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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/16474-8.txt b/16474-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..28890a5 --- /dev/null +++ b/16474-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8347 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Lectures and Essays, by Thomas Henry 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: Lectures and Essays + +Author: Thomas Henry Huxley + +Release Date: August 8, 2005 [EBook #16474] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LECTURES AND ESSAYS *** + + + + +Produced by Wallace McLean, Hemantkumar N Garach and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + +Lectures and Essays + +BY + +THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY + +MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED + +ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON + +1910 + + + + +THE WORKS OF THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY. + + +THE LIFE AND WORKS OF THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY, F.R.S. _Eversley Series_. + +Twelve vols. Globe 8vo, 4s. net each. + +VOL. I. METHOD AND RESULTS. + II. DARWINIANA. + III. SCIENCE AND EDUCATION. + IV. SCIENCE AND HEBREW TRADITION. + V. SCIENCE AND CHRISTIAN TRADITION. + VI. HUME, WITH HELPS TO THE STUDY OF BERKELEY. + VII. MAN'S PLACE IN NATURE. + VIII. DISCOURSES, BIOLOGICAL AND GEOLOGICAL. + IX. EVOLUTION AND ETHICS, AND OTHER ESSAYS. + X. } + XI. } THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY. + XII. } + + * * * * * + +APHORISMS AND REFLECTIONS FROM THE WORKS OF T.H. HUXLEY. Selected by +HENRIETTA A. HUXLEY. With Portrait. Pott 8vo, _2s. 6d._ net. Also cloth +elegant, _2s. 6d._ net. Limp Leather, _3s. 6d._ net. _Golden Treasury +Series_. + +AMERICAN ADDRESSES. 8vo, _6s. 6d._ + +CRITIQUES AND ADDRESSES. 8vo, _10s. 6d._ + +LESSONS IN ELEMENTARY PHYSIOLOGY. F'cap 8vo, _4s. 6d._ QUESTIONS. +Pott 8vo, _1s. 6d._ + +LAY SERMONS, ADDRESSES, AND REVIEWS. 8vo, _7s. 6d._ + +INTRODUCTORY PRIMER OF SCIENCE. Pott 8vo, _1s._ + +PHYSIOGRAPHY: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF NATURE. Crown 8vo, +_6s._ + +PHYSIOGRAPHY. A New Edition. Revised and partly re-written by R.A. +GREGORY. Globe 8vo, _4s. 6d._ + +SOCIAL DISEASES AND WORSE REMEDIES. Crown 8vo. Sewed, _1s._ net. + +LECTURES AND ESSAYS. 8vo. Sewed. _6d._ + +ESSAYS: ETHICAL AND POLITICAL. 8vo, Sewed. _6d._ + +LIFE OF HUME. Crown 8vo. Library Edition. _2s._ net. Popular Edition, +_1s. 6d._ Sewed. _1s._ F'cap 8vo. Pocket Edition. _1s._ net. _English +Men of Letters._ + + +By Prof. T.H. HUXLEY, assisted by Prof. H.N. MARTIN. + +A COURSE OF ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION IN PRACTICAL BIOLOGY. Revised and +extended by G.B. HOWES and D.H. SCOTT. Crown 8vo, _10s. 6d._ + +MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD., LONDON. + + + + +LECTURES AND ESSAYS + + +BY + +THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY + + + + +MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON 1910 + + + + +CONTENTS. + PAGE + +AUTOBIOGRAPHY 5 + +LECTURES ON EVOLUTION 11 + +ON THE PHYSICAL BASIS OF LIFE 45 + +NATURALISM AND SUPERNATURALISM 57 + +THE VALUE OF WITNESS TO THE MIRACULOUS 71 + +AGNOSTICISM 83 + +THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION IN RELATION TO JUDAIC + CHRISTIANITY 96 + +AGNOSTICISM AND CHRISTIANITY 108 + + +_First Edition, February_ 1902. +_Reprinted, December_ 1902, 1903, 1904, 1910. + + + + +AUTOBIOGRAPHY + + +I was born about eight o'clock in the morning on the 4th of May, 1825, +at Ealing, which was, at that time, as quiet a little country village +as could be found within half-a-dozen miles of Hyde Park Corner. Now it +is a suburb of London with, I believe, 30,000 inhabitants. My father was +one of the masters in a large semi-public school which at one time had a +high reputation. I am not aware that any portents preceded my arrival in +this world, but, in my childhood, I remember hearing a traditional +account of the manner in which I lost the chance of an endowment of +great practical value. The windows of my mother's room were open, in +consequence of the unusual warmth of the weather. For the same reason, +probably, a neighbouring beehive had swarmed, and the new colony, +pitching on the window-sill, was making its way into the room when the +horrified nurse shut down the sash. If that well-meaning woman had only +abstained from her ill-timed interference, the swarm might have settled +on my lips, and I should have been endowed with that mellifluous +eloquence which, in this country, leads far more surely than worth, +capacity, or honest work, to the highest places in Church and State. But +the opportunity was lost, and I have been obliged to content myself +through life with saying what I mean in the plainest of plain language, +than which, I suppose, there is no habit more ruinous to a man's +prospects of advancement. + +Why I was christened Thomas Henry I do not know; but it is a curious +chance that my parents should have fixed for my usual denomination upon +the name of that particular Apostle with whom I have always felt most +sympathy. Physically and mentally I am the son of my mother so +completely--even down to peculiar movements of the hands, which made +their appearance in me as I reached the age she had when I noticed +them--that I can hardly find any trace of my father in myself, except an +inborn faculty for drawing, which unfortunately, in my case, has never +been cultivated, a hot temper, and that amount of tenacity of purpose +which unfriendly observers sometimes call obstinacy. + +My mother was a slender brunette, of an emotional and energetic +temperament, and possessed of the most piercing black eyes I ever saw in +a woman's head. With no more education than other women of the middle +classes in her day, she had an excellent mental capacity. Her most +distinguishing characteristic, however, was rapidity of thought. If one +ventured to suggest she had not taken much time to arrive at any +conclusion, she would say, "I cannot help it, things flash across me." +That peculiarity has been passed on to me in full strength; it has often +stood me in good stead; it has sometimes played me sad tricks, and it +has always been a danger. But, after all, if my time were to come over +again, there is nothing I would less willingly part with than my +inheritance of mother wit. + +I have next to nothing to say about my childhood. In later years my +mother, looking at me almost reproachfully, would sometimes say, "Ah! +you were such a pretty boy!" whence I had no difficulty in concluding +that I had not fulfilled my early promise in the matter of looks. In +fact, I have a distinct recollection of certain curls of which I was +vain, and of a conviction that I closely resembled that handsome, +courtly gentleman, Sir Herbert Oakley, who was vicar of our parish, and +who was as a god to us country folk, because he was occasionally visited +by the then Prince George of Cambridge. I remember turning my pinafore +wrong side forwards in order to represent a surplice, and preaching to +my mother's maids in the kitchen as nearly as possible in Sir Herbert's +manner one Sunday morning when the rest of the family were at church. +That is the earliest indication I can call to mind of the strong +clerical affinities which my friend Mr. Herbert Spencer has always +ascribed to me, though I fancy they have for the most part remained in a +latent state. + +My regular school training was of the briefest, perhaps fortunately, for +though my way of life has made me acquainted with all sorts and +conditions of men, from the highest to the lowest, I deliberately affirm +that the society I fell into at school was the worst I have ever known. +We boys were average lads, with much the same inherent capacity for good +and evil as any others; but the people who were set over us cared about +as much for our intellectual and moral welfare as if they were +baby-farmers. We were left to the operation of the struggle for +existence among ourselves, and bullying was the least of the ill +practices current among us. Almost the only cheerful reminiscence in +connection with the place which arises in my mind is that of a battle I +had with one of my classmates, who had bullied me until I could stand it +no longer. I was a very slight lad, but there was a wild-cat element in +me which, when roused, made up for lack of weight, and I licked my +adversary effectually. However, one of my first experiences of the +extremely rough-and-ready nature of justice, as exhibited by the course +of things in general, arose out of the fact that I--the victor--had a +black eye, while he--the vanquished--had none, so that I got into +disgrace and he did not. We made it up, and thereafter I was unmolested. +One of the greatest shocks I ever received in my life was to be told a +dozen years afterwards by the groom who brought me my horse in a +stable-yard in Sydney that he was my quondam antagonist. He had a long +story of family misfortune to account for his position, but at that time +it was necessary to deal very cautiously with mysterious strangers in +New South Wales, and on inquiry I found that the unfortunate young man +had not only been "sent out," but had undergone more than one colonial +conviction. + +As I grew older, my great desire was to be a mechanical engineer, but +the fates were against this, and, while very young, I commenced the +study of medicine under a medical brother-in-law. But, though the +Institute of Mechanical Engineers would certainly not own me, I am not +sure that I have not all along been a sort of mechanical engineer _in +partibus infidelium_. I am now occasionally horrified to think how very +little I ever knew or cared about medicine as the art of healing. The +only part of my professional course which really and deeply interested +me was physiology, which is the mechanical engineering of living +machines; and, notwithstanding that natural science has been my proper +business, I am afraid there is very little of the genuine naturalist in +me. I never collected anything, and species work was always a burden to +me; what I cared for was the architectural and engineering part of the +business, the working out the wonderful unity of plan in the thousands +and thousands of diverse living constructions, and the modifications of +similar apparatuses to serve diverse ends. The extraordinary attraction +I felt towards the study of the intricacies of living structure nearly +proved fatal to me at the outset. I was a mere boy--I think between +thirteen and fourteen years of age--when I was taken by some older +student friends of mine to the first _post-mortem_ examination I ever +attended. All my life I have been most unfortunately sensitive to the +disagreeables which attend anatomical pursuits, but on this occasion my +curiosity overpowered all other feelings, and I spent two or three hours +in gratifying it. I did not cut myself, and none of the ordinary +symptoms of dissection-poison supervened, but poisoned I was somehow, +and I remember sinking into a strange state of apathy. By way of a last +chance, I was sent to the care of some good, kind people, friends of my +father's, who lived in a farmhouse in the heart of Warwickshire. I +remember staggering from my bed to the window on the bright spring +morning after my arrival, and throwing open the casement. Life seemed to +come back on the wings of the breeze, and to this day the faint odour of +wood-smoke, like that which floated across the farm-yard in the early +morning, is as good to me as the "sweet south upon a bed of violets." I +soon recovered, but for years I suffered from occasional paroxysms of +internal pain, and from that time my constant friend, hypochondriacal +dyspepsia, commenced his half century of co-tenancy of my fleshly +tabernacle. + +Looking back on my "Lehrjahre," I am sorry to say that I do not think +that any account of my doings as a student would tend to edification. In +fact, I should distinctly warn ingenuous youth to avoid imitating my +example. I worked extremely hard when it pleased me, and when it did +not--which was a very frequent case--I was extremely idle (unless making +caricatures of one's pastors and masters is to be called a branch of +industry), or else wasted my energies in wrong directions. I read +everything I could lay hands upon, including novels, and took up all +sorts of pursuits to drop them again quite as speedily. No doubt it was +very largely my own fault, but the only instruction from which I ever +obtained the proper effect of education was that which I received from +Mr. Wharton Jones, who was the lecturer on physiology at the Charing +Cross School of Medicine. The extent and precision of his knowledge +impressed me greatly, and the severe exactness of his method of +lecturing was quite to my taste. I do not know that I have ever felt so +much respect for anybody as a teacher before or since. I worked hard to +obtain his approbation, and he was extremely kind and helpful to the +youngster who, I am afraid, took up more of his time than he had any +right to do. It was he who suggested the publication of my first +scientific paper--a very little one--in the _Medical Gazette_ of 1845, +and most kindly corrected the literary faults which abounded in it, +short as it was; for at that time, and for many years afterwards, +I detested the trouble of writing, and would take no pains over it. + +It was in the early spring of 1846, that having finished my obligatory +medical studies and passed the first M.B. examination at the London +University--though I was still too young to qualify at the College of +Surgeons--I was talking to a fellow-student (the present eminent +physician, Sir Joseph Fayrer), and wondering what I should do to meet +the imperative necessity for earning my own bread, when my friend +suggested that I should write to Sir William Burnett, at that time +Director-General for the Medical Service of the Navy, for an +appointment. I thought this rather a strong thing to do, as Sir William +was personally unknown to me, but my cheery friend would not listen to +my scruples, so I went to my lodgings and wrote the best letter I could +devise. A few days afterwards I received the usual official circular of +acknowledgment, but at the bottom there was written an instruction to +call at Somerset House on such a day. I thought that looked like +business, so at the appointed time I called and sent in my card, while I +waited in Sir William's ante-room. He was a tall, shrewd-looking old +gentleman, with a broad Scotch accent--and I think I see him now as he +entered with my card in his hand. The first thing he did was to return +it, with the frugal reminder that I should probably find it useful on +some other occasion. The second was to ask whether I was an Irishman. I +suppose the air of modesty about my appeal must have struck him. I +satisfied the Director-General that I was English to the backbone, and +he made some inquiries as to my student career, finally desiring me to +hold myself ready for examination. Having passed this, I was in Her +Majesty's Service, and entered on the books of Nelson's old ship, the +_Victory_, for duty at Haslar Hospital, about a couple of months after I +made my application. + +My official chief at Haslar was a very remarkable person, the late Sir +John Richardson, an excellent naturalist, and far-famed as an +indomitable Arctic traveller. He was a silent, reserved man, outside the +circle of his family and intimates; and, having a full share of youthful +vanity, I was extremely disgusted to find that "Old John," as we +irreverent youngsters called him, took not the slightest notice of my +worshipful self either the first time I attended him, as it was my duty +to do, or for some weeks afterwards. I am afraid to think of the lengths +to which my tongue may have run on the subject of the churlishness of +the chief, who was, in truth, one of the kindest-hearted and most +considerate of men. But one day, as I was crossing the hospital square, +Sir John stopped me, and heaped coals of fire on my head by telling me +that he had tried to get me one of the resident appointments, much +coveted by the assistant-surgeons, but that the Admiralty had put in +another man. "However," said he, "I mean to keep you here till I can get +you something you will like," and turned upon his heel without waiting +for the thanks I stammered out. That explained how it was I had not been +packed off to the West Coast of Africa like some of my juniors, and why, +eventually, I remained altogether seven months at Haslar. + +After a long interval, during which "Old John" ignored my existence +almost as completely as before, he stopped me again as we met in a +casual way, and describing the service on which the _Rattlesnake_ was +likely to be employed, said that Captain Owen Stanley, who was to +command the ship, had asked him to recommend an assistant surgeon who +knew something of science; would I like that? Of course I jumped at the +offer. "Very well, I give you leave; go to London at once and see +Captain Stanley." I went, saw my future commander, who was very civil to +me, and promised to ask that I should be appointed to his ship, as in +due time I was. It is a singular thing that, during the few months of my +stay at Haslar, I had among my messmates two future Directors-General of +the Medical Service of the Navy (Sir Alexander Armstrong and Sir John +Watt-Reid), with the present President of the College of Physicians and +my kindest of doctors, Sir Andrew Clark. + +Life on board Her Majesty's ships in those days was a very different +affair from what it is now, and ours was exceptionally rough, as we were +often many months without receiving letters or seeing any civilised +people but ourselves. In exchange, we had the interest of being about +the last voyagers, I suppose, to whom it could be possible to meet with +people who knew nothing of fire-arms--as we did on the south Coast of +New Guinea--and of making acquaintance with a variety of interesting +savage and semi-civilised people. But, apart from experience of this +kind and the opportunities offered for scientific work, to me, +personally, the cruise was extremely valuable. It was good for me to +live under sharp discipline; to be down on the realities of existence by +living on bare necessaries; to find out how extremely well worth living +life seemed to be when one woke up from a night's rest on a soft plank, +with the sky for canopy and cocoa and weevilly biscuit the sole prospect +for breakfast; and, more especially, to learn to work for the sake of +what I got for myself out of it, even if it all went to the bottom and I +along with it. My brother officers were as good fellows as sailors ought +to be and generally are, but, naturally, they neither knew nor cared +anything about my pursuits, nor understood why I should be so zealous in +pursuit of the objects which my friends, the middies, christened +"Buffons," after the title conspicuous on a volume of the "Suites à +Buffon," which stood on my shelf in the chart room. + +During the four years of our absence, I sent home communication after +communication to the "Linnean Society;" with the same result as that +obtained by Noah when he sent the raven out of his ark. Tired at last of +hearing nothing about them, I determined to do or die, and in 1849 I +drew up a more elaborate paper and forwarded it to the Royal Society. +This was my dove, if I had only known it. But owing to the movements of +the ship, I heard nothing of that either until my return to England in +the latter end of the year 1850, when I found that it was printed and +published, and that a huge packet of separate copies awaited me. When I +hear some of my young friends complain of want of sympathy and +encouragement, I am inclined to think that my naval life was not the +least valuable part of my education. + +Three years after my return were occupied by a battle between my +scientific friends on the one hand and the Admiralty on the other, as to +whether the latter ought, or ought not, to act up to the spirit of a +pledge they had given to encourage officers who had done scientific work +by contributing to the expense of publishing mine. At last the +Admiralty, getting tired, I suppose, cut short the discussion by +ordering me to join a ship, which thing I declined to do, and as +Rastignac, in the "Père Goriot," says to Paris, I said to London, "_à +nous deux_." I desired to obtain a Professorship of either Physiology or +Comparative Anatomy, and as vacancies occurred I applied, but in vain. +My friend, Professor Tyndall, and I were candidates at the same time, he +for the Chair of Physics and I for that of Natural History in the +University of Toronto, which, fortunately, as it turned out, would not +look at either of us. I say fortunately, not from any lack of respect +for Toronto, but because I soon made up my mind that London was the +place for me, and hence I have steadily declined the inducements to +leave it, which have at various times been offered. At last, in 1854, on +the translation of my warm friend Edward Forbes, to Edinburgh, Sir Henry +De la Beche, the Director-General of the Geological Survey, offered me +the post Forbes vacated of Paleontologist and Lecturer on Natural +History. I refused the former point blank, and accepted the latter only +provisionally, telling Sir Henry that I did not care for fossils, and +that I should give up Natural History as soon as I could get a +physiological post. But I held the office for thirty-one years, and a +large part of my work has been paleontological. + +At that time I disliked public speaking, and had a firm conviction that +I should break down every time I opened my mouth. I believe I had every +fault a speaker could have (except talking at random or indulging in +rhetoric), when I spoke to the first important audience I ever +addressed, on a Friday evening: at the Royal Institution, in 1852. Yet, +I must confess to having been guilty, _malgré moi_, of as much public +speaking as most of my contemporaries, and for the last ten years it +ceased to be so much of a bugbear to me. I used to pity myself for +having to go through this training, but I am now more disposed to +compassionate the unfortunate audiences, especially my ever-friendly +hearers at the Royal Institution, who were the subjects of my oratorical +experiments. + +The last thing that it would be proper for me to do would be to speak of +the work of my life, or to say at the end of the day whether I think I +have earned my wages or not. Men are said to be partial judges of +themselves. Young men may be; I doubt if old men are. Life seems +terribly foreshortened as they look back, and the mountain they set +themselves to climb in youth turns out to be a mere spur of immeasurably +higher ranges when, with failing breath, they reach the top. But if I +may speak of the objects I have had more or less definitely in view +since I began the ascent of my hillock, they are briefly these: To +promote the increase of natural knowledge and to forward the application +of scientific methods of investigation to all the problems of life to +the best of my ability, in the conviction which has grown with my growth +and strengthened with my strength, that there is no alleviation for the +sufferings of mankind except veracity of thought and of action, and the +resolute facing of the world as it is when the garment of make-believe +by which pious hands have hidden its uglier features is stripped off. + +It is with this intent that I have subordinated any reasonable, or +unreasonable, ambition for scientific fame which I may have permitted +myself to entertain to other ends; to the popularisation of science; to +the development and organisation of scientific education; to the +endless series of battles and skirmishes over evolution; and to untiring +opposition to that ecclesiastical spirit, that clericalism, which in +England, as everywhere else, and to whatever denomination it may belong, +is the deadly enemy of science. + +In striving for the attainment of these objects, I have been but one +among many, and I shall be well content to be remembered, or even not +remembered, as such. Circumstances, among which I am proud to reckon the +devoted kindness of many friends, have led to my occupation of various +prominent positions, among which the Presidency of the Royal Society is +the highest. It would be mock modesty on my part, with these and other +scientific honours which have been bestowed upon me, to pretend that I +have not succeeded in the career which I have followed, rather because I +was driven into it than of my own free will; but I am afraid I should +not count even these things as marks of success if I could not hope that +I had somewhat helped that movement of opinion which has been called the +New Reformation. + + + + +LECTURES AND ESSAYS + +LECTURES ON EVOLUTION + +[NEW YORK; 1876] + + +I + +THE THREE HYPOTHESES RESPECTING THE HISTORY OF NATURE + +We live in and form part of a system of things of immense diversity and +perplexity, which we call Nature; and it is a matter of the deepest +interest to all of us that we should form just conceptions of the +constitution of that system and of its past history. With relation to +this universe, man is, in extent, little more than a mathematical point; +in duration but a fleeting shadow; he is a mere reed shaken in the winds +of force. But as Pascal long ago remarked, although a mere reed, he is a +thinking reed; and in virtue of that wonderful capacity of thought, he +has the power of framing for himself a symbolic conception of the +universe, which, although doubtless highly imperfect and inadequate as a +picture of the great whole, is yet sufficient to serve him as a chart +for the guidance of his practical affairs. It has taken long ages of +toilsome and often fruitless labour to enable man to look steadily at +the shifting scenes of the phantasmagoria of Nature, to notice what is +fixed among her fluctuations, and what is regular among her apparent +irregularities; and it is only comparatively lately, within the last few +centuries, that the conception of a universal order and of a definite +course of things, which we term the course of Nature, has emerged. + +But, once originated, the conception of the constancy of the order of +Nature has become the dominant idea of modern thought. To any person who +is familiar with the facts upon which that conception is based, and is +competent to estimate their significance, it has ceased to be +conceivable that chance should have any place in the universe, or that +events should depend upon any but the natural sequence of cause and +effect. We have come to look upon the present as the child of the past +and as the parent of the future; and, as we have excluded chance from a +place in the universe, so we ignore, even as a possibility, the notion +of any interference with the order of Nature. Whatever may be men's +speculative doctrines, it is quite certain that every intelligent person +guides his life and risks his fortune upon the belief that the order of +Nature is constant, and that the chain of natural causation is never +broken. + +In fact, no belief which we entertain has so complete a logical basis as +that to which I have just referred. It tacitly underlies every process +of reasoning; it is the foundation of every act of the will. It is based +upon the broadest induction, and it is verified by the most constant, +regular, and universal of deductive processes. But we must recollect +that any human belief, however broad its basis, however defensible it +may seem, is, after all, only a probable belief, and that our widest and +safest generalisations are simply statements of the highest degree of +probability. Though we are quite clear about the constancy of the order +of Nature, at the present time, and in the present state of things, it +by no means necessarily follows that we are justified in expanding this +generalisation into the infinite past, and in denying, absolutely, that +there may have been a time when Nature did not follow a fixed order, +when the relations of cause and effect were not definite, and when +extra-natural agencies interfered with the general course of Nature. +Cautious men will allow that a universe so different from that which we +know may have existed; just as a very candid thinker may admit that a +world in which two and two do not make four, and in which two straight +lines do inclose a space, may exist. But the same caution which forces +the admission of such possibilities demands a great deal of evidence +before it recognises them to be anything more substantial. And when it +is asserted that, so many thousand years ago, events occurred in a +manner utterly foreign to and inconsistent with the existing laws of +Nature, men who without being particularly cautious are simply honest +thinkers, unwilling to deceive themselves or delude others, ask for +trustworthy evidence of the fact. + +Did things so happen or did they not? This is a historical question, and +one the answer to which must be sought in the same way as the solution +of any other historical problem. + + * * * * * + +So far as I know, there are only three hypotheses which ever have been +entertained, or which well can be entertained, respecting the past +history of Nature. I will, in the first place, state the hypotheses, and +then I will consider what evidence bearing upon them is in our +possession, and by what light of criticism that evidence is to be +interpreted. + +Upon the first hypothesis, the assumption is, that phenomena of Nature +similar to those exhibited by the present world have always existed; in +other words, that the universe has existed, from all eternity, in what +may be broadly termed its present condition. + +The second hypothesis is that the present state of things has had only a +limited duration; and that, at some period in the past, a condition of +the world, essentially similar to that which we now know, came into +existence, without any precedent condition from which it could have +naturally proceeded. The assumption that successive states of Nature +have arisen, each without any relation of natural causation to an +antecedent state, is a mere modification of this second hypothesis. + +The third hypothesis also assumes that the present state of things has +had but a limited duration; but it supposes that this state has been +evolved by a natural process from an antecedent state, and that from +another, and so on; and, on this hypothesis, the attempt to assign any +limit to the series of past changes is, usually, given up. + +It is so needful to form clear and distinct notions of what is really +meant by each of these hypotheses that I will ask you to imagine what, +according to each, would have been visible to a spectator of the events +which constitute the history of the earth. On the first hypothesis, +however far back in time that spectator might be placed, he would see a +world essentially, though perhaps not in all its details, similar to +that which now exists. The animals which existed would be the ancestors +of those which now live, and similar to them; the plants, in like +manner, would be such as we know; and the mountains, plains, and waters +would foreshadow the salient features of our present land and water. +This view was held more or less distinctly, sometimes combined with the +notion of recurrent cycles of change, in ancient times; and its +influence has been felt down to the present day. It is worthy of remark +that it is a hypothesis which is not inconsistent with the doctrine of +Uniformitarianism, with which geologists are familiar. That doctrine was +held by Hutton, and in his earlier days by Lyell. Hutton was struck by +the demonstration of astronomers that the perturbations of the planetary +bodies, however great they may be, yet sooner or later right themselves; +and that the solar system possesses a self-adjusting power by which +these aberrations are all brought back to a mean condition. Hutton +imagined that the like might be true of terrestrial changes; although no +one recognised more clearly than he the fact that the dry land is being +constantly washed down by rain and rivers and deposited in the sea; and +that thus, in a longer or shorter time, the inequalities of the earth's +surface must be levelled, and its high lands brought down to the ocean. +But, taking into account the internal forces of the earth, which, +upheaving the sea bottom, give rise to new land, he thought that these +operations of degradation and elevation might compensate each other; and +that thus, for any assignable time, the general features of our planet +might remain what they are. And inasmuch as, under these circumstances, +there need be no limit to the propagation of animals and plants, it is +clear that the consistent working-out of the uniformitarian idea might +lead to the conception of the eternity of the world. Not that I mean to +say that either Hutton or Lyell held this conception--assuredly not; +they would have been the first to repudiate it. Nevertheless, the +logical development of some of their arguments tends directly towards +this hypothesis. + +The second hypothesis supposes that the present order of things, at some +no very remote time, had a sudden origin, and that the world, such as it +now is, had chaos for its phenomenal antecedent. That is the doctrine +which you will find stated most fully and clearly in the immortal poem +of John Milton--the English _Divina Commedia_--"Paradise Lost." I +believe it is largely to the influence of that remarkable work, combined +with the daily teachings to which we have all listened in our childhood, +that this hypothesis owes its general wide diffusion as one of the +current beliefs of English-speaking people. If you turn to the seventh +book of "Paradise Lost," you will find there stated the hypothesis to +which I refer, which is briefly this: That this visible universe of ours +came into existence at no great distance of time from the present; and +that the parts of which it is composed made their appearance, in a +certain definite order, in the space of six natural days, in such a +manner that, on the first of these days, light appeared; that, on the +second, the firmament, or sky, separated the waters above, from the +waters beneath, the firmament; that, on the third day, the waters drew +away from the dry land, and upon it a varied vegetable life, similar to +that which now exists, made its appearance; that the fourth day was +signalised by the apparition of the sun, the stars, the moon, and the +planets; that, on the fifth day, aquatic animals originated within the +waters; that, on the sixth day, the earth gave rise to our four-footed +terrestrial creatures, and to all varieties of terrestrial animals +except birds, which had appeared on the preceding day; and, finally, +that man appeared upon the earth, and the emergence of the universe from +chaos was finished. Milton tells us, without the least ambiguity, what a +spectator of these marvellous occurrences would have witnessed. I doubt +not that his poem is familiar to all of you, but I should like to recall +one passage to your minds, in order that I may be justified in what I +have said regarding the perfectly concrete, definite, picture of the +origin of the animal world which Milton draws. He says:-- + + "The sixth, and of creation last, arose + With evening harps and matin, when God said, + 'Let the earth bring forth soul living in her kind, + Cattle and creeping things, and beast of the earth, + Each in their kind!' The earth obeyed, and, straight + Opening her fertile womb, teemed at a birth + Innumerous living creatures, perfect forms, + Limbed and full-grown. Out of the ground uprose, + As from his lair, the wild beast, where he wons + In forest wild, in thicket, brake, or den; + Among the trees in pairs they rose, they walked; + The cattle in the fields and meadows green; + Those rare and solitary; these in flocks + Pasturing at once, and in broad herds upsprung. + The grassy clods now calved; now half appears + The tawny lion, pawing to get free + His hinder parts--then springs, as broke from bonds, + And rampant shakes his brinded mane; the ounce, + The libbard, and the tiger, as the mole + Rising, the crumbled earth above them threw + In hillocks; the swift stag from underground + Bore up his branching head; scarce from his mould + Behemoth, biggest born of earth, upheaved + His vastness; fleeced the flocks and bleating rose + As plants; ambiguous between sea and land, + The river-horse and scaly crocodile. + At once came forth whatever creeps the ground, + Insect or worm. + +There is no doubt as to the meaning of this statement, nor as to what a +man of Milton's genius expected would have been actually visible to an +eye-witness of this mode of origination of living things. + +The third hypothesis, or the hypothesis of evolution, supposes that, at +any comparatively late period of past time, our imaginary spectator +would meet with a state of things very similar to that which now +obtains; but that the likeness of the past to the present would +gradually become less and less, in proportion to the remoteness of his +period of observation from the present day; that the existing +distribution of mountains and plains, of rivers and seas, would show +itself to be the product of a slow process of natural change operating +upon more and more widely different antecedent conditions of the mineral +framework of the earth; until, at length, in place of that framework, he +would behold only a vast nebulous mass, representing the constituents of +the sun and of the planetary bodies. Preceding the forms of life which +now exist, our observer would see animals and plants, not identical with +them, but like them, increasing their differences with their antiquity +and, at the same time, becoming simpler and simpler; until, finally, the +world of life would present nothing but that undifferentiated +protoplasmic matter which, so far as our present knowledge goes, is the +common foundation of all vital activity. + +The hypothesis of evolution supposes that in all this vast progression +there would be no breach of continuity, no point at which we could say +"This is a natural process," and "This is not a natural process;" but +that the whole might be compared to that wonderful operation of +development which may be seen going on every day under our eyes, in +virtue of which there arises, out of the semi-fluid comparatively +homogeneous substance which we call an egg, the complicated organisation +of one of the higher animals. That, in a few words, is what is meant by +the hypothesis of evolution. + +I have already suggested that, in dealing with these three hypotheses, +in endeavouring to form a judgment as to which of them is the more +worthy of belief, or whether none is worthy of belief--in which case our +condition of mind should be that suspension of judgment which is so +difficult to all but trained intellects--we should be indifferent to all +_a priori_ considerations. The question is a question of historical +fact. The universe has come into existence somehow or other, and the +problem is, whether it came into existence in one fashion, or whether it +came into existence in another; and, as an essential preliminary to +further discussion, permit me to say two or three words as to the nature +and the kinds of historical evidence. + +The evidence as to the occurrence of any event in past time may be +ranged under two heads which, for convenience' sake, I will speak of as +testimonial evidence and as circumstantial evidence. By testimonial +evidence I mean human testimony; and by circumstantial evidence I mean +evidence which is not human testimony. Let me illustrate by a familiar +example what I understand by these two kinds of evidence, and what is to +be said respecting their value. + +Suppose that a man tells you that he saw a person strike another and +kill him; that is testimonial evidence of the fact of murder. But it is +possible to have circumstantial evidence of the fact of murder; that is +to say, you may find a man dying with a wound upon his head having +exactly the form and character of the wound which is made by an axe, +and, with due care in taking surrounding circumstances into account, you +may conclude with the utmost certainty that the man has been murdered; +that his death is the consequence of a blow inflicted by another man +with that implement. We are very much in the habit of considering +circumstantial evidence as of less value than testimonial evidence, and +it may be that, where the circumstances are not perfectly clear and +intelligible, it is a dangerous and unsafe kind of evidence; but it must +not be forgotten that, in many cases, circumstantial is quite as +conclusive as testimonial evidence, and that, not unfrequently, it is a +great deal weightier than testimonial evidence. For example, take the +case to which I referred just now. The circumstantial evidence may be +better and more convincing than the testimonial evidence; for it may be +impossible, under the conditions that I have defined, to suppose that +the man met his death from any cause but the violent blow of an axe +wielded by another man. The circumstantial evidence in favour of a +murder having been committed, in that case, is as complete and as +convincing as evidence can be. It is evidence which is open to no doubt +and to no falsification. But the testimony of a witness is open to +multitudinous doubts. He may have been mistaken. He may have been +actuated by malice. It has constantly happened that even an accurate man +has declared that a thing has happened in this, that, or the other way, +when a careful analysis of the circumstantial evidence has shown that it +did not happen in that way, but in some other way. + +We may now consider the evidence in favour of or against the three +hypotheses. Let me first direct your attention to what is to be said +about the hypothesis of the eternity of the state of things in which we +now live. What will first strike you is, that it is a hypothesis which, +whether true or false, is not capable of verification by any evidence. +For, in order to observe either circumstantial or testimonial evidence +sufficient to prove the eternity of duration of the present state of +nature, you must have an eternity of witnesses or an infinity of +circumstances, and neither of these is attainable. It is utterly +impossible that such evidence should be carried beyond a certain point +of time; and all that could be said, at most, would be, that so far as +the evidence could be traced, there was nothing to contradict the +hypothesis. But when you look, not to the testimonial evidence--which, +considering the relative insignificance of the antiquity of human +records, might not be good for much in this case--but to the +circumstantial evidence, then you find that this hypothesis is +absolutely incompatible with such evidence as we have; which is of so +plain and simple a character that it is impossible in any way to escape +from the conclusions which it forces upon us. + +[Illustration: FIG. 1.--IDEAL SECTION OF THE CRUST OF THE EARTH.] + +You are, doubtless, all aware that the outer substance of the earth, +which alone is accessible to direct observation, is not of a homogeneous +character, but that it is made up of a number of layers or strata, the +titles of the principal groups of which are placed upon the accompanying +diagram. Each of these groups represents a number of beds of sand, of +stone, of clay, of slate, and of various other materials. + +On careful examination, it is found that the materials of which each of +these layers of more or less hard rock are composed are, for the most +part, of the same nature as those which are at present being formed +under known conditions on the surface of the earth. For example, the +chalk, which constitutes a great part of the Cretaceous formation in +some parts of the world, is practically identical in its physical and +chemical characters with a substance which is now being formed at the +bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, and covers an enormous area; other beds of +rock are comparable with the sands which are being formed upon +sea-shores, packed together, and so on. Thus, omitting rocks of igneous +origin, it is demonstrable that all these beds of stone, of which a +total of not less than seventy thousand feet is known, have been formed +by natural agencies, either out of the waste and washing of the dry +land, or else by the accumulation of the exuviæ of plants and animals. +Many of these strata are full of such exuviæ--the so-called "fossils." +Remains of thousands of species of animals and plants, as perfectly +recognisable as those of existing forms of life which you meet with in +museums, or as the shells which you pick up upon the sea-beach, have +been imbedded in the ancient sands, or muds, or limestones, just as they +are being imbedded now, in sandy, or clayey, or calcareous subaqueous +deposits. They furnish us with a record, the general nature of which +cannot be misinterpreted, of the kinds of things that have lived upon +the surface of the earth during the time that is registered by this +great thickness of stratified rocks. But even a superficial study of +these fossils shows us that the animals and plants which live at the +present time have had only a temporary duration; for the remains of such +modern forms of life are met with, for the most part, only in the +uppermost or latest tertiaries, and their number rapidly diminishes in +the lower deposits of that epoch. In the older tertiaries, the places of +existing animals and plants are taken by other forms, as numerous and +diversified as those which live now in the same localities, but more or +less different from them; in the mesozoic rocks, these are replaced by +others yet more divergent from modern types; and, in the palæozoic +formations the contrast is still more marked. Thus the circumstantial +evidence absolutely negatives the conception of the eternity of the +present condition of things. We can say, with certainty, that the +present condition of things has existed for a comparatively short +period; and that, so far as animal and vegetable nature are concerned, +it has been preceded by a different condition. We can pursue this +evidence until we reach the lowest of the stratified rocks, in which we +lose the indications of life altogether. The hypothesis of the eternity +of the present state of nature may therefore be put out of court. + +We now come to what I will term Milton's hypothesis--the hypothesis that +the present condition of things has endured for a comparatively short +time; and, at the commencement of that time, came into existence within +the course of six days. I doubt not that it may have excited some +surprise in your minds that I should have spoken of this as Milton's +hypothesis, rather than that I should have chosen the terms which are +more customary, such as "the doctrine of creation," or "the Biblical +doctrine," or "the doctrine of Moses," all of which denominations, as +applied to the hypothesis to which I have just referred, are certainly +much more familiar to you than the title of the Miltonic hypothesis. But +I have had what I cannot but think are very weighty reasons for taking +the course which I have pursued. In the first place, I have discarded +the title of the "doctrine of creation," because my present business is +not with the question why the objects which constitute Nature came into +existence, but when they came into existence, and in what order. This is +as strictly a historical question as the question when the Angles and +the Jutes invaded England, and whether they preceded or followed the +Romans. But the question about creation is a philosophical problem, and +one which cannot be solved, or even approached, by the historical +method. What we want to learn is, whether the facts, so far as they are +known, afford evidence that things arose in the way described by Milton, +or whether they do not; and, when that question is settled, it will be +time enough to inquire into the causes of their origination. + +In the second place, I have not spoken of this doctrine as the Biblical +doctrine. It is quite true that persons as diverse in their general +views as Milton the Protestant and the celebrated Jesuit Father Suarez, +each put upon the first chapter of Genesis the interpretation embodied +in Milton's poem. It is quite true that this interpretation is that +which has been instilled into every one of us in our childhood; but I do +not for one moment venture to say that it can properly be called the +Biblical doctrine. It is not my business, and does not lie within my +competency, to say what the Hebrew text does, and what it does not +signify; moreover, were I to affirm that this is the Biblical doctrine, +I should be met by the authority of many eminent scholars, to say +nothing of men of science, who, at various times, have absolutely denied +that any such doctrine is to be found in Genesis. If we are to listen to +many expositors of no mean authority, we must believe that what seems so +clearly defined in Genesis--as if very great pains had been taken that +there should be no possibility of mistake--is not the meaning of the +text at all. The account is divided into periods that we may make just +as long or as short as convenience requires. We are also to understand +that it is consistent with the original text to believe that the most +complex plants and animals may have been evolved by natural processes, +lasting for millions of years, out of structureless rudiments. A person +who is not a Hebrew scholar can only stand aside and admire the +marvellous flexibility of a language which admits of such diverse +interpretations. But assuredly, in the face of such contradictions of +authority upon matters respecting which he is incompetent to form any +judgment, he will abstain, as I do, from giving any opinion. + +In the third place, I have carefully abstained from speaking of this as +the Mosaic doctrine, because we are now assured upon the authority of +the highest critics, and even of dignitaries of the Church, that there +is no evidence that Moses wrote the Book of Genesis, or knew anything +about it. You will understand that I give no judgment--it would be an +impertinence upon my part to volunteer even a suggestion--upon such a +subject. But, that being the state of opinion among the scholars and the +clergy, it is well for the unlearned in Hebrew lore, and for the laity, +to avoid entangling themselves in such a vexed question. Happily, Milton +leaves us no excuse for doubting what he means, and I shall therefore be +safe in speaking of the opinion in question as the Miltonic hypothesis. + +Now we have to test that hypothesis. For my part, I have no prejudice +one way or the other. If there is evidence in favour of this view, I am +burdened by no theoretical difficulties in the way of accepting it; but +there must be evidence. Scientific men get an awkward habit--no, I won't +call it that, for it is a valuable habit--of believing nothing unless +there is evidence for it; and they have a way of looking upon belief +which is not based upon evidence, not only as illogical, but as immoral. +We will, if you please, test this view by the circumstantial evidence +alone; for, from what I have said, you will understand that I do not +propose to discuss the question of what testimonial evidence is to be +adduced in favour of it. If those whose business it is to judge are not +at one as to the authenticity of the only evidence of that kind which is +offered, nor as to the facts to which it bears witness, the discussion +of such evidence is superfluous. + +But I may be permitted to regret this necessity of rejecting the +testimonial evidence the less, because the examination of the +circumstantial evidence leads to the conclusion, not only that it is +incompetent to justify the hypothesis, but that, so far as it goes, it +is contrary to the hypothesis. + +The considerations upon which I base this conclusion are of the simplest +possible character. The Miltonic hypothesis contains assertions of a +very definite character relating to the succession of living forms. It +is stated that plants, for example, made their appearance upon the third +day, and not before. And you will understand that what the poet means +by plants are such plants as now live, the ancestors, in the ordinary +way of propagation of like by like, of the trees and shrubs which +flourish in the present world. It must needs be so; for, if they were +different, either the existing plants have been the result of a separate +origination since that described by Milton, of which we have no record, +nor any ground for supposition that such an occurrence has taken place; +or else they have arisen by a process of evolution from the original +stocks. + +In the second place, it is clear that there was no animal life before +the fifth day, and that, on the fifth day, aquatic animals and birds +appeared. And it is further clear that terrestrial living things, other +than birds, made their appearance upon the sixth day and not before. +Hence, it follows that, if, in the large mass of circumstantial evidence +as to what really has happened in the past history of the globe we find +indications of the existence of terrestrial animals, other than birds, +at a certain period, it is perfectly certain that all that has taken +place, since that time, must be referred to the sixth day. + +In the great Carboniferous formation, whence America derives so vast a +proportion of her actual and potential wealth, in the beds of coal which +have been formed from the vegetation of that period, we find abundant +evidence of the existence of terrestrial animals. They have been +described, not only by European but by your own naturalists. There are +to be found numerous insects allied to our cockroaches. There are to be +found spiders and scorpions of large size, the latter so similar to +existing scorpions that it requires the practised eye of the naturalist +to distinguish them. Inasmuch as these animals can be proved to have +been alive in the Carboniferous epoch, it is perfectly clear that, if +the Miltonic account is to be accepted, the huge mass of rocks extending +from the middle of the Palæozoic formations to the uppermost members of +the series, must belong to the day which is termed by Milton the sixth. +But, further, it is expressly stated that aquatic animals took their +origin on the fifth day, and not before; hence, all formations in which +remains of aquatic animals can be proved to exist, and which therefore +testify that such animals lived at the time when these formations were +in course of deposition, must have been deposited during or since the +period which Milton speaks of as the fifth day. But there is absolutely +no fossiliferous formation in which the remains of aquatic animals are +absent. The oldest fossils in the Silurian rocks are exuviæ of marine +animals; and if the view which is entertained by Principal Dawson and +Dr. Carpenter respecting the nature of the _Eozoön_ be well-founded, +aquatic animals existed at a period as far antecedent to the deposition +of the coal as the coal is from us; inasmuch as the _Eozoön_ is met with +in those Laurentian strata which lie at the bottom of the series of +stratified rocks. Hence it follows, plainly enough, that the whole +series of stratified rocks, if they are to be brought into harmony with +Milton, must be referred to the fifth and sixth days, and that we cannot +hope to find the slightest trace of the products of the earlier days in +the geological record. When we consider these simple facts, we see how +absolutely futile are the attempts that have been made to draw a +parallel between the story told by so much of the crust of the earth as +is known to us and the story which Milton tells. The whole series of +fossiliferous stratified rocks must be referred to the last two days; +and neither the Carboniferous, nor any other, formation can afford +evidence of the work of the third day. + +Not only is there this objection to any attempt to establish a harmony +between the Miltonic account and the facts recorded in the fossiliferous +rocks, but there is a further difficulty. According to the Miltonic +account, the order in which animals should have made their appearance in +the stratified rocks would be this: Fishes, including the great whales, +and birds; after them, all varieties of terrestrial animals except +birds. Nothing could be further from the facts as we find them; we know +of not the slightest evidence of the existence of birds before the +Jurassic, or perhaps the Triassic, formation; while terrestrial animals, +as we have just seen, occur in the Carboniferous rocks. + +If there were any harmony between the Miltonic account and the +circumstantial evidence, we ought to have abundant evidence of the +existence of birds in the Carboniferous, the Devonian, and the Silurian +rocks. I need hardly say that this is not the case, and that not a trace +of birds makes its appearance until the far later period which I have +mentioned. + +And again, if it be true that all varieties of fishes and the great +whales, and the like, made their appearance on the fifth day, we ought +to find the remains of these animals in the older rocks--in those which +were deposited before the Carboniferous epoch. Fishes we do find, in +considerable number and variety; but the great whales are absent, and +the fishes are not such as now live. Not one solitary species of fish +now in existence is to be found in the Devonian or Silurian formations. +Hence we are introduced afresh to the dilemma which I have already +placed before you: either the animals which came into existence on the +fifth day were not such as those which are found at present, are not the +direct and immediate ancestors of those which now exist; in which case, +either fresh creations of which nothing is said, or a process of +evolution, must have occurred; or else the whole story must be given up, +as not only devoid of any circumstantial evidence, but contrary to such +evidence as exists. + +I placed before you in a few words, some little time ago, a statement of +the sum and substance of Milton's hypothesis. Let me now try to state, +as briefly, the effect of the circumstantial evidence bearing upon the +past history of the earth which is furnished, without the possibility of +mistake, with no chance of error as to its chief features, by the +stratified rocks. What we find is, that the great series of formations +represents a period of time of which our human chronologies hardly +afford us a unit of measure. I will not pretend to say how we ought to +estimate this time, in millions or in billions of years. For my purpose, +the determination of its absolute duration is wholly unessential. But +that the time was enormous there can be no question. + +It results from the simplest methods of interpretation, that leaving out +of view certain patches of metamorphosed rocks, and certain volcanic +products, all that is now dry land has once been at the bottom of the +waters. It is perfectly certain that, at a comparatively recent period +of the world's history--the Cretaceous epoch--none of the great physical +features which at present mark the surface of the globe existed. It is +certain that the Rocky Mountains were not. It is certain that the +Himalaya Mountains were not. It is certain that the Alps and the +Pyrenees had no existence. The evidence is of the plainest possible +character, and is simply this:--We find raised up on the flanks of these +mountains, elevated by the forces of upheaval which have given rise to +them, masses of Cretaceous rock which formed the bottom of the sea +before those mountains existed. It is therefore clear that the elevatory +forces which gave rise to the mountains operated subsequently to the +Cretaceous epoch; and that the mountains themselves are largely made up +of the materials deposited in the sea which once occupied their place. +As we go back in time, we meet with constant alternations of sea and +land, of estuary and open ocean; and, in correspondence with these +alternations, we observe the changes in the fauna and flora to which I +have referred. + +But the inspection of these changes give us no right to believe that +there has been any discontinuity in natural processes. There is no +trace of general cataclysms, of universal deluges, or sudden +destructions of a whole fauna or flora. The appearances which were +formerly interpreted in that way have all been shown to be delusive, as +our knowledge has increased and as the blanks which formerly appeared to +exist between the different formations have been filled up. That there +is no absolute break between formation and formation, that there has +been no sudden disappearance of all the forms of life and replacement of +them by others, but that changes have gone on slowly and gradually, that +one type has died out and another has taken its place, and that thus, by +insensible degrees, one fauna has been replaced by another, are +conclusions strengthened by constantly increasing evidence. So that +within the whole of the immense period indicated by the fossiliferous +stratified rocks, there is assuredly not the slightest proof of any +break in the uniformity of Nature's operations, no indication that +events have followed other than a clear and orderly sequence. + +That, I say, is the natural and obvious teaching of the circumstantial +evidence contained in the stratified rocks. I leave you to consider how +far, by any ingenuity of interpretation, by any stretching of the +meaning of language, it can be brought into harmony with the Miltonic +hypothesis. + +There remains the third hypothesis, that of which I have spoken as the +hypothesis of evolution; and I purpose that, in lectures to come, we +should discuss it as carefully as we have considered the other two +hypotheses. I need not say that it is quite hopeless to look for +testimonial evidence of evolution. The very nature of the case precludes +the possibility of such evidence, for the human race can no more be +expected to testify to its own origin, than a child can be tendered as a +witness of its own birth. Our sole inquiry is, what foundation +circumstantial evidence lends to the hypothesis, or whether it lends +none, or whether it controverts the hypothesis. I shall deal with the +matter entirely as a question of history. I shall not indulge in the +discussion of any speculative probabilities. I shall not attempt to show +that Nature is unintelligible unless we adopt some such hypothesis. For +anything I know about the matter, it may be the way of Nature to be +unintelligible; she is often puzzling, and I have no reason to suppose +that she is bound to fit herself to our notions. + +I shall place before you three kinds of evidence entirely based upon +what is known of the forms of animal life which are contained in the +series of stratified rocks. I shall endeavour to show you that there is +one kind of evidence which is neutral, which neither helps evolution nor +is inconsistent with it. I shall then bring forward a second kind of +evidence which indicates a strong probability in favour of evolution, +but does not prove it; and, lastly, I shall adduce a third kind of +evidence which, being as complete as any evidence which we can hope to +obtain upon such a subject, and being wholly and strikingly in favour of +evolution, may fairly be called demonstrative evidence of its +occurrence. + + +II + +THE HYPOTHESIS OF EVOLUTION. THE NEUTRAL AND THE FAVOURABLE EVIDENCE + +In the preceding lecture I pointed out that there are three hypotheses +which may be entertained, and which have been entertained, respecting +the past history of life upon the globe. According to the first of these +hypotheses, living beings, such as now exist, have existed from all +eternity upon this earth. We tested that hypothesis by the +circumstantial evidence, as I called it, which is furnished by the +fossil remains contained in the earth's crust, and we found that it was +obviously untenable. I then proceeded to consider the second +hypothesis, which I termed the Miltonic hypothesis, not because it is of +any particular consequence whether John Milton seriously entertained it +or not, but because it is stated in a clear and unmistakable manner in +his great poem. I pointed out to you that the evidence at our command as +completely and fully negatives that hypothesis as it did the preceding +one. And I confess that I had too much respect for your intelligence to +think it necessary to add that the negation was equally clear and +equally valid, whatever the source from which that hypothesis might be +derived, or whatever the authority by which it might be supported. I +further stated that, according to the third hypothesis, or that of +evolution, the existing state of things is the last term of a long +series of states, which, when traced back, would be found to show no +interruption and no breach in the continuity of natural causation. I +propose, in the present and the following lecture, to test this +hypothesis rigorously by the evidence at command, and to inquire how far +that evidence can be said to be indifferent to it, how far it can be +said to be favourable to it, and, finally, how far it can be said to be +demonstrative. + +From almost the origin of the discussions about the existing condition +of the animal and vegetable worlds and the causes which have determined +that condition, an argument has been put forward as an objection to +evolution, which we shall have to consider very seriously. It is an +argument which was first clearly stated by Cuvier in his criticism of +the doctrines propounded by his great contemporary, Lamarck. The French +expedition to Egypt had called the attention of learned men to the +wonderful store of antiquities in that country, and there had been +brought back to France numerous mummified corpses of the animals which +the ancient Egyptians revered and preserved, and which, at a reasonable +computation, must have lived not less than three or four thousand years +before the time at which they were thus brought to light. Cuvier +endeavoured to test the hypothesis that animals have undergone gradual +and progressive modifications of structure, by comparing the skeletons +and such other parts of the mummies as were in a fitting state of +preservation, with the corresponding parts of the representatives of the +same species now living in Egypt. He arrived at the conviction that no +appreciable change had taken place in these animals in the course of +this considerable lapse of time, and the justice of his conclusion is +not disputed. + +It is obvious that, if it can be proved that animals have endured, +without undergoing any demonstrable change of structure, for so long a +period as four thousand years, no form of the hypothesis of evolution +which assumes that animals undergo a constant and necessary progressive +change can be tenable; unless, indeed, it be further assumed that four +thousand years is too short a time for the production of a change +sufficiently great to be detected. + +But it is no less plain that if the process of evolution of animals is +not independent of surrounding conditions; if it may be indefinitely +hastened or retarded by variations in these conditions; or if evolution +is simply a process of accommodation to varying conditions; the argument +against the hypothesis of evolution based on the unchanged character of +the Egyptian fauna is worthless. For the monuments which are coeval with +the mummies testify as strongly to the absence of change in the physical +geography and the general conditions of the land of Egypt, for the time +in question, as the mummies do to the unvarying characters of its living +population. + +The progress of research since Cuvier's time has supplied far more +striking examples of the long duration of specific forms of life than +those which are furnished by the mummified Ibises and Crocodiles of +Egypt. A remarkable case is to be found in your own country, in the +neighbourhood of the falls of Niagara. In the immediate vicinity of the +whirlpool, and again upon Goat Island, in the superficial deposits +which cover the surface of the rocky subsoil in those regions, there are +found remains of animals in perfect preservation, and among them, shells +belonging to exactly the same species as those which at present inhabit +the still waters of Lake Erie. It is evident, from the structure of the +country, that these animal remains were deposited in the beds in which +they occur at a time when the lake extended over the region in which +they are found. This involves the conclusion that they lived and died +before the falls had cut their way back through the gorge of Niagara; +and, indeed, it has been determined that, when these animals lived, the +falls of Niagara must have been at least six miles further down the +river than they are at present. Many computations have been made of the +rate at which the falls are thus cutting their way back. Those +computations have varied greatly, but I believe I am speaking within the +bounds of prudence, if I assume that the falls of Niagara have not +retreated at a greater pace than about a foot a year. Six miles, +speaking roughly, are 30,000 feet; 30,000 feet, at a foot a year, gives +30,000 years; and thus we are fairly justified in concluding that no +less a period than this has passed since the shell-fish, whose remains +are left in the beds to which I have referred, were living creatures. + +But there is still stronger evidence of the long duration of certain +types. I have already stated that, as we work our way through the great +series of the Tertiary formations, we find many species of animals +identical with those which live at the present day, diminishing in +numbers, it is true, but still existing, in a certain proportion, in the +oldest of the Tertiary rocks. Furthermore, when we examine the rocks of +the Cretaceous epoch, we find the remains of some animals which the +closest scrutiny cannot show to be, in any important respect, different +from those which live at the present time. That is the case with one of +the cretaceous lamp-shells (_Terebratula_) which has continued to exist +unchanged, or with insignificant variations, down to the present day. +Such is the case with the _Globigerinæ_, the skeletons of which, +aggregated together, form a large proportion of our English chalk. Those +_Globigerinæ_ can be traced down to the _Globigerinæ_ which live at the +surface of the present great oceans, and the remains of which, falling +to the bottom of the sea give rise to a chalky mud. Hence it must be +admitted that certain existing species of animals show no distinct sign +of modification, or transformation, in the course of a lapse of time as +great as that which carries us back to the Cretaceous period; and which, +whatever its absolute measure, is certainly vastly greater than thirty +thousand years. + +There are groups of species so closely allied together, that it needs +the eye of a naturalist to distinguish them one from another. If we +disregard the small differences which separate these forms, and consider +all the species of such groups as modifications of one type, we shall +find that, even among the higher animals, some types have had a +marvellous duration. In the chalk, for example, there is found a fish +belonging to the highest and the most differentiated group of osseous +fishes, which goes by the name of _Beryx_. The remains of that fish are +among the most beautiful and well-preserved of the fossils found in our +English chalk. It can be studied anatomically, so far as the hard parts +are concerned, almost as well as if it were a recent fish. But the genus +_Beryx_ is represented, at the present day, by very closely allied +species which are living in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. We may go +still farther back. I have already referred to the fact, that the +Carboniferous formations, in Europe and in America, contain the remains +of scorpions in an admirable state of preservation and, that those +scorpions are hardly distinguishable from such as now live. I do not +mean to say that they are not different, but close scrutiny is needed in +order to distinguish them from modern scorpions. + +More than this. At the very bottom Of the Silurian series, in beds which +are by some authorities referred to the Cambrian formation, where the +signs of life begin to fail us--even there, among the few and scanty +animal remains which are discoverable, we find species of molluscous +animals which are so closely allied to existing forms that, at one time, +they were grouped under the same generic name. I refer to the well known +_Lingula_ of the _Lingula_ flags, lately, in consequence of some slight +differences, placed in the new genus _Lingulella_. Practically, it +belongs to the same great generic group as the _Lingula_, which is to be +found at the present day upon your own shores and those of many other +parts of the world. + +The same truth is exemplified if we turn to certain great periods of the +earth's history--as, for example, the Mesozoic epoch. There are groups +of reptiles, such as the _Ichthyosauria_ and the _Plesiosauria_, which +appear shortly after the commencement of this epoch, and they occur in +vast numbers. They disappear with the chalk and, throughout the whole of +the great series of Mesozoic rocks, they present no such modifications +as can safely be considered evidence of progressive modification. + +Facts of this kind are undoubtedly fatal to any form of the doctrine of +evolution which postulates the supposition that there is an intrinsic +necessity, on the part of animal forms which have once come into +existence, to undergo continual modification; and they are as distinctly +opposed to any view which involves the belief, that such modification as +may occur, must take place, at the same rate, in all the different types +of animal or vegetable life. The facts, as I have placed them before you +obviously directly contradict any form of the hypothesis of evolution +which stands in need of these two postulates. + +But, one great service that has been rendered by Mr. Darwin to the +doctrine of evolution in general is this: he has shown that there are +two chief factors in the process of evolution: one of them is the +tendency to vary, the existence of which in all living forms may be +proved by observation; the other is the influence of surrounding +conditions upon what I may call the parent form and the variations which +are thus evolved from it. The cause of the production of variations is a +matter not at all properly understood at present. Whether variation +depends upon some intricate machinery--if I may use the phrase--of the +living organism itself, or whether it arises through the influence of +conditions upon that form, is not certain, and the question may, for the +present, be left open. But the important point is that granting the +existence of the tendency to the production of variations; then, whether +the variations which are produced shall survive and supplant the parent, +or whether the parent form shall survive and supplant the variations, is +a matter which depends entirely on those conditions which give rise to +the struggle for existence. If the surrounding conditions are such that +the parent form is more competent to deal with them, and flourish in +them than the derived forms, then, in the struggle for existence, the +parent form will maintain itself and the derived forms will be +exterminated. But if, on the contrary, the conditions are such as to be +more favourable to a derived than to the parent form, the parent form +will be extirpated and the derived form will take its place. In the +first case, there will be no progression, no change of structure, +through any imaginable series of ages; in the second place there will be +modification of change and form. + +Thus the existence of these persistent types, as I have termed them, is +no real obstacle in the way of the theory of evolution. Take the case of +the scorpions to which I have just referred. No doubt, since the +Carboniferous epoch, conditions have always obtained, such as existed +when the scorpions of that epoch flourished; conditions in which +scorpions find themselves better off, more competent to deal with the +difficulties in their way, than any variation from the scorpion type +which they may have produced; and, for that reason, the scorpion type +has persisted, and has not been supplanted by any other form. And there +is no reason, in the nature of things, why, as long as this world +exists, if there be conditions more favourable to scorpions than to any +variation which may arise from them, these forms of life should not +persist. + +Therefore, the stock objection to the hypothesis of evolution, based on +the long duration of certain animal and vegetable types, is no objection +at all. The facts of this character--and they are numerous--belong to +that class of evidence which I have called indifferent. That is to say, +they may afford no direct support to the doctrine of evolution, but they +are capable of being interpreted in perfect consistency with it. + +There is another order of facts belonging to the class of negative or +indifferent evidence. The great group of Lizards, which abound in the +present world, extends through the whole series of formations as far +back as the Permian, or latest Palæozoic, epoch. These Permian lizards +differ astonishingly little from the lizards which exist at the present +day. Comparing the amount of the differences between them and modern +lizards, with the prodigious lapse of time between the Permian epoch and +the present age, it may be said that the amount of change is +insignificant. But, when we carry our researches farther back in time, +we find no trace of lizards, nor of any true reptile whatever, in the +whole mass of formations beneath the Permian. + +Now, it is perfectly clear that if our palæontological collections are +to be taken, even approximately, as an adequate representation of all +the forms of animals and plants that have ever lived; and if the record +furnished by the known series of beds of stratified rock covers the +whole series of events which constitute the history of life on the +globe, such a fact as this directly contravenes the hypothesis of +evolution; because this hypothesis postulates that the existence of +every form must have been preceded by that of some form little different +from it. Here, however, we have to take into consideration that +important truth so well insisted upon by Lyell and by Darwin--the +imperfection of the geological record. It can be demonstrated that the +geological record must be incomplete, that it can only preserve remains +found in certain favourable localities and under particular conditions; +that it must be destroyed by processes of denudation, and obliterated by +processes of metamorphosis. Beds of rock of any thickness, crammed full +of organic remains, may yet, either by the percolation of water through +them, or by the influence of subterranean heat, lose all trace of these +remains, and present the appearance of beds of rock formed under +conditions in which living forms were absent. Such metamorphic rocks +occur in formations of all ages; and, in various cases, there are very +good grounds for the belief that they have contained organic remains, +and that those remains have been absolutely obliterated. + +I insist upon the defects of the geological record the more because +those who have not attended to these matters are apt to say, "It is all +very well, but, when you get into a difficulty with your theory of +evolution, you appeal to the incompleteness and the imperfection of the +geological record;" and I want to make it perfectly clear to you that +this imperfection is a great fact, which must be taken into account in +all our speculations, or we shall constantly be going wrong. + +You see the singular series of footmarks, drawn of its natural size in +the large diagram hanging up here (Fig. 2), which I owe to the kindness +of my friend Professor Marsh, with whom I had the opportunity recently +of visiting the precise locality in Massachusetts in which these tracks +occur. I am, therefore, able to give you my own testimony, if needed, +that the diagram accurately represents what we saw. The valley of the +Connecticut is classical ground for the geologist. It contains great +beds of sandstone, covering many square miles, which have evidently +formed a part of an ancient sea-shore, or, it may be, lake-shore. For a +certain period of time after their deposition, these beds have remained +sufficiently soft to receive the impressions of the feet of whatever +animals walked over them, and to preserve them afterwards, in exactly +the same way as such impressions are at this hour preserved on the +shores of the Bay of Fundy and elsewhere. The diagram represents the +track of some gigantic animal, which walked on its hind legs. You see +the series of marks made alternately by the right and by the left foot; +so that, from one impression to the other of the three-toed foot on the +same side, is one stride, and that stride, as we measured it, is six +feet nine inches. I leave you, therefore, to form an impression of the +magnitude of the creature which, as it walked along the ancient shore, +made these impressions. + +[Illustration: FIG. 2.--TRACKS OF BRONTOZOUM.] + +Of such impressions there are untold thousands upon these sandstones. +Fifty or sixty different kinds have been discovered, and they cover vast +areas. But, up to this present time, not a bone, not a fragment, of any +one of the animals which left these great footmarks has been found; in +fact, the only animal remains which have been met with in all these +deposits, from the time of their discovery to the present day--though +they have been carefully hunted over--is a fragmentary skeleton of one +of the smaller forms. What has become of the bones of all these animals? +You see we are not dealing with little creatures, but with animals that +make a step of six feet nine inches; and their remains must have been +left somewhere. The probability is, that they have been dissolved away, +and completely lost. + +I have had occasion to work out the nature of fossil remains, of which +there was nothing left except casts of the bones, the solid material of +the skeleton having been dissolved out by percolating water. It was a +chance, in this case, that the sandstone happened to be of such a +constitution as to set, and to allow the bones to be afterward dissolved +out, leaving cavities of the exact shape of the bones. Had that +constitution been other than what it was, the bones would have been +dissolved, the layers of sandstone would have fallen together into one +mass, and not the slightest indication that the animal had existed would +have been discoverable. + +I know of no more striking evidence than these facts afford, of the +caution which should be used in drawing the conclusion, from the absence +of organic remains in a deposit, that animals or plants did not exist at +the time it was formed. I believe that, with a right understanding of +the doctrine of evolution on the one hand, and a just estimation of the +importance of the imperfection of the geological record on the other, +all difficulty is removed from the kind of evidence to which I have +adverted; and that we are justified in believing that all such cases are +examples of what I have designated negative or indifferent +evidence--that is to say, they in no way directly advance the hypothesis +of evolution, but they are not to be regarded as obstacles in the way of +our belief in that doctrine. + +I now pass on to the consideration of those cases which, for reasons +which I will point out to you by and by, are not to be regarded as +demonstrative of the truth of evolution, but which are such as must +exist if evolution be true, and which therefore are, upon the whole, +evidence in favour of the doctrine. If the doctrine of evolution be +true, it follows, that, however diverse the different groups of animals +and of plants may be, they must all, at one time or other, have been +connected by gradational forms; so that, from the highest animals, +whatever they may be, down to the lowest speck of protoplasmic matter in +which life can be manifested, a series of gradations, leading from one +end of the series to the other, either exists or has existed. +Undoubtedly that is a necessary postulate of the doctrine of evolution. +But when we look upon living Nature as it is, we find a totally +different state of things. We find that animals and plants fall into +groups, the different members of which are pretty closely allied +together, but which are separated by definite, larger or smaller, +breaks, from other groups. In other words, no intermediate forms which +bridge over these gaps or intervals are, at present, to be met with. + +To illustrate what I mean: Let me call your attention to those +vertebrate animals which are most familiar to you, such as mammals, +birds, and reptiles. At the present day, these groups of animals are +perfectly well-defined from one another. We know of no animal now living +which, in any sense, is intermediate between the mammal and the bird, or +between the bird and the reptile; but, on the contrary, there are many +very distinct anatomical peculiarities, well-defined marks, by which the +mammal is separated from the bird, and the bird from the reptile. The +distinctions are obvious and striking if you compare the definitions of +these great groups as they now exist. + +The same may be said of many of the subordinate groups, or orders, into +which these great classes are divided. At the present time, for example, +there are numerous forms of non-ruminant pachyderms, or what we may call +broadly, the pig tribe, and many varieties of ruminants. These latter +have their definite characteristics, and the former have their +distinguishing peculiarities. But there is nothing that fills up the gap +between the ruminants and the pig tribe. The two are distinct. Such also +is the case in respect of the minor groups of the class of reptiles. The +existing fauna shows us crocodiles, lizards, snakes, and tortoises; but +no connecting link between the crocodile and lizard, nor between the +lizard and snake, nor between the snake and the crocodile, nor between +any two of these groups. They are separated by absolute breaks. If, +then, it could be shown that this state of things had always existed, +the fact would be fatal to the doctrine of evolution. If the +intermediate gradations, which the doctrine of evolution requires to +have existed between these groups, are not to be found anywhere in the +records of the past history of the globe, their absence is a strong and +weighty negative argument against evolution; while, on the other hand, +if such intermediate forms are to be found, that is so much to the good +of evolution; although for reasons which I will lay before you by and +by, we must be cautious in our estimate of the evidential cogency of +facts of this kind. + +It is a very remarkable circumstance that, from the commencement of the +serious study of fossil remains, in fact from the time when Cuvier began +his brilliant researches upon those found in the quarries of Montmartre, +palæontology has shown what she was going to do in this matter, and what +kind of evidence it lay in her power to produce. + +I said just now that, in the existing Fauna, the group of pig-like +animals and the group of ruminants are entirely distinct; but one of the +first of Cuvier's discoveries was an animal which he called the +_Anoplotherium_, and which proved to be, in a great many important +respects, intermediate in character between the pigs on the one hand, +and the ruminants on the other Thus, research into the history of the +past did, to a certain extent, tend to fill up the breach between the +group of ruminants and the group of pigs. Another remarkable animal +restored by the great French palæontologist, the _Palæotherium_, +similarly tended to connect together animals to all appearance so +different as the rhinoceros, the horse, and the tapir. Subsequent +research has brought to light multitudes of facts of the same order; +and, at the present day, the investigations of such anatomists as +Rütimeyer and Gaudry have tended to fill up, more and more, the gaps in +our existing series of mammals, and to connect groups formerly thought +to be distinct. + +But I think it may have an especial interest if, instead of dealing with +these examples, which would require a great deal of tedious osteological +detail, I take the case of birds and reptiles; groups which, at the +present day, are so clearly distinguished from one another that there +are perhaps no classes of animals which, in popular apprehension, are +more completely separated. Existing birds, as you are aware, are covered +with feathers; their anterior extremities, specially and peculiarly +modified, are converted into wings, by the aid of which most of them are +able to fly; they walk upright upon two legs; and these limbs, when they +are considered anatomically, present a great number of exceedingly +remarkable peculiarities, to which I may have occasion to advert +incidentally as I go on, and which are not met with, even approximately, +in any existing forms of reptiles. On the other hand, existing reptiles +have no feathers. They may have naked skins, or be covered with horny +scales, or bony plates, or with both. They possess no wings; they +neither fly by means of their fore-limbs, nor habitually walk upright +upon their hind-limbs; and the bones of their legs present no such +modifications as we find in birds. It is impossible to imagine any two +groups more definitely and distinctly separated, notwithstanding certain +characters which they possess in common. + +As we trace the history of birds back in time, we find their remains, +sometimes in great abundance, throughout the whole extent of the +tertiary rocks; but, so far as our present knowledge goes, the birds of +the tertiary rocks retain the same essential characters as the birds of +the present day. In other words, the tertiary birds come within the +definition of the class constituted by existing birds, and are as much +separated from reptiles as existing birds are. Not very long ago no +remains of birds had been found below the tertiary rocks, and I am not +sure but that some persons were prepared to demonstrate that they could +not have existed at an earlier period. But, in the course of the last +few years, such remains have been discovered in England; though, +unfortunately, in so imperfect and fragmentary a condition, that it is +impossible to say whether they differed from existing birds in any +essential character or not. In your country the development of the +cretaceous series of rocks is enormous; the conditions under which the +later cretaceous strata have been deposited are highly favourable to the +preservation of organic remains; and the researches, full of labour and +risk, which have been carried on by Professor Marsh in these cretaceous +rocks of Western America, have rewarded him with the discovery of forms +of birds of which we had hitherto no conception. By his kindness, I am +enabled to place before you a restoration of one of these extraordinary +birds, every part of which can be thoroughly justified by the more or +less complete skeletons, in a very perfect state of preservation, which +he has discovered. This _Hesperornis_ (Fig. 3), which measured between +five and six feet in length, is astonishingly like our existing divers +or grebes in a great many respects; so like them indeed that, had the +skeleton of _Hesperornis_ been found in a museum without its skull, +improbably would have been placed in the same group of birds as the +divers and grebes of the present day.[1] But _Hesperornis_ differs from +all existing birds, and so far resembles reptiles, in one important +particular--it is provided with teeth. The long jaws are armed with +teeth which have curved crowns and thick roots (Fig. 4), and are not set +in distinct sockets, but are lodged in a groove. In possessing true +teeth, the _Hesperornis_ differs from every existing bird, and from +every bird yet discovered in the tertiary formations, the tooth-like +serrations of the jaws in the _Odontopteryx_ of the London clay being +mere processes of the bony substance of the jaws, and not teeth in the +proper sense of the word. In view of the characteristics of this bird we +are therefore obliged to modify the definitions of the classes of birds +and reptiles. Before the discovery of _Hesperornis_, the definition of +the class Aves based upon our knowledge of existing birds might have +been extended to all birds; it might have been said that the absence of +teeth was characteristic of the class of birds; but the discovery of an +animal which, in every part of its skeleton, closely agrees with +existing birds, and yet possesses teeth, shows that there were ancient +birds, which, in respect of possessing teeth, approached reptiles more +nearly than any existing bird does, and, to that extent, diminishes the +_hiatus_ between the two classes. + +[Illustration: FIG. 3--HESPERORNIS REGALIS (Marsh).] + +The same formation has yielded another bird _Ichthyornis_ (Fig. 5), +which also possesses teeth; but the teeth are situated in distinct +sockets, while those of _Hesperornis_ are not so lodged. The latter also +has such very small, almost rudimentary wings, that it must have been +chiefly a swimmer and a diver like a Penguin; while _Ichthyornis_ has +strong wings and no doubt possessed corresponding powers of flight. +_Ichthyornis_ also differed in the fact that its vertebræ have not the +peculiar characters of the vertebræ of existing and of all known +tertiary birds, but were concave at each end. This discovery leads us to +make a further modification in the definition of the group of birds, and +to part with another of the characters by which almost all existing +birds are distinguished from reptiles. + +[Illustration: FIG. 4.--HESPERORNIS REGALIS (Marsh). + +Side and upper views of half the lower jaw; side and end views of a +vertebra and a separate tooth.] + +Apart from the few fragmentary remains from the English greensand, to +which I have referred, the Mesozoic rocks, older than those in which +_Hesperornis_ and _Ichthyornis_ have been discovered have afforded no +certain evidence of birds, with the remarkable exception of the +Solenhofen slates. These so-called slates are composed of a fine grained +calcareous mud which has hardened into lithographic stone, and in which +organic remains are almost as well preserved as they would be if they +had been imbedded in so much plaster of Paris. They have yielded the +_Archæopteryx_, the existence of which was first made known by the +finding of a fossil feather, or rather of the impression of one. It is +wonderful enough that such a perishable thing as a feather, and nothing +more, should be discovered; yet for a long time, nothing was known of +this bird except its feather. But by and by a solitary skeleton was +discovered which is now in the British Museum. The skull of this +solitary specimen is unfortunately wanting, and it is therefore +uncertain whether the _Archæopteryx_ possessed teeth or not.[2] But the +remainder of the skeleton is so well preserved as to leave no doubt +respecting the main features of the animal, which are very singular. The +feet are not only altogether bird-like, but have the special characters +of the feet of perching birds, while the body had a clothing of true +feathers. Nevertheless, in some other respects, _Archæopteryx_ is unlike +a bird and like a reptile. There is a long tail composed of many +vertebræ. The structure of the wing differs in some very remarkable +respects from that which it presents in a true bird. In the latter, the +end of the wing answers to the thumb and two fingers of my hand; but the +metacarpal bones, or those which answer to the bones of the fingers +which lie in the palm of the hand, are fused together into one mass; and +the whole apparatus, except the last joints of the thumb, is bound up in +a sheath of integument, while the edge of the hand carries the principal +quill feathers. In the _Archæopteryx_, the upper-arm bone is like that +of a bird; and the two bones of the fore-arm are more or less like those +of a bird, but the fingers are not bound together--they are free. What +their number may have been is uncertain; but several, if not all, of +them were terminated by strong curved claws, not like such as are +sometimes found in birds, but such as reptiles possess; so that, in the +_Archæopteryx_, we have an animal which, to a certain extent, occupies a +midway place between a bird and a reptile. It is a bird so far as its +foot and sundry other parts of its skeleton are concerned; it is +essentially and thoroughly a bird by its feathers; but it is much more +properly a reptile in the fact that the region which represents the hand +has separate bones, with claws resembling those which terminate the +fore-limb of a reptile. Moreover, it had a long reptile-like tail with a +fringe of feathers on each side; while, in all true birds hitherto +known, the tail is relatively short, and the vertebræ which constitute +its skeleton are generally peculiarly modified. + +[Illustration: FIG. 5.--ICHTHYORNIS DISPAR (Marsh). + +(Side and upper views of half the lower jaw; and side and end views of a +vertebra.)] + +Like the _Anoplotherium_ and the _Palæotherium_, therefore, +_Archaopteryx_ tends to fill up the interval between groups which, in +the existing world, are widely separated, and to destroy the value of +the definitions of zoological groups based upon our knowledge of +existing forms. And such cases as these constitute evidence in favour of +evolution, in so far as they prove that, in former periods of the +world's history, there were animals which overstepped the bounds of +existing groups, and tended to merge them into larger assemblages. They +show that animal organisation is more flexible than our knowledge of +recent forms might have led us to believe; and that many structural +permutations and combinations, of which the present world gives us no +indication, may nevertheless have existed. + +But it by no means follows, because the _Palæotherium_ has much in +common with the horse, on the one hand, and with the rhinoceros on the +other, that it is the intermediate form through which rhinoceroses have +passed to become horses, or _vice versa_; on the contrary, any such +supposition would certainly be erroneous. Nor do I think it likely that +the transition from the reptile to the bird has been effected by such a +form as _Archæopteryx_. And it is convenient to distinguish these +intermediate forms between two groups, which do not represent the actual +passage from the one group to the other, as _intercalary_ types, from +those _linear_ types which, more or less approximately, indicate the +nature of the steps by which the transition from one group to the other +was effected. + +I conceive that such linear forms, constituting a series of natural +gradations between the reptile and the bird, and enabling us to +understand the manner in which the reptilian has been metamorphosed into +the bird type, are really to be found among a group of ancient and +extinct terrestrial reptiles known as the _Ornithoscelida_. The remains +of these animals occur throughout the series of Mesozoic formations, +from the Trias to the Chalk, and there are indications of their +existence even in the later Palæozoic strata. + +Most of these reptiles, at present known, are of great size, some having +attained a length of forty feet or perhaps more. The majority resembled +lizards and crocodiles in their general form, and many of them were, +like crocodiles, protected by an armour of heavy bony plates. But, in +others, the hind-limbs elongate and the fore-limbs shorten, until their +relative proportions approach those which are observed in the +short-winged, flightless, ostrich tribe among birds. + +The skull is relatively light, and in some cases the jaws, though +bearing teeth, are beak-like at their extremities and appear to have +been enveloped in a horny sheath. In the part of the vertebral column +which lies between the haunch bones and is called the sacrum, a number +of vertebræ may unite together into one whole, and in this respect, as +in some details of its structure, the sacrum of these reptiles +approaches that of birds. + +But it is in the structure of the pelvis and of the hind limb that some +of these ancient reptiles present the most remarkable approximation to +birds, and clearly indicate the way by which the most specialised and +characteristic features of the bird may have been evolved from the +corresponding parts in the reptile. + +In Fig. 6, the pelvis and hind-limbs of a crocodile, a three-toed bird, +and an ornithoscelidan are represented side by side; and, for facility +of comparison, in corresponding positions; but it must be recollected +that, while the position of the bird's limb is natural, that of the +crocodile is not so. In the bird, the thigh-bone lies close to the body, +and the metatarsal bones of the foot (ii., iii., iv., Fig. 6) are, +ordinarily, raised into a more or less vertical position; in the +crocodile, the thigh-bone stands out at an angle from the body, and the +metatarsal bones (i., ii., iii., iv., Fig. 6) lie flat on the ground. +Hence, in the crocodile, the body usually lies squat between the legs, +while, in the bird, it is raised upon the hind legs, as upon pillars. + +In the crocodile, the pelvis is obviously composed of three bones on +each side: the ilium (_Il._), the pubis (_Pb._), and the ischium +(_Is._). In the adult bird there appears to be but one bone on each +side. The examination of the pelvis of a chick, however, shows that +each half is made up of three bones, which answer to those which remain +distinct throughout life in the crocodile. There is, therefore, a +fundamental identity of plan in the construction of the pelvis of both +bird and reptile; though the difference in form, relative size, and +direction of the corresponding bones in the two cases are very great. + +[Illustration: FIG. 6.--BIRD. ORNITHOSCELIDAN. CROCODILE. + +(The letters have the same signification in all the figures. _Il._, +Ilium; _a_, anterior end; _b_, posterior end _Is._, ischium; _Pb._, +pubis; _T_, tibia; _F_, fibula; _As._, astragalus; _Ca._, calcaneum; +_i_, distal portion of the tarsus; i., ii., iii., iv., metatarsal +bones.)] + +But the most striking contrast between the two lies in the bones of the +leg and of that part of the foot termed the tarsus, which follows upon +the leg. In the crocodile, the fibula _(F)_ is relatively large and its +lower end is complete. The tibia _(T)_ has no marked crest at its upper +end, and its lower end is narrow and not pulley-shaped. There are two +rows of separate tarsal bones _(As., Ca., &c.)_ and four distinct +metatarsal bones, with a rudiment of a fifth. + +In the bird the fibula is small and its lower end diminishes to a point. +The tibia has a strong crest at its upper end and its lower extremity +passes into a broad pulley. There seem at first to be no tarsal bones; +and only one bone, divided at the end into three heads for the three +toes which are attached to it, appears in the place of the metatarsus. + +In a young bird, however, the pulley-shaped apparent end of the tibia is +a distinct bone, which represents the bones marked _As., Ca._, in the +crocodile; while the apparently single metatarsal bone consists of three +bones, which early unite with one another and with an additional bone, +which represents the lower row of bones in the tarsus of the crocodile. + +In other words it can be shown by the study of development that the +bird's pelvis and hind limb are simply extreme modifications of the same +fundamental plan as that upon which these parts are modelled in +reptiles. + +On comparing the pelvis and hind limb of the ornithoscelidan with that +of the crocodile, on the one side, and that of the bird, on the other +(Fig. 6), it is obvious that it represents a middle term between the +two. The pelvic bones approach the form of those of the birds, and the +direction of the pubis and ischium is nearly that which is +characteristic of birds; the thigh bone, from the direction of its head, +must have lain close to the body; the tibia has a great crest; and, +immovably fitted on to its lower end, there is a pulley-shaped bone, +like that of the bird, but remaining distinct. The lower end of the +fibula is much more slender, proportionally, than in the crocodile. The +metatarsal bones have such a form that they fit together immovably, +though they do not enter into bony union; the third toe is, as in the +bird, longest and strongest. In fact, the ornithoscelidan limb is +comparable to that of an unhatched chick. + +[Illustration: FIG. 7.--RESTORATION OF COMPSOGNATHUS LONGIPES.] + +Taking all these facts together, it is obvious that the view, which was +entertained by Mantell and the probability of which was demonstrated by +your own distinguished anatomist, Leidy, while much additional evidence +in the same direction has been furnished by Professor Cope, that some of +these animals may have walked upon their hind legs, as birds do, +acquires great weight. In fact, there can be no reasonable doubt that +one of the smaller forms of the _Ornithoscelida, Compsognathus_, the +almost entire skeleton of which has been discovered in the Solenhofen +slates, was a bipedal animal. The parts of this skeleton are somewhat +twisted out of their natural relations, but the accompanying figure +gives a just view of the general form of _Compsognathus_ and of the +proportions of its limbs; which, in some respects, are more completely +bird-like than those of other _Ornithoscelida_. + +We have had to stretch the definition of the class of birds so as to +include birds with teeth and birds with paw-like fore-limbs and long +tails. There is no evidence that _Compsognathus_ possessed feathers; +but, if it did, it would be hard indeed to say whether it should be +called a reptilian bird or an avian reptile. + +As _Compsognathus_ walked upon its hind legs, it must have made tracks +like those of birds. And as the structure of the limbs of several of the +gigantic _Ornithoscelida_, such as _Iguandon_, leads to the conclusion +that they also may have constantly, or occasionally, assumed the same +attitude, a peculiar interest attaches to the fact that, in the Wealden +strata of England, there are to be found gigantic footsteps, arranged in +order like those of the _Brontozoum_, and which there can be no +reasonable doubt were made by some of the _Ornithoscelida_, the remains +of which are found in the same rocks. And, knowing that reptiles that +walked upon their hind legs and shared many of the anatomical characters +of birds did once exist, it becomes a very important question whether +the tracks in the Trias of Massachusetts, to which I referred some time +ago, and which formerly used to be unhesitatingly ascribed to birds may +not all have been made by Ornithoscelidan reptiles; and whether, if we +could obtain the skeletons of the animals which made these tracks, we +should not find in them the actual steps of the evolutional process by +which reptiles gave rise to birds. + +The evidential value of the facts I have brought forward in this Lecture +must be neither over nor under estimated. It is not historical proof of +the occurrence of the evolution of birds from reptiles, for we have no +safe ground for assuming that true birds had not made their appearance +at the commencement of the Mesozoic epoch. It is in fact, quite possible +that all these more or less aviform reptiles of the Mesozoic epoch are +not terms in the series of progression from birds to reptiles at all, +but simply the more or less modified descendants of Palæozoic forms +through which that transition was actually effected. + +[Illustration: FIG. 8.--PTERODACTYLUS SPECTABILIS (Von Meyer).] + +We are not in a position to say that the known _Ornithoscelida_ are +intermediate in the order of their appearance on the earth between +reptiles and birds. All that can be said is that, if independent +evidence of the actual occurrence of evolution is producible, then these +intercalary forms remove every difficulty in the way of understanding +what the actual steps of the process, in the case of birds, may have +been. + +That intercalary forms should have existed in ancient times is a +necessary consequence of the truth of the hypothesis of evolution; and, +hence, the evidence I have laid before you in proof of the existence of +such forms, is, so far as it goes, in favour of that hypothesis. + +There is another series of extinct reptiles which may be said to be +intercalary between reptiles and birds, in so far as they combine some +of the characters of these groups; and which, as they possessed the +power of flight, may seem, at first sight, to be nearer representatives +of the forms by which the transition from the reptile to the bird was +effected, than the _Ornithoscelida_. + +These are the _Pterosauria_, or Pterodactyles, the remains of which are +met with throughout the series of Mesozoic rocks, from the lias to the +chalk, and some of which attain a great size, their wings having a span +of eighteen or twenty feet. These animals, in the form and proportions +of the head and neck relatively to the body, and in the fact that the +ends of the jaws were often, if not always, more or less extensively +ensheathed in horny beaks, remind us of birds. Moreover, their bones +contained air cavities, rendering them specifically lighter, as is the +case in most birds. The breast-bone was large and keeled, as in most +birds and in bats, and the shoulder girdle is strikingly similar to that +of ordinary birds. But it seems to me that the special resemblance of +pterodactyles to birds ends here, unless I may add the entire absence of +teeth which characterises the great pterodactyles (_Pteranodon_) +discovered by Professor Marsh. All other known pterodactyles have teeth +lodged in sockets. In the vertebral column and the hind-limbs there are +no special resemblances to birds, and when we turn to the wings they are +found to be constructed on a totally different principle from those of +birds. + +There are four fingers. These four fingers are large, and three of them, +those which answer to the thumb and two following fingers in my +hand--are terminated by claws, while the fourth is enormously prolonged +and converted into a great jointed style. You see at once, from what I +have stated about a bird's wing, that there could be nothing less like a +bird's wing than this is. It was concluded by general reasoning that +this finger had the office of supporting a web which extended between it +and the body. An existing specimen proves that such was really the case, +and that the pterodactyles were devoid of feathers, but that the fingers +supported a vast web like that of a bat's wing; in fact, there can be no +doubt that this ancient reptile flew after the fashion of a bat. + +Thus, though the pterodactyle is a reptile which has become modified in +such a manner as to enable it to fly, and therefore, as might be +expected, presents some points of resemblance to other animals which +fly; it has, so to speak, gone off the line which leads directly from +reptiles to birds, and has become disqualified for the changes which +lead to the characteristic organisation of the latter class. Therefore, +viewed in relation to the classes of reptiles and birds, the +pterodactyles appear to me to be, in a limited sense, intercalary forms; +but they are not even approximately linear, in the sense of exemplifying +those modifications of structure through which the passage from the +reptile to the bird took place. + + +III + +THE DEMONSTRATIVE EVIDENCE OF EVOLUTION + +The occurrence of historical facts is said to be demonstrated, when the +evidence that they happened is of such a character as to render the +assumption that they did not happen in the highest degree improbable; +and the question I now have to deal with is, whether evidence in favour +of the evolution of animals of this degree of cogency is, or is not, +obtainable from the record of the succession of living forms which is +presented to us by fossil remains. + +Those who have attended to the progress of palæontology are aware that +evidence of the character which I have defined has been produced in +considerable and continually-increasing quantity during the last few +years. Indeed, the amount and the satisfactory nature of that evidence +are somewhat surprising, when we consider the conditions under which +alone we can hope to obtain it. + +It is obviously useless to seek for such evidence except in localities +in which the physical conditions have been such as to permit of the +deposit of an unbroken, or but rarely interrupted, series of strata +through a long period of time in which the group of animals to be +investigated has existed in such abundance as to furnish the requisite +supply of remains; and in which, finally, the materials composing the +strata are such as to ensure the preservation of these remains in a +tolerably perfect and undisturbed state. + +It so happens that the case which, at present, most nearly fulfils all +these conditions is that of the series of extinct animals which +culminates in the horses, by which term I mean to denote not merely the +domestic animals with which we are all so well acquainted, but their +allies, the ass, zebra, quagga, and the like. In short, I use "horses" +as the equivalent of the technical name _Equidæ_, which is applied to +the whole group of existing equine animals. + +The horse is in many ways a remarkable animal; not least so in the fact +that it presents us with an example of one of the most perfect pieces of +machinery in the living world. In truth, among the works of human +ingenuity it cannot be said that there is any locomotive so perfectly +adapted to its purposes, doing so much work with so small a quantity of +fuel, as this machine of Nature's manufacture--the horse. And, as a +necessary consequence of any sort of perfection, of mechanical +perfection as of others, you find that the horse is a beautiful +creature, one of the most beautiful of all land animals. Look at the +perfect balance of its form, and the rhythm and force of its action. The +locomotive machinery is, as you are aware, resident in its slender fore +and hind limbs; they are flexible and elastic levers, capable of being +moved by very powerful muscles; and, in order to supply the engines +which work these levers with the force which they expend, the horse is +provided with a very perfect apparatus for grinding its food and +extracting therefrom the requisite fuel. + +Without attempting to take you very far into the region of osteological +detail, I must nevertheless trouble you with some statements respecting +the anatomical structure of the horse; and, more especially, will it be +needful to obtain a general conception of the structure of its fore and +hind limbs, and of its teeth. But I shall only touch upon those points +which are absolutely essential to our inquiry. + +Let us turn in the first place to the fore-limb. In most quadrupeds, as +in ourselves, the fore-arm contains distinct bones called the radius and +the ulna. The corresponding region in the horse seems at first to +possess but one bone. Careful observation, however, enables us to +distinguish in this bone a part which clearly answers to the upper end +of the ulna. This is closely united with the chief mass of the bone +which represents the radius, and runs out into a slender shaft which may +be traced for some distance downwards upon the back of the radius, and +then in most cases thins out and vanishes. It takes still more trouble +to make sure of what is nevertheless the fact, that a small part of the +lower end of the bone of the horse's fore-arm, which is only distinct in +a very young foal, is really the lower extremity of the ulna. + +What is commonly called the knee of a horse is its wrist. The "cannon +bone" answers to the middle bone of the five metacarpal bones, which +support the palm of the hand in ourselves. The "pastern," "coronary," +and "coffin" bones of veterinarians answer to the joints of our middle +fingers, while the hoof is simply a greatly enlarged and thickened nail. +But if what lies below the horse's "knee" thus corresponds to the middle +finger in ourselves, what has become of the four other fingers or +digits? We find in the places of the second and fourth digits only two +slender splint-like bones, about two-thirds as long as the cannon-bone, +which gradually taper to their lower ends and bear no finger joints, or, +as they are termed, phalanges. Sometimes, small bony or gristly nodules +are to be found at the bases of these two metacarpal splints, and it is +probable that these represent rudiments of the first and fifth toes. +Thus, the part of the horse's skeleton which corresponds with that of +the human hand contains one overgrown middle digit, and at least two +imperfect lateral digits; and these answer, respectively, to the third, +the second, and the fourth fingers in man. + +Corresponding modifications are found in the hind limb. In ourselves, +and in most quadrupeds, the leg contains two distinct bones, a large +bone, the tibia, and a smaller and more slender bone, the fibula. But in +the horse, the fibula seems, at first, to be reduced to its upper end; a +short slender bone united with the tibia, and ending in a point below, +occupying its place. Examination of the lower end of a young foal's +shin-bone, however, shows a distinct portion of osseous matter, which +is the lower end of the fibula; so that the apparently single lower end +of the shin-bone is really made up of the coalesced ends of the tibia +and fibula, just as the apparently single lower end of the fore-arm bone +is composed of the coalesced radius and ulna. + +The heel of the horse is the part commonly known as the hock. The hinder +cannon-bone answers to the middle metatarsal bone of the human foot, the +pastern, coronary, and coffin bones, to the middle toe bones; the hind +hoof to the nail, as in the fore-foot. And, as in the fore-foot, there +are merely two splints to represent the second and the fourth toes. +Sometimes a rudiment of a fifth toe appears to be traceable. + +The teeth of a horse are not less peculiar than its limbs. The living +engine, like all others, must be well stoked if it is to do its work; +and the horse, if it is to make good its wear and tear, and to exert the +enormous amount of force required for its propulsion, must be well and +rapidly fed. To this end, good cutting instruments and powerful and +lasting crushers are needful. Accordingly, the twelve cutting teeth of a +horse are close-set and concentrated in the fore-part of its mouth, like +so many adzes or chisels. The grinders or molars are large, and have an +extremely complicated structure, being composed of a number of different +substances of unequal hardness. The consequence of this is that they +wear away at different rates; and, hence, the surface of each grinder is +always as uneven as that of a good millstone. + +I have said that the structure of the grinding teeth is very +complicated, the harder and the softer parts being, as it were, +interlaced with one another. The result of this is that, as the tooth +wears, the crown presents a peculiar pattern, the nature of which is not +very easily deciphered at first; but which it is important we should +understand clearly. Each grinding tooth of the upper jaw has an _outer +wall_ so shaped that, on the worn crown, it exhibits the form of two +crescents, one in front and one behind, with their concave sides turned +outwards. From the inner side of the front crescent, a crescentic _front +ridge_ passes inwards and backwards, and its inner face enlarges into a +strong longitudinal fold or _pillar_. From the front part of the hinder +crescent, a _back ridge_ takes a like direction, and also has its +_pillar_. + +The deep interspaces or _valleys_ between these ridges and the outer +wall are filled by bony substance, which is called _cement_, and coats +the whole tooth. + +The pattern of the worn face of each grinding tooth of the lower jaw is +quite different. It appears to be formed of two crescent-shaped ridges, +the convexities of which are turned outwards. The free extremity of each +crescent has a _pillar_, and there is a large double _pillar_ where the +two crescents meet; The whole structure is, as it were, imbedded in +cement, which fills up the valleys, as in the upper grinders. + +If the grinding faces of an upper and of a lower molar of the same side +are applied together, it will be seen that the apposed ridges are +nowhere parallel, but that they frequently cross; and that thus, in the +act of mastication, a hard surface in the one is constantly applied to a +soft surface in the other, and _vice versa_. They thus constitute a +grinding apparatus of great efficiency, and one which is repaired as +fast as it wears, owing to the long-continued growth of the teeth. + +Some other peculiarities of the dentition of the horse must be noticed, +as they bear upon what I shall have to say by and by. Thus the crowns of +the cutting teeth have a peculiar deep pit, which gives rise to the +well-known "mark" of the horse. There is a large space between the outer +incisors and the front grinder. In this space the adult male horse +presents, near the incisors on each side, above and below, a canine or +"tush," which is commonly absent in mares. In a young horse, moreover, +there is not unfrequently to be seen in front of the first grinder, a +very small tooth, which soon falls out. If this small tooth be counted +as one, it will be found that there are seven teeth behind the canine on +each side; namely, the small tooth in question, and the six great +grinders, among which, by an unusual peculiarity, the foremost tooth is +rather larger than those which follow it. + +I have now enumerated those characteristic structures of the horse which +are of most importance for the purpose we have in view. + +To any one who is acquainted with the morphology of vertebrated animals, +they show that the horse deviates widely from the general structure of +mammals; and that the horse type is, in many respects, an extreme +modification of the general mammalian plan. The least modified mammals, +in fact, have the radius and ulna, the tibia and fibula, distinct and +separate. They have five distinct and complete digits on each foot, and +no one of these digits is very much larger than the rest. Moreover, in +the least modified mammals, the total number of the teeth is very +generally forty-four, while in horses, the usual number is forty, and in +the absence of the canines, it may be reduced to thirty-six; the incisor +teeth are devoid of the fold seen in those of the horse: the grinders +regularly diminish in size from the middle of the series to its front +end; while their crowns are short, early attain their full length, and +exhibit simple ridges or tubercles, in place of the complex foldings of +the horse's grinders. + +Hence the general principles of the hypothesis of evolution lead to the +conclusion that the horse must have been derived from some quadruped +which possessed five complete digits on each foot; which had the bones +of the fore-arm and of the leg complete and separate; and which +possessed forty-four teeth, among which the crowns of the incisors and +grinders had a simple structure; while the latter gradually increased in +size from before backwards, at any rate in the anterior part of the +series, and had short crowns. + +And if the horse has been thus evolved, and the remains of the different +stages of its evolution have been preserved, they ought to present us +with a series of forms in which the number of the digits becomes +reduced; the bones of the fore-arm and leg gradually take on the equine +condition; and the form and arrangement of the teeth successively +approximate to those which obtain in existing horses. + +Let us turn to the facts, and see how far they fulfil these requirements +of the doctrine of evolution. + +In Europe abundant remains of horses are found in the Quaternary and +later Tertiary strata as far as the Pliocene formation. But these +horses, which are so common in the cave-deposits and in the gravels of +Europe, are in all essential respects like existing horses. And that is +true of all the horses of the latter part of the Pliocene epoch. But, in +deposits which belong to the earlier Pliocene and later Miocene epochs, +and which occur in Britain, in France, in Germany, in Greece, in India, +we find animals which are extremely like horses--which, in fact, are so +similar to horses, that you may follow descriptions given in works upon +the anatomy of the horse upon the skeletons of these animals--but which +differ in some important particulars. For example, the structure of +their fore and hind limbs is somewhat different. The bones which, in the +horse, are represented by two splints, imperfect below, are as long as +the middle metacarpal and metatarsal bones; and, attached to the +extremity of each, is a digit with three joints of the same general +character as those of the middle digit, only very much smaller. These +small digits are so disposed that they could have had but very little +functional importance, and they must have been rather of the nature of +the dew-claws, such as are to be found in many ruminant animals. The +_Hipparion_, as the extinct European three-toed horse is called, in +fact, presents a foot similar to that of the American _Protohippus_ +(Fig. 9), except that, in the _Hipparion_, the smaller digits are +situated farther back, and are of smaller proportional size, than in the +_Protohippus_. + +The ulna is slightly more distinct than in the horse; and the whole +length of it, as a very slender shaft, intimately united with the +radius, is completely traceable. The fibula appears to be in the same +condition as in the horse. The teeth of the _Hipparion_ are essentially +similar to those of the horse, but the pattern of the grinders is in +some respects a little more complex, and there is a depression on the +face of the skull in front of the orbit, which is not seen in existing +horses. + +In the earlier Miocene, and perhaps the later Eocene deposits of some +parts of Europe, another extinct animal has been discovered, which +Cuvier, who first described some fragments of it, considered to be a +_Palæotherium_. But as further discoveries threw new light upon its +structure, it was recognised as a distinct genus, under the name of +_Anchitherium_. + +In its general characters, the skeleton of _Anchitherium_ is very +similar to that of the horse. In fact, Lartet and De Blainville called +it _Palæotherium equinum_ or _hippoides_; and De Christol, in 1847, said +that it differed from _Hipparion_ in little more than the characters of +its teeth, and gave it the name of _Hipparitherium_. Each foot possesses +three complete toes; while the lateral toes are much larger in +proportion to the middle toe than in _Hipparion_, and doubtless rested +on the ground in ordinary locomotion. + +The ulna is complete and quite distinct from the radius, though firmly +united with the latter. The fibula seems also to have been complete. Its +lower end, though intimately united with that of the tibia, is clearly +marked off from the latter bone. + +There are forty-four teeth. The incisors have no strong pit. The canines +seem to have been well developed in both sexes. The first of the seven +grinders, which, as I have said, is frequently absent, and, when it does +exist, is small in the horse, is a good-sized and permanent tooth, while +the grinder which follows it is but little larger than the hinder ones. +The crowns of the grinders are short, and though the fundamental pattern +of the horse-tooth is discernible, the front and back ridges are less +curved, the accessory pillars are wanting, and the valleys, much +shallower, are not filled up with cement. + +Seven years ago, when I happened to be looking critically into the +bearing of palæontological facts upon the doctrine of evolution, it +appeared to me that the _Anchitherium_, the _Hipparion_, and the modern +horses, constitute a series in which the modifications of structure +coincide with the order of chronological occurrence, in the manner in +which they must coincide, if the modern horses really are the result of +the gradual metamorphosis, in the course of the Tertiary epoch, of a +less specialised ancestral form. And I found by correspondence with the +late eminent French anatomist and palæontologist, M. Lartet, that he had +arrived at the same conclusion from the same data. + +That the _Anchitherium_ type had become metamorphosed into the +_Hipparion_ type, and the latter into the _Equine_ type, in the course +of that period of time which is represented by the latter half of the +Tertiary deposits, seemed to me to be the only explanation of the facts +for which there was even a shadow of probability.[3] + +And, hence, I have ever since held that these facts afford evidence of +the occurrence of evolution, which, in the sense already defined, may be +termed demonstrative. + +All who have occupied themselves with the structure of _Anchitherium_, +from Cuvier onwards, have acknowledged its many points of likeness to a +well-known genus of extinct Eocene mammals, _Palæotherium_. Indeed, as +we have seen, Cuvier regarded his remains of _Anchitherium_ as those of +a species of _Palæotherium_. Hence, in attempting to trace the pedigree +of the horse beyond the Miocene epoch and the Anchitheroid form, I +naturally sought among the various species of Palæotheroid animals for +its nearest ally, and I was led to conclude that the _Palæotherium +minus_ (_Plagiolophus_) represented the next step more nearly than any +form then known. + +I think that this opinion was fully justifiable; but the progress of +investigation has thrown an unexpected light on the question, and has +brought us much nearer than could have been anticipated to a knowledge +of the true series of the progenitors of the horse. + +You are all aware that, when your country was first discovered by +Europeans, there were no traces of the existence of the horse in any +part of the American continent. The accounts of the conquest of Mexico +dwell upon the astonishment of the natives of that country when they +first became acquainted with that astounding phenomenon--a man seated +upon a horse. Nevertheless, the investigations of American geologists +have proved that the remains of horses occur in the most superficial +deposits of both North and South America, just as they do in Europe. +Therefore, for some reason or other--no feasible suggestion on that +subject, so far as I know, has been made--the horse must have died out +on this continent at some period preceding the discovery of America. Of +late years there has been discovered in your Western Territories that +marvellous accumulation of deposits, admirably adapted for the +preservation of organic remains, to which I referred the other evening, +and which furnishes us with a consecutive series of records of the fauna +of the older half of the Tertiary epoch, for which we have no parallel +in Europe. They have yielded fossils in an excellent state of +conservation and in unexampled number and variety. The researches of +Leidy and others have shown that forms allied to the _Hipparion_ and the +_Anchitherium_ are to be found among these remains. But it is only +recently that the admirably conceived and most thoroughly and patiently +worked-out investigations of Professor Marsh have given us a just idea +of the vast fossil wealth, and of the scientific importance, of these +deposits. I have had the advantage of glancing over the collections in +Yale Museum; and I can truly say that, so far as my knowledge extends, +there is no collection from any one region and series of strata +comparable, for extent, or for the care with which the remains have been +got together, or for their scientific importance, to the series of +fossils which he has deposited there. This vast collection has yielded +evidence bearing upon the question of the pedigree of the horse of the +most striking character. It tends to show that we must look to America, +rather than to Europe, for the original seat of the equine series; and +that the archaic forms and successive modifications of the horse's +ancestry are far better preserved here than in Europe. + +Professor Marsh's kindness has enabled me to put before you a diagram, +every figure in which is an actual representation of some specimen which +is to be seen at Yale at this present time (Fig. 9). + +The succession of forms which he has brought together carries us from +the top to the bottom of the Tertiaries. Firstly, there is the true +horse. Next we have the American Pliocene form of the horse +(_Pliohippus_); in the conformation of its limbs it presents some very +slight deviations from the ordinary horse, and the crowns of the +grinding teeth are shorter. Then comes the _Protohippus_, which +represents the European _Hipparion_, having one large digit and two +small ones on each foot, and the general characters of the fore-arm and +leg to which I have referred. But it is more valuable than the European +_Hipparion_, for the reason that it is devoid of some of the +peculiarities of that form--peculiarities which tend to show that the +European _Hipparion_ is rather a member of a collateral branch, than a +form in the direct line of succession. Next, in the backward order in +time, is the _Miohippus_, which corresponds pretty nearly with the +_Anchitherium_ of Europe. It presents three complete toes--one large +median and two smaller lateral ones; and there is a rudiment of that +digit, which answers to the little finger of the human hand. + +[Illustration: FIG. 9.] + +The European record of the pedigree of the horse stops here; in the +American Tertiaries, on the contrary, the series of ancestral equine +forms is continued into the Eocene formations. An older Miocene form, +termed _Mesohippus_, has three toes in front, with a large splint-like +rudiment representing the little finger; and three toes behind. The +radius and ulna, the tibia and the fibula, are distinct, and the short +crowned molar teeth are anchitherold in pattern. + +But the most important discovery of all is the _Orohippus_, which comes +from the Eocene formation, and is the oldest member of the equine series +as yet known. Here we find four complete toes on the front limb, three +toes on the hind-limb, a well-developed ulna, a well-developed fibula, +and short-crowned grinders of simple pattern. + +Thus, thanks to these important researches, it has become evident that, +so far as our present knowledge extends, the history of the horse-type +is exactly and precisely that which could have been predicted from a +knowledge of the principles of evolution. And the knowledge we now +possess justifies us completely in the anticipation, that when the still +lower Eocene deposits, and those which belong to the cretaceous epoch, +have yielded up their remains of ancestral equine animals, we shall +find, first, a form with four complete toes and a rudiment of the +innermost or first digit in front, with probably a rudiment of the fifth +digit in the hind foot;[4] while, in still older forms, the series of +the digits will be more and more complete, until we come to the +five-toed animals, in which, if the doctrine of evolution is well +founded, the whole series must have taken its orgin. + +That is what I mean by demonstrative evidence of evolution. An inductive +hypothesis is said to be demonstrated when the facts are shown to be in +entire accordance with it. If that is not scientific proof, there are no +merely inductive conclusions which can be said to be proved. And the +doctrine of evolution, at the present time, rests upon exactly as secure +a foundation as the Copernican theory of the motions of the heavenly +bodies did at the time of its promulgation. Its logical basis is +precisely of the same character--the coincidence of the observed facts +with theoretical requirements. + +The only way of escape, if it be a way of escape, from the conclusions +which I have just indicated, is the supposition that all these different +equine forms have been created separately at separate epochs of time; +and, I repeat, that of such an hypothesis as this there neither is, nor +can be, any scientific evidence; and, assuredly so far as I know, there +is none which is supported, or pretends to be supported, by evidence or +authority of any other kind. I can but think that the time will come +when such suggestions as these, such obvious attempts to escape the +force of demonstration, will be put upon the same footing as the +supposition made by some writers, who are I believe not completely +extinct at present, that fossils are mere simulacra, are no indications +of the former existence of the animals to which they seem to belong; but +that they are either sports of Nature, or special creations, +intended--as I heard suggested the other day--to test our faith. + +In fact, the whole evidence is in favour of evolution, and there is none +against it. And I say this, although perfectly well aware of the seeming +difficulties which have been built up upon what appears to the +uninformed to be a solid foundation. I meet constantly with the argument +that the doctrine of evolution cannot be well founded, because it +requires the lapse of a very vast period of time; while the duration of +life upon the earth thus implied is inconsistent with the conclusions +arrived at by the astronomer and the physicist. I may venture to say +that I am familiar with those conclusions, inasmuch as some years ago, +when President of the Geological Society of London, I took the liberty +of criticising them, and of showing in what respects, as it appeared to +me, they lacked complete and thorough demonstration. But, putting that +point aside, suppose that, as the astronomers, or some of them, and some +physical philosophers, tell us, it is impossible that life could have +endured upon the earth for as long a period as is required by the +doctrine of evolution--supposing that to be proved--I desire to be +informed, what is the foundation for the statement that evolution does +require so great a time? The biologist knows nothing whatever of the +amount of time which may be required for the process of evolution. It is +a matter of fact that the equine forms which I have described to you +occur, in the order stated, in the Tertiary formations. But I have not +the slightest means of guessing whether it took a million of years, or +ten millions, or a hundred millions, or a thousand millions of years, to +give rise to that series of changes. A biologist has no means of +arriving at any conclusion as to the amount of time which may be needed +for a certain quantity of organic change. He takes his time from the +geologist. The geologist, considering the rate at which deposits are +formed and the rate at which denudation goes on upon the surface of the +earth, arrives at more or less justifiable conclusions as to the time +which is required for the deposit of a certain thickness of rocks; and +if he tells me that the Tertiary formations required 500,000,000 years +for their deposit, I suppose he has good ground for what he says, and I +take that as a measure of the duration of the evolution of the horse +from the _Orohippus_ up to its present condition. And, if he is right, +undoubtedly evolution is a very slow process and requires a great deal +of time. But suppose, now, that an astronomer or a physicist--for +instance, my friend Sir William Thomson--tells me that my geological +authority is quite wrong; and that he has weighty evidence to show that +life could not possibly have existed upon the surface of the earth +500,000,000 years ago, because the earth would have then been too hot to +allow of life, my reply is: "That is not my affair; settle that with the +geologist, and when you have come to an agreement among yourselves I +will adopt your conclusion." We take our time from the geologists and +physicists; and it is monstrous that having taken our time from the +physical philosopher's clock, the physical philosopher should turn round +upon us, and say we are too fast or too slow. What we desire to know is, +is it a fact that evolution took place? As to the amount of time which +evolution may have occupied, we are in the hands of the physicist and +the astronomer, whose business it is to deal with those questions. + +I have now, ladies and gentlemen, arrived at the conclusion of the task +which I set before myself when I undertook to deliver these lectures. My +purpose has been, not to enable those among you who have paid no +attention to these subjects before, to leave this room in a condition to +decide upon the validity or the invalidity of the hypothesis of +evolution; but I have desired to put before you the principles upon +which all hypotheses respecting the history of Nature must be judged; +and furthermore, to make apparent the nature of the evidence and the +amount of cogency which is to be expected and may be obtained from it. +To this end, I have not hesitated to regard you as genuine students and +persons desirous of knowing the truth. I have not shrunk from taking you +through long discussions, that I fear may have sometimed tried your +patience; and I have inflicted upon you details which were +indispensable, but which may well have been wearisome. But I shall +rejoice--I shall consider that I have done you the greatest service +which it was in my power to do--if I have thus convinced you that the +great question which we have been discussing is not one to be dealt with +by rhetorical flourishes, or by loose and superficial talk; but that it +requires the keen attention of the trained intellect and the patience of +the accurate observer. + + + + +ON THE PHYSICAL BASIS OF LIFE + +[1868] + + +In order to make the title of this discourse generally intelligible, I +have translated the term "Protoplasm," which is the scientific name of +the substance of which I am about to speak, by the words "the physical +basis of life." I suppose that, to many, the idea that there is such a +thing as a physical basis, or matter, of life may be novel--so widely +spread is the conception of life as a something which works through +matter, but is independent of it; and even those who are aware that +matter and life are inseparably connected, may not be prepared for the +conclusion plainly suggested by the phrase, "_the_ physical basis or +matter of life," that there is some one kind of matter which is common +to all living beings, and that their endless diversities are bound +together by a physical, as well as an ideal, unity. In fact, when first +apprehended, such a doctrine as this appears almost shocking to common +sense. + +What, truly, can seem to be more obviously different from one another, +in faculty, in form, and in substance, than the various kinds of living +beings? What community of faculty can there be between the +brightly-coloured lichen, which so nearly resembles a mere mineral +incrustation of the bare rock on which it grows, and the painter, to +whom it is instinct with beauty, or the botanist, whom it feeds with +knowledge? + +Again, think of the microscopic fungus--a mere infinitesimal ovoid +particle, which finds space and duration enough to multiply into +countless millions in the body of a living fly; and then of the wealth +of foliage, the luxuriance of flower and fruit, which lies between this +bald sketch of a plant and the giant pine of California, towering to the +dimensions of a cathedral spire, or the Indian fig, which covers acres +with its profound shadow, and endures while nations and empires come and +go around its vast circumference. Or, turning to the other half of the +world of life, picture to yourselves the great Finner whale, hugest of +beasts that live, or have lived, disporting his eighty or ninety feet of +bone, muscle, and blubber, with easy roll, among waves in which the +stoutest ship that ever left dockyard would flounder hopelessly; and +contrast him with the invisible animalcules--mere gelatinous specks, +multitudes of which could, in fact, dance upon the point of a needle +with the same ease as the angels of the Schoolmen could, in imagination. +With these images before your minds, you may well ask, what community of +form, or structure, is there between the animalcule and the whale; or +between the fungus and the fig-tree? And, _a fortiori_, between all +four? + +Finally, if we regard substance, or material composition, what hidden +bond can connect the flower which a girl wears in her hair and the blood +which courses through her youthful veins; or, what is there in common +between the dense and resisting mass of the oak, or the strong fabric of +the tortoise, and those broad disks of glassy jelly which may be seen +pulsating through the waters of a calm sea, but which drain away to +mere films in the hand which raises them out of their element? + +Such objections as these must, I think, arise in the mind of every one +who ponders, for the first time, upon the conception of a single +physical basis of life underlying all the diversities of vital +existence; but I propose to demonstrate to you that, notwithstanding +these apparent difficulties, a threefold unity--namely, a unity of +power or faculty, a unity of form, and a unity of substantial +composition--does pervade the whole living world. + +No very abstruse argumentation is needed, in the first place, to prove +that the powers, or faculties, of all kinds of living matter, diverse as +they may be in degree, are substantially similar in kind. + +Goethe has condensed a survey of all powers of mankind into the +well-known epigram:-- + + "Warum treibt sich das Volk so und schreit? + Es will sich ernähren + Kinder zeugen, und die nähren so gut es vermag. + + * * * * * + + Weiter bringt es kein Mensch, stell' er + sich wie er auch will." + +In physiological language this means, that all the multifarious and +complicated activities of man are comprehensible under three categories. +Either they are immediately directed towards the maintenance and +development of the body, or they effect transitory changes in the +relative positions of parts of the body, or they tend towards the +continuance of the species. Even those manifestations of intellect, of +feeling, and of will, which we rightly name the higher faculties, are +not excluded from this classification, inasmuch as to every one but the +subject of them, they are known only as transitory changes in the +relative positions of parts of the body. Speech, gesture, and every +other form of human action are, in the long run, resolvable into +muscular contraction, and muscular contraction is but a transitory +change in the relative positions of the parts of a muscle. But the +scheme which is large enough to embrace the activities of the highest +form of life, covers all those of the lower creatures. The lowest plant, +or animalcule, feeds, grows, and reproduces its kind. In addition, all +animals manifest those transitory changes of form which we class under +irritability and contractility; and, it is more than probable, that when +the vegetable world is thoroughly explored, we shall find all plants in +possession of the same powers, at one time or other of their existence. + +I am not now alluding to such phænomena, at once rare and conspicuous, +as those exhibited by the leaflets of the sensitive plants, or the +stamens of the barberry, but to much more widely spread, and at the same +time, more subtle and hidden, manifestations of vegetable contractility. +You are doubtless aware that the common nettle owes its stinging +property to the innumerable stiff and needle-like, though exquisitely +delicate, hairs which cover its surface. Each stinging-needle tapers +from a broad base to a slender summit, which, though rounded at the end, +is of such microscopic fineness that it readily penetrates, and breaks +off in, the skin. The whole hair consists of a very delicate outer case +of wood, closely applied to the inner surface of which is a layer of +semi-fluid matter, full of innumerable granules of extreme minuteness. +This semi-fluid lining is protoplasm, which thus constitutes a kind of +bag, full of a limpid liquid, and roughly corresponding in form with the +interior of the hair which it fills. When viewed with a sufficiently +high magnifying power, the protoplasmic layer of the nettle hair is seen +to be in a condition of unceasing activity. Local contractions of the +whole thickness of its substance pass slowly and gradually from point to +point, and give rise to the appearance of progressive waves, just as the +bending of successive stalks of corn by a breeze produces the apparent +billows of a cornfield. + +But, in addition to these movements, and independently of them, the +granules are driven, in relatively rapid streams, through channels in +the protoplasm which seem to have a considerable amount of persistence. +Most commonly, the currents in adjacent parts of the protoplasm take +similar directions; and, thus, there is a general stream up one side of +the hair and down the other. But this does not prevent the existence of +partial currents which take different routes; and sometimes trains of +granules may be seen coursing swiftly in opposite directions within a +twenty-thousandth of an inch of one another; while, occasionally, +opposite streams come into direct collision, and, after a longer or +shorter struggle, one predominates. The cause of these currents seems to +lie in contractions of the protoplasm which bounds the channels in which +they flow, but which are so minute that the best microscopes show only +their effects, and not themselves. + +The spectacle afforded by the wonderful energies prisoned within the +compass of the microscopic hair of a plant, which we commonly regard as +a merely passive organism, is not easily forgotten by one who has +watched its display, continued hour after hour, without pause or sign of +weakening. The possible complexity of many other organic forms, +seemingly as simple as the protoplasm of the nettle, dawns upon one; and +the comparison of such a protoplasm to a body with an internal +circulation, which has been put forward by an eminent physiologist, +loses much of its startling character. Currents similar to those of the +hairs of the nettle have been observed in a great multitude of very +different plants, and weighty authorities have suggested that they +probably occur, in more or less perfection, in all young vegetable +cells. If such be the case, the wonderful noonday silence of a tropical +forest is, after all, due only to the dulness of our hearing; and could +our ears catch the murmur of these tiny Maelstroms, as they whirl in the +innumerable myriads of living cells which constitute each tree, we +should be stunned, as with the roar of a great city. + +Among the lower plants, it is the rule rather than the exception, that +contractility should be still more openly manifested at some periods of +their existence. The protoplasm of _Algæ_ and _Fungi_ becomes, under +many circumstances, partially, or completely, freed from its woody case, +and exhibits movements of its whole mass, or is propelled by the +contractility of one, or more, hair-like prolongations of its body, +which are called vibratile cilia. And, so far as the conditions of the +manifestation of the phænomena of contractility have yet been studied, +they are the same for the plant as for the animal. Heat and electric +shocks influence both, and in the same way, though it may be in +different degrees. It is by no means my intention to suggest that there +is no difference in faculty between the lowest plant and the highest, or +between plants and animals. But the difference between the powers of the +lowest plant, or animal, and those of the highest, is one of degree, not +of kind, and depends, as Milne-Edwards long ago so well pointed out, +upon the extent to which the principle of the division of labour is +carried out in the living economy. In the lowest organism all parts are +competent to perform all functions, and one and the same portion of +protoplasm may successfully take on the function of feeding, moving, or +reproducing apparatus. In the highest, on the contrary, a great number +of parts combine to perform each function, each part doing its allotted +share of the work with great accuracy and efficiency, but being useless +for any other purpose. + +On the other hand, notwithstanding all the fundamental resemblances +which exist between the powers of the protoplasm in plants and in +animals, they present a striking difference (to which I shall advert +more at length presently), in the fact that plants can manufacture fresh +protoplasm out of mineral compounds, whereas animals are obliged to +procure it ready made, and hence, in the long run, depend upon plants. +Upon what condition this difference in the powers of the two great +divisions of the world of life depends, nothing is at present known. + +With such qualification as arises out of the last-mentioned fact, it may +be truly said that the acts of all living things are fundamentally one. +Is any such unity predicable of their forms? Let us seek in easily +verified facts for a reply to this question. If a drop of blood be drawn +by pricking one's finger, and viewed with proper precautions, and under +a sufficiently high microscopic power, there will be seen, among the +innumerable multitude of little, circular, discoidal bodies, or +corpuscles, which float in it and give it its colour, a comparatively +small number of colourless corpuscles, of somewhat larger size and very +irregular shape. If the drop of blood be kept at the temperature of the +body, these colourless corpuscles will be seen to exhibit a marvellous +activity, changing their forms with great rapidity, drawing in and +thrusting out prolongations of their substance, and creeping about as if +they were independent organisms. + +The substance which is thus active is a mass of protoplasm, and its +activity differs in detail, rather than in principle, from that of the +protoplasm of the nettle. Under sundry circumstances the corpuscle dies +and becomes distended into a round mass, in the midst of which is seen a +smaller spherical body, which existed, but was more or less hidden, in +the living corpuscle, and is called its _nucleus_. Corpuscles of +essentially similar structure are to be found in the skin, in the lining +of the mouth, and scattered through the whole framework of the body. +Nay, more; in the earliest condition of the human organism, in that +state in which it has but just become distinguishable from the egg in +which it arises, it is nothing but an aggregation of such corpuscles, +and every organ of the body was, once, no more than such an aggregation. + +Thus a nucleated mass of protoplasm turns out to be what may be termed +the structural unit of the human body. As a matter of fact, the body, in +its earliest state, is a mere multiple of such units; and in its perfect +condition, it is a multiple of such units, variously modified. + +But does the formula which expresses the essential structural character +of the highest animal cover all the rest, as the statement of its powers +and faculties covered that of all others? Very nearly. Beast and fowl, +reptile and fish, mollusk, worm, and polype, are all composed of +structural units of the same character, namely, masses of protoplasm +with a nucleus. There are sundry very low animals, each of which, +structurally, is a mere colourless blood-corpuscle, leading an +independent life. But at the very bottom of the animal scale, even this +simplicity becomes simplified, and all the phænomena of life are +manifested by a particle of protoplasm without a nucleus. Nor are such +organisms insignificant by reason of their want of complexity. It is a +fair question whether the protoplasm of those simplest forms of life, +which people an immense extent of the bottom of the sea, would not +outweigh that of all the higher living beings which inhabit the land put +together. And in ancient times, no less than at the present day, such +living beings as these have been the greatest of rock builders. + +What has been said of the animal world is no less true of plants. +Embedded in the protoplasm at the broad, or attached, end of the nettle +hair, there lies a spheroidal nucleus. Careful examination further +proves that the whole substance of the nettle is made up of a repetition +of such masses of nucleated protoplasm, each contained in a wooden case, +which is modified in form, sometimes into a woody fibre, sometimes into +a duct or spiral vessel, sometimes into a pollen grain, or an ovule. +Traced back to its earliest state, the nettle arises as the man does, in +a particle of nucleated protoplasm. And in the lowest plants, as in the +lowest animals, a single mass of such protoplasm may constitute the +whole plant, or the protoplasm may exist without a nucleus. + +Under these circumstances it may well be asked, how is one mass of +non-nucleated protoplasm to be distinguished from another? why call one +"plant" and the other "animal"? + +The only reply is that, so far as form is concerned, plants and animals +are not separable, and that, in many cases, it is a mere matter of +convention whether we call a given organism an animal or a plant. There +is a living body called _Æthalium septicum_, which appears upon decaying +vegetable substances, and, in one of its forms, is common upon the +surfaces of tan-pits. In this condition it is, to all intents and +purposes, a fungus, and formerly was always regarded as such; but the +remarkable investigations of De Bary have shown that, in another +condition, the _Æthalium_ is an actively locomotive creature, and takes +in solid matters, upon which, apparently, it feeds, thus exhibiting the +most characteristic feature of animality. Is this a plant; or is it an +animal? Is it both; or is it neither? Some decide in favour of the last +supposition, and establish an intermediate kingdom, a sort of biological +No Man's Land for all these questionable forms. But, as it is admittedly +impossible to draw any distinct boundary line between this no man's land +and the vegetable world, on the one hand, or the animal, on the other, +it appears to me that this proceeding merely doubles the difficulty +which, before, was single. + +Protoplasm, simple or nucleated, is the formal basis of all life. It is +the clay of the potter: which, bake it and paint it as he will, remains +clay, separated by artifice, and not by nature, from the commonest brick +or sun-dried clod. + +Thus it becomes clear that all living powers are cognate, and that all +living forms are fundamentally of one character. The researches of the +chemist have revealed a no less striking uniformity of material +composition in living matter. + +In perfect strictness, it is true that chemical investigation can tell +us little or nothing, directly, of the composition of living matter, +inasmuch as such matter must needs die in the act of analysis,--and upon +this very obvious ground, objections, which I confess seem to me to be +somewhat frivolous, have been raised to the drawing of any conclusions +whatever respecting the composition of actually living matter, from that +of the dead matter of life, which alone is accessible to us. But +objectors of this class do not seem to reflect that it is also, in +strictness, true that we know nothing about the composition of any body +whatever, as it is. The statement that a crystal of calc-spar consists +of carbonate of lime, is quite true, if we only mean that, by +appropriate processes, it may be resolved into carbonic acid and +quicklime. If you pass the same carbonic acid over the very quicklime +thus obtained, you will obtain carbonate of lime again; but it will not +be calc-spar, nor anything like it. Can it, therefore, be said that +chemical analysis teaches nothing about the chemical composition of +calc-spar? Such a statement would be absurd; but it is hardly more so +than the talk one occasionally hears about the uselessness of applying +the results of chemical analysis to the living bodies which have yielded +them. + +One fact, at any rate, is out of reach of such refinements, and this is, +that all the forms of protoplasm which have yet been examined contain +the four elements, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, in very +complex union, and that they behave similarly towards several reagents. +To this complex combination, the nature of which has never been +determined with exactness, the name of Protein has been applied. And if +we use this term with such caution as may properly arise out of our +comparative ignorance of the things for which it stands, it may be truly +said, that all protoplasm is proteinaceous, or, as the white, or +albumen, of an egg is one of the commonest examples of a nearly pure +proteine matter, we may say that all living matter is more or less +albuminoid. + +Perhaps it would not yet be safe to say that all forms of protoplasm are +affected by the direct action of electric shocks; and yet the number of +cases in which the contraction of protoplasm is shown to be affected by +this agency increases every day. + +Nor can it be affirmed with perfect confidence, that all forms of +protoplasm are liable to undergo that peculiar coagulation at a +temperature of 40°-50° centigrade, which has been called +"heat-stiffening," though Kühne's beautiful researches have proved this +occurrence to take place in so many and such diverse living beings, that +it is hardly rash to expect that the law holds good for all. + + * * * * * + +Enough has, perhaps, been said to prove the existence of a general +uniformity in the character of the protoplasm, or physical basis, of +life, in whatever group of living beings it may be studied. But it will +be understood that this general uniformity by no means excludes any +amount of special modifications of the fundamental substance. The +mineral, carbonate of lime, assumes an immense diversity of characters, +though no one doubts that, under all these Protean changes, it is one +and the same thing. + +And now, what is the ultimate fate, and what the origin, of the matter +of life? + +Is it, as some of the older naturalists supposed, diffused throughout +the universe in molecules, which are indestructible and unchangeable in +themselves; but, in endless transmigration, unite in innumerable +permutations, into the diversified forms of life we know? Or, is the +matter of life composed of ordinary matter, differing from it only in +the manner in which its atoms are aggregated? Is it built up of ordinary +matter, and again resolved into ordinary matter when its work is done? + +Modern science does not hesitate a moment between these alternatives. +Physiology writes, over the portals of life-- + + "Debemur morti nos nostraque," + +with a profounder meaning than the Roman poet attached to that +melancholy line. Under whatever disguise it takes refuge, whether fungus +or oak; worm or man, the living protoplasm not only ultimately dies and +is resolved into its mineral and lifeless constituents, but is always +dying, and, strange as the paradox may sound, could not live unless it +died. + +In the wonderful story of the "Peau de Chagrin," the hero becomes +possessed of a magical wild ass' skin, which yields him the means of +gratifying all his wishes. But its surface represents the duration of +the proprietor's life; and for every satisfied desire the skin shrinks +in proportion to the intensity of fruition, until at length life and the +last hand-breadth of the _peau de chagrin_, disappear with the +gratification of a last wish. + +Balzac's studies had led him over a wide range of thought and +speculation, and his shadowing forth of physiological truth in this +strange story may have been intentional. At any rate, the matter of life +is a veritable _peau de chagrin_, and for every vital act it is somewhat +the smaller. All work implies waste, and the work of life results, +directly or indirectly, in the waste of protoplasm. + +Every word uttered by a speaker costs him some physical loss; and, in +the strictest sense, he burns that others may have light--so much +eloquence, so much of his body resolved into carbonic acid, water, and +urea. It is clear that this process of expenditure cannot go on for +ever. But, happily, the protoplasmic _peau de chagrin_ differs from +Balzac's in its capacity of being repaired, and brought back to its full +size, after every exertion. + +For example, this present lecture, whatever its intellectual worth to +you, has a certain physical value to me, which is, conceivably, +expressible by the number of grains of protoplasm and other bodily +substance wasted in maintaining my vital processes during its delivery. +My _peau de chagrin_ will be distinctly smaller at the end of the +discourse than it was at the beginning. By and by, I shall probably have +recourse to the substance commonly called mutton, for the purpose of +stretching it back to its original size. Now this mutton was once the +living protoplasm, more or less modified, of another animal--a sheep. As +I shall eat it, it is the same matter altered, not only by death, but by +exposure to sundry artificial operations in the process of cooking. + +But these changes, whatever be their extent, have not rendered it +incompetent to resume its old functions as matter of life. A singular +inward laboratory, which I possess, will dissolve a certain portion of +the modified protoplasm; the solution so formed will pass into my veins; +and the subtle influences to which it will then be subjected will +convert the dead protoplasm into living protoplasm, and transubstantiate +sheep into man. + +Nor is this all. If digestion were a thing to be trifled with, I might +sup upon lobster, and the matter of life of the crustacean would undergo +the same wonderful metamorphosis into humanity. And were I to return to +my own place by sea, and undergo shipwreck, the crustacean might, and +probably would, return the compliment, and demonstrate our common nature +by turning my protoplasm into living lobster. Or, if nothing better were +to be had, I might supply my wants with mere bread, and I should find +the protoplasm of the wheat-plant to be convertible into man, with no +more trouble than that of the sheep, and with far less, I fancy, than +that of the lobster. + +Hence it appears to be a matter of no great moment what animal, or what +plant, I lay under contribution for protoplasm, and the fact speaks +volumes for the general identity of that substance in all living beings. +I share this catholicity of assimilation with other animals, all of +which, so far as we know, could thrive equally well on the protoplasm of +any of their fellows, or of any plant; but here the assimilative powers +of the animal world cease. A solution of smelling-salts in water, with +an infinitesimal proportion of some other saline matters, contains all +the elementary bodies which enter into the composition of protoplasm; +but, as I need hardly say, a hogshead of that fluid would not keep a +hungry man from starving, nor would it save any animal whatever from a +like fate. An animal cannot make protoplasm, but must take it ready-made +from some other animal, or some plant--the animal's highest feat of +constructive chemistry being to convert dead protoplasm into that living +matter of life which is appropriate to itself. + +Therefore, in seeking for the origin of protoplasm, we must eventually +turn to the vegetable world. A fluid containing carbonic acid, water, +and nitrogenous salts, which offers such a Barmecide feast to the +animal, is a table richly spread to multitudes of plants; and, with a +due supply of only such materials, many a plant will not only maintain +itself in vigour, but grow and multiply until it has increased a +million-fold, or a million million-fold, the quantity of protoplasm +which it originally possessed; in this way building up the matter of +life, to an indefinite extent, from the common matter of the universe. + +Thus, the animal can only raise the complex substance of dead protoplasm +to the higher power, as one may say, of living protoplasm; while the +plant can raise the less complex substances--carbonic acid, water, and +nitrogenous salts--to the same stage of living protoplasm, if not to the +same level. But the plant also has its limitations. Some of the fungi, +for example, appear to need higher compounds to start with; and no known +plant can live upon the uncompounded elements of protoplasm. A plant +supplied with pure carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, phosphorus, +sulphur, and the like, would as infallibly die as the animal in his bath +of smelling-salts, though it would be surrounded by all the +constituents of protoplasm. Nor, indeed, need the process of +simplification of vegetable food be carried so far as this, in order to +arrive at the limit of the plant's thaumaturgy. Let water, carbonic +acid, and all the other needful constituents be supplied except +nitrogenous salts, and an ordinary plant will still be unable to +manufacture protoplasm. + +Thus the matter of life, so far as we know it (and we have no right to +speculate on any other), breaks up, in consequence of that continual +death which is the condition of its manifesting vitality, into carbonic +acid, water, and nitrogenous compounds, which certainly possess no +properties but those of ordinary matter. And out of these same forms of +ordinary matter, and from none which are simpler, the vegetable world +builds up all the protoplasm which keeps the animal world a-going. +Plants are the accumulators of the power which animals distribute and +disperse. + +But it will be observed, that the existence of the matter of life +depends on the pre-existence of certain compounds; namely, carbonic +acid, water, and certain nitrogenous bodies. Withdraw any one of these +three from the world, and all vital phænomena come to an end. They are +as necessary to the protoplasm of the plant as the protoplasm of the +plant is to that of the animal. Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen +are all lifeless bodies. Of these, carbon and oxygen unite in certain +proportions and under certain conditions, to give rise to carbonic acid; +hydrogen and oxygen produce water; nitrogen and other elements give rise +to nitrogenous salts. These new compounds, like the elementary bodies of +which they are composed, are lifeless. But when they are brought +together, under certain conditions, they give rise to the still more +complex body, protoplasm, and this protoplasm exhibits the phænomena of +life. + +I see no break in this series of steps in molecular complication, and I +am unable to understand why the language which is applicable to any one +term of the series may not be used to any of the others. We think fit to +call different kinds of matter carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen, +and to speak of the various powers and activities of these substances as +the properties of the matter of which they are composed. + +When hydrogen and oxygen are mixed in a certain proportion, and an +electric spark is passed through them, they disappear, and a quantity of +water, equal in weight to the sum of their weights, appears in their +place. There is not the slightest parity between the passive and active +powers of the water and those of the oxygen and hydrogen which have +given rise to it. At 32° Fahrenheit, and far below that temperature, +oxygen and hydrogen are elastic gaseous bodies, whose particles tend to +rush away from one another with great force. Water, at the same +temperature, is a strong though brittle solid, whose particles tend to +cohere into definite geometrical shapes, and sometimes build up frosty +imitations of the most complex forms of vegetable foliage. + +Nevertheless we call these, and many other strange phænomena, the +properties of the water, and we do not hesitate to believe that, in some +way or another, they result from the properties of the component +elements of the water. We do not assume that a something called +"aquosity" entered into and took possession of the oxidated hydrogen as +soon as it was formed, and then guided the aqueous particles to their +places in the facets of the crystal, or amongst the leaflets of the +hoarfrost. On the contrary, we live in the hope and in the faith that, +by the advance of molecular physics, we shall by and by be able to see +our way as clearly from the constituents of water to the properties of +water, as we are now able to deduce the operations of a watch from the +form of its parts and the manner in which they are put together. + +Is the case in any way changed when carbonic acid, water, and +nitrogenous salts disappear, and in their place, under the influence of +pre-existing living protoplasm, an equivalent weight of the matter of +life makes its appearance? + +It is true that there is no sort of parity between the properties of the +components and the properties of the resultant, but neither was there in +the case of the water. It is also true that what I have spoken of as the +influence of pre-existing living matter is something quite +unintelligible; but does anybody quite comprehend the _modus operandi_ +of an electric spark, which traverses a mixture of oxygen and hydrogen? + +What justification is there, then, for the assumption of the existence +in the living matter of a something which has no representative, or +correlative, in the not living matter which gave rise to it? What better +philosophical status has "vitality" than "aquosity"? And why should +"vitality" hope for a better fate than the other "itys" which have +disappeared since Martinus Scriblerus accounted for the operation of the +meat-jack by its inherent "meat-roasting quality," and scorned the +"materialism" of those who explained the turning of the spit by a +certain mechanism worked by the draught of the chimney. + +If scientific language is to possess a definite and constant +signification whenever it is employed, it seems to me that we are +logically bound to apply to the protoplasm, or physical basis of life, +the same conceptions as those which are held to be legitimate elsewhere. +If the phenomena exhibited by water are its properties, so are those +presented by protoplasm, living or dead, its properties. + +If the properties of water may be properly said to result from the +nature and disposition of its component molecules, I can find no +intelligible ground for refusing to say that the properties of +protoplasm result from the nature and disposition of its molecules. + +But I bid you beware that, in accepting these conclusions, you are +placing your feet on the first rung of a ladder which, in most people's +estimation, is the reverse of Jacob's, and leads to the antipodes of +heaven. It may seem a small thing to admit that the dull vital actions +of a fungus, or a foraminifer, are the properties of their protoplasm, +and are the direct results of the nature of the matter of which they are +composed. But if, as I have endeavoured to prove to you, their +protoplasm is essentially identical with, and most readily converted +into, that of any animal, I can discover no logical halting-place +between the admission that such is the case, and the further concession +that all vital action may, with equal propriety, be said to be the +result of the molecular forces of the protoplasm which displays it. And +if so, it must be true, in the same sense and to the same extent, that +the thoughts to which I am now giving utterance, and your thoughts +regarding them, are the expression of molecular changes in that matter +of life which is the source of our other vital phænomena. + +Past experience leads me to be tolerably certain that, when the +propositions I have just placed before you are accessible to public +comment and criticism, they will be condemned by many zealous persons, +and perhaps by some few of the wise and thoughtful. I should not wonder +if "gross and brutal materialism" were the mildest phrase applied to +them in certain quarters. And, most undoubtedly, the terms of the +propositions are distinctly materialistic. Nevertheless two things are +certain; the one, that I hold the statements to be substantially true; +the other, that I, individually, am no materialist, but, on the +contrary, believe materialism to involve grave philosophical error. + +This union of materialistic terminology with the repudiation of +materialistic philosophy I share with some of the most thoughtful men +with whom I am acquainted. And, when I first undertook to deliver the +present discourse, it appeared to me to be a fitting opportunity to +explain how such a union is not only consistent with, but necessitated +by, sound logic. I purposed to lead you through the territory of vital +phænomena to the materialistic slough in which you find yourselves now +plunged, and then to point out to you the sole path by which, in my +judgment, extrication is possible. + +An occurrence of which I was unaware until my arrival here last night +renders this line of argument singularly opportune. I found in your +papers the eloquent address "On the Limits of Philosophical Inquiry," +which a distinguished prelate of the English Church delivered before the +members of the Philosophical Institution on the previous day. My +argument, also, turns upon this very point of the limits of +philosophical inquiry; and I cannot bring out my own views better than +by contrasting them with those so plainly and, in the main, fairly +stated by the Archbishop of York. + +But I may be permitted to make a preliminary comment upon an occurrence +that greatly astonished me. Applying the name of the "New Philosophy" to +that estimate of the limits of philosophical inquiry which I, in common +with many other men of science, hold to be just, the Archbishop opens +his address by identifying this "New Philosophy" with the Positive +Philosophy of M. Comte (of whom he speaks as its "founder"); and then +proceeds to attack that philosopher and his doctrines vigorously. + +Now, so far as I am concerned, the most reverend prelate might +dialectically hew M. Comte in pieces, as a modern Agag, and I should not +attempt to stay his hand. In so far as my study of what specially +characterises the Positive Philosophy has led me, I find therein little +or nothing of any scientific value, and a great deal which is as +thoroughly antagonistic to the very essence of science as anything in +ultramontane Catholicism. In fact, M. Comte's philosophy, in practice, +might be compendiously described as Catholicism _minus_ Christianity. + +But what has Comtism to do with the "New Philosophy," as the Archbishop, +defines it in the following passage? + + "Let me briefly remind you of the leading principles of this new + philosophy. + + "All knowledge is experience of facts acquired by the senses. The + traditions of older philosophies have obscured our experience by + mixing with it much that the senses cannot observe, and until these + additions are discarded our knowledge is impure. Thus metaphysics + tell us that one fact which we observe is a cause, and another is + the effect of that cause; but, upon a rigid analysis, we find that + our senses observe nothing of cause or effect: they observe, first, + that one fact succeeds another, and, after some opportunity, that + this fact has never failed to follow--that for cause and effect we + should substitute invariable succession. An older philosophy + teaches us to define an object by distinguishing its essential from + its accidental qualities: but experience knows nothing of essential + and accidental; she sees only that, certain marks attach to an + object, and, after many observations, that some of them attach + invariably, whilst others may at times be absent.... As all + knowledge is relative, the notion of anything being necessary must + be banished with other traditions." [5] + +There is much here that expresses the spirit of the "New Philosophy," if +by that term be meant the spirit of modern science; but I cannot but +marvel that the assembled wisdom and learning of Edinburgh should have +uttered no sign of dissent, when Comte was declared to be the founder of +these doctrines. No one will accuse Scotchmen of habitually forgetting +their great countrymen; but it was enough to make David Hume turn in his +grave, that here, almost within ear-shot of his house, an instructed +audience should have listened, without a murmur, while his most +characteristic doctrines were attributed to a French writer of fifty +years later date, in whose dreary and verbose pages we miss alike the +vigour of thought and the exquisite clearness of style of the man whom I +make bold to term the most acute thinker of the eighteenth century--even +though that century produced Kant. + +But I did not come to Scotland to vindicate the honour of one of the +neatest men she has ever produced. My business is to point out to you +that the only way of escape out of the "crass materialism" in which we +just now landed, is the adoption and strict working out of the very +principles which the Archbishop holds up to reprobation. + +Let us suppose that knowledge is absolute, and not relative, and +therefore, that our conception of matter represents that which it really +is. Let us suppose, further, that we do know more of cause and effect +than a certain definite order of succession among facts, and that we +have a knowledge of the necessity of that succession--and hence, of +necessary laws--and I, for my part, do not see what escape there is from +utter materialism and necessarianism. For it is obvious that our +knowledge of what we call the material world is, to begin with, at least +as certain and definite as that of the spiritual world, and that our +acquaintance with law is of as old a date as our knowledge of +spontaneity. Further, I take it to be demonstrable that it is utterly +impossible to prove that anything whatever may not be the effect of a +material and necessary cause, and that human logic is equally +incompetent to prove that any act is really spontaneous. A really +spontaneous act is one which, by the assumption, has no cause; and the +attempt to prove such a negative as this is, on the face of the matter, +absurd. And while it is thus a philosophical impossibility to +demonstrate that any given phænomenon is not the effect of a material +cause, any one who is acquainted with the history of science will admit, +that its progress has, in all ages, meant, and now, more than ever, +means, the extension of the province of what we call matter and +causation, and the concomitant gradual banishment from all regions of +human thought of what we call spirit and spontaneity. + +I have endeavoured, in the first part of this discourse, to give you a +conception of the direction towards which modern physiology is tending; +and I ask you, what is the difference between the conception of life as +the product of a certain disposition of material molecules, and the old +notion of an Archæus governing and directing blind matter within each +living body, except this--that here, as elsewhere, matter and law have +devoured spirit and spontaneity? And as surely as every future grows out +of past and present, so will the physiology of the future gradually +extend the realm of matter and law until it is co-extensive with +knowledge, with feeling, and with action. + +The consciousness of this great truth weighs like a nightmare, I +believe, upon many of the best minds of these days. They watch what they +conceive to be the progress of materialism, in such fear and powerless +anger as a savage feels, when, during an eclipse, the great shadow +creeps over the face of the sun. The advancing tide of matter threatens +to drown their souls; the tightening grasp of law impedes their freedom; +they are alarmed lest man's moral nature be debased by the increase of +his wisdom. + +If the "New Philosophy" be worthy of the reprobation with which it is +visited, I confess their fears seem to me to be well founded. While, on +the contrary, could David Hume be consulted, I think he would smile at +their perplexities, and chide them for doing even as the heathen, and +falling down in terror before the hideous idols their own hands have +raised. + +For, after all, what do we know of this terrible "matter," except as a +name for the unknown and hypothetical cause of states of our own +consciousness? And what do we know of that "spirit" over whose +threatened extinction by matter a great lamentation is arising, like +that which was heard at the death of Pan, except that it is also a name +for an unknown and hypothetical cause, or condition, of states of +consciousness? In other words, matter and spirit are but names for the +imaginary substrata of groups of natural phænomena. + +And what is the dire necessity and "iron" law under which men groan? +Truly, most gratuitously invented bugbears. I suppose if there be an +"iron" law, it is that of gravitation; and if there be a physical +necessity, it is that a stone, unsupported, must fall to the ground. But +what is all we really know, and can know, about the latter phænomena? +Simply, that, in all human experience, stones have fallen to the ground +under these conditions; that we have not the smallest reason for +believing that any stone so circumstanced will not fall to the ground; +and that we have, on the contrary, every reason to believe that it will +so fall. It is very convenient to indicate that all the conditions of +belief have been fulfilled in this case, by calling the statement that +unsupported stones will fall to the ground, "a law of Nature." But when, +as commonly happens, we change _will_ into _must_, we introduce an idea +of necessity which most assuredly does not lie in the observed facts, +and has no warranty that I can discover elsewhere. For my part, I +utterly repudiate and anathematise the intruder. Fact I know; and Law I +know; but what is this Necessity, save an empty shadow of my own mind's +throwing? + +But, if it is certain that we can have no knowledge of the nature of +either matter or spirit, and that the notion of necessity is something +illegitimately thrust into the perfectly legitimate conception of law, +the materialistic position that there is nothing in the world but +matter, force, and necessity, is as utterly devoid of justification as +the most baseless of theological dogmas. The fundamental doctrines of +materialism, like those of spiritualism, and most other "isms," lie +outside "the limits of philosophical inquiry," and David Hume's great +service to humanity is his irrefragable demonstration of what these +limits are. Hume called himself a sceptic and therefore others cannot be +blamed if they apply the same title to him; but that does not alter the +fact that the name, with its existing implications, does him gross +injustice. + +If a man asks me what the politics of the inhabitants of the moon are, +and I reply that I do not know; that neither I, nor any one else, has +any means of knowing; and that, under these circumstances, I decline to +trouble myself about the subject at all, I do not think he has any right +to call me a sceptic. On the contrary, in replying thus, I conceive that +I am simply honest and truthful, and show a proper regard for the +economy of time. So Hume's strong and subtle intellect takes up a great +many problems about which we are naturally curious, and shows us that +they are essentially questions of lunar politics, in their essence +incapable of being answered, and therefore not worth the attention of +men who have work to do in the world. And he thus ends one of his +essays:-- + + "If we take in hand any volume of Divinity, or school metaphysics, + for instance, let us ask, _Does it contain any abstract reasoning + concerning quantity or number?_ No. _Does it contain any + experimental reasoning concerning matter of fact and existence?_ + No. Commit it then to the flames; for it can contain nothing but + sophistry and illusion." [6] + +Permit me to enforce this most wise advice. Why trouble ourselves about +matters of which, however important they may be, we do know nothing, and +can know nothing? We live in a world which is full of misery and +ignorance, and the plain duty of each and all of us is to try to make +the little corner he can influence somewhat less miserable and somewhat +less ignorant than it was before he entered it. To do this effectually +it is necessary to be fully possessed of only two beliefs: the first, +that the order of Nature is ascertainable by our faculties to an extent +which is practically unlimited; the second, that our volition[7] counts +for something as a condition of the course of events. + +Each of these beliefs can be verified experimentally, as often as we +like to try. Each, therefore, stands upon the strongest foundation upon +which any belief can rest, and forms one of our highest truths. If we +find that the ascertainment of the order of nature is facilitated by +using one terminology, or one set of symbols, rather than another, it is +our clear duty to use the former; and no harm can accrue, so long as we +bear in mind, that we are dealing merely with terms and symbols. + +In itself it is of little moment whether we express the phænomena of +matter in terms of spirit; or the phænomena of spirit in terms of +matter: matter may be regarded as a form of thought, thought may be +regarded as a property of matter--each statement has a certain relative +truth. But with a view to the progress of science, the materialistic +terminology is in every way to be preferred. For it connects thought +with the other phænomena of the universe, and suggests inquiry into the +nature of those physical conditions, or concomitants of thought, which +are more or less accessible to us, and a knowledge of which may, in +future, help us to exercise the same kind of control over the world of +thought, as we already possess in respect of the material world; +whereas, the alternative, or spiritualistic, terminology is utterly +barren, and leads to nothing but obscurity and confusion of ideas. + +Thus there can be little doubt, that the further science advances, the +more extensively and consistently will all the phænomena of Nature be +represented by materialistic formulæ and symbols. + +But the man of science, who, forgetting the limits of philosophical +inquiry, slides from these formulæ and symbols into what is commonly +understood by materialism, seems to me to place himself on a level with +the mathematician, who should mistake the _x_'s and _y_'s with which he +works his problems, for real entities--and with this further +disadvantage, as compared with the mathematician, that the blunders of +the latter are of no practical consequence, while the errors of +systematic materialism may paralyse the energies and destroy the beauty +of a life. + + + + +NATURALISM AND SUPERNATURALISM + +[FROM PROLOGUE TO CONTROVERTED QUESTIONS, 1892.] + + +There is a single problem with different aspects of 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 contusion, 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 over-ruling strength will be exerted +in favour of those who stand well with its denizens. On the other hand, +the lessons of the great school-master, 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 mediæval 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 mediæval +Supernaturalism. From Wicliff to Socinus, or even to Münzer, 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 Cæsaro-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 mediæval +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 short-comings, 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 +Protestanism 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 "Infâme" 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 best, 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 co-operation, 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'Infâme_, 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 régime_ +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,[8] signed by as many as thirty-eight out of +the twenty odd thousand clergymen of the Established Church. It does not +appear that the signatories 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 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." [9] + +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 Nicæa, or to come +to an end in the time of Irenæus, or in that of Justin Martyr, are +knotty questions which can be decided, if at all, only by those critical +methods which the signatories 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, Irenæus, to argue for the reception of this book +into the canon and the rejection of that, upon rational grounds, +"antiquity" admitted the whole principal of modern criticism. If Irenæus +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 infallibility of these depends upon 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.[10] + +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 systematised 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 be put upon the words; and that this non-natural +sense may, with a little trouble, be manipulated into some sort of +non-contradiction of scientific truth. + +My purpose, in an essay[11] 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 proposition of this essay can be +seriously challenged. + +In two essays[12] 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 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 bide 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 of the Deluge, to belief? If God not walk in the Garden +of Eden, how we be assured that he spoke from Sinai? + +In other essays[13] 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;[14] 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. + + + + +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.[15] 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 +Translations" 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,[16] 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,[17] 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. 1, 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,[18] 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,[19] + and landing on the east bank of the river, at the fifth station + thence they arrived at Michilinstadt,[20] 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 the measure of the chest in order a more +fitting shrine might be constructed. The man, having lighted a 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 quædam 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.[21] + +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 Translations" 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;[22] 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 from 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 less they should succeed without _his_ help. + +So, by way of preparation for the contemplated _vol avec affraction_ +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 a 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 was supposed not to have seen the relics, +Eginhard asked him how he knew that? Upon this, Hildoin saw 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 +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;[23] 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 this 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 jaw +slipped suddenly back into place, perhaps in consequence of a jolt, as +the woman rode towards the church. (Cap. v. 53.)[24] + +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 comtemporaries 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.[25] + +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.[26] 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 in 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 far 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 be 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.[27] + +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. + + + + +AGNOSTICISM + +[1889] + + +Within the last few months [1889] 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.[28] 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.[29] + +So much of Dr. Wace's address either explicitly or implicitly concerns +me, that I take upon myself to deal with it; but, in doing so, 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 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.[30] + +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 falsehood. 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.[31] + +The discussion upon which we have 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 smallpox; 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 +mediæval 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)[32] 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 Cyclopædia" (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 the 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 mediæval 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,[33] is stopped in this +instance. For the question of the existence of demon: 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 mediæval 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.[34] + +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.[35] 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 hesitated 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 omit 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 Irenæus 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 _læniæ_ and _trichinæ_ 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 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.[36] + +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 has 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 above 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 mediæval +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 satifactorily 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 doctrine 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 Apostles' 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 Mahommedanism, in Cairo, in +ignorance of the fact that I was unprovided with proper authority. A +swarm of angry under-graduates, 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 Civilisation, 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;[37] 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 the chief. The ordinary examiner, 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." [38] + +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.[39] + + * * * * * + +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 this 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 _plébiscite_ 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: elenchos], 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. + + + + +THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION IN RELATION TO JUDAIC CHRISTIANITY +[FROM "AGNOSTICISM: A REJOINDER," 1889] + + +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 any 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 +inter-dependent,[40] 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.[41] 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 believes 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[42] + +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 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" [43] 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 +Arimathæa 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 extraordinarily +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,[44] +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 Arimathæa 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 any one 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 be 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.[45] + +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,[46] 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,[47] 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.[48] These +are:-- + +1. Orthodox Jews who refuse to believe that Jesus is the Christ. _Not +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 a believer in the +resurrection of the body, as in the speedy Second Coming establishment +of the millennium. + +This 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_ _Judæo-_ _Idolothytic_ _Paganism_ +_Judaism_ _Christianity_ _Christianity_ + _____|_______ + | | + 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 +Judæo-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_ + _____________|___________________ + | | + _Judæo-_ _Modern_ _Paganism_ + _Christianity_ _Christianity_ +_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 +Judæo-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,[49] 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 be 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 that 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 religous 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).[50] + +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[51]. 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 position 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 midway between the two. It is therefore a +profound mistake to imagine that the Judæo-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 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 were taught by them up to the year 50A.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.[52] 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 speaks 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?[53] 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 pseudo-prophetic 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. + + + + +AGNOSTICISM AND CHRISTIANITY + +Nemo ergo ex me scire quærat, quod me nescire scio, nisi forte ut +nescire discat.--AUGUSTINUS. _De Civ. Dei_, xii. 7. + + +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." +[54] 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[55] 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." [56] 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 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 on 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 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 morality 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[57] 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 their 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[58] go so far as to challenge the pagans to a +sort of exorcising match, by way of testing the truth of Christianity. +Mediæval 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?[59] + +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 formulæ 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. + +Here upon 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 than the +other, so he may admit 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 than 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 mediæval +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 presupposition 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 mediæval +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 +mediæval 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" [60] 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, Lyttelton, 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[61] (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[62] (p. liii). + +Again, I invite Anglican orthodoxy to consider this passage:-- + + the narrative of the combats of St. Antony 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 lie 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 marriage 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 mediæval inquisitors into witchcraft was based? Why +forget the angel who wrestled with Jacob, and, as the account suggests, +somewhat over-stepped the bound 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,[63] 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 mediæval 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 of 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.[64] 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 wrestled +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[65] 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.[66] 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.[67] + +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." [68] + +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 he 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 organisation 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[69] 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.[70] + +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 could 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, is it 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. 84. 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 +Jésus." My copy of "Les Évangiles," dated 1877, contains a list of +Renan's "Oeuvres Complètes," at the head of which I find "Vie de +Jésus," 15° edition. It is, therefore, a later work than the edition of +the "Vie de Jésus" which Dr. Wace quotes. Now "Les Évangiles," 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 Évangiles," 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 scène +voulue_." At p. 435, I find "Luc, ou Fauteur quel qu'il soit du +troisième Évangile"; 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 troisième Évangile est sûrement 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 Évangiles," p. 201). The fact is, +there is no contradiction here to that opinion about the first Gospel +which is expressed in "Les Évangiles" (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 Évangiles":-- + + 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, "quid 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[71] 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, Linnæus, 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 Linnæus: 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 +palæontology 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 +debt 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_, 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 entrusted 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. + + +R. CLAY AND SONS, LTD., BREAD ST. HILL, E.C., AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK. + + * * * * * + +[Footnote 1: The absence of any keel on the breast-bone and some other +osteological peculiarities, observed by Professor Marsh, however, +suggest that _Hesperornis_ may be a modification of a less specialised +group of birds than that to which these existing aquatic birds belong.] + +[Footnote 2: A second specimen, discovered in 1877, and at present in +the Berlin museum, shows an excellently preserved skull with teeth: and +three digits, all terminated by claws, in the fore-limb. 1893.] + +[Footnote 3: I use the word "type" because it is highly probable that +many forms of _Anchitherium_-like and _Hipparion_-like animals existed +in the Miocene and Pliocene epochs, just as many species of the horse +tribe exist now; and it is highly improbable that the particular species +of _Anchitherium_ or _Hipparion_, which happen to have been discovered, +should be precisely those which have formed part of the direct line of +the horse's pedigree.] + +[Footnote 4: Since this lecture was delivered, Professor Marsh has +discovered a new genus of equine mammals (_Eohippus_) from the lowest +Eocene deposits of the West, which corresponds very nearly to this +description.--_American Journal of Science_, November, 1876.] + +[Footnote 5: _The Limits of Philosophical Inquiry_, pp. 4 and 5.] + +[Footnote 6: Hume's Essay, "Of the Academical or Sceptical Philosophy," +in the _Inquiry concerning the Human Understanding_.--[Many critics of +this passage seem to forget that the subject-matter of Ethics and +Æsthetics consists of, matters of fact and existence.--1892.]] + +[Footnote 7: Or, to speak more accurately, the physical state of which +volition is the expression.--[1892.]] + +[Footnote 8: _Declaration on the Truth of Holy Scripture_, _The Times_, +18th December, 1891.] + +[Footnote 9: _Declaration_, Article 10.] + +[Footnote 10: Ego vero evangelio non crederem, nisi ecclesiæ Catholicæ +me commoveret auctoritas.--_Contra Epistolam Manichæi_ cap. v.] + +[Footnote 11: _Hasisadra's Adventure._] + +[Footnote 12: _The Interpreters of Genesis and the Interpreters of +Nature_ and _Mr. Gladstone and Genesis._] + +[Footnote 13: _Agnosticism; The Value of Witness to the Miraculous; +Agnosticism: a Rejoinder; Agnosticism and Christianity; The Keepers of +the Herd of Swine_; and _Illustrations of Mr. Gladstone's Controversial +Methods_.] + +[Footnote 14: 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.] + +[Footnote 15: My citations are made from Teulet's _Einhardi omnia quæ +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.] + +[Footnote 16: At present included in the Duchies of Hesse-Darmstadt and +Baden.] + +[Footnote 17: 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.] + +[Footnote 18: Now included in Western Switzerland.] + +[Footnote 19: Probably, according to Teulet, the present +Sandhofer-fahrt, a little below the embouchure of the Neckar.] + +[Footnote 20: The present Michilstadt, thirty miles N.E. of Heidelberg.] + +[Footnote 21: In the Middle Ages one of the most favourite accusations +against witches was that they committed just these enormities.] + +[Footnote 22: It is pretty clear that Eginhard had his doubts about the +deacon, whose pledges he qualifies as _sponsiones incertæ_. But, to be +sure, he wrote after events which fully justified scepticism.] + +[Footnote 23: The words are _scrinia sine clave_, which seems to mean +"having no key." But the circumstances forbid the idea of breaking +open.] + +[Footnote 24: Eginhard speaks with lofty contempt of the "vana ac +superstitiosa præsumptio" of the poor woman's companions in trying to +alleviate her sufferings with "herbs and frivolous incantations." Vain +enough, no doubt, but the "mulierculæ" might have returned the epithet +"superstitious" with interest.] + +[Footnote 25: 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.] + +[Footnote 26: See 1 Cor. xii. 10-28; 2 Cor. vi. 12 Rom. xv, 19.] + +[Footnote 27: _A Journal or Historical Account of the Life, Travels, +Sufferings, and Christian Experiences, &c., of George Fox._ Ed. 1694, +pp. 27, 28.] + +[Footnote 28: See the _Official Report of the Church Congress held at +Manchester_, October 1888, pp. 253, 254.] + +[Footnote 29: In this place and in _Illustrations of Mr. Gladstone's +Controversial Methods_, 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.] + +[Footnote 30: 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, could not be sensibly affected.] + +[Footnote 31: 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_.] + +[Footnote 32: Here, as always, the revised version is cited.] + +[Footnote 33: 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 be taken _au sérieux_ 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 or 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.] + +[Footnote 34: See, for an admirable discussion of the whole subject, Dr. +Abbott's article on the Gospels in the _Encyclopædia 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.] + +[Footnote 35: 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.] + +[Footnote 36: 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.] + +[Footnote 37: 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.] + +[Footnote 38: _Kritik der reinen Vernunft._ Edit. Hartenstein p. 256.] + +[Footnote 39: _Report of the Church Congress_, Manchester, 1888, p. +252.] + +[Footnote 40: 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.] + +[Footnote 41: 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.] + +[Footnote 42: 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."] + +[Footnote 43: See Schürer, _Geschichte des jüdischen Volkes_, Zweiter +Theil, p. 384.] + +[Footnote 44: Spacious, because a young man could sit in it "on the +right side" (xv. 5), and therefore with plenty of room to spare.] + +[Footnote 45: 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).] + +[Footnote 46: 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."] + +[Footnote 47: 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.] + +[Footnote 48: See _Dial. cum Tryphone_, § 47 and § 35. It is to be +understood that Justin does not arrange these categories in order, as I +have done.] + +[Footnote 49: 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 47 above.] + +[Footnote 50: 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.] + +[Footnote 51: All this was quite clearly pointed out by Ritschl nearly +forty years ago. See _Die Entstehung der alt-katholischen Kirche_ +(1850), p. 108.] + +[Footnote 52: "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, _Vorträge_ (1865), +p. 26.] + +[Footnote 53: 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.] + +[Footnote 54: I confess that, long ago, I once or twice made this +mistake; even to the waste of a capital 'U.' 1893.] + +[Footnote 55: "Let us maintain, before we have proved. This seeming +paradox is the secret of happiness" (Dr. Newman: Tract 85, p. 85).] + +[Footnote 56: Dr, Newman, _Essay on Development_, p. 357.] + +[Footnote 57: 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.] + +[Footnote 58: 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.] + +[Footnote 59: See the expression of orthodox opinion upon the +"accommodation" subterfuge already cited above, pp. 85 and 86.] + +[Footnote 60: 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.] + +[Footnote 61: 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).] + +[Footnote 62: 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.] + +[Footnote 63: 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."] + +[Footnote 64: A writer in a spiritualist journal takes me soundly 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?] + +[Footnote 65: 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.] + +[Footnote 66: See the New York _World_ for Sunday, 21st October, 1888; +and the _Report of the Stybert Commission_ Philadelphia, 1887.] + +[Footnote 67: 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.] + +[Footnote 68: _An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine_, by +J.H. Newman, D.D., pp. 7 and 8. (1878.)] + +[Footnote 69: 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 can carry.] + +[Footnote 70: _Nineteenth Century_, May 1889 (p. 701).] + +[Footnote 71: I trust it may not be supposed that I undervalue M. +Renan's labours, or intended to speak slightingly of them.] + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Lectures and Essays, by Thomas Henry Huxley + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LECTURES AND ESSAYS *** + +***** This file should be named 16474-8.txt or 16474-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/4/7/16474/ + +Produced by Wallace McLean, Hemantkumar N Garach and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Lectures and Essays + +Author: Thomas Henry Huxley + +Release Date: August 8, 2005 [EBook #16474] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LECTURES AND ESSAYS *** + + + + +Produced by Wallace McLean, Hemantkumar N Garach and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + +<p><!-- Page 1 --><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1"><span class="pagenum">[Page 1]</span></a></p> + +<h1>Lectures and Essays</h1> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY</h2> + +<p> </p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img001.png" width="404" height="500" +alt="Portrait: THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY." +title="Portrait: THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY." /> +<br /> +<span class="caption">Portrait: THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY.</span> +</div> + +<p> </p> +<p>MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED</p> + +<p>ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON</p> + +<p>1910</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><!-- Page 2 --> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Page 2]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="THE_WORKS_OF_THOMAS_HENRY_HUXLEY" +id="THE_WORKS_OF_THOMAS_HENRY_HUXLEY"></a> +<b>THE WORKS OF THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY.</b></h2> + + +<p><b>THE LIFE AND WORKS OF THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY, F.R.S.</b> <i>Eversley Series.</i></p> + +<p>Twelve vols. Globe 8vo, 4s. net each.</p> + + VOL. I. METHOD AND RESULTS.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"> II. DARWINIANA.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"> III. SCIENCE AND EDUCATION.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"> IV. SCIENCE AND HEBREW TRADITION.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"> V. SCIENCE AND CHRISTIAN TRADITION.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"> VI. HUME, WITH HELPS TO THE STUDY OF BERKELEY.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"> VII. MAN'S PLACE IN NATURE.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"> VIII. DISCOURSES, BIOLOGICAL AND GEOLOGICAL.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"> IX. EVOLUTION AND ETHICS, AND OTHER ESSAYS.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"> X. }</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"> XI. } THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"> XII. }</span><br /> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><b>APHORISMS AND REFLECTIONS FROM THE WORKS OF T.H. HUXLEY.</b> Selected by +HENRIETTA A. HUXLEY. With Portrait. Pott 8vo, <i>2s. 6d.</i> net. Also cloth +elegant, <i>2s. 6d.</i> net. Limp Leather, <i>3s. 6d.</i> net. <i>Golden Treasury +Series</i>.</p> + +<p><b>AMERICAN ADDRESSES.</b> 8vo, <i>6s. 6d.</i></p> + +<p><b>CRITIQUES AND ADDRESSES.</b> 8vo, <i>10s. 6d.</i></p> + +<p><b>LESSONS IN ELEMENTARY PHYSIOLOGY.</b> F'cap 8vo, <i>4s. 6d.</i><br /> +QUESTIONS. Pott 8vo, <i>1s. 6d.</i></p> + +<p><b>LAY SERMONS, ADDRESSES, AND REVIEWS.</b> 8vo, <i>7s. 6d.</i></p> + +<p><b>INTRODUCTORY PRIMER OF SCIENCE.</b> Pott 8vo, <i>1s.</i></p> + +<p><b>PHYSIOGRAPHY: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF NATURE.</b> Crown 8vo, +<i>6s.</i></p> + +<p><b>PHYSIOGRAPHY.</b> A New Edition. Revised and partly re-written by R.A. +GREGORY. Globe 8vo, <i>4s. 6d.</i></p> + +<p><b>SOCIAL DISEASES AND WORSE REMEDIES.</b> Crown 8vo. Sewed, <i>1s.</i> net.</p> + +<p><b>LECTURES AND ESSAYS.</b> 8vo. Sewed. <i>6d.</i></p> + +<p><b>ESSAYS: ETHICAL AND POLITICAL.</b> 8vo, Sewed. <i>6d.</i></p> + +<p><b>LIFE OF HUME</b>. Crown 8vo. Library Edition. <i>2s.</i> net. Popular Edition, +<i>1s. 6d.</i> Sewed. <i>1s.</i> F'cap 8vo. Pocket Edition. <i>1s.</i> net. <i>English Men of Letters.</i><br /></p> + + +<p>By Prof. T.H. HUXLEY, assisted by Prof. H.N. MARTIN.</p> + +<p><b>A COURSE OF ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION IN PRACTICAL BIOLOGY.</b> Revised and +extended by G.B. HOWES and D.H. SCOTT. Crown 8vo, <i>10s. 6d.</i></p> + +<p>MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD., LONDON.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><!-- Page 3 --> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Page 3]</a></span> +</p> +<h1>LECTURES AND ESSAYS</h1> + +<h3><a name="BY" id="BY"></a>BY</h3> + +<h2>THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY</h2> + +<p><!-- Page 4 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Page 4]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS.</h2> + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modified. --> +<p> +<span class="pageref">PAGE</span><br /><br /> + +<a href="#AUTOBIOGRAPHY"><b>AUTOBIOGRAPHY</b></a> +<span class="pageref">5</span><br /><br /> + +<a href="#LECTURES_AND_ESSAYS"><b>LECTURES ON EVOLUTION</b></a> +<span class="pageref">11</span><br /><br /> + +<a href="#ON_THE_PHYSICAL_BASIS_OF_LIFE"><b>ON THE PHYSICAL BASIS OF LIFE</b></a> +<span class="pageref">45</span><br /><br /> + +<a href="#NATURALISM_AND_SUPERNATURALISM"><b>NATURALISM AND SUPERNATURALISM</b></a> +<span class="pageref">57</span><br /><br /> + +<a href="#THE_VALUE_OF_WITNESS_TO_THE_MIRACULOUS"><b>THE VALUE OF WITNESS TO THE MIRACULOUS</b></a> +<span class="pageref">71</span><br /><br /> + +<a href="#AGNOSTICISM"><b>AGNOSTICISM</b></a> +<span class="pageref">83</span><br /><br /> + +<a href="#THE_CHRISTIAN_TRADITION_IN_RELATION_TO_JUDAIC_CHRISTIANITY_FROM"><b>THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION IN RELATION TO JUDAIC CHRISTIANITY</b></a> +<span class="pageref">96</span><br /><br /> + +<a href="#AGNOSTICISM_AND_CHRISTIANITY"><b>AGNOSTICISM AND CHRISTIANITY</b></a> +<span class="pageref">108</span><br /><br /> +</p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + + +<p><i>First Edition, February</i> 1902.<br /> +<i>Reprinted, December</i> 1902, 1903, 1904, 1910.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><!-- Page 5 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5"></a>[Page 5]</span></p> +<h2><a name="AUTOBIOGRAPHY" id="AUTOBIOGRAPHY"></a>AUTOBIOGRAPHY</h2> + + +<p>I was born about eight o'clock in the morning on the 4th of May, 1825, +at Ealing, which was, at that time, as quiet a little country village +as could be found within half-a-dozen miles of Hyde Park Corner. Now it +is a suburb of London with, I believe, 30,000 inhabitants. My father was +one of the masters in a large semi-public school which at one time had a +high reputation. I am not aware that any portents preceded my arrival in +this world, but, in my childhood, I remember hearing a traditional +account of the manner in which I lost the chance of an endowment of +great practical value. The windows of my mother's room were open, in +consequence of the unusual warmth of the weather. For the same reason, +probably, a neighbouring beehive had swarmed, and the new colony, +pitching on the window-sill, was making its way into the room when the +horrified nurse shut down the sash. If that well-meaning woman had only +abstained from her ill-timed interference, the swarm might have settled +on my lips, and I should have been endowed with that mellifluous +eloquence which, in this country, leads far more surely than worth, +capacity, or honest work, to the highest places in Church and State. But +the opportunity was lost, and I have been obliged to content myself +through life with saying what I mean in the plainest of plain language, +than which, I suppose, there is no habit more ruinous to a man's +prospects of advancement.</p> + +<p>Why I was christened Thomas Henry I do not know; but it is a curious +chance that my parents should have fixed for my usual denomination upon +the name of that particular Apostle with whom I have always felt most +sympathy. Physically and mentally I am the son of my mother so +completely—even down to peculiar movements of the hands, which made +their appearance in me as I reached the age she had when I noticed +them—that I can hardly find any trace of my father in myself, except an +inborn faculty for drawing, which unfortunately, in my case, has never +been cultivated, a hot temper, and that amount of tenacity of purpose +which unfriendly observers sometimes call obstinacy.</p> + +<p>My mother was a slender brunette, of an emotional and energetic +temperament, and possessed of the most piercing black eyes I ever saw in +a woman's head. With no more education than other women of the middle +classes in her day, she had an excellent mental capacity. Her most +distinguishing characteristic, however, was rapidity of thought. If one +ventured to suggest she had not taken much time to arrive at any +conclusion, she would say, "I cannot help it, things flash across me." +That peculiarity has been passed on to me in full strength; it has often +stood me in good stead; it has sometimes played me sad tricks, and it +has always been a danger. But, after all, if my time were to come over +again, there is nothing I would less willingly part with than my +inheritance of mother wit.</p> + +<p>I have next to nothing to say about <!-- Page 6 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6"></a>[Page 6]</span>my childhood. In later years my +mother, looking at me almost reproachfully, would sometimes say, "Ah! +you were such a pretty boy!" whence I had no difficulty in concluding +that I had not fulfilled my early promise in the matter of looks. In +fact, I have a distinct recollection of certain curls of which I was +vain, and of a conviction that I closely resembled that handsome, +courtly gentleman, Sir Herbert Oakley, who was vicar of our parish, and +who was as a god to us country folk, because he was occasionally visited +by the then Prince George of Cambridge. I remember turning my pinafore +wrong side forwards in order to represent a surplice, and preaching to +my mother's maids in the kitchen as nearly as possible in Sir Herbert's +manner one Sunday morning when the rest of the family were at church. +That is the earliest indication I can call to mind of the strong +clerical affinities which my friend Mr. Herbert Spencer has always +ascribed to me, though I fancy they have for the most part remained in a +latent state.</p> + +<p>My regular school training was of the briefest, perhaps fortunately, for +though my way of life has made me acquainted with all sorts and +conditions of men, from the highest to the lowest, I deliberately affirm +that the society I fell into at school was the worst I have ever known. +We boys were average lads, with much the same inherent capacity for good +and evil as any others; but the people who were set over us cared about +as much for our intellectual and moral welfare as if they were +baby-farmers. We were left to the operation of the struggle for +existence among ourselves, and bullying was the least of the ill +practices current among us. Almost the only cheerful reminiscence in +connection with the place which arises in my mind is that of a battle I +had with one of my classmates, who had bullied me until I could stand it +no longer. I was a very slight lad, but there was a wild-cat element in +me which, when roused, made up for lack of weight, and I licked my +adversary effectually. However, one of my first experiences of the +extremely rough-and-ready nature of justice, as exhibited by the course +of things in general, arose out of the fact that I—the victor—had a +black eye, while he—the vanquished—had none, so that I got into +disgrace and he did not. We made it up, and thereafter I was unmolested. +One of the greatest shocks I ever received in my life was to be told a +dozen years afterwards by the groom who brought me my horse in a +stable-yard in Sydney that he was my quondam antagonist. He had a long +story of family misfortune to account for his position, but at that time +it was necessary to deal very cautiously with mysterious strangers in +New South Wales, and on inquiry I found that the unfortunate young man +had not only been "sent out," but had undergone more than one colonial +conviction.</p> + +<p>As I grew older, my great desire was to be a mechanical engineer, but +the fates were against this, and, while very young, I commenced the +study of medicine under a medical brother-in-law. But, though the +Institute of Mechanical Engineers would certainly not own me, I am not +sure that I have not all along been a sort of mechanical engineer <i>in +partibus infidelium</i>. I am now occasionally horrified to think how very +little I ever knew or cared about medicine as the art of healing. The +only part of my professional course which really and deeply interested +me was physiology, <!-- Page 7 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7"></a>[Page 7]</span>which is the mechanical engineering of living +machines; and, notwithstanding that natural science has been my proper +business, I am afraid there is very little of the genuine naturalist in +me. I never collected anything, and species work was always a burden to +me; what I cared for was the architectural and engineering part of the +business, the working out the wonderful unity of plan in the thousands +and thousands of diverse living constructions, and the modifications of +similar apparatuses to serve diverse ends. The extraordinary attraction +I felt towards the study of the intricacies of living structure nearly +proved fatal to me at the outset. I was a mere boy—I think between +thirteen and fourteen years of age—when I was taken by some older +student friends of mine to the first <i>post-mortem</i> examination I ever +attended. All my life I have been most unfortunately sensitive to the +disagreeables which attend anatomical pursuits, but on this occasion my +curiosity overpowered all other feelings, and I spent two or three hours +in gratifying it. I did not cut myself, and none of the ordinary +symptoms of dissection-poison supervened, but poisoned I was somehow, +and I remember sinking into a strange state of apathy. By way of a last +chance, I was sent to the care of some good, kind people, friends of my +father's, who lived in a farmhouse in the heart of Warwickshire. I +remember staggering from my bed to the window on the bright spring +morning after my arrival, and throwing open the casement. Life seemed to +come back on the wings of the breeze, and to this day the faint odour of +wood-smoke, like that which floated across the farm-yard in the early +morning, is as good to me as the "sweet south upon a bed of violets." I +soon recovered, but for years I suffered from occasional paroxysms of +internal pain, and from that time my constant friend, hypochondriacal +dyspepsia, commenced his half century of co-tenancy of my fleshly +tabernacle.</p> + +<p>Looking back on my "Lehrjahre," I am sorry to say that I do not think +that any account of my doings as a student would tend to edification. In +fact, I should distinctly warn ingenuous youth to avoid imitating my +example. I worked extremely hard when it pleased me, and when it did +not—which was a very frequent case—I was extremely idle (unless making +caricatures of one's pastors and masters is to be called a branch of +industry), or else wasted my energies in wrong directions. I read +everything I could lay hands upon, including novels, and took up all +sorts of pursuits to drop them again quite as speedily. No doubt it was +very largely my own fault, but the only instruction from which I ever +obtained the proper effect of education was that which I received from +Mr. Wharton Jones, who was the lecturer on physiology at the Charing +Cross School of Medicine. The extent and precision of his knowledge +impressed me greatly, and the severe exactness of his method of +lecturing was quite to my taste. I do not know that I have ever felt so +much respect for anybody as a teacher before or since. I worked hard to +obtain his approbation, and he was extremely kind and helpful to the +youngster who, I am afraid, took up more of his time than he had any +right to do. It was he who suggested the publication of my first +scientific paper—a very little one—in the <i>Medical Gazette</i> of 1845, +and most kindly corrected the literary faults which abounded in it, +short as it was; for at that time, and for many years afterwards, +<!-- Page 8 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8"></a>[Page 8]</span>I detested the trouble of writing, and would take no pains over it.</p> + +<p>It was in the early spring of 1846, that having finished my obligatory +medical studies and passed the first M.B. examination at the London +University—though I was still too young to qualify at the College of +Surgeons—I was talking to a fellow-student (the present eminent +physician, Sir Joseph Fayrer), and wondering what I should do to meet +the imperative necessity for earning my own bread, when my friend +suggested that I should write to Sir William Burnett, at that time +Director-General for the Medical Service of the Navy, for an +appointment. I thought this rather a strong thing to do, as Sir William +was personally unknown to me, but my cheery friend would not listen to +my scruples, so I went to my lodgings and wrote the best letter I could +devise. A few days afterwards I received the usual official circular of +acknowledgment, but at the bottom there was written an instruction to +call at Somerset House on such a day. I thought that looked like +business, so at the appointed time I called and sent in my card, while I +waited in Sir William's ante-room. He was a tall, shrewd-looking old +gentleman, with a broad Scotch accent—and I think I see him now as he +entered with my card in his hand. The first thing he did was to return +it, with the frugal reminder that I should probably find it useful on +some other occasion. The second was to ask whether I was an Irishman. I +suppose the air of modesty about my appeal must have struck him. I +satisfied the Director-General that I was English to the backbone, and +he made some inquiries as to my student career, finally desiring me to +hold myself ready for examination. Having passed this, I was in Her +Majesty's Service, and entered on the books of Nelson's old ship, the +<i>Victory</i>, for duty at Haslar Hospital, about a couple of months after I +made my application.</p> + +<p>My official chief at Haslar was a very remarkable person, the late Sir +John Richardson, an excellent naturalist, and far-famed as an +indomitable Arctic traveller. He was a silent, reserved man, outside the +circle of his family and intimates; and, having a full share of youthful +vanity, I was extremely disgusted to find that "Old John," as we +irreverent youngsters called him, took not the slightest notice of my +worshipful self either the first time I attended him, as it was my duty +to do, or for some weeks afterwards. I am afraid to think of the lengths +to which my tongue may have run on the subject of the churlishness of +the chief, who was, in truth, one of the kindest-hearted and most +considerate of men. But one day, as I was crossing the hospital square, +Sir John stopped me, and heaped coals of fire on my head by telling me +that he had tried to get me one of the resident appointments, much +coveted by the assistant-surgeons, but that the Admiralty had put in +another man. "However," said he, "I mean to keep you here till I can get +you something you will like," and turned upon his heel without waiting +for the thanks I stammered out. That explained how it was I had not been +packed off to the West Coast of Africa like some of my juniors, and why, +eventually, I remained altogether seven months at Haslar.</p> + +<p>After a long interval, during which "Old John" ignored my existence +almost as completely as before, he stopped me again as we met in a +casual way, and describing the service on which the <!-- Page 9 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9"></a>[Page 9]</span><i>Rattlesnake</i> was +likely to be employed, said that Captain Owen Stanley, who was to +command the ship, had asked him to recommend an assistant surgeon who +knew something of science; would I like that? Of course I jumped at the +offer. "Very well, I give you leave; go to London at once and see +Captain Stanley." I went, saw my future commander, who was very civil to +me, and promised to ask that I should be appointed to his ship, as in +due time I was. It is a singular thing that, during the few months of my +stay at Haslar, I had among my messmates two future Directors-General of +the Medical Service of the Navy (Sir Alexander Armstrong and Sir John +Watt-Reid), with the present President of the College of Physicians and +my kindest of doctors, Sir Andrew Clark.</p> + +<p>Life on board Her Majesty's ships in those days was a very different +affair from what it is now, and ours was exceptionally rough, as we were +often many months without receiving letters or seeing any civilised +people but ourselves. In exchange, we had the interest of being about +the last voyagers, I suppose, to whom it could be possible to meet with +people who knew nothing of fire-arms—as we did on the south Coast of +New Guinea—and of making acquaintance with a variety of interesting +savage and semi-civilised people. But, apart from experience of this +kind and the opportunities offered for scientific work, to me, +personally, the cruise was extremely valuable. It was good for me to +live under sharp discipline; to be down on the realities of existence by +living on bare necessaries; to find out how extremely well worth living +life seemed to be when one woke up from a night's rest on a soft plank, +with the sky for canopy and cocoa and weevilly biscuit the sole prospect +for breakfast; and, more especially, to learn to work for the sake of +what I got for myself out of it, even if it all went to the bottom and I +along with it. My brother officers were as good fellows as sailors ought +to be and generally are, but, naturally, they neither knew nor cared +anything about my pursuits, nor understood why I should be so zealous in +pursuit of the objects which my friends, the middies, christened +"Buffons," after the title conspicuous on a volume of the "Suites à +Buffon," which stood on my shelf in the chart room.</p> + +<p>During the four years of our absence, I sent home communication after +communication to the "Linnean Society;" with the same result as that +obtained by Noah when he sent the raven out of his ark. Tired at last of +hearing nothing about them, I determined to do or die, and in 1849 I +drew up a more elaborate paper and forwarded it to the Royal Society. +This was my dove, if I had only known it. But owing to the movements of +the ship, I heard nothing of that either until my return to England in +the latter end of the year 1850, when I found that it was printed and +published, and that a huge packet of separate copies awaited me. When I +hear some of my young friends complain of want of sympathy and +encouragement, I am inclined to think that my naval life was not the +least valuable part of my education.</p> + +<p>Three years after my return were occupied by a battle between my +scientific friends on the one hand and the Admiralty on the other, as to +whether the latter ought, or ought not, to act up to the spirit of a +pledge they had given to encourage officers who had done <!-- Page 10 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10"></a>[Page 10]</span>scientific work +by contributing to the expense of publishing mine. At last the +Admiralty, getting tired, I suppose, cut short the discussion by +ordering me to join a ship, which thing I declined to do, and as +Rastignac, in the "Père Goriot," says to Paris, I said to London, "<i>à +nous deux</i>." I desired to obtain a Professorship of either Physiology or +Comparative Anatomy, and as vacancies occurred I applied, but in vain. +My friend, Professor Tyndall, and I were candidates at the same time, he +for the Chair of Physics and I for that of Natural History in the +University of Toronto, which, fortunately, as it turned out, would not +look at either of us. I say fortunately, not from any lack of respect +for Toronto, but because I soon made up my mind that London was the +place for me, and hence I have steadily declined the inducements to +leave it, which have at various times been offered. At last, in 1854, on +the translation of my warm friend Edward Forbes, to Edinburgh, Sir Henry +De la Beche, the Director-General of the Geological Survey, offered me +the post Forbes vacated of Paleontologist and Lecturer on Natural +History. I refused the former point blank, and accepted the latter only +provisionally, telling Sir Henry that I did not care for fossils, and +that I should give up Natural History as soon as I could get a +physiological post. But I held the office for thirty-one years, and a +large part of my work has been paleontological.</p> + +<p>At that time I disliked public speaking, and had a firm conviction that +I should break down every time I opened my mouth. I believe I had every +fault a speaker could have (except talking at random or indulging in +rhetoric), when I spoke to the first important audience I ever +addressed, on a Friday evening: at the Royal Institution, in 1852. Yet, +I must confess to having been guilty, <i>malgré moi</i>, of as much public +speaking as most of my contemporaries, and for the last ten years it +ceased to be so much of a bugbear to me. I used to pity myself for +having to go through this training, but I am now more disposed to +compassionate the unfortunate audiences, especially my ever-friendly +hearers at the Royal Institution, who were the subjects of my oratorical +experiments.</p> + +<p>The last thing that it would be proper for me to do would be to speak of +the work of my life, or to say at the end of the day whether I think I +have earned my wages or not. Men are said to be partial judges of +themselves. Young men may be; I doubt if old men are. Life seems +terribly foreshortened as they look back, and the mountain they set +themselves to climb in youth turns out to be a mere spur of immeasurably +higher ranges when, with failing breath, they reach the top. But if I +may speak of the objects I have had more or less definitely in view +since I began the ascent of my hillock, they are briefly these: To +promote the increase of natural knowledge and to forward the application +of scientific methods of investigation to all the problems of life to +the best of my ability, in the conviction which has grown with my growth +and strengthened with my strength, that there is no alleviation for the +sufferings of mankind except veracity of thought and of action, and the +resolute facing of the world as it is when the garment of make-believe +by which pious hands have hidden its uglier features is stripped off.</p> + +<p>It is with this intent that I have subordinated any reasonable, or +<!-- Page 11 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11"></a>[Page 11]</span>unreasonable, ambition for scientific fame which I may have permitted +myself to entertain to other ends; to the popularisation of science; to +the development and organisation of scientific education; to the +endless series of battles and skirmishes over evolution; and to untiring +opposition to that ecclesiastical spirit, that clericalism, which in +England, as everywhere else, and to whatever denomination it may belong, +is the deadly enemy of science.</p> + +<p>In striving for the attainment of these objects, I have been but one +among many, and I shall be well content to be remembered, or even not +remembered, as such. Circumstances, among which I am proud to reckon the +devoted kindness of many friends, have led to my occupation of various +prominent positions, among which the Presidency of the Royal Society is +the highest. It would be mock modesty on my part, with these and other +scientific honours which have been bestowed upon me, to pretend that I +have not succeeded in the career which I have followed, rather because I +was driven into it than of my own free will; but I am afraid I should +not count even these things as marks of success if I could not hope that +I had somewhat helped that movement of opinion which has been called the +New Reformation.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="LECTURES_AND_ESSAYS" id="LECTURES_AND_ESSAYS"></a>LECTURES AND ESSAYS</h2> + +<h3>LECTURES ON EVOLUTION</h3> + +<h4>[NEW YORK; 1876]</h4> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<a name="THE_THREE_HYPOTHESES_RESPECTING_THE_HISTORY_OF_NATURE" id="THE_THREE_HYPOTHESES_RESPECTING_THE_HISTORY_OF_NATURE"></a> +<h2>I</h2> + +<h2>THE THREE HYPOTHESES RESPECTING THE HISTORY OF NATURE</h2> + + +<p>We live in and form part of a system of things of immense diversity and +perplexity, which we call Nature; and it is a matter of the deepest +interest to all of us that we should form just conceptions of the +constitution of that system and of its past history. With relation to +this universe, man is, in extent, little more than a mathematical point; +in duration but a fleeting shadow; he is a mere reed shaken in the winds +of force. But as Pascal long ago remarked, although a mere reed, he is a +thinking reed; and in virtue of that wonderful capacity of thought, he +has the power of framing for himself a symbolic conception of the +universe, which, although doubtless highly imperfect and inadequate as a +picture of the great whole, is yet sufficient to serve him as a chart +for the guidance of his practical affairs. It has taken long ages of +toilsome and often fruitless labour to enable man to look steadily at +the shifting scenes of the phantasmagoria of Nature, to notice what is +fixed among her fluctuations, and what is regular among her apparent +irregularities; and it is only comparatively lately, within the last few +centuries, that the conception of a universal order and of a definite +course of things, which we term the course of Nature, has emerged.</p> +<p><!-- Page 12 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12"></a>[Page 12]</span></p> +<p>But, once originated, the conception of the constancy of the order of +Nature has become the dominant idea of modern thought. To any person who +is familiar with the facts upon which that conception is based, and is +competent to estimate their significance, it has ceased to be +conceivable that chance should have any place in the universe, or that +events should depend upon any but the natural sequence of cause and +effect. We have come to look upon the present as the child of the past +and as the parent of the future; and, as we have excluded chance from a +place in the universe, so we ignore, even as a possibility, the notion +of any interference with the order of Nature. Whatever may be men's +speculative doctrines, it is quite certain that every intelligent person +guides his life and risks his fortune upon the belief that the order of +Nature is constant, and that the chain of natural causation is never +broken.</p> + +<p>In fact, no belief which we entertain has so complete a logical basis as +that to which I have just referred. It tacitly underlies every process +of reasoning; it is the foundation of every act of the will. It is based +upon the broadest induction, and it is verified by the most constant, +regular, and universal of deductive processes. But we must recollect +that any human belief, however broad its basis, however defensible it +may seem, is, after all, only a probable belief, and that our widest and +safest generalisations are simply statements of the highest degree of +probability. Though we are quite clear about the constancy of the order +of Nature, at the present time, and in the present state of things, it +by no means necessarily follows that we are justified in expanding this +generalisation into the infinite past, and in denying, absolutely, that +there may have been a time when Nature did not follow a fixed order, +when the relations of cause and effect were not definite, and when +extra-natural agencies interfered with the general course of Nature. +Cautious men will allow that a universe so different from that which we +know may have existed; just as a very candid thinker may admit that a +world in which two and two do not make four, and in which two straight +lines do inclose a space, may exist. But the same caution which forces +the admission of such possibilities demands a great deal of evidence +before it recognises them to be anything more substantial. And when it +is asserted that, so many thousand years ago, events occurred in a +manner utterly foreign to and inconsistent with the existing laws of +Nature, men who without being particularly cautious are simply honest +thinkers, unwilling to deceive themselves or delude others, ask for +trustworthy evidence of the fact.</p> + +<p>Did things so happen or did they not? This is a historical question, and +one the answer to which must be sought in the same way as the solution +of any other historical problem.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>So far as I know, there are only three hypotheses which ever have been +entertained, or which well can be entertained, respecting the past +history of Nature. I will, in the first place, state the hypotheses, and +then I will consider what evidence bearing upon them is in our +possession, and by what light of criticism that evidence is to be +interpreted.</p> + +<p>Upon the first hypothesis, the assumption is, that phenomena of Nature +similar to those exhibited by the present world have always existed; in +other words, that the universe has existed, from all eternity, in what +may be broadly termed its present condition.</p> + +<p>The second hypothesis is that the present state of things has had only a +limited duration; and that, at some period in the past, a condition of +the world, essentially similar to that which we now know, came into +existence, without any precedent condition from which it could have +naturally proceeded. The assumption that successive states of Nature +have arisen, each without any relation of natural causation to an +antecedent state, is a mere modification of this second hypothesis.</p> +<p><!-- Page 13 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13"></a>[Page 13]</span></p> +<p>The third hypothesis also assumes that the present state of things has +had but a limited duration; but it supposes that this state has been +evolved by a natural process from an antecedent state, and that from +another, and so on; and, on this hypothesis, the attempt to assign any +limit to the series of past changes is, usually, given up.</p> + +<p>It is so needful to form clear and distinct notions of what is really +meant by each of these hypotheses that I will ask you to imagine what, +according to each, would have been visible to a spectator of the events +which constitute the history of the earth. On the first hypothesis, +however far back in time that spectator might be placed, he would see a +world essentially, though perhaps not in all its details, similar to +that which now exists. The animals which existed would be the ancestors +of those which now live, and similar to them; the plants, in like +manner, would be such as we know; and the mountains, plains, and waters +would foreshadow the salient features of our present land and water. +This view was held more or less distinctly, sometimes combined with the +notion of recurrent cycles of change, in ancient times; and its +influence has been felt down to the present day. It is worthy of remark +that it is a hypothesis which is not inconsistent with the doctrine of +Uniformitarianism, with which geologists are familiar. That doctrine was +held by Hutton, and in his earlier days by Lyell. Hutton was struck by +the demonstration of astronomers that the perturbations of the planetary +bodies, however great they may be, yet sooner or later right themselves; +and that the solar system possesses a self-adjusting power by which +these aberrations are all brought back to a mean condition. Hutton +imagined that the like might be true of terrestrial changes; although no +one recognised more clearly than he the fact that the dry land is being +constantly washed down by rain and rivers and deposited in the sea; and +that thus, in a longer or shorter time, the inequalities of the earth's +surface must be levelled, and its high lands brought down to the ocean. +But, taking into account the internal forces of the earth, which, +upheaving the sea bottom, give rise to new land, he thought that these +operations of degradation and elevation might compensate each other; and +that thus, for any assignable time, the general features of our planet +might remain what they are. And inasmuch as, under these circumstances, +there need be no limit to the propagation of animals and plants, it is +clear that the consistent working-out of the uniformitarian idea might +lead to the conception of the eternity of the world. Not that I mean to +say that either Hutton or Lyell held this conception—assuredly not; +they would have been the first to repudiate it. Nevertheless, the +logical development of some of their arguments tends directly towards +this hypothesis.</p> + +<p>The second hypothesis supposes that the present order of things, at some +no very remote time, had a sudden origin, and that the world, such as it +now is, had chaos for its phenomenal antecedent. That is the doctrine +which you will find stated most fully and clearly in the immortal poem +of John Milton—the English <i>Divina Commedia</i>—"Paradise Lost." I +believe it is largely to the influence of that remarkable work, combined +with the daily teachings to which we have all listened in our childhood, +that this hypothesis owes its general wide diffusion as one of the +current beliefs of English-speaking people. If you turn to the seventh +book of "Paradise Lost," you will find there stated the hypothesis to +which I refer, which is briefly this: That this visible universe of ours +came into existence at no great distance of time from the present; and +that the parts of which it is composed made their appearance, in a +certain definite order, in the space of six natural days, in such a +manner that, on the first of these days, light appeared; that, on the +second, the firmament, or <!-- Page 14 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14"></a>[Page 14]</span>sky, separated the waters above, from the +waters beneath, the firmament; that, on the third day, the waters drew +away from the dry land, and upon it a varied vegetable life, similar to +that which now exists, made its appearance; that the fourth day was +signalised by the apparition of the sun, the stars, the moon, and the +planets; that, on the fifth day, aquatic animals originated within the +waters; that, on the sixth day, the earth gave rise to our four-footed +terrestrial creatures, and to all varieties of terrestrial animals +except birds, which had appeared on the preceding day; and, finally, +that man appeared upon the earth, and the emergence of the universe from +chaos was finished. Milton tells us, without the least ambiguity, what a +spectator of these marvellous occurrences would have witnessed. I doubt +not that his poem is familiar to all of you, but I should like to recall +one passage to your minds, in order that I may be justified in what I +have said regarding the perfectly concrete, definite, picture of the +origin of the animal world which Milton draws. He says:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <span class="i0">"The sixth, and of creation last, arose</span><br /> +<span class="i0">With evening harps and matin, when God said,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">'Let the earth bring forth soul living in her kind,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Cattle and creeping things, and beast of the earth,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Each in their kind!' The earth obeyed, and, straight</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Opening her fertile womb, teemed at a birth</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Innumerous living creatures, perfect forms,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Limbed and full-grown. Out of the ground uprose,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">As from his lair, the wild beast, where he wons</span><br /> +<span class="i0">In forest wild, in thicket, brake, or den;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Among the trees in pairs they rose, they walked;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The cattle in the fields and meadows green;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Those rare and solitary; these in flocks</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Pasturing at once, and in broad herds upsprung.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The grassy clods now calved; now half appears</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The tawny lion, pawing to get free</span><br /> +<span class="i0">His hinder parts—then springs, as broke from bonds,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And rampant shakes his brinded mane; the ounce,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The libbard, and the tiger, as the mole</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Rising, the crumbled earth above them threw</span><br /> +<span class="i0">In hillocks; the swift stag from underground</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Bore up his branching head; scarce from his mould</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Behemoth, biggest born of earth, upheaved</span><br /> +<span class="i0">His vastness; fleeced the flocks and bleating rose</span><br /> +<span class="i0">As plants; ambiguous between sea and land,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The river-horse and scaly crocodile.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">At once came forth whatever creeps the ground,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Insect or worm.</span> +</div></div> + +<p>There is no doubt as to the meaning of this statement, nor as to what a +man of Milton's genius expected would have been actually visible to an +eye-witness of this mode of origination of living things.</p> + +<p>The third hypothesis, or the hypothesis of evolution, supposes that, at +any comparatively late period of past time, our imaginary spectator +would meet with a state of things very similar to that which now +obtains; but that the likeness of the past to the present would +gradually become less and less, in proportion to the remoteness of his +period of observation from the present day; that the existing +distribution of mountains and plains, of rivers and seas, would show +itself to be the product of a slow process of natural change operating +upon more and more widely different antecedent conditions of the mineral +framework of the earth; until, at length, in place of that framework, he +would behold only a vast nebulous mass, representing the constituents of +the sun and of the planetary bodies. Preceding the forms of life which +now exist, our observer would see animals and plants, not identical with +them, but like them, increasing their differences with their antiquity +and, at the same time, becoming simpler and simpler; until, finally, the +world of life would present nothing but that undifferentiated +protoplasmic matter which, so far as our present knowledge goes, is the +common foundation of all vital activity.</p> + +<p>The hypothesis of evolution supposes that in all this vast progression +there would be no breach of continuity, no <!-- Page 15 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15"></a>[Page 15]</span>point at which we could say +"This is a natural process," and "This is not a natural process;" but +that the whole might be compared to that wonderful operation of +development which may be seen going on every day under our eyes, in +virtue of which there arises, out of the semi-fluid comparatively +homogeneous substance which we call an egg, the complicated organisation +of one of the higher animals. That, in a few words, is what is meant by +the hypothesis of evolution.</p> + +<p>I have already suggested that, in dealing with these three hypotheses, +in endeavouring to form a judgment as to which of them is the more +worthy of belief, or whether none is worthy of belief—in which case our +condition of mind should be that suspension of judgment which is so +difficult to all but trained intellects—we should be indifferent to all +<i>a priori</i> considerations. The question is a question of historical +fact. The universe has come into existence somehow or other, and the +problem is, whether it came into existence in one fashion, or whether it +came into existence in another; and, as an essential preliminary to +further discussion, permit me to say two or three words as to the nature +and the kinds of historical evidence.</p> + +<p>The evidence as to the occurrence of any event in past time may be +ranged under two heads which, for convenience' sake, I will speak of as +testimonial evidence and as circumstantial evidence. By testimonial +evidence I mean human testimony; and by circumstantial evidence I mean +evidence which is not human testimony. Let me illustrate by a familiar +example what I understand by these two kinds of evidence, and what is to +be said respecting their value.</p> + +<p>Suppose that a man tells you that he saw a person strike another and +kill him; that is testimonial evidence of the fact of murder. But it is +possible to have circumstantial evidence of the fact of murder; that is +to say, you may find a man dying with a wound upon his head having +exactly the form and character of the wound which is made by an axe, +and, with due care in taking surrounding circumstances into account, you +may conclude with the utmost certainty that the man has been murdered; +that his death is the consequence of a blow inflicted by another man +with that implement. We are very much in the habit of considering +circumstantial evidence as of less value than testimonial evidence, and +it may be that, where the circumstances are not perfectly clear and +intelligible, it is a dangerous and unsafe kind of evidence; but it must +not be forgotten that, in many cases, circumstantial is quite as +conclusive as testimonial evidence, and that, not unfrequently, it is a +great deal weightier than testimonial evidence. For example, take the +case to which I referred just now. The circumstantial evidence may be +better and more convincing than the testimonial evidence; for it may be +impossible, under the conditions that I have defined, to suppose that +the man met his death from any cause but the violent blow of an axe +wielded by another man. The circumstantial evidence in favour of a +murder having been committed, in that case, is as complete and as +convincing as evidence can be. It is evidence which is open to no doubt +and to no falsification. But the testimony of a witness is open to +multitudinous doubts. He may have been mistaken. He may have been +actuated by malice. It has constantly happened that even an accurate man +has declared that a thing has happened in this, that, or the other way, +when a careful analysis of the circumstantial evidence has shown that it +did not happen in that way, but in some other way.</p> + +<p>We may now consider the evidence in favour of or against the three +hypotheses. Let me first direct your attention to what is to be said +about the hypothesis of the eternity of the state of things in which we +now live. What will first strike you is, that it is a hypothesis which, +whether true or false, is not capable of verification <!-- Page 16 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16"></a>[Page 16]</span>by any evidence. +For, in order to observe either circumstantial or testimonial evidence +sufficient to prove the eternity of duration of the present state of +nature, you must have an eternity of witnesses or an infinity of +circumstances, and neither of these is attainable. It is utterly +impossible that such evidence should be carried beyond a certain point +of time; and all that could be said, at most, would be, that so far as +the evidence could be traced, there was nothing to contradict the +hypothesis. But when you look, not to the testimonial evidence—which, +considering the relative insignificance of the antiquity of human +records, might not be good for much in this case—but to the +circumstantial evidence, then you find that this hypothesis is +absolutely incompatible with such evidence as we have; which is of so +plain and simple a character that it is impossible in any way to escape +from the conclusions which it forces upon us.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img016.jpg" width="343" height="600" +alt="FIG. 1.—IDEAL SECTION OF THE CRUST OF THE EARTH." +title="IDEAL SECTION OF THE CRUST OF THE EARTH." /> +<br /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 1.—IDEAL SECTION OF THE CRUST OF THE EARTH.</span> +</div> + + +<p>You are, doubtless, all aware that the outer substance of the earth, +which alone is accessible to direct observation, is not of a homogeneous +character, but that it is made up of a number of layers or strata, the +titles of the principal groups of which are placed upon the accompanying +diagram. Each of these groups represents a number of beds of sand, of +stone, of clay, of slate, and of various other materials.</p> + +<p>On careful examination, it is found that the materials of which each of +these layers of more or less hard rock are composed are, for the most +part, of the same nature as those which are at present being formed +under known conditions on the surface of the earth. For example, the +chalk, which constitutes a great part of the Cretaceous formation in +some parts of the world, is practically identical in its physical and +chemical characters with a substance which is now being formed at the +bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, and covers an enormous area; <!-- Page 17 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17"></a>[Page 17]</span>other beds of +rock are comparable with the sands which are being formed upon +sea-shores, packed together, and so on. Thus, omitting rocks of igneous +origin, it is demonstrable that all these beds of stone, of which a +total of not less than seventy thousand feet is known, have been formed +by natural agencies, either out of the waste and washing of the dry +land, or else by the accumulation of the exuviæ of plants and animals. +Many of these strata are full of such exuviæ—the so-called "fossils." +Remains of thousands of species of animals and plants, as perfectly +recognisable as those of existing forms of life which you meet with in +museums, or as the shells which you pick up upon the sea-beach, have +been imbedded in the ancient sands, or muds, or limestones, just as they +are being imbedded now, in sandy, or clayey, or calcareous subaqueous +deposits. They furnish us with a record, the general nature of which +cannot be misinterpreted, of the kinds of things that have lived upon +the surface of the earth during the time that is registered by this +great thickness of stratified rocks. But even a superficial study of +these fossils shows us that the animals and plants which live at the +present time have had only a temporary duration; for the remains of such +modern forms of life are met with, for the most part, only in the +uppermost or latest tertiaries, and their number rapidly diminishes in +the lower deposits of that epoch. In the older tertiaries, the places of +existing animals and plants are taken by other forms, as numerous and +diversified as those which live now in the same localities, but more or +less different from them; in the mesozoic rocks, these are replaced by +others yet more divergent from modern types; and, in the palæozoic +formations the contrast is still more marked. Thus the circumstantial +evidence absolutely negatives the conception of the eternity of the +present condition of things. We can say, with certainty, that the +present condition of things has existed for a comparatively short +period; and that, so far as animal and vegetable nature are concerned, +it has been preceded by a different condition. We can pursue this +evidence until we reach the lowest of the stratified rocks, in which we +lose the indications of life altogether. The hypothesis of the eternity +of the present state of nature may therefore be put out of court.</p> + +<p>We now come to what I will term Milton's hypothesis—the hypothesis that +the present condition of things has endured for a comparatively short +time; and, at the commencement of that time, came into existence within +the course of six days. I doubt not that it may have excited some +surprise in your minds that I should have spoken of this as Milton's +hypothesis, rather than that I should have chosen the terms which are +more customary, such as "the doctrine of creation," or "the Biblical +doctrine," or "the doctrine of Moses," all of which denominations, as +applied to the hypothesis to which I have just referred, are certainly +much more familiar to you than the title of the Miltonic hypothesis. But +I have had what I cannot but think are very weighty reasons for taking +the course which I have pursued. In the first place, I have discarded +the title of the "doctrine of creation," because my present business is +not with the question why the objects which constitute Nature came into +existence, but when they came into existence, and in what order. This is +as strictly a historical question as the question when the Angles and +the Jutes invaded England, and whether they preceded or followed the +Romans. But the question about creation is a philosophical problem, and +one which cannot be solved, or even approached, by the historical +method. What we want to learn is, whether the facts, so far as they are +known, afford evidence that things arose in the way described by Milton, +or whether they do not; and, when that question is settled, it will be +time enough to inquire into the causes of their origination.</p> + +<p>In the second place, I have not <!-- Page 18 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18"></a>[Page 18]</span>spoken of this doctrine as the Biblical +doctrine. It is quite true that persons as diverse in their general +views as Milton the Protestant and the celebrated Jesuit Father Suarez, +each put upon the first chapter of Genesis the interpretation embodied +in Milton's poem. It is quite true that this interpretation is that +which has been instilled into every one of us in our childhood; but I do +not for one moment venture to say that it can properly be called the +Biblical doctrine. It is not my business, and does not lie within my +competency, to say what the Hebrew text does, and what it does not +signify; moreover, were I to affirm that this is the Biblical doctrine, +I should be met by the authority of many eminent scholars, to say +nothing of men of science, who, at various times, have absolutely denied +that any such doctrine is to be found in Genesis. If we are to listen to +many expositors of no mean authority, we must believe that what seems so +clearly defined in Genesis—as if very great pains had been taken that +there should be no possibility of mistake—is not the meaning of the +text at all. The account is divided into periods that we may make just +as long or as short as convenience requires. We are also to understand +that it is consistent with the original text to believe that the most +complex plants and animals may have been evolved by natural processes, +lasting for millions of years, out of structureless rudiments. A person +who is not a Hebrew scholar can only stand aside and admire the +marvellous flexibility of a language which admits of such diverse +interpretations. But assuredly, in the face of such contradictions of +authority upon matters respecting which he is incompetent to form any +judgment, he will abstain, as I do, from giving any opinion.</p> + +<p>In the third place, I have carefully abstained from speaking of this as +the Mosaic doctrine, because we are now assured upon the authority of +the highest critics, and even of dignitaries of the Church, that there +is no evidence that Moses wrote the Book of Genesis, or knew anything +about it. You will understand that I give no judgment—it would be an +impertinence upon my part to volunteer even a suggestion—upon such a +subject. But, that being the state of opinion among the scholars and the +clergy, it is well for the unlearned in Hebrew lore, and for the laity, +to avoid entangling themselves in such a vexed question. Happily, Milton +leaves us no excuse for doubting what he means, and I shall therefore be +safe in speaking of the opinion in question as the Miltonic hypothesis.</p> + +<p>Now we have to test that hypothesis. For my part, I have no prejudice +one way or the other. If there is evidence in favour of this view, I am +burdened by no theoretical difficulties in the way of accepting it; but +there must be evidence. Scientific men get an awkward habit—no, I won't +call it that, for it is a valuable habit—of believing nothing unless +there is evidence for it; and they have a way of looking upon belief +which is not based upon evidence, not only as illogical, but as immoral. +We will, if you please, test this view by the circumstantial evidence +alone; for, from what I have said, you will understand that I do not +propose to discuss the question of what testimonial evidence is to be +adduced in favour of it. If those whose business it is to judge are not +at one as to the authenticity of the only evidence of that kind which is +offered, nor as to the facts to which it bears witness, the discussion +of such evidence is superfluous.</p> + +<p>But I may be permitted to regret this necessity of rejecting the +testimonial evidence the less, because the examination of the +circumstantial evidence leads to the conclusion, not only that it is +incompetent to justify the hypothesis, but that, so far as it goes, it +is contrary to the hypothesis.</p> + +<p>The considerations upon which I base this conclusion are of the simplest +possible character. The Miltonic hypothesis contains assertions of a +<!-- Page 19 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19"></a>[Page 19]</span>very definite character relating to the succession of living forms. It +is stated that plants, for example, made their appearance upon the third +day, and not before. And you will understand that what the poet means +by plants are such plants as now live, the ancestors, in the ordinary +way of propagation of like by like, of the trees and shrubs which +flourish in the present world. It must needs be so; for, if they were +different, either the existing plants have been the result of a separate +origination since that described by Milton, of which we have no record, +nor any ground for supposition that such an occurrence has taken place; +or else they have arisen by a process of evolution from the original +stocks.</p> + +<p>In the second place, it is clear that there was no animal life before +the fifth day, and that, on the fifth day, aquatic animals and birds +appeared. And it is further clear that terrestrial living things, other +than birds, made their appearance upon the sixth day and not before. +Hence, it follows that, if, in the large mass of circumstantial evidence +as to what really has happened in the past history of the globe we find +indications of the existence of terrestrial animals, other than birds, +at a certain period, it is perfectly certain that all that has taken +place, since that time, must be referred to the sixth day.</p> + +<p>In the great Carboniferous formation, whence America derives so vast a +proportion of her actual and potential wealth, in the beds of coal which +have been formed from the vegetation of that period, we find abundant +evidence of the existence of terrestrial animals. They have been +described, not only by European but by your own naturalists. There are +to be found numerous insects allied to our cockroaches. There are to be +found spiders and scorpions of large size, the latter so similar to +existing scorpions that it requires the practised eye of the naturalist +to distinguish them. Inasmuch as these animals can be proved to have +been alive in the Carboniferous epoch, it is perfectly clear that, if +the Miltonic account is to be accepted, the huge mass of rocks extending +from the middle of the Palæozoic formations to the uppermost members of +the series, must belong to the day which is termed by Milton the sixth. +But, further, it is expressly stated that aquatic animals took their +origin on the fifth day, and not before; hence, all formations in which +remains of aquatic animals can be proved to exist, and which therefore +testify that such animals lived at the time when these formations were +in course of deposition, must have been deposited during or since the +period which Milton speaks of as the fifth day. But there is absolutely +no fossiliferous formation in which the remains of aquatic animals are +absent. The oldest fossils in the Silurian rocks are exuviæ of marine +animals; and if the view which is entertained by Principal Dawson and +Dr. Carpenter respecting the nature of the <i>Eozoön</i> be well-founded, +aquatic animals existed at a period as far antecedent to the deposition +of the coal as the coal is from us; inasmuch as the <i>Eozoön</i> is met with +in those Laurentian strata which lie at the bottom of the series of +stratified rocks. Hence it follows, plainly enough, that the whole +series of stratified rocks, if they are to be brought into harmony with +Milton, must be referred to the fifth and sixth days, and that we cannot +hope to find the slightest trace of the products of the earlier days in +the geological record. When we consider these simple facts, we see how +absolutely futile are the attempts that have been made to draw a +parallel between the story told by so much of the crust of the earth as +is known to us and the story which Milton tells. The whole series of +fossiliferous stratified rocks must be referred to the last two days; +and neither the Carboniferous, nor any other, formation can afford +evidence of the work of the third day.</p> + +<p>Not only is there this objection to any attempt to establish a harmony +between the Miltonic account and the facts recorded <!-- Page 20 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20"></a>[Page 20]</span>in the fossiliferous +rocks, but there is a further difficulty. According to the Miltonic +account, the order in which animals should have made their appearance in +the stratified rocks would be this: Fishes, including the great whales, +and birds; after them, all varieties of terrestrial animals except +birds. Nothing could be further from the facts as we find them; we know +of not the slightest evidence of the existence of birds before the +Jurassic, or perhaps the Triassic, formation; while terrestrial animals, +as we have just seen, occur in the Carboniferous rocks.</p> + +<p>If there were any harmony between the Miltonic account and the +circumstantial evidence, we ought to have abundant evidence of the +existence of birds in the Carboniferous, the Devonian, and the Silurian +rocks. I need hardly say that this is not the case, and that not a trace +of birds makes its appearance until the far later period which I have +mentioned.</p> + +<p>And again, if it be true that all varieties of fishes and the great +whales, and the like, made their appearance on the fifth day, we ought +to find the remains of these animals in the older rocks—in those which +were deposited before the Carboniferous epoch. Fishes we do find, in +considerable number and variety; but the great whales are absent, and +the fishes are not such as now live. Not one solitary species of fish +now in existence is to be found in the Devonian or Silurian formations. +Hence we are introduced afresh to the dilemma which I have already +placed before you: either the animals which came into existence on the +fifth day were not such as those which are found at present, are not the +direct and immediate ancestors of those which now exist; in which case, +either fresh creations of which nothing is said, or a process of +evolution, must have occurred; or else the whole story must be given up, +as not only devoid of any circumstantial evidence, but contrary to such +evidence as exists.</p> + +<p>I placed before you in a few words, some little time ago, a statement of +the sum and substance of Milton's hypothesis. Let me now try to state, +as briefly, the effect of the circumstantial evidence bearing upon the +past history of the earth which is furnished, without the possibility of +mistake, with no chance of error as to its chief features, by the +stratified rocks. What we find is, that the great series of formations +represents a period of time of which our human chronologies hardly +afford us a unit of measure. I will not pretend to say how we ought to +estimate this time, in millions or in billions of years. For my purpose, +the determination of its absolute duration is wholly unessential. But +that the time was enormous there can be no question.</p> + +<p>It results from the simplest methods of interpretation, that leaving out +of view certain patches of metamorphosed rocks, and certain volcanic +products, all that is now dry land has once been at the bottom of the +waters. It is perfectly certain that, at a comparatively recent period +of the world's history—the Cretaceous epoch—none of the great physical +features which at present mark the surface of the globe existed. It is +certain that the Rocky Mountains were not. It is certain that the +Himalaya Mountains were not. It is certain that the Alps and the +Pyrenees had no existence. The evidence is of the plainest possible +character, and is simply this:—We find raised up on the flanks of these +mountains, elevated by the forces of upheaval which have given rise to +them, masses of Cretaceous rock which formed the bottom of the sea +before those mountains existed. It is therefore clear that the elevatory +forces which gave rise to the mountains operated subsequently to the +Cretaceous epoch; and that the mountains themselves are largely made up +of the materials deposited in the sea which once occupied their place. +As we go back in time, we meet with constant alternations of sea and +land, of estuary and open ocean; and, in correspondence with these +alternations, we observe the <!-- Page 21 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21"></a>[Page 21]</span>changes in the fauna and flora to which I +have referred.</p> + +<p>But the inspection of these changes give us no right to believe that +there has been any discontinuity in natural processes. There is no +trace of general cataclysms, of universal deluges, or sudden +destructions of a whole fauna or flora. The appearances which were +formerly interpreted in that way have all been shown to be delusive, as +our knowledge has increased and as the blanks which formerly appeared to +exist between the different formations have been filled up. That there +is no absolute break between formation and formation, that there has +been no sudden disappearance of all the forms of life and replacement of +them by others, but that changes have gone on slowly and gradually, that +one type has died out and another has taken its place, and that thus, by +insensible degrees, one fauna has been replaced by another, are +conclusions strengthened by constantly increasing evidence. So that +within the whole of the immense period indicated by the fossiliferous +stratified rocks, there is assuredly not the slightest proof of any +break in the uniformity of Nature's operations, no indication that +events have followed other than a clear and orderly sequence.</p> + +<p>That, I say, is the natural and obvious teaching of the circumstantial +evidence contained in the stratified rocks. I leave you to consider how +far, by any ingenuity of interpretation, by any stretching of the +meaning of language, it can be brought into harmony with the Miltonic +hypothesis.</p> + +<p>There remains the third hypothesis, that of which I have spoken as the +hypothesis of evolution; and I purpose that, in lectures to come, we +should discuss it as carefully as we have considered the other two +hypotheses. I need not say that it is quite hopeless to look for +testimonial evidence of evolution. The very nature of the case precludes +the possibility of such evidence, for the human race can no more be +expected to testify to its own origin, than a child can be tendered as a +witness of its own birth. Our sole inquiry is, what foundation +circumstantial evidence lends to the hypothesis, or whether it lends +none, or whether it controverts the hypothesis. I shall deal with the +matter entirely as a question of history. I shall not indulge in the +discussion of any speculative probabilities. I shall not attempt to show +that Nature is unintelligible unless we adopt some such hypothesis. For +anything I know about the matter, it may be the way of Nature to be +unintelligible; she is often puzzling, and I have no reason to suppose +that she is bound to fit herself to our notions.</p> + +<p>I shall place before you three kinds of evidence entirely based upon +what is known of the forms of animal life which are contained in the +series of stratified rocks. I shall endeavour to show you that there is +one kind of evidence which is neutral, which neither helps evolution nor +is inconsistent with it. I shall then bring forward a second kind of +evidence which indicates a strong probability in favour of evolution, +but does not prove it; and, lastly, I shall adduce a third kind of +evidence which, being as complete as any evidence which we can hope to +obtain upon such a subject, and being wholly and strikingly in favour of +evolution, may fairly be called demonstrative evidence of its +occurrence.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="II" id="II"></a>II</h2> + +<h2>THE HYPOTHESIS OF EVOLUTION. THE NEUTRAL AND THE FAVOURABLE EVIDENCE</h2> + + +<p>In the preceding lecture I pointed out that there are three hypotheses +which may be entertained, and which have been entertained, respecting +the past history of life upon the globe. According to the first of these +hypotheses, living beings, such as now exist, have existed from all +eternity upon this earth. We <!-- Page 22 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22"></a>[Page 22]</span>tested that hypothesis by the +circumstantial evidence, as I called it, which is furnished by the +fossil remains contained in the earth's crust, and we found that it was +obviously untenable. I then proceeded to consider the second +hypothesis, which I termed the Miltonic hypothesis, not because it is of +any particular consequence whether John Milton seriously entertained it +or not, but because it is stated in a clear and unmistakable manner in +his great poem. I pointed out to you that the evidence at our command as +completely and fully negatives that hypothesis as it did the preceding +one. And I confess that I had too much respect for your intelligence to +think it necessary to add that the negation was equally clear and +equally valid, whatever the source from which that hypothesis might be +derived, or whatever the authority by which it might be supported. I +further stated that, according to the third hypothesis, or that of +evolution, the existing state of things is the last term of a long +series of states, which, when traced back, would be found to show no +interruption and no breach in the continuity of natural causation. I +propose, in the present and the following lecture, to test this +hypothesis rigorously by the evidence at command, and to inquire how far +that evidence can be said to be indifferent to it, how far it can be +said to be favourable to it, and, finally, how far it can be said to be +demonstrative.</p> + +<p>From almost the origin of the discussions about the existing condition +of the animal and vegetable worlds and the causes which have determined +that condition, an argument has been put forward as an objection to +evolution, which we shall have to consider very seriously. It is an +argument which was first clearly stated by Cuvier in his criticism of +the doctrines propounded by his great contemporary, Lamarck. The French +expedition to Egypt had called the attention of learned men to the +wonderful store of antiquities in that country, and there had been +brought back to France numerous mummified corpses of the animals which +the ancient Egyptians revered and preserved, and which, at a reasonable +computation, must have lived not less than three or four thousand years +before the time at which they were thus brought to light. Cuvier +endeavoured to test the hypothesis that animals have undergone gradual +and progressive modifications of structure, by comparing the skeletons +and such other parts of the mummies as were in a fitting state of +preservation, with the corresponding parts of the representatives of the +same species now living in Egypt. He arrived at the conviction that no +appreciable change had taken place in these animals in the course of +this considerable lapse of time, and the justice of his conclusion is +not disputed.</p> + +<p>It is obvious that, if it can be proved that animals have endured, +without undergoing any demonstrable change of structure, for so long a +period as four thousand years, no form of the hypothesis of evolution +which assumes that animals undergo a constant and necessary progressive +change can be tenable; unless, indeed, it be further assumed that four +thousand years is too short a time for the production of a change +sufficiently great to be detected.</p> + +<p>But it is no less plain that if the process of evolution of animals is +not independent of surrounding conditions; if it may be indefinitely +hastened or retarded by variations in these conditions; or if evolution +is simply a process of accommodation to varying conditions; the argument +against the hypothesis of evolution based on the unchanged character of +the Egyptian fauna is worthless. For the monuments which are coeval with +the mummies testify as strongly to the absence of change in the physical +geography and the general conditions of the land of Egypt, for the time +in question, as the mummies do to the unvarying characters of its living +population.</p> + +<p>The progress of research since Cuvier's time has supplied far more +striking examples of the long duration of specific forms of life than +those which are furnished by the mummified Ibises and <!-- Page 23 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23"></a>[Page 23]</span>Crocodiles of +Egypt. A remarkable case is to be found in your own country, in the +neighbourhood of the falls of Niagara. In the immediate vicinity of the +whirlpool, and again upon Goat Island, in the superficial deposits +which cover the surface of the rocky subsoil in those regions, there are +found remains of animals in perfect preservation, and among them, shells +belonging to exactly the same species as those which at present inhabit +the still waters of Lake Erie. It is evident, from the structure of the +country, that these animal remains were deposited in the beds in which +they occur at a time when the lake extended over the region in which +they are found. This involves the conclusion that they lived and died +before the falls had cut their way back through the gorge of Niagara; +and, indeed, it has been determined that, when these animals lived, the +falls of Niagara must have been at least six miles further down the +river than they are at present. Many computations have been made of the +rate at which the falls are thus cutting their way back. Those +computations have varied greatly, but I believe I am speaking within the +bounds of prudence, if I assume that the falls of Niagara have not +retreated at a greater pace than about a foot a year. Six miles, +speaking roughly, are 30,000 feet; 30,000 feet, at a foot a year, gives +30,000 years; and thus we are fairly justified in concluding that no +less a period than this has passed since the shell-fish, whose remains +are left in the beds to which I have referred, were living creatures.</p> + +<p>But there is still stronger evidence of the long duration of certain +types. I have already stated that, as we work our way through the great +series of the Tertiary formations, we find many species of animals +identical with those which live at the present day, diminishing in +numbers, it is true, but still existing, in a certain proportion, in the +oldest of the Tertiary rocks. Furthermore, when we examine the rocks of +the Cretaceous epoch, we find the remains of some animals which the +closest scrutiny cannot show to be, in any important respect, different +from those which live at the present time. That is the case with one of +the cretaceous lamp-shells (<i>Terebratula</i>) which has continued to exist +unchanged, or with insignificant variations, down to the present day. +Such is the case with the <i>Globigerinæ</i>, the skeletons of which, +aggregated together, form a large proportion of our English chalk. Those +<i>Globigerinæ</i> can be traced down to the <i>Globigerinæ</i> which live at the +surface of the present great oceans, and the remains of which, falling +to the bottom of the sea give rise to a chalky mud. Hence it must be +admitted that certain existing species of animals show no distinct sign +of modification, or transformation, in the course of a lapse of time as +great as that which carries us back to the Cretaceous period; and which, +whatever its absolute measure, is certainly vastly greater than thirty +thousand years.</p> + +<p>There are groups of species so closely allied together, that it needs +the eye of a naturalist to distinguish them one from another. If we +disregard the small differences which separate these forms, and consider +all the species of such groups as modifications of one type, we shall +find that, even among the higher animals, some types have had a +marvellous duration. In the chalk, for example, there is found a fish +belonging to the highest and the most differentiated group of osseous +fishes, which goes by the name of <i>Beryx</i>. The remains of that fish are +among the most beautiful and well-preserved of the fossils found in our +English chalk. It can be studied anatomically, so far as the hard parts +are concerned, almost as well as if it were a recent fish. But the genus +<i>Beryx</i> is represented, at the present day, by very closely allied +species which are living in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. We may go +still farther back. I have already referred to the fact, that the +Carboniferous formations, in Europe and in America, contain the remains +of scorpions in an admirable state of preservation and, <!-- Page 24 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24"></a>[Page 24]</span>that those +scorpions are hardly distinguishable from such as now live. I do not +mean to say that they are not different, but close scrutiny is needed in +order to distinguish them from modern scorpions.</p> + +<p>More than this. At the very bottom Of the Silurian series, in beds which +are by some authorities referred to the Cambrian formation, where the +signs of life begin to fail us—even there, among the few and scanty +animal remains which are discoverable, we find species of molluscous +animals which are so closely allied to existing forms that, at one time, +they were grouped under the same generic name. I refer to the well known +<i>Lingula</i> of the <i>Lingula</i> flags, lately, in consequence of some slight +differences, placed in the new genus <i>Lingulella</i>. Practically, it +belongs to the same great generic group as the <i>Lingula</i>, which is to be +found at the present day upon your own shores and those of many other +parts of the world.</p> + +<p>The same truth is exemplified if we turn to certain great periods of the +earth's history—as, for example, the Mesozoic epoch. There are groups +of reptiles, such as the <i>Ichthyosauria</i> and the <i>Plesiosauria</i>, which +appear shortly after the commencement of this epoch, and they occur in +vast numbers. They disappear with the chalk and, throughout the whole of +the great series of Mesozoic rocks, they present no such modifications +as can safely be considered evidence of progressive modification.</p> + +<p>Facts of this kind are undoubtedly fatal to any form of the doctrine of +evolution which postulates the supposition that there is an intrinsic +necessity, on the part of animal forms which have once come into +existence, to undergo continual modification; and they are as distinctly +opposed to any view which involves the belief, that such modification as +may occur, must take place, at the same rate, in all the different types +of animal or vegetable life. The facts, as I have placed them before you +obviously directly contradict any form of the hypothesis of evolution +which stands in need of these two postulates.</p> + +<p>But, one great service that has been rendered by Mr. Darwin to the +doctrine of evolution in general is this: he has shown that there are +two chief factors in the process of evolution: one of them is the +tendency to vary, the existence of which in all living forms may be +proved by observation; the other is the influence of surrounding +conditions upon what I may call the parent form and the variations which +are thus evolved from it. The cause of the production of variations is a +matter not at all properly understood at present. Whether variation +depends upon some intricate machinery—if I may use the phrase—of the +living organism itself, or whether it arises through the influence of +conditions upon that form, is not certain, and the question may, for the +present, be left open. But the important point is that granting the +existence of the tendency to the production of variations; then, whether +the variations which are produced shall survive and supplant the parent, +or whether the parent form shall survive and supplant the variations, is +a matter which depends entirely on those conditions which give rise to +the struggle for existence. If the surrounding conditions are such that +the parent form is more competent to deal with them, and flourish in +them than the derived forms, then, in the struggle for existence, the +parent form will maintain itself and the derived forms will be +exterminated. But if, on the contrary, the conditions are such as to be +more favourable to a derived than to the parent form, the parent form +will be extirpated and the derived form will take its place. In the +first case, there will be no progression, no change of structure, +through any imaginable series of ages; in the second place there will be +modification of change and form.</p> + +<p>Thus the existence of these persistent types, as I have termed them, is +no real obstacle in the way of the theory of evolution. Take the case of +the scorpions to which I have just referred. No doubt, since the +Carboniferous epoch, conditions have always obtained, such as existed +when the scorpions of that epoch <!-- Page 25 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25"></a>[Page 25]</span>flourished; conditions in which +scorpions find themselves better off, more competent to deal with the +difficulties in their way, than any variation from the scorpion type +which they may have produced; and, for that reason, the scorpion type +has persisted, and has not been supplanted by any other form. And there +is no reason, in the nature of things, why, as long as this world +exists, if there be conditions more favourable to scorpions than to any +variation which may arise from them, these forms of life should not +persist.</p> + +<p>Therefore, the stock objection to the hypothesis of evolution, based on +the long duration of certain animal and vegetable types, is no objection +at all. The facts of this character—and they are numerous—belong to +that class of evidence which I have called indifferent. That is to say, +they may afford no direct support to the doctrine of evolution, but they +are capable of being interpreted in perfect consistency with it.</p> + +<p>There is another order of facts belonging to the class of negative or +indifferent evidence. The great group of Lizards, which abound in the +present world, extends through the whole series of formations as far +back as the Permian, or latest Palæozoic, epoch. These Permian lizards +differ astonishingly little from the lizards which exist at the present +day. Comparing the amount of the differences between them and modern +lizards, with the prodigious lapse of time between the Permian epoch and +the present age, it may be said that the amount of change is +insignificant. But, when we carry our researches farther back in time, +we find no trace of lizards, nor of any true reptile whatever, in the +whole mass of formations beneath the Permian.</p> + +<p>Now, it is perfectly clear that if our palæontological collections are +to be taken, even approximately, as an adequate representation of all +the forms of animals and plants that have ever lived; and if the record +furnished by the known series of beds of stratified rock covers the +whole series of events which constitute the history of life on the +globe, such a fact as this directly contravenes the hypothesis of +evolution; because this hypothesis postulates that the existence of +every form must have been preceded by that of some form little different +from it. Here, however, we have to take into consideration that +important truth so well insisted upon by Lyell and by Darwin—the +imperfection of the geological record. It can be demonstrated that the +geological record must be incomplete, that it can only preserve remains +found in certain favourable localities and under particular conditions; +that it must be destroyed by processes of denudation, and obliterated by +processes of metamorphosis. Beds of rock of any thickness, crammed full +of organic remains, may yet, either by the percolation of water through +them, or by the influence of subterranean heat, lose all trace of these +remains, and present the appearance of beds of rock formed under +conditions in which living forms were absent. Such metamorphic rocks +occur in formations of all ages; and, in various cases, there are very +good grounds for the belief that they have contained organic remains, +and that those remains have been absolutely obliterated.</p> + +<p>I insist upon the defects of the geological record the more because +those who have not attended to these matters are apt to say, "It is all +very well, but, when you get into a difficulty with your theory of +evolution, you appeal to the incompleteness and the imperfection of the +geological record;" and I want to make it perfectly clear to you that +this imperfection is a great fact, which must be taken into account in +all our speculations, or we shall constantly be going wrong.</p> + +<p>You see the singular series of footmarks, drawn of its natural size in +the large diagram hanging up here (Fig. 2), which I owe to the kindness +of my friend Professor Marsh, with whom I had the opportunity recently +of visiting <!-- Page 26 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26"></a>[Page 26]</span>the precise locality in Massachusetts in which these tracks +occur. I am, therefore, able to give you my own testimony, if needed, +that the diagram accurately represents what we saw. The valley of the +Connecticut is classical ground for the geologist. It contains great +beds of sandstone, covering many square miles, which have evidently +formed a part of an ancient sea-shore, or, it may be, lake-shore. For a +certain period of time after their deposition, these beds have remained +sufficiently soft to receive the impressions of the feet of whatever +animals walked over them, and to preserve them afterwards, in exactly +the same way as such impressions are at this hour preserved on the +shores of the Bay of Fundy and elsewhere. The diagram represents the +track of some gigantic animal, which walked on its hind legs. You see +the series of marks made alternately by the right and by the left foot; +so that, from one impression to the other of the three-toed foot on the +same side, is one stride, and that stride, as we measured it, is six +feet nine inches. I leave you, therefore, to form an impression of the +magnitude of the creature which, as it walked along the ancient shore, +made these impressions.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img026.jpg" width="600" height="134" alt="FIG. 2.—TRACKS OF BRONTOZOUM." title="TRACKS OF BRONTOZOUM." /> +<br /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 2.—TRACKS OF BRONTOZOUM.</span> +</div> + +<p>Of such impressions there are untold thousands upon these sandstones. +Fifty or sixty different kinds have been discovered, and they cover vast +areas. But, up to this present time, not a bone, not a fragment, of any +one of the animals which left these great footmarks has been found; in +fact, the only animal remains which have been met with in all these +deposits, from the time of their discovery to the present day—though +they have been carefully hunted over—is a fragmentary skeleton of one +of the smaller forms. What has become of the bones of all these animals? +You see we are not dealing with little creatures, but with animals that +make a step of six feet nine inches; and their remains must have been +left somewhere. The probability is, that they have been dissolved away, +and completely lost.</p> + +<p>I have had occasion to work out the nature of fossil remains, of which +there was nothing left except casts of the bones, the solid material of +the skeleton having been dissolved out by percolating water. It was a +chance, in this case, that the sandstone happened to be of such a +constitution as to set, and to allow the bones to be afterward dissolved +out, leaving cavities of the exact shape of the bones. Had that +constitution been other than what it was, the bones would have been +dissolved, the layers of sandstone would have fallen together into one +mass, and not the slightest indication that the animal had existed would +have been discoverable.</p> + +<p>I know of no more striking evidence than these facts afford, of the +caution which should be used in drawing the conclusion, from the absence +of organic remains in a deposit, that animals or plants did not exist at +the time it was formed. I believe that, with a right understanding of +the doctrine of evolution on the one hand, and a just estimation of the +importance of the imperfection of the geological record on the other, +all difficulty is removed from the kind of evidence to which I have +adverted; and that we are justified in believing that all such cases are +examples of what I have designated negative or indifferent +evidence—that is to say, they in no way directly advance the hypothesis +of evolution, but they are not to be regarded as obstacles in the way of +our belief in that doctrine.</p> + +<p>I now pass on to the consideration of those cases which, for reasons +which <!-- Page 27 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27"></a>[Page 27]</span>I will point out to you by and by, are not to be regarded as +demonstrative of the truth of evolution, but which are such as must +exist if evolution be true, and which therefore are, upon the whole, +evidence in favour of the doctrine. If the doctrine of evolution be +true, it follows, that, however diverse the different groups of animals +and of plants may be, they must all, at one time or other, have been +connected by gradational forms; so that, from the highest animals, +whatever they may be, down to the lowest speck of protoplasmic matter in +which life can be manifested, a series of gradations, leading from one +end of the series to the other, either exists or has existed. +Undoubtedly that is a necessary postulate of the doctrine of evolution. +But when we look upon living Nature as it is, we find a totally +different state of things. We find that animals and plants fall into +groups, the different members of which are pretty closely allied +together, but which are separated by definite, larger or smaller, +breaks, from other groups. In other words, no intermediate forms which +bridge over these gaps or intervals are, at present, to be met with.</p> + +<p>To illustrate what I mean: Let me call your attention to those +vertebrate animals which are most familiar to you, such as mammals, +birds, and reptiles. At the present day, these groups of animals are +perfectly well-defined from one another. We know of no animal now living +which, in any sense, is intermediate between the mammal and the bird, or +between the bird and the reptile; but, on the contrary, there are many +very distinct anatomical peculiarities, well-defined marks, by which the +mammal is separated from the bird, and the bird from the reptile. The +distinctions are obvious and striking if you compare the definitions of +these great groups as they now exist.</p> + +<p>The same may be said of many of the subordinate groups, or orders, into +which these great classes are divided. At the present time, for example, +there are numerous forms of non-ruminant pachyderms, or what we may call +broadly, the pig tribe, and many varieties of ruminants. These latter +have their definite characteristics, and the former have their +distinguishing peculiarities. But there is nothing that fills up the gap +between the ruminants and the pig tribe. The two are distinct. Such also +is the case in respect of the minor groups of the class of reptiles. The +existing fauna shows us crocodiles, lizards, snakes, and tortoises; but +no connecting link between the crocodile and lizard, nor between the +lizard and snake, nor between the snake and the crocodile, nor between +any two of these groups. They are separated by absolute breaks. If, +then, it could be shown that this state of things had always existed, +the fact would be fatal to the doctrine of evolution. If the +intermediate gradations, which the doctrine of evolution requires to +have existed between these groups, are not to be found anywhere in the +records of the past history of the globe, their absence is a strong and +weighty negative argument against evolution; while, on the other hand, +if such intermediate forms are to be found, that is so much to the good +of evolution; although for reasons which I will lay before you by and +by, we must be cautious in our estimate of the evidential cogency of +facts of this kind.</p> + +<p>It is a very remarkable circumstance that, from the commencement of the +serious study of fossil remains, in fact from the time when Cuvier began +his brilliant researches upon those found in the quarries of Montmartre, +palæontology has shown what she was going to do in this matter, and what +kind of evidence it lay in her power to produce.</p> + +<p>I said just now that, in the existing Fauna, the group of pig-like +animals and the group of ruminants are entirely distinct; but one of the +first of Cuvier's discoveries was an animal which he called the +<i>Anoplotherium</i>, and which proved to be, in a great many important +respects, intermediate in character between the pigs on the one hand, +and <!-- Page 28 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28"></a>[Page 28]</span>the ruminants on the other Thus, research into the history of the +past did, to a certain extent, tend to fill up the breach between the +group of ruminants and the group of pigs. Another remarkable animal +restored by the great French palæontologist, the <i>Palæotherium</i>, +similarly tended to connect together animals to all appearance so +different as the rhinoceros, the horse, and the tapir. Subsequent +research has brought to light multitudes of facts of the same order; +and, at the present day, the investigations of such anatomists as +Rütimeyer and Gaudry have tended to fill up, more and more, the gaps in +our existing series of mammals, and to connect groups formerly thought +to be distinct.</p> + +<p>But I think it may have an especial interest if, instead of dealing with +these examples, which would require a great deal of tedious osteological +detail, I take the case of birds and reptiles; groups which, at the +present day, are so clearly distinguished from one another that there +are perhaps no classes of animals which, in popular apprehension, are +more completely separated. Existing birds, as you are aware, are covered +with feathers; their anterior extremities, specially and peculiarly +modified, are converted into wings, by the aid of which most of them are +able to fly; they walk upright upon two legs; and these limbs, when they +are considered anatomically, present a great number of exceedingly +remarkable peculiarities, to which I may have occasion to advert +incidentally as I go on, and which are not met with, even approximately, +in any existing forms of reptiles. On the other hand, existing reptiles +have no feathers. They may have naked skins, or be covered with horny +scales, or bony plates, or with both. They possess no wings; they +neither fly by means of their fore-limbs, nor habitually walk upright +upon their hind-limbs; and the bones of their legs present no such +modifications as we find in birds. It is impossible to imagine any two +groups more definitely and distinctly separated, notwithstanding certain +characters which they possess in common.</p> + +<p>As we trace the history of birds back in time, we find their remains, +sometimes in great abundance, throughout the whole extent of the +tertiary rocks; but, so far as our present knowledge goes, the birds of +the tertiary rocks retain the same essential characters as the birds of +the present day. In other words, the tertiary birds come within the +definition of the class constituted by existing birds, and are as much +separated from reptiles as existing birds are. Not very long ago no +remains of birds had been found below the tertiary rocks, and I am not +sure but that some persons were prepared to demonstrate that they could +not have existed at an earlier period. But, in the course of the last +few years, such remains have been discovered in England; though, +unfortunately, in so imperfect and fragmentary a condition, that it is +impossible to say whether they differed from existing birds in any +essential character or not. In your country the development of the +cretaceous series of rocks is enormous; the conditions under which the +later cretaceous strata have been deposited are highly favourable to the +preservation of organic remains; and the researches, full of labour and +risk, which have been carried on by Professor Marsh in these cretaceous +rocks of Western America, have rewarded him with the discovery of forms +of birds of which we had hitherto no conception. By his kindness, I am +enabled to place before you a restoration of one of these extraordinary +birds, every part of which can be thoroughly justified by the more or +less complete skeletons, in a very perfect state of preservation, which +he has discovered. This <i>Hesperornis</i> (Fig. 3), which measured between +five and six feet in length, is astonishingly like our existing divers +or grebes in a great many respects; so like them indeed that, had the +skeleton of <i>Hesperornis</i> been found in a museum without its skull, +improbably would have been placed in the same group of birds as the +<!-- Page 29 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29"></a>[Page 29]</span>divers and grebes of the present day.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> But <i>Hesperornis</i> differs from +all existing birds, and so far resembles reptiles, in one important +particular—it is provided with teeth. The long jaws are armed with +teeth which have curved crowns and thick roots (Fig. 4), and are not set +in distinct sockets, but are lodged in a groove. In possessing true +teeth, the <i>Hesperornis</i> differs from every existing bird, and from +every bird yet discovered in the tertiary formations, the tooth-like +serrations of the jaws in the <i>Odontopteryx</i> of the London clay being +mere processes of the bony substance of the jaws, and not teeth in the +proper sense of the word. In view of the characteristics of this bird we +are therefore obliged to modify the definitions of the classes of birds +and reptiles. Before the discovery of <i>Hesperornis</i>, the definition of +the class Aves based upon our knowledge of existing birds might have +been extended to all birds; it might have been said that the absence of +teeth was characteristic of the class of birds; but the discovery of an +animal which, in every part of its skeleton, closely agrees with +existing birds, and yet possesses teeth, shows that there were ancient +birds, which, in respect of possessing teeth, approached reptiles more +nearly than any existing bird does, and, to that extent, diminishes the +<i>hiatus</i> between the two classes.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img029.jpg" width="435" height="500" alt="FIG. 3—HESPERORNIS REGALIS (Marsh)." title="HESPERORNIS REGALIS (Marsh)." /> +<br /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 3—HESPERORNIS REGALIS (Marsh).</span> +</div> + +<p>The same formation has yielded another bird <i>Ichthyornis</i> (Fig. 5), +which also possesses teeth; but the teeth are situated in distinct +sockets, while those of <i>Hesperornis</i> are not so lodged. The latter also +has such very small, almost rudimentary wings, that it must have been +chiefly a swimmer and a diver like a Penguin; while <i>Ichthyornis</i> has +strong wings and no doubt possessed corresponding powers of flight. +<i>Ichthyornis</i> also differed in the fact that its vertebræ have not the +peculiar characters of the vertebræ of existing and of all known +tertiary birds, but were concave at each end. This discovery leads us to +make a further modification in the definition of the group of birds, and +to part with <!-- Page 30 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30"></a>[Page 30]</span>another of the characters by which almost all existing +birds are distinguished from reptiles.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img030.jpg" width="351" height="600" alt="FIG. 4.—HESPERORNIS REGALIS (Marsh). + +Side and upper views of half the lower jaw; side and end views of a +vertebra and a separate tooth." title="HESPERORNIS REGALIS (Marsh)." /> +<br /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 4.—HESPERORNIS REGALIS (Marsh). +<br /> +Side and upper views of half the lower jaw; side and end views of a +vertebra and a separate tooth.</span> +</div> + +<p>Apart from the few fragmentary remains from the English greensand, to +which I have referred, the Mesozoic rocks, older than those in which +<i>Hesperornis</i> and <i>Ichthyornis</i> have been discovered have afforded no +certain evidence of birds, with the remarkable exception of the +Solenhofen slates. These so-called slates are composed of a fine grained +calcareous mud which has hardened into lithographic stone, and in which +organic remains are almost as well preserved as they would be if they +had been imbedded in so much plaster of Paris. They have yielded the +<i>Archæopteryx</i>, the existence of which was first made known by the +finding of a fossil feather, or rather of the impression of one. It is +wonderful enough that such a perishable thing as a feather, and nothing +more, should be discovered; yet for a long time, nothing was known of +this bird except its feather. But by and by a solitary skeleton was +discovered which is now in the British Museum. The skull of this +solitary specimen is unfortunately wanting, and it is therefore +uncertain whether the <i>Archæopteryx</i> possessed teeth or not.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> +But the remainder of the skeleton is so well preserved as to leave no doubt +respecting the main features of the animal, which are very singular. The +feet are not only altogether bird-like, but have the special characters +of the feet of perching birds, while the body had a clothing of true +feathers. Nevertheless, in some other respects, <i>Archæopteryx</i> is unlike +a bird and like a reptile. There is a long tail composed of many +vertebræ. The structure of the wing differs in some very <!-- Page 31 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31"></a>[Page 31]</span>remarkable +respects from that which it presents in a true bird. In the latter, the +end of the wing answers to the thumb and two fingers of my hand; but the +metacarpal bones, or those which answer to the bones of the fingers +which lie in the palm of the hand, are fused together into one mass; and +the whole apparatus, except the last joints of the thumb, is bound up in +a sheath of integument, while the edge of the hand carries the principal +quill feathers. In the <i>Archæopteryx</i>, the upper-arm bone is like that +of a bird; and the two bones of the fore-arm are more or less like those +of a bird, but the fingers are not bound together—they are free. What +their number may have been is uncertain; but several, if not all, of +them were terminated by strong curved claws, not like such as are +sometimes found in birds, but such as reptiles possess; so that, in the +<i>Archæopteryx</i>, we have an animal which, to a certain extent, occupies a +midway place between a bird and a reptile. It is a bird so far as its +foot and sundry other parts of its skeleton are concerned; it is +essentially and thoroughly a bird by its feathers; but it is much more +properly a reptile in the fact that the region which represents the hand +has separate bones, with claws resembling those which terminate the +fore-limb of a reptile. Moreover, it had a long reptile-like tail with a +fringe of feathers on each side; while, in all true birds hitherto +known, the tail is relatively short, and the vertebræ which constitute +its skeleton are generally peculiarly modified.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img031.jpg" width="353" height="600" alt="FIG. 5.—ICHTHYORNIS DISPAR (Marsh). + +(Side and upper views of half the lower jaw; and side and end views of a +vertebra.)" + +title="ICHTHYORNIS DISPAR (Marsh)." /> +<br /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 5.—ICHTHYORNIS DISPAR (Marsh). +<br /> +(Side and upper views of half the lower jaw; and side and end views of a +vertebra.)</span> +</div> + +<p>Like the <i>Anoplotherium</i> and the <i>Palæotherium</i>, therefore, +<i>Archaopteryx</i> tends to fill up the interval between groups which, in +the existing world, are widely separated, and to destroy the value of +the definitions of zoological groups based upon our knowledge of +existing forms. And such cases as <!-- Page 32 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32"></a>[Page 32]</span>these constitute evidence in favour of +evolution, in so far as they prove that, in former periods of the +world's history, there were animals which overstepped the bounds of +existing groups, and tended to merge them into larger assemblages. They +show that animal organisation is more flexible than our knowledge of +recent forms might have led us to believe; and that many structural +permutations and combinations, of which the present world gives us no +indication, may nevertheless have existed.</p> + +<p>But it by no means follows, because the <i>Palæotherium</i> has much in +common with the horse, on the one hand, and with the rhinoceros on the +other, that it is the intermediate form through which rhinoceroses have +passed to become horses, or <i>vice versa</i>; on the contrary, any such +supposition would certainly be erroneous. Nor do I think it likely that +the transition from the reptile to the bird has been effected by such a +form as <i>Archæopteryx</i>. And it is convenient to distinguish these +intermediate forms between two groups, which do not represent the actual +passage from the one group to the other, as <i>intercalary</i> types, from +those <i>linear</i> types which, more or less approximately, indicate the +nature of the steps by which the transition from one group to the other +was effected.</p> + +<p>I conceive that such linear forms, constituting a series of natural +gradations between the reptile and the bird, and enabling us to +understand the manner in which the reptilian has been metamorphosed into +the bird type, are really to be found among a group of ancient and +extinct terrestrial reptiles known as the <i>Ornithoscelida</i>. The remains +of these animals occur throughout the series of Mesozoic formations, +from the Trias to the Chalk, and there are indications of their +existence even in the later Palæozoic strata.</p> + +<p>Most of these reptiles, at present known, are of great size, some having +attained a length of forty feet or perhaps more. The majority resembled +lizards and crocodiles in their general form, and many of them were, +like crocodiles, protected by an armour of heavy bony plates. But, in +others, the hind-limbs elongate and the fore-limbs shorten, until their +relative proportions approach those which are observed in the +short-winged, flightless, ostrich tribe among birds.</p> + +<p>The skull is relatively light, and in some cases the jaws, though +bearing teeth, are beak-like at their extremities and appear to have +been enveloped in a horny sheath. In the part of the vertebral column +which lies between the haunch bones and is called the sacrum, a number +of vertebræ may unite together into one whole, and in this respect, as +in some details of its structure, the sacrum of these reptiles +approaches that of birds.</p> + +<p>But it is in the structure of the pelvis and of the hind limb that some +of these ancient reptiles present the most remarkable approximation to +birds, and clearly indicate the way by which the most specialised and +characteristic features of the bird may have been evolved from the +corresponding parts in the reptile.</p> + +<p>In Fig. 6, the pelvis and hind-limbs of a crocodile, a three-toed bird, +and an ornithoscelidan are represented side by side; and, for facility +of comparison, in corresponding positions; but it must be recollected +that, while the position of the bird's limb is natural, that of the +crocodile is not so. In the bird, the thigh-bone lies close to the body, +and the metatarsal bones of the foot (ii., iii., iv., Fig. 6) are, +ordinarily, raised into a more or less vertical position; in the +crocodile, the thigh-bone stands out at an angle from the body, and the +metatarsal bones (i., ii., iii., iv., Fig. 6) lie flat on the ground. +Hence, in the crocodile, the body usually lies squat between the legs, +while, in the bird, it is raised upon the hind legs, as upon pillars.</p> + +<p>In the crocodile, the pelvis is obviously composed of three bones on +<!-- Page 33 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33"></a>[Page 33]</span>each side: the ilium (<i>Il.</i>), the pubis (<i>Pb.</i>), and the ischium +(<i>Is.</i>). In the adult bird there appears to be but one bone on each +side. The examination of the pelvis of a chick, however, shows that +each half is made up of three bones, which answer to those which remain +distinct throughout life in the crocodile. There is, therefore, a +fundamental identity of plan in the construction of the pelvis of both +bird and reptile; though the difference in form, relative size, and +direction of the corresponding bones in the two cases are very great.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img033.jpg" width="650" height="494" +alt="FIG. 6.—BIRD. ORNITHOSCELIDAN. CROCODILE. + +(The letters have the same signification in all the figures. Il., +Ilium; a, anterior end; b, posterior end Is., ischium; Pb., +pubis; T, tibia; F, fibula; As., astragalus; Ca., calcaneum; +i, distal portion of the tarsus; i., ii., iii., iv., metatarsal +bones.)" title="Diagram: BIRD. ORNITHOSCELIDAN. CROCODILE." /> +</div> + +<p>But the most striking contrast between the two lies in the bones of the +leg and of that part of the foot termed the tarsus, which follows upon +the leg. In the crocodile, the fibula <i>(F)</i> is relatively large and its +lower end is complete. The tibia <i>(T)</i> has no marked crest at its upper +end, and its lower end is narrow and not pulley-shaped. There are two +rows of separate tarsal bones <i>(As., Ca., &c.)</i> and four distinct +metatarsal bones, with a rudiment of a fifth.</p> + +<p>In the bird the fibula is small and its lower end diminishes to a point. +The tibia has a strong crest at its upper end and its lower extremity +passes into a broad pulley. There seem at first to be no tarsal bones; +and only one bone, divided at the end into three heads for the three +toes which are attached to it, appears in the place of the metatarsus.</p> + +<p>In a young bird, however, the pulley-shaped apparent end of the tibia is +a distinct bone, which represents the bones marked <i>As., Ca.</i>, in the +crocodile; while the apparently single metatarsal bone consists of three +bones, which early unite with one another and with an additional bone, +which represents the lower row of bones in the tarsus of the crocodile.</p> + +<p>In other words it can be shown by the study of development that the +bird's pelvis and hind limb are simply extreme modifications of the same +fundamental plan as that upon which these parts are modelled in +reptiles.</p> + +<p>On comparing the pelvis and hind limb of the ornithoscelidan with that +of the crocodile, on the one side, and that <!-- Page 34 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34"></a>[Page 34]</span>of the bird, on the other +(Fig. 6), it is obvious that it represents a middle term between the +two. The pelvic bones approach the form of those of the birds, and the +direction of the pubis and ischium is nearly that which is +characteristic of birds; the thigh bone, from the direction of its head, +must have lain close to the body; the tibia has a great crest; and, +immovably fitted on to its lower end, there is a pulley-shaped bone, +like that of the bird, but remaining distinct. The lower end of the +fibula is much more slender, proportionally, than in the crocodile. The +metatarsal bones have such a form that they fit together immovably, +though they do not enter into bony union; the third toe is, as in the +bird, longest and strongest. In fact, the ornithoscelidan limb is +comparable to that of an unhatched chick.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img034.jpg" width="348" height="450" +alt="FIG. 7.—RESTORATION OF COMPSOGNATHUS LONGIPES." +title="RESTORATION OF COMPSOGNATHUS LONGIPES." /> +<br /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 7.—RESTORATION OF COMPSOGNATHUS LONGIPES.</span> +</div> + +<p>Taking all these facts together, it is obvious that the view, which was +entertained by Mantell and the probability of which was demonstrated by +your own distinguished anatomist, Leidy, while much additional evidence +in the same direction has been furnished by Professor Cope, that some of +these animals may have walked upon their hind legs, as birds do, +acquires great weight. In fact, there can be no reasonable doubt that +one of the smaller forms of the <i>Ornithoscelida, Compsognathus</i>, the +almost entire skeleton of which has been discovered in the Solenhofen +slates, was a bipedal animal. The parts of this skeleton are somewhat +twisted out of their natural relations, but the accompanying figure +gives a just view of the general form of <i>Compsognathus</i> and of the +proportions of its limbs; which, in some respects, are more completely +bird-like than those of other <i>Ornithoscelida</i>.</p> + +<p>We have had to stretch the definition of the class of birds so as to +include birds with teeth and birds with paw-like fore-limbs and long +tails. There is no evidence that <i>Compsognathus</i> possessed feathers; +but, if it did, it would be hard indeed to say whether it should be +called a reptilian bird or an avian reptile.</p> + +<p>As <i>Compsognathus</i> walked upon its hind legs, it must have made tracks +like those of birds. And as the structure of the limbs of several of the +gigantic <i>Ornithoscelida</i>, such as <i>Iguandon</i>, leads to the conclusion +that they also may have constantly, or occasionally, assumed the same +attitude, a peculiar interest attaches to the fact that, in the Wealden +strata of England, there are to be found gigantic footsteps, arranged in +order like those of the <i>Brontozoum</i>, and which there can be no +reasonable doubt were made by some of the <i>Ornithoscelida</i>, the remains +of which are found in the same rocks. And, knowing that reptiles that +walked upon their hind legs and shared many of the anatomical characters +of birds did once exist, it becomes a very important question whether +the tracks in the Trias of Massachusetts, to which I referred some time +ago, and which formerly used to be unhesitatingly ascribed to birds may +not all have been made by Ornithoscelidan reptiles; and whether, if we +could obtain the skeletons of the animals which made these tracks, we +should not find in them the actual steps of the evolutional <!-- Page 35 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35"></a>[Page 35]</span>process by +which reptiles gave rise to birds.</p> + +<p>The evidential value of the facts I have brought forward in this Lecture +must be neither over nor under estimated. It is not historical proof of +the occurrence of the evolution of birds from reptiles, for we have no +safe ground for assuming that true birds had not made their appearance +at the commencement of the Mesozoic epoch. It is in fact, quite possible +that all these more or less aviform reptiles of the Mesozoic epoch are +not terms in the series of progression from birds to reptiles at all, +but simply the more or less modified descendants of Palæozoic forms +through which that transition was actually effected.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img035.jpg" width="331" height="450" alt="FIG. 8.—PTERODACTYLUS SPECTABILIS (Von Meyer)." title="PTERODACTYLUS SPECTABILIS (Von Meyer)." /> +<br /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 8.—PTERODACTYLUS SPECTABILIS (Von Meyer).</span> +</div> + +<p>We are not in a position to say that the known <i>Ornithoscelida</i> are +intermediate in the order of their appearance on the earth between +reptiles and birds. All that can be said is that, if independent +evidence of the actual occurrence of evolution is producible, then these +intercalary forms remove every difficulty in the way of understanding +what the actual steps of the process, in the case of birds, may have +been.</p> + +<p>That intercalary forms should have existed in ancient times is a +necessary consequence of the truth of the hypothesis of evolution; and, +hence, the evidence I have laid before you in proof of the existence of +such forms, is, so far as it goes, in favour of that hypothesis.</p> + +<p>There is another series of extinct reptiles which may be said to be +intercalary between reptiles and birds, in so far as they combine some +of the characters of these groups; and which, as they possessed the +power of flight, may seem, at first sight, to be nearer representatives +of the forms by which the transition from the reptile to the bird was +effected, than the <i>Ornithoscelida</i>.</p> + +<p>These are the <i>Pterosauria</i>, or Pterodactyles, the remains of which are +met with throughout the series of Mesozoic rocks, from the lias to the +chalk, and some of which attain a great size, their wings having a span +of eighteen or twenty feet. These animals, in the form and proportions +of the head and neck relatively to the body, and in the fact that the +ends of the jaws were often, if not always, more or less extensively +ensheathed in horny beaks, remind us of birds. Moreover, their bones +contained air cavities, rendering <!-- Page 36 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36"></a>[Page 36]</span>them specifically lighter, as is the +case in most birds. The breast-bone was large and keeled, as in most +birds and in bats, and the shoulder girdle is strikingly similar to that +of ordinary birds. But it seems to me that the special resemblance of +pterodactyles to birds ends here, unless I may add the entire absence of +teeth which characterises the great pterodactyles (<i>Pteranodon</i>) +discovered by Professor Marsh. All other known pterodactyles have teeth +lodged in sockets. In the vertebral column and the hind-limbs there are +no special resemblances to birds, and when we turn to the wings they are +found to be constructed on a totally different principle from those of +birds.</p> + +<p>There are four fingers. These four fingers are large, and three of them, +those which answer to the thumb and two following fingers in my +hand—are terminated by claws, while the fourth is enormously prolonged +and converted into a great jointed style. You see at once, from what I +have stated about a bird's wing, that there could be nothing less like a +bird's wing than this is. It was concluded by general reasoning that +this finger had the office of supporting a web which extended between it +and the body. An existing specimen proves that such was really the case, +and that the pterodactyles were devoid of feathers, but that the fingers +supported a vast web like that of a bat's wing; in fact, there can be no +doubt that this ancient reptile flew after the fashion of a bat.</p> + +<p>Thus, though the pterodactyle is a reptile which has become modified in +such a manner as to enable it to fly, and therefore, as might be +expected, presents some points of resemblance to other animals which +fly; it has, so to speak, gone off the line which leads directly from +reptiles to birds, and has become disqualified for the changes which +lead to the characteristic organisation of the latter class. Therefore, +viewed in relation to the classes of reptiles and birds, the +pterodactyles appear to me to be, in a limited sense, intercalary forms; +but they are not even approximately linear, in the sense of exemplifying +those modifications of structure through which the passage from the +reptile to the bird took place.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="III" id="III"></a><b>III</b></h2> + +<h2>THE DEMONSTRATIVE EVIDENCE OF EVOLUTION</h2> + + +<p>The occurrence of historical facts is said to be demonstrated, when the +evidence that they happened is of such a character as to render the +assumption that they did not happen in the highest degree improbable; +and the question I now have to deal with is, whether evidence in favour +of the evolution of animals of this degree of cogency is, or is not, +obtainable from the record of the succession of living forms which is +presented to us by fossil remains.</p> + +<p>Those who have attended to the progress of palæontology are aware that +evidence of the character which I have defined has been produced in +considerable and continually-increasing quantity during the last few +years. Indeed, the amount and the satisfactory nature of that evidence +are somewhat surprising, when we consider the conditions under which +alone we can hope to obtain it.</p> + +<p>It is obviously useless to seek for such evidence except in localities +in which the physical conditions have been such as to permit of the +deposit of an unbroken, or but rarely interrupted, series of strata +through a long period of time in which the group of animals to be +investigated has existed in such abundance as to furnish the requisite +supply of remains; and in which, finally, the materials composing the +strata are such as to ensure the preservation of these remains in a +tolerably perfect and undisturbed state.</p> + +<p>It so happens that the case which, at present, most nearly fulfils all +these conditions is that of the series of extinct animals which +culminates in the horses, by which term I mean to denote not merely the +domestic animals with which <!-- Page 37 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37"></a>[Page 37]</span>we are all so well acquainted, but their +allies, the ass, zebra, quagga, and the like. In short, I use "horses" +as the equivalent of the technical name <i>Equidæ</i>, which is applied to +the whole group of existing equine animals.</p> + +<p>The horse is in many ways a remarkable animal; not least so in the fact +that it presents us with an example of one of the most perfect pieces of +machinery in the living world. In truth, among the works of human +ingenuity it cannot be said that there is any locomotive so perfectly +adapted to its purposes, doing so much work with so small a quantity of +fuel, as this machine of Nature's manufacture—the horse. And, as a +necessary consequence of any sort of perfection, of mechanical +perfection as of others, you find that the horse is a beautiful +creature, one of the most beautiful of all land animals. Look at the +perfect balance of its form, and the rhythm and force of its action. The +locomotive machinery is, as you are aware, resident in its slender fore +and hind limbs; they are flexible and elastic levers, capable of being +moved by very powerful muscles; and, in order to supply the engines +which work these levers with the force which they expend, the horse is +provided with a very perfect apparatus for grinding its food and +extracting therefrom the requisite fuel.</p> + +<p>Without attempting to take you very far into the region of osteological +detail, I must nevertheless trouble you with some statements respecting +the anatomical structure of the horse; and, more especially, will it be +needful to obtain a general conception of the structure of its fore and +hind limbs, and of its teeth. But I shall only touch upon those points +which are absolutely essential to our inquiry.</p> + +<p>Let us turn in the first place to the fore-limb. In most quadrupeds, as +in ourselves, the fore-arm contains distinct bones called the radius and +the ulna. The corresponding region in the horse seems at first to +possess but one bone. Careful observation, however, enables us to +distinguish in this bone a part which clearly answers to the upper end +of the ulna. This is closely united with the chief mass of the bone +which represents the radius, and runs out into a slender shaft which may +be traced for some distance downwards upon the back of the radius, and +then in most cases thins out and vanishes. It takes still more trouble +to make sure of what is nevertheless the fact, that a small part of the +lower end of the bone of the horse's fore-arm, which is only distinct in +a very young foal, is really the lower extremity of the ulna.</p> + +<p>What is commonly called the knee of a horse is its wrist. The "cannon +bone" answers to the middle bone of the five metacarpal bones, which +support the palm of the hand in ourselves. The "pastern," "coronary," +and "coffin" bones of veterinarians answer to the joints of our middle +fingers, while the hoof is simply a greatly enlarged and thickened nail. +But if what lies below the horse's "knee" thus corresponds to the middle +finger in ourselves, what has become of the four other fingers or +digits? We find in the places of the second and fourth digits only two +slender splint-like bones, about two-thirds as long as the cannon-bone, +which gradually taper to their lower ends and bear no finger joints, or, +as they are termed, phalanges. Sometimes, small bony or gristly nodules +are to be found at the bases of these two metacarpal splints, and it is +probable that these represent rudiments of the first and fifth toes. +Thus, the part of the horse's skeleton which corresponds with that of +the human hand contains one overgrown middle digit, and at least two +imperfect lateral digits; and these answer, respectively, to the third, +the second, and the fourth fingers in man.</p> + +<p>Corresponding modifications are found in the hind limb. In ourselves, +and in most quadrupeds, the leg contains two distinct bones, a large +bone, the tibia, and a smaller and more slender bone, the fibula. But in +the horse, the fibula <!-- Page 38 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38"></a>[Page 38]</span>seems, at first, to be reduced to its upper end; a +short slender bone united with the tibia, and ending in a point below, +occupying its place. Examination of the lower end of a young foal's +shin-bone, however, shows a distinct portion of osseous matter, which +is the lower end of the fibula; so that the apparently single lower end +of the shin-bone is really made up of the coalesced ends of the tibia +and fibula, just as the apparently single lower end of the fore-arm bone +is composed of the coalesced radius and ulna.</p> + +<p>The heel of the horse is the part commonly known as the hock. The hinder +cannon-bone answers to the middle metatarsal bone of the human foot, the +pastern, coronary, and coffin bones, to the middle toe bones; the hind +hoof to the nail, as in the fore-foot. And, as in the fore-foot, there +are merely two splints to represent the second and the fourth toes. +Sometimes a rudiment of a fifth toe appears to be traceable.</p> + +<p>The teeth of a horse are not less peculiar than its limbs. The living +engine, like all others, must be well stoked if it is to do its work; +and the horse, if it is to make good its wear and tear, and to exert the +enormous amount of force required for its propulsion, must be well and +rapidly fed. To this end, good cutting instruments and powerful and +lasting crushers are needful. Accordingly, the twelve cutting teeth of a +horse are close-set and concentrated in the fore-part of its mouth, like +so many adzes or chisels. The grinders or molars are large, and have an +extremely complicated structure, being composed of a number of different +substances of unequal hardness. The consequence of this is that they +wear away at different rates; and, hence, the surface of each grinder is +always as uneven as that of a good millstone.</p> + +<p>I have said that the structure of the grinding teeth is very +complicated, the harder and the softer parts being, as it were, +interlaced with one another. The result of this is that, as the tooth +wears, the crown presents a peculiar pattern, the nature of which is not +very easily deciphered at first; but which it is important we should +understand clearly. Each grinding tooth of the upper jaw has an <i>outer +wall</i> so shaped that, on the worn crown, it exhibits the form of two +crescents, one in front and one behind, with their concave sides turned +outwards. From the inner side of the front crescent, a crescentic <i>front +ridge</i> passes inwards and backwards, and its inner face enlarges into a +strong longitudinal fold or <i>pillar</i>. From the front part of the hinder +crescent, a <i>back ridge</i> takes a like direction, and also has its +<i>pillar</i>.</p> + +<p>The deep interspaces or <i>valleys</i> between these ridges and the outer +wall are filled by bony substance, which is called <i>cement</i>, and coats +the whole tooth.</p> + +<p>The pattern of the worn face of each grinding tooth of the lower jaw is +quite different. It appears to be formed of two crescent-shaped ridges, +the convexities of which are turned outwards. The free extremity of each +crescent has a <i>pillar</i>, and there is a large double <i>pillar</i> where the +two crescents meet; The whole structure is, as it were, imbedded in +cement, which fills up the valleys, as in the upper grinders.</p> + +<p>If the grinding faces of an upper and of a lower molar of the same side +are applied together, it will be seen that the apposed ridges are +nowhere parallel, but that they frequently cross; and that thus, in the +act of mastication, a hard surface in the one is constantly applied to a +soft surface in the other, and <i>vice versa</i>. They thus constitute a +grinding apparatus of great efficiency, and one which is repaired as +fast as it wears, owing to the long-continued growth of the teeth.</p> + +<p>Some other peculiarities of the dentition of the horse must be noticed, +as they bear upon what I shall have to say by and by. Thus the crowns of +the cutting teeth have a peculiar deep pit, which gives rise to the +well-known "mark" of the horse. There is a large <!-- Page 39 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39"></a>[Page 39]</span>space between the outer +incisors and the front grinder. In this space the adult male horse +presents, near the incisors on each side, above and below, a canine or +"tush," which is commonly absent in mares. In a young horse, moreover, +there is not unfrequently to be seen in front of the first grinder, a +very small tooth, which soon falls out. If this small tooth be counted +as one, it will be found that there are seven teeth behind the canine on +each side; namely, the small tooth in question, and the six great +grinders, among which, by an unusual peculiarity, the foremost tooth is +rather larger than those which follow it.</p> + +<p>I have now enumerated those characteristic structures of the horse which +are of most importance for the purpose we have in view.</p> + +<p>To any one who is acquainted with the morphology of vertebrated animals, +they show that the horse deviates widely from the general structure of +mammals; and that the horse type is, in many respects, an extreme +modification of the general mammalian plan. The least modified mammals, +in fact, have the radius and ulna, the tibia and fibula, distinct and +separate. They have five distinct and complete digits on each foot, and +no one of these digits is very much larger than the rest. Moreover, in +the least modified mammals, the total number of the teeth is very +generally forty-four, while in horses, the usual number is forty, and in +the absence of the canines, it may be reduced to thirty-six; the incisor +teeth are devoid of the fold seen in those of the horse: the grinders +regularly diminish in size from the middle of the series to its front +end; while their crowns are short, early attain their full length, and +exhibit simple ridges or tubercles, in place of the complex foldings of +the horse's grinders.</p> + +<p>Hence the general principles of the hypothesis of evolution lead to the +conclusion that the horse must have been derived from some quadruped +which possessed five complete digits on each foot; which had the bones +of the fore-arm and of the leg complete and separate; and which +possessed forty-four teeth, among which the crowns of the incisors and +grinders had a simple structure; while the latter gradually increased in +size from before backwards, at any rate in the anterior part of the +series, and had short crowns.</p> + +<p>And if the horse has been thus evolved, and the remains of the different +stages of its evolution have been preserved, they ought to present us +with a series of forms in which the number of the digits becomes +reduced; the bones of the fore-arm and leg gradually take on the equine +condition; and the form and arrangement of the teeth successively +approximate to those which obtain in existing horses.</p> + +<p>Let us turn to the facts, and see how far they fulfil these requirements +of the doctrine of evolution.</p> + +<p>In Europe abundant remains of horses are found in the Quaternary and +later Tertiary strata as far as the Pliocene formation. But these +horses, which are so common in the cave-deposits and in the gravels of +Europe, are in all essential respects like existing horses. And that is +true of all the horses of the latter part of the Pliocene epoch. But, in +deposits which belong to the earlier Pliocene and later Miocene epochs, +and which occur in Britain, in France, in Germany, in Greece, in India, +we find animals which are extremely like horses—which, in fact, are so +similar to horses, that you may follow descriptions given in works upon +the anatomy of the horse upon the skeletons of these animals—but which +differ in some important particulars. For example, the structure of +their fore and hind limbs is somewhat different. The bones which, in the +horse, are represented by two splints, imperfect below, are as long as +the middle metacarpal and metatarsal bones; and, attached to the +extremity of each, is a digit with three joints of the same general +character as those of the middle digit, only very much smaller. These +small digits are so disposed that they could have had <!-- Page 40 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40"></a>[Page 40]</span>but very little +functional importance, and they must have been rather of the nature of +the dew-claws, such as are to be found in many ruminant animals. The +<i>Hipparion</i>, as the extinct European three-toed horse is called, in +fact, presents a foot similar to that of the American <i>Protohippus</i> +(Fig. 9), except that, in the <i>Hipparion</i>, the smaller digits are +situated farther back, and are of smaller proportional size, than in the +<i>Protohippus</i>.</p> + +<p>The ulna is slightly more distinct than in the horse; and the whole +length of it, as a very slender shaft, intimately united with the +radius, is completely traceable. The fibula appears to be in the same +condition as in the horse. The teeth of the <i>Hipparion</i> are essentially +similar to those of the horse, but the pattern of the grinders is in +some respects a little more complex, and there is a depression on the +face of the skull in front of the orbit, which is not seen in existing +horses.</p> + +<p>In the earlier Miocene, and perhaps the later Eocene deposits of some +parts of Europe, another extinct animal has been discovered, which +Cuvier, who first described some fragments of it, considered to be a +<i>Palæotherium</i>. But as further discoveries threw new light upon its +structure, it was recognised as a distinct genus, under the name of +<i>Anchitherium</i>.</p> + +<p>In its general characters, the skeleton of <i>Anchitherium</i> is very +similar to that of the horse. In fact, Lartet and De Blainville called +it <i>Palæotherium equinum</i> or <i>hippoides</i>; and De Christol, in 1847, said +that it differed from <i>Hipparion</i> in little more than the characters of +its teeth, and gave it the name of <i>Hipparitherium</i>. Each foot possesses +three complete toes; while the lateral toes are much larger in +proportion to the middle toe than in <i>Hipparion</i>, and doubtless rested +on the ground in ordinary locomotion.</p> + +<p>The ulna is complete and quite distinct from the radius, though firmly +united with the latter. The fibula seems also to have been complete. Its +lower end, though intimately united with that of the tibia, is clearly +marked off from the latter bone.</p> + +<p>There are forty-four teeth. The incisors have no strong pit. The canines +seem to have been well developed in both sexes. The first of the seven +grinders, which, as I have said, is frequently absent, and, when it does +exist, is small in the horse, is a good-sized and permanent tooth, while +the grinder which follows it is but little larger than the hinder ones. +The crowns of the grinders are short, and though the fundamental pattern +of the horse-tooth is discernible, the front and back ridges are less +curved, the accessory pillars are wanting, and the valleys, much +shallower, are not filled up with cement.</p> + +<p>Seven years ago, when I happened to be looking critically into the +bearing of palæontological facts upon the doctrine of evolution, it +appeared to me that the <i>Anchitherium</i>, the <i>Hipparion</i>, and the modern +horses, constitute a series in which the modifications of structure +coincide with the order of chronological occurrence, in the manner in +which they must coincide, if the modern horses really are the result of +the gradual metamorphosis, in the course of the Tertiary epoch, of a +less specialised ancestral form. And I found by correspondence with the +late eminent French anatomist and palæontologist, M. Lartet, that he had +arrived at the same conclusion from the same data.</p> + +<p>That the <i>Anchitherium</i> type had become metamorphosed into the +<i>Hipparion</i> type, and the latter into the <i>Equine</i> type, in the course +of that period of time which is represented by the latter half of the +Tertiary deposits, seemed to me to be the only explanation of the facts +for which there was even a shadow of probability.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p> +<p><!-- Page 41 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41"></a>[Page 41]</span></p> +<p>And, hence, I have ever since held that these facts afford evidence of +the occurrence of evolution, which, in the sense already defined, may be +termed demonstrative.</p> + +<p>All who have occupied themselves with the structure of <i>Anchitherium</i>, +from Cuvier onwards, have acknowledged its many points of likeness to a +well-known genus of extinct Eocene mammals, <i>Palæotherium</i>. Indeed, as +we have seen, Cuvier regarded his remains of <i>Anchitherium</i> as those of +a species of <i>Palæotherium</i>. Hence, in attempting to trace the pedigree +of the horse beyond the Miocene epoch and the Anchitheroid form, I +naturally sought among the various species of Palæotheroid animals for +its nearest ally, and I was led to conclude that the <i>Palæotherium +minus</i> (<i>Plagiolophus</i>) represented the next step more nearly than any +form then known.</p> + +<p>I think that this opinion was fully justifiable; but the progress of +investigation has thrown an unexpected light on the question, and has +brought us much nearer than could have been anticipated to a knowledge +of the true series of the progenitors of the horse.</p> + +<p>You are all aware that, when your country was first discovered by +Europeans, there were no traces of the existence of the horse in any +part of the American continent. The accounts of the conquest of Mexico +dwell upon the astonishment of the natives of that country when they +first became acquainted with that astounding phenomenon—a man seated +upon a horse. Nevertheless, the investigations of American geologists +have proved that the remains of horses occur in the most superficial +deposits of both North and South America, just as they do in Europe. +Therefore, for some reason or other—no feasible suggestion on that +subject, so far as I know, has been made—the horse must have died out +on this continent at some period preceding the discovery of America. Of +late years there has been discovered in your Western Territories that +marvellous accumulation of deposits, admirably adapted for the +preservation of organic remains, to which I referred the other evening, +and which furnishes us with a consecutive series of records of the fauna +of the older half of the Tertiary epoch, for which we have no parallel +in Europe. They have yielded fossils in an excellent state of +conservation and in unexampled number and variety. The researches of +Leidy and others have shown that forms allied to the <i>Hipparion</i> and the +<i>Anchitherium</i> are to be found among these remains. But it is only +recently that the admirably conceived and most thoroughly and patiently +worked-out investigations of Professor Marsh have given us a just idea +of the vast fossil wealth, and of the scientific importance, of these +deposits. I have had the advantage of glancing over the collections in +Yale Museum; and I can truly say that, so far as my knowledge extends, +there is no collection from any one region and series of strata +comparable, for extent, or for the care with which the remains have been +got together, or for their scientific importance, to the series of +fossils which he has deposited there. This vast collection has yielded +evidence bearing upon the question of the pedigree of the horse of the +most striking character. It tends to show that we must look to America, +rather than to Europe, for the original seat of the equine series; and +that the archaic forms and successive modifications of the horse's +ancestry are far better preserved here than in Europe.</p> + +<p>Professor Marsh's kindness has enabled me to put before you a diagram, +every figure in which is an actual representation of some specimen which +is to be seen at Yale at this present time (Fig. 9).</p> + +<p>The succession of forms which he has brought together carries us from +the top to the bottom of the Tertiaries. Firstly, there is the true +horse. Next we have the American Pliocene form of the horse +<!-- Page 42 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42"></a>[Page 42]</span>(<i>Pliohippus</i>); in the conformation of its limbs it presents some very +slight deviations from the ordinary horse, and the crowns of the +grinding teeth are shorter. Then comes the <i>Protohippus</i>, which +represents the European <i>Hipparion</i>, having one large digit and two +small ones on each foot, and the general characters of the fore-arm and +leg to which I have referred. But it is more valuable than the European +<i>Hipparion</i>, for the reason that it is devoid of some of the +peculiarities of that form—peculiarities which tend to show that the +European <i>Hipparion</i> is rather a member of a collateral branch, than a +form in the direct line of succession. Next, in the backward order in +time, is the <i>Miohippus</i>, which corresponds <!-- Page 43 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43"></a>[Page 43]</span>pretty nearly with the +<i>Anchitherium</i> of Europe. It presents three complete toes—one large +median and two smaller lateral ones; and there is a rudiment of that +digit, which answers to the little finger of the human hand.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img042.jpg" width="486" height="700" alt="FIG. 9." title="" /> +<br /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 9.</span> +</div> + +<p>The European record of the pedigree of the horse stops here; in the +American Tertiaries, on the contrary, the series of ancestral equine +forms is continued into the Eocene formations. An older Miocene form, +termed <i>Mesohippus</i>, has three toes in front, with a large splint-like +rudiment representing the little finger; and three toes behind. The +radius and ulna, the tibia and the fibula, are distinct, and the short +crowned molar teeth are anchitherold in pattern.</p> + +<p>But the most important discovery of all is the <i>Orohippus</i>, which comes +from the Eocene formation, and is the oldest member of the equine series +as yet known. Here we find four complete toes on the front limb, three +toes on the hind-limb, a well-developed ulna, a well-developed fibula, +and short-crowned grinders of simple pattern.</p> + +<p>Thus, thanks to these important researches, it has become evident that, +so far as our present knowledge extends, the history of the horse-type +is exactly and precisely that which could have been predicted from a +knowledge of the principles of evolution. And the knowledge we now +possess justifies us completely in the anticipation, that when the still +lower Eocene deposits, and those which belong to the cretaceous epoch, +have yielded up their remains of ancestral equine animals, we shall +find, first, a form with four complete toes and a rudiment of the +innermost or first digit in front, with probably a rudiment of the fifth +digit in the hind foot;<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> while, in still older forms, the series of +the digits will be more and more complete, until we come to the +five-toed animals, in which, if the doctrine of evolution is well +founded, the whole series must have taken its orgin.</p> + +<p>That is what I mean by demonstrative evidence of evolution. An inductive +hypothesis is said to be demonstrated when the facts are shown to be in +entire accordance with it. If that is not scientific proof, there are no +merely inductive conclusions which can be said to be proved. And the +doctrine of evolution, at the present time, rests upon exactly as secure +a foundation as the Copernican theory of the motions of the heavenly +bodies did at the time of its promulgation. Its logical basis is +precisely of the same character—the coincidence of the observed facts +with theoretical requirements.</p> + +<p>The only way of escape, if it be a way of escape, from the conclusions +which I have just indicated, is the supposition that all these different +equine forms have been created separately at separate epochs of time; +and, I repeat, that of such an hypothesis as this there neither is, nor +can be, any scientific evidence; and, assuredly so far as I know, there +is none which is supported, or pretends to be supported, by evidence or +authority of any other kind. I can but think that the time will come +when such suggestions as these, such obvious attempts to escape the +force of demonstration, will be put upon the same footing as the +supposition made by some writers, who are I believe not completely +extinct at present, that fossils are mere simulacra, are no indications +of the former existence of the animals to which they seem to belong; but +that they are either sports of Nature, or special creations, +intended—as I heard suggested the other day—to test our faith.</p> + +<p>In fact, the whole evidence is in favour of evolution, and there is none +against it. And I say this, although perfectly well aware of the seeming +difficulties which have been built up upon what appears to the +uninformed to be a solid foundation. I meet constantly <!-- Page 44 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44"></a>[Page 44]</span>with the argument +that the doctrine of evolution cannot be well founded, because it +requires the lapse of a very vast period of time; while the duration of +life upon the earth thus implied is inconsistent with the conclusions +arrived at by the astronomer and the physicist. I may venture to say +that I am familiar with those conclusions, inasmuch as some years ago, +when President of the Geological Society of London, I took the liberty +of criticising them, and of showing in what respects, as it appeared to +me, they lacked complete and thorough demonstration. But, putting that +point aside, suppose that, as the astronomers, or some of them, and some +physical philosophers, tell us, it is impossible that life could have +endured upon the earth for as long a period as is required by the +doctrine of evolution—supposing that to be proved—I desire to be +informed, what is the foundation for the statement that evolution does +require so great a time? The biologist knows nothing whatever of the +amount of time which may be required for the process of evolution. It is +a matter of fact that the equine forms which I have described to you +occur, in the order stated, in the Tertiary formations. But I have not +the slightest means of guessing whether it took a million of years, or +ten millions, or a hundred millions, or a thousand millions of years, to +give rise to that series of changes. A biologist has no means of +arriving at any conclusion as to the amount of time which may be needed +for a certain quantity of organic change. He takes his time from the +geologist. The geologist, considering the rate at which deposits are +formed and the rate at which denudation goes on upon the surface of the +earth, arrives at more or less justifiable conclusions as to the time +which is required for the deposit of a certain thickness of rocks; and +if he tells me that the Tertiary formations required 500,000,000 years +for their deposit, I suppose he has good ground for what he says, and I +take that as a measure of the duration of the evolution of the horse +from the <i>Orohippus</i> up to its present condition. And, if he is right, +undoubtedly evolution is a very slow process and requires a great deal +of time. But suppose, now, that an astronomer or a physicist—for +instance, my friend Sir William Thomson—tells me that my geological +authority is quite wrong; and that he has weighty evidence to show that +life could not possibly have existed upon the surface of the earth +500,000,000 years ago, because the earth would have then been too hot to +allow of life, my reply is: "That is not my affair; settle that with the +geologist, and when you have come to an agreement among yourselves I +will adopt your conclusion." We take our time from the geologists and +physicists; and it is monstrous that having taken our time from the +physical philosopher's clock, the physical philosopher should turn round +upon us, and say we are too fast or too slow. What we desire to know is, +is it a fact that evolution took place? As to the amount of time which +evolution may have occupied, we are in the hands of the physicist and +the astronomer, whose business it is to deal with those questions.</p> + +<p>I have now, ladies and gentlemen, arrived at the conclusion of the task +which I set before myself when I undertook to deliver these lectures. My +purpose has been, not to enable those among you who have paid no +attention to these subjects before, to leave this room in a condition to +decide upon the validity or the invalidity of the hypothesis of +evolution; but I have desired to put before you the principles upon +which all hypotheses respecting the history of Nature must be judged; +and furthermore, to make apparent the nature of the evidence and the +amount of cogency which is to be expected and may be obtained from it. +To this end, I have not hesitated to regard you as genuine students and +persons desirous of knowing the truth. I have not shrunk from taking you +through long discussions, that I fear may have sometimed <!-- Page 45 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45"></a>[Page 45]</span>tried your +patience; and I have inflicted upon you details which were +indispensable, but which may well have been wearisome. But I shall +rejoice—I shall consider that I have done you the greatest service +which it was in my power to do—if I have thus convinced you that the +great question which we have been discussing is not one to be dealt with +by rhetorical flourishes, or by loose and superficial talk; but that it +requires the keen attention of the trained intellect and the patience of +the accurate observer.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="ON_THE_PHYSICAL_BASIS_OF_LIFE" id="ON_THE_PHYSICAL_BASIS_OF_LIFE"></a>ON THE PHYSICAL BASIS OF LIFE</h2> + +<h2>[1868]</h2> + + +<p>In order to make the title of this discourse generally intelligible, I +have translated the term "Protoplasm," which is the scientific name of +the substance of which I am about to speak, by the words "the physical +basis of life." I suppose that, to many, the idea that there is such a +thing as a physical basis, or matter, of life may be novel—so widely +spread is the conception of life as a something which works through +matter, but is independent of it; and even those who are aware that +matter and life are inseparably connected, may not be prepared for the +conclusion plainly suggested by the phrase, "<i>the</i> physical basis or +matter of life," that there is some one kind of matter which is common +to all living beings, and that their endless diversities are bound +together by a physical, as well as an ideal, unity. In fact, when first +apprehended, such a doctrine as this appears almost shocking to common +sense.</p> + +<p>What, truly, can seem to be more obviously different from one another, +in faculty, in form, and in substance, than the various kinds of living +beings? What community of faculty can there be between the +brightly-coloured lichen, which so nearly resembles a mere mineral +incrustation of the bare rock on which it grows, and the painter, to +whom it is instinct with beauty, or the botanist, whom it feeds with +knowledge?</p> + +<p>Again, think of the microscopic fungus—a mere infinitesimal ovoid +particle, which finds space and duration enough to multiply into +countless millions in the body of a living fly; and then of the wealth +of foliage, the luxuriance of flower and fruit, which lies between this +bald sketch of a plant and the giant pine of California, towering to the +dimensions of a cathedral spire, or the Indian fig, which covers acres +with its profound shadow, and endures while nations and empires come and +go around its vast circumference. Or, turning to the other half of the +world of life, picture to yourselves the great Finner whale, hugest of +beasts that live, or have lived, disporting his eighty or ninety feet of +bone, muscle, and blubber, with easy roll, among waves in which the +stoutest ship that ever left dockyard would flounder hopelessly; and +contrast him with the invisible animalcules—mere gelatinous specks, +multitudes of which could, in fact, dance upon the point of a needle +with the same ease as the angels of the Schoolmen could, in imagination. +With these images before your minds, you may well ask, what community of +form, or structure, is there between the animalcule and the whale; or +between the fungus and the fig-tree? And, <i>a fortiori</i>, between all +four?</p> + +<p>Finally, if we regard substance, or material composition, what hidden +bond can connect the flower which a girl wears in her hair and the blood +which courses through her youthful veins; or, what is there in common +between the <!-- Page 46 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46"></a>[Page 46]</span>dense and resisting mass of the oak, or the strong fabric of +the tortoise, and those broad disks of glassy jelly which may be seen +pulsating through the waters of a calm sea, but which drain away to +mere films in the hand which raises them out of their element?</p> + +<p>Such objections as these must, I think, arise in the mind of every one +who ponders, for the first time, upon the conception of a single +physical basis of life underlying all the diversities of vital +existence; but I propose to demonstrate to you that, notwithstanding +these apparent difficulties, a threefold unity—namely, a unity of +power or faculty, a unity of form, and a unity of substantial +composition—does pervade the whole living world.</p> + +<p>No very abstruse argumentation is needed, in the first place, to prove +that the powers, or faculties, of all kinds of living matter, diverse as +they may be in degree, are substantially similar in kind.</p> + +<p>Goethe has condensed a survey of all powers of mankind into the +well-known epigram:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Warum treibt sich das Volk so und schreit?</span><br /> +<span class="i4">Es will sich ernähren</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Kinder zeugen, und die nähren so gut es vermag.</span><br /> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<span class="i2">Weiter bringt es kein Mensch, stell' er</span><br /> +<span class="i4">sich wie er auch will."</span> +</div></div> + + +<p>In physiological language this means, that all the multifarious and +complicated activities of man are comprehensible under three categories. +Either they are immediately directed towards the maintenance and +development of the body, or they effect transitory changes in the +relative positions of parts of the body, or they tend towards the +continuance of the species. Even those manifestations of intellect, of +feeling, and of will, which we rightly name the higher faculties, are +not excluded from this classification, inasmuch as to every one but the +subject of them, they are known only as transitory changes in the +relative positions of parts of the body. Speech, gesture, and every +other form of human action are, in the long run, resolvable into +muscular contraction, and muscular contraction is but a transitory +change in the relative positions of the parts of a muscle. But the +scheme which is large enough to embrace the activities of the highest +form of life, covers all those of the lower creatures. The lowest plant, +or animalcule, feeds, grows, and reproduces its kind. In addition, all +animals manifest those transitory changes of form which we class under +irritability and contractility; and, it is more than probable, that when +the vegetable world is thoroughly explored, we shall find all plants in +possession of the same powers, at one time or other of their existence.</p> + +<p>I am not now alluding to such phænomena, at once rare and conspicuous, +as those exhibited by the leaflets of the sensitive plants, or the +stamens of the barberry, but to much more widely spread, and at the same +time, more subtle and hidden, manifestations of vegetable contractility. +You are doubtless aware that the common nettle owes its stinging +property to the innumerable stiff and needle-like, though exquisitely +delicate, hairs which cover its surface. Each stinging-needle tapers +from a broad base to a slender summit, which, though rounded at the end, +is of such microscopic fineness that it readily penetrates, and breaks +off in, the skin. The whole hair consists of a very delicate outer case +of wood, closely applied to the inner surface of which is a layer of +semi-fluid matter, full of innumerable granules of extreme minuteness. +This semi-fluid lining is protoplasm, which thus constitutes a kind of +bag, full of a limpid liquid, and roughly corresponding in form with the +interior of the hair which it fills. When viewed with a sufficiently +high magnifying power, the protoplasmic layer of the nettle hair is seen +to be in a condition of unceasing activity. Local contractions of the +whole thickness of its substance pass slowly and gradually from point to +point, and give rise to the appearance of progressive <!-- Page 47 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47"></a>[Page 47]</span>waves, just as the +bending of successive stalks of corn by a breeze produces the apparent +billows of a cornfield.</p> + +<p>But, in addition to these movements, and independently of them, the +granules are driven, in relatively rapid streams, through channels in +the protoplasm which seem to have a considerable amount of persistence. +Most commonly, the currents in adjacent parts of the protoplasm take +similar directions; and, thus, there is a general stream up one side of +the hair and down the other. But this does not prevent the existence of +partial currents which take different routes; and sometimes trains of +granules may be seen coursing swiftly in opposite directions within a +twenty-thousandth of an inch of one another; while, occasionally, +opposite streams come into direct collision, and, after a longer or +shorter struggle, one predominates. The cause of these currents seems to +lie in contractions of the protoplasm which bounds the channels in which +they flow, but which are so minute that the best microscopes show only +their effects, and not themselves.</p> + +<p>The spectacle afforded by the wonderful energies prisoned within the +compass of the microscopic hair of a plant, which we commonly regard as +a merely passive organism, is not easily forgotten by one who has +watched its display, continued hour after hour, without pause or sign of +weakening. The possible complexity of many other organic forms, +seemingly as simple as the protoplasm of the nettle, dawns upon one; and +the comparison of such a protoplasm to a body with an internal +circulation, which has been put forward by an eminent physiologist, +loses much of its startling character. Currents similar to those of the +hairs of the nettle have been observed in a great multitude of very +different plants, and weighty authorities have suggested that they +probably occur, in more or less perfection, in all young vegetable +cells. If such be the case, the wonderful noonday silence of a tropical +forest is, after all, due only to the dulness of our hearing; and could +our ears catch the murmur of these tiny Maelstroms, as they whirl in the +innumerable myriads of living cells which constitute each tree, we +should be stunned, as with the roar of a great city.</p> + +<p>Among the lower plants, it is the rule rather than the exception, that +contractility should be still more openly manifested at some periods of +their existence. The protoplasm of <i>Algæ</i> and <i>Fungi</i> becomes, under +many circumstances, partially, or completely, freed from its woody case, +and exhibits movements of its whole mass, or is propelled by the +contractility of one, or more, hair-like prolongations of its body, +which are called vibratile cilia. And, so far as the conditions of the +manifestation of the phænomena of contractility have yet been studied, +they are the same for the plant as for the animal. Heat and electric +shocks influence both, and in the same way, though it may be in +different degrees. It is by no means my intention to suggest that there +is no difference in faculty between the lowest plant and the highest, or +between plants and animals. But the difference between the powers of the +lowest plant, or animal, and those of the highest, is one of degree, not +of kind, and depends, as Milne-Edwards long ago so well pointed out, +upon the extent to which the principle of the division of labour is +carried out in the living economy. In the lowest organism all parts are +competent to perform all functions, and one and the same portion of +protoplasm may successfully take on the function of feeding, moving, or +reproducing apparatus. In the highest, on the contrary, a great number +of parts combine to perform each function, each part doing its allotted +share of the work with great accuracy and efficiency, but being useless +for any other purpose.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, notwithstanding all the fundamental resemblances +which exist between the powers of the protoplasm in plants and in +animals, they present a striking difference (to which I <!-- Page 48 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48"></a>[Page 48]</span>shall advert +more at length presently), in the fact that plants can manufacture fresh +protoplasm out of mineral compounds, whereas animals are obliged to +procure it ready made, and hence, in the long run, depend upon plants. +Upon what condition this difference in the powers of the two great +divisions of the world of life depends, nothing is at present known.</p> + +<p>With such qualification as arises out of the last-mentioned fact, it may +be truly said that the acts of all living things are fundamentally one. +Is any such unity predicable of their forms? Let us seek in easily +verified facts for a reply to this question. If a drop of blood be drawn +by pricking one's finger, and viewed with proper precautions, and under +a sufficiently high microscopic power, there will be seen, among the +innumerable multitude of little, circular, discoidal bodies, or +corpuscles, which float in it and give it its colour, a comparatively +small number of colourless corpuscles, of somewhat larger size and very +irregular shape. If the drop of blood be kept at the temperature of the +body, these colourless corpuscles will be seen to exhibit a marvellous +activity, changing their forms with great rapidity, drawing in and +thrusting out prolongations of their substance, and creeping about as if +they were independent organisms.</p> + +<p>The substance which is thus active is a mass of protoplasm, and its +activity differs in detail, rather than in principle, from that of the +protoplasm of the nettle. Under sundry circumstances the corpuscle dies +and becomes distended into a round mass, in the midst of which is seen a +smaller spherical body, which existed, but was more or less hidden, in +the living corpuscle, and is called its <i>nucleus</i>. Corpuscles of +essentially similar structure are to be found in the skin, in the lining +of the mouth, and scattered through the whole framework of the body. +Nay, more; in the earliest condition of the human organism, in that +state in which it has but just become distinguishable from the egg in +which it arises, it is nothing but an aggregation of such corpuscles, +and every organ of the body was, once, no more than such an aggregation.</p> + +<p>Thus a nucleated mass of protoplasm turns out to be what may be termed +the structural unit of the human body. As a matter of fact, the body, in +its earliest state, is a mere multiple of such units; and in its perfect +condition, it is a multiple of such units, variously modified.</p> + +<p>But does the formula which expresses the essential structural character +of the highest animal cover all the rest, as the statement of its powers +and faculties covered that of all others? Very nearly. Beast and fowl, +reptile and fish, mollusk, worm, and polype, are all composed of +structural units of the same character, namely, masses of protoplasm +with a nucleus. There are sundry very low animals, each of which, +structurally, is a mere colourless blood-corpuscle, leading an +independent life. But at the very bottom of the animal scale, even this +simplicity becomes simplified, and all the phænomena of life are +manifested by a particle of protoplasm without a nucleus. Nor are such +organisms insignificant by reason of their want of complexity. It is a +fair question whether the protoplasm of those simplest forms of life, +which people an immense extent of the bottom of the sea, would not +outweigh that of all the higher living beings which inhabit the land put +together. And in ancient times, no less than at the present day, such +living beings as these have been the greatest of rock builders.</p> + +<p>What has been said of the animal world is no less true of plants. +Embedded in the protoplasm at the broad, or attached, end of the nettle +hair, there lies a spheroidal nucleus. Careful examination further +proves that the whole substance of the nettle is made up of a repetition +of such masses of nucleated protoplasm, each contained in a wooden case, +which is modified in form, sometimes into a woody fibre, sometimes into +a duct or spiral vessel, sometimes into a <!-- Page 49 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49"></a>[Page 49]</span>pollen grain, or an ovule. +Traced back to its earliest state, the nettle arises as the man does, in +a particle of nucleated protoplasm. And in the lowest plants, as in the +lowest animals, a single mass of such protoplasm may constitute the +whole plant, or the protoplasm may exist without a nucleus.</p> + +<p>Under these circumstances it may well be asked, how is one mass of +non-nucleated protoplasm to be distinguished from another? why call one +"plant" and the other "animal"?</p> + +<p>The only reply is that, so far as form is concerned, plants and animals +are not separable, and that, in many cases, it is a mere matter of +convention whether we call a given organism an animal or a plant. There +is a living body called <i>Æthalium septicum</i>, which appears upon decaying +vegetable substances, and, in one of its forms, is common upon the +surfaces of tan-pits. In this condition it is, to all intents and +purposes, a fungus, and formerly was always regarded as such; but the +remarkable investigations of De Bary have shown that, in another +condition, the <i>Æthalium</i> is an actively locomotive creature, and takes +in solid matters, upon which, apparently, it feeds, thus exhibiting the +most characteristic feature of animality. Is this a plant; or is it an +animal? Is it both; or is it neither? Some decide in favour of the last +supposition, and establish an intermediate kingdom, a sort of biological +No Man's Land for all these questionable forms. But, as it is admittedly +impossible to draw any distinct boundary line between this no man's land +and the vegetable world, on the one hand, or the animal, on the other, +it appears to me that this proceeding merely doubles the difficulty +which, before, was single.</p> + +<p>Protoplasm, simple or nucleated, is the formal basis of all life. It is +the clay of the potter: which, bake it and paint it as he will, remains +clay, separated by artifice, and not by nature, from the commonest brick +or sun-dried clod.</p> + +<p>Thus it becomes clear that all living powers are cognate, and that all +living forms are fundamentally of one character. The researches of the +chemist have revealed a no less striking uniformity of material +composition in living matter.</p> + +<p>In perfect strictness, it is true that chemical investigation can tell +us little or nothing, directly, of the composition of living matter, +inasmuch as such matter must needs die in the act of analysis,—and upon +this very obvious ground, objections, which I confess seem to me to be +somewhat frivolous, have been raised to the drawing of any conclusions +whatever respecting the composition of actually living matter, from that +of the dead matter of life, which alone is accessible to us. But +objectors of this class do not seem to reflect that it is also, in +strictness, true that we know nothing about the composition of any body +whatever, as it is. The statement that a crystal of calc-spar consists +of carbonate of lime, is quite true, if we only mean that, by +appropriate processes, it may be resolved into carbonic acid and +quicklime. If you pass the same carbonic acid over the very quicklime +thus obtained, you will obtain carbonate of lime again; but it will not +be calc-spar, nor anything like it. Can it, therefore, be said that +chemical analysis teaches nothing about the chemical composition of +calc-spar? Such a statement would be absurd; but it is hardly more so +than the talk one occasionally hears about the uselessness of applying +the results of chemical analysis to the living bodies which have yielded +them.</p> + +<p>One fact, at any rate, is out of reach of such refinements, and this is, +that all the forms of protoplasm which have yet been examined contain +the four elements, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, in very +complex union, and that they behave similarly towards several reagents. +To this complex combination, the nature of which has never been +determined with exactness, the name of Protein has been applied. And if +we use this term with such caution as may properly arise out of our +comparative ignorance of the things for which it <!-- Page 50 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50"></a>[Page 50]</span>stands, it may be truly +said, that all protoplasm is proteinaceous, or, as the white, or +albumen, of an egg is one of the commonest examples of a nearly pure +proteine matter, we may say that all living matter is more or less +albuminoid.</p> + +<p>Perhaps it would not yet be safe to say that all forms of protoplasm are +affected by the direct action of electric shocks; and yet the number of +cases in which the contraction of protoplasm is shown to be affected by +this agency increases every day.</p> + +<p>Nor can it be affirmed with perfect confidence, that all forms of +protoplasm are liable to undergo that peculiar coagulation at a +temperature of 40°-50° centigrade, which has been called +"heat-stiffening," though Kühne's beautiful researches have proved this +occurrence to take place in so many and such diverse living beings, that +it is hardly rash to expect that the law holds good for all.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Enough has, perhaps, been said to prove the existence of a general +uniformity in the character of the protoplasm, or physical basis, of +life, in whatever group of living beings it may be studied. But it will +be understood that this general uniformity by no means excludes any +amount of special modifications of the fundamental substance. The +mineral, carbonate of lime, assumes an immense diversity of characters, +though no one doubts that, under all these Protean changes, it is one +and the same thing.</p> + +<p>And now, what is the ultimate fate, and what the origin, of the matter +of life?</p> + +<p>Is it, as some of the older naturalists supposed, diffused throughout +the universe in molecules, which are indestructible and unchangeable in +themselves; but, in endless transmigration, unite in innumerable +permutations, into the diversified forms of life we know? Or, is the +matter of life composed of ordinary matter, differing from it only in +the manner in which its atoms are aggregated? Is it built up of ordinary +matter, and again resolved into ordinary matter when its work is done?</p> + +<p>Modern science does not hesitate a moment between these alternatives. +Physiology writes, over the portals of life—</p> + +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">"Debemur morti nos nostraque,"</span><br /> + +<p>with a profounder meaning than the Roman poet attached to that +melancholy line. Under whatever disguise it takes refuge, whether fungus +or oak; worm or man, the living protoplasm not only ultimately dies and +is resolved into its mineral and lifeless constituents, but is always +dying, and, strange as the paradox may sound, could not live unless it +died.</p> + +<p>In the wonderful story of the "Peau de Chagrin," the hero becomes +possessed of a magical wild ass' skin, which yields him the means of +gratifying all his wishes. But its surface represents the duration of +the proprietor's life; and for every satisfied desire the skin shrinks +in proportion to the intensity of fruition, until at length life and the +last hand-breadth of the <i>peau de chagrin</i>, disappear with the +gratification of a last wish.</p> + +<p>Balzac's studies had led him over a wide range of thought and +speculation, and his shadowing forth of physiological truth in this +strange story may have been intentional. At any rate, the matter of life +is a veritable <i>peau de chagrin</i>, and for every vital act it is somewhat +the smaller. All work implies waste, and the work of life results, +directly or indirectly, in the waste of protoplasm.</p> + +<p>Every word uttered by a speaker costs him some physical loss; and, in +the strictest sense, he burns that others may have light—so much +eloquence, so much of his body resolved into carbonic acid, water, and +urea. It is clear that this process of expenditure cannot go on for +ever. But, happily, the protoplasmic <i>peau de chagrin</i> differs from +Balzac's in its capacity of being repaired, and brought back to its full +size, after every exertion.</p> +<p><!-- Page 51 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51"></a>[Page 51]</span></p> +<p>For example, this present lecture, whatever its intellectual worth to +you, has a certain physical value to me, which is, conceivably, +expressible by the number of grains of protoplasm and other bodily +substance wasted in maintaining my vital processes during its delivery. +My <i>peau de chagrin</i> will be distinctly smaller at the end of the +discourse than it was at the beginning. By and by, I shall probably have +recourse to the substance commonly called mutton, for the purpose of +stretching it back to its original size. Now this mutton was once the +living protoplasm, more or less modified, of another animal—a sheep. As +I shall eat it, it is the same matter altered, not only by death, but by +exposure to sundry artificial operations in the process of cooking.</p> + +<p>But these changes, whatever be their extent, have not rendered it +incompetent to resume its old functions as matter of life. A singular +inward laboratory, which I possess, will dissolve a certain portion of +the modified protoplasm; the solution so formed will pass into my veins; +and the subtle influences to which it will then be subjected will +convert the dead protoplasm into living protoplasm, and transubstantiate +sheep into man.</p> + +<p>Nor is this all. If digestion were a thing to be trifled with, I might +sup upon lobster, and the matter of life of the crustacean would undergo +the same wonderful metamorphosis into humanity. And were I to return to +my own place by sea, and undergo shipwreck, the crustacean might, and +probably would, return the compliment, and demonstrate our common nature +by turning my protoplasm into living lobster. Or, if nothing better were +to be had, I might supply my wants with mere bread, and I should find +the protoplasm of the wheat-plant to be convertible into man, with no +more trouble than that of the sheep, and with far less, I fancy, than +that of the lobster.</p> + +<p>Hence it appears to be a matter of no great moment what animal, or what +plant, I lay under contribution for protoplasm, and the fact speaks +volumes for the general identity of that substance in all living beings. +I share this catholicity of assimilation with other animals, all of +which, so far as we know, could thrive equally well on the protoplasm of +any of their fellows, or of any plant; but here the assimilative powers +of the animal world cease. A solution of smelling-salts in water, with +an infinitesimal proportion of some other saline matters, contains all +the elementary bodies which enter into the composition of protoplasm; +but, as I need hardly say, a hogshead of that fluid would not keep a +hungry man from starving, nor would it save any animal whatever from a +like fate. An animal cannot make protoplasm, but must take it ready-made +from some other animal, or some plant—the animal's highest feat of +constructive chemistry being to convert dead protoplasm into that living +matter of life which is appropriate to itself.</p> + +<p>Therefore, in seeking for the origin of protoplasm, we must eventually +turn to the vegetable world. A fluid containing carbonic acid, water, +and nitrogenous salts, which offers such a Barmecide feast to the +animal, is a table richly spread to multitudes of plants; and, with a +due supply of only such materials, many a plant will not only maintain +itself in vigour, but grow and multiply until it has increased a +million-fold, or a million million-fold, the quantity of protoplasm +which it originally possessed; in this way building up the matter of +life, to an indefinite extent, from the common matter of the universe.</p> + +<p>Thus, the animal can only raise the complex substance of dead protoplasm +to the higher power, as one may say, of living protoplasm; while the +plant can raise the less complex substances—carbonic acid, water, and +nitrogenous salts—to the same stage of living protoplasm, if not to the +same level. But the plant also has its limitations. Some of the fungi, +for example, appear to need higher compounds to start with; and no known +plant can live <!-- Page 52 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52"></a>[Page 52]</span>upon the uncompounded elements of protoplasm. A plant +supplied with pure carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, phosphorus, +sulphur, and the like, would as infallibly die as the animal in his bath +of smelling-salts, though it would be surrounded by all the +constituents of protoplasm. Nor, indeed, need the process of +simplification of vegetable food be carried so far as this, in order to +arrive at the limit of the plant's thaumaturgy. Let water, carbonic +acid, and all the other needful constituents be supplied except +nitrogenous salts, and an ordinary plant will still be unable to +manufacture protoplasm.</p> + +<p>Thus the matter of life, so far as we know it (and we have no right to +speculate on any other), breaks up, in consequence of that continual +death which is the condition of its manifesting vitality, into carbonic +acid, water, and nitrogenous compounds, which certainly possess no +properties but those of ordinary matter. And out of these same forms of +ordinary matter, and from none which are simpler, the vegetable world +builds up all the protoplasm which keeps the animal world a-going. +Plants are the accumulators of the power which animals distribute and +disperse.</p> + +<p>But it will be observed, that the existence of the matter of life +depends on the pre-existence of certain compounds; namely, carbonic +acid, water, and certain nitrogenous bodies. Withdraw any one of these +three from the world, and all vital phænomena come to an end. They are +as necessary to the protoplasm of the plant as the protoplasm of the +plant is to that of the animal. Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen +are all lifeless bodies. Of these, carbon and oxygen unite in certain +proportions and under certain conditions, to give rise to carbonic acid; +hydrogen and oxygen produce water; nitrogen and other elements give rise +to nitrogenous salts. These new compounds, like the elementary bodies of +which they are composed, are lifeless. But when they are brought +together, under certain conditions, they give rise to the still more +complex body, protoplasm, and this protoplasm exhibits the phænomena of +life.</p> + +<p>I see no break in this series of steps in molecular complication, and I +am unable to understand why the language which is applicable to any one +term of the series may not be used to any of the others. We think fit to +call different kinds of matter carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen, +and to speak of the various powers and activities of these substances as +the properties of the matter of which they are composed.</p> + +<p>When hydrogen and oxygen are mixed in a certain proportion, and an +electric spark is passed through them, they disappear, and a quantity of +water, equal in weight to the sum of their weights, appears in their +place. There is not the slightest parity between the passive and active +powers of the water and those of the oxygen and hydrogen which have +given rise to it. At 32° Fahrenheit, and far below that temperature, +oxygen and hydrogen are elastic gaseous bodies, whose particles tend to +rush away from one another with great force. Water, at the same +temperature, is a strong though brittle solid, whose particles tend to +cohere into definite geometrical shapes, and sometimes build up frosty +imitations of the most complex forms of vegetable foliage.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless we call these, and many other strange phænomena, the +properties of the water, and we do not hesitate to believe that, in some +way or another, they result from the properties of the component +elements of the water. We do not assume that a something called +"aquosity" entered into and took possession of the oxidated hydrogen as +soon as it was formed, and then guided the aqueous particles to their +places in the facets of the crystal, or amongst the leaflets of the +hoarfrost. On the contrary, we live in the hope and in the faith that, +by the advance of molecular physics, we shall by and by be able to see +our way as clearly from the constituents of water to the properties of +water, as we are now able to deduce the operations of <!-- Page 53 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53"></a>[Page 53]</span>a watch from the +form of its parts and the manner in which they are put together.</p> + +<p>Is the case in any way changed when carbonic acid, water, and +nitrogenous salts disappear, and in their place, under the influence of +pre-existing living protoplasm, an equivalent weight of the matter of +life makes its appearance?</p> + +<p>It is true that there is no sort of parity between the properties of the +components and the properties of the resultant, but neither was there in +the case of the water. It is also true that what I have spoken of as the +influence of pre-existing living matter is something quite +unintelligible; but does anybody quite comprehend the <i>modus operandi</i> +of an electric spark, which traverses a mixture of oxygen and hydrogen?</p> + +<p>What justification is there, then, for the assumption of the existence +in the living matter of a something which has no representative, or +correlative, in the not living matter which gave rise to it? What better +philosophical status has "vitality" than "aquosity"? And why should +"vitality" hope for a better fate than the other "itys" which have +disappeared since Martinus Scriblerus accounted for the operation of the +meat-jack by its inherent "meat-roasting quality," and scorned the +"materialism" of those who explained the turning of the spit by a +certain mechanism worked by the draught of the chimney.</p> + +<p>If scientific language is to possess a definite and constant +signification whenever it is employed, it seems to me that we are +logically bound to apply to the protoplasm, or physical basis of life, +the same conceptions as those which are held to be legitimate elsewhere. +If the phenomena exhibited by water are its properties, so are those +presented by protoplasm, living or dead, its properties.</p> + +<p>If the properties of water may be properly said to result from the +nature and disposition of its component molecules, I can find no +intelligible ground for refusing to say that the properties of +protoplasm result from the nature and disposition of its molecules.</p> + +<p>But I bid you beware that, in accepting these conclusions, you are +placing your feet on the first rung of a ladder which, in most people's +estimation, is the reverse of Jacob's, and leads to the antipodes of +heaven. It may seem a small thing to admit that the dull vital actions +of a fungus, or a foraminifer, are the properties of their protoplasm, +and are the direct results of the nature of the matter of which they are +composed. But if, as I have endeavoured to prove to you, their +protoplasm is essentially identical with, and most readily converted +into, that of any animal, I can discover no logical halting-place +between the admission that such is the case, and the further concession +that all vital action may, with equal propriety, be said to be the +result of the molecular forces of the protoplasm which displays it. And +if so, it must be true, in the same sense and to the same extent, that +the thoughts to which I am now giving utterance, and your thoughts +regarding them, are the expression of molecular changes in that matter +of life which is the source of our other vital phænomena.</p> + +<p>Past experience leads me to be tolerably certain that, when the +propositions I have just placed before you are accessible to public +comment and criticism, they will be condemned by many zealous persons, +and perhaps by some few of the wise and thoughtful. I should not wonder +if "gross and brutal materialism" were the mildest phrase applied to +them in certain quarters. And, most undoubtedly, the terms of the +propositions are distinctly materialistic. Nevertheless two things are +certain; the one, that I hold the statements to be substantially true; +the other, that I, individually, am no materialist, but, on the +contrary, believe materialism to involve grave philosophical error.</p> + +<p>This union of materialistic terminology with the repudiation of +materialistic <!-- Page 54 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54"></a>[Page 54]</span>philosophy I share with some of the most thoughtful men +with whom I am acquainted. And, when I first undertook to deliver the +present discourse, it appeared to me to be a fitting opportunity to +explain how such a union is not only consistent with, but necessitated +by, sound logic. I purposed to lead you through the territory of vital +phænomena to the materialistic slough in which you find yourselves now +plunged, and then to point out to you the sole path by which, in my +judgment, extrication is possible.</p> + +<p>An occurrence of which I was unaware until my arrival here last night +renders this line of argument singularly opportune. I found in your +papers the eloquent address "On the Limits of Philosophical Inquiry," +which a distinguished prelate of the English Church delivered before the +members of the Philosophical Institution on the previous day. My +argument, also, turns upon this very point of the limits of +philosophical inquiry; and I cannot bring out my own views better than +by contrasting them with those so plainly and, in the main, fairly +stated by the Archbishop of York.</p> + +<p>But I may be permitted to make a preliminary comment upon an occurrence +that greatly astonished me. Applying the name of the "New Philosophy" to +that estimate of the limits of philosophical inquiry which I, in common +with many other men of science, hold to be just, the Archbishop opens +his address by identifying this "New Philosophy" with the Positive +Philosophy of M. Comte (of whom he speaks as its "founder"); and then +proceeds to attack that philosopher and his doctrines vigorously.</p> + +<p>Now, so far as I am concerned, the most reverend prelate might +dialectically hew M. Comte in pieces, as a modern Agag, and I should not +attempt to stay his hand. In so far as my study of what specially +characterises the Positive Philosophy has led me, I find therein little +or nothing of any scientific value, and a great deal which is as +thoroughly antagonistic to the very essence of science as anything in +ultramontane Catholicism. In fact, M. Comte's philosophy, in practice, +might be compendiously described as Catholicism <i>minus</i> Christianity.</p> + +<p>But what has Comtism to do with the "New Philosophy," as the Archbishop, +defines it in the following passage?</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> +"Let me briefly remind you of the leading principles of this new +philosophy.<br /><br /> + +"All knowledge is experience of facts acquired by the senses. The +traditions of older philosophies have obscured our experience by +mixing with it much that the senses cannot observe, and until these +additions are discarded our knowledge is impure. Thus metaphysics +tell us that one fact which we observe is a cause, and another is +the effect of that cause; but, upon a rigid analysis, we find that +our senses observe nothing of cause or effect: they observe, first, +that one fact succeeds another, and, after some opportunity, that +this fact has never failed to follow—that for cause and effect we +should substitute invariable succession. An older philosophy +teaches us to define an object by distinguishing its essential from +its accidental qualities: but experience knows nothing of essential +and accidental; she sees only that, certain marks attach to an +object, and, after many observations, that some of them attach +invariably, whilst others may at times be absent.... As all +knowledge is relative, the notion of anything being necessary must +be banished with other traditions." +<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> +</div> + +<p>There is much here that expresses the spirit of the "New Philosophy," if +by that term be meant the spirit of modern science; but I cannot but +marvel that the assembled wisdom and learning of Edinburgh should have +uttered no sign of dissent, when Comte was declared to be the founder of +these doctrines. No one will accuse Scotchmen of habitually forgetting +their great countrymen; but it was enough to make David Hume turn in his +grave, that here, almost within ear-shot of his house, an instructed +audience should have listened, without a murmur, while his most +characteristic doctrines were attributed to a French writer of fifty +years later date, in whose dreary and verbose pages we miss <!-- Page 55 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55"></a>[Page 55]</span>alike the +vigour of thought and the exquisite clearness of style of the man whom I +make bold to term the most acute thinker of the eighteenth century—even +though that century produced Kant.</p> + +<p>But I did not come to Scotland to vindicate the honour of one of the +neatest men she has ever produced. My business is to point out to you +that the only way of escape out of the "crass materialism" in which we +just now landed, is the adoption and strict working out of the very +principles which the Archbishop holds up to reprobation.</p> + +<p>Let us suppose that knowledge is absolute, and not relative, and +therefore, that our conception of matter represents that which it really +is. Let us suppose, further, that we do know more of cause and effect +than a certain definite order of succession among facts, and that we +have a knowledge of the necessity of that succession—and hence, of +necessary laws—and I, for my part, do not see what escape there is from +utter materialism and necessarianism. For it is obvious that our +knowledge of what we call the material world is, to begin with, at least +as certain and definite as that of the spiritual world, and that our +acquaintance with law is of as old a date as our knowledge of +spontaneity. Further, I take it to be demonstrable that it is utterly +impossible to prove that anything whatever may not be the effect of a +material and necessary cause, and that human logic is equally +incompetent to prove that any act is really spontaneous. A really +spontaneous act is one which, by the assumption, has no cause; and the +attempt to prove such a negative as this is, on the face of the matter, +absurd. And while it is thus a philosophical impossibility to +demonstrate that any given phænomenon is not the effect of a material +cause, any one who is acquainted with the history of science will admit, +that its progress has, in all ages, meant, and now, more than ever, +means, the extension of the province of what we call matter and +causation, and the concomitant gradual banishment from all regions of +human thought of what we call spirit and spontaneity.</p> + +<p>I have endeavoured, in the first part of this discourse, to give you a +conception of the direction towards which modern physiology is tending; +and I ask you, what is the difference between the conception of life as +the product of a certain disposition of material molecules, and the old +notion of an Archæus governing and directing blind matter within each +living body, except this—that here, as elsewhere, matter and law have +devoured spirit and spontaneity? And as surely as every future grows out +of past and present, so will the physiology of the future gradually +extend the realm of matter and law until it is co-extensive with +knowledge, with feeling, and with action.</p> + +<p>The consciousness of this great truth weighs like a nightmare, I +believe, upon many of the best minds of these days. They watch what they +conceive to be the progress of materialism, in such fear and powerless +anger as a savage feels, when, during an eclipse, the great shadow +creeps over the face of the sun. The advancing tide of matter threatens +to drown their souls; the tightening grasp of law impedes their freedom; +they are alarmed lest man's moral nature be debased by the increase of +his wisdom.</p> + +<p>If the "New Philosophy" be worthy of the reprobation with which it is +visited, I confess their fears seem to me to be well founded. While, on +the contrary, could David Hume be consulted, I think he would smile at +their perplexities, and chide them for doing even as the heathen, and +falling down in terror before the hideous idols their own hands have +raised.</p> + +<p>For, after all, what do we know of this terrible "matter," except as a +name for the unknown and hypothetical cause of states of our own +consciousness? And what do we know of that "spirit" over whose +threatened extinction by matter a great lamentation is arising, like +that which was heard at the death of Pan, <!-- Page 56 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56"></a>[Page 56]</span>except that it is also a name +for an unknown and hypothetical cause, or condition, of states of +consciousness? In other words, matter and spirit are but names for the +imaginary substrata of groups of natural phænomena.</p> + +<p>And what is the dire necessity and "iron" law under which men groan? +Truly, most gratuitously invented bugbears. I suppose if there be an +"iron" law, it is that of gravitation; and if there be a physical +necessity, it is that a stone, unsupported, must fall to the ground. But +what is all we really know, and can know, about the latter phænomena? +Simply, that, in all human experience, stones have fallen to the ground +under these conditions; that we have not the smallest reason for +believing that any stone so circumstanced will not fall to the ground; +and that we have, on the contrary, every reason to believe that it will +so fall. It is very convenient to indicate that all the conditions of +belief have been fulfilled in this case, by calling the statement that +unsupported stones will fall to the ground, "a law of Nature." But when, +as commonly happens, we change <i>will</i> into <i>must</i>, we introduce an idea +of necessity which most assuredly does not lie in the observed facts, +and has no warranty that I can discover elsewhere. For my part, I +utterly repudiate and anathematise the intruder. Fact I know; and Law I +know; but what is this Necessity, save an empty shadow of my own mind's +throwing?</p> + +<p>But, if it is certain that we can have no knowledge of the nature of +either matter or spirit, and that the notion of necessity is something +illegitimately thrust into the perfectly legitimate conception of law, +the materialistic position that there is nothing in the world but +matter, force, and necessity, is as utterly devoid of justification as +the most baseless of theological dogmas. The fundamental doctrines of +materialism, like those of spiritualism, and most other "isms," lie +outside "the limits of philosophical inquiry," and David Hume's great +service to humanity is his irrefragable demonstration of what these +limits are. Hume called himself a sceptic and therefore others cannot be +blamed if they apply the same title to him; but that does not alter the +fact that the name, with its existing implications, does him gross +injustice.</p> + +<p>If a man asks me what the politics of the inhabitants of the moon are, +and I reply that I do not know; that neither I, nor any one else, has +any means of knowing; and that, under these circumstances, I decline to +trouble myself about the subject at all, I do not think he has any right +to call me a sceptic. On the contrary, in replying thus, I conceive that +I am simply honest and truthful, and show a proper regard for the +economy of time. So Hume's strong and subtle intellect takes up a great +many problems about which we are naturally curious, and shows us that +they are essentially questions of lunar politics, in their essence +incapable of being answered, and therefore not worth the attention of +men who have work to do in the world. And he thus ends one of his +essays:—</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> +"If we take in hand any volume of Divinity, or school metaphysics, +for instance, let us ask, <i>Does it contain any abstract reasoning +concerning quantity or number?</i> No. <i>Does it contain any +experimental reasoning concerning matter of fact and existence?</i> +No. Commit it then to the flames; for it can contain nothing but +sophistry and illusion." +<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> +</div> + +<p>Permit me to enforce this most wise advice. Why trouble ourselves about +matters of which, however important they may be, we do know nothing, and +can know nothing? We live in a world which is full of misery and +ignorance, and the plain duty of each and all of us is to try to make +the little corner he can influence somewhat less miserable and <!-- Page 57 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57"></a>[Page 57]</span>somewhat +less ignorant than it was before he entered it. To do this effectually +it is necessary to be fully possessed of only two beliefs: the first, +that the order of Nature is ascertainable by our faculties to an extent +which is practically unlimited; the second, that our volition<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> counts +for something as a condition of the course of events.</p> + +<p>Each of these beliefs can be verified experimentally, as often as we +like to try. Each, therefore, stands upon the strongest foundation upon +which any belief can rest, and forms one of our highest truths. If we +find that the ascertainment of the order of nature is facilitated by +using one terminology, or one set of symbols, rather than another, it is +our clear duty to use the former; and no harm can accrue, so long as we +bear in mind, that we are dealing merely with terms and symbols.</p> + +<p>In itself it is of little moment whether we express the phænomena of +matter in terms of spirit; or the phænomena of spirit in terms of +matter: matter may be regarded as a form of thought, thought may be +regarded as a property of matter—each statement has a certain relative +truth. But with a view to the progress of science, the materialistic +terminology is in every way to be preferred. For it connects thought +with the other phænomena of the universe, and suggests inquiry into the +nature of those physical conditions, or concomitants of thought, which +are more or less accessible to us, and a knowledge of which may, in +future, help us to exercise the same kind of control over the world of +thought, as we already possess in respect of the material world; +whereas, the alternative, or spiritualistic, terminology is utterly +barren, and leads to nothing but obscurity and confusion of ideas.</p> + +<p>Thus there can be little doubt, that the further science advances, the +more extensively and consistently will all the phænomena of Nature be +represented by materialistic formulæ and symbols.</p> + +<p>But the man of science, who, forgetting the limits of philosophical +inquiry, slides from these formulæ and symbols into what is commonly +understood by materialism, seems to me to place himself on a level with +the mathematician, who should mistake the <i>x</i>'s and <i>y</i>'s with which he +works his problems, for real entities—and with this further +disadvantage, as compared with the mathematician, that the blunders of +the latter are of no practical consequence, while the errors of +systematic materialism may paralyse the energies and destroy the beauty +of a life.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="NATURALISM_AND_SUPERNATURALISM" id="NATURALISM_AND_SUPERNATURALISM"></a>NATURALISM AND SUPERNATURALISM</h2> + +<h2>[FROM PROLOGUE TO CONTROVERTED QUESTIONS, 1892.]</h2> + + +<p>There is a single problem with different aspects of 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.</p> + +<p>Experience speedily taught them that the shifting scenes of the world's +stage have a permanent background; that there is order amidst the +seeming contusion, 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 <!-- Page 58 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58"></a>[Page 58]</span>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.</p> + +<p>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 over-ruling strength will be exerted +in favour of those who stand well with its denizens. On the other hand, +the lessons of the great school-master, 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <!-- Page 59 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59"></a>[Page 59]</span>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>modus vivendi</i> between the antagonists, some of which have +had a world-wide influence; though, unfortunately, none have proved +universally and permanently satisfactory.</p> + +<p>In the fourteenth century, the controverted question among us was, +whether certain portions of the Supernaturalism of mediæval 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.</p> + +<p>The impotence of their adversaries, however, did not remove the inherent +weakness of the position of the Protestants. <!-- Page 60 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60"></a>[Page 60]</span>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 mediæval +Supernaturalism. From Wicliff to Socinus, or even to Münzer, 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 +<!-- Page 61 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61"></a>[Page 61]</span>a private judgment to the arrogant Cæsaro-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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>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 mediæval +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Few men had better means of being acquainted with the condition of +Europe; <!-- Page 62 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62"></a>[Page 62]</span>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 short-comings, 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>In fact, the stream of the Renascence, which bore Erasmus along, left +Protestanism 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, <!-- Page 63 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63"></a>[Page 63]</span>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 "Infâme" 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 best, were disposed to show no more mercy to Deism and +Pantheism.</p> + +<p>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 <i>a priori</i> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Analogy</i>; while +the progress of the historical and psychological sciences brought to +light the important part played by the mythopœic faculty; and, by +demonstrating the extreme readiness of men to impose upon themselves, +rendered the calling in of sacerdotal co-operation, in most cases, a +superfluity.</p> + +<p>Again, as in the fourteenth and the sixteenth centuries, social and +political influences came into play. The free-thinking <i>philosophes</i>, +who objected to Rousseau's sentimental religiosity almost as much as +they did to <i>L'Infâme</i>, 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 <i>Bauern-krieg</i>. In England, though our <i>ancien régime</i> +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.</p> + +<p>My memory, unfortunately, carries me <!-- Page 64 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64"></a>[Page 64]</span>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>a fortiori</i> 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.</p> + +<p>My recollections of this time have recently been revived by the perusal +of a remarkable document,<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> signed by as many as thirty-eight out of +the twenty odd thousand clergymen of the Established Church. It does not +appear that the signatories 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.</p> + +<p>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 opinion in which I have had the +fortune <!-- Page 65 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65"></a>[Page 65]</span>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>A humble layman, to whom it would seem the height of presumption to +assume even the unconsidered dignity <!-- Page 66 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66"></a>[Page 66]</span>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.</p> + +<p>"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." <a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p> + +<p>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 Nicæa, or to come +to an end in the time of Irenæus, or in that of Justin Martyr, are +knotty questions which can be decided, if at all, only by those critical +methods which the signatories 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>But no such cause can be shown. If "antiquity" permitted Eusebius, +Origen, Tertullian, Irenæus, to argue for the reception of this book +into the canon and the rejection of that, upon rational grounds, +"antiquity" admitted the whole <!-- Page 67 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67"></a>[Page 67]</span>principal of modern criticism. If Irenæus +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 infallibility of these depends upon 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.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Among the watchers of the course of the world of thought, some view with +<!-- Page 68 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68"></a>[Page 68]</span>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 systematised 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Iliad</i> 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 be put upon the words; and that this non-natural +sense may, with a little trouble, be manipulated into some sort of +non-contradiction of scientific truth.</p> + +<p>My purpose, in an essay<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> 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 proposition of this essay can be +seriously challenged.</p> + +<p>In two essays<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> 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 <!-- Page 69 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69"></a>[Page 69]</span>of an immensely +long past, so far as we have any adequate knowledge of it (that is 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Bene Elohim</i> 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?</p> + +<p>It is the merest ostrich policy for contemporary ecclesiasticism to try +to bide 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 of the Deluge, to belief? If God not walk in the Garden +of Eden, how we be assured that he spoke from Sinai?</p> + +<p>In other essays<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <!-- Page 70 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70"></a>[Page 70]</span>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 <i>Te Deums</i> 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 "<i>Laborare est +orare</i>"; we admit that intelligent work is the only acceptable worship; +and that, whether there be a Supernature or not, our business is with +Nature.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>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;<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> but simply to the denial of the validity of the +evidence adduced in favour of this, or of that, extant form of +Supernaturalism.</p> + +<p>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 <!-- Page 71 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71"></a>[Page 71]</span>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.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_VALUE_OF_WITNESS_TO_THE_MIRACULOUS" id="THE_VALUE_OF_WITNESS_TO_THE_MIRACULOUS"></a>THE VALUE OF WITNESS TO THE MIRACULOUS</h2> + +<h2>[1889]</h2> + + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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.<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> 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 <!-- Page 72 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72"></a>[Page 72]</span>the strange story contained in the "Historia +Translations" 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.</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> +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,<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> 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,<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> 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.<br /> +<br /> +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. 1, 2, 3.)</div> + +<p>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,<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> notary Ratleig despatched to his master, at St. Bavon, a +letter announcing the success of his mission.</p> + +<div class="blockquote">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,<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> +and landing on the east bank of the river, at the fifth station +thence they arrived at Michilinstadt,<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> 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.)</div> + +<p>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, <!-- Page 73 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73"></a>[Page 73]</span>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.</p> + +<p>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 the measure of the chest in order a more +fitting shrine might be constructed. The man, having lighted a 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 (<i>loculum mirum in modum humore +sanguineo undique distillantem</i>), and at once sent a message to +Eginhard.</p> + +<div class="blockquote">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.)</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>entourage</i> in favour of moving on, he does not say +so.</p> + +<p>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 (<i>sanctimonialis quædam paralytica</i>) 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.)</p> + +<p>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.</p> +<p><!-- Page 74 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74"></a>[Page 74]</span></p> +<p>"Thus he lay a long time, as if asleep, and all his limbs straightening +and his flesh strengthening (<i>recepta firmitate nervorum</i>), he arose +before our eyes, quite well." (Cap. ii. 20.)</p> + +<p>Some time afterwards an old man entered the church on his hands and +knees, being unable to use his limbs properly:—</p> + +<div class="blockquote">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.)</div> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The possessed girl, about sixteen years of age, was brought by her +parents to the basilica of the martyrs.</p> + +<div class="blockquote">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.)</div> + +<p>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.<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<div class="blockquote">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.)</div> + +<p>If the "Historia Translations" 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, <!-- Page 75 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75"></a>[Page 75]</span>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?</p> + +<p>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</p> + +<div class="blockquote">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;<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> 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 «st as they +could. (Cap. i. 3.)</div> + +<p>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 (<i>et fidem diaconi promissis non haberent</i>). 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, <i>infecto negotio</i>.</p> + +<div class="blockquote">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 from 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,<!-- Page 76 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76"></a>[Page 76]</span> +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.)</div> + +<p>In fact, Deacon Deusdona, who doubtless kept an eye on his guests, knew +all about their manœuvres and made haste to offer his services, in +order that, "with the help of God" (<i>si Deus votis eorum favere +dignaretur</i>), they should all work together. The deacon was evidently +alarmed less they should succeed without <i>his</i> help.</p> + +<p>So, by way of preparation for the contemplated <i>vol avec affraction</i> +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.</p> + +<p>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 a 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <!-- Page 77 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77"></a>[Page 77]</span>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 was supposed not to have seen the relics, +Eginhard asked him how he knew that? Upon this, Hildoin saw 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 +wide-awake Hunus, went to sleep; and then, according to the story which +this "sharp" ecclesiastic foisted upon his patron,</p> + +<div class="blockquote">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;<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> 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.)</div> + +<p>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:</p> + +<div class="blockquote">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.)</div> + +<p>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 <i>all</i> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> +<p><!-- Page 78 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78"></a>[Page 78]</span></p> + +<p>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 (<i>vas sextarii +mensuram</i>) 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Lunison, on the contrary, swears that all this 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <!-- Page 79 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79"></a>[Page 79]</span>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.</p> + +<div class="blockquote">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.</div> + +<p>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, <i>a fortiori</i>, +anything like proper investigation of the reality of alleged miracles +was thrown to the winds.</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>Quite apart from deliberate and conscious fraud (which is a rarer thing +than is often supposed), people whose mythopœic 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 jaw +slipped suddenly back into place, perhaps in consequence of a jolt, as +the woman rode towards the church. (Cap. v. 53.)<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p> + +<p>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 +<!-- Page 80 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80"></a>[Page 80]</span>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.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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 comtemporaries 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, <i>a fortiori</i> the evidence +afforded by the Gospels and the Acts must be so.<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></p> + +<p>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.<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> 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 <!-- Page 81 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81"></a>[Page 81]</span>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 in 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 far 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.</p> + +<p>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 be added) demonstrates:—</p> + +<div class="blockquote">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<!-- Page 82 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82"></a>[Page 82]</span> +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.<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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, <i>All +things come by Nature</i>. 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, <i>There is a living God who made all things</i>. 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).</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> +<p><!-- Page 83 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83"></a>[Page 83]</span></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="AGNOSTICISM" id="AGNOSTICISM"></a>AGNOSTICISM</h2> + +<h2>[1889]</h2> + + +<p>Within the last few months [1889] 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.<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> 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:—</p> + +<div class="blockquote">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.<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> +</div> + +<p>So much of Dr. Wace's address either explicitly or implicitly concerns +me, that I take upon myself to deal with it; but, in doing so, 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.</p> + +<p>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 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.</p> +<p><!-- Page 84 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84"></a>[Page 84]</span></p> +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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" (<i>l.c.</i> 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 falsehood. 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.<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p> +<p><!-- Page 85 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85"></a>[Page 85]</span></p> +<p>The discussion upon which we have 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 smallpox; 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 +mediæval humanity impossible, I am prompted to reject, as dishonouring, +the supposition that such declaration was withheld out of condescension +to popular error.</p> + +<p>"Come forth, thou unclean spirit, out of the man" (Mark v. 8)<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> 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 Cyclopædia" (vol. i. p. +664, note):—</p> + +<div class="blockquote">... On the lowest grounds on which our Lord and His Apostles can be +placed they must, at least, be regarded as <i>honest</i> 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 δαιμονἱζεσθαι, or the phrase, +δαιμὁνιον ἑχειν, as a popular description of<!-- Page 86 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86"></a>[Page 86]</span> +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, <i>Prel. Diss.</i> vi. 1, 10.) If, consequently, they +did not hold this belief, they spoke not as honest men.</div> + +<p>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).</p> + +<p>If the concurrent testimony of the three synoptics, then, is really +sufficient to do away with all rational doubt as to the 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 mediæval 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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,<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> is stopped in this +instance. For the question of the existence of demon: 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.</p> +<p><!-- Page 87 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87"></a>[Page 87]</span></p> +<p>The theory of life of an average mediæval 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.</p> + +<p>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.<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>Absolutely nothing.<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> 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 <!-- Page 88 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88"></a>[Page 88]</span>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 hesitated to +introduce a speech in which Jesus promises his disciples that "in My +name shall they cast out devils."</p> + +<p>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 omit 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?</p> + +<p>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 Irenæus 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Nineteenth +Century</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 <!-- Page 89 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89"></a>[Page 89]</span>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 mythopœic faculty to break +out unnoticed. But it is also perfectly true that the mythopœic +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 <i>prima facie</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>a priori</i> objection to offer. There are physical +things, such as <i>læniæ</i> and <i>trichinæ</i> which can be transferred from men +to pigs, and <i>vice versa</i>, 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 I have the greatest respect, believe in +stories about spirits of the present day, quite as improbable as that we +are considering.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a></p> + +<p>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 <!-- Page 90 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90"></a>[Page 90]</span>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"?</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 has 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 above 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 mediæval +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?</p> + +<p>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 satifactorily answered, I +say of agnosticism in this matter, "<i>J'y suis, et j'y reste.</i>"</p> + +<p>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, <!-- Page 91 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91"></a>[Page 91]</span>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 doctrine 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?</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 Apostles' 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.</p> + +<p>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 <!-- Page 92 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92"></a>[Page 92]</span>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 <i>vice versa</i>; but, on +Dr. Wace's principles, both ought to call themselves infidels, because +each applies the term to the other.</p> + +<p>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 Mahommedanism, in Cairo, in +ignorance of the fact that I was unprovided with proper authority. A +swarm of angry under-graduates, 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 Civilisation, 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 <i>Edinburgh Review</i>. The latter +was certainly strange reading for a boy, and I could not possibly have +understood a great deal of it;<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <!-- Page 93 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93"></a>[Page 93]</span>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 the chief. The ordinary examiner, his "State the +views of So-and-so," would have floored me at any time. If he had said +what do <i>you</i> think about any given problem, I might have got on fairly +well.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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." <a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a></p> + +<p>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,</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Mi ritrovai per una selva oscura,</span><br /> +</div></div> + +<p>but, unlike Dante, I cannot add,</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Che la diritta via era smarrita.</span> +</div></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>-ists</i> 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 <!-- Page 94 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94"></a>[Page 94]</span>term took; and when the +<i>Spectator</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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.<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a></p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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" (<i>l.c.</i> p. +254).</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>A thousand times, no! It ought <i>not</i> 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 <i>ought</i> to feel their duty unpleasant.</p> + +<p>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 this 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 <!-- Page 95 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95"></a>[Page 95]</span>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, <i>plus</i> 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 <i>plébiscite</i> of the +Christians of Europe, if they were true to their creeds, would affirm +your everlasting damnation by an immense majority.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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, +ὑπόστασις and +ἔλεγχος, 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.</p> +<!-- Page 96 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96"></a>[Page 96]</span> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_CHRISTIAN_TRADITION_IN_RELATION_TO_JUDAIC_CHRISTIANITY_FROM" id="THE_CHRISTIAN_TRADITION_IN_RELATION_TO_JUDAIC_CHRISTIANITY_FROM"></a>THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION IN RELATION TO JUDAIC CHRISTIANITY [FROM +"AGNOSTICISM: A REJOINDER," 1889]</h2> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>If I am doing my best to rouse any 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.</p> + +<p>In my former papers, according to Dr. Wace, I have evaded giving an +answer to his main proposition, which he states as follows—</p> + +<div class="blockquote">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<!-- Page 97 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97"></a>[Page 97]</span> +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).</div> + +<p>Again—</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> +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).</div> + +<p>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 +inter-dependent,<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> 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.<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <!-- Page 98 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98"></a>[Page 98]</span>later +"Matthew" inserts it in his compilation.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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 believes the first gospel to be the work of an +authority to whom he ought to defer, let alone that of an apostolic +eye-witness.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a></p> +<p><!-- Page 99 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99"></a>[Page 99]</span></p> +<p>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 <i>cento</i> 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.</p> + +<p>So with the "Lord's Prayer." Absent in our representative of the oldest +tradition 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" <a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <!-- Page 100 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100"></a>[Page 100]</span>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.</p> + +<p>Jesus was crucified at the third hour (xv. 25), and the narrative seems +to imply that he died immediately after the ninth hour (<i>v.</i> 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 +Arimathæa 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 extraordinarily +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.</p> + +<p>The inanimate body, wrapped in linen, was deposited in a spacious,<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> +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.</p> + +<p>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 Arimathæa 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <!-- Page 101 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101"></a>[Page 101]</span>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="blockquote">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.)</div> + +<p>I do not presume to quarrel with Paul's procedure. If it satisfied him, +that was his affair; and, if it satisfies any one 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?</p> + +<p>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 be 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.<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a></p> + +<p>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,<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> or not. As Dr. Wace admits that I have dissipated his lingering +shade of unbelief about the <!-- Page 102 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102"></a>[Page 102]</span>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."</p> + +<p>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 <i>a fortiori</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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,<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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.<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> These +are:—</p> + +<p>1. Orthodox Jews who refuse to believe that Jesus is the Christ. <i>Not +Saved.</i></p> + +<p>2. Jews who observe the Law; believe Jesus to be the Christ; but who +insist on the observance of the Law by Gentile converts. <i>Not Saved.</i></p> + +<p>3. Jews who observe the Law; believe Jesus to be the Christ, and hold +that Gentile converts need not observe the Law. <i>Saved</i> (in Justin's +opinion; but some of his fellow-Christians think the contrary).</p> + +<p>4. Gentile converts to the belief in Jesus as the Christ, who observe +the Law. <i>Saved</i> (possibly).</p> + +<p>5. Gentile believers in Jesus as the <!-- Page 103 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103"></a>[Page 103]</span>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. <i>Saved</i> (this is Justin's own +view).</p> + +<p>6. Gentile believers who do not observe the Law, except in refusing +idol sacrifices, and hold those who do observe it to be heretics. +<i>Saved.</i></p> + +<p>7. Gentiles who believe Jesus to be the Christ and call themselves +Christians, but who eat meats sacrificed to idols. <i>Not Saved.</i></p> + +<p>8. Gentiles who disbelieve in Jesus as the Christ. <i>Not Saved.</i></p> + +<p>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 a believer in the +resurrection of the body, as in the speedy Second Coming establishment +of the millennium.</p> + +<p>This 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:—</p> + +<pre> + _Justin's Christianity_ + _______________|_______________ + | | +_Orthodox_ _Judæo-_ _Idolothytic_ _Paganism_ +_Judaism_ _Christianity_ _Christianity_ + _____|_______ + | | + I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. +</pre> + + +<p>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 +Judæo-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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Modern Christianity has, in fact, not only shifted far to the right of +Justin's position, but it is of much narrower compass.</p> + +<pre> + _Justin_ + _____________|___________________ + | | + _Judæo-_ _Modern_ _Paganism_ + _Christianity_ _Christianity_ +_Judaism_ _____|______ _____|__________ + | | | | + I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. +</pre> + +<p>For, though it includes VII., and even, in saint and relic worship, cuts +a "monstrous cantle" out of paganism, it excludes, not only all +Judæo-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.</p> +<p><!-- Page 104 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104"></a>[Page 104]</span></p> +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Now let us turn to our other authority. If there is any result of +critical investigations of the sources of Christianity which is +certain,<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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 be 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 <!-- Page 105 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105"></a>[Page 105]</span>dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that even +Barnabas was carried away with their dissimulation" (Galatians ii. +12-13).</p> + +<p>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 religous 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.</p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="blockquote">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.)</div> + +<p>They therefore request that he should perform a certain public religious +act in the Temple, in order that</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> +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 (<i>ibid.</i> 24).<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <!-- Page 106 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106"></a>[Page 106]</span>the Nazarenes," no more, in itself, to be regarded as anything +outside Judaism than the sect of the Sadducees, or that of the +Essenes<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a>. In fact, the tenets of both the Sadducees and the Essenes +diverged much more widely from the Pharisaic standard of orthodoxy than +Nazarenism did.</p> + +<p>Let us consider the position 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.</p> + +<p>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 midway between the two. It is therefore a +profound mistake to imagine that the Judæo-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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>We are sometimes told that the personal friends and daily companions of +Jesus remained zealous Jews and opposed <!-- Page 107 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107"></a>[Page 107]</span>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 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.</p> + +<p>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 were taught by them up to the year 50A.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.<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> 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.</p> + +<p>But if the primitive Nazarenes of whom the Acts speaks were orthodox +Jews, what sort of probability can there <!-- Page 108 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108"></a>[Page 108]</span>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?<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> 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 pseudo-prophetic 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?</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="AGNOSTICISM_AND_CHRISTIANITY" id="AGNOSTICISM_AND_CHRISTIANITY"></a>AGNOSTICISM AND CHRISTIANITY</h2> + +<p>Nemo ergo ex me scire quærat, quod me nescire scio, nisi forte ut +nescire discat.—AUGUSTINUS. <i>De Civ. Dei</i>, xii. 7.</p> + + +<p>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 <!-- Page 109 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109"></a>[Page 109]</span>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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." +<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> 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 <!-- Page 110 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110"></a>[Page 110]</span>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.</p> + +<p>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." <a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> 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."</p> + +<p>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 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.</p> + +<p>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 on 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="blockquote">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.)</div> + +<p>Here is the briefest of summaries of the teaching of the prophets of +Israel of <!-- Page 111 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111"></a>[Page 111]</span>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."</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>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 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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>ists</i>, 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 morality 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Summa</i> of Nazarene theology +distinctly <!-- Page 112 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112"></a>[Page 112]</span>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>In this system, Man is considered to be a duality formed of a spiritual +element, the soul; and a corporeal<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> 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.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, the chief of the bad spirits is Satan, <i>the</i> devil +<i>par excellence</i>. 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 their 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.</p> + +<p>The significance of the appearance of <!-- Page 113 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113"></a>[Page 113]</span>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.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> go so far as to challenge the pagans to a +sort of exorcising match, by way of testing the truth of Christianity. +Mediæval 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.</p> + +<p>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 <!-- Page 114 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114"></a>[Page 114]</span>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.</p> + +<p>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?<a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a></p> + +<p>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 formulæ 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).</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 115 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115"></a>[Page 115]</span>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.</p> + +<p>Agnosticism (<i>me judice</i>) >says: There is no good evidence of the +existence of a demoniac spiritual world, and much reason for doubting +it.</p> + +<p>Here upon 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 than the +other, so he may admit 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.</p> + +<p>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 than 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>prima facie</i> 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 mediæval +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 presupposition of their observations and reasonings.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 116 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116"></a>[Page 116]</span>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.</p> + +<p>The position which I have taken up, that the evidence in favour of such +miracles as those recorded by Eginhard, and consequently of mediæval +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 <i>terminus a quo</i> and that +<i>terminus ad quem</i> miracles came to an end.</p> + +<p>The Anglicans and the Romanists agreed in the assumption that the +possession of the gift of miracle-working was <i>prima facie</i> 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 +mediæval 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.</p> + +<p>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 <!-- Page 117 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117"></a>[Page 117]</span>that the accounts of the latter, being inspired, are +out of the reach of criticism.</p> + +<p>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" <a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> by the +present [1889] Roman Cardinal, but then Anglican Doctor, John Henry +Newman, is compendiously stated by himself in the following passage:—</p> + +<div class="blockquote">If the miracles of Church history cannot be defended by the +arguments of Leslie, Lyttelton, Paley, or Douglas, how many of the +Scripture miracles satisfy their conditions? (P. cvii.)</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> +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<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> (p. cvii). +</div> + +<p>"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 <!-- Page 118 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118"></a>[Page 118]</span>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?</p> + +<p>"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:—</p> + +<div class="blockquote">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,</div> + +<p>and</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> +whether it is not a happy inconsistency by which they continue to +believe the Scriptures while they reject the Church<a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> (p. liii). +</div> + +<p>Again, I invite Anglican orthodoxy to consider this passage:—</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> +the narrative of the combats of St. Antony 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).</div> + +<p>Further on, Dr. Newman declares that it has been admitted</p> + +<div class="blockquote">that a distinct line can lie 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). +</div> + +<p>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 marriage 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 mediæval inquisitors into witchcraft was based? Why +forget the angel who wrestled with Jacob, and, as the account suggests, +somewhat over-stepped the bound 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,<a name="FNanchor_62A_62A" id="FNanchor_62A_62A"></a><a href="#Footnote_62A_62A" class="fnanchor">[62A]</a> enemies; and the fiery explosion which stopped the Julian +building operations. Though the <i>words</i> of the "Conclusion" of <!-- Page 119 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119"></a>[Page 119]</span>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.</p> + +<p>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 mediæval 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 of 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.<a name="FNanchor_63_63" id="FNanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> 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 wrestled +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 <i>a priori</i> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <!-- Page 120 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120"></a>[Page 120]</span>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<a name="FNanchor_64_64" id="FNanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a> 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.<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> 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.<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p class="blockquote">... 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." <a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a></p> + +<p>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 <!-- Page 121 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121"></a>[Page 121]</span>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 he inevitable result of his +arguments—if the world should refuse to accept Roman doctrines and +Roman miracles—than the writer of Tract 85.</p> + +<p>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 organisation 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, <i>a fortiori</i>, 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:</p> + +<div class="blockquote">... Did not the Apostles hear our Lord? and what was <i>their</i> +impression from what they heard? Is it not certain that the +Apostles did not gather this truth from His teaching? (Tract 85, p. +63.)<br /><br /> + +He said, "Preach the Gospel to every creature," These words <i>need</i> +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 (<i>ibid.</i> p. 65).</div> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor_68_68" id="FNanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> sources, and are essentially of heathen +origin.</p> +<p><!-- Page 122 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122"></a>[Page 122]</span></p> +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The preceding pages were written before I became acquainted with the +contents of the May number of the <i>Nineteenth Century</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<div class="blockquote">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.<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>With respect to the first half of my answer, I have pointed out that the +Sermon on the Mount, as given in the <!-- Page 123 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123"></a>[Page 123]</span>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.</p> + +<p>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 could 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, is it a "mere evasion" to say, in reply, that the evidence +that he did utter it is worthless?</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<!-- Page 124 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124"></a>[Page 124]</span>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.</p> + +<p>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</p> + +<div class="blockquote">Some ancient authorities omit: And Jesus said, "Father, forgive +them, for they know not what they do."</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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. 84. In this +I say:</p> + +<div class="blockquote">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."</div> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="blockquote">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.</div> + +<p>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 <i>seems</i> 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 <!-- Page 125 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125"></a>[Page 125]</span>with all that M. Renan considers +"beyond doubt" here, without surrendering anything, either "practically" +or theoretically.</p> + +<p>Dr. Wace (<i>Nineteenth Century</i>, March, p. 363) states that he derives +the above citation from the preface to the 15th edition of the "Vie de +Jésus." My copy of "Les Évangiles," dated 1877, contains a list of +Renan's "Œuvres Complètes," at the head of which I find "Vie de +Jéesus," 15° edition. It is, therefore, a later work than the edition of +the "Vie de Jésus" which Dr. Wace quotes. Now "Les Évangiles," 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.</p> + +<p>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 Évangiles," 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 "<i>mise en scène +voulue</i>." At p. 435, I find "Luc, ou Fauteur quel qu'il soit du +troisième Évangile"; 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 troisième Évangile est sûrement moindre +que celles des deux premiers." A Pyrrhic sort of victory for orthodoxy, +this "surrender"!</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>We may next turn to the essential part of Dr. Wace's citation +(<i>Nineteenth Century</i>, p. 365) touching the first Gospel:—</p> + +<div class="blockquote">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.</div> + +<p>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 Évangiles," p. 201). The fact is, +there is no contradiction here to that opinion about the first Gospel +which is expressed in "Les Évangiles" (p. 175).</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> +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<!-- Page 126 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126"></a>[Page 126]</span> +consciousness already attached infinite value.</div> + +<p>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 (<i>Nineteenth Century</i>, p. 365):—</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> +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.</div> + +<p>Let us consider this citation by the light of "Les Évangiles":—</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> +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).</div> + +<p>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).</p> + +<p>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, "quid 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?</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>A wonderful amount of controversial capital has been made out of my +assertion in the note to which I have referred, as an <i>obiter dictum</i> of +no consequence to my argument, that if Renan's work<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> were non-extant, +the main results of biblical criticism, as set forth in the works of +Strauss, Baur, Reuss, and <!-- Page 127 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127"></a>[Page 127]</span>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Thus, as I said, Linnæus, 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 Linnæus: 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 +palæontology 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.</p> + +<p>So, if I mistake not, Strauss, if he did not originate the idea of +taking the mythopœic 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 +debt 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.</p> + +<p>In <i>Agnosticism: a Rejoinder</i>, 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, <!-- Page 128 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128"></a>[Page 128]</span>must labour; and, +in a note, I add—</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> +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. +</div> + +<p>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 entrusted 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + +<h5>R. CLAY AND SONS, LTD., BREAD ST. HILL, E.C., AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.</h5> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>Footnotes</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> The absence of any keel on the breast-bone and some other +osteological peculiarities, observed by Professor Marsh, however, +suggest that <i>Hesperornis</i> may be a modification of a less specialised +group of birds than that to which these existing aquatic birds belong.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> A second specimen, discovered in 1877, and at present in +the Berlin museum, shows an excellently preserved skull with teeth: and +three digits, all terminated by claws, in the fore-limb. 1893.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> I use the word "type" because it is highly probable that +many forms of <i>Anchitherium</i>-like and <i>Hipparion</i>-like animals existed +in the Miocene and Pliocene epochs, just as many species of the horse +tribe exist now; and it is highly improbable that the particular species +of <i>Anchitherium</i> or <i>Hipparion</i>, which happen to have been discovered, +should be precisely those which have formed part of the direct line of +the horse's pedigree.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Since this lecture was delivered, Professor Marsh has +discovered a new genus of equine mammals (<i>Eohippus</i>) from the lowest +Eocene deposits of the West, which corresponds very nearly to this +description.—<i>American Journal of Science</i>, November, 1876.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> <i>The Limits of Philosophical Inquiry</i>, pp. 4 and 5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Hume's Essay, "Of the Academical or Sceptical Philosophy," +in the <i>Inquiry concerning the Human Understanding</i>.—[Many critics of +this passage seem to forget that the subject-matter of Ethics and +Æsthetics consists of, matters of fact and existence.—1892.]</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Or, to speak more accurately, the physical state of which +volition is the expression.—[1892.]</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> <i>Declaration on the Truth of Holy Scripture</i>, <i>The Times</i>, +18th December, 1891.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> <i>Declaration</i>, Article 10.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Ego vero evangelio non crederem, nisi ecclesiæ Catholicæ +me commoveret auctoritas.—<i>Contra Epistolam Manichæi</i> cap. v.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> <i>Hasisadra's Adventure.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> <i>The Interpreters of Genesis and the Interpreters of +Nature</i> and <i>Mr. Gladstone and Genesis.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> <i>Agnosticism; The Value of Witness to the Miraculous; +Agnosticism: a Rejoinder; Agnosticism and Christianity; The Keepers of +the Herd of Swine</i>; and <i>Illustrations of Mr. Gladstone's Controversial +Methods</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> 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.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> My citations are made from Teulet's <i>Einhardi omnia quæ +extant opera</i>, Paris, 1840-1843, which contains a biography of the +author, a history of the text, with translations into French, and many +valuable annotations.</p></div> + + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> At present included in the Duchies of Hesse-Darmstadt and +Baden.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> 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.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Now included in Western Switzerland.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> Probably, according to Teulet, the present +Sandhofer-fahrt, a little below the embouchure of the Neckar.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> The present Michilstadt, thirty miles N.E. of Heidelberg.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> In the Middle Ages one of the most favourite accusations +against witches was that they committed just these enormities.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> It is pretty clear that Eginhard had his doubts about the +deacon, whose pledges he qualifies as <i>sponsiones incertæ</i>. But, to be +sure, he wrote after events which fully justified scepticism.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> The words are <i>scrinia sine clave</i>, which seems to mean +"having no key." But the circumstances forbid the idea of breaking +open.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> Eginhard speaks with lofty contempt of the "vana ac +superstitiosa præsumptio" of the poor woman's companions in trying to +alleviate her sufferings with "herbs and frivolous incantations." Vain +enough, no doubt, but the "mulierculæ" might have returned the epithet +"superstitious" with interest.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> 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.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> See 1 Cor. xii. 10-28; 2 Cor. vi. 12 Rom. xv, 19.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> <i>A Journal or Historical Account of the Life, Travels, +Sufferings, and Christian Experiences, &c., of George Fox.</i> Ed. 1694, +pp. 27, 28.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> See the <i>Official Report of the Church Congress held at +Manchester</i>, October 1888, pp. 253, 254.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> [In this place and in <i>Illustrations of Mr. Gladstone's +Controversial Methods</i>, 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.]</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> 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, could not be sensibly affected.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> [See De Gobineau, <i>Les Religions et les Philosophies dans +l'Asie Centrale</i>; and the recently published work of Mr. E.G. Browne, +<i>The Episode of the Bab</i>.]</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> Here, as always, the revised version is cited.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> 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 be taken <i>au sérieux</i> 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 or 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.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> See, for an admirable discussion of the whole subject, Dr. +Abbott's article on the Gospels in the <i>Encyclopædia Britannica</i>; and +the remarkable monograph by Professor Volkmar, <i>Jesus Nazarenus und die +erste christliche Zeit</i> (1882). Whether we agree with the conclusions of +these writers or not, the method of critical investigation which they +adopt is unimpeachable.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> Notwithstanding the hard words shot at me from behind the +hedge of anonymity by a writer in a recent number of the <i>Quarterly +Review</i>, I repeat, without the slightest fear of refutation, that the +four Gospels, as they have come to us, are the work of unknown writers.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> + 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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> + 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.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> <i>Kritik der reinen Vernunft.</i> Edit. Hartenstein p. 256.</p></div> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> <i>Report of the Church Congress</i>, Manchester, 1888, p. +252.</p></div> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> 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 <i>Ur-Marcus</i> (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.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> 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, <i>The Common +Tradition of the Synoptic Gospels,</i> 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, +<i>Maitland of Lethington</i>. The second edition of Holtzmann's <i>Lehrbuch</i>, +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 (<i>sachkundige</i>) critics +differ," and he decides in favour of Mark.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> Holtzmann (<i>Die synoptischen Evangelien</i> 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 +<i>Lehrbuch</i> (p. 372), "an artificial mosaic work."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> See Schürer, <i>Geschichte des jüdischen Volkes</i>, Zweiter +Theil, p. 384.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> Spacious, because a young man could sit in it "on the +right side" (xv. 5), and therefore with plenty of room to spare.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> 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).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> 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."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> 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.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> See <i>Dial. cum Tryphone</i>, § 47 and § 35. It is to be +understood that Justin does not arrange these categories in order, as I +have done.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> 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 47 above.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> [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.]</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> All this was quite clearly pointed out by Ritschl nearly +forty years ago. See <i>Die Entstehung der alt-katholischen Kirche</i> +(1850), p. 108.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> "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, <i>Vorträge</i> (1865), +p. 26.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> Dr. Harnack, in the lately-published second edition of His +<i>Dogmengeschichte</i>, 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.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> I confess that, long ago, I once or twice made this +mistake; even to the waste of a capital 'U.' 1893.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> "Let us maintain, before we have proved. This seeming +paradox is the secret of happiness" (Dr. Newman: Tract 85, p. 85).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> Dr, Newman, <i>Essay on Development</i>, p. 357.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> 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.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> Tertullian (<i>Apolog. adv. Gentes</i>, 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.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> See the expression of orthodox opinion upon the +"accommodation" subterfuge already cited above, pp. 85 and 86.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> I quote the first edition (1843). A second edition +appeared in 1870. Tract 85 of the <i>Tracts for the Times</i> should be read +with this <i>Essay</i>. 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 <i>Essay on Development</i> by the same +author.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> Yet, when it +suits his purpose, as in the Introduction to +the <i>Essay on Development</i>, 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 (<i>Essay on Miracles</i>, 1870; note, p. +391).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> +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."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62A_62A" id="Footnote_62A_62A"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_62A_62A"><span class="label">[62A]</span></a> +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.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> A writer in a spiritualist journal takes me soundly 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:— +</p><p> +"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 <i>Light</i>." +</p><p> +Are we going back to the days of the Judges, when wealthy Micah set up +his private ephod, teraphim, and Levite?</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> 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 (<i>De Anima.</i> 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.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> See the New York <i>World</i> for Sunday, 21st October, 1888; +and the <i>Report of the Stybert Commission </i> Philadelphia, 1887.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> 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 <i>Essay on Miracles</i>, 2d ed. p. 163.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> <i>An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine</i>, by +J.H. Newman, D.D., pp. 7 and 8. (1878.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> 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 can carry.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> <i>Nineteenth Century</i>, May 1889 (p. 701)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> I trust it may not be supposed that I undervalue M. +Renan's labours, or intended to speak slightingly of them.</p></div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Lectures and Essays, by Thomas Henry Huxley + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LECTURES AND ESSAYS *** + +***** This file should be named 16474-h.htm or 16474-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/4/7/16474/ + +Produced by Wallace McLean, Hemantkumar N Garach and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Lectures and Essays + +Author: Thomas Henry Huxley + +Release Date: August 8, 2005 [EBook #16474] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LECTURES AND ESSAYS *** + + + + +Produced by Wallace McLean, Hemantkumar N Garach and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + +Lectures and Essays + +BY + +THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY + +MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED + +ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON + +1910 + + + + +THE WORKS OF THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY. + + +THE LIFE AND WORKS OF THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY, F.R.S. _Eversley Series_. + +Twelve vols. Globe 8vo, 4s. net each. + +VOL. I. METHOD AND RESULTS. + II. DARWINIANA. + III. SCIENCE AND EDUCATION. + IV. SCIENCE AND HEBREW TRADITION. + V. SCIENCE AND CHRISTIAN TRADITION. + VI. HUME, WITH HELPS TO THE STUDY OF BERKELEY. + VII. MAN'S PLACE IN NATURE. + VIII. DISCOURSES, BIOLOGICAL AND GEOLOGICAL. + IX. EVOLUTION AND ETHICS, AND OTHER ESSAYS. + X. } + XI. } THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY. + XII. } + + * * * * * + +APHORISMS AND REFLECTIONS FROM THE WORKS OF T.H. HUXLEY. Selected by +HENRIETTA A. HUXLEY. With Portrait. Pott 8vo, _2s. 6d._ net. Also cloth +elegant, _2s. 6d._ net. Limp Leather, _3s. 6d._ net. _Golden Treasury +Series_. + +AMERICAN ADDRESSES. 8vo, _6s. 6d._ + +CRITIQUES AND ADDRESSES. 8vo, _10s. 6d._ + +LESSONS IN ELEMENTARY PHYSIOLOGY. F'cap 8vo, _4s. 6d._ QUESTIONS. +Pott 8vo, _1s. 6d._ + +LAY SERMONS, ADDRESSES, AND REVIEWS. 8vo, _7s. 6d._ + +INTRODUCTORY PRIMER OF SCIENCE. Pott 8vo, _1s._ + +PHYSIOGRAPHY: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF NATURE. Crown 8vo, +_6s._ + +PHYSIOGRAPHY. A New Edition. Revised and partly re-written by R.A. +GREGORY. Globe 8vo, _4s. 6d._ + +SOCIAL DISEASES AND WORSE REMEDIES. Crown 8vo. Sewed, _1s._ net. + +LECTURES AND ESSAYS. 8vo. Sewed. _6d._ + +ESSAYS: ETHICAL AND POLITICAL. 8vo, Sewed. _6d._ + +LIFE OF HUME. Crown 8vo. Library Edition. _2s._ net. Popular Edition, +_1s. 6d._ Sewed. _1s._ F'cap 8vo. Pocket Edition. _1s._ net. _English +Men of Letters._ + + +By Prof. T.H. HUXLEY, assisted by Prof. H.N. MARTIN. + +A COURSE OF ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION IN PRACTICAL BIOLOGY. Revised and +extended by G.B. HOWES and D.H. SCOTT. Crown 8vo, _10s. 6d._ + +MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD., LONDON. + + + + +LECTURES AND ESSAYS + + +BY + +THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY + + + + +MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON 1910 + + + + +CONTENTS. + PAGE + +AUTOBIOGRAPHY 5 + +LECTURES ON EVOLUTION 11 + +ON THE PHYSICAL BASIS OF LIFE 45 + +NATURALISM AND SUPERNATURALISM 57 + +THE VALUE OF WITNESS TO THE MIRACULOUS 71 + +AGNOSTICISM 83 + +THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION IN RELATION TO JUDAIC + CHRISTIANITY 96 + +AGNOSTICISM AND CHRISTIANITY 108 + + +_First Edition, February_ 1902. +_Reprinted, December_ 1902, 1903, 1904, 1910. + + + + +AUTOBIOGRAPHY + + +I was born about eight o'clock in the morning on the 4th of May, 1825, +at Ealing, which was, at that time, as quiet a little country village +as could be found within half-a-dozen miles of Hyde Park Corner. Now it +is a suburb of London with, I believe, 30,000 inhabitants. My father was +one of the masters in a large semi-public school which at one time had a +high reputation. I am not aware that any portents preceded my arrival in +this world, but, in my childhood, I remember hearing a traditional +account of the manner in which I lost the chance of an endowment of +great practical value. The windows of my mother's room were open, in +consequence of the unusual warmth of the weather. For the same reason, +probably, a neighbouring beehive had swarmed, and the new colony, +pitching on the window-sill, was making its way into the room when the +horrified nurse shut down the sash. If that well-meaning woman had only +abstained from her ill-timed interference, the swarm might have settled +on my lips, and I should have been endowed with that mellifluous +eloquence which, in this country, leads far more surely than worth, +capacity, or honest work, to the highest places in Church and State. But +the opportunity was lost, and I have been obliged to content myself +through life with saying what I mean in the plainest of plain language, +than which, I suppose, there is no habit more ruinous to a man's +prospects of advancement. + +Why I was christened Thomas Henry I do not know; but it is a curious +chance that my parents should have fixed for my usual denomination upon +the name of that particular Apostle with whom I have always felt most +sympathy. Physically and mentally I am the son of my mother so +completely--even down to peculiar movements of the hands, which made +their appearance in me as I reached the age she had when I noticed +them--that I can hardly find any trace of my father in myself, except an +inborn faculty for drawing, which unfortunately, in my case, has never +been cultivated, a hot temper, and that amount of tenacity of purpose +which unfriendly observers sometimes call obstinacy. + +My mother was a slender brunette, of an emotional and energetic +temperament, and possessed of the most piercing black eyes I ever saw in +a woman's head. With no more education than other women of the middle +classes in her day, she had an excellent mental capacity. Her most +distinguishing characteristic, however, was rapidity of thought. If one +ventured to suggest she had not taken much time to arrive at any +conclusion, she would say, "I cannot help it, things flash across me." +That peculiarity has been passed on to me in full strength; it has often +stood me in good stead; it has sometimes played me sad tricks, and it +has always been a danger. But, after all, if my time were to come over +again, there is nothing I would less willingly part with than my +inheritance of mother wit. + +I have next to nothing to say about my childhood. In later years my +mother, looking at me almost reproachfully, would sometimes say, "Ah! +you were such a pretty boy!" whence I had no difficulty in concluding +that I had not fulfilled my early promise in the matter of looks. In +fact, I have a distinct recollection of certain curls of which I was +vain, and of a conviction that I closely resembled that handsome, +courtly gentleman, Sir Herbert Oakley, who was vicar of our parish, and +who was as a god to us country folk, because he was occasionally visited +by the then Prince George of Cambridge. I remember turning my pinafore +wrong side forwards in order to represent a surplice, and preaching to +my mother's maids in the kitchen as nearly as possible in Sir Herbert's +manner one Sunday morning when the rest of the family were at church. +That is the earliest indication I can call to mind of the strong +clerical affinities which my friend Mr. Herbert Spencer has always +ascribed to me, though I fancy they have for the most part remained in a +latent state. + +My regular school training was of the briefest, perhaps fortunately, for +though my way of life has made me acquainted with all sorts and +conditions of men, from the highest to the lowest, I deliberately affirm +that the society I fell into at school was the worst I have ever known. +We boys were average lads, with much the same inherent capacity for good +and evil as any others; but the people who were set over us cared about +as much for our intellectual and moral welfare as if they were +baby-farmers. We were left to the operation of the struggle for +existence among ourselves, and bullying was the least of the ill +practices current among us. Almost the only cheerful reminiscence in +connection with the place which arises in my mind is that of a battle I +had with one of my classmates, who had bullied me until I could stand it +no longer. I was a very slight lad, but there was a wild-cat element in +me which, when roused, made up for lack of weight, and I licked my +adversary effectually. However, one of my first experiences of the +extremely rough-and-ready nature of justice, as exhibited by the course +of things in general, arose out of the fact that I--the victor--had a +black eye, while he--the vanquished--had none, so that I got into +disgrace and he did not. We made it up, and thereafter I was unmolested. +One of the greatest shocks I ever received in my life was to be told a +dozen years afterwards by the groom who brought me my horse in a +stable-yard in Sydney that he was my quondam antagonist. He had a long +story of family misfortune to account for his position, but at that time +it was necessary to deal very cautiously with mysterious strangers in +New South Wales, and on inquiry I found that the unfortunate young man +had not only been "sent out," but had undergone more than one colonial +conviction. + +As I grew older, my great desire was to be a mechanical engineer, but +the fates were against this, and, while very young, I commenced the +study of medicine under a medical brother-in-law. But, though the +Institute of Mechanical Engineers would certainly not own me, I am not +sure that I have not all along been a sort of mechanical engineer _in +partibus infidelium_. I am now occasionally horrified to think how very +little I ever knew or cared about medicine as the art of healing. The +only part of my professional course which really and deeply interested +me was physiology, which is the mechanical engineering of living +machines; and, notwithstanding that natural science has been my proper +business, I am afraid there is very little of the genuine naturalist in +me. I never collected anything, and species work was always a burden to +me; what I cared for was the architectural and engineering part of the +business, the working out the wonderful unity of plan in the thousands +and thousands of diverse living constructions, and the modifications of +similar apparatuses to serve diverse ends. The extraordinary attraction +I felt towards the study of the intricacies of living structure nearly +proved fatal to me at the outset. I was a mere boy--I think between +thirteen and fourteen years of age--when I was taken by some older +student friends of mine to the first _post-mortem_ examination I ever +attended. All my life I have been most unfortunately sensitive to the +disagreeables which attend anatomical pursuits, but on this occasion my +curiosity overpowered all other feelings, and I spent two or three hours +in gratifying it. I did not cut myself, and none of the ordinary +symptoms of dissection-poison supervened, but poisoned I was somehow, +and I remember sinking into a strange state of apathy. By way of a last +chance, I was sent to the care of some good, kind people, friends of my +father's, who lived in a farmhouse in the heart of Warwickshire. I +remember staggering from my bed to the window on the bright spring +morning after my arrival, and throwing open the casement. Life seemed to +come back on the wings of the breeze, and to this day the faint odour of +wood-smoke, like that which floated across the farm-yard in the early +morning, is as good to me as the "sweet south upon a bed of violets." I +soon recovered, but for years I suffered from occasional paroxysms of +internal pain, and from that time my constant friend, hypochondriacal +dyspepsia, commenced his half century of co-tenancy of my fleshly +tabernacle. + +Looking back on my "Lehrjahre," I am sorry to say that I do not think +that any account of my doings as a student would tend to edification. In +fact, I should distinctly warn ingenuous youth to avoid imitating my +example. I worked extremely hard when it pleased me, and when it did +not--which was a very frequent case--I was extremely idle (unless making +caricatures of one's pastors and masters is to be called a branch of +industry), or else wasted my energies in wrong directions. I read +everything I could lay hands upon, including novels, and took up all +sorts of pursuits to drop them again quite as speedily. No doubt it was +very largely my own fault, but the only instruction from which I ever +obtained the proper effect of education was that which I received from +Mr. Wharton Jones, who was the lecturer on physiology at the Charing +Cross School of Medicine. The extent and precision of his knowledge +impressed me greatly, and the severe exactness of his method of +lecturing was quite to my taste. I do not know that I have ever felt so +much respect for anybody as a teacher before or since. I worked hard to +obtain his approbation, and he was extremely kind and helpful to the +youngster who, I am afraid, took up more of his time than he had any +right to do. It was he who suggested the publication of my first +scientific paper--a very little one--in the _Medical Gazette_ of 1845, +and most kindly corrected the literary faults which abounded in it, +short as it was; for at that time, and for many years afterwards, +I detested the trouble of writing, and would take no pains over it. + +It was in the early spring of 1846, that having finished my obligatory +medical studies and passed the first M.B. examination at the London +University--though I was still too young to qualify at the College of +Surgeons--I was talking to a fellow-student (the present eminent +physician, Sir Joseph Fayrer), and wondering what I should do to meet +the imperative necessity for earning my own bread, when my friend +suggested that I should write to Sir William Burnett, at that time +Director-General for the Medical Service of the Navy, for an +appointment. I thought this rather a strong thing to do, as Sir William +was personally unknown to me, but my cheery friend would not listen to +my scruples, so I went to my lodgings and wrote the best letter I could +devise. A few days afterwards I received the usual official circular of +acknowledgment, but at the bottom there was written an instruction to +call at Somerset House on such a day. I thought that looked like +business, so at the appointed time I called and sent in my card, while I +waited in Sir William's ante-room. He was a tall, shrewd-looking old +gentleman, with a broad Scotch accent--and I think I see him now as he +entered with my card in his hand. The first thing he did was to return +it, with the frugal reminder that I should probably find it useful on +some other occasion. The second was to ask whether I was an Irishman. I +suppose the air of modesty about my appeal must have struck him. I +satisfied the Director-General that I was English to the backbone, and +he made some inquiries as to my student career, finally desiring me to +hold myself ready for examination. Having passed this, I was in Her +Majesty's Service, and entered on the books of Nelson's old ship, the +_Victory_, for duty at Haslar Hospital, about a couple of months after I +made my application. + +My official chief at Haslar was a very remarkable person, the late Sir +John Richardson, an excellent naturalist, and far-famed as an +indomitable Arctic traveller. He was a silent, reserved man, outside the +circle of his family and intimates; and, having a full share of youthful +vanity, I was extremely disgusted to find that "Old John," as we +irreverent youngsters called him, took not the slightest notice of my +worshipful self either the first time I attended him, as it was my duty +to do, or for some weeks afterwards. I am afraid to think of the lengths +to which my tongue may have run on the subject of the churlishness of +the chief, who was, in truth, one of the kindest-hearted and most +considerate of men. But one day, as I was crossing the hospital square, +Sir John stopped me, and heaped coals of fire on my head by telling me +that he had tried to get me one of the resident appointments, much +coveted by the assistant-surgeons, but that the Admiralty had put in +another man. "However," said he, "I mean to keep you here till I can get +you something you will like," and turned upon his heel without waiting +for the thanks I stammered out. That explained how it was I had not been +packed off to the West Coast of Africa like some of my juniors, and why, +eventually, I remained altogether seven months at Haslar. + +After a long interval, during which "Old John" ignored my existence +almost as completely as before, he stopped me again as we met in a +casual way, and describing the service on which the _Rattlesnake_ was +likely to be employed, said that Captain Owen Stanley, who was to +command the ship, had asked him to recommend an assistant surgeon who +knew something of science; would I like that? Of course I jumped at the +offer. "Very well, I give you leave; go to London at once and see +Captain Stanley." I went, saw my future commander, who was very civil to +me, and promised to ask that I should be appointed to his ship, as in +due time I was. It is a singular thing that, during the few months of my +stay at Haslar, I had among my messmates two future Directors-General of +the Medical Service of the Navy (Sir Alexander Armstrong and Sir John +Watt-Reid), with the present President of the College of Physicians and +my kindest of doctors, Sir Andrew Clark. + +Life on board Her Majesty's ships in those days was a very different +affair from what it is now, and ours was exceptionally rough, as we were +often many months without receiving letters or seeing any civilised +people but ourselves. In exchange, we had the interest of being about +the last voyagers, I suppose, to whom it could be possible to meet with +people who knew nothing of fire-arms--as we did on the south Coast of +New Guinea--and of making acquaintance with a variety of interesting +savage and semi-civilised people. But, apart from experience of this +kind and the opportunities offered for scientific work, to me, +personally, the cruise was extremely valuable. It was good for me to +live under sharp discipline; to be down on the realities of existence by +living on bare necessaries; to find out how extremely well worth living +life seemed to be when one woke up from a night's rest on a soft plank, +with the sky for canopy and cocoa and weevilly biscuit the sole prospect +for breakfast; and, more especially, to learn to work for the sake of +what I got for myself out of it, even if it all went to the bottom and I +along with it. My brother officers were as good fellows as sailors ought +to be and generally are, but, naturally, they neither knew nor cared +anything about my pursuits, nor understood why I should be so zealous in +pursuit of the objects which my friends, the middies, christened +"Buffons," after the title conspicuous on a volume of the "Suites a +Buffon," which stood on my shelf in the chart room. + +During the four years of our absence, I sent home communication after +communication to the "Linnean Society;" with the same result as that +obtained by Noah when he sent the raven out of his ark. Tired at last of +hearing nothing about them, I determined to do or die, and in 1849 I +drew up a more elaborate paper and forwarded it to the Royal Society. +This was my dove, if I had only known it. But owing to the movements of +the ship, I heard nothing of that either until my return to England in +the latter end of the year 1850, when I found that it was printed and +published, and that a huge packet of separate copies awaited me. When I +hear some of my young friends complain of want of sympathy and +encouragement, I am inclined to think that my naval life was not the +least valuable part of my education. + +Three years after my return were occupied by a battle between my +scientific friends on the one hand and the Admiralty on the other, as to +whether the latter ought, or ought not, to act up to the spirit of a +pledge they had given to encourage officers who had done scientific work +by contributing to the expense of publishing mine. At last the +Admiralty, getting tired, I suppose, cut short the discussion by +ordering me to join a ship, which thing I declined to do, and as +Rastignac, in the "Pere Goriot," says to Paris, I said to London, "_a +nous deux_." I desired to obtain a Professorship of either Physiology or +Comparative Anatomy, and as vacancies occurred I applied, but in vain. +My friend, Professor Tyndall, and I were candidates at the same time, he +for the Chair of Physics and I for that of Natural History in the +University of Toronto, which, fortunately, as it turned out, would not +look at either of us. I say fortunately, not from any lack of respect +for Toronto, but because I soon made up my mind that London was the +place for me, and hence I have steadily declined the inducements to +leave it, which have at various times been offered. At last, in 1854, on +the translation of my warm friend Edward Forbes, to Edinburgh, Sir Henry +De la Beche, the Director-General of the Geological Survey, offered me +the post Forbes vacated of Paleontologist and Lecturer on Natural +History. I refused the former point blank, and accepted the latter only +provisionally, telling Sir Henry that I did not care for fossils, and +that I should give up Natural History as soon as I could get a +physiological post. But I held the office for thirty-one years, and a +large part of my work has been paleontological. + +At that time I disliked public speaking, and had a firm conviction that +I should break down every time I opened my mouth. I believe I had every +fault a speaker could have (except talking at random or indulging in +rhetoric), when I spoke to the first important audience I ever +addressed, on a Friday evening: at the Royal Institution, in 1852. Yet, +I must confess to having been guilty, _malgre moi_, of as much public +speaking as most of my contemporaries, and for the last ten years it +ceased to be so much of a bugbear to me. I used to pity myself for +having to go through this training, but I am now more disposed to +compassionate the unfortunate audiences, especially my ever-friendly +hearers at the Royal Institution, who were the subjects of my oratorical +experiments. + +The last thing that it would be proper for me to do would be to speak of +the work of my life, or to say at the end of the day whether I think I +have earned my wages or not. Men are said to be partial judges of +themselves. Young men may be; I doubt if old men are. Life seems +terribly foreshortened as they look back, and the mountain they set +themselves to climb in youth turns out to be a mere spur of immeasurably +higher ranges when, with failing breath, they reach the top. But if I +may speak of the objects I have had more or less definitely in view +since I began the ascent of my hillock, they are briefly these: To +promote the increase of natural knowledge and to forward the application +of scientific methods of investigation to all the problems of life to +the best of my ability, in the conviction which has grown with my growth +and strengthened with my strength, that there is no alleviation for the +sufferings of mankind except veracity of thought and of action, and the +resolute facing of the world as it is when the garment of make-believe +by which pious hands have hidden its uglier features is stripped off. + +It is with this intent that I have subordinated any reasonable, or +unreasonable, ambition for scientific fame which I may have permitted +myself to entertain to other ends; to the popularisation of science; to +the development and organisation of scientific education; to the +endless series of battles and skirmishes over evolution; and to untiring +opposition to that ecclesiastical spirit, that clericalism, which in +England, as everywhere else, and to whatever denomination it may belong, +is the deadly enemy of science. + +In striving for the attainment of these objects, I have been but one +among many, and I shall be well content to be remembered, or even not +remembered, as such. Circumstances, among which I am proud to reckon the +devoted kindness of many friends, have led to my occupation of various +prominent positions, among which the Presidency of the Royal Society is +the highest. It would be mock modesty on my part, with these and other +scientific honours which have been bestowed upon me, to pretend that I +have not succeeded in the career which I have followed, rather because I +was driven into it than of my own free will; but I am afraid I should +not count even these things as marks of success if I could not hope that +I had somewhat helped that movement of opinion which has been called the +New Reformation. + + + + +LECTURES AND ESSAYS + +LECTURES ON EVOLUTION + +[NEW YORK; 1876] + + +I + +THE THREE HYPOTHESES RESPECTING THE HISTORY OF NATURE + +We live in and form part of a system of things of immense diversity and +perplexity, which we call Nature; and it is a matter of the deepest +interest to all of us that we should form just conceptions of the +constitution of that system and of its past history. With relation to +this universe, man is, in extent, little more than a mathematical point; +in duration but a fleeting shadow; he is a mere reed shaken in the winds +of force. But as Pascal long ago remarked, although a mere reed, he is a +thinking reed; and in virtue of that wonderful capacity of thought, he +has the power of framing for himself a symbolic conception of the +universe, which, although doubtless highly imperfect and inadequate as a +picture of the great whole, is yet sufficient to serve him as a chart +for the guidance of his practical affairs. It has taken long ages of +toilsome and often fruitless labour to enable man to look steadily at +the shifting scenes of the phantasmagoria of Nature, to notice what is +fixed among her fluctuations, and what is regular among her apparent +irregularities; and it is only comparatively lately, within the last few +centuries, that the conception of a universal order and of a definite +course of things, which we term the course of Nature, has emerged. + +But, once originated, the conception of the constancy of the order of +Nature has become the dominant idea of modern thought. To any person who +is familiar with the facts upon which that conception is based, and is +competent to estimate their significance, it has ceased to be +conceivable that chance should have any place in the universe, or that +events should depend upon any but the natural sequence of cause and +effect. We have come to look upon the present as the child of the past +and as the parent of the future; and, as we have excluded chance from a +place in the universe, so we ignore, even as a possibility, the notion +of any interference with the order of Nature. Whatever may be men's +speculative doctrines, it is quite certain that every intelligent person +guides his life and risks his fortune upon the belief that the order of +Nature is constant, and that the chain of natural causation is never +broken. + +In fact, no belief which we entertain has so complete a logical basis as +that to which I have just referred. It tacitly underlies every process +of reasoning; it is the foundation of every act of the will. It is based +upon the broadest induction, and it is verified by the most constant, +regular, and universal of deductive processes. But we must recollect +that any human belief, however broad its basis, however defensible it +may seem, is, after all, only a probable belief, and that our widest and +safest generalisations are simply statements of the highest degree of +probability. Though we are quite clear about the constancy of the order +of Nature, at the present time, and in the present state of things, it +by no means necessarily follows that we are justified in expanding this +generalisation into the infinite past, and in denying, absolutely, that +there may have been a time when Nature did not follow a fixed order, +when the relations of cause and effect were not definite, and when +extra-natural agencies interfered with the general course of Nature. +Cautious men will allow that a universe so different from that which we +know may have existed; just as a very candid thinker may admit that a +world in which two and two do not make four, and in which two straight +lines do inclose a space, may exist. But the same caution which forces +the admission of such possibilities demands a great deal of evidence +before it recognises them to be anything more substantial. And when it +is asserted that, so many thousand years ago, events occurred in a +manner utterly foreign to and inconsistent with the existing laws of +Nature, men who without being particularly cautious are simply honest +thinkers, unwilling to deceive themselves or delude others, ask for +trustworthy evidence of the fact. + +Did things so happen or did they not? This is a historical question, and +one the answer to which must be sought in the same way as the solution +of any other historical problem. + + * * * * * + +So far as I know, there are only three hypotheses which ever have been +entertained, or which well can be entertained, respecting the past +history of Nature. I will, in the first place, state the hypotheses, and +then I will consider what evidence bearing upon them is in our +possession, and by what light of criticism that evidence is to be +interpreted. + +Upon the first hypothesis, the assumption is, that phenomena of Nature +similar to those exhibited by the present world have always existed; in +other words, that the universe has existed, from all eternity, in what +may be broadly termed its present condition. + +The second hypothesis is that the present state of things has had only a +limited duration; and that, at some period in the past, a condition of +the world, essentially similar to that which we now know, came into +existence, without any precedent condition from which it could have +naturally proceeded. The assumption that successive states of Nature +have arisen, each without any relation of natural causation to an +antecedent state, is a mere modification of this second hypothesis. + +The third hypothesis also assumes that the present state of things has +had but a limited duration; but it supposes that this state has been +evolved by a natural process from an antecedent state, and that from +another, and so on; and, on this hypothesis, the attempt to assign any +limit to the series of past changes is, usually, given up. + +It is so needful to form clear and distinct notions of what is really +meant by each of these hypotheses that I will ask you to imagine what, +according to each, would have been visible to a spectator of the events +which constitute the history of the earth. On the first hypothesis, +however far back in time that spectator might be placed, he would see a +world essentially, though perhaps not in all its details, similar to +that which now exists. The animals which existed would be the ancestors +of those which now live, and similar to them; the plants, in like +manner, would be such as we know; and the mountains, plains, and waters +would foreshadow the salient features of our present land and water. +This view was held more or less distinctly, sometimes combined with the +notion of recurrent cycles of change, in ancient times; and its +influence has been felt down to the present day. It is worthy of remark +that it is a hypothesis which is not inconsistent with the doctrine of +Uniformitarianism, with which geologists are familiar. That doctrine was +held by Hutton, and in his earlier days by Lyell. Hutton was struck by +the demonstration of astronomers that the perturbations of the planetary +bodies, however great they may be, yet sooner or later right themselves; +and that the solar system possesses a self-adjusting power by which +these aberrations are all brought back to a mean condition. Hutton +imagined that the like might be true of terrestrial changes; although no +one recognised more clearly than he the fact that the dry land is being +constantly washed down by rain and rivers and deposited in the sea; and +that thus, in a longer or shorter time, the inequalities of the earth's +surface must be levelled, and its high lands brought down to the ocean. +But, taking into account the internal forces of the earth, which, +upheaving the sea bottom, give rise to new land, he thought that these +operations of degradation and elevation might compensate each other; and +that thus, for any assignable time, the general features of our planet +might remain what they are. And inasmuch as, under these circumstances, +there need be no limit to the propagation of animals and plants, it is +clear that the consistent working-out of the uniformitarian idea might +lead to the conception of the eternity of the world. Not that I mean to +say that either Hutton or Lyell held this conception--assuredly not; +they would have been the first to repudiate it. Nevertheless, the +logical development of some of their arguments tends directly towards +this hypothesis. + +The second hypothesis supposes that the present order of things, at some +no very remote time, had a sudden origin, and that the world, such as it +now is, had chaos for its phenomenal antecedent. That is the doctrine +which you will find stated most fully and clearly in the immortal poem +of John Milton--the English _Divina Commedia_--"Paradise Lost." I +believe it is largely to the influence of that remarkable work, combined +with the daily teachings to which we have all listened in our childhood, +that this hypothesis owes its general wide diffusion as one of the +current beliefs of English-speaking people. If you turn to the seventh +book of "Paradise Lost," you will find there stated the hypothesis to +which I refer, which is briefly this: That this visible universe of ours +came into existence at no great distance of time from the present; and +that the parts of which it is composed made their appearance, in a +certain definite order, in the space of six natural days, in such a +manner that, on the first of these days, light appeared; that, on the +second, the firmament, or sky, separated the waters above, from the +waters beneath, the firmament; that, on the third day, the waters drew +away from the dry land, and upon it a varied vegetable life, similar to +that which now exists, made its appearance; that the fourth day was +signalised by the apparition of the sun, the stars, the moon, and the +planets; that, on the fifth day, aquatic animals originated within the +waters; that, on the sixth day, the earth gave rise to our four-footed +terrestrial creatures, and to all varieties of terrestrial animals +except birds, which had appeared on the preceding day; and, finally, +that man appeared upon the earth, and the emergence of the universe from +chaos was finished. Milton tells us, without the least ambiguity, what a +spectator of these marvellous occurrences would have witnessed. I doubt +not that his poem is familiar to all of you, but I should like to recall +one passage to your minds, in order that I may be justified in what I +have said regarding the perfectly concrete, definite, picture of the +origin of the animal world which Milton draws. He says:-- + + "The sixth, and of creation last, arose + With evening harps and matin, when God said, + 'Let the earth bring forth soul living in her kind, + Cattle and creeping things, and beast of the earth, + Each in their kind!' The earth obeyed, and, straight + Opening her fertile womb, teemed at a birth + Innumerous living creatures, perfect forms, + Limbed and full-grown. Out of the ground uprose, + As from his lair, the wild beast, where he wons + In forest wild, in thicket, brake, or den; + Among the trees in pairs they rose, they walked; + The cattle in the fields and meadows green; + Those rare and solitary; these in flocks + Pasturing at once, and in broad herds upsprung. + The grassy clods now calved; now half appears + The tawny lion, pawing to get free + His hinder parts--then springs, as broke from bonds, + And rampant shakes his brinded mane; the ounce, + The libbard, and the tiger, as the mole + Rising, the crumbled earth above them threw + In hillocks; the swift stag from underground + Bore up his branching head; scarce from his mould + Behemoth, biggest born of earth, upheaved + His vastness; fleeced the flocks and bleating rose + As plants; ambiguous between sea and land, + The river-horse and scaly crocodile. + At once came forth whatever creeps the ground, + Insect or worm. + +There is no doubt as to the meaning of this statement, nor as to what a +man of Milton's genius expected would have been actually visible to an +eye-witness of this mode of origination of living things. + +The third hypothesis, or the hypothesis of evolution, supposes that, at +any comparatively late period of past time, our imaginary spectator +would meet with a state of things very similar to that which now +obtains; but that the likeness of the past to the present would +gradually become less and less, in proportion to the remoteness of his +period of observation from the present day; that the existing +distribution of mountains and plains, of rivers and seas, would show +itself to be the product of a slow process of natural change operating +upon more and more widely different antecedent conditions of the mineral +framework of the earth; until, at length, in place of that framework, he +would behold only a vast nebulous mass, representing the constituents of +the sun and of the planetary bodies. Preceding the forms of life which +now exist, our observer would see animals and plants, not identical with +them, but like them, increasing their differences with their antiquity +and, at the same time, becoming simpler and simpler; until, finally, the +world of life would present nothing but that undifferentiated +protoplasmic matter which, so far as our present knowledge goes, is the +common foundation of all vital activity. + +The hypothesis of evolution supposes that in all this vast progression +there would be no breach of continuity, no point at which we could say +"This is a natural process," and "This is not a natural process;" but +that the whole might be compared to that wonderful operation of +development which may be seen going on every day under our eyes, in +virtue of which there arises, out of the semi-fluid comparatively +homogeneous substance which we call an egg, the complicated organisation +of one of the higher animals. That, in a few words, is what is meant by +the hypothesis of evolution. + +I have already suggested that, in dealing with these three hypotheses, +in endeavouring to form a judgment as to which of them is the more +worthy of belief, or whether none is worthy of belief--in which case our +condition of mind should be that suspension of judgment which is so +difficult to all but trained intellects--we should be indifferent to all +_a priori_ considerations. The question is a question of historical +fact. The universe has come into existence somehow or other, and the +problem is, whether it came into existence in one fashion, or whether it +came into existence in another; and, as an essential preliminary to +further discussion, permit me to say two or three words as to the nature +and the kinds of historical evidence. + +The evidence as to the occurrence of any event in past time may be +ranged under two heads which, for convenience' sake, I will speak of as +testimonial evidence and as circumstantial evidence. By testimonial +evidence I mean human testimony; and by circumstantial evidence I mean +evidence which is not human testimony. Let me illustrate by a familiar +example what I understand by these two kinds of evidence, and what is to +be said respecting their value. + +Suppose that a man tells you that he saw a person strike another and +kill him; that is testimonial evidence of the fact of murder. But it is +possible to have circumstantial evidence of the fact of murder; that is +to say, you may find a man dying with a wound upon his head having +exactly the form and character of the wound which is made by an axe, +and, with due care in taking surrounding circumstances into account, you +may conclude with the utmost certainty that the man has been murdered; +that his death is the consequence of a blow inflicted by another man +with that implement. We are very much in the habit of considering +circumstantial evidence as of less value than testimonial evidence, and +it may be that, where the circumstances are not perfectly clear and +intelligible, it is a dangerous and unsafe kind of evidence; but it must +not be forgotten that, in many cases, circumstantial is quite as +conclusive as testimonial evidence, and that, not unfrequently, it is a +great deal weightier than testimonial evidence. For example, take the +case to which I referred just now. The circumstantial evidence may be +better and more convincing than the testimonial evidence; for it may be +impossible, under the conditions that I have defined, to suppose that +the man met his death from any cause but the violent blow of an axe +wielded by another man. The circumstantial evidence in favour of a +murder having been committed, in that case, is as complete and as +convincing as evidence can be. It is evidence which is open to no doubt +and to no falsification. But the testimony of a witness is open to +multitudinous doubts. He may have been mistaken. He may have been +actuated by malice. It has constantly happened that even an accurate man +has declared that a thing has happened in this, that, or the other way, +when a careful analysis of the circumstantial evidence has shown that it +did not happen in that way, but in some other way. + +We may now consider the evidence in favour of or against the three +hypotheses. Let me first direct your attention to what is to be said +about the hypothesis of the eternity of the state of things in which we +now live. What will first strike you is, that it is a hypothesis which, +whether true or false, is not capable of verification by any evidence. +For, in order to observe either circumstantial or testimonial evidence +sufficient to prove the eternity of duration of the present state of +nature, you must have an eternity of witnesses or an infinity of +circumstances, and neither of these is attainable. It is utterly +impossible that such evidence should be carried beyond a certain point +of time; and all that could be said, at most, would be, that so far as +the evidence could be traced, there was nothing to contradict the +hypothesis. But when you look, not to the testimonial evidence--which, +considering the relative insignificance of the antiquity of human +records, might not be good for much in this case--but to the +circumstantial evidence, then you find that this hypothesis is +absolutely incompatible with such evidence as we have; which is of so +plain and simple a character that it is impossible in any way to escape +from the conclusions which it forces upon us. + +[Illustration: FIG. 1.--IDEAL SECTION OF THE CRUST OF THE EARTH.] + +You are, doubtless, all aware that the outer substance of the earth, +which alone is accessible to direct observation, is not of a homogeneous +character, but that it is made up of a number of layers or strata, the +titles of the principal groups of which are placed upon the accompanying +diagram. Each of these groups represents a number of beds of sand, of +stone, of clay, of slate, and of various other materials. + +On careful examination, it is found that the materials of which each of +these layers of more or less hard rock are composed are, for the most +part, of the same nature as those which are at present being formed +under known conditions on the surface of the earth. For example, the +chalk, which constitutes a great part of the Cretaceous formation in +some parts of the world, is practically identical in its physical and +chemical characters with a substance which is now being formed at the +bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, and covers an enormous area; other beds of +rock are comparable with the sands which are being formed upon +sea-shores, packed together, and so on. Thus, omitting rocks of igneous +origin, it is demonstrable that all these beds of stone, of which a +total of not less than seventy thousand feet is known, have been formed +by natural agencies, either out of the waste and washing of the dry +land, or else by the accumulation of the exuviae of plants and animals. +Many of these strata are full of such exuviae--the so-called "fossils." +Remains of thousands of species of animals and plants, as perfectly +recognisable as those of existing forms of life which you meet with in +museums, or as the shells which you pick up upon the sea-beach, have +been imbedded in the ancient sands, or muds, or limestones, just as they +are being imbedded now, in sandy, or clayey, or calcareous subaqueous +deposits. They furnish us with a record, the general nature of which +cannot be misinterpreted, of the kinds of things that have lived upon +the surface of the earth during the time that is registered by this +great thickness of stratified rocks. But even a superficial study of +these fossils shows us that the animals and plants which live at the +present time have had only a temporary duration; for the remains of such +modern forms of life are met with, for the most part, only in the +uppermost or latest tertiaries, and their number rapidly diminishes in +the lower deposits of that epoch. In the older tertiaries, the places of +existing animals and plants are taken by other forms, as numerous and +diversified as those which live now in the same localities, but more or +less different from them; in the mesozoic rocks, these are replaced by +others yet more divergent from modern types; and, in the palaeozoic +formations the contrast is still more marked. Thus the circumstantial +evidence absolutely negatives the conception of the eternity of the +present condition of things. We can say, with certainty, that the +present condition of things has existed for a comparatively short +period; and that, so far as animal and vegetable nature are concerned, +it has been preceded by a different condition. We can pursue this +evidence until we reach the lowest of the stratified rocks, in which we +lose the indications of life altogether. The hypothesis of the eternity +of the present state of nature may therefore be put out of court. + +We now come to what I will term Milton's hypothesis--the hypothesis that +the present condition of things has endured for a comparatively short +time; and, at the commencement of that time, came into existence within +the course of six days. I doubt not that it may have excited some +surprise in your minds that I should have spoken of this as Milton's +hypothesis, rather than that I should have chosen the terms which are +more customary, such as "the doctrine of creation," or "the Biblical +doctrine," or "the doctrine of Moses," all of which denominations, as +applied to the hypothesis to which I have just referred, are certainly +much more familiar to you than the title of the Miltonic hypothesis. But +I have had what I cannot but think are very weighty reasons for taking +the course which I have pursued. In the first place, I have discarded +the title of the "doctrine of creation," because my present business is +not with the question why the objects which constitute Nature came into +existence, but when they came into existence, and in what order. This is +as strictly a historical question as the question when the Angles and +the Jutes invaded England, and whether they preceded or followed the +Romans. But the question about creation is a philosophical problem, and +one which cannot be solved, or even approached, by the historical +method. What we want to learn is, whether the facts, so far as they are +known, afford evidence that things arose in the way described by Milton, +or whether they do not; and, when that question is settled, it will be +time enough to inquire into the causes of their origination. + +In the second place, I have not spoken of this doctrine as the Biblical +doctrine. It is quite true that persons as diverse in their general +views as Milton the Protestant and the celebrated Jesuit Father Suarez, +each put upon the first chapter of Genesis the interpretation embodied +in Milton's poem. It is quite true that this interpretation is that +which has been instilled into every one of us in our childhood; but I do +not for one moment venture to say that it can properly be called the +Biblical doctrine. It is not my business, and does not lie within my +competency, to say what the Hebrew text does, and what it does not +signify; moreover, were I to affirm that this is the Biblical doctrine, +I should be met by the authority of many eminent scholars, to say +nothing of men of science, who, at various times, have absolutely denied +that any such doctrine is to be found in Genesis. If we are to listen to +many expositors of no mean authority, we must believe that what seems so +clearly defined in Genesis--as if very great pains had been taken that +there should be no possibility of mistake--is not the meaning of the +text at all. The account is divided into periods that we may make just +as long or as short as convenience requires. We are also to understand +that it is consistent with the original text to believe that the most +complex plants and animals may have been evolved by natural processes, +lasting for millions of years, out of structureless rudiments. A person +who is not a Hebrew scholar can only stand aside and admire the +marvellous flexibility of a language which admits of such diverse +interpretations. But assuredly, in the face of such contradictions of +authority upon matters respecting which he is incompetent to form any +judgment, he will abstain, as I do, from giving any opinion. + +In the third place, I have carefully abstained from speaking of this as +the Mosaic doctrine, because we are now assured upon the authority of +the highest critics, and even of dignitaries of the Church, that there +is no evidence that Moses wrote the Book of Genesis, or knew anything +about it. You will understand that I give no judgment--it would be an +impertinence upon my part to volunteer even a suggestion--upon such a +subject. But, that being the state of opinion among the scholars and the +clergy, it is well for the unlearned in Hebrew lore, and for the laity, +to avoid entangling themselves in such a vexed question. Happily, Milton +leaves us no excuse for doubting what he means, and I shall therefore be +safe in speaking of the opinion in question as the Miltonic hypothesis. + +Now we have to test that hypothesis. For my part, I have no prejudice +one way or the other. If there is evidence in favour of this view, I am +burdened by no theoretical difficulties in the way of accepting it; but +there must be evidence. Scientific men get an awkward habit--no, I won't +call it that, for it is a valuable habit--of believing nothing unless +there is evidence for it; and they have a way of looking upon belief +which is not based upon evidence, not only as illogical, but as immoral. +We will, if you please, test this view by the circumstantial evidence +alone; for, from what I have said, you will understand that I do not +propose to discuss the question of what testimonial evidence is to be +adduced in favour of it. If those whose business it is to judge are not +at one as to the authenticity of the only evidence of that kind which is +offered, nor as to the facts to which it bears witness, the discussion +of such evidence is superfluous. + +But I may be permitted to regret this necessity of rejecting the +testimonial evidence the less, because the examination of the +circumstantial evidence leads to the conclusion, not only that it is +incompetent to justify the hypothesis, but that, so far as it goes, it +is contrary to the hypothesis. + +The considerations upon which I base this conclusion are of the simplest +possible character. The Miltonic hypothesis contains assertions of a +very definite character relating to the succession of living forms. It +is stated that plants, for example, made their appearance upon the third +day, and not before. And you will understand that what the poet means +by plants are such plants as now live, the ancestors, in the ordinary +way of propagation of like by like, of the trees and shrubs which +flourish in the present world. It must needs be so; for, if they were +different, either the existing plants have been the result of a separate +origination since that described by Milton, of which we have no record, +nor any ground for supposition that such an occurrence has taken place; +or else they have arisen by a process of evolution from the original +stocks. + +In the second place, it is clear that there was no animal life before +the fifth day, and that, on the fifth day, aquatic animals and birds +appeared. And it is further clear that terrestrial living things, other +than birds, made their appearance upon the sixth day and not before. +Hence, it follows that, if, in the large mass of circumstantial evidence +as to what really has happened in the past history of the globe we find +indications of the existence of terrestrial animals, other than birds, +at a certain period, it is perfectly certain that all that has taken +place, since that time, must be referred to the sixth day. + +In the great Carboniferous formation, whence America derives so vast a +proportion of her actual and potential wealth, in the beds of coal which +have been formed from the vegetation of that period, we find abundant +evidence of the existence of terrestrial animals. They have been +described, not only by European but by your own naturalists. There are +to be found numerous insects allied to our cockroaches. There are to be +found spiders and scorpions of large size, the latter so similar to +existing scorpions that it requires the practised eye of the naturalist +to distinguish them. Inasmuch as these animals can be proved to have +been alive in the Carboniferous epoch, it is perfectly clear that, if +the Miltonic account is to be accepted, the huge mass of rocks extending +from the middle of the Palaeozoic formations to the uppermost members of +the series, must belong to the day which is termed by Milton the sixth. +But, further, it is expressly stated that aquatic animals took their +origin on the fifth day, and not before; hence, all formations in which +remains of aquatic animals can be proved to exist, and which therefore +testify that such animals lived at the time when these formations were +in course of deposition, must have been deposited during or since the +period which Milton speaks of as the fifth day. But there is absolutely +no fossiliferous formation in which the remains of aquatic animals are +absent. The oldest fossils in the Silurian rocks are exuviae of marine +animals; and if the view which is entertained by Principal Dawson and +Dr. Carpenter respecting the nature of the _Eozooen_ be well-founded, +aquatic animals existed at a period as far antecedent to the deposition +of the coal as the coal is from us; inasmuch as the _Eozooen_ is met with +in those Laurentian strata which lie at the bottom of the series of +stratified rocks. Hence it follows, plainly enough, that the whole +series of stratified rocks, if they are to be brought into harmony with +Milton, must be referred to the fifth and sixth days, and that we cannot +hope to find the slightest trace of the products of the earlier days in +the geological record. When we consider these simple facts, we see how +absolutely futile are the attempts that have been made to draw a +parallel between the story told by so much of the crust of the earth as +is known to us and the story which Milton tells. The whole series of +fossiliferous stratified rocks must be referred to the last two days; +and neither the Carboniferous, nor any other, formation can afford +evidence of the work of the third day. + +Not only is there this objection to any attempt to establish a harmony +between the Miltonic account and the facts recorded in the fossiliferous +rocks, but there is a further difficulty. According to the Miltonic +account, the order in which animals should have made their appearance in +the stratified rocks would be this: Fishes, including the great whales, +and birds; after them, all varieties of terrestrial animals except +birds. Nothing could be further from the facts as we find them; we know +of not the slightest evidence of the existence of birds before the +Jurassic, or perhaps the Triassic, formation; while terrestrial animals, +as we have just seen, occur in the Carboniferous rocks. + +If there were any harmony between the Miltonic account and the +circumstantial evidence, we ought to have abundant evidence of the +existence of birds in the Carboniferous, the Devonian, and the Silurian +rocks. I need hardly say that this is not the case, and that not a trace +of birds makes its appearance until the far later period which I have +mentioned. + +And again, if it be true that all varieties of fishes and the great +whales, and the like, made their appearance on the fifth day, we ought +to find the remains of these animals in the older rocks--in those which +were deposited before the Carboniferous epoch. Fishes we do find, in +considerable number and variety; but the great whales are absent, and +the fishes are not such as now live. Not one solitary species of fish +now in existence is to be found in the Devonian or Silurian formations. +Hence we are introduced afresh to the dilemma which I have already +placed before you: either the animals which came into existence on the +fifth day were not such as those which are found at present, are not the +direct and immediate ancestors of those which now exist; in which case, +either fresh creations of which nothing is said, or a process of +evolution, must have occurred; or else the whole story must be given up, +as not only devoid of any circumstantial evidence, but contrary to such +evidence as exists. + +I placed before you in a few words, some little time ago, a statement of +the sum and substance of Milton's hypothesis. Let me now try to state, +as briefly, the effect of the circumstantial evidence bearing upon the +past history of the earth which is furnished, without the possibility of +mistake, with no chance of error as to its chief features, by the +stratified rocks. What we find is, that the great series of formations +represents a period of time of which our human chronologies hardly +afford us a unit of measure. I will not pretend to say how we ought to +estimate this time, in millions or in billions of years. For my purpose, +the determination of its absolute duration is wholly unessential. But +that the time was enormous there can be no question. + +It results from the simplest methods of interpretation, that leaving out +of view certain patches of metamorphosed rocks, and certain volcanic +products, all that is now dry land has once been at the bottom of the +waters. It is perfectly certain that, at a comparatively recent period +of the world's history--the Cretaceous epoch--none of the great physical +features which at present mark the surface of the globe existed. It is +certain that the Rocky Mountains were not. It is certain that the +Himalaya Mountains were not. It is certain that the Alps and the +Pyrenees had no existence. The evidence is of the plainest possible +character, and is simply this:--We find raised up on the flanks of these +mountains, elevated by the forces of upheaval which have given rise to +them, masses of Cretaceous rock which formed the bottom of the sea +before those mountains existed. It is therefore clear that the elevatory +forces which gave rise to the mountains operated subsequently to the +Cretaceous epoch; and that the mountains themselves are largely made up +of the materials deposited in the sea which once occupied their place. +As we go back in time, we meet with constant alternations of sea and +land, of estuary and open ocean; and, in correspondence with these +alternations, we observe the changes in the fauna and flora to which I +have referred. + +But the inspection of these changes give us no right to believe that +there has been any discontinuity in natural processes. There is no +trace of general cataclysms, of universal deluges, or sudden +destructions of a whole fauna or flora. The appearances which were +formerly interpreted in that way have all been shown to be delusive, as +our knowledge has increased and as the blanks which formerly appeared to +exist between the different formations have been filled up. That there +is no absolute break between formation and formation, that there has +been no sudden disappearance of all the forms of life and replacement of +them by others, but that changes have gone on slowly and gradually, that +one type has died out and another has taken its place, and that thus, by +insensible degrees, one fauna has been replaced by another, are +conclusions strengthened by constantly increasing evidence. So that +within the whole of the immense period indicated by the fossiliferous +stratified rocks, there is assuredly not the slightest proof of any +break in the uniformity of Nature's operations, no indication that +events have followed other than a clear and orderly sequence. + +That, I say, is the natural and obvious teaching of the circumstantial +evidence contained in the stratified rocks. I leave you to consider how +far, by any ingenuity of interpretation, by any stretching of the +meaning of language, it can be brought into harmony with the Miltonic +hypothesis. + +There remains the third hypothesis, that of which I have spoken as the +hypothesis of evolution; and I purpose that, in lectures to come, we +should discuss it as carefully as we have considered the other two +hypotheses. I need not say that it is quite hopeless to look for +testimonial evidence of evolution. The very nature of the case precludes +the possibility of such evidence, for the human race can no more be +expected to testify to its own origin, than a child can be tendered as a +witness of its own birth. Our sole inquiry is, what foundation +circumstantial evidence lends to the hypothesis, or whether it lends +none, or whether it controverts the hypothesis. I shall deal with the +matter entirely as a question of history. I shall not indulge in the +discussion of any speculative probabilities. I shall not attempt to show +that Nature is unintelligible unless we adopt some such hypothesis. For +anything I know about the matter, it may be the way of Nature to be +unintelligible; she is often puzzling, and I have no reason to suppose +that she is bound to fit herself to our notions. + +I shall place before you three kinds of evidence entirely based upon +what is known of the forms of animal life which are contained in the +series of stratified rocks. I shall endeavour to show you that there is +one kind of evidence which is neutral, which neither helps evolution nor +is inconsistent with it. I shall then bring forward a second kind of +evidence which indicates a strong probability in favour of evolution, +but does not prove it; and, lastly, I shall adduce a third kind of +evidence which, being as complete as any evidence which we can hope to +obtain upon such a subject, and being wholly and strikingly in favour of +evolution, may fairly be called demonstrative evidence of its +occurrence. + + +II + +THE HYPOTHESIS OF EVOLUTION. THE NEUTRAL AND THE FAVOURABLE EVIDENCE + +In the preceding lecture I pointed out that there are three hypotheses +which may be entertained, and which have been entertained, respecting +the past history of life upon the globe. According to the first of these +hypotheses, living beings, such as now exist, have existed from all +eternity upon this earth. We tested that hypothesis by the +circumstantial evidence, as I called it, which is furnished by the +fossil remains contained in the earth's crust, and we found that it was +obviously untenable. I then proceeded to consider the second +hypothesis, which I termed the Miltonic hypothesis, not because it is of +any particular consequence whether John Milton seriously entertained it +or not, but because it is stated in a clear and unmistakable manner in +his great poem. I pointed out to you that the evidence at our command as +completely and fully negatives that hypothesis as it did the preceding +one. And I confess that I had too much respect for your intelligence to +think it necessary to add that the negation was equally clear and +equally valid, whatever the source from which that hypothesis might be +derived, or whatever the authority by which it might be supported. I +further stated that, according to the third hypothesis, or that of +evolution, the existing state of things is the last term of a long +series of states, which, when traced back, would be found to show no +interruption and no breach in the continuity of natural causation. I +propose, in the present and the following lecture, to test this +hypothesis rigorously by the evidence at command, and to inquire how far +that evidence can be said to be indifferent to it, how far it can be +said to be favourable to it, and, finally, how far it can be said to be +demonstrative. + +From almost the origin of the discussions about the existing condition +of the animal and vegetable worlds and the causes which have determined +that condition, an argument has been put forward as an objection to +evolution, which we shall have to consider very seriously. It is an +argument which was first clearly stated by Cuvier in his criticism of +the doctrines propounded by his great contemporary, Lamarck. The French +expedition to Egypt had called the attention of learned men to the +wonderful store of antiquities in that country, and there had been +brought back to France numerous mummified corpses of the animals which +the ancient Egyptians revered and preserved, and which, at a reasonable +computation, must have lived not less than three or four thousand years +before the time at which they were thus brought to light. Cuvier +endeavoured to test the hypothesis that animals have undergone gradual +and progressive modifications of structure, by comparing the skeletons +and such other parts of the mummies as were in a fitting state of +preservation, with the corresponding parts of the representatives of the +same species now living in Egypt. He arrived at the conviction that no +appreciable change had taken place in these animals in the course of +this considerable lapse of time, and the justice of his conclusion is +not disputed. + +It is obvious that, if it can be proved that animals have endured, +without undergoing any demonstrable change of structure, for so long a +period as four thousand years, no form of the hypothesis of evolution +which assumes that animals undergo a constant and necessary progressive +change can be tenable; unless, indeed, it be further assumed that four +thousand years is too short a time for the production of a change +sufficiently great to be detected. + +But it is no less plain that if the process of evolution of animals is +not independent of surrounding conditions; if it may be indefinitely +hastened or retarded by variations in these conditions; or if evolution +is simply a process of accommodation to varying conditions; the argument +against the hypothesis of evolution based on the unchanged character of +the Egyptian fauna is worthless. For the monuments which are coeval with +the mummies testify as strongly to the absence of change in the physical +geography and the general conditions of the land of Egypt, for the time +in question, as the mummies do to the unvarying characters of its living +population. + +The progress of research since Cuvier's time has supplied far more +striking examples of the long duration of specific forms of life than +those which are furnished by the mummified Ibises and Crocodiles of +Egypt. A remarkable case is to be found in your own country, in the +neighbourhood of the falls of Niagara. In the immediate vicinity of the +whirlpool, and again upon Goat Island, in the superficial deposits +which cover the surface of the rocky subsoil in those regions, there are +found remains of animals in perfect preservation, and among them, shells +belonging to exactly the same species as those which at present inhabit +the still waters of Lake Erie. It is evident, from the structure of the +country, that these animal remains were deposited in the beds in which +they occur at a time when the lake extended over the region in which +they are found. This involves the conclusion that they lived and died +before the falls had cut their way back through the gorge of Niagara; +and, indeed, it has been determined that, when these animals lived, the +falls of Niagara must have been at least six miles further down the +river than they are at present. Many computations have been made of the +rate at which the falls are thus cutting their way back. Those +computations have varied greatly, but I believe I am speaking within the +bounds of prudence, if I assume that the falls of Niagara have not +retreated at a greater pace than about a foot a year. Six miles, +speaking roughly, are 30,000 feet; 30,000 feet, at a foot a year, gives +30,000 years; and thus we are fairly justified in concluding that no +less a period than this has passed since the shell-fish, whose remains +are left in the beds to which I have referred, were living creatures. + +But there is still stronger evidence of the long duration of certain +types. I have already stated that, as we work our way through the great +series of the Tertiary formations, we find many species of animals +identical with those which live at the present day, diminishing in +numbers, it is true, but still existing, in a certain proportion, in the +oldest of the Tertiary rocks. Furthermore, when we examine the rocks of +the Cretaceous epoch, we find the remains of some animals which the +closest scrutiny cannot show to be, in any important respect, different +from those which live at the present time. That is the case with one of +the cretaceous lamp-shells (_Terebratula_) which has continued to exist +unchanged, or with insignificant variations, down to the present day. +Such is the case with the _Globigerinae_, the skeletons of which, +aggregated together, form a large proportion of our English chalk. Those +_Globigerinae_ can be traced down to the _Globigerinae_ which live at the +surface of the present great oceans, and the remains of which, falling +to the bottom of the sea give rise to a chalky mud. Hence it must be +admitted that certain existing species of animals show no distinct sign +of modification, or transformation, in the course of a lapse of time as +great as that which carries us back to the Cretaceous period; and which, +whatever its absolute measure, is certainly vastly greater than thirty +thousand years. + +There are groups of species so closely allied together, that it needs +the eye of a naturalist to distinguish them one from another. If we +disregard the small differences which separate these forms, and consider +all the species of such groups as modifications of one type, we shall +find that, even among the higher animals, some types have had a +marvellous duration. In the chalk, for example, there is found a fish +belonging to the highest and the most differentiated group of osseous +fishes, which goes by the name of _Beryx_. The remains of that fish are +among the most beautiful and well-preserved of the fossils found in our +English chalk. It can be studied anatomically, so far as the hard parts +are concerned, almost as well as if it were a recent fish. But the genus +_Beryx_ is represented, at the present day, by very closely allied +species which are living in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. We may go +still farther back. I have already referred to the fact, that the +Carboniferous formations, in Europe and in America, contain the remains +of scorpions in an admirable state of preservation and, that those +scorpions are hardly distinguishable from such as now live. I do not +mean to say that they are not different, but close scrutiny is needed in +order to distinguish them from modern scorpions. + +More than this. At the very bottom Of the Silurian series, in beds which +are by some authorities referred to the Cambrian formation, where the +signs of life begin to fail us--even there, among the few and scanty +animal remains which are discoverable, we find species of molluscous +animals which are so closely allied to existing forms that, at one time, +they were grouped under the same generic name. I refer to the well known +_Lingula_ of the _Lingula_ flags, lately, in consequence of some slight +differences, placed in the new genus _Lingulella_. Practically, it +belongs to the same great generic group as the _Lingula_, which is to be +found at the present day upon your own shores and those of many other +parts of the world. + +The same truth is exemplified if we turn to certain great periods of the +earth's history--as, for example, the Mesozoic epoch. There are groups +of reptiles, such as the _Ichthyosauria_ and the _Plesiosauria_, which +appear shortly after the commencement of this epoch, and they occur in +vast numbers. They disappear with the chalk and, throughout the whole of +the great series of Mesozoic rocks, they present no such modifications +as can safely be considered evidence of progressive modification. + +Facts of this kind are undoubtedly fatal to any form of the doctrine of +evolution which postulates the supposition that there is an intrinsic +necessity, on the part of animal forms which have once come into +existence, to undergo continual modification; and they are as distinctly +opposed to any view which involves the belief, that such modification as +may occur, must take place, at the same rate, in all the different types +of animal or vegetable life. The facts, as I have placed them before you +obviously directly contradict any form of the hypothesis of evolution +which stands in need of these two postulates. + +But, one great service that has been rendered by Mr. Darwin to the +doctrine of evolution in general is this: he has shown that there are +two chief factors in the process of evolution: one of them is the +tendency to vary, the existence of which in all living forms may be +proved by observation; the other is the influence of surrounding +conditions upon what I may call the parent form and the variations which +are thus evolved from it. The cause of the production of variations is a +matter not at all properly understood at present. Whether variation +depends upon some intricate machinery--if I may use the phrase--of the +living organism itself, or whether it arises through the influence of +conditions upon that form, is not certain, and the question may, for the +present, be left open. But the important point is that granting the +existence of the tendency to the production of variations; then, whether +the variations which are produced shall survive and supplant the parent, +or whether the parent form shall survive and supplant the variations, is +a matter which depends entirely on those conditions which give rise to +the struggle for existence. If the surrounding conditions are such that +the parent form is more competent to deal with them, and flourish in +them than the derived forms, then, in the struggle for existence, the +parent form will maintain itself and the derived forms will be +exterminated. But if, on the contrary, the conditions are such as to be +more favourable to a derived than to the parent form, the parent form +will be extirpated and the derived form will take its place. In the +first case, there will be no progression, no change of structure, +through any imaginable series of ages; in the second place there will be +modification of change and form. + +Thus the existence of these persistent types, as I have termed them, is +no real obstacle in the way of the theory of evolution. Take the case of +the scorpions to which I have just referred. No doubt, since the +Carboniferous epoch, conditions have always obtained, such as existed +when the scorpions of that epoch flourished; conditions in which +scorpions find themselves better off, more competent to deal with the +difficulties in their way, than any variation from the scorpion type +which they may have produced; and, for that reason, the scorpion type +has persisted, and has not been supplanted by any other form. And there +is no reason, in the nature of things, why, as long as this world +exists, if there be conditions more favourable to scorpions than to any +variation which may arise from them, these forms of life should not +persist. + +Therefore, the stock objection to the hypothesis of evolution, based on +the long duration of certain animal and vegetable types, is no objection +at all. The facts of this character--and they are numerous--belong to +that class of evidence which I have called indifferent. That is to say, +they may afford no direct support to the doctrine of evolution, but they +are capable of being interpreted in perfect consistency with it. + +There is another order of facts belonging to the class of negative or +indifferent evidence. The great group of Lizards, which abound in the +present world, extends through the whole series of formations as far +back as the Permian, or latest Palaeozoic, epoch. These Permian lizards +differ astonishingly little from the lizards which exist at the present +day. Comparing the amount of the differences between them and modern +lizards, with the prodigious lapse of time between the Permian epoch and +the present age, it may be said that the amount of change is +insignificant. But, when we carry our researches farther back in time, +we find no trace of lizards, nor of any true reptile whatever, in the +whole mass of formations beneath the Permian. + +Now, it is perfectly clear that if our palaeontological collections are +to be taken, even approximately, as an adequate representation of all +the forms of animals and plants that have ever lived; and if the record +furnished by the known series of beds of stratified rock covers the +whole series of events which constitute the history of life on the +globe, such a fact as this directly contravenes the hypothesis of +evolution; because this hypothesis postulates that the existence of +every form must have been preceded by that of some form little different +from it. Here, however, we have to take into consideration that +important truth so well insisted upon by Lyell and by Darwin--the +imperfection of the geological record. It can be demonstrated that the +geological record must be incomplete, that it can only preserve remains +found in certain favourable localities and under particular conditions; +that it must be destroyed by processes of denudation, and obliterated by +processes of metamorphosis. Beds of rock of any thickness, crammed full +of organic remains, may yet, either by the percolation of water through +them, or by the influence of subterranean heat, lose all trace of these +remains, and present the appearance of beds of rock formed under +conditions in which living forms were absent. Such metamorphic rocks +occur in formations of all ages; and, in various cases, there are very +good grounds for the belief that they have contained organic remains, +and that those remains have been absolutely obliterated. + +I insist upon the defects of the geological record the more because +those who have not attended to these matters are apt to say, "It is all +very well, but, when you get into a difficulty with your theory of +evolution, you appeal to the incompleteness and the imperfection of the +geological record;" and I want to make it perfectly clear to you that +this imperfection is a great fact, which must be taken into account in +all our speculations, or we shall constantly be going wrong. + +You see the singular series of footmarks, drawn of its natural size in +the large diagram hanging up here (Fig. 2), which I owe to the kindness +of my friend Professor Marsh, with whom I had the opportunity recently +of visiting the precise locality in Massachusetts in which these tracks +occur. I am, therefore, able to give you my own testimony, if needed, +that the diagram accurately represents what we saw. The valley of the +Connecticut is classical ground for the geologist. It contains great +beds of sandstone, covering many square miles, which have evidently +formed a part of an ancient sea-shore, or, it may be, lake-shore. For a +certain period of time after their deposition, these beds have remained +sufficiently soft to receive the impressions of the feet of whatever +animals walked over them, and to preserve them afterwards, in exactly +the same way as such impressions are at this hour preserved on the +shores of the Bay of Fundy and elsewhere. The diagram represents the +track of some gigantic animal, which walked on its hind legs. You see +the series of marks made alternately by the right and by the left foot; +so that, from one impression to the other of the three-toed foot on the +same side, is one stride, and that stride, as we measured it, is six +feet nine inches. I leave you, therefore, to form an impression of the +magnitude of the creature which, as it walked along the ancient shore, +made these impressions. + +[Illustration: FIG. 2.--TRACKS OF BRONTOZOUM.] + +Of such impressions there are untold thousands upon these sandstones. +Fifty or sixty different kinds have been discovered, and they cover vast +areas. But, up to this present time, not a bone, not a fragment, of any +one of the animals which left these great footmarks has been found; in +fact, the only animal remains which have been met with in all these +deposits, from the time of their discovery to the present day--though +they have been carefully hunted over--is a fragmentary skeleton of one +of the smaller forms. What has become of the bones of all these animals? +You see we are not dealing with little creatures, but with animals that +make a step of six feet nine inches; and their remains must have been +left somewhere. The probability is, that they have been dissolved away, +and completely lost. + +I have had occasion to work out the nature of fossil remains, of which +there was nothing left except casts of the bones, the solid material of +the skeleton having been dissolved out by percolating water. It was a +chance, in this case, that the sandstone happened to be of such a +constitution as to set, and to allow the bones to be afterward dissolved +out, leaving cavities of the exact shape of the bones. Had that +constitution been other than what it was, the bones would have been +dissolved, the layers of sandstone would have fallen together into one +mass, and not the slightest indication that the animal had existed would +have been discoverable. + +I know of no more striking evidence than these facts afford, of the +caution which should be used in drawing the conclusion, from the absence +of organic remains in a deposit, that animals or plants did not exist at +the time it was formed. I believe that, with a right understanding of +the doctrine of evolution on the one hand, and a just estimation of the +importance of the imperfection of the geological record on the other, +all difficulty is removed from the kind of evidence to which I have +adverted; and that we are justified in believing that all such cases are +examples of what I have designated negative or indifferent +evidence--that is to say, they in no way directly advance the hypothesis +of evolution, but they are not to be regarded as obstacles in the way of +our belief in that doctrine. + +I now pass on to the consideration of those cases which, for reasons +which I will point out to you by and by, are not to be regarded as +demonstrative of the truth of evolution, but which are such as must +exist if evolution be true, and which therefore are, upon the whole, +evidence in favour of the doctrine. If the doctrine of evolution be +true, it follows, that, however diverse the different groups of animals +and of plants may be, they must all, at one time or other, have been +connected by gradational forms; so that, from the highest animals, +whatever they may be, down to the lowest speck of protoplasmic matter in +which life can be manifested, a series of gradations, leading from one +end of the series to the other, either exists or has existed. +Undoubtedly that is a necessary postulate of the doctrine of evolution. +But when we look upon living Nature as it is, we find a totally +different state of things. We find that animals and plants fall into +groups, the different members of which are pretty closely allied +together, but which are separated by definite, larger or smaller, +breaks, from other groups. In other words, no intermediate forms which +bridge over these gaps or intervals are, at present, to be met with. + +To illustrate what I mean: Let me call your attention to those +vertebrate animals which are most familiar to you, such as mammals, +birds, and reptiles. At the present day, these groups of animals are +perfectly well-defined from one another. We know of no animal now living +which, in any sense, is intermediate between the mammal and the bird, or +between the bird and the reptile; but, on the contrary, there are many +very distinct anatomical peculiarities, well-defined marks, by which the +mammal is separated from the bird, and the bird from the reptile. The +distinctions are obvious and striking if you compare the definitions of +these great groups as they now exist. + +The same may be said of many of the subordinate groups, or orders, into +which these great classes are divided. At the present time, for example, +there are numerous forms of non-ruminant pachyderms, or what we may call +broadly, the pig tribe, and many varieties of ruminants. These latter +have their definite characteristics, and the former have their +distinguishing peculiarities. But there is nothing that fills up the gap +between the ruminants and the pig tribe. The two are distinct. Such also +is the case in respect of the minor groups of the class of reptiles. The +existing fauna shows us crocodiles, lizards, snakes, and tortoises; but +no connecting link between the crocodile and lizard, nor between the +lizard and snake, nor between the snake and the crocodile, nor between +any two of these groups. They are separated by absolute breaks. If, +then, it could be shown that this state of things had always existed, +the fact would be fatal to the doctrine of evolution. If the +intermediate gradations, which the doctrine of evolution requires to +have existed between these groups, are not to be found anywhere in the +records of the past history of the globe, their absence is a strong and +weighty negative argument against evolution; while, on the other hand, +if such intermediate forms are to be found, that is so much to the good +of evolution; although for reasons which I will lay before you by and +by, we must be cautious in our estimate of the evidential cogency of +facts of this kind. + +It is a very remarkable circumstance that, from the commencement of the +serious study of fossil remains, in fact from the time when Cuvier began +his brilliant researches upon those found in the quarries of Montmartre, +palaeontology has shown what she was going to do in this matter, and what +kind of evidence it lay in her power to produce. + +I said just now that, in the existing Fauna, the group of pig-like +animals and the group of ruminants are entirely distinct; but one of the +first of Cuvier's discoveries was an animal which he called the +_Anoplotherium_, and which proved to be, in a great many important +respects, intermediate in character between the pigs on the one hand, +and the ruminants on the other Thus, research into the history of the +past did, to a certain extent, tend to fill up the breach between the +group of ruminants and the group of pigs. Another remarkable animal +restored by the great French palaeontologist, the _Palaeotherium_, +similarly tended to connect together animals to all appearance so +different as the rhinoceros, the horse, and the tapir. Subsequent +research has brought to light multitudes of facts of the same order; +and, at the present day, the investigations of such anatomists as +Ruetimeyer and Gaudry have tended to fill up, more and more, the gaps in +our existing series of mammals, and to connect groups formerly thought +to be distinct. + +But I think it may have an especial interest if, instead of dealing with +these examples, which would require a great deal of tedious osteological +detail, I take the case of birds and reptiles; groups which, at the +present day, are so clearly distinguished from one another that there +are perhaps no classes of animals which, in popular apprehension, are +more completely separated. Existing birds, as you are aware, are covered +with feathers; their anterior extremities, specially and peculiarly +modified, are converted into wings, by the aid of which most of them are +able to fly; they walk upright upon two legs; and these limbs, when they +are considered anatomically, present a great number of exceedingly +remarkable peculiarities, to which I may have occasion to advert +incidentally as I go on, and which are not met with, even approximately, +in any existing forms of reptiles. On the other hand, existing reptiles +have no feathers. They may have naked skins, or be covered with horny +scales, or bony plates, or with both. They possess no wings; they +neither fly by means of their fore-limbs, nor habitually walk upright +upon their hind-limbs; and the bones of their legs present no such +modifications as we find in birds. It is impossible to imagine any two +groups more definitely and distinctly separated, notwithstanding certain +characters which they possess in common. + +As we trace the history of birds back in time, we find their remains, +sometimes in great abundance, throughout the whole extent of the +tertiary rocks; but, so far as our present knowledge goes, the birds of +the tertiary rocks retain the same essential characters as the birds of +the present day. In other words, the tertiary birds come within the +definition of the class constituted by existing birds, and are as much +separated from reptiles as existing birds are. Not very long ago no +remains of birds had been found below the tertiary rocks, and I am not +sure but that some persons were prepared to demonstrate that they could +not have existed at an earlier period. But, in the course of the last +few years, such remains have been discovered in England; though, +unfortunately, in so imperfect and fragmentary a condition, that it is +impossible to say whether they differed from existing birds in any +essential character or not. In your country the development of the +cretaceous series of rocks is enormous; the conditions under which the +later cretaceous strata have been deposited are highly favourable to the +preservation of organic remains; and the researches, full of labour and +risk, which have been carried on by Professor Marsh in these cretaceous +rocks of Western America, have rewarded him with the discovery of forms +of birds of which we had hitherto no conception. By his kindness, I am +enabled to place before you a restoration of one of these extraordinary +birds, every part of which can be thoroughly justified by the more or +less complete skeletons, in a very perfect state of preservation, which +he has discovered. This _Hesperornis_ (Fig. 3), which measured between +five and six feet in length, is astonishingly like our existing divers +or grebes in a great many respects; so like them indeed that, had the +skeleton of _Hesperornis_ been found in a museum without its skull, +improbably would have been placed in the same group of birds as the +divers and grebes of the present day.[1] But _Hesperornis_ differs from +all existing birds, and so far resembles reptiles, in one important +particular--it is provided with teeth. The long jaws are armed with +teeth which have curved crowns and thick roots (Fig. 4), and are not set +in distinct sockets, but are lodged in a groove. In possessing true +teeth, the _Hesperornis_ differs from every existing bird, and from +every bird yet discovered in the tertiary formations, the tooth-like +serrations of the jaws in the _Odontopteryx_ of the London clay being +mere processes of the bony substance of the jaws, and not teeth in the +proper sense of the word. In view of the characteristics of this bird we +are therefore obliged to modify the definitions of the classes of birds +and reptiles. Before the discovery of _Hesperornis_, the definition of +the class Aves based upon our knowledge of existing birds might have +been extended to all birds; it might have been said that the absence of +teeth was characteristic of the class of birds; but the discovery of an +animal which, in every part of its skeleton, closely agrees with +existing birds, and yet possesses teeth, shows that there were ancient +birds, which, in respect of possessing teeth, approached reptiles more +nearly than any existing bird does, and, to that extent, diminishes the +_hiatus_ between the two classes. + +[Illustration: FIG. 3--HESPERORNIS REGALIS (Marsh).] + +The same formation has yielded another bird _Ichthyornis_ (Fig. 5), +which also possesses teeth; but the teeth are situated in distinct +sockets, while those of _Hesperornis_ are not so lodged. The latter also +has such very small, almost rudimentary wings, that it must have been +chiefly a swimmer and a diver like a Penguin; while _Ichthyornis_ has +strong wings and no doubt possessed corresponding powers of flight. +_Ichthyornis_ also differed in the fact that its vertebrae have not the +peculiar characters of the vertebrae of existing and of all known +tertiary birds, but were concave at each end. This discovery leads us to +make a further modification in the definition of the group of birds, and +to part with another of the characters by which almost all existing +birds are distinguished from reptiles. + +[Illustration: FIG. 4.--HESPERORNIS REGALIS (Marsh). + +Side and upper views of half the lower jaw; side and end views of a +vertebra and a separate tooth.] + +Apart from the few fragmentary remains from the English greensand, to +which I have referred, the Mesozoic rocks, older than those in which +_Hesperornis_ and _Ichthyornis_ have been discovered have afforded no +certain evidence of birds, with the remarkable exception of the +Solenhofen slates. These so-called slates are composed of a fine grained +calcareous mud which has hardened into lithographic stone, and in which +organic remains are almost as well preserved as they would be if they +had been imbedded in so much plaster of Paris. They have yielded the +_Archaeopteryx_, the existence of which was first made known by the +finding of a fossil feather, or rather of the impression of one. It is +wonderful enough that such a perishable thing as a feather, and nothing +more, should be discovered; yet for a long time, nothing was known of +this bird except its feather. But by and by a solitary skeleton was +discovered which is now in the British Museum. The skull of this +solitary specimen is unfortunately wanting, and it is therefore +uncertain whether the _Archaeopteryx_ possessed teeth or not.[2] But the +remainder of the skeleton is so well preserved as to leave no doubt +respecting the main features of the animal, which are very singular. The +feet are not only altogether bird-like, but have the special characters +of the feet of perching birds, while the body had a clothing of true +feathers. Nevertheless, in some other respects, _Archaeopteryx_ is unlike +a bird and like a reptile. There is a long tail composed of many +vertebrae. The structure of the wing differs in some very remarkable +respects from that which it presents in a true bird. In the latter, the +end of the wing answers to the thumb and two fingers of my hand; but the +metacarpal bones, or those which answer to the bones of the fingers +which lie in the palm of the hand, are fused together into one mass; and +the whole apparatus, except the last joints of the thumb, is bound up in +a sheath of integument, while the edge of the hand carries the principal +quill feathers. In the _Archaeopteryx_, the upper-arm bone is like that +of a bird; and the two bones of the fore-arm are more or less like those +of a bird, but the fingers are not bound together--they are free. What +their number may have been is uncertain; but several, if not all, of +them were terminated by strong curved claws, not like such as are +sometimes found in birds, but such as reptiles possess; so that, in the +_Archaeopteryx_, we have an animal which, to a certain extent, occupies a +midway place between a bird and a reptile. It is a bird so far as its +foot and sundry other parts of its skeleton are concerned; it is +essentially and thoroughly a bird by its feathers; but it is much more +properly a reptile in the fact that the region which represents the hand +has separate bones, with claws resembling those which terminate the +fore-limb of a reptile. Moreover, it had a long reptile-like tail with a +fringe of feathers on each side; while, in all true birds hitherto +known, the tail is relatively short, and the vertebrae which constitute +its skeleton are generally peculiarly modified. + +[Illustration: FIG. 5.--ICHTHYORNIS DISPAR (Marsh). + +(Side and upper views of half the lower jaw; and side and end views of a +vertebra.)] + +Like the _Anoplotherium_ and the _Palaeotherium_, therefore, +_Archaopteryx_ tends to fill up the interval between groups which, in +the existing world, are widely separated, and to destroy the value of +the definitions of zoological groups based upon our knowledge of +existing forms. And such cases as these constitute evidence in favour of +evolution, in so far as they prove that, in former periods of the +world's history, there were animals which overstepped the bounds of +existing groups, and tended to merge them into larger assemblages. They +show that animal organisation is more flexible than our knowledge of +recent forms might have led us to believe; and that many structural +permutations and combinations, of which the present world gives us no +indication, may nevertheless have existed. + +But it by no means follows, because the _Palaeotherium_ has much in +common with the horse, on the one hand, and with the rhinoceros on the +other, that it is the intermediate form through which rhinoceroses have +passed to become horses, or _vice versa_; on the contrary, any such +supposition would certainly be erroneous. Nor do I think it likely that +the transition from the reptile to the bird has been effected by such a +form as _Archaeopteryx_. And it is convenient to distinguish these +intermediate forms between two groups, which do not represent the actual +passage from the one group to the other, as _intercalary_ types, from +those _linear_ types which, more or less approximately, indicate the +nature of the steps by which the transition from one group to the other +was effected. + +I conceive that such linear forms, constituting a series of natural +gradations between the reptile and the bird, and enabling us to +understand the manner in which the reptilian has been metamorphosed into +the bird type, are really to be found among a group of ancient and +extinct terrestrial reptiles known as the _Ornithoscelida_. The remains +of these animals occur throughout the series of Mesozoic formations, +from the Trias to the Chalk, and there are indications of their +existence even in the later Palaeozoic strata. + +Most of these reptiles, at present known, are of great size, some having +attained a length of forty feet or perhaps more. The majority resembled +lizards and crocodiles in their general form, and many of them were, +like crocodiles, protected by an armour of heavy bony plates. But, in +others, the hind-limbs elongate and the fore-limbs shorten, until their +relative proportions approach those which are observed in the +short-winged, flightless, ostrich tribe among birds. + +The skull is relatively light, and in some cases the jaws, though +bearing teeth, are beak-like at their extremities and appear to have +been enveloped in a horny sheath. In the part of the vertebral column +which lies between the haunch bones and is called the sacrum, a number +of vertebrae may unite together into one whole, and in this respect, as +in some details of its structure, the sacrum of these reptiles +approaches that of birds. + +But it is in the structure of the pelvis and of the hind limb that some +of these ancient reptiles present the most remarkable approximation to +birds, and clearly indicate the way by which the most specialised and +characteristic features of the bird may have been evolved from the +corresponding parts in the reptile. + +In Fig. 6, the pelvis and hind-limbs of a crocodile, a three-toed bird, +and an ornithoscelidan are represented side by side; and, for facility +of comparison, in corresponding positions; but it must be recollected +that, while the position of the bird's limb is natural, that of the +crocodile is not so. In the bird, the thigh-bone lies close to the body, +and the metatarsal bones of the foot (ii., iii., iv., Fig. 6) are, +ordinarily, raised into a more or less vertical position; in the +crocodile, the thigh-bone stands out at an angle from the body, and the +metatarsal bones (i., ii., iii., iv., Fig. 6) lie flat on the ground. +Hence, in the crocodile, the body usually lies squat between the legs, +while, in the bird, it is raised upon the hind legs, as upon pillars. + +In the crocodile, the pelvis is obviously composed of three bones on +each side: the ilium (_Il._), the pubis (_Pb._), and the ischium +(_Is._). In the adult bird there appears to be but one bone on each +side. The examination of the pelvis of a chick, however, shows that +each half is made up of three bones, which answer to those which remain +distinct throughout life in the crocodile. There is, therefore, a +fundamental identity of plan in the construction of the pelvis of both +bird and reptile; though the difference in form, relative size, and +direction of the corresponding bones in the two cases are very great. + +[Illustration: FIG. 6.--BIRD. ORNITHOSCELIDAN. CROCODILE. + +(The letters have the same signification in all the figures. _Il._, +Ilium; _a_, anterior end; _b_, posterior end _Is._, ischium; _Pb._, +pubis; _T_, tibia; _F_, fibula; _As._, astragalus; _Ca._, calcaneum; +_i_, distal portion of the tarsus; i., ii., iii., iv., metatarsal +bones.)] + +But the most striking contrast between the two lies in the bones of the +leg and of that part of the foot termed the tarsus, which follows upon +the leg. In the crocodile, the fibula _(F)_ is relatively large and its +lower end is complete. The tibia _(T)_ has no marked crest at its upper +end, and its lower end is narrow and not pulley-shaped. There are two +rows of separate tarsal bones _(As., Ca., &c.)_ and four distinct +metatarsal bones, with a rudiment of a fifth. + +In the bird the fibula is small and its lower end diminishes to a point. +The tibia has a strong crest at its upper end and its lower extremity +passes into a broad pulley. There seem at first to be no tarsal bones; +and only one bone, divided at the end into three heads for the three +toes which are attached to it, appears in the place of the metatarsus. + +In a young bird, however, the pulley-shaped apparent end of the tibia is +a distinct bone, which represents the bones marked _As., Ca._, in the +crocodile; while the apparently single metatarsal bone consists of three +bones, which early unite with one another and with an additional bone, +which represents the lower row of bones in the tarsus of the crocodile. + +In other words it can be shown by the study of development that the +bird's pelvis and hind limb are simply extreme modifications of the same +fundamental plan as that upon which these parts are modelled in +reptiles. + +On comparing the pelvis and hind limb of the ornithoscelidan with that +of the crocodile, on the one side, and that of the bird, on the other +(Fig. 6), it is obvious that it represents a middle term between the +two. The pelvic bones approach the form of those of the birds, and the +direction of the pubis and ischium is nearly that which is +characteristic of birds; the thigh bone, from the direction of its head, +must have lain close to the body; the tibia has a great crest; and, +immovably fitted on to its lower end, there is a pulley-shaped bone, +like that of the bird, but remaining distinct. The lower end of the +fibula is much more slender, proportionally, than in the crocodile. The +metatarsal bones have such a form that they fit together immovably, +though they do not enter into bony union; the third toe is, as in the +bird, longest and strongest. In fact, the ornithoscelidan limb is +comparable to that of an unhatched chick. + +[Illustration: FIG. 7.--RESTORATION OF COMPSOGNATHUS LONGIPES.] + +Taking all these facts together, it is obvious that the view, which was +entertained by Mantell and the probability of which was demonstrated by +your own distinguished anatomist, Leidy, while much additional evidence +in the same direction has been furnished by Professor Cope, that some of +these animals may have walked upon their hind legs, as birds do, +acquires great weight. In fact, there can be no reasonable doubt that +one of the smaller forms of the _Ornithoscelida, Compsognathus_, the +almost entire skeleton of which has been discovered in the Solenhofen +slates, was a bipedal animal. The parts of this skeleton are somewhat +twisted out of their natural relations, but the accompanying figure +gives a just view of the general form of _Compsognathus_ and of the +proportions of its limbs; which, in some respects, are more completely +bird-like than those of other _Ornithoscelida_. + +We have had to stretch the definition of the class of birds so as to +include birds with teeth and birds with paw-like fore-limbs and long +tails. There is no evidence that _Compsognathus_ possessed feathers; +but, if it did, it would be hard indeed to say whether it should be +called a reptilian bird or an avian reptile. + +As _Compsognathus_ walked upon its hind legs, it must have made tracks +like those of birds. And as the structure of the limbs of several of the +gigantic _Ornithoscelida_, such as _Iguandon_, leads to the conclusion +that they also may have constantly, or occasionally, assumed the same +attitude, a peculiar interest attaches to the fact that, in the Wealden +strata of England, there are to be found gigantic footsteps, arranged in +order like those of the _Brontozoum_, and which there can be no +reasonable doubt were made by some of the _Ornithoscelida_, the remains +of which are found in the same rocks. And, knowing that reptiles that +walked upon their hind legs and shared many of the anatomical characters +of birds did once exist, it becomes a very important question whether +the tracks in the Trias of Massachusetts, to which I referred some time +ago, and which formerly used to be unhesitatingly ascribed to birds may +not all have been made by Ornithoscelidan reptiles; and whether, if we +could obtain the skeletons of the animals which made these tracks, we +should not find in them the actual steps of the evolutional process by +which reptiles gave rise to birds. + +The evidential value of the facts I have brought forward in this Lecture +must be neither over nor under estimated. It is not historical proof of +the occurrence of the evolution of birds from reptiles, for we have no +safe ground for assuming that true birds had not made their appearance +at the commencement of the Mesozoic epoch. It is in fact, quite possible +that all these more or less aviform reptiles of the Mesozoic epoch are +not terms in the series of progression from birds to reptiles at all, +but simply the more or less modified descendants of Palaeozoic forms +through which that transition was actually effected. + +[Illustration: FIG. 8.--PTERODACTYLUS SPECTABILIS (Von Meyer).] + +We are not in a position to say that the known _Ornithoscelida_ are +intermediate in the order of their appearance on the earth between +reptiles and birds. All that can be said is that, if independent +evidence of the actual occurrence of evolution is producible, then these +intercalary forms remove every difficulty in the way of understanding +what the actual steps of the process, in the case of birds, may have +been. + +That intercalary forms should have existed in ancient times is a +necessary consequence of the truth of the hypothesis of evolution; and, +hence, the evidence I have laid before you in proof of the existence of +such forms, is, so far as it goes, in favour of that hypothesis. + +There is another series of extinct reptiles which may be said to be +intercalary between reptiles and birds, in so far as they combine some +of the characters of these groups; and which, as they possessed the +power of flight, may seem, at first sight, to be nearer representatives +of the forms by which the transition from the reptile to the bird was +effected, than the _Ornithoscelida_. + +These are the _Pterosauria_, or Pterodactyles, the remains of which are +met with throughout the series of Mesozoic rocks, from the lias to the +chalk, and some of which attain a great size, their wings having a span +of eighteen or twenty feet. These animals, in the form and proportions +of the head and neck relatively to the body, and in the fact that the +ends of the jaws were often, if not always, more or less extensively +ensheathed in horny beaks, remind us of birds. Moreover, their bones +contained air cavities, rendering them specifically lighter, as is the +case in most birds. The breast-bone was large and keeled, as in most +birds and in bats, and the shoulder girdle is strikingly similar to that +of ordinary birds. But it seems to me that the special resemblance of +pterodactyles to birds ends here, unless I may add the entire absence of +teeth which characterises the great pterodactyles (_Pteranodon_) +discovered by Professor Marsh. All other known pterodactyles have teeth +lodged in sockets. In the vertebral column and the hind-limbs there are +no special resemblances to birds, and when we turn to the wings they are +found to be constructed on a totally different principle from those of +birds. + +There are four fingers. These four fingers are large, and three of them, +those which answer to the thumb and two following fingers in my +hand--are terminated by claws, while the fourth is enormously prolonged +and converted into a great jointed style. You see at once, from what I +have stated about a bird's wing, that there could be nothing less like a +bird's wing than this is. It was concluded by general reasoning that +this finger had the office of supporting a web which extended between it +and the body. An existing specimen proves that such was really the case, +and that the pterodactyles were devoid of feathers, but that the fingers +supported a vast web like that of a bat's wing; in fact, there can be no +doubt that this ancient reptile flew after the fashion of a bat. + +Thus, though the pterodactyle is a reptile which has become modified in +such a manner as to enable it to fly, and therefore, as might be +expected, presents some points of resemblance to other animals which +fly; it has, so to speak, gone off the line which leads directly from +reptiles to birds, and has become disqualified for the changes which +lead to the characteristic organisation of the latter class. Therefore, +viewed in relation to the classes of reptiles and birds, the +pterodactyles appear to me to be, in a limited sense, intercalary forms; +but they are not even approximately linear, in the sense of exemplifying +those modifications of structure through which the passage from the +reptile to the bird took place. + + +III + +THE DEMONSTRATIVE EVIDENCE OF EVOLUTION + +The occurrence of historical facts is said to be demonstrated, when the +evidence that they happened is of such a character as to render the +assumption that they did not happen in the highest degree improbable; +and the question I now have to deal with is, whether evidence in favour +of the evolution of animals of this degree of cogency is, or is not, +obtainable from the record of the succession of living forms which is +presented to us by fossil remains. + +Those who have attended to the progress of palaeontology are aware that +evidence of the character which I have defined has been produced in +considerable and continually-increasing quantity during the last few +years. Indeed, the amount and the satisfactory nature of that evidence +are somewhat surprising, when we consider the conditions under which +alone we can hope to obtain it. + +It is obviously useless to seek for such evidence except in localities +in which the physical conditions have been such as to permit of the +deposit of an unbroken, or but rarely interrupted, series of strata +through a long period of time in which the group of animals to be +investigated has existed in such abundance as to furnish the requisite +supply of remains; and in which, finally, the materials composing the +strata are such as to ensure the preservation of these remains in a +tolerably perfect and undisturbed state. + +It so happens that the case which, at present, most nearly fulfils all +these conditions is that of the series of extinct animals which +culminates in the horses, by which term I mean to denote not merely the +domestic animals with which we are all so well acquainted, but their +allies, the ass, zebra, quagga, and the like. In short, I use "horses" +as the equivalent of the technical name _Equidae_, which is applied to +the whole group of existing equine animals. + +The horse is in many ways a remarkable animal; not least so in the fact +that it presents us with an example of one of the most perfect pieces of +machinery in the living world. In truth, among the works of human +ingenuity it cannot be said that there is any locomotive so perfectly +adapted to its purposes, doing so much work with so small a quantity of +fuel, as this machine of Nature's manufacture--the horse. And, as a +necessary consequence of any sort of perfection, of mechanical +perfection as of others, you find that the horse is a beautiful +creature, one of the most beautiful of all land animals. Look at the +perfect balance of its form, and the rhythm and force of its action. The +locomotive machinery is, as you are aware, resident in its slender fore +and hind limbs; they are flexible and elastic levers, capable of being +moved by very powerful muscles; and, in order to supply the engines +which work these levers with the force which they expend, the horse is +provided with a very perfect apparatus for grinding its food and +extracting therefrom the requisite fuel. + +Without attempting to take you very far into the region of osteological +detail, I must nevertheless trouble you with some statements respecting +the anatomical structure of the horse; and, more especially, will it be +needful to obtain a general conception of the structure of its fore and +hind limbs, and of its teeth. But I shall only touch upon those points +which are absolutely essential to our inquiry. + +Let us turn in the first place to the fore-limb. In most quadrupeds, as +in ourselves, the fore-arm contains distinct bones called the radius and +the ulna. The corresponding region in the horse seems at first to +possess but one bone. Careful observation, however, enables us to +distinguish in this bone a part which clearly answers to the upper end +of the ulna. This is closely united with the chief mass of the bone +which represents the radius, and runs out into a slender shaft which may +be traced for some distance downwards upon the back of the radius, and +then in most cases thins out and vanishes. It takes still more trouble +to make sure of what is nevertheless the fact, that a small part of the +lower end of the bone of the horse's fore-arm, which is only distinct in +a very young foal, is really the lower extremity of the ulna. + +What is commonly called the knee of a horse is its wrist. The "cannon +bone" answers to the middle bone of the five metacarpal bones, which +support the palm of the hand in ourselves. The "pastern," "coronary," +and "coffin" bones of veterinarians answer to the joints of our middle +fingers, while the hoof is simply a greatly enlarged and thickened nail. +But if what lies below the horse's "knee" thus corresponds to the middle +finger in ourselves, what has become of the four other fingers or +digits? We find in the places of the second and fourth digits only two +slender splint-like bones, about two-thirds as long as the cannon-bone, +which gradually taper to their lower ends and bear no finger joints, or, +as they are termed, phalanges. Sometimes, small bony or gristly nodules +are to be found at the bases of these two metacarpal splints, and it is +probable that these represent rudiments of the first and fifth toes. +Thus, the part of the horse's skeleton which corresponds with that of +the human hand contains one overgrown middle digit, and at least two +imperfect lateral digits; and these answer, respectively, to the third, +the second, and the fourth fingers in man. + +Corresponding modifications are found in the hind limb. In ourselves, +and in most quadrupeds, the leg contains two distinct bones, a large +bone, the tibia, and a smaller and more slender bone, the fibula. But in +the horse, the fibula seems, at first, to be reduced to its upper end; a +short slender bone united with the tibia, and ending in a point below, +occupying its place. Examination of the lower end of a young foal's +shin-bone, however, shows a distinct portion of osseous matter, which +is the lower end of the fibula; so that the apparently single lower end +of the shin-bone is really made up of the coalesced ends of the tibia +and fibula, just as the apparently single lower end of the fore-arm bone +is composed of the coalesced radius and ulna. + +The heel of the horse is the part commonly known as the hock. The hinder +cannon-bone answers to the middle metatarsal bone of the human foot, the +pastern, coronary, and coffin bones, to the middle toe bones; the hind +hoof to the nail, as in the fore-foot. And, as in the fore-foot, there +are merely two splints to represent the second and the fourth toes. +Sometimes a rudiment of a fifth toe appears to be traceable. + +The teeth of a horse are not less peculiar than its limbs. The living +engine, like all others, must be well stoked if it is to do its work; +and the horse, if it is to make good its wear and tear, and to exert the +enormous amount of force required for its propulsion, must be well and +rapidly fed. To this end, good cutting instruments and powerful and +lasting crushers are needful. Accordingly, the twelve cutting teeth of a +horse are close-set and concentrated in the fore-part of its mouth, like +so many adzes or chisels. The grinders or molars are large, and have an +extremely complicated structure, being composed of a number of different +substances of unequal hardness. The consequence of this is that they +wear away at different rates; and, hence, the surface of each grinder is +always as uneven as that of a good millstone. + +I have said that the structure of the grinding teeth is very +complicated, the harder and the softer parts being, as it were, +interlaced with one another. The result of this is that, as the tooth +wears, the crown presents a peculiar pattern, the nature of which is not +very easily deciphered at first; but which it is important we should +understand clearly. Each grinding tooth of the upper jaw has an _outer +wall_ so shaped that, on the worn crown, it exhibits the form of two +crescents, one in front and one behind, with their concave sides turned +outwards. From the inner side of the front crescent, a crescentic _front +ridge_ passes inwards and backwards, and its inner face enlarges into a +strong longitudinal fold or _pillar_. From the front part of the hinder +crescent, a _back ridge_ takes a like direction, and also has its +_pillar_. + +The deep interspaces or _valleys_ between these ridges and the outer +wall are filled by bony substance, which is called _cement_, and coats +the whole tooth. + +The pattern of the worn face of each grinding tooth of the lower jaw is +quite different. It appears to be formed of two crescent-shaped ridges, +the convexities of which are turned outwards. The free extremity of each +crescent has a _pillar_, and there is a large double _pillar_ where the +two crescents meet; The whole structure is, as it were, imbedded in +cement, which fills up the valleys, as in the upper grinders. + +If the grinding faces of an upper and of a lower molar of the same side +are applied together, it will be seen that the apposed ridges are +nowhere parallel, but that they frequently cross; and that thus, in the +act of mastication, a hard surface in the one is constantly applied to a +soft surface in the other, and _vice versa_. They thus constitute a +grinding apparatus of great efficiency, and one which is repaired as +fast as it wears, owing to the long-continued growth of the teeth. + +Some other peculiarities of the dentition of the horse must be noticed, +as they bear upon what I shall have to say by and by. Thus the crowns of +the cutting teeth have a peculiar deep pit, which gives rise to the +well-known "mark" of the horse. There is a large space between the outer +incisors and the front grinder. In this space the adult male horse +presents, near the incisors on each side, above and below, a canine or +"tush," which is commonly absent in mares. In a young horse, moreover, +there is not unfrequently to be seen in front of the first grinder, a +very small tooth, which soon falls out. If this small tooth be counted +as one, it will be found that there are seven teeth behind the canine on +each side; namely, the small tooth in question, and the six great +grinders, among which, by an unusual peculiarity, the foremost tooth is +rather larger than those which follow it. + +I have now enumerated those characteristic structures of the horse which +are of most importance for the purpose we have in view. + +To any one who is acquainted with the morphology of vertebrated animals, +they show that the horse deviates widely from the general structure of +mammals; and that the horse type is, in many respects, an extreme +modification of the general mammalian plan. The least modified mammals, +in fact, have the radius and ulna, the tibia and fibula, distinct and +separate. They have five distinct and complete digits on each foot, and +no one of these digits is very much larger than the rest. Moreover, in +the least modified mammals, the total number of the teeth is very +generally forty-four, while in horses, the usual number is forty, and in +the absence of the canines, it may be reduced to thirty-six; the incisor +teeth are devoid of the fold seen in those of the horse: the grinders +regularly diminish in size from the middle of the series to its front +end; while their crowns are short, early attain their full length, and +exhibit simple ridges or tubercles, in place of the complex foldings of +the horse's grinders. + +Hence the general principles of the hypothesis of evolution lead to the +conclusion that the horse must have been derived from some quadruped +which possessed five complete digits on each foot; which had the bones +of the fore-arm and of the leg complete and separate; and which +possessed forty-four teeth, among which the crowns of the incisors and +grinders had a simple structure; while the latter gradually increased in +size from before backwards, at any rate in the anterior part of the +series, and had short crowns. + +And if the horse has been thus evolved, and the remains of the different +stages of its evolution have been preserved, they ought to present us +with a series of forms in which the number of the digits becomes +reduced; the bones of the fore-arm and leg gradually take on the equine +condition; and the form and arrangement of the teeth successively +approximate to those which obtain in existing horses. + +Let us turn to the facts, and see how far they fulfil these requirements +of the doctrine of evolution. + +In Europe abundant remains of horses are found in the Quaternary and +later Tertiary strata as far as the Pliocene formation. But these +horses, which are so common in the cave-deposits and in the gravels of +Europe, are in all essential respects like existing horses. And that is +true of all the horses of the latter part of the Pliocene epoch. But, in +deposits which belong to the earlier Pliocene and later Miocene epochs, +and which occur in Britain, in France, in Germany, in Greece, in India, +we find animals which are extremely like horses--which, in fact, are so +similar to horses, that you may follow descriptions given in works upon +the anatomy of the horse upon the skeletons of these animals--but which +differ in some important particulars. For example, the structure of +their fore and hind limbs is somewhat different. The bones which, in the +horse, are represented by two splints, imperfect below, are as long as +the middle metacarpal and metatarsal bones; and, attached to the +extremity of each, is a digit with three joints of the same general +character as those of the middle digit, only very much smaller. These +small digits are so disposed that they could have had but very little +functional importance, and they must have been rather of the nature of +the dew-claws, such as are to be found in many ruminant animals. The +_Hipparion_, as the extinct European three-toed horse is called, in +fact, presents a foot similar to that of the American _Protohippus_ +(Fig. 9), except that, in the _Hipparion_, the smaller digits are +situated farther back, and are of smaller proportional size, than in the +_Protohippus_. + +The ulna is slightly more distinct than in the horse; and the whole +length of it, as a very slender shaft, intimately united with the +radius, is completely traceable. The fibula appears to be in the same +condition as in the horse. The teeth of the _Hipparion_ are essentially +similar to those of the horse, but the pattern of the grinders is in +some respects a little more complex, and there is a depression on the +face of the skull in front of the orbit, which is not seen in existing +horses. + +In the earlier Miocene, and perhaps the later Eocene deposits of some +parts of Europe, another extinct animal has been discovered, which +Cuvier, who first described some fragments of it, considered to be a +_Palaeotherium_. But as further discoveries threw new light upon its +structure, it was recognised as a distinct genus, under the name of +_Anchitherium_. + +In its general characters, the skeleton of _Anchitherium_ is very +similar to that of the horse. In fact, Lartet and De Blainville called +it _Palaeotherium equinum_ or _hippoides_; and De Christol, in 1847, said +that it differed from _Hipparion_ in little more than the characters of +its teeth, and gave it the name of _Hipparitherium_. Each foot possesses +three complete toes; while the lateral toes are much larger in +proportion to the middle toe than in _Hipparion_, and doubtless rested +on the ground in ordinary locomotion. + +The ulna is complete and quite distinct from the radius, though firmly +united with the latter. The fibula seems also to have been complete. Its +lower end, though intimately united with that of the tibia, is clearly +marked off from the latter bone. + +There are forty-four teeth. The incisors have no strong pit. The canines +seem to have been well developed in both sexes. The first of the seven +grinders, which, as I have said, is frequently absent, and, when it does +exist, is small in the horse, is a good-sized and permanent tooth, while +the grinder which follows it is but little larger than the hinder ones. +The crowns of the grinders are short, and though the fundamental pattern +of the horse-tooth is discernible, the front and back ridges are less +curved, the accessory pillars are wanting, and the valleys, much +shallower, are not filled up with cement. + +Seven years ago, when I happened to be looking critically into the +bearing of palaeontological facts upon the doctrine of evolution, it +appeared to me that the _Anchitherium_, the _Hipparion_, and the modern +horses, constitute a series in which the modifications of structure +coincide with the order of chronological occurrence, in the manner in +which they must coincide, if the modern horses really are the result of +the gradual metamorphosis, in the course of the Tertiary epoch, of a +less specialised ancestral form. And I found by correspondence with the +late eminent French anatomist and palaeontologist, M. Lartet, that he had +arrived at the same conclusion from the same data. + +That the _Anchitherium_ type had become metamorphosed into the +_Hipparion_ type, and the latter into the _Equine_ type, in the course +of that period of time which is represented by the latter half of the +Tertiary deposits, seemed to me to be the only explanation of the facts +for which there was even a shadow of probability.[3] + +And, hence, I have ever since held that these facts afford evidence of +the occurrence of evolution, which, in the sense already defined, may be +termed demonstrative. + +All who have occupied themselves with the structure of _Anchitherium_, +from Cuvier onwards, have acknowledged its many points of likeness to a +well-known genus of extinct Eocene mammals, _Palaeotherium_. Indeed, as +we have seen, Cuvier regarded his remains of _Anchitherium_ as those of +a species of _Palaeotherium_. Hence, in attempting to trace the pedigree +of the horse beyond the Miocene epoch and the Anchitheroid form, I +naturally sought among the various species of Palaeotheroid animals for +its nearest ally, and I was led to conclude that the _Palaeotherium +minus_ (_Plagiolophus_) represented the next step more nearly than any +form then known. + +I think that this opinion was fully justifiable; but the progress of +investigation has thrown an unexpected light on the question, and has +brought us much nearer than could have been anticipated to a knowledge +of the true series of the progenitors of the horse. + +You are all aware that, when your country was first discovered by +Europeans, there were no traces of the existence of the horse in any +part of the American continent. The accounts of the conquest of Mexico +dwell upon the astonishment of the natives of that country when they +first became acquainted with that astounding phenomenon--a man seated +upon a horse. Nevertheless, the investigations of American geologists +have proved that the remains of horses occur in the most superficial +deposits of both North and South America, just as they do in Europe. +Therefore, for some reason or other--no feasible suggestion on that +subject, so far as I know, has been made--the horse must have died out +on this continent at some period preceding the discovery of America. Of +late years there has been discovered in your Western Territories that +marvellous accumulation of deposits, admirably adapted for the +preservation of organic remains, to which I referred the other evening, +and which furnishes us with a consecutive series of records of the fauna +of the older half of the Tertiary epoch, for which we have no parallel +in Europe. They have yielded fossils in an excellent state of +conservation and in unexampled number and variety. The researches of +Leidy and others have shown that forms allied to the _Hipparion_ and the +_Anchitherium_ are to be found among these remains. But it is only +recently that the admirably conceived and most thoroughly and patiently +worked-out investigations of Professor Marsh have given us a just idea +of the vast fossil wealth, and of the scientific importance, of these +deposits. I have had the advantage of glancing over the collections in +Yale Museum; and I can truly say that, so far as my knowledge extends, +there is no collection from any one region and series of strata +comparable, for extent, or for the care with which the remains have been +got together, or for their scientific importance, to the series of +fossils which he has deposited there. This vast collection has yielded +evidence bearing upon the question of the pedigree of the horse of the +most striking character. It tends to show that we must look to America, +rather than to Europe, for the original seat of the equine series; and +that the archaic forms and successive modifications of the horse's +ancestry are far better preserved here than in Europe. + +Professor Marsh's kindness has enabled me to put before you a diagram, +every figure in which is an actual representation of some specimen which +is to be seen at Yale at this present time (Fig. 9). + +The succession of forms which he has brought together carries us from +the top to the bottom of the Tertiaries. Firstly, there is the true +horse. Next we have the American Pliocene form of the horse +(_Pliohippus_); in the conformation of its limbs it presents some very +slight deviations from the ordinary horse, and the crowns of the +grinding teeth are shorter. Then comes the _Protohippus_, which +represents the European _Hipparion_, having one large digit and two +small ones on each foot, and the general characters of the fore-arm and +leg to which I have referred. But it is more valuable than the European +_Hipparion_, for the reason that it is devoid of some of the +peculiarities of that form--peculiarities which tend to show that the +European _Hipparion_ is rather a member of a collateral branch, than a +form in the direct line of succession. Next, in the backward order in +time, is the _Miohippus_, which corresponds pretty nearly with the +_Anchitherium_ of Europe. It presents three complete toes--one large +median and two smaller lateral ones; and there is a rudiment of that +digit, which answers to the little finger of the human hand. + +[Illustration: FIG. 9.] + +The European record of the pedigree of the horse stops here; in the +American Tertiaries, on the contrary, the series of ancestral equine +forms is continued into the Eocene formations. An older Miocene form, +termed _Mesohippus_, has three toes in front, with a large splint-like +rudiment representing the little finger; and three toes behind. The +radius and ulna, the tibia and the fibula, are distinct, and the short +crowned molar teeth are anchitherold in pattern. + +But the most important discovery of all is the _Orohippus_, which comes +from the Eocene formation, and is the oldest member of the equine series +as yet known. Here we find four complete toes on the front limb, three +toes on the hind-limb, a well-developed ulna, a well-developed fibula, +and short-crowned grinders of simple pattern. + +Thus, thanks to these important researches, it has become evident that, +so far as our present knowledge extends, the history of the horse-type +is exactly and precisely that which could have been predicted from a +knowledge of the principles of evolution. And the knowledge we now +possess justifies us completely in the anticipation, that when the still +lower Eocene deposits, and those which belong to the cretaceous epoch, +have yielded up their remains of ancestral equine animals, we shall +find, first, a form with four complete toes and a rudiment of the +innermost or first digit in front, with probably a rudiment of the fifth +digit in the hind foot;[4] while, in still older forms, the series of +the digits will be more and more complete, until we come to the +five-toed animals, in which, if the doctrine of evolution is well +founded, the whole series must have taken its orgin. + +That is what I mean by demonstrative evidence of evolution. An inductive +hypothesis is said to be demonstrated when the facts are shown to be in +entire accordance with it. If that is not scientific proof, there are no +merely inductive conclusions which can be said to be proved. And the +doctrine of evolution, at the present time, rests upon exactly as secure +a foundation as the Copernican theory of the motions of the heavenly +bodies did at the time of its promulgation. Its logical basis is +precisely of the same character--the coincidence of the observed facts +with theoretical requirements. + +The only way of escape, if it be a way of escape, from the conclusions +which I have just indicated, is the supposition that all these different +equine forms have been created separately at separate epochs of time; +and, I repeat, that of such an hypothesis as this there neither is, nor +can be, any scientific evidence; and, assuredly so far as I know, there +is none which is supported, or pretends to be supported, by evidence or +authority of any other kind. I can but think that the time will come +when such suggestions as these, such obvious attempts to escape the +force of demonstration, will be put upon the same footing as the +supposition made by some writers, who are I believe not completely +extinct at present, that fossils are mere simulacra, are no indications +of the former existence of the animals to which they seem to belong; but +that they are either sports of Nature, or special creations, +intended--as I heard suggested the other day--to test our faith. + +In fact, the whole evidence is in favour of evolution, and there is none +against it. And I say this, although perfectly well aware of the seeming +difficulties which have been built up upon what appears to the +uninformed to be a solid foundation. I meet constantly with the argument +that the doctrine of evolution cannot be well founded, because it +requires the lapse of a very vast period of time; while the duration of +life upon the earth thus implied is inconsistent with the conclusions +arrived at by the astronomer and the physicist. I may venture to say +that I am familiar with those conclusions, inasmuch as some years ago, +when President of the Geological Society of London, I took the liberty +of criticising them, and of showing in what respects, as it appeared to +me, they lacked complete and thorough demonstration. But, putting that +point aside, suppose that, as the astronomers, or some of them, and some +physical philosophers, tell us, it is impossible that life could have +endured upon the earth for as long a period as is required by the +doctrine of evolution--supposing that to be proved--I desire to be +informed, what is the foundation for the statement that evolution does +require so great a time? The biologist knows nothing whatever of the +amount of time which may be required for the process of evolution. It is +a matter of fact that the equine forms which I have described to you +occur, in the order stated, in the Tertiary formations. But I have not +the slightest means of guessing whether it took a million of years, or +ten millions, or a hundred millions, or a thousand millions of years, to +give rise to that series of changes. A biologist has no means of +arriving at any conclusion as to the amount of time which may be needed +for a certain quantity of organic change. He takes his time from the +geologist. The geologist, considering the rate at which deposits are +formed and the rate at which denudation goes on upon the surface of the +earth, arrives at more or less justifiable conclusions as to the time +which is required for the deposit of a certain thickness of rocks; and +if he tells me that the Tertiary formations required 500,000,000 years +for their deposit, I suppose he has good ground for what he says, and I +take that as a measure of the duration of the evolution of the horse +from the _Orohippus_ up to its present condition. And, if he is right, +undoubtedly evolution is a very slow process and requires a great deal +of time. But suppose, now, that an astronomer or a physicist--for +instance, my friend Sir William Thomson--tells me that my geological +authority is quite wrong; and that he has weighty evidence to show that +life could not possibly have existed upon the surface of the earth +500,000,000 years ago, because the earth would have then been too hot to +allow of life, my reply is: "That is not my affair; settle that with the +geologist, and when you have come to an agreement among yourselves I +will adopt your conclusion." We take our time from the geologists and +physicists; and it is monstrous that having taken our time from the +physical philosopher's clock, the physical philosopher should turn round +upon us, and say we are too fast or too slow. What we desire to know is, +is it a fact that evolution took place? As to the amount of time which +evolution may have occupied, we are in the hands of the physicist and +the astronomer, whose business it is to deal with those questions. + +I have now, ladies and gentlemen, arrived at the conclusion of the task +which I set before myself when I undertook to deliver these lectures. My +purpose has been, not to enable those among you who have paid no +attention to these subjects before, to leave this room in a condition to +decide upon the validity or the invalidity of the hypothesis of +evolution; but I have desired to put before you the principles upon +which all hypotheses respecting the history of Nature must be judged; +and furthermore, to make apparent the nature of the evidence and the +amount of cogency which is to be expected and may be obtained from it. +To this end, I have not hesitated to regard you as genuine students and +persons desirous of knowing the truth. I have not shrunk from taking you +through long discussions, that I fear may have sometimed tried your +patience; and I have inflicted upon you details which were +indispensable, but which may well have been wearisome. But I shall +rejoice--I shall consider that I have done you the greatest service +which it was in my power to do--if I have thus convinced you that the +great question which we have been discussing is not one to be dealt with +by rhetorical flourishes, or by loose and superficial talk; but that it +requires the keen attention of the trained intellect and the patience of +the accurate observer. + + + + +ON THE PHYSICAL BASIS OF LIFE + +[1868] + + +In order to make the title of this discourse generally intelligible, I +have translated the term "Protoplasm," which is the scientific name of +the substance of which I am about to speak, by the words "the physical +basis of life." I suppose that, to many, the idea that there is such a +thing as a physical basis, or matter, of life may be novel--so widely +spread is the conception of life as a something which works through +matter, but is independent of it; and even those who are aware that +matter and life are inseparably connected, may not be prepared for the +conclusion plainly suggested by the phrase, "_the_ physical basis or +matter of life," that there is some one kind of matter which is common +to all living beings, and that their endless diversities are bound +together by a physical, as well as an ideal, unity. In fact, when first +apprehended, such a doctrine as this appears almost shocking to common +sense. + +What, truly, can seem to be more obviously different from one another, +in faculty, in form, and in substance, than the various kinds of living +beings? What community of faculty can there be between the +brightly-coloured lichen, which so nearly resembles a mere mineral +incrustation of the bare rock on which it grows, and the painter, to +whom it is instinct with beauty, or the botanist, whom it feeds with +knowledge? + +Again, think of the microscopic fungus--a mere infinitesimal ovoid +particle, which finds space and duration enough to multiply into +countless millions in the body of a living fly; and then of the wealth +of foliage, the luxuriance of flower and fruit, which lies between this +bald sketch of a plant and the giant pine of California, towering to the +dimensions of a cathedral spire, or the Indian fig, which covers acres +with its profound shadow, and endures while nations and empires come and +go around its vast circumference. Or, turning to the other half of the +world of life, picture to yourselves the great Finner whale, hugest of +beasts that live, or have lived, disporting his eighty or ninety feet of +bone, muscle, and blubber, with easy roll, among waves in which the +stoutest ship that ever left dockyard would flounder hopelessly; and +contrast him with the invisible animalcules--mere gelatinous specks, +multitudes of which could, in fact, dance upon the point of a needle +with the same ease as the angels of the Schoolmen could, in imagination. +With these images before your minds, you may well ask, what community of +form, or structure, is there between the animalcule and the whale; or +between the fungus and the fig-tree? And, _a fortiori_, between all +four? + +Finally, if we regard substance, or material composition, what hidden +bond can connect the flower which a girl wears in her hair and the blood +which courses through her youthful veins; or, what is there in common +between the dense and resisting mass of the oak, or the strong fabric of +the tortoise, and those broad disks of glassy jelly which may be seen +pulsating through the waters of a calm sea, but which drain away to +mere films in the hand which raises them out of their element? + +Such objections as these must, I think, arise in the mind of every one +who ponders, for the first time, upon the conception of a single +physical basis of life underlying all the diversities of vital +existence; but I propose to demonstrate to you that, notwithstanding +these apparent difficulties, a threefold unity--namely, a unity of +power or faculty, a unity of form, and a unity of substantial +composition--does pervade the whole living world. + +No very abstruse argumentation is needed, in the first place, to prove +that the powers, or faculties, of all kinds of living matter, diverse as +they may be in degree, are substantially similar in kind. + +Goethe has condensed a survey of all powers of mankind into the +well-known epigram:-- + + "Warum treibt sich das Volk so und schreit? + Es will sich ernaehren + Kinder zeugen, und die naehren so gut es vermag. + + * * * * * + + Weiter bringt es kein Mensch, stell' er + sich wie er auch will." + +In physiological language this means, that all the multifarious and +complicated activities of man are comprehensible under three categories. +Either they are immediately directed towards the maintenance and +development of the body, or they effect transitory changes in the +relative positions of parts of the body, or they tend towards the +continuance of the species. Even those manifestations of intellect, of +feeling, and of will, which we rightly name the higher faculties, are +not excluded from this classification, inasmuch as to every one but the +subject of them, they are known only as transitory changes in the +relative positions of parts of the body. Speech, gesture, and every +other form of human action are, in the long run, resolvable into +muscular contraction, and muscular contraction is but a transitory +change in the relative positions of the parts of a muscle. But the +scheme which is large enough to embrace the activities of the highest +form of life, covers all those of the lower creatures. The lowest plant, +or animalcule, feeds, grows, and reproduces its kind. In addition, all +animals manifest those transitory changes of form which we class under +irritability and contractility; and, it is more than probable, that when +the vegetable world is thoroughly explored, we shall find all plants in +possession of the same powers, at one time or other of their existence. + +I am not now alluding to such phaenomena, at once rare and conspicuous, +as those exhibited by the leaflets of the sensitive plants, or the +stamens of the barberry, but to much more widely spread, and at the same +time, more subtle and hidden, manifestations of vegetable contractility. +You are doubtless aware that the common nettle owes its stinging +property to the innumerable stiff and needle-like, though exquisitely +delicate, hairs which cover its surface. Each stinging-needle tapers +from a broad base to a slender summit, which, though rounded at the end, +is of such microscopic fineness that it readily penetrates, and breaks +off in, the skin. The whole hair consists of a very delicate outer case +of wood, closely applied to the inner surface of which is a layer of +semi-fluid matter, full of innumerable granules of extreme minuteness. +This semi-fluid lining is protoplasm, which thus constitutes a kind of +bag, full of a limpid liquid, and roughly corresponding in form with the +interior of the hair which it fills. When viewed with a sufficiently +high magnifying power, the protoplasmic layer of the nettle hair is seen +to be in a condition of unceasing activity. Local contractions of the +whole thickness of its substance pass slowly and gradually from point to +point, and give rise to the appearance of progressive waves, just as the +bending of successive stalks of corn by a breeze produces the apparent +billows of a cornfield. + +But, in addition to these movements, and independently of them, the +granules are driven, in relatively rapid streams, through channels in +the protoplasm which seem to have a considerable amount of persistence. +Most commonly, the currents in adjacent parts of the protoplasm take +similar directions; and, thus, there is a general stream up one side of +the hair and down the other. But this does not prevent the existence of +partial currents which take different routes; and sometimes trains of +granules may be seen coursing swiftly in opposite directions within a +twenty-thousandth of an inch of one another; while, occasionally, +opposite streams come into direct collision, and, after a longer or +shorter struggle, one predominates. The cause of these currents seems to +lie in contractions of the protoplasm which bounds the channels in which +they flow, but which are so minute that the best microscopes show only +their effects, and not themselves. + +The spectacle afforded by the wonderful energies prisoned within the +compass of the microscopic hair of a plant, which we commonly regard as +a merely passive organism, is not easily forgotten by one who has +watched its display, continued hour after hour, without pause or sign of +weakening. The possible complexity of many other organic forms, +seemingly as simple as the protoplasm of the nettle, dawns upon one; and +the comparison of such a protoplasm to a body with an internal +circulation, which has been put forward by an eminent physiologist, +loses much of its startling character. Currents similar to those of the +hairs of the nettle have been observed in a great multitude of very +different plants, and weighty authorities have suggested that they +probably occur, in more or less perfection, in all young vegetable +cells. If such be the case, the wonderful noonday silence of a tropical +forest is, after all, due only to the dulness of our hearing; and could +our ears catch the murmur of these tiny Maelstroms, as they whirl in the +innumerable myriads of living cells which constitute each tree, we +should be stunned, as with the roar of a great city. + +Among the lower plants, it is the rule rather than the exception, that +contractility should be still more openly manifested at some periods of +their existence. The protoplasm of _Algae_ and _Fungi_ becomes, under +many circumstances, partially, or completely, freed from its woody case, +and exhibits movements of its whole mass, or is propelled by the +contractility of one, or more, hair-like prolongations of its body, +which are called vibratile cilia. And, so far as the conditions of the +manifestation of the phaenomena of contractility have yet been studied, +they are the same for the plant as for the animal. Heat and electric +shocks influence both, and in the same way, though it may be in +different degrees. It is by no means my intention to suggest that there +is no difference in faculty between the lowest plant and the highest, or +between plants and animals. But the difference between the powers of the +lowest plant, or animal, and those of the highest, is one of degree, not +of kind, and depends, as Milne-Edwards long ago so well pointed out, +upon the extent to which the principle of the division of labour is +carried out in the living economy. In the lowest organism all parts are +competent to perform all functions, and one and the same portion of +protoplasm may successfully take on the function of feeding, moving, or +reproducing apparatus. In the highest, on the contrary, a great number +of parts combine to perform each function, each part doing its allotted +share of the work with great accuracy and efficiency, but being useless +for any other purpose. + +On the other hand, notwithstanding all the fundamental resemblances +which exist between the powers of the protoplasm in plants and in +animals, they present a striking difference (to which I shall advert +more at length presently), in the fact that plants can manufacture fresh +protoplasm out of mineral compounds, whereas animals are obliged to +procure it ready made, and hence, in the long run, depend upon plants. +Upon what condition this difference in the powers of the two great +divisions of the world of life depends, nothing is at present known. + +With such qualification as arises out of the last-mentioned fact, it may +be truly said that the acts of all living things are fundamentally one. +Is any such unity predicable of their forms? Let us seek in easily +verified facts for a reply to this question. If a drop of blood be drawn +by pricking one's finger, and viewed with proper precautions, and under +a sufficiently high microscopic power, there will be seen, among the +innumerable multitude of little, circular, discoidal bodies, or +corpuscles, which float in it and give it its colour, a comparatively +small number of colourless corpuscles, of somewhat larger size and very +irregular shape. If the drop of blood be kept at the temperature of the +body, these colourless corpuscles will be seen to exhibit a marvellous +activity, changing their forms with great rapidity, drawing in and +thrusting out prolongations of their substance, and creeping about as if +they were independent organisms. + +The substance which is thus active is a mass of protoplasm, and its +activity differs in detail, rather than in principle, from that of the +protoplasm of the nettle. Under sundry circumstances the corpuscle dies +and becomes distended into a round mass, in the midst of which is seen a +smaller spherical body, which existed, but was more or less hidden, in +the living corpuscle, and is called its _nucleus_. Corpuscles of +essentially similar structure are to be found in the skin, in the lining +of the mouth, and scattered through the whole framework of the body. +Nay, more; in the earliest condition of the human organism, in that +state in which it has but just become distinguishable from the egg in +which it arises, it is nothing but an aggregation of such corpuscles, +and every organ of the body was, once, no more than such an aggregation. + +Thus a nucleated mass of protoplasm turns out to be what may be termed +the structural unit of the human body. As a matter of fact, the body, in +its earliest state, is a mere multiple of such units; and in its perfect +condition, it is a multiple of such units, variously modified. + +But does the formula which expresses the essential structural character +of the highest animal cover all the rest, as the statement of its powers +and faculties covered that of all others? Very nearly. Beast and fowl, +reptile and fish, mollusk, worm, and polype, are all composed of +structural units of the same character, namely, masses of protoplasm +with a nucleus. There are sundry very low animals, each of which, +structurally, is a mere colourless blood-corpuscle, leading an +independent life. But at the very bottom of the animal scale, even this +simplicity becomes simplified, and all the phaenomena of life are +manifested by a particle of protoplasm without a nucleus. Nor are such +organisms insignificant by reason of their want of complexity. It is a +fair question whether the protoplasm of those simplest forms of life, +which people an immense extent of the bottom of the sea, would not +outweigh that of all the higher living beings which inhabit the land put +together. And in ancient times, no less than at the present day, such +living beings as these have been the greatest of rock builders. + +What has been said of the animal world is no less true of plants. +Embedded in the protoplasm at the broad, or attached, end of the nettle +hair, there lies a spheroidal nucleus. Careful examination further +proves that the whole substance of the nettle is made up of a repetition +of such masses of nucleated protoplasm, each contained in a wooden case, +which is modified in form, sometimes into a woody fibre, sometimes into +a duct or spiral vessel, sometimes into a pollen grain, or an ovule. +Traced back to its earliest state, the nettle arises as the man does, in +a particle of nucleated protoplasm. And in the lowest plants, as in the +lowest animals, a single mass of such protoplasm may constitute the +whole plant, or the protoplasm may exist without a nucleus. + +Under these circumstances it may well be asked, how is one mass of +non-nucleated protoplasm to be distinguished from another? why call one +"plant" and the other "animal"? + +The only reply is that, so far as form is concerned, plants and animals +are not separable, and that, in many cases, it is a mere matter of +convention whether we call a given organism an animal or a plant. There +is a living body called _AEthalium septicum_, which appears upon decaying +vegetable substances, and, in one of its forms, is common upon the +surfaces of tan-pits. In this condition it is, to all intents and +purposes, a fungus, and formerly was always regarded as such; but the +remarkable investigations of De Bary have shown that, in another +condition, the _AEthalium_ is an actively locomotive creature, and takes +in solid matters, upon which, apparently, it feeds, thus exhibiting the +most characteristic feature of animality. Is this a plant; or is it an +animal? Is it both; or is it neither? Some decide in favour of the last +supposition, and establish an intermediate kingdom, a sort of biological +No Man's Land for all these questionable forms. But, as it is admittedly +impossible to draw any distinct boundary line between this no man's land +and the vegetable world, on the one hand, or the animal, on the other, +it appears to me that this proceeding merely doubles the difficulty +which, before, was single. + +Protoplasm, simple or nucleated, is the formal basis of all life. It is +the clay of the potter: which, bake it and paint it as he will, remains +clay, separated by artifice, and not by nature, from the commonest brick +or sun-dried clod. + +Thus it becomes clear that all living powers are cognate, and that all +living forms are fundamentally of one character. The researches of the +chemist have revealed a no less striking uniformity of material +composition in living matter. + +In perfect strictness, it is true that chemical investigation can tell +us little or nothing, directly, of the composition of living matter, +inasmuch as such matter must needs die in the act of analysis,--and upon +this very obvious ground, objections, which I confess seem to me to be +somewhat frivolous, have been raised to the drawing of any conclusions +whatever respecting the composition of actually living matter, from that +of the dead matter of life, which alone is accessible to us. But +objectors of this class do not seem to reflect that it is also, in +strictness, true that we know nothing about the composition of any body +whatever, as it is. The statement that a crystal of calc-spar consists +of carbonate of lime, is quite true, if we only mean that, by +appropriate processes, it may be resolved into carbonic acid and +quicklime. If you pass the same carbonic acid over the very quicklime +thus obtained, you will obtain carbonate of lime again; but it will not +be calc-spar, nor anything like it. Can it, therefore, be said that +chemical analysis teaches nothing about the chemical composition of +calc-spar? Such a statement would be absurd; but it is hardly more so +than the talk one occasionally hears about the uselessness of applying +the results of chemical analysis to the living bodies which have yielded +them. + +One fact, at any rate, is out of reach of such refinements, and this is, +that all the forms of protoplasm which have yet been examined contain +the four elements, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, in very +complex union, and that they behave similarly towards several reagents. +To this complex combination, the nature of which has never been +determined with exactness, the name of Protein has been applied. And if +we use this term with such caution as may properly arise out of our +comparative ignorance of the things for which it stands, it may be truly +said, that all protoplasm is proteinaceous, or, as the white, or +albumen, of an egg is one of the commonest examples of a nearly pure +proteine matter, we may say that all living matter is more or less +albuminoid. + +Perhaps it would not yet be safe to say that all forms of protoplasm are +affected by the direct action of electric shocks; and yet the number of +cases in which the contraction of protoplasm is shown to be affected by +this agency increases every day. + +Nor can it be affirmed with perfect confidence, that all forms of +protoplasm are liable to undergo that peculiar coagulation at a +temperature of 40 deg.-50 deg. centigrade, which has been called +"heat-stiffening," though Kuehne's beautiful researches have proved this +occurrence to take place in so many and such diverse living beings, that +it is hardly rash to expect that the law holds good for all. + + * * * * * + +Enough has, perhaps, been said to prove the existence of a general +uniformity in the character of the protoplasm, or physical basis, of +life, in whatever group of living beings it may be studied. But it will +be understood that this general uniformity by no means excludes any +amount of special modifications of the fundamental substance. The +mineral, carbonate of lime, assumes an immense diversity of characters, +though no one doubts that, under all these Protean changes, it is one +and the same thing. + +And now, what is the ultimate fate, and what the origin, of the matter +of life? + +Is it, as some of the older naturalists supposed, diffused throughout +the universe in molecules, which are indestructible and unchangeable in +themselves; but, in endless transmigration, unite in innumerable +permutations, into the diversified forms of life we know? Or, is the +matter of life composed of ordinary matter, differing from it only in +the manner in which its atoms are aggregated? Is it built up of ordinary +matter, and again resolved into ordinary matter when its work is done? + +Modern science does not hesitate a moment between these alternatives. +Physiology writes, over the portals of life-- + + "Debemur morti nos nostraque," + +with a profounder meaning than the Roman poet attached to that +melancholy line. Under whatever disguise it takes refuge, whether fungus +or oak; worm or man, the living protoplasm not only ultimately dies and +is resolved into its mineral and lifeless constituents, but is always +dying, and, strange as the paradox may sound, could not live unless it +died. + +In the wonderful story of the "Peau de Chagrin," the hero becomes +possessed of a magical wild ass' skin, which yields him the means of +gratifying all his wishes. But its surface represents the duration of +the proprietor's life; and for every satisfied desire the skin shrinks +in proportion to the intensity of fruition, until at length life and the +last hand-breadth of the _peau de chagrin_, disappear with the +gratification of a last wish. + +Balzac's studies had led him over a wide range of thought and +speculation, and his shadowing forth of physiological truth in this +strange story may have been intentional. At any rate, the matter of life +is a veritable _peau de chagrin_, and for every vital act it is somewhat +the smaller. All work implies waste, and the work of life results, +directly or indirectly, in the waste of protoplasm. + +Every word uttered by a speaker costs him some physical loss; and, in +the strictest sense, he burns that others may have light--so much +eloquence, so much of his body resolved into carbonic acid, water, and +urea. It is clear that this process of expenditure cannot go on for +ever. But, happily, the protoplasmic _peau de chagrin_ differs from +Balzac's in its capacity of being repaired, and brought back to its full +size, after every exertion. + +For example, this present lecture, whatever its intellectual worth to +you, has a certain physical value to me, which is, conceivably, +expressible by the number of grains of protoplasm and other bodily +substance wasted in maintaining my vital processes during its delivery. +My _peau de chagrin_ will be distinctly smaller at the end of the +discourse than it was at the beginning. By and by, I shall probably have +recourse to the substance commonly called mutton, for the purpose of +stretching it back to its original size. Now this mutton was once the +living protoplasm, more or less modified, of another animal--a sheep. As +I shall eat it, it is the same matter altered, not only by death, but by +exposure to sundry artificial operations in the process of cooking. + +But these changes, whatever be their extent, have not rendered it +incompetent to resume its old functions as matter of life. A singular +inward laboratory, which I possess, will dissolve a certain portion of +the modified protoplasm; the solution so formed will pass into my veins; +and the subtle influences to which it will then be subjected will +convert the dead protoplasm into living protoplasm, and transubstantiate +sheep into man. + +Nor is this all. If digestion were a thing to be trifled with, I might +sup upon lobster, and the matter of life of the crustacean would undergo +the same wonderful metamorphosis into humanity. And were I to return to +my own place by sea, and undergo shipwreck, the crustacean might, and +probably would, return the compliment, and demonstrate our common nature +by turning my protoplasm into living lobster. Or, if nothing better were +to be had, I might supply my wants with mere bread, and I should find +the protoplasm of the wheat-plant to be convertible into man, with no +more trouble than that of the sheep, and with far less, I fancy, than +that of the lobster. + +Hence it appears to be a matter of no great moment what animal, or what +plant, I lay under contribution for protoplasm, and the fact speaks +volumes for the general identity of that substance in all living beings. +I share this catholicity of assimilation with other animals, all of +which, so far as we know, could thrive equally well on the protoplasm of +any of their fellows, or of any plant; but here the assimilative powers +of the animal world cease. A solution of smelling-salts in water, with +an infinitesimal proportion of some other saline matters, contains all +the elementary bodies which enter into the composition of protoplasm; +but, as I need hardly say, a hogshead of that fluid would not keep a +hungry man from starving, nor would it save any animal whatever from a +like fate. An animal cannot make protoplasm, but must take it ready-made +from some other animal, or some plant--the animal's highest feat of +constructive chemistry being to convert dead protoplasm into that living +matter of life which is appropriate to itself. + +Therefore, in seeking for the origin of protoplasm, we must eventually +turn to the vegetable world. A fluid containing carbonic acid, water, +and nitrogenous salts, which offers such a Barmecide feast to the +animal, is a table richly spread to multitudes of plants; and, with a +due supply of only such materials, many a plant will not only maintain +itself in vigour, but grow and multiply until it has increased a +million-fold, or a million million-fold, the quantity of protoplasm +which it originally possessed; in this way building up the matter of +life, to an indefinite extent, from the common matter of the universe. + +Thus, the animal can only raise the complex substance of dead protoplasm +to the higher power, as one may say, of living protoplasm; while the +plant can raise the less complex substances--carbonic acid, water, and +nitrogenous salts--to the same stage of living protoplasm, if not to the +same level. But the plant also has its limitations. Some of the fungi, +for example, appear to need higher compounds to start with; and no known +plant can live upon the uncompounded elements of protoplasm. A plant +supplied with pure carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, phosphorus, +sulphur, and the like, would as infallibly die as the animal in his bath +of smelling-salts, though it would be surrounded by all the +constituents of protoplasm. Nor, indeed, need the process of +simplification of vegetable food be carried so far as this, in order to +arrive at the limit of the plant's thaumaturgy. Let water, carbonic +acid, and all the other needful constituents be supplied except +nitrogenous salts, and an ordinary plant will still be unable to +manufacture protoplasm. + +Thus the matter of life, so far as we know it (and we have no right to +speculate on any other), breaks up, in consequence of that continual +death which is the condition of its manifesting vitality, into carbonic +acid, water, and nitrogenous compounds, which certainly possess no +properties but those of ordinary matter. And out of these same forms of +ordinary matter, and from none which are simpler, the vegetable world +builds up all the protoplasm which keeps the animal world a-going. +Plants are the accumulators of the power which animals distribute and +disperse. + +But it will be observed, that the existence of the matter of life +depends on the pre-existence of certain compounds; namely, carbonic +acid, water, and certain nitrogenous bodies. Withdraw any one of these +three from the world, and all vital phaenomena come to an end. They are +as necessary to the protoplasm of the plant as the protoplasm of the +plant is to that of the animal. Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen +are all lifeless bodies. Of these, carbon and oxygen unite in certain +proportions and under certain conditions, to give rise to carbonic acid; +hydrogen and oxygen produce water; nitrogen and other elements give rise +to nitrogenous salts. These new compounds, like the elementary bodies of +which they are composed, are lifeless. But when they are brought +together, under certain conditions, they give rise to the still more +complex body, protoplasm, and this protoplasm exhibits the phaenomena of +life. + +I see no break in this series of steps in molecular complication, and I +am unable to understand why the language which is applicable to any one +term of the series may not be used to any of the others. We think fit to +call different kinds of matter carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen, +and to speak of the various powers and activities of these substances as +the properties of the matter of which they are composed. + +When hydrogen and oxygen are mixed in a certain proportion, and an +electric spark is passed through them, they disappear, and a quantity of +water, equal in weight to the sum of their weights, appears in their +place. There is not the slightest parity between the passive and active +powers of the water and those of the oxygen and hydrogen which have +given rise to it. At 32 deg. Fahrenheit, and far below that temperature, +oxygen and hydrogen are elastic gaseous bodies, whose particles tend to +rush away from one another with great force. Water, at the same +temperature, is a strong though brittle solid, whose particles tend to +cohere into definite geometrical shapes, and sometimes build up frosty +imitations of the most complex forms of vegetable foliage. + +Nevertheless we call these, and many other strange phaenomena, the +properties of the water, and we do not hesitate to believe that, in some +way or another, they result from the properties of the component +elements of the water. We do not assume that a something called +"aquosity" entered into and took possession of the oxidated hydrogen as +soon as it was formed, and then guided the aqueous particles to their +places in the facets of the crystal, or amongst the leaflets of the +hoarfrost. On the contrary, we live in the hope and in the faith that, +by the advance of molecular physics, we shall by and by be able to see +our way as clearly from the constituents of water to the properties of +water, as we are now able to deduce the operations of a watch from the +form of its parts and the manner in which they are put together. + +Is the case in any way changed when carbonic acid, water, and +nitrogenous salts disappear, and in their place, under the influence of +pre-existing living protoplasm, an equivalent weight of the matter of +life makes its appearance? + +It is true that there is no sort of parity between the properties of the +components and the properties of the resultant, but neither was there in +the case of the water. It is also true that what I have spoken of as the +influence of pre-existing living matter is something quite +unintelligible; but does anybody quite comprehend the _modus operandi_ +of an electric spark, which traverses a mixture of oxygen and hydrogen? + +What justification is there, then, for the assumption of the existence +in the living matter of a something which has no representative, or +correlative, in the not living matter which gave rise to it? What better +philosophical status has "vitality" than "aquosity"? And why should +"vitality" hope for a better fate than the other "itys" which have +disappeared since Martinus Scriblerus accounted for the operation of the +meat-jack by its inherent "meat-roasting quality," and scorned the +"materialism" of those who explained the turning of the spit by a +certain mechanism worked by the draught of the chimney. + +If scientific language is to possess a definite and constant +signification whenever it is employed, it seems to me that we are +logically bound to apply to the protoplasm, or physical basis of life, +the same conceptions as those which are held to be legitimate elsewhere. +If the phenomena exhibited by water are its properties, so are those +presented by protoplasm, living or dead, its properties. + +If the properties of water may be properly said to result from the +nature and disposition of its component molecules, I can find no +intelligible ground for refusing to say that the properties of +protoplasm result from the nature and disposition of its molecules. + +But I bid you beware that, in accepting these conclusions, you are +placing your feet on the first rung of a ladder which, in most people's +estimation, is the reverse of Jacob's, and leads to the antipodes of +heaven. It may seem a small thing to admit that the dull vital actions +of a fungus, or a foraminifer, are the properties of their protoplasm, +and are the direct results of the nature of the matter of which they are +composed. But if, as I have endeavoured to prove to you, their +protoplasm is essentially identical with, and most readily converted +into, that of any animal, I can discover no logical halting-place +between the admission that such is the case, and the further concession +that all vital action may, with equal propriety, be said to be the +result of the molecular forces of the protoplasm which displays it. And +if so, it must be true, in the same sense and to the same extent, that +the thoughts to which I am now giving utterance, and your thoughts +regarding them, are the expression of molecular changes in that matter +of life which is the source of our other vital phaenomena. + +Past experience leads me to be tolerably certain that, when the +propositions I have just placed before you are accessible to public +comment and criticism, they will be condemned by many zealous persons, +and perhaps by some few of the wise and thoughtful. I should not wonder +if "gross and brutal materialism" were the mildest phrase applied to +them in certain quarters. And, most undoubtedly, the terms of the +propositions are distinctly materialistic. Nevertheless two things are +certain; the one, that I hold the statements to be substantially true; +the other, that I, individually, am no materialist, but, on the +contrary, believe materialism to involve grave philosophical error. + +This union of materialistic terminology with the repudiation of +materialistic philosophy I share with some of the most thoughtful men +with whom I am acquainted. And, when I first undertook to deliver the +present discourse, it appeared to me to be a fitting opportunity to +explain how such a union is not only consistent with, but necessitated +by, sound logic. I purposed to lead you through the territory of vital +phaenomena to the materialistic slough in which you find yourselves now +plunged, and then to point out to you the sole path by which, in my +judgment, extrication is possible. + +An occurrence of which I was unaware until my arrival here last night +renders this line of argument singularly opportune. I found in your +papers the eloquent address "On the Limits of Philosophical Inquiry," +which a distinguished prelate of the English Church delivered before the +members of the Philosophical Institution on the previous day. My +argument, also, turns upon this very point of the limits of +philosophical inquiry; and I cannot bring out my own views better than +by contrasting them with those so plainly and, in the main, fairly +stated by the Archbishop of York. + +But I may be permitted to make a preliminary comment upon an occurrence +that greatly astonished me. Applying the name of the "New Philosophy" to +that estimate of the limits of philosophical inquiry which I, in common +with many other men of science, hold to be just, the Archbishop opens +his address by identifying this "New Philosophy" with the Positive +Philosophy of M. Comte (of whom he speaks as its "founder"); and then +proceeds to attack that philosopher and his doctrines vigorously. + +Now, so far as I am concerned, the most reverend prelate might +dialectically hew M. Comte in pieces, as a modern Agag, and I should not +attempt to stay his hand. In so far as my study of what specially +characterises the Positive Philosophy has led me, I find therein little +or nothing of any scientific value, and a great deal which is as +thoroughly antagonistic to the very essence of science as anything in +ultramontane Catholicism. In fact, M. Comte's philosophy, in practice, +might be compendiously described as Catholicism _minus_ Christianity. + +But what has Comtism to do with the "New Philosophy," as the Archbishop, +defines it in the following passage? + + "Let me briefly remind you of the leading principles of this new + philosophy. + + "All knowledge is experience of facts acquired by the senses. The + traditions of older philosophies have obscured our experience by + mixing with it much that the senses cannot observe, and until these + additions are discarded our knowledge is impure. Thus metaphysics + tell us that one fact which we observe is a cause, and another is + the effect of that cause; but, upon a rigid analysis, we find that + our senses observe nothing of cause or effect: they observe, first, + that one fact succeeds another, and, after some opportunity, that + this fact has never failed to follow--that for cause and effect we + should substitute invariable succession. An older philosophy + teaches us to define an object by distinguishing its essential from + its accidental qualities: but experience knows nothing of essential + and accidental; she sees only that, certain marks attach to an + object, and, after many observations, that some of them attach + invariably, whilst others may at times be absent.... As all + knowledge is relative, the notion of anything being necessary must + be banished with other traditions." [5] + +There is much here that expresses the spirit of the "New Philosophy," if +by that term be meant the spirit of modern science; but I cannot but +marvel that the assembled wisdom and learning of Edinburgh should have +uttered no sign of dissent, when Comte was declared to be the founder of +these doctrines. No one will accuse Scotchmen of habitually forgetting +their great countrymen; but it was enough to make David Hume turn in his +grave, that here, almost within ear-shot of his house, an instructed +audience should have listened, without a murmur, while his most +characteristic doctrines were attributed to a French writer of fifty +years later date, in whose dreary and verbose pages we miss alike the +vigour of thought and the exquisite clearness of style of the man whom I +make bold to term the most acute thinker of the eighteenth century--even +though that century produced Kant. + +But I did not come to Scotland to vindicate the honour of one of the +neatest men she has ever produced. My business is to point out to you +that the only way of escape out of the "crass materialism" in which we +just now landed, is the adoption and strict working out of the very +principles which the Archbishop holds up to reprobation. + +Let us suppose that knowledge is absolute, and not relative, and +therefore, that our conception of matter represents that which it really +is. Let us suppose, further, that we do know more of cause and effect +than a certain definite order of succession among facts, and that we +have a knowledge of the necessity of that succession--and hence, of +necessary laws--and I, for my part, do not see what escape there is from +utter materialism and necessarianism. For it is obvious that our +knowledge of what we call the material world is, to begin with, at least +as certain and definite as that of the spiritual world, and that our +acquaintance with law is of as old a date as our knowledge of +spontaneity. Further, I take it to be demonstrable that it is utterly +impossible to prove that anything whatever may not be the effect of a +material and necessary cause, and that human logic is equally +incompetent to prove that any act is really spontaneous. A really +spontaneous act is one which, by the assumption, has no cause; and the +attempt to prove such a negative as this is, on the face of the matter, +absurd. And while it is thus a philosophical impossibility to +demonstrate that any given phaenomenon is not the effect of a material +cause, any one who is acquainted with the history of science will admit, +that its progress has, in all ages, meant, and now, more than ever, +means, the extension of the province of what we call matter and +causation, and the concomitant gradual banishment from all regions of +human thought of what we call spirit and spontaneity. + +I have endeavoured, in the first part of this discourse, to give you a +conception of the direction towards which modern physiology is tending; +and I ask you, what is the difference between the conception of life as +the product of a certain disposition of material molecules, and the old +notion of an Archaeus governing and directing blind matter within each +living body, except this--that here, as elsewhere, matter and law have +devoured spirit and spontaneity? And as surely as every future grows out +of past and present, so will the physiology of the future gradually +extend the realm of matter and law until it is co-extensive with +knowledge, with feeling, and with action. + +The consciousness of this great truth weighs like a nightmare, I +believe, upon many of the best minds of these days. They watch what they +conceive to be the progress of materialism, in such fear and powerless +anger as a savage feels, when, during an eclipse, the great shadow +creeps over the face of the sun. The advancing tide of matter threatens +to drown their souls; the tightening grasp of law impedes their freedom; +they are alarmed lest man's moral nature be debased by the increase of +his wisdom. + +If the "New Philosophy" be worthy of the reprobation with which it is +visited, I confess their fears seem to me to be well founded. While, on +the contrary, could David Hume be consulted, I think he would smile at +their perplexities, and chide them for doing even as the heathen, and +falling down in terror before the hideous idols their own hands have +raised. + +For, after all, what do we know of this terrible "matter," except as a +name for the unknown and hypothetical cause of states of our own +consciousness? And what do we know of that "spirit" over whose +threatened extinction by matter a great lamentation is arising, like +that which was heard at the death of Pan, except that it is also a name +for an unknown and hypothetical cause, or condition, of states of +consciousness? In other words, matter and spirit are but names for the +imaginary substrata of groups of natural phaenomena. + +And what is the dire necessity and "iron" law under which men groan? +Truly, most gratuitously invented bugbears. I suppose if there be an +"iron" law, it is that of gravitation; and if there be a physical +necessity, it is that a stone, unsupported, must fall to the ground. But +what is all we really know, and can know, about the latter phaenomena? +Simply, that, in all human experience, stones have fallen to the ground +under these conditions; that we have not the smallest reason for +believing that any stone so circumstanced will not fall to the ground; +and that we have, on the contrary, every reason to believe that it will +so fall. It is very convenient to indicate that all the conditions of +belief have been fulfilled in this case, by calling the statement that +unsupported stones will fall to the ground, "a law of Nature." But when, +as commonly happens, we change _will_ into _must_, we introduce an idea +of necessity which most assuredly does not lie in the observed facts, +and has no warranty that I can discover elsewhere. For my part, I +utterly repudiate and anathematise the intruder. Fact I know; and Law I +know; but what is this Necessity, save an empty shadow of my own mind's +throwing? + +But, if it is certain that we can have no knowledge of the nature of +either matter or spirit, and that the notion of necessity is something +illegitimately thrust into the perfectly legitimate conception of law, +the materialistic position that there is nothing in the world but +matter, force, and necessity, is as utterly devoid of justification as +the most baseless of theological dogmas. The fundamental doctrines of +materialism, like those of spiritualism, and most other "isms," lie +outside "the limits of philosophical inquiry," and David Hume's great +service to humanity is his irrefragable demonstration of what these +limits are. Hume called himself a sceptic and therefore others cannot be +blamed if they apply the same title to him; but that does not alter the +fact that the name, with its existing implications, does him gross +injustice. + +If a man asks me what the politics of the inhabitants of the moon are, +and I reply that I do not know; that neither I, nor any one else, has +any means of knowing; and that, under these circumstances, I decline to +trouble myself about the subject at all, I do not think he has any right +to call me a sceptic. On the contrary, in replying thus, I conceive that +I am simply honest and truthful, and show a proper regard for the +economy of time. So Hume's strong and subtle intellect takes up a great +many problems about which we are naturally curious, and shows us that +they are essentially questions of lunar politics, in their essence +incapable of being answered, and therefore not worth the attention of +men who have work to do in the world. And he thus ends one of his +essays:-- + + "If we take in hand any volume of Divinity, or school metaphysics, + for instance, let us ask, _Does it contain any abstract reasoning + concerning quantity or number?_ No. _Does it contain any + experimental reasoning concerning matter of fact and existence?_ + No. Commit it then to the flames; for it can contain nothing but + sophistry and illusion." [6] + +Permit me to enforce this most wise advice. Why trouble ourselves about +matters of which, however important they may be, we do know nothing, and +can know nothing? We live in a world which is full of misery and +ignorance, and the plain duty of each and all of us is to try to make +the little corner he can influence somewhat less miserable and somewhat +less ignorant than it was before he entered it. To do this effectually +it is necessary to be fully possessed of only two beliefs: the first, +that the order of Nature is ascertainable by our faculties to an extent +which is practically unlimited; the second, that our volition[7] counts +for something as a condition of the course of events. + +Each of these beliefs can be verified experimentally, as often as we +like to try. Each, therefore, stands upon the strongest foundation upon +which any belief can rest, and forms one of our highest truths. If we +find that the ascertainment of the order of nature is facilitated by +using one terminology, or one set of symbols, rather than another, it is +our clear duty to use the former; and no harm can accrue, so long as we +bear in mind, that we are dealing merely with terms and symbols. + +In itself it is of little moment whether we express the phaenomena of +matter in terms of spirit; or the phaenomena of spirit in terms of +matter: matter may be regarded as a form of thought, thought may be +regarded as a property of matter--each statement has a certain relative +truth. But with a view to the progress of science, the materialistic +terminology is in every way to be preferred. For it connects thought +with the other phaenomena of the universe, and suggests inquiry into the +nature of those physical conditions, or concomitants of thought, which +are more or less accessible to us, and a knowledge of which may, in +future, help us to exercise the same kind of control over the world of +thought, as we already possess in respect of the material world; +whereas, the alternative, or spiritualistic, terminology is utterly +barren, and leads to nothing but obscurity and confusion of ideas. + +Thus there can be little doubt, that the further science advances, the +more extensively and consistently will all the phaenomena of Nature be +represented by materialistic formulae and symbols. + +But the man of science, who, forgetting the limits of philosophical +inquiry, slides from these formulae and symbols into what is commonly +understood by materialism, seems to me to place himself on a level with +the mathematician, who should mistake the _x_'s and _y_'s with which he +works his problems, for real entities--and with this further +disadvantage, as compared with the mathematician, that the blunders of +the latter are of no practical consequence, while the errors of +systematic materialism may paralyse the energies and destroy the beauty +of a life. + + + + +NATURALISM AND SUPERNATURALISM + +[FROM PROLOGUE TO CONTROVERTED QUESTIONS, 1892.] + + +There is a single problem with different aspects of 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 contusion, 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 over-ruling strength will be exerted +in favour of those who stand well with its denizens. On the other hand, +the lessons of the great school-master, 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 short-comings, 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 +Protestanism 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 best, 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 co-operation, 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,[8] signed by as many as thirty-eight out of +the twenty odd thousand clergymen of the Established Church. It does not +appear that the signatories 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 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." [9] + +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 Irenaeus, or in that of Justin Martyr, are +knotty questions which can be decided, if at all, only by those critical +methods which the signatories 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 principal 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 infallibility of these depends upon 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.[10] + +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 systematised 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 be put upon the words; and that this non-natural +sense may, with a little trouble, be manipulated into some sort of +non-contradiction of scientific truth. + +My purpose, in an essay[11] 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 proposition of this essay can be +seriously challenged. + +In two essays[12] 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 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 bide 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 of the Deluge, to belief? If God not walk in the Garden +of Eden, how we be assured that he spoke from Sinai? + +In other essays[13] 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;[14] 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. + + + + +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.[15] 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 +Translations" 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,[16] 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,[17] 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. 1, 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,[18] 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,[19] + and landing on the east bank of the river, at the fifth station + thence they arrived at Michilinstadt,[20] 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 the measure of the chest in order a more +fitting shrine might be constructed. The man, having lighted a 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.[21] + +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 Translations" 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;[22] 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 from 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 less they should succeed without _his_ help. + +So, by way of preparation for the contemplated _vol avec affraction_ +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 a 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 was supposed not to have seen the relics, +Eginhard asked him how he knew that? Upon this, Hildoin saw 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 +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;[23] 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 this 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 jaw +slipped suddenly back into place, perhaps in consequence of a jolt, as +the woman rode towards the church. (Cap. v. 53.)[24] + +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 comtemporaries 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.[25] + +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.[26] 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 in 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 far 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 be 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.[27] + +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. + + + + +AGNOSTICISM + +[1889] + + +Within the last few months [1889] 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.[28] 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.[29] + +So much of Dr. Wace's address either explicitly or implicitly concerns +me, that I take upon myself to deal with it; but, in doing so, 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 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.[30] + +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 falsehood. 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.[31] + +The discussion upon which we have 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 smallpox; 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)[32] 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 the 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,[33] is stopped in this +instance. For the question of the existence of demon: 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.[34] + +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.[35] 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 hesitated 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 omit 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 _laeniae_ 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 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.[36] + +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 has 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 above 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 satifactorily 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 doctrine 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 Apostles' 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 Mahommedanism, in Cairo, in +ignorance of the fact that I was unprovided with proper authority. A +swarm of angry under-graduates, 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 Civilisation, 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;[37] 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 the chief. The ordinary examiner, 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." [38] + +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.[39] + + * * * * * + +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 this 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: elenchos], 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. + + + + +THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION IN RELATION TO JUDAIC CHRISTIANITY +[FROM "AGNOSTICISM: A REJOINDER," 1889] + + +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 any 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 +inter-dependent,[40] 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.[41] 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 believes 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[42] + +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 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" [43] 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 extraordinarily +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,[44] +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 any one 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 be 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.[45] + +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,[46] 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,[47] 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.[48] These +are:-- + +1. Orthodox Jews who refuse to believe that Jesus is the Christ. _Not +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 a believer in the +resurrection of the body, as in the speedy Second Coming establishment +of the millennium. + +This 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-_ _Idolothytic_ _Paganism_ +_Judaism_ _Christianity_ _Christianity_ + _____|_______ + | | + 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-_ _Modern_ _Paganism_ + _Christianity_ _Christianity_ +_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,[49] 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 be 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 that 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 religous 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).[50] + +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[51]. 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 position 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 midway 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 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 were taught by them up to the year 50A.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.[52] 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 speaks 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?[53] 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 pseudo-prophetic 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. + + + + +AGNOSTICISM AND CHRISTIANITY + +Nemo ergo ex me scire quaerat, quod me nescire scio, nisi forte ut +nescire discat.--AUGUSTINUS. _De Civ. Dei_, xii. 7. + + +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." +[54] 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[55] 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." [56] 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 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 on 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 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 morality 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[57] 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 their 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[58] 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?[59] + +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 formulae 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. + +Here upon 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 than the +other, so he may admit 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 than 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 presupposition 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" [60] 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, Lyttelton, 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[61] (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[62] (p. liii). + +Again, I invite Anglican orthodoxy to consider this passage:-- + + the narrative of the combats of St. Antony 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 lie 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 marriage 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 bound 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,[63] 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 of 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.[64] 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 wrestled +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[65] 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.[66] 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.[67] + +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." [68] + +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 he 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 organisation 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[69] 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.[70] + +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 could 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, is it 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. 84. 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 deg. 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 Fauteur 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, "quid 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[71] 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 +debt 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_, 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 entrusted 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. + + +R. CLAY AND SONS, LTD., BREAD ST. HILL, E.C., AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK. + + * * * * * + +[Footnote 1: The absence of any keel on the breast-bone and some other +osteological peculiarities, observed by Professor Marsh, however, +suggest that _Hesperornis_ may be a modification of a less specialised +group of birds than that to which these existing aquatic birds belong.] + +[Footnote 2: A second specimen, discovered in 1877, and at present in +the Berlin museum, shows an excellently preserved skull with teeth: and +three digits, all terminated by claws, in the fore-limb. 1893.] + +[Footnote 3: I use the word "type" because it is highly probable that +many forms of _Anchitherium_-like and _Hipparion_-like animals existed +in the Miocene and Pliocene epochs, just as many species of the horse +tribe exist now; and it is highly improbable that the particular species +of _Anchitherium_ or _Hipparion_, which happen to have been discovered, +should be precisely those which have formed part of the direct line of +the horse's pedigree.] + +[Footnote 4: Since this lecture was delivered, Professor Marsh has +discovered a new genus of equine mammals (_Eohippus_) from the lowest +Eocene deposits of the West, which corresponds very nearly to this +description.--_American Journal of Science_, November, 1876.] + +[Footnote 5: _The Limits of Philosophical Inquiry_, pp. 4 and 5.] + +[Footnote 6: Hume's Essay, "Of the Academical or Sceptical Philosophy," +in the _Inquiry concerning the Human Understanding_.--[Many critics of +this passage seem to forget that the subject-matter of Ethics and +AEsthetics consists of, matters of fact and existence.--1892.]] + +[Footnote 7: Or, to speak more accurately, the physical state of which +volition is the expression.--[1892.]] + +[Footnote 8: _Declaration on the Truth of Holy Scripture_, _The Times_, +18th December, 1891.] + +[Footnote 9: _Declaration_, Article 10.] + +[Footnote 10: Ego vero evangelio non crederem, nisi ecclesiae Catholicae +me commoveret auctoritas.--_Contra Epistolam Manichaei_ cap. v.] + +[Footnote 11: _Hasisadra's Adventure._] + +[Footnote 12: _The Interpreters of Genesis and the Interpreters of +Nature_ and _Mr. Gladstone and Genesis._] + +[Footnote 13: _Agnosticism; The Value of Witness to the Miraculous; +Agnosticism: a Rejoinder; Agnosticism and Christianity; The Keepers of +the Herd of Swine_; and _Illustrations of Mr. Gladstone's Controversial +Methods_.] + +[Footnote 14: 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.] + +[Footnote 15: 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.] + +[Footnote 16: At present included in the Duchies of Hesse-Darmstadt and +Baden.] + +[Footnote 17: 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.] + +[Footnote 18: Now included in Western Switzerland.] + +[Footnote 19: Probably, according to Teulet, the present +Sandhofer-fahrt, a little below the embouchure of the Neckar.] + +[Footnote 20: The present Michilstadt, thirty miles N.E. of Heidelberg.] + +[Footnote 21: In the Middle Ages one of the most favourite accusations +against witches was that they committed just these enormities.] + +[Footnote 22: 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.] + +[Footnote 23: The words are _scrinia sine clave_, which seems to mean +"having no key." But the circumstances forbid the idea of breaking +open.] + +[Footnote 24: 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.] + +[Footnote 25: 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.] + +[Footnote 26: See 1 Cor. xii. 10-28; 2 Cor. vi. 12 Rom. xv, 19.] + +[Footnote 27: _A Journal or Historical Account of the Life, Travels, +Sufferings, and Christian Experiences, &c., of George Fox._ Ed. 1694, +pp. 27, 28.] + +[Footnote 28: See the _Official Report of the Church Congress held at +Manchester_, October 1888, pp. 253, 254.] + +[Footnote 29: In this place and in _Illustrations of Mr. Gladstone's +Controversial Methods_, 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.] + +[Footnote 30: 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, could not be sensibly affected.] + +[Footnote 31: 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_.] + +[Footnote 32: Here, as always, the revised version is cited.] + +[Footnote 33: 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 be taken _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 or 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.] + +[Footnote 34: 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.] + +[Footnote 35: 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.] + +[Footnote 36: 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.] + +[Footnote 37: 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.] + +[Footnote 38: _Kritik der reinen Vernunft._ Edit. Hartenstein p. 256.] + +[Footnote 39: _Report of the Church Congress_, Manchester, 1888, p. +252.] + +[Footnote 40: 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.] + +[Footnote 41: 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.] + +[Footnote 42: 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."] + +[Footnote 43: See Schuerer, _Geschichte des juedischen Volkes_, Zweiter +Theil, p. 384.] + +[Footnote 44: Spacious, because a young man could sit in it "on the +right side" (xv. 5), and therefore with plenty of room to spare.] + +[Footnote 45: 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).] + +[Footnote 46: 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."] + +[Footnote 47: 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.] + +[Footnote 48: 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.] + +[Footnote 49: 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 47 above.] + +[Footnote 50: 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.] + +[Footnote 51: All this was quite clearly pointed out by Ritschl nearly +forty years ago. See _Die Entstehung der alt-katholischen Kirche_ +(1850), p. 108.] + +[Footnote 52: "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.] + +[Footnote 53: 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.] + +[Footnote 54: I confess that, long ago, I once or twice made this +mistake; even to the waste of a capital 'U.' 1893.] + +[Footnote 55: "Let us maintain, before we have proved. This seeming +paradox is the secret of happiness" (Dr. Newman: Tract 85, p. 85).] + +[Footnote 56: Dr, Newman, _Essay on Development_, p. 357.] + +[Footnote 57: 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.] + +[Footnote 58: 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.] + +[Footnote 59: See the expression of orthodox opinion upon the +"accommodation" subterfuge already cited above, pp. 85 and 86.] + +[Footnote 60: 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.] + +[Footnote 61: 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).] + +[Footnote 62: 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.] + +[Footnote 63: 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."] + +[Footnote 64: A writer in a spiritualist journal takes me soundly 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?] + +[Footnote 65: 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.] + +[Footnote 66: See the New York _World_ for Sunday, 21st October, 1888; +and the _Report of the Stybert Commission_ Philadelphia, 1887.] + +[Footnote 67: 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.] + +[Footnote 68: _An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine_, by +J.H. Newman, D.D., pp. 7 and 8. (1878.)] + +[Footnote 69: 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 can carry.] + +[Footnote 70: _Nineteenth Century_, May 1889 (p. 701).] + +[Footnote 71: I trust it may not be supposed that I undervalue M. +Renan's labours, or intended to speak slightingly of them.] + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Lectures and Essays, by Thomas Henry Huxley + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LECTURES AND ESSAYS *** + +***** This file should be named 16474.txt or 16474.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/4/7/16474/ + +Produced by Wallace McLean, Hemantkumar N Garach and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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