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diff --git a/41280-8.txt b/41280-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index c411cf2..0000000 --- a/41280-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,8148 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Christianity and Modern Thought, by Various - -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: Christianity and Modern Thought - -Author: Various - -Release Date: November 3, 2012 [EBook #41280] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHRISTIANITY AND MODERN THOUGHT *** - - - - -Produced by Jana Srna, Michael Seow and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) - - - - - - - - - - CHRISTIANITY - - AND - - MODERN THOUGHT. - - - - - BOSTON: - AMERICAN UNITARIAN ASSOCIATION. - 1873. - - - - - Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by - - THE AMERICAN UNITARIAN ASSOCIATION, - - In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. - - - - - CAMBRIDGE: - PRESS OF JOHN WILSON AND SON. - - - - -INTRODUCTION. - - -The following discourses were delivered in Boston, at Hollis-Street -Church, on successive Sunday evenings, and repeated at King's Chapel on -Monday afternoons, during the winter of 1871-72, in response to an -invitation of the Executive Committee of the American Unitarian -Association, whose purpose was thus declared in the letter of -invitation:-- - - "It is not proposed that the course shall be a merely popular one, - to awaken the indifferent and interest them in familiar religious - truths; but rather to meet the need of thoughtful people perplexed - amid materialistic and sceptical tendencies of the time. Nor is it - desired simply to retrace in controversial method the beaten paths - of sectarian or theological debate; but rather, in the interest of - a free and enlightened Christianity, to present freshly the - positive affirmations of faith." - -The several discourses were prepared independently, without conference -or concerted plan; and for their statements and opinions the -responsibility rests solely with their respective authors. - - - - -CONTENTS. - - - PAGE - - Introduction v - - Break between Modern Thought and Ancient Faith - and Worship 3 - - By Henry W. Bellows. - - - A True Theology the Basis of Human Progress 35 - - By James Freeman Clarke. - - - The Rise and Decline of the Romish Church 61 - - By Athanase Coquerel, Fils. - - - Selfhood and Sacrifice 101 - - By Orville Dewey. - - - The Relation of Jesus to the Present Age 129 - - By Charles Carroll Everett. - - - The Mythical Element in the New Testament 157 - - By Frederic Henry Hedge. - - - The Place of Mind in Nature and Intuition in Man 179 - - By James Martineau. - - - The Relations of Ethics and Theology 209 - - By Andrew P. Peabody. - - - Christianity: What it is not, and what it is 231 - - By G. Vance Smith. - - - The Aim and Hope of Jesus 273 - - By Oliver Stearns. - - - - -THE BREAK BETWEEN MODERN THOUGHT - -AND - -ANCIENT FAITH AND WORSHIP. - -By HENRY W. BELLOWS. - - -There is evidently a growing disrelish, in an important portion of the -people of our time, for professional religion, technical piety, and -theological faith. These were always unpopular with youth, and people in -the flush of life and spirits; but this was because they called -attention to grave and serious things; and youth, as a rule, does not -like even the shadow of truth and duty to fall too early or too steadily -upon it. Restraint, care, thoughtfulness, it resists as long as it can; -and none who recall their own eager love of pleasure and gayety, in the -spring-time of life, can find much difficulty in understanding or -excusing it. Of course, too, careless, self-indulgent, sensual, and -frivolous people have always disliked the gravity, and the faith and -customs, of people professing religion, and exhibiting special -seriousness. They were a reproach and a painful reminder to them, and -must be partially stripped of their reproving sanctity, by ridicule, -charges of hypocrisy, and hints of contempt. But, all the while this was -going on, the youth and frivolity of previous generations expected the -time to come when they must surrender their carelessness, and be -converted; and even the worldly and scoffing shook in their secret -hearts at the very doctrines and the very piety they caricatured. The -old relations of master and pupil describe almost exactly the feeling -which youth and levity held toward instituted faith and piety, a -generation or two since. The schoolboy, indeed, still thinks himself at -liberty to call his master nick-names, to play tricks upon him, and to -treat with great levity, among his fellow-pupils, all the teaching and -all the rules of the school. But he nevertheless sincerely respects his -teacher; believes in him and in his teachings, and expects to derive an -indispensable benefit from them, in preparing himself for his coming -career. So it was with the religion and piety of our fathers. The people -profoundly respected the creed, the elders in piety, and the eminent -saints in profession and practice, although the young had their jibes -and jests, their resistance to church-going, their laugh at sanctimony; -and the majority of people then, as now, were not fond of the restraints -of piety, or the exercises of devotion. - -But the alienation to which I wish to draw your attention now is -something quite different from the natural opposition of the young to -serious thoughts; or the gay, to grave matters; or those absorbed in the -present, to what belongs to the future; or of those charmed with the use -of their lower or more superficial faculties and feelings, to the -suggestions and demands of their deeper and nobler nature. That the body -should not readily and without a struggle submit to the mind; that -thoughtlessness should not easily be turned into thoughtfulness; that -youth should not readily consent to wear the moral costume of maturity, -or the feelings and habits of riper years; that the active, fresh, -curious creature, who has just got this world with its gay colors in -his eye, should not be much attracted by spiritual visions, and should -find his earthly loves and companions more fascinating than the -communion of saints or the sacred intercourse of prayer,--all this, to -say the least of it, is very explicable, and belongs to all generations, -and hardly discourages the experienced mind, more than the faults and -follies of the nursery the wise mother who has successfully carried many -older children through them all. - -It is quite another kind of antipathy and disrelish which marks our -time. It is not confined to youth, nor traceable to levity and -thoughtlessness. The Church and its creed on one side, the world and its -practical faith on the other, seem now no longer to stand in the -relation of revered teachers and dull or reluctant pupils; of -seriousness, avoided by levity; of authoritative truth, questioned by -bold error; of established and instituted faith, provoking the -criticisms of impatience, caprice, ignorance, or folly. An antagonism -has arisen between them as of oil and water,--a separation which is -neither due to period of life, nor stage of intelligence, nor even to -worth of character; which does not separate youth from maturity, the -thoughtless from the thinking, the bad from the good, but divides the -creeds, observances, and professions of Christians, from a large body of -people who insist that after a certain fashion they are Christians too, -and yet will have little or nothing to do with professions of faith, or -pious pretensions, or religious ways of feeling, talking, or acting. - -Clearly, it would not do any longer to say that the worth and virtue and -influence of society, in this country, could be estimated by the number -of communicants in the churches, by the degree of credit still given to -any of the long-believed theological dogmas, deemed in the last -generation the sheet-anchors of the State. We all know hundreds of -people, who could sign no creed, and give no theological account of -their faith, whom we do not count as necessarily less worthy in the -sight of God or man than many who have no difficulty in saying the whole -Athanasian Creed. Nay, there are some millions of people in this -country, not the least intelligent or useful citizens in all cases, who -never enter a church-door. A generation or two back, you would safely -have pronounced all these absentees to be worldly, careless people, -infidels, atheists, scoffers. Do you expect to find them so now? Some, -of course, but not the majority. Indeed, you would find a great many of -these people supporting churches, to which their families go, and not -themselves; or to which others go, for whom they are glad to provide the -opportunity. They would tell you, if they could discriminate their own -thoughts, something like this: "Public worship and church organizations, -and creeds and catechisms, and sermons and ceremonies, and public -prayers and praises, are doubtless very good things, and very useful up -to a certain stage of intelligence, and for a certain kind of character. -But we have discovered that the real truth and the real virtue of what -people have been misnaming religion is a much larger, freer, and more -interesting thing than churches, creeds, ministers, and saints seem to -think it. Here is this present life, full of occupations and earnest -struggles and great instructions. Here is this planet, not a thousandth -part known, and yet intensely provoking to intelligent curiosity; and -science is now every day taking a fresh and an ever bolder look into it; -and we want our Sundays to follow these things up. That is our idea of -worship. Then, again, the greatest philosophers are now writing out -their freest, finest thoughts about our nature; and, if we go to church, -we are likely to find some fanatical and narrow-minded minister warning -us against reading or heeding what these great men say; and it is a -thousand times fresher and grander and more credible than what he says -himself! Why, the very newspapers, the earnest and well-edited ones, -contain more instruction, more warning, more to interest the thoughtful -mind, than the best sermons; and why should a thinking man, who needs to -keep up with the times, and means to have his own thoughts free, go -where duty or custom makes it common to frown upon inquiry, doubt, and -speculation,--to shut out knowledge and testimony, and stamp a man with -a special type of thinking or professing?" - -For there are, you observe,--in justice to these thoughts,--these two -instructors to choose between in our generation. Here is the Church, -with its ecclesiastical usages and its pious exhortations; its Sunday -school for the children; its devotional meeting in the week, and its -Sunday teaching and worship,--all acknowledged as good for those that -like them, and are willing to accept what people thought or believed was -true a hundred or five hundred years ago; and here is the modern press, -with the wonderful profusion of earnest and able books, cheap and -attractive, and treating boldly all subjects of immediate and of -permanent interest; and here are the reviews, quarterly and monthly, -that now compress into themselves and popularize all that these books -contain, and furnish critical notices of them; and then, again, here are -the newspapers, wonderful in variety and ability, that hint at, suggest, -and bring home all the new and fresh thoughts of the time. And the -marvel is, that most of these books, reviews, papers, are in the -interest of, and seem inspired by, something larger, freer, fresher, -truer, than what the churches and the creeds are urging. Thus church -religion and general culture do not play any longer into each other's -hands. If you believe what the men of science, the philosophers, the -poets and critics, believe, you cannot believe, except in a very general -way, in what the creeds and churches commonly profess. Accordingly, the -professors in college, the physicians, the teachers, the scientists, the -reformers, the politicians, the newspaper men, the reviewers, the -authors, are seldom professing Christians, or even church-goers; and if -they do go to church from motives of interest or example, they are free -enough to confess in private that they do not much believe what they -hear. - -Assuming that this is a tolerably correct account--although doubtless -exaggerated for pictorial effect--of the existing state of things among -the reading and thinking class of this country, what is the real -significance of it? Is it as new as it seems? Is it as threatening to -the cause of religious faith as it seems? Reduced to its most general -terms, is it any thing more or other than this? The faith and worship of -this generation, and the experience and culture of a portion of this -generation, have temporarily fallen out; and, as in all similar -quarrels, there is, for the time, helpless misunderstanding, mutual -jealousy and misrepresentation. The faith and piety of the time -pronounce the culture, the science, the progressive philanthropy, the -politics, the higher education and advanced literature, to be godless -and Christless; and the culture of the age retaliates, perhaps, with -still greater sincerity, in pronouncing the faith and worship of the -time to be superstitious, antiquated, sentimental, and specially fitted -only to people willing to be led by priests and hireling ministers. - -Now, if this were a quarrel between experience and inexperience, between -good and bad, between truth and falsehood, it would be easy to take -sides. But faith and knowledge have both equal rights in humanity. -People who are sincerely in love with knowledge and science and -philosophy are not thereby made enemies of God or man; certainly are not -to be discouraged and abused for their devotion to practical and -scientific truth, their search for facts, their interest in the works of -the Creator, even if they are not possessed of what the church properly -calls faith and piety. And, on the other hand, however shocked -established faith and piety may naturally be by the handling which -religion and its creeds and worship receive from modern inquisitors, -ought the deeper believers to be seriously alarmed for the safety of its -root or its healing leaves, on account of the shaking which the tree of -life is now receiving? However slow science and culture may often show -themselves to be in recognizing the fact, can any reasonable and -impartial mind, acquainted with history or human nature, believe that -faith itself is an inconstant or perishable factor in our nature? prayer -a childish impulse, which clear-seeing manhood must put away? the -conscience, not the representative of a holiness enthroned over the -moral universe, but an artificial organ, which social convenience has -developed, much like the overgrown liver in the Strasburg goose? In -short, who that considers the part that faith and worship have played in -the history of the race, can doubt their essential and permanent place -in human fortunes? The question of _some_ religion, of _some_ worship, -for the people, does not seem debatable. The only alternative among -nations has been a religion in which mystery, awe, and fear prevailed, -clothing themselves in dread and bloody sacrifices, or else a religion -in which more knowledge, more reason, more love, embodied themselves in -a simpler and gentler ritual. The nations have had only a choice--not -always a wholly voluntary one--between terrific superstitions and more -or less reasonable religions. Christianity has prevailed in civilized -nations, since Constantine, by accommodating its theological dogmas and -external ritual to the needs of successive eras; beginning with coarser -and more heathenish symbols, and running itself clearer and more clear, -as the mind and taste and experience of the race have developed -"sweetness and light." But does this make Christianity only a human -growth, and so predict a coming decay, which many seem to think has -already begun? On the contrary, the decisive fact about Christianity is, -that, while its intellectual history is changing, its early records are -in form fixed and permanent, and that its real progress has been -uniformly a return towards its original simplicity. Other faiths -develop. It is we who develop under Christianity, and are slowly changed -unto the original likeness of Christ. Christ's statements, Christ's -character, Christ's words, do not become antiquated. We are not called -upon to explain away, as superstitions of the time, any of the _certain_ -words he said, or thoughts he had, or commandments he left. True, there -are critical embarrassments about the record, and room enough to -question how it was made up; and we cannot always trust the reporters of -that age, or our own. But when we get, as we certainly do get in -hundreds of cases, at Christ's own words; or when we really see--as by a -hundred vistas, through all the _débris_ and rubbish of the age, we may -see--the true person and bearing and spirit of Jesus, we behold, we -recognize, we know, a Being who, transferred to this age, and placed in -the centre of the choicest circle of saints and sages whom culture and -science and wisdom could collect, would bear just the same exalted -relation of superiority to them that he did to the fishermen and -publicans and kings and high-priests and noble women and learned rabbis -of his own day. We should not hesitate, any more than they did, to call -him Master and Lord; to say, "To whom else shall we go? Thou hast the -words of eternal life." - -Those, then, who fear that true culture, that science or philosophy -boldly pushed, that learning and logic impartially applied,--whether in -studying God's method in creation, or his method in revelation,--can -injure permanently faith and piety, or endanger Christianity, as a -whole, must either think the religious wants of man very shallow or very -artificial, or the providence of God very easily baffled, and the -harmony of his word and works very badly matched. If there be in nature -or in man, in earth or in our dust, in chemistry, astronomy, -anthropology; in geology, the language of dead eras; or in language, the -geology of buried races, any thing that disproves the existence and -providence of a living God, the holiness and goodness and -trustworthiness of his character; the moral and religious nature of man, -his accountableness, his immortality; the divine beauty and sinless -superiority of Jesus Christ, and the essential truth of his -religion,--by all means let us know it! Why should we allow ourselves -to be beguiled by fables and false hopes and make-believes? But the -faith of religious experience, the confidence of those who know and love -and have become spiritually intimate with the gospel of Jesus Christ, is -usually such that they would sooner mistrust their senses than their -souls. They have found a moral and spiritual guidance, a food and -medicine in their Christian faith, which enables them calmly to say to -criticism, to science, to culture, "We do not hold our faith, or -practise our worship, by your leave, or at your mercy." Faith leans -first on the spiritual nature of man, and not on demonstrable science. -It would not be faith, if it were only a sharper sight. It is insight, -not sight. It springs from its own root, not primarily from the -intellect. As we love our wives and children with something besides the -judgment, or the logical faculty, so we love God with the heart, and not -with the understanding. We stand erect, with open eyes, when we are -seeking truth; we fall on our knees with closed eyelids, when we are -seeking God! Religion is not the rule of three, but the golden rule; it -is not the major and minor premises and copula of logic, but the sacred -instinct of the soul, which Jesus Christ has satisfied, and guided, and -owned, and directed, in an inestimable way. - -But when faith and worship have taken this true and independent tone, -let them not join the foolish bigots, who think that because faith rests -on other foundations than science, therefore it owes nothing to science -and culture, and can wholly separate its fortunes and future from them. -True, _faith_ and _culture_, religion and science, in spite of their -general and permanent agreement and connection, when they cannot get on -honestly together, had better for the time separate; for they embarrass -each other, and it is in their insulation that they sometimes ripen and -prepare in separate crucible elements that are ultimately to blend in a -finer compound than either ever knew before. Thus faith, driving science -and culture out of her cell, and closing the doors on fact and -observation, wrapt in devotion, has sometimes caught visions of God -through her purely spiritual atmosphere, which sages in their -laboratories have never seen. The great religious inspirations have not -come from scholars, but from seers; from men of soul, not men of sense. -"How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?" said his -contemporaries of Christ. Well, he knew no letters, but he had what -letters never teach,--divine wisdom! He knew God, that end of knowledge; -he knew man, that last of philosophy. Faith therefore often recruits -itself in a temporary divorce from science, just as Romanism profitably -drives her priests into periodical retreats for prayer and exclusive -meditations on God and Christ. It is beautiful to study even those -humble and uninstructed Christian sects, whose simple and implicit faith -is protected, yes, and exalted, by their providential indifference to -science or unacquaintance with speculative difficulties. It is not their -ignorance that kindles their devotion, but it is faith's vitality, which -in certain exceptional natures and times beams and glows most purely, -fed only on its own sacred substance. When you have reached the inner -kernel of a true Moravian, or even a true Catholic heart, and found a -solid core of faith, unsupported by any other evidence than that which -the Scripture described in the words, "Faith is the substance of things -hoped for, the evidence of things not seen," you have gone far towards -fathoming the holiest secret in our nature, the well of living water. -And, on the other hand, how much better, both for faith and science, -that science should, at a time like this, go without religious ends into -physical or metaphysical pursuits, investigate, inquire, test, question, -in absolute independence of theological or spiritual results. It is only -when thus free and bold and uncommitted that her testimony is worth any -thing. Think of Newton, meditating and exploring the solar system, in -the simple love of truth, without let or hindrance from ecclesiastical -intermeddlers, and compare him with Galileo, lifting his telescope under -the malediction of the priesthood of Rome. - -No: let science be as free as light, as brave as sunbeams, as honest as -photography! Encourage her to chronicle her conclusions with fearless -and unreproached fidelity. She will doubtless make many things which -have been long associated with religion look foolish and incredible. But -it is only so religion can shed some husks, and get rid of some -embarrassments. It is, in short, only just such assaults and criticisms -from science and experience that ever induces religion to strain out the -flies from her honey; to dissociate what is accidental in faith from -what is essential and permanent. And, when science and culture have -gathered in the full harvest of this wonderful season of discovery and -speculation, we may expect to find faith stripped of many garments, now -worshipped, which ignorance and fear put upon her for protection and -defence; but really strengthened in substance, by the free movements -allowed her lungs, and the dropping of the useless load upon her back. -Then, too, science and philosophy will again resume their places at the -feet of the master-principle in our nature, until again driven away, by -new disagreements, to return again by the discovery of a finer harmony. - -Self-culture will never supersede worship, more than golden lamps -burning fragrant oils will ever supersede the sun; more than digging and -hoeing and planting will supersede sunshine and rain from heaven. -Self-culture? Yes: by all means, and in any amount, but not as an end. -When people look to ornamental gardening for the crops that are to feed -the famine-smitten world, and not to the pastures and prairies, as they -lie in the light of the common sun, they will look to self-culture for -the characters, the hearts, the souls that glorify God and lift and -bless the world. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, -and thy neighbor as thyself." That is the irrepealable law of growth. -"Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all other -things shall be added unto you." Worship, faith, duty, devotion to God, -Christ, humanity, to justice, freedom, truth,--these, and not -self-culture, have lifted the race and the world. Learn, acquire, -cultivate, improve, develop yourselves, by art, music, reading, -languages, study, science, experience, but do it all in seeking to know -and love and serve God and man. Seek to know Christ, and you will learn -more, indirectly, than though you sought all knowledge without this -thirst. Seek to know God, and you shall find all science and culture -healthful, sacred, harmonious, satisfying, and devout. - -The break between modern thought and ancient creeds and worship, thus -considered, though serious, and worth the utmost pains to heal, by all -arts that do not conceal or salve over, without curing the wound, is not -permanently discouraging to earnest and well-considered Christian -faith. Nor are all the signs of the times one way. For--after all that -has been said about the restless and dissatisfied condition of the -critical and conscious thought of the time, and the scepticism of the -learned, or the speculative class, or of the new thinkers born of the -physical progress of the age, and the decay of worship in the literary -and artistic, the editorial and poetical circles--it remains to be said, -that, leaving this important and valuable body of people aside,--not -badly employed, and not without personal warrant for their doubts and -withdrawal from positive institutions,--there remains a mighty majority, -on whom the Christian religion and historical faith and the external -church have a vigorous and unyielding hold; whose practical instincts -and grand common-sense and hereditary experience anchor them safely in -positive faith, while the scepticism raves without and blows itself -clear, and passes over. Christianity first addressed itself to common -people, not to avoid criticism, but to secure the attention of the moral -affections and the spiritual powers, instead of the meaner -understanding. It has lived on the heart and conscience and needs and -yearnings of the masses, from and to whom practical wisdom and fixed -institutions and simple faith always come and always return. Common -sense is not the sense that is common, but the sense that is _in_ -common. And popular faith is not the faith of private ignorance massed, -but of that wisdom which alone enables ignorant people to find a basis -for feelings and actions that all feel to be beyond and above their -private ignorance or self-will. The common people were the first to hear -Christ gladly: they will be the last to hear any who deny him. - -It is easy to exaggerate the decline of modern faith, and to misread the -tendencies of the time on which we have been dwelling. Thus, paradox -though it seem, it were just as true to say that more people are -deliberately interested in Christian faith and worship to-day than at -any previous era in the history of our religion, as to asseverate that -more people doubt and regret it than ever before. Both statements are -true; and they are reconciled only by the fact that it is only in this -century that the claims of faith and worship have been popularly -debated, or that the people were expected or allowed to have any -independent opinion about them. The general soil of our humanity is for -the first time surveyed and sown; and it is found that, with more -_wheat_ than ever, there are also more _tares_. With more intelligent -and convinced worshippers, there are more wilful or logical neglecters -of worship; with more genuine believers, more sceptics; with more -religious activity, more worldliness. Without an army in the field, -there will be no deserters; without a common currency of genuine coin, -no counterfeits; without a formidable body of affirmers, few deniers. - -The positive institutions of Christianity decline in one form, to spring -into new life in other and better forms. Doubtless, fourfold more money -is expended to-day upon temples of worship than in what have been -falsely called the ages of faith,--rather the ages of acquiescence. -Religion does not decline as a costly interest of humanity with the -progress of doubt, freedom, intelligence, science, and economic -development. It is a permanent and eternal want of man, and is always -present, either as a vast, overshadowing superstition, or as a more or -less intelligent faith. Nowhere has it a stronger hold on society than -in free America, which false prophets, with their faces to the past, -muttered was about to become its grave. This busy, delving, utilitarian -country, without a past, denied the influence of ruins and the memory of -mythic founders, a land without mystery or poetry,--how could so tender -and venerable a sentiment as reverence live in its garish day? how so -sweet a nymph as Piety kneel in its muddy marts of trade, or chant her -prayers in its monotonous wilderness, ringing with the woodman's axe or -the screeching saw? But now delegates of all the great religious bodies -in the Old World are visiting America, for religious instruction and -inspiration. Nowhere, it is confessed, is there to be found a people so -generally interested in religion, ready to make so great sacrifices for -it, or so deeply convinced that its principles and inspirations are at -the root of all national prosperity. Nowhere do churches and chapels -spring up with such rapidity, and in such numbers; nowhere is the -ministry as well supported, or its ministers as influential members of -society; nowhere do plain men of business and intelligence, I do not say -of science and philosophy, participate so freely in religious worship. -And since all political compulsion has been taken off from the support -of religion, and it has been made purely voluntary, its interests have -received even more care. There is little doubt that the decline of -religious establishments, the decay of priestly authority, the complete -withdrawal of governmental patronage, the discrediting of the principle -of irrational fear, the dispersion of false dogmas, the clearing up of -superstition, the growth of toleration and charity, instead of weakening -true faith or lessening public worship, will greatly increase and -strengthen both. For it is not man's ignorance, weakness, and fears, -that lead him most certainly to Christian worship and faith. There is a -worship and a faith of blindness and dread; but they have no tendency to -develop a moral and spiritual sense of the character of God, or the -character becoming man, or to survive the spread of general intelligence -and mental courage. If thought, if courage of mind, if inquiry and -investigation, if experience and learning and comprehensive grasp, if -light and sound reason, and acquaintance with human nature, tended to -abolish a living God from the heart and faith of man, to disprove the -essential truths of Christianity, or to make life and the human soul -less sacred, aspiring, and religious, the world would be on its rapid -way to atheism. But I maintain that science itself, philosophy and free -inquiry, however divorced from religious institutions and dogmas, were -never so humble, reverential, and Christian as since they partly -emancipated themselves from theological or ecclesiastical censure and -suspicion. For ages science knelt to religion as she went to her -crucible or laboratory, like the sexton passing the altar in a Catholic -cathedral, and with as little thought or feeling as he, simply to avert -censure, while she pursued inquiries she knew would banish the -superstition she pretended to honor. Faith and knowledge were at -opposite poles; religious truth and scientific truth, finally and -permanently amenable to different standards. How dishonoring to religion -was this distrust of light and knowledge! how faithless in God, this -faith in him which could not bear investigation! how compromising to -Christianity, the sort of trust which refuses as blasphemous the -application of all the tests and proofs which are required in the -certification of every other important conviction! Religious faith rests -on the spiritual nature; but its basis is not less real for being -undemonstrable, like the axioms of mathematics. That is not real faith -which dares not investigate the grounds of its own being. It is -irreverent to God, to affirm that he does not allow us to try his ways; -to demand proofs of his existence and righteous government; to ask for -the credentials of his alleged messengers; to doubt until we are -rationally convinced. If the artificial feeling that faith is opposed to -reason; religious truth to universal truth; that belief in unseen things -is less rational or less capable of verification than the radical -beliefs of the senses,--if these prejudices were sound, or not the -reverse of true, the world would be on its inevitable way to universal -infidelity and godless materialism. But is that the tendency of things? -Is it that religion is growing _less_ mystic? or only science more so? -Have not real and affecting mysteries been very much transferred for the -time from theology to philosophy, from the priest to the professor? I -doubt very much whether men of science are not more truly on their knees -than men of superstition, in our days. Never did such candor, such -confessions of baffled insight, such a sense of inscrutable wisdom and -power, such a feeling of awe and dependence, seem to prevail in science -as now, when so many theologians are raising the eyebrow, and seeking to -alarm the world at what they call the atheism of the most truth-loving, -earnest, and noble men. I would sooner have the scepticism--reverent and -honest and fearless--of these solemn and awed inquisitors in the inner -shrines of nature, than the faith of self-bandaged priests, who are -thinking to light the way to heaven with candles on the mid-day altar, -or to keep faith in God alive only by processions in vestments of purple -and gold. - -Nor has Christianity any thing permanently to fear from the disposition -which now so largely prevails, to separate it from its accidents, its -accretions, and its misrepresentations. The days have not long gone by -when men were counted as entitled to little respect, if they did not -wear side-swords and bag-wigs. You recollect how our Benjamin Franklin -surprised, shocked, and then delighted all Europe, by appearing at the -court of France in plain citizen's clothes? Religion, too, has had her -court-dress, and her sounding court-titles, and official robes, and -circuitous ceremonies. The world has felt horror-stricken whenever any -brave and more believing spirit has ventured to ask the meaning of one -of these theological tags and titles. But how much less wholesome is -living water, if drunk out of a leaf, or the palm of one's hand, than if -presented on a salver, in a curiously jewelled flagon, by a priest in -livery? How much has theological ingenuity of statement and systematic -divinity, which it takes the study of a life to understand, added to the -power of the simplicity of Christ as he unfolds himself in the Sermon on -the Mount? Yet, if any one has dared to be as simple as Christ himself -was in his own faith, he has been said to deny the Lord that bought him. -It has been called infidelity, to think Christ meant only just what he -said, and was understood to say, in his simple parables. You must -believe something not less incredible and abstruse than the church -Trinity; something not less contrary to natural justice and common sense -than the church vicarious atonement; something not less cruel and -vindictive than the eternal misery of all who through ignorance, birth, -or accident, or even perversity and pride, do not hear of, or do not -accept, the blood of Christ as their only hope of God's mercy and -forgiveness, or you are no Christian. Now I hold these dogmas themselves -to be unchristian in origin and influence, although held by many -excellent Christian men. I believe that they are the main obstacles with -many honest, brave, and enlightened men in our day, to their interest in -public worship; and that millions repudiate the Church, and -Christianity, which is a different thing, simply because they suppose -her to be responsible for these barnacles upon the sacred ship. It would -be just as reasonable to hold the Hudson River responsible for the filth -the sewers of the city empty into it; or to hold the sun answerable for -the changes in its beams, caused by the colored glass in church-windows. - -Christianity, the Christianity of Christ, is simple, rational, -intelligible, independent of, yet in perfect harmony,--if it be often an -unknown harmony,--with philosophy, ethics, science; true, because from -God, the God of nature as well as grace; true, because the transcript of -self-evident and self-proving principles; true, because guaranteed by -our nature; true, because of universal application, unimpeached by time -or experience. It affirms the being and authority of a righteous, holy, -and all-loving God, whom man can serve and love and worship because he -is made in his image; can know, by studying himself; and to whom man is -directly related by reason, conscience, and affections. It affirms -divine science and worship to consist in obedience to God's laws, -written on man's heart, and for ever urged by God's Spirit. It affirms -the present and persistent penalty, the inevitable consequences, of all -moral and spiritual wrong-doing and disobedience; the present and future -blessedness of well-doing and holiness. It sets forth Jesus Christ as -the Son of God and Son of Man,--appellations that, deeply considered, -really mean the same thing,--the direct messenger, representative, and -plenipotentiary of God,--his perfect moral image. It insists upon men's -putting themselves to school to Christ, honoring, loving, and following -him; forming themselves into classes,--another name for churches,--and -by prayer, meditation, and study of his life, informing their minds and -hearts, and shaping their wills in his likeness, which is the ideal of -humanity. Its clear object is to dignify and ennoble man, by presenting -God as his father; to show him what his nature is capable of, by -exhibiting Christ in the loveliness, sanctity, and power of his awful -yet winning beauty; to make him ashamed of his own sins, and afraid of -sin, by arousing moral sensibility in his heart; safely to fence in his -path by beautiful and sacred customs,--the tender, simple rites of -baptism and communion; the duty of daily prayer, the use of the -Scriptures, and respect for the Lord's Day. - -Here is a Christianity without dogmatic entanglement; plain, direct, -earnest, simple, defensible, intelligible to a child, yet deep enough to -exhaust a life's study. For it is the simplicities of religion that are -the permanent and glorious mysteries that never tire. They draw our -childhood's wonder, our manly reverence, and age's unquenched curiosity -and awe. Do we ever tire of the stars, or the horizon, or the blue sky, -or the dawn, or the sunset, or running water, or natural gems? Do we -ever tire of the thought of a holy, all-wise, all-good Spirit of -spirits, our God and our Father, or of hearing of the reverence and -trust, the obedience and the love, due to him? Do we ever tire of Jesus -Christ, considered as the sinless image, within human limitations, of -God's love and truth and mercy and purity? Do we ever tire of hearing -the wondrous story of his obedient, disinterested, and exalted life and -sacrifice? or of the call to follow his graces and copy his perfections -into our own hearts and lives? Are we ever weary of hearing of the -blessed hope of immortality, with the comfortable expectation of -throwing off the burden of our flesh, and winging our way in spiritual -freedom nearer to God and the light of our Master's face? Who can -exhaust, who can add to, the real force and attraction and fulness of -those truths and promises? Truly received, they grow with every day's -contemplation and use; they fill the soul with an increasing awe and -joy; they prove only less common-place as they are more nearly -approached, more copious as they are more drawn upon, and more sacred as -they are more familiar. - -It is the common, simple, universal truths that are the great, -inexhaustible, powerful, and never-wearying truths. But doubtless it -requires courage, personal conviction, and self-watchfulness, to -maintain personal piety or religious institutions under free and -enlightened conditions, when they are just beginning. When sacramental -mysteries are exploded, when the official sanctity of the ministry is -disowned, when the technical and dogmatic conditions of acceptance with -God are abandoned, when every man's right of private judgment is -confessed, when common sense is invited into the inner court of faith, -when every man is confessed to be a king and a priest in that temple of -God which he finds in his own body and soul, when real, genuine goodness -is owned as the equivalent of religion, then it is evident that the -support of religious institutions, of public worship, of the church and -the ordinances, must appeal to something besides the ignorance, the -fears, the superstitions, the traditions of the Christian world. They -must fall back on the practical convictions men entertain of their -intrinsic importance. They must commend themselves to the sober, plain, -and rational judgment of men of courage, reflection, and observation. -They fall into the same category with a government based not on the -divine right of kings, or the usages of past generations, the artificial -distinctions of ranks and classes, owing fealty each to that which is -socially above itself, but resting on the consent of the governed, and -deriving its authority and its support from the sense of its usefulness -and necessity. We have not yet achieved fully, in this country, the -passage of the people over from the Old World status of _subjects_ to -the New World status of _citizens_. We are in the midst of the glorious -struggle for a State, a national government, which rests securely on the -love and service of hearts that have created it, and maintain and defend -it on purely rational and intelligible grounds. It is so new, so -advanced, so sublime an undertaking, that we often falter and faint, as -if man were not good enough, nor reasonable enough, to be entitled to -such a government. We often doubt if we can bear the dilution which the -public virtue and good sense in our native community suffers from the -flood of ignorance and political superstition coming with emigrants from -other and coarser states of society and civil organizations. We are not -half alive to the glory and grandeur of the experiment of free political -institutions, and do not press with the zeal we ought the general -education, the political training, the moral discipline, which can alone -save the State, when it has no foundation but the good-will, the -respect, and the practical valuation of the people. But is the State or -the nation ever so truly divine as when it is owned as the voice of God, -calling all the people to maintain equal justice, to recognize universal -interests, to embody Christian ethics in public law? And despite our -local mortifications and occasional misgivings, what nation is now so -strong and firm, what government so confident and so promising, as our -own? What but freedom, fidelity to rational principles and ideal -justice, give it this strength? What is it, on the other hand, but -traditions that represent the ignorance and accidents and injustice of -former ages,--what is it but authority usurped and then consecrated, -social superstitions hardened into political creeds,--that is now -proving the weakness and peril of European nationalities, and imperial -or monarchical governments? Knowledge, science, literature, progress, -truth, liberty, become sooner or later the enemies of all governments, -and all social institutions, not founded in abstract justice and equal -rights. Yet how fearful the transition! Who can contemplate the downfall -of the French empire, and then look at the architects of the new -republic, working in the crude material of a priest-ridden or unschooled -populace, without dismay? Yet the process is inevitable. Democratic -ideas are abroad: they are in the air. They corrode all the base metal -they touch; and thrones and titles, and legalized classes, and -exceptional prerogatives, are predestined to a rapid disintegration. How -blessed the nation that has transferred its political homage from -traditions to principles; from men or families, to rights and duties; -from a compromise with ancient inequality and wrong, to an affirmation -of universal justice and right! Yet never had a people so grave and so -constant and so serious duties as we have. And there is nothing in our -principles or government that _must_ save our country, in spite of the -failure of political virtue, intelligence, and devotion, in our private -citizens. God has buried many republics, because the people were -unworthy of them. Their failure was no disproof of the principle -involved, but only an evidence that the people fell wholly below their -privileges and ideas. America may add another to this list of failures, -but can do nothing to discredit the truth and glory and final triumph of -the democratic idea. I do not believe we shall fail; on the contrary, I -have an increasing faith in the sense and virtue and ability of the -people of this country. But the success of American political -institutions depends very much on the success of the Christian and -religious institutions that match them, and are alone adapted to them. -We cannot long guarantee religious institutions, in a country of free -schools, public lyceums, unlicensed newspapers, unimpeded inquiry, and -absolute religious equality, if they do not rest on grounds of reason -and experience and sober truth. Mere authority, mere ecclesiasticism, -mere sacred usages, mere mystery, or mere dogmatism, will not long -protect the creeds and formularies of the church. They are undergoing a -species of dry-rot, like to that which the rafters of my own church -lately suffered from the confinement and unventilated bondage in iron -boxes in which their ends had been placed for greater security. They -wanted air and light, and more confidence in their inherent soundness; -and, if they had been permitted it, they would have lasted a hundred -years. It is precisely so with the Christian religion, boxed up in -creeds. It grows musty, worm-eaten, and finally loses its life and hold. -A certain timid and constitutionally religious portion of the community -will cherish any creed or usage which is time-honored; and the less -robust and decisive minds of the time will rally about what is -established and venerable, however out of date, incredible, or -irrational. But it is what is going on in the independent and free mind -of the common people, that should have our most serious regard. What is -the faith of the fairly educated young men and women who are now -springing up in America? Certainly, it is not, in the more gifted or the -most thoughtful part of it, in sympathy with any form of sacramental or -dogmatic Christianity. It is not Trinitarian; it is not biblical; it is -not technical. It is hardly Christian! It is bold, independent, -inquisitive, questioning every thing, and resolute in its rights of -opinion. It is alienated from church and worship to a great degree. It -suspects the importance of religious institutions, and reads and thinks -and worships in books of poetry and philosophy. A timid heart might -easily grow alarmed at the symptoms, and think that irreligion, and -decay of worship and fellowship in the Christian Church, were upon us. -But sad and discouraging as the present symptoms are to many, I see more -to hope than fear in these tendencies. They are a rebuke to formal and -technical theology,--to mere ecclesiasticism, to outworn ways. They are -bringing a violent assault upon the hard crust of a stifling belief, of -which the world must get rid before the gospel of Christ can emerge, and -be received in its primitive simplicity. It is the only way in which -faith is ever purified,--by doubt and denial. The gospel requires a new -statement. It must come out of its ecclesiastical bulwarks. It must -abandon its claim to any other kind of judgment than all other truth -claims and allows. It must place itself by the side of science, -experience, and philosophy, and defy their tests. It must invite the -most rigid investigation. It must claim its foundations in eternal -truth. It must prove its efficiency, not with the weak, but the strong; -not with the ignorant, but the learned; not with the bound, but the -free. And then it will recover its lost ground, and take a stronger and -diviner position than it ever had before. - -This is the work that Liberal Christianity has in hand; a difficult, -slow, and often discouraging work, but one that is intensely patriotic, -intensely practical, intensely necessary. That which was the mere -fortress into which the enlightened and free-minded people of -Massachusetts fled for refuge from ecclesiastical tyranny, a -half-century ago,--Unitarianism,--is now become a recognized crusade for -religious liberty for the American people. The liberty is coming fast -enough, and surely enough; but will the worship, will the Christian -seriousness, will the fellowship of faith, will the piety that gives -aromatic beauty as well as health to the soul, come with it? If it were -not to come, liberty would be only license and secularity and -worldliness. Every firm, well-ordered, earnest and religious -congregation of the liberal faith; exhibiting stableness, order, -solemnity; doing religious work among the poor, and cultivating piety in -its own youth; making sacrifices to its own ideas, and upholding its own -worship,--is an argument of the most solid kind, an example of -contagious power, an encouragement of priceless cheer, for those who -think that Christian liberty necessarily leads to license and decay of -worship; or that Christ is less revered and loved and trusted when he is -accepted in the derived and dependent character he claimed,--the only -tenable, rational, possible character in which a century hence he can be -received by any unsuperstitious persons. We have a sacred privilege, a -glorious opportunity. We only need to show ourselves warm, earnest, -united, attached to worship, fruitful in piety, devoted to good works, -zealous for God's glory and man's redemption, sincere, humble, yet -rational and free followers of Christ, to win an immense victory for the -gospel in this inquiring and doubting age. I have no great _immediate_ -hopes, but hopes beyond expression in the gracious development of -another generation. I bate not a jot of heart or hope that absolute -liberty in religion will favor the growth of piety, as much as political -freedom has favored the growth of order and peace and prosperity. Oh! -not a thousandth part the power of Christian truth and righteousness has -yet been shown in the world. The love of God, the love of man, have only -begun their glorious mission. Christ yet waits for his true throne. -Humanity is just come of age, and, with some wild festivity, is claiming -its heritage. But God is with and over it; and Jesus Christ is its -inspirer and guide. He will not lose his headship. He will be more -followed when less worshipped; more truly loved when less idolized; more -triumphant when more clearly understood! Darkness, wrath, threats, -enchantments, sacraments, prostrations, humiliations of reason, -emotional transports, affectations of belief, belief for its own -sake,--none of these things are truly favorable to Christ's kingdom or -the glory of his gospel. God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. -Christ is the Sun of righteousness. When reason, conscience, affection, -rule the world; when love and justice, and mild and tender views of life -and humanity, of God and Christ, displace the cruel terrors and -superstitions that have survived the social and political meliorations -of the age, we shall begin to see that love is the fulfilling of the -law, and liberty of thought the greatest friend of worship, the finest -result of Christ's coming, and the throne from which he commands the -whole human heart and history. - - - - -A TRUE THEOLOGY THE BASIS - -OF - -HUMAN PROGRESS. - -By JAMES FREEMAN CLARKE. - - -The subject of the present lecture is "A True Theology the Basis of -Human Progress." And, in order to strike the key-note, and to indicate -the object at which I aim, I will read four or five passages from the -New Testament, which describe such a Theology in its spirit and root. - -The Apostle Paul says:[1] "I count not myself to have apprehended: but -this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and -reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the -mark." So he declares himself a Progressive Christian. - -[Footnote 1: Phil. iii. 13.] - -Again he says:[2] "We know in part, and we prophesy [or teach] in part. -But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall -be done away." So he declares that all intellectual statements, his own -included, are relative and provisional. He is here speaking, doubtless, -not of rational insights, but of the insight when elaborated by the -intellect into a statement; not of intuitional knowledge, but that which -comes from reflection. In regard to all such propositions, he would -accept the modern doctrine of the Relativity of Knowledge; thus cutting -up by the roots the poisonous weed of Bigotry. - -[Footnote 2: 1 Cor. xiii. 9, 10.] - -Again: "Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit, in malice -be ye children, but in understanding be men."[3] He thus requires and -authorizes a manly, intelligent Theology. - -[Footnote 3: 1 Cor. xiv. 20.] - -Again: "Who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament; not -of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit -giveth life."[4] He here rejects the Theology of the letter, including -the doctrine of Literal Inspiration. - -[Footnote 4: 2 Cor. iii. 6.] - -Again: "God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of -love, and of a sound mind."[5] - -[Footnote 5: 2 Tim. i. 7.] - -My Thesis to-night is not a truism; my argument is not unnecessary or -uncalled for. Nothing is more common than to undervalue the importance -of Theology; to regard it as having no bearing on life, no influence on -human progress, no causative power in regard to civilization. Mr. -Buckle, one of the most recent English philosophical historians, -contends that Theology is the result rather than the cause of national -character; that it is merely symptomatic of the condition of a people. -If they are in a good condition, they have a good Theology; if in a bad -condition, a bad one. He even thinks it owing to a mistaken zeal that -Christians try to propagate their religion, because he believes that -savages cannot become Christians. Civilization, Mr. Buckle supposes, -depends greatly upon soil, upon climate, upon food, upon the -trade-winds; but not much upon religious ideas. He says that, in -England, "theological interests have long ceased to be supreme." "The -time for these things has passed by." And this is also a very common -opinion among ourselves. Many reformers have a notion that we have done -with Theology, that we can do without it. Some men of science tell us -that Theology has nothing to do with the advance of civilization, but -that this comes from discovery in the sphere of physical science. But I -believe that the one thing which retards the progress of reform is a -false philosophy concerning God and man, a false view of God's ideas -concerning this world; and that the one thing needful for Human Progress -is a deeper, higher, broader view of God and his ways. And I hope to be -able to show some grounds for this opinion. - -The religious instinct in man is universal. Some individuals and some -races possess more of it, and others less; but the history of mankind -shows that religion in some form is one of the most indestructible -elements of human nature. But whether this religious instinct shall -appear as faith or as fanaticism; whether it shall be a blind enthusiasm -or an intelligent conviction; whether it shall be a tormenting -superstition or a consoling peace; whether it shall lead to cruel -persecutions or to heavenly benevolence; all this, and more, depends on -Theology. Religion is a blind instinct: the ideas of God, man, duty, -destiny, which determine its development, constitute Theology. - -The same law holds concerning Conscience and Ethics. Conscience in the -form of a moral instinct is universal in man. In every human breast -there is a conviction that something is right and something wrong; but -what that right and wrong is depends on Ethics. In every language of -man, there are words which imply ought and ought not, duty, -responsibility, merit, and guilt. But what men believe they ought to do, -or ought not to do,--that depends on the education of their conscience; -that is, on their Ethics. - -Conscience, like religion, is man's strength, and his weakness. -Conscience makes cowards of us all; but it is the strong-siding champion -which makes heroes of us all. Savages are cruel, pirates are cruel; but -they cannot be as cruel as a good man, with a misguided conscience. The -most savage heart has some touch of human kindness left in it, which -nothing can quite conquer,--nothing but conscience. That can make man as -hard as Alpine rock, as cold as Greenland ice. The torture-rooms and -_autos da fe_ of the Inquisition surpass the cruelties of the North -American Indian. The cruelties of instinct are faint compared with the -cruelties of conscience. Now what guides conscience to good or to evil? -Theology, in the form of Ethics, is the guide of conscience. For, as -soon as man believes in a God, he believes in the authority of his God -to direct and control his actions. Whatever his God tells him to do must -be right for him to do. Therefore religion in its inward form is either -a debasing and tormenting superstition or a glad faith, according to the -Theology with which it is associated. And religion, in its outward form, -is either an impure and cruel despotism or an elevating morality, -according to the idea of God and Duty which guide it; that is, according -to its associated Theology. - -Some persons, like Lucretius, seeing the evils of Superstition, Bigotry, -and Fanaticism, and perceiving that these have their root in religion, -have endeavored to uproot religion itself. But could this be effected, -which is impossible, it would be like wishing to get rid of the -atmosphere, because it is sometimes subject to tempests, and sometimes -infected with malaria. Religion is the atmosphere of the soul, necessary -to the healthful action of its life, to be purified, but not renounced. - -Every one has a Theology, who has even a vague idea of a God; and every -one has this who has an idea of something higher and better than -himself, higher and better than any of his fellow-men. The Atheist -therefore may have a God, though he does not call him so. For God is not -a word, not a sound: he is the Infinite Reality which we see, more or -less dimly, more or less truly, rising above us, and above all our race. -The nature of this ideal determines for each of us what we believe to be -right or wrong; and so it is that our Theology rules our conscience, and -that our conscience determines with more or less supremacy the tendency -and stress of our life. - -No one can look at the History of the Human Race without seeing what an -immense influence religion has had in human affairs. Every race or -nation which has left its mark on Human Progress has itself been under -the commanding control of some great religion. The ancient civilization -of India was penetrated to the core by the institutions of Brahmanism; -the grand development of Egyptian knowledge was guided by its -priesthood; the culture of China has been the meek disciple of Confucius -for two thousand years. Whenever any nation emerges out of darkness into -light,--Assyria, Persia, Greece, or Rome,--it comes guided and inspired -by some mighty religion. The testimony of History is that religion is -the most potent of all the powers which move and govern human action. - -Such is the story of the past. How is it at the present time? Has -mankind outgrown the influence of religion to-day? Has the spread of -knowledge, the advance of science, the development of literature, art, -culture, weakened its power in Christendom? Never was there so much of -time, thought, effort, wealth, consecrated to the Christian Church as -there is now. Both branches of that Church, the Catholic and Protestant, -are probably stronger to-day than they ever were before. Some few -persons can live apart from religious institutions; but mankind cannot -dispense with religion, and they need it organized into a Church or -Churches. - -Religion is a great power, and will remain so. But what is to determine -the character of this power? It may impede progress or advance it; it -may encourage thought or repress it; it may diffuse knowledge or limit -it; it may make men free or hold them as slaves; it may be a generous, -manly, free, and moral religion or a narrow, bigoted, intolerant, -fanatical, sectarian, persecuting superstition. It has been both: it is -both to-day. What is to decide which it shall be? I answer, its -Theology; the views it holds concerning God, man, duty, immortality, the -way and the means of salvation. Religion is an immense power: how that -power is to be directed depends on Theology. - -Proceeding then with my theme, I shall endeavor to show how false ideas -in Theology tend to check the progress of humanity, and afterward how -true ideas always carry mankind onward along an ascending path of -improvement. - -But first let me say that my criticism is of ideas, not of sects, -churches, nor individuals. By a true Theology, I mean neither a -Unitarian nor a Trinitarian Theology, neither a Catholic nor a -Protestant Theology. I do not mean Calvinism nor Arminianism. I have -nothing to say concerning these distinctions, however important they -may be; and I, for one, consider them important. But I refer to a -distinction more important still, lying back of these distinctions, -lying beneath them; a difference not of opinions so much as of ideas and -spirit. - -By a true Theology, I mean a manly Theology, as opposed to a childish -one; a free, as opposed to a servile one; a generous, as opposed to a -selfish one; a reasonable and intelligent Theology, as opposed to a -superstitious one. - -By a true Theology, I mean one which regards God as a father, and man as -a brother; which looks upon this life as a preparation for a higher; -which believes that God gives us freedom, inspires our reason, and is -the author of whatever is generous, self-forgetting, and noble. I find -something of this Theology in all sects and churches; from the Roman -Catholic at one extreme, to the Universalists and Unitarians, the -Spiritualists and Come-outers, at the other. And the opposite, the false -Theology, dishonorable to God, degrading to man, I find in all sects, -and accompanying all creeds. And if I shall show, as truth compels me to -show, that certain parties and persons are specially exposed to danger -in one or another direction, I wish distinctly to state my belief that -sincere and earnest men continually rise above the contagion of their -position, and live untainted in an atmosphere which may have in it some -special tendency to disease. - -One false idea in Theology, which opposes human progress, is that -Pantheistic view of the Deity, which loses sight of his personality, and -conceives of him as a blind, infinite force, pervading all Nature, and -carrying on the universe, but without intelligence and without love. - -I know indeed that many views have been accused of being Pantheism which -are not. I do not believe in a God outside of the universe. I believe -that he is one "in whom we live, and move, and have our being," one -"from whom, and through whom, and to whom are all things,"--a perpetual -Creator, immanent in his world. But this view is quite consistent with a -belief in his personal being, in his intelligent, conscious, loving -purpose. Without such a belief, hope dies out of the heart; and without -hope mankind loses the energy which creates progress. Unless we have an -intelligent Friend who governs the universe, it will seem to be moving -blindly on toward no divine end; and this thought eats out the courage -of the soul. - -In some poetical natures, as in the case of Shelley, this Pantheism -takes the form of faith in a spirit of beauty, or love, or intellectual -power, pervading all things. In more prosaic minds it becomes a belief -in law, divorced from love. It turns the universe into a machine, worked -by forces whose mutual action unfolds and carries on the magnificent -Cosmos. Often this view comes, by way of a reaction, against an -excessive Personality of Will. When the Christian Church speaks of the -Deity as an Infinite Power outside of the world, who creates it and -carries it on according to some contrivance, of which his own glory is -the end, it is perhaps natural that men should go to the other extreme -and omit person, will, and design from their conception of Deity. But -thus they encounter other and opposite dangers. - -A gospel of mere law is no sufficient gospel. It teaches prudence, but -omits Providence. This utilitarian doctrine, which reduces every thing -to law,--which makes the Deity only a Great Order, not a Father or -Friend,--would soon put a stop to the deepest spring of human progress. -It takes faith and hope out of our life, and substitutes observation, -calculation, and prudence. But the case of Ecclesiastes and of Faust -teaches us what comes from knowledge emptied of faith. He who increases -such knowledge increases sorrow. The unknown, wonderful Father; the -divine, mysterious Infinite; the great supernatural power and beauty -above Nature, and above all,--these alone make life tolerable. Without -this brooding sense of a Divine love, of a Heaven beyond this world, of -a Providence guiding human affairs, men would not long have the heart to -study, because all things would seem to be going nowhere. Without such a -Heavenly Friend to trust, such an immortal progress to hope, all things -would seem to revolve in a circle. Not to believe in something more than -a God of Law is to be without God in the world, is to be without hope. -And hope is the spring of all progress, intellectual progress as well as -all other. Intellect, divorced from faith, at last kills intellect -itself, by destroying its inner motive. It ends in a doctrine of -despair, which cries continually, "What is the use?" and finds no -answer. And so the soul dies the only death the soul can die,--the death -of torpor and inaction. - -Another false idea in Theology, which interferes with human progress, is -that of ecclesiastical authority in matters of faith and practice. When -the Church comes between the soul and God, and seeks to be its master -rather than its servant, it takes from it that direct responsibility to -God, which is one of the strongest motives for human effort. I know that -this has always been done from a sincere desire, at any rate in the -beginning, to save men from apparent dangers. The Church has assumed -authority, in order to do good with it. It has commanded men not to -think for themselves, lest they should err. But God has meant that we -should be liable to error, in order that we should learn to avoid it by -increased strength. Therefore Christ said, "Be not called Rabbi; be not -called Masters, and call no man father on earth." His church, and his -apostles, and he himself are here, not to be masters of the soul, but to -be its servants. - -The Roman Catholic Church is a great organization, which has gradually -grown up, during a thousand years, the object of which has been to -educate men in Christian faith and Christian conduct. It has sincerely -endeavored to do this. But, unfortunately, it took a narrow view of -Christian education; supposing that it meant instruction and guidance, -restraint and tuition, but not development. It has magnified its own -authority, in order to produce docility in its pupils. It has not -allowed them freedom of inquiry nor liberty of conscience. It has not -said, like Paul, "Be not children in understanding;" on the contrary, it -has preferred to keep them children, so as to guide them more easily. It -has not said, with Paul, "Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has -made you free;" for it has come to hate the very name of liberty. What -is the result? You may read it to-day in France, where, as Mr. Coquerel -tells us, that Church has prevented the steady development of free -institutions. It has always supported the principle of authority in the -State, as the natural ally of authority in the Church. There are so few -republicans in France to-day, because the people have been educated by -the Church to blind submission. The priests are not to blame, the people -are not: it is the Roman Catholic Theology which is to blame. That -Theology teaches that the soul is saved by the reception of external -sacraments, and not by vital, independent convictions of truth.[6] - -[Footnote 6: The proof of this may be amply found in the famous -Encyclical and Syllabus of Pius IX., Dec. 8th, 1864. In the Syllabus he -denounces as errors such propositions as the following:-- - -That "every man is free to embrace and profess that religion which -guided by the light of reason, he holds to be true." § 15. - -That "one may well hope, at least, for the eternal salvation of those -who are in no wise in the true Church of Christ." § 17. - -That "the Church has no power to employ force." § 24. - -That "men emigrating to Catholic countries should be permitted the -public exercise of their own several forms of worship." § 78. - -That "the Roman Pontiff can and ought to reconcile and harmonize himself -with progress, with liberalism, and with modern civilization." § 80.] - -Or, if you wish another illustration of the same thing, look at New -York. Why have republican institutions in New York almost proved a -failure? Why were a few robbers able to take possession of the city, and -plunder the citizens? Because they could control the votes of the Irish -Catholics in a mass; because this vast body of voters were unable to -vote independently, or to understand the first duties of a free citizen. -And why was this? Not because the Irish are naturally less intelligent -than the New-Englanders, the English, the Germans. No; but the Roman -Catholic Church, which has had the supreme control over the Irish -conscience and intellect for a thousand years, has chosen to leave them -uneducated. Of course, the Roman Church, if it had pleased to do so, -might long ago have made the Irish nation as enlightened as any in -Europe. But its Theology taught that education might lead them into -heresy, and so take them out of the true Church, and that ignorance _in_ -the Church was infinitely better than any amount of intellectual and -moral culture _out_ of it. The fatal principle of Roman Catholic -Theology--"Out of the true Church there is no salvation"--has been the -ruin of the Irish nation for hundreds of years, and has very nearly -entailed ruin on our own. - -Do you wonder that the priests oppose our school system? If I were a -Roman Catholic priest, I should oppose it too. Should I run the risk of -poisoning my child's body by accepting as a gift a little better food -than that I am able to buy? And shall I risk the vastly greater evil of -poisoning its soul, by allowing it to be tainted with heretical books -and teachers in free schools? The Roman Catholic priest is consistent: -it is the Theology which teaches salvation by sacraments that is to -blame. It is a theology which naturally, logically, necessarily, stands -opposed to human progress. It says, "In order to be children in malice, -you must also be children in understanding." - -When the Protestant Reformation came, it brought with it a manly -Theology. It put the Bible into all men's hands, and asserted for each -the right of private judgment and liberty of conscience. Therefore the -Reformation was the cause of a great forward movement in human affairs. -It awakened the intellect of mankind. Science, literature, -invention,--all were stimulated by it. It ran well, but something -hindered. Its reverence for the Bible was its life; but, unfortunately, -it soon fell into a worship of _the letter_. It taught a doctrine of -verbal inspiration. It forgot the great saying of Paul, "not of the -letter, but the spirit; for the letter killeth." Very soon that saying -was fulfilled. Reverence for the letter of the Bible killed the spirit -of the Bible. That spirit is as free as air. It teaches no creed, it -demands no blind acceptance of any dogma. It declares that where the -spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But the letter-theology has -opposed nearly all the discoveries of science and all moral reforms with -the words of the Bible. It has set Genesis against geology, and the book -of Psalms against the Copernican system. Because the Book of Genesis -says the heavens and earth were made in six days, the letter-theology -declared that the fossil shells were made in the rocks just as they are, -or were dropped by pilgrims returning from the Holy Land. Because the -book of Psalms said that "God hath established the earth so that it -shall not be moved for ever," the letter-theology denied its daily and -yearly revolution. Because Noah said, "Cursed be Canaan," the -letter-theology defended the slavery of the negro. Because Noah also -said, "He who sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed," the -letter-theology has defended capital punishment as a religious duty. -Because the Jews were commanded to rest on the seventh day, the -letter-theology forbids the Boston Public Library to be open on the -first. Becoming ever more timid and more narrow, it clings to the letter -of the common English translation, and the received text. It even -shrinks from alterations which would give us the true letter of the -Bible, instead of the false one. - -Some years ago the American Bible Society appointed a committee of the -most learned scholars, from all Orthodox denominations, to correct the -text and the translation of our common English Bible, so as to make it -conform to the true Hebrew and Greek text. They were not to make a new -translation, but merely to correct palpable, undoubted errors in the old -one. They did their work; printed their corrected Bible; laid it before -the Bible Society,--_and that Society refused to adopt it_. They had not -the slightest doubt of its superior correctness; but they feared to make -any change, lest others might be called for, and lest the faith of the -community might be disturbed in the integrity of the Scriptures. Jesus -had promised them the Holy Spirit to lead them into all truth, to take -of his truth and show it to them; but they did not believe him. They -preferred to anchor themselves to the words chosen by King James's -translators than to be led by the Spirit into any new truth. So it is -that "the letter killeth." It stands in the way of progress. It keeps us -from trusting in that ever-present Spirit which is ready to inspire us -all to-day, as it inspired prophets and apostles of old. It is an -evidence not of faith, but of unbelief. - -Thus, this false idea in Theology, that inspiration rests in the letter -of a book or a creed rather than in its spirit, is seen to be opposed to -human progress. - -And then there is another Theology which is opposed to human progress. -It is the Theology of Fear. It speaks of hell rather than of heaven; it -seeks to terrify rather than to encourage; it drives men by dread of -danger rather than leads them by hope. Its ruling idea is of stern, -implacable justice; its God is a God of vengeance, who cannot pardon -unless the full penalty of sin has been borne by some victim; whose -mercy ceases at death; who can only forgive sin during our short human -life, not after we have passed into the other world. To assuage his -anger, or appease his justice, there must be devised some scheme of -salvation, or plan of redemption. He cannot forgive of pure, free grace, -and out of his boundless love. - -Now those who hold such a Theology as this will apply its spirit in -human affairs. It will go into penal legislation, into the treatment of -criminals. It will make punishment the chief idea, not reformation. -Jesus taught a boundless compassion, an infinite tenderness toward the -sinful, the weak, the forlorn people of the world. He taught that the -strong are to bear the burdens of the weak, the righteous to help the -wicked, and that we are to overcome evil with good. When this principle -is applied in human affairs, the great plague spots of society will -disappear: intemperance, licentiousness, pauperism, crime, will be cured -radically. Society, purified from these poisons, will go forward to -nobler achievements than have ever yet been dreamed of. But this -principle will not be applied while the fear-theology prevails, and is -thought more of than that of love. The progress of human society depends -on the radical cure of these social evils, not their mere restraint. And -they can only be cured by such a view of the divine holiness and the -divine compassion as is taught by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount and -the Parable of the Prodigal Son; showing the root of crime in sin, and -inspiring a profound faith in God's saving love. - -It may seem to some persons that I go too far in asserting that a true -Theology is at the basis of human progress. They may ascribe human -progress to other causes,--to the advance of knowledge, to scientific -discovery, to such inventions as printing, the steam-engine, the -railroad, and the like. But I believe that spiritual ideas are at the -root of all others. That which one thinks of God, duty, and -immortality,--in short, his Theology,--quickens or deadens his interest -in every thing else. Whatever arouses conscience, faith, and love, also -awakens intellect, invention, science, and art. If there is nothing -above this world or beyond this life; if we came from nothing and are -going nowhere, what interest is there in the world? "Let us eat and -drink, for to-morrow we die." But if the world is full of God,--if we -come from him and are going to him,--then it becomes everywhere -intensely interesting, and we wish to know all about it. Science has -followed always in the steps of religion, and not the reverse. The Vedas -went before Hindoo civilization; the Zend-Avesta led the way to that of -Persia; the oldest monuments of Egypt attest the presence of religious -ideas; the Laws of Moses preceded the reign of Solomon; and that -civilization which joined Greeks, Romans, Goths, Vandals, Franks, and -Saxons in a common civilization, derived its cohesive power from the -life of Him whose idea was that love to man was another form of love to -God. "The very word _humanity_," says Max Müller, "dates from -Christianity." No such idea, and therefore no such term, was found among -men before Christ came. - -But it may be said that these instances are from such obscure epochs -that it is uncertain how far it was religion which acted on -civilization. Let us, then, take one or two instances, concerning which -there is less uncertainty. - -In the deserts, and among the vast plains of the Arabian Peninsula, a -race had slumbered inactive for twenty centuries. Those nomad-Semitic -tribes had wandered to and fro, engaged in perpetual internecine -warfare, fulfilling the prediction concerning Ishmael, "He will be a -wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand -against him." No history, no civilization, no progress, no nationality, -no unity, could be said to exist during that long period among these -tribes. At length a man comes with a religious idea, a living, powerful -conviction. He utters it, whether man will bear or forbear. He proclaims -the unity and spirituality of God in spite of all opposition and -persecution. At last his idea takes hold of the soul of this people. -What is the result? They flame up into a mighty power; they are united -into an irresistible force; they sweep over the world in a few decades -of years; they develop a civilization superior to any other then extant. -Suddenly there springs up in their midst a new art, literature, and -science. Christendom, emasculated by an ecclesiastical and monastic -Theology, went to Islam for freedom of thought, and found its best -culture in the Mohammedan universities of Spain. Bagdad, Cairo, -Damascus, Seville, Cordova, became centres of light to the world. The -German conquerors darkened the regions they overran: the Mohammedans -enlightened them. The caliphs and viziers patronized learning and -endowed colleges, and some of their donations amounted to millions of -dollars. Libraries were collected. That of a single doctor was a load -for four hundred camels. That of Cairo contained a hundred thousand -manuscripts, which were lent as freely as those in the Boston Public -Library. The College Library of Cordova had four hundred thousand. In -these places grammar, logic, jurisprudence, the natural sciences, the -philosophy of Aristotle, were taught to students who flocked to them -from all parts of Christendom. Many of the professors taught from -memory: one man is reported to have been able to repeat three thousand -poems. The Saracens wrote treatises on geography, numismatics, medicine, -chemistry, astronomy, mathematics. Some, like Avicenna, went through the -whole circle of the sciences. The Saracens invented pharmacy, surgery, -chemistry. Geber, in the eighth century, could prepare alcohol, -sulphuric acid, nitric acid, corrosive sublimate, potash, and soda. -Their astronomers measured a degree of the earth's meridian near Bagdad, -and determined its circumference as twenty-four thousand miles. They -found the length of the year, and calculated the obliquity of the -ecliptic. Roger Bacon quotes their treatises on optics. Trigonometry -retains the form given it by the Arabs, and they greatly improved -Algebra. We received from them our numerical characters. We all know the -beauty and permanence of their architecture, and much of our musical -knowledge is derived from them. They also made great progress in -scientific agriculture and horticulture, in mining and the working of -metals, in tanning and dying leather. Damascus blades, morocco, -enamelled steel, the manufacture and use of paper, the use of the -pendulum, the manufacture of cotton, public libraries, a national -police, rhyme in verse, and our arithmetic, all came to us from the -Arabs. - -All this fruitful intellectual life must be traced directly back to the -theological impulse given by Mohammed to the Arab mind; for it can be -derived from no other source. - -It is not quite so easy to define the precise influence on human -progress given by the doctrines of the Reformation; for, before Luther, -these were in the air. But no one can reasonably doubt that the demand -for freedom of conscience and the right of private judgment in religion -has led to liberty of thought, speech, action, in all other directions. -To the war against papal and ecclesiastical authority in concerns of the -soul we owe, how much no one can say, of civil freedom, popular -sovereignty, the emancipation of man, the progress of the human mind. -The theses of Luther were the source of the Declaration of Independence. -And modern science, with the great names of Bacon and Newton, Descartes -and Leibnitz, Goethe and Humboldt, is the legitimate child of Protestant -Theology. - -It is true that printing and maritime discoveries preceded Luther. But -these inventions came from the same ideas which took form in the -Lutheran Reformation. The discovery of printing was a result, no less -than a cause. It came because it was wanted; because men were wishing to -communicate their thoughts more freely and widely than could be done by -writing. If it had been discovered five hundred years before, it would -have fallen dead, a sterile invention, leading to nothing. And so the -steam-engine and the railroad did not come before, because they were not -wanted: as soon as they were wanted they came. That which lies at the -root of all these inventions is the wish of man to communicate easily -and rapidly and widely with his brother-man; in other words, the sense -of human brotherhood. Material civilization, in all its parts and in all -times, grows out of a spiritual root; and only faith leads to sight, -only the things unseen and eternal create those which are seen and -temporal. - -The two Theologies at the present time which stand opposed to each other -here are not Calvinism and Armenianism, not Trinitarianism and -Unitarianism, not Naturalism and Supernaturalism. But they are the -Theology of discouragement and fear on one side, that of courage and -hope on the other. The one thinks men must be driven to God by terror: -the other seeks to attract them by love. The one has no faith in man, -believes him wholly evil, believes sin to be the essential part of him. -The other believes reason a divine light in the soul, and encourages it -to act freely; trusts in his conscience enlightened by truth, and -appeals to it confidently; relies on his heart, and seeks to inspire it -with generous affections and disinterested love. That this Theology of -faith is to triumph over that of fear who can doubt? All the best -thought, the deepest religion, the noblest aspiration of the age, flows -in this direction. Whether our handful of Unitarian Churches is ever to -become a great multitude or not, I do not know; but I am sure that the -spirit which inspired the soul of Channing is to lead the future age, -and make the churches which are to be. It is not now a question of Unity -or Trinity, but something far deeper and much more important. While -endeavoring to settle the logical terms of Christ's divinity and -humanity, we have been led up higher to the sight of the Divine Father -and the Human Brotherhood. Like Saul, the son of Kish, we went out to -seek our father's asses, and have found a kingdom. - -We have recently been told about a Boston Theology. If there is any -thing which deserves to be called a Boston Theology it is this doctrine -of courage and hope. For it is shared by all the leading minds of all -Protestant denominations in this city. Whatever eminent man comes here, -no matter what he was when he came, finds himself, ere long, moving in -this direction. The shackles of tradition and formality fall from his -limbs, his eyes open to a new light; and he also becomes the happy -herald of a new and better day. - -But a better word still, if one is wanted by which to localize these -ideas, would be "The New England Theology." For in every part of New -England, from the beginning; in every one of the multiform sects, whose -little spires and baby-house churches have spotted our barren and rocky -hills, there have never failed men of this true Apostolic succession; -men believing in truth, and brave to utter it; believing that God loves -truth better than falsehood; that he desires no one to tell a lie for -his glory, or to speak words of wind in his behalf. With all our -narrowness, our bigotry, our controversial bitterness, our persecuting -zeal,--of which, God knows, we have had enough in New England,--the -heart of New England has been always free, manly, and rational. Yes: all -the way from Moses Stuart to William Ellery Channing, all along the road -from the lecture-rooms on the hills of Andover to the tribune of -Theodore Parker standing silent in the Music Hall, we have had this same -brave element of a manly Theology. This has been the handful of salt -which has saved New England. Hence it is that from the days of the early -Puritans, men and women, of Harry Vane, Mrs. Hutchinson, and Roger -Williams, who stood up for the rights of the human soul against priestly -tyranny, down through the ministers of the Revolution who went with -their people to the camp of Washington at Cambridge; down to the days of -the Beechers,--there has never failed a man in the New England pulpit to -stand up for justice, freedom, and humanity. From our bare hill-tops New -England men and women have looked up to the sky and seen it not always -nor wholly black with superstitious clouds, but its infinite depths of -blue interpenetrated evermore with the warm living light of a God of -Love. And therefore has New England been the fountain of Progress, the -fruitful parent of Reforms, "the lovely mother of yet more lovely -children." - -I have quoted several striking passages from the Apostle Paul. One -expresses his longing for greater excellence, and declares that he -forgets every thing already attained, and is reaching out for better -things, for more truth and more love. Another passage calls on his -disciples to think for themselves, and be rational Christians, not -children in understanding. A third asserts that he is the minister of -the spirit of the gospel, not its letter; a fourth that his religion is -not one of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind; a fifth says, -Stand fast in freedom, and be liberal Christians; and in other places he -exhorts his brethren not to be narrow, nor bigoted; but to look at every -thing beautiful, lovely, true, and good, no matter where they find it. -But a little while before he said these things Paul himself was one of -the most narrow, and intolerant of men, opposed to progress wholly. What -made this great change in his soul? It was that he had found a true -Theology. He learned from Christ to trust simply in the divine love for -pardon and salvation. He learned that God was the God of Heathen and -Pagans as well as of Jews. He learned that no ritual, ceremony, -sacraments nor forms, but only the sight of God as a Father and Friend, -can really save the soul from its diseases, and fill it with immortal -life. A true Theology was the secret of Paul's immense progress, and of -his wonderful power to awaken and convert others. There are many who -suppose his Theology obscure and severe. But when we penetrate the veil -of Jewish language, we find it one of Freedom, of Reason, of Love, manly -and tender, generous and intelligent. And this same Theology passing in -its essence from Paul to Augustine, to Luther, to Wesley, has always -been the motive power of human civilization and human development. It -has been the friend of free thought, liberty of conscience, and -universal progress. - -I mean then by a true Theology what Paul meant when he said that God -"has not given to us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of -a sound mind." I mean what he said when he declared that God had made -him a minister of the New Testament, not of the letter but of the -spirit; for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. - -I mean the Theology which places the substance above the form; the thing -before the name; which looks at the fact, not at the label. - -Let us then, brethren, who call ourselves Unitarians, be glad and -grateful for the gospel of faith and hope which we enjoy. And let us -give to others what we have ourselves received. If it be true, as we -have tried to show, that human progress depends largely on a true -Theology we cannot help mankind more than by diffusing widely that which -God has given us of his truth. Freely you have received, freely give. -You who have always lived in this community, surrounded by this mellow -warm light of peace and freedom, do not know, cannot tell, what those -suffer who have been taught from early childhood to fear God, and to -distrust his light in their soul. Do your part in spreading abroad the -beams of a better day. Give to the world that religion which is not a -spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. - - - - -THE RISE AND DECLINE - -OF THE - -ROMISH CHURCH. - -By ATHANASE COQUEREL, Fils. - - -We live in a time of great and manifold changes. There is one church -that for centuries has had her principal glory in asserting that she -never has changed,--that she has at all times been exactly the same; but -now she can hardly deny that either in accordance with her own will, or -by the force of circumstances, very great changes have been wrought in -her during the last few years. This, if it is true, must change also the -nature, the system, the course of our controversy with her. The -controversy between the two churches has not always, perhaps, been quite -fair; and I should not like to be unfair to any adversary, whoever he -may be. I should not be at ease in my conscience if I thought I had been -unfair to any thing, especially to any thing religious, of whatever kind -that religion may be; because in any religion, even the most imperfect, -there is some aspiration from this earth to the sky; at least, from -human souls to what they hope or believe to be God. And especially I -could not pardon myself for being in any way unjust to that great church -which has for centuries comforted and sustained a multitude of souls, -and made them better and happier by her teachings. It is a Christian -church; and though I think that Romish Christianity has been in a very -great degree alloyed, and mixed with grave errors,--and that is exactly -what I wish to show,--yet, even under that veil of human errors, I -recognize, I acknowledge, religion, Christianity; and therefore I bow -before it. - -I think, however, the changes that have taken place have not altered the -essential character of the Roman Church. I think the changes that have -happened are in conformity with the nature of that church; really were -to be expected, and have nothing absolutely new in them. We might, -perhaps, for a long time have seen them coming; and, if we had had -foresight enough, we might have seen them from the very first times of -that church. Let us try to understand exactly what she is, what she -means; let us try to see what there is under that name, "Roman Catholic -Church." She calls herself _catholic_, which means _universal_, and at -the same time she has a local name. She is for the whole world; but at -the same time she belongs to one city, and she bears the name of that -city. Why? This is the question; and though it seems only a question of -name, I think we shall find by other ways that it is a question of -facts. A second advance requires a change in our polemics with Roman -authority. A new science has been created in our time, which gives us -better means of judging and studying other churches than our own; that -science is called the comparative history of religions. In England Max -Müller, in France Burnouf, and in this country James Freeman Clarke, -have compared the history of several religions. According to that -comparative history, there are rules to be understood, to be -acknowledged, in the development of religion. One of the rules which I -think we can deduce from any comparative history of religion may be a -startling one; and I will use a very homely comparison, to make myself -perfectly understood. Have you ever seen over a shop door a sign-board, -where the name of the old shop-keeper was painted; and, when his -successor came in, he had the same board covered with a new color, and -his own name painted over the old one? But in time the new paint wore -off, so that the old name reappeared under the new, in such a way that -it became perhaps difficult to distinguish clearly which letters or -lines belonged to the old, and which to the new. If this image appears -somewhat too familiar, let me ask you if you remember what scholars call -a palimpsest. Sometimes in the Middle Ages it was difficult to find -well-prepared parchment on which to write, and there were a great many -monks who had nothing else to do--and it was the best use they could -make of their time--but write or copy the Bible or other religious -books. When they found parchments where were copied the comedies and -tragedies or other works of the heathen, they thought those were of very -little use, and they could very easily have the writing on those -parchments washed out, or covered over with white paint, in such a way -that what had been written there was no more visible. Then on those -parchments they would write the Bible, or sermons, or any document they -thought useful. But the same thing happened then that happened with the -sign-board,--the old writing reappeared after a time; the white covering -spread over the page disappeared. And thus it happens that scholars are -sometimes pondering for a long time over a page from a sermon of Saint -Augustine, or John Chrysostom, in which they find a verse from some -comedy of Terence or Aristophanes; then they have perhaps some trouble -in making out which is comedy and which is sermon, in distinguishing -exactly what of the writing is old and what is new; and they have not -always perfectly succeeded in that effort. - -Now what we see in the sign-board we see also in the religion of the -different churches, when a whole multitude, at one time, pass from one -worship to another. Then, against their will, and perhaps without their -knowing it, they never come into the pale of their new church -empty-handed: they carry with them a number of ideas, and habits, and -turns of thought, which they had found in their old worship. And thus, -after a time, when the fervor of the early days is over, you find in the -new religion, or new worship, a real palimpsest: the old one is -reappearing under the new. That makes itself manifest in a good many -ways; sometimes in ways the most strange and unexpected. - -If you ask me, now, remembering this rule, what means the name, "Roman -Catholic Church," I answer: Christianity absorbed into itself the Roman -empire; the Roman empire became Christian in a very few years, with a -most rapid, with a most admirable sway; souls became conquered in large -numbers; they became Christian. But afterwards it appeared that they -were not so perfectly unheathenized as they were thought to be, or as -they thought themselves: many of their heathenish habits of life, -thoughts, and customs remained even in their very worship. Thus, after -Christianity had absorbed the Roman world, it appeared that the Roman -world had penetrated and impregnated the whole of Christianity; and this -is the Roman Catholic Church. She is Christian, but she is full of the -errors and superstitions that belonged to the old Roman heathenish -world. - -To understand what this means we must now try to comprehend what the old -Roman genius was. Here I ask you not to confound it with the Greek -genius, which was in many respects highly superior, but which had, at -that time, passed away in a large measure, and been replaced everywhere -by the Roman genius. What were the especial traits of character of the -Romans? The first, and a very striking one to those who have travelled -and studied in those countries, is a most vivacious love for tradition. -In Rome, at the present day, you find things that are done, that are -said, that are believed, that are liked, because they were two thousand -years ago, without the people themselves having a very clear notion of -it. Their custom--and it is born in their flesh, and in their blood--is -to look backwards, and to see in the past the motives and the precedents -for their acts and for their belief. Of this I could quote to you a -number of instances. I will choose but one. The first time I was in Rome -I stopped, as every traveller does, on the _Piazza del Popolo_. In the -midst of that square is an obelisk, and on one side of the pedestal of -that obelisk is written: "This monument was brought to Rome by the High -Pontiff, Cćsar Augustus." I went round the monument, and on the other -face of the same pedestal I read: "This monument, brought to Rome by the -High Pontiff, Cćsar Augustus, was placed in this square by the High -Pontiff, Sextus V." And then I remembered that one of those High -Pontiffs was a Roman heathen, an Emperor; and that the other was a -Christian, was a priest, was a pope; and I was astonished, at first -sight, to find on two faces of the same stone the same title given to -those two representatives of very different religions. Afterwards, I -observed that this was no extraordinary case, but that in many other -places in Rome instances of the same kind were to be found. I inquired a -little more deeply, perhaps, than some other travellers, into the -meaning of those words. I asked myself why this pope, Sextus V., and -this Emperor Augustus, should each be called "pontiff." What is the -meaning of "pontiff"? "Pontiff" means bridge-maker, bridge-builder. Why -are they called in that way? Here is the explanation of that fact. In -the very first years of the existence of Rome, at a time of which we -have a very fabulous history, and but few existing monuments,--the -little town of Rome, not built on seven hills as is generally supposed; -there are eleven of them now; then there were within the town less than -seven even,--that little town had a great deal to fear from any enemy -which should take one of the hills that were out of town, the Janiculum, -because the Janiculum is higher than the others, and from that hill an -enemy could very easily throw stones, fire, or any means of destruction, -into the town. The Janiculum was separated from the town by the Tiber. -Then the first necessity for the defence of that little town of Rome was -to have a bridge. They had built a wooden bridge over the Tiber, and a -great point of interest to the town was that this bridge should be kept -always in good order, so that at any moment troops could pass over it. -Then, with the special genius of the Romans, of which we have other -instances, they ordained, curiously enough, that the men who were a -corporation to take care of that bridge should be sacred; that their -function, necessary to the defence of the town, should be considered -holy; that they should be priests, and the highest of them was called -"the high bridge-maker." So it happened that there was in Rome a -corporation of bridge-makers, _pontifices_, of whom the head was the -most sacred of all Romans, because in those days his life, and the life -of his companions, was deemed necessary to the safety of the town. -Things changed; very soon Rome was large enough not to care about the -Janiculum; very soon Rome conquered a part of Italy, then the whole of -Italy, and finally almost the whole of the world. But when once -something is done in Rome, it remains done; when once a thing is said, -it remains said, and is repeated; and thus it happened that the -privilege of the bridge-makers' corporation, as beings sacred and holy, -remained; and that privilege made everybody respect them; gave them a -sort of moral power. Then kings wanted to be made High Bridge-makers; -after kings, consuls; later, dictators; and, later, emperors themselves -made themselves High Bridge-makers, which meant the most sacred persons -in the town. - -When Constantine, who is generally called the first Christian -emperor,--but who was very far from being a real Christian,--when -Constantine became nominally a Christian, he did not leave off being the -high bridge-maker of the heathen. He remained high priest of the heathen -at the same time he was a Christian emperor; and he found means, as well -as his son after him, to keep the two functions. He acted on some -occasions as high pontiff of the heathen; on other occasions, he called -councils, presided over them, and sent them away when he had had enough -of their presence; declared to the bishops that he was in some sense one -of them, and acted to all intents and purposes as popes have acted after -him. Thus that title remained the type of whatever was most sacred in -Rome; and the bishop of Rome, when an opportunity came,--when the title -had been lost in Rome by emperors,--took it up again. And thus we see on -the same stone, at the present time in Rome, the name of a high -bridge-maker who is a heathen emperor, and the name of a high -bridge-maker who is a pope, who is the head of the Christian Catholic -Church. Thus you see an old superstition, an old local superstition, -established with a political meaning, has survived itself, has survived -centuries, has survived the downfall of heathenism, and is at the -present time flourishing. You all know that the present pope is called -_Pontifex Maximus_; it is his title; and everywhere you see, even on the -pieces of money, that Pio Nono is _Pontifex Maximus_,--the great -bridge-maker, which means the highest of all priests, of all sacred -beings. Thus has tradition, on that special spot, and in connection with -the history and with the antiquities of that spot, established an -authority unequalled anywhere else. - -Though the Roman Catholic Church is special to that place, and inherits -the local habits and traditions, it pretends also to universality. This -is, again, perfectly Roman. The heathen Romans had thought for centuries -that the world was made to be conquered by them; that unity was -represented by Rome; that Rome was all in all; and at the present time -the Pope, on Thursday of every Easter week, gives his solemn blessing, -as you know, to the town first, and the world afterwards,--_urbi et -orbi_. All countries, both hemispheres, all nations, all languages, are -lost in that great unity. One town and one world, of which that town is -the capital,--that was the wish, the hope of the heathenish Romans for -centuries; and that has been the aim, the assumption of papal Rome for -centuries also. When the present Pope said, on a celebrated day, after -enumerating the great acts of his pontificate, that he had created more -bishoprics than any other pope, he was right. He has created, on his own -authority, bishoprics in Holland, in England, and in other countries; -cut out bishoprics on the map of those countries. And he did that -because, as pope, he is the spiritual sovereign of the world; because -England and Holland belong to him; because Rome is the capital of the -world; and he cuts off a part of any country, in America as well as in -Europe, in order to make of it the see or dominion of a bishop. The old -Roman idea was that nobody knew how to govern except Romans. They -assumed--and often, if an unscrupulous government was the best of all, -if a tyrannical government was the best of all, they were right--to -govern better, more wisely, and with more acute politics, than any other -nation. They said, "Other sciences, other arts, may be the share of -other nations; but our share in the great things of this world is -_government_." I hardly dare to speak Latin in an English country, -because I cannot pronounce Latin as you do; but though I pronounce it as -a Frenchman, which is, perhaps, a shade less bad than to pronounce it as -you do in England and America, you may guess what I mean when I recall -to the memory of some of you the famous lines of Virgil, where he says -what must be, in this world, the function of the Romans:-- - - "Tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento; - Hć tibi erunt artes." - -That is to say, "You Romans! remember that you are made to govern the -nations; that must be your office; all the arts come after this; this is -the special Roman art." I declare to you that at this present moment -the clergy, the cardinals, the bishops, the prelates, the court of Rome, -think, and have never ceased to think, that they are the people to -govern better than any other political body; and that the government of -the world has been providentially reserved to that town; first, in a -temporal way, for the heathen; and, secondly, in a spiritual way, for -the Christians, for the Catholic countries of the world. And as they -believe spiritual things are a great deal more important than temporal -things, they think their government is a great deal more important, and -greatly superior to any government of any kind. - -Let us now turn back a little again, and try more fully to understand -what the old Roman genius was in its way of government. They governed by -laws. You all have heard about Roman law, about Roman jurisprudence. It -has been said for centuries that they were men who, better than any -other, understood the art of making laws,--very precise, full of -foresight, forgetting nothing, or few things, and giving in the most -exact terms the decisions to be enforced in all possible cases, at least -in all the cases with which they had occasion to deal. It is said also, -it has always been said, that their laws were hard; but they accepted -them, though hard: "_dura lex, sed lex_." And certainly there was -something noble and good in this respect for law, whatever the law was: -there was something just, really in the interest of nations, in this -love of law. But at that time this love of law was accompanied by the -fact that the law was exceedingly hard in a great number of cases. Yet -that hardness was in conformity with the general temperament of the -nation at that time: the Romans were hard. - -I have no time to stop to show you how different they were from the -Greeks; but you remember that when the Greeks assembled in one of their -great annual festivals, they heard music, they listened to poetry, they -listened to the works of the historian; or they saw men run races, or -engage in one of those contests that were not cruel, that were only -displays of strength, agility, or training. That was the pleasure of the -Greeks in their annual festival. What did the Romans do? You all know. -They had immense amphitheatres where they assembled to see men kill one -another. Their pleasure was to see people die, to see people suffer, to -see people maimed, and weltering in their blood: that was their favorite -amusement. And ambitious men in that day secured votes by bringing -lions, hyenas, and tigers, in large numbers, to Rome, and by giving the -people the diversion of seeing those animals killing men, devouring -living men, women, and children, living Christians, often. That was the -punishment in fashion at that time: Christian men, women, and children -were killed, were devoured, were mangled before the eyes of the people, -and for their pleasure. In their hardness they had a taste for the -formal, precise execution of their law, whatever it might be. -Christianity came and swept away their abominable pleasures,--this -cruelty, which was contrary to every human feeling; but the habit of a -sort of hardness, in the infliction of the penalties of law, remained in -Rome more than it did in any other place. And this was allied to another -feeling of a different nature, but which very well connected itself with -it. I mean the Roman love for the literal in every thing. They did not -like to understand any thing as metaphorical, as poetry: they liked to -take every thing literally; and it was in consequence of this -characteristic of the Roman mind that they were able to enforce their -law. Even if the result of what the law demanded was absurd, they -maintained, for the honor of the law, that it must be literally -understood, and literally executed; and they permitted none of those -different ways of alleviating the hardships of the law that have been in -other places not only allowed, but ordered, by those in command. This is -of extreme importance. Perhaps at first sight it does not strike you so, -but it is. Remember from what country Christianity came. Christianity -came from the East, came from Asia, came from the Jews. The Apostles, -the first propagators of Christianity, were Oriental men, were Jews. I -have seen part of the Levant, I have seen those very countries, and I -can speak of it as a fact known for centuries, that the people of the -Orient never speak otherwise than by images. They do not like the -shortest way from one point to another; they make the way long. They use -flowers, and rays of light, and moonshine, or any thing else that gives -an image and color to their speech. They bring these things in -continually, whatever may be the subject they speak of. - -Perhaps I may give here an illustration that will make you understand -me. I was in a house made of branches of trees, where lived a sheik. He -told me that every thing in that house, his own person, his own family, -were mine; and he said this with the greatest protestations. This is -exactly the same as if you should say to a foreigner, coming into your -house, "You are welcome." Nothing more. If, on going away, I had taken -any thing from that house, the man would immediately have shot me; -though he had given me every thing, even to his own person and his own -family; because he would have had this idea: "This man is a thief; I -have a thief in my house." If I had said, "But you gave me every thing -in the house," he would have answered me, "You come from a country where -people have no politeness. I gave you these things: that means -_welcome_, and nothing more." Thus a man of the Orient never says any -thing in the simple short way that Western nations do: they always want -some poetry, some rhetoric, some image about it. And you must remember -that many of the most admirable teachings of the Bible are in images, -are in poetry, and are extremely beautiful and eloquent by their poetry. -We are accustomed to this, so that we know that it is poetry; and we -understand it. But the Romans, accustomed to their principle, that the -law may be hard, but that law is law, and must be understood literally, -and executed literally, understood every thing literally, and in that -way they spoiled many of the great Christian truths. I will not here -quote many instances, though it would be exceedingly easy to bring them -in large numbers before you. I will take the most striking and best -known of all. When our Lord, a few hours before being separated from his -disciples, to die on the cross, gave them of the bread that was on the -table, and said, "Eat, this is my body," it was absolutely impossible -for Eastern people to misunderstand him; it was impossible for them not -to understand that he meant, "This represents my body." The idea that -what he held in the hands of his own body was his own body again; that -he gave them his own body to eat, and that he ate some of it himself -with them,--that idea could not for a moment have entered the head of -one of those who were there. And if a multitude had been there, instead -of the twelve Apostles, it would have been exactly the same. Nobody -would have understood, when the Lord said, "I am the way," or when he -said, "I am the door," that he was really, in fact, a path or a gate; -everybody knew that he meant, "I am the leader; you must come with me; I -show you the way." Everybody in the Orient understood that. But here -comes the Roman genius, taking every thing literally; and they repeat, -"He said, 'This is my body,' and this _is_ his body." They repeat: "You -Protestants do not accept the truth coming from the lips of your Master. -He says, 'This is my body,' but you Protestants say, 'No, it is not his -body, it represents his body.'" Thus it seems we are convicted of crime; -it seems we will not accept the teachings of our Lord; yet we are -perfectly true to his own meaning, to his real meaning, that could not -be misunderstood in the East, but that was misunderstood when it was -carried to Rome, a country where people gloried in taking every thing in -a literal sense. So they did with many other most beautiful and delicate -things in the Bible. The Roman genius--I cannot help saying it--had -something clumsy in it. They were like giants, having very strong arms, -and enormous hands, to take every thing, and to dominate over every -thing. But any thing very delicate, very poetic, like flowers from the -East, they could not touch without the flowers being broken and faded, -losing their charm and their color. That was their way of treating many -of the most beautiful things of the Bible, which they did not -understand; which they made absurd or repulsive, by taking in a literal -sense what was said, and ought to be taken, in a spiritual sense. They -acted exactly as we should, if we received an Oriental letter and -understood as literal every thing contained in it. - -I will give another instance to make this clear. I remember having seen -two letters, written one by a French General, and another by -Abd-el-Kader, the chief of the enemies of the French in Algeria. These -letters were intended to convey identically the same thing; that is to -say, that some prisoners on one side were to be exchanged for the same -number of prisoners on the other side. It had been decided that the -French General and the Arab chief should say the same thing. I have seen -both. The French General writes two lines; very clear, distinct, and -polite, with nothing but the exact meaning he wanted to convey. But -Abd-el-Kader, meaning to write the same thing, writes a whole page, -about flowers, and jewels, and roses, and moonshine, and every thing of -the kind. His intention was to say exactly the same thing, to convey -identically the same meaning; but these things, translated from one -language to another, pass, as a celebrated German scholar says, "from -the Shemitic to the Japhetic; from the poetic language of the sons of -Shem, to the precise language of the sons of Japhet." This has been the -fault of the Roman Catholic Church in many dogmas, in many points of -very high importance: the sons of Japhet could not understand what the -sons of Shem meant. They thought they understood it, when they were -entirely in error, and gave to it a meaning altogether different from -what was intended. - -I must add, that what helped them along in this belief of things, taken -in a literal sense, was Roman superstition. In that town, and in Italy, -have always prevailed the strangest superstitions. The most celebrated -Romans, men whose wisdom and whose glory have filled the world, if they -met, when they went out of their house in the morning, a hare in the -way, re-entered their house on the instant, and renounced any thing they -had to do, because meeting a hare was ominous of misfortune, and any -thing they should undertake that day would result in their confusion or -misfortune. When they put their foot in the wrong way, the left before -the right, or the right before the left, on the stone at the entrance of -a house, they stopped there and returned to their house, because every -thing they should do in that house would prove unfortunate, since they -had made a mistake in putting the wrong foot foremost when they entered -the house. - -So there were a multitude of superstitions. You know when they were to -decide the greatest questions of peace or war, they consulted their -sacred chickens. They gave them grains of wheat, and if the chickens ate -it, or if they refused to eat it, or if they ate it too fast, or if the -chickens let fall a grain of wheat from their mouths,--these signs meant -that war would be successful, or that it would not be, and they decided -according to these whether there should be a war or not. And those great -magistrates, who were sometimes men of the greatest eminence, like -Cicero, were augurs. You know what Cicero says, "Two of us cannot meet -without laughing;" because they knew that their auguries were utterly -worthless, but the multitude thought they were true. So the Romans were -superstitious to the highest degree, and they have never ceased to be -so. There is superstition in the marrow of their bones. Many Romans are -ready to believe any thing to-day, at the present moment. I shall allude -to a single fact. They all believe devoutly in the evil eye; that there -are people who, if they look at you, will bring upon you some horrible -misfortune, disease, or death. They believe this so fully, that they -have a gesture, representing with their fingers a pair of horns; and, -when they meet any one who is supposed to have the evil eye, they -endeavor, in a secret way, to make that sign, to prevent misfortune from -coming upon them. It is believed, in Rome, that the present pope, who is -to them God on earth, who is to them the successor and vicar of Jesus -Christ, that he, as a man, has the evil eye. And when he passes through -the streets of Rome, a great many women, devoutly kneeling before him, -with their heads almost in the dust, craving to receive his blessing, as -he passes in his carriage, will, under their aprons, make this sign, to -preserve themselves from the effects of the evil eye. This is no -disparagement to his person; they think that the poor man cannot help -it; that there is no ill will in it; that it is fate; he has the evil -eye. - -I could cite many other instances of this superstition; perhaps it will -be enough to refer to one more, and one that disgusted me completely. It -is the worship with which they surround the _Santo Bambino_. There is on -the Capitoline Hill a church that was formerly a heathen temple, and -which has kept an old name, "_Ara C[oe]li_," or "altar of Heaven." In -that church, the Franciscan monks keep a very ugly doll. This doll is -said to have been sculptured out of one of the olive-trees on the Mount -of Olives, and then Saint Luke is supposed to have painted it over. -Saint Luke must have been the painter of the poorest daubs that ever -were in the world, and the angels who took it to him must have been very -far from being connoisseurs of painting. This doll is covered with -diamonds, emeralds, sapphires, and other precious stones, of greatest -price. It is kept in a box on the altar, and, when you ask to see it, -the monks pray before the door, they light tapers, they produce the box, -and then the box is opened, and you see the hideous little wooden image. -Now, this _Santo Bambino_ is supposed to have healing properties. He -heals people, when they are rich enough to pay a good salary to him; he -is not a physician who heals for nothing. He has a magnificent carriage -of his own, and servants with his own livery; and, when any rich man -wants to be cured by him, the _Santo Bambino_ goes in his own carriage -to the man's house, carried on the knees of Franciscan monks, and cures -the patient,--if he can. Such is the belief of the country. But I could -not see any very great difference between that doll and the idols that -the old Romans had, and used in the same way. The idea is this: they -suppose that the _Santo Bambino_ represents Christ as a little child. - -Not only were the old Romans superstitious, but we know, by historical -testimony coming from the heathen themselves, that at the time when -Christianity appeared there was an increase of superstition; there was a -general feeling of a want of something definite, something like a sort -of atonement; and at that time all sorts of ceremonies, all sorts of -bloody sacrifices, were introduced from Syria, from Libya, from the most -remote countries, and the Romans tried to find for their consciences -some satisfaction in those rites. For instance, you all know they had a -custom of having their sins expiated by means of what they called -_taurobolium_. A man had a grave dug in the ground, and then over that -grave was put a marble slab, with a great many holes in it, like a -sieve. In that grave the man stretched himself at full length, and over -the marble slab a bull was killed, in such a way that the blood fell -through the holes into the grave. When the bull was taken away, and the -marble slab was lifted, the man rose out of that grave perfectly covered -with the blood of the bull, entirely bathed in that blood. Then he was -supposed to be a new man, supposed to be washed of all his sins. He -believed that from that moment the anger of the gods had passed to the -bull, and that the blood of the bull had been shed instead of his own. -We find in Ovid, one of the poets of the time, the prayer of a man for -whom was about to be offered up the sacrifice of the black hen. He asks -the gods to take the heart of the hen instead of his own, the fibres of -the hen's body instead of the fibres of his own body. The poor black hen -was sacrificed in the most cruel way they could find; she must suffer as -long as possible, because then the anger of some god who was supposed to -pursue the man found full satisfaction. The ferocity of the god had -ample satisfaction in the torture of the poor black hen, and the sins of -the man were expiated. Then there was superstition upon superstition, -because, when the mangled remains of the unfortunate hen were thrown -into the street, if any person unconsciously put his foot on that body, -then he became the inheritor of the crimes of the first man, and of the -anger of the gods. They had a special name for those bloody remains of -the sacrificed fowl: they called them _purgamentum_, because they -thought that such a sacrifice purged a man of his sins. As nobody dared -lift or touch the body of the victim, they put a fence around it; and, -as long as there remained on the ground in the streets of Rome a vestige -of the poor bird, nobody would tread on that place; and the fence was -put there to prevent this. These were the superstitions of that time; -and Plutarch wrote a treatise to which he gives the title -[Greek: Deisidaimonia], which is translated very often by the word -"superstition;" but it means more than that, it means "terror of the -gods." It means that feeling which was more and more prevailing in the -Roman world, that the gods were to be feared; that there was anger in -heaven; that the earth could not defend itself against the bad will of a -supernatural power. We can very well understand that when Christianity -was preached to those people they were happy to take that religion of -hope, that religion of regeneration and sanctification. It was to them a -marvellous deliverance to be out of that old doctrine and in the new -one. But they carried with them many habits of thought, many things -which were inherent in the ancient religion. Among those things was the -habit of multiplying the divine being. They had been for a long series -of centuries polytheists, believing in many gods. With their -superstitious fears, they were always afraid there were not gods enough. -That was saying a good deal, for they had more than 30,000 of them at -the time of Christ. It was recognized that nobody could even know them -all by name. - -Again you will excuse me if I use here a very familiar illustration to -make the leading thought of polytheism understood. - -You know that in fairy tales the fairies are always called in to the -festival at the baptism of the infant child. The intention is to invite -them all, but there is always one forgotten; and that one curses the -child in some way or other; and then all the gifts of all the good -fairies cannot prevent the child from suffering, at least for a time, -from the bad will of the one that has been forgotten. This involves the -essential idea of polytheists. They had always the thought that all the -good gods whom they worshipped could not prevent any malevolent one who -had been neglected from hurting them; and they were always in search of -that one. They were always making altars "to the unknown god or gods," -to be certain in that way to include them all. They were constantly -asking what gods were worshipped in such a country, in such a place; and -if it was a god that was not known among them, straightway they prepared -a place for his worship. They said, "He has no existence, very likely; -but if he has, if he lives, then we must sacrifice to him, to prevent -his spoiling the happiness that the other good gods wish to give us." So -there was an incessant adding to the immense number of gods. At the time -of Christ, they had so many of them that, from the time a grain of corn -was put into the ground to the time the harvest commenced, they had nine -different deities who in succession took charge of the corn that had -been put into the ground, and thus it passed from one god to another. -Nine of them were necessary while the grain was in the ground. Thus, -when the heathen became Christians, they had been in the constant habit -of adding gods to their heaven, of adding good men to their gods, and -also men not good, but whom they feared,--for all the emperors were made -gods the moment they died, so that one of them, who was rather a wit, -when he was dying said, "I feel that I am becoming a god." The heathen -had become so habituated to this that, when they became Christians, they -continued very naturally to multiply the number of the objects of -worship. They soon ceased to make the slightest difference between -Christ and the Father. In good time they unconsciously put Mary, the -mother of Christ, above Christ; now, without ever having this intention, -they put, in fact, Mary above the Father. And so on, adding always a new -god to a new worship, and always making the new worship as binding and -as efficacious as possible, to satisfy that polytheistic craving. They -did not understand their error in keeping between the infinite God and -themselves an immense number of minor deities. This craving was -unwholesome, but very sincere. That unconscious wish to multiply gods -and make saints has continued to this day; and no pope has canonized so -many saints as the present one, who is always trying to show that he -does more in this way than any of his predecessors. - -This will suffice to give you an idea of what the old spirit of Rome -was, the whole tendency of the Roman mind, and what was brought by them -into the church. I must now ask you to go in imagination with me to the -tomb of one of those old Romans, who were not burned, according to the -custom of that period, say the Scipios. Suppose one of the Scipios taken -out of his tomb; and bring him into a Roman Catholic Church: do you -think he will be very much astonished? He will be astonished at one -thing,--by the crucifix, the image of the crucified Son of God. That was -completely contrary to the Roman ideal and their habit of thought. But -all the other things he will see will not astonish him at all. He had -seen them all his life in his own time. You believe, perhaps, that the -shape of a Roman Catholic Church at Rome will astonish a pagan? Not at -all. Cato had given the Romans the pleasure of enjoying, for the first -time, a portico with three ranges of columns, the middle aisle being -broader than the others; and at the end was what we call an apse, but -the ancients a conch. The end was rounded off, and thrown into the form -of a semi-circle, and the tribunal for the prćtor or judge was placed in -that half-circle at the end. This portico was called a _stoa basilica_, -and the first Roman Christian churches were built on that plan. -Afterwards, the idea came of making the church in the shape of a cross; -and then a smaller basilica was placed across the other, forming the -transept of the church. But those long ranges of columns remained, with -the same wide space in the middle, and narrower aisles on either side. -The basilica was the form of public buildings most in fashion in Rome at -that time. There the gothic style was never popular. Even now, of four -or five hundred churches in Rome, only one, the Minerva, is gothic. When -Christian architecture was born, Christian architecture accepted the -heathen plan. - -In the new church, in that _basilica_, what do we find? We find holy -water at the door. That was exactly what you found in the pagan temple, -only it was called lustral water. In the temple, my Scipio, who goes -with me, recognizes all his old habits of thought, all the old emblems -of his religious devotion. He sees a number of statues, or images; but -he has seen those all his life. There is not only a central shrine, but -there are small chapels. The saints have a golden circle round their -heads: Christians call it the _aura_, the ancients called it the -_nimbus_; but it was exactly the same thing. They had it around the -heads of their deities in painting and sculpture, and so on. There are -censers and there are tapers burning there; and there are all the -ornaments a pagan was accustomed to see in his temple. All those things -had been kept, had been re-established, and the pagans had brought them -with them into the Catholic churches. When I went for the first time to -Naples, the man who showed me the museum there showed me feet, legs, and -arms, hands, eyes, and ears, in stone. He said, "These are _ex voto_." -People who were ill gave to some of the gods, the ones they chose, these -things as marks of gratitude for having been cured. The cicerone told -me, "You see, sir, it is exactly the same thing we have in our -churches." And so it is. In all the churches in Naples and Rome, and in -the Roman Catholic churches all over Spain and France, you see, in wax, -in gold, in silver, and in stone, such legs and arms, eyes and ears. It -is exactly the same thing. The heathen man said to his god, "I will pay -you by this mark of honor and gratitude, by this mark of your power and -your glory, if you cure me." The Roman Catholic says exactly the same -thing to a saint, to the Virgin, sometimes to Jesus, and very rarely to -God. - -I cannot mention here all the other details, like funeral services at -the end of the year, like funeral chapels, like many other institutions -that exist in the Roman Catholic Church, that are practised every day in -it, and that are exactly the same, so far as religious ideas go, as were -practised in the pagan churches. But I must add something of more -consequence than that, about the worship of human beings, and especially -of the worship of the Virgin Mary. It was nothing new to the Pagans to -worship a woman, and especially to worship a virgin. That was one of the -ideas the most familiar to their devotion. In Rome they had the temple -of Hestia or Vesta, who was supposed to be a virgin; and she had around -her nuns who were pledged to live in celibacy, and punished by death if -they did not remain true to their vow. In Greece it was the same thing -with Pallas. Perhaps you all know that in Athens, the largest, most -perfect, and most beautiful of the Greek temples--immensely superior to -any edifice I ever saw in any country--is called the Parthenon, which -means the Virgin Temple. That temple is the temple of Pallas,--Athene, -or Minerva,--who was the principal deity of Athens. Thus that idea was -perfectly familiar to them, and they only kept it, and brought it with -them into Christianity. - -I have spoken of monks. You must not believe that the monks are by any -means a Roman Catholic invention. In the East there have been monks in -all times and in all religions. It seems to have been a special habit or -taste of the people of the East to give some men no other business, no -other work to do, but to live in solitude, and pray for them; and some -men have always, in those very hot countries, where it is exceedingly -tiresome to work, liked to live in perpetual prayer better than any -other more fatiguing labor. We find the monk in all times and countries -in the East, then in the West; and he has been imported from paganism -into Christianity, like all the rest. I do not believe there is a -religion more completely contrary to the monastic feeling than the -religion of Christ. I do not think there was ever a type more radically -contrary to the type of the monk, than the figure of Christ as we find -it in the Bible. However, that old monkish spirit of the Orient was -always known to the Romans from the beginning; for they had priests and -monks from the time their city began. That spirit has, like other -things, been smuggled into the Church, though it was contrary to the -spirit of Christianity. - -I must recall one last rite of great importance. Both the old Romans and -the old Jews had, as a principal part of their worship, the rite of -sacrifice. The origin of it was simply this: that men in the first place -possessed nothing but flocks, and they gave to God one head of their -flock, one sheep, or one bull, as being the only riches they had to -give. Before they had houses, before they had garments, before they had -any other thing,--money they were very far from having,--men had to eat, -and they had flocks because they wanted to have meat to eat; and thus -they gave to God the only necessity of life to them, the only thing they -understood the importance of. And they gave him the whole animal, not -reserving to themselves any part of it, in some cases; in other cases, a -part of it only, making a meal of the rest for themselves. To give a -part to God was one essential element of their worship, the rite of -sacrifice; and we find that the rite grew out of that, and nothing else. -It was a habit deeply rooted in the Roman mind, and at the same time -already familiar to the Jews; and when those Christians who had been -Jews spoke of Christ to the Romans, they could not prevent that Roman or -Jewish habit from taking double force, and double space in religion. -What happened? It happened that the old Romans and old Jews wanted a -sacrifice; wanted to give something to God; wanted a victim; and then -came this strange fact, very easy to understand however, of which we -find traces in the first days of Christianity,--that there was no better -victim to offer to God than Christ. When they had identified completely -Christ with the Father, then there was no greater victim to offer to -God than God himself. Therefore, they had a sacrifice that is called -"the mass." You know the official name is "sacrifice of the mass." It -consists in this. The priest takes the host, which is merely bread,--it -is nothing but a little flour and water, made into bread,--he pronounces -the consecrating words; then, after he pronounces them, there is no -bread, there is no flour; instead of the bread, instead of the flour, -there is Jesus Christ. According to the Council of Trent, that _is_ -Jesus Christ, his body, his blood, his soul, and his divinity; it is -Jesus Christ; is perfect God. And this has been, by an old Roman -Catholic writer, very clearly expressed in these three words: "The -priest, what is he? what does he do? _Creatus Creatorem creat._" He is a -creature who creates the Creator. After that comes the second great part -of the sacrifice of the mass. There is God, and the priest sacrifices -God to God. And how? _Sacrificat manducando._ That is to say, according -to the formal explanation, he sacrifices God by eating God. This is the -sacrifice of the mass. If the Roman mind had not been accustomed, as I -have shown you, to superstition, to all literalism, to the love of the -law and the letter, even when the law or the letter was absurd, they -would not easily have accepted all this; but with their turn of mind, -with their way of taking things, that was exactly what they wished for, -and that was what they adopted. Not at once: it was very long in -elaborating itself. It was so completely, I cannot say otherwise, so -completely absurd, that it required a great deal of time to make it so -precise; but they attained to that at last, and they could not but do -so. See, then, what a man the priest is. He has before him bread, and he -makes God; he afterwards sacrifices God; he is almost a God himself. At -the moment when he makes God, he seems to be superior to God; at the -moment when he sacrifices God, by eating him, he seems superior to God. -Thence comes the immense power of the priesthood, of priestcraft. And as -if this were not enough, in the mass, as you know, the priest has not -only the host, but he has the wine, the cup. The other members of the -church have not the cup, because they must not be equal to the priest -even in the communion; even in the act of uniting themselves with God. -Laymen cannot arrive at the height of glory to which the priest arrives; -they must eat the host when it is given to them, but they cannot touch -the cup; that is reserved to the priest, a sort of heavenly, or divine, -or godlike character. Even as the Romans had respected their old -bridge-makers, their old _pontifices_, their old priests, whom they -considered the bulwarks of their town, they respected afterwards the -priests of the Roman Catholic Church. So the mass was established, with -all its consequences. - -This is not all. I must explain exactly how a part of the heathenish -religion answered, in the time of Jesus, the wants of the heathen better -than the more natural religion of the Christians. At the time of Christ, -many Romans did not believe in thirty thousand gods and in all the -absurd and indecent history of those thirty thousand deities, but they -had a form of worship that had become purer and purer. They had what -they called "Mysteries." In Greece, and in Rome also, there were -"Mysteries." These were ceremonies in which great philosophic and -religious lessons were given. There exists a very touching letter from -Plutarch to his wife, written at the time he lost his only daughter, and -when they were in the deepest affliction and desolation. He writes to -his wife, who was separated from him at that time, a very kind and -loving letter, trying to give her comfort and hope. He says to her, -"Remember the beautiful things we have seen together in the Mysteries of -Bacchus." You must not believe, as many would at first believe, that the -Mysteries of Bacchus were nothing but drunkenness and disorder: they -were something else. They were like the Mysteries of Ceres, the Goddess -of Corn, and like the representations, in other cases, of the -immortality of the soul. They were a sort of tragedy in which, less by -word than by singing, and by acting especially, was shown to men that, -when the body is interred in the ground, the soul lives, and the soul -shall rise to fulness of life. A grain of wheat hidden in the ground -remained hidden there for weeks before coming to life. That was the -emblem of the new life of immortality. Now, this teaching, good in -itself, true in itself, but given in dramatic images, was at that time -the very best, soundest, most human, and most natural part of -heathenism. And then it happened that Mysteries were acted, not only in -the heathen churches, but in Christian churches; that the history of -Christ, that the death of Christ, that the resurrection of Christ, took -the place of the resurrection of Proserpine, the daughter of Ceres, who -represented wheat and corn; and then Christianity became a sort of -subject of sacred myths, sacred plays, that were very devoutly acted, -and that kept their title of "Mysteries." As soon as we see something of -the dark ages, and what the practice of worship was, we see this same -thing. It is going on in all countries in some measure. You may see it -in the Roman Catholic churches during Easter week. You may see then -that, when Christ dies, all the lights are put out, save one very small -light, because that represents the moment when the sky was covered with -darkness at his death. And you hear in a choir some persons sing the -words of the people who screamed "Crucify him!" and others repeating the -words of Caiaphas and the words of Christ. This "Mystery," this serious, -devout play, is acted in all Roman Catholic churches. When Christ is -dead, the host is taken away from the altar, and it is carried into the -tomb, carried into some lower chapel, from which it comes back to the -great altar on Easter morning, on the day of the resurrection. That -solemn play is going on in all Roman Catholic countries at the present -time, and that is a "Mystery." Such is also the "Mystery" that was -played in Germany, at Oberammergau (Bavaria), during the last year, and -is played there every ten years. It is a devout, religious, serious, -dramatic representation of our Lord's suffering, death, and -resurrection. The mass in itself was in the beginning a Mystery; it is -often called so; it is often called in old Roman Catholic books and -often in modern ones the "Mystery of the Mass." It was a representation -of the death and sacrifice of Jesus; but the Roman Catholic spirit -coming in declared that this Mystery was not, like others, a mere -representation, a sacred play, but a reality; and according to the -doctrine proclaimed by the Council of Trent, three hundred years ago, -the sacrifice of the mass is much more than a representation of Christ's -death, of Christ's sacrifice, for he is sacrificed anew, he suffers -death really anew. And it has been declared, because some Protestant -opponents were astonished at it, that every time any priest says -mass,--and every priest must say mass at least once every day,--every -time a priest says mass, Christ suffers again, and dies again, -sacrificed by the priest for the redemption of human kind. This is the -doctrine of the mass, and this gives it a very tragic, grand, and solemn -effect in the eyes of those who believe in it. Yet this again is nothing -but Roman literalism, the Roman way of taking every thing literally. - -Is all this real Christianity? At all events I have said enough, I hope, -to give you an idea of the way in which the religion of Jesus of -Nazareth, as he was called, preached by him on the hills of Galilee,--a -religion that was quite spirit, and quite truth; a religion that had at -that time no bleeding, no consecrated man, but that was alive by the -Spirit of God in the conscience and in the hearts of men,--how that -religion, purely spiritual as it was, became all the pomp, all the -exterior complications, all the dramatic intricacies of the Church of -Rome. - -And here I stop to ask again, Can all this suit the urgent necessities -of our times? Is that the truth after which our souls hunger and thirst? - -Now I must, before I end, say a few words to you about the late changes. -Do those changes make matters better or worse? Let us pass over ages and -centuries, and come to the present day, because I say we must make some -change in our way of resisting the Church of Rome. I must state, and -very rapidly, what these changes are. There are three of them. The first -is, that a new dogma has been established. The new dogma amounts to -this, without going into details, that Mary, the mother of Christ, was -created, at the moment she began to exist, exempt from original sin. All -human beings are guilty of Adam's sin, with one exception, and that -exception is Mary. That exception dates from the very first instant of -her existence. She never was, even in thought or in feeling, a sinner; -she is consequently out of the pale of humanity; she is not a human -being; she is more than a woman, she is something godlike from before -her birth. That is the dogma. It is not new; it was invented in Spain; -it is a Spanish, an Andalusian dogma. It was invented at a time when the -Catholics in Spain were laboring very hard to expel from their country -the Moors, the African Moslems, who were masters of a great part of -Spain, and who had more science, more art, and more literary culture -than the Christians of Spain, but who had absurd doctrines about the -family and about religion, as well you know. Nothing could displease -them more, could astonish them more, or could confound all their ideas -more, than to tell them that a woman was godlike. They thought, as all -Moslems have thought, that a woman had no soul; and here was a woman who -was a goddess before her birth, who was always a goddess. This was -something absolutely incredible to them, and it showed the great -difference between Christians and Moslems, between Spaniards and Arabs. -This became the general rule among the Spaniards of the southern part of -the country, in Andalusia especially; and when they met one another they -did not salute with words of good greeting, but for centuries it was the -habit in Andalusia, when one Spaniard met another, to say to him, _Ave -Maria purissima_, and the other answered, _Sin pecado concepida_, which -means that that dogma was proclaimed every time two persons met. This -dogma has been taken into special favor by the very powerful order of -Jesuits. They thought it was important to the church; it was putting -Mary in the highest honor, to have that dogma become the law of the -church. But up to the present century, up to last year in the Roman -Catholic Church, people could believe it or not; now the Pope has -declared that henceforth every man who does not believe that dogma is -eternally lost and damned. This he has decreed, after consulting with -some bishops, with whom he conferred about it, but declaring that he did -so of his own accord, because, as pope, he had a right to decide on -that. He said, it is no new doctrine; it has always been in the church. -As the great writer Father Perrone wrote, "That dogma has been -developing itself in the church a long time." When I saw the Church of -Rome speaking of a dogma "developing itself," I thought, This is the -beginning of the end. If they understand that dogmas develop themselves, -that they have not fallen like aerolites from the heavens, it seems to -me that that is the end of infallibility. Some people think it was the -beginning of infallibility, that it was the Pope for the first time -declaring a dogma for all men without consulting officially or legally -any one, and that when he had done this he had augmented his power. I -must remark here, that when a pope is very weak, the general rule is, he -does something extremely strong. When he is extremely weak, politically, -materially, he generally makes some great demonstration of spiritual -power. When Pope Gregorius VII. kept Henry in his shirt a whole night at -the door of the castle of Canossa without opening the door to him, -saying, "You are a sinner, do penance,"--when he did that, the Pope had -been expelled from Rome, he had lost Rome, therefore he must prove his -immense spiritual power, because his temporal power was lost. And when -the present Pope has done acts of authority greater than any other pope, -it has not been because he was strong, but because he was weak; to -remain on his throne he wanted to have the bayonets of Louis Bonaparte -to keep him in power. His own subjects would very soon have shown him a -second time the way to the frontier, if they had not been prevented by -the bayonets of that man. Thus the Pope did more towards asserting and -confirming his own power than any of his two hundred and fifty odd -predecessors. When afterwards he took a new step, it was in continuance -of this. He called a council when three hundred years had elapsed since -an [oe]cumenical council had been called. I know old Roman Catholic -families who had been waiting for centuries for the moment when an -[oe]cumenical council should assemble, to denounce before that council -the encroachments of the Pope, and to ask that the popedom be kept -within bounds for the future. Pio IX. had an [oe]cumenical council -called, and held it in his own house, in the Vatican. And there, in one -end of one of the transepts of the immense church of Saint Peter, the -Pope had himself declared infallible by the council. Thus all the other -councils which had been the hope of such persons in the church as could -not accept every word of the Pope, all those councils have been -sacrificed, have abdicated, in the last of them, at the foot of the -Pope. Now, the Roman Catholic Church has become very logically, what it -ought to become, the same thing in the spiritual world that the Roman -Empire became in the temporal world. The Roman Emperor was every thing; -there had been priests and magistrates who had great powers; then the -emperor made himself dictator, consul, tribune of the people; made -himself high bridge-maker; took upon himself all dignities. He was every -thing; and then the whole Roman Empire was one man; and sometimes it -happened that that man was a mad man like Caligula, who said, "I am -sorry that all men have not one head that I might cut it off." Such was -the unity of the Roman Empire, and we see the same fact in the Roman -Catholic Church to this extent, that there is one human brain that -thinks for all Roman Catholics in the world, and if that human brain -decides that such a thing is or is not, all other human brains must -believe it, or be damned eternally; there is no choice. This is -perfectly logical; this is not an unexpected change; this must have come -to pass. As the Pope became physically weak, the more absolute became -the necessity that this should be done. Now, he is weak, he has lost -Rome. Although it was not in my way, I passed through Rome a few months -ago for the purpose of seeing Rome free, and it was an immense joy to -see that. I had seen Rome groaning under that proud, domineering -government of the priests, who declared that their government was the -best in the world, while the whole world called it emphatically _il mal -governo_. Now I have seen it free; and I think no Bonaparte of France, -nor any French Government, nor any other government, had any right to -give up Rome to the priests, to prevent the Romans from being masters in -their own house, from being free in their own city. I must declare to -you, that if in one sense the Roman Catholic Church has lost a great -deal because she has lost that great tradition, lost that long habit of -ruling in Rome, and the high prestige that comes from it, yet the Roman -Catholic Church has gained more perhaps than she has lost in this. You -must not believe that the Roman Catholic Church is to disappear -to-morrow, or the next day: that shall not happen. There are hundreds of -thousands of souls who like better to have one man on a throne thinking -for them, taking on his conscience and his honor the question of their -salvation,--they like that better than to think for themselves; and -there will be Roman Catholic churches for a long time to come. They will -even be stronger in one sense, because that temporal power was so -exercised that it caused great weakness; and now the Pope will be -strengthened; will find more interest and sympathy, because he is a king -without a crown, a king without a throne: in his weakness he will find -new strength. - -What must we do, we Protestants, in the presence of this fact? Must we -exaggerate, must we be unfair in our attacks? No. Must we go to sleep, -thinking there is nothing to do? No, not that either. We must work; we -must work steadily to give light and instruction to all. We have -here,--and I have tried in a very rapid way to give you an idea of -it,--we have here history. That is the greatest of weapons in such a -case as this. Usurpers never like history, because they know very well -that history condemns them. We must make history known, make the facts -known, and proclaim liberty and the rights of the human conscience. We -must do that over the whole world. I do not believe that Protestantism, -as it has often been said, is nothing else but Roman Catholicism -stripped of some of its abuses, and without some of its errors. It is -something else. If there were time, and I could begin now instead of -ending, I would try to show you that in the history of Protestantism, -and even before Protestantism appeared, there has always been, next to -that stream of power of Roman Catholicism, always becoming stronger and -more encroaching up to these last days, another current of protest; -there have always been men struggling for faith with liberty, who said, -"That cannot be;" who understood better the Gospel, who liked the spirit -of the Gospel, the spirit of God in Christ, better than the spirit of -Rome. For centuries their mouths may have been closed; their speaking -and teaching punished by death; but always they became more and more -numerous, and active, and vigorous; and then came the great day of -Luther. Protestantism has not been a negation, a remnant of Roman -Catholicism, the negative side of Christianity. I cannot adopt that idea -in the least. True Protestantism is full of the spirit of the Gospel; it -is the living soul of Christ in the Church, it embodies the perfect -conviction that there is truth, that there is salvation, that there is -liberty, in the Gospel, and nowhere else so completely. - -Now, we must consider the Roman Catholic Church as being an organization -of power, the most dreadful, the most tyrannical, the most crushing -organization of power that ever was. It is the master-piece of Roman -genius. It has been preparing during centuries, and it has been complete -only since yesterday. It is a great organization against liberty, -against man's rights, against man's conscience, for the honor of a -church and of a man. And this we must resist, too. In my country, I -declare that the cause of all our ills, the fact that is at the basis of -all our suffering and all our misfortunes, is nothing else than Roman -Catholicism. This is against the conscience of many souls; this throws -many people into sheer Atheism, because they see no choice between -kissing the shoe of the Pope, as is done in ceremonies, and denying the -existence of God. So they deny God rather than submit to the Pope. We -must give them sound teaching, religious teaching; we must give them -the Gospel. And I came to this country to say these things to you; to -ask you to help us with all your might, and with all your heart, to do -what is necessary should be done in France to-day; what will be -necessary to be done in this country sooner or later, and what will be -necessary to be done in all countries, to show more and more that "where -is the Spirit of the Lord, there is liberty." - - - - -SELFHOOD AND SACRIFICE - -By ORVILLE DEWEY. - - -The title which I have chosen for this discourse, is Selfhood and -Sacrifice. My purpose is, to consider what place these principles have -in human culture. I use the word, selfhood, rather than self-regard or -self-interest, because I wish to go back to the original -principle--selfhood, according to the analogy of our language, -describing the simple and absolute condition in which self exists; as -manhood does that of man, or childhood, that of a child. And I say -sacrifice, rather than self-sacrifice, because the true principle does -not require the sacrifice of our highest self, but only of that which -unlawfully hinders outflow from self. - -The subject of culture has been brought before the public of late, by -Professor Huxley, and Matthew Arnold, and Mr. Shairp. I do not propose -to enter into the questions which have engaged their able pens, but to -go back to those primary and foundation principles, which I have -proposed to consider--the one of which is the centre, and the other, the -circumference of human culture,--Selfhood and Sacrifice. - -It is the object of this course of lectures, in part at least as I -understand it, to discuss this subject--to discuss, _i.e._ the -principles and grounds, on which right reason and rational Christianity -propose to build up a good and exalted character. Now with regard to -what Christianity teaches, has it never occurred to you, or has it never -seemed to you, in reading the Gospels, that they appeal to -self-interest, to the desire to be saved, in a way that is at variance -with the loftiest motives? But it is appealed to, and therefore is, in -some sense, sanctioned. And yet, as if this self-interest were something -wrong, the prevalence of it in the world, the world's selfishness in -other words, is represented by many preachers, as if it were the sum of -all wickedness, the proof indeed, of total depravity. Here then, it -seems to me, whether we look at Christianity or at the teachings of the -pulpit, there is urgent need of discrimination. And there is another -aspect of the same subject, which seems to require attention; and that -is what is called, individualism--the mentally living, if not for, yet -in and out of ourselves; claiming to find all the springs and forces of -faith and culture within ourselves, to the exclusion of the proper -influence of society, of Christianity, of the whole great realm of the -past, by which we have been trained and formed; individualism, which -says, "I belong to myself, and to nobody else, and do not choose to be -brought or organized into any system of faith or action with anybody -else." This, indeed, is an extreme to which, perhaps, but few minds go; -but there is a tendency of this kind, which needs to be looked into. - -Now there is a way of thinking, in matters of practical expediency, to -which I confess that I am committed by my life-long reflections; and -which has always prevented me from going to the extreme with any party, -whether in reforms, in politics, in religious systems, or in any thing -else; and that is, to look to the mean in things; to look upon human -nature and human culture, as held in the balance between opposing -principles. With this view, I shall first undertake to show that the -principle of self-regard, or of individualism, is right and lawful--is -indeed, an essential principle of culture. - -There is a remarkable passage in the old "Theologia Germanica," which -hits, I think, the very point in this matter of self-regard. Speaking of -its highest man, it says, "All thought of self, all self-seeking, -self-will, and what cometh thereof, must be utterly lost, surrendered -and given over to God, _except in so far as they are necessary to make -up a person_." This personality, this stand-point, we must hold to, go -where we will. - -But let me state more precisely what it is, that is here conceded, and -must be maintained; and why it is important to defend and justify it. I -call it selfhood; and the word, I conceive, is philosophically necessary -to meet the case. Because it is a principle, that goes behind -selfishness; and of which selfishness is the excess and abuse. -Selfishness calculates, overreaches, circumvents. But selfhood is -simpler. It is the instinctive, instantaneous, uncalculating rush of our -faculties, to preserve, protect and help ourselves. Selfishness proposes -to take advantage of others; selfhood only to take care of itself. It is -not, as a principle of our nature, a depraved instinct; animals possess -it. It is not moral, or immoral, but simply unmoral. It is a simple -force, necessary to our self-preservation, to our individuality, to our -personality. The highest moral natures feel it as well as the lowest. -The martyr, who gives up every thing else, holds his integrity fast and -dear. It is written of the great Martyr, that, "for the joy that was set -before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame." No being that -is not an idiot, can be divested of all care and regard for himself. And -not only does necessity enforce, but justice defends the principle. If -happiness is a good, and there are two equal amounts of it, the one of -which is mine, and the other my neighbor's, I may in strict justice, -value and desire my own as much as his. If I love his more than my own, -I go beyond the commandment. It is not worth while to put any Utopian -strain upon the bond of virtue; nay, it does positive harm. - -Yet this is constantly done; to the injury of virtue, of conscience, and -of a proper self-respect. In our theories of culture, we demand of -ourselves, what is impossible, what is unjust to ourselves, what -repudiates a part of the very nature we would cultivate. We demand of -ourselves, and we suppose that Christianity demands of us, a certain -unattainable perfection,--or what we call perfection,--a sinking of -ourselves out of sight, and an absorption into the love of God and men, -quite beyond our reach: and failing of that--thinking it entirely out of -our sphere, we give up the proper rational endeavor to be Christians. We -make the highest virtue something exceptional, instead of regarding it -as a prize for us all. We imagine that some few have attained it; that -Jesus did, and that a few persons, denominated _saints_, have approached -him; but that for the common run of men, this is all out of the -question. The fact is, that Christianity is regarded by many, as an -enigma, a secret of the initiated, as an idle vision or hard -exaction--not as a rational culture. Listen to the conversation of the -mart or the drawing-room, you will find that the high Christian law is -but a mocking dream in their eyes. "Giving to him that asketh, and from -him that would borrow, turning not away, and to him that takes from us -our coat, giving our cloak also; and turning the other cheek to the -smiter;"--what is this, they say, but extravagance and fanaticism? As if -they did not know that there is such a figure of speech as hyperbole; -and that it was perfectly natural, in a society where the poor and the -weak were trodden under foot, for the greatest heart that ever was, thus -to pour out itself in pleadings for sympathy, commiseration and -kindness. But the same Master said, "It is profitable for thee--it is -better for thee," to have some of thy pleasures cut off--thine offending -hand or eye; rather _that_, than to have thy whole being whelmed in -misery. - -It is really necessary in this matter, not only to vindicate -Christianity as a reasonable religion, but to vindicate human nature to -itself; to save it from the abjectness of feeling that the necessity of -self-help is an ignoble necessity. Men say, "Yes, we are all selfish, we -are all bad;" and they sink into discouragement or apathy, under that -view. - -The conditions of true culture are attracting increased attention at the -present time; and it is natural that they should, when men's minds are -getting rid of theologic definitions and assumptions, and are coming to -take broad and manly views of the subject. I am endeavoring to make my -humble contribution to it; and with this view, to show, in the first -place, what part our very selfhood, both of right and of necessity, has -in it. - -This principle lies in the very roots of our being; and it is developed -earliest in our nature. Before the love of right, of virtue, of truth, -appears this self-regard. Disinterestedness is of later growth. Infancy -comes into the world like a royal heir, and takes possession, as if the -world were made for itself alone. Itself is all it knows; it will by and -by, take a wider range. There is a natural process of improvement in the -very progress of life. "You will get better," says a dramatic -satirist,[7] "as you get older; all men do. They are worst in childhood, -improve in manhood, and get ready, in old age, for another world. Youth -with its beauty and grace, would seem bestowed on us, for some such -reason, as to make us partly endurable, till we have time to become so -of ourselves, without their aid, when they leave us. The sweetest child -we all smile on, for his pleasant want of the whole world to break up, -or suck in his mouth, seeing no other good in it--would be roughly -handled by that world's inhabitants, if he retained those angelic, -infantile desires, when he has grown six feet high, black and bearded; -but little by little, he sees fit to forego claim after claim on the -world, puts up with a less and less share of its good as his proper -portion, and when the octogenarian asks barely for a sup of gruel or a -fire of dry sticks, and thanks you as for his full allowance and right -in the common good of life,--hoping nobody will murder him--he who began -by asking and expecting the whole world to bow down in worship to -him--why, I say, he is advanced far onward, very far, nearly out of -sight." - -[Footnote 7: Browning: A Soul's Tragedy, p. 250.] - -This advancement, thus springing out of the very experience of life, I -am yet to consider, and have it most at heart to consider. It is of such -priceless worth, it so embraces all that is noble in humanity, that the -importance of the opposite principle, is liable to be quite overlooked. -Selfishness, which is the excess of a just self-regard, is the one form -of all evil in the world. The world cries out upon it, and heaps upon it -every epithet, expressive of meanness, baseness and guilt. And let it -bear the branding scorn; but let us not fail to see, though selfishness -be the satirist's mark, and the philosopher's reproach, and the -theologian's argument, the real nature and value of the principle, from -which it proceeds. - -Selfhood I have preferred to call it; self-love, be it, if you please. -It is that, which satire and false criticism have misconstrued, when -they have said that love of kindred, of friends, of country, of God -himself, is but self-love. The mistake arises from that primal and vital -part and participation which ourself has in every thing that we enjoy or -love or adore. This magnificent _I_--and I emphasize it, because all -meanness is thought to be concentred in that word--this mysterious and -magnificent _I_--this that one means, when he says I--we may utter, but -can never explain, nor fully express it. There are great men in the -world, whose lives are of far more importance than mine--statesmen, -commanders, kings--but _I_--no being can feel an intenser interest in -his individuality than I do in mine; no being can be of more importance -to himself than I am to myself; the very poles of thought and being turn -upon that slender line; that simple unity, like the unit in figures, -swells to infinite multiplication; that one letter, that single stroke -of pen or type, may be varied and complicated, till it writes the -history of the world. "I think, therefore I am," said the philosopher; -but the bare utterance of the word I, yields a vaster inference. No -animal ever knew what that word means. It is some time before the little -child learns to say, I. It says, "Willy or Ellen wants this or -that--will go here or there." What is insanity, but the wreck of this -personality? The victim loses himself. And the morally insane, the -prodigal, when he returns to reason and virtue, comes to himself. - -"A man's self," says Thackeray, "must always be serious to him, under -whatever mask or disguise or uniform he presents it to the public." Yes, -though it were as mime, harlequin, jester fool almost; nor could there -be a more deplorable or desperate condition for a human being, than to -account himself nothing, or nothing worth, or worthy only to be the butt -of universal scorn and contempt. From this utter ruin, every man is -protected by that mysterious and momentous personality that dwells -within him. We may be little in comparison with the general mass of -interests, little in comparison with kingdoms, little in comparison with -the swelling grandeur of thrones and empires, little in comparison with -the great orb that rolls round the sun, and bears millions of such; but -we are forever great in the sense of individual destiny. _This_ swells -beyond kingships, grandeurs, empires, worlds, to infinitude and -eternity. - -There is another element in this selfhood, to be considered, besides its -conscious importance, and that is free will--itself also unmoral, but -indispensable. For imagine a rational being to be placed in this world, -_without_ free will. He can choose neither wrong nor right. He has a -conscience, but no freedom; no power to choose any thing. It is, I -think, an incongruous and impossible kind of existence; but imagine it. -Evils, troubles, temptations press against this being, and he can do -nothing; he cannot even will to resist. Could there be a condition more -horrible? No; man is a nobler and happier being than this amounts to. -Free will is put in him, on purpose to fight the great battle against -evil. He could not fight, if he could not will. He could not choose the -right, without being free to choose the wrong; for choosing one path -without being at liberty to take the other, would be no choosing. Free -will is to fight the battle. It is a glorious prerogative. And man, I -believe, is out of all proportion, happier, with this power, all its -aberrations included, than he would be without it. I am glad for my -part, that I am not passing through this world, like a car on a -railroad, or turning round like a wheel in a mill; that I can go, this -way or that, take one path or another; that I can read, or write, or -study, or labor, or do business; and that when the great trial-hour, -between right and wrong, comes, though I may choose the wrong, yet that -I _can_ choose the right. What better would there be for me than -this--what better constitution of a rational nature? I know of no better -possible. - -Selfhood, then--this interest in ourselves, being seen to be right, and -the play of free will which is a part of it desirable; let us turn -finally to the useful working of the principle. You may have said in -listening to me thus far, "What need of insisting so much upon -self-regard, which we all perfectly well understand?" I doubt whether it -is so well understood; and this must be my apology. We have seen that -the principle is native and necessary to us; let us look a moment, at -its utility. - -I am put in charge of myself--of my life, first of all. So strong is the -impulse to keep and defend it, that self-preservation has been called -the first law of our being. But that argues an antecedent -fact--self-appreciation. Why preserve that which we value not? We -defend ourself, because we prize ourself. We defend our life, with the -instant rush of all our faculties to the rescue. "Very selfish," one may -say; "And why does a man care so much for himself; he isn't worth it." -He can't help it. He obeys the primal bond; he is a law to himself. Is -it not well? Man's life would perish in a thousand ways, if he did not -thus care for it. The great, universal and most effective guardianship -over human life everywhere, is--not government nor law, not guns nor -battlements, not sympathy, not society--but this self-care. - -I am put in charge of my own comfort, of my sustenance. I must provide -for it. And to provide for it, I must have property--house, land, -stores, means--something that must be my own, and not another's. If I -were an animal, I might find food and shelter in the common storehouse -of nature's bounty. But I have other wants; if I have no provision for -them that is my own; if some godless International League, or Agrarian -Law, could break down all the rights of property, there would be an end -to industry, to order, to comfort, and eventually to life itself. -Whatever evils, whatever monstrous crimes come of the love of gain, its -extinction would be infinitely worse. - -I am put in charge of my good name, my place among men. I must regard -it. I am sinking to recklessness about virtue if I cease to value -approbation. Even the martyr, looking to God alone, seeks approval. And -good men's approbation is the reflection of that. To seek honor from men -at the expense of principle, is what the Master condemns--not the desire -of honor. It has been made a question whether the love of approbation -should be appealed to, in schools. It cannot be kept out, from there, -nor from anywhere else. If it could, if the vast network of social -regards, in which men are now held, were torn asunder, society would -fall to pieces. - -Finally, I am put in charge of my virtue--of that above all. And that I -must get and keep for myself; no other can do it for me. Another may -stretch out the hand to defend me from a fatal blow; another may endow -me with wealth; another may give me the praise I do not deserve; but no -friendly intervention, no deed of gift, no flattery, no falsity, can -give me inward truth and integrity. That solemn point in human -experience, that question upon which every thing hangs--shall I do -right?--or shall I do wrong?--is shrouded in the secrecy and silence of -my own mind. All the power in the world, cannot do for me the thing that -I must do for myself. To me, to me, the decision is committed. - -Now what I have been saying, is this; it is well that that self-regard, -upon which so much is devolved, should be strong; that there should be -no apathy, no indifference, upon this point; that if ever a man wanders -away into recklessness, into idleness, into disgrace, into utter moral -delinquency and lawlessness, he should be brought to a stand, and -brought back again, if possible, by this intense and uncontrollable -regard for himself--for his own well-being. I do not resolve every thing -in human nature, into the desire of well being. I do not say that the -love of life, of property, of reputation, still less of virtue, is the -same as the love of happiness; but I say that to the pursuit of all -these a man is urged, driven, almost forced, by this love of his own -well-being; nay more to the pursuit of the highest eventually, and that, -by the very laws of his nature. - -Let us now turn to the other principle which I propose to discuss--that -which opens the whole field of our culture--the principle that carries -us out of, and beyond ourselves. - -It has been no part of my design, in discussing the principle of -selfhood, to show the hinderance to culture, and the evil every way, -that come from the abuse of it. That will be sufficiently manifest, if -it be made to appear, that all culture and happiness are found in the -opposite direction. But if I wanted to put this in the strongest light, -I should point to the pain and obstruction which are experienced in a -diseased self-consciousness. It would be a powerful argument for that -going out of self, which I am about to speak of. Self, if it is a -necessary stand-point, is yet liable to be always in our way. A morbid -anxiety about our position, our credit with men, the good or ill opinion -others have of our talents, tastes or merits, causes more misery, I am -inclined to think, than any other form of human selfishness. See a -company of persons, inthralled with music, charmed by eloquence, -transported by some heroic action set before them; and they forget -themselves; they do not think, how they look, how they are dressed, what -others think of them, in their common delight. - -The sense of this, I believe it was, that lay at the bottom of the old -Buddhist doctrine of Nirwana--_i.e._, self-oblivion. To lose this -wearisome, diseased self, seemed to Gautama, the great apostle of -Buddhism, to be the chief good. Nirwana has been taken to mean absolute -annihilation. I do not believe the Buddhists meant that; for to me, it -is incredible, that any great sect, numbering millions, should have so -totally given up the natural love of existence, and desire of -immortality; and Max Müller and others have brought that construction -of the Buddhist creed, into doubt. Individuals may go that length. -Unhappy Blanco White, tortured in body and mind, could say that he -desired no more of life, here or hereafter. A German naturalist could -say, "Blessed be the death hour--the time when I shall cease to be." But -this revolt against self and very self-existence, whether ancient or -modern, I advert to, only to show the necessity of going out from it, in -order to build up the kingdom of God within us. It is notable; it is -suggestive; but it is neither healthy, nor true to human nature. Far -truer is that admirable little poem of David Wasson's, originally -entitled "Bugle Notes," which in unfolding the blessing and joy of -existence, touches, I think, the deepest and divinest sense of things. - -But let us proceed to consider the law of sacrifice--not sacrifice of -happiness nor improvement, but the finding of both, in going out from -self, to that which is beyond and above it. - -A man's thought starts from himself; but if it stopped there, he would -be nothing. All philosophy, science, knowledge presuppose certain -original faculties and intuitions; but not to cultivate or carry them -out, would leave their possessor to be the mere root or germ of a man. A -line in geometry presupposes a point; but unless the point is extended, -there can be no geometry; it is a point barren of all science, of all -culture. - -Every intellectual step is a step out of one's self. The philosopher who -studies _himself_, that he may understand his own mind and nature, is -but studying himself objectively; his very self _then_ lies out of -himself, and is an abstraction to him. And the mathematician, the -astronomer, the naturalist, the poet, the artist, each one goes out of -himself. His subject, his theorem, his picture it is, that draws -him--not reward, not reputation. Doubtless Newton or Herschel, when he -left his diagram or his telescope, and seated himself in the bosom of -his family, might say, "We must live; I must have income; and if public -or private men offer to remunerate and sustain me, it is right that they -should do so." But the moment he plunges into deep philosophic -meditation, he forgets all that. Nature has more than a bridal charm, -science more than golden treasures, truth more than pontifical -authority, to its votaries. Not wooing, but worship, is found at its -shrines and altars. In the grand hierarchies of science, of literature, -of art, there is a veritable priesthood, as pure, as unworldly, as can -be found in any church. It is delightful to look upon its work, upon its -calm and loving enthusiasm. The naturalist brings under his microscope, -the smallest and most unattractive specimen of organized matter, and -goes into ecstasies over it, that might seem ridiculous; but no, this is -a piece of _holy nature_--a link in the chain of its majestic harmonies. - -And so every intellectual laborer, when his work is noblest, forgets -himself--the lawyer in his case, the preacher in his sermon, the -physician in his patient. Is it not true then, and is it not noteworthy, -that all the intellectual treasures that are gathered to form the -noblest humanity, all the intellectual forces that are bearing it -onward, come of self-forgetting? - -Equally true is it--more true if possible, in the moral field. The man -who is revolving around himself, must move in a very small circle. -Vanity, self-conceit, thinking much of one's self, may be the foible of -some able and learned men, but never of the greatest men: because the -wider is the circle of a man's thought or knowledge, at the more points -does he see and feel his limitations. Vanity is always professional, -never philosophic. It belongs to a narrow, technical, never to the -largest, moral culture. And all the moral _forces_ in the world, are -strongest, divinest, when clearest of self. When the public man seeks -his own advancement, more than the public weal, he is no more a -statesman, but a mere politician; and when the reformer cares more for -his own opinion than for the end to be gained, the people will not -regard nor respect him. The world may be very selfish, but it will have -honesty in those whom it permits to serve it. - -The truth is that the whole culture of the world, is built on sacrifice; -and all the nobleness in the world lies in that. To show that, it is -only necessary to point to those classes of men and spheres of action, -which exert the widest influence upon the improvement and welfare of -mankind. They will all be found to bear that mark. - -Look, first, at the professional teachers of the world--the authors, -artists, professors, schoolmasters, clergymen. In returns of worldly -goods, their services have been paid less, than any other equal ability -and accomplishment in the world. Doubtless there have been exceptions; -some English bishops and Roman prelates have been rich; and some authors -and artists have gained a modest competence. More are doing it now, and -yet more will. But the great body of intellectual laborers, has been -poor. The instruction of the world, has been carried on by perpetual -sacrifice. A grand army of teachers--authors, artists, schoolmasters, -professors, heads of colleges--have been through ages, carrying on the -war against ignorance; but no triumphal procession has been decreed to -it; no spoils of conquered provinces have come to its coffers; no crown -imperial has invested with pomp and power. In lonely watch-towers the -fires of genius have burned, but to waste and consume the lamp of life, -while they gave light to the world. - -It is no answer to say that the victims of intellectual toil, broken -down in health or fortune, have counted their work, a privilege and joy. -As well deny the martyr's sacrifice, because he has joyed in his -integrity. And many of the world's intellectual benefactors, have been -martyrs. Socrates died in prison, as a public malefactor; for the -healing wisdom he offered his people, deadly poison was the reward. -Homer had a lot so obscure, at least, that nobody knew his birthplace; -and indeed some modern critics are denying that there ever was any -Homer. Plato travelled back and forth from his home in Athens to the -court of the Syracusan tyrant, regarded indeed and feared, but -persecuted and in peril of life; nay, and once sold for a slave. Cicero -shared a worse fate. Dante, all his life knew, as he expressed it,-- - - "How salt was a stranger's bread, - How hard the path still up and down to tread, - A stranger's stairs." - -Copernicus and Galileo found science no more profitable than Dante found -poetry. Shakspeare had a home; but too poorly endowed to stand long in -his name, after he left it; the income upon which he retired was barely -two or three hundred pounds a year; and so little did his contemporaries -know or think of him, that the critics hunt in vain for the details of -his private life. "The mighty space of his large honors," shrinks to an -obscure myth of a life in theatres of London or on the banks of the -Avon. - -I might go on to speak, but it needs not, of the noble philanthropists -and missionaries, often spoken of lightly in these days, because what is -noblest must endure the severest criticism; of inventors, seldom -rewarded for their sagacity and the immense benefits they have conferred -upon the world; of soldiers, our own especially, buried by thousands, in -unknown graves--green, would we fain say, green forever be the mounds -that cover them! Let processions of men and women and children, every -year, bring flowers, bring garlands of honor, to their lowly tombs! - -But there is another form of self-consecration which is yet more -essential, and which is universal. And yet _because_ it is essential and -universal, the very life-spring of the world's growth; because it is no -signal benefit, but the common blessing of our existence; because it -moulds our unconscious infancy, and mingles with our thoughtless -childhood, and is an incorporate part of our being, it is apt to be -overlooked and forgotten. The sap that flows up through the roots of the -world--it is out of sight. The stately growths we _see_; the trees that -drop balsam and healing upon the nations, we _see_; the schools, the -universities, the hospitals, which beneficence has builded, we _see_; -but the stream that, through all ages, is flowing from sire to son, is a -hidden current. - -It is one of the miracles of the world--this life that is forever -losing, merging itself in a new life. We talk of martyrdoms; but there -are ten thousands of martyrdoms, of which the world never hears. -Beautiful it is to die for our country; beautiful it is to surrender -life for the cause of religious freedom; beautiful to _go forth_, to -bear help and healing to the sick, the wounded, the outcast and forlorn; -but there are those who _stay at home_, alone, unknown, uncelebrated, to -do and to bear more than is ever done, in one brief act of heroism or -hour of martyrdom. In ten thousand homes are those, whose life-long care -and anxiety wear and waste them to the grave. They count it no praise; -they consider it no sacrifice. I speak not, but for the simple truth, of -that which to me, is too holy for eulogy. But meet it is, that a -generation coming into life, which owes its training and culture and -preservation to a generation that is passing away, should be sensible of -this truth--of this solemn mystery of Providence--of this law of -sacrifice, of this outflow from self into domestic, into social life, -which lies at the very roots of the world. - -There is one further application of the principle of disinterestedness, -which goes beyond classes and instances such as I have mentioned, and -embraces men simply as fellow-men. Much has been said among us of late -years, and none too much, of the dangers of an extreme individualism. We -began as a religious body, in a strong assertion of the rights of -individual opinion; and we went on in that spirit for a considerable -time; till it seemed, at length, as if we were liable to lose all -coherence and to fall to pieces in utter disintegration. But a few years -ago, moving in that zig-zag line which marks all human progress, we -awoke to the dangers of the situation; and happily found that if we -could not agree upon any technical definition of Christian faith, we -_could_ combine for Christian work. The National Conference was formed; -a new impulse was given; new funds were poured into our treasury; we are -circulating books and tracts more widely than we have ever done before; -we are helping feeble churches and founding new ones, besides doing -something for missions abroad: in short, we are trying to do the work -which, in common with other Christian communions, properly belongs to -us. - -But there is another movement, which I regard with equal interest, and -which promises in fact, to go deeper than any thing else we can do. I -allude to those Unions, in which, I think the city of Providence leads -the way: and in which New Bedford, Worcester, and Brooklyn have followed -the example. These associations provide a public room or rooms, well -lighted and warmed, for those who will, to resort to them; but -especially for the young, who most need good culture, entertainment and -encouragement; and in these rooms are found books, pictures, games, and -music perhaps; and classes for regular instruction may be formed, and -lectures occasionally given, or discussions held; in fact, whatever will -contribute to the general improvement and to the pleasant and profitable -passing of social evenings, may be introduced. This kind of institution -is especially adapted to our smaller cities; and may be extended to our -country villages. Our people in the country, live too much apart and -alone; and besides the direct advantages of these gatherings together, a -mutual acquaintance and a kindly feeling would be promoted, which are of -scarcely less importance. - -Let me add that there is a new ideal of life, which, I think, is slowly -arising among us; and which, when it is fully carried out, I believe, -will make an impression upon society, never before seen in the world. -This is the idea of mutual helpfulness; of every man's living not to -himself, but to God, in loving and helping his kind. Helpfulness, I -say--that which Mr. Ruskin describes as the most glorious attribute of -God himself; and which has so seized upon his imagination, that he -ventures to substitute for "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord," Helpful, -helpful, helpful, is the Lord God Almighty! This will not do; but it -indicates a glorious tendency of modern thought. The old ideal of life -has been, to get together the means of comfort and enjoyment; to get -wealth, to get a fine house, to get luxuries for wassail and feasting, -or to get books and pictures; and then to sit down and enjoy all this -good estate, and transmit it to fortunate heirs, with little thought of -others--with some charities perhaps, but without taking into heart or -life, the common weal, happiness and improvement of all around. - -What a millennium would it begin, if, instead of this, every man should -be thinking, just so far as he can go beyond taking care of his own body -and soul, what he can do for others--not in any merely eleemosynary way; -not merely to instruct and improve men, with the pharisaic assumption of -being better or better off than they; but by acting a brotherly part -towards them, speaking neighborly words, doing neighborly deeds, -smoothing the path, softening the lot, seeing all erring and sorrow, and -joy and worth, as if they were their own; and wherever there is any -difficulty or trial or need, to "lend a hand." Whenever such a spirit -enters into and pervades society, it will make a world, compared with -which, _our_ time will sink back among the dark ages. - -In short, when is it, that a man does and is, the highest that he is -capable of? The answer is, when forgetting himself, forgetting -advantage, gain, praise, fame, he pours himself out, in intellectual or -moral, and, any way, beneficent activity. When does culture or art in -him attain to the highest? It is when going beyond all thoughts of -culture and art, he flings himself, in perfect sympathy and free -communion, into the great mass of human interests. It is so that the -greatest things have been achieved in all the higher fields of human -effort--in writing, in eloquence, in painting and sculpture and music; -and it is so, especially, that the doers of great things, have become -the noblest men. "Art for art's sake," has been the motto for culture, -with some. And to a certain extent, that is true. It is fine to work for -the perfection of the work, and without any intrusion of self. But a man -may work so, upon a theme of little or no significance to the world's -improvement or welfare. He may work so, with small thoughts, small -ideals, for which nobody cares, or has any reason to care. But so can he -not work grandly, however finished be the result. Art is for the sake of -something beyond itself. Only when it goes out into great ideals that -mingle themselves with the widest culture and improvement of men, only -when it strikes for the right, for liberty, for country, for the common -weal, does it achieve its end. - -We have had literature enough, and have it now, in which the writer -seems hardly to go beyond himself--writing out of himself and into -himself--occupied with making fine sentences, without any earnest -intent; and which readers, used to feed upon the honest bread of plain -English speech, hardly know what to make of. Very fine, these sparkling -sentences may be, very beautiful, very apt to strike with admiration; -but they divert attention with surprises, or cover up thought with -coruscations. They are like gems that lie scattered upon the table; they -are not wrought into any well-woven fabric; they do not move _on_ the -subject to any conclusion. - -Men may win great admiration and great fame, but not great love; though -they gain, perhaps, as much as they give. Only by writing out of the -bosom of a great humanity _to_ the great humanity, can one fill the -measure of good art or good culture. Even Goethe, of whom Professor -Seeley says, that "he found every thing interesting except the fact that -Napoleon was trampling upon Germany"--a fatal exception: even Goethe, -with all his art, his marvellous versatility and fine accomplishment, -failed to reach the highest place, either in the best self-culture, or -in men's best love. _Savant_, poet, novelist, of high mark, as he was, -he has no such place as Newton, Wordsworth, and Walter Scott, in men's -love. Schiller and Richter, I believe, are more beloved in Germany, than -Goethe. - -In mere art, in perfection of style, no writers have equalled Homer and -Shakspeare. But _they_ did not say, "Art for art's sake." They had no -thought but to communicate their thought. If singular felicities appear -in their style, little eddyings of exquisitely turned conceits, as -especially in Shakspeare, they made a part of, and swept on the strong -current of their ideas. They were not introduced for their own sake, or -merely to please the writer. - -It has been said that great authors are born of great occasions. Some -remarkable era, some turn or tide in human thought, or in human affairs, -have borne them on to their supreme greatness. Will not the time come, -when men shall so look into the depths of the human heart, into the -tragic or blissful experiences of all human life, that no great era -shall be necessary to make great writers? - -I believe it. I believe in a perpetual human progress--progress in every -kind, material, mental, moral, religious, divine; and I greatly desire -to say a few words in close, if you will indulge me upon this point. For -I found this faith in progress, on the two principles which I have been -considering in this lecture. Selfhood obliges a man to take care of -himself. To go out of himself is the only way, in which he can -take care of himself--can take care, that is to say, of his own -improvement and happiness. In selfhood, necessary as it is, there is -no virtue, and little joy. Outflow from it--love, generosity, -disinterestedness--embraces the whole sphere of our culture and welfare. - -Can there be any doubt upon either of these points--either the culture -or welfare? - -Upon the culture, I say; upon what makes for human improvement. There is -evil enough in the world; but what nation or age ever approved of it? -What people ever praised selfishness, injustice, falsifying of speech or -trust? No literature ever celebrated them. No religion ever enjoined -them. No laws ever enacted them. Imagine a law that proposed to reward -villains and to punish honest men. The world would spit upon it. Imagine -a book or essay or poem or oration, that plainly set about to tell what -a beautiful and noble thing it is, to lie, to defraud, to wrong, -corrupt, and ruin our fellows. No man ever had the face to do such a -thing. No; books may have taught such things, but they never taught them -as noble things. The man never lived, that would stand up and say, "It -is a glorious thing to betray trust, or to ruin one's country, or to -blaspheme God." Men do such things, but they don't reverence nor respect -themselves for doing them. - -This then being settled--and it is a stupendous fact--the right -principle about culture, being thus set up, high and irrepealable in the -human conscience and in the sentiments of all mankind--what says the -common judgment of men about the happiness or misery of following the -right? Does it say--"It is a blessed thing to be a bad man; it is good -and wise to be a base or cruel man." Does it say--"Happy is the miser, -the knave, the drunkard." No, it does not. There is temptation to do -wrong; _that_ all know; there is a notion that it may promote some -temporary interest or pleasure; there is a disposition in many, to -prefer some sensual gratification to the purer satisfactions of the -higher nature; but there is, at the same time, a deep-founded -conviction, that misery in the long run must follow sin; that the -everlasting law of God has so ordained it to _be_; and that only the -pure, the noble, the heroic, the good and godlike affections can ever -make such a nature as ours, content and happy. - -Here then is another stupendous principle settled. And now, I say, this -being is a lover of happiness. He is not wise; he is not clear-seeing; -he is not good either--_i.e._, he is not fixedly and determinately good; -he is weak too; he is easily misled; he is often rebellious to the -higher laws of his nature; but--I hold to that--he is a lover of -happiness; and happiness, he knows, can never be found, but in obedience -to those higher laws. He is a lover of happiness, I say; he cannot be -worse off, without wishing to be better off; if he is sick, he wants to -be well; if his roof lets in the rain, he will have it repaired; if the -meanest implement he uses, is broken, he will have it mended. Is it not -natural--is it not inevitable, that this tendency should yet develop -itself in the higher concerns of his being? Is it not in the natural -order of things, that the higher should at length gain the ascendency -over the lower, the stronger over the weaker, the nobler over the -meaner? How can it be thought--how can it _be_, in the realm of Infinite -Beneficence and Wisdom, that meanness and vileness, sin and ruin should -be strong and prevail, and gain victory upon victory, and spread curse -beyond curse, and draw their dark trail over the bright eternity of -ages! - -No, in the order of things, this cannot be. Grant that there are evils, -difficulties, obstacles in the way. But in the order of things, -principles do not give way before temporary disturbances. Law does not -yield to confusion. Gravitation binds the earth, notwithstanding all the -turmoil upon its bosom. Light prevails over darkness, though cloud and -storm and night interrupt its course. The _moral_ turmoil upon earth's -bosom, war and outbreak and widespread disaster, the cloud and storm and -darkness of human passions and vices, the bitter struggles and sorrows -of humanity, the dark shadows of earthly strife and pain and sin, are -yet to give place to immutable law, to all-conquering might and right, -to everlasting day. - -I am as sure of it, as I am of the being of God--as I am of my own -being. The principles of progress are laid in human nature. If man did -not care for himself, I should have no hope of him. If he could not go -out from himself, and find therein his improvement, virtue and -happiness, I should have no hope of him. But these two principles yoked -together, in the Heaven-ordained frame of our being, will draw on to -victory. - - - - -THE RELATION OF JESUS - -TO THE - -PRESENT AGE. - -By CHARLES CARROLL EVERETT. - - -The writer to the Hebrews affirms that Jesus Christ is "the same -yesterday, to-day, and for ever." Paul exclaims to the Corinthians, -"Though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we -him no more." Christ was the same; yet before the generation that he -left upon the earth had passed away his relation to the earth had -changed. Thus does the work of Christ shape itself afresh to meet the -needs of every generation. Compare together the Christ of the first -century, the Christ of the thirteenth, the Christ of the sixteenth, and -the Christ of the nineteenth centuries, and you would hardly think they -all represent the same personality. Christ is always the same. His work -is always substantially the same; but because the ages change, the -method of this work changes. The same needs always exist in the heart of -humanity, but in different ages these needs manifest themselves in -different ways, and are to be met by different instrumentalities. And, -further, it is not merely because the needs of humanity continually -change their aspect that the work of Christ is ever changing. No age is -a recipient alone. There is no action without reaction Each age -contributes something to the work of Christ. It adds new forces, new -methods, new machinery. Its spirit, and by this I mean its real, vital, -energizing spirit, becomes united with the spirit of Christ, as it is -present and active in the world. - -In considering the relation of Christ to the present age, we have then -to consider it under two aspects. We have to consider each as a giver, -and each as a receiver. We may help to make this double relation clear -by saying that Christ is present to this nineteenth century at once as a -problem and as a power. No questions have stirred more deeply the heart -of the age than those which have to do with the person and the office of -Christ. The answers to these questions shape the aspect in which he -stands to the age, and become therefore parts and elements of the power -by which he acts upon the world. But this statement does not exhaust the -twofold relation of which I speak. That which the age gives to Christ is -not merely its thought about him. The secular thought and life of the -age bring their contribution, they are themselves a contribution to him. -They furnish one part of that complete organism of which Christ -furnishes the other. If the age, in any fundamental forms of its thought -and life, seems to stand in opposition to Christ, this apparent -opposition is only the antithesis of elements which belong together. If -what we call the spirit of the age seems, in any respect, to stand in -opposition to the spirit of Christ, this only shows the need that each -has of the other. The spirit of this nineteenth century needs the spirit -of Christ, and the spirit of Christ needs the spirit of this nineteenth -century. It is not then merely that the thought of the age clears away -something of the obscurity and the misconception that have gathered -about the person and the work of Christ. If all he said and did were as -truly comprehended now as they could have been at the first, no less -real, no less important, would be the offering which this age would -bring to him. Neither does the fact, that the work of Christ needs the -work, and that his spirit needs the spirit, of the century in which we -live, necessarily imply any imperfection in his original work, or any -thing originally lacking in his spirit. The question as to what he had -in reserve, as to the limit, or the lack of limit, of his insight and -comprehension, is one that I do not need, and do not intend here to -raise. There is a kind of work that cannot be done all at once. There is -a fulness of spirit that cannot manifest itself all at once. It is -sufficient to know that Christ recognized this fact as well as we can. -He affirmed it as clearly and as confidently as it is possible for us to -do. "I have," he said to his disciples, "yet many things to say unto -you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of truth, -is come, he shall lead you into all truth." All, so far as we can see, -that it was possible for any spirit to do at one moment, Christ did. He -infused into the world a spirit of love and faith and consecration, a -principle of enthusiasm for humanity. He added to these the vitalizing -power that came from his personality. This he did, and with this he was -forced to be content. He told us the nature of his work, and foretold to -us its history. It was to be as a little leaven which a woman hideth in -a measure of meal till the whole is leavened. He hid in the world the -leaven of his truth. That was all that he could do. It is for us to -witness, and to contribute to, the completion of his work. - -In considering the theme before us, I shall speak, first, of the -external history of Christ, next of his teaching, and finally of his -personality, in their relation to the present age. - -In considering the relation of Christ to the present age, we are met, -then, first by the most external form of this relation. The external -history of Christ, the very framework of many of his highest and purest -teachings, contains elements that are utterly opposed to the habits of -thought which are most peculiar to the present century. I refer to -whatever in the history of Christ implies the exercise of any miraculous -power by him. - -The idea of a miracle is opposed to the fundamental axioms of the -popular thought of the present. The writers who best represent this -thought do not hold it necessary to disprove the fact of miracles. They -simply affirm, with Strauss, that the time is past when a miracle can be -believed. On the other hand, the miraculous is inextricably intertwined -with the history of Christ. We find miracles recognized, not merely in -records the genuineness of which has, with or without reason, been -suspected. In Epistles of Paul, the genuineness of which no critic of -repute has ever dreamed of assailing, the miraculous element is -recognized as distinctly as in the Gospels. We have at least the -testimony of Paul--one of the grandest souls that ever lived, a man whom -we know and honor as we know and honor few--that he believed himself to -have wrought miracles, and that he believed the other apostles had done -and were in the habit of doing the same. And we further have his -testimony, with that of others indorsed by him, in regard to the most -important of the miracles of Jesus; namely, the manifestation by Jesus -of himself to his disciples after his death. - -Here is a collision between the form of the external manifestation of -Christ and the spirit of the age. The age itself has given such -prominence to this that we cannot overlook it. The idea of miracle is so -foreign to the spirit of the age that it has a fascination for it. It -has less importance than any thing else in the history of Jesus, and yet -nothing has more occupied the thoughts of the thinkers of the present -generation. - -For the reasons already stated, we must concede a certain degree of -right to both sides of the great controversy. If we cannot eliminate the -miraculous from the history of Jesus, neither can we, nor would we if we -could, eliminate from the spirit of the age that element which finds it -hard to accept a miracle. The very antagonism between the two, the right -which each maintains being granted, shows the need that each has of the -other. Each has a contribution for the other which could be received -from no other source. - -In the first place, the absolute incredulity with which the most -thorough representatives of the thought of the time receive any story of -the miraculous shows that now, for the first time, a miracle is seen to -be in the truest sense of the word a miracle. To the child or the savage -a miracle is hardly possible. Either every thing is a miracle or nothing -is. It is only as the absoluteness of law is recognized that a miracle, -which is in appearance a violation of this law, begins to produce its -full impression. The present age has placed behind miracle a mighty -background of law. From out this does miracle first stand forth in its -true nature, as something demanding yet defying credence. Those who -blame the spirit of the age for lack of faith in this direction should -at least give it credit for this immense contribution to the idea of -miracle, by which, for the first time, a miracle stands forth absolutely -in its true nature. - -Not only does the spirit of the age thus furnish to miracles the -background that they need: it furnishes to them also a content. The -thought of law does not stop with the background of laws of which I -spoke. Laws may be finite: law is infinite. The miracle sets at defiance -the great background of recognized laws; but itself can be only the -manifestation of some higher, grander, more comprehensive law. Thus does -a miracle more truly than ever before come as a real revelation. For the -first time it has its full and logical meaning. It was before expected -to prove something which from the nature of the case it could not prove. -No miracle, however stupendous, can prove the truth of a principle in -morals. It can show, indeed, some superiority, in some respect, in him -who works the miracle; but this superiority may not be of a nature to -demand implicit confidence towards the person in all respects. It may be -like the superiority of the European over the ignorant savage. The -missionary may win the trust of the simple barbarian by sending a -message written upon a chip; but the sailor, bringing the seeds of all -the vices of civilization, can "make the chip speak" as well as the -missionary. But when the miracle testifies of the comprehensive law -which it manifests, then first does it have a meaning which cannot be -wrested out of it. Nay, then first does it become really sublime. -Before, it was a single meteor flashing in short-lived brightness across -the sky. Now, it is the first manifestation of a vast system of worlds -of which we had not dreamed. Such is the contribution which the spirit -of the age, through the very antagonism of which I spoke, makes to the -miracles which constitute so much of the external form in which Christ -meets it. - -On the other hand, miracle brings a no less important contribution to -the spirit of the age. This spirit tends, not only to look upon law as -absolute, but to look upon the system of laws which it has discovered as -final. These laws tend continually to become narrow and hard. They tend -to become merely a system of physical forces. There is danger that the -spirit may become shut up within these physical laws as in a -prison-house. The miracle demonstrates to the senses that these physical -laws are not absolute, even in their own realm; that these physical -forces are encompassed and interpenetrated by spiritual forces; that -matter is at the last subordinate to spirit. It may not reveal the -nature of these spiritual forces; but it does reveal their presence. All -do not need this demonstration. The same truth may be reached in other -ways. The laws of thought reveal it. The spiritual consciousness may be -sufficient unto itself. Christ himself regarded his miracles as of -comparatively small account. He wrought them because he was moved to use -whatever power he had to bless mankind. If he healed the sick, it was -because he loved to heal them. He sympathized with sorrow and suffering, -and, so far as he could, would remove their cause. But the miracles -carry, as we have seen, their own revelation with them; and they have -their place, however lowly, in regard even to the spiritual -consciousness. The albatross, we are told, with all its magnificent -sweep of wing, cannot lift itself from the flat surface of the deck on -which it may be lying. Just because its wings are so strong and large, -it needs to be lifted a little, that they may have space to move, that -they may have freedom to smite the air. When this freedom has been given -it, then it mounts upward, sustained by its own inherent strength. So is -it, sometimes, with the spirit. It has strength of its own. It has a -self-sustaining power. But it sometimes needs to be lifted a little way -above the dead level of its daily life, above the plane of physical -relations, before its wings find strength and freedom to beat the air. -Then, leaving its temporary support behind it, it mounts in glad flight -heavenward. Such help many have found, and may yet find, in the miracles -of Jesus. The miracle may lift the level surface of life as if into a -wave, from the crest of which the spirit may start upon its flight. - -From the external manifestation of the history of Christ, and the -external relations in which through this he stands to the present age, -we pass to the inner power of this life. Within these external -manifestations we find his teachings. We have, then, next to consider -the relation in which Christ stands to the present age as a teacher. We -shall find here the same twofold relation which we have found before; -and the external may thus stand as a type and illustration of the -internal. We will first consider, under this aspect, the basis and form -of the teaching of Christ, and next its substance. - -The spirit of the age is truth-seeking. We speak often of the eagerness -for wealth that marks the age. I think that when, from the distant -future, men shall look back upon this period of the world's history, the -search for wealth will not be seen to fill the place that to us it seems -to occupy. The age will be seen to be animated by a nobler quest than -this. The search for truth will be seen to be the quest by which it is -marked most really. We speak of the corruption of the age, of the -trickeries of trade, of the unscrupulousness of speculation, of the -pretence and display of fashion, of the venality of politics. All this -is true. These things deserve the denunciation of the moralist and the -preacher. But behind all this is the life which truly marks the age. It -is the life of patient, earnest, honest search for truth. I believe that -never and nowhere has there been manifested, to so great extent, such -conscientious and self-forgetful love of truth for its own sake as may -be found in the scientific investigations of the present day. Such -accuracy of research, such microscopic delicacy of measurement, such -patient and unprejudiced examination, I believe to be unequalled in the -history of man. This proves that, in spite of the frauds and falseness -of which I spoke, the age is really sound at heart. Theologians -sometimes speak of the flippancy and conceit of the science of the day. -The terms would be more true applied in the opposite direction. Theology -is more open to such charges than science. A love of truth that would -fling away even the highest glory of the earth and the hope of heaven, -if so be truth may stand pure and perfect, has something sublime about -it. Well might the theologian take a lesson from the man of science in -regard to this consecration to truth. For theology, with its -presumption, its prejudice, its pretence, its glossing over of -difficulties, its leaning upon authority which it feels at heart is not -authority, its saying what it does not exactly believe, that it may not -contradict those who perhaps do not believe exactly what they say, may -well stand ashamed in the presence of the science of the day that has -left all to follow truth. Theology should give to science not -tolerance, not patronage, but reverence. While it utters fearlessly the -truth that is given it to speak, it should in its turn seat itself as a -learner at the feet of science, and seek not only to gather the facts -which it has to teach, but to catch something of its spirit, the spirit -that loves truth, and that will suffer nothing to take the place of -this. - -But Christ was not a truth-seeker. It does not appear that he ever -doubted or questioned. Pilate asked the question, What is truth? It does -not appear that Jesus ever did. Jesus came not to seek the truth, but to -announce it. "To this end," he cried, "was I born, and for this cause -came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth." He -came to bear witness unto the truth, but it was truth that came to him -without his seeking. Neither does it appear that Christ loved truth -above all things. To the Jesuit there is something better than truth, -and to this he will sacrifice truth itself. I assert nothing like this -in regard to Christ. Truth was to him fundamental and essential. He -would not accept or tolerate what was false. But still to know was not -the great object of his life. There was something better to him than -truth; namely, life. He would rather be than know. At his touch truth -sprang into life. If he came to bear witness to the truth, this was only -a step in his grander work, the work which he proclaimed at the very -beginning of his mission, when he cried, "I am come that they might have -life, and that they might have it more abundantly." And, further, Christ -did not merely teach life through truth: he taught truth through life. -"If any man," he said, "will do his will, he shall know of the -doctrine." And John was full of the spirit of his Master when he cried, -"The life is the light of men." - -We see more clearly the antithesis between Christ as a teacher on the -one side, and the present age on the other, in this fact: viz., that -Christ speaks with authority to an age which rejects authority. The cry -of the age, in the world of the intellect as well as in that of -politics, is for liberty. But to this age, as to every age, Christ comes -as a master. "My yoke," he says, "is easy;" but it is a yoke none the -less. - -If the relation of Christ to his truth is so different from that of the -spirit of the age to its truth, it must follow that the two forms of -truth rest on different bases. The faculties by which the age seeks -truth must be different from those through which the truth came unsought -to Jesus. This age seeks truth by the discriminating and investigating -power of the understanding. Truth came to Jesus through the intuitions -of the soul. In him the moral and spiritual faculties were full of -strength. He lived as naturally in the world of spiritual realities as -other men live in the world of physical realities. As we need only open -our eyes and see, so his spirit had only to open its eyes and it saw. As -the voices of the outward world come to us without our listening for -them, so the voice of God came to him whether he would or no. And this -was the ground of the authority with which he spoke. Whoever speaks from -the moral and spiritual consciousness to the moral and spiritual -consciousness may and must speak with authority. We may illustrate this -by an extreme case. When a man is lurking for the commission of some -crime, or after he has committed it, he feels the mastery of all -innocent things. The rustle of a leaf may excite his dread. To a voice -denouncing his crime, or crime like his, he listens as to the voice of -God. This recognition of the mastery of a higher degree of life after -its own kind is felt at every stage of moral and spiritual development. -If the soul be comparatively guilty, it recognizes this mastery with -dread. If it be comparatively innocent, it recognizes it with joy. Such -was the authority with which Jesus spoke. Though he spoke with -authority, what he said did not rest on this authority. It was the -authority with which the awakened calls to the sleeper, bidding him -awake, for the world is bright with the morning. The voice penetrates to -the obscured consciousness of the sleeper. He stirs himself, he opens -his eyes, and rejoices for himself in the morning brightness. So Christ -called to a sleeping world. Nay, he called to those who were dead in -trespasses and sin, and they that were dead heard the voice of the Son -of Man and lived. - -If the truth taught by Jesus and the truth that is sought by the present -age rest on such different bases, they must be, we should suppose, in -some respects different each from the other. But, if each be truth, they -must be the complements each of the other. And, if they are the -complements each of the other, they must need one another. Each must be -imperfect without the other. Each must find a certain confirmation and -support from the other, and each must complete for the other the circle -of truth. We are thus led to look at some points in the teaching of -Christ, and to see how these complete and are completed by the truth -which the present age seeks and finds. - -In the first place, Christ teaches us of the loving providence of God. -He awakens in our hearts all childlike instincts of trust and -confidence. He tells us that God is our father, that his love watches -over all his children, that it follows the prodigal in his wandering -and greets him on his return, that even a sparrow does not fall to the -earth without it. This teaching is sufficient for the spiritual -necessities of our nature. The spirit that has adopted these principles -into itself will live a strong and blessed life. They have been the -inspiration of the centuries ever since Christ uttered them. They -contain all that could be told of God in the age when Jesus lived. But -they do not exhaust the truth of God. They leave space for -misconception. Love may be universal, and yet be not without caprice. -Providence may watch over all, and yet in every case be only a special -providence. God may watch over every individual of the race, but over -each merely as an individual. If there may be the caprices of love, then -it is not a long step to the possibility of caprices which spring from -the lack of love. Love may alternate with hate. If each individual be -dealt with singly, as though he existed by himself, the step is not a -long one to the thought of discrimination between individuals. The -caprices of love may become favoritism, and the special favor shown to -one implies the neglect of another. All these things are foreign from -the spirit and the teaching of Christ. They contradict the fundamental -principles of his teaching. And yet, men's habits of thought being such -as they were, the teaching of Christ could not be absolutely fortified -against them. He told men that the love of God was like the sunshine -that visits all alike, but the words passed through their ears unheeded. -Thus Christianity all along has been corrupted by misrepresentations of -its truth in which the thought of love had suggested caprice, and the -thought of special love and special providence had suggested the thought -of favoritism, and favoritism had suggested discrimination and neglect. -All men were seen to stand in the presence of God as individuals, which -is true; and merely as individuals, which is false. - -The truth that God is love needs to be supplemented by another truth; -namely this, that God is Law. The great truth of the absoluteness of law -cannot be taught in a single lesson. No man can tell it to another. It -must be demonstrated to be believed. It must be shown in its myriad and -unvarying applications to all forms of being before it can be felt as a -reality. One must see for one's self the grand march of the order of the -universe, the unfailing sequence of cause and effect, the mathematical -exactness of the correlation of all the forces of the world, before one -can have a sense of the truth which lies at the basis and forms the -culmination of scientific thought to-day. This truth has not been -reached suddenly. The ages have been groping after it. This age has -reached, by slow and patient thought, a comprehension of this truth -which is its inspiration. The ages to come will only add to it new -illustrations as they follow its mighty sweep. This truth is what seems -at times to put this age into antagonism with the spirit of Christ. It -is really the offering which the thought of the age brings to Christ. -The teaching of Christ needs, as we have seen, this truth as its -complement. The antithesis between the two shows the intimate -relationship between them. When we bring the two together in one -thought, we have the most sublime conception that ever dawned upon the -mind of man. The truth of Christ finds a body: the truth of the age -finds a soul. On the one side, all possibility of caprice is driven from -our thought of God. The love of God, as strong and tender as the lips -of Jesus could describe it, is seen to be as regular and as calm as the -movements of the heavens. This truth only adds to the strength and the -clearness of our thought of the love of God. We see demonstrated before -us how his care pursues all things, how not a sparrow falls to the earth -unfollowed by this watchful providence, how every grain of dust that -floats in the summer sun has its place and work in the great whole, not -a single mote forgotten. We learn in what direction to look for the -action and succor of this providence. We do not look for it to come to -us in weakness, but in strength. We see that this perfect order is the -truest providence, that the care of each is most perfect that recognizes -each in its relations to all the rest. So soon as we recognize the -divinity of law and the love that is enshrined in it, we feel the -omnipresent might of this divinity, the omnipotence of this love. The -restlessness and passion of our hearts are stilled. Trust in God takes -on the peace and the calmness of the heavens. Such is the offering which -the age brings to Christ. It brings a body in which his spirit may -incarnate itself afresh. - -The result of the union of the thought of the age with the thought of -Christ may be seen in all the relations in which the soul stands to God. -Christ bade his followers preach his gospel to every creature. The age -has taught us the necessity of educating and civilizing the barbarian, -if we would christianize him. Christ taught us to love the sinner while -hating sin. This has seemed to some paradoxical; but the age has removed -some of the difficulty by showing how much of what we call character is -the result of inherited tendencies and outward circumstances. Jesus -taught the doctrine of immortality. Men have tended to look upon the -future life as something standing over against the present. The age -teaches us that such a break in life is impossible, that if there be an -immortality it must lie hidden in the present. It teaches, too, that the -judgments of God, if there be a God, are never arbitrary. He does not -hold blessing in one hand and cursing in another, and give each, by an -outward bestowal, as he may see that it is deserved. Men's acts drag -their consequences after them. Thus the old Scripture phrases are just -coming to their meaning. It is not an angry God that pursues the sinner: -it is his own sin that has found him out. Men do reap the fruit of their -own sowing. There is no scientific truth of the day that stands in any -stronger antagonism to the truth of Christ than is implied in such -antitheses as have been referred to. Even the theories of development, -so rife at present, do not stand in the way of Christ. Christ looks not -downward but upward, not backward but forward. Such theories, if -established, would only show the progressive power of spirit, the -omnipotence of life. - -But if the thought of Jesus needs that of the present age, still more -does the thought of the age need that of Jesus. If the spirit needs a -body, still more does the body need a spirit. The laws, the forces on -which the thought of the age dwells, until this divineness is added to -them are hard and cold. The body, which could carry on all the functions -of its life, yet without life, would be a machine, perfect indeed and -wonderful, but a machine none the less. The thought of the age, taken by -itself, uninspired by Christian truth, tends to drag down the soul, to -imprison it in mere mechanism, to take from it its divine inspiration; -and while we need the thought of the present age to illustrate to us the -methods of God's dealings with the soul, none the less does the thought -of the age need the knowledge that there is a soul. Among all the forces -of the universe, the power of the soul, the culmination of them all, is -apt to be lost sight of. The thought of the age tends to look upon -things from without, and to lose that which is their essence. It needs -the voice that shall awaken its own inner life, and thus bring it to a -consciousness of the life that lies at the heart of all things. - -Thus we see how the thought of Christ and the thought of the age need -and complement each other. The thought of Christ is spiritual, the -thought of the age tends to become material. In this world we are -neither wholly spiritual nor wholly material. And we must bear in mind -that the two elements should not exist over against one another in our -thought. We must not hold the two conceptions, however opposite they may -appear, as two. In life the spirit and the body do not exist as two but -as one. As soon as they exist as two, there is death. So must the truth -of Jesus and the truth of this present age be blended in one thought. We -must not say love and law, but love in law. We must not see the divine -power setting at work forces that by their natural operation shall -reward or punish the spirit. We must see the divine power working in and -through these forces. Then, as science makes us feel that we are -encompassed by law, the words will not need translating to us; for we -shall feel that we are encompassed by God. - -The relation which we have found to exist between the intellectual -teaching of Christ and the thought of the age is no less marked between -the moral teaching of Christ and the life of the age. The moral teaching -of Christ is absolutely true. It is as true as his thought of God; yet -like that it needs its complemental truth. Further, the moral teaching -of Christ needs instrumentalities. Love, however strong, cannot work -without means. The heart needs the hands and the feet. - -In both of these respects the age brings its offering to Christ. Christ -teaches love and self-sacrifice. He bids us do for others as we would -have them do for us. He bids us give to him that asks, and lend to him -that would borrow. These principles are the very life of society. They -are the very truth of God. But yet these principles carried out, without -explanation and qualification, would produce harm as well as good. The -church of every age, in striving to carry out these precepts, has done -much good; but it has done much harm also. It has done good by bringing -succor to the lives that needed it. It has done immeasurable good by -keeping alive on the earth the spirit of Christian love. Men have been -blest by the power of the spirit, even more than by its specific acts of -mercy. But, while it has relieved the poor, it has too often tended to -perpetuate poverty. Indiscriminate alms-giving, mere alms-giving, is the -very mother of pauperism. We see in some Catholic countries how the -alms-giving which the church has taught in the very words of Christ has -degraded whole populations, has taken from manhood its real dignity and -strength. We need, then, not only the principle of love, but also a -knowledge of all social laws. The science of political economy must be -understood; but this, like physical science, cannot be taught in a day. -Ages must teach the lesson. The present age has only half learned it. -But it has learned enough to bring a magnificent contribution to Christ. -Christ bids us help men: the age, in its poor blundering way, is just -beginning to tell us how to help them. It teaches that the best way to -help the poor is to strike at the root of poverty. No less does the age -furnish means for carrying out the principles of Jesus. It brings the -ends of the earth together. Christ bids us love our neighbor. This age -has made those from whom the sea parts us our neighbors. There is -famine, or some more sudden calamity, on the other side of our -continent, or in a foreign land. Christ bids us help those who need. How -shall we carry sudden help unless we hear at once the story? How shall -we send prompt help if there be no strong and swift messenger waiting at -our door? But now the lightning tells the story the moment in which -there is a story to be told, and the unwearied steam bears our gifts as -soon as they can be gathered. The commands of Jesus are absolute. The -power of the age to fulfil these commands is approaching absoluteness. -Thus does the age add to the teaching of Christ the completeness that it -needs. - -But does not the age in turn need this teaching? Materialism and -mechanism in thought are bad enough: they are worse in life. The life of -the age has a tendency to materialism and mechanism. The science of -political economy tends to become a hard system of rules, in which the -spontaneous sympathy of the helper and the individuality of the helped -are lost together. The eagerness of the world after material prosperity -tends to a practical absorption in these ends. Thus we have the greed, -the excitement, the madness, the display, the corruption that to so -great an extent characterize the age. We have seen that there is a -deeper life beneath this superficial one; but these evils, however -superficial, need prompt and constant care lest they eat into the very -heart. The body needs the spirit, or it will sink into decay. - -I have spoken of the two elements which we are considering as if they -stood simply over against one another. This is in some respects true. -The thought and life of the age are, indeed, largely indebted to the -stimulus of Christianity; but they are not, like the painting and -architecture of the Middle Ages, the direct outgrowth of it. The science -of the present day is self-developed and self-sustained. The machinery -of the world has been invented for the world's uses. Its political -economy has been thought out to facilitate its own ends. - -But though the two elements, to some extent, stand over against one -another, yet each, by its natural development, is approaching the other, -and each is becoming penetrated by the other. On the one side, religion -is catching the spirit of the age, and is approaching the clearness and -accuracy of scientific thought. On the other side, science is becoming -conscious of truth which is unattainable by its methods, and which is to -it therefore the unknowable. Already does Herbert Spencer, who -represents the foremost thought of the time, feel the awe of this -mystery, and see gleaming through it something of the presence of the -infinite love. The life of the age, also, by bringing men near to one -another, tends to produce the sense of human brotherhood. Its vast -business enterprise, in some of its aspects, does more for the cause of -humanity than many a professed charity. Further, the age is, to some -extent at least, directly inspired by Christianity. Its zeal for -humanity, its sympathy with the oppressed and suffering everywhere, its -gigantic and unparalleled charities, show it to be more truly Christian -than any age that has preceded it. - -If however, in spite of all this, we are sometimes tempted to doubt -whether the power of the truth which Christ represents is to win the -mastery, or whether it is destined to be lost in the great struggle, we -must remember that its authority is that of elements that are -fundamental in human nature. The spiritual instincts may be repressed: -they cannot be exterminated. As in every little creek and inlet along -the shore the water answers to the call of the ocean, and feels the -might of the outgoing and the incoming tide, so in human life deep -answers unto deep. - -We must remember, too, that Christ is not a mere teacher. His power is -not alone that of the truth he utters. It is no mere accident of history -that the higher truth and life which we have been considering confront -the age as Christian truth and life. They receive a power from their -union with Christ which they could not have received, even had the -thought of men attained to them, without this. We have looked at the -external form of his life and at his teaching in their relation to the -age. There is yet another step to take. There is still an inner reality -to be unveiled. Behind the power of his teaching is the power of his -personality. In this is found the climax of the antithesis in which he -stands to the present. The tendency of the present age is, consciously -or unconsciously, to disown personality. The laws which make the -substance of its thought, the mechanism that makes the framework of its -life, both tend to assert themselves against the power of a free -personality. We may illustrate this by the modern method of warfare. In -ancient times the victory depended on the strength of the individual arm -and the courage of the individual heart. Now it depends more upon the -drill of the army and the clear head of the general. - -This tendency of the thought of the age is not based on error. It brings -to our thought of personality the correction that it needs. The tendency -of the past has been to look upon personality as existing by and for -itself. It has recognized no limits to the power of freedom. Each -individual stood by and for himself in the universe. Now we see a common -element in all lives. All lives are entwined together. We see limits -which freedom cannot pass. We understand something of the limits of each -individual. We understand something of the laws of descent and of the -power of education. Even the personality of Jesus does not stand by -itself as it seemed to once. We see in him the power of the common -nature. We see in him the effect of forces which had been in operation -since the world was. He was no stranger upon the earth. He was the Son -of God, but he was no less the Son of man. He was the flowering of a -nation's history, the flowering of humanity. The flower is drawn forth -by the sun, but it is drawn out from the plant. Even the sun can kindle -the flame of no rose upon the bramble's stalk. While, however, the age -teaches us what is the background out from which the power of -personality stands forth, and what are the elements that are fused -together in it, personality itself remains too much unrecognized. But, I -repeat, the integrity of human nature can never be violated; and -personality is the culmination of human nature. The power of a modern -army, we have seen, depends largely on its drill; yet even here the -impetuous courage of a leader may infuse a life into this vast machine -that shall decide the victory. Mere signals, it is found, upon a ship -will not answer the purpose of communication between the captain and the -men. In times of peril, in the midst of the fury of the storm, the -sailor needs the inspiration of the captain's voice, ringing with a -force that is mightier than the tempest; namely, the force of human will -and courage. No matter how mechanical the age may become, no matter how -the idea of freedom may be eliminated from its thought, the great heart -of humanity beats still in its bosom, and the voice of a strong, free -personality will sooner or later arouse it to an answering -consciousness. The very bands which it sets about personality will make -its power more strongly felt when it is perceived. Its very knowledge of -the elements that are united in it will make it feel more really the -might of the force which can fuse these into one burning point. - -Personality involves three elements. The first is freedom; the second, a -purpose freely chosen; the third, devotion to this purpose. There is no -slavery like sin. Absolute freedom, and thus absolute personality, can -be found only in a nature wholly pure and unselfish. Christ was thus -free. His purpose was the vastest that any human soul has grasped; and -he gave himself to it with all the power of his nature. Thus Christ -possessed the most intense personality ever felt upon the earth. His -teaching came forth glowing with its fire. We feel to-day the effect -which his personality produced upon those who came into direct contact -with it. This influence has propagated itself from age to age. The -Church grew out of it, and its influence is felt to-day far beyond the -limits of the Church. Besides this indirect power of the personality of -Jesus, we may feel its force directly, as we bring ourselves into -personal relation with him. It has not lost its original might. It still -tends to reproduce itself in the present. - -The form in which truth first utters itself has a power which no -subsequent repetition can equal. There is a kind of work that can be -done only once. The first discoverer or announcer of any truth stands in -a relation to it which no other can ever fill. Many navigators have -crossed the sea, but there is only one Columbus. Many astronomers have -searched the heavens, but there has been no second Newton. This fact is -most noticeable in regard to truths that represent not merely the -intellect, but the whole moral and spiritual nature of him who first -uttered them in their fulness. There is a fact in science strange, -apparently illogical, but yet unquestionable. It is this: The power of -heat-bearing rays to pass through any resisting medium depends not upon -the temperature of the rays, but upon that of the body from which they -come. The heat-bearing rays of the sun that approach the earth hardly -differ in temperature from the rays that are reflected from it; but the -former pass almost unimpeded through the atmosphere by which the latter -are to a great extent imprisoned. The rays reach the earth without -difficulty, but are entrapped by the principle referred to, and remain -to bless the world. The first have this power to pass through the -atmosphere because they come direct from the burning body of the sun. -The reflected rays have lost this power, because they proceed from the -colder earth. This law is as true in the intellectual and spiritual as -it is in the physical world. The power of moral and spiritual truths to -penetrate to the hearts of men has this strange dependence upon the -moral and spiritual power of him who utters them. The very spontaneity -of this utterance is a revelation of this power. It is because the truth -that Jesus uttered came forth from his glowing heart of love, it is -because it sprang fresh and spontaneous from the intensity of his -spiritual life, that it has such power to-day to touch the hearts of -men. As the sun's rays preserve their penetrating force through all the -interplanetary spaces, so the teachings of Christ have preserved it -through all the reaches of history. No subsequent repetition of these -truths can ever have quite the power that their first complete utterance -still retains. And the power that they exercise is largely in this, that -they excite in the hearts of men a spiritual life akin to that from -which they originally sprang. Scientific truths are taught by -demonstration. Spiritual truths are taught chiefly by stimulating the -spiritual life. When we live merely in the contemplation of laws, in the -study of external relations, our intellect is stimulated, but our moral -and spiritual nature may be comparatively dormant. Our life is -stimulated as we are brought into living relationship with the universe. -As our inner nature is thus stimulated, as it rounds itself into -completeness, the moral and spiritual consciousness is awakened. This is -the reason why it so often happens that spiritual truths are so real in -moments of sorrow. In its sorrow the soul lives wholly in love, and it -receives the enlightenment of love. Our nation had almost forgotten God; -but in those terrible years of war, when every soul was full of life and -earnestness, the earth and the heavens were full of God. Our nation's -history became transparent to us, as the history of the Hebrews was -transparent to them, and we saw God's providence in it all. Theology has -wrestled vainly with science. In such a struggle it will always be the -loser. Christian theology can never conquer science. Christian life must -absorb science into itself. - -The truths that Jesus uttered, as they have been absorbed into the -common thought of men, or as they are received directly from the record -of his life, have a mighty power to purify the thought and elevate the -hearts of men. But I think that the greatest power of Christ to-day is -that of imparting his life to the men and women who are now living in -the world. The power of the Church will depend upon its power to receive -this life and to impart it. It is well to have a true theology; but the -church that has the most of the life of Christ will accomplish the most -for men. It brings to this truth-seeking and law-investigating age the -pure personality which it needs. And it will at last possess the truest -theology, for now and evermore it is the life that is the light of men. - - - - -THE MYTHICAL ELEMENT - -IN THE - -NEW TESTAMENT. - -By FREDERIC HENRY HEDGE. - - "[Greek: Philosophôteron kai spoudaioteron poięsis historias estin.]" - - Aristotle. - - -When Dr. Strauss, thirty-five years ago, in his "Life of Jesus," -advanced and applied to the narrative of the New Testament a theory of -interpretation, in principle the same with that which a Christian Father -of the third century had employed in his treatment of the Old, the -theological world was profoundly shocked by what seemed to be the last -impiety of criticism. A hundred champions rushed with drawn pen to the -rescue of the old interpretation of the text. The truth of Christianity -was supposed to be assailed; the belief in Christianity as divine -revelation was felt to be imperilled by a theory which substituted -mythical figment for historic fact. That no such harm was intended, or -was likely to ensue from his labors, the author himself assures us in -the preface to that extraordinary work. "The inner kernel of Christian -faith," he declares, "is entirely independent of all such criticism. -Christ's supernatural birth, his miracles, his resurrection and -ascension, remain eternal truths, however their reality as facts of -history may be called in question." - -In this declaration I find a fitting text for the following discourse. - -How far does the cause of Christianity depend on the facts, or alleged -facts, of the Gospel narrative? Or, to state the question in other -words, Is the truth of Christianity identical and conterminous with the -literal truth of its record? - -It is obvious at the start that a certain amount of historic truth must -be assumed as implied in the very existence of any religion which dates -from a personal founder whose thought it professes to embody, and whose -name it bears. Christianity purports to be founded on the ministry of a -Jewish teacher, entitled by his followers "the Christ." We have the -testimony of a nearly contemporary Latin historian to the fact that an -individual so named was the leader of a numerous body of religionists, -and was put to death by command of Pontius Pilate, in the reign of -Tiberius. But, without this confirmation, the very existence of the -Christian Church compels us to accept as historic facts, the ministry of -Jesus, the strong impression of his word and character, his purity of -manners and moral greatness, his life of beneficent action, his martyr -death, and his manifestation to his disciples after death, however that -manifestation be conceived, whether as subjective experience or as -objective reality. So much, beyond all reasonable question, must stand -as history, vouched by documentary evidence, and by the existence, in -the first century, of a church universally diffused, which affirmed -these facts as the ground of its being, and in the strength of them -overcame the world. - -But, observe, it is Christianity that assures the truth of these facts, -and not the facts that prove Christianity. To base the truth of -Christianity on the credibility, in every particular, of the Gospel -record; to measure the claims of the religion by the strict historic -verity of all the narrative of the New Testament, is to prejudice the -Christian cause in the judgment of competent critics. It is to challenge -the cavil and counter-demonstration of unbelief. - -Christianity assures the truth of certain facts; but by no means of all -the facts affirmed by the writers of the New Testament. Faith in -Christianity as divine dispensation does not imply, and must not be held -to the belief, as veritable history, of all that is recorded in the -Gospel. Not the historic sense, but the spiritual import; not the facts, -but the ideas of the Gospel, are the genuine topics of faith. - -Christianity, like every other religion, has its mythology,--a mythology -so intertwined with the veritable facts of its early history, so braided -and welded with its first beginnings, that history and myth are not -always distinguishable the one from the other. Every historic religion, -that has won for itself a conspicuous place in the world's history, has -evolved from a core of fact a nimbus of legendary matter which criticism -cannot always separate, and which the popular faith does not seek to -separate, from the solid parts of the system. And in one view the -legends or myths which gather around the initial stage of any religion -are as true as the vouched and substantial facts of its record: they are -a product of the same spirit working, in the one case, in the acts and -experiences; in the other, in the visions, the ideas, the literary -activity of the faithful. It is one and the same motive that inspires -both the writer and the doer. - -When I speak of historic religions, I mean such as trace their origin -to some historic personage, and bear the impress of his idea, in -contradistinction to those which have sprung from unknown sources, the -wild growths of nature-worship as found in ancient Egypt, in the Indian -and Scandinavian peninsulas, and in Greece. - -No distinction in religion is so fundamental as that between the wild -religions and those which have sprung from the word of a human sower -going forth to sow; the religions of sense and those of reflection, the -"natural" and the "revealed." The prime characteristic of the former is -polytheism; that of the latter, monotheism. Mosaism, Mohammedism, -Buddhism,--so far as it knows any God,--even Parsism, is monotheistic in -as much as its dualism is resolvable into the final triumph and -supremacy of the good. No founder of a religion ever taught a plurality -of gods. - -Another characteristic of the wild religions is their transitoriness. -The Egyptian, the Greco-Roman, the Scandinavian, perished long ago. -Bramanism, the last survivor of the ancient polytheisms, is fast melting -beneath the advancing heats of Islam and the Brahmo Somaj. The -"revealed" religions on the contrary are permanent. No religion of -historic origin, so far as I know, has ever died out. Judaism, the -eldest of them, still flourishes: never since the destruction of -Jerusalem has it flourished with a greener leaf than now. Mohammedism is -pushing its conquests faster than Christianity in the East, Parsism is -still strong in Bengal, Buddhism in one or another form calls a third -part of the population of the globe its own. - -All religions have their mythologies, but with this distinction: -polytheism is mythical in principle as well as form, in soul as well as -body, and mythical throughout. Its whole being is myth. Whatever of -scientific or historic truth may be hidden in any of its legends, such -as the labors of Herakles, the fire-theft of Prometheus, or the rape of -Europa, is matter of pure conjecture. In the "revealed" religions, on -the contrary, the mythical is incidental, not principial, and always -subordinate to doctrine or fact. Always the truth shines through the -myth, explains it, justifies it. - -Before proceeding any farther, I desire to explain what I mean by myth -in this connection. I shall not attempt a philosophic definition, but -content myself with this general determination. I call any story a myth -which for good reasons is not to be taken historically, and yet is not a -wilful fabrication with intent to deceive, but the natural growth of -wonder and tradition, or a product of the Spirit uttering itself in a -narrative form. The myth may be the result of exaggeration, the -expansion of a veritable fact which gathers increments and a _posse -comitatus_ of additions as it travels from mouth to ear and ear to mouth -in the carriage of verbal report; or it may be the reflection of a fact -in the mind of a writer, who reproduces it in his writing with the color -and proportions it has taken in his conception; or it may be the poetic -embodiment of a mental experience; or it may be what Strauss calls "the -deposit[8] of an idea," and another critic "an idea shaped into fact." I -think we have examples of all these mythical formations in the New -Testament; and I hold that the credit of the Gospel in things essential -is nowise impaired, nor the claim of Christianity as divine revelation -compromised, by a frank admission of this admixture of fancy with fact -in its record. On the contrary, I deem it important, in view of the -vulgar radicalism which confounds the Christian dispensation and its -record, soul and body, in one judgment, to separate the literary -question from the spiritual, and to free the cause of faith from the -burden of the letter. - -[Footnote 8: Niederschlag.] - -It has been assumed that the proof of divine revelation rests on -precisely those portions of the record which are most offensive to -unbelief. On this assumption the Christian apologists of a former -generation grounded their plea. Prove that we have the testimony of -eye-witnesses to the miracles recorded in the Gospels, and Christianity -is shown to be a divine revelation. In the absence of such proof (the -inference is) Christianity can no longer claim to be, in the words of -Paul, "the power of God unto salvation." This is substantially Paley's -argument. Planting himself on the premise that revelation is impossible -without miracles, in which it is implied that miracles prove revelation, -he labors to establish two propositions: 1. "That there is satisfactory -evidence that many professing to be original witnesses of the Christian -miracles passed their lives in dangers, labors, and sufferings, -voluntarily undergone in attestation of the accounts which they -delivered, and solely in consequence of their belief in those accounts; -and that they also submitted from the same motives to new rules of -conduct." 2. "That there is _not_ satisfactory evidence that persons -pretending to be original witnesses of any other similar miracles have -acted in the same manner in attestation of the accounts which they -delivered, and solely in consequence of their belief in the truth of -those accounts." The argument is stated with the characteristic -clearness of the author, and as well supported perhaps as Anglican -church-erudition in those days would allow; but the case is not made -out, and, if it were, the argument fails to satisfy the sceptical mind -of to-day. To say nothing of its gross misconception of the nature of -revelation, which it makes external instead of internal, a stunning of -the senses instead of mental illumination, an appeal to prodigy and not -its own sufficient witness,--waiving this objection, the argument fails -when confronted with the fact that, in spite of the evidence which -scholars and critics the most learned and acute of all time have arrayed -in support of the genuineness of the Gospels, the number is nowise -diminished, but rather increases, of intelligent minds that find -themselves unable, on the faith of any book, however ancient, to receive -as authentic a tale of wonders which contradict their experience of the -limits of human ability and their faith in the continuity of nature. For -myself, I beg to say, in passing, I am not of this number. I do not feel -the force of the objection against miracles drawn from this alleged -constancy of nature, which it seems to me reduces the course of human -events to a dead mechanical sequence, makes no allowance for any -reserved power in nature or any incalculable forces of the Spirit, and -virtually rules God, the present inworking God, out of the universe. I -can believe in any miracle which does not actually and demonstrably -contravene and nullify ascertained laws, however phenomenally foreign to -nature's ordinary course. But the possibility of miracles is one thing, -the possibility of proving them another. With such views as these -objectors entertain of the constancy of nature, I confess that no -testimony, not even the written affidavit of a dozen witnesses taken on -the spot, supposing that we had it, would suffice to convince me of the -truth of marvels occurring two thousand years ago, of the kind recounted -in the Gospels. My Christian prepossessions might incline me to believe -in them: the weight of evidence would not. No wise defender of the -Christian cause, at the present day, will rest his plea on the issue to -which Paley committed its claims. After all that Biblical critics and -antiquarian research have raked from the dust of antiquity in proof of -the genuineness and authenticity of the books of the New Testament, -credibility still labors with the fact that the age in which these books -were received and put in circulation was one in which the science of -criticism as developed by the moderns--the science which scrutinizes -statements, balances evidence for and against, and sifts the true from -the false--did not exist; an age when a boundless credulity disposed men -to believe in wonders as readily as in ordinary events, requiring no -stronger proof in the case of the former than sufficed to establish the -latter,--viz., hearsay and vulgar report; an age when literary honesty -was a virtue almost unknown, and when, consequently, literary forgeries -were as common as genuine productions, and transcribers of sacred books -did not scruple to alter the text in the interest of personal views and -doctrinal prepossessions. The newly discovered Sinaitic Code, the -earliest known manuscript of the New Testament, dates from the fourth -century. Tischendorf the discoverer, a very orthodox critic, speaks -without reserve of the license in the treatment of the text apparent in -this manuscript,--a license, he says, especially characteristic of the -first three centuries. - -These considerations, though they do not discredit the essential facts -of the Gospel history,--facts assured to us, as I have said, by the -very existence of the Christian Church,--might seem to excuse the -hesitation of the sceptic in accepting, on the faith of the record, -incidental marvels of a kind very difficult of proof at best. I recall -in this connection the remarkable saying of an English divine of the -seventeenth century. "So great, in the early ages," says Bishop Fell, -"was the license of fiction, and so prone the facility of believing, -that the credibility of history has been gravely embarrassed thereby; -and not only the secular world, but the Church of God, has reason to -complain of its mythical periods."[9] - -[Footnote 9: Tanta fuit primis seculis fingendi licentia, tam prona in -credendo facilitas, ut rerum gestarum fides graviter exinde laboraverit, -nec orbis tantum terrarum sed et Dei ecclesia de temporibus suis -mythicis merito queratur.] - -It is not in the interest of criticism, much less of a wilful -iconoclasm, from which my whole nature revolts, but of Christian faith, -that I advocate the supposition of a mythical element in the New -Testament. I am well aware that in this advocacy I shall lack the -consent of many good people who identify the cause of religion with its -accidents, and fancy that the sanctuary is in danger when a blind is -raised to let in new light. I respect the piety that clings to idols -which Truth has outgrown, as Paul at Athens respected the religion which -worshipped ignorantly the unknown God. But Truth once seen will draw -piety after it, and new sanctities will replace the old. No Protestant -in these days feels himself bound to accept as history the -ecclesiastical legends of the post-apostolic age. Some of them are quite -as significant as some of those embodied in the canon; but no Protestant -scruples to reject as spurious the story of the caldron of boiling oil -into which St. John was thrown by order of the Emperor Domitian, and -from which he escaped unharmed, or that of the lioness which licked the -feet of Thecla in the circus at Antioch, or Peter's encounter with -Christ in the suburbs of Rome. If we talk of evidence, I do not see but -the miracles said to be performed by the relics of martyrs at Milan, -attested by St. Augustine, and those of St. Cuthbert of Durham, attested -by the venerable Bede, are as well substantiated as the opening of the -prison doors and the liberation of the Apostles by an angel, attested by -Luke. The Church of Rome makes no such distinction between the first and -the following centuries: she indorses the miracles of all alike. But -modern Protestantism draws a line of sharp separation between the -apostolic and the post-apostolic ages. On the farther side the portents -are all genuine historic facts: on the hither side they are all -figments. While John the Evangelist, the last of the twelve, yet -breathed, a miracle was still possible: his breath departed, it became -an impossibility for evermore. And yet when Conyers Middleton first ran -this line between the ages, and published his refutation of the claim of -continued miraculous power in the Church, religious sensibility -experienced a shock as great as that inflicted in our day by Strauss, -and resented with equal indignation the affront to Christian faith. The -author of the "Free Inquiry" published in 1748 was assailed by -opponents, who "insinuate" he tells us "fears and jealousies of I know -not what consequences dangerous to Christianity, ruinous to the faith of -history, and introductive of universal scepticism." The larger work had -been preceded by an "Introductory Discourse" put forth as a feeler of -the public pulse; for "I began," he says, "to think it a duty which -candor and prudence prescribed, not to alarm the public at once with an -argument so strange and so little understood, nor to hazard an -experiment so big with consequences till I had at first given out some -sketch or general plan of what I was projecting." The experiment which -required such careful preparation was to ascertain how far the English -public in the middle of the eighteenth century would bear to have it -said that the miracles affirmed by Augustine and Chrysostom and Jerome, -as occurring in their day, were not as worthy of credit as any of the -wonders recorded in the New Testament. Up to that time, English -Protestants as well as Romanists had given equal credence to both, and -esteemed the former as essential to Christian faith as the latter. Men -like Waterland and Dodwell and Archbishop Tillotson held that miracles -continued in the Church until the close of the third century, and were -even occasionally witnessed in the fourth. Whiston, the consistent -Arian, maintained their continuance up to the establishment of the -Athanasian doctrine in 381, and "that as soon as the Church became -Athanasian, antichristian, and popish, they ceased immediately; and the -Devil lent it his own cheating and fatal powers instead." - -To me, I confess, the position of the Church of Rome in this matter -seems less indefensible than that of Middleton and modern Protestantism. -Either deny the possibility of miracles altogether to finite powers, or -admit their possibility in the second century, and the third century, as -well as the first, and in all centuries whenever a worthy occasion -demands such agency. I can see no reason for separating, as Middleton -does, the age of the Apostles from all succeeding. Had he drawn the line -between the miracles of Christ and those ascribed to his followers, the -principle of division would have been more intelligible, and more -admissible on the ground of ecclesiastical orthodoxy. - - * * * * * - -But the question here is not of the possibility or probability of -miracles, as such, in one age rather than another. It is a question -simply of Biblical interpretation,--whether the literal sense of the -record is in every case the true sense, whether history or fiction is -the key to certain Scriptures. Those who insist on the verbal -inspiration of the New Testament will be apt to likewise insist on the -literal historic sense of every part of every narrative. And yet that -mode of interpretation is by no means a necessary consequence or logical -outcome of that theory. Origen believed in the verbal inspiration of the -Old Testament, but Origen did not accept in their literal sense the -Hebrew theophanies: he allegorized whatever seemed to him to degrade the -idea of God. The Spirit can utter itself in fiction as well as fact, and -in communicating with Oriental minds was quite as likely to do so. And -surely, for those who reject the notion of verbal inspiration, the way -is open, in perfect consistency with Christian faith, for such -interpretation as reason may approve or the credit of the record be -thought to require. The credit of the record will sometimes require an -allegorical interpretation instead of a literal one. - -It is a childish limitation which in reading stories can feel no -interest in any thing but fact; and a childish misconception which -supposes that where the form is narrative, historic fact must needs be -the substance. Recount to a little child a fable of Pilpay or Ćsop, and -his questions betray his inability to apprehend it otherwise than as -literal fact. He has no doubt of the truth of the story; "what did the -lion say then?" he asks; and "what did the fox do next?" The maturer -mind has also no doubt of the truth of the story, but sees that its -truth is the moral it embodies. Of many of the Gospel stories the moral -contained in them is the real truth. In the height of our late civil war -there appeared in a popular journal a story entitled "A Man without a -Country," related with such artistic verisimilitude, such minuteness of -detail, such grave official references, that many who read it not once -suspected the clever invention, and felt themselves somewhat aggrieved -when apprised that fiction, not fact, had conveyed the moral intended by -the genial author. But those who saw from the first through the veil of -fiction the needful truth and the patriotic intent were not less edified -than if they had believed the characters real, and every incident -vouched by contemporary record. The story of William Tell was once -universally received as authentic history: it was written in the hearts -of the people of Uri, and so religiously were all its incidents -cherished, that when a book appeared discrediting the sacred tradition -it was publicly burned by the hangman at Altorf. For five centuries the -chapel on the shore of the Lake of the Four Cantons has commemorated a -hero whose very existence is now questioned, of whom contemporary annals -know nothing, of whose tyrant Gessler the well-kept records of the -Canton exhibit no trace, whose apple placed as a mark for the father's -arrow on the head of his child is proved to have done a foregone service -in an elder Danish tale. The story resolves itself into an idea. That -idea is all that concerns us; and that idea survives, inexpugnable to -criticism, a truth for evermore. In the world of ideas there is still a -William Tell who defied the tyrant at Altorf, and slew him at Küsnacht, -and whose image will live while the mountains stand that gave it birth. - -And so all that is memorable out of the past, all that tradition has -preserved, the veritable facts of history as well as the myths of -legendary lore, pass finally into ideas. Only as ideas they survive, -only as ideas have they any abiding value. The anecdote recorded of -Aristides--his writing his own name at the request of an ignorant -citizen on the shell that should condemn him--embodies a noble idea -which has floated down to us from the head-waters of Grecian history. Do -we care to know the evidence on which it rests? If by critical -investigation the fact were made doubtful, would that doubt at all -impair the truth of the idea? The story of Damon and Pythias, reported -by Valerius Maximus, for aught that we know, may be a myth: suppose it -could be proved to be so, the truth that is in it would be none the less -precious. We do not receive it on the faith of the historian, but on the -faith of its own intrinsic beauty. There is scarcely a fact in the -annals of mankind so vouched and ascertained as to be beyond the reach -of historic doubt, if any delver in ancient documents, or curious -sceptic, shall see fit to call it in question. But, however the fact may -be questioned, the idea remains. We have lived to see apologies for -Judas Iscariot, and the literary rehabilitation of Henry VIII. But Judas -is none the less, in popular tradition, the typical traitor, the -impersonation of devilish malice; and Henry VIII. is no less the -remorseless tyrant whose will was his God. When Napoleon I. pronounced -all history a fable agreed on, he reasoned better perhaps than he knew. -The agreement is the thing essential; but that agreement is never -complete, is never final. Every original writer of history finds -something to qualify, and often something to reverse, in the judgment of -his predecessors. How can it be otherwise, when even eye-witnesses -disagree in their observation and report of the same transaction; when -even in a matter so recent as the siege of Paris, or the conflagration -of Chicago, the verification of facts is embarrassed by contradictory -accounts? The best that history yields to philosophic thought is not -facts, but ideas. These are all that remain at last when the tale is -told,--all, at least, that the mind can appropriate, all that profits in -historical studies, the intellectual harvest of the past. A fact means -nothing until thought has transmuted it into itself: its value is simply -the idea it subtends. Homer's heroes are as true in this sense as those -of Plutarch. Ajax and Hector are as real to me as Cimon or Lysander; Don -Quixote's battle with the windmills which Cervantes imagined is as real -as the battle of Lepanto in which Cervantes fought; and Shakespeare's -Hamlet is incomparably more real than the Prince of Denmark whom Saxo -Grammaticus chronicles. - -I do not underrate the importance of facts on their own historic plane. -The historian, as annalist, is bound by the rules of his craft with -conscientious investigation to ascertain, substantiate, and establish, -if he can, the precise facts of the period he explores. I only contend -that historic truth is not the only truth; that a fact,--if I may use -that term in this connection for want of a better,--that a fact which is -not historically true may yet be true on a higher plane than that of -history, true to reason, to moral and religious sentiment and human -need. The story of Christ's temptation is none the less true, but a -great deal more so, when the narrative which embodies the interior -psychological fact is conceived as myth, than when it is interpreted as -veritable history. The truth that concerns us is that the Son of Man -"was tempted in all points as we are," not that he was taken by the -Devil and set on a pinnacle of the Temple, and thence spirited away -"into an exceeding high mountain." - -We have now attained a point of view from which to estimate on the one -hand the real import of what I have ventured to call the myths of the -New Testament, and on the other hand to overrule the petulant radicalism -which, not distinguishing truth of idea from truth of fact, contemns -these legends, and perhaps contemns the Gospel, on their account. I have -wished to show how unessential it is to the right enjoyment or -profitable use of those portions of the record that we receive them as -fact; to show that, if we seize and appropriate the idea, those -narratives are quite as edifying from a mythical as from an historical -point of view; in other words, that the Holy Spirit may and does -instruct by fiction as well as fact. If I am asked to draw the line -which separates fact from fiction, or to fix the criterion by which to -discriminate the one from the other, I answer that I do not pretend to -decide this point for myself, much less should I presume to attempt to -settle it for others. I am not disposed to dogmatize on the subject. It -is a matter in which each must judge for himself. I will only say that -for myself I do not place the line of demarcation between miracle and -the unmiraculous, for the reason that it seems to me, as I said before, -unphilosophical to make our every-day experience of the limits of human -power and the capabilities of nature an absolute standard by which to -measure the possible scope of the one or the other. - -I content myself with a single illustration of what I regard as a -mythical formation. My example is the story known as "The Annunciation." -Luke alone, of all the evangelists, records the tale. The angel Gabriel -is sent to a virgin named Mary, and surprises her with the tidings, -"Thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son, and shalt -call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of -the Highest. And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his -father David. And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and -of his kingdom there shall be no end." This beautiful legend, the most -beautiful, I think, of all the legends connected with the birth of -Christ, the favorite theme of Christian art, so lovingly handled by Fra -Angelico, by Correggio, Raphael, Titian, Andrea del Sarto, and a host of -others, is best understood as a Jewish-Christian conception, taking an -historic form and "shaped into a fact." The legend represents the -humility and faith of a pious maiden communing with the heavenly -Presence, drawing to herself divine revelations of grace and promise, -and thus sanctioning the hope so dear to every Jewish maiden,--that of -becoming the mother of the Messiah. The sudden inspiration of that hope -is the angel of the Annunciation. - -A word more. How far is our idea of Christ affected by a mode of -interpretation which supposes a mingling of mythical with historic -elements in the Gospel record? That idea is based on the representations -of the evangelists. Will not our confidence in those representations be -impaired by this view of their contents? I see no cause to apprehend a -result so distressing to Christian faith. The mythical interpretation of -certain portions of the Gospel has no appreciable bearing on the -character of Christ. The impartial reader of the record must see that -the evangelists did not invent that character; they did not make the -Jesus of their story; on the contrary, it was he that made them. It is a -true saying that only a Christ could invent a Christ. The Christ of -history is a true reflection of the image which Jesus of Nazareth -imprinted on the mind of his contemporaries. In that image the spiritual -greatness, the moral perfection, are not more conspicuous than the -well-defined individuality which permeates the story, and which no -genius could invent. - -If the Christ of the Church, of Christian faith, is, as some will have -it, an ideal being, it was Jesus of Nazareth who made the ideal. The -ideal in him is simply the result of that disengagement from the earthly -vestiture which death and distance work in all who live in history. By -the very necessity of its function, history idealizes. The historic -figure and the individual represented by it, though inseparably one in -substance, are not so identical in outline that the one exactly covers -the other, no more and no less. The individual is the bodily presence as -it dwells in space; the historic figure is the image of himself which -the individual stamps on his time, and, so far as his record reaches, on -all succeeding time,--his import to human kind. That image is a -veritable portrait, but not in the sense of a _fac-simile_. A material -portrait, a portrait painted with hands, if the painter understands his -art, is not a _fac-simile_: it presents the chronic idea or -characteristic mode, not the temporary accidents, "the fallings off, the -vanishings," of the person portrayed. In the hero-galleries of -Tradition, as in the visions of the Apocalypse, they are seen with white -robes, and palms in their hands, and unwrinkled brows of grace, who in -life were begrimed with the dust and furrowed with the cares of their -time. St. Paul is there without his thorn in the flesh, Luther without -his impatience, Washington without his fiery choler, Lincoln without his -coarseness, Dante and Milton without their scorn. History strips off the -indignities of earth when she dresses her heroes for immortality. And -the transfigurations she gives us are nearer the truth than the -limitations of ordinary life. The man is more truly himself in the epic -strain of public action, with spirit braced and harness on, than in the -subsidence and undress of the closet. It is not the gossiping anecdotes, -the spoils of the ungirt private life, so dear to antiquaries and -literary scavengers, but the things which history hastens to record, -that show the man. We must take the life at full-tide; we must view it -in its freest determination, in its supreme moment, to know the deepest -that is in him. And the deepest that is in him is the true man. That is -his idea, his mission to the world, his historic significance. It is -this that concerns us in all the great actors of history,--the historic -person, not the individual. And the more the historic person absorbs the -individual, the higher we rise in the scale of being until we reach the -idea of God, from which all individuality is excluded, and only the -Person remains, filling space and time with the ceaseless procession of -his being. - -We misread the Gospel and reverse the true and divine order, if we -suppose the ideal Christ to be an essence distilled from the historical. -On the contrary, the ideal Christ is the root and ground of the -historical; and without the antecedent idea inspiring, commanding, the -history would never have been. - -It has not been my intention in any thing I have said to make light of -the record. The record to me is a literary relic of inestimable value, -aboriginal memorial of the dearest and divinest appearance in human form -that ever beamed on earthly scenes. I sympathize with every attempt to -clear up and verify its minutest details, with the labors of all critics -and archćologists devoted to this end. I rejoice in all topographical -adjustments and illustrations; in all that local researches, following -in the steps of "those blessed feet," have gleaned from the soil of -Palestine. But all this is important only as it draws its inspiration -from and leads my aspiration to the ideal Christ, "the same yesterday, -to-day, and for ever." Dissociated from this idea, the acres of -Palestine are as barren as any which the ebbing of a nation's life has -left desolate. - - - - -THE PLACE OF MIND IN NATURE - -AND - -INTUITION IN MAN. - -By JAMES MARTINEAU. - - "Behold, there went forth a Sower to sow."--Mark iv. 3. - - -That the universe we see around us was not always there, is so little -disputed, that every philosophy and every faith undertakes to tell how -it came to be. They all assume, as the theatre of their problem, the -field of space where all objects lie, and the track of time where events -have reached the Now. But into these they carry, to aid them in -representing the origin of things, such interpreting conceptions as may -be most familiar to the knowledge or fancy of their age: first, the -_fiat of Almighty Will_, which bade the void be filled, so that the -light kindled, and the waters swayed, and the earth stood fast beneath -the vault of sky; next, when the sway of poetry and force had yielded to -the inventive arts, the idea of a _contriving and adapting power_, -building and balancing the worlds to go smoothly and keep time together, -and stocking them with self-moving and sensitive machines; and now, -since physiology has got to the front, the analogy of _the seed or -germ_, in itself the least of things, yet so prolific that, with history -long enough, it will be as spawn upon the waters, and fill every waste -with the creatures as they are. The prevalence of this newest metaphor -betrays itself in the current language of science: we now "_unfold_" -what we used to "_take to pieces_;" we "_develop_" the theory which we -used to "_construct_;" we treat the system of the world as an -"_organism_" rather than a "_mechanism_;" we search each of its members -to see, not what it is _for_, but what it is _from_; and the doctrine of -_Evolution_ only applies the image of indefinite growth of the greater -out of the less, till from some datum invisible to the microscope arises -a teeming universe. - -In dealing with these three conceptions,--of _Creation_, _Construction_, -_Evolution_,--there is one thing on which Religion insists, viz., that -_Mind is first, and rules for ever_; and, whatever the process be, is -_its_ process, moving towards congenial ends. Let this be granted, and -it matters not by what path of method the Divine Thought advances, or -how long it is upon the road. Whether it flashes into realization, like -lightning out of Night; or fabricates, like a Demiurge, through a -producing season, and then beholds the perfect work; or is for ever -thinking into life the thoughts of beauty and the love of good; whether -it calls its materials out of nothing, or finds them ready, and disposes -of them from without; or throws them around as its own manifestation, -and from within shapes its own purpose into blossom,--makes no -difference that can be fatal to human piety. Time counts for nothing -with the Eternal; and though it should appear that the system of the -world and the ranks of being arose, not by a start of crystallization, -but, like the grass or the forest, by silent and seasonal gradations, as -true a worship may be paid to the Indwelling God who makes matter itself -transparent with spiritual meanings, and breathes before us in the -pulses of nature, and appeals to us in the sorrows of men, as to the -pre-existing Deity who, from an infinite loneliness, suddenly became the -Maker of all. Nay, if the poet always looks upon the world through a -suppliant eye, craving to meet his own ideal and commune with it alive; -if prayer is ever a "feeling after Him to find Him," the fervor and the -joy of both must be best sustained, if they are conscious not only of -the stillness of His presence, but of the movement of His thought, and -never quit the date of His creative moments. In the idea, therefore, of -a gradual unfolding of the creative plan, and the maturing of it by -rules of growth, there is nothing necessarily prejudicial to piety; and -so long as the Divine Mind is left in undisturbed supremacy, as the -living All in all, the belief may even foster a larger, calmer, tenderer -devotion, than the conceptions which it supersedes. But it is liable to -a special illusion, which the others by their coarsely separating lines -manage to escape. Taking all the causation of the world into the -interior, instead of setting it to operate from without, it seems to -dispense with God, and to lodge the power of indefinite development in -the first seeds of things; and the apprehension seizes us, that as the -oak will raise itself when the acorn and the elements are given, so from -its germs might the universe emerge, though nothing Divine were there. -The seeds no doubt were on the field; but who can say whether ever "a -Sower went forth to sow"? So long as you plant the Supreme Cause at a -distance from His own effects, and assign to Him a space or a time where -nothing else can be, the conception of that separate and solitary -existence, however barren, is secure. But in proportion as you think of -Him as never in an empty field, waiting for a future beginning of -activity, as you let Him mingle with the elements and blend with the -natural life of things, there is a seeming danger lest His light should -disappear behind the opaque material veil, and His Spirit be quenched -amid the shadows of inexorable Law. This danger haunts our time. The -doctrine of Evolution, setting itself to show how the greatest things -may be brought out of the least, fills us with fear whether perhaps Mind -may not be last instead of first, the hatched and full-fledged form of -the protoplasmic egg; whether at the outset any thing was there but the -raw rudiments of matter and force; whether the hierarchy of organized -beings is not due to progressive differentiation of structure, and -resolvable into splitting and agglutination of cells; whether the -Intellect of man is more than blind instinct grown self-conscious, and -shaping its beliefs by defining its own shadows; whether the Moral sense -is not simply a trained acceptance of rules worked out by human -interests, an inherited record of the utilities; so that Design in -Nature, Security in the Intuitions of Reason, Divine Obligation in the -law of Conscience, may all be an illusory semblance, a glory from the -later and ideal days thrown back upon the beginning, as a golden sunset -flings its light across the sky, and, as it sinks, dresses up the East -again with borrowed splendor. - -This doubt, which besets the whole intellectual religion of our time, -assumes that we must _measure every nature in its beginnings_; admit -nothing to belong to its essence except what is found in it then; and -deny its reports of itself; so far as they depart from that original -standard. It takes two forms, according as the doctrine of Evolution is -applied to Man himself, or to the outward universe. In the former case, -it infuses distrust into our self-knowledge, weakens our subjective -religion or native faith in the intuitions of thought and conscience, -and tempts us to imagine that the higher they are, the further are they -from any assured solidity of base. In the latter case, it weakens our -objective religion, suggests that there is no originating Mind, and that -the divine look of the world is but the latest phase of its finished -surface, instead of the incandescence of its inmost heart. Let us first -glance at the theory of HUMAN evolution, and the moral illusions it is -apt to foster. - -I. Under the name of the "Experience Philosophy," this theory has long -been applied to the _mind of the individual_; and has produced not a few -admirable analyses of the formation of language and the tissue of -thought; nor is there any legitimate objection to it, except so far as -its simplifications are overstrained and cannot be made good. It -undertakes, with a minimum of initial capacity, to account for the -maximum of human genius and character: give it only the sensible -pleasures and pains, the spontaneous muscular activity, and the law by -which associated mental phenomena cling together; and out of these -elements it will weave before your eyes the whole texture of the perfect -inner life, be it the patterned story of imagination, the delicate web -of the affections, or the seamless robe of moral purity. The outfit is -that of the animal; the product but "a little lower than the angel." All -the higher endowments--our apprehension of truth, our consciousness of -duty, our self-sacrificing pity, our religious reverence--are in this -view merely transformed sensations; the disinterested impulses are -refinements spun out of the coarse fibre of self-love; the subtlest -intellectual ideas are but elaborated perceptions of sight or touch; -and the sense of Right, only interest or fear under a disguise. If this -be so, how will the discovery affect our natural trust in the -intimations of our supreme faculties? Does it not discharge as dreams -their most assured revelations? By intuition of Reason we believe in the -Law of Causality, in the infinitude of Space, in the relations of -Number, in the reality of an outside world, in all the fundamental -conceptions of Science; but here are they, one and all, recalled to the -standard of Sense, which they seem to transcend, and emptied of any -meaning beyond. By vision of Imagination we see an ideal beauty -enfolding many a person and many a scene, and appealing to us as a -pathetic light gleaming from within; but here we find it all resolved -into curvature of lines and adjustments of color. By inspiration of -Conscience we learn that our sin is the defiance of a Divine authority, -and, though hid from every human eye, drives us into a wilderness of -Exile,--for "the wicked fleeth, though no man pursueth;" but here we are -told that the ultimate elements of good and evil are our own pleasures -and pains, from which the moral sanction selects as its specialty the -approbation and disapprobation of our fellow-men. Thus all the -independent values which our higher faculties had claimed for their -natural affections and beliefs are dissipated as fallacious; they are -all based upon a _sentient measure_ of worth which lies at the bottom; -they are like paper money, refined contrivances representative of the -ultimate gold of pleasure, but, where not interchangeable with this, -intrinsically worthless. And so the feeling almost inevitably spreads, -that we are dupes of our own characteristic capacities; that the loftier -air into which they lift us is a tinted and distorting medium, and -shows us glories that are not there; that the idea of an eternal Fount -of beauty, truth and goodness, behind the pleasingness and concinnity of -phenomena, is an illusion; and that the tendency, irresistible as it is, -to cling to this idea as something higher than its denial, is but a part -of the romance. Is this scepticism imaginary? Let any one, in studying -the modern writers of this school, compare the solid, manly, sensible -way in which they deal with every thing on the physiological and -sensational level, with their manner towards all the convictions and -sentiments usually recognized as the supreme lights of our nature; the -tone now of forbearing indulgence, now of sickly appreciation, often of -hardly concealed contempt, that is heard beneath the interminable -conjectural analyses of Moral and Religious affections,--and he will -feel the difference between the honor that is paid to truth, and the -constrained patience towards what other men revere. - -By a recent extension, the theory of Evolution has been applied to the -whole natural history of our race; and the resources of _Habit_, already -serviceable in explaining the aptitudes of individuals, have been turned -to account on the larger scale of successive generations, transmitting -by inheritance the acquisitions hitherto made good. In the training of a -nature, the world thus becomes a permanent school, the interruption of -death is virtually abolished, and life is laid open to continuous -progress. By this immense gain of power, it is supposed, all the -differences which separate Man from other animals may be accounted for -as gradual attainments; and many an intuition of the mind, too immediate -and self-evident to be a product of personal experience, may yield to -analysis as a more protracted growth, and stand as the compend of ages -of gathering feeling and condensing thought. Among creatures that herd -together for common safety, each one learns to read the looks of anger -or of good-will in its neighbors, and discovers what it is that brings -upon him the one or other; and insensibly he forms to himself a rule for -avoiding the displeasure and conciliating the favor in which he has so -large an interest. This rudimentary experience imprints and records -itself in the nervous organization, and descends to ulterior generations -as an original and instinctive recoil from what offends and impulse -towards what gratifies the feeling of the tribe: so that the lesson -needs not be gone over again; but the offspring, taking up his education -where the parent left off, accumulates his feeling, quickens his mental -execution, and hands down fresh contributions to what at last emerges as -a Moral Sense. In this way, it is contended, the Conscience is a hoarded -fund of traditionary pressures of utility, gradually effacing the -primitive vestiges of fear, and dispensing itself with an affluence of -disinterested sympathy. And the religious consciousness that visits the -soul in its remorse, of an invisible Witness and Judge who condemns the -sin, comes, we are told, from the deification of public opinion, or the -fancy that some dead hero's ghost still watches over the conduct of his -clan. - -This vast enlargement of the doctrine of Evolution, while increasing its -power, and removing it from the reach of accurate tests, alters neither -its principle nor its practical effect. It undertakes to exhibit the -highest and the greatest in our nature as ulterior phenomena of the -lowest and the least. And it usually treats as a superstition our -natural reverence for the rational, moral, and religious intuitions as -sources of independent insight and ultimate authority; and, in order to -estimate them, translates them back into short-hand expressions of -sensible experience and social utility. Nor can we wonder at this -scepticism. If the only reality at bottom of the sense of duty is fear -and submission to opinion, whatever it carries in it that transcends -this ground, and persuades us of an Obligation in which fear and opinion -have no voice, is an ideal addition got up within us by causes which -produce in us all sorts of psychological figments. If the only facts -that lie in our idea of Space are a set of feelings in the muscles and -the skin and the eye, then whatever beliefs it involves which these -cannot verify are naturally discredited, and treated as curiosities of -artificial manufacture. If our human characteristics are throughout the -developed instincts of the brute, differing only in degree, then the -moment they present us with intuitions which are distinct _in kind_, -they begin to play us false; and those who see through the cheat -naturally warn us against them. And so we are constantly told that our -highest attributes are only the lower that have lost their memory, and -mistake themselves for something else. - -It is not my present intention to call in question either of these -varieties of evolution. Inadequate as the evidence of them both appears -to be, I will suppose their case to be made out: and still, I submit, it -does not justify the sceptical estimate which it habitually fosters of -the intellectual, moral, and religious intuitions of the human mind. -For, - -(1) Though animal sensation, with its connected instinct, should be the -raw material of our whole mental history, it is not on that account -entitled _to measure all that comes after it_, and stand as the -boundary-line between fact and dream, between terra firma and "airy -nothing." That which is first in Time has no necessary priority of rank -in the scale of truth and reality; and the later-found may well be the -greater existence and the more assured. If it is a development of -Faculty, and not of incapacity, which the theory provides, the process -must advance us into new light, and not withdraw us from clearer light -behind: and we have reason to confide in the freshest gleams and inmost -visions of to-day, and to discard whatever quenches and confuses them in -the vague and turbid beginnings of the Past. With what plea will you -exhort me, "If you would rid yourself of intellectual mysteries, come -with us, and see the stuff your thought is made of: if you would stand -free of ideal illusions, count with us the medullary waves that have run -together into the flood-tide of what you call your conscience: if you -would shake off superstition, look at the way in which the image of dead -men will hang about the fancy of a savage, or the personification of an -abstract quality imposes on the ignorance of simple times"? Is our -wisdom to be gathered by going back to the age before our errors? And -instead of consulting the maturity of thought, are we to peer into its -cradle and seek oracles in its infant cries? If the last appeal be to -the animal elements of experience, we can learn only by unlearning; and -by shutting one after another of the hundred ideal eyes of the finished -intellect, we shall have a chance of seeing and feeling things as they -are. If nothing is to be deemed true but what the pre-human apes saw, -then all the sciences must be illusory; with the suicidal result that, -with them, this doctrine of Evolution must vanish too. Or if, stopping -short of this extreme distrust of the acquired intuitions, you make a -reservation in favor of the new visions of the intellect, what right can -you show for discharging those of the conscience? The tacit assumption -therefore that you upset a super-sensual belief, by tracing the history -of its emergence among sensible conditions, is a groundless prejudice. - -(2) Further, the question to be determined may be presented as a problem -in physiology, to be resolved by corresponding rules: What is the -_function_ of certain parts of our human constitution, viz., the Reason -and the Moral Faculty? Now it is a recognized principle that, in -estimating function, you must study the organ, not in its rudimentary -condition, before it has disengaged itself from adjacent admixtures and -flung off the foreign elements, but in its perfect or differentiated -state, so as to do its own work and nothing else. In order to give the -idea of a timepiece to one who had it not, you would not send him to one -of the curious medićval clocks which could play a tune, and fire a gun, -and announce the sunrise, and mark the tides, and report twenty -miscellaneous things besides; but to the modern chronometer, simple and -complete, that, telling only the moment, tells it perfectly. And in -natural organizations, to learn the capabilities and project of any -structure, you would not resort to the embryo where it is forming but -not working: you would wait till it was born into the full presence of -the elements with which it had to deal; not till then could you see how -they played upon it, and what was its response to them. In conformity -with this rule, whither would you betake yourself, if you want to -measure the intrinsic competency of our intellectual faculty, and -determine what its very nature gives it to know? Would you take counsel -of the nurse who held you "when you first opened your eyes to the -light,"[10] or otherwise study "the first consciousness in any infant," -"before the time when memory commences,"[11] and disregard every thing -"subsequent to the first beginnings of intellectual life"?[12] On the -contrary, you would avoid that soft inchoate promise of nature, only -nominally born, where the very structures of its finer work have not yet -set into their distinctive consistency and form; and will hold your -peace till the faculty is awake and on its feet, and can clearly tell -you what it sees for itself, and what it makes out at second-hand: just -as, to gauge the lunar light, you must have patience while the thin -crescent grows, and wait till the full orb is there. Still less can you -take the report of the Moral Faculty from the confessions of the cradle, -or from the quarrels and affections of the apes; the conditions being -not yet present for the bare conception of a moral problem. The most -that can be asked of an intuition is, that it shall keep pace with the -cases as they arise, and be on the spot when it is wanted; and if you -would know what provision our nature holds for dealing with its Duty and -interpreting its guilt, you must go into the thick of its moral life, -and bid it tell you what it sees from the swaying tides of temptation -and of victory. The "purity" of intuitions is not "pristine," but -ultimate; cleared at length from accidental and irrelevant dilutions, -and with essence definitely crystallized, they realize and exhibit the -idea that lay at the heart of all their tentatives, and constitutes -their truth. Am I told that it is hopeless at so late an hour to -separate what is an indigenous gift from what is implanted by education? -I reply, it no doubt requires, but it will not baffle, the hand of -skilled analysis; it is a difficulty which, in other cases, we find it -not impossible to overcome; for there are assuredly instincts and -affections, strictly original and natural, that make no sign and play no -part till our maturer years, yet which are readily distinguished from -the products of artificial culture. - -[Footnote 10: Mill's Examination of Hamilton, 3d ed. p. 172.] - -[Footnote 11: Ibid.] - -[Footnote 12: Ibid., p. 160.] - -If, to find the functions of our higher faculties, we must look to their -last stage, and not to their first, we at once recover and justify the -ideal conceptions which the expositors of Evolution are accustomed to -disparage as romance. For among these functions are present certain -Intuitive beliefs--for the Reason, in Divine Causality; for the -Conscience, in Divine Authority; together blending into the knowledge of -a Supreme and Holy Mind. These august apprehensions we are entitled to -declare are not the illusions, but the discoveries, of Man; who, by -rising into them, is born into more of the Universe of things than any -other being upon earth, and is made conscious of its transcendent and -ultimate realities. If these trusts are indeed the growth of ages, from -seeds invisibly dropped upon the field of time, be it so; it was not -without hand: there was _a Sower_ that went forth to sow. - -II. We turn now to the Second Form of doubt raised by the doctrine of -Evolution: under which it weakens our objective trust in an originating -Mind. - -A naturalist who to his own satisfaction has traced the pedigree of the -human intellect, conscience, and religion, to Ascidian skin-bags -sticking to the sea-side rocks, is not likely to arrest the genealogy -there, at a stage so little fitted to serve as a starting-point of -derivative being. Or, if his own retreat should go no further, others -will take up the regressive race, and, soon passing the near and easy -line into the vegetable kingdom, will work through its provinces to its -lichen-spotted edge: and, after perhaps one shrinking look, will dare -the leap into the dead realm beyond, and bring home the parentage of all -to the primitive elements of "matter and force." To give effect to this -extension over the universe at large of the theory of Evolution, the -scientific imagination of our day has long been meditating its projected -book of Genesis, and has already thrown out its special chapters here -and there; and though the scenes of the drama as a whole are not yet -arranged, the general plan is clear: that the Lucretian method is the -true one; that nothing arises for a purpose, but only from a power; that -no Divine Actor therefore is required, but only atoms extended, -resisting, shaped, with spheres of mutual attraction and repulsion; -that, with these _minima_ to begin with, a growth will follow of itself -by which the _maxima_ will be reached; and that thus far the chief and -latest thing it has done is the apparition of Mind in the human race and -civilization in human society, conferring upon man the melancholy -privilege of being, so far as he knows, at the summit of the universe. - -The main support of this doctrine is found in two arguments, supplied -respectively by physical science and by natural history; each of which -we will pass under review. - -i. The former relies on the new scientific conception of the _Unity of -Force_. When Newton established the composition of Light in his treatise -on Optics, and the law of Gravitation in his Principia, he conceived -himself to be treating of two separate powers of nature, between which, -quick as he was to seize unexpected relations, he dreamt of no -interchange. Yet now it is understood that when collisions occur of -bodies gravitating on opposite lines, the momenta that seem to be killed -simply burst into light and heat. When Priestley's experiments detected -the most important chemical element on the one hand, and the fundamental -electrical laws on the other, he seemed to move on paths of research -that had no contact. Yet, in the next generation, chemical compounds -were resolved by electricity; which again turns up in exchange for -magnetism, and can pass into motion, heat, and light. To see the -transmigration of natural agency, trace only through a few of its links -the effect of the sunshine on the tropic seas. So far as it warms the -mass of waters, either directly or through the scorched shores that they -wash, it stirs them into shifting layers and currents, and creates -_mechanical_ power. But it also removes the superficial film; and thus -far spends itself, not in raising the temperature, but in changing the -form from liquid to vapor, and so altering the specific gravity as to -transfer what was on the deep to the level of the mountain-tops. It is -the Pacific that climbs and crowns the Andes, resuming on the way the -liquid state in the shape of clouds, and as it settles crystallizing -into solid snow and ice. The original set of solar rays have now played -their part, and made their escape elsewhere. But there is sunshine among -the glaciers too, which soon begins to resolve the knot that has been -tied, and restore what has been stolen. It sets free the waters that -have been locked up, and lets their gravitation have its play upon their -flow. As they dash through ravines, or linger in the plains, they steal -into the roots of grass and tree, and by the tribute which they leave -pass into the new shape of _vital_ force. And if they pass the -homesteads of industry, and raise the food of a civilized people, who -can deny that they contribute not only to the organic, but to the -_mental_ life, and so have run the whole circuit from the lowest to the -highest phase of power? That the return back may be traced from the -highest to the lowest, is shown by every effort of thought and will; -which through the medium of nervous energy in one direction sets in -action the levers of the limbs, and in another works the laboratory of -the organic life, and forms new chemical compounds, of which some are -reserved for use, while others pass into the air as waste. Still -further: all doubt of identity in the force which masks itself in these -various shapes is said to be removed by the test of direct measurement -before and after the change. The heating of a pound of water by one -degree has its exact mechanical equivalent;[13] and a given store of -elevated temperature will overcome the same weights, whether applied -directly to lift them, or turned first into a thermo-electric current, -so as to perform its task by deputy.[14] The inference drawn from the -phenomena of which these are samples is no less than this: that each -kind of force is convertible into any other, and undergoes neither gain -nor loss upon the way; so that the sum-total remains for ever the same, -and is only differently represented as the proportions change amongst -the different forms of life, and between the organic and the inorganic -realms. Hence arises the argument that, in having _any_ force, you have -virtually _all_; and that, assuming only material atoms as depositories -of mechanical resistance and momentum, you can supply a universe with an -exhaustive cosmogony, and dispense with the presence of Mind, except as -one of its phenomena. - -[Footnote 13: Viz., the fall of 772 lbs. through a foot. See Mr. Joule's -Experiments in Grove's Correlation of Physical Forces, p. 34, 5th ed.] - -[Footnote 14: See Grove's Correlation, p. 255, 5th ed.] - -To test this argument, let us grant the data which are demanded, and -imagine the primordial space charged with matter, in molecules or in -masses, in motion or rest, as you may prefer. Put it under the law of -gravitation, and invest it with what varieties you please of density and -form. Thus constituted, it perfectly fulfils all the conditions you have -asked; it presses, it moves, it propagates and distributes impulse, is -liable to acceleration and retardation, and exhibits all the phenomena -with which any treatise on Mechanics can properly deal. In order, -however, to keep the problem clear within its limits, let us have it in -the simplest form, and conceive the atoms to be all of _gold_; then, I -would fain learn by what step the hypothesis proposes to effect its -passage to the _chemical_ forces and their innumerable results. _Heat_ -it may manage to reach by the friction and compression of the materials -at its disposal; and its metal universe may thus have its solid, liquid, -and gaseous provinces; but, beyond these varieties, its homogeneous -particles cannot advance the history one hair's breadth through an -eternity. It is not true, then, that the conditions which give the first -type of force suffice to promote it to the second; and in order to start -the world on its chemical career, you must enlarge its capital and -present it with an outfit of _heterogeneous_ constituents. Try, -therefore, the effect of such a gift; fling into the pre-existing -caldron the whole list of recognized elementary substances, and give -leave to their affinities to work: we immediately gain an immense -accession to our materials for the architecture and resources for the -changes of the world,--the water and the air, the salts of the ocean, -and the earthy or rocky compounds that compose the crust of the globe, -and the variable states of magnetism and heat, which throw the -combinations into slow though constant change. But with all your -enlargement of data, turn them as you will, at the end of every passage -which they explore, the _door of life_ is closed against them still; and -though more than once it has been proclaimed that a way has been found -through, it has proved that the living thing was on the wrong side to -begin with. It is not true, therefore, that, from the two earlier stages -of force, the ascent can be made to the vital level; the ethereal fire -yet remains in Heaven; and philosophy has not stretched forth the -Promethean arm that can bring it down. And if, once more, we make you a -present of this third phase of power, and place at your disposal all -that is contained beneath and within the flora of the world, still your -problem is no easier than before; you cannot take a single step towards -the deduction of sensation and thought: neither at the upper limit do -the highest plants (the exogens) transcend themselves and overbalance -into animal existence; nor at the lower, grope as you may among the -sea-weeds and sponges, can you persuade the sporules of the one to -develop into the other. It is again not true, therefore, that, in virtue -of the convertibility of force, the possession of any is the possession -of the whole: we give you all the forms but one; and that one looks -calmly down on your busy evolutions, and remains inaccessible. Is, then, -the transmigration of forces altogether an illusion? By no means; but -before one can exchange with another, _both must be there_; and to turn -their equivalence into a universal formula, _all_ must be there. With -only one kind of elementary matter, there can be no chemistry; with -only the chemical elements and their laws, no life; with only vital -resources, as in the vegetable world, no beginning of mind. But let -Thought and Will with their conditions once be there, and they will -appropriate vital power; as life, once in possession, will ply the -alembics and the test-tubes of its organic laboratory; and chemical -affinity is no sooner on the field than it plays its game among the -cohesions of simple gravitation. Hence it is impossible to work the -theory of Evolution upwards from the bottom. If all force is to be -conceived as One, its type must be looked for in the highest and -all-comprehending term; and Mind must be conceived as there, and as -divesting itself of some specialty at each step of its descent to a -lower stratum of law, till represented at the base under the guise of -simple Dynamics. Or, if you retain the forces in their plurality, then -you must _assume_ them _all_ among your data, and confess, with one of -the greatest living expositors of the phenomena of Development, that -unless among your primordial elements you scatter already the germs of -mind as well as the inferior elements, the Evolution can never be -wrought out.[15] But surely a theory, which is content simply to assume -in the germ whatever it has to turn out full-grown, throws no very -brilliant light on the genesis of the Universe. - -[Footnote 15: Lotze's Mikrokosmus, B. iv. Kap. 2, Band ii. 33, seqq.] - -ii. The second and principal support of the doctrine under review is -found in the realm of natural history, and in that province of it which -is occupied by _living beings_. Here, it is said, in the field of -observation nearest to us, we have evidence of a power in each nature to -push itself and gain ground, as against all natures less favorably -constituted. There is left open to it a certain range of possible -variations from the type of its present individuals, of which it may -avail itself in any direction that may fortify its position; and even if -its own instincts did not seize at once the line of greatest strength, -still, out of its several tentatives, all the feeble results would fail -to win a footing, and only the residuary successes would make good their -ground. The ill-equipped troops of rival possibilities being always -routed, however often they return, the well-armed alone are seen upon -the field, and the world is in possession of "the fittest to live." We -thus obtain a principle of self-adjusting adaptation of each being to -its condition, without resorting to a designing care disposing of it -from without; and its development is an experimental escape from past -weakness, not a pre-conceived aim at a future perfection. - -I have neither ability nor wish to criticise the particular indications -of this law, drawn with an admirable patience and breadth of research, -from every department of animated nature. Though the logical structure -of the proof does not seem to me particularly solid, and the -disproportion between the evidence and the conclusion is of necessity so -enormous as to carry us no further than the discussion of an hypothesis, -yet, for our present purpose, the thesis may pass as if established; and -our scrutiny may be directed only to its bearings, should it be true. - -(1) The genius of a country which has been the birthplace and chief home -of Political Economy is naturally pleased by a theory of this kind; -which invests its favorite lord and master, _Competition_, with an -imperial crown and universal sway. But let us not deceive ourselves with -mere abstract words and abbreviations, as if they could reform a world -or even farm a sheep-walk. _Competition_ is not, like a primitive -function of nature, an independent and original power, which can of -itself do any thing: the term only describes a certain intensifying of -power already there; making the difference, under particular conditions, -between function latent and function exercised. It may therefore turn -the less into the more; and it is reasonable to attribute to it an -_increment_ to known and secured effects; but not new and unknown -effects, for which else there is no provision. It gives but a partial -and superficial account of the phenomena with which it has concern; of -their degree; of their incidence here or there; of their occurrence now -or then: of themselves in their characteristics it pre-supposes, and -does not supply, the cause. To that cause, then, let us turn. Let us -consider what must be upon the field, before competition can arise. - -(2) It cannot act except in the presence of some _possibility of a -better or worse_. A struggle out of relative disadvantage implies that a -relative advantage is within grasp,--that there is a prize of promotion -offered for the contest. The rivalry of beings eager for it is but an -instrument for _making the best of things_; and only when flung into the -midst of an indeterminate variety of alternative conditions can it find -any scope. When it gets there and falls to work, what does it help us to -account for? It accounts certainly for the triumph and _survivorship of -the better_, but not for there _being a better to survive_. _Given_, the -slow and the swift upon the same course, it makes it clear that the race -will be to the swift; but it does not provide the fleeter feet by which -the standard of speed is raised. Nay more; even for the prevalence of -the better ("or fitter to live") it would not account, except on the -assumption that whatever is _better_ is _stronger_ too; and a universe -in which this rule holds already indicates its divine constitution, and -is pervaded by an ideal power unapproached by the forces of necessity. -Thus the law of "natural selection," instead of dispensing with anterior -causation and enabling the animal races to be their own Providence and -do all their own work, distinctly testifies to a constitution of the -world pre-arranged for progress, externally spread with large choice of -conditions, and with internal provisions for seizing and realizing the -best. On such a world, rich in open possibilities, of beauty, strength, -affection, intellect, and character, they are planted and set free; -charged with instincts eagerly urging them to secure the preferable line -of each alternative; and disposing themselves, by the very conditions of -equilibrium, into a natural hierarchy, in which the worthiest to live -are in the ascendant, and the standard of life is for ever rising. What -can look more like the field of a directing Will intent upon the good? -Indeed, the doctrine of "natural selection" owes a large part of its -verisimilitude to its skilful imitation of the conditions and method of -Free-will;--the indeterminate varieties of possible movement; the -presentation of these before a selective power; the determination of the -problem by fitness for preference,--all these are features that would -belong no less to the administration of a presiding Mind; and that, -instead of resorting for the last solution to this high arbitrament, men -of science should suppose it to be blindly fought out by the competing -creatures, as if they were supreme, is one of the marvels which the -professional intellect, whatever its department, more often exhibits -than explains. - -(3) But, before competition can arise, there must be, besides the field -of favorable possibility, _desire or instinct_ to lay hold of its -opportunities. Here it is that we touch the real dynamics of evolution, -which rivalry can only bring to a somewhat higher pitch. Here, it must -be admitted, there is at work a genuine principle of progression, the -limits of which it is difficult to fix. Every being which is so far -individuated as to be a separate centre of sensation, and of the -balancing active spontaneity, is endowed with a self-asserting power, -capable, on the field already supposed, of becoming a self-advancing -power. Under its operation, there is no doubt, increasing -differentiation of structure and refinement of function may be expected -to emerge; nor is there any reason, except such as the facts of natural -history may impose, why this process should be arrested at the -boundaries of the species recognized in our present classifications. -Possibly, if the slow increments of complexity in the organs of sentient -beings on the globe were all mapped out before us, the whole teeming -multitudes now peopling the land, the waters, and the air, might be seen -radiating from a common centre in lines of various divergency, and, -however remote their existing relations, might group themselves as one -family. The speculative critic must here grant without stint all that -the scheme of development can ask; and he must leave it to the -naturalist and physiologist to break up the picture into sections, if -they must. But then, _Why_ must he grant it? Because here, having -crossed the margin of animal life, we have, in its germ of feeling and -idea, not merely a persistent, but a self-promoting force, able to turn -to account whatever is below it; the mental power, even in its -rudiments, dominating the vital, and constraining it to weave a finer -organism; and, for that end, to amend its application of the chemical -forces, and make them better economize their command of mechanical -force. Observe, however, that, if here we meet with a truly fruitful -agency, capable of accomplishing difficult feats of new combination and -delicate equilibrium, we meet with it _here first_; and the moment we -fall back from the line of sentient life, and quit the scene of this -eager, aggressive, and competing power, we part company with all -principle of progress; and consequently lose the tendency to that -increasing complexity of structure and subtlety of combination which -distinguish the organic from the inorganic compounds. Below the level of -life, there is no room for the operation of "natural selection." Its -place is there occupied by another principle, for which no such wonders -of constructive adaptation can be claimed;--I mean, the dynamic rule of -_Action on the line of least resistance_,--a rule, the working of which -is quite in the opposite direction. For evidently it goes against the -establishment of unstable conditions of equilibrium, and must therefore -be the enemy rather than the patron of the complex ingredients, the -precarious tissues, and the multiplied relations, of sentient bodies; -and on its own theatre must prevent the permanent formation of any but -the simpler unions among the material elements. Accordingly, all the -great enduring masses that form and fill the architecture of inorganic -nature,--its limestone and clay, its oxides and salts, its water and -air,--are compounds, or a mixture, of few and direct constituents. And -the moment that life retreats and surrenders the organism it has built -and held, the same antagonist principle enters on possession, and sets -to work to destroy the intricate structure of "proximate principles" -with their "compound radicals." With life and mind therefore there -begins, whether by modified affinities or by removal of waste, a -_tension_ against these lower powers, carrying the being up to a greater -or less height upon the wing; but with life it ends, leaving him then to -the perpetual gravitation that completes the loftiest flight upon the -ground. Within the limits of her Physics and Chemistry alone, Nature -discloses no principle of progression, but only provisions for -periodicity; and out of this realm, without further resources, she could -never rise. - -The downward tendency which sets in with any relaxation of the -differentiating forces of life is evinced, not only in the extreme case -of dissolution in death, but in the well-known relapse of organs which -have been artificially developed into exceptional perfection back into -their earlier state, when relieved of the strain and left to themselves. -Under the tension of a directing mental interest, whether supplied by -the animal's own instincts or by the controlling care of man, the -organism yields itself to be moulded into more special and highly -finished forms; and a series of ascending variations withdraws the -nature from its original or first-known type. But wherever we can lift -the tension off, the too skilful balance proves unstable, and the law of -reversion reinstates the simpler conditions. Only on the higher levels -of life do we find a self-working principle of progression: and, till we -reach them, development wants its dynamics; and, though there may be -evolution, it cannot be self-evolution. - -These considerations appear to me to break the back of this formidable -argument in the middle; and to show the impossibility of dispensing with -the presence of Mind in any scene of ascending being, where the little -is becoming great, and the dead alive, and the shapeless beautiful, and -the sentient moral, and the moral spiritual. Is it not in truth a -strange choice, to set up "_Evolution_," of all things, as the negation -of _Purpose_ pre-disposing what is to come? For what does the word mean, -and whence is it borrowed? It means, to unfold from within; and it is -taken from the history of the seed or embryo of living natures. And what -is the seed but a casket of pre-arranged futurities, with its whole -contents _prospective_, settled to be what they are by reference to ends -still in the distance. If a grain of wheat be folded in a mummy-cloth -and put into a catacomb, its germ for growing and its albumen for -feeding sleep side by side, and never find each other out. But no sooner -does it drop, thousands of years after, on the warm and moistened field, -than their mutual play begins, and the plumule rises and lives upon its -store till it is able to win its own maintenance from the ground. Not -only are its two parts therefore relative to each other, but both are -relative to conditions lying in another department of the world,--the -clouds, the atmosphere, the soil; in the absence of which they remain -barren and functionless:--and _this_, from a Cause that has no sense of -relation! The human ear, moulded in the silent matrix of nature, is -formed with a nerve susceptible to one influence alone, and that an -absent one, the undulations of a medium into which it is not yet born; -and, in anticipation of the whole musical scale with all its harmonies, -furnishes itself with a microscopic grand-piano of three thousand -stretched strings, each ready to respond to a different and definite -number of aerial vibrations:--and _this_, from a Cause that never meant -to bring together the inner organ and the outer medium, now hidden from -each other! The eye, shaped in the dark, selects an exclusive -sensibility to movements propagated from distant skies; and so weaves -its tissues, and disposes its contents, and hangs its curtains, and -adjusts its range of motion, as to meet every exigency of refraction and -dispersion of the untried light, and be ready to paint in its interior -the whole perspective of the undreamed world without:--and _this_, from -a Cause incapable of having an end in view! Surely, nothing can be -evolved that is not first involved; and if there be any thing which not -only carries a definite future in it, but has the whole _rationale_ of -its present constitution grounded in that future, it is the embryo, -whence, by a strange humor, this denial of final causes has chosen to -borrow its name. Not more certainly is the statue that has yet to be, -already potentially contained in the pre-conception and sketches of the -artist, than the stately tree of the next century in the beech-mast that -drops upon the ground; or the whole class of Birds, if you give them a -common descent, in the eggs to which you choose to go back as first; or -the entire system of nature in any germinal cell or other prolific -_minimum_ whence you suppose its organism to have been brought out. -Evolution and Prospection are inseparable conceptions. Go back as you -will, and try to propel the movement from behind instead of drawing it -from before, development in a definite direction towards the realization -of a dominant scheme of ascending relations is the sway of an overruling -end. To take away the ideal basis of nature, yet construe it by the -analogy of organic growth, will be for ever felt as a contradiction. It -is to put out the eyes of the Past, in order to show us with what secure -precision, amid distracting paths, and over chasms bridged by a hair, it -selects its way into the Future. - -If the Divine Idea will not retire at the bidding of our speculative -science, but retains its place, it is natural to ask, what is its -relation to the series of so-called Forces in the world? But the -question is too large and deep to be answered here. Let it suffice to -say, that there need not be any _overruling_ of these forces by the will -of God, so that the supernatural should disturb the natural; or any -_supplementing_ of them, so that He should fill up their deficiencies. -Rather is His Thought related to them as, in Man, the mental force is -related to all below it; turning them all to account for ideal ends, and -sustaining the higher equilibrium which else would lapse into lower -forms. More truly, yet equivalently, might we say, these supposed -forces, which are only our intellectual interpretation of classes of -perceived phenomena, are but varieties of His Will, the rules and -methods of His determinate and legislated agency, in which, to keep -faith with the universe of beings, He abnegates all change; but beyond -which, in His transcendent relations with dependent and responsible -minds, He has left a glorious margin for the free spiritual life, open -to the sacredness of Personal Communion, and the hope of growing -similitude. - - - - -THE RELATIONS - -OF - -ETHICS AND THEOLOGY. - -By ANDREW P. PEABODY. - - -My subject is the mutual relations of Ethics and Theology. - -Ethics is the science of the Right; and we would first inquire whether -this science is a mere department of theology, or whether it has its own -independent existence, sphere, and office. Our opening question then is: -What is the ground of right? Why are certain acts right, and certain -other acts wrong? Are these characteristics incidental, arbitrary, -created by circumstances; variable with time or place, or the -intelligence of the agent; contingent on legislation, human or Divine? -Or are they intrinsic, essential, independent of command, even of the -Divine command? - -We can best answer this question by considering what is implied in -existence. Existence implies properties, and properties are fitnesses. -Every object, by virtue of its existence, has its place, purpose, uses, -relations. At every moment, each specific object is either in or out of -its place, fulfilling or not fulfilling its purpose, subservient to or -alienated from its uses, in accordance or out of harmony with its -relations, and therefore in a state of fitness or of unfitness as -regards other objects. Every object is at every moment under the control -of the intelligent will either of the Supreme Being or of some finite -being, and is by that will maintained either in or out of its place, -purpose, uses, and relations, and thus in a state of fitness or -unfitness as regards other objects. Every intelligent being, by virtue -of his existence, bears certain definite relations to outward objects, -his fellow-beings, and his Creator. At every moment each intelligent -being is either faithful or unfaithful to these relations, and thus in a -state of fitness or unfitness as regards outward objects and other -beings. Thus fitness or unfitness may be predicated at every moment of -every object in existence, of the volitions by which each object is -controlled, and of every intelligent being with regard to his voluntary -position in the universe. Fitness and unfitness are the ultimate ideas -that underlie the terms _right_ and _wrong_. These last are metaphorical -terms: right, _rectus_, straight, upright, according to rule, and -therefore _fit_; wrong, _wrung_, distorted, twisted out of place, -abnormal, and therefore _unfit_. We are so constituted that we cannot -help regarding fitness with esteem and complacency; unfitness, with -disesteem and disapproval, even though we ourselves create it or -impersonate it. - -Fitness is the law by which alone we have the knowledge of sin, by which -alone we justify or condemn ourselves. Duty has fitness for its only aim -and end. To whatever object comes under our control its fit place or use -is due; and our perception of that _due_ constitutes our _duty_, and -awakens in us a sense of obligation. To ourselves and to other beings -and objects, our fidelity to our relations has in it an intrinsic -fitness; that fitness is their and our due; and the perception of that -_due_ constitutes our _duty_, and awakens in us a sense of obligation. - -Conscience is the faculty by which we perceive fitness or unfitness. Its -functions are not cognitive, but judicial. Its decisions are based upon -our knowledge, real or imagined, from whatever source derived. It judges -according to such law and evidence as it has; and its verdict is always, -relatively, a genuine _verdict_ (_verum dictum_), though potentially -false and wrong by defect of our knowledge,--even as in a court of law -an infallibly wise and incorruptibly just judge may pronounce an utterly -erroneous and unjust decision, if he have before him a false statement -of facts, or if the law which he is compelled to administer be -unrighteous. What we call the education of conscience is merely the -accumulation and verification of the materials on which conscience is to -act; in fine, the discovery of fitnesses. - -Permit me to illustrate the function of conscience by reference to a -question now mooted in our community,--the question as to the moral -fitness of the temperate use of fermented liquors. Among the aborigines -of Congo and Dahomey, there being no settled industry, no mental -activity, and no hygienic knowledge as to either body or mind, it seems -fitting, and therefore right, to swallow all the strong drink that they -can lay their hands upon; for it is fitted to produce immediate animal -enjoyment,--the only good of which they have cognizance. Among civilized -men, on the contrary, intoxication is universally known to be opposed to -the fitnesses of body and mind, an abuse of alcoholic liquors, and an -abuse of the drinker's own personality; and it is therefore condemned by -all consciences, by none more heartily than by those of its victims. -But there still remains open the question as to the moderate use of -fermented liquors; and this is not, as it is commonly called, a question -of conscience, but a mere question of fact,--of fitness or unfitness. -Says one party, "Alcohol, in every form, and in the least quantity, is a -virulent poison, and therefore unfit for body and mind." Says the other -party, "Wine, moderately used, is healthful, salutary, restorative, and -therefore fitted to body and mind." Change the opinion of the latter -party, their consciences would at once take the other side; and, if they -retained in precept and practice their present position, they would -retain it self-condemned. Change the opinion of the former party, their -consciences would assume the ground which they now assail. Demonstrate -to the whole community--which physiology may one day do--the precise -truth in this matter, there would remain no differences of conscientious -judgment, whatever difference of practice might still continue. - -From what has been said, it is necessarily inferred that right and wrong -are not contingent on the knowledge of the moral agent. Unfitness, -misuse, abuse, is none the less wrong because the result of ignorance. -If the result of inevitable ignorance, it does not indeed imply an -unfitness or derangement of the agent's own moral powers. Yet it is none -the less out of harmony with the fitness of things. It deprives an -object of its due use. It perverts to pernicious results what is -salutary in its purpose. It lessens for the agent his aggregate of good -and of happiness, and increases for him his aggregate of evil and of -misery. In this sense--far more significant than that of arbitrary -infliction--the maxim of jurisprudence, _Ignorantia legis neminem -excusat_ ("Ignorance of the law excuses no one"), is a fundamental -principle of human nature. - - * * * * * - -We are now prepared to consider the relation of moral distinctions to -theology. In the first place, if the ground which I have maintained be -tenable, ethical science rests on a basis of its own, wholly independent -of theology. Right and wrong, as moral distinctions, in no wise depend -on the Divine will and law; nay, not even on the Divine existence. The -atheist cannot escape or disown them. They are inseparable from -existence. For whatever exists, no matter how it came into being, must -needs have its due place, affinities, adaptations, uses; and an -intelligent dweller among the things that are cannot but know something -of their fitnesses and harmonies, and, so far as he acts upon them, -cannot but feel the obligation to recognize their fitnesses, and thus to -create or restore their harmonies. Even to the atheist, vice is a -violation of fitnesses which he knows or may know. It is opposed to his -conscientious judgment. He has with regard to it an inevitable sense of -wrong. I can therefore conceive of an atheist's being--though I should -have little hope that he would be--a rigidly virtuous man, and that on -principle. - -But while atheism does not obliterate moral distinctions, or cancel -moral obligation, these distinctions are a refutation of atheism; and -from the very fitness of things, which we have seen to be the ground of -right, we draw demonstrative evidence of the being, unity, and moral -perfectness of the Creator: so that the fundamental truths of theology -rest on the same basis with the fundamental principles of ethics. Let me -ask you to pursue this argument with me. - -Every object, as I have said, must, by virtue of its existence, have its -fit place and use; but, in a world that was the dice-work of chance, -there would be myriads of probabilities to one against any specific -object's attaining to its fit place and use. This must be the work of -will alone. If chance can create, it cannot combine, co-ordinate, -organize. If it can throw letters on the ground by the handful, it -cannot arrange them into the Iliad or the Paradise Lost. If it can stain -the sky or the earth with gorgeous tints, it cannot group them into a -Madonna or a landscape. Its universe would be peopled by straylings, -full of disjointed halves of pairs,--of objects thrown together in such -chaotic heaps that seldom could any one object find its counterpart or -subserve its end. - -The opposite is the case in the actual world. The first discoveries -which the first human being made were of the fitnesses of the objects -around him to himself and to one another. With every added year his -microcosm enlarged, so that, before he left the world, he had within his -cognizance a range of fitnesses and uses sufficient to guide his own -activity, and to enable him to predict its results, together with -numerous other results not contingent on his own agency. Beyond this -microcosm, indeed, lay a vast universe impenetrable to his search, in -which he could trace no relations, no filaments of order; in which all -seemed to him a medley of chaotic confusion, mutually intruding systems, -clashing and jarring forces. On this realm of the unknown man has ever -since been making perpetual aggressions; and every step of his progress -has been the discovery of fitnesses, relations, reciprocal uses, among -the most remote, diverse, and at first sight mutually hostile objects, -classes, and systems. Natural history, physics, and chemistry, are the -science of mutual fitnesses and uses among terrestrial objects. -Astronomy is the science of harmonies among all the worlds,--of -fitnesses in their relations and courses to the condition of things in -our own planet, approximately to other bodies in the solar system, and, -by ascertained analogies, to those distant orbs of which we know only -that they stand and move ever in their order. Geology is the science of -mutual fitnesses in former epochs and conditions of our own planet, and -of prospective fitnesses in them to the needs and uses of the present -epoch; so that by harmonies which run through unnumbered ćons we are the -heirs, and sustain our industries by the usufruct, of the ages, the -great moments of whose history we are just beginning to read. -Mathematical science reveals geometrical and numerical fitnesses, -proportions, and harmonies, which are traced alike in the courses of the -stars and in the collocation of the foliage on the tree, and which -promise one day to give us the equation of the curve of the sea-shell, -of the contour of the geranium-leaf, of the crest of the wave. There is -still around us the realm of the unknown; yet not only are daily -aggressions made upon it, but science has advanced so far as to render -it certain that there is no department or object in the universe, which -is not comprehended in this system of mutual fitnesses, harmonies, and -uses. - -Now consider the relation of organized being to this system. What is an -organ? It is the capacity of perceiving, choosing, and utilizing a -fitness. The rootlets of the tree by the river-side perceive the -adjacent water, elongate themselves toward it, in a drought make -convulsive and successful efforts to reach it; while the corolla of the -heliotrope perceives the calorific rays, and turns toward their source -in the heavens. The organs of the plant select from the elements around -it such substances as are fitted to feed its growth, and appropriate -them to its use, even though they be found in infinitesimal -proportions, in masses of alien substance. In all this there is a -semi-self-consciousness, corresponding, not indeed to the action of -mind, but to that of the spontaneous life-processes in intelligent -beings. - -The animal carries us a step higher. His instincts are an unerring -knowledge of fitnesses and uses within his sphere. He seeks what is -fitted, shuns what is unfitted to his sustenance and growth, is never -deceived when left to his own sagacity, and fails only when brought into -anomalous relations with the superior knowledge of man. He lives, merely -because he is conscious of the fitnesses of nature, and yields up his -life to a stronger beast, in accordance with those same -fitnesses--beneficent still--by which all realms of nature are kept -fully stocked, yet never overstocked, with healthy and rejoicing life. - -The fitness which thus pervades and unifies the entire creation, man as -an animal perceives, as a living soul recognizes and comprehends; and to -his consciousness it is an imperative law, obeyed always with -self-approval, disobeyed only with self-condemnation. Of disobedience he -alone is capable, yet he but partially. In order to live, he must obey -in the vast majority of instances; still more must he obey, if he would -have society, physical comfort, transient enjoyment of however low a -type; and the most depraved wretch that walks the earth purchases his -continued being by a thousand acts of unintended yet inevitable -obedience to one of voluntary guilt. Man's law--the law which, in -violating or scorning it, he cannot ignore or evade--is the very same -fitness which runs through all inorganic nature, and which the -semi-conscious tree, shrub, or flower, the imperfectly self-conscious -bird, fish, or beast uniformly obeys. - -Now can chance have evolved this universal fitness, and the souls that -own their allegiance to it? Is it not the clear self-revelation of a -God, one, all-wise, omnipotent? Has it any other possible solution? -Bears it not, in inscriptions that girdle the universe in letters of -light, the declarations of the Hebrew seer, "In the beginning God -created the heavens and the earth," and "The Lord our God is one Lord"? -I am not disposed to cavil at the argument from design in the structure -and adaptations of any one organized being; but immeasurably more cogent -is this argument from a consenting universe, in which filaments of -fitness, relation, and use cross and recross one another from bound to -bound, from sun to star, from star to earth, from the greatest to the -least, from the order of the heavens to the zoöphyte and the microscopic -animalcule. In the human conscience I recognize at once the revelation -and the perpetual witness of this all-pervading adaptation, this -universal harmony. Conscience is the God within, not in figure, but in -fact. It is the mode in which He who is enshrined in all being, who -lives in all life, takes up his abode, holds his perpetual court, erects -his eternal judgment-seat, within the human soul. - -We pass to the consideration of the moral attributes of the Creator. I -have spoken of moral distinctions as logically separable from and -independent of the Divine nature. From this position alone can we -establish the holiness, justice, and mercy of the Divine Being. In -order to show this, let me ask your attention to the distinction -between necessary and contingent truths; that is, between truths which -have an intrinsic validity, which always were and cannot by any -possibility be otherwise than true, and truths which were made true, -which began to be, and the opposite of which might have been. -Mathematical truth is necessary and absolute truth,--not made truth even -by the ordinance of the Supreme Being, but truth from the very nature of -things, truth co-eternal with God. Omnipotence cannot make two and two -five, or render the sum of the angles of a triangle more or less than -two right angles, or construct a square and a circle of both equal -perimeter and equal surface. In our conception of mathematical truth we -are conscious that it must have been true before all worlds, and would -be equally true had no substance that could be measured or calculated -ever been created. Every mathematical proposition is an inherent -property or condition of the infinite space identical with the Divine -omnipresence, or of the infinite duration identical with the Divine -eternity. - -Moral truth is of the same order, not contingent, but necessary, -absolute. This is distinctly declared in one of the most sublime bursts -of inspiration in the Hebrew Scriptures. If you will trace in the book -of Proverbs the traits of Wisdom as personified throughout the first -nine chapters, you will find that it is no other than a name for the -inherent, immutable, eternal distinction between right and wrong. It is -this Wisdom, who, so far from confessing herself as created, ordained, -or subject, proclaims, "Jehovah possessed me in the beginning of his -way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the -beginning, or ever the earth was.... When he prepared the heavens, I -was there.... When he appointed the foundations of the earth, then I was -by him, AS ONE BROUGHT UP WITH HIM; and I was daily his delight, -rejoicing always before him." - -It is only on the principle thus vividly set forth that we can affirm -moral attributes of the Supreme Being. When we say that He is perfectly -just, pure, holy, beneficent, we recognize a standard of judgment -logically independent of his nature. We mean that the law of fitness, -which He promulgates in the human conscience, and which is our only -standard of right, is the self-elected law of his own being. Could we -conceive of omnipotence and omniscience devoid of moral attributes, the -decrees and acts of such a being would not be necessarily right. -Omnipotence cannot make the wrong right, or the right wrong; nor can it -indue either with the tendencies of the other, so that the wrong, that -is, the unfitting, should produce ultimate good, or the right, that is, -the fitting, should produce ultimate evil. God's decrees and acts are -not right because they are his; but they are his because they are right. -On no other ground, as I have said, can we affirm moral attributes of -him. If his arbitrary sovereignty can indue with the characteristics of -right that which has no intrinsic fitness, beauty, or utility, then the -affirmation that He is holy, or just, or good, is simply equivalent to -the absurd maxim of human despotism, "The king can do no wrong." It is -only when we conceive of the abstract right as existing of necessity -from a past eternity, and as a category of the Divine free-will and -perfect prescience, in which the creation had its birth and its -archetypes, that holiness, justice, and goodness, as applied to the -Divine character, have any meaning. - -We thus see that our ethical conceptions underlie our theology, and -that, however explicit the words of revelation may be as to the Divine -nature, he alone can understand them, who recognizes in his own heart -the absoluteness and immutableness of moral distinctions. How many -Christians have there been in every age since the primitive, who, in -using the terms _just_ and _holy_ with reference to the Almighty, have -employed them in an entirely different sense from that in which they are -applied to human conduct, and with regard to supposed dispositions and -acts, which in man they would call unjust and cruel! And this simply -because they have attached no determinate meaning, but only a -conventional and variable sense to ethical terms, and have imagined that -arbitrary power could reverse moral distinctions, or that God could -impose on man one law of right, and himself recognize another. - -We have thus seen that theology is indebted to the fundamental -principles of ethics for the most luculent demonstration of the being, -omnipotence, and omniscience of God, and for the clear conception of his -moral attributes. - - * * * * * - -We will now consider the reciprocal obligations of ethics to theology; -and, in the first place, to Natural Religion. Pure theism attaches the -Divine sanction to the verdicts of conscience, makes them the will, the -voice of God, enforces them by his authority, and elevates the -conception of virtue by establishing a close kindred between the -virtuous man and the Ruler of the universe. And this is much, but not -for many. It has raised some elect spirits to a degree of excellence -which might put Christians to shame. It has conjoined virtue with lofty -devotion and earnest piety in a Socrates and a Marcus Antoninus, and -refined it into a rare purity, chasteness, and tenderness of spirit in a -Plutarch and an Epictetus. But on the masses of mankind, on the worldly -and care-cumbered, on the unphilosophic and illiterate, it has exerted -little or no influence. Moreover, while among the virtuous men of -pre-Christian times and beyond the light of the Jewish revelation, we -recognize some few of surpassing excellence, we find not a single -ethical system, or body of moral precepts, which does not contain -limitations, deficiencies, or enormities utterly revolting to the moral -sense of Christendom. Thus Plato had lofty conceptions of virtue, but -there are directions in which his precepts give free license to lust and -cruelty; and even Socrates sanctioned by his unrebuking intimacy and -fondness the leaders and ornaments of the most dissolute society in -Athens. - -The acme of extra-Christian piety, and consequently of moral excellence, -is presented in the writings and lives of the later Stoics, whose -incorruptible virtue affords the only relief to our weariness and -disgust, as we trace the history of Rome through the profligacy of the -declining commonwealth and the depravity of the empire. We find here the -Simeons and Annas of the Pagan world, who, though with the fleshly arm -they embraced not the Son of God, needed but to see him to adore and -love him. Yet in nothing was Stoicism more faulty than in its exalted -sense of virtue. For it had no charity for sin, no tolerance even for -the inferior forms of goodness. It was the ethics of the unfallen. It -proffered no hope of forgiveness; it let down no helping hand from the -heavens; it uttered no voice from the eternal silence; it opened no -Father's house and arms for the penitent. In Moore's "Lalla Rookh" the -Peri, promised forgiveness and readmission to Paradise on condition of -bringing to the eternal gate the gift most dear to heaven, returns in -vain with the last drop of the patriot's blood. Again, when she brings -the expiring sigh of the most faithful human love, the crystal bar moves -not. Once more she seeks the earth, and bears back the tear of penitence -that has fallen from a godless wretch melted into contrition by a -child's prayer; and for this alone the golden hinges turn. Stoicism -could boast in rich profusion the patriot's blood, could feed the torch -of a love stronger than death; but it could not start the penitential -tear,--it failed of the one gift of earth for which there is joy in -heaven. - -Let us rise, then, from the purest philosophy of the old world to -Christianity in its ethical relations and offices. - -Christianity, as a revelation, covers the entire field of human duty, -and gives the knowledge of many fitnesses, recognized when once made -known, but undiscoverable by man's unaided insight. The two truths which -lie at the foundation of Christian ethics are human brotherhood and the -immortality of the soul. - -1. _Human brotherhood._ The visible differences of race, color, culture, -religion, customs, are in themselves dissociating influences. Universal -charity is hardly possible while these differences occupy the -foreground. Slavery was a natural and congenial institution under Pagan -auspices, and the idea of a missionary enterprise transcends the -broadest philanthropy of heathenism. We find indeed in the ancient -moralists, especially in the writings of Cicero and Seneca, many -precepts of humanity toward slaves, but no clear recognition of the -injustice inseparable from the state of slavery; nor have we in all -ancient literature, unless it be in Seneca (in whom such sentiments -might have had more or less directly a Christian origin), a single -expression of a fellowship broad enough to embrace all diversities of -condition, much less of race.[16] Even Socrates, while he expects -himself to enter at death into the society of good men, and says that -those who live philosophically will approach the nature of the gods, -expresses the belief that worthy, industrious men who are not -philosophers will, on dying, migrate into the bodies of ants, bees, or -other hard-working members of the lower orders of animals. - -[Footnote 16: The verse so often quoted from Terence, "Homo sum; humani -nihil a me alienum puto," will probably occur to many as inconsistent -with my statement. The sentiment of this verse is, indeed, as it stands -by itself, truly Christian; but in the Comedy from which it is quoted, -so far from having a philanthropic significance, it is merely a -busy-body's apology for impertinent interference with the concerns of -his neighbor.] - -The fraternity of our entire race--even without involving the mooted -question of a common human parentage--is through Christianity -established, not only by the Divine fatherhood so constantly proclaimed -and so luculently manifested by Jesus, but equally by the unifying -ministry of his death as a sacrifice for all, and by his parting -commitment of "all the world" and "every creature" to the propagandism -of his disciples. Though the spirit of this revelation has not yet been -embodied in any community, it has inspired the life-work of many in -every age; it has moulded reform and guided progress in social ethics -throughout Christendom; it has twice swept the civilized world clean -from domestic slavery; it has shaken every throne, is condemning every -form of despotism, monopoly, and exclusiveness, and gives clear presage -of a condition in which the old pre-Christian division of society into -the preying and the preyed-upon will be totally obliterated. - -2. _The immortality of the soul_, also, casts a light, at once broad and -penetrating, upon and into every department of duty; for it is obvious, -without detailed statement, that the fitnesses, needs, and obligations -of a terrestrial being of brief duration, and those of a being in the -nursery and initial stage of an endless existence, are very wide -apart,--that the latter may find it fitting to do, seek, shun, omit, -endure, resign, many things which to the former are very properly -matters of indifference. Immortality was, indeed, in a certain sense -believed before Christ, but with feeble assurance, and with the utmost -vagueness of conception; so that this belief can hardly be said to have -existed either as a criterion of duty or as a motive power. How small a -part it bore in the ethics of the Stoic school may be seen, when we -remember that Epictetus, than whom there was no better man, denied the -life beyond death; and in Marcus Antoninus immortality was rather a -devout aspiration than a fixed belief. In the Christian revelation, on -the other hand, the eternal life is so placed in the most intimate -connection with the life and character in this world as to cast its -reflex lights and shadows on all earthly scenes and experiences. - -Christianity, in the next place, makes to us an ethical revelation in -the person and character of its Founder, exhibiting in him the very -fitnesses which it prescribes, showing us, as it could not by mere -precepts, the proportions and harmonies of the virtues, and -manifesting the unapproached beauty, nay, majesty, of the gentler -virtues,--_virtutes leniores_, as Cicero calls them,--which in -pre-Christian ages were sometimes made secondary, sometimes repudiated -with contempt and derision. - -It is, I know, among the commonplaces of the rationalism and secularism -of our time, that the moral precepts of the Gospel were not original, -but had all been anticipated by Greek or Eastern sages. This is not -literally and wholly true; for in some of the most striking of the -alleged instances there is precisely the same difference between the -heathen and the Christian precept that there is between the Old -Testament and the New. The former says, "Thou shalt not;" the latter, -"Thou shalt." The former forbids; the latter commands. The former -prescribes abstinence from overt evil; the latter has for its sum of -duty, "Be thou perfect, as thy Father in heaven is perfect." But the -statement which I have quoted has more of truth in it than has been -usually conceded by zealous champions of the Christian faith; and I -would gladly admit its full and entire truth, could I see sufficient -evidence of it. The unqualified admission does not in the least detract -from the pre-eminent worth of Him who alone has been the Living Law. So -far is this anticipation of his precepts by wise and good men before him -from casting doubts on the divinity of his mission upon earth, that it -only confirms his claims upon our confidence. For the great laws of -morality are, as we have seen, as old as the throne of God; and strange -indeed were it, had there been no intimation of them till the era of -their perfect embodiment and full promulgation. The Divine Spirit, -breathing always and everywhere, could not have remained, without -witness of right, duty, and obligation in the outward universe and in -the human conscience. So, struggling through the mists of weltering -chaos, were many errant light-beams; yet none the less glorious and -benignant was the sun, when in the clear firmament he first shone, -all-illumining and all-guiding. - -But in practical ethics a revelation of duty is but a small part of -man's need. According to a Chinese legend, the founders of the three -principal religious sects in the Celestial Empire, lamenting in the -spirit-land the imperfect success which had attended the promulgation of -their doctrines, agreed to return to the earth, and see if they could -not find some right-minded person by whose agency they might convert -mankind to the integrity and purity which they had taught. They came in -their wanderings to an old man, sitting by a fountain as its guardian. -He recalled to them the high moral tone of their several systems, and -reproached them for the unworthy lives of their adherents. They agreed -that he was the very apostle they sought. But when they made the -proposal to him, he replied, "It is the upper part of me only that is -flesh and blood: the lower part is stone. I can talk about virtue, but -cannot follow its teachings." The sages saw in this man, half of stone, -the type of their race, and returned in despair to the spirit-land. - -There is profound truth in this legend. It indicates at once the mental -receptivity and the moral inability of man, as to mere precepts of -virtue. It is not enough that we know the right. We know much better -than we do. The words which Ovid puts into the mouth of Medea, _Video -meliora, proboque, deteriora sequor_ ("I see and approve the better, I -pursue the worse"), are the formula of universal experience. We, most of -all, need enabling power. This we have through Christianity alone. We -have it: 1. In the Divine fatherhood, as exhibited in those genial, -winning traits, in which Jesus verifies his saying, "He that hath seen -me hath seen the Father,"--a fatherhood to feel which is to render glad -and loving obedience to the Father's will and word; 2. In the adaptation -of the love, sacrifice, and death of Christ to awaken the whole power of -loving in the heart, and thus by the most cogent of motives to urge man -to live no longer for himself, but for him who died for him; 3. In the -assurance of forgiveness for past wrongs and omissions, without which -there could be little courage for future well-doing; 4. In the promise -and realization of Divine aid in every right purpose and worthy -endeavor; 5. In institutions and observances designed and adapted to -perpetuate the memory of the salient facts, and to renew at frequent -intervals the recognition of the essential truths, which give to our -religion its name, character, and efficacy. - - * * * * * - -Thus, while right and obligation exist independently of revelation, and -even of natural religion, Christianity alone enables us to discern the -right in its entireness and its due proportions; and it alone supplies -the strength which we need, to make and keep us true to our obligations, -under the stress of appetite and passion, cupidity and selfishness, -human fear and favor. - -Morality and religion, potentially separable, are yet inseparable in the -will of God, under the culture of Christ. It used to be common to place -the legal and the evangelical element in mutual antagonism. Nothing can -be more profane or absurd than this. That which is not legal is -evangelical only in name and pretence. That which is not evangelical is -legal to no purpose. The religious belief or teaching, which lays not -supreme stress on the whole moral law, is an outrage on the Gospel and -the Saviour. The morality, which rests on any other foundation than -Jesus Christ and his religion, is built on the sand, the prey of the -first onrush or inrush of wind or wave. "What therefore God hath joined -together, let not man put asunder." - - - - -CHRISTIANITY: - -WHAT IT IS NOT, AND WHAT IT IS. - -By G. VANCE SMITH. - - -I. - -In looking back upon the past history of Christianity, it is easy to -trace the existence of two very different ideas of the nature of that -religion. Their influence is discernible in what may be termed its -incipient form, in perhaps the earliest period to which we can ascend, -while it has been especially felt during the last three hundred years, -as also it materially affects the position and relations of churches and -sects at the present moment. From obvious characteristics of each, these -ideas may be respectively designated as the _ritualistic_, or -sacerdotal, and the _dogmatic_, or doctrinal. It is scarcely necessary -to add, that the two have been constantly intermingled and blended -together, acting and reacting upon each other, and either supporting or -else thwarting each other with singular pertinacity. Neither of them is -found, in any instance of importance, existing wholly apart from the -other, so as to be the sole animating principle of a great religious -organization. The nature of the case renders this impossible. -Ritualistic observances cannot be rationally followed without dogmatic -beliefs. The former are the natural exponents of the latter, which -indeed they are supposed to represent and to symbolize. Nor can -doctrinal creeds, again, wholly dispense with outward rites and forms. -Even the most spiritual religion requires some outward medium of -expression, if it is to influence strongly either communities or -individuals. It must, therefore, tacitly or avowedly adopt something of -the dogmatic, if not of the ritualistic, idea, although this may not be -put into express words, much less formed into a definite creed or test -of orthodoxy. - -A common factor of the greatest importance enters into the two -conceptions of Christianity just referred to, though not perhaps in -equal measure. I allude to the moral element, which may also be denoted -as the sense of duty,--duty towards God and towards man. It may, indeed, -be said to be a distinguishing glory of Christianity, that it can hardly -exist at all, under whatever outward form, without being more or less -strongly pervaded by the moral spirit of which the ministry of Christ -affords so rich and varied an expression. It is true, however, that the -ritualistic idea has constantly a tendency to degenerate into a mere -care for church observances, devoid of any high tone of uprightness and -purity in the practical concerns of ordinary life. It is a common thing, -in that great religious communion of Western and Southern Europe which -is so strongly animated by this idea, to see people in the churches -ceremoniously kneeling in the act of prayer, while all the time they are -busy, with eager eyes, to follow every movement in the crowd around -them. In certain countries, many of the ritualistically devout, it is -well known, have no scruple in practising the grossest impositions upon -strangers; a statement which is especially true of those lands that in -modern times have been governed and demoralized beyond others by the -influence of the priestly class, with their religion of material -externalities. A Greek or an Italian brigand, it is said, will rob and -murder his captive with a peaceful conscience, provided only that he -duly confesses to the priest, and obtains his absolution. This last is a -gross and, happily, a rare case. But, equally with the more innocent -acts, it illustrates the natural tendencies of ritualistic Christianity -among various classes of persons. In ordinary civilized society, such -tendencies are kept powerfully in check by other influences. Hence it is -not to be denied that, throughout the Christian world, devotional -feeling and the sense of duty are usually deep and active in their -influence, and that the practical teachings of Christ, directly or -indirectly, exercise a potent control, whatever may be the ritualistic -or the dogmatic idea with which they are associated. - -The ritualistic conception now spoken of offers us a Christianity which -secures "salvation," by the intervention of a priest,--a man who, -though, to all outward appearance, but a human being among human beings, -yet alleges, and finds people to believe, that he can exercise -supernatural functions, and has the power of opening or closing the -gates of heaven to his fellow-men. It is needless to say how large a -portion of Christendom is still under the influence of this kind of -superstition, or how pertinaciously the same unspiritual form of -religion is, at this moment, struggling to establish itself, even in the -midst of the most enlightened modern nations. - -Nor is it necessary here to argue, with any detail, against the notion -of its being either inculcated upon us within the pages of the New -Testament, or enforced by any legitimate authority whatever. Probably -no one who cares to hear or to read these words would seriously maintain -that the Gospel of Christ consists, in any essential way, in submission -to a priesthood, fallible or infallible, in the observance of rites and -ceremonies or times and seasons, or in a particular mode or form of -church government, whatever doctrines these may be supposed to embody or -to symbolize. Such things have, indeed, variously prevailed among the -Christian communities from the beginning. Generation after generation -has seen priests, and Popes, and patriarchs, and presbyters, without -number. These personages have decked themselves out in sacred garments, -assumed ecclesiastical dignities and powers, and sought, many of them, -to heighten the charm and the efficacy of their worship by the aid of -altars and sacrifices, so called, of prostrations, incense, lamps and -candles, and many other such outward accessories. But are such things to -be reckoned among the essentials of Christian faith or Christian -righteousness? Does the presence or the blessing of the Spirit of God, -to the humble, penitent, waiting soul of man, depend upon any thing -which one calling himself a priest can do or say for us? Will any one, -whose opinion is worth listening to, say that it does? - -The teaching of Christ and his Apostles is, in truth, remarkably devoid -of every idea of this kind. So much is this the case, that it may well -be matter of astonishment to find men who profess to follow and to speak -for them holding that in such matters there can be only one just and -adequate Christian course,--that, namely, which commends itself to -_their_ judgment! It is evident, on the contrary,--too evident to be in -need of serious argument,--that the very diversities of opinion and -practice which prevail in the world--as expressed by such names as -Catholic and Protestant, Greek Church and Latin Church, Church of -England and Church of Scotland, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, -Congregational--prove conclusively that nothing imperative has been -transmitted to us. The great Christian brotherhood, in its various -sections and diverse conditions, has manifestly been left, in these -things, to its own sense of what it is good and right to follow. Thus, -too, if we will not close our eyes to the plainest lessons of His -Providence, the Almighty Father gives us to understand that He only asks -from us the service of heart and life that is "in spirit and in truth;" -and, consequently, that we may each give utterance to our thoughts of -praise and thanksgiving, to penitence for sin, to our prayer for the -divine help and blessing, in whatever form of words, through whatever -personal agency, and with whatever accompaniment of outward rite and -ceremony we may ourselves deem it most becoming to employ. - -The second, or dogmatic, conception of the Gospel has been less -generally prevalent than that of which I have been speaking. Yet, ever -since the days of Luther, not to recall the older times of Nicene or -Athanasian controversy, it has been possessed of great influence in some -of the most important Christian nations. Protestant Christianity is -predominantly dogmatic. Under various forms of expression, it makes the -Gospel to consist in a very definite system of _doctrines_ to be -believed; or, if not actually to consist in this, at least to include -it, as its most prominent and indispensable element. We are informed, -accordingly, that a man is not a Christian, cannot be a Christian, and -perhaps it will be added, cannot be "saved," unless he receives certain -long established doctrines, or reputed doctrines, of Christian faith. - -What these are, it is not necessary here minutely to inquire. It is -well, however, to note with care that there would be considerable -differences of opinion in regard to them, among those who would yet be -agreed as to the necessity of holding firmly to the dogmatic idea -referred to. A Roman Catholic, of competent intelligence, would not by -any means agree with an ordinary member of the Anglican church equally -qualified. Both of these would differ in essential points from a member -of the Greek church; and the three would be almost equally at variance -with an average representative of Scotch Presbyterian Calvinism, as also -with one whose standard of orthodoxy is contained in the Sermons, and -the notes on the New Testament, of the founder of Methodism. Nay, it is -well known, even within the limits of the same ecclesiastical communion, -differences so serious may be found as are denoted, in common phrase, by -the terms _ritualistic_ and _evangelical_, and by other familiar words -of kindred import. - -Among the great Protestant sects the want of harmony under notice is, -doubtless, confined within comparatively narrow limits. But there is -diversity, not to say discord, even here. No one will dispute the fact -who has any knowledge of the history of Protestant theology, or who is -even acquainted with certain discussions, a few years ago, among -well-known members of the English Episcopal Church, or with others, of -more recent date, among English Independents,--in both cases on so -weighty a subject as the nature of the Atonement.[17] Moreover, in the -same quarters, varieties of opinion are notorious on such topics as -Baptismal regeneration, the authority of the Priesthood, the inspiration -of Scripture, eternal punishment,--all of them questions of the most -vital importance, in one or other of the popular schemes of the -doctrine. - -[Footnote 17: Between Archbishop Thomson, in _Aids to Faith_, and some -of the writers of _Tracts for Priests and People_; also between several -eminent Independent Ministers, in the _English Independent_ newspaper -(August, 1871).] - -Now the indisputable fact referred to--the existence of this most -serious diversity and opposition of opinion and statement--affords the -strongest reason for considering it an error of the first magnitude to -regard Christianity as essentially consisting in a definite system of -theological dogmas. For is it possible to believe that a divine -revelation of doctrine, such as the Gospel has been so commonly supposed -to be, would have been left to be a matter of doubt and debate to its -recipients? Admitting, for a moment, the idea that the Almighty -Providence had designed to offer to men a scheme of Faith, the right -reception of which should, in some way, be necessary for their -"salvation," must we not also hold that this would have been clearly -made known to them? so clearly, plainly stated as to preclude the -differences just alluded to, as to what it _is_ that has been revealed? -It is impossible, in short, on such an assumption, to conceive of -Christianity, as having been left in so doubtful a position that its -disciples should have found occasion, from age to age, in councils and -assemblies and conferences, in books and in newspapers, to discuss and -dispute among themselves, often amidst anger and bitterness of spirit, -upon the question of the nature or the number of its most essential -doctrines. Of all possible suppositions, surely this is the least -admissible, the most extravagantly inconsistent with the nature of the -case. - -To this consideration must be added another, of even greater weight. We -gain our knowledge of Christianity, and of the Author of Christianity, -from the New Testament. And, in this collection of Gospels and Epistles, -it nowhere appears that it was the intention of Christ or of the early -disciples, to offer to the acceptance of the future ages of the world a -new and peculiar Creed, a Confession of faith, a series of Articles of -belief in facts or in dogmas, such as the speculative theologian of -ancient and of modern times has usually delighted to deal with. This is -nowhere to be seen in the New Testament, although it speedily made its -appearance when the Gospel had passed from the keeping of the primitive -church into that of Greek and Hellenistic converts. - -The only thing that can be supposed to approach this character, within -the sacred books themselves, occurs in such phrases as speak of faith in -Jesus Christ, or also of "believing" in the abstract, without any -expressed object. But in none of these instances can a dogmatic creed be -reasonably held to be the object implied or intended. What is meant, is -simply belief in Jesus as the Christ,[18] as may be at once understood -from the circumstances of the case, and may easily be gathered from a -comparison of passages. In the early days of the Gospel, the great -question between the Christians and their opponents was simply this, -whether Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ or not. One who admitted this, -and received him in this character, had _faith_ in him, and might be an -accepted disciple. One who denied and rejected him, as the multitudes -did, was not, and could not be, so accepted. A man could not, in a word, -be a Christian disciple, without recognizing and believing in the -Founder of Christianity. - -[Footnote 18: Comp. Matt. xvi. 14-16; Acts ix. 22, xvi. 31; Rom. iii. -22, viii. 6, 9.] - -This explanation of the nature of the Faith of the Gospel will be found -to apply throughout the New Testament books. An illustration may be seen -in one of the most remarkable passages, the last twelve verses of St. -Mark's Gospel,--a passage, it should be noted, usually admitted to be of -later origin than the rest of the book. Here (v. 16) we read, "He that -believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not -shall be damned" (condemned). The meaning is explained by a reference to -the related passage, in chapter xxv. of the first Gospel. Here we learn -that at the second Advent, shortly to come to pass, those who, having -received Jesus as Lord, had approved themselves by their works obedient -and faithful disciples, would by him be recognized as his, and admitted -to share in the blessings of the promised kingdom of heaven: those who -had not done so should be rejected and driven from his presence. It is -clear that there is, in such ideas, no sufficient ground for supposing -faith or belief in a creed or a dogma to have been intended by the -writer of either Gospel. - -Let me further illustrate my meaning by a brief reference to an ancient -and, by many persons, still accepted formula of orthodox doctrine. This -professes to tell us very precisely what is the true Christian faith. In -plain terms it says, Believe this, and this, and this: believe it and -keep it "whole and undefiled;" unless you do so, "without doubt" you -shall "perish everlastingly." - -Now my proposition is, that this kind of statement, or any thing like -it, is not to be met with in the teaching of Christ, or in any other -part of the New Testament. Had it been otherwise,--had he plainly said -that the form of doctrine now referred to, or any other, was so -essential, there could have been no room for hesitation among those who -acknowledged him as Teacher and Lord. But he has manifestly not done -this, or any thing like this. Hence, as before, we are not justified in -thinking that the religion which takes its name from him, and professes -to represent his teaching, consists, in any essential degree, in the -acceptance, or the profession, of any such creed or system of doctrine, -exactly defined in words, after the manner of the churches,--whether it -may have come down to us from the remotest times of ante-Nicene -speculation, or only from the days of Protestant dictators like Calvin -or Wesley; whether it may have been sanctioned by the authority of an -[oe]cumenical council, so called, or by that of an imperial Parliament, -or only by some little body of nonconformist chapel-builders, who, by -putting their creed into a schedule at the foot of a trust-deed, show -their distrust of the Spirit of Truth, and their readiness to bind their -own personal belief, if possible, upon their successors and descendants -of future generations. - -We may then be very sure that, if the Christian Master had intended to -make the "salvation" of his followers dependent upon the reception of -dogmas, whether about himself or about Him who is "to us invisible or -dimly seen" in His "lower works," he would not have left it to be a -question for debate, a fertile source of angry contention or of -heartless persecutions, as it has often virtually been, _what_ the true -creed, the distinctive element of his religion, really is. The very fact -that this _has_ been so much disputed, that such differences do now so -largely exist before our eyes, forms the strongest possible testimony to -the non-dogmatic character of the primitive or genuine Christianity. The -same fact ought to rebuke and warn us against the narrow sectarian -spirit in which existing divisions originate, and which is so manifestly -out of harmony with "the spirit of Christ." - - -II. - -This absence from the Christian records of all express instruction, on -the subjects above noticed, clearly warrants us in turning away from any -merely dogmatic or ecclesiastical system, if it be urged upon us as -constituting the substance, or the distinctive element of Christianity. -We are thus of necessity led to look for this in something else. But to -what else shall we turn? In what shall we find an answer to our inquiry, -as to the true idea of the Christian Gospel? - -The reply to this question is not difficult. The true idea of Christ's -religion can only be found in the life and words of the Master himself. -And these it may well be believed, in their simple, rational, spiritual, -practical form, are destined to assume a commanding position among -Christian men which they have never yet held, and, in short, to suppress -and supersede the extravagancies alike of ritualism and its related -dogmatism, whatever the form in which these may now prevail among the -churches and sects of Christendom. - -This conclusion is readily suggested, or it is imperatively dictated, by -various expressions in the New Testament itself. "Lord, to whom shall we -go? Thou hast the words of eternal life:"--such is the sentiment -attributed to the Apostle Peter by the fourth Evangelist. Paul has more -than one instance in which he is equally explicit: "Other foundation -can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ;" while in -another place he writes, "If any man have not the spirit of Christ, he -is none of his." Jesus himself speaks in terms which are even more -decided, when he declares, "_I_ am the Way, the Truth, and the -Life."[19] - -[Footnote 19: John vi. 68; 1 Cor. iii. 11; Rom. viii. 9; John xiv. 6.] - -In such expressions as these we may, at the least, plainly see the -surpassing importance, to the judgment of the earliest Christian -authorities, of the personal Christ, of his teaching and example. We are -thus emphatically taught, in effect, that we must look to CHRIST, and -take HIM, in his life, his words, his devout and holy spirit, as the -impersonation of his religion. When it is asked, then, What is the true -idea of Christianity, no better answer can be given than by saying, it -is Christ himself; that it is _in_ Christ himself, in what he was and -says and does, in all that made him well pleasing in the sight of God, -as the beloved Son of the Almighty Father. - -What Jesus was, in his visible life among men, we learn from the Gospel -records. We learn it from them alone; for nowhere else have we -information respecting him that deserves to be compared with theirs in -originality or fulness of detail. It is not necessary to our present -purpose to enter at length into the particulars which they have -preserved for us, or into the differences between the three synoptical -Gospels and the Fourth, in regard to the idea which they respectively -convey of the ministry of Christ. The latter Gospel, it may, however, be -observed, is usually admitted to be the last of the four in order of -time. It is also, without doubt, the production of a single mind; and -cannot be supposed, like the others, simply to incorporate, with little -change, the traditions handed down among the disciples, for perhaps a -long series of years before being committed to writing. But whatever -accidental characteristics of this kind may be thought to belong to the -respective Gospels, they all agree in the resulting impression which -they convey, as to the high character of Jesus. And, it will be -observed, they do this very artlessly, without any thing of the nature -of intentional effort or elaborate description. They state facts, and -report words, in the most simple manner, often with extreme vagueness -and want of detail. It thus, however, results, that the image of Christ -which the Evangelists, and especially the first three, unite to give us -is, above all things, a moral image only; in other words, it has been -providentially ordered that the impression left upon the reader is -almost entirely one of moral qualities and of character. - -It may even be true, as some will tell us, that we have in each of the -first three Gospels, not simply the productions of as many individual -writers, but rather a growth or a compilation of incidents, discourses -and sayings from various sources, and drawn especially from the oral -accounts which had long circulated among the people, before they were -put together in their present form. But even so, the result is all the -more striking. The identity and self-consistency of the central object, -the person of Christ, is the more remarkable. Such qualities lead us -safely to the conclusion that one and the same Original, one great and -commanding personality, was the true source from which all were more or -less remotely derived. Hence, even the imperfect or fragmentary -character of the Gospel history becomes of itself a positive evidence -for the reality of the life, and the peculiar nature of the influence, -of him whose career it so rapidly, and it may be inadequately, places -before us. - -It is, however, to be distinctly remembered that we reach the mind of -Christ only through the medium of other minds. So far as can now be -known, no words of his writing have been transmitted to our time, or -were ever in the possession of his disciples. To some extent, therefore, -it would appear, the thoughts of the Teacher[20] may have been affected, -colored and modified, by the peculiar medium through which they have -come down to us. Under all the circumstances of the case, this inference -is natural and justifiable. It is one too of some importance, inasmuch -as it directly suggests that, in all probability, the actual Person -whose portraiture is preserved for us by the Evangelists must have -surpassed, in his characteristic excellences, the impression which the -narratives in fact convey. The first generation of disciples were -evidently men who were by no means exempt from the influence of the -national feelings of their people, or of the peculiar modes of thought -belonging to their class. In the same degree in which this is true, they -would be unable rightly to understand, and worthily to appreciate the -teaching and the mind of Christ. This remark applies perhaps more -especially to the first three Gospels, but it is not wholly inapplicable -to the Fourth. Indeed, the fact referred to comes prominently out to -view at several points in the Evangelical narrative,--as in the case of -Peter rebuking his Master for saying that he must suffer and die at -Jerusalem; in that of the request made by the mother of Zebedee's -children; and in the anticipations ascribed by the first three -Evangelists to Jesus himself, of his own speedy return to the -earth,--anticipations which are recorded very simply, and without any -corrective observation on the part of the writer.[21] - -[Footnote 20: The term _Teacher_ is constantly used of Christ in the -Gospels, though usually disguised in our English version under the -rendering "Master." Comp. e.g. Mark ix. 17, 38; Luke x. 25.] - -[Footnote 21: Matt. xvi. 22, xx. 20, xxiv. 24-36; Mark viii. 31-33, x. -35-45, xiii. 24-30; Luke xviii. 31-34.] - -But, whatever the hindrances of this kind in the way of a perfectly just -estimation by the modern disciple, the portrait of Christ preserved for -us by the Evangelists is, in a remarkable degree, that of a great -Religious Character. The Christ of the Gospels is, before all things, a -Spiritual Being, unpossessed, it may even be said, of the personal -qualities which might mark him off as the product of a particular age or -people. He is, in large measure, the opposite of what the disciples were -themselves, free from the feelings and prejudices of his Jewish birth -and religion. This he evidently is, without any express design of -theirs, and by the mere force of his own individuality. He is thus, in -effect, the Christ[22] not merely of his immediate adherents, or his own -nation, but of all devout men for all ages. He stands before us, in -short, so wise, and just, and elevated in his teaching, so upright and -pure in the spirit of his life, so engaging in his own more positive -example of submission to the overruling will, and touching forbearance -towards sinful men, that innumerable generations of disciples, since his -death, have been drawn to him and led to look up to him even as their -best and highest human representative of the Invisible God Himself. - -[Footnote 22: That is to say, "anointed," or _King_,--in other words, -Leader, Teacher, Saviour from sin, as the Gospels also expressly term -him.] - -It is very probable, however, that all this was not so fully seen by -those who stood nearest to Jesus during his brief and rapid career, as -it has been since. At least many, even the vast majority of his day, -failed to perceive it. And yet, to a Hebrew reader of the Gospels, the -greatness of his character could be summed up in no more expressive -terms than by claiming for him that he was the Christ; that he embodied -in himself the moral and intellectual pre-eminence associated with that -office. In this light he is especially represented in the first three -Gospels. In John, too, we have substantially the same thing, though very -differently expressed. In that Gospel, he is also the Christ, but he is -so by the indwelling of the divine Word. "The Word became flesh and -dwelt among us," and the glory which had been seen among men, "full of -grace and truth," was the glory even "as of the only-begotten of the -Father." Probably no language could have been used that would have -conveyed to a reader of the time a higher idea of the moral and -spiritual qualities of any human being. And this corresponds entirely -with the impression given by other writers of the New Testament, to some -of whom Jesus was personally known,--by Peter, for example, by James, by -Paul, and by the writer to the Hebrews. They evidently looked back to -their departed Master, and up to the risen Christ, as a person of -commanding dignity and spiritual power, and this not merely on account -of the official title of Messiah which, rightly or wrongly, they applied -to him, but for the lofty moral virtues with which his name was to them -synonymous.[23] He "who did no sin, neither was guile found in his -mouth," was, without doubt, the most perfect example which they could -cite of all that was acceptable in the sight of God. "The spirit of -Christ," without which we are "none of his," could be nothing else, and -nothing less, than a participation in Christ-like goodness; nor can it -therefore possibly be wrong, if we too lay the main emphasis of the -Christian profession precisely _here_, where it is laid by the apostles; -if, in other words, we pass over, or leave out of sight, as altogether -of secondary importance, or of none, those various and often conflicting -dogmas and forms and "diversities of administration," about which the -Christian world is so sorely, and for the present, so irreparably -divided. - -[Footnote 23: 1 Pet. ii. 21, seq.; iv. 1-5, 13-16; James ii. 1, seq.; -Gal. vi. 22-24; Eph. iv. 13-15 and _passim_; Phil. i. 27, seq.; ii. -1-11; Rom. xiii. 14; 2 Cor. iv.] - -The character of Christ stands in very intimate relations with the -miraculous powers attributed to him by the Gospels. Those powers, it is -needless to say, have been seriously called in question, as actual facts -of history, by the critical investigations of recent times. Many -persons, it may be, cannot see, and will not admit, that their value has -been affected by the inquiries alluded to. To such persons the miracles -will naturally retain whatever efficacy they may be conceived to possess -as evidence of the divine, that is, supernatural, claims of him who is -recorded to have wrought them. They are entitled to their own judgment -in the case, as well as to whatever support to Christian faith they -think they can derive from such a quarter. At the same time other -inquirers may be permitted to think differently. If the lapse of time -and the increasing grasp and penetration of critical knowledge -necessarily tend to lessen the certainty of the miraculous element of -the Evangelical history, may not this too be a part of the providential -plan--contemplated and brought about for great and wise ends? May it -not be that now the spiritual man shall be left more entirely free to -discern for himself the simple excellence of the Christian teaching and -example? left increasingly without that support from the witness of -outward miracle which has usually been deemed so important, and which is -unquestionably found to be the more commonly thus estimated, in -proportion as we descend into the lower grades of intelligence and moral -sensibility.[24] - -[Footnote 24: In illustration of this remark, it is scarcely necessary -to mention the "miracles" of the Roman Catholic Church in all ages.] - -But, on the other hand, if this be true, one who may thus think need not -of necessity also hold that the miracles of the Gospels did not take -place, but that the history relating to them is the mere product of weak -and credulous exaggeration. For, in truth, the ends which might be -subserved by such manifestations are easily understood. Occurrences so -unwonted and remarkable could not fail both to secure the attention of -the spectator, and make him ponder well upon the words of the -miracle-worker, and also to awaken in him new feelings of reverence -towards the mysterious Being who had given such power to men. Thus it is -readily conceivable, that a miracle might be a thing of the highest -utility to those who witnessed it and to their generation. But then, on -the other hand, it is not to be alleged that such occurrences are needed -now to show us that God is a living Spirit in the world; or, -consequently, that religious love and veneration are in any way -dependent upon them, either as facts beheld by ourselves, or as -incidents recorded to have been seen by others who lived many centuries -ago. And, if this be so, surely we may look with indifference upon the -most destructive operations of literary or scientific criticism, being -anxious only, and above all things, for the simple truth, whatever it -may be. - -Again, however, it is not to be denied that the possession of miraculous -power may have been for Christ himself, not less than for those who saw -his works, of the deepest spiritual import. The formation of a character -like his would seem peculiarly to require the training that would be -afforded by such an endowment. We know how, with ordinary men, the -command of unlimited power is, in fact, a test of rectitude, -self-government, unselfishness, of the most trying and, it may be, most -elevating, kind. The temptations which necessarily accompany it are -proverbial. Was Christ exempt from that kind of moral discipline, that -supreme proof of fidelity to God? Allowing, for a moment, what the -narratives directly intimate, that he felt within himself the force of -miraculous gifts, and the capacity to use them, if he had so willed, for -purposes either of personal safety or of political ambition;[25] in -this, we may see at once, there would be an end to be served of the -greatest moment both to himself and to the future instruction of his -disciples. By such an experience, the moral greatness of his example -might be doubly assured. It would be made possible to him to deny and -humble himself,--even, in apostolical phrase, to "empty" himself of his -Messianic prerogatives, in order the better to do the Heavenly Father's -will, and, preferring even the cross to a disobedient refusal of the cup -which could not pass from him, to be "made perfect through suffering," -thus showing himself worthy to be raised up at last to be, as he has -been, the spiritual Lord of the Church. - -[Footnote 25: Matt. iv. 1, seq.] - -This idea was, in fact, a familiar one to Paul, as to others of the -Christian writers.[26] Its literal truth is enforced by the -consideration of the strange improbability that one by birth a Galilean -peasant, without any special gifts or powers to recommend him to the -notice of his people, should yet be acknowledged by many of them as the -promised Messiah; should, in spite of an ignominious death, be accepted -in that character by multitudes; and finally, in the same or a still -higher character, should acquire the love and reverential homage of half -the world. - -[Footnote 26: 2 Cor. viii. 9; Eph. i. 20-23; Phil. ii. 5-11; Heb. ii. 9, -10, 18; 1 Pet. ii. 21.] - -And yet it may remain true that, as time passes, this consideration -shall lose much of its weight, in the judgment of increasing numbers of -earnest inquirers. They, accordingly, will cease to place reliance on -the outward material sign. Jesus, nevertheless, may still be to them as -an honored Master and Friend, whose name they would gladly cherish, for -what he is in himself. To those who thus think his character and words -will appeal by their own intrinsic worth. He will be Teacher, Saviour, -Spiritual Lord, simply by the inherent grace and truth spoken of by the -Evangelist of old. - -If this be the destined end, we may gladly acknowledge the providential -guiding even in this; and we shall certainly guard ourselves against -judging harsh or uncharitable judgment in reference to those who on this -subject may not see as we see, or feel as we feel;--who, nevertheless, -in thought and deed and aspiration, may not be less faithful to Truth -and Right, or less loyally obedient to all that is seen to be highest -and best in Christ himself. - - -III. - -Christ, then, I repeat, thus standing before us in the Evangelical -records of his ministry, is the impersonation of his religion. What we -see in Him is Christianity. Or, if it be not so, where else shall we -look with the hope to find it? Who else has ever had a true _authority_ -to place before us a more perfect idea, or to tell us more exactly what -the Gospel is? The _Church_, indeed, some will interpose, has such -authority! But examine this statement, and its untenable character -speedily appears. The Church at any given moment is, and has been, -simply a body of fallible mortals, like ourselves. If the Christian men -of this present day cannot suppose themselves to be preserved from -intellectual error in matters of religion, neither can we think the -Christian men of the past to have been more highly privileged. In fact, -it must be added, as we ascend into the darker periods of Church -history, we come upon the most undeniable traces of ignorance, -misunderstanding, worldliness and folly, on the part of the -ecclesiastics of the early and the middle ages, such as deprive their -judgments on the subject before us of all right or claim to unquestioned -acceptance. Let any one read, for example, the accounts given by -trustworthy historians[27] of that great assembly of the Church which -produced the Nicene Creed. Will any one allege that in the passion and -prejudice, the smallness of knowledge, the subtlety of speculation, and -narrowness of heart, pervading the majority of that assembly, the Divine -Spirit was peculiarly present to dictate or guide the decision arrived -at, and make it worthy of the blind adhesion of future Christian -generations? And, if we cannot thus admit the peculiar idea of -Christianity _there_ approved, it will surely be in vain to look to any -similar quarter, either of the past or of the present, for what shall -supersede the living "grace and truth," seen in Christ himself. - -[Footnote 27: E.g., in Dean Stanley's _History of the Eastern Church_.] - -This conclusion is greatly strengthened by the briefest reference to the -negative results of unbelief and irreligion, so prevalent in those -countries which have been the longest under the influence of the old -ritualistic idea of the Church and the priesthood. Positively speaking, -this idea, it is needless to add, has largely failed in almost every -thing except the encouragement among the people of the grossest -superstitions[28]--superstitions of which there is no trace whatever in -immediate connection with the Christian Master. Not, however, to dwell -in detail on this unpromising theme, let us rather turn to the -considerations by which our leading position may be confirmed; from -which too we may learn that a better future is yet in store for us. - -[Footnote 28: A good authority has recently observed, "Catholicism, -substituted for Christ, has turned the thought of Southern Europe to -simple Infidelity, if not to Atheism; let us take heed that -Protestantism does not bring about the same thing in another way in the -North."--Bishop Ewing, in a _Letter_ to the Spectator newspaper, April -8, 1870. The remark here quoted is of much wider application than the -Bishop himself would probably admit!] - -The experience of past ages, the existing sectarian divisions of -Christendom, the errors and superstitions involved in the grosser -assumptions of Church authority, all unite to compel us to the -conclusion of the essentially erroneous character of the old ritualistic -and dogmatic conceptions of the nature of the Gospel. They show us not -only that dogmas and rites about which the most earnest men are so -utterly at variance cannot possibly be of the essence of Christianity, -but further that the latter is nowhere to be found except in Him whom in -spite of diversities all alike agree to hold in honor. And, in truth, -his life, brief and fleeting as it was, may well be said to constitute -the Christian revelation. That it does so, and was intended to do so, -may, as already observed, be seen better in our day, than it was by the -earliest disciples. Their thoughts were preoccupied, their vision -obscured, by various influences which prevented them from clearly -discerning the one thing needful. The temporal kingdom of their Master -for which they were, many of them, so eagerly looking; his speedy return -to judge the world,--an expectation of which there are so many traces in -Gospels and Epistles alike; the great and urgent question of the Law and -its claims, with that of the admission of the Gentiles to the faith of -Christ without the previous adoption of Judaism;--such thoughts and such -cares as these largely engaged and filled the minds of the disciples, -within the limits of the period to which the origin of the principal New -Testament books must be assigned. After the close of that period, fresh -subjects of controversial interest continually arose, until these were -gradually overshadowed by the rising authority of the Church and the -later growth of sacerdotal power, followed in due course of time by the -grosser corruptions of the primitive Gospel which marked the -Christianity of the darker ages, and which have by no means as yet spent -their power. Thus has it pleased the Great Disposer that men should be -led forward to truth and light through error and darkness. Even as the -Hebrews of old were gradually brought by many centuries of experience, -and in the midst of imperfections and backslidings innumerable, to their -final recognition of the One Jehovah, so have the Christian generations -been slowly learning and unlearning according as their own condition and -capacities allowed. Thus the great development has been running its -destined course, and will doubtless conduct us eventually to yet better -and truer ideas of what the Almighty purposes had, in Christ, really -designed to give to the world. - -To vary the form of expression, the life of Christ itself constitutes -the revelation of His will which the Almighty Father has given to man by -His Son. And that life does constitute a revelation, in the most full -and various import of this term. It shows us, in a clear and engaging -light, the One God and Father of all, the Just and Holy One, who will -render to every man according to his deeds. It shows us the high powers -and capacities of man himself; for, while and because it tells him to be -perfect even as the Father in Heaven is perfect, it not only recognizes -in him the capability to be so, but also abundantly affords the -spiritual nutriment by which the higher faculties of his nature may be -nurtured and strengthened within him. It shows us how to live a life of -religious trust and obedience to the commands of duty, and, amidst many -sorrows and trials, still to preserve a soul unstained by guilt. It -shows us that this high devotion to the sacred law of Truth and Right is -that which is well pleasing to God; and that His will is that man should -thus, by the discipline of his spirit, join the moral strength and -sensibility in this world which shall fit him, if he will, to enter upon -the higher life of the world to come. All this we see plainly expressed -and announced in Christ, constituting him the _Revealer_ in the best -sense of this term. All this we do see, even though it may be very hard -to find any doctrinal creed laid down in definite words, or any system -of rites and ceremonies of worship, of Church government, or of priestly -functions and dignities, placed before us as constituting an -indispensable part of our common Christianity. - -And it is here an obvious remark that, while Christian men have so often -questioned and disputed with one another about the essentials of their -religion; while they have sometimes, again, been forgetful of its -spirit, in their controversies as to its verbal and written forms,--all -this time they have been substantially agreed as to the matters which -are the greatest and weightiest of all. About the Gospel as embodying -and expressing man's faith in God and in heaven, and as setting forth -the highest moral law with its exemplification in an actual human life; -about the Gospel in these, which are surely its most serious and -interesting aspects, there has been no dispute. The great spiritual -principles taught by Christ, and the power of his practical exhibition -of human duty, have been constantly admitted and--may it not be -added?--constantly felt in the world, among all the sects and parties of -Christendom, in spite of the differences of forms and creeds which have -separated men from each other. - -This fact suggests a further consideration of obvious interest. Regarded -as a dogmatic or an ecclesiastical system, the Gospel is one of the -greatest failures which the world has seen, no two sects or churches, -scarcely any two congregations, being agreed as to some one or other of -what are deemed its most essential elements. Regarded as a moral and -spiritual energy and instructor among men, it is and always has been a -quickening power,--tending directly, in its genuine influences, to -support and to guide aright, and, even amidst the worst distractions or -perversions of human passion and error, whispering thoughts of hope, -comfort, and peace, to many troubled hearts. This should not be -forgotten in our estimates of the part played by Christianity in past -times, or in the judgments sometimes so lightly uttered by a certain -class of its critics, who show themselves so ready to confound the -religion with its corruptions, and to include it and them in one -indiscriminate condemnation. It should help to call us back to juster -views of the nature and the function of Christ's religion, and lead us -the better to see that these consist, not in its capacity or its success -as an imposer of dogmas or of ceremonial acts to be received and -carefully performed by either priests or people, but in its power to -strengthen with moral strength, to guide in the path of duty, to save us -from our sins, to breathe into us the spirit of Christ, and so to bring -us nearer to God. Such is the true function and the real power of the -Gospel, even though it may constantly have had to act in the midst of -gross ignorance, or of false and exaggerated dogmatic conception; nor is -it too much to say that this its highest character has not been -altogether wanting to it, even in the darkest periods of man's -intellectual experience, during the last eighteen centuries. - -And not only is this so; but, further, it is evidently not through the -_peculiar_ doctrines of his church or sect that a man is most truly -entitled to the name of Christian, but rather by his participation in -what is _common_ to all the churches and sects which are themselves -worthy of that name. For let us call to mind, for a moment, some of the -more eminent Christian men and women of modern times, to whatever -sectarian fold they may have owned themselves to belong. Recall the -names of a Fénelon, an Oberlin, a Vincent de Paul, a Xavier, a -Melancthon, a Milton, a Locke, a Chalmers, a Clarkson, a Wilberforce, a -Mrs. Fry, a Keble, a Heber, a Wesley, a Lardner, a Priestley, a -Channing, a Tuckerman, with innumerable other true-hearted followers of -him who both bear witness to the truth, and "went about doing good." In -such persons we have representatives of nearly all the churches, with -their various peculiarities of doctrinal confession. And must we not -believe that such men and women were true Christians? If so, will it not -follow that in every one of their differing communions true Christians -are to be found? Probably no man, unless it be one of the most bigoted -adherents of Evangelical or high Anglican orthodoxy, would venture to -deny this. There are, then, good Christians, let us gladly admit, in all -the various sects and parties of Christendom; men whom Christ himself, -if he were here, would acknowledge and welcome as true disciples. But -what is it that entitles such persons all alike to the Christian -character and name? It cannot be any thing in which each _differs_ from -the rest, but rather something which they all have in common. It cannot -be any thing that is peculiar to the Roman Catholic alone, for then the -Protestant would not have it; nor any thing that is peculiar to the -Protestant alone, for then the Roman Catholic would not have it; nor any -thing that is peculiar to the Trinitarian alone, for then the Unitarian -would not have it. It must be something apart from the distinctive creed -of each. It is then something which all must possess, otherwise they -would not be truly Christian; which they must have in _addition_ to -their several distinguishing doctrines,--in company with which the -latter may indeed be held, but which is not the exclusive property of -any single church, or sect, or individual, whatever. - -What then do all the Christian sects and parties, of every name, hold in -common, and never differ about? Is it not simply in this, that they -receive and reverence Jesus as the beloved Son in whom God was well -pleased? that they hold the Christian faith in the Father in Heaven, -with all that this involves of love to God and love to man? that they -accept the law of righteousness, placed before us in the "living -characters" of Christ's own deeds and words, and strive to obey it in -their conduct? that they hold the same common faith as to the presence -and the providence of God, the future life and the judgment to come? -This Christian allegiance, it is true, is expressed under the most -different forms of statement, and in many a case it may hardly be -definitely expressed at all; but yet even this, and such as this, is, by -belief and practice, the common property of every Christian man; and so -far as he lives in the spirit of this high faith is he truly a disciple -and no further whatever may be the church or sect, or forms of doctrine -and worship, to which he may attach himself. And all this, I repeat, is -most plainly revealed to us in the spirit and the life of -Christ,--insomuch that we feel the statement to be incontrovertibly -sure, that he is the truest Christian of all whose practical daily -spirit and conduct are the most closely and constantly animated and -governed by the spirit and precepts and example of the Master Christ. - -It seems strange, when we think about it, that men should have gone so -far astray, in times past, from the more simple and obvious idea of -Christianity thus laid before us. We may have difficulty in explaining -how this has come to pass; how it is that so much of the weight and -stress, as it were, of the Christian religion should have been laid upon -obscure metaphysical creeds and dogmas, the obvious tendency of which -is, and always has been, to divide men from each other, to degenerate -into gross superstition, and destroy the liberty "wherewith Christ has -made us free," and which, moreover, are nowhere contained in the -Scriptures, and cannot even be stated in the language of the Scriptures; -how it is, again, that so little emphasis should be laid in these -dogmatic formulas upon that obedience which is better than sacrifice, -even that doing the Heavenly Father's will, which--strange to tell!--is -the only condition prescribed by Christ for entering into the kingdom. - -Truly this question is not without its perplexities. But some -explanation may be found. It is the obvious law of Divine Providence, it -is and has been a great law of human progress, that Truth shall not be -flashed upon the mind at once, either in religion or in any other of the -great fields of interest and occupation to man; but that it shall be -conquered and won through the medium of slow and gradual approach, even -in the midst and by the help of misunderstanding and error. It is thus, -doubtless, that men are trained to appreciate rightly the value of the -truths and principles which they ultimately gain. In other words, past -experience goes far to show us that moral excellence and the -apprehension of truth, by such a being as man, can only be acquired by -means of previous conflict with evil and untruth, in some one or other -of their manifold forms; or, if not by an actual personal conflict for -each of us individually, at least by means of the observed or recorded -experience of others, more severely tried than ourselves. - -Thus it has doubtless been with the reception and gradual prevalence of -Christian truths and principles. Men have had slowly, by a varied and -sometimes painful experience, to learn that it is not by saying, Lord, -Lord, by confessing some formal creed, or being included within the -limits of some visible church; not by forms and ceremonies of any kind, -such as baptism at the hands of a priest, or the confession of sin into -his ear, that we may become truly recipients of the light and strength -of the Gospel of Christ; but much rather by personal communion with the -Spirit of God, by doing the things which the Lord hath said, by striving -to be like Christ, in heart and in life, active in goodness, submissive -to the Heavenly Father's will, and ready to the work of duty which He -has given us to do. - -In proportion as this conception of Christianity comes forward into -view, and assumes the pre-eminence to which it is entitled, and which is -either implied or expressly declared in the principal writings of the -New Testament, in the same degree must the merely dogmatic and -sacerdotal idea sink into insignificance. It will be seen that moral and -spiritual likeness to the Christian Head is what is all-important; and, -consequently, that within the limits of the same communion, bound -together by the common principle of Christian faith,--the principle of -love and reverence for the one Master, Christ,--there may exist the most -complete mental freedom, and even, to a very large extent, the most -diverse theological beliefs. - - -IV. - -But here I may be met by certain objections which will hardly fail to -occur to different classes of readers. - -In the first place, it may be said, the idea of the Gospel above -presented is itself dogmatic; and indeed that the conception of -Christianity as involving definite forms of doctrine is not to be got -rid of. This remark I am by no means concerned wholly to escape. -Doubtless the Gospel, as it is given in the words of Christ, includes -various clearly stated truths respecting the Divine Providence and Will, -and the retributions of this world and the next,--truths, I may add, -which are not only level to the apprehension of the human faculties, but -also in harmony with the highest dictates of the natural conscience and -reason of man. But these great truths are not dogmatically laid before -us in the Gospel. The mind of each reader is left free to gather them -for itself. They are so stated as to quicken and elevate, not to stupefy -or render useless, the religious and moral sense of the disciple. They -serve thus, in the result, to arouse in him the strength of deep -individual conviction, without which they could have little practical -value. The teaching function of the Gospel is of _this_ kind, rather -than dogmatic and denunciatory, in the manner of the creeds. It does not -attempt to put before us a ready-made body of doctrine, in such a way as -to save the disciple the trouble of inquiry and reflection for himself, -as though it would make him the mere recipient of what is imposed upon -him from without. Not in this mechanical way, either in the world of -outward nature, or in the Gospel of His Son, does the Great Parent speak -to the hearts of His children; but chiefly by awakening their higher, -devouter sensibilities, and letting them feel the force of truth and -right within their own secret spirits. No imposition from without could -fitly accomplish this divine work; and we may be well assured that no -man living, and no church or sect on earth, has a legitimate authority -to define exactly the limits within which Christian belief shall confine -itself, or beyond which belief shall not extend, without ceasing to be -Christian. Obviously and unquestionably Christ himself has nowhere -attempted to dictate his religion in such a way; neither has any of his -apostles, not even the ardent and impetuous Paul. On the contrary, the -latter, like his Master, constantly attaches the greatest importance to -the practical virtues, and to a devout spirit,--in no case making his -appeal to a dogmatic statement, or giving us to understand that he had -the least idea of any dogmatic system whatever, similar, in spirit or in -form, to the creeds of modern orthodoxy. - -A second objection may be urged by a defender of the prevailing forms -and dogmas of the churches. Such a person may say that, in taking Christ -as the measure and representative of his own religion, we leave out of -sight all that may have been contributed to its development by the -Apostles, to say nothing of their successors, and that the Epistles of -the New Testament contain much that is not met with in connection with -him. In reply, let it be observed in what terms the Apostles speak of -their Master, and of the obedience, the faith, and veneration due to -him. Paul, for example, in various forms, tells them to "put on the Lord -Jesus Christ;" to let his mind be in them, his word dwell in them -richly, to acquire his spirit, to follow him in love and self-sacrifice. -He will know nothing, he says, "save Jesus Christ, and him crucified;" -and we know how closely he treads in his Master's steps, in the -absolute preference which he gives to the Love which, he declares, is -greater than faith, and the very fulfilling of the law itself. The same -strain is held by others of the Apostles; and there can be no doubt that -Christ, under God, was constantly looked up to by them as the great -object of the faith, the love, and the imitation of every disciple. It -is true, indeed, that there are many things in the Apostolical writings -other than we find in connection with Christ's personal life; but these -will be found to belong, almost exclusively, to the peculiar -circumstances and controversies of the times succeeding his death. In -truth, they belong so entirely to them as to have little of practical -reference, or utility, beyond. Paul's Epistles, for instance, are full -of the long debated question as to the claims of the law upon Gentiles, -and the mystery which, he says, had been hidden "from the foundation of -the world," that the Messiah should be preached even to those who were -not of the fold of Israel. But these are only temporary incidents of the -early career of Christianity. They have no intimate connection with the -permanent influence of Christ; and we of modern times have little -concern with them, except only to be on our guard against letting them -unduly sway our judgment and turn us away from subjects of greater -consequence,--as too often has happened to the ingenious framers of -theological systems. Christianity, in a word, has been only perplexed -and impeded in its course, by those thoughtless or over-zealous -expounders who have insisted upon constructing schemes of orthodoxy out -of the antiquated disputes of Jews and Gentiles.[29] - -[Footnote 29: See, e.g., the Essay on the Death of Christ, in _Aids to -Faith_.] - -In all his Epistles St. Paul, in the true spirit of his Master, gives us -clearly to know what is of chief importance. After treating, as he -usually does, of the local and passing concerns and disputes which -engaged many of his correspondents, he never fails to turn at last to -speak of the practical goodness, the purity of heart and life, the -kindly affections towards one another, the reasonable service of love -and duty, by which the Christian disciple may be known, by which alone -he can present himself as a "living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto -God." In such qualities as these, the attainment or the practice of -which he so earnestly urges upon his friends, we have precisely what -constitute the most marked features in the life and the teachings of -Christ. Thus we are brought once more to the old conclusion that in -faithful loyalty to Christ, to the highest ideal presented to us of his -spirit and character, are to be found the true light and joy and peace -of the Christian Gospel. - -A third objection is of a different character. There are some things, it -will be said, in immediate connection with him whom we term Teacher and -Lord, some things in his words and ideas, if not in his actions, which -are far from being in perfect harmony with the highest truth, as known -to men in these later times. For example, when he speaks as though he -believed diseases and insanity to be caused by the presence of a devil, -or demon, in the afflicted person, are we to attach importance to this, -so as ourselves to think that such disorders are (or were) so -produced?--or shall we not rather follow the guidance of modern science, -and believe that the various infirmities which, in ancient times, were -attributed to evil spirits arose from natural causes, and that the -manner in which such things are spoken of in the New Testament is a -product simply of the imperfect knowledge of those days? - -In reply, there need be no hesitation in saying that we are bound, as -beings of thought and reason, to follow the best guidance which God has -given us, in these and all other subjects; and by the term _best_ can -only be understood that which commends itself most forcibly to our -rational intelligence. It can in no way be claimed for Christ that he -was intellectually perfect; that he did not share in the prevailing -beliefs of his countrymen, and partake even of their ignorance. Such a -claim as this is certainly nowhere advanced in the New Testament, but -the _contrary_; and those who, in our time, would bring it forward -should ask themselves whether, by so doing, they are most likely to -benefit, or to injure, the cause which doubtless they would desire to -support. Jesus himself makes no pretension to intellectual -infallibility, but lets us see, in no uncertain way, that he was not -unconscious of the limitation of his own knowledge.[30] - -[Footnote 30: Mark xiii. 32.] - -In general terms it may be added, the Gospel, when first preached in the -world, was necessarily adapted to the people to whom it was addressed. -It conformed, in many respects, to their ideas and modes of expression, -and also made use of these for its own ends. Had it not done so, how -could it have touched and moved them as it did, and as, through them, it -has touched and moved the world ever since? Jesus, therefore, himself, -and those who took up his work after him, were, in a large degree, men -of their own day, imbued with prevailing ideas and feelings, and -employing these in their speaking and preaching in the most natural -manner. Is it not even so with ourselves at the present moment? For how, -indeed, can it be otherwise? And if many of the primitive Christian -ideas were more or less erroneous and ill-founded, it is easy to -understand that, while the overruling Providence made them its -instruments for leading men on by degrees to something better, still it -can have been no part of the great design of God that misunderstanding -and ignorance should be removed by any other process than by the natural -growth of knowledge among men. They were not to be supernaturally -refuted, but left to be corrected in due course of time; and the needed -correction was and is to come even as men grow wiser and more thoughtful -and able to bear it. - -Hence, it is not to be questioned, many errors, chiefly of the -intellectual kind, attached to the early preaching of the Gospel, and -some certainly did to the words of Christ himself; just as very much of -human ignorance and prejudice has since and continually been involved in -the ideas prevailing as to the character and purposes of his religion. -As before observed, man has been made by his Creator to find his way up -to light and truth from the most imperfect beginnings, and by a -prolonged conflict against and amidst darkness and manifold error. Such -is our human nature, and the position which the Divine Will has assigned -to us. And so in the early ages after Christ there sprung up the -idolatrous worship of the Virgin Mary and of innumerable saints; nor is -the world yet free, though it is slowly freeing itself, from the -influence of these superstitions and their related errors of thought. -Successive generations inherit much of the evil as well as the good, the -ignorance as well as the knowledge, of those who have been before them. -Thus does the Almighty Father exercise and discipline his human family -in patience, in self-control, in the search after truth, even by letting -us suffer and work for the good fruits of knowledge and righteousness, -instead of giving them to the world at once without thought or effort of -our own. This is eminently true in connection with the whole course of -Christian development. In Christ's own teachings and those of the -Apostles, as time has amply shown, erroneous ideas were not wanting. -Peter denied his Master, and thought at first that only Jews could be -disciples. Both he and Paul, as well as James, with probably all the -early Christians, long cherished the hope of their Master's return to -the earth within that generation; a belief which is to be traced also, -equally with that in demoniacal possessions, in the recorded words of -Jesus himself. Other instances of a similar kind might easily be -mentioned. - -But, while all this seems perfectly undeniable, has not Divine -Providence so ordered that what is really wrong and false in men's ideas -of Christian truth shall sooner or later be seen in its real character, -in the advancing progress of human knowledge?--and therefore, if we are -ourselves only patient and faithful, each of us, to what we see, or -think we see, to be right and good, that the untrue in our ideas shall -be eventually separated from the true, however close may be the -connection which at any time may subsist between them? Such is, -doubtless, the Almighty purpose, such the all-sufficient process -provided in His wisdom for securing the training and growth of the races -and generations of men in the knowledge of Divine things. It follows, -again, that whatever in the Christian teaching, as in other teaching, -shall stand the test of advancing knowledge, and still approve itself -as true and honest and just and pure and lovely and of good report[31] -to the purified conscience and practised intellect of man, that shall be -God's everlasting Truth; that too He must have designed not only by the -word of Christ, but through the living souls of His rational children, -to proclaim to the world with the mark of His Divine approval. - -[Footnote 31: Philip. iv. 8.] - -It is not necessary here to ask in detail what it is in existing schemes -of Christian theology, or in the outward forms and arrangements of -priesthoods and of churches, that will bear this test of advancing -knowledge, and this scrutiny of the educated intellect and conscience. -Doubtless much in the popular creeds of our day will do so; but much -more will only be as chaff before the wind, or stubble before the -devouring flame. Among the perishable things will surely be the -ecclesiastical systems which vary with every different country and -church, and along with these the claims to priestly and papal authority -and infallibility, about which we again hear such angry contention. -Truly, none of these will bear the test and strain of time and -knowledge; but only those great and unchangeable principles of spiritual -truth, and those deep-lying sentiments of moral right, which are -_common_ to _all_ the different sects and parties of Christendom. These -will retain their place among the great motive forces of the world, even -because their roots are firmly planted by the Divine hand itself in the -very nature of man, and made to be a part of the constitution of his -mind; while, also, it is true, and the Christian disciple will ever -gratefully acknowledge, they owe their best and highest expression and -exemplification to Jesus the Christ, the "beloved Son," in whom God was -"well pleased." - -We may conclude then, as before, that in the mind and life of -Christ,--in his unshaken trust in the Heavenly Father, and in the heaven -to be revealed hereafter,--in his readiness to obey the call of Duty, -wherever it might lead him, even though it might be to the shame and the -agony of the cross,--in his faithful adherence to the right, and earnest -denunciation of falsehood, hypocrisy, and wrong-doing,--in his gentle -spirit of forgiveness and filial submission even unto death,--we have -the lessons of Christian truth and virtue which it most of all concerns -us to receive and to obey. In this high "faith of Christ" we have the -true revelation of God's will for man; the Gospel speaking to us in its -most touching and impressive tones,--either reproaching us for our -indifference and calling us to repentance, or else aiding and -encouraging us onward in the good path of righteousness. - -So long as Christianity shall be thus capable of speaking to the world, -so long will it, amidst all the varieties of outward profession, be a -living power for good; and vain will be the representation which would -tell us that it is now only a thing of the past, unfitted for the better -knowledge and higher philosophy of these modern times. Surely not -so!--but, rather, until we have each individually attained the moral -elevation even of Christ himself, and can say that we too, in character -and conduct, in motive and aspiration, are well pleasing in the sight of -Heaven, until we _are_ this, and can feel and say this with truth, the -religion of Christ will be no antiquated thing of the past to _us_; but -from its teaching and its spirit--the teaching and the spirit of -Christ--we shall still have wisdom and truth to learn. - -May the time speedily come, which shall see Christ's spirit ruling the -individual lives of all around us,--more truly inspiring the thoughts -and efforts of our lawgivers,--teaching men everywhere to be just and -merciful towards each other; and thus making Christianity, in deed and -in truth, the "established religion," the guiding and triumphant power -of this and all other lands! Then, indeed, will the daily prayer of all -Christian hearts be answered, and the "kingdom of heaven" on earth be -truly come. - - - - -THE AIM AND HOPE OF JESUS. - -By OLIVER STEARNS. - - -A learned Historian of the Christian Theology of the Apostolic age -observes that what most distinguishes the Jewish religion, at least in -its last centuries, is not so much monotheism as faith in the future. -While elsewhere we see the imagination of men complacently retracing the -picture of a golden age irrecoverably lost, Israel, guided by its -prophets, persisted in turning its eyes towards the future, and attached -itself the more firmly to a felicity yet to come, the more the actual -situation seemed to give the lie to its hopes.[32] - -[Footnote 32: Reuss, History of the Christian Theology of the Apostolic -Age.] - -What these hopes were in relation to the future of that people and of -the world, what the Messianic ideas and expectations were, we learn from -the New Testament, particularly from the Gospels. And we find our -impressions from this source made more clear in some points, and in all -confirmed, by a study of the Apocalyptic literature,--of those writings -of which it was the object to give both shape and expression to the -Hebrew thought of the kingdom of heaven, and of the brilliant and -miraculous events which would introduce and establish it. - -Jewish Theology in the age of Jesus Christ divided the whole course of -time into two grand periods; one, comprehending the past and the -present, was that of suffering and sin; the other, embracing the future, -a period of virtue and happiness. The last years of the former period -formed the most important epoch in the History of Humanity, the -transition to a new order of things, and was designated by a peculiar -phrase,--the consummation of the age and the last days. It would be -introduced by the appearance of the great Restorer or Deliverer of the -people of God, and of the world, whom the prophets predicted; and who -was called the Messiah, the Anointed of the Lord,--_i.e._, the King by -eminence, the King of Israel. He was to be the successor and the son of -David. The precise moment of his appearance was not known. The Jewish -theologians tried to determine the precursive signs of the near approach -of his advent. The first of these was the period of great wickedness and -suffering, marked by a particular name, the anguish, and compared to the -pangs of child-birth. Immediately preceding the advent of the King, a -prophet of the Old Covenant would be restored to life to announce it,--a -part in the miraculous drama commonly assigned to Elijah. The Messiah -himself would come on the clouds of heaven, with a retinue of angels, -and with a pomp and splendor which would leave no doubt of the fact of -his advent. He would come to found the kingdom of God. This implied the -political, moral, and religious regeneration of the people. A series of -most imposing scenes would follow the advent. At the sound of a trumpet, -the dead would arise and appear for the judgment of the last day. The -just would take part in the judgment of the reprobate, who would be -thrown into the lake of fire, prepared for the devil and his angels to -suffer eternal torture. And the kingdom of God or of the Messiah would -be established immediately on the earth, which, with the whole of the -universe of which it was the centre, would be gloriously transformed to -fit it to be the abode of the elect of God. - -Into the circle of these ideas and expectations Jesus was born. In it he -passed his life, acted and suffered; and claimed to found the kingdom of -God. He claimed in some sense to be the Messiah; and, though rejected by -his people and put to death, he has borne the name in history, and now -bears it. He is Jesus, the Christ. How did he regard these ideas and -expectations? Did he adopt them? And, if at all, how far? Did he claim -to be such a Messiah as the Jews expected? If so, then Christianity may -be what it has been called, "a natural development of Judaism." It is -not essentially a new religion. It is not an evolution of a perfect -universal, from an imperfect and partial, religion. It is essentially -Judaism still; and "the kingdom of God, which Jesus preached in both a -temporal and spiritual sense, developed naturally and logically into the -Popedom, which is the nearest approximation to the fulfilment of the -claim of Jesus. Judaism is germinal Christianity, and Christianity is -fructified Judaism." Christianity is only what is weakest and most -fantastic in Judaism gone to seed. _The fruit_ is the Roman Hierarchy -and Ritual. That which is alone characteristic of it is limited and -perishable. Jesus himself, though his ambition was a lofty one, was -mistaken in an essential point of his self-assertion; and the gospel is -not destined to be an universal religion, but only to make some moderate -contributions thereto. - -It is an important question, then,--one which concerns his worth and -position as a man, as well as his wisdom as a founder of a -religion,--What did Jesus aim at? and what did he expect as the result -of his movement? The answers that have been given may be reduced to -three principal forms: 1. He expected to found a political Empire; 2. He -expected to introduce a vast Theocracy, to which believers of other -nations should be admitted, and which was to be established on the -renovated earth, after his death, at his return to take possession of it -as King, to reward his followers, and to put all opposition under his -feet; 3. He expected to found a purely spiritual communion or society in -which he should continue to exercise for ages, by his spirit, word, and -life, a power of truth and love over the minds and hearts of men, -filling them with the most exalted sense of God. - -The first view has been presented by some able adversaries of -Christianity, among whom Reimarus led the way in a fragment "On the Aim -of Jesus," published with others anonymously in 1778. He charged Jesus -with using religious motives as merely a means to a political end; but -supposed that, after he found death impending, he renounced the -political aim, and pretended that his purpose was only a moral one. A -few able scholars have been disposed to blend the last view with the -others. They suppose an original Theocratic purpose to have been -entertained by Jesus, in which the moral and religious principle -predominated, but which was not at first exclusive of the political -element. They suppose, however, a progress in his aim; that after his -rejection by the people, "which he regarded as God's rejection of any -national limitation of his work," he inferred that his mission was to -found a spiritual kingdom. Though the direct imputation of a political -aim has not been a favorite expedient with ultra-rationalist critics -since Reimarus was answered by Reinhard and others, it ought not to be -passed without consideration. It is continually reappearing in modified -forms. And this happens, because it is impossible to present the -hypothesis that Jesus intended to be a Jewish Messiah without involving -the supposition of something political in his object, and in his means -of accomplishing it. Accordingly a very recent critic[33] of -Christianity, writing in the interest of "Free Religion," and -representing Jesus as claiming to be a Jewish Messiah, after saying very -truly that "the popular hope of a Priest-king transformed itself in the -soul of Jesus into the sublime idea of a spiritual Christ ruling by -love," is constrained to say, inconsistently, in another place, that, if -Jesus had assumed the office, he would not have hesitated to discharge -its political duties, and to exercise political sway. Here, then, is a -revival of the imputation to Jesus of a political aim. But I am not -aware that it is anywhere in recent criticism enforced with any new -strength of argument. It is obviously contradicted by the general -bearing of his actions, and by the whole tone of his teachings when -rightly apprehended. It is contradicted by his utter neglect of -political measures. He could not be induced or forced to take the -position of a political ruler. Admirers wished to proclaim him King: he -sent them away, tore his disciples from them, and went himself into the -mountain to commune with God. Asked to settle a dispute about property, -he says he has never been constituted an administrator of civil justice. -When shown the tribute-money, and inquired of if it were lawful to pay -tribute unto Cćsar, he makes the memorable reply in which he at once -acknowledges the rights of the government _de facto_; and the rights of -conscience and religion, which to deny would be usurpation. He was the -first to distinguish the spheres of the church and of the state so -intimately related, but never to be blended. And this is just what the -political Messiah, the Priest-king, could not have conceived. The -outlines of his church may serve as the model of a free church to-day. -There was no political motive to enter it. It had no officer who could -exercise political power. There was no authority but in the -congregation. It was amenable to no political head. Its fundamental -truths were the equal relation of all men with God as his children, and -the common relation of all men with one another as brethren. The only -end of his church was the moral and spiritual development of its members -and of all men; the only condition of membership, the recognition of -this end; and, with it, of the providential gift of truth and life given -in Jesus Christ's consciousness of God, and an appropriating and -co-operative sympathy with his character and purpose. Its method was -free conference and prayer in the spirit of unity, and in devotion to -the regeneration of the human family; a method, the results of which, he -assured them, would be the reaching of decisions which would be in -essential harmony with his own spirit, the Spirit of God. He drew more -from the synagogue than from the temple. Worship might ascend anywhere -from the heart. One need not go to Jerusalem. No political Messiah could -have thought of any centre of the restored Theocracy but the holy city, -to which the tribes should repair with their sacrifices, and the -converted heathen bring their votive offerings to Jehovah, the God of -Jews; but the temple must be destroyed, and not one stone of it left -upon another, according to Jesus, in order to prepare for that worship -of the Father by men in spirit and in truth, which he, as the Christ, -would inaugurate. - -[Footnote 33: See "The Index," Toledo, Jan. 1 and Jan. 8, 1870.] - -We thus come naturally to another point in the discussion. The theories -which recognize the political aim of Jesus commonly suppose that he -regarded it as his personal mission to restore Mosaism to its primitive -purity. And, if he shared in the hope of the restoration of the -Theocracy, he would probably take the most conservative ground in regard -to the Levitical institutions and the Mosaic precepts. He would believe -the Jewish people must be made independent, in order to give supremacy -to those institutions. The Roman yoke must be broken, and the coming -kingdom be inaugurated with war. Nothing of this, however, is found in -the ministry of Jesus Christ. When he preached "the kingdom of heaven is -at hand," it was no summons to war. The characteristic qualities of -those who belonged to this kingdom were opposed to the Theocratic -spirit. And the Sermon on the Mount taught, as clearly as the formal -declaration before Pilate, that it was not of this world. Why should his -followers be ready to suffer social persecution, if his aim tended in -the direction regarded with social favor? What mean the non-resistant -exhortations, instructing his followers to waive their rights for the -sake of the higher interests they were living for, if he and his -adherents are charged with the political duty of driving the invader -from the sacred soil? The rise and progress of this kingdom, Jesus said, -on another occasion, could not be observed like those of an empire -founded by force: it would not "come with observation." It had already -come unobserved. It began to come with John the Baptist, until whose -work the law was in the ascendant; but since whom men had been pressing -into the kingdom of heaven, which was tending to supplant the law. And, -on still another occasion, if he expected his movement to leave the -Jewish ritual intact, how could he say, with pregnant significance, that -new wine must not be put into old wineskins, lest they break, and the -wine be lost. I know great stress is laid upon his saying, "Think not -that I have come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I have not come to -destroy, but to fulfil. For truly do I say to you, Till heaven and earth -pass away, not one jot or one tittle shall pass from the law, till all -be fulfilled." But, if taken literally, they prove too much; for, -according to other passages, his teaching on some points--as, for -instance, divorce, and, as many think, the Sabbath--directly conflicted -with that of Moses. He threw doubt directly upon the tradition that God -rested on the seventh day. God, he said, had been always working up to -that hour, and in his own acts of healing done on the Sabbath he had -been co-operating with God. We must therefore interpret freely this -language, and understand by it the everlasting law. The smallest -requirement of the true law, however overlooked and despised it may have -been in the popular exegesis, would have its emphasis in the new -teachings; and whoever slighted it would be the least in the kingdom of -heaven. There is not a word which can be fairly construed into -commendation of the Levitical priesthood. He gives to the Mosaic -precepts cited the most spiritual interpretation, or sets them aside -when they cannot be wrought into a more profound system of natural -morality. He implies his superiority to all preceding teachers, -including Moses. "It was said to the ancients, but _I_ say unto you." -Indeed, his tone in this discourse is any thing but that of a Jewish -Rabbi of his period. It is that of the most human and universal -teaching. It asserts, when we penetrate beyond the immediate occasion of -it to its principle, that which is true in all times and places. Those -affirmations with which it opens, what are they but declarations, the -substantial verity of which it is possible for every man, if he know not -now, yet sometime to know in himself. "Blessed are the poor in spirit: -for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." The spirit of those who can set a -limit to their wants and curb ambition, who do not live blinded by -interests to the demands of a pure soul,--the spirit of such is always -blessed. Happy he who imbibes it from the circumstances of his life; and -happy he who, amidst the blandishments of riches, is taught it by the -discipline of Heaven. These are they to whom has come the kingdom of -heaven from Jesus' day until now. Then, "Blessed are the pure in heart: -for they shall see God." And is not a pure mind the very moral -atmosphere in which man sees God as he is, and rejoices in the sight? A -man's moral sentiments are the medium through which comes to him the -thought of God. Let those sentiments be perverted, and he imagines -either that God is not or that he is different from what he is. His -wrong mind either obstructs entirely the beam which darts from the -Divine essence, or scatters the spotless white of that Sun, the pure -aggregate of Divine perfections, into the particolored tints of the -earthly and sensual soul itself. Again, "Blessed are the merciful: for -they shall obtain mercy." It is even so. Those who sympathize with -human wants will feel the sympathy of God flowing into their souls, and -can never lack assurance of the Divine mercy so long as they keep in -themselves that pledge of it,--the merciful spirit. And so it is a grand -caution, which every one who has wantonly condemned others knows he -ought to keep in memory,--"Condemn not, lest ye be condemned." For the -undeserved, heavy sentence of condemnation which a man lifts high to -hurl with malignant intent at his brother is arrested by an interposing -law of Providence, and falls from his weak hand with its full weight -upon his own head. And at length we come to what might be thought a -studied satire upon the boasted maxims of human wisdom: "Blessed are ye -when men shall speak evil of you falsely for my sake." Is this the sober -truth? Is not Christ, so true elsewhere, mistaken here? It is a verity -as certain as the laws of God. Do not minds advance unequally in truth, -in all the successive phases of a soul's spiritual growth? Whoever goes -before others in thought and life will find men laying this to his -charge. But, if by following the command of Christian truth to his -conscience he has opened upon himself the battery of human -censoriousness, he may exult; for every unjust word or groundless -suspicion will but remind him of his unbribed devotion, and be changed -before it touches his deepest happiness into the benediction of God. - -Were we to go through what was spoken on the Mount, we might show its -truth commanding unquestionably the assent of our moral natures. It all -takes hold of our mind and life. It comes to us to throw light on what -we do and suffer, and to borrow confirmation from it in turn. Though we -fall so far short of it, and could not have conceived it originally and -from ourselves, as Jesus did, it so accords with the laws of our being -as to seem to be the suggestion of our experience, some admonition -floating to us by intent of God on that ever-heaving sea of life, of -ambition, of passion, of mutual misunderstanding, of strong loves and -piercing griefs, of various mingling sympathies, on whose shore we do -now stand, and whose tide, for our few seconds here in time, laves our -feet and dashes upon us its spray. - -We might turn over other pages of Jesus' instruction beyond that -introductory statement of the principles of the kingdom of God, and -evolve its sense in terms presenting an undeniable spiritual fact to all -our race. For instance, "To him who hath shall be given, and he shall -have abundance; but from him that hath not shall be taken away, even -that which he seemeth to have." How true! It is verified in the mental -condition of every man at this moment. We only seem to have the faculty -we do not use. There is no long, healthy sleep to the mind and the moral -will any more than to the body; but the alternative is, live or die. And -thus Jesus was ever holding up the law of the spiritual life to the -light of that day which dawned with his advent. He dwelt on what is -inward. Although you cannot find that once, in his popular teaching, he -laid stress upon observances, times without number he studiously -distinguished between every thing of the nature of ceremonial and those -everlasting obligations of justice and humanity, of inward and outward -purity, which ought to be recognized in the home and in the state, in -all the intercourse of man with man, and in watching over the secret -heart. We may not infer that he was hostile to religious forms. He -observed them. He knew that man needed them, and that souls instinct -with life would perpetuate them and adapt them to their own wants. But -he saw in the spirit of the Scribes the evil of teaching that any -arbitrarily imposed outward act can in itself please God; and, in regard -to such, the whole emphasis of his teaching was, "These ought ye to have -done, and not to have left the other undone." He quoted from the -prophets habitually, "I will have mercy and not sacrifice." - -Such is the genius of Christianity,--of Christianity as it came from its -Founder,--the religion which is said to have ripened into the medićval -theology and the Roman hierarchy. Too little, indeed, has this genius of -Christianity been regarded! The old Judaic spirit which brought Jesus to -the cross has, among Protestants as well as Catholics, too often -crucified the Christianity of Christ. Human metaphysics have been put -into creeds and catechisms. Sects have been founded and built up on the -importance attached to the form of a rite as a part of essential -Christianity. Disputes have raged which the traditions of the Church and -the letter of Scripture have failed to settle, and about which Jesus, if -teaching among us, would not waste a minute's breath. - -If further proof were wanting of the breadth and spirituality of Jesus' -view, it might be found in the fact that he was brought to the cross by -the pro-Judaism party. His friends would interpret him differently from -his enemies. The universality and spirituality of his aim were not at -once apprehended by his followers. Their very trust in him would make -them slow to perceive his radical meaning; for, to impute to him what -was in his mind, would seem to be distrust. They would put a limited -construction upon what he said. It would be otherwise with his enemies, -who would be sharp and quick to see the full extent to which his words -would carry him. - -The movement of Jesus, then, may be called revolutionary, not in the -sense of aiming directly at political revolution, but in the sense of -his expecting to found a free, spiritual, and universal religion, which -would uproot and remove in time the partial religions, Judaism included. -Still he designed to connect himself with the Old Dispensation. He -recognized the Divine mission of Moses and the Providential office of -the prophets in preparing for him. In the expectations which they -fostered there was something true as well as something false. When they -depicted a glorious and happy political condition of the Jewish nation -under the Messiah as an earthly king, Jesus must have regarded them as -being in error. We find him pronouncing John the Baptist the greatest of -the prophets of the old order, and declaring that the least in the -kingdom of heaven was greater than he; and the reason is shown by the -context of the words (Matt. xi.) to be that John as a Jewish prophet -regarded the kingdom of God in part as a political kingdom. But the -fundamental idea of the Theocracy, that other nations would be united -with Israel under the dominion of the One True God, was one in harmony -with Jesus' thought.[34] This expectation Jesus regarded it as his -mission to realize and fulfil. He had only to separate from the -Theocratic predictions of the prophets the partial political element, to -bring them into unison with his universal aim. Whatever in the hitherto -prevailing ideas and hopes was capable of expansion he absorbed into -himself, that it might be given out in a wider and higher form, and -live for ever. A case somewhat parallel might be found in the changes -wrought by our late war. Those who took a radical view of the issue of -the contest were exposed to the charge of being revolutionary and -destroying the Constitution. They could reply, "Yes: the issue will be -revolutionary. There will be a new state of law, and of the relations of -the people in important respects, effected by carrying out fundamental -principles. But those principles were the essence of the Constitution; -and to carry them out is only fully to accomplish its purpose, by -annihilating transient provisions at war with liberty and social -justice, and giving scope to the principles of the Declaration of -Independence. We hold to the Constitution. We have come not to destroy, -but to fulfil." So Jesus Christ came not to destroy all that had gone -before, but to fulfil whatever in it was fundamental to the Divine -purpose in relation to man. In this feeling of a real connection between -his movement and the Hebrew ideas and hopes is to be found the principal -explanation of his confining his labors, and those of the apostles when -first sent forth, chiefly to Judea and Galilee. Not only must his own -work be limited in its local scope,--for he could not go -everywhere,--but the historical basis of his movement lay in the Hebrew -history. Among the Hebrew people only could he find suitably prepared -immediate disciples. Salvation was to be from the Jews. And, foreseeing -that the nation as such would reject him, he saw that it was essential -to the extension among the Gentiles of the truths and hopes he inherited -as a Jew, essential to the breaking down of the partition wall which now -kept out the true doctrine of God from the heathen world, that he should -come to a distinct issue with the Jewish authorities, and make it clear -and notorious that it was the narrow spirit of Pharisaism and legal -formality which crucified him. (If he were lifted up, he would draw all -men to him.) And from the first the ruling sect, with the acute instinct -of self-interest, discerned the revolutionary character of his -movement,--that it elevated man above the Jew, and struck at the root of -the idolized Hebrew pre-eminence. - -[Footnote 34: See Noyes's Introduction to his Translation of the -Prophets.] - -I pass now to a more subtle hypothesis, that Jesus expected to establish -the Theocratic empire by angelic assistance on occasion of his return to -earth, which would occur at the same time with the great outward change -of the world. It is founded on such passages as this: "For the Son of -Man is to come in the glory of his Father, with his angels; and then he -will render to every one according to his works." (Matt. xvi. 27. Comp. -Matt. xiii. 41, and xxvi. 29-60.) It is thus stated by Strauss:[35] "He -waited for a signal from his heavenly Father, who alone knew the time of -this catastrophe; and he was not disconcerted when his end approached -without his having received the expected intimation." His Messianic hope -was not political or even earthly. He referred its fulfilment to a -supermundane theatre. - -[Footnote 35: Life of Jesus, Part II. § 66. The charge of enthusiasm is -retained, but not discussed, in his Life of Christ for the German -people.] - -Strauss speaks of Jesus' hope as corresponding with the Messianic ideas -of the Jews. It took its form from those ideas. Scherer also represents -Jesus' idea of the kingdom as wholly Apocalyptic. The _first_ criticism -to be made upon this hypothesis is, that a Theocratic idea arising out -of the Jewish expectations and conformed to them could not dispense with -all thought of earthly conflict. The struggle could not have been -altogether upon a supermundane theatre, nor the triumph of the Messiah -achieved without common warlike agencies. The common Jewish idea was -founded on the language of some Hebrew prophets, and appears in the -Apocalyptic writings of Christ's age; and his own mind in cherishing the -hope attributed to him must have quite surrendered itself to the popular -expectation. This expectation supposed some outward conflict as the -occasion of supernatural interference. Nor do I know any ground for -thinking that in Christ's time the Jews expected the Messiah to prevail -with angelic aid without a conflict of arms. Whoever will read Ezekiel -and Daniel will see that those prophets expected a contest on earth with -earthly weapons, as the occasion for the intervention of Jehovah. And -whoever will read the wars of the Maccabees will see how Jewish courage, -fired with the expectation of celestial assistance, never stopped to -compare the apparent strength of the respective forces. Nor did the -Apocalyptic seers dismiss this thought of earthly battle. The book of -Enoch speaks of the unconverted as delivered at the judgment into the -hands of the righteous, whose horses shall wade in the blood of sinners, -and whom the angels shall come to help.[36] The Apocalypse of the New -Testament presents the picture of the Messiah as mounted on a white -horse, and riding forth to judge and make war; and the comment of Dr. -Noyes on this and similar passages is that, in the mind of the writer, -there was to be war in heaven and upon earth, before Christ should reign -in final triumph.[37] This theory has no distinctive character without -supposing the angels acting on the stage of sense and time, and giving -the Hebrews the victory. With this expectation is probably connected the -"sign from heaven" demanded of Jesus by the Pharisees, a sign which -should stimulate Hebrew faith to irresistible warlike ardor. The -unconverted were to be vanquished by some mysterious exercise of -Messianic power. Hence many were not satisfied with Christ's miracles; -not that they disputed their reality, but as being not decisive of his -Messianic character. Now, if this had been the thought of Jesus, he -would have been disposed to seek an occasion for such interference from -on high. It is true, in saying this, we say he must have given himself -up to the enthusiasm which so often fanatically manifested itself in his -age, and was always ready to break forth. But the idea supposed, when -one's whole being was yielded to it,--as Jesus did yield his whole being -to the ideas which possessed him,--could not have stopped short of -practical action. He must have been prepared in his thought to act with -fanaticism. Strauss says, "He did not try to bring about all this by his -own will; but awaited a signal from his heavenly Father." The actual -Jesus did undoubtedly as Strauss says; but the supposed Jesus would have -at some time believed the signal to be given. The idea, and the sort of -faith in supernatural aid which accompanied it, would lead him to think -the moment had come for this demonstration. "If such were the ideal of -Jesus in fact, why did he not seek to realize it at once? Why did he -prefer the way of renunciation and self-sacrifice to the possession of -the kingdoms of the world? Why, in the place of the Son of Man, have we -not a Mahomet six hundred years in advance." The logical and necessary -result of belief in his Messiahship, and of faith in this sort of -supernatural aid in realizing it, was that he should bring about an -occasion for this demonstration. It was an encounter with the Romans, in -the hope that Jehovah and the angels would fight for God's people, and -be more than strong enough against all odds. "The Messianic Theocracy -could not exist as a Roman province."[38] But Jesus studiously avoids -conflict with Rome. Besides, the second part of the temptation of Christ -sets aside at once this ideal. His early consciousness of wonderful -power had not the effect of disposing his mind favorably toward such -Jewish Messianic ideas. That consciousness tended rather to spiritualize -his thought: we may say, it subdued him. It made his whole feeling -moderate, and his whole thought wise and temperate. This is a very -remarkable part of the representation of him by the evangelists. - -[Footnote 36: Book of Enoch, Dillman, ch. 100.] - -[Footnote 37: Rev. xix. 11; comp. Christian Examiner, May, 1860, p. -382.] - -[Footnote 38: Hase's Life of Jesus.] - -But, secondly, I will now suppose the expectation of Jesus to have been -purified from every notion of warlike action. The regeneration -(palingenesia) was to be not a political revolution, but a renovation of -the earth and the heavens, attended by a resurrection of the dead, of -whom the accepted were to dwell with Christ in the renovated world,--not -the present earth, but the earth restored,--and that his presence and -return were to be visible. This is his coming with the angels to set up -his kingdom and to reign. - -I. The very language which this hypothesis is adopted to explain, taken -in its proper sense, proves too much. Jesus was to be a king on the -renewed earth, yet his kingdom was to be different from those of this -world. "It is not," he says, "of this world." It is a real kingdom as -much as that of David; but it is not to be a worldly rule on the one -hand, nor a purely spiritual rule on the other. It is political, and not -political. According to the writer of the Apocalypse, whose views are -supposed to have been sanctioned by Jesus, this king must reign until he -has put all enemies under his feet. When the kingdom is consummated, he -is to surrender it to his Father. The hypothesis under consideration -represents the kingdom as to be consummated at the time of the -world-catastrophe which, with the second or real coming of Jesus as -Messiah, will occur, according to the alleged words of Christ himself, -immediately after the destruction of the city. Why shall not the kingdom -be given up immediately to the Father? This king in "the proper sense," -and in no purely spiritual sense, who comes visibly, will have no -occasion for a reign in the proper sense of the word. Strauss says, -"Jesus expected to restore the throne of David, and with his disciples -to govern a liberated people. But in no degree did he rest his hopes on -the sword of his adherents, but on the legions of angels which the -Father would send him. He was not disconcerted when his end approached -without the kingdom having come. It would come with his return." But how -when he returned was the throne of David to be restored, and a proper, -literal reign to exist, and not a mere spiritual reign? This king has no -business to perform: his work is all accomplished immediately by a -stupendous miracle. And he and his apostles have nothing to do but to -sit on idle thrones, or to feast at tables loaded with luxuries which -are at the same time mundane and supermundane; to enjoy a sensual -paradise, which differs from a Mohammedan paradise only in that it does -not consist of the coarsest forms of sensual life. They are to partake -of an actual wine, a fruit of the vine,--a new kind of wine; to observe -the passover with supermundane food, but food pleasurable to the taste. -This Jesus is thought to have expected and promised.[39] I sometimes -think this attempt to find a half-way doctrine of Jesus' expectation -concerning the future ascribes to him an apocalypticism more inept and -fatuous than that of the Jews themselves. It attempts to unite the -contradictory. It cannot be stated by Strauss in any thing like the -literal sense of the passages on which it is founded, without supposing -something of that political element which it is designed to exclude; or -else entirely dropping that relation to Jewish hopes to which it is -believed to owe its origin, and thus leaving it unexplained. For, if -Jesus gave up all expectation whatever of a kingdom of this world, we -have no occasion for a visible return. - -[Footnote 39: See Renan's Life of Jesus, first edition.] - -II. The second objection to this view is that it is incompatible with -the most important expressions and opinions of Jesus. - -1. The kingdom is to come with the world-catastrophe; and the King is -then to come in some mysterious manner on the clouds of heaven. How, -then, could Jesus say the kingdom of God cometh not with _observation_? -Could any political kingdom arise in a more outwardly striking manner? -How does that saying of Christ comport with his promising a literal -miraculous light in the heaven (Matt. xxiv. 30) which shall betoken his -own coming and the great world-change? That form of coming with a -precursive sign in the heaven is just what he contradicted. Such a -kingdom would come with a sign which could be watched for,--a sign very -different from those signs of the time, the moral indications, which a -spiritual insight might discern. How could he say the kingdom of God was -among them _already_, if it were yet to come at the time of the great -world-change? How could he say to Caiaphas: "Yes, I am the Messiah; and -moreover _from this moment_ you shall see the Son of Man sitting on the -right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven"? It was -equivalent to saying, "You have arrested me, you have already doomed me -to death. But I am the Anointed of God to introduce the new spiritual -kingdom of Humanity; and, from this moment in which you decree my death, -my cause takes a Divine impulse, and my purpose strides on to the -triumph God has destined for it." - -2. This expectation is incompatible with what he says on other topics -related to the kingdom, the resurrection, and the future life. This -expectation implies the Apocalyptic view of the resurrection. The -Messiah was to come to raise the dead. (The Christian world has -generally entertained the same view.) The visible return and the -resurrection coexisted, probably, in Jesus' mind. If he held the one, he -held the other. The two opinions were Siamese twins, connected by a -vital bond; separate them and you would kill them both. But Jesus gave a -view of the resurrection and the future life totally different from the -Apocalyptic one. He taught the _continuance_ of life. His argument with -the Sadducees proves that doctrine, or it amounts to nothing. God is the -God not of the dead, but of the living. The Rich Man and Lazarus, of the -parable, are already in a future state of retribution. He who believes -on him has "already passed from death unto life." Jesus could not -suppose that one who had received from him the quickening of spiritual -life could pass into the under-world, and grope as a shade in the -intermediate state. "Whosoever liveth and believeth in him shall never -die." Now, to one who is satisfied that Jesus was emancipated from the -doctrine of an intermediate state, it must be evident that he could not -have held the Apocalyptic notion resting on it of a raising of the dead -at the coming of the Messiah, and could not have held to the visible -coming of the Messiah who was to come to do that very thing. - -The same observation is to be made of the judgment. Jesus shows himself -emancipated from the common notion of the judgment, and of a future -simultaneous judgment-day. He that believeth on him is not judged. He -that believeth not is judged already, in that he has not believed in the -only-begotten Son of God. God sent him not to judge or to punish the -world, but to save it. The judgment of the world is not to be -exclusively at a remote day. It has begun. It is _now_. Christ says, Now -is the judgment of this world; now is the Prince of this world to be -cast out; now, when Jesus is about to consummate by dying the moral -means of that result. Jesus is not to be a personal Judge of men at a -remote time. His principles are for ever to judge men, to judge them -finally. Not himself as the personal Logos, or as the reappearing -Messiah, is to judge men, but "the word he has spoken." These thoughts -in the fourth Gospel must have come from Jesus, not from the writer, who -shows himself in places not emancipated from the view of his time. - -3. The doctrine of Christ's expectation which I am considering is not -congruous with the means which he contemplates for accomplishing his -work, and with the view he took of the progress of his kingdom, and of -the moral duties and retributions of Humanity. Nothing is clearer than -that his kingdom of God was to be a communion of men on earth bound -together by the same consciousness of the heavenly Father. It was to -extend into another life. But it was to spread more and more widely, and -subdue the world to his spiritual dominion. By moral influence he is to -be King. This communion is to be the salt of the earth, the light of the -world. It is to extend its influence by holy example, by good works. He -will be in spirit with the apostles and with his church. He trains them -to carry on his work, and tells them to preach the good news to all -nations. He does this as if founding a work which shall go on -indefinitely. He declares early, in a discourse designed to explain his -kingdom, that the law shall not pass away; that it shall in its moral -requirements be all realized. Heaven and earth shall not pass away until -all shall _be_. And he directs his disciples to pray as much as for -daily bread that God's kingdom may come, and that God's will may be done -_on earth_ as it is done in heaven. Is it possible that this teacher -expects all this to be closed in thirty or forty years, by a violent -catastrophe, and by the substituting of a universal miracle for this -moral instrumentality? He says it is not the Father's will that one of -the lowliest shall perish. Did he mean to limit the opportunity of -salvation for the race to forty years, and to consign to the torment of -Gehenna all who did not accept the new truth in that time? And all this -impossibility is heightened by the nature of some of those parables in -which he treated of his kingdom. "If the kingdom of God were to be -established by an irresistible miracle, on a fixed day, in a manner so -splendid, what signify those admirable parables of the mustard-seed, of -the leaven, of the net, of the grain growing from itself, which suppose -a development, slow, regular, organic, proceeding from an imperceptible -point, but endowed with a Divine vitality, and displaying successively -its latent energies?"[40] Besides, no one ever more strictly enjoined -the duties of life, the everlasting obligations. He contemplates such -duties as are to be done in such a world as ours was then and is now, as -the essential sphere in which the heavenly spirit must be formed in man. -His principle of final judgment is, "Inasmuch as ye have done the duties -of Humanity unto your fellow-men, ye have done them unto me. Come, ye -blessed of my Father." Could that teacher suppose that the opportunity -for performing such duties would cease for ever before the last of his -apostles should have died? Could he think that within that time the -destinies of Humanity as he knew it would be closed? - -[Footnote 40: Réville, Review of Renan's Life of Jesus.] - -These are the principal reasons which determine me to believe that Jesus -did not expect to return visibly to raise the dead, judge the world, and -be the head of an external Theocratic kingdom on the renewed earth. -What, then, shall be said of the language which appears to express that -opinion? "Ye shall drink the wine new with me in my Father's kingdom." -"Ye shall sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel," &c. Two -considerations are to be kept in sight in establishing the views and -expectations of Jesus: first, that he used this language--so far as he -used it--in a figurative sense, to represent spiritual and providential -facts as he conceived them; second, that the evangelists may have -sometimes given to his language a precision and a connection which did -not belong to it, as delivered. That he could not have employed this -language as it is reported to us, in its literal and proper sense, is to -my mind a necessary conviction in the premises. This would suppose that -he entertained two orders of conceptions, which were opposed to one -another, with a clear profound conviction, and gave them as revelations -of God: one his spiritual and rational beliefs; the other his -Apocalyptic beliefs. This supposition is the vice of Renan's seventeenth -chapter. The language of the Apocalyptic beliefs Jesus might use to some -extent as a vehicle for conveying the spiritual and rational to others; -and the most explicit language in which he conveyed his spiritual -beliefs, so far as it was retained in their feebler minds, might be -forced into harmony with their traditional opinions. But that in Jesus' -mind, so original, so manifestly filled with fresh thought on every -theme of Providence and man, these spiritual apprehensions of a kingdom -or communion of God which should act under and within the state, -renovating human life and society; of a Messiah who by such a kingdom -should fulfil the missionary function of Israel to the race of man; of a -resurrection which should be the uninterrupted continuance of the -blessed life, or an immediate renewal of the sense of wasted opportunity -and law violated on earth; of a judgment both immediate and continual of -every soul despising the truth revealed to it; of a retribution to civil -societies according to Divine law,--should arise as original -conceptions, be held with firm decisive grasp, be of the essence of his -instruction, and so pronounced in him that our most advanced modern -thought is but the distant echo of his profound and distinct -enunciations; and that at the same time he should hold those Apocalyptic -traditions, of a visible coming, of a Theocratic throne before whose -splendor that of Cćsar would fade away, of a simultaneous resurrection -and judgment,--hold them in unimpaired conviction, as truths to be -solemnly insisted upon as a part of his revelation,--this, it seems to -me, comes as near a psychological contradiction as we can well conceive. -And besides, if Jesus had clung to those beliefs as Divine convictions, -the language ascribed to him would have had the unity of that of the -Epistles and the Apocalypse on this subject. We should not be perplexed -with apparent contradictions. As it is, we are obliged to use those -words which inculcate his spiritual thought for explaining that part of -his language which is conformed to Jewish conceptions. - -But, it is said, this language would naturally create misunderstanding, -and that it is too bold to be taken in a figurative sense. In regard to -the misunderstanding of it, let it be said, if we suppose a mind -inspired by God to see far deeper and further than its contemporaries, -it must be liable to be misunderstood in proportion to the poverty of -the vernacular language. Jesus' inspiration and insight gave his speech -a character such as the highest poetic endowment always gives, and made -it bold. It is not to be forgotten that he belonged to the east and to -the people who have given us the Old Testament prophecies. The boldest -tropes were natural to him. In moments of strong moral excitement, they -fly from him as sparks from the flint or lightning from the charged -cloud. It exposes him to the charge of mysticism. We forget that he was -not a lecturer, a systematic teacher; but a prophet, a converser in the -streets, a popular teacher, a poet sent from God to re-create humanity. -Necessity concurred with inspiration to make his speech tropical and -often liable to be misapprehended. He was obliged to use images and -terms which the people and the schools applied to the Messiah in order -to claim, as he meant to claim, a predetermined, providential connection -with Hebrew history and hope. When he said to Pilate, "I am a king," it -was a truth; but it was a trope. "I am the bread of life,"--a truth, but -a trope. "I am come to send a sword on the earth, not peace;" "This cup -of wine is my blood sealing the new covenant,"--truths, but compact with -the boldest tropes. When he said, "I am the Messiah," it was a truth, -but a trope. It was liable to be misunderstood; but, without it, it was -impossible that he should be understood. He saw Satan, after the seventy -returned from their mission and related their success, "falling like -lightning from heaven." If he foresaw political revolutions which would -occur within a generation, and believed they would be employed by -Providence to further the establishment of his principles or kingdom, -which would then reach a point from which it would be evident, to a -sympathizing mind quick to catch the glimpses of a new day, that they -would become dominant in humanity, would it be too bold a figure for him -to say, "The coming of the Son of Man will be as the lightning which -shoots from horizon to horizon," or too bold a figure to describe those -precursive overturns and downfalls of the old in language borrowed from -Isaiah and Joel, the prophets whom he loved and knew by heart? Might he -not believe, identifying his religion and the Divine spirit which would -spread it, that at the time of these changes, conspiring providentially -with the labors of apostles and evangelists, his voice would call the -chosen, those prepared by mental and moral affinity, to the new -life-work, to the new order of things; that his call to his own would be -like the supposed call of the last trumpet summoning them to come into a -spiritual communion of blessed work, and blessed hope? These figures -were naturally, almost inevitably, formed in these circumstances. - -He used the language given him in the speech of his time in a figurative -sense, partly because of the want of proper terms suited to his purpose, -and partly because as a popular teacher, desirous to impress the common -mind, he could not sacrifice all the associations connected with that. -But we often find in proximity with it words of his own, or something in -the occasion, which he might expect to constrain the listeners to -reflect that he was speaking figuratively; as John vi., "My words, they -are spirit and they are life," and the reply Luke xxii. 38, to the -information, here are two swords, "It is enough." Were the accounts more -full, it is fair to suppose we might have more such expressions. They -would not be so likely to be remembered as the striking, figurative -words. - -There are words of Christ at the Last Supper which seem to me to have -occasioned quite unnecessary perplexity. "I say unto you I will not -henceforth drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it -new with you in my Father's kingdom." They were the spontaneous outflow -of mingled sadness, affection, and hope. He might expect them to be -interpreted to his disciples by his situation, by all he had said of -leaving them, and by his habit of conveying spiritual thought under the -sensuous images suggested by the moment. They referred to the kingdom he -died to establish. They were as natural as to say, "Where two or three -are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." But -they have been a stumbling-block to students whom we should have -expected to be able better to _orient_ themselves in the Master's genius -and style. - -Colani has spent a page to ridicule it, and show that it is not fit for -its place.[41] Yet a similar figure is used by occidental preachers, who -would not expect to be reproached for coarseness. A young minister -on an occasion not unlike that on which Jesus sat with his -disciples--occurring as did that passover in the midst of sacrifice and -revolution, the Thanksgiving day celebrated after the close of our great -war, in our land at once so afflicted and so blessed--addressed his -hearers, some of whom had lost sons or brothers in camp or field, in -figurative but very appropriate and touching language, in which we may -suppose he felt the inspiration of his Master's words at the last meal. -It was to the effect that, although those who had fallen in the strife -could no more partake with us in the bounty with which the Thanksgiving -table would be spread, they would in all future festivals be with us in -spirit, and rejoice in the blessings ever more and more to be realized -which had been purchased by their sacrifices for our disinthralled -country. - -[Footnote 41: Jesus Christ and the Messianic Beliefs of his Time.] - -Nor do I see any better cause of the offence which is taken at the -language ascribed to Jesus in Matt. xix. 28, in the offer of thrones: -"In the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of his -glory, ye also shall sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of -Israel." Let us think how Jesus must have longed to communicate his -thought and his hope to those chosen ones; how he would not be willing -to drive them away by his very greatness as he sometimes drove away the -careless and cavilling; how his mind, if he were a human being and not -an automaton, would alternate between the sternest truth-speaking and -the necessity of coming closer to them, and giving them hope, and -lifting them a little nearer to himself; how like the mother bird, -enticing her brood to their first flight, and finding he had at one -moment gone beyond them, he would come back, and alight on a point -nearer to their apprehension, that he might tempt them to use the -untried pinions of their thought,--and we need have no difficulty in -seeing that he meant thrones of moral power. I do not know how those men -received it; but I do not believe they thought then of political power. -If, after Jesus left them, they recalled this and every other such -expression as a means of nourishing the hope of an Apocalyptic return -and kingdom, the great Teacher and Comforter was not accountable for -that perversion. - -Jesus' language, then, can be explained without supposing him to have -expected visibly to return after death to erect a kingdom of God of -which he should be the visible head. - -The result of our inquiries is, that Jesus did not aim at any political -sovereignty, that he rose by the force of the special endowment of his -nature above the Apocalyptic superstition of his age, and that he looked -and labored immediately for the moral and spiritual renovation of -humanity on this earth. He claimed to be a Messiah; not a Messiah after -the Jewish conceptions, but a man anointed and endowed of God, to -perfect by the manifestation of the Divine in the human, the means of -this moral renovation of humanity. He regarded the spiritual Messiahship -as a divinely appointed means to this end. He aspired to spiritual rule -for no end but this, and his aspiration was disinterested, godlike. It -has been said that he was ambitious, though it is allowed that his -ambition was the most elevated. And he has been compared with -disadvantage to Socrates, whose ambition, it is said, was "_to serve -without reigning_," while that of Jesus was "_to reign by serving_," and -the former is justly thought to be the nobler purpose. It is no time to -institute a comparison between Jesus and Socrates. I have no wish to -disparage the great Pagan. I will allow Grote's estimate, that the -Apology as given by Plato is the speech of one who deliberately foregoes -the immediate purpose of a defence, the persuasion of his judges; who -speaks for posterity without regard to his own life. The aim of Socrates -was disinterested, but not so elevated as that of Jesus. The aim of -Socrates belonged to the realm of the understanding; the aim of Jesus, -to the realm of the Spirit. They both took delight in the exercise of -their gift: this is innocent, when not an exclusive motive; but Socrates -more consciously sought this delight than Jesus. No self-abnegation can -be conceived more entire than that of the Christ as represented by the -evangelists with every mark of truth. He sought to reign only as all -seek to reign who put forth their powers to assist the development of -other minds. He would reign only so, and so far, as this might be to -serve his race. He had no ambition. His purpose was not _to reign by -serving_, but _to reign that he might serve_. He respected the freedom -of the mind. He appealed to reason and conscience. He claimed authority -in the name of reason and conscience, and believed that he thus claimed -it in the name of God. And if his reign has been more extensive, more -durable, and more beneficent than that of others, it is because he has -acted by the highest kind and with the largest measure of truth and -life, on the highest powers and tendencies of man. - - -Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son. - - - Transcriber's Notes: - - Obvious punctuation errors were repaired. - - Phrases in italics are indicated by _italics_. - - Words in the text which were in small-caps were - converted to ALL-CAPS. - - Greek text is transliterated and surrounded by [Greek: ]. - - The "oe" ligature is indicated by "[oe]" (e.g. [oe]cumenical). - - On pg. 77, the Latin phrase for "altar of Heaven" - is transcribed as "Ara C[oe]li" (it might be "Ara Cćli"). - - Typo corrected: - "phenonema" changed to "phenomena" - (pg. 206, "classes of perceived phenomena") - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Christianity and Modern Thought, by Various - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHRISTIANITY AND MODERN THOUGHT *** - -***** This file should be named 41280-8.txt or 41280-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/1/2/8/41280/ - -Produced by Jana Srna, Michael Seow and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) - - -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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