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diff --git a/15905.txt b/15905.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e8ad49b --- /dev/null +++ b/15905.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12173 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Collected Essays, Volume V, by T. H. Huxley + +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: Collected Essays, Volume V + Science and Christian Tradition: Essays + +Author: T. H. Huxley + +Release Date: May 25, 2005 [EBook #15905] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COLLECTED ESSAYS, VOLUME V *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Lybarger, Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +www.pgdp.net. + + + + + + + + + +COLLECTED ESSAYS; VOLUME V + +SCIENCE AND CHRISTIAN TRADITION + +BY THOMAS H. HUXLEY + +NEW YORK, D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 1902 + + + + +PREFACE + + +"For close upon forty years I have been writing with one purpose; from +time to time, I have fought for that which seemed to me the truth, +perhaps still more, against that which I have thought error; and, in +this way, I have reached, indeed over-stepped, the threshold of old +age. There, every earnest man has to listen to the voice within: 'Give +an account of thy stewardship, for thou mayest be no longer steward.' + +"That I have been an unjust steward my conscience does not bear +witness. At times blundering, at times negligent, Heaven knows: but, +on the whole, I have done that which I felt able and called upon to +do; and I have done it without looking to the right or to the left; +seeking no man's favor, fearing no man's disfavor. + +"But what is it that I have been doing? In the end one's conceptions +should form a whole, though only parts may have found utterance, as +occasion arose; now do these exhibit harmony and mutual connexion? In +one's zeal much of the old gets broken to pieces; but has one made +ready something new, fit to be set in the place of the old? + +"That they merely destroy without reconstructing, is the especial +charge, with which those who work in this direction are constantly +reproached. In a certain sense I do not defend myself against the +charge; but I deny that any reproach is deserved. + +"I have never proposed to myself to begin outward construction; +because I do not believe that the time has come for it. Our present +business is with inward preparation, especially the preparation of +those who have ceased to be content with the old, and find no +satisfaction in half measures. I have wished, and I still wish, to +disturb no man's peace of mind, no man's beliefs; but only to point +out to those in whom they are already shattered, the direction in +which, in my conviction, firmer ground lies."[1] + +So wrote one of the protagonists of the New Reformation--and a +well-abused man if ever there was one--a score of years since, in the +remarkable book in which he discusses the negative and the positive +results of the rigorous application of scientific method to the +investigation of the higher problems of human life. + +Recent experience leads me to imagine that there may be a good many +countrymen of my own, even at this time, to whom it may be profitable +to read, mark and inwardly digest, the weighty words of the author of +that "Leben Jesu," which, half a century ago, stirred the religious +world so seriously that it has never settled down again quite on the +old foundations; indeed, some think it never will. I have a personal +interest in the carrying out of the recommendation I venture to make. +It may enable many worthy persons, in whose estimation I should really +be glad to stand higher than I do, to become aware of the possibility +that my motives in writing the essays, contained in this and the +preceding volume, were not exactly those that they ascribe to me. + +I too have reached the term at which the still, small voice, more +audible than any other to the dulled ear of age, makes its demand; and +I have found that it is of no sort of use to try to cook the accounts +rendered. Nevertheless, I distinctly decline to admit some of the +items charged; more particularly that of having "gone out of my way" +to attack the Bible; and I as steadfastly deny that "hatred of +Christianity" is a feeling with which I have any acquaintance. There +are very few things which I find it permissible to hate; and though, +it may be, that some of the organisations, which arrogate to +themselves the Christian name, have richly earned a place in the +category of hateful things, that ought to have nothing to do with +one's estimation of the religion, which they have perverted and +disfigured out of all likeness to the original. + +The simple fact is that, as I have already more than once hinted, my +story is that of the wolf and the lamb over again. I have never "gone +out of my way" to attack the Bible, or anything else: it was the +dominant ecclesiasticism of my early days, which, as I believe, +without any warrant from the Bible itself, thrust the book in my way. + +I had set out on a journey, with no other purpose than that of +exploring a certain province of natural knowledge; I strayed no hair's +breadth from the course which it was my right and my duty to pursue; +and yet I found that, whatever route I took, before long, I came to a +tall and formidable-looking fence. Confident as I might be in the +existence of an ancient and indefeasible right of way, before me stood +the thorny barrier with its comminatory notice-board--"No +Thoroughfare. By order. Moses." There seemed no way over; nor did the +prospect of creeping round, as I saw some do, attract me. True there +was no longer any cause to fear the spring guns and man-traps set by +former lords of the manor; but one is apt to get very dirty going on +all-fours. The only alternatives were either to give up my +journey--which I was not minded to do--or to break the fence down and +go through it. + +Now I was and am, by nature, a law-abiding person, ready and willing +to submit to all legitimate authority. But I also had and have a +rooted conviction, that reasonable assurance of the legitimacy should +precede the submission; so I made it my business to look up the +manorial title-deeds. The pretensions of the ecclesiastical "Moses" to +exercise a control over the operations of the reasoning faculty in the +search after truth, thirty centuries after his age, might be +justifiable; but, assuredly, the credentials produced in justification +of claims so large required careful scrutiny. + +Singular discoveries rewarded my industry. The ecclesiastical "Moses" +proved to be a mere traditional mask, behind which, no doubt, lay the +features of the historical Moses--just as many a mediaeval fresco has +been hidden by the whitewash of Georgian churchwardens. And as the +aesthetic rector too often scrapes away the defacement, only to find +blurred, parti-coloured patches, in which the original design is no +longer to be traced; so, when the successive layers of Jewish and +Christian traditional pigment, laid on, at intervals, for near three +thousand years, had been removed, by even the tenderest critical +operations, there was not much to be discerned of the leader of the +Exodus. + +Only one point became perfectly clear to me, namely, that Moses is not +responsible for nine-tenths of the Pentateuch; certainly not for the +legends which had been made the bugbears of science. In fact, the +fence turned out to be a mere heap of dry sticks and brushwood, and +one might walk through it with impunity: the which I did. But I was +still young, when I thus ventured to assert my liberty; and young +people are apt to be filled with a kind of _saeva indignatio_, when +they discover the wide discrepancies between things as they seem and +things as they are. It hurts their vanity to feel that they have +prepared themselves for a mighty struggle to climb over, or break +their way through, a rampart, which turns out, on close approach, to +be a mere heap of ruins; venerable, indeed, and archaeologically +interesting, but of no other moment. And some fragment of the +superfluous energy accumulated is apt to find vent in strong language. + +Such, I suppose, was my case, when I wrote some passages which occur +in an essay reprinted among "Darwiniana."[2] But when, not long ago +"the voice" put it to me, whether I had better not expunge, or modify, +these passages; whether, really, they were not a little too strong; I +had to reply, with all deference, that while, from a merely literary +point of view, I might admit them to be rather crude, I must stand by +the substance of these items of my expenditure. I further ventured to +express the conviction that scientific criticism of the Old Testament, +since 1860, has justified every word of the estimate of the authority +of the ecclesiastical "Moses" written at that time. And, carried away +by the heat of self-justification, I even ventured to add, that the +desperate attempt now set afoot to force biblical and post-biblical +mythology into elementary instruction, renders it useful and necessary +to go on making a considerable outlay in the same direction. Not yet, +has "the cosmogony of the semi-barbarous Hebrew" ceased to be the +"incubus of the philosopher, and the opprobrium of the orthodox;" not +yet, has "the zeal of the Bibliolater" ceased from troubling; not yet, +are the weaker sort, even of the instructed, at rest from their +fruitless toil "to harmonise impossibilities," and "to force the +generous new wine of science into the old bottles of Judaism." + +But I am aware that the head and front of my offending lies not now +where it formerly lay. Thirty years ago, criticism of "Moses" was held +by most respectable people to be deadly sin; now it has sunk to the +rank of a mere peccadillo; at least, if it stops short of the history +of Abraham. Destroy the foundation of most forms of dogmatic +Christianity contained in the second chapter of Genesis, if you will; +the new ecclesiasticism undertakes to underpin the superstructure and +make it, at any rate to the eye, as firm as ever: but let him be +anathema who applies exactly the same canons of criticism to the +opening chapters of "Matthew" or of "Luke." School-children may be +told that the world was by no means made in six days, and that +implicit belief in the story of Noah's Ark is permissible only, as a +matter of business, to their toy-makers; but they are to hold for the +certainest of truths, to be doubted only at peril of their salvation, +that their Galilean fellow-child Jesus, nineteen centuries ago, had no +human father. + + * * * * * + +Well, we will pass the item of 1860, said "the voice." But why all +this more recent coil about the Gadarene swine and the like? Do you +pretend that these poor animals got in your way, years and years after +the "Mosaic" fences were down, at any rate so far as you are +concerned? + +Got in my way? Why, my good "voice," they were driven in my way. I had +happened to make a statement, than which, so far as I have ever been +able to see, nothing can be more modest or inoffensive; to wit, that I +am convinced of my own utter ignorance about a great number of things, +respecting which the great majority of my neighbours (not only those +of adult years, but children repeating their catechisms) affirm +themselves to possess full information. I ask any candid and impartial +judge, Is that attacking anybody or anything? + +Yet, if I had made the most wanton and arrogant onslaught on the +honest convictions of other people, I could not have been more hardly +dealt with. The pentecostal charism, I believe, exhausted itself +amongst the earliest disciples. Yet any one who has had to attend, as +I have done, to copious objurgations, strewn with such appellations as +"infidel" and "coward," must be a hardened sceptic indeed if he doubts +the existence of a "gift of tongues" in the Churches of our time; +unless, indeed, it should occur to him that some of these outpourings +may have taken place after "the third hour of the day." I am far from +thinking that it is worth while to give much attention to these +inevitable incidents of all controversies, in which one party has +acquired the mental peculiarities which are generated by the habit of +much talking, with immunity from criticism. But as a rule, they are +the sauce of dishes of misrepresentations and inaccuracies which it +may be a duty, nay, even an innocent pleasure, to expose. In the +particular case of which I am thinking, I felt, as Strauss says, "able +and called upon" to undertake the business: and it is no +responsibility of mine, if I found the Gospels, with their miraculous +stories, of which the Gadarene is a typical example, blocking my way, +as heretofore, the Pentateuch had done. + +I was challenged to question the authority for the theory of "the +spiritual world," and the practical consequences deducible from human +relations to it, contained in these documents. + +In my judgment, the actuality of this spiritual world--the value of +the evidence for its objective existence and its influence upon the +course of things--are matters, which lie as much within the province +of science, as any other question about the existence and powers of +the varied forms of living and conscious activity. + +It really is my strong conviction that a man has no more right to say +he believes this world is haunted by swarms of evil spirits, without +being able to produce satisfactory evidence of the fact, than he has a +right to say, without adducing adequate proof, that the circumpolar +antarctic ice swarms with sea-serpents. I should not like to assert +positively that it does not. I imagine that no cautious biologist +would say as much; but while quite open to conviction, he might +properly decline to waste time upon the consideration of talk, no +better accredited than forecastle "yarns," about such monsters of the +deep. And if the interests of ordinary veracity dictate this course, +in relation to a matter of so little consequence as this, what must be +our obligations in respect of the treatment of a question which is +fundamental alike for science and for ethics? For not only does our +general theory of the universe and of the nature of the order which +pervades it, hang upon the answer; but the rules of practical life +must be deeply affected by it. + +The belief in a demonic world is inculcated throughout the Gospels and +the rest of the books of the New Testament; it pervades the whole +patristic literature; it colours the theory and the practice of every +Christian church down to modern times. Indeed, I doubt if, even now, +there is any church which, officially, departs from such a fundamental +doctrine of primitive Christianity as the existence, in addition to +the Cosmos with which natural knowledge is conversant, of a world of +spirits; that is to say, of intelligent agents, not subject to the +physical or mental limitations of humanity, but nevertheless competent +to interfere, to an undefined extent, with the ordinary course of both +physical and mental phenomena. + +More especially is this conception fundamental for the authors of the +Gospels. Without the belief that the present world, and particularly +that part of it which is constituted by human society, has been given +over, since the Fall, to the influence of wicked and malignant +spiritual beings, governed and directed by a supreme devil--the moral +antithesis and enemy of the supreme God--their theory of salvation by +the Messiah falls to pieces. "To this end was the Son of God +manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil."[3] + +The half-hearted religiosity of latter-day Christianity may choose to +ignore the fact; but it remains none the less true, that he who +refuses to accept the demonology of the Gospels rejects the revelation +of a spiritual world, made in them, as much as if he denied the +existence of such a person as Jesus of Nazareth; and deserves, as much +as any one can do, to be ear-marked "infidel" by our gentle shepherds. + + * * * * * + +Now that which I thought it desirable to make perfectly clear, on my +own account, and for the sake of those who find their capacity of +belief in the Gospel theory of the universe failing them, is the fact, +that, in my judgment, the demonology of primitive Christianity is +totally devoid of foundation; and that no man, who is guided by the +rules of investigation which are found to lead to the discovery of +truth in other matters, not merely of science, but in the everyday +affairs of life, will arrive at any other conclusion. To those who +profess to be otherwise guided, I have nothing to say; but to beg them +to go their own way and leave me to mine. + +I think it may be as well to repeat what I have said, over and over +again, elsewhere, that _a priori_ notions, about the possibility, or +the impossibility, of the existence of a world of spirits, such as +that presupposed by genuine Christianity, have no influence on my +mind. The question for me is purely one of evidence: is the evidence +adequate to bear out the theory, or is it not? In my judgment it is +not only inadequate, but quite absurdly insufficient. And on that +ground, I should feel compelled to reject the theory; even if there +were no positive grounds for adopting a totally different conception +of the Cosmos. + +For most people, the question of the evidence of the existence of a +demonic world, in the long run, resolves itself into that of the +trustworthiness of the Gospels; first, as to the objective truth of +that which they narrate on this topic; second, as to the accuracy of +the interpretation which their authors put upon these objective facts. +For example, with respect to the Gadarene miracle, it is one question +whether, at a certain time and place, a raving madman became sane, and +a herd of swine rushed into the lake of Tiberias; and quite another, +whether the cause of these occurrences was the transmigration of +certain devils from the man into the pigs. And again, it is one +question whether Jesus made a long oration on a certain occasion, +mentioned in the first Gospel; altogether another, whether more or +fewer of the propositions contained in the "Sermon on the Mount" were +uttered on that occasion. One may give an affirmative answer to one of +each of these pairs of questions and a negative to the other: one may +affirm all, or deny all. + +In considering the historical value of any four documents, proof when +they were written and who wrote them is, no doubt, highly important. +For if proof exists, that A B C and D wrote them, and that they were +intelligent persons, writing independently and without prejudice, +about facts within their own knowledge--their statements must needs be +worthy of the most attentive consideration.[4] But, even +ecclesiastical tradition does not assert that either "Mark" or "Luke" +wrote from his own knowledge--indeed "Luke" expressly asserts he did +not. I cannot discover that any competent authority now maintains that +the apostle Matthew wrote the Gospel which passes under his name. And +whether the apostle John had, or had not, anything to do with the +fourth Gospel; and if he had, what his share amounted to; are, as +everybody who has attended to these matters knows, questions still +hotly disputed, and with regard to which the extant evidence can +hardly carry an impartial judge beyond the admission of a possibility +this way or that. + +Thus, nothing but a balancing of very dubious probabilities is to be +attained by approaching the question from this side. It is otherwise +if we make the documents tell their own story: if we study them, as we +study fossils, to discover internal evidence, of when they arose, and +how they have come to be. That really fruitful line of inquiry has led +to the statement and the discussion of what is known as the _Synoptic +Problem_. + +In the Essays (VII.--XI.) which deal with the consequences of the +application of the agnostic principle to Christian Evidences, +contained in this volume, there are several references to the results +of the attempts which have been made, during the last hundred years, +to solve this problem. And, though it has been clearly stated and +discussed, in works accessible to, and intelligible by, every English +reader,[5] it may be well that I should here set forth a very brief +exposition of the matters of fact out of which the problem has arisen; +and of some consequences, which, as I conceive, must be admitted if +the facts are accepted. + +These undisputed and, apparently, indisputable data may be thus +stated: + +I. The three books of which an ancient, but very questionable, +ecclesiastical tradition asserts Matthew, Mark, and Luke to be the +authors, agree, not only in presenting the same general view, or +_Synopsis_, of the nature and the order of the events narrated; but, +to a remarkable extent, the very words which they employ coincide. + +II. Nevertheless, there are many equally marked, and some +irreconcilable, differences between them. Narratives, verbally +identical in some portions, diverge more or less in others. The order +in which they occur in one, or in two, Gospels may be changed in +another. In "Matthew" and in "Luke" events of great importance make +their appearance, where the story of "Mark" seems to leave no place +for them; and, at the beginning and the end of the two former Gospels, +there is a great amount of matter of which there is no trace in +"Mark." + +III. Obvious and highly important differences, in style and substance, +separate the three "Synoptics," taken together, from the fourth +Gospel, connected, by ecclesiastical tradition, with the name of the +apostle John. In its philosophical proemium; in the conspicuous +absence of exorcistic miracles; in the self-assertive theosophy of the +long and diffuse monologues, which are so utterly unlike the brief +and pregnant utterances of Jesus recorded in the Synoptics; in the +assertion that the crucifixion took place before the Passover, which +involves the denial, by implication, of the truth of the Synoptic +story--to mention only a few particulars--the "Johannine" Gospel +presents a wide divergence from the other three. + +IV. If the mutual resemblances and differences of the Synoptic Gospels +are closely considered, a curious result comes out; namely, that each +may be analyzed into four components. The _first_ of these consists of +passages, to a greater or less extent verbally identical, which occur +in all three Gospels. If this triple tradition is separated from the +rest it will be found to comprise: + +_a_. A narrative, of a somewhat broken and anecdotic aspect, which +covers the period from the appearance of John the Baptist to the +discovery of the emptiness of the tomb, on the first day of the week, +some six-and-thirty hours after the crucifixion. + +_b_. An apocalyptic address. + +_c_. Parables and brief discourses, or rather, centos of religious and +ethical exhortations and injunctions. + +The _second_ and the _third_ set of components of each Gospel present +equally close resemblances to passages, which are found in only one of +the other Gospels; therefore it may be said that, for them, the +tradition is double. The _fourth_ component is peculiar to each +Gospel; it is a single tradition and has no representative in the +others. + +To put the facts in another way: each Gospel is composed of a +_threefold tradition_, two _twofold traditions_, and one _peculiar +tradition_. If the Gospels were the work of totally independent +writers, it would follow that there are three witnesses for the +statements in the first tradition; two for each of those in the +second, and only one for those in the third. + +V. If the reader will now take up that extremely instructive little +book, Abbott and Rushbrooke's "Common Tradition" he will easily +satisfy himself that "Mark" has the remarkable structure just +described. Almost the whole of this Gospel consists of the first +component; namely, the _threefold tradition_. But in chap. i. 23-28 he +will discover an exorcistic story, not to be found in "Matthew," but +repeated, often word for word, in "Luke." This, therefore, belongs to +one of the _twofold traditions_. In chap. viii. 1-10, on the other +hand, there is a detailed account of the miracle of feeding the four +thousand; which is closely repeated in "Matthew" xv. 32-39, but is not +to be found in "Luke." This is an example of the other _twofold +tradition_, possible in "Mark." Finally, the story of the blind man of +Bethsaida, "Mark" viii. 22-26, is _peculiar_ to "Mark." + +VI. Suppose that, A standing for the _threefold tradition_, or the +matter common to all three Gospels; we call the matter common to +"Mark" and "Matthew" only--B; that common to "Mark" and "Luke" +only--C; that common to "Matthew" and "Luke" only--D; while the +peculiar components of "Mark," "Matthew," and "Luke" are severally +indicated by E, F, G; then the structure of the Gospels may be +represented thus: + + Components of "Mark" = A + B + C + E. + " "Matthew" = A + B + D + F. + " "Luke" = A + C + D + G. + +VII. The analysis of the Synoptic documents need be carried no further +than this point, in order to suggest one extremely important, and, +apparently unavoidable conclusion; and that is, that their authors +were neither three independent witnesses of the things narrated; nor, +for the parts of the narrative about which all agree, that is to say, +the _threefold tradition_, did they employ independent sources of +information. It is simply incredible that each of three independent +witnesses of any series of occurrences should tell a story so similar, +not only in arrangement and in small details, but in words, to that of +each of the others. + +Hence it follows, either that the Synoptic writers have, mediately or +immediately, copied one from the other: or that the three have drawn +from a common source; that is to say, from one arrangement of similar +traditions (whether oral or written); though that arrangement may have +been extant in three or more, somewhat different versions. + +VIII. The suppositions (_a_) that "Mark" had "Matthew" and "Luke" +before him; and (_b_) that either of the two latter was acquainted +with the work of the other, would seem to involve some singular +consequences. + +_a_. The second Gospel is saturated with the lowest supernaturalism. +Jesus is exhibited as a wonder-worker and exorcist of the first rank. +The earliest public recognition of the Messiahship of Jesus comes from +an "unclean spirit"; he himself is made to testify to the occurrence +of the miraculous feeding twice over. + +The purpose with which "Mark" sets out is to show forth Jesus as the +Son of God, and it is suggested, if not distinctly stated, that he +acquired this character at his baptism by John. The absence of any +reference to the miraculous events of the infancy, detailed by +"Matthew" and "Luke;" or to the appearances after the discovery of the +emptiness of the tomb; is unintelligible, if "Mark" knew anything +about them, or believed in the miraculous conception. The second +Gospel is no summary: "Mark" can find room for the detailed story, +irrelevant to his main purpose, of the beheading of John the Baptist, +and his miraculous narrations are crowded with minute particulars. Is +it to be imagined that, with the supposed apostolic authority of +Matthew before him, he could leave out the miraculous conception of +Jesus and the ascension? Further, ecclesiastical tradition would have +us believe that Mark wrote down his recollections of what Peter +taught. Did Peter then omit to mention these matters? Did the fact +testified by the oldest authority extant, that the first appearance of +the risen Jesus was to himself seem not worth mentioning? Did he +really fail to speak of the great position in the Church solemnly +assigned to him by Jesus? The alternative would seem to be the +impeachment either of Mark's memory, or of his judgment. But Mark's +memory, is so good that he can recollect how, on the occasion of the +stilling of the waves, Jesus was asleep "on the cushion," he remembers +that the woman with the issue had "spent all she had" on her +physicians; that there was not room "even about the door" on a certain +occasion at Capernaum. And it is surely hard to believe that "Mark" +should have failed to recollect occurrences of infinitely greater +moment, or that he should have deliberately left them out, as things +not worthy of mention. + +_b_. The supposition that "Matthew" was acquainted with "Luke," or +"Luke" with "Matthew" has equally grave implications. If that be so, +the one who used the other could have had but a poor opinion of his +predecessor's historical veracity. If, as most experts agree, "Luke" +is later than "Matthew," it is clear that he does not credit +"Matthew's" account of the infancy; does not believe the "Sermon on +the Mount" as given by Matthew was preached; does not believe in the +two feeding miracles, to which Jesus himself is made to refer; wholly +discredits "Matthew's" account of the events after the crucifixion; +and thinks it not worth while to notice "Matthew's" grave admission +that "some doubted." + +IX. None of these troublesome consequences pursue the hypothesis that +the _threefold tradition_, in one, or more, Greek versions, was extant +before either of the canonical Synoptic Gospels; and that it furnished +the fundamental framework of their several narratives. Where and when +the threefold narrative arose, there is no positive evidence; though +it is obviously probable that the traditions it embodies, and perhaps +many others, took their rise in Palestine and spread thence to Asia +Minor, Greece, Egypt and Italy, in the track of the early +missionaries. Nor is it less likely that they formed part of the +"didaskalia" of the primitive Nazarene and Christian communities.[6] + +X. The interest which attaches to "Mark" arises from the fact that it +seems to present this early, probably earliest, Greek Gospel +narrative, with least addition, or modification. If, as appears likely +from some internal evidences, it was compiled for the use of the +Christian sodalities in Rome; and that it was accepted by them as an +adequate account of the life and work of Jesus, it is evidence of the +most valuable kind respecting their beliefs and the limits of dogma, +as conceived by them. + +In such case, a good Roman Christian of that epoch might know nothing +of the doctrine of the incarnation, as taught by "Matthew" and "Luke"; +still less of the "logos" doctrine of "John"; neither need he have +believed anything more than the simple fact of the resurrection. It +was open to him to believe it either corporeal or spiritual. He would +never have heard of the power of the keys bestowed upon Peter; nor +have had brought to his mind so much as a suggestion of trinitarian +doctrine. He might be a rigidly monotheistic Judaeo-Christian, and +consider himself bound by the law: he might be a Gentile Pauline +convert, neither knowing of nor caring for such restrictions. In +neither case would he find in "Mark" any serious stumbling-block. In +fact, persons of all the categories admitted to salvation by Justin, +in the middle of the second century,[7] could accept "Mark" from +beginning to end. It may well be, that, in this wide adaptability, +backed by the authority of the metropolitan church, there lies the +reason for the fact of the preservation of "Mark," notwithstanding its +limited and dogmatically colourless character, as compared with the +Gospels of "Luke" and "Matthew." + +XI. "Mark," as we have seen, contains a relatively small body of +ethical and religious instruction and only a few parables. Were these +all that existed in the primitive threefold tradition? Were none +others current in the Roman communities, at the time "Mark" wrote, +supposing he wrote in Rome? Or, on the other hand, was there extant, +as early as the time at which "Mark" composed his Greek edition of the +primitive Evangel, one or more collections of parables and teachings, +such as those which form the bulk of the twofold tradition, common +exclusively to "Matthew" and "Luke," and are also found in their +single traditions? Many have assumed this, or these, collections to be +identical with, or at any rate based upon, the "logia," of which +ecclesiastical tradition says, that they were written in Aramaic by +Matthew, and that everybody translated them as he could. + +Here is the old difficulty again. If such materials were known to +"Mark," what imaginable reason could he have for not using them? +Surely displacement of the long episode of John the Baptist--even +perhaps of the story of the Gadarene swine--by portions of the Sermon +on the Mount or by one or two of the beautiful parables in the twofold +and single traditions would have been great improvements; and might +have been effected, even though "Mark" was as much pressed for space +as some have imagined. But there is no ground for that imagination; +Mark has actually found room for four or five parables; why should he +not have given the best, if he had known of them? Admitting he was the +mere _pedissequus et breviator_ of Matthew, that even Augustine +supposed him to be, what could induce him to omit the Lord's Prayer? + +Whether more or less of the materials of the twofold tradition D, and +of the peculiar traditions F and G, were or were not current in some +of the communities, as early as, or perhaps earlier than, the triple +tradition, it is not necessary for me to discuss; nor to consider +those solutions of the Synoptic problem which assume that it existed +earlier, and was already combined with more or less narrative. Those +who are working out the final solution of the Synoptic problem are +taking into account, more than hitherto, the possibility that the +widely separated Christian communities of Palestine, Asia Minor, +Egypt, and Italy, especially after the Jewish war of A.D. 66-70, may +have found themselves in possession of very different traditional +materials. Many circumstances tend to the conclusion that, in Asia +Minor, even the narrative part of the threefold tradition had a +formidable rival; and that, around this second narrative, teaching +traditions of a totally different order from those in the Synoptics, +grouped themselves; and, under the influence of converts imbued more +or less with the philosophical speculations of the time, eventually +took shape in the fourth Gospel and its associated literature. + +XII. But it is unnecessary, and it would be out of place, for me to +attempt to do more than indicate the existence of these complex and +difficult questions. My purpose has been to make it clear that the +Synoptic problem must force itself upon every one who studies the +Gospels with attention; that the broad facts of the case, and some of +the consequences deducible from these facts, are just as plain to the +simple English reader as they are to the profoundest scholar. + +One of these consequences is that the threefold tradition presents us +with a narrative believed to be historically true, in all its +particulars, by the major part, if not the whole, of the Christian +communities. That narrative is penetrated, from beginning to end, by +the demonological beliefs of which the Gadarene story is a specimen; +and, if the fourth Gospel indicates the existence of another and, in +some respects, irreconcilably divergent narrative, in which the +demonology retires into the background, it is none the less there. + +Therefore, the demonology is an integral and inseparable component of +primitive Christianity. The farther back the origin of the gospels is +dated, the stronger does the certainty of this conclusion grow; and +the more difficult it becomes to suppose that Jesus himself may not +have shared the superstitious beliefs of his disciples. + +It further follows that those who accept devils, possession, and +exorcism as essential elements of their conception of the spiritual +world may consistently consider the testimony of the Gospels to be +unimpeachable in respect of the information they give us respecting +other matters which appertain to that world. + +Those who reject the gospel demonology, on the other hand, would seem +to be as completely barred, as I feel myself to be, from professing to +take the accuracy of that information for granted. If the threefold +tradition is wrong about one fundamental topic, it may be wrong about +another, while the authority of the single traditions, often mutually +contradictory as they are, becomes a vanishing quantity. + +It really is unreasonable to ask any rejector of the demonology to say +more with respect to those other matters, than that the statements +regarding them may be true, or may be false; and that the ultimate +decision, if it is to be favourable, must depend on the production of +testimony of a very different character from that of the writers of +the four gospels. Until such evidence is brought forward, that +refusal of assent, with willingness to re-open the question, on cause +shown, which is what I mean by Agnosticism, is, for me, the only +course open. + + * * * * * + +A verdict of "not proven" is undoubtedly unsatisfactory and +essentially provisional, so far forth as the subject of the trial is +capable of being dealt with by due process of reason. + +Those who are of opinion that the historical realities at the root of +Christianity, lie beyond the jurisdiction of science, need not be +considered. Those who are convinced that the evidence is, and must +always remain, insufficient to support any definite conclusion, are +justified in ignoring the subject. They must be content to put up with +that reproach of being mere destroyers, of which Strauss speaks. They +may say that there are so many problems which are and must remain +insoluble, that the "burden of the mystery" "of all this +unintelligible world" is not appreciably affected by one more or less. + +For myself, I must confess that the problem of the origin of such very +remarkable historical phenomena as the doctrines, and the social +organization, which in their broad features certainly existed, and +were in a state of rapid development, within a hundred years of the +crucifixion of Jesus; and which have steadily prevailed against all +rivals, among the most intelligent and civilized nations in the world +ever since, is, and always has been, profoundly interesting; and, +considering how recent the really scientific study of that problem, +and how great the progress made during the last half century in +supplying the conditions for a positive solution of the problem, I +cannot doubt that the attainment of such a solution is a mere question +of time. + +I am well aware that it has lain far beyond my powers to take any +share in this great undertaking. All that I can hope is to have done +somewhat towards "the preparation of those who have ceased to be +contented with the old and find no satisfaction in half measures": +perhaps, also, something towards the lessening of that great +proportion of my countrymen, whose eminent characteristic it is that +they find "full satisfaction in half measures." + +T.H.H. +HODESLEA, EASTBOURNE, +_December 4th, 1893_. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [1] D.F. Strauss, _Der alte und der neue Glaube_ + (1872), pp. 9, 10. + + [2] _Collected Essays_, vol. ii., "On the Origin of + Species" (1860). + + [3] 1 John iii. 8. + + [4] Not necessarily of more than this. A few centuries + ago the twelve most intelligent and impartial men to be + found in England, would have independently testified + that the sun moves, from east to west, across the + heavens every day. + + [5] Nowhere more concisely and clearly than in Dr. + Sutherland Black's article "Gospels" in Chambers's + _Encyclopaedia_. References are given to the more + elaborate discussions of the problem. + + [6] Those who regard the Apocalyptic discourse as a + "vaticination after the event" may draw conclusions + therefrom as to the date of the Gospels in which its + several forms occur. But the assumption is surely + dangerous, from an apologetic point of view, since it + begs the question as to the unhistorical character of + this solemn prophecy. + + [7] See p. 287 of this volume. + + + + +CONTENTS + + PAGE + I. PROLOGUE 1 + (_Controverted Questions_, 1892). + + II. SCIENTIFIC AND PSEUDO-SCIENTIFIC REALISM [1887] 59 + + III. SCIENCE AND PSEUDO-SCIENCE [1887] 90 + + IV. AN EPISCOPAL TRILOGY [1887] 126 + + V. THE VALUE OF WITNESS TO THE MIRACULOUS [1889] 160 + + VI. POSSIBILITIES AND IMPOSSIBILITIES [1891] 192 + + VII. AGNOSTICISM [1889] 209 + +VIII. AGNOSTICISM: A REJOINDER [1889] 263 + + IX. AGNOSTICISM AND CHRISTIANITY [1889] 309 + + X. THE KEEPERS OF THE HERD OF SWINE [1890] 366 + + XI. ILLUSTRATIONS OF MR. GLADSTONE'S CONTROVERSIAL + METHODS [1891] 393 + + + + +I: PROLOGUE + +[_Controverted Questions_, 1892] + +Le plus grand service qu'on puisse rendre a la science est d'y faire +place nette avant d'y rien construire.--CUVIER. + + +Most of the Essays comprised in the present volume have been written +during the last six or seven years, without premeditated purpose or +intentional connection, in reply to attacks upon doctrines which I +hold to be well founded; or in refutation of allegations respecting +matters lying within the province of natural knowledge, which I +believe to be erroneous; and they bear the mark of their origin in the +controversial tone which pervades them. + +Of polemical writing, as of other kinds of warfare, I think it may be +said, that it is often useful, sometimes necessary, and always more or +less of an evil. It is useful, when it attracts attention to topics +which might otherwise be neglected; and when, as does sometimes +happen, those who come to see a contest remain to think. It is +necessary, when the interests of truth and of justice are at stake. +It is an evil, in so far as controversy always tends to degenerate +into quarrelling, to swerve from the great issue of what is right and +what is wrong to the very small question of who is right and who is +wrong. I venture to hope that the useful and the necessary were more +conspicuous than the evil attributes of literary militancy, when these +papers were first published; but I have had some hesitation about +reprinting them. If I may judge by my own taste, few literary dishes +are less appetising than cold controversy; moreover, there is an air +of unfairness about the presentation of only one side of a discussion, +and a flavour of unkindness in the reproduction of "winged words," +which, however appropriate at the time of their utterance, would find +a still more appropriate place in oblivion. Yet, since I could hardly +ask those who have honoured me by their polemical attentions to confer +lustre on this collection, by permitting me to present their +lucubrations along with my own; and since it would be a manifest wrong +to them to deprive their, by no means rare, vivacities of language of +such justification as they may derive from similar freedoms on my +part; I came to the conclusion that my best course was to leave the +essays just as they were written;[8] assuring my honourable +adversaries that any heat of which signs may remain was generated, in +accordance with the law of the conservation of energy, by the force of +their own blows, and has long since been dissipated into space. + +But, however the polemical coincomitants of these discussions may be +regarded--or better, disregarded--there is no doubt either about the +importance of the topics of which they treat, or as to the public +interest in the "Controverted Questions" with which they deal. Or +rather, the Controverted Question; for disconnected as these pieces +may, perhaps, appear to be, they are, in fact, concerned only with +different aspects of a single problem, with which thinking men have +been occupied, ever since they began seriously to consider the +wonderful frame of things in which their lives are set, and to seek +for trustworthy guidance among its intricacies. + +Experience speedily taught them that the shifting scenes of the +world's stage have a permanent background; that there is order amidst +the seeming confusion, and that many events take place according to +unchanging rules. To this region of familiar steadiness and customary +regularity they gave the name of Nature. But, at the same time, their +infantile and untutored reason, little more, as yet, than the +playfellow of the imagination, led them to believe that this tangible, +commonplace, orderly world of Nature was surrounded and +interpenetrated by another intangible and mysterious world, no more +bound by fixed rules than, as they fancied, were the thoughts and +passions which coursed through their minds and seemed to exercise an +intermittent and capricious rule over their bodies. They attributed to +the entities, with which they peopled this dim and dreadful region, an +unlimited amount of that power of modifying the course of events of +which they themselves possessed a small share, and thus came to regard +them as not merely beyond, but above, Nature. + +Hence arose the conception of a "Supernature" antithetic to +"Nature"--the primitive dualism of a natural world "fixed in fate" and +a supernatural, left to the free play of volition--which has pervaded +all later speculation and, for thousands of years, has exercised a +profound influence on practice. For it is obvious that, on this theory +of the Universe, the successful conduct of life must demand careful +attention to both worlds; and, if either is to be neglected, it may be +safer that it should be Nature. In any given contingency, it must +doubtless be desirable to know what may be expected to happen in the +ordinary course of things; but it must be quite as necessary to have +some inkling of the line likely to be taken by supernatural agencies +able, and possibly willing, to suspend or reverse that course. Indeed, +logically developed, the dualistic theory must needs end in almost +exclusive attention to Supernature, and in trust that its overruling +strength will be exerted in favour of those who stand well with its +denizens. On the other hand, the lessons of the great schoolmaster, +experience, have hardly seemed to accord with this conclusion. They +have taught, with considerable emphasis, that it does not answer to +neglect Nature; and that, on the whole, the more attention paid to her +dictates the better men fare. + +Thus the theoretical antithesis brought about a practical antagonism. +From the earliest times of which we have any knowledge, Naturalism and +Supernaturalism have consciously, or unconsciously, competed and +struggled with one another; and the varying fortunes of the contest +are written in the records of the course of civilisation, from those +of Egypt and Babylonia, six thousand years ago, down to those of our +own time and people. + +These records inform us that, so far as men have paid attention to +Nature, they have been rewarded for their pains. They have developed +the Arts which have furnished the conditions of civilised existence; +and the Sciences, which have been a progressive revelation of reality +and have afforded the best discipline of the mind in the methods of +discovering truth. They have accumulated a vast body of universally +accepted knowledge; and the conceptions of man and of society, of +morals and of law, based upon that knowledge, are every day more and +more, either openly or tacitly, acknowledged to be the foundations of +right action. + +History also tells us that the field of the supernatural has rewarded +its cultivators with a harvest, perhaps not less luxuriant, but of a +different character. It has produced an almost infinite diversity of +Religions. These, if we set aside the ethical concomitants upon which +natural knowledge also has a claim, are composed of information about +Supernature; they tell us of the attributes of supernatural beings, of +their relations with Nature, and of the operations by which their +interference with the ordinary course of events can be secured or +averted. It does not appear, however, that supernaturalists have +attained to any agreement about these matters, or that history +indicates a widening of the influence of supernaturalism on practice, +with the onward flow of time. On the contrary, the various religions +are, to a great extent, mutually exclusive; and their adherents +delight in charging each other, not merely with error, but with +criminality, deserving and ensuing punishment of infinite severity. In +singular contrast with natural knowledge, again, the acquaintance of +mankind with the supernatural appears the more extensive and the more +exact, and the influence of supernatural doctrines upon conduct the +greater, the further back we go in time and the lower the stage of +civilisation submitted to investigation. Historically, indeed, there +would seem to be an inverse relation between supernatural and natural +knowledge. As the latter has widened, gained in precision and in +trustworthiness, so has the former shrunk, grown vague and +questionable; as the one has more and more filled the sphere of +action, so has the other retreated into the region of meditation, or +vanished behind the screen of mere verbal recognition. + +Whether this difference of the fortunes of Naturalism and of +Supernaturalism is an indication of the progress, or of the regress, +of humanity; of a fall from, or an advance towards, the higher life; +is a matter of opinion. The point to which I wish to direct attention +is that the difference exists and is making itself felt. Men are +growing to be seriously alive to the fact that the historical +evolution of humanity, which is generally, and I venture to think not +unreasonably, regarded as progress, has been, and is being, +accompanied by a co-ordinate elimination of the supernatural from its +originally large occupation of men's thoughts. The question--How far +is this process to go?--is, in my apprehension, the Controverted +Question of our time. + + * * * * * + +Controversy on this matter--prolonged, bitter, and fought out with the +weapons of the flesh, as well as with those of the spirit--is no new +thing to Englishmen. We have been more or less occupied with it these +five hundred years. And, during that time, we have made attempts to +establish a _modus vivendi_ between the antagonists, some of which +have had a world-wide influence; though, unfortunately, none have +proved universally and permanently satisfactory. + +In the fourteenth century, the controverted question among us was, +whether certain portions of the Supernaturalism of mediaeval +Christianity were well-founded. John Wicliff proposed a solution of +the problem which, in the course of the following two hundred years, +acquired wide popularity and vast historical importance: Lollards, +Hussites, Lutherans, Calvinists, Zwinglians, Socinians, and +Anabaptists, whatever their disagreements, concurred in the proposal +to reduce the Supernaturalism of Christianity within the limits +sanctioned by the Scriptures. None of the chiefs of Protestantism +called in question either the supernatural origin and infallible +authority of the Bible, or the exactitude of the account of the +supernatural world given in its pages. In fact, they could not afford +to entertain any doubt about these points, since the infallible Bible +was the fulcrum of the lever with which they were endeavouring to +upset the Chair of St. Peter. The "freedom of private judgment" which +they proclaimed, meant no more, in practice, than permission to +themselves to make free with the public judgment of the Roman Church, +in respect of the canon and of the meaning to be attached to the words +of the canonical books. Private judgment--that is to say, reason--was +(theoretically, at any rate) at liberty to decide what books were and +what were not to take the rank of "Scripture"; and to determine the +sense of any passage in such books. But this sense, once ascertained +to the mind of the sectary, was to be taken for pure truth--for the +very word of God. The controversial efficiency of the principle of +biblical infallibility lay in the fact that the conservative +adversaries of the Reformers were not in a position to contravene it +without entangling themselves in serious difficulties; while, since +both Papists and Protestants agreed in taking efficient measures to +stop the mouths of any more radical critics, these did not count. + +The impotence of their adversaries, however, did not remove the +inherent weakness of the position of the Protestants. The dogma of the +infallibility of the Bible is no more self-evident than is that of the +infallibility of the Pope. If the former is held by "faith," then the +latter may be. If the latter is to be accepted, or rejected, by +private judgment, why not the former? Even if the Bible could be +proved anywhere to assert its own infallibility, the value of that +self-assertion to those who dispute the point is not obvious. On the +other hand, if the infallibility of the Bible was rested on that of a +"primitive Church," the admission that the "Church" was formerly +infallible was awkward in the extreme for those who denied its present +infallibility. Moreover, no sooner was the Protestant principle +applied to practice, than it became evident that even an infallible +text, when manipulated by private judgment, will impartially +countenance contradictory deductions; and furnish forth creeds and +confessions as diverse as the quality and the information of the +intellects which exercise, and the prejudices and passions which sway, +such judgments. Every sect, confident in the derivative infallibility +of its wire-drawing of infallible materials, was ready to supply its +contingent of martyrs; and to enable history, once more, to illustrate +the truth, that steadfastness under persecution says much for the +sincerity and still more for the tenacity, of the believer, but very +little for the objective truth of that which he believes. No martyrs +have sealed their faith with their blood more steadfastly than the +Anabaptists. + +Last, but not least, the Protestant principle contained within itself +the germs of the destruction of the finality, which the Lutheran, +Calvinistic, and other Protestant Churches fondly imagined they had +reached. Since their creeds were professedly based on the canonical +Scriptures, it followed that, in the long run, whoso settled the +canon defined the creed. If the private judgment of Luther might +legitimately conclude that the epistle of James was contemptible, +while the epistles of Paul contained the very essence of Christianity, +it must be permissible for some other private judgment, on as good or +as bad grounds, to reverse these conclusions; the critical process +which excluded the Apocrypha could not be barred, at any rate by +people who rejected the authority of the Church, from extending its +operations to Daniel, the Canticles, and Ecclesiastes; nor, having got +so far, was it easy to allege any good ground for staying the further +progress of criticism. In fact, the logical development of +Protestantism could not fail to lay the authority of the Scriptures at +the feet of Reason; and, in the hands of latitudinarian and +rationalistic theologians, the despotism of the Bible was rapidly +converted into an extremely limited monarchy. Treated with as much +respect as ever, the sphere of its practical authority was minimised; +and its decrees were valid only so far as they were countersigned by +common sense, the responsible minister. + +The champions of Protestantism are much given to glorify the +Reformation of the sixteenth century as the emancipation of Reason; +but it may be doubted if their contention has any solid ground; while +there is a good deal of evidence to show, that aspirations after +intellectual freedom had nothing whatever to do with the movement. +Dante, who struck the Papacy as hard blows as Wicliff; Wicliff himself +and Luther himself, when they began their work; were far enough from +any intention of meddling with even the most irrational of the dogmas +of mediaeval Supernaturalism. From Wicliff to Socinus, or even to +Muenzer, Rothmann, and John of Leyden, I fail to find a trace of any +desire to set reason free. The most that can be discovered is a +proposal to change masters. From being the slave of the Papacy the +intellect was to become the serf of the Bible; or, to speak more +accurately, of somebody's interpretation of the Bible, which, rapidly +shifting its attitude from the humility of a private judgment to the +arrogant Caesaro-papistry of a state-enforced creed, had no more +hesitation about forcibly extinguishing opponent private judgments and +judges, than had the old-fashioned Pontiff-papistry. + +It was the iniquities, and not the irrationalities, of the Papal +system that lay at the bottom of the revolt of the laity; which was, +essentially, an attempt to shake off the intolerable burden of certain +practical deductions from a Supernaturalism in which everybody, in +principle, acquiesced. What was the gain to intellectual freedom of +abolishing transubstantiation, image worship, indulgences, +ecclesiastical infallibility; if consubstantiation, real-unreal +presence mystifications, the bibliolatry, the "inner-light" +pretensions, and the demonology, which are fruits of the same +supernaturalistic tree, remained in enjoyment of the spiritual and +temporal support of a new infallibility? One does not free a prisoner +by merely scraping away the rust from his shackles. + +It will be asked, perhaps, was not the Reformation one of the products +of that great outbreak of many-sided free mental activity included +under the general head of the Renascence? Melanchthon, Ulrich von +Hutten, Beza, were they not all humanists? Was not the arch-humanist, +Erasmus, fautor-in-chief of the Reformation, until he got frightened +and basely deserted it? + +From the language of Protestant historians, it would seem that they +often forget that Reformation and Protestantism are by no means +convertible terms. There were plenty of sincere and indeed zealous +reformers, before, during, and after the birth and growth of +Protestantism, who would have nothing to do with it. Assuredly, the +rejuvenescence of science and of art; the widening of the field of +Nature by geographical and astronomical discovery; the revelation of +the noble ideals of antique literature by the revival of classical +learning; the stir of thought, throughout all classes of society, by +the printers' work, loosened traditional bonds and weakened the hold +of mediaeval Supernaturalism. In the interests of liberal culture and +of national welfare, the humanists were eager to lend a hand to +anything which tended to the discomfiture of their sworn enemies, the +monks, and they willingly supported every movement in the direction of +weakening ecclesiastical interference with civil life. But the bond of +a common enemy was the only real tie between the humanist and the +protestant; their alliance was bound to be of short duration, and, +sooner or later, to be replaced by internecine warfare. The goal of +the humanists, whether they were aware of it or not, was the +attainment of the complete intellectual freedom of the antique +philosopher, than which nothing could be more abhorrent to a Luther, a +Calvin, a Beza, or a Zwingli. + +The key to the comprehension of the conduct of Erasmus, seems to me to +lie in the clear apprehension of this fact. That he was a man of many +weaknesses may be true; in fact, he was quite aware of them and +professed himself no hero. But he never deserted that reformatory +movement which he originally contemplated; and it was impossible he +should have deserted the specifically Protestant reformation in which +he never took part. He was essentially a theological whig, to whom +radicalism was as hateful as it is to all whigs; or, to borrow a still +more appropriate comparison from modern times, a broad churchman who +refused to enlist with either the High Church or the Low Church +zealots, and paid the penalty of being called coward, time-server and +traitor, by both. Yet really there is a good deal in his pathetic +remonstrance that he does not see why he is bound to become a martyr +for that in which he does not believe; and a fair consideration of the +circumstances and the consequences of the Protestant reformation seems +to me to go a long way towards justifying the course he adopted. + +Few men had better means of being acquainted with the condition of +Europe; none could be more competent to gauge the intellectual +shallowness and self-contradiction of the Protestant criticism of +Catholic doctrine; and to estimate, at its proper value, the fond +imagination that the waters let out by the Renascence would come to +rest amidst the blind alleys of the new ecclesiasticism. The bastard, +whilom poor student and monk, become the familiar of bishops and +princes, at home in all grades of society, could not fail to be aware +of the gravity of the social position, of the dangers imminent from +the profligacy and indifference of the ruling classes, no less than +from the anarchical tendencies of the people who groaned under their +oppression. The wanderer who had lived in Germany, in France, in +England, in Italy, and who counted many of the best and most +influential men in each country among his friends, was not likely to +estimate wrongly the enormous forces which were still at the command +of the Papacy. Bad as the churchmen might be, the statesmen were +worse; and a person of far more sanguine temperament than Erasmus +might have seen no hope for the future, except in gradually freeing +the ubiquitous organisation of the Church from the corruptions which +alone, as he imagined, prevented it from being as beneficent as it was +powerful. The broad tolerance of the scholar and man of the world +might well be revolted by the ruffianism, however genial, of one great +light of Protestantism, and the narrow fanaticism, however learned and +logical, of others; and to a cautious thinker, by whom, whatever his +shortcomings, the ethical ideal of the Christian evangel was sincerely +prized, it really was a fair question, whether it was worth while to +bring about a political and social deluge, the end of which no mortal +could foresee, for the purpose of setting up Lutheran, Zwinglian, and +other Peterkins, in the place of the actual claimant to the reversion +of the spiritual wealth of the Galilean fisherman. + +Let us suppose that, at the beginning of the Lutheran and Zwinglian +movement, a vision of its immediate consequences had been granted to +Erasmus; imagine that to the spectre of the fierce outbreak of +Anabaptist communism, which opened the apocalypse, had succeeded, in +shadowy procession, the reign of terror and of spoliation in England, +with the judicial murders of his friends, More and Fisher; the bitter +tyranny of evangelistic clericalism in Geneva and in Scotland; the +long agony of religious wars, persecutions, and massacres, which +devastated France and reduced Germany almost to savagery; finishing +with the spectacle of Lutheranism in its native country sunk into mere +dead Erastian formalism, before it was a century old; while Jesuitry +triumphed over Protestantism in three-fourths of Europe, bringing in +its train a recrudescence of all the corruptions Erasmus and his +friends sought to abolish; might not he have quite honestly thought +this a somewhat too heavy price to pay for Protestantism; more +especially, since no one was in a better position than himself to know +how little the dogmatic foundation of the new confessions was able to +bear the light which the inevitable progress of humanistic criticism +would throw upon them? As the wiser of his contemporaries saw, Erasmus +was, at heart, neither Protestant nor Papist, but an "Independent +Christian"; and, as the wiser of his modern biographers have +discerned, he was the precursor, not of sixteenth century reform, but +of eighteenth century "enlightenment"; a sort of broad-church +Voltaire, who held by his "Independent Christianity" as stoutly as +Voltaire by his Deism. + +In fact, the stream of the Renascence, which bore Erasmus along, left +Protestantism stranded amidst the mudbanks of its articles and creeds: +while its true course became visible to all men, two centuries later. +By this time, those in whom the movement of the Renascence was +incarnate became aware what spirit they were of; and they attacked +Supernaturalism in its Biblical stronghold, defended by Protestants +and Romanists with equal zeal. In the eyes of the "Patriarch," +Ultramontanism, Jansenism, and Calvinism were merely three persons of +the one "Infame" which it was the object of his life to crush. If he +hated one more than another, it was probably the last; while +D'Holbach, and the extreme left of the free-thinking host, were +disposed to show no more mercy to Deism and Pantheism. + +The sceptical insurrection of the eighteenth century made a terrific +noise and frightened not a few worthy people out of their wits; but +cool judges might have foreseen, at the outset, that the efforts of +the later rebels were no more likely than those of the earlier, to +furnish permanent resting-places for the spirit of scientific inquiry. +However worthy of admiration may be the acuteness, the common sense, +the wit, the broad humanity, which abound in the writings of the best +of the free-thinkers; there is rarely much to be said for their work +as an example of the adequate treatment of a grave and difficult +investigation. I do not think any impartial judge will assert that, +from this point of view, they are much better than their adversaries. +It must be admitted that they share to the full the fatal weakness of +_a priori_ philosophising, no less than the moral frivolity common to +their age; while a singular want of appreciation of history, as the +record of the moral and social evolution of the human race, permitted +them to resort to preposterous theories of imposture, in order to +account for the religious phenomena which are natural products of that +evolution. + +For the most part, the Romanist and Protestant adversaries of the +free-thinkers met them with arguments no better than their own; and +with vituperation, so far inferior that it lacked the wit. But one +great Christian Apologist fairly captured the guns of the +free-thinking array, and turned their batteries upon themselves. +Speculative "infidelity" of the eighteenth century type was mortally +wounded by the _Analogy_; while the progress of the historical and +psychological sciences brought to light the important part played by +the mythopoeic faculty; and, by demonstrating the extreme readiness of +men to impose upon themselves, rendered the calling in of sacerdotal +cooperation, in most cases, a superfluity. + +Again, as in the fourteenth and the sixteenth centuries, social and +political influences came into play. The free-thinking _philosophes_, +who objected to Rousseau's sentimental religiosity almost as much as +they did to _L'Infame_, were credited with the responsibility for all +the evil deeds of Rousseau's Jacobin disciples, with about as much +justification as Wicliff was held responsible for the Peasants' +revolt, or Luther for the _Bauern-krieg_. In England, though our +_ancien regime_ was not altogether lovely, the social edifice was +never in such a bad way as in France; it was still capable of being +repaired; and our forefathers, very wisely, preferred to wait until +that operation could be safely performed, rather than pull it all down +about their ears, in order to build a philosophically planned house on +brand-new speculative foundations. Under these circumstances, it is +not wonderful that, in this country, practical men preferred the +gospel of Wesley and Whitfield to that of Jean Jacques; while enough +of the old leaven of Puritanism remained to ensure the favour and +support of a large number of religious men to a revival of evangelical +supernaturalism. Thus, by degrees, the free-thinking, or the +indifference, prevalent among us in the first half of the eighteenth +century, was replaced by a strong supernaturalistic reaction, which +submerged the work of the free-thinkers; and even seemed, for a time, +to have arrested the naturalistic movement of which that work was an +imperfect indication. Yet, like Lollardry, four centuries earlier, +free-thought merely took to running underground, safe, sooner or +later, to return to the surface. + + * * * * * + +My memory, unfortunately, carries me back to the fourth decade of the +nineteenth century, when the evangelical flood had a little abated and +the tops of certain mountains were soon to appear, chiefly in the +neighbourhood of Oxford; but when nevertheless, bibliolatry was +rampant; when church and chapel alike proclaimed, as the oracles of +God, the crude assumptions of the worst informed and, in natural +sequence, the most presumptuously bigoted, of all theological schools. + +In accordance with promises made on my behalf, but certainly without +my authorisation, I was very early taken to hear "sermons in the +vulgar tongue." And vulgar enough often was the tongue in which some +preacher, ignorant alike of literature, of history, of science, and +even of theology, outside that patronised by his own narrow school, +poured forth, from the safe entrenchment of the pulpit, invectives +against those who deviated from his notion of orthodoxy. From dark +allusions to "sceptics" and "infidels," I became aware of the +existence of people who trusted in carnal reason; who audaciously +doubted that the world was made in six natural days, or that the +deluge was universal; perhaps even went so far as to question the +literal accuracy of the story of Eve's temptation, or of Balaam's ass; +and, from the horror of the tones in which they were mentioned, I +should have been justified in drawing the conclusion that these rash +men belonged to the criminal classes. At the same time, those who were +more directly responsible for providing me with the knowledge +essential to the right guidance of life (and who sincerely desired to +do so), imagined they were discharging that most sacred duty by +impressing upon my childish mind the necessity, on pain of reprobation +in this world and damnation in the next, of accepting, in the strict +and literal sense, every statement contained in the Protestant Bible. +I was told to believe, and I did believe, that doubt about any of them +was a sin, not less reprehensible than a moral delict. I suppose that, +out of a thousand of my contemporaries, nine hundred, at least, had +their minds systematically warped and poisoned, in the name of the God +of truth, by like discipline. I am sure that, even a score of years +later, those who ventured to question the exact historical accuracy of +any part of the Old Testament and _a fortiori_ of the Gospels, had to +expect a pitiless shower of verbal missiles, to say nothing of the +other disagreeable consequences which visit those who, in any way, run +counter to that chaos of prejudices called public opinion. + +My recollections of this time have recently been revived by the +perusal of a remarkable document,[9] signed by as many as thirty-eight +out of the twenty odd thousand clergymen of the Established Church. It +does not appear that the signataries are officially accredited +spokesmen of the ecclesiastical corporation to which they belong; but +I feel bound to take their word for it, that they are "stewards of the +Lord, who have received the Holy Ghost," and, therefore, to accept +this memorial as evidence that, though the Evangelicism of my early +days may be deposed from its place of power, though so many of the +colleagues of the thirty-eight even repudiate the title of +Protestants, yet the green bay tree of bibliolatry flourishes as it +did sixty years ago. And, as in those good old times, whoso refuses to +offer incense to the idol is held to be guilty of "a dishonour to +God," imperilling his salvation. + +It is to the credit of the perspicacity of the memorialists that they +discern the real nature of the Controverted Question of the age. They +are awake to the unquestionable fact that, if Scripture has been +discovered "not to be worthy of unquestioning belief," faith "in the +supernatural itself" is, so far, undermined. And I may congratulate +myself upon such weighty confirmation of an opinion in which I have +had the fortune to anticipate them. But whether it is more to the +credit of the courage, than to the intelligence, of the thirty-eight +that they should go on to proclaim that the canonical scriptures of +the Old and New Testaments "declare incontrovertibly the actual +historical truth in all records, both of past events and of the +delivery of predictions to be thereafter fulfilled," must be left to +the coming generation to decide. + +The interest which attaches to this singular document will, I think, +be based by most thinking men, not upon what it is, but upon that of +which it is a sign. It is an open secret, that the memorial is put +forth as a counterblast to a manifestation of opinion of a contrary +character, on the part of certain members of the same ecclesiastical +body, who therefore have, as I suppose, an equal right to declare +themselves "stewards of the Lord and recipients of the Holy Ghost." In +fact, the stream of tendency towards Naturalism, the course of which I +have briefly traced, has, of late years, flowed so strongly, that even +the Churches have begun, I dare not say to drift, but, at any rate, to +swing at their moorings. Within the pale of the Anglican +establishment, I venture to doubt, whether, at this moment, there are +as many thorough-going defenders of "plenary inspiration" as there +were timid questioners of that doctrine, half a century ago. +Commentaries, sanctioned by the highest authority, give up the "actual +historical truth" of the cosmogonical and diluvial narratives. +University professors of deservedly high repute accept the critical +decision that the Hexateuch is a compilation, in which the share of +Moses, either as author or as editor, is not quite so clearly +demonstrable as it might be; highly placed Divines tell us that the +pre-Abrahamic Scripture narratives may be ignored; that the book of +Daniel may be regarded as a patriotic romance of the second century +B.C.; that the words of the writer of the fourth Gospel are not always +to be distinguished from those which he puts into the mouth of Jesus. +Conservative, but conscientious, revisers decide that whole passages, +some of dogmatic and some of ethical importance, are interpolations. +An uneasy sense of the weakness of the dogma of Biblical infallibility +seems to be at the bottom of a prevailing tendency once more to +substitute the authority of the "Church" for that of the Bible. In my +old age, it has happened to me to be taken to task for regarding +Christianity as a "religion of a book" as gravely as, in my youth, I +should have been reprehended for doubting that proposition. It is a no +less interesting symptom that the State Church seems more and more +anxious to repudiate all complicity with the principles of the +Protestant Reformation and to call itself "Anglo-Catholic." +Inspiration, deprived of its old intelligible sense, is watered down +into a mystification. The Scriptures are, indeed, inspired; but they +contain a wholly undefined and indefinable "human element"; and this +unfortunate intruder is converted into a sort of biblical whipping +boy. Whatsoever scientific investigation, historical or physical, +proves to be erroneous, the "human element" bears the blame; while the +divine inspiration of such statements, as by their nature are out of +reach of proof or disproof, is still asserted with all the vigour +inspired by conscious safety from attack. Though the proposal to treat +the Bible "like any other book" which caused so much scandal, forty +years ago, may not yet be generally accepted, and though Bishop +Colenso's criticisms may still lie, formally, under ecclesiastical +ban, yet the Church has not wholly turned a deaf ear to the voice of +the scientific tempter; and many a coy divine, while "crying I will +ne'er consent," has consented to the proposals of that scientific +criticism which the memorialists renounce and denounce. + +A humble layman, to whom it would seem the height of presumption to +assume even the unconsidered dignity of a "steward of science," may +well find this conflict of apparently equal ecclesiastical authorities +perplexing--suggestive, indeed, of the wisdom of postponing attention +to either, until the question of precedence between them is settled. +And this course will probably appear the more advisable, the more +closely the fundamental position of the memorialists is examined. + +"No opinion of the fact or form of Divine Revelation, founded on +literary criticism [and I suppose I may add historical, or physical, +criticism] of the Scriptures themselves, can be admitted to interfere +with the traditionary testimony of the Church, when that has been once +ascertained and verified by appeal to antiquity."[10] + +Grant that it is "the traditionary testimony of the Church" which +guarantees the canonicity of each and all of the books of the Old and +New Testaments. Grant also that canonicity means infallibility; yet, +according to the thirty-eight, this "traditionary testimony" has to be +"ascertained and verified by appeal to antiquity." But "ascertainment +and verification" are purely intellectual processes, which must be +conducted according to the strict rules of scientific investigation, +or be self-convicted of worthlessness. Moreover, before we can set +about the appeal to "antiquity," the exact sense of that usefully +vague term must be defined by similar means. "Antiquity" may include +any number of centuries, great or small; and whether "antiquity" is to +comprise the Council of Trent, or to stop a little beyond that of +Nicaea, or to come to an end in the time of Irenaenus, or in that of +Justin Martyr, are knotty questions which can be decided, if at all, +only by those critical methods which the signataries treat so +cavalierly. And yet the decision of these questions is fundamental, +for as the limits of the canonical scriptures vary, so may the dogmas +deduced from them require modification. Christianity is one thing, if +the fourth Gospel, the Epistle to the Hebrews, the pastoral Epistles, +and the Apocalypse are canonical and (by the hypothesis) infallibly +true; and another thing, if they are not. As I have already said, +whoso defines the canon defines the creed. + +Now it is quite certain with respect to some of these books, such as +the Apocalypse and the Epistle to the Hebrews, that the Eastern and +the Western Church differed in opinion for centuries; and yet neither +the one branch nor the other can have considered its judgment +infallible, since they eventually agreed to a transaction by which +each gave up its objection to the book patronised by the other. +Moreover, the "fathers" argue (in a more or less rational manner) +about the canonicity of this or that book, and are by no means above +producing evidence, internal and external, in favour of the opinions +they advocate. In fact, imperfect as their conceptions of scientific +method may be, they not unfrequently used it to the best of their +ability. Thus it would appear that though science, like Nature, may be +driven out with a fork, ecclesiastical or other, yet she surely comes +back again. The appeal to "antiquity" is, in fact, an appeal to +science, first to define what antiquity is; secondly, to determine +what "antiquity," so defined, says about canonicity; thirdly, to prove +that canonicity means infallibility. And when science, largely in the +shape of the abhorred "criticism," has answered this appeal, and has +shown that "antiquity" used her own methods, however clumsily and +imperfectly, she naturally turns round upon the appellants, and +demands that they should show cause why, in these days, science +should not resume the work the ancients did so imperfectly, and carry +it out efficiently. + +But no such cause can be shown. If "antiquity" permitted Eusebius, +Origen, Tertullian, Irenaeus, to argue for the reception of this book +into the canon and the rejection of that, upon rational grounds, +"antiquity" admitted the whole principle of modern criticism. If +Irenaeus produces ridiculous reasons for limiting the Gospels to four, +it was open to any one else to produce good reasons (if he had them) +for cutting them down to three, or increasing them to five. If the +Eastern branch of the Church had a right to reject the Apocalypse and +accept the Epistle to the Hebrews, and the Western an equal right to +accept the Apocalypse and reject the Epistle, down to the fourth +century, any other branch would have an equal right, on cause shown, +to reject both, or, as the Catholic Church afterwards actually did, to +accept both. + +Thus I cannot but think that the thirty-eight are hoist with their own +petard. Their "appeal to antiquity" turns out to be nothing but a +round-about way of appealing to the tribunal, the jurisdiction of +which they affect to deny. Having rested the world of Christian +supernaturalism on the elephant of biblical infallibility, and +furnished the elephant with standing ground on the tortoise of +"antiquity," they, like their famous Hindoo analogue, have been +content to look no further; and have thereby been spared the horror of +discovering that the tortoise rests on a grievously fragile +construction, to a great extent the work of that very intellectual +operation which they anathematise and repudiate. + +Moreover, there is another point to be considered. It is of course +true that a Christian Church (whether the Christian Church, or not, +depends on the connotation of the definite article) existed before the +Christian scriptures; and that the infallibility of these depends upon +the infallibility of the judgment of the persons who selected the +books of which they are composed, out of the mass of literature +current among the early Christians. The logical acumen of Augustine +showed him that the authority of the Gospel he preached must rest on +that of the Church to which he belonged.[11] But it is no less true +that the Hebrew and the Septuagint versions of most, if not all, of +the Old Testament books existed before the birth of Jesus of Nazareth; +and that their divine authority is presupposed by, and therefore can +hardly depend upon, the religious body constituted by his disciples. +As everybody knows, the very conception of a "Christ" is purely +Jewish. The validity of the argument from the Messianic prophecies +vanishes unless their infallible authority is granted; and, as a +matter of fact, whether we turn to the Gospels, the Epistles, or the +writings of the early Apologists, the Jewish scriptures are recognised +as the highest court of appeal of the Christian. + +The proposal to cite Christian "antiquity" as a witness to the +infallibility of the Old Testament, when its own claims to authority +vanish, if certain propositions contained in the Old Testament are +erroneous, hardly satisfies the requirements of lay logic. It is as if +a claimant to be sole legatee, under another kind of testament, should +offer his assertion as sufficient evidence of the validity of the +will. And, even were not such a circular, or rather rotatory, +argument, that the infallibility of the Bible is testified by the +infallible Church, whose infallibility is testified by the infallible +Bible, too absurd for serious consideration, it remains permissible to +ask, Where and when the Church, during the period of its +infallibility, as limited by Anglican dogmatic necessities, has +officially decreed the "actual historical truth of all records" in the +Old Testament? Was Augustine heretical when he denied the actual +historical truth of the record of the Creation? Father Suarez, +standing on later Roman tradition, may have a right to declare that he +was; but it does not lie in the mouth of those who limit their appeal +to that early "antiquity," in which Augustine played so great a part, +to say so. + + * * * * * + +Among the watchers of the course of the world of thought, some view +with delight and some with horror, the recrudescence of +Supernaturalism which manifests itself among us, in shapes ranged +along the whole flight of steps, which, in this case, separates the +sublime from the ridiculous--from Neo-Catholicism and Inner-light +mysticism, at the top, to unclean things, not worthy of mention in the +same breath, at the bottom. In my poor opinion, the importance of +these manifestations is often greatly over-estimated. The extant forms +of Supernaturalism have deep roots in human nature, and will +undoubtedly die hard; but, in these latter days, they have to cope +with an enemy whose full strength is only just beginning to be put +out, and whose forces, gathering strength year by year, are hemming +them round on every side. This enemy is Science, in the acceptation of +systematized natural knowledge, which, during the last two centuries, +has extended those methods of investigation, the worth of which is +confirmed by daily appeal to Nature, to every region in which the +Supernatural has hitherto been recognised. + +When scientific historical criticism reduced the annals of heroic +Greece and of regal Rome to the level of fables; when the unity of +authorship of the _Iliad_ was successfully assailed by scientific +literary criticism; when scientific physical criticism, after +exploding the geocentric theory of the universe and reducing the solar +system itself to one of millions of groups of like cosmic specks, +circling, at unimaginable distances from one another through infinite +space, showed the supernaturalistic theories of the duration of the +earth and of life upon it, to be as inadequate as those of its +relative dimensions and importance had been; it needed no prophetic +gift to see that, sooner or later, the Jewish and the early Christian +records would be treated in the same manner; that the authorship of +the Hexateuch and of the Gospels would be as severely tested; and that +the evidence in favour of the veracity of many of the statements found +in the Scriptures would have to be strong indeed, if they were to be +opposed to the conclusions of physical science. In point of fact, so +far as I can discover, no one competent to judge of the evidential +strength of these conclusions, ventures now to say that the biblical +accounts of the creation and of the deluge are true in the natural +sense of the words of the narratives. The most modern Reconcilers +venture upon is to affirm, that some quite different sense may he put +upon the words; and that this non-natural sense may, with a little +trouble, be manipulated into some sort of noncontradiction of +scientific truth. + +My purpose, in the essay (XVI.) which treats of the narrative of the +Deluge, was to prove, by physical criticism, that no such event as +that described ever took place; to exhibit the untrustworthy character +of the narrative demonstrated by literary criticism; and, finally, to +account for its origin, by producing a form of those ancient legends +of pagan Chaldaea, from which the biblical compilation is manifestly +derived. I have yet to learn that the main propositions of this essay +can be seriously challenged. + +In the essays (II., III.) on the narrative of the Creation, I have +endeavoured to controvert the assertion that modern science supports, +either the interpretation put upon it by Mr. Gladstone, or any +interpretation which is compatible with the general sense of the +narrative, quite apart from particular details. The first chapter of +Genesis teaches the supernatural creation of the present forms of +life; modern science teaches that they have come about by evolution. +The first chapter of Genesis teaches the successive origin--firstly, +of all the plants, secondly, of all the aquatic and aerial animals, +thirdly, of all the terrestrial animals, which now exist--during +distinct intervals of time; modern science teaches that, throughout +all the duration of an immensely long past so far as we have any +adequate knowledge of it (that is as far back as the Silurian epoch), +plants, aquatic, aerial, and terrestrial animals have co-existed; that +the earliest known are unlike those which at present exist; and that +the modern species have come into existence as the last terms of a +series, the members of which have appeared one after another. Thus, +far from confirming the account in Genesis, the results of modern +science, so far as they go, are in principle, as in detail, hopelessly +discordant with it. + +Yet, if the pretensions to infallibility set up, not by the ancient +Hebrew writings themselves, but by the ecclesiastical champions and +friends from whom they may well pray to be delivered, thus shatter +themselves against the rock of natural knowledge, in respect of the +two most important of all events, the origin of things and the +palingenesis of terrestrial life, what historical credit dare any +serious thinker attach to the narratives of the fabrication of Eve, of +the Fall, of the commerce between the _Bene Elohim_ and the daughters +of men, which lie between the creational and the diluvial legends? +And, if these are to lose all historical worth, what becomes of the +infallibility of those who, according to the later scriptures, have +accepted them, argued from them, and staked far-reaching dogmatic +conclusions upon their historical accuracy? + +It is the merest ostrich policy for contemporary ecclesiasticism to +try to hide its Hexateuchal head--in the hope that the inseparable +connection of its body with pre-Abrahamic legends may be overlooked. +The question will still be asked, if the first nine chapters of the +Pentateuch are unhistorical, how is the historical accuracy of the +remainder to be guaranteed? What more intrinsic claim has the story of +the Exodus than that of the Deluge, to belief? If God did not walk in +the Garden of Eden, how can we be assured that he spoke from Sinai? + + * * * * * + +In some other of the following essays (IX., X., XI., XII., XIV., XV.) +I have endeavoured to show that sober and well-founded physical and +literary criticism plays no less havoc with the doctrine that the +canonical scriptures of the New Testament "declare incontrovertibly +the actual historical truth in all records." We are told that the +Gospels contain a true revelation of the spiritual world--a +proposition which, in one sense of the word "spiritual," I should not +think it necessary to dispute. But, when it is taken to signify that +everything we are told about the world of spirits in these books is +infallibly true; that we are bound to accept the demonology which +constitutes an inseparable part of their teaching; and to profess +belief in a Supernaturalism as gross as that of any primitive +people--it is at any rate permissible to ask why? Science may be +unable to define the limits of possibility, but it cannot escape from +the moral obligation to weigh the evidence in favour of any alleged +wonderful occurrence; and I have endeavoured to show that the evidence +for the Gadarene miracle is altogether worthless. We have simply +three, partially discrepant, versions of a story, about the primitive +form, the origin, and the authority for which we know absolutely +nothing. But the evidence in favour of the Gadarene miracle is as good +as that for any other. + +Elsewhere, I have pointed out that it is utterly beside the mark to +declaim against these conclusions on the ground of their asserted +tendency to deprive mankind of the consolations of the Christian +faith, and to destroy the foundations of morality; still less to brand +them with the question-begging vituperative appellation of +"infidelity." The point is not whether they are wicked; but, whether, +from the point of view of scientific method, they are irrefragably +true. If they are, they will be accepted in time, whether they are +wicked, or not wicked. Nature, so far as we have been able to attain +to any insight into her ways, recks little about consolation and makes +for righteousness by very round-about paths. And, at any rate, +whatever may be possible for other people, it is becoming less and +less possible for the man who puts his faith in scientific methods of +ascertaining truth, and is accustomed to have that faith justified by +daily experience, to be consciously false to his principle in any +matter. But the number of such men, driven into the use of scientific +methods of inquiry and taught to trust them, by their education, their +daily professional and business needs, is increasing and will +continually increase. The phraseology of Supernaturalism may remain on +men's lips, but in practice they are Naturalists. The magistrate who +listens with devout attention to the precept "Thou shalt not suffer a +witch to live" on Sunday, on Monday, dismisses, as intrinsically +absurd, a charge of bewitching a cow brought against some old woman; +the superintendent of a lunatic asylum who substituted exorcism for +rational modes of treatment would have but a short tenure of office; +even parish clerks doubt the utility of prayers for rain, so long as +the wind is in the east; and an outbreak of pestilence sends men, not +to the churches, but to the drains. In spite of prayers for the +success of our arms and _Te Deums_ for victory, our real faith is in +big battalions and keeping our powder dry; in knowledge of the science +of warfare; in energy, courage, and discipline. In these, as in all +other practical affairs, we act on the aphorism "_Laborare est +orare_"; we admit that intelligent work is the only acceptable +worship; and that, whether there be a Supernature or not, our business +is with Nature. + + * * * * * + +It is important to note that the principle of the scientific +Naturalism of the latter half of the nineteenth century, in which the +intellectual movement of the Renascence has culminated, and which was +first clearly formulated by Descartes, leads not to the denial of the +existence of any Supernature;[12] but simply to the denial of the +validity of the evidence adduced in favour of this, or of that, extant +form of Supernaturalism. + +Looking at the matter from the most rigidly scientific point of view, +the assumption that, amidst the myriads of worlds scattered through +endless space, there can be no intelligence, as much greater than +man's as his is greater than a blackbeetle's; no being endowed with +powers of influencing the course of nature as much greater than his, +as his is greater than a snail's seems to me not merely baseless, but +impertinent. Without stepping beyond the analogy of that which is +known, it is easy to people the cosmos with entities, in ascending +scale, until we reach something practically indistinguishable from +omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience. If our intelligence can, +in some matters, surely reproduce the past of thousands of years ago +and anticipate the future, thousands of years hence, it is clearly +within the limits of possibility that some greater intellect, even of +the same order, may be able to mirror the whole past and the whole +future; if the universe is penetrated by a medium of such a nature +that a magnetic needle on the earth answers to a commotion in the sun, +an omnipresent agent is also conceivable; if our insignificant +knowledge gives us some influence over events, practical omniscience +may confer indefinably greater power. Finally, if evidence that a +thing may be, were equivalent to proof that it is, analogy might +justify the construction of a naturalistic theology and demonology not +less wonderful than the current supernatural; just as it might justify +the peopling of Mars, or of Jupiter, with living forms to which +terrestrial biology offers no parallel. Until human life is longer and +the duties of the present press less heavily, I do not think that wise +men will occupy themselves with Jovian, or Martian, natural history; +and they will probably agree to a verdict of "not proven" in respect +of naturalistic theology, taking refuge in that agnostic confession, +which appears to me to be the only position for people who object to +say that they know what they are quite aware they do not know. As to +the interests of morality, I am disposed to think that if mankind +could be got to act up to this last principle in every relation of +life, a reformation would be effected such as the world has not yet +seen; an approximation to the millennium, such as no supernaturalistic +religion has ever yet succeeded, or seems likely ever to succeed, in +effecting. + + * * * * * + +I have hitherto dwelt upon scientific Naturalism chiefly in its +critical and destructive aspect. But the present incarnation of the +spirit of the Renascence differs from its predecessor in the +eighteenth century, in that it builds up, as well as pulls down. + +That of which it has laid the foundation, of which it is already +raising the superstructure, is the doctrine of evolution. But so many +strange misconceptions are current about this doctrine--it is attacked +on such false grounds by its enemies, and made to cover so much that +is disputable by some of its friends, that I think it well to define +as clearly as I can, what I do not and what I do understand by the +doctrine. + +I have nothing to say to any "Philosophy of Evolution." Attempts to +construct such a philosophy may be as useful, nay, even as admirable, +as was the attempt of Descartes to get at a theory of the universe by +the same _a priori_ road; but, in my judgment, they are as premature. +Nor, for this purpose, have I to do with any theory of the "Origin of +Species," much as I value that which is known as the Darwinian theory. +That the doctrine of natural selection presupposes evolution is quite +true; but it is not true that evolution necessarily implies natural +selection. In fact, evolution might conceivably have taken place +without the development of groups possessing the characters of +species. + +For me, the doctrine of evolution is no speculation, but a +generalisation of certain facts, which may be observed by any one who +will take the necessary trouble. These facts are those which are +classed by biologists under the heads of Embryology and of +Palaeontology. Embryology proves that every higher form of individual +life becomes what it is by a process of gradual differentiation from +an extremely low form; palaeontology proves, in some cases, and renders +probable in all, that the oldest types of a group are the lowest; and +that they have been followed by a gradual succession of more and more +differentiated forms. It is simply a fact, that evolution of the +individual animal and plant is taking place, as a natural process, in +millions and millions of cases every day; it is a fact, that the +species which have succeeded one another in the past, do, in many +cases, present just those morphological relations, which they must +possess, if they had proceeded, one from the other, by an analogous +process of evolution. + +The alternative presented, therefore, is: either the forms of one and +the same type--say, _e.g._, that of the Horse tribe[13]--arose +successively, but independently of one another, at intervals, during +myriads of years; or, the later forms are modified descendants of the +earlier. And the latter supposition is so vastly more probable than +the former, that rational men will adopt it, unless satisfactory +evidence to the contrary can be produced. The objection sometimes put +forward, that no one yet professes to have seen one species pass into +another, comes oddly from those who believe that mankind are all +descended from Adam. Has any one then yet seen the production of +negroes from a white stock, or _vice versa_? Moreover, is it +absolutely necessary to have watched every step of the progress of a +planet, to be justified in concluding that it really does go round the +sun? If so, astronomy is in a bad way. + +I do not, for a moment, presume to suggest that some one, far better +acquainted than I am with astronomy and physics; or that a master of +the new chemistry, with its extraordinary revelations; or that a +student of the development of human society, of language, and of +religions, may not find a sufficient foundation for the doctrine of +evolution in these several regions. On the contrary, I rejoice to see +that scientific investigation, in all directions, is tending to the +same result. And it may well be, that it is only my long occupation +with biological matters that leads me to feel safer among them than +anywhere else. Be that as it may, I take my stand on the facts of +embryology and of palaeontology; and I hold that our present knowledge +of these facts is sufficiently thorough and extensive to justify the +assertion that all future philosophical and theological speculations +will have to accommodate themselves to some such common body of +established truths as the following:-- + +1. Plants and animals have existed on our planet for many hundred +thousand, probably millions, of years. During this time, their forms, +or species, have undergone a succession of changes, which eventually +gave rise to the species which constitute the present living +population of the earth. There is no evidence, nor any reason to +suspect, that this secular process of evolution is other than a part +of the ordinary course of nature; there is no more ground for +imagining the occurrence of supernatural intervention, at any moment +in the development of species in the past, than there is for supposing +such intervention to take place, at any moment in the development of +an individual animal or plant, at the present day. + +2. At present, every individual animal or plant commences its +existence as an organism of extremely simple anatomical structure; and +it acquires all the complexity it ultimately possesses by gradual +differentiation into parts of various structure and function. When a +series of specific forms of the same type, extending over a long +period of past time, is examined, the relation between the earlier and +the later forms is analogous to that between earlier and later stages +of individual development. Therefore, it is a probable conclusion +that, if we could follow living beings back to their earlier states, +we should find them to present forms similar to those of the +individual germ, or, what comes to the same thing, of those lowest +known organisms which stand upon the boundary line between plants and +animals. At present, our knowledge of the ancient living world stops +very far short of this point. + +3. It is generally agreed, and there is certainly no evidence to the +contrary, that all plants are devoid of consciousness; that they +neither feel, desire, nor think. It is conceivable that the evolution +of the primordial living substance should have taken place only along +the plant line. In that case, the result might have been a wealth of +vegetable life, as great, perhaps as varied, as at present, though +certainly widely different from the present flora, in the evolution of +which animals have played so great a part. But the living world thus +constituted would be simply an admirable piece of unconscious +machinery, the working out of which lay potentially in its primitive +composition; pleasure and pain would have no place in it; it would be +a veritable Garden of Eden without any tree of the knowledge of good +and evil. The question of the moral government of such a world could +no more be asked, than we could reasonably seek for a moral purpose in +a kaleidoscope. + +4. How far down the scale of animal life the phenomena of +consciousness are manifested, it is impossible to say. No one doubts +their presence in his fellow-men; and, unless any strict Cartesians +are left, no one doubts that mammals and birds are to be reckoned +creatures that have feelings analogous to our smell, taste, sight, +hearing, touch, pleasure, and pain. For my own part, I should be +disposed to extend this analogical judgment a good deal further. On +the other hand, if the lowest forms of plants are to be denied +consciousness, I do not see on what ground it is to be ascribed to the +lowest animals. I find it hard to believe that an infusory animalcule, +a foraminifer, or a fresh-water polype is capable of feeling; and, in +spite of Shakspere, I have doubts about the great sensitiveness of the +"poor beetle that we tread upon." The question is equally perplexing +when we turn to the stages of development of the individual. Granted a +fowl feels; that the chick just hatched feels; that the chick when it +chirps within the egg may possibly feel; what is to be said of it on +the fifth day, when the bird is there, but with all its tissues +nascent? Still more, on the first day, when it is nothing but a flat +cellular disk? I certainly cannot bring myself to believe that this +disk feels. Yet if it does not, there must be some time in the three +weeks, between the first day and the day of hatching, when, as a +concomitant, or a consequence, of the attainment by the brain of the +chick of a certain stage of structural evolution, consciousness makes +its appearance. I have frequently expressed my incapacity to +understand the nature of the relation between consciousness and a +certain anatomical tissue, which is thus established by observation. +But the fact remains that, so far as observation and experiment go, +they teach us that the psychical phenomena are dependent on the +physical. + +In like manner, if fishes, insects, scorpions, and such animals as the +pearly nautilus, possess feeling, then undoubtedly consciousness was +present in the world as far back as the Silurian epoch. But, if the +earliest animals were similar to our rhizopods and monads, there must +have been some time, between the much earlier epoch in which they +constituted the whole animal population and the Silurian, in which +feeling dawned, in consequence of the organism having reached the +stage of evolution on which it depends. + +5. Consciousness has various forms, which may be manifested +independently of one another. The feelings of light and colour, of +sound, of touch, though so often associated with those of pleasure and +pain, are, by nature, as entirely independent of them as is thinking. +An animal devoid of the feelings of pleasure and of pain, may +nevertheless exhibit all the effects of sensation and purposive +action. Therefore, it would be a justifiable hypothesis that, long +after organic evolution had attained to consciousness, pleasure and +pain were still absent. Such a world would be without either happiness +or misery; no act could be punished and none could be rewarded; and it +could have no moral purpose. + +6. Suppose, for argument's sake, that all mammals and birds are +subjects of pleasure and pain. Then we may be certain that these forms +of consciousness were in existence at the beginning of the Mesozoic +epoch. From that time forth, pleasure has been distributed without +reference to merit, and pain inflicted without reference to demerit, +throughout all but a mere fraction of the higher animals. Moreover, +the amount and the severity of the pain, no less than the variety and +acuteness of the pleasure, have increased with every advance in the +scale of evolution. As suffering came into the world, not in +consequence of a fall, but of a rise, in the scale of being, so every +further rise has brought more suffering. As the evidence stands it +would appear that the sort of brain which characterizes the highest +mammals and which, so far as we know, is the indispensable condition +of the highest sensibility, did not come into existence before the +Tertiary epoch. The primordial anthropoid was probably, in this +respect, on much the same footing as his pithecoid kin. Like them he +stood upon his "natural rights," gratified all his desires to the best +of his ability, and was as incapable of either right or wrong doing +as they. It would be as absurd as in their case, to regard his +pleasures, any more than theirs, as moral rewards, and his pains, any +more than theirs, as moral punishments. + +7. From the remotest ages of which we have any cognizance, death has +been the natural and, apparently, the necessary concomitant of life. +In our hypothetical world (3), inhabited by nothing but plants, death +must have very early resulted from the struggle for existence: many of +the crowd must have jostled one another out of the conditions on which +life depends. The occurrence of death, as far back as we have any +fossil record of life, however, needs not to be proved by such +arguments; for, if there had been no death there would have been no +fossil remains, such as the great majority of those we met with. Not +only was there death in the world, as far as the record of life takes +us; but, ever since mammals and birds have been preyed upon by +carnivorous animals, there has been painful death, inflicted by +mechanisms specially adapted for inflicting it. + +8. Those who are acquainted with the closeness of the structural +relations between the human organisation and that of the mammals which +come nearest to him, on the one hand; and with the palaeontological +history of such animals as horses and dogs, on the other; will not be +disposed to question the origin of man from forms which stand in the +same sort of relation to _Homo sapiens_, as _Hipparion_ does to +_Equus_. I think it a conclusion, fully justified by analogy, that, +sooner or later, we shall discover the remains of our less specialised +primatic ancestors in the strata which have yielded the less +specialised equine and canine quadrupeds. At present, fossil remains +of men do not take us hack further than the later part of the +Quaternary epoch; and, as was to be expected, they do not differ more +from existing men, than Quaternary horses differ from existing horses. +Still earlier we find traces of man, in implements, such as are used +by the ruder savages at the present day. Later, the remains of the +palaeolithic and neolithic conditions take us gradually from the savage +state to the civilizations of Egypt and of Mycenae; though the true +chronological order of the remains actually discovered may be +uncertain. + +9. Much has yet to be learned, but, at present, natural knowledge +affords no support to the notion that men have fallen from a higher to +a lower state. On the contrary, everything points to a slow natural +evolution; which, favoured by the surrounding conditions in such +localities as the valleys of the Yang-tse-kang, the Euphrates, and the +Nile, reached a relatively high pitch, five or six thousand years ago; +while, in many other regions, the savage condition has persisted down +to our day. In all this vast lapse of time there is not a trace of the +occurrence of any general destruction of the human race; not the +smallest indication that man has been treated on any other principles +than the rest of the animal world. + +10. The results of the process of evolution in the case of man, and in +that of his more nearly allied contemporaries, have been marvellously +different. Yet it is easy to see that small primitive differences of a +certain order, must, in the long run, bring about a wide divergence of +the human stock from the others. It is a reasonable supposition that, +in the earliest human organisms, an improved brain, a voice more +capable of modulation and articulation, limbs which lent themselves +better to gesture, a more perfect hand, capable among other things of +imitating form in plastic or other material, were combined with the +curiosity, the mimetic tendency, the strong family affection of the +next lower group; and that they were accompanied by exceptional length +of life and a prolonged minority. The last two peculiarities are +obviously calculated to strengthen the family organisation, and to +give great weight to its educative influences. The potentiality of +language, as the vocal symbol of thought, lay in the faculty of +modulating and articulating the voice. The potentiality of writing, as +the visual symbol of thought, lay in the hand that could draw; and in +the mimetic tendency, which, as we know, was gratified by drawing, as +far back as the days of Quaternary man. With speech as the record, in +tradition, of the experience of more than one generation; with writing +as the record of that of any number of generations; the experience of +the race, tested and corrected generation after generation, could be +stored up and made the starting point for fresh progress. Having these +perfectly natural factors of the evolutionary process in man before +us, it seems unnecessary to go further a-field in search of others. + +11. That the doctrine of evolution implies a former state of innocence +of mankind is quite true; but, as I have remarked, it is the innocence +of the ape and of the tiger, whose acts, however they may run counter +to the principles of morality, it would be absurd to blame. The lust +of the one and the ferocity of the other are as much provided for in +their organisation, are as clear evidences of design, as any other +features that can be named. + +Observation and experiment upon the phenomena of society soon taught +men that, in order to obtain the advantages of social existence, +certain rules must be observed. Morality commenced with society. +Society is possible only upon the condition that the members of it +shall surrender more or less of their individual freedom of action. In +primitive societies, individual selfishness is a centrifugal force of +such intensity that it is constantly bringing the social organisation +to the verge of destruction. Hence the prominence of the positive +rules of obedience to the elders; of standing by the family or the +tribe in all emergencies; of fulfilling the religious rites, +non-observance of which is conceived to damage it with the +supernatural powers, belief in whose existence is one of the earliest +products of human thought; and of the negative rules which restrain +each from meddling with the life or property of another. + +12. The highest conceivable form of human society is that in which the +desire to do what is best for the whole dominates and limits the +action of every member of that society. The more complex the social +organisation the greater the number of acts from which each man must +abstain if he desires to do that which is best for all. Thus the +progressive evolution of society means increasing restriction of +individual freedom in certain directions. + +With the advance of civilisation, and the growth of cities and of +nations by the coalescence of families and of tribes, the rules which +constitute the common foundation of morality and of law became more +numerous and complicated, and the temptations to break or evade many +of them stronger. In the absence of a clear apprehension of the +natural sanctions of these rules, a supernatural sanction was assumed; +and imagination supplied the motives which reason was supposed to be +incompetent to furnish. Religion, at first independent of morality, +gradually took morality under its protection; and the supernaturalists +have ever since tried to persuade mankind that the existence of ethics +is bound up with that of supernaturalism. + +I am not of that opinion. But, whether it is correct or otherwise, it +is very clear to me that, as Beelzebub is not to be cast out by the +aid of Beelzebub, so morality is not to be established by immorality. +It is, we are told, the special peculiarity of the devil that he was a +liar from the beginning. If we set out in life with pretending to know +that which we do not know; with professing to accept for proof +evidence which we are well aware is inadequate; with wilfully shutting +our eyes and our ears to facts which militate against this or that +comfortable hypothesis; we are assuredly doing our best to deserve the +same character. + + * * * * * + +I have not the presumption to imagine that, in spite of all my +efforts, errors may not have crept into these propositions. But I am +tolerably confident that time will prove them to be substantially +correct. And if they are so, I confess I do not see how any extant +supernaturalistic system can also claim exactness. That they are +irreconcilable with the biblical cosmogony, anthropology, and +theodicy is obvious; but they are no less inconsistent with the +sentimental Deism of the "Vicaire Savoyard" and his numerous modern +progeny. It is as impossible, to my mind, to suppose that the +evolutionary process was set going with full foreknowledge of the +result and yet with what we should understand by a purely benevolent +intention, as it is to imagine that the intention was purely +malevolent. And the prevalence of dualistic theories from the earliest +times to the present day--whether in the shape of the doctrine of the +inherently evil nature of matter; of an Ahriman; of a hard and cruel +Demiurge; of a diabolical "prince of this world," show how widely this +difficulty has been felt. + +Many seem to think that, when it is admitted that the ancient +literature, contained in our Bibles, has no more claim to +infallibility than any other ancient literature; when it is proved +that the Israelites and their Christian successors accepted a great +many supernaturalistic theories and legends which have no better +foundation than those of heathenism, nothing remains to be done but to +throw the Bible aside as so much waste paper. + +I have always opposed this opinion. It appears to me that if there is +anybody more objectionable than the orthodox Bibliolater it is the +heterodox Philistine, who can discover in a literature which, in some +respects, has no superior, nothing but a subject for scoffing and an +occasion for the display of his conceited ignorance of the debt he +owes to former generations. + +Twenty-two years ago I pleaded for the use of the Bible as an +instrument of popular education, and I venture to repeat what I then +said: + +"Consider the great historical fact that, for three centuries, this +book has been woven into the life of all that is best and noblest in +English history; that it has become the national Epic of Britain and +is as familiar to gentle and simple, from John o' Groat's House to +Land's End, as Dante and Tasso once were to the Italians; that it is +written in the noblest and purest English and abounds in exquisite +beauties of mere literary form; and, finally, that it forbids the +veriest hind, who never left his village, to be ignorant of the +existence of other countries and other civilisations and of a great +past, stretching back to the furthest limits of the oldest nations in +the world. By the study of what other book could children be so much +humanised and made to feel that each figure in that vast historical +procession fills, like themselves, but a momentary space in the +interval between the Eternities; and earns the blessings or the curses +of all time, according to its effort to do good and hate evil, even as +they also are earning their payment for their work?"[14] + +At the same time, I laid stress upon the necessity of placing such +instruction in lay hands; in the hope and belief, that it would thus +gradually accommodate itself to the coming changes of opinion; that +the theology and the legend would drop more and more out of sight, +while the perennially interesting historical, literary, and ethical +contents would come more and more into view. + +I may add yet another claim of the Bible to the respect and the +attention of a democratic age. Throughout the history of the western +world, the Scriptures, Jewish and Christian, have been the great +instigators of revolt against the worst forms of clerical and +political despotism. The Bible has been the _Magna Charta_ of the poor +and of the oppressed; down to modern times, no State has had a +constitution in which the interests of the people are so largely taken +into account, in which the duties, so much more than the privileges, +of rulers are insisted upon, as that drawn up for Israel in +Deuteronomy and in Leviticus; nowhere is the fundamental truth that +the welfare of the State, in the long run, depends on the uprightness +of the citizen so strongly laid down. Assuredly, the Bible talks no +trash about the rights of man; but it insists on the equality of +duties, on the liberty to bring about that righteousness which is +somewhat different from struggling for "rights"; on the fraternity of +taking thought for one's neighbour as for one's self. + +So far as such equality, liberty, and fraternity are included under +the democratic principles which assume the same names, the Bible is +the most democratic book in the world. As such it began, through the +heretical sects, to undermine the clerico-political despotism of the +middle ages, almost as soon as it was formed, in the eleventh century; +Pope and King had as much as they could do to put down the Albigenses +and the Waldenses in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries; the +Lollards and the Hussites gave them still more trouble in the +fourteenth and fifteenth; from the sixteenth century onward, the +Protestant sects have favoured political freedom in proportion to the +degree in which they have refused to acknowledge any ultimate +authority save that of the Bible. + +But the enormous influence which has thus been exerted by the Jewish +and Christian Scriptures has had no necessary connection with +cosmogonies, demonologies, and miraculous interferences. Their +strength lies in their appeals, not to the reason, but to the ethical +sense. I do not say that even the highest biblical ideal is exclusive +of others or needs no supplement. But I do believe that the human race +is not yet, possibly may never be, in a position to dispense with it. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [8] With a few exceptions, which are duly noted when + they amount to more than verbal corrections. + + [9] _Declaration on the Truth of Holy Scripture._ The + _Times_, 18th December, 1891. + + [10] _Declaration_, Article 10. + + [11] Ego vero evangelio non crederem, nisi ecclesiae + Catholicae me commoveret auctoritas.--_Contra Epistolam + Manichaei_, cap. v. + + [12] I employ the words "Supernature" and "Supernatural" + in their popular senses. For myself, I am bound to say + that the term "Nature" covers the totality of that + which is. The world of psychical phenomena appears to + me to be as much part of "Nature" as the world of + physical phenomena; and I am unable to perceive any + justification for cutting the Universe into two halves, + one natural and one supernatural. + + [13] The general reader will find an admirably clear + and concise statement of the evidence in this case, in + Professor Flower's recently published work _The Horse: + a Study in Natural History_. + + [14] "The School Boards: What they Can do and what they + May do," 1870. _Critiques and Addresses_, p. 51. + + + + +II: SCIENTIFIC AND PSEUDO-SCIENTIFIC REALISM + +[1887] + + +Next to undue precipitation in anticipating the results of pending +investigations, the intellectual sin which is commonest and most +hurtful to those who devote themselves to the increase of knowledge is +the omission to profit by the experience of their predecessors +recorded in the history of science and philosophy. It is true that, at +the present day, there is more excuse than at any former time for such +neglect. No small labour is needed to raise one's self to the level of +the acquisitions already made; and able men, who have achieved thus +much, know that, if they devote themselves body and soul to the +increase of their store, and avoid looking back, with as much care as +if the injunction laid on Lot and his family were binding upon them, +such devotion is sure to be richly repaid by the joys of the +discoverer and the solace of fame, if not by rewards of a less +elevated character. + +So, following the advice of Francis Bacon, we refuse _inter mortuos +quaerere vivum_; we leave the past to bury its dead, and ignore our +intellectual ancestry. Nor are we content with that. We follow the +evil example set us, not only by Bacon but by almost all the men of +the Renaissance, in pouring scorn upon the work of our immediate +spiritual forefathers, the schoolmen of the Middle Ages. It is +accepted as a truth which is indisputable, that, for seven or eight +centuries, a long succession of able men--some of them of transcendent +acuteness and encyclopaedic knowledge--devoted laborious lives to the +grave discussion of mere frivolities and the arduous pursuit of +intellectual will-o'-the-wisps. To say nothing of a little modesty, a +little impartial pondering over personal experience might suggest a +doubt as to the adequacy of this short and easy method of dealing with +a large chapter of the history of the human mind. Even an acquaintance +with popular literature which had extended so far as to include that +part of the contributions of Sam Slick which contains his weighty +aphorism that "there is a great deal of human nature in all mankind," +might raise a doubt whether, after all, the men of that epoch, who, +take them all round, were endowed with wisdom and folly in much the +same proportion as ourselves, were likely to display nothing better +than the qualities of energetic idiots, when they devoted their +faculties to the elucidation of problems which were to them, and +indeed are to us, the most serious which life has to offer. Speaking +for myself, the longer I live the more I am disposed to think that +there is much less either of pure folly, or of pure wickedness, in the +world than is commonly supposed. It may be doubted if any sane man +ever said to himself, "Evil, be thou my good," and I have never yet +had the good fortune to meet with a perfect fool. When I have brought +to the inquiry the patience and long-suffering which become a +scientific investigator, the most promising specimens have turned out +to have a good deal to say for themselves from their own point of +view. And, sometimes, calm reflection has taught the humiliating +lesson, that their point of view was not so different from my own as I +had fondly imagined. Comprehension is more than half-way to sympathy, +here as elsewhere. + +If we turn our attention to scholastic philosophy in the frame of mind +suggested by these prefatory remarks, it assumes a very different +character from that which it bears in general estimation. No doubt it +is surrounded by a dense thicket of thorny logomachies and obscured by +the dust-clouds of a barbarous and perplexing terminology. But suppose +that, undeterred by much grime and by many scratches, the explorer +has toiled through this jungle, he comes to an open country which is +amazingly like his dear native land. The hills which he has to climb, +the ravines he has to avoid, look very much the same; there is the +same infinite space above, and the same abyss of the unknown below; +the means of travelling are the same, and the goal is the same. + +That goal for the schoolmen, as for us, is the settlement of the +question how far the universe is the manifestation of a rational +order; in other words, how far logical deduction from indisputable +premisses will account for what which has happened and does happen. +That was the object of scholasticism, and, so far as I am aware, the +object of modern science may be expressed in the same terms. In +pursuit of this end, modern science takes into account all the +phenomena of the universe which are brought to our knowledge by +observation or by experiment. It admits that there are two worlds to +be considered, the one physical and the other psychical; and that +though there is a most intimate relation and interconnection between +the two, the bridge from one to the other has yet to be found; that +their phenomena run, not in one series, but along two parallel lines. + +To the schoolmen the duality of the universe appeared under a +different aspect. How this came about will not be intelligible unless +we clearly apprehend the fact that they did really believe in +dogmatic Christianity as it was formulated by the Roman Church. They +did not give a mere dull assent to anything the Church told them on +Sundays, and ignore her teachings for the rest of the week; but they +lived and moved and had their being in that supersensible theological +world which was created, or rather grew up, during the first four +centuries of our reckoning, and which occupied their thoughts far more +than the sensible world in which their earthly lot was cast. + +For the most part, we learn history from the colourless compendiums or +partisan briefs of mere scholars, who have too little acquaintance +with practical life, and too little insight into speculative problems, +to understand that about which they write. In historical science, as +in all sciences which have to do with concrete phenomena, laboratory +practice is indispensable; and the laboratory practice of historical +science is afforded, on the one hand, by active social and political +life, and, on the other, by the study of those tendencies and +operations of the mind which embody themselves in philosophical and +theological systems. Thucydides and Tacitus, and, to come nearer our +own time, Hume and Grote, were men of affairs, and had acquired, by +direct contact with social and political history in the making, the +secret of understanding how such history is made. Our notions of the +intellectual history of the middle ages are, unfortunately, too often +derived from writers who have never seriously grappled with +philosophical and theological problems: and hence that strange myth of +a millennium of moonshine to which I have adverted. + +However, no very profound study of the works of contemporary writers +who, without devoting themselves specially to theology or philosophy, +were learned and enlightened--such men, for example, as Eginhard or +Dante--is necessary to convince one's self, that, for them, the world +of the theologian was an ever-present and awful reality. From the +centre of that world, the Divine Trinity, surrounded by a hierarchy of +angels and saints, contemplated and governed the insignificant +sensible world in which the inferior spirits of men, burdened with the +debasement of their material embodiment and continually solicited to +their perdition by a no less numerous and almost as powerful hierarchy +of devils, were constantly struggling on the edge of the pit of +everlasting damnation.[15] + +The men of the middle ages believed that through the Scriptures, the +traditions of the Fathers, and the authority of the Church, they were +in possession of far more, and more trustworthy, information with +respect to the nature and order of things in the theological world +than they had in regard to the nature and order of things in the +sensible world. And, if the two sources of information came into +conflict, so much the worse for the sensible world, which, after all, +was more or less under the dominion of Satan. Let us suppose that a +telescope powerful enough to show us what is going on in the nebula of +the sword of Orion, should reveal a world in which stones fell +upwards, parallel lines met, and the fourth dimension of space was +quite obvious. Men of science would have only two alternatives before +them. Either the terrestrial and the nebular facts must be brought +into harmony by such feats of subtle sophistry as the human mind is +always capable of performing when driven into a corner; or science +must throw down its arms in despair, and commit suicide, either by the +admission that the universe is, after all, irrational, inasmuch as +that which is truth in one corner of it is absurdity in another, or by +a declaration of incompetency. + +In the middle ages, the labours of those great men who endeavoured to +reconcile the system of thought which started from the data of pure +reason, with that which started from the data of Roman theology, +produced the system of thought which is known as scholastic +philosophy; the alternative of surrender and suicide is exemplified by +Avicenna and his followers when they declared that that which is true +in theology may be false in philosophy, and _vice versa_; and by +Sanchez in his famous defence of the thesis "_Quod nil scitur_." + +To those who deny the validity of one of the primary assumptions of +the disputants--who decline, on the ground of the utter insufficiency +of the evidence, to put faith in the reality of that other world, the +geography and the inhabitants of which are so confidently described in +the so-called[16] Christianity of Catholicism--the long and bitter +contest, which engaged the best intellects for so many centuries, may +seem a terrible illustration of the wasteful way in which the struggle +for existence is carried on in the world of thought, no less than in +that of matter. But there is a more cheerful mode of looking at the +history of scholasticism. It ground and sharpened the dialectic +implements of our race as perhaps nothing but discussions, in the +result of which men thought their eternal, no less than their +temporal, interests were at stake, could have done. When a logical +blunder may ensure combustion, not only in the next world but in this, +the construction of syllogisms acquires a peculiar interest. Moreover, +the schools kept the thinking faculty alive and active, when the +disturbed state of civil life, the mephitic atmosphere engendered by +the dominant ecclesiasticism, and the almost total neglect of natural +knowledge, might well have stifled it. And, finally, it should be +remembered that scholasticism really did thresh out pretty effectually +certain problems which have presented themselves to mankind ever since +they began to think, and which, I suppose, will present themselves so +long as they continue to think. Consider, for example, the controversy +of the Realists and the Nominalists, which was carried on with varying +fortunes, and under various names, from the time of Scotus Erigena to +the end of the scholastic period. Has it now a merely antiquarian +interest? Has Nominalism, in any of its modifications, so completely +won the day that Realism may be regarded as dead and buried without +hope of resurrection? Many people seem to think so, but it appears to +me that, without taking Catholic philosophy into consideration, one +has not to look about far to find evidence that Realism is still to +the fore, and indeed extremely lively.[17] + + * * * * * + +The other day I happened to meet with a report of a sermon recently +preached in St. Paul's Cathedral. From internal evidence I am inclined +to think that the report is substantially correct. But as I have not +the slightest intention of finding fault with the eminent theologian +and eloquent preacher to whom the discourse is attributed, for +employment of scientific language in a manner for which he could find +only too many scientific precedents, the accuracy of the report in +detail is not to the purpose. I may safely take it as the embodiment +of views which are thought to be quite in accordance with science by +many excellent, instructed, and intelligent people. + + The preacher further contended that it was yet more + difficult to realise that our earthly home would become the + scene of a vast physical catastrophe. Imagination recoils + from the idea that the course of nature--the phrase helps to + disguise the truth--so unvarying and regular, the ordered + sequence of movement and life, should suddenly cease. + Imagination looks more reasonable when it assumes the air of + scientific reason. Physical law, it says, will prevent the + occurrence of catastrophes only anticipated by an apostle in + an unscientific age. Might not there, however, be a + suspension of a lower law by the intervention of a higher? + Thus every time we lifted our arms we defied the laws of + gravitation, and in railways and steamboats powerful laws + were held in check by others. The flood and the destruction + of Sodom and Gomorrah were brought about by the operation of + existing laws, and may it not be that in His illimitable + universe there are more important laws than those which + surround our puny life--moral and not merely physical + forces? Is it inconceivable that the day will come when + these royal and ultimate laws shall wreck the natural order + of things which seems so stable and so fair? Earthquakes + were not things of remote antiquity, as an island off Italy, + the Eastern Archipelago, Greece, and Chicago bore + witness.... In presence of a great earthquake men feel how + powerless they are, and their very knowledge adds to their + weakness. The end of human probation, the final dissolution + of organised society, and the destruction of man's home on + the surface of the globe, were none of them violently + contrary to our present experience, but only the extension + of present facts. The presentiment of death was common; + there were felt to be many things which threatened the + existence of society; and as our globe was a ball of fire, + at any moment the pent-up forces which surge and boil + beneath our feet might be poured out ("Pall Mall Gazette," + December 6, 1886). + +The preacher appears to entertain the notion that the occurrence of a +"catastrophe"[18] involves a breach of the present order of +nature--that it is an event incompatible with the physical laws which +at present obtain. He seems to be of opinion that "scientific reason" +lends its authority to the imaginative supposition that physical law +will prevent the occurrence of the "catastrophes" anticipated by an +unscientific apostle. + +Scientific reason, like Homer, sometimes nods; but I am not aware that +it has ever dreamed dreams of this sort. The fundamental axiom of +scientific thought is that there is not, never has been, and never +will be, any disorder in nature. The admission of the occurrence of +any event which was not the logical consequence of the immediately +antecedent events, according to these definite, ascertained, or +unascertained rules which we call the "laws of nature," would be an +act of self-destruction on the part of science. + +"Catastrophe" is a relative conception. For ourselves it means an +event which brings about very terrible consequences to man, or +impresses his mind by its magnitude relatively to him. But events +which are quite in the natural order of things to us, may be +frightful catastrophes to other sentient beings. Surely no +interruption of the order of nature is involved if, in the course of +descending through an Alpine pine-wood, I jump upon an anthill and in +a moment wreck a whole city and destroy a hundred thousand of its +inhabitants. To the ants the catastrophe is worse than the earthquake +of Lisbon. To me it is the natural and necessary consequence of the +laws of matter in motion. A redistribution of energy has taken place, +which is perfectly in accordance with natural order, however +unpleasant its effects may be to the ants. + +Imagination, inspired by scientific reason, and not merely assuming +the airs thereof, as it unfortunately too often does in the pulpit, so +far from having any right to repudiate catastrophes and deny the +possibility of the cessation of motion and life, easily finds +justification for the exactly contrary course. Kant in his famous +"Theory of the Heavens" declares the end of the world and its +reduction to a formless condition to be a necessary consequence of the +causes to which it owes its origin and continuance. And, as to +catastrophes of prodigious magnitude and frequent occurrence, they +were the favourite _asylum ignorantiae_ of geologists, not a quarter of +a century ago. If modern geology is becoming more and more disinclined +to call in catastrophes to its aid, it is not because of any _a +priori_ difficulty in reconciling the occurrence of such events with +the universality of order, but because the _a posteriori_ evidence of +the occurrence of events of this character in past times has more or +less completely broken down. + +It is, to say the least, highly probable that this earth is a mass of +extremely hot matter, invested by a cooled crust, through which the +hot interior still continues to cool, though with extreme slowness. It +is no less probable that the faults and dislocations, the foldings and +fractures, everywhere visible in the stratified crust, its large and +slow movements through miles of elevation and depression, and its +small and rapid movements which give rise to the innumerable perceived +and unperceived earthquakes which are constantly occurring, are due to +the shrinkage of the crust on its cooling and contracting nucleus. + +Without going beyond the range of fair scientific analogy, conditions +are easily conceivable which should render the loss of heat far more +rapid than it is at present; and such an occurrence would be just as +much in accordance with ascertained laws of nature, as the more rapid +cooling of a red-hot bar, when it is thrust into cold water, than when +it remains in the air. But much more rapid cooling might entail a +shifting and rearrangement of the parts of the crust of the earth on a +scale of unprecedented magnitude, and bring about "catastrophes" to +which the earthquake of Lisbon is but a trifle. It is conceivable that +man and his works and all the higher forms of animal life should be +utterly destroyed; that mountain regions should he converted into +ocean depths and the floor of oceans raised into mountains; and the +earth become a scene of horror which even the lurid fancy of the +writer of the Apocalypse would fail to portray. And yet, to the eye of +science, there would he no more disorder here than in the sabbatical +peace of a summer sea. Not a link in the chain of natural causes and +effects would he broken, nowhere would there be the slightest +indication of the "suspension of a lower law by a higher." If a sober +scientific thinker is inclined to put little faith in the wild +vaticinations of universal ruin which, in a less saintly person than +the seer of Patmos, might seem to be dictated by the fury of a +revengeful fanatic, rather than by the spirit of the teacher who bid +men love their enemies, it is not on the ground that they contradict +scientific principles; but because the evidence of their scientific +value does not fulfil the conditions on which weight is attached to +evidence. The imagination which supposes that it does, simply does not +"assume the air of scientific reason." + +I repeat that, if imagination is used within the limits laid down by +science, disorder is unimaginable. If a being endowed with perfect +intellectual and aesthetic faculties, but devoid of the capacity for +suffering pain, either physical or moral, were to devote his utmost +powers to the investigation of nature, the universe would seem to him +to be a sort of kaleidoscope, in which, at every successive moment of +time, a new arrangement of parts of exquisite beauty and symmetry +would present itself; and each of them would show itself to be the +logical consequence of the preceding arrangement, under the conditions +which we call the laws of nature. Such a spectator might well be +filled with that _Amor intellectualis Dei_, the beatific vision of the +_vita contemplativa_, which some of the greatest thinkers of all ages, +Aristotle, Aquinas, Spinoza, have regarded as the only conceivable +eternal felicity; and the vision of illimitable suffering, as if +sensitive beings were unregarded animalcules which had got between the +bits of glass of the kaleidoscope, which mars the prospect to us poor +mortals, in no wise alters the fact that order is lord of all, and +disorder only a name for that part of the order which gives us pain. + +The other fallacious employment of the names of scientific conceptions +which pervades the preacher's utterance, brings me back to the proper +topic of the present essay. It is the use of the word "law" as if it +denoted a thing--as if a "law of nature," as science understands it, +were a being endowed with certain powers, in virtue of which the +phenomena expressed by that law are brought about. The preacher asks, +"Might not there be a suspension of a lower law by the intervention of +a higher?" He tells us that every time we lift our arms we defy the +law of gravitation. He asks whether some day certain "royal and +ultimate laws" may not come and "wreck" those laws which are at +present, it would appear, acting as nature's police. It is evident, +from these expressions, that "laws," in the mind of the preacher, are +entities having an objective existence in a graduated hierarchy. And +it would appear that the "royal laws" are by no means to be regarded +as constitutional royalties: at any moment, they may, like Eastern +despots, descend in wrath among the middle-class and plebeian laws, +which have hitherto done the drudgery of the world's work, and, to use +phraseology not unknown in our seats of learning--"make hay" of their +belongings. Or perhaps a still more familiar analogy has suggested +this singular theory; and it is thought that high laws may "suspend" +low laws, as a bishop may suspend a curate. + +Far be it from me to controvert these views, if any one likes to hold +them. All I wish to remark is that such a conception of the nature of +"laws" has nothing to do with modern science. It is scholastic +realism--realism as intense and unmitigated as that of Scotus Erigena +a thousand years ago. The essence of such realism is that it maintains +the objective existence of universals, or, as we call them nowadays, +general propositions. It affirms, for example, that "man" is a real +thing, apart from individual men, having its existence, not in the +sensible, but in the intelligible world, and clothing itself with the +accidents of sense to make the Jack and Tom and Harry whom we know. +Strange as such a notion may appear to modern scientific thought, it +really pervades ordinary language. There are few people who would, at +once, hesitate to admit that colour, for example, exists apart from +the mind which conceives the idea of colour. They hold it to be +something which resides in the coloured object; and so far they are as +much Realists as if they had sat at Plato's feet. Reflection on the +facts of the case must, I imagine, convince every one that "colour" +is--not a mere name, which was the extreme Nominalist position--but a +name for that group of states of feeling which we call blue, red, +yellow, and so on, and which we believe to be caused by luminiferous +vibrations which have not the slightest resemblance to colour; while +these again are set afoot by states of the body to which we ascribe +colour, but which are equally devoid of likeness to colour. + +In the same way, a law of nature, in the scientific sense, is the +product of a mental operation upon the facts of nature which come +under our observation, and has no more existence outside the mind than +colour has. The law of gravitation is a statement of the manner in +which experience shows that bodies, which are free to move, do, in +fact, move towards one another. But the other facts of observation, +that bodies are not always moving in this fashion, and sometimes move +in a contrary direction, are implied in the words "free to move." If +it is a law of nature that bodies tend to move towards one another in +a certain way; it is another and no less true law of nature that, if +bodies are not free to move as they tend to do, either in consequence +of an obstacle, or of a contrary impulse from some other source of +energy than that to which we give the name of gravitation, they either +stop still, or go another way. + +Scientifically speaking, it is the acme of absurdity to talk of a man +defying the law of gravitation when he lifts his arm. The general +store of energy in the universe working through terrestrial matter is +doubtless tending to bring the man's arm down; but the particular +fraction of that energy which is working through certain of his +nervous and muscular organs is tending to drive it up, and more energy +being expended on the arm in the upward than in the downward +direction, the arm goes up accordingly. But the law of gravitation is +no more defied, in this case, than when a grocer throws so much sugar +into the empty pan of his scales that the one which contains the +weight kicks the beam. + +The tenacity of the wonderful fallacy that the laws of nature are +agents, instead of being, as they really are, a mere record of +experience, upon which we base our interpretations of that which does +happen, and our anticipation of that which will happen, is an +interesting psychological fact; and would be unintelligible if the +tendency of the human mind towards realism were less strong. + +Even at the present day, and in the writings of men who would at once +repudiate scholastic realism in any form, "law" is often inadvertently +employed in the sense of cause, just as, in common life, a man will +say that he is compelled by the law to do so and so, when, in point of +fact, all he means is that the law orders him to do it, and tells him +what will happen if he does not do it. We commonly hear of bodies +falling to the ground by reason of the law of gravitation, whereas +that law is simply the record of the fact that, according to all +experience, they have so fallen (when free to move), and of the +grounds of a reasonable expectation that they will so fall. If it +should be worth anybody's while to seek for examples of such misuse of +language on my own part, I am not at all sure he might not succeed, +though I have usually been on my guard against such looseness of +expression. If I am guilty, I do penance beforehand, and only hope +that I may thereby deter others from committing the like fault. And I +venture on this personal observation by way of showing that I have no +wish to bear hardly on the preacher for falling into an error for +which he might find good precedents. But it is one of those errors +which, in the case of a person engaged in scientific pursuits, do +little harm, because it is corrected as soon as its consequences +become obvious; while those who know physical science only by name +are, as has been seen, easily led to build a mighty fabric of +unrealities on this fundamental fallacy. In fact, the habitual use of +the word "law," in the sense of an active thing, is almost a mark of +pseudo-science; it characterises the writings of those who have +appropriated the forms of science without knowing anything of its +substance. + +There are two classes of these people: those who are ready to believe +in any miracle so long as it is guaranteed by ecclesiastical +authority; and those who are ready to believe in any miracle so long +as it has some different guarantee. The believers in what are +ordinarily called miracles--those who accept the miraculous narratives +which they are taught to think are essential elements of religious +doctrine--are in the one category; the spirit-rappers, table-turners, +and all the other devotees of the occult sciences of our day are in +the other: and, if they disagree in most things they agree in this, +namely, that they ascribe to science a dictum that is not scientific; +and that they endeavour to upset the dictum thus foisted on science by +a realistic argument which is equally unscientific. + +It is asserted, for example, that, on a particular occasion, water +was turned into wine; and, on the other hand, it is asserted that a +man or a woman "levitated" to the ceiling, floated about there, and +finally sailed out by the window. And it is assumed that the +pardonable scepticism, with which most scientific men receive these +statements, is due to the fact that they feel themselves justified in +denying the possibility of any such metamorphosis of water, or of any +such levitation, because such events are contrary to the laws of +nature. So the question of the preacher is triumphantly put: How do +you know that there are not "higher" laws of nature than your chemical +and physical laws, and that these higher laws may not intervene and +"wreck" the latter? + +The plain answer to this question is, Why should anybody be called +upon to say how he knows that which he does not know? You are assuming +that laws are agents--efficient causes of that which happens--and that +one law can interfere with another. To us, that assumption is as +nonsensical as if you were to talk of a proposition of Euclid being +the cause of the diagram which illustrates it, or of the integral +calculus interfering with the rule of three. Your question really +implies that we pretend to complete knowledge not only of all past and +present phenomena, but of all that are possible in the future, and we +leave all that sort of thing to the adepts of esoteric Buddhism. Our +pretensions are infinitely more modest. We have succeeded in finding +out the rules of action of a little bit of the universe; we call these +rules "laws of nature," not because anybody knows whether they bind +nature or not, but because we find it is obligatory on us to take them +into account, both as actors under nature, and as interpreters of +nature. We have any quantity of genuine miracles of our own, and if +you will furnish us with as good evidence of your miracles as we have +of ours, we shall be quite happy to accept them and to amend our +expression of the laws of nature in accordance with the new facts. + +As to the particular cases adduced, we are so perfectly fair-minded as +to be willing to help your case as far as we can. You are quite +mistaken in supposing that anybody who is acquainted with the +possibilities of physical science will undertake categorically to deny +that water may be turned into wine. Many very competent judges are +already inclined to think that the bodies, which we have hitherto +called elementary, are really composite arrangements of the particles +of a uniform primitive matter. Supposing that view to be correct, +there would be no more theoretical difficulty about turning water into +alcohol, ethereal and colouring matters, than there is, at this +present moment, any practical difficulty in working other such +miracles; as when we turn sugar into alcohol, carbonic acid, +glycerine, and succinic acid; or transmute gas-refuse into perfumes +rarer than musk and dyes richer than Tyrian purple. If the so-called +"elements," oxygen and hydrogen, which compose water, are aggregates +of the same ultimate particles, or physical units, as those which +enter into the structure of the so-called element "carbon," it is +obvious that alcohol and other substances, composed of carbon, +hydrogen, and oxygen, may be produced by a rearrangement of some of +the units of oxygen and hydrogen into the "element" carbon, and their +synthesis with the rest of the oxygen and hydrogen. + +Theoretically, therefore, we can have no sort of objection to your +miracle. And our reply to the levitators is just the same. Why should +not your friend "levitate"? Fish are said to rise and sink in the +water by altering the volume of an internal air-receptacle; and there +may be many ways science, as yet, knows nothing of, by which we, who +live at the bottom of an ocean of air, may do the same thing. +Dialectic gas and wind appear to be by no means wanting among you, and +why should not long practice in pneumatic philosophy have resulted in +the internal generation of something a thousand times rarer than +hydrogen, by which, in accordance with the most ordinary natural laws, +you would not only rise to the ceiling and float there in +quasi-angelic posture, but perhaps, as one of your feminine adepts is +said to have done, flit swifter than train or telegram to +"still-vexed Bermoothes," and twit Ariel, if he happens to be there, +for a sluggard? We have not the presumption to deny the possibility of +anything you affirm; only, as our brethren are particular about +evidence, do give us as much to go upon as may save us from being +roared down by their inextinguishable laughter. + +Enough of the realism which clings about "laws." There are plenty of +other exemplifications of its vitality in modern science, but I will +cite only one of them. + +This is the conception of "vital force" which comes straight from the +philosophy of Aristotle. It is a fundamental proposition of that +philosophy that a natural object is composed of two constituents--the +one its matter, conceived as inert or even, to a certain extent, +opposed to orderly and purposive motion; the other its form, conceived +as a quasi-spiritual something, containing or conditioning the actual +activities of the body and the potentiality of its possible +activities. + +I am disposed to think that the prominence of this conception in +Aristotle's theory of things arose from the circumstance that he was +to begin with and throughout his life, devoted to biological studies. +In fact it is a notion which must force itself upon the mind of any +one who studies biological phenomena, without reference to general +physics, as they now stand. Everybody who observes the obvious +phenomena of the development of a seed into a tree, or of an egg into +an animal, will note that a relatively formless mass of matter +gradually grows, takes a definite shape and structure, and, finally, +begins to perform actions which contribute towards a certain end, +namely, the maintenance of the individual in the first place, and of +the species in the second. Starting from the axiom that every event +has a cause, we have here the _causa finalis_ manifested in the last +set of phenomena, the _causa materialis_ and _formalis_ in the first, +while the existence of a _causa efficiens_ within the seed or egg and +its product, is a corollary from the phenomena of growth and +metamorphosis, which proceed in unbroken succession and make up the +life of the animal or plant. + +Thus, at starting, the egg or seed is matter having a "form" like all +other material bodies. But this form has the peculiarity, in +contradistinction to lower substantial "forms," that it is a power +which constantly works towards an end by means of living organisation. + +So far as I know, Leibnitz is the only philosopher (at the same time a +man of science, in the modern sense, of the first rank) who has noted +that the modern conception of Force, as a sort of atmosphere +enveloping the particles of bodies, and having potential or actual +activity, is simply a new name for the Aristotelian Form.[19] In +modern biology, up till within quite recent times, the Aristotelian +conception held undisputed sway; living matter was endowed with "vital +force," and that accounted for everything. Whosoever was not satisfied +with that explanation was treated to that very "plain +argument"--"confound you eternally"--wherewith Lord Peter overcomes +the doubts of his brothers in the "Tale of a Tub." "Materialist" was +the mildest term applied to him--fortunate if he escaped pelting with +"infidel" and "atheist." There may be scientific Rip Van Winkles +about, who still hold by vital force; but among those biologists who +have not been asleep for the last quarter of a century "vital force" +no longer figures in the vocabulary of science. It is a patent +survival of realism; the generalisation from experience that all +living bodies exhibit certain activities of a definite character is +made the basis of the notion that every living body contains an +entity, "vital force," which is assumed to be the cause of those +activities. + +It is remarkable, in looking back, to notice to what an extent this +and other survivals of scholastic realism arrested or, at any rate, +impeded the application of sound scientific principles to the +investigation of biological phenomena. When I was beginning to think +about these matters, the scientific world was occasionally agitated by +discussions respecting the nature of the "species" and "genera" of +Naturalists, of a different order from the disputes of a later time. +I think most were agreed that a "species" was something which existed +objectively, somehow or other, and had been created by a Divine fiat. +As to the objective reality of genera, there was a good deal of +difference of opinion. On the other hand, there were a few who could +see no objective reality in anything but individuals, and looked upon +both species and genera as hypostatised universals. As for myself, I +seem to have unconsciously emulated William of Occam, inasmuch as +almost the first public discourse I ever ventured upon, dealt with +"Animal Individuality," and its tendency was to fight the Nominalist +battle even in that quarter. + +Realism appeared in still stranger forms at the time to which I refer. +The community of plan which is observable in each great group of +animals was hypostatised into a Platonic idea with the appropriate +name of "archetype," and we were told, as a disciple of Philo-Judaeus +might have told us, that this realistic figment was "the archetypal +light" by which Nature has been guided amidst the "wreck of worlds." +So, again, another naturalist, who had no less earned a well-deserved +reputation by his contributions to positive knowledge, put forward a +theory of the production of living things which, as nearly as the +increase of knowledge allowed, was a reproduction of the doctrine +inculcated by the Jewish Cabbala. + +Annexing the archetype notion, and carrying it to its full logical +consequence, the author of this theory conceived that the species of +animals and plants were so many incarnations of the thoughts of +God--material representations of Divine ideas--during the particular +period of the world's history at which they existed. But, under the +influence of the embryological and palaeontological discoveries of +modern times, which had already lent some scientific support to the +revived ancient theories of cosmical evolution or emanation, the +ingenious author of this speculation, while denying and repudiating +the ordinary theory of evolution by successive modification of +individuals, maintained and endeavoured to prove the occurrence of a +progressive modification in the divine ideas of successive epochs. + +On the foundation of a supposed elevation of organisation in the whole +living population of any epoch, as compared with that of its +predecessor, and a supposed complete difference in species between the +populations of any two epochs (neither of which suppositions has stood +the test of further inquiry), the author of this speculation based his +conclusion that the Creator had, so to speak, improved upon his +thoughts as time went on; and that, as each such amended scheme of +creation came up, the embodiment of the earlier divine thoughts was +swept away by a universal catastrophe, and an incarnation of the +improved ideas took its place. Only after the last such "wreck" thus +brought about, did the embodiment of a divine thought, in the shape of +the first man, make its appearance as the _ne plus ultra_ of the +cosmogonical process. + +I imagine that Louis Agassiz, the genial backwoodsman of the science +of my young days, who did more to open out new tracks in the +scientific forest than most men, would have been much surprised to +learn that he was preaching the doctrine of the Cabbala, pure and +simple. According to this modification of Neoplatonism by contact with +Hebrew speculation, the divine essence is unknowable--without form or +attribute; but the interval between it and the world of sense is +filled by intelligible entities, which are nothing but the familiar +hypostatised abstractions of the realists. These have emanated, like +immense waves of light, from the divine centre, and, as ten +consecutive zones of Sephiroth, form the universe. The farther away +from the centre, the more the primitive light wanes, until the +periphery ends in those mere negations, darkness and evil, which are +the essence of matter. On this, the divine agency transmitted through +the Sephiroth operates after the fashion of the Aristotelian forms, +and, at first, produces the lowest of a series of worlds. After a +certain duration the primitive world is demolished and its fragments +used up in making a better; and this process is repeated, until at +length a final world, with man for its crown and finish, makes its +appearance. It is needless to trace the process of retrogressive +metamorphosis by which, through the agency of the Messiah, the steps +of the process of evolution here sketched are retraced. Sufficient has +been said to prove that the extremist realism current in the +philosophy of the thirteenth century can be fully matched by the +speculations of our own time. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [15] There is no exaggeration in this brief and summary view + of the Catholic cosmos. But it would be unfair to leave it + to be supposed that the Reformation made any essential + alteration, except perhaps for the worse, in that cosmology + which called itself "Christian." The protagonist of the + Reformation, from whom the whole of the Evangelical sects + are lineally descended, states the case with that plainness + of speech, not to say brutality, which characterised him. + Luther says that man is a beast of burden who only moves as + his rider orders; sometimes God rides him, and sometimes + Satan. "Sic voluntas humana in medio posita est, ceu + jumentum; si insederit Deus, vult et vadit, quo vult + Deus.... Si insederit Satan, vult et vadit, quo vult Satan; + nec est in ejus arbitrio ad utrum sessorem currere, aut eum + quaerere, sed ipsi sessores certant ob ipsum obtinendum et + possidendum" (_De Servo Arbitrio_, M. Lutheri Opera, ed. + 1546, t. ii. p. 468). One may hear substantially the same + doctrine preached in the parks and at street-corners by + zealous volunteer missionaries of Evangelicism, any Sunday, + in modern London. Why these doctrines, which are conspicuous + by their absence in the four Gospels, should arrogate to + themselves the title of Evangelical, in contradistinction to + Catholic, Christianity, may well perplex the impartial + inquirer, who, if he were obliged to choose between the two, + might naturally prefer that which leaves the poor beast of + burden a little freedom of choice. + + [16] I say "so-called" not by way of offence, but as a + protest against the monstrous assumption that Catholic + Christianity is explicitly or implicitly contained in any + trustworthy record of the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth. + + [17] It may be desirable to observe that, in modern times, + the term "Realism" has acquired a signification wholly + different from that which attached to it in the middle ages. + We commonly use it as the contrary of Idealism. The Idealist + holds that the phenomenal world has only a subjective + existence, the Realist that it has an objective existence. I + am not aware that any mediaeval philosopher was an Idealist + in the sense in which we apply the term to Berkeley. In + fact, the cardinal defect of their speculations lies in + their oversight of the considerations which lead to + Idealism. If many of them regarded the material world as a + negation, it was an active negation; not zero, but a minus + quantity. + + [18] At any rate a catastrophe greater than the flood, + which, as I observe with interest, is as calmly assumed by + the preacher to be an historical event as if science had + never had a word to say on that subject! + + [19] "Les formes des anciens ou Entelechies ne sont autre + chose que les forces" (Leibnitz, _Lettre au Pere Bouvet_, + 1697). + + + + +III: SCIENCE AND PSEUDO-SCIENCE + +[1887] + + +In the opening sentences of a contribution to the last number of this +Review,[20] the Duke of Argyll has favoured me with a lecture on the +proprieties of controversy, to which I should be disposed to listen +with more docility if his Grace's precepts appeared to me to be based +upon rational principles, or if his example were more exemplary. + +With respect to the latter point, the Duke has thought fit to entitle +his article "Professor Huxley on Canon Liddon," and thus forces into +prominence an element of personality, which those who read the paper +which is the object of the Duke's animadversions will observe I have +endeavoured, most carefully, to avoid. My criticisms dealt with a +report of a sermon, published in a newspaper, and thereby addressed to +all the world. Whether that sermon was preached by A or B was not a +matter of the smallest consequence; and I went out of my way to +absolve the learned divine to whom the discourse was attributed from +the responsibility for statements which, for anything I knew to the +contrary, might contain imperfect, or inaccurate, representations of +his views. The assertion that I had the wish, or was beset, by any +"temptation to attack" Canon Liddon is simply contrary to fact. + +But suppose that if, instead of sedulously avoiding even the +appearance of such attack, I had thought fit to take a different +course; suppose that, after satisfying myself that the eminent +clergyman whose name is paraded by the Duke of Argyll had really +uttered the words attributed to him from the pulpit of St. Paul's, +what right would any one have to find fault with my action on grounds +either of justice, expediency, or good taste? + +Establishment has its duties as well as its rights. The clergy of a +State Church enjoy many advantages over those of unprivileged and +unendowed religious persuasions; but they lie under a correlative +responsibility to the State, and to every member of the body politic. +I am not aware that any sacredness attaches to sermons. If preachers +stray beyond the doctrinal limits set by lay lawyers, the Privy +Council will see to it; and, if they think fit to use their pulpits +for the promulgation of literary, or historical, or scientific errors, +it is not only the right, but the duty, of the humblest layman, who +may happen to be better informed, to correct the evil effects of such +perversion of the opportunities which the State affords them; and such +misuse of the authority which its support lends them. Whatever else it +may claim to be, in its relations with the State, the Established +Church is a branch of the Civil Service; and, for those who repudiate +the ecclesiastical authority of the clergy, they are merely civil +servants, as much responsible to the English people for the proper +performance of their duties as any others. + +The Duke of Argyll tells us that the "work and calling" of the clergy +prevent them from "pursuing disputation as others can." I wonder if +his Grace ever reads the so-called "religious" newspapers. It is not +an occupation which I should commend to any one who wishes to employ +his time profitably; but a very short devotion to this exercise will +suffice to convince him that the "pursuit of disputation," carried to +a degree of acrimony and vehemence unsurpassed in lay controversies, +seems to be found quite compatible with the "work and calling" of a +remarkably large number of the clergy. + +Finally, it appears to me that nothing can be in worse taste than the +assumption that a body of English gentlemen can, by any possibility, +desire that immunity from criticism which the Duke of Argyll claims +for them. Nothing would be more personally offensive to me than the +supposition that I shirked criticism, just or unjust, of any lecture I +ever gave. I should be utterly ashamed of myself if, when I stood up +as an instructor of others, I had not taken every pains to assure +myself of the truth of that which I was about to say; and I should +feel myself bound to be even more careful with a popular assembly, who +would take me more or less on trust, than with an audience of +competent and critical experts. + +I decline to assume that the standard of morality, in these matters, +is lower among the clergy than it is among scientific men. I refuse to +think that the priest who stands up before a congregation, as the +minister and interpreter of the Divinity, is less careful in his +utterances, less ready to meet adverse comment, than the layman who +comes before his audience, as the minister and interpreter of nature. +Yet what should we think of the man of science who, when his ignorance +or his carelessness was exposed, whined about the want of delicacy of +his critics, or pleaded his "work and calling" as a reason for being +let alone? + +No man, nor any body of men, is good enough, or wise enough, to +dispense with the tonic of criticism. Nothing has done more harm to +the clergy than the practice, too common among laymen, of regarding +them, when in the pulpit, as a sort of chartered libertines, whose +divagations are not to be taken seriously. And I am well assured that +the distinguished divine, to whom the sermon is attributed, is the +last person who would desire to avail himself of the dishonouring +protection which has been superfluously thrown over him. + +So much for the lecture on propriety. But the Duke of Argyll, to whom +the hortatory style seems to come naturally, does me the honour to +make my sayings the subjects of a series of other admonitions, some on +philosophical, some on geological, some on biological topics. I can +but rejoice that the Duke's authority in these matters is not always +employed to show that I am ignorant of them; on the contrary, I meet +with an amount of agreement, even of approbation, for which I proffer +such gratitude as may be due, even if that gratitude is sometimes +almost overshadowed by surprise. + +I am unfeignedly astonished to find that the Duke of Argyll, who +professes to intervene on behalf of the preacher, does really, like +another Balaam, bless me altogether in respect of the main issue. + +I denied the justice of the preacher's ascription to men of science of +the doctrine that miracles are incredible, because they are violations +of natural law; and the Duke of Argyll says that he believes my +"denial to be well-founded. The preacher was answering an objection +which has now been generally abandoned." Either the preacher knew this +or he did not know it. It seems to me, as a mere lay teacher, to be a +pity that the "great dome of St. Paul's" should have been made to +"echo" (if so be that such stentorian effects were really produced) a +statement which, admitting the first alternative, was unfair, and, +admitting the second, was ignorant.[21] + +Having thus sacrified one half of the preacher's arguments, the Duke +of Argyll proceeds to make equally short work with the other half. It +appears that he fully accepts my position that the occurrence of those +events, which the preacher speaks of as catastrophes, is no evidence +of disorder, inasmuch as such catastrophes may be necessary occasional +consequences of uniform changes. Whence I conclude, his Grace agrees +with me, that the talk about royal laws "wrecking" ordinary laws may +be eloquent metaphor, but is also nonsense. + +And now comes a further surprise. After having given these superfluous +stabs to the slain body of the preacher's argument, my good ally +remarks, with magnificent calmness: "So far, then, the preacher and +the professor are at one." "Let them smoke the calumet." By all means: +smoke would be the most appropriate symbol of this wonderful attempt +to cover a retreat. After all, the Duke has come to bury the preacher, +not to praise him; only he makes the funeral obsequies look as much +like a triumphal procession as possible. + +So far as the questions between the preacher and myself are concerned, +then, I may feel happy. The authority of the Duke of Argyll is ranged +on my side. But the Duke has raised a number of other questions, with +respect to which I fear I shall have to dispense with his +support--nay, even be compelled to differ from him as much, or more, +than I have done about his Grace's new rendering of the "benefit of +clergy." + +In discussing catastrophes, the Duke indulges in statements, partly +scientific, partly anecdotic, which appear to me to be somewhat +misleading. We are told, to begin with, that Sir Charles Lyell's +doctrine respecting the proper mode of interpreting the facts of +geology (which is commonly called uniformitarianism) "does not hold +its head quite so high as it once did." That is great news indeed. +But is it true? All I can say is that I am aware of nothing that has +happened of late that can in any way justify it; and my opinion is, +that the body of Lyell's doctrine, as laid down in that great work, +"The Principles of Geology," whatever may have happened to its head, +is a chief and permanent constituent of the foundations of geological +science. + +But this question cannot he advantageously discussed, unless we take +some pains to discriminate between the essential part of the +uniformitarian doctrine and its accessories; and it does not appear +that the Duke of Argyll has carried his studies of geological +philosophy so far as this point. For he defines uniformitarianism to +be the assumption of the "extreme slowness and perfect continuity of +all geological changes." + +What "perfect continuity" may mean in this definition, I am by no +means sure; but I can only imagine that it signifies the absence of +any break in the course of natural order during the millions of years, +the lapse of which is recorded by geological phenomena. + +Is the Duke of Argyll prepared to say that any geologist of authority, +at the present day, believes that there is the slightest evidence of +the occurrence of supernatural intervention, during the long ages of +which the monuments are preserved to us in the crust of the earth? And +if he is not, in what sense has this part of the uniformitarian +doctrine, as he defines it, lowered its pretensions to represent +scientific truth? + +As to the "extreme slowness of all geological changes," it is simply a +popular error to regard that as, in any wise, a fundamental and +necessary dogma of uniformitarianism. It is extremely astonishing to +me that any one who has carefully studied Lyell's great work can have +so completely failed to appreciate its purport, which yet is "writ +large" on the very title-page: "The Principles of Geology, being an +attempt to explain the former changes of the earth's surface by +reference to causes now in operation." The essence of Lyell's doctrine +is here written so that those who run may read; and it has nothing to +do with the quickness or slowness of the past changes of the earth's +surface; except in so far as existing analogous changes may go on +slowly, and therefore create a presumption in favour of the slowness +of past changes. + +With that epigrammatic force which characterises his style, Buffon +wrote, nearly a hundred and fifty years ago, in his famous "Theorie de +la Terre": "Pour juger de ce qui est arrive, et meme de ce qui +arrivera, nous n'avons qu'a examiner ce qui arrive." The key of the +past, as of the future, is to be sought in the present; and, only when +known causes of change have been shown to be insufficient, have we any +right to have recourse to unknown causes. Geology is as much a +historical science as archaeology; and I apprehend that all sound +historical investigation rests upon this axiom. It underlay all +Hutton's work and animated Lyell and Scope in their successful efforts +to revolutionise the geology of half a century ago. + +There is no antagonism whatever, and there never was, between the +belief in the views which had their chief and unwearied advocate in +Lyell and the belief in the occurrence of catastrophes. The first +edition of Lyell's "Principles," published in 1830, lies before me; +and a large part of the first volume is occupied by an account of +volcanic, seismic, and diluvial catastrophes which have occurred +within the historical period. Moreover, the author, over and over +again, expressly draws the attention of his readers to the consistency +of catastrophes with his doctrine. + + Notwithstanding, therefore, that we have not witnessed + within the last three thousand years the devastation by + deluge of a large continent, yet, as we may predict the + future occurrence of such catastrophes, we are authorized to + regard them as part of the present order of nature, and they + may be introduced into geological speculations respecting + the past, provided that we do not imagine them to have been + more frequent or general than we expect them to be in time + to come (vol. i. p. 89). + +Again:-- + + If we regard each of the causes separately, which we know to + be at present the most instrumental in remodelling the state + of the surface, we shall find that we must expect each to + be in action for thousands of years, without producing any + extensive alterations in the habitable surface, and then to + give rise, during a very brief period, to important + revolutions (vol. ii. p. 161).[22] + +Lyell quarrelled with the catastrophists then, by no means because +they assumed that catastrophes occur and have occurred, but because +they had got into the habit of calling on their god Catastrophe to +help them, when they ought to have been putting their shoulders to the +wheel of observation of the present course of nature, in order to help +themselves out of their difficulties. And geological science has +become what it is, chiefly because geologists have gradually accepted +Lyell's doctrine and followed his precepts. + +So far as I know anything about the matter, there is nothing that can +be called proof, that the causes of geological phenomena operated more +intensely or more rapidly, at any time between the older tertiary and +the oldest palaeozoic epochs than they have done between the older +tertiary epoch and the present day. And if that is so, uniformitarianism, +even as limited by Lyell,[23] has no call to lower its crest. But if +the facts were otherwise, the position Lyell took up remains +impregnable. He did not say that the geological operations of nature +were never more rapid, or more vast, than they are now; what he did +maintain is the very different proposition that there is no good +evidence of anything of the kind. And that proposition has not yet +been shown to be incorrect. + +I owe more than I can tell to the careful study of the "Principles of +Geology" in my young days; and, long before the year 1856, my mind was +familiar with the truth that "the doctrine of uniformity is not +incompatible with great and sudden changes," which, as I have shown, +is taught _totidem verbis_ in that work. Even had it been possible for +me to shut my eyes to the sense of what I had read in the +"Principles," Whewell's "Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences," +published in 1840, a work with which I was also tolerably familiar, +must have opened them. For the always acute, if not always profound, +author, in arguing against Lyell's uniformitarianism, expressly points +out that it does not in any way contravene the occurrence of +catastrophes. + + With regard to such occurrences [earthquakes, deluges, + etc.], terrible as they appear at the time, they may not + much affect the average rate of change: there may be a + _cycle_, though an irregular one, of rapid and slow change: + and if such cycles go on succeeding each other, we may still + call the order of nature uniform, notwithstanding the + periods of violence which it involves.[24] + +The reader who has followed me through this brief chapter of the +history of geological philosophy will probably find the following +passage in the paper of the Duke of Argyll to be not a little +remarkable:-- + + Many years ago, when I had the honor of being President of + the British Association,[25] I ventured to point out, in the + presence and in the hearing of that most distinguished man + [Sir C. Lyell] that the doctrine of uniformity was not + incompatible with great and sudden changes, since cycles of + these and other cycles of comparative rest might well be + constituent parts of that uniformity which he asserted. + Lyell did not object to this extended interpretation of his + own doctrine, and indeed expressed to me his entire + concurrence. + +I should think he did; for, as I have shown, there was nothing in it +that Lyell himself had not said, six-and-twenty years before, and +enforced, three years before; and it is almost verbally identical +with the view of uniformitarianism taken by Whewell, sixteen years +before, in a work with which, one would think, that any one who +undertakes to discuss the philosophy of science should be familiar. + +Thirty years have elapsed since the beginner of 1856 persuaded himself +that he enlightened the foremost geologist of his time, and one of the +most acute and far-seeing men of science of any time, as to the scope +of the doctrines which the veteran philosopher had grown gray in +promulgating; and the Duke of Argyll's acquaintance with the +literature of geology has not, even now, become sufficiently profound +to dissipate that pleasant delusion. + +If the Duke of Argyll's guidance in that branch of physical science, +with which alone he has given evidence of any practical acquaintance, +is thus unsafe, I may breathe more freely in setting my opinion +against the authoritative deliverances of his Grace about matters +which lie outside the province of geology. + +And here the Duke's paper offers me such a wealth of opportunities +that choice becomes embarrassing. I must bear in mind the good old +adage, "Non multa sed multum." Tempting as it would be to follow the +Duke through his labyrinthine misunderstandings of the ordinary +terminology of philosophy and to comment on the curious +unintelligibility which hangs about his frequent outpourings of +fervid language, limits of space oblige me to restrict myself to those +points, the discussion of which may help to enlighten the public in +respect of matters of more importance than the competence of my Mentor +for the task which he has undertaken. + +I am not sure when the employment of the word Law, in the sense in +which we speak of laws of nature, commenced, but examples of it may be +found in the works of Bacon, Descartes, and Spinoza. Bacon employs +"Law" as the equivalent of "Form," and I am inclined to think that he +may be responsible for a good deal of the confusion that has +subsequently arisen; but I am not aware that the term is used by other +authorities, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, in any other +sense than that of "rule" or "definite order" of the coexistence of +things or succession of events in nature. Descartes speaks of "regles, +que je nomme les lois de la nature." Leibnitz says "loi ou regle +generale," as if he considered the terms interchangeable. + +The Duke of Argyll, however, affirms that the "law of gravitation" as +put forth by Newton was something more than the statement of an +observed order. He admits that Kepler's three laws "were an observed +order of facts and nothing more." As to the law of gravitation, "it +contains an element which Kepler's laws did not contain, even an +element of causation, the recognition of which belongs to a higher +category of intellectual conceptions than that which is concerned in +the mere observation and record of separate and apparently unconnected +facts." There is hardly a line in these paragraphs which appears to me +to be indisputable. But, to confine myself to the matter in hand, I +cannot conceive that any one who had taken ordinary pains to acquaint +himself with the real nature of either Kepler's or Newton's work could +have written them. That the labours of Kepler, of all men in the +world, should be called "mere observation and record," is truly +wonderful. And any one who will look into the "Principia," or the +"Optics," or the "Letters to Bentley," will see, even if he has no +more special knowledge of the topics discussed than I have, that +Newton over and over again insisted that he had nothing to do with +gravitation as a physical cause, and that when he used the terms +attraction, force, and the like, he employed them, as he says, +"_mathematice_" and not "_physice_." + + How these attractions [of gravity, magnetism, and + electricity] may be performed, I do not here consider. What + I call attraction may be performed by impulse or by some + other means unknown to me. I use that word here to signify + only in a general way any force by which bodies tend towards + one another, whatever be the cause.[26] + +According to my reading of the best authorities upon the history of +science, Newton discovered neither gravitation, nor the law of +gravitation; nor did he pretend to offer more than a conjecture as to +the causation of gravitation. Moreover, his assertion that the notion +of a body acting where it is not, is one that no competent thinker +could entertain, is antagonistic to the whole current conception of +attractive and repulsive forces, and therefore of "the attractive +force of gravitation." What, then, was that labour of unsurpassed +magnitude and excellence and of immortal influence which Newton did +perform? In the first place, Newton defined the laws, rules, or +observed order of the phenomena of motion, which come under our daily +observation, with greater precision than had been before attained; +and, by following out, with marvellous power and subtlety, the +mathematical consequences of these rules, he almost created the modern +science of pure mechanics. In the second place, applying exactly the +same method to the explication of the facts of astronomy as that which +was applied a century and a half later to the facts of geology by +Lyell, he set himself to solve the following problem. Assuming that +all bodies, free to move, tend to approach one another as the earth +and the bodies on it do; assuming that the strength of that tendency +is directly as the mass and inversely as the squares of the distances; +assuming that the laws of motion, determined for terrestrial bodies, +hold good throughout the universe; assuming that the planets and +their satellites were created and placed at their observed mean +distances, and that each received a certain impulse from the Creator; +will the form of the orbits, the varying rates of motion of the +planets, and the ratio between those rates and their distances from +the sun, which must follow by mathematical reasoning from these +premisses, agree with the order of facts determined by Kepler and +others, or not? + +Newton, employing mathematical methods which are the admiration of +adepts, but which no one but himself appears to have been able to use +with ease, not only answered this question in the affirmative, but +stayed not his constructive genius before it had founded modern +physical astronomy. + +The historians of mechanical and of astronomical science appear to be +agreed that he was the first person who clearly and distinctly put +forth the hypothesis that the phenomena comprehended under the general +name of "gravity" follow the same order throughout the universe, and +that all material bodies exhibit these phenomena; so that, in this +sense, the idea of universal gravitation may, doubtless, be properly +ascribed to him. + +Newton proved that the laws of Kepler were particular consequences of +the laws of motion and the law of gravitation--in other words, the +reason of the first lay in the two latter. But to talk of the law of +gravitation alone as the reason of Kepler's laws, and still more as +standing in any causal relation to Kepler's laws, is simply a misuse +of language. It would really be interesting if the Duke of Argyll +would explain how he proposes to set about showing that the elliptical +form of the orbits of the planets, the constant area described by the +radius vector, and the proportionality of the squares of the periodic +times to the cubes of the distances from the sun, are either caused by +the "force of gravitation" or deducible from the "law of gravitation." +I conceive that it would be about as apposite to say that the various +compounds of nitrogen with oxygen are caused by chemical attraction +and deducible from the atomic theory. + + * * * * * + +Newton assuredly lent no shadow of support to the modern +pseudo-scientific philosophy which confounds laws with causes. I have +not taken the trouble to trace out this commonest of fallacies to its +first beginning; but I was familiar with it in full bloom more than +thirty years ago, in a work which had a great vogue in its day--the +"Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation"--of which the first +edition was published in 1844. + +It is full of apt and forcible illustrations of pseudo-scientific +realism. Consider, for example, this gem serene. When a boy who has +climbed a tree loses his hold of the branch, "the law of gravitation +unrelentingly pulls him to the ground, and then he is hurt," whereby +the Almighty is quite relieved from any responsibility for the +accident. Here is the "law of gravitation" acting as a cause in a way +quite in accordance with the Duke of Argyll's conception of it. In +fact, in the mind of the author of the "Vestiges," "laws" are +existences intermediate between the Creator and His works, like the +"ideas" of the Platonisers or the Logos of the Alexandrians.[27] I may +cite a passage which is quite in the vein of Philo:-- + + We have seen powerful evidences that the construction of + this globe and its associates; and, inferentially, that of + all the other globes in space, was the result, not of any + immediate or personal exertion on the part of the Deity, but + of natural laws which are the expression of His will. What + is to hinder our supposing that the organic creation is also + a result of natural laws which are in like manner an + expression of His will? (p. 154, 1st edition). + +And creation "operating by law" is constantly cited as relieving the +Creator from trouble about insignificant details. + +I am perplexed to picture to myself the state of mind which accepts +these verbal juggleries. It is intelligible that the Creator should +operate according to such rules as he might think fit to lay down for +himself (and therefore according to law); but that would leave the +operation of his will just as much a direct personal act as it would +be under any other circumstances. I can also understand that (as in +Leibnitz's caricature of Newton's views) the Creator might have made +the cosmical machine, and, after setting it going, have left it to +itself till it needed repair. But then, by the supposition, his +personal responsibility would have been involved in all that it did; +just as much as a dynamiter is responsible for what happens, when he +has set his machine going and left it to explode. + +The only hypothesis which gives a sort of mad consistency to the +Vestigiarian's views is the supposition that laws are a kind of angels +or demiurgoi, who, being supplied with the Great Architect's plan, +were permitted to settle the details among themselves. Accepting this +doctrine, the conception of royal laws and plebeian laws, and of those +more than Homeric contests in which the big laws "wreck" the little +ones, becomes quite intelligible. And, in fact, the honour of the +paternity of those remarkable ideas which come into full flower in the +preacher's discourse must, so far as my imperfect knowledge goes, be +attributed to the author of the "Vestiges." + +But the author of the "Vestiges" is not the only writer who is +responsible for the current pseudo-scientific mystifications which +hang about the term "law." When I wrote my paper about "Scientific and +Pseudo-Scientific Realism," I had not read a work by the Duke of +Argyll, "The Reign of Law," which, I believe, has enjoyed, possibly +still enjoys, a widespread popularity. But the vivacity of the Duke's +attack led me to think it possible that criticisms directed elsewhere +might have come home to him. And, in fact, I find that the second +chapter of the work in question, which is entitled "Law; its +definitions," is, from my point of view, a sort of "summa" of +pseudo-scientific philosophy. It will be worth while to examine it in +some detail. + +In the first place, it is to be noted that the author of the "Reign of +Law" admits that "law," in many cases, means nothing more than the +statement of the order in which facts occur, or, as he says, "an +observed order of facts" (p. 66). But his appreciation of the value of +accuracy of expression does not hinder him from adding, almost in the +same breath, "In this sense the laws of nature are simply those facts +of nature which recur according to rule" (p. 66). Thus "laws," which +were rightly said to be the statement of an order of facts in one +paragraph, are declared to be the facts themselves in the next. + +We are next told that, though it may be customary and permissible to +use "law" in the sense of a statement of the order of facts, this is a +low use of the word; and, indeed, two pages farther on, the writer, +flatly contradicting himself, altogether denies its admissibility. + + An observed order of facts, to be entitled to the rank of a + law, must be an order so constant and uniform as to indicate + necessity, and necessity can only arise out of the action + of some compelling force (p. 68). + +This is undoubtedly one of the most singular propositions that I have +ever met with in a professedly scientific work, and its rarity is +embellished by another direct self-contradiction which it implies. For +on the preceding page (67), when the Duke of Argyll is speaking of the +laws of Kepler, which he admits to be laws, and which are types of +that which men of science understand by "laws," he says that they are +"simply and purely an order of facts." Moreover, he adds: "A very +large proportion of the laws of every science are laws of this kind +and in this sense." + +If, according to the Duke of Argyll's admission, law is understood, in +this sense, thus widely and constantly by scientific authorities, +where is the justification for his unqualified assertion that such +statements of the observed order of facts are not "entitled to the +rank" of laws? + +But let us examine the consequences of the really interesting +proposition I have just quoted. I presume that it is a law of nature +that "a straight line is the shortest distance between two points." +This law affirms the constant association of a certain fact of form +with a certain fact of dimension. Whether the notion of necessity +which attaches to it has an _a priori_, or an _a posteriori_ origin is +a question not relevant to the present discussion. But I would beg to +be informed, if it is necessary, where is the "compelling force" out +of which the necessity arises; and further, if it is not necessary, +whether it loses the character of a law of nature? + +I take it to be the law of nature, based on unexceptionable evidence, +that the mass of matter remains unchanged, whatever chemical or other +modifications it may undergo. This law is one of the foundations of +chemistry. But it is by no means necessary. It is quite possible to +imagine that the mass of matter should vary according to +circumstances, as we know its weight does. Moreover, the determination +of the "force" which makes mass constant (if there is any +intelligibility in that form of words) would not, so far as I can see, +confer any more validity on the law than it has now. + +There is a law of nature, so well vouched by experience, that all +mankind, from pure logicians in search of examples to parish sextons +in search of fees, confide in it. This is the law that "all men are +mortal." It is simply a statement of the observed order of facts that +all men sooner or later die. I am not acquainted with any law of +nature which is more "constant and uniform" than this. But will any +one tell me that death is "necessary"? Certainly there is no _a +priori_ necessity in the case, for various men have been imagined to +be immortal. And I should be glad to be informed of any "necessity" +that can be deduced from biological considerations. It is quite +conceivable, as has recently been pointed out, that some of the lowest +forms of life may be immortal, after a fashion. However this may be, I +would further ask, supposing "all men are mortal" to be a real law of +nature, where and what is that to which, with any propriety, the title +of "compelling force" of the law can be given? + +On page 69, the Duke of Argyll asserts that the law of gravitation "is +a law in the sense, not merely of a rule, but of a cause." But this +revival of the teaching of the "Vestiges" has already been examined +and disposed of; and when the Duke of Argyll states that the "observed +order" which Kepler had discovered was simply a necessary consequence +of the force of "gravitation," I need not recapitulate the evidence +which proves such a statement to be wholly fallacious. But it may be +useful to say, once more, that, at this present moment, nobody knows +anything about the existence of a "force" of gravitation apart from +the fact; that Newton declared the ordinary notion of such force to be +inconceivable; that various attempts have been made to account for the +order of facts we call gravitation, without recourse to the notion of +attractive force; that, if such a force exists, it is utterly +incompetent to account for Kepler's laws, without taking into the +reckoning a great number of other considerations; and, finally, that +all we know about the "force" of gravitation, or any other so-called +"force," is that it is a name for the hypothetical cause of an +observed order of facts. + +Thus, when the Duke of Argyll says: "Force, ascertained according to +some measure of its operation--this is indeed one of the definitions, +but only one, of a scientific law" (p. 71) I reply that it is a +definition which must be repudiated by every one who possesses an +adequate acquaintance with either the facts, or the philosophy, of +science, and be relegated to the limbo of pseudo-scientific fallacies. +If the human mind has never entertained this notion of "force," nay, +if it substituted bare invariable succession for the ordinary notion of +causation, the idea of law, as the expression of a constantly-observed +order, which generates a corresponding intensity of expectation in our +minds, would have exactly the same value, and play its part in real +science, exactly as it does now. + +It is needless to extend further the present excursus on the origin +and history of modern pseudo-science. Under such high patronage as it +has enjoyed, it has grown and flourished until, nowadays, it is +becoming somewhat rampant. It has its weekly "Ephemerides," in which +every new pseudo-scientific mare's-nest is hailed and belauded with +the unconscious unfairness of ignorance; and an army of "reconcilers," +enlisted in its service, whose business seems to be to mix the black +of dogma and the white of science into the neutral tint of what they +call liberal theology. + +I remember that, not long after the publication of the "Vestiges," a +shrewd and sarcastic countryman of the author defined it as "cauld +kail made het again." A cynic might find amusement in the reflection +that, at the present time, the principles and the methods of the +much-vilified Vestigiarian are being "made het again"; and are not +only "echoed by the dome of St. Paul's," but thundered from the castle +of Inverary. But my turn of mind is not cynical, and I can but regret +the waste of time and energy bestowed on the endeavour to deal with +the most difficult problems of science, by those who have neither +undergone the discipline, nor possess the information, which are +indispensable to the successful issue of such an enterprise. + +I have already had occasion to remark that the Duke of Argyll's views +of the conduct of controversy are different from mine; and this +much-to-be lamented discrepancy becomes yet more accentuated when the +Duke reaches biological topics. Anything that was good enough for Sir +Charles Lyell, in his department of study, is certainly good enough +for me in mine; and I by no means demur to being pedagogically +instructed about a variety of matters with which it has been the +business of my life to try to acquaint myself. But the Duke of Argyll +is not content with favouring me with his opinions about my own +business; he also answers for mine; and, at that point, really the +worm must turn. I am told that "no one knows better than Professor +Huxley" a variety of things which I really do not know; and I am said +to be a disciple of that "Positive Philosophy" which I have, over and +over again, publicly repudiated in language which is certainly not +lacking in intelligibility whatever may be its other defects. + +I am told that I have been amusing myself with a "metaphysical +exercitation or logomachy" (may I remark incidentally that these are +not quite convertible terms?), when, to the best of my belief, I have +been trying to expose a process of mystification, based upon the use +of scientific language by writers who exhibit no sign of scientific +training, of accurate scientific knowledge, or of clear ideas +respecting the philosophy of science, which is doing very serious harm +to the public. Naturally enough, they take the lion's skin of +scientific phraseology for evidence that the voice which issues from +beneath it is the voice of science, and I desire to relieve them from +the consequences of their error. + +The Duke of Argyll asks, apparently with sorrow that it should be his +duty to subject me to reproof-- + + What shall we say of a philosophy which confounds the + organic with the inorganic, and, refusing to take note of a + difference so profound, assumes to explain under one common + abstraction, the movements due to gravitation and the + movements due to the mind of man? + +To which I may fitly reply by another question: What shall we say to a +controversialist who attributes to the subject of his attack opinions +which are notoriously not his; and expresses himself in such a manner +that it is obvious he is unacquainted with even the rudiments of that +knowledge which is necessary to the discussion into which he has +rushed? + +What line of my writing can the Duke of Argyll produce which confounds +the organic with the inorganic? + +As to the latter half of the paragraph, I have to confess a doubt +whether it has any definite meaning. But I imagine that the Duke is +alluding to my assertion that the law of gravitation is nowise +"suspended" or "defied" when a man lifts his arm; but that, under such +circumstances, part of the store of energy in the universe operates on +the arm at a mechanical advantage as against the operation of another +part. I was simple enough to think that no one who had as much +knowledge of physiology as is to be found in an elementary primer, or +who had ever heard of the greatest physical generalisation of modern +times--the doctrine of the conservation of energy--would dream of +doubting my statement; and I was further simple enough to think that +no one who lacked these qualifications would feel tempted to charge me +with error. It appears that my simplicity is greater than my powers of +imagination. + +The Duke of Argyll may not be aware of the fact, but it is +nevertheless true, that when a man's arm is raised, in sequence to +that state of consciousness we call a volition, the volition is not +the immediate cause of the elevation of the arm. On the contrary, that +operation is effected by a certain change of form, technically known +as "contraction" in sundry masses of flesh, technically known as +muscles, which are fixed to the bones of the shoulder in such a manner +that, if these muscles contract, they must raise the arm. Now each of +these muscles is a machine comparable, in a certain sense, to one of +the donkey-engines of a steamship, but more complete, inasmuch as the +source of its ability to change its form, or contract, lies within +itself. Every time that, by contracting, the muscle does work, such as +that involved in raising the arm, more or less of the material which +it contains is used up, just as more or less of the fuel of a +steam-engine is used up, when it does work. And I do not think there +is a doubt in the mind of any competent physicist, or physiologist, +that the work done in lifting the weight of the arm is the mechanical +equivalent of a certain proportion of the energy set free by the +molecular changes which take place in the muscle. It is further a +tolerably well-based belief that this, and all other forms of energy, +are mutually convertible; and, therefore, that they all come under +that general law or statement of the order of facts, called the +conservation of energy. And, as that certainly is an abstraction, so +the view which the Duke of Argyll thinks so extremely absurd is really +one of the commonplaces of physiology. But this Review is hardly an +appropriate place for giving instruction in the elements of that +science, and I content myself with recommending the Duke of Argyll to +devote some study to Book II. chap. v. section 4 of my friend Dr. +Foster's excellent text-book of Physiology (1st edition, 1877, p. +321), which begins thus:-- + + Broadly speaking, the animal body is a machine for + converting potential into actual energy. The potential + energy is supplied by the food; this the metabolism of the + body converts into the actual energy of heat and mechanical + labour. + +There is no more difficult problem in the world than that of the +relation of the state of consciousness, termed volition, to the +mechanical work which frequently follows upon it. But no one can even +comprehend the nature of the problem, who has not carefully studied +the long series of modes of motion which, without a break, connect the +energy which does that work with the general store of energy. The +ultimate form of the problem is this: Have we any reason to believe +that a feeling, or state of consciousness, is capable of directly +affecting the motion of even the smallest conceivable molecule of +matter? Is such a thing even conceivable? If we answer these questions +in the negative, it follows that volition may be a sign, but cannot be +a cause, of bodily motion. If we answer them in the affirmative, then +states of consciousness become undistinguishable from material things; +for it is the essential nature of matter to be the vehicle or +substratum of mechanical energy. + +There is nothing new in all this. I have merely put into modern +language the issue raised by Descartes more than two centuries ago. +The philosophies of the Occasionalists, of Spinoza, of Malebranche, of +modern idealism and modern materialism, have all grown out of the +controversies which Cartesianism evoked. Of all this the +pseudo-science of the present time appears to be unconscious; +otherwise it would hardly content itself with "making het again" the +pseudo-science of the past. + +In the course of these observations I have already had occasion to +express my appreciation of the copious and perfervid eloquence which +enriches the Duke of Argyll's pages. I am almost ashamed that a +constitutional insensibility to the Sirenian charms of rhetoric has +permitted me in wandering through these flowery meads, to be +attracted, almost exclusively, to the bare places of fallacy and the +stony grounds of deficient information, which are disguised, though +not concealed, by these floral decorations. But, in his concluding +sentences, the Duke soars into a Tyrtaean strain which roused even my +dull soul. + + It was high time, indeed, that some revolt should be raised + against that Reign of Terror which had come to be + established in the scientific world under the abuse of a + great name. Professor Huxley has not joined this revolt + openly, for as yet, indeed, it is only beginning to raise + its head. But more than once--and very lately--he has + uttered a warning voice against the shallow dogmatism that + has provoked it. The time is coming when that revolt will be + carried further. Higher interpretations will be established. + Unless I am much mistaken, they are already coming in sight + (p. 339). + +I have been living very much out of the world for the last two or +three years, and when I read this denunciatory outburst, as of one +filled with the spirit of prophecy, I said to myself, "Mercy upon us, +what has happened? Can it be that X. and Y. (it would be wrong to +mention the names of the vigorous young friends which occurred to me) +are playing Danton and Robespierre; and that a guillotine is erected +in the courtyard of Burlington House for the benefit of all +anti-Darwinian Fellows of the Royal Society? Where are the secret +conspirators against this tyranny, whom I am supposed to favour, and +yet not have the courage to join openly? And to think of my poor +oppressed friend, Mr. Herbert Spencer, 'compelled to speak with bated +breath' (p. 338) certainly for the first time in my thirty-odd years' +acquaintance with him!" My alarm and horror at the supposition that +while I had been fiddling (or at any rate physicking), my beloved Rome +had been burning, in this fashion, may be imagined. + +I am sure the Duke of Argyll will be glad to hear that the anxiety he +created was of extremely short duration. It is my privilege to have +access to the best sources of information, and nobody in the +scientific world can tell me anything about either the "Reign of +Terror" or "the Revolt." In fact, the scientific world laughs most +indecorously at the notion of the existence of either; and some are so +lost to the sense of the scientific dignity, that they descend to the +use of transatlantic slang, and call it a "bogus scare." As to my +friend Mr. Herbert Spencer, I have every reason to know that, in the +"Factors of Organic Evolution," he has said exactly what was in his +mind, without any particular deference to the opinions of the person +whom he is pleased to regard as his most dangerous critic and Devil's +Advocate-General, and still less of any one else. + +I do not know whether the Duke of Argyll pictures himself as the +Tallien of this imaginary revolt against a no less imaginary Reign of +Terror. But if so, I most respectfully but firmly decline to join his +forces. It is only a few weeks since I happened to read over again the +first article which I ever wrote (now twenty-seven years ago) on the +"Origin of Species," and I found nothing that I wished to modify in +the opinions that are there expressed, though the subsequent vast +accumulation of evidence in favour of Mr. Darwin's views would give me +much to add. As is the case with all new doctrines, so with that of +Evolution, the enthusiasm of advocates has sometimes tended to +degenerate into fanaticism; and mere speculation has, at times, +threatened to shoot beyond its legitimate bounds. I have occasionally +thought it wise to warn the more adventurous spirits among us against +these dangers, in sufficiently plain language; and I have sometimes +jestingly said that I expected, if I lived long enough, to be looked +on as a reactionary by some of my more ardent friends. But nothing +short of midsummer madness can account for the fiction that I am +waiting till it is safe to join openly a revolt, hatched by some +person or persons unknown, against an intellectual movement with which +I am in the most entire and hearty sympathy. It is a great many years +since, at the outset of my career, I had to think seriously what life +had to offer that was worth having. I came to the conclusion that the +chief good, for me, was freedom to learn, think, and say what I +pleased, when I pleased. I have acted on that conviction, and have +availed myself of the "rara temporum felicitas ubi sentire quae velis, +et quae sentias dicere licet," which is now enjoyable, to the best of +my ability; and though strongly, and perhaps wisely, warned that I +should probably come to grief, I am entirely satisfied with the +results of the line of action I have adopted. + +My career is at an end. I have + + Warmed both hands before the fire of life; + +and nothing is left me, before I depart, but to help, or at any rate +to abstain from hindering, the younger generation of men of science in +doing better service to the cause we have at heart than I have been +able to render. + +And yet, forsooth, I am supposed to be waiting for the signal of +"revolt," which some fiery spirits among these young men are to raise +before I dare express my real opinions concerning questions about +which we older men had to fight, in the teeth of fierce public +opposition and obloquy--of something which might almost justify even +the grandiloquent epithet of a Reign of Terror--before our excellent +successors had left school. + +It would appear that the spirit of pseudo-science has impregnated even +the imagination of the Duke of Argyll. The scientific imagination +always restrains itself within the limits of probability. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [20] _Nineteenth Century_, March, 1887. + + [21] The Duke of Argyll speaks of the recent date of the + demonstration of the fallacy of the doctrine in + question. "Recent" is a relative term, but I may + mention that the question is fully discussed in my book + on _Hume_; which, if I may believe my publishers, has + been read by a good many people since it appeared in + 1879. Moreover, I observe, from a note at page 89 of + _The Reign of Law_, a work to which I shall have + occasion to advert by and by, that the Duke of Argyll + draws attention to the circumstance that, so long ago + as 1866, the views which I hold on this subject were + well known. The Duke, in fact, writing about this time, + says, after quoting a phrase of mine: "The question of + miracles seems now to be admitted on all hands to be + simply a question of evidence." In science, we think + that a teacher who ignores views which have been + discussed _coram populo_ for twenty years, is hardly up + to the mark. + + [22] See also vol. i. p. 460. In the ninth edition (1853), + published twenty-three years after the first. Lyell + deprives even the most careless reader of any excuse + for misunderstanding him: "So in regard to subterranean + movements, the theory of the perpetual uniformity of + the force which they exert on the earth-crust is quite + consistent with the admission of their alternate + development and suspension for indefinite periods + within limited geographical areas" (p. 187). + + [23] A great many years ago (Presidential Address to the + Geological Society, 1869) I ventured to indicate that + which seemed to me to be the weak point, not in the + fundamental principles of uniformitarianism, but in + uniformitarianism as taught by Lyell. It lay, to my + mind, in the refusal by Hutton, and in a less degree by + Lyell, to look beyond the limits of the time recorded + by the stratified rocks. I said: "This attempt to + limit, at a particular point, the progress of inductive + and deductive reasoning from the things which are to + the things which were--this faithlessness to its own + logic, seems to me to have cost uniformitarianism the + place as the permanent form of geological speculation + which it might otherwise have held" (_Lay Sermons_, p. + 260). The context shows that "uniformitarianism" here + means that doctrine, as limited in application by + Hutton and Lyell, and that what I mean by + "evolutionism" is consistent and thorough-going + uniformitarianism. + + [24] _Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences_, vol. i. p. 670. + New edition, 1847. + + [25] At Glasgow in 1856. + + [26] _Optics_, query 31. + + [27] The author recognises this in his _Explanations_. + + + + +IV: AN EPISCOPAL TRILOGY + +[1887] + + +If there is any truth in the old adage that a burnt child dreads the +fire, I ought to be very loath to touch a sermon, while the memory of +what befell me on a recent occasion, possibly not yet forgotten by the +readers of the _Nineteenth Century_, is uneffaced. But I suppose that +even the distinguished censor of that unheard-of audacity to which not +even the newspaper report of a sermon is sacred, can hardly regard a +man of science as either indelicate or presumptuous, if he ventures to +offer some comments upon three discourses, specially addressed to the +great assemblage of men of science which recently gathered at +Manchester, by three bishops of the State Church. On my return to +England not long ago, I found a pamphlet[28] containing a version, +which I presume to be authorised, of these sermons, among the huge +mass of letters and papers which had accumulated during two months' +absence; and I have read them not only with attentive interest, but +with a feeling of satisfaction which is quite new to me as a result of +hearing, or reading, sermons. These excellent discourses, in fact, +appear to me to signalise a new departure in the course adopted by +theology towards science, and to indicate the possibility of bringing +about an honourable _modus vivendi_ between the two. How far the three +bishops speak as accredited representatives of the Church is a +question to be considered by and by. Most assuredly, I am not +authorised to represent any one but myself. But I suppose that there +must be a good many people in the Church of the bishops' way of +thinking; and I have reason to believe that, in the ranks of science, +there are a good many persons who, more or less, share my views. And +it is to these sensible people on both sides, as the bishops and I +must needs think those who agree with us, that my present observations +are addressed. They will probably be astonished to learn how +insignificant, in principle, their differences are. + +It is impossible to read the discourses of the three prelates without +being impressed by the knowledge which they display, and by the spirit +of equity, I might say of generosity, towards science which pervades +them. There is no trace of that tacit or open assumption that the +rejection of theological dogmas, on scientific grounds, is due to +moral perversity, which is the ordinary note of ecclesiastical +homilies on this subject, and which makes them look so supremely silly +to men whose lives have been spent in wrestling with these questions. +There is no attempt to hide away real stumbling-blocks under +rhetorical stucco; no resort to the _tu quoque_ device of setting +scientific blunders against theological errors; no suggestion that an +honest man may keep contradictory beliefs in separate pockets of his +brain; no question that the method of scientific investigation is +valid, whatever the results to which it may lead; and that the search +after truth, and truth only, ennobles the searcher and leaves no doubt +that his life, at any rate, is worth living. The Bishop of Carlisle +declares himself pledged to the belief that "the advancement of +science, the progress of human knowledge, is in itself a worthy aim of +the greatest effort of the greatest minds." + +How often was it my fate, a quarter of a century ago, to see the whole +artillery of the pulpit brought to bear upon the doctrine of evolution +and its supporters! Any one unaccustomed to the amenities of +ecclesiastical controversy would have thought we were too wicked to be +permitted to live. But let us hear the Bishop of Bedford. After a +perfectly frank statement of the doctrine of evolution and some of +its obvious consequences, that learned prelate pleads, with all +earnestness, against + + a hasty denunciation of what _may_ be proved to have at + least some elements of truth in it, a contemptuous rejection + of theories which we _may_ some day learn to accept as + freely and with as little sense of inconsistency with God's + word as we now accept the theory of the earth's motion round + the sun, or the long duration of the geological epochs (p. + 28). + +I do not see that the most convinced evolutionist could ask any one, +whether cleric or layman, to say more than this; in fact, I do not +think that any one has a right to say more, with respect to any +question about which two opinions can he held, than that his mind is +perfectly open to the force of evidence. + +There is another portion of the Bishop of Bedford's sermon which I +think will be warmly appreciated by all honest and clear-headed men. +He repudiates the views of those who say that theology and science + + occupy wholly different spheres, and need in no way + intermeddle with each other. They revolve, as it were, in + different planes, and so never meet. Thus we may pursue + scientific studies with the utmost freedom and, at the same + time, may pay the most reverent regard to theology, having + no fears of collision, because allowing no points of contact + (p. 29). + +Surely every unsophisticated mind will heartily concur with the +Bishop's remark upon this convenient refuge for the descendants of +Mr. Facing-both-ways. "I have never been able to understand this +position though I have often seen it assumed." Nor can any demurrer be +sustained when the Bishop proceeds to point out that there are, and +must be, various points of contact between theological and natural +science, and therefore that it is foolish to ignore or deny the +existence of as many dangers of collision. + +Finally, the Bishop of Manchester freely admits the force of the +objections which have been raised, on scientific grounds, to prayer, +and attempts to turn them by arguing that the proper objects of prayer +are not physical but spiritual. He tells us that natural accidents and +moral misfortunes are not to be taken for moral judgments of God; he +admits the propriety of the application of scientific methods to the +investigation of the origin and growth of religions; and he is as +ready to recognise the process of evolution there, as in the physical +world. Mark the following striking passage:-- + + And how utterly all the common objections to Divine + revelation vanish away when they are set in the light of + this theory of a spiritual progression. Are we reminded that + there prevailed, in those earlier days, views of the nature + of God and man, of human life and Divine Providence, which + we now find to be untenable? _That_, we answer, is precisely + what the theory of development presupposes. If early views + of religion and morality had not been imperfect, where had + been the development? If symbolical visions and mythical + creations had found no place in the early Oriental + expression of Divine truth, where had been the development? + The sufficient answer to ninety-nine out of a hundred of the + ordinary objections to the Bible, as the record of a divine + education of our race, is asked in that one + word--development. And to what are we indebted for that + potent word, which, as with the wand of a magician, has at + the same moment so completely transformed our knowledge and + dispelled our difficulties? To modern science, resolutely + pursuing its search for truth in spite of popular obloquy + and--alas! that one should have to say it--in spite too + often of theological denunciation (p. 53). + +Apart from its general importance, I read this remarkable statement +with the more pleasure, since, however imperfectly I may have +endeavoured to illustrate the evolution of theology in a paper +published in the _Nineteenth Century_ last year,[29] it seems to me +that in principle, at any rate, I may hereafter claim high theological +sanction for the views there set forth. + +If theologians are henceforward prepared to recognise the authority of +secular science in the manner and to the extent indicated in the +Manchester trilogy; if the distinguished prelates who offer these +terms are really plenipotentiaries, then, so far as I may presume to +speak on such a matter, there will be no difficulty about concluding a +perpetual treaty of peace, and indeed of alliance, between the high +contracting powers, whose history has hitherto been little more than a +record of continual warfare. But if the great Chancellor's maxim, "Do +ut des," is to form the basis of negotiation, I am afraid that +secular science will be ruined; for it seems to me that theology, +under the generous impulse of a sudden conversion, has given all that +she hath; and indeed, on one point, has surrendered more than can +reasonably be asked. + +I suppose I must be prepared to face the reproach which attaches to +those who criticise a gift, if I venture to observe that I do not +think that the Bishop of Manchester need have been so much alarmed, as +he evidently has been, by the objections which have often been raised +to prayer, on the ground that a belief in the efficacy of prayer is +inconsistent with a belief in the constancy of the order of nature. + +The Bishop appears to admit that there is an antagonism between the +"regular economy of nature" and the "regular economy of prayer" (p. +39), and that "prayers for the interruption of God's natural order" +are of "doubtful validity" (p. 42). It appears to me that the Bishop's +difficulty simply adds another example to those which I have several +times insisted upon in the pages of this Review and elsewhere, of the +mischief which has been done, and is being done, by a mistaken +apprehension of the real meaning of "natural order" and "law of +nature." + +May I, therefore, be permitted to repeat, once more, that the +statements denoted by these terms have no greater value or cogency +than such as may attach to generalisations from experience of the +past, and to expectations for the future based upon that experience? +Nobody can presume to say what the order of nature must be; all that +the widest experience (even if it extended over all past time and +through all space) that events had happened in a certain way could +justify, would be a proportionally strong expectation that events will +go on happening, and the demand for a proportional strength of +evidence in favour of any assertion that they had happened otherwise. + +It is this weighty consideration, the truth of which every one who is +capable of logical thought must surely admit, which knocks the bottom +out of all _a priori_ objections either to ordinary "miracles" or to +the efficacy of prayer, in so far as the latter implies the miraculous +intervention of a higher power. No one is entitled to say _a priori_ +that any given so-called miraculous event is impossible; and no one is +entitled to say _a priori_ that prayer for some change in the ordinary +course of nature cannot possibly avail. + +The supposition that there is any inconsistency between the acceptance +of the constancy of natural order and a belief in the efficacy of +prayer, is the more unaccountable as it is obviously contradicted by +analogies furnished by everyday experience. The belief in the efficacy +of prayer depends upon the assumption that there is somebody, +somewhere, who is strong enough to deal with the earth and its +contents as men deal with the things and events which they are strong +enough to modify or control; and who is capable of being moved by +appeals such as men make to one another. This belief does not even +involve theism; for our earth is an insignificant particle of the +solar system, while the solar system is hardly worth speaking of in +relation to the All; and, for anything that can be proved to the +contrary, there may be beings endowed with full powers over our +system, yet, practically, as insignificant as ourselves in relation to +the universe. If any one pleases, therefore, to give unrestrained +liberty to his fancy, he may plead analogy in favour of the dream that +there may be, somewhere, a finite being, or beings, who can play with +the solar system as a child plays with a toy; and that such being may +be willing to do anything which he is properly supplicated to do. For +we are not justified in saying that it is impossible for beings having +the nature of men, only vastly more powerful, to exist; and if they do +exist, they may act as and when we ask them to do so, just as our +brother men act. As a matter of fact, the great mass of the human race +has believed, and still believes, in such beings, under the various +names of fairies, gnomes, angels, and demons. Certainly I do not lack +faith in the constancy of natural order. But I am not less convinced +that if I were to ask the Bishop of Manchester to do me a kindness +which lay within his power, he would do it. And I am unable to see +that his action on my request involves any violation of the order of +nature. On the contrary, as I have not the honour to know the Bishop +personally, my action would be based upon my faith, in that "law of +nature," or generalisation from experience, which tells me that, as a +rule, men who occupy the Bishop's position are kindly and courteous. +How is the case altered if my request is preferred to some imaginary +superior being, or to the Most High being, who, by the supposition, is +able to arrest disease, or make the sun stand still in the heavens, +just as easily as I can stop my watch, or make it indicate any hour +that pleases me? + +I repeat that it is not upon any _a priori_ considerations that +objections, either to the supposed efficacy of prayer in modifying the +course of events, or to the supposed occurrence of miracles, can be +scientifically based. The real objection, and, to my mind, the fatal +objection, to both these suppositions, is the inadequacy of the +evidence to prove any given case of such occurrences which has been +adduced. It is a canon of common sense, to say nothing of science, +that the more improbable a supposed occurrence, the more cogent ought +to be the evidence in its favour. I have looked somewhat carefully +into the subject, and I am unable to find in the records of any +miraculous event evidence which even approximates to the fulfilment of +this requirement. + +But, in the case of prayer, the Bishop points out a most just and +necessary distinction between its effect on the course of nature, +outside ourselves, and its effect within the region of the +supplicator's mind. + +It is a "law of nature," verifiable by everyday experience, that our +already formed convictions, our strong desires, our intent occupation +with particular ideas, modify our mental operations to a most +marvellous extent, and produce enduring changes in the direction and +in the intensity of our intellectual and moral activities. Men can +intoxicate themselves with ideas as effectually as with alcohol or +with bang, and produce, by dint of intense thinking, mental conditions +hardly distinguishable from monomania. Demoniac possession is +mythical; but the faculty of being possessed, more or less completely, +by an idea is probably the fundamental condition of what is called +genius, whether it show itself in the saint, the artist, or the man of +science. One calls it faith, another calls it inspiration, a third +calls it insight; but the "intending of the mind," to borrow Newton's +well-known phrase, the concentration of all the rays of intellectual +energy on some one point, until it glows and colours the whole cast of +thought with its peculiar light, is common to all. + +I take it that the Bishop of Manchester has psychological science with +him when he insists upon the subjective efficacy of prayer in faith, +and on the seemingly miraculous effects which such "intending of the +mind" upon religious and moral ideals may have upon character and +happiness. Scientific faith, at present, takes it no further than the +prayer which Ajax offered; but that petition is continually granted. + +Whatever points of detail may yet remain open for discussion, however, +I repeat the opinion I have already expressed, that the Manchester +sermons concede all that science, has an indisputable right, or any +pressing need, to ask, and that not grudgingly but generously; and, if +the three bishops of 1887 carry the Church with them, I think they +will have as good title to the permanent gratitude of posterity as the +famous seven who went to the Tower in defence of the Church two +hundred years ago. + +Will their brethren follow their just and prudent guidance? I have no +such acquaintance with the currents of ecclesiastical opinion as would +justify me in even hazarding a guess on such a difficult topic. But +some recent omens are hardly favourable. There seems to be an +impression abroad--I do not desire to give any countenance to it--that +I am fond of reading sermons. From time to time, unknown +correspondents--some apparently animated by the charitable desire to +promote my conversion, and others unmistakably anxious to spur me to +the expression of wrathful antagonism--favour me with reports or +copies of such productions. + +I found one of the latter category among the accumulated arrears to +which I have already referred. + +It is a full, and apparently accurate, report of a discourse by a +person of no less ecclesiastical rank than the three authors of the +sermons I have hitherto been considering; but who he is, and where or +when the sermon was preached, are secrets which wild horses shall not +tear from me, lest I fall again under high censure for attacking a +clergyman. Only if the editor of this Review thinks it his duty to +have independent evidence that the sermon has a real existence, will +I, in the strictest confidence, communicate it to him. + +The preacher, in this case, is of a very different mind from the three +bishops--and this mind is different in quality, different in spirit, +and different in contents. He discourses on the _a priori_ objections +to miracles, apparently without being aware, in spite of all the +discussions of the last seven or eight years, that he is doing battle +with a shadow. + +I trust I do not misrepresent the Bishop of Manchester in saying that +the essence of his remarkable discourse is the insistence upon the +"supreme importance of the purely spiritual in our faith," and of the +relative, if not absolute, insignificance of aught else. He obviously +perceives the bearing of his arguments against the alterability of +the course of outward nature by prayer, on the question of miracles in +general; for he is careful to say that "the possibility of miracles, +of a rare and unusual transcendence of the world order is not here in +question" (p. 38). It may be permitted me to suppose, however, that, +if miracles were in question, the speaker who warns us "that we must +look for the heart of the absolute religion in that part of it which +prescribes our moral and religious relations" (p. 46) would not be +disposed to advise those who had found the heart of Christianity to +take much thought about its miraculous integument. + +My anonymous sermon will have nothing to do with such notions as +these, and its preacher is not too polite, to say nothing of +charitable, towards those who entertain them. + + Scientific men, therefore, are perfectly right in asserting + that Christianity rests on miracles. If miracles never + happened, Christianity, in any sense which is not a mockery, + which does not make the term of none effect, has no reality. + I dwell on this because there is now an effort making to get + up a non-miraculous, invertebrate Christianity, which may + escape the ban of science. And I would warn you very + distinctly against this new contrivance. Christianity is + essentially miraculous, and falls to the ground if miracles + be impossible. + +Well, warning for warning. I venture to warn this preacher and those +who, with him, persist in identifying Christianity with the +miraculous, that such forms of Christianity are not only doomed to +fall to the ground; but that, within the last half century, they have +been driving that way with continually accelerated velocity. + +The so-called religious world is given to a strange delusion. It +fondly imagines that it possesses the monopoly of serious and constant +reflection upon the terrible problems of existence; and that those who +cannot accept its shibboleths are either mere Gallios, caring for none +of these things, or libertines desiring to escape from the restraints +of morality. It does not appear to have entered the imaginations of +these people that, outside their pale and firmly resolved never to +enter it, there are thousands of men, certainly not their inferiors in +character, capacity, or knowledge of the questions at issue, who +estimate those purely spiritual elements of the Christian faith of +which the Bishop of Manchester speaks as highly as the Bishop does; +but who will have nothing to do with the Christian Churches, because +in their apprehension and for them, the profession of belief in the +miraculous, on the evidence offered would be simply immoral. + +So far as my experience goes, men of science are neither better nor +worse than the rest of the world. Occupation with the endlessly great +parts of the universe does not necessarily involve greatness of +character, nor does microscopic study of the infinitely little always +produce humility. We have our full share of original sin; need, +greed, and vainglory beset us as they do other mortals; and our +progress is, for the most part, like that of a tacking ship, the +resultant of opposite divergencies from the straight path. But, for +all that, there is one moral benefit which the pursuit of science +unquestionably bestows. It keeps the estimate of the value of evidence +up to the proper mark; and we are constantly receiving lessons, and +sometimes very sharp ones, on the nature of proof. Men of science will +always act up to their standard of veracity, when mankind in general +leave off sinning; but that standard appears to me to be higher among +them than in any other class of the community. + +I do not know any body of scientific men who could be got to listen +without the strongest expressions of disgusted repudiation to the +exposition of a pretended scientific discovery, which had no better +evidence to show for itself than the story of the devils entering a +herd of swine, or of the fig-tree that was blasted for bearing no figs +when "it was not the season of figs." Whether such events are possible +or impossible, no man can say; but scientific ethics can and does +declare that the profession of belief in them, on the evidence of +documents of unknown date and of unknown authorship, is immoral. +Theological apologists who insist that morality will vanish if their +dogmas are exploded, would do well to consider the fact that, in the +matter of intellectual veracity, science is already a long way ahead +of the Churches; and that, in this particular, it is exerting an +educational influence on mankind of which the Churches have shown +themselves utterly incapable. + +Undoubtedly that varying compound of some of the best and some of the +worst elements of Paganism and Judaism, moulded in practice by the +innate character of certain people of the Western world, which, since +the second century, has assumed to itself the title of orthodox +Christianity, "rests on miracles" and falls to the ground, not "if +miracles be impossible," but if those to which it is committed prove +themselves unable to fulfil the conditions of honest belief. That this +Christianity is doomed to fall is, to my mind, beyond a doubt; but its +fall will be neither sudden nor speedy. The Church, with all the aid +lent it by the secular arm, took many centuries to extirpate the open +practice of pagan idolatry within its own fold; and those who have +travelled in southern Europe will be aware that it has not extirpated +the essence of such idolatry even yet. _Mutato nomine_, it is probable +that there is as much sheer fetichism among the Roman populace now as +there was eighteen hundred years ago; and if Marcus Antonius could +descend from his horse and ascend the steps of the Ara Coeli church +about Twelfth Day, the only thing that need strike him would be the +extremely contemptible character of the modern idols as works of art. + +Science will certainly neither ask for, nor receive, the aid of the +secular arm. It will trust to the much better and more powerful help +of that education in scientific truth and in the morals of assent, +which is rendered as indispensable, as it is inevitable, by the +permeation of practical life with the products and ideas of science. +But no one who considers the present state of even the most developed +countries can doubt that the scientific light that has come into the +world will have to shine in the midst of darkness for a long time. The +urban populations, driven into contact with science by trade and +manufacture, will more and more receive it, while the _pagani_ will +lag behind. Let us hope that no Julian may arise among them to head a +forlorn hope against the inevitable. Whatever happens, science may +bide her time in patience and in confidence. + +But to return to my "Anonymous." I am afraid that if he represents any +great party in the Church, the spirit of justice and reasonableness +which animates the three bishops has as slender a chance of being +imitated, on a large scale, as their common sense and their courtesy. +For, not contented with misrepresenting science on its speculative +side, "Anonymous" attacks its morality. + + For two whole years, investigations and conclusions which + would upset the theories of Darwin on the formation of coral + islands were actually suppressed, and that by the advice + even of those who accepted them, _for fear of upsetting the + faith and disturbing the judgment formed by the multitude + on the scientific character--the infallibility--of the great + master_! + +So far as I know anything about the matters which are here referred +to, the part of this passage which I have italicised is absolutely +untrue. I believe that I am intimately acquainted with all Mr. +Darwin's immediate scientific friends: and I say that no one of them, +nor any other man of science known to me, ever could, or would, have +given such advice to any one--if for no other reason than that, with +the example of the most candid and patient listener to objections that +ever lived fresh in their memories, they could not so grossly have at +once violated their highest duty and dishonoured their friend. + +The charge thus brought by "Anonymous" affects the honour and the +probity of men of science; if it is true, we have forfeited all claim +to the confidence of the general public. In my belief it is utterly +false, and its real effect will be to discredit those who are +responsible for it. As is the way with slanders, it has grown by +repetition. "Anonymous" is responsible for the peculiarly offensive +form which it has taken in his hands; but he is not responsible for +originating it. He has evidently been inspired by an article entitled +"A Great Lesson," published in the September number of this Review. +Truly it is "a great lesson," but not quite in the sense intended by +the giver thereof. + +In the course of his doubtless well-meant admonitions, the Duke of +Argyll commits himself to a greater number of statements which are +demonstrably incorrect and which any one who ventured to write upon +the subject ought to have known to be incorrect, than I have ever seen +gathered together in so small a space. + +I submit a gathering from the rich store for the appreciation of the +public. + +First:-- + + Mr. Murray's new explanation of the structure of coral-reefs + and islands was communicated to the Royal Society of + Edinburgh in 1880, and supported with such a weight of facts + and such a close texture of reasoning, that no serious reply + has ever been attempted (p. 305). + +"No serious reply has ever been attempted"! I suppose that the Duke of +Argyll may have heard of Professor Dana, whose years of labour devoted +to corals and coral-reefs when he was naturalist of the American +expedition under Commodore Wilkes, more than forty years ago, have +ever since caused him to be recognised as an authority of the first +rank on such subjects. Now does his Grace know, or does he not know, +that, in the year 1885, Professor Dana published an elaborate paper +"On the Origin of Coral-Reefs and Islands," in which, after referring +to a Presidential Address by the Director of the Geological Survey of +Great Britain and Ireland delivered in 1883, in which special +attention is directed to Mr. Murray's views Professor Dana says:-- + + The existing state of doubt on the question has led the + writer to reconsider the earlier and later facts, and in the + following pages he gives his results. + +Professor Dana then devotes many pages of his very "serious reply" to +a most admirable and weighty criticism of the objections which have at +various times been raised to Mr. Darwin's doctrine, by Professor +Semper, by Dr. Rein, and finally by Mr. Murray, and he states his +final judgment as follows:-- + + With the theory of abrasion and solution incompetent, all + the hypotheses of objectors to Darwin's theory are alike + weak; for all have made these processes their chief + reliance, whether appealing to a calcareous, or a volcanic, + or a mountain-peak basement for the structure. The + subsidence which the Darwinian theory requires has not been + opposed by the mention of any fact at variance with it, nor + by setting aside Darwin's arguments in its favour; and it + has found new support in the facts from the "Challenger's" + soundings off Tahiti, that had been put in array against it, + and strong corroboration in the facts from the West Indies. + + Darwin's theory, therefore, remains as the theory that + accounts for the origin of reefs and islands.[30] + +Be it understood that I express no opinion on the controverted points. +I doubt if there are ten living men who, having a practical knowledge +of what a coral-reef is, have endeavoured to master the very difficult +biological and geological problems involved in their study. I happen +to have spent the best part of three years among coral-reefs and to +have made that attempt; and, when Mr. Murray's work appeared, I said +to myself that until I had two or three months to give to the renewed +study of the subject in all its bearings, I must be content to remain +in a condition of suspended judgment. In the meanwhile, the man who +would be voted by common acclamation as the most competent person now +living to act as umpire, has delivered the verdict I have quoted; and, +to go no further, has fully justified the hesitation I and others may +have felt about expressing an opinion. Under these circumstances, it +seems to me to require a good deal of courage to say "no serious reply +has ever been attempted"; and to chide the men of science, in lofty +tones, for their "reluctance to admit an error" which is not admitted; +and for their "slow and sulky acquiescence" in a conclusion which they +have the gravest warranty for suspecting. + +Second:-- + + Darwin himself had lived to hear of the new solution and, + with that splendid candour which was eminent in him his + mind, though now grown old in his own early convictions, was + at least ready to entertain it, and to confess that serious + doubts had been awakened as to the truth of his famous + theory (p. 305). + +I wish that Darwin's splendid candour could be conveyed by some +description of spiritual "microbe" to those who write about him. I am +not aware that Mr. Darwin ever entertained "serious doubts as to the +truth of his famous theory"; and there is tolerably good evidence to +the contrary. The second edition of his work, published in 1876, +proves that he entertained no such doubts then; a letter to Professor +Semper, whose objections, in some respects, forestalled those of Mr. +Murray, dated October 2, 1879, expresses his continued adherence to +the opinion "that the atolls and barrier reefs in the middle of the +Pacific and Indian Oceans indicate subsidence"; and the letter of my +friend Professor Judd, printed at the end of this article (which I had +perhaps better say Professor Judd had not seen) will prove that this +opinion remained unaltered to the end of his life. + +Third:-- + + ... Darwin's theory is a dream. It is not only unsound, but + it is in many respects the reverse of truth. With all his + conscientiousness, with all his caution, with all his powers + of observation, Darwin in this matter fell into errors as + profound as the abysses of the Pacific (p. 301). + +Really? It seems to me that, under the circumstances, it is pretty +clear that these lines exhibit a lack of the qualities justly ascribed +to Mr. Darwin, which plunges their author into a much deeper abyss, +and one from which there is no hope of emergence. + +Fourth:-- + + All the acclamations with which it was received were as the + shouts of an ignorant mob (p. 301). + +But surely it should be added that the Coryphaeus of this ignorant +mob, the fugleman of the shouts, was one of the most accomplished +naturalists and geologists now living--the American Dana--who, after +years of independent study extending over numerous reefs in the +Pacific, gave his hearty assent to Darwin's views, and after all that +had been said, deliberately reaffirmed that assent in the year 1885. + +Fifth:-- + + The overthrow of Darwin's speculation is only beginning to + be known. It has been whispered for some time. The cherished + dogma has been dropping very slowly out of sight (p. 301). + +Darwin's speculation may be right or wrong, but I submit that that +which has not happened cannot even begin to be known, except by those +who have miraculous gifts to which we poor scientific people do not +aspire. The overthrow of Darwin's views may have been whispered by +those who hoped for it; and they were perhaps wise in not raising +their voices above a whisper. Incorrect statements, if made too +loudly, are apt to bring about unpleasant consequences. + +Sixth:-- + +Mr. Murray's views, published in 1880, are said to have met with "slow +and sulky acquiescence" (p. 305). I have proved that they cannot be +said to have met with general acquiescence of any sort, whether quick +and cheerful, or slow and sulky; and if this assertion is meant to +convey the impression that Mr. Murray's views have been ignored, that +there has been a conspiracy of silence against them, it is utterly +contrary to notorious fact. + +Professor Geikie's well-known "Textbook of Geology" was published in +1882, and at pages 457-459 of that work there is a careful exposition +of Mr. Murray's views. Moreover Professor Geikie has specially +advocated them on other occasions,[31] notably in a long article on +"The Origin of Coral-Reefs," published in two numbers of "Nature" for +1883, and in a Presidential Address delivered in the same year. If, in +so short a time after the publication of his views, Mr. Murray could +boast of a convert, so distinguished and influential as the Director +of the Geological Survey, it seems to me that this wonderful +_conspiration de silence_ (which has about as much real existence as +the Duke of Argyll's other bogie, "The Reign of Terror ") must have +_ipso facto_ collapsed. I wish that, when I was a young man, my +endeavours to upset some prevalent errors had met with as speedy and +effectual backing. + +Seventh:-- + + ... Mr. John Murray was strongly advised against the + publication of his views in derogation of Darwin's + long-accepted theory of the coral islands, and was actually + induced to delay it for two years. Yet the late Sir Wyville + Thomson, who was at the head of the naturalists of the + "Challenger" expedition, was himself convinced by Mr. + Murray's reasoning (p. 307). + +Clearly, then, it could not be Mr. Murray's official chief who gave +him this advice. Who was it? And what was the exact nature of the +advice given? Until we have some precise information on this head, I +shall take leave to doubt whether this statement is more accurate than +those which I have previously cited. + +Whether such advice was wise or foolish, just or immoral, depends +entirely on the motive of the person who gave it. If he meant to +suggest to Mr. Murray that it might be wise for a young and +comparatively unknown man to walk warily, when he proposed to attack a +generalisation based on many years' labour of one undoubtedly +competent person, and fortified by the independent results of the many +years' labour of another undoubtedly competent person; and even, if +necessary, to take two whole years in fortifying his position, I think +that such advice would have been sagacious and kind. I suppose that +there are few working men of science who have not kept their ideas to +themselves, while gathering and sifting evidence, for a much longer +period than two years. + +If, on the other hand, Mr. Murray was advised to delay the publication +of his criticisms, simply to save Mr. Darwin's credit and to preserve +some reputation for infallibility, which no one ever heard of, then I +have no hesitation in declaring that his adviser was profoundly +dishonest, as well as extremely foolish; and that, if he is a man of +science, he has disgraced his calling. + +But, after all, this supposed scientific Achitophel has not yet made +good the primary fact of his existence. Until the needful proof is +forthcoming, I think I am justified in suspending my judgment as to +whether he is much more than an anti-scientific myth. I leave it to +the Duke of Argyll to judge of the extent of the obligation under +which, for his own sake, he may lie to produce the evidence on which +his aspersions of the honour of scientific men are based. I cannot +pretend that we are seriously disturbed by charges which every one who +is acquainted with the truth of the matter knows to be ridiculous; but +mud has a habit of staining if it lies too long, and it is as well to +have it brushed off as soon as may be. + +So much for the "Great Lesson." It is followed by a "Little Lesson," +apparently directed against my infallibility--a doctrine about which I +should be inclined to paraphrase Wilkes's remark to George the Third, +when he declared that he, at any rate, was not a Wilkite. But I really +should be glad to think that there are people who need the warning, +because then it will be obvious that this raking up of an old story +cannot have been suggested by a mere fanatical desire to damage men +of science. I can but rejoice, then, that these misguided enthusiasts, +whose faith, in me has so far exceeded the bounds of reason, should be +set right. But that "want of finish" in the matter of accuracy which +so terribly mars the effect of the "Great Lesson," is no less +conspicuous in the case of the "Little Lesson," and, instead of +setting my too fervent disciples right, it will set them wrong. + +The Duke of Argyll, in telling the story of _Bathybius_, says that my +mind was "caught by this new and grand generalisation of the physical +basis of life." I never have been guilty of a reclamation about +anything to my credit, and I do not mean to be; but if there is any +blame going, I do not choose to be relegated to a subordinate place +when I have a claim to the first. The responsibility for the first +description and the naming of _Bathybius_ is mine and mine only. The +paper on "Some Organisms living at great Depths in the Atlantic +Ocean," in which I drew attention to this substance, is to be found by +the curious in the eighth volume of the "Quarterly Journal of +Microscopical Science," and was published in the year 1868. Whatever +errors are contained in that paper are my own peculiar property; but +neither at the meeting of the British Association in 1868, nor +anywhere else, have I gone beyond what is there stated; except in so +far that, at a long-subsequent meeting of the Association, being +importuned about the subject, I ventured to express, somewhat +emphatically, the wish that the thing was at the bottom of the sea. + +What is meant by my being caught by a generalisation about the +physical basis of life I do not know; still less can I understand the +assertion that _Bathybius_ was accepted because of its supposed +harmony with Darwin's speculations. That which interested me in the +matter was the apparent analogy of _Bathybius_ with other well-known +forms of lower life, such as the plasmodia of the Myxomycetes and the +Rhizopods. Speculative hopes or fears had nothing to do with the +matter; and if _Bathybius_ were brought up alive from the bottom of +the Atlantic to-morrow, the fact would not have the slightest bearing, +that I can discern, upon Mr. Darwin's speculations, or upon any of the +disputed problems of biology. It would merely be one elementary +organism the more added to the thousands already known. + +Up to this moment I was not aware of the universal favour with which +_Bathybius_ was received.[32] Those simulators of an "ignorant mob" +who, according to the Duke of Argyll, welcomed Darwin's theory of +coral-reefs, made no demonstration in my favour, unless his Grace +includes Sir Wyville Thomson, Dr. Carpenter, Dr. Bessels, and +Professor Haeckel under that head. On the contrary, a sagacious friend +of mine, than whom there was no more competent judge, the late Mr. +George Busk, was not to be converted; while, long before the +"Challenger" work, Ehrenberg wrote to me very sceptically; and I fully +expected that that eminent man would favour me with pretty sharp +criticism. Unfortunately, he died shortly afterwards, and nothing from +him, that I know of, appeared. When Sir Wyville Thomson wrote to me a +brief account of the results obtained on board the "Challenger" I sent +this statement to "Nature," in which journal it appeared the following +week, without any further note or comment than was needful to explain +the circumstances. In thus allowing judgment to go by default, I am +afraid I showed a reckless and ungracious disregard for the feelings +of the believers in my infallibility. No doubt I ought to have hedged +and fenced and attenuated the effect of Sir Wyville Thomson's brief +note in every possible way. Or perhaps I ought to have suppressed the +note altogether, on the ground that it was a mere _ex parte_ +statement. My excuse is that, notwithstanding a large and abiding +faith in human folly, I did not know then, any more than I know now, +that there was anybody foolish enough to be unaware that the only +people scientific or other, who never make mistakes are those who do +nothing; or that anybody, for whose opinion I cared, would not rather +see me commit ten blunders than try to hide one. + +Pending the production of further evidence, I hold that the existence +of people who believe in the infallibility of men of science is as +purely mythical as that of the evil counsellor who advised the +withholding of the truth lest it should conflict with that belief. + +I venture to think, then, that the Duke of Argyll might have spared +his "Little Lesson" as well as his "Great Lesson" with advantage. The +paternal authority who whips the child for sins he has not committed +does not strengthen his moral influence--rather excites contempt and +repugnance. And if, as would seem from this and former monitory +allocutions which have been addressed to us, the Duke aspires to the +position of censor, or spiritual director, in relation to the men who +are doing the work of physical science, he really must get up his +facts better. There will be an end to all chance of our kissing the +rod if his Grace goes wrong a third time. He must not say again that +"no serious reply has been attempted" to a view which was discussed +and repudiated, two years before, by one of the highest extant +authorities on the subject; he must not say that Darwin accepted that +which it can be proved he did not accept; he must not say that a +doctrine has dropped into the abyss when it is quite obviously alive +and kicking at the surface; he must not assimilate a man like +Professor Dana to the components of an "ignorant mob"; he must not say +that things are beginning to be known which are not known at all; he +must not say that "slow and sulky acquiescence" has been given to that +which cannot yet boast of general acquiescence of any kind; he must +not suggest that a view which has been publicly advocated by the +Director of the Geological Survey and no less publicly discussed by +many other authoritative writers has been intentionally and +systematically ignored; he must not ascribe ill motives for a course +of action which is the only proper one; and finally, if any one but +myself were interested, I should say that he had better not waste his +time in raking up the errors of those whose lives have been occupied, +not in talking about science, but in toiling, sometimes with success +and sometimes with failure, to get some real work done. + +The most considerable difference I note among men is not in their +readiness to fall into error, but in their readiness to acknowledge +these inevitable lapses. The Duke of Argyll has now a splendid +opportunity for proving to the world in which of these categories it +is hereafter to rank him. + + * * * * * + +DEAR PROFESSOR HUXLEY,--A short time before Mr. Darwin's death, I had +a conversation with, him concerning the observations which had been +made by Mr. Murray upon coral-reefs, and the speculations which had +been founded upon those observations. I found that Mr. Darwin had very +carefully considered the whole subject, and that while, on the one +hand, he did not regard the actual facts recorded by Mr. Murray as +absolutely inconsistent with his own theory of subsidence, on the +other hand, he did not believe that they necessitated or supported the +hypothesis advanced by Mr. Murray. Mr. Darwin's attitude, as I +understood it, towards Mr. Murray's objections to the theory of +subsidence was exactly similar to that maintained by him with respect +to Professor Semper's criticism, which was of a very similar +character; and his position with regard to the whole question was +almost identical with that subsequently so clearly defined by +Professor Dana in his well-known articles published in the "American +Journal of Science" for 1885. + +It is difficult to imagine how any one, acquainted with the scientific +literature of the last seven years, could possibly suggest that Mr. +Murray's memoir published in 1880 had failed to secure a due amount of +attention. Mr. Murray, by his position in the "Challenger" office, +occupied an exceptionally favourable position for making his views +widely known; and he had, moreover, the singular good fortune to +secure from the first the advocacy of so able and brilliant a writer +as Professor Archibald Geikie, who in a special discourse and in +several treatises on geology and physical geology very strongly +supported the new theory. It would be an endless task to attempt to +give references to the various scientific journals which have +discussed the subject, but I may add that every treatise on geology +which has been published, since Mr. Murray's views were made known, +has dealt with his observations at considerable length. This is true +of Professor A.H. Green's "Physical Geology," published in 1882; of +Professor Prestwich's "Geology, Chemical and Physical"; and of +Professor James Geikie's "Outlines of Geology," published in 1886. +Similar prominence is given to the subject in De Lapparent's "Traite +de Geologie," published in 1885, and in Credner's "Elemente der +Geologie," which has appeared during the present year. If this be a +"conspiracy of silence," where, alas! can the geological speculator +seek for fame?--Yours very truly, JOHN W. JUDD. + +_October_ 10, 1887. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [28] _The Advance of Science_. Three sermons preached in + Manchester Cathedral on Sunday, September 4, 1887, + during the meeting of the British Association for the + Advancement of Science, by the Bishop of Carlisle, the + Bishop of Bedford, and the Bishop of Manchester. + + [29] Reprinted in Vol. IV. of this collection. + + [30] _American Journal of Science_, 1885, p. 190. + + [31] Professor Geikie, however, though a strong, is a fair + and candid advocate. He says of Darwin's theory, "That + it may be possibly true, in some instances, may be + readily granted." For Professor Geikie, then, it is not + yet over-thrown--still less a dream. + + [32] I find, moreover, that I specially warned my readers + against hasty judgment. After stating the facts of + observation, I add, "I have, hitherto, said nothing + about their meaning, as, in an inquiry so difficult and + fraught with interest as this, it seems to me to be in + the highest degree important to keep the questions of + fact and the questions of interpretation well apart" + (p. 210). + + + + +V: THE VALUE OF WITNESS TO THE MIRACULOUS + +[1889] + + +Charles, or, more properly, Karl, King of the Franks, consecrated +Roman Emperor in St. Peter's on Christmas Day, A.D. 800, and known to +posterity as the Great (chiefly by his agglutinative Gallicised +denomination, of Charlemagne), was a man great in all ways, physically +and mentally. Within a couple of centuries after his death Charlemagne +became the centre of innumerable legends; and the myth-making process +does not seem to have been sensibly interfered with by the existence +of sober and truthful histories of the Emperor and of the times which +immediately preceded and followed his reign by a contemporary writer +who occupied a high and confidential position in his court, and in +that of his successor. This was one Eginhard, or Einhard, who appears +to have been born about A.D. 770, and spent his youth at the court, +being educated along with Charles's sons. There is excellent +contemporary testimony not only to Eginhard's existence, but to his +abilities, and to the place which he occupied in the circle of the +intimate friends of the great ruler whose life he subsequently wrote. +In fact, there is as good evidence of Eginhard's existence, of his +official position, and of his being the author of the chief works +attributed to him, as can reasonably be expected in the case of a man +who lived more than a thousand years ago, and was neither a great king +nor a great warrior. The works are--1. "The Life of the Emperor Karl." +2. "The Annals of the Franks." 3. "Letters." 4. "The History of the +Translation of the Blessed Martyrs of Christ, SS. Marcellinus and +Petrus." + +It is to the last, as one of the most singular and interesting records +of the period during which the Roman world passed into that of the +Middle Ages, that I wish to direct attention.[33] It was written in +the ninth century, somewhere, apparently, about the year 830, when +Eginhard, ailing in health and weary of political life, had withdrawn +to the monastery of Seligenstadt, of which he was the founder. A +manuscript copy of the work, made in the tenth century, and once the +property of the monastery of St. Bavon on the Scheldt, of which +Eginhard was Abbot, is still extant, and there is no reason to believe +that, in this copy, the original has been in any way interpolated or +otherwise tampered with. The main features of the strange story +contained in the "Historia Translationis" are set forth in the +following pages, in which, in regard to all matters of importance, I +shall adhere as closely as possible to Eginhard's own words. + + While I was still at Court, busied with secular affairs, I + often thought of the leisure which I hoped one day to enjoy + in a solitary place, far away from the crowd, with which the + liberality of Prince Louis, whom I then served, had provided + me. This place is situated in that part of Germany which + lies between the Neckar and the Maine,[34] and is nowadays + called the Odenwald by those who live in and about it. And + here having built, according to my capacity and resources, + not only houses and permanent dwellings, but also a basilica + fitted for the performance of divine service and of no mean + style of construction, I began to think to what saint or + martyr I could best dedicate it. A good deal of time had + passed while my thoughts fluctuated about this matter, when + it happened that a certain deacon of the Roman Church, named + Deusdona, arrived at the Court for the purpose of seeking + the favour of the King in some affairs in which he was + interested. He remained some time; and then, having + transacted his business, he was about to return to Rome, + when one day, moved by courtesy to a stranger, we invited + him to a modest refection; and while talking of many things + at table, mention was made of the translation of the body of + the blessed Sebastian,[35] and of the neglected tombs of + the martyrs, of which there is such a prodigious number at + Rome; and the conversation having turned towards the + dedication of our new basilica, I began to inquire how it + might be possible for me to obtain some of the true relics + of the saints which rest at Rome. He at first hesitated, and + declared that he did not know how that could be done. But + observing that I was both anxious and curious about the + subject, he promised to give me an answer some other day. + + When I returned to the question some time afterwards, he + immediately drew from his bosom a paper, which he begged me + to read when I was alone, and to tell him what I was + disposed to think of that which was therein stated. I took + the paper and, as he desired, read it alone and in secret. + (Cap. i. 2, 3.) + +I shall have occasion to return to Deacon Deusdona's conditions, and +to what happened after Eginhard's acceptance of them. Suffice it, for +the present, to say that Eginhard's notary, Ratleicus (Ratleig), was +despatched to Rome and succeeded in securing two bodies, supposed to +be those of the holy martyrs Marcellinus and Petrus; and when he had +got as far on his homeward journey as the Burgundian town of +Solothurn, or Soleure,[36] notary Ratleig despatched to his master, at +St. Bavon, a letter announcing the success of his mission. + + As soon as by reading it I was assured of the arrival of the + saints, I despatched a confidential messenger to Maestricht + to gather together priests, other clerics, and also laymen, + to go out to meet the coming saints as speedily as possible. + And he and his companions, having lost no time, after a few + days met those who had charge of the saints at Solothurn. + Joined with them, and with a vast crowd of people who + gathered from all parts, singing hymns, and amidst great and + universal rejoicings, they travelled quickly to the city of + Argentoratum, which is now called Strasburg. Thence + embarking on the Rhine, they came to the place called + Portus,[37] and landing on the east bank of the river, at + the fifth station thence they arrived at Michilinstadt,[38] + accompanied by an immense multitude, praising God. This + place is in that forest of Germany which in modern times is + called the Odenwald, and about six leagues from the Maine. + And here, having found a basilica recently built by me, but + not yet consecrated, they carried the sacred remains into it + and deposited them therein, as if it were to be their final + resting-place. As soon as all this was reported to me I + travelled thither as quickly as I could. (Cap. ii. 14.) + +Three days after Eginhard's arrival began the series of wonderful +events which he narrates, and for which we have his personal +guarantee. The first thing that he notices is the dream of a servant +of Ratleig, the notary, who, being set to watch the holy relics in the +church after vespers, went to sleep and, during his slumbers, had a +vision of two pigeons, one white and one gray and white, which came +and sat upon the bier over the relics; while, at the same time, a +voice ordered the man to tell his master that the holy martyrs had +chosen another resting-place and desired to be transported thither +without delay. + +Unfortunately, the saints seem to have forgotten to mention where +they wished to go; and, with the most anxious desire to gratify their +smallest wishes, Eginhard was naturally greatly perplexed what to do. +While in this state of mind, he was one day contemplating his "great +and wonderful treasure, more precious than all the gold in the world," +when it struck him that the chest in which the relics were contained +was quite unworthy of its contents; and, after vespers, he gave orders +to one of the sacristans to take the measure of the chest in order +that a more fitting shrine might be constructed. The man, having +lighted a wax candle and raised the pall which covered the relics, in +order to carry out his master's orders, was astonished and terrified +to observe that the chest was covered with a blood-like exudation +(_loculum mirum in modum humore sanguineo undique distillantem_), and +at once sent a message to Eginhard. + + Then I and those priests who accompanied me beheld this + stupendous miracle, worthy of all admiration. For just as + when it is going to rain, pillars and slabs and marble + images exude moisture, and, as it were, sweat, so the chest + which contained the most sacred relics was found moist with + the blood exuding on all sides. (Cap. ii. 16.) + +Three days' fast was ordained in order that the meaning of the portent +might be ascertained. All that happened, however, was that, at the end +of that time, the "blood," which had been exuding in drops all the +while, dried up. Eginhard is careful to say that the liquid "had a +saline taste, something like that of tears, and was thin as water +though of the colour of true blood," and he clearly thinks this +satisfactory evidence that it was blood. + +The same night, another servant had a vision, in which still more +imperative orders for the removal of the relics were given; and, from +that time forth, "not a single night passed without one, two, or even +three of our companions receiving revelations in dreams that the +bodies of the saints were to be transferred from that place to +another." At last a priest, Hildfrid, saw, in a dream, a venerable +white-haired man in a priest's vestments, who bitterly reproached +Eginhard for not obeying the repeated orders of the saints; and, upon +this, the journey was commenced. Why Eginhard delayed obedience to +these repeated visions so long does not appear. He does not say so, in +so many words, but the general tenor of the narrative leads one to +suppose that Mulinheim (afterwards Seligenstadt) is the "solitary +place" in which he had built the church which awaited dedication. In +that case, all the people about him would know that he desired that +the saints should go there. If a glimmering of secular sense led him +to be a little suspicious about the real cause of the unanimity of the +visionary beings who manifested themselves to his _entourage_, in +favour of moving on, he does not say so. + +At the end of the first day's journey, the precious relics were +deposited in the church of St. Martin, in the village of Ostheim. +Hither, a paralytic nun (_sanctimonialis quaedam paralytica_) of the +name of Ruodlang was brought, in a car, by her friends and relatives +from a monastery a league off. She spent the night watching and +praying by the bier of the saints; "and health returning to all her +members, on the morrow she went back to her place whence she came, on +her feet, nobody supporting her, or in any way giving her assistance." +(Cap. ii. 19.) + +On the second day, the relics were carried to Upper Mulinheim; and, +finally, in accordance with the orders of the martyrs, deposited in +the church of that place, which was therefore renamed Seligenstadt. +Here, Daniel, a beggar boy of fifteen, and so bent that "he could not +look at the sky without lying on his back," collapsed and fell down +during the celebration of the Mass. "Thus he lay a long time, as if +asleep, and all his limbs straightening and his flesh strengthening +(_recepta firmitate nervorum_), he arose before our eyes, quite well." +(Cap. ii. 20.) + +Some time afterwards an old man entered the church on his hands and +knees, being unable to use his limbs properly:-- + + He, in presence of all of us, by the power of God and the + merits of the blessed martyrs, in the same hour in which he + entered was so perfectly cured that he walked without so + much as a stick. And he said that, though he had been deaf + for five years, his deafness had ceased along with the + palsy. (Cap. iii. 33.) + +Eginhard was now obliged to return to the Court at Aix-la-Chapelle, +where his duties kept him through the winter; and he is careful to +point out that the later miracles which he proceeds to speak of are +known to him only at second hand. But, as he naturally observes, +having seen such wonderful events with his own eyes, why should he +doubt similar narrations when they are received from trustworthy +sources? + +Wonderful stories these are indeed, but as they are, for the most +part, of the same general character as those already recounted, they +may be passed over. There is, however, an account of a possessed +maiden which is worth attention. This is set forth in a memoir, the +principal contents of which are the speeches of a demon who declared +himself to possess the singular appellation of "Wiggo," and revealed +himself in the presence of many witnesses, before the altar, close to +the relics of the blessed martyrs. It is noteworthy that the +revelations appear to have been made in the shape of replies to the +questions of the exorcising priest; and there is no means of judging +how far the answers are, really, only the questions to which the +patient replied yes or no. + +The possessed girl, about sixteen years of age, was brought by her +parents to the basilica of the martyrs. + + When she approached the tomb containing the sacred bodies, + the priest, according to custom, read the formula of + exorcism over her head. When he began to ask how and when + the demon had entered her, she answered, not in the tongue + of the barbarians, which alone the girl knew, but in the + Roman tongue. And when the priest was astonished and asked + how she came to know Latin, when her parents, who stood by, + were wholly ignorant of it, "Thou hast never seen my + parents," was the reply. To this the priest, "Whence art + thou, then, if these are not thy parents?" And the demon, by + the mouth of the girl, "I am a follower and disciple of + Satan, and for a long time I was gatekeeper (janitor) in + hell; but for some years, along with eleven companions, I + have ravaged the kingdom of the Franks." (Cap. v. 49.) + +He then goes on to tell how they blasted the crops and scattered +pestilence among beasts and men, because of the prevalent wickedness +of the people.[39] + +The enumeration of all these iniquities, in oratorical style, takes up +a whole octavo page; and at the end it is stated, "All these things +the demon spoke in Latin by the mouth of the girl." + + And when the priest imperatively ordered him to come out, "I + shall go," said he, "not in obedience to you, but on account + of the power of the saints, who do not allow me to remain + any longer." And having said this, he threw the girl down on + the floor and there compelled her to lie prostrate for a + time, as though she slumbered. After a little while, + however, he going away, the girl, by the power of Christ and + the merits of the blessed martyrs, as it were awaking from + sleep, rose up quite well, to the astonishment of all + present; nor after the demon had gone out was she able to + speak Latin: so that it was plain enough that it was not she + who had spoken in that tongue, but the demon by her mouth. + (Cap. v. 51.) + +If the "Historia Translationis" contained nothing more than has been +laid before the reader, up to this time, disbelief in the miracles of +which it gives so precise and full a record might well be regarded as +hyper-scepticism. It might fairly be said, Here you have a man, whose +high character, acute intelligence, and large instruction are +certified by eminent contemporaries; a man who stood high in the +confidence of one of the greatest rulers of any age, and whose other +works prove him to be an accurate and judicious narrator of ordinary +events. This man tells you, in language which bears the stamp of +sincerity, of things which happened within his own knowledge, or +within that of persons in whose veracity he has entire confidence, +while he appeals to his sovereign and the court as witnesses of +others; what possible ground can there be for disbelieving him? + +Well, it is hard upon Eginhard to say so, but it is exactly the +honesty and sincerity of the man which are his undoing as a witness to +the miraculous. He himself makes it quite obvious that when his +profound piety comes on the stage, his good sense and even his +perception of right and wrong, make their exit. Let us go back to the +point at which we left him, secretly perusing the letter of Deacon +Deusdona. As he tells us, its contents were + + that he [the deacon] had many relics of saints at home, and + that he would give them to me if I would furnish him with + the means of returning to Rome; he had observed that I had + two mules, and if I would let him have one of them and would + despatch with him a confidential servant to take charge of + the relics, he would at once send them to me. This plausibly + expressed proposition pleased me, and I made up my mind to + test the value of the somewhat ambiguous promise at + once;[40] so giving him the mule and money for his journey I + ordered my notary Ratleig (who already desired to go to Rome + to offer his devotions there) to go with him. Therefore, + having left Aix-la-Chapelle (where the Emperor and his Court + resided at the time) they came to Soissons. Here they spoke + with Hildoin, abbot of the monastery of St. Medardus, + because the said deacon had assured him that he had the + means of placing in his possession the body of the blessed + Tiburtius the Martyr. Attracted by which promises he + (Hildoin) sent with them a certain priest, Hunus by name, a + sharp man (_hominem callidum_), whom he ordered to receive + and bring back the body of the martyr in question. And so, + resuming their journey, they proceeded to Rome as fast as + they could. (Cap. i. 3.) + +Unfortunately, a servant of the notary, one Reginbald, fell ill of a +tertian fever, and impeded the progress of the party. However, this +piece of adversity had its sweet uses; for three days before they +reached Rome, Reginbald had a vision. Somebody habited as a deacon +appeared to him and asked why his master was in such a hurry to get +to Rome; and when Reginbald explained their business, this visionary +deacon, who seems to have taken the measure of his brother in the +flesh with some accuracy, told him not by any means to expect that +Deusdona would fulfil his promises. Moreover, taking the servant by +the hand, he led him to the top of a high mountain and, showing him +Rome (where the man had never been), pointed out a church, adding +"Tell Ratleig the thing he wants is hidden there; let him get it as +quickly as he can and go back to his master." By way of a sign that +the order was authoritative, the servant was promised that, from that +time forth, his fever should disappear. And as the fever did vanish to +return no more, the faith of Eginhard's people in Deacon Deusdona +naturally vanished with it (_et fidem diaconi promissis non +haberent_). Nevertheless, they put up at the deacon's house near St. +Peter ad Vincula. But time went on and no relics made their +appearance, while the notary and the priest were put off with all +sorts of excuses--the brother to whom the relics had been confided was +gone to Beneventum and not expected back for some time, and so +on--until Ratleig and Hunus began to despair, and were minded to +return, _infecto negotio_. + + But my notary, calling to mind his servant's dream, proposed + to his companion that they should go to the cemetery which + their host had talked about without him. So, having found + and hired a guide, they went in the first place to the + basilica of the blessed Tiburtius in the Via Labicana, about + three thousand paces fron the town, and cautiously and + carefully inspected the tomb of that martyr, in order to + discover whether it could be opened without any one being + the wiser. Then they descended into the adjoining crypt, in + which the bodies of the blessed martyrs of Christ, + Marcellinus and Petrus, were buried; and, having made out + the nature of their tomb, they went away thinking their host + would not know what they had been about. But things fell out + differently from what they had imagined. (Cap. i. 7.) + +In fact, Deacon Deusdona, who doubtless kept an eye on his guests, +knew all about their manoeuvres and made haste to offer his services, +in order that, "with the help of God" (_si Deus votis eorum favere +dignaretur_), they should all work together. The deacon was evidently +alarmed lest they should succeed without _his_ help. + +So, by way of preparation for the contemplated _vol avec effraction_ +they fasted three days; and then, at night, without being seen, they +betook themselves to the basilica of St. Tiburtius, and tried to break +open the altar erected over his remains. But the marble proving too +solid, they descended to the crypt, and, "having evoked our Lord Jesus +Christ and adored the holy martyrs," they proceeded to prise off the +stone which covered the tomb, and thereby exposed the body of the most +sacred martyr, Marcellinus, "whose head rested on a marble tablet on +which his name was inscribed." The body was taken up with the +greatest veneration, wrapped in a rich covering, and given over to the +keeping of the deacon and his brother, Lunison, while the stone was +replaced with such care that no sign of the theft remained. + +As sacrilegious proceedings of this kind were punishable with death by +the Roman law, it seems not unnatural that Deacon Deusdona should have +become uneasy, and have urged Ratleig to be satisfied with what he had +got and be off with his spoils. But the notary having thus cleverly +captured the blessed Marcellinus, thought it a pity he should be +parted from the blessed Petrus, side by side with whom he had rested, +for five hundred years and more, in the same sepulchre (as Eginhard +pathetically observes); and the pious man could neither eat, drink, +nor sleep, until he had compassed his desire to re-unite the saintly +colleagues. This time, apparently in consequence of Deusdona's +opposition to any further resurrectionist doings, he took counsel with +a Greek monk, one Basil, and, accompanied by Hunus, but saying nothing +to Deusdona, they committed another sacrilegious burglary, securing +this time, not only the body of the blessed Petrus, but a quantity of +dust, which they agreed the priest should take, and tell his employer +that it was the remains of the blessed Tiburtius. How Deusdona was +"squared," and what he got for his not very valuable complicity in +these transactions, does not appear. But at last the relics were sent +off in charge of Lunison, the brother of Deusdona, and the priest +Hunus, as far as Pavia, while Ratleig stopped behind for a week to see +if the robbery was discovered, and, presumably, to act as a blind, if +any hue and cry was raised. But, as everything remained quiet, the +notary betook himself to Pavia, where he found Lunison and Hunus +awaiting his arrival. The notary's opinion of the character of his +worthy colleagues, however, may be gathered from the fact that, having +persuaded them to set out in advance along the road which he told them +he was about to take, he immediately adopted another route, and, +travelling by way of St. Maurice and the Lake of Geneva, eventually +reached Soleure. + +Eginhard tells all this story with the most naive air of +unconsciousness that there is anything remarkable about an abbot, and +a high officer of state to boot, being an accessory, both before and +after the fact, to a most gross and scandalous act of sacrilegious and +burglarious robbery. And an amusing sequel to the story proves that, +where relics were concerned, his friend Hildoin, another high +ecclesiastical dignitary, was even less scrupulous than himself. + +On going to the palace early one morning, after the saints were safely +bestowed at Seligenstadt, he found Hildoin waiting for an audience in +the Emperor's antechamber, and began to talk to him about the miracle +of the bloody exudation. In the course of conversation, Eginhard +happened to allude to the remarkable fineness of the garment of the +blessed Marcellinus. Whereupon Abbot Hildoin observed (to Eginhard's +stupefaction) that his observation was quite correct. Much astonished +at this remark from a person who was supposed not to have seen the +relics, Eginhard asked him how he knew that? Upon this, Hildoin saw +that he had better make a clean breast of it, and he told the +following story, which he had received from his priestly agent, Hunus. +While Hunus and Lunison were at Pavia, waiting for Eginhard's notary, +Hunus (according to his own account) had robbed the robbers. The +relics were placed in a church; and a number of laymen and clerics, of +whom Hunus was one, undertook to keep watch over them. One night, +however, all the watchers, save the wide-awake Hunus, went to sleep; +and then, according to the story which this "sharp" ecclesiastic +foisted upon his patron, + + it was borne in upon his mind that there must be some great + reason why all the people, except himself, had suddenly + become somnolent; and, determining to avail himself of the + opportunity thus offered (_oblata occasione utendum_), he + rose and, having lighted a candle, silently approached the + chests. Then, having burnt through the threads of the seals + with the flame of the candle, he quickly opened the chests, + which had no locks;[41] and taking out portions of each of + the bodies which were thus exposed, he closed the chests + and connected the burnt ends of the threads with the seals + again, so that they appeared not to have been touched; and, + no one having seen him, he returned to his place. (Cap. iii. + 23.) + +Hildoin went on to tell Eginhard that Hunus at first declared to him +that these purloined relics belonged to St. Tiburtius; but afterwards +confessed, as a great secret, how he had come by them, and he wound up +his discourse thus: + + They have a place of honour beside St. Medardus, where they + are worshipped with great veneration by all the people; but + whether we may keep them or not is for your judgment (Cap. + iii. 23.) + +Poor Eginhard was thrown into a state of great perturbation of mind by +this revelation. An acquaintance of his had recently told him of a +rumour that was spread about that Hunus had contrived to abstract +_all_ the remains of SS. Marcellinus and Petrus while Eginhard's +agents were in a drunken sleep; and that, while the real relics were +in Abbot Hildoin's hands at St. Medardus, the shrine at Seligenstadt +contained nothing but a little dust. Though greatly annoyed by this +"execrable rumour, spread everywhere by the subtlety of the devil," +Eginhard had doubtless comforted himself by his supposed knowledge of +its falsity, and he only now discovered how considerable a foundation +there was for the scandal. There was nothing for it but to insist upon +the return of the stolen treasures. One would have thought that the +holy man, who had admitted himself to be knowingly a receiver of +stolen goods, would have made instant restitution and begged only for +absolution. But Eginhard intimates that he had very great difficulty +in getting his brother abbot to see that even restitution was +necessary. + +Hildoin's proceedings were not of such a nature as to lead any one to +place implicit confidence in anything he might say; still less had his +agent, priest Hunus, established much claim to confidence; and it is +not surprising that Eginhard should have lost no time in summoning his +notary and Lunison to his presence, in order that he might hear what +they had to say about the business. They, however, at once protested +that priest Hunus's story was a parcel of lies, and that after the +relics left Rome no one had any opportunity of meddling with them. +Moreover, Lunison, throwing himself at Eginhard's feet, confessed with +many tears what actually took place. It will be remembered that after +the body of St. Marcellinus was abstracted from its tomb, Ratleig +deposited it in the house of Deusdona, in charge of the latter's +brother, Lunison. But Hunus, being very much disappointed that he +could not get hold of the body of St. Tiburtius, and afraid to go back +to his abbot empty-handed, bribed Lunison with four pieces of gold and +five of silver to give him access to the chest. This Lunison did, and +Hunus helped himself to as much as would fill a gallon measure (_vas +sextarii mensuram_) of the sacred remains. Eginhard's indignation at +the "rapine" of this "nequissimus nebulo" is exquisitely droll. It +would appear that the adage about the receiver being as bad as the +thief was not current in the ninth century. + +Let us now briefly sum up the history of the acquisition of the +relics. Eginhard makes a contract with Deusdona for the delivery of +certain relics which the latter says he possesses. Eginhard makes no +inquiry how he came by them; otherwise, the transaction is innocent +enough. + +Deusdona turns out to be a swindler, and has no relics. Thereupon +Eginhard's agent, after due fasting and prayer, breaks open the tombs +and helps himself. + +Eginhard discovers by the self-betrayal of his brother abbot, Hildoin, +that portions of his relics have been stolen and conveyed to the +latter. With much ado he succeeds in getting them back. + +Hildoin's agent, Hunus, in delivering these stolen goods to him, at +first declared they were the relics of St. Tiburtius, which Hildoin +desired him to obtain; but afterwards invented a story of their being +the product of a theft, which the providential drowsiness of his +companions enabled him to perpetrate, from the relics which Hildoin +well knew were the property of his friend. + +Lunison, on the contrary, swears that all his story is false, and that +he himself was bribed by Hunus to allow him to steal what he pleased +from the property confided to his own and his brother's care by their +guest Ratleig. And the honest notary himself seems to have no +hesitation about lying and stealing to any extent, where the +acquisition of relics is the object in view. + +For a parallel to these transactions one must read a police report of +the doings of a "long firm" or of a set of horse-coupers; yet Eginhard +seems to be aware of nothing, but that he has been rather badly used +by his friend Hildoin, and the "nequissimus nebulo" Hunus. + +It is not easy for a modern Protestant, still less for any one who has +the least tincture of scientific culture, whether physical or +historical, to picture to himself the state of mind of a man of the +ninth century, however cultivated, enlightened, and sincere he may +have been. His deepest convictions, his most cherished hopes, were +bound up with the belief in the miraculous. Life was a constant battle +between saints and demons for the possession of the souls of men. The +most superstitious among our modern countrymen turn to supernatural +agencies only when natural causes seem insufficient; to Eginhard and +his friends the supernatural was the rule; and the sufficiency of +natural causes was allowed only when there was nothing to suggest +others. + +Moreover, it must be recollected that the possession of +miracle-working relics was greatly coveted, not only on high, but on +very low grounds. To a man like Eginhard, the mere satisfaction of the +religious sentiment was obviously a powerful attraction. But, more +than, this, the possession of such a treasure was an immense practical +advantage. If the saints were duly flattered and worshipped, there was +no telling what benefits might result from their interposition on your +behalf. For physical evils, access to the shrine was like the grant of +the use of a universal pill and ointment manufactory; and pilgrimages +thereto might suffice to cleanse the performers from any amount of +sin. A letter to Lupus, subsequently abbot of Ferrara, written while +Eginhard was smarting under the grief caused by the loss of his +much-loved wife Imma, affords a striking insight into the current view +of the relation between the glorified saints and their worshippers. +The writer shows that he is anything but satisfied with the way in +which he has been treated by the blessed martyrs whose remains he has +taken such pains to "convey" to Seligenstadt, and to honour there as +they would never have been honoured in their Roman obscurity. + + It is an aggravation of my grief and a reopening of my + wound, that our vows have been of no avail, and that the + faith which, we placed in the merits and intervention of the + martyrs has been utterly disappointed. + +We may admit, then, without impeachment of Eginhard's sincerity, or +of his honour under all ordinary circumstances, that when piety, +self-interest, the glory of the Church in general, and that of the +church at Seligenstadt in particular, all pulled one way, even the +workaday principles of morality were disregarded; and, _a fortiori_, +anything like proper investigation of the reality of alleged miracles +was thrown to the winds. + +And if this was the condition of mind of such a man as Eginhard, what +is it not legitimate to suppose may have been that of Deacon Deusdona, +Lunison, Hunus, and Company, thieves and cheats by their own +confession, or of the probably hysterical nun, or of the professional +beggars, for whose incapacity to walk and straighten themselves there +is no guarantee but their own? Who is to make sure that the exorcist +of the demon Wiggo was not just such another priest as Hunus; and is +it not at least possible, when Eginhard's servants dreamed, night +after night, in such a curiously coincident fashion, that a careful +inquirer might have found they were very anxious to please their +master. + +Quite apart from deliberate and conscious fraud (which is a rarer +thing than is often supposed), people, whose mythopoeic faculty is +once stirred, are capable of saying the thing that is not, and of +acting as they should not, to an extent which is hardly imaginable by +persons who are not so easily affected by the contagion of blind +faith. There is no falsity so gross that honest men and, still more, +virtuous women, anxious to promote a good cause, will not lend +themselves to it without any clear consciousness of the moral bearings +of what they are doing. + +The cases of miraculously-effected cures of which Eginhard is ocular +witness appear to belong to classes of disease in which malingering is +possible or hysteria presumable. Without modern means of diagnosis, +the names given to them are quite worthless. One "miracle," however, +in which the patient, a woman, was cured by the mere sight of the +church in which the relics of the blessed martyrs lay, is an +unmistakable case of dislocation of the lower jaw; and it is obvious +that, as not unfrequently happens in such accidents in weakly +subjects, the jaws slipped suddenly back into place, perhaps in +consequence of a jolt, as the woman rode towards the church. (Cap. v. +53.)[42] + +There is also a good deal said about a very questionable blind +man--one Albricus (Alberich?)--who, having been cured, not of his +blindness, but of another disease under which he laboured, took up his +quarters at Seligenstadt, and came out as a prophet, inspired by the +Archangel Gabriel. Eginhard intimates that his prophecies were +fulfilled; but as he does not state exactly what they were, or how +they were accomplished, the statement must be accepted with much +caution. It is obvious that he was not the man to hesitate to "ease" a +prophecy until it fitted, if the credit of the shrine of his favourite +saints could be increased by such a procedure. There is no impeachment +of his honour in the supposition. The logic of the matter is quite +simple, if somewhat sophistical. The holiness of the church of the +martyrs guarantees the reality of the appearance of the Archangel +Gabriel there; and what the archangel says must be true. Therefore, if +anything seem to be wrong, that must be the mistake of the +transmitter; and, in justice to the archangel, it must be suppressed +or set right. This sort of "reconciliation" is not unknown in quite +modern times, and among people who would be very much shocked to be +compared with a "benighted papist" of the ninth century. + +The readers of this essay are, I imagine, very largely composed of +people who would be shocked to be regarded as anything but enlightened +Protestants. It is not unlikely that those of them who have +accompanied me thus far may be disposed to say, "Well, this is all +very amusing as a story, but what is the practical interest of it? We +are not likely to believe in the miracles worked by the spolia of SS. +Marcellinus and Petrus, or by those of any other saints in the Roman +Calendar." + +The practical interest is this: if you do not believe in these +miracles recounted by a witness whose character and competency are +firmly established, whose sincerity cannot be doubted, and who appeals +to his sovereign and other contemporaries as witnesses of the truth of +what he says, in a document of which a MS. copy exists, probably +dating within a century of the author's death, why do you profess to +believe in stories of a like character, which are found in documents +of the dates and of the authorship of which nothing is certainly +determined, and no known copies of which come within two or three +centuries of the events they record? If it be true that the four +Gospels and the Acts were written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, +all that we know of these persons comes to nothing in comparison with +our knowledge of Eginhard; and not only is there no proof that the +traditional authors of these works wrote them, but very strong reasons +to the contrary may be alleged. If, therefore, you refuse to believe +that "Wiggo" was cast out of the possessed girl on Eginhard's +authority, with what justice can you profess to believe that the +legion of devils were cast out of the man among the tombs of the +Gadarenes? And if, on the other hand, you accept Eginhard's evidence, +why do you laugh at the supposed efficacy of relics and the +saint-worship of the modern Romanists? It cannot be pretended, in the +face of all evidence, that the Jews of the year 30 A.D., or +thereabouts, were less imbued with the belief in the supernatural than +were the Franks of the year 800 A.D. The same influences were at work +in each case, and it is only reasonable to suppose that the results +were the same. If the evidence of Eginhard is insufficient to lead +reasonable men to believe in the miracles he relates, _a fortiori_ the +evidence afforded by the Gospels and the Acts must be so.[43] + +But it may be said that no serious critic denies the genuineness of +the four great Pauline Epistles--Galatians, First and Second +Corinthians, and Romans--and that in three out of these four Paul lays +claim to the power of working miracles.[44] Must we suppose, +therefore, that the Apostle to the Gentiles has stated that which is +false? But to how much does this so-called claim amount? It may mean +much or little. Paul nowhere tells us what he did in this direction; +and in his sore need to justify his assumption of apostleship against +the sneers of his enemies, it is hardly likely that, if he had any +very striking cases to bring forward, he would have neglected evidence +so well calculated to put them to shame. And, without the slightest +impeachment of Paul's veracity, we must further remember that his +strongly-marked mental characteristics, displayed in unmistakable +fashion by these Epistles, are anything but those which would justify +us in regarding him as a critical witness respecting matters of fact, +or as a trustworthy interpreter of their significance. When a man +testifies to a miracle, he not only states a fact, but he adds an +interpretation of the fact. We may admit his evidence as to the +former, and yet think his opinion as to the latter worthless. If +Eginhard's calm and objective narrative of the historical events of +his time is no guarantee for the soundness of his judgment where the +supernatural is concerned, the heated rhetoric of the Apostle of the +Gentiles, his absolute confidence in the "inner light," and the +extraordinary conceptions of the nature and requirements of logical +proof which he betrays, in page after page of his Epistles, afford +still less security. + +There is a comparatively modern man who shared to the full Paul's +trust in the "inner light," and who, though widely different from the +fiery evangelist of Tarsus in various obvious particulars, yet, if I +am not mistaken, shares his deepest characteristics. I speak of George +Fox, who separated himself from the current Protestantism of England, +in the seventeenth century, as Paul separated himself from the +Judaism of the first century, at the bidding of the "inner light"; who +went through persecutions as serious as those which Paul enumerates; +who was beaten, stoned, cast out for dead, imprisoned nine times, +sometimes for long periods; who was in perils on land and perils at +sea. George Fox was an even more widely-travelled missionary; while +his success in founding congregations, and his energy in visiting +them, not merely in Great Britain and Ireland and the West India +Islands, but on the continent of Europe and that of North America, +were no less remarkable. A few years after Fox began to preach, there +were reckoned to be a thousand Friends in prison in the various gaols +of England; at his death, less than fifty years after the foundation +of the sect, there were 70,000 Quakers in the United Kingdom. The +cheerfulness with which these people--women as well as men--underwent +martyrdom in this country and in the New England States is one of the +most remarkable facts in the history of religion. + +No one who reads the voluminous autobiography of "Honest George" can +doubt the man's utter truthfulness; and though, in his multitudinous +letters, he but rarely rises for above the incoherent commonplaces of +a street preacher, there can be no question of his power as a speaker, +nor any doubt as to the dignity and attractiveness of his personality, +or of his possession of a large amount of practical good sense and +governing faculty. + +But that George Fox had full faith in his own powers as a +miracle-worker, the following passage of his autobiography (to which +others might he added) demonstrates:-- + + Now after I was set at liberty from Nottingham gaol (where I + had been kept a prisoner a pretty long time) I travelled as + before, in the work of the Lord. And coming to Mansfield + Woodhouse, there was a distracted woman, under a doctor's + hand, with her hair let loose all about her ears; and he was + about to let her blood, she being first bound, and many + people being about her, holding her by violence; but he + could get no blood from her. And I desired them to unbind + her and let her alone; for they could not touch the spirit + in her by which she was tormented. So they did unbind her, + and I was moved to speak to her, and in the name of the Lord + to bid her be quiet and still. And she was so. And the + Lord's power settled her mind and she mended; and afterwards + received the truth and continued in it to her death. And the + Lord's name was honoured; to whom the glory of all His works + belongs. Many great and wonderful things were wrought by the + heavenly power in those days. For the Lord made bare his + omnipotent arm and manifested His power to the astonishment + of many; by the healing virtue whereof many have been + delivered from great infirmities, and the devils were made + subject through his name: of which particular instances + might be given beyond what this unbelieving age is able to + receive or bear.[45] + +It needs no long study of Fox's writings, however, to arrive at the +conviction that the distinction between subjective and objective +verities had not the same place in his mind as it has in that of an +ordinary mortal. When an ordinary person would say "I thought so and +so," or "I made up my mind to do so and so," George Fox says, "It was +opened to me," or "at the command of God I did so and so." "Then at +the command of God on the ninth day of the seventh month 1643 (Fox +being just nineteen), I left my relations and brake off all +familiarity or friendship with young or old." "About the beginning of +the year 1647 I was moved of the Lord to go into Darbyshire." Fox +hears voices and he sees visions, some of which he brings before the +reader with apocalyptic power in the simple and strong English, alike +untutored and undefiled, of which, like John Bunyan, his contemporary, +he was a master. + +"And one morning as I was sitting by the fire, a great cloud came over +me and a temptation beset me; and I sate still. And it was said, _All +things come by Nature_. And the elements and stars came over me; so +that I was in a manner quite clouded with it.... And as I sate still +under it, and let it alone, a living hope arose in me, and a true +voice arose in me which said, _There is a living God who made all +things_. And immediately the cloud and the temptation vanished away, +and life rose over it all, and my heart was glad and I praised the +living God" (p. 13). + +If George Fox could speak, as he proves in this and some other +passages he could write, his astounding influence on the +contemporaries of Milton and of Cromwell is no mystery. But this +modern reproduction of the ancient prophet, with his "Thus saith the +Lord," "This is the work of the Lord," steeped in supernaturalism and +glorying in blind faith, is the mental antipodes of the philosopher, +founded in naturalism and a fanatic for evidence, to whom these +affirmations inevitably suggest the previous question: "How do you +know that the Lord saith it?" "How do you know that the Lord doeth +it?" and who is compelled to demand that rational ground for belief, +without which, to the man of science, assent is merely an immoral +pretence. + +And it is this rational ground of belief which the writers of the +Gospels, no less than Paul, and Eginhard, and Fox, so little dream of +offering that they would regard the demand for it as a kind of +blasphemy. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [33] My citations are made from Teulet's _Einhardi omnia + quae extant opera_, Paris, 1840-1843, which contains a + biography of the author, a history of the text, with + translations into French, and many valuable + annotations. + + [34] At present included in the Duchies of Hesse-Darmstadt + and Baden. + + [35] This took place in the year 826 A.D. The relics were + brought from Rome and deposited in the Church of St. + Medardus at Soissons. + + [36] Now included in Western Switzerland. + + [37] Probably, according to Teulet, the present + Sandhoferfahrt, a little below the embouchure of the + Neckar. + + [38] The present Michilstadt, thirty miles N.E. of + Heidelberg. + + [39] In the Middle Ages one of the most favourite + accusations against witches was that they committed + just these enormities. + + [40] It is pretty clear that Eginhard had his doubts about + the deacon, whose pledges he qualifies as _sponsiones + incertae_. But, to be sure, he wrote after events which + fully justified scepticism. + + [41] The words are _scrinia sine clave_, which seems to mean + "having no key." But the circumstances forbid the idea + of breaking open. + + [42] Eginhard speaks with lofty contempt of the "vana ac + superstitiosa praesumptio" of the poor woman's + companions in trying to alleviate her sufferings with + "herbs and frivolous incantations." Vain enough, no + doubt, but the "mulierculae" might have returned the + epithet "superstitious" with interest. + + [43] Of course there is nothing new in this argument: but it + does not grow weaker by age. And the case of Eginhard + is far more instructive than that of Augustine, because + the former has so very frankly, though incidentally, + revealed to us not only his own mental and moral + habits, but those of the people about him. + + [44] See 1 Cor. xii. 10-28; 2 Cor. vi. 12; Rom. xv. 19. + + [45] _A Journal or Historical Account of the Life, Travels, + Sufferings, and Christian Experiences, &c., of George + Fox_, Ed. 1694, pp. 27, 28. + + + + +VI: POSSIBILITIES AND IMPOSSIBILITIES + +[1891] + + +In the course of a discussion which has been going on during the last +two years,[46] it has been maintained by the defenders of +ecclesiastical Christianity that the demonology of the books of the +New Testament is an essential and integral part of the revelation of +the nature of the spiritual world promulgated by Jesus of Nazareth. +Indeed, if the historical accuracy of the Gospels and of the Acts of +the Apostles is to be taken for granted, if the teachings of the +Epistles are divinely inspired, and if the universal belief and +practice of the primitive Church are the models which all later times +must follow, there can be no doubt that those who accept the +demonology are in the right. It is as plain as language can make it, +that the writers of the Gospels believed in the existence of Satan and +the subordinate ministers of evil as strongly as they believed in +that of God and the angels, and that they had an unhesitating faith in +possession and in exorcism. No reader of the first three Gospels can +hesitate to admit that, in the opinion of those persons among whom the +traditions out of which they are compiled arose, Jesus held, and +constantly acted upon, the same theory of the spiritual world. Nowhere +do we find the slightest hint that he doubted the theory, or +questioned the efficacy of the curative operations based upon it. + +Thus, when such a story as that about the Gadarene swine is placed +before us, the importance of the decision, whether it is to be +accepted or rejected, cannot be over-estimated. If the demonological +part of it is to be accepted, the authority of Jesus is unmistakably +pledged to the demonological system current in Judaea in the first +century. The belief in devils who possess men and can be transferred +from men to pigs, becomes as much a part of Christian dogma as any +article of the creeds. If it is to be rejected, there are two +alternative conclusions. Supposing the Gospels to be historically +accurate, it follows that Jesus shared in the errors, respecting the +nature of the spiritual world, prevalent in the age in which he lived +and among the people of his nation. If, on the other hand, the Gospel +traditions gives us only a popular version of the sayings and doings +of Jesus, falsely coloured and distorted by the superstitious +imaginings of the minds through which it had passed, what guarantee +have we that a similar unconscious falsification, in accordance with +preconceived ideas, may not have taken place in respect of other +reported sayings and doings? What is to prevent a conscientious +inquirer from finding himself at last in a purely agnostic position +with respect to the teachings of Jesus, and consequently with respect +to the fundamentals of Christianity? + +In dealing with the question whether the Gadarene story was to be +believed or not, I confined myself altogether to a discussion of the +value of the evidence in its favour. And, as it was easy to prove that +this consists of nothing more than three partially discrepant, but +often verbally coincident, versions of an original, of the authorship +of which nobody knows anything, it appeared to me that it was wholly +worthless. Even if the event described had been probable, such +evidence would have required corroboration; being grossly improbable, +and involving acts questionable in their moral and legal aspect, the +three accounts sank to the level of mere tales. + +Thus far, I am unable, even after the most careful revision, to find +any flaw in my argument; and I incline to think none has been found by +my critics--at least, if they have, they have kept the discovery to +themselves. + +In another part of my treatment of the case I have been less +fortunate. I was careful to say that, for anything I could "absolutely +prove to the contrary," there might be in the universe demonic beings +who could enter into and possess men, and even be transferred from +them to pigs; and that I, for my part, could not venture to declare _a +priori_ that the existence of such entities was "impossible." I was, +however, no less careful to remark that I thought the evidence +hitherto adduced in favour of the existence of such beings +"ridiculously insufficient" to warrant the belief in them. + +To my surprise, this statement of what, after the closest reflection, +I still conceive to be the right conclusion, has been hailed as a +satisfactory admission by opponents, and lamented as a perilous +concession by sympathisers. Indeed, the tone of the comments of some +candid friends has been such that I began to suspect that I must be +entering upon a process of retrogressive metamorphosis which might +eventually give me a place among the respectabilities. The prospect, +perhaps, ought to have pleased me; but I confess I felt something of +the uneasiness of the tailor who said that, whenever a customer's +circumference was either much less, or much more, than at the last +measurement, he at once sent in his bill; and I was not consoled until +I recollected that, thirteen years ago, in discussing Hume's essay on +"Miracles," I had quoted, with entire assent, the following passage +from his writings: "Whatever is intelligible and can be distinctly +conceived implies no contradiction, and can never be proved false by +any demonstrative argument or abstract reasoning _a priori_."[47] + +Now, it is certain that the existence of demons can be distinctly +conceived. In fact, from the earliest times of which we have any record +to the present day, the great majority of mankind have had extremely +distinct conceptions of them, and their practical life has been more or +less shaped by those conceptions. Further, the notion of the existence +of such beings "implies no contradiction." No doubt, in our experience, +intelligence and volition are always found in connection with a certain +material organisation, and never disconnected with it; while, by the +hypothesis, demons have no such material substratum. But then, as +everybody knows, the exact relation between mental and physical +phenomena, even in ourselves, is the subject of endless dispute. We may +all have our opinions as to whether mental phenomena have a substratum +distinct from that which is assumed to underlie material phenomena, or +not; though if any one thinks he has demonstrative evidence of either +the existence or the non-existence of a "soul," all I can say is, his +notion of demonstration differs from mine. But, if it be impossible to +demonstrate the non-existence of a "substance" of mental phenomena--that +is, of a soul--independent of material "substance"; if the idea of such +a "soul" is "intelligible and can be distinctly conceived," then it +follows that it is not justifiable to talk of demons as +"impossibilities." The idea of their existence implies no more +"contradiction" than does the idea of the existence of pathogenic +microbes in the air. Indeed, the microbes constitute a tolerably exact +physical analogue of the "powers of the air" of ancient belief. + +Strictly speaking, I am unaware of any thing that has a right to the +title of an "impossibility" except a contradiction in terms. There are +impossibilities logical, but none natural. A "round square," a +"present past," "two parallel lines that intersect," are +impossibilities, because the ideas denoted by the predicates, _round, +present, intersect_, are contradictory of the ideas denoted by the +subjects, _square, past, parallel_. But walking on water, or turning +water into wine, or procreation without male intervention, or raising +the dead, are plainly not "impossibilities" in this sense. + +In the affirmation, that a man walked upon water, the idea of the +subject is not contradictory of that in the predicate. Naturalists are +familiar with insects which walk on water, and imagination has no more +difficulty in putting a man in place of the insect than it has in +giving a man some of the attributes of a bird and making an angel of +him; or in ascribing to him the ascensive tendencies of a balloon, as +the "levitationists" do. Undoubtedly, there are very strong physical +and biological arguments for thinking it extremely improbable that a +man could be supported on the surface of the water as the insect is; +or that his organisation could be compatible with the possession and +use of wings; or that he could rise through the air without mechanical +aid. Indeed, if we have any reason to believe that our present +knowledge of the nature of things exhausts the possibilities of +nature, we might properly say that the attributes of men are +contradictory of walking on water, or floating in the air, and +consequently that these acts are truly "impossible" for him. But it is +sufficiently obvious, not only that we are at the beginning of our +knowledge of nature, instead of having arrived at the end of it, but +that the limitations of our faculties are such that we never can be in +a position to set bounds to the possibilities of nature. We have +knowledge of what is happening and of what has happened; of what will +happen we have and can have no more than expectation, grounded on our +more or less correct reading of past experience and prompted by the +faith, begotten of that experience, that the order of nature in the +future will resemble its order in the past. + +The same considerations apply to the other examples of supposed +miraculous events. The change of water into wine undoubtedly implies a +contradiction, and is assuredly "impossible," if we are permitted to +assume that the "elementary bodies" of the chemists are, now and for +ever, immutable. Not only, however, is a negative proposition of this +kind incapable of proof, but modern chemistry is inclining towards the +contrary doctrine. And if carbon can be got out of hydrogen or oxygen, +the conversion of water into wine comes within range of scientific +possibility--it becomes a mere question of molecular arrangement. + +As for virgin procreation, it is not only clearly imaginable, but +modern biology recognises it as an everyday occurrence among some +groups of animals. So with restoration to life after death. Certain +animals, long as dry as mummies, and, to all appearance, as dead, when +placed in proper conditions resume their vitality. It may be said that +these creatures are not dead, but merely in a condition of suspended +vitality. That, however, is only begging the question by making the +incapacity for restoration to life part of the definition of death. In +the absence of obvious lesions of some of the more important organs, +it is no easy matter, even for experts, to say that an apparently dead +man is incapable of restoration to life; and, in the recorded +instances of such restoration, the want of any conclusive evidence +that the man was dead is even more remarkable than the insufficiency +of the testimony as to his coming to life again. + +It may be urged, however, that there is, at any rate, one miracle +certified by all three of the Synoptic Gospels which really does +"imply a contradiction," and is, therefore, "impossible" in the +strictest sense of the word. This is the well-known story of the +feeding of several thousand men, to the complete satisfaction of their +hunger, by the distribution of a few loaves and fishes among them; the +wondrousness of this already somewhat surprising performance being +intensified by the assertion that the quantity of the fragments of the +meal, left over, amounted to much more than the original store. + +Undoubtedly, if the operation is stated in its most general form; if +it is to be supposed that a certain quantity, or magnitude, was +divided into many more parts than the whole contained; and that, after +the subtraction of several thousands of such parts, the magnitude of +the remainder amounted to more than the original magnitude, there does +seem to be an _a priori_ difficulty about accepting the proposition, +seeing that it appears to be contradictory of the senses which we +attach to the words "whole" and "parts" respectively. But this +difficulty is removed if we reflect that we are not, in this case, +dealing with magnitude in the abstract, or with "whole" and "parts" in +their mathematical sense, but with concrete things, many of which are +known to possess the power of growing, or increasing in magnitude. +They thus furnish us with a conception of growth which we may, in +imagination, apply to loaves and fishes; just as we may, in +imagination, apply the idea of wings to the idea of a man. It must be +admitted that a number of sheep might be fed on a pasture, and yet +there might be more grass on the pasture, when the sheep left it, than +there was at first. We may generalise this and other such facts into a +perfectly definite conception of the increase of food in excess of +consumption; which thus becomes a possibility, the limitations of +which are to be discovered only by experience. Therefore, if it is +asserted that cooked food has been made to grow in excess of rapid +consumption, that statement cannot logically be rejected as an _a +priori_ impossibility, however improbable experience of the +capabilities of cooked food may justify us in holding it to be. + +On the strength of this undeniable improbability, however, we not only +have a right to demand, but are morally bound to require, strong +evidence in its favour before we even take it into serious +consideration. But what is the evidence in this case? It is merely +that of those three books,[48] which also concur in testifying to the +truth of the monstrous legend of the herd of swine. In these three +books, there are five accounts of a "miraculous feeding," which fall +into two groups. Three of the stories, obviously derived from some +common source, state that five loaves and two fishes sufficed to feed +five thousand persons, and that twelve baskets of fragments remained +over. In the two others, also obviously derived from a common source, +distinct from the preceding, seven loaves and a few small fishes are +distributed to four thousand persons, and seven baskets of fragments +are left. + +If we were dealing with secular records, I suppose no candid and +competent student of history would entertain much doubt that the +originals of the three stories and of the two are themselves merely +divergent versions of some primitive story which existed before the +three Synoptic gospels were compiled out of the body of traditions +current about Jesus. This view of the case, however, is incompatible +with a belief in the historical accuracy of the first and second +gospels.[49] For these agree in making Jesus himself speak of both the +"four thousand" and the "five thousand" miracle. "When I brake the +five loaves among the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken +pieces took ye up? They say unto him, twelve. And when the seven among +the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces took ye up? +And they say unto him, seven." + +Thus we are face to face with a dilemma the way of escape from which +is not obvious. Either the "four thousand" and the "five thousand" +stories are both historically true, and describe two separate events; +or the first and second gospels testify to the very words of a +conversation between Jesus and his disciples which cannot have been +uttered. + +My choice between these alternatives is determined by no _a priori_ +speculations about the possibility or impossibility of such events as +the feeding of the four or of the five thousand. But I ask myself the +question, What evidence ought to be produced before I could feel +justified in saying that I believed such an event to have occurred? +That question is very easily answered. Proof must be given (1) of the +weight of the loaves and fishes at starting; (2) of the distribution +to 4-5,000 persons, without any additional supply, of this quantity +and quality of food; (3) of the satisfaction of these people's +appetites; (4) of the weight and quality of the fragments gathered up +into the baskets. Whatever my present notions of probability and +improbability may be, satisfactory testimony under these four heads +would lead me to believe that they were erroneous; and I should accept +the so-called miracle as a new and unexpected example of the +possibilities of nature. + +But when, instead of such evidence, nothing is produced but two sets +of discrepant stories, originating nobody knows how or when, among +persons who could believe as firmly in devils which enter pigs, I +confess that my feeling is one of astonishment that any one should +expect a reasonable man to take such testimony seriously. + +I am anxious to bring about a clear understanding of the difference +between "impossibilities" and "improbabilities," because mistakes on +this point lay us open to the attacks of ecclesiastical apologists of +the type of the late Cardinal Newman; acute sophists, who think it +fitting to employ their intellects, as burglars employ dark lanterns +for the discovery of other people's weak places, while they carefully +keep the light away from their own position. + +When it is rightly stated, the Agnostic view of "miracles" is, in my +judgment, unassailable. We are _not_ justifiable in the _a priori_ +assertion that the order of nature, as experience has revealed it to +us, cannot change. In arguing about the miraculous, the assumption is +illegitimate, because it involves the whole point in dispute. +Furthermore, it is an assumption which takes us beyond the range of +our faculties. Obviously, no amount of past experience can warrant us +in anything more than a correspondingly strong expectation for the +present and future. We find, practically, that expectations, based +upon careful observations of events, are, as a rule, trustworthy. We +should be foolish indeed not to follow the only guide we have through +life. But, for all that, our highest and surest generalisations remain +on the level of justifiable expectations; that is, very high +probabilities. For my part, I am unable to conceive of an intelligence +shaped on the model of that of man, however superior it might be, +which could be any better off than our own in this respect; that is, +which could possess logically justifiable grounds for certainty about +the constancy of the order of things, and therefore be in a position +to declare that such and such events are impossible. Some of the old +mythologies recognised this clearly enough. Beyond and above Zeus and +Odin, there lay the unknown and inscrutable Fate which, one day or +other, would crumple up them and the world they ruled to give place to +a new order of things. + +I sincerely hope that I shall not be accused of Pyrrhonism, or of any +desire to weaken the foundations of rational certainty. I have merely +desired to point out that rational certainty is one thing, and talk +about "impossibilities," or "violation of natural laws," another. +Rational certainty rests upon two grounds--the one that the evidence +in favour of a given statement is as good as it can be; the other that +such evidence is plainly insufficient. In the former case, the +statement is to be taken as true, in the latter as untrue; until +something arises to modify the verdict, which, however properly +reached, may always be more or less wrong, the best information being +never complete, and the best reasoning being liable to fallacy. + +To quarrel with the uncertainty that besets us in intellectual +affairs, would be about as reasonable as to object to live one's life, +with due thought for the morrow, because no man can be sure he will be +alive an hour hence. Such are the conditions imposed upon us by +nature, and we have to make the best of them. And I think that the +greatest mistake those of us who are interested in the progress of +free thought can make is to overlook these limitations, and to deck +ourselves with the dogmatic feathers which are the traditional +adornment of our opponents. Let us be content with rational certainty, +leaving irrational certainties to those who like to muddle their minds +with them. I cannot see my way to say that demons are impossibilities; +but I am not more certain about anything, than I am that the evidence +tendered in favour of the demonology, of which the Gadarene story is a +typical example, is utterly valueless. I cannot see my way to say that +it is "impossible" that the hunger of thousands of men should be +satisfied out of the food supplied by half-a-dozen loaves and a fish +or two; but it seems to me monstrous that I should be asked to believe +it on the faith of the five stories which testify to such an +occurrence. It is true that the position that miracles are +"impossible" cannot be sustained. But I know of nothing which calls +upon me to qualify the grave verdict of Hume: "There is not to be +found, in all history, any miracle attested by a sufficient number of +men, of such unquestioned goodness, education, and learning as to +secure us against all delusion in themselves; of such undoubted +integrity as to place them beyond all suspicion of any design to +deceive others; of such credit and reputation in the eyes of mankind +as to have a great deal to lose in case of their being detected in any +falsehood; and at the same time attesting facts performed in such a +public manner, and in so celebrated a part of the world, as to render +the detection unavoidable: _all which circumstances are requisite to +give us a full assurance in the testimony of men_."[50] + + The preceding paper called forth the following criticism + signed "Agnosco," to which I append my reply:-- + + While agreeing generally with Professor Huxley's remarks + respecting miracles, in "The Agnostic Annual for 1892," it + has seemed to me that one of his arguments at least requires + qualification. The Professor, in maintaining that so-called + miraculous events are possible, although the evidence + adduced is not sufficient to render them probable, refers to + the possibility of changing water into wine by molecular + recomposition. He tells us that, "if carbon can be got out + of hydrogen or oxygen, the conversion of water into wine + comes within range of scientific possibility." But in + maintaining that miracles (so-called) have a _prospective_ + possibility, Professor Huxley loses sight--at least, so it + appears to me--of the question of their _retrospective_ + possibility. For, if it requires a certain degree of + knowledge and experience, yet far from having been attained, + to perform those acts which have been called miraculous, it + is not only improbable, but impossible likewise, that they + should have been done by men whose knowledge and experience + were considerably less than our own. It has seemed to me, in + fact, that this question of the retrospective possibility of + miracles is more important to us Rationalists, and, for the + matter of that, to Christians also, than the question of + their prospective possibility, with which Professor Huxley's + article mainly deals. Perhaps the Professor himself could + help those of us who think so, by giving us his opinion. + + I am not sure that I fully appreciate the point raised by + "Agnosco," nor the distinction between the prospective and + the retrospective "possibility" of such a miracle as the + conversion of water into wine. If we may contemplate such an + event as "possible" in London in the year 1900, it must, in + the same sense, have been "possible" in the year 30 (or + thereabouts) at Cana in Galilee. If I should live so long, I + shall take great interest in the announcement of the + performance of this operation, say, nine years hence; and, + if there is no objection raised by chemical experts, I shall + accept the fact that the feat has been performed, without + hesitation. But I shall have no more ground for believing + the Cana story than I had before; simply because the + evidence in its favour will remain, for me, exactly where it + is. Possible or impossible, that evidence is worth nothing. + To leave the safe ground of "no evidence" for speculations + about impossibilities, consequent upon the want of + scientific knowledge of the supposed workers of miracles, + appears to me to be a mistake; especially in view of the + orthodox contention that they possessed supernatural power + and supernatural knowledge. T.H. HUXLEY. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [46] 1889-1891. See the next Essay (VII) and those which + follow it. + + [47] _Inquiry Concerning the Human Understanding_, p. 5; + 1748. The passage is cited and discussed in my + _Hume_, pp. 132, 133. + + [48] The story in John vi. 5-14 is obviously derived from + the "five thousand" narrative of the Synoptics. + + [49] Matthew xvi. 5-12; Mark viii. 14-21. + + [50] Hume, _Inquiry_, sec. X., part ii. + + + + +VII: AGNOSTICISM + +[1889] + + +Within the last few months, the public has received much and varied +information on the subject of agnostics, their tenets, and even their +future. Agnosticism exercised the orators of the Church Congress at +Manchester.[51] It has been furnished with a set of "articles" fewer, +but not less rigid, and certainly not less consistent than the +thirty-nine; its nature has been analysed, and its future severely +predicted by the most eloquent of that prophetical school whose Samuel +is Auguste Comte. It may still be a question, however, whether the +public is as much the wiser as might be expected, considering all the +trouble that has been taken to enlighten it. Not only are the three +accounts of the agnostic position sadly out of harmony with one +another, but I propose to show cause for my belief that all three +must be seriously questioned by any one who employs the term +"agnostic" in the sense in which it was originally used. The learned +Principal of King's College, who brought the topic of Agnosticism +before the Church Congress, took a short and easy way of settling the +business:-- + + But if this be so, for a man to urge, as an escape from this + article of belief, that he has no means of a scientific + knowledge of the unseen world, or of the future, is + irrelevant. His difference from Christians lies not in the + fact that he has no knowledge of these things, but that he + does not believe the authority on which they are stated. He + may prefer to call himself an Agnostic; but his real name is + an older one--he is an infidel; that is to say, an + unbeliever. The word infidel, perhaps, carries an unpleasant + significance. Perhaps it is right that it should. It is, and + it ought to be, an unpleasant thing for a man to have to say + plainly that he does not believe in Jesus Christ.[52] + +So much of Dr. Wace's address either explicitly or implicitly concerns +me, that I take upon myself to deal with it; but, in so doing, it must +be understood that I speak for myself alone. I am not aware that there +is any sect of Agnostics; and if there be, I am not its acknowledged +prophet or pope. I desire to leave to the Comtists the entire monopoly +of the manufacture of imitation ecclesiasticism. + +Let us calmly and dispassionately consider Dr. Wace's appreciation of +agnosticism. The agnostic, according to his view, is a person who says +he has no means of attaining a scientific knowledge of the unseen +world or of the future; by which somewhat loose phraseology Dr. Wace +presumably means the theological unseen world and future. I cannot +think this description happy, either in form or substance, but for the +present it may pass. Dr. Wace continues, that it is not "his +difference from Christians." Are there then any Christians who say +that they know nothing about the unseen world and the future? I was +ignorant of the fact, but I am ready to accept it on the authority of +a professional theologian, and I proceed to Dr. Wace's next +proposition. + +The real state of the case, then, is that the agnostic "does not +believe the authority" on which "these things" are stated, which +authority is Jesus Christ. He is simply an old-fashioned "infidel" who +is afraid to own to his right name. As "Presbyter is priest writ +large," so is "agnostic" the mere Greek equivalent for the Latin +"infidel." There is an attractive simplicity about this solution of +the problem; and it has that advantage of being somewhat offensive to +the persons attacked, which is so dear to the less refined sort of +controversialist. The agnostic says, "I cannot find good evidence that +so and so is true." "Ah," says his adversary, seizing his opportunity, +"then you declare that Jesus Christ was untruthful, for he said so and +so;" a very telling method of rousing prejudice. But suppose that the +value of the evidence as to what Jesus may have said and done, and as +to the exact nature and scope of his authority, is just that which the +agnostic finds it most difficult to determine. If I venture to doubt +that the Duke of Wellington gave the command "Up, Guards, and at 'em!" +at Waterloo, I do not think that even Dr. Wace would accuse me of +disbelieving the Duke. Yet it would be just as reasonable to do this +as to accuse any one of denying what Jesus said, before the +preliminary question as to what he did say is settled. + +Now, the question as to what Jesus really said and did is strictly a +scientific problem, which is capable of solution by no other methods +than those practised by the historian and the literary critic. It is a +problem of immense difficulty, which has occupied some of the best +heads in Europe for the last century; and it is only of late years +that their investigations have begun to converge towards one +conclusion.[53] + +That kind of faith which Dr. Wace describes and lauds is of no use +here. Indeed, he himself takes pains to destroy its evidential value. + +"What made the Mahommedan world? Trust and faith in the declarations +and assurances of Mahommed. And what made the Christian world? Trust +and faith in the declarations and assurances of Jesus Christ and His +Apostles" (l.c. p. 253). The triumphant tone of this imaginary +catechism leads me to suspect that its author has hardly appreciated +its full import. Presumably, Dr. Wace regards Mahommed as an +unbeliever, or, to use the term which he prefers, infidel; and +considers that his assurances have given rise to a vast delusion which +has led, and is leading, millions of men straight to everlasting +punishment. And this being so, the "Trust and faith" which have "made +the Mahommedan world," in just the same sense as they have "made the +Christian world," must be trust and faith in falsehoods. No man who +has studied history, or even attended to the occurrences of everyday +life, can doubt the enormous practical value of trust and faith; but +as little will he be inclined to deny that this practical value has +not the least relation to the reality of the objects of that trust and +faith. In examples of patient constancy of faith and of unswerving +trust, the "Acta Martyrum" do not excel the annals of Babism.[54] + + * * * * * + +The discussion upon which we have now entered goes so thoroughly to +the root of the whole matter; the question of the day is so +completely, as the author of "Robert Elsmere" says, the value of +testimony, that I shall offer no apology for following it out somewhat +in detail; and, by way of giving substance to the argument, I shall +base what I have to say upon a case, the consideration of which lies +strictly within the province of natural science, and of that +particular part of it known as the physiology and pathology of the +nervous system. + +I find, in the second Gospel (chap. v.), a statement, to all +appearance intended to have the same evidential value as any other +contained in that history. It is the well-known story of the devils +who were cast out of a man, and ordered, or permitted, to enter into a +herd of swine, to the great loss and damage of the innocent Gerasene, +or Gadarene, pig owners. There can be no doubt that the narrator +intends to convey to his readers his own conviction that this casting +out and entering in were effected by the agency of Jesus of Nazareth; +that, by speech and action, Jesus enforced this conviction; nor does +any inkling of the legal and moral difficulties of the case manifest +itself. + +On the other hand, everything that I know of physiological and +pathological science leads me to entertain a very strong conviction +that the phenomena ascribed to possession are as purely natural as +those which constitute small-pox; everything that I know of +anthropology leads me to think that the belief in demons and +demoniacal possession is a mere survival of a once universal +superstition, and that its persistence, at the present time, is pretty +much in the inverse ratio of the general instruction, intelligence, +and sound judgment of the population among whom it prevails. +Everything that I know of law and justice convinces me that the wanton +destruction of other people's property is a misdemeanour of evil +example. Again, the study of history, and especially of that of the +fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries, leaves no shadow of +doubt on my mind that the belief in the reality of possession and of +witchcraft, justly based, alike by Catholics and Protestants, upon +this and innumerable other passages in both the Old and New +Testaments, gave rise, through the special influence of Christian +ecclesiastics, to the most horrible persecutions and judicial murders +of thousands upon thousands of innocent men, women, and children. And +when I reflect that the record of a plain and simple declaration upon +such an occasion as this, that the belief in witchcraft and possession +is wicked nonsense, would have rendered the long agony of mediaeval +humanity impossible, I am prompted to reject, as dishonouring, the +supposition that such declaration was withheld out of condescension to +popular error. + +"Come forth, thou unclean spirit, out of the man" (Mark v. 8),[55] are +the words attributed to Jesus. If I declare, as I have no hesitation +in doing, that I utterly disbelieve in the existence of "unclean +spirits," and, consequently, in the possibility of their "coming +forth" out of a man, I suppose that Dr. Wace will tell me I am +disregarding the testimony "of our Lord." For, if these words were +really used, the most resourceful of reconcilers can hardly venture to +affirm that they are compatible with a disbelief "in these things." As +the learned and fair-minded, as well as orthodox, Dr. Alexander +remarks, in an editorial note to the article "Demoniacs," in the +"Biblical Cyclopaedia" (vol. i. p. 664, note):-- + + ... On the lowest grounds on which our Lord and His Apostles + can be placed they must, at least, be regarded as _honest_ + men. Now, though honest speech does not require that words + should be used always and only in their etymological sense, + it does require that they should not be used so as to affirm + what the speaker knows to be false. Whilst, therefore, our + Lord and His Apostles might use the word [Greek: daimonizesthai], + or the phrase, [Greek: daimonion echein] as a popular + description of certain diseases, without giving in to the + belief which lay at the source of such a mode of expression, + they could not speak of demons entering into a man, or being + cast out of him, without pledging themselves to the belief of + an actual possession of the man by the demons. (Campbell, + _Prel. Diss._ vi. 1, 10.) If, consequently, they did not hold + this belief, they spoke not as honest men. + +The story which we are considering does not rest on the authority of +the second Gospel alone. The third confirms the second, especially in +the matter of commanding the unclean spirit to come out of the man +(Luke viii. 29); and, although the first Gospel either gives a +different version of the same story, or tells another of like kind, +the essential point remains: "If thou cast us out, send us away into +the herd of swine. And He said unto them: Go!" (Matt. viii. 31, 32). + +If the concurrent testimony of the three synoptics, then, is really +sufficient to do away with all rational doubt as to a matter of fact +of the utmost practical and speculative importance--belief or +disbelief in which may affect, and has affected, men's lives and their +conduct towards other men, in the most serious way--then I am bound to +believe that Jesus implicitly affirmed himself to possess a "knowledge +of the unseen world," which afforded full confirmation of the belief +in demons and possession current among his contemporaries. If the +story is true, the mediaeval theory of the invisible world may be, and +probably is, quite correct; and the witch-finders, from Sprenger to +Hopkins and Mather, are much-maligned men. + +On the other hand, humanity, noting the frightful consequences of this +belief; common sense, observing the futility of the evidence on which +it is based, in all cases that have been properly investigated; +science, more and more seeing its way to inclose all the phenomena of +so-called "possession" within the domain of pathology, so far as they +are not to be relegated to that of the police--all these powerful +influences concur in warning us, at our peril, against accepting the +belief without the most careful scrutiny of the authority on which it +rests. + +I can discern no escape from this dilemma: either Jesus said what he +is reported to have said, or he did not. In the former case, it is +inevitable that his authority on matters connected with the "unseen +world" should be roughly shaken; in the latter, the blow falls upon +the authority of the synoptic Gospels. If their report on a matter of +such stupendous and far-reaching practical import as this is +untrustworthy, how can we be sure of its trustworthiness in other +cases? The favourite "earth," in which the hard-pressed reconciler +takes refuge, that the Bible does not profess to teach science,[56] is +stopped in this instance. For the question of the existence of demons +and of possession by them, though it lies strictly within the province +of science, is also of the deepest moral and religious significance. +If physical and mental disorders are caused by demons, Gregory of +Tours and his contemporaries rightly considered that relics and +exorcists were more useful than doctors; the gravest questions arise +as to the legal and moral responsibilities of persons inspired by +demoniacal impulses; and our whole conception of the universe and of +our relations to it becomes totally different from what it would be on +the contrary hypothesis. + +The theory of life of an average mediaeval Christian was as different +from that of an average nineteenth-century Englishman as that of a +West African negro is now, in these respects. The modern world is +slowly, but surely, shaking off these and other monstrous survivals of +savage delusions; and, whatever happens, it will not return to that +wallowing in the mire. Until the contrary is proved, I venture to +doubt whether, at this present moment, any Protestant theologian, who +has a reputation to lose, will say that he believes the Gadarene +story. + +The choice then lies between discrediting those who compiled the +Gospel biographies and disbelieving the Master, whom they, simple +souls, thought to honour by preserving such traditions of the exercise +of his authority over Satan's invisible world. This is the dilemma. No +deep scholarship, nothing but a knowledge of the revised version (on +which it is to be supposed all that mere scholarship can do has been +done), with the application thereto of the commonest canons of common +sense, is needful to enable us to make a choice between its +alternatives. It is hardly doubtful that the story, as told in the +first Gospel, is merely a version of that told in the second and +third. Nevertheless, the discrepancies are serious and irreconcilable; +and, on this ground alone, a suspension of judgment, at the least, is +called for. But there is a great deal more to be said. From the dawn +of scientific biblical criticism until the present day, the evidence +against the long-cherished notion that the three synoptic Gospels are +the works of three independent authors, each prompted by Divine +inspiration, has steadily accumulated, until, at the present time, +there is no visible escape from the conclusion that each of the three +is a compilation consisting of a groundwork common to all three--the +threefold tradition; and of a superstructure, consisting, firstly, of +matter common to it with one of the others, and, secondly, of matter +special to each. The use of the terms "groundwork" and "superstructure" +by no means implies that the latter must be of later date than the +former. On the contrary, some parts of it may be, and probably are, +older than some parts of the groundwork.[57] + +The story of the Gadarene swine belongs to the groundwork; at least, +the essential part of it, in which the belief in demoniac possession +is expressed, does; and therefore the compilers of the first, second, +and third Gospels, whoever they were, certainly accepted that belief +(which, indeed, was universal among both Jews and pagans at that +time), and attributed it to Jesus. + +What, then, do we know about the originator, or originators, of this +groundwork--of that threefold tradition which all three witnesses (in +Paley's phrase) agree upon--that we should allow their mere statements +to outweigh the counter arguments of humanity, of common sense, of +exact science, and to imperil the respect which all would be glad to +be able to render to their Master? + +Absolutely nothing.[58] There is no proof, nothing more than a fair +presumption, that any one of the Gospels existed, in the state in +which we find it in the authorised version of the Bible, before the +second century, or, in other words, sixty or seventy years after the +events recorded. And, between that time and the date of the oldest +extant manuscripts of the Gospels, there is no telling what additions +and alterations and interpolations may have been made. It may be said +that this is all mere speculation, but it is a good deal more. As +competent scholars and honest men, our revisers have felt compelled to +point out that such things have happened even since the date of the +oldest known manuscripts. The oldest two copies of the second Gospel +end with the 8th verse of the 16th chapter; the remaining twelve +verses are spurious, and it is noteworthy that the maker of the +addition has not hesitation to introduce a speech in which Jesus +promises his disciples that "in My name shall they cast out devils." + +The other passage "rejected to the margin" is still more instructive. +It is that touching apologue, with its profound ethical sense, of the +woman taken in adultery--which, if internal evidence were an +infallible guide, might well be affirmed to be a typical example of +the teachings of Jesus. Yet, say the revisers, pitilessly, "Most of +the ancient authorities emit John vii. 53-viii. 11." Now let any +reasonable man ask himself this question. If, after an approximate +settlement of the canon of the New Testament, and even later than the +fourth and fifth centuries, literary fabricators had the skill and the +audacity to make such additions and interpolations as these, what may +they have done when no one had thought of a canon; when oral +tradition, still unfixed, was regarded as more valuable than such +written records as may have existed in the latter portion of the first +century? Or, to take the other alternative, if those who gradually +settled the canon did not know of the existence of the oldest codices +which have come down to us; or if, knowing them, they rejected their +authority, what is to be thought of their competency as critics of the +text? + +People who object to free criticism of the Christian Scriptures forget +that they are what they are in virtue of very free criticism; unless +the advocates of inspiration are prepared to affirm that the majority +of influential ecclesiastics during several centuries were safeguarded +against error. For, even granting that some books of the period were +inspired, they were certainly few amongst many; and those who selected +the canonical books, unless they themselves were also inspired, must +be regarded in the light of mere critics, and, from the evidence they +have left of their intellectual habits, very uncritical critics. When +one thinks that such delicate questions as those involved fell into +the hands of men like Papias (who believed in the famous millenarian +grape story); of Irenaeus with his "reasons" for the existence of only +four Gospels; and of such calm and dispassionate judges as Tertullian, +with his "Credo quia impossibile": the marvel is that the selection +which constitutes our New Testament is as free as it is from obviously +objectionable matter. The apocryphal Gospels certainly deserve to be +apocryphal; but one may suspect that a little more critical +discrimination would have enlarged the Apocrypha not inconsiderably. + +At this point a very obvious objection arises and deserves full and +candid consideration. It may be said that critical scepticism carried +to the length suggested is historical pyrrhonism; that if we are +altogether to discredit an ancient or a modern historian, because he +has assumed fabulous matter to be true, it will be as well to give up +paying any attention to history. It may be said, and with great +justice, that Eginhard's "Life of Charlemagne" is none the less +trustworthy because of the astounding revelation of credulity, of lack +of judgment, and even of respect for the eighth commandment, which he +has unconsciously made in the "History of the Translation of the +Blessed Martyrs Marcellinus and Paul." Or, to go no further back than +the last number of the _Nineteenth Century_, surely that excellent +lady, Miss Strickland, is not to be refused all credence, because of +the myth about the second James's remains which she seems to have +unconsciously invented. + +Of course this is perfectly true. I am afraid there is no man alive +whose witness could be accepted, if the condition precedent were proof +that he had never invented and promulgated a myth. In the minds of all +of us there are little places here and there, like the indistinguishable +spots on a rock which give foothold to moss or stonecrop; on which, if +the germ of a myth fall, it is certain to grow, without in the least +degree affecting our accuracy or truthfulness elsewhere. Sir Walter +Scott knew that he could not repeat a story without, as he said, +"giving it a new hat and stick." Most of us differ from Sir Walter +only in not knowing about this tendency of the mythopoeic faculty to +break out unnoticed. But it is also perfectly true that the mythopoeic +faculty is not equally active in all minds, nor in all regions and +under all conditions of the same mind. David Hume was certainly not so +liable to temptation as the Venerable Bede, or even as some recent +historians who could be mentioned; and the most imaginative of +debtors, if he owes five pounds, never makes an obligation to pay a +hundred out of it. The rule of common sense is _prima facie_ to trust +a witness in all matters, in which neither his self-interest, his +passions, his prejudices, nor that love of the marvellous, which is +inherent to a greater or less degree in all mankind, are strongly +concerned; and, when they are involved, to require corroborative +evidence in exact proportion to the contravention of probability by +the thing testified. + +Now, in the Gadarene affair, I do not think I am unreasonably +sceptical, if I say that the existence of demons who can be +transferred from a man to a pig, does thus contravene probability. Let +me be perfectly candid. I admit I have no _a priori_ objection to +offer. There are physical things, such as _taeniae_ and _trichinae_, +which can be transferred from men to pigs, and _vice versa_, and which +do undoubtedly produce most diabolical and deadly effects on both. +For anything I can absolutely prove to the contrary, there may be +spiritual things capable of the same transmigration, with like +effects. Moreover I am bound to add that perfectly truthful persons, +for whom I have the greatest respect, believe in stories about spirits +of the present day, quite as improbable as that we are considering. + +So I declare, as plainly as I can, that I am unable to show cause why +these transferable devils should not exist; nor can I deny that, not +merely the whole Roman Church, but many Wacean "infidels" of no mean +repute, do honestly and firmly believe that the activity of such like +demonic beings is in full swing in this year of grace 1889. + +Nevertheless, as good Bishop Butler says, "probability is the guide of +life;" and it seems to me that this is just one of the cases in which +the canon of credibility and testimony, which I have ventured to lay +down, has full force. So that, with the most entire respect for many +(by no means for all) of our witnesses for the truth of demonology, +ancient and modern, I conceive their evidence on this particular +matter to be ridiculously insufficient to warrant their +conclusion.[59] + +After what has been said I do not think that any sensible man, unless +he happen to be angry, will accuse me of "contradicting the Lord and +His Apostles" if I reiterate my total disbelief in the whole Gadarene +story. But, if that story is discredited, all the other stories of +demoniac possession fall under suspicion. And if the belief in demons +and demoniac possession, which forms the sombre background of the +whole picture of primitive Christianity, presented to us in the New +Testament, is shaken, what is to be said, in any case, of the +uncorroborated testimony of the Gospels with respect to "the unseen +world"? + +I am not aware that I have been influenced by any more bias in regard +to the Gadarene story than I have been in dealing with other cases of +like kind the investigation of which has interested me. I was brought +up in the strictest school of evangelical orthodoxy; and when I was +old enough to think for myself, I started upon my journey of inquiry +with little doubt about the general truth of what I had been taught; +and with that feeling of the unpleasantness of being called an +"infidel" which, we are told, is so right and proper. Near my +journey's end, I find myself in a condition of something more than +mere doubt about these matters. + +In the course of other inquiries, I have had to do with fossil remains +which looked quite plain at a distance, and became more and more +indistinct as I tried to define their outline by close inspection. +There was something there--something which, if I could win assurance +about it, might mark a new epoch in the history of the earth; but, +study as long as I might, certainty eluded my grasp. So had it been +with me in my efforts to define the grand figure of Jesus as it lies +in the primary strata of Christian literature. Is he the kindly, +peaceful Christ depicted in the Catacombs? Or is he the stern Judge +who frowns upon the altar of SS. Cosmas and Damianus? Or can he be +rightly represented by the bleeding ascetic, broken down by physical +pain, of too many mediaeval pictures? Are we to accept the Jesus of the +second, or the Jesus of the fourth Gospel, as the true Jesus? What did +he really say and do; and how much that is attributed to him, in +speech and action, is the embroidery of the various parties into which +his followers tended to split themselves within twenty years of his +death, when even the threefold tradition was only nascent? + +If any one will answer these questions for me with something more to +the point than feeble talk about the "cowardice of agnosticism," I +shall be deeply his debtor. Unless and until they are satisfactorily +answered, I say of agnosticism in this matter, "_J'y suis, et j'y +reste_." + +But, as we have seen, it is asserted that I have no business to call +myself an agnostic; that, if I am not a Christian I am an infidel; and +that I ought to call myself by that name of "unpleasant significance." +Well, I do not care much what I am called by other people, and if I +had at my side all those who, since the Christian era, have been +called infidels by other folks, I could not desire better company. If +these are my ancestors, I prefer, with the old Frank, to be with them +wherever they are. But there are several points in Dr. Wace's +contention which must be elucidated before I can even think of +undertaking to carry out his wishes. I must, for instance, know what a +Christian is. Now what is a Christian? By whose authority is the +signification of that term defined? Is there any doubt that the +immediate followers of Jesus, the "sect of the Nazarenes," were +strictly orthodox Jews differing from other Jews not more than the +Sadducees, the Pharisees, and the Essenes differed from one another; +in fact, only in the belief that the Messiah, for whom the rest of +their nation waited, had come? Was not their chief, "James, the +brother of the Lord," reverenced alike by Sadducee, Pharisee, and +Nazarene? At the famous conference which, according to the Acts, took +place at Jerusalem, does not James declare that "myriads" of Jews, +who, by that time, had become Nazarenes, were "all zealous for the +Law"? Was not the name of "Christian" first used to denote the +converts to the doctrine promulgated by Paul and Barnabas at Antioch? +Does the subsequent history of Christianity leave any doubt that, from +this time forth, the "little rift within the lute" caused by the new +teaching, developed, if not inaugurated, at Antioch, grew wider and +wider, until the two types of doctrines irreconcilably diverged? Did +not the primitive Nazarenism, or Ebionism, develop into the +Nazarenism, and Ebionism, and Elkasaitism of later ages, and finally +die out in obscurity and condemnation, as damnable heresy; while the +younger doctrine throve and pushed out its shoots into that endless +variety of sects, of which the three strongest survivors are the Roman +and Greek Churches and modern Protestantism? + +Singular state of things! If I were to profess the doctrine which was +held by "James, the brother of the Lord," and by every one of the +"myriads" of his followers and co-religionists in Jerusalem up to +twenty or thirty years after the Crucifixion (and one knows not how +much later at Pella), I should be condemned, with unanimity, as an +ebionising heretic by the Roman, Greek, and Protestant Churches! And, +probably, this hearty and unanimous condemnation of the creed, held by +those who were in the closest personal relation with their Lord, is +almost the only point upon which they would be cordially of one mind. +On the other hand, though I hardly dare imagine such a thing, I very +much fear that the "pillars" of the primitive Hierosolymitan Church +would have considered Dr. Wace an infidel. No one can read the famous +second chapter of Galatians and the book of Revelation without seeing +how narrow was even Paul's escape from a similar fate. And, if +ecclesiastical history is to be trusted, the thirty-nine articles, be +they right or wrong, diverge from the primitive doctrine of the +Nazarenes vastly more than even Pauline Christianity did. + +But, further than this, I have great difficulty in assuring myself +that even James, "the brother of the Lord," and his "myriads" of +Nazarenes, properly represented the doctrines of their Master. For it +is constantly asserted by our modern "pillars" that one of the chief +features of the work of Jesus was the instauration of Religion by the +abolition of what our sticklers for articles and liturgies, with, +unconscious humour, call the narrow restrictions of the Law. Yet, if +James knew this, how could the bitter controversy with Paul have +arisen; and why did not one or the other side quote any of the various +sayings of Jesus, recorded in the Gospels, which directly bear on the +question--sometimes, apparently, in opposite directions? + +So, if I am asked to call myself an "infidel," I reply: To what +doctrine do you ask me to be faithful? Is it that contained in the +Nicene and the Athanasian Creeds? My firm belief is that the +Nazarenes, say of the year 40, headed by James, would have stopped +their ears and thought worthy of stoning the audacious man who +propounded it to them. Is it contained in the so-called Apostle's +Creed? I am pretty sure that even that would have created a +recalcitrant commotion at Pella in the year 70, among the Nazarenes of +Jerusalem, who had fled from the soldiers of Titus. And yet, if the +unadulterated tradition of the teachings of "the Nazarene" were to be +found anywhere, it surely should have been amidst those not very aged +disciples who may have heard them as they were delivered. + +Therefore, however sorry I may be to be unable to demonstrate that, if +necessary, I should not be afraid to call myself an "infidel," I +cannot do it. "Infidel" is a term of reproach, which Christians and +Mahommedans, in their modesty, agree to apply to those who differ from +them. If he had only thought of it, Dr. Wace might have used the term +"miscreant," which, with the same etymological signification, has the +advantage of being still more "unpleasant" to the persons to whom it +is applied. But why should a man be expected to call himself a +"miscreant" or an "infidel"? That St. Patrick "had two birthdays +because he was a twin" is a reasonable and intelligible utterance +beside that of the man who should declare himself to be an infidel on +the ground of denying his own belief. It may be logically, if not +ethically, defensible that a Christian should call a Mahommedan an +infidel and _vice versa_; but, on Dr. Wace's principles, both ought to +call themselves infidels, because each applies the term to the other. + +Now I am afraid that all the Mahommedan world would agree in +reciprocating that appellation to Dr. Wace himself. I once visited the +Hazar Mosque, the great University of Mohammedanism, in Cairo, in +ignorance of the fact that I was unprovided with proper authority. A +swarm of angry undergraduates, as I suppose I ought to call them, came +buzzing about me and my guide; and if I had known Arabic, I suspect +that "dog of an infidel" would have been by no means the most +"unpleasant" of the epithets showered upon me, before I could explain +and apologise for the mistake. If I had had the pleasure of Dr. Wace's +company on that occasion, the undiscriminative followers of the +Prophet would, I am afraid, have made no difference between us; not +even if they had known that he was the head of an orthodox Christian +seminary. And I have not the smallest doubt that even one of the +learned mollahs, if his grave courtesy would have permitted him to say +anything offensive to men of another mode of belief, would have told +us that he wondered we did not find it "very unpleasant" to disbelieve +in the Prophet of Islam. + +From what precedes, I think it becomes sufficiently clear that Dr. +Wace's account of the origin of the name of "Agnostic" is quite wrong. +Indeed, I am bound to add that very slight effort to discover the +truth would have convinced him that, as a matter of fact, the term +arose otherwise. I am loath to go over an old story once more; but +more than one object which I have in view will be served by telling it +a little more fully than it has yet been told. + +Looking back nearly fifty years, I see myself as a boy, whose +education has been interrupted, and who, intellectually, was left, for +some years, altogether to his own devices. At that time, I was a +voracious and omnivorous reader; a dreamer and speculator of the first +water, well endowed with that splendid courage in attacking any and +every subject, which is the blessed compensation of youth and +inexperience. Among the books and essays, on all sorts of topics from +metaphysics to heraldry, which I read at this time, two left indelible +impressions on my mind. One was Guizot's "History of Civilization," +the other was Sir William Hamilton's essay "On the Philosophy of the +Unconditioned," which I came upon, by chance, in an odd volume of the +"Edinburgh Review." The latter was certainly strange reading for a +boy, and I could not possibly have understood a great deal of it;[60] +nevertheless, I devoured it with avidity, and it stamped upon my mind +the strong conviction that, on even the most solemn and important of +questions, men are apt to take cunning phrases for answers; and that +the limitation of our faculties, in a great number of cases, renders +real answers to such questions, not merely actually impossible, but +theoretically inconceivable. + +Philosophy and history having laid hold of me in this eccentric +fashion, have never loosened their grip. I have no pretension to be an +expert in either subject; but the turn for philosophical and +historical reading, which rendered Hamilton and Guizot attractive to +me, has not only filled many lawful leisure hours, and still more +sleepless ones, with the repose of changed mental occupation, but has +not unfrequently disputed my proper work-time with my liege lady, +Natural Science. In this way I have found it possible to cover a good +deal of ground in the territory of philosophy; and all the more easily +that I have never cared much about A's or B's opinions, but have +rather sought to know what answer he had to give to the questions I +had to put to him--that of the limitation of possible knowledge being +the chief. The ordinary examiner, with his "State the views of +So-and-so," would have floored me at any time. If he had said what do +_you_ think about any given problem, I might have got on fairly well. + +The reader who has had the patience to follow the enforced, but +unwilling, egotism of this veritable history (especially if his +studies have led him in the same direction), will now see why my mind +steadily gravitated towards the conclusions of Hume and Kant, so well +stated by the latter in a sentence, which I have quoted elsewhere. + +"The greatest and perhaps the sole use of all philosophy of pure +reason is, after all, merely negative, since it serves not as an +organon for the enlargement [of knowledge], but as a discipline for +its delimitation; and, instead of discovering truth, has only the +modest merit of preventing error."[61] + +When I reached intellectual maturity and began to ask myself whether I +was an atheist, a theist, or a pantheist; a materialist or an +idealist; a Christian or a freethinker; I found that the more I +learned and reflected, the less ready was the answer; until, at last, +I came to the conclusion that I had neither art nor part with any of +these denominations, except the last. The one thing in which most of +these good people were agreed was the one thing in which I differed +from them. They were quite sure they had attained a certain +"gnosis,"--had, more or less successfully, solved the problem of +existence; while I was quite sure I had not, and had a pretty strong +conviction that the problem was insoluble. And, with Hume and Kant on +my side, I could not think myself presumptuous in holding fast by that +opinion. Like Dante, + + Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita + Mi ritrovai per una selva oscura, + +but, unlike Dante, I cannot add, + + Che la diritta via era smarrita. + +On the contrary, I had, and have, the firmest conviction that I never +left the "verace via"--the straight road; and that this road led +nowhere else but into the dark depths of a wild and tangled forest. +And though I have found leopards and lions in the path; though I have +made abundant acquaintance with the hungry wolf, that "with privy paw +devours apace and nothing said," as another great poet says of the +ravening beast; and though no friendly spectre has even yet offered +his guidance, I was, and am, minded to go straight on, until I either +come out on the other side of the wood, or find there is no other +side to it, at least, none attainable by me. + +This was my situation when I had the good fortune to find a place +among the members of that remarkable confraternity of antagonists, +long since deceased, but of green and pious memory, the Metaphysical +Society. Every variety of philosophical and theological opinion was +represented there, and expressed itself with entire openness; most of +my colleagues were _-ists_ of one sort or another; and, however kind +and friendly they might be, I, the man without a rag of a label to +cover himself with, could not fail to have some of the uneasy feelings +which must have beset the historical fox when, after leaving the trap +in which his tail remained, he presented himself to his normally +elongated companions. So I took thought, and invented what I conceived +to be the appropriate title of "agnostic." It came into my head as +suggestively antithetic to the "gnostic" of Church history, who +professed to know so much about the very things of which I was +ignorant; and I took the earliest opportunity of parading it at our +Society, to show that I, too, had a tail, like the other foxes. To my +great satisfaction, the term took; and when the _Spectator_ had stood +godfather to it, any suspicion in the minds of respectable people, +that a knowledge of its parentage might have awakened was, of course, +completely lulled. + +That is the history of the origin of the terms "agnostic" and +"agnosticism"; and it will be observed that it does not quite agree +with the confident assertion of the reverend Principal of King's +College, that "the adoption of the term agnostic is only an attempt to +shift the issue, and that it involves a mere evasion" in relation to +the Church and Christianity.[62] + + * * * * * + +The last objection (I rejoice as much as my readers must do, that it +is the last) which I have to take to Dr. Wace's deliverance before the +Church Congress arises, I am sorry to say, on a question of morality. + +"It is, and it ought to be," authoritatively declares this official +representative of Christian ethics, "an unpleasant thing for a man to +have to say plainly that he does not believe in Jesus Christ" (_l.c._ +p. 254). + +Whether it is so depends, I imagine, a good deal on whether the man +was brought up in a Christian household or not. I do not see why it +should be "unpleasant" for a Mahommedan or Buddhist to say so. But +that "it ought to be" unpleasant for any man to say anything which he +sincerely, and after due deliberation, believes, is, to my mind, a +proposition of the most profoundly immoral character. I verily believe +that the great good which has been effected in the world by +Christianity has been largely counteracted by the pestilent doctrine +on which all the Churches have insisted, that honest disbelief in +their more or less astonishing creeds is a moral offence, indeed a sin +of the deepest dye, deserving and involving the same future +retribution as murder and robbery. If we could only see, in one view, +the torrents of hypocrisy and cruelty, the lies, the slaughter, the +violations of every obligation of humanity, which have flowed from +this source along the course of the history of Christian nations, our +worst imaginations of Hell would pale beside the vision. + +A thousand times, no! It ought _not_ to be unpleasant to say that +which one honestly believes or disbelieves. That it so constantly is +painful to do so, is quite enough obstacle to the progress of mankind +in that most valuable of all qualities, honesty of word or of deed, +without erecting a sad concomitant of human weakness into something to +be admired and cherished. The bravest of soldiers often, and very +naturally, "feel it unpleasant" to go into action; but a court-martial +which did its duty would make short work of the officer who +promulgated the doctrine that his men _ought_ to feel their duty +unpleasant. + +I am very well aware, as I suppose most thoughtful people are in these +times, that the process of breaking away from old beliefs is extremely +unpleasant; and I am much disposed to think that the encouragement, +the consolation, and the peace afforded to earnest believers in even +the worst forms of Christianity are of great practical advantage to +them. What deductions must be made from this gain on the score of the +harm done to the citizen by the ascetic other-worldliness of logical +Christianity; to the ruler, by the hatred, malice, and all +uncharitableness of sectarian bigotry; to the legislator, by the +spirit of exclusiveness and domination of those that count themselves +pillars of orthodoxy; to the philosopher, by the restraints on the +freedom of learning and teaching which every Church exercises, when it +is strong enough; to the conscientious soul, by the introspective +hunting after sins of the mint and cummin type, the fear of +theological error, and the overpowering terror of possible damnation, +which have accompanied the Churches like their shadow, I need not now +consider; but they are assuredly not small. If agnostics lose heavily +on the one side, they gain a good deal on the other. People who talk +about the comforts of belief appear to forget its discomforts; they +ignore the fact that the Christianity of the Churches is something +more than faith in the ideal personality of Jesus, which they create +for themselves, _plus_ so much as can be carried into practice, +without disorganising civil society, of the maxims of the Sermon on +the Mount. Trip in morals or in doctrine (especially in doctrine), +without due repentance or retractation, or fail to get properly +baptized before you die, and a _plebiscite_ of the Christians of +Europe, if they were true to their creeds, would affirm your +everlasting damnation by an immense majority. + +Preachers, orthodox and heterodox, din into our ears that the world +cannot get on without faith of some sort. There is a sense in which +that is as eminently as obviously true; there is another, in which, in +my judgment, it is as eminently as obviously false, and it seems to me +that the hortatory, or pulpit, mind is apt to oscillate between the +false and the true meanings, without being aware of the fact. + +It is quite true that the ground of every one of our actions, and the +validity of all our reasonings, rest upon the great act of faith, +which leads us to take the experience of the past as a safe guide in +our dealings with the present and the future. From the nature of +ratiocination, it is obvious that the axioms, on which it is based, +cannot be demonstrated by ratiocination. It is also a trite +observation that, in the business of life, we constantly take the most +serious action upon evidence of an utterly insufficient character. But +it is surely plain that faith is not necessarily entitled to dispense +with ratiocination because ratiocination cannot dispense with faith as +a starting-point; and that because we are often obliged, by the +pressure of events, to act on very bad evidence, it does not follow +that it is proper to act on such evidence when the pressure is absent. + +The writer of the epistle to the Hebrews tells us that "faith is the +assurance of things hoped for, the proving of things not seen." In the +authorised version, "substance" stands for "assurance," and "evidence" +for "proving." The question of the exact meaning of the two words, +[Greek: hypostasis] and [Greek: elegchos] affords a fine field of +discussion for the scholar and the metaphysician. But I fancy we shall +be not far from the mark if we take the writer to have had in his mind +the profound psychological truth, that men constantly feel certain +about things for which they strongly hope, but have no evidence, in +the legal or logical sense of the word; and he calls this feeling +"faith." I may have the most absolute faith that a friend has not +committed the crime of which he is accused. In the early days of +English history, if my friend could have obtained a few more +compurgators of a like robust faith, he would have been acquitted. At +the present day, if I tendered myself as a witness on that score, the +judge would tell me to stand down, and the youngest barrister would +smile at my simplicity. Miserable indeed is the man who has not such +faith in some of his fellow-men--only less miserable than the man who +allows himself to forget that such faith is not, strictly speaking, +evidence; and when his faith is disappointed, as will happen now and +again, turns Timon and blames the universe for his own blunders. And +so, if a man can find a friend, the hypostasis of all his hopes, the +mirror of his ethical ideal, in the Jesus of any, or all, of the +Gospels, let him live by faith in that ideal. Who shall or can forbid +him? But let him not delude himself with the notion that his faith is +evidence of the objective reality of that in which he trusts. Such +evidence is to be obtained only by the use of the methods of science, +as applied to history and to literature, and it amounts at present to +very little. + +It appears that Mr. Gladstone some time ago asked Mr. Laing if he +could draw up a short summary of the negative creed; a body of +negative propositions, which have so far been adopted on the negative +side as to be what the Apostles' and other accepted creeds are on the +positive; and Mr. Laing at once kindly obliged Mr. Gladstone with the +desired articles--eight of them. + +If any one had preferred this request to me, I should have replied +that, if he referred to agnostics, they have no creed; and, by the +nature of the case, cannot have any. Agnosticism, in fact, is not a +creed, but a method, the essence of which lies in the rigorous +application of a single principle. That principle is of great +antiquity; it is as old as Socrates; as old as the writer who said, +"Try all things, hold fast by that which is good;" it is the +foundation of the Reformation, which simply illustrated the axiom that +every man should be able to give a reason for the faith that is in +him; it is the great principle of Descartes; it is the fundamental +axiom of modern science. Positively the principle may be expressed: In +matters of the intellect, follow your reason as far as it will take +you, without regard to any other consideration. And negatively: In +matters of the intellect do not pretend that conclusions are certain +which are not demonstrated or demonstrable. That I take to be the +agnostic faith, which if a man keep whole and undefiled, he shall not +be ashamed to look the universe in the face, whatever the future may +have in store for him. + +The results of the working out of the agnostic principle will vary +according to individual knowledge and capacity, and according to the +general condition of science. That which is unproven to-day may be +proven by the help of new discoveries to-morrow. The only negative +fixed points will be those negations which flow from the demonstrable +limitation of our faculties. And the only obligation accepted is to +have the mind always open to conviction. Agnostics who never fail in +carrying out their principles are, I am afraid, as rare as other +people of whom the same consistency can be truthfully predicated. But, +if you were to meet with such a phoenix and to tell him that you had +discovered that two and two make five, he would patiently ask you to +state your reasons for that conviction, and express his readiness to +agree with you if he found them satisfactory. The apostolic +injunction to "suffer fools gladly" should be the rule of life of a +true agnostic. I am deeply conscious how far I myself fall short of +this ideal, but it is my personal conception of what agnostics ought +to be. + +However, as I began by stating, I speak only for myself; and I do not +dream of anathematizing and excommunicating Mr. Laing. But, when I +consider his creed and compare it with the Athanasian, I think I have +on the whole a clearer conception of the meaning of the latter. +"Polarity," in Article VIII, for example, is a word about which I +heard a good deal in my youth, when "Naturphilosophie" was in fashion, +and greatly did I suffer from it. For many years past, whenever I have +met with "polarity" anywhere but in a discussion of some purely +physical topic, such as magnetism, I have shut the book. Mr. Laing +must excuse me if the force of habit was too much for me when I read +his eighth article. + +And now, what is to be said to Mr. Harrison's remarkable deliverance +"On the future of agnosticism "?[63] I would that it were not my +business to say anything, for I am afraid I can say nothing which +shall manifest my great personal respect for this able writer, and for +the zeal and energy with which he ever and anon galvanises the weakly +frame of Positivism until it looks, more than ever, like John Bunyan's +Pope and Pagan rolled into one. There is a story often repeated, and I +am afraid none the less mythical on that account, of a valiant and +loud-voiced corporal in command of two full privates who, falling in +with a regiment of the enemy in the dark, orders it to surrender under +pain of instant annihilation by his force; and the enemy surrenders +accordingly. I am always reminded of this tale when I read the +positivist commands to the forces of Christianity and of Science; only +the enemy show no more signs of intending to obey now than they have +done any time these forty years. + +The allocution under consideration has a certain papal flavour. Mr. +Harrison speaks with authority and not as one of the common scribes of +the period. He knows not only what agnosticism is and how it has come +about, but what will become of it. The agnostic is to content himself +with being the precursor of the positivist. In his place, as a sort of +navvy levelling the ground and cleansing it of such poor stuff as +Christianity, he is a useful creature who deserves patting on the +back, on condition that he does not venture beyond his last. But let +not these scientific Sanballats presume that they are good enough to +take part in the building of the Temple--they are mere Samaritans, +doomed to die out in proportion as the Religion of Humanity is +accepted by mankind. Well, if that is their fate, they have time to be +cheerful. But let us hear Mr. Harrison's pronouncement of their doom. + +"Agnosticism is a stage in the evolution of religion, an entirely +negative stage, the point reached by physicists, a purely mental +conclusion, with no relation to things social at all" (p. 154). I am +quite dazed by this declaration. Are there, then, any "conclusions" +that are not "purely mental"? Is there "no relation to things social" +in "mental conclusions" which affect men's whole conception of life? +Was that prince of agnostics, David Hume, particularly imbued with +physical science? Supposing physical science to be non-existent, would +not the agnostic principle, applied by the philologist and the +historian, lead to exactly the same results? Is the modern more or +less complete suspension of judgment as to the facts of the history of +regal Rome, or the real origin of the Homeric poems, anything but +agnosticism in history and in literature? And if so, how can +agnosticism be the "mere negation of the physicist"? + +"Agnosticism is a stage in the evolution of religion." No two people +agree as to what is meant by the term "religion"; but if it means, as +I think it ought to mean, simply the reverence and love for the +ethical ideal, and the desire to realise that ideal in life, which +every man ought to feel--then I say agnosticism has no more to do +with it than it has to do with music or painting. If, on the other +hand, Mr. Harrison, like most people, means by "religion" theology, +then, in my judgment, agnosticism can be said to be a stage in its +evolution, only as death may be said to be the final stage in the +evolution of life. + + When agnostic logic is simply one of the canons of thought, + agnosticism, as a distinctive faith, will have spontaneously + disappeared (p. 155). + +I can but marvel that such sentences as this, and those already +quoted, should have proceeded from Mr. Harrison's pen. Does he really +mean to suggest that agnostics have a logic peculiar to themselves? +Will lie kindly help me out of my bewilderment when I try to think of +"logic" being anything else than the canon (which, I believe, means +rule) of thought? As to agnosticism being a distinctive faith, I have +already shown that it cannot possibly be anything of the kind, unless +perfect faith in logic is distinctive of agnostics; which, after all, +it may be. + + Agnosticism as a religious philosophy _per se_ rests on an + almost total ignoring of history and social evolution (p. + 152). + +But neither _per se_ nor _per aliud_ has agnosticism (if I know +anything about it) the least pretension to be a religious philosophy; +so far from resting on ignorance of history, and that social evolution +of which history is the account, it is and has been the inevitable +result of the strict adherence to scientific methods by historical +investigators. Our forefathers were quite confident about the +existence of Romulus and Remus, of King Arthur, and of Hengist and +Horsa. Most of us have become agnostics in regard to the reality of +these worthies. It is a matter of notoriety of which Mr. Harrison, who +accuses us all so freely of ignoring history, should not be ignorant, +that the critical process which has shattered the foundations of +orthodox Christian doctrine owes its origin, not to the devotees of +physical science, but, before all, to Richard Simon, the learned +French Oratorian, just two hundred years ago. I cannot find evidence +that either Simon, or any one of the great scholars and critics of the +eighteenth and nineteenth centuries who have continued Simon's work, +had any particular acquaintance with physical science. I have already +pointed out that Hume was independent of it. And certainly one of the +most potent influences in the same direction, upon history in the +present century, that of Grote, did not come from the physical side. +Physical science, in fact, has had nothing directly to do with the +criticism of the Gospels; it is wholly incompetent to furnish +demonstrative evidence that any statement made in these histories is +untrue. Indeed, modern physiology can find parallels in nature for +events of apparently the most eminently supernatural kind recounted +in some of those histories. + +It is a comfort to hear, upon Mr. Harrison's authority, that the laws +of physical nature show no signs of becoming "less definite, less +consistent, or less popular as time goes on" (p. 154). How a law of +nature is to become indefinite, or "inconsistent," passes my poor +powers of imagination. But with universal suffrage and the coach-dog +theory of premiership in full view; the theory, I mean, that the whole +duty of a political chief is to look sharp for the way the social +coach is driving, and then run in front and bark loud--as if being the +leading noise-maker and guiding were the same things--it is truly +satisfactory to me to know that the laws of nature are increasing in +popularity. Looking at recent developments of the policy which is said +to express the great heart of the people, I have had my doubts of the +fact; and my love for my fellow-countrymen has led me to reflect, with +dread, on what will happen to them, if any of the laws of nature ever +become so unpopular in their eyes, as to be voted down by the +transcendent authority of universal suffrage. If the legion of demons, +before they set out on their journey in the swine, had had time to +hold a meeting and to resolve unanimously "That the law of gravitation +is oppressive and ought to be repealed," I am afraid it would have +made no sort of difference to the result, when their two thousand +unwilling porters were once launched down the steep slopes of the +fatal shore of Gennesaret. + + The question of the place of religion as an element of human + nature, as a force of human society, its origin, analysis, + and functions, has never been considered at all from an + agnostic point of view (p. 152). + +I doubt not that Mr. Harrison knows vastly more about history than I +do; in fact, he tells the public that some of my friends and I have +had no opportunity of occupying ourselves with that subject. I do not +like to contradict any statement which Mr. Harrison makes on his own +authority; only, if I may be true to my agnostic principles, I humbly +ask how he has obtained assurance on this head. I do not profess to +know anything about the range of Mr. Harrison's studies; but as he has +thought it fitting to start the subject, I may venture to point out +that, on evidence adduced, it might be equally permissible to draw the +conclusion that Mr. Harrison's other labours have not allowed him to +acquire that acquaintance with the methods and results of physical +science, or with the history of philosophy, or of philological and +historical criticism, which is essential to any one who desires to +obtain a right understanding of agnosticism. Incompetence in +philosophy, and in all branches of science except mathematics, is the +well-known mental characteristic of the founder of positivism. +Faithfulness in disciples is an admirable quality in itself; the pity +is that it not unfrequently leads to the imitation of the weaknesses +as well as of the strength of the master. It is only such +over-faithfulness which can account for a "strong mind really +saturated with the historical sense" (p. 153) exhibiting the +extraordinary forgetfulness of the historical fact of the existence of +David Hume implied by the assertion that + + it would be difficult to name a single known agnostic who + has given to history anything like the amount of thought and + study which he brings to a knowledge of the physical world + (p. 153). + +Whoso calls to mind what I may venture to term the bright side of +Christianity--that ideal of manhood, with its strength and its +patience, its justice and its pity for human frailty, its helpfulness +to the extremity of self-sacrifice, its ethical purity and nobility, +which apostles have pictured, in which armies of martyrs have placed +their unshakable faith, and whence obscure men and women, like +Catherine of Sienna and John Knox, have derived the courage to rebuke +popes and kings--is not likely to underrate the importance of the +Christian faith as a factor in human history, or to doubt that if that +faith should prove to be incompatible with our knowledge, or necessary +want of knowledge, some other hypostasis of men's hopes, genuine +enough and worthy enough to replace it, will arise. But that the +incongruous mixture of bad science with eviscerated papistry, out of +which Comte manufactured the positivist religion, will be the heir of +the Christian ages, I have too much respect for the humanity of the +future to believe. Charles the Second told his brother, "They will not +kill me, James, to make you king." And if critical science is +remorselessly destroying the historical foundations of the noblest +ideal of humanity which mankind have yet worshipped, it is little +likely to permit the pitiful reality to climb into the vacant shrine. + +That a man should determine to devote himself to the service of +humanity--including intellectual and moral self-culture under that +name; that this should be, in the proper sense of the word, his +religion--is not only an intelligible, but, I think, a laudable +resolution. And I am greatly disposed to believe that it is the only +religion which will prove itself to be unassailably acceptable so long +as the human race endures. But when the Comtist asks me to worship +"Humanity"--that is to say, to adore the generalised conception of men +as they ever have been and probably ever will be--I must reply that I +could just as soon bow down and worship the generalised conception of +a "wilderness of apes." Surely we are not going back to the days of +Paganism, when individual men were deified, and the hard good sense of +a dying Vepasian could prompt the bitter jest, "Ut puto Deus fio." No +divinity doth hedge a modern man, be he even a sovereign ruler. Nor is +there any one, except a municipal magistrate, who is officially +declared worshipful. But if there is no spark of worship-worthy +divinity in the individual twigs of humanity, whence comes that +godlike splendour which the Moses of Positivism fondly imagines to +pervade the whole bush? + +I know no study which is so unutterably saddening as that of the +evolution of humanity, as it is set forth in the annals of history. +Out of the darkness of prehistoric ages man emerges with the marks of +his lowly origin strong upon him. He is a brute, only more intelligent +than the other brutes, a blind prey to impulses, which as often as not +lead him to destruction; a victim to endless illusions, which make his +mental existence a terror and a burden, and fill his physical life +with barren toil and battle. He attains a certain degree of physical +comfort, and develops a more or less workable theory of life, in such +favourable situations as the plains of Mesopotamia or of Egypt, and +then, for thousands and thousands of years, struggles, with varying +fortunes, attended by infinite wickedness, bloodshed, and misery, to +maintain himself at this point against the greed and the ambition of +his fellow-men. He makes a point of killing and otherwise persecuting +all those who first try to get him to move on; and when he has moved +on a step, foolishly confers post-mortem deification on his victims. +He exactly repeats the process with all who want to move a step yet +farther. And the best men of the best epochs are simply those who make +the fewest blunders and commit the fewest sins. + +That one should rejoice in the good man, forgive the bad man, and pity +and help all men to the best of one's ability, is surely indisputable. +It is the glory of Judaism and of Christianity to have proclaimed this +truth, through all their aberrations. But the worship of a God who +needs forgiveness and help, and deserves pity every hour of his +existence, is no better than that of any other voluntarily selected +fetish. The Emperor Julian's project was hopeful in comparison with +the prospects of the Comtist Anthropolatry. + +When the historian of religion in the twentieth century is writing +about the nineteenth, I foresee he will say something of this kind: + +The most curious and instructive events in the religious history of +the preceding century are the rise and progress of two new sects +called Mormons and Positivists. To the student who has carefully +considered these remarkable phenomena nothing in the records of +religious self-delusion can appear improbable. + +The Mormons arose in the midst of the great Republic, which, though +comparatively insignificant, at that time, in territory as in the +number of its citizens, was (as we know from the fragments of the +speeches of its orators which have come down to us) no less remarkable +for the native intelligence of its population than for the wide extent +of their information, owing to the activity of their publishers in +diffusing all that they could invent, beg, borrow, or steal. Nor were +they less noted for their perfect freedom from all restraints in +thought, or speech, or deed; except, to be sure, the beneficent and +wise influence of the majority, exerted, in case of need, through an +institution known as "tarring and feathering," the exact nature of +which is now disputed. + +There is a complete consensus of testimony that the founder of +Mormonism, one Joseph Smith, was a low-minded, ignorant scamp, and +that he stole the "Scriptures" which he propounded; not being clever +enough to forge even such contemptible stuff as they contain. +Nevertheless he must have been a man of some force of character, for a +considerable number of disciples soon gathered about him. In spite of +repeated outbursts of popular hatred and violence--during one of which +persecutions Smith was brutally murdered--the Mormon body steadily +increased, and became a flourishing community. But the Mormon +practices being objectionable to the majority, they were, more than +once, without any pretence of law, but by force of riot, arson, and +murder, driven away from the land they had occupied. Harried by these +persecutions, the Mormon body eventually committed itself to the +tender mercies of a desert as barren as that of Sinai; and after +terrible sufferings and privations, reached the Oasis of Utah. Here it +grew and flourished, sending out missionaries to, and receiving +converts from, all parts of Europe, sometimes to the number of 10,000 +in a year; until, in 1880, the rich and flourishing community numbered +110,000 souls in Utah alone, while there were probably 30,000 or +40,000 scattered abroad elsewhere. In the whole history of religions +there is no more remarkable example of the power of faith; and, in +this case, the founder of that faith was indubitably a most despicable +creature. It is interesting to observe that the course taken by the +great Republic and its citizens runs exactly parallel with that taken +by the Roman Empire and its citizens towards the early Christians, +except that the Romans had a certain legal excuse for their acts of +violence, inasmuch as the Christian "sodalitia" were not licensed, and +consequently were, _ipso facto_, illegal assemblages. Until, in the +latter part of the nineteenth century, the United States legislature +decreed the illegality of polygamy, the Mormons were wholly within the +law. + +Nothing can present a greater contrast to all this than the history of +the Postivists. This sect arose much about the same time as that of +the Mormons, in the upper and most instructed stratum of the +quick-witted, sceptical population of Paris. The founder, Auguste +Comte, was a teacher of mathematics, but of no eminence in that +department of knowledge, and with nothing but an amateur's +acquaintance with physical, chemical, and biological science. His +works are repulsive, on account of the dull diffuseness of their +style, and a certain air, as of a superior person, which characterises +them; but nevertheless they contain good things here and there. It +would take too much space to reproduce in detail a system which +proposes to regulate all human life by the promulgation of a Gentile +Leviticus. Suffice it to say, that M. Comte may be described as a +syncretic, who, like the Gnostics of early Church history, attempted +to combine the substance of imperfectly comprehended contemporary +science with the form of Roman Christianity. It may be that this is +the reason why his disciples were so very angry with some obscure +people called Agnostics, whose views, if we may judge by the account +left in the works of a great Positivist controversial writer, were +very absurd. + +To put the matter briefly, M. Comte, finding Christianity and Science +at daggers drawn, seems to have said to Science, "You find +Christianity rotten at the core, do you? Well, I will scoop out the +inside of it." And to Romanism: "You find Science mere dry light--cold +and bare. Well, I will put your shell over it, and so, as schoolboys +make a spectre out of a turnip and a tallow candle, behold the new +religion of Humanity complete!" + +Unfortunately neither the Romanists, nor the people who were something +more than amateurs in science, could be got to worship M. Comte's new +idol properly. In the native country of Positivism, one distinguished +man of letters and one of science, for a time, helped to make up a +roomful of the faithful, but their love soon grew cold. In England, on +the other hand, there appears to be little doubt that, in the ninth +decade of the century, the multitude of disciples reached the grand +total of several score. They had the advantage of the advocacy of one +or two most eloquent and learned apostles, and, at any rate, the +sympathy of several persons of light and leading; and, if they were +not seen, they were heard, all over the world. On the other hand, as a +sect, they laboured under the prodigious disadvantage of being +refined, estimable people, living in the midst of the worn-out +civilisation of the old world; where any one who had tried to +persecute them, as the Mormons were persecuted, would have been +instantly hanged. But the majority never dreamed of persecuting them; +on the contrary, they were rather given to scold and otherwise try the +patience of the majority. + +The history of these sects in the closing years of the century is +highly instructive. Mormonism ... + +But I find I have suddenly slipped off Mr. Harrison's tripod, which I +had borrowed for the occasion. The fact is, I am not equal to the +prophetical business, and ought not to have undertaken it. + + * * * * * + +[It did not occur to me, while writing the latter part of this essay, +that it could be needful to disclaim the intention of putting the +religious system of Comte on a level with Mormonism. And I was unaware +of the fact that Mr. Harrison rejects the greater part of the +Positivist Religion, as taught by Comte. I have, therefore, erased one +or two passages, which implied his adherence to the "Religion of +Humanity" as developed by Comte, 1893.] + +FOOTNOTES: + + [51] See the _Official Report of the Church Congress held + at Manchester_, October 1888, pp. 253, 254. + + [52] In this place and in the eleventh essay, there are + references to the late Archbishop of York which are of + no importance to my main argument, and which I have + expunged because I desire to obliterate the traces of a + temporary misunderstanding with a man of rare ability, + candour, and wit, for whom I entertained a great liking + and no less respect. I rejoice to think now of the + (then) Bishop's cordial hail the first time we met + after our little skirmish, "Well, is it to be peace or + war?" I replied, "A little of both." But there was only + peace when we parted, and ever after. + + [53] Dr. Wace tells us, "It may be asked how far we can rely + on the accounts we possess of our Lord's teaching on + these subjects." And he seems to think the question + appropriately answered by the assertion that it "ought + to be regarded as settled by M. Renan's practical + surrender of the adverse case." I thought I knew M. + Renan's works pretty well, but I have contrived to miss + this "practical" (I wish Dr. Wace had defined the scope + of that useful adjective) surrender. However, as Dr. + Wace can find no difficulty in pointing out the passage + of M. Renan's writings, by which he feels justified in + making his statement, I shall wait for further + enlightenment, contenting myself, for the present, with + remarking that if M. Renan were to retract and do + penance in Notre-Dame to-morrow for any contributions + to Biblical criticism that may be specially his + property, the main results of that criticism, as they + are set forth in the works of Strauss, Baur, Reuss, and + Volkmar, for example, would not be sensibly affected. + + [54] See De Gobineau, _Les Religions et les Philosophies + dans l'Asie Centrale_; and the recently published work + of Mr. E.G. Browne, _The Episode of the Bab_. + + [55] Here, as always, the revised version is cited. + + [56] Does any one really mean to say that there is any + internal or external criterion by which the reader of a + biblical statement, in which scientific matter is + contained, is enabled to judge whether it is to betaken + _au serieux_ or not? Is the account of the Deluge, + accepted as true in the New Testament, less precise and + specific than that of the call of Abraham, also + accepted as true therein? By what mark does the story + of the feeding with manna in the wilderness, which + involves some very curious scientific problems, show + that it is meant merely for edification, while the + story of the inscription of the Law on stone by the + hand of Jahveh is literally true? If the story of the + Fall is not the true record of an historical + occurrence, what becomes of Pauline theology? Yet the + story of the Fall as directly conflicts with + probability, and is as devoid of trustworthy evidence, + as that of the creation or that of the Deluge, with + which it forms an harmoniously legendary series. + + [57] See, for an admirable discussion of the whole subject, + Dr. Abbott's article on the Gospels in the + _Encyclopaedia Britannica_; and the remarkable monograph + by Professor Volkmar, _Jesus Nazarenus und die erste + christliche Zeit_ (1882). Whether we agree with the + conclusions of these writers or not, the method of + critical investigation which, they adopt is + unimpeachable. + + [58] Notwithstanding the hard words shot at me from behind + the hedge of anonymity by a writer in a recent number + of the _Quarterly Review_, I repeat, without the + slightest fear of refutation, that the four Gospels, as + they have come to us, are the work of unknown writers. + + [59] Their arguments, in the long run, are always reducible + to one form. Otherwise trustworthy witnesses affirm + that such and such events took place. These events are + inexplicable, except the agency of "spirits" is + admitted. Therefore "spirits" were the cause of the + phenomena. + + And the heads of the reply are always the same. + Remember Goethe's aphorism: "Alles factische ist schon + Theorie." Trustworthy witnesses are constantly + deceived, or deceive themselves, in their + interpretation of sensible phenomena. No one can prove + that the sensible phenomena, in these cases, could be + caused only by the agency of spirits: and there is + abundant ground for believing that they may be produced + in other ways. Therefore, the utmost that can be + reasonably asked for, on the evidence as it stands, is + suspension of judgment. And, on the necessity for even + that suspension, reasonable men may differ, according + to their views of probability. + + [60] Yet I must somehow have laid hold of the pith of the + matter, for, many years afterwards, when Dean Mansel's + Bampton Lectures were published, it seemed to me I + already knew all that this eminently agnostic thinker + had to tell me. + + [61] _Kritik der reinen Vernunft_. Edit. Hartenstein, p. 256. + + [62] _Report of the Church Congress_, Manchester, 1888, p. 252. + + [63] _Fortnightly Review_, Jan. 1889. + + + + +VIII: AGNOSTICISM: A REJOINDER + +[1889] + + +Those who passed from Dr. Wace's article in the last number of the +"Nineteenth Century" to the anticipatory confutation of it which +followed in "The New Reformation," must have enjoyed the pleasure of a +dramatic surprise--just as when the fifth act of a new play proves +unexpectedly bright and interesting. Mrs. Ward will, I hope, pardon +the comparison, if I say that her effective clearing away of +antiquated incumbrances from the lists of the controversy, reminds me +of nothing so much as of the action of some neat-handed, but +strong-wristed, Phyllis, who, gracefully wielding her long-handled +"Turk's head," sweeps away the accumulated results of the toil of +generations of spiders. I am the more indebted to this luminous sketch +of the results of critical investigation, as it is carried out among +these theologians who are men of science and not mere counsel for +creeds, since it has relieved me from the necessity of dealing with +the greater part of Dr. Wace's polemic, and enables me to devote more +space to the really important issues which have been raised.[64] + +Perhaps, however, it may be well for me to observe that approbation of +the manner in which a great biblical scholar, for instance, Reuss, +does his work does not commit me to the adoption of all, or indeed any +of his views; and, further, that the disagreements of a series of +investigators do not in any way interfere with the fact that each of +them has made important contributions to the body of truth ultimately +established. If I cite Buffon, Linnaeus, Lamarck, and Cuvier, as having +each and all taken a leading share in building up modern biology, the +statement that every one of these great naturalists disagreed with, +and even more or less contradicted, all the rest is quite true; but +the supposition that the latter assertion is in any way inconsistent +with the former, would betray a strange ignorance of the manner in +which all true science advances. + +Dr. Wace takes a great deal of trouble to make it appear that I have +desired to evade the real questions raised by his attack upon me at +the Church Congress. I assure the reverend Principal that in this, as +in some other respects, he has entertained a very erroneous conception +of my intentions. Things would assume more accurate proportions in Dr. +Wace's mind, if he would kindly remember that it is just thirty years +since ecclesiastical thunderbolts began to fly about my ears. I have +had the "Lion and the Bear" to deal with, and it is long since I got +quite used to the threatenings of episcopal Goliaths, whose croziers +were like unto a weaver's beam. So that I almost think I might not +have noticed Dr. Wace's attack, personal as it was; and although, as +he is good enough to tell us, separate copies are to be had for the +modest equivalent of twopence, as a matter of fact, it did not come +under my notice for a long time after it was made. May I further +venture to point out that (reckoning postage) the expenditure of +twopence-halfpenny, or, at the most, threepence, would have enabled +Dr. Wace so far to comply with ordinary conventions as to direct my +attention to the fact that he had attacked me before a meeting at +which I was not present? I really am not responsible for the five +months' neglect of which Dr. Wace complains. Singularly enough, the +Englishry who swarmed about the Engadine, during the three months that +I was being brought back to life by the glorious air and perfect +comfort of the Maloja, did not, in my hearing, say anything about the +important events which had taken place at the Church Congress; and I +think I can venture to affirm that there was not a single copy of Dr. +Wace's pamphlet in any of the hotel libraries which I rummaged, in +search of something more edifying than dull English or questionable +French novels. + +And now, having, as I hope, set myself right with the public as +regards the sins of commission and omission with which I have been +charged, I feel free to deal with matters to which time and type may +be more profitably devoted. + +I believe that there is not a solitary argument I have used, or that I +am about to use, which is original, or has anything to do with the +fact that I have been chiefly occupied with natural science. They are +all, facts and reasoning alike, either identical with, or +consequential upon, propositions which are to be found in the works of +scholars and theologians of the highest repute in the only two +countries, Holland and Germany,[65] in which, at the present time, +professors of theology are to be found, whose tenure of their posts +does not depend upon the results to which their inquiries lead +them.[66] It is true that, to the best of my ability, I have satisfied +myself of the soundness of the foundations on which my arguments are +built, and I desire to be held fully responsible for everything I say. +But, nevertheless, my position is really no more than that of an +expositor; and my justification for undertaking it is simply that +conviction of the supremacy of private judgment (indeed, of the +impossibility of escaping it) which is the foundation of the +Protestant Reformation, and which was the doctrine accepted by the +vast majority of the Anglicans of my youth, before that backsliding +towards the "beggarly rudiments" of an effete and idolatrous +sacerdotalism which has, even now, provided us with the saddest +spectacle which has been offered to the eyes of Englishmen in this +generation. A high court of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, with a host +of great lawyers in battle array, is and, for Heaven knows how long, +will be, occupied with these very questions of "washing of cups and +pots and brazen vessels," which the Master, whose professed +representatives are rending the Church over these squabbles, had in +his mind when, as we are told, he uttered the scathing rebuke:-- + + Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, + This people honoureth me with their lips, + But their heart is far from me. + But in vain do they worship me, + Teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men. + (Mark vii. 6-7.) + +Men who can be absorbed in bickerings over miserable disputes of this +kind can have but little sympathy with the old evangelical doctrine of +the "open Bible," or anything but a grave misgiving of the results of +diligent reading of the Bible, without the help of ecclesiastical +spectacles, by the mass of the people. Greatly to the surprise of many +of my friends, I have always advocated the reading of the Bible, and +the diffusion of the study of that most remarkable collection of books +among the people. Its teachings are so infinitely superior to those of +the sects, who are just as busy now as the Pharisees were eighteen +hundred years ago, in smothering them under "the precepts of men"; it +is so certain, to my mind, that the Bible contains within itself the +refutation of nine-tenths of the mixture of sophistical metaphysics +and old-world superstition which has been piled round it by the +so-called Christians of later times; it is so clear that the only +immediate and ready antidote to the poison which has been mixed with +Christianity, to the intoxication and delusion of mankind, lies in +copious draughts from the undefiled spring, that I exercise the right +and duty of free judgment on the part of every man, mainly for the +purpose of inducing other laymen to follow my example. If the New +Testament is translated into Zulu by Protestant missionaries, it must +be assumed that a Zulu convert is competent to draw from its contents +all the truths which it is necessary for him to believe. I trust that +I may, without immodesty, claim to be put on the same footing as a +Zulu. + +The most constant reproach which is launched against persons of my way +of thinking is that it is all very well for us to talk about the +deductions of scientific thought, but what are the poor and the +uneducated to do? Has it ever occurred to those who talk in this +fashion, that their creeds and the articles of their several +confessions, their determination of the exact nature and extent of the +teachings of Jesus, their expositions of the real meaning of that +which is written in the Epistles (to leave aside all questions +concerning the Old Testament), are nothing more than deductions which, +at any rate, profess to be the result of strictly scientific thinking, +and which are not worth attending to unless they really possess that +character? If it is not historically true that such and such things +happened in Palestine eighteen centuries ago, what becomes of +Christianity? And what is historical truth but that of which the +evidence bears strict scientific investigation? I do not call to mind +any problem of natural science which has come under my notice which is +more difficult, or more curiously interesting as a mere problem, than +that of the origin of the Synoptic Gospels and that of the historical +value of the narratives which they contain. The Christianity of the +Churches stands or falls by the results of the purely scientific +investigation of these questions. They were first taken up, in a +purely scientific spirit, about a century ago; they have been studied +over and over again by men of vast knowledge and critical acumen; but +he would be a rash man who should assert that any solution of these +problems, as yet formulated, is exhaustive. The most that can be said +is that certain prevalent solutions are certainly false, while others +are more or less probably true. + +If I am doing my best to rouse my countrymen out of their dogmatic +slumbers, it is not that they may be amused by seeing who gets the +best of it in a contest between a "scientist" and a theologian. The +serious question is whether theological men of science, or theological +special pleaders, are to have the confidence of the general public; it +is the question whether a country in which it is possible for a body +of excellent clerical and lay gentlemen to discuss, in public meeting +assembled, how much it is desirable to let the congregations of the +faithful know of the results of biblical criticism, is likely to wake +up with anything short of the grasp of a rough lay hand upon its +shoulder; it is the question whether the New Testament books, being, +as I believe they were, written and compiled by people who, according +to their lights, were perfectly sincere, will not, when properly +studied as ordinary historical documents, afford us the means of +self-criticism. And it must be remembered that the New Testament books +are not responsible for the doctrine invented by the Churches that +they are anything but ordinary historical documents. The author of the +third gospel tells us, as straightforwardly as a man can, that he has +no claim to any other character than that of an ordinary compiler and +editor, who had before him the works of many and variously qualified +predecessors. + + * * * * * + +In my former papers, according to Dr. Wace, I have evaded giving an +answer to his main proposition, which he states as follows-- + + Apart from all disputed points of criticism, no one + practically doubts that our Lord lived, and that He died on + the cross, in the most intense sense of filial relation to + His Father in Heaven, and that He bore testimony to that + Father's providence, love, and grace towards mankind. The + Lord's Prayer affords a sufficient evidence on these points. + If the Sermon on the Mount alone be added, the whole unseen + world, of which the Agnostic refuses to know anything, + stands unveiled before us.... If Jesus Christ preached that + Sermon, made those promises, and taught that prayer, then + any one who says that we know nothing of God, or of a future + life, or of an unseen world, says that he does not believe + Jesus Christ (pp. 354-355). + +Again-- + + The main question at issue, in a word, is one which + Professor Huxley has chosen to leave entirely on one + side--whether, namely, allowing for the utmost uncertainty + on other points of the criticism to which he appeals, there + is any reasonable doubt that the Lord's Prayer and the + Sermon on the Mount afford a true account of our Lord's + essential belief and cardinal teaching (p. 355.) + +I certainly was not aware that I had evaded the questions here stated; +indeed I should say that I have indicated my reply to them pretty +clearly; but, as Dr. Wace wants a plainer answer, he shall certainly +be gratified. If, as Dr. Wace declares it is, his "whole case is +involved in" the argument as stated in the latter of these two +extracts, so much the worse for his whole case. For I am of opinion +that there is the gravest reason for doubting whether the "Sermon on +the Mount" was ever preached, and whether the so-called "Lord's +Prayer" was ever prayed, by Jesus of Nazareth. My reasons for this +opinion are, among others, these:--There is now no doubt that the +three Synoptic Gospels, so far from being the work of three +independent writers, are closely interdependent,[67] and that in one +of two ways. Either all three contain, as their foundation, versions, +to a large extent verbally identical, of one and the same tradition; +or two of them are thus closely dependent on the third; and the +opinion of the majority of the best critics has of late years more and +more converged towards the conviction that our canonical second gospel +(the so-called "Mark's" Gospel) is that which most closely represents +the primitive groundwork of the three.[68] That I take to be one of +the most valuable results of New Testament criticism, of immeasurably +greater importance than the discussion about dates and authorship. + +But if, as I believe to be the case, beyond any rational doubt or +dispute, the second gospel is the nearest extant representative of the +oldest tradition, whether written or oral, how comes it that it +contains neither the "Sermon on the Mount" nor the "Lord's Prayer," +those typical embodiments, according to Dr. Wace, of the "essential +belief and cardinal teaching" of Jesus? Not only does "Mark's" gospel +fail to contain the "Sermon on the Mount," or anything but a very few +of the sayings contained in that collection; but, at the point of the +history of Jesus where the "Sermon" occurs in "Matthew," there is in +"Mark" an apparently unbroken narrative from the calling of James and +John to the healing of Simon's wife's mother. Thus the oldest +tradition not only ignores the "Sermon on the Mount," but, by +implication, raises a probability against its being delivered when and +where the later "Matthew" inserts it in his compilation. + +And still more weighty is the fact that the third gospel, the author +of which tells us that he wrote after "many" others had "taken in +hand" the same enterprise; who should therefore have known the first +gospel (if it existed), and was bound to pay to it the deference due +to the work of an apostolic eye-witness (if he had any reason for +thinking it was so)--this writer, who exhibits far more literary +competence than the other two, ignores any "Sermon on the Mount," such +as that reported by "Matthew," just as much as the oldest authority +does. Yet "Luke" has a great many passages identical, or parallel, +with those in "Matthew's" "Sermon on the Mount," which are, for the +most part, scattered about in a totally different connection. + +Interposed, however, between the nomination of the Apostles and a +visit to Capernaum; occupying, therefore, a place which answers to +that of the "Sermon on the Mount," in the first gospel, there is in +the third gospel a discourse which is as closely similar to the +"Sermon on the Mount," in some particulars, as it is widely unlike it +in others. + +This discourse is said to have been delivered in a "plain" or "level +place" (Luke vi. 17), and by way of distinction we may call it the +"Sermon on the Plain." + +I see no reason to doubt that the two Evangelists are dealing, to a +considerable extent, with the same traditional material; and a +comparison of the two "Sermons" suggests very strongly that "Luke's" +version is the earlier. The correspondences between the two forbid the +notion that they are independent. They both begin with a series of +blessings, some of which are almost verbally identical. In the middle +of each (Luke vi. 27-38, Matt. v. 43-48) there is a striking +exposition of the ethical spirit of the command given in Leviticus +xix. 18. And each ends with a passage containing the declaration that +a tree is to be known by its fruit, and the parable of the house built +on the sand. But while there are only 29 verses in the "Sermon on the +Plain" there are 107 in the "Sermon on the Mount;" the excess in +length of the latter being chiefly due to the long interpolations, +one of 30 verses before and one of 34 verses after, the middlemost +parallelism with Luke. Under these circumstances it is quite +impossible to admit that there is more probability that "Matthew's" +version of the Sermon is historically accurate, than there is that +Luke's version is so; and they cannot both be accurate. + +"Luke" either knew the collection of loosely-connected and aphoristic +utterances which appear under the name of the "Sermon on the Mount" in +"Matthew"; or he did not. If he did not, he must have been ignorant of +the existence of such a document as our canonical "Matthew," a fact +which does not make for the genuineness, or the authority, of that +book. If he did, he has shown that he does not care for its authority +on a matter of fact of no small importance; and that does not permit +us to conceive that he believed the first gospel to be the work of an +authority to whom he ought to defer, let alone that of an apostolic +eye-witness. + +The tradition of the Church about the second gospel, which I believe +to be quite worthless, but which is all the evidence there is for +"Mark's" authorship, would have us believe that "Mark" was little more +than the mouthpiece of the apostle Peter. Consequently, we are to +suppose that Peter either did not know, or did not care very much for, +that account of the "essential belief and cardinal teaching" of Jesus +which is contained in the Sermon on the Mount; and, certainly, he +could not have shared Dr. Wace's view of its importance.[69] + +I thought that all fairly attentive and intelligent students of the +gospels, to say nothing of theologians of reputation, knew these +things. But how can any one who does know them have the conscience to +ask whether there is "any reasonable doubt" that the Sermon on the +Mount was preached by Jesus of Nazareth? If conjecture is permissible, +where nothing else is possible, the most probable conjecture seems to +be that "Matthew," having a _cento_ of sayings attributed--rightly or +wrongly it is impossible to say--to Jesus among his materials, thought +they were, or might be, records of a continuous discourse, and put +them in at the place he thought likeliest. Ancient historians of the +highest character saw no harm in composing long speeches which never +were spoken, and putting them into the mouths of statesmen and +warriors; and I presume that whoever is represented by "Matthew" would +have been grievously astonished to find that any one objected to his +following the example of the best models accessible to him. + +So with the "Lord's Prayer." Absent in our representative of the +oldest tradition, it appears in both "Matthew" and "Luke." There is +reason to believe that every pious Jew, at the commencement of our +era, prayed three times a day, according to a formula which is +embodied in the present "Schmone-Esre"[70] of the Jewish prayer-book. +Jesus, who was assuredly, in all respects, a pious Jew, whatever else +he may have been, doubtless did the same. Whether he modified the +current formula, or whether the so-called "Lord's Prayer" is the +prayer substituted for the "Schmone-Esre" in the congregations of the +Gentiles, is a question which can hardly be answered. + +In a subsequent passage of Dr. Wace's article (p. 356) he adds to the +list of the verities which he imagines to be unassailable, "The Story +of the Passion." I am not quite sure what he means by this. I am not +aware that any one (with the exception of certain ancient heretics) +has propounded doubts as to the reality of the crucifixion; and +certainly I have no inclination to argue about the precise accuracy of +every detail of that pathetic story of suffering and wrong. But, if +Dr. Wace means, as I suppose he does, that that which, according to +the orthodox view, happened after the crucifixion, and which is, in a +dogmatic sense, the most important part of the story, is founded on +solid historical proofs, I must beg leave to express a diametrically +opposite conviction. + +What do we find when the accounts of the events in question, contained +in the three Synoptic gospels, are compared together? In the oldest, +there is a simple, straightforward statement which, for anything that +I have to urge to the contrary, may be exactly true. In the other two, +there is, round this possible and probable nucleus, a mass of +accretions of the most questionable character. + +The cruelty of death by crucifixion depended very much upon its +lingering character. If there were a support for the weight of the +body, as not unfrequently was the practice, the pain during the first +hours of the infliction was not, necessarily, extreme; nor need any +serious physical symptoms, at once, arise from the wounds made by the +nails in the hands and feet, supposing they were nailed, which was not +invariably the case. When exhaustion set in, and hunger, thirst, and +nervous irritation had done their work, the agony of the sufferer must +have been terrible; and the more terrible that, in the absence of any +effectual disturbance of the machinery of physical life, it might be +prolonged for many hours, or even days. Temperate, strong men, such as +were the ordinary Galilean peasants, might live for several days on +the cross. It is necessary to bear these facts in mind when we read +the account contained in the fifteenth chapter of the second gospel. + +Jesus was crucified at the third hour (xv. 25), and the narrative +seems to imply that he died immediately after the ninth hour (_v_. +34). In this case, he would have been crucified only six hours; and +the time spent on the cross cannot have been much longer, because +Joseph of Arimathaea must have gone to Pilate, made his preparations, +and deposited the body in the rock-cut tomb before sunset, which, at +that time of the year, was about the twelfth hour. That any one should +die after only six hours' crucifixion could not have been at all in +accordance with Pilate's large experience of the effects of that +method of punishment. It, therefore, quite agrees with what might be +expected, that Pilate "marvelled if he were already dead" and required +to be satisfied on this point by the testimony of the Roman officer +who was in command of the execution party. Those who have paid +attention to the extraordinary difficult question, What are the +indisputable signs of death?--will be able to estimate the value of +the opinion of a rough soldier on such a subject; even if his report +to the Procurator were in no wise affected by the fact that the friend +of Jesus, who anxiously awaited his answer, was a man of influence and +of wealth. + +The inanimate body, wrapped in linen, was deposited in a +spacious,[71] cool rock chamber, the entrance of which was closed, not +by a well-fitting door, but by a stone rolled against the opening, +which would of course allow free passage of air. A little more than +thirty-six hours afterwards (Friday 6 P.M., to Sunday 6 A.M., or a +little after) three women visit the tomb and find it empty. And they +are told by a young man "arrayed in a white robe" that Jesus is gone +to his native country of Galilee, and that the disciples and Peter +will find him there. + +Thus it stands, plainly recorded, in the oldest tradition that, for +any evidence to the contrary, the sepulchre may have been emptied at +any time during the Friday or Saturday nights. If it is said that no +Jew would have violated the Sabbath by taking the former course, it is +to be recollected that Joseph of Arimathaea might well be familiar with +that wise and liberal interpretation of the fourth commandment, which +permitted works of mercy to men--nay, even the drawing of an ox or an +ass out of a pit--on the Sabbath. At any rate, the Saturday night was +free to the most scrupulous of observers of the Law. + +These are the facts of the case as stated by the oldest extant +narrative of them. I do not see why any one should have a word to say +against the inherent probability of that narrative; and, for my part, +I am quite ready to accept it as an historical fact, that so much and +no more is positively known of the end of Jesus of Nazareth. On what +grounds can a reasonable man be asked to believe any more? So far as +the narrative in the first gospel, on the one hand, and those in the +third gospel and the Acts, on the other, go beyond what is stated in +the second gospel, they are hopelessly discrepant with one another. +And this is the more significant because the pregnant phrase "some +doubted," in the first gospel, is ignored in the third. + +But it is said that we have the witness Paul speaking to us directly +in the Epistles. There is little doubt that we have, and a very +singular witness he is. According to his own showing, Paul, in the +vigour of his manhood, with every means of becoming acquainted, at +first hand, with the evidence of eye-witnesses, not merely refused to +credit them, but "persecuted the church of God and made havoc of it." +The reasoning of Stephen fell dead upon the acute intellect of this +zealot for the traditions of his fathers: his eyes were blind to the +ecstatic illumination of the martyr's countenance "as it had been the +face of an angel;" and when, at the words "Behold, I see the heavens +opened and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God," the +murderous mob rushed upon and stoned the rapt disciple of Jesus, Paul +ostentatiously made himself their official accomplice. + +Yet this strange man, because he has a vision, one day, at once, and +with equally headlong zeal, flies to the opposite pole of opinion. And +he is most careful to tell us that he abstained from any +re-examination of the facts. + + Immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood; neither + went I up to Jerusalem to them which were Apostles before + me; but I went away into Arabia. (Galatians i. 16, 17.) + +I do not presume to quarrel with Paul's procedure. If it satisfied +him, that was his affair; and, if it satisfies anyone else, I am not +called upon to dispute the right of that person to be satisfied. But I +certainly have the right to say that it would not satisfy me, in like +case; that I should be very much ashamed to pretend that it could, or +ought to, satisfy me; and that I can entertain but a very low estimate +of the value of the evidence of people who are to be satisfied in this +fashion, when questions of objective fact, in which their faith is +interested, are concerned. So that when I am called upon to believe a +great deal more than the oldest gospel tells me about the final events +of the history of Jesus on the authority of Paul (1 Corinthians xv. +5-8) I must pause. Did he think it, at any subsequent time, worth +while "to confer with flesh and blood," or, in modern phrase, to +re-examine the facts for himself? or was he ready to accept anything +that fitted in with his preconceived ideas? Does he mean, when he +speaks of all the appearances of Jesus after the crucifixion as if +they were of the same kind, that they were all visions, like the +manifestation to himself? And, finally, how is this account to be +reconciled with those in the first and third gospels--which, as we +have seen, disagree with one another? + +Until these questions are satisfactorily answered, I am afraid that, +so far as I am concerned, Paul's testimony cannot be seriously +regarded, except as it may afford evidence of the state of traditional +opinion at the time at which he wrote, say between 55 and 60 A.D.; +that is, more than twenty years after the event; a period much more +than sufficient for the development of any amount of mythology about +matters of which nothing was really known. A few years later, among +the contemporaries and neighbours of the Jews, and, if the most +probable interpretation of the Apocalypse can he trusted, among the +followers of Jesus also, it was fully believed, in spite of all the +evidence to the contrary, that the Emperor Nero was not really dead, +but that he was hidden away somewhere in the East, and would speedily +come again at the head of a great army, to be revenged upon his +enemies.[72] + +Thus, I conceive that I have shown cause for the opinion that Dr. +Wace's challenge touching the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord's Prayer, +and the Passion was more valorous than discreet. After all this +discussion, I am still at the agnostic point. Tell me, first, what +Jesus can be proved to have been, said, and done, and I will say +whether I believe him, or in him,[73] or not. As Dr. Wace admits that +I have dissipated his lingering shade of unbelief about the +bedevilment of the Gadarene pigs, he might have done something to help +mine. Instead of that, he manifests a total want of conception of the +nature of the obstacles which impede the conversion of his "infidels." + +The truth I believe to be, that the difficulties in the way of +arriving at a sure conclusion as to these matters, from the Sermon on +the Mount, the Lord's Prayer, or any other data offered by the +Synoptic gospels (and _a fortiori_ from the fourth gospel), are +insuperable. Every one of these records is coloured by the +prepossessions of those among whom the primitive traditions arose, and +of those by whom they were collected and edited: and the difficulty of +making allowance for these prepossessions is enhanced by our ignorance +of the exact dates at which the documents were first put together; of +the extent to which they have been subsequently worked over and +interpolated; and of the historical sense, or want of sense, and the +dogmatic tendencies of their compilers and editors. Let us see if +there is any other road which will take us into something better than +negation. + +There is a widespread notion that the "primitive Church," while under +the guidance of the Apostles and their immediate successors, was a +sort of dogmatic dovecot, pervaded by the most loving unity and +doctrinal harmony. Protestants, especially, are fond of attributing to +themselves the merit of being nearer "the Church of the Apostles" than +their neighbours; and they are the less to be excused for their +strange delusion because they are great readers of the documents which +prove the exact contrary. The fact is that, in the course of the first +three centuries of its existence, the Church rapidly underwent a +process of evolution of the most remarkable character, the final stage +of which is far more different from the first than Anglicanism is from +Quakerism. The key to the comprehension of the problem of the origin +of that which is now called "Christianity," and its relation to Jesus +of Nazareth, lies here. Nor can we arrive at any sound conclusion as +to what it is probable that Jesus actually said and did, without being +clear on this head. By far the most important and subsequently +influential steps in the evolution of Christianity took place in the +course of the century, more or less, which followed upon the +crucifixion. It is almost the darkest period of Church history, but, +most fortunately, the beginning and the end of the period are brightly +illuminated by the contemporary evidence of two writers of whose +historical existence there is no doubt,[74] and against the +genuineness of whose most important works there is no widely-admitted +objection. These are Justin, the philosopher and martyr, and Paul, the +Apostle to the Gentiles. I shall call upon these witnesses only to +testify to the condition of opinion among those who called themselves +disciples of Jesus in their time. + +Justin, in his Dialogue with Trypho the Jew, which was written +somewhere about the middle of the second century, enumerates certain +categories of persons who, in his opinion, will, or will not, be +saved,[75] These are:-- + +1. Orthodox Jews who refuse to believe that those who do observe it to +be heretics. _Saved_. + +2. Jews who observe the Law; believe Jesus to be the Christ; but who +insist on the observance of the Law by Gentile converts. _Not Saved_. + +3. Jews who observe the Law; believe Jesus to be the Christ, and hold +that Gentile converts need not observe the Law. _Saved_ (in Justin's +opinion; but some of his fellow-Christians think the contrary). + +4. Gentile converts to the belief in Jesus as the Christ, who observe +the Law. _Saved_ (possibly). + +5. Gentile believers in Jesus as the Christ, who do not observe the +Law themselves (except so far as the refusal of idol sacrifices), but +do not consider those who do observe it heretics. _Saved_ (this is +Justin's own view). + +6. Gentile believers who do not observe the Law, except in refusing +idol sacrifices, and hold those who do observe it to be heretics. +_Saved_. + +7. Gentiles who believe Jesus to be the Christ and call themselves +Christians, but who eat meats sacrificed to idols. _Not Saved_. + +8. Gentiles who disbelieve in Jesus as the Christ. _Not Saved_. + +Justin does not consider Christians who believe in the natural birth +of Jesus, of whom he implies that there is a respectable minority, to +be heretics, though he himself strongly holds the preternatural birth +of Jesus and his pre-existence as the "Logos" or "Word." He conceives +the Logos to be a second God, inferior to the first, unknowable God, +with respect to whom Justin, like Philo, is a complete agnostic. The +Holy Spirit is not regarded by Justin as a separate personality, and +is often mixed up with the "Logos." The doctrine of the natural +immortality of the soul is, for Justin, a heresy; and he is as firm a +believer in the resurrection of the body, as in the speedy Second +Coming and the establishment of the millennium. + +The pillar of the Church in the middle of the second century--a +much-travelled native of Samaria--was certainly well acquainted with +Rome, probably with Alexandria; and it is likely that he knew the +state of opinion throughout the length and breadth of the Christian +world as well as any man of his time. If the various categories above +enumerated are arranged in a series thus:-- + + _Justin's Christianity_ + ________/\__________ + / \ +_Orthodox_ _Judaeo-Christianity_ _Idolothytic_ +_Judaism_ ______/\______ _Christianity_ _Paganism_ + / \ + I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. + +it is obvious that they form a gradational series from orthodox +Judaism, on the extreme left, to Paganism, whether philosophic or +popular, on the extreme right; and it will further be observed that, +while Justin's conception of Christianity is very broad, he rigorously +excludes two classes of persons who, in his time, called themselves +Christians; namely, those who insist on circumcision and other +observances of the Law on the part of Gentile converts; that is to +say, the strict Judaeo-Christians (II.); and, on the other hand, those +who assert the lawfulness of eating meat offered to idols--whether +they are Gnostic or not (VII.). These last I have called "idolothytic" +Christians, because I cannot devise a better name, not because it is +strictly defensible etymologically. + +At the present moment, I do not suppose there is an English missionary +in any heathen land who would trouble himself whether the materials of +his dinner had been previously offered to idols or not. On the other +hand, I suppose there is no Protestant sect within the pale of +orthodoxy, to say nothing of the Roman and Greek Churches, which would +hesitate to declare the practice of circumcision and the observance of +the Jewish Sabbath and dietary rules, shockingly heretical. + +Modern Christianity has, in fact, not only shifted far to the right of +Justin's position, but it is of much narrower compass. + + _Justin_ + ___________/\________________ + / \ + _Judaeo-Christianity_ _Modern Christianity_ _Paganism_ +_Judaism_ _____/\_____ _______/\_______ + / \ / \ + I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. + +For, though it includes VII., and even, in saint and relic worship, +cuts a "monstrous cantle" out of paganism, it excludes, not only all +Judaeo-Christians, but all who doubt that such are heretics. Ever since +the thirteenth century, the Inquisition would have cheerfully burned, +and in Spain did abundantly burn, all persons who came under the +categories II., III., IV., V. And the wolf would play the same havoc +now, if it could only get its blood-stained jaws free from the muzzle +imposed by the secular arm. + +Further, there is not a Protestant body except the Unitarian, which +would not declare Justin himself a heretic, on account of his doctrine +of the inferior godship of the Logos; while I am very much afraid +that, in strict logic, Dr. Wace would be under the necessity, so +painful to him, of calling him an "infidel," on the same and on other +grounds. + +Now let us turn to our other authority. If there is any result of +critical investigations of the sources of Christianity which is +certain,[76] it is that Paul of Tarsus wrote the Epistle to the +Galatians somewhere between the years 55 and 60 A.D., that is to say, +roughly, twenty, or five-and-twenty years after the crucifixion. If +this is so, the Epistle to the Galatians is one of the oldest, if not +the very oldest, of extant documentary evidences of the state of the +primitive Church. And, be it observed, if it is Paul's writing, it +unquestionably furnishes us with the evidence of a participator in the +transactions narrated. With the exception of two or three of the other +Pauline Epistles, there is not one solitary book in the New Testament +of the authorship and authority of which we have such good evidence. + +And what is the state of things we find disclosed? A bitter quarrel, +in his account of which Paul by no means minces matters, or hesitates +to hurl defiant sarcasms against those who were "reputed to be +pillars": James "the brother of the Lord," Peter, the rock on whom +Jesus is said to have built his Church, and John, "the beloved +disciple." And no deference toward "the rock" withholds Paul from +charging Peter to his face with "dissimulation." + +The subject of the hot dispute was simply this. Were Gentile converts +bound to obey the Law or not? Paul answered in the negative; and, +acting upon his opinion, he had created at Antioch (and elsewhere) a +specifically "Christian" community, the sole qualifications for +admission into which were the confession of the belief that Jesus was +the Messiah, and baptism upon that confession. In the epistle in +question, Paul puts this--his "gospel," as he calls it--in its most +extreme form. Not only does he deny the necessity of conformity with +the Law, but he declares such conformity to have a negative value. +"Behold, I, Paul, say unto you, that if ye receive circumcision, +Christ will profit you nothing" (Galatians v. 2). He calls the legal +observances "beggarly rudiments," and anathematises every one who +preaches to the Galatians any other gospel than his own. That is to +say, by direct consequence, he anathematises the Nazarenes of +Jerusalem, whose zeal for the Law is testified by James in a passage +of the Acts cited further on. In the first Epistle to the Corinthians, +dealing with the question of eating meat offered to idols, it is clear +that Paul himself thinks it a matter of indifference; but he advises +that it should not he done, for the sake of the weaker brethren. On +the other hand, the Nazarenes of Jerusalem most strenuously opposed +Paul's "gospel," insisting on every convert becoming a regular Jewish +proselyte, and consequently on his observance of the whole Law; and +this party was led by James and Peter and John (Galatians ii. 9). Paul +does not suggest that the question of principle was settled by the +discussion referred to in Galatians. All he says is, that it ended in +the practical agreement that he and Barnabas should do as they had +been doing, in respect to the Gentiles; while James and Peter and John +should deal in their own fashion with Jewish converts. Afterwards, he +complains bitterly of Peter, because, when on a visit to Antioch, he, +at first, inclined to Paul's view and ate with the Gentile converts; +but when "certain came from James," "drew back, and separated himself, +fearing them that were of the circumcision. And the rest of the Jews +dissembled likewise with him; insomuch as even Barnabas was carried +away with their dissimulation" (Galatians ii. 12-13). + +There is but one conclusion to be drawn from Paul's account of this +famous dispute, the settlement of which determined the fortunes of +the nascent religion. It is that the disciples at Jerusalem, headed by +"James, the Lord's brother," and by the leading apostles, Peter and +John, were strict Jews, who had objected to admit any converts into +their body, unless these, either by birth, or by becoming proselytes, +were also strict Jews. In fact, the sole difference between James and +Peter and John, with the body of the disciples whom they led and the +Jews by whom they were surrounded, and with whom they, for many years, +shared the religious observances of the Temple, was that they believed +that the Messiah, whom the leaders of the nation yet looked for, had +already come in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. + +The Acts of the Apostles is hardly a very trustworthy history; it is +certainly of later date than the Pauline Epistles, supposing them to +be genuine. And the writer's version of the conference of which Paul +gives so graphic a description, if that is correct, is unmistakably +coloured with all the art of a reconciler, anxious to cover up a +scandal. But it is none the less instructive on this account. The +judgment of the "council" delivered by James is that the Gentile +converts shall merely "abstain from things sacrificed to idols, and +from blood and from things strangled, and from fornication." But +notwithstanding the accommodation in which the writer of the Acts +would have us believe, the Jerusalem Church held to its endeavour to +retain the observance of the Law. Long after the conference, some time +after the writing of the Epistles to the Galatians and Corinthians, +and immediately after the despatch of that to the Romans, Paul makes +his last visit to Jerusalem, and presents himself to James and all the +elders. And this is what the Acts tells us of the interview:-- + + And they said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many + thousands [or myriads] there are among the Jews of them + which have believed; and they are all zealous for the law; + and they have been informed concerning thee, that thou + teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to + forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their + children, neither to walk after the customs. (Acts xxi. 20, + 21.) + +They therefore request that he should perform a certain public +religious act in the Temple, in order that + + all shall know that there is no truth in the things whereof + they have been informed concerning thee; but that thou + thyself walkest orderly, keeping the law (_ibid_. 24).[77] + +How far Paul could do what he is here requested to do, and which the +writer of the Acts goes on to say he did, with a clear conscience, if +he wrote the Epistles to the Galatians and Corinthians, I may leave +any candid reader of these epistles to decide. The point to which I +wish to direct attention is the declaration that the Jerusalem +Church, led by the brother of Jesus and by his personal disciples and +friends, twenty years and more after his death, consisted of strict +and zealous Jews. + +Tertullus, the orator, caring very little about the internal +dissensions of the followers of Jesus, speaks of Paul as a "ringleader +of the sect of the Nazarenes" (Acts xxiv. 5), which must have affected +James much in the same way as it would have moved the Archbishop of +Canterbury, in George Fox's day, to hear the latter called a +"ringleader of the sect of Anglicans." In fact, "Nazarene" was, as is +well known, the distinctive appellation applied to Jesus; his +immediate followers were known as Nazarenes; while the congregation of +the disciples, and, later, of converts at Jerusalem--the Jerusalem +Church--was emphatically the "sect of the Nazarenes," no more, in +itself, to be regarded as anything outside Judaism than the sect of +the Sadducees, or that of the Essenes.[78] In fact, the tenets of both +the Sadducees and the Essenes diverged much more widely from the +Pharisaic standard of orthodoxy than Nazarenism did. + +Let us consider the condition of affairs now (A.D. 50-60) in relation +to that which obtained in Justin's time, a century later. It is plain +that the Nazarenes--presided over by James, "the brother of the Lord," +and comprising within their body all the twelve apostles--belonged to +Justin's second category of "Jews who observe the Law, believe Jesus +to be the Christ, but who insist on the observance of the Law by +Gentile converts," up till the time at which the controversy reported +by Paul arose. They then, according to Paul, simply allowed him to +form his congregations of non-legal Gentile converts at Antioch and +elsewhere; and it would seem that it was to these converts, who would +come under Justin's fifth category, that the title of "Christian" was +first applied. If any of these Christians had acted upon the more than +half-permission given by Paul, and had eaten meats offered to idols, +they would have belonged to Justin's seventh category. + +Hence, it appears that, if Justin's opinion, which was probably that +of the Church generally in the middle of the second century, was +correct, James and Peter and John and their followers could not be +saved; neither could Paul, if he carried into practice his views as to +the indifference of eating meats offered to idols. Or, to put the +matter another way, the centre of gravity of orthodoxy, which is at +the extreme right of the series in the nineteenth century, was at the +extreme left just before the middle of the first century, when the +"sect of the Nazarenes" constituted the whole church founded by Jesus +and the apostles; while, in the time of Justin, it lay mid-way between +the two. It is therefore a profound mistake to imagine that the +Judaeo-Christians (Nazarenes and Ebionites) of later times were +heretical outgrowths from a primitive universalist "Christianity." On +the contrary, the universalist "Christianity" is an outgrowth from the +primitive, purely Jewish, Nazarenism; which, gradually eliminating all +the ceremonial and dietary parts of the Jewish law, has thrust aside +its parent, and all the intermediate stages of its development, into +the position of damnable heresies. + +Such being the case, we are in a position to form a safe judgment of +the limits within which the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth must have +been confined. Ecclesiastical authority would have us believe that the +words which are given at the end of the first Gospel, "Go ye, +therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in +the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost," are part +of the last commands of Jesus, issued at the moment of his parting +with the eleven. If so, Peter and John must have heard these words; +they are too plain to be misunderstood; and the occasion is too solemn +for them ever to be forgotten. Yet the "Acts" tells us that Peter +needed a vision to enable him so much as to baptize Cornelius; and +Paul, in the Galatians, knows nothing of words which would have +completely borne him out as against those who, though they heard, must +be supposed to have either forgotten, or ignored them. On the other +hand, Peter and John, who are supposed to have heard the "Sermon on +the Mount," know nothing of the saying that Jesus had not come to +destroy the Law, but that every jot and tittle of the Law must be +fulfilled, which surely would have been pretty good evidence for their +view of the question. + +We are sometimes told that the personal friends and daily companions +of Jesus remained zealous Jews and opposed Paul's innovations, because +they were hard of heart and dull of comprehension. This hypothesis is +hardly in accordance with the concomitant faith of those who adopt it, +in the miraculous insight and superhuman sagacity of their Master; nor +do I see any way of getting it to harmonise with the orthodox +postulate; namely, that Matthew was the author of the first gospel and +John of the fourth. If that is so, then, most assuredly, Matthew was +no dullard; and as for the fourth gospel--a theosophic romance of the +first order--it could have been written by none but a man of +remarkable literary capacity, who had drunk deep of Alexandrian +philosophy. Moreover, the doctrine of the writer of the fourth gospel +is more remote from that of the "sect of the Nazarenes" than is that +of Paul himself. I am quite aware that orthodox critics have been +capable of maintaining that John, the Nazarene, who was probably well +past fifty years of age, when he is supposed to have written the most +thoroughly Judaising book in the New Testament--the Apocalypse--in the +roughest of Greek, underwent an astounding metamorphosis of both +doctrine and style by the time he reached the ripe age of ninety or +so, and provided the world with a history in which the acutest critic +cannot [always] make out where the speeches of Jesus end and the text +of the narrative begins; while that narrative is utterly +irreconcilable, in regard to matters of fact, with that of his +fellow-apostle, Matthew. + +The end of the whole matter is this:--The "sect of the Nazarenes," the +brother and the immediate followers of Jesus, commissioned by him as +apostles, and those who were taught by them up to the year 50 A.D., +were not "Christians" in the sense in which that term has been +understood ever since its asserted origin at Antioch, but Jews--strict +orthodox Jews--whose belief in the Messiahship of Jesus never led to +their exclusion from the Temple services, nor would have shut them out +from the wide embrace of Judaism.[79] The open proclamation of their +special view about the Messiah was doubtless offensive to the +Pharisees, just as rampant Low Churchism is offensive to bigoted High +Churchism in our own country; or as any kind of dissent is offensive +to fervid religionists of all creeds. To the Sadducees, no doubt, the +political danger of any Messianic movement was serious; and they would +have been glad to put down Nazarenism, lest it should end in useless +rebellion against their Roman masters, like that other Galilean +movement headed by Judas, a generation earlier. Galilee was always a +hotbed of seditious enthusiasm against the rule of Rome; and high +priest and procurator alike had need to keep a sharp eye upon natives +of that district. On the whole, however, the Nazarenes were but little +troubled for the first twenty years of their existence; and the +undying hatred of the Jews against those later converts, whom they +regarded as apostates and fautors of a sham Judaism, was awakened by +Paul. From their point of view, he was a mere renegade Jew, opposed +alike to orthodox Judaism and to orthodox Nazarenism; and whose +teachings threatened Judaism with destruction. And, from their point +of view, they were quite right. In the course of a century, Pauline +influences had a large share in driving primitive Nazarenism from +being the very heart of the new faith into the position of scouted +error; and the spirit of Paul's doctrine continued its work of +driving Christianity farther and farther away from Judaism, until +"meats offered to idols" might be eaten without scruple, while the +Nazarene methods of observing even the Sabbath, or the Passover, were +branded with the mark of Judaising heresy. + +But if the primitive Nazarenes of whom the Acts speak were orthodox +Jews, what sort of probability can there be that Jesus was anything +else? How can he have founded the universal religion which was not +heard of till twenty years after his death?[80] That Jesus possessed, +in a rare degree, the gift of attaching men to his person and to his +fortunes; that he was the author of many a striking saying, and the +advocate of equity, of love, and of humility; that he may have +disregarded the subtleties of the bigots for legal observance, and +appealed rather to those noble conceptions of religion which +constituted the pith and kernel of the teaching of the great prophets +of his nation seven hundred years earlier; and that, in the last +scenes of his career, he may have embodied the ideal sufferer of +Isaiah, may be, as I think it is, extremely probable. But all this +involves not a step beyond the borders of orthodox Judaism. Again, +who is to say whether Jesus proclaimed himself the veritable Messiah, +expected by his nation since the appearance of the pseudoprophetic +work of Daniel, a century and a half before his time; or whether the +enthusiasm of his followers gradually forced him to assume that +position? + +But one thing is quite certain: if that belief in the speedy second +coming of the Messiah which was shared by all parties in the primitive +Church, whether Nazarene or Pauline; which Jesus is made to prophesy, +over and over again, in the Synoptic gospels; and which dominated the +life of Christians during the first century after the crucifixion;--if +he believed and taught that, then assuredly he was under an illusion, +and he is responsible for that which the mere effluxion of time has +demonstrated to be a prodigious error. + +When I ventured to doubt "whether any Protestant theologian who has a +reputation to lose will say that he believes the Gadarene story," it +appears that I reckoned without Dr. Wace, who, referring to this +passage in my paper, says:-- + + He will judge whether I fall under his description; but I + repeat that I believe it, and that he has removed the only + objection to my believing it (p. 363). + +Far be it from me to set myself up as a judge of any such delicate +question as that put before me; but I think I may venture to express +the conviction that, in the matter of courage, Dr. Wace has raised for +himself a monument _aere perennius._ For really, in my poor judgment, a +certain splendid intrepidity, such as one admires in the leader of a +forlorn hope, is manifested by Dr. Wace when he solemnly affirms that +he believes the Gadarene story on the evidence offered. I feel less +complimented perhaps than I ought to do, when I am told that I have +been an accomplice in extinguishing in Dr. Wace's mind the last +glimmer of doubt which common sense may have suggested. In fact, I +must disclaim all responsibility for the use to which the information +I supplied has been put. I formally decline to admit that the +expression of my ignorance whether devils, in the existence of which I +do not believe, if they did exist, might or might not be made to go +out of men into pigs, can, as a matter of logic, have been of any use +whatever to a person who already believed in devils and in the +historical accuracy of the gospels. + +Of the Gadarene story, Dr. Wace, with all solemnity and twice over, +affirms that he "believes it." I am sorry to trouble him further, but +what does he mean by "it"? Because there are two stories, one in +"Mark" and "Luke," and the other in "Matthew." In the former, which I +quoted in my previous paper, there is one possessed man; in the +latter there are two. The story is told fully, with the vigorous +homely diction and the picturesque details of a piece of folklore, in +the second gospel. The immediately antecedent event is the storm on +the Lake of Gennesaret. The immediately consequent events are the +message from the ruler of the synagogue and the healing of the woman +with an issue of blood. In the third gospel, the order of events is +exactly the same, and there is an extremely close general and verbal +correspondence between the narratives of the miracle. Both agree in +stating that there was only one possessed man, and that he was the +residence of many devils, whose name was "Legion." + +In the first gospel, the event which immediately precedes the Gadarene +affair is, as before, the storm; the message from the ruler and the +healing of the issue are separated from it by the accounts of the +healing of a paralytic, of the calling of Matthew, and of a discussion +with some Pharisees. Again, while the second gospel speaks of the +country of the "Gerasenes" as the locality of the event, the third +gospel has "Gerasenes," "Gergesenes," and "Gadarenes" in different +ancient MSS.; while the first has "Gadarenes." + +The really important points to be noticed, however, in the narrative +of the first gospel, are these--that there are two possessed men +instead of one; and that while the story is abbreviated by omissions, +what there is of it is often verbally identical with the corresponding +passages in the other two gospels. The most unabashed of reconcilers +cannot well say that one man is the same as two, or two as one; and, +though the suggestion really has been made, that two different +miracles, agreeing in all essential particulars, except the number of +the possessed, were effected immediately after the storm on the lake, +I should be sorry to accuse any one of seriously adopting it. Nor will +it he pretended that the allegory refuge is accessible in this +particular case. + +So, when Dr. Wace says that he believes in the synoptic evangelists' +account of the miraculous bedevilment of swine, I may fairly ask which +of them does he believe? Does he hold by the one evangelist's story, +or by that of the two evangelists? And having made his election, what +reasons has he to give for his choice? If it is suggested that the +witness of two is to be taken against that of one, not only is the +testimony dealt with in that common-sense fashion against which the +theologians of his school protest so warmly; not only is all question +of inspiration at an end, but the further inquiry arises, After all, +is it the testimony of two against one? Are the authors of the +versions in the second and third gospels really independent witnesses? +In order to answer this question, it is only needful to place the +English versions of the two side by side, and compare them carefully. +It will then be seen that the coincidences between them, not merely in +substance, but in arrangement, and in the use of identical words in +the same order, are such, that only two alternatives are conceivable: +either one evangelist freely copied from the other, or both based +themselves upon a common source, which may either have been a written +document, or a definite oral tradition learned by heart. Assuredly, +these two testimonies are not those of independent witnesses. Further, +when the narrative in the first gospel is compared with that in the +other two, the same fact comes out. + +Supposing, then, that Dr. Wace is right in his assumption that +Matthew, Mark, and Luke wrote the works which we find attributed to +them by tradition, what is the value of their agreement, even that +something more or less like this particular miracle occurred, since it +is demonstrable, either that all depend on some antecedent statement, +of the authorship of which nothing is known, or that two are dependent +upon the third? + +Dr. Wace says he believes the Gadarene story; whichever version of it +he accepts, therefore, he believes that Jesus said what he is stated +in all the versions to have said, and thereby virtually declared that +the theory of the nature of the spiritual world involved in the story +is true. Now I hold that this theory is false, that it is a monstrous +and mischievous fiction; and I unhesitatingly express my disbelief in +any assertion that it is true, by whomsoever made. So that, if Dr. +Wace is right in his belief, he is also quite right in classing me +among the people he calls "infidels"; and although I cannot fulfil the +eccentric expectation that I shall glory in a title which, from my +point of view, it would be simply silly to adopt, I certainly shall +rejoice not to be reckoned among "Christians" so long as the +profession of belief in such stories as the Gadarene pig affair, on +the strength of a tradition of unknown origin, of which two discrepant +reports, also of unknown origin, alone remain, forms any part of the +Christian faith. And, although I have, more than once, repudiated the +gift of prophecy, yet I think I may venture to express the +anticipation, that if "Christians" generally are going to follow the +line taken by Dr. Wace, it will not be long before all men of common +sense qualify for a place among the "infidels." + +FOOTNOTES: + + [64] I may perhaps return to the question of the authorship + of the Gospels. For the present I must content myself + with warning my readers against any reliance upon Dr. + Wace's statements as to the results arrived at by + modern criticism. They are as gravely as surprisingly + erroneous. + + [65] The United States ought, perhaps, to be added, but + I am not sure. + + [66] Imagine that all our chairs of astronomy had been + founded in the fourteenth century, and that their + incumbents were bound to sign Ptolemaic articles. In + that case, with every respect for the efforts of + persons thus hampered to attain and expound the truth, + I think men of common sense would go elsewhere to learn + astronomy. Zeller's _Vortraege und Abhandlungen_ were + published and came into my hands a quarter of a century + ago. The writer's rank, as a theologian to begin with, + and subsequently as a historian of Greek philosophy, is + of the highest. Among these essays are two--_Das + Urchirstenthum_ and _Die Tuebinger historische + Schule_--which are likely to be of more use to those + who wish to know the real state of the case than all + that the official "apologists," with their one eye on + truth and the other on the tenets of their sect, have + written. For the opinion of a scientific theologian + about theologians of this stamp see pp. 225 and 227 of + the _Vortraege_. + + [67] I suppose this is what Dr. Wace is thinking about when + he says that I allege that there "is no visible escape" + from the supposition of an _Ur-Marcus_ (p. 367). That a + "theologian of repute" should confound an indisputable + fact with one of the modes of explaining that fact is + not so singular as those who are unaccustomed to the + ways of theologians might imagine. + + [68] Any examiner whose duty it has been to examine into a + case of "copying" will be particularly well prepared to + appreciate the force of the case stated in that most + excellent little book, _The Common Tradition of the + Synoptic Gospels_, by Dr. Abbott and Mr. Rushbrooke + (Macmillan, 1884). To those who have not passed through + such painful experiences I may recommend the brief + discussion of the genuineness of the "Casket Letters" + in my friend Mr. Skelton's interesting book, _Maitland + of Lethington_. The second edition of Holtzmann's + _Lehrbuch_, published in 1886, gives a remarkably fair + and full account of the present results of criticism. + At p. 366 he writes that the present burning question + is whether the "relatively primitive narrative and the + root of the other synoptic texts is contained in + Matthew or in Mark. It is only on this point that + properly-informed (_sachkundige_) critics differ," and + he decides in favour of Mark. + + [69] Holtzmann (_Die synoptischen Evangelien_, 1863, p. 75), + following Ewald, argues that the "Source A" (= the + threefold tradition, more or less) contained something + that answered to the "Sermon on the Plain" immediately + after the words of our present Mark, "And he cometh + into a house" (iii. 19). But what conceivable motive + could "Mark" have for omitting it? Holtzmann has no + doubt, however, that the "Sermon on the Mount" is a + compilation, or, as he calls it in his + recently-published _Lehrbuch_ (p. 372), "an artificial + mosaic work." + + [70] See Schuerer, _Geschichte des juedischen Volkes_, + Zweiter Thiel, p. 384. + + [71] Spacious, because a young man could sit in it "on the + right side" (xv. 5), and therefore with plenty of room + to spare. + + [72] King Herod had not the least difficulty in supposing + the resurrection of John the Baptist--"John, whom I + beheaded, he is risen" (Mark vi. 16). + + [73] I am very sorry for the interpolated "in," because + citation ought to be accurate in small things as in + great. But what difference it makes whether one + "believes Jesus" or "believes in Jesus" much thought + has not enabled me to discover. If you "believe him" + you must believe him to be what he professed to + be--that is, "believe in him;" and if you "believe in + him" you must necessarily "believe him." + + [74] True for Justin: but there is a school of theological + critics, who more or less question the historical + reality of Paul, and the genuineness of even the four + cardinal epistles. + + [75] See _Dial. cum Tryphone_, Sec.47 and Sec.35. It is to be + understood that Justin does not arrange these + categories in order, as I have done. + + [76] I guard myself against being supposed to affirm that + even the four cardinal epistles of Paul may not have + been seriously tampered with. See note 1, p. 287 above. + + [77] Paul, in fact, is required to commit in Jerusalem, an act + of the same character as that which he brands as + "dissimulation" on the part of Peter in Antioch. + + [78] All this was quite clearly pointed out by Ritschl nearly + forty years ago. See _Die Entstchung der + alt-katholischen Kirche_ (1850), p. 108. + + [79] "If every one was baptized as soon as he acknowledged + Jesus to be the Messiah, the first Christians can have + been aware of no other essential differences from the + Jews."--Zeller, _Vortraege_ (1865), p. 26. + + [80] Dr. Harnack, in the lately-published second edition of + his _Dogmengeschichte_, says (p. 39), "Jesus Christ + brought forward no new doctrine;" and again (p. 65), + "It is not difficult to set against every portion of + the utterances of Jesus an observation which deprives + him of originality." See also Zusatz 4, on the same + page. + + + + +IX: AGNOSTICISM AND CHRISTIANITY + +[1889] + +Nemo ergo ex me scire quaerat, quod me nescire scio, nisi +forte ut nescire discat.--AUGUSTINUS, _De Civ. Dei_, xii. 7. + + +[81] The present discussion has arisen out of the use, which has +become general in the last few years, of the terms "Agnostic" and +"Agnosticism." + +The people who call themselves "Agnostics" have been charged with +doing so because they have not the courage to declare themselves +"Infidels." It has been insinuated that they have adopted a new name +in order to escape the unpleasantness which attaches to their proper +denomination. To this wholly erroneous imputation, I have replied by +showing that the term "Agnostic" did, as a matter of fact, arise in a +manner which negatives it; and my statement has not been, and cannot +be, refuted. Moreover, speaking for myself, and without impugning the +right of any other person to use the term in another sense, I further +say that Agnosticism is not properly described as a "negative" creed, +nor indeed as a creed of any kind, except in so far as it expresses +absolute faith in the validity of a principle, which is as much +ethical as intellectual. This principle may be stated in various ways, +but they all amount to this: that it is wrong for a man to say that he +is certain of the objective truth of any proposition unless he can +produce evidence which logically justifies that certainty. This is +what Agnosticism asserts; and, in my opinion, it is all that is +essential to Agnosticism. That which Agnostics deny and repudiate, as +immoral, is the contrary doctrine, that there are propositions which +men ought to believe, without logically satisfactory evidence; and +that reprobation ought to attach to the profession of disbelief in +such inadequately supported propositions. The justification of the +Agnostic principle lies in the success which follows upon its +application, whether in the field of natural, or in that of civil, +history; and in the fact that, so far as these topics are concerned, +no sane man thinks of denying its validity. + +Still speaking for myself, I add, that though Agnosticism is not, and +cannot be, a creed, except in so far as its general principle is +concerned; yet that the application of that principle results in the +denial of, or the suspension of judgment concerning, a number of +propositions respecting which our contemporary ecclesiastical +"gnostics" profess entire certainty. And, in so far as these +ecclesiastical persons can be justified in their old-established +custom (which many nowadays think more honoured in the breach than the +observance) of using opprobrious names to those who differ from them, +I fully admit their right to call me and those who think with me +"Infidels"; all I have ventured to urge is that they must not expect +us to speak of ourselves by that title. + +The extent of the region of the uncertain, the number of the problems +the investigation of which ends in a verdict of not proven, will vary +according to the knowledge and the intellectual habits of the +individual Agnostic. I do not very much care to speak of anything as +"unknowable."[82] What I am sure about is that there are many topics +about which I know nothing; and which, so far as I can see, are out of +reach of my faculties. But whether these things are knowable by any +one else is exactly one of those matters which is beyond my knowledge, +though I may have a tolerably strong opinion as to the probabilities +of the case. Relatively to myself, I am quite sure that the region of +uncertainty--the nebulous country in which words play the part of +realities--is far more extensive than I could wish. Materialism and +Idealism; Theism and Atheism; the doctrine of the soul and its +mortality or immortality--appear in the history of philosophy like the +shades of Scandinavian heroes, eternally slaying one another and +eternally coming to life again in a metaphysical "Nifelheim." It is +getting on for twenty-five centuries, at least, since mankind began +seriously to give their minds to these topics. Generation after +generation, philosophy has been doomed to roll the stone uphill; and, +just as all the world swore it was at the top, down it has rolled to +the bottom again. All this is written in innumerable books; and he who +will toil through them will discover that the stone is just where it +was when the work began. Hume saw this; Kant saw it; since their time, +more and more eyes have been cleansed of the films which prevented +them from seeing it; until now the weight and number of those who +refuse to be the prey of verbal mystifications has begun to tell in +practical life. + +It was inevitable that a conflict should arise between Agnosticism and +Theology; or rather, I ought to say, between Agnosticism and +Ecclesiasticism. For Theology, the science, is one thing; and +Ecclesiasticism, the championship of a foregone conclusion[83] as to +the truth of a particular form of Theology, is another. With +scientific Theology, Agnosticism has no quarrel. On the contrary, the +Agnostic, knowing too well the influence of prejudice and +idiosyncrasy, even on those who desire most earnestly to be impartial, +can wish for nothing more urgently than that the scientific theologian +should not only be at perfect liberty to thresh out the matter in his +own fashion; but that he should, if he can, find flaws in the Agnostic +position; and, even if demonstration is not to be had, that he should +put, in their full force, the grounds of the conclusions he thinks +probable. The scientific theologian admits the Agnostic principle, +however widely his results may differ from those reached by the +majority of Agnostics. + +But, as between Agnosticism and Ecclesiasticism, or, as our neighbours +across the Channel call it, Clericalism, there can be neither peace +nor truce. The Cleric asserts that it is morally wrong not to believe +certain propositions, whatever the results of a strict scientific +investigation of the evidence of these propositions. He tells us "that +religious error is, in itself, of an immoral nature."[84] He declares +that he has prejudged certain conclusions, and looks upon those who +show cause for arrest of judgment as emissaries of Satan. It +necessarily follows that, for him, the attainment of faith, not the +ascertainment of truth, is the highest aim of mental life. And, on +careful analysis of the nature of this faith, it will too often be +found to be, not the mystic process of unity with the Divine, +understood by the religious enthusiast; but that which the candid +simplicity of a Sunday scholar once defined it to be. "Faith," said +this unconscious plagiarist of Tertullian, "is the power of saying you +believe things which are incredible." + +Now I, and many other Agnostics, believe that faith, in this sense, is +an abomination; and though we do not indulge in the luxury of +self-righteousness so far as to call those who are not of our way of +thinking hard names, we do not feel that the disagreement between +ourselves and those who hold this doctrine is even more moral than +intellectual. It is desirable there should be an end of any mistakes +on this topic. If our clerical opponents were clearly aware of the +real state of the case, there would be an end of the curious delusion, +which often appears between the lines of their writings, that those +whom they are so fond of calling "Infidels" are people who not only +ought to be, but in their hearts are, ashamed of themselves. It would +be discourteous to do more than hint the antipodal opposition of this +pleasant dream of theirs to facts. + +The clerics and their lay allies commonly tell us, that if we refuse +to admit that there is good ground for expressing definite convictions +about certain topics, the bonds of human society will dissolve and +mankind lapse into savagery. There are several answers to this +assertion. One is that the bonds of human society were formed without +the aid of their theology; and, in the opinion of not a few competent +judges, have been weakened rather than strengthened by a good deal of +it. Greek science, Greek art, the ethics of old Israel, the social +organisation of old Rome, contrived to come into being, without the +help of any one who believed in a single distinctive article of the +simplest of the Christian creeds. The science, the art, the +jurisprudence, the chief political and social theories, of the modern +world have grown out of those of Greece and Rome--not by favour of, +but in the teeth of, the fundamental teachings of early Christianity, +to which science, art, and any serious occupation with the things of +this world, were alike despicable. + +Again, all that is best in the ethics of the modern world, in so far +as it has not grown out of Greek thought, or Barbarian manhood, is the +direct development of the ethics of old Israel. There is no code of +legislation, ancient or modern, at once so just and so merciful, so +tender to the weak and poor, as the Jewish law; and, if the Gospels +are to be trusted, Jesus of Nazareth himself declared that he taught +nothing but that which lay implicitly, or explicitly, in the religious +and ethical system of his people. + + And the scribe said unto him, Of a truth, Teacher, thou hast + well said that he is one; and there is none other but he, + and to love him with all the heart, and with all the + understanding, and with all the strength, and to love his + neighbour as himself, is much more than all whole burnt + offerings and sacrifices. (Mark xii. 32, 33.) + +Here is the briefest of summaries of the teaching of the prophets of +Israel of the eighth century; does the Teacher, whose doctrine is thus +set forth in his presence, repudiate the exposition? Nay; we are told, +on the contrary, that Jesus saw that he "answered discreetly," and +replied, "Thou art not far from the kingdom of God." + +So that I think that even if the creeds, from the so-called +"Apostles," to the so-called "Athanasian," were swept into oblivion; +and even if the human race should arrive at the conclusion that, +whether a bishop washes a cup or leaves it unwashed, is not a matter +of the least consequence, it will get on very well. The causes which +have led to the development of morality in mankind, which have guided +or impelled us all the way from the savage to the civilised state, +will not cease to operate because a number of ecclesiastical +hypotheses turn out to be baseless. And, even if the absurd notion +that morality is more the child of speculation than of practical +necessity and inherited instinct, had any foundation; if all the world +is going to thieve, murder, and otherwise misconduct itself as soon as +it discovers that certain portions of ancient history are mythical, +what is the relevance of such arguments to any one who holds by the +Agnostic principle? + +Surely, the attempt to cast out Beelzebub by the aid of Beelzebub is a +hopeful procedure as compared to that of preserving morality by the +aid of immorality. For I suppose it is admitted that an Agnostic may +be perfectly sincere, may be competent, and may have studied the +question at issue with as much care as his clerical opponents. But, if +the Agnostic really believes what he says, the "dreadful consequence" +argufier (consistently, I admit, with his own principles) virtually +asks him to abstain from telling the truth, or to say what he believes +to be untrue, because of the supposed injurious consequences to +morality. "Beloved brethren, that we may be spotlessly moral, before +all things let us lie," is the sum total of many an exhortation +addressed to the "Infidel." Now, as I have already pointed out, we +cannot oblige our exhorters. We leave the practical application of the +convenient doctrines of "Reserve" and "Non-natural interpretation" to +those who invented them. + +I trust that I have now made amends for any ambiguity, or want of +fulness, in my previous exposition of that which I hold to be the +essence of the Agnostic doctrine. Henceforward, I might hope to hear +no more of the assertion that we are necessarily Materialists, +Idealists, Atheists, Theists, or any other _ists_, if experience had +led me to think that the proved falsity of a statement was any +guarantee against its repetition. And those who appreciate the nature +of our position will see, at once, that when Ecclesiasticism declares +that we ought to believe this, that, and the other, and are very +wicked if we don't, it is impossible for us to give any answer but +this: We have not the slightest objection to believe anything you +like, if you will give us good grounds for belief; but, if you cannot, +we must respectfully refuse, even if that refusal should wreck +mortality and insure our own damnation several times over. We are +quite content to leave that to the decision of the future. The course +of the past has impressed us with the firm conviction that no good +ever comes of falsehood, and we feel warranted in refusing even to +experiment in that direction. + + * * * * * + +In the course of the present discussion it has been asserted that the +"Sermon on the Mount" and the "Lord's Prayer" furnish a summary and +condensed view of the essentials of the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth, +set forth by himself. Now this supposed _Summa_ of Nazarene theology +distinctly affirms the existence of a spiritual world, of a Heaven, +and of a Hell of fire; it teaches the Fatherhood of God and the +malignity of the Devil; it declares the superintending providence of +the former and our need of deliverance from the machinations of the +latter; it affirms the fact of demoniac possession and the power of +casting out devils by the faithful. And from these premises, the +conclusion is drawn, that those Agnostics who deny that there is any +evidence of such a character as to justify certainty, respecting the +existence and the nature of the spiritual world, contradict the +express declarations of Jesus. I have replied to this argumentation by +showing that there is strong reason to doubt the historical accuracy +of the attribution to Jesus of either the "Sermon on the Mount" or the +"Lord's Prayer"; and, therefore, that the conclusion in question is +not warranted, at any rate, on the grounds set forth. + +But, whether the Gospels contain trustworthy statements about this and +other alleged historical facts or not, it is quite certain that from +them, taken together with the other books of the New Testament, we may +collect a pretty complete exposition of that theory of the spiritual +world which was held by both Nazarenes and Christians; and which was +undoubtedly supposed by them to be fully sanctioned by Jesus, though +it is just as clear that they did not imagine it contained any +revelation by him of something heretofore unknown. If the +pneumatological doctrine which pervades the whole New Testament is +nowhere systematically stated, it is everywhere assumed. The writers +of the Gospels and of the Acts take it for granted, as a matter of +common knowledge; and it is easy to gather from these sources a series +of propositions, which only need arrangement to form a complete +system. + +In this system, Man is considered to be a duality formed of a +spiritual element, the soul; and a corporeal[85] element, the body. +And this duality is repeated in the Universe, which consists of a +corporeal world embraced and interpenetrated by a spiritual world. The +former consists of the earth, as its principal and central +constituent, with the subsidiary sun, planets, and stars. Above the +earth is the air, and below is the watery abyss. Whether the heaven, +which is conceived to be above the air, and the hell in, or below, the +subterranean deeps, are to be taken as corporeal or incorporeal is not +clear. However this may be, the heaven and the air, the earth and the +abyss, are peopled by innumerable beings analogous in nature to the +spiritual element in man, and these spirits are of two kinds, good and +bad. The chief of the good spirits, infinitely superior to all the +others, and their creator, as well as the creator of the corporeal +world and of the bad spirits, is God. His residence is heaven, where +he is surrounded by the ordered hosts of good spirits; his angels, or +messengers, and the executors of his will throughout the universe. + +On the other hand, the chief of the bad spirits is Satan, _the_ devil +_par excellence_. He and his company of demons are free to roam +through all parts of the universe, except the heaven. These bad +spirits are far superior to man in power and subtlety; and their whole +energies are devoted to bringing physical and moral evils upon him, +and to thwarting, so far as his power goes, the benevolent intentions +of the Supreme Being. In fact, the souls and bodies of men form both +the theatre and the prize of an incessant warfare between the good and +the evil spirits--the powers of light and the powers of darkness. By +leading Eve astray, Satan brought sin and death upon mankind. As the +gods of the heathen, the demons are the founders and maintainers of +idolatry; as the "powers of the air" they afflict mankind with +pestilence and famine; as "unclean spirits" they cause disease of mind +and body. + +The significance of the appearance of Jesus, in the capacity of the +Messiah, or Christ, is the reversal of the satanic work by putting an +end to both sin and death. He announces that the kingdom of God is at +hand, when the "Prince of this world" shall be finally "cast out" +(John xii. 31) from the cosmos, as Jesus, during his earthly career, +cast him out from individuals. Then will Satan and all his devilry, +along with the wicked whom they have seduced to their destruction, be +hurled into the abyss of unquenchable fire--there to endure continual +torture, without a hope of winning pardon from the merciful God, their +Father; or of moving the glorified Messiah to one more act of pitiful +intercession; or even of interrupting, by a momentary sympathy with +their wretchedness, the harmonious psalmody of their brother angels +and men, eternally lapped in bliss unspeakable. + +The straitest Protestant, who refuses to admit the existence of any +source of Divine truth, except the Bible, will not deny that every +point of the pneumatological theory here set forth has ample +scriptural warranty. The Gospels, the Acts, the Epistles, and the +Apocalypse assert the existence of the devil, of his demons and of +Hell, as plainly as they do that of God and his angels and Heaven. It +is plain that the Messianic and the Satanic conceptions of the writers +of these books are the obverse and the reverse of the same +intellectual coinage. If we turn from Scripture to the traditions of +the Fathers and the confessions of the Churches, it will appear that, +in this one particular, at any rate, time has brought about no +important deviation from primitive belief. From Justin onwards, it may +often be a fair question whether God, or the devil, occupies a larger +share of the attention of the Fathers. It is the devil who instigates +the Roman authorities to persecute; the gods and goddesses of paganism +are devils, and idolatry itself is an invention of Satan; if a saint +falls away from grace, it is by the seduction of the demon; if heresy +arises, the devil has suggested it; and some of the Fathers[86] go so +far as to challenge the pagans to a sort of exorcising match, by way +of testing the truth of Christianity. Mediaeval Christianity is at one +with patristic, on this head. The masses, the clergy, the theologians, +and the philosophers alike, live and move and have their being in a +world full of demons, in which sorcery and possession are everyday +occurrences. Nor did the Reformation make any difference. Whatever +else Luther assailed, he left the traditional demonology untouched; +nor could any one have entertained a more hearty and uncompromising +belief in the devil, than he and, at a later period, the Calvinistic +fanatics of New England did. Finally, in these last years of the +nineteenth century, the demonological hypotheses of the first century +are, explicitly or implicitly, held and occasionally acted upon by the +immense majority of Christians of all confessions. + +Only here and there has the progress of scientific thought, outside +the ecclesiastical world, so far affected Christians, that they and +their teachers fight shy of the demonology of their creed. They are +fain to conceal their real disbelief in one half of Christian doctrine +by judicious silence about it; or by flight to those refuges for the +logically destitute, accommodation or allegory. But the faithful who +fly to allegory in order to escape absurdity resemble nothing so much +as the sheep in the fable who--to save their lives--jumped into the +pit. The allegory pit is too commodious, is ready to swallow up so +much more than one wants to put into it. If the story of the +temptation is an allegory; if the early recognition of Jesus as the +Son of God by the demons is an allegory; if the plain declaration of +the writer of the first Epistle of John (iii. 8), "To this end was the +Son of God manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil," +is allegorical, then the Pauline version of the Fall may be +allegorical, and still more the words of consecration of the +Eucharist, or the promise of the second coming; in fact, there is not +a dogma of ecclesiastical Christianity the scriptural basis of which +may not be whittled away by a similar process. + +As to accommodation, let any honest man who can read the New Testament +ask himself whether Jesus and his immediate friends and disciples can +be dishonoured more grossly than by the supposition that they said +and did that which is attributed to them; while, in reality, they +disbelieved in Satan and his demons, in possession and in +exorcism?[87] + +An eminent theologian has justly observed that we have no right to +look at the propositions of the Christian faith with one eye open and +the other shut. (Tract 85, p. 29.) It really is not permissible to +see, with one eye, that Jesus is affirmed to declare the personality +and the Fatherhood of God, His loving providence and His accessibility +to prayer; and to shut the other to the no less definite teaching +ascribed to Jesus, in regard to the personality and the misanthropy of +the devil, his malignant watchfulness, and his subjection to +exorcistic formula and rites. Jesus is made to say that the devil "was +a murderer from the beginning" (John viii. 44) by the same authority +as that upon which we depend for his asserted declaration that "God is +a spirit" (John iv. 24). + +To those who admit the authority of the famous Vincentian dictum that +the doctrine which has been held "always, everywhere, and by all" is +to be received as authoritative, the demonology must possess a higher +sanction than any other Christian dogma, except, perhaps, those of the +Resurrection and of the Messiahship of Jesus; for it would be +difficult to name any other points of doctrine on which the Nazarene +does not differ from the Christian, and the different historical +stages and contemporary subdivisions of Christianity from one another. +And, if the demonology is accepted, there can be no reason for +rejecting all those miracles in which demons play a part. The Gadarene +story fits into the general scheme of Christianity; and the evidence +for "Legion" and their doings is just as good as any other in the New +Testament for the doctrine which the story illustrates. + +It was with the purpose of bringing this great fact into prominence; +of getting people to open both their eyes when they look at +Ecclesiasticism; that I devoted so much space to that miraculous story +which happens to be one of the best types of its class. And I could +not wish for a better justification of the course I have adopted, than +the fact that my heroically consistent adversary has declared his +implicit belief in the Gadarene story and (by necessary consequence) +in the Christian demonology as a whole. It must be obvious, by this +time, that, if the account of the spiritual world given in the New +Testament, professedly on the authority of Jesus, is true, then the +demonological half of that account must be just as true as the other +half. And, therefore, those who question the demonology, or try to +explain it away, deny the truth of what Jesus said, and are, in +ecclesiastical terminology, "Infidels" just as much as those who deny +the spirituality of God. This is as plain as anything can well be, and +the dilemma for my opponent was either to assert that the Gadarene +pig-bedevilment actually occurred, or to write himself down an +"Infidel." As was to be expected, he chose the former alternative; and +I may express my great satisfaction at finding that there is one spot +of common ground on which both he and I stand. So far as I can judge, +we are agreed to state one of the broad issues between the +consequences of agnostic principles (as I draw them), and the +consequences of ecclesiastical dogmatism (as he accepts it), as +follows. + +Ecclesiasticism says: The demonology of the Gospels is an essential +part of that account of that spiritual world, the truth of which it +declares to be certified by Jesus. + +Agnosticism (_me judice_) says: There is no good evidence of the +existence of a demoniac spiritual world, and much reason for doubting +it. + +Hereupon the ecclesiastic may observe: Your doubt means that you +disbelieve Jesus; therefore you are an "Infidel" instead of an +"Agnostic." To which the agnostic may reply: No; for two reasons: +first, because your evidence that Jesus said what you say he said is +worth very little; and secondly, because a man may be an agnostic, in +the sense of admitting he has no positive knowledge, and yet consider +that he has more or less probable ground for accepting any given +hypothesis about the spiritual world. Just as a man may frankly +declare that he has no means of knowing whether the planets generally +are inhabited or not, and yet may think one of the two possible +hypotheses more likely that the other, so he may admit that he has no +means of knowing anything about the spiritual world, and yet may think +one or other of the current views on the subject, to some extent, +probable. + +The second answer is so obviously valid that it needs no discussion. I +draw attention to it simply in justice to those agnostics who may +attach greater value that I do to any sort of pneumatological +speculations; and not because I wish to escape the responsibility of +declaring that, whether Jesus sanctioned the demonological part of +Christianity or not, I unhesitatingly reject it. The first answer, on +the other hand, opens up the whole question of the claim of the +biblical and other sources, from which hypotheses concerning the +spiritual world are derived, to be regarded as unimpeachable +historical evidence as to matters of fact. + +Now, in respect of the trustworthiness of the Gospel narratives, I was +anxious to get rid of the common assumption that the determination of +the authorship and of the dates of these works is a matter of +fundamental importance. That assumption is based upon the notion that +what contemporary witnesses say must be true, or, at least, has always +a _prima facie_ claim to be so regarded; so that if the writers of any +of the Gospels were contemporaries of the events (and still more if +they were in the position of eye-witnesses) the miracles they narrate +must be historically true, and, consequently, the demonology which +they involve must be accepted. But the story of the "Translation of +the blessed martyrs Marcellinus and Petrus," and the other +considerations (to which endless additions might have been made from +the Fathers and the mediaeval writers) set forth in a preceding essay, +yield, in my judgment, satisfactory proof that, where the miraculous +is concerned, neither considerable intellectual ability, nor undoubted +honesty, nor knowledge of the world, nor proved faithfulness as civil +historians, nor profound piety, on the part of eye-witnesses and +contemporaries, affords any guarantee of the objective truth of their +statements, when we know that a firm belief in the miraculous was +ingrained in their minds, and was the pre-supposition of their +observations and reasonings. + +Therefore, although it be, as I believe, demonstrable that we have no +real knowledge of the authorship, or of the date of composition of the +Gospels, as they have come down to us, and that nothing better than +more or less probable guesses can be arrived at on that subject, I +have not cared to expend any space on the question. It will be +admitted, I suppose; that the authors of the works attributed to +Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, whoever they may be, are personages +whose capacity and judgment in the narration of ordinary events are +not quite so well certified as those of Eginhard; and we have seen +what the value of Eginhard's evidence is when the miraculous is in +question. + + * * * * * + +I have been careful to explain that the arguments which I have used in +the course of this discussion are not new; that they are historical +and have nothing to do with what is commonly called science; and that +they are all, to the best of my belief, to be found in the works of +theologians of repute. + +The position which I have taken up, that the evidence in favour of +such miracles as those recorded by Eginhard, and consequently of +mediaeval demonology, is quite as good as that in favour of such +miracles as the Gadarene, and consequently of Nazarene demonology, is +none of my discovery. Its strength was, wittingly or unwittingly, +suggested, a century and a half ago, by a theological scholar of +eminence; and it has been, if not exactly occupied, yet so fortified +with bastions and redoubts by a living ecclesiastical Vauban, that, in +my judgment, it has been rendered impregnable. In the early part of +the last century, the ecclesiastical mind in this country was much +exercised by the question, not exactly of miracles, the occurrence of +which in biblical times was axiomatic, but by the problem: When did +miracles cease? Anglican divines were quite sure that no miracles had +happened in their day, nor for some time past; they were equally sure +that they happened sixteen or seventeen centuries earlier. And it was +a vital question for them to determine at what point of time, between +this _terminus a quo_ and that _terminus ad quem_, miracles came to an +end. + +The Anglicans and the Romanists agreed in the assumption that the +possession of the gift of miracle-working was _prima facie_ evidence +of the soundness of the faith of the miracle-workers. The supposition +that miraculous powers might be wielded by heretics (though it might +be supported by high authority) led to consequences too frightful to +be entertained by people who were busied in building their dogmatic +house on the sands of early Church history. If, as the Romanists +maintained, an unbroken series of genuine miracles adorned the records +of their Church, throughout the whole of its existence, no Anglican +could lightly venture to accuse them of doctrinal corruption. Hence, +the Anglicans, who indulged in such accusations, were bound to prove +the modern, the mediaeval Roman, and the later Patristic miracles +false; and to shut off the wonder-working power from the Church at +the exact point of time when Anglican doctrine ceased and Roman +doctrine began. With a little adjustment--a squeeze here and a pull +there--the Christianity of the first three or four centuries might be +made to fit, or seem to fit, pretty well into the Anglican scheme. So +the miracles, from Justin say to Jerome, might be recognised; while, +in later times, the Church having become "corrupt"--that is to say, +having pursued one and the same line of development further than was +pleasing to Anglicans--its alleged miracles must needs be shams and +impostures. + +Under these circumstances, it may be imagined that the establishment +of a scientific frontier between the earlier realm of supposed fact +and the later of asserted delusion, had its difficulties; and torrents +of theological special pleading about the subject flowed from clerical +pens; until that learned and acute Anglican divine, Conyers Middleton, +in his "Free Inquiry," tore the sophistical web they had laboriously +woven to pieces, and demonstrated that the miracles of the patristic +age, early and late, must stand or fall together, inasmuch as the +evidence for the later is just as good as the evidence for the earlier +wonders. If the one set are certified by contemporaneous witnesses of +high repute, so are the other; and, in point of probability, there is +not a pin to choose between the two. That is the solid and +irrefragable, result of Middleton's contribution to the subject. But +the Free Inquirer's freedom had its limits; and he draws a sharp line +of demarcation between the patristic and the New Testament +miracles--on the professed ground that the accounts of the latter, +being inspired, are out of the reach of criticism. + +A century later, the question was taken up by another divine, +Middleton's equal in learning and acuteness, and far his superior in +subtlety and dialectic skill; who, though an Anglican, scorned the +name of Protestant; and, while yet a Churchman, made it his business +to parade, with infinite skill, the utter hollowness of the arguments +of those of his brother Churchmen who dreamed that they could be both +Anglicans and Protestants. The argument of the "Essay on the Miracles +recorded in the Ecclesiastical History of the Early Ages"[88] by the +present [1889] Roman Cardinal, but then Anglican Doctor, John Henry +Newman, is compendiously stated by himself in the following passage:-- + + If the miracles of Church history cannot be defended by the + arguments of Leslie, Lyttleton, Paley, or Douglas, how many + of the Scripture miracles satisfy their conditions? (p. cvii). + +And, although the answer is not given in so many words, little doubt +is left on the mind of the reader, that, in the mind of the writer, +it is: None. In fact, this conclusion is one which cannot be resisted, +if the argument in favour of the Scripture miracles is based upon that +which laymen, whether lawyers, or men of science, or historians, or +ordinary men of affairs, call evidence. But there is something really +impressive in the magnificent contempt with which, at times, Dr. +Newman sweeps aside alike those who offer and those who demand such +evidence. + + Some infidel authors advise us to accept no miracles which + would not have a verdict in their favour in a court of + justice; that is, they employ against Scripture a weapon + which Protestants would confine to attacks upon the Church; + as if moral and religious questions required legal proof, + and evidence were the test of truth[89] (p. cvii). + +"As if evidence were the test of truth"!--although the truth in +question is the occurrence, or the non-occurrence, of certain +phenomena at a certain time and in a certain place. This sudden +revelation of the great gulf fixed between the ecclesiastical and the +scientific mind is enough to take away the breath of any one +unfamiliar with the clerical organon. As if, one may retort, the +assumption that miracles may, or have, served a moral or a religious +end, in any way alters the fact that they profess to be historical +events, things that actually happened; and, as such, must needs be +exactly those subjects about which evidence is appropriate and legal +proofs (which are such merely because they afford adequate evidence) +may be justly demanded. The Gadarene miracle either happened, or it +did not. Whether the Gadarene "question" is moral or religious, or +not, has nothing to do with the fact that it is a purely historical +question whether the demons said what they are declared to have said, +and the devil-possessed pigs did, or did not, rush over the heights +bounding the Lake of Gennesaret on a certain day of a certain year, +after A.D. 26 and before A.D. 36; for vague and uncertain as New +Testament chronology is, I suppose it may be assumed that the event in +question, if it happened at all, took place during the procuratorship +of Pilate. If that is not a matter about which evidence ought to be +required, and not only legal, but strict scientific proof demanded by +sane men who are asked to believe the story--what is? Is a reasonable +being to be seriously asked to credit statements which, to put the +case gently, are not exactly probable, and on the acceptance or +rejection of which his whole view of life may depend, without asking +for as much "legal" proof as would send an alleged pickpocket to gaol, +or as would suffice to prove the validity of a disputed will? + +"Infidel authors" (if, as I am assured, I may answer for them) will +decline to waste time on mere darkenings of counsel of this sort; but +to those Anglicans who accept his premises, Dr. Newman is a truly +formidable antagonist. What, indeed, are they to reply when he puts +the very pertinent question:-- + + whether persons who not merely question, but prejudge the + Ecclesiastical miracles on the ground of their want of + resemblance, whatever that be, to those contained in + Scripture--as if the Almighty could not do in the Christian + Church what He had not already done at the time of its + foundation, or under the Mosaic Covenant--whether such + reasoners are not siding with the sceptic, + +and + + whether it is not a happy inconsistency by which they + continue to believe the Scriptures while they reject the + Church[90] (p. liii). + +Again, I invite Anglican orthodoxy to consider this passage:-- + + the narrative of the combats of St. Anthony with evil + spirits, is a development rather than a contradiction of + revelation, viz. of such texts as speak of Satan being cast + out by prayer and fasting. To be shocked, then, at the + miracles of Ecclesiastical history, or to ridicule them for + their strangeness, is no part of a scriptural philosophy + (pp. liii-liv). + +Further on, Dr. Newman declares that it has been admitted + + that a distinct line can be drawn in point of character and + circumstance between the miracles of Scripture and of Church + history; but this is by no means the case (p. lv) ... + specimens are not wanting in the history of the Church, of + miracles as awful in their character and as momentous in + their effects as those which are recorded in Scripture. The + fire interrupting the rebuilding of the Jewish temple, and + the death of Arius, are instances, in Ecclesiastical + history, of such solemn events. On the other hand, difficult + instances in the Scripture history are such as these: the + serpent in Eden, the Ark, Jacob's vision for the + multiplication of his cattle, the speaking of Balaam's ass, + the axe swimming at Elisha's word, the miracle on the swine, + and various instances of prayers or prophecies, in which, as + in that of Noah's blessing and curse, words which seem the + result of private feeling are expressly or virtually + ascribed to a Divine suggestion (p. lvi). + +Who is to gainsay our ecclesiastical authority here? "Infidel authors" +might be accused of a wish to ridicule the Scripture miracles by +putting them on a level with the remarkable story about the fire which +stopped the rebuilding of the Temple, or that about the death of +Arius--but Dr. Newman is above suspicion. The pity is that his list of +what he delicately terms "difficult" instances is so short. Why omit +the manufacture of Eve out of Adam's rib, on the strict historical +accuracy of which the chief argument of the defenders of an iniquitous +portion of our present law depends? Why leave out the account of the +"Bene Elohim" and their gallantries, on which a large part of the +worst practices of the mediaeval inquisitors into witchcraft was based? +Why forget the angel who wrestled with Jacob, and, as the account +suggests, somewhat over-stepped the bounds of fair play, at the end of +the struggle? Surely, we must agree with Dr. Newman that, if all these +camels have gone down, it savours of affectation to strain at such +gnats as the sudden ailment of Arius in the midst of his deadly, if +prayerful,[91] enemies; and the fiery explosion which stopped the +Julian building operations. Though the _words_ of the "Conclusion" of +the "Essay on Miracles" may, perhaps, be quoted against me, I may +express my satisfaction at finding myself in substantial accordance +with a theologian above all suspicion of heterodoxy. With all my +heart, I can declare my belief that there is just as good reason for +believing in the miraculous slaying of the man who fell short of the +Athanasian power of affirming contradictories, with respect to the +nature of the Godhead, as there is for believing in the stories of the +serpent and the ark told in Genesis, the speaking of Balaam's ass in +Numbers, or the floating of the axe, at Elisha's order, in the second +book of Kings. + + * * * * * + +It is one of the peculiarities of a really sound argument that it is +susceptible of the fullest development; and that it sometimes leads to +conclusions unexpected by those who employ it. To my mind, it is +impossible to refuse to follow Dr. Newman when he extends his +reasoning, from the miracles of the patristic and mediaeval ages +backward in time, as far as miracles are recorded. But, if the rules +of logic are valid, I feel compelled to extend the argument forwards +to the alleged Roman miracles of the present day, which Dr. Newman +might not have admitted, but which Cardinal Newman may hardly reject. +Beyond question, there is as good, or perhaps better, evidence for the +miracles worked by our Lady of Lourdes, as there is for the floating +of Elisha's axe, or the speaking of Balaam's ass. But we must go still +further; there is a modern system of thaumaturgy and demonology which +is just as well certified as the ancient.[92] Veracious, excellent, +sometimes learned and acute persons, even philosophers of no mean +pretensions, testify to the "levitation" of bodies much heavier than +Elisha's axe; to the existence of "spirits" who, to the mere tactile +sense, have been indistinguishable from flesh and blood; and, +occasionally, have wrested with all the vigour of Jacob's opponent; +yet, further, to the speech, in the language of raps, of spiritual +beings, whose discourses, in point of coherence and value, are far +inferior to that of Balaam's humble but sagacious steed. I have not +the smallest doubt that, if these were persecuting times, there is +many a worthy "spiritualist" who would cheerfully go to the stake in +support of his pneumatological faith; and furnish evidence, after +Paley's own heart, in proof of the truth of his doctrines. Not a few +modern divines, doubtless struck by the impossibility of refusing the +spiritualist evidence, if the ecclesiastical evidence is accepted, and +deprived of any _a priori_ objection by their implicit belief in +Christian Demonology, show themselves ready to take poor Sludge +seriously, and to believe that he is possessed by other devils than +those of need, greed, and vainglory. + +Under these circumstances, it was to be expected, though it is none +the less interesting to note the fact, that the arguments of the +latest school of "spiritualists" present a wonderful family likeness +to those which adorn the subtle disquisitions of the advocate of +ecclesiastical miracles of forty years ago. It is unfortunate for the +"spiritualists" that, over and over again, celebrated and trusted +media, who really, in some respects, call to mind the Montanist[93] +and gnostic seers of the second century, are either proved in courts +of law to be fraudulent impostors; or, in sheer weariness, as it would +seem, of the honest dupes who swear by them, spontaneously confess +their long-continued iniquities, as the Fox women did the other day +in New York.[94] But, whenever a catastrophe of this kind takes place, +the believers are no wise dismayed by it. They freely admit that not +only the media, but the spirits whom they summon, are sadly apt to +lose sight of the elementary principles of right and wrong; and they +triumphantly ask: How does the occurrence of occasional impostures +disprove the genuine manifestations (that is to say, all those which +have not yet been proved to be impostures or delusions)? And, in this, +they unconsciously plagiarise from the churchman, who just as freely +admits that many ecclesiastical miracles may have been forged; and +asks, with calm contempt, not only of legal proofs, but of +common-sense probability, Why does it follow that none are to be +supposed genuine? I must say, however, that the spiritualists, so far +as I know, do not venture to outrage right reason so boldly as the +ecclesiastics. They do not sneer at "evidence"; nor repudiate the +requirement of legal proofs. In fact, there can be no doubt that the +spiritualists produce better evidence for their manifestations than +can be shown either for the miraculous death of Arius, or for the +Invention of the Cross.[95] + +From the "levitation" of the axe at one end of a period of near three +thousand years to the "levitation" of Sludge & Co. at the other end, +there is a complete continuity of the miraculous, with every gradation, +from the childish to the stupendous, from the gratification of a +caprice to the illustration of sublime truth. There is no drawing a +line in the series that might be set out of plausibly attested cases +of spiritual intervention. If one is true, all may be true; if one is +false, all may be false. + + * * * * * + +This is, to my mind, the inevitable result of that method of reasoning +which is applied to the confutation of Protestantism, with so much +success, by one of the acutest and subtlest disputants who have ever +championed Ecclesiasticism--and one cannot put his claims to acuteness +and subtlety higher. + + ... the Christianity of history is not Protestantism. If + ever there were a safe truth it is this.... "To be deep in + history is to cease to be a Protestant."[96] + +I have not a shadow of doubt that these anti-Protestant epigrams are +profoundly true. But I have as little that, in the same sense, the +"Christianity of history is not" Romanism; and that to be deeper in +history is to cease to be a Romanist. The reasons which compel my +doubts about the compatibility of the Roman doctrine, or any other +form of Catholicism, with history, arise out of exactly the same line +of argument as that adopted by Dr. Newman in the famous essay which I +have just cited. If, with one hand, Dr. Newman has destroyed +Protestantism, he has annihilated Romanism with the other; and the +total result of his ambidextral efforts is to shake Christianity to +its foundations. Nor was any one better aware that this must be the +inevitable result of his arguments--if the world should refuse to +accept Roman doctrines and Roman miracles--than the writer of Tract +85. + +Dr. Newman made his choice and passed over to the Roman Church half a +century ago. Some of those who were essentially in harmony with his +views preceded, and many followed him. But many remained; and, as the +quondam Puseyite and present Ritualistic party, they are continuing +that work of sapping and mining the Protestantism of the Anglican +Church which he and his friends so ably commenced. At the present +time, they have no little claim to be considered victorious all along +the line. I am old enough to recollect the small beginnings of the +Tractarian party; and I am amazed when I consider the present position +of their heirs. Their little leaven has leavened if not the whole, +yet a very large lump of the Anglican Church; which is now pretty much +of a preparatory school for Papistry. So that it really behoves +Englishmen (who, as I have been informed by high authority, are all +legally, members of the State Church, if they profess to belong to no +other sect) to wake up to what that powerful organization is about, +and whither it is tending. On this point, the writings of Dr. Newman, +while he still remained within the Anglican fold, are a vast store of +the best and the most authoritative information. His doctrines on +Ecclesiastical miracles and on Development are the corner-stones of +the Tractarian fabric. He believed that his arguments led either +Romeward, or to what ecclesiastics call "Infidelity," and I call +Agnosticism. I believe that he was quite right in this conviction; but +while he chooses the one alternative, I choose the other; as he +rejects Protestantism on the ground of its incompatibility with +history, so, _a fortiori_, I conceive that Romanism ought to be +rejected; and that an impartial consideration of the evidence must +refuse the authority of Jesus to anything more than the Nazarenism of +James and Peter and John. And let it not be supposed that this is a +mere "infidel" perversion of the facts. No one has more openly and +clearly admitted the possibility that they may be fairly interpreted +in this way than Dr. Newman. If, he says, there are texts which seem +to show that Jesus contemplated the evangelisation of the heathen: + + ... Did not the Apostles hear our Lord? and what was _their_ + impression from what they heard? Is it not certain that the + Apostles did not gather this truth from His teaching? (Tract + 85, p. 63). + + He said, "Preach the Gospel to every creature." These words + _need_ have only meant "Bring all men to Christianity + through Judaism." Make them Jews, that they may enjoy + Christ's privileges, which are lodged in Judaism; teach them + those rites and ceremonies, circumcision and the like, which + hitherto have been dead ordinances, and now are living; and + so the Apostles seem to have understood them (_ibid_. p. + 65). + +So far as Nazarenism differentiated itself from contemporary orthodox +Judaism, it seems to have tended towards a revival of the ethical and +religious spirit of the prophetic age, accompanied by the belief in +Jesus as the Messiah, and by various accretions which had grown round +Judaism subsequently to the exile. To these belong the doctrines of +the Resurrection, of the Last Judgment, of Heaven and Hell; of the +hierarchy of good angels; of Satan and the hierarchy of evil spirits. +And there is very strong ground for believing that all these +doctrines, at least in the shapes in which they were held by the +post-exilic Jews, were derived from Persian and Babylonian[97] +sources, and are essentially of heathen origin. + +How far Jesus positively sanctioned all these indrainings of +circumjacent Paganism into Judaism; how far any one has a right to +declare, that the refusal to accept one or other of these doctrines, +as ascertained verities, comes to the same thing as contradicting +Jesus, it appears to me not easy to say. But it is hardly less +difficult to conceive that he could have distinctly negatived any of +them; and, more especially, that demonology which has been accepted by +the Christian Churches, in every age and under all their mutual +antagonisms. But, I repeat my conviction that, whether Jesus +sanctioned the demonology of his time and nation or not, it is doomed. +The future of Christianity, as a dogmatic system and apart from the +old Israelitish ethics which it has appropriated and developed, lies +in the answer which mankind will eventually give to the question, +whether they are prepared to believe such stories as the Gadarene and +the pneumatological hypotheses which go with it, or not. My belief is +they will decline to do anything of the sort, whenever and wherever +their minds have been disciplined by science. And that discipline +must, and will, at once follow and lead the footsteps of advancing +civilisation. + +The preceding pages were written before I became acquainted with the +contents of the May number of the "Nineteenth Century," wherein I +discover many things which are decidedly not to my advantage. It would +appear that "evasion" is my chief resource, "incapacity for strict +argument" and "rottenness of ratiocination" my main mental +characteristics, and that it is "barely credible" that a statement +which I profess to make of my own knowledge is true. All which things +I notice, merely to illustrate the great truth, forced on me by long +experience, that it is only from those who enjoy the blessing of a +firm hold of the Christian faith that such manifestations of meekness, +patience, and charity are to be expected. + +I had imagined that no one who had read my preceding papers, could +entertain a doubt as to my position in respect of the main issue, as +it has been stated and restated by my opponent: + + an Agnosticism which knows nothing of the relation of man to + God must not only refuse belief to our Lord's most undoubted + teaching, but must deny the reality of the spiritual + convictions in which He lived.[98] + +That is said to be "the simple question which is at issue between us," +and the three testimonies to that teaching and those convictions +selected are the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord's Prayer, and the Story +of the Passion. + +My answer, reduced to its briefest form, has been: In the first +place, the evidence is such that the exact nature of the teachings and +the convictions of Jesus is extremely uncertain; so that what +ecclesiastics are pleased to call a denial of them may be nothing of +the kind. And, in the second place, if Jesus taught the demonological +system involved in the Gadarene story--if a belief in that system +formed a part of the spiritual convictions in which he lived and +died--then I, for my part, unhesitatingly refuse belief in that +teaching, and deny the reality of those spiritual convictions. And I +go further and add, that, exactly in so far as it can be proved that +Jesus sanctioned the essentially pagan demonological theories current +among the Jews of his age, exactly in so far, for me, will his +authority in any matter touching the spiritual world be weakened. + +With respect to the first half of my answer, I have pointed out that +the Sermon on the Mount, as given in the first Gospel, is, in the +opinion of the best critics, a "mosaic work" of materials derived from +different sources, and I do not understand that this statement is +challenged. The only other Gospel--the third--which contains something +like it, makes, not only the discourse, but the circumstances under +which it was delivered, very different. Now, it is one thing to say +that there was something real at the bottom of the two discourses--which +is quite possible; and another to affirm that we have any right to +say what that something was, or to fix upon any particular phrase and +declare it to be a genuine utterance. Those who pursue theology as a +science, and bring to the study an adequate knowledge of the ways of +ancient historians, will find no difficulty in providing illustrations +of my meaning. I may supply one which has come within range of my own +limited vision. + +In Josephus's "History of the Wars of the Jews" (chap, xix.), that +writer reports a speech which he says Herod made at the opening of a +war with the Arabians. It is in the first person, and would naturally +be supposed by the reader to be intended for a true version of what +Herod said. In the "Antiquities," written some seventeen years later, +the same writer gives another report, also in the first person, of +Herod's speech on the same occasion. This second oration is twice as +long as the first and, though the general tenor of the two speeches is +pretty much the same, there is hardly any verbal identity, and a good +deal of matter is introduced into the one, which is absent from the +other. Josephus prides himself on his accuracy; people whose fathers +might have heard Herod's oration were his contemporaries; and yet his +historical sense is so curiously undeveloped that he can, quite +innocently, perpetrate an obvious literary fabrication; for one of the +two accounts must be incorrect. Now, if I am asked whether I believe +that Herod made some particular statement on this occasion; whether, +for example, he uttered the pious aphorism, "Where God is, there is +both multitude and courage," which is given in the "Antiquities," but +not in the "Wars," I am compelled to say I do not know. One of the two +reports must be erroneous, possibly both are: at any rate, I cannot +tell how much of either is true. And, if some fervent admirer of the +Idumean should build up a theory of Herod's piety upon Josephus's +evidence that he propounded the aphorism, it is a "mere evasion" to +say, in reply, that the evidence that he did utter it is worthless? + +It appears again that, adopting the tactics of Conachar when brought +face to face with Hal o' the Wynd, I have been trying to get my +simple-minded adversary to follow me on a wild-goose chase through the +early history of Christianity, in the hope of escaping impending +defeat on the main issue. But I may be permitted to point out that +there is an alternative hypothesis which equally fits the facts; and +that, after all, there may have been method in the madness of my +supposed panic. + +For suppose it to be established that Gentile Christianity was a +totally different thing from the Nazarenism of Jesus and his immediate +disciples; suppose it to be demonstrable that, as early as the sixth +decade of our era at least, there were violent divergencies of opinion +among the followers of Jesus; suppose it to be hardly doubtful that +the Gospels and the Acts took their present shapes under the influence +of those divergencies; suppose that their authors, and those through +whose hands they passed, had notions of historical veracity not more +eccentric than those which Josephus occasionally displays: surely the +chances that the Gospels are altogether trustworthy records of the +teachings of Jesus become very slender. And, since the whole of the +case of the other side is based on the supposition that they are +accurate records (especially of speeches, about which ancient +historians are so curiously loose), I really do venture to submit that +this part of my argument bears very seriously on the main issue; and, +as ratiocination, is sound to the core. + +Again, when I passed by the topic of the speeches of Jesus on the +Cross, it appears that I could have had no other motive than the +dictates of my native evasiveness. An ecclesiastical dignitary may +have respectable reasons for declining a fencing match "in sight of +Gethsemane and Calvary"; but an ecclesiastical "Infidel"! Never. It is +obviously impossible that in the belief that "the greater includes the +less," I, having declared the Gospel evidence in general, as to the +sayings of Jesus, to be of questionable value, thought it needless to +select for illustration of my views, those particular instances which +were likely to be most offensive to persons of another way of +thinking. But any supposition that may have been entertained that the +old familiar tones of the ecclesiastical war-drum will tempt me to +engage in such needless discussion had better be renounced. I shall do +nothing of the kind. Let it suffice that I ask my readers to turn to +the twenty-third chapter of Luke (revised version), verse thirty-four, +and he will find in the margin + + Some ancient authorities omit: And Jesus said "Father, + forgive them, for they know not what they do." + +So that, even as late as the fourth century, there were ancient +authorities, indeed some of the most ancient and weightiest, who +either did not know of this utterance, so often quoted as +characteristic of Jesus, or did not believe it had been uttered. + +Many years ago, I received an anonymous letter, which abused me +heartily for my want of moral courage in not speaking out. I thought +that one of the oddest charges an anonymous letter-writer could bring. +But I am not sure that the plentiful sowing of the pages of the +article with which I am dealing with accusations of evasion, may not +seem odder to those who consider that the main strength of the answers +with which I have been favoured (in this review and elsewhere) is +devoted not to anything in the text of my first paper, but to a note +which occurs at p. 212. In this I say: + + Dr. Wace tells us: "It may be asked how far we can rely on + the accounts we possess of our Lord's teaching on these + subjects." And he seems to think the question appropriately + answered by the assertion that it "ought to be regarded as + settled by M. Renan's practical surrender of the adverse + case." + +I requested Dr. Wace to point out the passages of M. Renan's works in +which, as he affirms, this "practical surrender" (not merely as to the +age and authorship of the Gospels, be it observed, but as to their +historical value) is made, and he has been so good as to do so. Now +let us consider the parts of Dr. Wace's citation from Renan which are +relevant to the issue:-- + + The author of this Gospel [Luke] is certainly the same as + the author of the Acts of the Apostles. Now the author of + the Acts seems to be a companion of St. Paul--a character + which accords completely with St. Luke. I know that more + than one objection may be opposed to this reasoning: but one + thing, at all events, is beyond doubt, namely, that the + author of the third Gospel and of the Acts is a man who + belonged to the second apostolic generation; and this + suffices for our purpose. + +This is a curious "practical surrender of the adverse case." M. Renan +thinks that there is no doubt that the author of the third Gospel is +the author of the Acts--a conclusion in which I suppose critics +generally agree. He goes on to remark that this person _seems_ to be a +companion of St. Paul, and adds that Luke was a companion of St. Paul. +Then, somewhat needlessly, M. Renan points out that there is more than +one objection to jumping, from such data as these, to the conclusion +that "Luke" is the writer of the third Gospel. And, finally, M. Renan +is content to reduce that which is "beyond doubt" to the fact that the +author of the two books is a man of the second apostolic generation. +Well, it seems to me that I could agree with all that M. Renan +considers "beyond doubt" here, without surrendering anything, either +"practically" or theoretically. + +Dr. Wace ("Nineteenth Century," March, p. 363) states that he derives +the above citation from the preface to the 15th edition of the "Vie de +Jesus." My copy of "Les Evangiles," dated 1877, contains a list of +Renan's "Oeuvres Completes," at the head of which I find "Vie de +Jesus," 15^e edition. It is, therefore, a later work than the edition +of the "Vie de Jesus" which Dr. Wace quotes. Now "Les Evangiles," as +its name implies, treats fully of the questions respecting the date +and authorship of the Gospels; and any one who desired, not merely to +use M. Renan's expressions for controversial purposes, but to give a +fair account of his views in their full significance, would, I think, +refer to the later source. + +If this course had been taken, Dr. Wace might have found some as +decided expressions of opinion, in favour of Luke's authorship of the +third Gospel, as he has discovered in "The Apostles." I mention this +circumstance, because I desire to point out that, taking even the +strongest of Renan's statements, I am still at a loss to see how it +justifies that large-sounding phrase, "practical surrender of the +adverse case." For, on p. 438 of "Les Evangiles," Renan speaks of the +way in which Luke's "excellent intentions" have led him to torture +history in the Acts; he declares Luke to be the founder of that +"eternal fiction which is called ecclesiastical history"; and, on the +preceding page, he talks of the "myth" of the Ascension--with its +"_mise en scene voulue_." At p. 435, I find "Luc, ou l'auteur quel +qu'il soit du troisieme Evangile"; at p. 280, the accounts of the +Passion, the death and the resurrection of Jesus, are said to be "peu +historiques"; at p. 283, "La valeur historique du troisieme Evangile +est surement moindre que celles des deux premiers." A Pyrrhic sort of +victory for orthodoxy, this "surrender"! And, all the while, the +scientific student of theology knows that, the more reason there may +be to believe that Luke was the companion of Paul, the more doubtful +becomes his credibility if he really wrote the Acts. For, in that +case, he could not fail to have been acquainted with Paul's account of +the Jerusalem conference and he must have consciously misrepresented +it. + +We may next turn to the essential part of Dr. Wace's citation +("Nineteenth Century," p. 365) touching the first Gospel:-- + + St. Matthew evidently deserves peculiar confidence for the + discourses. Here are the "oracles"--the very notes taken + while the memory of the instruction of Jesus was living and + definite. + +M. Renan here expresses the very general opinion as to the existence +of a collection of "logia," having a different origin from the text in +which they are embedded, in Matthew. "Notes" are somewhat suggestive +of a shorthand writer, but the suggestion is unintentional, for M. +Renan assumes that these "notes" were taken, not at the time of the +delivery of the "logia" but subsequently, while (as he assumes) the +memory of them was living and definite; so that, in this very +citation, M. Renan leaves open the question of the general historical +value of the first Gospel; while it is obvious that the accuracy of +"Notes" taken, not at the time of delivery, but from memory, is a +matter about which more than one opinion may be fairly held. Moreover, +Renan expressly calls attention to the difficulty of distinguishing +the authentic "logia" from later additions of the same kind ("Les +Evangiles," p. 201). The fact is, there is no contradiction here to +that opinion about the first Gospel which is expressed in "Les +Evangiles" (p. 175). + + The text of the so-called Matthew supposes the pre-existence + of that of Mark, and does little more than complete it. He + completes it in two fashions--first, by the insertion of + those long discourses which gave their chief value to the + Hebrew Gospels; then by adding traditions of a more modern + formation, results of successive developments of the legend, + and to which the Christian consciousness already attached + infinite value. + +M. Renan goes on to suggest that besides "Mark," "pseudo-Matthew" +used an Aramaic version of the Gospel, originally set forth in that +dialect. Finally, as to the second Gospel ("Nineteenth Century," p. +365):-- + + He [Mark] is full of minute observations, proceeding, beyond + doubt, from an eye-witness. There is nothing to conflict + with the supposition that this eye-witness ... was the + Apostle Peter himself, as Papias has it. + +Let us consider this citation by the light of "Les Evangiles":-- + + This work, although composed after the death of Peter, was, + in a sense, the work of Peter; it represents the way in + which Peter was accustomed to relate the life of Jesus (p. + 116). + +M. Renan goes on to say that, as an historical document, the Gospel of +Mark has a great superiority (p. 116); but Mark has a motive for +omitting the discourses, and he attaches a "puerile importance" to +miracles (p. 117). The Gospel of Mark is less a legend, than a +biography written with credulity (p. 118). It would be rash to say +that Mark has not been interpolated and retouched (p. 120). + +If any one thinks that I have not been warranted in drawing a sharp +distinction between "scientific theologians" and "counsels for +creeds"; or that my warning against the too ready acceptance of +certain declarations as to the state of biblical criticism was +needless; or that my anxiety as to the sense of the word "practical" +was superfluous; let him compare the statement that M. Renan has made +a "practical surrender of the adverse case" with the facts just set +forth. For what is the adverse case? The question, as Dr. Wace puts +it, is, "It may be asked how far can we rely on the accounts we +possess of our Lord's teaching on these subjects." It will be obvious +that M. Renan's statements amount to an adverse answer--to a +"practical" denial that any great reliance can be placed on these +accounts. He does not believe that Matthew, the apostle, wrote the +first Gospel; he does not profess to know who is responsible for the +collection of "logia," or how many of them are authentic; though he +calls the second Gospel the most historical, he points out that it is +written with credulity, and may have been interpolated and retouched; +and, as to the author, "quel qu'il soit," of the third Gospel, who is +to "rely on the accounts" of a writer, who deserves the cavalier +treatment which "Luke" meets with at M. Renan's hands. + +I repeat what I have already more than once said, that the question of +the age and the authorship of the Gospels has not, in my judgment, the +importance which is so commonly assigned to it; for the simple reason +that the reports, even of eye-witnesses, would not suffice to justify +belief in a large and essential part of their contents; on the +contrary, these reports would discredit the witnesses. The Gadarene +miracle, for example, is so extremely improbable, that the fact of its +being reported by three, even independent, authorities could not +justify belief in it, unless we had the clearest evidence as to their +capacity as observers and as interpreters of their observations. But +it is evident that the three authorities are not independent; that +they have simply adopted a legend, of which there were two versions; +and instead of their proving its truth, it suggests their +superstitious credulity: so that if "Matthew," "Mark," and "Luke" are +really responsible for the Gospels, it is not the better for the +Gadarene story, but the worse for them. + +A wonderful amount of controversial capital has been made out of my +assertion in the note to which I have referred, as an _obiter dictum_ +of no consequence to my argument, that if Renan's work[99] were +non-extant, the main results of biblical criticism, as set forth in +the works of Strauss, Baur, Reuss, and Volkmar, for example, would not +be sensibly affected. I thought I had explained it satisfactorily +already, but it seems that my explanation has only exhibited still +more of my native perversity, so I ask for one more chance. + +In the course of the historical development of any branch of science, +what is universally observed is this: that the men who make epochs, +and are the real architects of the fabric of exact knowledge, are +those who introduce fruitful ideas or methods. As a rule, the man who +does this pushes his idea, or his method, too far; or, if he does not, +his school is sure to do so; and those who follow have to reduce his +work to its proper value, and assign it its place in the whole. Not +unfrequently, they, in their turn, overdo the critical process, and, +in trying to eliminate error, throw away truth. + +Thus, as I said, Linnaeus, Buffon, Cuvier, Lamarck, really "set forth +the results" of a developing science, although they often heartily +contradict one another. Notwithstanding this circumstance, modern +classificatory method and nomenclature have largely grown out of the +work of Linnaeus; the modern conception of biology, as a science, and +of its relation to climatology, geography, and geology, are, as +largely, rooted in the results of the labours of Buffon; comparative +anatomy and palaeontology owe a vast debt to Cuvier's results; while +invertebrate zoology and the revival of the idea of evolution are +intimately dependent on the results of the work of Lamarck. In other +words, the main results of biology up to the early years of this +century are to be found in, or spring out of, the works of these men. + +So, if I mistake not, Strauss, if he did not originate the idea of +taking the mythopoeic faculty into account in the development of the +Gospel narratives, and though he may have exaggerated the influence of +that faculty, obliged scientific theology, hereafter, to take that +element into serious consideration; so Baur, in giving prominence to +the cardinal fact of the divergence of the Nazarene and Pauline +tendencies in the primitive Church; so Reuss, in setting a marvellous +example of the cool and dispassionate application of the principles of +scientific criticism over the whole field of Scripture; so Volkmar, in +his clear and forcible statement of the Nazarene limitations of Jesus, +contributed results of permanent value in scientific theology. I took +these names as they occurred to me. Undoubtedly, I might have +advantageously added to them; perhaps, I might have made a better +selection. But it really is absurd to try to make out that I did not +know that these writers widely disagree; and I believe that no +scientific theologian will deny that, in principle, what I have said +is perfectly correct. Ecclesiastical advocates, of course, cannot be +expected to take this view of the matter. To them, these mere seekers +after truth, in so far as their results are unfavourable to the creed +the clerics have to support, are more or less "infidels," or favourers +of "infidelity"; and the only thing they care to see, or probably can +see, is the fact that, in a great many matters, the truth-seekers +differ from one another, and therefore can easily be exhibited to the +public, as if they did nothing else; as if any one who referred to +their having, each and all, contributed his share to the results of +theological science, was merely showing his ignorance; and as if a +charge of inconsistency could be based on the fact that he himself +often disagrees with what they say. I have never lent a shadow of +foundation to the assumption that I am a follower of either Strauss, +or Baur, or Reuss, or Volkmar, or Renan; my debts to these eminent +men--so far my superiors in theological knowledge--is, indeed, great; +yet it is not for their opinions, but for those I have been able to +form for myself, by their help. + +In _Agnosticism: a Rejoinder_ (p. 266), I have referred to the +difficulties under which those professors of the science of theology, +whose tenure of their posts depends on the results of their +investigations, must labour; and, in a note, I add-- + + Imagine that all our chairs of Astronomy had been founded in + the fourteenth century, and that their incumbents were bound + to sign Ptolemaic articles. In that case, with every respect + for the efforts of persons thus hampered to attain and + expound the truth, I think men of common sense would go + elsewhere to learn astronomy. + +I did not write this paragraph without a knowledge that its sense +would be open to the kind of perversion which it has suffered; but, if +that was clear, the necessity for the statement was still clearer. It +is my deliberate opinion: I reiterate it; and I say that, in my +judgment, it is extremely inexpedient that any subject which calls +itself a science should be intrusted to teachers who are debarred from +freely following out scientific methods to their legitimate +conclusions, whatever those conclusions may be. If I may borrow a +phrase paraded at the Church Congress, I think it "ought to be +unpleasant" for any man of science to find himself in the position of +such a teacher. + +Human nature is not altered by seating it in a professorial chair, +even of theology. I have very little doubt that if, in the year 1859, +the tenure of my office had depended upon my adherence to the +doctrines of Cuvier, the objections to them set forth in the "Origin +of Species" would have had a halo of gravity about them that, being +free to teach what I pleased, I failed to discover. And, in making +that statement, it does not appear to me that I am confessing that I +should have been debarred by "selfish interests" from making candid +inquiry, or that I should have been biassed by "sordid motives." I +hope that even such a fragment of moral sense as may remain in an +ecclesiastical "infidel" might have got me through the difficulty; but +it would be unworthy to deny, or disguise, the fact that a very +serious difficulty must have been created for me by the nature of my +tenure. And let it be observed that the temptation, in my case, would +have been far slighter than in that of a professor of theology; +whatever biological doctrine I had repudiated, nobody I cared for +would have thought the worse of me for so doing. No scientific +journals would have howled me down, as the religious newspapers howled +down my too honest friend, the late Bishop of Natal; nor would my +colleagues of the Royal Society have turned their backs upon me, as +his episcopal colleagues boycotted him. + +I say these facts are obvious, and that it is wholesome and needful +that they should be stated. It is in the interests of theology, if it +be a science, and it is in the interests of those teachers of theology +who desire to be something better than counsel for creeds, that it +should be taken to heart. The seeker after theological truth and that +only, will no more suppose that I have insulted him, than the prisoner +who works in fetters will try to pick a quarrel with me, if I suggest +that he would get on better if the fetters were knocked off: unless +indeed, as it is said does happen in the course of long captivities, +that the victim at length ceases to feel the weight of his chains, or +even takes to hugging them, as if they were honourable ornaments.[100] + +FOOTNOTES: + + [81] The substance of a paragraph which precedes this has + been transferred to the Prologue. + + [82] I confess that, long ago, I once or twice made this + mistake; even to the waste of a capital 'U.' 1893. + + [83] "Let us maintain, before we have proved. This seeming + paradox is the secret of happiness" (Dr. Newman: Tract + 85, p. 85). + + [84] Dr. Newman, _Essay on Development_, p. 357. + + [85] It is by no means to be assumed that "spiritual" and + "corporeal" are exact equivalents of "immaterial" and + "material" in the minds of ancient speculators on + these topics. The "spiritual body" of the risen dead + (1 Cor. xv.) is not the "natural" "flesh and blood" + body. Paul does not teach the resurrection of the body + in the ordinary sense of the word "body"; a fact, + often overlooked, but pregnant with many consequences. + + [86] Tertullian (_Apolog. Adv. Gentes_, cap. xxiii) thus + challenges the Roman authorities: let them bring a + possessed person into the presence of a Christian + before their tribunal, and if the demon does not + confess himself to be such, on the order of the + Christian, let the Christian be executed out of hand. + + [87] See the expression of orthodox opinion upon the + "accommodation" subterfuge already cited above, p. 217. + + [88] I quote the first edition (1843). A second edition + appeared in 1870. Tract 85 of the _Tracts for the + Times_ should be read with this _Essay_. If I were + called upon to compile a Primer of "Infidelity," I + think I should save myself trouble by making a + selection from these works, and from the _Essay on + Development_ by the same author. + + [89] Yet, when it suits his purpose, as in the Introduction + to the _Essay on Development_, Dr. Newman can demand + strict evidence in religious questions as sharply as + any "infidel author;" and he can even profess to yield + to its force (_Essay on Miracles_, 1870; note, p. 391). + + [90] Compare Tract 85, p. 110; "I am persuaded that were men + but consistent who oppose the Church doctrines as being + unscriptural, they would vindicate the Jews for + rejecting the Gospel." + + [91] According to Dr. Newman, "This prayer [that of Bishop + Alexander, who begged God to 'take Arius away'] is said + to have been offered about 3 P.M. on the Saturday; that + same evening Arius was in the great square of + Constantine, when he was suddenly seized with + indisposition" (p. clxx). The "infidel" Gibbon seems to + have dared to suggest that "an option between poison + and miracle" is presented by this case; and it must be + admitted, that, if the Bishop had been within the reach + of a modern police magistrate, things might have gone + hardly with him. Modern "Infidels," possessed of a + slight knowledge of chemistry, are not unlikely, with + no less audacity, to suggest an "option between + fire-damp and miracle" in seeking for the cause of the + fiery outburst at Jerusalem. + + [92] A writer in a spiritualist journal takes me roundly + to task for venturing to doubt the historical and + literal truth of the Gadarene story. The following + passage in his letter is worth quotation: "Now to the + materialistic and scientific mind, to the uninitiated + in spiritual verities, certainly this story of the + Gadarene or Gergesene swine presents insurmountable + difficulties; it seems grotesque and nonsensical. To + the experienced, trained, and cultivated Spiritualist + this miracle is, as I am prepared to show, one of the + most instructive, the most profoundly useful, and the + most beneficent which Jesus ever wrought in the whole + course of His pilgrimage of redemption on earth." Just + so. And the first page of this same journal presents + the following advertisement, among others of the same + kidney: + + "To WEALTHY SPIRITUALISTS--A Lady Medium of tried power + wishes to meet with an elderly gentleman who would be + willing to give her a comfortable home and maintenance + in Exchange for her Spiritualistic services, as her + guides consider her health is too delicate for public + sittings: London preferred.--Address 'Mary,' Office of + _Light_." + + Are we going back to the days of the Judges, when + wealthy Micah set up his private ephod, teraphim, and + Levite? + + [93] Consider Tertullian's "sister" ("hodie apud nos"), + who conversed with angels, saw and heard mysteries, + knew men's thoughts, and prescribed medicine for their + bodies (_De Anima_, cap. 9). Tertullian tells us that + this woman saw the soul as corporeal, and described its + colour and shape. The "infidel" will probably be unable + to refrain from insulting the memory of the ecstatic + saint by the remark, that Tertullian's known views + about the corporeality of the soul may have had + something to do with the remarkable perceptive powers + of the Montanist medium, in whose revelations of the + spiritual world he took such profound interest. + + [94] See the New York _World_ for Sunday, 21st October, + 1888; and the _Report of the Seybert Commission_, + Philadelphia, 1887. + + [95] Dr. Newman's observation that the miraculous + multiplication of the pieces of the true cross (with + which "the whole world is filled," according to Cyril + of Jerusalem; and of which some say there are enough + extant to build a man-of-war) is no more wonderful + than that of the loaves and fishes, is one that I do + not see my way to contradict. See _Essay on Miracles_. + 2d ed. p. 163. + + [96] _An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine_, + by J.H. Newman, D.D., pp. 7 and 8. (1878.) + + [97] Dr. Newman faces this question with his customary + ability. "Now, I own, I am not at all solicitous to + deny that this doctrine of an apostate Angel and his + hosts was gained from Babylon: it might still be + Divine nevertheless. God who made the prophet's ass + speak, and thereby instructed the prophet, might + instruct His Church by means of heathen Babylon" + (Tract 85, p. 83). There seems to be no end to the + apologetic burden that Balaam's ass may carry. + + [98] _Nineteenth Century_, May 1889 (p. 701). + + [99] I trust it may not be supposed that I undervalue M. + Renan's labours, or intended to speak slightingly of + them. + + [100] To-day's _Times_ contains a report of a remarkable + speech by Prince Bismarck, in which he tells the + Reichstag that he has long given up investing in + foreign stock, lest so doing should mislead his + judgment in his transactions with foreign states. Does + this declaration prove that the Chancellor accuses + himself of being "sordid" and "selfish"; or does it not + rather show that, even in dealing with himself, he + remains the man of realities? + + + + +X: THE KEEPERS OF THE HERD OF SWINE + +[1890] + + +I had fondly hoped that Mr. Gladstone and I had come to an end of +disputation, and that the hatchet of war was finally superseded by the +calumet, which, as Mr. Gladstone, I believe, objects to tobacco, I was +quite willing to smoke for both. But I have had, once again, to +discover that the adage that whoso seeks peace will ensue it, is a +somewhat hasty generalisation. The renowned warrior with whom it is my +misfortune to be opposed in most things has dug up the axe and is on +the war-path once more. The weapon has been wielded with all the +dexterity which long practice has conferred on a past master in craft, +whether of wood or state. And I have reason to believe that the +simpler sort of the great tribe which he heads, imagine that my scalp +is already on its way to adorn their big chief's wigwam. I am glad +therefore to be able to relieve any anxieties which my friends may +entertain without delay. I assure them that my skull retains its +normal covering, and that though, naturally, I may have felt alarmed, +nothing serious has happened. My doughty adversary has merely +performed a war dance, and his blows have for the most part cut the +air. I regret to add, however, that by misadventure, and I am afraid I +must say carelessness, he has inflicted one or two severe contusions +on himself. + +When the noise of approaching battle roused me from the dreams of +peace which occupy my retirement, I was glad to observe (since I must +fight) that the campaign was to be opened upon a new field. When the +contest raged over the Pentateuchal myth of the creation, Mr. +Gladstone's manifest want of acquaintance with the facts and +principles involved in the discussion, no less than with the best +literature on his own side of the subject, gave me the uncomfortable +feeling that I had my adversary at a disadvantage. The sun of science, +at my back, was in his eyes. But, on the present occasion, we are +happily on an equality. History and Biblical criticism are as much, or +as little, my vocation as they are that of Mr. Gladstone; the blinding +from too much light, or the blindness from too little, may be presumed +to be equally shared by both of us. + +Mr. Gladstone takes up his new position in the country of the +Gadarenes. His strategic sense justly leads him to see that the +authority of the teachings of the synoptic Gospels, touching the +nature of the spiritual world, turns upon the acceptance, or the +rejection, of the Gadarene and other like stories. As we accept, or +repudiate, such histories as that of the possessed pigs, so shall we +accept, or reject, the witness of the synoptics to such miraculous +interventions. + +It is exactly because these stories constitute the key-stone of the +orthodox arch, that I originally drew attention to them; and, in spite +of my longing for peace, I am truly obliged to Mr. Gladstone for +compelling me to place my case before the public once more. It may be +thought that this is a work of supererogation by those who are aware +that my essay is the subject of attack in a work so largely circulated +as the "Impregnable Rock of Holy Scripture"; and who may possibly, in +their simplicity, assume that it must be truthfully set forth in that +work. But the warmest admirers of Mr. Gladstone will hardly be +prepared to maintain that mathematical accuracy in stating the +opinions of an opponent is the most prominent feature of his +controversial method. And what follows will show that, in the present +case, the desire to be fair and accurate, the existence of which I am +bound to assume, has not borne as much fruit as might have been +expected. + +In referring to the statement of the narrators, that the herd of +swine perished in consequence of the entrance into them of the demons +by the permission, or order, of Jesus of Nazareth, I said: + +"Everything that I know of law and justice convinces me that the +wanton destruction of other people's property is a misdemeanour of +evil example" ("Nineteenth Century," February, 1889, p. 172). + +Mr. Gladstone has not found it convenient to cite this passage; and, +in view of various considerations, I dare not assume that he would +assent to it, without sundry subtle modifications which, for me, might +possibly rob it of its argumentative value. But, until the proposition +is seriously controverted, I shall assume it to be true, and content +myself with warning the reader that neither he nor I have any grounds +for assuming Mr. Gladstone's concurrence. With this caution, I proceed +to remark that I think it may be granted that the people whose herd of +2000 swine (more or fewer) was suddenly destroyed suffered great loss +and damage. And it is quite certain that the narrators of the Gadarene +story do not, in any way, refer to the point of morality and legality +thus raised; as I said, they show no inkling of the moral and legal +difficulties which arise. + +Such being the facts of the case, I submit that for those who admit +the principle laid down, the conclusion which I have drawn necessarily +follows; though I repeat that, since Mr. Gladstone does not +explicitly admit the principle, I am far from suggesting that he is +bound by its logical consequences. However, I distinctly reiterate the +opinion that any one who acted in the way described in the story +would, in my judgment, be guilty of "a misdemeanour of evil example." +About that point I desire to leave no ambiguity whatever; and it +follows that, if I believed the story, I should have no hesitation in +applying this judgment to the chief actor in it. + +But, if any one will do me the favour to turn to the paper in which +these passages occur, he will find that a considerable part of it is +devoted to the exposure of the familiar trick of the "counsel for +creeds," who, when they wish to profit by the easily stirred _odium +theologicum_, are careful to confuse disbelief in a narrative of a +man's act, or disapproval of the acts as narrated, with disbelieving +and vilipending the man himself. If I say that "according to +paragraphs in several newspapers, my valued Separatist friend A.B. has +houghed a lot of cattle, which he considered to be unlawfully in the +possession of an Irish land-grabber; that, in my opinion, any such act +is a misdemeanour of evil example; but, that I utterly disbelieve the +whole story and have no doubt that it is a mere fabrication:" it +really appears to me that, if any one charges me with calling A.B. an +immoral misdemeanant I should be justified in using very strong +language respecting either his sanity or his veracity. And, if an +analogous charge has been brought in reference to the Gadarene story, +there is certainly no excuse producible, on account of any lack of +plain speech on my part. Surely no language can be more explicit than +that which follows: + +"I can discern no escape from this dilemma; either Jesus said what he +is reported to have said, or he did not. In the former case, it is +inevitable that his authority on matters connected with the 'unseen +world' should be roughly shaken; in the latter, the blow falls upon +the authority of the synoptic Gospels" (p. 173). "The choice then lies +between discrediting those who compiled the Gospel biographies and +disbelieving the Master, whom they, simple souls, thought to honour by +preserving such traditions of the exercise of his authority over +Satan's invisible world" (p. 174). And I leave no shadow of doubt as +to my own choice: "After what has been said, I do not think that any +sensible man, unless he happen to be angry, will accuse me of +'contradicting the Lord and his Apostles' if I reiterate my total +disbelief in the whole Gadarene story" (p. 178). + +I am afraid, therefore, that Mr. Gladstone must have been exceedingly +angry when he committed himself to such a statement as follows: + + So, then, after eighteen centuries of worship offered to our + Lord by the most cultivated, the most developed, and the + most progressive portion of the human race, it has been + reserved to a scientific inquirer to discover that He was no + better than a law-breaker and an evil-doer.... How, in such + a matter, came the honours of originality to be reserved to + our time and to Professor Huxley? (Pp. 269, 270.) + +Truly, the hatchet is hardly a weapon of precision, but would seem to +have rather more the character of the boomerang, which returns to +damage the reckless thrower. Doubtless such incidents are somewhat +ludicrous. But they have a very serious side; and, if I rated the +opinion of those who blindly follow Mr. Gladstone's leading, but not +light, in these matters, much higher than the great Duke of +Wellington's famous standard of minimum value, I think I might fairly +beg them to reflect upon the general bearings of this particular +example of his controversial method. I imagine it can hardly commend +itself to their cool judgment. + +After this tragi-comical ending to what an old historian calls a +"robustious and rough coming on"; and after some praises of the +provisions of the Mosaic law in the matter of not eating pork--in +which, as pork disagrees with me and for some other reasons, I am much +disposed to concur, though I do not see what they have to do with the +matter in hand--comes the serious onslaught. + + Mr. Huxley, exercising his rapid judgment on the text, does + not appear to have encumbered himself with the labour of + inquiring what anybody else had known or said about it. He + has thus missed a point which might have been set up in + support of his accusation against our Lord. (P. 273.) + +Unhappily for my conduct, I have been much exercised in controversy +during the past thirty years; and the only compensation for the loss +of time and the trials of temper which it has inflicted upon me, is +that I have come to regard it as a branch of the fine arts, and to +take an impartial and aesthetic interest in the way in which it is +conducted, even by those whose efforts are directed against myself. +Now, from the purely artistic point of view (which, as we are all +being told, has nothing to do with morals), I consider it an axiom, +that one should never appear to doubt that the other side has +performed the elementary duty of acquiring proper elementary +information, unless there is demonstrative evidence to the contrary. +And I think, though I admit that this may be a purely subjective +appreciation, that (unless you are quite certain) there is a "want of +finish," as a great master of disputation once put it, about the +suggestion that your opponent has missed a point on his own side. +Because it may happen that he has not missed it at all, but only +thought it unworthy of serious notice. And if he proves that, the +suggestion looks foolish. + +Merely noting the careful repetition of a charge, the absurdity of +which has been sufficiently exposed above, I now ask my readers to +accompany me on a little voyage of discovery in search of the side on +which the rapid judgment and the ignorance of the literature of the +subject lie. I think I may promise them very little trouble, and a +good deal of entertainment. + +Mr. Gladstone is of opinion that the Gadarene swinefolk were "Hebrews +bound by the Mosaic law" (p. 274); and he conceives that it has not +occurred to me to learn what may be said in favour of and against this +view. He tells us that + + Some commentators have alleged the authority of Josephus for + stating that Gadara was a city of Greeks rather than of + Jews, from whence it might be inferred that to keep swine + was innocent and lawful. (P. 273.) + +Mr. Gladstone then goes on to inform his readers that in his +painstaking search after truth he has submitted to the labour of +personally examining the writings of Josephus. Moreover, in a note, he +positively exhibits an acquaintance, in addition, with the works of +Bishop Wordsworth and of Archbishop Trench; and even shows that he has +read Hudson's commentary on Josephus. And yet people say that our +Biblical critics do not equal the Germans in research! But Mr. +Gladstone's citation of Cuvier and Sir John Herschel about the +Creation myth, and his ignorance of all the best modern writings on +his own side, produced a great impression on my mind. I have had the +audacity to suspect that his acquaintance with what has been done in +Biblical history might stand at no higher level than his information +about the natural sciences. However unwillingly, I have felt bound to +consider the possibility that Mr. Gladstone's labours in this matter +may have carried him no further than Josephus and the worthy, but +somewhat antique, episcopal and other authorities to whom he refers; +that even his reading of Josephus may have been of the most cursory +nature, directed not to the understanding of his author, but to the +discovery of useful controversial matter; and that, in view of the not +inconsiderable misrepresentation of my statements to which I have +drawn attention, it might be that Mr. Gladstone's exposition of the +evidence of Josephus was not more trustworthy. I proceed to show that +my previsions have been fully justified. I doubt if controversial +literature contains anything more _piquant_ than the story I have to +unfold. + +That I should be reproved for rapidity of judgment is very just; +however quaint the situation of Mr. Gladstone, as the reprover, may +seem to people blessed with a sense of humour. But it is a quality, +the defects of which have been painfully obvious to me all my life; +and I try to keep my Pegasus--at best, a poor Shetland variety of that +species of quadruped--at a respectable jog-trot, by loading him +heavily with bales of reading. Those who took the trouble to study my +paper in good faith and not for mere controversial purposes, have a +right to know, that something more than a hasty glimpse of two or +three passages of Josephus (even with as many episcopal works thrown +in) lay at the back of the few paragraphs I devoted to the Gadarene +story. I proceed to set forth, as briefly as I can, some results of +that preparatory work. My artistic principles do not permit me, at +present, to express a doubt that Mr. Gladstone was acquainted with the +facts I am about to mention when he undertook to write. But, if he did +know them, then both what he has said and what he has not said, his +assertions and his omissions alike, will require a paragraph to +themselves. + +The common consent of the synoptic Gospels affirms that the miraculous +transference of devils from a man, or men, to sundry pigs, took place +somewhere on the eastern shore of the Lake of Tiberias; "on the other +side of the sea over against Galilee," the western shore being, +without doubt, included in the latter province. But there is no such +concord when we come to the name of the part of the eastern shore, on +which, according to the story, Jesus and his disciples landed. In the +revised version, Matthew calls it the "country of the Gadarenes:" Luke +and Mark have "Gerasenes." In sundry very ancient manuscripts +"Gergesenes" occurs. + +The existence of any place called Gergesa, however, is declared by the +weightiest authorities whom I have consulted to be very questionable; +and no such town is mentioned in the list of the cities of the +Decapolis, in the territory of which (as it would seem from Mark v. +20) the transaction was supposed to take place. About Gerasa, on the +other hand, there hangs no such doubt. It was a large and important +member of the group of the Decapolitan cities. But Gerasa is more than +thirty miles distant from the nearest part of the Lake of Tiberias, +while the city mentioned in the narrative could not have been very far +off the scene of the event. However, as Gerasa was a very important +Hellenic city, not much more than a score of miles from Gadara, it is +easily imaginable that a locality which was part of Decapolitan +territory may have been spoken of as belonging to one of the two +cities, when it really appertained to the other. After weighing all +the arguments, no doubt remains on my mind that "Gadarene" is the +proper reading. At the period under consideration, Gadara appears to +have been a good-sized fortified town, about two miles in +circumference. It was a place of considerable strategic importance, +inasmuch as it lay on a high ridge at the point of intersection of the +roads from Tiberias, Scythopolis, Damascus, and Gerasa. Three miles +north from it, where the Tiberias road descended into the valley of +the Hieromices, lay the famous hot springs and the fashionable baths +of Amatha. On the north-east side, the remains of the extensive +necropolis of Gadara are still to be seen. Innumerable sepulchral +chambers are excavated in the limestone cliffs, and many of them still +contain sarcophaguses of basalt; while not a few are converted into +dwellings by the inhabitants of the present village of Um Keis. The +distance of Gadara from the south-eastern shore of the Lake of +Tiberias is less than seven miles. The nearest of the other cities of +the Decapolis, to the north, is Hippos, which also lay some seven +miles off, in the south-eastern corner of the shore of the lake. In +accordance with the ancient Hellenic practice, that each city should +be surrounded by a certain amount of territory amenable to its +jurisdiction,[101] and on other grounds, it may be taken for certain +that the intermediate country was divided between Gadara and Hippos; +and that the citizens of Gadara had free access to a port on the lake. +Hence the title of "country of the Gadarenes" applied to the locality +of the porcine catastrophe becomes easily intelligible. The swine may +well be imagined to have been feeding (as they do now in the adjacent +region) on the hillsides, which slope somewhat steeply down to the +lake from the northern boundary wall of the valley of the Hieromices +(_Nahr Yarmuk_), about half-way between the city and the shore, and +doubtless lay well within the territory of the _polis_ of Gadara. + +The proof that Gadara was, to all intents and purposes, a Gentile, and +not a Jewish, city is complete. The date and the occasion of its +foundation are unknown; but it certainly existed in the third century +B.C. Antiochus the Great annexed it to his dominions in B.C. 198. +After this, during the brief revival of Jewish autonomy, Alexander +Jannaeus took it; and for the first time, so far as the records go, it +fell under Jewish rule.[102] From this it was rescued by Pompey (B.C. +63), who rebuilt the city and incorporated it with the province of +Syria. In gratitude to the Romans for the dissolution of a hated +union, the Gadarenes adopted the Pompeian era of their coinage. Gadara +was a commercial centre of some importance, and therefore, it may be +assumed, Jews settled in it, as they settled in almost all +considerable Gentile cities. But a wholly mistaken estimate of the +magnitude of the Jewish colony has been based upon the notion that +Gabinius, proconsul of Syria in 57-55 B.C., seated one of the five +sanhedrins in Gadara. Schuerer has pointed out that what he really did +was to lodge one of them in Gadara, far away on the other side of the +Jordan. This is one of the many errors which have arisen out of the +confusion of the names Ga_d_ara, Ga_z_ara, and Ga_b_ara. + +Augustus made a present of Gadara to Herod the Great, as an appanage +personal to himself; and, upon Herod's death, recognising it to be a +"Grecian city" like Hippos and Gaza,[103] he transferred it back to +its former place in the province of Syria. That Herod made no effort +to judaise his temporary possession, but rather the contrary, is +obvious from the fact that the coins of Gadara, while under his rule, +bear the image of Augustus with the superscription [Greek: Sebastos]--a +flying in the face of Jewish prejudices which, even he, did not dare +to venture upon in Judaea. And I may remark that, if my co-trustee of +the British Museum had taken the trouble to visit the splendid +numismatic collection under our charge, he might have seen two coins +of Gadara, one of the time of Tiberius and the other of that of Titus, +each bearing the effigies of the emperor on the obverse: while the +personified genius of the city is on the reverse of the former. +Further, the well-known works of De Saulcy and of Ekhel would have +supplied the information that, from the time of Augustus to that of +Gordian, the Gadarene coinage had the same thoroughly Gentile +character. Curious that a city of "Hebrews bound by the Mosaic law" +should tolerate such a mint! + +Whatever increase in population the Ghetto of Gadara may have +undergone, between B.C. 4 and A.D. 66, it nowise affected the gentile +and anti-judaic character of the city at the outbreak of the great +war; for Josephus tells us that, immediately after the great massacre +of Caesarea, the revolted Jews "laid waste the villages of the Syrians +and their neighbouring cities, Philadelphia and Sebonitis and Gerasa +and Pella and Scythopolis, and after them Gadara and Hippos" ("Wars," +II. xviii. 1). I submit that, if Gadara had been a city of "Hebrews +bound by the Mosaic law," the ravaging of their territory by their +brother Jews, in revenge for the massacre of the Caesarean Jews by the +Gentile population of that place, would surely have been a somewhat +unaccountable proceeding. But when we proceed a little further, to the +fifth section of the chapter in which this statement occurs, the whole +affair becomes intelligible enough. + + Besides this murder at Scythopolis, the other cities rose up + against the Jews that were among them: those of Askelon slew + two thousand five hundred, and those of Ptolemais two + thousand, and put not a few into bonds; those of Tyre also + put a great number to death, but kept a great number in + prison; moreover, those of Hippos and those of Gadara did + the like, while they put to death the boldest of the Jews, + but kept those of whom they were most afraid in custody; as + did the rest of the cities of Syria according as they every + one either hated them or were afraid of them. + +Josephus is not always trustworthy, but he has no conceivable motive +for altering facts here; he speaks of contemporary events, in which he +himself took an active part, and he characterises the cities in the +way familiar to him. For Josephus, Gadara is just as much a Gentile +city as Ptolemais; it was reserved for his latest commentator, either +ignoring, or ignorant of, all this, to tell us that Gadara had a +Hebrew population, bound by the Mosaic law. + +In the face of all this evidence, most of which has been put before +serious students, with full reference to the needful authorities and +in a thoroughly judicial manner, by Schuerer in his classical +work,[104] one reads with stupefaction the statement which Mr. +Gladstone has thought fit to put before the uninstructed public: + + Some commentators have alleged the authority of Josephus for + stating that Gadara was a city of Greeks rather than of + Jews, from whence it might be inferred that to keep swine + was innocent and lawful. This is not quite the place for a + critical examination of the matter; but I have examined it, + and have satisfied myself that Josephus gives no reason + whatever to suppose that the population of Gadara, and still + less (if less may be) the population of the neighbourhood, + and least of all the swine-herding or lower portion of that + population, were other than Hebrews bound by the Mosaic law. + (Pp. 373-4.) + +Even "rapid judgment" cannot be pleaded in excuse for this surprising +statement, because a "Note on the Gadarene miracle" is added (in a +special appendix), in which the references are given to the passages +of Josephus, by the improved interpretation of which, Mr. Gladstone +has thus contrived to satisfy himself of the thing which is not. One +of these is "Antiquities" XVII. xiii. 4, in which section, I regret to +say, I can find no mention of Gadara. In "Antiquities," XVII. xi. 4, +however, there is a passage which would appear to be that Mr. +Gladstone means; and I will give it in full, although I have already +cited part of it: + + There were also certain of the cities which paid tribute to + Archelaus; Strato's tower, and Sebaste, with Joppa and + Jerusalem; for, as to Gaza, Gadara, and Hippos, they were + Grecian cities, which Caesar separated from his government, + and added them to the province of Syria. + +That is to say, Augustus simply restored the state of things which +existed before he gave Gadara, then certainly a Gentile city, lying +outside Judaea, to Herod as a mark of great personal favour. Yet Mr. +Gladstone can gravely tell those who are not in a position to check +his statements: + + The sense seems to be, not that these cities were inhabited + by a Greek population, but that they had politically been + taken out of Judaea and added to Syria, which I presume was + classified as simply Hellenic, a portion of the great Greek + empire erected by Alexander. (Pp. 295-6.) + +Mr. Gladstone's next reference is to the "Wars," III. vii. 1: + + So Vespasian marched to the city Gadara, and took it upon + the first onset, because he found it destitute of a + considerable number of men grown up for war. He then came + into it, and slew all the youth, the Romans having no mercy + on any age whatsoever; and this was done out of the hatred + they bore the nation, and because of the iniquity they had + been guilty of in the affair of Cestius. + +Obviously, then, Gadara was an ultra-Jewish city. Q.E.D. But a student +trained in the use of weapons of precision, rather than in that of +rhetorical tomahawks, has had many and painful warnings to look well +about him, before trusting an argument to the mercies of a passage, +the context of which he has not carefully considered. If Mr. Gladstone +had not been too much in a hurry to turn his imaginary prize to +account--if he had paused just to look at the preceding chapter of +Josephus--he would have discovered that his much haste meant very +little speed. He would have found ("Wars," III. vi. 2) that Vespasian +marched from his base, the port of Ptolemais (Acre), on the shores of +the Mediterranean, into Galilee; and, having dealt with the so-called +"Gadara," was minded to finish with Jotapata, a strong place about +fourteen miles south-east of Ptolemais, into which Josephus, who at +first had fled to Tiberias, eventually threw himself--Vespasian +arriving before Jotapata "the very next day." Now, if any one will +take a decent map of Ancient Palestine in hand, he will see that +Jotapata, as I have said, lies about fourteen miles in a straight line +east-south-east of Ptolemais, while a certain town, "Gabara" (which +was also held by the Jews), is situated, about the same distance, to +the east of that port. Nothing can be more obvious than that +Vespasian, wishing to advance from Ptolemais into Galilee, could not +afford to leave these strongholds in the possession of the enemy; and, +as Gabara would lie on his left flank when he moved to Jotapata, he +took that city, whence his communications with his base could easily +be threatened, first. It might really have been fair evidence of +demoniac possession, if the best general of Rome had marched forty odd +miles, as the crow flies, through hostile Galilee, to take a city +(which, moreover, had just tried to abolish its Jewish population) on +the other side of the Jordan; and then marched back again to a place +fourteen miles off his starting-point.[105] One would think that the +most careless of readers must be startled by this incongruity into +inquiring whether there might not be something wrong with the text; +and, if he had done so, he would have easily discovered that since the +time of Reland, a century and a half ago, careful scholars have read +Ga_b_ara for Ga_d_ara.[106] + +Once more, I venture to point out that training in the use of the +weapons of precision of science may have its value in historical +studies, if only in preventing the occurrence of droll blunders in +geography. + +In the third citation ("Wars," IV. vii.) Josephus tells us that +Vespasian marched against "Gadara," which he calls the metropolis of +Peraea (it was possibly the seat of a common festival of the +Decapolitan cities), and entered it, without opposition, the wealthy +and powerful citizens having opened negotiations with him without the +knowledge of an opposite party, who, "as being inferior in number to +their enemies, who were within the city, and seeing the Romans very +near the city," resolved to fly. Before doing so, however, they, after +a fashion unfortunately too common among the Zealots, murdered and +shockingly mutilated Dolesus, a man of the first rank, who had +promoted the embassy to Vespasian; and then "ran out of the city." +Hereupon, "the people of Gadara" (surely not this time "Hebrews bound +by the Mosaic law") received Vespasian with joyful acclamations, +voluntarily pulled down their wall, so that the city could not in +future be used as a fortress by the Jews, and accepted a Roman +garrison for their future protection. Granting that this Gadara really +is the city of the Gadarenes, the reference, without citation, to the +passage, in support of Mr. Gladstone's contention seems rather +remarkable. Taken in conjunction with the shortly antecedent ravaging +of the Gadarene territory by the Jews, in fact, better proof could +hardly be expected of the real state of the case; namely, that the +population of Gadara (and notably the wealthy and respectable part of +it) was thoroughly Hellenic; though, as in Caesarea and elsewhere among +the Palestinian cities, the rabble contained a considerable body of +fanatical Jews, whose reckless ferocity made them, even though a mere +minority of the population, a standing danger to the city. + +Thus Mr. Gladstone's conclusion from his study of Josephus, that the +population of Gadara were "Hebrews bound by the Mosaic law," turns out +to depend upon nothing better than the marvellously complete +misinterpretation of what that author says, combined with equally +marvellous geographical misunderstandings, long since exposed and +rectified; while the positive evidence that Gadara, like other cities +of the Decapolis, was thoroughly Hellenic in organisation, and +essentially Gentile in population, is overwhelming. + +And, that being the fact of the matter, patent to all who will take +the trouble to enquire about what has been said about it, however +obscure to those who merely talk of so doing, the thesis that the +Gadarene swineherds, or owners, were Jews violating the Mosaic law +shows itself to be an empty and most unfortunate guess. But really, +whether they that kept the swine were Jews, or whether they were +Gentiles, is a consideration which has no relevance whatever to my +case. The legal provisions, which alone had authority over an +inhabitant of the country of the Gadarenes, were the Gentile laws +sanctioned by the Roman suzerain of the province of Syria, just as the +only law, which has authority in England, is that recognised by the +sovereign Legislature. Jewish communities in England may have their +private code, as they doubtless had in Gadara. But an English +magistrate, if called upon to enforce their peculiar laws, would +dismiss the complainants from the judgment seat, let us hope with more +politeness than Gallio did in a like case, but quite as firmly. +Moreover, in the matter of keeping pigs, we may be quite certain that +Gadarene law left everybody free to do as he pleased, indeed +encouraged the practice rather than otherwise. Not only was pork one +of the commonest and one of the most favourite articles of Roman diet; +but, to both Greeks and Romans, the pig was a sacrificial animal of +high importance. Sucking pigs played an important part in Hellenic +purificatory rites; and everybody knows the significance of the Roman +suovetaurilia, depicted on so many bas-reliefs. + +Under these circumstances, only the extreme need of a despairing +"reconciler" drowning in a sea of adverse facts, can explain the +catching at such a poor straw as the reckless guess that the +swineherds of the "country of the Gadarenes" were erring Jews, doing a +little clandestine business on their own account. The endeavour to +justify the asserted destruction of the swine by the analogy of +breaking open a cask of smuggled spirits, and wasting their contents +on the ground, is curiously unfortunate. Does Mr. Gladstone mean to +suggest that a Frenchman landing at Dover, and coming upon a cask of +smuggled brandy in the course of a stroll along the cliffs, has the +right to break it open and waste its contents on the ground? Yet the +party of Galileans who, according to the narrative, landed and took a +walk on the Gadarene territory, were as much foreigners in the +Decapolis as Frenchmen would be at Dover. Herod Antipas, their +sovereign, had no jurisdiction in the Decapolis--they were strangers +and aliens, with no more right to interfere with a pig-keeping Hebrew, +than I have a right to interfere with an English professor of the +Israelitic faith, if I see a slice of ham on his plate. According to +the law of the country in which these Galilean foreigners found +themselves, men might keep pigs if they pleased. If the men who kept +them were Jews, it might be permissible for the strangers to inform +the religious authority acknowledged by the Jews of Gadara; but to +interfere themselves, in such a matter, was a step devoid of either +moral or legal justification. + +Suppose a modern English Sabbatarian fanatic, who believes, on the +strength of his interpretation of the fourth commandment, that it is a +deadly sin to work on the "Lord's Day," sees a fellow Puritan yielding +to the temptation of getting in his harvest on a fine Sunday +morning--is the former justified in setting fire to the latter's corn? +Would not an English court of justice speedily teach him better? + +In truth, the government which permits private persons, on any pretext +(especially pious and patriotic pretexts), to take the law into their +own hands, fails in the performance of the primary duties of all +governments; while those who set the example of such acts, or who +approve them, or who fail to disapprove them, are doing their best to +dissolve civil society; they are compassers of illegality and fautors +of immorality. + +I fully understand that Mr. Gladstone may not see the matter in this +light. He may possibly consider that the union of Gadara with the +Decapolis, by Augustus, was a "blackguard" transaction, which deprived +Hellenic Gadarene law of all moral force; and that it was quite proper +for a Jewish Galilean, going back to the time when the land of the +Girgashites was given to his ancestors, some 1500 years before, to +act, as if the state of things which ought to obtain, in territory +which traditionally, at any rate, belonged to his forefathers, did +really exist. And, that being so, I can only say I do not agree with +him, but leave the matter to the appreciation of those of our +countrymen, happily not yet the minority, who believe that the first +condition of enduring liberty is obedience to the law of the land. + + * * * * * + +The end of the month drawing nigh, I thought it well to send away the +manuscript of the foregoing pages yesterday, leaving open, in my own +mind, the possibility of adding a succinct characterisation of Mr. +Gladstone's controversial methods as illustrated therein. This +morning, however, I had the pleasure of reading a speech which I think +must satisfy the requirements of the most fastidious of controversial +artists; and there occurs in it so concise, yet so complete, a +delineation of Mr. Gladstone's way of dealing with disputed questions +of another kind, that no poor effort of mine could better it as a +description of the aspect which his treatment of scientific, +historical, and critical questions presents to me. + + The smallest examination would have told a man of his + capacity and of his experience that he was uttering the + grossest exaggerations, that he was basing arguments upon + the slightest hypotheses, and that his discussions only had + to be critically examined by the most careless critic in + order to show their intrinsic hollowness. + +Those who have followed me through this paper will hardly dispute the +justice of this judgment, severe as it is. But the Chief Secretary +for Ireland has science in the blood; and has the advantage of a +natural, as well as a highly cultivated, aptitude for the use of +methods of precision in investigation, and for the exact enunciation +of the results thereby obtained. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [101] Thus Josephus (lib. ix.) says that his rival, Justus, + persuaded the citizens of Tiberias to "set the villages + that belonged to Gadara and Hippos on fire; which + villages were situated on the borders of Tiberias and + of the region of Scythopolis." + + [102] It is said to have been destroyed by its captors. + + [103] "But as to the Grecian cities, Gaza and Gadara and + Hippos, he cut them off from the kingdom and added them + to Syria."--Josephus, _Wars_, II. vi. 3. See also + _Antiquities_, XVII. xi. 4. + + [104] _Geschichte des juedischen Volkes im Zeitalter Christi_, + 1886-90. + + [105] If William the Conqueror, after fighting the battle + of Hastings, had marched to capture Chichester and then + returned to assault Rye, being all the while anxious to + reach London, his proceedings would not have been more + eccentric than Mr. Gladstone must imagine those of + Vespasian were. + + [106] See Reland, _Palestina_ (1714), t. ii. p. 771. Also + Robinson, _Later Biblical Researches_ (1856), p. 87 + _note_. + + + + +XI: ILLUSTRATIONS OF MR. GLADSTONE'S CONTROVERSIAL METHODS + +[1891] + + +The series of essays, in defence of the historical accuracy of the +Jewish and Christian Scriptures, contributed by Mr. Gladstone to "Good +Words," having been revised and enlarged by their author, appeared +last year as a separate volume, under the somewhat defiant title of +"The Impregnable Rock of Holy Scripture." + +The last of these Essays, entitled "Conclusion," contains an attack, +or rather several attacks, couched in language which certainly does +not err upon the side of moderation or of courtesy, upon statements +and opinions of mine. One of these assaults is a deliberately devised +attempt, not merely to rouse the theological prejudices ingrained in +the majority of Mr. Gladstone's readers, but to hold me up as a person +who has endeavoured to besmirch the personal character of the object +of their veneration. For Mr. Gladstone asserts that I have undertaken +to try "the character of our Lord" (p. 268); and he tells the many who +are, as I think unfortunately, predisposed to place implicit credit in +his assertions, that it has been reserved for me to discover that +Jesus "was no better than a law-breaker and an evil-doer!" (p. 269). + +It was extremely easy for me to prove, as I did in the pages of this +Review last December, that, under the most favourable interpretation, +this amazing declaration must be ascribed to extreme confusion of +thought. And, by bringing an abundance of good-will to the +consideration of the subject, I have now convinced myself that it is +right for me to admit that a person of Mr. Gladstone's intellectual +acuteness really did mistake the reprobation of the course of conduct +ascribed to Jesus, in a story of which I expressly say I do not +believe a word, for an attack on his character and a declaration that +he was "no better than a law-breaker, and an evil-doer." At any rate, +so far as I can see, this is what Mr. Gladstone wished to be believed +when he wrote the following passage:-- + + I must, however, in passing, make the confession that I did + not state with accuracy, as I ought to have done, the + precise form of the accusation. I treated it as an + imputation on the action of our Lord; he replies that it is + only an imputation on the narrative of three evangelists + respecting Him. The difference, from his point of view, is + probably material, and I therefore regret that I overlooked + it.[107] + +Considering the gravity of the error which is here admitted, the +fashion of the withdrawal appears more singular than admirable. From +my "point of view"--not from Mr. Gladstone's apparently--the little +discrepancy between the facts and Mr. Gladstone's carefully offensive +travesty of them is "probably" (only "probably") material. However, as +Mr. Gladstone concludes with an official expression of regret for his +error, it is my business to return an equally official expression of +gratitude for the attenuated reparation with which I am favoured. + +Having cleared this specimen of Mr. Gladstone's controversial method +out of the way, I may proceed to the next assault, that on a passage +in an article on Agnosticism ("Nineteenth Century," February 1889), +published two years ago. I there said, in referring to the Gadarene +story, "Everything I know of law and justice convinces me that the +wanton destruction of other people's property is a misdemeanour of +evil example." On this, Mr. Gladstone, continuing his candid and +urbane observations, remarks ("Impregnable Rock," p. 273) that, +"Exercising his rapid judgment on the text," and "not inquiring what +anybody else had known or said about it," I had missed a point in +support of that "accusation against our Lord" which he has now been +constrained to admit I never made. + +The "point" in question is that "Gadara was a city of Greeks rather +than of Jews, from whence it might be inferred that to keep swine was +innocent and lawful." I conceive that I have abundantly proved that +Gadara answered exactly to the description here given of it; and I +shall show, by and by, that Mr. Gladstone has used language which, to +my mind, involves the admission that the authorities of the city were +not Jews. But I have also taken a good deal of pains to show that the +question thus raised is of no importance in relation to the main +issue.[108] If Gadara was, as I maintain it was, a city of the +Decapolis, Hellenistic in constitution and containing a predominantly +Gentile population, my case is superabundantly fortified. On the other +hand, if the hypothesis that Gadara was under Jewish government, which +Mr. Gladstone seems sometimes to defend and sometimes to give up, +were accepted, my case would be nowise weakened. At any rate, Gadara +was not included within the jurisdiction of the tetrach of Galilee; if +it had been, the Galileans who crossed over the lake to Gadara had no +official status; and they had no more civil right to punish +law-breakers than any other strangers. + +In my turn, however, I may remark that there is a "point" which +appears to have escaped Mr. Gladstone's notice. And that is somewhat +unfortunate, because his whole argument turns upon it. Mr. Gladstone +assumes, as a matter of course, that pig-keeping was an offence +against the "Law of Moses"; and, therefore, that Jews who kept pigs +were as much liable to legal pains and penalties as Englishmen who +smuggle brandy ("Impregnable Rock," p. 274). + +There can be no doubt that, according to the Law, as it is defined in +the Pentateuch, the pig was an "unclean" animal, and that pork was a +forbidden article of diet. Moreover, since pigs are hardly likely to +be kept for the mere love of those unsavoury animals, pig-owning, or +swine-herding, must have been, and evidently was, regarded as a +suspicious and degrading occupation by strict Jews, in the first +century A.D. But I should like to know on what provision of the Mosaic +Law, as it is laid down in the Pentateuch, Mr. Gladstone bases the +assumption, which is essential to his case, that the possession of +pigs and the calling of a swineherd were actually illegal. The +inquiry was put to me the other day; and, as I could not answer it, I +turned up the article "Schwein" in Riehm's standard "Handwoerterbuch," +for help out of my difficulty; but unfortunately without success. +After speaking of the martyrdom which the Jews, under Antiochus +Epiphanes, preferred to eating pork, the writer proceeds:-- + + It may be, nevertheless, that the practice of keeping pigs + may have found its way into Palestine in the Graeco-Roman + time, in consequence of the great increase of the non-Jewish + population; yet there is no evidence of it in the New + Testament; the great herd of swine, 2,000 in number, + mentioned in the narrative of the possessed, was feeding in + the territory of Gadara, which belonged to the Decapolis; + and the prodigal son became a swineherd with the native of a + far country into which he had wandered; in neither of these + cases is there reason for thinking that the possessors of + these herds were Jews.[109] + +Having failed in my search, so far, I took up the next book of +reference at hand, Kitto's "Cyclopaedia" (vol. iii. 1876). There, under +"Swine," the writer, Colonel Hamilton Smith, seemed at first to give +me what I wanted, as he says that swine "appear to have been +repeatedly introduced and reared by the Hebrew people,[110] +notwithstanding the strong prohibition in the Law of Moses (Is. lxv. +4)." But, in the first place, Isaiah's writings form no part of the +"Law of Moses"; and, in the second place, the people denounced by the +prophet in this passage are neither the possessors of pigs, nor +swineherds, but these "which eat swine's flesh and broth of abominable +things is in their vessels." And when, in despair, I turned to the +provisions of the Law itself, my difficulty was not cleared up. +Leviticus xi. 8 (Revised Version) says, in reference to the pig and +other unclean animals: "Of their flesh ye shall not eat, and their +carcasses ye shall not touch." In the revised version of Deuteronomy, +xiv. 8, the words of the prohibition are identical, and a skilful +refiner might possibly satisfy himself, even if he satisfied nobody +else, that "carcase" means the body of a live animal as well as a dead +one; and that, since swineherds could hardly avoid contact with their +charges, their calling was implicitly forbidden.[111] Unfortunately, +the authorised version expressly says "dead carcase"; and thus the +most rabbinically minded of reconcilers might find his casuistry +foiled by that great source of surprises, the "original Hebrew." That +such check is at any rate possible, is clear from the fact that the +legal uncleanness of some animals, as food, did not interfere with +their being lawfully possessed, cared for, and sold by Jews. The +provisions for the ransoming of unclean beasts (Lev. xxvii. 27) and +for the redemption of their sucklings (Numbers xviii. 15) sufficiently +prove this. As the late Dr. Kalisch has observed in his "Commentary" +on Leviticus, part ii. p. 129, note:-- + + Though asses and horses, camels and dogs, were kept by the + Israelites, they were, to a certain extent, associated with + the notion of impurity; they might be turned to profitable + account by their labour or otherwise, but in respect to food + they were an abomination. + +The same learned commentator (_loc. cit._ p. 88) proves that the +Talmudists forbade the rearing of pigs by Jews, unconditionally and +everywhere; and even included it under the same ban as the study of +Greek philosophy, "since both alike were considered to lead to the +desertion of the Jewish faith." It is very possible, indeed probable, +that the Pharisees of the fourth decade of our first century took as +strong a view of pig-keeping as did their spiritual descendants. But, +for all that, it does not follow that the practice was illegal. The +stricter Jews could not have despised and hated swineherds more than +they did publicans; but, so far as I know, there is no provision in +the Law against the practice of the calling of a tax-gatherer by a +Jew. The publican was in fact very much in the position of an Irish +process-server at the present day--more, rather than less, despised +and hated on account of the perfect legality of his occupation. Except +for certain sacrificial purposes, pigs were held in such abhorrence by +the ancient Egyptians, that swineherds were not permitted to enter a +temple, or to intermarry with other castes; and any one who had +touched a pig, even accidentally, was unclean. But these very +regulations prove that pig-keeping was not illegal; it merely involved +certain civil and religious disabilities. For the Jews, dogs were +typically "unclean animals"; but when that eminently pious Hebrew, +Tobit, "went forth" with the angel "the young man's dog" went "with +them" (Tobit v. 16) without apparent remonstrance from the celestial +guide. I really do not see how an appeal to the Law could have +justified any one in drowning Tobit's dog, on the ground that his +master was keeping and feeding an animal quite as "unclean" as any +pig. Certainly the excellent Raguel must have failed to see the harm +of dog-keeping, for we are told that, on the traveller's return +homewards, "the dog went after them" (xi. 4). + +Until better light than I have been able to obtain is thrown upon the +subject, therefore, it is obvious that Mr. Gladstone's argumentative +house has been built upon an extremely slippery quick-sand; perhaps +even has no foundation at all. + +Yet another "point" does not seem to have occurred to Mr. Gladstone, +who is so much shocked that I attach no overwhelming weight to the +assertions contained in the synoptic Gospels, even when all three +concur. These Gospels agree in stating, in the most express, and to +some extent verbally identical, terms, that the devils entered the +pigs at their own request,[112] and the third Gospel (viii. 31) tells +us what the motive of the demons was in asking the singular boon: +"They intreated him that he would not command them to depart into the +abyss." From this, it would seem that the devils thought to exchange +the heavy punishment of transportation to the abyss for the lighter +penalty of imprisonment in swine. And some commentators, more +ingenious than respectful to the supposed chief actor in this +extraordinary fable, have dwelt, with satisfaction, upon the very +unpleasant quarter of an hour which the evil spirits must have had, +when the headlong rush of their maddened tenements convinced them how +completely they were taken in. In the whole story, there is not one +solitary hint that the destruction of the pigs was intended as a +punishment of their owners, or of the swineherds. On the contrary, the +concurrent testimony of the three narratives is to the effect that +the catastrophe was the consequence of diabolic suggestion. And, +indeed, no source could be more appropriate for an act of such +manifest injustice and illegality. + +I can but marvel that modern defenders of the faith should not be glad +of any reasonable excuse for getting rid of a story which, if it had +been invented by Voltaire, would have justly let loose floods of +orthodox indignation. + + * * * * * + +Thus, the hypothesis, to which Mr. Gladstone so fondly clings, finds +no support in the provisions of the "Law of Moses" as that law is +defined in the Pentateuch; while it is wholly inconsistent with the +concurrent testimony of the synoptic Gospels, to which Mr. Gladstone +attaches so much weight. In my judgment, it is directly contrary to +everything which profane history tells us about the constitution and +the population of the city of Gadara; and it commits those who accept +it to a story which, if it were true, would implicate the founder of +Christianity in an illegal and inequitable act. + +Such being the case, I consider myself excused from following Mr. +Gladstone through all the meanderings of his late attempt to extricate +himself from the maze of historical and exegetical difficulties in +which he is entangled. I content myself with assuring those who, with +my paper (not Mr. Gladstone's version of my arguments) in hand, +consult the original authorities, that they will find full +justification for every statement I have made. But in order to dispose +those who cannot, or will not, take that trouble, to believe that the +proverbial blindness of one that judges his own cause plays no part in +inducing me to speak thus decidedly, I beg their attention to the +following examination, which shall be as brief as I can make it, of +the seven propositions in which Mr. Gladstone professes to give a +faithful summary of my "errors." + +When, in the middle of the seventeenth century, the Holy See declared +that certain propositions contained in the work of Bishop Jansen were +heretical, the Jansenists of Port Royal replied that, while they were +ready to defer to the Papal authority about questions of faith and +morals, they must be permitted to judge about questions of fact for +themselves; and that, really, the condemned propositions were not to +be found in Jansen's writings. As everybody knows, His Holiness and +the Grand Monarque replied to this, surely not unreasonable, plea +after the manner of Lord Peter in the "Tale of a Tub." It is, +therefore, not without some apprehension of meeting with a similar +fate, that I put in a like plea against Mr. Gladstone's Bull. The +seven propositions declared to be false and condemnable, in that +kindly and gentle way which so pleasantly compares with the +authoritative style of the Vatican (No. 5 more particularly), may or +may not be true. But they are not to be found in anything I have +written. And some of them diametrically contravene that which I have +written. I proceed to prove my assertions. + +PROP. 1. _Throughout the paper he confounds together what I had +distinguished, namely, the city of Gadara and the vicinage attached to +it, not as a mere pomoerium, but as a rural district_. + +In my judgment, this statement is devoid of foundation. In my paper on +"The Keepers of the Herd of Swine" I point out, at some length, that, +"in accordance with the ancient Hellenic practice," each city of the +Decapolis must have been "surrounded by a certain amount of territory +amenable to its jurisdiction": and, to enforce this conclusion, I +quote what Josephus says about the "villages that belonged to Gadara +and Hippos." As I understand the term _pomerium_ or _pomoerium_,[113] +it means the space which, according to Roman custom, was kept free +from buildings, immediately within and without the walls of a city; +and which defined the range of the _auspicia urbana_. The conception +of a _pomoerium_ as a "vicinage attached to" a city, appears to be +something quite novel and original. But then, to be sure, I do not +know how many senses Mr. Gladstone may attach to the word "vicinage." + +Whether Gadara had a _pomoerium_, in the proper technical sense, or +not, is a point on which I offer no opinion. But that the city had a +very considerable "rural district" attached to it and notwithstanding +its distinctness, amenable to the jurisdiction of the Gentile +municipal authorities, is one of the main points of my case. + +PROP. 2. _He more fatally confounds the local civil government and its +following, including, perhaps, the whole wealthy class and those +attached to it, with the ethnical character of a general population._ + +Having survived confusion No. 1, which turns out not to be on my side, +I am now confronted in No. 2 with a "more fatal" error--and so it is, +if there be degrees of fatality; but, again, it is Mr. Gladstone's and +not mine. It would appear, from this proposition (about the +grammatical interpretation of which, however, I admit there are +difficulties), that Mr. Gladstone holds that the "local civil +government and its following among the wealthy," were ethnically +different from the "general population." On p. 348, he further admits +that the "wealthy and the local governing power" were friendly to the +Romans. Are we then to suppose that it was the persons of Jewish +"ethnical character" who favoured the Romans, while those of Gentile +"ethnical character" were opposed to them? But, if that supposition is +absurd, the only alternative is that the local civil government was +ethnically Gentile. This is exactly my contention. + +At pp. 379 to 391 of the essay on "The Keepers of the Herd of Swine" I +have fully discussed the question of the ethnical character of the +general population. I have shown that, according to Josephus, who +surely ought to have known, Gadara was as much a Gentile city as +Ptolemais; I have proved that he includes Gadara amongst the cities +"that rose up against the Jews that were amongst them," which is a +pretty definite expression of his belief that the "ethnical character +of the general population" was Gentile. There is no question here of +Jews of the Roman party fighting with Jews of the Zealot party, as Mr. +Gladstone suggests. It is the non-Jewish and anti-Jewish general +population which rises up against the Jews who had settled "among +them." + +PROP. 3. _His one item of direct evidence as to the Gentile character +of the city refers only to the former and not to the latter_. + +More fatal still. But, once more, not to me. I adduce not one, but a +variety of "items" in proof of the non-Judaic character of the +population of Gadara: the evidence of history; that of the coinage of +the city; the direct testimony of Josephus, just cited--to mention no +others. I repeat, if the wealthy people and those connected with +them--the "classes" and the "hangers on" of Mr. Gladstone's +well-known taxonomy--were, as he appears to admit they were, Gentiles; +if the "civil government" of the city was in their hands, as the +coinage proves it was; what becomes of Mr. Gladstone's original +proposition in "The Impregnable Rock of Scripture" that "the +population of Gadara, and still less (if less may be) the population +of the neighbourhood," were "Hebrews bound by the Mosaic law"? And +what is the importance of estimating the precise proportion of Hebrews +who may have resided, either in the city of Gadara or in its +independent territory, when, as Mr. Gladstone now seems to admit (I am +careful to say "seems"), the government, and consequently the law, +which ruled in that territory and defined civil right and wrong was +Gentile and not Judaic? But perhaps Mr. Gladstone is prepared to +maintain that the Gentile "local civil government" of a city of the +Decapolis administered Jewish law; and showed their respect for it, +more particularly, by stamping their coinage with effigies of the +Emperors. + +In point of fact, in his haste to attribute to me errors which I have +not committed, Mr. Gladstone has given away his case. + +PROP. 4. _He fatally confounds the question of political party with +those of nationality and of religion, and assumes that those who took +the side of Rome in the factions that prevailed could not be subject +to the Mosaic Law_. + +It would seem that I have a feline tenacity of life; once more, a +"fatal error." But Mr. Gladstone has forgotten an excellent rule of +controversy; say what is true, of course, but mind that it is decently +probable. Now it is not decently probable, hardly indeed conceivable, +that any one who has read Josephus, or any other historian of the +Jewish war, should be unaware that there were Jews (of whom Josephus +himself was one) who "Romanised" and, more or less openly, opposed the +war party. But, however that may be, I assert that Mr. Gladstone +neither has produced, nor can produce, a passage of my writing which +affords the slightest foundation for this particular article of his +indictment. + +PROP. 5. _His examination of the text of Josephus is alike one-sided, +inadequate, and erroneous._ + +Easy to say, hard to prove. So long as the authorities whom I have +cited are on my side, I do not know why this singularly temperate and +convincing dictum should trouble me. I have yet to become acquainted +with Mr. Gladstone's claims to speak with an authority equal to that +of scholars of the rank of Schuerer, whose obviously just and necessary +emendations he so unceremoniously pooh-poohs. + +PROP. 6. _Finally, he sets aside, on grounds not critical or +historical, but partly subjective, the primary historical testimony on +the subject, namely, that of the three Synoptic Evangelists, who +write as contemporaries and deal directly with the subject, neither of +which is done by any other authority_. + +Really this is too much! The fact is, as anybody can see who will turn +to my article of February 1889 [VII. _supra_], out of which all this +discussion has arisen, that the arguments upon which I rest the +strength of my case touching the swine-miracle, are exactly +"historical" and "critical." Expressly, and in words that cannot be +misunderstood, I refuse to rest on what Mr. Gladstone calls +"subjective" evidence. I abstain from denying the possibility of the +Gadarene occurrence, and I even go so far as to speak of some physical +analogies to possession. In fact, my quondam opponent, Dr. Wace, +shrewdly, but quite fairly, made the most of these admissions; and +stated that I had removed the only "consideration which would have +been a serious obstacle" in the way of his belief in the Gadarene +story.[114] + +So far from setting aside the authority of the synoptics on +"subjective" grounds, I have taken a great deal of trouble to show +that my non-belief in the story is based upon what appears to me to be +evident; firstly, that the accounts of the three synoptic Gospels are +not independent, but are founded upon a common source; secondly, that, +even if the story of the common tradition proceeded from a +contemporary, it would still be worthy of very little credit, seeing +the manner in which the legends about mediaeval miracles have been +propounded by contemporaries. And in illustration of this position I +wrote a special essay about the miracles reported by Eginhard.[115] + +In truth, one need go no further than Mr. Gladstone's sixth +proposition to be convinced that contemporary testimony, even of +well-known and distinguished persons, may be but a very frail reed for +the support of the historian, when theological prepossession blinds +the witness.[116] + +PROP. 7. _And he treats the entire question, in the narrowed form in +which it arises upon secular testimony, as if it were capable of a +solution so clear and summary as to warrant the use of the extremest +weapons of controversy against those who presume to differ from him._ + +The six heretical propositions which have gone before are enunciated +with sufficient clearness to enable me to prove, without any +difficulty, that, whosesoever they are, they are not mine. But number +seven, I confess, is too hard for me. I cannot undertake to contradict +that which I do not understand. + +What is the "entire question" which "arises" in a "narrowed form" upon +"secular testimony"? After much guessing, I am fain to give up the +conundrum. The "question" may be the ownership of the pigs; or the +ethnological character of the Gadarenes; or the propriety of meddling +with other people's property without legal warrant. And each of these +questions might be so "narrowed" when it arose on "secular testimony" +that I should not know where I was. So I am silent on this part of the +proposition. + +But I do dimly discern, in the latter moiety of this mysterious +paragraph, a reproof of that use of "the extremest weapons of +controversy" which is attributed to me. Upon which I have to observe +that I guide myself, in such matters, very much by the maxim of a +great statesman, "Do ut des." If Mr. Gladstone objects to the +employment of such weapons of defence, he would do well to abstain +from them in attack. He should not frame charges which he has, +afterwards, to admit are erroneous, in language of carefully +calculated offensiveness ("Impregnable Rock," pp. 269-70); he should +not assume that persons with whom he disagrees are so recklessly +unconscientious as to evade the trouble of inquiring what has been +said or known about a grave question ("Impregnable Rock," p. 273); he +should not qualify the results of careful thought as "hand-over-head +reasoning" ("Impregnable Rock," p. 274); he should not, as in the +extraordinary propositions which I have just analysed, make assertions +respecting his opponent's position and arguments which are +contradicted by the plainest facts. + +Persons who, like myself, have spent their lives outside the political +world, yet take a mild and philosophical concern in what goes on in +it, often find it difficult to understand what our neighbours call the +psychological moment of this or that party leader, and are, +occasionally, loth to believe in the seeming conditions of certain +kinds of success. And when some chieftain, famous in political +warfare, adventures into the region of letters or of science, in full +confidence that the methods which have brought fame and honour in his +own province will answer there, he is apt to forget that he will be +judged by these people, on whom rhetorical artifices have long ceased +to take effect; and to whom mere dexterity in putting together +cleverly ambiguous phrases, and even the great art of offensive +misrepresentation, are unspeakably wearisome. And, if that weariness +finds its expression in sarcasm, the offender really has no right to +cry out. Assuredly ridicule is no test of truth, but it is the +righteous meed of some kinds of error. Nor ought the attempt to +confound the expression of a revolted sense of fair dealing with +arrogant impatience of contradiction, to restrain those to whom "the +extreme weapons of controversy" come handy from using them. The +function of police in the intellectual, if not in the civil, economy +may sometimes be legitimately discharged by volunteers. + + * * * * * + +Some time ago in one of the many criticisms with which I am favoured, +I met with the remark that, at our time of life, Mr. Gladstone and I +might be better occupied than in fighting over the Gadarene pigs. And, +if these too famous swine were the only parties to the suit, I, for my +part, should fully admit the justice of the rebuke. But, under the +beneficent rule of the Court of Chancery, in former times, it was not +uncommon, that a quarrel about a few perches of worthless land, ended +in the ruin of ancient families and the engulfing of great estates; +and I think that our admonisher failed to observe the analogy--to note +the momentous consequences of the judgment which may be awarded in the +present apparently insignificant action _in re_ the swineherds of +Gadara. + +The immediate effect of such judgment will be the decision of the +question, whether the men of the nineteenth century are to adopt the +demonology of the men of the first century, as divinely revealed +truth, or to reject it, as degrading falsity. The reverend Principal +of King's College has delivered his judgment in perfectly clear and +candid terms. Two years since, Dr. Wace said that he believed the +story as it stands; and consequently he holds, as a part of divine +revelation, that the spiritual world comprises devils, who, under +certain circumstances, may enter men and be transferred from them to +four-footed beasts. For the distinguished Anglican Divine and Biblical +scholar, that is part and parcel of the teachings respecting the +spiritual world which we owe to the founder of Christianity. It is an +inseparable part of that Christian orthodoxy which, if a man rejects, +he is to be considered and called an "infidel." According to the +ordinary rules of interpretation of language, Mr. Gladstone must hold +the same view. + +If antiquity and universality are valid tests of the truth of any +belief, no doubt this is one of the beliefs so certified. There are no +known savages, nor people sunk in the ignorance of partial +civilisation, who do not hold them. The great majority of Christians +have held them and still hold them. Moreover the oldest records we +possess of the early conceptions of mankind in Egypt and in +Mesopotamia prove that exactly such demonology, as is implied in the +Gadarene story, formed the substratum, and, among the early Accadians, +apparently the greater part, of their supposed knowledge of the +spiritual world. M. Lenormant's profoundly interesting work on +Babylonian magic and the magical texts given in the Appendix to +Professor Sayce's "Hibbert Lectures" leave no doubt on this head. They +prove that the doctrine of possession, and even the particular case of +pig, possession,[117] were firmly believed in by the Egyptians and the +Mesopotamians before the tribes of Israel invaded Palestine. And it is +evident that these beliefs, from some time after the exile and +probably much earlier, completely interpenetrated the Jewish mind, and +thus became inseparably interwoven with the fabric of the synoptic +Gospels. + +Therefore, behind the question of the acceptance of the doctrines of +the oldest heathen demonology as part of the fundamental beliefs of +Christianity, there lies the question of the credibility of the +Gospels, and of their claim to act as our instructors, outside that +ethical province in which they appeal to the consciousness of all +thoughtful men. And still, behind this problem, there lies +another--how far do these ancient records give a sure foundation to +the prodigious fabric of Christian dogma, which has been built upon +them by the continuous labours of speculative theologians, during +eighteen centuries? + +I submit that there are few questions before the men of the rising +generation, on the answer to which the future hangs more fatally, than +this. We are at the parting of the ways. Whether the twentieth century +shall see a recrudescence of the superstitions of mediaeval papistry, +or whether it shall witness the severance of the living body of the +ethical ideal of prophetic Israel from the carcase, foul with savage +superstitions and cankered with false philosophy, to which the +theologians have bound it, turns upon their final judgment of the +Gadarene tale. + +The gravity of the problems ultimately involved in the discussion of +the legend of Gadara will, I hope, excuse a persistence in returning +to the subject, to which I should not have been moved by merely +personal considerations. + +With respect to the diluvial invective which overflowed thirty-three +pages of the "Nineteenth Century" last January, I doubt not that it +has a catastrophic importance in the estimation of its author. I, on +the other hand, may be permitted to regard it as a mere spate; noisy +and threatening while it lasted, but forgotten almost as soon as it +was over. Without my help, it will be judged by every instructed and +clear-headed reader; and that is fortunate, because, were aid +necessary, I have cogent reasons for withholding it. + +In an article characterised by the same qualities of thought and +diction, entitled "A Great Lesson," which appeared in the "Nineteenth +Century" for September 1887, the Duke of Argyll, firstly, charged the +whole body of men of science, interested in the question, with having +conspired to ignore certain criticisms of Mr. Darwin's theory of the +origin of coral reefs; and, secondly, he asserted that some person +unnamed had "actually induced" Mr. John Murray to delay the +publication of his views on that subject "for two years." + +It was easy for me and for others to prove that the first statement +was not only, to use the Duke of Argyll's favourite expression, +"contrary to fact," but that it was without any foundation whatever. +The second statement rested on the Duke of Argyll's personal +authority. All I could do was to demand the production of the evidence +for it. Up to the present time, so far as I know, that evidence has +not made its appearance; nor has there been any withdrawal of, or +apology for, the erroneous charge. + +Under these circumstances most people will understand why the Duke of +Argyll may feel quite secure of having the battle all to himself, +whenever it pleases him to attack me. + +[See the note at the end of "Hasisadra's Adventure" (vol iv. p. 283). +The discussion on coral reefs, at the meeting of the British +Association this year, proves that Mr. Darwin's views are defended +now, as strongly as in 1891, by highly competent authorities. October +25, 1893.] + +FOOTNOTES: + + [107] _Nineteenth Century_, February 1891, pp. 339-40. + + [108] Neither is it of any consequence whether the locality + of the supposed miracle was Gadara, or Gerasa, or + Gergesa. But I may say that I was well acquainted with + Origen's opinion respecting Gergesa. It is fully + discussed and rejected in Riehm's _Handwoerterbuch_. In + Kitto's _Biblical Cyclopaedia_ (ii. p. 51) Professor + Porter remarks that Origen merely "_conjectures_" that + Gergesa was indicated: and he adds, "Now, in a question + of this kind conjectures cannot be admitted. We must + implicitly follow the most ancient and creditable + testimony, which clearly pronounces in favour of + Gadarenhon. This reading is adopted by Tischendorf, + Alford, and Tregelles." + + [109] I may call attention, in passing, to the fact that this + authority, at any rate, has no sort of doubt of the + fact that Jewish Law did not rule in Gadara (indeed, + under the head of "Gadara," in the same work, it is + expressly stated that the population of the place + consisted "predominantly of heathens"), and that he + scouts the notion that the Gadarene swineherds were + Jews. + + [110] The evidence adduced, so far as post-exile times are + concerned, appears to me insufficient to prove this + assertion. + + [111] Even Leviticus xi. 26, cited without reference to the + context, will not serve the purpose; because the swine + _is_ "cloven-footed" (Lev. xi. 7). + + [112] 1st Gospel: "And the devils _besought him_, saying, + If Thou cast us out send us away _into_ the herd of + swine." 2d Gospel: "They _besought him_, saying, Send + us _into_ the swine." 3d Gospel: "They _intreated him_ + that he would give them leave to enter _into_ them." + + [113] See Marquardt, _Roemische Staatsverwaltung_, Bd. III. + p. 408. + + [114] _Nineteenth Century_, March 1889 (p. 362). + + [115] "The Value of Witness to the Miraculous." _Nineteenth + Century_, March 1889. + + [116] I cannot ask the Editor of this Review to reprint pages + of an old article,--but the following passages + sufficiently illustrate the extent and the character of + the discrepancy between the facts of the case and Mr. + Gladstone's account of them:-- + + "Now, in the Gadarene affair, I do not think I am + unreasonably sceptical if I say that the existence of + demons who can be transferred from a man to a pig does + thus contravene probability. Let me be perfectly + candid. I admit I have no _a priori_ objection to + offer.... I declare, as plainly as I can, that I am + unable to show cause why these transferable devils + should not exist." ... ("Agnosticism," _Nineteenth + Century_, 1889, p. 177). + + "What then do we know about the originator, or + originators, of this groundwork--of that threefold + tradition which all three witnesses (in Paley's phrase) + agree upon--that we should allow their mere statements + to outweigh the counter arguments of humanity, of + common sense, of exact science, and to imperil the + respect which all would be glad to be able to render to + their Master?" (_ibid._ p. 175). + + I then go on through a couple of pages to discuss the + value of the evidence of the synoptics on critical and + historical grounds. Mr. Gladstone cites the essay from + which these passages are taken, whence I suppose he has + read it; though it may be that he shares the impatience + of Cardinal Manning where my writings are concerned. + Such impatience will account for, though it will not + excuse, his sixth proposition. + + [117] The wicked, before being annihilated, returned to the + world to disturb men; they entered into the body of + unclean animals, "often that of a pig, as on the + Sarcophagus of Seti I. in the Soane + Museum."--Lenormant, _Chaldean Magic,_ p. 88, Editorial + Note. + + +END OF VOL. V + + * * * * * + +THOMAS H. HUXLEY'S WORKS. + +Collected. Essays, 12mo, cloth, $1.25 per volume. + Vol. 1. Method and Results. + " 2. Darwiniana. + " 3. Science and Education. + " 4. Science and Hebrew Tradition. + " 5. Science and Christian Tradition. + " 6. Hume. + " 7. Man's Place in Nature. + " 8. Discourses, Biological and Geological. + " 9. 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