Jupiter. He has pretended +that my religion, according to me, has received nothing by traditional +and historical agencies; that it owes nothing to men who went before +me; that I believe I have (in my single unassisted bosom) "a spiritual +faculty so bright as to anticipate all essential[9] spiritual +verities;" that had it not been for traditional religion, "we should +everywhere have heard the invariable utterance of spiritual religion +in the one dialect of the heart,"--that "this divinely implanted +faculty of spiritual discernment anticipates all external truth," +&c. &c. I then adduced passages to show that his statement was +emphatically and utterly contrary to fact. In his "Defence," he thus +replies, p. 75:-- + +"I say with an unfaltering conscience, that no controvertist ever more +honestly and sincerely sought to give his opponent's views, than I +did Mr. Newman's, after the most diligent study of his rather obscure +books; and that whether I have succeeded or not in giving what he +_thought_, I have certainly given what he _expressed_. It is quite +true that I supposed Mr. Newman intended to "divorce" faith and +intellect; and what else on earth could I suppose, in common even +with those who were most leniently disposed towards him, from such +sentiments as these? ALL THE GROUNDS OF BELIEF PROPOSED TO THE MERE +UNDERSTANDING HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH FAITH AT ALL. THE PROCESSES OF +THOUGHT HAVE NOTHING TO QUICKEN THE CONSCIENCE OR AFFECT THE SOUL. +_How then can the state of the soul be tested by the conclusion to +which the intellect is led?_ I was _compelled_, I say, to take these +passages as everybody else took them, to _mean_ what they obviously +_express_." + +Here he so isolates three assertions of mine from their context, as +to suggest for each of them a false meaning, and make it difficult for +the reader who has not my book at hand to discover the delusion. +The first is taken from a discussion of the arguments concerning the +soul's immortality ("Soul," p. 223, 2nd edition), on which I wrote +thus, p. 219:--that to judge of the accuracy of a metaphysical +argument concerning mind and matter, requires not a pure conscience +and a loving soul, but a clear and calm head; that if the doctrine of +immortality be of high religious importance, we cannot believe it to +rest on such a basis, that those in whom the religious faculties are +most developed may be more liable to err concerning it than those +who have no religious faculty in action at all. On the contrary, +concerning truths which are really spiritual it is an obvious +axiom,[10] that "he who is spiritual judgeth all things, and he +himself is judged of no man." After this I proceeded to allude to the +history of the doctrine among the Hebrews, and quoted some texts of +the Psalms, the _argument_ of which, I urged, is utterly inappreciable +to the pure logician, "because it is spiritually discerned." I +continued as follows:-- + +"This is as it should be. Can a mathematician understand physiology, +or a physiologist questions of law? A true love of God in the soul +itself, an insight into Him depending on that love, and a hope rising +out of that insight, are prerequisite for contemplating this spiritual +doctrine, which is a spontaneous impression of the gazing soul, +powerful (perhaps) in proportion to its faith; whereas all the grounds +of belief proposed to the mere understanding have nothing to do with +faith at all." + +I am expounding the doctrine of the great Paul of Tarsus, who indeed +applies it to this very topic,--the future bliss which God has +prepared for them that love him. Does Mr. Rogers attack Paul as making +a fanatical divorce between faith and intellect, and say that he is +_compelled_ so to understand him, when he avows that "the natural man +understandeth not the things of God; for they are foolishness unto +him." "When the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by +the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." Here is +a pretended champion of Evangelical truth seeking to explode as +absurdities the sentiments and judgments which have ever been at the +heart of Christianity, its pride and its glory! + +But I justify my argument as free from fanaticism--and free from +obscurity when the whole sentence is read--to a Jew or Mohammedan, +quite as much as to a Christian. + +My opponent innocently asks, _how much_ I desire him to quote of me? +But is innocence the right word, when he has quoted but two lines and +a half, out of a sentence of seven and a half, and has not even given +the clause complete? By omitting, in his usual way, the connecting +particle _whereas_, he hides from the reader that he has given but +half my thought; and this is done, after my complaint of this very +proceeding. A reader who sees the whole sentence, discerns at once +that I oppose "the _mere_ understanding," to the whole soul; in short, +that by the man who has _mere_ understanding, I mean him whom Paul +calls "the natural man." Such a man may have metaphysical talents and +acquirements, he may be a physiologist or a great lawyer; nay, I +will add, (to shock my opponent's tender nerves), _even if he be an +Atheist_, he may be highly amiable and deserving of respect and love; +but if he has no spiritual development, he cannot have insight into +spiritual truth. Hence such arguments for immortality as _can_ be +appreciated by him, and _cannot_ be appreciated by religious men as +such, "have nothing to do with faith at all" + +The two other passages are found thus, in p. 245 of the "Soul," 2nd +edition. After naming local history, criticism of texts, history of +philosophy, logic, physiology, demonology, and other important but +very difficult studies, I ask:-- + +"Is it not extravagant to call inquiries of this sort _spiritual_ or +to expect any spiritual[11] results from them? When the spiritual +man (as such) cannot judge, the question is removed into a totally +different court from that of the soul, the court of the critical +understanding.... How then can the state of the soul be tested by +the conclusion to which the intellect is led? What means the +anathematizing of those who remain unconvinced? And how can it be +imagined that the Lord of the soul cares more about a historical +than about a geological, metaphysical, or mathematical argument? The +processes of thought have nothing to quicken the conscience or affect +the soul." + +From my defender in the "Prospective Review" I learn that in the first +edition of the "Defence" the word _thought_ in the last sentence above +was placed in italics. He not only protested against this and other +italics as misleading, but clearly explained my sense, which, as I +think, needs no other interpreter than the context. In the new edition +the italics are removed, but the unjust isolation of the sentences +remains. "_The_ processes of thought," of which I spoke, are not +"_all_ processes," but the processes _involved in the abstruse +inquiries to which I had referred_. To say that _no_ processes of +thought quicken the conscience, or affect the soul, would be a gross +absurdity. This, or nothing else, is what he imputes to me; and even +after the protest made by the "Prospective" reviewer, my assailant not +only continues to hide that I speak of _certain_ processes of thought, +not _all_ processes, but even has the hardihood to say that he takes +the passages as _everybody else_ does, and that he is _compelled_ so +to do. + +In my own original reply I appealed to places where I had fully +expressed my estimate of intellectual progress, and its ultimate +beneficial action. All that I gain by this, is new garblings and +taunts for inconsistency. "Mr. Newman," says be, "is the last man +in the world to whom I would deny the benefit of having contradicted +himself." But I must confine myself to the garbling. "Defence," p. +95:-- + +"Mr. Newman affirms that my representations of his views on this +subject are the most direct and intense reverse of all that he has +most elaborately and carefully written!" He still says, "_what_ +God reveals, he reveals within and not without," and "he _did_ say +(though, it seems, he says no longer), that 'of God we know everything +from within, nothing from without;' yet he says I have grossly +misrepresented him." + +This pretended quotation is itself garbled. I wrote, ("Phases," 1st +edition, p. 152)--"Of _our moral and spiritual_ God we know nothing +without, everything within." By omitting the adjectives, the critic +produces a statement opposed to my judgment and to my writings; +and then goes on to say. "Well, if Mr. Newman will engage to prove +contradictions,... I think it is no wonder that his readers do not +understand him." + +I believe it is a received judgment, which I will not positively +assert to be true, but I do not think I have anywhere denied, that +God is discerned by us in the universe as a designer, creator, and +mechanical ruler, through a mere study of the world and its animals +and all their adaptations, _even without_ an absolute necessity of +meditating consciously on the intelligence of man and turning the +eyes within. Thus a creative God may be said to be discerned "from +without." But in my conviction, that God is not _so_ discerned to be +_moral_ or _spiritual_ or to be _our_ God; but by moral intellect and +moral experience acting "inwardly." If Mr. Rogers chooses to deny the +justness of my view, let him deny it; but by omitting the emphatic +adjectives he has falsified my sentence, and then has founded upon it +a charge of inconsistency. In a previous passage (p. 79) he gave this +quotation in full, in order to reproach me for silently withdrawing it +in my second edition of the "Phases." He says:-- + +"The two sentences in small capitals are not found in the new edition +of the 'Phases.' _They are struck out_. It is no doubt the right of an +author to erase in a new edition any expressions he pleases; but +when he is about to charge another with having grossly garbled and +stealthily misrepresented him, it is as well to let the world know +_what_ he has erased and _why_. He says that my representation of his +sentiments is the most direct and intense reverse of all that he +has most elaborately and carefully written. It certainly is not the +intense reverse of all that he has most elaborately and carefully +_scratched out_." + +I exhibit here the writer's own italics. + +By this attack on my good faith, and by pretending that my withdrawal +of the passage is of serious importance, he distracts the reader's +attention from the argument there in hand (p. 79), which is, _not_ +what are my sentiments and judgements, but whether he had a right +to dissolve and distort my chain of reasoning (see I. above) while +affecting to quote me, and pretending that I gave nothing but +assertion. As regards my "elaborately and carefully _scratching out_," +this was done; 1. Because the passage seemed to me superfluous; 2. +Because I had pressed the topic elsewhere; 3. Because I was going to +enlarge on it in my reply to him, p. 199 of my second edition.[12] +When the real place comes where my critic is to deal with the +substance of the passage (p. 94 of "Defence"), the reader has seen how +he mutilates it. + +The other passage of mine which he has adduced, employs the word +_reveals_, in a sense analogous to that of _revelation_, in avowed +relation to _things moral and spiritual_, which would have been seen, +had not my critic reversed the order of my sentences; which he does +again in p. 78 of the "Defence," after my protest against his doing so +in the "Eclipse." I wrote: (Soul, p. 59) "Christianity itself has +thus practically confessed, what is theoretically clear, that an +authoritative _external_ revelation of moral and spiritual truth is +essentially impossible to man. What God reveals to us, he reveals +_within_, through the medium of our moral and spiritual senses." +The words, "What God reveals," seen in the light of the preceding +sentence, means: "That portion of _moral and spiritual truth_ which +God reveals." This cannot be discovered in the isolated quotation; and +as, both in p. 78 and in p. 95, he chooses to quote my word _What_ in +italics, his reader is led on to interpret me as saying "_every thing +whatsoever_ which we know of God, we learn from within;" a statement +which is not mine. + +Besides this, the misrepresentation of which I complained is not +confined to the rather metaphysical words of _within_ and _without_, +as to which the most candid friends may differ, and may misunderstand +one another;--as to which also I may be truly open to correction;--but +he assumes the right to tell his readers that my doctrine undervalues +Truth, and Intellect, and Traditional teaching, and External +suggestion, and Historical influences, and counts the Bible an +impertinence. When he fancies he can elicit this and that, by his own +logic, out of sentences and clauses torn from their context, he has +no right to disguise what I have said to the contrary, and claim to +justify his fraud by accusing me of self-contradiction. Against all +my protests, and all that I said to the very opposite previous to +any controversy, he coolly alludes to it (p. 40 of the "Defence") +as though it were my avowed doctrine, that: "_Each_ man, looking +exclusively within, can _at once_ rise to the conception of God's +infinite perfections." + +IV. When I agree with Paul or David (or think I do), I have a right +to quote their words reverentially; but when I do so, Mr. Rogers +deliberately justifies himself in ridiculing them, pretending that he +only ridicules _me_. He thus answers my indignant denunciation in the +early part of his "Defence," p. 5:-- + +"Mr. Newman warns me with much solemnity against thinking that +'questions pertaining to God are advanced by boisterous glee.' I do +not think that the 'Eclipse' is characterised by boisterous glee; and +certainly I was not at all aware, that the things which _alone_[13] +I have ridiculed--some of them advanced by him, and some by +others--deserved to be treated with solemnity. For example, that an +authoritative external revelation,[14] which most persons have thought +possible enough, is _im_possible,--that man is most likely born for +a dog's life, and 'there an end'--that there are great defects in the +morality of the New Testament, and much imperfection in the character +of its founder,--that the miracles of Christ might be real, because +Christ was a _clairvoyant_ and mesmerist,--that God was not a Person, +but a Personality;--I say, I was not aware that these things, and such +as these, which alone I ridiculed, were questions 'pertaining to God,' +in any other sense than the wildest hypotheses in some sense pertain +to science, and the grossest heresies to religion." + +Now first, is his statement true? + +_Are_ these the _only_ things which he ridiculed? + +I quoted in my reply to him enough to show what was the class of +"things pertaining to God" to which I referred. He forces me to +requote some of the passages. "Eclipse," p. 82 [1st ed.] "You shall be +permitted to say (what I will not contradict), that though _Mr. Newman +may be inspired_ for aught I know ... inspired as much as (say) _the +inventor of Lucifer matches_--yet that his book is not divine,--that +it is purely human." + +Again: p. 126 [1st ed.] "Mr. Newman says to those who say they +are unconscious of these facts of spiritual pathology, that _the +consciousness of the spiritual man is not the less true, that_ +[though?] _the unspiritual man is not privy to it_; and this most +devout gentleman quotes with unction the words: _For the spiritual man +judgeth all things, but himself is judged of no man_." + +P. 41, [1st ed.], "I have rejected creeds, and I have found what the +Scripture calls, _that peace which passeth all understanding_." "I am +sure it passes mine, (says Harrington) if you have really found it, +and I should be much obliged to you, if you would let me participate +in the discovery." "Yes, says Fellowes:... '_I have escaped from the +bondage of the letter and have been introduced into the liberty of the +Spirit.... The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. The fruit +of the Spirit is joy, peace, not_--'" "Upon my word (said Harrington, +laughing), I shall presently begin to fancy that Douce Davie Deans has +turned infidel." + +I have quoted enough to show the nature of my complaints. I charge the +satirist with profanity, for ridiculing sentiments which _he himself_ +avows to be holy, ridiculing them for no other reason but that with +_me also_ they are holy and revered. He justifies himself in p. 5 +of his "Defence," as above, by denying my facts. He afterwards, in +Section XII. p. 147, admits and defends them; to which I shall return. + +I beg my reader to observe how cleverly Mr. Rogers slanders me in the +quotation already made, from p. 5, by insinuating, first, that it is +my doctrine, "that man is _most likely_ born for _a dog's life_, +and there an end;" next, that I have taken under my patronage the +propositions, that "the miracles of Christ might be real, because +Christ was a _clairvoyant_ and mesmerist, and that God is not a Person +but a Personality." I cannot but be reminded of what the "Prospective" +reviewer says of Zeuxis and the grapes, when I observe the delicate +skill of touch by which the critic puts on just enough colour to +affect the reader's mind, but not so much as to draw him to closer +examination. I am at a loss to believe that he supposes me to think +that a theory of mesmeric wonders (as the complement of an atheistic +creed?) is "a question pertaining to God," or that my rebuke bore the +slightest reference to such a matter. As to Person and Personality, it +is a subtle distinction which I have often met from Trinitarians; who, +when they are pressed with the argument that three divine Persons +are nothing but three Gods, reply that Person is not the correct +translation of the mystical _Hypostasis_ of the Greeks, and +Personality is perhaps a truer rendering. If I were to answer with +the jocosity in which my critic indulges, I certainly doubt whether +he would justify me. So too, when a Pantheist objects (erringly, as +I hold) that a Person is necessarily something finite, so that God +cannot be a Person; if, against this, a Theist contend that God is +at once a Person and a Principle, and invent a use of the word +Personality to overlap both ideas; we may reject his nomenclature as +too arbitrary, but what rightful place ridicule has here, I do not +see. Nevertheless, it had wholly escaped my notice that the satirist +had ridiculed it, as I now infer that he did. + +He tells me he _was not aware_ that the holding that _there are great +defects in the morality of the New Testament, and much imperfection in +the character of its Founder, was a question pertaining to God_. Nor +indeed was _I_ aware of it. + +I regard questions concerning a book and a human being to be purely +secular, and desire to discuss them, not indeed with ridicule but +with freedom. When _I_ discuss them, he treats my act as intolerably +offensive, as though the subject were sacred; yet he now pretends that +_I_ think such topics "pertain to God," and he was not aware of it +until I told him so! Thus he turns away the eyes of his readers from +my true charge of profanity, and fixes them upon a fictitious charge +so as to win a temporary victory. At the same time, since Christians +believe the morality of the _Old_ Testament to have great defects, +and that there was much imperfection in the character of its eminent +saints, prophets, and sages; I cannot understand how my holding +the very same opinion concerning the _New_ Testament should be a +peculiarly appropriate ground of banter and merriment; nor make me +more justly offensive to Christians, than the Pauline doctrine is to +Jews. + +In more than one place of this "Defence" he misrepresents what I have +written on Immortality, in words similar to those here used, though +here he does _not_[15] expressly add my name. In p. 59, he says, +that "according to Mr. Newman's theology, it is most _probable_ +(in italics) that the successive generations of men, with perfect +indifference to their relative moral conditions, their crimes +or wrongs, are all knocked on the head together; and that future +adjustment and retribution is a dream." (So p. 72.) In a note to the +next page, he informs his readers that if I say that I have left the +question of immortality _doubtful_, it does not affect the argument; +for I have admitted "the probability" of there being no future life. + +This topic was specially discussed by me in a short chapter of my +treatise on the "Soul," to which alone it is possible for my critic to +refer. In that chapter assuredly I do _not_ say what he pretends; what +I _do_ say is, (after rejecting, as unsatisfactory to me, the popular +arguments from metaphysics, and from the supposed need of a future +state to _redress the inequalities of this life_;) p. 232: "But do I +then deny a future life, or seek to undermine a belief of it? _Most +assuredly not_; but I would put the belief (whether it is to be weaker +or firmer) on a _spiritual_ basis, and on none other." + +I am ashamed to quote further from that chapter in this place; the +ground on which I there tread is too sacred for controversy. But that +a Christian advocate should rise from reading it to tell people that +he has a right to _ridicule_ me for holding that "man is _most likely +born for a dog's life_, and there an end;" absorbs my other feelings +in melancholy. I am sure that any candid person, reading that chapter, +must see that I was hovering between doubt, hope, and faith, on this +subject, and that if any one could show me that a Moral Theism and a +Future Life were essentially combined, I should joyfully embrace +the second, as a fit complement to the first. This writer takes the +opposite for granted; that if he can convince me that the doctrine of +a Future Life is essential to Moral Theism, he will--not _add_ to--but +_refute_ my Theism! Strange as this at first appears, it is explained +by his method. He draws a hideous picture of what God's world has been +in the past, and indeed is in the present; with words so reeking +of disgust and cruelty, that I cannot bear to quote them; and ample +quotation would be needful. Then he infers, that since I must admit +all this, I virtually believe in an immoral Deity. I suppose his +instinct rightly tells him, that I shall not be likely to reason, +"Because God can be so very cruel or careless to-day, he is sure to +be very merciful and vigilant hereafter." Accepting his facts as +a _complete_ enumeration of the phenomena of the present world, I +suppose it is better inductive logic to say: "He who can be himself so +cruel, and endure such monsters of brutality for six or more thousand +years, must (by the laws of external induction) be the same, and +leave men the same, for all eternity; and is clearly reckless of moral +considerations." If I adopt this alternative, I become a Pagan or an +Atheist, one or other of which Mr. Rogers seems anxious to make me. +If he would urge, that to look at the dark and terrible side of human +life is onesided and delusive, and that the God who is known to us +in Nature has so tempered the world to man and man to the world as to +manifest his moral intentions;--(arguments, which I think, my critic +must have heard from Socrates or Plato, without pooling out on them +scalding words, such as I feel and avow to be blasphemous;)--then he +might perhaps help my faith where it is weakest, and give me (more or +less) aid to maintain a future life dogmatically, instead of hopefully +and doubtfully. But now, to use my friend Martineau's words: "His +method doubles every difficulty without relieving any, and tends to +enthrone a Devil everywhere, and leave a God nowhere." + +Since he wrote his second edition of the "Defence," I have brought out +my work called "Theism," in which (without withdrawing my objections +to the popular idea of future _Retribution_) I have tried to reason +out a doctrine of Future Life from spiritual considerations. I have no +doubt that my critic would find them highly aboard, and perhaps would +pronounce them ineffably ludicrous, and preposterous feats of logic. +If I could hide their existence from him, I certainly would, lest he +misquote and misinterpret them. But as I cannot keep the book from +him, I here refer to it to say, that if I am to maintain this most +profound and mysterious doctrine with any practical intensity, +my convictions in the power of the human mind to follow such high +inquiries, need to be greatly _strengthened_, not to be undermined +by such arguments and such detestable pictures of this world, as Mr. +Rogers holds up to me. + +He throws at me the imputation of holding, that "man is _most likely_ +born for a _dog's life_, and there an end." And is then the life of +a saint for seventy years, or for seven years, no better than a dog's +life? What else but a _long_ dog's life does this make heaven to be? +Such an undervaluing of a short but noble life, is consistent with +the scheme which blasphemes earth in order to ennoble heaven, and then +claims to be preeminently logical. According to the clear evidence of +the Bible, the old saints in general were at least as uncertain as I +have ever been concerning future life; nay, according to the writer +to the Hebrews, "through fear of death they were all their lifetime +subject to bondage." If I had called _that_ a dog's life, how +eloquently would Mr. Rogers have rebuked me! + +V. But I must recur to his defence of the profanity with which he +treats sacred sentiments and subjects. After pretending, in p. 5, that +he had ridiculed nothing but the things quoted above, he at length, +in pp. 147-156, makes formal admission of my charge and _justifies +himself_. The pith of his general reply is in the following, p. 152:-- + +"'Now (says Mr. Newman) I will not here farther insist on the +monstrosity of bringing forward St. Paul's words in order to pour +contempt upon them; a monstrosity which no sophistry of Mr. Harrington +can justify!' I think the _real_ monstrosity is, that men should +so coolly employ St. Paul's words,--for it is a quotation from the +treatise on the "Soul,"--to mean something totally different from +anything he intended to convey by them, and employ the dialect of the +Apostles to contradict their doctrines; that is the monstrosity ... It +is very hard to conceive that Mr. Newman did not see this.... But had +he gone on only a few lines, the reader would have seen Harrington +saying: 'These words you have just quoted were well in St. Paul's +mouth, and had a meaning. In yours, I suspect, they would have none, +or a very different one.'" + +According to this doctrine of Mr. Rogers, it would not have been +profane in an unbelieving Jew to _make game_ of Moses, David, and the +Prophets, whenever they were quoted by Paul. The Jew most profoundly +believed that Paul quoted the old Scriptures in a false, as well as in +a new meaning. One Christian divine does not feel free to ridicule +the words of Paul when quoted erroneously (as he thinks) by another +Christian divine? Why then, when quoted by me? I hold it to be a great +insolence to deny my right to quote Paul or David, as much as Plato +or Homer, and adopt their language whenever I find it to express my +sentiment. Mr. Rogers's claim to deride highly spiritual truth, barely +because I revere it, is a union of inhumanity and impiety. He has +nowhere shown that Paul meant something "totally different" from +the sense which I put on his words. I know that he cannot. I do +not pretend always to bind myself to the definite sense of my +predecessors; nor did the writers of the New Testament. They often +adopt and apply _in an avowedly new sense_ the words of the Old +Testament; so does Dr. Watts with the Hebrew Psalms. Such adaptation, +in the way of development and enlargement, when done with sincerely +pious intention, has never been reproved or forbidden by Christians, +Whether I am wise or unwise in my interpretations, the _subject_ is a +sacred one, and I treat it solemnly; and no errors in my "logic" can +justify Mr. Rogers in putting on the mask of a profane sceptic, who +scoffs (not once or twice, but through a long book) at the most +sacred and tender matters, such as one always dreads to bring before a +promiscuous public, lest one cast pearls before swine. And yet unless +devotional books be written, especially by those who have as yet +no church, how are we to aid one another in the uphill straggle +to maintain some elements of a heavenly life? Can anything be more +heartless, or more like the sneering devil they talk of, than Mr. +Harrington? And here one who professes himself a religions man, +and who deliberately, after protest, calls _me_ an INFIDEL, is not +satisfied with having scoffed in an hour of folly--(in such an hour, +I can well believe, that melancholy record the "Eclipse of Faith," +was first penned)--but he persists in justifying his claim to jeer +and snarl and mutilate, and palm upon me senses which he knows are +deliberately disavowed by me, all the while pretending that it is my +bad logic which justifies him! We know that very many religious men +_are_ bad logicians: if I am as puzzle-headed a fool as Mr. Rogers +would make people think me, how does that justify his mocking at my +religion? He justifies himself on the ground that I criticize the New +Testament as freely as I should Cicero (p. 147). Well, then let him +criticize me, as freely (and with as little of suppression) as I +criticize it. But I do not _laugh_ at it; God forbid! The reader will +see how little reason Mr. Rogers had to imagine that I had not read +so far as to see Harrington's defence; which defence is, either an +insolent assumption, or at any rate not to the purpose. + +I will here add, that I have received letters from numerous Christians +to thank me for my book on the "Soul," in such terms as put the +conduct of Mr. Rogers into the most painful contrast: painful, as +showing that there are other Christians who know, and _he does not +know_, what is the true heart and strength of Christianity. He trusts +in logic and ridicules the Spirit of God. + +That leads me to his defence of his suggestion that I might be +possibly as much inspired as the inventor of lucifer matches. He says, +p. 154:-- + +"Mr. Newman tells me, that I have clearly a profound unbelief in the +Christian doctrine of divine influence, or I could not thus grossly +insult it I answer... that which Harrington ridiculed, as the context +would have shown Mr. Newman, if he had had the patience to read +on, and the calmness to judge, is the chaotic view of inspiration, +_formally_ held by Mr. Parker, who is _expressly_ referred to, +"Eclipse," p. 81." In 9th edition, p. 71. + +The passage concerning Mr. Parker is in the _preceding_ page: I had +read it, and I do not see how it at all relieves the disgust which +every right-minded man must feel at this passage. My disgust is not +personal: though I might surely ask,--If Parker has made a mistake, +how does that justify insulting _me_? As I protested, I have made +no peculiar claim to inspiration. I have simply claimed "that which +all[16] pious Jews and Christians since David have always claimed." +Yet he pertinaciously defends this rude and wanton passage, adding, p. +155: "As to the inventor of lucifer matches, I am thoroughly convinced +that he has shed more light upon the world and been abundantly more +useful to it, than many a cloudy expositor of modern spiritualism." +Where to look for the "many" expositors of spiritualism, I do not +know. Would they were more numerous. + +Mr. Parker differs from me as to the use of the phrase "Spirit of +God." I see practical reasons, which I have not here space to insist +on, for adhering to the _Christian_, as distinguished from the +_Jewish_ use of this phrase. Theodore Parkes follows the phraseology +of the Old Testament, according to which Bezaleel and others received +the spirit of God to aid them in mere mechanical arts, building and +tailoring. To ridicule Theodore Parker for this, would seem to me +neither witty nor decent in an unbeliever; but when one does so, who +professes to believe the whole Old Testament to be sacred, and stoops +to lucifer matches and the Eureka shirt, as if this were a refutation, +I need a far severer epithet. Mr. Rogers implies that the light of a +lucifer match is comparable to the light of Theodore Parker; what will +be the judgment of mankind a century hence, if the wide dissemination +of the "Eclipse of Faith" lead to inscribing the name of Henry Rogers +permanently in biographical dictionaries! Something of this sort may +appear:-- + +"THEODORE PARKER, the most eminent moral theologian whom the first +half of the nineteenth century produced in the United States. When the +churches were so besotted, as to uphold the curse of slavery because +they found it justified in the Bible; when the Statesmen, the Press, +the Lawyers, and the Trading Community threw their weight to the same +fatal side; Parker stood up to preach the higher law of God against +false religion, false statesmanship, crooked law and cruel avarice. +He enforced three great fundamental truths, God, Holiness, and +Immortality. He often risked life and fortune to rescue the fugitive +slave. After a short and very active life full of good works, he died +in blessed peace, prematurely worn out by his perpetual struggle for +the true, the right, and the good. His preaching is the crisis which +marked the turn of the tide in America from the material to the moral, +which began to enforce the eternal laws of God on trade, on law, on +administration, and on the professors of religion itself." + +And what will be then said of him, who now despises the noble +Parker? I hope something more than the following:--"HENRY ROGERS, an +accomplished gentleman and scholar, author of many books, of which +by far the most popular was a smart satirical dialogue, disfigured by +unjustifiable garbling and profane language, the aim of which was +to sneer down Theodore Parker and others who were trying to save +spiritual doctrine out of the wreck of historical Christianity." + +Jocose scoffing, and dialogue writing is the easiest of tasks; and +if Mr. Rogers's co-religionists do not take the alarm, and come in +strength upon Messrs. Longman, imploring them to suppress these books +of Mr. Rogers, persons who despise _all_ religion (with whom Mr. +Rogers pertinaciously confounds me under the term infidel), may one of +these days imitate his sprightly example against his creed and church. +He himself seems to me at present incurable. I do not appeal to _him_, +I appeal to his co-religionists, how they would like the publication +of a dialogue, in which his free and easy sceptic "Mr. Harrington" +might reason on the _opposite_ side to that pliable and candid man +of straw "Mr. Fellowes?" I here subjoin for their consideration, an +imaginary extract of the sort which, by their eager patronage of the +"Eclipse of Faith," they are inviting against themselves. + +_Extract._ + +I say, Fellowes! (said Harrington), what was that, that Parker and +Rogers said about the Spirit of God? + +Excuse me (said Fellowes), Theodore Parker and Henry Rogers hold very +different views, Mr. Rogers would be much hurt to bear you class him +with Parker. + +I know (replied he), but they both hold that God inspires people; and +that is a great point in common, as I view it. Does not Mr. Rogers +believe the Old Testament inspired and all of it true? + +Certainly (said Fellowes): at least he was much shocked with Mr. +Newman for trying to discriminate its chaff from its wheat. + +Well then, he believes, does not he, that Jehovah filled men _with the +spirit of wisdom_ to help them make a suit of clothes for Aaron! + +Fellowes, after a pause, replied:--That is certainly written in the +28th chapter of Exodus. + +Now, my fine fellow! (said Harrington), here is a question to _rile_ +Mr. Rogers. If Aaron's toggery needed one portion of the spirit of +wisdom from Jehovah, how many portions does the Empress Eugenie's best +crinoline need? + +Really (said Fellowes, somewhat offended), such ridicule seems to me +profane. + +Forgive me, dear friend (replied Harrington, with a sweet smile). +_Your_ views I never will ridicule; for I know you have imbibed +somewhat of Francis Newman's fancy, that one ought to feel tenderly +towards other men's piety. But Henry Rogers is made of stouter stuff; +he manfully avows that a religion, if it is true, ought to stand the +test of ridicule, and he deliberately approves this weapon of attack. + +I cannot deny that (said Fellowes, lifting his eyebrows). + +But I was going to ask (continued Harrington) whether Mr. Rogers does +not believe that Jehovah filled Bezaleel with the Spirit of God, for +the work of jeweller, coppersmith, and mason? + +Of course he does (answered Fellowes), the text is perfectly clear, in +the 31st of Exodus; Bezaleel and Aholiab were both inspired to become +cunning workmen. + +By the Goose (said Harrington)--forgive a Socratic oath--I really do +not see that Mr. Rogers differs much from Theodore Parker. If a man +cannot hack a bit of stone or timber without the Spirit of God, Mr. +Rogers will have hard work to convince me, that any one can make a +rifled cannon without the Spirit of God. + +There is something in that (said Fellowes). In fact, I have sometimes +wondered how Mr. Rogers could say that which _looks_ so profane, as +what he said about the Eureka shirt. + +Pray what is that? (said Harrington;) and where? + +It is in his celebrated "Defence," 2nd edition, p. 155. "_If_ Minos +and Praxiteles are inspired in the same sense as Moses and Christ, +then the inventor of lucifer matches, as well as the inventor of the +Eureka shirts, must be also admitted"--to be inspired. + +Do you mean that he is trying to save the credit of Moses, by +maintaining that the Spirit of God which guides a sculptor is _not_ +the same in kind as that which guides a saint? + +No (replied Fellowes, with surprise), he is not defending Moses; he is +attacking Parker. + +Bless me (said Harrington, starting up), what is become of the man's +logic! Why, Parker and Moses are in the same boat. Mr. Rogers fires at +it, in hope to sink Parker; and does not know that he is sending old +Moses to Davy's locker. + +Now this is too bad (said Fellowes), I really cannot bear it. + +Nah! Nah! good friend (said Harrington, imploringly), be calm; and +remember, we have agreed that ridicule--against _Mr. Rogers_, not +against _you_--is fair play. + +That is true (replied Fellowes with more composure). + +Now (said Harrington, with a confidential air), you are my friend, and +I will tell you a secret--be sure you tell no one--I think that Henry +Rogers, Theodore Parker, and Francis Newman are three ninnies; all +wrong; for they all profess to believe in divine inspiration: yet they +are not ninnies of the same class. I _admit_ to Mr. Rogers that there +is a real difference. + +How do you mean (said Fellowes, with curiosity aroused)? + +Why (said Harrington, pausing and becoming impressive), Newman is +a flimsy mystic; he has no foundation, but he builds logically +enough--at least as far as I see--on his fancies and other people's +fancies. This is to be a simple ninny. But Mr. Rogers fancies he +believes a mystical religion, and doesn't; and fancies he is very +logical, and isn't. This is to be a doubly distilled ninny. + +Really I do not call this ridicule, Mr. Harrington (said Fellowes, +rising), I must call it slander. What right have you to say that Mr. +Rogers does not believe in the holy truths of the New Testament? + +Surely (replied Harrington) I have just _as_ much right as Mr. Rogers +has to say that Mr. Newman does not believe the holy sentiments of +St. Paul, when Mr. Newman says he does. Do you remember how Mr. Rogers +told him it was absurd for an infidel like him to third: he was in a +condition to rebuke any one for being profane, or fancy he had a right +to say that he believed this and that mystical text of Paul, which, +Mr. Rogers avows, Newman _totally_ mistakes and does _not_ believe as +Paul meant it. Now I may be very wrong; but I augur that Newman _does_ +understand Paul, and Rogers does _not_. For Rogers is of the Paley +school, and a wit; and a brilliant chap he is, like Macaulay. Such men +cannot be mystics nor Puritans in Pauline fashion; they cannot bear +to hear of a religion _from within_; but, as I heard a fellow say the +other day, Newman has never worked off the Puritan leaven. + +Well (said Fellowes), but why do you call Mr. Rogers illogical? + +I think you have seen one instance already, but that is a trifle +compared to his fundamental blunder (said Harrington). + +What can you mean? how fundamental (asked his friend)? + +Why, he says, that _I_ (for instance) who have so faith whatever +in what he calls revelation, cannot have any just belief or sure +knowledge of the moral qualities of God; in fact, am logically bound +(equally with Mr. Newman) to regard God as _im_moral, if I judge by my +own faculties alone. Does he not say that? + +Unquestionably; he has a whole chapter (ch. III.) of his "Defence" to +enforce this on Mr. Newman (replied Fellowes). + +Well, next, he tells me, that when the Christian message, as from God, +is presented to me, I am to believe it on the word of a God whom I +suppose to be, or _ought_ to suppose to be, immoral. If I suppose A B +a rogue, shall I believe the message which the rogue sends me? + +Surely, Harrington, you forget that you are speaking of God, not of +man: you ought not to reason so (said Fellowes, somewhat agitated). + +Surely, Fellowes, it is _you_ who forget (retorted Harrington) that +syllogism depends on form, not on matter. Whether it be God or Man, +makes no difference; the logic must be tried by turning the terms into +X Y Z. But I have not said all Mr. Rogers says, I am bound to throw +away the moral principles which I already have, at the bidding of a +God whom I am bound to believe to be immoral. + +No, you are unfair (said Fellowes), I know he says that revelation +would confirm and _improve_ your moral principles. + +But I am _not_ unfair. It is he who argues in a circle. What will be +_improvement_, is the very question pending. He says, that if Jehovah +called to me from heaven, "O Harrington! O Harrington! take thine +innocent son, thine only son, lay him on the altar and kill him," I +should be bound to regard obedience to the command an _improvement_ +of my morality; and this, though, up to the moment when I heard +the voice, I had been _bound logically_ to believe Jehovah to be an +IMMORAL God. What think you of that for logic? + +I confess (said Fellowes, with great candour) I must yield up my +friend's reputation as a _logician_; and I begin to think he was +unwise in talking so contemptuously of Mr. Newman's reasoning +faculties. But in truth, I love my friend for the great _spiritual_ +benefits I have derived from him and cannot admit to you that he is +not a very sincere believer in mystical Christianity. + +What benefits, may I ask? (said Harrington). + +I have found by his aid the peace which passeth understanding (replied +he). + +It passes my understanding, if you have (answered Harrington, +laughing), and I shall be infinitely obliged by your allowing me to +participate in the discovery. In plain truth, I do not trust your +mysticism. + +But are you in a condition to form an opinion? (said Fellowes, with +a serious air). Mr. Rogers has enforced on me St. Paul's maxim: "The +natural man discerneth not the things of the Spirit of God." + +My most devout gentleman I (replied Harrington), how unctuous you are! +Forgive my laughing; but it does _so_ remind me of Douce Davie Deans. +I will make you professor of spiritual insight, &c., &c., &c. + + * * * * * + +Now is not this disgusting? Might I not justly call the man a "profane +dog" who approved of it? Yet everything that is worst here _is closely +copied from the Eclipse of Faith, or justified by the Defence_. How +long will it be before English Christians cry out Shame against those +two books? + +VI. I must devote a few words to define the direction and +justification of my argument in one chapter of this treatise. All good +arguments are not rightly addressed to all persons. An argument good +in itself may be inappreciable to one in a certain mental state, or +may be highly exasperating. If a thoughtful Mohammedan, a searcher +after truth, were to confide to a Christian a new basis on which be +desired to found the Mohammedan religion--viz., the absolute moral +perfection of its prophet, and were to urge on the Christian this +argument in order to convert him, I cannot think that any one would +blame the Christian for demanding what is the evidence of the _fact_. +Such an appeal would justify his dissecting the received accounts of +Mohammed, pointing out what appeared to be flaws in his moral conduct; +nay, if requisite, urging some positive vice, such as his excepting +himself from his general law of _four wives only_. But a Christian +missionary would surely be blamed (at least I should blame him), if, +in preaching to a mixed multitude of Mohammedans against the authority +of their prophet, he took as his basis of refutation the prophet's +personal sensuality. We are able to foresee that the exasperation +produced by such an argument must derange the balance of mind in the +hearers, even if the argument is to the purpose; at the same time, it +may be really away from the purpose to _them_, if their belief has +no closer connexion with the personal virtue of the prophet, than has +that of Jews and Christians with the virtue of Balaam or Jonah. I will +proceed to imagine, that while a missionary was teaching, talking, and +distributing tracts to recommend, his own views of religion, a Moolah +were to go round and inform everybody that this Christian believed +Mohammed to be an unchaste man, and had used the very argument to such +and such a person. I feel assured that we should all pronounce this +proceeding to be a very cunning act of spiteful, bigotry. + +My own case, as towards certain Unitarian friends of mine, is quite +similar to this. They preach to me the absolute moral perfection of a +certain man (or rather, of a certain portrait) as a sufficient basis +for my faith. Hereby they challenge me, and as it were force me, to +inquire into its perfection. I have tried to confine the argument +within a narrow circle. It is addressed by me specifically to them +and not to others. I would _not_ address it to Trinitarians; partly, +because they are not in a mental state to get anything from it +but pain, partly because much of it becomes intrinsically bad _as +argument_ when addressed to them. Many acts and words which would be +_right_ from an incarnate God, or from an angel, are (in my opinion) +highly _unbecoming_ from a man; consequently I must largely remould +the argument before I could myself approve of it, if so addressed. +The principle of the argument is such as Mr. Rogers justifies, when +he says that Mr. Martineau _quite takes away all solid reasons for +believing in Christ's absolute perfection._ ("Defence," p. 220.) I +opened my chapter (chapter VII.) above with a distinct avowal of my +wish to confine the perusal of it to a very limited circle. Mr. Rogers +(acting, it seems, on the old principle, that whatever one's enemy +deprecates, is a good) instantly pounces on the chapter, avows that +"if infidelity _could_ be ruined, such imprudencies[17] would go +far to ruin it," p. 22; and because he believes that it will be +"unspeakably[18] painful" to the orthodox for whom I do _not_ intend +it, he prints the greater part of it in an Appendix, and expresses his +regret that he cannot publish "every syllable of it," p. 22. Such is +his tender regard for the feeling of his co-religionists. + +My defender in the "Prospective Review" wound up as follows (x. p. +227):-- + +"And now we have concluded our painful task, which nothing but a +feeling of what justice--literary, and personal--required, would have +induced us to undertake. The tone of intellectual disparagement +and moral rebuke which certain critics,--deceived by the shallowest +sophisms with which an unscrupulous writer could work on their +prepossessions and insult their understandings--have adopted towards +Mr. Newman made exposure necessary. The length to which our remarks +have extended requires apology. Evidence to character is necessarily +cumulative, and not easily compressible within narrow limits. Enough +has been said to show that there is not an art discreditable in +controversy, to which recourse is not freely had in the 'Eclipse of +Faith' and the Defence of it." + +The reader must judge for himself whether this severe and terrible +sentence of the reviewer proceeds from ill-temper and personal +mortification, as the author of the Eclipse and its Defence +gratuitously lays down, or whether it was prompted by a sense of +justice, as he himself affirms. + + +[Footnote 1: The "Eclipse" had previously been noticed in the same +review, on the whole favourably, by a writer of evidently a different +religious school, and before I had exposed the evil arts of my +assailant.] + +[Footnote 2: The authorship is since acknowledged by Mr. Henry Rogers, +in the title to his article on Bishop Butler in the "Encyclopaedia +Britannica."] + +[Footnote 3: That is, my "discovery" that the writer of the "Eclipse +of Faith" grossly misquotes and misinterprets me.] + +[Footnote 4: Page 225, he says, that each criticism "is quite worthy +of Mr. Newman's _friend_, defender and admirer;" assuming a fact, in +order to lower my defender's credit with his readers.] + +[Footnote 5: As he puts "artful dodge" into quotation marks, his +readers will almost inevitably believe that this vulgar language is +mine. In the same spirit to speaks of me as "making merry" with a Book +Revelation; as if I had the slightest sympathy or share in the style +and tone which pervades the "Eclipse." But there is no end of such +things to be denounced.] + +[Footnote 6: Italics in the original.] + +[Footnote 7: In the ninth edition, p. 104, I find that to cover the +formal falsehood of these words, he adds: "what he calls his arguments +are assertions only," still withholding that which would confute him.] + +[Footnote 8: I will here add, that this "stinking fly"--the +parenthesis ("in a certain stage of development")--was added merely +to avoid dogmatizing on the question, how early in human history or in +human life this mysterious notion of the divine spirit is recognizable +as commencing.] + +[Footnote 9: If the word _essential_ is explained away, _this_ +sentence may be attenuated to a truism.] + +[Footnote 10: Paul to the Corinthians, 1st Ep. ii.] + +[Footnote 11: This clause is too strong. "Expect _direct_ spiritual +results," might have been better.] + +[Footnote 12: The substance of what I wrote was this. Socrates and +Cicero ask, _where did we pick up our intelligence?_ It did not come +from nothing; it most reside in the mind of him from whom we and this +world came; God must be more intelligent than man, his creature.--But +this argument may be applied with equal truth, not to intelligence +only, but to all the essential high qualities of man, everything noble +and venerable. Whence came the principle of love, which is the noblest +of all! It must reside in God more truly and gloriously than in +man. He who made loving hearts must himself be loving. Thus the +intelligence and love of God are known through our consciousness of +intelligence and love _within_.] + +[Footnote 13: He puts _alone_ in italics. A little below he repeats, +"which alone I ridiculed."] + +[Footnote 14: He should add: "external _authoritative_ revelation _of +moral and spiritual truth_." No communication from heaven could have +moral weight, to a heart previously destitute of moral sentiment, +or unbelieving in the morality of God.--What is there in this that +deserves ridicule?] + +[Footnote 15: He puts it between two other statements which avowedly +refer to me.] + +[Footnote 16: Mr. Rogers asks on this: "Does Mr. Newman mean that +he claims as much as the _apostles_ claimed, _whether they did so +rightfully or not_?" See how acutely a logician can pervert the word +_all_!] + +[Footnote 17: There is much meaning in the word imprudencies on which +I need not comment.] + +[Footnote 18: "Unspeakably painful" is his phrase for something +much smaller, ("Eclipse" ninth edition p. 194,) which he insists on +similarly obtruding, against my will and protest.] + + + + +APPENDIX I. + + +It is an error not at all peculiar to the author of the "Eclipse of +Faith," but is shared with him by many others, and by one who has +treated me in a very different spirit, that Christians are able to +use atheistic arguments against me without wounding Christianity. As I +have written a rather ample book, called "Theism," expressly designed +to establish against Atheists and Pantheists that moral Theism which +Christians, Jews, and Mohammedans have in common, and which underlies +every attempt of any of the three religions to establish its peculiar +and supernatural claims; I have no need of entering on that argument +here. It is not true, that, as a Theist, I evade the objections urged +by real atheists or sceptics; on the contrary, I try to search them to +the very bottom. It is only in arguing with Christians that I disown +the obligation of reply; and that, because they are as much concerned +as I to answer; and ought to be able to give me, _on the ground of +natural theology_, good replies to every fundamental objection from +the sceptic, if I have not got them myself. To declare the objections +of our common adversaries valid against those first principles +of religion which are older than Jesus or Moses, is certainly to +surrender the cause of Christianity. + +If this need more elucidation, let it be observed, that no Christian +can take a single step in argument with a heathen, much less establish +his claim of authority for the Bible, without presuming that the +heathen will admit, on hearing them, those doctrines of moral Theism, +which, it is pretended, _I_ can have no good reason for admitting. +If the heathen sincerely retorts against the missionary such Pagan +scepticism as is flung at me by Christians, the missionary's words +are vain; nor is any success possible, unless (with me) he can lay +a _prior_ foundation of moral Theism, independent of any assumption +concerning the claims of the Bible. It avails nothing to preach +repentance of sin and salvation from judgment to come, to minds which +are truly empty of the belief that God has any care for morality. I +of course do not say, and have never said, that the doctrine of the +divine holiness, goodness, truth, must have been previously an active +belief of the heathen hearer. To have stated a question clearly +is often half the solution; and the teacher, who so states a high +doctrine, gives a great aid to the learner's mind. But unless, after +it has been affirmed that there is a Great Eternal Being pervading the +universe, who disapproves of human evil and commands us to pursue +the good, the conscience and intellect of the hearer gives assent, no +argument of moral religion can have weight with him; therefore neither +can any argument about miracles, nor any appeal to the "Bible" as +authoritative. Of course the book has not as yet any influence over +him, nor will its miracles, any more than its doctrines, be +received on the ground of their being in the book. Thus a direct +and independent discernment of the great truths of moral Theism is a +postulate, to be proved or conceded _before_ the Christian can begin +the argument in favour of Biblical preternaturalism. I had thought +it would have been avowed and maintained with a generous pride, that +eminently in Christian literature we find the noblest, soundest, and +fullest advocacy of moral Theism, as having its evidence in the heart +of man within and nature without, _independently of any postulates +concerning the Bible_. I certainly grew up for thirty years in that +belief. Treatises on Natural Theology, which (with whatever success) +endeavoured to trace--not only a constructive God in the outer world, +but also a good God when that world is viewed in connexion with man; +were among the text-books of our clergy and of our universities, and +were in many ways crowned with honour. Bampton Lectures, Bridgewater +Treatises, Burnet Prize Essays, have (at least till very recently in +one case) been all, I rather think, in the same direction. And surely +with excellent reason. To avow that the doctrines of Moral Theism have +no foundation to one who sees nothing preternatural in the Bible, is +in a Christian such a suicidal absurdity, that whenever an atheist +advances it, it is met with indignant denial and contempt. + +The argumentative strength of this Appendix, as a reply to those +who call themselves "orthodox" Christians, is immensely increased by +analysing their subsidiary doctrines, which pretend to relieve, +while they prodigiously aggravate, the previous difficulties of Moral +Theism; I mean the doctrine of the fall of man by the agency of a +devil, and the eternal hell. But every man who dares to think will +easily work out such thoughts for himself. + + + + +APPENDIX II. + + +I here reproduce (merely that it may not be pretended that I silently +withdraw it) the substance of an illustration which I offered in my +2nd edition, p. 184. + +When I deny that History can be Religion or a part of Religion, I +mean it exactly in the same sense, in which we say that history is not +mathematics, though mathematics has a history. Religion undoubtedly +comes to us by historical transmission: it has had a slow growth; but +so is it with mathematics, so is it with all other sciences. (I refer +to mathematics, not as peculiarly like to religion, but as peculiarly +unlike; it is therefore and _a fortiori_ argument. What is true of +them as sciences, is true of all science.) No science can flourish, +while it is received on authority. Science comes to us _by_ external +transmission, but is not believed _because_ of that transmission. The +history of the transmission is generally instructive, but is no proper +part of the science itself. All this is true of Religion. + +THE END. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Phases of Faith, by Francis William Newman + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PHASES OF FAITH *** + +***** This file should be named 12056.txt or 12056.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/0/5/12056/ + +Produced by PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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