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diff --git a/2632.txt b/2632.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..35578a8 --- /dev/null +++ b/2632.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1327 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lights of the Church and the Light of +Science, 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: The Lights of the Church and the Light of Science + Essay #6 from "Science and Hebrew Tradition" + +Author: Thomas Henry Huxley + +Posting Date: December 3, 2008 [EBook #2632] +Release Date: May, 2001 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIGHTS OF THE CHURCH *** + + + + +Produced by D. R. Thompson + + + + + +THE LIGHTS OF THE CHURCH AND THE LIGHT OF SCIENCE + +ESSAY #6 FROM "SCIENCE AND HEBREW TRADITION" + + +By Thomas Henry Huxley + + + +There are three ways of regarding any account of past occurrences, +whether delivered to us orally or recorded in writing. + +The narrative may be exactly true. That is to say, the words, taken in +their natural sense, and interpreted according to the rules of grammar, +may convey to the mind of the hearer, or of the reader an idea precisely +correspondent with one which would have remained in the mind of a +witness. For example, the statement that King Charles the First was +beheaded at Whitehall on the 30th day of January 1649, is as exactly +true as any proposition in mathematics or physics; no one doubts that +any person of sound faculties, properly placed, who was present at +Whitehall throughout that day, and who used his eyes, would have seen +the King's head cut off; and that there would have remained in his mind +an idea of that occurrence which he would have put into words of the +same value as those which we use to express it. + +Or the narrative may be partly true and partly false. Thus, some +histories of the time tell us what the King said, and what Bishop Juxon +said; or report royalist conspiracies to effect a rescue; or detail the +motives which induced the chiefs of the Commonwealth to resolve that +the King should die. One account declares that the King knelt at a high +block, another that he lay down with his neck on a mere plank. And +there are contemporary pictorial representations of both these modes of +procedure. Such narratives, while veracious as to the main event, +may and do exhibit various degrees of unconscious and conscious +misrepresentation, suppression, and invention, till they become hardly +distinguishable from pure fictions. Thus, they present a transition +to narratives of a third class, in which the fictitious element +predominates. Here, again, there are all imaginable gradations, from +such works as Defoe's quasi-historical account of the Plague year, +which probably gives a truer conception of that dreadful time than any +authentic history, through the historical novel, drama, and epic, to +the purely phantasmal creations of imaginative genius, such as the old +"Arabian Nights" or the modern "Shaving of Shagpat." It is not strictly +needful for my present purpose that I should say anything about +narratives which are professedly fictitious. Yet it may be well, +perhaps, if I disclaim any intention of derogating from their value, +when I insist upon the paramount necessity of recollecting that there is +no sort of relation between the ethical, or the aesthetic, or even +the scientific importance of such works, and their worth as historical +documents. Unquestionably, to the poetic artist, or even to the student +of psychology, "Hamlet" and "Macbeth" may be better instructors than +all the books of a wilderness of professors of aesthetics or of moral +philosophy. But, as evidence of occurrences in Denmark, or in +Scotland, at the times and places indicated, they are out of court; +the profoundest admiration for them, the deepest gratitude for their +influence, are consistent with the knowledge that, historically +speaking, they are worthless fables, in which any foundation of reality +that may exist is submerged beneath the imaginative superstructure. + +At present, however, I am not concerned to dwell upon the importance +of fictitious literature and the immensity of the work which it has +effected in the education of the human race. I propose to deal with the +much more limited inquiry: Are there two other classes of consecutive +narratives (as distinct from statements of individual facts), or only +one? Is there any known historical work which is throughout exactly +true, or is there not? In the case of the great majority of histories +the answer is not doubtful: they are all only partially true. Even those +venerable works which bear the names of some of the greatest of ancient +Greek and Roman writers, and which have been accepted by generation +after generation, down to modern times, as stories of unquestionable +truth, have been compelled by scientific criticism, after a long battle, +to descend to the common level, and to confession to a large admixture +of error. I might fairly take this for granted; but it may be well that +I should entrench myself behind the very apposite words of a historical +authority who is certainly not obnoxious to even a suspicion of +sceptical tendencies. [1] + + Time was--and that not very long ago--when all the relations of + ancient authors concerning the old world were received with a + ready belief; and an unreasoning and uncritical faith accepted + with equal satisfaction the narrative of the campaigns of Caesar + and of the doings of Romulus, the account of Alexander's marches + and of the conquests of Semiramis. We can most of us remember + when, in this country, the whole story of regal Rome, and even + the legend of the Trojan settlement in Latium, were seriously + placed before boys as history, and discoursed of as + unhesitatingly and in as dogmatic a tone as the tale of the + Catilline Conspiracy or the Conquest of Britain.... + + But all this is now changed. The last century has seen the birth + and growth of a new science--the Science of Historical + Criticism.... The whole world of profane history has been + revolutionised.... + +If these utterances were true when they fell from the lips of a Bampton +lecturer in 1859, with how much greater force do they appeal to us now, +when the immense labours of the generation now passing away constitute +one vast illustration of the power and fruitfulness of scientific +methods of investigation in history, no less than in all other +departments of knowledge. + +At the present time, I suppose, there is no one who doubts that +histories which appertain to any other people than the Jews, and their +spiritual progeny in the first century, fall within the second class +of the three enumerated. Like Goethe's Autobiography, they might all be +entitled "Wahrheit und Dichtung"--"Truth and Fiction." The proportion +of the two constituents changes indefinitely; and the quality of the +fiction varies through the whole gamut of unveracity. But "Dichtung" is +always there. For the most acute and learned of historians cannot +remedy the imperfections of his sources of information; nor can the +most impartial wholly escape the influence of the "personal equation" +generated by his temperament and by his education. Therefore, from the +narratives of Herodotus to those set forth in yesterday's "Times," all +history is to be read subject to the warning that fiction has its share +therein. The modern vast development of fugitive literature cannot be +the unmitigated evil that some do vainly say it is, since it has put +an end to the popular delusion of less press-ridden times, that +what appears in print must be true. We should rather hope that some +beneficent influence may create among the erudite a like healthy +suspicion of manuscripts and inscriptions, however ancient; for a +bulletin may lie, even though it be written in cuneiform characters. +Hotspur's starling, that was to be taught to speak nothing but +"Mortimer" into the ears of King Henry the Fourth, might be a useful +inmate of every historian's library, if "Fiction" were substituted for +the name of Harry Percy's friend. + +But it was the chief object of the lecturer to the congregation gathered +in St. Mary's, Oxford, thirty-one years ago, to prove to them, by +evidence gathered with no little labour and marshalled with much skill, +that one group of historical works was exempt from the general rule; and +that the narratives contained in the canonical Scriptures are free from +any admixture of error. With justice and candour, the lecturer impresses +upon his hearers that the special distinction of Christianity, among the +religions of the world, lies in its claim to be historical; to be surely +founded upon events which have happened, exactly as they are declared to +have happened in its sacred books; which are true, that is, in the sense +that the statement about the execution of Charles the First is +true. Further, it is affirmed that the New Testament presupposes the +historical exactness of the Old Testament; that the points of contact +of "sacred" and "profane" history are innumerable; and that the +demonstration of the falsity of the Hebrew records, especially in regard +to those narratives which are assumed to be true in the New Testament, +would be fatal to Christian theology. + +My utmost ingenuity does not enable me to discover a flaw in the +argument thus briefly summarised. I am fairly at a loss to comprehend +how any one, for a moment, can doubt that Christian theology must stand +or fall with the historical trustworthiness of the Jewish Scriptures. +The very conception of the Messiah, or Christ, is inextricably +interwoven with Jewish history; the identification of Jesus of Nazareth +with that Messiah rests upon the interpretation of passages of the +Hebrew Scriptures which have no evidential value unless they possess the +historical character assigned to them. If the covenant with Abraham was +not made; if circumcision and sacrifices were not ordained by Jahveh; if +the "ten words" were not written by God's hand on the stone tables; if +Abraham is more or less a mythical hero, such as Theseus; the story +of the Deluge a fiction; that of the Fall a legend; and that of the +creation the dream of a seer; if all these definite and detailed +narratives of apparently real events have no more value as history than +have the stories of the regal period of Rome--what is to be said about +the Messianic doctrine, which is so much less clearly enunciated? +And what about the authority of the writers of the books of the New +Testament, who, on this theory, have not merely accepted flimsy fictions +for solid truths, but have built the very foundations of Christian dogma +upon legendary quicksands? + +But these may be said to be merely the carpings of that carnal reason +which the profane call common sense; I hasten, therefore, to bring up +the forces of unimpeachable ecclesiastical authority in support of my +position. In a sermon preached last December, in St. Paul's Cathedral, +[2] Canon Liddon declares:-- + +"For Christians it will be enough to know that our Lord Jesus Christ set +the seal of His infallible sanction on the whole of the Old Testament. +He found the Hebrew canon as we have it in our hands to-day, and He +treated it as an authority which was above discussion. Nay more: He went +out of His way--if we may reverently speak thus--to sanction not a few +portions of it which modern scepticism rejects. When He would warn His +hearers against the dangers of spiritual relapse, He bids them remember +'Lot's wife.' [3] When He would point out how worldly engagements may +blind the soul to a coming judgment, He reminds them how men ate, and +drank, and married, and were given in marriage, until the day that Noah +entered into the ark, and the Flood came and destroyed them all. [4] If +He would put His finger on a fact in past Jewish history which, by its +admitted reality, would warrant belief in His own coming Resurrection, +He points to Jonah's being three days and three nights in the whale's +belly (p. 23)." [5] + +The preacher proceeds to brush aside the common--I had almost said +vulgar--apologetic pretext that Jesus was using _ad hominem_ arguments, +or "accommodating" his better knowledge to popular ignorance, as well +as to point out the inadmissibility of the other alternative, that he +shared the popular ignorance. And to those who hold the latter view +sarcasm is dealt out with no niggard hand. + + But they will find it difficult to persuade mankind that, if He + could be mistaken on a matter of such strictly religious + importance as the value of the sacred literature of His + countrymen, He can be safely trusted about anything else. The + trustworthiness of the Old Testament is, in fact, inseparable + from the trustworthiness of our Lord Jesus Christ; and if we + believe that He is the true Light of the world, we shall close + our ears against suggestions impairing the credit of those + Jewish Scriptures which have received the stamp of His Divine + authority. (p. 25) + +Moreover, I learn from the public journals that a brilliant and +sharply-cut view of orthodoxy, of like hue and pattern, was only the +other day exhibited in that great theological kaleidoscope, the pulpit +of St. Mary's, recalling the time so long passed by, when a Bampton +lecturer, in the same place, performed the unusual feat of leaving the +faith of old-fashioned Christians undisturbed. + +Yet many things have happened in the intervening thirty-one years. The +Bampton lecturer of 1859 had to grapple only with the infant Hercules of +historical criticism; and he is now a full-grown athlete, bearing on +his shoulders the spoils of all the lions that have stood in his path. +Surely a martyr's courage, as well as a martyr's faith, is needed by any +one who, at this time, is prepared to stand by the following plea for +the veracity of the Pentateuch:-- + +"Adam, according to the Hebrew original, was for 243 years contemporary +with Methuselah, who conversed for a hundred years with Shem. Shem was +for fifty years contemporary with Jacob, who probably saw Jochebed, +Moses's mother. Thus, Moses might by oral tradition have obtained the +history of Abraham, and even of the Deluge, at third hand; and that of +the Temptation and the Fall at fifth hand.... + +"If it be granted--as it seems to be--that the great and stirring events +in a nation's life will, under ordinary circumstances, be remembered +(apart from all written memorials) for the space of 150 years, being +handed down through five generations, it must be allowed (even on more +human grounds) that the account which Moses gives of the Temptation and +the Fall is to be depended upon, if it passed through no more than four +hands between him and Adam." [6] + +If "the trustworthiness of our Lord Jesus Christ" is to stand or fall +with the belief in the sudden transmutation of the chemical components +of a woman's body into sodium chloride, or on the "admitted reality" +of Jonah's ejection, safe and sound, on the shores of the Levant, after +three days' sea-journey in the stomach of a gigantic marine animal, what +possible pretext can there be for even hinting a doubt as to the precise +truth of the longevity attributed to the Patriarchs? Who that has +swallowed the camel of Jonah's journey will be guilty of the affectation +of straining at such a historical gnat--nay, midge--as the supposition +that the mother of Moses was told the story of the Flood by Jacob; who +had it straight from Shem; who was on friendly terms with Methuselah; +who knew Adam quite well? + +Yet, by the strange irony of things, the illustrious brother of the +divine who propounded this remarkable theory, has been the guide and +foremost worker of that band of investigators of the records of Assyria +and of Babylonia, who have opened to our view, not merely a new chapter, +but a new volume of primeval history, relating to the very people who +have the most numerous points of contact with the life of the ancient +Hebrews. Now, whatever imperfections may yet obscure the full value of +the Mesopotamian records, everything that has been clearly ascertained +tends to the conclusion that the assignment of no more than 4000 years +to the period between the time of the origin of mankind and that +of Augustus Caesar, is wholly inadmissible. Therefore the Biblical +chronology, which Canon Rawlinson trusted so implicitly in 1859, is +relegated by all serious critics to the domain of fable. + +But if scientific method, operating in the region of history, of +philology, of archaeology, in the course of the last thirty or forty +years, has become thus formidable to the theological dogmatist, what may +not be said about scientific method working in the province of +physical science? For, if it be true that the Canonical Scriptures have +innumerable points of contact with civil history, it is no less true +that they have almost as many with natural history; and their accuracy +is put to the test as severely by the latter as by the former. The +origin of the present state of the heavens and the earth is a problem +which lies strictly within the province of physical science; so is that +of the origin of man among living things; so is that of the physical +changes which the earth has undergone since the origin of man; so is +that of the origin of the various races and nations of men, with all +their varieties of language and physical conformation. Whether the +earth moves round the sun or the contrary; whether the bodily and mental +diseases of men and animals are caused by evil spirits or not; whether +there is such an agency as witchcraft or not--all these are purely +scientific questions; and to all of them the Canonical Scriptures +profess to give true answers. And though nothing is more common than the +assumption that these books come into conflict only with the speculative +part of modern physical science, no assumption can have less foundation. + +The antagonism between natural knowledge and the Pentateuch would be as +great if the speculations of our time had never been heard of. It arises +out of contradiction upon matters of fact. The books of ecclesiastical +authority declare that certain events happened in a certain fashion; the +books of scientific authority say they did not. As it seems that this +unquestionable truth has not yet penetrated among many of those who +speak and write on these subjects, it may be useful to give a full +illustration of it. And for that purpose I propose to deal, at some +length, with the narrative of the Noachian Deluge given in Genesis. + + +The Bampton lecturer in 1859, and the Canon of St. Paul's in 1890, are +in full agreement that this history is true, in the sense in which I +have defined historical truth. The former is of opinion that the account +attributed to Berosus records a tradition-- + + not drawn from the Hebrew record, much less the foundation of + that record; yet coinciding with it in the most remarkable way. + The Babylonian version is tricked out with a few extravagances, + as the monstrous size of the vessel and the translation of + Xisuthros; but otherwise it is the Hebrew history _down to its + minutiae._ (p. 64). + +Moreover, correcting Niebuhr, the Bampton lecturer points out that the +narrative of Berosus implies the universality of the Flood. + + It is plain that the waters are represented as prevailing above + the tops of the loftiest mountains in Armenia--a height which + must have been seen to involve the submersion of all the + countries with which the Babylonians were acquainted (p. 66). + +I may remark, in passing, that many people think the size of Noah's ark +"monstrous," considering the probable state of the art of shipbuilding +only 1600 years after the origin of man; while others are so +unreasonable as to inquire why the translation of Enoch is less an +"extravagance" than that of Xisuthros. It is more important, however, to +note that the Universality of the Deluge is recognised, not merely as +a part of the story, but as a necessary consequence of some of its +details. The latest exponent of Anglican orthodoxy, as we have seen, +insists upon the accuracy of the Pentateuchal history of the Flood in a +still more forcible manner. It is cited as one of those very narratives +to which the authority of the Founder of Christianity is pledged, +and upon the accuracy of which "the trustworthiness of our Lord Jesus +Christ" is staked, just as others have staked it upon the truth of the +histories of demoniac possession in the Gospels. + +Now, when those who put their trust in scientific methods of +ascertaining the truth in the province of natural history find +themselves confronted and opposed, on their own ground, by +ecclesiastical pretensions to better knowledge, it is, undoubtedly, most +desirable for them to make sure that their conclusions, whatever they +may be, are well founded. And, if they put aside the unauthorised +interference with their business and relegate the Pentateuchal history +to the region of pure fiction, they are bound to assure themselves that +they do so because the plainest teachings of Nature (apart from all +doubtful speculations) are irreconcilable with the assertions which they +reject. + +At the present time, it is difficult to persuade serious scientific +inquirers to occupy themselves, in any way, with the Noachian Deluge. +They look at you with a smile and a shrug, and say they have more +important matters to attend to than mere antiquarianism. But it was not +so in my youth. At that time, geologists and biologists could hardly +follow to the end any path of inquiry without finding the way blocked +by Noah and his ark, or by the first chapter of Genesis; and it was a +serious matter, in this country at any rate, for a man to be suspected +of doubting the literal truth of the Diluvial or any other Pentateuchal +history. The fiftieth anniversary of the foundation of the Geological +Club (in 1824) was, if I remember rightly, the last occasion on which +the late Sir Charles Lyell spoke to even so small a public as the +members of that body. Our veteran leader lighted up once more; and, +referring to the difficulties which beset his early efforts to create +a rational science of geology, spoke, with his wonted clearness and +vigour, of the social ostracism which pursued him after the publication +of the "Principles of Geology," in 1830, on account of the obvious +tendency of that noble work to discredit the Pentateuchal accounts of +the Creation and the Deluge. If my younger contemporaries find this hard +to believe, I may refer them to a grave book, "On the Doctrine of the +Deluge," published eight years later, and dedicated by its author to +his father, the then Archbishop of York. The first chapter refers to the +treatment of the "Mosaic Deluge," by Dr. Buckland and Mr. Lyell, in the +following terms: + + Their respect for revealed religion has prevented them from + arraying themselves openly against the Scriptural account of it + --much less do they deny its truth--but they are in a great + hurry to escape from the consideration of it, and evidently + concur in the opinion of Linnaeus, that no proofs whatever of + the Deluge are to be discovered in the structure of the + earth (p. 1). + +And after an attempt to reply to some of Lyell's arguments, which it +would be cruel to reproduce, the writer continues:-- + + When, therefore, upon such slender grounds, it is + determined, in answer to those who insist upon its universality, + that the Mosaic Deluge must be considered a preternatural event, + far beyond the reach of philosophical inquiry; not only as to + the causes employed to produce it, but as to the effects most + likely to result from it; that determination wears an aspect of + scepticism, which, however much soever it may be unintentional + in the mind of the writer, yet cannot but produce an evil + impression on those who are already predisposed to carp and + cavil at the evidences of Revelation (pp. 8-9). + +The kindly and courteous writer of these curious passages is evidently +unwilling to make the geologists the victims of general opprobrium +by pressing the obvious consequences of their teaching home. One is +therefore pained to think of the feelings with which, if he lived so +long as to become acquainted with the "Dictionary of the Bible," he must +have perused the article "Noah," written by a dignitary of the Church +for that standard compendium and published in 1863. For the doctrine +of the universality of the Deluge is therein altogether given up; and I +permit myself to hope that a long criticism of the story from the point +of view of natural science, with which, at the request of the learned +theologian who wrote it, I supplied him, may, in some degree, have +contributed towards this happy result. + +Notwithstanding diligent search, I have been unable to discover that the +universality of the Deluge has any defender left, at least among those +who have so far mastered the rudiments of natural knowledge as to be +able to appreciate the weight of evidence against it. For example, when +I turned to the "Speaker's Bible," published under the sanction of +high Anglican authority, I found the following judicial and judicious +deliverance, the skilful wording of which may adorn, but does not hide, +the completeness of the surrender of the old teaching:-- + +"Without pronouncing too hastily on any fair inferences from the +words of Scripture, we may reasonably say that their most natural +interpretation is, that the whole race of man had become grievously +corrupted since the faithful had intermingled with the ungodly; that the +inhabited world was consequently filled with violence, and that God +had decreed to destroy all mankind except one single family; that, +therefore, all that portion of the earth, perhaps as yet a very small +portion, into which mankind had spread was overwhelmed with water. The +ark was ordained to save one faithful family; and lest that family, on +the subsidence of the waters, should find the whole country round them a +desert, a pair of all the beasts of the land and of the fowls of the +air were preserved along with them, and along with them went forth to +replenish the now desolated continent. The words of Scripture (confirmed +as they are by universal tradition) appear at least to mean as much as +this. They do not necessarily mean more." [7] + +In the third edition of Kitto's "Cyclopaedia of Biblical Literature" +(1876), the article "Deluge," written by my friend, the present +distinguished head of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, +extinguishes the universality doctrine as thoroughly as might be +expected from its authorship; and, since the writer of the article +"Noah" refers his readers to that entitled "Deluge," it is to be +supposed, notwithstanding his generally orthodox tone, that he does +not dissent from its conclusions. Again, the writers in Herzog's +"Real-Encyclopadie" (Bd. X. 1882) and in Riehm's "Handworterbuch" +(1884)--both works with a conservative leaning--are on the same side; +and Diestel, [8] in his full discussion of the subject, remorselessly +rejects the universality doctrine. Even that staunch opponent of +scientific rationalism--may I say rationality?--Zockler [9] flinches +from a distinct defence of the thesis, any opposition to which, +well within my recollection, was howled down by the orthodox as mere +"infidelity." All that, in his sore straits, Dr. Zockler is able to do, +is to pronounce a faint commendation upon a particularly absurd attempt +at reconciliation, which would make out the Noachian Deluge to be +a catastrophe which occurred at the end of the Glacial Epoch. This +hypothesis involves only the trifle of a physical revolution of which +geology knows nothing; and which, if it secured the accuracy of the +Pentateuchal writer about the fact of the Deluge, would leave the +details of his account as irreconcilable with the truths of elementary +physical science as ever. Thus I may be permitted to spare myself and my +readers the weariness of a recapitulation of the overwhelming arguments +against the universality of the Deluge, which they will now find for +themselves stated, as fully and forcibly as could be wished, by Anglican +and other theologians, whose orthodoxy and conservative tendencies +have, hitherto, been above suspicion. Yet many fully admit (and, indeed, +nothing can be plainer) that, as a matter of fact, the whole earth known +to him was inundated; nor is it less obvious that unless all mankind, +with the exception of Noah and his family, were actually destroyed, the +references to the Flood in the New Testament are unintelligible. + +But I am quite aware that the strength of the demonstration that no +universal Deluge ever took place has produced a change of front in the +army of apologetic writers. They have imagined that the substitution +of the adjective "partial" for "universal," will save the credit of the +Pentateuch, and permit them, after all, without too many blushes, +to declare that the progress of modern science only strengthens the +authority of Moses. Nowhere have I found the case of the advocates of +this method of escaping from the difficulties of the actual position +better put than in the lecture of Professor Diestel to which I have +referred. After frankly admitting that the old doctrine of universality +involves physical impossibilities, he continues:-- + + All these difficulties fall away as soon as we give up the + universality of the Deluge, and imagine a _partial_ + flooding of the earth, say in western Asia. But have we a right + to do so? The narrative speaks of "the whole earth." But what is + the meaning of this expression? Surely not the whole surface of + the earth according to the ideas of _modern_ geographers, + but, at most, according to the conceptions of the Biblical + author. This very simple conclusion, however, is never drawn by + too many readers of the Bible. But one need only cast one's eyes + over the tenth chapter of Genesis in order to become acquainted + with the geographical horizon of the Jews. In the north it was + bounded by the Black Sea and the mountains of Armenia; + extended towards the east very little beyond the Tigris; + hardly reached the apex of the Persian Gulf; passed, then, + through the middle of Arabia and the Red Sea; went southward + through Abyssinia, and then turned westward by the frontiers of + Egypt, and inclosed the easternmost islands of the + Mediterranean (p. 11). + +The justice of this observation must be admitted, no less than the +further remark that, in still earlier times, the pastoral Hebrews very +probably had yet more restricted notions of what constituted the "whole +earth." Moreover, I, for one, fully agree with Professor Diestel that +the motive, or generative incident, of the whole story is to be sought +in the occasionally excessive and desolating floods of the Euphrates and +the Tigris. + +Let us, provisionally, accept the theory of a partial deluge, and try to +form a clear mental picture of the occurrence. Let us suppose that, for +forty days and forty nights, such a vast quantity of water was poured +upon the ground that the whole surface of Mesopotamia was covered by +water to a depth certainly greater, probably much greater, than fifteen +cubits, or twenty feet (Gen. vii. 20). The inundation prevails upon +the earth for one hundred and fifty days and then the flood gradually +decreases, until, on the seventeenth day of the seventh month, the ark, +which had previously floated on its surface, grounds upon the "mountains +of Ararat" [10] (Gen. viii. 34). Then, as Diestel has acutely pointed +out ("Sintflut," p. 13), we are to imagine the further subsidence of the +flood to take place so gradually that it was not until nearly two months +and a half after this time (that is to say, on the first day of the +tenth month) that the "tops of the mountains" became visible. Hence it +follows that, if the ark drew even as much as twenty feet of water, the +level of the inundation fell very slowly--at a rate of only a few inches +a day--until the top of the mountain on which it rested became visible. +This is an amount of movement which, if it took place in the sea, would +be overlooked by ordinary people on the shore. But the Mesopotamian +plain slopes gently, from an elevation of 500 or 600 feet at its +northern end, to the sea, at its southern end, with hardly so much as a +notable ridge to break its uniform flatness, for 300 to 400 miles. +These being the conditions of the case, the following inquiry naturally +presents itself: not, be it observed, as a recondite problem, generated +by modern speculation, but as a plain suggestion flowing out of that +very ordinary and archaic piece of knowledge that water cannot be piled +up like in a heap, like sand; or that it seeks the lowest level. When, +after 150 days, "the fountains also of the deep and the windows of +heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained" (Gen. +viii.2), what prevented the mass of water, several, possibly very many, +fathoms deep, which covered, say, the present site of Bagdad, from +sweeping seaward in a furious torrent; and, in a very few hours, +leaving, not only the "tops of the mountains," but the whole plain, +save any minor depressions, bare? How could its subsistence, by any +possibility, be an affair of weeks and months? + +And if this difficulty is not enough, let any one try to imagine how +a mass of water several perhaps very many, fathoms deep, could be +accumulated on a flat surface of land rising well above the sea, +and separated from it by no sort of barrier. Most people know Lord's +Cricket-ground. Would it not be an absurd contradiction to our common +knowledge of the properties of water to imagine that, if all the +mains of all the waterworks of London were turned on to it, they could +maintain a heap of water twenty feet deep over its level surface? Is it +not obvious that the water, whatever momentary accumulation might take +place at first, would not stop there, but that it would dash, like a +mighty mill-race, southwards down the gentle slope which ends in the +Thames? And is it not further obvious, that whatever depth of water +might be maintained over the cricket-ground so long as all the mains +poured on to it, anything which floated there would be speedily whirled +away by the current, like a cork in a gutter when the rain pours? But +if this is so, then it is no less certain that Noah's deeply laden, +sailless, oarless, and rudderless craft, if by good fortune it escaped +capsizing in whirlpools, or having its bottom knocked into holes by +snags (like those which prove fatal even to well-built steamers on the +Mississippi in our day), would have speedily found itself a good way +down the Persian Gulf, and not long after in the Indian Ocean, somewhere +between Arabia and Hindostan. Even if, eventually, the ark might have +gone ashore, with other jetsam and flotsam, on the coasts of Arabia, or +of Hindostan, or of the Maldives, or of Madagascar, its return to the +"mountains of Ararat" would have been a miracle more stupendous than all +the rest. + +Thus, the last state of the would-be reconcilers of the story of the +Deluge with fact is worse than the first. All that they have done is +to transfer the contradictions to established truth from the region +of science proper to that of common information and common sense. For, +really, the assertion that the surface of a body of deep water, to which +no addition was made, and which there was nothing to stop from running +into the sea, sank at the rate of only a few inches or even feet a day, +simply outrages the most ordinary and familiar teachings of every man's +daily experience. A child may see the folly of it. + +In addition, I may remark that the necessary assumption of the "partial +Deluge" hypothesis (if it is confined to Mesopotamia) that the Hebrew +writer must have meant low hills when he said "high mountains," is quite +untenable. On the eastern side of the Mesopotamian plain, the snowy +peaks of the frontier ranges of Persia are visible from Bagdad, [11] +and even the most ignorant herdsmen in the neighbourhood of "Ur of the +Chaldees," near its western limit, could hardly have been unacquainted +with the comparatively elevated plateau of the Syrian desert which lay +close at hand. But, surely, we must suppose the Biblical writer to be +acquainted with the highlands of Palestine and with the masses of the +Sinaitic peninsula, which soar more than 8000 feet above the sea, if he +knew of no higher elevations; and, if so, he could not well have meant +to refer to mere hillocks when he said that "all the high mountains +which were under the whole heaven were covered" (Genesis vii. 19). Even +the hill-country of Galilee reaches an elevation of 4000 feet; and a +flood which covered it could by no possibility have been other than +universal in its superficial extent. Water really cannot be got to stand +at, say, 4000 feet above the sea-level over Palestine, without covering +the rest of the globe to the same height. Even if, in the course of +Noah's six hundredth year, some prodigious convulsion had sunk the whole +region inclosed within "the horizon of the geographical knowledge" of +the Israelites by that much, and another had pushed it up again, just +in time to catch the ark upon the "mountains of Ararat," matters are not +much mended. I am afraid to think of what would have become of a vessel +so little seaworthy as the ark and of its very numerous passengers, +under the peculiar obstacles to quiet flotation which such rapid +movements of depression and upheaval would have generated. + +Thus, in view, not, I repeat of the recondite speculations of infidel +philosophers, but in the face of the plainest and most commonplace of +ascertained physical facts, the story of the Noachian Deluge has no more +claim to credit than has that of Deucalion; and whether it was, or was +not, suggested by the familiar acquaintance of its originators with the +effects of unusually great overflows of the Tigris and Euphrates, it is +utterly devoid of historical truth. + +That is, in my judgment, the necessary result of the application of +criticism, based upon assured physical knowledge to the story of the +Deluge. And it is satisfactory that the criticism which is based, not +upon literary and historical speculations, but upon well-ascertained +facts in the departments of literature and history, tends to exactly the +same conclusion. + +For I find this much agreed upon by all Biblical scholars of repute, +that the story of the Deluge in Genesis is separable into at least two +sets of statements; and that, when the statements thus separated are +recombined in their proper order, each set furnishes an account of +the event, coherent and complete within itself, but in some respects +discordant with that afforded by the other set. This fact, as I +understand, is not disputed. Whether one of these is the work of an +Elohist, and the other of a Jehovist narrator; whether the two have been +pieced together in this strange fashion because, in the estimation +of the compilers and editors of the Pentateuch, they had equal and +independent authority, or not; or whether there is some other way of +accounting for it--are questions the answers to which do not affect the +fact. If possible I avoid _a priori_ arguments. But still, I think it +may be urged, without imprudence, that a narrative having this structure +is hardly such as might be expected from a writer possessed of full and +infallibly accurate knowledge. Once more, it would seem that it is not +necessarily the mere inclination of the sceptical spirit to question +everything, or the wilful blindness of infidels, which prompts grave +doubts as to the value of a narrative thus curiously unlike the ordinary +run of veracious histories. + +But the voice of archaeological and historical criticism still has to be +heard; and it gives forth no uncertain sound. The marvellous recovery of +the records of an antiquity, far superior to any that can be ascribed to +the Pentateuch, which has been effected by the decipherers of cuneiform +characters, has put us in possession of a series, once more, not of +speculations, but of facts, which have a most remarkable bearing upon +the question of the truthworthiness of the narrative of the Flood. It is +established, that for centuries before the asserted migration of Terah +from Ur of the Chaldees (which, according to the orthodox interpreters +of the Pentateuch, took place after the year 2000 B.C.) Lower +Mesopotamia was the seat of a civilisation in which art and science and +literature had attained a development formerly unsuspected or, if there +were faint reports of it, treated as fabulous. And it is also no matter +of speculation, but a fact, that the libraries of these people contain +versions of a long epic poem, one of the twelve books of which tells +a story of a deluge, which, in a number of its leading features, +corresponds with the story attributed to Berosus, no less than with the +story given in Genesis, with curious exactness. Thus, the correctness of +Canon Rawlinson's conclusion, cited above, that the story of Berosus was +neither drawn from the Hebrew record, nor is the foundation of it, +can hardly be questioned. It is highly probable, if not certain, that +Berosus relied upon one of the versions (for there seem to have been +several) of the old Babylonian epos, extant in his time; and, if that is +a reasonable conclusion, why is it unreasonable to believe that the +two stories, which the Hebrew compiler has put together in such an +inartistic fashion, were ultimately derived from the same source? I say +ultimately, because it does not at all follow that the two versions, +possibly trimmed by the Jehovistic writer on the one hand, and by the +Elohistic on the other, to suit Hebrew requirements, may not have been +current among the Israelites for ages. And they may have acquired great +authority before they were combined in the Pentateuch. + +Looking at the convergence of all these lines of evidence to the +one conclusion--that the story of the Flood in Genesis is merely a +Bowdlerised version of one of the oldest pieces of purely fictitious +literature extant; that whether this is, or is not, its origin, the +events asserted in it to have taken place assuredly never did take +place; further, that, in point of fact, the story, in the plain and +logically necessary sense of its words, has long since been given up by +orthodox and conservative commentators of the Established Church--I can +but admire the courage and clear foresight of the Anglican divine who +tells us that we must be prepared to choose between the trustworthiness +of scientific method and the trustworthiness of that which the Church +declares to be Divine authority. For, to my mind, this declaration of +war to the knife against secular science, even in its most elementary +form; this rejection, without a moment's hesitation, of any and all +evidence which conflicts with theological dogma--is the only position +which is logically reconcilable with the axioms of orthodoxy. If the +Gospels truly report that which an incarnation of the God of Truth +communicated to the world, then it surely is absurd to attend to any +other evidence touching matters about which he made any clear statement, +or the truth of which is distinctly implied by his words. If the exact +historical truth of the Gospels is an axiom of Christianity, it is as +just and right for a Christian to say, Let us "close our ears against +suggestions" of scientific critics, as it is for the man of science to +refuse to waste his time upon circle-squarers and flat-earth fanatics. + +It is commonly reported that the manifesto by which the Canon of St. +Paul's proclaims that he nails the colours of the straitest Biblical +infallibility to the mast of the ship ecclesiastical, was put forth as +a counterblast to "Lux Mundi"; and that the passages which I have more +particularly quoted are directed against the essay on "The Holy Spirit +and Inspiration" in that collection of treatises by Anglican divines of +high standing, who must assuredly be acquitted of conscious "infidel" +proclivities. I fancy that rumour must, for once, be right, for it is +impossible to imagine a more direct and diametrical contradiction than +that between the passages from the sermon cited above and those which +follow:-- + + What is questioned is that our Lord's words foreclose certain + critical positions as to the character of Old Testament + literature. For example, does His use of Jonah's resurrection as + a _type_ of His own, depend in any real degree upon whether + it is historical fact or allegory?... Once more, our Lord uses + the time before the Flood, to illustrate the carelessness of men + before His own coming.... In referring to the Flood He + certainly suggests that He is treating it as typical, for He + introduces circumstances--"eating and drinking, marrying and + giving in marriage "--which have no counterpart in the original + narrative. (pp. 358-9). + +While insisting on the flow of inspiration through the whole of the Old +Testament, the essayist does not admit its universality. Here, also, the +new apologetic demands a partial flood: + + But does the inspiration of the recorder guarantee the exact + historical truth of what he records? And, in matter of fact, can + the record with due regard to legitimate historical criticism, + be pronounced true? Now, to the latter of these two questions + (and they are quite distinct questions) we may reply that there + is nothing to prevent our believing, as our faith strongly + disposes us to believe, that the record from Abraham downward + is, in substance, in the strict sense historical (p. 351). + +It would appear, therefore, that there is nothing to prevent our +believing that the record, from Abraham upward, consists of stories in +the strict sense unhistorical, and that the pre-Abrahamic narratives are +mere moral and religious "types" and parables. + +I confess I soon lose my way when I try to follow those who walk +delicately among "types" and allegories. A certain passion for clearness +forces me to ask, bluntly, whether the writer means to say that Jesus +did not believe the stories in question, or that he did? When Jesus +spoke, as of a matter of fact, that "the Flood came and destroyed them +all," did he believe that the Deluge really took place, or not? It seems +to me that, as the narrative mentions Noah's wife, and his sons' +wives, there is good scriptural warranty for the statement that the +antediluvians married and were given in marriage; and I should have +thought that their eating and drinking might be assumed by the firmest +believer in the literal truth of the story. Moreover, I venture to ask +what sort of value, as an illustration of God's methods of dealing with +sin, has an account of an event that never happened? If no Flood swept +the careless people away, how is the warning of more worth than the cry +of "Wolf" when there is no wolf? If Jonah's three days' residence in the +whale is not an "admitted reality," how could it "warrant belief" in +the "coming resurrection?" If Lot's wife was not turned into a pillar of +salt, the bidding those who turn back from the narrow path to "remember" +it is, morally, about on a level with telling a naughty child that a +bogy is coming to fetch it away. Suppose that a Conservative orator +warns his hearers to beware of great political and social changes, +lest they end, as in France, in the domination of a Robespierre; +what becomes, not only of his argument, but of his veracity, if he, +personally, does not believe that Robespierre existed and did the deeds +attributed to him? + +Like all other attempts to reconcile the results of +scientifically-conducted investigation with the demands of the outworn +creeds of ecclesiasticism, the essay on Inspiration is just such a +failure as must await mediation, when the mediator is unable properly +to appreciate the weight of the evidence for the case of one of the two +parties. The question of "Inspiration" really possesses no interest for +those who have cast ecclesiasticism and all its works aside, and have no +faith in any source of truth save that which is reached by the +patient application of scientific methods. Theories of inspiration are +speculations as to the means by which the authors of statements, in the +Bible or elsewhere, have been led to say what they have said--and it +assumes that natural agencies are insufficient for the purpose. I prefer +to stop short of this problem, finding it more profitable to undertake +the inquiry which naturally precedes it--namely, Are these statements +true or false? If they are true, it may be worth while to go into +the question of their supernatural generation; if they are false, it +certainly is not worth mine. + +Now, not only do I hold it to be proven that the story of the Deluge is +a pure fiction; but I have no hesitation in affirming the same thing of +the story of the Creation. [12] Between these two lies the story of the +creation of man and woman and their fall from primitive innocence, +which is even more monstrously improbable than either of the other two, +though, from the nature of the case, it is not so easily capable of +direct refutation. It can be demonstrated that the earth took longer +than six days in the making, and that the Deluge, as described, is a +physical impossibility; but there is no proving, especially to those who +are perfect in the art of closing their ears to that which they do not +wish to hear, that a snake did not speak, or that Eve was not made out +of one of Adam's ribs. + +The compiler of Genesis, in its present form, evidently had a definite +plan in his mind. His countrymen, like all other men, were doubtless +curious to know how the world began; how men, and especially wicked +men, came into being, and how existing nations and races arose among the +descendants of one stock; and, finally, what was the history of their +own particular tribe. They, like ourselves, desired to solve the four +great problems of cosmogeny, anthropogeny, ethnogeny, and geneogeny. The +Pentateuch furnishes the solutions which appeared satisfactory to its +author. One of these, as we have seen, was borrowed from a Babylonian +fable; and I know of no reason to suspect any different origin for the +rest. Now, I would ask, is the story of the fabrication of Eve to be +regarded as one of those pre-Abrahamic narratives, the historical truth +of which is an open question, in face of the reference to it in a +speech unhappily famous for the legal oppression to which it has been +wrongfully forced to lend itself? + + Have ye not read, that he which made them from the beginning + made them male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man + leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; and the + twain shall become one flesh? (Matt. xix. 5.) + +If divine authority is not here claimed for the twenty-fourth verse of +the second chapter of Genesis, what is the value of language? And again, +I ask, if one may play fast and loose with the story of the Fall as +a "type" or "allegory," what becomes of the foundation of Pauline +theology?-- + + For since by man came death, by man came also the + resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in + Christ shall all be made alive (1 Corinthians xv. 21, 22). + +If Adam may be held to be no more real a personage than Prometheus, and +if the story of the Fall is merely an instructive "type," comparable to +the profound Promethean mythus, what value has Paul's dialectic? + +While, therefore, every right-minded man must sympathise with the +efforts of those theologians, who have not been able altogether to close +their ears to the still, small, voice of reason, to escape from the +fetters which ecclesiasticism has forged; the melancholy fact remains, +that the position they have taken up is hopelessly untenable. It is +raked alike by the old-fashioned artillery of the churches and by +the fatal weapons of precision with which the _enfants perdus_ of the +advancing forces of science are armed. They must surrender, or fall back +into a more sheltered position. And it is possible that they may long +find safety in such retreat. + +It is, indeed, probable that the proportional number of those who will +distinctly profess their belief in the transubstantiation of Lot's wife, +and the anticipatory experience of submarine navigation by Jonah; in +water standing fathoms deep on the side of a declivity without anything +to hold it up; and in devils who enter swine--will not increase. But +neither is there ground for much hope that the proportion of those who +cast aside these fictions and adopt the consequence of that repudiation, +are, for some generations, likely to constitute a majority. Our age is +a day of compromises. The present and the near future seem given over +to those happily, if curiously, constituted people who see as little +difficulty in throwing aside any amount of post-Abrahamic Scriptural +narrative, as the authors of "Lux Mundi" see in sacrificing the +pre-Abrahamic stories; and, having distilled away every inconvenient +matter of fact in Christian history, continue to pay divine honours to +the residue. There really seems to be no reason why the next generation +should not listen to a Bampton Lecture modelled upon that addressed to +the last:-- + + Time was--and that not very long ago--when all the relations of + Biblical authors concerning the whole world were received with a + ready belief; and an unreasoning and uncritical faith accepted + with equal satisfaction the narrative of the Captivity and the + doings of Moses at the court of Pharaoh, the account of the + Apostolic meeting in the Epistle to the Galatians, and that of + the fabrication of Eve. We can most of us remember when, in this + country, the whole story of the Exodus, and even the legend of + Jonah, were seriously placed before boys as history; and + discoursed of in as dogmatic a tone as the tale of Agincourt or + the history of the Norman Conquest. + + But all this is now changed. The last century has seen the + growth of scientific criticism to its full strength. The whole + world of history has been revolutionised and the mythology which + embarrassed earnest Christians has vanished as an evil mist, the + lifting of which has only more fully revealed the lineaments of + infallible Truth. No longer in contact with fact of any kind, + Faith stands now and for ever proudly inaccessible to the + attacks of the infidel. + +So far the apologist of the future. Why not? _Cantabit vacuus._ + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: _Bampton Lectures_ (1859), on "The Historical Evidence of +the Truth of the Scripture Records stated anew, with Special Reference +to the Doubts and Discoveries of Modern Times," by the Rev. G. +Rawlinson, M.A., pp. 5-6.] + +[Footnote 2: _The Worth of the Old Testament,_ a Sermon preached in St. +Paul's Cathedral on the second Sunday in Advent, 8th Dec., 1889, by +H. P. Liddon, D.D., D.C.L., Canon and Chancellor of St. Paul's. Second +edition revised and with a new preface, 1890.] + +[Footnote 3: St. Luke xvii. 32.] + +[Footnote 4: St. Luke xvii. 27.] + +[Footnote 5: St. Matt. xii. 40.] + +[Footnote 6: _Bampton Lectures,_ 1859, pp. 50-51.] + +[Footnote 7: _Commentary on Genesis,_ by the Bishop of Ely, p. 77.] + +[Footnote 8: _Die Sintflut,_ 1876.] + +[Footnote 9: _Theologie und Naturwissenschaft,_ ii. 784-791 (1877).] + +[Footnote 10: It is very doubtful if this means the region of the +Armenian Ararat. More probably it designates some part either of the +Kurdish range or of its south-eastern continuation.] + +[Footnote 11: So Reclus (_Nouvelle Geographie Universelle,_ ix. 386), +but I find the statement doubted by an authority of the first rank.] + +[Footnote 12: So far as I know, the narrative of the Creation is not now +held to be true, in the sense in which I have defined historical +truth, by any of the reconcilers. As for the attempts to stretch the +Pentateuchal days into periods of thousands or millions of years, +the verdict of the eminent Biblical scholar, Dr. Riehm (_Der +biblische Schopfungsbericht,_ 1881, pp. 15, 16) on such pranks of +"Auslegungskunst" should be final. Why do the reconcilers take Goethe's +advice seriously?-- + + "Im Auslegen seyd frisch und munter! + Legt ihr's nicht aus, so legt was unter."] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lights of the Church and the Light +of Science, by Thomas Henry Huxley + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIGHTS OF THE CHURCH *** + +***** This file should be named 2632.txt or 2632.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/3/2632/ + +Produced by D. R. Thompson + +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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